Moon As the Earliest Calendar

by twilight on Friday, January 29th, 2010 | No Comments

I AM speaks to people through His Word, the Holy Bible.
Historical, inspirational and supernatural, the Bible has
been with us since calendar recording began. Readers of the
Holy Bible can understand the records of ancient times. We
discern what the numbered ages in the Old Testament actually
mean by using three oldest calendars. Three calendar systems
that help our study of Bible times are the Jewish,
Mesoamerican and the Egyptian calendars. These three
calendars allow us to trace back into remote prehistory. The
word prehistory includes the "before time", and the compound
of "His" and "story." Scientists who have worked with these
very early cultures can provide the basic calendar methods
that were once used to measure time. We need to review the
Lord's units of main time keeping to see the way ancient
humanity dealt with time observation.

Early parts of the Old Testament mention days and years
together. Time and the Biblical Creation include major
fundamental concepts known to the ancient Jewish people. The
Old Testament provides our first realistic ideas about time
reckoning and recording. The Lord defines the day and night
in the book of Genesis. The very first calendar of one day
had begun. Description of the seven-day Creative Week
further defines basic operation of the calendar. The sacred
seven-day week is a fundamental religious idea. Four phases
of the moon marked four weekly intervals during the month.
Approximate lunar phases are attached to the origins of the
calendar Sabbath week. Seven-day weeks and lunar months
create the lunar-side of the lunar/solar calendars.

We are discovering ancient days when timekeepers watched the
sun, moon and stars. The Jewish Calendar is simple when you
understand the numbers used. The Jewish Calendar is based on
the sun and moon together and measures chronology in
numbered years from the Creation year 1. Modern recorded
dates denote this era as B.C.E. for "Before Common Era".
Christianity dates according to the birth of Christ. The
same B.C.E. initials mean "Before Christian Era" or simply
B.C. for "Before Christ." Time reckoning after Christ
applies the A.D. marking of Anno Domini, which stems from
the Latin meaning: "After Divinity" in the year of our Lord.

Calendar systems map world chronology according to different
beginnings. Some follow Jewish tradition and put the
Creation date at 5,767 years ago or about 3,761 years B.C.E.
Others credit Archbishop Ussher with calculating in 1,701
A.D. that Creation took place in 4,004 B.C. The Egyptian
Calendar begins between 4,236 B.C.E. and 4,241 B.C.E., along
with Egyptian mythology explaining the world's creation.
Starting dates depend on star observation in Egypt, since
that is the only way primal society had to mark calendar
years. Another plan estimates the starting Mayan Calendar
date to be 3,113 B.C.E. Shared calendar characteristics
enable deeper inspection of prehistoric time reckoning.
Sacred texts and current science provide clues needed to
reconstruct the oldest Biblical history. Important traits
gathered from past calendar time streams become woven
together to obtain hybrid insight. Three ancient calendar
systems form the world's oldest trunk line of calendar
science. God used a lunar/solar calendar to write listed
ages for the Antediluvian Patriarchs. The family of Adam
heralds new discovery from the earliest time.

Ages of Adam will aid you through better understanding of
the Old Testament and significant calendar information. The
work at timeemits.com stresses time reckoning and recording.
We return to the origins of day and night that lead up to
the sacred seven-day week to explore this affinity between
God above and calendar times.

Genesis 1:4

"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided
the light from the darkness."

God was "between" the light, and the darkness in the literal
Hebrew definition. This basic interlinear Bible definition
establishes a slightly different thought of God being
between or separating, daylight on the one hand, and
darkness on the other. This meaning sets the precedence for
identifying day and night.

Genesis 1:5

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

The Lord put two great lights in heaven, one to rule the day
and one to rule the night. The light of the sun measured the
day and the light of the moon measured time greater than a
day. The greater light is, of course, the sun. Everything we
call solar deals with the sun. The lesser light, or
luminary, is the moon. The word lunar relates to the moon or
the month. The sun and moon identify as luminaries.

This work of God, of dividing, separating or coming between
daylight and darkness to measure time is the basic premise
of the original Jewish calendar. Calendars, time, and the
sacred seven-day week have inspired the purest of time
references to the Holy Bible. We must examine formative
religions and ideas about time. In chapter 5 of Genesis, a
correlation exists between the "begat" genealogy following
Adam and numerical ties to ancient calendars. Adam and his
descendants through Noah are the Antediluvian Patriarchs.
Antediluvian tells us they were before the great flood of
Noah and all were Patriarchs or fore fathers of humanity.
The Holy Bible provides our greatest treasure of calendar
history and early theology. The Master of the Universe, He
who sits upon the throne of glory and grace, stretches forth
His right hand to give us time.

We become one human race when you put man and woman
together. There are two literal Hebrew definitions involved
here. Adam meant "the man," in the literal Hebrew sense of
the word. Adam, the word, differs from a personal pronoun
name like Bob or John. Adam is the human being, the generic
man or a breathing creature. Adam in this work refers to the
universal, generic meaning for man. The man is a derivative
form of the root word that describes reddish clay, soil or
dust. Literal word searches furnish meanings that aid our
calendar study. A synthesis of faiths and mythology sharpen
initial views regarding civilization. People have always
marked birth and death by the calendar. Calendars unite with
the spiritual afterlife in memorials. Early religions
recognized conceptions of the spirit and soul after death by
burial and by saying "from dust unto dust." The lifetime of
Adam is given precise lunar/solar years in chapter 5 of
Genesis.

Eve is the woman in literal Hebrew. She is the life-giver,
mother to the living, or child-bearer. The feminine
fertility issue has always been associated with lunar
observation. The lunar month forever etches upon humanity
the moon -- mother perceptions of ancient times. Cycles of
new moons were basic time reckoning ingredients for
lunar/solar calendars. Where Eve represented the feminine
side of human order according to lunar observation, Adam
represented the masculine, solar side, according to solar
positioning on the horizon. In other words, Adam's male
image also implied meaning toward the rising and setting
positions of the sun through all four seasons during the
year. Adam and Eve have embedded connections with primitive
cosmology.

Clarification of God resting on the seventh day defines a
separation between successive time frames. God again
divides, separates or is between the light and darkness of
the moon. Repeated instances in a theme show a holy
relationship is present between specific divisions of
calendar times. Transition from one lunar phase ending to
commencement of the next lunar phase is the most revered
unit of time measurement known. God set aside the Sabbath
Day as holy. God consecrated the Jewish Shabbat for all time
to come. The sacred Jewish significance of the seven-day
week and the number seven elsewhere support religious
observance of the moon as an early calendar.

The lunar/solar calendar begins to emerge with a variety of
ultimate connotations. Day unto night, between the weeks as
Sabbath, new moon crescents and finally intercalary days all
continue divine providence upon Earth. Time steps in the
lunar/solar calendar accumulate for longer time cycles.
Years and then multiple of years exhibit the same religious
notions to vast proportions.

Changes in the appearance of the moon at night provide the
seven-day week. Divisions of seven-days separate the four
basic lunar phases noted in figure 1. Starting with a new
moon crescent, the moon gradually comes into view on
following nights. The first half of the moon is visible in
about seven-days. The moon waxes until full moon at the end
of two weeks. Lunar light reverses progression in the third
week, waning to half visibility. A fourth week completes the
month and visibility diminishes toward a new moon.
Completion of four lunar phases comprises the month. The
true lunar month measures 29.53-days. Ancient calendar
makers recorded approximations according to actual
observation. Whole lunar months of 29-days or 30-days were
the common practice in lunar/solar calendar systems. The
average lunar month of 29.5-days repeats upon sighting the
new moon crescent. Light and darkness classify lunar phases
in the lunar-side of lunar/solar calendars. Original
interpretations of lunar time place God between the weeks on
Sabbath Days.

Four Phases of the Moon Figure 1

New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Fourth Quarter Waxing Moon
- Waning Moon 29.5 Days Average Lunar Month

Lunar/solar calendar foundations of the Jewish calendar
extend from the earliest verses of scripture. Natural,
uniform motions of the heavenly spheres are the pivotal
markers of time reckoning. The list of ancient characters
mentioned in the Old Testament used this lunar/solar
calendar system of time recording. Observation of lunar
phases coupled with solar positioning graduated the lifetime
ages of Adam and his descendants. Well over ten thousand
years ago, proto-historical calendar makers had developed
advanced sciences such as mathematics and astronomy.
Intercalary days add to the lunar year of twelve-moon-months
in order to complete our modern solar year of 365-days.
Necessary intercalations best describe lunar/solar
separation time by "coming between" lunar and solar times.

Time Equations

There are 12 finished lunar months during the current
365-day-solar-year. Since day one, that has never changed.
An average lunar month is about 29.5-days long measured
against a starry nighttime background. There are four
quarters during one-lunar-month. From new moon, which shows
no moonlight, to the first phase of the moon, or half the
lighted moon, about one week has passed. Moonlight waxes to
full-moon stage after two weeks. Reversing the pattern, the
third week of the month wanes visibility to diminish the
moon's light back to halfway again. The fourth weekly period
continues the waning retreat of moonlight until again
repeating the new moon. Twelve mature lunar months multiply
by 29.5-days per lunar month for 354-days to approximate the
lunar year (Eqn. 1).

Time differences between lunar and solar calendar years
provide lunar/solar calendar adjustments or intercalations.
Subtraction yields 11 days of lunar/solar separation time
between the lunar year of 12-moon-months and the
365-day-solar-year (Eqn. 2). Eleven days of difference every
year were the staple for lunar/solar calendars. During
19-years, 11-days of lunar/solar separation time every year
multiply this division between lunar years and solar years
(Eqn. 3). Lunar/solar separation time measures 209-days of
difference after 19-years have passed. Therefore, any
19-year lunar/solar calendar cycle had to incorporate these
remaining 209-days of separation as intercalary days in
order to catch up the lunar-side of the calendar, with the
solar-side of the calendar. Intercalary systems varied
between cultures to compensate calendar recording. The Mayan
Calendar escalates the same intercalations to distribute
210-days over a 20-year lunar/solar calendar cycle (Eqn. 3).

Throughout this text, 'lunar/solar' denotes calendar
terminology that pertains to lunar and solar time.
Variations include 'lunar/solar separation time' to indicate
time between lunar years and solar years. Occasionally the
phrase is abbreviated 'l/s'. Lunar-side specifically
addresses time measured according to lunar or moon
reckoning. Solar-side time splits address time that depends
upon solar or sun reckoning. Lunar/solar calendar time is
the most important approach to survey ancient calendars.

Equations

1. 12-Month-Lunar-Year 29.5 day-lunar-month x 12
lunar-months in lunar-year = 354 day-lunar-year

2. 11-Days of Lunar/Solar Separation Time 365 day-solar-year
- 354 day-lunar-year = 11 days of l/s separation time per
l/s calendar year

3. Lunar/Solar Separation Time for 20-year-L/S-Cycle 11-days
of Separation per l/s calendar year x 19-year-l/s-calendar
cycle = 209 days of separation per 19-year-l/s-cycle
Approximates to 210 Days of Separation per 20-year l/s-cycle

Lunar/solar calendars were common throughout the ancient
world. Different calendar systems employed the 19-year cycle
with slight variations. Study of the Jewish Calendar
provides the necessary understanding that is fundamental to
lunar/solar calendar cycles. Equally important, the Jewish
Calendar was the mainstay time recording plan found
throughout the Old Testament.

More information regarding Jewish Calendar festival and
holiday celebrations is available from the timeemits.com
website. The scope of this work is primarily the treatment
of l/s intercalations. Ancient and modern versions of the
calendar vary slightly. A true comparison is possible only
through supplementary reading in Judaism.

Are you a pastor, educator or a student of the Holy Bible?
Timeemits.com seeks anointed people to review and contribute
to the Ages of Adam ministry. Ancient lunar/solar calendars
like the Jewish and Mayan calendars provide the background
to understanding early time. Ancient calendars of the Holy
Bible use differences between the moon and sun, numerical
matching and a 364-day calendar year to describe X-number of
days that match with X-number of years. Ages of Adam is a
free read at http://www.timeemits.com.

Nelson, C. K. (2004). Moon as the Earliest Calendar. In Ages
of Adam. Retrieved Feb. 26, 2006, from:

http://www.timeemits.com/AoA_Articles/Moon_as_the_

Earliest_Calendar.htm

Clark Nelson is webmaster for http://www.timeemits.com and
author of Ages of Adam and sequel, Holy of Holies.

Article Directory: EzineArticles http://ezinearticles.com

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