Some Christian scholars argue Jesus was crucified on Thursday and some even hold to a Wednesday crucifixion. There are also complicated issues about various calendar systems in use at the time of Christ that create confusion. The astronomical science tells us there was no solar eclipse over Bithynia in that year. For example a time-line can be established from his famous works called The Olympiades as follows: "In the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great eclipse of the Sun, greater than had ever been known before, for at the sixth hour the day was changed into night, and the stars were seen in the heavens. A solar eclipse can occur only at new moon, but we know that Jesus was crucified at the time of Passover (Matthew 26:2; Mark 14:12,12; Luke 22:12, 7; John 13:1), and that the Passover is at the time of full moon (Exodus 12:111; Leviticus 23:5). I would say there are a couple oflines of argument that can be used to date the crucifixion. The Formal Correction is on the way! This example underlines the point that Matthew did not have a similar need to defend the truth of the three hour darkness, precisely because it was a well known, accepted and indisputablefact. While the actual words used by Thallus no longer survive, the response of Africanus (below) give us a sense of what he must have said: As to His (i.e., Jesus Christ) works severally, and His cures effected upon body and soul, and the mysteries of His doctrine, and the resurrection from the dead, these have been most authoritatively set forth by His disciples and apostles before us. This is a clear Bible prophecy foretelling that God would cause the punishment for our sins to fall upon Jesus. If your sunset occurs later than sunset in Athens, the event may occur on the previous day . So, these historical extrabiblical sources are also consistent with the AD 33 date. Barton, Bill, This webpage quotes John Lightfoot explaining the "onah" concept. There were Jewish, Christian, and Roman writers from the first and second centuries that refer to Christ and the crucifixion. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFRobertsDonaldsonCoxe1896 (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm, http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=00291124, Fragments of Phlegon on the passion phenomena, William Smith, "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology" (1870) v. 3, page 336, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phlegon_of_Tralles&oldid=1125623921, Articles needing additional references from April 2019, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2013, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 December 2022, at 00:29. I will not go through all the information in Colin Humphrey's book but I will try to summarize the evidence as I see it. The ancient Olympic Games were held every four years for almost 1,100 years. event bed is another distinctive mixed layer less than one inch thick. this objectionis something of a fallacious argument. All rights reserved. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. In chapter 28, Matthew provides an accountprobably sourced to either one of the guards and or a Jewish elderof how the guards were bribed, and the lie was spread that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus (cf Matthew 28:1-15). 1996. p. 217. Thankfully we have a more detailed fragment from Phlegon's Olympiades: We know from the Bible that on the day of Crucifixion the Sun was darkened for three hours, and there was a great earthquake. The question is: should we accept the historicity of this Crucifixion darkness? However, history provides a sufficient answer as to why such documentary evidence has not survived on these topics of great interest. Please note, I do not believe that this eclipse is connected with the crucifixion. But consider how do we know anything about history? The mention of three nights in this verse has prompted some to propose the crucifixion was on a Wednesday or a Thursday. Solar eclipses during this time frame that were visible to that part of the world were rare, which puts obvious delimiters on when they occurred. 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, in the 18th year of Tiberius. From this brief statement, the skeptic wants to declare victory and go home. Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137. Jesus baptism was apparently not long after the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry. Jesus was born whilst Herod, the Great, was still alive; we know he died in BCE and on 1st April 4BCE. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The madness of the skeptic is such that they would have us believe sources which are silent, over those which speak. Thus, if the quote is accurate, and Phlegons eclipse has not been conflated with one which occurred in 29 A.D., then Phlegon is another source who supports the Crucifixion darkness. I am not convinced by this even though I believe in the darkness over the land when Jesus was crucified. In sum, the words of Tertullian and Africanus show us that in ancient times onlythe explanation of the causeof the three hour darkness was in dispute,not the fact of it. The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad was in 33 A.D.!!! Properly working out the Jewish calendar shows this to work for AD 33 (see C. Humphreys). . It was recorded by a Pagan author who had no desire to promote Christianity yet he confirmed the Bible record! Thus the New Moon is not visible. Well, for starters, it places a high degree of scientific precision for a writing that could considered to be hearsay or speculative because of its inference from another source. 26:61, Matt. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. . Christ still changes lives like he did in the first century. Retrieved November 30, 2006 from [2]. We do however have important sections of Phelgon's work, which are critical in dating the Crucifixion. There are few historical records that are actually from the time of Christ but there are some records from historians from the second century AD. The Date by Deduction . It is significant that Jesus be crucified on a Friday because that is the normal time when the passover lamb was sacrificed by the Jews. This information augments Phlegons credibility as a historian; citing sources that preceded his lifetime and were thus out of his control, as they would have recorded the event about a century before he was writing. This argument is sufficient to diffuse the skeptics argument with regard to Pliny. We do not know what other sources that Africanuswho established a library for Severus Alexander might have had at his disposal with regard to Phlegons writings. Jesus was ABOUT 30 years old when He began His ministry. As explained, we believe that the darkness referred to by Phlegon is the same darkness referred to in Matthew 27:45. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the One who saved me, and my goal is to spread the gospel and all the evidence for Christianity! It was not until the sixteenth century that the Jewish calendar was formally defined precisely. We also know from the New Testament that at that time Caiaphas was the Jewish High Priest (Caiaphas is mentioned in Jewish writings) and Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. What miracles!!? Therefore, it is possible Phlegons source witnessed the Crucifixion darkness from there at the same hoursuggesting the darkness and earthquakes reached far beyond the region around Jerusalem. Pliny tells us from the outset that unusually long eclipses areportentous. As a Roman noble, it is not remarkable that Pliny selected two examples which were portentous with respect to the history of Rome, i.e., the eclipses at the times of Caesars death and the war against Antony. The above said, we may venture still further in suggesting another reason for theseemingsilence. The source from Jerome above is interesting in that it dates the unusual darkening of the sky by the Olympiad numbering system. (below) says it took place in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, which was 33 A.D. - which can be verified by clicking on the link following Phlegon's quote in red below. Even if the darkness had not been seen throughout the whole empire, word of it would have spread to Rome as the center of government and commerce. Eusebius' records of the Olympics were considered authoritative but were lost, though they are translated and preserved some in the writings of others. This Is A Perfect Picture Of The Gospel, The Crown Of Thorns, And The Mocking Of Jesus, The Wound Between The 5th And 6th Right Ribs, The Fulfilment Of Prophecy Concerning The Unbroken Bones, The Anatomical And Physiological Details Of Death By Crucifixion, The Rejection Experienced By Jesus On The Cross, The Discovery By Ron Wyatt In 1982 Of The Ark Of The Covenant, A Brief Overview Of The New Covenant In The Blood Of The Messiah, And The Biblical Support For The Blood On The Mercy Seat. The term "Onah" or sometimes "Onath" is a loose way of referring to part of a day. 776 BC = Olympiad 1, not 0. source:http://earthquaketrack.com/il-06-jerusalem/recent. and a seismic event that happened sometime between the years 26 and 36. He was smartly dressed, flamboyant and gregarious. This earthquake would have been massive to be felt in Israel and Turkey at the same timethink of the catastrophe! Moon phase and solar year events are shown on the day in Athens. A solar eclipse supposedly occurred during a full moon. Even if there was an issue of corruption or inaccuratetranslation of the Phlegon writing, how could the science possibly have been faked when there would have been no way of faking it hundreds of years later without it being obviously exposed? This information was considered reliable at the time because Origen (in 248 CE) quoted it to refute Celsus (Against Celsus II:14,33,59), a Greek philosopher very critical of Christianity but familiar with history. Required fields are marked *. The expression "three days and three nights" then becomes a special idiom that had a different meaning to the Jews than the way we would use it today. The gospel references where Jesus predicted he would rise in three days are Matt. Adding these figures up, we find that Jesus began proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of heaven when he was 33 years old. (Sextus Julius Africanus,Fragment 18. In fact, it is also quite impossible for a solar eclipse to last for 3 hours. . Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. (Matthew 27: 45), And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour. The timing of this "eclipse" referred to by Phlegon is similar to the event described in the Gospels. Last Olympiad: Next Olympiad: 1st year: Begins 29-07-01/02: Hekatombaion 29 Metageitnion 29 Boedromion 30 Puanepsion 29 Maimakterion 30 Poseideon . Another historian, Philipon (with Origen), confirms the historicity of Phlegon's statement by writing, "And about this darkness - Phlegon recalls it in the OlympiadsPhlegon mentioned the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Christ, and no other (eclipse), it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any (similar) eclipse in previous times and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar.". VI, p. 130, as cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company), 1996., 3 Habermas, Gary. Are you sure that you will enter heaven to be with God in the afterlife? Among these is a very interesting quote below from a Christian scholar quoting an earlier Roman historian named Phlegon (first and second century). The sun was darkened during Christs death from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Jerusalem is another place where we might have expected there to be records of the events of Matthew 27, and to hope that individual residents of Jerusalemcontemporaneous to the eventsmight have commented on these wondrous happenings in personal records, etc. /*