The Law, we are told by St. Paul, has “a
shadow of the good things to come”
(Hebrews 10:1). The various ordinances and
feasts of the Old Testament,
if properly understood, are found, according
to G. Mackinlay, “to refer to
and foreshadow many events and doctrines of
the New Testament”.
Previously I have written
(summarising Lieutenant-Colonel G. Mackinlay’s important book, The Magi: How They Recognised Christ's
Star, Hodder and Stoughton, 1897):
….
Chapter Three: “A Star … out of Jacob”
Let us now turn again to the
method of inferences from harmonies, that we have used in the last two
chapters, in order to determine, with greater precision than has been attained
do far, the date of Our Lord’s Nativity. Despite Scaliger, who said that God alone,
not man, can determine the true day of the Nativity (Scaliger, as quoted by
Hales, Chron., Vol. 1, p. 199), we are prepared to accept a result arising
clearly and consistently from the method of harmonies – should such a result be
achieved – provided, of course, that the result does not clash with, or
contradict, any well–established fact of history. And we can look upon this
further application of the method of inferences from harmonies as being a
further test of the reliability of this method of inference.
We shall investigate
historical methods later on.
Mackey’s comment: Actually
the needed revision of late BC-early AD history, not yet effected, may be far
more radical than earlier writers, like Mackinlay, could possibly have
imagined. As Mackinlay saw it, it was universally accepted that Our Lord’s
Nativity could not have been earlier than the beginning of BC 10, or later than
the end of BC 5. The date is today generally given as being somewhere between
BC 8-4.
But see my radical revision of
all of this:
A New
Timetable for the Nativity of Jesus Christ
“Chronologists
have never really managed to sort out a satisfactory biblical timeline for this
Roman scenario, with the Nativity currently having to be positioned in BC time
(8 BC, 4 BC) to accommodate a faulty Herodian chronology.
But it is
Jesus Christ the Lord of History, the Alpha and the Omega (the Aleph and the
Tau), and not king Herod, who determines the end point of BC time and the beginning
of AD (Anno Domini) time”.
In pursuing these new inferences
now for the earlier part of Our Lord’s life, we once again follow our reliable
guide Mackinlay who commences by establishing “the greater probability” of the
following two facts:
(a) That the Nativity of Our
Lord was at least five months after the beginning of a period of shining of the
morning star, and,
(b) That the Nativity was at a
Feast of Tabernacles (p. 140).
Firstly, we investigate
Mackinlay’s reason for believing that our Lord’s Nativity was:
(a) Five months after a period
of shining.
To begin with, we must
consider what reason there is for supposing that the morning star was shining
at all when Our Lord was born. In Malachi 3:1 … St. John the Baptist is
referred to under the figure of the morning star, as the forerunner of the
Christ. But the morning star itself may be called “My messenger who shall
prepare the way before Me”. It is not unusual for inanimate objects thus to be
spoken of in Scripture, for instance in Psalm 88:38 we have “the faithful
witness in the sky”, and in Psalm 148:3 the sun, moon and stars of light are
exhorted to praise God. Consequently, as Mackinlay has explained it (p. 141),
“we can reasonably suppose that the Morning Star was shining at the Nativity”.
Furthermore, he adds, if the morning star were the herald of the coming One, it
is fitting to imagine that a somewhat prolonged notice should be given; for “it
would be more dignified and stately for the one to precede the other by a
considerable interval, than that both should come almost together”.
We shall find Mackinlay’s
supposition of a prolonged heralding by the morning star borne out by the
following inference. According to the principle of metaphors being taken from
things present, we could infer that the morning star was actually shining when
Our Lord (in Matthew 11:10), quoting Malachi 3:1, spoke of the Baptist as “My
messenger … before My face”. Consistently following the same line of thought,
we may reasonably infer that the morning star was also shining more than thirty
years earlier when Zechariah quoted the same scriptural verse – i.e. Malachi
3:1 – at the circumcision of his son, John (Luke 1:76).
Even had this appropriate
passage not been quoted at the time, Mackinlay suggests (p. 142), “we might
have inferred that the herald in the sky would harmoniously have been shining
at the birth of the human herald”.
Mackinlay further suggests
from his inference that both Our Lord and St. John were born when the morning
star was shining, that “both must have been born during the same period of its
shining”. [He shows this in his charts]. The Annunciation to Mary was made by
the angel Gabriel in the sixth month after the announcement to Zechariah
(Luke1:13, 24, 26); and so it follows that the Baptist was born five to six
months before Our Lord. Since Mackinlay’s charts indicate that the periods of
shining are separated from each other by intervals of time greater than six months,
then both Our Lord and his herald must have been born during the same period of
shining.
Consequently Our Lord was born
at least five months after the beginning of a period of shining of the morning
star. ….
(b)
At a Feast of Tabernacles
The Law, we are told by St.
Paul, has “a shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1). The various
ordinances and feasts of the Old Testament, if properly understood, are found,
according to Mackinlay, “to refer to and foreshadow many events and doctrines
of the New Testament” (p. 143). Again, A. Gordon remarks that: “Many speak
slightingly of the types, but they are as accurate as mathematics; they fix the
sequence of events in redemption as rigidly as the order of sunrise and
noontide is fixed in the heavens” (The
Ministry of the Spirit, p. 28).
The deductions drawn from
Gospel harmonies attest the truth of his statement.
We have already observed that
the Sabbath Year began at the Feast of Tabernacles; the great feasts of
Passover and Weeks following in due course. Our Lord’s death took place at the
Passover (Matthew 27:50), probably, Mackinlay believes, “at the very hour when
the paschal lambs were killed”.
“Our Passover … has been
sacrificed, even Christ” (1 Corinthians 5:7); the great Victim foretold during
so many ages by the yearly shedding of blood at that feast. The first Passover
at the Exodus was held on the anniversary of the day when the promise –
accompanied by sacrifice – was given to Abraham, that his seed would inherit
the land of Canaan (Exodus12:41; Genesis 15:8-18).
Our Lord rose from the dead on
the day after the Sabbath after the Passover (John 20:1); the day on which the
sheaf of first fruits, promise of the future harvest, was waved before God
(Leviticus 23:10, 11). Hence we are told by St. Paul that as “Christ the
first-fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:20. 23) rose, so those who believe in him will
also rise afterwards. This day was the anniversary of Israel’s crossing through
the Red Sea or “Sea of Reeds’ (Exodus 12-14), and, as in the case of the
Passover, it was also a date memorable in early history, being the day when the
Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4). The month Nisan,
which had been the seventh month, became the first at the Exodus (Exodus 12:2).
Thus Our Lord’s Resurrection was heralded by two most beautiful and fitting
types, occurring almost – possibly exactly – on the same day of the year; by
the renewed earth emerging from the waters of the Flood, and by the redeemed
people emerging from the waters of the “Sea of Reeds”.
The next great event of the
Christian dispensation, the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1, 2), occurred
at the Feast of Weeks – or Harvest – or Pentecost (Leviticus23:15, 16). It was
during this season that the Law had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus
19:1, 10, 11). It is noteworthy, therefore, that the inauguration of the New
Covenant took place on the anniversary of the establishment of the Old
Covenant; showing that the dispensation of Law was superseded by that of the
Holy Spirit (Hebrews 8:7; 2 Corinthians 3:6).
Accordingly, “since there is
such manifest deign in the timing of Our Lord’s Death and Resurrection and of
the descent of the Holy Spirit”, Mackinlay suggests that “the Nativity may well
have occurred at the remaining great Feast of the Lord – at that of
Tabernacles, which began the Sabbath Year” (p. 145). Having said this,
Mackinlay proceeds to search for any harmonies that there may be between the
characteristics of this Feast of Tabernacles and the events recorded in
connection with the Nativity. As we have noticed previously, he says (p. 146),
there were two great characteristics of the Feast of Tabernacles: 1. Great joy
and 2. Living in booths (tents).
1. Great joy.
The Israelites were told at
this feast, “You shall rejoice before the Lord your God” (Leviticus23:40), and
“You shall rejoice in your feast … you shall be altogether joyful”
(Deuteronomy16:14, 15). King Solomon dedicated his Temple on a Feast of
Tabernacles, and the people afterwards were sent away “joyful and glad of
heart” (1 Kings 8:2, 66; 2 Chronicles7:10).
There was no public rejoicing
at the Nativity of Our Lord, however; on the contrary, as Mackinlay notes,
“shortly afterwards Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew
2:3)”. But though Our Lord was rejected by the majority, we find the
characteristic joy of Tabernacles reflected in the expectant and
spiritually-minded souls. Before the Nativity both the Virgin Mary and
Elizabeth rejoiced in anticipation of it (Luke 1:38, 42, 44, 46, 47). At the
Nativity an angel appeared to the shepherds and brought them good tidings of
great joy; and then “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest’.” The
shepherds then came to the infant Saviour and returned “glorifying and praising
God” (Luke 2:9-20).
Forty days after the Nativity,
at the Purification, Simeon, who had been waiting a long time for the
consolation of Israel, and the venerable Anna who was a constant worshipper,
joined in with their notes of praise and gladness (Luke 2:22-38).
And lastly the wise men from
the East “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” when they saw the star indicating
where the Saviour was, and they came into the house, saw the young Child with
his Mother, and presented the gifts that they had brought (Matthew 2:9-11).
2. Living in Booths.
The command given to the
Israelites concerning the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles was: “You
shall dwell in booths for seven days” (Leviticus23:42). We also read, “In the
feast of the seventh month … all the congregation … made booths, and dwelt in the
booths” (Nehemiah8:14, 17).
According to Mackinlay (pp.
147-148), the living in booths finds a parallel in the language of the Apostle
John, when he wrote concerning the Birth of Our Lord, “The Word became flesh,
and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14); and Our Lord himself used a somewhat
similar figure when he spoke of his body thus “Destroy this Temple, and in
three days I shall raise it up” (John 2:19) – words misunderstood by his
enemies and afterwards quoted against him (Matthew 26:61; 27:40).
It was at the Feast of
Tabernacles that the glory of God filled the Temple that King Solomon had
prepared for Him (2 Chronicles 5:3, 13, 14), and it would seem to have been at
the beginning or first day of the feast, the fifteenth day of the month.
Consequently, in Mackinlay’s
opinion (p. 148) “it would appear to be harmonious that the Advent of the Lord
Jesus in the body divinely prepared for him (Hebrews 10:5) should also take
place at the same feast and most suitably on the first day of its celebration”.
It will be noticed that the
glory of God did not cover the tent of meeting when the Israelites were in the
wilderness, and did not fill the tabernacle, at the Feast of Tabernacles. But
it did so on the first day of the first month of the second year after the departure
from Egypt (Exodus 40:17, 34, 35). We must remember that there was no Feast of
Tabernacles in the wilderness, nor was the Sabbath Year kept at this stage; but
both of these ordinances were to be observed when the Israelites entered into
the Promised Land (Exodus 34:22). No agricultural operations were carried out
during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
As the Feast of Tabernacles
inaugurated the Sabbath Year, Mackinlay judged (p. 149) that the glory of God
filled the temple on the first day of the feast, “as that would be in harmony
with what happened in the tabernacle in the wilderness when the glory of the
Lord filled it on the first day of the only style of year then observed”. A.
Edersheim, writing about the Feast of Tabernacles, says (The Temple, note on p.
272): “It is remarkable how many allusions to this feast occur in the writings
of the prophets, as if its types were the goal of all their desires”.
Mackey’s comment: What
follows next, whilst serving as a guide, cannot be taken in strict numerical
terms, I would think, given the present feeble state of biblico-historical reckoning,
preventing us from archaeoastronomical retrocalculations.
Having come thus far, we are
able - within Mackinlay’s context - to arrive at a still tentative, but very
reasonable, conclusion: and this conclusion will later be strengthened very
greatly, particularly when we look at the historical facts. Mackinlay at this
stage analyses those years, BC 10-5, which are universally accepted as being
the only possible ones for the date of Our Lord’s birth, to determine which of
them fits the best (p. 150). Since it has been inferred that the Nativity
occurred at a Feast of Tabernacles – probably on the first day – and that the
morning star had been shining by then for at least five months, a glance at
Mackinlay’s chart informs us that the only year within the possible historical
limits that satisfies these conditions, in his context, is BC 8.
For we will notice that at the
Feast of Tabernacles – say the autumnal equinox – of:
BC 10, the morning star was
only just beginning its period.
BC 9, there was no morning star
at all.
BC 8, the conditions are
satisfied completely.
BC 7, there was no morning star
at all.
BC 6, there was no morning star
at all.
BC 5, the morning star had been
shining only for about four months previously.
According to Mackinlay, the
Feast of Tabernacles, BC 8, presents the further harmony that it was specially
suited to the occasion, “as it was the first after a Sabbath year, and consequently
a specially joyful one”. Thus, he says (pp. 150-151), even if we neglect the
consideration of the Morning Star, we still have the Feast of Tabernacles BC 8
indicated for the date of the Nativity by the method of Gospel harmonies with
the Sabbath year”.
….
No comments:
Post a Comment