How long was a year in biblical times?

Answer 1

Warning: This discussion may be confusing, because we'll have to be careful about the units

we're using as we talk about it.

I mean, if "a year" is "the time it takes the earth to complete one orbit around the sun",

then one year was always exactly one year long ... the earth always took one year to go

around the sun, because that's the definition of "a year".

This question is trying to ask something like: "Were there more of my heartbeats in

a year way back then ?", or "Were there more of our familiar 2010 seconds in a year

way back then ?"

"Biblical times" were all within the last 5,000 years or so. If you follow straight back

through the biblical narrative all the way to the first chapter of Genesis, you wind up

with Creation taking place 5,770 years ago. We're not here to argue about that just now.

The point is that at least beginning with Abraham, let's say, everything in The Bible took

place within roughly the past 5,000 years. So let's use that date for our calculation.

The earth's rotation is slowing down. The length of the day is increasing by about

1.4 milliseconds (0.0014 of one familiar 2010 second) per century.

5,000 years make 50 centuries. In that amount of time, the length of the day has grown

by (50 x 1.4) = 70 milliseconds = 0.07 of one familiar 2010 second .

The total change in the period of time required for 365 earth rotations would be

(365) times (0.07 familiar second for each rotation) =

about 25.6 familiar 2010 seconds shorter than it is now, 5,000 years ago.

Answer 2

A year in biblical times was typically composed of 12 lunar months, totaling around 354 days. To reconcile this with the solar cycle, an extra month was periodically added to align with the seasons, resulting in a calendar that was lunar-solar.

Answer 3

Days were the same length they are now - 24 hours in length. The Jewish day began at sunset and ended at sunset the next day.