Scripture clearly tells us there are 12 months (H2320 “chodesh”) in a Biblical year and infers there are 30 days per Biblical month/chodesh. So does this mean there are 360 days in a Biblical year?
For years I thought that’s what Scripture was telling us. I knew that currently our years consist of 365.24 days, so I figured something must have gone out of whack since the time of Noah, and that it would likely be restored in the time of the end. But then, I came across something in the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch) was written and read prior to Yeshua’s (Jesus’) birth over 2,000 years ago. In fact this text was cited and quoted in the book/letter of Jude and many of the thoughts and ideas expressed in the New Testament seem to come from this book. This suggests to me (and others) that it was commonly read at the time of Yeshua.
It turns out that the Book of Enoch has been preserved through the centuries as a sacred Ethiopian text and is considered by many to be inspired. I was introduced to this book a few years ago, but I did not venture into it much right away. It wasn’t until the fall of 2012 while I was studying the Biblical calendar when I started looking deeper into it.
The Book of Luminaries
Chapters 72-82 in 1 Enoch are referred to as the “Book of Luminaries” and it gives quite a bit of detail concerning the sun, moon and stars.
The book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin, and according to their months, which Uriel, the holy angel, who was with me, who is their guide, showed me; and he showed me all their laws exactly as they are, and how it is with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creation is accomplished which dureth till eternity.
And this is the first law of the luminaries: the luminary the Sun has its rising in the eastern portals of the heaven, and its setting in the western portals of the heaven. And I saw six portals in which the sun rises, and six portals in which the sun sets and the moon rises and sets in these portals, and the leaders of the stars and those whom they lead: six in the east and six in the west, and all following each other in accurately corresponding order: also many windows to the right and left of these portals. (1 Enoch 72:1-4a)
This particular chapter goes on to speak of “the greater luminary” of Genesis 1, being the sun, and its rising and setting in different portals for so many days in a year. It speaks of rising and setting in one portal for 30 days, then switching to another portal and rising and setting for 30 days, then switching to another portal and rising and setting for 31 days. As the sun is rising and setting in these first portals, we’re told the lengths of the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter on a daily/nightly basis. On the 91st day, we are told the length of the day is twice as long as the length of the night.
And then the days start getting shorter and the nights start getting longer for another 30 days, 30 days and 31 days going back through the same portals in reverse order. On this next 91st day the lengths of day and night are equal. What I have just described are what most of us would consider the three months of spring, the summer solstice, the three months of summer and then the fall equinox.
1 Enoch 72 continues with the remainder of the year, explaining which portals the sun rises and sets, the number of days in each portal and the lengths of day/night on the 31st days of the next two quarters of the year, describing what most of us consider to be the three months of fall, the winter solstice, the three months of winter and then the spring equinox. The narrative concludes with the statement that a year is precisely 364 days.
On the surface this might seem to contradict what Scripture is telling us. However, if we look at the text in 1 Enoch it tells us how many days the sun rises and sets in each portal, but never tells us that these are the number of days in a “month”.
1 Enoch says a year is precisely 364 days and Scripture tells us there are 12 months (chodesh) in a year and infers there are 30 days per month/chodesh. This demonstrates a discrepancy of four days. According to 1 Enoch these four days are the solstices and equinoxes (or at least this is what they are most commonly referred to as) and they are not included in the “chodesh”. These days mark/signal the end of one quarter and the start of another.
Blessed are all the righteous, blessed are all those who walk In the way of righteousness and sin not as the sinners, in the reckoning of all their days in which the sun traverses the heaven, entering into and departing from the portals for thirty days with the heads of thousands of the order of the stars, together with the four which are intercalated which divide the four portions of the year, which lead them and enter with them four days. Owing to them men shall be at fault and not reckon them in the whole reckoning of the year: yea, men shall be at fault, and not recognize them accurately. For they belong to the reckoning of the year and are truly recorded (thereon) for ever, one in the first portal and one in the third, and one in the fourth and one in the sixth, and the year is completed in three hundred and sixty-four days. (1 Enoch 82:4-6)
What I find interesting is that a 364-day year is evenly divisible by seven, with four quarters of the year comprising 91 days or 13 “sevens”. This would mean a particular day of the year would fall on the same day of a repeating 7-day pattern (which we commonly refer to as a “week”) from year to year.
I’m a visual learner, and I needed to put this in a format that I could better understand. So I made a spreadsheet that consisted of 7 columns and 52 rows. My first thought was the first day of the year was also the first day of the 7-day pattern. So I counted out 30 days and highlighted that with a particular color to denote the first chodesh. Then I continued to count another 30 days starting where I left off and highlighted that section with a different color to denote the second chodesh. And again with the next 30 days, I did the same. Then on the 91st day of the year (which was on the 7th day in this rough draft), I X’d it out, indicating that this was a “Marker Day”—a day to signal the end of one quarter and the start of the next. (Here is what the first 13 “sevens” looks like.)
Interestingly enough the pattern repeats itself exactly the same for the next three quarters. When I finished laying it out like this, I began to look at the dates given in Torah to see where they fell out in the repeating 7-day pattern, but it didn’t seem right to me. For example, with this format Passover, which is the 14th day of the 1st chodesh, falls out on the Sabbath day. However, Passover with all of its mentions throughout Scripture is never referred to as a Sabbath day. That seemed odd to me.
So I began another spreadsheet starting the year on a different day of the 7-day pattern. In fact I laid out several of the possibilities to see what I could find. (Here are all the other possibilities.) But I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the time and decided to set it aside for a while. The idea of a 364-day year certainly resonated with me better than simply a 360-day year, but at that time I didn’t have proof of it in Torah (or at least I didn’t think I did), so I wasn’t completely settled with what 1 Enoch was saying. I did take comfort however, in not finding anything in Torah that ruled it out as an option.
It wasn’t until February 2013, when I considered the possibility that the Day of Atonement, which is the 10th day of the 7th chodesh, was a 7th day Sabbath, that I discovered this calendar model actually works according to Torah! I encourage you to check it out for yourself. It still blows my mind.
So, as far as I can tell (with a little help from Enoch), there are 364 days in a Biblical year.
Your missing key information given. Enoch simply States that there are 364 days in a “completed” year. According to the ancient Hebrew calendar, not all years are complete. What number does the scripture say is the number for completion? The answer is “7”. Every 7 years, equals Enoch year of completion. Some years in this 7 year cycle will have 13 months and some will have 12 months. Always however, a 7 year cycle will average out to be 364 days, making it a complete year.
Remember the first rule of celebration according to God. A year cannot start until the month of “Aviv”, meaning ripened barely. Once the barely is “aviv”, or green, then we are to start the new year directly after the sighting of the new moon.
Gods command goes hand in hand with Enoch calendar, but you must understand, Enoch was not declaring that every single year has 364 days, he only declared that a “COMPLETE” YEAR will have 364 days, and not every year is complete.
If we simply go off the misenterpretation that every single year is complete, with 364 days, then gods command that the new year starts only after “aviv” cannot hold up. Once you realize that Enoch only states that “a complete year” is 364 days, and not every single year, then you can start to see the truth.
You stated that Enochs calendar was a solar calendar. This is not true and never stated in the book of Enoch. It is inferred by you. What you failed to realize is that Enoch makes it clear when describing the moon, that the moon is also crucial in determining calendation. Enoch was actually describing a “luni solar calendar”. Which in no surprise, is the exact same calendar attributed to anciwnt hebriews.
So after 7 years of yearly day averages, the year will average to be 364 days. But over the course of about 240 years, it makes the yearly average at about 364.2425 days, which makes it an even more accurate calendar than what NASA uses. Enoch was a smart man, but modern fay humans ignore his exact words.
Enoch said “a complete year” will have 364 days, he never said “every single year” will have 364 days exactly.
What “ancient Hebrew calendar” are you referring to?
You said some years will have 12 months, and some will have 13. Are you talking about lunar months?
According to what I’ve found in the Tanakh, there are only ever 12 “chodeshim” (translated as “months”) identified when dates are given in a year, and I have no reason to believe these are lunar months. These appear to me to be 12 fixed periods of time, likely linked to the constellations in the sky. Now, I believe there are some years that will have 12 “new moon” phases of the moon and other years will have 13, but the number of “chodeshim” are fixed.
Torah refers to the month (“chodesh”) of Aviv, which I believe is a reference to the season of spring. I believe this period of time is determined by the lights in the sky, not by the produce on the land. What happens on the land bears witness to what is happening in the firmament of heaven. The barley may be aviv in this time of year, but that is a result of the positioning of the lights in the sky, particularly the sun in relation to the stars (plus weather conditions, such as adequate rainfall and soil temperatures, etc.).
The Book of Enoch lays out the revolutions of the sun, moon and stars. I’m not entirely sure how they all work in conjunction with each other (and I believe they do), but the chapter that addresses the sun traveling through 12 portals (6 in the east and 6 in the west) outlines a series of 364 days that takes place in 12 periods of either 30 or 31 days. These appear to me to be “solar months” in conjunction with the stars.
There is another chapter in Enoch that addresses the phases of the moon, and the author makes a comparison between the moon’s year of 354 days (consisting of 12 “lunar months”) and the solar/stellar year of 364 days, noting how the moon falls behind 10 days.
I agree that there is a “luni solar calendar” of sorts being laid out in Enoch, but I don’t believe it is properly understood. (I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it.)
“Years” are used to measure the length of days in a man’s life as demonstrated in Genesis 5. This gives me reason to believe there is a consistent number of days from year to year. While there may be a slight variance of a day every so many years like what we see in our modern Gregorian calendar convention with an added count of a day every four years, I find it hard to believe that the reckoning of any given year can vary up to 29 days from one year to the next.
When we reckon the age of a man in our modern calendar convention we do so based on the revolution of the sun in relation to the stars with a periodic adjustment of a day, which works out to be 365 or 366/days a year. The moon does its own thing throughout.
It seems to me that the “calendar” being kept in the days of the Levitical priesthood was a ceremonial calendar based on a series of seven days. (The priestly cycle was set up to rotate in 7-day increments.) My hunch is that there may have been a week of days intercalated after so many years to keep the annual appointed times happening in their proper season (perhaps every seven years or every time a particular phase of the moon lined up with the sun at a given point in time), but I have yet to see any documented proof of this. (If you know of any, please do share!) I have no reason to believe that the weekly cycle was ever interrupted.
Thank you for your comment. (It has stirred some fresh ideas in my head.)
Here’s a rough draft I put together over a week ago related to the calendar you prepared.
Abib Weekday Notes
18 1 Jesus rose
17 7 Sabbath – Jesus rested
16 6
15 5
14 4 Passover/Last Supper; Arrest, Death, Burial
13 3 Jesus annointed for burial; Judas agrees to betray him.
12 2 Fig Tree withers; Authority of Jesus questioned and Parables in the Temple (2 days before Passover – Mt. 26:2)
11 1 Triumphal Entry (Mt. 21:1-11)
10 7 Sabbath Rest
9 6
8 5
7 4
6 3
5 2
4 1 Transfiguration (likely, not confirmed)
3 7 Sabbath Rest
2 6
1 5 Feeding of the 4000 seven loaves of bread; FEW fish (three days after the feeding of the 5000)
Adar
31 4
30 3
29 2 Feeding of the 5,000 (five loaves of bread and TWO fish)
28 1
27 7 Sabbath Rest
Remember, Enoch describes the solar revolution to be 364 days long exactly.
But he later describes the lunar revolution to be 354 days exactly.
Enoch then says, anyone who uses a strictly solar calendar to determine the length of their years will be wrong according to gods timekeeping. He then says, anyone using a strictly lunar calendar to determine the length of the year will also be wrong and misled.
Enoch perfectly described the cycle of the sun and perfectly described the cycle of the moon, then commanded that we use both to determine the length of gods years.
We know when the new year will start if we go by the 364 day cycle of the sun. But if we do this, we will disobey gods command in Leviticus to “not start the new year until the sighting of the new moon DIRECTLY AFTER Aviv”.
Therefore, if we only obey the 364 day cycle of the sun, God tells us we are being disobedient to his new year command.
If we base our year off the 354 day cycle of the moon, we will also be in disobedience.
The trick is to combine both.
You forget, Enoch tells us to use the moon for months, and the sun, as the greater witness for years.
The moon phases will equate to 6 months of 29 days and 6 months of 30 days. So now we’ve accounted for all 12 of our months as commanded, and know that their are currently 354 days in a year.
But we’re not allowed to start a new year just yet. God commands that the new year must be “after the Aviv turns green”. So we MUST visually inspect the barely harvest in person before going any further with our calendar.
If the barely is green, then that year had 354 days in it. If the barely isn’t green yet, by law of God our of 12 months cannot be over yet. Meaning we MUST add another month. This is the 13th month of a luni solar calendar, and we can prove in scripture that King David honored a 13th month when he was asked to sit and eat with Sau.
Remember, God commands in the bible that the start of every new month can only start at the sighting of a new moon. So if we’ve went 354 days (12 months) and the barely still isn’t Aviv, we MUST add a 13th month to satisfy the laws of God. Adding a 13th month will NOT make a complete year, because it will then have 384 days. A 12 month year is also not complete because it will only have 354 days. Enoch tells us that a complete year is 364 days. Using this method, every 19 years combined (some years with 354 days, some with 384 days) averages out to be 364.25 days. Which is exactly what Enoch is describing, a calendar that uses the sun and the moon together, to average out a completed year of 364 days.
@Messyanic : Thank you for coming up with this gobsmackingly accutate Calendar that cannot be argued with. I am convinced. God set it up do that those special sabbath feasts fell on a sabbath day. He is indeed not the author of confusion. Thank you for allowing yourself to be God’s vessel through which this hidden truth is revealed.
You guys have did very little research. The feast days of God were commanded to be held within each ones proper season. The last 3 feasts (trumpets, atonement, and tabernacles) must take place during the fall harvest season. If your year only has 364 days exactly in it, then every 150 years the feast of tabernacles will be 150 days off, and will take place during the planting season, not during the harvest season. Think people!
I agree, Matt. Relying on a strict 364-day year without any intercalation will have the annual feast days fall back in the seasons over long periods of time.
At this point, I believe there was likely an intercalation of some kind (perhaps an extra seven days every so many years, similar to the leap day recognized every four years in the secular calendar, since the priestly service schedule was set up on a weekly or bi-weekly rotation).
But I honestly don’t know, and I have given up seeking to figure it out because I personally feel it is futile.
It seems to me that the ceremonial calendar was put in place for the Levitical priesthood to specifically keep for their service at the altar in the sacrificial system, and for appointed times of holy convocation for the people as seen in Leviticus 23. But with the destruction in 70 AD, that sacrificial system came to a close.
I do believe there is value in understanding what is taught concerning the appointed times / feasts of YHVH, but I don’t believe any of us need to operate today according to the ceremonial calendar delivered to the Levites back in Aaron’s day.
The Ten Commandments clearly commands the keeping of the 7th day Sabbath by not working on it, and I’m satisfied with recognizing “Saturday” as the 7th day. I believe that command is still in effect today.
But the instructions concerning the feast days on a physical level were all given within a context, which is often overlooked by many seeking to understand the “Hebrew Roots” of Christianity. When the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, which was the meeting place for the appointed times, then those appointments were obviously canceled.
So many today, believe they need to restore the keeping of these appointed times for the modern age, but why? It was YHVH who orchestrated the temple destruction.
I used to consider the notion of a physical “third temple” building being erected in this last age and that those appointed times would become relevant again. But I no longer believe that to be the case.
It is my present understanding, the house to be built by the son of David prophesied in 2 Samuel 7 was a household of faith — not “the Christian church” as commonly known, because that is largely an institution of man, but a spiritual household of God-fearing, loving, obedient children of the Most High, not built by human hands. <-- This is what I believe was the crux of Yeshua's "ministry" when he taught on the Kingdom of God. I'm thinking I may blog on this subject more in the coming days. I've been kind of quiet the past few years on this blog. Perhaps it's time for me to start sharing again where I'm at these days in my understanding. Thank you for your comments.
Hi, Carrie (is that your name?). I just came across this site yesterday and I think it is very well done. Your calendar, while you’re uncertain about it now, fits perfectly with what I had researched. I think the piece you’re missing is the mazzaroth. I won’t go into a lot of detail there, but the sun enters the first gate of the mazzaroth on the first day of the year and makes its circuit to the other end of the heavens (Psalm 19) by the 364th day and then starts all over. During the Exodus, Abiv (chodesh 1) is when the sun is in the Ram’s gates. This continued until Jesus’ life, which is fitting because it was during the Exodus in which the Passover celebration was instituted, and Jesus was the final Passover lamb. Hence, the ceremony of the sacrificial lamb being in the chodesh in which the sun was in the Ram. Last week I was looking at the week of Jesus’ death and your calendar fits perfectly what I discovered. On the fourth day of the week (Nisan 14) was the Last Supper/Passover celebration at eveningtime. The days started at evening and ended the following afternoon and so Jesus was crucified the afternoon of Nisan 14. He was buried just before the beginning of Nisan 15 (the 5th day of the week). He was in the tomb all the way until the end of the Sabbath, while He rested from His work here on earth. Then on that first day of the week (the 18th) he started his work again, first with his resurrection and then with his appearances all over town. Bear with me here, I’m about to make the connection to the Chodesh with all that I’m saying here. The week before was His (kingly) Triumphal Entry (on Nisan 11). The week before that (Nisan 4) was his transfiguration (he made visible His kingly/Godly glory to Peter, James and John). Every single one of those instances happened within the time that the sun was in the sign of the Ram, giving glory in heaven and on earth that Jesus was the Good Shepherd, the King, and the sacrificial lamb of God. During the previous chodesh (Adar), Jesus was calling disciples to become fishers of men. It was during Adar in which Jesus fed the 5000 five loaves of bread and TWO fish. Three days later, he fed the remainder of the 5000 (they had followed him for three days), which by then was 4000 people seven loaves of bread and a FEW fish. I believe (I haven’t confirmed it yet, but it does make sense) that the feeding of the 4000 was around the first of Nisan/Abib. However, the chodesh of Adar happened to be when the sun was within the gates of the Fish in the Mazzaroth. Hence, Jesus making fishers of men at that time and him feeding the 5000 two fish. So, I think your calendar is pretty spot on (maybe?) but you also have to take into account the signs in the heavens to know the appointed seasons in which the calendar corresponds. How you do that, I have no idea other than to be watchful of the starry hosts. I will add one more comment separately that I think you will find interesting.
Here’s my separate comment. I have a spreadsheet in which I keep track of the Hebrew chodeshim in correspondence with their respective Mazzaroth sign and this is one of the notes I entered related to Aries/the Ram.
– Sun was in the constellation Aries at the Spring Equinox (Equator) from the time of the Exodus through Jesus’ death/resurrection. Today it is in Pisces. Passover was to be celebrated on the 15th of Abib (the beginning of April). Ever since Jesus ascended, the 15th day after which the sun enters the Ram falls in May instead of April. God established the timing of the rotation of the stars so perfectly that while the Passover was celebrated, the appointed seasons fell during the time of the feasts. Since Jesus came once and for all (mankind) for the (eterrnal) forgiveness of sins, the old way of sacrificing for sins is done away with. Passover is finished.
I wrote a long response to this comment and it disappeared… I’ll try to be brief this time. I think your calendar is spot on based on what I was researching. You just have to take into account the Mazzaroth & the time in which we live for the appointed seasons. For example, during the Exodus and Jesus’ life, the sun entered the Ram in Abib. This was the period in which people sacrificed an innocent lamb as a replacement for the Israelites’ death, therefore, the sun was in the Ram during this time. Just before Jesus was crucified he began making fishers of men. He also fed the 5000 five loaves of bread and TWO fish during the chodesh of the Fish, a month or less before He was to be slain. We are now in that same time period in which we make fishers of men rather than in the days in which we make sacrifices on behalf of men. Thus, the first day of the year (Nisan/Abib) in modern times starts when the sun is in the gates of the Fish. While the 364 days remained in tact, the heavens gates were shifting over time so that the first of Abib now falls in the chodesh of the Fish (Pisces) rather than the chodesh of the Ram (Aries). This way you keep your seasons. If I’m thinking correctly, anyhow.
I’m sorry it took me so long to approve your other comments.
You always have a great way of explaining things, Carrie. 🙂
“Perhaps it’s time for me to start sharing again where I’m at these days in my understanding. ”
I pray that you will. 🙂
Thanks Kay! I’ve missed you. I hope all is well. Yes, I’ll probably be posting more regularly here. 🙂
Saw this posted and wondered. http://messyanic.com/?s=Feast+gathering+2019. Tks for your reply and may you all have a Chag Sukkot this Holy Day Season Carrie and Ty n friends.
Shabbat Shalom 10/05/19
Carrie will you be having any gatherings this fall holy day season such as the FOT any?
Hi Nils, No, I’m sorry, we will not be hosting anything this year.
You open with:
“Scripture clearly tells us there are 12 months (H2320 “chodesh”) in a Biblical year and infers there are 30 days per Biblical month/chodesh. So does this mean there are 360 days in a Biblical year?”
You could not be more wrong. H2320 references new moon and does not say there are clearly 12 months. You are using Greek thinking when you refer to 12 months in a year. A lunar cycle (month?) is 29.5 days and in the Fathers time, there can be 13 new moons in a year. There are no set days in a year in the Fathers calendar nor are there set months. What we call a week is the seven days set from creation. That 364 is divisible by 7 is a so what item. The moons orbit takes 28 days. That equals four seven day weeks. So what. It means nothing. Twelve 29.5 days (lunar cycle month) equals 354 days. Twelve 28 day months equals 336 days. In genesis it tells us: Day 4) Gen 1:14-19 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: There are no months but new moons.
I have been doing some research. I will not be using your site or comments for reference except why Enoch is wrong.
Have you read this: http://messyanic.com/2014/01/20/how-many-months-in-a-year/? This is what the citation of “there are 12 months (H2320 “chodesh”) in a Biblical year” is linked to at the start of this post. It is the Biblical backup for that statement.
And the link, http://messyanic.com/2014/02/09/how-many-days-in-a-biblical-month/, is what your citation of “there are 30 days per Biblical month/chodesh” is linked to, which is the Biblical backup for that statement.
While you may believe “chodesh” (H2320) is referring to a lunar cycle, when considering the source languages of the Bible (& Septuagint) (both Hebrew and Greek), I have not found any evidence to suggest that idea.
I agree a lunar cycle is 29.5 days and you can have 13 “new moon” phases in one solar year, but the use of “chodesh” in the Bible does not appear to be referring to either a lunar cycle or a particular phase of the moon. There is another Hebrew word that refers to a lunar cycle: “yerach” (H3391). That word is clearly tied to the moon, which is “yereach” (H3394) in Hebrew. And that word is used about a dozen times in the Old Testament, three of which are identified with names: Zif, Bul, & Ethanim.
When you study the word “chodesh” (H2318), you will find that word is often numbered, not named, and when that is the case there are only 12 of them.
I’m not sure what the intention of your research is, but mine when sharing this information was to better understand specifically what the Bible had to say concerning “days”, “weeks”, “months” and “years” and sharing what I learned. I hope it is a help to those seeking that kind of information.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and commenting.
Thank you so very very much. I’m in a situation of where my church follows the Enoch calender and our friends who have left the church to thier doctrinal differences are now following the moon. They reference Exodus 12:2 2 This month H2320 shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months H2320: it shall be the first H7223 month H2320 of the year H8141 to you.
They say this is the new moon we are to follow as the first day of the year. Please clarify this issue.
Hi Amanda! Thanks for commenting.
The Hebrew word translated as “month” in that passage is “chodesh” (H2320) and despite what many think, the word simply literally means “renewel” or “newness”. It is derived from the Hebrew verb “chadash” (H2318) and it is not *linguistically* tied to the moon in particular. There is another word that does, which is also translated as “month” elsewhere: “yerach” (H3391) as seen in Ex 2:2.
(Exodus 2:2 YLT) and the woman conceiveth, and beareth a son, and she seeth him that he is fair, and she hideth him three months (H3391)
The Hebrew word for moon is “yarach” (H3394) and those two words are linguistically tied together. Therefore, “yareach” is a reference to a lunar cycle or lunar month.
So, Exodus 12:2 is referring to a renewal/newness that is the beginning/chief of renewals; the first renewal of the year. What determines that renewal is not given. The general assumption has been it is a reference to a particular phase of the moon.
What I have found is that there are references to 12 renewals in a year throughout the Old Testament, which makes me think it is not purely determined by a particular phase of the moon, since the moon often presents the same phase 13 times in a year. My thinking is that there are multiple aspects to determining a “chodesh”, but I don’t know exactly what they are.
The moon may very well play a part in determining a chodesh, but I don’t think it’s a solo.
Have you considered the Dead Sea Scrolls. The year does not start on the 5th day, but on the 4th.
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:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Atonement is not on a weekly sabbath.
For those that say Enoch starts the year by the moon. That is a version of Enoch by Richard Lawrence. It contradicts itself within two verses.
74.12 And the Moon conducts the years exactly, all of them according to their eternal positions; they are neither early nor late, even by one day, but change the year in exactly 364 days. 74.13 In three years, there are 1,092 days, and in five years 1,820 days, so that in eight years there are 2,912 days. 74.14 For the Moon alone, the days in three years come to 1,062 days, and in five years it is fifty days behind. 74.15 And there are 1,770 days in five years so that for the Moon the days in eight years amount to 2,832 days.
Obviously, if the moon “conducts the years exactly……but change the year in exactly 364 days”, then it goes on to say, “For the Moon alone, the days in three years come to 1,062 days”.
This is a contradiction: 1062 / 3 = 354 not 364
The version of Enoch by R.H. Charles is correct:
74:12. And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days. 13. In 3 years there are 1092 days, and in 5 years 1820 days, so that in 8 years there are 2912 days. 14. For the moon alone the days amount in 3 years to 1062 days, and in 5 years she falls 50 days behind: [i.e. to the sum (of 1770) there is to be added (1000 and) 62 days.]
This matches the Dead Sea Scrolls. The DSS show the same lunar cycle, within the 12 solar month year.