Page 64 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

CHAPTER 2 CASES OF DESIGN IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
CHAPTER 2 CASES OF DESIGN IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE 43 43

This implies that in a cycle of 19 years, seven months have to be added to the
Jewish years. These are the leap years in the Jewish nineteen-year cycle. A “leap
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year,” in Hebrew, is shanah meuberet (same description as given to an impreg-
nated woman). Chapter 18 addresses the secret of the related concept of Ibur.
It is interesting to note that the calendar used by the ancient Greeks was also
based on the moon, and is known as the Metonic calendar . This calendar was
based on the observations of Meton of Athens (440 BC), which showed that 235
lunar months made up almost exactly 19 solar years. This nineteen-year cycle
became known as the Metonic cycle. Given a nominal twelve-month year, an
additional

235 – 19*12 = 7 lunar months

are required to synchronize the moon-based Greek calendar to the tropical year.

The same conclusion is reflected in the Jewish calendar, which is similarly based on
a 19-year cycle. The Jewish nineteen-year cycle calendar is believed to be invented

by Rabbi Hillel (who lived at the beginning of the century preceding the destruc-
tion of the second Jewish temple, at 70 CE).
Having learned the structure of the three major calendars used by millions of
people the world over, we may now probe some interesting hidden information in
the Hebrew word for year, shanah. 43
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Recall that the word shanah is linguistically derived from the same root as
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“two” and “repetition.” This may explain the visible structure of the word shanah.
But no information seems to be conveyed about the year’s duration. As we sum up
the numerical values of the letters, some hidden information is suddenly exposed.
We find out that

355 = (5 = ה) + (50 = נ) + (300 = ש)

This is identical to the basis for the Jewish calendar—namely, the lunar year of
354.4 days, or the “complete year” of 355 days!
It is worth noting that while other words for time periods in Hebrew convey
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in a precise fashion the nature of the respective time periods, the word shanah
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is unique in that it does not. Thus, the word for “week” is shavua, derived from
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50
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“seven” (sheva). “Month” has two synonyms in Hebrew: chodesh and yerach.
The first shares the same root as the Hebrew word for “renewal,” indicating

thereby that the Hebrew calendar is based on the lunar month (in ancient Israel,
the beginning of the new month was declared by “testimony” given for the renewal
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of the moon). The second word, yerach, states more explicitly that the month is