354 vs 360 vs 365 day calendar musings – Part 1

Isaiah 58:12
“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”

There are a number of different calendars used today. It seems that none of them are perfect in the sense that they do not exactly match the calendar of the scriptures.

In the next couple of articles we are going to explore some of things we see today with respect to the calendar and look to the scriptures for an explanation of why we see these things. We will look at a little math (don’t worry – it’s already be done for you). We shall look at the scriptures to see the prophecies contained within and how they might be fulfilled.

These articles are not saying that the things spoken of must come to pass. Far from it. It is a look at how we may try to make some sense of the things which have been sealed.

We read the following words in Daniel 12:4

Daniel 12:4
4 Daniel, shut up and keep closed these words. Seal this written book to the time of the end. Many will run back and forth and wisdom and understanding shall become great.

It is my belief that we are indeed in the time of the end. I believe that through our understanding of the scriptures that wisdom is increasing. But I also believe that many shall be mistaken in their understanding and shall not follow the “narrow path” the true path, so to speak. We need to be as sheep who follow their master.  We need to be wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.  So let’s look at the calendars and see:

Presently when we use the Gregorian calendar, the year is 365.2422 days long. This is worked out by the length of time needed for the sun to return to its starting location. We know this as a solar year.

Others around the world use a lunar calendar. The lunar calendar consists of 12 rotations of the moon around the globe. This works out to be 354 days long. A lunar year is calculated by the time taken for one cycle of the moon arrive back at its original brightness multiplied by twelve. The time taken by the moon to get back to the location where it is the same brightness is around 29.5 days long. This equals 29.5 multiplied by 12 = 354 days.

A lunar only calendar “slips” backwards throughout a solar year by around 10-11 days each year. Around every 33 years it returns back to the same position it had with the sun.

Then there are those who use a luni-solar calendar. The calendar in the scriptures does indeed use the sun and the moon and the stars for the appointed times. We are told this in Genesis 1:14.

Genesis 1:14
14 Then Elohim said, “Let there be light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be useful for signs, and for marking appointed times, and for days, and for years;

The result of using a calendar such as this is that some years become 384 days long and other years end up 354 days long. But why is it like this?

In scripture we see the appointed times held in Israel being aligned with the growing of the fruit, i.e. The heat of summer and the cool of winter. To keep the appointed times of Yahuwah in line. with the sun, every couple of years an extra month is added. By doing this the fruits which grow are kept in sync with what we see in the scriptures.

This results in a 19 year cycle with 12 years being 354 days long and 7 years being 384 days long. 354 days x 12 months equals 4248 days and 385 days x 7 years = 2688 days.  4248 days plus 2688 days divided by 19 years equals an average of 365 days. In this fashion the lunar years keep up with the solar years.

The problem that every one of these calendars has however is that they all have a different number of days in their years to that which the scriptures show. We see in scripture that there were 30 days in a month. That makes 360 days in 12 months. But today we have 365 days.

Scripture tells us in Matthew and Luke the following:

Matthew 24:37
37 For the coming of the Son of Man (the Messiah) will be just like the days of Noah.

Luke 17:26
26 And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man:

So how many days were in the calendar when Noah was here?

Genesis 7:11-12, 24
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows and floodgates of the heavens were opened.
12 It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

24 The waters covered [all of] the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8:4
4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

So from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month there were one hundred and fifty days. The number of months equals 7 – 2 = 5 months. 150 days divided by 5 months = 30 days each month.

When we look in Revelation 22 we see the tree of life and 12 kinds of fruit upon it, one for every month.

Revelation 22:2
22 On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

In the same book we read of the length of the year being described when it speaks of the three and a half years. It tells us that three and a half years is 1260 days long and that equals 42 months.

Revelation 11
2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months (three and one-half years).
3 And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth.”

Revelation 12
6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years).

Revelation 13
5 And the beast was given a mouth (the power of speech), uttering great things andarrogant and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom and authority to act and to do as he pleased for forty-two months (three and a half years).
6 And he opened his mouth to speak blasphemies (abusive speech, slander) against Yahuwah, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and those who live in heaven.

1260 days / 42 months  = 30 days per month. In Daniel 7 we see the same thing being spoken of.

Daniel 7:25
25 He will speak words against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Most High, and he will intend to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, [two] times, and half a time [three and one-half years].

The three and a half years is also seen in Daniel 9:27, where we get to half way through a 7 year period and are left with 3 and a half years remaining.

Daniel 9:27
27 And the powerful one will confirm His covenant with many for one  period of seven  and half way through the period of seven the sacrifices of the passover shall no longer be observed and the extremity of the detestable things shall cause those to be stunned, stupefied and desolate until complete destruction is decreed and has been poured upon those who have been stunned, stupefied and are desolate.

And again in Daniel 12:7 we see the three and a half years spoken of:

Daniel 12:7
7 And I heard the man clothed in white linen who was above  the waters of the river,  as he raised up his right hand and his left hand to the visible heavens and swear by him that liveth forever that it shall be appointed for a time,  times, and a half. Completion shall shatter the hand of the set apart peoples to accomplish and end.

This is evidence that a 365 day year has not always been so. Whilst we may have been led to believe that the earth has been travelling the same path year in and out, it would appear that this has not always been the case.

We are aware that there have been many cultures whose year has consisted of 360 days, with twelve, thirty day cycles of the moon. This has included the Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Mayans and the Jews.

From history, it appears that sometime after 700 BC, these cultures started to change their calendars such that they had a little more than 365 days per year. Were these cultures all ignorant of how long a year truly was?  How is it that they all had the same idea to change the length of the year within a similar period of time?

I would suggest that the year was 360 days long and it was modified to a 365 day year. But why? Let’s look again to the scriptures.

Around 700 BC the Scriptures tells us about King Hezekiah and a sign given to him by Yahuwah. This sign involved sundial moving backward 10 steps (or degrees).

2 Kings 20:8-10 
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahuwah will [completely] heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahuwah on the third day?”
9 Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahuwah, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?”
10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.”
11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to Yahuwah, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

And again in Isaiah 38

Isaiah 38:4-8
4 Then the word of Yahuwah came to Isaiah, saying,
5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘For Yahuwah, the Elohim of Dawid your father says this, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; listen carefully, I will add fifteen years to your life.
6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city [Yahrusalem].”
7 “This shall be the sign to you from Yahuwah, that Yahuwah will do this thing that He has spoken:
8 Listen carefully, I will turn the shadow on the stairway [denoting the time of day] ten steps backward, the shadow on the stairway (sundial) of Ahaz.” And the sunlight went ten steps backward on the stairway where it had [previously] gone down.

In a full day, we have 24 hours with each hour having 60 minutes. But in the hours of daylight, we have half this amount ~ 12 hours.

1. 360 degree circle (on a sundial) divided by 12 hours of sunlight (average day)
   = 30 degrees per hour.
2. 1/3rd of an hour (60 minutes) equals 20 minutes.
3. 1/3rd of 30 degrees is 10 degrees
4. 10 degrees would therefore equal 20 minutes.

So when the shadow moved backwards 10 degrees, this added an extra 20 minutes per day. So who long does that add to a year?

1. 20 minutes per day x 360 days = 7200 extra minutes per year.
2. 7200 extra minutes per year / 60 minutes in an hour = 120 hours per year.
3. 120 extra hours per year / 24 hours in a day = 5 days per year.

So over a year around 5 extra days had been added to the original 360 day year which now results in a year with 365.2422 days.  This is what I believe to have caused all these nations to change their calendar as they were following a solar year according the what was gown in the fields.  This quickly caused all the calendars to be out so much so that cultures had no choice but to revise them.

How much time has elapsed?

If we were still on a 360 day year, how many extra years have gone by?  The answer was very interesting. But first let’s look at the number 40 and what meaning it has in the scriptures:

From Got Questions.

The number 40 shows up often in the Bible. Because 40 appears so often in contexts dealing with judgment or testing, many scholars understand it to be the number of “probation” or “trial.” This doesn’t mean that 40 is entirely symbolic; it still has a literal meaning in Scripture. “Forty days” means “forty days,” but it does seem that Yahuwah has chosen this number to help emphasize times of trouble and hardship.

We see this judgement taking place on Moses who spent 40 years tending to His flocks.

Acts 7:30
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.”

We see Moses on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights.

Exodus 24:8
18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain; and he was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

We see Moses interceding for Israel for 40 days and 40 nights.

Deuteronomy 9:18,25
18 Then, as before, I fell down before Yahuwah for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water, because of all the sin you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of Yahuwah to provoke Him to anger.

25 “So I fell down and lay face down before Yahuwah forty days and nights because the Lord had said He would destroy you.

We see the maximum number of lashes a man could receive being set at 40.

Deuteronomy 25:3
3 He may have him beaten forty times, but no more. He is not to be beaten with more stripes than these and he is not to be degraded [that is, treated like an animal] in your sight.

The YisraElites took 40 days to spy out Cannan.

Numbers 13:25
25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days.

The YisraElites wandered for 40 years.

Deuteronomy 8:2-4
2 And you shall remember [always] all the ways which Yahuwah your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not.
3 He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahuwah.
4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years.

YisraEl served the Philistines for 40 years.

Judges 13:1
1 Now YisraEl again did what was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, and the Yahuwah gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

Goliath taunted Sauls army or 40 days before David arrived to slay him.

1 Samuel 17:16
16 The Philistine [Goliath] came out morning and evening, and took his stand for forty days.

When we look at all this we see it as representing a time of judgement. Interestingly we see we Yahushua going through a similar time when He also spent 40 days and nights in the desert. At the end of this time He starts His ministry.

Matthew 4:1-2, 10-11, 17
1 Then Yahushua was led by the Ruach into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After He had gone without food for forty days and forty nights, He became hungry.
……
10 Then Yahushua said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship Yahuwah your Elohim, and serve Him only.’”
11 Then the devil left Him; and angels came and ministered to Him [bringing Him food and serving Him].
……
17 From that time Yahushua began to preach and say, “Repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek Yahuwah’s purpose for your life], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This article started off looking at the verses which said that as in the days of Noah, so wil it be at the coming of the Son of Man. We have seen how the calendar must be changed back before this time. So what does the number 40 have to do with anything?

In the story of Noah we read:

Genesis 7:12
12 It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

Much like the previous verses they were to do with judgement. In the  book of Nicodemus 4:14 it says

Nicodemus 4:14
14 The Jews reply to Pilate, Our law saith, he shall be obliged to receive nine and thirty stripes, but if after this manner he shall blaspheme against the Lord, he shall be stoned.

So back to the original question… how much extra time has elapsed between when the number of day on the calendar were changed to now? Well there is much debate over the exact time. Suffice to say that most people date it around the 700 BC date range. Whilst we cannot be certain, this is the value we shall use.

So how long has there been from 700BC until now? From 700 B.C until 2017, there are 2718  years. That is 700 + 1 (0 year) + 2017  years.

If we use the difference of 5.2422 extra days per year (based upon a 360 day year) there has been 5.2422 days extra x 2718 years which equals 14, 248 extra days. If there are 360 days per year then there have been an extra 39.58 extra years which have passed. Very close to 40 years indeed.

That 0.58 of a year brings us to the end of the 30th day of the 6th month. The next day is  when the 7 month begins. The first day of the seventh month is the appointed time of trumpets.

Leviticus 23:23-25
23 Again Yahuwah spoke to Moses, saying,
24 “Say to the children of YisraEl, ‘On the first day of the seventh month, you shall observe a day of solemn sabbatical rest, a memorial day announced by the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25 You shall not do any laborious work [on that day], but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”

Is it true? I do not really know. These are just my thoughts. But I am aware of the sign spoken of in scripture and it also aligns with this time. Here is a video I made which speak of this time. I pray you find it useful.

This article continues to go deeper into thought about subject and some interesting things come to light. You will find these details in the following article – Part 2