Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tory Thorpe <torythrp AT yahoo.com>]

Jason Hare <jaihare AT gmail.com> wrote: Gary,

Yes, exactly. However, the Israelites left on the fifteenth of the
month of Nisan during the night. This means that they arrived at the
Sinai wilderness three months later on the fifteenth of the month. (At
least, this is how I read it.)

Assuming the "month of the Abib" in the oldest calendrical 
statements is the same as, or synchronous with, the month 
of Nisan in the Babylonian year. Exod. xix, 1 is considered 
non-priestly, and the HD$ here was thought to refer 
to the "new moon" as early as Ehrlich, Randglossen, I 
(Leipzig, 1908), pp. 312-13, if not earlier. The NJPS renders:
"On the third new moon" which frankly makes no sense to me.

Tory Thorpe