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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Shadow on the steps : time measurement in ancient Israel Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8q86391z Author Miano, David Ringo Publication Date 2006 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO SHADOW ON THE STEPS: Time Measurement in Ancient Israel A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by David Ringo Miano Committee in charge: Professor David Noel Freedman, Co-chair Professor William H.C. Propp, Co-chair Professor Richard Elliott Friedman Professor David Goodblatt Professor Thomas E. Levy Professor Alden A. Mosshammer 2006 © David Ringo Miano, 2006 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of David Ringo Miano is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: Co-Chair Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2006 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page…………………………………………………………………. iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………. iv List of Figures and Tables………………………………………………………vii Vita, Publications, and Fields of Study………………………………………… ix Abstract………………………………………………………………………… x Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 1 I. Calendars………………………………………………………………..7 A. Natural Units of Time……………………………………………... 7 B. The Day as a Unit of Measurement……………………………….. 8 1. The Hebrew Word for Day…………………………………... 8 2. When Does the Day Begin and End?........................................ 8 3. Measurable Divisions of the Day…………………………….. 15 C. The Month as a Unit of Measurement…………………………….. 22 1. The Hebrew Words for Month……………………………….. 22 2. The Naming and Numbering of Months……………………... 23 3. When Does the Month Begin and End? ……………………... 28 4. Measurable Divisions of the Month …………………………. 32 D. The Year as a Unit of Measurement………………………………. 34 1. The Hebrew Word for Year………………………………….. 34 2. When Does the Year Begin and End?....................................... 36 a. The Agricultural Year……………………………………36 b. The Civil Year…………………………………………... 40 c. The Liturgical Year……………………………………... 45 d. The Regnal Year………………………………………… 46 E. Lunar, Solar, and Lunisolar Calendars……………………………. 52 II. Long-Time Reckoning…………………………………………………. 55 A. The Counting of Time Units……………………………………… 55 iv B. The Egyptian Epoch and the Exodus Era…………………………. 62 C. Counting Generations……………………………………………... 65 III. Genealogical Chronologies…………………………………………….. 72 A. Dating Events by the Life of an Individual……………………….. 72 B. Genealogical Lists Containing Chronological Information………. 74 1. Description…………………………………………………… 74 2. List-Making in the Ancient World…………………………… 75 3. Textual Variants of Genesis 5 and 11 and Their History…….. 78 a. Genesis 5………………………………………………... 78 b. Genesis 11………………………………………………. 88 C. Sources of the Priestly Genealogical Chronology………………… 94 1. Preliminary Considerations…………………………………... 94 2. Pedigrees……………………………………………………... 99 a. Ancient Linear Genealogies in General………………… 99 b. The Life Spans of the Forefathers………………………. 101 c. A Generational Pedigree in Genesis 5 and 11…………... 105 3. Conclusions…………………………………………………... 110 IV. Hegemonic Chronologies……………………………………………….113 A. Chronological Sources of the Deuteronomistic History……………113 1. Time as Seen by the Deuteronomistic Historians and Their Audiences……………………………………………………. 113 2. Chronological Sources for the Book of Jeremiah……………. 114 3. Chronological Sources Relating to the Judges……………….. 118 4. Chronological Sources Relating to the Kings………………... 125 a. Preliminary Considerations……………………………... 125 b. King Lists……………………………………………….. 129 c. Royal Chronicles………………………………………... 145 d. Textual Difficulties in Kings……………………………. 155 e. Conclusions……………………………………………... 173 B. Historical Reconstructions………………………………………... 174 V. Conclusions…………………………………………………………….. 209 v Appendix A: Chronological Tables……………………………………………. 217 Appendix B: What Happened in the Fourteenth Year of Hezekiah?................... 223 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………… 251 vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1.1: The Cairo Shadow Clock……………………………………………… 18 Figure 1.2: A Drawing of the Cairo Shadow Clock………………………………... 19 Figure 1.3: Reconstruction of Ahaz’s Roof Chamber……………………………... 19 Figure 1.4: The Shadow Created on the Steps According to the Sun’s Position…... 21 Table 1.1: Priestly Dates that Include Months……………………………………... 25 Table 1.2: Agricultural Activity in Modern Israel…………………………………. 36 Table 2.1: The Count of Days ……………………………………………………... 57 Table 2.2: Time Covered by Solomon’s Building Activities……………………… 60 Table 3.1: Variant Readings of the Numbers in Genesis 5………………………… 78 Table 3.2: Variant Readings of the Numbers in Genesis 11……………………….. 89 Table 3.3: Sources of the Ages in the Priestly Genealogy…………………………. 111 Table 4.1: Readings for Abijam, Asa and Jeroboam………………………………. 159 Table 4.2: Readings for Baasha and Elah………………………………………….. 160 Table 4.3: Totalling the Years of Omri…………………………………………….. 160 Table 4.4: Counts for Omri Assumed in the Manuscripts…………………………. 163 Table 4.5: Readings for Zimri, Tibni, Omri and Ahab…………………………….. 164 Table 4.6: Readings for Ahab, Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah…………………………. 165 Table 4.7: Readings for Ahaziah, Joram and Jehoram…………………………….. 166 Table 4.8: Readings for Jehoram and Ahaziah…………………………………….. 167 Table 4.9: Readings for Amaziah and Azariah…………………………………….. 169 Table 4.10: Readings for Jotham, Ahaz and Hoshea………………………………. 172 Table 4.11: Comparison of Extrabiblical Dates with Judahite King List Dates…… 183 vii Table 4.12: Comparison of Extrabiblical Dates with Israelite King List Dates…… 186 Table 4.14: Comparison of Extrabiblical Dates with Chronicle Dates for the Kings of Judah………………………………………………… 207 Table 4.15: Comparison of Extrabiblical Dates with Chronicle Dates for the Kings of Israel………………………………………………… 208 Table A.1: Chronology of Dtr2…………………………………………………….. 218 Table A.2: Chronology of Dtr1…………………………………………………….. 219 Table B.1: Name Patterns in 2 Kings 18-19……………………………………….. 246 Figure B.1: The Reordering of 2 Kings 18-20……………………………………... 249 viii VITA 1994 A.S. in Communications, Niagara County Community College 1999 B.A. in Classics, State University of New York at Buffalo 1999-2006 Section Instructor, Revelle Humanities Program, UCSD 2003 M.A. in History, University of California, San Diego 2005-2006 Adjunct Instructor, University of San Diego 2005-2006 Adjunct Instructor, San Diego Mesa College 2006 Ph.D. in History, University of California, San Diego PUBLICATIONS “Is the Shorter Reading Better? Haplography in the First Book of Chronicles” ([co-authored with David Noel Freedman] in Emanuel: Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov, S. M. Paul, R. A. Kraft, L. H. Schiffman, and W. W. Fields, eds.; Leiden: Brill, 2003) "People of the New Covenant" ([co-authored with David Noel Freedman] in The Concept of Covenant in Second Temple Judaism. S. Porter and J. deRoo, eds.; Leiden: Brill, 2003) "Slip of the Eye: Accidental Omission in the Masoretic Tradition" ([co-authored with David Noel Freedman] in The Challenge of Bible Translation: Essays in Honor of Ronald F. Youngblood. G. Scorgie et al, eds.; Zondervan, 2003) “The Deuteronomic History: A Brief Introduction” (www.myjewishlearning.com, 2003) “The Twelve Sepharim of the Torah” (The Biblical Historian 1/1 [2004] 21-42) FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History (Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible) Minor Field: Ancient Near Eastern History Minor Field: Early Christian History ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Shadow on the Steps: Time Measurement in Ancient Israel by David Ringo Miano Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, San Diego 2006 Professor David Noel Freedman, Co-Chair Professor William H.C. Propp, Co-Chair Many historians and biblical scholars have attempted to make sense of the data found in the Hebrew Bible in order to reconstruct the time measuring systems that were in use in ancient Israel. Some have been more successful than others, but all who have tackled the problem have had difficulties in understanding the systems employed. The usual approach is to ignore the fact that the Bible is a collection of various writings from various times and places and to gather all of the chronological data from the entire collection and treat them homogeneously, hoping to find consistency among them. However, we can never comprehend the biblical data unless we treat each of the biblical sources as an independent unit. Once that is done, the picture becomes clearer. We find that the ancient Israelites had more than one calendar, more than one method of measuring intervals of time between events, and several different chronologies of its history. x INTRODUCTION 525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love. 525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan. 525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man? In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried. In bridges he burned, or the way that she died. It’s time now to sing out, the story never ends. Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends. Remember the love! Remember the love! Remember the love! Measure