THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 364-DAY CALENDAR

FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON

By Roger T. Beckwith

All students of the Jewish calendar owe a great debt to the late Annie
Jaubert. It was she who showed that the 364-day year, consisting of an exact
number of weeks, is not only championed but exemplified by the Book of
Jubilees, in such a way that in this book the days of the month always fall,
from year to year, on the same day of the week (the year beginning on
Wednesday), and that no journey takes place on any journey on any Sab-
bath-day.1 Her theories about the antiquity and priestly origin of this calen-
dar, and about its applicability to the question of the date of the Last Sup-
per, have proved to be open to weighty objections,2 but her basic thesis that
the Book of Jubilees begins its year on Wednesday (understood as the day
of the creation of the heavenly luminaries, in accordance with Genesis
1:14–19) stands fast. It has since been confirmed by independent evidence
from Qumran, where the same calendar was observed.
It is in fact likely that the author of Jubilees would have judged many
activities which his book records, besides journeys, unsuitable for the Sab-
bath-day. He is extremely restrictive about activity on the Sabbath (Jubilees
50:6–13) and holds that the Sabbath-rest is observed not only by men but
by God and the higher angels (Jub. 1:17 f., 21). In the Book of Jubilees,
events of various kinds lake place on most days of the week, particularly

1 See: Jaubert, A. “Le calendrier des Jubilés et de la secte de Qumran. Ses

origines bibliques.” VT 3 (1953): 250–64; Eadem, La date de la cène. Paris, 1957: part
1, ch. 2.
2 They are summarized, among other places, in my book: Beckwith, R. T. Calen-

dar and Chronology, Jewish and Christians, 102, 296 ff. Leiden, 1996.

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70 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

Wednesdays and Sundays, but also Tuesdays, Fridays and Mondays, ranging
from about 29 events on Wednesdays to about 8 on Mondays. Events on
Thursdays are rare, but they do occur (see Jub. 2:11 f.; 3:1; 16:29; 32:30;
48:15). At first sight, it might seem that the same is true of Sabbaths, and
that events on Sabbaths, though similarly rare, are also allowed for. On
closer inspection, however, all such cases prove capable of being otherwise
explained. “Till the sixteenth” (of the second month Jub. 5:23) may mean
up to but not including the sixteenth; the naming of two infants on Sab-
baths (Jub. 28:11, 21) reflects the unpredictability of births and the strict
rule of circumcising, and therefore naming, infants on the eighth day after
birth (cp. Jub. 15:12–14, 25 f.); Jacob’s sacrifice on the seventh day of the
third month (Jub. 44:1) is probably the appointed Sabbath-day sacrifice (cp.
Jub. 50:10 f.), carried back, in the manner of Jubilees, to the patriarchal age;
and the continuance of the binding of Mastema or Satan until after the
eighteenth day of the first month, i. e. the Sabbath, so that he may not ac-
cuse Israel (Jub. 48:15), is a case of enforced idleness rather than action. So
further investigation only strengthens Annie Jaubert’s contention that, in
Jubilees, there is one day of the week on which work does not take place,
and that this day must be the Sabbath. She reconstructs the Jubilees calen-
dar on that basis, and concludes that its year always begins on Wednesday.
The plan of the year works out as follows:
Day Months: Months: Months:
of the Week I, IV, VII and X II, V, VIII and XI III, VI, IX and XII
4th (Wed) 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 4 11 18 25
5th (Thurs) 2 9 16 23 30 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26
6th (Fri) 3 10 17 24 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27
7th (Sabbath) 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 7 14 21 28
1st (Sun) 5 12 19 26 3 10 17 24 1 8 15 22 29
2nd (Mon) 6 13 20 27 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30
3rd (Tues) 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26 3 10 17 24 31

Though the immediate source of the Jubilees calendar evidently the

Astronomical Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 72–82, in its longer, Aramaic
form), Mlle. Jaubert very reasonably infers that its ultimate origin is the Old
Testament. However, the year of 364 days does not lie upon the surface of
the Old Testament,3 like the lunar tear of about 354 days or the rough solar
year of 360 days, and it is against these popular counts that 1 Enoch and

3 See: Baumgarten, J. M. “The Calendar of the Book of Jubilees and the Bible.”

In Idem, Studies in Qumran Law, 101–14. Leiden, 1977.

 ROGER T. BECKWITH 71

Jubilees have to argue in favour of their own more sophisticated reckoning

(1 Enoch 75:1–2; 82:4–6; Jubilees 6:36–38). The way that they derive it
from the Old Testament is in the same way that the Book of Jubilees ap-
plies it, that is, by making sure that the Scriptures, like Jubilees, avoid activ-
ity on the Sabbath day. A day of the week is assigned to all the dated events
of the Old Testament, in accordance with the fixed year of 364 days or 52
complete weeks, and the question is then asked, which day of the week is it
on which nothing happens? For, in the mind of the divine author of the
Scriptures, that day must be the Sabbath.
At what period the 364-day calendar originated is a disputed matter. In
the view of the present writer, it originated in the mid-third century B.C.;4
and now that the oldest manuscripts of the Astronomical Book are being
dated to that century, few would want to place its origin any later. What
would the Scriptures have consisted of that period? According to the older
critical orthodoxy, they would have consisted of the first two sections of
the Hebrew Bible, the Law and the Prophets, but not of the third, the
Hagiographa, which remained outside the canon until the first century
A.D.5 On this view, the Scriptures would have consisted of Genesis, Exo-
dus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets. However, the
actual evidence indicates that the recognition of the Hagiographa as Scrip-
ture must have taken place earlier than this, and the first really substantial
piece of evidence on the matter, dating from about 180 B.C., indicates an
acceptance of four or five of the eleven Hagiographa as scripture. Ben Sira’s
catalogue of famous men in Ecclesiasticus 44–55 stars with the patriarchs
and ends with Simon and Just, but before introducing the last named it
sums up the earlier names in Ecclus. 49:14–16 by returning to the patriarchs
and identifying the greatest of all the famous men. This separation between
the earlier names and the last one strongly suggests that up to the point so
far reached the names have been biblical names, whereas the one to follow
will not be. The books that Ben Sira draws upon in chapters 44–49 were all
later to have a place in the Hebrew Scriptures, so it is likely that they already
did. And among these books are Psalms and Proverbs (Ecclus. 44:4 f. Heb.
cp. 47:8, 14–17), Ezra-Nehemiah (Ecclus. 49:11–13), Chronicles (Ecclus.

4 Beckwith, Calendar and Chronology, 105–10.

5 So Ryle, H. E. The Canon of the Old Testament. London, 1909 (11892), and many
others. For the evidence against this theory, see the writer’s book: The Old Testament
Canon of the New Testament Church, and its Background in Early Judaism. London, 1985.
72 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

47:9 f.) and probably Job (Ecclus. 49:9 Heb.). The books most conspicuous
by their absence from the list are Daniel and Esther, though Ruth, Ecclesi-
astes, Song of Songs and Lamentations are also apparently missing. This
suggests that, though Daniel and Esther may well have existed at the time,
there was no agreement as yet to include them among the Scriptures.
To turn from Ecclesiasticus to the 364-day calendar is to go back at
least seventy years, to the mid-third century B.C., and to a quite different
sort of evidence. We turn from book connected with famous men to books
containing dates. Most of the books of the Hebrew Bible are connected
with famous men, but only two thirds of the twenty-four books contain
dates. Those that do not contain dates may or may not have been in the
canon, but those that do contain dates provide actual evidence whether they
were in the canon or not. This evidence, as it would have been interpreted
by the framer of the 364-day calendar, is as follows. The interpretation, as
here given, leaves open the question of whether he would have counted the
Sabbath in week-long festivals as one of the festival-days or not (later ad-
herents of this calendar would not have done so, but would have rested on
the Sabbath and lengthened the festival by one day). Implicit dates are in-
cluded here as well as explicit ones.
Genesis
7 : 11 The flood began on 17th day of second month (Sunday)
7 : 13 On selfsame day Noah and his family entered the ark (Sunday)
8 : 4 The ark rested on Ararat on 17th day of seventh month (Friday)
8 : 5 On 1st day of tenth month the tops (Wednesday)
of the mountains were seen
8 : 13 On 1st day of first month the waters were dried up (Wednesday)
8 : 14 On 27th day of second month the earth was dry (Wednesday)
Exodus
12 : 3 On 10th day of first month a lamb to be taken (Friday)
12 : 6 On 14th day of first month a lamb to be killed (Tuesday)
12 : 15 On 15th day of first month leaven to be removed (Wednesday)
12 : 16 On 15th and 21st day of first month a holy convocation (Wed. and
to be held Tues. or Wed.)
12 : 18 From evening of 14th to evening of 21st day (Tuesday and
of first month, no leavened bread to be eaten Tues. or Wed.)
13 : 6 On 21st day of first month a feast to be held (Tuesday
or Wednesday)
 ROGER T. BECKWITH 73

16 : 1 On 15th day of second month Israel reached (Friday)

wilderness of Sin
40 : 2 On 1st day of first month tabernacle to be erected (Wednesday)
40 : 17 - ditto - (Wednesday)
Leviticus
9 : 1 f. On 8th day of consecration and of first month (Wednesday
Aaron’s offering to be made or Thursday)
16 : 29 f. On 10th day of seventh month the fast (Friday)
of Day of Atonement to be held
23 : 5 On 14th day of first month is the Passover (Tuesday)
23 : 6 f. On 15th day of first month is a holy convocation: (Wednesday)
Unleavened Bread
23 : 8 On 21st day of first month is a holy convocation: (Tuesday
Unleavened Bread or Wednesday)
23 : 11 On 26th day of first month is the Sheaf (Sunday)
23 : 15 f. On 15th day of third month is Pentecost (Sunday)
23 : 24 On 1st day of seventh month is Trumpets (Wednesday)
23 : 27 On 10th of seventh month the Day of Atonement (Friday)
23 : 32 From evening of 9th day of seventh month (Thursday)
the rest day of Atonement
23 : 34 f. On 15th day of seventh month (Wednesday)
is a holy convocation: Tabernacles
23 : 36 On 22nd day of seventh month (Wednesday
is a holy convocation: Tabernacles or Thursday)
23 : 39 On 15th and 22nd of seventh month (Wednesday
is a rest day: Tabernacles and Wednesday
or Thursday)
23 : 40 On 15th day of seventh month booths are made: (Wednesday)
Tabernacles
25 : 9 On 10th day of seventh month a trumpet to be sound: (Friday)
Day of Atonement
Numbers
1:1 On 1st day of second month (Friday)
the Lord speaks to Moses
1 : 18 On 1st day of second month the congregation (Friday)
was assembled
9:2f On 14th day of first month is Passover (Tuesday)
74 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

9:5 On 14th day of first month Passover was kept (Tuesday)

9 : 11 On 14th day of second month is Second Passover (Thursday)
10 : 10 On new moons a trumpet to be sounded (Wednesday,
Friday
and Sunday)
10 : 11 On 20th day of second month the cloud taken up (Wednesday)
28 : 11 On new moons sacrifice to be offered (Wednesday,
Friday
and Sunday)
28 : 16 On 14th day of first month is Passover (Tuesday)
28 : 17 f. On 15th day of first month is a holy convocation: (Wednesday)
Unleavened Bread
28 : 25 On 21th day of first month is a holy convocation: (Tuesday
Unleavened Bread or Wednesday)
29 : 1 On 1st day of seventh month is Trumpets (Wednesday)
29 : 7 On 10th day of seventh month a holy convocation: (Friday)
Day of Atonement
29 : 12 On 15th day of seventh month (Wednesday)
is a holy convocation: Tabernacles
29 : 35 On 22nd day of seventh month (Wednesday
is a holy convocation: Tabernacles or Thursday)
33 : 3 On 15th day of first month Israel left Rameses (Wednesday)
33 : 38 On 1st day of fifth month Aaron died (Friday)

Deuteronomy
1:3 On 1st day of eleventh month Moses spoke to Israel (Friday)

Joshua
4 : 19 On 10th day of first month Israel crossed the Jordan (Friday)
5 : 10 On 14th day of first month Israel kept the Passover (Tuesday)

Judges
No dates
Samuel
1 Sam. 12 : 17 Today is wheat-harvest, i. e. (Sunday)
Pentecost, 15th day of third month
1 Sam. 20 : 5 Tomorrow is new moon (Wed., Fri. or Sun.)
 ROGER T. BECKWITH 75

1 Sam. 20 : 18 - ditto - (Wed., Fri. or Sun.)

1 Sam. 20 : 24 The new moon meal (Wed., Fri. or Sun.)
1 Sam. 20 : 27 The morrow after the new moon (Thurs., Sabbath or Mon.)
1 Sam. 20 : 34 - ditto - (Thurs., Sabbath or Mon.)
Kings
1 Kings 8 : 66 (cf. 2 Chron. 7 : 10) The people return home (Thursday
on 23rd day of seventh month or Friday)
1 Kings 12 : 32 On 15th day of eighth month was Jeroboam’s (Friday)
feast
1 Kings 12 : 33 - ditto - (Friday)
2 Kings 4 : 23 New moon (Wed., Friday
or Sunday)
2 Kings 25 : 1 Nebuchadnezzar’s army comes on 10th day (Friday)
of tenth month
2 Kings 25 : 3 Famine begins on 9th day of fourth month (Thursday)
2 Kings 25 : 8 f. On 7th day of fifth month Nebuzaradan (Thursday)
comes to burn Jerusalem
2 Kings 25 : 27 On 27th day of twelfth month Jehoiachin (Friday)
released from prison
Jeremiah
39 : 2 On 9th day of fourth month a breach made in Jerusa- (Thursday)
lem
52 : 4 On 10th day of tenth month Nebuchadnezzar’s army (Friday)
arrives
52 : 6 On 9th day of fourth month famine begins (Thursday)
52 : 12 f. On 10th day of fifth month Nebuzaradan comes (Sunday)
and burns Jerusalem
52 : 31 On 25th day of twelfth month Jehoiachin released (Wednesday)
from prison
Ezekiel
1 : 1–3 On 5th day of fourth month the word of the Lord (Sunday)
came to Ezekiel
8:1 On 5th day of sixth month the hand of the Lord fell (Thursday)
upon Ezekiel
20 : 1 On the 10th day of fifth month elders came (Sunday)
to enquire of the Lord
24 : 1 f. On 10th day of tenth month the word of the Lord (Friday)
came to Ezekiel
76 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

26 : 1 New moon (Wed., Fri.

or Sun.)
29 : 1 On 12th day of tenth month the word of the Lord (Sunday)
came to Ezekiel
29 : 17 On 1st day of first month the word of the Lord (Wednesday)
came to Ezekiel
30 : 20 On 7th day of first month the word of the Lord (Tuesday)
came to Ezekiel
31 : 1 On 1st day of third month the word of the Lord (Sunday)
came to Ezekiel
32 : 1 On 1st day of twelfth month the word of the Lord (Sunday)
came to Ezekiel
32 : 17 On 15th day of twelfth month the word of the Lord (Sunday)
came to Ezekiel

33 : 21 On 5th day of tenth month news came of fall (Sunday)

of Jerusalem
40 : 1 On 10th day of first month the hand of the Lord (Friday)
was upon Ezekiel
45 : 17 New moon (Wed., Fri.
or Sun.)
45 : 18 On 1st day of first month sanctuary to be cleansed (Wednesday)
45 : 20 On 7th day of first month atonement to be made (Tuesday)
45 : 21 On 14th day of first month is Passover (Tuesday)
45 : 25 On 15th day of seventh month is Tabernacles (Wednesday)
46 : 1 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
46 : 3 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
46 : 6 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
Isaiah
1 : 13 New moons (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
1 : 14 New moons (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
The Twelve
Hos. 2 : 11 New moons (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
Amos 8 : 5 New moons (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
 ROGER T. BECKWITH 77

Hag. 1:1 On 1st day of sixth month came (Sunday)

the word of the Lord by Haggai
1 : 14 f. On 24th day of sixth month work (Tuesday)
began on the house of the Lord
2:1 On 21st day of seventh month came (Tuesday)
the word of the Lord by Haggai
2 : 10 On 24th day of ninth month came (Tuesday)
the word of the Lord by Haggai
2 : 18 On 24th day of ninth month came (Tuesday)
the word of the Lord by Haggai
2 : 20 On 24th day of ninth month came (Tuesday)
the word of the Lord by Haggai
Zec. 1:7 On 24th day of eleventh month came (Sunday)
the word of the Lord by Zechariah
7:1 On 4th day of ninth month came (Wednesday)
the word of the Lord by Zechariah
Ruth
1 : 22 Naomi arrived home at the beginning of barley (Sunday)
harvest, i. e. 26the day of first month
Psalms
81 : 3 The trumpet to be blown at the new moon (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations
No dates
Daniel
10 : 4 f. On 24th day of first month Daniel saw a vision (Friday)
Esther
3 : 12 On 13th day of first month Haman’s letter sent (Monday)
3 : 13 On 13th day of twelfth month the Jews to be slain (Friday)
8:9 On 23rd day of third month Mordecai’s letter sent (Monday)
8 : 11 f. On 13th day of twelfth month the Jews to defend (Friday)
themselves
9 : 1 f. On 13th day of twelfth month the Jews punished (Friday)
their enemies
9 : 15 On 14th day of twelfth month the Jews in Shushan slew (Sabbath)
their enemies
9 : 16 f. On 13th day of twelfth month the Jews in the provinces (Friday)
slew their enemies
78 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

9 : 17 On 14th day of twelfth month the Jews (Sabbath)

in the provinces rested
9 : 18 On 13th and 14th day of twelfth month the Jews (Friday
in Shusha slew their enemies and Sabbath)
and on 15th day they rested (Sunday)
9 : 19 On 14th day of twelfth month the Jews in the villages (Sabbath)
hold a feast
9 : 21 On 14th and 15th day of twelfth month the Jews to hold (Sabbath
a feast and Sunday)
Ezra-Nehemiah
Ezra 3:5 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
3:6 On 1st day of seventh month (Wednesday)
sacrifice recommences
6 : 15 The temple finished on 3rd day (Tuesday)
of twelfth month
6 : 19 On 14th day of first month Passover was kept (Tuesday)
7:9 On 1st day of first month Ezra left Babylon (Friday)
and on 1st day of fifth month he reached
Jerusalem
8 : 31 On 12th day of first month the Jews leave (Sunday)
river of Ahava
10 : 9 On 20th day of ninth month the Jews assemble (Friday)
10 : 16 On 1st day of tenth month mixed marriages (Wednesday)
start being investigated
10 : 17 On 1st day of first month investigation (Wednesday)
completed
Neh. 6 : 15 On 25th day of sixth month the wall finished (Wednesday)
8:2 On 1st day of seventh month Ezra brings (Wednesday)
the Law-book
8 : 13 On 2nd day of seventh month Ezra continues (Thursday)
the reading
8 : 18 A solemn assembly held on 22nd day (Wednesday
of seventh month or Thursday)
9:1 On 24th day of seventh month a fast held (Friday)
10 : 33 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
Chronicles
1 Chron. 23 : 31 New moons (Wed., Fri. and Sun.)
 ROGER T. BECKWITH 79

2 Chron. 2 : 4 New moons (Wed., Fri.

and Sun.)
(?) 3 : 2 On 2nd day of second month (Sabbath)6
Temple commenced
7 : 10 On 23rd day of seventh month people (Thurs. or Fri.)
sent home
8 : 13 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
Unleavened Bread: 15th and 21st day (Wed. and
of first month Tues. or Wed.)
Pentecost: 15th day of third month (Sunday)
Tabernacles: 15th and 22nd day (Wed. and Wed.
of seventh month or Thurs.)
29 : 17 On 1st day of first month (Wednesday)
sanctification begins
On 8th day of first month they reach (Wednesday)
the porch
On 16th day of first month they finished (Thursday)
30 : 15 On 14th day of second month, (Thursday)
Second Passover held
31 : 3 New moons (Wed., Fri.
and Sun.)
35 : 1 On 14th day of first month, Passover held (Tuesday)
When one sums up the evidence, one finds that the Book of Esther is
a special case. In the other books, events occur as follows:
34 on Sundays (+ 5 possibles)
0 on Mondays (+ 2 possibles)
18 on Tuesdays (+ 6 possibles)
48 on Wednesdays (+ 18 possibles)
10 on Thursdays (+ 8 possibles)
39 on Fridays (+ 7 possibles)
0 on Sabbaths (+ 3 possibles)
In the Book of Esther, however, events occur as follows:

6 The date here occurs in only some Hebrew manuscripts and is not supported

by Greek or Syriac.
80 MÉMORIAL ANNIE JAUBERT

2 on Sundays
2 on Mondays
0 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays
5 on Fridays
5 on Sabbaths
So, whereas in other books no events occur on Mondays and (what is
more important) none on Sabbaths, in the book of Esther two occur on
Mondays and five on Sabbaths. It follows that the Book of Esther cannot
have been among the Scriptures on which the framer of the 364-day calen-
dar based it,7 though any of the other books in the Hebrew Bible may have
been. This was doubtless one of the principal reasons why the men of
Qumran later had problems with Esther: it conflicted with their calendar.
To other Jews, using one of the popular calendars, this was not an issue,
however.
Of the remaining books (those comfortable to the 364-day calendar),
the ones which have several explicit dates in them are Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets,
Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles, while those with just one explicit date are
Deuteronomy and Daniel. The former group, therefore, were almost cer-
tainly canonical, and possibly the latter group; while of the books which do
not contain dates, or explicit dates, one should probably add to these
Judges, Samuel, Isaiah, Psalms, Job and Proverbs (as in Ecclesiasticus),
though one cannot be certain.

POSTSCRIPT
It was perhaps a surprise to the framer of the 364-day calendar to find that
his year, consisting as it did of complete weeks, could not begin on the first
day of the week, Sunday. The simplest arrangement would have for the first
day of creation-week to be also the first day of the first year of world his-
tory. In that case, however, the seventh day of the first month, and the cor-
responding day in every week thereafter throughout the year, would have
been a Sabbath, and these Sabbaths would have clashed with several of the

7 By parity of reasoning, the deutero-canonical books were not among the

scriptures on which 364-day calendar was based. The only one of them which was
probably in existence as early as the mid-third century B. C. is Tobit; and in Tobit
2:12 (according to the older text, reproduced in Codex Sinaiticus) Anna is doing
her daily work on the seventh day of the twelfth month, which according to the
364-day calendar is a Sabbath.
 ROGER T. BECKWITH 81

biblical dates listed above as dates on which events occur. It was probably
also a surprise to him to find that there are two weekdays, and not just one,
on which non of the biblical dates fall, and so no events occur. Which of
these two vacant days was the Sabbath? The Sabbath could be on the
fourth day of the first month, or it could be on the sixth day; in the former
case the year would begin on Wednesday, in the latter case on Monday. The
way that he resolved this problem was probably from the symbolism of
creation-week. If the year began on Wednesday, this was not indeed the
first day of creation, the day of the creation of light, but it was the day of
the creation of the heavenly luminaries (Gen. 1:14–19), which might be
thought an almost equally suitable day for year to begin. If, on the other
hand, the year began on Monday, this was merely the day of the creation of
the firmament between the upper and lower waters (Gen. 1:6–8). So, in the
interests of appropriate symbolism, the year had to begin on Wednesday,
and in that case the Sabbath would be on the fourth day of the first month,
and on the corresponding day each week throughout the 52 weeks of the
year.