of Artaxerxes
Hebrew Calendar
= 173,880 Days
69th and the
70th Week.
the 69 Weeks
the Cross
70th Week
THE FIRST 69 WEEKS OF THE
SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION:
NASA LUNAR DATA AND THE FIRST 69 WEEKS OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL.
xxx
NASA LUNAR DATA AND THE FIRST 69 WEEKS
OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL.
THE FIRST 69 WEEKS OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL. 173,880 DAYS LAID OUT ACROSS THE SOLAR AND LUNAR CYCLES BETWEEN THE NISAN MOON OF NEHEMIAH IN 445 B.C. AND THE NISAN MOON OF PALM SUNDAY, PASSION WEEK, IN 32 A.D..
A study by Gavin Finley MD
7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks or 69 'sevens' of years.
69 x 7 = 483 biblical/holy years.
As we have established, each year is 360 days.
This ends up being
483 x 360 = 173,880 days (inclusive)
This is a time interval of 173,879 days between the beginning day #1
and the final day #173,880.
173,880 days
This, then, is the famous number which Sir Robert Anderson arrived at for the 69 weeks as set forth in his celebrated book, 'The Coming Prince'. This book was first published in 1894. It is still available in good Christian bookstores.
The next step is to lay out our 173,880 days across the solar passage of years and determine how many earthly years this spans. Sir Robert Anderson used our present Gregorian calendar and its treatment of leap years to make his calculations of the 69 weeks/173,880 days. He wrote to the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich to determine when the new moons came through for the Passover month of Nisan for 445 B.C. and for 32 A.D. From knowledge of when the Nisan moons came through for the year of Nehemiah and the year of the passion of Christ he was then able to place his 173,880 day time-line back into the solar years and the Gregorian calendar to arrive at his startling conclusion.
Laying out the 173,880 days into the solar years here below is the method Sir Robert Anderson used. We simply ask ourselves how many or calendar years (or solar years of 365.2422 days) will there be in 173,880 days? We do the math 173,880 divided by 365.2422 = 476 years plus 24.7 days.
An additional approach, and one used by this author, is to use the astronomical data for the monthly lunar cycles as a cross-check and to confirm the accuracy of the first approach. As we shall outline further down in this article the 173,880 days laid out across the lunar cycles of those days 2,200 years ago brings us to a lunar measurement of the time period which comes out as 5,888 moons plus 8 days.
And so we have our time-line in terms of solar calendar years and also in terms of lunar months. It is then a straightforward matter to connect the beginning and ending days of those 476 solar years plus 25 days or 5,888 moons plus 8 days into the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars respectively for the beginning and ending years in question.
The work of Sir Robert Anderson was remarkable. The time-line of the 69 weeks of Biblical 360 day years, 173,880 days, fits perfectly between the Edict of Nehemiah and Palm Sunday at the beginning of Passion Week.
As we have determined above, the 69 weeks is a time span of 173,880 days inclusive. This is 173,879 days for the difference between the first and last days of the 173,880 days. The true solar year astronomically is 365.242199 or 365.2422 days. How many years then do we see in this 173,879 day interval of 69 "weeks"/sevens/173,879 days? Let us pull out our calculators and see.
173,880 days divided by 365.2422 days
= 476.0649 years.
So the 69 weeks/sevens = 476 years plus a small fraction of a year.
That small fraction is 0.067661 of a year.
0.067661 x 365.2422 days per year = 24.7 days or 25 days measured inclusively.
So an accurate tally of years for the 69 weeks timeline going out from day #1 and finishing at the end of day #173,880 is 476 solar years plus 25 days.
Let us now lay out our 476 years and 25 days as a time-line. It must start from the date of an edict giving authority to 'restore and build Jerusalem'. The time-line must then run on without pause to end at a termination date auspicious as a day that reveals 'Messiah the Prince'.
As we determined in our earlier discussion of the various edicts in chapter 3 it was only the edict of Artaxerxes in His 20th year and delivered to Nehemiah in 445 B.C. that met the criteria called for to initiate Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. The month of Nisan in 445 B.C. would begin a time-span that would reach forward 476 solar years and 24 days. Finally, on the 173,880th day, the time-line would terminate on a certain epic day and year. This was Palm Sunday, that awesome day when Jesus presented Himself to His people as "Messiah the Prince". This was the only day in which Jesus made any political appearance as Messiah. No other day, baptism, birth or whatever will fulfill the prophecy.
In reaching forward the 476 years and 24 days we are not vague or sloppy in making the connection to important dates in the life of Jesus. The angel Gabriel told told Daniel, and us, that the terminus of the 69 week time-line would be "unto Messiah the Prince". A prince is a political figure. In all the ministry of Jesus when did we see Him announce His Messianic role? There must be a day in holy history that fits this. Is there? Let us take a look and see.
First, let us make one thing abundantly clear. We are looking for a day answerable to the prophecy "Messiah the Prince". So we are not looking for the date of His birth or His baptism. Yes, Jesus was born a king, just as the wise men from the east had stated. But at His birth Jesus did not present Himself to His people as "Messiah", the anointed King of the Jews and High Priest of Israel. He could not do this when He was a baby. Nor was the day in which we saw "Messiah the Prince" the day when Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. This was the beginning of the teaching and priestly ministry of Jesus. He was certainly not presenting Himself as prince or king on these earlier events. There was one day, and one day only, in which Jesus presented Himself to His people as "Messiah the Prince". On this auspicious day Jesus entered Jerusalem in a very public and political way. Their King came in through the Eastern Gate, just as Messiah should. He presented Himself before the crowds, lowly, and riding upon a donkey. This was precisely as prophesied. See Zech 9:9.
So we have 2 very specific dates to consider as markers on a time line pegging out the first 69 weeks of the 70 weeks of Daniel. The likely starting day has been given to us in Nehemiah 2 as being "in the month of Nisan" and "in the 20th year of Artaxerxes".
Here are the facts. Artaxerxes Longimanus began his reign in February of 464 B.C. 19 years later his 20th year would have begun in February of 445 B.C. So the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus is well established historically as beginning in the winter month of February in 445 B.C. Nehemiah went to the king with his request in the springtime a couple of months later. According to Nehemiah this was in the month of Nisan. Nehemiah does not give us a specific date in Nisan, nor does he need to. Any connection into that month will be fine. But we have good reason to look at the new moon of Nisan 1 or Nisan 2 for our starting date. Because the time of the new moon was generally the time when kings made their royal edicts and pronouncements from the throne.
And when is our finishing day? As we shall see the 173,880 day time line comes to its terminus on a very auspicious day in the Passover month of Nisan in 32 A.D., specifically Nisan 10 of that year. As we shall discover, that Nisan 10 date was 5,888 moons and 8 days later.
Brothers and sisters, we must be very careful here. Two appropriate and auspicious dates in holy history have been given to us. We must now connect the time-span faithfully and accurately. And we must do it within the accuracy expected for the sighting of the new moons. We are talking here of an accuracy of one or two days across 476 solar years. This variable regarding the sighting of the new moon may represent an error factor of 2 days. But this variable is of no consequence. We are looking here at a confidence level of 2 days in 173,88 days. This is an accuracy of 99.999%! This is still a "hole in one" or a bulls eye hit on a target at an extreme range.
Remember, we are dealing here with holy things. If we cannot do this accurately and the time line does not fit and fit accurately then we are finished. We may as well then wrap up the study, admit we are defeated, and go home. Because we are dealing here with God's sacred Word. "Mucking around" with the numbers is something we would not dare to do. Such irreverence before God and His people is out of the question for us. If we engage in any occultist manipulative behavior with God's Holy Word we shall be severely punished. We must be good Bereans and search the scriptures faithfully. Anything less is falling short of God's glory. It is sin. If we present wrong information we as teachers the consequences will be severe. False teachers commit 'the sin of Jeroboam'. They have become agents of disinformation for the dark side. They are leading God's covenant people into error. Bible teachers who dare to teach falsehood are skating on thin ice. Before the Judgment Seat of Christ they will stand. And on that Day they will suffer great shame and reproach before the courts of heaven.
We serve a Holy God. His very Presence strikes fear into all who get crosswise of Him. Any person who teaches Bible prophecy should be very very careful. If we present or teach something relating to the Holy One of Israel then it had better be right. Our calling and our discipline as Christian believers is to be diligent in the Holy Scriptures, led by the Spirit of God, and obedient to our calling in Him. God has promised us He will lead us into all truth. This is not 'relative truth' or 'courtroom truth' or 'town hall truth'. In this matter of the 70 weeks of Daniel we must have total and absolute truth within the limits God has given us. When the time line is placed and then offered up for the saints it must be mathematically and astronomically correct!
Teachers of Biblical truth have an awesome responsibility here. They are trail blazers. God severely punishes those who place incorrect markers on the pathway. We are pilgrims. As we walk on into the future then need a correct map or chart. So we as teachers had best be led by His Holy Spirit in the information we present. If we are not sure of our information we should not speak. The religious crowds may be coaxing us to tickle their ears. But we dare not do so unless we are sure it is Biblically correct. No other 'spirit', be it profane or religious, has any right to worm its way into any teaching that involves the Holy Bible.
This is a serious matter. If we are wrong in what we say then we are presenting disinformation. We are misleading God's Elect. We are sending them off down the wrong path. If we are disseminating wrong information then we as teachers have 'turned' or we have "been compromised". We have, in effect, become 'double agents' operating for the enemy. We have wittingly or unwittingly become conscripted as agents for the dark side.
Dear saints, these are days of great deception. Oh yes, we love to rail against those "secular humanists". But religious humanism inside the Christian family is far more deadly. Religious spirits at work through teachers in the Church are the worst of all. So as Bible teachers we had best make sure that all our conclusions are in the Holy Spirit and in alignment with the Holy Scriptures.
Back to our study.
The date of ascension of Artaxerxes Longinus
is well established by secular sources.
It was in February of 464 B.C. that his predecessor was assassinated.
The 20th year of Artaxerxes would therefore have begun 19 years later
on February of 445 B.C..
Since Nehemiah tells us that he received the edict from the king in
the springtime month of Nisan which follows this February of 445 B.C.
we can know with certainty that the 20th year of Artaxerxes was
in the year of 445 B.C.. So in this month of Nisan in 445 B.C. begins our time-line of
173,880 days, or
5888 moons and 8 days, or
476 solar years and 25 days.
In counting the years between a B.C. date and an A.D. date it is important to remember to subtract a year since there is no year zero. 445 B.C. is therefore -444 A.D. Remember it was the Arab mathematicians who gave us the concept and the number zero. Their heyday did not come until centuries later in the 700's A.D.
If we lay out 476 years and 25 days from the springtime of 445 B.C. we come to the springtime of 32 A.D.. Was this an auspicious year? It certainly was! Not only have we tagged the crucifixion year but we have intercepted it in the springtime. We have landed our 173,880 days right in the very time period of the Passover in the year of 32 A.D.! This looks very promising.
Now let us line up year 1 of our time-span, (which is 445 B.C.), with year 476 (32 A.D.) at their spring equinoxes. (See the chart above.) This will mark out 476 solar years exactly. Those extra 24 days over the 476 solar years will make up the days we use to reach out from the equinox points into the adjoining Nisan months of 445 B.C. and 32 A.D.. With those extra 24 days we shall measure out the days from the spring equinox points to reach out to those two auspicious dates, the decree of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 445 B.C. and the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem of Jesus at "Messiah the Prince" in 32 A.D.
We have just laid out our time-line of the 69 weeks in terms of the present Gregorian solar calendar. However, the beginning and ending points are given to us in terms of a Hebrew calendar. Nehemiah received the edict from King Artaxerxes "in the Hebrew month of Nisan". - Neh. 2:1. And Jesus also entered Jerusalem as "Messiah the Prince" during the Passover month of Nisan. Since our present Gregorian calendar ignores the lunar passages we must connect our time-line to these Hebrew calendar dates by some other means.
THE WITNESS OF THE LUNAR CYCLES: PLACING THE 69 WEEKS INTO A TIME-LINE BETWEEN THE THE "COMMANDMENT TO RESTORE AND BUILD JERUSALEM" AND "MESSIAH THE PRINCE".
Our current solar calendar uses months that Julius Caesar shackled to the solar year. Our months no longer follow the passages of the moon. So we shall need to reconcile our current solar-only calendar to the solar/lunar Hebrew calendar in some way. We shall need the testimony of the moon as well as that of the sun. This is what God told us back at creation.
Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night;Our Creator was referring to the passages of the sun and moon.
and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;" -Gen.1:14
The best point to measure out the solar years and to connect into the Nisan moons of the Hebrew calendar is the spring equinox. The spring equinox on our Gregorian calendar occurs in March 21 or March 20th in a leap year. The first full moon that comes after the spring equinox is by definition the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. So to measure out our time-span of the 69 weeks into the Hebrew calendar dates we shall need to lay out the Nisan moons alongside the spring equinoxes of the years in question. To do this we shall need the date and time those Nisan new moons occurred for the years 445 B.C. and 32 A.D.. This was the approach used by Sir Robert Anderson. Back in 1877 he obtained this information from the Astronomer Royal of Greenwich Observatory. Here is the letter he received back from the A.R.
"ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH."The new moon, therefore, occurred at Jerusalem on the 13th March, B. C. 445 (444 Astronomical) at 7h. 9m. A. M.June 26th, I877.
"SIR,
– I have had the moon's place calculated from Largeteau's Tables in Additions to the Connaisance des Tems 1846, by one of my assistants, and have no doubt of its correctness. The place being calculated for – 444, March 12d. 20h., French reckoning, or March 12d. 8h. P. M., it appears that the said time was short of New Moon by about 8h. 47m., and therefore the New Moon occurred at 4h. 47m. A. M., March 13th, Paris time."I am, etc.,
" (Signed,) G. B. AIRY."
What was the date of the edict? Here Sir Robert Anderson began with a good assumption. Since the traditional times for kings to issue edicts was at the time of the new moon then he considered that Nehemiah would have received the king's decree on the first day of Nisan. He therefore laid out his time-span from the 1st of Nisan, (March 14th), of 445 B.C..
When did the 69 weeks end? The 69 weeks/476 solar years and 23.7 days/173,879 day span reaches out from day #1 and comes to a terminus on day #173,880, the day of "Messiah the Prince". This was on the tenth day of Nisan four days before the day the Passover lambs were killed on Nisan 14. (Lev.23:5, Num.28:16) Working from the calendar and adding the appropriate leap years and leap century adjustments Sir Robert Anderson had determined that Palm Sunday, the tenth of Nisan, was April 6th of 32 A.D.. But when we look at the new moon data for the Nisan moon of 32 A.D. Nisan 10 would appear to be closer to April 9th. (see section 5 down below)
All this notwithstanding, Sir Robert Anderson's remarkably accurate and faithful work, perhaps set back in time by no more than 2-3 days is recorded in his book, now available online, "The Coming Prince". It is a landmark piece of scholarship still being published today long after the first edition came out in 1894. His book should put to rest any historicist or preterist notions that 70 weeks or 69.5 weeks have already been completed.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE NISAN MOONS OF 445 B.C. AND 32 A.D. AS THEY NOT ONLY SUPERIMPOSE THE HEBREW CALENDAR DATES FOR NISAN ONTO OUR GREGORIAN CALENDAR BUT ALSO AS THE PASSAGE OF THESE 5,888 MOONS PROVIDE AN ACCURATE MEASURING ROD FOR THE 69 WEEKS/173,880 DAYS.
Let us now consider the lunar cycles in more detail. What information can the moon provide us with apart from providing the Hebrew calendar connection points to the Gregorian calendar years of Nehemiah's edict and "Messiah the Prince"? Well once we have identified our connection years on the Gregorian calendar we can then use the lunar cycles alone to provide us with a direct and accurate measure of the entire 69 weeks. This neatly by-passes all concerns about calendars, leap years and such. As far as I know this article is the first time a straight lunar measurement of the 69 weeks has been published. It had been ready and waiting to be done since the astronomical data is well known. Indeed the new moon times for the Nisan months in question, accurate right down to the minute, are sitting right there in Anderson's 19th century book on pages 102 and 124. As we shall see, the testimony of the lunar cycles provides a wonderful confirmation of the solar/calendar measurements of the 69 weeks.
Sir Robert Anderson had obtained the Nisan new moon times for 445 B.C., the month of Nehemiah's edict, and 32 A.D., the Passover month of Palm Sunday/Passion week. Nisan is by definition the first full moon after the spring equinox. These new moon times are as follows.
For 445 B.C. (-444 A.D.) the Nisan new moon occurred on March 13th at 0709 hrs. or 7:09 A.M. - Jerusalem time. (In Susa out in Persia 700 miles to the east of Jerusalem where Nehemiah was stationed the new moon would have been just 45 minutes earlier.)We are now able to start our work of laying out the moons as a second time-line for the 69 weeks.For 32 A.D the Nisan new moon occurred on March 29th at 2257 hrs. or 10:57 P.M. - Jerusalem time.
With the date and time of the new moon of Nehemiah's Nisan moon fixed and the date and time of the new moon of Messiah the Prince similarly fixed in time then a certain perfect number of moons will fit precisely into that new moon to new moon time period. But exactly how many lunar cycles will that time-span accommodate? It will, of course, be an exact number of moons. That is the next thing we shall determine.
Let us first take our 69 week time span which is 173,879 days and
ask ourselves how many moon cycles this time-span
saw back in the 445 B.C. to 32 A.D. period.
We know what the lunar cycle is today.
It is a month of 29.530587 days.
But is this the same lunar cycle seen during the time period of the
69 weeks two thousand years ago?
The answer is no. And why not? Because the moon
is slowing down with time and slowly moving away from the earth
The lunar cycles are slowing down by one second every 36 years.
How then can we find out what the lunar cycle length was
back in the time of the 69 weeks?
Well if it is slowing by one second every 36 years then
the average lunar month for the time period of the
69 weeks back over two millennia ago
will be the lunar cycle seen half way through the 445 B.C. and 32 A.D.
time-span. This middle year would be 206 B.C.
This is 2206 years ago.
How many seconds faster was the lunar cycle back then
than it is today in the year 2000? Let us find out.
2206 divided by 36 = 61.3 seconds.So the moon revolved around the earth 61.3 seconds faster back in the middle (or average) year of the 69 weeks compared to today.
There are 60 x 60 x 24 = 86400 seconds in a day.
61.3 seconds divided by 86,400 seconds = 0.000709 days
So the lunar cycle seen in the midst of the 69 weeks back in 206 B.C. was 0.000709 of a day faster than the lunar cycle as measured today.
The lunar cycle today is 29.530587 days
So the average lunar cycle for the 69 weeks back during the years between 445 B.C. and 32 A.D was
29.530587 days, (our present lunar cycle)This then is a pretty close calculation for determining the lunar cycle seen back in the time of the 69 weeks. With this pretty accurate figure for the lunar cycles back then we can plug it into our new moon to new moon interval between the Nisan moon of Nehemiah in 445 B.C. and the Nisan moon of Palm Sunday, 32 A.D. Then we can count the moons with full assurance that we are homing in to a very accurate figure.
minus 0.000709 days (the fraction of a day that the lunar cycle was faster.)
= 29.529878 days
We do this by dividing our calculated lunar cycle into the time interval given to us by Sir Robert Anderson between the new moons listed above for Nisan of 445 B.C. (March 13 at 0709 hrs.) and Nisan of 32 A.D. (March 29 at 2257 hrs.). This new moon to new moon time interval is
476 years + 16 days + 15 hours + 48 minutes.Let us divide this accurate number of days (173,871.94) by our fairly accurate lunar cycle for the 69 weeks which we calculated above as close to 29.529878 days.
= 476 x 365.2422 days + 16.658 days
= 173,871.94 days
173,871.94 divided by 29.529878
= 5888.0006
Aha! The answer comes to 5,888.0006 moons. This is very close to the whole number of moons we are looking for. So we have now confirmed that 5,888 moons passed between the edict of Artaxerxes given to Nehemiah and the Passover of Palm Sunday. We can now be sure that if the Nisan moon of Nehemiah was moon #1 then the Nisan moon of "Messiah the Prince" was 5,888 moons later at Moon #5,889.
Now using our new moon to new moon span of 173,871.94 days we can fine-tune our calculated lunar cycle length for the 69 weeks. This will give us an exceedingly accurate lunar cycle for the 69 weeks. We do this by dividing the 173,871.94 days by this whole number 5,888 which is the exact number of moons for that new moon to new moon interval.
173,871.94 divided by 5,888 = 29.529881 days.
1. We now know the number of moons. There were 5,888 of them.
2. We now know with a high degree of accuracy what the lunar cycle
was back in the time span of the 69 weeks.
It was 29.529881 days
(The Greek mathematician and astronomer Meton had
determined back in the fourth century B.C. that 19 years was exceedingly close to 256 moons.
That calculation would have given 29.53 days, which was almost as accurate.
With this very accurate information we can now proceed to use the lunar
cycles alone to measure out the 69 weeks/173,879 days
between those two auspicious days reaching out and touching
those Nisan moons 476 years apart.
Then we can lay the time-span of moons and the days they contain directly onto the Hebrew calendar.
This will give a confirming check for Sir Roberts work done using solar calendar years
to lay out the 173,880 days of the 69 sevens of Biblical (360 day) years.
Let us now look again at the Nehemiah new moon to Messiah
new moon time-span.
It is 173,871.94 days.
Let us now compare it to the 69 week time-span of 173,879 days.
173,879 days - 173,871.94 days = 7.06 daysSo our 173,879 days for the 69 week interval is very close to 7 days over this new moon to new moon interval. So now, since our Nisan date for Nehemiah's edict from Artaxerxes is 7 days earlier in the lunar cycle than the Palm Sunday lunar cycle then we can be fairly certain that the Hebrew Nisan calendar dates for Nehemiah and Palm Sunday are also very close to 7 days apart. Since the Palm Sunday date was on the tenth of Nisan we can go back 5,888 moons and 7 days and say that Nehemiah probably got his edict from Artaxerxes on the 10 - 3 = 3rd day of the Nisan moon in 445 B.C. Which brings us to our next consideration.
SETTING THE HEBREW CALENDAR
BY NEW MOON SIGHTINGS
As Sir Robert Anderson stated in the "Coming Prince" it cannot be assumed that the first day of the Hebrew calendar month was the day following the new moon. It is exceedingly difficult to see the thin sliver of the new moon with the unaided eye before it is at least 24 hours old. This is seen in the photos sent into the Islamic site moonsighting.com. The new moon may not have been sighted until it was over 36 hours old or even on the morning of the third day if the weather was overcast. This is why sightings of the new moon were reported in from widely separated parts of the country.
As we saw in section B the 69 weeks of years comprised
476 solar years plus 25 days measured out inclusively.
So the Nisan date of the entry of "Messiah the Prince" into Jerusalem on
Palm Sunday of 32 A.D was
24 days further into the solar year
than the Nisan date of
Nehemiah when he received the edict of Artaxerxes in 445 B.C.
This is a big stretch for a time-span connecting two Nisan moons.
It would only have been possible if the terminus month of Nisan in the passion year
was allowed to move deeper into the year than usual
such as happens in an embolismic year which produces a late Nisan moon
and accordingly a late Passover.
This is precisely what we saw in 32 A.D..
Even with the early Nehemiah Nisan
and a late Palm Sunday Nisan
the 476 years and 24 days only just manages to
squeeze into the time-line. No other paired Nisan moons
in the years before or after
could come anywhere near accommodating these 173,880 days.
This proves conclusively that
the Passover of our Lord's passion
was 32 A.D. and not 33 A.D.
as is commonly stated.
A.D. 32 was an embolismic year and saw a late Passover that year. An embolismic year has an extra month of Adar inserted early in the spring before the 1st month of the year, the month of Nisan. This puts the Passover later down the year. In the following years it drifts back 11.24 days each year until the next embolismic year. Why 11.24 days? Since the lunar cycles are very close to 29.5 days the Hebrews used a calendar of twelve lunar months of alternating 29 and 30 days. This made a calendar of 354 days. The solar/calendar year is 365.24 days or 11.24 days longer than the lunar calendar of 354 days of 12 lunar cycles. About every third year the month following the 12th month would fall short of the the spring equinox. Having failed to qualify as the Nisan moon it would then be inserted as a thirteenth month and considered a second month of Adar. This would be an embolismic year. Typically, in the springtime, and after the 12 months had passed the rabbis would determine whether the coming moon was going to fall short of the spring equinox as it came to its fullness.
This consideration of the embolismic year is very important.
Those 24 extra days over and above the 476 years
had to be crammed into the span
of time that would connect two Nisan months 476 years apart.
Not only that, the terminus was only going up ten days into the Nisan moon.
So our investigations astronomically will lead us to the conclusion
that no other nearby years, (not 31 A.D. and particularly 33 A.D.)
could accommodate the 69 weeks. The time-line only fits in between an
early Nisan moon at the start of the time-line, (which we saw in 445 B.C.),
and a late Nisan moon for the terminus point, (which we saw in 32 A.D.).
No other pair of Nisan moons spanning 476 years will accommodate those 173,880 days!
This provides proof that 32 A.D. was in fact the year of the crucifixion.
Only an extra-long and lanky Nisan 445 B.C. to Nisan 32 A.D. span with its late Nisan for 32 A.D.
will accommodate the
476 years and those 24 extra days.
32 A.D.
was such a year!
This makes for an amazing confirmation of the 69 week prophecy.
Now we are finally able to place our 69 'week' span of 173,880 days or 476 solar years and 25 days. Messiah presented Himself as Messiah on just one auspicious and unique day in history. This was Nisan 10, the so called "triumphant entry into Jerusalem" came four days before the Nisan 14 Passover. Jesus entered the eastern gate passing on up into the city of shalom riding on a donkey. The crowds threw palm branches out be fore Him. Yet just 4 days later they would cry, "crucify him!"
Palm Sunday was Nisan 10 because the Gospel accounts have Palm Sunday coming four days before the Nisan 14 Passover crucifixion day. So what was the Julian April calendar date for Nisan 10? We shall find out when we go online to the NASA moon-phase data and look up the year of 32 A.D..
Let us now consider this Nisan moon of 32 A.D.. According to the Astronomer Royal of Greenwich in 1877 the astronomical new moon occurred on March 29 late at close to 11 p.m. at night. He told Sir Robert Anderson that the astronomical (black) moon had occurred at 2257 hrs or 10:57 P.M. Jerusalem time on March 29th of 32 A.D.. Our present day NASA astronomical new moon data is not much different than this. Remember when we look up the tables Jerusalem time is 2 hours 31 minutes ahead of UTC or Greenwich time. So the following night of March 30th at sunset the new moon would have been about 20 hours old. If it was sighted the new moon would declare the ensuing day, March 31, as Nisan 1 on the Hebrew calendar. Sir Robert Anderson believed that it was sighted that night.
Scientific discipline requires that the results of our investigations are presented within declare confidence limits. So we must face the facts here. It is possible that the new moon was not sighted that evening. and Nisan 1 was not March 31st. If it was not seen then the following evening of March 31st at sunset when the new moon being 44 hours old and thicker and higher in the sky would have surely been sighted. Even if the new moon had been obscured by cloud the month of Adar would have run out to its max of 30 days anyway and thus the ensuing day, April 1st, would be declared to be Nisan 1.
So our time window for Nisan 1 of 32 A.D. within the two day confidence limits for the new moon sighting was March 31-April 1st. Palm Sunday, Nisan 10, coming nine days later on April 9th-10th.
Sir Robert Anderson put the Nisan 10 date 3 at April 6. That does not seem possible in view of the new moon data we have just considered from Sir Robert's own data. This is 3 days earlier than this April 9-10 date that the facts seem to suggest. This seems almost inexplicable since Sir Robert affirmed Nisan 1 was the 31st of March. Surely he knew that Palm Sunday was Nisan 10. What happened here? Something strange for sure.
It seems he may have been under pressure by editors, or by the scientific or church establishment to present results that did not conflict with the Perpetual Calendar which they wanted at all costs never to question. And why did they want to keep this discrepancy under wraps? The answer could be quite astounding. If the 69 weeks prophecy is true and correct then passion week is different from the weekly cadence we would expect based upon the Perpetual Calendar. Why is is different? It seems clear that the Romans, who hated the Jews and punished those who maintained Jewish calendars, had no intention of matching the weekly cadence of their new seven day calendar with the weekly cadence of the Jewish calendar. It seems that there had been a deliberate mishandling of the weekly cadence by the Byzantine Church at Nicaea in 325 A.D.. They made the switch of the Roman calendar at that time from an 8 day Nundinal Cycle week to a seven day week. It now seems clear that the seven day week Roman/Byzantine/medieval/Gregorian/modern Hillel calendars were set askew of the earlier weekly cadence. And the calendar we have and the Jewish community has remains today, out of kilter with the Hebrew/Jewish calendar that was in existence in former times.
Be that as it may the difference here is of no great consequence. Sir Robert showed us the length of the time-line 69 weeks of years, laid it out across 476 years of history and tagged and connected the Nisan moon of the Edict of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah with Palm Sunday on the tenth day of the Nisan moon of Calvary. God bless him for that! He showed us that the 69 week time-line fits the two events with amazing accuracy.
In looking at the placement of his 173,880 day time-line it seems that Sir Robert Anderson was insistent that the edict of Nehemiah must have been issued on Nisan 1. After assessing the lunar data this author favors the date Nisan 2 or Nisan 3 for the Edict. Traditionally the new moons were times when edicts were handed down by kings. This is not a big difference. With the vagaries of new moon sightings and Hebrew calendars our ability to lay out a time-line with a variance of 1-2 days is quite OK. This is about as close as it is possible to get anyway.
Having established a well fixed terminus for the 173,880 days
let us remember that this April 9 Palm Sunday date
is 24 days further down the solar year than the
day of Nehemiah's edict 476 years and 24 days before. So if
we back up 24 days from April 9-10 we shall get to our Gregorian
calendar date in which Nehemiah
went before the king and made his appeal to rebuild Jerusalem.
April 9 minus 24 days = March 16-17 of 445 B.C.
The question we must ask ourselves now is what date on the Hebrew calendar is March 16-17? Well again we shall need to determine when the new moon for Nisan 445 B.C. came through. Sir Robert Anderson's own data from the Astronomer Royal of Greenwich gives us a true new moon Jerusalem time of 0709 hrs. or 7:09 a.m. on March 13. (Nehemiah was at Susa in Persia and 700 miles to the east. This would give a new moon time for Susa about 45 minutes earlier than this Jerusalem time). Would the new moon have been seen that evening at sunset when it was 12 hours old? No. Sir Robert Anderson tagged this March 14 date as Nisan 1. But since the new moon is not visible until it is 18-24 hours old then it would have been sighted at sunset the following evening of March 14 which would have tagged the following day, March 15 as Nisan 1.
March 16-17, the date window for the edict, would therefore be Nisan 2-3.
Again, this is not a big issue. A forty-eight hour window
after a passage of 476 years is exceedingly good accuracy!
We are looking here at a two day variance over 173,880 days
or one day variance in 100,000 odd days.
This is one in ten to the 5th power.
Dear saints, we are looking here at an accuracy of 99.999%!!!
This is truly astounding confirmation of the integrity of God's Holy Word.
Sir Robert Anderson considered this first day of the month of Nisan to be the day the edict was handed down to Nehemiah. He considered Nisan 1 as the first day of the 70 weeks. But we are not compelled by scripture to link the edict to the very first day of the lunar month. Nehemiah in Nehemiah chapter 2 simply states that it was "in the month of Nisan" that he set wine before the king. So the decree could have come a day or two later than Nisan 1 without any compromise to the scriptural requirement whatsoever. Anytime during those 29-30 days of Nisan would be just fine as a starting date for the 70 weeks of Daniel. All God was asking His people to do was calculate the 69 seeks or "sevens" of Biblical 360 day years and get 173,880 days. Then He expected them to divide this number by the 29.53 day lunar cycles they knew at the time and get 5,888 moons and fraction of a month remainder. He wanted them to count out 5,888 moons from the Nisan moon of Nehemiah in 445 B.C. And why? Because in that month and in that year their Messiah would appear!
Dear saints, this is not complicated or difficult.
The Holy One of Israel wanted His people to be watching for their Messiah on
certain future moon. If they had done their homework the Pharisees would have known
that after the passage of 476 years and a few days on a
certain future late Nisan moon of
Passover in 32 A.D. their Messiah would be coming for a visit to His city.
He would be entering Jerusalem through the eastern gate!.
And yes.
As things turned out, this Nisan month was the Passover of the crucifixion year!
The Pharisees were very intelligent and savvy men. They were scholars. They had a very good handle on the solar and lunar cycles. The metonic cycle was discovered 400 years before by Meton, a Greek scholar in Athens. The great rabbi Hillel had picked it up and incorporated into the Hebrew calendar a few decades late. So it was well known that 19 solar years, (which saw seven extra embolismal years), was exceedingly close to 19 solar years.
So 19 x 12 = 228 plus 7 = 235 lunar months.
The Pharisees calculation, (using an abacus), would have been
19 solar years = 19 x 365.24 = 6,940 days.
So 6,940 days divided by Meton's 235 lunar months = 29.53 days.
This fixes 29.53 days for the lunar month.
If the wise men
from the east knew to look for the approximate time for the
expected birth of Messiah over 30 years before
why weren't the Pharisees paying attention to the
times as well? They surely must have known enough to calculate
the date of the terminus of the 69 weeks.
Were the Pharisees aware of the coming auspicious set time?
And were they watching when Jesus came through the Eastern
Gate of Jerusalem in the Passover month of Nisan in 32 A.D.?
Now that is a very interesting question.
If they were aware of the awesome terminus of the 69 sevens
they were not telling anyone about it.
But here we must add this addendum. Perhaps Nicodemus and other Pharisees were secretly regarding the coming auspicious time. Remember how Nicodemus came to Jesus secretly by night? The terminus of the 69 sevens of years was arriving. And at the very same time the trouble-making rabbi/teacher Jesus was entering Jerusalem riding, just as prophesied, upon a donkey.
As we have seen from our lunar calculations above, our 69 sevens of biblical 360 day years (or 173,880 days), equal 5,888 moons plus 8 days. Let us now lay them out on the Hebrew calendar. We soon find out that the 5,888 moons plus 8 days fits neatly across the Nisan moon of Nehemiah and abuts into the Nisan moon which saw the Palm Sunday entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as 'Messiah the Prince'.
Sir Robert Anderson did not use the lunar cycles as a measuring stick. He did use the 173,880 days, counting them out across the calendar years. From the new moon dates for Nisan he constructed the Hebrew calendar for 445 B.C. and 32 A.D. Then he was able to fix the Nisan dates for the edict of Artaxerxes and the Nisan terminus of the 69 weeks on Palm Sunday.
This little exercise with the lunar cycles is well worthwhile. When we use the passages of the moon as a time measuring device it confirms the accuracy of Sir Robert Anderson's work.
Let us start with our Nisan 10, 32 A.D. date for Palm Sunday. As we have seen, this day, and this day alone, fulfills the prophecy and meets the criterion for the terminus day of the 69 weeks.
Now let us lay out our time-line from a terminus of Nisan 10, 32 A.D. and back up into history 5,888 moons and 7 days (or 173,879 days). (This is the number of moons in the interval between the beginning and ending days of the 69 weeks (173,880 days inclusive.) Backing up 5,888 moons we come to the 10th day of Nehemiah's month of Nisan in 445 B.C. Now we back track those last 7 days and we get a date of Nisan 3, 445 B.C.. Our previously determined date window for the Edict was Nisan 2-3
In the month of Nisan in 445 B.C. the true new moon was 6:30 A.M. (from the NASA data), or 7:09 a.m. by Sir Robert Anderson's 19th century data as received from the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich. To determine the first day of the month the thin crescent of the new moon must be sighted by two witnesses on one of the two following sunsets. The time for new moon sighting is just after sunset and this is when the Hebrew day begins. That night of March 13 the thin crescent of the new moon would just 12 hours old. Since the new moon is not usually visible to the unaided eye until it is 18-24 hours old it would not have been visible to the unaided eye at sunset on the night of March 13. So it is this author's belief that the ensuing day, March 14 could not have been Nisan 1. Nisan 1 would have followed the following night of March 14 to tag March 15 as Nisan 1 of 445 B.C..,/b. At that time the moon was 36 hours old. If Nehemiah had received the edict on March 16-17 then the time window would be Nisan 2-3. So Nisan 2-3 would have been the Gregorian date of March 16-17 that year. This the date we had arrived at earlier for the edict of Artaxerxes in 445 B.C. So here we see that both the solar cycles and the lunar cycles agree with each other to confirm the time span for the 69 weeks.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
This is an amazing solution to the prophecy of the 69 weeks.
Sir Robert Anderson's timeline for the 69 weeks/173,879 days was
March 14, 445 B.C <------> April 6, 32 A.D.
Nisan 1, 445 B.C. <------> Nisan 10, 32 A.D.
This author's timeline, using the astronomical data of the solar and the lunar cycles, was very close to that of Sir Robert Anderson.
March 16-17, 445 B.C. <------->April 9-10, 32 A.D.
(476 years plus 24 days for the interval or 173,880 days inclusive)
Nisan 2 or 3, 445 B.C. <------->Nisan 10, 32 A.D.
(5888 moons plus 7 days for the interval, or 8 days inclusive)
This variance between the timeline of Sir Robert Anderson
and the timeline of this author only amounts to 2-3 days.
It is of no great significance.
The conclusion is the same.
69 weeks connect the Nisan moon of Nehemiah
to the Nisan moon of Palm Sunday and
the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
No one has presented a timeline
that fits the facts so well and with
a timeline fitting the dates involved with
such fine accuracy.
Dear saints,
the 69 weeks have run their course!
And here, for all good men to take note of
is one exceedingly important conclusion.
One 'week' of seven prophetic years remains
to be fulfilled!!!
A future 70th week, the final section of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel is up ahead. It will emerge into holy history in climactic fashion. This is exceedingly important. Future history will show that there are enormous devotional and church-state political and consequences to knowing, (or not knowing), that all of the 70th week is yet future.
A future 70th week is slated for our future. The witness of the saints is essential and will achieve a lot. The 5th seal is necessary before the 6th seal can be opened to reveal the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. This may not be popular to the narcissistic Church in the west. But Chinese and Egyptian Christians over in places abroad understand it very well. It is Blood Covenant Christianity.
The facts of scripture are very clear. The Kingdom of God must be announced. The witness of Christ our Messiah must be given by His witnesses here on this earth. Holy history demands it. The angels are watching as the saints prepare for their final sprint to the finish line. - Heb.12:1 God has given us the signpost into the 70th week. It is the confirming of a seven year covenant with a coming global prince who is a false messiah. He will enter into covenant with many in the world, including Israel, the nations the established church. (Dan.9:27). Jesus Himself told us that this would happen. John 5:43
The signing of this earthy 7 year deal marks the beginnings of the apostasy, or 'great falling away' involving national Israel and the compromising world church. (2Thes.2:3) This is difficult for us to receive. But let no man or shady religious spirit lead the Body of Christ to believe otherwise.
This may all sound just too depressing. But it is not really. The trumpets will be sounding. And God's people will trim the lamps of their spirit. They will procure the oil for the coming night They will make it their business to obtain a supply of spiritual energy from outside of themselves. This is the oil of anointing of the Holy Spirit. Even in the gathering gloom they will 'rise and shine'. They will leave their places of ease to go out at midnight, even as a wedding party, to meet the Bridegroom. (Isa.60)
Here then, is the 'rest of the story'. Our God is in control of holy history. He has determined and limited the time. And here is the good news. Messiah will come back personally to wrap up this evil age. (Isa.63) When those 70 weeks have run their course "the saints will possess the Kingdom". (Dan 7:18 and 7:22) So we can be encouraged. As the 70th week opens up the true saints, as in times before, will cry out to God. And God will answer, as He always does. The saints will find the ancient paths. (Jer.6:16) This will bring in the Endtime Revival that Joel, Hosea, and Isaiah all saw. (Joel 2:28-32, Hos.6:2, Isa.60) God's faithful elect, the ekklesia/congregation of God, are set to enter the most spellbinding days this world has ever seen. All of these awesome days of the future 70th week are up ahead of us and remain to be fulfilled.
As we have shown, the 69 weeks can be placed beautifully between the edict of Artaxerxes received by Nehemiah and the Palm Sunday entrance of Jesus as "Messiah the Prince". No other timeline, (even if the author dared to present it astronomically), would even come close. None would achieve this amazing degree of accuracy. This is just one more of many instances where the Word of God has been proven proven infallible and true.
Grace and shalom to all who love His appearing.
On to Section 9:
THE 70 WEEKS PROPHECY AND THE EMERGING CHURCH-STATE POWER POLITICS IN THE RUSH FOR GLOBAL HUMANISTIC ECUMENICAL RELIGIOUS UNITY.
Some more devotional articles on apocalyptic Biblical themes for the enquiring Christian.
