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| El Shaddai Ministries | P.O. Box 7881 | Bonney Lake, WA 98391 | 253-862-8010 Office Hours M-F 8:00am-5:00pm (During our prayer time, between 9:00-9:15am (Pacific Time USA), phones will go to voicemail. Copyright © 2004 - 2011 All Rights Reserved |
Everybody knows that New Year’s Day falls on January 1 every single year on the Gregorian calendar. Likewise,
Jewish holidays are celebrated on the same day of the Hebrew calendar, but the Jewish year is not the same length
as a solar year, so the date “appears” to shift in comparison.
It’s important to understand that throughout history calendars were calculated for mere societal needs and absolute
accuracy was not demanded. If we assume our calendars have been accurate then we are misguided. In fact, any
Gregorian calendar showing dates prior to its existence is guesswork. It’s the space program (launch and landing
trajectory planning) that has driven the absolute need for accuracy. So, let's look a little closer at calendars to
refresh us.
Julian calendar reform added 90 days in 46 BCE, dubbed the “year of confusion.” Neglect had allowed the calen-
dar to drift so much that the months no longer lined up with the solstices and equinoxes that were so important to
their religious observances (to their Roman gods). Pope Gregory XIII ended the Julian calendar on Oct 4, 1582
and declared the next day to be Oct 15, 1582 thereby deleting 11 days. These shifts of dates have made accurate
reconciliation of events earlier than 46 BCE difficult and these are the well-documented changes.
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used, but there is somewhere near 40 calendars still in use throughout the
world today. Of those 40 calendars, there are four different types of calendar systems:
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Go to Aish Luach to download your own copy of the Hebrew calendar. This calendar is free and simple to set up
for use on your desktop. Then you can have your own visual reference to study the divine order of God’s plan as
seen through the Feasts of the Lord in Biblical prophecy.
Here's a couple of other online calendars or converters:..
.
Jewish holidays are celebrated on the same day of the Hebrew calendar, but the Jewish year is not the same length
as a solar year, so the date “appears” to shift in comparison.
It’s important to understand that throughout history calendars were calculated for mere societal needs and absolute
accuracy was not demanded. If we assume our calendars have been accurate then we are misguided. In fact, any
Gregorian calendar showing dates prior to its existence is guesswork. It’s the space program (launch and landing
trajectory planning) that has driven the absolute need for accuracy. So, let's look a little closer at calendars to
refresh us.
Julian calendar reform added 90 days in 46 BCE, dubbed the “year of confusion.” Neglect had allowed the calen-
dar to drift so much that the months no longer lined up with the solstices and equinoxes that were so important to
their religious observances (to their Roman gods). Pope Gregory XIII ended the Julian calendar on Oct 4, 1582
and declared the next day to be Oct 15, 1582 thereby deleting 11 days. These shifts of dates have made accurate
reconciliation of events earlier than 46 BCE difficult and these are the well-documented changes.
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used, but there is somewhere near 40 calendars still in use throughout the
world today. Of those 40 calendars, there are four different types of calendar systems:
- Linear calendars, approximately 260-day cycle “count” of Mesoamerican societies (Mayan, Aztecan,
Guatemalan Highlands)
Solar calendars, synchronized only for the tropical year or equinoxes of the sun (Gregorian, based on
the Julian Calendar derived from the Old Style Roman calendar)
Lunar calendar, based only on the lunar phases and does not synchronize on the tropical year (Islamic)
Lunisolar calendars coordinate all three astronomical phenomena (Hebrew, Chinese, India’s, etc.)
taking into account:
- The rotation of the earth on it’s axis = day
The revolution of the moon around the earth = month
The revolution of the earth around the sun = year
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Go to Aish Luach to download your own copy of the Hebrew calendar. This calendar is free and simple to set up
for use on your desktop. Then you can have your own visual reference to study the divine order of God’s plan as
seen through the Feasts of the Lord in Biblical prophecy.
Here's a couple of other online calendars or converters:..
.
| Get on God's Calendar! print friendly version |
| See Also: Hebrew Calendar Primer/Holiday Chart |
| El Shaddai Ministries is a Hebrew Roots Resource and Teaching Ministry. Our congregation is faithful to salvation by grace through faith as revealed in the Torah |