THE BEGINNING OF THE TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DAYS
A CORRESPONDENT writes: “I know that the twenty-three hundred days are held by our people to have begun in the year 457 B. C., when the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem went forth. Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:13. And we are assured, by Bible students, that this date is certain, as it has been established by three different eclipses. What are these eclipses, and how do we know that the commandment went forth in 457? How was time reckoned before the birth of Christ, or the beginning of the Christian era?” Answer.—There were more than three eclipses which establish the date of 457 B. C., for the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem; for, as chronologists tell us, there were more than twenty eclipses bearing on that point. What is meant by establishing a date by means of an eclipse, is this: The historian, with his record of certain events, as a notable battle, the birth of a king, the beginning and duration of the reign of a king, etc., gives, in connection with these events, the record of any eclipse that took place. Now how do we know that his historical statements are correct? In this way: because what he says about eclipses puts into our hands the means by which to test his statements; for the modern astronomer, from data known at the present time, can trace back the movements of the heavenly bodies through past years, to any time concerning which the historian may write, and compare his statements with what the great timekeepers of heaven show with the accuracy of the movements of the universe, to have been the facts in the case with respect to said eclipses. Thus the seventh chapter of Ezra records the decree, which must be the one referred to in Dan. 9:25, under which Jerusalem was rebuilt. This decree was issued by “Artaxerxes, king of Persia” (Ezra 7:1); and this Artaxerxes was the one called in history, Longimanus, or the “long-handed,” his arms being of such prodigious length that, when standing erect, his hands reached to his knees; and Ezra informs us that this Artaxerxes issued his decree in the seventh year of his reign. Ezra 7:8. Now what year was the seventh year of this king? The record is that he began to reign in the year 464 B. C. This would bring his seventh year to 457 B. C., from which year we date the decree. But where do the eclipses come in?—In connection with the record of these events. Not all, of course, at the same moment, because eclipses do not come in bunches. But they took place in such close proximity to them that their relation to the events, and the relation of the events to the eclipses, is clearly shown; and history states that over twenty eclipses occurred, which have a bearing on these dates, and establish the accuracy of the record of 457 B. C. as the seventh year of this king. To illustrate: The date of the death of Augustus Cæsar has an important bearing on the New Testament record concerning the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist, and consequently the beginning of the ministry of Christ. Luke tells us that John the Baptist began his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar. Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus Cæsar, and was associated with Augustus on the throne two years before the death of the latter. But the death of Augustus is placed in August, A. D. 14. How do we know?—Because soon after the death of Augustus, that is, Sept. 27, 14 A. D., occurred a notable eclipse of the moon, which served to quell the mutiny of the legions of Pannonia, and to induce them to swear fidelity to Tiberius, as recorded by the historian Tacitus. How do we know that eclipse occurred? The modern astronomer, with unerring accuracy, begins to unwind the centuries, and follows the path of the heavenly bodies back to A. D. 14, and lo, there, September 27, appears that eclipse of the moon which quelled the mutiny of the Pannonian legions, just as Tacitus has recorded. And when the same historian records that but a brief time before, August 14, Augustus died, his testimony is placed beyond dispute, and the death of Augustus is established at that date. And the first year of Tiberius was in A. D. 12, two years before. This, as already stated, has an important bearing on New Testament history. Thus John the Baptist began his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar, which must have been previous to Aug. 14, 27 A. D.; for after that date would have been his sixteenth year. Christ was six months younger than John, and began His ministry six months later, they each entering upon their work, according to the law of the Jewish priesthood, when they were thirty years of age. And of Christ it is expressly said that He began to be about thirty years of age. Luke 3:23. John could have begun his work in the spring of A. D. 27, and Christ in the autumn, which would have met the conditions in every particular. Then the crucifixion would come in the middle of the seventeenth week, or week of years, in A. D. 31, and the close of the seventy weeks in the autumn of A. D. 34. These points we can say are settled by the great eclipse of the moon, Sept. 27, 14 A. D. Men have various eras from which to compute time besides the Christian era. The building of313Rome was an important era with the Romans, and the Olympian games with the Greeks. But the Bible gives data for the principal points in the prophecies.