At the Upper Room Chapel Shabbat Shalom Welcome to The Miqra On the Ground Level At the Upper Room Chapel Fort Mill, SC March 23, 2019

The Biblical Calendar Getting the Appointed Times Right According to All the Relevant Scriptures

Gregorian v. Biblical Calendar What’s Wrong with the Gregorian Calendar? Why the Biblical Calendar? Why is the Biblical New Year important?

The Appointed Times at the Right Time The Appointed Times are delivered to us with some detail in Vayiqra [Leviticus] 23: Yahuwah spoke to Mosheh:  "Speak to the sons of Yisrael and tell them, 'These are Yahuwah's appointed times which you must proclaim as set-apart assemblies--my appointed times:  Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a set-apart assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to Yahuwah in all the places where you live. These are Yahuwah's appointed times, set-apart assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time.' " (Vayiqra [Leviticus] 23:1-4).

Hebrew “qara” The Hebrew verb ar'q' (pronounced qara) means to read, to call, to proclaim.  It is used of a message spoken from the mouth.  Here in Vayiqra 23 it is utilized four times.

These are Yahuwah's appointed times which you must proclaim as set-apart assemblies--my appointed times...(v1) These are Yahuwah's appointed times, set-apart assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time (v4) On that same day you are to proclaim a set apart assembly and do no regular work. (v21) 'These are Yahuwah's appointments, which you are to proclaim as set apart assemblies (v37)

Yahuwah's Pesach (Passover) begins at between the evenings on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month Yahuwah's Pilgrimage Gathering of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. (Leviticus 23:5-6)

The Debate on Which Method to Use The New Year: Finding Aviv Barley in the Field The “Turning of the Year” (Spring and Fall Equinoxes) The New Month: Sighting of the First Sliver of the New Moon The Conjunction (Dark Moon)

The New Year Begins With the Month of Aviv In the account of the ten plagues, simple and clear revelation was given to Mosheh: Yahuwah said to Mosheh and Aharon in Mitzrayim, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.  Tell the whole community of Yisrael that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." (Shemot 12:1-3)

The New Year Begins With the Month of Aviv The Torah identifies precisely what month this was: Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of the Aviv, for in that month you came out of Mitzrayim.  (Shemot 23:15)

The New Year Begins With the Month of Aviv Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of the Aviv, for in the month of the Aviv you came out of Mitzrayim. (Shemot 34:18)

The New Year Begins With the Month of Aviv Observe the month of the Aviv and celebrate the Pesach of Yahuwah your Elohim, because in the month of the Aviv he brought you out of Mitzrayim by night. (Devarim 16:1)

What is Aviv? The BDB identifies the Hebrew byIba' (pronounced aviv) 1. fresh, young ears of barley; 2. month of ear- forming, or of growing green, Abib, month of Exodus & passover. TWOT translates our word as barley, and has this to say about it: Barley. This noun refers to barley that is already ripe, but still soft, the grains of which are eaten either rubbed or roasted... Abib was also the early name (later, Nisan) of the first month of the Jewish calendar (the month of Passover). In that month the barley came to ear.

What is Aviv? In summary of the meaning of aviv, all sources are in agreement that aviv has to do with the stage of ripeness of grain. All but one of these sources specifically identify the barley as that ripened grain. This is because the first grain crop of the year in Yisrael is the barley harvest.

The Day of the Aviv or the Month of the Aviv The Day of the Aviv or the Month of the Aviv? How do we know which month is the month of the Aviv? Does Aviv barley have to be seen for it to be the month of the Aviv? The ongoing yearly debate about Aviv The problem with declaring too early Is there a better way?

In the Beginning… And Elohim said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.  Elohim made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.  Elohim set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning-- the fourth day. (Bereshith 1:14-19)

The Two Great Lights The two great lights are, of course, the sun in our solar system and the moon which circles the earth.  These two lights provide light upon the earth, and separate day from night.  When the sun rises in the east, bringing forth abundant light, it is "day".  Then after it sets in the west and mostly darkness advances, it is night.  It's not complicated at all.  One only needs to observe what Elohim has established.

Sighting of the First Sliver of the New Moon That Scripture says, "let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years."  A quick glance at the Hebrew terminology will help us here.  The purpose of the lights is to "be for signs."  The Hebrew word tAa (pronounced ōt), has a range of meanings including sign, mark, token, ensign, standard, miracle, miraculous sign, proof, warning.  Probably the most useful of these meanings for our context is standard.  That is to say, Elohim has established the standard by which time is measured.  And that standard is the movement of the sun and the moon.

Seasons or Appointed Times The second Hebrew term we need to know is d[eAm (pronounced mō-ĕd).  According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, this word means appointed sign, appointed time, appointed season, place of assembly, set feast.  This is the word which identifies the appointments of Yahuwah which are set- apart times.  Our word moed comes from the root word d[y (pronounced ya-ad).  Ya-ad means appoint, betroth, assemble, meet, set.  The appointed times are those days when Yahuwah wants to meet with his betrothed people.  The sun and the moon establish when those times are.

Shemot/Exodus 34:22 "Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

The Turn of the Year hp'WqT. (tequfah) - 1. turning-point (of the sun in the sky) Ps 197, the circuit of the year Ex 3422, it can be taken as the end as well as the beginning of the year, equinox coming round, circuit of time or space (Exo 34:22; 2Chr 24:23 = 1Sam 1:20; Psa 19:7).

Turning So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked Yahuwah for him.“ 1 Samuel 1:20 At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against Yoash; it invaded Yehudah and Yerushalayim and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 2 Chronicles 24:23

Psalm 19:7 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. Tequfah then can refer to the circuit of the sun from rising to setting, and back around the other side of earth to rising again. Tequfah can refer to the circuit of the sun from its furthest southern position to its furthest northern position. The “turn” is when it crosses the equator.

Psalm 19:1-6 – The Heavens Speak For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of Elohim; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.

Several Interpretations The new year begins in the new month if the 15th of that month occurs after the vernal equinox. (the pilgrimage feast must fall out after the turning) – this adds another level of complexity to calculate when this would be New year begins at the first new moon after the vernal equinox

Reasons Why New Year Must Begin in the New Moon After the Equinox The New Year begins after the Turning Counting the days to the Fall Pilgrimage If Started too early, the Pilgrimage of the 7th month could occur before the turning of the year The matter of crops being ripe and harvestable to take with you a tithe on the Pilgrimage

The Debate on Which Method to Use The New Year: Finding Aviv Barley in the Field The “Turning of the Year” (Spring and Fall Equinoxes) The New Month: Sighting of the First Sliver of the New Moon The Conjunction (Dark Moon)

New Moon In the Bible, the word translated into English as month or new moon is the Hebrew vd,xo (pronounced hōdĕsh).  The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) tells us this word means new moon, month, mating season.  This word comes from the Hebrew root vd;x which means renew, make anew, repair.  Thus the Hebrew word for new can also mean new month, or just month.

New Moon The Hebrew word for new, as we have already pointed out, is vd,xo (pronounced hōdĕsh).  And hodesh means to renew, make anew, repair.  To renew is the same as to restore to existence, to regenerate, to rebuild, to replenish.  The regenerating begins in the darkness – at the conjunction. The sliver indicates that the restoring has already begun.

The New Month Debate Problems with the “sliver” argument: Cloud cover Where in the world? The 15th day will always begin with a waning moon – its no longer full! Never!

Why Must the Pilgrimages Begin with a Full Moon Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast; this is a decree for Yisrael, an ordinance of the Elohim of Ya'acov. (Psalm 81:3-4) The Hebrew for the phrase "the moon is full" is the word ceseh, which comes from the word which means to cover. Covered in darkness or covered in light?

On the Meaning of Ceseh Secondly, there are many scholars who see in our word ceseh a connection to words in the sister languages to Hebrew.  Brown, Driver and Briggs Lexicon (BDB) notes that ceseh is likely a cognate of the Aramaic word "Kista" and the Assyrian word "Kuseu" which both mean "full moon."  Accordingly, nearly every lexicon and dictionary lists the primary meaning of the form ceseh as it is here in our text as "full moon."

Equinox View Overview 1. Spring, by definition, begins at the sun's spring equinox. 2. Barley is a "spring crop" and therefore could not possibly be aviv before spring which is "defined" (using the modern, not the ancient meaning of aviv) as beginning at the spring equinox. 3. The barley, even in different parts of Yisrael, doesn't ripen at the same time. There is as much as one month difference in the ripening time from the south to the. If the aviv barley is the condition which marks the beginning of the year, then in what part of Yisrael? If the barley is declared aviv in southern Yisrael, northerners may not have any of their crops ready for harvest before the festivals.

Equinox View 4.  Since Elohim requires the tithe of each harvest to be brought to Yerushalayim at the three annual feasts, if the new year is declared too early, the fall crops won't be ready in time for harvest for bringing their tithes to the Feast of Tabernacles. 5.  Elohim would certainly have set a condition for determining the beginning of the new year which everyone around the world can observe at the same time.  The spring equinox is that condition which everyone around the world can observe at the same time.  But the ripening of barley does not occur at the same time across the world.  Even in the land of Yisrael, the barley is not aviv all at the same time.   Therefore, the aviv barley can not be that condition which signals the beginning of the new year.

Equinox View 6. 1 Kings 20:22, 26 speaks of the "return of the year" or "Teshuvat HaShanah" (Hebrew, hn"ëV'h; tb;äWvt. ). This "return of the year" is speaking about the spring equinox and indicates that the year begins following the spring equinox. 7. in 1st Samuel 20:5…How did David know that the New Moon would be ‘tomorrow’ if it had not yet been sighted?” Clearly, in their view, David must have known this because he knew when the astronomical new moon would occur.

Summary Identifying the month of the Aviv as the first month in the Hebrew calendar is critical in order that we may guard all the annual appointed times at the correct time. Otherwise we would miss the appointment he has established to meet with his people.

Summary The two great lights were established at creation to determine the seasons. The turning of the season occurs at the equinoxes Aviv barley is a result of the weather, which is based on the position of the sun in the sky The moon cycle is 29 ½ days long The solar cycle is 365 days long There will be a 13th month about every 3rd or 4th year