What kind of events does Scripture assign exact dates to, and why? Let’s consider a few events in Israel’s history and see.
The establishment of a kingship in Israel was a pretty big deal, right? So when exactly did Saul rise to power? What was the day of his coronation? (Or the month if you prefer?) How about David’s coronation? (I don’t need an exact year BC--‘on the Xth day of the Yth month’ will do fine.) Or Solomon’s? Or Rehoboam’s? Or Abijah’s? ...
Do we know the day or month when any king of Judah acceded to the throne? Or any king of Israel? Or when any of these kings fought any of their major battles?
To the best of my knowledge, we don’t. The books of Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles record thousands of different events, many of which changed Israel’s history for ever, and yet we can’t assign exact days and/or months to more than a handful of them.
We can, however, assign exact days and months to a certain type of event in Israel’s history. Consider a few examples.
We know exactly when the exodus took place--that is to say, we can assign it to a specific day and month (Exod. 12.18, 16.1, etc.). We know exactly when the Tabernacle was erected (Exod. 40.17), when Israel entered Canaan (Josh. 4.19), when the Temple was dedicated (2 Chr. 7), when Jerusalem fell (2 Kgs. 25), and so on.
Why these events and not others? What connects them? The answer, I suggest, is the sanctuary--or, more generally, the priesthood.
Priests as Keepers of Time
In the ancient world, it was typically the role of a society’s priests to administer its calendar, and for good reason. Priests had important rituals to perform at key dates in the year, which they needed to know about and prepare for. Furthermore, many priests functioned as part-time astronomers: they observed the stars, practiced divination, announced new months (on the basis of new moons), and might even have announced ‘leap months’ (to keep the religious calendar in sync with the agricultural cycle).
The same can be said of Israel’s priesthood (to a greater or lesser extent).1 The Tabernacle’s inauguration was scheduled to take place on the first day of the religious year (Exod. 40.2), and the performance of particular sacrifices at particular times would have provided a natural way for the priesthood to track time (e.g., Sabbaths, new moons, etc.: Num. 28), as would the rotation of priestly courses (cp. 1 Chr. 24); indeed, the purpose of the earliest detailed calendars found in Israel (at Qumran) is precisely to schedule such courses.
Suppose, then, the Levites were Israel’s time-keepers--the administrators of Israel’s calendar.
That the Biblical narrative records the particular dates mentioned above then makes good sense. The priests would have taken a particular interest in the movements of the ark (e.g., when they carried it ark across the river Jordan at Joshua’s command), as they would in events at the Temple--its dedication, re-dedication, fall, reconstruction, etc.
These facts come into sharp relief when we consider the Levites’ role as keepers/preservers not only of the calendar, but also of Scripture.
Priests as Keepers of Scripture
Scripture was to be read and recited all over Israel. The book of the law, however, appears to have been preserved primarily in the sanctuary. As Dirk Jongkind points out (in his ‘Introduction to the Greek New Testament’), the tablets of the law were housed in the ark (1 Kgs. 8.5) (a vessel made specifically in order to house God’s word: Deut. 10.1–5), and the book of the law was later entrusted to the Levites, whose job was to carry the ark (Deut. 31.24–26)--a fact which may explain why kings were told to make a copy of the law ‘before the Levitical priests’ (מלפני הכהנים הלוִיִם) (Deut. 17.18).
Just as master-copies of deeds and prophecies were ‘laid up’ (to allow later generations to consult them: cp. Isa. 8.16, 29.11, Jer. 32.10–11, Dan. 8.26, 12.4), so a master-copy of the law would have been laid up in in the vicinity of the sanctuary. Hence, in Samuel’s day, the place where regulations are safeguarded is the sanctuary (1 Sam. 10.25); in Josiah’s day, the book of the law is (re)discovered not in a private residence or the palace, but in the Temple (2 Kgs. 22); and, in the post-exilic era, the law is re-established in Jerusalem when a priest (Ezra) comes to teach it there (Ezra 7–8).
Some (Scriptural) documents may even have been ‘date-stamped’ when they entered the sanctuary archives. Consider, for instance, the introduction to Ezekiel’s memoirs, where a sanctuary date-stamp appears to have been added (in the third person) between Ezekiel’s date formula and his first vision:
[Ezekiel]: In the 30th year, in the 4th month, on the 5th day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
[Sanctuary stamp]: On the 5th day of the month (it was the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the YHWH came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the YHWH was upon him there.
[Ezekiel]: As I looked, behold…
Other records would also (presumably) have been kept in and around the sanctuary. Only descendants of Levi could function as priests, so it would have made sense for genealogical records to have been stored in the sanctuary (cp. Ezra 2.61–62), which is known to have been the case in the Second Temple era.
Given these considerations, we can provide a plausible account of the various ‘day-stamps’ we find in the Biblical record of Israel’s history.2 Below, I’ll list each group of day-stamps in the Biblical record together with a description of how it could have been preserved in the collective memory of the priesthood and/or the sanctuary records.
[Observation]: Exod. 16.1 and Num. 10.11 note the days on which Israel arrived at particular locations in the wilderness. [Explanation]: Moses (a Levite) is known to have made a detailed record of Israel’s travels in the wilderness (cp. Num. 33), which could have included dates and hence informed the sanctuary of them.
[Observation]: Num. 1.1 notes the day on which Israel’s census was taken. [Explanation]: As the keepers of Israel’s genealogical records, the sanctuary would have been a logical place for records of Israel’s census to have been day-stamped and laid up. (Censuses need to be dated.)
[Observation]: Num. 33.38 and Deut. 1.3 note the days on which Aaron and Moses died. [Explanation]: Moses and Aaron were Levites, and their deaths would have been events of great significance, which the sanctuary may have sought to ‘observe/memorialise’ in some way in future years.
[Observation]: Josh. 4.19 notes when Israel entered into Canaan. [Explanation]: Israel were led into Canaan by the priests themselves (at Joshua’s command), and the date of their entrance would have been a memorable one since it preceded the Passover by only a few days (Josh. 5.10).
[Observation]: 2 Chr. 7 and 29.17 note when the Temple was dedicated and later re-dedicated. [Explanation]: The Temple’s dedication (in Solomon’s day) and re-dedication (in Hezekiah’s day) would have been epochal moments as far as the priesthood was concerned, and would surely have been reflected in the sanctuary’s records.
[Observation]: 1 Kgs. 12.32 notes when a rival system of worship was established in the northern kingdom (1 Kgs. 12.32). [Explanation]: The northern kingdom observed a paganised version of the feast of Tabernacles a month after the southern kingdom, which would have been of particular concern to the priesthood (and may have prompted certain priests to abandon their northern residences).3
[Observation]: 2 Kings 25 notes the days on which Jerusalem’s defences were breached prior to the Temple’s fall. [Explanation]: Needless to say, the timetable of the Temple’s fall would have been of particular significance to the priesthood and is still reflected in Israel’s calendar today (cp. Tisha B’Av); furthermore, the text of 2 Kings 25 is likely to stem from the records of Jeremiah the priest (Jer. 52).
[Observation]: Ezra 3.6 and 6.15 note the days on which the sacrificial system was re-instituted and the Temple was rebuilt. [Explanation]: Ezra was a priest (and scribe), and these events would have been of particular significance to him.
[Observation]: Ezra 7.9 (etc.) and Neh. 8.2 (etc.) note the days on which various important assemblies took place. [Explanation]: These assemblies were of great significance to Ezra’s ministry, and, whenever the book of Nehemiah dates them, Ezra is present.
[Observation]: Unlike the prophecies of people like Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, a large number of Ezekiel’s prophecies and narratives are dated with a day-stamp (Ezek. 1.1, 8.1, 20.1, 24.1, etc.). [Explanation]: Ezekiel was not only a prophet; he was also a priest, and many of his prophecies were delivered in and around the Temple and/or concerned its future. Either he or the sanctuary’s administrators could have day-stamped them. (Two prophecies are double-dated: 1.1–3, 40.1.)
[Observation]: Many of Haggai and Zechariah’s prophecies are likewise dated (e.g., Hag. 1.1, 2.1, Zech. 1.7, 7.1, etc.). [Explanation]: Haggai and Zechariah’s prophecies were delivered directly to Jeshua the high-priest after the re-institution of the daily sacrifices (Ezra 5.1ff.); furthermore, they explicitly concerned the Temple’s reconstruction. They could plausibly have been day-stamped and later laid up in the sanctuary archives.
Note: The same pattern is evident in the books of Maccabees, where the only references to specific days concern Antiochus’s removal of the Temple sacrifice (1 Macc. 1.54, 59, 4.52, 2 Macc. 1.18, 10.5), the establishment of the day of Nicanor on the basis of its relationship to extant liturgy, i.e., Purim (1 Macc. 7.43, 2 Macc. 14.36), and the reign of Simon the high priest (1 Macc. 13.51, 14.27).
Final Reflections
Exact days are rarely identified in Scripture. Events we might think of as highly significant--the coronation of kings, victories in battle, etc.--are not assigned to particular days. Events of particular concern to the priesthood, however, are. The sanctuary is like a clock which was assembled in the wilderness and deposited in Jerusalem, and, when the Biblical narrative enters its vicinity, day-stamps frequently appear. As such, the presence of day-stamps in Scriptural texts has the potential to tell us about their place of composition and/or preservation, and reflects the way in which time was kept in the sanctuary, measured by its sacrificial and liturgical timetable.
A priesthood in Israel is mentioned in Scripture before the Levites were officially ordained (cp. Exod. 19.22). Apparently, the Mosaic law simply made the role of the Levites official (and prohibited non-Levitical priests) in much the same way as it made the duty of yibbum—which was already a moral obligation (Gen. 38)—an official duty (Deut. 25).
Daniel and Esther are different. Their narratives are set in Babylon and, consequently, they reflect a different calendrical environment.
The northern kingdom’s feast occurred exactly a month after the southern kingdom’s feast of Tabernacles, i.e., on the 15th day of the 8th month. It may therefore reflect an ‘unauthorised’ intercalation of the northern calendar, i.e., the addition of a leap month. From the northern kingdom’s perspective, then, the events of 1 Kings 12 would have taken place at the time of the feast of Tabernacles, while, from the southern kingdom’s perspective, they would have taken place a month too late.
This is so interesting and compelling. Thank you. What came immediately to my mind was the symbolic element of the Levitical musical practice established under David's reign. Cultivating musical practice in the priestly families symbolically unifies both concerns: keepers of time + keepers of the Word of God. Music's extraordinary ability to aid our memories and absorption of text, while also delighting our hearts and giving us a practice whereby communally we participate in both ordered linear time and cosmic time seems not incidental to Scripture's description of priestly work. Thank you again for your wonderful reflections!