TWO CALENDARS THAT THE JEWS USED

ARISTEO CANLAS FERNANDO

Peace Crusader and Echo

From the time that the Israelites went out of Egypt in 1522 BC, they had been using a lunar calendar. When Jerusalem fell in 637 BC, they were exiled to Babylonia. Here, during their captivity, they learned about the Babylonian lunisolar calendar. They adopted this calendar with slight modification.

A lunar calendar keeps track of the moon cycle. There are 354 or 355 days in a lunar year. A lunar month is equal to 29.5306 days, hence, a month usually alternates between 29 and 30 days. A lunisolar calendar also keeps track of the moon cycle. However, in order for the months to be in line with the seasons, a month is inserted or intercalated during the year. In the Jewish lunisolar calendar, this intercalation is done on the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth years in a 19-year Metonic Cycle. In an ordinary or common year, there maybe 353, 354, or 355 days, but in leap years, they maybe 383, 384, or 385 days.

The following two tables show the kinds of calendars the Israelites used:

Table 1. Event and the calendars used

Event	Lunar calendar	Lunisolar calendar
Exodus	Yes	No
Babylonian Exile in 637 BC
Before	Yes	No
After	Yes	Yes
Time of Jesus	Yes	Yes
Reformation in AD 358/359
Before	Yes	Yes
After	No	Yes
Present	No	Yes

Table 2. Century and the calendars used

Century	Lunar calendar	Lunisolar calendar
16^th BC	Yes	No
15^th BC	Yes	No
14^th BC	Yes	No
13^th BC	Yes	No
12^th BC	Yes	No
11^th BC	Yes	No
10^th BC	Yes	No
9^th BC	Yes	No
8^th BC	Yes	No
7^th BC	Yes	No
6^th BC	Yes	Yes
5^th BC	Yes	Yes
4^th BC	Yes	Yes
3^rd BC	Yes	Yes
2^nd BC	Yes	Yes
1^st BC	Yes	Yes
AD 1^st	Yes	Yes
AD 2^nd	Yes	Yes
AD 3^rd	Yes	Yes
AD 4^th	Yes	Yes
AD 5^th	No	Yes
AD 6^th	No	Yes
AD 7^th	No	Yes
AD 8^th	No	Yes
AD 9^th	No	Yes
AD 10^th	No	Yes
AD 11^th	No	Yes
AD 12^th	No	Yes
AD 13^th	No	Yes
AD 14^th	No	Yes
AD 15^th	No	Yes
AD 16^th	No	Yes
AD 17^th	No	Yes
AD 18^th	No	Yes
AD 19^th	No	Yes
AD 20^th	No	Yes
AD 21^st	No	Yes

Herewith is a scenario of the festivals/observances that the Israelites were observing in their purely lunar religious calendar from their exile in Babylon to their return to Jerusalem until the calendar reformation in 358/359 AD. The festivals/observances were not season-related but religious in nature. Rosh Hodesh or New Moon Festival was supposed to be a regular major festival that is stated in the Torah but it was demoted as a minor festival sometime before 358/359, maybe even during the reformation, because the Jews were using the Julian solar calendar in the places where they lived. The number represents the month number in the lunar religious year.

Table 3. Festivals held in the lunar calendar (6^th century BC to 4^th century AD)

Month	Festival
1	Rosh Hodesh (New Moon Festival) Sabbath Pesach (Passover Festival)
2	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
3	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
4	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
5	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
6	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
7	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement ) (most likely in this calendar; see Leviticus 25:9) Hanukah (Feast of the Dedication)
8	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
9	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
10	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
11	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath
12	Rosh Hodesh Sabbath

From Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 15, page 465b:

“After the conquest of Jerusalem (587 BC), the Babylonians introduced their cyclic calendar and the reckoning of their regnal years from Nisanu 1, about the spring equinox. The Jews now had a finite calendar year with a New Year’s day, and they adopted the Babylonian month names, which they continue to use.”

It was easy for the Jews to adopt the Babylonian calendar because it was lunar like they had been using since the time of Moses. The new year started at the month of Nisanu, about the same time as theirs, springtime, when they came out of Egypt. The only difference is that the lunisolar calendar inserts one lunar month about every three years (Adar Sheni) in order for the months to be aligned to the seasons. Now, they could put Sukkot and Shavuot in the months where the agricultural activities should be.

From the time the Israelites came out of Egypt until the Babylonian exile, they had been using only a purely lunar calendar. When they left Babylonia, they adopted the Babylonian lunisolar calendar but kept the lunar calendar for their Passover Festival and other religious observances. From their return to Jerusalem from exile until the calendar reformation in 358/359 AD, herewith is the scenario of the major festivals/fast they were observing in the lunisolar civil calendar:

Maybe, the other four fasts were placed in the lunisolar calendar because they happened during the Babylonians’ capture of Jerusalem during the sixth century BC. The four fasts were mentioned in Zechariah 8:19, to wit: “the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth.” These fasts were Tammuz 17 (Nebuchadnezzar breached wall of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:4, Zechariah 52:7, Jeremiah 39:2), Av 9 (Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:8, Jeremiah 52:12), Tishri 3 (killing of Gedaliah and all the Jews and the Chaldeans with him at Mizpah, 2 Kings 25:25, Jeremiah 41:1-3) and Tevet 10 (Nebuchadnezzar began laying the siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:1, Zechariah 52:4, Jeremiah 39:1).

In which calendar where these fasts happened? Most likely, in the lunar calendar. It says in the ‘fourth month’ and not in Tammuz. But since the Jews adopted the Babylonian calendar, they could have put these fasts in that calendar like the Fast of Esther.

When did the siege of Jerusalem begin? It was on the tenth month of their lunar calendar. Then the breaching of the wall happened two years later on the fourth month of their lunar calendar. When did these happen? Historians usually place the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Were they correct?

Table 4. Festivals held in the lunisolar calendar (6^th century BC to 4^th century AD)

Month	Festival
Nisan	1 – Rosh Hashana (New Year’s Day) 15 – Fast of Esther Shavuot (Offering of the first fruit)
Iyar	None
Sivan	Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)
Tammuz	None
Av	None
Elul	None
Tishri	15-21 – Sukkot (Festival of Shelters or Ingathering)
Heshvan	None
Kislev	None
Tevet	None
Shevat	None
Adar	13 – Purim
Adar Sheni	None

After the calendar reformation in 358/359 AD, the Jewish calendar is like what it is today with some added occasions like Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) and Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial). The festivals/observances in the lunar calendar were fixed into the lunisolar calendar. Rosh Hodesh was demoted to as a minor festival. The Israelites incorporated the lunar calendar into their lunisolar calendar, that is why, using the same physical calendar, the civil year starts in Tishri and the religious year, in Nisan.

Table 5. Festivals held in the lunisolar calendar (4^th century AD to present)

Month	Festival
Tishri	1 - Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Day) – start of civil year 3 – Fast of the seventh month, Fast of Gedaliah (Tzom Gedaliahu) 10 - Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement ) 15-21 – Sukkot (Festival of Shelters or Ingathering)
Heshvan	None
Kislev	25 - Hanukah
Tevet	10 – Fast of the tenth month (Asara be-Tevet)
Shevat	None
Adar	13 – Fast of Esther 14 - Purim
Adar Sheni	None
Nisan	Start of religious year 15-21 – Pesach (Passover Festival) Shavuot Part 1 (Offering of the first fruit)
Iyar	None
Sivan	Shavuot Part 2 (Feast of Weeks)
Tammuz	17 – Fast of the fourth month (Shiva’ ‘Asar be-Tammuz)
Av	9 – Fast of the fifth month (Tisha be-Av)
Elul	None

File: twocalendars.htm First uploaded: 2008-07-06 Last updated: 2008-07-06 Rev. 0