Cleansing of The Temple - Chronology

Chronology

The Temple cleansing episode in the Gospel of John can be correlated with non-biblical historical data sources to obtain an estimate for the year to which the episode refers. John 2:13 states that Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem around the start of his ministry and John 2:20 states that Jesus was told:

"Forty and six years was this temple in building, and you want to raise it up in three days?".

In the Antiquities of the Jews, first century historian Flavius Josephus wrote that (Ant 15.380) the temple reconstruction was started by Herod the Great in the 15th-18th year of his reign at about the time that Augustus arrived in Syria (Ant 15.354). Temple expansion and reconstruction was ongoing, and it was in constant reconstruction until it was destroyed in 70 AD/CE by the Romans. Given that it took 46 years of construction, the Temple visit in the Gospel of John has been estimated at around 27-29 AD/CE.