Augustus ruled until his death in August of 14 C.E. A month later Tiberius was official "sworn in" by the Senate as Princeps on the date of September 18th 14 C.E. That is the official start of Tiberius' reign even if he had imperial duties beforehand. I don't see any reason why the matter should be convoluted. I think it would do us well to remember that these men were the emperors of the world. Their reigns were exceedingly well documented and catalogued. This would put the 15th year of Tiberius in 29 C.E. as Swalchy said. You count back 30 years and you get a birthdate in the year 2 B.C. (remembering that there is no year zero) for Messiah Yahushua

The accepted year of 4 B.C.E. as the year of the death of Herod the great is suspect. First off it was only a partial eclipse that was 37 percent visible. Secondly it was only 29 days before the Passover. According to the History of Josephus it would have been virtually impossible for Herod to accomplish the remaining events of his life in such a short time. The years 3 and 2 B.C.E. did not have ecclipses. However, the year 1 B.C.E. did. It was a full lunar ecclipse on January 10th. That would have given Herod around 12 weeks to scratch some things off his to do list and kick the bucket.

I will concede that the 5 B.C.E. argument has been put forth. There were 2 lunar ecclipses that year...one being seven months before the Passover. Problem is that the events don't match up in Josephus history was to when the priestly intrigues were.

Lastly, I don't understand the Messianic aversion to a Friday Pesach. The "Christian" position is not being upheld merely because of a "resurrection Sunday". The pagan days and months of reckoning are inconsequential to YHWH's calendar. Only one day has any real significance as it pertains to the redemption chronology. That day being Saturday. The feast of unleavened bread (Chag HaMatzot) fell on a natural sabbath....in keeping with the theme of the seventh day...where no work could be done...unleavened bread being the day where we were made clean..sanctified by Yahushua...by no effort of our own. So whether or not Yahushua was risen as a wave offering on a Sunday is of no consequence to YHWH. It's just the day that the 16th of Aviv (being Bikkurim) happens to fall on. The first day just so happens to be the day after the sabbath. I have to say that I believe the aversion to a Sunday resurrection to be sociological...more than logical...I understand the reasons for the fear and hostility towards Sunday...but YHWH's calendar is what matters here. Sunday remains inconsequential. Aviv 16th remains highly consequential what ever day it may fall on.

Now, Sincerely if I may ask...and I hope I haven't made some monumental blunder...but I have ticked off the days after a Pesach that starts on Tuesday evening. Thursday evening to Friday evening was Bikkurim...by your reckoning, canasia...the Messiah forgot to wake up and present himself to the throne on First Fruits. How are the moedim fulfilled?

10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after [c] they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

Tiberius was a reluctant leader and he took his leave both before and after his ordination as Princeps. I find it hard to believe that a man so inclined would rush into recieving Imperial status. The date the Romans give us is indeed September 18th of 14 C.E. They have no reason to argue or be biased in favor of the position that I maintain. To make sure that my chronology was indeed correct I went back to the watershed year of 70 C.E. (there is no debate to this being the year when the second temple was destroyed). I went back from that date checking the chronologies of the reigns. They matched up. Sept 18th 14 C.E. is the official start of Tiberius' reign as ratified by the Senate. I confirmed this with the works of several classicists of note, including Garrett Fagan. I don't expect that that name will mean much, but it does to those in the classical field. I studied the classics intensely for 4 years in anticipation of entering a Classics program. I know this will come off as arrogant but this is something that I know a great deal about and I reluctantly put it aside when I was "awakened". There is no reason to believe that the 14 C.E. date is suspect. And I quote, "Roman history indicates AD 29 was Tiberius' fifteenth year and no substantial evidence to the contrary has surfaced." If we go down the road of making all of history suspect, then we will have no supporting evidence or backround information. We go down this road of calling into question every conclusion and belief and throwing away all history and we become a baseless camp of nutty conspiracy theorists. I stand by that statement.

Strong anecdotal evidence also offers itself to a date after 31 C.E. That is the death of Sejanus. Sejanus was the Praetorian Prefect of Roma during the reign of Tiberius. Tiberius had such a distaste for his position that he entrusted the Imperial bureauacracy to Sejanus...making him all but emperor. Sejanus the opposite of Tiberius (craving the title of Prineps and Imperator) hatched a plot to do away with Tiberius. In 31 the plot was found out and Sejanus his family and his supporters were imprisoned and massacred. Being a friend to Caesar became a very important thing. The carrying out of retribution against the Sejanus camp went well into 34 C.E. "Over the next three to four years, many people were tried. Some were convicted and executed; some were allowed to turn state's evidence; some were acquitted. All in all, several dozen people were executed.Footnote49 Satisfied that the conspiracy had been sufficiently rooted out, Tiberius dropped the matter around 34 CE. He died shortly thereafter in 37 CE."
We see two very different Pontius Pilates emerge. The pre 31 Pilate was a vicious Jew baiting, oppresive governor. In all likelihood he was Sejanus' appointment and was carrying out a general anti-Yahudi policy inspired by the visceral Jew hating Sejanus. We see a post 31 Pilate that is weak willed and very eager to appease the Yahudim. In the wake of 31, Tiberius repealed Sejanus' policies towards the Yahudim



Pilate in light of this would have two reasons to appease the Yahudim....to disassociate himself from Sejanus and to make himself a faithful servant to the will of Tiberius (a friend of Caesar).

At the moment I don't have time to write about Yahushua 4 and 5. I will try to get to it later.

9 The LORD said to Moses, 10 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah [a] of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin [b] of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live

But that wave offering had to have been made on the Sunday in that 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread period immediately following the Saturday Sabbath. That's the only way you can get the required 7 Sabbaths (not 8 or 9) within a 50-day period, from the day they made the wave offering, to the Feast of Weeks, which is what they had to count.

The Sign of Jonah was not 1.5 days. It was 3 days and 3 nights.

Matthew 12:40 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Your brother in Yahshua

Gord

Immersed and empowered by the Ruach/Spirit, Yownah (a man whose name means Dove, the symbol of Yahuweh’s Spirit) was now prepared and ready to go. He now knew that the stormy waters would be calmed, and he would be protected, if the sailors tossed him into the sea. And just as soon as they did, the Ruach/Spirit which was now in and around Yownah, enveloping him, stopped howling and the sea immediately calmed. Everything worked out according to plan because.."Yahuweh assigned and prepared (manah) a great and empowering (gadowl - large and magnificent, that which multiplies and increases, distinguishes, and enables one to do great things) fish (dag - from dagah, meaning that which increases) to engulf (bala’) Yownah (yownah - dove, the symbol of the Spirit). Yownah was in the inward part (me’ah - the bowels, belly, or heart) of the fish (dag - that which increases) for three days and three nights."

This "giant fish" was the gadowl ruach - the Mighty Set-Apart Spirit of God. It is His Spirit which protects and empowers us, engulfs and surrounds us, gives us life and increases us, magnifying every aspect of who and what we are. This is why Yahweh used gadowl to describe both His Ruach/Spirit and the "dag/that which increases." In fact, it is why dag means "that which increases." It is why He used a different word for Ruach/Spirit and "ca’ar/gale force winds." It is why Yownah’s name means "Dove." It is why ‘oniyah/ship means "that which is allowed to meet and encounter Yah." Further, we are told that the Dove’s enclosure was especially "prepared and then assigned" to the task of enveloping and protecting this man who was now about God’s business.

There is no "whale" in this story. As clearly as words allow, Yahuweh is demonstrating the miracle of His Spiritual protection, and specifically what it means to be immersed in the gadowl/great and empowering Spirit of God. He is telling us that He will protect those who are willing to do His bidding. He is telling us that through the power of the Spirit He will enable us to do what He wants done. Jonah’s mission was overwhelmingly successful. The people of Nineveh repented and Assyria was protected for a century.

The reference to "three days and three nights" in this passage throws many off track. They do not recognize that Yahshua’s torment began Thursday night and continued through Saturday night. And they do not understand Yahushua’s reference to the Dove’s experiences in Matthew - something we’ll review momentarily. . . .

This brings us to Yahushua’s reference to Jonah and to three days. God is obviously annoyed and thus He is toying with these people. To understand this passage you must first appreciate the circumstance and the audience. "Then, at that time, certain individuals among the Scribes (grammateus - public servants, politicians, judges, teachers, theologians, and journalists) and Pharisees (Pharisaios - the sect of rabbis who recognized, promoted, imposed, and valued the Babylonian Talmud and man’s oral traditions over Yahuweh’s Scriptures) said, ‘Teacher (didaskalos) we want (thelo - we desire) to see (horao - to witness with our own eyes and to personally experience) a sign (semeion - an unusual occurrence, a token which distinguishes) from you.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘An annoying, works oriented (poneros - unethical, diseased and blind, worthless, wicked) and adulteress (moichalis - those in relationships with whores and false gods) generation (genea - descendants of "poneros and moichalis") seek (epizeteo - clamor for, crave, and demand) a token (semeion - a sign). But (kai - and so) no (ou) sign (semeion - unusual occurrence) shall be given (didomi - granted, supplied, or furnished) to them (autos), except (ei) the token that distinguished (semeion - the unusual occurrence of) the prophet Ionas (Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yownah, symbolic of the Spirit). For just as (gar hosper) Ionas/Yownah was three days and three nights in the center (koilia - innermost part) of the great fish (ketos - from chasma, meaning that which opens wide) so (houto) the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in (en - by or with) the heart (kardia - the center of circulation and life) of the land (ge - earth)." (Matthew 12:25-40)

The prophetic predictions and the eyewitness confirmations are well documented and perfectly clear. Yahushua arrived in Jerusalem, the "heart and center of the land" on Monday, March 28, 33 CE, the exact day Daniel predicted over 500 years earlier. But He didn’t stay. According to Mark 14, Yahushua, sought to thwart the desire of the "Chief Priests and Scribes to seize Him by stealth and kill Him" prior to "the Feast of Passover, so as to diminish the likelihood of a riot by the people." He did this by spending "two days," those being Tuesday and Wednesday, "in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper." While the Messiah was willing to sacrifice Himself on our behalf He was not willing to have any aspect of His fulfillment of the three days depicted in the Miqra’s of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and FirstFruits occur on days other than those previously specified.

So then Yahushua returned to Jerusalem, "the heart and center of the land" on Thursday for Passover dinner. He stayed in town (courtesy of Caiphas’ dungeon accommodations) so that He could attend His own crucifixion on Friday, which was still Passover. The body of the Messiah spent the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, which began at sundown and continued through Saturday, in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Roman guards were positioned just to make sure He remained in town. Sometime after sunset on Saturday, April 2nd, and before sunrise on Sunday the 3rd, Yahushua rose from the dead. But His body did not leave Jerusalem until later that morning, going to heaven and then to a "village called Emmaus, which was sixty stadion [seven and a half miles] separated from (apo) Jerusalem." There is a reason we were given this otherwise irrelevant information by Mark and Luke.

The bottom line is: Yahushua gave a sign that the religious and political leaders of Jerusalem "could see, personally witness and experience." "The Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart (kardia - center of circulation and life) of the land (ge)." His promise was fulfilled uninterrupted for their viewing pleasure beginning on Thursday afternoon and ending late Sunday morning. That’s three days and three full nights.

Before we leave this verse, I must tell you that I was initially very troubled by it, at least as it appears in English translations. Clearly, Yahushua wasn’t in, as inside, the earth for three days or three nights. Many very famous pastors use this quote to claim that He was, but by so doing they are essentially saying that the precise timelines laid out by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all wrong. They are also saying that Yahshua was wrong in claiming that there was a direct correlation between His suffering for three days with the inspired Scripture recorded by Moses and the Prophets in the Torah and Psalms.

But all one has to do is correctly translate the words and think a little, and the truth becomes obvious. This passage isn’t a contradiction; it’s a confirmation. According to Strong’s, the primary meaning of ge is land, not earth. Ge is the Greek equivalent of ‘erets, with also means "land." The majority of the time ‘erets is used in Scripture it applies to the Land of Israel - to the Promised Land. And even if ge were afforded its fourth most prevalent meaning, from the perspective of Yahuweh, from the perspective of Scripture, from the perspective of the audience listening to Yahushua, Jerusalem was, is, and forever will be the heart, the center of circulation and life, of the Earth.

Hi Swalchy. There was one more thing I forgot to mention which I noticed also. You don't have 3 Apr falling on a Friday in 33 AD?

Your brother in Christ.

Gord

What I can see on NASA website:

0033 Apr 03 14:47 Partial 71 -0.679 1.671 0.586 86m - 12.7 12.69 -5.2
0033 Sep 27 03:49 Partial 76 0.560 1.837 0.855 89m - 0.3 0.11 1.3

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat/LE0001-0100.html

And this is the US Navy website with the Lunar phases

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/SpringPhenom.php

Sorry for not posting it earlier.

That's basically proof that Passover in 33 AD was Friday night into Saturday. If Yahshua's arrest occurred in 33 AD, it happened on a Friday night, after the Passover meal, which I'm sure you're beginning to see doesn't correlate. That means that Yahshua's crucifixion did not happen in 33 AD.

The passover meal was from thursday night to friday night (the Hebrews "6th day"), so Yahushua had the meal thursday evening, and that was the evening He was arrested.

The passover meal was from thursday night to friday night (the Hebrews "6th day"), so Yahushua had the meal thursday evening, and that was the evening He was arrested.

I've heard it before, and kp corrected me ("The Passover Lamb would have been eaten after sundown, during the first hours of the Feast of Unleavened Bread") in my first writing of that Passover post, that last meal was not the passover meal. Sure, it happened on Passover, but the offical passover meal takes place after the sacrifice, and the sacrifice does not happen until twilight at the end of Nissan 14, thus making the meal happen on Nissan 15, Unleavened Bread. That is when Yahushua was sacrificed. He couldn't have sat and ate the meal with them as he was the Lamb and was roasting for us during the Passover meal.