Why is the Hebrew calendar a lunar calendar?

Answer 1

just my thoughts but i do think that all early calenders were lunar based-might have to do with the fact that we used to be a hunter gatherer society and a full moon make for good hunting------good question---just my thoughts--smile and enjoy the day

Answer 2

Basing the calendar on something you can see, such as moon phases or sun movement, made it easy to keep track of the date before you have a paper calendar to look at.

Most calendar are lunar based, in fact the word "month" comes from "moon", because each month was originally a "moon" in length. But because the earth does not revolve around the suns in 360 days, (which would be a lunar year), a calendar based stirctly on the moon will be "off" by 5 days a year. This is why the Hebrew, and other strictly lunar calendar, have to add an occasional "leap month" to get things back in synch with the sun, or Christmas would be in July.

Because adding a whole month was too disruptive to bookkeeping, taxes, etc, a calendar eventually emerged that added the extra five days by have 30 days in some months and 31 in others. This solved the "solar" problem, but got the month out of synch with the moon. But it was less of an issue to have the full moon in the middle of the month then to have Christmas in July.

So the Hebrew and most other older calendar) have stayed strictly moon based, while our Gregorian Calendar has not.

Answer 3

Lunar calendars are easier to conceive, as they are largely based on the phases of the Moon, so they're the first ones people tended to develop.

Solar calendars require a settled population that can use fixed landmarks to establish the passage of a solar year, so they come later.

Answer 4

Genesis 1:14