Fact check: the Biblical Chronology of Jesus' birth is reliable.
Gerard Gertoux saves the day once more in establishing the year of Jesus' birth.
Gérard Gertoux is a brilliant scholar whose vast and detailed scholarly output has established the reliability of the Biblical chronology, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
You see, in the past, scholars used carbon dating, a particularly inaccurate and vague form of dating, as the foundation for dating archaeological findings, and many of the conclusions particularly of the minimalists are dubious, for they discount the reliability of the Bible a priori.
Gertoux uses astronomical data as the basis for his dating, which includes new moons (particularly important for dating Passovers in Judaism), positions of the stars and planets in the sky (Egyptian royal tombs include a pantheon, which shows which stars were visible at the time of death of the monarch; the Babylonians were particularly obsessed ), and eclipses and so forth.
One of the major problems in dating Jesus’ birth is the timing of King Herod’s death. Many scholars say this happened in 4BC, because of some ambiguities in the first century historian Josephus’ accounts, however Gertoux establishes that Herod actually died in 1BC. This fits in with a 2BC birth of Jesus. (By the way, Dionysiuys Exiguus was the sixth century monk who decided to split history into A.D. and B.C. - what we can be fairly certain of is that he chose the wrong date! )
Gertoux’s study may be found on academia.org, and is given away for free: https://www.academia.edu/2518046/Herod_the_Great_and_Jesus_Chronological_Historical_and_Archaeological_Evidence
The cover of Gertoux’s study:
The cover pictures are actually pictorial evidence for the date for Herod’s death, which Gertoux explains in his cover notes:
(top left): First coin minted by Herod the Great after his victory over Jerusalem in July 37 BCE dated Year 3 (L Γ). Given that Jewish reigns began on 1st Nisan (April), Year 3 was from April 36 BCE to March 35 BCE. Consequently his Year 37 was from April 2 BCE to March 1 BCE.
(top right): Full lunar eclipse dated 9/10 January 1 BCE. According to Josephus, Herod the Great reigned 37 years and died (on 2 Shebat according to Megillat Taanit 23a) after a day the Jews observed as a fast (on 10 Tebeth according to 2Ki 25:1, Zc 8:19) and just before an eclipse of the moon (Jewish Antiquities XVII:166-167,213). In 1 BCE, 10 Tebeth was 5 January and 2 Shebat was 26 January.
(bottom left): First coin minted by Herod Philip after his father’s death on 26 January 1 BCE dated year 3 (L Γ). Consequently his Year 3 was from April 1 BCE to March 1 CE.
(bottom right): Partial lunar eclipse seen at Jerusalem when Jesus died on 14 Nisan carrying out “the moon will be turned into blood” (Acts 2:20) dated Saturday 3 April 33 CE.
He dates the birth of Jesus to September 29th, 2BC.
The date of Jesus' birth, set on September 29 in 2 BCE, is consistent with the following chronological pieces of information from the well documented Julian reckoning:
•Jesus was born during a general registration (which was a special census) of the Roman Empire. As they were quinquennial (every 5 years) and as these censuses at the beginning of our era are well known because they are dated respectively 4, 9 and 14 CE, it is easy to deduce that the previous one had to have taken place in summer 2 BCE. This coincidence is not accidental because on February 5, 2 BCE, Emperor Augustus became the "Father of the country" and decreed this opportunity to "inventory the world."
•Jesus being about 30 years in the year 15 of Tiberius (in 29 CE) it is still easy to calculate the year of his birth in 2 BCE (= 29 - 30, no year 0).
•The testimonies of the historians of the first six centuries are unanimous in dating the birth of Jesus in 2 BCE.
Gerard Gertoux’s study is highly detailed and well worth reading if you are interested in Biblical chronology.
As I have mentioned before, the Bible is historically reliable.
Merry Christmas!
Jesus’ birth according to the gospel of Luke
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.(This was the first census that took place whileQuirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2:1-20
Addendum
Bible.org supports the other view - perhaps they haven’t read Gertoux’s study