Section 1 - Addenda

What About the Seven Days?

Ezekiel 3:15 mentions that Ezekiel stayed with the exiles by the Chebar River for seven days. This detail is introduced after Ezekiel 1:1-3, which refers to the 5^th day of the 4^th month. But this doesn't mean that the 430-day mock siege began seven days after the 5^th day of the 4^th month.

There are three key details associated with the 5^th day of the 4^th month as mentioned in Ezekiel 1:1-3. First, Ezekiel's account states that the "word of Jehovah came to Ezekiel" on that day. Second, it mentions that "the hand of Jehovah came upon him" on the same day. Finally, both of these events occurred while Ezekiel was dwelling among the exiles by the Chebar River.

Ezekiel 3:14-16 explains that it was only after Ezekiel first saw the celestial chariot that a spirit carried him, after which he entered and began to dwell among the exiles by the Chebar River. At the end of his seven-day period of dwelling among the exiles, Ezekiel then says that "the word of Jehovah came" to him. It's at that moment that "the hand of Jehovah came upon" Ezekiel, as he mentions in Ezekiel 3:22.

Thus, the context of Ezekiel's account shows that the three key details associated with the 5^th day of the 4^th month of Ezekiel 1:1-3 don't all come into play until after Ezekiel 3:22. ↩︎

A Twelve-Month Calendar: Insights from the Hebrew Scriptures

The detailed nature of the biblical accounts in 1 Kings 4:7, 1 Kings 5:13-14, and 1 Chronicles 27:1-15 suggests that the ancient Israelites operated on a 12-month calendar without the inclusion of occasional leap months. These passages, rich in detail, are intended to provide a comprehensive view of the events they describe. Interestingly, there is a conspicuous absence of any mention of leap months in these accounts.

If the writers of these accounts and their contemporary audiences did indeed use leap months, the absence of any explanation or reference to such an important aspect of their calendar system would be puzzling. The suggestion that the writers were aware of leap months but deliberately chose not to include them in their accounts implies that they were not concerned with providing the reader with a reasonably thorough understanding of the logistics of the scheduling system.

However, the very inclusion of calendar details in these passages contradicts this notion. Why would the writers volunteer such specific calendar details if they were not trying to explain to the reader how the scheduling system worked? This contradiction strengthens the argument that the ancient Israelite calendar did not include leap months.

1 Kings 4:7 describes King Solomon’s administrative structure, which was organized around twelve officials, each responsible for one month of the year to provide food and other supplies for the royal household.

Rather than of levying a broad-based tax to fund the government, provisions were drawn directly from the produce of the land. The deputies therefore oversaw the delivery, storage, harvesting, and production of the monthly quotas, that culminated in a staggering volume of supplies, measured not only in tons but in the sheer scale of logistical complexity. The systematic nature of this arrangement suggests a calendar system that was well coordinated, predictable, and consistent. Leap months would have introduced an unpredictable variable into the operation of this enormous undertaking.

1 Kings 5:13-14 outlines King Solomon's labor management system for his monumental building projects. The simplicity, predictability, and fairness of the system is based on a twelve-month calendar with no leap months.

Solomon conscripted thirty thousand men, divided into groups of ten thousand. Each group would work in Lebanon for one month and then rest at home for two months. This three-month cycle would be repeated four times a year on a twelve-month calendar, providing predictability and fairness.

Each work shift would experience an equal proportion of all four seasons of the year, distributing the demanding work seasons evenly among the workers. The introduction of a leap month could disrupt this cycle, leading to confusion, errors, and dissatisfaction. It would jeopardize the predictability, consistency, and simplicity of the work system outlined in this passage.

When 1 Kings 5:13-14 is viewed from the perspective of a 12-month calendar with no leap months, it describes a regular cycle of work and rest that follows the natural seasons. This interpretation is more directly supported by the biblical text than a leap-month interpretation, making it a more persuasive argument.

1 Chronicles 27:1-15 describes the military organization under King David, which was divided into twelve divisions, each serving for one month of the year. 1 Chronicles 27:1 says that these divisions would come in and go out "during all the months of the year" implying that 12 divisions were sufficient to cover every possible month of the calendar used at the time.

In conclusion, the detailed nature of these accounts and the absence of any mention of leap months suggest that the ancient Israelites operated on a 12-month calendar without the inclusion of leap months. ↩︎

Aligning Time and Tradition

I've proposed a calendar system based on the book of Ezekiel. It consists of a year of 368 days, divided into 12 months. While this may seem to be out of sync with the solar year, it's important to remember that even our modern calendar system, which calls a year 365 days, is not perfectly aligned with the solar year. Leap years of 366 days are built in to account for this discrepancy.

Ezekiel's calendar can be seen in a similar light. It typically consists of 368 days, with occasional adjustments to maintain alignment with the seasons. One possible solution is to reduce the length of each 4^th year by 11 days, resulting in a year of 357 days. This adjustment aligns the calendar with the solar year over a 4-year period on the scale of whole days, as shown by the equation:

$$\frac{(368 \times 4) - 11}{4} = 365 \frac{1}{4}$$

Using such a system would synchronize the lunar and solar years over the course of 19 sets of 4-year periods. This would represent a span of 76 years in which the amount of time in 912 calendar months would almost exactly equal the amount of time in 940 lunar months. This fact could possibly serve as a means of harmonizing the lunar and solar calendars. It’s worth noting that in Biblical times, the lunar month, which lasts approximately 29.53 days, is known to have been a crucial component of timekeeping.

Another unique feature of this system emerges when 7 sets of 4-year periods are combined, the 28-year cycle, where the days of the week align with the same calendar dates every 28 years. This cyclical pattern provides a framework that would allow the Israelites to predict whether a particular day of the year would fall on a Sabbath, hundreds of years in advance. For example, if the 1^st day of the 1^st month is a Sunday in a given year, it will also be a Sunday 28 years later. This predictability would make it easier to coordinate and schedule weekly temple service.

David divided the priesthood into 24 divisions by patriarchal household to serve in the temple on a rotating basis for one-week periods. With this proposed solution, each paternal household's week of temple service would predictably begin on the same calendar date again after 8 iterations of the 28-year cycle. For example, if Jehoiarib's paternal household was scheduled to begin a week of temple service on the 1^st day of the 1^st month, his household would begin a week of temple service on the same calendar date again 224 years later.

The 28-year cycle is also consistent with the Israelite Jubilee tradition, which divides time into 50-year intervals. The final year of the 25^th iteration of the 28-year cycle would mark 700 years of elapsed time, corresponding to the 14^th Jubilee.

In conclusion, while Ezekiel's calendar may seem unconventional at first glance, it provides a logical system for keeping track of time. Its potential benefits for long-term planning and religious observance make it a compelling framework to consider.↩︎

Convergences with the 28-Year Cycle

The proposed calendar system has a 28-year cycle that aligns the days of the week with the same dates every 28 years. This system can be linked to biblical events using Exodus 16. According to this account, the manna began on the 16^th day of the second month in 1513 B.C.E., and the weekly Sabbath was instituted seven days later. In today's terms, this Sabbath would be a Saturday. So, for the Sabbath to be seven days after the beginning of the manna, the 16^th day of the second month (when the manna began) must be a Sunday. This is possible in the 28-year cycle by making the 1^st day of the 1^st month of the year a Sunday in the 1^st position of the cycle. This makes the 16^th day of the second month a Sunday for the year in the 9^th position of the cycle. This would put 1513 B.C.E. in the 9^th position of the 28-year cycle.

This alignment produces some interesting patterns. Exodus 12:40-41 states that the 14^th day of the 1^st month in 1513 B.C.E. ended exactly 430 years of dwelling by the Israelites. Moses emphasizes the exactness of the date by saying, “on this very day”. If we put 1513 B.C.E. in the 9^th position of the cycle and count back 430 years, we get 1943 B.C.E. in the 27^th position of the cycle. This means that the 14^th day of the 1^st month in both 1513 B.C.E. and 1943 B.C.E. would be the exact same day of the week, Tuesday. The fact that counting back 430 years using the proposed 28-year cycle results in not only the same calendar date, but the same day of the week across centuries strengthens the case for this calendar system.

Ezra 7:9, Ezra 8:15, and Ezra 8:31 provide interesting details about the dates when a group of Jews began their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. They gathered by a river in Babylon on the 1^st day of the 1^st month in the year 468 B.C.E. They camped at this location for three days before making preparations for their journey. On the 12^th day of the 1^st month, they left for Jerusalem. Their journey ended when they reached Jerusalem on the 1^st day of the 5^th month. If we keep 1513 B.C.E. in the 9^th position of the cycle and count forward 1,045 years, we get 468 B.C.E. in the 18^th position of the cycle. This calculation suggests that the last day of their initial three-day encampment fell on a Sabbath, and both the beginning and the end of their journey occurred on the day following a Sabbath.

These calculations are significant when considering practical matters related to major undertakings such as this journey. For example, they indicate that a Sabbath would conveniently fall on the day before the preparations for the journey were to begin, as might be expected, thus strengthening the case for this calendar system. They have further significance when one considers the restrictions placed on travel in ancient Israel. Jewish tradition limited travel on the Sabbath to a very short distance. In the context of a long journey like this, involving hundreds of people over several months, it would be logical to plan departures and arrivals on days following a Sabbath. As we can see, the account also follows the calendar system in this regard.