In the year 4 BCE, as stated above, an eclipse occurred on March 13th or the 15th day of the month of Adar in the Jewish calendar. If this eclipse is the one to which Josephus pointed, the Sanhedrin would have tried the rabbis and 40 of their students on the 14th day of Adar, and Herod would have executed them on the 15th day of Adar (the day of the eclipse). Both days were holy to the Jews and it was illegal to conduct a trial on these days or to execute criminals. They were days of rest and celebration (cp. Esther 9:20-22). If Herod went to the trouble of having his enemies tried by a court of law, why would he execute them against the law? This would be illogical.
Moreover, we have a time problem by accepting the March 13th eclipse in 4 BCE. Too many events occurred during this period, from March 13th (Adar 15 according to the Jews) to the beginning of the Passover Feast Day (Nisan 15 according to the Jews), or 29 days later. We know from Josephus’ record that Herod died shortly after the eclipse in question, and 5 days after he had his son Antipater executed.[i] However, before this time Herod was very ill and exhausted all of the doctors’ prescriptions for his recovery.[ii] In order for this to be done it would have taken one about two weeks to see that he was no better and growing worse. After this and realizing he was about to die, he planned a very evil thing. Herod knew the Jews hated him, and he feared the people would not mourn him after his death. He, therefore, imprisoned many highly renowned Jewish men in the Hippodrome and commanded that they would be executed upon his own death, but before his death was announced to the people. In this way, he reasoned, the Jews would mourn during the mourning period of the king whether they wanted to or not.[iii]
Sending the letters to these people and collecting them into the Hippodrome had to have taken at least a week, perhaps two. Josephus records that Archelaus, Herod’s heir, mourned for his father 7 days,[iv] but Herod was mourned by the nation for 30 days prior to these seven (cp. Genesis 50:3). Notice in Genesis it took 40 days to embalm Jacob and then the people mourned him for another 30 days. After this Joseph asked Pharaoh to permit him to bury his father in the land of Canaan, which he did and there concluded his own morning another 7 days (Genesis 50:10). This practice of mourning for 30 days for important dignitaries continued in Israel, and the people mourned for Aaron and then for Moses for a full month (cp. Numbers 20:29 and Deuteronomy 34:8). After Archelaus completed the mourning of his father, he then began to execute the business of his office, which took a few days, perhaps a week. After doing this, he laid all business aside to celebrate the Passover with his friends.[v]
Considering all this, if we allow one week for Herod to try the remedies of his doctors, and another to collect all the important people into the Hippodrome, and then add another 5 days after he executed his son, Antipater, Herod would have died 19 days after the eclipse recorded in Josephus. After this, his son, Archelaus, mourned him at least 7 more days. This does not take into account that preparations had to be made for the funeral, his body had to be embalmed and transported from Jericho to the Herodium, which alone took no less than 25 days.[vi]
If we allow the embalming period to have taken place in Jericho (40 days, cp. Genesis 50:3) at the same time Archelaus’ made the elaborate funeral preparations and add to this the funeral procession of at least 25 days, we are speaking of at least 84 days after the eclipse and Herod isn’t even buried yet. We can include 25 of the 30 day mourning period of the people with the 25 day funeral procession, and add to this an additional 7 days for Archelaus’ private mourning. We are now up to 96 days transpiring after the eclipse that immediately preceded Herod’s death. Logic must force us to admit that it is impossible to fit 96 days between March 13th and the Passover season in 4 BCE, even if one allows for an additional 13th month to be added to the year (leap years for the Jews consisted of an additional month of 29 or 30 days). March 13th in 4 BCE cannot be considered the date of the eclipse Josephus had in mind when he recorded its occurrence a short time before Herod’s death.
In view of the above we can also immediately eliminate the eclipse that occurred the previous year on March 23rd in 5 BCE. For the same reasons that Josephus’ eclipse would not work for March 13th in 4 BCE, it cannot be considered for the one occurring on March 23rd in 5 BCE. There was too little time. Moreover, it occurred during Purim just as the eclipse in 4 BCE did, making it an illogical choice because it was considered a holy day and not trials or executions were performed during sacred festivals!
We can now eliminate two eclipses, the one occurring in the year of the traditionally accepted year of Herod’s death and the eclipse dated one year earlier. The truth will become clearer as we go on in this study, so please stay with me, if you are interested in this matter. May God richly bless all who read and submit themselves to the leading of his Spirit.
[i] Josephus: Wars of the Jews; Book 1; Chapter 33; Paragraphs 7 & 8
[ii] Josephus: Wars of the Jews: Book 1: Chapter 33; Paragraph 5
[iii] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews; Book 17; Chapter 6; Paragraph 5
[iv] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews; Book 17; Chapter 8; Paragraph 4; Wars of the Jews; Book 2; Chapter 1; Paragraph 1
[v] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews; Book 17; Chapter 8; Paragraph 4
[vi] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews; Book 17; Chapter 8; Paragraph 3; see translator’s note: “At eight stadia or furlongs a day, Herod’s funeral, conducted to the Herodium, which lay at the distance from Jericho, where he died, of 200 stadia or furlongs, must have taken up no less than twenty-five days.”
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