3205.-Jewish Calendar by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 2, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 30.

3205.—Jewish Calendar

By Editor

Was the ancient Jewish calendar copied from the Egyptian calendar, and was this one lost or changed before the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

M. M. M.

There is no reason to believe in any way that the ancient Jewish calendar was copied from the Egyptian calendar. On the other hand there is every reason to believe that the ancient Jewish calendar was a distinct calendar of its own, as shown in the very beginning of the year, which is recorded in Ex. 12:2, where the Lord spoke to Moses, declaring, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." That there may have been a similarity between the Jewish calendar and the Egyptian is easily understood, inasmuch as the week was in existence among all the nations. It is strange how men will conclude that the things of God as revealed in His Word sprang from idolatrous nations around them. Why is it not just as easy to conclude that the customs of the nations around the Hebrew people were themselves perversions of the truth? In the beginning God's children, like Adam, and later

on Noah, understood things as they were. They were right. Nearly all idolatrous religions, especially so-called race religions, can be traced back in some respects at least to the true primitive religion as revealed in God's Word.

In the great reformations of Bible record, God restored in great measure what had been lost by the heathen nations. To His own people, when they responded to His call, the truth was given, and this truth is revealed to us in the Word of God. We do not need to go either to Egypt or to Assyria for help or light.