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HEBREW CALENDAR RESEARCH
Worldwide Church of God Articles |
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Title |
Year |
Comment |
How to Figure Passover, Good News Letter | 1940 | Formed the basis for the Hebrew Calendar understanding of the Churches of God |
Kenneth C Herrmann research | Various | |
The Hebrew Calendar. A Mathematial Introduction | 1974 | By John Kossey. Editor Herman L Hoeh |
Other articles | Various | |
Ernest Martin letter to Herman L Hoeh re the calendar | 1961 |
NB: Herbert W Armstrong laid the foundation for the modern understanding of the calculated Hebrew Calendar in his artice in the 1940 Good News Letter. In the 1950s, Kenneth C Herrman developed this further in an article published in the March 1953 edition of the Good News magazine. Four years later, in the February 1957 Good News magazine, this article was republished but contained some minor amendments. Research has continued since and forms the basis for ongoing calendar research within the Churches of God. Mr Armstrong wrote the following conclusions in his 1940 article:
“Briefly, after very exhaustive study, and counsel with brethren who also have made thorough study of the question for years, the facts are these: ... Research reveals two basic points on this question (intercalary months), 1st, God did not record it in the Bible, which gives us absolutely nothing more to go on than I have stated above. 2nd, history is vague on the subject, shedding little light that can be accepted and trusted. Yet we know God gave his people a fixed rule for calculating time periods, and for figuring when to hold the Festivals of Jehovah ... In conclusion, unless God has preserved His sacred calendar through the Jews, then we do not know how to figure Passover or any of the Holy Days this year. For there is no authority for any other way. There is no Bible authority whatsoever for figuring the 1st day of the 1st month from the new moon nearest the spring equinox! ... God did not commit His oracles, or the preservation of His times to profane history, or to the Roman Catholics, but to the Israelites. And they have been preserved by the Jews.”
Other Authors
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Title | Year |
Comment |
Raymond F McNair articles | Various | Several articles written for the lay person |
Richard C Nickels articles | Various | Very well developed articles |
United Church of God papers | Various | Doctrinal papers, statements and articles |
United Church of God sermons link | Various | Audio sermons on the topic |
Collection of sermons on the calendar issue | Various | More audio sermons |
Miscellaneous articles | Various | Variety of supportive articles |
Don Roth's Research | Various | Unique research |
Articles by various Church of God groups | Various | Articles from various Church of God groups and others |
Darkness at the Crucifxion by Anthony Alfieri | 2005 |
“The darkness at the crucifixion SYDNEY, Australia--Friends of the Sabbath Australia
is offering a book by the late Anthony Alfieri, The Darkness at the
Crucifixion, announced Craig White. |
Hebrew Calendar Converters
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Title | Year |
Comment |
Hebrew Date Converter | Various | Hebcal site |
Hebrew & Jewish Calendar Converter | Various | Chabad site |
Hebrew Date Converter | Various | Torahcalc site |
From the Encyclopaedia Judaica:
CALENDAR (Heb. לוּחַ, lu’aḥ). The present Jewish calendar
is lunisolar, the months being reckoned according to the moon and the years
according to the sun. A month is the period of time between one conjunction of
the moon with the sun and the next. The conjunction of the moon with the sun is
the point in time at which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun
(but not on the same plane) and is thus invisible. This is known as the
מוֹלָד, molad (“birth,” from the root ילד). The mean synodic month (or lunation)
is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3⅓ seconds (793 parts (ḥalakim); in the
Jewish system the hour is divided into 1,080 parts each of which is 3⅓ seconds).
The solar year is 365 days, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, which means that a solar
year exceeds a lunar one (12 months) by about 11 days. The cycles of 12 lunar
months must therefore be adjusted to the solar year, because although the Jewish
festivals are fixed according to dates in months, they must also be in specific
(agricultural) seasons of the year which depend on the tropical solar year.
Without any adjustment the festivals would “wander” through the seasons and the
“spring” festival (Passover), for example, would be celebrated eventually in
winter, and later in summer. The required adjustment is realized by the addition
of an extra month (Adar II) in each of seven out of the 19 years that constitute
the small (or lunar) cycle of the moon (maḥazor katan or maḥazor ha-levanah). …
The year begins on Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of
the molad, as there are four obstacles or considerations, called deḥiyyot, in
fixing the first day of the month (rosh ḥodesh). Each deḥiyyah defers Rosh
Ha-Shanah by a day, and combined deḥiyyot may cause a postponement of two days:
(1) mainly in order to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10) from falling on
Friday or Sunday, and Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from
falling on Saturday, but in part also serving an astronomical purpose (see
below). Rosh Ha-Shanah never falls on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday (according to
the mnemonic לא אד”ו ראש known as the postponement addu – probably first
vocalized iddo; cf. Ezra 8:17). (2) Entirely for an astronomical reason, if
the molad is at noon or later (מוֹלָד זָקֵן or מוֹלָד יח) Rosh Ha-Shanah is
delayed by one day or, if this would cause it to fall as above, two days. These
two deḥiyyot, owing to the mentioned limits on the number of days in the year,
entail another two. (3) The third deḥiyyah is as follows: If the molad in an
“ordinary” (not leap) year falls at ג”טר”ד, that is the third day (Tuesday), at
9 hours, 204 ḥalakim, that is, 3:11 A.M. and 20 secs. – Rosh Ha-Shanah is put
off two days. A postponement to Wednesday is not permitted (as in (1)), so that
it is deferred to Thursday. The object is as follows: If the molad of Tishri
occurs at that hour, the outcome would be a year which is one day too long…. (4)
This deḥiyyah is very infrequent. It is known as בט”ו תקפ”ט אחר עבור שנה, that
is when the molad of Tishri, following immediately after a leap year, occurs on
the second day (Monday) at 15 hours, 589 ḥalakim, which means Monday, 9:32 A.M.
and 43⅓ secs. …
While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II
the fixing of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present
fixed calendar is doubtful. … Intercalation is claimed to be evident from the
figures in Ezekiel 1:1, 3:15, 4:4–6 and 8:1, with similar indications in I Kings
12:32–3 and II Chronicles 30:2–3; … The New Moon (Num. 28:11, and parallels) was
determined by the phasis in the preceding evening, hence the plausibility of an
early biblical record (I Sam 20:18) of its prediction for “tomorrow.”
(Calendar. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum
and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007,
pp. 354-359. Copyright, Keter Publishing House Ltd)