Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Banyai AT t-online.de (Michael Banyai)]

Dear Peter Kirk and Marianne,

I agree with you all about what is the current opinion concerning the hebrew 
calendar. However is the early hebrew calendar totaly different from all 
assumptions made till now. I´ll try to keep my observations short:

1. the early calendar was perfectly similar to the one described by Marianne 
for the Egyptians (besides a lunar calendar) that is, a mery-go-round 
calendar of exactly 365-days, and an astronomically fixed observational 
calendar (the Sothis-calendar by the Egyptians). In fact it was the Egyptian 
calendar itself, the curent month of the Egyptian calendar at the time of the 
Exodus becoming number one of the new hebrew calendar. On the reason that by 
chance it was the the month as Sothis had just its heliacal rising and not to 
the least it was aproximatively identical with the babylonian month Ab - 
probably the namesake of hebrew Abib (month ab-bi in Ur tablets like UET 3 
722, month ab-bi-in in Mari).

2. For the first assumption it is easy to point to the fact, that most 
historical mentions of hebrew religious feasts don´t pertain to the 1-st and 
the 7-th month as required. They fall in different months because the 
numbered calendar went round the calendar year while the "called" calendar 
was seasonaly stable. The double nature of the hebrew feasts too (practically 
identical feasts in the 1-st and the 7-th month) are due to this 
mery-go-round effect, brining apart feasts which have been once identical at 
the day of their introduction.

3. Several arguments may be brought for a date of the beginning of the 
religious year in June-July instead of March-April. 

The phaenomen of the coturnism (poisonous effect of eating migratory quails) 
is typical with the autumn trail of the quails mid-august.

The observation of Haley´s comet at its perihel during the night in the year 
66 AD (as mentioned by Josephus) a phaenomen occuring that year on the 26th 
of June coincided according to Josephus with the ceremony of the opening of 
the Temple-Door (8 Abib).

This ceremony happened according to Rabi Aha (in the name of Samuel, the son 
of Rabi Isaac) regularly on the 8-th Abib at the summer solstice, 24-th of 
June. The same fixation on the summer solstice and desinterest for the summer 
equinox display Arculf (XIII, cf. Tobler, Itinera et Descriptionis Terrae 
Sanctae Lingua Latina Saec. IV-XI Exarata, 156 f.) and Beda Venerabilis (III 
Tobler, op. cit.., 219). They write about a stone column in the center of the 
Church of the Holly Sepulchre, so situated that at noon on the day of the 
summer solstice it casts no shadow whatsoever. The observance of the summer 
solstice was apparently most important for the old Hebrew solar calendar.

This complicated calendar system linked with the observation of summer 
solstice on the 8-th of Abib at the opening of the Temple-doors, was 
periodicaly out of use. Thus for example for 40 years before the destruction 
of the Temple (an exception was made 66 AD) as the temple doors have been 
closed by Rabi Jochanan ben Zakai for all this long period. On this reason 
did Josephus have no experience with the complete hebrew calendar (partialy 
out of use during his lifetime). He simply speaks vaguely of the existence of 
2 hebrew calendars.

Not to forget that Ipuwer speaking of religious ceremonies similar to those 
connected to the Exodus recalls a heliacal rise of Sothis (I mean the 
egyptian New Year) in the context.


Best regards,

Bányai Michael
Stuttgart
>From gfsomsel AT juno.com  Fri Aug 27 14:02:34 2004
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To: wattswestmaas AT eircom.net
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:10:00 -0400
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] TSaRaR (Ex 23:22)  'enemy' and 'bind'
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On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 19:12:51 +0200 "wattswestmaas"
<wattswestmaas AT eircom.net> writes:
> In Exodus 23:22 the writer employs an interesting combination of
> words to
> convey the second half of his saying that God would be an enemy to
> their
> enemies by using the root word TSADI-RESH-RESH.  My question is
> this:  Is
> the first word, (namely TSARTI) a different root all together from
> the next
> word (namely TSoRaReCHa)?  Is the first word a double ayin verb
> (where the
> second resh has dropped)  OR is it from an aramaic word where the
> TSADI has
> replaced an original ayin or tet?
>
> Thankyou,  Chris
>
> _______________________________________________

In the first case -- W:)fYaB:T.iY )eT_)oY:BeKf -- you have a case of a
verb followed by a noun of the same root.  In the second -- W:CaR:T.iY
)eT_CoR:ReKf -- you have a hollow verb CW.R which has as its object a qal
participle from CRR.  If the verb had been a geminate then one would
expect CR.oWT.iY, except for the fact that the RESH would reject a dagesh
so the reduplicated 2nd radical would have appeared (as in the participle
of CRR which is the object).  There is no instance of a qal perf 1 sg of
CRR in the OT though there are instances of CRR in the qal perf of other
persons.  While it is not quite the same root, it is definitely related.

george
gfsomsel