Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

On the 15th Year of Tiberius Caesar and Inclusive Counting

by Ernest L. Martin

The Messiah's statement recorded in Luke 4:16-21 can now be recognized as a reference to the Sabbatical Year of A.D. 27 to A.D. 28. This powerful indication would make Luke's reference to Tiberius' 15th year as an INCLUSIVE reckoning, i.e. when Tiberius assumed command of the empire at the death of Augustus (August 19, A.D. 14), the year CURRENT (the one beginning at the start of the calendar year) is considered Tiberius' FIRST year. If, then, the Roman civil year was intended by Luke, Tiberius' first regnal year began with January 1, A.D. 14, and his 15th year with January 1, A.D. 28. If, on the other hand, Luke was employing the Syriac year (and traditionally both he and Theophilus were from Antioch), then Tiberius' 15th year began with Tishri 1, A.D. 27. This reckoning would dovetail with the Judahite year in Jerusalem. This latter deduction appears the most likely.

Now to the point of this article! Since an INCLUSIVE reckoning is essential for Tiberius' 15th year to correspond with the Sabbatical Year indication in Luke 4, it might be fair to ask if INCLUSIVE countings are NORMAL in the writings of Luke? We will now show where this is the case.

a). Whereas Matthew and Mark say "after six days" (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2), Luke brings in a prominent (and obvious) INCLUSIVE reckoning, "about an eight days after" (Luke 9:28).

b). Notice as well that Cornelius received his vision at the ninth hour (Acts 10:3) and immediately dispatched his servants to Peter. The next day at noontime they met Peter (v. 9). Then, "on the morrow" they left Joppa for Caesarea (v. 23) and arrived the next day (v. 24) at the exact hour (the ninth) when Cornelius had received the vision (v. 30). When one counts the hours from the time of the vision to the arrival of Peter, there were exactly 72 hours, yet Cornelius called it the FOURTH DAY (v. 30). This, of course, shows the use of INCLUSIVE reckoning -- the day on which Cornelius received the vision (though only three hours were left of it) was acknowledged as the first day, and the time Peter arrived must then be accounted the fourth day! This kind of reckoning was indeed the normal Roman and Greek way of measuring time, i.e. the Olympic Games were every fifth year to the Gentiles whereas they were only four years apart.

And too, the Judahites reckoned normally the SAME way. A boy was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 1:59), with the first day being counted from the birth (even if born within the last minutes of the day). INCLUSIVE reckoning for days, weeks, months and years was the predominant method for societies in the first century, and Luke was accustomed to this manner of reckoning.

c). A further example of Luke's use of the INCLUSIVE is the mention of 12 days (Acts 24:11) which accounted for the interval of time from Acts 21:15 to 23:33. There is NO WAY those 12 days can be reckoned except in the INCLUSIVE method.

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