Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>]

It's an interesting hypothesis, Jim, but not one which is likely to
have many subscribers. The way I read it, your theory takes a number
of independent ways of thinking about a 12-month year and combines
them together in a way which each of those independent ways never
envisioned.

Your theory sounds to me like taking the standard Western Julian
Calendar (1 Jan - 31 Dec) and the Financial Calendar (1 July - 30 June
in Australia) and proposing that there are really two New Years Days
in any 12-month period. Therefore, I am really double the age I
actually am. The problem is, each of these calendars is a distinct
system in itself and is not meant to be combined with the other. We
have a number of calendrical systems: standard, financial, academic,
ethnic, religious, etc. But they are not meant to be put together. The
same seems to have applied in antiquity, when there were agricultural
and religious calendars.

Your theory is interesting, but sounds like an odd way to read the
evidence. It seems like special pleading to me aimed specifically at
recalibrating the long lifespans in Genesis so that they sound more
like lifespans we know. I, for one, am just not convinced by it.

 

Best Regards, 

GEORGE ATHAS 
Moore Theological College (Sydney) 
1 King St, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia 
Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774