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Before the ministry 5 BC – 4 BC
- GUIDEGuide’s chart: 10 Tishri AM 3757 = 11 September 5 BC, “the Day of Atonement.”GUIDE“The tenth of Tishri is a conviction. No text gives the day of the birth. It is placed on the Day of Atonement because of what the day means, and that is named as belief, not as evidence.”TEXTLeviticus 23:27 “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”CHECKOur check: 10 Tishri AM 3757 = Monday 11 Sep 5 BC (Julian) ✓. The guide gives no weekday. In proleptic Gregorian the same day is labelled 9 Sep.CHECKScripture gives no birth date; the guide says so itself.
- GUIDE“Herod died in 4 BC, which places the birth before it and sets the upper bound the whole chart hangs from.”TEXTMatthew 2:19 “But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,”TEXTMatthew 2:16 “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”GUIDE“The signs give a window, Herod gives an upper bound, and Matthew’s ‘two years’ gives an interval — but nothing states a date.”CHECKOutside source, not the guide: Josephus (Antiquities 17.167, 17.213) puts the death after a lunar eclipse and before a Passover, so 4 BC is usually read as spring. The line plots it there, and that position is approximate.GUIDEChapter IX: Martin’s road, which moves Herod’s death to 1 BC, breaks against “Metal. Coins of two of Herod's sons, Varus at Antioch, and Gaius Caesar — on record.”
Two men turn thirty AD 26
- TEXTLuke 3:1 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,”TEXTLuke 3:2 “Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”GUIDE“Pilate’s prefecture begins AD 26; Philip’s tetrarchy ends AD 33/34; Caiaphas is high priest AD 18–36. Those alone fence the verse into AD 26–33, and Pilate sets the floor at AD 26.”GUIDE“This chart does not build on Luke 3:1 … Use it as a consistency, not a proof: it does not select AD 26 over AD 29.”CHECKOutside the guide: Pilate’s term is usually ended in AD 36/37 (Josephus, Ant. 18.89). The guide gives no dates for Antipas, Lysanias or Annas.
- GUIDE“On this chart John reaches thirty on 18 March AD 26 and Jesus on 11 September AD 26 — 177 days apart, six lunar months exactly.”TEXTLuke 1:36 “And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.”TEXTNumbers 4:3 “From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.”GUIDE“Marked: that John began at thirty is an inference from Numbers 4:3.”INFERENCEPutting Luke 3:2 (John’s call) on this date follows the guide’s structure (“the six months between the ministries”). The guide does not date John’s call in so many words.CHECKOur check: 18 Mar AD 26 = 10 Nisan AM 3786, a Monday. The guide gives no Hebrew date. From here to the Jordan is 177 days ✓.FLAGTiberius: counted from his sole reign (from 19 Aug AD 14), Luke’s “fifteenth year” is Aug AD 28 – Aug AD 29, or autumn AD 27 at the earliest under a Syrian-style count. None reaches AD 26 without the co-regency the guide has withdrawn (“an unattested one”). The guide admits this is where its road breaks: “the fifteenth year of Tiberius … a reckoning convention.”
- GUIDEGuide’s chart: 10 Tishri AM 3787 = 11 September AD 26, “thirty Hebrew years later, to the day.” Birth → Jordan = 10,957 days.TEXTLuke 3:21 “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,”TEXTLuke 3:22 “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”TEXTLuke 3:23 “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,”GUIDELuke 3:23 is “the phrase Hoehner’s road must stretch” (to 32 or 34).INFERENCEThe guide calls this date “The Jordan”. Taking it as the day of the baptism (Luke 3:21–22) is the natural reading, but the guide doesn’t spell it out.CHECKOur check: 10 Tishri 3787 = Wednesday 11 Sep AD 26 ✓; 10,957 days ✓. The guide calls the 29.999 solar years “a property of the Hebrew calendar”, not a discovery.
- TEXTJohn 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”TEXTJohn 1:35 “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;”TEXTJohn 1:43 “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.”TEXTJohn 2:1 “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about these verses. John 1:32–33 speaks of the dove as already seen, so these days come after the baptism. If Mark’s forty days in the wilderness come first (the usual harmony), the earliest date is the Jordan + 40 days, about Mon 21 Oct AD 26.TEXTMark 1:13 “And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.”INFERENCEJohn’s own chain: day 1 (1:19–28), day 2 (1:29), day 3 (1:35), day 4 (1:43), then “the third day” (2:1), about day 6 or 7 depending on how it is counted. No calendar date or weekday can be computed.
First Passover, one winter, an unnamed feast AD 27 – AD 28
- TEXTJohn 2:13 “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,”TEXTJohn 2:20 “Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?”GUIDE“This chart needs four Passovers between the Jordan and the cross. John names three outright — 2:13, 6:4 and 11:55.” That makes the first one spring AD 27. The guide doesn’t print this date; we computed it from the guide’s frame.GUIDEThe guide’s take-away test: remove “the tenth of Tishri” and “forty-six years still lands the first Passover.”CHECKOutside source: Josephus (Ant. 15.380) puts the start of Herod’s rebuilding in his 18th year, 20/19 BC. Forty-six years later is AD 27/28, which fits AD 27.CHECKThe weekday (Wed) comes from the fixed calendar. An observed-crescent calendar could move it a day or two.
- TEXTJohn 4:35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”GUIDE“John 4:35 … is the only clock between the first Passover and John 6:4, and it names one winter. One winter sits naturally in a one-year gap. A two-year gap means John named one winter and walked past the other. That is real, and the teaching does not pretend otherwise.”INFERENCEThe guide gives no date. If the verse is read literally, with harvest meaning the barley at Passover (16 Nisan AD 28 = Wed 31 Mar AD 28, fixed calendar), four months earlier is about Kislev–Tevet. Some read the saying as a proverb, not a date.
- TEXTJohn 5:1 “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”GUIDE“The fourth would be John 5:1, which he calls only a feast. An earlier version of this teaching rested the ministry’s length on that verse. It no longer does.”GUIDELedger: “John 5:1 used as a weapon against AD 33” → “Withdrawn. It cuts both ways, and the manuscript evidence had been miscited.”INFERENCEThe debate: some manuscripts read “the feast” (with the article), which some take to mean Passover or Tabernacles. Others read “a feast”, and Purim and Pentecost have been proposed. Candidates on this frame (fixed calendar): Purim Sun 29 Feb AD 28; Passover Mon 29 Mar AD 28; Pentecost Wed 19 May AD 28; Tabernacles Thu 23 Sep AD 28.
- GUIDEThe four-Passover frame needs one here. The guide now carries it with two arguments, “and neither touches John 5:1”: the fig tree (Luke 13:7–8) and the six months between John and Jesus.INFERENCEThe AD 28 date follows from the guide’s frame (Passovers of 27, 28, 29, 30). The guide doesn’t print it. John is silent on this Passover unless 5:1 is it.GUIDETake-away test: remove “the fourth Passover” and “The ministry shortens and the Jordan moves a year — and the cross does not move at all.”
The final twelve months begin AD 29
- TEXTJohn 6:4 “And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.”GUIDEChapter IV: “Four Passovers, forty-six years, and the last twelve months from the five thousand to the road down the Mount of Olives.”INFERENCEThe guide puts the five thousand twelve months before the cross, which makes John 6:4 the Passover of AD 29. The guide gives no calendar date; this one is computed.CHECKA Saturday on the fixed calendar. That is computation only.
- GUIDEGuide’s intervals: birth → 33rd birthday = 12,078 days, “thirty-three Hebrew years, to the day”; → the lamb set apart = 177, “six Hebrew months, exactly”; → the cross = 181, “age 33.50.”GUIDE“The thirty years, the length of the ministry and the thirty-three and a half are one system, not three witnesses.”CHECKOur check: 10 Tishri 3790 = Thu 6 Oct AD 29. 12,078 ✓ 177 ✓ 181 ✓. All of it rests on the 10 Tishri birth, which the guide names as a conviction.
VIDEOVideo lesson RL7.1a “The Water” (17 min) VIDEOVideo lesson RL7.1a “The Water” opens “the seventh and last half-year” of the ministry: 176 days from Tabernacles to the cross. It counts 2 days at Tabernacles, 1 at Dedication and 8 at the end, with 67 days of silence between Tabernacles and Dedication and 99 days between Dedication and the final 8.CHECKOur check: 15 Tishri AM 3790 (Tue 11 Oct AD 29) → 14 Nisan AM 3790 (Wed 5 Apr AD 30) = 176 days ✓ (elapsed; 177 if both end days are counted). It agrees with the guide’s own figures: 33rd birthday → cross = 181 days, and Tabernacles falls 5 days after the birthday (181 − 5 = 176).CHECKThe 99 checks ✓: from Dedication (25 Kislev = Mon 19 Dec AD 29) to 7 Nisan (Wed 29 Mar AD 30) there are 99 days in between, and 7–14 Nisan is 8 days counted inclusively. So the video’s final 8 days begin on 7 Nisan, one day before our John 12:1 marker (8 Nisan).FLAGA gentle question on the 67: it comes out exactly only if the two Tabernacles days are 15–16 Tishri (silence 17 Tishri – 24 Kislev = 67). With the two days the video itself dates (21–22 Tishri, below), the silence before Dedication is 61 days. Also 2 + 67 + 1 + 99 + 8 = 177, the inclusive count, while 176 is the elapsed count. Most likely a counting convention rather than a calendar problem, but worth asking about.INFERENCEThe guide does not use “half-year” language or these numbers. The band is shown as the video’s framing.VIDEOVideo lesson RL7.1a “The Water” (17 min) TEXTJohn 7:2 “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.”TEXTLeviticus 23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about John 7:2. It falls between 6:4 (AD 29) and 11:55 (AD 30), so on the guide’s frame it is autumn AD 29, five days after the 33rd birthday. “At hand” means the verse sits a little before the feast.VIDEOVideo: skēnopēgia (“tabernacles”, John 7:2) occurs only once in the New Testament. The video links it with eskēnōsen, “dwelt” (literally “tabernacled”), in John 1:14. That link is the video’s interpretation.TEXTJohn 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”CHECKWord check (SBL Greek New Testament, MorphGNT lemmas): σκηνοπηγία 1× in the NT, John 7:2 ✓. σκηνόω is in John only at 1:14 (four more times in Revelation).VIDEOVideo: John 7 is “the most dangerous chapter”. Apokteinō, “to kill”, is used 12× in John, 4 of them in chapter 7; piazō, “to seize”, 3×, all here.CHECKCount check (SBLGNT): ἀποκτείνω 12× in John ✓, 4 in chapter 7 (7:1, 19, 20, 25) ✓. πιάζω 3× in chapter 7 (7:30, 32, 44) ✓.FLAGOne small note: πιάζω is not limited to chapter 7. John uses it 8× in all (also 8:20; 10:39; 11:57; 21:3, 10). If the video means the three in this chapter, it stands; if it means every use in John, it needs a second look.VIDEOVideo: Jesus speaks of his kairos, “time” (7:6, 8); the narrator speaks of his hōra, “hour” (7:30).TEXTJohn 7:6 “Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.”TEXTJohn 7:8 “Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.”TEXTJohn 7:30 “Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.”CHECKκαιρός occurs 3× in John, all here (7:6 twice, 7:8) ✓. ὥρα at 7:30 ✓ (26× in John).- TEXTJohn 7:14 “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.”VIDEOVideo: mesoō, “to be in the midst”, occurs once in the New Testament. The video reads it as the end of the 4th day of the seven. It declines to round its chronology to a neat 4,000 years from Adam at this point: its own count gives 3,974.CHECKWord check: μεσόω 1× in the NT, John 7:14 ✓ (SBLGNT). On the fixed calendar, day 4 is 18 Tishri AM 3790, running from sunset Thu 13 Oct to sunset Fri 14 Oct AD 29. At that sunset 19 Tishri begins, a weekly Sabbath (Sat 15 Oct AD 29).INFERENCE“About the midst” is approximate, so the marker could move a day either way. The 3,974-year figure is the video’s own chronology; we have not checked it.
VIDEOVideo lesson RL7.1a “The Water” (17 min) TEXTJohn 7:37 “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”TEXTJohn 7:38 “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”TEXTJohn 7:39 “(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”VIDEOVideo: the great day is 21 Tishri AM 3790 = 17 October AD 29, the 7th day of the feast.CHECKOur check: 21 Tishri AM 3790 = Mon 17 Oct AD 29 (Julian) ✓. convertdate and pyluach agree; the proleptic Gregorian label would be 15 Oct. 15 Tishri is day 1, so 21 Tishri is day 7 ✓.TEXTLeviticus 23:36 “Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.”VIDEOVideo: the water-drawing from Siloam (Mishnah Sukkah 4:9; 4:1; 4:8), compiled about AD 200, so second-hand history. Which day is “the last day, that great day”, the 7th or the 8th, is left unresolved: Sukkah 4:1 has the water rite for seven days, while 4:8 calls the 8th “the last festival day”.CHECKChecked against an English Mishnah (Sefaria, William Davidson edition), paraphrased: 4:9 has a golden jug filled from the pool of Siloam; 4:1 has the water libation for seven days; 4:8 treats the eighth day as the last day of the Festival ✓.INFERENCEIf the 8th day is meant, 7:37 is 22 Tishri = Tue 18 Oct AD 29, and the next morning (8:2) becomes 23 Tishri.VIDEOVideo: “rivers of living water” (7:38). A Greek search leads to Zechariah 14:8. The Hebrew meqor mayim chayyim, “fountain of living waters”, is in Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13, which the Septuagint renders “fountain of life”. The video argues John is translating from the Hebrew.TEXTZechariah 14:8 “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.”TEXTJeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”TEXTJeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”CHECKHebrew check (Masoretic text via Sefaria): מְקוֹר מַיִם חַיִּים is in both Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13 ✓. Zechariah 14:8 has מַיִם חַיִּים, “living waters”, without “fountain”. We did not check the Septuagint wording.- TEXTJohn 8:2 “And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.”TEXTJohn 8:6 “This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”TEXTJohn 8:8 “And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.”VIDEOVideo (teaser for the next lesson): Jeremiah 17:13, “they that depart from me shall be written in the earth”, is connected with Jesus writing on the ground the next day (John 8:6, 8), the 8th day.CHECK22 Tishri AM 3790 = Tue 18 Oct AD 29 ✓ (fixed calendar).CHECKOutside note: John 7:53–8:11 is missing from several of the earliest Greek manuscripts (for example P66, P75, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus), so reading 8:2 as “the next day” also depends on how that passage is placed.
- TEXTJohn 10:22 “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about 10:22. On its frame this is 25 Kislev AM 3790, winter AD 29/30, about 3½ months before the cross.VIDEOVideo: Dedication is the one day of ministry between two silences, 67 days before it and 99 after.CHECK25 Kislev AM 3790 = Mon 19 Dec AD 29 ✓. The 99 days after it check out (to 7 Nisan). The 67 before it depends on which Tabernacles days are counted (see the half-year band).
- TEXTLuke 13:7 “Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”TEXTLuke 13:8 “And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:”GUIDE“Three years elapsed, and a fourth requested — spoken well before the final Passover. A two-and-a-half-year ministry cannot contain that sentence. That the three years are the ministry’s own is a reading, and the teaching marks it as one.”INFERENCEThe guide gives this saying no date, only “well before the final Passover”. Its position on the line is illustrative.
The final week Nisan AD 30 · fixed calendar · a Hebrew day begins at the sunset before
Day-by-day grid (swipe sideways →)
| Julian (AD 30) | Thu 30 Mar | Fri 31 Mar | Sat 1 Apr | Sun 2 Apr | Mon 3 Apr | Tue 4 Apr | Wed 5 Apr | Thu 6 Apr | Fri 7 Apr | Sat 8 Apr | Sun 9 Apr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Hebrew (guide) | 8 Nisan | 9 Nisan | 10 Nisan | 11 Nisan | 12 Nisan | 13 Nisan | 14 Nisan | 15 Nisan | 16 Nisan | 17 Nisan | 18 Nisan |
| Guide’s Wednesday scheme | Jn 12:1 · to Bethany, “six days before” | ENTRY · 9 Nisan Jn 12:12 “on the next day” | 10 Nisan · lamb taken (Ex 12:3) | after sunset: Jn 13:1 supper (14 Nisan begins) | early: Jn 18:28 CROSS · Jn 19:14 before sunset: burial, Jn 19:42 | High day · festival sabbath (Jn 19:31) | working day | weekly Sabbath sunset: 72 h complete | “first day of the week”: Jn 20:1, 20:19 | ||
| Wed sunset → Sat sunset: “three days and three nights, evening to evening, with two sabbaths and a working day between them” (GUIDE) | |||||||||||
| Observed-crescent Hebrew (1st sighting Fri 24 Mar) | 6 Nisan | 7 Nisan | 8 Nisan | 9 Nisan | 10 Nisan | 11 Nisan | 12 Nisan | 13 Nisan | 14 Nisan | 15 Nisan | 16 Nisan |
| Observed scheme | CROSS if observed (guide’s own alternative) | Sabbath = 15 Nisan (high day) | tomb empty · 16 Nisan | ||||||||
- TEXTJohn 11:55 “And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.”GUIDEThe third Passover John names outright (2:13; 6:4; 11:55). On the guide’s chart, AD 30.INFERENCE“Nigh at hand” gives no day. The marker sits just before 12:1 for illustration.
- TEXTJohn 12:1 “Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about 12:1. Six days before 14 Nisan is 8 Nisan (Thu 30 Mar). Counted to 15 Nisan it would be 9 Nisan (Fri 31 Mar). With the guide’s Friday entry “on the next day” (12:12), 8 Nisan is the one that fits.CHECKVideo lesson RL7.1a counts “the final 8 days” back from 14 Nisan inclusively, so they begin on 7 Nisan (Wed 29 Mar AD 30), a day before this marker. That start is what makes its 99-day silence after Dedication come out exactly.
- GUIDEGuide’s chart: 9 Nisan AM 3790 = Friday 31 March AD 30, “the lamb fetched before the tenth opens.”TEXTJohn 12:12 “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,”CHECKOur check: 9 Nisan 3790 = Fri 31 Mar AD 30 ✓ (fixed calendar). 10 Nisan begins at sunset that Friday.
- TEXTExodus 12:3 “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:”TEXTExodus 12:6 “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”GUIDEIntervals: “The watch (10 Nisan)” → “the cross”, 4 days, “the lamb kept — Exodus 12:6.” “Exodus 12 and the congregation that takes the lamb.”CHECKOur check: 10 Nisan 3790 = Sat 1 Apr AD 30; to 14 Nisan = 4 days ✓; from the 33rd birthday = 177 days ✓.
- TEXTJohn 13:1 “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about the supper. If the cross is on 14 Nisan (Wednesday), the night before it (after sunset Tue 4 Apr) is already 14 Nisan in Hebrew reckoning, which is “before the feast”.
- TEXTJohn 18:28 “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.”INFERENCEThe guide does not cite 18:28. The accusers had not yet eaten the Passover, so on John’s account the trial fell on the morning of 14 Nisan, the guide’s day of the cross.
- TEXTJohn 19:14 “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!”GUIDEGuide’s chart: 14 Nisan AM 3790 = Wednesday 5 April AD 30. “The weekday is computation, not text. The Wednesday comes from the fixed Hebrew calendar, which was arranged in the fourth century. No observational reconstruction of that spring produces a Wednesday.”GUIDE“Every reading of the crescent still lands the fourteenth of Nisan in AD 30.” “Accept the 23 March crescent and the fourteenth falls on Friday 7 April.”CHECKOur check: 14 Nisan 3790 = Wed 5 Apr AD 30 ✓. Jordan → cross = 1,302 days ✓ = 44 Hebrew months + 4 days (3787 and 3789 are leap years) ✓. Forty-two 30-day months would be 1,260 days ✓ (the guide’s ledger).FLAGCrescent check (PyEphem, Jerusalem): conjunction 22 Mar AD 30 17:49 UT (Julian). Evening of Thu 23 Mar: moon age 22.1 h, elongation 10.1°, altitude 7.5°, lag 42 min (marginal). Evening of Fri 24 Mar: 46.1 h, 18.4°, lag 95 min (easy). A 23 Mar sighting gives 1 Nisan = Fri 24 Mar and 14 Nisan = Thu 6 Apr. Fri 7 Apr needs the first sighting on 24 Mar. The guide’s sentence slips a day.FLAGThe guide labels the conjunction “22 March AD 30, 17:48 UT (Gregorian)”, but 22 Mar is the Julian date (in Gregorian it would be 20 Mar). Its “full day before the conjunction” is also overstated: fixed 1 Nisan (Thu 23 Mar) begins at sunset Wed 22 Mar (~15:51 UT), about 2 hours before the conjunction.
- TEXTJohn 19:42 “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.”INFERENCEOn the guide’s Wednesday, the burial comes before sunset, when 15 Nisan (the high day) begins. The guide’s “evening to evening” count starts here.
- TEXTJohn 19:31 “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”TEXTLeviticus 23:6 “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”GUIDEThe guide’s Wednesday gives “three days and three nights, evening to evening, with two sabbaths and a working day between them”: the festival sabbath of 15 Nisan (Thu), a working day (Fri 7 Apr, 16 Nisan), then the weekly Sabbath (Sat 8 Apr, 17 Nisan).INFERENCEThe guide doesn’t cite John 19:31 by number. Reading John’s “high day” as Thursday 15 Nisan is what its Wednesday requires. With an observed-calendar Friday cross, the high day would be Sat 8 Apr, when 15 Nisan and the weekly Sabbath coincide.
- TEXTMatthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”GUIDE“That is the cleanest arrangement available for the sign of Jonah.” “Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth is Text … If the day is ever shown to be otherwise, the saying does not fall; the reconstruction of it does.”INFERENCEFrom a burial before sunset Wed 5 Apr, 72 hours end at sunset Sat 8 Apr. The guide does not state the hour of the resurrection. The Gospels say the tomb was found empty on the first day of the week.
- TEXTJohn 20:1 “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”INFERENCEThe weekday is TEXT (“the first day of the week”). The date is our inference: the Sunday after the guide’s cross week. It is Sun 9 Apr on either calendar: 18 Nisan on the fixed calendar, 16 Nisan on the observed one.
- TEXTJohn 20:19 “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”INFERENCESame Sunday as 20:1. The guide says nothing about it.
Forty days, and Pentecost Apr – May AD 30
- TEXTJohn 20:26 “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”INFERENCECounted inclusively (Sunday to Sunday) → Sun 16 Apr. Counted exclusively it would be Mon 17 Apr. The guide says nothing about it.
- TEXTActs 1:3 “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:”TEXTActs 1:9 “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about the ascension. Counting Sun 9 Apr (first appearance) as day 1, day 40 is Thu 18 May (27 Iyyar). Counting from a Saturday-evening rising (the Wednesday scheme), day 40 is Wed 17 May (26 Iyyar).
- TEXTActs 2:1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”TEXTLeviticus 23:15 “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:”TEXTLeviticus 23:16 “Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.”INFERENCEThe guide says nothing about Pentecost. Fixed-calendar Shavuot, 6 Sivan AM 3790, is Fri 26 May AD 30. Counting fifty days from the morrow after the weekly sabbath (Sun 9 Apr) gives Sun 28 May (8 Sivan, fixed). With an observed-calendar Friday cross, both ways of counting give Sun 28 May.
More videos added to the study group’s video list
Checks & notes the guide’s arithmetic against ours
Key intervals: all seven check ✓
| Interval | Guide | Ours | Reads as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth → Jordan | 10,957 | 10,957 ✓ | “thirty Hebrew years, to the day” |
| Birth → 33rd birthday | 12,078 | 12,078 ✓ | thirty-three Hebrew years |
| Jordan → cross | 1,302 | 1,302 ✓ | = 44 Hebrew months + 4 days (the guide’s ledger says 44, not 42). The guide’s “three years and seven months” is loose: 3 Hebrew yrs 6 mo 4 d, ≈3 yrs 6¾ mo solar |
| 33rd birthday → 10 Nisan | 177 | 177 ✓ | six Hebrew months (3790 is a common year) |
| 33rd birthday → cross | 181 | 181 ✓ | “age 33.50” |
| 10 Nisan → cross | 4 | 4 ✓ | Exodus 12:6 |
| John the Baptist at 30 → Jordan | 177 | 177 ✓ | Luke 1:36’s six months |
The guide’s own warning: “The thirty years, the length of the ministry and the thirty-three and a half are one system, not three witnesses.”
⚠ Where our computation disagrees with the guide
“Accept the 23 March crescent and the fourteenth falls on Friday 7 April.” A first sighting on the evening of Thu 23 Mar makes 1 Nisan = Fri 24 Mar and 14 Nisan = Thu 6 Apr. Friday 7 April needs the first sighting on the evening of Fri 24 Mar (moon 46 h old, easily seen). The sentence slips one day. The year is unaffected.
Conjunction “22 March AD 30, 17:48 UT (Gregorian)”. PyEphem gives 22 Mar AD 30, 17:49 UT on the Julian calendar, which is the guide’s own convention. In proleptic Gregorian it is 20 Mar. The guide’s other crescent numbers (22.0 h, 10.1°, 42 min) match ours (22.1 h, 10.1°, 42 min). Altitude: guide 7.7°, ours 7.5° (method-dependent).
“The fixed calendar places 1 Nisan a full day before the conjunction.” Fixed 1 Nisan (Thu 23 Mar) begins at sunset Wed 22 Mar, about 15:51 UT, roughly 2 hours before the conjunction. It is before the conjunction, but not by a full day. The point that no observing court could have produced a Wednesday still stands.
“Three years and seven months” for 1,302 days is a round-up: 44 Hebrew months + 4 days = 3 Hebrew years, 6 months, 4 days (≈3 years 6¾ months solar). The guide’s own figure of 44 months is correct.
Luke 3:1. Not a computation error but a break the guide itself admits: no attested count of Tiberius puts his fifteenth year in AD 26 (sole reign: Aug 28 – Aug 29).
Video lesson RL7.1a “The Water”: what we checked
VIDEOclaims are the video’s own; CHECK means our computation or count agrees; FLAG marks a gentle question. The teal stripe beside the markers shows the 176-day last half-year.
| Video’s claim | Our result |
|---|---|
| VIDEO21 Tishri AM 3790 = 17 Oct AD 29, 7th day of the feast | CHECKMon 17 Oct AD 29 (Julian), day 7 ✓ |
| VIDEO176 days, Tabernacles → cross | CHECK15 Tishri → 14 Nisan = 176 elapsed (177 inclusive) ✓ |
| VIDEO99 days of silence, Dedication → final 8 days | CHECK25 Kislev → 7 Nisan: 99 days between; 7–14 Nisan = 8 ✓ |
| VIDEO67 days of silence, Tabernacles → Dedication | FLAG67 only if the feast days are 15–16 Tishri; 61 after 21–22 Tishri. Parts sum to 177 (inclusive), not 176 |
| VIDEOσκηνοπηγία 1× in the NT; μεσόω 1× in the NT | CHECKboth ✓ (SBLGNT) |
| VIDEOἀποκτείνω 12× in John, 4 in ch. 7 | CHECK12 and 4 ✓ |
| VIDEOπιάζω 3×, all in ch. 7 | FLAG3 in ch. 7 ✓, but 8 in John overall |
| VIDEOκαιρός (Jesus, 7:6, 8) vs ὥρα (narrator, 7:30) | CHECK✓; καιρός is used only in 7:6, 8 in John |
| VIDEOMishnah Sukkah 4:9, 4:1, 4:8 | CHECKcontent matches (Sefaria English) ✓ |
| VIDEOmeqor mayim chayyim in Jer 2:13 and 17:13 | CHECK✓ (Masoretic text); LXX not checked |
| VIDEO3,974 years from Adam at the midst of the feast | not checked (the video’s own chronology) |
Secondary band: +2,000 Hebrew years
CHECKThese calendar facts are verified (convertdate, and Hebcal agrees). SPECULATIONAny meaning in them is speculation. The guide says nothing about 2026–2030.
- Mon Sep 21, 2026, 10 Tishri AM 5787
= Jordan · 10 Tishri 3787 (Wed 11 Sep AD 26) · Yom Kippur (from sundown Sun Sept 20). Already past: today is Sun Sept 27, 2026. - Sun Sep 30, 2029, 21 Tishri AM 5790
= Great day (video) · 21 Tishri 3790 (Mon 17 Oct AD 29) · Hoshana Rabbah, 7th day of Sukkot (from sundown Sat Sept 29; Hebcal agrees) - Mon Oct 1, 2029, 22 Tishri AM 5790
= 8th day · 22 Tishri 3790 (Tue 18 Oct AD 29) · Shemini Atzeret (from sundown Sun Sept 30; Hebcal agrees) - Sat Apr 13, 2030, 10 Nisan AM 5790
= Lamb set apart · 10 Nisan 3790 (Sat 1 Apr AD 30) · Shabbat HaGadol - Wed Apr 17, 2030, 14 Nisan AM 5790
= Cross · 14 Nisan 3790 (Wed 5 Apr AD 30) · Erev Pesach (Hebcal agrees) - Fri Jun 7, 2030, 6 Sivan AM 5790
= Shavuot · 6 Sivan 3790 (Fri 26 May AD 30, fixed) · Shavuot (from sundown Thu June 6; Hebcal agrees)
What could not be verified
- The guide says “Twenty-three such checks were computed. Zero failed.” It lists only six of them. We verified those six plus John the Baptist’s 177 days; the other sixteen are not identified.
- The guide cites no source for its crescent altitude (7.7°), so we could not reproduce it exactly. We got 7.5° at sunset without refraction.
- Historical terms (Pilate AD 26, Caiaphas AD 18–36, Philip to AD 33/34, Herod 4 BC) are the guide’s figures. We did not re-derive them from primary sources.
- Daniel 9:24–27 is listed in the guide with “note where this teaching ends them”, but the guide never says where. It is left off the line.
- The guide places none of John 1:29–2:1, 4:35, 5:1, 7:2, 10:22, 12:1, 13:1, 18:28, 19:42, 20:1–26, the ascension or Pentecost on its calendar. Every one of those placements here is marked INFERENCE.
- Video lesson RL7.1a “The Water” was worked from a summary, not a full transcript. Its 3,974-years-from-Adam chronology and its Septuagint wording (“fountain of life”) were not checked. Greek counts use the SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT lemmas); other Greek editions can differ slightly.
- Every Hebrew date before the 4th century is fixed-calendar arithmetic (convertdate, cross-checked against Hebcal on 36 dates). The real first-century months were set by sighting and could differ by a day or two.
Method
Hebrew↔Julian via Python convertdate (fixed calendar), round-trip checked and cross-checked against Hebcal on 36 ancient dates. Weekdays come from Julian Day Numbers. Crescent: PyEphem over Jerusalem. Every KJV verse was fetched from bible-api.com (?translation=kjv); the John 7 additions were also compared with getBible’s KJV. Greek word counts: SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT lemmas). Mishnah Sukkah: Sefaria (William Davidson English). Hebrew of Jeremiah and Zechariah: Sefaria (Miqra according to the Masorah). Hebrew dates for John 7 also checked with pyluach. Guide quotations were checked word for word against the guide’s PDF.