[Note: This essay examines some very obscure ancient technology and its implications for the calculations of lunar months, a matter of some importance in determining the timing of the biblical Holy Days.]

Despite (or maybe because of) the fact that I know many people who are deeply interested and very competent in the subject of calendars and speculation about when to keep various Holy Days, and when such Holy Days were kept throughout biblical history [1], and what implications that has for our own Holy Day observance, I have generally sought to avoid engaging in such conversations. For one, the Bible itself does not talk at length about how the calendar was calculated during the time of the Bible, and for another, the Rules of Hillel used to determine the Holy Day timing are of some controversy within the Church of God community, a controversy I would rather avoid getting involved in [2] [3], given the weakness of the evidence one can draw to support any conclusion.

That said, I would like to talk today about a particular machine that is useful in demonstrating how the Hebrew calendar may have been calculated, a machine of considerable obscurity but also considerable importance. This machine was called the Antikythera machine, and we have the remains of one that was built around the first century BC that has been reconstructed. Without going into too much detail about the machinery, which I find fascinating [4], it was a machine that combined the solar calendar with a lunar calendar with a 19-year time cycle (235 lunar months).

The fact that the research so far on this machine would indicate that it was based on Babylonian astronomy as well as the fact that it appears to have strongly influenced the Greek conception of the universe is of great interest in the academic community among those fascinated by technology in the Hellenistic age, a group of people that includes me [5]. The fact that before the time of Christ we have an actual model of the known heavens with a 19-year time cycle (which is where the lunar and solar years coincide—the Hebrews, not coincidentally, had a lunar-solar calendar with a 19-year time cycle).

After all, it would appear that the Hebrew calendar is itself based at least in part on Babylonian models. Nonetheless, these need not be Chaldean or pagan models, but may in fact be part of the general Mesopotamian heritage the Patriarchs took with them during the time of their wanderings recorded in the book of Genesis [6]. It would stand to reason that the obscurity of the origin of the calendar and its lunar-solar basis in 19-year time cycles may be because the calendar was so old that it was already ancient by the time the biblical Holy Days were recorded in Leviticus 23. This would not solve all of the issues about the calendar, but would at least demonstrate that it was not a phenomenon of the captivity, but rather a genuine and genuinely old calendar.

As I mentioned earlier, the Bible does not give many indications of the calculated nature of its calendar, but it does give some. 1 Samuel 20:5 states: “And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.” Now, it is not the purpose of this post (or its author) to engage in a debate on the New Moons, yet another contentious calendar issue I would rather avoid, but rather it is noteworthy that David knew that the next day was the New Moon, which would have required that the new moons be calculated and not by observations. It is possible that the New Moons may have been checked by observation, which has some support in the historical accounts, but at least as far back as the time of David the calendar was calculated, somehow.

And this is where that Greek machine is of most use. The fact that we have the evidence of a 2000 year old machine that has among its elements a 19-year lunar-solar cycle of gears means that during the times of antiquity the calculation of the New Moon and the interrelation between the lunar and solar calendar systems was itself a subject of considerable interest. It was of known biblical interest in the Middle East, and we have proof in the form of a machine that it was a subject of interest in Greece with a model that appears to be at least influenced by Babylonian astronomy (and, lamentably, astrology).

As machines were built to help calculate the lunar months and their connection to solar years during antiquity, the evidence suggests that calendar issues and their importance to religion date back a long way as well. Accurate machines to determine lunar days and the position of the sun and planets and constellations in the sky (useful for determining seasons) are not built without a purpose. The fact that the accurate determination of lunar months was important for not only the true faith of the Bible but a great many of its imitators among the heathen means that calendar calculation goes back a long way, far longer than has often been recognized. The Antikythera Machine gives an indication of just how this calculation of the months may have occurred during biblical times, and provides a glimpse into the fascinating technology of the past, technology that we have only begun to understand.

[1] Ralph Lyman, New Insights: Christ’s Life and Daniel’s 70 Week Prophecy (Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing, 2009).

[2] http://www.ucg.org/reprints/pdf/DidGodGiveaCalendar.pdf

[3] http://www.eternalcog.org/ecgbooklets/the_calendar.html

[4] http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101124/full/468496a.html

[5] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/hero-of-alexandria-an-edison-out-of-place-and-time/

[6] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/examining-the-source-material-for-genesis/