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Pinpointing the Exact Date of the Crucifixion
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The Biblical Book of Daniel actually contained a schedule for determining when the Messiah was to come to Israel that was so accurate that it predicted the exact day upon which the messiah was to be publicly proclaimed the King of Israel. Ultimately, as a result of the people's acclamation of Jesus as messiah, and in derision of that acclamation, it was ordered that a sign be affixed to Jesus' cross sarcastically "recognizing" his claim of kingship, just as the crowd had seriously done on that first Palm Sunday when he rode into Jerusalem on the back of the ass as Zechariah had predicted the messiah would do, and the crowd laid palm branches on the ground before him and shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord,"as he approached the city.
We know when this happened because Luke dated his account of the beginning of Christ's ministry in the third chapter by noting that it was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius that the word of God came to John the Baptist as can be seen from the screen capture shown below, taken from the On-Line Bible. This year stands as an anchor for determining the date of the crucifixion, because we know from secular history when Tiberius reigned: It was from 14-37 AD, meaning that his 15th year began in 29 AD because 15 + 14 = 29. See also the screen capture after the next one to confirm the dates of Tiberius' reign.
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Luke's testimony given above can be cross referenced with that of Mark which says that it was "In those days", that is during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, that Jesus was baptized, as the following screen captures demonstrate:
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Any questions regarding the context of the passages shown above are alleviated by the first verses of Mark chapter 1which are included below so that the reader may see that Mark's reference above connects his testimony to that of Luke, as both writers made reference to two common events, the voice of one crying in the wilderness and the Baptism of Jesus, meaning that since both testimonies refer to the same events that they must of necessity be talking about events which took place at the very same time--when John the Baptist was preaching, and when Jesus was baptized. And we are told in the 3rd chapter of Luke that this was during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius--29AD.
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Thus, it is evident that Christ began his ministry 40 days after his baptism, which took place during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius--in 29 AD. And Christian tradition being what it is, it holds that Christ's ministry lasted for 3 years, meaning that his ministry would have spanned the years from 29AD to 32AD. (29 + 3 = 32 AD).
The dating of the crucifixion has relevance to Daniel's prophecy because Daniel gave a time table with a specific starting point and ending point exactly 483 years later which was to culminate in the advent of the messiah coming to Israel AS THE PRINCE. After this took place, Daniel's prophecy said that the messiah would be "cut off", which was a Hebrew idiom for his being killed. It even predicted certain major historical events which were to take place in connection with this time table which we also know from secular history to have taken place and when they happened as well.
Consequently, any assessment of the accuracy of Daniel's prophecy, and the crucifixion must take into account the specifics of those major events. And the two most major of the secular events referred to in Daniel's prophecy are the proclamation to rebuild Jerusalem and the second destruction of Jerusalem. Again, based upon solid dates from both sacred and secular history, we know when these events took place. But before we take a look at those events and dates, we need to examine the actual prophecy of Daniel so that we will know just what it says so that we can know what it means.
Therefore, at this point the reader is asked to please read the screen captures below which illuminate the relevant passages. They are taken from the Bible Reference Library CD ROM :
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As can be seen from Daniel's prophecy shown above, Daniel called for a specific period of time to pass from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until the messiah would come AS THE PRINCE: that time period was given as being "seven weeks and sixty-two weeks"--a total of 69 weeks. But in the Jewish calendar, they recognized not only weeks of days as we do in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, but they also recognized weeks of years, and weeks of WEEKS of years (as the following screen capture also helps to demonstrate). This was due at least in part to the fact that the Biblical Books of Numbers and Leviticus called for the keeping of sabbatical years,and years of Jubilee which were products of the weeks of years and the weeks of weeks of years. The screen below shows that the word translated "week" in the screen capture shown above was Strong's Hebrew Number 7620, "shabuwa", meaning to have been "sevened". And it specifically refers to this period as being a week of years. (Also, the Revised Standard Version of the Bible simply translates this time period as being one of "weeks of years" because that was what the passage referred to in connection with the Hebrew calendar).(See below).
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Consequently, Daniel's prophecy called for 7+62=69 weeks (or sevens) of years from the proclamation which would allow the Jews to return from captivity in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem until the messiah would come AS THE PRINCE. And 69 x 7 = 483 years. So the prophecy said that there would be 483 years from the proclamation until the Messiah would come to Israel as the prince. (Also, The Living Bible, which is a paraphrase rather than a literal translation, simply reads "483 years" rather than its more literal equivalent "seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks" in reference to this time period in recognition of the fact that 483 Biblical years was really the amount of time that Daniel was predicting to be the distance from the going forth of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the messiah would be proclaimed to be the King of the Jews.
The Old Testament Book of Nehemiah described the particulars of the decree to which Daniel's prophecy referred, specifically recording that it was given during the Jewish month of Nissan in the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes. (See screen captures below of Nehemiah chapter 2).
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The dating of this proclamation can be ascertained because we know that Artaxerxes began his reign in 465 BC (See the following Screen Capture), meaning that the 20th year of his reign would have been in 445 BC (Remember, the closer in BC years we get to 1 AD, the lower the number of the year becomes. So 20 years closer to the present from 465 BC brings us to 445 BC--not 485 BC as might appear to some at first glance).
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We know, therefore, that the proclamation which Daniel had predicted would be the one from which the messiah's coming was to be measured was given during the Hebrew month of Nissan in the Christian year 445 BC, and that the messiah was supposed to come 483 Biblical years following that proclamation.
Also, according to Daniel's prophecy, the messiah was to be cut off--killed, and Jerusalem would be destroyed at some point in history after the advent of the messiah. Therefore, according to Daniel's prophecy, whoever he was, the messiah had to have come before the destruction of Jerusalem which took place in 70AD when Titus and the 10th Roman Legion destroyed the city and the Temple. (As a matter of fact, Josephus notes that in connection with this event, that the destruction of the second Temple actually took place on the very same day as the destruction of the First Temple: He records it as having taken place on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Av, or Ab, (Wars of the Jews Chapter 4 paragraphs 5 and 8) although it is actually the 9th of Av which is commemorated by Jews as being the Fast of Av, the fast of mourning which commemorates the destructions of the Temples.)
Certainly, therefore, it would be an understatement to say that we have a pretty decent candidate for messiah in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. But the weight of evidence does not end with the mere fact that he was the only person who was seriously taken for messiah before 70 AD. Daniel's prophecy pointed even more directly to Jesus than that. For as we all know, according to the Gospels Jesus was killed on Good Friday. And as has already been demonstrated, if he started his ministry in 29 AD and preached for 3 years, then he had to have been crucified in 32 AD.
That being the case, he would have been crucified on April 11, 32 AD, resurrected on Easter Sunday April 13th. And Palm Sunday, the day he was proclaimed to be the King, would have fallen on April 6 in that year. (Press here to see the screen capture showing the dates of Easter Sunday by calculation from 1 AD until the early 3rd century AD (even though there obviously was no Easter between 1AD and the crucifixion). You will be looking for the date of Easter Sunday in the year 32 which will be found in the far left hand column of the document about half way down)). Since Palm Sunday is always the Sunday before Easter, the date for Palm Sunday can be figured by simply subtracting 7 days from the date of Easter. (Thus, we arrived at the date of April 6, 32 AD as the date of the Triumphal Entry because Easter Sunday fell on April 13. And 7 days earlier would have taken us to April 6 which would, therefore, have been Palm Sunday.
So if Jesus was crucified in 32 AD as is required by virtue of the fact that he began his ministry in 29 AD and that he preached for only the next 3 years, then by dating back 483 Biblical years from April 6, 32 AD, according to Daniel we ought to arrive at the date of the proclamation which allowed the Jews to return and rebuild the city. And according to Nehemiah that proclamation was given in Nissan of 445 BC. Therefore, since the period of time which was supposed to pass from the decree to the acclamation of the messiah was supposed to have been 483 Biblical years, if Jesus was really the messiah as he claimed to be, then there ought to be exactly that much time--483 years--between the proclamation to rebuild Jerusalem and his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on April 6, 32 AD.
Therefore, the question before us at this point is: Does moving back 483 Biblical years in time from April 6, 32 AD take us to the month of Nissan in the year 445 BC? And if so, how can we know?
The answer is "YES!!!"; It DOES take us back to Nissan of 445 BC. And we know this because we can use the Julian Dating System to determine the distance in time between April 6 32 AD and the date which was 483 Biblical years immediately prior to April 6, 32 AD.
We do this by determining how many days there were in those 483 Biblical years immediately preceding 4/6/32 AD. And we do that by multiplying the 483 years by the number of days in each of those Biblical years, and that is 360 because that was the value of the Biblical year (proof of this fact will be given following the computation of the date of Nehemiah's decree).
This gives us 173,880 days in 483 Biblical years since 483 X 360 = 173,880.
And now that we know how many days there are in 483 Biblical years, it is possible for us to extract the actual calendar date for the day which fell exactly 483 Biblical years prior to April 6, 32 AD because the Julian Dating System assigns a number to every date. And the number of the date for April 6 32 AD is 1,732,842. (See Screen Capture shown below taken from the Mayan Calendar Program).
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Consequently, all we need to do in order to calculate the Julian Date for 173,880 days prior to Julian Date # 1,732,842 is to subtract 173,880 days from that date. That takes us to Julian Date # 1,558,962. And the actual calendar date of Julian Day # 1,558,962 was March 16, 445 BC. (Again, see Screen Capture below).
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And according to the Hebrew Calendar shown below, the date which corresponds to March 16, 445 BC on the Hebrew Calendar was Nissan 4 of the Hebrew year 3316, thus confirming the statement of Nehemiah that it was in the month of Nissan that the events he recorded in his Book took place and that it was indeed during the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes that it happened!.
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This calculation, thus confirms not only the accuracy of the Bible, but the identity of the messiah himself because Jesus of Nazareth arrived on the scene at the exact time that Daniel had predicted the messiah would arrive. And he allowed himself to be proclaimed to be the king of Israel on the 483rd anniversary of the event which Daniel had indicated would be the starting point of a 483 year time period which was to culminate in the advent of the messiah AS THE PRINCE.
Not only that, but following the Triumphal entry, Jesus was killed. Again, just as Daniel had predicted would happen to the messiah. And finally, following his death, Jerusalem was destroyed, just as Daniel had predicted would happen to the city AFTER the messiah had come!
No two bit fortune teller makes predictions like that. And no false Christ just happens to fit the bill as exactly as Jesus did. No book of myths contains such accurate predictions and historically verifiable facts as the Bible is demonstrated to have shown here.
Consequently, it is a gross understatement to say that the Bible seems worthy of our trust. For this one prophecy alone may be the most remarkable prediction ever made. And it stands as a bold witness of the Divine inspiration of the Bible.
However, there is one thing left to examine with regard to this matter which has not yet been adequately addressed. And that is how it is that we know that the Biblical year was one of 360 days rather than 365 or any other such number.
Quite appropriately, we know it from an analysis of what is implied by certain Biblical statements related to the number of days between time periods to which the Bible refers. Genesis, for example, twice defines the 5 month period of time from the 17th day of the 2nd month to the 17th day of the 7th month as being exactly 150 days. (Genesis 7:11 and 8:4 and Genesis 7:24 and 8:3 being the relevant passages here.) And 150 days/5 months=30 days per month. And 30 days per month X 12 months per year = 360 days per year.
The 360 day year implied by the calendrical statements from Genesis are supplemented by the fact that the Revelation also leads to the same conclusion by its calendrical statements as well. For the Revelation defines 42 months (3 and a half years) as being equivalent to exactly 1260 days. And 1260/42=30. And as we already know 30 days per month times 12 months in a year gives us 360 days per year.
Also, it is noteworthy that just as in Genesis where the equivalent periods were referred to twice as being a particular number of days (150), so in the Revelation the concept that there are exactly 1260 days in 42 months is also found twice. (The relevant passages being Revelation 11:2-3 which states that the holy city will be tread under foot for 42 months, and that the two witnesses will be given power for 1260 days, and Rev. 13:5 which states that there was given unto the beast power to continue for 42 months while Rev. 12:6 refers to the woman fleeing into the wilderness for 1260 days.)
The point of all of this is that all of these references are of equivalent periods of 3.5 years. And 3.5 years are equal to 42 months. And if one divides 1260 days called for by 42 months, then the result as has already been shown is that each month is equal to 30 days. And 30 days per month X 12 months in a year = 360 days per year.
Consequently, we have examples from both Testaments that the Biblical year was equal to 360 days. And with that point having been established, the basis for the mathematics of the 173,880 days has also been established, and shown to have been grounded in the Bible.
But in addition to that, further support for the 360 day calendar is established by virtue of the fact that the 360 day year was actually a common assumption in the early stages of the development of the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian calendars, thus showing that the employment of such a year was certainly not unusual during the developmental years of the classic ancient civilizations by any means. In fact, some of the Mezo-American Indian tribes also kept a year of 360 days as did the ancient Chinese for a period of time.
Consequently, the 360 day year was not peculiar to the early Hebrews. Nor can it be argued that it is simply a construct of Biblical fundamentalists invented to make the prophecy of Daniel fit the history of what actually happened. For there is Biblical evidence which supports it from both the Old and the New Testaments.
And with a Biblical year of 360 days, dating from March 16, 445 BC which was the 4th day of Nissan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, we find that if we move forward in time by exactly 483 years, we wind up at Sunday, April 6, 32AD, which according to Luke's Gospel would have had to have been the date upon which Jesus made his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and publicly allowed himself to be proclaimed to be the King of Israel for the first and only time in his life. Because a ministry of 3 years for Jesus beginning in 29 AD would result in a closing of that ministry in 32 AD, and as the chart of Easter dates shows, in 32 AD, Easter fell on April 13, meaning that palm Sunday fell on April 6--EXACTLY 483 Biblical years after march 16, 445BC. No prophecy in history was ever more exacting in its meaning when analyzed mathematically, nor more accurate in its fulfillment when analyzed historically.
Consequently, Daniel's prophecy was probably the most astounding prophecy ever made because it predicted the exact day that the messiah would be proclaimed to be the King of Israel. And when measured by the Julian Dating System, history shows us that Daniel's prophecy was indeed accurate to the very day!
Finally, for those who would maintain that Christ knew nothing of the time indicated by Daniel's prophecy, Luke chapter 19 says that when the people proclaimed him to be the king that the Pharisees told him to rebuke his disciples, but that his response to them was to answer that if they should remain silent that the very stones would cry out! If he hadn't known about the importance of the timing of the event of the Triumphal Entry, then he never would have had any reason to have responded in such a manner. Nor would he have had any reason to have stated that Jerusalem would be destroyed due to the Jews' lack of knowledge regarding the time that it was, which he actually did do. For he literally stated that they didn't recognize the time of their visitation in Luke chapter 19, a good indication that he did indeed know what time it was and what the significance of the acclamation really was as well.
It is, thus, apparent that he made the statement because it was the 173,880th day after the proclamation had been given. And Daniel had said that the messiah would definitely be proclaimed to be the king 483 years after the decree had been issued. And April 6, 32 AD was not only the 173,880th day following the decree, it was also the 483rd anniversary of that decree. By saying that if the people held their peace that the very stones would cry out, he must have been saying, "This is the day that Daniel predicted that the messiah would come, and here I AM!," otherwise he would have had no reason to have made any references to time whatsoever.
He was, therefore, saying that was the time which God had elected for his acclamation to take place, and that Daniel had said as much in his prophecy of chapter 9 verses 24-27 when he had said, "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem unto messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks"; 483 years. And it was to the very day!