EXODUS
HAPPENED ON APRIL 12, 1260 BCă
When did the children
of Israel led by Moses depart from Egypt?
When did Exodus really happen?
Historians and theologians place the year sometime in 1250 BC or 1,250
years before the birth of Jesus. They
also agree that it was in spring when this happened, in the month of Abib.
Using the Aristean
Cycle, the most likely date when this Exodus happened was on April 11, 1,259
years before the birth of Jesus or 1,292 years before His crucifixion. Tables 1 and 2 are summaries of how the
Exodus date was determined using the Aristean cycle and based on a crucifixion
date of 1 BCA. The years 1 BC and 1 BCA
are the same year and used as the reference year. The difference is that the former is from the birth of Jesus
Christ and the latter is from His crucifixion.
The Aristean cycle
consists of 12 Metonic cycles totalling 228 lunisolar years or 235 lunar years
or 228 solar years + 1 day with the Jewish month of Tishri as the first month
of the cycle. Details about the
Aristean Cycle are found at http://www.geocities.com/peacecrusader888/aristeancycl.htm.
The reference
Aristean Cycle, referred to herein as Cycle 0, starts on October 6, 171
BCA. Assuming that the Israelites had
been using a lunar calendar since their Exodus from Egypt until the time of
Jesus (actually, until 358/359 AD), we can repeat this cycle to go back in
time. Hence, Cycle-1 starts on October
6, 399 BCA which is 228 solar years and one day earlier; Cycle-2, October 8,
627 BCA; Cycle-3, October 9, 855 BCA; Cycle-4, October 9, 1083 BCA; and
Cycle-5, October 9, 1311 BCA. To know
the start of the lunar year of each of the 235 lunar years of the Aristean
Cycle, we refer to http://www.geocities.com/peacecrusader888/235yrcycle.htm.
Exodus happened in
March or April, in the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. Nisan may start from March 13 to April
11. So we pick lunar years 18, 19, 52,
53, 85 and 86 of the said webpage when the lunar year started in Nisan. Why use only these years? Because, using http://www.geocities.com/peacecrusader888/235yrdatebc.htm,
these were the lunar years that occured during the 13th century BC.
Although this webpage can give the estimated new moon date by adding 3 to the
date, we can use the Stellafane Moon Phase Calculator at http://www.stellafane.com/ to give the
exact date.
Table 1. The start
dates of the Aristean Cycle used to determine when Exodus happened showing the
number of years from the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
|
Date from 1 BCA crucifixion of Jesus* |
Years from crucifixion of Jesus |
Years from birth of Jesus |
Jewish year |
Remark |
|
Oct 9, 1311 BCA |
1,310 |
1,277 |
2451 AM |
Start of Aristean
cycle (Cycle –5) |
|
Apr 12, 1293 BCA |
1,292 |
1,259 |
2469 AM |
Determined year of
Exodus |
|
Circa 1284 BCA |
1,283 |
1,250 |
2478 AM |
Estimated year of
Exodus |
|
Oct 9, 1083 BCA |
1,082 |
1,049 |
2679 AM |
Start of Aristean
cycle (Cycle –4) |
|
Oct 9, 855 BCA |
854 |
821 |
2907 AM |
Start of Aristean
cycle (Cycle –3) |
|
Oct 8, 627 BCA |
626 |
593 |
3135 AM |
Start of Aristean
cycle (Cycle –2) |
|
Oct 6, 399 BCA |
398 |
365 |
3363 AM |
Start of Aristean
cycle (Cycle –1) |
|
Oct 6, 171 BCA |
170 |
137 |
3591 AM |
Reference start of
Aristean cycle (Cycle 0) |
|
May 23, 34 BCA |
33 |
0 |
3727 AM |
Birth of Jesus |
|
Aug 17, 1 BCA |
0 |
33 |
3760 AM |
Crucifixion of
Jesus |
* - BCA means Before
the Crucifixion of Jesus using the Aristean Cycle
Table 2 lists the
possible times in April when Exodus could have happened. From Cycle –5 of the Aristean Cycle which
started on October 9, 1311 BCA or Tishri 1, 2451 AM, all possible instances
from 1,261 to 1,195 years from the birth of Jesus were included in the table
for comparison. These selected dates
have the first day of the first month of the lunar year falling just after
March 21 (Vernal Equinox), and on or before April 11.
Table 2. Possible start of lunar month in about March
or April during the 13th century BCA (Before Crucifixion) when
Exodus might have happened using the Aristean Cycle.
|
|
New moon
date from the crucifixion of Jesus |
Years from
birth of Jesus |
Assumed date from
the crucifixion of Jesus |
Lunar year in Aristean
Cycle |
Solar years from
start of cycle |
|
Start of the
Aristean cycle (Cycle –5) |
Oct 9, 1311 BCA |
1,278 |
Oct 25,
1311 BCA |
1 |
0 |
|
First time for the
first day of the first month of lunar year to start just after March 21
(vernal equinox) |
Apr 8, 1294 BCA |
1,260 |
Apr 23, 1294 BCA |
18 |
17 |
|
Second time |
Mar 28, 1293 BCA |
1,259 |
Apr 11, 1293 BCA |
19 |
18 |
|
Third time |
Apr 2, 1261 BCA |
1,229 |
Apr 18, 1261 BCA |
52 |
50 |
|
Fourth time |
Mar 23, 1260 BCA |
1,228 |
Apr 7, 1260 BCA |
53 |
51 |
|
Fifth time |
Apr 9, 1229 BCA |
1,195 |
Apr 23, 1229 BCA |
85 |
82 |
|
Sixth time |
Mar 29, 1228 BCA |
1,194 |
Apr 13, 1228 BCA |
86 |
83 |
Which of the above
dates is most likely the time when Exodus happened?
It is generally
believed that Exodus happened in the 13th century BC, i.e. between
1201 BC and 1300 BC. This is based on a 1 BC birth of Jesus. The number of years from the birth of Jesus
in the third column could become the year by just adding 1 + “BC”. Hence, we may assume that the first time
when the first month of the lunar year fell sometime in spring of March/April
was in 1261 BC; the second time, 1260 BC; the third time, 1228 BC; and so
forth. This being the case, the fifth
and sixth times are eliminated because 1196 BC and 1195 BC are in the 12th
century BC and are too far off the estimated Exodus date. This leaves us with four possibilities.
Dividing these four
possibilities into two groups, Group 1 comprises the first and second times,
and Group 2, the third and fourth times.
The year of Group 1 is about 1,259 years from the birth of Jesus while
Group 2 is about 1,229 years. The
generally accepted estimate when Exodus happened was about 1,250 years from the
birth of Jesus. Group 1 therefore
differs only by nine to ten years from 1250 BC while Group 2, by 21 to 22
years. Choosing between these two
groups, the better choice would be Group 1.
And in this group, when could the month of Abib have started -- on March
28 or April 8?
The Bible mentions
the month of Abib only six times in four verses. The four verses (from the Holy Bible, King James Version)
are as follows:
Exodus 13:4 – This
day came ye out in the month Abib.
Exodus 23:15 – Thou
shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread
seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib;
for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exodus 34:18 – The
feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep.
Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the
time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out
from Egypt.
Deuteronomy 16:1 –
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God:
for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of
Egypt by night.
The Lord said to
Moses and Aaron (Exodus 12:2), “This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” The month that the Lord was referring to was
the month of Abib. Except in the above
verses, the first month of the year was never called Abib. It was simply called the “first month of the
year.”
Between April 8, 1261
BC and March 28, 1260 BC, which could be the start of the month of Abib? Abib, a Hebrew word, literally means “fresh
ear” of grain. It refers to the time or
the lunation or the season when the barley was being in the ear or the barley
shoots into ear. In Egypt, this can be
expected to occur in March, a little before or after the Vernal Equinox (March
21). Barley, like many winter grasses,
has a cytochrome enzyme system that is very active that measures daylight
accurate to the minute. Hence, when the
daylight reaches a specific length, flowering is triggered. This is what is called plant circadian
(about a day) rhythm. The time of Abib
therefore is a very specific solar clock.
This leads us to choose March 28, 1260 BC as the most likely start of
the month of Abib when Exodus happened.
The actual departure, however, did not occur on the first day of that
month but on the 15th day.
That 15th day was April
11, 1260 BC (1,259 years before the birth of Jesus) or April 11, 1293 BCA
(1,292 years before the crucifixion of Jesus).
The Jewish date was Nisan 15, 2469 AM.
Exodus on
the 15th day of month
Note in the following
verses from the Holy Bible, King James Version, that the departure
occurred on the 15th day of the month and not on the first day or on
the 14th day:
Exodus 12:3 – Speak
ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a house:
Exodus 12:6 – And ye
shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Exodus 12:12 – For I
will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the
first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods
of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
Exodus 12:29 – And it
came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of
Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the
first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of
cattle.
Exodus 12:39 – They
(the Israelites) baked unleavened bread from the dough that they had brought
out of Egypt, for they had been driven out of Egypt so suddenly that they did
not have time to get their food ready or to prepare leavened dough.
Numbers 33:3 – And
they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the
first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out
with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
The lamb that the Lord commanded to be eaten were still alive
until the 14th day (Exodus 12:6).
The animals were killed in the evening of the 15th day when
the congregation of Israel assembled.
The Jews start the day at sunset or at 6 PM. At midnight, the Lord smote all the first-born male in Egypt, both
man and beast (Exodus 12:29), which led to the Israelites being driven out of
Egypt so suddenly that same night (Exodus 12:31). This deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt over
3,000 years ago has been celebrated eversince in the festival of Passover or Pesach.
The April 11, 1260 BC
or April 11, 1293 BCA Exodus date was derived as an offshoot of a revelation
that Jesus was crucified on the 17th of August, 2,003 years ago this
year (2003) and using the Aristean Cycle.
Joe Kress, a member
of the calendar discussion group, CALNDR-L, pointed out that the calculated
date I got off Stellafane is the astronomical new moon and not equal to the Jewish
‘new moon’. The latter is one day after
the former because the Jewish day starts after sunset. The Jewish ‘new moon’ heralds the first day
of a Jewish month. This occurs at the earliest
visible sighting of the crescent moon above the western horizon just after
sunset.
Back then, the
astronomical new moon occurred at 11:43 hours or 11:43 am of March 28, 1260 BC.
The Jewish ‘new moon’ was observed the
next day, March 29, 1260 BC. This was
the first day of the month, equivalent to Nisan 1, 2469 AM. Nisan 15, 2469 AM would then be on April 12,
1260 BC.
I replied to Joe
Kress that even if the Stellafane time is between 5:30 pm and maybe 7pm, then
the Stellafane date (which is proleptic Julian) could not be the same date as
the start of the Jewish month because by then, a new Jewish day had already
began after the sun had set. I
acknowledged and thanked him for that.
He is right that the date has to be adjusted by one day. One day difference but significant in order
to be exact technically.
The ‘new moon’ in the
Jewish calendar would have occurred on March 29, 1260 BC and the fifteenth day when
exodus happen would be April 12, 1260 BC.
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2003 March 9
ăAristeo Canlas Fernando 2003
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