how to calculate the day of atonement

Date: Oct 15, 2015

how to calculate the day of atonement

Date: Oct 17, 2015

Before I watch the video, I will post what I looked up years ago. Part - 1

Millerite Use of Luni-Solar Calendar

I have been shown that many who profess to have a knowledge of present truth know not what they believe. They do not understand the evidences of their faith. They have no just appreciation of the work for the present time. When the time of trial shall come, there are men now preaching to others who will find, upon examining the positions they hold, that there are many things for which they can give no satisfactory reason. Until thus tested they know not their great ignorance. And there are many in the church who take it for granted that they understand what they believe; but, until controversy arises, they do not know their own weakness. When separated from those of like faith and compelled to stand singly and alone to explain their belief, they will be surprised to see how confused are their ideas of what they had accepted as truth . . . . Maranatha 45

Seventh-day Adventists grow up hearing about October 22, 1844! They are shown from scripture and historical documentation that the 2300 day prophecy, beginning in 457 B.C., ended in 1844 on the Day of Atonement. What most people do not know, however, is how the Millerites arrived at that specific date. Why October 22? Why not July 10?

Leviticus 23 states that the Day of Atonement shall be observed on the tenth day of the seventh month, so where does October 22 come in? It is probably news to most Adventists that the Millerites did not use the Gregorian calendar to establish the Day of Atonement for 1844. But they did not.

As far back as April, and then in June and December of 1843, and in February of 1844 . . . [William Millers associates] came to a definite conclusion. This was that the solution of Daniels prophecy is dependent upon the ancient or original Jewish form of luni-solar time, and not upon the altered modern rabbinical Jewish calendar.1

The Jews, in 1844, kept Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on September 23. The Millerites were well aware of this and references to it show up in their publications. However, when challenged or mocked for insisting on a date which even the Jews themselves did not keep, the Millerites commonly replied, Every scholar knows that we are correct by the original calendar.

1 L. E. Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1982, Vol. 4, 796, emphasis supplied.

The Millerites were deep students of the scriptures. The Seventh-day Adventist church owes much to their diligent, deep study of the Bible. They discovered that within Judaism, there were two distinct ways of computing the calendar. The rabbinical, which starts its new year, Nisan 1, on the new moon closest to the vernal equinox, and the Karaite which, following Mosaic calendation principles, placed its Nisan 1 on the first new moon after the vernal equinox if the barley harvest was ready. If not, they would intercalate an extra month.

The Millerites rejected the rabbinical first day of Nisan on March 21 in 1844, and chose the April new moon for the beginning of the true type of the ancient first month. April 19 was the day.2 They argued that the modern Jewish calendar is based upon decisions that were unknown in the time of Christ.3

The Karaites were a sect of Jews who gave up the system of rabbinical calendation, and made the intercalation of a leap month dependent upon the ripened barley, according to Moses.4 They have been called the Protestants of Judaism.5

Karaism clashed seriously with the parent faith, shook off the yoke of traditionalism, proclaimed the right of private judgment, and maintained that the original Scripture is a full and sufficient guide.6

Knowing that the Millerites used the Karaite calendar is important, but there is another point regarding the Millerite computation of the Oct. 22 date that is vital to know. The Millerites arrived at Oct. 22 as being the Day of Atonement by calculation.

2 Joseph Bates, Second Advent Waymarks and High Heaps, New Beford, 1847.

3 Grace Amadon, Millerite Computation of the October 22 Date, Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection.

4 Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1948, Vol. 2, 197.

5 Albiruni, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, as quoted in ibid., 196.

6 Ibid., 197.

7 Amadon, How the Millerites Chose October 22, Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection, emphasis original.

Had the leaders waited until October to visually observe the first appearance of the moon by which to date Tisri 1, there could have been no seventh month movement, for there would have been insufficient time. They had to make their calculation in advance from standard moon tables which were abundantly available.7

The date of October 22 being the ending date of the 2300 year prophecy was first announced by Samuel Snow on July 21, 1844. He gave a discourse at the large Boston Tabernacle on the text Behold the Bridegroom cometh (on the tenth day of the seventh month), go ye out to meet Him! However, it was not until the camp meeting held at Exeter, New Hampshire (August 12-17) that the message really took hold. At this camp meeting, Snow gave three sermons.

Date: Oct 17, 2015

Part 2 conclusion of above post

" In simple terms, no new moon was observed the night of Oct. 12/13, 1844, because the moons meridian (or the highest point of its arch before it set) was below the horizon in most of New England, the land of the Midnight Cry. Furthermore, the moon set only ten minutes after the sun did on Oct. 12, thereby making the sky too light to observe it anyway. The Millerites knew that under Mosaic calendation, a new moon was declared after 30 days regardless of whether or not it was observed.14 Therefore, they were all in agreement that October 13 was the first day of the seventh month (Tisri 1) and that the tenth day was the 22nd of October. Sylvester Bliss, in the Millerites official report in January, 1845 affirms: Reckoning from this [Nisan] moon, the seventh Jewish month commenced with the appearance of the moon on the 13th of October.15 Thus, the tenth day of the seventh month was October 22.

Was October 22 the correct date for Day of Atonement in 1844? Absolutely.

Under the Mosaic system the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the great Day of Atonement, occurred on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Leviticus 16:29-34), when the high priest, having made an atonement for all Israel, and thus removed their sins from the sanctuary, came forth and blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ, our great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by the destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless His waiting people with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Atonement . . . which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second of October,16 was regarded as the time of the Lords coming.17

The Millerites showed great courage in following the Lamb to arrive at October 22.

Their [sic] remarkable stand of the Millerites, in 1843 and 1844, in rejecting the current Rabbinical calendation, and reviving the original Jewish year of the crucifixion period . . . that they might correctly determine the close of the 2300-year period, took clear, scholarly thinking, intensive research, extraordinary moral courage, and really heroic, decisive action. They risked all upon this crucial position.18

14 Among those who keep the Sabbath based on the luni-solar calendar, there is some confusion over whether to start the month off of the conjunction of the moon or its first visible crescent. October 22, 1844, provides the answer. If the months were to start at the conjunction, then the tenth day of the seventh month would have fallen on October 21, not 22. The U. S. Naval Observatory confirms that the conjunction of the moon occurred at 11:25 p.m. on October 11, 1844. The Millerites, however, knew that the Jews calculated it off of the first visible crescent and so they did the same.

15 The Advent Shield, January, 1845, 278, as quoted in Brief Review of the New Views Regarding Millerite Chronology, Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection.

16 See United States Naval Observatory chart at end of chapter.

17 GC 400, emphasis supplied.

18 Amadon, Courageous Action Of Millerites On Jewish Calendar Problem, Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection.

Not only was Catholicism directly opposed to their prophetic interpretations, but almost all of Protestantism had rejected it as well. Furthermore, and most serious of all, Jewry had many centuries before abandoned the calendation given to Moses, which had been operative in principle and in essentially identical form in both the 5th century B. C. and the 1st century A. D.19 These centuries are important because the former embraces the beginning date of the 2300-year time prophecy, while the latter includes the verifying date of the Passover/crucifixion which occurred in the midst of the 70th prophetic week of the longer time prophecy.

Painstakingly studying the Karaite protest in the Middle Ages against the Rabbinical perversion of the calendar, they at last deliberately and irrevocably accepted, restored, and applied to their time-prophecy problem, the earlier calendation championed by the Karaites. And this they did in defiance of the whole body of Rabbinical scholarship and the general current practice of Jewry.20

There were many in 1844 who made merry over a lunar reckoning that was not based upon the modern Jewish calendar. The answer was returned: Every scholar knows that we are correct as to the Karaite seventh month. The Millerites were well aware of the rabbinical seventh month in September in 1844, and the circumstance was often mentioned in their papers. At the same time they were emphatic in their challenge that they dissented from the modern Jewish calendar because it did not agree with the laws of Moses.21

To be consistent with Adventisms spiritual forefathers, Seventh-day Adventists of today need to compute when the true Sabbath occurs by using the same calendar utilized for determining the Day of Atonement in 1844.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Amadon, Millerite Computation of the October 22 Date, Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection.

22 Ellen G. White, Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 197.

Those who cling to old customs and hoary errors have lost sight of the fact that light is ever increasing upon the path of all who follow Christ; truth is constantly unfolding to the people of God. We must be continually advancing if we are following our Leader. It is when we walk in the light th

Date: Oct 17, 2015

it did not all copy correctly so I will finish posting the article

Those who cling to old customs and hoary errors have lost sight of the fact that light is ever increasing upon the path of all who follow Christ; truth is constantly unfolding to the people of God. We must be continually advancing if we are following our Leader. It is when we walk in the light that shines upon us, obeying the truth that is open to our understanding, that we receive greater light. We cannot be excusable in accepting only the light which our fathers had one hundred years ago. If our God-fearing fathers had seen what we see, and heard what we hear, they would have accepted the light, and walked in it. If we desire to imitate their faithfulness, we must receive the truths open to us, as they received those presented to them; we must do as they would have done, had they lived in our day.22

To follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth, Gods people must be as brave as their forefathers, advancing further in the path first traveled by those who have long since gone to their rest.

This chart from the United States Naval Observatory website shows all of the lunations for 1844. The conjunction of each lunation is listed under the column New Moon. Because it typically takes two days before the first appearance of the new crescent, add two days to each conjunction date to arrive at the date of the visible new moon.

In March, the conjunction, and thus the visible new moon, arrived too early for the barley harvest to be ripe so the Millerites intercalated another month as per Mosaic law. This chart is in accordance with their repeated statements that the visible new moon in April was the 19th two days after the conjunction on the 17th.

The seventh lunations conjunction was on October 11, which placed the first of the month, Tisri 1, on October 13. Ten days later is the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, on October 22.

U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department

1844 Phases of the Moon

Universal Time

New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter

d h m d h m d h m d h m

Jan 5 17 34 Jan 12 21 32

Jan 19 18 18 Jan 27 12 31 Feb 4 8 43 Feb 11 5 22

Feb 18 8 45 Feb 26 9 58 Mar 4 21 02 Mar11 13 20

Mar 19 0 17 Mar 27 5 02 Apr 3 6 58 Apr 9 22 09

Apr 17 16 32 Apr 25 20 17 May 2 15 17 May 9 8 23

May 17 8 53 May 25 7 30 May 31 22 47 Jun 7 20 29

Jun 16 0 26 Jun 23 15 25 Jun 30 6 17 Jul 7 10 50

Jul 15 14 23 Jul 22 21 13 Jul 29 14 34 Aug 6 3 26

Aug 14 2 32 Aug 21 2 16 Aug 28 0 34 Sep 4 21 43

Sep 12 13 17 Sep 19 7 52 Sep 26 13 14 Oct 4 16 29

Oct 11 23 25 Oct 18 15 16 Oct 26 5 05 Nov 3 10 19

Nov 10 9 37 Nov 17 1 31 Nov 24 23 42 Dec 3 2 08

Dec 9 20 13 Dec 16 15 22 Dec 24 19 29

Date: Oct 17, 2015

Using Millerite / Karite methods why don't we practice Bible study + math to find the antitypical Day of Atonement starting with the beginning of the 2300 day prophecy + day / year hermeneutics .

The historical formula the millerites used was the directions given to moses and outlined in the posts above.

Karaite which, following Mosaic calendation principles, placed its Nisan 1 on the first new moon after the vernal equinox if the barley harvest was ready. If not, they would intercalate an extra month.

After all if we want to be part of the loud cry, we ought be familiar with Sanctuary Christology types and symbols .

" The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth. For it is the work of every one to whom the message of warning has come, to lift up Jesus, to present Him to the world as revealed in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelations of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples and in the wonderful miracles wrought for the sons of men. Search the Scriptures; for they are they that testify of Him. {1SM 362.4} "

First task - How was Autumn 457 BC the starting point of the 2300 days located ?

Hint - Dan 9: 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are determined <02852> (8738)upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

<02852> (8738)

02852 chathak khaw-thak

a primitive root; v; {See TWOT on 778}

AV-determined 1; 1

1) to divide, determine

1a) (Niphal) to be determined, be decreed, be settled, be marked out

Niphal 08833, Perfect 08816,

08833 Niphal

a) Niphal is the "passive" of Qal-see 08851

Qal Niphal

he saw he was seen, he appeared

he saw the angel the angel was seen

he sent he was sent

he created it was created

b) Niphal sometimes expresses a "reflexive" action.

he guarded he was guarded, also

he guarded himself

c) Several verbs use Niphal, although they express simple action and are active in English. Common examples are:

he fought, he remained, he swore, he entered

08816 Perfect

The Perfect expresses a completed action.

1) In reference to time, such an action may be:

1a) one just completed from the standpoint of the present

"I have come" to tell you the news

1b) one completed in the more or less distant past

in the beginning God "created"

"I was (once) young" and "I have (now) grown old" but "I have not seen" a righteous man forsaken

1c) one already completed from the point of view of another past act

God saw everything that "he had made"

1d) one completed from the point of view of another action yet future

I will draw for thy camels also until "they have done" drinking

2) The perfect is often used where the present is employed in English.

2a) in the case of general truths or actions of frequent occurrence truths or actions which have been often experienced or observed

the grass "withereth"

the sparrow "findeth" a house

2b) an action or attitude of the past may be continued into the present

"I stretch out" my hands to thee

"thou never forsakest" those who seek thee

Date: Oct 17, 2015

Lots of good information, Ed. Thank you.

It is important to understand that the Karaites of today do not heed their forefathers' method of calculating the start of the new year. That's why the current Karaite leader(s) say that the Adventists were wrong in 1844 in calculating October 22.

The Millerites calculated the beginning of the new month by first calculating the conjunction (all black) of the moon. They next calculated the phasis (when it could be theoretically seen) as occuring one day later, thus giving rise to October 13, 1844 as Tishri 1. Adding 10 days brought them to the pivotal October 22, 1844 date. It is true that this date can be arrived at both by the conjunction method, and by the observation method. Our spiritual forefathers favored the observation method, yet, not one of them actually observed it. Instead, they just relied on calculations of when it "should" be observable. Personally, I believe the conjunction method is closer to God's instructions, but I'm not positive.

To calculate God's calendar for any year, go to

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/israel/jerusalem

and first look for when the vernal (spring) equinox occurs. I've chosen Jerusalem because that is where it was done in Bible times. For year 2015, it shows the vernal equinox on March 21 at 00:46. God's new year cannot start until after that time. Of course the new day starts at sunset. So if the conjunction of the moon happens between 00:46 and the following sunset, that signals the start of the new year. Looking at the moon phases, it shows the new moon starting on March 20 at 11:36. This cannot be the start of the new year as it is before the equinox, so we must look to the next new moon which is at 21:56 on April 18. Since that is after sunset on that day, that means the new year starts at sundown on April 19. Counting down to the 7th new moon of the year, we see it is at 3:05 on October 13. So the start of the 7th month (Day of Trumpets) is from sunset on the 13th to sunset on the 14th. Counting to the evening of the 9th brings us to the 22nd, so the Day of Atonement for 2015 is from sunset on October 22 to sunset on October 23.

I hope this study is useful for those who are interested in how to give a defense on the October 22, 1844 date to any questioning souls, and to those who believe that we should be keeping God's statutes.

Date: Aug 8, 2017

This is a real blessing. May God bless you as you seek to defend the truth. This gives me great peace.

Date: Aug 11, 2017

Thank you Webmaster for this video. I appreciate the information. May we each be connected to our Redeemer and ready for His return. God bless you.

Date: Feb 19, 2019

Interesting thought. So, when are the Days of Atonement according to your calculations till 2022?

is every month 30 days? or do you alternate 30 and 29 days?

Thank you

Date: Feb 19, 2019

The Link you gave above gives for Yom Kippur 1844, September 11, not October 22!?!?!? So it seems to be a different calendar, not as it is written as God's calendar.?????

Date: Feb 21, 2019

Hello "Anonymous". Could you please type something in the "Name" field next time, thank you. smile

I don't know which "link" you are referring to.

As for the dates, Frank Nelte has the best chart I've seen of anybody. That's because he believes, as I do, that a new year cannnot start until AFTER the vernal equinox, and it is signified by the first new moon after that equinox. He also goes by the conjunction of the moon, as I do, instead of the physical sighting. Actually, even those who say they calculate by the physical sighting, do not really do so, thus showing their position to be mistaken. Here's all the dates out to 2015:

https://franknelte.net/article.php?article_id=38

Please let me if this helps, or if you have any other questions, or if you have information to share with us on this forum. smile

Date: Apr 7, 2019

Ed Sutton wrote:
... the Karaite which, following Mosaic calendation principles, placed its Nisan 1 on the first new moon after the vernal equinox if the barley harvest was ready. If not, they would intercalate an extra month.
Interesting discussion! This is first time I hear about this extra month if the barley harvest was not ready. It makes more sense. Years back the explanation that I heard was that the extra month was during the sabbatical year.

Date: Apr 8, 2019

Anonymous wrote:
Ed Sutton wrote:
... the Karaite which, following Mosaic calendation principles, placed its Nisan 1 on the first new moon after the vernal equinox if the barley harvest was ready. If not, they would intercalate an extra month.
Interesting discussion! This is first time I hear about this extra month if the barley harvest was not ready. It makes more sense. Years back the explanation that I heard was that the extra month was during the sabbatical year.

Another way of saying it is that the Jewish system relied on lunar months, which are shorter than solar ones. If no correction was ever made, then the feasts would drift around the seasons, for example Passover in the fall and Atonement in the spring.

Because of this, a 13th month was (and is) added, 7 times per 19-year cycle. A period of 19 years has 12 lunar months per year, for a total of 228 months, and then 7 additional months are added, for a total of 235 lunar months.

If you do the math, you will find that 235 lunar months, at 29.53 days per month, is about 6940 days, and this is equivalen to 19 solar years, at 365.2422 days per year.

This sort of issue is intrinsic in lunar calendars -- they are out of synch with solar years.

Date: Apr 25, 2019

It's interesting to me to see that the timings of the Passover and Unleavened Bread festival this year (2019) are similar to when Jesus was crucified and resurrected, because the first day of UB was on Sabbath - April 20, and the last day is today, April 26. First Fruits would have been on Sunday, just when Jesus arose from the tomb 1988 years ago. smile

Date: Nov 29, 2019

I'm getting a bit perplexed as I am looking on the internet about the exact date of Christ's crucifixion. I didn't find any to say that the Passover of 31 AD was on Friday. Some say that, according to the Jewish calendar, it should be 30 AD. Moreover, some use the Jewish calendar argument to try to prove that the crucifixion was on Wednesday. How can I check the true Jewish calendar of those years of Christ's ministry?

Date: Nov 29, 2019

zafer wrote:
I'm getting a bit perplexed as I am looking on the internet about the exact date of Christ's crucifixion. I didn't find any to say that the Passover of 31 AD was on Friday. Some say that, according to the Jewish calendar, it should be 30 AD. Moreover, some use the Jewish calendar argument to try to prove that the crucifixion was on Wednesday. How can I check the true Jewish calendar of those years of Christ's ministry?

Ok, I found the argument about the extra-month in 31 AD which places 14th of Nisan on Th-Fr 26-27th of April (and thus the crucifixion Fr, Apr 27), instead of Wed. March 27. Feel better :)

Date: Mar 3, 2020

The Vernal equinox has absolutely no place in God's calendar

The equinox is not in Scripture. It is not Tekufah. That definition came later, not when it was written; anachronism

No consideration whatsoever is given to the equinox in Scripture; it is NOT an observable event; No one can look at the Sun and say "There's the equinox"
The Sun is a full half degree north above the equator one day after passing "equinox" - no sign shown or given to see, nothing from God to say: "Observe this". It's not found in any such instruction in the Scripture

No Scripture refers to an such time division called equinox. The Hebrew economy was agrarian, and the beginning of the year was both tied to the agriculture and the Wavesheaf. Those elements are in God's full control of the Earth, Sun and Moon. The Spring-time harvest can indeed start before the equinox

To even admit that the equinox played any role in their calculation of the Feast dates, is to admit an insertion of an error into the equation

We are not talking about a group of "experts" in Hebrew calendar calculation. (Snow, Miller, et. al.) They had to go by what they "found" in the libraries. They, like Miller, relied on their best sources. Those sources contained errors

God's true calendar and how it is calculated, stays within a more narrower range; a 33 day swing. When the equinox is introduced into the equation, and the moon/equinox line-up (as it did in 1844) can push forward the date another 30 days, adding 15 days to the natural range in the Biblical calculation. The equinox is not part of the calculation

The true seventh month of 1844 was September
They were focused in a calculation, and not in any way keeping a Feast. Their experience was a test from God

But in the Feasts to come, God will AGAIN, move and act on His Feasts days in the fulfillment of prophecies yet to come

Sig. http://69.195.107.90/

Date: Jun 23, 2020

R Myers wrote:
The Vernal equinox has absolutely no place in God's calendar
The equinox is not in Scripture. It is not Tekufah. That definition came later, not when it was written; anachronism
No consideration whatsoever is given to the equinox in Scripture; it is NOT an observable event; No one can look at the Sun and say "There's the equinox"
The Sun is a full half degree north above the equator one day after passing "equinox" - no sign shown or given to see, nothing from God to say: "Observe this". It's not found in any such instruction in the Scripture
No Scripture refers to an such time division called equinox. The Hebrew economy was agrarian, and the beginning of the year was both tied to the agriculture and the Wavesheaf. Those elements are in God's full control of the Earth, Sun and Moon. The Spring-time harvest can indeed start before the equinox

You are right R. Myers in these first lines, but the idea that the 7th month of 1844 was in September was based in the very equinox factor of the rabbinic calendar. Ed already mentioned in his posts about the ripen barley as means to determine the start of a new year (the aviv). This made the difference between the rabbinic calendar of that year and the karaite one, where the start of the year was postponed one month later and thus we have also the day of atonement on October and not in September.

Date: Jun 24, 2020

It's not possible that the barley has anything at all to do with setting God's calendar.

He tells us in Genesis what DOES set His calendar: Genesis 1:14 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:

The new year is determined by 2 things (God always needs at least 2 witnesses) - the sun and the moon (the stars actually have a small part to play too, but that gets complicated). The moon itself cannot possibly signal the start of the new year. No agricultural product has anything to do at all with figuring the starting time of a new year. Yes, the Israelites were commanded to wave the barley sheaf, but nowhere does it ever mention in the Bible that the barley crop had anything to do with the calendar. That's because it doesn't. Those who say it does are making up their own Bible.

This year 2020 started on March 25, and the Day of Atonement will be on September 27.