On the Dead Sea Scroll’s Biblical calendar, the Day of Atonement on our 28th September, is the most solemn, most holy day of the Biblical calendar – undoubtedly the day on which Jesus Christ, Yahshua our Messiah, was born !

Despite His birth, Joseph and Mary would have kept the Day of Atonement accordingly, and may even have wondered about the importance of the circumstances. Little did they all suspect then as they looked down on the manger, that that Child of God – the picture of innocence, pure as the driven snow, white as wool – would thirty three years later afflict their souls with His brutal, bloody Passover crucifixion:
Born to die for our crimson sins !
Is that why this is such a Solemn Day ?

We can eat but we cannot cook/work on the weekly Sabbath.

Why is the Day of Atonement a High Day Sabbath but is also without any cooking like the weekly Sabbath ?

It is because we have to fast on this day and so afflict our souls (see Leviticus 23:23–32).

Why ?

The second half of the year almost mirrors the first half of the year.

It is interesting to note that the 28th September Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh Biblical month before the Feast of Tabernacles, corresponds to the same day that the Passover lamb is separated on the 30th March and the tenth day of the first Biblical month before the Feast of Unleavened Bread !

That is why we must afflict our souls by fasting on the Day of Atonement:

It is now actually in recognition of the atoning sacrifice that Christ determined to give us when “six days before the Passover” He arrived in Bethany on the 9th Abib (see John 12:1–15). There “where Lazarus was” Christ had supper after sunset starting the 10th Abib.

On a lowly donkey the next day, still the 10th Abib, thousands with palm fronds hailed Christ as “Hosanna” of Israel [Greek hoshia–na, of Hebrew nâ‛ yâsha‛, naw yaw–shah′ = Oh save ( savior )].
“Yahshua” finally entered Jerusalem, walked into the Temple and looked all around, before leaving at sunset (“eventide/even” between two successive days).

i.e. Hailed by thousands at Jerusalem, the Passover Sacrificial Lamb had gladly separated and presented Himself in the Temple:
on the 10th day of Abib ! (see Mark 11:1–11, Exodus 12:3–11)

Christ’s body was hurriedly laid in the tomb at eventide/even/sunset – four days later !

It is also interesting to note that the 50 year Jubilee is announced on the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month before the Feast of Tabernacles (see Leviticus 25:9), corresponding to the same day that the Passover lamb is separated on the tenth day of the first month before the Feast of Unleavened Bread !

Abstaining from work and food on the Day of Atonement is the least we can do in appreciation of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for us !
Every little pang of hunger should remind us of the horrendous ordeal Christ went through for us.
In fact if we don’t show this appreciation for Christ’s sacrifice, His Father says:

“For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” (Leviticus 23:29–30)

This connection between the Day of Atonement and the Passover was recognised at the time of Christ. They had a “custom” of releasing a prisoner at the Passover, in parallel with the instructions of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16: to choose two goats for an atoning sin offering.

One was sacrificed and the other was chased into the wilderness:

Pilate saith unto him,
What is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them,
I find in him no fault at all.
( Pilate spoke the truth ! )
But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover:
will ye therefore that I release unto you
the King of the Jews?
(John 18: 37–39)

Only by taking all the relevant Biblical quotes, into one compatible rationalisation, can we get to the truth !

Work Christ’s gestation BACKWARDS from the Day of Atonement birth on the 28th September, and you get to the 6th January Epiphany conception; and 12 days further back you get to December 25th !

Working another 12 days FORWARDS from the Day of Atonement birth, you get to the Feast of Tabernacle’s Last Great Day !

Strange that Christmas Day is 12 days BEFORE the Epiphany conception 265 day gestation and birth on the Day of Atonement, and then 12 days AFTER that is the Last Great Day – just like the “four and twenty elders” around the Throne of God in Revelations !
Are these the “Twelve Days of Christmas”🎶 around Christ in the womb ?

25th December was also never a part of the Roman festival of Saturnalia.

2+6+5=13

John the Baptist’s gestation was also 265 days and he was born on the 10th Abib – the same day the Lamb of God came down the Mount of Olives on a donkey proclaimed in Greek as “Oh Saviour” (“Hosannah”), with the way being prepared for him with palm fronds – on the birthday of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Him, and the same day the Passover lamb is selected.

i.e the 25th of December started Mary’s follicular phase and Christ was conceived on the 13th day Epiphany on the 6th of January and then born on the Day of Atonement on the 28th September !

12 disciples + Christ = 13

Don’t let pagans steal and demonise our Christmas Biblical “day of gladness” without an in depth investigation first. I also made that same mistake on this journey…..

”Because the Bible is the Inspired Word of God!” And history recorded! History, the Bible? Really?….. then we fail as HISTORIANS and become propagandists distorting the actual past for some kind of agenda in the here and now.!” Who are the WE ‘Historians’ ? Surely the WE won’t agree with you with that statement!

It is well known that the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar was between 17 Sept 28AD and 17 Sept 29AD. That was when John started baptizing. Roughly 6 months into that period has Jesus being baptized, which has been estimated to be in the late summer or early fall months. It was before the first of four Passovers mentioned by John, the last being his death in 33 AD. That makes about three and half years. Roll the clock back and it becomes about the autumn of 2 BC.

Perhaps have another look at the eclipse, as I looked it up at NASA and it seems it is a solar eclipse but on the other side of the world, through Canada. The date is actually 4 BC.
At far as Jesus death is concerned, it was 3 April 33 AD which was a thursday/friday and friday/saturday was a ‘high sabbath’, being a Passover (Nisan 15) coincident with Sabbath. The day split was 8/16 hours of current days to Jewish days

I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. Every Pesakh (Passover) Eve, my (male) friends who were the first-born in their family had to fast from dawn until the Seder. This is an ancient tradition, and is called — yup, you guessed it — the Fast of the Firstborn (Hebrew: תענית בכורות, pronounced Ta’aneet B’chorot).
Jesus, naturally, and some of his disciples were First-Borns, so fasting prior to the Last Supper was not unusual.

But then again, it stirs the hornet nest when it comes to deciding the true time of Jesus’ Last Supper.

Before 1544, Herod’s death is ‘always’ cited as 1B.C. After 1544 his death is cited as 4B.C. No one can explain why the change in this date. But it was probably never contested as no one cared what years Herod died. However, today we can easily and scientifically conclude which date is correct. Any astronomy app clearly shows the the Star of Bethlehem was a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on June 17th 2B.C. If we go forward six months, we now see Jupiter (the King planet) conducting three retrogrades in which it stops moving in one direction and moves in another. We see Jupiter complete its final retrograde on December 25th 2B.C. And it clearly stops over the Jerusalem/Bethlehem region. This then is when the Magi, who had been following Jupiter (a Wondering Star), arrive in Bethlehem. And this timeline helps explain why Matthew said they found the ‘young child’ living in a ‘house’. Scripture tells us that just days later (December 29th), Herod had the infants of Bethlehem murdered. Now fast forward one year to December 29th 1B.C. when our astronomy app clearly shows an eclipse of the moon as cited by Jewish historian Flavus Josephus. Thus, Herod died in excruciating pain on the one year anniversary of his order the kill the children during an eclipse of the moon on December 29th 1B.C.. There … that was easy!

March 23 would be the correct Passover date as Lactantius, On the Manner in which the Persecutors Died, .1 indicated; being the 10th of the Kalends of April or March 23.

In other words, March 23, 30 A.D — not March 23, 34 A.D. — overlaps Nisan 14/15 falling on a Wednesday. I believe this correction to be the most extremely accurate correction that they can make on their computer models (such as the Kaluach software program, for example).

Software programs are only as accurate as the software designer, and if he or she commits flaws in the software programming, the whole calculation becomes flawed at and after some y-factor point.
In Jesus’ ministry, the NASA software designates there were at least two lunar total eclipses:
1) December 20, 28 A.D. between 1:27 to 3:07 pm, Jerusalem time.
2) June 14, 29 A.D. between 9:01 -9:47 pm, Jerusalem time

Oddly enough, the December 20 total eclipse is about 15 months and 3 days prior an ancient testified day for March 23, 30 A.D. being both the 14th of Nisan until sunset, and the day Christ was Crucified.

According to NASA (i.e., their software as it stands at present), there were allegedly no solar total eclipses during any Passover around the time of Jesus’ Crucifixion, and show a closest date as November 24, 29 A.D. from 9:22 am to 12:12 pm.

That is 119 days and 3 hours too early, and had the times been 12:22 to 3:12 pm, on March 23, 30 A.D., this too would have been a perfect alignment with the Gospel accounts and ancient historians (like Thallus in 52 A.D. claiming the same happening at the Cross and affecting Rome also, was a predictable eclipse). But with the Gospels and the Book of Acts, we have a testimony of a joint total eclipse of both the sun and the moon at the same time…the sun being black as sackcloth and the moon looking like it turned to blood.

If NASA would update the software, moving up / advancing the dates of Jerusalem time solar eclipses in the First Century A.D. by 119 days and 3 hours…and adjust lunar eclipses up as well by exactly 15 months and 3 days forward, the NASA software would then match ancient historical accounts regarding the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

However, such an adjustment would also have to be taking into account the total lunar eclipse that occurred on the night Herod allegedly died on some 33 years earlier (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 17.6.4 – “And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon”); but currently dated by historians looking to the same calculations as that now used in the NASA software, and now dated as either March 23 of 4 B.C. (and formerly as March 13, 4 B.C. prior to the NASA Software calculations). What is not told, is that on September 15, 4 B.C., there was another total lunar eclipse at night from 9:22 pm to 12:01 am the next morning. Because the Bible is the inspired Word of GOD, we are to place the primary (more objective / factual) emphasis on the data that matches the Bible, not on requiring the Bible to meet whatever subjective / emotional theories we come up with thousands of years later.

If we move either one forward 15 months and 3 days, we have the option of Herod dying December 18, 03 B.C. or June 26, 3 B.C. If Joseph was told by an angel of GOD that Herod was dead on December 18/19 of 4 B.C. , we would look to the Jewish Calendar for 5 B.C. to see if Joseph had enough time to travel from Egypt in 4-5 days for Channukah.

But for this, we reckon 33-1/2 years from March 23, 30 A.D. to calculate Christ’s birth…adjusting 1 year for the leap from 1 A.D. to 1 B.C, we arrive upon the Fall of 5 B.C.

If Herod dies on December 18, 03 B.C., the comparable data needs to be taken from the Jewish Calendar listing the Calendar date of December 17, 02 B.C. (the margin of its Software error), and December 18 of 3 B.C. would align with Herod’s death. That December 18 of 3 B.C. date would then be ca. Thursday 2 Tevet 3759, 12 days after Hannukah on the Jewish “kaluach” software for the same Western European and US Civilizations calendar.

Phillip Schaff, in his History of the Church, has an excellent synopsis on the period around Jesus’ Birth and the time of the Lukan census, and becomes an aid for us at this point.
He states that in the calculations of Kepler regarding the Bethlehem “star”, Kepler calculated a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 747 Anno Urbis (5 B.C.); and that centuries later, these calculations were moved from June, August, and December of 5 B.C. to May 20, October 27, and November 12 by Professor Ideler in 1826.
Herod more likely died on December 18, 3 B.C.
I know skeptics will scoff, but history recorded needs to be taken at its word and when we cannot align with the past Time after Time after Time, such as an actual New Testament written before 47 – 57 A.D. (bar 2,3 John) and Peter and Paul dying in Rome circa June 29, 57 (in a consul year of Nero), then we fail as HISTORIANS and become propagandists distorting the actual past for some kind of agenda in the here and now.

I appreciate your scholarship and persistence. The frustration of having your work “refuted” by internet sleuths must be incredible.

Correction regarding the birth of Jesus which I said 0 AD. I did not have the chronology in front of me at the time. The birth of Jesus would have been about mid-Sept 1 BC and a 0 A.D. must be used in order to reconcile the events at the time of Christ and for further proof we have in the Encyclopedia Britannica 1954 Edition under the heading “Epiphany” a letter was sent to the pope at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem as follow:

Rome which attests a temporary union of both feasts on January 6 in the holy places. The faithful, it says, met before dawn at Bethlehem to celebrate the Birth
from the Virgin in the cave; but before their hymns and lections were finished they had to hurry off to Jordan, 13 m. the other side of Jerusalem, to celebrate the
Baptism, and by consequence neither commemoration could be kept fully and reverently. The writer therefore begs the pope to look into the archives of the
Jews brought to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem, and to ascertain from them the real date of Christ’s birth. The pope looked in the works of Josephus
and found it to be December 25. The letter’s genuineness has been called in question; but from internal evidence it appears that it could not have been
invented….

Note: It is clear from this account that the Pope did not give the true birth of Christ but the date of Herod’s death. I do not know where one would send the information to be verified as I am not familiar with who does the research but this I believe agree with the Birth of Christ in Mid – Sept 1 A.D. and the Crucifixion in 33 A.D. with the eclipse labelled 0032 Apr 14 which has to be retrograded by 12 to 13 days due to the method of intercalation used in the predictions of the eclipses, and you will find that the crucifixion would have been in April 1st on a Wednesday, agreeing with the scriptures, Jesus being in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights and the resurrection on the first day of the week which was Sunday morning when it was still dark. You will find that the eclipse labelled 0000 Dec 29 is an eclipse that occured 12 days prior again due to the method of intercalation used which was Dec 17 the day before the fast as mentioned by Josephus which would have been the fast of the 10th month and shortly after Herod died having survived the death of Antipater his son by 5 days. So Herod died on December 25 in 1 A.D… since the Julian calendar we are told does not use the 0 A.D. it must be included when piecing the events or the calendar will be shrunk by 1 year, therefore making the events at the time of Christ irreconcilable.