Temple Rotation, Birth of Jesus, and Calendar Proofs
I like to validate theories of biblical calendar by identifying a testable hypothesis and then seeing if things work out. Today I am running a new hypothis based upon the Temple Priest Rotation schedule. Most people are not familiar with this, but there were 24 divisions of households responsible for performing services in the temple and every week they rotated on a fixed schedule.
I was recently made aware that the 1st and 2nd temples were destroyed on the same calendar day and under the same priestly division. This information creates a testable claim! If we can establish the years the temples were destroyed independently of the priestly order and calendar, then we can see what calendars, if any, accurately reflect the testimony which is established by two sources for both temples.
There is only 1 in 24 chance that the Talmud is accidentally correct, so if any calendar lines up then that is a solid confirmation of both the calendar and the Talmud on this point. On the other hand if nothing lines up it doesn’t really disprove anything.
Priestly Divisions
The divisions are defined in 1 Chronicles 24.
Luke uses this priestly division to identify when John was conceived.
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course. And there appeared unto him an angel … Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”
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And it came to pass, when the days of his ministration were fulfilled, he departed unto his house. And after these days Elisabeth his wife conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord done unto me in the days wherein he looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.
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In the 6th month (of Elisabeth’s pregnancy or of the year?). the angle Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, named Nazeraeth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph.— Luke 1:5
There are two references in the Talmud that claim that Jehoiarib was serving when both the first and second temple fell, and Josephus confirms that the destruction occured on the same month and day.
Interestingly enough, Josephus descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem.
For the same month and day were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burnt formerly by the Babylonians. — Josephus VI.6
“It is said, The day on which the first Temple was destroyed was the 9th of Av, and it was at the going out of the Sabbath (therefore 1st day/Sunday), and the end of the seventh [Sabbatical] year. The [priestly] guard was that of Jehoiarib, the priests and Levites were standing on their platform singing the song. What song was it? `And He hath brought upon them their iniquity, and will cut them off in their evil.’ They had no time to complete `The Lord our God will cut them off,’ before the enemies came and overwhelmed them. The same happened the second time.”
`Arakin 11b“Good things come to pass on an auspicious day, and bad things on an unlucky day. It is reported that the day on which the First Temple was destroyed was the eve of the ninth of Ab, and in the year following the Sabbatical year, and the Mishmar of the family of Jehoiarib were on duty and the Levites were chanting the Psalms standing on their Duchan (platform). And what Psalm did they recite? — [The Psalm] containing the verse, `And He hath brought upon them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own evil.’ And hardly had they time to say, `The Lord our God will cut them off,’ when the heathens came and captured them. The same thing too happened in the Second Temple.”
Ta’anith 29a
When was the First Temple Destroyed?
The Bible gives information that helps identify the year the first temple was destroyed.
The city was kept under siege until the 11th year of King Zedekiah. — Jeremiah 52:5
This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the 7th year, 3,023 Judeans;
In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month — that was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the LORD. — Jeremiah 52:12–13
On the seventh day of the fifth month of the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. 9 He burned down the Temple. 2 Kings 25:8–12
In the 25th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the 10th day of the month, in the 14th year after the city was struck down. — Ezekiel 40:1 — Jubilee year
There is some dispute about what year the temple was destroyed because both Jeremiah and 2 Kings say it was the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar, but Jeremiah also states the captives were taken in the 7th year, which would start Zedekiah in the 8th year, and put his 11th year in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Then using the Jubilee year implied by Ezekiel 40 indexed from the Jordan River crossing we get a second witness to the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar.
This difference in year also explains why the Talmud disagrees about whether it occurred in the 7th year of Sabbath cycle or the year after the 7th year. But this dispute can also be a variable in the testing because we can look at both years.
Hypothesis: Priestly Divisions between First and Second Temple Destruction should be evenly divisible by 24 weeks.
We know they rotated once per week, so all we have to do is count the number of weeks between the two years and then divide by 24. This is where we have an opportunity to test different calendar theories.
According to the continuous weekly cycle theory, there are 52.17 weeks per solar year, and according to Lunar Sabbath theory there are either 48 or 52 weeks per year depending upon whether there is a 13th month and there is a 13th month 8 out of 19 years.
I used Stellarium to calculate the Julian Day of the 9th of Av according to the traditional 1st sliver start of month for both 587 and 586 BC as well as 70 AD. With this I can determine the exact number of days between the dates. I then divide by 7 to get the exact number of weeks between those two dates.
Using this same method I can also calculate the day-of-week of the 9th of Av to test the testimony that the temple was destroyed on the 1st day of the week. Note the 9th of Av is always the 1st day of the week on the Lunar calendar.
Average Weeks
Without looking at the moon at the start of the year for 655 years I have to estimate on the average number of months per year, which is why I don’t get an even number of Lunar Weeks. That said, 587 BC falls out perfectly as falling on the exact same slot in the Priestly cycle when using the Lunar sabbath. 586 BC falls one slot too soon.
Using the same averaging approach, the continuous weekly cycle is off by 5 weeks, which is more than a full month. But 9th of Av to 9th of Av would never fall exactly 365 days apart, so I decided to factor in the Lunar Calendar and calculate the day differences more accurately.
Lunar Sabbath Proven 95% Certain
The results are very telling, 586 BC is a week early and 587 BC is 6 weeks too late. Even more telling, neither year has the 9th of Av fall on a Sunday as testified. And if you started the month on the dark moon, then it would be a Thursday and Friday which is even worse. Bottom line, the Talmud is clearly not very reliable when it comes to the Gregorian day of the week, but if it is accurate about the priestly courses, then they have just proven the Lunar Sabbath with 95% certainty.
I also tested the Dead Sea Scroll / Enoch 364 Day calendar with 52 weeks per year, and it results in 1,421.33 priestly cycles and therefore disproves that calendar as well with 95% probability.
Testing the Day of Week
The First Temple was destroyed either on the 10th of Av (Jeremiah 52:12) or the 7th (2 Kings 25:8). The Second Temple, according to Josephus, was destroyed on the 10th of the month. I’m going to assume the 10th of Av is the true date and the 2 Kings is a scribal error.
This has no impact on the priestly cycle because the number of days between only change by 0 or 2 days, neither of which is enough to change the division things land on.
On a Lunar calendar the 9th of Av is always the night after Shabbat (Sabbath), but how can we square that with the Biblical testimony of the 10th of Av and the Lunar Sabbath?
If the Day was truly starting in the morning, and the temple was set fire to on the 9th, which would be the night after the calendar day of Shabbat, then the 1st daylight it was destroyed would be the 10th.
The same analysis can not work if you use a Lunar Sabbath with the calendar day starting at Sunset:
This would require it to actually be destroyed on the 9th, which runs counter to the testimony of Josephus and R. Yossi.
On a Gregorian calendar, which we have already disproven, this would be either a Saturday or Sunday Night depending upon whether you use Daylight or Evening to start your day. Furthermore, it would move relative to the Lunar month depending upon the year. So without assuming any particular calendar, I have mapped out all calendars and all days for things to occur.
With this chart, we know the only viable interpretation that works with the 10th is with daylight start of day and the 9th falling on a Sunday or Sunset start of day and the 9th falling on a Saturday. Once again the modern Jewish tradition of a Dark moon start of month takes a thrashing.
A sliver moon start of month can be ambiguous given some people claim they can see 0.6% visibility and we have no idea what observers on the ground saw. I expect a calendar that is deterministic and not subject to so much subjective human judgment of what is visible.
If traditional night-start of day is held, then a 0.6% sliver was seen and the temple was destroyed on the 10th. Alternatively a sliver with 3.3% and Sunrise Start of Day is the only pattern that is compatible with 70 AD, occurring the Night after the Sabbath on the 10th day of the month, and on the same day reported by Jeremiah for the Second temple. Full moon start of month, with sunset start of day and Saturday sabbath is also a valid combination.
In any event, it is impossible for both the First Temple and Second Temple to fall on the Night after the Sabbath using a continuous weekly schedule, but plausible for both to follow that pattern on a Lunar Sabbath starting the day in the morning.
I am going to assume the Rabbi’s only knew the day of week in 70 AD and were assuming it was the same for the first temple. In any event, the weekly cycle is already disproven by the testimony of the priestly cycle aligning.
Conception of John the Baptist and Jesus
Since John’s father served in the 8th division (Abijah), John would have been conceived the next week or shortly after, during the 9th division, which is appropriately named Yeshua. We know that the 1st division started on the 9th of Av, which is the second week of the 5th month, so we can just go backward by Lunar Months to identify potential dates for John to be conceived and then add 6 months to get Yashua’s conception.
The angel appeared to Mary in the 6th month, which is more or less identical whether you are counting from John’s conception or start of the calendar year. She conceived shortly there after, likely during Tabernacles, and then returned with John’s family from the Feast of Tabernacles.
On this schedule Jesus would be born at Pentecost, the Feast of New Wine, the same day the Church was born. This aligns with Jesus being baptized at Shavout when we was about 30, as in not quite 30, and then spending 40 days in the desert and taken to a high mountain at the same time Moses spent 40 days on Sinai. This also parallels a voice from Heaven on Sinai and at the Baptism. When he returns from the desert he is 30 years old and ready to start his ministry.
This also aligns with a perfect 73.5 years from John’s conception until the 9th of Av and the ending of sacrifices as an alternative interpretation of Daniel 9:27.
Conclusion
The testimony from the Talmud regarding the priestly order being the same when both temples were destroyed is compatible with a Lunar Sabbath and Sunrise Start of Day, and disproves the continuous weekly cycle with 95% certainty. Furthermore, we have significant support 587 BC being the destruction of the first temple, which in turn supports all of the rest of prophecies on my timeline pointing to 2024 rapture.
Furthermore, we have new evidence for the Birth of Christ at the Feast of New Wine that gives even more precision to the interpretation of Daniel 9:26 as 73.5 years.
If this theory is correct, Yeshua’s birthday is July 21st this year! If you view Christmas as celebrating his Birth, then perhaps it really is in July! But you might as well call it Feast of New Wine(skins!).
