Golden Age, March 13, 1935
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The Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue
THE SECOND HAND
IN
THE TIMEPIECE
OF
GOD
An explanation respecting a complete change of calendar, with suggestions as to how the Calendar of Jehovah God can be put into effect easily and naturally, without any confusion
every other
WEDNESDAY
five cents a copy
one dollar a year
Canada & Foreign 1.25
Vol. XVI - No. 404
March 13, 1935 CONTENTS
THE SECOND HAND IN THE
TIMEPIECE OF GOD (Part 1) . 355
"The Precious Things Put Forth" 355
An Intricate, Confusing Subject . 356
The Gregorian Calendar . . . 356
Gregorian Calendar and Apostles 357
The Old Roman Year . . . . 357
The Month of Maius . . . . 358
The Month of August . . . . 358
The Days and the Hours . . . 358
Latest Ecclesiastical Muddling . 359
A Consideration of the Year . . 359
When Do the Seasons Begin? . . 360
On Solomon's Porch—in Winter . 361
The Length of the Year . . . 361
Extending the Gregorian
Calendar . . . . . . . 361
Projecting the Calendar
Backward . . . . . . . 362
Calculating the Equinoxes . . 362
Outline of Vernal Equinoxes . . 363
Result of Some Calculations . . 364
Notes on Problems . . . . . 364
Date of Autumnal Equinox
4129 B.C. . . . . . . . 365
God's Love of the Beautiful . . 365
A Study of God's Months . . . 366
"A Faithful Witness in Heaven" 366
Calendar for 6,062 Years . . . 367
God's Will Regarding Months . 367
Projection of the Gregorian
Calendar Back to Creation . . 368
Lunations Ushering In Years or
Periods of Important Events . 370
Learning Something About
God's Months . . . . . . 370
Lunation Experience Table . . 371
Astronomers Must Love Truth . 371
The Moon Runs Fast . . . . 372
Metonic Cycle and
the God of Order . . . . . 373
Chart of Lunations
1886-1911 A.D. . . . . . . 374
Chart of Lunations
1912-1937 A.D. . . . . . . 375
Getting Ready to Explore
the Past . . . . . . . . 376
Method of Calculating Lunations 377
Calculation Tables . . . . . 379
Chart for Changing Over Days
and Hours of Gregorian Calen-
dar to Days and Hours of
Calendar of Jehovah God . . 380
"So Teach Us to Number
Our Days" . . . . . . . 380
The Calendar of Jehovah God . 380
Calendar
Jehovah's Year of Ransom 1903 381
"Man Became a Living Soul . . 382
Using the Six-Thousand-Year
Calendar . . . . . . . . 382
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The Golden Age
Volume XVI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, March 13, 1935 Number 404
The Second Hand in the Timepiece of God
(In 3 Parts—Part 1)
AN EXPLANATION RESPECTING A COMPLETE CHANGE OF CALENDAR, WITH SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW THE CALENDAR OF JEHOVAH GOD CAN BE PUT INTO EFFECT EASILY AND NATURALLY, WITHOUT ANY CONFUSION.
Copyright, 1935, by Golden Age Publishing Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., U.S.A.
All Rights Reserved.
MATTERS have arisen recently to call sharp attention to the Gregorian calendar and its confusions, and to direct attention to the Word of God on the subject of time, with a consideration of what may be called the timepiece of God, the beautiful and orderly arrangement of the sun and moon as they were set in the heavens by the Creator “to rule over the day and over the night” (Genesis 1:18), “to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.”—Genesis 1:14.
This is no nonsense, or worse than nonsense from the Great Pyramid in Egypt (built with unpaid slave labor), but there is now a wealth of information regarding the exact length of the year, and the exact length of the lunation (from one new moon to another), which makes all past history an open book, where the number of years involved is known, and where there is associated with those years some marked reference to the moon.
“The Precious Things Put Forth”
It is an interesting possibility indicated by Moses when he mentions “the precious things put forth by the moon”. (Deuteronomy 33:14) In the beautifully working parts of His great timepiece Jehovah God has preserved evidence that will yet shame all the wise of the earth.
Does it not seem a very wonderful thing, a gift from Jehovah God, that Jehovah’s people may now have a perfect calendar of the Lord’s life, knowing, for example, in terms of the Gregorian calendar, with which all are familiar, the exact days of the week, month and year when, as a boy, He remained behind in the temple, asking and answering questions; that they may know the exact date when Moses came marching out of Egypt, the exact date the Jordan was crossed by the forces under Joshua, the exact date Noah and his family went into the ark, and the day they came out, and the probable day of Adam’s creation, all from the silent movements going on constantly by which the sun and the moon never get out of place or out of order, as do other clocks, but are far enough away that no mischief-maker can get at them to interfere?
It is so simple, when one gets into the subject, that it is passing strange that Jehovah’s people never became interested in it before. Though the moon has its variations in speed, yet the mean lunation, 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.864976 seconds (2551442.864976 seconds), is one of the definite fixtures of the heavens, and its reliability is such that astronomers meet and gravely discuss the reasons for differences of so small an amount as 1/1000th of a second in a lunation.
The nature of the oscillations of the moon is known many years in advance, and will be laid before the reader, and he will be able to make intelligent predictions as to times of lunations himself. Nor will this knowledge, when understood, lessen confidence in the second hand of God’s timepiece, but rather increase it. A man may run up and down the length of a swiftly moving train and thus move slower or faster through the surrounding country, yet, after all, the net result is not changed if he quietly stays in his seat. That is the way it is respecting the oscillations of the moon.
In his work The Calendar; Its History, Structure and Improvement (published by the Macmillan Company) Prof. Alexander Philip, LL.B., F.R.S., of Edinburgh, says the exact length of the year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46.15 seconds. He made a careful study and had access to many works; in this production it is assumed that his statements are correct.
Indebtedness is acknowledged to 220 works on astronomy; also to Dr. Clyde Fisher, Ph. D., LL.D., curator of the Department of Astronomy, The American Museum of Natural History, 77th street and Central Park West, New York city. Dr. Fisher is rated the ablest astronomer in New York.
An Intricate, Confusing Subject
Gentile scholars of eminence sadly say that years are "incommensurable"; an incorrect but excusable statement, in view of the difficulties involved. There is only one way out: God's way; which way is simplicity itself, as will appear in due course.
That the Jews are confused is self-evident. Here is what the International dictionary says of their efforts: "The common year is said to be defective, regular or perfect (or abundant) according as it has 353, 354 or 355 days. The leap year has an intercalary month, and a total of 383 (defective), 384 (regular), or 385 (perfect, or abundant) days. The calendar is complicated by various rules providing for the harmonious arrangement of festivals, etc., so that no simple perpetual calendar can be constructed." In their calendar the Jews show only 3,761 years in the era B.C., whereas the Scriptures, preserved in their midst, show that somewhere, somehow, they have lost account of at the very least 267 years. Jehovah's people have nothing to learn from the Jews on this subject; the Jews have lost the "key of knowledge".—Luke 11:52.
Jehovah's people are not interested in the old Roman calendar of ten months in a year, even though "Christendom" still uses the original names of the last four months of that year: September, October, November, December.
They are not interested in the old Greek calendar, the use of which caused such confusion in the Roman empire that in the year 46 B.C. it was necessary to add two months to the year, making it fourteen months long, in order to bring the seasons back to their proper position.
They are not interested in the Julian calendar, which followed, unless they chance to live in Greece, or unless they are astronomers. The first of the year, with the Greeks, is thirteen days behind the one now in general use. The reason why the astronomers cling to the Julian reckoning is that it has been in use constantly, in some sections of the world, 1,980 years. They merely use it as a convenient measuring rod, to connect up with the past. Julian days, used by all astronomers, begin to count 250,310 days prior to the day of Adam's creation, and are to that extent in error. In this article the Edenic day, i.e., the day from Adam's creation, is substituted for the Julian day; and it is hoped that all astronomers, in the interest of pure truth, will adopt and accept and use the Edenic day exclusively.
Jehovah's people disdain to consider for a moment the Mohammedan calendar, which takes its start in July of the year 622 (A.D.), and which even the Mohammedans no longer take seriously.
Napoleon put an end to the French Revolution calendar, which began in November, 1793, and perished in 1805. Everything was supposed to be done by the decimal system. There were 12 months of 30 days each, and five or six fete days at the end of the year, to balance things up.
The Gregorian Calendar
But though Jehovah's people ignore all of the foregoing, they cannot quite, in the immediate present, ignore the Gregorian or papal calendar inaugurated in October, 1582, at which time ten days were dropped from the Julian calendar, the fifteenth of that month hooking up next to the fourth. It was not until 1752 that England adopted the Gregorian calendar.
In this series of articles it will be shown that all the foregoing calendars are calendars of the Devil. If that is shown to be true regarding the Gregorian, it will certainly be true of all the others. Please, now, take the time to examine some of the necessary details of this intricate subject.
Jehovah God is nowhere mentioned in the Gregorian calendar. It would suit Satan well to have Him lost sight of altogether. Christ is mentioned, but the year 1935 is not the year of our Lord at all, for He was born in 2 B.C. and died in A.D. 33.
In these articles the Gregorian calendar is supplanted and discarded by the unique expedient of extending it into the past, as if it had always been in operation, using it to establish historical points in terms that will be understood by those now living, and then letting it die an ignominious death.
The present pope is not sure, even, as to in what year Christ died. One of his alleged reasons for extending the "Holy Year" to 1934 was that, so he said, he was not sure whether Christ died in A.D. 33 or in A.D. 34. Of course, the real reason why he was making both ends of the year "holy" was that thus he could get collections at both ends.
The Gregorian calendar was the work of a council of theologians, professedly the successors of the apostles, but eager to hide the apostles from sight except as they might wish to shine in their reflected glory. One can see this in what the council did, and in what they failed to do.
Gregorian Calendar and Apostles
Let it be supposed that the Gregorian council had really desired to honor the apostles whose successors they claim to be. What a fine chance they had! For instance, they could have changed January to James, in honor of the man to whom the Scriptures refer as the Lord's brother. But they preferred to have millions of people everlastingly writing down a name in honor of Janus, the original Roman "father". Janus was two-faced. His successors have been like their "father". He was worshiped as the god of gods, supreme janitor of heaven and earth. The word "janitor" takes its derivation from the word "Janus". A writer who made a study of this subject says: "But here is the important fact that, till the pope was invested with the title, which for a thousand years had had attached to it the power of the keys of Janus and Cybele, no such claims to pre-eminence, or anything approaching to it, was ever publicly made on his part, on the ground of his being the possessor of the keys bestowed on Peter." In other words, he was Jupiter, the Devil, and naturally those who claim to rule heaven, earth and hell, and who love the name "father", did not wish to part with anything that so well upheld their claims.
The theologians had a second opportunity with regard to the second month. On or about what is now February 15 the ancient pagan Romans had heathen priests, called the priests of Faunus, who clad themselves in goatskins, and made a circuit of the Palatine Hill, striking with goatskin thongs all women encountered. The ostensible object was to insure fertility and easy delivery; the real object was to enable the grafting priests to keep their hold on the superstitious people. This ceremony was supposed to "februare", or purify, the women. One can readily understand why the Roman Catholic theologians wanted to retain this connection with heathenism.
In connection with the "februation" of the women the priests held a festival, the Lupercalia, in honor of Lupercus, the god of fertility. There is a brief account of a similar "festival" in Numbers 25:1, 2: "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods."
These alleged successors of the apostles who made the Gregorian calendar could have named the second month Boanerges, in memory of James the brother of John, the one who had the honor of being the first martyr among the Lord's chosen twelve, but they preferred the old pagan name.
The Old Roman Year
The old Roman year began with March, and its first month in the year was named Martius, after Mars, the god of war. The war priests of ancient Rome were the Salii, or leapers. Their job (contrasted with their present successors) was not so much the encouragement of the production of more Roman soldiers, but to see to it that Mars was well bribed by their leapings and other gymnastics. Their chief ceremony was on March 19.
The Gregorian ecclesiastics had another good opportunity here. They might have named this month after Peter, for whom they profess to have so much attachment. But as between following the advice of Peter to "seek peace, and ensue it" (1 Peter 3:11) his alleged successors have done all possible to keep the world in wars and turmoils throughout their entire history, and tomorrow, if another world war were to start, the Roman Catholic theologians would be the very first to climb on the band wagon, for their full share of chaplaincies or whatever other graft was to be had, in every country involved. And the Protestant clergy would be scarcely one whit behind. And so one can see why the Gregorians desired to retain the martial spirit, martial law and martial music of Mars rather than to have a month named after the humble fisherman who, in his writings, counseled peace at least five times.
The second month of the old Roman year of ten months was Aprilis, from a word meaning 'to open', and probably signifying that this was the month in which the buds open. There is no objection to this, surely, but, as this was the month in which the Savior died, what a chance there was here to commemorate that event upon which all human life depends. The month could have been called Christ, and it would have been an annual reminder of man's debt that can never be repaid.
But the theologians preferred the old name, with which, no doubt, some god or goddess was in some way involved. Incidentally, as will later be shown in this series of articles, there is ground for the tradition that Christ was nailed to the tree on April 1, and that the so-called "April fool" pranks on that day are intended by the Devil to bring ridicule on the One who counted not His life dear unto Himself, but gave it all up in the doing of Jehovah's will and in the vindication of His name. May God help all of Jehovah's people to be like their Master, and "fools" for His sake.—1 Corinthians 4:10.
The Month of Maius
The month of Maius in the old Roman calendar, the present May, refers to Master Jupiter, the great father god, who had more wives than Henry VIII. It would have been a rather nice thing for the theologians who pretended to think so much of the apostles if they had called this month Matthew. But it was Matthew, in the 23d chapter, that specially drew attention to the Lord's warning: "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called [Master]: for one is your Master, even Christ." (Verses 9 and 10) And the theologians knew better than to draw the attention of the people to the word of God which exposes their paternalistic method of gaining control of the men through control of the women.
Juno, so the encyclopedia discloses, was "the most exalted divinity of the Latin races in Italy next to Jupiter, of whom she was the sister and wife. She was the queen of heaven and under the name of Regina (queen) was worshiped in Italy at an early period". It would have been nice for the Gregorian theologians to name the sixth month after John, the one whom the Lord especially loved, but that would have been a hard blow at mariolatry; and so the Gregorian ecclesiastics, who are so strong for the pagan queen-of-heaven idea, preferred to let the name June stand as it is.
In the old Roman calendar the fifth month was named Quintilis, which merely meant that it was the fifth month of their year. When Julius Caesar reconstructed the calendar, making the year one of twelve months instead of ten, one of the new months was named after himself, and Quintilis became July. Here again the theologians had a fine opportunity to choose between a great warrior and the humble and faithful Jude, whose short epistle contains so much; and so, because they more admired military conquerors than a humble messenger of peace, they chose to retain the name of the warrior, born in that month.
The Month of August
It was Mark Antony, the politician, that fixed it up to have the seventh month of the year named after Julius Caesar, but Julius' successor Augustus was less modest. He changed the name Sextilis, sixth month, to August, and the Roman senate, to gratify his vanity, took one day away from February and added it to the month thus named. That is why February is so short.
Theologians love everything that exalts men; and so when the question came up, if it ever did come up, of naming the eighth month after the apostle Andrew, the suggestion was voted down 100 percent in favor of retaining the name of the publicity-seeker who started world-wide taxation.
September, seventh old Roman month, could have nicely been named after Philip, but it was not. October, eighth old Roman month, could have been named after Thomas, but it was not. November could have been named after Nathanael (Bartholomew), but it was not; and December could have been named after Simon (Zelotes), but it was not. The theologians did not want any of the months named after the real apostles. They preferred that the old paganisms which constitute their sole stock in trade should be perpetuated, as long as possible. Certainly, on no account do they wish the people to have the Scriptures, or even to be reminded of them, except in so far as they can twist these to seem to sustain their pretensions.
The Days and the Hours
The Devil, of course, was the one who induced the ancestors of the present generation to name all the days of the week after heathen gods and goddesses. Neither God nor Christ, nor any prophet or apostle, is represented in the days of the week as now in common use. Sunday is named after the sun god; Monday, after the moon god; Tuesday, after Zeus, or Tyr; Wednesday, after the god Woden; Thursday, after Thor, the god of thunder; Friday, after Frigg, or Friga, Woden’s wife; and Saturday, after Saturn. The theologians could have changed all this if they had wished to do so, but they did not.
God made the day to begin at sundown, and so the Devil has changed that in almost every place, but not quite. In most countries the beautiful robe of starlit night is rent in twain and the day begins at midnight, which practice was handed down from the Egyptians and Romans. The Babylonians began the day at sunrise. Astronomers make it begin at noon, and number the hours from 1 to 24 consecutively. This system is followed in some parts of Italy. In all of these matters the theologians have gone along with every scheme to dishonor the Maker of the stars and to stray farther and farther from the Word of God. They have seemed to instinctively realize that their protection consists in keeping as close as possible to the Devil and the Devil’s way of doing things.
Latest Ecclesiastical Muddling
Under the leadership of Doctor Cadman, ex-president of the Federal Council of [Protestant] Churches in America, a still further mix-up in respect to calendars is in sight. Following a big get-together council of all the most pompous Protestant theologians, at Fanoe, Denmark, in 1934, the proposition was launched to make every year one of 364 days, adding the 365th day as an “extra” Saturday, coming always between December 30 and January 1; then when the year would have 366 days the “extra” day would be inserted as an “extra” Saturday between June and July. By this plan, in which the Scriptural arrangement of the days into weeks would be entirely ignored, there would be four quarters of the year identical in length, each containing three months of 31, 30 and 30 days, and, if one is foolish enough to believe it, “any given date will fall on the same day of the week.”
It is thus seen that the Devil and the children of the Devil are greatly interested in having everything different from the way God arranged it, not only as respects the years and the months, but as respects the weeks, the days, and even the hours, and the reason for it is clear. The Devil is determined to leave no stone unturned to dishonor God, and he also well knows that as one error leads to another so one truth also leads to another, and is in terror lest great truths long covered should be brought to light.
And so, with this preliminary examination, please turn to make a study of the various items that enter into the making of calendars, a Scriptural as well as a scientific study, to which is invited the closest scrutiny of astronomers, mathematicians and others, as well as Jehovah’s people. Should any errors be discovered in statements of fact or in calculations, be so good as to transmit them to The Golden Age as promptly as possible. In this material, high-school and college teachers have abundant opportunities to put the skill of their pupils to the test and at the same time exalt the name of Jehovah, the true and living God.
The methods that will be pursued will be entirely different from any ever before used. The place to begin is with the year.
A Consideration of the Year
According to Genesis 1:14 God made both the sun and the moon to be “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”. The thought that the signs here mentioned have anything to do with the signs of the zodiac is all nonsense, demonism. The word “signs” signifies “ensigns”, as if here is some standard that needs the attention which will now be given to it.
The seasons recognized in the Scriptures are but two, the summer and the winter, which seasons will continue forever. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.”—Genesis 8:22.
Jehovah’s people are familiar with the instructions to Israel to “keep the passover at his appointed season” (Numbers 9:2), and know why Jehovah spoke of it as “the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt”. (Deuteronomy 16:6) They know that the Lord, in the parable of the vineyard, spoke of “fruits in their seasons” (Matthew 21:41), that the apostle also mentioned “fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17); the prophecy of Zechariah (14:8) speaks of summer and winter as ever continuing; and there are other references to the seasons in the Scriptures, and yet the clergy have never recognized in any way these grand divisions of time in any of their calendars. One would have thought that they would at least have named one month after the opening of the vernal season or one after the opening of the autumnal season, but the clergy have no zeal for the honoring of anything with which Jehovah God has had anything to do. They are interested only in the things that bring dishonor to Him and do bring honor to men and to their master, the Devil, whose they are and whom they serve. On the other hand it seems that the attention of the true people of God has been directed to the vernal equinox for centuries, and there must be some reason for it. To this day, Jehovah’s people, striving for truth and obedience, seek the beginning of Nisan (the name is of heathen origin), the month in which Jesus died, and locate it with the new moon nearest to the said equinox.
When Do the Seasons Begin?
For various reasons it is desirable that the new year should have a fixed point at which to begin, and to end; and what better point than that made by Jehovah himself in the heavens, when the days and nights are of equal length at every point on the globe? It is the time of life, a time when all should specially turn their minds and hearts to the great Creator who provided such a convenient day for the settlement of accounts that are in the past and for the opening of new vistas for the future. “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.”—Psalm 65:11.
Years ago many of those who are now Jehovah’s witnesses had the belief that the true time of the year’s beginning is in the fall, yet, whatever may have been the reason, in the two texts where the two seasons are mentioned together the summer is mentioned first.—See Genesis 8:22; Zechariah 14:8.
All intelligent persons know that on the equator the days and nights are always of equal length. They also know that twice a year the sun apparently shifts its position with respect to the earth, and in March and September there are what are called equinoxes; that is, the days and nights are of equal length in every place on the earth. The human family was first implanted in the Northern Hemisphere; there the Scriptures were written; there the Lord died. Hence the Scriptures tacitly recognize the fact.
Additionally, the Northern Hemisphere contains most of the land surface.
The summer season (which men, but not the Scriptures, divide into two parts, one of which is named “spring”) begins in March (in the Northern Hemisphere) and contains the growing and harvesting seasons of that part of the world, wherein most of the land surface of the earth is found. The cold seasons are inaugurated by the autumnal equinoxes.
The Gregorian calendar does not begin at either equinox, and does not even begin any month with either of them, but it cannot quite ignore these important fixed points in terrestrial history, and so one generally finds in an almanac a brief mention of the time when the equinox (usually the vernal) occurs. It is manifest that, in the mind of God, the true year would have its beginning at one of these points. Would it not seem reasonable, since God made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, that He would have the greater of these two luminaries fix the length of the year and the lesser fix the length of the month?
Jehovah puts the mind at rest on this subject of His time for beginning the year. As the Israelites were about to leave Egypt (which, as will be shown subsequently, was about the time of the vernal equinox) He said to Moses: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”—Exodus 12:2.
Much has been said of the observance of so-called Jewish “New Year” at the autumnal equinox, but the Devil has been after the Jews as well as after the Christians. Can anybody show where the Jews or anybody else was ever commanded or authorized to begin a new year at any other time than that fixed by Jehovah God? He cannot. It is quite true that Exodus 34:22 speaks of “the feast of ingathering at the year’s end” (revolution of the year, margin); but the reference is manifestly to the crop year, which does indeed end in the fall, as is well known to everybody. Exodus 12:2 is the law on this subject.
The foregoing text, therefore, ought to be sufficient proof that the true time of the beginning of the year is with the vernal equinox; but there is more. Nine months from the autumnal equinox would be on or about June 23, at which time in Palestine it is exceedingly warm. Nine months from the vernal equinox is about December 22. Here read Jeremiah 36:22: “Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him." What time that year started ought to be plain to all.
On Solomon's Porch—in Winter
When Jesus was here on earth His every word and act was designed to be an honor to His Father's name. He was able to say, "I do always those things that please him." (John 8:29) The Father himself said: "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."—Luke 3:22.
As a result of this close relationship, one may study with minute care every detail of what Jesus said and did and always find in it something that the Father is telling His people by that means. There is this item: "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch."—John 10:22, 23.
Theologians have endeavored to explain this text, aiming to show that Jesus was trying in some way to participate in a feast of dedication not mentioned in the Scriptures, and in so doing they have missed the point.
In this passage the heavenly Father seems to be gently hinting to the reader that there is a point in connection with Solomon's temple that needs to be considered; it is the time of its dedication. And if one looks the matter up he finds that it was dedicated "in the month Ethanim" (the name itself is of heathen origin), "which is the seventh month" (1 Kings 8:2), and the "feast of dedication", identified with the seven-day dedication of the altar, was on the 8th to the 14th of that month. (2 Chronicles 7:9, 10) The seventh month was the first month of the winter season. Additionally, it is well known that the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles, which occurred in the seventh month, were observed when the Israelites had gathered in the fruits of the land and were entering the winter season. (Leviticus 23:27, 39) It is thus established by the mouth of four witnesses that the true beginning of the year is at the vernal equinox.
The Length of the Year
The length of the year, from vernal equinox to vernal equinox, is not an exact number of days.
Beginning with the vernal equinox of the year 1886 (A.D.), the times between the vernal equinoxes for the next succeeding fifty years, down to 1936 inclusive, are, in their order, 365 days 5 hours and the number of minutes which follow: 46, 45, 48, 54, 44, 05, 46, 48, 60, 27, 45, 48, 50, 13, 57, 81, 41, 52, 66, 60, 00, 60, 60, 60, 21, 49, 53, 40, 56, 51, 48, 61, 40, 52, 58, 40, 51, 53, 49, 57, 46, 50, 55, 37, 47, 49, 45, 54, 40. This information was gleaned from reference works in the New York Public Library. The general average for this particular period is 365 days 5 hours 46 minutes 45.6 seconds.
The length of the year is influenced by conditions in the earth itself, near the equator, by the approach and recession of other planets, and by the precession of the equinoxes. In the accompanying diagram (page 363), in the right-hand lower corner is shown in graphic form how the influences that make one year shorter than another are overcome in succeeding years. The small differences are not cumulative; the total divergences of less than an hour from the mean would not be greater six thousand years ago, which means that one can tell accurately the time of the vernal equinox in any year from creation to date. Moreover, its day in the week can be ascertained, which is something quite new in the field of human interest, a path never before trodden.
Extending the Gregorian Calendar
Taking note of the fact that there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day, it follows that in one of God's years, a so-called solar year, or tropical year, or synodical year, that is, from one vernal equinox to another, there are 31,556,926.15 seconds; in a calendar year of 365 days the number of seconds is 31,536,000; so God's year is longer than man's year by 20,926.15 seconds.
In the Gregorian calendar arrangement man puts in an extra day once in four years; so in that time he has 1,461 days. In four of God's years there are 126,227,704.6 seconds. In 1,461 calendar days there are 126,230,400 seconds; so at the end of the four years man has borrowed 2,695.4 seconds from the future, to make up for his extra inserted day.
After twenty-four leap-year periods of four years each, man has borrowed nearly a day. Accordingly, when the end of the century is reached, the leap year is usually omitted. The normal century of man, therefore, has in it 24 leap years and 76 years that are not leap years. The total of days in such century is 36,524 days, amounting to 3,155,673,600 seconds. In one hundred of God's years He has 3,155,692,615 seconds. At the end of a normal century, man has not used in his calendar all the time that has been made for his use, by 19,015 seconds.
After four centuries, or rather, every fourth century, man finds it necessary to put in an extra leap year. These years, called quadricentesimal years, go in at the end of such centuries as are divisible by 400. The next one would be in the year A.D. 2000, but it will not be needed. The Lord has a much better way.
In four of man's centuries he has 146,097 days: 97 leap days and 146,000 ordinary days. In seconds this amounts to 12,622,780,800. In 400 of God's years there are 12,622,770,460 seconds; so at the end of each quadricentesimal period of 400 years the man has again borrowed from the future a total of 10,340 seconds.
Another shift is necessary after eight quadricentesimal periods. In that time man will have borrowed for his calendar 82,720 seconds that did not belong to him. This is almost a day (there are 86,400 seconds in a day); accordingly at this point no quadricentesimal leap day occurs. The net difference, then, in 3,200 years amounts to 3,680 seconds, or 1 hour 1 minute 20 seconds. A further correction would be necessary after 23 such 3,200-year periods; and so on indefinitely.
Projecting the Calendar Backward
If the Gregorian calendar can be projected forward it can also be projected backward; and this has been done in the accompanying illustration. The outline at the top (page 363) shows in a general way the time of vernal equinox of every year from creation to date. Each century is in a little diamond-shaped section by itself, except where the quadricentesimal leap days occur, when two sections are merged in one. The latest date in each century when the equinox could occur is named, and the earliest one. A little careful study of the enlarged diagrams beneath the outline will show how to make use of the outline. The quadricentesimal leap years are fourteen in number; that is, 4000, 3600, 3200, 2800, 2400, 2000, 1600, 800, 400, and 1, B.C., and A.D. 400, 800, 1200 and 1600. The year 1200 B.C. is not a leap year, for the reason that it is one of the correction places in the whole general scheme, as has already been fully explained.
In using the Gregorian calendar between centuries removed from each other, it is necessary when finding how far apart any two equinoxes are, if one is in a century B.C. and one is in an A.D. century, to make the total one year less than that indicated by adding the years together. In computing time from a B.C. date to an A.D. date the portion of the year that has elapsed must be taken into consideration. That the exact number of years is not to be had by simply adding B.C. and A.D. dates together, as some long supposed, can be immediately demonstrated. In the spring of 1 B.C. Christ was 1/2 year of age; He died 33 full years thereafter, but not in the spring of A.D. 32, as would be the case if it were correct to add B.C. and A.D. dates together: the 33 years were not up till the spring of A.D. 33. If B.C. and A.D. dates are added together, the total number of years is one less than the sum thus obtained.
The year 4 B.C. is a leap year, though only three years away from the leap year of 1 B.C. (a quadricentesimal year). This feature is shown in one of the diagrams (C) below the outline.
Calculating the Equinoxes: Problem 1
Reference to the outline at the top of page 363 shows that in the year 1935 A.D. the equinox is on the afternoon of Thursday, March 21.* To be exact, it is at 52 seconds after 3:42 p.m., Jerusalem time, which is the proper time basis to use in all human affairs, for reasons to be explained later. The time of equinox at the 75th meridian west, commonly called Eastern Standard Time, is 8:18 a.m., March 21. This is 7 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds later than Jerusalem time (used henceforth in calculating the equinoxes). Enlarged section of the last years of the nineteenth century and the remaining years to date shows more fully the times of equinoxes at Jerusalem in the past century. See the diagram on opposite page for particulars.
Jehovah's people have heretofore thought they had good evidence to believe that Adam was created in 4128 (or fall of 4129) B.C., and Problem 1 is to ascertain the time of vernal equinox for the year 4128 B.C. Reference to the small outline at top shows it was in the morning of March 21, 4128 B.C.; the enlarged section (A) of the first period after creation shows it was very close to 10:00 a.m. Exactly what time was it?
*Master chart, from which this greatly condensed outline was drawn, is 15 feet 3 inches long; on file at the Golden Age office, where it may be seen on application.
Much condensed outline, showing approximate times of all vernal equinoxes from creation to 1936 A.D.
Enlargement of section (A) showing time of vernal equinox for each normal year (●) and leap year (○) of the 42d to 40th centuries B.C.
Enlargement of section (B) showing time of vernal equinox for each normal year (●) and leap year (○) of the 19th and 20th centuries A.D. (Fragment of 18th century also included)
Enlargement of section (C) showing time of vernal equinox for each normal year (●) and leap year (○) of the Lord's earthly life.
Hours and minutes over 365 days are shown by column of figures at the left.
All calculations are in Jerusalem time
Diagram showing variations in lengths of years (from vernal equinox to vernal equinox) for the fifty years 1886-1935 A.D. Mean length of year, 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46.15 seconds is shown by straight horizontal line.
From 4128 B.C. to A.D. 1935 is not 6,063 (4128+1935) years, but 6,062 (4128+1935—1) years. The number of seconds in 6,062 solar years, God’s years, is 191,298,086,321.3; in 2,214,098 days, the total number of seconds is 191,298,067,200.0. The difference is 19,121.3 seconds, which is 5 hours 18 minutes 41.3 seconds; to be figured back from (before) 3 hours 42 minutes 52 seconds (3:42:52) p.m., the hour of equinox on March 21, A.D. 1935. The answer is that the equinox on March 21, 4128 B.C., was at 10.7 seconds after 10:24 a.m. Now, what day of the week was it?
The 2,214,098 days from March 21, 4128 B.C., to March 21, A.D. 1935, are found as follows:
(a) Each of the 6,062 years had at least 365 days . . . 6062×365 = 2,212,630
(b) The 60 centuries had at least 24 leap days each . . . 60×24 = 1,440
(c) 14 quadricentesimal years had each a leap day . . . 14×1 = 14
(d) 8 leap days in the 20th century . . . 8×1 = 8
(e) 6 leap days in the period before 4100 B.C. . . . 6×1 = 6
Total number of days . . . 2,214,098
Leap day for the year 4128 B.C. would not be counted, as the vernal equinox is not as far back in the year as the point at which the leap day occurs.
Another method of arriving at the same result is to take the number of leap years (1468) and multiply by 366; and then, deducting the number of leap years from the total of 6062 (6062—1468=4594), multiply the result by 365, as follows:
1,468 leap years; 1468×366 = 537,288
4,594 common years; 4594×365 = 1,676,810
Total number of days 2,214,098
In 2,214,098 days there are 316,299 weeks and 5 days. In the year 1935 the 21st of March falls on Thursday. In 4128 B.C. the 21st of March fell five days earlier in the week, which day is Saturday. Therefore, the vernal equinox of 4128 B.C. fell on Saturday, at 10:24:10.7 a.m.
The Result of Some Calculations
Using exactly the same method as above, but without going over all the operations, the next step in order is to give a considerable list of vernal equinox dates, in the past and the present. After A.D. 1886 there is given a plus or minus number of minutes by which the actual time of equinox varied from the mean which the astronomers have provided.
Problem
No.
1 B.C. 4128 Sat. 10:24 a.m. and 10.7 sec., Mar. 21
2 “ 4028 Thu. 3:41 p.m. “ 5.7 “ “ 21
3 “ 2472 Fri. 12:25 p.m. “ 55.1 “ “ 21
4 “ 2372 Wed. 5:41 p.m. “ 50.1 “ “ 20
5 “ 2045 “ 10:30 p.m. “ 21.15 “ “ 21
6 “ 1945 Tue. 3:48 a.m. “ 56.15 “ “ 21
7 “ 1920 Fri. 5:08 a.m. “ 9.9 “ “ 20
8 “ 1615 Sat. 2:01 a.m. “ 5.65 “ “ 21
9 “ 1575 “ 6:31 p.m. “ 51.65 “ “ 20
10 “ 1515 Thu. 7:08 a.m. “ .65 “ “ 21
11 “ 1475 “ 11:58 p.m. “ 46.65 “ “ 21
12 “ 1469 Fri. 3:39 p.m. “ 51.12 “ “ 21
13 “ 1035 “ 1:27 p.m. “ 12.65 “ “ 21
14 “ 1028 Sun. 6:08 a.m. “ 35.7 “ “ 21
15 “ 998 Tue. 12:31 p.m. “ 40.2 “ “ 22
16 “ 745 Mon. 7:10 p.m. “ 16.15 “ “ 21
17 “ 641 Thu. 11:42 p.m. “ 15.75 “ “ 21
18 “ 607 Fri. 5:20 a.m. “ 24.85 “ “ 21
19 “ 537 Mon. 4:14 a.m. “ 15.35 “ “ 22
20 “ 468 Tue. 9:21 p.m. “ no “ “ 21
21 “ 455 Thu. 12:53 a.m. “ 19.65 “ “ 21
22 “ 3 Sat. 12:16 p.m. “ 59.45 “ “ 21
23 A.D. 12 Tue. 9:39 p.m. “ 45.55 “ “ 20
24 “ 33 Sun. 11:53 p.m. “ 54.7 “ “ 21
25 “ 1879 Fri. 2:11 a.m. “ 47.6 “ “ 21
26 “ 1884 Thu. 7:15 a.m. “ 38.35 “ “ 20
27 “ 1914 Sat. 1:38 p.m. “ 42.85 “ “ 21
(minus 14 min.)
28 “ 1918 Thu. 12:53 p.m. “ 47.45 sec., Mar. 21
(minus 14 min.)
29 “ 1922 Tue. 12:08 p.m. “ 52.05 sec., Mar. 21
(plus 2 min.)
30 “ 1926 Sun. 11:23 a.m. “ 56.65 sec., Mar. 21
(minus 1 min.)
31 “ 1931 Sat. 4:27 p.m. “ 47.4 sec., Mar. 21
32 “ 1932 Sun. 10:16 p.m. “ 33.55 sec., Mar. 20
(plus 1 min.)
Notes on the Above Problems:
Problems Nos. 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 22, present the same features as Problem No. 1, and are solved by taking similar steps.
Problems 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, are similar to Problem 1, but, being wholly within the A.D. period, the years that intervene are ascertained by subtracting the year in question from the year 1935. All other steps are the same as for No. 1.
Problems 5, 16, 17, 20, 21, 31, are similar to Problem 1, but fractions are large and must be watched; in each of these instances there are sufficient hours in the fractional days to make them count as complete days.
Problems 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 23, 24, 26, 32, show the vernal equinox for the desired year falls on March 20. By this trick of the calendar one full day is lost, and must be accounted for in the answer. This is clearly seen in Problem 26. The 18,627 days involved are 2,661 weeks (fractions in the problem being too small to affect the answer). March 20, 1935 A.D., is on Wednesday. One might infer from this that the equinoctial date of March 20 in the year 1884 A.D. (which is an even number of weeks away from the equinoctial date of 1935 A.D.) would also be on a Wednesday, but it is on a Thursday (the same as in 1935). (See diagram [B] page 363.)
Problems 15, 19, show the vernal equinox for the desired year falls on March 22, instead of the 21st. By this trick of the calendar one full day is borrowed, and must be accounted for in the answer. These two problems, like those in the paragraph last above, require close reasoning.
To aid students of these problems there is published, on pages 368, 369, a calendar from creation to date, occupying two full pages of The Golden Age, and greatly simplifying the arriving at correct dates in the remote past, both as to the days of the month and as to the days of the week.
Date of Autumnal Equinox 4129 B.C.
Inasmuch as some have held that Adam was created in the fall of 4129 B.C., at a date convenient to the autumnal equinox, the date of that equinox is fixed by the following accurate and convenient method:
Autumnal equinox, 1934 A.D., Jerusalem time, was September 23, 8:11 p.m. Vernal equinox, 1935 A.D., is, Jerusalem time, March 21, 3:43 p.m. Therefore the length of time from the autumnal equinox of 1934 to the vernal equinox of 1935 is 178 days 19 hours 32 minutes. The year 4128 B.C. was a leap year; therefore 178 days 19 hours 32 minutes back from the time of the vernal equinox of 4128 B.C. brings us to September 24, 4129 B.C., at 10.7 seconds after 2:52 p.m. as the time of the autumnal equinox of that year.
Following are the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, Jerusalem time, for the years stated:
Vernal Autumnal
1923, March 21, 5:54 p.m. September 24, 4:29 a.m.
1924, " 20, 11:45 " " 23, 10:24 "
1925, " 21, 5:38 a.m. " 23, 4:09 p.m.
1926, " 21, 11:27 " " 23, 9:52 "
1927, " 21, 5:24 p.m. " 24, 3:42 a.m.
1928, March 20, 11:10 p.m. September 23, 9:31 a.m.
1929, " 21, 5:00 a.m. " 23, 3:18 p.m.
1930, " 21, 10:55 " " 23, 9:02 "
1931, " 21, 4:32 p.m. " 24, 2:49 a.m.
1932, " 20, 10:19 " " 23, 8:41 "
1933, " 21, 4:08 a.m. " 23, 2:26 p.m.
1934, " 21, 9:53 " " 23, 8:11 "
Average date, vernal: March 21, 7:41:32 a.m.
Average date, autumnal: September 23, 6:18:50 p.m.
Average time, vernal equinox forward to autumnal equinox, 186 d. 10 h. 36 m. 18 sec.
Average time, autumnal equinox forward to vernal equinox, including the three leap days, in the 12 years, 178 d. 19 h. 23 m. 42 sec.
As some will be interested at this point to consider them, two small items are now slightly anticipated in the following summary:
New moon rose Sunday, September 22, 4129 B.C., at 8:23:27.504592 a.m.
Autumnal equinox was 54 1/2 hours later, Tuesday, September 24, 4129 B.C., at 2:52 p.m.
New moon rose Tuesday, March 17, 4128 B.C., at 12:47:44.694448 p.m.
Vernal equinox was 94 hours later, Saturday, March 21, 4128 B.C., at 10:24:10.7 a.m.
Do any of Jehovah's witnesses, or any of the Jonadabs (comrades of Jehovah's witnesses; see Vindication, Book Three), see anything in the placement of these moons with respect to the equinoxes, or anything in the days of the week on which they occurred, to specially indicate the hand of God, as one might reasonably expect it to be manifested at such an interesting time in earth's affairs? No such pleasing evidence appears. More on this point later, in its proper place, when careful consideration will be given to the details of the calendar of Jehovah God; which calendar, it is hoped and believed, will permanently replace, as far as calendars are concerned, the efforts of Satan to hide some of God's beautiful truth, now, since 1918, coming out from His temple in such a refreshing stream.
God's Love of the Beautiful
In the summertime, in Pike county, Pennsylvania, in a region where one may see a score or more of wild deer in a single day, deep down in the heart of the forest, a mile or more from the highway, lives all alone a little old lady who loves the truth. She got it by listening to Watchtower programs over the radio station WBBR, of New York city.
When this little old lady was found she went into ecstasies over the messages she had heard. Explaining her environment, and that she could live with her children in New York city and in Philadelphia, if she chose, she said, "I prefer to live here, like a gypsy, in the midst of God's bouquets." The frost had just touched the leaves of the forest, tinting them with colors that beggar description.
How much more God loves beauty! And how much the most beautiful things of His creation are all a little different from one another! When men try to make things beautiful they try to make them all alike.
No two flowers in a flower garden were ever exactly alike; no two roses on a rose bush, no two petals on a rose. A million new-born infants can be fingerprinted, or a billion of them, or ten billion, for that matter, and no two sets of fingerprints will be the same. And thus one comes to a consideration of God's beautiful months, His lovely, exquisite months, that the more they are studied, the more they are to be admired, because, while all substantially alike, they are all slightly different.
A Study of God's Months
The word "month" comes from the word "moon"; God's months were all arranged for before man appeared on the earth. It is man's proper place to inquire humbly at God's feet respecting the work of His hands; it is not man's right to discard things which God has made for His government, nor to substitute others in their place.
"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: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, 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." (Genesis 1:14-18) Herein is the first reference to the moon in the Scriptures.
Even though the moon had not been mentioned at all in God's Word, man would be compelled to take note of it; it is too conspicuous in the heavens to be ignored; and too beautiful; and too useful.
Satan has endeavored to get men to hold God's month and its instrument the moon in little esteem; hence the terms "lunacy", "lunatic," "moon-struck," and terms of similar import. The apostle does indeed say, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of [feasts celebrating] the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." (Colossians 2:16, 17) But this is far from urging men to set aside the plain statement of God's Word that God "appointed the moon for seasons" (Psalm 104:19), monthly seasons being manifestly what is here meant.
"A Faithful Witness in Heaven"
It is true that the prophet Isaiah brings the message to an idolatrous and rebellious people, "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth" (Isaiah 1:14), but that does not change the fact that the prophet Ezekiel writes of the future offerings of "the prince" which are to take place "in the new moons". See Vindication, Book Three, pages 287, 293, 295, for comments and explanations on references to the new moons in Ezekiel 45:17; 46:1, 3, 6. These may not be ignored or set aside.
Though Isaiah mentions in the first chapter God's disgust with Israel's hypocritical observances of the new moons, he says in the next to the last verse of his prophecy: "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith [Jehovah]." (Isaiah 66:23) Of course, that is after the oncoming battle of Armageddon has done its work of destroying Satan's organization, and the earth has been cleansed of all its defilements.
When the psalmist said, "When I consider ... the moon" (Psalm 8:3), he meant that he really did consider it. Especially significant is his statement of David's seed, that "it shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven". (Psalm 89:37) The moon is, indeed, a faithful witness in heaven, a witness whose testimony cannot be gainsaid.
It is the voice of God, speaking through Moses, that mentions the "precious things thrust forth by the moons". (Deuteronomy 33:14, margin) What some of those precious things are it is now the privilege of Jehovah's witnesses and their companions in the chariot of Jehovah’s organization to see and understand. Indeed, it is even possible that there may be some direct reference to these present unfoldings of truth that God had in mind when He said of this day that “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun”.—Isaiah 30:26.
Anyway, it was infinitely wise of God to set a second hand in His timepiece, and to put it out there in the sky 239,000 miles away, far enough away that the theologians could not get at it to interfere with it, which they would surely have done if they had been able to do so. Now it is about to put them all to shame.
Calendar for 6,062 Years
This issue contains, on pages 368, 369, all the essentials of a calendar covering all past human history. All know that in the normal year there are 52 weeks and 1 day and that therefore in the next succeeding year, unless it is a leap year, the days of each month are one day later in the week. Thus, in the year 1933 A.D. the 22d day of March came on Wednesday; in the year 1934 A.D. the 22d day of March came on Thursday, while in the year 1935 A.D. the 22d day of March comes on Friday. In the year 1936, on account of that year’s being a leap year, the 22d day of March will come on Sunday.
The use of the calendar is very simple. Every year is represented. If a given day of the month falls on Friday in the year 1935, the day of the week on which that same day of the month will fall in other years is shown at the head of the column above the year desired. Persons using the calendar must consider, in the case of leap years, that dates in January and February must be separately calculated after some other date is known. The calendar will be found very useful and valuable when the manner of using it has been mastered. It is assumed that the user has an ordinary calendar and can readily locate a Friday in 1935 or a Thursday in 1934, from which information any other desired data regarding past days of the week may be at once obtained. This is the first time the Gregorian calendar, or any other, has ever been projected back to creation.
Besides the calendar for 6,062 years there is also presented a table of “Lunations Ushering in the Years or Periods Which Contained the Most Important Events in History”. Let the table speak for itself. There will be frequent reference to it in the explanations of the Calendar of Jehovah God which follow.
God’s Will Regarding Months
The years of God are not each of an equal number of months, nor of an equal number of weeks, nor of an equal number of days, nor of an equal number of hours, nor of an equal number of minutes, nor of an equal number of seconds. Man has no right to ignore these years of God. It is his duty to number them, and to mark them well as they go, and to use them to God’s praise, but not to endeavor to force them to begin or end at some point in no way indicated in the divine Word of the Creator.
The months of God are not of a fixed number in the years of God, nor within themselves are they composed each of an equal number of weeks, nor of an equal number of days, nor of an equal number of hours, nor of an equal number of minutes, nor of an equal number of seconds. Man has no right to ignore these months of God. It is his duty to number them, and to mark them well as they go, and to use them to God’s praise, but not to endeavor to force them to begin where the years begin or to end where the years end.
Is it necessary to start a new year on July 4, or Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas, or Washington’s Birthday, or Lincoln’s Birthday? Not at all. Each of Jehovah’s years properly begins at a certain point, and, reasonably enough, at the beginning of a specific day, as in the case of the months, but neither the years nor the months nor the weeks need to be in accord exactly, nor are they in accord except by man’s egotistic and destructive acts.
The days in the months of God are never less than 29; and they are never more than thirty. There is a sure and proper method of determining how many days the month should have. Jehovah God fixed the method. He so arranged and ordered all the details connected with the sacrifice of His own dear Son that that event, of first importance in history, occurred at Jerusalem on the fourteenth day of the month, when the moon was at its full. The fourteenth day of each month, therefore, is that day of the month when the moon is full over Jerusalem. That automatically makes Jerusalem, not Greenwich, the time center of the earth.
The weeks are for man, but they are of God, and no man may change the arrangement which PROJECTION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR BACK TO CREATION
Table Showing that Dates Falling on Sunday in 4128 B.C. will, in 1935 A.D., 6,062 Years Later, Fall on Friday (Leap year columns are in light-faced type)
H 3793 B.C.—Hypocrisy began.
M 3341 B.C.—Methuselah's birth.
A 3098 B.C.—Adam's death.
E 3041 B.C.—Enoch translated.
S1 2470 B.C.—Shem's birth.
D 2373 B.C.—Deluge and Methuselah's death.
C 1945 B.C.—Covenant with Abraham.
I 1920 B.C.—Isaac's birth.
S2 1870 B.C.—Shem's death.
X 1515 B.C.—Exodus.
J 1475 B.C.—Crossing Jordan.
U 1469 B.C.—Judges begin.
S3 1119 B.C.—Saul enthroned.
Y 1035 B.C.—1 Kings 6:1 key.
Q 1028 B.C.—House finished.
Dd 1027 B.C.—Dedication.
Hz 745 B.C.—Hezekiah.
V 641 B.C.—Josiah's great passover.
G 607 B.C.—Gentile Times begin.
C2 537 B.C.—Edict of Cyrus.
Ez 468 B.C.—Ezra.
Nh 455 B.C.—Nehemiah.
3 B.C.—LOGOS comes.
BJ A.D. 12—Boy Jesus in temple.
R A.D. 33—Year of Ransom.
Z 1879—Zion's Watch Tower begun.
W 1884—Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society incorporated.
K 1914—King returns.
T 1918—Temple.
F 1922—Anointing of all flesh.
B 1926—Time of blessedness.
N 1931—New name.
P 1932—Sanctuary cleansed.
LUNATIONS USHERING IN THE YEARS OR PERIODS WHICH CONTAIN THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS OF HISTORY, STATED IN TERMS OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, AND ASTRONOMICALLY EXACT
(In the dates cited below are also cited certain other dates, prior to Vernal Equinox No. 3000, hitherto much hold in esteem)
Time shown in each case is Jerusalem time, 7 hours 20 minutes 52 seconds earlier than Eastern Standard time. Each calculation was checked to the one preceding and the one following, and in every instance with the 1935 A.D. date shown, with which agreement is exact. The variations of a b c d e f g, amounting respectively to about 8, 10, 14, 41, 10, 15, and 3 hours, after calculations extending over 6,000 years, are not due to any errors in the calculations themselves, but to variations from the mean lunation; explained in full in its proper place. In figuring eclipses and other periods astronomers calculate the mean time between lunations as 2551442.864976 seconds. (Their method is to express the time in days and decimals thereof, but the results are the same either way.) These figures, astronomically exact to a millionth of a second, are used in all the above calculations.
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