[Daniel 9:25] And thou dost know, and dost consider wisely, from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem till Messiah the Leader is seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks: the broad place hath been built again, and the rampart, even in the distress of the times.
A day of prophetic time is a year in actual time [Ezekiel 4:4-6][Numbers 14:34]. The total number of years from the decree to restore Jerusalem until Our Lord began his ministry is figured like this: 69 weeks x 7 (days in a week) is 483 prophetic days....or 483 years.That decree was issued by King Artaxerxes during the seventh year of his reign: [Ezra 7:8-11] And he cometh in to Jerusalem in the fifth month, that is in the seventh year of the king, for on the first of the month he hath founded the ascent from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he hath come in unto Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him, for Ezra hath prepared his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do, and to teach in Israel statute and judgment. And this is a copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commands of Jehovah, and of His statutes on Israel:
This decree established Jerusalem as capital city (Provincial) in the realm of the king. Xerxes....the father died in December of 465 B.C. and that would have been the ascension year for Artaxerxes. The ascension year did not necessarily have to be a complete year....only that it is counted as the first year. Therefore the seventh year for the king would have been 458 B.C. to sometime during 457 B.C. This can all be verified in "An Encyclopedia of World History" W.L. Langer; Babylonian Chronology, Brown University Press, page 17. The 483 years of Daniel's prophecy thereby would end at 26 A.D. and this was the year Our Lord began his ministry 26/27 A.D.
The prophecy includes another prophetic week making it a total of 70 weeks. It was prophesied that Our Lord would be cut off in the middle of the week....so seven years divided in two would be 3 1/2. Our Lord was born during Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) in the fall so by adding 3 1/2 years to 26 A.D. you come up with the spring of 30 A.D. at Passover.
The time of year was obviously during the fall Festivals for a host reasons that we won't bother with now.
King Herod is the key and his period of reign may be verified by secular history. Our Lord was born in the days of King Herod [Matthew 2:1] and we also know that it was near the time of Herod's death [Matthew 2:13-15].
Herod went Rome during the winter "And thus did this man receive the kingdom, having obtained it on the hundred and eighty fourth Olympiad, when Caius Domitus Calvinus was consul the second time and Caius Asinius Pollio (the first time)". [Josephus, Antiquities, 14:14:5]
Olympiads were four years and were figured from July to July. The 184th Olympiad was July 44 B.C. to July 40 B.C. and Calvinius and Pollio were consuls in the year 714 AUC, which would have been 40 B.C. (AUC means from the year of the founding of Rome...."Handbook of Biblical Chronology").
The calendar years for Consuls were reckoned from January to January and when you combine this data with the July to July length of the Olympiads you can then figure out exactly when this occurred......with in a 6 month margin of error. In addition we are told that Herod's reign in Jerusalem began when the rigor of winter was over....in his third year since he had been made king at Rome [Josephus, Antiquities, 14:15:14]
But.....Herod was unable to take the city of Jerusalem until the summer when Marcus Agrippa and Canninius Gallus were consuls of Rome, on the hundred eighty and fifth Olympiad....in the third month on the solemnity of the Fast. [Josephus, Antiquities, 14:16:2-4]. The 185th Olympiad was from July 40 B.C. to July 36 B.C. and Agrippa and Gallus were consuls in 717 AUC....or the year 37 B.C. The fast of the third month would have been Sivan 23 and Herod completed the conquest of the city in the summer of 37 B.C. When you put all these facts together this is what emerges.....Herod crowned in Rome January/March 40 B.C. and began reigning in Jerusalem a little over 3 1/3 years later (37 B.C.) Herod died having reigned since he had Antigonus put to death.....34 years , but 37 years since he had been declared King by the Romans [Josephus, Antiquities, 17:8:1] Josephus tells us that Antigonus was killed shortly after Herod took Jerusalem, [Antiquities 14:16:4] Herod began his reign in 40 B.C., reigned 37 years.......so, including the first year of his reign.....he would have died in 4 B.C
Our Lord was born in 5 B.C. and began His ministry (30 years of age) [Luke 3:23] during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius [Luke 3:1]. This is confusing to many folks as they do not consider that Tiberius co-reigned with Augustus for two years. The key to this dispute is the Battle of Actium which took place during the 187th Olympiad in the seventh year of the reign of Herod [Antiquities 15:5:1-2]. This Olympiad would have been from July 32 B.C. to July 28 B.C. and Herod's 7th year was 31 B.C. to 30 B.C.
Augustus ruled 44 years from the victory at Actium...the last two....jointly with Tiberius. Thus the co rulership began in 12 A.D. and the 15th year of Tiberius would have been 26/27 A.D.
During the first Passover of His ministry the Jews stated that the temple had been 46 years in the building [John 2:20]. The first Passover would have been 27 A.D. [Josephus, Antiquities 15:11:1] says: "And now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign (18 in Jerusalem...but 21 from his coronation in Rome) undertook a very great work, that is to build of himself the Temple of God". The 18th year of Herod's reign was 20 B.C./19 B.C. which was the first year of the building of the Temple. This means that the 46th year would have been 27 A.D.
Our Lord celebrated three Passovers in scripture [John 2:13][John 6:4] and [John 13:1] so it is assumed that He had a three and one half year ministry, being born during the fall Festivals and Crucified on Passover. The year according to my reckoning would be 30 A.D. and as you can see the Crucifixion on Nisan 14 (Passover) [Leviticus 23:5] would then allow a three day entombment with a Sabbath resurrection on Nisan 17 [Matthew 12:39-40]. .
Therefore the seventh year for the king would have been 458 B.C. to sometime during 457 B.C. This can all be verified in "An Encyclopedia of World History" W.L. Langer; Babylonian Chronology, Brown University Press, page 17. The 483 years of Daniel's prophecy thereby would end at 26 A.D. and this was the year Our Lord began his ministry 26/27 A.D.
Key to Daniel's prophecy is Christ presenting Himself to Israel as its King. This did not occur in AD 26/27, but 32/33 as documented by Luke
Luke 19: 41 ¶ And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Based upon other archaeological finds such as the Elephantine papyri, and other documents, the date of the decree is March 16, 445 BC. Provided you do the math correctly (btw, a prophetic year is 360 days) brings one to AD32
* 360 days for a prophetic year
* 365.242199 days per standard year
* 7*7+62*7 prophetic years from the order to restore Jerusalem
* Artaxerxes gave the order to restore Jerusalem to Nehemiah in 444 BC
* There is no 0 BC year, 1 BC jumps to 1 AD in 1 year of time.
Therefore, the messiah shows up, as per Daniel 9 in:
-444+1+(7*7+62*7)*(360 prophetic days/yr)/(365.242199 day/yr) = 33 AD
The accounts line up in many ways with Jesus dying in 33 AD, before the Passover feast's 1st day (or "high day", which was also on the Sabbath), and on the same day as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered that year. There is no other year where the accounts all align.