Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

He also stated his understanding that Jesus was crucified before the completion of the 4th year of His Ministry, 

which places the Crucifixion in Tiberius' 19th year, not his 7th year.

894

    In the usual chronology, the first year of Tiberius' reign is the first full year after the death of Augustus, 

A.D.

15, and the seventh year would then be 

A.D.

 21, about two years after the usual date for the death of 

Germanicus. Now Eusebius is correct in saying that the Ministry and Crucifixion of Christ could not have 

occurred so soon as the 7th year of Tiberius' reign, for Luke 3:1 clearly places the Ministry of John as 

beginning in Tiberius' 15th year. However,  The Memoranda may have contained a partially correct 

understanding of the time frame for Christ's Ministry and Crucifixion. Notice that the year called the 7th of 

Tiberius falls about 2 years after the death of Germanicus. Josephus places the beginning of the Ministry of 

Christ soon after the death of Germanicus (see sections 11 and 13 above). Germanicus died about 5 years after 

Augustus died. Thus, The Memoranda contained the correct insight that the Ministry of Christ occurred closer 

to the deaths of Augustus and Germanicus than Eusebius believed. 

    Both Eusebius and The Memoranda were working from the assumption that the reign of Tiberius began at the 

death of Augustus. The Memoranda correctly pointed out that Christ's Ministry and Crucifixion occurred not 

long after the deaths of Augustus and Germanicus. Eusebius correctly pointed out that the Ministry and 

Crucifixion of Christ occurred in the latter part of Tiberius' reign, not long before the death of Tiberius. The 

Memoranda made the mistake of counting the start of Tiberius' reign from the death of Augustus, so that it 

incorrectly placed the Crucifixion early in Tiberius' reign. Eusebius objected to this mistake, without realizing 

that it contained an aspect of the truth, because he too assumed that Tiberius' reign began at the death of 

Augustus. This disagreement shows that, during the lifetime of Eusebius, the chronology of events during 

Tiberius' reign was in dispute, and that some persons during that time period believed that the Ministry of 

Christ occurred soon after the deaths of Augustus and Germanicus. 

16.  Sabbatical Years:  Zuckermann versus Wacholder 

    Near the end of his reign, Gaius (Caligula) decided that he was a god and that his statues should be placed 

inside the Sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem. He sent Petronius with an army to carry out this purpose. 

The Jews were greatly alarmed at this event. A large number of Jewish men, with their wives and children, 

gathered in the plain of Ptolemais (in Galilee, near the Mediterranean Sea) and met the army sent by the 

emperor. They pleaded with Petronius and refused to be dissuaded by even the threat of force against them 

and their families. Josephus writes:  But as they could no way be prevailed upon, and he saw that the country 

was in danger of lying without tillage (for it was about seed time that the multitude continued for fifty days 

together idle) . 

895

 This dispute ended happily for the Jews, when Petronius received word that the emperor 

Gaius was dead.

896

    Notice here that the period of time when the Jews were in the plain of Ptolemais could not have coincided 

with a Sabbatical year. During Sabbatical years, the Jews were not permitted to sow seed nor to till the land. If 

it had been a Sabbatical year, Josephus would not have commented that the land was in danger of going 

without tillage and without seed being sown. 

    Josephus states that the Jews were in the plain of Ptolemais for about 50 days  about seed time.  The 

season for planting in ancient Israel occurred in November and December.

897

 Yet he does not say that the land 

went without being planted or tilled, but only that it was in danger of this. Therefore, the Jews were in the 

plain of Ptolemais about Oct./Nov., just before and at the beginning of seed time. After about 50 or so days, 

Petronius dismissed the multitudes and wrote a letter to Gaius to dissuade him placing his statues in the 

Temple of Jerusalem. That letter would have taken a month or two to arrive in Rome (from Nov. to Dec. or 

Jan.). 

    In both the usual and revised chronologies, the date for the death of Gaius is Jan. 24. Josephus tells us that 

two letters were sent from Rome to Petronius. In the first letter, Gaius threatened Petronius with death for not 

carrying out his orders, but in the second, Rome informed Petronius that Gaius had died. The first letter must 

have been sent in Dec. or Jan., for this was a reply to the letter Petronius had sent about November. And, 

since Gaius died in late January (of 

A.D.

 41, usual, or 

A.D.

 26, revised), the letter about Gaius' death must 

have been sent in late January or early February. Josephus explains that the letter which was sent first, the one 

from Gaius to Petronius, was delayed on the sea for three months (the winter being a difficult time for sailing 

198