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This also proves that at the time of Saul and David the Israelites were observing the weeks
(and therefore the Sabbath) according to the LUNAR CALENDAR OR RECKONING!!
Continues Brown: "The idea then that day 30 or both days 29 and 30 are 'thrown out' per-
tains to the fact that the first 28 days of the lunar cycle are evenly divisible by four 7-day periods.
Days 29 and 30 are 'thrown out' only in the sense of arithmetic: they obviously aren't divisible
evenly by 7. Even though there may be two 'solar' days extra at the month's end, those days when
'thrown out' are counted as ONE CONTINUOUS UNIT FROM DAY 28.
"So with this story of David we can begin to understand how 'feasting' is attached to the
chodesh or 'new moon.' Everyone just sort of went 'on hold' and enjoyed the barbeque! The sight-
ing of the crescent moon then ended it because that was the day wherein the counting of the month
and week began again" (ibid.,pp.57-58 ).
The one or two day period at the end of each 29 or 30 day lunar cycle as being "on hold"
or "thrown out" as Langdon put it, can be understood a lot easier when it is counted as one unit,
that is, ONE DAY.
Even today conservative and Orthodox Jews observe two days for the new moon at certain
times --
Conservative and Orthodox Jews observe two days for the new moon (Rosh Hodesh). If
the month is of thirty days, the FIRST TWO DAYS are thus observed; if it has but
twenty-nine, the LAST DAY of the preceding month is the first day of the new month
(The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, article "Calendar," p. 633).
Yet, strangely, they don't seem to connect this with the lunar weeks and the correct determi-
nation of the Sabbath! Amazing!
The Weekly and Annual Sabbaths
Placing the first day of the week following the eighth of the chodesh or new moon, as
found in Exodus 16, is the same counting pattern as the one for the feasts in the Bible. Seven days
following the eighth would bring us to the fifteenth, etc. Using the numbers 8, 15, 22 and 29
instead of 7, 14, 21 and 28 permanently encodes the sabbaths and feasts with the reckoning of "day
one" from the "dark" of the moon rather than the first crescent. We have seen that the 7th century
B.C. Babylonian calendar ascribed days 7, 14, 21 and 28 of the lunar cycle as being the sabbaths.
But in Exodus 16 we just saw that God revealed His Sabbath days as falling on day 8, 15, 22 and
29 of the lunar cycle or calendar. While both the 7th century lunar calendar and the Hebrew appar-
ently contradict, they are in fact speaking of the same days.
We can solve this problem by understanding what the STARTING POINT of each is. In the
7th century B.C. calendar the days appear to be reckoned from the "sighting of the crescent right
after sunset on either day 29 or 30." But in Numbers 29:12 notice how the Hebrew word chodesh
is rendered "month." As in all other places it could simply have been rendered "new moon." Be-
cause we know that chodesh is literally speaking of the "renewing" of the moon, i.e. its
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