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Retrobyter -> RE: Finding America in Bible Prophecy (3/22/2008 3:22:56 AM)
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Shabbat shalom, prophetica!
The four calendars that the Jews use are actually all the same calendar with different beginning points. Wikipedia says it this way:
The Jewish year has four distinct starting points, according to the Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1:
The day most commonly referred to as the "New Year" is the first of Tishrei, when the formal New Year festival, Rosh Hashanah ("head of the year") is observed. (see Ezekiel 40:1, which uses the phrase "beginning of the year".) This is the beginning of the civil year, and the point at which the year number advances. Certain agricultural practices are also marked from this date.[11]
However, the first month of the year as prescribed in Exodus 12:2 is Nisan: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months". This means that the civil new year, Rosh Hashanah, actually begins in the seventh month of the year.
The month of Elul is the new year for counting animal tithes (ma'aser). Tu Bishvat ("the 15th of Shevat") marks the new year for trees (and agricultural tithes).
There may be an echo here of a controversy in the Talmud about whether the world was created in Tishrei or Nisan; it was decided that the answer is Tishrei, and this is now reflected in the prayers on Rosh Hashanah.
Actually, the Hebrew calendar is technically a lunisolar calendar. Wikipedia also gives us this information:
Structure
The Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar, or "fixed lunar year," based on twelve lunar months of twenty-nine or thirty days, with an intercalary lunar month added seven times every nineteen years (once every two to three years) to synchronize the twelve lunar cycles with the slightly longer solar year. Each Jewish lunar month starts with the new moon; although originally the new lunar crescent had to be observed and certified by witnesses, the timing of the new moon is now mathematically determined.
Concurrently there is a weekly cycle of seven days, mirroring the seven day period of the Book of Genesis in which the world is created. The names for the days of the week, like those in the Creation story, are simply the day number within the week, with Shabbat being the seventh day. The Jewish day runs from sunset to the next sunset, and accordingly, standard times and time zones have no place in the Jewish calendar.
The twelve regular months are: Nisan (30 days), Iyar (29 days),Sivan (30 days), Tammuz (29 days), Av (30 days), Elul (29 days), Tishrei (30 days), Cheshvan (29 or 30 days), Kislev (29 or 30 days), Tevet (29 days), Shevat (30 days), and Adar (29 days). In the leap years an additional month, Adar I (30 days) is added after Shevat, and the regular Adar is referred to as "Adar II".
The first month of the year is Nisan. The 14th of Nisan is the start of the festival of Pesach, corresponding to the full moon of Nisan. Though it is not expressly prescribed in these terms, Pesach is a spring festival, so the 14th of Nisan is the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Therefore, from the standpoint of determining the annual calendar cycle, the principal problem is that the lunar month/new moon of Nisan must occur before the spring equinox. Since at least the 12th Century, the Hebrew calendar has determined this time mathematically, but prior to this tradition held that the 1st of Nisan does not start (and an intercalary month would be added) "until the barley is ripe."
While the bible designates this month (without calling it Nisan) as the first month of the year, Rosh Hashanah, which is literally "The Head of the Year", meaning "The Beginning of the Year", is actually celebrated on the first of the seventh month, currently called Tishrei, so most Jews today view Tishrei as the "De Facto" beginning of the year. Although there are references to this holiday in the Torah, it was not then regarded as the beginning of the year, but more as a Holiday for reflection and remembrance.
"Pesach," by the way, is the Hebrew word for "Passover," the celebration when Yeshua` was crucified and buried and rose again. The only other piece of information you may need is ...
In a short (chaser) year, both Kislev and Cheshvan have 29 days. In a regular (kesidran) year, Kislev has 29 days and Cheshvan has 30 days. In a full (maleh) year, both Kislev and Cheshvan have 30 days.
When looking up about the lunar cycle, Wikipedia says in another place,
The time between two full moons (or between successive occurrences of the same phase) is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) on average.
Using this information, one can arrive by either the Jewish calendar or the Gregorian calendar to a little over 6939 days for that 19-year cycle. Divide 6939 by 19 and one still gets 365.21 days per year on average!
Any way you size it up, to have a 360-day year is just WRONG! It throws off your calculations by at least 5 days a year for as many years as you are calculating! With the "1 day = 1 year" theory purported in this thread, for 1335 years for example, that's 18.277 YEARS off! (As an amateur mathematician and a student of computer engineering, I actually think this way.)
Personally, though, I believe when the Scriptures say 1335 days (yamim) it MEANS 1335 days! Why do we always have to say "this means that?" Isn't the rule of thumb in the Bible "let your yes mean yes and your no mean no"? My motto is "Don't go looking for trouble; it'll find you just fine on its own!"
Retrobyter
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