Page 263 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
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242 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
Also refer to the Web site by the Institute for Dynamic Educational
Advancement, or IDEA:
http://webexhibits.org/calendars/credits.html.)

How had Jewish sages reached such an accurate estimate of the lunar month?
We start with two quotes from the Bible and how these were interpreted by
Jewish sages.

“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments as the Lord my God com-
manded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to
possess it. Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which will hear all these statutes
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut.
4:5–6).

Jewish rabbis and scholars traditionally attribute “This is your wisdom” to the
secret of ibur. 1
A similar explanation is clearly manifested by how the following verse is tradi-
tionally interpreted:

“My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying
divinations. They shall not belong to the council of my people, or be listed in
the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter into the land of Israel”
(Ezek. 13:9).

The literal Hebrew is, “They shall not be in the secret of my people.” A Jewish sage
1
explains this to mean the secret of the ibur (Talmud , Massechet Ketubot, 112).
1
How was the duration of the lunar month, the secret of the ibur, passed on
from one generation of Jewish scholars to the next?

Rabban Gamliel (90 CE), who headed the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ancient
Supreme Court), is quoted as saying: “It is so acceptable from the house of the
father of my father: The renewal of the moon is not less than 29 days and a half,
and two thirds of an hour, and 73 parts” (Talmud , Rosh Hashanah, 25 [71]). The
73 parts refer to the division of the hour into 1,080 parts, which will be addressed
shortly in the quote from Rambam .
Rambam (1135–1204) similarly states, “The hour is divided into 1080 parts.

And why have they so divided the hour? Because according to this counting

you have halves, and quarters, and eighths, and thirds, and ninths, and fifths
and tenths … Twenty nine days and twelve hours of the thirtieth day, from the