I
t is an indisputable fact that we are all born without knowledge. We acquire knowledge through our five senses—hearing, sight, smell, touch and taste—and this knowledge is defined by our parents, teachers, ministers, friends and everyone with whom we come in contact throughout our lives. And so it continues until the day we die. We can therefore be certain of one thing: the knowledge that we acquire is almost always tainted with lies and/or distortions. In fact, in many cases we learn to believe outright lies as though they were scientific fact!
As we mature, few of us ever think to question the things we are learning, as was the case with our parents and their parents before them. This is how lies are taught and accepted as truths, and logic, common sense and reason go out the window as people stumble and teach others to stumble in their blindness.
Another fact is that a man or woman does not know what they don't know. They do not recognize lies unless they have proven all things! And prove means to prove, not merely parrot dogmatism you've learned at the feet of your parents and teachers—or ministers, priest or rabbis! When we have stopped to prove beyond doubt what we believe as truth, then, and only then, do we have a right to pass it on for the enlightenment of others!
In this article I will ask those who believe that the Hebrew calendar is sacred (as either laid out in the bible, or by the traditions of the rabbis) and should be followed, to prove beyond doubt that it was indeed handed down from God to humanity. With that stated purpose, I strongly advise you to go to your local library or go onto the Internet and research for yourself what I am presenting here, so that you indeed see the proof with your own eyes!
The History of The Calendars.
Let us first start with this statement about calendars:
CALENDAR. People have kept track of the days by the march of daylight and darkness and of the changing seasons in order to know when to plant crops and to get ready for winter. Sometimes they kept the record by notching a stick or knotting a cord once every day. They also watched the changing positions of the sun and stars, the changes of the moon, and the habits of plants and animals. The making of an exact calendar, however, has perplexed mankind for ages because the divisions of time by days, weeks, months, and years do not seem to fit together properly. [Excerpted from The Complete Reference Collection. Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved]
Next, let us note the ancient world's many different calendars, by scanning this partial list:
- Gregorian
- Julian
- Jewish
- Islamic
- Maya
- Aztec
- Inca
- Native American
- Chinese
- Babylon
- Samaritans
Some Nations dated their calendars, as follows;Byzantine..... = 7509 ...From Byzantine Empire Japanese...... = 2660 ...From Buddha? Islamic....... = 1421 ...From Mohammad? Jewish........ = 5761 ...From Creation? Christian .... = 2000 ...From the Birth of Jesus Christ?
Other Calendar Systems
There are several very old calendar systems still in use. Three of the most prominent are the Jewish, Muslim, and Chinese. Both the Jewish and Chinese calendars are lunisolar: The years are reckoned according to the sun but the months according to the moon. The Muslim calendar is lunar.
The Jewish calendar supposes the world was created in what is 3761 BC on the Gregorian calendar. The years are designated AM for anno mundi, which is Latin for "year of the world." There is, therefore, no designation of BC or AD as there is in the Gregorian calendar. Because the solar year exceeds 12 lunar months by about 11 days, a 13th month of 30 days is intercalated, or inserted, seven times in each 19-year cycle. This procedure follows the ancient Babylonian tradition with which ancient Israel was familiar. Other adjustments to the calendar are required periodically to make sure that the festival of Passover follows the first day of Spring.
Christianity, for most of its major festivals, adheres to the Jewish lunar calendar. Therefore, many of its feasts are movable. The chief holiday, Easter, always falls on the first Sunday following the full Moon that falls on or after the vernal equinox. Therefore, most of the church year, including the pre-Easter season of Lent, is always adjusted to the date of Easter. Other festivals, such as Christmas and New Year, are fixed.
The Chinese calendar is basically lunar, or based on the moon, consisting of 12 months of alternately 29 and 30 days. This lunar year totals 354 days. To keep this calendar in step with the solar year of about 365 days, intercalary months are periodically inserted in much the same way they are in the Jewish calendar.
One interesting feature of the Chinese calendar is the naming of the years. Twelve animal names from ancient times have been attached to years. These names, in order of their occurrence, are:
This cycle of years is frequently used for astrological purposes, much the same way the 12 signs of the
zodiac are used in the West to describe personality traits and to tell fortunes.
Islam's year is entirely lunar, following directives from its holy book, the Koran. The lunar cycles are considered guides for the faithful in their religious observances. The Islamic year has 12 months with, alternately, 29 and 30 days, making a year of 354 or 355 days. Because there is no attempt to align this lunar year with the solar year, Muslim months have no relation to the seasons. The months continually move around the year, so major festival observances may, therefore, occur in any season.
There are several calendars, each calendar not precise in keeping time of the days in a month and months of every Year, after a few years there has to be an adjustment to keep the Seasons falling at the right time every Year.
This procedure follows the ancient Babylonian tradition with which ancient Israel was familiar. Other adjustments to the calendar are required periodically to make sure that the festival of Passover follows the first day of Spring.
The month (see table). The Hebrew calendar year was composed of lunar months, which began when the thin crescent of the new moon was first visible at sunset. The day of the new moon thus beginning was considered holy.
When the Jews returned from Babylonian Exile, they brought with them the names of the Babylonian calendar, at the same time counting the new year from the spring. Although the rabbis returned to an autumnal new year, Judaism retains these Babylonian names as its own: Nisan (March-April); Iyyar (April-May); Sivan (May-June); Tammuz (June-July); Ab (July-August); Elul (August-September); Tishri (September-October); Marcheshvan (October-November); Chislev (November-December); Tebeth (December-January); Shebat (January-February); Adar (February-March). The intercalated year is called WeAdar, "and-Adar."
Source of information: Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
Relevant to our study is the easily proven fact that the Hebrew/Jewish calendar clearly shows its pagan origins:
Jewish CalendarSources of information: Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
- Tishri. 30 days; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fall during this month; regarded as birth month of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; zodiacal sign is the scales, symbolizing the weighing of one's deeds between New Year and Day of Atonement.
- Heshvan. 29 or 30 days; zodiacal sign is the scorpion, emblem of Manasseh.
- Kislev 29 or 30 days; Hanukkah begins on 25th day; zodiacal sign is the archer, emblem of Benjamin.
- Tebet. 29 days; fast of Tebet on 10th day; zodiacal sign is the goat, emblem of Dan.
- Shebat. 30 days; new year for trees, or arbor day, on 15th day; was believed that demons roamed in this month; zodiacal sign is the water bearer, emblem of Asher.
- Adar. 29 or 30 days; birth and death of Moses on 7th day; fast of Esther on 13th day; Purim on 14th day; zodiacal sign is the fish, emblem of Naphtali.
- Nisan. 30 days; Passover begins on the 15th day; entire month regarded as a prolonged festival and a blessed month in which to die; no public mourning is permitted; zodiacal sign is the ram, emblem of Judah.
- Iyar. 29 days; Israeli Independence Day on 5th; no marriages may be celebrated by the Orthodox until after 17th day; zodiacal sign is the bull, symbolizing the calf offered by Abraham to his angelic guests.
- Sivan. 30 days; Shavuot starts on 6th day; many tragedies historically occurred during this month, especially during the Crusades; zodiacal sign is the twins, emblem of Jacob and Esau.
- Tammuz. 29 days; fast of Tammuz on 17th day, commemorating the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem and the breaking of the tablets of the Law; zodiacal sign is the crab, which symbolizes Moses, who was drawn out of the waters of the Nile.
- Ab. 30 days; fast of Ab on the 9th day; zodiacal sign is the lion, symbolizing the destruction of Jerusalem.
- Elul. 29 days; month is devoted to penitence and spiritual preparation for Day of Judgment; zodiacal sign is the virgin, emblem of Gad.
Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition, article "Continuing the History Of The World's Calendars."
Calendar, so called from the Roman Calends or Kalends, a method of distributing time into certain periods adapted to the purposes of civil life, as hours, days, weeks, months, years, &c. Of all the periods marked out by the motions of the celestial bodies, the most conspicuous, and the most intimately connected with the affairs of mankind, are the solar day, which is distinguished by the diurnal revolution of the earth and the alternation of light and darkness, and the solar year, which completes the circle of the seasons.But in the early ages of the world, when mankind were chiefly engaged in rural occupation, the phases of the moon must have been objects of great attention and interest,—hence the month, and the practice adopted by many nations of reckoning time by the motions of the moon, as well as the still more general practice of combining lunar with solar periods. The solar day, the solar year, and the lunar month, or lunation, may therefore be called the natural divisions of time. All others, as the hour, the week, and the civil month, though of the most ancient and general use, are only arbitrary and, conventional...
Any dictionary will offer the meaning of the words "arbitrary" and "conventional" thus: "Arbitrary: Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle: Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference." "Conventional: Based on or in accordance with general agreement, use, or practice; customary: conventional symbols; a conventional form of address. Marked by or denoting tradition."
Day. — The subdivision of the day (q.v.) into twenty-four parts, or hours, has prevailed since the remotest ages, though different nations have not agreed either with respect to the epoch of its, commencement or the manner of distributing the hours...
In all these cases the beginning of the day varies with the seasons at all places not under the equator...
The hours of the day and night were of course only equal at the time of the equinoxes...
Week.—The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions,—a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity. Although it did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the reign of Theodosius, it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries; and as it forms neither an aliquot part of the year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss, as Delambre remarks, to assign it to an origin having much semblance of probability. The seven day week is set by man, not by the phases of the moon (celestial motions).
Month.—Long before the exact length of the year was determined it must have been perceived that the synodic revolution of the moon is accomplished in about 29~days. Twelve lunation therefore, form a period of 354 days, which differs only by about 11 3/4 days from the solar year.
From this circumstance has arisen the practice, perhaps universal, of dividing the year into twelve months.
But in the course of a few years the~ accumulated difference between the solar year and twelve lunar months would become considerable. and have the effect of transporting the commencement of the year to a different season.
The difficulties that arose in attempting to avoid this inconvenience induced some nations to abandon the moon altogether, and regulate their year' by' the course of the sun. The month, however, being a convenient period of time, has retained its place in the calendars of all nations; but, instead of denoting a synodic revolution of the moon, it is usually employed to denote an, arbitrary number of days approaching to the twelfth part of a solar year.
The civil calendar of all European countries has been borrowed from that of the Romans. Romulus is said to have divided the year into ten months only, including in all 304 days, and it is not very well known how the remaining days were disposed of.
The Greeks divided the month into three decades, or periods of ten days—a practice which was imitated by the French in their unsuccessful attempt to introduce a new calendar at the period of the Revolution...
In, reckoning by weeks, it is necessary to keep in mind the day of the week on which each month begins.
It does not even appear that the length of the intercalary month was regulated be any certain principle, for a discretionary power was left with the pontiffs, to whom the care of the calendar was committed, to intercalate more or fewer days according as the year was found to differ more or less from the celestial motions. This power was quickly abused to serve political objects, and the calendar consequently thrown into confusion.
The regulations of Caesar were not at first sufficiently understood; and the pontiffs, by intercalating every third year instead of every fourth, at the end of thirty-six years had intercalated twelve times, instead of nine.
This mistake having been discovered, Augustus ordered that all the years from the thirty seventh of the era to the forty-eighth inclusive should be common years, by which means the intercalation's were reduced to the proper number of twelve in forty-eight years.
No Account is Taken of this Blunder in chronology; and it is tacitly supposed that the calendar has been correctly followed from its commencement.
The Biblical Calendar
Having seen the corrupted history of the calendar, and that one cannot rely on them for accurate reporting of days, weeks and years, religionists are left to face some big questions! Of course, priests, preachers and rabbis will say that the bible has the answer; that God made a calendar for his people to follow and that it is still valid. Okay, fair enough. Let's look into the bible and find the calendar that God made for his people.
King James Version and Strong's with Hebrew Chaldee and Greek Dictionaries used throughout unless noted.
Before we begin looking into the bible for the answer to the calendar question, let me ask if you believe that the bible is the infallible (perfect and without mistakes) word of GOD? Yes or No? If the answer is "yes", then continue; if the answer is "no", then STOP! Don't read any further! We have nothing to discuss here!
CHRISTIANS claim the bible is the infallible word of GOD, which means it is perfect and without mistakes. If this is true, then your bible will PROVE itself to be infallible!
The bible says, Jesus Christ is the Creator of everything that is, as follows:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made, 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Since Jesus Christ created everything that is, it would include the hours, days, months and years mentioned in the bible. How many hours are there in a day? John 11:9 has Jesus confirming that there are 12 hours in a day: Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.>
The authors of the bible referred to hours, days, weeks, months and years throughout.
Revelation 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.
Now you have proof from the bible how time is divided. It is divided into hours, days, months and years — and a day has twelve hours of daylight. (John 11:9). With this knowledge you will be able to follow the creation chapters in the book of Genesis. (Gen 1:-2:1-3.)
Jesus Christ commanded that everyone who follows his word, is to live by "every word of God". Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Matthew 4:4.
The lord God, says, you cannot add or take away from his word: Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the lord your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 12:32, Joshua 1:7, Proverbs 30:6 Revelation 22:18-19.).
Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Jesus Christ says that he is God and there is No Other God besides Him,...as follows: Isa 45:21: "Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. John 1:1-4,14. There it is — the words "I" and "me" in Isa 45:21 showing God is singular and there is no other God — and John 1:1-3,14 shows that God to be Jesus Christ, or so says your Holy Bible!
Remember, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, or so 1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us: "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." James 3:16: "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Now that you know who the God of the bible is, lets get back to the calendar question:
In the bible the first book is Genesis, the first two chapters gives an account of the creation of the heavens and the earth with a seven day period in that creation, which is found in Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-4. These references will show how the bible lists the creation days, starting with the first day to the sixth day of the physical creation, and adding the seventh day, which was holy to God and which made it the vaunted Sabbath day. Gen 2:1-3. (Note also Ezek 20:12-24 where God set the Sabbath apart for a special day of worship.)
At the beginning of Genesis there is no indication of who wrote the book. Why did God overlook this important point? This aside, we read in Genesis 1:1 that "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Plainly Genesis 1:1 says, the heaven and the earth was created and was complete, although there is no indication of how long it took to do the creating. However, what follows gives us specific details about the time frame of the creation.
Genesis 1:2: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Verse 2 shows absolute turmoil, chaos, emptiness and darkness. What happened between verse 1 and verse 2? There are many Christians ministers who will blame Satan for this chaos, claiming that he caused this damage to God's creation during his rebellion, which Jesus mentions in Luke 10:18 (ref: Isa 14:12 Jude 1:6). If Satan was responsible for this destruction then God is not infallible, since God was incapable of protecting his creation from Satan! This would make Satan more powerful than God or equal to God's power! But, since God created Satan (Ezekiel 28:13-19) we see that God must have made a mistake!
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Commnent: On Genesis 1:3: Satan sure was powerful since he actually put out the light, and God had to bring it back again. (Genesis 1:3) What guarantee do we have that Satan won't or can't do it again?
Here are the problems's that exits: Genesis 1:3-13 speaks of three days and each day that was made was referred to as "Evening and Morning". But since there was no sun at this time, we are really reading about a night time or dark period.
To see the problems more clearly, lets compare side by side the first, second, third and fourth days of creation in scriptures:
| Genesis 1:3-5 |
Genesis 1:6-8 | Genesis 1:9-13 | Genesis 1:14-19 |
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. |
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. |
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. |
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. |
| Reread Genesis 1:3-19 above; did you notice the phrase "evening and morning" which is used throughout the rest of Genesis 1:-2:1-4? How can an "evening and morning" make a day? Wouldn't that be a night and not a day. (Note that elsewhere the bible tells us that "sunset to sunset" is 24 hours long, as mentioned in Leviticus 23:32, shown in right column. | Leviticus 23:32: "It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." |
Lets examine the words "evening" and "morning" to see their meaning in, Hebrew. (Source: Strong's Concordance with Hebrew Chaldee and Greek Dictionaries.
|
Evening: H6153 from H6150; dusk: day, even (-ing, tide), night. H6150 A primitive root (rather identical with H6148 through the idea of covering with a texture); to grow dusky at sundown: be darkened, (toward) evening. |
|
Morning: H1242 from H1239; properly dawn (as the break of day); generally morning:-(+)day, early, morning, morrow. |
It is clear from the Hebrew that "morning" occurs before the sun has risen above the earth's horizon, or when daylight starts to show after the darkness of night. In other words, "dawn, or the break of day, which is called "morning" throughout Genesis 1:-2:1-4."
Other scripture references, shows what makes a day, as follows: Leviticus 23:32, says, "even unto even" or "sunset to sunset"., ,
one day...... = 12 hrs (John 11:9) one night.... = 12 hrs. which makes.... 24 hours.
Example:
The sun rises above the earth's horizon, sets below the earth's horizon, making one daylight period. The sun sets below the earth's horizon, rises above the earth's horizon, making one night-dark period. Evening to evening or sunrise to sunset, which includes two 12 hour period, making 24 hours total — just like Leviticus 23:32 said above.
Genesis 1:3-13 mentions three night times, "evening and morning" before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day. How can this be? Remember, you have to have a sun to get sunset to sunset or evening to evening or evening and morning! This means that the only true first 24 hour day would have started on the fourth day mentioned in Genesis 1:16-19, since the sun was created that day. Following the rest of the creation days to the end of the seventh day, (fourth day to the seventh day) would make only four days with a sunset to sunset, or four 24 hours-long days. Clearly we are missing three days (Genesis 1:3-13)! This contradiction in scriptures, is very serious!
The sun wasn't created until the 4th day and in Genesis 1:3-13, (the second and third night period) when the vegetation, trees, plants, herbs, water the seas, were made: All these things would have FROZEN SOLID without the sun!
Consider the North Pole and the South Pole, they are covered with ice and snow all the time, even the nations of this world that are located at and above the Arctic Circle. In certain area's of these nations, always has ice and snow. If the sun stopped shining, the ice and snow would cover these nations in a very short time. And this would also include, the entire earth! The SUN keeps this from happening.
A very important verse to consider is found in Genesis 2:4:
| Genesis 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the lord God made the earth and the heavens, |
In Genesis 2:4 did you notice the phrase "in the day" referring to a specific day. This is quite a revelation: God created the sun, moon, stars, or the universe in ONE DAY! Think about this — everything was made in one day. To fully understand we will have to see what if this refers to a 24 hour period or not?
From Strong's Concordance:
| H3117 yowm yome, from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset,... |
The Hebrew meaning is to be "HOT" from sunrise to sunset, which would be the daylight period, and does not mean to include the night time: That time is a cold period because there is no sunlight. The Hebrew meaning is clear on the point that sunrise to sunset makes approximately 12 hours of daylight, or to be HOT. Even Jesus confirms this when he states that a day is 12 hours long in John 11:9. And so, the meaning of the day in Genesis 2:4 is a 12 hour day, or sunrise to sunset. It took God only 12 hours to make everything that exists, or so says Genesis 2:4!
Lets compare the creations in Genesis 1:-2:1-4, as follows: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. It does not say when the beginning was and how long it took.
Genesis 1:3-13, we have "evening and morning" night time, 12 hrs long. And the sun has not been created yet.
Genesis 1:14-19, the sun, moon, stars, heavens, were created on the fourth day.
Making it 24 hours long, which is from sunset to sunset or evening to evening.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
God divided the light from the darkness, and the sun has not been created yet, it was created on the fourth day in Genesis 1:16.
CONFUSING? You bet, because we don't know which one of these scriptures is telling the truth!
In other words, what we read in Genesis must be from man and not from God. If you persist in claiming it is from God, then you must concede that God is fallible and was unable to keep his word pure and holy! But the problem is that scriptures says that there in nothing impossible with God:
| Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. Mark 10:27, Hebrew 6:18, Jeremiah 32:17, 27. |
Naturally, nothing is impossible with God, God created everything that Exists!
This puts God in complete control of everything!
There are contradictions and confusion throughout the scriptures above, and I ask you if you can you put your TRUST in such a book as the Jewish/Christian bible?
If there is an all-powerful infallible god out there, and he gave us a holy book of instruction, then the book being pounded and preached by rabbis, priests and ministers is not it! And I say that if you put your trust in such a book it will fail you miserably!
