76 Is the Hebrew Calender based | nazareneisrael2house

Is the Hebrew Calendar Based Upon the Scriptures?

Do the Scriptures give guidelines regarding the calendar we should use in observing (YHVH)’s festivals? If so, what are those guidelines and where do we find them? First, let us ask whether the calendar should be based on visual sighting of the new moon, or whether it should be based on calculation. Some argue that the only valid way to begin a new month is to actually see the faint crescent of the new moon. Do the Scriptures resolve this argument? Absolutely!

The transliterated Hebrew word ‘chodesh’ is translated “month” in most English-language Bibles. Its root meaning involves “making new” or “repairing”. The moon orbits the earth, going through its phases as its position changes in relation to the sun and the earth. It takes approximately 29-and-a-half days to get into exact conjunction between the earth and the sun, and the three orbs are in a straight line with one another, though not necessarily on the same plane. In conjunction, the moon is totally dark, reflecting none of the sun’s light. As it moves westward, away from the conjunction, it again begins to reflect light. Depending on the observer’s location and the earth’s position at conjunction, the renewed moon will generally not be visible until one or two days after the conjunction. An observer cannot know, in advance, on which day he might see the renewed moon. Depending on the exact time of conjunction, he might see the crescent either on the 30th or the 31st day after the last new crescent. Since days begin at sunset, observers would have to keep the 30th day after the new crescent as set apart time, as they might see the new crescent that evening, though they would more commonly see it on the following evening. There is only one Feast that is celebrated when the moon is in its concealment – Yom Teruah. We read accordingly from the correct translation of Psalm 81: 4 “Blow the shofar on the new moon, concealed (‘ba’keseh’) to the day of our festival.” Yom Teruah is the time of the year when we choose to make YHVH King over our lives for the next year, as we read from the second part of Numbers 23: 21, in this way: ‘YHVH his Elohim is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.’

The Torah institutes Yom Teruah on the first day of the seventh month (Tishri). However, this Set-apart day is celebrated for two days today. The Scriptural basis for celebrating Yom Teruah for two days is found in Nehemiah 8: 2 & 13, as follows: ‘Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. (13) Then on the second day the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of law.’ A second witness comes from one Samuel 20: 5 & 27, in this way: ‘So David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is a new moon, and I ought to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening. (27) And it came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”’ The renewed moon cannot be seen by the ‘naked’ eye and only becomes visible as a crescent moon one and a half to two days after the concealment. The new moon is in concealment for plus/minus 2 days, and is only ‘watched’ to determine the date for Trumpets. If Atonement will be on a Friday or a Sunday, Trumpets is moved one day on, ensuring that Atonement is never on a Friday or a Sunday. Concealment takes up to two days, which ensures that even in the event of such a postponement, Yom Teruah will still occur during concealment of the moon. However, the intercalary year necessitates a calendar calculated in advance. Intercalary years are those in which a 13th month is added. Twelve lunar months are equal to just over 354 days and a solar year is equal to just over 365 days. Using a calendar based only on 12 lunar months, this 11-day difference would cause the festivals to occur about a month earlier every three years in relation to the year and the seasons. Yet Leviticus 23: 10 & 11 mandates that the priests should offer an omer of barley as a wave offering to YHVH on the day after the first annual Sabbath of the year, namely the 16th of Abib, beginning the 50 day count to Shavuot to occur on the 6th of Sivan[1]. Clearly, this required that the first month, Abib or Nissan, could not be allowed to fall in winter - too early for ripe grain to be available for the offering. This required the addition of a 13th month about every three years. But how was this determined?

Those who argue for direct physical sighting assert that the priests examined the grain crop each year before the end of the 12th month, and if they saw that it would not be ripe soon enough they added a 13th month to postpone the first month for about 30 days. The only alternative would be a regular cycle, calculated by the priests, to determine which years had 12 and which had 13 months. Is there Scriptural evidence as to this practice by the priests? There certainly is! Acts 2 reminds us that Jews came to Jerusalem from all over the known world on Pentecost the year after Messiah’s ascension. If the decision regarding the 13th month were made a few weeks before the Passover, how would Jews all over the world have known when to come to Jerusalem – or for that matter, when to celebrate Passover in their own area? Significant numbers would either have been a month early or a month late! Remember they could not call ahead on the telephone or check someone’s website! There was either an established pattern followed, or there would have been confusion among Jews throughout the Diaspora. How could a calculated calendar have been figured anciently? In antiquity, man had only two ways of knowing the time of the new moon. One was by physical sighting of the crescent moon; the other was by calculating based upon the average time between conjunctions. Some today wish to offer a substitute calendar based not on averages or observation, but on figures they obtained from the NASA or the US Naval Observatory. These figures are derived from satellite observation and are supposed to be more exact than the averages from which the traditional Hebrew calendar was calculated. However, we need to understand, if there is one calendar that we can absolutely prove that Yahshua and His disciples DID NOT use, it is one based on satellite observation! The only calculated calendar that could possibly be used until about after 1968 was one based upon the average length of time between conjunctions.

How were these averages obtained? Conjunctions of the sun, moon and earth are invisible except during a solar eclipse. A solar eclipse can only occur at the time of the new moon. Because the moon’s orbit is normally a few degrees above or below the plane of the earth’s sun orbit, it is usually invisible when it is lined up in a direct line with the earth and sun – the time of conjunction. However, when the moon is on the exact plane of the earth – sun orbit, it will block the sun as it moves across, thereby making an eclipse of the sun. A lunar eclipse, which can be seen on earth far more frequently than a solar eclipse, is the exact opposite of a solar eclipse. It can occur only at the time of the full moon, exactly halfway between conjunctions, when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. By carefully recording the time of such eclipses and calculating the amount of time between them, the ancients were able to arrive to the average length of time between conjunctions. We speak of an “average” because the actual length can vary from month to month by a few hours, primarily because of the earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun and the resulting variation in the sun’s gravitational pull on the moon. While satellites may enable us to record conjunctions that are invisible from earth, ancient man could only base it upon averages. Using eclipses, the average length of time between conjunctions of the sun, moon and earth can be calculated. This figure can then be used to calculate the new moon for years and centuries in advance. While the exact conjunctions (invisible from earth, except during a solar eclipse) may vary from the calculated ‘molad’ (a Hebrew term denoting the “birth” of the moon) by up to a few hours, the calculations average out over time. And they are always very close; not accumulating lost or gained time even over many centuries.

The Hebrew calendar uses 29 days, 12 hours and 793 parts (an hour contains 1,080 parts) as the duration of the average lunar month. This works out to 29.53059 days in decimal form. According to the 15th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, modern astronomers using satellites and computers have come up with one-one millionth of a day difference. How did the Hebrew calendar come to use such an accurate figure for the average length of the month? Some contend that they adopted their number from Babylonian or Greek Astronomers. There is a problem with that theory, however; the figure used by the Greeks, Babylonians and Egyptians was not as accurate as that used by the Jews! If we grant that Israel of old borrowed the number from one of their ancient neighbors, then why did they modify it? How did they know to modify it just the right amount, making it more exact than the one used by anyone else? Remember the figure used anciently to calculate the Hebrew calendar, 29.53059 days per month, was the same one used by NASA up through 1968 when satellite and computer technology allowed them to take the number out one more decimal place. How could an ancient Israelite mathematician have arrived at a more exact figure than his contemporaries could? Exodus 31: 1 - 11 shows that (YHVH)’s Set-apart Spirit empowered two men, Bezalel and Oholiab, to have a special understanding and knowledge in being able to craft the items needed for the tabernacle. Did (YHVH)’s Set-apart Spirit also lead someone to have a special ability for making astronomical calculations to fix the calendar? Clearly, someone did make a calculation that remained unsurpassed until the decade when the United States put a man on the moon! Do the Scriptures support using eclipses to calculate the length of time from one new moon to another? It certainly does! Notice in Genesis 1: 14, YHVH set the sun and the moon for signs and seasons. The Hebrew word for sign, ‘ot’, is a term that often refers to remarkable and dramatic signs. It is used in Exodus 4: 8 - 9 to describe the dramatic wonders that YHVH worked in ancient Egypt. There are no more dramatic signs designed into the interaction of the sun and moon than solar and lunar eclipses. These signs provide the basis of a calculated calendar. Additionally, the heavenly bodies were for what the King James Version calls “seasons” and the Jewish Publication Society Version calls “appointed times”. The Hebrew word is ‘moed’, the term used in Psalms 104: 19 when we learn that YHVH “has appointed the moon for seasons (moed).” In other words, the phase of the moon determines the progression of the month. (YHVH)’s annual festivals are either connected to the new moon at the beginning of the month or the full moon at the middle of the month.

We are told that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to be celebrated in the month of Abib, which means “green ears” (Exodus 23: 15). From Leviticus 23 we also learn that once Israel entered the Promised Land there was to be a priestly ceremony involving the offering of the wave sheaf, the omer, on the day after the first annual Sabbath (or the 16th of Aviv) during the days of Unleavened Bread. We read further from verses 14 & 15 of Leviticus 23, ‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your Elohim, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. (15) You shall also count for yourself from (transliterated as ‘im’ meaning inclusive of – or beginning with) the day after the (annual) Sabbath, from the day you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths (even though there are usually 7 Sabbaths within the 49 day period to be counted, the Jewish Bible (JPS 1917) correctly translates this verse as follows: ‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving, seven weeks shall there be complete).’ So we see that when the Israelites came into the land they did according to (YHVH)’s command, as recorded in Joshua 5: 10 – 12: ‘While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. (11) And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land. Unleavened cakes and parched grain. (12) And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year.’ The grain harvest could not begin until after that occasion. These stipulations require that Passover come early spring. Also Exodus 34: 22 refers to the Feast of Tabernacles as coming at the “end of the year” (Hebrew, ‘tekufah’). This term literally means a “circuit” or “revolution” of time – a cycle. In later Rabbinic Hebrew, tekufah became a technical term referring to the equinox and by extension, to the season following. However, the term, used only four times in the Tanach, was originally more general in its meaning. It is the term in 1 Samuel 1: 20 that refers to the cycle of time between Hannah’s conception and birth of Samuel. In 2 Chronicles 24: 23, tekufah refers to the time of the year when Syria attacked Judah. The other place it is used is in Psalm 19: 6 where it refers to the sun’s daily circuit across the heavens. Exodus 34: 22 thus implies that the Feast of Tabernacles should occur when the cycle of the agriculture year is complete, about the time summer gives way to fall. This point is made in a slightly different manner in Exodus 23: 16. Again the King James Version translates that the Feast of Tabernacles is to occur at the “end of the year”, but this time uses a completely different word, meaning literally “the going out” of the year. It is the same term used in Exodus 13: 8 to refer to Israel going out of Egypt. In other words, the Feast of Tabernacles comes at the “going out” of the harvest season of the agricultural year, right after the time when the harvest would be gathered into barns (that is why the term “Feast of Ingathering” is used), to protect it from the coming of the rainy season. This festival season of the seventh month was celebrated when summer was giving way to fall.

We have seen that the Scriptures show that the interactions of the sun, moon and earth were to be factored in so that the numbering of the days of the month would be connected with the phases of the moon. We have also seen that celebration of the festivals is tied both to the beginning of the grain harvest and to the time when crops were to be gathered into barns at the end of the summer. But are other aspects of the calendar, such as the so-called “postponements” also necessary and based on scriptural guidelines? We must note that in the Hebrew calendar, the new moon of the seventh month (Tishri) is calculated rather than the new moon of the first month (Abib). As this is the only new moon that is designated as set-apart time, it is also the new moon that is most essential to determine. The other set-apart days are figured from it. There is also an astronomical reason for this practice, since the time from the vernal equinox (spring) to the following autumnal equinox (fall) is about a week longer than from the autumnal equinox to the following vernal equinox. The postponements are simply calendar adjustments that determine which day should be proclaimed as the first day of Tishri. Where there are generally said to be four postponement rules, actually there are two primary ones. The other two are just logical extensions of the first two, to ensure that a year does not have too many or too few days. The first rule we should look at states that if the calculated conjunction; the molad of Tishri, occurs after noon on a given day, the first day of the month is “postponed” until the following day. This rule results from the way time is measured on a round earth, and the length of time the moon takes to move out of conjunction and beyond the arc of the sun. After all, the term for “new moon” in Scripture refers to the “repairing” of the moon. While a calculated calendar does not require that the visible crescent be sighted, it should at least be theoretically possible to sight that crescent. It takes six hours past the conjunction before the moon has moved far enough beyond the sun’s arc to begin reflecting the light once again, the “repairing” of the moon. Whether or not a reflection is actually seen is purely incidental, as the calendar is based upon the calculated averages. Clearly, this postponement rule is not merely based upon a Pharisaic tradition; rather, it is mandated by Scripture and by astronomy.

The other main rule is that if the calculated molad of Tishri occurs on the first day of the week, the fourth day of the week, or the sixth day of the week, the first day of the month, which will be Yom Teruah, is considered to begin on the following day, i.e. the second, the fifth or the seventh day. What is the scriptural basis for this? In Leviticus 23, where YHVH first gave Moses a detailed list of His festivals, He explains that this day’s levels of sanctity fell into two categories. For six of these days; the 1st and the 7th Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Yom Teruah, the first day of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day – Moses was to instruct Israel that “no servile work” be done. However the weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur were different. On these two days, “no work whatsoever” was to be done. Clearly YHVH placed these two days in a slightly different category than the others. Additionally, in describing Yom Teruah, the first day of Tabernacles and the Eighth-Day, the term Shabbaton, translated “Sabbath” was used. For the weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur a different descriptive term “Shabbat Shabbaton” was used, translated a “Shabbat of rest”. Recognizing that YHVH sets the weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur apart in their level of sanctity; the Levitical Priesthood sought to implement these instructions in proclaiming the festivals. They realized that Yom Kippur, a Shabbat Shabbaton, upon which “no work whatsoever” was to be done, should not be the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath which would occur if the first of Tishri came on the fourth day of the week. Additionally, they avoided the weekly Sabbath being the preparation day for Yom Kippur, which would happen if Tishri 1 fell on the sixth day. This practice also avoided the weekly Sabbath, Shabbat Shabbaton, being the preparation day, the other three Fall set-apart days which were only Shabbaton, (this would occur if Tishri 1 came on the first day of the week). Note that according to Exodus 12: 16, the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread in the Spring were in a different category. YHVH had specifically approved the preparation of food on these days.

Two other rules concerning postponements are logical extensions derived from the first two, regulating the number of days in a year so that the first of each month stays connected with the new moon. The calendar adjustments regarding Tishri 1 are based upon instructions YHVH gave to the Levitical Priesthood through Moses in Leviticus 23. YHVH made clear that two days, the Sabbath and Yom Kippur, had a special degree of set-apartness, and based upon those instructions the Priesthood sought to conform their celebrations to His wishes. Does YHVH expect individuals to determine His calendar for themselves? Many self-appointed calendar experts each claim that their calendar is the right one. Did YHVH intend the calendar to be proclaimed by an authoritative body – or is it “every man for himself?” Increasingly, we see people simply doing what is right in their own eyes. IS YHVH THE AUTHOR OF SUCH SPIRITUAL CONFUSION? To whom did YHVH give responsibility for the calendar? YHVH told Moses: “(YHVH)’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy (set-apart) convocations—My appointed times are these.” (Leviticus 23: 2.) But who was to do the proclaiming, and what does this mean? The Hebrew term for convocation is ‘miqra’, which refers to an officially called or designated assembly. In Numbers 10: 2, Moses was told that two silver trumpets were to be made and one of their major uses was “for summoning the congregation”. Who was to use those trumpets (verse 8): “The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations.” Verse 10 explains that “in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and in the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings.”

The noun ‘miqra’ is derived from the verb ‘qara’, the verb rendered “proclaim” in Leviticus 23: 2 and 23: 4. What exactly does it mean? It is the same word used in Genesis 1 where Elohim “called” the light Day and “called” the darkness Night (Genesis 1: 5), where He “called” the firmament Heaven (Genesis 1: 8), “called” the dry land Earth and “called” the gathered waters the Seas (Genesis 1: 10). Later we learn that YHVH Elohim brought before Adam the animals He had created to see what he would ‘call’ them. “And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2: 19.) So we see that ‘qara’ means to "call”- to name or designate. In Genesis 1 it was YHVH Elohim, and in Genesis 2 it was Adam, who did the naming and designating. How does this relate to the set-apart days? In Leviticus 23, we learned that a certain group was responsible for naming or designating the days on which the congregation was to assemble before YHVH. Numbers 10 explains that this refers to the Levitical Priesthood and shows that YHVH gave them the responsibility to announce the new moons and festival days. It was not an individual matter for each Israelite to arrive at by himself; rather it was a collective matter to be proclaimed by an authoritative body. But there is more! Most read right over the implications of who was to name, or designate, the days that would be considered (YHVH)’s appointed festivals. The Priesthood was given the right to name, or designate, those days – in the same way that YHVH gave Adam the authority to name, or designate the animals He had created. YHVH gave the Priesthood guidelines and principles by which they were to designate those days, but He did not spell out every single detail. He gave them the principles with which they had to make judgments! It is important to notice the difference between the weekly Shabbat that Elohim gave to mankind, and the annual festivals He gave to Israel. YHVH did not tell the Priesthood that they were responsible to name or designate the weekly Sabbath. Elohim Himself had proclaimed the weekly Sabbath at the end of the creation week. Mankind was simply told to “remember” and keep set-apart the time that Elohim Himself had previously designated. The annual festivals were different, as Leviticus 23: 2 and 23: 4 show. While each individual could simply remember to observe the seventh day of the week, this was not possible with the annual festivals. Their exact timing would vary somewhat from year to year, regulated by the principles that YHVH gave Moses in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere. So we see that while the weekly Sabbath is to be remembered by each of us as individuals, the annual festivals are to be named or designated on the calendar each year by an authoritative body!

If each of us seeks to determine our own calendar, we will end up celebrating the festivals on a variety of days. Yet YHVH is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14: 33) nor is He the source of the spiritual anarchy that many so effectively promote today. Rav Shaul told the brethren in Colossae that they were not to let any man judge them in matters pertaining to set-apart days, new moons, or Sabbaths, but rather “the body of Messiah” (Colossians 2: 16 – 17). We know from the Renewed Covenant that the Messiah observed the set-apart days and festivals commanded in Leviticus 23. Did He do so based upon a calculated calendar such as we use today, one that included the so called “postponement” rules, or did He use a calendar based solely upon physical sighting of the new crescent? One thing is for sure, Yahshua did it correctly! If we know what He did, then all we have to do is follow His example. But is it possible to know what He did? Absolutely! The place to go to find the kind of calendar which was authoritatively proclaimed during Yahshua’s human lifetime is NOT the Talmud and later rabbinical writings. Since the Pharisees dominated the Jewish community after the fall of the temple, their traditions came to be considered normative Judaism. Interestingly, many who claim to reject the Hebrew calendar because they consider it a tradition of the Pharisees have used the Talmud as their source of calendar information and definitions, rather than simply using the Scriptures itself! From the scriptural record, we are able to match three festivals during Yahshua’s ministry with the days of the week on which they fell. As we will see, these three festival dates are compatible only with one calendar model – the calendar used by Yahshua thus stands revealed by the Renewed Covenant! The year of Yahshua’s crucifixion, and therefore of His last Passover, can be established clearly by correlating the prophecy of Daniel 9 with the historical occurrence described in Ezra 7. Daniel explained that there would be a time period of 70 prophetic “weeks”, i.e., 490 prophetic “days”. We are told that 69 of these “weeks” (i.e. 483 years) would run from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the appearance of the Messiah. Ezra 7 records the decree of King Artaxerxes that begins the count of the prophetic “weeks”.

Secular history makes plain that the Artaxerxes’ seventh year occurred in 458-457BCE. The only question is whether or not the author Ezra/Nehemiah was figuring the years of Artaxerxes’ reign by counting from fall to fall or spring to spring. A careful comparison of Nehemiah 1: 1 and 2: 1 shows that a fall-to fall reckoning was used. Nehemiah refers to an event in the month of Kislev (December) of the 20th year of Artaxerxes, followed later by an event in the month of Nissan (April) in the 20th year of Artaxerxes. The only way that both of these events could have occurred in the king’s 20th year would be if the author was figuring the years of the king’s reign from fall to fall. This means that when Ezra 7 says that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem with the decree in the late summer (fifth month) during the 7th year of Artaxerxes, this must refer to 457BCE. If we come forward 483 years, this brings us to just before the fall festival season of 27CE. This would be when Yahshua was immersed by John the Immerser and began His three-and-a-half year ministry. He began in the fall of 27CE and was crucified in the spring of 31CE. Yahshua was in the grave for three full days and three full nights according to His claim in Matthew 12: 40 and the record of His resurrection in Matthew 28: 1 – 6. Titus a Roman general besieged Jerusalem on September 7th 70CE. Against his orders, his soldiers burned the Temple, resulting in a major problem; all the gold in the Temple melted down into the temple stones. It took seven months to remove all the gold from the destroyed Temple building, bringing us to the spring of 71CE when Titus returned to Rome. Yahshua predicted the destruction of the Temple in Matthew 24: 1 & 2. He added in Matthew 24: 34, saying: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” In Scriptural times a generation was said to be 40 years (see Psalm 95: 10 and Hebrews 3: 9 – 10). True to Yahshua’s word, we see that from the spring of 31CE to spring of 71CE is exactly 40 years.

This reference to Ezra gives us a benchmark. We also know from the scriptural record, apart from these calendar questions, that Yahshua the Messiah was crucified on the 4th day (or Wednesday) of the week and resurrected 3 days and three nights later, at the end of the weekly Sabbath. Both the British and U.S. Naval Observatories corroborate that that particular Passover occurred on the 4th day of the week in 31CE, in agreement with the prophesy in Daniel 9: 27 that Messiah was to be cut off in the middle of the week. Additionally, we will see that the day of the week is made plain for two other festival dates. One is the Last Great Day of 30CE, which occurred on a weekly Sabbath. Scripture also shows that the second set-apart day of Unleavened Bread in 29CE fell on a weekly Sabbath. John 7 – 13 recounts the events of the fall festival period, proceeding Yahshua’s final days. A careful reading shows that most of the events of John 8 – 10 occurred on the Last Great Day. Yahshua’s words in the temple during the evening of this day are recorded in John 7: 37 - 39. In verse 53 everyone went home, but Yahshua and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives for the night, returning to the temple early the next morning, the daylight portion of the Last Great Day (John 8: 1 - 21). If we simply read on through the next chapters, we find that the woman taken in adultery and the healing of the blind man both occurred on the same day. From John 9 we already knew that the blind man was healed on an annual Sabbath; John 9: 14, using the definite article with its Sabbath reference, states plainly that it was also a weekly Sabbath, which is why such an issue was made of the healing. John gives us the basis for reconstructing the chronology of Yahshua’s ministry, noting His words and actions on several specific festival occasions. We have already seen that John the Immerser immersed Yahshua in the fall of 27CE, just when Daniel’s prophecy showed the Messiah should appear. Six months later, at the Passover season 28CE, He suddenly came to the temple and began His public ministry (John 2). When we carefully read John 6 – 13, we see that this is a continuous sequence of the last year in Yahshua’s life, from the Passover of 30CE to the Passover of 31CE. Therefore, the only Passover not commented on in John’s gospel is that of 29CE, but the events of that year’s festival season was adequately covered in the other three Gospel accounts.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the disciples plucking ears of grain to eat as they walked with Yahshua through the grain fields. The placement of this incident in Matthew 12: 1 - 8, Mark 2: 23 and Luke 6: 1 – 4 shows that this occurred early in His ministry, not during the Passover the year before His crucifixion. This only leaves the Passover season of 29CE. How do we know this incident occurred at the Passover season? Luke 6: 1 (KJV) makes this clear by describing that it happened “on the second Sabbath after the first”. What does that mean? The Greek phrase used is ‘en sabbato deuteroproto’, which literally means “the second Sabbath of first rank.” This expression can only refer to the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, the second Sabbath of the first rank occurring in the year. The rest of the story contained in the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, shows that this was also a weekly Sabbath. All three writers link the event in the grain fields with a latter incident described as “another Sabbath” (Luke 6:6 - KJV) when Yahshua healed the man with the withered hand. This phrase, taken together with the points made in Mark 2: 27 –28, that the Sabbath was made for man and that Yahshua is Master of the Sabbath, emphasizes that this was a weekly Sabbath day. Luke is the only writer who adds the detail that this took place on the second Set-apart day of Unleavened Bread (The Last Day of Unleavened Bread). Yahshua and His disciples partook of His last Passover before His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, in accordance with Torah (Exodus 12: 18 and Leviticus 23: 5) in the evening part or the beginning of the fourth day of the week – the 14th of Aviv according to the Hebrew calendar (where a new day begins at sunset). This was in fact 24 hours before the Jews of His day kept the Passover, as may be read from Mark 14: 14 - 26 and is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 26. He did not change the Hebrew calendar in use during His day, but corrected His Last Passover to coincide with the timing of the original Passover and as instructed in Leviticus 23. Even so, in order to confirm the prophecy that He is the Lamb of Elohim that takes away the sins of the world, He died at three o’clock the next afternoon, when the Jews slaughtered their Passover lambs

Do these facts provide evidence for the kind of calendar Yahshua recognized in His lifetime? Using today’s calculated Hebrew calendar, notice what the dates of these events in Yahshua’s ministry would be. Remember that today, leap years are years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 instead of the earlier 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 18. How do the dates from the calculated calendar compare to what would have been obtained by sightings of the new crescent moon? In 29CE, the last day of Unleavened Bread would have occurred on a Sabbath, April 23, according to our traditionally calculated Hebrew calendar. This date results from applying one of the postponement rules, since the molad (the new moon) of Tishri that year occurred after noon and the reckoning of Tishri 1 would therefore have been postponed to the next day. This is the only way that the last set-apart day of Unleavened Bread could have come on a weekly Sabbath in 29CE. By contrast, using computer generated models to determine the timing based upon the observable new moon in Judea, physical sighting would have caused the last set-apart day of Unleavened Bread to fall on the first day of the week, April 29, 29CE. As for the Last Great Day in 30CE, calculations based on the traditional Hebrew calendar show that it would have occurred on Sabbath, October 7. No postponement rules would have been involved. But, significantly, the Last Great Day would have occurred on the weekly Sabbath if and only if the calendar was based on the calculated molad (conjunction), not the visible sighting of the new crescent. This is made clear by examining the computer model for the observable new moon in 30CE. The first visible crescent could have been seen from Jerusalem no earlier than the night of the first day of the week, September 17, thus making Trumpets on the second day of the week, September 18 and the Last Great Day on the first day of the week, October 9 by that reckoning. In 31CE, the calculated date for Nissan 1, according to the traditional Hebrew calendar, was the 5th day of the week, April, 12. This would have occurred only if the postponement rule that did not allow Yom Teruah to come on the 6th day had been in effect.

The calculated molad of Tishri came on the 6th day in 31CE and only by having postponed Tishri 1 to a Sabbath would Passover in 31CE have come on the 4th day. It is true that the observable new moon of Nissan would also been seen on that April, 12, thus coinciding with the calculated date for Nissan 1. However, we have just seen that the dates of the other set-apart days mentioned during Yahshua’s ministry only coincide with the proper day of the week when they are figured based upon a calculated molad rather than an observable crescent. As we saw earlier, the Scriptural calendar guidelines require calculation rather than physical sighting. There is one additional point regarding the timing of Passover in 31CE. Passover would have come on April 25, only if 31CE were counted as an intercalary year. Otherwise the Passover would have fallen a month earlier – on the 2nd day of the week, March 26. Unless the priests were following a fixed cycle of intercalary years, there would have been no reason to observe Passover in April rather than in March of that year. The equinox was March 23 at that time. And there would have certainly been some ripe grain for the priests to offer on the day of the Wave sheaf – March 28 Pharisee reckoning and on the 1st day, April 1, by Sadducee reckoning. The timing of the three festivals during Yahshua’s ministry is clearly shown in the Renewed Covenant. The Passover of 31CE would have occurred on the 4th day only if there were a fixed calendar cycle making 31CE an intercalary year. A calculated calendar would have required Tishri 1 to be postponed from the 6th day to the Sabbath for the dating to work out properly. And the Last Great Day of 30CE would only have come on a weekly Sabbath if a calculated calendar were used, though no postponements within that calendar would have been necessary that year. As for the last set-apart day of Unleavened Bread in 29CE, it would have come on a weekly Sabbath. Clearly, the Gospel accounts show that these set-apart days occurred in a way that could only have happened if a calculated calendar using the postponement rules had been in effect in the time of Yahshua Messiah.

The rules of the current Hebrew calendar are based upon Scriptural principles. These rules, as we have seen, can be deduced directly from the Scriptures and do not depend on Talmudic traditions and legends. Furthermore, Scripture clearly reveals that YHVH assigned to an authoritative body, anciently the priesthood, responsibility to name or designate the annual festivals. This was never intended to be a matter of private interpretation. In addition, we have the example of Yahshua Himself, as given in the Gospel accounts. The calendar He used is far more in accord with the one used today than are any of the alternative models that have been proposed. It is interesting that we have historical witness and testimony; from no less than the authority of Roman Emperor Constantine, three centuries after Yahshua’s crucifixion, the true disciples were still reckoning the festival dates by the same calendar used by the Jewish community. At the Council of Nicea, held in 325CE, the timing of the Paschal festival was discussed; the early Catholics were replacing Passover with Easter, but were still using the scriptural name – the Greek term pasha. Note the excerpts of Constantine’s decree as preserved by the early Church historian Eusebius. He wrote that it seemed, “a most unworthy thing that we should follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this most holy solemnity, rejecting the practice of his people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite, in a more legitimate order. Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews. Let us withdraw ourselves, my much honored brethren, from that most odious fellowship. It is indeed in the highest degree preposterous, that they should superciliously vaunt themselves, that truly without their instruction, we cannot properly observe this rite, they continue, wandering in the grossest error, instead of duly reforming their calculations.” (A historical View of the Council of Nicea, Eusebius, pp. 52-53). Constantine, like many self-styled experts today, considered themselves more knowledgeable about the calendar than the Jews, and asserted that they should reform their calculations. Constantine’s attack was aimed, however, not to influence the Jews, but rather those Christians who followed the Jewish calendar in determining the time of the Passover. The early disciples were not following their own calendar model, rather they were using the same model that Yahshua Himself had followed, the one preserved and used by the Jews. We, who are returning to YHVH through Yahshua, should follow Him as our perfect example. Think about it!

[1] The 6th of Sivan being the day Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from (YHVH)’s hand, as witnessed in Exodus 19: 1, where the Israelites arrived at the foot of the mountain on the 3rd day of the 3rd month (Sivan). Moses told the Israelites to consecrate themselves for two days, to wash their clothes and not go near a woman, to be ready on the 3rd day. Moses brought the people out of the camp on the third day and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Then Moses ascended up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from Elohim. Shavuot is the day upon which YHVH married the nation of Israel under the covering (Chupah) of Mount Sinai, with the Ten Commandments being the marriage contract (ketubbah). It is the same date upon which YHVH gave believers in Yahshua His Set-apart Spirit, after Yahshua’s death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.