Bibliography
| Title: The Calendar of Sabbath Years During the Second Temple Era: A Respons Pages: 123-133 Type: Generic Year: 1983 Abstract: "In his paper ""The Sabbath Year Cycle in Josephus"" (cf. IZBG XXX 3202), D. Blosser argues that the Jewish historian mistakenly refers to famines as having occurred in the year of shemittah when he means the post-sabbatical year, i.e., the first year of the next cycle was necessarily so because the effects of the observance of the shemittah could only be felt in the eighth year. But Blosser's argument is not convincing. Josephus certainly knew the difference between the year of shemittah and the post-sabbatical year. Furthermore it is not correct to assume, as Blosser does, that famines occured routinely during sabbatical cycles. After all, disasters are unpredictable events whereas the observance of shemittah was routine and therefore planned. contemporary documents from Muraba'at show that the references to the seventh year in Josephus are correct." Keywords: Chronology and Calendar |