Yeshua King of the Jews

The Jewish calendar is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis (a day); the revolution of the moon about the Earth (a month); and the revolution of the Earth about the sun (a year). These three phenomena are independent of each other, so there is no direct correlation between them. On average, the moon revolves around the Earth in about 29½ days. The Earth revolves around the sun in about 365¼ days, that is, about 12.4 lunar months. The Jewish calendar, however, coordinates all three of these astronomical phenomena. Months are either 29 or 30 days, corresponding to the 29½-day lunar cycle. Years are either 12 or 13 months, corresponding to the 12.4-month solar cycle.

The lunar month on the Jewish calendar begins when the first sliver of moon becomes visible after the dark of the moon. In ancient times, the new months used to be determined by observation. When people observed the new moon, they would notify the Sanhedrin. When the Sanhedrin heard testimony from two independent, reliable eyewitnesses that the new moon occurred on a certain date, they would declare the rosh chodesh (first of the month) and send out messengers to tell people when the month began.

The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than a solar year and a 13-month lunar is about 19 longer than a solar year. The months drift around the seasons on such a calendar: on a 12-month lunar calendar, the month of Nissan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, would occur 11 days earlier in the season each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again. On a 13-month lunar calendar, the same thing would happen in the other direction, and faster.

To compensate for this drift, the Jewish calendar uses a 12-month lunar calendar with an extra month occasionally added. The month of Nissan occurs 11 days earlier each year for two or three years, and then jumps forward 30 days, balancing out the drift. In ancient times, this month was added by observation: the Sanhedrin observed the conditions of the weather, the crops and the livestock, and if these were not sufficiently advanced to be considered "spring," then the Sanhedrin inserted an additional month into the calendar to make sure that Pesach (Passover) would occur in the spring (it is, after all, referred to in the Torah as Chag he-Aviv, the Festival of Spring!). The month of Nissan has 30 days and occurs in March and April.

Why is all this discussion of the Jewish calendar important? Nissan is the month of Passover (Pesach) and the reign of Jewish Kings began with Passover in the spring. The Tenach (Old Testament) reflects Solomon was crowned on Passover. Yeshua (Jesus) completed every minute detail of Bible prophecy including his coronation as Jewish King.

This year Passover is on Thursday 9 April and Easter is on 12 April.

Yeshua was arrested in the early morning and brought before Pilate on the sixth hour of preparation for Passover. Pilate told the crowd, “Behold the man” and “Behold your king” The soldiers who tortured Yeshua made him wear a purple gown. Purple was the color of kings. Yeshua’s torturers taunted him saying, “Hail King of the Jews!” Pilate ordered that the following words put on the plate of Yeshua’s cross: Yeshua of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The Jewish priests were upset that Pilate put those words on the plate and complained to Pilate. Pilate said what I have written is written (meaning Pilate was not going to change the board.) Hence, unwittingly Pilate and the Roman Empire recognized Yeshua as the Jewish King.

The soldiers fulfilled prophecy by crowning Yeshua with thorns. Thorns were part of the first curse God put on Adam, Eve and the human race. It is reflected in Genesis 3:17-18

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

Consequently, Yeshua not only washed away our sins he removed the first curse from the human race with his blood from the thorns and gave us the guarantee of eternal life.