Astronomy 004

Genesis 1:14, 17-19 - And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.... God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning -- the fourth day.

I like astronomy, so this is one of my favorite days of creation. One of the most interesting things about it to me is God's stated purposes for creating these things.

1. To separate the day from the night
2. To mark seasons
3. To mark days
4. To mark years
5. To govern the day and the night
6. To give light on the earth
7. To separate light from darkness

Some of these are easy enough to understand. The sun and the moon are the main bodies that separate day from night, as well as govern them, give light on the earth, and separate (perhaps more distinctly than on Day 1) light from darkness. I sometimes wonder why God allows the moon to appear during the day though. I haven't done the math, but it may be connected to allowing the moon to have phases.

To mark days is again a main task of the sun.

To mark years could be considered a combination of the sun's, moon's, and stars' tasks. How did the ancients know how long a year was? Perhaps that brings us to the seasons. How many seasons were there during the first year after creation? Two -- seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, wet and dry, summer and winter? Many believe that there was no rain until after the Flood in Noah's day. If so, how does that figure in with pre-Flood seasons? Were there four seasons as we name them today -- spring, summer, autumn, and winter? What was it about the heavenly bodies that marked the seasons (no matter how many there were)? Were seasons considered nearly the same as months; that is, from one new moon to the next?

Since I'm almost talking about the calendar here...How many months did the ancients' year contain? Thirteen would be a much better fit than twelve. Consider, 13 x 28 = 364. Allowing for cosmic slowdowns and other cataclysmic events over the past several thousands of years, the standard year may have stretched to just over 365 days since that first year. If the original month was exactly 28 days (four weeks, works nicely) from new moon to new moon, then 13 months makes a dandy year. No messing with leap years.

I think Gregory's geeks got it wrong. I think we should go (back?) to a 13-month calendar. Just tack Day 365 onto the end of the year without making it a certain day of the week or part of any month. Whenever we do need a leap day, just tack a second day on too and call it Day 366. Both of those days would be holidays for anyone and everyone who can take one.