Sabbatical and Jubilee Years 

    According to Josephus, the Jews camped out in the plain of Ptolemais in order to block the advance of an 

army sent by the emperor Caligula to install his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem.

1187

 This event occurred  

 about seed time,  during the late fall/early winter before Caligula's death.

1188

 It was the time of year when the 

Jews would plant grain, and so Josephus states that the land was  in danger of lying without tillage. 

1189

 The 

stand off on the plain of Ptolemais caused the Jews to be in danger of missing the season for planting grain. In 

a Sabbatical year, the Jews would neither plant nor harvest grain; they were forbidden from this type of work 

by Mosaic law. 

    In the usual chronology, Caligula died in January of 

A.D.

 41, so that this conflict would have taken place in 

Nov./Dec. (planting season) of 

A.D.

 40. Zuckermann and Blosser have the year 

A.D.

 40/41 as a Sabbatical 

year.

1190

 But Josephus, a Jewish priest, clearly indicates that the Jews intended to plant in that year. Therefore, 

Zuckermann and Blosser's Sabbatical years do not fit the usual chronology. In my revised chronology, the 

winter of Caligula's death was 

A.D.

 25/26, which does not conflict with either Zuckermann or Wacholder. For 

details on this point, see chapter 13, section 16,  Sabbatical Years:  Zuckermann versus Wacholder . 

    The chronology of Herod's reign again raises questions about the timing of the Sabbatical years. According 

to Josephus, Herod's siege of Jerusalem occurred in a Sabbatical year and ended with the capture of the city in 

the autumn (on Tishri 10).

1191

 In chapter 12 of this book, I determine that the capture of Jerusalem by Herod 

occurred in 43 

B.C.

, which was the end of a Sabbatical year in Wacholder. The details given by Josephus do 

not fit any year in which Zuckermann has a Sabbatical year. The usual chronology places the capture of 

Jerusalem by Herod in 37 

B.C.

, but this would place Herod's death in 4 

B.C.

 The year of 4 

B.C.

 is ruled out as a 

possible year for Herod's death because that year does not fit the other details given by Josephus (see chapter 

12). Also, in 37 

B.C.

, the fast day (Yom Kippur) fell in October, whereas Josephus tells us that the fast day fell 

in September (3rd month of the Olympiad year) at the time that Herod captured Jerusalem.

1192

 Only 

Wacholder's chronology of the Sabbatical years fits the information given to us by Josephus about the capture 

of Jerusalem by Herod. 

    The Sabbatical year at the time of the capture of Jerusalem by Herod may have been the last Sabbatical year 

counted as originally intended, starting with the month of Nisan. This would make that Sabbatical year run 

from Nisan of 43 

B.C.

 to Nisan of 42 

B.C.

 Wacholder, though, has this Sabbatical year from Tishri of 44 

B.C.

to Tishri of 43 

B.C.

 In either case, the 14th year of Herod's reign, 29 

B.C.

, would be a Sabbatical year. That 

Sabbatical year began in autumn of the 13th year of Herod's reign (30 

B.C.

) and ended in autumn of the 14th 

year of Herod's  reign (29 

B.C.

). By that time, the Sabbatical year was counted from Tishri to Tishri (in 

autumn), so that Wacholder's dates are correct for this time period. 

    In support of Wacholder's chronology, note that Josephus gives several indications that the Jewish civil 

calendar year of 30/29 

B.C.

 was a Sabbatical year. First, he describes a famine, in the 13th year of Herod's 

reign due to  perpetual droughts. 

1193

 He does not blame the famine on the occurrence of a Sabbatical year, as 

he does at other points in his history,

1194

 so the 12th to the 13th year of Herod's reign (31/30 

B.C.

) was not a 

Sabbatical year. Zuckermann/Blosser have a Sabbatical year from 31/30 

B.C.

, which conflicts with Josephus 

in this revised chronology.

1195

 However, in Wacholder, the Sabbatical year (30/29 

B.C.

) did not begin until the 

autumn of 30 

B.C.

, in agreement with Josephus in this revised chronology. 

    The people were in great distress because  the fruits of that year were spoiled. 

1196

 The grain harvest occurs 

in the springtime, so the spring of Herod's 13th year (30 

B.C.

) was the harvest ruined by droughts. The famine 

continued into Herod's 14th year (29 

B.C.

) because the seed that had been sown did not produce  its fruits on 

the second year. 

1197

 This refers to the seed sown in Herod's 12th year (31 

B.C.

), which should have produced 

its first harvest in spring of Herod's 13th year (30 

B.C.

). The seed was expected to produce a harvest for a 

second year, in spring of Herod's 14th year (29 

B.C.

), because 30/29 

B.C.

 was a Sabbatical year. The grain 

sown in one year could produce an additional harvest in the second year because some grains would not 

germinate until the second year, as explained above. This expectation was typical of a Sabbatical year, when, 

instead of planting another crop, the Jews would depend on the seed sown in previous years to germinate a 

year or more later. The only reason that one planting would be expected to produce fruits in two consecutive 

years would be if the second year was a Sabbatical year. Some seed would germinate in the first year and some 

in the second year, as is naturally the case with many types of seed. Therefore, 30/29 

B.C.

 was a Sabbatical 

year, in agreement with Wacholder, (see Appendix I, Chart 7). 

247