Regarding intercalations for the 360 day base year, the AB calendar implies that one month is added to the lunar year at year five to bring in back in line with this base year.

The calendar also implies that no intercalations are allowed for the 364 day solar year until the end of year eight when a single week or possibly four weeks should be added periodically as required.

I figured out a simple way keep the lunar phases in sync with the observed new moon at the end of year eight – a two day adjustment. I haven’t worked out how to do it with the solar year yet – that would require figuring out a cycle similar to our Gregorian calendar but instead of intercalating a single day every four years, it would involve creating a set of rules for intercalating a week and/or four weeks at the end of year eight that ultimately yields an average year length close to 365.2422 days.

But the fact is that all calendars, including the pre-calculated ones, are ultimately based on observation. I understand that 365.2422 is a composite of observations. Perhaps the reason that no one, including Isaac Newton, has solved the three body problem is the admonition of Christ, ‘What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.’ If we knew exactly how to intercalate any calendar with complete accuracy we could stop watching the heavenly bodies for time-keeping purposes. Perhaps God won’t let us go that far. From the study of scripture we know that some things are beyond our grasp.

That said, it would not be difficult to construct a set of intercalation rules using the 8 year cycle and one and/or four weeks as the intercalation period(s) that would come very close to the mean solar year. Neither the Gregorian calendar nor the modern Jewish calendar which is more accurate than the Gregorian nor any other calendar is exact.

Mark,

The error of the Gregorian calendar is of one day every 3300 years, while the error of the Metonic cycle, used by the modern Jewish calendar, is of one day every 219 years. The Jewish calendar cannot be more accurate than the Gregorian calendar.

It depends on who you ask apparently. The Jews, some of them anyway, claim theirs is more accurate. Now that you mention it, I think I have heard your figures as well. But thanks for sharing those estimates of the inaccuracy. It tends to confirm the need for observation because no one has figured out a completely accurate system.

There is a growing minority of support in the scholarly community for the notion that the AB calendar was followed in OT times. The idea has been in circulation among bible historians for about 50 years now but initially it was accepted by only a very few. Today, more evidence is available and the number of scholars accepting this view is increasing.

To recap, this issue caught my attention because of the Biblical weaknesses in the Karaite reckoning that we rely on to support our date of October 22. In reviewing that issue I also noticed that we need a scriptural basis for our claim that the crucifixion was in 31AD because according to rabbinical reckoning, there was no Passover on a Thursday or Friday in that year. The AB calendar solves these issues. In addition, it explains the flood account and its reckoning of time.

Rosangela raised the objection that this is an uninspired book. As we know, however, the book of Enoch was quoted by Jude, and it was widely viewed as scripture in the Early Church. There are passages in it that appear to contradict the Bible, but the same can be said about passages within the Bible itself – the passages on predestination for example. Rosangela suggests that parts of it may be correct – Jude agrees with this – but we do not know which parts. Well, if we take that approach we can at a minimum consider whether this part of the book might also be inspired. If it is, we have a means of understanding prophecy better and of more precisely dating historical events in the Bible.

The accuracy of the solar part of the AB calendar is like a cross between the Karaite and Gregorian calendars. Whereas the Karaite calendar could be out of sync with the solar year by six weeks or more in say a very cold spring (and not able to define the year at all if the barley failed completely), the Gregorian although based on observation is completely precalculated. The AB calendar is in between the two extremes, with the solar clock being realigned every eight years so that it is possible to know within an acceptable tolerance what the day is. I'm not sure yet how that part is intercalated.

But I mentioned above that that I figured out a simple way to realign the lunar year within this calendar. That aspect is the one that we need to know to establish the feasts. If you'd like, I can show you how it works and give an estimate of it's accuracy.

I am very curious though about any Adventist theologian who is suggesting a new date for the commencement of Christ's ministry in the MHP. That, on the surface, seems incredible, given the SOP's claim that the October 22 date was confirmed to her by Divine revelation.

Mark,

If there has ever been a Biblical calendar, the only calendar which could be classified as such is the calendar of the people of Israel. By trying to discredit this calendar, you are trying to discredit God’s own instructions. They are very simple, and there is no way around them. One thing was tied to the other.

“10 Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be received for you. On the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD.
13 And its food offering shall be two-tenth parts of fine flour mixed with oil, a fire offering to the LORD for a sweet savor. And the drink offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.
14 And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears, until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And you shall count to you from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete.
16 To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to the LORD. [Pentecost]”

As to October 22/23, you would be surprised to know what the position of the Millerites was. Why don’t you take a look at Juarez’s book?

Rosangela, if you have an electronic copy of the book by Jaurez can you post the parts you're referring to, send it to me, give me a link or tell me where I can find it on the internet. I'd prefer not to buy it.

You're aware that there is a centuries old debate among the Jews on which Sabbath is being referred to in that passage? If the Jews can't agree on how to interpret that portion, how can you build a Jewish calendar out of it? If you gave that passage to the average person and said this is how the a Jewish sect decides when the year begins they would probably look at the passage and then look at you blankly and wonder what you are talking about. What I am saying is that you have to read a lot of material into the text that is simply not there to arrive at the Karaite position.

You do not need to make any assumptions though to conclude that before the exodus, a month had 30 days and in the prophecies, a month has 30 days and a year 360.

Mark,

_ The link is in the first page of this thread.

_ The text is clear enough:

“And you shall count to you from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete. To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to the LORD.”

The word “sabbath” means seventh day. Simple.
For the pharisees and rabbinical Jews to hold their theory, the word “sabbath” would have to be interpreted as two different things in the very same verse! At the beginning of the verse it would have to mean “holy day” and at the end of the verse it would have to mean “seven days”. If the argument was that the word “shabbath” can mean a week from Sunday to Sabbath, it could still be considered. But saying that “shabbath” can mean any period of seven days is completely absurd. This argument doesn’t have any biblical support.
Besides, if Shavuot (Pentecost) was supposed to fall on a fixed calendar date, as the Rabbanites maintain, the Torah would have mentioned this date, as it indeed does for all the other holidays. However, if Shavuot is meant to always fall on a Sunday, the calendar date would change every year and this explains why the Torah did not mention a date for this holiday.

- The calendar explained in the Bible is very simple, logical, and intuitive, and modern karaite reckoning demonstrates that it works exactly like the 19-year cycle, as scholars in the past had supposed.

quote:

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You do not need to make any assumptions though to conclude that before the exodus, a month had 30 days and in the prophecies, a month has 30 days and a year 360.

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Mark, you are speaking of a 364-day calendar that no one knows how to intercalate, and which has nothing to do with a prophetic period of 360 days which must necessarily be equivalent to 360 x 365.2422 days, which is the duration of a true solar year.

Think about this logically Rosangela. God knows that the Jews would need to plan ahead. He knew the Jews would be the leading nation of the world for a time under Kings David and Solomon, and probably the most technologically advanced nation during that time. Do you think He would saddle them with a calendar that prevents knowing what day of the month it would be in the very next week, and not knowing how many months the current year would have? Ask the Karaites themselves how many of them run their businesses based on their calendar. I fully expect you will find that while they set their feasts by their lunar observations and the barley harvest, that they don’t run their lives by it. Even if the world followed the Karaite calendar, it would have to have a second method of tracking time just for planning purposes. Do you not think God understands that?

We are covering the same ground now. I’ve addressed these points but I don’t think you have addressed mine. A fear of encouraging others to take a candid look at the Book of Enoch I think is part of the issue here. Also, you don’t seem to be following what I’ve said about the three years of the AB calendar. We will have to disagree and that can be a healthy thing.