Posted on 08/12/2014 2:30:01 AM PDT by markomalley
Our Heavenly Father gave us His timekeeping with the sun, moon and stars..
And the world is run off the sun only calendars today.. not unlike the ancient sun worshippers- nothing new under the sun.
Jews and muslims will break out the moon for calculations through the year at times convenient.
The stars get ignored in the timekeeping.
And the world major religions each get a pope gregory appointed sun based sabbath day in the counterfeit greco roman latin week.
Time has been counterfeited..and there is one master counterfeiter..
One year my son was performing in Godspell during Holy Week. The whole family came to see him on Good Friday (this show was in a public school and the director was unaware that it was Holy Week but said it was his favorite musical.) So we all decided to observe Good Friday starting the evening of Holy Thursday (the fasting etc.) so we could go out for pie after the show. I later found out that is actually the most appropriate thing to do.
The early monks used hour glasses and candles to mark the passing of the hours so that they could sing the liturgy of the hours. Lauds, 6:00 a.m.; Terce, 9:00 a.m.; Sext, noon; None -2:00 p.m.; Vespers, 6 p.m.; Compline 9 p.m.; and Invitatory - usually at 3:00 a.m. but also sung before the first prayer of the day. Bells rang for each. This system also measured the year since different psalms were sung throughout the year with I think the goal being that all the psalms would be read in a year’s time and the rest of the Bible in three years time.
There was a significant drive in the nautical industry for accurate time measurements which drove much of the advance. Without the ability it was impossible to determine longitude.
Latitude could be determined by the position of celesitial objects position to the north/south horizon, but longitude could only be determined in transit once there were accurate time pieces.
Oil drops were actually one of the first means to more accuratelly demark the time if I recall correctly.
My Bible, Ps 136: 8-9
A couple of related observations from this interesting article.
The fact that the Arabs and the Jews both use Lunar reckoned calendars but the Arabic / Islamic calendar makes no adjustments to the astronomical year. This means that their important dates and religious festivals cycle throughout the common astronomical year. My informed guess is that this is the difference between an agricultural people (Jews) and a sub-Equitorial nomadic herding culture (Arabs) where intra-year changes (day lengths and seasonal variations) were minimal.
As for close time measurements common in our modern world, that necessity got its big boost from oceanic navigation in the European late Middle Ages. When most commerce was conducted by land travel and coastal shipping, accurate time measuring was an option. Once the “Age of Exploration” came to Europe, the need for time measurement grew in importance. While magnetic compasses, speed measurements and latitude following were well known tools of ocean navigation, only time measurement could resolve the ‘Y’ coordinate of travel on the trackless seas. Read Dava Sobel’s excellent book “Longitude” for the story of the successful development of an accurate non-pendulum clock needed for time-keeping at sea. From there to our modern GPS and telecommunication systems is a logical path that our star-following ancestors would marvel at just as we marvel at their abilities for that skill!
From The Iliad:
Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her.
—Iliad xix.1
But soon as early Dawn appeared, the rosy-fingered, then gathered the folk about the pyre of glorious Hector.
—Iliad xxiv.776
Homer mentions the rosy-fingered dawn many times, obviously not a late sleeper like us later clock obsessed idiots.
The long stretches between the years having the extra months were the Dearth Veadar .....
Booo! Hiss! Bad pun!
I had a feeling someone was going to bring him up!
LOL!
Speaking of other celestial time references, the current "Dog Days" of Summer were so named by many cultures b/c they coincided with the dates when the Dog Star (Sirius) rises along with the Sun.
Another time tidbit RE Alpha Canis Majoris is that the star situated is due South at local midnight on New Years Day... Siriusly!
Then later the constellation Orion.
Thanks for the ping to this excellent column. They also reckoned years by the tenure of various officials, such as emperors.
Was the watch adjusted for Daylight Savings Time?
Frankly, there was no "Palestine" yet; the Romans named the land Palestina after the conclusion of the second Jewish-Roman war circa 138. Why call the land after the Philistines instead of its proper biblical names ("land of Israel" etc.) unless one is a Philistine ?
Jesus called it Israel, which should be good enough for any of his disciples. 23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.
Imagine having your birthday in Veadar?
Bummer.
Yep - Sunset to sunset is the general rule for fasting - then comes the feasting. Pie is a good way to feast. :)
Was the show good? I think the director may have been pulling a sneaky - you know how religion in schools is viewed and has been viewed for a few years now. I know my kids school invariably put on three performances of Jesus Christ, Superstar during Holy Week. I am sure the timing was purely coincidental. ;)
The show was amazing. He cast a Jewish kid named Joshua as Jesus. His parents were a bit concerned. Mark also produced JCSS. Our younger son was Pilot. He was offered Judas which is of course the biggest part but didn’t want to work that hard. My favorite role in that musical is Herod.
:D
It sounds amazing. Though yep - Herod is the leg the show stands on and is very hard work.
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