Proof #3:

In this proof, we use a recorded marker date/event.  People could only have deduced the birth of Jesus at that time if they knew the starting date was 457 B.C.  No other starting date would work and no other length of the year but the solar year could work either.

The magi, the wise men, came to Bethlehem to see Jesus very soon after his birth.   This we know because the Bible tells us that Joseph and Mary presented Jesus for circumcision at the temple (on his eighth day of life as required by the Law of Moses).  The magi first went to Jerusalem, from which they went to Bethlehem to find Jesus, and after that, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt until the death of Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C.  The Bible records these events in Matthew 2 and Luke 2.  Therefore, it suggests a rather narrow window during which Jesus remained in Bethlehem and during which the magi could make their visit to him.

What is interesting is this question?  The magi said they saw his star in the east.  How did they know that this particular celestial phenomenon indicated that the Messiah had arrived?  They first came to Jerusalem asking to see the new king.  How did they know this sign was for Jesus?  Surely, they had seen other celestial phenomena.  Yet we have no record of magi showing up in Jerusalem at other times and asking about the birth of the Messiah.  Therefore, how did they know that this particular star signaled that the time had arrived?  On the other hand, is it that they knew the prophetic time was at hand and watched for the signal?  Is it possible that they knew from the 70 weeks of year's prophecy of Daniel 9 that the time was at hand for the Messiah to arrive?

Read this very interesting proof that the date for the decree must have been 457 B.C. and could NOT have been 444 B.C. through the using the marker event (http://www.bibleonly.org/proph/misc/magi.html). 

Historically it is extremely likely that the magi had read some of the other books of the bible and the writings of the prophet Balaam.  This would have given the magi clues, but the only way to know for sure would be to have the other writings AND the year of his birth, which they could arrive at only if they knew the following:

1.   The prophecy of Daniel,

2.   The correct starting year for the 70 week of year prophecy,

3.   Finally knew how long a solar year was and measured prophetic years by this. 

After reading the link above, I am sure you can see that there is no other date that can apply for when the decree went out but 457 B.C.   This is logical because 457 (B.C.) - 4 (B.C.) = 453 = 483 (years) - 30 (if you want to know why the author subtracts 30, back up and click on the web site referred to above and read the page - it is relatively short so won't take you long to read).  In other words, going from 457 B.C. to 4 B.C. encompasses 453 years, which is also the same as 483 years (69 weeks of years) - 30 years.  Hence, this would mean that Jesus was likely born in 4 B.C. and the magi came to see him in 4 B.C.   Had they come later, they would have missed him and certainly could NOT have talked to Herod the Great (who, as mentioned above, died in 4 B.C.)

Some have suggested that Jesus was born in 5 or 6 B.C, which may or may not be true.  Sometimes they base this idea on the idea of planetary alignments, which they claim would explain the star seen by the magi.  Others base this idea on the fact that King Herod had all babies 2 years and under killed in Bethlehem based on how long before the magi said they had first seen the star.  The author believes that the star was of supernatural origin in all probability and given that, the wise men were likely knowledgeable about astronomy of the day, a planetary alignment would not fool them.  Further, they would have interpreted such an event as a local omen, not something as grand as the birth of Jesus.

The idea that king Herod had all babies killed in Bethlehem based on how long before the star had appeared to these men is a more plausible reason to move the date back to 5 or 6 B.C.  However, that does not necessarily mandate such a move.  We must consider that God could have sent the star to appear to the magi long before, so that by the time they finished investigating the possible explanations of this and had concluded that it was a reference to the birth of the world's savior.  Then the magi would have enough time to make the trip across the desert from Babylon or the nearby area (which is where magi always came from because that is where those known as magi lived) to Jerusalem and arrived in time to meet with Herod before he died.  Hence, because of the lag time for investigation of the matter and the trip, it is entirely possible that the magi needed one to two years to arrive.  God certainly would know that beforehand.  Consequently, Jesus could still have been born in 4 B.C. after the star appeared and just in time for the wise men to show up, pay their respects, present their gifts, and leave by a different route before Herod caught on that they had fooled him. Therefore, it seems likely that 4 B.C. but was the birth year of Jesus; however we cannot entirely rule out the dates of 5 or 6 B.C.

Given that at the baptism of Jesus the Bible said that he was about 30 years of age, this strongly indicate that he was born in 4 B.C.  The closer to 4 B.C, the more highly probable is the date given that birth in 4 B.C. would produce an age of 30 in 27 A.D. at the baptism of Jesus.

What is most significant, however, is that the magi could deduce the correct year of the birth of Jesus only if the solar year was used for measuring prophetic years and they knew the correct year of the time when the decree of Artaxerxes I began to take effect.  The decree could only have happened in 457 B.C.   No other year would work and they would have come at the wrong time.  No reasonable amount of tweaking the length of the year will make it so that the magi would visit Jesus any later than 4 B.C. if one believes that Artaxerxes I issued the decree in 444 B.C.  This is another proof that the 444 B.C. date cannot work and more proof that 457 B.C. is the correct starting year for the 69-week prophecy.

Conclusions:

The logical conclusion of this is that 457 B.C. is the only decree date that can apply.  Had the magi chosen 444 B.C. as their starting date, Herod would NOT have been there to talk with them because he would have been dead by the time they arrived.  444 B.C. would not work even with a 360 day year, which some propose.  Hence, 444 B.C. cannot apply.  Neither can the decree dates of 536 B.C. nor 519 B.C, for then they would have arrived far too early. 

Two important conclusions can be drawn from the visit of the magi (these are not the only conclusions that can be taken from this incident, but the two mentioned here are certainly important for the author's purposes on this web site):

• Only 457 B.C. is the right fit.
  
  
• Only solar years apply for the length of the prophetic year because 360-day years do NOT work correctly.