The True Age of Jesus

Daniel 9:25, "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing"
This verse gives us an exact time frame of the age of Jesus. People have missed it for years. I have always been taught that Jesus was around 32-33 years old. This verse says that there are 62 weeks of years plus 6 weeks of years from the decree to rebuild the temple until Jesus is cut off (crucified). This is 69 weeks of years. 69 times 7 is 483 years.
Many people believe that Nehemiah 2 lets us know that King Artaxerxes made the proclamation in 445 BC to rebuild the temple. Some people believe that it was in 444 BC. If you take the first date and subtract the 483 years you will get 38 Jewish years old. If you use the second date you get 39 Jewish years old. When I first discovered this, I used the 38 Jewish years. Jewish years are 360 days per year. So, I recalculated the age in the modern day calendar. When I did that, I found out that Jesus was 37 years 5 months 13 days and 8.8 hours old. That seemed a little over the top until you read in Matthew of Jesus dying on the cross. The Bible states that Jeus died "in about the ninth hour". (that is pretty close to "about the ninth hour)
If 444 BC is the proclamation, then add one year. I will show that this is probably the better choice in a later blog when I discuss the death of Jesus.
Once I found the approximate age of Jesus I turned my thoughts to the star of Bethlehem. I searched many old texts and found some great information.
First, we need to realize that if Jesus was a little over 37 years old and He died around 32 AD, then, Jesus had to be born in 7BC or earlier. So, I started looking for evidence of Jesus' birth and the star.
I found records from Josephus the historian that recorded that King Herod died on a lunar eclipse. That lunar eclipse was in 4 Bc. If King Herod had made the proclamation to kill all the babies that were two years old or younger, that meant that Jesus had to be born before 6 BC (4BC + 2 years).
Next, I began looking for any astrological events that could have been the star that the wise men saw and recognized as the star of Bethlehem. I found out that there was a great event that happened in 7 BC according to the Chinese records of astrological events. These events were recorded in stone. The wise men were looking for a star in a location that would represent the nation of Israel. In 7 Bc, an alignment of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces was the what caught the wise men's eye. Pisces, the fish, was the constillation that symbolized Israel. Saturn and Jupiter aligning together would create a bright star, a bright star in Pisces.
When the wise men came in search of the messiah, they went to King Herod and asked if he knew where the promised one was. When they left, the star reappeared and led them to Jesus. The most interesting fact about this alignment is that Saturn and Jupiter joined together and seperated three different times in 7 BC. This would make the Bible right on with its account of the star reappearing to the wise men.
What a deal. The information about the true age of Jesus, His birth, and death have been sitting right there in Daniel for thousands of years and we missed it.
There was a star, there was a birth, and greatest of all, there is a Savior.
I hope that you know Jesus as Savior.

God bless, Dean

PS thanks Irv for your comment on the last blog.