Exodus – Absolute Dates
What I’ve done below is repeat my article titled, The Second Sunday, and plugged in the dates for the Exodus and the Jordan River Crossing that I discovered by using the calendar conversion program from Chronology History Research Institute. After this post, my next task will be to write a Sacred Chronology, Version 7, summary article, from creation in Genesis to Yeshua’s second coming in Revelation. From my Scripture chronology studies over the last six years I believe I have progressed in nailing down some critical and absolute dates in Sacred Chronology. It’s time to put it all together in my next post, including reckoned and unreckoned time in Yahweh’s plan of redemption.
Over the centuries, there has been a lot of speculation and research on what year the Exodus from Egypt actually occurred. Many researchers have tried to calculate the date of the Exodus, which looks impressive on paper, but does not leave room for many of our favorite Bible characters to be born, live, and die. Well, Yahweh has already given us the Exodus date information in the Scriptures. Let’s take a look. We know the first Sunday was the first day of creation, Genesis 1:1-5, “In the beginning the Mighty Ones created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Yahweh was hovering over the face of the waters.
3Then Yahweh said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4And Yahweh saw the light, that it was good; and Yahweh divided the light from the darkness. 5Yahweh called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” “The first day” was of course, the first Sunday known in history. So why did I name my first article The Second Sunday?
Let’s take a look at Exodus 16, “And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai (in northwest Saudi Arabia), on the fifteenth day of the second month (in 1584 BCE) after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2Then (on the 15th day of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah or not. 5And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily (daily meaning on the first 5 days of the week).”
6Then (on the 15th day of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening (ending the 15th and beginning of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7And in the morning (of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) you shall see the glory of Yahweh; for He hears your complaints against Yahweh. But what are we, that you complain against us?” 8Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when Yahweh gives you meat to eat in the evening (ending the 15th and beginning of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year), and in the morning (of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) bread to the full; for Yahweh hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against Yahweh.”
9Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before Yahweh, for He has heard your complaints.’” 10Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.
11And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12“I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight (ending the 15th and beginning of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) you shall eat meat, and in the morning (of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am Yahweh your Mighty One.’”
13So it was that quails came up at evening (ending the 15th and beginning of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) and covered the camp, and in the morning (of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) the dew lay all around the camp. 14And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” (in Hebrew mân, pronounced mawn, or manna) For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. 16This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”
17Then (on the morning of the 16th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. 19And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning (of the 17th of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year), and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21So they gathered it every morning (that 2nd month in 1584 BCE, they gathered every morning from Sunday morning the 16th through Friday morning the 21st, six days), every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
22And so it was, on the sixth day (Friday, the 21st of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year ), that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23Then he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has said: ‘Tomorrow (the 7th day, or Saturday, the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year) is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake today (the 6th day, Friday, the 21st of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year), and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning (the 7th day, Saturday, the 22nd of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year).’” 24So they laid it up till morning (the 7th day, Saturday, the 22nd of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year), as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25Then (the 7th day) Moses said, “Eat that today (the 7th day, Saturday, the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 1584 BCE, Exodus year), for today (the 7th day) is a Sabbath to Yahweh; today (the 7th day) you will not find it in the field. 26Six days (a week for 40 years) you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
27Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day (in that 2nd month in 1584 BCE, the 7th day was on Saturday, the 22nd) to gather, but they found none. 28And Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? 29See! For Yahweh has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day (Friday) bread for two days (the 6th and the 7th days, Friday and Saturday). Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day (Saturday).” 30So the people rested on the seventh day (Saturday).
31And the house of Israel called its name Manna (meaning “What is it?”). And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
32Then Moses said, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept for your generations.” 34As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35And the children of Israel ate manna forty years (1584 – 1544 BCE), until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.”
Ok, so what you say? Well, in Exodus 16 we see Yahweh re-synchronize the children of Israel with His weekly Sabbath rest cycle. They had been physically in Egypt for 225 years, most of those in slavery, thus they apparently lost track of the Sabbath. Why else would Yahweh go to such detailed instructions to re-sync the children of Israel with His Sabbaths? If you have any doubt that they were NOT observing Sabbath at the time of the Exodus, just look at Exodus 16 verse 1, they were traveling, carrying burdens on Saturday, the 15th of the 2nd month in 1584 BCE!!! So, in verses 13-15 above, we see what I have called The Second Sunday, which happened to be the 16th of the 2nd month of the Exodus year, 1584 BCE. That Sunday morning was the first day of heavenly supplied manna, bread from heaven, on the first day of a 7-day Sabbath cycle, or week. We, as Christians, see a type of our Savior, Yeshua, in this bread from heaven. He is our daily bread for spirit, soul, and body. By Yahweh and Moses enforcing these instructions of gathering manna daily, and twice as much on Fridays, the children of Israel re-learned Yahweh’s Sabbath cycles. What had been lost was now found again.
So what you say? Well, is it possible that we have found a key to determining the absolute, real, historical Hebrew year of the Exodus? Keep reading and let’s find out. Over the last six years, I’ve read about a dozen good research books and papers on Scriptural chronology, which of necessity the writer must pick a year for the Exodus. Virtually every writer of Scripture chronology has come up with a different year for the Exodus, me included. But the manna and Sabbath cycle may finally give us the clue(s) to establish the year with a certainty I’ve not seen before. Let’s move on to when the manna from heaven ended.
In the first part of Joshua chapter 5, we see the second mass circumcision ceremony for the whole house of Israel. Then in verses 10-12 we read, “Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day (14th) of the (1st) month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. 11And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover (15th of the 1st month in the 41st year of the Exodus, 1544 BCE), unleavened bread (Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th of the 1st month of the Hebrew year) and parched grain, on the very same day (15th). 12Then the manna ceased on the day after (16th of the 1st month of the 41st year of the Exodus, 1544 BCE) they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that (41st) year (of the Exodus, 1544 BCE).” Here we see the end of the miraculous manna provision, which Israel had enjoyed for the last 39 years and 11 months.
A quick side-line note. Though Exodus 16 may appear to establish a Lunar Sabbath calendar, Joshua 5:10-12 smashes that heresy, because we see that manna fell on the 15th of the 1st month of the 41st year of the Exodus, in 1544 BCE. Lunar Sabbatarians claim the 15th of the Lunar month is always a Sabbath. Sorry, your heresy is over. NOTICE: MANNA FELL FROM HEAVEN ON THE 15TH (thus proving that this 15th COULD NOT BE A SABBATH!!), BUT NO MANNA FELL ON THE 16TH OF THIS 1ST MONTH IN THE 41ST YEAR OF THE EXODUS, 1544 BCE!! So, my Lunar Sabbatarian friends, eat the Scriptures and swallow your pride. We are all still learning each day.
Ok, back to The Second Sunday. Now, since we know EXACTLY which day of the week and lunar month manna started falling to earth and we know EXACTLY which day of the week and month the manna stopped falling to earth about 40 years later, could we use this information to nail down an ABSOLUTE YEAR for the Exodus from Egypt?? It took some effort, but I believe we did! I spent a day last week using the great calendar conversion software program from Chronology-History Research Institute, Copyright 1986, to begin testing possible years for the Exodus. My hypothesis was that if I could find the first year of manna, a Sunday (1st day of Sabbath week) on the 16th day of the 2nd month of a Lunar Hebrew year (as found in Exodus 16) and then sync it with the last year of manna, 40 years later, a Sabbath (7th day of Sabbath week) on the 16th day of the 1st lunar month of the Hebrew year (as found in Joshua 5), we may just have the ABSOLUTE YEAR of the Exodus!! Trust me that this was time consuming. A new version of my Sacred Chronology spreadsheet has resulted from this research, version 7. Ask me for your free copy today.
I want you to know that Yahweh is a Mighty One of order, so is it not logical and reasonable that Yahweh would begin the manna miracle on the 1st day of the Sabbath week, Sunday, and end it on the 7th day of a Sabbath week, Shabbat, especially if He is trying to get the children of Israel back on track with His calendar? Yes, I believe the Scriptures above reveal just that. Is He awesome or what!?! I recently read an article that stated Yahweh began the Manna on a Tuesday of the 2nd month of the Exodus year. How ludicrous. Think about it. If you were a loving father trying to teach your children about the 7-day Sabbath cycle, or week, or Shabua, would you begin your instruction of the week on a Tuesday? Of course not! You would begin your training on a Sunday, the 1st day of the week, so the 6th day twice as much portion would occur on Friday like it was supposed to and the 7th day would be the Sabbath day of rest, just like Genesis and Exodus teaches! Yahweh is the perfect, logical teacher, and He gives us all the instruction, even clues, right in His Word, that we need to figure out what He wants us to know. Stay in His word, you will be amazed what He teaches you.
Notes: I received the calendar conversion software as part of the chronology research package I received from the son of Eugene Faulstich, a wonderful researcher and teacher of Scripture chronology. You can begin looking at Eugene Faulstich’s work here: http://biblechronologybooks.com The calendar conversion program is astronomically correct and accurate for converting from and to the Hebrew lunar (and many other) calendar(s). Thank you Eugene, I know you’re looking down on our work today. And thanks to his son John Faulstich for sending me a set of Eugene’s books and stuff, a steal at any price!
Thanks to Daniel McGirr of http://echadetzproject.wordpress.com for inspiring me to look at the book of Joshua again. Check out his blog and great study on the Book of Joshua at the echad etz project.
Gene Benjamin II
December 19, 2011 CE
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