Nephite Calendar - updated Feb 26, 2018
I've been wondering a little about the Nephite calendar. Some of this post had been in a previous post, but when I started adding more to it, I decided it needed its own post.
In the Nephite calendar the destruction that happened at the Savior's birth began "in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month"(3 Nephi 8:5).
Do we know if their calendar was similar to ours, where the first month is at the beginning of the year?
Maybe they used a calendar like the Mayans.
Or, maybe their calendar followed the Hebrew calendar, where the new year begins in the fall (the month of Tishri) but the "first month" is in the spring, the month of Nissan, when Passover occurs (see this article for more information http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm). This would make it confusing if someone said an event happened in the "first month" but that first month is in the middle of the year.
To add to the calendar confusion, the Hebrew months are based on a lunar cycles, and Hebrew years correspond to lunar cycles, not a solar year like the Gregorian calendar. Because the months are based on the cycles of the moon, Hebrew months change with respect to corresponding Gregorian months (the modern day calendar used by most of the world is the Gregorian calendar). In the Hebrew calendar, Months are either 29 or 30 days, depending on the moon's cycle.
For more confusion, Jewish calendar years are either 12 or 13 months long. This is because while it takes 365.25 for the earth to make a full orbit around the sun, during that time there are 12.4 lunar cycles. This makes 12 lunar months 11 days shorter than a solar year. A 13-month lunar year is 19 days longer than a solar year.
In order to keep holidays during the same season each year, the Jews use a 12 month calendar, and every few years an additional month of Adar (called Adar I) is added right before the normal month of Adar (which during these leap years is called Adar II, Adar Sheini or Adar Beit), during the February/March time. It's kind of like adding a leap month. Since becoming standardized--according to mathematical and astronomical calculations--in the fourth century, these leap months happen every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of a 19-year cycle.
If the "first month" was at the beginning of the new year, like most civilizations that followed a solar calendar, the people only had to wait four days for the sign of three days of darkness.
In 3 Nephi 8:3 we read, "And, the people began to look with great earnestness for the sign...." But, in verse four it states, "And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people," which implies a time period that was much longer than just four days. If it wasn't longer than four days, the, people were really impatient for the sign, and it seems like a very short time for "disputations" to go among the people, as long as they didn't have mass, instant communication like social media that could work people up quickly over a short time.
Of course, I'm assuming the people had an idea of when to be looking for the signs of Christ's death. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied and told the people the sign for the Savior's birth would happen in 5 years. But, did he give them a time frame to look for with regards the the signs of the Lord's death? He told them what the signs would be, but if he didn't give a precise number of years, then it would add to the "great doubtings and disputations."
Because the people were looking for the sign, I suspect they had a good idea when it was supposed to happen, since they "began to look with great earnestness for the sign." It is likely either another prophet's prophesy, or it was one Samuel's prophesies that wasn't included, as we read in Helaman chapter 14 verse 1, "And it came to pass that Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written."
I believe most people who read the Book of Mormon read "first month" and believe it is the beginning of the new year, and not the middle as the Hebrew calendar is. We can also be fairly certain that the Nephite "first month" was at the beginning of their year, at least before the Nephites changed their calendar after the Lord's birth.
I did a search for "first month" in the Book of Mormon. There were three references.
In the first two, both in Alma, it seems fairly clear that the first month was at the beginning, or commencement, of the new year.
In Alma 52:1 we read:
Because they followed the Law of Moses, I believe the Nephites did use the Hebrew calendar, at least for identifying religious celebrations and holidays.
What time of year was the "first month?"
At least before the Lord's birth, the first month happened at the beginning of the year.
If they had been following the Hebrew calendar, at least for when new years began, then the beginning of the year happened in the fall, and the Nephites would have considered the September/October time as the first of the year, and they would have seen that time as the first month as well. So, when the Savior was born they would have changed when the beginning of the year happened, and also changed their first month, to the spring time.
If the Nephites used the Hebrew calendar only according to the months, and not when the beginning of the new year occurred, then they they would have already considered the March/April season as the first month, and it would have also been the beginning of their new year. When certain events happened, such as moving from the reign of kings to the reign of judges, and when the Savior was born, they simply changed the year count. This would've been the simplest change to make because the "first month" would have stayed the same.
Another possibility, is the Nephites used a 12-month, 365 day calendar. Orson Pratt proposed the Nephites had a 365-day calendar year. It may have been similar to the Egyptian calendar being used the the time Lehi left Jerusalem. The Nephites would have still used the Hebrew calendar for religious holidays and celebrations, according to the Law of Moses, but for everyday life they would use their own 365 day calendar. If this was the case, we can't be certain of what season of the year the "first month" would have been.
A problem arises if they did not account for the quarter day lost every four years, as their calendar would have slowly drifted off by a day after every four years. After 600 years the calendar would have been off by about 150 days, or 5 30-day months.
We know, at least for religious reasons, the Nephites also marked time from when Lehi left Jerusalem. It's possible with this starting point that time became the "first month." We're not sure when Lehi left, but one researcher, John P. Pratt, thinks it was probably on Saturday, 5 Apr 601 BC, in the evening. Saturday is the Sabbath day for the Jews, so Lehi would not have left in the day, but would have waited until after the sunset. Interestingly, after the sunset the Jews would have considered it to be the beginning of a new day, or April 6th in our calendar. If this was the case, Lehi's family left in the Jewish first month, or during the Passover season. Maybe it was during one of these spring celebrations where Laban had a little too much to drink
We read in 3 Nephi chapter 1 verse 1, "Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year had passed away and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem." And, then in verse 5, after the 92nd year had begun, "But there were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite."
We know the Nephites were marking time from when Lehi left Jerusalem, and Lehi and Nephi prophesied it would be 600 years from Lehi's family leaving until the birth of Christ. For an exact count, Passover-Passover, Lehi would have left in April 601 B.C. since we believe the Lord was born in April 6, 1 B.C.
Did you see the corresponding dates? If Pratt is right and Lehi left in the evening, after the sun set, on 5 April 601 BC (using the Jewish reckoning of when a day starts, it was April 6), then it was exactly 600 years of Passovers from that time until the Savior was born on April 6, 1 BC.
If they used that time reference as the beginning month for their years, then April would be the first month of the year. This, mostly, corresponds with the Hebrew calendar's first month. But if they were using a 365-day civil calendar, the April time would only have remained the season of the first month if they were accounting for the one-day lost every four years. If they weren't, then only an accurate accounting of Passover-to-Passover years would've given them the exact 600 years.
If they were only using their civil calendar, and didn't account for the 150 days it was off after 600 years, then there would've been a lot of people who would've said the time was past for the signs of the Savior's birth. And, it's not clear what starting and ending calendar reference Samuel the Lamanite was using when he made his prophesy. Was if from the exact day he prophesied? Was his prophesy from an upcoming Passover celebration, and it would be 5 years from that time? We only know it was during the 86th year that Samuel came to Zarahemla and preached to the Nephites.
Returning to 3 Nephi chapter 8, in verse 5, we read:
Here's another possibility. for the "doubtings" and "disputations" concerning when the signs of the Lord's death would occur. We already looked at the possibility that their calendar year could have been 150 days off, but it's possible their timing of the Passover might have been off as well.
If the Nephites followed the Hebrew method of calendaring (at least for religious purposes), and if they had worked out a similar pattern of years to add a leap month in every few years to keep the Passover in the spring, then the 33rd year would correspond to one of the leap years, meaning it would have been 30 days longer than normal years. Extending the previously mentioned 19-year cycle, the 22nd, 25th, 27th, 30th, and 33rd years would have had an extra month added.
Of course, as mentioned, this formalized timing for what years the leap-month would be added to only happened in the 4th century A.D. So, the Nephites would've either been using the less accurate traditions of the earlier Jews for establishing the Passover season, and adding a month to the year when needed, or they would have developed their own calculations.
If the Nephites were using a 365-day calendar, after 33 years it would've been off by just over 8 days.
Other than the signs of Christ's death, we don't know what time frame the people were told. Were they told the signs would happen before the end of the 33rd year? Were they told 33 Passovers would not pass before the signs would come? If they had been told that the signs of Christ's death would happen within 33 years after his birth, then the end of the 33rd year the people would be looking "with great earnestness for the sign."
Using both of these possibilities, a civil calendar that could've been off by 8 days and a religious calendar that might've been off by a month, it definitely could've added to the "doubtings" and "disputations" that were happening before the sign of the Lord's death.
What if they had been told that the signs of the Lord's death would come before 33 years had passed, and the signs didn't happen until their 34th year? If that were the case, the prophesy would have referred to Passover-to-Passover years, and not regular civil years. But, most people would have considered it to be the normal years.
In one of the articles linked below, John Pratt has a timeline. He places the morning after the sign of the Savior's birth as 6 Apr 1 B.C. The Lord would have been born the night before, which, according to the Hebrew calendar would have still corresponded to our calendar's 6 April, as the new day begins with the setting of the sun. If the Nephites were using a 365-day solar based civil calendar, then they would have reset their calendar to that morning being the first day of the first month.
In Pratt's timeline, he places the Lord's death on Fri 1 Apr AD 33. It would have been the afternoon in Israel. Isreal is about 9 hours ahead of Utah, in standard time. So, if the Lord died at about 3 PM, then it would have been about 6 AM in Utah, 8 AM along the U.S. eastern coast. The people in the Americas would have just been getting their day started when the destruction began.
Although the Nephites didn't use our calendar, let's use it for setting the birth of the Savior as the beginning of the first month of our year, January 1. If we didn't account for the quarter-day lost every 4 years, then after 33 years we would think the beginning of the 34th year was 1 January. But, with the loss of 8.25 days during those 33 years, the 34th year would actually not begin for another 8 days.
In other words, our calendar would show January 1, but the true calendar year should actually correlate to December 24. To the Nephites, the Lord was born on the first day of the first month. But, by the Lords death, their calendar was probably 8 days behind. Adding to that the uncertainty of the accuracy of their religious calendar, they may have still been looking towards an upcoming Passover, or just celebrated it.
Another problem for the Nephites is that a few years earlier there had been a coup attempt. Most of the judges, lawyers, high priests, along with friends and families, conspired to destroy the people of the Lord, defy the laws and rights of the country, destroy the governor, and "establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings" (read 3 Nephi 6:27-30).
The result of the coup was the chief judge of the land was murdered, but the people divided and separated into their own tribes as a result of the divisions and contention in the land. They were no longer united. There was no central government. This occurred during the last three years.
If the Lord was born on April 6 and died on April 1, that is a difference of 5 days, or 4 days between if you don't count the actual day of either event. Using those dates, the Lord died just 4 days shy of 33 years. If these events were based on a 365.25 day solar year, then any calendar using that accuracy would have had the death occur 4 days before the beginning of the 34th year. If my math is right, to a 365-day calendar calendar the death would have happened 12 days before the beginning of the 34th year.
To the Nephites the signs of the Lord's death happened four days after the start of the 34th year. Why is that?
We need to remember the real timing was not according to the civil calendar, but most likely according to the religious calendar marking years from Passover-to-Passover. And, if the Nephites were following a fairly accurate religious calendar then they would've just about started the Passover celebration, just like the Jews.
Here's another calendar tidbit.
In our Gregorian reckoning, the Savior was born in 1 B.C. and he turned 1 year old in A.D. 1 (there is no zero year). And, it is our understanding he was crucified when he was 33 years old, or about A.D. 33. It is very likely that the morning of his resurrection happened on Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33 (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1985/06/the-restoration-of-priesthood-keys-on-easter-1836-part-1-dating-the-first-easter?lang=eng).
If we believe the Savior died in A.D. 33, why does the Book of Mormon put the year of the sign of the Savior's death at A.D. 34?
First we need to realize those years are according to the Nephite time references, but I think most people assume they correspond exactly to our Gregorian calendar years.
In the printed Book of Mormon, at the bottom of the pages for 3 Nephi chapter 8, it shows A.D. 34. In the online edition, the chapter heading reads:
The reason is the Nephites started the numbering of their years with the sign of the Savior's birth. In chapter 2 of 3 Nephi we read:
Something to keep in mind when we read the Book of Mormon is in our Gregorian calendar we consider January 1 to be the beginning of a new year, with January being the "first month." However, the Nephites used a different calendar system, and we aren't sure when their "first month" was. It's possible the first month started out in the spring and ever the centuries it drifted back, due to calendar inaccuracies.
We can be fairly certain that after the Savior was born the Nephite calendar seems to reflect spring as the beginning of the new year. If they still used a 365-day calendar after the Savior's birth, and did not incorporate a calendar correction by adding a day every four years, then by Mormon's time, and the great battle at Cumorah, the calendar would've been off by 96 days. Instead of their new year starting in what we know as April, the beginning of the new year would have been starting at the beginning of our January.
Could they have developed a more accurate calendar? It's possible. But even the Mayan calendar, which many people mistakenly believe is accurate, has one of its three calendars based on a 365-day solar year, without any leap years. If the Nephite's calendar did have its inaccuracies corrected, it most likely didn't happen until sometime after the Savior visited them.
This is also assuming the Nephites were like us, where we are more concerned with measuring time precisely so dates fall at the same time each year. It's possible the Nephites knew a 365-day calendar lost a day every four years but they weren't concerned with it, like we are.
It's also a very real possibility that the Nephites used one calendar system, while the Lamanites, or at least some of them, used a different calendar system. Yes, the two groups originate from the same family and likely started with the same calendar. But, it could have changed. And, we assume the Lamanites didn't join with other people who may have been also living in the Americas, and who may have had their own calendars. Personally, I think it's very likely there were other groups of people living in the Americas at the time, which may be a reason why the Lamanites were always so much more numerous.
----
Some interesting articles--
http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon_Chronology
This is the article referenced in my post from John Pratt
http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2004/nephite.html
In the Nephite calendar the destruction that happened at the Savior's birth began "in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month"(3 Nephi 8:5).
Do we know if their calendar was similar to ours, where the first month is at the beginning of the year?
Maybe they used a calendar like the Mayans.
Or, maybe their calendar followed the Hebrew calendar, where the new year begins in the fall (the month of Tishri) but the "first month" is in the spring, the month of Nissan, when Passover occurs (see this article for more information http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm). This would make it confusing if someone said an event happened in the "first month" but that first month is in the middle of the year.
To add to the calendar confusion, the Hebrew months are based on a lunar cycles, and Hebrew years correspond to lunar cycles, not a solar year like the Gregorian calendar. Because the months are based on the cycles of the moon, Hebrew months change with respect to corresponding Gregorian months (the modern day calendar used by most of the world is the Gregorian calendar). In the Hebrew calendar, Months are either 29 or 30 days, depending on the moon's cycle.
For more confusion, Jewish calendar years are either 12 or 13 months long. This is because while it takes 365.25 for the earth to make a full orbit around the sun, during that time there are 12.4 lunar cycles. This makes 12 lunar months 11 days shorter than a solar year. A 13-month lunar year is 19 days longer than a solar year.
In order to keep holidays during the same season each year, the Jews use a 12 month calendar, and every few years an additional month of Adar (called Adar I) is added right before the normal month of Adar (which during these leap years is called Adar II, Adar Sheini or Adar Beit), during the February/March time. It's kind of like adding a leap month. Since becoming standardized--according to mathematical and astronomical calculations--in the fourth century, these leap months happen every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of a 19-year cycle.
If the "first month" was at the beginning of the new year, like most civilizations that followed a solar calendar, the people only had to wait four days for the sign of three days of darkness.
In 3 Nephi 8:3 we read, "And, the people began to look with great earnestness for the sign...." But, in verse four it states, "And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people," which implies a time period that was much longer than just four days. If it wasn't longer than four days, the, people were really impatient for the sign, and it seems like a very short time for "disputations" to go among the people, as long as they didn't have mass, instant communication like social media that could work people up quickly over a short time.
Of course, I'm assuming the people had an idea of when to be looking for the signs of Christ's death. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied and told the people the sign for the Savior's birth would happen in 5 years. But, did he give them a time frame to look for with regards the the signs of the Lord's death? He told them what the signs would be, but if he didn't give a precise number of years, then it would add to the "great doubtings and disputations."
Because the people were looking for the sign, I suspect they had a good idea when it was supposed to happen, since they "began to look with great earnestness for the sign." It is likely either another prophet's prophesy, or it was one Samuel's prophesies that wasn't included, as we read in Helaman chapter 14 verse 1, "And it came to pass that Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written."
I believe most people who read the Book of Mormon read "first month" and believe it is the beginning of the new year, and not the middle as the Hebrew calendar is. We can also be fairly certain that the Nephite "first month" was at the beginning of their year, at least before the Nephites changed their calendar after the Lord's birth.
I did a search for "first month" in the Book of Mormon. There were three references.
In the first two, both in Alma, it seems fairly clear that the first month was at the beginning, or commencement, of the new year.
In Alma 52:1 we read:
"And now, it came to pass in the twenty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, behold, when the Lamanites awoke on the first morning of the first month..."and Alma 56:1 it states:
"And now it came to pass in the commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the judges, on the second day in the first month."Here are some questions. First, were they following the Hebrew calendar in any way, or did they only use their own system? The second , what changes did the Nephites make to their calendar after the Savior was born? And, as a follow-up, what calendar changes were made when they changed from kings to the reign of judges?
Because they followed the Law of Moses, I believe the Nephites did use the Hebrew calendar, at least for identifying religious celebrations and holidays.
What time of year was the "first month?"
At least before the Lord's birth, the first month happened at the beginning of the year.
If they had been following the Hebrew calendar, at least for when new years began, then the beginning of the year happened in the fall, and the Nephites would have considered the September/October time as the first of the year, and they would have seen that time as the first month as well. So, when the Savior was born they would have changed when the beginning of the year happened, and also changed their first month, to the spring time.
If the Nephites used the Hebrew calendar only according to the months, and not when the beginning of the new year occurred, then they they would have already considered the March/April season as the first month, and it would have also been the beginning of their new year. When certain events happened, such as moving from the reign of kings to the reign of judges, and when the Savior was born, they simply changed the year count. This would've been the simplest change to make because the "first month" would have stayed the same.
Another possibility, is the Nephites used a 12-month, 365 day calendar. Orson Pratt proposed the Nephites had a 365-day calendar year. It may have been similar to the Egyptian calendar being used the the time Lehi left Jerusalem. The Nephites would have still used the Hebrew calendar for religious holidays and celebrations, according to the Law of Moses, but for everyday life they would use their own 365 day calendar. If this was the case, we can't be certain of what season of the year the "first month" would have been.
A problem arises if they did not account for the quarter day lost every four years, as their calendar would have slowly drifted off by a day after every four years. After 600 years the calendar would have been off by about 150 days, or 5 30-day months.
We know, at least for religious reasons, the Nephites also marked time from when Lehi left Jerusalem. It's possible with this starting point that time became the "first month." We're not sure when Lehi left, but one researcher, John P. Pratt, thinks it was probably on Saturday, 5 Apr 601 BC, in the evening. Saturday is the Sabbath day for the Jews, so Lehi would not have left in the day, but would have waited until after the sunset. Interestingly, after the sunset the Jews would have considered it to be the beginning of a new day, or April 6th in our calendar. If this was the case, Lehi's family left in the Jewish first month, or during the Passover season. Maybe it was during one of these spring celebrations where Laban had a little too much to drink
We read in 3 Nephi chapter 1 verse 1, "Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year had passed away and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem." And, then in verse 5, after the 92nd year had begun, "But there were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite."
We know the Nephites were marking time from when Lehi left Jerusalem, and Lehi and Nephi prophesied it would be 600 years from Lehi's family leaving until the birth of Christ. For an exact count, Passover-Passover, Lehi would have left in April 601 B.C. since we believe the Lord was born in April 6, 1 B.C.
Did you see the corresponding dates? If Pratt is right and Lehi left in the evening, after the sun set, on 5 April 601 BC (using the Jewish reckoning of when a day starts, it was April 6), then it was exactly 600 years of Passovers from that time until the Savior was born on April 6, 1 BC.
If they used that time reference as the beginning month for their years, then April would be the first month of the year. This, mostly, corresponds with the Hebrew calendar's first month. But if they were using a 365-day civil calendar, the April time would only have remained the season of the first month if they were accounting for the one-day lost every four years. If they weren't, then only an accurate accounting of Passover-to-Passover years would've given them the exact 600 years.
If they were only using their civil calendar, and didn't account for the 150 days it was off after 600 years, then there would've been a lot of people who would've said the time was past for the signs of the Savior's birth. And, it's not clear what starting and ending calendar reference Samuel the Lamanite was using when he made his prophesy. Was if from the exact day he prophesied? Was his prophesy from an upcoming Passover celebration, and it would be 5 years from that time? We only know it was during the 86th year that Samuel came to Zarahemla and preached to the Nephites.
Returning to 3 Nephi chapter 8, in verse 5, we read:
"And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land"Since we know the Savior was crucified during the Passover season, the Nephites, at least at that time, considered the April time as their "first month" and the beginning of the year as they reset their calendars when the Savior was born.
Here's another possibility. for the "doubtings" and "disputations" concerning when the signs of the Lord's death would occur. We already looked at the possibility that their calendar year could have been 150 days off, but it's possible their timing of the Passover might have been off as well.
If the Nephites followed the Hebrew method of calendaring (at least for religious purposes), and if they had worked out a similar pattern of years to add a leap month in every few years to keep the Passover in the spring, then the 33rd year would correspond to one of the leap years, meaning it would have been 30 days longer than normal years. Extending the previously mentioned 19-year cycle, the 22nd, 25th, 27th, 30th, and 33rd years would have had an extra month added.
Of course, as mentioned, this formalized timing for what years the leap-month would be added to only happened in the 4th century A.D. So, the Nephites would've either been using the less accurate traditions of the earlier Jews for establishing the Passover season, and adding a month to the year when needed, or they would have developed their own calculations.
If the Nephites were using a 365-day calendar, after 33 years it would've been off by just over 8 days.
Other than the signs of Christ's death, we don't know what time frame the people were told. Were they told the signs would happen before the end of the 33rd year? Were they told 33 Passovers would not pass before the signs would come? If they had been told that the signs of Christ's death would happen within 33 years after his birth, then the end of the 33rd year the people would be looking "with great earnestness for the sign."
Using both of these possibilities, a civil calendar that could've been off by 8 days and a religious calendar that might've been off by a month, it definitely could've added to the "doubtings" and "disputations" that were happening before the sign of the Lord's death.
What if they had been told that the signs of the Lord's death would come before 33 years had passed, and the signs didn't happen until their 34th year? If that were the case, the prophesy would have referred to Passover-to-Passover years, and not regular civil years. But, most people would have considered it to be the normal years.
In one of the articles linked below, John Pratt has a timeline. He places the morning after the sign of the Savior's birth as 6 Apr 1 B.C. The Lord would have been born the night before, which, according to the Hebrew calendar would have still corresponded to our calendar's 6 April, as the new day begins with the setting of the sun. If the Nephites were using a 365-day solar based civil calendar, then they would have reset their calendar to that morning being the first day of the first month.
In Pratt's timeline, he places the Lord's death on Fri 1 Apr AD 33. It would have been the afternoon in Israel. Isreal is about 9 hours ahead of Utah, in standard time. So, if the Lord died at about 3 PM, then it would have been about 6 AM in Utah, 8 AM along the U.S. eastern coast. The people in the Americas would have just been getting their day started when the destruction began.
Although the Nephites didn't use our calendar, let's use it for setting the birth of the Savior as the beginning of the first month of our year, January 1. If we didn't account for the quarter-day lost every 4 years, then after 33 years we would think the beginning of the 34th year was 1 January. But, with the loss of 8.25 days during those 33 years, the 34th year would actually not begin for another 8 days.
In other words, our calendar would show January 1, but the true calendar year should actually correlate to December 24. To the Nephites, the Lord was born on the first day of the first month. But, by the Lords death, their calendar was probably 8 days behind. Adding to that the uncertainty of the accuracy of their religious calendar, they may have still been looking towards an upcoming Passover, or just celebrated it.
Another problem for the Nephites is that a few years earlier there had been a coup attempt. Most of the judges, lawyers, high priests, along with friends and families, conspired to destroy the people of the Lord, defy the laws and rights of the country, destroy the governor, and "establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings" (read 3 Nephi 6:27-30).
The result of the coup was the chief judge of the land was murdered, but the people divided and separated into their own tribes as a result of the divisions and contention in the land. They were no longer united. There was no central government. This occurred during the last three years.
If the Lord was born on April 6 and died on April 1, that is a difference of 5 days, or 4 days between if you don't count the actual day of either event. Using those dates, the Lord died just 4 days shy of 33 years. If these events were based on a 365.25 day solar year, then any calendar using that accuracy would have had the death occur 4 days before the beginning of the 34th year. If my math is right, to a 365-day calendar calendar the death would have happened 12 days before the beginning of the 34th year.
To the Nephites the signs of the Lord's death happened four days after the start of the 34th year. Why is that?
We need to remember the real timing was not according to the civil calendar, but most likely according to the religious calendar marking years from Passover-to-Passover. And, if the Nephites were following a fairly accurate religious calendar then they would've just about started the Passover celebration, just like the Jews.
Here's another calendar tidbit.
In our Gregorian reckoning, the Savior was born in 1 B.C. and he turned 1 year old in A.D. 1 (there is no zero year). And, it is our understanding he was crucified when he was 33 years old, or about A.D. 33. It is very likely that the morning of his resurrection happened on Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33 (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1985/06/the-restoration-of-priesthood-keys-on-easter-1836-part-1-dating-the-first-easter?lang=eng).
If we believe the Savior died in A.D. 33, why does the Book of Mormon put the year of the sign of the Savior's death at A.D. 34?
First we need to realize those years are according to the Nephite time references, but I think most people assume they correspond exactly to our Gregorian calendar years.
In the printed Book of Mormon, at the bottom of the pages for 3 Nephi chapter 8, it shows A.D. 34. In the online edition, the chapter heading reads:
"Tempests, earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, and physical upheavals attest the crucifixion of Christ—Many people are destroyed—Darkness covers the land for three days—Those who remain bemoan their fate. About A.D. 33–34."And in verse 5, as already quoted, it says it was the beginning of the 34th year.
The reason is the Nephites started the numbering of their years with the sign of the Savior's birth. In chapter 2 of 3 Nephi we read:
"7 And nine years had passed away from the time when the sign was given, which was spoken of by the prophets, that Christ should come into the world.Where our Gregorian calendar has the Lord being born in 1 B.C., in the Nephite calendar (after they reset it) the Savior was born A.D. 1. So, while the Savior died (and was resurrected) in A.D. 33 according to our Gregorian calendar, it was A.D. 34 for the Nephite calendar.
"8 Now the Nephites began to reckon their time from this period when the sign was given, or from the coming of Christ; therefore, nine years had passed away."
Something to keep in mind when we read the Book of Mormon is in our Gregorian calendar we consider January 1 to be the beginning of a new year, with January being the "first month." However, the Nephites used a different calendar system, and we aren't sure when their "first month" was. It's possible the first month started out in the spring and ever the centuries it drifted back, due to calendar inaccuracies.
We can be fairly certain that after the Savior was born the Nephite calendar seems to reflect spring as the beginning of the new year. If they still used a 365-day calendar after the Savior's birth, and did not incorporate a calendar correction by adding a day every four years, then by Mormon's time, and the great battle at Cumorah, the calendar would've been off by 96 days. Instead of their new year starting in what we know as April, the beginning of the new year would have been starting at the beginning of our January.
Could they have developed a more accurate calendar? It's possible. But even the Mayan calendar, which many people mistakenly believe is accurate, has one of its three calendars based on a 365-day solar year, without any leap years. If the Nephite's calendar did have its inaccuracies corrected, it most likely didn't happen until sometime after the Savior visited them.
This is also assuming the Nephites were like us, where we are more concerned with measuring time precisely so dates fall at the same time each year. It's possible the Nephites knew a 365-day calendar lost a day every four years but they weren't concerned with it, like we are.
It's also a very real possibility that the Nephites used one calendar system, while the Lamanites, or at least some of them, used a different calendar system. Yes, the two groups originate from the same family and likely started with the same calendar. But, it could have changed. And, we assume the Lamanites didn't join with other people who may have been also living in the Americas, and who may have had their own calendars. Personally, I think it's very likely there were other groups of people living in the Americas at the time, which may be a reason why the Lamanites were always so much more numerous.
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Some interesting articles--
http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon_Chronology
This is the article referenced in my post from John Pratt
http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2004/nephite.html
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