Yahweh's Timely Calendar

How Holy Days Are Calculated

Part 2

 Jerusalem Is The Key

   Isaiah 66:23 states that both new moons and the Sabbaths will be enforced when Yahweh's Kingdom comes to earth. His Son Yahshua will begin His rule at Jerusalem and then the Kingdom will eventually encompass the entire world. Therefore, we look to Jerusalem in the northern hemisphere to establish the seasons, Exodus 12:2; 13:4; 23:15; and 34:18. Yahweh's year begins when the vegetation stirs to life.

"For in those days [Millennium] the world will be ruled from Jerusalem," Isa. 2:3, (Living Bible).

   The ripening ears of barley around Jerusalem show that this is the month to begin counting the days of Yahweh's new year. Its name is Abib, meaning the month of "green ears." History shows that the Passover should always fall after the vernal equinox (see Ante- and Post-Nicene Fathers). During the Days of Unleavened Bread, a wavesheaf of new grain had to be waved by the priest, signifying the beginning of the spring harvest in the northern hemisphere. The harvest could not begin until the wavesheaf was offered.

   A question arises whether we should observe the new moon only after it has already been seen in Jerusalem. This means we would be guided by the man-made, artificial International Date Line in the Pacific. A visible new moon might be declared invalid because it has not yet been spotted in Jerusalem first. There is nothing in the Bible, however, that shows that time must first begin at Jerusalem or first be observed there.

   Wherever the new moon is first seen, that point should be (for that month) the international date line. Because of the rotation of the earth, the beginning of the new month "trails" around the world to the point where the new crescent next becomes visible. Thus, the date line would be where the moon was first spotted for that month, then move to the next visible sighting of the crescent, which begins the following month and so forth.

   Just as the Sabbath arrives in the east before coming to Jerusalem, it is also possible that the holy days could arrive elsewhere before coming to Jerusalem. While it is essential to observe the same seasons as Jerusalem, there is nothing in the Bible to prove the holy days must first come to Jerusalem. The wise men who visited the Savior came "from the east."  The sun rises in the east and comes to Jerusalem only after it has appeared in Japan, China, India, Iran, etc.

   Occasionally, the moon may appear to us in the western hemisphere before being visible in Jerusalem. Just as we observe the Sabbath as it come to us at sunset, we observe the new moons as they come to us in the western sky. A new moon spotted anywhere in the continental United States will be declared for the entirety of the nation.

   With the man-made date line and the time zones as we know them, a new moon may occasionally be spotted in the west before being visible in Jerusalem. With Yahweh's help we will observe the days as the setting sun brings then to us, and the new moons as the thin crescent becomes visible.

   The month of Abib begins with the new moon in which green ears appear in the area of Jerusalem, allowing Passover to fall AFTER the vernal equinox, as in the days of the second temple when Yahshua walked this earth.

Errors in Jewish Calendar

   Some may wonder why we do not use the Jewish calendar to establish our Feast days.  After all, don't all the Jews around the world use the calendar made known by Hillel II and all keep the same day?

   On the surface this sounds logical. Some advocates of the present Jewish calendar have even contended that it was given to Moses at Sinai and that the Messiah followed the same calendar.

Trumpets is Not New Year

   There are some basic errors in the Jewish calendar, however.  Even those using it acknowledge several problems that are quite obvious.  One is that the Jewish calendar calls the day of trumpets "Rosh Hashanah (the New Year). The Feast of Trumpets usually falls in September. Starting the new year in the fall is a violation of the clear Bible statements that the month when green ears appear (spring) is to be the beginning of months, Exodus 12:2; 23:15.

Passover Is Not the 15th

   Four times in the Bible we are told that Passover is the 14th of Abib and the 15th is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:5; Ezra 6:19; Numbers 28:16; 2 Chronicles 30:15). Yet the Jewish calendar insists that Passover is the 15th.  Today, as in the time of Messiah, the Jews combine Passover with the first day of Unleavened Bread. This is clear from reading John 13:1-4 and 18:28. Even today most Jews keep a Seder service at home on the 14th with members of the family.

Pentecost Is Not Constant

   The Jewish calendar always shows the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost falling on Sivan 6.  Leviticus 23:15 clearly tells us to count the days from the day after the wave-sheaf offering. It does seem absurd even to bother to count seven weeks if one always ends up with the same date, the sixth of the third month.

   Whenever Yahweh has a specific day in mind, He tells us when this day occurs.  Trumpets is the first day of the seventh month. Atonement is the tenth day of the seventh month. The 15th day of the seventh month is the beginning of Tabernacles. Yahweh has enumerated certain days that fall on the same date every year.

   He did not do so with Pentecost (Greek word meaning count "50"). We are to count seven Sabbaths and when the weeks are completed, we celebrate the first day of the week (50 total days). Sivan 6 falls on various days during the week.

   The Jews who celebrate both Passover and Pentecost on the wrong day have not realized the fullness of these days. They have rejected Him who became our Passover Lamb. In not celebrating Pentecost on the correct day, they have not achieved the spiritual fulfillment in proper worship Yahshua spoke of, John 4:24.

Postponements Unscriptural

   Certain postponements are incorporated into the Jewish calendar which delay the holy days for one or two days. These can be summarized as follows:

• The Day of Atonement cannot precede or follow a weekly Sabbath.

• The last feast day of the Feast of Tabernacles cannot fall on a Sabbath.

• Passover can fall only on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sabbath. These postponements ("dehioth") dictate that the months will not begin on the exact day of the new moon. Only 40 percent of the tine does the Jewish calendar honor its own rule of being a lunar calendar.

   Your bible knows of no such postponements or qualifications. Many others practice such forestalling, however, by keeping the weekly Sabbath a day late. That is, they keep Sunday. Neither is scriptural.

Visual Sightings Essential Historically, Also

   Abundant proof exists in most public libraries that the months were determined by visual sighting of the moon during the time of the second temple. In His scathing denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, the Messiah did not mention or rebuke them for any calendar.

   It was the custom for watchers to station themselves on mountaintops and then report to the Sanhedrin the sighting of the new moon. After being verified, the day was sanctioned and declared to be the beginning of the month. This information is available in the many encyclopedias such as the Britannica and Americana and Bible encyclopedias, as well.

   Jewish encyclopedias tend to exonerate their calendar, but most historians agree that it is not very ancient. In fact, it is not earlier than the eighth century, according to Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, "Calendar," p. 122.

   The Jewish calendar ignores the major bible command to watch for the crops around Jerusalem to determine the correct beginning of months. It avoids the observance of crops to substantiate the month of green ears, relying instead on the movement of heavenly bodies to determine the year. It is based entirely upon celestial reckoning with no attention paid to the conditions around Jerusalem.

   By observing the visible new moons each month and verifying the barley crops around Jerusalem, we are in keeping with the observance outlined in Scripture and followed when Yahshua walked the earth.

How to See the New Moon

   Join us in observing the new moons in anticipation of the Savior's return and the setting up of the days of worship of Isaiah 66:23 when all human beings will worship Yahweh on the days that He has ordain. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh cone to worship before Me, saith Yahweh."

   We are in training now to qualify to rule with the Messiah. Just as we acknowledge that the setting of the sun begins a new day we look for the thin scimitar-shaped crescent to begin the month.

   An easy way to establish the new moon is to note the day on the calendar published by Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah where the new moon days are listed. Because Bible days begin at sunset on the preceding day (instead of midnight), you need to get away from the bright lights of the city and go preferably to a high prominence or hill. From the overhead zenith toward this setting sun, we look for a thin sliver of light (bulging to the right) on either side of this imaginary line. The scimitar-shaped new moon may be visible for only a short time, less than a half hour, perhaps, so it is imperative that we begin our search at sunset.

   As soon as the sun has set, and its brightness diminishes, the new moon should be visible. At times it may be saucer-shaped and may be very low o the horizon, making it all the more difficult to see as it quickly moves out of sight.

   Many of the new moons listed in newspapers and almanacs will not be visible on the nights shown. This is because the astronomical new noon is that precise instant when the noon moves away from the conjunction and begins its rebuilding phase. The light of the setting sun is too bright to allow sighting of the feeble light of the new moon.

   It takes at least 18 to 20 hours to sight the thin crescent. Veteran moon spotters believe that 22 hours should be given as the minimum sighting time. A few have used binoculars to scout the sky and then knowing the exact location have been able to see it with the naked eye.

Learn Now for the Future

   Nearly all believers in the Bible are acutely aware that the time will come when the scattering of the brethren will take place. Even so, we would all want to show our love for the Father and our Savior by observing the sacred time Yahweh has set apart for His worship. By keeping the same time Yahweh set apart at creation as holy time we have fellowship with Him.

   We also have fellowship with Yahshua when two or three are gathered in His Name. By keeping the weekly and annual Sabbaths, we are acting out the plan of redemption.

   We all should be aware of the new moons so we can all observe them in anticipation of the future when we may be unable to meet together as a group. We may have to flee and become physically separated. But we can still keep these times wherever we might be if we train ourselves in the proper observation of the New Moons now, and walk in the light of His truth.

   Yahweh says that His Sabbaths are a sign between Him and His people. When we keep His Sabbaths, He promises that He will bring conditions about that we will have no doubt that He is Yahweh. His Sabbaths are the signs He has given us, Ezekiel 20:12, 20. By His Sabbaths, both weekly and annual, He sets us apart.

   Yahweh's heavenly calendar is based on the movement of the sun and the moon together. It is also based on the fruitful harvest brought forth on the earth. That physical harvest is also indicative of the spiritual harvest of His people, a kind of firstfruits of James 1:18. Are you one?

HalleluYah!