Page 30 - Advanced OT Survey Revised

chapters discuss main introductory issues such as the creation, fall, flood and nations. The last 39
chapters focus on four main individuals.

What is the Importance of Genesis
Today?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M492sDmEGbM

How did they keep track of time in Genesis?

As you well know, most countries today operate on the Gregorian Calendar which is based on the
rotation of the earth around the sun which is made up of 365.25 days per year. Every fourth year, we
add a day to February to synchronize the once again rotation around the sun. However, the Gregorian
calendar which we use today is a relatively recent invention of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Before that,
most of the world used the Julian calendar which fell out of sync with the solar year by 11 minutes each
year. Continued use of the Julian calendar meant that the seasons of the year were no longer
synchronized with the months and days. Pope Gregory primarily was concerned that Easter, which was
always observed on March 21 of each year, fell further away from the spring equinox as each year
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passed.

In ancient times, people tracked days by a lunar calendar following the lunar cycles. The lunar month
has about 29.5 days in a month or about 354.4 days in a solar year. To make up the 11-day difference
and keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons, the Hebrew calendar has periodic leap years,
which add an extra 30-day month to the end of the year. The leap year occurs about once every three
years.

The Hebrew years begin counting from the moment of creation as interpreted from the Torah. This
number is determined by adding the ages of people in the Bible back to creation (about 4000 BC). To
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find a corresponding Hebrew date from a Gregorian year, add 3760 years to the Gregorian date.

We don’t really know how Adam and his near relatives kept track of the dates and years, but obviously,
by the time of Moses, they had established a system based on the lunar cycle. God, in Genesis 1,
created time and set the rotation of the earth, creating night and day. Notice that during the creation
week, each day was defined by saying, “And the evening and morning were the xxx days.” (Genesis
1:19). God defined a day to start in the evening when the moon becomes visible and then continue the
day through the daylight to the next evening (around 6:00 PM). God by example also established the
length of a week, by resting on the seventh day. The first mention of years in the Bible was in Genesis
5:3 where the age of Adam is recorded when he begat Seth, 130 years.

The length of a day is extremely important to understand when reading the Bible. From the beginning
of time and throughout the history of Israel, the Jewish people have been keeping track of time based
on a lunar cycle. The Jewish day begins at dusk, usually measured by the appearance of three medium-
sized stars in the sky, but the exact time is a question of debate amongst early Rabbis. xviii And of course,
the season of the year would determine when dusk time might be. But in the Jewish mind, especially
when considering the Feast Days or Sabbath days, the Jewish day started in the evening of one day and
ended the evening of the next day.

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