Page 288 - Daniel

must first understand the Jewish calendar.

UNDERSTANDING THE HEBREW CALENDAR

The Jewish calendar was based on three astronomical actions: the
rotation of the earth on its axis, which produced days and weeks (cf.
Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Lev. 23:3); the revolution of the moon
around the earth, which produced a month (Num. 28:11–15); and the
revolution of the earth around the sun, which produced a year (Exod.
12:2; 40:17). But harmonizing these three was problematic since a lunar
month is slightly longer than four seven-day weeks, and a solar year is

slightly longer than 12 lunar months.
The concept of a calendar for measuring the passage of time is as Old

as creation. In Genesis 1:14, on the fourth day of creation, God prepared
the “lights” to serve as the localized holders of light (which He had
created on the first day). These lights are identified as the sun, moon,
and stars, and their purpose in creation was to “separate the day from
the night” and to be for “signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”
The cyclical pattern of nature divided time into day and night, and
grouped days into longer periods that served to identify the seasons and

the years.
While the rising and setting of the sun could track individual days,

phases of the moon were used to track longer periods of time. A priest
would watch the sky and announce when the first visible crescent of the
moon appeared. This signified the beginning of the new month. A lunar
calendar would produce months that alternated between 29 and 30 days.
While this worked well for keeping track of events on a short-term basis,
the lunar calendar would eventually conflict with the solar calendar
because 12 lunar months (354 days) does not correspond exactly with

one solar year. As a result, events on a 12-month lunar calendar
“migrate” forward 11 days each year on a solar calendar.

Attaching fixed dates to a lunar calendar would cause severe problems
in an agrarian society where worship was tied to specific times and
events. For example, the Feast of Firstfruits was to begin in the first
month of the year “on the day after the Sabbath” that signaled the end