Question:
I have been studying the story of Noah and the flood from a prophetic perspective. I keep feeling that there is something special about the calendar dates recorded when Noah entered the ark and six days later when God shut the door. I feel as if God recorded those specific dates for a reason, and it is nagging at me! I feel like there is a mystery in these dates, like maybe those events fell on what would later become Rosh Hashanah and six days later Yom Kippur. Do you have any insight or thoughts?
Dr. Fruchtenbaum's answer:
The calendar that was in effect at the time of Noah would not necessarily be the same as the calendar that began with Israel’s history at the time of the Exodus. In Leviticus 23, God initiated the seven holy seasons for Israel to practice, and He declared that the month of the Passover (March–April on the Gregorian calendar) was to start the year. Rabbinic theology later relegated what God said in this passage to mean that it referred to the first month of the religious year, which they claimed was what the Scriptures call the seventh month (September–October). They turned this seventh month into the first month of the civil year. It is important to remember that this is a rabbinic innovation and not a biblical conclusion. The dates provided in the account of Noah simply describe the exact chronological sequence of the flooding and how long the waters covered the earth.
In conclusion, there is no need to try to form an analogy between Noah’s calendar and the Jewish calendar. The dates of the account of Noah do not need to match the festivals because these were ordained later and were a part of a unique calendar given to the people of Israel in Leviticus 23.
