DOES THIS SCENARIO WORK FOR OTHER YEARS?
I have been asked the question: Have you checked out the possibility of this scenario playing out or taking place in any other year in the near future? And I believe this is a very fair question.
I myself have thought that it might just be a coincidence that the dates worked out like they did or maybe these dates will take place in the near future. So I spent some considerable time looking at that very possibility. After all, one only needs a Hebrew calendar and alot of time to count. You can even do it yourself! Here is the site I used for the Hebrew calendar: http://www.hebcal.com/hebcal/ -- you'll have to find your own time to count.
What I found was (to me) extremely important. I, first decided to look at the calendar by going back to the year 1947* and working my way forward year by year. What I found was fascinating. Not once did the dates even come close to working out like they did in the year 2009. All the way from 1947 until 2008. NOT ONCE!! And then, of course, I went forward from 2010 until the year 2055* and once again there were NO calendar dates that worked out like they did for this year! You ask, why would it not work out?
I think there is a reasonable answer to this question. First of all, you must realize that the Hebrew calendar is based upon a lunar model, while the Gregorian calendar is based upon the solar model. This does create some conflicts in dates. The Gregorian calendar adjusts every four years by adding one day in February (29th). While the Hebrew calendar creates some different adjustments. According to Wikipedia:
"Because of the roughly eleven-day difference between twelve lunar months and one solar year, the year lengths of the Hebrew calendar vary in a repeating 19-year Metonic cycle of 235 lunar months, with an intercalary lunar month added according to defined rules every two or three years, for a total of 7 times per 19 years.
That really helps???? What this is saying is that because the Hebrew calendar (lunar calendar) is short 11 days for every solar year they have to add an extra month about every two or three years. This extra month is known as Adar II. Anyways, that makes for some discrepancies when you are changing a Hebrew calendar into a Gregorian calendar. Still, because the calendars will realign themselves every 19 years, this, in and of itself, would not be enough to explain why this scenario only works in the year 2009.
Here is, I believe, the main reason the scenario only works in the year 2009, two words: Shabbat Hagadol! Like I stated in the article:
Shabbot Hagadol is the only day (that I know of) in the Hebrew calendar that is not a date sensitive celebration (if it was it would always fall on Nisan 10th). It is a floating holiday on the calendar and always falls on the Sabbath proceeding Passover.
It was not an accident that this date changed! If it is true that Miriam died on Nisan the tenth then what we see is an example of Romans 8:28:
"God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose
I believe that this reason (the floating holiday) makes it virtually impossible, for this scenario to work out in any year, period. Is it possible that the only reason it worked out for 2009 is because these things will begin to take place in 2009? We will shortly know! And if I am wrong, I will be the first to admit it.
God bless!
* I didn't need to go back any further than 1947 because Israel wasn't even a nation yet.
*You might ask, why did I stop my counting in the year 2055. Well I, for one, got tired of counting and for another: if our world gets that far without blowing itself I'll be shocked!
