Page 289 - Daniel

of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:4–14). But 12 lunar months
later the feast would begin 11 days earlier in the solar year. Within a
few years the Feast of Firstfruits would be held before the firstfruits of
grain had even begun to ripen. (And after 16 years the Feast would be
celebrated about the time the seed was being planted!)

To balance the lunar calendar with the solar year, those using the
calendar needed to add an extra lunar month approximately seven times

every 19 years. This additional month was referred to as an “intercalary
month” and was inserted after the twelfth month in the calendar. (in
Hebrew this was the month Adar.) Adding an intercalary month at
somewhat regular intervals brought the lunar year back into alignment
with the solar year.

The practice of adding an extra month every few years might seem
strange in a Western culture using a solar calendar. However, those
using the modern calendar do something similar when we add an extra
day to our calendar every four years. The “normal” calendar year is

modified on a regular basis to have it conform to the actual length of a
solar year.

RECONCILING INTERCALARY MONTHS WITH FUTURE DATES

How would the practice of inserting an intercalary month impact one’s

future reckoning of time? When looking forward, would individuals also
think to add such months at irregular intervals, or would they assume a
“normal” year with twelve 30-day months? This is important because it
bears on how Daniel would have understood the message being
delivered to him by Gabriel.

Herodotus, who lived about a century after Daniel, provides a
somewhat contemporary illustration that offers some insight into the
matter. He recorded a conversation between Solon the Athenian and
Croesus of Sardis during the time of King Cyrus. Though the historicity

of the conversation might be questioned, the description of how years
and days are calculated is instructive.
“The limit of life for a man I lay down at seventy years. These seventy
years give twenty-five thousand and two hundred days, not reckoning