Willa Posted December 21, 2014 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,244 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,658 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted December 21, 2014 I studied cultural anthorpology back in the '60s. In that class I was told that the Hebrew people were the only ancient culture that calculated a person's age from the time of conception. Can anyone verify this? (Therefore theirs was the only culture that clearly understood that people are born from that union.) The teacher, whose hobby also was anthropology, also mentioned that the Hebrew culture is the only one that is patriarchal but matrilineal, which we know is true. Just curious. Blessings, Willa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinky Posted December 21, 2014 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 200 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 1,602 Content Per Day: 0.30 Reputation: 291 Days Won: 8 Joined: 10/24/2009 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/01/1986 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I don't know if this helps, but it says here that they consider the baby "mere fluid" until 40 days after conception. And they don't consider it a person until birth.  Link: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Issues/Bioethics/Abortion/Fetus_in_Jewish_Law.shtml   So it seems they don't start counting until the baby is born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeinChrist Posted December 27, 2014 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 192 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 1,393 Content Per Day: 0.35 Reputation: 635 Days Won: 4 Joined: 06/29/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted December 27, 2014 If I understand right in today's age, the Jews consider a person soul to start at conception, but life is not until the baby is separated from the mother's womb, but not real sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 In ancient Israel, a baby was considered one year old at birth. They counted the 9 months in the womb as a whole year.  Today, modern Judaism is different. For one thing, Judaism isn't a monolith there are different forms of Judaism and a diversity of theological positions just like we have in Christianity. Reformed Judaism tends to follow social liberalism whereas Orthodox Judaism are far more conservative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlelambseativy Posted December 27, 2014 Group: Royal Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 230 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 4,941 Content Per Day: 0.95 Reputation: 2,003 Days Won: 14 Joined: 02/08/2010 Status: Offline Share Posted December 27, 2014 Strangely, my parents said that, Shiloh, but we are not Jewish. Hummm!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeinChrist Posted December 30, 2014 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 192 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 1,393 Content Per Day: 0.35 Reputation: 635 Days Won: 4 Joined: 06/29/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted December 30, 2014 In ancient Israel, a baby was considered one year old at birth. They counted the 9 months in the womb as a whole year.  Today, modern Judaism is different. For one thing, Judaism isn't a monolith there are different forms of Judaism and a diversity of theological positions just like we have in Christianity. Reformed Judaism tends to follow social liberalism whereas Orthodox Judaism are far more conservative.  Thanks for the insight Shiloh; that is very interesting, great question Willa.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted January 17, 2015 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,244 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,658 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 In ancient Israel, a baby was considered one year old at birth. They counted the 9 months in the womb as a whole year.  Today, modern Judaism is different. For one thing, Judaism isn't a monolith there are different forms of Judaism and a diversity of theological positions just like we have in Christianity. Reformed Judaism tends to follow social liberalism whereas Orthodox Judaism are far more conservative. Thanks, Shiloh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamL Posted January 29, 2015 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 99 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 5,125 Content Per Day: 1.48 Reputation: 2,556 Days Won: 4 Joined: 11/06/2014 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/01/1950 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I studied cultural anthorpology back in the '60s. In that class I was told that the Hebrew people were the only ancient culture that calculated a person's age from the time of conception. Can anyone verify this? (Therefore theirs was the only culture that clearly understood that people are born from that union.) The teacher, whose hobby also was anthropology, also mentioned that the Hebrew culture is the only one that is patriarchal but matrilineal, which we know is true. Never heard of the first belief. In the most ancient times, before Moses, everyone added one year to their age on the first day of the year. Â Unfortunately, the first day of the year changed over time. For example, after Moses there were two first days of the year: 1 Abib/Nisan and 1 Ethanim/Tishri. 1 Tishri began in the Autumn. The religious year was changed to begin in the Spring/Abib, which was also the date of the regnal years of Jewish kings. However, the civil year still began in the Autumn. This was still when everyone added a year to their age. Confused yet? Read Josephus, Antiquities I:iii:3, and Tractate Roshanah (of the Talmud) 1:1; 3a-b if you want more of the dirty details. Â The Bible and Book of Jasher have records of the ages of Joshua and Caleb that show that they increased their ages in the Autumn. Here is a partial quote of the evidence from one of my books about biblical chronology and history: Â "Caleb was 40 years old when he went on the 40-day expedition to search out Canaan, in the 2nd year, 3rd - 5th months of the Exodus. Joshua 14:7 ... He was 85 years old when he received his inheritance in Canaan. Joshua 14:10 The division of the land into inheritances took place in the 46th year of the Exodus, the 7th month = Autumn. ... Subtraction yields: 46th - 2nd = 44 years; and 85 - 40 = 45 years. Therefore, it is evident that in the 7th month of the 46th year of the Exodus, the count of Caleb's age was increased by one year, from 84 to 85." Â As to "the Hebrew culture is the only one that is patriarchal but matrilineal," I don't think that is accurate. Some American Indian tribes followed this practice, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted November 30, 2016 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 8 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 2,437 Content Per Day: 0.90 Reputation: 730 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/30/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted November 30, 2016 This is a question that I have recently been considering, which also lead me to find this site in the first place. As a corollary may I also note that this practice is the norm for traditional Chinese societies. If you ever go to a museum with some ancient Chinese exhibits, check the dates. It generally goes unnoticed until pointed out that some person was born in 1530 and somehow died in 1590 aged 61 years. On the subject of the Hebrews... I understand the addition of the extra year as mentioned and that the age was adjusted on new years not on the persons birthday (which in essence isn't a birthday but rather the anniversary of a birthday) but I also wonder about the usage of the syntax itself in the ancient writings. So, we nowadays tend to think of a person being x years old, perhaps in part because we focus on the "anniversary" of birth. But the old texts seem to say more that a person has/had lived for x years. So if a person was born in the last month of year 100, in the first month of year 101 we would still say he/she is 0 years old but would the ancients say he/she had lived for 1 year, since one new year had passed, or would they wait until one full year had passed before saying that, ie- year 102 in my example. Also If it was saying Mr A (lets give him a name) lived 50 years and went to a new place to live, would that be in year 150 or year 151?  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted December 1, 2016 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 8 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 2,437 Content Per Day: 0.90 Reputation: 730 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/30/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted December 1, 2016 Actually, maybe the answer to part of that is in Gen 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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