@poopsiecakes:
Conventional religions, including JW's, teach that Jesus was 30 when he was baptized and began his ministry which lasted 3 years. The year of Jesus' death is said to be AD 33, which would make him 33. And that's what I've always understood...
Even the WT of April 2011 says that according to 'modern calculations' the year of his birth is thought to be 2 BC and wikipedia says possibly as far back as 7 BC....
Anyone care to weigh in?
I suppose it's not a terribly interesting subject, but I find it really weird that once again you can't prove something as simple as Jesus' age at any point of his life anywhere in the bible, let alone anywhere else.
Jesus died on Nisan 14, 3793 A.M. (Thursday/Friday), April 4, 33 AD, Julian, April 2, 33 AD, Gregorian, about the ninth hour" (Mark 15:34-37), or 3:00 pm. We know this because the Bible indicates that the following day (Nisan 15, 3793 A.M. (Friday/Saturday), April 5, 33 AD, Julian, April 3, 33 AD) was considered by the Jews to be a "high" day (John 19:31, KJV), a "great" day (John 19:31, NWT), since it was a double sabbath, which was why the day before the festival of unfermented cakes (Matthew 26:17; Luke 22:7) was called "Preparation" (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54).
It is possible to determine the calculated date or period when Jesus was born by using events in the Bible, one of these events being that Jesus’ second cousin, John the Baptist, the son of Jesus’ mother, Mary's first cousin, Elizabeth (by Zachariah), was born six months earlier than was Jesus (Luke 1:26).
It is a historical fact that Augustus Caesar died the 19th day of August, 14 AD, Julian, or August 17, Gregorian, on which day his stepson and son-in-law, Tiberius Caesar, succeeded him as the Roman emperor. Luke tells us at Luke 3:1, 2, that it was during the 15th year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar that John began his baptism work at the age of 30.
This 15th year came to an end on August 16, 29 AD, Gregorian calendar, and Luke went on to add as details that Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, which he was from 27 AD through 37 AD and that Herod Antipas, Herod’s son, was district ruler of Galilee until the year 40 AD.
Herod’s brother, Philip, was the district ruler of the countries of Ituraea and Trachonitis until 34 AD, and Lysanias was district ruler of Abilene, in the days of chief priest Annas and of Caiaphas, which spanned the years 18 AD through 36 AD.
So if John’s cousin, Jesus, is six months younger than he, and Jesus also began his ministry at the age of 30 (Luke 3:23), then it would have to have been in April of 2 BC when John the Baptist was born since he had been born six months earlier than was Jesus, meaning that Jesus was born some six months later in October of 2 BC.
The eighth division of Abijah to which division John's father Zechariah belonged as a Levite priest (1 Chronicles 24:10; Luke 1:5) served as priests during the Jewish month of Tammuz (June/July), so if John was conceived by his mother Elizabeth in the latter part of June, and John was six months older than was his cousin, Jesus (Luke 1:36), then we know that John was born in the Jewish month of Abib (Nisan) (March/April) 3759 A.M. (2 BC, Julian/Gregorian), and then, adding six months, that Jesus must have been born in the Jewish month of Ethanim (Tishri) 3759 A.M. (September/October) (2 BC, Julian/Gregorian), for Jesus would have had to have been conceived by Mary during the Jewish month of Tebeth 3759 A.M. (December/January, 2 BC, Julian/Gregorian) since Elizabeth had conceived some six months earlier during the Jewish month of Tammuz 3758 A.M. (June/ July, 3 BC).
So from this scriptural evidence I cite here, we are then able to deduce that John was born during the spring in the Jewish month of Abib (Nisan), 2 BC, and so, knowing John was six months older than Jesus, by moving six months forward we can also deduce that Jesus was born during the fall in the Jewish month of Ethanim (Tishri-September/October) in that same year, 2 BC. The difference in the number of years between the year of Jesus' birth, 3759 A.M. (2 BC), and the year when his ministry began, 3789 A.M. (29 AD), is 30 years. The following are the dates of the four (4) passovers that Jesus celebrated during his 3-1/2 year ministry:
First passover [John 2:13]
Nisan 14, 3790 A.M. (Nisan 14, 30 AD [Tuesday, Wednesday])
April 5, 30 AD, Julian
April 3, 30 AD, Gregorian
Second passover [John 5:1]
Nisan 14, 3791 A.M. (Nisan 14, 31 AD [Tuesday/Wednesday])
April 25, 31 AD, Julian
April 23, 31 AD, Gregorian
Third passover [John 6:4]
Nisan 14, 3792 A.M. (Nisan 14, 32 AD [Sunday/Monday])
April 14, 32 AD, Julian
April 12, 32 AD, Gregorian
Fourth passover [John 13:1] and date of Jesus’ death
Nisan 14, 3793 A.M. (Nisan 14, 33 AD [Thursday/Friday])
April 3, 33 AD, Julian
April 1, 33 AD, Gregorian
@djeggnog
