Was The Ministry Of Yeshua Just Over A Year Long?

This is a study of the Year of the favor of YHWH, or as some know it, the acceptable year of the Lord … from the KJV.

1 The Spirit of YHWH ELOHIM is upon me, because YHWH has anointed me to announce good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim freedom to the captives, to let out into light those bound in the dark;

2 to proclaim the YEAR OF THE FAVOR OF YHWH and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

3 yes, provide for those in Tziyon who mourn, giving them garlands instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a heavy spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness planted by YHWH, in which he takes pride.
Isaiah 62:1-3

14 Yeshua returned to the Galil in the power of the Spirit, and reports about him spread throughout the countryside.

15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone respected him.

16 Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual. He stood up to read,

17 and he was given the scroll of the prophet Yesha`yahu. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of YHWH is upon me; therefore he has anointed me to announce Good News to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind, to release those who have been crushed,

19 to proclaim a YEAR OF THE FAVOR OF YHWH.”
Luke 4:14-19

NOTE: Yeshua quoted Isaiah 62:1 and the first half of verse 2 in Luke 4:18-19.

When I was growing up, these two scriptures confused me. There are many that teach the ministry of Yeshua was 3 to 3½ years long.

From what I have learned throughout the years is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke give a continual time line that shows an overlapping of just one year. The problem is the book of John which has an extra Pesach (Passover). First we need to look at the description of what the Passover Lamb should be in years.

3 Speak to all the assembly of Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household –

4 except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it.

5 Your animal must be without defect, a male a year old, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.
Exodus 12:3-5

Now lets look at the verses in the book of John that speak about Pesach and the other feast of YHWH that Yeshua attended.

It was almost time for the festival of Pesach in Y’hudah, so Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim.
John 2:13

Now while Yeshua was in Yerushalayim at the Pesach festival, there were many people who “believed in his name” when they saw the miracles he performed.
John 2:23

1 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), 2 and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. 3 Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. 4 Now the Judean festival of PESACH was coming up; 5 so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?”
John 6:1-5

70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is an adversary.” 71 (He was speaking of Y’hudah Ben-Shim`on, from K’riot; for this man — one of the Twelve! — was soon to betray him.)
John 6:70-71

If John 6:4 is really before Pesach, as it says, the betrayal of Yeshua would be more than a year away and would not be soon. Yet here is what John 7:2 says:

But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near;
John 7:2

Then there is Hanukkah:

Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter,
John 10:22

Then came Pesach when Yeshua became the Pesach Lamb.

The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach.
John 11:55

From this verse through chapter 19 the book of John is speaking about the last Pesach Yeshua spent here on earth.

Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El`azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead;
John 12:1

It was just before the festival of Pesach, and Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own people in the world, he loved them to the end.
John 13:1

They led Yeshua from Kayafa to the governor’s headquarters. By now it was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters building because they didn’t want to become ritually defiled and thus unable to eat the Pesach meal.
John 18:28

13 When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Yeshua outside and sat down on the judge’s seat in the place called The Pavement (in Aramaic, Gabta); 14 it was about noon on Preparation Day for Pesach. He said to the Judeans, “Here’s your king!”
John 19:13-14

That is not all, there is one more verse that has multiple meanings from the Tanakh, it is this:

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and for your holy city for putting an end to the transgression, for making an end of sin, for forgiving iniquity, for bringing in everlasting justice, for setting the seal on vision and prophet, and for anointing the Especially Holy Place.
Daniel 9:24

Daniel 9:24 has a few other meanings but also speaks of the YEAR OF THE FAVOR OF YHWH, (Seventy weeks).  

After looking at John chapter 6 more closely, verse 4 was either added or changed from its original text, after the book was finished.

Yeshua kept all the feasts of YHWH, He had too for if He didn’t He would have been going against the Word; which He is.

Shalom

 

Click the link below for more information on this subject.
http://jewsandjoes.com/blog/ministry-of-yeshua-jesus-3-years-or-70-weeks-490-days/

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Tags: 3 1/2 years, 70 weeks, jesus, length of ministry, yeshua

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