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|| Bibletime Studies || Biblical Time Index || Hours Days Months || Hebrew Calendar || Reckoning methods || Inclusive Reckoning? || Righteous Reckoning? || Timing Events || Ages of People || Circumcised the Eighth Day || Hebrew Regnal Years || Righteous Reckoning Examples || Ambiguous Examples || Inclusive Reckoning Examples || Conclusion || Q and A ||

#5d BIBLICAL TIME - THE TIMING OF EVENTS

Introduction 5d

The problem with calculating biblical time is not simple because different methods of reckoning are used in different places. First we need to determine which reckoning methods are used, and then determine where each one applies. This will give us a much more accurate understanding of biblical time. Therefore, this bible study investigates inclusive and righteous reckoning of time in scripture.

#5d1 Israel ate Manna Forty Years in the Wilderness

EXODUS 16:1, 4, 14-16, 35
1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed out of the land of Egypt.
4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.
14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, Every man gather of it according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; you every man take for those who are in his tents.
35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they ate manna, until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

JOSHUA 5:10-12
10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
11 And they ate of the old corn of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn on the very same day.
12 And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; and the children of Israel had no more manna; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Note: When Israel left Egypt on the 15th day of the 1st month (Numbers 33:3), they ate the food that they took with them. By the 15th day of the 2nd month the food had gone and God began to feed them with manna from heaven the day after, which would be the 16th day of the 2nd month of the year that they left Egypt. At the end of their wandering in the wilderness Moses spoke to them before they crossed Jordan in the 11th month of the 40th year (Deuteronomy 1:3). They crossed Jordan into Canaan on the 10th day of the 1st month (Joshua 4:19), so this was the 41st year according to calendar reckoning. They circumcised all the males (Joshua 5:3), and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the 1st month (Joshua 5:10). The day after that they ate the produce of the land (Joshua 5:11), and the day after that the manna ceased (Joshua 5:12). Now if we count the time from the 16th of the second month during the first year to the 15th of the 1st month during the 41st year, this adds up to 39 years and 11 months.
Now according to inclusive reckoning the 1st year would be included and also the 41st year, which would mean that they ate manna for 41 years, but it is recorded as 40 years (Exodus 16:35). So inclusive reckoning does not work in this case.
According to righteous reckoning the first year contained 10 and a half months, but the 41st year only contained 15 days. So counting the actual time of 39 years and 11 months, this would be rounded up to 40 years to obtain a year figure. So righteous reckoning does work.

#5d2 Moses led Israel Forty Years in the Wilderness

NUMBERS 33:3
3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians.

DEUTERONOMY 29:5
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not grown old upon you, and your shoe is not grown old upon your foot.

JOSHUA 5:6, 10-12
6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of Yahweh: to whom Yahweh swore that he would not show them the land, which Yahweh swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month between the evenings in the plains of Jericho.
11 And they ate of the old corn of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the very same day.
12 And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Note: Moses said that he had led Israel forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 29:5), on the 1st day of the 11th month, in the fortieth year after they left Egypt (Deuteronomy 1-3). Israel left Egypt, led by Moses, on the 15th day of the 1st month of the 1st year, so the actual time between the start and Moses speaking the words were  39 years and 9 and a half months. Now inclusive reckoning would include the 1st year and the 40th year to make it up to forty years, so in this case inclusive reckoning works.
Righteous reckoning would include 11 and a half months in the first year, and and 10 months in the fortieth year, plus 38 years. The total time of 39 years 9 and a half months would also round up to forty years, so in this case righteous reckoning works also.

#5d3 Israel wandered in the Wilderness for Forty Years

NUMBERS 33:3
3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

NUMBERS 14:32-34 (God)
32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your fornication, until your carcases are wasted in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which you searched the land, forty days, each day for a year, you shall bear your iniquities forty years, and you shall know my breach of promise.

DEUTERONOMY 1:1-3
1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab;
2 Eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had given him in commandment for them;

DEUTERONOMY 2:7 (Moses)
7 For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the works of your hand: he knows your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

DEUTERONOMY 8:4 (Moses)
4 Your garments did not grow old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.

Joshua 4:19
19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped at Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

Note: Israel left Egypt on the 15th day of the 1st month (Numbers 33:3), which we may count as the time that they began to be in the wilderness. Now there are two ways of counting the time here.

(1) Moses spoke to them before they crossed Jordan on the 1st day of the 11th month of the 40th year after they left Egypt (Deuteronomy 1:3). So taking the forty years to apply to the time of Moses speaking, inclusive reckoning would count the 1st year and the 40th year, giving 40 years. Righteous reckoning would count 11 and a half months in the first year, and 10 months in the fortieth year, plus 38 years, making a total of 39 years 9 and a half months. This would be rounded up to 40 years, so both methods work in this case.

(2) They crossed Jordan into Canaan on the 10th day of the 1st month (Joshua 4:19), so this was the 41st year according to calendar reckoning. Now God promised that they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 14:33), and that did not end until they crossed over Jordan. Now according to inclusive reckoning the 1st year would be included and also the 41st year, which would mean that they wandered in the wilderness for 41 years, but it is recorded as 40 years (Numbers 14:33). So inclusive reckoning does not work in this case.
Now if we count the time from the 15th of the 1st month during the first year to the 10th of the 1st month during the 41st year, this adds up to 39 years and 11 months and 25 days. According to righteous reckoning this would be rounded up to 40 years to obtain a year figure. So righteous reckoning does work.

#5d4 Solomon took Seven Years and Six Months to Build the Temple

1 KINGS 6:1
1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahweh.

1 KINGS 6:27-38
37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Yahweh laid, in the month Zif:
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

2 CHRONICLES 3:1-2
1 Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Note: Solomon began to build the temple in the second month of the fourth year of his reign, and finished it in the eighth month of the eleventh year of his reign. This is a total of seven years and six months. Now when it was recorded as a number of years, we would expect the years to be rounded up to eight with inclusive reckoning, and rounded down to seven with righteous reckoning. As 1 Kings 6:38 records the total time as seven years, we can see that the God inspired writer of these scriptures used righteous reckoning here, not inclusive. If Solomon's eleventh year had twelve months, then the temple would have had to be finished in the first two days of the month. However, if Solomon's eleventh year was a thirteen month year, this would make half a year six months and fifteen days long, and so the temple would have to be finished in the first seventeen days of the eighth month. Both of these are obviously acceptable, but inclusive reckoning is an impossibility in this case.

#5d5 Conclusion on All of the Above Examples

In three out of four cases inclusive reckoning does not work, but righteous reckoning works in every case.

Reference	#5d1	#5d2	#5d3	#5d4
Inclusive reckoning?
Righteous reckoning?