Luke 3:1, apparently points out the commencement of John’s ministry, and here the evangelist gives the following list of coincidences, to which we add the best accredited dates.
Fifteenth year of Tiberius Canar, A.D. 26 or A.D. 28.
Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, A.D. 26 to 36.
Herod [Antipas] tetrarch of Galilee. B.C. 4 to A.D. 39.
Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea and Triconitis, B.C. 4 to A.D. 33.
Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene (unknown).
Annas, high priest about A.D. 7 to A.D. 14.
Caiaphas, high priest, about A.D. 17 to A.D. 37.
It is supposed that in this passage, as in others, that Annas was president of the Sanhedrim, and still retained a great deal of power, as Caiaphas was his son-in-law. It is probable that in their then disordered state Caiaphas was nominally high priest, but Annas was the one who really exercised the power. The principal editors agree in reading it, “Annas and Caiaphas being the high priest” (not high priests).
The fifteenth of Tiberius is a disputed point, because he was associated with his predecessor, Augustus, two or three years; and the question is, was this the fifteenth year of his joint reign, or of his sole reign? He reigned alone A.D. 14 to 37, thus his fifteenth year would be 28. Or if we reckon from his joint reign it would be about 26.
We must see if any other passages will help us to determine the question.
Luke 3:22-23, would seem to intimate that our Lord when He was baptized “began to be about thirty years old.”
Mark 1:9, says, after a few verses of introduction as to John’s ministry, “And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.” Not very definite, it is true; but it would seem to intimate that our Lord’s baptism was soon after John began his ministry.
Again, in Matthew, John is first spoken of in these words, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea.... Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.... Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him” (Matt. 3:1-13). This again speaks of the baptism of Christ as if following soon after the commencement of John’s ministry.
We have concluded that our Lord was born B.C. 5, and in B.C. 28 He would be thirty-two years of age, but this will not agree with “He began to be about thirty years of age.” But B.C. 26 is the date that agrees with this expression.
We, therefore, believe that the fifteenth year of Tiberius would be of his joint reign (which is B.C. 26), and this, as we have seen, will agree very well with the above passage in Luke 3:22-23.
Another coincidence appears in the early chapters of John’s gospel in the following links:
John 1:29, “the next day.”
John 1:35, “again the next day.”
John 1:43, “the day following.”
John 2:1, “the third day.”
John 2:12, “after this we went down to Capernaum.... And they continued there not many days.”
John 2:13, “and the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
Now John 1:33, 34 shows that Jesus had then been baptized, so that the passover spoken of in John 2:13, would seem by the above links to be soon after His baptism, and would evidently be the first passover during His ministry.
At this passover the Jews say, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?” (John 2:20.) That is, up to that time the temple with its outer courts had been all those years in building, and, according to Josephus (Ant. xx. 9. 7), it was not completed till some years after that. Now if we can ascertain when this rebuilding was commenced we may get a date for the first passover, and also see if this agrees with the date we have fixed on for the baptism of Christ.
Now Josephus declares (Ant. 15. 11. 1) that Herod began to rebuild the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign. It is thought, however, that he contradicts this, for he also speaks of the temple being begun in the fifteenth year of Herod’s reign. But this latter (Wars, i. 21. 1) speaks more of repairing the temple, and may have referred to the outer courts, and so forth, or some repairs to the temple that were necessary, before he had fully determined to rebuild the edifice. It was evidently in his eighteenth year that he began to rebuild the temple as above stated, because it is linked on with events that had happened in his seventeenth year.
Herod was declared king B.C. 40, but did not begin to reign till B.C. 37; so that his eighteenth year would be B.C. 20, and forty-six years would bring it to A.D. 26: the same date we have already fixed on as most probable when our Lord was baptized, and when He began His ministry; and John would have begun his ministry a few months earlier — both commencing when about thirty years old, and which corresponds with the age when the Levites began their service in the tabernacle (Num. 4:3).
l
Herod the Great
married
__________________________ l_________________________________
l l l l l
Doris Mariamne Maiamne Malthace Cleopatra
l granddr.of dr. of Simon a Samaritan l
l Hyrcanus l __l_________ l
l l 2 l 3 l l 5 l
Antipater Aristobulus Philip I. Herod Antipas l Philip II
m. Bernice m. Herodias m. dr. of Aretas 1 m. Salome
l l m. Herodias l
l Salome 4 l
l Archelaus
____ _l_______________________________________
6 l 7 l l
Herod Agrippa I Herodia, Herod, King of Chalcis
m. Cypros. m. Herod Philip I m. Mariamne
1 m. Herod Antipas. dr. of Olympias
1 m. Berenice
_________l________________________________________
8 l 9l 10 l
Agrippa II Bernice Drusilla
m. Herod k. of Chalcis m. Axis, Kng of Emesa
m. Polemo, k. of Cilicia m. Felix
1. Matt. 2:1-22; Luke 1:5.
2. Matt. 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19.
3. Herod the tetrarch, Matt. 14:1-6 ; Luke 3:1, 19; 9:7;
the King, Matt. 14:9;
King Herod, Mark 6:14-22;
Herod, Luke 23:7-15
4. Matt. 2:22.
5. Luke 3:1:
6. Acts 12:1-21.
7. Matt. 14:3-6; Mark 6:17-22; Luke 3:19.
8. Acts 25:13; 26:1-32.
9. Acts 25:13; 26:30.
10. Acts 24:24.