Two uncertainties in the timeline of Jesus

 

Luke 3:23 says “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age,..”  Western tradition of age reckoning is from birth but that is not the Hebrew tradition.  The Hebrew tradition of age reckoning is from conception, 271 days before birth.  The Hebrew word pregnancy or gestation is HaRaYÒN (5 + 200 + 10 + 6 + 50 = 271).  Bible genealogies are begats, not births.  Generally people do not know the day of conception, so age-reckoning is always “about...” (but not precise to the day).  The use of this word “about” is an indication that Luke may likely have given the age in the way of Hebrew reckoning rather than in western reckoning.  This is reasonable because Jesus’ age can only have been known by His parents, and they were Israeli.  In modern thinking this suggests that Jesus’ age was 29 when His ministry began. 

 

Another problem is in John 5:1; “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”  This text is key to the timeline of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.  I quote from Halley’s Bible Handbook Twenty-Fourth Revised Edition 1965, page 459:

“As for the duration of his public life, three Passovers are mentioned:

when he cleansed the Temple (Jn. 2:13), when he fed the 5000 (Jn. 6:4), and when he was crucified (Lk. 22:15).  If the “Feast” in John 5:1 was a Passover, as is commonly supposed, that would make four Passovers, with three full years between the first and fourth.  If it were some other feast, coming in-between Passovers, then there were only three Passovers, with two years between the first and third.  Thus the duration of Jesus’ public ministry was either about 3 and half years, or about 2 and half years.  Prevailing opinion f! avors 3 and half years.”   

 

It happens that the feast in John 5:1 may not have been a Passover.  It could very well have been Hanukkah because the details of timing would easily allow this.  We know that Jesus went to Jerusalem during Hanukkah a year later (Jn.10:22), so He regarded that festival as important.  Passover is a holy day that normally is referred to by name and to refer to it (in John 5:1) merely as “a feast” is out of normal. 

 

These two uncertainties allow that Jesus’ timeline from birth to death may be as short as 31 and half years, rather than 33 and half, as is commonly assumed.  This has the potential of considerably affecting many historic and prophetic calculations. 

 

Blessings,  Paul Phelps

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