That is Completely UN Scriptural

The Book of Daniel predicts the arrival of the Messiah in Daniel 9:25-27. If the days work out, this should come out to around Friday April 1, 33 on a Julian calendar or April 3, 33 Gregorian I believe (going by memory). Others speculate April 6, 33 Gregorian. I’m still working out the differences in the two calendar schemes so check the math yourself please.

Really, I guess I started out wanting to verify a few things from a site that I frequent.

Yada Yahweh mentions the following (bold emphasis mine):

“Second, there was a solar eclipse on the afternoon of the 14^th of Nisan, 33, the very time of the Ma’sehyah’s sacrifice. All three eyewitness accounts recorded it: “Now from the sixth hour [noon] to the ninth hour there was a darkness over the land.” (Matthew 27:45)”

I have searched and searched my trusty google and I think I only found one vague reference to an eclipse at that time that would have covered Jerusalem. Since I can’t remember where I found that site, I had to redo the work. I started here http://www.maverickscience.com/eclipses.htm

That site kind of walks through some steps for using “reverse” astronomical simulation software to determine whether an eclipse would occur at times recorded through out history. The results seemed to prove that numerous instances of recorded eclipses matched the results from when the astronomical simulation software said there would be an eclipse. I downloaded one program called emapwin which contains a number of famous eclipses throughout history. I grabbed the data from this package including the coordinates and time and plugged the data into two other arm chair time traveling star gazing packages. The first was called Star Chart III and the second Star Gazer IV. I plugged in the coordinates for Jerusalem and the dates mentioned above on Yada Yahweh, but was unable to identify any sort of eclipse for that date range or the traditional Good Friday date.

The next step was to perform a “search” backward and forward in March and April 33 CE to determine whether there were any eclipses over Jerusalem that may have gone unrecorded. Well, I may have found one. I’m not sure if I am using the software correctly or not, but I did note that both packages showed the Sun tracking with the Moon starting at about 12 ish to about 3 or 4ish that evening on March 19th of 33. Presumably, this would have been an eclipse because of the check I did with various other record ancient eclipses. I think I need to find a better software package that can actually simulate the moon’s shadow somehow. This test seems to be render a verdict that there was no solar eclipse on the Nisan 14 / Friday April 1 (Julian) date. I confirmed this with a few searches on google for secular references. The screenshot below provides an overlay from the output of the two software packages. Both showed what appeared to be a solar eclipse in the software by the fact that the Sun and the Moon were overlapping and tracking each other’s path through the sky which was also consistent with the “known” eclipses provided by the emapwin software.

Joel 2:31 (Rotherham) The sun, shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,—before the coming of the great and awful day of Yahweh.

Which day is Joel referrring to here?
As an aside, it is interesting as I understand it, that the moon just happens to be the “right” size to cover our sun completely. How convenient. What are the odds? That may be the subject for another article.

So it looks like we found a Solar eclipse on March 19th of 33. I also found from another source on the Internet that there was a lunar eclipse on Friday April 1, 33 (Julian) or I think that would be April 3, 33 by our Gregorian based calendar. He would have had to come down off the death stake before the Sabbath. The question is – which Sabbath? Understanding that the general idea was for Him to be offering Himself (as a sinless / unblemished lamb) as a sacrifice for our iniquity would mean that He would need to be at the minimum lead into town (the house) becoming acquainted with the family (the people) before being lead to slaughter.

Here’s the problem though, March 19th totally breaks many of the current Daniel 9:25 calculations and I don’t think it aligns with when the Passover was said to have occurred that year so it also breaks all the Passover based laws, etc. The only other though I have on this is one of the laws dealt the cooking of barley over a fire to see if it “danced” or not. I’ll have to look this up to be sure, but I think if the barley danced the Jewish calendar had to be adjusted with an additional month. Not sure if this would have been applicable or not for one of the candidate years.
The article here proposes an alternate theory http://www.on2jerusalem.org/was_jesus_christ_crucified_on_sunday_may_3,_33_ad.htm

Taken from the referenced site, this table presents the date of Passover for each of the potential candidate years for our Messiah’s death.

I did some checks of these dates against the calendar converter and noted that there were some problems. I couldn’t get some of the dates to match with what the author of this site had calculated. What I did was to plugin Nisan 14 for each year and look for the resulting Julian and Gregorian date. It matched in 33, but the others didn’t.

This brings up another thought. Back in February of 2007, I had prayed to my God for guidance in this area. Specifically, I asked Him to help me understand when the end of the “age” or world was coming. I asked Him to send me a dream with guidane. Well a couple days later I got a random call from my mother telling me that my younger sister had a dream about the end of the world. My mom was royally freaked out by this dream. I told her that I had prayed for a dream, but thought it was kind of funny how God likes to be creative in His answers to prayers. I had my sister write contents of the dream down for me. I’ll scan the dream in later, but suffice it to say one of the interesting pieces was that in her dream, God said “we don’t have a lot of time left” and “we have only about ~200 years”. There was an exact number, but my sister couldn’t recall it.

This puzzled me deeply. It was clearly the answer to a prayer, but at the same time I couldn’t make head or tails of what was meant by a little more than 200 years. I felt sort of like what Peter may have felt after his visions about lizards and creepy crawlies on a sheet coming down from Heaven. Puzzled. It did lead me down a path though. A short time later it occured to me to check for accuracy in the Jewish calendar. I found out that the Jewish calendar is WELL KNOWN to be off by about 200 years or so and the Rabbis know it. It was never updated either out of ignorance or perhaps reluctance to change a system that is already ingrained in the Jewish culture. Sort of like trying to usurp a tradition that is so baked in that it simply can’t change. What day is it on Yahuweh’s calendar? I don’t know at this point. Well, I figure that if I can narrow down the day of the crucifixition through astronomical retrocalculations , then that will hopefully result in a day that ties to the Daniel 9:25 prophecy.

What do I have so far?

• Total Solar eclipse on March 19th (Julian) that I seem to have reasonably verified through retrocalculations.
• There was a Lunar eclipse on April 1, 33 (Julian) Nisan 14 (unverified by myself)
• Yeshua would have had to die on the Passover, Nisan 14th according to the Torah
• There may be a rule about barley, leap year, and the timing of the Passover – I haven’t fully investigated this notion yet.
• The Jewish calendar is known to be off by about 200 years or so. The range is anywhere from about 240 – 256 years.
• There is the possiblity of the third day reference meaning the “third day of the week”, not the traditional “third day” after the crucifixition (Matthew 16:21).
• In the Genesis account paraphrased, the Greater Light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night “appeared”, as if they were already existent though -not created, on the 4th day. The Hebrew words for our English words “made” and “created” are different though in English we tend to view made as equal to created on the surface at least.
• Some say that the Genesis account actually contains layered / intertwined plots. Wouldn’t surprise me given how smart my God is.

“Now from the sixth hour [noon] to the ninth hour there was a darkness over the land.” (Matthew 27:45)”

So perhaps the question needs to be revised. We seem to presume that it was a solar eclipse that Matthew was referring to. Perhaps this is a hasty assumption? I wonder what other words could have been used for darkness to talk about an eclipse. I found a reference to an eclipse in Job 3:5 and I also noted that the dragon was spoken of.

This reminds me of a paper I once read about knowledge of the Creator being preserved in the constellations and even into our cultural memory to this day; however, the shapes of the constellations, positions of the stars, etc. have changed over time.

Rotherham:

Job 3:1 After this, opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2 So then Job began, and said:
Job 3:3 Perish, the day wherein I was born, and the night it was said, Lo! a manchild!
Job 3:4 That day, be it darkness,—Let not God enquire after it from above, May there shine upon it no clear beam:
Job 3:5 Let darkness and death-shade buy it back, May there settle down upon it a cloud, Let a day’s dark eclipse cause it terror:
Job 3:6 That night, darkness take it,—May it not rejoice among the days of the year, Into the number of months, let it not enter.
Job 3:7 Lo! that night, be it barren, Let no joyous shouting enter therein:
Job 3:8 Let day-cursers denounce it, Those skilled in rousing the dragon of the sky:
Job 3:9 Darkened be the stars of its twilight,—Let it wait for light, and there be none, neither let it see the eyelashes of the dawn:
Job 3:10 Because it closed not the doors of the womb wherein I was, and so hid trouble from mine eyes.
Job 3:11 Wherefore, in the womb, did I not die? From the womb, come forth and cease to breathe?
Job 3:12 For what reason, were there prepared for me—knees? and why—breasts, that I might suck?
Job 3:13 Surely, at once, had I lain down, and been quiet, I had fallen asleep, then, had I been at rest:
Job 3:14 With kings, and counselors of the earth, who had built them pyramids:
Job 3:15 Or with rulers possessing, gold,—Who had filled their houses with silver:
Job 3:16 Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:
Job 3:17 There, the lawless, cease from raging, and there the toil-worn are at rest:
Job 3:18 At once are prisoners at peace, they hear not the voice of a driver:
Job 3:19 Small and great, there, they are, and, the slave, is free from his master.
Job 3:20 Wherefore give, to the wretched, light? Or, life, to the embittered in soul?—
Job 3:21 Who long for death, and it is not, And have digged for it, beyond hid treasures:
Job 3:22 Who rejoice unto exultation, Are glad, when they can find the grave:
Job 3:23 To a man, whose way is concealed, And GOD hath straitly enclosed him?
Job 3:24 For, in the face of my food, my sighing, cometh in, and, poured out like the water, are my groans:
Job 3:25 For, a dread, I dreaded, and it hath come upon me, and, that from which I shrank, hath overtaken me.
Job 3:26 I was not careless, nor was I secure, nor had I settled down,—when there came—consternation!

There was also something rather peculiar that was described in Joshua. The text is below (Rotherham), but I noted some rather curious parallels to the Messiah’s body being stashed in a cave, covered up with stones. I thought perhaps this may be pointing towards the Messiah descending into the darkness of Sheol to free those that sleep and at the same time referring to Himself being released from the cave? Not sure yet, but I know there is something to this that I’m missing.

Jos 10:12 Then, spake Joshua unto Yahweh, on the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel,—yea he said, in the presence of Israel—Thou Sun! in Gibeon, be still, and thou Moon! in the vale of Aijalon.
Jos 10:13 So the sun, was still, and, the moon, stayed, until a nation should be avenged on its fees. Is not, that, written in the Book of the Upright? So then the sun stayed in the middle of the heavens, and hastened not to go in, about a whole day.
Jos 10:14 And there was no day like that—before it or after it, when Yahweh hearkened unto the voice of a man,—in that, Yahweh, himself fought for Israel.
Jos 10:15 So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp at Gilgal.
Jos 10:16 So these five kings fled,—and hid themselves in a cave, at Makkedah.
Jos 10:17 And it was told Joshua, saying,—The five kings are found, hid in a cave at Makkedah.
Jos 10:18 And Joshua said, Roll ye great stones against the mouth of the cave,—and set over it men, to watch them;
Jos 10:19 but do not, ye, stay, chase after your enemies, so shall ye attack them in the rear,—do not suffer them to enter into their cities, for Yahweh your God hath delivered them into your hand.
Jos 10:20 And it came to pass, when Joshua and the sons of Israel had made an end of smiting them with a very great slaughter, until they were spent, then did, the remainder that were left of them, enter into the fortified cities.
Jos 10:21 And all the people returned unto the camp, unto Joshua at Makkedah, in peace,—none sharpened his tongue at any man of the sons of Israel.
Jos 10:22 Then said Joshua, Open ye the mouth of the cave,—and bring out unto me, these five kings, out of the cave.
Jos 10:23 And they did so, and brought out unto him, these five kings, out of the cave,—namely, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon.
Jos 10:24 And it came to pass, when they brought out these kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war who had been with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. So they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
Jos 10:25 Then said Joshua unto them: Do not fear, nor be alarmed,—be firm and bold, for, thus and thus, will Yahweh do unto all your enemies, against whom ye do fight.
Jos 10:26 And Joshua smote them after this, and put them to death, and hanged them upon five trees,—and they remained hung on the trees, until the evening,
Jos 10:27 And it came to pass, at the time of the going in of the sun, that Joshua gave command, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave, where they had hid themselves,—and put great stones upon the mouth of the cave, which remain , until this very day.

Now here is what is curious, these 5 kings were hung on the tree.  Then taken down. Then tossed into a cave. I wonder if the names of these kings have any significance. After all, everyone’s name in Hebrew means something!

Amo 8:1 Here, My Lord, Yahweh, gave me to see,—and lo! there was a basket of summer fruit.
Amo 8:2 So then he said, What canst thou see, Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Yahweh unto me, The end hath come unto my people Israel, I will not again any more forgive them;
Amo 8:3 but palace-songs, shall become howlings, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh,—Many shall be the dead bodies in every place—cast forth— with a hush!
Amo 8:4 Hear this, ye who pant after the needy, and to make an end of the oppressed of the land:
Amo 8:5 Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights:
Amo 8:6 Who buy—for silver—the poor, and the needy for a pair of shoes,—and that the refuse of the grain we may sell.
Amo 8:7 Sworn hath Yahweh, by the Excellency of Jacob,—Surely I will never forget any of their doings!
Amo 8:8 Is it not, for this, that the land, shall tremble? and shall mourn every inhabitant therein? Shall it not come up—like the Nile, all of it, and be tossed and subside like the river of Egypt?
Amo 8:9 Yea it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go in at high noon,—and will darken the earth on a day of brightness.!
Amo 8:10 So will I turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will bring up—on all loins—sackcloth, and upon every head—baldness,—and I will make it like the mourning for an only one, even the afterpart thereof, as a day of bitterness.
Amo 8:11 Lo! days are coming, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will send a hunger throughout the land,—not a hunger for food, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh;
Amo 8:12 Therefore shall men rove about—from sea to sea, and from the north even unto sunrise,—they shall run to and fro—seeking the word of Yahweh, but shall not find it .
Amo 8:13 In that day, shall the fair virgins and the choice young men faint for thirst.
Amo 8:14 They who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy God, liveth, O Dan! and, As the Way of Beer-sheba, liveth, shall fall, and shall not rise any more.
“The date of an eclipse referred to in the Bible is known for certain: “`And on that day,’ says the Lord God, `I will make the Sun go down at noon, and darken the Earth in broad daylight’.” (Amos 8:9) “That day” was June 15, 763 B.C. The date of this eclipse is confirmed by an Assyrian historical record known as the Eponym Canon. In Assyria, each year was named after a different ruling official and the year’s events were recorded under that name in the Canon. Under the year corresponding to 763 B. C., a scribe at Nineveh recorded this eclipse and emphasized the importance of the event by drawing a line across the tablet. These ancient records have allowed historians to use eclipse data to improve the chronology of early Biblical times.” – I took this from another book about ancient eclipses, but I forget the reference. Will add later – promise 🙂 Just google for it mmmmm…k.

This is where I will leave off based on what I know so far and some of this is not derived from this article:

• Total Solar eclipse on March 19th (Julian) that I seem to have reasonably verified through retrocalculations.
• There was a Lunar eclipse on April 1, 33 (Julian) Nisan 14 ( though unverified by myself)
• Yeshua would have had to die on the Passover, Nisan 14th according to the Torah
• There may be a rule about barley, leap year, and the timing of the Passover – I haven’t fully investigated this notion yet, but it may affect the Nisan 14 calculation.
• The Jewish calendar is known to be off by about 200 years or so. The range is anywhere from about 240 – 256 years. This may affect the Nisan 14 calculation.
• There is the possiblity of the third day reference meaning the “third day of the week”, not the traditional “third day” after the crucifixition (Matthew 16:21).
• In the Genesis account paraphrased, the Greater Light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night “appeared”, as if they were already existent though -not created, on the 4th day. The Hebrew words for our English words “made” and “created” are different though in English we tend to view made as equal to created on the surface at least.
• Some say that the Genesis account actually contains layered / intertwined plots. Wouldn’t surprise me given how smart my God is.
• Some point the Daniel prophect at 32 CE as being the date for the resurrection – K-House does this.
• The “traditional” year for the resurrection, at least here in America is 33 CE.
• There were other Sabbaths (days of Solemn rest i.e., the Feast of Unleavened Bread) that didn’t necessarily have to occur on the 7th day.
• Found a vieled reference (ha ha – you get the joke – there are two!) to a possible eclipse in Joshua, followed by 5 kings being hung on a tree then tossed into a cave. Remind you of anything? Remember Yeshua is the WORD? 5 Kings? 5 Books in the Law? Any resemblence? I’m not sure honestly.
• Found a more direct reference to an eclipse in Amos 8:9. Supposedly, this one actually occured. I need more information on this one.