pointed the Passover to be killed and eaten on the fourteenth day of the first month at even: on the same evening they began to eat unleavened breadd, and continued the eating it unto the evening of the one and twentieth daye: the wave-sheaf was to be offered on the second day of unleavened breadf: fifty days after, or on the fifth day of the third month, two wave-loaves were to be offered for the wheat-harvest; and on the fifteenth day of the seventh month they were to celebrate their ending the gathering in all the fruits of their landk. Moses lived almost forty years after his giving the Israelites these institutions; and if all this while 360 days had been computed to be a year, it is evident, that the feasts of the law would by this time have gone backwards almost two hundred and ten days, from what was the real season of the year, at which they were at first appointed; for forty times five days and almost a quarter of a day amount to near that number. But we find, that, when the Israelites came into Canaan, and were to keep the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month Abib', the corn was ripe in the fieldsm; Jordan was in that flow over all his banks, which that river was annually remarkable for all the time of harvest"; so that the Passover, and consequently the other feasts, fell this year at about the times to which Moses at first stated them: and therefore the Israelites must have had some method to adjust their computed year to the true measure of a real one, or otherwise the observation of their set festivals would in fewer years have remarkably varied from their true seasons. By what particular method the ancient Israelites regulated their year in this manner, may perhaps be difficult to be ascertained however, I would endeavour to offer what I think may be gathered from some hints in Moses's institutions relating to this matter. Moses, for the calculating and regulating the sacred festivals, directed the Israelites to observe the month Abib°: this month was to be unto them the beginning of months, it was to be the first month of the year?: on the fourteenth day of this month at even they were to kill and eat the Passover: the day after, or the fifteenth, was the first day of unleavened bread, and, which ought to be particularly remarked, the first day of unleavened bread was always to fall upon a sabbath: this I take to be hinted, Levit. xxiii. 11. The wave-sheaf was to be waved on the morrow after a sabbath; but the wave-sheaf was thus offered on the second day of unleavened bread, and consequently if that day was the morrow after a sabbath, then the day preceding, or first day of unleavened bread, was a sabbath. If this point be rightly stated, it will be to be remembered, that the sabbaths in this first month will fall thus; the first day a sabbath, the eighth day a sabbath, the fifteenth a sabbath, the twenty-second a sabbath, and the twenty-ninth a sabbath. A month was ordinarily computed to be thirty days, neither more nor fewer": accordingly, if we go through the second month, the sabbaths in it must be thus; the sixth day a sabbath, the thirteenth a sabbath, the twentieth a sabbath, and the twenty-seventh a sabbath. In the third month the sabbaths will fall thus ; Levit xxiii. 5. P Exodus xii. 2. q Ibid. 6-8. r Levit. xxiii. 6. s Ver. 11. The Hebrew words are, , i. e. crastino sabbati, on the day after the sabbath. t Joseph. Antiq. lib. iii. ubi sup. u Moses thus computes the months in his account of the flood: from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month; for five whole months he reckons one hundred and fifty days, Gen. vii. 11, 24. viii. 3, 4. which is exactly thirty days to each month; for five times thirty days are one hundred and fifty. * Scaliger intimates the twenty-second day of this second month to have been a sabbath. Lib. de Emendat. Temp. p. 153. ed. 1583. which, if true, would overthrow the order of the sabbaths I am offering. But, 1. If the twenty-second of this month had been a sabbath, then the fifteenth must have been a sabbath also, and the people would have rested in their tents upon it, Exod. xvi. 30. But the fifteenth was a day of travel; the Israelites took their journey from Elim unto the wilderness of Sin, on the fifteenth day of the second month, Exod. xvi. VOL. II. 1. so that this day was not a sabbath, and consequently neither was the twentysecond. 2. Scaliger's opinion is founded upon an imagination, that the quails were given in the very evening, and the manna on the morning after the Israelites came into this wilderness: if this were the fact, the Israelites, gathering manna for six successive days, before Moses observed to them that tomorrow is the sabbath, (see ver. 22, 23.) would indeed suggest the sabbath to fall on the twenty-second. But how improbable is it that the Israelites should have fixed their camp, explored the country, found that they could not be supported in it, mutinied, obtained a miraculous supply from God, and all this in the remaining part of a day almost spent in travel? A supply given thus instantaneously would hardly have been known to be a miracle: they could not so soon have judged enough of the country they were in, to determine whether it might not be the natural produce of it. In the wilderness of Shur they travelled three days before they came to high complaints for want of water, Exod. xv. 22. In like manner they came into the wilderness of Sin, on the fifteenth day of the month on a B the fourth day a sabbath: and the day after this sabbath was the day of Pentecost, or the fiftieth day from the day of bringing the sheaf of the wave-offering; for from the day of waving it, on the day after a sabbath, they were to count seven sabbaths complete; unto the day after the seventh sabbath fifty days, and upon that fiftieth day they were to offer the two wave-loaves and their new meal-offering"; accordingly, from the sixteenth day of the first month to the fifth day of the third month, counting inclusively, are fifty days, and the fiftieth day falls regularly on the morrow or day after a sabbath, as Moses calculates ita. The other sabbaths in this third month fall thus; the eleventh day a sabbath, the eighteenth a sabbath, and the twenty-fifth a sabbath. In the fourth month the sabbaths fall as follows; the second day a sabbath, the ninth a sabbath, the sixteenth a sabbath, the twenty-third a sabbath, and the thirtieth a sabbath. In the fifth month, the seventh day will be a sabbath, the fourteenth a sabbath, the twenty-first a sabbath, and the twenty-eighth a sabbath. In the sixth month, the fifth day is a sabbath, the twelfth day a sabbath, the nineteenth a sabbath, and the twenty-sixth a sabbath. We are now to begin the seventh month: and here I must observe, that Moses was ordered to speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath. It may be here queried, whether this sabbath was to fall seven days after the last sabbath, and be one of the weekly sabbaths of the year, or whether it was to be a common day of the week in itself, but ordered to be kept as a sabbath by a special appointment; and an answer to this query is easy to be collected from considering the appointments of this season: the tenth day of this seventh month was to be a day of atonement to afflict their souls, and they were specially ordered to do no work on that same day. There could have been no need of that particular order, if this tenth day had been a sabbath; for, upon account of its being a sabbath day, no manner of work must second day of the week: in about four days they had eat up all that could be provided for them, and found absolutely that the land they were in could not support them: in this extremity they were ready to mutiny; on the fifth day, the twentieth day of the month, and the seventh day of the week, at even, Moses obtained them the quails, and on the next morning the manna they gathered manna for six days, and then the Isabbath was on z Ibid. ver. 17. Numb. xxviii. 26. have been done therein: this tenth day therefore did not fall upon a weekly sabbath. But it is to be observed, that it would have been a weekly sabbath, if some special appointment had not here taken place to prevent it; for, as the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month was a sabbath, the days going on in their common order, the third day of the seventh month would have been a sabbath, and consequently the tenth; but the tenth day thus appearing not to have been a sabbath, it must be allowed that the third also was not a sabbath day, and consequently that here must have been some particular appointment, to cause the sabbaths not to go on in the course in which they would otherwise have proceeded: and the injunction of the first day of the seventh month's being a sabbath, appears very plainly to have been this appointment, and would always cause the tenth day not to fall on a sabbath, but on a week-day, pertinently to the injunction of having no work done therein; so that I should think there can remain nothing further to be considered, than at what distance this sabbath day, on the first day of the seventh month, was to be kept from after the last preceding sabbath. And I think we cannot but conclude, that seven days must have been the interval; for I think this was the law of the sabbath without variation: between sabbath and sabbath six days they were to labour, and do all their work; but the seventh day was to be the sabbath and if this be allowed me, it will be plain that the Israelites must have here added two days to the end of the sixth month to make the sixth day of the week the last day of it; for the twenty-sixth day of this month was, as I have observed, a sabbath; consequently, if this month, like other months, had contained thirty days only, the last day of it would have been the fourth day of the week, and the first day of the seventh month could not have been a sabbath in the manner which Moses appointed: here therefore the Israelites kept two week-days more than this month would otherwise have afforded, and began the seventh month with a sabbath, according to the injunction. But to go on the first day of the seventh month being thus a sabbath, it will follow, that in this month the eighth day would be a sabbath, the fifteenth a sabbath, the twenty-second a sabbath, and the twenty-ninth a sabbath. The tenth day of this month was the day of atonement, the fifteenth day began the feast of tabernacless, a feast to be kept for the gathering c Exod. xx. 10. d Exod. xx. 9, 10. e Vid. quæ sup. f Levit. xxiii. 27. g Ver. 34. in the fruits of the land": this feast was thus to begin with a sabbath, and after seven days celebration, it was ended on the eighth day, namely, on the twenty-second day of this month with another sabbath. The twenty-ninth day of the seventh month being a sabbath, the sabbaths in the eighth month will fall thus: the sixth day will be a sabbath, the thirteenth a sabbath, the twentieth a sabbath, and the twenty-seventh a sabbath: in the ninth month, the fourth day will be a sabbath, the eleventh a sabbath, the eighteenth a sabbath, and the twenty-fifth a sabbath: in the tenth month, the second day will be a sabbath, the ninth a sabbath, the sixteenth a sabbath, the twenty-third a sabbath, and the thirtieth a sabbath in the eleventh month, the seventh day will be a sabbath, the fourteenth a sabbath, the twenty-first a sabbath, and the twenty-eighth a sabbath: in the twelfth month, the fifth day will be a sabbath, the twelfth a sabbath, the nineteenth a sabbath, and the twentysixth a sabbath, and the thirtieth day of this month would be the fourth day of a week. But here it must be remembered, that the first day of the ensuing year, the first of the month Abib, must fall upon a sabbath1; so that here, as at the end of the sixth month, two days must be added to make the week and the year end together; that the first day of Abib may be regularly a sabbath after a due interval of six days between the last foregoing sabbath and the day of it. In this manner Moses's appointments appear to carry the Israelites through the year in fifty-two complete weeks, amounting to 364 days, and this would be a great approximation to the true and real solar year, in comparison of what all other nations at this time fell short of it: but still it must be remarked, that even a year thus settled would not fully answer; for the true length of the year being, as I have said, 365 days and almost six hours, Moses's year, if thus constituted, would still fall short one day and almost six hours in every solar revolution, and this would have amounted to almost fifty days in the forty years which he was with the Israelites; and therefore, had the Israelites begun and continued computing their year in this manner, they would have found at their entering into Canaan, on the tenth day of their month Abib, that they were come thither not just at the time of harvest, as they might have expected, nor when Jordan overflowed his banks, as he did annually, but rather they would have been there almost fifty h Levit. xxiii. 39. i Ibid. k Ibid. 1 Vid. quæ sup. |