Most scholarship, I believe, puts the stoning of Stephen in 34 or 35 AD. Is there reason within the Scriptures to substantiate this claim? Yes, I believe there is! However, such substantiation comes from prophecy in both Old and New Testaments, but the understanding of these very prophecies is clouded by the interpretation of most scholarship, which puts the fulfillment of them at the second coming of Jesus.
I have written similar posts which had to do with Stephen’s death back in November of 2009. However, I think I should be clearer on this matter in order to have a better understanding of the timeline of early Acts with a particular interest in the placement of the High Priests for Stephen’s death, Paul’s persecution of the Jewish believers in Jesus in Acts 9:1, and when the “peace” occurred in Acts 9:31.
The Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9 was supposed to offer the believer the identity of the Messiah by showing the exact time in which he would appear. The 70 Weeks Prophecy begins with the first sacrifice offered on the rebuilt altar on the Temple mount when Joshua, the High Priest, and Zerubbabel returned from the captivity. The Jews began to make daily offerings to God from the first day of the seventh month upon their return from captivity (Ezra 3:6). This is a very important date, as it represents the first time in decades that worship of the God of Israel was offered from the Temple mount, and it represents the “firstfruits” of the decree of the emperor, which I believe is implied in the prophecy. So, the date of the decree itself is not important, but date of the firstfruits of that decree is the important part of the prophecy in terms of when it begins. The Messiah was to come at the beginning of the 70th week or 483 years after the first sacrifice was offered by the returning captives.
No matter which year one chooses to begin the 70 Weeks Prophecy, the 484th year must begin in the fall and on the Feast of Trumpets. I submit that from Luke 4:16 and up to Luke 6:49 Luke shows Jesus beginning his ministry on the Feast of Trumpets (Luke 4:16) and each Sabbath mentioned thereafter is either an annual Holy Day or a seventh day Sabbath. The odd “second Sabbath after the first” in Luke 6:1 is the seventh day Sabbath which occurred in that year back to back with the annual Day of Atonement, a fast day, which is why the Apostles were hungry and began to take some grain from the fields on the Sabbath day, rubbing it in their hands and eating the kernels.
Anyway, long-story-short, 3 ½ years later Jesus was crucified, and the 70 Weeks prophecy foretold the Messiah would be ‘cut’ (offered for the covenant) in the midst or the middle of the prophetic week (Daniel 9:26-27). The 70th week comprises 7 years, 3 ½ of which represented Jesus public ministry culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection. Notice in Luke 10:18 that Jesus said he beheld Satan like lightning fall from heaven. This is shown in Revelation 12:7-10 where Michael/Jesus makes war with Satan. Now I am not saying Jesus is an angelic being, but I am saying Michel is Jesus—the Angel of the LORD who is God in the Old Testament. Anyway, Jesus with his disciples were waging spiritual warfare against Satan’s kingdom (cf. Luke 10:17). The angels in Revelation 12 represent the messengers of Jesus and Satan respectively. In the Gospels they are Jesus’ disciples waging war against Satan or the Pharisees and high priests who fought against Jesus and his disciples. The woman (the Jewish believers) had a place of safety for 1260 days (Revelation 12:6). This is the first part of the 70th prophetic week and represents Jesus care for his disciples—they were safe, and he lost no one.
In the second part of the week the disciples were also safe according to Revelation 12:14. The believers were spiritually nourished for a time (1) + times (2) and half a time (1/2) or 3 ½ years. Daniel refers to this time as the 1290 days.
Formerly, I had believed the 1290 days began on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, which if it did, the days would have culminated on the Day of Atonement in 34 AD. However, had they done this, it would have indicated national repentance, which didn’t occur, and the proof of this is Stephen’s death, which occurred on that day. Thus, the 1260 days ended in blood (the crucifixion), but the 1290 days were intended to end in repentance, but instead Stephen was stoned. Therefore the fulfillment of the 1290 days were delayed. There is a gap between the 1260 days and the 1290 days of nearly 40 years due to unbelief, and is typified by Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for 40 year due to their unbelief. The 1290 days begin when the Roman general, Cestius, surrounded Jerusalem with his armies (cf. Luke 21:20), tore down the northern wall of Jerusalem, but for no good reason retreated, allowing Jesus’ disciples to flee (Luke 21:21). They end, when Titus, the Roman general and son of the Emperor, surrounded Jerusalem with his armies, broke down the northern wall (that was repaired) and encamped inside the walls of Jerusalem. Thus the city fell.[1]
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[1] See my study, The Seventy Weeks Prophecy and the 1290 Days, which details this.
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105 responses to “When Was Stephen Stoned?”
Hi. Just came across this post as I researched for the time period of Stephen’s stoning event. I am not a scholar or a debater. I do however take hold of Paul’s exhortation to “listen, analyze n take the best”. I do agree on your dates, is, 34ac, 457bc, etc… I do however would welcome your take on these questions. What’s so grand about the 70 weeks prophecy n are they part of a longer time prophecy? What’s their relationship of Daniel 9 to Daniel 8? Why did God ” determined” 70 weeks or 490 years upon Israel? Thank you in advance for your input. God bless.
Greetings Ahmed, and thank you for reading my blog, and for your comment / questions. I hope I am able to offer you answers that are both clear and satisfactory. But, perhaps I should say that neither am I a scholar, but I love to debate–perhaps to a fault. I need to be careful about that, and you need to be aware of that weakness of mine, which I sometimes use in my eagerness to get my point across.
Many scholars believe the 70 Weeks Prophecy is still to be fulfilled. That is, 69 weeks have already taken place and ended in the crucifixion, but the final week (7 years of the 490 years) has yet to take place. So, in their opinion it will occur sometime in our future. I do not hold this point of view.
“What’s so grand about the 70 weeks prophecy…?” The Jews had broken their covenant with the Lord, as did their brethren in the Kingdom of Israel (the northern 10 tribes). The only reason (in my opinion) God didn’t completely divorce them as he did the northern 10 tribes, was due to his promise to David, that the Messiah would arise from him. Therefore, the “grandness” of the 70 Weeks Prophecy is that it points to the coming of the Messiah–the Savior of Israel and the world. It also pointed to the ending of the Old Covenant and the initiation of the New Covenant. The actual and official end of the Old Covenant didn’t occur until cir. 40 years after Jesus’ ministry, but he appeared in the end of the age–i.e. the age of the Old Covenant.
I believe the final week of the 70 Weeks Prophecy pointed to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, his crucifixion and has something to do with the abomination that brought desolation upon Jerusalem and the Temple. In Daniel 12 he seems to point to three sets of days: 1260 days, 1290 days and 1335 days. I have blog studies on all three of these periods of time. The 1260 days (Daniel 12:7 compare with Revelation 12:6) point to Jesus’ crucifixion. There are exactly 1260 days between the Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 27 AD, and his crucifixion on the Passover of 31 AD. I believe Jesus made the statement of the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:38-40) on the Last Great Day, 27 AD, thus predicting the time of his death in 31 AD. The 1335 days begin at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in Luke 4:16-21, which I believe occurred on the Feast of Trumpets, 27 AD, (the first day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar) and ended on Pentecost, 31 AD. Note that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus at the beginning of theses days and the Spirit of the Lord was upon his disciples at the conclusion of these days.
The 1290 days begin on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the 18th of Nisan (the first month in the Jewish calendar) and ends with the stoning of Stephen on the Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month in the Jewish calendar, 34 AD. All three periods of time begin and end at different points within the 70th week of the 70 Weeks Prophecy, and they all point to something very important in the life of Jesus or the life of the church immediately following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
“What’s the relationship of Daniel 9 to Daniel 8?” They both point to the end of the age or the end of the Old Covenant. The 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 are literally 2300 evening and morning (sacrifices), and probably indicate only 1150 actual 24-hour days. I believe they also should begin and end on important days in the Jewish Calendar, but I have failed to prove this in mys studies, thus far. I haven’t studied this is years, and don’t plan to do so in the near future, but I cannot help but believe these days should be like the days of Daniel 12, and all fall within the limits of the 70 Weeks Prophecy. At least this is what I believe, but, as I said, I haven’t completely proved my theory.
“Why did God **determine** 70 weeks or 490 years upon Israel?” Daniel 9 begins with Daniel’s prayer that God would fulfill his promise to bring back the Jews from Babylon to their homeland. The Lord answered Daniel’s prayer, but told him it was only a temporary matter. They had broken their covenant with him and they deserve nothing better than what God had determined to do the the northern 10 tribes. The only reason the Jews were brought back to their homeland was so God could keep his promise to David. Therefore, after that promise was fulfilled, the Jews would be scattered into the nations, just as the northern 10 tribes were, unless the repented during the trial period of the Messiah. They didn’t repent, so judgment occurred.
I hope this is clear and satisfies your questions. If you have anything more or if I haven’t answered to your satisfaction, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll do the best I can to make myself clear to you and point you to what I believe is true. Lord bless you, Ahmed, in your study of the word of God.
Hi Eddie
Your articles are always interesting. I believe the stoning of Stephen ending the 70 Weeks of Years spoken of in Daniel 9. If you will send me your email address I will send you my conclusions on the Mt. Olivet Discourse and the visions of Daniel rolled into one. We may not agree on it all but I think we will find some common ground.
God Bless Your Studies and All Who Seek a More Complete Understanding
Your Friend in Jesus
Wayne
Greetings Wayne and thank you for offering me a copy of your studies on this subject. I would, indeed, like to read what you think about this important subject and how you arrived at your conclusions. Who knows what I will do. I have been recently challenged with the idea that these weeks end in 70 AD. I’m not certain how the person figured that or if he just accepted the Jewish point of view. Nevertheless, he offers good reasons why that should be. I must consider his idea, but I need to find out just how he arrived at his conclusion.
All my contact information is located on my ABOUT page, but my email address is: locator32@gmail.com. Thank you for your generous offer to share what you believe an how you arrived at that conclusion. Lord bless you.
Wayne
Please send me your document as well aniekerk@pgwc.gov.za