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Morgan BooksCalendars, Calendars & Calendars!
By Amos Morgan
Calendars, Calendars & Calendars!
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Calendars, Calendars & Calendars!If you want to convert ounces to grams, there is a formula to help you find the answer. If you need to convert temperature from degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit there is a formula for that too, but if you need to convert from a lunar calendar (such as used in the Bible) to a solar calendar such as used in the western world there is no formula. The best you can do is make tables or charts to compare them but no formula to convert from one to the other. Most countries in the western hemisphere use a solar calendar (called the Gregorian calendar) while many Eastern nations use a lunar calendar or sometimes use the Gregorian calendar for commerce and a variety of lunar calendar for holidays, festivals and social events. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, has spoken approvingly of returning to the Biblical lunar calendar for both social and commercial use in Israel; it is already in use in their religious observations. Our calendar is a make-over of the solar calendar used in Roman times and known as the Julian Calendar, named after Julius Caesar. It seems that at one time the first day of March was the first day of spring and also New Year's Day; this is evident from the Latin names of the months, September means seventh month, October means eighth month, November means ninth month, and December means tenth month. That is why February, which is now the second month is the shortest month; when it was the last month of the year it absorbed or lost any extra days. To that point, back in those Roman times, the months alternated between 31 days and 30 days except for February which had 29 days until leap-year when it had 30 days, and then everything became politicized. Julius Caesar thought he was so important that his birth-month should bear his name, (July in English). Later Augustus said that if Julius had given his name to his birth-month then his own name, Augustus, (August in English) should also be the name of his birth month. But then he noticed that July had 31 days and August had only 30 days so that is why February lost a day, in domino fashion, to August. At least that is how I learned it from my granddaughter, Breanne, who was in the 2nd grade at that time. Contrasting the foregoing with the lunar calendar given to the Jewish people by the designer and creator of the heavens and the earth can be quite interesting. Creation began in the darkness of night and the first day concluded with the return of night time; "The evening and the morning were the first day". In the northern hemisphere days are longer than the nights in summer. In winter the nights are longer. But there is an instant in time in the spring and also in the fall when the day and night are exactly equal in length as they are passing each other in length. That moment in spring when the day and night are equal in length is called the vernal equinox or first day of spring. The moment in the fall when the reverse occurs is called the autumnal equinox or first day of fall. This is kind of important to the next point we want to explore; no matter the "midnight sun" in summertime within the Arctic Circle and the dark days of winter, the average time from sunset to midnight is six hours. We must keep in mind that this six hour (average) time (sunset to midnight) belongs to day number two in the lunar calendar of the Jews and they belong to day number one on our Gregorian calendar. Forgetting this important difference has caused some people to make serious mistakes when commenting on biblical history. A lunar month about is about 29½ days, so most of the months alternate between 29 and 30 days. Whereas we have twelve months, one with 29 days in one out of every four years, the same one with 28 days in three out of four years, four with 30 days each year, and seven with 31 days each year. Whew! Table I below gives some of the characteristics of the lunar calendar used in Israel. This is not a research project about calendars; it is a research project on why errors are often made when those familiar with the Gregorian calendar miss-read Bible stories.
Table 1
Mostly months were designated by numbers both in the Roman calendar and in the Bible; the Day of Atonement is the tenth day of the seventh month, for instance. One exception to this rule is the month Abib. In Exodus 13:4; 23:15; and 34:18, and also in Deuteronomy 16:1, Moses reminded the people that God brought them out of Egypt in the month Abib. In the book of Esther, 3:7 and in Nehemiah 2:1 it lists Nisan as the first month so we can safely say that somewhere between Deuteronomy 16:1 and Esther 3:7 Abib became Nisan. Probably it was during the Babylonian captivity. Also the twelfth month is listed as Adar in Esther 3:7. If your birthday was on Monday in 2017, it will be on Tuesday in 2018, and on Wednesday in 2019, but if it occurs after February in 2020, it will be Friday, not Thursday because of the extra day (Feb. 29) that year. If there were 364 days in a year instead of 365¼ we could always celebrate our birthday on the same day of the week! It's that extra day and one-fourth that moves our birthday later in the week each year, but it is predictable. Not so with the lunar calendar; their year is about eleven days shorter than ours and they have to add another month every two to three years so their birthday jumps around much differently than ours. Following is an example of how someone's birthday day which is on the fifteenth day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar changes from year to year as displayed on our calendar. This date (15th day, 7th month) is mentioned in Zechariah 14:16; "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." Many people believe that this is the actual birthday of Jesus, our King. Comparison of a Birthday on the Lunar vs. the solar calendars
There is a point to be made; Good Friday and Easter Sunday rarely fall on Friday and Sunday. And perhaps that is OK but notice that it has contributed to confusion of some when they try to study types and shadows in the Old Testament and the New. Not by accident, the month of the first Passover in Egypt and the month in which Christ was offered for our sins on Mt. Calvary coincide exactly. God had the dates planned so they were precisely the same for those two months so many years apart.
So who cares if we always celebrate Easter on Sunday rather than on the seventeenth day of the first Jewish month? Romans 14:5-6 says, "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. …" Galatians 4:10-11 says, "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you …" so it doesn't appear that strict Gentile observance of Jewish holidays is a requirement, but that is not the overpowering concern here. When the perpetual Good Friday – Easter Sunday arrangement was put into the calendar they proclaimed that Christ arose in two days. Since that time we have had to choose between Bible experts and Bible believers. Between those who believe the Matthew 5:18 "every jot and tittle", and an explanation by those who believe the Bible includes portions that we must interpret by traditions and trust bible experts who do not literally believe that all of the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Remember what the serpent asked Eve in the garden, "Yea hath God said?" Getting passed the experts and doing the math for ourselves we can see that the Bible is the rock solid, jot and tittle true, Word of God. Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights and arose on the third day as he said. |
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