TruthCounsellor

Astronomical.


Why would it require a Passover in November?

TC

Jack the Bodiless

The Star of Bethlehem? Please explain.
Because the eclipse was in November, and Jesus was supposedly crucified at Passover. Are you arguing that the gospels recorded the wrong time of year?

TruthCounsellor

Some date Herod's death later, in 1 BC. (After the eclipse of Jan.9, 1 BC.)

I'm not convinced that anyone has yet produced a good (i.e., accurate) harmony of the gospels, or that there were three passovers.

TC

TruthCounsellor

Try this:
http://www.redbay.com/ekklesia/birth.htm


No. Quite frankly, I haven't examined certain parts of this carefully enough to make any firm determination as to which was the more likely.

TC

David Mooney

There was a partial lunar eclipse as the moon rose over Jerusalem on the evening of Friday, April 3, A.D. 33. If Thallus really did admit to a eclipse at the death of Jesus perhaps he got a lunar eclipse confused with a solar eclipse since there was the story about the period of darkness that accompanied the crucifixion. It would be an easy mistake to make. Or, Thallus just thought that the period of darkness was a solar eclipse since he did not know it was during Passover and he was unaware it was a 3 hour period so he attributed the period of darkness to a solar eclipse that happened during the reign of Tiberius. Africanus may have just passed on what Thallus thought would have explained the darkness.

spin

Historians don't.

This doesn't need to be harminized. The synoptics are silent on the subject, while John gives three passovers. The synoptics don't contradict John.


spin

Agemegos

That's rubbish. Sunspots last for days, not mere hours.

Agemegos

None. No flying pigs, either.

spin

Whaddabout the shrub on Air Force One?


spin

TruthCounsellor

That's debatable. A quick search turned this up (but there's probably more out there.):

HEROD DATE

Herod is usually thought to have dies in 4 B.C., thus pushing the date of the birth of Christ back beyond this time. A careful analysis of Josephus, however, indicates that Herod actually lived until 1 B.C., making the 2B.C. nativity date of Luke plausible enough:

"Josephus improperly counted Herod's 37th year from 40 BC instead of 37 BC, concluding incorrectly as a result of his miscalculation that Herod had reigned but "34" years from 37 BC [Antiq. XIVxvi4; XVIIvi4,viii1,xiii2; XVIIIii1,iv6; Wars IIvii3]. And yet all other evidences cited -- and the bulk of Josephus' own meticulous research -- confirm that king Herod did in fact reign for 37 years, but counting from 37 BC which was Herod's first regnal year. Making 1 BC his 37th and final year of reign, in which Herod died after the "blood red" full lunar eclipse of January 10th. So poor king Herod's final year wasn't much of a year at all, but was cut short by the end of January 1 BC." Min's Historical Calendar Of Jesus - Chapter 4
Josephus tells us that an eclipse happened just before Herod's death. There was one in 4 B.C., the traditional death date of Herod, but it was only 37% eclipsed, not enough to create the red color which Josephus says was identified with the one just before Herod's death. The total eclipse just before Herod's death started occurring at midnight on the 10th of January 1 BC. Josephus stated that Herod died shortly after this blood red eclipse, and that he was buried before the Passover of the same year which occurred on Wednesday April 7, 1 BC. Jewish tradition has it that Herod died in the month of Shebat — January/February. If Matthew is to be believed, Yeshu was born during the reign of this Herod, thus before April 7, 1 B.C. In 525 AD the monk Dionysius Exiguus (died 556 AD) calculated Jesus was born in 1 BC. His date became the basis for the Christian division of history into BC and AD.. This date is a bit late, however.

(from http://essenes.net/deathdates.html )


He missed the last one (as he was the passover lamb that year.) Now it's down to two, at the most. So, like I said, I'm not convinced.

Hmmm... how about this for starters?
http://www.scripturescholar.com/Jesus2YearMinistry.htm

TC