What Is An Intercalary Sabbath?
When I first started trying to understand the Hebrew calendar I had a hard time visualizing how some cycles worked--including intercalary days and new months.
So after quite a bit of studying and few calendar mockups it finally made sense.
What Is "Intercalary" Anyway?
First let's define it:
intercalary (adj)- (of a day or a month) inserted in the calendar to harmonize it with the solar year, e.g., February 29 in leap years. -Google Definition
Okay, so "a day inserted into the calendar to harmonize it."
Keep that in mind as it will make a LOT of sense later.
The Hebrew Calendar
According to the books of Enoch and Jubilees a Hebrew calendar year contains EXACTLY 364 days--no more, no less.
In this Hebrew calendar there are four seasons with three months in each season totaling 12 months.
If each month contains 30 days, then 12 months times 30 days equals 360 days--not quite 364.
One Day Short
Now if we lay the calendar out in groups by seasons, you will notice each season contains 13 weeks.
But the last week is short one day--one sabbath--to be a complete seven day week.
This is where we need "a day inserted into the calendar to harmonize it."
Add one day to each season now giving the third month, sixth month, ninth month and twelfth month 30 days plus 1 day--a total of 31 days and 13 complete weeks.
This adds four days to the calendar giving us the total of 364 days that we were looking for.
It All Comes Together
Only with these days included does the calendar maintain it's perfect and consistent pattern.
The seasons always begin on a first day of the week (these are the Feasts of New Months) and end on that extra day which is an inserted sabbath.
Hope this explains the concept a bit better.
If you are a visual learner like myself, it makes the most sense when I see it drawn or written out.
In my book, Keep the Feasts: A Comprehensive Preparation Guide for Feasts and Holy Days, I included the same 12-Month and 364-Day calendar breakdowns that allowed me to REALLY visualize how this calendar is absolutely perfect in its function.
Grab your copy in our shop!
Shalawam!