THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH
PART VI
THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN HIS FATHER'S HOUSE
and
THE GENTILES SEEK THE CHRIST-CHILD
So let his corporal birth be our spiritual birth, that is, the beginning of our conversion. Let his persecution, that which he suffered from Herod, be to us a sign of the temptation we suffer from the devil in the beginning of our conversion. Let his growing up in Nazareth express our advancement in perfection. St. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)
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Please read Luke 2:22-40: Jesus is presented in the Temple
Luke 2:22-24: And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord'observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: "Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord"'and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
After Jesus' birth, it was necessary for the Holy Family to remain in Bethlehem. They would not have considered leaving Bethlehem until after Jesus' presentation in the Temple, forty days after His birth. It is possible that Joseph may have decided to relocate to Bethlehem to raise the Messiah in the ancestral home of King David. Scripture tells us that they were still living in Bethlehem when the Gentile Magi arrived about a year or more after Jesus' birth.
The passage in Luke 2:22-24 refers to the rites of purification after childbirth under the Sinai Covenant stipulated in Leviticus 12:1-8, followed by quotes from two commands of the Law. The first is a quote from the Book of Exodus: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord (Exodus 13:2-13), and the second is from Leviticus 12:8 which concerns one of the required sacrifices a mother of a newly born child must offer to God when she went to the Jerusalem Temple for her purification ceremony: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
Question: What were the requirements under the Law for the
mother of a newly born child? See Leviticus 12:1-8
Answer: If the child was a boy, the mother was ritually
unclean for seven days after the birth. On the eight day the boy child was to
be circumcised. After the brit [covenant ceremony], the mother was to
wait thirty-three more days (for a total of forty days after the boy child's
birth) before she could be fully purified. During this time she could not go
to the Temple. The period of purification for a girl was longer: an initial
two weeks followed by sixty-six days for a total of eighty days. When the days
of purification were completed, the mother was to present herself at the Temple. At that time she was to offer a female lamb or kid (Leviticus 5:1-7) as a sin
sacrifice. If she could not afford an animal for the sacrifice, she could
offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a whole burnt offering
(consumed entirely on the altar fire) and the other for a sin sacrifice, which
was eaten in a sacred meal by the priest (Leviticus 6:17[24]-23[30].(1)
Question: What does the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or
two young pigeons reveal about Joseph's economic status? Please quote the
passage.
Answer: This was the sacrifice for the poor: If she cannot
afford a lamb, she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for the
burnt offering and the other for the sacrifice for sin. The priest will
perform the rite of expiation for her and she will be purified.
Only the mother needed ritual purification through a sin sacrifice. When Mary arrived at the Temple, she would have ritually immersed in the Temple mikveh (ritual holy water pool) before making the presentation of her sacrifice. Everyone who entered the Temple inner courtyard had to ritually immerse, even the priests (Mishnah: Yoma, 3:3: A person does not enter the courtyard for the service, even if he is clean, unless he immerses). Click for a picture of the Mikveh where Mary received the purification rites.
Question: What were the requirements for redeeming Jesus as a
firstborn son? See Exodus 13:1, 13-15; Numbers 18:15-19, and please quote
a significant passage.
Answer: Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, 'Consecrate all the
first-born to me, the first birth from every womb, among the Israelites.
Whether man or beast, it is mine' (Exodus
13:1). In addition to Mary's sin sacrifice, Joseph would have paid a five
shekel redemption tax.
In obedience to the commands and obligations of the covenant, Joseph and Mary presented Mary's firstborn son, Jesus, to Yahweh in the holy house of the Lord'the house of Jesus' true Father (Luke 2:49). In the redemption of the firstborn, every generation of Israel relived the Exodus themes of redemption and judgment (Exodus 13:11-16). Every firstborn from the womb, whether animal or human, belonged to God. The firstborn "clean" animals were animals that could be eaten. Of the "clean" animals only cattle, sheep, goats, or turtledoves and pigeons (the poor man's sacrifice) were fit for sacrifice. These were the only animals that could be offered on God's holy altar of sacrifice (Deuteronomy 15:19-20). The "unclean" animals, like the donkey (Leviticus 13:13; 27:26-27; 34:20; Numbers 18:15), had to be replaced by a lamb or a kid or it had to be killed. All firstborn clean animals and the redemption tax for firstborn children went to the priests (Numbers 18:15-18).
The obligation of redeeming the firstborn was to remind Israel of the firstborn of Israel who were redeemed in the event of the tenth plague during Egypt's night of judgment, but the offering of the firstborn was also to remind Israel of God's judgment in the sin of the Golden Calf. Before the sin of the Golden Calf, every firstborn son was to be given to Yahweh for a lifetime of service'instead of being the head of his natural family, the firstborn sons were to be the older brothers to God's spiritual family. It was this command that made Israel a "nation of priests" (Exodus 19:6). The sons of Aaron were to function as the ministerial chief priests (Exodus 28:1), while the firstborn sons were to serve as the lesser ministers (similar to deacons). However, in the rebellion of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32) the first generation of redeemed firstborn sons who were sanctified the night of the last plague when they were saved from death under the sign of the blood of the sacrificed lambs and kids (Exodus 12:3-14; 21-23), did not rally to Moses. Instead Moses' tribe, the Levites, put down the rebellion. The apostasy of Israel and fall from grace of the firstborn sons resulted in God's judgment on the Exodus generation. In God's judgment concerning Israel's sin of rebellion in the incident of Golden calf worship, the firstborn sons were dispossessed of their firstborn ministerial status. Their positions as Yahweh's lesser ministers was given to the all the clans of the Levites. The Levites were to service their brothers, the chief priests who were the descendants of Aaron (Exodus 32:28-29; Numbers 3:11-13; 18:5-7).(2)
While it was necessary to "redeem" all the firstborn children, male and female, the redemption rite also reminded every family who redeemed a firstborn son that the fall from grace of the first Exodus generation of firstborn sons caused their son to be dispossessed of his rightful place in Yahweh's service. It was ironic that the family's redemption tax that should have gone to the support of their sons as God's ministers went to the support of the Levitical ministers instead (Leviticus 18:20-24; Deuteronomy 14:22). This was the redemption tax and sacrifice that Joseph and Mary were obliged to offer Yahweh at the Jerusalem Temple.(3)
Luke 2:25-26: Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord.
The term "the Christ" (Christos) is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word for "the Anointed One" = the Messiah.
and the Holy Spirit rested on him. Under the Old Covenant the Holy Spirit usually did not fill and indwell the faithful believer. Instead, God's Spirit "rested upon" the righteous or "came over" those God wanted to move by the power of His Spirit ( Numbers 11:25-26, 29; 24:2; and 1 Samuel 10:10; versus: John 14:17; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14). An exception is Joshua in Numbers 27:18.
Question: Scripture says that Simeon was looking forward
to "the restoration of Israel." What exactly does this mean? See
1 Kings 11:26; 12:20-33;
2 Chronicles 9:30-10:19; 11:13-17;
2 Kings 17:5-18;
Ezekiel 37:15-28.
Answer: A civil war after the death of King Solomon divided Israel into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of
Judah. It was Jeroboam, a prince of the tribe of Ephraim, who led the revolt
against the House of David. Jeroboam of Ephraim ruled over the ten Northern
tribes and expelled the priests and Levites from his kingdom. He reintroduced
the worship of the Golden Calf, leading the Israelites into idol worship, and in
opposition to the Jerusalem Temple, which God designated as the one site of
legitimate worship (1 Kings 11:36), Jeroboam set up his own temple on Mt. Gerizim. As a result of Israel's apostasy, God withdrew His hand of protection and Israel was conquered by the Assyrians (722BC). The Assyrians depopulated the Northern
Kingdom, disbursing those ten of the original twelve tribes of Israel into the Gentile world from which they never returned to their ancestral lands. In
the 6th century BC, the Prophet Ezekiel prophesied that the day
would come when God would restore the lost ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom,
reuniting them with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as one people to be ruled
by a Davidic Messiah who would be the King of the restored Kingdom (Ezekiel 37:25-28).
It is this Davidic ruler for which Simeon waited because the Lord had promised
him he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.
Question: How would Jesus accomplish this promised restoration
of those ten lost tribes that had been scattered into the Gentile world for
over 500 years to reunite them with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as one
Godly people? How does Isaiah's final prophecy of restoration reach
fulfillment in Jesus and His Kingdom of Heaven on Earth'the universal Church (see
Isaiah 66:18-24)?
Answer: In the Messianic Davidic Kingdom, all the nations of
the earth would be called into covenant with Yahweh. Those descendants of the
lost tribes of Israel would be drawn back into covenant with Yahweh from the
Gentile nations into which they had been dispersed (Ezekiel 36:19-27). From Judah and the faithful remnant of the ten lost tribes came the Apostles and disciples who would serve
as the first ministers of Christ's Kingdom'the new Israel of the Universal
(catholic) Church. They would be sent out into the Gentile world as priests
and deacons to lead the nations of the world to salvation (Isaiah 66:21;
Matthew 4:17; 28:19-20; Acts 1:6). The blessings of this new creation in Christ would
be eternal life for those who accepted Jesus' gift of restoration and
salvation, but eternal judgment would come to those who, of their own free will,
rejected Christ and His gift. Jesus' First Advent (coming) is the first stage
of the universal restoration. There will be a final universal restoration when
Christ comes again (the Christ's Second Advent (coming); Acts 3:20-21;
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which will be immediately followed by the resurrection
of the dead and the Final Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). The final prophecy of
Isaiah addresses the establishment of the Universal Church and both stages of
the Messiah's universal restoration
Luke 2:27-32: Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: 'Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you promised; for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations; a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel.
Question: How did Simeon happened to be at the Temple when
Joseph and Mary brought the Christ-child?
Answer: The Holy Spirit sent Simeon to the Temple to fulfill
the promise God made to this righteous man: that he would not die until he had
seen the Messiah.
Simeon's rendezvous with the Messiah was the climax of the old man's faith journey. Simeon's canticle of praise to God is known by its Latin name from the first two words of Simeon's hymn: the Nunc Dimittis: "Now Master." The first part of the canticle addresses Simeon's approaching death, now that he has seen the Messiah. The second part of the canticle addresses the promise of glory for Israel and the promise of the gift of a universal salvation offered to all men. Salvation would be offered to the Gentiles who see the revelation of God in the light of the Messiah and the glory for Israel as she fulfills her mission as God's holy nation of emissaries (apostles) to the peoples of the world: ...for salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22).
Luke 2:33-35: As the child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed'and a sword will pierce your soul too'so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.'
In the phrase: and a sword will pierce your soul too'so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare, Simeon is not referring to a literal "sword." Literal swords pierce bodies they do not pierce "souls," or psyche in the Greek. Simeon's prophecy about Mary is related to his words concerning the fall and for the rise of many in Israel.
Question: What was Simeon's prophecy concerning Jesus?
Concerning Mary?
Answer:
Question: Why was Mary to suffer from Jesus' redemption of her
people?
Answer: Mary is a link between the
Old and New Covenants. She is a true daughter of the Old Covenant and
therefore she bore the joy of the faithful remnant but also the sorrow of those
of her people who failed to embrace the gift of salvation through her son. She
offered up her suffering for the redemption of her people at the foot of the
Cross (John 19:25; CCC# 618; 964).
Simeon's prophecy of "a sword" that will pierce Mary's soul is the first allusion to the shadow of the Cross. Simeon's prophecy may be a reference to either Ezekiel 14:12-20 and the prophecy of God's judgment on a faithless and sinful covenant people or perhaps Zechariah 12:9-13:1 which prophesies the mourning over the "piercing" of the Messiah whose death opens a fountain of salvation to wash away sins and impurity'or perhaps it is an allusion to both passages.
Luke 2:36-38: There was a prophetess, too, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
Much that is revealed about Anna in this passage may be only symbolic or symbolic as well as literal. Anna was a prophetess, meaning God spoke through her. Her name is "Anna" in Greek but in Hebrew her name is the same name as the mother of the Prophet Samuel; her name is Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-2:11). Anna's Hebrew name, Hannah, meant "grace" or "favor." This Hebrew name was derived from the same root (hnn) as the Hebrew name Yohanan (John).
If there is symbolic meaning to this very detailed information about Anna, the passage could be interpreted this way: Anna/ Hannah, who was in God's favor ("graced" by God, the meaning of her Hebrew name), was the daughter'literally or symbolically of Phanuel, a name in Hebrew which means "face of God," or "presence of God"–Anna was a spiritual daughter in the presence of God. She was a member of the tribe of Asher. Asher was one of the northern tribes sent into exile among the Gentile world in 722BC. This tribe was descended from Asher, the son of Jacob/Israel and his wife Leah's slave girl Zilpah. When Asher was born, Leah made a word play on the meaning of the child's name: Then Leah said, 'What blessedness! Women will call me blessed!' So she named him Asher (Genesis 30:13). In Hebrew the word asher is a prime root which can mean, as Leah used the word, "to be blessed." Asher was the eighth son of Jacob/Israel; eight is the number of salvation'Anna was waiting for the salvation of Israel and she was blessed by God on this day because she beheld the salvation of her people in this holy child (see Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, and The Anchor Bible: The Gospel of Luke, page 430).
This passage also records that Anna was married for seven years; seven is the number of fullness and perfection, especially of spiritual perfection. She had been a widow, in the literal Greek text, "four score and four years:" four is the number which symbolizes creation and the earth and a score is two tens, ten is the number of divine order'Anna had been waiting (what had been for her a double portion'a long time) for what was ordered to God's time in His plan for the new creation in Christ Jesus (see the "Significance of Numbers in Scripture). The climax of the passage is that the Holy Spirit revealed to Anna that the child she saw that morning in the Temple was the promised Messiah and this was a visible "sign" for her of the deliverance of Jerusalem'the holy city of God and the center of covenant worship.
Question: Did Anna keep this revelation to herself? What is the
obligation of New Covenant believers concerning God's revelation of salvation
through His Son?
Answer: No, she told everyone. This was the mission of the
prophet or prophetess, to share God's revelation with others, and it is also
our mission as Jesus' disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).
THE GENTILES SEEK THE MESSIAH
Let us remain in adoration; and to him, who, in order
to save us, humbled himself to such a degree of poverty as to receive our body,
let us offer not only incense, gold and myrrh (the first as God, the second as
king, and the third as one who sought death for our sake), but also spiritual
gifts, more sublime than those which can be seen with the eyes.
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio, 19
I am coming to gather every nation and every
language. They will come to witness my glory. I shall give them a sign ...
Isaiah 66:19-20a
I see him'but not in the present. I perceive him'but
not close at hand: a star is emerging from Jacob, a scepter is rising from Israel....
Numbers 24:17
Please read Matthew 2:1-23: The Gentiles come seeking the Christ-child
Matthew 2:1-2: After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.'
This part of St. Matthew's narrative is full of Old Testament prophecy. First there is the allusion to the prophecy of the star that was a sign of the future king of Israel in Numbers 24:17, and then there are three additional quotations, one each from Exodus and from the writings of the prophets Malachi and Jeremiah, and finally a mysterious fourth quote for which no single Old Testament prophecy can be found.
The "wise men" from the East who came looking for the Messiah are indentified in the Greek text as Magoi ("Magi" in English). There are three elements in St. Matthew's narrative about the Magi that point to an historical account
Magi were scholars who studied astronomy, probably from the ancient city of Babylon. At this time, Babylon was a Parthian royal city and continued to enjoy the distinction of being one of the ancient world's most important centers of astronomical and astrological knowledge. From the beginning of the pursuit of the study of the cosmos in the early second millennium BC, astronomy was linked to astrology and divination. Royal courts in the ancient world employed astronomers/astrologers to interpret the king's dreams as well as to interpret the significance of celestial events which were viewed as signs from the gods (Daniel 2:1-2). A lunar eclipse, for example, was often interpreted as a sign that a king would die (Josephus links an eclipse of the moon to Herod the Great's death.(5) The work of these ancient astronomers was, of course, limited to what they could see (the telescope would not be invented until the Renaissance). For the ancients, the study of the star constellations and the stars that traveled in erratic paths which they called planetes, meaning the "wanderers" or the "nomads," but which we recognize as planets was limited to the naked eye. Therefore, the only "wanderers" the ancient astronomers could observe were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.
The Magi who made this momentous journey to Jerusalem were from the region that had become part of the Empire of the Greeks after the 4th century BC conquests of Alexander the Great. They were probably familiar with the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Jews' sacred texts) that translated the messianic prophecy in Numbers 24:17 in Greek as: A star shall come forth out of Jacob, a man shall arise out of. This prophecy which originated from the time of the Exodus journey was partially fulfilled in King David, but the Jews also saw it as a prophecy that pointed to a future Messiah from the lineage of the great David. The Numbers 24:17 prophecy was so widely known that references to it are found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus.(6)
The Magi certainly believed a star had led them on their journey by their statement, recorded in Greek: eidomen gar autou ton astera: "We saw his star as it rose..." Astronomers down through the centuries have attempted to determine the nature of the celestial sign that prompted the Magi to travel the hundreds of miles from the region of what had been ancient Babylonia and Persia to the Roman province of Judea. Some have speculated that it was a supernova, others that it was a unique alignment of several planets. However, at about this same time there was another cosmic phenomenon that would have also caught the attention of Near Eastern astronomers as well as religious leaders. Ancient astronomers had observed the precession of the equinoxes, and they understood through their observations that the position of the earth gradually changed in relation to the cosmos. We understand this phenomenon as the gyroscopic wobble of the earth's axis, which changes approximately one degree every 72 years. At the time the Church traditionally identifies within the timeframe of the birth of Jesus,(7) the occurrence of the vernal equinox was starting to take place under the sign of Pisces rather than the sign of Aries. In the ancient world, this was indeed a momentous event.
The last 4 astrological periods related to the shifting constellations of the vernal equinox occur approximately every 2,000 years:(8)
| Date | Period |
| 4000 BC - 2000 BC | Taurus |
| 2000 BC - 1 BC | Aries |
| 1 BC - 2000 AD | Pisces |
| 2000 AD - 4000 AD | Aquarius |
The Magi probably arrived in Jerusalem in about the year 1BC, at the time of the constellation shift. This can be determined by St. Luke's information that Herod ordered that all boy children under two years of age were to be murdered (Luke 2:17). If the date of 3/2 BC is accepted as the year of Jesus' birth, according to the testimony of St. Luke that both St. John the Baptist and Jesus were 30 years old in the 15th year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1-4, 23), then the Magi probably arrived within a year or a year and a half of the Messiah's birth, at a time when Pisces had come into the ascension position.
The advent of the Messiah under the sign of Pisces, the astrological sign of the fish, was a symbolically significant event for Israel, the people of God's holy Covenant. Fish symbolism figured prominently both in Old Covenant faith and in early Christianity (which was heavily Jewish). The fish was a "sign" or symbol of Christ and is prominent in the Gospels as well in early Christian art. The symbolic reference to "the fish" is found in:
Even before the birth of the Messiah, the fish symbolized both life and death: in the Near East it was a symbol of the "death" of one age and the "birth" or "resurrection" of another. This understanding becomes clear when one considers that early Christians came to use the fish as symbolic of the two most sacred of the seven Sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist. Both these sacraments of the New Covenant indicate a death and a rebirth. How perfect that the New Age for the New Covenant people of God should be heralded by the astrological sign that signaled the death of man's great enemy, sin and death, the birth of the New Covenant and the gift of eternal life that would come from Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.
Scholars agree that the sign of the fish has always had been interpreted as being of Israel, the Old Covenant Church, as well as the Universal New Covenant Church. (9) It is interesting that there are two fishes symbolized in the constellation of Pisces and that they are arranged with one fish in a horizontal position and the other perpendicular with a band uniting the two fishes. The perpendicular fish points to the polar star. In the spirit of the Magi, we could speculate that the cosmic placement of the stars in the pattern of the horizontal fish is the Old Covenant Israel, the foundation of the covenant people, while the perpendicular fish is the New Covenant Church rising above the Old Covenant Church and pointing the way to salvation.
But what about the phenomenon the biblical text identifies as a star? St. Ignatius of Antioch (martyred 107AD) made an interesting statement concerning the star of Bethlehem. He wrote circa 69AD: At the appearance of the Lord a star shone forth brighter than all the other stars. St. Ignatius, who studied at the feet of the Apostles, may have been repeating an eyewitness account of the phenomenon. The Magi interpreted what they saw as a new star. It is of course possible that the Bethlehem star was a stellar phenomenon that God created for this moment in salvation history, but it is also possible that what they believed to be a "new" star may have been a conjunction of planets which God orchestrated to converge at that moment in time.
Stars are flickering lights that appear to move across the sky in the course of a night, but their positions in relation to each other remain fixed. Planets, however, are lights that change position slightly with respect to the stars. The positions of the planets change from week to week and do not repeat the same position from year to year. The earth and the planets orbit the sun more or less in the same flat plane; therefore they appear to travel along the same path across the sky, known as the ecliptic. But whereas the sun makes a smooth journey across the ecliptic, spending exactly one month in each of the twelve visible constellations the ancients called the zodiac, the planets do not. The path of the planets appeared erratic. The planets appeared to change speed and, to the ancients, they even appeared to change direction. It was for this reason that the Greeks gave them name planetes, meaning "wanderer" or "nomad." What the ancients didn't understand, of course, was that what appeared to be the retrograde motion of the planets was actually an illusion due to the fact that the sun and not the Earth was the center of the solar system and that the Earth was just another planet circling the sun.(10)
In the 16th century AD the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1631) determined that there were three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the year 7BC. Both astronomers and Bible scholars felt certain that the conjunction of these major planets had to be the Bethlehem star, especially since the significance of the planet of the king (Saturn) and the planet of the supreme god (Jupiter) seemed to fit so appropriately to the birth of Jesus the God who is King. This discovery of the conjunction of the planets in 7BC, coupled with Kepler's other discovery of a partial lunar eclipse in the year 4BC (Josephus recorded that King Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse and before the Feast of the Passover), therefore set the date as far as most Bible scholars were concerned for Jesus' birth in 7BC and Herod's death in 4BC even though the writings of several early Church Fathers, which identified the date of Jesus birth as 3BC, and the official Church date of year 1AD, did not agree.
However, there have been new discoveries that may help to identify the stellar phenomenon of both the star of Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus. Dr. Ernest Martin has argued that an even more striking planetary alignment took place during the year 3/2BC. During the year 3/2BC, the planets Jupiter and Venus made a triple alignment that would have appeared as one tremendous single light, with Venus rising in the east. With the exception of the sun and the moon, Venus is the brightest light in the heavens and Jupiter is the second brightest. A biblical link to support this theory might be the passage in Revelation 22:16 that refers to Jesus as "the bright morning star." Martin's argument for this stellar alignment as the Bethlehem star is so convincing that many of the observatories around the world, including the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, present this theory for the Bethlehem star in their annual Christmas programs.(11)
The year 2-1BC date for the Magi's journey following the star of Bethlehem is a date that agrees with St. Luke's testimony that Jesus was 30 years old in the 15th year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius (Luke 3:1, 23), establishing St. John's birth and Jesus' birth six months later in range of 3/2BC. This is a date that agrees with the testimony of several of the early Church Fathers that Jesus was born in what would be about 3/2BC according to our calendar. The discovery of a full lunar eclipse (Kepler discovered only a partial lunar eclipse occurred in 7BC) that occurred in the year 1BC, fourteen weeks prior to the Passover of that year, supports Josephus' testimony that Herod died between a lunar eclipse and the Jewish Passover, and also points to a 3/2BC date for Jesus' birth. Then too, there was the event of the shift of the constellations that occurred at this time; it was a long-awaited 2,000 year event that would have been seen by these ancient peoples as marking a change in the destiny of mankind.
Question: What does the narrative about the Magi and the star tell
us about the importance of Jesus' birth?
Answer:
Question: Why did the Magi go to the court of King Herod?
Answer: It probably had not occurred to these men that the
birth of the new king of the Jews would not be in the family of the current
ruler.
Matthew 2:3-4: When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
Question: Why was Herod disturbed by the inquiries being made by
these strangers from the East and why was the population of the city of Jerusalem aroused?
Answer: Everyone knew about the prophecies of the promised
Davidic king'especially Herod. He was ruling a kingdom to which he had no
hereditary claim and news of the birth of a Davidic heir was enough to drive
this suspicious and unstable man into a frenzy.(12)
The Magi had traveled a great distance from territory that was under the domination of the Parthians. If their journey originated in the ancient city of Babylon, the distance from Babylon to Jerusalem was about 800 miles. Depending on where they originated, the journey probably took from six months to a year traveling by donkey or camel. Since they were men of high social status, they probably traveled with a retinue of servants in a large caravan. The arrival of any large caravan from the east probably was enough to generate interest in the city, but the richly dressed men of this particular caravan announced that they were looking for the promised Messiah. This news would have spread like wildfire throughout the holy city.
Tradition identifies the Magi as a company of three, but there is no biblical evidence to support this tradition which is probably based on the three gifts they brought for the Christ child. In the Middle Ages, many myths and legends were written about the Magi and in the west they were assigned the names Melchior, Gaspar (Caspar), and Balthazar.(13)
Matthew 2:5-6: They told him, 'At Bethlehem in Judaea, for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader, who will shepherd my people Israel.
Herod called together the most learned men in Jerusalem to tell him where the Messiah was prophesied to be born:
Question: What prophet wrote that Bethlehem would be the
birthplace of the Messiah?
Answer: It was the prophecy of the 6th century BC
prophet Micah who wrote that the Messiah would be born in the ancestral village
of King David and would come to reunite the nation of Israel (Micah 5:1-3
[2-4]).
Matthew 2:7-8: Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared and sent them on to Bethlehem with the words, 'Go and find out all about the child, and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.' Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out.
By the time these events occurred, Herod had been firmly gripping his royal throne for 37 years. He had married nine wives and had many children. His success as a rule stemmed not only from his administrative abilities but from his ruthlessness.
Question: Why did Herod question the Magi about the exact date
they first saw the star?
Answer: He questioned the Magi carefully about the exact date
they saw the star because Herod was already forming his plan to murder the
Messiah. He needed to know what age range of the children he would order to be
murdered.
Matthew 2:9-11: Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Scripture records that the Magi found the "house" (oikia) and the "child" (paidion). Mary's son is no longer an infant and they are now living in a house in Bethlehem (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon).
The Fathers of the Church see in these three treasures symbols of Christ's kingship (gold), His divinity (the offering of incense), and His Passion (myrrh as a burial preparation). The Holy Family is now located in a house in the village of Bethlehem. The Church celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child on January 6th in the Liturgical Calendar.
Question: What Old Testament Scripture passages are fulfilled in
the Gentiles following the star to the Messiah, bringing gifts and worshipping
God the Son?
Answer: Some passages include:
Question: The priests and scribes probably also shared these
passages with Herod. It is the second part of the Numbers 24:17-18 passage
which mentions Edom as an enemy of the Messiah that would have certainly have
made Herod fearful. Why?
Answer: Herod was a descendant of Esau, the father of the
Edomites who in Herod's day were called Idumeans. Herod was the Idumean enemy.
Question: What is the irony concerning the attitude of the Magi toward
the Christ-child as opposed to Herod and the chief priests and scribes?
Answer: The Davidic Messiah is to be the Redeemer of Israel
and yet it is the Gentiles who are anxious to seek Him, to find Him, and to
worship Him.
Matthew 2:12-13: But they were given a warning in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way. After they had left, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.'
Question: How many dream revelations has Joseph had so far?
What Old Testament men of God also received God's revelations in dreams? What
is the link to Joseph the foster father of Jesus?
Answer: This is Joseph's second dream revelation of God's
plan. Joseph the son of Jacob/Israel, who shared the same name as Joseph of
Nazareth, received God's revelation through dreams. The Prophet Daniel, who
prophesied the historical countdown to the coming of the Messiah also received
God's revelations through dreams.
Since "the star rose" and they followed the star the short journey to Bethlehem, it must have been nighttime when the caravan of the Magi located Jesus and His family. After their visit, instead of returning the short distance to Jerusalem, they camped near Bethlehem. Everyone concerned had a troubled sleep that night. The Magi and Joseph were warned in their dreams about the child's danger. Perhaps the Magi weren't naïve'they didn't hurry back to report to Herod. Perhaps the dream was all the confirmation they needed to quickly withdraw from this historic scene, hoping Herod would think they had been unsuccessful in their search. Perhaps they took the Holy Family with them to help start them on their journey to Egypt. The costly gifts they gave Jesus would certainly finance such a journey and would support the family for several years.
Matthew 2:14-15: So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: "I called my son out of Egypt."
Joseph was immediately obedient to the Lord's command. St. Matthew then refers to a prophecy that is related to Exodus 4:23 and to Numbers 23:22. The verse from Numbers 23:22 is part of the story about the prophet Balaam who was hired by the King of Moab to curse the children of Israel on the final leg of their Exodus journey to the Promised Land (Numbers 22:1-24:25). Each time Balaam tried to curse Israel, God turned the curse into a blessing, which understandably infuriated the King of Moab. On the fourth attempt, Balaam did not utter a curse or a blessing, instead he uttered a prophecy of a future Israelite king: I see him'but not in the present. I perceive him'but not close at hand: a star is emerging from Jacob, a scepter is rising from Israel... (Numbers 24:17). This was the prophecy that probably inspired the Magi to follow the star to find the King of the Jews. But in the second curse-turned-blessing, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Balaam recounted God's blessings in bringing Israel out of Egypt, referring to the tribes of Israel as "Jacob," the ancestor from whom the twelve tribes of Israel are descended. Balaam said: God has brought him out of Egypt (Numbers 23:22a)'referring to Jacob as a single individual. This is a statement that is related to Exodus 4:23 where God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh: Israel is my first-born son (singular), meaning out of all the nations of the earth, the children of Israel, the descendants of Noah's righteous firstborn son, Shem (Genesis 10:1; 11:10-26), were God's "firstborn" among the nations.
Question: What is the significance of the passage from Numbers 23:22
that St. Matthew quoted in Matthew 2:15: This was to fulfill what the Lord
had spoken through the prophet: "I called my son out of Egypt"? How does this biblical text connected to the star prophecy in Numbers 24:17, and how
does it prefigure the Messiah?
Answer: The connection is to Jesus, the descendant of Jacob
through Mary, who is God's firstborn son. Jesus is being sent "into Egypt," just as Moses was sent into Egypt when his life was threatened as a child by a wicked king'the
Pharaoh of Egypt who demanded the death of all male Israelite children (Exodus
2:1-10). As an adult, Moses' mission was to lead the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and into freedom in the Promised Land, because God had called Israel, His firstborn son" out of Egypt. This event in salvation history prefigured an even greater
exodus when God's firstborn son, Jesus of Nazareth, is to be the new Moses.
Jesus will also be a "firstborn son" called "out of Egypt," when Joseph brings
the Holy Family back to Judea after the death of Herod and when the child
Jesus becomes an adult, His mission as the "new Moses" will be to inaugurate a "new
Exodus," leading the children of God out of slavery to sin and into the true
Promised Land of Heaven.
Matthew 2:16-17: Herod was furious on realizing that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two yeas old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. Then were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more.
Question: What is the significance of Jeremiah 31:15 and how is
it related to Matthew 2:17 and to the events of the Massacre of the Innocent?
Answer: Matthew 2:17 contains a quote from Jeremiah 31:15 concerning
Israel, the Bride of Yahweh, (symbolized by Rachel) and also the mothers of
Israel who, after the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 587/6BC, mourned
as their children were rounded up and kept on the plains of Bethlehem near
Rachel's tomb before being sent into exiled into the lands of Babylon. St.
Matthew applies that mourning to the cries of the mothers who are the "Rachels"
of Israel from the villages around Jerusalem, whose infant sons had been
murdered by Herod's soldiers.
In the archaeological excavations around Ein Karem (the traditional home of John the Baptist) thousands of the bones of infants dating to this period have been discovered. If you visit Ein Karem you can view a repository that holds thousands of tiny bones and bone fragments. According to the account of the Massacre of the Innocents in the non-canonical document, The Proto-Evangelium of St. James, St. Elizabeth managed, with the help of an angel, to hide young John the Baptist, as St. John's father, Zechariah, in his attempt to protect the children of his village, was murdered by Herod's soldiers. There is no historical evidence of the murder of these children outside of the biblical record (with the exception of the highly unusually amount of children's bones discovered at the sites of the small villages around Jerusalem); however, from what is know historically of Herod's ruthlessness, he was certainly capable of ordering such a horrendous massacre.
Picture of the Mural of the Murder of the Innocents at the Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem.
Picture of the Rock where St. Elizabeth hid her son St. John the Baptist from Herod's soldiers.
Picture of Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem.
Matthew 2:19-23: After Herod's death, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.' So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. But when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the region of Galilee. There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled: 'He will be called a Nazarene.'
Most historians date Archelaus' reign from 4BC?/1BC to 6AD. He was deposed by the Romans. Herod's son inherited all of his father's cruelty but none of his administrative abilities. The Romans could overlook cruelty but not the inability to collect taxes.
Luke 2:39-40: When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And as the child grew to maturity, he was filled with wisdom; and God's favor was with him.
These verses complete the infancy narratives. The final prophecy is found in Matthew 2:23: He will be called a Nazarene. St. Matthew records that these words spoken through the prophets were fulfilled when the Holy Family settled in Nazareth. However, this quotation is somewhat of a mystery. There is no verse from the writings of the prophets where these words can be found. Some Bible scholars have suggested that the prophecy may be an allusion to the nazir, the "consecrated one," like the title of Samuel in Judges 13:5 and 7. Other scholars believe the reference alludes to the origin of the name of the town of Nazareth which may be from the Hebrew word netzer, which means "branch," a Messianic title used by many of the prophets (see Isaiah 11:1-2) making the fulfillment a summation of all the prophases which refer to the Messiah as "The Branch."
The birth narratives of Jesus of Nazareth reveal that even in His birth God the Son manifested Himself to people from all walks of life, first to the lowly Jewish shepherds, then to the humble prophets Simeon and Anna, and later to scholarly and sophisticated Gentile Magi. St. Augustine commented: The shepherds were Israelites; the Magi, Gentiles. The first lived near-by; the latter, far away. Yet both came to the cornerstone, Christ (Sermons on the Nativity of God, #202). From the very beginning of His earthly life, He called Jew and Gentile, the humble and the proud, the poor and the wealthy to come to Him and in repentance and humility to receive God's gift of salvation! How ironic that it was the Gentiles who sought Him out at the beginning and at the end. It was a group of Greek converts to the faith of the Sinai Covenant who requested to speak to Jesus the last day He taught in the Jerusalem Temple in 30AD. It was the Gentile's willingness to come to Him that prompted the Messiah to declare: The hour has now come for the Son of man to be glorified (John 12:23).
BE NOT AFRAID
by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090? – 1153)
Oh man, why are you fearful? Why do you tremble before the face of the Lord because he comes? For he is coming to save the world, not to judge it. Long ago a faithless fellow servant induced you to steal the royal diadem and place it on your head. But you were discovered in the act. You had good reason then to be afraid. You had good reason then to flee from the face of the Lord... now, however, in a land of exile, you eat your bread by the sweat of your brow, and look, a voice is heard on the earth proclaiming the coming of the Lord. Where shall you go from his Spirit? Or where shall you flee from his face? But don't fear, don't flee. He is not coming now in anger. He seeks you not for punishment but in order to save you. And so that you should not say, "I heard your voice and I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10), look, he had become an infant, a little speechless baby. His wailing cries should rather move you to compassion than fill you with terror. And even if possibly they are a cause of alarm for some others, surely they are not so for you. He has made himself a little one. His Virgin Mother wraps him in his poor swaddling clothes'and are you till fearful and trembling? This alone should convince you that he comes not to destroy but to save you, to deliver and not to find you: the fact that he is already fighting against your enemies. That he, as the power and wisdom of God, is already trampling on the necks of the proud and haughty demons. You, O man, have two enemies, sin and death, that is, the death of the soul and the death of the body. Christ came to conquer both, and from both he will save you. So don't be afraid. (14)
Endnotes:
1. The defilement attached to childbirth had no moral significance; procreation and childbirth were not considered sinful. That which was unclean resulting from childbirth was simply a part of nature, as was the woman's issue of blood from her monthly menstrual cycle (Lev 15:19-24). The text in Leviticus explicitly states that the woman who has given birth needed to be purified "from her flow of blood" (Lev 12:7). The two stages of her purification (for a boy seven days and then thirty-three days) had to do with the heavy discharge of blood immediately after birth which is followed by the lighter flow which may last for a number of weeks. She could not enter the Sanctuary during this time because her flow of blood is a ritual impurity that could contaminate the holy space. A sin sacrifice purifies the covenant believer and renders that person ready to re-enter into communion with God through a communion sacrifice and a sacred meal (Lev 7:11 [7:1]-27 [7:17]. She was also required to ritually purify herself through immersion in the Temple mikveh before entering the Temple courtyard to make her presentation before God (Mishnah: Miqvaot).
2. Aaron and his sons were of the clan of Kohath, one of the three clans that comprised the tribe of Levi. Their ancestral father was Levi, the third son of Jacob/Israel. Both the chief priests and the lesser ministers were all from the tribe of Levi, but only Aaron and his descendants were the chief priests from whom the anointed High Priest was chosen. Even Moses' descendants were considered Levites and not from the order of chief priests because they were not descendants of Aaron. God's covenant of the perpetual priesthood only applied to Aaron and his descendants (Lev 2:13; Num 18:9; Sir 45:7, 15).
3. The son bearing the title "firstborn" inherited the double portion of the father's estate and the authority over his younger brothers and sisters. When the Levites replaced the firstborn sons of Israel, they became the "older brothers" with authority over the "younger sons" of Israel: Jewish Study Bible, pages 289-90 (Levites replaced firstborn sons) 594 (authority), 728 (double portion).
4. Herodotus, Histories, 1.7.1; 1.108.2; 1.128; 1. 140.2-3; 3.61-63; 3.67.2-3; 3.76-79; 3.79.3; 7.19.2; 7.37.2-3; 7.43; 7.113.2; 7.191.2; Daniel 2:2 (Daniel described them as sorcerer Chaldeans); also see Acts 8:9 and 13:6, 8 where they are called false miracle workers.
5. Antiquities of the Jews, 17.6.4 [167].
6. Tacitus Histories. 5:13
7. In the 6th century AD, the abbot Dionysus Exiguus (Denis the Short) reformatted the calendar, rejecting the tally of the years from the founding of pagan Rome and recalculating from what he determined was the birth of Christ, which he expressed as year 1 in Anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord," recognized by the initials "AD." Clement of Alexandria [3rd century] and Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea in the Holy Land [4th century]; however, would not have agreed with Denis' calculation for the birth of Christ. Both early Christian scholars agreed that Jesus was born three years earlier than the 1AD date assigned for His birth in the 6th century AD [see Clement of Alexandria's Stomata, I and Eusebius' History of the Church chapter 5]. Eusebius wrote in his Church History: It was in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus and the twenty-eighth after the subjugation of Egypt and the death of Antony and Cleopatra. These calculations place Jesus' birth in 3BC BC [BC = Before Christ]. Also see the document "Dating the Birth of Jesus of Nazareth" in the Documents/New Testament section.
8. Bible Review, December 2001, "The Magi and the Stars," by Simo Parpola, pages 20-23, 52-54; Bible Review, December 1999, "Why 2K?," by James Tabor, page 25.
9. For symbolic references to "fish," "nets," and "fishermen" pertaining to Israel or to salvation and judgment in the Old Testament see Jer. 16:14-16; Ez 12:8-13; 17:19-20; 48:9-10; Hab 1:14-17 The Witness of the Stars, E. W. Bullinger, Kregel Publications, 1998, pages 36-39.
10. It wasn't until the 16th century that the Polish astronomer Nicklaus Copernicus realized that the retrograde motion of the planets was actually an illusion due to the fact that the sun and not the Earth was the center of the solar system.
11 Bible Review, December 1999, "Why 2K?," by James Tabor, page 25: see The Star of Bethlehem: the Star that Astonished the World, Dr. Ernest L. Martin, 1996. A Venus and Jupiter conjunction in right ascension takes place on November 30th, 2008 at 7pm central time. This conjunction is not as close as the year 3/2 conjunction but it will be spectacular as the two plants form a triangle with the crescent moon. A conjunction is when the planets appear to be side by side while in an occultation one planet passes directed in front of the other. Venus and Jupiter will occult in the year 2065.
12. Herod was not a Jew. He was an Idumean (the people who were descendants of Esau; Gen 25:19-28; 27:1-45) whose people were conquered by the Maccabees in the second century BC and were forced to convert to the faith of the Sinai Covenant (1 Mac 5:3). In 40BC he was appointed King of the Jews by his Roman overlords and consolidated power to assume the throne in 37AD. His only tenuous claim to the throne was his marriage to the granddaughter of the last Hasmonean ruler, who he would eventually murder. During the course of his career, Herod, in his desire to eliminate any possible threat to his throne, would execute a brother and three of his own sons not to mention many other unfortunate men and women who he considered real or imagined threats. Herod publically practiced the commands and prohibitions of the covenant including the dietary restrictions, which prompted Augustus Caesar to comment that it was safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's son.
13. In 490AD, the Byzantine Emperor Zeno announced his representatives had discovered the graves of the Magi somewhere in Persia. He had the bones brought to Constantinople and entered in a magnificent crypt. The relics were stolen during the sack of Constantinople in the fourth Crusade and were taken to Milan, Italy. In 1164 Frederick Barbarossa had the bones removed to Cologne, Germany. Today the bones reside in a magnificent reliquary shrine which was built for them in the late 12 century.
14. New Jerusalem Bible: Saints Devotional Edition, Doubleday, 2002.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1991 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
APPENDIX I:
YAHWEH'S EIGHT COVENANTS
But Yahweh's faithful love for those who fear him is from eternity and for ever; and his saving justice to their children's children; as long as they keep his covenant, and carefully obey his precepts. Palms 103:17-18
| COVENANT | SIGN | TEXT |
|
1.Adam -fertility -dominion over the earth |
Tree of Life |
Gen 1:28-30 Gen 2:15-17 |
|
2. Noah and the earth -never destroyed by flood again |
Rainbow | Gen 8:21-9:1-17 |
|
3. Abraham
= 3-fold -land -nation (descendants) -world wide blessing |
Circumcision On the 8th day |
Gen 15:1-18 Gen 17:1-27 Gen 18:18 & 22:18 |
|
4. Moses & Israel - Sinai Covenant - Establishing divine liturgy - Covenant sacrements |
Ark of the Covenant Tabernacle 10 Commandments |
Ex 19:5; 34:10, 27, 28; Dt 5:2-3 |
|
5. Aaron & Sons -perpetual ministerial priesthood |
Salt |
Lev 2:13 Num 18:9 Sir 45:7, 15 |
|
6. Phinehas -perpetual priesthood in Covenant of Peace (prefigures Christ |
Seamless robe & miter |
Num 25:11-15 Sir 45:24 |
|
7. David -dynasty and throne forever secure |
Throne/ Temple |
2 Sam 7:11-17; 23:5; 2 Chr 13:5; Sir 45:25; 47:11 |
|
8. Jesus (Yah-shua = Yahweh saves or I save) also written Yehosua = Joshua |
The Cross, the true "Tree of Life" |
4 Gospels |
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1991 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
*Ecclesiasticus is also called the Book of Sirach
APPENDIX II:
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS RULERS OF JUDEA
FROM 37BC – 68AD
[The Romans controlled Judea from 63BC]
| Roman Emperor |
H E R O D I A N M O N A R C H Y |
Ruler in Judea |
High Priest *Boethus Family +Ananus Family |
Date of High Priest |
|
Augustus [Octavian] 27BC-14AD |
Herod the Great 37BC – 4/1BC Archelaus, son of Herod Ruled 4/1BC deposed by Romans after 2 years. Herod's heirs Antipas, Agrippa I*, Herod of Chalcis, ruled the Galilee, & other territories |
-Ananelus -Aristobulus (Hasmon prince and brother-in-law of Herod) -Jesus, son of Phabi -Simon son of Beothus* -Matthias son of Theophilus* -Joseph son of Elam -Joazar son (?) of Boethus* -Eleazar brother of Joazar* (Romans appoint all future High Priests) |
37BC 36BC ? ? ? ? ? 4BC? 4BC? |
|
| ROMAN ANNEXATION OF JUDEA | ||||
|
Tiberius 14-37AD Caligula 37-41AD |
R O M A N P R E F E C T S |
-Coponius (Prefect) 6-9AD -Ambibulus (Prefect) 9-11AD -Rufus (Prefect) 12-14AD -Gratus (Prefect) 15-26AD -Pilate (Prefect) 26-36AD -Marcellus (Prefect ) 36-37AD -Marullus (Prefect) 37-41AD |
-Joazar (reappointed)* - Annas son of Seth +(in Greek=Ananus) -Ishmael son of Phabi -Eleazar & Simon sons of Annas+ -Caiaphas son-in-law of Annas+ -Johathan, son of Annas+ -Theophilus, son of Annas+ -Matthias son of Annas+ |
5/6AD 6-15AD 15-17AD 17-18AD 18-36AD 37AD 37-41AD 41-48AD |
|
Claudius 41-54AD |
-Herod Agrippa I 41-44AD |
(Matthias continues as High Priest) | ||
|
Nero 54-68AD |
-Cuspius Fadus (Prefect) 44-46AD -Tiberius -Alexander (P) 46-48AD -Ventidius Cumanus (P) -Marcus Antonius Felix (Prefect) 52-60AD -Porcius Festus (Prefect) 61-62AD -Albinus (Prefect)62-64 -Gessius Florus (Prefect) 64-66AD |
-Ananias son of Nebedaeus -Ishmael son of Phabi -Annas son of Annas+ |
48-59AD 59-61AD 62-70AD |
|
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1991 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Resources and recommended reading:
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2002 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.