Per Brandon's request for studies on how long Israel was in the wildernesshttp://www.fivedoves.com/letters/sep2005/brandonc93-1.htm
I wanted to commend Matt on his excellent response:
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/sep2005/matt95.htm
And I thoroughly enjoyed reading his referenced website which also discusses the same thing but in more detail:
Do I have anything more to add? Well, it is also possible to make a case just knowing that the Hebrews along with the rest of the ancient world well past Jesus's time started counting at 1, not 0. When someone was born they were in their 1st year of life. They didn't have to wait till the anniversary of their birthday to be 1. When they went to count years before 1 AD they went straight to 1 BC with no thought of 0 as they didn't count that way.
There is a Hebrew tradition that there was a rejection and subsequent dying off of the Hebrews 19 years of age and older for a period of 40 years, starting and ending on Av 9. God did not just kill all those considered adults immediately but let them live up to 40 years past the age of 19. This tradition can be made to fit by counting from one instead of zero and even using our present length of a moon cycle of 29.530588 days. Since they were in the desert they could not follow abib so taking that they could very likely have reverted to using 360 days per year to decide when to add another moon. Following this method of counting one arrives back at the 40th year, and Av 9, (39 years counting from 0), after 13,997.499 days. Even though the current moon cycle average is 29.530588 days there is variation which added with actual observation could lead one to 14,000 days or 2,000 weeks. This is an oddity only possible using 360 day years in that if Christ was crucified in 32 AD on Nisan 14, 14,000 days later brings one close to Av 9, not Nisan 14.
I actually think that 19 years of age is an approximation and they used 1,000 weeks of age which is 25 gestation periods for deciding who was an adult. Two more of these periods would be 2,000 weeks or 14,000 days. This is 40 days short of 39 prophetic years or 14,040 days. A good case can be made though if the rapture is October 5, 2005 that the tribulation will follow 40 days later on November 14, 2005. However, there are some points about 11/11/2005 that also make it worth watching. For example although 7 360 day years from the Wye River confirmation by the Israeli parliament is October 5, 2005, 7 solar years is November 11, 2005. And 11/11 just seems more appropriate for the start of the tribulation.
If you want a more indepth study it is available by reading the free ebook shown in the link below, in particular book pages 14-25 (e-book pages 26-37) starting with "Counting on Nothing" and Appendices A, B, & C.
http://www.endofage.com/ppgview1.html
Something the book doesn't cover is what happens if one uses 1,000 weeks as the length of time for becoming an adult along with an additional 2,000 weeks for a generation to pass away starting with May 14, 1948, Israel Rebirth Day. Of course adding 2,000 weeks to June 7, 1967, Jerusalem Unification Day has already been covered as it yields October 5, 2005. However, adding 1,000 weeks for becoming an adult plus 2,000 weeks to May 14, 1948 yields November 11, 2005. Another reason to look at it more for the start of ten years of tribulation, the last seven years thought to include the whole world, and the last 42 months of the seven thought to be when the "beast" rules the world.
Not to put a damper on all of this but the book does assume throughout that the crucifixion was in 32 AD. And some of the calculations use this date to reach their conclusion. On balance, the home page of the web site http://www.endofage.com also covers calculations using 34 AD for the crucifixion which is the date Sir Isaac Newton was convinced was accurate. What gives pause for thought is that the 34 AD date so far appears to have more prophetic hits. It can be used directly to prophetically point to two different events to the day in the last 100 years, the latest being the hitting of the hurricane Katrina on the shores of America. This date was August 29, 2005 which was when Katrina made landfall. It had been pointed out since January, 2005 as a date to watch based on 34 AD, for the end of the Church or Gentile Age. Something to consider. All I can say is we should watch and not grow weary as there are many reasons to watch the upcoming weeks and months for our blessed Redeemer!
Praying for the Shalom of Israel!