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?”
Very interesting Eddie. I also liked the way you dialogued with Jim. I don’t know why some make eschatology a litmus test for fellowship. I’m studying end times, reading Kenneth Gentry, which seems to be in line with your views. I’ve also seen some astronomical work on dating the conception, birth, and death of Christ at http://www.bethlehemstar.net I bring this up because his birth falls on Rosh Hashanah by Dr. Larson’s findings and I thought that perhaps you would find his site interesting. He also has a documentary of his findings in the stars on Youtube.
What I’m wrestling with in my mind is the possibility that the 70th week could possibly run concurrently with part of the 69th. (Kind of the opposite approach of a dispensationalist.) My strongest view in my mind, and this isn’t very strong, is that why wouldn’t the angel have told Daniel that in the Midst of the 70th week, Messiah would be killed? Rather he says after the 69th, and like you mentioned “after” is a very undefined period of time… But I was thinking that the dating of Dr. Larson’s materials and scholarship would lead to a crucifixion of 33 A.D. at the end of the 69th week. (Pretty much immediately after) And that perhaps this last 7 was one that encompasses part of this 69th week (with the 3.5 years of ministry), puts an end to sacrifice at Messiah’s Death (Hebrews 10:18) and culminates at Stephens Stoning as you have suggested.
My other thought is that perhaps this last 7 is a period of days, not years and that the covenant (of Jer. 31:31-33) was confirmed by his RESURRECTION in the midst of his week as Ed J. Young’s commentary points out that it is the “midst” of the week, not “middle.” But this solution does not satisfy me either because why switch from weeks of years to that of days and what would be the terminus of that “week”?
Your thoughts on a possible concurrent week? Thanks brother!
Greetings Oke, and thanks for reading and for your kind words concerning my dialogue with ‘Jim’!
Concerning Kenneth Gentry, I’ll have to look him up on Amazon and check out one of his books. I haven’t heard of him until your mention of him, but I looked at his website, and he seems to be a prolific writer.
Concerning Dr. Larson, I don’t know who is copying whom here, but the late Dr Earnest Martin wrote a similar book which you can find and read HERE. The book is entitled “The Star that Astonished the World”. I based a number of my blog posts on Dr. Martin’s findings and refer to him is some of my postings. Perhaps “copying” is too strong a word. They may have known each other, and even collaborated with one another, but the relationship didn’t work out—don’t know, and to be honest, don’t care to know. I would hate to think either of them was profiting off the work of the other.
Concerning the 70th week running concurrently with the 69th, why 70 weeks of years then? I believe it took 7 weeks of years (49 years) to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem (just as the angel predicts), and I believe it took another 62 weeks of years to come to the Messiah, which I take to be the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The beginning of the 70 weeks, according to Ezra, occurred on Rosh Hashanah, and I believe Jesus officially began his ministry in Nazareth (according to Luke) on Rosh Hashanah! I did a study of Daniels “days” – 1260, 1290 and 1335 days – which I presume to incorporate the 70th week of years. They begin and end either on a Jewish annual Holy Day or on a day that is important within those days, and point to important events in Jesus’ ministry (or in the case of the 1290 days to the end of the prophecy, which I presume to be announced by the shedding of Stephen’s blood—see Revelation 12:14). It is quite odd that they would do so, if that were not important. They also work out only if Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday (or, according to Jewish reckoning, the day beginning Tuesday sundown to Wednesday sundown). I realize ‘Wednesday’ is not the traditional day, but, as I read the account of Jesus’ death in the Bible, the traditional ‘Friday’ crucifixion doesn’t work out, but Wednesday does.
I don’t know how Dr. Larson arrives at his conclusion that Jesus was crucified in 33 AD or that this year is the end of the 69th week of years in Daniel’s prophecy (perhaps if I read his work on his website I’ll find out). Personally, I worked out what I thought the 70th week should look like and then decided where the 70 Weeks prophecy should begin. This seems to be like first making my case and then making sure the ‘evidence’ proves it the way I want it to. Nevertheless, I couldn’t do otherwise, because folks before me used these days to prove anything they wanted, so no matter what I would do now, it would look dishonest in my reckoning.
The reason for all these false methods is that most eschatological theologians base their works on the work of one Claudius Ptolemy, a 2nd century AD pagan astronomer. Dr. Martin has shown that his work was false, and I believe Dr. Martin’s studies on the matter. What this means is, one doesn’t have a fixed date for the beginning of the 70 Weeks Prophecy, like so many eschatological students would like to have. Nevertheless, all that is based upon a false premise, a premise greatly desired by religious folks who really wanted to be able to prove Jesus came at the correct time according to Daniel. All I am able to say is that the Bible shows that folks during Jesus lifetime (birth to death) looked for his coming, showing that Jews at that time looked for the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Even Jesus mentions Daniel in his Olivet Prophecy, showing that Daniel’s Prophecy was not yet complete during Jesus’ ministry.
Concerning the final week of years being a week of days, I agree with your suspicion that there is no reason to believe there would be a sudden switch in the method of reckoning Daniel’s prophecy, and that without any warning. It is not something I am willing to trust. I think that folks who do this kind of thing are ‘reaching’ to prove something they don’t know how to prove otherwise. If I come to this point, I simply tell myself that something is wrong with the rest of my study, and I begin again.
Placing Stephen’s Martyrdom 3.5 years from the Crucifixion is interesting. And I to am ok with seeing the 70th Week fulfilled by the first Advent. But the Messiah is Cut off when the Week starts not when it ends. I prove that to be 30 Ad here
http://midseventiethweekrapture.blogspot.com/search/label/30%20AD
It’s be interesting if Stephen war Mayrtred in the Fall of 33 AD.
Greetings Jared(?), and thank you for reading and for your comment. Neither do I believe that Messiah was crucified at the end of the 70th week. Rather I place it in the middle of the week as per Daniel 9:27. I understand your problem with both of these views, since you go along with the **beginning** of the 70th week as per Daniel 9:26 “After three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off…” However, I believe that understanding is too literal for the context. How long after the 69th week do we put the crucifixion? …a day? …a week? …less or more? I believe Daniel gives us the best idea in 9:27 — “the midst of the week” or 3 1/2 years into the 70th week.
I read your two posts, but I’m not convinced that Jesus’ ministry lasted only one year. On the contrary, a simple reading of John gives one a 2 year ministry of Jesus, and if we couple John’s record with that of Luke, we find an additional 1 1/2 years is added to Jesus’ public ministry. I put Jesus’ crucifixion in 31 AD, but can accept a 30 AD ministry if the 15th year of Tiberius begins in the fall of 26 AD. I have it at 27 AD.
I don’t try to identify the beginning of the 70 Weeks Prophecy through history, because so much wrong has been committed by well meaning people trying to pinpoint the beginning of the prophecy that anything I come up with would be considered convoluted (but for the record, I put Stephen’s death in 34 AD, and counting back 490 years would put us in 457 BC). I merely conclude that folks in Jesus’ day were looking of the Messiah. This tells me that the 70 Weeks Prophecy was not yet fulfilled in his day, so I used the prophetic days of Daniel and Revelation (1260, 1290 & 1335) to indicate the all important 70th Week of Daniel’s prophecy. They work out only if Jesus’ crucifixion was on a Wednesday. If that can be given, then the days begin and end on one of the Jewish annual Holy Day Sabbaths or an important day within the Festival period. The day of the Wave-Sheaf Offering is the only exception, and it is an important day during the Passover festival and for knowing the day of Firstfruits (Pentecost). I don’t believe such an overlay of the days falling on important Holy Days during Jesus’ ministry or at the completion of the 70th week to be coincidental. Nevertheless, if you are locked into your interpretation of a single year for Jesus’ public ministry and his crucifixion before the 70th week really starts, you are welcome to your understanding, and I’ll wish you well in your study of God’s word.
The fifteenth year has Tiberius has nothing to do with Jesus.
The “Midst” of the week in verse 27 is mistranslated, it should be for Half of the Week. It still places it at the beginning.