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After leaving Egypt, the Israelites traveled to Mount Sinai. Exodus 19:1 records their arrival:

בחדש השלישי לצאת בני־ישראל מארץ מצרים ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני

Apparently this date can be understood differently:

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. (ESV)
In the third month of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in this day they have come into the wilderness of Sinai (YLT)
On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. (NIV)

Passover (the 14th), which is the time of the full moon and the first day of Unleavened Bread (the 15th) mark the day of departure. So on the first day of the third month (NIV) or in the third month (YLT) would mean about 46 days after the Passover. This fits the traditional timeline of the Decalogue given on the 50th day after Passover. On the other hand, arriving on the third new moon after leaving Egypt places the event in the following month: enter image description here

This "extra" time seems to be a better fit with what takes place beginning in the second month:

  • On the 16th of the second month the manna begins
  • The first Sabbath was observed on the 22nd day of the second month
  • Travel to Rephidim were they receive water from a rock
  • Defeat Amalek
  • Jethro visits and Moses changes how the people are judged
  • Arrive at Sinai
  • The LORD speaks on the morning three days after arriving

In particular, the giving of the manna leading to the first Sabbath on the 22nd and a following Sabbath on the 29th means quite a bit must be packed into a period of less than 2-weeks if the Decalogue is given in the third month.

Is on the third new moon after leaving a correct understanding of the date they arrived?

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  • 1
    I'm having a hard time understanding why the second month should be considered 1st new moon? Shouldn't we rather interpret the first moon as the first month, and the third new moon as the third month of the year, as common sense suggests? I think this is way it's regularly used throughout the bible, and without any evidence or support why would you interpret it otherwise?
    – bach
    Jul 16, 2020 at 0:37
  • 1
    @Bach Since they left during a full moon, it was mid-month and the first new moon would be the first day of the next month. In this case the second month of the year. (Exodus 12:2 set the first day of the first month of the year). So the second new moon would be the third month of the year and the third new moon after leaving is the start of the fourth month. Jul 16, 2020 at 2:21
  • @RevelationLad If I say "In March after I kissed my love on Valentines day" that does not mean mean 3 months after I kissed her. It means on the third month (of the year) after something happened. Months were always referred to by number.
    – Robert
    Jul 17, 2022 at 3:39

3 Answers 3

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Update

I've substantially modified this answer to focus on the issue of numeric names for months, as the question has been clarified for me.

How months are measured and referred to in Biblical Hebrew

Months are measured from the new moon observations (which happen at night) and are referred to by number (e.g. first, second, third, etc) in relation to the first month of the year (Aviv).

When you observe a new moon, that is -- a sliver of light at the edge of the moon after a fully dark moon -- that day is always the first day of the month. So it's a good thing Hebrew days begin at night! The first day of the month after the vernal equinox is always the first day of month 1.

The first day of the second month is always the day you observe the second new moon which is always the beginning of the second month.

The first day of the third month is always the day you observe a new moon the third time during the year which is the always the beginning of the third month.

So when it says in Exodus 40.1: On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. it should be read as "On the first day of Month 1 -- e.g. Aviv -- shalt thou set up.."

(As an aside, this system automatically inserts leap months as needed by adding an extra month to the end of the year simply by delaying the start of the new year to the first new moon after the vernal equinox, ensuring that the lunar and solar calendars never drift apart more than half a month. Later on, this brain-dead simple system would be changed to a greek Metonic system, which was more complex but had the advantage of predictability.)

Therefore all three translations mean exactly the same thing:

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. (ESV)

In the third month of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in this day they have come into the wilderness of Sinai (YLT)

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. (NIV)

When God said that Aviv would be the first month of the year in Exodus 12.2:

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

God was not changing how the beginning of months were measured or adding a new offset to the calculation. Rather, God was saying that the month in which passover happened would be their first month - the month that begins the count.

This was different from their neighbors, who measured the seventh month as the first month. Israel would backslide and adopt the conventions of their neighbors and observe the beginning of the year on the seventh month during the Babylonian captivity, and this would continue until the present era. Israel also adopted the Babylonian names for months during the captivity as well, switching Aviv to Nisan, and referring to months by name rather than by number).

Months as a duration

You may ask, what if I want to specify months in a relative term? E.g. what if I need to say: "He travelled for two months"? Well, first that's tricky because the length of the month isn't known until the new moon is observed, but the following are ways that you specify a time period by adding modifiers to months:

Ordinal versus Cardinal numbers

The main mechanism to distinguish is that cardinal numbers specify a time period (e.g. "two months") whereas ordinal numbers are the name of a month ("second month").

Example: Judges 11.37 "Let me alone two months" -- šənayim ḥŏḏāšîm wheras for the second month, you'd say "sheni", as in 1 Chron 27.4 "And over the course of the second month" -- hǎ·ḥōʹ·ḏěš hǎš·šē·nîʹ it is using a cardinal number, meaning that this is the second month of the year, and not a time duration. Then again in Judges 11.39 "And it came to pass at the end of two months" (šənayim ḥŏḏāšîm -- ordinal numbers)

Duration markers

Just looking at ordinal versus cardinal will completely answer the question, as every time the name of a month is meant, it will be an ordinal number followed by "month" - hodesh.

But there is a corner case in which "month" appears all by itself. Then how do you distinguish between a month (duration) versus month (new moon) - because the word "month" also means "new moon".

But there are additional duration markers:

  • Use days to denote a period. As in Gen 29.14b: "And he abode with him the space of a month.." Literally ḥōḏeš yāmîm or "month of days". Or Numbers 11.19a - "But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils.." is literally "a month of days" - ḥōḏeš yāmîm.

  • Use from son (mi-ben) to denote age. Lev 27.6: "And if it be from a month old even unto five years old". Literally "from son of month" or mibben-ḥōḏeš. Same for Numbers 3.15 and others.

Language in Exodus

Ex 19.1 (KJV 1900)

In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

In Hebrew: baḥōḏeš haššəlîšî -- In the third month. Ordinal number. It is the third month of the year - a proper noun -- not a time period of three months.

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  • You are correct, full moons are not used to mark the beginning of a month. In my question I mistakenly wrote "full" moon in one place. I have corrected that. However, since the counting of new moons could be taken to begin after the Passover, it could place the arrival in the fourth month...that is on the third new moon following the Passover. Jul 18, 2022 at 20:14
  • @Revelaton Lad Daniel Gregg, an internet apologist and author, claims that Exodus 19:1 has a disjunctive accent that places the arrival in the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the third month, not the third month AFTER the children of Israel left Egypt. I don't have much confidence in Gregg's scholarship though. Jul 18, 2022 at 20:49
  • @RevelationLad I see. So my claim is that because the months are numbered, whenever someone says "the third month", it's like saying "March" for us -- e.g. this is the name of the month and always is in reference to the start of the year. I will try to clean up my answer to make this more clear so that I don't waste time addressing a point you weren't making.
    – Robert
    Jul 18, 2022 at 20:55
  • @RevelationLad I've updated
    – Robert
    Jul 18, 2022 at 21:52
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The difference seems to be rooted at when do we start to count. The 2 options are:

  1. The first month is the month in which the Israelites left Egypt.
  2. The first month begin with the first new moon after the Israelites left Egypt.

This can be relatively easily solved, by observing Exodus 12 1-2:

Exodus 12 1:

ויאמר יהוה אל משה ואל אהרן בארץ מצרים לאמר

(And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying)

Exodus 12 2:

החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה

(This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you)

(In brackets I added King James's translation)

Seems that the first month starts when the Israelites were still in Egypt.

I hope this helps clarify.

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What is the correct date the Israelites arrived at Sinai?

by Saber Truth Tiger

It depends on which translation is most accurate. Some translations claim it was the third month AFTER their departure from Egypt and others say it was the third month of their departure from Egypt.

Here are over fifty different translations of Exodus 19:1, found on the Bible Gateway website.

https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Exodus%2019:1

Some translations say the Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai on the third month AFTER the departure from Egypt which would be the fourth month of Tammuz and not the third month of Sivan. Others indicate it was the third month of their departure from Egypt. This is crucial because rabbinical Judaism in the first century CE placed the giving of the Law at Sinai on the sixth day of the third month. This was not a biblical date, however. as the association of the giving of the Law with Sivan 6 was placed by the rabbis AFTER the destruction of the second Temple. Before the destruction of the Temple Shavuot was simply regarded as an agricultural feast. It was one of the three annual pilgrim festivals in the Hebrew Bible. But once Temple worship ceased there was no agricultural festival to celebrate on this date. Therefore, the Rabbis began to associate Shavuot with a historical event, the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. Because of this Jews who were scattered around the known world would have something to celebrate in the first week of Sivan.

Hence, it was of paramount importance to the Rabbis that the giving of the Law be associated with Sivan 6, exactly 50 days AFTER the first so-called annual Sabbath of Passover in the first month of the Exodus. So in Exodus 19:1 when some translations say the children of Israel entered the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the third month the Rabbis claim that Exodus 19:10-11 occurred on the fourth day of the month, three days later. However, that is total guesswork, as the scriptures do not state that.

EXODUS 19:10 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready against the third day; for the third day Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. (NASB 1995 edition)

In this manner, the "be ready against the third day" would refer to Sivan 6, the third day from Sivan 4 (inclusive counting). In this manner, it is claimed the giving of the Law occurred on the festival day of Shavuot. It now becomes a retroactive festival day in honor of a historical event and not simply an agricultural feast day.

There is no evidence that Exodus 19:10-11 occurred on the fourth day of Sivan it is just assumed because if it wasn't on the fourth then the giving of the Law does NOT occur on Sivan 6. So to make it fit it HAS to be Sivan 4.

There is another problem with this. The seven annual feast days of the Jewish religion did not even exist at this time. They were first mentioned in Leviticus 23 and were not even to begin until the children of Israel entered the Promised Land. So this so-called first Shavuot ever was not Shavuot at all as it didn't even exist as a feast day until many years later. The rabbis of the first century CE declared this day of the giving of the Law Shavuot even though Shavuot didn't even exist at the time. Ever since then Jewish (rabbinical) tradition has observed Sivan 6 as a commemoration of the giving of the Law. Another thing to keep in mind is the Sabbath day was not even revealed until some time AFTER the departure from Egypt so there could be no seven Sabbath count from the day of the waving of the Omer to the feast of Shavuot the year Israel departed from Egypt. There was no waving of the Omer that year hence no seven Sabbath countdown to Shavuot.

There is no mention of three days between the first day of the month in Exodus 19:1 and the command of Jehovah for Moses to go up on the mount on the third day (Exodus 19:10-11).

However, internet historian and author Daniel Gregg has studied this in detail and he argues that Moses asked Pharaoh for permission for the Israelites to go on a three days journey into the wilderness to celebrate a feast to Yahweh. See Exodus 3:18, 5:1-3, and 8:27. The article is titled "Dealing with Karaite Interpretations" and can be found here:

http://www.torahtimes.org/CalendarChaos.html

Exodus 3:18 (Jehovah talking to Moses) And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

Exodus 8:27 (Moses to Pharaoh) We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.

Gregg claims this three-day journey into the wilderness was from the wilderness of Sinai, not the wilderness of Shur. However, Moses and the Israelites were in Egypt at the time of the request and the nearest wilderness was the wilderness of Shur, not the wilderness of Sinai. Sinai was more than forty days away. Gregg believes when Moses was asking of Pharoah to go three days into the wilderness to hold a feast to God Moses was referring to a supposed three-day journey from the wilderness of Sinai to the Sinai Mount and not a three-day journey FROM Egypt. There is no proof of this, however. After the departure from Egypt, the children of Israel traveled south and then crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness of Shur. It wasn't until several weeks later that the children of Israel entered the wilderness of Sinai. This is hardly a three-day journey into the wilderness, which is what Moses asked Pharaoh for. Gregg claims there was a feast on the day that the Law was given but that is nowhere taught in the Bible. The so-called feast is supposed to be in Exodus 19 and in that chapter there is no mention of a feast.

Gregg goes on to cite Numbers 10:33 which it states they (Israel) departed from the mount of the LORD three days journey.

Numbers 10:33 And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.

Gregg asserts that if it requires three days to leave the Mount of Sinai and its wilderness then it would require three days to travel to the Mount of the LORD from the border of the wilderness. This however isn't true. If I told you I jumped into my car and departed from Atlanta a three-hour journey that doesn't mean it takes three hours to depart greater Atlanta. Atlanta would be a distant memory in the rearview mirror after three hours.

Gregg argues that since the Hebrew words for "three days journey" in Numbers 10:33 are the same Hebrew words as those found in Exodus then those refer to the same three days journey that Moses requested from Pharaoh. A three-day journey TO Mount Sinai from Egypt would be the same as a three-day journey FROM Mt. Sinai. So when Exodus 19:1 states the children of Israel entered the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the third month Gregg claims they traveled three more days before reaching the mount itself. Hence, Moses was asked by God on Sivan 4 to come back to the mount on the third day which would be Sivan 6.

The above descriptions are according to how the rabbis reckoned the day of Shavuot. Under rabbinical reckoning, Shavuot could fall on any day of the week while according to Sadducee and Karaite reckoning Shavuot falls only on Sunday. That is because the rabbis counted the 50 days from the day after the so-called annual Sabbath (Nisan 15) and the Sadducees and Karaites count from the day after the first weekly Sabbath during Passover. Under Sadducee and Karaite usage, Shavuot would always fall on a Sunday, and under Rabbinical usage Shavuot could fall on any day of the week.

In the Exodus 19 account, there is no day of the week mentioned but it is generally assumed it happened on a Sabbath. As mentioned above Shavuot did not exist at the time the Law was given so either side can claim what they want. If Sivan 6 was a weekly Sabbath and Nisan had 30 days and Iyyar had 29 days, then Iyyar 28 would have been a Sabbath too. Counting backward we see that Nisan 16 would have been a weekly Sabbath as well. But the Sabbath wasn't revealed until some time after the departure from Egypt.

Here are some links to websites that claim that the giving of the Law was associated with Shavuot only in the first century CE.

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/holidays/2022-06-02/ty-article/the-twisted-history-of-shavuot/0000017f-e646-d97e-a37f-f7672fc90000?v=1682123136755

https://israelmyglory.org/article/shavuot-the-feast-of-weeks/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shavuot

https://talmidimyeshua.org/lawgiven.htm

https://www.biblestudyproject.org/bible-study-library/israel/was-the-law-of-moses-given-on-pentecost-a-tale-of-two-occasions/

https://www.thetorah.com/article/shavuot-the-festival-of-covenants

https://www.thetorah.com/article/shavuot-the-festival-of-covenants

And this one about rabbinical tradition:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rabbinic-Judaism

There are some that claim that Shavuot was associated with the giving of the Law as early as the second century BCE in the book of Jubilees. This is not accurate. Here is a link to the chapter from the book of Jubilees regarding the giving of the Law:

https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub12.htm

As you can see there is no evidence the giving of the Law occurred on Shavuot. Jubilees state it was on the sixteenth of the month and not the sixth. It is possible those in the Qumran community celebrated Shavuot on the sixteenth of the month and not the sixth but as you can read there is no association with Shavuot and the giving of the Law.

So, to sum up, the children of Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai sometime during the first week of Sivan, the third month. The exact day is unknown. Jewish tradition dating back to the first century CE places it on Sivan 4 and the giving of the Law on Sivan 6.

EDIT: It should be noted that at the time of the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures the beginning of the month was determined by the sighting of the thin crescent moon in the western sky as the sun set so it is not an absolute guarantee that Nisan had 30 days and the second month Iyar had 29 as it is in today's fixed Jewish calendar.

Most Jewish scholars today believe that Nisan did have 30 days and Iyar had 29 that year so Sivan 6 would be exactly 50 days from Nisan 16, the day after the so-called annual Sabbath (Nisan 15). Remember the Sadducees reckoned the beginning of the fifty-day count from the day after the first weekly Sabbath that fell during Passover week. Shavuot would therefore always fall on a Sunday. The Pharisees and rabbinical tradition wave the Omer on the day after the "annual" Sabbath and begin the count on Nisan 16. However, there is no scriptural basis for calling Nisan 15 a Sabbath. See my analysis here:

can Nisan 15 be referred to as "the sabbath"?

According to the Sadducee/Karaite reckoning, if Sivan 6 were indeed a weekly Sabbath then of course Nisan 16 would have been a weekly Sabbath too had the observance of the Sabbath actually been in force at the time. That means Shavuot that year would have fallen on Sunday, Sivan 7, had it actually existed that year. However, according to rabbinical reckoning, Shavuot could have fallen on any day of the week and therefore it falls on a weekly Sabbath that would have presented no problem.

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  • I should add that in modern times in places outside of Israel Sivan is celebrated on Sivan 7 and not on Sivan 6. I do not know why. Does anyone know? Jul 17, 2022 at 17:50
  • The answer above assumes that the Abib (Nisan) 15 date was an annual Sabbath and that the 50-day count to Shavuot began with the day after the annual Sabbath on Abib (Nisan) 15. The modern Jewish calendar uses this method of counting to Shavuot. Therefore, since the modern Jewish calendar is fixed, Shavuot always falls on Sivan 6 as they begin counting from the day after the annual Sabbath. Jul 17, 2022 at 19:42
  • In reality, the ancient Israelites began the countdown to Shavuot on the day after the weekly Sabbath. So there could actually be more than 50 days from Nisan 15 to Shavuot. The ancient Israelites counted seven weekly sabbaths from the day after the weekly Passover sabbath and celebrated Shavuot on the day following the seventh sabbath (hence, Sunday). Jul 17, 2022 at 19:49
  • The ancient Israelites celebrated the weekly Sabbath for the first time in Exodus 16, after the departure from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) was first mentioned in Exodus 34:22 in anticipation of the giving of the rules for the seven annual holy convocations in Leviticus 23. The giving of the Law occurred early in the month of Sivan, like sometime during the first week of Sivan. But there is no evidence the giving of the Law fell on Sivan 6. In reality., it seems more likely Sivan 4 was the day the Law was given. Jul 17, 2022 at 20:00
  • By ancient Israelites, I mean those who came out of Egypt and those who later entered the Promised Land, and those who lived in the time of the Judges and the Kings. I do not mean those who returned from Babylon as it seems likely those Jews did indeed celebrate Nisan 15 as an annual Sabbath. The forerunners of the Pharisees considered Nisan 15 to be the correct sabbath referred to 0n Leviticus 23. It was called an annual Sabbath as opposed to the weekly Sabbath. The Pharisees later insisted that the 50-day count (Shavout) was counted every year from Nisan 16 rather than the weekly Sabbath. Jul 19, 2022 at 1:47

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