The Observed Calendar

of the Second Temple Era

Presenting The Preponderance of Evidence

Tell Me Quickly What You Want To Tell Me ?

It is time for Christians and the Churches of God to switch calendars.  This presentation provides objective historical evidence of a single authoritative calendar that was used by ancient Israel and the priests of the Second Temple.  This observed calendar was the only official calendar of Israel, and was used for at least 590 years.  This observed calendar is the more authoritative choice, and should be used today.

This presentation will establish the existence of the observed calendar, will document the calendar’s rules, and that it was the official calendar of Israel between 520 BC and 70 AD.  This observed calendar is the calendar used by the Bible’s scribes, Jerusalem, the Second Temple’s priests, the Messiah, and the early Church, and therefore is the preferred calendar authority for us today.

This presentation will establish that the current Jewish Calendar was created, did not exist prior to 390 AD, was not widely used for at least nine generations after 390 AD, and was only intended to be a temporary measure in reaction to severe persecutions and the loss of consistent communication.  This presentation will claim that the temporary measure of Hillel ben Judah is no longer needed.

This presentation will claim that a switch should be made from the 390 AD authority, to the older and preferred calendar authority of the Second Temple Era used in the Bible.  The conclusion will ask the reader to agree that the observed calendar of the Second Temple Era was the preferred calendar of ancient Israel, and therefore is the preferred calendar for modern Christians.  This ancient observed calendar is the calendar we should use today to determine the dates of YHWH’s Holy Days for observance.

Road Map:

To establish the author's tenets and claims this presentation will present evidence and answer objections.  Because none of us today were living in ancient Jerusalem, all we really know is what we read.  For this reason this presentation will not claim proof, but rather will rely upon presenting an overwhelming preponderance of objective historical evidence.  This presentation will present so much interrelated and collaborating evidence that there can be only one logical conclusion, which is the author's tenets and claims.  This means that only by absorbing and evaluating the entire presentation of evidence will the reader conclude that all of the tenets, claims, and conclusions are substantiated.  No tenet or claim can or will be completely substantiated in any one section or document.

Because this presentation will bandy dates spanning hundreds of years, in order to better keep these large time spans in perspective, dates will often be followed by the number of generations being represented.  Generation #1 starts in 520 BC, Generation #2 starts in 500 BC, and so forth.  Thus, this presentation asks the reader to use the same observed calendar that was used by ancient Israel and the priests of the Second Temple for at least 590 years, that is for at least 30 generations.

The Preponderance Of Evidence is presented across these documents:

            Enc202                        This document, the primary presentation.

            Vat4096a                     Example of how ancient artifacts and documents are analyzed in order to deduce their authenticity, historical date, and application to determining the rules of their observed calendar.

            Elephant                       Author's reconciliation of the twenty-one double dated Elephantine Letters.  Essential for demonstrating that the entire Persian empire, and greater region, used the same calendar rules as Jerusalem.

            CalNoSpo                    Historical evidence that the alleged "Spring Passover Rule" was never used by the Second Temple's priests.  Essential for demonstrating that the observed calendar's rules were consistent and match the historical record.

            Bab-530                      Author's reconstruction of the Second Temple Era's observed calendar from 531 BC through 377 BC.  Essential for demonstrating that the observed calendar's rules were consistent and match the historical record.

            DateLine                      Explanation of how to administer the observed calendar in a global circumstance.

            Bend2000                    Listing of new crescent dates for the observed calendar as observed in Bend, Oregon from 2000 through 2015 AD.

All documents and GOTO links are required reading to substantiate the author's assertions and claims.  However, the more casual reader may derive the same conclusion as the author by only reading the overview of this document.

There is a huge amount of information in this presentation.  It is not a matter of reading the material, it is a matter of comprehending the material.  To help simplify the task of comprehension, this document is written in a non-standard format.  It is written in such a manner that the reader is expected to skip reading the details until they want to read them.

To obtain the OVERVIEW:  Read from here to the "Conclusion", to about page 13, and do not click on any of the GOTO links.  Do not even read the GOTO text, just ignore all links and their text.  Read the overview as often as you like.  Do not forget to read the footnotes.  Eventually you will be comfortable enough, and curious enough, to click for more details.

Think of the GOTO links as bouncing down to read some specific details about a specific topic, and then being able to bounce back to continue on reading the overview.  Some GOTO links are large sections, but at the bottom of each link is a "BackXx" hot-spot.  Click on the "Back above" hot-spot and it will bounce you back to where you came from.

There are also links to the other documents.  Clicking on these links will bring up a window with "that" document open.  These documents are major sections, devoted to presenting highly technical details for scholarly and serious study.  Not everyone will feel it is necessary for them to study these documents.

THE PRESENTATION:

Why does the Calendar Issue Even Exist ?

The issue of determining which calendar to use cannot be avoided.  In Genesis 1:14 YHWH created Mowadahs (Strongs #4150).  Whatever may be the definition of a Mowadah, in Leviticus 23:2 YHWH commands the calendar dates for each of His Mowadah.  Thus YHWH established a calendar of events, pinning each of His Sabbath Mowadahs to a specific day of a specified month.  Everyone who strives to observe YHWH's commanded calendar of events must choose which calendar to follow.

Even though you personally may not decide which calendar to follow, your group or church leaders must still decide.  Every group, congregation, and Church of God has someone who is responsible for telling everyone else when the Holy Day services will be held.  They must decide, whether it be complicated or easy, which calendar authority they will use to set their group's Holy Day services.

Why not just use the Jewish Calendar ?

Most observers of YHWH's Holy Days currently use the "Jewish Calendar".  To state this more accurately:  most Holy Day observers use the calendar of the Jewish Rabbinical Tradition, published by Hillel Ben Judah circa 390 AD [1], and is formally called the "Hillel II Calendar" [2].  However, there are five primary reasons why the Hillel II Calendar is being challenged:

1.  When the Hillel II Calendar was first published, it was categorically rejected by most Jewish communities in Asia Minor / Persia.  Instead, most of the Jewish and Christian communities ignored Hillel ben Judah's Calendar, and for at least the next 400 years, over 20 generations, continued to use an observed calendar.

Evidence demonstrates that the Hillel II Calendar did not become widely used in the west until after 800 AD, around Generation #66.  In this timeframe the Karaite Jews were established.  The Kariate Jews rejected the Rabbinical Tradition, the Mishnah, Talmuds, the Hillel II Calendar, and to this day follow an observed calendar [3]..  Even today many Jews are neither Karaite or Rabbinic, and use an observed calendar.  This history directly challenges the claim that the Hillel II Calendar is the “Only Official Jewish Calendar".

                <GOTO:  Rabbinists Changed Calendar While Others Retained Original  below   Back2 >

2.  The Hillel II Calendar’s rules did not exist prior to its publication, and was never historically used for official Holy Day determination by the Second Temple’s [4] synod.  Not previously existing prior to 390 AD means that any official calendar authority that is discovered which predates the Hillel II Calendar is immediately considered to be the preferred calendar authority.  Since the observed calendar rules used by the Second Temple’s synod have been discovered, the Hillel II Calendar is superseded.

                <GOTO:  Official Hillel II Book Acknowledges Original Method Was Observed  below   Back5 >

3.  The Hillel II Calendar is a calculated calendar, based upon astronomical averages for the solar and lunar cycles, assigns certain months with a fixed number of days, and applies "postponement rules" which shift the first day of the 7th month and Atonement.  To many this computing method is contrary to the Biblical statements of Genesis 1:14, which declare that the sun and moon are to be used to determine the Mowadahs.

4.  The Hillel II Calendar's assumed astronomical averages have now accumulated a significant amount of error.  Since the time it was first published, the spring and fall equinoxes have shifted 7.6 days.  The rules of the calendar never synchronize to the equinoxes.  What this means is that within every 19 year cycle, for about ¼ of those 19 years, the Hillel II Calendar is calculating the 6th month to be the 7th month, thus placing Trumpets, Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles a full month too early.  For example, in the year 2002 the fall [5] Holy Days were scheduled in the summer.

5.  The Hillel II Calendar is no longer needed.  Even in its prolog the Hillel II Calendar is presented as being only a temporary calendar.  Quoting "The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar", on page 2:  "Hillel II formally sanctified all months in advance, and intercalated all future leap years, until such time as a new, recognized Sanhedrin would be established in Israel".  Because of the intense persecution against the Jews, many Jewish communities became isolated.  Hillel Ben Judah created a new calendar based upon calculations so that even the isolated communities could keep the new moons and Holy Days on the same days.

However, today we are not isolated.  Hillel ben Judah’s temporary measure is no longer needed.  We can return to the original and preferred method of using the observed calendar.  Today we have computers, telephones, and the Internet.  Today we can run a computer program to compute the astronomical conditions required to determine the original calendar.  Today all communities worldwide can be unified using the original rules of the observed calendar of ancient Israel and the Second Temple’s priests.

But won't rejecting the Jewish Calendar cause disunity ?

Disunity will be avoided by directly switching to a more authoritative calendar than the Hillel II Calendar.  Through modern archaeology we are able to firmly reestablish the same calendar rules that was used by the Second Temple's priests from 520 BC through 70 AD.  This calendar system, being much older than the Hillel II Calendar, and actually being used by the Bible and the Temple's priests to observe the Holy Days, represents a single unifying authoritative calendar choice that all may agree upon.

If through objective archaeological evidence you become convinced that you could follow the exact same calendar as was followed by Ezra, the Second Temple’s priests, the Bible, the scribes who recorded history, the Messiah, and the first century Christians, then why would you not change calendars ?

It becomes the same question you had to answer when you first started keeping the Sabbath.  Yes, your decision probably caused disunity within your family and circle of friends.  But you still decided to start observing the Sabbath because you knew it was better than what you were doing before.  Once you became aware of the Sabbath as the preferred choice, you understood that unity was not the overriding concern.

The rules for the ancient observed calendar are simple, much simpler than the Hillel II Calendar’s rules.  Everyone, all of the members of the Churches of God, will have no difficulty in understanding and unifying using the observed calendar.

How can you reestablish this older calendar authority ?

Through archaeology and historical research the following statements may be firmly established as facts:

1.  Before 70 AD:  Only a select few were allowed to be educated to be astronomers and calendar experts.  These select few were educated at elite academies.  These academies were established throughout Asia Minor, Persia, and Palestine.  Graduates were priests and scribes, and officiated in the courts of the kings and governors in the regions in which they lived.  Graduates from these academies also served as priests at Jerusalem.  It was the astronomy scholars who were responsible for determining the calendar.  It was the Sanhedrin who was responsible for administering the decisions of the astronomy scholars.  The Sanhedrin did not decide the calendar.  Rather the astronomy scholars of the synod made the calendar determinations.

                <GOTO:  Calendar Experts Were Highly Educated Elite  below   Back9 >

                <GOTO:  Abraham Taught Egyptians Astronomy, Fought Astrology  below   Back22 >

                <GOTO:  Sanhedrin Was A Governing Body Started 57BC  below   Back10 >

                <GOTO:  Calendar Synod Was Separate From The Sanhedrin  below   Back11 >

2.  Before 70 AD:  As suggested in the book of Daniel, historical documents have been uncovered which confirm that there has always been a major distinction between the astrologers and pagan priests, from the astronomers, scribes, and YHWH's priests.  They co-existed, they attended different academies, but the astrologers were always esteemed to be the lower class.  For example, in Babylon the higher class astronomers would not even greet a lower class astrologers on the street.  In Jerusalem the astrologer could be stoned to death.

                <GOTO:  Astronomy Versus Astrology  below   Back35 >

            <GOTO:  Babylonian Astronomers Were Not Astrologers  below   Back12 >

                <GOTO:  Magi Were Babylonian Astronomer Priests, Not Astrologers  below   Back24 >

                <GOTO:  Answer:  Babylonians Were Pagans And Their Calendar Was Pagan  below   Back38 >

3.  Between 520 BC and 70 AD:  Daniel was made overseer of the king’s court.  This also included the astronomers and priests.  Through Daniel the observed calendar used by Israel became the calendar of the Babylonian and Persian empires.  By the time of Ezra [6] the same observed calendar was used throughout the Persian empire, from India to Egypt.

                <GOTO:  Scholars Determined Calendar, King Made Official, Letters Sent Out  below   Back14 >

                <GOTO:  Entire Greater Region Used The Same Observed Calendar  below   Back17 >

                <GOTO:  Persian King Issues Passover Edict:  below   Back31 >

                <GOTO:  Observed Calendar Used For At Least 30 Generations  below   Back3 >

4.  Between 520 BC and 163 AD:  Ezra setup academies that educated each generation of astronomers and priests for Israel.  The Sadducees were those of the nobility and priesthood.  It was the Sadducees that were the graduates of the academies of Ezra, and knew the secret rules of the observed calendar.  It was the Sadducees, not the Pharisees, that were responsible for the official calendar which was used to administer the new moons and Holy Day ceremonies in the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The eastern Jewish communities were religiously tied to Jerusalem, politically powerful, and unhindered by the ruling government.  The eastern communities kept the same observed calendar and Holy Days as those in Jerusalem and Palestine.  The signal fires which were lit in Jerusalem in accordance to the observed calendar, which was the responsibility of the Sadducees to determine, were also unhindered and welcome in Babylonia / Persia.  Because the same priesthood-graduates lived throughout the greater region, and with the signal fires for communication, the entire greater regions was enabled to keep the exact same observed calendar and Holy Days as Jerusalem.  This synchronization was predominant from the time of Ezra until at least 163 AD.

                <GOTO:  Sadducees Were The Temple’s Official Calendar Authority  below   Back26 >

                <GOTO:  Sadducees Came From Aristocratic and Priestly Families  below   Back37 >

                <GOTO:  Babylonian/Palestinian Calendar Authorities Diverging In 163 AD  below   Back13 >

5.  Between 520 BC and 70 AD:  Because the Babylonian and Persians used the same observed calendar as did Israel [7], the ancient astronomy and historical data from Babylon and Persia can be used to discover the rules of the observed calendar used by Israel during the Second Temple Era.  This claim is substantiated in these three documents:

                <For technical studies see:  Elephant.rtf >

                                [Observed Calendar Rules same in Jerusalem, Egypt, and Babylon from 485 to 351 BC]

                <For technical studies see:  Calnospo.rtf >

                                [Observed Calendar Rules same in Babylon / Persia from 568 to 4 BC]

                <For technical studies see:  Bab-530.rtf >

                                [Observed Calendar Rules same in Babylon / Persia from 531 to 378 BC]

                <GOTO:  Current Sabbath 7 Day Cycle Has Not Been Broken  below   Back25 >

                                [Observed Calendar Rules same in Jerusalem and Babylon in 587 BC and 70 AD]

                <GOTO:  Observed Calendar Was Being Used In 4 BC  below   Back29 >

                                [Observed Calendar Rules same in Jerusalem in 4 BC]

                <GOTO:  Observed Calendar Of Jerusalem Was The Calendar Of Asia Minor  below   Back41 >

Once all of the details of the above technical study documents, and the above links, have been comprehended, the result is an overwhelming preponderance of evidence;  that the Second Temple Era used a closely guarded, regionally applied, and consistent calendar.

6.  Between 70 and 200 AD:  After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Sadducees, being so dependant upon the existence of the Temple and the administration of the priesthood’s daily duties, as a political force ceased to exist.  The Pharisees immediately established themselves as the new Sanhedrin and central authority of Israel, including the office of the Nasi which determined the official calendar.

                <GOTO:  Pharisees Gained Control After Temple Destroyed In 70 AD  below   Back34 >

                <GOTO:  Sanhedrins After 70 AD Were The Pharisees, Sadducees Are Gone  below   Back36 >

                <GOTO:  Rise Of Pharisees In Persia After 135 AD:  below   Back33 >

7.  Between 70 and 116 AD:  The Pharisees did not immediately change the rules to the observed calendar.  The observed calendar remained consistent throughout the early Christian Church.

                <GOTO:  New Moon Announcements Made Without Jerusalem Sanhedrin  below   Back16 >

            <GOTO:  Calendar Rules Consistent From Generation To Generation  below   Back18 >

8.  Between 70 and 550 AD:  New generations of Pharisees slowly inserted new calendar rules.  Most of the inserted rules dealt with close-calls and additional criteria for determining when to intercalate a year.  However, even with the new rules the calendar used by the Pharisees was still primarily the same original observed calendar of the Second Temple Era.  It was still an observed, not a calculated, calendar.

                <GOTO:  Mishnah and Talmud Written By The Pharisees  below   Back27 >

            <GOTO:  Talmud Preserves Observed Calendar, Including 2nd 6th Months  below   Back21 >

9.  Between 350 and 390 AD:  However, due to very severe persecutions from the Roman Christians many western Jewish communities were cutoff from having consistent communication with the Palestinian Sanhedrin.  Hillel ben Judah, as High Priest of the Sanhedrin, decided to create a computable calendar so that all Jewish communities could determine for themselves the new moons and Holy Days.

                <GOTO:  Original Calendar Academies Still Existed In 350 AD  below   Back4 >

                <GOTO:  Hillel Calendar Was Temporary Reaction To Christian Persecutions  below   Back19 >

                <GOTO:  The First Month Is Never In Winter  THIS IS A MAJOR QUOTE  below   Back20 >

                <GOTO:  Mishnah/Talmud Saturated With Examples Of Observed Calendar  below   Back6 >

                <GOTO:  Mishnah/Talmud Saturated With Examples Against Postponements  below   Back7 >

                <GOTO:  Passover Dates Of 343 AD Not From Hillel II Calendar  below   Back28 >

                <GOTO:  Hillel II Calendar’s Foundational Tenets Were Fabricated  below   Back32 >

            <GOTO:  Hananiah Was Ruled Wrong, So Therefore Hillel Was Wrong  below   Back15 >

10.  Between 390 and 550 AD:  The Hillel II Calendar, although published, was not used by the Rabbinical Sanhedrin until sometime after 550 AD.  The Talmuds confirm that an observed, not a calculated, calendar was still being used at least as late as 550 AD.

                <GOTO:  No Trace Of Original Hillel II Calendar In Talmud  below   Back1 >

                <GOTO:  Answer:  Are Not The Jews In Moses’ Seat  below   Back39 >

11.  Between 550 and 1200 AD:  However, due to the persistent Christian persecutions against the Jews in Europe, the Hillel II Calendar slowly began to be used instead.  By the time of Rabbi Maimonides, who lived circa 1200 AD, it was well established in Europe and Alexandria Egypt.

12.  Between 800 and 1200 AD:  Even though the Hillel II Calendar was gaining in use by the Rabbinical Tradition, it was never accepted by all Jewish communities.  Circa 800 AD the Karaite Jews rejected the Rabbinical Tradition and the Hillel II Calendar, and continued to use the customary observed calendar.  This demonstrates that even as late as 800 AD an observed calendar, not a calculated calendar, was still considered to be the customary calendar of Israel.

                < http://www.karaite-korner.org >

13.  From 1200 AD and after:  By the time of Rabbi Maimonides the Rabbinical and the Karaite Jews were entrenched in opposition.  Even in the same city the Rabbinical and the Karaite Jews each had there own separate communities and schools, and did not allow marriage between each other.  Even today each group proclaims and keeps their own Holy Days.

14.  The preponderance of objective historical evidence combine to identify the existence of an official observed calendar used by the Second Temple’s priests and the early Christian Church.  The evidence demonstrates that the preferred calendar of ancient Israel was to use an observed calendar, not a calculated calendar.  The evidence also shows that various forms of an observed calendar were used by Israel after the Second Temple.  This means that from at least 520 BC to at least 800 AD, which is over 67 generations, some form of an observed calendar was the authority.  It is an observed calendar which is the preferred choice.  The rules of the observed calendar of the Second Temple Era is known.  This calendar is the older and the official authority of the Temple, and therefore supersedes the authority of the 390 AD Hillel II Calendar.

What about all of the other calendars ?

Other calendars are not important to this presentation.  By switching from the Hillel II Calendar authority of circa 390 AD directly to an older authority circa 520 BC, we are advantageously jumping over all other calendars in between, and after.

Through archaeology it is discovered that scores of other calendar systems were used by different Jewish communities.  For example, the Essenes and other groups identified in the Dead Sea Scrolls each used a different calendar.  This means that these splinter groups watched the priests of the Second Temple perform their duties on the Holy Days, while they disregarded those days in preference for the Holy Days they proclaimed.

But their calendars are not important because they were not official.  The only calendar of importance is the calendar actually used by the Temple priests.  It was they who had the authority and responsibility to declare the new moons, blow the trumpets, sacrifice the animals, and provide Israel with the Holy Day ceremonies.  Today, for those who observe the same Holy Days, only the calendar that the Temple priests used is of any importance.  All others are only of academic interest.  Identify the calendar that the priests used, and we have identified an authoritative official calendar we all can use today.

How can you reestablish this older calendar authority's rules ?

The ancient astronomers observed an astronomical event in the sky, recorded the date of the event according to their own calendar, and then went about their business.  Today we can read their recorded event, and then calculate the Julian date that the astronomical event they saw actually occurred.  From this we can derive with certainty the exact rules they used to determine their own calendar.  We are not guessing, we are letting them tell us their rules.

For example:  one artifact describes an event, a new crescent seen after sunset, that occurred in the 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar II on the first of Nisan.  From this account it is immediately known that they started that month beginning the night of the visible crescent, and not the Molad (the moment when the sun, moon, and earth are all aligned).  If it were from the Molad the event would have been recorded as Nisan 2 or 3.

            <GOTO:  Definition Of New Moon  below   Back8 >

Additionally, by other evidence it is known that his 37th year places this crescent to be on the night of (Julian Calendar) April 22, 568 BC.  From this it is known that they did not use the alleged "Spring Passover Rule" [8], but rather intercalated an Adar II that year.  That is, the previous month was declared to be a 2nd 12th month, because that previous month's crescent occurred in the winter, four days before the spring equinox.  It was still winter, so they waited a full month for the next crescent after the spring equinox.

This is an example of analyzing just one recorded ancient event.  From this single event two rules have been deduced:  months begin with the new crescent, and years begin after the spring equinox.

By performing similar analysis on another second recorded event, it is discovered that they used the same rules.  By applying this same analysis on hundreds of other recorded events, spanning over 500 years, it is discovered that they were consistently using the exact same calendar rules.

                (To see an example of how this analysis is actually done:  Read:  Vat4956a.rtf .)

By analyzing ancient astronomical events recorded in other regions, such as in Egypt and in Jerusalem [9], it is discovered that the exact same calendar rules were also used in each of these regions, with no deviation.

This discovered consistency is considered quite logical because history records that those responsible for providing the ancient calendar’s dates were all scribes, priests, and astronomers who graduated from the same line of elite academies.  In fact most were blood relatives.

                (For the highly technical details, See:  Calnospo.rtf  and  Elephant.rtf  and  Bab-530.rtf )

From this preponderance of objective historical evidence it can be stated that the calendar rules, used by the academy graduates for at least 30 generations, is known.  Other documents demonstrate that variations of the Second Temple’s observed calendar were used all the way up into the Middle Ages.

Thus analysis has identified an ancient, authoritative, and official calendar, maintained by generations of elite academy graduates, used by the Second Temple’s priests from 520 BC through the time of Yahoshua and early Christian Church.  At least 30 generations were born, lived, and died using this single official calendar system.

If only a few ancient events were found to analyze, it could not be said with any conviction that their calendar rules were understood.  If some events were found which conflicted with the previous analysis, lingering doubt would have to be admitted.  But the fact is that there are hundreds of matching events.  All events match the exact same calendar rules, there are no exceptions [10].  There are no data points which introduce doubt.

With this much consistency in evidence it can be stated that we know the calendar rules they employed.  Further, since the astronomical evidence spans over 590 years of the Bible (30 generations) and the historical evidence after the Messiah spans over 1200 years (another 60 generations), we can be confident that we have identified an authoritative calendar to supersede the temporary calendar of Hillel Ben Judah.

What are the rules of the ancient observed calendar ?

They are very simple:

1.         The day begins at sunset, with a seven day weekly cycle.  The Sabbath and weekly cycle have never been disrupted.

2.         The month begins upon the observation [11] of the new crescent, or if obscured, the month begins after sunset of the 30th day of the previous month.

3.         The "First Month" is a declared title, not a count [12] .  The "First Month" is declared to be the "First Month".  It is the first new crescent after the spring equinox [13].  This results in some years having two 12th months declared.

4.         The "Seventh Month" is a declared title, not a count.  The "Seventh Month" is declared to be the "Seventh Month".  It is the first new crescent in which that month's 9th day is after the fall equinox [14].  This results in some years having two 6th months declared.  For example, the year 2007 will have a 2nd 6th month.

5.         In the years in which the expected [15] first or seventh months fell too close to the expected equinox, the leading astronomy scholars would exchange letters or meet together, seeking to "Unify all Israel" with a common decree.  By the time the close-call occurred, everyone knew the procedure they would follow to determine [16] if there would be any intercalation [17].

(As a reference, Read:  “Observed Calendar Dates For 2000 – 2015 AD”:  Bend2000.rtf )

            <GOTO:  Do We Observe Crescent Over Jerusalem Or As It Comes To Us  below   Back40 >

But what authority do I have to switch calendars ?

It is not a matter of having the authority to switch.  It is a matter of having the responsibility to choose.  Someone must chose which calendar authority to follow, whether that be yourself or someone within your group.  Even if you are making the choice yourself, you are probably also making that choice for your own family and perhaps a small group of friends.

Someone must chose which calendar authority to follow.  Even if your group uses the Jewish Calendar, it is you and your group that agree to follow that decision.  Even if your group uses the observed calendar, it is you and your group that agree to follow that decision.  Whether the decision affects only yourself, or a group, it is you who is being trusted to make the best choice that you can.

Conclusion:

Today, through archaeology, we have enough objective historical evidence to firmly identify and establish the official calendar authority used by the Bible's scribes and the Second Temple's priests.  This being the case, the two choices you now have are whether to follow the authority of the temporary calendar of Hillel Ben Judah, or, the more ancient calendar authority used by the Second Temple's priests, the Bible’s scribes, Israel, the pilgrims to Jerusalem three times a year from other lands, and the early Christians.

Distribution of This Presentation, and Gifts:

The author retains full Copyright and ownership rights of this presentation, including all linked documents.  However, the author grants everyone free and implicit permission to copy and distribute this presentation, always in its entirety, to others.  The author relies upon your personal involvement to distribute this information.

This presentation is the result of years of research, and hundreds of hours of writing.  From the point of view of "professional services rendered", if you feel that the research in this presentation is of value, and represents a "professional service rendered" to the Body of Christ, then the author and his family could use a gift of appreciation.

Objections And Answers:

    The Babylonians Were Pagans And Their Calendar Was Pagan:

Objection:  Everyone knows that the Babylonian priests were pagan astrologers.  Scripture says:  “Come out of her my people”.  You are asking us to follow a pagan Babylonian calendar.

Answer:  One of the most difficult tasks this presentation must accomplish is the reply to this objection.  Most readers have been taught an anti-Babylonian bias.  How can the author overturn everything the reader has been taught about the Babylonian’s connection with sorcery?  Most readers have been taught that anything and everything labeled “Babylonian” is automatically pagan.  Most readers have been taught that anything and everything associated with “Babylonian Astronomy” is automatically "Astrology".

However, in the specific topic of the observed calendar after 520 BC, and the priests which determined the “Babylonian Calendar” for the Babylonian / Persian kings after 520 BC, the reader is asked to reevaluate his bias based upon the following evidence:

1.  A calendar is not a religion.  Astronomy is not astrology.  A calendar is independent of how a religion may decide to use it.  For example, the astronomers declare that today is the first day of the year.  This pronouncement makes no religious claims.  One religion may use this information to sacrifice chickens, while another religion may use the exact same information to have a day of rest.

2.  The evidence shows that it was Abraham and his family descendants who became the astronomy priests of the greater region.  Whether the astronomy experts were pagan or righteous makes no difference as long as the calendar rules they used were consistent.  For example, two astronomers, one pagan the other righteous, declare that today is the first day of the year.  As long as both use the same calendar rules, their religion is a separate topic from the calendar.  Thus, even a pagan priest can use astronomy to declare the observed calendar.

3.  The evidence shows that the observed calendar far predated Babylon.  In fact it even predated the Exodus.  Astronomy records were kept in libraries, and these records dated back to circa 1650 BC.  Further, notice that calendar dates are specified in the Bible prior to the Exodus.  YHWH did not reveal a whole new calendar to Moses.  YHWH only told Moses to change which month was to be called the first month.  The calendar of Exodus, was one of the three primary calendars of Egypt that Moses would have been taught while in Pharaoh’s court.  It already existed.  YHWH only changed the order of counting the months.  Consider Ex. 12:41.  It states that Israel came out of Egypt “even the selfsame day”.  This can only be stated as a fact when the calendar of Moses’ day also existed 430 years earlier than the Exodus.

                <GOTO:  Observed Calendar Is The Same As Was Used In 2180 BC  below   Back30 >

4.  The evidence shows that those who determined the observed calendar held credentials as graduates from elite academies.  These academies existed prior to the Babylonian empire, and continued throughout the period of Ezra, on into the Middle Ages.  The evidence shows that these academies taught the same calendar rules, and jealously guarded this science as secret [18].  The point is that it does not matter if an academy is located in Babylon, in Palestine, or located in Alexandria.  The label:  “a Babylonian Academy” does not mean that the academy was pagan, nor does its physical location within the Babylonian / Persian empire effect the science of astronomy or the observed calendar’s rules.

5.  The book of Daniel reveals several key facts of Babylonian history:

            A.  The Chaldeans were listed separately from the sorcerers and astrologers.  They were separate groups of people.  The astronomers were Chaldeans and held the higher social rank.

            B.  Daniel, by interpreting the dream, had just saved the lives of each of these groups.  Socially, they were now “in his service”.

            C.  Daniel was given authority over everyone in the land.  Daniel was now in authority over the scribes, the priests, the Chaldeans, the sorcerers, and the astrologers.  Even if one argues that Jewish-based astronomy academies did not exist in Babylon prior to 580 BC, it remains that they would exist in Babylon after Daniel took over.  Daniel was now in a position to ensure that Jerusalem-based academies were also established in Babylon.  Daniel could now ensure that their graduates became the king’s officials, priests, and scribes.  Daniel could now ensure that their graduates became the officials, priests, and scribes in all communities throughout the empire.  In essence, Daniel was now in charge of the king’s court and the calendar of Babylon.

            D.  The story of Esther, circa 485 BC [Generation #2], (especially 8:2,15;  9:3-4,30;  and 10:1-3), describes the Persian empire as consisting of 127 separately governed regions (having 127 separate courts), from India to Ethiopia.  Jewish communities were in each of these regions.  By the end of the story, Esther and Mordecai became very wealthy landowners having direct access to the king.  Further, Mordecai was advanced by the king, and became feared by all the governors of Persia.  Anyone in the empire wanting a key appointment or favor would have to seek Mordecai’s approval.  He became a great leader “seeking the wealth of his people”.  Over time the Jewish communities would have elite education, credentials, key appointments, legal titles, and land ownership.  Remember that all of the enemies of the Jews were now dead.  No one could object as Mordecai was able to actively advance the prestige of the Jewish communities, and further elevate its nobility into key positions throughout the Persian empire.

6.  By the time of rebuilding the Second Temple, circa 520 BC, the entire empire was coordinated with a single observed calendar, and this calendar must have been approved by Daniel.  Ezra was a descendant of Aaron.  He was a bloodline priest.  In Ezra 7:6:  “This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given:  and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.”  Ezra 7:25:  “. . .  set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God;  and teach ye them that know them not.”  To be a scribe means that Ezra was a graduate of a Babylonian academy.  Ezra was therefore an astronomer-priest which knew the rules of the observed calendar.  Notice that the king granted whatever Ezra asked, and Ezra established magistrates and judges in Jerusalem and in the greater region.

7.  Once the Temple was rebuilt, sacrifices, new moons, and Holy Days were observed.  The focal point of the observed calendar switched back to Ezra in Jerusalem.  Ezra and his Temple priest successors became the central authority for the calendar.  These Temple priests later became the political/religious force known as the Sadducees.

8.  From circa 520 BC, for about 30 generations, until the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, sacrifices, new moons, and Holy Days were observed using the exact same observed calendar.  Letters, whether they be from Babylon, Egypt, or Jerusalem, used the same observed calendar to record the dates of weddings, business transactions, battles, and astronomical events.  There are literally over 100,000 clay tablets of this nature just in the British Museum in London alone.

9.  From 70 AD until the Middle Ages many Christian and Jewish communities, especially those in Asia Minor, continued to use a form of the observed calendar, and did not use the Hillel II Calendar.

Thus, it does not matter if the graduate is from “a Babylonian Academy”.  It does not matter if our modern history books call the observed calendar, “the Babylonian Calendar”.  In the case of the observed calendar, any association with “Babylon” or “Babylonian” does not mean that the calendar is pagan.  It just means that the same observed calendar was also used in Babylon too.  The same argument is presented for the association with “Egypt” or “Egyptian”.  It just means that the same observed calendar was also used in Egypt too.  <Back38 above >

    Are Not The Jews In Moses’ Seat ?

Objection:  Matthew 23:2,  quote:  “The scribes [Sadducees] and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you to observe, that observe and do  . . .”  Romans 3:2, quote:  “  . . .  unto them [Jews] were committed the oracles of God.”  It is not the provenance of Christians to settle Jewish calendar disputes.  In my community the Jewish calendar is the Hillel II Calendar.  The Jews, not Christians, have the authority to establish the calendar, so that is what we should use.

Answer:  Scripture must be viewed in the perspective of other scriptures.  The New Testament is full of examples of Christians not submitting to the Jewish authorities.  For example, the early Christians were commanded by the Sanhedrin to not use the name of the Messiah anymore.  This was a command.  Did the first Christians observe whatsoever they were bid by the Sanhedrin ?  Acts 5:29, quote:  “Then Paul and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”  Also, note that few Christians today keep the same Day of Pentecost as is listed in the Hillel II Calendar.

The reason why Christians do not observe everything the Jews bid is because there is a huge difference between having the responsibility to guard the truth, versus, the responsibility to command the truth.

For example, the referee of a basketball game is given the responsibility to guard the truth in that he blows the whistle whenever someone breaks one of the rules.  But you would get very upset if the basketball referee started to change the rules during the game.  Whereas a Congressman is given the responsibility to command the truth in that he creates new laws and changes existing laws as he wills.

The question therefore is:  “Do the scribes and Pharisees (the Jews) have the responsibility to guard the oracles of YHWH, or, the responsibility to command the oracles of YHWH ?

If you answer “guard”, then you would have to reject the Rabbinical changes made to the original observed calendar.  Their duty was to carry out the rules, not to change them.

If you answer “command”, then you would have to not only accept the Hillel II Calendar, but all of the other Rabbinical Traditions they have bid you to observe.  You would have to accept every other command, edict, duty, dress, and habit that has been passed down throughout history from the rabbis and there writings.  This would include the Mishnah and Talmuds.  You would also have to keep Pentecost as they bid, and recite the 18 blessings of the Amida, including the “blessing” against Christians and other heretics (it’s really a curse on Christians).

The point is that it is unreasonable to take the position that the Jews have the authority to command or change the oracles of YHWH.  The oracles of YHWH are YHWH's, not the Jews.  Sitting in Moses’ seat does not mean they have the authority to change the rules, but rather they have the responsibility to administer the rules.  Therefore, if they change the rules we are not obligated to follow.  <Back39 above >

    Do We Observe The New Crescent Over Jerusalem, Or As It Comes To Us ?

Objection:  The observed calendar was simple to implement back then, but it would have major complications today.  We are a global society, and no longer just interested in the region immediately around Jerusalem.  They lit signal fires to tell the outlining communities it was a new moon.  This only worked because the distant communities were less than 15 degrees longitude (1 solar hour) either side of Jerusalem.  Today we have a full 180 degree spread either side of Jerusalem to consider, with an International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.  Synchronizing the whole earth to an observed calendar has major administrative decisions.  You will not be able to get everyone to agree to follow the same administrative decisions, resulting in complete confusion.

Answer:  This is a very important objection to answer.  The situation has changed significantly since the Second Temple Era.  The synchronization of the whole earth does indeed introduce major administrative questions.

But it is not true that there is no simple administration answer which everyone may agree.  There is one simple administration answer which is based entirely on the authority of the official observed calendar's administration during the Second Temple Era.  We do not have to guess.  We do know how to administer the same observed calendar even in a global context.

A very brief and simplified overview of the administration is as follows.  The following is a summary, not a presentation of evidence.  For the full discourse read:  DateLine.rtf .

First is to understand that we are not interested in keeping the unity of the Gregorian calendar.  The observed calendar defines days from a sunset-to-sunset.  The modern International Date Line and the twelve midnight day-delimiter are non-existent to the keeping of the Sabbath, so also to the observed calendar.

Just as with the Sabbath, sunset occurs and the next day begins.  So also each observer keeps the new month as it comes to him.  If they see the new crescent, they observe the new month.

Individuals and groups will also accept other observer’s sightings.  Since we have telephones and the Internet, we can assume instant communication of valid sightings.  This acceptance is primarily based upon the longitude of the other observer’s sighting.  Sightings by an observer at a certain longitude are accepted by all others at or after (west of) that observer’s longitude.  For example, if observers in Denver see the crescent, than everyone west of Denver would accept the sighting too.

Observing the new crescent as it comes visible to your general longitude is the simplest and most natural way of keeping the observed calendar in a global context.

The above is a very brief answer to a very complex question.

For the full and technical discourse read:  DateLine.rtf .  <Back40 above >

Supporting Documentation and Commentary:

THERE IS NO ORDER OR LOGIC TO THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FOLLOWING TEXT.  THE READER IS EXPECTED TO USE THE GOTO LINKS WITHIN THE OVERVIEW TO READ EACH SECTION BELOW.

    No Trace Of Original Hillel II Calendar In Talmud:  The Jewish Encyclopedia, article "Calendar":  "... A permanent calendar, still in force, was introduced by Hillel II, Nasi of the Sanhedrin about 360 C.E.  It is uncertain what the calendar of Hillel originally contained when it was generally adopted.  In the Talmud there is no trace of it."

[Notice that part of the debate also includes whether the Hillel II Calendar being used today was actually what Hillel ben Judah sanctified circa 390 AD.  It is possible that the Hillel II Calendar used today is a corruption of his original.  Since it is not even mentioned in the Talmuds, finished circa 550 AD, there is a gap of about 200 years, 10 generations, where Hillel’s calendar must have lain in a library, unused.  It is this large gap in time, publication near 390 AD but not being used or referenced in the Talmuds near 550 AD, that allows us to conclude that Hillel’s pronouncement was initially rejected by the Jewish communities, and only much later taken seriously.]  <Back1 above>

    Rabbinists Changed Calendar While Others Retained Original:  Strong's Bible Encyclopedia, article "New Moon", [circa 1200 AD, Generation #86] quote:  "According to Maimonides, the Rabbinists altered their method [by following the Hillel II Calendar] when the Sanhedrin ceased to exist, and have ever since determined the month by astronomical calculation, while the Karaites have retained the old custom of depending on the appearance of the moon."

[The Hasting's Bible Dictionary quotes the above, and follows by stating that the Karaite Jewish congregations set their own feast days by observation up to the time of Maimonides, the late 12th century.  Notice two groups are identified, separated by which calendar method they used.  Maimonides followed the Rabbinical tradition.  The Karaites are recorded to have, quote:  "Rejecting the authority of the Talmud, they put their emphasis on the Bible", and employed the original methods.  Perhaps the two most important points to notice from this evidence is that:  one, the Hillel II Calendar was being rejected even as late as 1200 AD, and two, the Karaites continued in tradition, which was to follow an observed calendar.  Note that an observed calendar had to have still been in use even up to 800 AD for the Karaites to continue to use “the old custom”.

Maimonides, circa 1200 AD, lived over eight hundred years, 40 generations, after the Hillel II Calendar was published.  This evidence demonstrates that an observed calendar was used by Israel and the Jewish communities from at least 520 BC all the way to beyond 1200 AD, that is over 86 generations.

From this it is manifest that the Hillel II Calendar was not universally accepted as being the one and only calendar of the Jews, and in fact it is still rejected by the Karaite and other Jewish communities to this day.]  <Back2 above>

    Original Calendar Academies Still Existed In 350 AD:  Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3, 1901, article "Calendar", page 500, [Generation #44], context is the creation of the Hillel II Calendar, quote:  "The political difficulties attendant upon the meetings of the Sanhedrin became so numerous in this period, and the consequent uncertainty of the feast-days was so great, that R. Huna b. Abin made known the following secret of the calendar to Raba in Babylonia:  Whenever it becomes apparent that the winter will last till the 16th of Nisan, make the year a leap-year without hesitation.”

[Notice that the academy scholars and the secrets for calendar determination were still being practiced in Babylonia at the time of Hillel ben Judah's Sanhedrin.  They could even write letters to each other.  Since the observed calendar waits for the first crescent after spring, the answer provided actually betrayed no valuable family calendar secrets.  This evidence demonstrates that neither Hillel ben Judah nor his synod of experts knew the secret knowledge of the rules governing calendar determination.  They were embroiled in political debate and uncertainty.  They had to ask the calendar authorities in Babylonia for help, and they got only one question answered.]  <Back4 above>

    Observed Calendar Used For At Least 30 Generations.  The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, Page 2, [Generations #1 through #30, plus 30], quote:  "This method of observation and intercalation [the observed calendar] was in use throughout the period of the second temple (516 b.c.e. - 70 c.e.), and about three centuries after its destruction, as long as there was an independent Sanhedrin."

[This quote states that the observed calendar was the official calendar of the Second Temple Era, and was used from the time of Ezra through the time of Yahoshua, the early church, and about 30 generations beyond.  The early church did not use a fixed calendar.  They used an observed calendar.]  <Back3 above>

    Official Hillel II Calendar Book Acknowledges Original Method Was Observed:  The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar: pages 217-227:  Page 217, [Generation #127], quote:  "(Nowadays the day, hour and parts of each Molad are announced before the Proclamation of the New Moon in the Sabbath morning service preceding the week of the New Moon.  This custom keeps alive the memory of the time when the Sanhedrin sanctified the months on the basis of observation.  It calls our attention to the fact that today we determine our New Moons and holidays according to the decision of Hillel's Beth Din.)"

[There is no doubt that the Hillel II Calendar is based upon a man's decision, and that his calendar is not the same calendar that was used before him.  The Hillel II Calendar is fixed by calculations, while the previous calendar was based upon actual observation.  Experts who tell you that the Hillel II Calendar was used prior to the decision of Hillel's Beth Din, or that it is the same calendar as was used by Yahoshua or by Moses, are simply very ignorant of history.  There is no ambiguity on this point.]  <Back5 above>

    Mishnah and Talmud Are Saturated With Examples Of Using An Observed Calendar:  There are many misunderstandings regarding the rules of the calendar system employed by the Jewish scholars prior to Hillel ben Judah's new calendar.  For example, readers may have been told that they employed a fixed 19 year cycle, which then defined the length of each month.  This information is in error.  Both the Mishnah and the Talmuds (writings of Rabbis after 200 AD and up to 550 AD) are saturated with examples which demonstrate that their calendar was still totally based upon actual observation, and followed no assigned patterns.  To provide just a couple of examples, "The Mishnah" by Herbert Danby, Oxford University, 1933, [Generations #30 through #44], quote:  "7. R. Judah says: If at the New Year a man feared that [the month] might be intercalated  (5: In cases of such delay of evidence of the appearance of the new moon) he may prepare two Erubs and say . . .";  and quote:  "11. Of the New Year.  After sunset on the night of the 29th of Elul [6th month] they treated the coming day as a Festival-day [Trumpets] in case witnesses arrived the next day to report that the new moon was visible the previous evening.  If they did not come that day, the next day was made a Festival-day [Trumpets], and the day before was counted as the 30th of Elul."

[As late as 550 AD the Mishnah and Talmuds record that the Rabbinical communities used observation to determine the calendar.  However, the Talmuds also record deviations from the original observed calendar; that they inserted new rules that changed the way in which they decided if a year was to be intercalated.  Even so, the new rules do not support the Hillel II Calendar’s foundational premises of fixed length months and a fixed 19 year cycle.]  <Back6 above >

    Mishnah and Talmud Are Saturated With Examples Against Postponement Rules:  The Mishnah, translated by Danby, Oxford Press, page 113, [Generations #30 through #44], quote:  "3. Beds may be spread on the night of Sabbath for the Sabbath day, but not on the Sabbath for the night following the Sabbath.  R. Ishmael says: Garments may be folded up and beds spread on the Day of Atonement for the Sabbath [Atonement is on Friday]; and the fat pieces of the Sabbath offering may be brought on the Day of Atonement.  R. Akiba says: They may bring neither those for the Sabbath on the Day of Atonement [Atonement is on Friday] nor those for the Day of Atonement on the Sabbath."

[The Hillel II Calendar's postponement rules prevent Atonement from ever occurring on Friday or Sunday.]

Page 117:  "if a Festival-day falls after the Sabbath the child is circumcised on the eleventh day; and if the two Festival-days of the New Year fall after the Sabbath the child is circumcised on the twelfth day.  6.  R. Eliezer says:  On a Festival-day next to a Sabbath, whether before it or after it . . ."

[The Hillel II Calendars postponement rules prevent Festival days from falling on a Friday or a Sunday.]

(I) mMeg. 1:4, in the time frame of Rabban Gamliel (80 - 116 C.E.):  "If the Megillah has been read in the First Adar [during Purim], and then the year is intercalated, it must be read again in the Second Adar."

[This demonstrates that even after the time of Yahoshua that the decision to intercalate could still be made at any time, based upon actual observation, and was not determined by a 19-year cycle.  The Hillel II Calendar employs a 19 year cycle, and has all months and the number of days within each month fixed without regards to actual observation.]  <Back7 above >

    Definition Of New Moon.  There is much debate over the definition of the term "new moon".  The debate asks if the term refers to the molad, the earliest visible crescent before conjunction, or after conjunction, or a full moon ?  All four possibilities have foundation in historical fact.  For example, based upon the ancient records of dates given for observed solar eclipses (which are molad conjunctions) and lunar eclipses (which are full moons) it is manifest that the ancient Chinese circa 1850 BC used the molad, that one of the three known Egyptian calendars used the waning crescent moon, that the Muslims and astrologers use the waning crescent moon, that the Babylonians and Israelites used the earliest visible crescent moon, and that some American Indians used the full moon.  In this writing the term "new moon" will always refer to the earliest visible crescent after conjunction, unless noted otherwise.  <Back8 above >

    Calendar Experts Were Highly Educated Elite:  Early Man and The Cosmos.  Pages 11-12, quote:  "After only a single year of collaboration, however, Strassmaier and Epping managed to demonstrate that the Babylonian scribes had predicted the motion of the moon with startling mathematical precision.  ...  It is certain, however, that Babylonian sky watchers was an elite activity.  Only intensively trained scribes could master the five hundred basic signs of cuneiform writing; the priests and kings were illiterate, relying on the scribes to inform them of portents and predictions related to the sky.  The scribes were secular officials, but their quarters were often attached to the temple.  Later on, their skills seem to have been passed down among a few aristocratic families.  The exclusiveness of their knowledge ensured a remarkable continuity in the keeping of records.  When the Assyrian scholar - tyrant Ashurbanipal (668 - 630 BC) founded his great library at Nineveh,  ...  he took care to preserve astronomical documents from the old Babylonian Period [taken] more than a thousand years earlier [astronomy records back to 1650 BC]."

[Although it may be speculation on the part of the above quoted author regarding the illiteracy of the priests and kings of Babylon, it is still certain that the knowledge and duty of astronomical prediction about eclipses and seasons of the year and their official monthly calendar was held exclusively by an elite group of well educated scholars.  It was the scholars who knew the rules to determine the beginnings of years, months, festivals, and predicting seasons and eclipses.  The scholars could be priests, but did not have to be priests.  Notice that the secret knowledge was kept "in the family" and passed down through the generations.  Also notice that the records of these Babylonian scribes dated back to circa 1650 BC, which is before the Exodus.  This is evidence that the observed calendar existed at the time of Moses.]  <Back9 above >

    Sanhedrin Was A Governing Body Started 57BC:  Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 14, 1971, pages 836 – 839, [Generations #24 through #30], quote:  "The first historical mention of the Sanhedrin is in the statement of Josephus that in 57 BCE Gabinius divided the country into five synedria (Ant. 14:91) or synodoi (Wars 1:170).  . . .  Common to all these theories is the erroneous assumption that there can be only one Sanhedrin in a city.  In reality, a Sanhedrin can be the king’s or ruler’s council, a body of high officials;  a congress of allies or confederates, a military war council, etc.  . . .  The Romans apparently withdrew their recognition of the Sanhedrin when they dissolved the patriarchate.”

[Very important to note that there can be more than one Sanhedrin existing at the same time.  A Sanhedrin is a governing body.  Notice that since the concept of the Sanhedrin, as a governing body over the Temple’s administration, started so late in history, Generation #24, then the question of:  "who had the authority to determine the calendar prior to 57 BC, for 23 generations ?" has to be answered.  The answer is that calendar determination was performed by the astronomy scholars who were graduates from the academies, who may or may not be priests in their local community.

After the destruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin of the Jerusalem Temple ceased to exist.  The Sadducees, as a functioning political party, was finished.  This opened the door for many other regional Sanhedrins, and new startup Sanhedrins, to each claim to have “the authority to act as the Nasi” for themselves.  This is important to remember as historical evidence is evaluated.  Just because the historical document talks about a Sanhedrin’s proclamations, does not mean that the Sanhedrin was recognized as having any authority beyond the city or region they represented.  It certainly does not mean that the Sanhedrin was recognized by all other Jewish authorities in Asia Minor.

In fact this is a major point.  After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the primary and obviously authoritative Sanhedrin over the Temple ceased to exist.  Later the Pharisees started up new Sanhedrins in Palestine, but also the Sadducees continued their Sanhedrins in the east Persian regions.  The struggle between these two factions is the post Temple history that is being discovered.]  <Back10 above >

    Calendar Synod Was Separate From The Sanhedrin:  Hasting's Bible Dictionary, article "New Moon", [Generations #1 through #44], quote:  "There was no fixed calendar till the fourth century C.E. and the new moon was declared from actual observation.  The eye-witnesses were carefully examined on the 30th day of each month (especially of the months of Nisan, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Chislev, and Adar), and, if the testimony of the witnesses was accepted, that day was declared 'sanctified' by fiat of the Sanhedrin."

[Notice the point of there being two groups, one group knew the rules for determining the calendar and interrogated the witnesses, while the Sanhedrin was the body which sanctified their finding and made it official.]

Another example:  Mishna Rosh IIIa-Shanna, i, 4, quote:  "... Hence the authorities at Jerusalem, from the remotest times, ordered messengers to occupy the commanding heights around the metropolis, on the 30th day to communicate it to the synod; for the sake of speed, they were even allowed, during the existence of the Temple, to travel on the Sabbath and profane the Sacred Day."

[Notice that the witnesses reported to "the synod", not to the Sanhedrin.]  <Back11 above >

    Babylonian Astronomers Were Not Astrologers:  Early Man and The Cosmos.  Walker & Company, NY.  Copyright 1984.  Library of Congress CCN 83-42727.  ISBN 0-8027-0745-9.  Page 16, quote:  "By the beginning of the Christian era, ... the Greek historian Strabo writes:  'In Babylon, a settlement is set apart for the local astronomers, the Chaldeans, as they are called, who are concerned mostly with astronomy; but some of them who are not approved by the others, profess to be astrologers'."

[Notice that even as late in history as the first century AD that the distinction between astronomy and astrology was well understood by Strabo and his readers.  Very importantly, notice that most history books and television documentaries are wrong;  it was the "Babylonian Astronomers" who were the ones called "Chaldeans".  The astrologers, who may or may not have also been Chaldean, were of a lower social class.

It was the astrologers who were the lower class, and were not approved.  In their culture, to not be approved meant that the astronomers held the astrologers to be social outcasts, and would not even greet them in public.  This gives evidence that the Babylonian Chaldean astronomers (think about the Magi bearing gifts to Yahoshua) were an honored and prominent class, even as late as the Christian era, Generation #26.  Of major importance is that the vital distinction between astronomy and astrology was known by both the Greeks and the Babylonians at the time of the Messiah.]  <Back12 above >  <Back23 below >

    Scholars Determined Calendar, King Decreed It Official, Letters Sent Out:  Essays on Jewish Chronology and Chronography, Ben Zion Wacholder, KTAV 1976.  H.U.C.A. 43 (1971), "Visibility of the New Moon In Cuneiform and Rabbinic Sources", [Generations #1 through #30], page 62, quote:  "Many texts, especially from the Neo-Babylonian period, allude to the fact that the scholars determined the period for the intercalation of the month (based upon the visibility of the new moon), informed the king of this, who in turn instructed the Babylonian temple as to the official proclamation of the month, and they, the officials of the Babylonian temple, instructed those of neighboring cities.

From one text we learn that the king orders Addaru intercalated (YOS 3 115).  In a second, six people write to the temple administrator, people qualified to enter the temple, and the assembly of Eanna, that the king has ordered Addaru intercalated.  The recipients of the letter are to see that the proper rites are performed, and to be sure it is done promptly (YOS 3 152)."  On page 64 it summarizes a similar procedure for Jerusalem’s Temple.  The astronomy experts [in the Jerusalem synod] interviewed the witnesses and declared a decision.  The Sanhedrin then disseminated the decision to other communities via signal fires.

[Notice this evidence categorically states that it was the astronomy scholars who held the authority for determining the calendar.  The king and the temple officials only followed the determinations of the astronomy scholars by administering their findings to the other communities.  The same relationship and duties were held between the Sanhedrin and the calendar priests of the synod.]  <Back14 above >

    Hananiah Was Ruled Wrong, So Therefore Hillel ben Judah Was Wrong:  Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6, 1910, article "Hananiah (Hanina)", [Generation #33], quote:  "Believing that Roman tyranny had succeeded in permanently suppressing the religious institutions [academies] which, in spite of the Jewish dispersion, had held the remnants of Israel together, Hananiah attempted to establish an authoritative body in his new home [in the Babylon region].  To render the Babylonian schools [academies] independent of Palestine, he arranged a calendar fixing the Jewish festivals and bissextile years on the principles that prevailed in Palestine.  . . .  In March 139 or 140 A.D., a message arrived from Rome announcing the repeal of the Hadrianic decrees; soon thereafter the surviving rabbis, especially the disciples of Akiba [a famous but deceased calendar scholar whose academy was in Palestine], convened at Usha, and reorganized the Sanhedrin with Simon b. Gamaliel II as president.  They sought to reestablish the central authority, and naturally would not brook any rivals.  Messengers were therefore dispatched to Nehar-Pekod, instructed to urge Hananiah to acknowledge the authority of the parent Sanhedrin [the new Judean Sanhedrin], and to desist from disrupting the religious unity of Israel.  The messengers at first approached him in kindly spirit, showing him great respect.  But later  . . .  They, for their part, contradicted him in his lectures;  . . .  They also declared that the steps taken by Hananiah and his followers were tantamount to building an altar on unholy ground and serving it with illegitimate priests.  Altogether, they pointed out, his course was a renunciation of the God of Israel.  The people [Jewish community] recognized their error and repented, but Hananiah held out.  He appealed to Judah b. Bathyra, then in Nisibus, for support; but the latter not only refused to participate in the secession movement, but prevailed on Hananiah to submit to the orders emanating from the Judean Sanhedrin.  Hananiah ended his life peacefully in Babylon."

[A bissextile year is to decide to intercalate a year with an extra month.  Both Hananiah's and Hillel's calendars fixed the determination of bissextile years.  Notice that the calendar academies were "in authority", and were holding Israel together as late as 140 AD.  Notice that the reason for Hananiah thinking that he needed to establish a fixed calendar in 140 AD was exactly the same reason Hillel ben Judah thought that he needed to establish a fixed calendar 200 years, 10 generations, later.  But notice that Hananiah's peers and superiors felt that to fix the bissextile years ahead of time was akin to establishing a false religion.  The central authority felt most strongly that to do such a deed was "a renunciation of the God of Israel".  A very strong indictment against those using a calculated “pre-sanctified” calendar.]  <Back15 above >

    New Moon Announcements Made Without Jerusalem Sanhedrin:  Hasting's Bible Dictionary, article "New Moon", [Generations #30 through #38], quote:  "The new moon was announced in Judea till the year 225 A.D., when the declaration was made in Tiberias."

[There is much significance to this simple statement.  Foremost is that the observed calendar was still being determined and proclaimed by the Rabbinical Tradition in Tiberias as late as 225 AD, Generation #38.  This means that at least the first ten generations of Christians, even in Palestine, used an observed calendar.]  <Back16 above >

    Entire Greater Region Used The Same Observed Calendar:  Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. - A.D. 75 by Richard Parker and Waldo Dubberstein.  Copyright 1956 by Brown University Press, Providence, Rhode Island.  Library of Congress CCN 56-10735.  Page 2, [Generations #1 through #30], quote:  "The three letters (three of the Elephantine letters) together give the impression that the orders for intercalary months were issued by the king in Chaldean Babylon, then by the priestly officials at Babylon after Persia took over.  ...  The orders transmitted to the temple officials at Uruk look very much like 'form letters', and it seems reasonably certain that they were sent to temple officials throughout Babylonia."

[Remember that the calendar priests were graduates from the same academies.  It was they who told the king, and the king made their determination official.  This evidence shows that the whole of the Babylonian empire was unified with a single calendar.  Thus, for a time, even Ezra and the Jerusalem Temple’s priests used the same calendar as decreed from Babylon.  Later, the Palestinian academies and graduates established themselves as the central calendar authority for all Israel, including those communities in Asia Minor / Persia.

The reader is reminded that Jewish/Israeli communities existed all over Asia Minor and the greater region (even Europe).  Esther 8:9 specifies that the Persian empire was divided into 127 separate regions from India to Ethiopia.  The academies of Ezra existed throughout the Babylonian and Persian empire.  The academy graduates learned the same calendar rules, were the officials in their community, and believed it was their duty to keep “All Israel United” in new moon and Holy Day observances.  The object was not to serve just those around Jerusalem.  All communities were told and expected to follow the same calendar.]  <Back17 above >

    Calendar Rules Consistent From Generation To Generation:  From "Essays on Jewish Chronology and Chronography", page 65, footnote 12 in the context of Rabban Gamaliel cross-examining witnesses, [Generations #1 through #32]:  "The implication is that Rabban Gamaliel was a professional astronomer, who could calculate the presence of the new moon without witnesses.  . . .  Rabban said to the Sages:  'Thus, I have received from the school of my grandfather . . .' "

[This evidence is very important for three reasons:

1.)  It confirms that they did calculate the moon's cycles, but still waited for witnesses.  Their calendar was an observed calendar, with calculations used as reference, obscured visibility, and close-calls.

2.)  It demonstrates that the astronomy scholars were still performing their calendar determination duties for Israel, which included the examination of witnesses, even after the destruction of the Temple, on into the years 80 AD - 116 AD.  They were still administering an observed calendar.

3.)  This is more evidence that the rules for calendar determination were consistent from the Second Temple Era up to at least 116 AD, throughout the early Christian church.  Notice that these rules were taught to Rabban Gamaliel through "the school of my grandfather".  This one sentence tells of the existence of an old and immediately recognized authoritative academy, and of the family tree of graduates who learned the calendar determination rules.  By deduction this evidence shows that the calendar rules used in 116 AD were consistent with the calendar rules taught over the years by these established academies.  Thus, the evidence is that the calendar rules were handed down from one generation to another, and remained consistent throughout the time of Yahoshua and the early church.]  <Back18 above >

    Hillel II Calendar Was A Temporary Reaction To The Christian Persecutions:  History Of The Jews, by Heinrich Graetz, 1927, Vol. 2, Chapter XXI, page 573, [Generation #44], quote:  “In order to put a stop to all difficulty and uncertainty, Hillel II introduced a final and fixed calendar;  that is to say he placed at everyone’s disposal the means of establishing the rules which had guided the Synhedrion up till then in the calculation of the calendar and the fixing of the festivals.  With his own hand the Patriarch destroyed the last bond which united the communities dispersed throughout the Roman and Persian empires with the Patriarchate.  He was more concerned for the certainty of the continuance of Judaism than for the dignity of his own house, and therefore abandoned those functions for which his ancestors, Gamaliel II and Simon his son, had been so jealous and solicitous.”

[One has to feel a high degree of respect for Hillel ben Judah, a man willing to diminish himself for the sake of the continuance of Judaism.  Given the severe persecutions and disrupted communications, the decision to fix the calendar for awhile seems a reasonable reaction.  Even in the Jewish Calendar’s prolog it identifies the fixed calendar as being a temporary measure.  It may be considered that Hillel never thought that his temporary calendar would be used 1,611 years, 81 generations, later.]

Page 574, [Generations #44 through #86], quote:  "The oppression which fell upon the inhabitants of Palestine [by the Christian church], and which gave rise to Hillel's calendar, augmented the importance and influence of Babylonia, and although Christianity could boast of having broken up the academies and destroyed, so to speak, the Temple of the Law in Judea, the destruction was nevertheless merely local.  In Babylonia the study of the Law acquired so vigorous an impetus that the achievements of ancient times were almost eclipsed; the study of the Law was now celebrating the period of its maturity."

[This evidence brings out two major points.  One is that Hillel ben Judah knew that his decision would split the Roman occupied Jewish communities from the Persian occupied Jewish communities.  The Roman communities needed a reaction to the persecutions, but the Persian communities had no such situation, and could continue to use the same observed calendar as before.  Two is that the Hillel II Calendar was a stop gap solution to a situation that is no longer a reality.  If Hillel ben Judah did not have the persecution and communication problems, he would not have created a fixed calendar.  Without the bad situation he would have continued as before, meaning that the Hillel II Calendar would never of existed.

This perspective changes the way in which the term “authority” is viewed.  From this perspective it is not a matter of importance that Hillel ben Judah had or did not have the authority to change the calendar.  It is instead a matter that the observed calendar method was and is the preferred method, and therefore the preferred authority.

With this perspective, the Hillel II Calendar was only a temporary measure to be used until such time as the preferred observed calendar method could be used once again.  In Asia Minor / Persia the preferred calendar method continued to be used, while in the west Hillel’s temporary measure slowly became dominant.

From this perspective, unity is accomplished when the temporary calendar of Hillel is finally discarded in favor of returning to use the original preferred observed calendar method once again.]  <Back19 above >

    The First Month Is Never In Winter:  Ecclesiastical History, Popular Edition, p. 313, [circa 350 AD, Generation #44], wrote of the mathematician Anatolius of Alexander's condemnation of the changed Jewish calendar [the proposed Hillel II Calendar].  The quote below is from Eusebius Book 32 Section 12:

"FROM THE CANONS OF ANATOLIUS ON THE EASTER FESTIVAL

It was therefore in the first year the new moon of the first month, which begins the whole nineteen-year cycle – according to the Egyptians on 26 Phamenoth, according to the Macedonian calendar 22 Dystrus, by Roman reckoning 22 March.  On this day the sun is found not only to have reached the first sign of the Zodiac, but to be already passing through the fourth day within it.  This sign is generally known as the first of the twelve, the equinoctial sign, the beginning of months, head of the cycle, and start of the planetary course.  But the sign before that is the last of the months, the twelfth sign, last stage, and end of the planetary circuit.  For this reason I am convinced that those who place the first month in it, and fix the Paschal ‘fourteenth day’ accordingly, make a great and indeed an extraordinary mistake.

This is not my own suggestion: the Jews were aware of the fact long ago, even before Christ’s time, and observed it carefully.  We can learn it from the statements of Philo, Josephus, and Musacus, and not them only but still earlier writers, the two Agathobuli, famous as the teachers of Aristobulus the Great.  He was one of the Seventy who translated the sacred and inspired Hebrew Scriptures for Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father; he also dedicated commentaries on the Mosaic Law to the same kings.  These authorities, in explaining the problems of the Exodus, state that the Passover ought invariably to be sacrificed after the spring equinox, at the middle of the first month; and that this occurs when the sun is passing through the first sign of the solar, or as some of them call it, the zodiac cycle.

Aristobus adds that it is necessary at the Passover Festival that not only the sun but the moon as well should be passing through an equinoctial sign.  There are two of these signs, one in spring, one in autumn, diametrically opposite each other, and the day of the Passover is assigned to the fourteenth of the month, after sunset; so the moon will occupy the position diametrically opposite the sun, as we can see when the moon is full: the sun will be in the sign of the spring equinox, the moon inevitably in that of the autumnal.

I am familiar with many other of their statements, in some cases probable, in others claimed as final proofs, by which they try to show that the festival of the Passover and Unleavened Bread ought always to be kept after the equinox.  But I decline to demand such a structure of proof from those from whom has been removed the veil on the Law of Moses; for them it remains now with face unveiled at all times to reflect like a mirror Christ and the life of Christ, His lessons and sufferings.  That the first month according to the Hebrews includes the equinox can be shown also by reference to Enoch."

[This is a quotation of major importance.  Here is evidence that the first month must be after the equinox when the sun is in the first zodiac-sign.  This evidence shows that the same calendar method was used for about 550 years or 26 generations.  The same method of determination was firmly practiced between the time of Anatolius (circa 350 AD) through the time of Christ (circa 30 AD) back as far as the writing of the Septuagint (circa 200 BC).  This evidence leaves little doubt which calendar Christ and the early Church used, and also, notice that the Church was still keeping the Passover festival and Unleavened Bread as late as 350 AD.

In Contrast:  in most years the Hillel II Calendar begins with the first month of the year starting in the winter zodiac-sign.  Notice the forceful criticism of such a practice as being “a great mistake”.  The forefathers would never had allowed Abib to begin while the sun was still in winter.  Also notice that the credentials of the astronomy scholars follow the scholar’s name, not the academy’s name they came from.]  <Back20 above >

    Talmud Preserves Observed Calendar, Including 2nd 6th Months:  Essays on Jewish Chronology and Chronography:  page 71 under "Conclusions", having the context of talking about the Hillel II Calendar, [Generations #2 through #54], quote:  "(3) The Talmud still appears to preserve the older system of observation of the lunar crescent, if we may take written record as reflecting actual procedure.  It would seem, therefore, that the system of calendation preserved in 1st or 2nd century rabbinic texts preserves a system which was in use before 481 B.C.E. and continued in use even after a new one [the Hillel II Calendar] was introduced in Babylonia.  The talmudic system [in context this means the Hillel II Calendar] could not have been adopted until -- at the earliest -- 359 C.E., and possibly as late as the seventh century of the Christian era."  Another example is on page 69:  ". . . the state of affairs in the Talmud reflect a procedure in which it was still conceivable to intercalate Ullul II [this is adding a 2nd 6th month] as one of the intercalary months, though it was officially discouraged."

[Notice that the older calendar system was the observed calendar, and that it was used back to 481 BC.  This correlates with the Elephantine letters of the same period, showing that the observed calendar of Israel and the calendar of Babylon were exactly the same calendar.

Also note that the Hillel II Calendar did not exist at all prior to its creation circa 359 AD, and was not adopted until after 600 AD.  But especially notice that as late as 550 AD, Generations #54, (the Talmuds were finished circa 550 AD) that the calendar the Rabbis used was still an observed calendar, which would allow 2nd 6th months to occur.]  <Back21 above >

    Abraham Taught Egyptians Astronomy, Fought Astrology:  "The Works of Josephus", Translated by William Whiston.  Copyright 1987.  Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 01961-3473.  ISBN: 0-913573-86-8.  From "The Antiquities Of The Jews", Chapter 7, Paragraph 1, Page 38.,  There has always been a distinction between astronomy as a science and astrology as a religion.  Abraham was a renowned astronomer who it is said:  "taught the Egyptians a more perfect science of astronomy".  Abraham speaking to the Egyptians, quote:  "'That there was but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other gods [in context meaning the stars and planets], if they contributed anything to the happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only according to his [the Creator's] appointment, and not by their own power.'  This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus:  'If [said Abraham] these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions, but since they do not preserve such regularity, they make it plain, that in so far as they cooperate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to him [the Creator] that commands them; to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving.' "

[From this several points emerge:

·          One is that the Egyptians believed that the sun, moon, and planets effected men, which of course is the fundamental tenet of astrology.  This givens evidence that the religion of astrology existed over 1,100 years prior the Babylonian astrologers.

·          Two is that Abraham knew about the science of astronomy which studies the Creator's handiwork by investigating the motions of the sun, moon, and planets through the heavens.

·          Three is that the primary purpose behind Abraham's speech was to convince the audience to worship the Creator who commands, rather than the sun, moon, and planets who are nothing but the servants of the Creator.

·          Four is that Abraham was the expert astronomer.  He would have taught his children the art of astronomy.  It is Abraham’s descendants who would become the educated elite priests which knew astronomy, and who would determine the calendar for the nations.]  <Back22 above >

    Magi Were Babylonian Astronomer Priests, Not Astrologers:  Strabo, “The Geography of Strabo”, translated by Horace Jones, 11,9,3, [Generations #14 through #30], quote:  “That the Council of the Parthians  . . .  consists of two groups, one that of the kinsmen, and the other that of the wise men and magi, from both of which groups the kings [of Parthia] were appointed [only from the royal family, the Arsacids].”

Rawlinson, “The Sixth Oriental Monarchy”, Page 86, quote:  “[The Magi, known as Magistanes] were a powerful body, consisting of an organized hierarchy which had come down from ancient times, and was feared and venerated by all classes of people.  Their numbers at the close of the Empire, counting males only, are reckoned at 80,000;  they possessed considerable tracts of fertile land, and were the sole inhabitants of many large towns or villages, which they were permitted to govern as they pleased.”

[The ancient culture was extremely class-conscious.  That the Magi belonged to a social class that was feared and venerated by all other classes is a very important clue.  The Chaldean astronomers were the only social class that matches this evidence.

Read the account of the Magi in Matthew, and note all the clues showing the high social status of these men.  The Magi were granted immediate audience with king Herod.  All Jerusalem was effected by their presence.  Herod answered their questions.  Herod did not hinder them, even though they were going to recognize a new king to eventually replace him.  They had wealth, and the authority to recognize the “King of the Jews”.  God lead them to Yahoshua, and God gave them a dream to go home another way.  God worked with and through the Magi, and not the local Temple priests.

            <GOTO:  Babylonian Astronomers Were Not Astrologers  above   Back23 >

(The remaining commentary assumes that you have read the above link.)

However, nearly all other authoritative references seem to say just the opposite about the Magi.  Quoting from just a few encyclopedias and references will convey the confusion:

“The Magi were specialists in interpreting the signs in the heavens.  According to the dialogue "Alcibiades", ascribed to Plato, the Persian Magi practiced a form of spiritual mysticism which was their religion.”

“Magi (Majusian): From old Persian language, a priest of Zarathustra (Zoroaster).”

“Encarta:  Magi, priestly caste in ancient Persia.  They are thought to have been followers of Zoroaster, the Persian teacher and prophet.  Professing the doctrines of Zoroastrianism, they practiced a ritual that involved pouring libations of milk, oil, and honey over a flame while chanting prayers and hymns.  Gradually, the religion of the magi incorporated Babylonian elements, including astrology, demonology, and magic.  (The word magic is derived from the word magi.)  By the 1st century AD, the magi were identified with wise men and soothsayers.”

It seems that the ancient Greek historian Strabo, and the others, are being contradicted.  But read some other quotes which begin to unravel the confusion:

“The word "Magi" is the plural form of the word "magus" (from old Persian "magu") which designates a member of an ancient Near Eastern priestly caste.”

“Ancient Syria has been successively ruled by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Hittites, Chaldeans and Persians.”

The Chaldeans were a people, a historical bloodline, that were powerful enough to actually rule territory, like Syria.  Therefore the confusion is clarified by combining two rhymes of the same paradigm:  “All Magi are Chaldeans, but not all Chaldeans are Magi”, and, “All Magi practice astronomy, but not all astronomers practice astrology.”

The Magi were Chaldeans, of that bloodline, and they were Persian priests having a bloodline dating back to ancient antiquity.  But within the ranks of these Persian priests there are both astronomers and astrologers, both co-existing at the same time.

This same confusion is experienced when describing any population and their religious practices.  For example:  “All Elders are Christians, but not all Christians are Elders”, and, “All Elders practice ‘Bible-Studying’, but not all ‘Bible-Studying’ practices ‘Bible-Code-Interpretations’.”  With the above rhymes:  reading an historical reference about there being “Elders” in Babylon which practice “Bible-Code-Interpretations”, does not mean that all other “Elders” in Babylon must also be doing the same thing.  It also does not mean that all Christians must therefore practice “Bible-Code-Interpretations”.

Likewise, reading an historical reference about there being “Magi” in Babylon / Persia which practice “astrology”, does not mean that all other “Magi” are also astrologers.

The encyclopedias and references are not properly distinguishing between the Chaldean bloodline, the Magi who are priests, and the specific groups of Magi practicing different religions as priests.

The evidence shows that some Magi were highly esteemed astronomers having their own land, and openly rejected the astrologers, while other Magi were astrologer priests.  It was the Magi-Astronomers which were the higher social class, and that the Magi-Astrologers who were the socially outcast.  It was a group of the higher class Magi-Astronomers which traveled to worship Yahoshua as the king of the Jews.]  <Back24 above >

    Current Sabbath 7 Day Cycle Has Not Been Broken:  "The Talmud the Steinsaltz Edition", Volume XIV Tractate Ta'anit Part II, Copyright 1995 by Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications and Milta Books, ISBN 0-679-44398-3, pages 206.  It says the following regarding the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's army, quote:  "When the Temple was destroyed for the first time at the hands of Nebuzaradan [captain of the guard], that day was the ninth of Av, and it was the day following Shabbat [a Sunday], and it was the year following the Sabbatical Year   . . .  And similarly when the Temple was destroyed a second time at the hands of Titus, the destruction occurred on the very same day, on the ninth of Av."

“The Babylonian Talmud, Mishna Tract, ‘Arakin 11b, quote:  “The day on which the first Temple was destroyed was the ninth of Ab, and it was at the going out of the Sabbath [i.e. Sunday] and at the end of the seventh [Sabbatical] year.  . . .  The same happened the second time [the second Sanctuary’s destruction].”

[In II Kings 25:8-9 it is learned that the first Temple was destroyed in the 19th year (non-accession counting method) of king Nebuchadnezzar.  These ancient records provide a clear example of reporting two known events, the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC and Herod’s Temple in 70 AD, as occurring relative to a Sabbath day.

Both in 587 BC and in 70 AD the observed calendar had the 9th of Ab as a Sunday, that is the 9th began Saturday night as the Sabbath ended.  The other years around these dates do not match the historical record.  The years 588 and 586 BC do not match, and the years 71 and 69 AD do not match.  Neither is there a match when forcing the alleged “Spring Passover Rule” to be used.  Only (the Julian evening of) 08/26/587 BC and 08/04/70 AD using the observed calendar yield the 9th of Ab falling on Sunday.

In 587 BC the alleged “Spring Passover Rule” was definitely not used.  They intercalated, not allowing spring to begin on the month’s 4th day, that is, the intercalated crescent occurred in winter by 3.5 days, so they waited a month.

This is very important evidence.  The fact that these two Sabbath references match demonstrates that the observed calendar was used circa 587 BC, and was still being used circa 70 AD.  It also demonstrates that the weekday in which the Sabbath day falls upon, Saturday, has not been corrupted for the last 2588 years, between now and 587 BC.

Since it was the Creator Himself, after the Exodus circa 1450 BC, that laid out the manna to demonstrate which days were work days and which days were Sabbaths, and since Israel’s culture and priesthood lineage has not been broken, it is easily concluded that the weekly seven day cycle has not been interrupted throughout history.]  <Back25 above >

    Sadducees Were The Temple’s Official Calendar Authority:  “The New Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Calendar”, [Generations #1 through #30], quote:  “In general, the Jewish calendar in NT times (at least before AD 70) followed the Sadducean reckoning, since it was by that reckoning that the Temple services were regulated.”

[This is important evidence because it identifies which of the two rival religious factions, the Sadducees or the Pharisees, actually controlled the Temple and priests, and therefore held the official authority to determined the calendar.  The Sadducees and their academies were the official calendar authorities, the official Nasi.  Their pronouncements regulated the Temple priests, and therefore Israel.  The Pharisees and their academies were not official calendar authorities.]  <Back26 above >

    Mishnah and Talmud Written By The Pharisees:  Achtemier, Harper’s Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Mishnah”, [Generation #36 on], quote:  ”The Mishnah is a collection of rabbinic laws arranged in sixty-three tractates and six orders which cover agricultural tithes, public feasts, marriage (especially economic arrangements), torts, sacrifices at the Temple, and ritual purity.  Created about AD 200 in Palestine under Rabbi Judah the Prince, the text underwent some evolution and was interpreted and its teachings modified by the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds.

The Talmuds (Palestinian and Babylonian) are commentaries on the Mishnah.  The Palestinian Talmud covers the first four orders of the Mishnah and was completed in the mid-fifth century CE [near 450 AD].  The Babylonian Talmud covers the Mishnaic orders of feats, women, damages and sacrifices, and was completed in the mid-sixth century CE [near 550 AD].  The Babylonian Talmud was more fully edited than the Palestinian, and became authoritative for most of [Rabbinic] Judaism because of the dominance of the Babylonian community well into the Islamic period.  All of these documents postdate the period of the Second Temple and were compiled by the Pharisees and their descendants.  There are only passing references to the calendar in these documents, and nowhere can you find a detailed accounting.  It is also true that contradictory statements can be found within the confines of the Talmud.”

[Note that the Mishnah and Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds are documents written 200 to 500 years, 10 to 25 generations, after the Temple was destroyed.  They were written by descendants of the Pharisees, who did not have the official calendar authority of the Sadducees that regulated the Temple priests.  The Mishnah and Talmuds, as a line of historical record, represent the Rabbinical Tradition.  These documents do not represent the official calendar of the Temple’s priests that was used from 520 BC thorough 70 AD, 30 generations of the Bible.

Even so, the Mishnah and Talmuds document an observed calendar being used.  The Hillel II Calendar is not even hinted at.  This means that, although the Pharisees were slowly adding new rules governing when to intercalate a year, they were still fundamentally following an observed calendar all the way up to at least 550 AD.  This then demonstrates that the observed calendar was used for at least (520 BC + 550 AD) 1,070 years, 54 generations, including over 24 generations of the western Jewish communities too.

The preponderance of evidence suggests that the Pharisees, after the destruction of the Temple, further separated themselves from the dominance of the Sadducees and slowly began to insert new rules for intercalation.  After the rebellion of 132 AD, when all Jews were expelled from Jerusalem, the Pharisees started academies in Babylonia.  These academies were rivals of the more ancient academies of Ezra which taught the observed calendar without the Pharisee’s new rules.

Regardless of the motive, this much is certain.  Any calendar derived by the Pharisees, and documented as the Rabbinical Tradition, even if it was accomplished over 25 generations, is in the same classification as all of the other calendars invented by other Jewish sects.  We do not care about the Noah Calendar, or the calendar of the “Sons of Light”, or any of the other calendars found in archaeology.  We only care to discover the calendar that was officially used by Ezra and the Second Temple’s priests.  Changes introduced after 70 AD by the Rabbinical Tradition are historically interesting, but they do not effect the rules of the original observed calendar.

Only the Sadducees represented the succession of priests and academies from Ezra.  As a political force, only the Sadducees determined the official calendar that was then used to assign the priests duties, and to administer the Temple’s services on the Holy Days.  Although we may not agree with many of the doctrines of the Sadducees, doctrine is not the issue.  The issue is finding the official calendar used in the Temple.  The calendar of the Second Temple Era was the observed calendar of Ezra.]  <Back27 above >

    Passover Dates Of 343 AD Not From Hillel II Calendar:  Handbuch der Mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, 3 vols, Friedrich Karl Ginzel, Leipzig, J. C. Hinrich’sche Buchhandlung (1906, 1911, 1914), vol 3, Page 376, tells how the Jews surrendered Passover dates to Antiochus for the years 328 through 343 AD, and that those dates do not match dates as computed using the rules of the Hillel II Calendar.

[This is substantial evidence that the Hillel II Calendar did not exist prior to its publication just a few years later circa 356 AD.]  <Back28 above >

    Observed Calendar Was Being Used In 4 BC:  Josephus, Antiquities, Book 17, Chapter 6.4, [Generation #26], quote:  “This Mattias the high priest, on the night before the day when the fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream, to have conversation with his wife;  and because he could not officiate himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office.  But Herod deprived this Mattias of the high priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive.  And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.”

[This event is the food-fast on the night before the day of Purim, an Adar 15th, in some unstated year near Herod’s death.  There were only two lunar eclipses between 5 BC and 1 BC that were in the winter.  These two choices are (Julian):  Tuesday morning around 3:24 AM on 03/13/4 BC and Thursday night around 10:55 PM on 03/23/5 BC.  With both choices, the only way to place those eclipses on Adar 15th is to NOT employ the alleged Spring Passover Rule.  When the alleged Spring Passover Rule is not used, and the observed calendar is used, it happens that both choices fall on Adar 15th .  Whichever eclipse this event is referencing, it is manifest that they were using the observed calendar in which the new year’s first month’s crescent must be in the spring.]  <Back29 above >

    Observed Calendar Is The Same As Was Used In 2180 BC:  “The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible”, Vol. 1, 1962, Abingdon Press, “Calendar”, Page 484, quote:  “Calendars combining both solar and lunar reckoning were, however, widely used throughout the Near East even in very ancient times, and the Hebrews probably always had a lunar-solar calendar.  . . .  A lunar-solar calendar was adopted by the first Babylonian dynasty (ca. 1830-1550 B.C.), and became effective in Assyria during the first millennium B.C.  The Babylonians gave Semitic names to the months, but in most other respects this calendar was substantially the Sumerian calendar of Nippur as observed in the third dynasty of Ur (ca. 2180–1960).  This calendar reckoned the year from one vernal equinox to the next, while counting months from new moon to new moon, with an added month when this was needed to make up the discrepancy.  These lunar months were of thirty days length except when a new moon occurred on the thirtieth day, in which case this would become the first day of the new month.”

[It is outside of the scope of this presentation to analyze the observed calendar prior to Ezra, circa 520 BC.  However notice that the calendar of Ur computes the years from equinox to equinox, and adds a 13th month when needed.  Thus, the only difference between the calendar of Ur, or any other similar calendar of any other land, and the observed calendar of Ezra are:  1) the definition of when a day begins, 2) the definition of the circuit of the year, and 3) the specific rules to employ upon “close-calls”.  Consider, if there were no years with close-calls, then the calendar of 2180 BC would yield the exact same calendar as the observed calendar of the Second Temple Era, 70 AD.  It is staggering to think about the calendar of Ur also being used before the flood by Noah [19], and even by Adam and Eve.]  <Back30 above >

    Persian King Issues Passover Edict:  A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the 5th Century, p. 60ff., 1923  -  Ed. Myer, Der Papyrusfund von Elephantine, p. 96, 1912, [Generation #6]:  One papyrus letter, No. 21, is a “Passover Edict” issued by King Darius II, circa 423 to 405 BC, to the Jewish soldiers at Elephantine Egypt.  Although the papyrus is badly damaged, it is still visible that the Elephantine soldiers were admonished by the king to keep the Passover from the 15th through the 21st according to the specifications given.

[Notice that the Persian king issued a religious edict to the Jews in Egypt.  Notice further that the Persian king agreed to let his Jewish soldiers be off duty so that they could observe the Jewish religion’s holy time.  This is more evidence that the Persian kings and the Jewish priests of Ezra fully cooperated, and used the same calendar.]  <Back31 above >

    Hillel II Calendar’s Foundational Tenets Were Fabricated:  “The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC – AD 135)”, Emil Schurer, vol. 1, 1973, rev. & ed. By Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, T. & T. Clark, p. 591, [Generations #31 through #36], quote:  “It would, however, be a mistake to conclude that, except in some particular Jewish circles, the duration of the month was fixed in advance.  This cannot yet have been the case even in the time of the Mishnah (c. AD 200).  For the entire legislation of the Mishnah rests on the presupposition that, without any previous reckoning, each new month began when the new moon became visible.  As soon as the new moon’s appearance was confirmed by trustworthy witnesses before the competent court in Jerusalem (later in Jamnia), it was ‘sanctified’, and messengers were sent out in all directions to announce the opening of the new month  . . .  As it was obviously known with a fair degree of accuracy when the new moon was to be expected, every effort will have been made to fix it on the correct day.  But the duration of each individual month was not fixed.  This is confirmed by the following to passages in the Mishnah: (I) mErub. 3:7;  ‘If before the New Year a man feared that [the month Elul] might be intercalated …’, (2) mArak. 2:2, ‘In a year there are never less than four full months [of thirty days], nor do more than eight months require to be considered.’  The first passage discloses that it was by no means determined in advance whether a month [even the 6th month] was to have 29 or 30 days.  And the second passage shows how uncertain the calendar was [length of each year] under this empirical system:  . . .”

[There is no doubt that the Hillel II Calendar, or the use of a 19 year cycle, did not exist when the Mishnah was written, circa 200 AD.  Hillel’s calendar fixes the month of Elul, the 6th month, to always have exactly 29 days [20].  There is no concept of the “postponement rules” being used in the Mishnah or the Talmuds.

Notice that the foundational premises to which the Hillel II Calendar is based, (they being fixed length months, fixed bissextile years, and “postponement rules”), are all absent in the Mishnah and prior history.  Without a historical basis, it can only be admitted that the concepts forming the basis of the Hillel II Calendar, (as allowing fixed length months, fixed bissextile years, and “postponement rules”), were all fabricated by Hillel’s synod circa 390 AD.]  <Back32 above >

    Babylonian and Palestinian Calendar Authorities Diverging Circa 163 AD:  “The Jewish Encyclopedia”, Vol.3, 1901, 1910, p. 500, [Generations #33 through #36], quote:  “Under the patriarchate of Simon III (140 – 163 AD) a great quarrel arose concerning the feast-days and the leap-year, which threatened to cause a permanent schism between the Babylonian and the Palestinian communities – a result which was only averted by the exercise of much diplomacy.”

[Circa 163 AD there appears to be a major divergence in the rules for calendar determinations.  The fault being by either the Babylonian or by the Palestinian calendar authorities.  Other evidence shows that it was the Rabbinical line of Palestinian authorities which began to add extra rules to the calendar.  By trying to implement their new rules they caused a schism with the eastern communities, which apparently refused to accept their changes.  Notice that the split was between eastern and western communities, and therefore between Rabbinical and non-Rabbinical academies.  This evidence also indicates that Christian communities in the east were still following the unchanged observed calendar as late as 163 AD, Generation #35, that is, seven generations of Christians.

The next paragraph, p. 500, tells how the Samaritans, circa 163 – 193 AD, confused the Jews by lighting false new moon signal fires which caused the Jews to switch to using messengers.  This then caused the more remote communities to have to begin to keep two days holy instead of one.  Notice that this Samaritan deception did not occur until five generations after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.  Generations #1 through #34 had good communications while using the observed calendar.]  <Back13 above >

    Pharisees Gained Control After Temple Destroyed In 70 AD:  Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 13, 1971, pages 363 – 366, [Generations #11 and up], quote:  “The Pharisees' first bid for power was made in a period two centuries after the Babylonian exile during the struggle to remove the Temple and religious control from the sole leadership of the aristocratic Sadducees.  The inception of the synagogue worship traced to this time is seen as an attempt by the Pharisees to undermine the privileged authority exercised by the Sadducees.  Ceremonies originally part of the Temple cult were carried over to the home, and learned men of non-priestly descent began to play an important role in national religious affairs.  While the priesthood exhausted itself in the round of Temple ritual, the Pharisees found their main function in teaching and preaching the law of God [to the populous].

The conflict between the lay and priestly factions of the supreme council and tribunal, the Sanhedrin, regarding the interpretation of the Torah when decisions were required on questions arising in daily life, gave the Pharisees the opportunity to incorporate popular customs and traditions into the Temple cult and the religious life of the people.

In general. the Pharisees admitted the validity of an evolutionary and non-literal approach toward the legal decisions and regarded the legal framework of the Oral Law as equally valid as the Written Law.  A serious conflict eventually developed between the Pharisees and the Sadducees over the approach to these problems, and two distinct parties emerged, with theological differences entangled with politics.

The antagonism between the Pharisees and Sadducees extended to many spheres outside the religious domain and eventually became a fundamental and distinctive one.  . . .  Under John Hyrcanus the Pharisees were expelled from membership in the Sanhedrin.  . . .  Pharisaic strongholds of learning were later founded by such "exponents" as Shammai and Hillel and Ishmael and Akiva.  . . .  By the time of the Hasmonean revolt [circa 132 AD], it had become evident that the Pharasaic theological doctrines were giving utterance to the hopes of the oppressed masses and affecting the entire life of the Jews.  This hope was especially seen in doctrines which included belief in the resurrection of the dead, the Day of Judgment. reward and retribution in the life after death, the coming of the Messiah, and the existence of angels. and also divine foreknowledge along with man's free choice of, and therefore responsibility for, his deeds.  . . .  The apostle Paul himself had been a Pharisee, was a son of a Pharisee, and was taught by one or the sect's most eminent scholars, Gamaliel of Jerusalem.  . . .  The active period of Pharisaism extended well into the second century C.E. and was most influential in the development or Orthodox Judaism.  After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., it was the synagogues and the schools of the Pharisees that continued to function and to promote Judaism.”

[This evidence clearly records two factions.  Notice that it was the Sadducees which administered the Temple and priests.  Our encyclopedias are written from the point of view of one of these factions, the Rabbinical Tradition.  This means that in order to capture both sides of the struggle, we have to read between the lines.  What is not said, but must also be true, is that the rival power, the Sadducees, being so totally dependant upon the existence of the Temple and its priesthood, lost out in 70 AD.  When the Romans destroyed the Temple they killed most of the priests.  In 135 AD the Romans attempted to completely wipe out the Nasi, the high priest responsible for determining the calendar, and all of his relatives.  By 135 AD only the Pharisees (non-priests) remained in Palestine to carry on the Jewish religion.  Certainly the Sadducees would consider this post Temple political situation to be very biased.]  <Back34 above >

   Rise Of Pharisees In Persia After 135 AD:  Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 4, 1971, page 38, [Generations #31 and up], quote:  “When the Temple was destroyed, the Romans quickly employed Josephus to absolve them of war-guilt, and he addressed himself specifically to ‘our brethren across the Euphrates’.”

[The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was a major war crime.  Tiberius, the Roman general, ordered that the Temple was not to be harmed.  But the Roman soldiers either disobeyed or blundered, so that the Temple was set on fire on Ab 9, 70 AD.  Because so many Israelites from all over the world made pilgrimages to the Temple, and looked to Jerusalem as the center of their religion, the Romans were very fearful of reprisals, especially from the Parthians, Scythians, and Egyptians.]

Quote:  “Pharisaic Judaism exercised little influence in Babylonian Jewry before the destruction of the Temple.  Only two Pharisaic authorities resident in the Parthian empire are known.  . . .  The first rabbinical academies were established in Parthian territory as a direct consequence of the Bar Kokhba Revolt [circa 132 AD].  . . .  Nathan, son of the exilarch [the head of Babylonian Jewry], was sent by his father to Palestine for studies with Akiva.  The exilarch probably extended a warm welcome to Palestinian refugees, and certainly made use of the graduates of their academies in his courts and administration.  Among Babylonian Jewry was a class of native-born aristocrats, who probably acted, like other Parthian nobles, as local strongmen.  In attempting to create a central administration for the Jewish community, the exilarch found useful the well-trained lawyers coming out of the Pharisaic-rabbinic schools, who were eager to enforce '"the Torah" as they had learned it in Pharisaic traditions, and, unlike the Jewish nobility, were dependent solely upon the exilarch for whatever power they might exercise.  For his part, the exilarch made use of the rabbinical bureaucrats to circumvent the power of the local Jewish nobility.  Their claim to exposit "the whole Torah" as revealed to Moses at Sinai would have won for themselves and their patron considerable popular attention and support.  The Palestinian schools after 140 [AD] were anxious to retain control of the new academics in Babylonia.  When, therefore, in about 145 C.E. Hananiah, nephew of R. Joshua b. Hananiah, presumed to proclaim the Jewish calendar in Babylonia, the Palestinians sent two sages, one of them the grandson of the last high priest in Jerusalem, to rebuke him.”

[Once the Temple was destroyed and the priests killed or scattered by the Romans, the Sadducees lost political influence in Palestine.  But the Pharisees restarted the Sanhedrin in Palestine, and claimed the office of the Nasi for all Israel.  Over the years after 70 AD the Pharisees established many academies, wrote the Mishnah, the Palestinian Talmud, and the Babylonian Talmud, and became known as the Rabbinical Tradition.  Over the years after 70 AD the Pharisees added many rules and offsets to the observed calendar.  Eventually Rabbinical Tradition endorsed the Hillel II Calendar.

The Pharisees only gained influence in Babylonia after 132 AD, giving evidence that at least five generations, over 100 years) of Christians and Jews used the original observed calendar for their religious worship.  Once established in Babylonia with their own academies and political clout, the Pharisees retained themselves in Palestine as the central authority.

What is lost in this commentary, but needs to be stated, is that the original authoritative academies of Ezra, the elite academies of the old political power and of the Jewish nobility in Persia, these institutions had long been established in Babylonia / Persia.  Thus, what is not being told, is the tremendous power struggle between these two factions.  This struggle would ultimately manifest itself in the use of two different calendars, western and eastern.  The Rabbinical Tradition eventually gained access into Babylonia, but it is important to remember that the original academies of the Sadducees did not just “go away”.  They also continued to graduate scholars, as rivals to the Rabbinical Tradition.]  <Back33 above >

    Astronomy Versus Astrology:  A distinction will be made between what is taught every day within our modern society, and what is historically true in ancient times.  It is true that today everyone is taught to associate the Zodiac and ancient astronomy with astrology.  The Babylonian astronomer is assumed to really be an astrologer.  It is also true that these teachings are in error.

What is true historically is that the religion of astrology has been practiced since before the flood.  After the flood the practice of worshipping the "Host of Heaven" was a rival religion to that of worshipping the Creator, just as it is today.  Also true is that through the practice of astronomy the astrologers are enabled to promote their religion.  The science of astronomy does not have anything to do with astrology, but astrologers must use the science of astronomy to practice their religion.  But what is not true is that the religion of astrology invented the Zodiac with its twelve constellations, nor that astrology was ever sanctioned as legitimate by those who practiced astronomy.  Ancient cultures always made a distinction between astronomy as a science and astrology as a religion.  <Back35 above >

    Sanhedrins After 70 AD Were The Pharisees, Sadducees Are Gone:  “The Theory and Practice of Rhetoric at the Babylonian Talmudic Academies from 70 C.E. TO 500 C.E. as Evidenced in the Babylonian Talmud”, by Gerald Marvin Phillips, Western Reserve University, September 1956, quote:  “Although the first Academy is considered to be that of Johanan b. Zakkai, founded in 70 C.E., the [Talmudic] Academies did not spring into existence suddenly.  Some form of higher education [academies of the Sadducees] existed during the pre-exilic period, since many of the early authorities cited in Talmud were educated at such institutions.  The organized schools emerged from the periodic meetings held by the Scribes [Sadducees] some time before the beginning of the Christian era.  The schools were quite closely connected to the informal legislative bodies organized by the Pharisees during this period and the recurring phrase, "Great Assembly", probably refers to these predecessors of the academies.  . . .  The first problem confronting the founders of the new school was the reorganization of the religion.  With the Temple destroyed, it was necessary to group the religion around another central core.  This required that some legislative body decide on the many questions that arose, such as fixing of the calendar, regulation of ritual law and the role of the sacrifice.  With the establishment of this legislative body at the academy, the beginnings of the aristocracy of education which was to arise, were made.

The Academy of Jabneh attempted to meet the needs of the time by educating a new generation of scholars, and by attempting to replace the former aristocracy of priesthood and landed nobility [the Sadducees] with an aristocracy based on the Pharisaic ideas of scholarship.  This task was successfully accomplished at Jabneh.  . . .  The work begun by Johanan b. Zakkai was completed by Gamaliel II, who took over as head of Jabneh at the death of Johanan.  Despite his authoritarian personality, Gamaliel managed to get the remnant of the Jews in Palestine to recognize this academy as the central authority in all political and religious matters.  Several other academies had sprung up, and all of these were brought under the control of Jabneh.  . . .  After Gamaliel, the site of the main academy shifted several times.  Despite continuing warfare and recurring persecutions, there was always at least one Academy in Palestine which maintained itself as the center of the religion.  After an ill-fated revolt in 132 C.E., rabbinical synod was held at Usha, which led to the final redaction of the Mishnah.  This was the work of R. Judah Ha-Nasi, known simply as Rabbi.

Up to the time of Rabbi, Babylon, which was by far the larger Jewish community, had remained subordinate to Palestine.  With the intensification of Roman persecution after the death of Rabbi, the Babylonian Academies became the more important than the Palestinian.  In Babylon the Jewish religion was not only tolerated, but was even allowed an autonomous government under the Babylonian rulers.  . . .  The Babylonian Academies were organized on the same lines as the Palestinian.  They had essentially the same heritage and were confronted with similar problems.  Consequently, though the Talmudic Academies existed in two geographical areas, they shared a common development, and represent one complete unit.”

[This evidence primarily shows how successful the Pharisees were in supplanting the Sadducess from Palestine after the destruction of the Temple.  It was the Pharisees that established new academies in Palestine immediately after 70 AD.  It categorically states that the express purpose of creating these new academies was to create a new aristocracy of Pharisee scholars to replace the former aristocracy (of the Sadducees).  It was the Pharisees that reestablished the Palestinian Sanhedrin, so the Pharisees completely controlled its membership.  Notice that there is no distinction made between the Sanhedrin of Jabneh and the academy at Jabneh.  The school was the central authority.  Notice that the larger Jewish community was in Babylon, not Palestine, and that the Rabbinical academies in Palestine and Babylon were essentially a single unit of scholarship, but was not significant until after 132 AD.

This evidence combines with other evidence to demonstrate that the Pharisees took control of the calendar in Palestine after 70 AD.  Their line of academies and Sanhedrins established after 70 AD are not the same line of academies as represented by the Sadducees, or the successors of the Sanhedrin of the Second Temple Era.  The new calendar rules which the Rabbinical Sanhedrins later insert are a departure from the original and official calendar of the Second Temple’s priests, which the Sadducees (not the Pharisees) were responsible.]  <Back36 above >

    Sadducees Came From Aristocratic and Priestly Families:  “Gates To Jewish Heritage”, by David E. Lipman, [Generations #19 through #30], quote:  “As early as 151 BCE there were clearly different political parties of Jews in Judea.  Under the rule of the Hasmoneans, these groups vied for power.  Most of the documentary materials describing these different political forces were written by the winning political group, the Pharisees, so their descriptions of their political adversaries are suspect.

The first of these groups was the Sadducees.  They came primarily from large land-owning aristocratic families and priestly families.  Many were involved in the sacrificial cult of the Second Temple.  For most of the Hasmonean period, and probably until the year 70 CE, they were politically powerful.  However, they did not write anything for posterity, so we know about them only from their opponents, the Pharisees.”

[This is evidence that the Sadducees were primarily the bloodline priests and wealthy land owners of Jewish society.  They would be the sons of powerful relatives.  Notice that they left no written documentation about themselves, all we know is what the Pharisees have told us.  This evidence combines with other evidence to show that the Sadducees were the political force representing the nobility, the priesthood, and the official observed calendar of the Second Temple Era.

Quoting again, [Generations #1 through #35]:  “The Babylonian Jewish Community, From Second Temple Times to the Fifth Century:  There was a group of Jews who never left Babylonia after the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BCE.  This community more or less thrived.  Living since 129 BCE under Parthian rule, a loosely knit semi-feudal state, it was able to develop its autonomous institutions with little interference from the royal government.  The Parthians who always feared Roman intervention welcomed Jewish opposition to Rome, at least until the time of Hadrian.  The Parthians established a Jewish liaison between the government and the Jewish community, the exilarch, who thus became the head of Babylonian Jewry.  Descended allegedly from the House of David, proud of their genealogical purity, the exilarchs wore the kamara, the sash of office of the Parthian court, and disputed precedence with high Parthian officials.  The community which they headed was both numerous (estimates of its number vary from 800,000 to 1,200,000) and well-based economically, comprising a fair number of farmers and many traders who grew rich as intermediaries in the profitable silk trade between China and the Roman Empire passing through Babylonia.  The Jews enjoyed not only freedom of worship, autonomous jurisdiction, but even the right to have their own markets and appoint market supervisors (agoranomoi).  In 226 BC the Sassanids conquered the Parthians.  They were devout Zoroastrians, and there was some tension between the new political leadership and the Jewish community.  However, after a period of troubles and disagreement at the beginning of the reign of Shapur I (241–272), better relations were gradually established with the king.  . . .  So long as there was a Temple, Jerusalem was the religious center for the Jewish people.  With the Temple's destruction in 70 CE, the relations of the Babylonian Diaspora with Israel were characterized by ambivalence.”

[The eastern Jewish communities were virtually autonomous for hundreds of years, at least 30 generations.  They could practice their own religion, have their own academies, and govern as they pleased.

This is evidence that prior to 70 AD the eastern communities were not isolated from Jerusalem, but were prosperous and free.  Their academies which taught the observed calendar were unhindered.  The pilgrims which traveled from the east to worship in Jerusalem were unhindered.  The Magi-Astronomers who traveled to worship Yahoshua were unhindered.  The Jewish nobility whose sons became the priests of the Sadducees were unhindered.  Very importantly, the eastern communities looked to Jerusalem as their religious center.

This then is evidence that the signal fires which were lit in Jerusalem in accordance to the observed calendar, which was the responsibility of the Sadducees to determine, were also unhindered and welcome in Babylonia / Persia.  This then enabled Babylonia / Persia, and the greater region, to keep the exact same observed calendar and Holy Days as Jerusalem.  This synchronization would have been predominant from the time of Ezra until at least 163 AD.  (Remember in 163 to 193 AD the Samaritans ended the use of signal fires, so that messengers were used instead.  Ground travel was extremely slow compared to visual signal fires.  Messengers would arrive too late for the more remote communities.  This then forced the remote communities to begin the practice of keeping two days holy instead of one.)]  <Back37 above >

    The Observed Calendar Of Jerusalem Was The Calendar Of Asia Minor:  Notice there is a huge gap, from 351 BC to 4 BC, with no data points directly attributed to Jerusalem.  Well, this is not exactly the case, however the data points are not as objective as are astronomy sightings.  Archaeology has discovered astrology horoscopes found in Jerusalem.  A scholar must be extra careful with ancient horoscopes, as astrologers often used the waning crescent to count days, and cited the months based upon the constellation the sun was in.  For example, an astrologer could specify the date of a lunar eclipse as occurring on the 17th of Tammuz (4th month), when by the observed calendar that eclipse was on the 14th of the 3rd month (Sivan).

However, in this case, using astronomy, because of the specified positions of the planets, each horoscope can be dated to their exact times.  For example two of them date to 263 and 258 BC.  The lunar dates given in these horoscopes also match the observed calendar, demonstrating that the observed calendar in Jerusalem remained unchanged from 351 BC down to at least 258 BC.

Further, the Books of Maccabees in the Septuagint are filled with Jerusalem dates tied to events of other nations.  For example:  II Maccabees 15:36  “And they ordained all with a common decree in no case to let that day pass without solemnity, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which in the Syrian tongue is called Adar, the day before Mardocheus’ day.”  The points to notice is that the Syrians had a corresponding month, so they had to be using the same calendar, and that the 13th day of the 12th month was exactly the same day as a known Syrian holiday on the 13th day of Adar, so again, they had to be using the same calendar.  Evidence like this further demonstrates that the entire region was using the same observed calendar.

It is also very important to point out that no historical documents have been discovered which specify a lunar date for an event, but then tells us that some other region will think it is some other lunar date.  For example, undiscovered are any historical accounts that say something like this:  “On the 13th of the 12th month, but in Babylon it was the 12th of Addaru, but in Syria it was the 14th of Adar, … “  This fact alone, that dates are specified in the Bible and all other ancient manuscripts as being a single value with no hint of non-conformity, strongly suggests that all of the scribes, who were the ones who recorded history, throughout the entire region were consistently using the same official calendar as their reference.

By acknowledging the other presented evidence which demonstrates that the elite academies of the Sadducees taught each generation the exact same calendar rules, unchanged from “our forefathers”, we may conclude that the official calendar of the Second Temple Era, proclaimed and administered by the sons of the sons of the Sadducees, remained consistent.

By understanding that the graduates from these elite academies were the sons of the nobility, and that it was those graduates which became the officers, scribes, and priests for the kings and governors in the regions in which they lived, then the consistency found in the observed calendar for the whole Asia Minor area becomes completely expected.  <Back41 above >

----

[1]  Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3, 1901, article "Calendar":  gives the date as 359 CE, but clarifies that the date is not known with certainty.  Other Jewish scholars date its publication as late as 500 AD.  Since the Mishnah and Talmuds, finished circa 550 AD, do not even hint at the Hillel II Calendar, it is reasonable to conclude that the calendar may have been published near 390 AD, but was not widely used until after 550 AD.

[2]  The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar:  Pages 1 - 2.  "Using the calendar methods defined by a special committee, called the Calendar Council (Sod Haibbur), Hillel ben Judah formally sanctified all months in advance, and intercalated all future leap years (bissextile years), until such time as a new, recognized Sanhedrin would be established in Israel."

[3]   The Karaite calendar is the same as the original observed calendar, with the exception of their definition for intercalating a year.  Rather than use the equinox, they use a literal meaning of the original name of the first month, “green ears” of barley.  They therefore wait for the new crescent in which green ears of barley are present.  Later in history, the Karaites split, one group retaining the “green ears” definition, while the splintering group went back to the original equinox definition.

[4]   Ezra 6:15:  Second Temple is finished on Adar 3, in the 6th year of Darius, 516 BC.

[5]  The term "Fall Holy Days" is not in the Bible.  The author asks the reader to review the list of harvest items that were apart of the Feast of Ingathering.  Although harvesting times vary by region, few farmers will assert that these crops are harvested in the late summer.  Secondly, the astronomical data confirms that a 2nd 6th month was always inserted to keep Atonement in the autumn.

[6]  It is outside of the scope of this presentation to debate the year in which Ezra 7:6-9 occurred.  Elephantine Letter C17 shows that Darius-I was also called Artaxerxes.  The 7th year of Darius-I is 515 BC.  Certainly Ezra 6:15 places the Second Temple circa 516 BC.

[7]  There is much over-emphasis on the importance of the "pecking order" for the scholars living in Babylon versus the scholars living in Jerusalem or Palestine.  The rules for calendar determination are not that complicated.  Rather what happens is that there are years in which the moon's cycle is so close to an intercalary rule that sometimes the "leading astronomer" must be consulted to make a determination for the whole.  It is simply unimportant where the "leading astronomer" is living in the year of a close call.  Where they live and where they convened to make a decision is simply not important.  What is important is that the historical evidence demonstrates that they did cooperate, they did convene, they did communicate, and they did try to work things out in order to keep the greater region unified with a single calendar.

[8]   This is a title used to refer to the idea that the new year's first month's new crescent can be in the winter, as long as the 15th of that month (which is the Passover) falls in the spring.  This “alleged rule" is not mentioned in the rules of calculation for the Hillel II Calendar, nor was this “alleged rule" used by the official calendar of the Second Temple.

[9]  The Book of Calendars.  Frank Parise, ed.  Copyright 1982 to Facts On File, Inc.  460 Park Av. South, New York, NY  10016.  ISBN 0-98196-467-8.  Page 3, quote:  "Its [the calendar taught by the Babylonia academies] influence extended from Greece and Egypt in the West, down the Arabian peninsula in the south, over to India in the East, and northward into the Himalayas."

[10]  Some may cite records of Greek and Roman government officials arbitrarily deciding to adjust their local calendars as they please.  But we are not interested in the Greek and Roman calendars.  They are not our authority.  Their calendar systems were not the same calendar system as determined by the official academies.  The calendar adjustments of the Greeks and Romans are not relevant to the Temple's official calendar.

[11]  Observation means that someone is standing at a fixed location on the earth, and is visually verifying that the expected (by calculations) new crescent is visible.  The term "observation" does not mean that calculations and predictions were not employed.  There are massive numbers of clay tablets to verify that the astronomy scholars computed in advance the expected dates for the beginnings of the seasons, eclipses, and when each new crescent should be visible.  However they did not rely upon the calculations, but relied upon actual observation before making any official proclamations.  They relied upon their calculations only when conditions were too poor for visual verification.

[12]  A title is a name given to something.  The priests declared a month to have the title "First Month" or "Seventh Month".  A count is a sequence.  Months were not named sequentially because one followed the previous.  This concept may seem strange to our western thought process.  We are taught to always number things in sequence.  But in the ancient world things were called what they were called because someone in authority declared it to be so.  For example, Joseph was declared to be Jacob's firstborn in terms of inheriting the birthright, even though Joseph was not sequentially the firstborn of Jacob.

[13]  The ancient definition of "equinox" is a complication.  This complication is not important unless the new crescent is within two days prior to the spring equinox.  Using the modern astronomical definition for equinox will work fine for most years.

[14]  The ancient definition of "equinox" is a complication..  Using the modern astronomical definition for equinox will work fine for most years..  This rule shows that the ancient priests thought it very important to keep Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall season.

[15]  The ancient astronomy scholars used mathematics to calculate the moon's expected appearance and eclipses.

[16]  Close-calls are complicated when the sun and/or moon are obscured.  Accurate measurements are not possible, and the visual sighting of the new crescent may not occur.  The ancient astronomy scholars developed procedures to follow if ever such ambiguity prevented them from making a declaration based upon astronomy.  For example they might look at the barley harvest, at pigeon molting, rain conditions, and other natural cycles as additional evidence for spring and fall.  The Talmuds talk about such contingency procedures, but we have no record of the Temple's observed calendar ever being overridden by physical concerns.  For example, there is no record of the Second Temple's priests saying:  “This should be the first month, but the roads are wet, so we are intercalating the year instead.”

[17]  Intercalation is done in order to keep certain of the Holy Days in their seasons.  Intercalation is the result of determining that a specific new crescent occurs too soon to be declared as the 7th or 1st month, and so, the new crescent is instead declared to be a 2nd 6th or a 2nd 12th month, thereby allowing the 7th or 1st month to occur one month later.

[18]   Rival academies and groups were the astrologers and free masons.  When analyzing historical evidence, keep in mind that many other academies also existed at the same time, but taught their own astronomy for a much different use.  For example, most temples and palaces were built by the masons.  They had their own schools with their own graduates.

[19]   There is a calendar called “The Noah Calendar”.  It has a fixed 364 day year.  Many Bible students read Genesis 8:3 as describing 5 months in the 150 days, and conclude that all months in Noah’s day had exactly 30 days.  However, this is not necessarily the answer.  The observed calendar can have four 30 day months in a sequence of five months, totally 149 days.  Because the Hebrews count inclusively, the 150 day value specified is really a 149 day count after the event of the first day.  Thus, the observed calendar may have been used even in Noah’s time.

[20]   This footnote is part of the quoted text:  “It is clear from mSheb. 10:2 that the later rule according to which Elul must always have 29 days, did not exist at that time.”