Introduction to the Jewish Calendar

The calendar of the Jewish system is a later derived system and was not the one used in the Temple period over the time of Christ and the Church. Schürer says in Appendix 3 of The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (Vol. 1, p. 587 ff.), “the Jewish names are of Assyro-Babylonian origin; their Akkadian equivalents are: ni-sa-an-nu, a-a-ru, sf-ma-nu, du-u-zu etc.”, and he refers to Landsburger’s work on the subject (Materialen zum Sumerischen Lexikon V (1957), pp. 25-26 etc.). Schürer further states:

Within the sphere of Judaism, the earliest document listing all the months in succession is Megillath Ta’anith. It was compiled in the first or early second century A. D., since it is already quoted in the Mishnah [The Mishnah was compiled around about the second century]. Of later authorities, it is necessary only to mention the little-known Christian, Josephus who in his Hypomnesticum (PG cvi, col. 33) has [Nesan, Eiar, Eiouan, Thamouz, “Ab, ‘Eloul, ‘Osri (read Thisri), Marsaban, Chaseleu, Tebeth, Eabath, ‘Adar].

After listing the evidence for the names of the Jewish months (see Appendix) he then says:

The Jewish months have continued always to be what the months of all civilised nations were by origin; namely, genuine lunar months. As the astronomical duration of a month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44’, 3”, months of 29 days must alternate fairly regularly with months of 30 days. But twelve lunar months amount to only 354 days, 8 hours, 48’ 38”, whereas the solar year comprises of 365 days, 5 hours, 48’ 48”. The difference between a lunar year of twelve months and a solar year amounts, therefore, to 10 days 21 hours. To compensate for this difference, at least once in every third year, and sometimes in the second, one month must be intercalated. It was observed in very early times that a sufficiently accurate compensation was attained by intercalating a month three times in every eight years (during which period, the difference amounts to 87 days). The quadrennial Greek games already depended on a recognition of this 8-year cycle (‘octaeteris’), the four year cycle being arrived at simply by halving it.

Hence the Olympiad is based upon the lunar calendar.

Schürer continues:

As early as the fifth century B.C., the astronomer Meton of Athens had drawn up a still more exact system of compensation in the form of a 19 year cycle, in which a month was to be intercalated seven times. This considerably excelled the 8-year cycle in accuracy, because in nineteen years there remained a difference of a little over two hours, whereas in eight years it was one of one and a half days. Of later astronomers who provided even more accurate computations, Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 180-120 B.C.) deserves especial mention. The fact that after every nineteen years, the course of the sun and moon coincide again almost exactly, was also well known to the Babylonians. In fact, cuneiform inscriptions have been thought to show that they regularly employed a 19 year intercalary cycle as far back as the time of Nabonnassar, long before Meton therefore. Even if this is not yet proved, the use of a nineteen year intercalary period in the Persian and Seleucid eras may nevertheless be accepted as verified, though it is still not absolutely certain whether priority belongs to the Greeks or (as is probable) the Babylonians.

So, the Babylonians possessed the knowledge of the 19-year cycle lunar calendar. They understood it long before the philosopher Meton. Even if it is not yet proved for Babylon, the nineteen-year intercalary period in the Persian and Seleucid eras may nevertheless be accepted as verified. Schürer is absolutely not certain whether the priority of understanding belongs to the Greeks, or as is probable, the Babylonians. It will be found to long precede even the Babylonians.

Schürer notes:

…that the nineteen-year cycle was used in the kingdom of the Arsacids in the first century B.C. and A.D., and has been shown by Th. Reinach from coins on which the years 287, 317, and 390 of the Seleucid era appear as intercalary years. How far had the Jews of the inter-Testamental era advanced in these matters? They had some general knowledge of them of course, but unless we are altogether deceived, at the time of Jesus, they still had no fixed calendar, but on the basis of purely empirical observation, began each new month with the appearance of the new moon, and similarly on the basis of observation intercalated one month in the spring of the third or second year in accordance with the rule that in all circumstances, Passover must fall after the vernal equinox.

The quotes begin the paper with that inter-Testamental period and Schürer’s comments on the calendar. God’s Calendar goes back to creation. It is not dependent on what the Jews were doing at the time of Jesus Christ and, indeed, we will see why Schürer is not, in fact, correct or exhaustive in this matter. We know that the observation system was introduced at a later period and used in concert with the calculations of the conjunction seemingly to justify the traditions. Scholars are in fair agreement that the Samaritans and the Sadducees both had the same system, which was based on the conjunction and calculated and announced at least eight months in advance – certainly in the case of the Samaritans. We will examine this aspect further. Schürer does not make the logical step in his argument to show why the Jews came to be operating by observation, when they knew better, or why they introduced the argument for observation at all at the end of the Temple period. Indeed, we will see that the Pharisees did not have the power to introduce it during the Temple period, through their own deviousness.

It may be safely accepted that the Samaritans had the same calendar for 2500 years at least, and that the calendar and Sabbaths and system they use today, based on the conjunction, are the same calendar and Sabbaths they used during the period of the Temple and beyond. The comments of Ibrahim ibn Ya’kub, the Samaritan Bible commentator, show the Samaritan practices were according to the conjunction. They started the day at evening or twilight. They kept the two-day festival of the 14^th and the 15^th of Nisan or Abib, as the Sabbath-keeping Church has done for two thousand years (cf. The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170), 1998 edition). They kept the sacrifice on 14 Nisan in the evening at the end of the day of the 14^th and commenced the meal on the evening of 15 Nisan, all determined according to the conjunction. Moreover, they, like the Sadducees in the Temple period, kept Pentecost on the Sunday fifty days after the Wave-Sheaf Sunday in Unleavened Bread (cf. John Bowman (ed. and tr.), Samaritan Documents Relating to Their History, Religion and Life, Pittsburgh Original texts and Translation Series Number 2, pp. 223-237).

There is no evidence to support any case that the Samaritans changed the system, or that they and the other nations mentioned above did not have the capacity to calculate the conjunction precisely, long in advance, over the entire period of the Second Temple. If the Jews “lost” this knowledge at the end of the Second Temple period then they did it deliberately to introduce their traditions. The Church has never followed them in the determination of the calendar and the New Moons except in its more ignorant period of Judaising in the post-Reformation period. Rabbinical Judaism also introduced pagan festivals and systems into their calendar from Babylon in the period of the third century. R. Samuel Kohn, Chief Rabbi of Budapest and a writer on Samaritan practices, writing at Budapest in 1894, records the practices of the Sabbatarian Church over the period of the Reformation. He notes that the Sabbatarian Church there determined the calendar according to the conjunction (with one variation to the Samaritan practices). He also considers the fact that the later Judaisers (post-Simon Pechi) in Transylvania followed Rosh HaShanah or the New Year being celebrated in Tishri, was proof of the Jewish influence. He states that Rosh HaShanah was not introduced into Judaism until the post Temple period in the third century. Dr. Kohn makes mention of this important fact in the work The Sabbatarians in Transylvania, stating it entered at a third century and “post-biblical” period (referring to Talmud Rosh haShanah 8a, at n. 18 to ch. 7) (Ed. W. Cox, trs. T. McElwain and B. Rook, CCG Publishing, USA, 1998, pp. v, 58, 106 ff., et. seq. and nn.). Biblically the New Year is in Abib/Nisan, which is the First month.

The progression from the original pure biblical calendar to the rabbinical calendar introduced from Babylon, firstly under Rabbi Hillel II in 358 CE, was rather long-winded as the traditions had to be entrenched to justify the gradual changes. The Mishnah, which was compiled around 200 CE and on which the Talmud was later written as commentary, more or less records this process by the comments and the authorities it cites.

We will see below that the Calendar at the time of the Temple period followed the Sadducean reckoning, and the Pharisaic reckoning or system only came into effect after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The Mishnah notes many practices which the modern Jewish calendar is designed to prevent. This calendar was not really perfected – even under Hillel II from ca. 358 – and suffered modification until the eleventh century. Details of the changes and conflicts are recorded in the paper The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195).

The Mishnah shows that the Holy Days fell before and after the Sabbath on repeated occasions, which means that the traditions and the system that the Pharisees had invented to protect the traditions were not in place even as late as the compilation of the Mishnah (cf. Soncino Talmud: Shabbat 114b; Menachoth 100b; and Mishnah Besah 2:1; Shabbat 15:3; Sukkah 5:7; Arakhin 2:2; Hagigah 2:4). Back-to-back Sabbaths were common. The text in Hagigah 2:4 shows the conflict developing at that time (200 CE) between the pro- and anti-Sunday Pentecost advocates (cf. ibid. (No. 195) and see below).

It is impossible for the postponement system and the current or modern Jewish calendar to have been in place at the time of Christ.

The Mishnah also states that there are four new years and that the First day of Nisan is the New Year for kings and festivals. This is also examined in the paper The Night to be Much Observed (No. 101) which looks at the Samaritan practices for the Passover. We can also see from these timings in the Mishnah that the datings regarding Ezra and Nehemiah were according to 1 Nisan and not 1 Tishri (cf. Reading the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No. 250)). Tishri was used at that time for the reckoning of years, for Sabbatical years and for Jubilees (Rosh Hashanah 1.1 E (3)). We see that the notion of Tishri, which came in from Babylon, was first recorded in the Mishnah as being put forward by R. Eliazar and R. Simeon (ibid. 1.1 D). It was not observed as New Year in the Temple period. The Mishnah also makes an attempt to divorce the beginning of the tithing of cattle to 1 Elul (ibid. 1.1 C). The House of Shammai held the New Year for trees was 1 Shebat, whereas the House of Hillel held it was the fifteenth day of that month. The New Year on the Full Moon is a directly pagan practice, also introduced from Babylon and no doubt associated with the plantings by moon charts. All of this determination is in post-Temple period rabbinical Judaism. Only in the third century do we see Tishri being established by the rabbis. It and the postponement system now hold sway over Judaism, contrary to the word of God. Trumpets is often not on the molad (the conjunction), and the Holy Days of God are postponed by disobedience to other days that God has not ordained.

The Encyclopedia Judaica admits this fact in its article on Fixing Rosh HaShanah (New Year’s Day).

Fixing Rosh HaShanah (New Year’s Day). The year begins on Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of the molad, as there are four obstacles or considerations, called dehiyyah, in fixing the first day of the month (rosh hodesh). Each dehiyyot may cause a postponement of two days: (1) mainly in order to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10) from falling on Friday or Sunday, and Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from falling on Saturday, but in part also serving an astronomical purpose... (2) entirely for an astronomical reason, if the molad is at noon or later Rosh HaShanah is delayed by one day (ibid., p. 44).

The third and fourth dehiyyah are more complex rules involving specific times of the molad and the consequent postponement of 1 Tishri. These moladot are tabulated with specific postponements, as outlined in the Encyclopedia Judaica article. This rule of postponement was not known at the time of Christ and at the time of the compilation of the Talmud. The Mishnah, and the Talmud as commentary, clearly show that the Day of Atonement fell on a Friday or a Sunday up to the time of the compilation of the Mishnah and, hence, at the time of Christ two centuries before that.

We also see that the occurrence of months was different from what it is under the Jewish calendar.

(Arakhin 2:2): They do not count less than four full months in the year, and [to sages] never have appeared more than eight.

It is thus impossible for the postponements to have been in place at the time of Christ. We continue:

... the present system was expected to be replaced [emphasis added] again by a system based on true values [as opposed to mean values] more akin to the earlier Jewish calendar in which New Moons (days of the phasis [i.e., the length of the interval from the true conjunction to the first sighting of the new crescent]) and intercalations were proclaimed on the basis of both observation and calculation (ibid., p. 47).

Note the comments here show that the calculations were according to the true conjunction according to the phases (which is not visible) and the observations were introduced to confirm what was already known for months and years in advance. The term phases of the moon came from the term phasis and have always applied to the New Moon as full dark, the Full Moon and the first and second quarters. The crescent has never been considered a true phase of the moon in the sense that it is used for the New Moon.

Historical. According to a tradition quoted in the name of Hai Gaon (d. 1038), the present Jewish calendar was introduced by the patriarch Hillel II ... in 358/59 AD ... While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II the fixing of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present fixed calendar is doubtful (ibid., p. 48).

Note here that the modern Jewish calendar did not really even become fixed until the eleventh century, as Judaica admits. The Judaica then introduces the concept of irregularity in intercalation saying they were irregular.

…intercalation being in part due to the prevailing state of various agricultural products and to social conditions. ... the state of crops is ultimately determined by the sun’s position in its annual path (ibid., p. 49).

However, we know that the Sadducees and the Samaritans had no such problem with irregularity and the New Moon was announced by fires lit from the Mt. of Olives, east of the Temple over Kidron (cf. the paper Messiah and the Red Heifer (No. 216)). It was only later that the Samaritans were accused of lighting misleading beacons when the Pharisees took charge after the destruction of the Temple and introduced the postponements by observations.

No such problem existed during the Temple period. John Hyrcanus had destroyed the Samaritan tabernacle on Mt Gerizim during the time of the Maccabees but their religion was left intact. Hyrcanus suppressed the Pharisees and only for nine years under Alexandra did they have sway. Herod suppressed them also for their intrigues. The Sadducees and their system had control of the Temple more or less continually until its seizure in the final period and destruction in 70 CE (cf. ibid., (No. 101)). The Pharisees accused Christ himself of being a Samaritan (Jn. 8:48). This was, as we see from the text, because he denied the truth of their teachings and traditions, as we see from the text. He kept the Temple festivals, which were based on the Sadducean and Samaritan system determined by the conjunction, which was the original Temple system (see below). In John Bowman’s work: The Samaritan Problem: Studies in the Relationships of Samaritanism, Judaism, and Early Christianity (tr. by Alfred M. Johnson Jr., Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series Number 4, The Pickwick Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1974, ch. 1, pp. 1 ff.) we see that the Samaritans were in the Northern Kingdom even after the dispersion of 721 BCE and a Samaritan diaspora existed in Egypt and Syria from antiquity until the 18th century. Bowman says:

Since many Samaritan manuscripts are available in European libraries, it has always remained a mystery to me why Christian scholars, who have known since the time of Joseph Scalinger (1540-1609) about the survival of the Samaritans, still repeat the same assertions about the Samaritans which were made by the Jews of post-Babylonian, Mishnaic and Talmudic times and which have come through the Church Fathers into the Christian scholarly tradition.

...The discoveries of Qumran have now induced some scholars to question the frequently used and all too easily accepted idea of “Normative Judaism” and the rabbinic sources as reliable criteria for the essence of Judaism in the 1st century, Consequently it appears to be appropriate once again to examine precisely whether or not the Samaritans, as the first Jewish sect who have no independent traditions and customs, have preserved customs and views which are older than those which the Rabbis of the 2nd century AD (and later) tried to make sacrosanct by passing them off as oral traditions from the time of Moses that had been handed down to them as the trustees of the only and true Israel.

The reason the Samaritan position is not openly studied is as much a fault of the Samaritan priests themselves as it is of the Jews.

God’s Calendar

We need to go back to Genesis 1 to find the basis for God's Calendar.

Genesis 1:14-19 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: ¹⁵And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. ¹⁶And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (KJV)

The word for lights here is m’aor (SHD 3974) meaning lightholders or luminaries (Ex. 25:6; 27:20; 35:14). In Genesis 1:3 the text is let it become light. It is not the verb to be (Companion Bible, fn. to v. 3). Thus we are speaking of the precondition of the system for subsequent activities.

Light was not located until the fourth day of the creation, according to the Genesis narrative. This is indicative of a sequence of God’s activity in the creation. The activity of the fourth element of the creation sequence was to establish the lights for the division of night and day and for signs and for seasons and for days and years (Gen. 1:14).

The sequence of the Calendar as established by God in the creation is determined by the heavenly bodies. Thus, the movement and position of the heavenly bodies are the determining factors of the calendar. This will be seen to be developed throughout the Bible and is central to the Law.

Psalm 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. (KJV)

The moon is thus the determinate factor and not the sun. The sun is operative for the day only and is a pivot for the beginning of the year from the equinox.

The Day

It is noted also that the evening and the morning constitute the day. The evening precedes the morning or day. The day is thus determined from dark the previous evening to dark or the End of Evening Nautical Twilight (EENT) of that day.

Leviticus 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. (KJV)

This view, that the day began at evening after the sun had set, was continuously observed even among the Jews at the time of the Mishnah. It was the normal method of determining the day for most nations and was the practice among the English-speaking people until around the beginning of the nineteenth century (see below).

Mishnah:

(Besah 2:1) On a festival which coincided with the eve of the Sabbath [Friday] a person should not do cooking to begin with on the festival day. [Friday] But he prepares food for the festival day, and if he leaves something over, he has it left over for use on the Sabbath. And he prepares a cooked dish on the eve of the festival day [Thursday] and relies on it (to prepare food on Friday) for the Sabbath as well.

(2-2) If a festival day coincided with the day after the Sabbath [Sunday] the house of Shammai say, “They immerse everything before the Sabbath”. And the house of Hillel say, “Utensils are to be immersed before the Sabbath. But man may immerse on the Sabbath itself.”

(Shabbat 15:3) They fold up clothing even four or five times. And they spread beds on the night of the Sabbath for use on the Sabbath, but not on the Sabbath for use after the Sabbath. D. R. Ishmael says, “They fold clothes and lay out beds on the Day of Atonement for the Sabbath”.

This text shows Atonement also fell on a Friday when the Mishnah was compiled.

(Sukkah 5:7) Three times a year all the priestly watches shared equally in the offerings of the feasts and in the division of the Show Bread. At Pentecost they would say to him, “Here you have unleavened bread, here is leavened bread for you”. The priestly watch whose time of service is scheduled for that week is the one which offers the daily whole offerings, the offerings brought by reason of vows and freewill offerings, and the other public offerings. And it offers everything. On a festival day which comes next to a Sabbath, whether before or after it, all of the priestly watches were equal in the division of the Show Bread.

Therefore, back-to-back Sabbaths were normal.

The narrative of the shipwreck of Paul shows that the day began at evening, and night was followed by the day in the twenty-four hour sequence. We also see from this text that the day did not begin at midnight in the first century either.

Acts 27:27-33 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; ²⁸And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. ²⁹Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. ³⁰And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. ³²Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. ³³And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. (KJV)

The change to a midnight start for the day was a later invention of the Roman Church and had nothing to do with the earlier period. It appears that with the exception of the Italians, all the nations all had the same or similar practice for the start of the day.

The writings of the text of the Bible from the time of Moses show that the day was understood to begin at evening and, as we have seen, Atonement was kept from sunset to sunset (Lev. 23:32), being when the sun has set and it is dark or EENT. Jews presently keep from sunset to dark when they end the fast. Thus there are approximately 25 hours in that day.

This practice was kept intact, as we see with the restoration under Nehemiah, whereby the Sabbath was protected by the closing of the gates of the city from evening to evening.

Nehemiah 13:19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. (KJV)

This text shows that it began to be dark before the Sabbath. The verb used is tsalal (SHD 6752) and is:

…connected with tsel, ‘shadow’ and signifies ‘when the gates began to have shadows on them’ or ‘to cast long shadows’ (cf. Soncino n. to v. 19)

This explanation offered in the Soncino is important to the traditions in placing the time forward to sunset. It is understood as being at ‘approaching dark’ (cf. SHD 6751 and 6752).

The long shadows are in the late afternoon at dusk, just before dark. We might conclude from this text that the Sabbath actually began when it was dark. Thus the day begins at what we term Evening Nautical Twilight, when it becomes dark. A rabbinical distinction was that the day began when it became impossible to distinguish the colour of red or blue thread. This failure of light is at the End of Evening Nautical Twilight (EENT). The three twilights are: 1) Civil Twilight, which ends when the sun is six degrees from the horizon and which is used for streetlights; 2) End Evening Nautical Twilight (EENT) when the sun is at twelve degrees below the horizon; and 3) End Astronomical Twilight when the sun is at eighteen degrees below the horizon. At EENT it is dark. At BENT (Begin Evening Nautical Twilight) it is beginning to be dark at the horizon.

All nations, including ancient Israel and the tribes of Judah began the day at night and followed night with the day, counting by the nights. This was so with the Germans and the Teutons generally. The following quote from John Brady (Clavis Calendaria I-II, London, 1812, p. 98) says:

Different nations have varied, and even still disagree, in the periods of commencing their diurnal computation. The Turks and Mahometans reckon from evening twilight; while the Italians, not only begin their first hour at sunset, but count out the twenty four hours without any remission, and not twice 12, as is practiced in this country and in Europe in general, some part of Germany excepted, where they also count by the twenty four hours which they call “Italian hours.” .... though as the ecclesiastical day throughout Italy begins at midnight, and the rites of the Roman church are in all cases regulated by that custom, it is more particularly remarkable, that the civil day should be permitted to differ in its period of commencement, and thus to stand at variance with the usage not only of almost all the rest of Europe, but of their own ancestors; especially as by the variation of sun-setting, which governs the civil day,.....

Thus we see that in 1812 in the time of Napoleon and his army’s retreat from Moscow, the day still began and ended at evening twilight in Islam and elsewhere, or at sunset among the Italians. The beginning of the day at midnight in 1812 was still the aberration of the Roman Catholic Church and it was from that source that it entered Europe and the West. It is an ecclesiastical device with no biblical sanction. Moreover, Christ speaks of the 12-hour day and the night, which has come to be measured as twenty-four hours, as it was by the Italians and astronomers. No one ever began the day at dawn, other than as the second twelve-hour period. The twenty-four-hour day beginning at midnight is a later moving of the standardisation of clocks to accord with the timings of the Roman ecclesiastical traditions. The standardisation of time could have just as easily (and should have been) effected from the time of dawn and dark at the equinox with the first hours after sunset (being what we term 6 p.m.) as 1 a.s. instead of 7 p.m. Five p.m. would have remained the eleventh hour, as it was for almost six thousand years. Seven a.m. should then be correctly 1 a.m. In a twenty-four hour clock it would be 1300 hours. This would have accorded with Christ’s teaching, and will be introduced again from Jerusalem from the Restoration.

The reason the ecclesiastical sequences were from midnight was its importance to fasting, as they had a different fasting practice to that of the Bible and the early Church. Brady says that the term noon originally meant the ninth hour. Counting from 6 a.m., it was 3 p.m. “at which time the song was, by ancient church regulation, always sung.” (ibid., p. 99). Noon is now midday, either because the monks always broke fast, or because the common dinner hour was midday (see ibid.). We should bear this fact in mind also when reading earlier writings that mention noon. The word luncheon is derived from the erroneous spelling of the word nuncheon or noon song.

At no time in history has the description in Daniel 7:25 fitted a society and people more than in Europe from the nineteenth century to the present. It started from Rome in the second century and is rapidly now coming to its conclusion.

The term day is derived from the Saxon Dæg. The word appears related to the Roman Dies or Diis. The ancients gave the names of the planets to the days, which they termed Dii or gods (ibid., p. 100) and the term was allotted to the twenty-four hour rotation of the Earth.

Among the Saxons, the Scriptures were made available in the Saxon tongue by King Athelstan (in ca. 940) who imposed fines for traffic on Sunday as it had been deemed to have replaced the Sabbath in the Roman system from the fourth century. The Sunday and Easter system had been imposed on Britain through the power of the Saxons from the Synod of Whitby in 664 CE. Until then, most of Britain was Quartodeciman Sabbatarians. (cf. the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277)). Edgar (ca. 960) declared that the day should be kept holy from 3 p.m. on Saturday to Monday at day-break (cf. Brady, ibid., pp. 103-104). Thus the preparation time on the Friday was transferred to the Saturday and an entirely new period of an extra twelve hours had been added again. This is the only known aberration of the extended day ending at dawn (aside from the worship of Ra in Egypt).

The term day is generally understood in two ways, both as a twelve-hour and a twenty-four hour period. The latter period came to be called by the astronomers of the modern or industrial era, a Nycthemeron. However, the ancients could be excused for simply using the term day to apply to both. Such certainly was the term when the Bible was translated and such is the common usage today (cf. Brady, p. 97). Genesis 1:5 is held to say ...and the evening and the morning were the first day. This rendering should simply read Day One or Day the First. The Soncino renders this text regarding the First Day as evening and morning, one day (cf. Soncino Chumash, p. 2). The distinction is based on Rashi’s interpretation, deducing that God was alone on this day as The One, creating the other heavenly Beings on the Second day. It does not stand up to scrutiny in the Soncino text itself and is not interpreted that way by any other authority (cf. Green’s Interlinear Bible). Rashi is wrong and introduces unnecessary further error in relation to Genesis 1:1-2.

The words evening ('ereb (SHD 6153), cf. 'arab: to mingle) and morning (boker (1242), cf. bakker: to search or examine) convey the opposites of day and night. 'Ereb denoting the mingling of light from twilight and boker denoting the clear light of day, "being the time when it is possible to distinguish the exact quality which characterises it" (ibid.).

The word day here is the term yôwm (SHD 3117), which is from an unused root meaning to be hot; it means a day and as the warm hours. It is used, as Strong says, to signify the periods either literally, from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next, or figuratively, as a space of time defined by an associated term and often used adverbially thus representing an age. To suggest that its usage is confined to the daylight hours only is absurd.

The terms used to confine the time to daylight hours only are: yôwmâm (SHD 3119), meaning daily or in daylight (cf. Deut. 28:66; Josh. 1:8; etc.); or shachar (SHD 7837), meaning early light, when the sun rises (cf. Josh. 6:15).

Mochorath (SHD 4283) or morrow is also used to indicate the next day or tomorrow (cf. 1Sam. 30:17; Jon. 4:7).

Boqer or boker (SHD 1242) when used literally from morning to morning is used to mean from day to day (cf. Jdg. 16:2; 19:26; 2Sam. 13:4), and is perhaps a cause of confusion to some if taken in isolation.

Thus we see from the details that at least from the time of Moses in the creation narrative, the term day was used to encompass both evening and morning as one day, or a twenty-four hour period. There is no other rational way of examining this argument.

We saw in Acts 27 that Paul had the same understanding we see in Nehemiah, and as we saw in the instruction to Moses, regarding Atonement, as well as the same understanding we see was in use up until the nineteenth century. It is only recently that times and the Law have been changed to the extent of affecting the operation of the day.

The Week

The word for week in Hebrew is derived from the word shabuwa or shabua (SHD 7620). This word is derived from the word shaba’ (SHD 7650) meaning to be complete. This is a prime root, which is derived from and used in the sense of sheba or shibah (7651). This word is the prime cardinal number as seven as the sacred full one. Hence, the term shaba’ (7650) means to seven one’s self, that is, to swear or take an oath.

The word for week is thus based on or derived from the sacred number of days making up the seven. The Sabbath is thus inextricably linked to the linguistic roots for seven and completeness. The word for week occurs in Genesis 29:27-28 and Daniel 9:27. It means literally to be sevened. Hence, it is a week (seven days) or a period of seven years.

The word for week in the New Testament is a Greek word of Hebrew origin – namely Sabbaton (SGD 4521, from Shabbath (7676)). It is the concept of a se’nnight or the interval between two Sabbaths.

The period of the week is also determined from a phrase meaning complete or perfect Sabbath. This phrase is present in the law on Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:15-21 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: ¹⁶Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. ¹⁷Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. ¹⁸And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. ¹⁹Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. ²¹And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (KJV)

The period of fifty days that commenced after the weekly Sabbath in the Feast of Unleavened Bread has seven perfect or complete Sabbaths. This was termed the Feast of Weeks from the Old Testament texts (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10,16; 2Chr. 8:13). The same word shabua (7620) is used. Pentecost is derived from the term to count fifty. The term for perfect, as in perfect Sabbaths is tamiym (SHD 8549) meaning entire. Used as a noun it means integrity or truth – hence, without blemish, complete or full. Thus, fifty days of Pentecost contains seven complete and perfect or unblemished weeks. This commences from the day after the weekly Sabbath and finishes on the day after the weekly Sabbath – namely, a Sunday. Pentecost thus cannot fall on Sivan 6 as the count is breached and there are not seven perfect or unblemished weeks or Sabbaths.

The word for Sabbath (SHD 7676) is different from that used for the Feast-day Sabbaths, which are termed Shabbathown (SHD 7677). This term applies to all the Feast Holy Days with the meaning of a Sabbatism or Holy Day, except for the Day of Atonement, which is referred to as a Shabbath shabbathown. The meaning thus duplicates or emphasises the concept of a very Holy Day. The terms involved in the above text in Leviticus in the count to Pentecost are Sabbath and not shabbathown and, hence, it is absolutely clear from the distinctions made in the chapter that the weekly Sabbaths are involved and not any of the Holy Days; and that the Hillel or modern Jewish calendar is in error by observing Sivan 6. The conflict is evident in the Mishnah that shows the Pharisees had introduced the Sivan 6 Pentecost, which could and did fall next to a Sabbath at that time. In the Temple system and with the Samaritans, Pentecost had always been on the First day of the week or Sunday.

(Hagigah 2:4) Pentecost which coincided with a Friday- The House of Shammai say, “The day of slaughtering [the whole offering brought in fulfilment of the requirements of appearing before the Lord] is on the day after the Sabbath”. And the House of Hillel say, “The day of slaughtering [the whole offering] is not after the Sabbath”. But they concur that if it coincided with the Sabbath, the day of slaughtering [the whole offering] is after the Sabbath. And the high priest does not put on his garments. And they are permitted to conduct a lamentation or to hold a fast, so as not to affirm the opinion of those who say, The date of Pentecost [must always fall] after the Sabbath [on Sunday].

In support of the Sivan 6 Pentecost argument, resort is made by some to the Septuagint (LXX). That version, however, although the standard text of the early Church, was rejected by rabbinical Judaism from Jamnia after the destruction of the Temple and dispersion. The OT text was even significantly altered to support rabbinical Judaism at that time and became the Masoretic Text. This whole issue of Pentecost in the LXX has been examined in the paper The Omer Count to Pentecost (No. 173). The arguments constructed around this text for Sivan 6 are in any case false.

Pentecost was kept on a Sunday during the Temple period by both the Temple priesthood and the Samaritans. F.F. Bruce says in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary (J. D. Douglas & N. Hillyer, editors, IVP, 1980; art. 'Calendar', Vol. 1, p. 225):

In general, the Jewish calendar in NT times (at least before AD 70) followed the Sadducean reckoning, since it was by that reckoning that the Temple services were regulated. Thus the day of Pentecost was reckoned as the fiftieth day after the presentation of the first harvested sheaf of barley, i.e., the fiftieth day (inclusive) from the first Sunday after Passover (cf. Lv. 23:15f.); hence it always fell on a Sunday, as it does in the Christian calendar. The Pharisaic reckoning, which became standard after AD 70, interpreted ‘sabbath’ in Lv. 23:15 as the festival day of Unleavened Bread and not the weekly sabbath; in that case Pentecost always fell on the same day of the month [Sivan 6].

The Samaritans and the Church have not changed in their practice in relation to Pentecost since the first century. Only Judaism changed its observations and that was done to preserve its introduced traditions. The Trinitarian church affected the week on which Pentecost fell by its manipulation of the date of Easter, but it was always on a Sunday as it had been in the Temple period, and since the time of the Assyrian captivity, and before that to the time of Moses. The Samaritan practices come from before the sack of the First Temple and the captivity of Judah in 587 BCE and therefore reflect more accurately the practices in the early First Temple period. The traditions were gradually introduced into Judah and the system of the Pharisees from the Babylonian captivity and later. They did not have any effect in the Temple practice right up until the period of its fall and destruction.

The Seven-Day Week

The concept of the seven-day week is determined from Exodus 20:8-11.

Exodus 20:8-11Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (KJV)

The week is thus a regulated and mandatory ordinance established with the focus on the Sabbath or seventh day of the week, which is and always has been, the day understood as Saturday. The term in English is derived from the Saxon Seator (or also seemingly Crodo, cf. Brady), which is usually associated with the Roman deity Saturn (Brady, pp. 122-123). This day is named within the languages of many people as the Sabbath or in terms derived from that word. Samuele Bacchiocchi develops this whole history (From Sabbath to Sunday, Pontifical Gregorian University Press, Rome, 1977).

The Month

The word month is derived from the word for moon in the ancient root language, which became English. The Hebrew word is chadash or chodesh (SHD 2320) meaning a New Moon – hence, it means a month. The New Moon is thus the means of determining the start of the month. The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon says of this word (p. 294) that it means New Moon or Month ...“1. new moon as day, time of the new moon as a religious festival. 2. month as beginning with the New Moon”. There is no doubt that historically the month began with the New Moon. The moon was also always a festival in the Temple period and the High Priest entered the Temple on this day as well as the Sabbath.

The word is related to châdar (SHD 2314), to surround or enclose, to conceal or curtain. In its note on Strong's 2314, the Lexicon continues: "(as something surrounding) [from] II. conceal behind a curtain, conceal, confine. IV. conceal oneself, also abide, stay or remain behind also as sheathing a sword" (p. 294).

The sense of the basis of the term is clearly that of the full dark of the New Moon and not a later crescent. The matter of the crescent moon is examined in the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222).

Another word for month is yerach (SHD 3391) (1Kgs. 6:37-38; 8:2; 2Kgs. 15:13; Zech. 11:8). This is from an unused root of uncertain significance and means a lunation, i.e. a month or moon. Another word is the Chaldean yerach (SHD 3393), which corresponds to SHD 3391 (Ezra 6:15).

The word for moon when used in the sense of sun and moon is SHD 3394 or SHD 3391. It can be SHD 3842 (Isa. 24:23; 30:26). The word for New Moon (SHD 2320) is translated as month in the English. The exceptions make it evident that a specific day is being indicated (1Sam. 20:5,18,24; 2Kgs. 4:23; Ps. 81:3; Isa. 66:23; Ezek. 46:1,6; Amos 8:5). The months are thus the first, second, third etc. New Moon.

The New Moon is thus the central or determining point of the month. It forms the basis of calculation of the periods within a month. This is so with all of the Holy Days, not the least of which are the New Moons themselves (see the papers The New Moons (No. 125); The New Moons of Israel (No. 132); and also The Harvests of God, the New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120)). The comments on the months made in the paper The New Moons of Israel (No. 132) are re-examined below to show the sequence and significance of their usage.

The Saxon word Almanac appears to be derived from the Aramaic words al and manach meaning the counting. Verstigan, being the only exception, says however it came from al mon aght, i.e. al mon heed or the heeding of the moons. Certainly the concept of days beginning and ending at evening sunset or twilight is consistent with this Eastern origin (cf. Brady, pp. 42-43). The original almanacs were lunar cycle calendars, carved on four wooden pieces, based on 30 and 29-day sequences corresponding to the duration of the moon determining the conjunctions and full moons. The alternating day sequence was also the Arabic practice. A copy of an original Saxon Almanac is at Brady (op. cit., Vol. 1, between pp. 42-43). A very ancient one is in St Johns College, Cambridge, England.

Months of the Year

The moon is also symbolic because it is in phases. The New Moon represents the beginning of the activity of each cycle. There are twelve months in the year (apart from intercalation) (1Kgs. 4:7; 1Chr. 27:1-15). They are generally reckoned to have a length of 30 days and that is the way they are referred to prophetically (Gen. 7:11; 8:3-4; Num. 20:29; Deut. 21:13; 34:8; Est. 4:11; Dan. 6:7-13).

The month of the Passover, which is Nisan or Abib, is specifically commanded by the Lord to be the beginning of the year (see also Num. 9:1-3; 33:3; Josh. 4:19; Ezek. 45:18,21). This beginning symbolises the redemption of the Israel of God from the world’s system (Gal. 1:4; Rev. 14:4).

Abib is determined from the New Moon nearest to the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, which begins the summer season. The autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere begins the winter season. These are the two seasons mentioned by the Bible (Gen. 8:22; Ps. 74:17). The calculation is well understood:

The observation of the autumnal equinox, i.e., ‘the going out of the year’ (see Ex. 23:16), and of the spring or vernal equinox, called ‘the return of the year’ (1 Ki. 20:26; 2 Ch. 36:10 AV), was important for controlling the calendar and consequently the festivals. Thus the year began with the new moon nearest the vernal equinox when the sun was in Aries (Jos., Ant. 3.201 [better to see Ant. (Antiquities of the Jews) III.x.5]), and the Passover on the fourteenth day of Nisan coincided with the first full moon (Ex. 12:2-6). (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, J D Douglas & N Hillyer, editors, IVP, 1980; art. ‘Calendar’, Vol. 1, p. 223).

The months are numbered in sequence so that the year might be identified and not later confused (Ex. 12:2; 13:4; 2Chr. 30:2; Neh. 8:2). The months and the courses of the priests are all listed in 1Chronicles 27:1-15. The New Moons were listed in the days of worship with the Sabbath and Holy Days in Numbers 28 and 29 (esp. Num. 28:1-2,11,14).

The method of determining the First month of the year (called Nisan or Abib) is that the Passover period on 14 and 15 Nisan must fall after the equinox. Thus, the preparation day of the Fourteenth may fall on the equinox but the Fifteenth must fall after the equinox. These were the two governing rules until the Hillel revision. Schürer notes the rule regarding the Passover in his Appendix on the Calendar.

The months were normally numbered and not all months are listed by name in the Scriptures. The months of the year are:

1. Nisan (March-April) (or Abib: Canaanite)

2. Iyyar (April-May) (or Ziv: Canaanite)

3. Sivan (May-June)

4. Tammuz (June-July)

5. Ab (July-August)

6. Elul (August-September)

7. Tishri (September-October) (or Ethanim: Canaanite)

8. Marcheshvan (October-November) (or Bul: Canaanite)

9. Chislev (November-December)

10. Tebeth (December-January)

11. Shebat (January-February)

12. Adar (February-March)

The Babylonian equivalents are:

1. Nisanu: the month of sacrifice

2. Ayaru: the procession month

3. Simanu: the fixed season or time of brick making

4. Du-uzu: the month of Tammuz the god of fertility

5. Abu: the month of torches

6. Elulu or Ululu: the month of purification

7. Teshritu: the month of beginning

8. Arah-samna: the eighth month

9. Kislimu: of uncertain meaning

10. Tebitu: the month of plunging (into water)

11. Shabatu: the month of storms and rain

12. Adaru: the month of the threshing floor.

The cycle of twelve lunar months (354¼ days) falls short of the solar year (365¼ days). Because the spring Passover-Mazzoth festival, which begins the cycle of agricultural feasts, needed to be kept at a set time in the year, it is obvious why the intercalary month is placed in Adar at the end of the year.

The Passover must coincide with the first harvest (which follows the equinox) and thus the commencement of the year is dependent upon the location of the moon for that period in which the barley harvest begins to occur.

Abib means green ears and the greens ears were cut and roasted, not being yet at the ‘white of harvest’. The first of the green ear harvest was cut and waved as the Wave Sheaf, thereby commencing the omer count to Pentecost. The sequence in Joshua was that they took the Holy Land and then ate of the old corn on the morning after the Passover, i.e. on the morning of the Fifteenth of the First month and the manna ceased (Josh. 5:11). The green ears are not mentioned because they roasted the new ears of Abib after the Wave Sheaf, which had not happened as yet. Hence, only the old corn is mentioned as being consumed. The Wave Sheaf symbolised Messiah who was the first-begotten from the dead.

The spiritual symbolism is paramount. The Feasts are dependent upon the New Moons and not the reverse. The name of the intercalary month is WeAdar (or and Adar) according to M. Ned VIII.5 (see Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, p. 487). The rabbinical calculations show seven out of every nineteen years have an extra month, which we term Adar II.

As we observed, the months are determined by the New Moons and the entire Plan of Salvation is demonstrated from each New Moon through the calculation of the Feasts and their demonstration in the cycle of the actual physical harvests. The year is based on a symbolic or prophetic year of 360 days, being twelve months of 30 days (see the paper The Harvests of God, the New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120) for the implications for the Feasts and the 144,000); this is known as a time. This period can also be extended prophetically, on a year-for-a-day basis, to 360 years. Seven times is 2,520 years, with half that period (or 1,260 years) being the time, times and half a time of Daniel 12:7.

It is noted from the paper Moses and the Gods of Egypt (No. 105) that God dealt with the Egyptian system and its gods through the Exodus. God dealt with the Babylonian system through the proper establishment of the Calendar and the Church. It should be noted that the Babylonian system began the year from the month of beginnings, Teshritu or Tishri. From this month Messiah will establish the New Beginning, which is symbolised by the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles.

Tishri is determined by the New Moon, which is the Feast of Trumpets. It was pointed out in the paper The New Moons of Israel (No. 132) that the month of beginnings was made the Seventh moon. It was noted there that this sequence represented the establishment under Messiah of the seven phases of the Seven Churches. The significance is explained in the papers on the New Moons. The explanation of the symbolism of the Feasts is repeated (requoted below from The New Moons (No. 125):

The year was made to commence in the month of sacrifice which represented the Passover sacrifice of Messiah. This month commenced the harvest which was also the first of the harvest sequence, that is, the barley harvest. God then carried on the process of harvests through each of the phases which are three harvest periods. These are the Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering. The Feast of Weeks symbolises the harvest of the Church before the return of Messiah. This is an ongoing process.

Thus Pentecost is a commencement of a sequence which follows through five moons from Sivan to Tishri, even though there are seven in the sequence from Nisan to Tishri. These five are the stones David drew from the brook (see the paper David and Goliath (No. 126)). Sardis and Laodicea are eliminated. Sivan commences the brick making of the Temple of God. The sequence then involves rebirth (Du-uzu: Tammuz), the torches (Abu: Ab) or candles of the Church and the purification (Elulu: Elul) of the elect. Hence the months from Simanu (Sivan) to Teshritu (Tishri) are accounted for in Christian symbolism thus eliminating the Babylonian. The torching of 9-10 Ab was allowed because of the idolatry of Israel to Babylonian practice.

The months are twelve in all, with a thirteenth month (Adar II) intercalated seven times every nineteen years. The nineteen years mark the complete cycle. The moons themselves determine this period as they rotate through the seasons. The festival sacrifices total 72 throughout the year, and comprise: fifty-two Sabbaths, seven Holy Days, plus twelve New Moons and the Wave-Sheaf Offering. Trumpets is of course a double sacrifice, being both a New Moon and a Feast (Num. 29:1-6).

The sacrifice of the Wave Sheaf, when coupled with the Feasts and New Moons, has a great significance, which was dealt with in the paper The Harvests of God, the New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120). The relationship of the intercalary months have a relationship to the administration of God within Israel and also in the celestial system, as noted from the paper The New Moons of Israel (No. 132). All of the activities of God in the creation are dealt with in symbols that are reflected not only in the movement of the heavens but also the allocation of the organisation and responsibility of Israel. Israel, as both a nation and the Church within the covenant, is predicated on those relationships (see the paper The Covenant of God (No. 152)).

The quote from paper No. 125 continues:

The relationship is predicated on the function of the intercalary month as it occurs with the twelve normal months. Israel represents this system through the tribes. Israel has twelve tribes. These are, from the north: Dan, Asher Napthali, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben Simeon, Gad, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin (see Num. 10:11; cf. Ezek. 1:4 ff.). The tribe of Levi is centred around the taber