Hebrew Scriptural Calendar #1

History of Time & How it Changed from Creation

Fred R. Coulter—March 18, 2015

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This is going to be a series about the calendar in the Bible, the Calculated Hebrew Calendar.

This is a very divisive element among the Churches of God today. This is a thing that has created more problems, divided families and congregations. It has made people feel that they have more understanding than anybody else.

In the 1990s there were all different kinds of calendars, with different people doing the things that they have done, that one year we had five days of Passover.

Brethren, that cannot be right!

As we go through this, what we see is that there is a Scriptural calendar. But the Scriptural calendar is not the one that most people claim is a Scriptural calendar. The ones who claim a Scriptural calendar, with their own figurings, mathematics, citings, viewings and so forth, do not have a Scriptural calendar at all!

We're going to see that they say to 'trust no man' and that it should not be the way the Jews have done it, because if we don't follow Judaism then we should throw away the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, and every man should do his own thing whenever the new moon comes to them.

We're going to see that there are quite a few different ways of figuring the New Moon from different things that people have devised out of their own mind and they miss altogether as to what God is doing.

I've spent ten days just studying for this presentation. It is very technical, difficult and something that you need to understand. We are told, as Jesus said, 'Do not let any man deceive you by any means!' One of the biggest deceptions that has come along, is to get people to move away from the days that God has ordained onto days that they think are the days that has ordained, but God has not done it!

We're also going to see how it is very classical that when you have a certain amount of knowledge and you don't have all the facts, that you end up with wrong conclusions.

We're also going to see that we're living in a very sophisticated time and age and a time when people are presenting things, using Scriptures, that can sound very Scriptural, but are indeed absolutely wrong!

We're going to see that people make pronouncements that there should be no postponements. They are vehemently and absolutely against them. Then they themselves turn around and make postponements.

We're going see that those who put forth their calendar propositions say that you should 'trust no man' and they end up saying 'trust in me' or 'trust in my computer.'

You need to be very understanding in what we're going to cover. You nee do to realize that it's so easy to get led off in a way that seems right, especially when there are certain Scriptural things that are applied.

What we're going to do in this first message is we're going to examine what the Scriptures have to say concerning time. God is the Author of time; God created the heavens and the earth, and the time factors that are involved here. First of all, as we go through we're going to see:

with the factors that are involved in it.

Then we're going to see—from the Scriptures—what the calendar is that God sanctified in the Scriptures!. We need to understand this, and we're going to begin with the things that we know and go from there.

The reason that I'm going to emphasize this is because all of those who say they have a Scriptural calendar, do not have a Scriptural calendar! Yet, they many even start right out here. They may even say that 'we need to get rid of the Jewish traditions. Well, we do need to get rid of those Jewish practices that are against the Laws of God.

2-Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable…"—given by inspiration of God!

The canonization of the Old Testament under Ezra and the re-writing of it in the blocked Hebrews script was inspired of God!

There are books in the Bible that are mentioned, but we only have a reference to that. We don't have them in the Bible, because God inspired Ezra to not put it there. Yet, there are sections in the Scriptures that shows exactly which calendar that God has authorized.

We are going to see one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated by the Jews upon Christians, which has been perpetuated by everyone who uses a false calendar. That the calendar that we have today—the Hebrew Calendar—did not begin until the 380sA.D. under Hillel II. We will show by historical quotes and facts that is absolutely, entirely and fraudulently a lie! Anyone who begins at that point has not even begun to understand concerning the calendar situation.

As we get into this, I want to thank Carl Franklin for all of the research work that he's done to assist in this. I want to thank all of those who sent all their papers concerning the calendar. I have read them and I will show you where you are right, and I will show you where you are wrong!

The thing that is most important is that we must be right with God, and we must be right with the Word of God.

Verse 15: "…which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus"—unto salvation!

Let's understand something very important as we are going along: the New Testament Church has its roots in the Old Testament Scriptures! It does not have its roots in Judaism! We are not following traditions of the Jews! We are following what is in the Scriptures!

Romans 11:17: "But if some of the branches were broken off… [because they rejected God] …and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and you became a fellow partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree."

We cannot divorce ourselves away from the things in the Old Testament. We do not find in the New Testament whatsoever any indication of which calendar was being used. But from the O.T. we will find out which calendar was, in fact, being used, and which calendar that Jesus went by. Everything that Jesus went by is what we should go by.

Let's go back to the beginning, because God has created everything that there is. We find how God defines a day, the evening and morning were day 1, the evening and morning were day 2, day 3, day 4, etc. Let's see what God said concerning time, and that he did give the sun, moon and stars to give us understanding of time.

Genesis 1:14: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons, and for days and years.'" So, we have:

This becomes very important when try to figure out how we take care of some of the odd remainders of time, which must be accumulated!

This is telling us that we must have whole days, whole years, and as we will see whole months! The first indication of the calendar that we have in the Scriptures is with the Flood of Noah (Gen. 7).

We know from the creation account, because all the fruits were ready to eat and so forth, that the creation was finished in the fall of the year!

People get very upset about the fact that the Hebrew calendar is calculated from the fall of the year. They do not have a clue as to why. They get very upset because there are postponements and they do not have a clue as to why.

Some people say, 'Let's throw it all out and let's go back to the calendar that God created.' Well, what we're going to do is look at the evidence of calendar that God created.

Genesis 7:11: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life… [God takes account of time; here we have 600 years] in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened."

Verse 24: "And the waters prevailed upon the earth… [above the mountain tops and everything] …a hundred and fifty days"—5 x 30!

Let's see how this works out. Remember that it was 2nd month (v 11).

Genesis 8:4: "And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat."

So, we have 5 months, 150 days, meaning that there were 30 days in a month. This is gives us an understanding of the time that it originally was at the time of the creation.

We have some very strange things to contend with: our year today is 365-1/4 days. That creates a problem for us in calculating anything today, or in figuring anything by observation. However, it is apparent by these things here. We cannot absolutely prove it. Let must just state categorically here: There is no such thing as a book of calendars in the Bible! It's just not there!

What the Bible does is give us an indication of time that's very important. This helps us understand some of the problems that we are confronted with.

When we have a circle, we have 360 degrees. We don't have 365-1/4. I believe that goes back to the time that the calendar that God created. They did not have the problems that we do today. I believe there were12 months of 30 days each, with the year being 360 days long.

That means that today we cannot go back to the calendar that God gave Adam. We cannot go back to the calendar that was originally talked about in the book of Genesis. Time has changed and we're going to see the times that have changed and so forth.

Let's see the account as we have it. Here's one of the first encounters that we have concerning time more of what we are used to in Scriptures:

Exodus 12:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you'" (vs 1-2).

God made a plain and simple statement that "…This month shall be to you the beginning of months…."

Why would He make that statement? It's possible that they did not have this as the first month of the year at that particular time when they were in Egypt!

We find throughout the Bible that the months are numbered, some are named.

Exodus 13:3: "And Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of His hand. There shall be no leavened bread eaten. On this day you are going out, in the month Abib'" (vs 3-4).

Abib, being the first month, means green ears! This has to do with the green ears of the barley harvest. We will see how that fits into the calendar situation a little later on.

We also find it in Exo. 23:15 mentioned again. I will leave it to you to look up all the different months that we have in the Bible. We have almost every month numbered, with the exception of the 13th month, and yes, we will see in the Scriptures that there is a 13th month.

Exodus 23:15: "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed…"

Whenever there's a time appointed, that means that God has set the time! That goes clear back to Gen. 1:14 that God set the lights. That's important to understand. God set the lights, not the darkness! He set the lights for determining the time; the sun and the moon!

"…in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty."

Then we have the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits and all of them listed without any date given here.

The only place in all of the Old Testament, where we have all of the dates given concerning the Holy Days, we have that in Lev. 23. Now, so that we understand what we're talking about:

Do you think that God in commanding these things to be kept forever would leave us in doubt as to when these days should be, even if there were astronomical changes in things concerning the earth, the sun, the moon and stars? We will see that there were, and we're going to see that they were rather dramatic.

Lev. 23 is, of course, with the calendar that was with Moses; here's what God said:

Leviticus 23:1: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations… [times of Holiness] …even these are My appointed Feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings"'" (vs 1-3).

We are responsible to understand when the Sabbath Day comes according to the time when the sun sets, wherever they live on the earth.

But as we are going to see, calculating the months and years the way that we have them today is not as simple as watching the sun set. It's much more complicated because many other factors need to be taken into account.

Verse 4: These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons."

We're going to see that a day is not set until it is properly set according to the calendar, and then it is proclaimed. It has to be that way as we will see.

Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the LORD'S Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD…." (vs 5-6).

Then we have the 21st day being the 7th day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We just finished how to count Pentecost, I'm not going to go through that.

{Note our booklet and numerous messages on the subject of How to Count Pentecost—truthofGod.org}

Then we come down to the Feast of Trumpets, v 23: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel saying…'" (vs 23-24).

Moses was to do the speaking. God is the One Who gave it to the priesthood to have these things to tell the people when these days would be. There are many quotes saying that it's not given to everyone to figure it out for themselves. Because 'everyone does what is right in his own eyes,' and when they do that, then you have all of the confusion that we have today, and God is not the author of confusion.

"…'In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of ram's horns, a Holy convocation'" (v 24)—which is the Feast of Trumpets!

Verse 27: "Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement…."

We'll come back and cover atonement a little later. Then it also tells us concerning the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, which is the 8th day and that's the 15th day of the 7th month as it begins.

We're going to take a look at just a couple of things that we have, and I'll put it in chart form for you to see. {chart is no longer available}

Let's see what the apparent creation calendar from the book of Genesis is. It's a 'luni' that means lunar or month and solar calendar.

That in itself has not permanently changed, though there are a couple of instances in the Scripture that shows that it did change.

We have that by creation, because God worked the 6 days of creation and rested the 7th and hallowed the 7th day making it the Sabbath. Every 7th day is the Sabbath!

Remember that there were 5 months that the Flood prevailed, 150 days, so we have the months of 30 days each.

What is so important is that all of these are equally divisible numbers with no remaining parts to account for. It would be the same thing if you had a business transaction and it was dealing in whole dollars. You don't have cents to put up with to reconcile and carry over and make another whole dollar.

When you do that that, and you have a remainder left over, then you must accumulate it to the next whole number and round up. That is self-evident in all mathematical propositions and self-evident in the calendar as we will see a little bit later.

It was self-justifying and did not need any justifying to reconcile. So, the moon apparently was in a situation where it was exactly 30 days. That means for the earth to go around the sun in 12 months, it was 360 days. This is where, I believe, that we get the 360 degrees in a circle.

Some people say that 360 days is a prophetic year. I do not believe that that is absolutely correct in all instances. Even the Crudence Concordance says that a Hebrew year has 360 days, but that is only relative to the creation!

So, in this we have something very simple. We don't have to worry about anything. Everything is right on schedule, right on time! We have no problem knowing:

It's all synchronized!

In 12 months, and also in the universe they have divided down what are called the Zodiac. The Zodiac can be used for good or evil, because it's either astronomical, which has to do with the true facts of the universe, or it is astrology, which is used with the demonic interpretation of these things.

You had the 12 signs or sections of the heavens, which were later described and called the zodiac, and each one of them had a major star—the major constellation within it, which in determining the times and seasons, those were used at a later date.

So, here we have everything perfect; today we don't have this. Today we cannot go back to this calendar. What would you do if you had a calendar today of 360 days in the year? You would end up 5-1/4 days short! Within a very short period of time your days of the month would rotate back and relationship to the setting in the year as the actual year of the earth going around the sun in 365-1/4 days.

So, it is quite obvious that we cannot use it! Anyone who tells you, 'Let's go back to the calendar that God created' does not have a clue as to what they're talking about. You can know immediately that they don't understand one thing about time!

Today we are not living in the creation calendar!

Today it is an astronomical fact that a solar year is 365-1/4 days with some minor variations generally minus on that.

I just want you to see that this is the apparent creation calendar from the book of Genesis, broken down in a luni/solar calendar:

And these are all equally divisible numbers, 12 goes into there 30 times!

So, you see you have no problem. If we had this calendar today (the creation calendar) I wouldn't be here talking to you about this, because we would all understand it with no problem.

We are not told how long that creation calendar was in effect. We don't know if the time right after the Flood was exactly the same. The only thing we can do is assume that it was the same because of the 150 days and the ark resting on the land in the time that it did:150 days of 5 months of 30 days each!

We are not told in the Scripture that the calendar that Moses had originally was not exactly the same as the one that Moses had. However, we're going to see that there were some astronomical changes that took place.

When those astronomical changes take place in relationship to the Earth, the Earth cannot be in the same relationship to the sun as it was before. It is completely and absolutely a physical impossibility:

that would change it's position in relationship to the sun

it would never go back to where it was originally

Let's look at those in the Bible and some of the things that we have that first of all changed the calendar, which was the one that Moses originally used. Please bear in mind it did not change the need:

Let's see what happened in Jos. 10, because this is a major astronomical change that took place. I don't know exactly how this was done. I don't know how it was that God performed this, but nevertheless, it says here and this is traditionally called Joshua's long day. Just exactly how God did this, we don't know. We can have a speculation and idea concerning it, but we don't know exactly.

Joshua 10:12: "Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, 'Sun! Stand still upon Gibeon! And, moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon!' And the sun stood still and the moon stood still until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?…." (vs 12-13).

The book of Jasher we do not have in the Scriptures. God did not see fit to put it there. But it was historically written there and the summary of it is given here. That's what God inspired to be here. God inspired the book of Jasher not be here.

If we truly had the copy of the original of it, maybe we could get some understanding from the book of Jasher. But since we do, and there is a book of Jasher today, we don't know if it's exactly the same one that is referred to here in this particular part of the Bible when Ezra was summarizing and canonizing and putting the Bible in its final inspired edited form.

"…And the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down about a whole day" (v 13).

Just exactly how God did this, I do not know. Maybe we could look at a diagram a little later, and I can give you what I think happened, but this changed everything from that day forward. From this time forward, Joshua could not use the calendar of Moses. Time was permanently change at this particular point.

We do not know if the year was made longer or shorter, but in order for this to be accomplished without stopping the Earth from rotating, and if the Earth were stopped from rotating then everything on the earth would be destroyed because of the inertia of stopping the Earth in its rotation. We know that didn't happen!

We'll just have to accept on faith that however God did it, He did it it's in His Word and He said He did, for about the space of a whole day. This means approximately 24 hours. I don't think you can take a computer—like someone did—and compute back to the beginning of creation, and lo and behold, there's something that is missing, and that's Joshua's long day.

As we're going to see, it is absolutely irrefutably utterly impossible to calculate backward from the time-setting that we have today and come to the actual true day of creation. Anyone who says that they can does not know what he's talking about.

When we come to the time of Solomon we find that they had a calendar that actually named the months. We have the name and the number.

1-Kings 6 gives a summary concerning the temple, when it was built, when it was finished, and it gives us the names of the months. We're going to see that the names of these months are not exactly the names of the months of the Hebrew calendar today. There was yet several other changes that took place, which affected the calculating and the counting of time.

1-Kings 6:37: "In the fourth year… [of the reign of Solomon] …in the month Zif, the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid."

We'll see a little later from a listing of the months exactly what month that was and the name of the month today.

Verse 38: "And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month…"

I do believe that Zif was the 2nd month; today the 8th month is not called Bul.

"…the house was finished according to all its parts, and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it" (v 38)—and Solomon  dedicated it!

Let's look at the dedication, and again, we're going to see the name of a month, and then we're going to see from 2-Chron. The number of that month, and the number of that month today is not called the same.

1-Kings 8:1: "Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they might bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel were gathered to King Solomon at the Feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month" (vs 1-2).

So, it took from the time they finished in the 8th month, it took nearly a whole year preparing to have the dedication of the temple. Let's see what happened at that time, and the things concerning when they dedicated it. Let's see how long it took place and how this fits into the Holy Days. One of them we have to deduce which Holy Day it is, and the others are pretty plain.

Now, this was after everything was taken into the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the Book of the Law, the Book of the Covenant. When everything was there the showbread table was there, the table in incense was there; everything was complete and finished.

2-Chronicles 5:11: "And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the Holy place (for all the priests present were sanctified, and did not wait by course)."

We're going to see a little later on that there were far more priests and they listed them out and gave them a signed weekly courses—24 courses—in which to carry out the function of the priesthood. We will see that was implemented right after this:

Verse 12: "And the Levitical singers—all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being clothed in white linen, and having cymbals and with harps and lyres—stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with silver trumpets."

I believe that this was on the Feast of Trumpets. We find something very interesting when this takes place, and then we will go back to the dedication of the tabernacle, and we're going to see that the timeframe fits in with spring and autumn, which is the reverse of the creation that was autumn and then spring.

I think that will also tie in as to why the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is calculated in part—not in toto—because there are astronomical reasons for it being calculated in the fall instead of in the spring.

Verse 13: "It came to pass, as the trumpeters and the singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the silver trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, 'For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever,' that the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD."

God did this to demonstrate that He put His presence into the temple.

Verse 14: "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God!"

This was to signify the same thing that occurred when Moses dedicated the tabernacle and all the implements of it. We will see where the tabernacle was dedicated. This was on the 1st day of the 1st month of the 2nd year after they came out of the land of Egypt:

Exodus 40:34: "And the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of the congregation because the cloud stayed on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel journeyed on in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was taken up; for the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel in all their journeys" (vs 34-38).

So, this was everything that was there and everything that was done. All during that time that continued that way.

This tells us the day that this happened, v 17: "And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first of the month, the tabernacle was set up."

I believe, as we look at some other Scriptures in 2-Chron. we will get a time-setting as to when this took place. Then we will get a chronology and we can match it with the Holy Days by properly understanding it. God does expect us to use our mind, and does expect us to think, but to properly divide the Scriptures and properly understand what's going on.

2-Chronicles 7:5: "And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen… [they had a lot of beet to eat; must have been really great] …and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And the priests served in their offices, and the Levites with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD—saying, 'His mercy endures forever'—when David praised Him by their ministry. And the priests sounded silver trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. And Solomon made Holy the middle of the court before the house of the LORD, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings… [there were just too many, thousands and thousands] …and the grain offerings, and the fat" (vs 5-7).

This gives us an idea of what took place. Remember that on the day it was dedicated, the glory of the Lord filled the temple with a cloud and with His glory, just exactly like He did when it was dedicated originally with the tabernacle back in the 1st month. But we're going to see this was in the 7th month.

(break)

Now we're going to get an exact time-setting when these things took place:

Verse 8: "And at the same time Solomon kept the Feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt. And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people" (vs 8-10).

Let's look at this a little bit more in detail and then we will be able to determine that the presence if God was put into the temple on the 1st day of the 7th month. We will be able to deduce that from the facts that we have here.

First of all, the 23rd day of the 7th month is the day after the Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is 8 days long.

The Feast of Tabernacles is 7 days long and then it says, "…on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away…"—which means they kept the Last Great Day.

"…they kept the dedication of the altar seven days…" That's why they had all of these offerings!

We know that they could not keep it seven days before the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.

The only offerings to be made were those for the Day of Atonement, and that was it—period!

Therefore, you could not have it running from the 7th day of the month, encompassing the Day of Atonement and coming on down and butting those up together with the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.

It means that if the kept the Day of Dedication 7 days, that had to begin on the 1st day of the 7th month, which was the Feast of Trumpets, which is depicted by what took place there at the Day of Dedication with all the trumpets trumpeting and so forth. That's when God put His presence in the temple.

Then they kept that Feast 7 days altogether from the 1st through the 7th of the 7th month, and then they stopped the dedication of the altar at the end of the 7th day. So, you had days 8-10 in which nothing was done on up through days 11-13 and then beginning in the evening as the 14th day ended beginning the 15th day of the 7th month began the Feast of Tabernacles.

That's exactly how this was fit together properly so that we can understand the timeframe that this took place. You will notice that it was said there the things that were done when it was completed and finished.

We're going to see where the courses of the priests were all divided down according to the time and the days, and everything according to their duties.

1-Chronicles 23:6: "And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath and Merari."

We see them listed down week by week beginning in:

1-Chronicles 24:7: "Now, the lot for the first course came out to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim…" (vs 7-8)—and all the way down through the 24th course!

There were 24 courses in which this was done all the way down. Each course would work one week, twice a year, and then they would be there for the three weeks for the Feasts: Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Tabernacles all the priests would be there.

This is how we can understand exactly when Jesus was born, because the 8th course was the course of Abijah, which was the time of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. It says that clearly in Luke 1. that's how we are able to derive the order of the courses of the priests and we know when they took place.

Let's understand that this calendar that we have in the time of Solomon was not the same calendar was not the same calendar of the time of Moses. Joshua long day ensued and there were changes in the timing of the Earth going around the sun. also, there were other heavenly signs during the days of Amos and Isaiah.

Carl Franklin sent me a paper and I appreciate him doing all the research on this. This is called The Heavenly Signs of Amos and Isaiah from 793B.C. to 710B.C. We are going to see that these changed all of the things concerning the calendar from that time until this.

First of all, let me just give you a summary. Here are some of the things that Carl has written in this paper:

Heavenly Signs of Amos and Isaiah from 793B.C. to 710B.C.  by Carl D. Franklin
{https://www.cbcg.org/images/PDF/heavenly-signs-of-amos-isaiah.pdf}

The Hebrew calendar of Moses' day contained 360 Days and 360 Solar Days. Thus, there was no need for a thirteenth month added seven years out of a nineteen year cycle.

Some people get all upset concerning a 19-year time cycle and they don't have a clue as to its relationship to the lunar months and the solar months and keeping everything justified.

The Hebrew calendar of Hezekiah's day contained 360 days but the solar calendar now contained 365-1/4 days.

So, at the beginning of Hezekiah's reign it may be—we don't know for sure—that there were still 360 days in the calendar at that time. But afterward it was permanently changed to 365-1/4 days. You cannot ignore that extra time! You have to account for that time. Yet, God still says to keep the Feasts, so we'll see what happened.

Intercalated years were not part of the original calendar and were not needed until after the time of Hezekiah.

Beginning in the days of King Uzziah and lasting through part of King Hezekiah's reign, God added 5-1/4 days to the solar year.

We're going to see what happened there!

A solar year and a lunar year no longer matched each other with 360 days each determined by observation of the exact beginning of Nisan 14. it was only possible to get it within 48 hours at that particular time until God again revealed the calendar to them the way it should have been.

From the days of Josiah to Nehemiah, although needed after the time of Hezekiah, calculations were employed from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and the great assembly of Israel.

We're going to see that it actually goes back to then. We're going to see that the calculation of the calendar went clear back to the days of David. We have archeological, historical irrefutable facts that that was so. We also have historical irrefutable facts that in the 5th centuryB.C. the calendar that the Hebrews have today is the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, exactly the same.

The only change that was made from that time to this was in the year 142A.D. when they adjusted the cycle of the 13 month years—leap years—and changed them to the sequence that we have now.

So the 2nd month—Adar—or the 13th month was not mentioned in the Scriptures directly, but we are going to see that in the days of Ezekiel there had to be a 13-month year for the chronological events that he gave us in the book of Ezekiel to have taken place.

There are people who say that the Scriptures do not show a 13-month year. Let's see why we must, on occasion, have a 13-month year. Let's what happened is recorded in Scripture so we know exactly why time has changed. It being changed permanently did not ever go back to the 360-day year, the 12 months of 30 days that was up to the time of Moses.

In 793 B.C. Jeroboam II, King of Israel, ended a 41-year reign over Israel (833-793 B.C.). Amos ended prophesying. The heavenly signs prophesied by him occurred. Venus approached the earth and a great earthquake occurred throughout the land of Israel and Judah. The sun went down (or forward from an observer's viewpoint) 10 degrees on the sun dial. The earth itself had been moved backward. The earth was thus darkened at noon as Amos had prophesied. The Great Rift Valley was formed or greatly expanded! All navigation, communication and commerce was disturbed worldwide. The calendars of the nations were now worthless.

It's a known fact that the calendars had to be changed in almost every nation to reflect the time that we now know is the solar year. The solar year now extended out to 365-1/4 days, as we have today, no longer coincided with 12 months of 30 days each of 360 days.

You have to account for the time. God is the One Who changed it!

Here's a quote from the Book of Josephus:

"Accordingly, when a remarkable day was come, and a general festival [i.e. Passover.   These heavenly signs always occur at Passover. The Greek of Revelation signifies that a full moon will be darkened] was to be celebrated, he [Uzziah] put on the holy garment…

This is the king of Israel putting on the priest's garment, and the king was not to do that!

…and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar, which he was prohibited to do by Azariah the high priest, who had fourscore priests with him, and who told him that it was not lawful for him to offer sacrifice, and that 'none besides the posterity of Aaron were permitted so to do.'   And when they cried out that he must go out of the temple, and not transgress against God, he was wroth at them, and threatened to kill them, unless they would hold their peace. In the mean time a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately. And before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself [toward the west] four furlongs [880 yards or 2640 feet], and stood still at the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the king's gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction" (Josephus, Book IX, Chapter X).

The Temple lay in ruins and would not be used again for a period of 173 years….

Down to Hezekiah, who restored the temple a little later on and then another astronomical event took place. Then we know that the temple was restored again during the days of Josiah in the 18th year of Josiah.

The northern kingdom of Israel was so devastated that no king ruled for another 22 years (792-771 B.C.).

The entire continent of Africa had moved toward the west. Africa and the southwestern tip of Arabia had moved farther apart. The Red Sea that had been formed or greatly expanded at the time of Moses was expanded even more. A time of great confusion began for dynasty 18, Thebes—confusion which lasted through the 700's B.C. The continued  rise  of Median power (they began breaking away from their Assyrian overlords in 816 B.C.) was given a boost. Phase I of the Assyrian Empire came to an abrupt end three years hence in 782. It was another 37 years before Phase II of the Assyrian Empire began, thus setting the Assyrians on their final ascendancy to power and collapse (745-612).

Seven or eight years after the earth-shaking events of 793, in the year 785 B.C., the planet Mars approached and threatened the earth for the first time.

They did get a rock off the continent of Antarctica which precisely matched the rock samples that were taken by satellite and the expedition that was sent to the planet Mars and it radioed back all the scientific information of it.

The only thing we know for sure right now is that there is an asteroid belt between Mars and the Earth. This asteroid belt has great huge chucks of rock and boulders that are in orbit. We're thankful that they are there rather than plummeting onto the Earth.

Seven or eight years after the earth-shaking events of 793, in the year 785 B.C., the planet Mars approached and threatened the earth for the first time. Every 15 years for the next 75 years (785-710) Mars made a close approach to the earth. These close encounters with Mars were so disruptive that it took the Greeks another 9 years to re-establish their calendar (the Greek Olympiads would begin in the year 776). In 770 Zechariah began a 6-month reign in Israel (the first after the interregnum of 22 years). His reign was interrupted again by an approaching Mars. Shallum began a I- month reign in 769, the year Mars approached the earth the second time. At the beginning of 768, Menahem  began a 10-year reign over Israel to the year 759. In 758 Pekahiah began a 2-year reign over Israel to 757, Isaiah began prophesying in 756 B.C.

Uzziah ended a 52-year reign over Judah in 756 and Pekah began a 20- year reign over Israel (756-737). A year later Jotham began a 16-year reign over Judah (755-740).

In the summer of 763 B.C., a great and totally unexpected "eclipse" of the sun was recorded. Venus and Mars had collided again! Venus settled into its present orbit, never again to threaten the earth. Mars, however, was more erratic than ever in its orbit, and threatened the earth again by 755
B.C. Two years later, in 753, the Perpetual Archons of Athens  were replaced by the Dicennial Archons….

That is changing the type of configuration and rule they had.

…Their rule covered the next 70 years to 683 B.C. In 683, the government passed into the hands of Annual Archons….

In other words, they changed rulers every year!

…In 753, 10 years after the third encounter with Mars, Rome was re-founded for the third time--this time by Romulus and Remus. Mars, the "god of war," had caused a great deal of political instability!

The year 747 B.C. also marked the beginning of the era of Nabonassar of  Babylonia….

It was the beginning of the Babylonian Empire!

…Two years later, in 745, a new dynasty commenced with Tiglath-Pileser II at Nineveh Assyria. The second and final phase of the Assyrian Empire was under way. It was this dynasty that endured through the final 133 years of Assyrian power until the final collapse of Assyria in the year 612 B.C.

Around 740, Mars approached the Earth for the fourth time. Jotham ended a 16-year reign over Judah (756-740) and Ahaz began a 16-year reign over Judah (739-724).  Micah commenced  his prophesying.  There was great trepidation as the year 738 approached, as another encounter with Venus was anticipated.  Venus, however, was not to threaten the earth again. Isaiah did prophesy in 738, however, of approaching astronomical calamity, the heavenly signs of Hezekiah (Isa. 13).

They know that these things happened. They have examined the strata and the rocks of the earth that the poles of the earth have been reversed two times. The magnetic power of the earth has been removed and changed two times.

Here is what was prophesied; not only was this a prophesied to take place there concerning Babylon, but this was a prophecy that would be fulfilled in type at that particular time. It says concerning this event:

Isaiah 13:6: "Howl! For the Day of the LORD is at hand…"

It is the Day of the Lord at hand when God sets His hand to bring all of these calamities to come to pass. This is how we know that it's going to happen again in the end-time, because it happened here at this particular time.

"…it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore, all hands shall be faint, and every man's heart shall melt; and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain like a woman who travails. They shall be amazed at one another, their faces are like blazing fire. Behold, the Day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation; and He shall destroy the sinners out of it, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light. And I will punish the world for their evil…" (vs 6-11).

God did at that time, and He did it with the signs that took place.

"…and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants" (v 11).

Verse 13: "Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place…"—out of its orbit!

It's going to change; when you do that you change the time.

…in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger" (v 13).

Then it talks about everything else that will be there. Read the prophecy that was given here and that happened during the days of Hezekiah.

{continuing in Heavenly Sings in Amos and Isaiah}:

"And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So that the sun returned [rose from sunset to its noon time position] ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down [the sun had set 10 degrees during the time of Uzziah]." Twenty eight years later, the prophecy was fulfilled in type (710). The year 738 was also the time that Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah.

Let's see where these things took place. We know that God had to change the orbit of the Earth; there can be no way around it! He did not stop the Earth from rotating, because if He had stopped it or slowed it down significantly everything would collapse. There would be a great, huge worldwide earthquake that would jam everything together. We know that it didn't take place in that particular way. So, God had to do something to move the sundial backward, yet at the same time this affected permanently the way that the Earth would be in orbit around the sun.

Isaiah 38:4: "Then came the Word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 'Go and say to Hezekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your days fifteen years. And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city. And this shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken: Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the sun dial, which has gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.'"' So, the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it had gone down" (vs 4-8).

We know that God did this in a special and particular way. And this permanently changed everything from that time until this.

We find recorded in 2-Kings something else very interesting after that event took place. After these things occurred, then the Babylonians came to Hezekiah to find out what had gone on.

Let me read what Carl has written here concerning the things that took place.

In 718, Israel was defeated and carried off into captivity by Shalmaneser III. Hosea, the last king of Israel, ended a 9-year reign over Israel in the same year (726-718). Hosea the prophet also ended his prophesying (795- 718).

The year 716 marked the beginning of the Lydian dynasty (ancient Ludites) in Asia Minor. Gyges was their first king. Vashti, queen of Persia, came from this line of rulers.   Romulus, king of Rome, ended a 38-year reign at Rome. Six years later, Mars raced toward its final cataclysmic episode with earth….

That's what we're talking about here!

…For the fifth and final time in 75 years (785-710) the earth would encounter Mars. Only this time Mars and Earth would "collide!"

I don't think that they collided exactly, but they may have come close enough to draw pieces of Mars to the Earth and from the Earth back to Mars.

As Mars passed close to the earth, great chunks of Martian rock fell upon the earth. (An expedition to Antarctica in the decade of the 1980's discovered chunks of Martian rock. The rock was compared with and verified against rock brought back from Mars by NASA in the mid- 1970's.) At Passover, Nisan 14, 710 B.C., 185,000 of Sennacherib's army elite were destroyed by Martian rock….

It had to get there from Mars, it didn't grow there! It's totally different from anything that is there, so this tends to verify that this is exactly what happened.

…The rock was compared with and verified against rock brought back from Mars by NASA in the mid- 1970's.) At Passover, Nisan 14, 710 B.C., 185,000 of Sennacherib's army elite were destroyed by Martian rock….

These are astronomical events that took place! Here's the summary of this:

The length of the solar year had been extended to 365 and 1/4 days! The earth's rotation around the Sun had been slowed by these encounters with Venus and Mars. Between 793 and 710 B.C., a period of 83 years, 5 and 1/4 days had been added to the solar year. During this 83 years, the existence of the Earth itself had been threatened once by Venus and 5 times by Mars. An extraordinary eclipse had 'shaken' the entire world.

The "sun­ god" had twice moved in relationship to the horizon!….

Let's take a look and see how that this possibly was done. Then we will come back and look at a couple of things concerning the time of Hezekiah.

The chart gives an approximating of what finally happened to account for how the Earth's orbit around the sun gained an additional 5-1/4 days per year.

Here is a crude diagram showing the sun and the orbit of the earth showing 360 days in a year before these events took place.

In order to have the sun go back 10 degrees and not stop the Earth rotation or slow it down sufficiently that you cause everything to collapse because the inertia has changed, you must move the Earth while it is still turn on its axis. Of course, that means that the moon will also follow. This will interrupt some of the things concerning the moon, as well as the things concerning Mars and Venus, which undoubtedly has some disruption with the moon.

Look at all the things that they now know that occurred to the moon, which are meteorites that hit the moon. It wouldn't surprise me if some the rock up there on the moon is not the same that they have found on Mars.

So, with the moon circling the Earth, which it does once every 29 days, 12 hours, and some odd parts, this was moved over to elongate the orbit of the Earth. Once this is changed—you can liken this to a switched railroad track—and it gets on another track, you can never go back to the original one.

This is why you cannot accurately calculate back to creation. You have no way of doing it, because all of the circumstances have changed, because all of the mathematical calculations are different. You cannot go back!

Therefore, we know that if anyone says, 'Let's go back to the calendar of Moses that God originally gave Moses,' it is impossible to do so. You know that those people who claim that do not have a clue as to what they are talking about. They are not taking into account any of these major astronomical things that have taken place upon the earth and affects everything that is done on the earth.

Now we have a solar year of 365-1/4 days. We must account for it, because we are told in Gen. 1:14 that these are for days, for seasons and for years! It must be accounted for!

Therefore, we have to have some way, some means of keeping track of time so that in spite of the fact that we have 365-1/4 days we are able to keep the Feasts of God in season. You can divide this in four and have your four seasons. To be able to keep them in the month and the day of the month that God has determined that we should. God did not change those commands!

God is the One Who changed the time that it takes to go around the sun for a solar year.

2-Kings 20—let's follow this in summary, the account of Hezekiah and the sundial going back 10 degrees.

2-Kings 20:8: "And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?' And Isaiah said, 'This will be the sign from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing which He has spoken. Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?' And Hezekiah answered, 'It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees. No, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees'" (vs 8-10).

Verse 11: "And Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD. And He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. At that time…" (vs 11-12).

Now we find something else happened here, and we have  our first encounter with Babylon. I want to bring up the fact that all the calendars of all the nations were now no good! The way that they were calculating time up to this point, with the sundial going backward ten degrees, all knocked out of whack!

There is that period of about 75 years when it was nearly impossible to really have an accurate calendar for very long, because of the encounters of the Earth with Venus and Mars. Let's see what happened.

"…Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah welcomed them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion, which Hezekiah did not show them" (vs 12-13).

Verse 14: "And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, 'What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?' And Hezekiah said, 'They have come from a far country, from Babylon.' And he said, 'What have they seen in your house?' And Hezekiah answered, 'They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures which I have not shown to them'" (vs 14-15).

Verse 16: "And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the Word of the Lord: "Behold, the days come when all that is in your house, and which your fathers have laid up in store until today, shall be carried into Babylon. Nothing shall be left," says the LORD'" (vs 16-17). That's exactly what happened!

We are going to see that what Hezekiah did when the Ambassadors came. It's probable, we can't know for sure, that they came to find out how to calculate the calendar properly. What we are going to see from Scripture is that there had to be given by God at that time, along with changing the astronomical orbit of the Earth in relationship to the sun, there had to be given the means by which they could determine when to keep the Feasts of God. Those were still required of God!

2-Chronicles 32:31: "Nevertheless, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to ask about the wonder that was done in the land…"

They wanted to know what happened! That means, 'How do we take care of this time?'

"…God left him in order to try him, to know all that was in his heart" (v 31).

That's exactly what happened; God gave them the information, knowledge and understanding of what was done.

We know that from this something had to happen in Babylon from that time on Babylon and Judah were locked on the course to be carried into captivity by Babylon as God prophesied. Without a doubt that was going to take place.

Now in order to understand about the time of Babylon: After Judah was taken into captivity let's understand something very important. People accuse the Jews of using a Babylonian calendar. We're going to see that is not true! Some people even have said that the calendar that the Jews have today came out of Babylon. We're going to see that is only true in relationship that the Jews were in Babylon and the Jews were the ones who brought the calculations to Babylon to give them the calendar.

The original Babylonian calendar calculated their lunar times beginning with the setting of the moon. You can never have anything accurate when the moon is setting, because of the time it takes for it to set until it rises again.

None other than Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!

Daniel 1:17: "As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom.… [that would have to include calendar calculation] …And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And at the end of the days that the king had appointed to bring them in, the chief of the officers brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king talked with them. And among them all were found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah… [whose names were changed to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego] …So they stood before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king asked them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his kingdom" (vs 17-20).

This is telling us clearly that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego gave to the king of Babylon the correct understanding of the calendar, because it was better than all the wise men and magicians who were the priests—Chaldean priests—who had their own calendar that led to problems. They couldn't keep it correct, and the astrologers. These were the ones who looked into the heavens to determine the time.

Daniel was the one who brought the proper calendar to Babylon! Let's see the power that Daniel had. I believe—this is my opinion—and I think it's substantiated pretty well by the facts that we have read so far. That when Daniel was made ruler of Babylon, he also brought in the proper Hebrew calendar. But in order for it to be accepted by all of the Babylonian Empire he put on it a Babylonian type names. They weren't exactly the Babylonian names, but we will see that they were similar to it.

Daniel 2:47: "The king answered Daniel and said, 'It is true that your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.'"

If God is going to prophesy of all the events down to the smallest details of the things that are going to take place from that time on down to the end of the world, and the return of Jesus Christ:

We will see the answer has to be yes! We don't have a Scripture that says 'Thus says the Lord,' to Daniel, but we have this evidence here, and we will have other Scriptural evidence to show which calendar was in use.

Verse 48: "Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over all the province of Babylon, and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon."

Verse 49: "And Daniel asked the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat within the gate of the king."

When King Nebuchadnezzar went seven years to his insanity, guess who ruled the kingdom? Daniel!

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

Scripture referenced, not quoted: Luke 1

Also referenced:

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 6/6/21

 

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