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Star of Bethlehem (was: the Millennium)



At 02:42 PM 11/19/98 -0500, David Bowman wrote:
Regarding James Wheeler's correction:
Herod the Great was the ruler who died in 4 BCE, and was also the ruler
that ordered the slaughter of innocents. 4 BCE is thus after the birth of
Jesus. The Herod who was involved in the trial was Herod Antipas, the son
of Herod the Great. Easter is usually dated by the solar eclipse that was
observed in Jerusalem on Good Friday.

{Snip}

Btw, the dating of the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE is an inference
drawn primarily from the writings of Josephus (in his _Antiquities of the
Jews_) who mentioned a lunar eclipse which occurred shortly before Herod's
death. Assuming that that eclipse was a full lunar eclipse and including
a couple of other historical tidbits constrains Herod's death to be in the
spring of 4 BCE. If the eclipse was partial then I think a couple of other
dates become possible as well.


I probably shouldn't get into this one (lack of time, no other reason!) but
...

check out Ernest Martin's "The Star That Astonished the World" (ASK
Publications, 1991)

and the web site http://listserv.america.edu/catholic/other/star.bethlhem

What you will find are some alternative interpretations of the dates for
the Star of Bethlehem. In particular, some fairly convincing historical
interpretation of Josephus which moves the most likely date of Herod's
death to 1 BCE, based on trying to fit in all the funeral events reported
in Josephus' history. He estimates a minimum of 10 weeks for all the
stuff, which included a funeral procession which traveled some 25 miles at
a rate of 1 mile per day.

The lunar eclipse seen in Palestine in 4 BCE on March 13 would not have
allowed enough time, since it was seen only 29 days before Passover.

2 BCE marked the 25th year of Augustus' rule and the traditional 750th year
of the founding of Rome. There was, in preparation for that year, a census
ordered to name Augustus the Father of the Country (pater patriae), which
fits well with the narrative in Luke. There was, by the way, no general
taxation enrollments in this time.



George Spagna **********************************************
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phone: (804) 752-7344 * cited in APS News *
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e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu **********************************************
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