MERGED: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Part 1) & (Part 2)

[Minimalist]

with 32 AD being the best guess.

I can't imagine why.

Meet Lucius Vitellius Veteris



That's him seated on the right with Aulus Vitellius on the left, his son and short-lived emperor in 69. As the inscription indicates he was consul 3 times and censor.

But what is important about Vitellius is his first consulship in 34 under Tiberius. He served his year in office and then was eligible for one of the major military commands controlled by the emperor. In 35 he was appointed Imperial Legate (governor) of Syria. Normally this would be of little interest except Josephus recounts how Herod Antipas divorced his first wife Phasaelis, the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, in favour of Herodias, who had been married to his recently deceased brother Herod Philip I. While Josephus does not tie the second marriage to the death of John the Baptist the way the gospel accounts do he does repeat that it was Antipas who had JtheB killed and the gospels insist that it was after the death of JtheB that jesus kick-started his "ministry."

Now, regardless of how much bullshit they are trying to stuff into the bag it goes without saying that Herodias had to be a widow before Antipas could marry his brother's widow. Josephus dates Philip's death to 34. [6. About this time it was that Philip, Herod's ' brother, departed this life, in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius" Antiquites, XVIII
4,6] Tiberius reign began in 14 so adding 20 years gives us a fairly stable date of 34.

Thus we are already 2 years beyond 32 and jesus hasn't even gotten started yet according to the gospel accounts. It gets worse. Whatever arrangements Herodias and Antipas reached concerning marriage had to be ratified by Tiberius as Antipas was a client king and the idea of the marriage was to unite the late Philip's tetrarchy with Antipas.' While the Romans were always looking to dump Judaea on the Herod family no one would be so brazen as to act without even asking and Josephus duly recounts that Antipas took ship for Rome to get approval.
Let's be charitable and say that all this happened in 34. On 12-31-34, Vitellius' term as consul expires and he finds himself appointed to Syria.
It's reasonable that he would have had to gather a staff and make various arrangements to leave Rome and sailing in the winter was not preferred anyway so let's allow for Vitellius' arrival at his new post in the Spring of 35.

Meanwhile, Josephus is telling us that Aretas IV is acting like an outraged father - this was also a marriage of state and the rejection of Phaesalis is also a rejection of Aretas IV and Nabatea. He attacks Antipas, kicks his ass, and then realizes that he has just attacked an ally of Rome. Almost never a good idea. Josephus says that Antipas writes to Tiberias ( minimum 3 weeks even by the Roman military post )
who then writes to Vitellius ( another minimum 3 weeks back) and directs him to go after Aretas IV.

Let's be clear though. In order for this sequence to happen:

Philip must die. 34 AD
Herodias must agree to marry Antipas.
Antipas must secure approval from Tiberius and return.
Antipas must divorce his wife and marry Herodias.
Aretas must attack, and Vitellius must have been in position as governor of Syria to receive his orders.

I've been charitable in putting all this between 34 and 35. Josephus claims that Vitellius was in Jerusalem when he received the letters informing him that Tiberius was dead and Caligula was the new emperor. Tiberius died in March of 37 which means that given the minimum 3 week transit of news it cannot have been before April of 37 that Vitellius was moving on Aretas IV. He suspended his campaign awaiting further orders from Caligula and so Aretas IV lived for 3 more years....probably shitting his pants the whole time wondering when the Romans would get around to whupping his ass.

Now there is an awkward problem in Josephus but this is long enough for now.