1. Yaakov (J) Stein wrote: "It is interesting that in the Gezer
inscription there are two months with an extra W at the end of the word month - the
first and sixth.
Could this extra W mean 'start of new year'?"
When I look at the Gezer Calendar, however, I see four periods, not two
periods, having a W at the end. The first three periods, each of which is
considered a two-month period, all have a W. Then the 7th period, which is
considered the other two-month period, also has a W. The other four periods do not
have a W and are considered to each be a single month.
2. Note that the Gezer Calendar starts the year in the fall. By contrast,
the four seasons enumerated in the Dead Sea Scrolls start the year in the
spring. In Canaan, a year starts either in the fall (Gezer Calendar), or in the
spring (Qumran calendar), or both: the Hebrew/Jewish calendar, where the
first day of the New Year is in the fall, but the first month of the New Year is
in the spring. All of this is redolent of a 6-month "year" concept in
ancient Canaan.
3. Note also that the only mention of feasting in the Gezer Calendar is in
late spring. Is that a celebration of a New Year in the spring? Certainly
the beginning of the year in the fall in the Gezer Calendar would have meant a
New Year celebration in the fall. So the Gezer Calendar seems consistent
with the possibility of there possibly having been a New Year festival in
ancient Canaan about every 6 months or so, which is a 6-month "year" concept.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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