Part I, Chapter 11, 2

On one of the sabbaths that followed, he went into a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand, Matth. xii. 9. Luke vi. 6. When the Pharisees took counsel to destroy him, he withdrew from there, and great multitudes followed him; he healed them all, and ordered them not to make him known, Matth. xii. 14. Afterwards, being in a ship with the multitude standing on the shore, he spoke to them three parables together, taken from the men sowing seed in the fields, Matth. xiii., by which we may know that it was now seedtime, and consequently that the feast of Tabernacles was past. After this he went into his own country and taught them in their synagogue, but did not perform many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Then the twelve, having been abroad a year, returned and told Jesus all that they had done; and at the same time Herod beheaded John in prison, and his disciples came and told Jesus; and when Jesus heard it, he took the twelve and departed from there privately by ship into a desert place belonging to Bethsaida. The people, when they learned it, followed him on foot out of the cities, the winter being now past; he healed their sick, and in the desert fed them, to the number of five thousand men besides women and children, with only five loaves and two fishes, Matth. xiv. Luke ix.; at the doing of which miracle the Passover of the Jews was near, John vi. 4. But Jesus did not go up to this feast; after these things he walked in Galilee, because the Jews at the Passover before had taken counsel to destroy him, and still sought to kill him, John vii. 1. From this time forward he is found first on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, then by the sea of Galilee, afterwards on the coast of Caesarea Philippi, and lastly at Capernaum, Matth. xv. 21, 29. xvi. 13. xvii. 34.

When the feast of Tabernacles was near, his brothers rebuked him for walking in secret, and urged him to go up to the feast. But he did not go until they had gone, and then went up privately, John vii. 2; and when the Jews sought to stone him, he escaped, John viii. 59. After this he was at the feast of the Dedication in winter, John x. 22; and when they sought again to take him, he fled beyond the Jordan, John x. 39, 40. Matth. xix. 1., where he stayed until the death of Lazarus, and then came to Bethany near Jerusalem and raised him, John xi. 7, 18. After which the Jews took counsel from that time to kill him; therefore he walked no more openly among the Jews, but went from there into a country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he remained with his disciples until the last Passover, in which the Jews put him to death, John xi. 53, 54.

Thus have we, in the Gospels of Matthew and John compared together, the history of Christ's actions in continuous order during five Passovers. John is more distinct at the beginning and the end; Matthew in the middle: what either omits, the other supplies. The first Passover was between the baptism of Christ and the imprisonment of John, John ii. 13; the second within four months after the imprisonment of John, and Christ's beginning to preach in Galilee, John iv. 35, and therefore it was either that feast to which Jesus went up when the scribe desired to follow him, Matth. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51, 57, or the feast before it. The third was the next feast after it, when the corn was in ear and ripe, Matth. xii. 1. Luke vi. 1. The fourth was that which was near at hand when Christ worked the miracle of the five loaves, Matth. xiv. 15. John vi. 4, 5; and the fifth was that in which Christ suffered, Matth. xx. 17. John xii. 1.

Between the first and second Passover, John and Christ baptized together until the imprisonment of John, which was four months before the second. Then Christ began to preach and call his disciples; and after he had instructed them a year, he sent them out to preach in the cities of the Jews. At the same time John, hearing of the fame of Christ, sent to him to know who he was. At the third, the chief priests began to consult about the death of Christ. A little before the fourth, the twelve, after they had preached a year in all the cities, returned to Christ; and at the same time Herod beheaded John in prison, after he had been in prison two years and a quarter; and thereupon Christ fled into the desert for fear of Herod. The fourth, Christ did not go up to Jerusalem for fear of the Jews, who at the Passover before had consulted his death, and because his time had not yet come. From then forward, therefore, until the feast of Tabernacles he walked in Galilee, and that in secret for fear of Herod; and after the feast of Tabernacles he returned no more into Galilee, but was sometimes at Jerusalem, and sometimes retired beyond the Jordan, or to the city Ephraim by the wilderness, until the Passover in which he was betrayed, apprehended, and crucified.

John therefore baptized two summers, and Christ preached three. The first summer John preached to make himself known, in order to give testimony to Christ. Then, after Christ came to his baptism and was made known to him, he baptized another summer, to make Christ known by his testimony; and Christ also baptized the same summer, to make himself the more known; and by reason of John's testimony there came more to Christ's baptism than to John's. The following winter John was imprisoned; and now his course being at an end, Christ entered upon his proper office of preaching in the cities. In the beginning of his preaching he completed the number of the twelve Apostles, and instructed them all the first year in order to send them abroad. Before the end of this year, his fame by his preaching and miracles had spread so far abroad that the Jews at the Passover following consulted how to kill him. In the second year of his preaching, it being no longer safe for him to converse openly in Judea, he sent the twelve to preach in all their cities; and at the end of the year they returned to him and told him all they had done. All the last year the twelve remained with him to be instructed more perfectly, in order to their preaching to all nations after his death. And upon the news of John's death, being afraid of Herod as well as of the Jews, he walked this year more secretly than before, frequenting deserts, and spending the last half of the year in Judea, outside the dominions of Herod.

Thus have we in the Gospels of Matthew and John all things told in due order, from the beginning of John's preaching to the death of Christ, and the years distinguished from one another by such essential marks that they cannot be mistaken. The second Passover is distinguished from the first by the interposition of John's imprisonment. The third is distinguished from the second by a double mark: first, by the interposition of the feast to which Christ went up, Mat. viii. 19. Luke ix. 57; and secondly, by the distance of time from the beginning of Christ's preaching: for the second was in the beginning of his preaching, and the third so long after that, before it came, Christ said, "from the days of John the Baptist until now, etc.," and upbraided the cities of Galilee for not repenting at his preaching and the mighty works done in all that time. The fourth is distinguished from the third by the mission of the twelve from Christ to preach in the cities of Judea in all the interval. The fifth is distinguished from all the former by the twelve having returned from preaching and continuing with Christ during all the interval between the fourth and fifth, and by the passion and other infallible marks.

Now since the first summer of John's baptizing fell in the fifteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius, and consequently the first of these five Passovers in his sixteenth year; the last of them, in which Jesus suffered, will fall in the twentieth year of the same Emperor; and consequently in the Consulship of Fabius and Vitellius, in the 79th Julian year, and the year of Christ 34, which was the sabbatical year of the Jews. And that it did so, I further confirm by these arguments.

I take it for granted that the passion was on Friday the 14th day of the month Nisan, the great feast of the Passover on Saturday the 15th day of Nisan, and the resurrection on the day following. Now the 14th day of Nisan always fell on the full moon next after the vernal equinox; and the month began at the new moon before, not at the true conjunction, but at the first appearance of the new moon: for the Jews referred all the time of the silent moon, as they phrased it, that is, of the moon's disappearing, to the old moon; and because the first appearance might usually be about 18 hours after the true conjunction, they therefore began their month from the sixth hour in the evening, that is, at sunset, next after the eighteenth hour from the conjunction. And this rule they called [Hebrew: YH] Jah, designing by the letters [Hebrew: Y] and [Hebrew: H] the number 18.

I know that Epiphanius tells us, if some interpret his words correctly, that the Jews used a vicious cycle, and by that anticipated the legal new moons by two days. But he surely did not say this as a witness, for he understood neither astronomy nor rabbinical learning, but argued from his erroneous hypothesis about the time of the passion. For the Jews did not anticipate, but postpone their months: they thought it lawful to begin their months a day later than the first appearance of the new moon, because the new moon continued for more days than one; but not a day sooner, for fear that they should celebrate the new moon before there was any. And the Jews still keep a tradition in their books that the Sanhedrin used diligently to define the new moons by sight: sending witnesses into mountainous places, and examining them about the moon's appearing, and moving the new moon from the day they had agreed on to the day before, as often as witnesses came from distant regions who had seen it a day sooner than it was seen at Jerusalem. Accordingly Josephus, one of the Jewish priests who ministered in the temple, tells us² that the Passover was kept on the 14th day of Nisan, [Greek: kata selênên] according to the moon, when the sun was in Aries. This is confirmed also by two instances recorded by him, which totally overthrow the hypothesis of the Jews using a vicious cycle. For that year in which Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, he says, the Passover was on the 14th day of the month Xanticus, which according to Josephus is our April; and five years before, it fell on the 8th day of the same month. Which two instances agree with the course of the moon.

Computing therefore the new moons of the first month according to the course of the moon and the rule Jah, and thence counting 14 days, I find that the 14th day of this month in the year of Christ 31 fell on Tuesday, March 27; in the year 32, on Sunday, April 13; in the year 33, on Friday, April 3; in the year 34, on Wednesday, March 24, or rather, to avoid the equinox which fell on the same day, and to have a fitter time for harvest, on Thursday, April 22; also in the year 35, on Tuesday, April 12; and in the year 36, on Saturday, March 31.

On one of the following Sabbaths he went into a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand, Matth. xii. 9. Luke vi. 6. When the Pharisees then took counsel to destroy him, he left that place, and great crowds followed him. He healed them all and told them not to make him known, Matth. xii. 14. Later, being in a ship with the crowd standing on the shore, he spoke to them three parables in a row, taken from men sowing seed in the fields, Matth. xiii. By this we may know that it was now seed-time, and so that the feast of Tabernacles had passed. After this he went into his own country and taught them in their synagogue, but did not do many mighty works there because they did not believe. Then the twelve, having been abroad a year, returned and told Jesus all that they had done. At the same time Herod beheaded John in prison, and John's disciples came and told Jesus. When Jesus heard it, he took the twelve and left that place privately by ship for a desert place belonging to Bethsaida. When the people learned of it, they followed him on foot from the cities, the winter now being past. He healed their sick, and in the desert fed them to the number of five thousand men, besides women and children, with only five loaves and two fishes, Matth. xiv. Luke ix. As he did this miracle, the Passover of the Jews was near, John vi. 4. But Jesus did not go up to this feast. After these things he walked in Galilee, because at the Passover before the Jews had taken counsel to destroy him, and still sought to kill him, John vii. 1. From then on he is found first on the coast of Tyre and Sidon, then by the sea of Galilee, later on the coast of Caesarea Philippi, and lastly at Capernaum, Matth. xv. 21, 29. xvi. 13. xvii. 34.

Later, when the feast of Tabernacles was near, his brothers criticized him for walking in secret and urged him to go up to the feast. But he did not go until they had gone, and then he went up in private, John vii. 2. When the Jews tried to stone him, he escaped, John viii. 59. After that he was at the feast of the Dedication in winter, John x. 22. When they tried again to take him, he fled beyond the Jordan, John x. 39, 40. Matth. xix. 1. There he stayed until the death of Lazarus, and then he came to Bethany near Jerusalem and raised him, John xi. 7, 18. From that time on the Jews took counsel to kill him. So he did not walk openly among the Jews any more, but went from there to a country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there stayed with his disciples until the last Passover, in which the Jews put him to death, John xi. 53, 54.

So, comparing the Gospels of Matthew and John, we have the history of Christ's actions in unbroken order through five Passovers. John is more exact at the beginning and the end; Matthew in the middle. Whatever one leaves out, the other supplies. The first Passover fell between the baptism of Christ and the imprisonment of John, John ii. 13. The second came within four months after John was imprisoned and Christ began to preach in Galilee, John iv. 35. So it was either the feast Jesus went up to when the Scribe wanted to follow him, Matth. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51, 57. or the feast before that one. The third was the next feast after it, when the grain had formed ears and was ripe, Matth. xii. 1. Luke vi. 1. The fourth was the one near at hand when Christ worked the miracle of the five loaves, Matth. xiv. 15. John vi. 4, 5. The fifth was the one in which Christ suffered, Matth. xx. 17. John xii. 1.

Between the first and second Passover, John and Christ both baptized, until John was imprisoned, four months before the second. Then Christ began to preach and to call his disciples. After he had taught them for a year, he sent them out to preach in the cities of the Jews. At the same time John, hearing of Christ's fame, sent to ask who he was. At the third Passover, the chief priests began to plan Christ's death. A little before the fourth, the twelve, having preached for a year in all the cities, returned to Christ. At the same time Herod beheaded John in prison, after John had been in prison two years and a quarter. On hearing that, Christ fled into the desert for fear of Herod. Christ did not go up to Jerusalem for the fourth Passover, because he feared the Jews, who at the Passover before had planned his death, and because his time had not yet come. From then on, until the feast of Tabernacles, he moved about in Galilee, and in secret because he feared Herod. After the feast of Tabernacles he never returned to Galilee. Sometimes he was at Jerusalem, sometimes he withdrew beyond the Jordan, or to the city Ephraim by the wilderness, until the Passover in which he was betrayed, arrested, and crucified.

So John baptized for two summers, and Christ preached for three. The first summer John preached to make himself known, so that he could give testimony to Christ. Then, after Christ came to his baptism and was revealed to him, John baptized one more summer, to make Christ known through his testimony. Christ also baptized that same summer, to make himself better known. Because of John's testimony, more people came to Christ's baptism than to John's. The following winter John was imprisoned, and his work being at an end, Christ took up his own office of preaching in the cities. At the start of his preaching he brought the twelve Apostles to their full number, and taught them all through the first year so that he could send them out. Before that year ended, his fame from preaching and miracles had spread so far that at the following Passover the Jews took counsel about how to kill him. In the second year of his preaching it was no longer safe for him to meet people openly in Judea, so he sent the twelve to preach in all their cities, and at the end of the year they returned to him and told him all they had done. Through the whole last year the twelve stayed with him to be taught more fully, so that after his death they could preach to all nations. And on hearing of John's death, afraid of Herod as well as of the Jews, he moved about that year more secretly than before, frequenting deserts and spending the last half of the year in Judea, outside the dominions of Herod.

Thus, in the Gospels of Matthew and John, everything is told in due order from the start of John's preaching to the death of Christ, and the years are marked off from one another by such essential signs that they cannot be mistaken. The second Passover is set apart from the first by John's imprisonment coming between them. The third is set apart from the second by two signs: first, by the feast that Christ went up to coming between them, Mat. viii. 19. Luke ix. 57. and second, by the time elapsed since Christ began to preach. The second was at the start of his preaching, and the third came so long after that, before it arrived, Christ said, "from the days of John the Baptist until now," etc., and blamed the cities of Galilee for not repenting at his preaching and at the mighty works done in all that time. The fourth is set apart from the third by the twelve being sent by Christ to preach in the cities of Judea through all the interval. The fifth is set apart from all the former by the twelve having returned from preaching and staying with Christ through the whole interval between the fourth and the fifth, and by the passion and other sure signs.

Now the first summer of John's baptizing fell in the fifteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius, and so the first of these five Passovers fell in his sixteenth year. The last of them, in which Jesus suffered, falls in the twentieth year of the same Emperor, and so in the consulship of Fabius and Vitellius, in the 79th Julian year, and the year of Christ 34, which was the sabbatical year of the Jews. That it did so, I confirm further with these arguments.

I take it for granted that the passion was on Friday, the 14th day of the month Nisan; the great feast of the Passover on Saturday, the 15th day of Nisan; and the resurrection on the day after. Now the 14th day of Nisan always fell on the full moon just after the vernal equinox. The month began at the new moon before that, not at the true conjunction, but at the first appearance of the new moon. For the Jews referred all the time of the silent moon, as they called it—that is, the time of the moon's disappearing—to the old moon. And because the first appearance would usually come about 18 hours after the true conjunction, they began their month at the sixth hour of the evening, that is, at sunset, right after the eighteenth hour from the conjunction. They called this rule Jah, spelling it with the Hebrew letters Y and H, which stand for the number 18.

I know that Epiphanius tells us—provided some interpret his words correctly—that the Jews used a faulty cycle and so moved the legal new moons two days earlier. But he surely did not say this as a witness, for he understood neither astronomy nor rabbinic learning; he was arguing from his mistaken idea about the time of the passion. The Jews did not move their months earlier, but later. They thought it lawful to begin a month a day later than the first appearance of the new moon, because the new moon stayed visible for more than one day; but not a day sooner, for fear of celebrating the new moon before there was any. The Jews still keep a tradition in their books that the Sanhedrin used to fix the new moons by sight. They sent witnesses into mountainous places and questioned them about the moon's appearance, and moved the new moon from the day they had agreed on to the day before, whenever witnesses came from distant regions who had seen it a day sooner than it was seen at Jerusalem. Accordingly Josephus, one of the Jewish priests who served in the temple, tells us² that the Passover was kept on the 14th day of Nisan, kata selene—that is, according to the moon—when the sun was in Aries. Two instances recorded by him confirm this, and they wholly overthrow the claim that the Jews used a faulty cycle. In the year Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, he says, the Passover was on the 14th day of the month Xanticus, which, according to Josephus, is our April; and five years before, it fell on the 8th day of the same month. These two instances agree with the course of the moon.

So, computing the new moons of the first month according to the course of the moon and the rule Jah, and then counting 14 days, I find that the 14th day of this month fell in the year of Christ 31 on Tuesday, March 27; in the year 32 on Sunday, April 13; in the year 33 on Friday, April 3; in the year 34 on Wednesday, March 24, or rather, to avoid the equinox that fell on the same day and to allow a fitter time for harvest, on Thursday, April 22; also in the year 35 on Tuesday, April 12; and in the year 36 on Saturday, March 31.