There can be no doubt that the biblical Holy-days are dependent on the moon. The strongest proof of this is the passage in Ps 104,19 which declares: "He created the moon for Mo'adim [appointed times]"

The Hebrew term Mo'adim (appointed times) is the same word used to describe the Hebrew Holy-days. Leviticus 23, which contains a catalogue of the Biblical Holy-days opens with the statement: "These are the Mo'adim (appointed times) of YAHWEH holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times (Mo'adim)." So when the Psalmist tells us that Yahweh created the moon for Mo'adim (appointed times) he means that the moon was created to determine the time of the Mo'adim of Yahweh, that is, the Biblical Holy-days.

What is Abib?

Abid indicates a stage in the development of the barley crops. This is clear from Exodus 9:31-32, which describes the davastation caused by the plague of hail:

"And the flax and the barley were smitten because the barley was "Abib" and flax was "Giv'ol. And the wheat and the spelt were not smitten because they were dark (Afilot)." 

The above passage relates that the barley crops were destroyed by the hail while the wheat and spelt were not damaged. To understand the reason for this we must look at how the grain develops. When grains are early in their development they are flexible and have a dark green colour. As they become ripe they take on a light yellowish hew and become more brittle. The reason that the barley was destroyed and the wheat was not, was that the barley had reached the stage in its development called "Abib" and had become brittle enough to be damaged by the hail.

In contrast, the wheat and the spelt were still early enough in their development, at a stage where they were flexible, and not susceptible to being damaged by hail. the description of the wheat and the spelt as "dark" (Afilot) indicates that they were still in the stage when they were deep green and had not yet begun to lighten into the light yellowish hue which characterizes ripe grains. The barley had reached the stage of "Abib" at which time it was no, longer dark and had begun to develop golden streaks.

The Sanhedrin

As we know, the Sanhedrin were the problem children of Yahshua's time. It was important for them to retain control long after Yahshua had left the seen. They therefore  set out to set calculations after their dispersion. This was further complicated by Hillel, the son of a prominent Sanhedrin, and calendars were set hundreds of years into the future. Over time the calendars have become even more complicated. Take for example; there are four specific rules that are used to determine on what days each feast can fall, none of which is scriptural.

Both Old and New Testament scriptures compliment each other and say the same thing if we allow them to do so. There are no discrepancies, only unifying Truth.

However, since we observe the Holy Days of Yahweh, some say that the Assembly of Yahweh should look to the Jews to set the Holy Days calendar since some of their feats days are the same. However, upon obtaining a Jewish calendar, you would be surprised to see that Orthodox Jews observe TWO DAYS consecutively. Rather than a single day as layed out in scripture.

The only exception is in the observance of several holidays which the rabbis have set in place under their own authority, ( for example; Chanuka). There is a reason for everything, the Jews have two feasts days to celebrate one is because of their dispersion into all the nations of the Earth. This came about not wanting to get the days wrong.

This concept of being overly righteous is condemned in eclesiastes 7:16. In too mamy cases the Jews have made void the laws of Yahweh by their traditions of men, binding upon the people heavy burdens, which are beyond was was intended by the law of Yahweh. This practice has caused the law of Yahweh to be viewed as a yoke of bondage which it is not.

Waiting For The Signs

It is also true that because of dispersion the Jews have not followed an OBSERVABLE calendar.The evidence is irrefutable that it was the Sanhedrin of Yahshua's time that set the calendar. The body of elders in Israel fixed the months by sending out observers to the higher elevations of terrain around the city of Jerusalem, so that they could visibly observe the actual new crescent, which marked the new or rebuilding moon. Seeds that germinated into the calculated calendar which is presently in use, were most likely planted while Judah (Yahuda) was in the Babylonian captivity. But it took the dipersion into very distant lands, to bring their seeds into total fruition. The astrologers are mentioned many times in Scripture in Daniel's time. Daniel 2:2.

Isaiah 47:3 "You are wearied in the multiple of your councils; let now the astrologers, the star gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that shall come up on you."

Equinox Complicates Matters

Nevertheless, allow us to reiterate once more for emphasis, that advance calculation as a system of calendar compilation, can not be supported by Scripture. As christianity sees it, calculation of the calendar in advance depends primarily upon the vernal equinox as its starting point, while using an astronomical conjunction of the new moon, rather than the sighting a visible moon.

THE JEWS EMPLOY AN ASTRONOMICAL CONJUNCTION OF THE NEW MOON.

Basically, this method is intended to remove the understanding of the progression of time from the common man. If the method expressed in scriptures in rejected, the calendar arrangement is placed in the hands of a few learned men, who usually intend to use their knowledge to gain and hold position. Without fail, these men always reverted back to the vernal equinox as their starting point for fixing the time of the first scriptural month.

The term vernal equinox, the spring day when nights are of equal lengths, is found nowhere in scripture, or is it even alluded to by Yahweh. When Yahweh gave His directions to Israel, He gave them as a father would to a child. Speaking in explicit, candid, and simple language, not veiled in technical terms. This type of straight talk is a consistent characteristic of the scriptures.

The Scriptural Method

Please read Genesis 1:1-18

Yahweh's method of reckoning time is good and perfect. So why change it? So let us analyze this passage thoroughly. It is the lights that are to rule over the day and over the night, to divide the darkness from the light. The sun is to rule over the day, or to delineate the bounds of the day. Therefore, the lesser light, the moon, is directed to rule over and shine by the night. Evening or sundown begins the scriptural day (Mark 1:32) as we can also see from this first chapter of Genesis.

Notice in verse 14 that the lights serve to mark the SEASONS. The Hebrew word is moedim. In Psalms 104:19, we read "He appointed the moon for seasons" (Moedim in Hebrew). "The SUN knows his going down." Moed in Hebrew means "an assembly." It is from a root word which means; "an appointment, a fixed time, a festival, a year, an assembly, or a signal."

A consequence of these definitions, we can readily note that moon is the heavenly body Yahweh designated to set the fixed times during which, we shall gather to worship Yahweh in a convocation. There is also the fact that the moon is the heavenly whose movements, will punctuate the old year, and begin in the new year, while the Earth's orbit around the sun marks the yearly cycle.

The seasons change with annual pasage through the heavens, while it tilts on its axis to allow rising and falling of solar activity, but the shorter time period is a lunation one-new moon crescent to another 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.8 seconds in length.

In order to comprehend more accurately which moon we should utilize to begin the new year, let us concentrate on the Hebrew words for moon. The word yareach #3394 in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is the Hebrew word for moon. This word is from a root. #3391 yeruch meaning, "a lunation, and by extension a month." 

Did you notice the implication here? It could not be a moon or new moon unless there is a lumination or light eminating from the moon. Consequently, a month begins with the first light emitted by the lunar crescent.

Let's prove that fact more conclusively. In Webster's New World Dictionary of The American Langauge, Second College Edition, under the term luna, Latin for moon, the person is directed to check the word "light." The following is presented in the etymology: Light. "IME. lihf OE, leoht, Akin to, Licht IE. base, leuk - to shine, bright, light lucere, to shine, luna, moon. The word for moon in the Indo- European languages, from which comes our term lunation is based on the term luna-moon, which in turn relates to light. There can not be a moon without light in the sphere.

The second wrod for monn in Hebrew is "chodesh."  It is from a prime root meaning "to be new or cause to rebuild." There you have it precisely!!! Unless there is a lumination from a rebuilding moon, ther can not be a new month, a lunation! After the moon has ended its decrese in emitting light, it turns dark for several nights, with no light visible. Then once more it begins to emit light as a new crescent appears like a burnished sword in the heavens after sundown.

Starting Point of the Scriptural New Year

We have to recognise the fact that all the feasts days of Yahweh which He has commanded in scripture, in Leviticus chapter 23, are closely attached to the agricultural seasons of Israel. The Bible recognises an agrarian system. Israel was an agrarain nation.

Let us see then how this agricultural season in Israel will pinpoint the time when Yahweh's new year begins, which determines the dating of all of His annual feasts days.

Deuteronomy 16:6 informs us that Israel was to sacrifice the passover at the season that they came forth from Egypt. Reference is made to Exodus 23:15 and 34:18, among other passages. When we return to Exodus chapter 9, we find in verses 13-35 the account of the plague of hail upon Egypt. We will notice here that the barley was not destroyed because it was still in its young phase, and of course if we follow the timeline, the Passover was near.

Abib and the Harvest

The month of the Abib is the month which commences after the barley has reached the stage of Abib. 2-3 weeks after the beginning of the month, the barley has moved beyond the stage of Abib and is readu to be brought as the "wave sheaf offering" (Hanafat HaOmer). The "wave sheaf offering" is a sacrifice brought from the first stalks cut in the harvest, and is brought on the Sunday which falls out during Passover. This is described in Leviticus 23: 10-11.

"When you come to the land which I give you, and harvest its harvest, you will bring the sheaf of the beginning of your harvest to the priest. And he will wave the sheaf before YHWH so you will be accepted; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest will wave it."

From this it is clesr that the barley, which was Abib at the beginning of the month, has become harvest-ready 15-21 days later (i.e. by the Sunday during Passover). Therefore, the month of the Abib can not begin unless the barley has reached a stage where it will be harvest-ready 2-3 weeks later. That the barley must be harvest ready 2-3 weeks into the month of the Abib is also clear from Duet. 16:9 which states:

"From when the sickle commences on the standing grain you wil begin to count seven weeks."

"And you shall count from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of waving; they will be seven complete Sabbaths."

Therefore, the "sickle commences on the standing grain" on the Sunday during Passover, i.e. 2-3 weeks after the beginning of the month of the Abib. If the barley is not developed enough so that it will be ready for the sickle 2-3 weeks later, then the month of Abib can not begin and we must wait until the following month.

It should be noted that not all barley ripens in the Land of Israel at the same time. The wave-sheaf offering is a national sacrifice brought from the first fields to become harvest-ready. However, the first-fruit offerings brought by individual farmers can vary in ripeness anywhere from "Abib parched in fire" to fully ripe grain which may be brought "crushed" or "coarsely ground." This is what is meant in Lev 2, 14:

"And when you bring a first-fruit offering offering to YHWH; you shall bring your first-fruit offering as Abib parched in fire or crushed Carmel" (Carmel is grain which has hardened beyond Abib to the point where it can be "crushed" or "coarsely ground").

In summation, barley which is in the state of Abib has three characteristics;

1. It is brittle enough to be destroyed by hail and has begun to lighten in color. (it is not dark)

2. The seeds have produced enough dry material so it can be beaten parched.

3. It has developed enough so it will be harvest ready  2-3 weeks later.

Shalom!

Join us in keeping Yahweh's statutes and commandments.

Bro. Colin Tomlinson