The Astronomy of the Bible: An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy ScriptureMaunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)
Religion
The Astronomy of the Bible: An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture
Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)
Astronomy in the Bible; Constellations
But the "moon" we choose for the ecclesiastical calendar is an imaginary
body, which is so controlled by specially constructed tables as to be
"full" on a day not differing by more than two or three days at most
from the date on which the actual moon is full. This may seem, at first
sight, a very clumsy arrangement, but it has the advantage of defining
the date of Easter precisely, without introducing any question as to the
special meridian where the moon might be supposed to be observed. Thus,
in 1905, the moon was full at 4{h} 56{m} Greenwich mean time on the
morning of March 21. But Easter Day was not fixed for March 26, the next
Sunday following that full moon, but a month later, for April 23. For
the calendar moon, the imaginary moon, was full on March 20; and it may
be added that the actual moon, though full on March 21 for European
time, was full on March 20 for American time. There would have been an
ambiguity, therefore, if the actual moon had been taken, according to
the country in which it was observed, an ambiguity which is got rid of
by adopting a technical or imaginary moon.
The names given to the different months in Scripture have an interest of
their own. For the most part the months are simply numbered; the month
of the Passover is the first month, and the others follow, as the
second, third, fourth, etc., throughout the year; examples of each
occurring right up to the twelfth month. There is no mention of a
thirteenth month.
But occasionally we find names as well as numbers given to the months.
The first of these is Abib, meaning the month of "green ears." This was
the first month, the month of the Passover, and it received its name no
doubt from the first green ears of barley offered before the Lord during
the feast that followed the Passover.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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