(2) Thr I ihe Baptist is the <C)'»iiHH J a quo 01 • I Jesus, and is assigned to thel5tll^■ 1 i li iiu~. Dating that reign from the death <.t Au-u-iu-, Aug. 19 A.D. 14, the 15th year corresponds with A.D. 28-29. B. Weiss and Beyschlag, however, count from A.D. 12, when Tiberius was made co-regent with Augustus. W. M. Ramsay has pointed out that on July 1 A.D. 71, during the life of the Evangelist, Titus was similarly associated in the empire with Vespasian, which would give A.D. 26-27 as the first year of the Baptist's work. This would agree with the otfice of Pilate, who could hardly have arrived much sooner than A.D. 27, as he held office for 10 years, and was on his way to Rome in A.D. 37, when Tiberius died {Ant. xvill. iv. 2). We might, there- fore, if it is permitted to follow Weiss and Bey- schlag, fix on A.D. 27-28 for our Lord's baptism.
(3) Jn 2-'^ TcaaapdiKovTa Kai ^| IIthtlv (pKoSofirj0rj 6 fabs oiVoy (cf. Ezr 5^'' (pKoSoft-q&tj Kai ovk eTeX^adtj). The Jews do not refer, therefore, to tlie completion of the restoration, which took place much later {Ant. XX. ix. 7). This work was begun in the 18th year of Herod {Ant. XV. xi. 1, reckoning from B.C. 37, death of Antigonus), in the loth {BJ I. xxi. 1, reckoning from B.C. 40). This gives B.C. 19-18, from which to A.D. 28 is 46 years. The Passover of A.D. 28 would be a likely date for the events of Jn 2""^. The time of Jn l"-2'- has yet to be settled. Prof. Sanday (art. ' Jesus Christ in Hastings' DB ii. 609) gives the time as ' Winter, A.D. 26.' Now there are certain indications of the time of year in which our Lord was baptized which show that His visit to the Baptist may have sj-n- chronized with the preparations for the Passover in the month Adar (cf. Jn 11" 'And the Jews' passover was at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover to purify themselves'), while His sojourn and fast in the wilderness, of which St. M.itthew .and St. Luke give details, may have been due not only to a desire to be alone to reflect upon His mission, but
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also to the feeling of the necessity of a great self- restraint in order to check the urgings of His Messianic consciousness to manifest Himself to the Passover crowds in His connexion with His country as its Redeemer, with the Temple as the Son of God and its Priest, and with the world as its King. It was on His return from the desert that He was pointed out by the Baptist, when the marks of the recent struggle and fasting on His brow would have given additional point to the Baptist's remark, ' Behold the Lamb of God, w Iiith taketh away tlie sin of the world ' (Jn 1=^'), which has a true Passover ring (cf. ' Christ our passover [or Paschal lamb, xi vdcrxa] was sacriticed for us,' 1 Co 5'). Passover time would also account for the presence of so many CialiU-eans in Juda?a, while the atmosphere of the scenes of the baptism of Jesus and of His interviews with His first disciples in Jn 1 is spring, the budding life of the year, in the buoyant sunshine when mens IkmiIs :u-<- most reaay for a change of life. Natliim.K'l, .-m Israelite without the guile of Jacob, at tin' fcn-i r\(lusively for Israelites, is meditating uiidrr a lij; tni', most likely on the story of Jacob. Passover seems a favourite time for baptism. It was after the Pass- over of Jn 2" that Jesus and His disciples baptized in Judiea, while Jolin was baptizing in iEnon near to Salim ( Jn 3"'-). And it is most improbable that Jesus would have stayed away from the Passover. On the other side may be urged the fact that Bethahara, for which the best 51SS, nABC, read 'Bethany,' lias been identified by Conder with a ford called 'Abdrah, N.E. of Beth- shean, 'a site as near to Cana as any point on the Jordan, and within a day's journev ' (art. ' Bethabara ' in Hastings' DB). On the other hand, Emyc. Dibl. art. ' Bethany ' follows Sir G. Grove and Sir C. W. Wilson (Smith's Z>/J2, «.!). 'Bethnimrah') in holding that Beth-nimrah on the east of Jordan, opposite to Jericho, is the place meant. Beth-nimrah, now known as A-imrtn,i9 'beyond Jordan,' t!>« t.5 'Ufli^ov (Jn 128 3=6); it 19 well supplied with water, and accessible both from Jericho and Jerusalem, and may have produced the variants 'Beth- abara' and 'Bethany.* Origen advocated Bethabara because he could find no Bethany be.\ond Jordan. But the variant B,:flapa3« for li-'-.OaiSapcc is found in his text. That variant and the traditional site of our I^ord's baptism, Makhadet Uajla^ arc strongly against Col. C'otider's suggestion, while tradition con- nects our Lord's temptation with the district of Quarantania, named from His 40 days' fast ; and something must be allowed for tradition in such matters. 'The third day' of Jn 21 may possibly be counted from Jn l-*3 ' On the day after.' But it is probable, in fact it is to be inferred from His mother's informa- tion of the exhausted wine, that our Lord was not present on the first day of the marriage festivities, which generally extended over a week, and were concluded with a supper (art. ' Marriage ' in Hastings' DB\ and it was quite possible for Him and His dis- ciples to have accomplished the journey from the vicinity of