In calender terms, the day is the smallest and most consistent unit of time. In the ancient world, the term day was used in two senses. It described a 24 hour period, as well as daylight in contrast to the night. - Gen. 1:5 - The beginning point of the 24 hour day varied. In fact, the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible contains references to the day beginning in the morning as well as in the evening. - Gen. 19:34; Neh. 13:19; Acts 23:32 -
The dawn was the twilight before sunrise. - 1Sam. 30:17; Matt. 28:1 - The evening was the late afternoon between the day and the night or it could mean literally 'late' in the day just before the stars came out. Noon was the end of the morning which marked mealtime. Noon was also referred to as 'midday' or 'broad daylight' and 'heat of the day.' - Gen. 43:16; Deut. 16:6; 2Sam. 4:5; 1Kings 18:26; Neh. 4:21; Pro. 7:9; Jer. 6:4; Amos 8:9; Mark 11:19 -
In the time of the Roman Empire, the day may have begun at midnight, as indicated by the Gospel of John 4:6, 19:14 -
The day was divided into three parts: evening, morning and noon. Midnight was the midpoint of the night. - Ps. 55:17; Matt. 25:6; Acts 20:7 - In the Old Testament the night was divided into three watches - Ex. 14:24; Judges 7: 19 - while it was divided into four watches in the New Testament. - Matt. 14:25; Mark 13:35 - The term hour was used to mean 'immediately' or it could express the idea one-twelfth of the daylight. - John 11:9 -
The week was a seven day unit begun at the time of creation. - Gen. 1:31-2:2 - The word week means 'seven'. - Gen. 29:27; Luke 18:12 - In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible the days of the week were called the 'first day', 'third day' and so forth. - Gen.1:8-31; Matt. 28:1 - although the seventh day was known as "Sabbath". - Ex. 16:23; Matt. 12:1 - The day before the Sabbath was called "the Preparation Day" - Mark 15;42 - and Christians referred to the first day of the week as "the Lord Day" - Rev. 1:10 -
The month was a unit of time closely tied to the moon. The Hebrew word for 'month' also meant 'moon'. The reason for the connection between the month and the moon is that the beginning of a month was marked by a new moon. The moon was carefully observed by the people of the ancient times. When it appeared as a thin crescent, it marked the beginning of a new moon.
The lunar month was about 29 days long. Therefore, the first crescent of the new moon would appear 29 or 30 days after the previous new moon. At times the crescent was not visible because of clouds. But this was allowed for with a rule that the new moon would never be reckoned as more than much variation in the calender.
The Hebrew word for year comes from the idea of change or repeated action. Thus, the year expresses the concept of a 'complete cycle of change.' Due to the repeated seasons, man set up a calender to account for yearly events and to alert him of the coming seasons. The calender revolved around the agricultural cycles. Man observed the climatic changes and the length of days in him planting and harvesting. Religious festivals were also established to parallel the agricultural year. No major festival, for example, was celebrated during the busy harvest season. Man observed that there were four seasons and that the year was about 365 days long. Although the calenders were not always precise, adjustments were made periodically to account for the lack of precision.
The marking of time in Old Testament days revolved primarily around the months, seasonal religious festivals, and the year. The month was marked by the first appearance of the crescent of the new moon at sunset. The first day of each month was considered a holy day marked by special sacrifices, and it was to be announced with the blowing of trumpets. - Num. 10:10, 28:11-15; Ps. 81:3 -
Normally the months were designated numerically: first, - Ex.12:12 - second, - Ex. 16:1 - third, - Ex. 19:1 - fourth, - 2Kings 25:3 - fifth, - Jer. 28:1 - sixth, - 1Chr. 27:9 - seventh, - Gen. 8:4 - eighth, - Zech. 1;1 - ninth, - Ezra 10:9 - tenth, - Gen. 8:5 - eleventh, - Deut. 1:3 - and twelfth. - Esther 3:7 -
The first month of the Hebrew calender was in the spring, around March/April. In their early history the Israelites adopted Canaanites names for the months which were connected with agriculture and climate. Only four of these names are mentioned in the Old Testament. The month Abib was the first month (around March/April) which was at the time of barley harvest. The word Abib means 'ripening of grain'. - Ex. 13:4; Lev. 2:14 - The month Ziv - 1Kin. 6:1 - was the second month (April/May) This word means 'splendor' and it refers to the beauty of flowers blooming at that time. Ethanim - 1Kin. 8:2 - was the seventh month (September/October) which occurred during the rainy season. Bul - 2Kin. 6:38 - was the eighth month (October/November) Its name may have reference to 'rain' since the eighth month was between the early and latter rains. These four names for the months were associated with the most important agriculture times of the year.
In its later history the nation of Israel adopted all 12 months of the Babylonian calender as their civil calender. But not all of the 12 months are listed in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The seven that occur are: Nisan, the first month - Neh. 2:1 - Sivan, the third month - Esther 8:9 - Elul, the sixth month - Neh 6:15 - Chislev, the ninth month - Zech. 7:1 - Tebeth, the tenth month - Esther 2:16 - Shebat, the eleventh month - Zech 1:7 - and Adar, the twelfth month. - Ezra 6:15 - The first month of this calender also fell during the springtime.
Since Israel was an agricultural society, its calender worked well for the people and their religious festivals. In the first month (coinciding with our March/April) the fourteenth day was Passover. - Ex. 12:18 - the fifteenth day through the twenty-first day was Unleavened Bread - Lev. 23:6 - the sixteenth day was First-fruits - Lev. 23:10-14 - dedicating the first ripe barely sprigs. The second month (April/May) marked the celebration of a later Passover, in case some had missed the first celebration. - Num. 9:10-11 -
On the sixth day of the third month (May/June) the people celebrated Pentecost, which was also called the Feast of Weeks - Lev. 23:15-22 - in commemoration of the completion of the barely and wheat harvest. In the seventh month (September/October) the first day was the Feast of Trumpets - Lev. 23:23-25; Num. 29:1 - celebrating the New Year; the tenth day was the Day of Atonement - Lev. 16:29-34, 23:26-32 - the fifteenth to the twenty-second days were the Feast of Tabernacles - Lev. 23:33-43 - in commemoration of all the harvests of the year. Thus, the feasts revolved around the harvests.
With regard to the year, the Jewish historian Josephus stated that Israel had two New Years - the commercial New Year, which began in the fall (seventh month) and the religious new Year, which began in the spring (first month) Since the months were based on the lunar system and since each month averaged 29.5 days, the year would be 354 days, or 11 days short of the solar year. In just three years the calender would be off more than a month.
To reconcile the lunar month with the solar year, Babylon had a sophisticated system where seven months would be added to the calender over a 19 year cycle, resulting in an error of only two hours and four minutes by the end of the cycle. This is remarkable accuracy for that day. Israel must have adjusted her calender in a similar fashion by adding a "Second Adar" month whenever necessary.
During the period when the Greeks ruled the ancient world, the Seleucid calender system was most widely used. Two basic systems were used for reckoning time in the Seleucid era - the Macedonian calender and the Babylonian calender. It is difficult to be dogmatic as to which system was used, but the Jewish people seem to have used the Macedonian calender. This means the Seleucid era in Jewish history began on the first day of their seventh month, Tishri, about 312/311 B.C.
The New Testament contains no references to the Roman or Gentile calender or to the Jewish calender, except in speaking of the days of the week. But there is one reference to the "new moon". - Col. 2:16 - The Sabbath, Saturday, is mentioned many times. The New Testament also mentions the "first day", Sunday "the Lord's Day", Sunday and the "Day of Preparation" or "Preparation Day", Friday. However, these are references to the cult aspects of the Jewish calender. - Matt. 12:1-12, 27:62; Mark 15:42, 16:2; Luke 23:54, 24:1; John 19:14, 31, 42; Acts 20:7; 1Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10 -
Frequent mention is made, especially in the Gospel of John, of the Passover. - John 2:13, 23, 6:4, 11:55, 12:1, 13:1, 18:39 - Other mentioned in the New Testament are Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication. - Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:1, 12; John 10:22; Acts 2:1, 20:16; 1Cor. 16:18 -
Although the New Testament makes no references to the Roman or Gentile calender, it does refer to the reigns of rulers. The most specific example is Luke 13:1, which speaks of "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." This refers to the time of the rulers then in office in Judea and the surrounding territories and to the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. This must have been in A.D. 28-29, assuming that Saint Luke used either the Julian calender, which began in January or the regional calender, which began in August. The most general references speak not of the year but of the reigns of emperors Caesar Augustus - Luke 2:1 - and Claudius Caesar - Acts 11:28 - of provincial governors Quirinius - Luke 2:2 - and Gallio - Acts 18:12 - of king Herod - Matt. 2:1; Luke 1:5 - and of the ethnarch of Aretas. - 2Cor. 11:32 -
One New Testament calender problem is that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke portray Jesus as having celebrated the "Passover" with His disciples on the eve of His betrayal - Matt. 26:19-20; Mark 24: 16-17; Luke 22:13-15 - whereas the Gospel of John pictures the Jews as not having celebrated the "Passover" at this time - John 18:28 - Many attempts have been made to reconcile this problem. Possibly, the solution is that the first three Gospels reckoned their timetable of the crucifixion events according to the Galilean method (beginning the day at sunrise) which was used by Jesus, the disciples, and the Pharisees. But John may have reckoned according to the Judean method (beginning the day at sunset) a system used by the Sadducees. If this is true, different calender systems may have been in use at the same time within the nation of Israel.
My friends, this is my second letter to you, and in both of them I have tried to awaken a true understanding in you by giving you a reminder: recalling to you what was said in the past by the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and saviour which you were given by the apostles.
We must be careful to remember that during the last days there are bound to be people who will be scornful, the kind who always please themselves what they do, and they will make fun of the promise and ask, 'Well, where is this coming? Everything goes on as it has since the Fathers died, as it has since it began at the creation.' They are choosing to forget that there were heavens at the beginning, and that the earth was formed by the word of God out of water and between the waters, so that the world of that time was destroyed by being flooded by water. But by the same word, the present sky and earth are destined for fire, and are only being reserved until Judgment Day so that all sinners may be destroyed.
But there is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, 'a day' can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.
Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for is what he promised: the new heavens and the new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace. Think of the Lord patience as your opportunity to be saved: our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift. He always writes like this when he deals with this sort of subject, and this makes some points in his letter hard to understand; these are the points that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture - a fatal thing for them to do. You have been warned about this, my friends; be careful not to get carried away by the errors of unprincipled people, from the firm ground that you are standing on. Instead, go on growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, in time and in eternity. Amen. - 2Peter 3:1-18 -
Meanwhile let the sinner go on sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let those who do good go on doing good, and those who are holy continue to be holy. Very soon now, I shall be with you again, bringing the reward to be given to every man according to what he deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. - Rev. 22: 11-13 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
In its later history the nation of Israel adopted all 12 months of the Babylonian calender as their civil calender. But not all of the 12 months are listed in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The seven that occur are: Nisan, the first month - Neh. 2:1 - Sivan, the third month - Esther 8:9 - Elul, the sixth month - Neh 6:15 - Chislev, the ninth month - Zech. 7:1 - Tebeth, the tenth month - Esther 2:16 - Shebat, the eleventh month - Zech 1:7 - and Adar, the twelfth month. - Ezra 6:15 - The first month of this calender also fell during the springtime.
Since Israel was an agricultural society, its calender worked well for the people and their religious festivals. In the first month (coinciding with our March/April) the fourteenth day was Passover. - Ex. 12:18 - the fifteenth day through the twenty-first day was Unleavened Bread - Lev. 23:6 - the sixteenth day was First-fruits - Lev. 23:10-14 - dedicating the first ripe barely sprigs. The second month (April/May) marked the celebration of a later Passover, in case some had missed the first celebration. - Num. 9:10-11 -
On the sixth day of the third month (May/June) the people celebrated Pentecost, which was also called the Feast of Weeks - Lev. 23:15-22 - in commemoration of the completion of the barely and wheat harvest. In the seventh month (September/October) the first day was the Feast of Trumpets - Lev. 23:23-25; Num. 29:1 - celebrating the New Year; the tenth day was the Day of Atonement - Lev. 16:29-34, 23:26-32 - the fifteenth to the twenty-second days were the Feast of Tabernacles - Lev. 23:33-43 - in commemoration of all the harvests of the year. Thus, the feasts revolved around the harvests.
With regard to the year, the Jewish historian Josephus stated that Israel had two New Years - the commercial New Year, which began in the fall (seventh month) and the religious new Year, which began in the spring (first month) Since the months were based on the lunar system and since each month averaged 29.5 days, the year would be 354 days, or 11 days short of the solar year. In just three years the calender would be off more than a month.
To reconcile the lunar month with the solar year, Babylon had a sophisticated system where seven months would be added to the calender over a 19 year cycle, resulting in an error of only two hours and four minutes by the end of the cycle. This is remarkable accuracy for that day. Israel must have adjusted her calender in a similar fashion by adding a "Second Adar" month whenever necessary.
During the period when the Greeks ruled the ancient world, the Seleucid calender system was most widely used. Two basic systems were used for reckoning time in the Seleucid era - the Macedonian calender and the Babylonian calender. It is difficult to be dogmatic as to which system was used, but the Jewish people seem to have used the Macedonian calender. This means the Seleucid era in Jewish history began on the first day of their seventh month, Tishri, about 312/311 B.C.
The New Testament contains no references to the Roman or Gentile calender or to the Jewish calender, except in speaking of the days of the week. But there is one reference to the "new moon". - Col. 2:16 - The Sabbath, Saturday, is mentioned many times. The New Testament also mentions the "first day", Sunday "the Lord's Day", Sunday and the "Day of Preparation" or "Preparation Day", Friday. However, these are references to the cult aspects of the Jewish calender. - Matt. 12:1-12, 27:62; Mark 15:42, 16:2; Luke 23:54, 24:1; John 19:14, 31, 42; Acts 20:7; 1Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10 -
Frequent mention is made, especially in the Gospel of John, of the Passover. - John 2:13, 23, 6:4, 11:55, 12:1, 13:1, 18:39 - Other mentioned in the New Testament are Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication. - Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:1, 12; John 10:22; Acts 2:1, 20:16; 1Cor. 16:18 -
Although the New Testament makes no references to the Roman or Gentile calender, it does refer to the reigns of rulers. The most specific example is Luke 13:1, which speaks of "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." This refers to the time of the rulers then in office in Judea and the surrounding territories and to the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. This must have been in A.D. 28-29, assuming that Saint Luke used either the Julian calender, which began in January or the regional calender, which began in August. The most general references speak not of the year but of the reigns of emperors Caesar Augustus - Luke 2:1 - and Claudius Caesar - Acts 11:28 - of provincial governors Quirinius - Luke 2:2 - and Gallio - Acts 18:12 - of king Herod - Matt. 2:1; Luke 1:5 - and of the ethnarch of Aretas. - 2Cor. 11:32 -
One New Testament calender problem is that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke portray Jesus as having celebrated the "Passover" with His disciples on the eve of His betrayal - Matt. 26:19-20; Mark 24: 16-17; Luke 22:13-15 - whereas the Gospel of John pictures the Jews as not having celebrated the "Passover" at this time - John 18:28 - Many attempts have been made to reconcile this problem. Possibly, the solution is that the first three Gospels reckoned their timetable of the crucifixion events according to the Galilean method (beginning the day at sunrise) which was used by Jesus, the disciples, and the Pharisees. But John may have reckoned according to the Judean method (beginning the day at sunset) a system used by the Sadducees. If this is true, different calender systems may have been in use at the same time within the nation of Israel.
My friends, this is my second letter to you, and in both of them I have tried to awaken a true understanding in you by giving you a reminder: recalling to you what was said in the past by the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and saviour which you were given by the apostles.
We must be careful to remember that during the last days there are bound to be people who will be scornful, the kind who always please themselves what they do, and they will make fun of the promise and ask, 'Well, where is this coming? Everything goes on as it has since the Fathers died, as it has since it began at the creation.' They are choosing to forget that there were heavens at the beginning, and that the earth was formed by the word of God out of water and between the waters, so that the world of that time was destroyed by being flooded by water. But by the same word, the present sky and earth are destined for fire, and are only being reserved until Judgment Day so that all sinners may be destroyed.
But there is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, 'a day' can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.
Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for is what he promised: the new heavens and the new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace. Think of the Lord patience as your opportunity to be saved: our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift. He always writes like this when he deals with this sort of subject, and this makes some points in his letter hard to understand; these are the points that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture - a fatal thing for them to do. You have been warned about this, my friends; be careful not to get carried away by the errors of unprincipled people, from the firm ground that you are standing on. Instead, go on growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, in time and in eternity. Amen. - 2Peter 3:1-18 -
Meanwhile let the sinner go on sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let those who do good go on doing good, and those who are holy continue to be holy. Very soon now, I shall be with you again, bringing the reward to be given to every man according to what he deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. - Rev. 22: 11-13 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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