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Initial Dating Established

Angel Message to Essene High Priest Zacharias Luke 1:5

In the days of Herod the King: SO - Before 4 BC and the death of Herod the Great

Zacharias is not called a High Priest, but he was, because his bloodline is traced

here back to Abias (Abiathar), an important bloodline that the Essenes were

preserving in the Qumran area and the Essene Quarter near Herod's temple.

Zacharias is also shown here to be a High Priest by the ceremony he is performing

which is a Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) ceremony (Luke 1:8-10)

This is only done by a High Priest -- whose "lot" is chosen when he became

the High Priest -- there was no lottery system for choosing ordinary priests to

offer incense before the Lord (NOT on the "Altar of Incense" BUT directly

before the Lord inside the veil of the "Most Holy Place") -- only on YOM

KIPPUR would the "whole multitude" be waiting outside -- Luke 1:10

IMPORTANCE: Understanding the exact occasion or ceremony allows

us to set the CORRECT initial DATE -- Sept - October of the year John

the Baptist was CONCEIVED!

That Elizabeth was "of the Daughters of Aaron" (Luke 1:5) is important because

 this makes her a Levite, of the Tribe of Levi not of the Tribe of Judah --

So either Mary the mother of Jesus WAS NOT her literal COUSIN, OR

if Mary was a Levite, one of the TWO Bible genealogies used by Catholics

to prove Mary was a direct descendent of King David is a DECEPTION.

That both Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were Essenes is strongly

inferred by Luke 1:6 "And they were both RIGHTEOUS before God,

walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

One has to here use one's good sense and critical ability, and

realize that NO priest offering incense before God in his "temple"

would be allowed to do so to which these words would not apply

in the USUAL sense -- it would be fool-hardy and dangerous for

an evil or unrighteous priest, who paid no attention to Jewish

"commandments and ordinances" to attempt what Zacharias

was here about to do.  SO: Luke is hinting that further, more

rigid and detailed "commandments and ordinances" are

involved, those of the ESSENES, whose requirements

included that Zacharias must be celibate at the time he

was doing this, and could not even think about performing

sexual intercourse while he was in the "Most Holy Place."

IMPORTANT because it allows us to understand why

Elizabeth his wife was "barren".  (No sex, no pregnancy!)

The Cause of no Pregnancy for Elizabeth

Luke is not being extremely clear and forthright here about the existence of the Essenes and that he and Jesus were both Essenes because he was the willing participant in a conspiracy to make the life of Jesus a "MAGICAL LIFE" not a typical Essene life but slightly altered because Jesus was a "Privileged Essene" and Essene Messiah.  He was writing his books, his Gospel and Acts partly for Gentiles and for us in the 21st century.

Thus we are ALLOWED TO BELIEVE that Elizabeth had some physical disorder that did not allow her to become PREGNANT in spite of weekly or monthly sexual intercourse of the usual type that a Jewish Rabbi of today might believe normal or even insist on as one of his duties and privileges as a Jew and a Rabbi.  All Jews then and now feel it to be a duty to God and Judaism to produce Jewish sons and daughters.

NOT SO in the case of the Essen High Priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. The rule was no sex for him until he was almost 40 years old.  And no sex for her until he was allowed to have a child with her willing participation.  So we MUST READ Luke 1:7 with these restrictions in mind.

Luke 1:7 "And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren (not having anyone to make her pregnant), and they both were well stricken in years (it was time for them to have a son, Zacharias being about 40 years old or more)."

Zacharias the Essene High Priest has a problem now in verse 8 because it's time for the Yom Kippur ceremony and he's having some difficulty keeping sex, and having a son, and his lonely wife Elizabeth out of his mind as he's performing a ceremony in which none of these thoughts and concerns should be indulged.  And he meets an angel.

Luke 1:11 "And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 "And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him." (For good reason -- God may slay him for "improper thoughts and desires, and he might die right there and then, and another priest might have to pull his corpse out of the "Most Holy Place" by the rope tied around one ankle for just such an occasion by all Jewish priests officiating in this ceremony)

Luke 1:13 "But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John."

IMPORTANCE: Now we can know that Zacharias is free from his Essene High Priestly duties and by Essene custom can have sex with his wife in December of that year, hopefully causing her to conceive, the child "John" to be born the following September, one year following the announcement by the angel on Yom Kippur.

WE STILL DON'T KNOW THE YEAR, AND WON'T UNTIL WE KNOW ABOUT THE REAL YEAR OF THE "STAR OF BETHLEHEM" -- WE COUNT BACKWARDS FROM THAT CRUCIAL YEAR TO DETERMINE WHEN JOHN WAS CONCEIVED!

Bethlehem STAR Date Established by Astronomy

and the Babylonian Letter

Here I'm not going to duplicate all of the material that surrounds this page, just recommend that you refer to it to establish that this triple conjunction occurs only once every 800 years and was therefore very important to the Astrologers of Babylon, Judea, Qumran and the Essenes, and all over the Roman Empire.  Although these three conjunctions do not provide an exact date, they do nail down the year of the WISE MEN'S JOURNEY and JESUS' BIRTH to 7 BC.  (Matt.2:1-15)

And now we can return to Luke chapter 1 knowing that Elizabeth had to be pregnant with John the Baptist during most of 8 BC.

Annunciation to Mary in June of 8 BC

    Luke 1:21 "And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple." (Some knew of his potentially LETHAL concerns with the necessity of making Elizabeth pregnant, or not having a son to carry on his family name, and that of Abiathar his ancestor -- PERHAPS God had killed him for thinking about sexual intercourse in the "Most Holy Place"!)

    22 "And when he came out, he could not speak unto them:--(now relieved by the angel of his High Priestly duties, he had also lost his authority to "speak" as a High Priest) --and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple (the "vision" of becoming a father and having a son): for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless." (a charade or "play" that Zacharias maintains until the circumcision of his son John a year later)

   23 "And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house."

   Having established, I hope, that Zacharias was an Essene High Priest, not a regular Jewish High Priest at Herod's Temple in Jerusalem, we can know where Zacharias' house was, for its ruins can still be seen 3 KM South of the Qumran Monastery at Ain Feshkha. One can assume that the new Essene High Priest who replaced him would live in the Monastery with the other "monks" who lived celibate lives there "without women and without love" as some contemporary historian, perhaps Pliny the Elder, has said.

    The assumption that Zacharias was an Essene High Priest is reinforced by not being able to find his name listed in various lists of Jewish High Priests in that time frame.

December 9 BC Elizabeth conceives,

with minor "help" by Zacharias

   Luke 1:24 "And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months --"  (We can assume that she "hid herself" at the same house where her husband Zacharias was living, at Ain Feshkha, 3 KM South of the Qumran monastery)

    May, 8 BC Elizabeth Definitely Pregnant!

   Luke 1:26 "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth.  27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary."