Since 1 Nisan A.D. 30 was a Friday, the tenth of Nisan was a Sunday, and this was the day the passover lamb was selected. This was the day of the triumphal entry, nowadays known as Palm Sunday.
Jesus followed the law of Moses and held the Passover meal after sunset on the 14th of Nisan, which would make it Wednesday night. The official sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the release of the scapegoat was not going to happen until afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, or about 20 hours later.
We are now at A.D. 30.
Spikenard is still available ( and still expensive)
The most important week in history is about to begin.
This raises one question:
Passover A.D. 30 was the most important in world history, so let us find out the exact date. To find out we must know about
The Jewish calendar is luni-solar. Leap months occur in year 3,6,8,11,14,17 and 19 to make Passover occur early spring. The keys on a piano can help memorize which year has a leap month. (The Muslim calendar on the other hand is strictly lunar, so the month of Ramadan occur 11 days earlier every year, making 103 Muslim years every century).
We must synchronize time with a total solar eclipse, which gives the perfect time for starting a Jewish new month. There was a perfect Solar eclipse in 2006.
There is a second source for solar eclipse calculations
The eclipse had its maximum 11 37 A.M. Nov 24 A.D. 29 over Jerusalem (solar time)
But there is one more twist in the calculations:
Now back to the biblical narrative:
Prophecy from Psalm 118:25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord, and from Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
The sign was not that he rode on a donkey. Lots of people rode on donkeys. No the sign was that the donkey colt was unbroken, and that was the sign.
Isaiah 53:1-5 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Is 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
King James is more direct, John 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
Sixty years ago I worked as a plate scrubber and errand boy in a Swedish bakery. In one corner of the bakery stood the oven, a giant cement and stone contraption weighing at least 50 tons. It was run on electricity, turning on every night at 10 P.M. and turning itself off at 5 A.M. First in the morning we baked the Danishes and other good stuff that required the highest heat, and as the day wore on and the oven cooled off, other breads were baked in the order of temperature need. It took some planning, but the price difference between night rates and day rates made it all worthwhile.
This brings me to a truly smart electricity meter.
It would charge the customer at the current cost of generation + transmission cost + utility profit, displaying the current cost at any given time of the day.
The customer would have the right to sell back electricity to the net at the current cost of generation – transmission cost – utility profit.
Knowing the current true price of energy the customer can then delay turning on the clothes dryer until the price goes below an acceptable level. He could take a look at the current price and decide to turn off the air conditioner rather than pay $1.20 per KW, or she could decide: It is worth it.
By making the user rather than the power company decide how and when electricity is used and produced this will bring immense benefits:
Many users will decide to buy a backup generator with battery, charge the battery when the price is low, and discharge the battery when the price is high. If there is excess battery capacity, he can even sell back the excess at the inflated price. And if the price is high enough it is cheaper to use the generator.
This will have immense benefits on the grid, lessening peak demand and increasing the off peak use.
And best of all, should the grid fail, there will be enough generating capacity to run the refrigerators and essential stuff until power is restored.
What prevents this from being realized?
Politicians and the power companies desire to maintain total control over how the net is used. Political regulators hate to give decision making power back to the people.
A map of Jerusalem today.
An areal view with the temple mound . The pool of Siloam is between point A and B
Here the formerly blind man says “I am.” The context determines if it refers to the eternal “I am” or just means ” I am”.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.”
In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
He had three ships and left from Spain; He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
He sailed by night; he sailed by day; He used the stars to find his way.
A compass also helped him know, How to find the way to go.
Ninety sailors were on board; Some men worked while others snored.
Then the workers went to sleep; And others watched the ocean deep.
Day after day they looked for land; They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.
October 12 their dream came true, You never saw a happier crew!
“Indians! Indians!” Columbus cried; His heart was filled with joyful pride.
But “India” the land was not; It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.
The Arakawa natives were very nice; They gave the sailors food and spice.
Columbus sailed on to find some gold, To bring back home, as he’d been told.
He made the trip again and again, Trading gold to bring to Spain.
The first American? No, not quite. But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.
The first American? No, not quite. Besides the aborigines that came over from Siberia, crossing the Bering’s Strait the Vikings were there before. It was the Medieval warming period, and Iceland had been colonized, mostly by the Irish and Scottish, but around 900 A.D. the Vikings took over, set up farming on Iceland and even Greenland. They navigated as far north as Ruin Island, near the 80th latitude, went down on the North American side and setting up a settlement on what is now Newfoundland.
The settlement has been excavated but before excavation it looked like this:
It has been partially reconstructed:
There are many other signs of Viking activity in North America, mostly from Rune-stones. Some are authentic, but there are also frauds, so caution is of essence to validate them. But one thing is of particular interest, a map:
The map shows the world from the Viking perspective. It clearly outlines Vineland. Commerce was good, and the Vikings even exported Perigrene Falcons to the Arab Sheiks for their famous falconry.
The climate changed again, and around 1250 the Greenland settlement was abandoned, a glacier started cover what once was “gaarden under sanden”
After the little ice age the inland ice is again retreating and excavations verify the farm really existed and produced cheese from cows.
Columbus probably knew about this map, and concluded it would be a better way to get to India. After being rebuked in his home-town Genoa he went to Spain to get financing for his endeavor, and the rest is history.
He was successful beyond all expectations, and yet, he didn’t know where he was going when he started, didn’t know where he was when he got there, didn’t know where he had been when he returned. And he got someone else to pay for the
whole thing!”
The verses 7:53 to 8:11 are not in the earliest manuscripts, but have been added later, maybe as late as around 1100 A.D. The stylistic differences hint at not being written by the apostle John. They did however exist as a separate document from the first century, and were added to complete Jesus dialogue at the feast of Tabernacles. The verses could have been placed elsewhere, since they break up Jesus dialogue at the Temple. However, they were at some time accepted as inspired and are included in most manuscripts (Textus Receptus).
“Go and sin no more”, Jesus last words to the woman, after not condemning her for her past but looking to the future.
Technically it was Jesus’ half brothers, since Jesus was adopted by Joseph.
From Leviticus 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. It was an absolute command, and had to be performed on the eighth day, even if that was a Sabbath.
Five thousand men, not counting women and children.
Twelve baskets left over after all were satisfied!
The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) is about 8 miles wide at its widest point.
“I am, not fear ye”
Some comments on “eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.” Jesus explained that the Word was his flesh, but he didn’t explain what the blood meant. The disciples knew from Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Jesus was clearly pointing to the future complete atonement on the Cross, but this was before the Cross, so how were they to get it? It did not make sense until fifty days after his death, burial and resurrection when the Holy Spirit came “like a mighty wind”.
Then it became clear that His flesh symbolizes the word of God and his blood symbolizes His sacrifice on the cross and saving us from all our sin.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 