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New Testament History |
April
31 AD until July 31 AD
On the night of 14 Iyar 31 AD = Wednesday/Thursday 25/26 April (the vision of Wednesday/Thursday 30 April/1 May 1823, repeated on Wednesday/Thursday 22/23 October 1823), Christ left for Cyprus. It was a bright night with stars shining.[5] The Full Moon occurred during the following night, at the start of 15 Iyar. Christ returned from Cyprus on 19 Sivan 31 AD = Wednesday 30 May (the vision of Wednesday 4 June 1823, repeated on Wednesday 26 November 1823).[6] Antipas was at war with the Nabatean king Aretas IV (Nisan 9 BC-Nisan 40 AD)[7] between Passover and Pentecost 31 AD.[8] In order to live with Herodias, in 29 AD, Antipas had divorced Aretas’s daughter. When she returned to her father, he decided to avenge the divorce.[9] Aretas IV was supported for his attack by the tetrarch Philip (Antipas’s half-brother). They joined forces on a similar ground of hatred: Herodias had divorced Philip in order to live with Antipas (Matt 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19), [10] and Antipas had divorced Aretas’s daughter in order to live with Herodias.[11] Philip had at first been married with a widow, then with Abigael, and finally with his stepdaughter by his first wife.[12] The widow is apparently Berenice I. When her husband Aristobulus IV (a son of Herod the Great and Mariamme I)[13] was executed in 8 BC,[14] she married Philip.[15] Aristobulus and Berenice’s daughter, Herodias,[16] is the stepdaughter whom Philip married after Abigail. Josephus wrongly thought that Herod (the son of Herod the Great and Mariamme II),[17] instead of Philip (the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra;[18] Herod was Philip’s dynastic name), was married to Herodias.[19] He therefore erroneously states that Herodias divorced Herod to marry Antipas.[20] Since Philip married a stepdaughter and since in Josephus’s view Salome was Herod and Herodias’s daughter,[21] and thus Antipas’s stepdaughter, Josephus further states that Philip was married to Salome.[22] Salome was about 16 years old in the summer of 29 AD,[23] such that she cannot have been Philip’s wife since Philip was elder than Antipas.[24] Philip was married to his own stepdaughter (rather than Antipas’s), Herodias. Since John the Baptist denounced Antipas’s behaviour, Aretas IV had come to listen to John in order to receive some consolation for Antipas’s divorce from his daughter.[25] This suggests that Antipas was an adversary of John, while Aretas IV was a friend of John. As a consequence people considered Antipas’s defeat by Aretas IV in the spring of 31 AD to be a punishment for Antipas’s execution of John the Baptist (on 3 January 31 AD).[26] At Pentecost 31 AD, Antipas was secretly present in Jerusalem, where he was seeking refuge following his defeat.[27] During the festival, Pilate again claimed the Temple money for the aqueduct. He also erected copper tables with images of the emperor at the exits of the Temple.[28] Philo describes this incident as an instalment of shields covered with gold in Herod the Great’s palace,[29] which was the house of the governors.[30] Pilate’s palace bordered to the north of the Temple,[31] such that shields erected in his residence were at the same time situated at the outer parts of the Temple. The presence of four sons of the king (i.e. Herod) in Jerusalem during this incident[32] indicates that the tumult occurred during a major Jewish festival. It was at Pentecost. Moreover, since at the time of this incident the Jews also accused Pilate before Tiberius on account of several earlier cruel acts,[33] the incident cannot have taken place at the start of his governorship. It was 5 years later (26 AD-31 AD).[34] The meal described in Luke 11:45-52 took place on 13 Tammuz 31 AD = Saturday 23 June (the vision of Saturday 28 June 1823, repeated on Saturday 20 December 1823),[35] and the meal in Luke 11:37-44 on 15 Tammuz 31 AD = Monday 25 June (the vision of Monday 30 June 1823, repeated on Monday 22 December 1823).[36] The Gospel of Luke linked both meals.[37] On that Monday, the Holy Virgin begged Christ not to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Hanukkah.[38] The Feast of Tabernacles (15-22 Tishri) must be intended, the feast that is closest to the month of Tammuz. The confusion is because A.C.E. received the vision on 22 December, the winter solstice; Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and takes place in December.
[1] A.C.E., Vie, 1:15. [2] A.C.E., Vie, 4:320. [3] A.C.E., Vie, 5:1, 3-4. [4] A.C.E., Vie, 5:253. Beginning from Monday 5 January 1824 until her death on Monday 9 February 1824, A.C.E. was unable to communicate much. [5] A.C.E., Life, 3:330. [6] A.C.E., Life, 3:427. [7] Mahieu 2012: 38. [8] A.C.E., Vie, 4:129-130 (the vision of Tuesday 28 January 1823 = Tuesday 23 January 31 AD = 11 Shevat): “Il [i.e. Antipas] demeurait à Hésebon, et y avait réuni tous ses soldats, même des Romains qu’il avait pris à sa solde [idem in A.C.E., Life, 3:205]. […] Je crois qu’il est menacé d’avoir bientôt la guerre avec Arétas, le père de sa première femme, qu’il a indignement répudiée”; 4:312 (the vision of Thursday 24 April 1823 = Thursday 19 April 31 AD = 7 Iyar): “On était occupé à Machéronte à tout déblayer et à bâtir ; je crois qu’on se préparait pour la guerre”; 5:66: “Il y avait à cette époque [i.e. the sojourn of Christ in Cyprus] une guerre entre Hérode et Arétas, son beau-père”; 5:91: “Hérode est maintenant en guerre avec Arétas, son beau-père ; il a même eu recours à un infâme artifice. Il s’est établi à Machéronte avec son armée, et comme les ennemis approchaient, il les a artificieusement invités à une conférence. A peine les chefs furent-ils arrivés à l’endroit indiqué, que le terrain s’éboula sous eux, la flamme jaillit de toutes parts, et des arbres embrasés furent lancés sur ces infortunés.” See Mahieu 2012: 418-421. [9] Josephus, A.J. 18.109-113; A.C.E., Vie, 4:49. [10] Antipas had married his brother’s wife (A.C.E., Life, 1:428). Philip disliked his wife Herodias: A.C.E., Visionen Juni 1820, 209: “Sie hatte einen anderen Mann (Herodes’ [i.e. Antipas’s] Bruder), aber er verachtete sie wegen ihrer Bosheit.” [11] Mahieu 2012: 415-417. A statue was erected at Si‘a (Hackl, Jenni, and Schneider 2003: 178-179 [no. E.004.06], in Auranitis) in the year 33 of the tetrarch Philip (5 February 31 AD/4 February 32 AD) in order to honour Philip for his help given to Aretas IV (Mahieu 2012: 418-419). [12] A.C.E., Life, 2:343-344: “[Philip] was half-brother of the other Herod, born of a different mother, and had first married a widow [i.e. Berenice I] with one daughter [i.e. Herodias]. When Abigail’s husband was dispatched by Philip to a war or to Rome, I know not which, he left his wife behind. She meanwhile was seduced by Philip, who married her, whereupon her husband died of grief. When after some years Philip’s first wife, whom he had repudiated for the sake of Abigail, was about to die, she begged him on her deathbed to have pity at least on her daughter. Philip, who had by this time grown tired of Abigail, married his step-daughter, and banished Abigail and her five daughters to Betharamphtha […]. Philip had one son, and his present wife [i.e. Herodias] was much younger than himself.” [13] Josephus, B.J. 1.563; 2.222. [14] Mahieu 2012: 202. [15] According to A.C.E. (Vie, 4:172 n. 1), Berenice I was the mother of Herodias, and the sister of Abigael. Yet, given that Berenice I was the daughter of Costobar and Herod the Great’s sister Salome (Josephus, A.J. 17.12; 18.133), whereas Abigael was from Jebusite descent (A.C.E., Life, 2:348), Berenice I and Abigael were not sisters. They both were rather wives of Philip. [16] Schürer 1973: 1:614. [17] Josephus, B.J. 1.562; A.J. 17.19; 18.136. [18] Josephus, B.J. 1.562; A.J. 17.21. [19] Josephus, A.J. 18.109, 136. [20] Josephus, A.J. 18.109, 136. [21] Josephus, A.J. 18.136. Salome was Herodias’s daughter: A.C.E., Life, 1:428; 3:144. [22] Josephus, A.J. 18.137. [23] A.C.E., Life, 1:428. A.C.E., Visionen Juni 1820, 209, gives Salome about 14 years of age at the martyrdom of John the Baptist, on 3 January 31 AD. [24] A.C.E., Life, 2:343. [25] A.C.E., Life, 2:164-165. [26] Josephus, A.J. 18.116, 119. [27] A.C.E., Vie, 5:128 (the vision of Thursday 22 May 1823 = Thursday 17 May 31 AD = 6 Sivan, repeated on Thursday 13 November 1823): “Hérode est caché à Jérusalem [idem in A.C.E., Life, 3:411]. Après qu’il eut traîtreusement fait tomber les gens d’Arétas dans le piége qu’il avait dressé à Machéronte, ses ennemis l’ont vaincu dans une rencontre, et il s’est enfui secrètement à Jérusalem. En même temps qu’il cherchait à attirer ses ennemis dans le piége qu’il leur avait été si funeste, il avait envoyé ses soldats en Arabie ; mais ceux-ci ayant été taillés en pièces, il s’était réfugié à Jérusalem.” [28] A.C.E., Life, 3:411: “He [i.e. Pilate] had demanded the contributions offered to the Temple in honor of the feast, in order to build a very long aqueduct. On all the pillars at the entrances to the Temple he had caused to be placed metal tablets on which were the head of the Emperor and, below, an inscription demanding the tax. The people were roused to indignation at the sight of these pictures […]. That evening the mob became perfectly infuriated. They tore down the tables, broke them in pieces, dishonored the portraits, and cast the fragments over the forum in front of the praetorium.” [29] Philo, Legat. 299. [30] Philo, Legat. 306. [31] A.C.E., Passion, 185, 189. [32] Philo, Legat. 300. [33] Philo, Legat. 302-303. [34] Tiberius ordered Pilate to move the shields to Caesarea (Philo, Legat. 305). At the incident of 3 Kislev 29 AD, Pilate himself decided to move the ensigns to Caesarea. [35] A.C.E., Life, 3:456. [36] A.C.E., Life, 3:459-460. [37] A.C.E., Vie, 5:238: “Le Sauveur allant se mettre à table, un pharisien le prit par le bras et lui dit qu’il s’étonnait qu’un homme qui parlait avec tant de zèle, observât si peu les traditions saintes et qu’il se mît à table sans s’être lavé [Luke 11:37-38]. […] Ce n’est pas ici, mais à Capharnaüm, que se présenta à lui le docteur de la loi [Luke 11:45] ; ces deux repas sont réunis dans l’Evangile.” [38] A.C.E., Life, 3:459. |