II. REDATING JESUS' DEATH
5. THE ONLY LUNAR EXPLANATION
Our conclusion of Chapter II - 3 was that on the year Jesus was crucified Pessah (Nisan, 15
th) was a saturday. Therefore, so was the neomenie of Nisan, 1
st. If one takes a look at Chart 1, about the neomenies observed in Jerusalem, one can see that there are about three possibilities :
- March, 5
th, 29 ; that is only six months after John the Baptist began his ministry. Luke sets it around the 15
th year of Tiberius Cæsar's reign (Luke, 3, 1), therefore after August, 20
th, 28. It is incompatible with John's telling which includes Jesus' public life between 3 Pessahs (John, 2, 13 ; 5, 4 ; 12, 1), i.e. about two years. Cf Irenæus' controversy (
Adversus Hæreses, II, 22).
- April, 22
nd, 30 ; this leads to an Easter feast set in May. It is too late because there has already been a neomenie on March, 23
rd after the equinox.
- So March, 17
th, 36 is the only solution.
The conclusion of Chapter II - 4 was that at the beginning of Jesus' public life there had been a new year (Tishri, 1
st) which happened on a saturday.
Chart 1 provides us with two possibilities :
- October, 6
th, 31 ; that date is not right since it leads to a public life of more than 4 and a half years, which does not corresponds to the Gospels.
- October, 2
nd, 34 ; this date seems more correct for it is set 18 months before the crucifixion and is then compatible with John's telling that Jesus's public life lasted about two years. It then happened between Pessah 34 and Pessah 36.
This is but the only solution and leads us to
date the crucifixion on friday, March, 30th, 36.
We can sum up all this by drawing up the below chart :
March 34 Jesus' public life begins
Saturday, October, 2
nd, 34
Friday, March, 30
th, 36 Jesus' Crucifixion
This sum up chart results exclusively from astronomical data and crosschecking indications provided by the four Evangelists, principally Luke and John, thus showing their coherent chronology regarding this... crucial point.
It is not that much of a surprise since John was an eyewitness of all these events and since Luke claims, at the beginning of his gospel, to have inquired about everything quite minutely (Luke, 1, 3).
Even after such an implacably logical demontration, we still have to look out for more clues strenghtening the two key-dates of our reasonning : the year 34 and Pessah of 36.
We shall set our researches principally upon the works of Flavius Josephus, the historian of that time.
We shall as well study the Gospels again, with a new eye provided by this renewed chronology.
And finally, the lunation being such an essential time basis, we shall offer a reading of Daniel's prophecy "of the 70 weeks" that will more than certainly contribute to setting the matter.
