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Aspects of the Calendar of the Hebrew Bible and Its Theological Significance

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Aspects of the Calendar of the Hebrew Bible and Its Theological Significance Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Master of Sacred Theology Thesis Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-1990 Aspects of the Calendar of the Hebrew Bible and its Theological Significance Charles Blanco Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/stm Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Blanco, Charles, "Aspects of the Calendar of the Hebrew Bible and its Theological Significance" (1990). Master of Sacred Theology Thesis. 30. https://scholar.csl.edu/stm/30 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Sacred Theology Thesis by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I express my thanks to my advisor for this project, Dr. Horace D. Hummel, who has served as my mentor and example in the fine art of care- ful and Christological exegesis of the Old Testament. I am grateful to my thesis reader, Dr. Quentin F. Wesselschmidt, under whom I worked as a proofreader as a seminary student; he has now kindly reversed those roles for this thesis. Credit is due my college advisor, Dr. William H. Lehmann, Jr., who piqued my interest in the philosophic understanding of time, providing an early stimulus to the topic of this thesis. I extend my warm thanks to Dr. Wayne E. Schmidt, director of Graduate Studies at Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, for his patient assistance and encour- agement in the completion of my degree program. These men, of course, bear no responsibility for any errors herein contained. I have completed the writing of this thesis while serving as pas- tor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Fort Lupton, Colorado. In many ways my degree comes at this congregation's loss of pastoral service. I am indebted to all the members of Mount Calvary, and especially to the support, encouragement, and leave-time provided by the church's elders. I pray the knowledge and exegetical acumen I have received through this thesis will benefit these saints in the form of a more faithful, accu- rate, and inspired proclamation of the Word to the glory of God. My parents, Ira and Lucille Blanco, are due my constant love and devotion for their unflagging support of my education, including great ii financial support during my undergraduate and graduate studies. Finally, I appreciate the sacrifices this thesis has extracted from my wife, June, as she has endured the further loss of the already minimal time pastors are able to devote to their wives. Her understand- ing is the greatest sine qua non respecting the completion of my entire degree program. To her I extend my deep love and thanks. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter PART I. NATURE OF THE CALENDAR 1. EVIDENCE FOR A PRIMARILY LUNAR RECKONING 7 2. EVIDENCE FOR A PRIMARILY SOLAR RECKONING 23 3. EVIDENCE FOR A LUNI-SOLAR RECKONING 41 4. EVIDENCE FOR POSSIBLE METHODS OF INTERCALATION 56 PART II. STRUCTURE OF THE CALENDAR: ITS NEW YEAR 5. EVIDENCE FOR AN AUTUMNAL NEW YEAR 89 6. EVIDENCE FOR A SPRING NEW YEAR 113 7. EVIDENCE FOR DUAL NEW YEARS 128 PART III. USE OF THE CALENDAR 8. CONTROL AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE CALENDAR 143 9. ORIGIN AND TRANSMITTAL OF THE CALENDAR 164 10. CONCLUSIONS 173 WORKS CONSULTED 184 iv non tam studiosi quam otiosi hominis St. Jerome, Ad Vitalem INTRODUCTION The aspects of the calendar of the Hebrew Bible considered in this thesis are three. First, we will appraise the evidence regarding the nature of the calendar, whether a lunar, solar, or luni-solar calendar is most likely to have been in use in Old Testament Israel. Second, we will weigh the evidence regarding the structure of the Hebrew calendar, focussing on the beginning and ending points of the year. Did the year begin in the fall or the spring in the Old Testament? Or, were there two points of reckoning for the year? Third, we will assess the evi- dence regarding the control and understanding of the calendar in Israel. Did the priests have complete authority over the calendar? Was the av- erage Israelite layman uninformed about the calendar's operation? What was the connection of the calendar to Israel's faith life? Throughout the thesis we will pay attention to the theological ramifications of calendar studies. Lack of data is a curse upon our topic; many questions are unanswerable because the evidence simply is not present. Yet, because of the lack of data, the theological impor- tance of one's hermeneutical standing becomes highly significant. Our thesis becomes a case study of how differing hermeneutical presupposi- tions can affect the outcome of texts whose basic meanings are generally beyond dispute. In addition to citing the theological significance of one's hermeneutical stance for the study of the Hebrew calendar, we will also assess the implications of certain calendar suggestions that may 1 2 assist the exegete in understanding troublesome portions of interpreta- tion.1 Finally, we will seek to relate the Hebrew calendar to the pur- pose of all Christian theology, the work of redemption in Jesus Christ. Our thesis is limited to the Hebrew Bible. In placing this limi- tation, we are aware that pertinent evidence from the Septuagint and the Qumran manuscripts resides outside our scope of investigation. We be- lieve this is necessary for two reasons. First, a practical considera- tion of space is involved. The material within the Hebrew Bible itself is more than enough to occupy a researcher. Both the Septuagint and the Qumran materials present areas of evidence that are massive and signif- icant enough as to warrant their separate treatment. Second, there is some debate respecting the application of these two areas of study to a study of the Old Testament. The variant readings of the Septuagint call into question what Hebrew text this translation has utilized. Further, the time of the Septuagint's translation is far enough removed from the time of the bulk of our evidence as to call into question its usefulness in helping us understand the Old Testament calendar. Perhaps influenced by the calendar of its own day, the Septuagint may have little real information about Old Testament usage. Likewise with the applicable Qumran materials, especially the calendar presented in the Book of Jubi- lees. While we will consider the calendar of Jubilees insofar as it is suggested by some scholars as one used in the Old Testament, we will not immerse ourselves into the mass of data Qumran studies have produced. IIndeed, it is this area that first piqued our curiosity about the calendar of the Hebrew Bible. A class assignment introduced us to Sid- ney Hoenig's hypothesis about intercalation and the Jubilee year (see Chapters 2 and 4). We wondered if a study of the calendar might produce insights into other perplexing areas as well. 3 Our study, limited to the Hebrew Bible, is meant to provide a basis for understanding the calendar therein contained. This foundation is a first step toward better understanding the calendars of the Septuagint and the Qumran materials. Neither will we be investigating in any detail the nature of the festivals of Israel's calendar. This, too, is an area of separate re- search. Our activity has to do with the nature, structure, and use of the calendar itself. In restricting our topic to the Hebrew Bible, we are not intending to enter the current debate on the implications of that term. "Hebrew Bible" is one of the suggested alternatives to "Old Testament" (as is "Hebrew Scriptures"), its purpose being to avoid any connotation that these texts are inferior to the New Testament. Judaism and parts of Christendom object that "Old Testament" slurs the Jewish faith, implying its incompleteness. Our ecumenical age strives to refrain from offend- ing anyone. Consequently, in many academic circles, "Old Testament" is becoming a usage of the past. While we are not seeking to slur anyone's religious conviction, neither will we surrender our own. We will use the term "Hebrew Bible" as a synonym for the Old Testament. Proceeding from the tenets of confessional Lutheranism, we attest to the Old Testa- ment as fully God's Word, but a word spoken in anticipation of the ful- fillment of its covenant in the appearance and work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Thus, Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are used inter- changeably in this thesis. The purpose of the thesis is twofold. We endeavor to provide the exegetical base for the understanding of the calendar used by God's 4 people in the Old Testament. There is, of course, a certain heuristic value to our topic for Old Testament studies at large. Beyond that, we find our study to be unique in its approach. Apart from the confes- sional position outlined above, we came to the texts without any precon- ceived notions about the nature, structure, and use of the Hebrew calendar. Conversely, the vast majority of works on the calendar are undertaken to prove a particular point of view. As such, these works may or may not consider evidence that is contrary to their position, and virtually none of these works will consider a position apart from their own hermeneutical stance. Our conclusions will certainly flow from our own hermeneutics, but in presenting the evidence we have sought to be as objective as possible. Rather than seeking to prove a particular cal- endar's use in the Old Testament, we have tried to draw from the evi- dence the calendar that was most probably used.
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