WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED ON APRIL 3 AD 33? (page 2)

badboy....I just found this website on the "April 3, AD 33" theory:

http://www.romaband.com/james/

Note especially this statement:

After examining all the years within the range in this fashion, it was proven that Jesus could have been crucified either on April 7, 30 A.D. or on April 3, 33 A.D. – and on NO other possible days.
2) Then the computer was consulted again, and this time discovered that around 2 p.m. on April 3, 33 A.D., precisely at the moment that Jesus would have expired, a substantial eclipse of the moon commenced, which was still visible in Jerusalem after sundown!

LOL!! This statement is pretty funny because the eclipse was indeed "still visible in Jerusalem after sundown," the problem was that sundown occurred at 5:57pm and the moonrise occurred only at 5:58pm, and the moon was not fully above the horizon until 6:00pm!!! And the "blood-red" part of the eclipse was over at 6:11pm! So the people in Jerusalem would have only seen a small sliver of the umbra for about ten minutes immediately after sunset, with the moon just barely over the horizon. Only the umbra would have had the reddish appearance, the rest would have had only a yellow-orange apperance. Hence, the stipulation by enthusiasts of this theory that a sandstorm would have earlier occurred that would have intensified the colors. Without this stipulated sandstorm, there really would not have been a reddish-blood moon to observe...

the Gospel does say the moon went blood red.

Actually, no, it does not say this in the gospels. They say instead that the sun became darkened. The claim is instead based on the citation of Joel 3:1-5 in Acts 2:20. In fact, the context does not identify the "Day of the Lord" with the date of Jesus' crucifixion. The OT language pertaining to this "Day" is instead assigned to the future parousia or "Day of Judgment" in the NT, cf. Luke 21:25-27: "There will be signs in the moon and stars ... then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory". Compare Mark 13:24: "In those days, after that time of tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will lose its brightness". This pertains to "sign" of destruction of Jerusalem (cf. Mark 13:2, Luke 21:6), and/or the future parousia and end of the age (cf. Matthew 24:1-3), not the crucifixion itself. See also Revelation 6:12-13, which also posits these events as occurring in the future unsealing of the sixth seal. That Acts also has such a conception can be found in the citation itself, in which the pouring out of the spirit and the giving of prophecy (2:16-17) precedes the portents in heaven (2:18-20); the pouring out of the spirit is interpreted by the author as the event on Pentacost (2:1-13), so the heavenly portents would be construed as still in the future.

Nevertheless, it is true that the Passion narrative does employ the language of Amos 8:9 and Joel 2:1-2, 10 to characterize the crucifixion; this is covered in detail in JD Crossan's The Cross Gospel, pp. 198-120. This is part of an early Christian exegetical tradition that viewed the Passion as fulfilling these OT prophecies about the "Day of the Lord". The synoptic apocalypse in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as Revelation, interprets these texts in a different way and views their fulfillment as still future. The exegetical tradition is also attested by Irenaeus and Tertullian:

"Those, moreover, who said, 'In that say, saith the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon and there shall be darkness over the earth in the clear day, and I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,' plainly announced that obscuration of the sun which at the time of his crucifixion took place from the sixth hour onwards, and after this event, those days which were their festivals according to the Law, and their songs, should be changed into grief and lamentation when they were handed over to the Gentiles" (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 4.33.12).

"For that which happened at his passion, that mid-day grew dark, the prophet Amos announces saying, 'And it shall be,' he says, 'in that day, saith the Lord, the sun shall set at mid-day, and the day of light shall grow dark over the land, and I will convert your festive days into grief, and all your canticles into lamentation' " (Tertullian, Answer to the Jews, 10).

Note however the reference to the moon being turned to blood is conspicuously absent in both Irenaeus, Tertullian, and the passion narratives in the NT. This element in the text in Joel was not utilized in the exegetical tradition about the crucifixion. So there really isn't any claim in the NT that states that a lunar eclipse occurred on the day of the crucifixion.

BTW, there is also another calendrical issue. It has been claimed that the lunar eclipse occurred on Nisan 14, the day of Jesus' crucifixion. In fact, this eclipse did occur on Nisan 14, but it was not visible in Jerusalem on that day; moonrise did not occur until after sundown, i.e. after Nisan 15 had begun. Note too that Jesus' body was removed from the cross and buried BEFORE sundown in the synoptic tradition (e.g. "the sabbath was imminent", Luke 23:56), so the eclipse could not have been been visible in Jerusalem until Jesus was already taken down from the cross and buried...i.e. after the whole show was over.

WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED ON APRIL 3 AD 33?

TheListener

Leolaia

Leolaia

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