Page 11 - Life of Christ - textbook (3)

Herod’s crowning achievement was the new port city of Caesarea in honor of Emperor Augustus. This
magnificent and opulent city was dedicated in 9 BC. The city was laid out on a Greek grid plan, with a
market, an aqueduct, government offices, baths, villas, a circus, and several pagan temples. The port
was a masterpiece of engineering; its piers were made from hydraulic concrete which hardens
underwater.

In spite of all the beautiful buildings Herod constructed for the Jewish people, for the most part he was
greatly hated. The Sadducees hated him because he had terminated the rule of the old royal house to
which many were related, so their influence was curtailed. The Pharisees despised him because, even
though he claimed to be Jewish in religion, he did not reverence the Law. And the people hated him
because to build all the buildings and sites were expensive to build, so he taxed the Jews with TWO
taxes annually, one at 10.7% and one at 8.6%. Herod had to resort to violence and employed
mercenaries and secret police to enforce the tax.

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In 1BC , Herod died of a terrible disease and his son, Herod Antipas was assigned to rule Galilee and the
east bank of the Jordan. His sibling, Philip, was to be tetrarch of the Golan Heights, and Herod’s son,
Archelaus, became tetrarch of Samaria and Judaea. Herod was buried in Herodium and few were sorry
to see him go. This was how the country was divided in leadership when Jesus Christ was a young child.

Nazareth
Nazareth was a small city located 12 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee. It was located on a high bluff
about 1,138 feet above sea level and has a perfect view of the fertile Jezreel Valley below. At the time
of Christ there was one ancient spring for water. It was a conservative town, clinging to the traditional

6 The majority of New Testament scholars place Jesus’ birth in 4 BC or before. This is because Josephus
declared that Herod died in 4 BC and Herod played a major role in the narrative of Jesus’ birth. Jesus
would have to have been born BEFORE Herod died. The evidence for believing Herod died in 4 BC
mainly comes from the writings of Josephus (AD 37–103), a first century Jewish historian. Josephus
stated that there was a lunar eclipse just before Herod died. Tradition has this event assigned to the
eclipse of March 13, 4 BC. Further evidence for the 4 BC date of Herod’s death comes from coins of the
period, which show that his successors began their reign in 4–3 BC.

However, there is a problem with this date. If Jesus was born in 4 BC or earlier, and he began his
ministry when he was 30 years old (Luke 3:1,23), he would have begun his ministry in 27 AD (from 1 BC
to 1 AD is one year). Most scholars place his death in April, 33 AD. That means that Jesus was 36 or 37
years old when he died and had a 6-year ministry on earth. But that does not fit with what most
scholars hold as a 3 to 4-year ministry as described in the Gospels.

Possible solution: Josephus, who wrote almost 100 years after the event, mentions only one lunar
eclipse and dates Herod’s death based on that eclipse. Furthermore, the eclipse of 4 BC happened in the
middle of the night and would not have been observed by many. As well, it was only a partial eclipse. In
contrast, the only other eclipse during this time frame was on December 29, 1 BC and was clearly visible
at sunset. It is very possible that Herod died in 1 BC rather than in 4 BC, which solves our problem.
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For an extensive study on these dating methods, see J.P. Pratt, The Planetarium, 1190, p. 8 – 14. See the reprint
here: https://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/herod/herod.html.

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