Does Anybody Know What Time It Is

Historic Calendars
Throughout history many different calendars have been used. Most are familiar with the Julian/Gregorian calendar which most people use today to determine what day, month, and year it is, and to determine holidays and special events. The current Gregorian calendar is based on the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, and is therefore a 365 day solar calendar. This 365 day calendar requires the insertion of a leap day every four years. This calendar places New Year’s Day in the middle of Winter. It is currently in the year 2021.

The Jewish calendar, a luni-solar calendar, is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis (a day of 24 hours); the revolution of the moon about the Earth (a month of 29½-days); and the revolution of the Earth about the sun (a year of 365¼ days) according to Mark Biltz. This 354 day calendar requires the insertion of a leap month every two or three years to keep the seasons in their proper times and synchronized with the agricultural seasons. This calendar places the Civil New Year’s Day in the Fall, but also includes a Religious New Year’s Day in the Spring. It is currently in the year 5782.

The Seleucid Greek calendar was also only 354 days long, based on the lunar cycles and changed New Year’s Day from the Spring to the Fall starting when the crescent of the new moon was first seen in October. This calendar also required the insertion of a leap month every three years to keep the seasons in their proper times.

The Days of the Week
Surprisingly, despite the many different calendars and changes to those calendars, the days of the week have never changed! When the Gregorian calendar was instituted in the United States Wednesday, September 2, 1752 was immediately followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752.

The Dead Sea Scrolls or Essene Calendar
New discoveries have given us yet another calendar, called the Dead Sea Scrolls or Essene Calendar, based on the Anno Mundi dates. Anno Mundi means “the year of the world”. It is currently in the year 5946.

The Dead Sea Scrolls calendar always starts the new year on the first Wednesday closest to the Spring Equinox. This calendar is 364 days long (7 days times 52 weeks). It keeps the seasons in their proper times and synchronized with the agricultural seasons by always starting the year on the first Wednesday closest to the Spring Equinox. This calendar is purported to be is self correcting and  calculated to keep the calendar correct for 20,806 years. This calendar can be found here: https://dsscalendar.org.

Using this calendar always places the 14th of Nisan on a Tuesday, consistent with Yeshua eating the Pesach meal Tuesday evening, crucified on Wednesday, in the grave Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, then rising again on the first day, Sunday.

For those who want a more detailed discussion of this information, I recommend the book: The Ancient Mysteries of the Essenes by Ken Johnson.

What Date Do I Use
Several people have asked about the two distinct dates I have provided over the past years as to which date is correct. I have asked the same question, as the given dates do not seem to correspond to the New Moon dates plus x amount of days after Rosh Chodesh. Remember is it only the sighting of the New Moon which sets the date for Rosh Chodesh, (First Of The Month), not modern calendars!

So, what day does one actually pick to celebrate or start a days-long holiday? Ya got me. Guess we really do not know the day or hour – go figure :-)

My suggestion is to take the date of the New Moon, and count off the number of days needed to get to the date stated by the Bible. For instance, we know that Pesach is always on the 14th of Nisan. Start at Nisan 1, which is March 21st, add thirteen days which brings it to the fourteenth day April 3rd, and use that day to begin the celebration.

Conclusions
Matthew 25:13 – “So stay alert, because you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Perhaps we may not know the day nor hour because we are following the wrong calendar.

The Historic Calendars appear to be inaccurate.

The Dead Sea Scrolls or Essene Calendar also appear to have inaccurate timing of yet to be fulfilled prophetic events.

Perhaps we should do like the ancient peoples, and count up from the new moon each month!