Can someone explain to me how from Exodus 19:1a (On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt) the timescale of the third new moon is calculated to be in the region of 7 weeks.
the timescale of the third new moon is calculated to be in the region of 7 weeks.
Please clarify where you get this timescale from. Is it in the text somewhere, in a commentary, a Logos resource, something else?
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Oxford Bible Commentary and JPS Exodus Commentary
Plus ESV Study Bible; Eerdmans Bible Dictionary; Opening Up Exodus. BTW all books referred to are all Logos 6 resources
From Wikipedia:
"The time between new moons, the synodic month, is about 29.53 days"
Therefore counting:
Hmmmm, I see your problem
However:
According to an old rabbinic tradition (B. Megillah 31a), two alternative readings are recorded for Shavuot. "Habakkuk" is the haftarah to be read in conjunction with Deut. 16:9ff. ("You shall count off seven weeks"), whereas "The Chariot" (Merkavah) account in Ezekiel 1 is to be recited with Exod. 19:1ff. ("On the third new moon"). The talmudic passage continues: "But now that there are two days [of the festival], we do both [sets of readings]—but in reverse [sequence]." That is, Ezekiel 1 and its Torah portion are read on the first day of Shavuot, Habakkuk 3 and its portion on the second.
Fishbane, Michael A. Haftarot. The JPS Bible Commentary. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2002.
