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Does this date - the Hebrew year 5760 - have any validity in the other time prophecies of the Bible? Is it possible to obtain a time-line?
Perhaps the best place to start is with a time-line that has been given to us in the book of Daniel, chapter 9. It was probably from this prophecy that Simeon and Anna were able to know that it was time for the coming of Messiah.
Of Simeon it was said, "Simeon... was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel... and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ (Messiah). And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 'Now, Lord, thou dost let thy bondservant depart in peace, according to thy word; for my eyes have seen thy Salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel,'" (Luke 2:25-32).
Of Anna it was said that she was in the temple at the time Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus. She had seen and heard what Simeon had done, "And at that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel," (Luke 2:36-38).
The angel Gabriel (the same angel who brought the announcement of the miraculous begettal to Mary) gave Daniel a time-line to the Messiah. He said, "Know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks... then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off ..." (Daniel 9:25-26).
The counting of the time is historically precise. For a concise explanation of this I will quote from the New American Standard Bible, The New Open Bible Study Edition, page 942:
The vision of the sixty-nine weeks in 9:25, 26 pinpoints the coming of Messiah. The decree of 9:25 took place on March 4, 444 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8). The sixty-nine weeks of seven years equals 483 years, or 173,880 days (using 360-day prophetic years). This leads to March 29, A.D. 33, the date of the Triumphal Entry This is checked by noting that 444 B.C. to A.D. 33 is 476 years, and 476 times 365.24219 days per year equals 173,855 days. Adding twenty-five for the difference between March 4 and March 29 gives 173,880 days.
So, the prophecy counts the time precisely to the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem which was 4 days before the crucifixion.
Some chronologers say that the decree of Artaxerxes was in the year 445 B.C., and the crucifixion of Jesus was in A.D. 32. This difference of one year is an important element in counting the time accurately. The reason for believing the twentieth year of Artaxerxes was in 445 is because they are counting from the date of Xerxes' death, which was in 465 B.C. Adding 20 years would give the date of 445. However, they fail to take into account a drama that took place following the death (murder) of Xerxes.
An ambitious man named Artabanus killed Xerxes in his bedchamber. Knowing that Xerxes' oldest son and heir to the throne was Darius, Artabanus proceeded to kill him also. This left Artaxerxes as the heir to the throne of Persia. But Artaxerxes was just a young teenager. So Artaxerxes was set up under pretense of being king, but Artabanus was really in power. This arrangement lasted for seven months. Artabanus became unhappy with Artaxerxes, so decided to kill him. But in the scuffle, Artaxerxes succeeded in killing Artabanus.
Soon after this event, another son of Xerxes, Hystaspis, who had been on a journey, heard of the death of the king, and returned to claim his right to the throne. Artaxerxes proceeded to kill him, also. This left Artaxerxes in full possession of the throne of Persia. But the year was no longer 465 B.C., it was now 464. Thus his 20th year, the year of the decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, was indeed 444 B.C., just as is recorded in the New American Standard Bible.
The concept, based on the 445 B.C. date, places the crucifixion in the year A.D. 32. It should be noted that Nisan 14, the day of the crucifixion, in the year 32 fell on a Monday. Whereas, the correct counting from 444 B.C. brings us to the year A.D. 33 for the crucifixion. Nisan 14 of that year would have been Friday, April 3 on the Julian calendar. There was a lunar eclipse that same day, at 3:00 in the afternoon - the exact time that Jesus died. When the moon rose over Jerusalem that night, it was still in eclipse for 17 minutes.
This date for the crucifixion - Friday, April 3 on the Julian calendar - is confirmed by a document that today resides in the British Museum in London. It is a letter that the Governor Pontius Pilate wrote to the Roman Emperor, in an attempt to explain the reason for having crucified Jesus. At the end of the letter he dates the writing: "The 5th of the calends of April." Calends has reference to the first of a month, thus it appears to mean the fifth day of the beginning of April. If so, then this letter was written two days after the crucifixion. Those who attempt to date the crucifixion in A.D. 32 must confront the fact that Nisan 14 of that year was Monday, April 13 - eight days after Pilate wrote the letter. Pilate's letter, telling Caesar why the crucifixion which he had just ordered and executed, was necessary, dated April 5, cannot possibly fit the supposed April 13 date for the crucifixion.
This time-line, given by the angel Gabriel to Daniel, provides for us a reference point, from which we can count both forward and backward.
First, let's count backward to the birth of Jesus. If He died in the spring of A.D. 33, His birth would have been in the Autumn of 2 B.C. This date has been contested by many. There have been many dates suggested for His birth, from 1 B.C. all the way back to 6 B.C. Can we find any credible evidence? Yes, I believe we can.
One of the early Christian Fathers, Tertullian, born about A.D. 160 stated that Augustus began to rule 41 years before the birth of Jesus, and died 15 years later. (Tert. adv. Judaeos c.8) The date of Augustus' death is recorded as August 19, A.D. 14. This would place the birth of Jesus at 2 B.C. (One year is subtracted because there is no zero year between B.C. and A.D.)
In the same chapter, Tertullian stated that Jesus was born 28 years after the death of Cleopatra. Her death is recorded in history as occurring in 30 B.C.; again placing the birth of Jesus in 2 B.C..
Irenaeus, who was born about a hundred years after Jesus, stated (iii 25) that "Our Lord was born about the forty-first year of the reign of Augustus." Since Augustus began his rulership in the autumn of 43 B.C., it would place the birth of Jesus in the autumn of 2 B.C.
Eusebius (c. 264-340 A.D.), who was termed the Father of Church History, wrote: "It was the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus and the twenty-eighth from the subjugation of Egypt on the death of Antony and Cleopatra," (Eccles. Hist. i5). The 42nd year of Augustus began in the autumn of 2 B.C. and ended in the autumn of 1 B.C. The subjugation of Egypt and its incorporation into the Roman Empire occurred in the autumn of 30 B.C.; therefore, the 28th year from that time extended from the autumn of 3 B.C. to the autumn of 2 B.C. Hence the only possible date for the birth of Jesus that would meet both of these requirements would be the autumn of 2 B.C.
The historian, Josephus, referred to a lunar eclipse that occurred shortly before the death of Herod. Since we know that Herod was alive when Jesus was born, can we place Herod's death by the date of the eclipse?
It has been suggested by some that the lunar eclipse of March 13, 4 B.C. would place the death of Herod prior to that date. However, lunar eclipses are common, often happening two or three times in a single year. Since Josephus, referring to the burning of Matthias by Herod, said, "And on that very night there was an eclipse of the moon," it must have been a noticeable eclipse, and at an hour when people were awake to see it. To find the correct eclipse to which Josephus referred, it would have to comply with the following requirements:
An eclipse that complies perfectly with these requirements occurred on the evening of December 29, 1 B.C., almost exactly three months before Passover. It was an eclipse of about 7 digits, thus more than half of the orb was obscured. The moon was already in eclipse when it rose over Jerusalem that night, and continued for about two hours, so that even children would have been able to see it before being put to bed.
Since Herod died shortly after the burning of Matthias, but two months before the Passover, his death would have occurred some time in January of 1 B.C. An ancient Jewish scroll, the Magillah Ta'anith, written during the lifetime of Jesus, gives the day and month of Herod's death as the 1st of Shebat. This would be January 14 on the Julian calendar.
Information given in the Bible concerning the time of the conception of John the Baptist furnishes another method of determining the date of Jesus' birth. Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary was the wife of Zacharias, the priest. Zacharias was of the course of Abijah. Luke 1:8-13 states that while Zacharias "executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course" he was given the message that Elizabeth would have a son and that they should name him John. In verses 23 and 24 it is recorded, "And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house."
The priests were divided into 24 classes (I Chronicles 24:7-19), and each class officiated in the temple for one week The courses of the priests changed duty with the change of the week, i.e., from the end of the Sabbath at sundown until the next Sabbath. Both the Talmud and the historian, Josephus, state that the temple was destroyed by Titus on August 5, A.D. 70, and that the first course of priests had just taken office. The previous evening was the Sabbath. The course of Abijah was the 8th course, thus, figuring backward we are able to determine that Zacharias ended his course and came off duty on July 13,3 B.C., and returned home to Elizabeth. The conception of John occurred that weekend (13th-14th) and the birth of John would take place 280 days later, namely, April 19th-20th of 2 B.C., precisely at the Passover of that year.
Elizabeth hid herself five months, and at the beginning of her 6th month the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, telling her of Elizabeth's condition. At the same time Gabriel told Mary that she, too, would conceive and bear a son who would be called Jesus. Upon hearing this, Mary went "with haste" from Nazareth to Em Karim to visit Elizabeth, who was then in the first week of her 6th month. The time was the 4th week of December, 3 B.C. The 23rd of December of that year, by the Julian calendar was precisely the winter solstice. If this were the date of the conception of Jesus, 280 days later would place the date of His birth at September 29, 2 B.C., i.e., the first day of Tishri, the day of the Feast of Trumpets - the Hebrew New Year, Rosh Hoshanah.
Luke 3:1 states that John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. According to the Law of Moses, an Israelite was considered of age for the ministry at 30 (Numbers 4:3). Augustus had died on August 19, A.D. 14; thus that year became the accession year of Tiberius, even though he had been involved in and associated with the Roman rulership before Augustus died. If John the Baptist had been born April 19-20,2 B.C., his 30th birthday would be April 19-20, A.D. 29, or the 15th year of Tiberius. Thus the 2 B.C. date for the birth of John is confirmed by the Biblical record. John was 5 1/3 months older than Jesus, making the birth of Jesus to be near the end of September of that same year.
We know that Jesus had just turned 30 years old at His baptism (Luke 3:23). Thus if He had been born in the autumn of 2 B.C. the baptism would have been in the autumn of A.D. 29. We have the scriptural testimony that Jesus observed 4 Passovers during His ministry John 2:13; 5:1; 6:4; 13:1). The observance of 4 Passovers would bring Him to the spring of A.D. 33. The day of His death was on that 4th Passover, the 14th of Nisan. It was the day of full moon, and it was Friday, April 3, of the year A.D. 33.
Thus the years of Jesus' birth and death can indeed be determined by the historical, scriptural, and astronomical records.
I apologize if I have burdened the reader with these details, but I feel it is extremely important to identify the accurate dates for His birth and death, because those two events are pivotal points upon which a time-line must rest.
Counting backward 69 prophetic weeks from the year of His death brings us to the year in which Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah the decree to return and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem - the year 444 B.C.
Counting forward from the date of Jesus' birth (1st Tishri of 2 B.C.) 2000 years brings us to 1st Tishri of A.D. 1999, which, on our Gregorian calendar is September 11. (Remember, when counting years from B. C. to A.D. there is no zero year.) In this calculation we are not dealing with "prophetic time," we are stating it in actual calendar years of 365.242 days each.
Some have raised an objection to this simple calculation by suggesting that the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar which we use today, has mixed up the years so that we do not have an accurate count. As far as I am aware, the only time that was lost in the change of calendars was eleven days, which they simply dropped to make the calendar agree with the season. I do not think the dropping of eleven days changes the date of Rosh Hoshanah, which is determined by the appearance of the first thin sliver of the New Moon. In the year 1999, this first appearance of the New Moon is after 6:00 p.m. September 10 to 6:00 p.m. on the 11th.
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