The date of the death of many familiar historical figures is known. Cyrus the Great died on December 4, 530 BC, Socrates died in 399 BC, Alexander the Great died, June 323 BC and Julius Caesar died on the 15th of March 44 BC. But there is no definitive date for the death of Jesus. However, there is enough evidence for it to be calculated.
The Passover
The Bible tells us that Jesus died at Passover. But what exactly is Passover?
The Passover receives its name from the act of grace the Lord Jehovah extended to the Children of Israel to free them from slavery in Egypt. Each family had to take a young male lamb without defect on Nissan 10, keep it in the home, slaughter it at twilight at the start of Nissan 14, dab its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their house so that when the angle of death sees the blood, he will Passover that house and it occupants first born will be spared from death as explained in Exodus 12:1-30. The lamb had to be completely consumed that night and not even one of its bones was to be broken.
The Jewish month was established by the orbit of the moon around the earth. This takes 27.3 days for one complete orbit. However, because of the earth’s rotation it takes 29.5 days to go from new moon to new moon. The first day of the new month is established from the time of the first visible crescent of the new moon. Nisan 14 is halfway through this cycle and consequently, Passover will always be under a full moon.
The extent of the Passover is explained clearly in Leviticus 23:5-6:
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
So, the Passover, referred to here as the Lord’s Passover is on one day, Nisan 14, which starts at sundown on Nisan 13. In the Jewish calendar, sundown marks the start of the next day. This is a personal rather than a community Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread commences on the next day, Nisan 15 and goes for seven days until Nisan 21 inclusive. It is a community celebration. Confusion can arise with the terminology as there are two ceremonies called Passover, or a combination of both is called Passover.
Nisan 14, names; Lord’s Passover, Passover Seder. No work, the lamb (Pascal) is slaughtered and eaten as per Exodus 12.
Nisan 15 to 21: Days of Unleavened Bread, Unleavened Bread, Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is also called the Passover as in Luke 22:1
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.
And again, in John 6:4
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
No work is to be done on the first and last days of the feast (15 and 21).
Nisan 14 to 21: The combination of the two separate periods is simply referred to as the Passover.
Numbers 28:16:18
“On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation.[1] You shall not do any ordinary work,
High Day
So, no work is to be done on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and no work is to be done on the Sabbath and when the first day of the week of Unleavened Bread, Nisan 15 falls on a Saturday (the Sabbath), this is called a High Day. And John (19:31) tells us that the Sabbath at the time of Jesus’ execution was a High Day.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
Note. The guards found Jesus to be dead and did not break His legs as they did to the other two crucified men.
There are only two dates during the reign of Tiberius (AD 26-AD 36) who Luke (3:1) mentions was Caesar at the time of Jesus’ ministry that meet this criterion, and these are April 7, AD 30 and April 3, AD 33.[2]
Note, the term, The Last Supper is not a biblical name; it does not appear in the Bible at all.
Passover of the Second Temple period
In the pre-exilic period the original Passover was rarely sacrificed in accordance with the legal prescriptions of Exodus 12. But it was regularly offered during the time of the Second temple, and there was a definite ritual for it.
Each family or society offered one lamb or kid. The animal was slain on the eve of Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan (post-Exilic name; formerly Abib, Exodus 13:4, approximately our March/April). All animals were slaughtered that morning, and this was completed at three O’clock. Each family took their lamb home to eat. The sacrifice had to be consumed entirely that same evening, nothing being allowed to remain overnight.[3]
Christ’s crucifixion
Much has been written regarding the time of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. What is presented below is a view which is supported by historical data and the Bible.
All gospels agree that Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath. Some scholars claim there may have been two Sabbaths in that week because the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath, as explained above, and that Christ may have been crucified on a day other than Friday. However, there can be no doubt that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, a Sunday, and that it was the third day, inclusive, since His crucifixion. By the time of Tertullian (AD 160–220), the Greek word ‘paraskeue,’ was used in the gospels as the day of Christ’s crucifixion and it was used to denote Friday. The third Bishop of Antioch, Ignatius, writing in the first century to the Trallians, makes it clear that Christ was crucified on the day of Preparation (Friday), was in the ground during the Sabbath and rose on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).[4]
This fixed the crucifixion date as Nisan 14.
Luke provides crucial information
The crucifixion took place under the high priest Caiaphas[5] who held the position from AD 18 to 36. Also, under the administration of Pontius Pilate,[6] who held the position from AD 26–36. The only years that Nisan 14 occurs on a Friday during that period are the years 27, 33, 36 and maybe 30.[7] Luke states that John the Baptist commenced his ministry in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius,[8] thereby dating John’s appearance to AD 29.[9] As well, the Passover was celebrated on the first full moon of the spring. Only the dates of April 7, AD 30 and April 3, AD 33 satisfy this criterion for the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Since John records three separate Passovers during Jesus’ ministry,[10] the early date of AD 30 must be excluded, thereby leaving April 3, AD 33 as the time of Christ’s crucifixion.
Furthermore, Matthew, Mark and Luke[11] record that Jesus died at about the ninth hour which is 3:00 pm in our time. So, we can conclude that Jesus died at about 3.00 pm on April 3, AD 33.
But there is a problem
However, there has been a problem with this later date namely, Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born. This is referenced by the fact that following a visit from the Maji, he ordered all babies under the age of two to be killed.[12] This implies that Jesus must have been born during the years of 6 or 5 BC, because the commonly accepted date for Herod’s death is 4 BC. And Luke states that:
Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age.[13]
This would be in keeping with what was required for a Levitical Priest.[14] Since Jesus’ ministry lasted about three-and-a-half years, He could not have been born in 6–5 BC, commenced His ministry at the age of 30, ministered for three-and-one-half years and have been crucified as late as AD 33.
The evidence for believing Herod died in 4 BC mainly comes from the writings of Josephus (AD 37–103), a first century Jewish historian. However, Josephus was not always accurate or consistent and his chronologies and he should always be cross-checked.[15] Josephus states that Herod commenced his reign in 37 BC and that he reigned 34 years; elsewhere he states that Herod reigned 37 years[16] and that there was a lunar eclipse just before he died. Tradition has this event assigned to the eclipse of March 13, 4 BC. Further evidence for the 4 BC date of Herod’s death comes from coins of the period, which show that his successors began their reign in 4–3 BC.
However, the argument of 4 BC for Herod’s death is not as tight as it seems. John P Pratt, in a well researched and referenced paper,[17] discusses the many problems associated with that year and claims the year of AD 1 to be much more in keeping with historical records and eclipse. Furthermore, the eclipse of 4 BC happened in the middle of the night and would not have been observed by many. In contrast, the eclipse of December 29, 1 BC was clearly visible at sunset. As well, Pratt proposes that Herod’s successors antedated their reigns, presumably to extend their lengths. This, Pratt suggests, is a factor of which Josephus was not aware as he wrote almost 100 years after the event. The later date for Herod’s death means that the sixth century scholar Dionysius Exiguus, who set the Christian era of AD (Anno Domini; ‘In the year of the Lord’) and who had access to more records than are available today, was correct after all in calculating from 1 BC. The Dionysius Exiguus dating system is used to number the years of both the Gregorian and Julian Calendars (note, AD 1 follows 1 BC; there was no zero year).
Andrew Steinmann, Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew, provides supporting evidence for Herod’s sons pre-dating their reigns.[18] Vladimir Blaha using a re-work of Josephus’ work argues for December 25, 1 BC as the date of Jesu’ birth.[19]
Therefore, if Jesus was crucified on April 3, AD33, then his triumphant ride into Jerusalem would have taken place on March 30[20] of that year, which was five days before the Passover[21] if we count both Nisan 10 and 14 as was the Jewish practice of counting part of a day as one day.[22] The day, being a Monday, has become incorrectly known as ‘Palm Sunday’. In complete harmony with the events of the Passover that require the lambs to be selected on Nisan 10, and then slaughtered four days (five Jewish days) later on Nisan 14 between the hours of 12 noon and 3 pm and not one bone was to be broken.
Richard Lanser researched the last week of Jesus’ life and arrives at the same conclusion, that Jesus’ Triumphal Entry was on Monday Nisan 10, AD 33. He posits that the early church used Sunday to celebrate the event rather than Monday because the people gather on Sunday.[23]
Christ presented Himself as Messiah, the Passover Lamb[24] on Nisan 10 (Monday March 30, AD 33) and was slaughtered (crucified) on Nisan 14 (Friday, April 3, AD 33). After being on the cross for six hours, He then died at 3 pm.
Conclusion
Even though there is conjecture still on the exact date of Jesus’ death, from the above, there is only one time and date which fits all the information we have at our disposal. This is 3.00 PM, Friday April 3, AD 33.
[1] A Holy Convocation is a special assembly for Israel and no ordinary work is to be done.
[2] Rick Lansing, How the Passover Illuminates the Date of the Crucifixion, Associates for Biblical Research, https://biblearchaeology.org/abr-projects/the-daniel-9-24-27-project-2/4360-how-the-passover-illuminates-the-date-of-the-crucifixion.
[3] Passover Sacrifice, Executive Committee of the Editorial., Jacob Zallel Lauterbach. Christianity.com.https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/how-is-jesus-our-passover-lamb.html.
[4] For a thorough analysis of the days of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, the reader is directed to bible.ca/d-3-days-and-3-nights.htm.
[5] Matthew 26:3-4; John 11:49-53.
[6] Matthew 27;24-26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:24 and John 19:15-16.
[7]C. J. Humphreys and G. Waddington, The American Scientific Affiliation, 1985, 37, pages 2–10; H. W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1977.
[8] Luke 3:1–2.
[9] Tiberius became emperor upon the death of Augustus in AD 14. His fifteenth year would be AD 29.
[10] John 2:23, 6:4, 13:1.
[11] Matthew 27:45-50, Mark 15:34 and Luke 23:44-46.
[12] Matthew 2:16.
[13] Luke 3:23.
[14] Numbers 4:3.
[15] M. Broshi, The Credibility of Josephus, Journal of Jewish Studies 33, Spring/Autum, 1982.
[16] J. P. Pratt, The Planetarium, 1990, 19 (4), pages 8–14.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Andrew Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology (St. Louis: Concordia, 2011), pp. 235–238; see also his article When Did Herod the Great Reign? Novum Testamentum 51 (2009), pp. 1–29. Referenced in: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/herods-death-jesus-birth-and-a-lunar-eclipse.
[19]https://www.academia.edu/35125039/The_Death_of_King_Herod_in_4_BCE_is_an_error_of_Emil_Sch%C3%BCrer?auto=download.
[20] In the year AD 33, Nisan 10 falls on Monday, March 30. cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=33.
[21] John 12:1-12.
[22] Colin J Humpreys, The Mystery of the Last Supper, Cambridge University Press, 2011, page 23.
[23] Richard Lanser, Bible & Spade, vol. 37, 2 and 3, pages 34 to 40.
[24] 1 Corinthians 5:7; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:17.
