Ezekiel’s Thirteenth Month

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Oct 30, 2020

News Letter 5856-036
The 4th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 25th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 13th day of the 9th month 5856 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Middle of the 70th Jubilee Since Yehovah told Moses To go Get His People
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

October 31, 2020

Shabbat Shalom to the Royal Family of Yehovah,


Mail

Jenny
Joe this is a great newsletter! You hit a home run bases loaded! & I’m not into baseball…James’ article was very well written!!! The proofs and step by step why the equinox is irrelevant…awesome!!! Conclusive and clear!!! Will you resend the email for the right link? I did my homework and posted my guess. I previewed the rest but now must get in prep mode for Sabbath will be back to read more!! Thankyou for your work and writing!!!

Yes last week, even though I double checked before sending, I still managed to send you all the link for the week prior. My Apologies. I know all of you are intelligent enough to know that should I do that again, all you have to do is go to the sightedmoon.com home page and scroll down and the article will be there for you to click on and begin reading.

 


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Ezekiel’s Thirteenth Month

This article is By Larry and June Acheson originally written in March 15, 1998 and revised October 27, 2007. It was called The Thirteenth Month and can still be found at The Thirteenth Month

I wanted to update this article a bit and use Torah calendar to show you what they are saying. I am not going to do very much editing of their article.

As the title of this study implies, there is a passage of Scripture that provides strong evidence that a luni-solar calendar was used by the people of Yahweh. In the book of Ezekiel we are given a month-by-month account of Ezekiel carrying out Yahweh’s instructions pertaining to his bearing the iniquity of both the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He was told to lie on his left side for 390 days to bear the iniquity of the house of Israel, and then on his right side for 40 days to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah (Ez. 4:4-6). We are given a time frame in Ezekiel demonstrating that the year in which he did this had to contain thirteen months.

To begin our investigation of the above claim, we need to start at the beginning of the book of Ezekiel. In chapter one, Ezekiel receives a vision from Yahweh. Let’s read the first three verses of that chapter:

Eze 1:1  And it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Eze 1:2  On the fifth of the month, the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,

Eze 1:3  Coming the Word of Jehovah became known to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. And the hand of Jehovah was on him there.

Jehoiachin, also spelled Joachin, Hebrew Joiachin, in the Old Testament (II Kings 24), son of King Jehoiakim and king of Judah. He came to the throne at the age of 18 in the midst of the Chaldean invasion of Judah and reigned three months. He was forced to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar II and was taken to Babylon (597 BC), along with 10,000 of his subjects. Nearly 40 years later Nebuchadrezzar died, and his successor released Jehoiachin.

This 30th year has most scholars stumped. I will share what Adam Clarke has to say about it.

In the thirtieth year – We know not what this date refers to. Some think it was the age of the prophet; others think the date is taken from the time that Josiah renewed the covenant with the people, 2Ki_22:3, from which Usher, Prideaux, and Calmet compute the forty years of Judah’s transgression, mentioned 2Ki_4:6.

Abp. Newcome thinks there is an error in the text, and that instead of בשלשים  bisheloshim, in the thirtieth, we should read בחמישית  bachamishith, in the fifth, as in the second verse. “Now it came to pass in the fifth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month,” etc. But this is supported by none of the ancient Versions, nor by any MS. The Chaldee paraphrases the verse, “And it came to pass thirty years after the high priest Hilkiah had found the book of the law, in the house of the sanctuary,” etc. This was in the twelfth year of Josiah’s reign. The thirtieth year, computed as above, comes to A.M. 3409, the fourth year from the captivity of Jeconiah, and the fifth of the reign of Zedekiah. Ezekiel was then among the captives who had been carried way with Jeconiah, and had his dwelling near the river Chebar, Chaborus, or Aboras, a river of Mesopotamia, which falls into the Euphrates a little above Thapsacus, after having run through Mesopotamia from east to west. – Calmet.

So what Ezekiel is telling us is in the year 602, BC on the 5th day of the 4th month is when Ezekiel had this vision

In the above passage, we are told that the “word of Yahweh” came to him “in the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity.” We know from verse one of this chapter that this was during the fourth month. This is a good starting point for us. The key time frame at this point is that it is year five of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. After receiving this vision, Yahweh commissions Ezekiel to go to the children of Israel to warn them of the consequences of their rebellion. This commission occurs in chapter 2:

7And thou shalt speak My words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. (Ez. 2:7)

Thus having been commissioned, we read on in chapter three that Ezekiel visited his fellow brethren of the captivity at Telabib:

15Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and I sat there astonished among them seven days.” (Ez. 3:15)

Ezekiel was clearly overwhelmed by the vision that he had seen, coupled with the virtually hopeless mission to which he had just been assigned — a mission to bring Yahweh’s people back to the Faith. The key words in the above verse, though, for purposes of this discussion, are “seven  days.” He remained in Telabib for seven days, according to the above verse.

Ezekiel’s vision came to him on the fifth day of the fourth month during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. If we were to draw up a calendar to depict this time frame, it would look something like this:

https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y-602M4

As displayed above, you will notice we have circled two dates on this calendar, the 5th and the 12th. We circled the 5th because that is the date on which Ezekiel received his vision from Yahweh. We circled the 12th because this marks the end of the seven days that he “remained there astonished” among his brethren of the captivity.

At the end of those seven days (the 12th day of the fourth month of year five), the word of Yahweh came to him again. It was during this event that Ezekiel was given an astounding directive. He was told to lie upon his left side for 390 days, followed by 40 days on his right side. He was also given specific instructions as to what he was to eat and how he was to cook his food during this time frame. Keep in mind that during this entire period he was not to turn from one side to another (Ez. 4:8). Let’s read this amazing set of instructions given to Ezekiel as found in Ezekiel 4:1-11:

Eze 4:1  And you, son of man, take a tile to yourself, and lay it before you, and portray on it the city Jerusalem.

Eze 4:2  And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mound against it. Also set the camp against it, and set battering rams against it all around.

Eze 4:3  And take an iron griddle to yourself, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. And set your face against it, and it shall be under attack. And you shall set a battle against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

Eze 4:4  Also lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; according to the number of days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.

Eze 4:5  For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Eze 4:6  And when you have fulfilled them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; a day for a year; a day for a year, I have set for you.

Eze 4:7  And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.

Eze 4:8  And, behold, I will lay bands on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another until you have ended the days of your siege.

Eze 4:9  Take also to yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat of it.

Eze 4:10  And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it.

Eze 4:11  You shall also drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. From time to time you shall drink.

Repeating what we have already outlined in our comments above, this passage clearly presents the seemingly bizarre instructions that were given to Ezekiel. He was ordered to conduct a “mimic siege” against Jerusalem as a sign against the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Furthermore, he was told to lie upon his left side for 390 days, followed by 40 days on his right side. Again, remember that during this entire period Ezekiel was not to turn from one side to another (Ez. 4:8). We do not read of any further time reference until we arrive at the eighth chapter of Ezekiel.

In Ezekiel chapter eight, we learn that the time frame has advanced from being the fifth year to the sixth year. By this time, Ezekiel had completed his act of obedience to our Heavenly Father. He had by now lain on his left side for 390 days, followed by his right side for another 40 days — a total of 430 days of “lying around.” We read of this time frame in Ezekiel 8:1:

Eze 8:1And it was in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me. And the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell on me there.

Notice that Ezekiel was sitting in his house with the elders of Judah on the fifth day of the sixth month. Clearly, as an obedient servant of Yahweh, he had completed the days he was commanded to lie on his left and right side. The question we are left to answer is this:  Given the premise that  Ezekiel observed a solar calendar, could he have possibly completed the “days of lying around” by the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity? To best answer this question, we are displaying a solar calendar in which we use the dates given in Ezekiel, as displayed below. Since the 12th day of the fourth month was the last day of the seven days during which Ezekiel “sat astonished,” we will present a calendar depicting him wasting no time in following through on Yahweh’s directive to “lie down.” Thus, as shown on the following sample solar calendar, “day 1” falls on the very next day, the 13th day of the fourth month:

YEAR 5 OF KING JEHOIACHIN’S CAPTIVITY

Fourth Moon

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

 

If the ancient calendar used by Ezekiel only consisted of 30-day months, the above scenario, at the very least, serves to demonstrate that something was lacking. It would have Ezekiel sitting in his house on day number 413. He was charged to lie on his side for 430 total days, so he was at least 17 days shy of reaching the goal … if that’s the calendar he used.

But lest we ignore all of our options, we should remember that with a solar calendar, there must be 365 days in the year, whereas we only allowed 360 days for the above calendar. Nevertheless, if we were to generously add seven extra days to the 412 days we gave Ezekiel, this would only give him a total of 419 days of “lying around” … still far short of the 430 days he was allotted. Moreover, even if each month during that twelve-month time frame were to have had 31 days, Ezekiel would still have arisen too soon! We realize this is an impossible scenario, but for illustration purposes … in order to give skeptics the “benefit of the doubt,” … if each month were to have contained 31 days, Ezekiel would have been “sitting around” on day #427 — three days shy of his required completion date.3

Not only do we believe the above calendar is unrealistic due to its not allowing Ezekiel to complete the commanded 430-day lying mitzvah, but we also believe it is very unlikely that each month contained thirty days. A lunation consists of 29½ days (29.53059 days, to be more precise). This is why some months, when you go by the lunar cycle, consist of 29 days, whereas other months have 30 days. Some are persuaded that, in ancient times, the months always consisted of thirty days, and they cite the Genesis flood account as evidence validating their claim.4 Regardless of whether or not this claim has any merit, by the time of Ezekiel, the current lunar cycle was in place, as verified by ancient sources, including an ancient Greek calendar known as the “Attic Calendar,” which was in place during the fourth and fifth centuries BCE.5 The preponderance of evidence supports believing that the ancients, including those of Ezekiel’s day, did not recognize a calendar that contained only 30-day months. The following information is taken from The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible:

  1. The lunar month. There is no direct evidence that the ancient Hebrews ever observed any but a lunar month—i.e., a month of 29½ days, requiring alternation of 30-day months with 29-day months for practical purposes. Speculations concerning a purely solar reckoning, according to which the year was mathematically divided into twelve 30-day months without reference to the lunar phases, fail to explain why there should be months at all and do not take into sufficient account the widespread popularity of lunar calendars in very ancient times. It is true that 30 days are generally reckoned as a month’s length (Gen. 7:11; 8:3-4; Num. 20:29; Deut. 21:13; 34:8; Esth. 4:11; Dan. 6:7; 12—A 6:8, 13) and that the year contained twelve months (I Kings 4:7; I Chr. 27:1-15) apart from intercalation. This formula is, however, only a practical way of reckoning and leaves undecided the precise calculation of the calendar. Arguments for a year of seven 50-day periods (the so-called pentecontad calendar) are even more precarious.6

(3 For those who, like me, need a visual aid to validate this computation, please request our paper entitled “An Ezekiel Calendar

If Months Had Contained 31 Days.”

4 See “Appendix: Did the 150 Days During the Great Flood Consist of Five 30-Day Months?”

5 More information on this ancient calendar may be easily found online. For example, the Opentopia Encyclopedia, in its article “Attic Calendar,” offers the following information: “The months were either 29 or 30 days in length, loosely in alternation, since the moon orbits the earth in roughly 29.5 days. However, rather than following a set scheme (along the lines of ‘Thirty days has September…’), the duration of each month was declared just before month’s end in an attempt to latch the first of the following month onto the upcoming new moon. The short months of 29 days were known as ‘hollow’ and those with 30 days as ‘full’.” The article may be read in its entirety by accessing the following URL: http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Attic_calendar

6 From The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, Abingdon Press, New York, 1962, p. 485.)

We concur with The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible that the ancient Hebrews’ calendar consisted of months containing both 29 and 30-day months. This raises the question as to how such a calendar, known as a “Luni-solar calendar,” could have worked out for Ezekiel … presuming that the year only contained twelve months. The following calendar demonstrates that he would have fared even worse than he would have with the “30-Day Month Only” calendar:

 

As shown by the preceding twelve-month luni-solar calendar, Ezekiel prematurely ended his 430-day ordeal, i.e., he disobeyed the instructions given to him by Yahweh! He should have been “lying around” on the fifth day of the sixth month, not “sitting around”!

Keep in mind also that we have already given Ezekiel a “bare bones” amount of time during which he had to prepare for this period of adversity. As you may recall, he was told to prepare a certain amount of food and water for his adventure. Without a doubt, it would have taken some considerable amount of time and effort for Ezekiel to have made all the necessary arrangements for his siege. Note how Adam Clarke in Clarke’s Commentary explains Ezekiel 4:9-10:

9.        Take thou also unto thee wheat. In times of scarcity, it is customary in all countries to mix several kinds of coarser grain with the finer, to make it last the longer. This which the prophet is commanded to take, of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and fitches, was intended to show how scarce the necessaries of life should be during the siege.

10.        Twenty shekels a day. The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make 390 loaves, one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of 20 shekels in weight. Now a shekel, being in weight about half an ounce, this would be 10 ounces of bread for each day; and with this water to the amount of one-sixth part of a hin, which is about a pint and a half of our measure. All this shows that so reduced should provisions be during  the siege that they should be obliged to eat the meanest sort of aliment, and that by weight, and their water by measure.7

(7 Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, 1985, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, MO, p. 663.)

Somehow Ezekiel had to come up with enough grain and water to last for 430 days’ worth of baking bread. For us to presume he was able to come up with the necessary provisions on the same day he was granted his vision from Yahweh, this would make for a very lenient … and unrealistic … time frame. Nevertheless, for the sake of our friends who insist that a strictly 12-month calendar was in use during the days of Ezekiel’s siege, we produced the above sample calendars to illustrate that the only way either calendar could have been in use would have been if Ezekiel was disobedient to Yahweh. Realistically, he needed some extra days to have prepared for his ordeal, which means he should have begun lying on his left side later than on the 13th day of the 4th month of the 5th year.  Had we taken this factor into account, then by the 5th day of the sixth month of the sixth year he would have clearly spent even less time on his right and left side. The difficulties in reconciling those 430 days with a solar calendar or even a 12-month luni-solar calendar are just too overwhelming.

As mentioned earlier, it is possible for a luni-solar calendar to have thirteen months in the space of a year. Most years will only contain twelve months, just like a solar calendar, but occasionally a year of thirteen “moons” is necessary to keep the seasons balanced with the months. For example, during the time of the wave sheaf offering for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the omer offering consisted of the firstfruits of the barley harvest. In order to be able to produce those grains necessary for the offering, the barley crop had to be in the “green ear” by the time of the sighting of the first new moon of the year. Fourteen days later, it was ready to harvest, making the wave sheaf offering a reality. That same cycle continues year after year. But what if, twelve months later, at the sighting of the new moon that should have marked the first month of the new year, the barley was only half- grown, not even having any “heads,” let alone “green ears”? The Israelites knew that they could not have proceeded with the count to the Passover, for there would certainly not have been any barley firstfruits available for the wave sheaf offering! They had but one option: Declare that new month to be the thirteenth month of the year. Abib, the name of the first month of the following year, would have to wait a few more weeks!

Is there Scriptural evidence that Israel used a luni-solar calendar consisting of thirteen months? Well, we have just examined Ezekiel’s “mimic siege” using both a solar calendar and a twelve-month luni-solar calendar, and have discerned that neither calendar could have been used, unless Ezekiel broke the commandment of Yahweh by getting up too early from lying on both his left and right sides. Let’s examine the time frame of Ezekiel’s adventure one more time, this time reconciling the 430 days with a luni-solar calendar consisting of thirteen months in order to determine if this is the calendar that was regularly employed by Ezekiel.

 

 

As indicated on the preceding pages, this 13-month luni-solar calendar would have  given Ezekiel the necessary time to complete lying on both his left and right sides in time to be found in his house sitting with the elders of Judah on the fifth day of the sixth month. Based on this evidence, Ezekiel could not have observed a solar calendar. He definitely could have reckoned time with a luni-solar calendar, however.

Although many are of the mind that Yahweh intends for us to use the solar calendar, i.e., the sun, to determine our years, and hence the seasons of the years, there are some verses of Scripture that indicate otherwise. Shown below is Psalms 104:19:

Psa 104:19  He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows its going down.

In the scheme of things, those who seek the truth of Yahweh’s will are going to find plenty of topics on which to disagree. The issue of which calendar He intends for us to employ is at or near the top of the list. It seems that for every conclusion one reaches, there is someone ready to point out its error. This controversy, as we indicated earlier, traces back to the fact that there are no clear-cut, concise, to-the-point passages of Scripture to which we can refer for an absolute solution to this enigma that has puzzled believers for centuries, even eons. We can all rejoice in knowing that there are many believers who care enough about what the Creator wants us to do that they are willing to study into this matter. May Yahweh bless our study of this subject as we seek to gain understanding  of His will for us!

 

Torah Calendar has the year 600-599 with a 13th month as well as 603-602 BC as a 13th month year. Yet Ezekiel in the year 602 shows us there was a 13th month at this time.

605-604 BC 13 Leap Year Torah Calendar   1

604-603 BC NO LY TC                                  3

603-602BC 13 Leap Year Torah Calendar    2

602-601 BC NO LY TC                                  1 Ezekiel 13th month year.

601-6000 BC No LY TC                                 2

600-599 BC 13 Leap year Torah Calendar    3

599-598 BC NO LY TC                                  1

598-597 BC NO LY TC                                  2

597-596 BC 13 Leap year Torah Calendar    3

If we remove just the leap year that Torah Calendar has for the year 603-602 BC then Passover 602 BC would be March 26, 602 BC and the Equinox that year was March 28. So Ezekiel kept Passover in 602 BC before the Equinox.

We could also do the same thing for the year 605-604 BC And Passover that year would be March 16, 604 BC with the Equinox on March 27 of that year.

From this one example in Ezekiel we can now prove that Ezekiel kept the lunar cycle of 29 or 30 days each month.

He did not count the days as 30 days or 31 days per month.

We have now proven that Ezekiel used a 13th month to adjust the months for the seasons.

Once we look at Torah Calendar we can also see that Passover would have been kept by Ezekiel in the year 604 BC and 602 BC before the Equinox thus proving that the Equinox was not part of any equation in determining when the 1st month would begin. The use of the equinox as a tool to determine when the Holy Days are is a modern invention.

 


 

Did the 150 Days During the Great Flood Consist of Five 30-Day Months?

The Great Flood of Genesis has caused quite a stir among those interested in learning what calendar was used by Noah. Several years ago, when the dates provided in Genesis chapters seven and eight were explained to us, we were shown that the only way for such a calendar to work would have been for the months to have contained, without exception, thirty days. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the luni-solar calendar as understood today, with months consisting of either 29 or 30 days. This variance occurs because a lunation is comprised of exactly 29.53059 days (roughly 29½ days). As the calendar used during the Great Flood was explained to us, each month had to contain 30 days because the flood waters began to fall on the 17th day of the second month, and the waters prevailed for 150 days. Then, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. The only way this seems to work is for each of those five months to contain 30 days (30 x 5 = 150).

Later, we were shown an opposing view in which the author explained that, no, one of those months had to contain 29 days. The explanation as given in his two-page treatise was impressive and persuasive. It behooves us to examine each view to see which one really aligns with the Scriptural account. Before we look at the opposing calendars, let’s review the pertinent verses in the Genesis account of the Flood:

Genesis 7:11 “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month,the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

Genesis 7:24 – “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.”

Genesis 8:3-4 – “And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.”

The first potential calendar I would like for us to review is the one in which one of the months contained 29 days. As we review it, we need to bear in mind that the waters were not abated (diminished) until after the end of 150 days. Then, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat:

 

The most obvious question raised by the above scenario is, “If the waters weren’t abated until after the 150th day, then how is it the ark ‘came to rest’ upon the mountains of Ararat on that same 150th day?” The calendar proposed by those who insist that one of those months contained 29 days requires believing that the ark “came to rest” before the waters were abated. In order to explain the apparent discrepancy, we can presume lots of things, including the possibility that the Genesis account only gives us approximate dates; however, if we go strictly by the information provided … and if we presume that one of those five months contained 29 days, then we have to address the question of how the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat before the flood waters had abated. This is a concern that, to this point, we have yet to see satisfactorily explained by those who promote this type of scenario.

This brings us to the “Thirty-Day Month Only” calendar scenario. Does it fit the Genesis account? Let’s take a look at it

 

 

 

As this calendar illustrates, by day 150 the waters had not yet completely abated and the ark was still afloat. It wasn’t until after this day that the waters were abated, and that is when the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat … the 17th day of the seventh month (i.e., day #151). This is the scenario that best fits the account as described in the book of Genesis. We are left to believe that during the days leading up to the Great Flood, each month contained 30 days. Did the cataclysmic shakeup of the earth caused by the Flood affect the lunar cycle, causing it to be what it is today? Many have reached this conclusion, which I thought seemed fairly reasonable, until I read the explanation offered by fellow truth seeker Joseph F. Dumond:

When I explain the 30 days of Noah I remind people that the moon must be sighted in order to declare it New Moon day. Noah was locked inside the Ark for this length of time. It was also raining and overcast for much of the time. If we do not see the moon on the 29th day then it is automatically New Moon day on the 30th day. As you know there is no 31 days. Noah was not able to see the New Moon during this time inside the Ark. It would not be until he took off the window and was able to see the sky in order to send off the birds; then and only then could Noah sight the New Moon. But inside the Ark all he could do was count 30 days each month.8

(8 Excerpt from an e-mail we received from Joseph F. Dumond on 10/28/2007. You can visit his web site by accessing the following URL: www.sightedmoon.com).

As explained by Mr. Dumond, whenever it is overcast on the 29th day of the month, thus obscuring the sighting of the new moon that evening, by default we declare the next day to be “day 30.” We cannot be so presumptuous as to declare the day following day #29 to be “New Moon Day” without having sighted the new moon crescent. Certainly, during the time of the Great Flood, Noah would have experienced his share of cloudy days, which in turn would have compelled him to declare five consecutive 30-day months. For us to build a doctrine around the belief that the months of antiquity all contained thirty days, we need to build it around something more tangible than the account of the Great Flood.

If we could be shown something more persuasive than the five months of Noah as he and his family endured the Great Flood, we might be persuaded that, once upon a time, each month literally contained thirty days. Nevertheless, our concern for now is, did such a calendar exist during the days of the prophet Ezekiel? We believe the evidence bears out that it did not. By the time of Ezekiel, the lunar cycle was the same as it is for us today, resulting in months of either 29 or 30 days. Either way, as we have seen, the year consisted of either 12 or 13 months. During the year of Ezekiel’s mock siege, the year could only have contained thirteen months.

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