Faith

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During the course of my personal research, I have taken note of some historical “oddities” that bolster my ever-growing faith in God. I will address two main historical discrepancies in this article. One is the list of Syrian Presidents during the time of Christ and the other is a list of Jerusalem High Priests. Immediately below is the list of Syrian Presidents during the time frame often cited for the birth of Yeshua.


Roman Governors of Syria

6--4 BC Publius Quinctilius Varus
4--1 BC Unknown
1 BC--4 Gaius Julius Caesar Vipsanianus
4--5 AD Lucius Volusius Saturninus
6--12 AD Publius Sulpicius Quirinius


It should be noted that from 4 B.C.E. to 1 B.C.E. there appears to be a gap and the President at this time is “Unknown”. With the variance in our calendar systems, this is not too surprising. However, when one couples the above with the list of High Priests during the same period--along with some quotes from the Jewish historian, Josephus--we find another puzzling aspect.


High Priests (Under Herod and Romans)

4 BC Joazar ben Boethus
4--3 BC Eleazar ben Boethus
3--? Joshua ben Sie
?--6 AD Joazar ben Boethus


Once again we find that during the exact time period cited for the birth of Yeshua, there is historical confusion. Here is what Josephus has to say regarding the circumstances around the time of the census and regarding Joazar ben Boethus.

“…but he (Herod) deprived Matthias of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action, and made Joazar (ben Boethus), who was Matthias’ wife’s brother, high priest in his stead.” (Antiquities 17.6.4.164)

“When Archelaus (Herod’s son) was entered on his ethnarchy, and was come into Judea, he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting the seditious, and took away the high priesthood from him, and put Eleazar his brother in his place.” (Antiquities 17.13.1.339)

When speaking of the census under Cyrenius (as described by Josephus), we read the following…

“…but the Jews, although at the beginning they took the report of taxation heinously, yet did they leave off any farther opposition to it, by the persuasion of Joazar, who was the son of Boethus, and high priest.” (Antiquities 18.1.1.3)

“When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus’ money, and when the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh year of Caesar’s victory over Antony at Actium (6 C.E.), he deprived Joazar of the high priesthood, which dignity had been conferred on him by the multitude, and he appointed Ananus, the son of Seth, to be high priest.” (Antiquities 18.2.1.26)




The sequence of events (as outlined above) would be as follows:

1) Herod the Great names Joazar ben Boethus as High Priest.
2) Herod the Great dies shortly after (inferred).
3) Archelaus deprives Joazar of the priesthood and accuses Joazar of sedition.
4) Archelaus names Eleazar ben Boethus as High Priest.
5) The multitude names Joazar ben Boethus to be High Priest at some point.
6) Cyrenius enters Judea for purposes of the census.
7) Joazar persuades the people to cease in their opposition to the annexation of Judea.
8) Cyrenius deprives Joazar of the priesthood and names Ananus ben Seth in his stead.

The above sequence of events leaves one with far more unanswered questions than those answered. However, before I pose some of those questions, I should like to reference one other citation from Josephus. The quote follows:

“…but committed Galilee to Herod, his (Antipater) next son, who was then a very young man, for he was but fifteen years of age…” (Antiquities 14.19.2.158)

The reason the above comes into play is for the simple fact that Herod the Great was placed in charge of Galilee by his father, Antipater, in approximately 48 B.C.E. Based upon other chronological statements in Josephus, Herod the Great died in 4/3 B.C.E. and lived until the ripe old age of 69 to 70 years. Therefore, historians consider the age of Herod in 48 B.C.E. to have been 25 versus 15 and so added the correction in a footnote. Consider the following, though, if the age of “fifteen” was not an error by Josephus.

If in 48 B.C.E., Herod the Great was “fifteen years of age” and he did indeed live another 54 years, then his death would have occurred shortly after the census of 6 C.E. This is where I will pose some questions for the reader to consider.

1) Is the historical confusion due to errors in different calendar systems, thus creating a misassignment of historical events throughout the ages?

2) Are events that occurred under Herod the Great being confused with events that occurred under his son, Archelaus and vice versa?

3) Were there two censuses, afterall?

4) Did Cyrenius govern twice in Syria?

5) Did Josephus confuse events during the lives of Joazar, Cyrenius and both Herods?

6) How many different calendar systems did Josephus utilize and try to reconcile?

There are many, many more questions to ask. It may be possible to reconstruct our history or at the very least, this particular stretch of our timeline. However, until such is completed, we must remain faithful and true to God and do the best that we can do in the service thereof. Bless.

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