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Law: Creation Calendar

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Creation Calendar Overview

Carl Felland, Ph.D.

cfelland@artelco.com

What does our Gregorian Calendar have to do with the Biblical Calendar?


 		 Gregorian Calendar
 		 Biblical Calendar
 
Days
 		 Midnight to midnight
 		 Sunrise to sunset, followed by night
 
Weeks
 		 Continuous cycle of seven day weeks
 		 Four seven day "weeks" within each month
 
Months
 		 Twenty-eight to thirty-one days long, with no relationship to moon Twenty-nine or thirty days long, corresponding to each lunar cycle, beginning with the new moon
Years
 		 Winter to winter (First month is January)
 		 Spring to spring (Month count begins with Aviv)
 
 
Absolutely nothing!
 
"The origin of the calendric system in general use today - the Gregorian calendar - can be traced back to the Roman republican calendar, which is thought to have been introduced by the fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus (616-579 BCE)... By 46 BCE the calendar had become so hopelessly confused that Julius Caesar was forced to initiate a reform of the entire system.  Caesar invited the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to undertake this task.  Sosigenes suggested abandoning the lunar system altogether and replacing it with a tropical year of 365.25 days.  The New Encyclopedia Britannica.
 
 

What does the Jewish Calendar have to do with the Biblical Calendar?


 		 Jewish Calendar
 		 Biblical Calendar
 
Days
 		 Evening to evening, night first, followed by day
 		 Sunrise to sunset, day first, followed by night
 
Weeks
 		 Continuous cycle of seven day weeks corresponding to the planetary week
 		 Four seven day weeks within each month
 
Months
 		 The Jewish calendar is schematic with generally alternating 29 and 30 day months and thus is independent of the actual new moon.  The first month of the year (Tishri) is based on the astronomical new moon, but postponements may result in delays of one or two days to prevent annual holidays from falling on certain days of the week. Begin the day following conjunction based on a Jerusalem midnight to midnight interval. No postponements are needed; most annual Sabbaths overlap the weekly Sabbaths
 
Years
 		 Spring to spring
 		 Spring to spring
 

Some things. However...

"... each lunar month was divided into four parts, corresponding to the four phases on the moon.  The first week of each month began with the new moon, so that, as the lunar month was one or two days more than four periods of seven days, these additional days were not reckoned at all."  The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Vol. 10, p. 482.  Article "Week."
 


This presentation will examine days, weeks and months in the Biblical Calendar.



Two or three types of days?
 

How many types of days are in the Bible?

Work days and Sabbaths?

No!
Thus says the Master YHWH; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.  Ezekiel 46: 1
 		 In the Bible we have three categories of days.
 
   1.  The six working days
   2.  Sabbath
   3.  Day of new moon
 

 		 Condition of gate
 
Category of day
 		 Shut
 		 Open
 
Working day
 		 Yes
 		 No
 
Sabbath
 		 No
 		 Yes
 
New Moon
 		 No
 		 Yes
 
 		  

The day of the New Moon is a separate category of day.

It is neither a working day nor a weekly Sabbath.  It is a period of time, one or two days, outside of the week. 

The three categories of days are always mutually exclusive.

The math works for Ezekiel 46: 1.  The gate of the temple does not have to be open and shut on the same day, as if a new moon would fall on a working day.

Annual sabbaths and special offerings can be overlaid on any of the three categories of days.

 
Month 1
 		 1
 
2
 		 3
 		 4
 		 5
 		 6
 		 7
 		 8
 
9
 		 10
 		 11
 		 12
 		 13
 		 14
 		 15
 
16
 		 17
 		 18
 		 19
 		 20
 		 21
 		 22
 
23
 		 24
 		 25
 		 26
 		 27
 		 28
 		 29
 

Month 2

 1CCConjunction
 
1
 
2
 		 3
 		 4
 		 5
 		 6
 		 7
 		 8
 
9
 		 10
 		 11
 		 12
 		 13
 		 14
 		 15
 
16
 		 17
 		 18
 		 19
 		 20
 		 21
 		 22
 
23
 		 24
 		 25
 		 26
 		 27
 		 28
 		 29
 
 
Key:  Working days, Sabbaths,  New Moon
  

Given the lunar cycle of 29.5 days can we make a calendar that allows for these three categories of days?

Yes, we can.

This calendar shows a twenty nine day month followed by a thirty day month.  The twenty-nine day month begins with a one day new moon.  The thirty day month begins with a two day new moon (1 [30] and 1) following the twenty-ninth, or the last Sabbath, of the first month.  The first working day is announced by a visible crescent after sundown on the second day of the new moon.

Neither the one or two day new moon intermission causes one to violate the fourth commandment of working six days and resting the seventh day, because the commandment does not specify when the six working days begin.

Biblical months evidently alternated between twenty-nine and thirty days as do Jewish months.  Some have suggested that all months were originally thirty days long.
 
Selected Scriptures concerning the moon
And they assembled all the congregation together on the first [day] of the second month, Num 1:18a
Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; ... Num 10:10
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first [day] of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Lev 23:24
And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow [is] the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third [day] at even 1Sa 20:6
If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked [leave] of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for [there is] a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. 1Sa 20:6
And it came to pass on the morrow, [which was] the second [day] of the month***, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? 1Sa 20:27
And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? [it is] neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, [It shall be] well. 2Ki 4:23
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]: Col 2:16
Does the Bible bear out this calendar?

Yes, it does.  The new moon is often mentioned in the Bible and has certain activities associated with it.

The new moon was a worship day, a day to visit the prophet, a day for annual sacrifices, and the day that commemorated creation, Yom Teruah, the first of the seventh month.

The account of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20 is the most detailed account of a new moon in the Bible.  We see that the new moon was known in advance.  Saul presided over the two day feast.  David and Jonathan spoke together on the day prior, which would have been the 29th, and vowed to get back together on the third day.  David's excuse for not coming was an annual family sacrifice, an activity that would have been usual for a new moon. 

The reference to the second day of the month in 1 Samuel 20 verses 27 and 34 is probably more accurately translated as second day of the new moon.  The words new moon and month are the same Hebrew word Chodesh in this chapter.  This instance of a certain day of the month being mentioned outside of the context of a specific month is unique and leads one to understand that the author is referring back to the same new moon introduced at the beginning of the account.

A second verse other than Ezekiel 46:1 and 3 to show all three categories of days is found in 2 Kings 4:23.  The Shunammite woman's son had died and she went to her husband to send for the Prophet.  The husband was working in the field and wondered why his wife would want to visit the Prophet on a work day, rather than the customary time of new moon or sabbath. 

We see that the New Moon was known in advance.  It is neither a work day nor a weekly Sabbath day, but rather a monthly intermission from routine work.   Paul's reference in Colossians to the new moon indicates that it was observed among the early believers.
 
***month here is the same Hebrew word as new moon and because a specific month is not mentioned refers to the second day of the two day new moon
 

to do with the Sabbath?

 
Biblical Month
 

 
 
 
 
 
 		 1
 
2
 		 3
 		 4
 		 5
 		 6
 		 7
 		 8
 
9
 		 10
 		 11
 		 12
 		 13
 		 14
 		 15
 
16
 		 17
 		 18
 		 19
 		 20
 		 21
 		 22
 
23
 		 24
 		 25
 		 26
 		 27
 		 28
 		 29
 

 
Sabbaths Fall on Specific Days
 

In the Biblical Calendar the Sabbaths always fall on the eighth, fifteenth, twenty second and twenty ninth day of the month.  The Sabbaths in both the Old and New Testaments fall on these dates exclusively.  Below are three examples.
Exo 16:1  And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which [is] between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 16:4  Then said YHWH unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Exo 16:5  And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare [that] which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
Exo 16:8  And Moses said, [This shall be], when YHWH shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full;...
Exo 16:23  And he said unto them, This [is that] which YHWH hath said, To morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath unto YHWH: bake [that] which ye will bake [to day], and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

 
 
 
 

Israel Taught When to Observe Sabbath
 

The Sabbath was (re)taught to Israel in the second month of their Exodus from Egypt. 

The Israelites made it to camp on the fifteenth.  That evening they had quail.  The next morning (sixteenth) was the first of six days of manna.  On the sixth day (twenty-first) they were told to gather a double portion, for on the seventh day (twenty-second) there was to be no manna. 

It follows that if the twenty-second is a Sabbath that the eighth, fifteenth and twenty-ninth would be also.  The first would have been a new moon.
 
Est 9:18  But the Jews that [were] at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth [day] thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
 
 
 

Sabbath on Fifteenth after Purim

The Jews rested on the fifteenth after Purim.  Why did they rest?  It was the Sabbath.
Mat 20:19  And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify [him]: and the third day he shall rise again.

Mat 26:2  Ye know that after two days is [the feast of] the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

Joh 19:31  The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.

Lev 23:11  And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
 


 
The crucifixion week had one Sabbath

Crucifixion occurred on the fourteenth, Passover

Messiah rested in the grave on the fifteenth, first day of Unleavened Bread, both a weekly and annual Sabbath.  Note "for that sabbath day was an high day."

Messiah rose at the beginning of the sixteenth, the day of the Wave Sheath offering.  This offering was to be made on the day following the Sabbath.  The debate over whether this Sabbath was the first day of Unleavened Bread or the weekly Sabbath during the feast is solved when one understands the Biblical Calendar.  This debate could only have originated if the nature of the Sabbath was corrupted.

 

What are the roles of the sun and the moon in the Biblical Calendar?

Gen 1:14  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:
 

 
Psa 104:19  He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
 
 
 

The sun divides the day from the night.  The night portion begins at sunset with dusk and ends with dawn.  Dusk is the transition from light to darkness and dawn is the transition from darkness to light.  Genesis 1:5 is literally "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was dusk [following the creative work of the day] and then there was dawn, day one."

 

The moon is for seasons, Hebrew mo'ed or appointed times.

You cannot tell what day it is by watching the sun.

You can tell what day it is by watching the moon progress through its lunar cycle.


 
 


 
New Moon

I understand that the Biblical new moon follows the astronomical new moon or 'conjunction.'  On average the last and first crescents fit into the following pattern.  When the conjunction occurs on the last Sabbath of the month (29th) such that the last crescent is not visible at dawn of the 29th, there is a one day new moon.  When the last crescent is at an age when it should still be visible at dawn on the 29th, then there is a two day new moon.  The moon rebuilds at the beginning of the new month with the first crescent being achieved at dusk announcing that the next day is a work day.  Local conditions sometimes do not allow the last or first crescents to be seen, but the time of conjunction can be easily calculated by observing the moon at sunrise during the last week of the month.  This allows for determining the age of the last and first crescents.
 

Amo 8:5  Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
 

First crescent

The sighting of the crescent at sunset generally indicates that the next day is the first of the six work days.
 
Psa 81:3  Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
 

 

Major phases of the moon


The time between major phases of the moon averages 7 days 9 hours, with a variation of between about 6 1/2 to 8 days.  The following is based on averages, the actual phase may be off by one day.

First quarter follows seven days after the new moon.  On the night of the seventh it announces the first Sabbath on the eighth.  The first quarter moon is perpendicular to the horizon and reaches its highest point in the sky at sunset.
Full moon follows about fifteen days after the new moon on the second Sabbath, the fifteenth.  Moonrise and sunset are nearly synchronous at full moon.
Last quarter follows about twenty two days after the new moon on the third Sabbath, the twenty second.  The last quarter moon is perpendicular to the horizon and reaches its highest point in the sky at sunrise.
Seven days after last quarter is the next new moon conjunction on the twenty ninth or thirtieth.  The next day is day one of a new month.
 

Lev 23:2, 3  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, [Concerning] the feasts of YHWH, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, [even] these [are] my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work [therein]: it [is] the sabbath of YHWH in all your dwellings.

2Ch 2:4 Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate [it] to him, [and] to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel.

 

The weekly Sabbath is the first feast [mo'ed] listed in Leviticus 23.  All the other feasts listed in this chapter are determined by the moon.  The weekly Sabbath is no different.  I see in Scripture a series of sacrifices: continual, daily, weekly, monthly and annually (2Ch 2:4).  I believe that instead of one calendar for the weeks and another for the months as we have now, the original was one calendar that integrated all the sacrifices.

Finally, I'd like to share an excerpt from Hutton Webster's Rest Days (1916, MacMillian Co.) pages 254-255.

    In his able treatise Meinhold has argued that until the age of Ezekiel the Hebrews employed no weeks at all.  He then supposes that continuous seven-day weeks were introduced, largely through Ezekiel's reforming influence, and hence that the Sabbath as the last day of the periodic week was a post-Exilic institution.  Critics have pointed out that it is highly improbable that so far-reaching a change should have occurred without being recorded; moreover, that the acceptance of such a hypothesis makes it necessary to assume that all places in the Old Testament where the Sabbath is mentioned as the seventh day are either of Ezekiel's time or later.  But the problem is simplified if we hold that the Hebrew employed lunar seven-day weeks, perhaps for several centuries preceding the Exile; weeks, that is, which ended with special observances on the seventh day but none the less were tied to the moon's course.  The change from such cycles to those unconnected with the lunation would not have involved so abrupt and sudden a departure form the previous system of time reckoning as that from a bipartite division of the lunar month to a week which ran continuously through the months and the years.

    The establishment of a periodic week ending in a Sabbath observed every seventh day is doubtless responsible for the gradual obsolescence of the new moon festival as a period of general abstinence, since with continuous weeks the new-moon day and the Sabbath Day would from time to time coincide....

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Special acknowledgments go to Troy Miller for introducing me to this calendar and for his in depth research.