Bible
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18. How was established in the Bible that Noah lived 950 years, since
at that time people did not know the calendar? Was one year really composed
of 12 months? |
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In the light of the
Scripture, I can say to you that even in Noah’s days men were able to
establish not only when the days began and finished, but also when the months
and the years began and finished. They could do that by observing the sun,
the moon and the stars. For these lights (even though the luminosity of the
moon is not its own in that it reflects the luminosity of the sun, the moon
is still a light that gives light on the earth) were created by God not only
to separate the day from the night, but also to serve as signs to mark
seasons, and days and years. Here is what the Scripture says: “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. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day” (Genesis |
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Therefore, from the
beginning man was able to establish when each day started and finished; he
was able to establish when each month started and finished (concerning this,
it was the new moon that announced the beginning of every new month) as well
as when each year started and finished. |
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I am persuaded that if
God gave man the necessary ability and intelligence to give names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field (Genesis |
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I don’t see any reason
to think that in the days of Adam, as well as in the days of Noah, men – through
the intelligence God had given to them – could not count and distinguish the
months and the years but only the days. In other words, I don’t see any
reason to think that they had not a calendar, for they had in the firmament
of the heavens all the things they needed to make a calendar. |
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You ask me if a year
in the days of Noah was really composed of 12 months. My answer is ‘Yes.’ I
will show you from the Bible the following proofs to support my answer. |
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The ark of Noah rested
in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains
of Ararat (Genesis 8:4), thus exactly 5 months after the beginning of the
flood (Genesis |
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In the tenth month, on
the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen (Genesis
8:5). |
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It came to pass, at
the end of forty days, that Noah sent forth a dove from him, to see if the
waters were abated from off the face of the ground, but the dove found no
rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for
the waters were on the face of the whole earth (Genesis 8:6-9). After other
seven days again he sent forth the dove out of the ark and the dove came in
to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off (Genesis
8:10-11), and after other seven days he again sent forth the dove which
returned not again unto him any more (Genesis 8:12). |
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It came to pass in the
six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month,
that the waters were dried up from off the earth (Genesis 8:13); and Noah
removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the
ground was dry. |
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Now, considering that Noah in two occasions waited for seven days
before sending forth the dove, I think that he removed the covering seven
days after he senth forth the last dove, thus he removed the covering of the
ark two months after the tops of the mountains were seen (they were seen in
the tenth month, on the first day of the month), for 40 days + 7 + 7 + 7 is
61 days. And the date that comes out is the year 601, first month and first
day of the month. Therefore if we add to the tenth month other two months we
have a total of 12 months. |