Introduction
to the Jewish Calendar
The calendar of the Jewish system is a
later derived system and was not the one used in the Temple period over the
time of Christ and the Church. Schürer says in Appendix 3 of The History of the Jewish People in the Age
of Jesus Christ (Vol. 1, p. 587ff.), “the Jewish names are of Assyro-Babylonian origin; their Akkadian
equivalents are: ni-sa-an-nu, a-a-ru, sf-ma-nu, du-u-zu etc.”, and he
refers to Landsburger’s work on the subject (Materialen zum Sumerischen Lexikon V (1957), pp. 25-26 etc.).
Schürer further states:
Within the sphere of Judaism,
the earliest document listing
all the months in succession is Megillath Ta’anith. It was compiled in the
first or early second century A. D., since it is already quoted in the Mishnah
[The Mishnah was compiled around about the second century]. Of later
authorities, it is necessary only to mention the little-known Christian,
Josephus who in his Hypomnesticum (PG cvi, col. 33) has [Nesan, Eiar, Eiouan, Thamouz, “Ab, ‘Eloul, ‘Osri (read Thisri), Marsaban, Chaseleu, Tebeth, Eabath, ‘Adar].
After listing the evidence for the names of
the Jewish months (see Appendix) he then says:
The Jewish months have continued always to be
what the months of all civilised nations were by origin; namely, genuine lunar
months. As the astronomical duration of a month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44’, 3”,
months of 29 days must alternate fairly regularly with months of 30 days. But
twelve lunar months amount to only 354 days, 8 hours, 48’ 38”, whereas the
solar year comprises of 365 days, 5 hours, 48’ 48”. The difference between a lunar year of twelve
months and a solar year amounts, therefore, to 10 days 21 hours. To compensate
for this difference, at least once in every third year, and sometimes in the
second, one month must be intercalated. It was observed in very early times
that a sufficiently accurate compensation was attained by intercalating a month
three times in every eight years (during which period, the difference amounts
to 87 days). The quadrennial Greek games already depended on a recognition of
this 8-year cycle (‘octaeteris’), the four year cycle being arrived at simply
by halving it.
Hence the Olympiad is based upon the lunar
calendar.
Schürer continues:
As early as the fifth century B.C., the astronomer
Meton of Athens had drawn up a still more exact system of compensation in the form of a 19 year cycle,
in which a month was to be intercalated seven times. This considerably excelled
the 8-year cycle in accuracy, because in nineteen years there remained a
difference of a little over two hours, whereas in eight years it was one of one
and a half days. Of later astronomers who provided even more accurate
computations, Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 180-120 B.C.) deserves especial mention.
The fact that after every nineteen years, the course of the sun and moon
coincide again almost exactly, was also well known to the Babylonians. In fact,
cuneiform inscriptions have been thought to show that they regularly employed a
19 year intercalary cycle as far back as the time of Nabonnassar, long before
Meton therefore. Even if this is not yet proved, the use of a nineteen year
intercalary period in the Persian and Seleucid eras may nevertheless be
accepted as verified, though it is still not absolutely certain whether
priority belongs to the Greeks or (as is probable) the Babylonians.
So, the Babylonians possessed the knowledge
of the 19-year cycle lunar calendar. They understood it long before the
philosopher Meton. Even if it is not yet proved for Babylon, the nineteen-year
intercalary period in the Persian and Seleucid eras may nevertheless be
accepted as verified. Schürer is absolutely not certain whether the priority of
understanding belongs to the Greeks, or as is probable, the Babylonians. It
will be found to long precede even the Babylonians.
Schürer notes:
…that the nineteen-year cycle was used in the
kingdom of the Arsacids in the first century B.C. and A.D., and has been shown
by Th. Reinach from coins on which the years 287, 317, and 390 of the Seleucid
era appear as intercalary years. How far had the Jews of the inter-Testamental
era advanced in these matters? They had some general knowledge of them of
course, but unless we are altogether deceived, at the time of Jesus, they still
had no fixed calendar, but on the basis of purely empirical observation, began
each new month with the appearance of the new moon, and similarly on the basis
of observation intercalated one month in the spring of the third or second year
in accordance with the rule that in all circumstances, Passover must fall after
the vernal equinox.
The quotes begin the paper with that
inter-Testamental period and Schürer’s comments on the calendar.
God’s Calendar goes back to creation. It is not dependent on what the Jews were
doing at the time of Jesus Christ and, indeed, we will see why Schürer is not,
in fact, correct or exhaustive in this matter. We know that the observation
system was introduced at a later period and used in concert with the
calculations of the conjunction seemingly to justify the traditions. Scholars
are in fair agreement that the Samaritans and the Sadducees both had the same
system, which was based on the conjunction and calculated and announced
at least eight months in advance – certainly in the case of the Samaritans. We
will examine this aspect further. Schürer does not make the logical step in his
argument to show why the Jews came to be operating by observation, when they
knew better, or why they introduced the argument for observation at all at the
end of the Temple period. Indeed, we will see that the Pharisees did not have
the power to introduce it during the Temple period, through their own
deviousness.
It may be safely
accepted that the Samaritans had the same calendar for 2500 years at least, and
that the calendar and Sabbaths and system they use today, based on the
conjunction, are the same calendar and Sabbaths they used during the period of
the Temple and beyond. The comments of Ibrahim ibn Ya’kub, the Samaritan Bible
commentator, show the Samaritan practices were according to the conjunction.
They started the day at evening or twilight. They kept the two-day festival of
the 14th and the 15th of Nisan or Abib, as the
Sabbath-keeping Church has done for two thousand years (cf. The
Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170), 1998 edition). They kept the sacrifice
on 14 Nisan in the evening at the end of the day of the 14th and
commenced the meal on the evening of 15 Nisan, all determined according to the
conjunction. Moreover, they, like the Sadducees in the Temple period, kept
Pentecost on the Sunday fifty days after the Wave-Sheaf Sunday in Unleavened
Bread (cf. John Bowman (ed. and tr.), Samaritan
Documents Relating to Their History, Religion and Life, Pittsburgh Original
texts and Translation Series Number 2, pp. 223-237).
There is no
evidence to support any case that the Samaritans changed the system, or that
they and the other nations mentioned above did not have the capacity to
calculate the conjunction precisely, long in advance, over the entire period of
the Second Temple. If the Jews “lost” this knowledge at the end of the Second
Temple period then they did it deliberately to introduce their traditions. The
Church has never followed them in the determination of the calendar and the New
Moons except in its more ignorant period of Judaising in the post-Reformation
period. Rabbinical Judaism also introduced pagan festivals and systems into
their calendar from Babylon in the period of the third century. R. Samuel Kohn,
Chief Rabbi of Budapest and a writer on Samaritan practices, writing at
Budapest in 1894, records the practices of the Sabbatarian Church over the
period of the Reformation. He notes that the Sabbatarian Church there
determined the calendar according to the conjunction (with one variation to the
Samaritan practices). He also considers the fact that the later Judaisers
(post-Simon Pechi) in Transylvania followed Rosh
HaShanah or the New Year being celebrated in Tishri, was proof of the
Jewish influence. He states that Rosh HaShanah was not introduced into Judaism
until the post Temple period in the third century. Dr. Kohn makes mention of
this important fact in the work The
Sabbatarians in Transylvania, stating it entered at a third century and
“post-biblical” period (referring to Talmud Rosh
haShanah 8a, at n. 18 to ch. 7) (Ed. W. Cox, trs. T. McElwain and B. Rook, CCG Publishing, USA, 1998, pp. v, 58,
106 ff., et. seq. and nn.). Biblically the New Year is in Abib/Nisan, which is
the First month.
The progression
from the original pure biblical calendar to the rabbinical calendar introduced
from Babylon, firstly under Rabbi Hillel II in 358 CE, was rather long-winded
as the traditions had to be entrenched to justify the gradual changes. The
Mishnah, which was compiled around 200 CE and on which the Talmud was later
written as commentary, more or less records this process by the comments and
the authorities it cites.
We will see below
that the Calendar at the time of the Temple period followed the Sadducean
reckoning, and the Pharisaic reckoning or system only came into effect after
the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The Mishnah notes many practices which
the modern Jewish calendar is designed to prevent. This calendar was not really
perfected – even under Hillel II from ca. 358 – and suffered modification until
the eleventh century. Details of the changes and conflicts are recorded in the
paper The Calendar and the Moon:
Postponements or Festivals? (No.
195).
The Mishnah shows
that the Holy Days fell before and after the Sabbath on repeated occasions,
which means that the traditions and the system that the Pharisees had invented
to protect the traditions were not in place even as late as the compilation of
the Mishnah (cf. Soncino Talmud:
Shabbat 114b; Menachoth 100b; and Mishnah
Besah 2:1; Shabbat 15:3; Sukkah 5:7; Arakhin 2:2; Hagigah 2:4). Back-to-back
Sabbaths were common. The text in Hagigah 2:4 shows the conflict developing at
that time (200 CE) between the pro- and anti-Sunday Pentecost advocates (cf.
ibid. (No. 195) and see below).
It is impossible
for the postponement system and the current or modern Jewish calendar to have
been in place at the time of Christ.
The Mishnah also
states that there are four new years and that the First day of Nisan is the New
Year for kings and festivals. This is also examined in the paper The Night to be Much Observed (No.
101) which looks at the Samaritan practices
for the Passover. We can also see from these timings in the Mishnah that the
datings regarding Ezra and Nehemiah were according to 1 Nisan and not 1
Tishri (cf. Reading the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No. 250)). Tishri
was used at that time for the reckoning of years, for Sabbatical years and for
Jubilees (Rosh Hashanah 1.1 E (3)).
We see that the notion of Tishri, which came in from Babylon, was first
recorded in the Mishnah as being put forward by R. Eliazar and R. Simeon (ibid.
1.1 D). It was not observed as New Year in the Temple period. The Mishnah also
makes an attempt to divorce the beginning of the tithing of cattle to 1 Elul
(ibid. 1.1 C). The House of Shammai held the New Year for trees was 1 Shebat,
whereas the House of Hillel held it was the fifteenth day of that month. The
New Year on the Full Moon is a directly pagan practice, also introduced from
Babylon and no doubt associated with the plantings by moon charts. All of this
determination is in post-Temple period rabbinical Judaism. Only in the third
century do we see Tishri being established by the rabbis. It and the
postponement system now hold sway over Judaism, contrary to the word of God.
Trumpets is often not on the molad (the conjunction), and the Holy Days
of God are postponed by disobedience to other days that God has not ordained.
The Encyclopedia Judaica admits this fact in
its article on Fixing Rosh HaShanah (New
Year’s Day).
Fixing
Rosh HaShanah (New Year’s Day). The year begins on
Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of the molad,
as there are four obstacles or considerations, called dehiyyah, in fixing the first day of the month (rosh hodesh). Each dehiyyot may cause a postponement of two days: (1) mainly in order
to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10) from falling on Friday or Sunday,
and Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from falling on
Saturday, but in part also serving an astronomical purpose... (2) entirely for
an astronomical reason, if the molad
is at noon or later Rosh HaShanah is delayed by one day (ibid., p. 44).
The third and fourth dehiyyah are more complex rules involving specific times of the
molad and the consequent postponement of 1 Tishri. These moladot are tabulated with specific postponements, as outlined in
the Encyclopedia Judaica article.
This rule of postponement was not known at the time of Christ and at the time
of the compilation of the Talmud. The Mishnah, and the Talmud as commentary,
clearly show that the Day of Atonement fell on a Friday or a Sunday up to the
time of the compilation of the Mishnah and, hence, at the time of Christ two
centuries before that.
We also see that the occurrence of months
was different from what it is under the Jewish calendar.
(Arakhin 2:2): They do not count less than
four full months in the year, and [to sages] never have appeared more than
eight.
It is thus
impossible for the postponements to have been in place at the time of Christ.
We continue:
... the
present system was expected to be replaced [emphasis added] again by a
system based on true values [as opposed to mean values] more akin to the
earlier Jewish calendar in which New Moons (days of the phasis [i.e., the length of the interval from the true conjunction
to the first sighting of the new crescent]) and intercalations were proclaimed
on the basis of both observation and calculation (ibid., p. 47).
Note the comments
here show that the calculations were according to the true conjunction
according to the phases (which is not visible) and the observations were
introduced to confirm what was already known for months and years in advance.
The term phases of the moon came from the term phasis and have
always applied to the New Moon as full dark, the Full Moon and the first and
second quarters. The crescent has never been considered a true phase of the
moon in the sense that it is used for the New Moon.
Historical. According to a tradition quoted in the name of Hai Gaon (d. 1038),
the present Jewish calendar was introduced by the patriarch Hillel II ... in
358/59 AD ... While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II the fixing
of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present fixed
calendar is doubtful (ibid., p. 48).
Note here that the modern Jewish calendar
did not really become fixed until the eleventh century, as Judaica
admits. The Judaica then introduces the concept of irregularity in
intercalation saying they were irregular.
…intercalation being in part due to the
prevailing state of various agricultural products and to social conditions. ...
the state of crops is ultimately determined by the sun’s position in its annual
path (ibid., p. 49).
However, we know
that the Sadducees and the Samaritans had no such problem with irregularity and
the New Moon was announced by fires lit from the Mt. of Olives, east of the
Temple over Kidron (cf. the paper Messiah and the Red Heifer (No.
216)).
It was only later that the Samaritans were accused of lighting misleading
beacons when the Pharisees took charge after the destruction of the Temple and
introduced the postponements by observations.
No such problem
existed during the Temple period. John Hyrcanus had destroyed the Samaritan
tabernacle on Mt Gerizim during the time of the Maccabees but their religion
was left intact. Hyrcanus suppressed the Pharisees and only for nine years
under Alexandra did they have sway. Herod suppressed them also for their
intrigues. The Sadducees and their system had control of the Temple more or
less continually until its seizure in the final period and destruction in 70 CE
(cf. ibid., (No. 101)). The Pharisees accused Christ himself
of being a Samaritan (Jn. 8:48). This was, as we see from the text, because he
denied the truth of their teachings and traditions, as we see from the text. He
kept the Temple festivals, which were based on the Sadducean and Samaritan
system determined by the conjunction, which was the original Temple system (see
below). In John Bowman’s work: The
Samaritan Problem: Studies in the Relationships of Samaritanism, Judaism, and
Early Christianity (tr. by Alfred M. Johnson Jr., Pittsburgh Theological
Monograph Series Number 4, The Pickwick Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1974,
ch. 1, pp. 1ff.) we see that the Samaritans were in the Northern Kingdom even
after the dispersion of 721 BCE and a
Samaritan diaspora existed in Egypt and Syria from antiquity until the 18th
century. Bowman says:
Since many Samaritan manuscripts are available
in European libraries, it has always remained a mystery to me why Christian
scholars, who have known since the time of Joseph Scalinger (1540-1609) about
the survival of the Samaritans, still repeat the same assertions about the
Samaritans which were made by the Jews of post-Babylonian, Mishnaic and
Talmudic times and which have come through the Church Fathers into the
Christian scholarly tradition.
...The discoveries of Qumran have now induced
some scholars to question the frequently used and all too easily accepted idea
of “Normative Judaism” and the rabbinic sources as reliable criteria for the
essence of Judaism in the 1st century, Consequently it appears to be
appropriate once again to examine precisely whether or not the Samaritans, as
the first Jewish sect who have no independent traditions and customs, have
preserved customs and views which are older than those which the Rabbis of the
2nd century AD (and later) tried to make sacrosanct by passing them off as oral
traditions from the time of Moses that had been handed down to them as the
trustees of the only and true Israel.
The reason the
Samaritan position is not openly studied is as much a fault of the Samaritan
priests themselves as it is of the Jews.
God’s Calendar
We need to go back to Genesis 1 to find the
basis for God's Calendar.
Genesis 1:14-19 And God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the
night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night: he
made the stars also. 17And God set them in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light
from the darkness: and God saw that it
was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day. (KJV)
The word for lights here is m’aor (SHD 3974) meaning lightholders or luminaries (Ex.
25:6; 27:20; 35:14). In Genesis 1:3 the text is let it become light. It
is not the verb to be (Companion Bible, fn. to v. 3). Thus we are speaking of the precondition of the system for subsequent activities.
Light was not located until the fourth day
of the creation, according to the Genesis narrative. This is indicative of a
sequence of God’s activity in the creation. The activity of the fourth element
of the creation sequence was to establish the lights for the division of night
and day and for signs and for seasons and for days and years (Gen. 1:14).
The sequence of the Calendar as established
by God in the creation is determined by the heavenly bodies. Thus, the movement
and position of the heavenly bodies are the determining factors of the
calendar. This will be seen to be developed throughout the Bible and is central
to the Law.
Psalm 104:19
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. (KJV)
The moon is thus the determinate factor and
not the sun. The sun is operative for the day only and is a pivot for the
beginning of the year from the equinox.
The Day
It is noted also that the evening and the
morning constitute the day. The evening precedes the morning or day. The day is
thus determined from dark the previous evening to dark or the End of Evening
Nautical Twilight (EENT) of that day.
Leviticus 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and
ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day
of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
(KJV)
This view, that
the day began at evening after the sun had set, was continuously observed even
among the Jews at the time of the Mishnah. It was the normal method of
determining the day for most nations and was the practice among the
English-speaking people until around the beginning of the nineteenth century
(see below).
Mishnah:
(Besah 2:1) On a festival which coincided with
the eve of the Sabbath [Friday] a person should not do cooking to begin with on
the festival day. [Friday] But he prepares food for the festival day, and if he
leaves something over, he has it left over for use on the Sabbath. And he
prepares a cooked dish on the eve of the festival day [Thursday] and relies on
it (to prepare food on Friday) for the Sabbath as well.
(2-2) If a festival day coincided with the day
after the Sabbath [Sunday] the house of Shammai say, “They immerse everything
before the Sabbath”. And the house of Hillel say, “Utensils are to be immersed
before the Sabbath. But man may immerse on the Sabbath itself.”
(Shabbat 15:3) They fold up clothing even four
or five times. And they spread beds on the night of the Sabbath for use on the
Sabbath, but not on the Sabbath for use after the Sabbath. D. R. Ishmael says,
“They fold clothes and lay out beds on the Day of Atonement for the Sabbath”.
This text shows Atonement also fell on a
Friday when the Mishnah was compiled.
(Sukkah 5:7) Three times a year all the
priestly watches shared equally in the offerings of the feasts and in the
division of the Show Bread. At Pentecost they would say to him, “Here you have
unleavened bread, here is leavened bread for you”. The priestly watch whose
time of service is scheduled for that week is the one which offers the daily
whole offerings, the offerings brought by reason of vows and freewill
offerings, and the other public offerings. And it offers everything. On a
festival day which comes next to a Sabbath, whether before or after it, all of
the priestly watches were equal in the division of the Show Bread.
Therefore,
back-to-back Sabbaths were normal.
The narrative of
the shipwreck of Paul shows that the day began at evening, and night was
followed by the day in the twenty-four-hour sequence. We also see from this
text that the day did not begin at midnight in the first century either.
Acts 27:27-33 But when the
fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about
midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; 28And sounded, and found it twenty
fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found
it fifteen fathoms. 29Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four
anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. 30And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had
let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast
anchors out of the foreship, 31Paul said to
the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be
saved. 32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of
the boat, and let her fall off. 33And while the
day was coming on, Paul besought them all
to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and
continued fasting, having taken nothing. (KJV)
The change to a
midnight start for the day was a later invention of the Roman Church and had
nothing to do with the earlier period. It appears that with the exception of
the Italians, all the nations all had the same or similar practice for the
start of the day.
The writings of
the text of the Bible from the time of Moses show that the day was understood
to begin at evening and, as we have seen, Atonement was kept from sunset to
sunset (Lev. 23:32), being when the sun has set and it is dark or EENT. Jews
presently keep from sunset to dark when they end the fast. Thus there are
approximately 25 hours in that day.
This practice was
kept intact, as we see with the restoration under Nehemiah, whereby the Sabbath
was protected by the closing of the gates of the city from evening to evening.
Nehemiah 13:19 And it came to
pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I
commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be
opened till after the sabbath: and some of
my servants set I at the gates, that there
should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. (KJV)
This text shows
that it began to be dark before the Sabbath. The verb used is tsalal (SHD 6752) and is:
…connected with tsel, ‘shadow’ and signifies ‘when the gates began to have shadows
on them’ or ‘to cast long shadows’ (cf. Soncino
n. to v. 19)
This explanation offered in the Soncino
is important to the traditions in placing the time forward to sunset. It is
understood as being at ‘approaching dark’ (cf. SHD 6751 and 6752).
The long shadows are in the late
afternoon at dusk, just before dark. We might conclude from this text that the
Sabbath actually began when it was dark. Thus the day begins at what we term Evening
Nautical Twilight, when it becomes dark. A rabbinical distinction was that
the day began when it became impossible to distinguish the colour of red or
blue thread. This failure of light is at the End of Evening Nautical Twilight
(EENT). The three twilights are: 1) Civil Twilight, which ends when the sun is
six degrees from the horizon and which is used for streetlights; 2) End Evening
Nautical Twilight (EENT) when the sun is at twelve degrees below the horizon;
and 3) End Astronomical Twilight when the
sun is at eighteen degrees below the horizon. At EENT it is dark. At BENT
(Begin Evening Nautical Twilight) it is beginning to be dark at the horizon.
All nations,
including ancient Israel and the tribes of Judah began the day at night and
followed night with the day, counting by the nights. This was so with the
Germans and the Teutons generally. The following quote from John Brady (Clavis Calendaria I-II, London, 1812, p.
98) says:
Different nations have varied, and even still
disagree, in the periods of commencing their diurnal computation. The Turks and
Mahometans reckon from evening twilight; while the Italians, not only begin
their first hour at sunset, but count out the twenty four hours without any
remission, and not twice 12, as is practiced in this country and in Europe in
general, some part of Germany excepted, where they also count by the twenty
four hours which they call “Italian hours.” .... though as the ecclesiastical day throughout Italy
begins at midnight, and the rites of the Roman church are in all cases
regulated by that custom, it is more particularly remarkable, that the civil
day should be permitted to differ in its period of commencement, and thus to
stand at variance with the usage not only of almost all the rest of Europe, but
of their own ancestors; especially as by the variation of sun-setting, which
governs the civil day,.....
Thus we see that
in 1812 in the time of Napoleon and his army’s retreat from Moscow, the day
still began and ended at evening twilight in Islam and elsewhere, or at sunset
among the Italians. The beginning of the day at midnight in 1812 was still the
aberration of the Roman Catholic Church and it was from that source that it
entered Europe and the West. It is an ecclesiastical device with no biblical
sanction. Moreover, Christ speaks of the 12-hour day and the night, which has
come to be measured as twenty-four hours, as it was by the Italians and
astronomers. No one ever began the day at dawn, other than as the second
twelve-hour period. The twenty-four-hour day beginning at midnight is a later
moving of the standardisation of clocks to accord with the timings of the Roman
ecclesiastical traditions. The standardisation of time could have just as
easily (and should have been) effected from the time of dawn and dark at the
equinox with the first hours after sunset (being what we term 6 p.m.) as 1 a.s. instead of 7 p.m. Five p.m. would
have remained the eleventh hour, as it was for almost six thousand years. Seven
a.m. should then be correctly 1 a.m.
In a twenty-four-hour clock it would be 1300 hours. This would have accorded
with Christ’s teaching and will be introduced again from Jerusalem from the
Restoration.
The reason the
ecclesiastical sequences were from midnight was its importance to fasting, as
they had a different fasting practice to that of the Bible and the early
Church. Brady says that the term noon originally meant the ninth hour.
Counting from 6 a.m., it was 3 p.m. “at which time the song was, by ancient
church regulation, always sung.” (ibid., p. 99). Noon is now midday, either
because the monks always broke fast, or because the common dinner hour was
midday (see ibid.). We should bear this fact in mind also when reading earlier
writings that mention noon. The word luncheon is derived from the
erroneous spelling of the word nuncheon or
noon song.
At no time in history has the description
in Daniel 7:25 fitted a society and people more than in Europe from the
nineteenth century to the present. It started from Rome in the second century
and is rapidly now coming to its conclusion.
The term day is derived from the Saxon Dæg. The word appears related to the
Roman Dies or Diis. The ancients gave the names of the planets to the days, which
they termed Dii or gods (ibid., p.
100) and the term was allotted to the twenty-four-hour rotation of the Earth.
Among the Saxons,
the Scriptures were made available in the Saxon tongue by King Athelstan (in
ca. 940) who imposed fines for traffic on Sunday as it had been deemed to have
replaced the Sabbath in the Roman system from the fourth century. The Sunday
and Easter system had been imposed on Britain through the power of the Saxons
from the Synod of Whitby in 664 CE. Until then, most of Britain was
Quartodeciman Sabbatarians. (cf. the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277)). Edgar (ca. 960) declared that the day
should be kept holy from 3 p.m. on Saturday to Monday at day-break (cf. Brady,
ibid., pp. 103-104). Thus the preparation time on the Friday was transferred to
the Saturday and an entirely new period of an extra twelve hours had been added
again. This is the only known aberration of the extended day ending at dawn
(aside from the worship of Ra in Egypt).
The term day is generally understood in two ways,
both as a twelve-hour and a twenty-four-hour period. The latter period came to
be called by the astronomers of the modern or industrial era, a Nycthemeron. However, the ancients could
be excused for simply using the term day to
apply to both. Such certainly was the term when the Bible was translated and
such is the common usage today (cf. Brady, p. 97). Genesis 1:5 is held to say ...and the evening and the morning were the
first day. This rendering should simply read Day One or Day the
First. The Soncino renders this text regarding the First Day as evening and morning, one day (cf.
Soncino Chumash, p. 2). The distinction is based on Rashi’s interpretation,
deducing that God was alone on this day as The One, creating the other heavenly
Beings on the Second day. It does not stand up to scrutiny in the Soncino text
itself and is not interpreted that way by any other authority (cf. Green’s Interlinear Bible). Rashi is wrong and
introduces unnecessary further error in relation to Genesis 1:1-2.
The words evening ('ereb (SHD
6153), cf. 'arab: to mingle) and morning
(boker (1242), cf. bakker: to
search or examine) convey the
opposites of day and night. 'Ereb denoting the mingling of light from
twilight and boker denoting the clear light of day, "being the time when
it is possible to distinguish the exact quality which characterises it"
(ibid.).
The word day
here is the term yôwm (SHD 3117),
which is from an unused root meaning to
be hot; it means a day and as the
warm hours. It is used, as Strong says, to signify the periods either
literally, from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next, or
figuratively, as a space of time defined by an associated term and often used
adverbially thus representing an age. To suggest that its usage is confined to
the daylight hours only is absurd.
The terms used to
confine the time to daylight hours only are: yôwmâm (SHD 3119), meaning daily
or in daylight (cf. Deut. 28:66;
Josh. 1:8; etc.); or shachar (SHD
7837), meaning early light, when the
sun rises (cf. Josh. 6:15).
Mochorath
(SHD 4283) or morrow is also used to indicate the next day or tomorrow
(cf. 1Sam. 30:17; Jon. 4:7).
Boqer or boker
(SHD 1242) when used literally from morning
to morning is used to mean from day to day (cf.
Jdg. 16:2; 19:26; 2Sam. 13:4) and is perhaps a cause of confusion to some if
taken in isolation.
Thus we see from
the details that at least from the time of Moses in the creation narrative, the
term day was used to encompass both evening and morning as one day, or a
twenty-four hour period. There is no other rational way of examining this
argument.
We saw in Acts 27 that Paul had the same
understanding we see in Nehemiah, and as we saw in the instruction to Moses,
regarding Atonement, as well as the same understanding we see was in use up
until the nineteenth century. It is only recently that times and the Law have
been changed to the extent of affecting the operation of the day.
The Week
The word for week in Hebrew is
derived from the word shabuwa or shabua (SHD 7620). This word is derived
from the word shaba’ (SHD 7650)
meaning to be complete. This is a
prime root, which is derived from and used in the sense of sheba or shibah (7651). This word is the prime
cardinal number as seven as the sacred full one. Hence, the term shaba’
(7650) means to seven one’s self, that is, to swear or take an
oath.
The word for week is thus based on
or derived from the sacred number of days making up the seven. The Sabbath is
thus inextricably linked to the linguistic roots for seven and completeness.
The word for week occurs in Genesis 29:27-28 and Daniel 9:27. It means
literally to be sevened. Hence, it is
a week (seven days) or a period of seven years.
The word for week in the New
Testament is a Greek word of Hebrew origin – namely Sabbaton (SGD 4521, from Shabbath
(7676)). It is the concept of a se’nnight
or the interval between two Sabbaths.
The period of the week is also determined
from a phrase meaning complete or perfect Sabbath. This phrase is
present in the law on Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:15-21 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow
after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering;
seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16Even unto the morrow after the
seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat
offering unto the LORD. 17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two
wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be
baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. 18And ye
shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and
one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the
LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering
made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. 19Then ye shall
sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first
year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20And the priest shall wave
them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD,
with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21And
ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto
you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all
your dwellings throughout your generations. (KJV)
The period of fifty days that commenced
after the weekly Sabbath in the Feast of Unleavened Bread has seven perfect or
complete Sabbaths. This was termed the Feast of Weeks from the Old Testament
texts (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10,16; 2Chr. 8:13). The same word shabua (7620) is used.
Pentecost is derived from the term to
count fifty. The term for perfect, as in perfect Sabbaths is tamiym (SHD 8549) meaning entire. Used as a noun it means integrity
or truth – hence, without blemish, complete or full.
Thus, fifty days of Pentecost contains seven complete and perfect or
unblemished weeks. This commences from the day after the weekly Sabbath and
finishes on the day after the weekly Sabbath – namely, a Sunday. Pentecost thus
cannot fall on Sivan 6 as the count is breached and there are not seven perfect
or unblemished weeks or Sabbaths.
The word for Sabbath (SHD 7676) is
different from that used for the Feast-day Sabbaths, which are termed Shabbathown (SHD 7677). This term
applies to all the Feast Holy Days with the meaning of a Sabbatism or
Holy Day, except for the Day of Atonement, which is referred to as a Shabbath shabbathown. The meaning thus
duplicates or emphasises the concept of a very Holy Day. The terms involved in
the above text in Leviticus in the count to Pentecost are Sabbath and not shabbathown and,
hence, it is absolutely clear from the distinctions made in the chapter that
the weekly Sabbaths are involved and not any of the Holy Days; and that the
Hillel or modern Jewish calendar is in error by observing Sivan 6. The conflict
is evident in the Mishnah that shows the Pharisees had introduced the Sivan 6
Pentecost, which could and did fall next to a Sabbath at that time. In the
Temple system and with the Samaritans, Pentecost had always been on the First
day of the week or Sunday.
(Hagigah 2:4) Pentecost which coincided with a
Friday- The House of Shammai say, “The day of slaughtering [the whole offering
brought in fulfilment of the requirements of appearing before the Lord] is on
the day after the Sabbath”. And the House of Hillel say, “The day of
slaughtering [the whole offering] is not after the Sabbath”. But they concur
that if it coincided with the Sabbath, the day of slaughtering [the whole
offering] is after the Sabbath. And the high priest does not put on his
garments. And they are permitted to conduct a lamentation or to hold a fast, so
as not to affirm the opinion of those who say, The date of Pentecost [must
always fall] after the Sabbath [on Sunday].
In support of the Sivan 6 Pentecost
argument, resort is made by some to the
Septuagint (LXX). That version, however, although the standard text of the
early Church, was rejected by rabbinical Judaism from Jamnia after the
destruction of the Temple and dispersion. The OT text was even significantly
altered to support rabbinical Judaism at that time and became the Masoretic
Text. This whole issue of Pentecost in the LXX has been examined in the paper The
Omer Count to Pentecost (No. 173). The arguments constructed
around this text for Sivan 6 are in any case false.
Pentecost was kept on a Sunday during the
Temple period by both the Temple priesthood and the Samaritans. F.F. Bruce says
in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary (J. D. Douglas
& N. Hillyer, editors, IVP, 1980; art. 'Calendar', Vol. 1, p. 225):
In general, the Jewish calendar in NT times
(at least before AD 70) followed the Sadducean reckoning, since it was by that
reckoning that the Temple services were regulated. Thus the day of Pentecost
was reckoned as the fiftieth day after the presentation of the first harvested
sheaf of barley, i.e., the fiftieth
day (inclusive) from the first Sunday after Passover (cf. Lv. 23:15f.); hence it always fell on a Sunday, as it does in
the Christian calendar. The Pharisaic reckoning, which became standard after AD
70, interpreted ‘sabbath’ in Lv. 23:15 as the festival day of Unleavened Bread
and not the weekly sabbath; in that case Pentecost always fell on the same day
of the month [Sivan 6].
The Samaritans and
the Church have not changed in their practice in relation to Pentecost since
the first century. Only Judaism changed its observations and that was done to
preserve its introduced traditions. The Trinitarian church affected the week on
which Pentecost fell by its manipulation of the date of Easter, but it was
always on a Sunday as it had been in the Temple period, and since the time of
the Assyrian captivity, and before that to the time of Moses. The Samaritan
practices come from before the sack of the First Temple and the captivity of
Judah in 587 BCE and therefore reflect more accurately the practices in the
early First Temple period. The traditions were gradually introduced into Judah
and the system of the Pharisees from the Babylonian captivity and later. They
did not have any effect in the Temple practice right up until the period of its
fall and destruction.
The Seven-Day Week
The concept of the seven-day week is
determined from Exodus 20:8-11.
Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six
days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day
is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the
seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (KJV)
The week is thus a regulated and mandatory
ordinance established with the focus on the Sabbath or seventh day of the week,
which is and always has been, the day understood as Saturday. The term in
English is derived from the Saxon Seator (or also seemingly Crodo, cf. Brady), which is usually
associated with the Roman deity Saturn (Brady, pp. 122-123). This day is named
within the languages of many people as the Sabbath or in terms derived from
that word. Samuele Bacchiocchi develops this whole history (From Sabbath to Sunday, Pontifical
Gregorian University Press, Rome, 1977).
The Month
The word month
is derived from the word for moon in
the ancient root language, which became English. The Hebrew word is chadash or chodesh (SHD 2320) meaning a New
Moon – hence, it means a month. The New Moon is thus the means of
determining the start of the month. The New
Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon says of this word (p.
294) that it means New Moon or Month ...“1. new moon as day, time of
the new moon as a religious festival. 2. month
as beginning with the New Moon”. There is no doubt that historically the month
began with the New Moon. The moon was also always a festival in the Temple
period and the High Priest entered the Temple on this day as well as the
Sabbath.
The word is related to châdar (SHD
2314), to surround or enclose, to conceal or curtain.
In its note on Strong's 2314, the Lexicon continues: "(as something surrounding) [from] II. conceal behind a
curtain, conceal, confine. IV. conceal oneself, also abide, stay
or remain behind also as sheathing a sword" (p. 294).
The sense of the basis of the term is
clearly that of the full dark of the New Moon and not a later crescent. The
matter of the crescent moon is examined in the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222).
Another word for month is yerach
(SHD 3391) (1Kgs. 6:37-38; 8:2; 2Kgs. 15:13; Zech. 11:8). This is from an
unused root of uncertain significance and means a lunation, i.e. a month
or moon. Another word is the Chaldean yerach (SHD 3393), which
corresponds to SHD 3391 (Ezra 6:15).
The word for moon when used in the sense of
sun and moon is SHD 3394 or SHD 3391. It can be SHD 3842 (Isa. 24:23; 30:26).
The word for New Moon (SHD 2320) is translated as month in the English.
The exceptions make it evident that a specific day is being indicated (1Sam.
20:5,18,24; 2Kgs. 4:23; Ps. 81:3; Isa. 66:23; Ezek. 46:1,6; Amos 8:5). The
months are thus the first, second, third etc. New Moon.
The New Moon is thus the central or
determining point of the month. It forms the basis of calculation of the
periods within a month. This is so with all of the Holy Days, not the least of
which are the New Moons themselves (see the papers The New Moons (No. 125);
The New Moons of Israel (No. 132); and also The Harvests of God, the
New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000
(No. 120)).
The comments on the months made in the paper
The New Moons of Israel (No. 132) are re-examined below to show the
sequence and significance of their usage.
The Saxon word Almanac appears to
be derived from the Aramaic words al and manach meaning the
counting. Verstigan, being the only exception, says however it came from al
mon aght, i.e. al mon heed or the heeding of the moons.
Certainly, the concept of days beginning and ending at evening sunset or
twilight is consistent with this Eastern origin (cf. Brady, pp. 42-43). The original
almanacs were lunar cycle calendars, carved on four wooden pieces, based on 30
and 29-day sequences corresponding to the duration of the moon determining the
conjunctions and full moons. The alternating day sequence was also the Arabic
practice. A copy of an original Saxon Almanac is at Brady (op. cit., Vol. 1,
between pp. 42-43). A very ancient one is
in St Johns College, Cambridge, England.
Months of the Year
The moon is also symbolic because it is in
phases. The New Moon represents the beginning of the activity of each cycle.
There are twelve months in the year (apart from intercalation) (1Kgs. 4:7;
1Chr. 27:1-15). They are generally reckoned to have a length of 30 days and
that is the way they are referred to prophetically (Gen. 7:11; 8:3-4; Num.
20:29; Deut. 21:13; 34:8; Est. 4:11; Dan. 6:7-13).
The month of the Passover, which is Nisan
or Abib, is specifically commanded by the Lord to be the beginning of the year (see also Num. 9:1-3; 33:3; Josh. 4:19;
Ezek. 45:18,21). This beginning symbolises the redemption of the Israel of God
from the world’s system (Gal. 1:4; Rev. 14:4).
Abib is determined from the New Moon
nearest to the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, which begins the
summer season. The autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere begins the
winter season. These are the two seasons mentioned by the Bible (Gen. 8:22; Ps.
74:17). The calculation is well understood:
The observation of the autumnal equinox, i.e., ‘the going out of the year’ (see
Ex. 23:16), and of the spring or vernal equinox, called ‘the return of the
year’ (1 Ki. 20:26; 2 Ch. 36:10 AV), was important for controlling the calendar
and consequently the festivals. Thus the year began with the new moon nearest the vernal equinox when the sun was in Aries (Jos., Ant. 3.201 [better to see Ant.
(Antiquities of the Jews) III.x.5]), and the Passover on the fourteenth day
of Nisan coincided with the first full moon (Ex. 12:2-6). (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, J D Douglas & N Hillyer,
editors, IVP, 1980; art. ‘Calendar’, Vol. 1, p. 223).
The months are numbered in sequence so that
the year might be identified and not later confused (Ex. 12:2; 13:4; 2Chr.
30:2; Neh. 8:2). The months and the courses of the priests are all listed in
1Chronicles 27:1-15. The New Moons were listed in the days of worship with the
Sabbath and Holy Days in Numbers 28 and 29 (esp. Num. 28:1-2,11,14).
The method of determining the First month
of the year (called Nisan or Abib) is that the Passover period on 14 and 15
Nisan must fall after the equinox. Thus, the preparation day of the Fourteenth
may fall on the equinox but the Fifteenth must fall after the equinox. These
were the two governing rules until the Hillel revision. Schürer notes the rule
regarding the Passover in his Appendix on the Calendar.
The months were normally numbered and not
all months are listed by name in the Scriptures. The months of the year are:
1.
Nisan (March-April) (or Abib: Canaanite)
2.
Iyyar (April-May) (or Ziv: Canaanite)
3.
Sivan (May-June)
4.
Tammuz (June-July)
5.
Ab (July-August)
6.
Elul (August-September)
7.
Tishri (September-October) (or
Ethanim: Canaanite)
8.
Marcheshvan (October-November)
(or Bul: Canaanite)
9.
Chislev (November-December)
10. Tebeth (December-January)
11. Shebat (January-February)
12. Adar (February-March)
The Babylonian
equivalents are:
1.
Nisanu: the month of sacrifice
2.
Ayaru: the procession month
3.
Simanu: the fixed season or time of
brick making
4.
Du-uzu: the month of Tammuz the god of
fertility
5.
Abu: the month of torches
6.
Elulu or Ululu: the month of purification
7.
Teshritu: the month of beginning
8.
Arah-samna: the eighth month
9.
Kislimu: of uncertain meaning
10.
Tebitu: the month of plunging (into
water)
11.
Shabatu: the month of storms and rain
12.
Adaru: the month of the threshing floor.
The cycle of twelve lunar months (354¼
days) falls short of the solar year (365¼ days). Because the spring
Passover-Mazzoth festival, which begins the cycle of agricultural feasts,
needed to be kept at a set time in the year, it is obvious why the intercalary
month is placed in Adar at the end of the year.
The Passover must coincide with the first
harvest (which follows the equinox) and thus the commencement of the year is
dependent upon the location of the moon for that period in which the barley
harvest begins to occur.
Abib means green ears and the greens ears were cut
and roasted, not being yet at the ‘white of harvest’. The first of the green
ear harvest was cut and waved as the Wave Sheaf, thereby commencing the omer
count to Pentecost. The sequence in Joshua was that they took the Holy Land and
then ate of the old corn on the morning after the Passover, i.e. on the morning
of the Fifteenth of the First month and the manna ceased (Josh. 5:11). The
green ears are not mentioned because they roasted the new ears of Abib after
the Wave Sheaf, which had not happened as yet. Hence, only the old corn is
mentioned as being consumed. The Wave Sheaf symbolised Messiah who was the
first-begotten from the dead.
The spiritual symbolism is paramount. The
Feasts are dependent upon the New Moons and not the reverse. The name of the
intercalary month is WeAdar (or and Adar)
according to M. Ned VIII.5 (see Interpreter’s
Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, p. 487). The rabbinical calculations show
seven out of every nineteen years have an extra month, which we term Adar II.
As we observed, the months are determined
by the New Moons and the entire Plan of Salvation is demonstrated from each New
Moon through the calculation of the Feasts and their demonstration in the cycle
of the actual physical harvests. The year is based on a symbolic or prophetic
year of 360 days, being twelve months of 30 days (see the paper The
Harvests of God, the New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120) for the
implications for the Feasts and the 144,000); this is known as a time. This period can also be extended
prophetically, on a year-for-a-day basis, to 360 years. Seven times is 2,520 years, with half that period (or 1,260 years)
being the time, times and half a time
of Daniel 12:7.
It is noted from the paper Moses
and the Gods of Egypt (No. 105) that God dealt with the Egyptian system
and its gods through the Exodus. God dealt with the Babylonian system through
the proper establishment of the Calendar and the Church. It should be noted
that the Babylonian system began the year from the month of beginnings, Teshritu or Tishri. From this month Messiah will establish the New Beginning,
which is symbolised by the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of
Tabernacles.
Tishri is determined by the New Moon, which
is the Feast of Trumpets. It was pointed out in the paper The New Moons of Israel (No. 132) that the month of beginnings was made
the Seventh moon. It was noted there that this sequence represented the
establishment under Messiah of the seven phases of the Seven Churches. The
significance is explained in the papers on the New Moons. The explanation of
the symbolism of the Feasts is repeated (requoted below from The
New Moons (No. 125):
The year was made to commence in the month of
sacrifice which represented the Passover sacrifice of Messiah. This month
commenced the harvest which was also the first of the harvest sequence, that
is, the barley harvest. God then carried on the process of harvests through
each of the phases which are three harvest periods. These are the Passover and
Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles or
Ingathering. The Feast of Weeks symbolises the harvest of the Church before the
return of Messiah. This is an ongoing process.
Thus Pentecost is a commencement of a sequence
which follows through five moons from Sivan to Tishri, even though there are
seven in the sequence from Nisan to Tishri. These five are the stones David
drew from the brook (see the paper David
and Goliath (No. 126)). Sardis and Laodicea are eliminated. Sivan commences
the brick making of the Temple of
God. The sequence then involves rebirth (Du-uzu:
Tammuz), the torches (Abu: Ab) or
candles of the Church and the purification (Elulu:
Elul) of the elect. Hence the months from Simanu
(Sivan) to Teshritu (Tishri) are
accounted for in Christian symbolism thus eliminating the Babylonian. The
torching of 9-10 Ab was allowed because of the idolatry of Israel to Babylonian
practice.
The months are twelve in all, with a
thirteenth month (Adar II) intercalated seven times every nineteen years. The nineteen
years mark the complete cycle. The moons themselves determine this period as
they rotate through the seasons. The festival sacrifices
total 72 throughout the year, and comprise: fifty-two Sabbaths, seven Holy
Days, plus twelve New Moons and the Wave-Sheaf Offering. Trumpets is of course
a double sacrifice, being both a New Moon
and a Feast (Num. 29:1-6).
The sacrifice of the Wave Sheaf, when
coupled with the Feasts and New Moons, has a great significance, which was
dealt with in the paper The Harvests of God, the New Moon
Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120). The relationship of the
intercalary months have a relationship to the administration of God within
Israel and also in the celestial system, as noted from the paper The
New Moons of Israel (No. 132). All of the activities of God in the
creation are dealt with in symbols that are reflected not only in the movement
of the heavens but also the allocation of the organisation and responsibility
of Israel. Israel, as both a nation and the Church within the covenant, is
predicated on those relationships (see the paper The Covenant of
God (No. 152)).
The quote from paper No. 125 continues:
The relationship is predicated on the function
of the intercalary month as it occurs with the twelve normal months. Israel
represents this system through the tribes. Israel has twelve tribes. These are,
from the north: Dan, Asher Napthali, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben Simeon,
Gad, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin (see Num. 10:11; cf. Ezek. 1:4 ff.). The tribe
of Levi is centred around the tabernacle. Thus there are twelve tribes but
Joseph has the birthright and is effectively divided into two shares to make
twelve tribes with the tribe of Levi relinquishing its share to perform the
function of the priesthood. Thus the blueprint for the function of physical
Israel was set in the stars at the creation. Adar II represents the priesthood
as the thirteenth month and tribe. This month occurs seven times in a cycle.
This cycle represents the seven spirits of God
as they perform their duties under the angels of the seven Churches. This
problem cannot be solved or understood without the understanding of the New
Moons.
The New Moons were central to the system of
worship as laid down in the Hebrew calendar. They needed to be kept correctly
and their understanding was central to the understanding of the Plan of
Salvation. The Israelite system was apostate and was undermined continually. It
had to be restored each time by an appointed delegate of God. There were many
restorations and many breakdowns in the determination of the system.
It can be seen that the New Moon was the
central point of calculation for the religious calendar. This fell into misuse
many times. The last and continuous time for Judah was under Rabbi Hillel II in
358 CE, where the Sabbaths had become so cumbersome through introduced
tradition that the whole system of calculation had to be changed to make it
possible to keep the traditions established by the Pharisees. The observations
were made to control the New Moons so that the traditions could be kept. In
order to control the people who might otherwise contest the correct declaration
of the New Moon, other restrictions were implemented, such as who might be a
reliable witness for the New Moon. Women were eliminated as witnesses and so
too were categories of people who might be independent observers, such as
pigeon keepers (see Mishnah for categories).
Let us look at the comments on the
historical position from the text of the paper The New Moons (No. 125):
General
Historical Position
The New Moon Festival, known to the Jews as Rosh Hodesh, occurred on the first of
the month, on the appearance of the first phase of the moon (Hayyim Schauss The Jewish Festivals: History and Observance,
tr. Samuel Jaffe, Schocken Books, New York, 1938, p. 275). It is thus tied to
the appearance of the New Moon.
There was a time
when Rosh Chodesh was a major
festival, much more important than the weekly Sabbath...One reason for its
importance resided in the fact that the date of all the Jewish Festivals
depended upon the New Moon (ibid., p. 274).
This contention is supposition. The Bible
indicates it was as important but not more so than the Sabbath. It was more
important than the feasts as we will see.
The Bible clearly equates the New Moon with the festivals (Num.
10:10). The Festival of the New Moon was a feast day and it was celebrated on
the day after the New Moon was sighted (New
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, McGraw Hill, NY, 1967, p. 382)
“In early rabbinic
times the day of the New Moon was established by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem,
after accepting the evidence of eye witnesses who had claimed to see the new
moon. Sometimes the rabbis would deliberately postpone Rosh Hodesh so as to prevent the Day of Atonement from falling on a
Friday or a Sunday. The permanent calendar was fixed by Hillel II in 358 CE and
this provided the exact date of each Rosh Hodesh based on astronomical and
mathematical calculations” (The Ency. of
Judaism, Geoffery Widoger, Macmillan, NY, 1989, p. 502).
Note this was in
early rabbinic times. That is well after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE. Thus
the rabbinical manipulation of the New Moon was enshrined in the Hillel
calendar. It has no biblical authority.
Here we have
evidence of the deliberate postponement prior to the Hillel calendar. Notice we
are not dealing with the period of the Second Temple but later early-Rabbinic
times. However, the assertions by the New Catholic Encyclopedia regarding
the postponement to the next day show an ignorance of the timings regarding the
postponements. The New Moon was assumed to develop the crescent from six hours
after the conjunction. Thus it was only postponed if the conjunction or full
dark New Moon fell after 1200 hours. This rule was established in the
postponements. The quote continues:
There is no doubt
that the New Moon was anciently at least as important as the Sabbath.
“The New Moon
festival anciently stood at least on a level with that of the Sabbath. (J
Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, 1885, p. 113).”
The New Moon was definitely holy time and was celebrated on the day
of the determination of the New Moon by conjunction. This was calculated in
advance. This fresh beginning was marked by special sacrifices (Num. 28:11-15)
over which the trumpets were blown (Num. 10:10; Ps. 81:3). Normal work was not
done. The King held special feasts on the New Moon. David makes mention of the
significance in 1Samuel 20:5. David would have been missed from the court
because his seat at the table would have been empty. They knew well in advance
of the impending New Moon.
1Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan
said to David, To morrow is the new
moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. (KJV)
The New Moons were thus mandatory gatherings in the Court of Israel,
known in advance. This makes a nonsense of any plea for an observation system.
David kept the New Moons with the Sabbaths and the Feasts by number, according
to the order commanded to them (1Chr. 23:30-31). There was thus a set order
from ancient times. Solomon also observed these days. This was an ordinance
forever to Israel.
The New Moons are mentioned in precedence over the Feasts.
2Chronicles 2:4 Behold, I build
an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn
before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt
offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on
the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is
an ordinance for ever to Israel. (KJV)
The New Moons were observed, together with the Sabbaths and set
Feasts, by Elisha (2Kgs. 4:23), and by Hezekiah, as it is written in the Law of
the Lord (2Chr. 31:3). This practice was continued by Ezra (Ezra 3:5) and
Nehemiah (Neh. 10:29-33). It continued up through the time of Christ and the
Apostles, and the Calendar, including the New Moons, was observed at Colossae
(Col. 2:16). The purpose of the Calendar in the Sabbaths and the New Moons and
the set Feasts was so that they would be memorials for Israel before God, and
for atonement (Num. 10:10, 33). This ordinance is set in the same sequence and
chapters as is the Order of Battle of Israel. The Calendar is thus integral to
the Covenant of God and to the purpose of God within the Plan of Salvation.
The New Moon must be treated as a day of worship and assembly, as
are the Sabbaths and Feasts (1Sam. 20:5,18; Isa. 66:23; Ezek. 46:1-3).
Sacrifice is not the issue, as it was fulfilled in Messiah. Obedience is the
issue (Jer. 7:22-24; Heb. 10:1-6).
The quote from paper No. 125
continues:
The New Year on the New Moon of the first
month Abib was of special significance (Ps. 81:3-5; cf. The Moon and the New Year (No. 213). The New Moon of the seventh
month was especially sanctified (Lev. 23:24-25; Num. 29:1-6). 2Kings 4:23
suggests that both New Moons and Sabbaths were regarded as providing
opportunity for consulting the prophets, and Ezekiel marks out the New Moon as
a special day of worship (Ezek. 46:1,3).
[Judaica and modern Judaism assert that]:
Originally, the New Moon was allegedly not fixed by astronomical calculations,
but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance
of the crescent of the moon. The rabbinical authorities hold that on the 30th
of each month, the members of the High Court assembled in a courtyard in
Jerusalem, named Beit Ya'azek, where they waited to receive the testimony of
two reliable witnesses; they then sanctified the New Moon. If the moon's
crescent was not seen on the 30th day, the New Moon was automatically
celebrated on the 31st day. To inform the population of the beginning of the
month, beacons were kindled on the Mount of Olives and thence over the entire
land and in parts of the Diaspora.
[It is then asserted that] Later, however, the
Samaritans began to light misleading beacons, and the High Court dispatched
messengers to far-removed communities. Those Jews who lived great distances
from Jerusalem always celebrated the 30th day of the month as the New Moon. On
those occasions when they were informed of its postponement to the 31st day,
they also observed this second day as the New Moon (RH 1:3-2:7). By the middle
of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public
proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued. A relic of the original practice
is, however, retained in the synagogue custom of announcing the New Moon on the
Sabbath preceding its celebration (Ency.
Judaica, Vol. 12, p. 1039).
This process is evidence of the manipulation of the Calendar by the
rabbis. There is never a month that is longer than thirty days – and they knew
that fact. Note also John Bowman’s comments regarding the Samaritans and the
acceptance of this rabbinical propaganda above. The original system was by
calculation according to the conjunction, and the Sadducees and the Samaritans
both did the same thing. Note the comment here that later the Samaritans began lighting misleading beacons: Why later?
The Samaritans had not changed their system. It has remained the same for well
over the twenty-five centuries of independent Judaism, which itself has changed
remarkably after the destruction of the Temple. It was Judah that began playing
with the calendar based on rabbinical traditions that were not allowed or
accepted during the Temple period. The manipulation of the calendar was because
the authorities had not developed a precise system for establishing the
postponements to protect the traditions. This affected the number of thirty-day
months in the year, as we will see later. Such effect became inexplicable and
irreconcilable with ancient practice.
The New Moons are not mentioned in Leviticus 23 because that is not
a complete list of the days of worship of Israel and the Sacred Calendar.
Numbers 28 and 29 show the only complete list of the days of worship. The
Wave-Sheaf Offering is included in Leviticus 23 even though it is not a Holy
Day, because it is integral to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it is the
primary element of the Harvest of God. The Wave-Sheaf Offering must be kept as
well as the Feasts (cf. the paper The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b)).
It can be seen from history that the modern Jewish calendar had not
begun to be fixed until the middle of the fourth century, according to Jewish
authority. This was then further manipulated and changed up until the eleventh
century. The precise calculation of the New Moon removes any uncertainty in the
calculation, or the international celebration of the New Moon.
Hence, the ancient rabbinical Jewish procedure was that, when the
New Moon cannot be observed on the day in which it falls (i.e. that it falls
within daylight hours), it is observed on the following day. This is really a
scam because the New Moon falls into this category as a rule. That is also the
early post-Temple rule introduced for the observance of the New Moon. It has
nothing to do with the calculation of the Molad of Tishri, as established from
the fourth century under Hillel II. Recently, it has degenerated further, as
was explained in the paper The
New Moons (No. 125).
Continuing with the quote:
It became fashionable with the advent of
Sociology and the Study of Developing Religions to treat the biblical
requirements for the Sabbaths and New Moons as competing elements for the
loyalties of the Hebrew peoples. The New Moons being treated as the vestigial
remnants of the cult of the worship of the Moon God. Schauss was of this view
when he wrote The Jewish Festivals
(p. 274). He also treats the Pentateuch as being written in two parts, the
older part being written before the Babylonian exile the later part after the
return. He claims that the older part has no mention of the festival. He draws
this conclusion from the fact that the New Moons are not mentioned in Exodus
23:14-19; 34:17-26; Deuteronomy 16, nor in Leviticus 23. He thus deduces that
the book of Numbers must be a later part. He advanced no evidence for this
conjecture. That is the sort of argument typical of modern apologists. The real
reason for this position is that the return from the exile did not effect a
full restoration.
“After
the return from the Babylonian exile a compromise was reached; Rosh Chodesh was not recognised as a
full festival, during which labour was forbidden, but special sacrifices were
arranged on that day in the Temple.
To
this day Jews perform a special ritual to welcome the new month: there is a
special prayer in the synagogue on the sabbath before the New Moon, and there
is a ceremony sanctifying the New Moon by a special benediction to be recited
in the open air when the New Moon appears (Schauss, p. 274).”
It came to be taken for granted that the
decline had occurred yet the explanation could not be fully given. An example
is seen in the following references from The
Hebrew Concept of Time and the Effect on the Development of the Sabbath, by
Diana R. Engel, The American University, Washington, 1976.
“No
trading took place on the day of the new moon (the day after the first crescent
appeared in the sky). The offerings for the new moon, in fact exceeded those
for the Sabbath (Num. 28:11-5; Ezek. 46:4-7). However the religious importance
of the new moon declined while that of the Sabbath increased (pp. 69-70).”
Note here also that Engel has assumed that the first crescent was
held as the sighting, and that the day after the first crescent was sighted is
further assumed. This places a series of postponements into the New Moon. No
evidence is cited for this conjecture. The quote is continued from paper No. 125.
Further example of the inexplicability of the
decline is seen from Widoger.
“It is not clear
when or how the New Moon lost its festive character. This had happened by the
time the Jews returned from exile at the end of the sixth century BCE. It was
no longer a full holiday, but a semi-holiday, like Hol ha-Mo'ed (the intermediate, working days of Passover and
Sukkot) when the rabbis discouraged all but necessary work and women were to
have a holiday from their sewing and weaving. More stringent economic
conditions were probably the reason for the downgrading of the New Moon,
particularly since there were no religious or historical reasons for stopping
work on that day. In the course of time, even this minor holiday status
disappeared and it became a normal working day like any other, except for
certain liturgical variations” (Widoger, op. cit., p. 502).
Yet the Jewish
people did keep the New Moons as did the Church. The general populace was
however spasmodic and looked to trade as they also did with the Sabbaths and
the Feasts as we know.
“When
will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale. (Amos 8:5)”
To the Jews the Sabbath became the most
important day in the year. In fact Diana Engel says that the Sabbath day
became:
“more than just
another day or another commandment. It epitomised for them much of what they
believed in and stood for. ... It is impossible to overemphasize how much the
Sabbath meant to Israel, how they looked forward to it and glorified it “(p.
83).
But they did not really understand it! They
did not understand the spiritual significance of the Sabbath as they did not
understand the New Moons. The New Moon had to be reduced in importance by
rabbinical Judaism, because it threatened the postponement system itself. It
could not be removed completely as the Bible is too clear on the subject and
thus had to be reduced in importance, so the false calendar could be
introduced.
According to The Lion Handbook of the Bible (eds. D & P Alexander, Lion
Publishing, 1984)
“The Orthodox Jewish Calendar is of twelve
months beginning with each new moon (visible crescent)” (p. 112).
No evidence is cited for this statement
(visible crescent). Most Judaisers and seemingly a large amount of twentieth
century scholarship, contrary to the evidence we have and their own practice
and common sense, looks to the New Moon as a crescent. That was never the case.
The Samaritan calendar that is still in existence today proves this to be
false.
“The second Hebrew
term for month, hodesh, properly means the 'newness' of the lunar crescent.” (Encyc. Brit., 15th edition, Vol. 15, p.
465).
As we have seen, the definition of the term chodesh does not have anything to do with the lunar crescent. The
lunar crescent is another system of worship addressed to the Sin and
Baal/Ashtoreth system and human sacrifice (cf. the papers The Golden Calf
(No. 222) and
The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).
Its linguistic base means to be concealed.
The Britannica continues this (only partially true) statement, which is
contrary to the Hebrew concept conveyed in the symbolism of the words.
The quote continues:
“In the religious calendar, the commencement
of the month was determined by the observation of the crescent new moon, and
the date of Passover was tied in with the ripening of barley” (ibid.).
“... the first crescent is thus the rebirth or
replacement of the old by a new moon (ibid., p. 573).”
About 344 CE and certainly with the Hillel
calendar of 358, the visible observation of the New Moon was supplanted by
secret astronomical calculations. Modern tables ensure absolute and accurate
placement.
“The (Jewish) calendar is thus schematic and
independent of the true New Moon. (Encyc.
Brit., op. cit., p. 466)”.
(requoted from W. E. Cox The New Moons (No. 125), Christian Churches of God, 1995, 1999).
The Jewish calendar is thus contrary to the
intention of the biblical texts and Laws. It is obvious that the Jewish or
Hillel calendar, being acknowledged to be independent of the true New Moons,
cannot accurately reflect the Laws of God, which make no provision for the
alteration of the Sabbaths, or their removal from the true New Moon. The
conjecture of modern scholarship that the New Moon was viewed as a crescent
appears to rest on a completely speculative foundation, in ignorance of the
known practices of the Samaritans and Sadducees, and contrary to the rules of
postponement themselves. A later rule appeared to be that the crescent must
develop from the New Moon within the day on which it appeared; hence, the
1200-hours rule of the postponements. The crescent was tied to the worship of
the moon god Sin and is not a scriptural practice. Our word sin is itself derived from the ancient
practices as viewed from the Hebrew and scriptural position. Our way of
calculating the New Moon is according to the phasis and has never
changed following the ancient Samaritan practice. That of itself should be
persuasive evidence. It is modern Judaism that is in a state of perpetual sin,
led there by its rabbis.
Point of calculation
The New Moon is a precise astronomical
event which is perfectly predictable. The event can occur on different days
because of the rotation of the Earth. The determination of the New Moon,
therefore, must be determined from the time in which it occurs in Jerusalem to
ensure the uniformity of religious worship throughout the world, given
increased communication.
The determination of the New Moon in
Jerusalem is based upon the Scriptures that place Jerusalem as the Throne of
the Lord (Jer. 3:17), the centre of the Law and the point from which it will
issue under Messiah (Isa. 2:3) and through the waters of the Spirit (Zech.
8:22; 14:8-21). God has placed His Name there for ever (2Chr. 33:4).
This determination might place Australia in
a position where it is in advance of the full-time structure in Jerusalem and
elsewhere; it is nevertheless necessary for the implementation of a coherent
world calendar. The early pre-Hillel postponement rule, which ties the New Moon
to the crescent after six hours (hence postponed if it occurs after 1200
hours), minimises the effect of this problem. However, there is no authority
for that and it is an administrative decision.
The biblical position
The biblical requirement for the New Moons
was examined in the paper The New Moons (No. 125). The position is restated.
The feast of the New Moon is one of the
Feasts of the Lord. It is listed at Numbers 10:10.
“Numbers 10:10 Also in the
day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your
months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the
sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial
before your God: I am the LORD your
God. (KJV)”
The sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ.
The Feasts or Sabbaths themselves were not eliminated.
The offerings required were altered in
their necessity to that of spiritual offerings each day of the Holy Day
sequence, from Sabbaths to New Moons to Feasts. The sacrifices under the Law
were provided for from a special levy allocated under the responsibility of the
national authority. The Prince’s levy is examined in the paper Tithing (No. 161).
‘Ezekiel 45:14-17 Concerning the
ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye
shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer: 15And one lamb out of
the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat
offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make
reconciliation for them, saith the Lord GOD. 16All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince
in Israel. 17And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat
offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the
sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin
offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace
offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. (KJV)’
This offering was a tithe of a tithe of
oil, and a half-tithe of the tithe for the meat offerings. It was collected by
the Prince for the sacrifices on Sabbaths, New Moons, Holy Days and offerings.
Thus it is incorrect to claim that the tithe was eliminated with the
sacrifices, because they were obviously provided for separately. This text also
concerns the first-fruits from Ezekiel 44:29-30, and the orders are made for
the restoration of Israel in its lands. Messiah will thus set up the system
that he is alleged to have done away with from his execution – and Scripture
cannot be broken. This will be for the mental healing of the nations, but this
matter will be examined separately.
The Feast of the New Moon was treated as a Shabbathown
or Holy Sabbath. Sacrifices were offered as we see above as a memorial.
‘Numbers 28:11-15 And in the beginnings of your months ye
shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram,
seven lambs of the first year without spot; 12And three tenth deals
of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two tenth
deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one ram; 13And
a several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil for a meat offering unto one
lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the
LORD. 14And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto
a bullock, and the third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin
unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of
the year. 15And one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the
LORD shall be offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink
offering. (KJV)’
We see from this text that the New Moon
festivals were to be on every month throughout the months of the year. The same
requirements apply to the New Moons as they do to the other Feasts and
Sabbaths.
‘1Chronicles 23:31 And to offer
all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on
the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them,
continually before the LORD: (KJV)’
We see that the New Moons are in fact
intermediary between the Sabbaths and the Feasts. Like the Feasts and the
Sabbaths, the nexus between the sacrifices and the New Moons was fulfilled in
Messiah. However, the observance of the New Moons themselves was not
eliminated.
This observance is not to be
construed with the worship of the moon, which is expressly forbidden.
‘Deuteronomy 4:19 And lest thou
lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and
the stars, even all the host of
heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy
God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. (KJV)’
‘Deuteronomy 17:3 And hath gone
and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of
the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; (KJV)’
The observance of the Sabbaths and New
Moons together with the set Feasts is given to mark the Plan of God and the
flow of the cycles of the creation. The solar calendar does not perform this
function.
From the restoration of the Passover of
Hezekiah, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Hezekiah restored the New Moons
as well as the Feasts. No restoration will be complete until the New Moons are correctly restored to their rightful
place in the system (see also Prove All
Things, Church of God, In Truth, Vol. 2, Issue 1, p. 6).
‘2Chronicles 31:3 He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening
burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new
moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written
in the law of the LORD. (KJV)’
Ezra 3:5 also notes the New Moons were
restored under Ezra. Thus both major restorations involved the restoration of
the New Moons.
‘Ezra 3:5
And
afterward offered the continual burnt
offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that
were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering
unto the LORD. (KJV)’
The New Moon is the beginning or the First
day of the month (Num. 10:10; 28:11). No system that bases itself on the
relocation of the beginning of the month is valid. The Hillel calendar is
invalid because of this fact. The actual Temple Calendar was based on the
conjunction of the New Moon and we know that from the text in Philo.
“This
is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month, namely the period between one
conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in
the astronomical schools.” (Judaeus, Philo, The
Special Laws, II, XXVI, 140, Treatise by F.H. Colson, Harvard University
Press: Cambridge, MA, 1937.)
The lunar calendar is the mark of the Holy
People. In its notation to Exodus 12:2, the Mekilta states that: “the
nations reckon by the sun, but Israel by the moon”.
‘The feasts of PASSOVER and BOOTHS were not
set simply by the general lunar calculation, but on the basis of the appearance
of the new moon of the month in which they occurred, PENTECOST depending on
Passover in this respect ... Though it is impossible to document this fully, it
seems probable that the sabbath was originally also part of this natural cycle
of time, related to the phases of the moon, and that, following its separation
the Feast of the New Moon continued as a separate observance (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible,
Vol. 3, art. ‘New Moon’, p. 544).’
The conjecture regarding the Sabbath and
New Moon is perhaps based upon the system of observance that we see in paper The
Works of the Law Text - or MMT
(No. 104).
Strugnell and Qimron have translated the text from the DSS (see Bib. Arch. Review, Nov.-Dec. 1994). All
historic Jewish rites for the announcement of the New Moon from the preceding
Sabbath contain a prayer of eschatological content. The rationale for the observance was God’s creation of the moon as a
“sign” of the unbreakable covenant with Israel, the “times” of whose cultus it
decreed (Ps. 104:19; Ecclus. 43:6-8) (Int.
Dict. ibid., see also Ber. R. 13d). The Calendar is thus an inseparable
part of the covenant with Israel.
The New Moon was noted as significant for
the giving of visions and prophecy, perhaps from 2Kings 4:23 but certainly from
Ezekiel 26:1; 29:17; 31:1; 32:1 (cf. Isa.
47:13; Hag. 1:1). This directly refuted the astrologers and stargazers of the
Babylonian system, as we see from Isaiah 47:13.
‘Isaiah
47:13 Thou
art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the
stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
(KJV)’
The monthly prognostications were done on
the phases of the moon, thus perverting the system.
The Sabbaths and the New Moons both
enjoined rest from work, as we see from Amos 8:5. It was a day of rejoicing.
The mirth intended for the Holy Days was removed from Hosea 2:11.
‘Hosea 2:11 I will also
cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths,
and all her solemn feasts. (KJV)’
This was because of unfaithfulness and
idolatry. God destroys His people because they do not keep His Laws. The end
result is that He destroys the wealth of the nation.
‘Hosea 2:12 And I will
destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given
me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
(KJV)’
Fasting and mourning were suspended on the
New Moons. We know that this occurred throughout Israel up until Messiah from
the Apocrypha (Jth. 8:6). The ceremonies were proclaimed with trumpets (Num.
10:10; Ps. 81:3).
‘Psalm 81:3 Blow up the
trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. (KJV)’
The New Moon of significant months is
especially kept from the texts.
‘1Samuel 20:6 If thy father
at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for
all the family. (KJV)’
The New Moon of Nisan was significant, and
also the New Moon of Tishri was itself the Feast of Trumpets (see also the paper Trumpets (No. 136)).
‘Ezekiel 45:18-20 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month,
in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish,
and cleanse the sanctuary: 19And the priest shall take of the blood
of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four
corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner
court. 20And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every
one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house.
(KJV)’
The cleansing of the sanctuary or Temple
commenced on the New Moon of the First month (Nisan) beginning the Sacred Year
(cf. Sanctification of the Temple of God
(No. 241). This cleansed the inner court. This was
to represent the elect as the inner wheel of Ezekiel’s vision. The cleansing of
the simple and the erroneous was effected from the Seventh of the First month
or Nisan. The priesthood had prepared themselves and the nation.
The New Moon of the Seventh month was also
important.
‘Leviticus 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
In the seventh month, in the first day of
the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy
convocation. (KJV)
Nehemiah 8:2 And Ezra the
priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
(KJV)’
The New Moon of the Seventh month thus
commences the restoration through the Reading of the Law, which occurs every
seven years of the Jubilee cycle over every day of Tabernacles (cf. also Reading the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No.
250)).
‘Deuteronomy 31:10-12 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end
of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of
tabernacles, 11When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy
God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all
Israel in their hearing.12Gather the people together, men, and
women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may
hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all
the words of this law: (KJV)
Nehemiah 8:18 Also day by day,
from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God.
And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner. (KJV)’
The symbolism here is that the seventh or
Sabbath year represents the millennial cycle of one thousand years, commencing
with the return of Messiah, who issues the Law from Jerusalem. The Law then
spreads throughout the world from the subjugation of the nations. The reading
on the Feast of Trumpets, in the restoration of Nehemiah, was to point towards
the restoration of Messiah, and from Trumpets.
(cf. also the
paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272)).
(Section requoted from W. E. Cox The
New Moons (No. 125), Christian Churches of God, 1995, 1999.)
The Festivals
according to Philo
In dealing with the Feasts under the
Commandments we read what Philo has to say in The Specials Laws about
the Fourth Commandment inter alia:
{**Yonge's title, A Treatise on the Special
Laws, Which Are Referred to Three Articles of the Decalogue, Namely the Third,
Fourth, and Fifth; About Oaths, and the Reverence Due to Them; About the Holy
Sabbath; About the Honour To Be Paid to Parents.}
....
Yonge's translation includes a separate
treatise title at this point: On the Number Seven. His next division begins and
ends with roman numeral I (= X in the Loeb). The text follows the Loeb
numbering.
X. (39) The next
commandment is that concerning the sacred seventh day, in which are
comprehended an infinite number of most important festivals. For instance,
there is the release of those men who by nature were free, but who, through
some unforeseen necessity of the times, have become slaves, which release takes
place every seventh year. Again, there is the humanity of creditors towards
their debtors, as they forgive their countrymen their debts every seventh year.
Also there is the rest given to the fertile ground, whether it be in the
champaign or in the mountainous country, which also takes place every seventh
year. Moreover, there are those ordinances, which are established respecting
the fiftieth year. And of all these things the bare narration (without looking
to any inner and figurative signification) is sufficient to lead those who are
well disposed to perfect virtue, and to make even those who are obstinate and
stubborn in their dispositions more docile and tractable. (40) Now we have
already spoken at some length about the virtue of the number seven, explaining
what a nature it has in reference to the number ten; and also what a connection
it has to the decade itself, and also to the number four, which is the
foundation and the source of the decade. And now, having been compounded in
regular order from the unit, it in regular order produces the perfect number
twenty-eight; being multiplied according to a regular proportion equal in all
its parts, it makes at last both a cube and a square. I also showed how there
is an infinite number of beauties which may be extracted from a careful
contemplation of it, on which we have not at present time to dilate. But we
must examine every one of the special matters which are before us as
comprehended in this one, beginning with the first. The first matter to be
considered is that of the Festivals. [Yonge's translation includes a separate
treatise title at this point: To Show That the Festivals Are Ten in Number. This
"treatise" begins with roman numeral I (= XI in the Loeb), enumerates
each of the ten festivals individually, and extends through Loeb number 214.
The text follows the Loeb numbering.]
XI. (41) Now
there are ten festivals in number, as the law sets them down.
The first is
that which any one will perhaps be astonished to hear called a festival. This
festival is every day.
The second
festival is the seventh day, which the Hebrews in their native language call
the sabbath.
The third is
that which comes after the conjunction, which happens on the day of the new
moon in each month.
The fourth is
that of the passover which is called the passover.
The fifth is the
first fruits of the corn--the sacred sheaf. [Note the Wave Sheaf is one of the
Ten festivals of the Temple period]
The sixth is the
feast of unleavened bread, after which that festival is celebrated, which is
really
The seventh day
of seventh days.
The eighth is
the festival of the sacred moon, or the feast of trumpets.
The ninth is the
fast.
The tenth is the
feast of tabernacles, which is the last of all the annual festivals, ending so
as to make the perfect number of ten. We must now begin with the first
festival.
{Note Philo here
combines the Last Great Day with the Feast of Tabernacles making Ten instead of
Eleven]
We notice here that in the introduction in
dealing with the third Feast, namely the New Moon, Philo uses the term which
has been rendered after the conjunction and some others have rendered as
following in the sense of “according to” or “as determined by” the
conjunction. However, he qualifies this matter by saying which happens on
the day of the New Moon in each month. The text is thus quite clear that
the New Moon is the day on which the conjunction occurs. In the later
explanations Philo then goes on to state that the month is from one conjunction
to the next as determined in the astronomical schools, as was quoted above.
There can thus be no error. The New Moon is
on the day of the conjunction as determined by the schools from Jerusalem. To
postpone the New Moon as is done by Judaism is to postpone all the festivals
and make them of no value. It is simply thumbing one’s nose at God and His
Laws. On the New Moon hang all the subsequent festivals.
Yonge’s translation lacked part of 140 and
the texts of 142-144 (which is supplied here) and explains the timing and the
theology behind the New Moon and why it runs according to the conjunction and
the New Moon day is the day of the conjunction.
THE THIRD FESTIVAL
XXVI. (140)
Following the order which we have adopted, we proceed to speak of the third
festival, that of the new moon. First of all, because it is the beginning of
the month, and the beginning, whether of number or of time, is honourable.
Secondly, because at this time there is nothing in the whole of heaven
destitute of light. (141) Thirdly, because at that period the more powerful and
important body gives a portion of necessary assistance to the less important
and weaker body; for, at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate
the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she
displays her own beauty to the beholders. And this is, as it seems, an evident
lesson of kindness and humanity to men, to teach them that they should never
grudge to impart their own good things to others, but, imitating the heavenly
bodies, should drive envy away and banish it from the Soul.{17}{sections
142-144 were omitted in Yonge's translation because the edition on which Yonge
based his translation, Mangey, lacked this material. These lines have been
newly translated for this volume.} (142) The fourth reason is that of all the
bodies in the heaven, the moon traverses the zodiac in the least appointed
time: it accomplishes its orbit in a monthly interval. For this reason the law
has honored the end of its orbit, the point when the moon has finished at the
beginning point from which it began to travel, by having called that day a
feast so that it might again teach us an excellent lesson that in the affairs
of life we should make the ends harmonious with the beginnings. This will
happen if we hold the reins on our first impulses with the power of reason and
do not permit them to refuse the reins and to run free like animals without
anyone in charge of the herd.
http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book28.html
Note, as we said above, Yonge does not have
the full text of 140 as Colson does and does not have 142-144, which appear to
have been lost or removed to obscure the exact nature of the New Moons.
However, the earlier section above still leaves no room for doubt as to when it
was and how it was determined.
Therefore, there is no authority for
determining any other system such as the system formulated by and from the era
of Rabbi Hillel II (ca. 358) to the eleventh century. The basis of the
calculation of the Molad of Tishri is set so that there are a series of
postponements in the Jewish year. Those postponements ensure that the Sabbaths
and Holy Days do not have to be kept in sequence, except for the minimal times.
This is because the Pharisees and their successors, the Rabbis, have made God’s
Sabbaths so onerous that the Holy Day systems have become a burden. More
importantly, the New Moons themselves testify against the validity of the
system. In spite of the clear evidence of the heavens and the Laws as laid down
from the creation, it is now argued that the Hillel calendar has authority and
that the New Moons can not be kept because the Molad of Tishri determines the
timing of the months, which no longer fully coincide with the New Moons. This
sort of circular reasoning is popular with Jews and ministers of the Churches
that keep the Feasts, but not the New Moons.
The authority for determining the calendar
has been abdicated to the rabbinical authorities, operating within a system of
calculation and established long after Christ and the Apostles. Indeed, the
Church was faced with two Satanic attacks upon its doctrines at the same time.
From the Council of Elvira (c. 300) an attack began to be made upon the
Sabbaths. At the Council of Nicaea (ca. 325), the doctrine of the Godhead was
impugned and the pagan Easter was harmonised among those sects. The rabbinical
authorities ceased to exercise authority from Jerusalem (later from Jamnia).
With the help of the Babylonian rabbis, Rabbi Hillel II developed the Hillel
calendar and the calculation of the Molad of Tishri.
In 366 CE at the Council of Laodicea, the
Sabbath was anathematised. In 381 at the Council of Constantinople, the Trinity
was argued and, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, it was formulated. The
Hillel calendar can thus be seen for what it was and is. It was part of a
sustained attack on the doctrines and religious observance of the Church and
the people of God, by an apostate system. Judah has not kept the Holy Days of
God correctly since 358 at least. Those Churches of God that follow the Hillel
Jewish calendar are also not observing the Holy Days correctly.
The claim that the Feast of Tabernacles
would be extended to nine days if a Sabbath follows the Last Great Day is an
assumption that the Sabbath has some significance other than as the weekly
Sabbath, when following a festival. If the postponements were to take effect,
or such exceptions were to be made, then the Law would have mentioned them.
They are not mentioned at all throughout the Bible, nor is there one shred of
evidence that they were ever used or determined or even thought about prior to
344 CE. Some regard the year 344 as that in which the new calendar was
introduced in some localities (Ency.
Judaica, art. ‘Hillel’, (II; 330-365 CE)). In spite of the fact that the
Samaritans (and the Sadducees, who by this time had disappeared) had been
calculating the conjunction for centuries, the Jews later claimed there was no
fixed system. At the time of the Mishnah (ca. 200 CE), allegedly there was no
system of calculation in force, as the
entire legislation of the Mishnah rests on the presupposition that, without any
previous reckoning, each New Moon began when the New Moon became visible
(Schürer, ibid., Vol. 1, p. 591). This was done on the evidence of reliable
witnesses before the court in Jerusalem and then later in Jamnia (Schürer,
ibid.).
The duration of each individual month was
not fixed. This is confirmed by the two pieces of legislation of the Mishnah
(as quoted by Schürer).
(1) mErub. 3:7; ‘If before the New Year a man
feared that [the month Elul] might be intercalated...’[It is clear from mSheb.
10:2 that the later rule according to which Elul must always have 29 days, did
not exist at that time (fn 11)] (2) mArak. 2:2, ‘In a year there are never less
than four ‘full’ months [of thirty days], nor do more than eight months require
to be considered.’
Schürer says that:
The first passage discloses that it was by no
means determined in advance whether a month was to have 29 or 30 days. And the
second passage shows how uncertain the calendar was under this empirical
system: even in the age of the Mishnah (second century A.D.) it was considered
possible that there might be years in which there were only four months of
thirty days, and again others in which there were eight such months (i.e. that
the lunar year might extend from 352 to 356 days, whereas in fact it lasts from
354 to 355 days) (see fn. 12 p. 592, ibid.).
(2) The system of intercalation was still not
fixed in the second century A.D. It is true that Julius Africanus says that the
Jews, like the Greeks, intercalated three months every eight years; [Julius
Africanus in Euseb. Demonstr. evang.
viii 2, 54 = Syncellus, ed. Dindorf 1, p. 611 = M. J. Routh Religiquiae Sacrae II, p. 302 ...] and
there is no reason to doubt this statement respecting his own time (the first
half of the third century A.D.) even though it is inexact in regard to the
Greeks, the majority of whom had long since adopted the more accurate
nineteen-year cycle. It is also generally valid for the time of Jesus, because
even with the purely empirical method, the three intercalations during the
course of eight years is a result that emerges of itself. Nevertheless
knowledge of this eight year cycle in the astronomical section of the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees is still extremely
vague; and it was not yet adapted to a fixed intercalary system (ibid.).
This text shows that the year could be, and
was, 352-356 days in some years, whereas the postponements apply the rule of
354-355 days. This is an unsubstantiated, imposed rule.
Schürer shows the folly of constructing a
calendar based on either of these systems in the Book of Enoch or the Book
of Jubilees (ibid., pp. 592-593).
Footnote 12 on
page 592 says:
In the context of the passage cited (m Arak.
2:2), possible minimum and maximum limits are given with regard to the most
varied things. The above-mentioned oscillation in the length of the year was
therefore actually observed, and in the time of the Mishnah was still regarded
as possible. As a matter of fact, the statement appeared so remarkable to the
authorities of the Babylonian Talmud that attempts were made to give it a new
interpretation, see bArak. 8b-9a; Zuckerman Materialen,
pp. 64 f., (ibid.).
Ignoring the evidence of the Samaritans,
Schürer holds that the calendar was carried out by empirical observation in the
time of the Mishnah without any advance calculation, as the following two rules
of the Mishnah allegedly indicate.
(1) mMeg. 1:4, ‘If the Megillah (the Scroll of
Esther) has been read in the First Adar, and the year is intercalated, it must
be read again in the Second Adar’;
(2) mEduy. 7:7, ‘[R. Joshua and R. Papias]
testified that the year may be declared a leap-year at any time during Adar;
for previously this could be done only until Purim. They testified the year may
be declared a leap-year conditionally. Once when Rabban Gamaliel had gone on a
journey to obtain authority from the governor of Syria, and he was long absent,
the year was declared a leap-year on condition that Rabban Gamaliel approved.
And when he returned, he said, “I approve”; and so it was a leap year.’
The rule regarding the reading of Esther
does not indicate observation, but rather the standing rule that Esther must
also be read in the intercalated month. It makes no reference to any
uncertainty as to the intercalation.
Schürer is certain that there was
absolutely no calculation in advance (Schürer, ibid., p. 593).
The second reference above attempts to
insinuate that the declaration of intercalation initially could only occur
prior to Purim, but this rule itself is at the earliest post-Babylonian.
Intercalation was pronounced no less than eight months in advance with the
Samaritans; and the Sadducees had no lesser knowledge and system. It is more
likely that the rabbinical system had no precise method that would have been
accepted by the populace, in that it ran counter to the biblical texts. This
was after the destruction of the Temple in any case.
The rule according to which it was decided
whether to intercalate or not is very simple.
The feast of Passover, to be celebrated at
full moon in the month of Nisan (14 Nisan), must always fall after the vernal
equinox [meta isemerian earinen] ... Anatolius, in a fragment of great
importance for the history of the Jewish calendar preserved in Eusebius HE vii 32, 16-19, characterizes this as
the unanimous view of all the Jewish authorities...The statements of Philo and
Josephus also accord with it. If therefore, it was noticed towards the end of
the year that Passover would fall before the vernal equinox, the intercalation
of a month before Nisan was decreed (Schürer, ibid., p. 593).
Schürer inserts “(14 Nisan)” here in the
text based on the important fragment of Anatolius, which he says shows that 14
Nisan must fall after the equinox (cf. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI, pp.
147ff.), and this matter is examined in the paper The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277). It has been accepted in the twentieth
century that 14 Nisan could fall on the equinox but this may not be the case,
as we will see. The real issue seems to be with Anatolius, that the sacrifice
at the end of the Fourteenth must see the full moon and thus he is speaking of
the vernal equinox, preceding the sacrifice at 3 p.m. at the end of the 14
Nisan, and beginning the night of the Fifteenth of the First month. This matter
has great significance for the start of the year. Anatolius also makes a
significant error in this text involving the start and finish of Unleavened
Bread, which is contradicted by the Bible source and the Samaritan and other
practices (cf. ibid. and No. 277).
From a careful reading of Anatolius, the rule is that the time of the equinox
must precede the 3 p.m. sacrifice on the afternoon of 14 Nisan. If it does not
the year must be intercalated. This is and was calculated months and years
in advance.
Josephus says also that it was while the
sun was in Aries, and this makes the system more precise and this fact is
omitted. It is important that Schürer notes that the Greeks and the Babylonians
(the Egyptians with their solar year were not involved here) had for centuries
possessed a fixed calendar based on accurate computation. The Babylonians had such a calendar under the Persians and the
Samaritans and Sadducees determined the calendar long in advance according to
the conjunction. It is impossible that the Jews were not aware of that system. Schürer’s
appeal to the stubbornness of the cult in the face of other knowledge is a
telling statement, although not as he intended.
Only the association of the calendar with the
religious cult, and the stubborn opposition of the cult to all scientific
reforms, make such a state of affairs comprehensible. But in the end,
scientific understanding made its impact here too, and did so from Babylon. The
Babylonians, Mar Samuel in Nehardea and Rabbi Adda bar Ahaba in Sura, both from
the third century A.D., are named as rabbis who made a particularly important
contribution to the calendar system. The latter was accurately acquainted with
the nineteen-year cycle in the improved form given it by Hipparchus. The
introduction into Palestine of a calendar based on it is to be ascribed to the
patriarch Hillel in the first half of the fourth century A.D. (Schürer, p.
594).
Why did they resist the knowledge of the
entire system that surrounded them, and which was in their midst, and which had
been in use during the Temple period? There is another answer to this problem,
that Schürer hesitates to provide, and one that is obvious. The empirical
system enabled the rabbis to shift the declarations to suit the cumbersome
limitations imposed on the Faith by the traditions regarding the keeping of the
Sabbath, New Moons and Feasts. The nineteen-year cycle had been known for centuries
and was ancient in the East. For example, their map-making capacities relied on
astronomical knowledge superior to Europe in the Reformation, and we have
archaeological evidence that indicates the Bar Kochba rebels visited America
(cf. C. Gordon, Before Columbus,
London, 1971). However, it was only when the calculation system that enabled
the postponements to be effected in advance had been sufficiently perfected
that the later rabbinical system would accept the advance calculation methods.
The system in Palestine was not a lack of knowledge of the calculations. They
possessed such knowledge and implemented the system in Palestine during the
entire Temple period. It was rather the absence of a precise system that would
enable the keeping of the Feasts within the cumbersome system of tradition that
had been imposed on it. This did not happen until the fourth century CE.
Without the traditions that are of themselves invalid, the system of
calculation could have remained in operation as it had many centuries earlier.
These were the traditions for which Christ had condemned the Pharisees.
The correct system of the calculation of
the month based on the New Moon is perfectly predictable. From the New Moon at
full dark there can be a larger number of thirty-day months in a year. This
would return to the pre-tradition observations of up to eight thirty-day months
(see above). The Passover must always fall after the vernal equinox. The New
Moon may be before the equinox up to fourteen days.
The process of the New Moon is also
interrelated with the tidal system of Spring and Neap Tides. The Spring Tides
always occur from the Full and New Moons. The Neap Tides occur from the
quarters (see Annexure).
The rules that developed are seen to be a
process of refinement in order to place tradition over the Laws of God because
the traditions made the observance of the Holy Days onerous.
The argument that
the calendar is a responsibility of the Jews, as part of the Oracles of God, is
a false understanding that misapprehends the meaning of Scripture (cf. the
paper The Oracles of God (No. 184)).
Another absurdity of the Jewish authority
argument, within the religious bodies that follow the Jewish authority
argument, is that: if such is the case, then those who acknowledge such
authority should keep a Sivan 6 Pentecost, which most do not do. In fact, they
openly attack the authority of the Jewish calendar on this issue, as it is so
blatantly wrong. This is incoherent reasoning. The Jews are either inspired and
have authority, or they are wrong. If they have God-given authority over the
Calendar then the Church must follow them. If they do not, the Church must
determine the correct Calendar from the Bible. The New Moons are central to
this issue. The Holy Days are determined from the New Moons and the
calculations are precise over centuries.
The New Moons are thus kept from their
event, not from contrivance or postponement.
Arguments against the keeping of the New
Moons from the predication that they are rendered impossible from the
adjustments and postponements from the calculation of the Molad of Tishri, are
based on false premises and formally absurd. Such argument assumes that there
is some validity for the practice, which there is not, and then argues from the
derived practice against keeping a biblical institution that Messiah plainly
says he will institute and force all nations to keep when he takes up rule from
Jerusalem (Isa. 66:23). All flesh will worship God on the Sabbaths and the New
Moons. The Feasts are also required as we see from Zechariah 14:16-19. This
Holy Calendar of God will be enforced by control of the harvests and the food
supply. Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb. 13:8). If
Messiah will require it of all nations then he requires it of the elect now.
Arguments against the New Moons from the Molad of Tishri are based upon the
premise that there is some validity for the Hillel calendar and the
postponements, which there is not. Indeed, such argument proves that the Hillel
or modern Jewish calendar is incompatible with the word of God and the correct
observance of His Sacred Calendar.
After they had determined the new calendar,
Hillel II said that it would stand until Messiah came. That statement was made
because it was known that it had no biblical basis and that Messiah would have
to determine the system. Hillel knew, from Isaiah 66:23, that the New Moons
would be reintroduced when Messiah came and he knew, therefore, that what he
was doing had no validity for the millennial restoration. The fact is that
Messiah would not have countenanced such a system, because it transgressed the
Law by tradition. Christ had already condemned the Scribes and Pharisees
because of their traditions, some three hundred years earlier. Christ removed
their authority with the ordination of the Seventy (Lk. 10:1,17).
Matthew 15:2-6 Why do thy disciples transgress the
tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3But
he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of
God by your tradition? 4For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father
and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5But
ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6And honour not his
father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of
God of none effect by your tradition. (KJV)
The rabbis know the calendar is wrong and
some are concerned about it (cf. Why Is Passover So Late In 1997? (No.
239)). The
tampering with the calendar had happened off and on for some time. God condemns
the demeaning of His Feasts in these various forms through Isaiah. The
condemnation in Isaiah concerned as much the spirit in which they were kept and
the injustice carried on in the nation before, during and after, as it did
playing with the calendar. However, Jeroboam saw what God thought about
postponing Feasts (cf. the paper Jeroboam and the Hillel Calendar (No. 191)).
Isaiah 1:13-14 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14Your
new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me;
I am weary to bear them. (KJV)
The emphasis here is on your New
Moons and Feasts. These activities being condemned are not God’s New Moons and Feasts. They
have been perverted by men and their traditions. This happens by the practices
and attitudes within, but also it occurs from the timing of the New Moon,
affecting the placement of the Feasts. The wrong New Moon means the wrong Feast
and God’s Law is broken. Observation itself is not an adequate reason for
uncertainty, as to the New Moon and the Feasts.
The Calendar is based upon the New Moon, a
precise astronomical event that is perfectly predictable, and is the event laid
down by biblical Law as the basis of the determination of the Holy Day systems.
This event is calculated from the time in Jerusalem to place it within a
consistent Earth-day.
That day is a twenty-four-hour period
calculated from sunset (twilight) to sunset (twilight) as at the equinox or, in
other words, from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. approximately. This is especially relevant
with the First month (Nisan) and the Seventh month (Tishri) because they are
closest to the equinox.
The Jubilee
The entire
Calendar system is based on the Jubilee. The Jubilee is a fifty-year cycle,
which is reflected in the construction of the Temple and the Church and the
Bible structure. Some later Jewish and Samaritan writers (cf. Bowman, Samaritan Documents, loc. cit., ch. 2, Tolidah and Lev. 25:10,11), erroneously
tried to make it a forty-nine-year cycle from the second Jubilee onwards. The
Jubilee pointed towards the life of man and his fifty years of growth. The Laws
on which it is based are covered in the paper Law and the Fourth
Commandment (No. 256). It is made up of seven cycles each of
seven years. Harvests are granted in the Calendar every six years so that the
Sabbath Year can be kept (Lev. 25:3-7). The Law is read every Sabbath Year at
the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:10-13). The structure of the Law and the
Prophets as read at the Sabbatical Feast (prepared from the 21/40 or 1998
Sabbatical Reading of the Law) is
explained in papers on the Law and the
Commandments (Nos. 251-263); (cf. also the paper The Law of God (No. L1).
A treble harvest
is granted at the Forty-eighth year of the Jubilee in the sixth year of the
last cycle so that the two years of the Sabbath and the Jubilee can be kept
(Lev. 25:21). This Jubilee year is counted from Atonement on the Forty-ninth
year to Atonement in the Fiftieth year or Jubilee, when all lands return to the
tribal possessors. All land values are calculated from this basis (Lev. 25:15).
This year is kept and the Jubilee blown at Atonement in year forty-nine (Lev.
25:8-9), and then kept holy for one year to Atonement on the Fiftieth year
(Lev. 25:9-13), so that the lands can then be ploughed and sown for the spring
harvest in Abib of the First year of the next Jubilee. This year (50th)
is an eighth normal year of the cycle (Lev. 25:22).
The Jubilee occurs
in the years 24 and 74 BCE and 27 and 77 CE in each century. The next Jubilee,
the fortieth Jubilee since the ministry of Messiah and the forty-ninth Jubilee
since the reconstruction of the Temple and the restoration of the Law under Ezra
and Nehemiah, is in the sacred year 2027/8. The year 2028 will start the
Jubilee of Jubilees and the new millennial reign of Messiah as 1/50 (cf. Reading
the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No.
250); The Meaning of Ezekiel’s Vision (No. 108); Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159); and Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272)).
God’s Calendar has
stood perfectly with His Plan performed in accordance with that Calendar for
millennia. It is perfectly in accord with His Law.
If God had wanted qualification or
adjustment of His system, He would have given clear instruction, as He has done
on every other aspect of His Law. Where He is silent on a matter, we can safely
infer there is no basis for the system that qualifies what He has laid down.
God, not Judah, has authority over the unchanging Scriptures and His own
Calendar.
Addendum:
The Samaritan
calendar is determined according to the conjunction. Along with the calendar of
the Sadducees and the Priesthood during the Temple period, it was the same in
this aspect and also in respect of determining Pentecost, which they specified
as falling on Sunday. What is not readily understood is that they differed in
one aspect, which was that of the determination of the equinox and the
beginning of the year. This distinction thus made the Samaritan calendar a
month later than the Temple calendar for some sixty percent of the time, even
though both were determined according to the conjunction. This aspect is
explained in the new edition of the paper The Moon and the New Year (No. 213) and is also examined in the latest
edition of Jeroboam and the Hillel Calendar (No. 191).
q
