“ The Bible is the Infallible Word of God???”
So I had a very interesting event take place recently in my life. Two of my childhood friends who I have always known to be Christians have not only denied Jesus Christ but, deny the entire doctrine of the New testament and now seek to discredit the four Gospels, the Epistles, their content, and their authors. They have turned to another form of doctrine being taught by what they call themselves, ”Black Hebrew Israelites.” This of course was not my first encounter with these heretics and enemies of the faith. You might recall a certain guest speaker being invited to our church that’s right Claude Anderson the author of “Powernomics” this man came and pointed out presumed errors in the holy scriptures showing us “Shakespeare” in Psalms 46 somehow forged his name between verses 3 and 9. Of course that is completely coincidental and you would basically have to completely infer this instance to have an argument of its validity which of course no one was impressed at “The Acres.” We get sound doctrine on a regular basis but, The Hebrew Israelites are troublesome they point out seemingly legitimate errors that they notice and attack Christians with. They actually stomped me with this one and I was completely embarrassed….me? without an answer??? I was ashamed and intrigued all at once. Here is their argument:
One of the first questions they presented to me was “what proof did I have that Jesus Christ ever existed?” Well of course apart from structures and characters of history that were alive during His time on earth there is none. Well they used this unexplained event in the discussion to bring out this contradiction in scripture that stomped me: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem..(Matt.2:1)” Now this scripture shows us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea during Herod the Great’s reign. Herod the Great son of Antipas ruled over Judea from 37B.C.E -4B.C.E. Luke 1:5 also agrees with Jesus being born during Herod’s reign showing that Zacharias and Elizabeth received news of John the Baptist’s birth in the same timeline. Now Herod died around 4B.C.E meaning then that Jesus had to have been born sometime before 4B.C.E however, neither history nor scripture reveal how much before Herod’s death Jesus was born. We do know that Herod gave a decree to have all young children killed 2 years and under based on the wisemen’s information. (“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”Matt.2:16). Joseph being warned in a dream by Gabriel was told to go into Egypt. Knowing that Herod died while Joseph was in Egypt helps greatly with dating Christ’s birth because he was at least 2 years old when Herod made the decree placing Jesus’ birth right at about 6 or 7B.C.E. We also know that after Herod’s death his son Archelaus ruled in his place from 4B.C.E-6A.D. Now Joseph heard while in Egypt that Herod’s son ruled in his place. Matt.2:22 says: “But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee.” Now the Hebrew Israelites told me that Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth contradicts Luke’s account. Luke 2:1-2 tells us "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) " Now here is where the problem occurs as I stated in the above statement Herod the Great’s rule ended in 4B.C.E with his death. From 4B.C.E to 10A.D his son Archelaus ruled in his place until Caesar Augustus deemed him incompetent and juvenile and ended his reign. Cyrenius’ term as governor of Syria doesn’t begin until 10A.D according to records so how was Jesus born at this time when King Herod is dead by then?? This of course created problems with my argument seeing as how I wasn’t familiar with these dates and times as they were. I believe it’s our responsibility to know these things if we are to be effective in explaining scripture and it also helps when the bible seems to be contradicting itself we can go and debunk things like this with simple interpretation of history so that’s what I learned this weekJ.
Now what is really going on with the contradiction between Matthew 2:1 and Luke 2:2? Does the bible have an error? Or was Herod raised from the dead after 4B.C.E? According to Luke’s account Herod was indeed dead by the time Cyrenius was governor of Syria. Well I researched it for 2 weeks and found out what they did not see in the text neither did they mention the events of history that took place in Rome. Luke 2:2 mentions that the census took place when Cyrenius “was first made governor of Syria” meaning there must have been more than one census taken on the world. Of course I found this to be true there were actually 3 censuses taken over each exactly 8 years apart from one another. When Jesus was born this census is actually believed to be the second census taken in Rome . The first census taken is also noted in the book of Acts 5:37(“After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, [even] as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.”) “Judas of Galilee” (not Iscariot) rose up in the days of the taxing according to scholars because Jews had not been required to pay any monetary tribute to anyone but, God and the taxing required the Jews to pay a monetary tax fee, scholars believe that Jews in the lower socioeconomic bracket like Judas often rose up to revolt against such difficult brought on by the Roman government who basically didn’t bother the Jews this is the reason for Gamaliel’s statement in Acts 5:37. So here is the answer: Cyrenius actually was not the Governor of Syria prior to 6A.D but he was governor of Cilia during this time which was also during the first taxation of the world which he headed up. Luke is still not inaccurate however . The greek word “governor” used in Luke2:2 is the word “hēgemoneuō” this word means “to be leader, to lead the way or to rule or command as a procurator or proconsul.” Now this is a different word than the word used to identify Pontius Pilate who was Governor at the time of Jesus’ death. The word used for “governor” there is “hegemon” this word means “a leader of any kind, a guide, ruler, prefect, president, chief, general, commander, sovereign.a "legatus Caesaris", an officer administering a province in the name and with the authority of the Roman emperor.” So Pilate as Governor or the “hegemon” has the same authority as Caesar. So who was Governor of Syria during Jesus’ birth?There were 2 short terms held. It is documented that Publius Quinctilius Varus governed Syria shortly between 9-8B.C.E as well as a Roman by the name of Saturninus. Varus didn’t rule well during the first census so Caesar Augustus used Cyrenius during the first census so its no surprise he would be the first man that Caesar chose for the second and third census as well making him governor for the sole purpose of leading the census giving him a temporary position as Governor of Syria for a short time during the census but, not ruling as the official governor of Syria until 6A.D. So in conclusion, Jesus was born around 6-7B.C.E Herod died 2 years later and Cyrenius was temporary governor of Syria during that time but, not the “Legatus Caesaris” as was Pontius Pilate was until 6A.D. So there you have it. The Hebrew Israelites simply don’t have the Holy Spirit of Faith to see these errors therefore we always have an advantage. Hope this helps more than me!!
