When Did Jesus Die?

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When was Jesus born?

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[fontagnus]

Matt, when you posted your "When was Jesus born?" video last Christmas, I left a comment wishing for a "When did Jesus die?" sequel. And now you give me this on my birthday! Thanks a lot!
Dare I make another wish, this time for next year’s Easter? I would love to see you tackle the complicated topic of Julian and Gregorian computus (calculation of Easter date). It’s the kind of dry mathematical subject which could gain a lot from visual explanations, and I’m sure you could be up to the task. Take your time, you have one whole year to put it together...

[LawtonDigital]

I once had the good fortune to witness an elderly group gather to collect their memories of the first founders of the American Youth Foundation. The original founders had all died decades ago, and I found the written history building process fascinating and the results very much like what we see in the Old and New Testaments: including common threads as well as minor inconsistencies in detail and timelines.

[TheStudent]

Matt, a quick note about your observation that releasing Barabbas after the seder would not make sense from the Jewish perspective - Pontius Pilate as a governor had a reputation for offending the religious and cultural sensitivities of Jews numerous times throughout his tenure. If the Romans were to engage in a custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover, it could plausibly be a half-hearted political concession that would not necessarily align with the actual needs of a Jewish person or make sense from a Jewish perspective, which the Romans often overlooked or misunderstood.

[crazydaisy]

There were 2 sabbaths that week the Passover feast day (all feast days are referred to as sabbaths) and so 2 preparation days. The only way that you can fit 3 days and 3 nights between His death and resurrection is if He died on Wednesday and rose on Saturday evening. Remember that when the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week (while it was still dark) He had already gone.

[Snommelp]

I confess, when you got to the section of "assuming John's timeline is accurate, these would be the possible dates, " I hoped you would continue with "assuming the timeline of the synoptics is accurate instead, then..." Even if the conclusion was "no time between 30-33 CE fits."

[DallasMay]

There is a way to know whether or not it was cloudy in Jerusalem. The gospel writers reference that a Blood moon rose on the day Jesus died. In fact, a blood moon rose over Jerusalem on 3 Aprill 33 CE. This is a verifiable astronomical fact. Astrology was very popular in the Roman empire at the time and the Gospel writers were likely into astrology as well, referencing astrology numerous times. Jesus himself is recorded as referencing astrology in his teachings a few times in the gospels. So it's very likely that the early Christian writers would have taken note of the blood moon rising event. This probably greatly contributed to to veneration of Jesus and the rapid rise of the sect in Jerusalem ("If the friggin' moon morns his death, what else should we know about the guy!")

I personally think the blood moon over Jerusalem (which again, is a verifiable astrological fact) probably dates the death of Jesus and was highly likely to have contributed to his veneration (if taking a purely secular academic view on the matter).

[marconatale]

If we consider the year 14CE as the 1st year of reign of Emperor Tiberius that would place the year 28CE as its 15th. If Jesus started his preaching somewhere during the year 28CE we have also to rember that according to the Gospel of John are mentioned three separate Pesach, being obviously the 3rd the one where his death took place. So the date of 30CE for his death it seems the more plausible. Thank you for your great and unbiased work!

[rbrock]

Hi Matt,
Good video, Matt! This is a subject which has fascinated me for quite some time. We both use similar methodologies, but I have come to a different conclusion. Here are some points I used in my estimation:

Nissan 10 was the day when the Pesach lamb was chosen and brought into the house. Theologically, this corresponds to Palm Sunday . The lamb had to be kept in the house with the family until Nissan 14 when it was to be killed. If Jesus was "the Lamb of God", then he had to be killed on Pesach, Nissan 14.

The Passover meal was held after sundown on what we would call the 13th, but it was actually Nissan 14 by Jewish reckoning. After the Seder, Jesus was arrested, interrogated, and abused throughout the night. At dawn, the chief priests, elders, and lawyers tried him (illegally), and then sent him to Pilate. Jesus was subsequently executed later that day. Thus, Jesus was killed on Nissan 14, just as all passover lambs had been killed, before him.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread actually started on Passover (Nissan 14) (Exodus 12:18), but was officially observed the next day (on Nissan 15), which was a special sabbath (Leviticus 23:6). Therefore, Jesus' execution on the first day of Unleavened Bread (Nissan 14), was not a problem for the Jewish officials, but because the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread (Nissan 15) was a special sabbath, they were anxious to have Jesus' body taken down and entombed before sundown (which started Nissan 15). Thus Jesus was executed and buried on Passover day (Nissan 14), before sundown.

In Matthew 12:40, Jesus prophesied about himself, saying that "...as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the son of man (Jesus) will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Many try to find ways around that inconvenient statement, but if it is taken literally, at face value, then three days and three nights are hard numbers. I, therefore, count it this way: Nissan 14 (day 1), Nissan 15 (night 1 and day 2), Nissan 16 (night 2 and day 3), and Nissan 17 (night 3). When the women got to the tomb "very early" on the morning of Nissan 17, they found that Jesus had already risen, after having spent the prophesied 3 days and three nights in the tomb.

Luke 24:1 tells us that the women arrived at the tomb very early on "the first day of the week" (some Bible versions say "Sunday morning"), so to determine what day of the week Jesus was killed, one only needs to count backwards from Sunday. Assuming that Nissan 17 was a Sunday, and that Jesus had spent three day and three nights in the grave, the day of his execution (Nissan 14) would have had to be a Thursday. In any case, IF the women found the tomb empty on Sunday morning, Jesus could NOT have been cruxified on the previous Friday. First, because three literal days and nights had not been fulfilled, and Secondly, (and maybe more importantly), because Friday would have been the special sabbath for Unleavened Bread and the Jews would not have permitted it.

Luke 23:54 is often used as proof for a Friday cruxifiction, because is says it was "the day before the sabbath". That could mean Friday, but it could just as easily mean Thursday (Nissan 14) which was the day of preparation for the special sabbath (on Nissan 15) to celebrate Unleavened Bread.

Lastly, I will concede that Jesus being a literal "three days and three nights in the earth" is slightly problematic. The "nights" are no problem. If Jesus was cruxified on Thursday, as I assert, he was clearly in the grave for three entire nights. That's easy to see. But the "days" are a little less clear. A Thursday cruxifiction would mean burial for only a short portion of the day on Thursday, Nissan 14, followed by two full days on Nissan 15 and 16, and a possible portion of Sunday, Nissan 17. I have heard it said that the ancient Jews reckoned any portion of a day to be a full day. Using that explanation, I interpret the short portion of Nissan 14 as day 1, Nissan 15 as day two, and Nissan 16 as day 3, totaling three full days. I do not count Nissan 17 (Sunday) as a day in the tomb at all. The fact that the women found the tomb empty early on Sunday morning (Nissan 17), does not mean that Jesus spent any portion of that day in the tomb. In fact, it is likely that Jesus rose from the dead just before dawn on that day, thus making Sunday non-applicable as "a day" in the tomb. This is my interpretation.

I'm sure that there are many other arguments or approaches to determine the day of Jesus' death, (and resurrection), but the facts above make the best sense to me.

[professorbugbear]

I adore how you can tackle such charged topics with respect and intellectual integrity.

[TheTexasHorseman]

Hey Matt. Thanks for the video. Which bible/translation or documents did you use for the basis of this research? I am particularly interested in the wording of the scriptures used to establish the timelines. Thanks as always for your work.

[sbunny]

I seem to remember being taught that Jesus was 33 years old when he died. I don't remember where that piece of information came from. But if he was born in 4 BCE, and lived 33 years, then he died in 30 CE.

[wagnersilvalds]

You may also consider for calculations, the verses that mentions Yeshua's age, the period of his ministry, etc to try to get closer. For this, it will be necessary to use the chart of his birth too. Great video and well explained. Thanks.

[sentientflower]

I would suggest looking through historical records for the very first clearance sale on Easter candy.

[definitelynotvj]

I'm so glad this got uploaded! I was wondering about this whole week long

[todayilearnedabout]

You do such an amazing job of breaking done information without getting to bogged down.

[shachardl]

Another thing to consider is rather or not there was the use of a leap year (when there was an additional month added before Nisan, every 4 years- today we would call it "Adar ב /Adar B/Adar 2", which is added after the month Hadar): If it was actually a custom at that time and if that specific year was a leap year. If so, all calculations would move one month forward.

[slopehoke]

Well, if there’s one thing this comment section (and the comment section on “When was Jesus Born?”) demonstrates, it’s that Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and presumably everyone else all have those among them that will stubbornly insist their exact view is correct, no matter what the mainstream historical consensus may be.

With that said, I hope you all have a good Passover/Good Friday, for those who celebrate them, and for those who don’t…well, it’s Friday, so enjoy your weekend.

[sibral]

There is one more reference.
1 Corinthians 11 [in a context of describing Jesus as the Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7)] the apostle Paul points out in verse 11:22 that "on the night he was betrayed", Jesus was resignifying the Seder foods. And then guides to commemorate the Seder not only with reference to the freedom of Egypt, but also in memory of Jesus.

[PedroCarrillo-wmtn]

Good question!!! One thing for sure is that he was NOT born on Dec. 25 under a Christmas tree. Dec. 25 or Christmas was a pagan holiday to celebrate the birth of the sun as pagans referred to this holiday I know it's ironic that Christians are probably the first to bring out Christmas decorations way before this holiday comes around!!!

[severalgeollosscreaming]

One thing I always remember is, the Romans and Pontius Pilate, didn't get themselves involved with Jewish religion as much as possible.

Pontius may or may not have liked Jesus, but he couldn't put him to death.

The reason jesus was put to death was outcry from the pharisees and saddeusces ( I butchered both those spellings). Two Jewish groups Jesus was against. ( yes it was ordered by Pontius but under assumed under threat or heavily upholstered by these two groups)

The general assumption that Pontius disliked jesus enough to kill him, seems to be, atleast in the west, mostly due to his name in the bible being prominent + comedy such as Family Guy mocking him.