CHAPTER 9

CRUCIFIXION DAY - THE FINAL ANALYSIS

     The statement made by Phlegon of Tralles provides us with clear evidence of the crucifixion year, as long as we are able to know for sure the passage of the Olympiads. In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were held in the July of the first year of each "Olympiad", (a four-year period running from July to June of each succeeding year.) The 202^nd Olympiad has been calculated to run from July A.D. 29 to June A.D. 33. The following diagram will clarify the matter.

THE 202^nd OLYMPIAD CALENDAR

                        A.D. |------29------|------30------|------31------|------32------|------33------|

                                          |------1^st------|------2^nd-----|------3^rd-----|------4^th-----|

                                          |---------------------202^nd Olympiad-------------------|

Each year of an Olympiad began on 1^st July

We know that Jesus died in the Spring, and therefore it had to be in A.D. 33 according to Phlegon’s writings. And as several of the early Fathers quoted him, there seems no reason to doubt Phlegon’s word. Therefore we shall take this as our final authority, to establish the year of the crucifixion.

    There is an additional method of settling this matter, based on the Hebrew Calendar Cycle. Selecting the 1^st of Nisan from each of the years in my computerised table, and from these calculating the 14^th Nisan, I obtained the following data. And please note that Thursday does not appear among the dates. This is because, by virtue of certain rules by which the Hebrew Calendar is constructed, Nisan 14^th must never occur on Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday.

PASSOVER DATES FOR THE YEARS A.D. 27 - 35

YEAR	1^st NISAN	14^th NISAN
AD 27	Thursday 27^th March	Wednesday 9^th April
AD 28	Tuesday 16^th March	Monday 29^th March
AD29	Sunday 3^rd April	Saturday 16^th April
AD 30	Thursday 23^rd March	Wednesday 5^th April
AD 31	Tuesday 13^th March	Monday 26^th March
AD 32	Tuesday 1^st April	Monday 14^th April
AD 33	Saturday 21^st March	Friday 3^rd April
AD 34	Tuesday 9^th March	Monday 22^nd March
AD 35	Tuesday 29^th March	Monday 11^th April

    In all these years there is only one in which Passover Day, 14^th Nisan, falls on a Friday, and that is A.D. 33, the very year spoken about by Phlegon. This is not only a remarkable coincidence, but a sure confirmation of the facts presented in the previous chapters. 

    I have shown by careful analysis that the day of the crucifixion had to be a Friday, followed by the Resurrection on Sunday morning. Therefore we should expect the Calendar to provide us with a confirmation concerning A.D. 33, but to find that there were no other years in which 14^th Nisan was Friday came as a surprise. The nearest dates to A.D. 33 when it was a Friday are A.D. 26 and A.D. 36, both of which are outside the range of enquiry of almost all expositors, and therefore we need not even consider the possibility that either of those years might have provided the key.

“No writer, whether apostolic, patristic, mediaeval, pre- or post-Reformation, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Puritan, Continental, or any other persuasion or location has given any note in his writings out of harmony with the general belief of the Church Universal, that the Crucifixion occurred on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday.” (The Sabbath in Scripture and History, pages 116-117, by Horace G. Cowan.)

    Here then is the end of our search, after many and rather tedious investigations, with the establishment of one certain date. It is the first of the “seven steps” in our walk towards Bethlehem, to find the date of Jesus’ birth. It is like a "bench mark" upon which other dates must conform as we proceed further. Here then is the information we have obtained thus far:-

        Crucifixion - Friday 3^rd April 33,
J.D.N. 1733204   

Resurrection - Sunday 5^th April 33
J.D.N. 1733206

SSTB.INDEX

NEXT CHAPTER