The Hebrew Calendar - Part 3

In Part 1 of our series we discussed how the Hebrew calendar has a different number of days in a year than the Gregorian calendar. The twelve month Hebrew year has 354 days. In seven years out of a nineteen year cycle, a thirteenth month is added to make up for the lost days. In part 2 we provided reconciliation in the number of days between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars over a nineteen year span of time. We showed that the two calendars come to very close synchronization over nineteen years. Our next order of business is to discuss just how accurate the Hebrew calendar is when compared with the Gregorian calendar.

Rabbi Hillel II developed the modern Hebrew/Jewish calendar in the Jewish year of 4119, or AD 359 on the Gregorian calendar. Using his calendar methods (as described in Part 2) and assuming that the Gregorian calendar we use today was in effect at that time, the dates of Rosh Hashanah would have ranged from August 29 to September 28, between the Hebrew years 4100 and 4200. In the present Jewish calendar, the 58th century, the dates of Rosh Hashanah range from September 5 to October 5, a gain of six or seven days. This slight difference of approximately one hundred minutes over nineteen years has accumulated to almost a week over a 1,650 year period. It takes almost 9,300 years for this discrepancy to accumulate to a full month in time.

Here is viewpoint on the Hebrew calendar as it corresponds to the agricultural season:

1st month on sacred calendar/7th month on civil calendar–Nisan Barley Harvest
2nd month on sacred calendar/8th month on civil calendar–Iyar Barley Harvest
3rd month on sacred calendar/9th month on civil calendar–Sivan Wheat Harvest
4th month on sacred calendar/10th month on civil calendar–Tamuz Grape Harvest
5th month on sacred calendar/11th month on civil calendar–Av Olive Harvest
6th month on sacred calendar/12th month on civil calendar–Elul Dates/Figs Harvest
7th month on sacred calendar/1st month on civil calendar–Tishri Early Rains
8th month on sacred calendar/2nd month on civil calendar–Heshvan Plowing
9th month on sacred calendar/3rd month on civil calendar–Kislev Wheat/Barley Sowing
10th month on sacred calendar/4th month on civil calendar–Tevet Winter Rains
11th month on sacred calendar/5th month on civil calendar–Shevat Almond Bloom
12th month on sacred calendar/6th month on civil calendar–Adar Citrus Harvest
13th month on sacred calendar–Intercalary Month

The celebrations of Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits and the Days of Unleavened Bread all occur in Nisan – during the barley harvest.

Pentecost occurs in Sivan, the time of the wheat harvest.

The last three grand Jewish celebrations: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles all occur in Tishri, at the end of the major harvest.

A Couple of Last Points

There are two last peculiarities to the Hebrew calendar. Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is the most holy day on the Hebrew calendar. This day should not fall adjacent to the seventh-day Sabbath because Atonement is a day when fasting, doing without food or water, occurs. This would cause difficulties in coordination of the weekly Sabbath.

The seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles should not fall on a Saturday because that would interfere with the holiday's observances. A day is added to the month of Heshvan or subtracted from the month of Kislev of the previous year to prevent these events from happening. This process is sometimes referred to as "fixing" Rosh Hashanah.

There we have it. If you have read this three part series on the Hebrew calendar I'm more than confident that you now understand it very well. Now when you visit Israel you will have a much better idea of coordinating dates,

The Hebrew Calendar (Part 2)

In part 1 of our series on the Hebrew Calendar we saw how the Hebrew calendar has a different number of days in a year than the Gregorian calendar. The twelve month Hebrew year has 354 days, eleven or twelve days less than the Gregorian calendar. In seven years out of a nineteen year cycle, a thirteenth month is added to make up for the lost days. In the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteen years out of a nineteen year cycle there are thirteen months.

The Hebrew calendar months alternate between 29 and 30 days:

Month     Number of Days

Nisan              30
Iyar                 29
Sivan               30
Tamuz             29
Av                   30
Elul                  29
Tishri               30
Heshvon          29
Kislev              30
Tevet               29
Shevat             30
Adar             29/30
Adar II             29

In a twelve month year, the month of Adar has twenty-nine days. In a leap-year (thirteen month year), Adar has thirty days and Adar II (the added thirteenth month) has 29. So the twelfth month, Adar can have either 29 or 30 days depending on if the year is a leap-year or not. With that reasoning the Hebrew year can have either 354 or 384 days.

Now we need to begin to see if we can see how close we can come to reconciling the number of days between the two calendars. Although some have had loosely said the number of days matches up over nineteen years, that is not exactly the case, there is a slight difference. Let's see how close they come.

• A lunar month is actually 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds. This is how long it takes the moon to circle the earth and is what lunar months are based on. In decimal format this is 29.530587963 days.
• Twelve lunar months make up 354.37 days. Twelve months on the Gregorian calendar are 365.2425 days.
• The number of days in the Gregorian calendar over nineteen year is:
19 (years) x 365.2425 (days per year) = 6,939.61 day
• The number of days in a twelve-month lunar calendar over nineteen years is:
19 (years) x 29.530588 (days per month) x 12 (months) = 6,732.97 days
• In the modified lunar (lunisolar) calendar, the Jews insert a thirteenth month (Adar II) in seven years out of every nineteen year cycle. The additional number of days accounted for by this thirteenth month is:
7 (years with thirteen months) x (29.53088 (days per month) = 206.71 days.
• When we add the number of days in nineteen, twelve-month lunar calendar years to the days added during the seven years when there are thirteen months we have:
6,732.97 + 206.71 = 6,939.68 days

The Gregorian and modified lunar calendars thus reconcile to within .07 of a day over nineteen years.
6,939.68 – 6,939.71 = .07


Summary: Number of Days over Nineteen Years
Gregorian (Solar) Calendar
Days per year = 365.2425
Days in 19 years = 6,939.61

Hebrew (Lunisolar) Calendar
Days per month = 29.530588
Days per year (12-month year) = 354.367056
Days per year (13-month year) = 383.897644
Total days in 12 12-month years = 12 x 354.37 = 4,252.40
Total days in 7 13-month years = 7 x 383.90 = 2,687.28
Total days in 19 years = 6,939.68

Difference over 19 years = .07 day


Part 3 of this series will discuss the significance of .07 of a day plus a couple more tid-bits of information.

For more information about the roots of Christianity check out www.feelingoutstanding.com/ID.html.

Tom Thorne

The Hebrew Calendar, Part 1

The Hebrew Calendar (Part 1)

The Gregorian calendar is the method of reckoning dates used by most of the world. It was sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII n 1582 as a corrected version of the Julian calendar. It is a solar-based calendar in which dates represent the position of the earth in its revolution around the sun.

The Hebrew/Jewish calendar is quite unlike the Gregorian or the Julian calendar. It is a modified lunar-based calendar—that is, based on cycles of the moon phase. It is also adjusted by adding intercalary months (that is, a thirteenth month in certain years) to bring the lunar cycles into synchronization with the solar year.

Trying to understand the Holy Day dates on the Gregorian calendar can be quite challenging. For example, the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) falls on the Hebrew calendar date of Tishri 1. One may wonder why in some years Tishri 1 may fall early in September, while in others it may be as late as October. Having a basic understanding of the modified lunar calendar used by the Jewish people provides us with the answers. In this chapter, I will demonstrate how to reconcile the disparities between the numbers of days in the Jewish and Gregorian calendars.

The calculations used may appear to be a little bit intimidating, with long decimal places and many steps, but they are really very straightforward and simple. Gaining knowledge into the Jewish calendar will greatly assist in understanding why the Holy Days do not occur at the same time on our calendar every year. In addition, learning a completely different way to reckon months and years can be quite interesting.

The major points to note are that the lunar calendar has 29.53 days in a month. Twelve months are equal to approximately 354 days, 11 or 12 days less than twelve months in the Gregorian calendar. To make up for this difference, the Jewish calendar adds a thirteenth month in seven years out of every nineteen, so that the “modified lunar” (lunisolar) calendar and the Gregorian calendar come into almost exact alignment every nineteen years. The table below demonstrates the number of months in a year for the two calendars, representing the current nineteen-year cycle.

Hebrew                       Gregorian
Year   # of Months      # of Months    Year
5758           12                  12             1997
5759           12                  12             1998
5760           13                  12             1999
5761           12                  12             2000
5762           12                  12             2001

5763           13                  12             2002

5764           12                  12             2003

5765           13                  12             2004
5766           12                  12             2005
5767           12                  12             2006

5768           13                  12             2007

5769           12                  12             2008

5770           12                  12             2009

5771           13                  12             2010

5772           12                  12             2011

5773           12                  12             2012

5774           13                  12             2013

5775           12                  12             2014

5776           13                  12             2015

In part II in this series we will determine how well the days between two common calendars can be reconciled.

A Fun Feast of Tabernacles Activity

A Fun Feast of Tabernacles Activity

This past year (2010) my wife Amy and I had a group of people over for a dinner and celebration during the Feast of Tabernacles. The dinnertime conversation often remains upbeat as everyone is happy to be eating, that is as long as the food is good. Amy being an excellent cook, I don't have to worry about that. Unfortunately, many times when a large group like this is gathered, the after dinner conversation can turn into a gripe session about all of the problems in the world.

This being the Feast of Tabernacles is the great celebration of joy.  The time when Jesus announced his purpose to mankind (John 7:37-39).  The feast that looks forward to Jesus reign on earth and a wonderful time for celebration! I did not want to have our  conversation dig into the mud regardless of what crazy things were happening on that day. As my wife and I were brainstorming a method to keep that from happening we thought up a game that we would play after dinner.

The rules to this game are simple. I ask a question and whoever wants can answer. The less the leaders of the gathering do and say the better. The objective is to get everybody talking and telling stories. There are no prizes to this game other than the good feelings that everybody left with.

The game goes like this. Either my wife or I ask one of several questions and let the people answer. These questions are designed to bring laughter, joy, happiness and inspiration. It worked extremely well at our house and I feel it can do the same for others. Here are some of the questions that we asked.

1. Did any of you have a unique experience in meting your spouse?
2. Were there any unique experiences during the birth of any of your children?
3. What was one of your most fun vacation experiences and why?
4. What was one of your most rewarding experiences on the job?
5. Discuss one of the most beneficial and inspiring sermon messages you have ever heard.
6. Has anyone had a unique restaurant experience?
7. What was one of the most rewarding and inspiring movies that you have watched?
8. Can you describe the most beautiful spot you have ever visited?
9. What is the greatest vacation you have never had – whatis your dream vacation?
10. Is there a place in the United States (or your home state, or outside of the United States) that you would recommend people visit and why?
11. Is there a unique experience you had growing up that you would like to share?
12. Was there a time of God's intervention in your life or a "guardian angel" experience that you can tell us about?
13. Is there a class you would recommend that everyone take?
14. The expression "a picture tells 1,000 words" is very true. Is there a picture that you've seen and admired that holds true to this expression??

Some of the responses we got to this one were hilarious, some were touching. Many showed the hand of God at work. In answering question two, one father ended up delivering his first daughter and his second daughter was born in his car! What a wild story he had to tell as he got up out of his seat, was using wild gestures and really getting into it. Everyone was laughing and thankful that both of his daughters are absolutely fine, over twenty years later.

We didn't even get to ask all of the questions. As one person would answer a second or third or fourth person would excitedly chime in. You may want to try something like this at your next "get-together". You can probably even think up better questions. These were just thrown together in about thirty minutes without a great amount of thought. Our goal was accomplished. We kept the conversation on the positive side. We kept a happy, cheerful and praiseworthy attitude; and we had a lot of fun.

For more information about our magnificent appointments with God take a look at The Wonder and Majesty of God's Festivals and Holy Days:  The Master Plan Revealed.


Thomas Thorne

Do we Really Know How Many Days per Year there are in the Gregorian Calendar?

The method of reckoning time used by most of the world today is known as the Gregorian calendar. It was sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as a corrected version of the Julian calendar. It is a solar based calendar in which dates represent the position of the earth in its revolution around the sun.

The title to this article seems to pose a pretty palpable question; but let's see if we really do know how many days, on average, there are in a year. In the Gregorian calendar there are 365 days in a normal year. Leap years, years with 366 days occur in years that are exactly divisible by four with the following exception: centurial years that are exactly divisible by 100 and not by 400 are not leap years.

To help us understand, let's look at some examples. The year 2000 was a leap year, as was 2004 and 2008. 2012 will also be a leap year. They are four years apart. Now let's examine the time span from 1600 to 1999, which encompassed four hundred years. And let's focus on the centurial years (1600, 1700, 1800 and 1900). The year 1600 was a leap year because it is exactly divisible by one hundred and four hundred. Although the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 are centurial years exactly divisible by one hundred, they are not divisible by four hundred. Therefore, they were not leap years.

If leap years occurred every four years without exception, we would expect to see twenty-five leap years over one hundred years and one hundred leap years over four hundred years. But, over a four hundred year period, three of the years that would appear to be leap years are not. Even though they are exactly divisible by four they are centurial years not divisible by four hundred. Therefore, there are actually only ninety-seven leap years in a four hundred year cycle.  Now we can calculate the average number of days in a year when using the Gregorian calendar as follows.

• There are 303 "normal" years in a four hundred year period and 365 days in a "normal" year. 303 (years) x 365 (days per year) = 110,595 days
• There are 97 "leap" years in a four hundred year period and 366 days in a "leap" year. 97 (years) x 366 (days per year) = 35,502 days
• The total number of days over a four hundred year cycle is 110,595 + 35,502 = 146,097
• The average number of days in a year on the Gregorian calendar is 146,097 (days) / 400 (years) = 365.2425 days/year.

In the Gregorian calendar which is used by most of the world, there is an average of 365.2425 days in a year.

For a comparison on the Gregorian of the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars check out www.feelingoustanding.com/wm.html.

Coming to God and Jesus in Old Testament and New Testament Times

Has coming to God and Jesus changed from Old Testament times to now? Certainly, there were many who lived before Jesus' birth that had a relationship with Jesus. David is spoken of as a man after God's own heart. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses are all people spoken of with special faith in Hebrews chapter 11. Esther, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego all went through great trial and received miraculous deliverance. Surely, these people, along with many others that lived before Christ had a special relationship with God.

Much has been said about how to come to Jesus today. In this article I would like to take a look at how Abraham came to God and compare it with how we come to God and Jesus today.

We come to Jesus by grace through faith made. This is made possible by sacrificial atonement. Jesus is our sacrifice. According to Jewish tradition Abraham's parents were idol worshippers. In fact, his parents may have even been builders of idols. How did Abraham, from such a background come to know God? Did he study the subject of idols vs. God in depth and come to this conclusion? I don't think so.


We read in Genesis 12:1 "The LORD had said to Abraham, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." We see here that God came to Abraham. It had to be through divine inspiration that Abraham took up his goods and left. The key point here is that God first came to Abraham through divine inspiration and revelation. God did not have to do this. There is no record of exceedingly great accomplishments made by Abraham earlier in his life. And even if there were, it would not be enough to earn salvation.

Now let's jump over to the Brit Chadasha (New Testament). In Ephesians 2:8 we are told by the apostle Paul that "It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith––and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

It is the same today. How do we come to a relationship with Jesus? God comes to us first with grace. We have a choice to make, yes we do. And so did Abraham, but the faith required to make that right choice is the gift of God.

A classic case of a person coming to Jesus after Jesus crucifixion is that of the apostle Paul, as relayed in Acts 9. Paul was a violent persecutor of Christians when Jesus came to him and struck him blind. Paul was not searching for Christ.

One more interesting thought on this subject is from Matthew 16:15-18:

But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Jesus is asking Peter who he thinks Christ is. To which Peter responds that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ responds to Peter by telling him that man has not revealed this to him, by God the Father. And that he is Peter, and upon this rock Christ will build His church.

The phrase "this rock" that Christ will build his church upon has most often been thought of as referring to Peter. This may be true but I would like to also pose an alternative. It seems to me that Jesus may be referring to the fact that "this was not revealed to you by man, but by the Father in heaven" as the rock. The fact is that we do not come to Christ, He comes to us. This solid, hard fact could be what Jesus is referring to by the expression "this rock".

How did we as flesh and blood come to Christ? Through grace, God and Jesus came to us first. We are partners with Christ, we have choices to make, but God initiated the relationship. The right choices that we make through faith are a product of the relationship we have with Him, which was started by faith.

For more information regarding the Hebraic Roots of Christianity check out Thomas Thorne's new book titled "The Wonder and Majesty of God's Festivals and Holy Days: The Master Plan Revealed."  It's a wonderful, eye-opening experience.

Israel, The Land of Purple

There is no doubt, God is fond of the nation Israel. They have remained a unique people for over 3,500 years. God gave the land to Abraham when He said to him "And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God (Gen. 17:8 NLT).

Akkadian was the ancient, eastern Semitic language of Assyria and Babylonia written in cuneiform script. Cuneiform writing was composed of slim, wedge shaped triangular elements. The Semitic language was a sub-family of Afroasiatic languages that included Akkadian, Arabic, Ehiopic, Hebrew and Phonecian. In the Akkadian language, the word Canaan can be translated as "purple."

The land that became Israel may have gotten its name from the dye industry that flourished there at one time. The most precious dye was the purple dye. It is actually a red-purple color, known as "argaman" in Hebrew. In fact, some say it is red. Think of how red and purple mix on the rainbow.

This dye, along with the "royal blue" came from mollusks or whelks found of the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic coasts. The Canaanites fished for the snails that produced this dye along the coasts of northern Israel and Lebanon. The city of Tyre became a major center for the production of this color. So much so that the dye today is known as "Tyrian purple."

The dye industry was a major industry for over 3,000 years and the two colors mentioned above , argaman and royal blue (tekhelet), became associated with royalty. One of the main reasons is that they were so expensive and difficult to produce. According to the Jewish Jewels newletter (August 2010) "One gram of dye was made from the secretion of 10,000 sea snails. The purple color was remarkably stable, resisting alkalis, soap, and most acids."

Argaman was the color used in the Tabernacle along with blues and reds. When Mordecai was rewarded for saving the king's life in the book of Esther) he was publicly adorned in royal clothing of argaman (Est. 8:15). The virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 is known to dress in argaman (Prov. 31:22).

The color purple has often been associated with royalty. Just as the land of Canaan was known as the land of purple. Royalty definitely came from Israel.

For more information on the history of Israel visit the Hebraic Roots of Christianity web page.

Tom Thorne