I would like to offer five reasons starting with Astronomical Data.
Modern research has enabled us through astronomical and computer technology to pinpoint two possible dates for the cross. They are AD 30 or AD 33. This is based on Old Testament information that the Passover lamb was slain late on the 14th Nisan and eaten early on the fifteenth. Therefore, since the Hebrew day began at sunset, Jesus’ last meal with his disciples would have been about 9 pm, Thursday, the fifteenth Nisan.
Now, Hebrew months begin on the sighting of new moon and the position of the moon can be determined at any moment in history enabling us to convert lunar dates. When we examine AD 31 for example, Passover fell on a Tuesday; but Jesus’ last supper was not on a Tuesday. This particular Passover had to be Thursday/Friday and, according to data from astronomical observatories, Passover occurred late Thursday 15th Nisan during this period only on 6th April AD 30 and 2nd April AD 33. Therefore, since Christ was crucified later on Friday, the crucifixion date must either be 7th April AD 30 or 3rd April AD 33.
Well I started with Daniel 9:25.
Daniel 9:25 So you are to know and understand that from the issuance of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah the Anointed One, the Prince, there will be seven weeks of years and sixty-two weeks of years; it will be built again, with a city plaza and moat, even in times of trouble.
7 + 62 = 69 weeks or 69
Shmita years.
Or
69 x 7 = 483 years
The start of the count begins at the
issuance of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
Now the last degree was given to Ezra, and is clearly specified in the book Ezra, let’s take a look.
Firstly King Artaxerxes I, started his reign in 465 BC. (
https://w.w.w.britannica.com/biography/Artaxerxes-I)
Ezra 7:1 Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes I [son of Ahasuerus (Xerxes)] king of Persia,...
Ezra 7:11 Now this is a copy of the decree that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe who was learned in the words of the commandments of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel: “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, perfect peace greetings. And now I have issued a decree that all of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.
Ezra 7:8 Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first of the first month he started out from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he arrived in Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was on him.
The annals of the Assyrian Empire discovered by archaeologists record twelve years between the reigns of King Ahab of Israel and King Jehu of Israel. However, the Biblical record records fourteen years between the reigns of these kings with two kings between them "Ahaziah who ruled for two years and Jehoram who ruled twelve years (1 Kings 22:51; 2 Kings 3:1).
What at first glance appears to be a discrepancy can be easily explained by historians. Ancient kingdoms had different ways of recording regnal years of their kings. The Assyrians and Babylonians credited the entire year when a king died to his reign, even if he died at the beginning of the year and his successor ruled eleven months of that year.
The first year for a new Assyrian or Babylonian king would be designated his "accession year" and the new king's "year 1" did not begin until the first day of the following year. Historians call this method the "accession year system" or the "post-dating system."
Therefore, the seventh year of King Artaxerxes I is 458 BC. Starting on 457 as the first year adding 483 (69 Shmita’s) takes us to the years 26 AD.
69th
Shmita = 26 AD
27 AD starting the 70th
Shmita.
Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius Caesar’s reign…
Luke applying the Biblical method of recording the reign, suggests that the count was started during Tiberius co-regency which started in 12 AD.
12 + 15 = 27 AD.
Luke 3:21-23 One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.
27 AD the start of Jesus’s Ministry.
Daniel 9:27a And he will enter into a binding and irrevocable covenant with the many for one week (seven years), but in the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifice and grain offering…
Now adding 3 ½ years (Jesus who will stop the sacrifice and grain offering in the
middle of the week from Daniel 9:27), to 27 AD (the start of His ministry) brings us to
7th April AD 30. Note the count started on the 1st of the month Tishri, which explains the ½ years to Abib.
27 AD + 3 ½ years = 30 AD (3 ½ years into the 70th Shmita.)
Working back from 27 AD, Jesus 29 turning 30th year, places His birth between Tishri 4 BC and Abib 3 BC.
This is further supported with Herod’s Death which is now suggested to have occurred in 1 BC. Josephus says that in Herod’s final days he ordered the execution of two religious’ leaders for heading a raid to remove a Roman eagle from the gate of the Temple. On that night there was an eclipse of the moon. (
Antiquities 17:6:4).
- Herod ruled 37 years from being proclaimed king in Rome, and 34 years from the death of Antigonus (Antiquities XVII. 191; War I.665).
- Josephus specifically says Herod captured the city of Jerusalem 27 years to the day after Rome’s General Pompey had done so in 63 B.C. (Antiquities, XIV. 487-488). That day was memorable: the Day of Atonement in the fall of 36 B.C. Herod carried Antigonus away in bonds from that conquest.
- These words from Josephus’ require Herod to have captured Jerusalem in the fall of 36 B.C., exactly 27 years after Pompey’s victory. If King Herod then ruled 34 years from the death of Antigonus, he cannot have died in 4 B.C., but only later.
In 4 B.C. a partial eclipse of the moon happened on March 12/13. In 1 B.C. a total eclipse happened on January 10. The 1 BC date a better fit in many ways and is supported by the 4-3 BC birth.
h.t.t.ps://patternsofevidence.com/2021/12/31/herods-death-key-to-jesus-birth-year/
Lastly, placing the year of the crucifixion on 30 AD allowed 40 years to 70 AD, the year of it's destruction, which must mean something.
Shalom
