360 days in a year

Why does the Bible use 360 days to refer to a physical year, and also to a prophetical year?

Growing up Seventh-day Adventist, i was just always under the impression that “360 is close enough, and it is a good, round number for God to use.” Well, OK, i had bot into that reasoning for a long time, because basically i was too lazy to study it out for myself. Finally tho, thanks to the internet, i have been able to study it out, and am over 90% convinced that the earth originally had 360 days a year, and something happened to mess things up a bit now so that it has approximately 365 days 6 hours a year now.

Here’s a site giving the traditional, scientific reason why the ancients used 360 days to calculate a year (basically because they were too dumb) http://users.hartwick.edu/hartleyc/yeardays.htm while us Seventh-day Adventists basically just say: “Yes, the Bible uses 360day years, so we will calculate the day-for-year principle using 360day years, but just forget the stuff that there is actually 5 more days and some extra time to the real year.”

Here’s an interesting site that tries to show from ancient records of various cultures that calendars have been changed and rearranged many times thru the millenia, showing that there have been many catastrophes affecting the keeping of time: http://www.britam.org/megaliths/velikovskyworlds.html

But this idea that the earth once had 360 days to a year is surprisingly, not at all new. A leading scientist in Isaac Newton’s day, William Whiston, wrote a book in 1696 titled “New Theory of the Earth”, in which he tried to explain Noah’s flood by a huge comet coming to the earth, and that it changed the length of the year from 360 days to its current number of days.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 8:3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

This seems to be equating 150 days with exactly 5 months, which would entail a month of 30 days.

Daniel 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons:

The word for “time” here is “iddan”: H5732
עִדָּן ‎ ‛iddân
from a root corresponding to a set time; technically a year – time.

So yes, God may have changed the length of the years in the past.

This study started because i’m researching when God’s calendar starts a new year. It has a lot to do with the months. God specifically set up the sun, moon, and stars to be for a purpose:

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Now i surely won’t argue that the sun isn’t doing its job well. It has given some light every single day of my life so far. But i DO have a problem with the moon. In fact, half the time it isn’t doing what it was designed to – to “rule the night”. In fact, there are several nites every month where it absolutely refuses to do anything like it was designed to. Why? Well, i have my theories, but they are just theories. Suffice to say, that probably something drastic happened, like the earth ejecting lots of material during the time of the flood, or some huge impact from a meteor or comet or something which pushed it out of its original orbit around the earth, thus causing it to have a basically 29.5 day cycle now.

signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years The word “signs” here means “omen, warning”, “seasons” means “specific time, particularly a festival, holy convocation, set feast”, and “days” and “years” are self-explanatory. This text is very important for laying the foundation for all calendar study, and also is very informative in showing that the “festivals” are controlled by the luminary bodies.

So what caused the change from 360 days a year to 365+? My best guess is that it has to do with the flood, and the release of pressurized water from inside the earth to an unpressurized state on the surface of the earth, (and probably quite a bit being blown out into space creating meteors and comets). The resultant “larger” earth (look at how many of the continents look like they used to fit together), made for a slower-revolving planet, requiring extra time for it to go around the sun in one year.

None of this explanation touches on the “windows of heaven”, whatever they were. They seem to have been something quite hard that surrounded this world, creating a super-rich oxygen atmosphere, allowing flora and fauna to reach gigantic proportions.

Somehow all this might have something to do with figuring out God’s true calendar, so we can get a grasp of end-time timing events. Then again, maybe it is a side-diversion. However it turns out, it is a very interesting hypothesis, one which has the weight of evidence on its side.

5 thoughts on “360 days in a year”

  1. Was not the religious calendar year for the Hebrew sanctuary service, God’s calendar, made of 360 days?

    Also the book of Genesis tells us that before the flood the earth was protected by a protective covering, a curtain or mantle of water vapour. The moon was not a mere reflector then but a small star and it ruled over this mantle of water during the night, regulating it, and the sun whose light was sevenfold then ruled over it during the day. At the time of the flood God was forced to remove His protection and the moon lost its light and the light of the sun lost sixth seventh of its strength. And all this water that God had suspended into the atmosphere returned to the earth and that caused the flood.

    But this condition will be restored on the new earth. Isaiah the prophet has prophesied that it will be. Isaiah 30:26.

    sky

  2. I can tell you have not studied much or your prejudice is blinding you. Let us not be like the Jews who were so full of prejudice that they could not recognize the Saviour when He walked among them. Mrs. White says that prejudice and opinion stood in the way of accepting the simple message of 1888. It is the same today. There is nothign new under the sun.

    sky

  3. I know now that you have not studied the book Behold Your God for if you had studied it carefully, without prejudice, you would have read this inspired commentary. There is nothing in that book that is not supported either by the Bible or the SoP.

    Evidence that before the flood the moon was like the sun is today and the sun sevenfold brighter than it is today is found in this statmement from Vol.8 of the Testimonies, p.42:

    “Now the church is is militant. Now we are confronted with a world in midnight darknesss, almost wholly given over to idolatry. But the day is coming in which the battle will have been fought, the victory won. The will of God is to be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Then the nations will own no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving–the robe of Christ righteousness. All nature, in its surpassing loveliness, will offer to God a constant tribute of praise and adoration. The world will be bathed in the light of heven. The years will move on in gladness. THE LIGHT OF THE MOON WILL BE AS THE LIGHT OF THE SUN, AND THE LIGHT OF THE SUN WILL BE SEVENFOLD GREATER THAN IT IS NOW. Over the scene the morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming ‘There shall be no more sin, neither shall there be any more death.'”

    sky

  4. Yes sky, i’ve read this quote in the Spirit of Prophecy about the moon and sun’s brightness. There is absolutely nothing in the quote about either one being brighter before the flood.
    .
    You write: “I know now that you have not studied the book Behold Your God”
    .
    The fact is, as told before, that i HAVE studied the book, and found it to be full of error.
    .
    Sky, just because someone does not agree with you on a subject, does NOT mean that they have not studied it.
    .
    I pray your eyes will be opened, and your heart will be melted with the love and truth of our Saviour – Jesus Christ, before he pours out his wrath on those who reject his offers of mercy.

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