Lesson date: 12/../5854AA
Whenever I read Scripture I never know where or in which direction it will lead me. On 10/28/5854AA we began reading in Bereshith once again and we were finding gems and jewels as always. In preparing for the Torah study for Shabbat on 12/10/5854AA I read Ber. 8:21-22: Gen 8:21 And יהוה smelled a soothing fragrance, and יהוה said in His heart, “Never again shall I curse the ground because of man, although the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and never again smite all living creatures, as I have done,
Gen 8:22 as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Why would YHVH say this? It makes it sounds as though these things may have ceased during the flood. Well, there was no seedtime or harvest for a year and you could argue that heat and cold ceased because it just rained and rained and rained. Winter and summer didn’t really exist until after the flood but day and night?
Growing up in the hurricane prone state of Louisiana I have seen some pretty dark days that just, more or less blended into nights. And in Southeast Asia the monsoon seasons were more of the same but on steroids for 2-3 months. It dawned on me that during the deluge that Noah and his family survived that the downpour had to be greater than anything anyone had ever survived before or since so, perhaps that is why Noah counted 150 days: Gen 7:24 And the waters were mighty on the earth, one hundred and fifty days.
Gen 8:3 And the waters receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters diminished.
I can imagine that with the winds howling and the rain pouring Noah did not dare to open the window until the appropriate time therefore he counted 150/30 = 5 months. Five long months without any idea of whether it was night or day, even if he could look out. Maybe this is what YHVH was referring to when He promised that day and night would not cease. Wait a minute, that’s not right.
Jos 10:12 Then Yehoshua spoke to יהוה in the day when יהוה gave the Amorites over to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and he said before the eyes of Yisra’ĕl, “Sun, stand still over Gibʽon; and moon, in the Valley of Ayalon.”
Jos 10:13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Yashar? Thus the sun stopped in the midst of the heavens, and did not hasten to go down for an entire day.
Something changed from Ber. 8:21-22 to Yehoshua 10:12-13, or did it? But what about Hizqiyahu: 2 Ki 20:10 And Ḥizqiyahu said, “It would be easy for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”
2Ki 20:11 And Yeshayahu the prophet cried out to יהוה, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Aḥaz.
Note that Hizkiyahu asked for a sign and he was given a choice to advance the shadow of the sun 10 degrees on the sundial or to make it go backward 10 degrees. He says that it would be easy for it to go down 10 degrees so make it go backward. ((Easy for whom?)) And then in verse 11 I found my answer to my riddle.
Suppose, just suppose that Noah counted 30 days for each month because that was the actual length of a month. But is that the case now? No! Every month is 29.5 days in length so we must watch and wait to sight the sliver in order to know which day the month begins. Sounds reasonable but is it provable? The answer is YES!
Just a couple of days before this all came to mind I had the opportunity to teach Sunny and Brandon’s nephew, Logan, how to use his hand to tell time by placing his flat hand horizontally on the horizon and count the handwidths between the horizon and the sun. Each handwidth represents one hour, approximately. Each finger represents about fifteen minutes. If the shadow of the sun went backward 10 degrees that would represent 40 minutes or almost 3 fingers.
Wait a minute, what difference would it make if the sun and moon stopped in the sky together for the same period of time? None, right? In says in Yeh 10:12 that both the sun and the moon stood still for an entire day. But in 2 Kings 20:9-11 it is clear that the shadow of the sun moved backward and there is no mention that the moon moved in harmony with the sun. If that is the case, then the sun and moon are no longer in the original configuration that they were in the time of Creation we should be able to prove it mathematically. Simple. Right?
10 degrees = 40” (minutes)/day
40” x 30 (days in the month) =1200”/month
1200”/mo. X 12 mos. = 14400”/yr.
14400” x 3 (approx. number of years for a 13th month) = 43,200”
43200” / 60”/hr = 720′ (hrs.)
720′ / 24′ = 30 days
So, according to the math we should have an extra month (Adar Bet) approximately every 3 years. Do we? Very close. If this is correct we can now see where the Earth stood still and time changed. But how do we know if the 13th month is even Scriptural? We need proof. We need a period of time that we show the transition for one year to the next year and it has to be in a cycle where there is a thirteenth month. So where the heck is that? Too much to ask for right? Not for YHVH He always proves His Word and we find the proof right here: Eze 1:1 And it came to be in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, as I was among the exiles by the River Keḇar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of Elohim.
Eze 1:2 On the fifth of the month, in the fifth year of Sovereign Yehoyaḵin’s exile,
Please note that it was in the 30th year but of what? The exile. Yisra’el had already been in exile 30 years. How do we know this? I’ll show you later or you’ll figure it out before I get there.
Now, we are in the 4th month of the year and the fifth day of that month. ((04/05/3261AA)). Now, what other information do we know about Yehezkel’s time table?
Eze 3:15 And I came to the exiles at Tĕl Abiḇ, who were dwelling by the River Keḇar. And I sat where they were sitting, and sat there, stunned among them, seven days.
Eze 3:16 And it came to be at the end of seven days that the word of יהוה came to me, saying,
Now add the 7 days to the 5th and we arrive at the 12th of the 5th month. What happens next? Yehezkel is commanded to: Eze 4:5 “For I Myself have laid on you the years of their crookedness, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. And you shall bear the crookedness of the house of Yisra’ĕl.
And next: Eze 4:6 “And when you have completed them, you shall lie again on your right side and shall bear the crookedness of the house of Yehuḏah forty days, a day for a year. I have laid on you a day for a year. ((Now add the 40 years to the 30 years in Ezek 1:1 and you arrive at 70 years for Judah while in exile.))
40 + 390 = 430 Got it? Let’s count: ((We are going to assume 30 days per month like we started out.))
Month 4 = 18 days (30 – 12 = 18)
Month 5 = 30 days
Month 6 = 30 days
Month 7 = 30 days
Month 8 = 30 days
Month 9 = 30 days
Month 10 = 30 days
Month 11 = 30 days
Month 12 = 30 days
Total = 258 days in the 5th year of Yehoyaḵin’s exile
Year 6
Month 1 = 30 days
Month 2 = 30 days
Month 3 = 30 days
Month 4 = 30 days
Month 5 = 30 days
Month 6 = 5 days ((Why 5 days? Ezek 8:1 6th year, 6th month, 5th day))
Total = 155 days in the 6th year
258 + 155 = 413 days
Oops, there are supposed to be at least 430 days. Is Scripture wrong? Nope!
413 + 30 ((13th month)) = 443 days and if the 13th month was 29 days it is 442 days
We now see that 443 days is greater than 430 days so there was enough time. STOP!
If time changed during Hizkiyahu’s reign to 29.5 days were there still enough days?
Let’s try to prove it quickly:
18 + 29 + 30 + 29 +30 + 29 + 30 + 29 + 30 = 254 days
29 + 30 + 29 + 30 + 29 + 5 = 152 days
254 + 152 = 406 days + the 13th month = 436 days
Now, even if we follow the 29.5 day lunar calendar we have enough days for this prophecy to match the timetable given to us but only if that year was a 13th month year.
It is up to you. Were the months originally 30 days and later changed to 29.5 days? You decide.
Ahavah,
CahalTx 