Bible Question:
How many days are in a biblical month and a biblical year?
Bible Answer:
The question we are concerned with is, “How many days are in a biblical month and a biblical year?” The purpose of this article is to discover the answer. The biblical calendar is the calendar that is used by the Bible. It has 12 months. So once we know the number of days in a biblical month we can multiply the number of days in a month to discover how many days are in a biblical year. On occasion, both the Hebrew and Babylonian calendar years are mentioned in the Bible, but they are not biblical years. So, how many days are in a biblical month and a biblical year?
In order to discover how many days are in a biblical month, we will examine a passage in the book of Genesis and then demonstrate the accuracy of our conclusion from the book of Revelation. A biblical year contains 30 days per month or 360 days per year. This fact can be determined by comparing Genesis 7:11 with Genesis 8:2-4. In Genesis 7:11 we are told that the great flood that occurred during Noah’s life started on the six hundredth year, in the second month, and seventeenth day after his birth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. Genesis 7:11 (NASB)
Next, Genesis 8:4 tells us that the flood ended on the seventh month and the seventeenth day. So, that worldwide flood began on the second month and the seventeenth day and ended on the seventh month and the seventeenth day. The worldwide flood lasted five months to the day.
Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:2-4 (NASB)
Now notice that Genesis 8:2-3 says the flood lasted for 150 days. So, if we divide 150 days by 5 months, we discover a biblical month contains 30 days.
Next, Revelation 11:2-3 tells us that God would protect a woman, who symbolized Israel, for 1,260 days.
Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11:2-3 (NASB)
The time period of 42 months in verse 2 corresponds to the same time as 1,260 days in verse 3. That is, there are 1,260 days in 42 biblical months. For more information about Revelation 11 and in-depth teaching about these verses, visit the study Illusion of Freedom. If we divide 1,260 days by 42 months, once again we are told there are 30 days to a biblical month.
Conclusion
Therefore, we have discovered there are 30 days are in a biblical month and 360 days in a biblical year. There are also 12 months in a biblical year. This information is essential to correctly understanding the prophecies in Daniel 7:25; 9:25-27; 12:7 and Revelation 11:1-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5. They are all related to the same events in the end-time prophecies about the tribulation that occurs prior to the second coming of Christ, except the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-26 which is about the death of Christ.
Suggested Links:
The Final KingdomProphecy of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks – Daniel 9:24-27
Promise of Future Resurrection
Illusion of Freedom
Satan In A Rage
The Evil Messiah