Josh, a couple of things
a) Scripture does NOT indicate how much time (how many months) elapsed between Zechariah finishing his priestly duties and Elizbeth conceiving - ‘after those days’ simply means afterwards. Doesn’t mean immediately afterwards. One day after, a month after, three months after, a year after - all are equally possible, since it SIMPLY says ‘AFTER’! Poor old Abraham was told that Isaac was on his way a good decade before the child was actually born, around the time of Ishamel’s birth if memory serves.
Hi Lily,
Note that whenever the passage needed to specify months, it did. Also, understand that time was especially important at the beginning of this book because births tied to prophesy fulfillment. Finally, the writer of the book of Genesis (Abraham’s story) was not the writer of the book of Luke.
When read in full context the passage answers your challenge:
[Luke 1:23-24] And it came to pass, that,
as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. 24 And “connector word”] after those
days — “Which days?” The days of his ministration] his wife Elizabeth conveived, and hid herself five months, saying.
b) You correctly indicate that there were 24 divisions of priests serving in the Temple. Please cite your source, though, for your information that they served in courses of two weeks each. And cite your sources for the information that they served in the same order year after year, as opposed to casting fresh lots each year. I don’t see either premise supported anywhere in that section of 1 Chronicles, that’s for sure. And the NT does NOT say that the ‘course’ of Abia was Lot 8 in that particular year, does it?
At the beginning of my fact 1 I give source:
Mishna Vol.2 order moed, tractate
Rosh HaShana]
Each served
one week, twice a year. In other words, there was a one week circuit where each priest had their turn, in order…and then the order repeated for the remainder of the year. Since the year is (roughly) twice as long in weeks (48+) as the number of divisions (24), each would have ended up serving two weeks when the year was finished.
If you’re making these challenges, I assume you know as well as anyone that Tradition is very important to maintain. Lots were casted in the past - in a specific order - for the sons of Aaron…What you won’t find is a premise that lots are ritually casted, and so we can’t make this assumption. However, as indicated by the passage in Luke, there is no assumption needed that the priests follow the “order of [their] course”.
A “Course” is the terminology used to reference “House” (or “division” as you’ve labeled)…and in this case it means “House of Aaron”. The house never changed.
[Luke 1:5]…Zachariah, of the course of Abia…
[Luke 1:5]…Zachariah, of the house of Abia…
An “Order” is one’s place in line; or number in line.
[Luke 1:8]…He executed the priest’s office before God in the
order of his course.
[Luke 1:8]…He executed the priest’s office before God in the
order of his house.
Note that it doesn’t say “in the order of his lot”, as we’ve established that no other lots were casted except once in the past with Aaron’s sons. So the only question that remains is “when did Abia’s house come in line?” This is the one key fact shared in Chronicles…the lineage of Aaron and his son’s order.
Abia [or Abijah] is the 8th priestly house of Aaron, and is Zachariah’s House.
c) Scripture does NOT indicate how old Jesus was when the Wise Men visited Herod. We simply do not know which year He was born in.
Yes, Herod ordered all male babies under two years to be killed. That’s an awful lot of effort to go to. And why? Because neither the Wise Men nor himself knew, neither do WE know, at what point within those two years the Messiah was born.
It could’ve been any point! If the Messiah was known to have been born exactly when the star appeared - ie He was two years old when the Wise Men came - Herod wouldn’t bother with the younger babes?
You raise a good point, but this challenge is based on a foudation that your previous challenges hold merit, namely that we don’t know when Messiah was born.
Again, as you know Tradition is important and - per the tradition of the time - priests continuously looking for celestial signs of fulfillment of the prophesy; note that in Genesis (also first book of Jewish Torah), God said that the stars are (also) for signs.
As can be tracked by any current astronomical software, on Tishri 1, 3998 the first sliver of new moon was sighted just after dusk in the constellation of Virgo and the sun set; something not frequently repeated…and prophesy said that the Messiah was to be born 15 days later.
You can also track the speed of a star’s path as it starts from one place to another.
Finally, [Matthew 2:16] …From two years old and under according to the time in which he had **diligently enquired **of the wise men.
Herod had been “diligently enquiring” for two years since first meeting the wise men; two years since the wise men came to him following a star [Matthew 2:2]; the same star that had a path of 15 days to the Messiah [Matthew 2:9], starting from the celestial event. The wise men were supposed to return to the king with the location of the Messiah, but they didn’t - taking another route home entirely [Matthew 2:12] and Herod was “exceeding wroth”.
Herod died soon after executing two priests [There was a lunar eclipse which can be astronomically p(name removed by moderator)ointed to the precise day of execution of January 10, 1 B.C.E].
Shevat 2 was a feast day celebrating Herod’s death [January 24, 1 B.C.E]*
but we call that NYC bluntness.If you grow up in the city being frank is considered a good thing. Taliban thinking something I see more and more as people see or think they see the decline of society. Garbage -i’m not referring to you but the some of the sites I looked up by your insistence.and they are garbage-trash revisionist “history”.As a history maven(way before I became a bible maven) it really cheeses me off to see history twisted and distorted, when the truth is available by good historians with no axe to grind.Non sectarian scholars are just peachy with me.
Then take this verse away…by all means…this only serves to support the year 3998.
It’s written that he personally dispatched the wise men to find the Messiah’s location after they first came to him asking for the boy-king…after they’ve been following the star [Matthew 2:8].