The 360-Day Prophetic Year

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A big part of the historical dating of fulfilled prophecy presented in the HIStory, Our Future Bible studies is tied to the following details. As to modern prophetic fulfillment, this is a pretty short and sweet introduction to the details of why the 70th week of Daniel is 2,520 days long, which is seven 360-day years as opposed to our current 365.2422-day year.

I believe the answer from a prophetic perspective has to do with the moedim, or appointed times, God gave Israel to follow during the Exodus and those being tied to a lunar calendar and harvests of grain crops in the beginning of the year and fruit crops in the second half of the year.

Exodus 12:1-2
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month [shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to you.

Exodus 13:3-4
And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this [place]: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib.[H24 - from an unused root (meaning to be tender); green, fresh, young barley ears]

In Leviticus 23 God both defined the seven day week with the seventh day being a Sabbath day of rest, and that the first month would be in spring, 14 days before Passover, repeating the first declaration in Egypt prior to the first Passover.

“It can be confusing that the Moon’s orbital sidereal period is 27.3 days while the phases complete a cycle once every 29.5 days (synodic period). This is due to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The Moon orbits the Earth 13.4 times a year, but only passes between the Earth and Sun 12.4 times.” Wikipedia

The moedim, or appointed times, are central to the religious calendar of Israel given by God during the Exodus and the prophetic calendar, indeed they are quite tied together. Even though the moon’s orbit is only 27.3 days, the apparent phases of the moon are 29.53 days. Given the additional aspect that the beginning of each month was determined by the sighting of the first sliver of light following a new moon, there may have been some variance. In general though the number of days in a synodic period is effectively 30 days, which is why I believe the exact-day prophecies exist. They are tied to these appointed times and their reliance on the lunar phases is relevant to tying 1,260 days, 42 months, and 3.5 years all to 30-day periods of time.

There are also beliefs that the original creation, being perfect, represented mathematically and geometrically consistent perfection such that one revolution around the sun would be 360 days and the moon would show 30 days through her phases. While the moon still takes about 30 days to progress through the phases, the time it takes to orbit the sun is longer, requiring all the adjustments to keep the solar and lunar cycles in sync to the extent we can. Perhaps this is why God used the lunar calendar instead of a solar, because the lunar cycle has changed little, keeping the times appointed. Even still there are slight differences in the orbits of both the sun and moon with their eliptical orbits and other variables.

Genesis and the Flood

Counting the generations, the flood took place around 2,348 BC and Moses and the exodus was around 1,450 BC. We can see from scripture itself that the lunar orbit was around 30 days back then as well.

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened

Genesis 8:3-4
The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat

The 17th day of the second month is 5 months before the 17th day of the seventh month. It is then, at the end of the 150 days, the water had gone down. Therefore, 150 days / 5 months = 30 day months. So it would seem that the same method for tracking the months was in play at that time as well, which isn’t terribly surprising given the timeframe didn’t span a full year.

Egyptian Calendar

From Prophetic Technology, “The Egyptian calendar used at Elephantine, Egypt in the 5th century BC consisted of 12 months of 30 days length. However, in the 5th century BC, the Egyptians knew this was not acceptable and simply added and additional 5 leap days each year. So the total calendar year was 365 days in length in the 5th century BC. But it is important to understand that the initial Egyptian calendar was most likely based on 12 months of 30 days length for a total of 360 days per year. When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, it was the 15th century BC, or about 1,000 years before the calendar used at Elephantine, Egypt. It is assumed that the use of the 365 days per year Egyptian calendar began in the 8th century BC. The foundation of 12 months of 30 days length in the Egyptian calendar infers that a 360 days per year calendar was in use in ancient history before 1,000 BC.”

Herodotus

Herodotus lived from 484 – 425 BC and was a Greek historian and geographer from the Persian Empire. The Julian calendar was not in use until 45 BC, and a communication from Herodotus from 445 BC, we see the ancient calendar was a 360-day calendar per year.

“Take seventy years as the span of a man’s life. Those seventy years contain 25,200 days without counting intercalary months. Add a month every other year to make the seasons come round with proper regularity, and you will have 35 additional months which will make 1050 days. Thus the total days of your seventy years is 26,250 and not a single one of them is like the next in what it brings.” | Herodotus, In a passage where he discusses Solon who is speaking to Croesus, a Greek king in Asia Minor, about the relativity of happiness in life, Solon cites the usual length of a man’s life.

25,200 days / 70 years = 360 days (without counting intercalary months)
1,050 days / 35 months = 30 days (value of an intercalary month)
Every 2 years, add 1 intercalary month to keep the seasons

This is seen in action in Daniel 8 and the 2,300 days from that vision of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes IV.

Revelation 12

Revelation 12:5-6
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.

Revelation 12:13-14
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child]. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Here we see the woman, representative of Israel, with two different depictions of being in the wilderness for a period of time. The first case seems to be representative of the dragon, Lucifer, attempting to kill Yeshua at His first coming and the second is his attempt to kill Israel before His second coming.

This would seem to be speaking of two different times separated by thousands of years. In both cases Israel is in the wilderness being taken care of and note that the first mention this happens after Yeshua’s resurrection and ascension to heaven where He has been the last almost 2,000 years. This would indicate that it’s likely these are both speaking of the same period of time where Israel is nourished and fed in the wilderness.

What this shows is that 1,260 days is equivalent to 3½ years in this vision given to John in Revelation 12.

Time of Great Tribulation

Revelation 13:5
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty [and] two months.

Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Daniel 12:7
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.

While this doesn’t boil down to 1,260 days representing the 3½ years, it does associate that time with 42 months, which is compatible with the 30-day month and 360 day year prophetic timetable. 

360-Day Year or Religious Lunar Calendar?

I think that we can’t really know for sure if the orbits changed at all historically, athough scientifically it is possible. It’s tempting to assume in the perfect creation the orbits were likely representative of what we see in math, there are 360 degrees in a circle and so the earth in its orbit was 360 degrees in a complete traversal around the sun. Likewise, the rotation of the earth also being perfect in that this mathematical principle would likewise be laid out in time such that 360 rotations of the earth would be the time it would take to travel those 360 degrees.

With the fall and events like the flood and other celestial disturbances, I believe the orbital mechanics of our solar system could have been tweaked and we are no longer in that perfect solar system and this is reflected through all the calendar changes in ancient history attempting to bring back stability in our counting of time and seasons.

However, when it comes to God’s prophetic time table, I get the impression He does not care about our adjustments or the imperfection of the solar system brought about from the fall. His plans seem to remain steadfast, according to His Word, and reliably accurate regardless of how many days we put in a year today for accuracy. As such, when examining places in Bible prophecy where days, months, and years are mentioned I feel it is merited to stick to God’s timing regarding those prophecies.

It seems that the lunar phases have not changed much and that is what the appointed times God gave to Israel are based on. And so regardless of what changes may or may not have happened in our solar system from creation, God has given Israel their appointed times on His lunar calendar such that even if the sidereal year is 11 days longer, adjustments to the number of months in a year on the metonic cycle will not interfere with His timing.

In short, the wave sheaf, or first fruits offering, is tied to the Sunday that occurs between Abib or Nisan 15 and 21, the first month on the religious calendar. This has to be the first fruits of that year’s harvest of grain crops, which is tied to the vernal equinox of the solar sidereal year. Therefore, the religious calendar is reliant on a combination of the synodic lunar month and the sidereal solar year.

The fall appointed times are in the seventh month of that year, so once the beginning of the religious calendar year is determined, it’s a matter of monitoring the months according to the lunar phases. Interestingly, this time will fall around the autumnal equinox when the fruit harvest is ready and so those appointed times are also related to a harvest.

However, from the seventh month back to the first month there is no religious dependency on exactly 6 months between them because the first month is not determined by having exactly 12 months in a year, but rather upon having the first month start such that the first fruits of the harvest can be given to God in the middle of that month. This requires each year for the first day of the month to be determined once again by the readiness of the crop for harvest and the phases of the moon.

So the metonic cycle, adding a 13th month on years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19, keeps the time of the harvest in line with the lunar phases so that Israel can keep the appointed times in their season faithfully when they’re in the land.

Understanding that the fall moedim are tied to the second coming and the exact-day prophecies are tied to the appointed times brings understanding to why these periods of time are so precise and how that connects them to the seven appointed times for Israel, who are the apple of God’s eye and the center of Bible prophecy as He brings them back to relationship with Him.