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Note for new readers of this thread:
This thread sets out to explore whether a calendar found in an ancient manuscript called the Astronomical Book (and confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls to have been used by at least some of the Jews before Christ) is the calendar of scripture. I started this thread in November of 2005 when my understanding of how this calendar was used in scripture was evolving. Because of that I recommend that the reader start at my Feb 11, 2006 post on page 6 of the thread and then read the following five pages if you’re interested in seeing the progression of thought, being aware that I’ve made some statements along the way that I have since corrected in my own understanding but may not have corrected on the thread.

I’m now quite sure that the calendar described in the Astronomical Book is the calendar of scripture, but, this is my own view. MSDAOL has not taken a postion on the issue.
Mark Shipowick Feb 11, 2006.

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I mentioned on another thread that I am looking into the validity of the divine calendar in modern times, not for the purpose of reverting to the celebration of the Hebrew feasts but for several other reasons. The more important reasons that come to mind are - 1) to confirm it’s operation after the cross so that our calculations of the ending of the 70 weeks, three years after the crucifixion have a Biblical basis, 2) to confirm the validity of October 22, 1844 as the Day of Atonement in that year for the same reason (if the yearly cycle of the Hebrew calendar has no modern meaning, October 22 is an arbitrary date) 3) to establish the Sabbath as having a basis in the Divine calendar (if we deny the existence of a divine calendar, the Sabbath commandment looses its meaning. On the other hand, if we assert a divine weekly cycle we imply the existence of a divine calendar) 4) to anticipate a more robust Biblical position when calendar reform is placed on the public agenda and the Sabbath comes under attack (I will come back to this) 5) to understand unfulfilled prophecy better, 6) to know the true dates of the new year, months, seasons and feasts in modern times, again, not for the purpose of celebrating the Hebrew feasts, but in order to know what time it is according to heavenly reckoning.

Regarding the first two reasons, as I was looking into the subject I found that two of our most important dates that were established by the Millerites couldn’t be reconciled to the rabbinical calendar. Some of you are aware that in 1844, most Jews celebrated the Day of Atonement on September 23 rather than on October 22. Our church historians tell us that the Millerites were aware of this as well but the Millerites rejected the reckoning of the rabbinical Jews in favour of the reckoning of a small Jewish sect called the Karaite Jews. In looking into it further, I found that this is almost certainly incorrect because according to Karaite records, in 1844 the Karaite Jews celebrated the Day of Atonement on September 23 as well. Roseangela, my co-moderator, acknowledges that this may be true but her position is that if the Karaite method of reckoning is correct and the Millerites used that method, then we still arrived at the right day even though the sect members themselves may have miscalculated it in that year. Maybe, but there is a better, more plausible explanation I believe.

Before giving it I should point out that the same problem exists with 31AD as the date of the crucifixion. In that year, according to rabbinical reckoning, the evening of Passover was a Monday or at the latest a Tuesday evening, March 24 or 25 on our calendar, Nisan 14 on the rabbinical Hebrew calendar. This does not fit with the gospel account that our Lord celebrated the Passover Thursday evening and was crucified on a Friday, rested in the grave on Sabbath and was resurrected Sunday. Our theologians have pointed out that if the true Passover was the following month it fits because in the following month it is astronomically possible for the true Passover to have been on Thursday.

The point I am making is that regarding both of the dates for the crucifixion and the Great Disappointment, Adventists reject the rabbinical method of calculating the Hebrew feast days. This begs the question of which method of reckoning is correct. The consensus of Adventist scholars is that the Karaite method of reckoning is correct. However, as I said above, the Karaite reckoning in 1844 almost certainly does not agree with October 22, and, regarding the crucifixion we have no way of knowing what the Karaite Jews would have done if such a group existed at that time because their method of reckoning is tied to the weather as well as to the phases of the moon.

However, I believe there is a simple solution. Ancient records from various sources, one of the most important being the Dead Sea Scrolls, can be compared to Biblical passages of reckoning time and when compared with Scripture, provide the answer. Several of these documents indicate that the original calendar followed by ancient Jews was Solar-Lunar and quite different from the modern reckoning of both rabbinical Jews and Karaite Jews. This thread is devoted to examining those sources and to answering the question, “Is there such a thing as a Biblical/Divine Calendar”?

A word of caution is in order. This thread is not intended to introduce a new doctrine. It is intended as a study of evidence. If the evidence shows the existence of such a calendar, well and good. It is not expected to change the way anyone worships. So at the outset I urge everyone to be restrained and circumspect in their comments but also spontaneous and forthright and enjoy the discussion. I’ll post something soon on this original ‘new’ calendar but feel free to discuss, challenge, query, etc.

[ February 11, 2006, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Mark Shipowick ]

Before moving on, it is interesting that God has already providentially revealed to the church in the 1843 chart that the rabbinical method of calculation is incorrect. It does this at two of its most important dates – the crucifixion and the Great Disappointment. The 1843 chart pinpoints the crucifixion at 31AD but as noted above, the modern rabbis calculate the Passover date in this year one month earlier than the true date. The implications of this are important because it tells us the Jews of Christ’s day did not use the modern rabbinical method.

That means we must look for a different method of reckoning at the time of the crucifixion. The Karaite sect can only be traced back to the middle ages – to the 8th century AD at the earliest, but probably more recent. They are not mentioned by the classical authors of antiquity and there is no mention of them in the Dead Sea Scrolls. So while the Karaite method of reckoning might be used to supply a partial explanation of the lack of agreement between the rabbis and ourselves in 1844, at the crucifixion we have the additional hurdle that on the one hand the rabbis disagree with us and on the other hand the Karaite sect did not exist.

The solution? In a nut shell, the conclusion I’ve come to is that the Solar-Lunar calendar described in an ancient Hebrew writing entitled The Astronomical Book is likely the calendar that the patriarchs and Hebrews used to reckon time. The Astronomical Book is part of the Book of Enoch quoted by Jude.

Professor James C. VanderKam of the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana who specializes in antiquities makes this statement regarding the book:

“Sizable portions of the text [of The Astronomical Book] are preserved on four copies, written in Aramaic, from Qumran cave 4 [of the Dead Sea Scrolls]. . . The work explains the structure of the universe by describing the course of the sun in a 364-day year and of the moon in a 354-day year. The same two years (solar and lunar) with the same numbers of days are combined and correlated in a number of the calendrical documents found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The sun and moon pass through gates at the eastern and western sides of the heavens. Other sections of the booklet speak about the stars and winds and other related topics. All of the created order is under angelic and ultimately under divine control.”

It should be noted that The Astronomical Book and the Book of Enoch in its complete form were re-discovered in the 1700’s two centuries before the Dead Sea Scroll were found. (The latter were discovered in the late 1940’s.) So while the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) contain fragments of many incomplete books that have not been found to date in a complete form, the DSS tend to confirm the authenticity and completeness of The Astronomical Book and it’s importance in reckoning time among some of the Jews of the era one or two centuries before the birth of Christ.
The main calendar rules of The Astronomical Book are:

1) The starting point of the year is marked by the first day that is longer than night in the spring. (This event occurs close to the spring or vernal equinox. The equinox is defined by modern astronomers as the moment that the sun crosses the equator. In the spring, this event occurs a few days before the time when day and night are equal.)
2) The 12 solar months have 30 days for a year of 360 days.
3) There are four intercalated days during the solar year that mark the transition between seasons. These fall one day after the third or last month of the season. When the intercalated days are included the solar year has 364 days, and the last month of each of the four seasons has 31 days.
4) The lunar year is divided into two halves of 177 days each for a total of 354 days.
5) Since the sun defines the beginning of the year, the lunar year starts at the first new moon after the solar New Year.
6) The lunar half-year is made up of three months of 30 days followed by three months of 29 days.
7) For the purpose of reckoning time, the 30-day solar months are used so that the year has 360 days. For defining the seasons and the year, the intercalated days are included, so that a complete year is defined as 364 days. For defining the feasts, the lunar year of 354 days is used.

It is not clear to me or to others how either the lunar or the solar components of the calendar were kept in sync with the seasons. Manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that the Jews of the Qumron community made no adjustment to the solar year of 364 days for 7 years at a time. This fact leads one scholar to hypothesize that the solar year was brought back into sync with the equinox by adding a week every seven years and two weeks every twenty eight years. However his underlying assumption is that the Jews of Qumron were interpreting The Astronomical Book correctly.

In my view a better approach is to hypothesize that the Astronomical Book itself was the divine astronomical manual for that era and test this with the passages of scripture that reckon time. If we have a good initial fit, then we can use that information to help us in figuring out how the intercalations worked and at the same time determine if the Book supplies a reasonable explanation of our dates for the crucifixion and the Great Disappointment. If after testing our hypothesis as vigorously as possible it still all ‘comes together’ then we can analyse how accurate the Qumron community was in applying The Astronomical Book.

To put it differently, I am suggesting that The Astronomical Book should be assumed to be correct, at least initially, and that the best use to be made of the other Qumron calendrical manuscripts, is as additional support for our position that the modern rabbinical method was probably not in use during the life of Christ. Since some of the DSS calendrical manuscripts other than The Astronomical Book apparently give a solar reckoning for feast days, which is not biblical, the best use we can make of them is as corollary evidence that in this community the calendar did not follow the modern rabbinical model.

With that as my approach, I’ll begin to review some of the Biblical passages dealing with time reckoning and compare them to The Astronomical Book.

But before signing off, here are some references I used:

Prof John Pratt on the Qumron Calendar
http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/qumran.html

University of Arizon: Lecture by S Talmon on DSS and Qumron
fp.arizona.edu/judaic/bilgray/talmon/Talmon.htm

United States Library of Congress Dead Sea Scrolls main page
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/scr2.html

LunaCal Calendar freeware used to confirm ancient and modern Passover and feast dates according to the modern rabbinical method.

http://www.geocities.com/royh_il/

7000 Year Calendar software also used to confirm ancient and modern Passover and feast dates according to the modern rabbinical method. Free trial period.

http://www.junecalends.com/7000.html

Mark,

You are presenting the hypothesis that the calendar of the Book of Enoch is the correct one, others claim that the Samaritan calendar is the correct one, the Karaites say their calendar is the correct one, and the Rabbanites affirm their calendar is the correct one. The fact is that the Bible itself gives us no definite instruction about calendars. The hints we have are of an agricultural nature – the barley must be ripe enough for the sheaf to be waved during the Passover week (Lev. 23:10-14). So, in my opinion, the calendar which closest follows the scant information we have in the Bible is still the Karaite calendar. Since the ripening of barley is tied to the equinox, it becomes clear that God gave this instruction to the Israelites so that their lunar year might be brought into harmony with the solar year (therefore, they followed not a lunar calendar, but a lunisolar calendar).

Such a calendar, however (based on the ripening of barley), would no longer be trustworthy in the global warming days we live in. The fact is we need none of these calendars to determine the dates for the 2300-day prophecy. We will return to this in future posts.

Now, about Karaites and 1844 (quoting from Juarez’s book):

"Karaism was a movement within Judaism which arose toward the end of the eigth century A.D., rejecting the Talmud and the teaching and traditions of the Rabbies in favor of strict adherence to the Bible as the single authoritative source of Jewish law and practice. Thus, one of their differences with the Rabbanite Jews is that they rejected the pre-calculated calendar of the Rabbies and reverted to the original “moonsighting/barley” method of keeping the calendar.(1) In doing this, they often kept their festivals one month later than the Rabbanite Jews.(2) However, a long time before 1844, owing to the difficulty in obtaining accurate information from Jerusalem, the Karaites afar from Palestine had abandoned their moonsighting/barley method and were using Rabbanite reckoning. Thus, the documentation showing that Karaite Jews observed the Yom Kippur in September in 1844 does not prove that this was the right date; it just proves that the Karaites, in the region of the document provided (in the case, Crimea), were then using the Rabbanite reckoning. At some point prior to 1860, even Karaites in Palestine seemed to have reverted to the Rabannite calendar, so we cannot be sure if in 1844 they were still using their special reckoning or not. Whatever the case, however, we must ascertain what the correct date would have been for the Yom Kippur in that year, or what the correct date would have been for the termination of the 2300 prophetic days."

(1)This means that Karaite Jews begin the month with the first sighting of the new crescent moon and that they begin the year with the ripeness of the barley crop in Israel (called in the Bible “Abib”). They use the checking of the barley crops in Israel to determine if it is necessary or not to add an intercalary month before the first month, so that the barley is ripe enough for the sheaf to be waved during the Passover week (Lev. 23:10-14).
(2)This occurred because the Rabbies began the year with the new moon nearest the vernal equinox, and this was frequently so early that there was not enough time for the barley to ripen before Passover. The Karaites began the year with the new moon nearest the barley harvest in Palestine, which frequently was one month later.

For those who may be interested in reading more about the dates for the 70 weeks and 2300 days, Juarez's book can be found at

http://www.setentasemanas.com

In "Downloads" go to "Click to expand the FTP window here". Then right-click the link "BOOK Juarez1. pdf" and select "Save Target As...".

Just a short FYI note: The tradition for a Thursday night passover developed in fairly recent centuries, the earlier centuries tradition was that Passover was on Tuesday night, Jesus arrested early Wednesday, had a hearing then had the regulartory day in prision, and the rest of the trials on Thursday and the crucifiction Friday morning.

The Dead Sea Scrolls point out that the Essenes had a different callender than the Pharicees had, usually having passover 2 to 3 days before. The traditional site of the last supper was in a part of the city that had Essene monistaries, the disciples were to follow a man carrying a picther of water: Usually either a woman or a donkey carried the picthers, if a man was carrying one it was probably an Essene. The Essene monistaries would provide their upper rooms for other Rabbi's to have meals with their disciples.

Thus it appears that the early tradition of the Church is correct, that Jesus probably kept the Tuesday night Essene Passover, arrested early Wednesday and had a hearing, put in prision for about a day (Mrs. White referrs to this tradition and places the denial of Peter to when Jesus is lead away) then having his other trials Thursday and on the cross Friday morning, and dieing at the time the Passover lamb should have been killed at the temple on the Temple passover.

I hope this helps.

By the way, I'm interested in learning more about the Sabbatical years and 1844, I've been hearing from respectable sources, but not having had the information to evaluate, that the Sabbatical years is probably a stronger argument than Daniel 8:14 is for 1844.

Kevin,

I think this passage of The Desire of Ages confirms that just some hours elapsed from Jesus' arrest to His crucifixion:

"As Jesus passed the gate of Pilate's court, the cross which had been prepared for Barabbas was laid upon His bruised and bleeding shoulders. ... The Saviour's burden was too heavy for Him in His weak and suffering condition. Since the Passover supper with His disciples, He had taken neither food nor drink. He had agonized in the garden of Gethsemane in conflict with satanic agencies. He had endured the anguish of the betrayal, and had seen His disciples forsake Him and flee. He had been taken to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and then to Pilate. From Pilate He had been sent to Herod, then sent again to Pilate. From insult to renewed insult, from mockery to mockery, twice tortured by the scourge,--all that night there had been scene after scene of a character to try the soul of man to the uttermost. Christ had not failed. He had spoken no word but that tended to glorify God. All through the disgraceful farce of a trial He had borne Himself with firmness and dignity. But when after the second scourging the cross was laid upon Him, human nature could bear no more. He fell fainting beneath the burden." (DA 741, 742).

Another point to be considered is that Jesus did not die at the hour the passover lamb was sacrificed, but at the hour of the evening sacrifice:

"When the loud cry, 'It is finished', came from the lips of Christ, the priests were officiating in the temple. It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be slain" (DA 756).

Rosangela, a Karaite rabbi from Egypt investigated this issue in the 1930's or 40's on behalf of one of our former ministers. This rabbi, who had no reason for personal bias, reported to Balenger that in 1844 the Karaites in the Egyptian community celebrated the day on September 23. The Rabbi was aware that Balenger wanted the practise of true Karaite reckoning.

Kevin, feel free to post on the jubilee material related to 1844 if you find something. I'd suggest a separate thread, but I am interested if you find something.

As a general rule, when scripture refers to months it is referring to the time from one new moon to the next. There are a few exceptions that I will come back to. Although the modern rabbinical calendar does not rely on observation of the new moons any longer because sighting them at Jerusalem was not possible after the dispersion, Jewish scholars agree that prior to 70 AD, sightings by two or more reliable witnesses were used to determine the beginning of each month. The rabbinical Jews and the Karaites therefore agree that the biblical way of determining the New Moon is through actual observation. And they also agree that the time of observation should be just after sunset on those days that it is possible for the New Moon to appear.

The observation method of determining the beginning of the month is strongly implied in scripture in several ways but is not directly stated. The Astronomical Book however states plainly that the new moon should be determined by actual observation of the first illuminated part. However, the Book seems to indicate that the proper time to observe the new moon is just after sunrise rather than just after sunset:

quote:

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And thus she rises: Her first phase in the east comes forth on the thirtieth morning: and on that day she becomes visible, and constitutes for you the first phase of the moon on the thirtieth day together with the sun in the portal where the sun rises.

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It probably comes as a surprise to many to learn that the most advanced astronomical mathematicians today using the best computers and software can only give us approximations for all celestial events involving three gravitational bodies such as the sun, earth and moon. Even a man like Isaac Newton had to confess to his colleague that his efforts to understand the orbit of the moon made his head ache! The algorithms that have been developed are good approximations and usually very accurate, but when it comes to something like predicting when the new moon will appear on a clear night at a given location, the most accurate calculations that astronomers can give us need to be assigned a probability because of not only the unsolved mystery of the three body problem but due to other variables such as the atmospheric conditions effecting the transmission and refraction of light, etc that prevent the mathematicians from developing a completely accurate algorithm.

One of the reasons for pointing this out is that similar problems exist regarding the observation of the solar year. The several decimal places of accuracy that we have been able to give the solar year in our own calendar and the degree of accuracy of high tech atomic clocks is a little misleading. Astronomers themselves tell us that the length of the year is changing slightly over time – it is getting longer - and so the several decimal places are changing too. So it is interesting to note in rule 1 above, the New Year in the Astronomical Book is close to the spring equinox but not the same. Rather than being defined as the time that the sun passes from due east to slightly north of due east, a slightly changing value, the New Year is defined as the first day that is longer than night. This marker for the New Year has the advantage over the equinox of being something that never changes. Whereas the sun will not cross the equator at exactly the same time in the future, as long as there are seasons, there will always be a first day in the spring that is longer than night.

To recap, our placing the crucifixion at 31 AD means that the ancient Jews did not use the Rabbinical method. Rosangela suggests that they may have used the Karaite method, but the main problem with that method is its vulnerability to the vicissitudes of the weather. Modern Karaites acknowledge that the feasts were likely kept in the wilderness after the Exodus when there was no barley harvest, but they suggest that during those years the start of each year was revealed by God himself.

This position is untenable because in later years when the Hebrews were in the Promised Land there were also years of sever drought when there was no barley harvest. The droughts during Elijah’s time were in answer to his prayer. Yet, there is no reason to think that God revealed the New Year directly.

Additionally, I have not seen any evidence that the Millerites relied on Karaite reckoning. Maybe they relied on the Astronomical Book. Roseangela, are you aware of any primary sources from the Millererites that would confirm that either way?

Moving on now to the 30 day months, there are four or five instances in the Bible when the number of days in series of months is given. Because the lunar month has 29 days almost half of the time (there are slightly more 30 day lunar months on average) these passages jump out at us because they do not fit with the notion that all Biblical references to months seem to be lunar. These passages are even more remarkable for the fact that there are no other instances in the bible where a span of time is calculated in both months and days where the montly duration is anything other than 30. This must be viewed therefore as one of the strongest pieces of evidence that the patriarchs and Hebrews not only had a lunar month but also a solar month similar or identical to the solar months of the Astronomical Book. Here are the passages:

quote:

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7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. . .
8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], the first [day] of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
8:14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. Genesis


9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. Revelation.

11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.
11:3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation.

13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty [and] two months. Revelation.

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