There is a u-'iiil iii'li. mI ion of time in Jn o-"-'", where the Baptist, wlmse popularity is waning in 4', and whose utterance in 2i^-^ seems to contain a presentiment of doom — ' He must increase, but I must decrease ' — is referred to as a lamp that no longer shines. ' He was the burning and shining lamp, and ye were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.' It is probable that Herod Antipas, who was jealous and suspicious of the Baptist's influence (Ant. XVIII. v. 1), seized the opportunity of his decreasing popularity to have him betrayed (Trapa.5oB9)va.i., !Mk 1") and arrested. The report of that arrest may have reached our Lord on HLs journey through Samaria to Galilee (Jn 4). If so, the Synoptic statements of Mk 1'*, Mt 4", regard- ing His work in Galilee as connected with the imprisonment of the Baptist would be suitably introduced by the healing of the nobleman's son at Capernaum (Jn 4''^"=^).
The interval allowed by the Synoptists between the arrest and the death of the Bajitist, in wliich room is found for an extended work of Jesus in Galilee (Capernaum especially, Mt 11'-""), for the Baptist's mission to Jesus (IP), and for Herod's procrastination with the Baptist, whom lie feiired, tried to keep safe, and for whom he did many things (Mk 6""), is also allowed in the Fourth Gospel. In it Jesus is represented as walking in Galilee (7'"'") before the Feast of Tabernacles, nearly five months (Sivan 8-Tishri 15) after the Feast of Pentecost (5'), but not afterwards, — a fact which is in agreement with the Synoptic account (Lk 9'", Mt 14", Mk 6^'), which describes our Lord withdrawing from the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas to Bethsaida Julias, C.-esarea Philijipi, and other districts of Herod Philip— the best of all the Hcruds— in cuiisequence of the former's identi- ticatioii I'l lliiii with the Baptist, whom he had beheailr.l ,M1. li").
With rr-ai.l to the date of the Baptist's execu- tion, Keim, Hausrath, Schenkel, and others, on the strength of Josephus' account of the defeat of Antipas by Aretas (A.D. 36), in connexion with his narrative of the Baptist's death, which the Jews regarded as divinely avenged in that battle, have held that the divorce of Herod Antipas' wife cannot have been long before A.D. 36. But Jose- phus notes also a dispute about boundaries in Gamalitis (Ant. xvill. v. 1) as subsequent to the divorce of the daughter of Aretas, wliich he de- scribes as ' the first occasion ' of the bitterness be- tween him and Herod. And there is nothing in (lie annals of the Herods to controvert the date A.D. 28 for the scene in the castle of Macha;rus as described in the SjTioptics. In fact, A.D. 28 would be ,a more suitable date for the elopement of Herodias, and the description of her daughter
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Salome as t6 Kopdjcov (Mk 6-^"-"), than A.u. 3b. Hevodias was the sister of Agvippal., who {Ant. XIX. viii. 2) was 54 years old when he died m A.D. 44, and was, therefore, born B.C. 10. Herodias must have been born shortly before or after, as she was betrothed by Herod the Great {Ant. XVII. i. 2), after the death of her father Aristobulus (B.C. 7), when quite a child, to Philip his son by Mariamne II., daughter of Simon the high priest, whom he married in the 13th year of his reign, c. B.C. 24 {Ant. XV. ix. 3). Herodias would, there- fore, be about 37 years old, and her husband 52 in A.D. 28, and her daughter Salome not more than 18, as Herodias was married ' when arrived at age of puberty' {Atit. XVIII. v. 4). In A.D. 36 she would be 45 years of age, and Salome 26. The former age is, therefore, more probable. The fact that retribution was connected with the defeat in A.D. 36 proves nothing, as retribution is proverbially long delayed. The fourth point of time is Jn 6^. The difficulty in it is the reading to iriax'^- By many it is re- tained ; by others omitted. If it is retained, there are three Passovers mentioned in Jn. (2'^ 6* 12'), making the ministry extend over two years. But if it is removed, this feast of the Jews becomes identified with the Feast of Tabernacles of T: And the chronology of the ministry can be reckoned on the basis of a year and several months previous. 123-2'=. Work in Galilee. 2'^. Passover in Jerusalem (Nisan). 5'. Pentecost in Sivan (May-June 1). 6^. Tabernacles in Tishri (September-October). V. Tabernacles in Tishri.
10". Dedication in Chislev (November-Decem- ber). Ip5. Passover in Nisan (March- April). Hort urges the omission o( t« rr«o-j;«, which is supported (1) by documentary evidence ; (2) by the fact that X'C"* t«x« of Jn 610 apparently =,;X».,i; x'P-"!' ol Mk 639 ; (3) by the note (Jn 71), 'After these things Jesus walked (Tsf.iTKT!,) in l^a]ilee_, which implies some interval between the events of chs. b and i, but on the Tabernacles hypothesis sufficient time would not be allowed, as the same feast was 'near' inO-i and in ,-; .ind (*)'^'^ said that St. John, who was writing for Christians who had holy associations with Passover and Pentecost but not with Taber- nacles, would hardly have spoken of that feast as the Feast nir' lin'.: On the other hand, it is more than probable (1) that Irenaeus would have mentioned 6* among the Passovers, if he knew of it, even though ostensibly he was merely recording the Passovers at which our Lord went up to Jerusalem, as his main object was to confute the Gnostics, who held that Jesus suffered a year after His baptism (H<er. ii. 22. 3) ; (2) that in^= is a vague term allowing for comparative nearness, and our Lorci did not hurry Himself for the feast, arriving only in the middle of it(7i-i); (3) that Origen's Com., on St. John clearly postulates the omission of a Passover between i'^ and 7- ; (4) that St. John wrote as one familiar with Jewish fasts and feasts, and Josephus (Ant. vin. iv. 1) calls the Feast of Tabernacles lof-"! o-»eJ/i« T«f « ™-,v 'K.s.^/a.t iv.^rirv, ««i u-iyirT,,, and it is in OT sometimes Ezk 45=5) ; (5) that the tradition of 1 more easilv confuted by Irenieus ■r in Jn 6^ than by an attempt to b a Passover ; (6) that the Alogi, according" to Epiphanius (Hasr. 61. 22), found in Jn. only a Passover at the beginning and another at the end of His ^ta. might have easily been