Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:707 (Jul 2020)
Article: Elapsed Times For Herod The Great In Josephus
Author: Andrew E. Steinmann

BSac 177:707 (July-September 2020) p. 308

Elapsed Times For Herod The Great In Josephus

Andrew E. Steinmann

and

Rodger C. Young

Andrew E. Steinmann is Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Illinois; Rodger C. Young is an independent researcher in St. Louis, Missouri.

Abstract

Determining the chronology of Herod the Great, as given in Josephus, involves many factors: consular years, Sabbatical years, Nisan or Tishri years regarding Herod’s reign, inclusive or noninclusive counting for elapsed time, and the year from which Herod’s sons considered their reigns to have begun. The present article focuses on just two of these issues—elapsed time and Nisan versus Tishri years—as dealt with in the two most frequently cited positions formulated for the death of Herod, those of Schürer and Filmer. Tables at the end demonstrate which of the two views best agrees with the many designations of elapsed time in Josephus.

Οver the many years in which the chronology of Herod the Great has been discussed, the two positions that have found the most advocates are first, those associated with the name of Emil Schürer,1 holding for a 4 BC date for the death of Herod, and second, those associated with the thesis of W. E.

BSac 177:707 (July-September 2020) p. 309

Filmer,2 who put the death of Herod in early 1 BC. Although various other positions have been advocated, such as those that put the death of Herod in 5 BC,3 these will not be dealt with in the present article, since the majority of scholarship in the past hundred years has aligned with the basic outlines of either the Schürer chronology or that of Filmer. Recognizing that other scholars have contributed significantly to both sides of this debate, rather than speaking of the “Schürer consensus” and the “Filmer hypothesis,” these two positions are referred to as the “consensus view” and the “minority view” in what follows, since there is no dispute over the fact that, at the present time, the majority of scholars take the first or “consensus” view.

Working Assumptions Of The Two Primary Approaches To The Chronology Of Herod

The two positions have fundamentally different assumptions that they use to explain the information found in Josephus that bears on the chronology of Herod’s life. For the consensus view, these assumptions are the following:

• Unless Josephus states otherwise (for instance, in referring to years of the Olympiad...
  
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