Introduction
This page looks at an apparent anomaly between Biblical account of the life of Jesus and the Jewish History of Josephus. In short, Josephus seems to date the death of John the Baptist to 36CE, the last year of Pilate's tenure in Judaea, and years after the "accepted" death of Jesus Christ.
However, a closer look at the text reveals that Josephus's use of dates can be quite unreliable - and therefore we cannot be sure of when his reference to John the Baptists death occurred.
(I am grateful to Tektonics for providing useful information on this matter in their article Josephus vs. Mark on Herod vs. John. The opinions in this article are, of course, mine and not theirs).
Dating John the Baptist from the Bible
The Gospel according to Luke is unusually specific about the date of John the Baptist's teaching:
"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins..." [Luke 3:1-3]
Historical records are available for all of the rulers mentioned:
- Tiberius Caesar was joint ruler of Rome from 12 CE, and came into power in his own right in 14 CE. Therefore the fifteen year of his reign must have been between 26-29 CE.
- Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea between 26-36 CE.
- Herod Anitpas and his brother Philip ruled until their deaths in 39 CE and 34 CE respectively.
- Annas was high-priest between 6-15 CE, and was apparently still influential during the tenure of his son-in-law Caiaphas in 18-37 CE.
According to Luke, therefore, John The Baptist's ministry must have began around 26-29 CE. Further, Luke 3:23 states that Jesus Christ was about thirty years old at this time.
It is commonly calculated that Jesus was crucified on 7 April 30 CE or (more likely) 3 April 33 CE. (Sir Isaac Newton preferred a date of 23 April 34 CE).
Dating John the Baptist's death from Josephus
Josephus mentions John The Baptist in his Antiquities at 18.5.2 116-119.
"Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man... Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him." [18.5.2 116-119]
In his web page John the Baptist and Josephus G. J. Goldberg writes:
"A puzzle for readers is that Josephus' description of John the Baptist occurs several paragraphs after his description of Jesus (18.5.2 116 compared to 18.3.3 63), implying that John came later in time; but it is important in the gospels that John appeared before Jesus so as to announce him..."
"...it does appear that Josephus is giving John's death as occurring in 36 CE, which is at least 6 years later than what is expected from the New Testament, and after the crucifixion of Jesus. This date is seen as follows. Herod's battle with Aretas appears to have broken out soon after Herod's first wife, Aretas's daughter, left him. If so, then John did not have much time between the moment people were aware Herod was remarrying and the start of the battle with Aretas, for John was already dead before the battle. Josephus gives several indications that the battle occurred in 36 CE..."
"According to Josephus, John the Baptist is arrested around this time and killed shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, this is after the traditional dating of Jesus death, but traditional also says that Jesus began his ministry around the time John died."
Goldberg considers explanations for this 36 CE dating by the scholar Christiane Saulnier, but concludes:
"Considering the arguments as a whole, Saulnier does propose a possible way in which Josephus' chronology can be reconciled with the gospels'. For believers in the basic accuracy of the gospels, that is enough. But if one regards the gospels' dating as suspect and solely works from Josephus' text, then Saulnier's discussion pushes the date back some but does not produce any firm evidence identifying the date... before the early 30's CE. The reader can choose between these alternatives according to his or her own predisposition. "
The 36 CE date is of interest not only because it is two or three years later than the accepted date for Christ's death; but also because Pontius Pilate's term as governor of Judaea ended in that year.
This problem with dating has long been recognised by Christian writers. The 1902 Catholic Encyclopedia has this explanation for the discrepancy:
"...it should be remembered that [Josephus]... is woefully erratic in his dates, mistaken in proper names, and seems to arrange facts according to his own political views; however, his judgment of John, also what he tells us regarding the Precursor's popularity, together with a few details of minor importance, are worthy of the historian's attention."
This argument is expanded by the Fundamentalist apologetics website Tektonics:
"...It contains an assumption, namely, that because Joe reports the war with Aretas right after he records the execution of John, that this means that he is reporting that the war took place soon after the execution. But this assumption is gratuitous, and as Hoehner points out [126n], "The Jews felt that God's revenge did not always occur immediately at the time of the misdeed..." The death of Antiochus was regarded as a judgment for his profanation of the Temple, though he died three years after the event; Pompey died in 48 BC, 15 years after he profaned the Holy of Holies, but it was still regarded as a judgment for that act (Jos. Ant. 14.71-2; Ps. Sol. 2:30-5), and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 was thought by some to be a judgment for the execution of a high priest who lived in the 50s (Jos. Ant. 20.160-7)."
This does indeed seem to throw the datings apparently given by Josephus into question.
Conclusion
It seems that either Josephus is wrong, or the Bible (or both!). The very specific dating given in Luke 3:1-3 is not repeated in the other Gospels, and the authorship of Luke is uncertain.
Readers may also be interested to note that the early Christian writer St. Irenaeus (c. 125-191 CE) wrote that apostlistic tradition taught that Jesus was around fifty when he died - and that he preached for many more than the three years commonly attributed. If trus, this would imply that Jesus was either born well before 1 BCE, or that he died well after the time of Pilate.
Further Reading
Chronology and History of the New Testament and the Bible, About.com
The Birth Of John The Baptist, Anglican.org
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