The early track of 40 days
A very effective method of measuring and metering out each passing solar year can be recognized from a number of early souces. Ancient writings and artifacts (including certain monuments) make it clear that a cycle of 40 days was once carefully time tracked.
As the subsequently presented paragraphs will attempt to show, early astronomers appear to have once time tracked a cycle of 40 days for calendric purposes. The ancients appear to have also revered and celebrated this cycle in the practice of religion.
Why track 40th days?
It is most remarkable that each passing solar year can very effectively (even perfectly!) be measured and metered out by keeping track of every 40th day. Essentially, the annual transit which completes every 365.24219 days can just about EXACTLY be cross-referenced to a tally of those days that make up a 40-day cycle!
This respective axiom is easy to prove in the regard that 1 day in a cycle of 40 days (the 40th day) inherently comprises 2.5 percent of the time stream. This rate is also inherently equal to 9.131055 days per year (on average).
2.5 percent of all days = 9.131055 days per year
For the purposes of presenting a clear analysis, the rate of a unique day in each and every cycle of 40 days (the 40th day) will be typed or classed to be a rate of those days that are accounted for apart from other days comprising the annual cycle.
Through this interpretation, those days classed or typed as "40th days" should routinely be counted outside or set apart from the other days--which are generally classed or typed as "annual days".
The rate of the solar year can quite perfectly be correlated to a fixed count of the other day units (a number of "annual days") using a calendar count of 9 years--as is diagrammed below.
This ultimately means that--through the time track of an unbroken cycle of 40 days--a fixed count of annual days or calendar days (356 days) can always be counted out in correspondence with each passing year cycle.The following diagram attempts to show that a fixed number of solar-day units can effectively be correlated to the rate of each passing solar year. This correlation or cross-reference only requires that each passing 40th day (9.131055 days per year on average) always be counted apart from all of the other days (or those days counted as annual days or calendar days).
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A PERFECT 9-YEAR CALENDAR *
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Renewal = 1 day
Year 1 = 356 days
Year 2 = 356 days
Year 3 = 356 days
Year 4 = 356 days
Year 5 = 356 days
Year 6 = 356 days
Year 7 = 356 days
Year 8 = 356 days
Year 9 = 356 days
* - Each 40th day (a perpetual rate)
must be leaped or intercalated
apart from days comprising the
the cited calendar count.
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Calendar count = 3205.00000 days
40th (uncounted rate) = 82.17949 days
Average 9-year rate = 3287.17949 days
Annual calendar rate = 365.24217 days
Actual solar-year rate = 365.24219 days
Average difference = 2 seconds (!!!)
A quite exact cross-reference between the cycle of the solar day and the cycle of the solar year can thus be recognized in the rate of a 40-day cycle--where the rate of 1 day in 40 days is equal to 2.5 percent of time and the rate of 3205 days in 9 years is equal to 97.5 percent of time. (The combination of these two rates of days--when extended perpetually throughout time--can be used to effectively account for 100 percent of the passage of each annual annual circle on the average).
It should be clear from the calendar diagram presented that each passing solar year can very effectively be measured and metered out in correspondence with a number of 356 days but only as long as 40th days are not counted (or leaped) among the calendar days.
Note that the modern rate of solar year (which is 365.24219 days) can quite perfectly be metered out in correspondence with the cited number of calendar days (3205 days across 9 years). An annual difference of only 2.2 seconds per year is the inherent result of tracking 40th days separately from the time stream--as a perpetual rate.
An anciently tracked time cycle
Biblical and miscellaneous sources somewhat graphically describe that a cycle of 40 days was time tracked among the ancients.
The early time track of 40 days can be recited from the book of Exodus where it is shown that Moses was in the mount for 40 days and 40 nights (refer to Chapter 24: 10-18). The calendar term "40 days and 40 nights" is again recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses wrote:
"And I stayed in the mount ... to the rishown yowm [or to the 1st day , or the beginning day], 40 days and 40 nights... " (refer to Chapter 10:10).
This respective passage shows "the 1st day" as immediately following 40 days and 40 nights. This usage of "rishown yowm" (or 1st day, or beginning day) tends to indicate the early use of a cyclical or a chronological count of 40 days.
It here seems pertinent to note that the ancients would probably have understood the "epoch day" or the "beginning day" of a cycle of 40 days to be special or unique--as is further shown below.
The track of 40 days and 40 nights--as probably a cyclical count--can also be recited from the book of Genesis--refer to Chapters 7 and 8. In this respective book, a span of 40 days is shown in the 2nd month of the year, and again a span of 40 days is listed in association with the 10th month of the year. These two spans of 40 days obviously pertain to two different time cycles. Of further significance is that the two respective cycles are listed in an order or in a sequence that could be chronological.
The Jewish philosopher: Philo Judaeus (c. 25 BC - 45 AD) made a reference to the cyclical 40-day count of Genesis--as follows:
"... the overflow of the deluge took place for forty days... [thereafter] a hope of RENEWAL took place at intervals of forty days... " (Questions and Answers on Genesis, Part 2:33).
Other passages in the book of Genesis do further point to the possibility that the ancients did once time track 40 days in an unbroken cycle. Of considerable significance is that the author of Genesis has the flood of Noah occurring 1656 years from the epoch of creation. This number of years (1656) happens to exactly be divisible by 9 years. Furthermore, the number of days in 1656 years happens to be divisible by 40 days (plus 1 day).
Based upon the several usages of a cycle of 40 days--as they appear in the book of Genesis--it can ultimately be concluded that the author of Genesis was probably knowledgeable of the cited system of tracking time across a 9-year calendar.
A time span of 40 days can further be recited from the book of Genesis. This instance is in reference to a formal process for embalming the Egyptian dead (refer to Genesis 50:3).
Other Biblical books also contain instances of the ancient reckoning of a time cycle that was "40 days" in length. Some passages of text show "40 days and 40 nights", or more than "40 days". The additional wording (40 nights) was possibly added to distinguish that a respective instance was in reference to time tracking the rate of the solar year. Essentially, a cyclical (unbroken) count of 40 days and 40 nights would have been required so as to effectively measure and meter out each passing solar year--as previously described.
The following other instances of the usage of a time cycle of "40 days", or "40 days and 40 nights", can be recited from various passages of the Bible--as follows:
• According to certain precepts recorded in Chapter 12 of the book of Leviticus, a woman who had given birth to a male child was to endure a period of 40 days in her purfication. However, a woman who had given birth to a female child was to endure a period of 80 days in her purification.
• In the book of Numbers, the Israelites are shown to have first searched the promised land (Canaan) for a duration of 40 days (refer to 13 and 14).
• According to the book of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights during his journey to the mountain of God (refer to 19:8).
• A superstitious regard for this respective time cycle (40 days) appears to have also been held among others of the prophets. For example, the prophet Jonah warned: "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (refer to Jonah 3:4).
• Primal Christians can also be recited to have held special regard for a time span of 40 days. According to the synoptic Gospels, Jesus fasted and was "there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan... " (refer to Mark 1:13).
Christians subsequent to the time of the 1st century appear to have likewise held a superstitious regard for this particular span of time. For example, a Lenten period of 40 days is mentioned in Christian literature of the 4th century. A very early method for computing Easter each year appears to have been predicated--at least in part--upon a cyclical count of the 40th day (Greek: tessarakoste). This practice of counting a 40-day cycle can perhaps most clearly be recognized among Celtic Christians--where Passover/Easter appears to have been celebrated in association with an 84-year cycle. (Note that the number of days in 84 years is exactly divisible by 40 days). The annual custom of observing Lent continues to be practiced among a large segment of modern Christians.
The peculiar ancient reckoning of 9th parts of the year (40 days) can also be