206 



LIEUT.-COLONEL G. MACKINLAY, THE DATE 



days we reach the 14th December, 9 B.C., for the Annunciation. 

 We notice that this agrees with Table II, in which the assumption 

 was made that the Annunciation was at the very beginning of 

 the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. AVe thus demonstrate, 

 independently of any grammatical considerations, that the ex- 

 pression, "in the sixth month" (Luke i, 26), referred to the 

 first day of that month. 



Summarising our results by looking for [D], in each table we 

 obtain : — 



Table Y. 



Summary of Dates. 



Events. 



Exactly or nearly. 



Vision of Zacharias 

 Annunciation 

 Birth of John .... 

 Nativity 



13 July, 9 B.C. A week before the new moon 

 of the fifth month. Ab. 



14 December, 9 B.C. New moon of the tenth 

 month, Tebel. 



26 April, 8 B.C. Full moon of second month, 

 Zif or Jiar. 



20 September, 8 b.c. Full moon of seventh 

 month, Tisri. 



Inspection of an astronomical table of new moons informs us 

 that there was a (Jewish) new moon on 20th July, 9 B.C., when 

 Zacharias went to his house after his week of service ; this was 

 at the beginning of the fifth month, Ab. ; the months of 

 Elizabeth's pregnancy thus commenced with the new moons, 

 and it must have been very easy to note when the sixth month 

 began, viz., at the new moon of the tenth month, Tebel, which 

 was therefore the time of the Annunciation. We must 

 remember that with the Jewish calendar of lunar months and 

 no printed almanacs, the phases of the moon were carefully 

 noted by every one in recording the flight of time. It follows 

 naturally that both John the ]]aptist and Christ must each Imve 

 been born just about the time of a full moon, for 40 weeks, or 

 280 days, are almost exactly the same as 9^ lunar months, which 

 equal 9 J x 29^ = 280^ days. John was born at the full moon of 

 the second month, when the Passover had sometimes been kept 

 (Numbers ix, 10, 11 ; 2 Chron. xxx, 2, 15), and Christ was born 

 at the full moon of the seventh month, \\ hich always indicated 

 the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii, 34). 



