Does Genesis Teach Strict 30 Day Months? Matthew Janzen, (revised 2015)

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1 Does Genesis Teach Strict Day s? Matew Janzen, (revised ) Some Bible students are proponents of a strictly day mon Bible Calendar. Most of e time ey proclaim at e calendar of Scripture is strictly solar, and makes no use of e moon in eier e year, mon, day, or week. They opt for a solar calendar of mons, wi days in each mon. There are oers who will admit at e Biblical mons are indeed lunar, and in is present time consist of eier or days. This is because a lunation period (of e moon) consists of about. days. This group, however, teaches at e original, Biblical mons were days in leng, but due to some supernatural occurrence in e universe, e moon was caused to speed up slightly allowing it to complete a lunation currently in. days. Certain Encyclopedia s tell us at, " e moon takes ½ days to change from new moon to new moon." The statement in is encyclopedia is very easily proven by simply watching and calculating from one new moon to e next. You will always get eier or days. The point is at nature itself teaches us at e moon yields or day mons. What nature teaches is what Yahweh teaches, for He is e Auor of nature. Scripture even calls nature as a witness at times in order to prove a point (Rom. :; Cor. :). Therefore Yahweh is not going to be opposed to e teachings of nature, neier nature to e teachings of Yahweh. On top of is we find at e prophet Jeremiah stated in :- e following: Thus says Yahweh, Who gives e sun for a light by day, e ordinances of e moon and e stars for a light by night, Who disturbs e sea, And its waves roar (Yahweh of hosts is His name): "If ose ordinances depart From before Me, says Yahweh, Then e seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever. (Jeremiah :-; all quotes from NKJV) When we continue to read is prophecy of Jeremiah we find at Yahweh also states at if e heavens can be measured and e foundations of e ear searched out, en Yahweh will cast off e nation of Israel. The implication is obvious here. Israel will not cease from being a nation because e heavens will not be measured, e ears deps will not be searched out, and e ordinances of e moon and stars will not depart. Thus, if e moon originally yielded day mons, and will at a time in e future again yield day mons, e ordinances of e moon would be changing. This would go against e prophecy given by Yahweh to Jeremiah for e nation of Israel, and we should see at ose who are teaching is are (wiout sometimes realizing it) making an attempt to cause Israel to cease from being a nation before Yahweh for ever. Should we believe such a teaching? Proponents of strictly day mons point to e book of Genesis, and e account of e great flood. Genesis : reads: The New Book of Knowledge, by Grolier Incorporated, Volume, pg.

2 In e six hundred year of Noah s life, in e second mon, e seventeen day of e mon, on at day all e fountains of e great deep were broken up, and e windows of heaven were opened. Here we see at e flood began on e day of e second mon. Let me point out at e word mon here in e Hebrew language is e word chodesh, which according to Strong s Exhaustive Concordance has e meaning of "e new moon; by implication a mon." What is shows is at we are dealing wi lunar mons, because of e use of e word chodesh. Lunar mons consist of eier or days; please remember is. I'll now continue wi e commentary. And e rain was on e ear forty days and forty nights. On e very same day Noah and Noah s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhe, and Noah s wife and e ree wives of his sons wi em, entered e ark ey and every beast after its kind, all cattle after eir kind, every creeping ing at creeps on e ear after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And ey went into e ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is e brea of life. So ose at entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and e Lord shut him in. (Genesis :-) () The rain came down for 0 days and nights, () Noah and family entered e ark on e day of e nd mon, () e beasts, cattle, creeping ings, birds went in e ark on is same day as well, and () Yahweh shut e door on is day. Continuing Now e flood was on e ear forty days. The waters increased and lifted up e ark, and it rose high above e ear. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on e ear, and e ark moved about on e surface of e waters. And e waters prevailed exceedingly on e ear, and all e high hills under e whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and e mountains were covered. And all flesh died at moved on e ear: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping ing at creeps on e ear, and every man. All in whose nostrils was e brea of e spirit of life, all at was on e dry land, died. So He destroyed all living ings which were on e face of e ground: bo man and cattle, creeping ing and bird of e air. They were destroyed from e ear. Only Noah and ose who were wi him in e ark remained alive. (Genesis :-) () The flood (rain) continued for 0 days as verse already stated, () e waters prevailed and caused e ark to be upon e surface of e waters, () e high hills and mountains were covered, () all at was in e dry land died, and () only Noah and company remained alive. Continuing And e waters prevailed on e ear one hundred and fifty days. (Genesis :) The waters were strong upon e ear for 0 days. Do not get e time at it rained confused wi e time e waters were strong. It rained for 0 days and nights, but e waters continued strong for 0 days. We have e following facts to consider:

3 Continuing The rain began on e day of e nd mon The rain continued for 0 days and nights The waters were strong for 0 days Then Elohim remembered Noah, and every living ing, and all e animals at were wi him in e ark. And Elohim made a wind to pass over e ear, and e waters subsided. The fountains of e deep and e windows of heaven were also stopped, and e rain from heaven was restrained. (Genesis :-) () Yahweh remembered Noah and all company, including e animals, () Yahweh caused a wind to come and subside e waters, and () e rain from heaven stopped. What is interesting here is e fact at is verse makes it sound as if e rain stopped after 0 days, but is cannot be so because we know e rain was only for 0 days and nights. What is shows is at Genesis : must not be in chronological order as pertaining to e rain. Genesis :- actually are to be understood in retrospect, i.e. is occurred at e end of e 0 days and nights of rain. And e waters receded continually from e ear. At e end of e hundred and fifty days e waters decreased. (Genesis :) () The waters receded after e stopping of e rain, and () at e end of e 0 days (mentioned in :) e waters ceased to prevail upon e ear. What we have is rain for 0 days and nights, and en (inclusive of e 0 days) e waters prevailing (being strong) on e ear for 0 days. Then e ark rested in e seven mon, e seventeen day of e mon, on e mountains of Ararat. And e waters decreased continually until e ten mon. In e ten mon, on e first day of e mon, e tops of e mountains were seen. (Genesis :-) () The ark rested on e mountains of Ararat in e day of e mon, and () e waters decreased until e 0 mon, and on e new moon of e 0 mon e tops of e mountains were seen. This would mean at ere was still water on e ear covering ings oer an e tops of e mountains. What is passage does not say is at e ark rested immediately at e end of e 0 day period. That is an assumption, not a fact. The fact is at e passage is not in perfect chronological order in its telling of events. So it came to pass, at e end of forty days, at Noah opened e window of e ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until e waters had dried up from e ear. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if e waters had receded from e face of e ground. But e dove found no resting place for e sole of her foot, and she returned into e ark to him, for e waters were on e face of e whole ear. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into e ark to himself. (Genesis :-)

4 Now, let me ask you, does e event of : happen immediately after e events in :-? Was e end of 0 days after e end of 0 days? Was e end of 0 days after e new moon of e 0 mon? The answers to ese questions are no. What we have here is a compilation of facts at are not in chronological order, but simply depict for us some of e happenings and times during e great flood. One might possibly say at e 0 days of : are not e same 0 days of :,. I would say at is is a possibility. That is, at after e 0 days of e waters prevailing upon e ear ere was an additional 0 days, which after Noah sent out a raven and a dove. If is be e case, en we could also say at e 0 days are not inclusive of e original 0 days and nights of rain. This would mean at 0 days and nights of rain occurred and en ere was an additional 0 days of e waters prevailing upon e ear, totaling a sum of 0 days + e 0 days of Genesis :, equaling total days. Is is possible? Yes. Is is exactly what happened? I m not sure, but my point of all is is at is passage is not one in which we can concretely secure a calendar. There are events out of chronological order and facts are simply given. The non-chronological order of ese texts cause me to veer away from trying to implement a calendar teaching here. If a calendar is intended in ese verses, it does not prove at all e mons in between e day of e nd mon and e day of e mon had days. The sequence would not go,,,,, ; it would raer go,,,,,. You would have mons of days back to back on each side of a "sandwiched" day mon. Wi e moon you do not always have mons of,,,. There are times of two consecutive day mons. Five consecutive mons of days a piece would be too many days ( days)) to fit into ese two time references of Genesis : and Genesis :. What is causes us to see is at e calendar mons implemented by Scripture in Noah s time where definitely lunar mons consisting of or days a piece. This is seen by e use of e word chodesh in Genesis chapters and, and e calendar sequence illustrated hereafter, if one is even intended from e passage. nd 0 Gen :() () () () () () () () () (0) () () () ()

5 rd rd rd rd () () () () () () () () () 0 () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () (0) () () () () () () () () () (0) () () () 0 () () () () () () (0) () () () () () () () () () (0) () () () () () () () () () (0) () () 0 () () () () () () () (0) () () () () () () () () () (00) (0) (0) (0)

6 (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) () () 0 () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () () (0) () () 0 () () () () () () () (0) () () () () () () () () () (0) () ()