On the Eleventh and Twelfth Days of Meier...

On the eleventh and twelfth day of Meier, his Marginal Jew brought to me, 12) some more final endnotes, 11) a chronology of Jesus' life, 10) Jesus' family, 9) a long stretch of endnotes, 8) Jesus' language, education, and social status, 7) origins of Jesus of Nazareth, 6) part 2 criteria for the historical Jesus, 5) part 1 criteria for the historical Jesus, 4) agrapha and Nag Hammadi, 3) Tacitus and other Jewish sources; 2) Josephus and the books of the canon; and 1) and an introduction to the historical Jesus.

Lest you think I can't finish anything I start (whoever "you" are), here is the final installment of Meier's first volume. Chapter 11 of his book is titled, "In the Fifteenth Year... A Chronology of Jesus' Life."

1. Pontius Pilate...
... held office from AD26-36, so Jesus presumably ministered during these years.

2. Luke 3:1-2
The fifteenth year of Tiberius isn't as easy to fix as it might first seem. Anywhere from AD26 to 29 is possible. If it weren't for John, Meier probably would say AD29, I think. John has a two plus year ministry. The Synoptics don't require even one, although Meier has a lengthy endnote about the green grass in Mark at the beginning and end of the gospel, which could give the impression of at least two Springs involved.

Philip's rule over Trachonitis ended in 33 or 34. These two parameters would further restrict the beginning of Jesus' ministry, assuming the accuracy of Luke 3:1-2, to 26-34. And the death of Jesus then looks more like AD28-33 to Meier. I'm not sure where he gets the AD33 for the end limit of his death, since presumably Philip need not still live at the time of the crucifixion.

A little later on in the chapter Meier revisits the fifteenth year of Tiberius. This discussion reminds you of your gratitude to the detailed people who do this sort of work, while perhaps making you glad you aren't one of them. Meier mentions at least 4 different calendars that were in use at the time, the Jewish, the Julian, the Syro-Macedonian, and the Egyptian, each of which started the year on a different date. Then there is the question of whether the years are counted from the ascension of Tiberius or more according to the calendar year.

Once your head stops spinning, Meier notes that of the four most likely ways of reckoning, AD28 is a part of the likely year. So he suggests Jesus began his ministry in AD28, give or take a year.

3. Jesus birth during the reign of Herod the Great
Even though Matthew and Luke differ is several respects, they both place Jesus' birth during the last days of Herod's reign. Herod died in 4BC. The idea of Herod killing children two years and younger would suggest 4-6BC. This of course assumes that some historical memory is at work in Matthew's account.

4. Luke 3:23; John 8:57; and 2:20
These confirm these general limits. Luke 3:23 give the ballpark figure of Jesus starting his ministry around the age of thirty. The fifty years old of John 8:57 is not so much about Jesus' precise age but a very general figure in comparison to how long ago Abraham lived. The question of the temple being under construction for forty-six years also does not yield a precise date. Was the reconstruction begun in 19BC? That's a majority position. But is the 46 years from when it was started (thus placing John 2:20 around 27BC) or from when the central temple part was finished in 17BC (thus 29BC)? Do we go with John's chronology of a temple cleansing in the first year of Jesus' ministry or with the Synoptic last week of Jesus' ministry?

Basically, we end up exactly where we were, 27-33ish.

5. Last Supper and Passover
From the "fifteenth year of Tiberius," Meier is thinking AD28 has a high probability of the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Now he focuses on the date of Jesus' crucifixion.

The gospel traditions agree that Jesus was arrested on Thursday night and crucified on Friday morning. The problem is that the Synoptics present the Last Supper as a Passover meal. In other words, the lamb would be killed in the afternoon on the 14th of Nisan and then eaten after sundown on the fifteenth (the Jewish day begins at sundown). In John, however, the Last Supper is not presented as a Passover meal and in fact John seems to imply several times that the Passover meal had not yet taken place when Jesus was crucified (e.g., 19:14).

Meier dismisses attempts to reconcile these two accounts, going through a few. One interesting summary comment Meier makes is that such attempts--and one in particular--make the gospels "all right when they disagree, all wrong when they agree" (194). What he means is that in order to make them all agree at points of apparent disagreement, a particular interpreter has to deny points on which they all seem to agree (namely, that Jesus ate a last meal with his disciples on Thursday night and was crucified Friday morning).

In the end, Meier chooses John's chronology at this point as he understands it, namely, that Jesus died the morning of the 14th of Nisan. He thinks in anticipation of his coming arrest, Jesus ate a solemn farewell meal with his disciples a day early (399). He mentions a couple frustrations when we next use astronomy to find years when the 14th of Nisan was on a Friday. You have to be able to see the new moon for the month to begin officially. Then leap days were added to the year as needed... and we don't know when!

But going by Jeremias, Meier fixes on either Friday, April 7th, AD30 or Friday, April 3, AD33. The latter date would require a four or five year ministry of Jesus, so Meier concludes that the AD30 date is more likely.

So Meier concludes that Jesus likely began his public ministry in AD28 soon after John the Baptist and that he was executed on April 7, AD30.

Here endeth the Marginal Jew.