Could it be that most of our calendars are forgery
and counterfeits?
Why so many ways to fix the beginning of the year?
Why such a big discrepancy between those people?
Let us try to investigate this question and why
not to start with the Bible and its revelation about the manner
used by our Creator to measure time, to fix the beginnings of
the year and of the months!
In the book of Exodus, chapter 12, starting with
verse 2, the Lord says:
This first indication shows without any doubt that
our Lord divides the time into years, months and days. It means
that there is a beginning for the year just like there is a beginning
for each month and for each day.
The choice of the first month is a particularly important
task for the believer as, during this month, the Lord is sending
us an invitation to participate to His feast with Him: it is the
feast of Passover and of the seven days of unleavened breads.
Mankind on many occasions tried to build theories
to fix the beginning of the year. All these theories sowed the
most complete confusion during several millennia.
Such confusion is an expected consequence of any human attempt which does not TAKE ITS ROOT IN THE WORD OF ELOHIM!
Indeed what a difference it would have been if people had spent some time to understand how the Bible is providing useful information about the method to fix the new year. The mankind would have avoided a lot of headaches caused by all these difficult research to find ways to measure time. Moreover it would also have saved a lot of time to do more fruitful works.
The Jewish people also, if they were trying to read
the Bible "with open eyes" would understand that
ELOHIM DOES NOT NEED THEIR SO-CALLED SACRED CALENDAR, the
one designed by Hillel II in the fourth century of the supposedly
"Christian era". This type of calendar, although it
is the fruit of an erudite observation of the stars, never was
and never will be used by the people following the bible since
Seth till the Christians. Moreover, Hillel II did not find his
inspiration in the Word of the Lord to build his calendar but
on the contrary, he called on the practices of Babylon which start the new year,
not in the spring, but in the fall. Babylon is in the Bible often associated
with confusion after the origin of its name, Babel.
The absurdity with this Jewish calendar is that, at the extreme, people could fix the new years and the new months from their cellar only by calculation WITHOUT APPEALING ANYMORE TO THE OBSERVATION OF THE NATURE AND OF THE STARS THAT OUR LORD GAVE TO US AS A CELESTIAL CLOCK TO MEASURE TIME!
Indeed, Elohim created the stars so that we make use
of them visually just like we are looking at the hands of our
clock:
"And Elohim 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." (Genesis
1:14)
Elohim gave us a majestic gift, a celestial clock which combines a bright beauty with the highest degree of accuracy. Why did all our civilizations neglect such a wonderful gift and priceless tool? Is this by pride, carelessness or by lack of knowledge?
As suggested before, even the Israelite world, which
should have been considered as a reference, is plunged in a deep
confusion once it must define the new year:
compromises were made by having as many new years as needed to satisfy everyone! First, the most official new year takes place at the beginning of the biblical seventh month, the month during which is taking place the biblical festival of Sukkot.
Then the "religious new year" forgotten by the majority and which marks the beginning of the count of the days to fix the festival of Passover.
Another new year is also " Tou bichvat" also called New Year of the trees and which takes place usually in February.
And last but not least, as a summit of disrespect,
the majority of the laic part of the Jewish people, as soon as
they could after their independence decided to follow the tradition
of the Western world and to adopt Saint Sylvester as a last way
to fix the new year.
This confusion of the Jewish people and in particular
of their religious authorities is surprisingly in line with what was
written 2500 years ago by Ezekiel, the prophet:
"Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: FOR THEY ARE A REBELLIOUS HOUSE." (Ezekiel 12:2)
However, the Bible thanks to the preserving mission of the Jews, mission which is essential for all human being and which was announced in advance by the apostle Paul (Romans 3: 1-2), does not leave room to any doubt.
No doubt not only, as we saw earlier, to know when starts the new year but also concerning the seventh month, the one chosen by the State of Israel to start its civil year:
"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."
(Leviticus 23: 24)
The continuation of the chapter indicates that during this same seventh month will take place the festival of the huts (Soukkoth: verse 34). And if we read in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, verse 13, it is written that this festival of the huts takes place during the fall when one collects the fruit of the press, namely the wine, fruit of the vine whose harvest is done in autumn!
Why then persist in celebrating new year during the
seventh month? Isn't this an act of rebellion and contempt against
the Author of our days?
If we are ready to accept the idea that Elohim has chosen
one month to be the first of the months of the year, we must asked
ourselves the question:
When will this month take place? When can we know
that the first of the months of the year mentioned in the book
of Exodus is starting? This question finds an easy answer if we pay attention
to all the passages of the Bible related to Passover and the festival
of the unleavened breads. Indeed, we will see that our Lord puts
at our disposal all the information necessary to fix the first
month without any risk of error:
"Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover
unto the LORD thy Elohim: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy Elohim
brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." (Deuteronomy 16:
1)
Here, the Lord shows us that the first of the months
of the year, the one of Passover, is a month during which ears
can be seen in the fields and moreover these ears must recall
the exit out of Egypt!
Let us continue our investigation carefully, like
Sherlock Holmes and let us make sure that we will use all the
clues given by the Word of Elohim! Thus our investigation is bringing
us in Egypt at the time just before the exodus of the sons of
Israel.
If we read how the Bible is describing the fields,
at the time of the wounds (woes?), a little before the exodus, we
can see what follows:
"And the hail smote throughout all the land
of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the
hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the
field… And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the
barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they
were not grown up." (Exodus 9: 25-32)
The answer is clear, the first of the months of the year is the one during which the ears of barley are mature and ready for the crop.
By the way, the same paragraph also says that it cannot be wheat ears because they are not yet mature. Another proof that it cannot be the wheat ears is the fact when they are mature, it is time to feast Pentecost, alias the feast of the weeks (in Hebrew: shavouot or shavuot). Pentecost takes place seven weeks after the season of Passover:
"And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks,
of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering
at the year's end." (Exodus 34: 22)
Chapter 23 of Leviticus confirms that the feast of Pentecost takes place seven full weeks after the season of Passover. All this proves how much Elohim takes care of us and how His Word is rich in details to prevent that His people will not be mistaken and lost on the way which leads towards the eternity.
It is not in vain that David wrote:
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
(Psalm 119: 105)
Now, we must answer another question: where should we observe if ears of barley are mature?
Indeed, ears of barley are mature at quite different times in the year depending on places on earth! In Northern Europe, it will be in June or even July, much later than in Egypt or in the Promised Land of Israel. And if we are in the southern hemisphere, it will be vice-versa.
So which place to choose to observe the ears of barley? Here again, we could find a source of confusion!
But here also, the Lord will help us to find the
answer to that question. First of all, the people of Elohim must pay
attention to another clue in order to find the answer:
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, When ye be come into THE LAND THAT I GIVE YOU the land
which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then
ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto
the priest." (Leviticus 23: 10)
This verse explains how the sons of Israel were expected to make the offering of the first fruit of the sheaves of barley during the seven days of the festival of the unleavened breads. If we wish to be part of the heirs of Abraham, we must understand the meaning of this ceremony and how to participate to it today. By this way, we will have, like Abraham and like the Children of Israel, an access to the Promised Land.
The Children of Israel were promised to enter the Land of Canaan while still in the desert of Sinai, when the book of Leviticus was written. It means that like them, we need to fix the first of the months of the year following the observation of the maturity of the ears of barley in the Land of Promise, in Israel. If this is not yet convincing you, you should not forget either that the Lord solemnly chose forever the place of the Temple in the city of Jerusalem as the place of residence for His Holy Name:
"For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."
(II Chronicles 7: 16)
Thus if we want to be close to the heart of our Lord,
we should focus our eyes on Jerusalem, the city where the place
of His house is, and we should watch the maturity of the ears of
barley near Jerusalem to decide which month will be the first
one of the year, the one during which we will feast Passover:
"Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy Elohim giveth thee:
But at the place which the LORD thy Elohim shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt."
(Deuteronomy 16: 5-6)
Daniel, beloved of the Lord, while in captivity under
the power of Babylon and of the Persian empire, always made his
prayers while turning his face in the direction of Jerusalem,
towards the place of the Temple. Indeed this Temple was burnt
and destroyed but it was still the place of the name of the Lord.
Daniel prayed in the direction of Jerusalem and was endangering
his life by doing this as we can read:
"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his Elohim, as he did aforetime.
Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying
and making supplication before his Elohim." (Daniel 6: 10-11)
This event confirms the importance of Jerusalem as
a bench mark on earth for the measurement of time and in particular
the choice of the first of the months of the year thanks to the
observation of the maturity of the first ears of barley.
The Christians are invited to be part of the future
priests of our Lord and they must take care of the preparation
of what will take place at the end times:
When Jesus Christ will reign, then:
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."
(Isaiah 2: 3)
Did you know that the meaning of SION (Hebrew Tsion)
is LANDMARK or SIGNAL!
The important question which arises now is how to
choose the first day of the month while using the gigantic astral
clock made for us by Our Creator. Unfortunately, this is another
place that mankind has rendered thorny BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE SO
BLINDED BY THEIR PRIDE TO FOLLOW RULES AS THEY LIKE!
"Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
because he willingly walked after the
commandment." (Hosea 5: 11)
The word which is translated by "month "
in the Bible should be translated more exactly by " new moon".
In the same way, when you read in your Bible " fourteenth
day of the month ", in Hebrew, you would read "fourteenth
day of the new moon ". The new moons which mark the beginning
of the months according to the calendar invented by Elohim for man
are particularly important days as they are chosen by Elohim as days
for offerings:
"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." (Numbers
28: 11)
Throughout the old testament, this request of the
Lord was followed and traces are found here and there. We must
always keep in mind that all these rules given once by our Lord
are still in practice and should never be forgotten by the believers
even if the majority of the Christian authorities try to make you believe the contrary.
Rather than to believe these authorities, you should better put
your confidence in Jesus-Christ and you will never be disappointed.
So let us hear what he said clearly along time ago:
It may be that you do not understand yet how to
practice today this offering of the beginnings of month, alias
new moons, but that does not give you any reason to forget it
or to erase it from the law!
For true believers, the new moon is invested with
a similar importance as the day of rest, the seventh day of the
week, the Sabbath
I am not the only one telling you this, but Paul
has also written it for you:
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
(Colossians 2: 16-17)
Please pay attention to the way we translated these
verses of Paul for most of the Bibles are twisting the text trying
to induce the reader to believe the opposite of what it says.
Indeed in these Bibles, you will find:
" Which were a shadow of things to come "
whereas the original text in Greek say nothing else
but what is written higher. Please also note that the word shadow
chosen by Paul fits very well here as shadow is created by the
light and it is showing us the shape of the world to come where
Christ will be King of the kings. The light coming from Elohim the
Father lets us guess by the shadow it makes how will be this new
world. Today, we see only the shadows, I mean pure food, the festivals,
new moons and the Sabbaths; these shadows announces the world
to come which is out of our view and they are only projected for
us in our world. This shadow gives us a first glimpse of what
will be.
What you have seen before shows the high degree of
accuracy that Elohim is using to inform us in the Bible:
"For the word of Elohim is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
(Hebrews 4: 12)
Here are two examples to convince you even more how
much you should pay attention to the meaning of the words used
by Elohim in His word. A too quick reading and an approximate understanding
of the Bible represent a serious potential danger.
The first example will show you why almost all the Jewish people celebrate Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavouot which means feast of the weeks, usually on a wrong day. Don't take this as a reason to believe that the Christian world is closer to the truth, quite to the contrary, as Christians in their majority have rejected most of the rules included in the old testament, the essential part of the Bible. But let us go back to the Jews and their wrong practice for the Pentecost.
The reason for which the Jews celebrate Pentecost often at a wrong day comes from the confusion existing for most people in the world who are mixing the meaning of the word week with any series of seven consecutive days. Thus, in Israel, Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after the day following Passover. These fifty days are the result of the count of seven times seven days, forty-nine days, after Passover and to held the feastday on the morning after. This calculation draws its origin in the wrong understanding of Leviticus 23: 15-21. The true meaning of the word week is not taken into account. This true meaning was defined by Elohim since the beginning and it means the particular series of seven days which starts with Sunday, first day of the week, and ends with Saturday, seventh and last day of the week. This meaning is much more limited than any series of seven consecutive days in the week! Confusing that, the religious authorities of the Jews decided to count fifty days starting from any day of the week provided that it was the morning after Passover, with the result that their Pentecost is taking place most of the time at an unspecified day of the week and not Sunday as specified by the Bible!
Indeed, the Bible requires from us even today to begin the count of the 50 days, seven weeks plus one day, on Sunday, the first day of the week which is included in the seven days festival of the unleavened breads. By doing this, we will be able to indeed count seven weeks starting with Sunday and finishing with Saturday, last day of the seventh week, as it is clearly written in the Bible and understanding the word week as it is defined by our Lord.
And just after this seventh Saturday, at the end of the seventh week, we reach Sunday, first day of the week and we are invited to celebrate Pentecost, festival of the weeks after its name in Hebrew, Schavouot.
Moreover, even if, today, it is often the custom for people to speak about the week of the unleavened breads, you can check by yourselves that nowhere the Bible is calling this a week but always seven days!
Elohim always inspired His writers to write seven days
of unleavened breads. He did that to teach us the difference between
a week and seven days showing us that a week is not, as one could
believe, seven unspecified consecutive days but on the contrary
the seven days starting with a Sunday and ending with a Saturday.
The second example is very similar to the previous one. It shows the danger and the risks that we can take if we are too quickly satisfied with the approximate meanings of words. For the majority, the duration of one month is thirty days. Thus, if we read Revelation 11: 2 and 13: 5, it refers to a 42 months prophetic period of time during which the Beast will act with a complete and unlimited freedom. A simple calculation can make us believe that these forty two months are the same as 42X30=1260 days during which the two witnesses of Elohim will prophesy (Revelation 11: 3) and also during which the woman described in Revelation 12 will be protected and nourished in the desert.
But if Elohim is as precise as He is demonstrating it to us by the way He has conceived the universe, we are likely to make a big error by accepting such type of approximation. Indeed, everywhere the Bible defines the month as a series of days between a new moon and the following one. This concept would always be in our mind if we were keeping the tradition to make an offering to the Lord at the time of each new moon. We would understand that this 42 months period of time described in the book of Revelation can only start with a new moon and finish with a new moon.
Moreover, the total duration of this period of 42
lunations is only 1240 days if one considers that the average
duration of one lunation is circa twenty nine and a half days.
This precision thought by our Lord can help us not to be confused
and mix events which may perhaps take place at completely different
times. In other words, it may also be a way to save our lives
as a bad understanding of prophecies can be fatal.
In the book of Proverbs, chapter 12, verse 1, it
is written:
All believers must aspire to science, to the knowledge
by all the means that Elohim has put at our disposal. It is one of
our duty to use all our senses and our intelligence to learn more
in order to increase steadily our knowledge. However this increase
in our knowledge will only bear fruits if in the same time we
succeed in changing and correcting our way of life when we discover
that we are wrong. A key to reach such behavior is our ability
to be humble:
Today, the choice of the first day of the month and/or
of the new moon is still extremely debated. Many religions using
the moon to fix the months have adopted the observation of the
first crescent of the moon as the signal to begin a new month.
The Jewish tradition claims that for more than two thousand years,
the religious authorities have had observers, distributed in all
over the country, to look for the new crescent, which is visible
at the evening a little after the sun has gone down. As soon as
the first crescent is seen, fires were lightened on all the summits
of the hills till Jerusalem where the supreme authorities issued
the new month. It goes without saying that the man with faith
must examine these things with the
greatest prudence as nothing of these traditions
is drawn from the Bible!
The Bible, on the contrary, implies that the determination
of a new
moon was to be known at least one day in advance.
This is indeed what
we must understand when we read the following part
of the life of
David related in the first book of Samuel, chapter
20, verse 5:
"And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even."
Knowing the character of David, in all his writings,
in particular in
the psalms, one can be convinced that he practiced
with love the observation of the stars and more particularly of
the moon to fix the beginning of the months. Don't forget that
he was a long time a shepherd before becoming king. When he was
a shepherd, during the nights, he could admire the moon and the
stars in the sky. He thus had a good knowledge of the sky just
like we should have if we were devoting to it some little time
on a regular basis.
David could determine after the shape of the moon
in the last part of its cycle when would begin the following month.
It is interesting to note that the precise moment of the new moon is single for all the world. We are on the spaceship earth and each one can the same day observe the occultation of the moon which does not receive any more sunlight because the screening effect of the earth.
Consequently, the moon cannot reflect the sunlight
towards the earth. This moment is called astronomical new moon
(in Greek: neomenia). The new moon is the precise time when no
one can see the moon, when the moon is not visible at all. It
is not a coincidence that in the Greek text inspired of the epistle
of Paul to the Colossiens whom we quoted higher the word neomenia
is translated by new moon. Neomenia is the astronomical name
for new moon. The use of the neomenia, which is the precise time
of the new moon, to fix the first day of a new month is a rather
different concept than the calculated one adopted by the Israelites
and the observation of the first crescent of the moon by the Muslims.
All these practices do not take their roots in the Bible.
As we will see, the careful reader of the word of
Elohim can find and demonstrate the method conceived by the Lord
to decide when a month starts. According to this method, any new
month starts at the first day in the cycle of the moon when the
moon is not visible anymore.
The choice of the day corresponding to the new moon
is particularly important for the seventh month as it is a major
feast in honor of the Lord (Leviticus 23: 23-25). Indeed this
feast of the seventh new moon of the year is very special as it
is the only one that coincides with a new moon. It means also
that the feast of the first day of the seventh month is taking
place when darkness is overwhelming during the night everywhere
on earth. And Elohim is using this feast as a key in the Bible to
open our eyes about the way to choose the precise day of new moon
and to avoid the big error made by the other religions in the
world.
This key is in psalm 81: 2-6:
This text requires some additional explanations to be well understood. The words "in the time appointed" or in some translations "full moon" are translated from the Hebrew word "kessa" or "kesse" which means fully covered with the meaning " not visible" or " being hidden". Here a first comment must be made: it is completely the opposite of the full moon which means that the moon is completely visible and glaze of light! It is rather interesting to note that the translation "full moon" was first introduced by the Jews of Babylon! Babylon is known as the source of all confusions.
The root of " kesse " can be found in many other Hebrew words as for instance "mecousse " which means in modern Hebrew fully covered with the meaning of protected. But it is certainly more convincing to find the root of " kesse " in several places of the Bible where it undoubtedly is associated within the meaning of being hidden, camouflaged. Thus in Genesis, in chapter 18 and verse 17, The Lord uses the word "kesse" for saying:
"And the LORD said, Shall I hide ("kesse") from Abraham that thing which I do;"
In psalm 40: 10, the same word is used for saying:
"I have not hid ("kesse") thy righteousness
within my heart."
A little further in psalm 143: 9, the writer says:
"Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee
unto thee to hide ("kesse") me."
Finally in the book of proverbs, chapter 10, verse 18, it is written:
"He that hideth ("kesse") hatred with
lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool."
All these references show how much the meaning of "kesse" in psalm 81 goes hand in hand with the fact that the first day of the month is the one of the astronomical new moon (neomenia in Greek). This astronomical definition means that the moon is completely hidden and cannot be seen, even not its crescent!
That also explains very well why the translation
using the wording "full moon" is not appropriate as it would mean the
complete opposite, a fully visible moon as it is in the middle
of the month.
This brings us to a kind of conclusion. If we analyze
the ways Elohim has built His calendar, we will note that everything
is consistent and logic. The basic principle of the calendar of
Elohim is
A new day starts when the sun has gone down and has completely ended its course in the visible part of the sky.
In the same way the new month starts at the end of
the lunar cycle, at the precise moment when the moon does not
give anymore light reflected from the sun. The moon is in other
word is not visible at all!
All these examples from the creation are a source
of teachings given by Elohim to the mankind:
In the same way, the children of Israel became the
nation of the Lord only when their end appeared certain to the
Egyptians who were exterminating them hoping to put an end to
their existence on earth. Before that event, Israel was not a
nation.
Jesus-Christ became our Savior only after His death
on the wood, at the end of his human life on earth, at the same
moment when His light stopped to shine before mankind.
The new world to come and about which Jesus-Christ
spoke so much will start only when all the world will find itself
in complete darkness and without any light as during the night
of the feast of the first day of the seventh month, the feast
described in psalm 81, verses 1 to 4. At that time still to come,
the people of Elohim will find themselves like the children of Israel
being persecuted and dying without any hope to survive. At the very last end, the last two witnesses (Revelation
11) will give us a last hope of survival, but they will also die
like their Savior, Jesus-Christ. The whole world of those who
are not written in the book of life will celebrate the execution
of the two witnesses and there will be a big feast and joy everywhere.
But people will not understand that their final catastrophe is
a few hours ahead like it was in the last day of Beltschatsar
(Daniel 5).