Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Hebrew lunar-solar calendar is the true calendar for all mankind. YEHOVAH God Himself  established it, and gave it to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt (Exodus  12:1).

However, its principles go back to creation, when the sun and moon were  appointed by YEHOVAH God "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. 1:14). The  word for seasons here is moadim and literally means "an appointment, a fixed time or  season; a FESTIVAL, by implication, an assembly" (see Strong's Exhaustive  Concordance, #4150). Thus YEHOVAH appointed the heavenly bodies to determine the  "appointed times" of His weekly sabbaths, annual Holy Days and Festivals from the  moment of Creation!

All authorities agree that the basis in law for YEHOVAH's calendar is indeed found in Genesis 1:

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from   the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."

"And God made TWO great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to   rule the night; he made the stars also" -- Genesis 1:14, 16.

We can, at the very lest, realize that whatever these "lights" are, they are natural phenomena which clearly dictate the rules of order for calculating time. And, notice this, it is not a singular source of light (i.e. the sun) but ALL collectively, "Let them be for..."

It would be much simpler if the Bible contained a clearly layed-out formula for a Sabbath calendar. The Bible (in Genesis 1:14) only tells us what source we are to use for calculations. But there seems to be no explicit instructions on their practical implementation. Notes  Jonathan Brown: "Notching off seven "solar-day" periods which never correspond at the beginning or end with heavenly lights does not satisfy Genesis 1:14."

Those four word in genesis 1:14 -- signs, seasons, days and years -- can be defined in the following way:

1) Signs fairly defines the underlying Hebrew word implying astronomical events such as eclipses, and other we observe with our eyes in the sun, moon and stars -- reminding us of oaths God has made to us (Jeremiah 32:35-36).

2) The sun generally marks days.

3) After 12 moon cycles have passed, the earth would have gone through nearly four seasons of weather changes constituting a year, marked with the sun by four distinct earth tilts called equinoxes and solstices. These are determined by the angle of the sun throughout which the sunlight hours grow longer to a threshold at which they then begin growing shorter again.

4) Finally, the word seasons appears at first glance to be the four radical weather shifts each year -- winter, summer, spring and fall or autumn. However, although the English word certainly implies such, the underlying Hebrew word "mowadah" (Strong's #4150), literally means "an appointment, that is, a fixed time...by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting..."etc.

To use the English word "seasons" to translate a word that literally means an appointment is, at the very least, a grave error. Besides, we have just seen that the sun (equinoxes and solstices) marks the four seasonal changes which constitute an actual year. To interpret the Hebrew word mowadah to mean those seasons is duplicitous at best.

In the Book of Psalms we find the answer to the enigma of the apparent deliberate mistranslation. There the same word -- mowadah -- is used specifically in relation to the moon:

"He appointed the MOON for SEASONS [mowadah]..." (Psalms 104:19).

According to Strong's Concordance, the English word appointed in this passage actually means "made" (#6213). In other words, YEHOVAH God made the moon for appointments! What are His appointments? Notice Leviticus 23:

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the FEASTS of the   LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my FEASTS."

"Six days shall work be done: the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation;   ye shall do no work therein; it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings" -- Verses   2 and 3.

The word "feasts" found in verse 2 above is, in fact, the word mowadah -- the same as "seasons" in Genesis 1:14 and Psalm 104:19. Following the Sabbath mowadah in Leviticus 23 is the list of what we commonly call "feasts," including Passover/Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. ALL ARE "MOWADAH." The mistake in translating mowadah strictly as "feasts" becomes very obvious when in verse 3 the sole subject is the seventh-day Sabbath. Most people generally don't consider the Sabbath as being a "feast" per se, but it leads the list of "feasts" in Leviticus 23.

With this in mind -- the actual planetary moon being established for mowadah or YEHOVAH's appointments as shown in Psalm 104 -- the passage in Leviticus confirms the fact that this is the sole means by which the seventh day Sabbath was calculated. The Sabbath is a mowadah -- the moon was made for mowadah. Nothing in the Bible specifies this term for the sun.

Another witness to this understanding is found in the Book of Ecclesiasticus:

"And then the moon, ever punctual to mark the times, an everlasting sign:"

"It is the moon that signals the feasts, a luminary that wanes after being full."

"The month derives its name from hers, she waxes wonderfully in her phases, banner of the hosts on high, shining in the vault of heaven" (Ecclesiasticus 43:6-8).

This text was originally written in Hebrew in the time-frame of 190-180 B.C. and translated into Greek in approximately 132 B.C. Notice in verse 7 the word feasts. Its underlying Greek word (heorte -- #1859) is the same as the one in the Septuagint Version of Leviticus 23:2 -- in which verse 3 includes the seventh-day Sabbath. Although Ecclesiasticus is considered apocryphal, it runs contrary to its contemporaries (Enoch and Jubilees) which insist that the sun is the only means by which to calculate feasts and Sabbaths.

The earliest manuscripts show that the moon was made for appointments -- the first of which is the Sabbath. "At the very lest," states Jonathan Brown, "this shows that the lunar reckoning of sabbaths and holy days was commonly known by the authors of the Bible."

Unfortunately, in the fourth century A.D., the rabbis of Babylonia polluted YEHOVAH God's sacred calendar by introducing the continuous week and postponements to prevent certain days from clashing with the Saturday sabbath which they had created. When Hillel II introduced these changes, not all of the religious leaders of the Jews went along with it. In fact, a large number of the leaders continued to observe the new moons by observation -- as was done in Yeshua's day.

In the book Saadia Gaon: His Life and Works, by Henry Malter, we read --

"It is generally accepted that the Jewish festivals were, in Biblical times, fixed by observation of both the sun and the moon. Gradually, certain astronomical rules were also brought into requisition, primarily as a test, corroborating or refuting the testimony of observation. Such rules are mentioned for the first time in the Book of Enoch, in the Book of Jubilees, in the Mishna, and later in the two Talmudim [Babylonian and Jerusalem]. It has been authoratively proved that in spite of a more advanced knowledge of astronomy the practice of fixing the new moon and the festivals by observation was in force as late as the latter part of the fifth century [C.E., A.D.]."

Continues Malter:

"The right to announce the new moon after receiving and testing the witnesses who had observed its appearance was the prerogative of the Palestinian Patriarchs, and the repeated attempts of the authorities in Babylonia to arrogate this right unto themselves were  promptly frustrated by interdicts from Palestine. With the beginning of the fourth century,  however, Palestine, owing to the terrible persecutions suffered at the hands of the Romans, gradually ceased to be the spiritual center of Jewry. Babylonia, where better conditions prevailed under the Persian rule, took its place, and the religious right to fix the calendar likewise passed over to the heads of its flourishing academies, though not without protests from Palestine."

Malter clearly shows that the observation of the new moons continued way past the time that Hillel II introduced the written calendar --

"In Babylonia also, the practice of observation was continued until the time of the last   Amoraim, although a practical system of reckoning had been known to scholars for more than a century. It was only after the close of the Babylonian Talmud, in the sixth or perhaps later, in the seventh century, that the observation of the moon was entirely given up, and a complete and final system of calendation introduced. This was adopted by all the Jews of the Diaspora, and has been accepted as binding down to the present day."

With the obvious polluting of YEHOVAH's sacred calendar by Hillel II and the rabbis of his sect, the present Jewish calendar cannot be trusted in the determination of YEHOVAH God's Holy Days and Sabbaths. So where does this leave us? Back to the Bible! Even though the Bible doesn't go into great detail about the calendar, it does give us valuable information we can use to correctly determine the new moons.

If you study the gospel accounts of Yeshua's life one thing stands out above all others -- he never once upbraided or corrected the Jews of his day regarding the observance of the Feast Days or the Sabbaths. He kept the Passover and Feast of Tabernacles at the same time as everyone else -- "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink'" (John 7:37).

Notes Ronald L. Dart --

"We don't know what they [the Seventy Elders] did about the calendar, but we do know that the rules and observations of the calendar were, in the days of Jesus' ministry, in the hands of the Sanhedrin. We also know that in spite of all the issues where Jesus opposed the Jewish leadership, He never argued with them about the calendar."

If the Jews were keeping the Feast Days at the correct time, then they were also keeping the new moons at the right time! And how were they determining the new moons in the Messiah's day? Notice!

"During the period of the Sanhedrin, a committee of the Sanhedrin met to evaluate reports   of sightings of the LUNAR CRESCENT..." (Calendars, by L.E. Doggett).

"Each lunar month began with the New Moon Sanctification by recognition of the Sanhedrin. Policy dictated that two witnesses in two different locations, IN OR NEAR JERUSALEM, must testify to sighting the NEW MOON CRESCENT. A vote by the Sanhedrin was then required to officially reckon a new month beginning" (Christian Era Calendars, by Clark K. Nelson).

"The Sanhedrin originally determined the new moon by actually observing the FIRST   FAINT CRESCENT (or young moon) in the western sky" (Postponements: Another Mystery of the Ages).

Clearly, then, the determination of the new moon day and the start of the month by the new moon crescent is that approved and actually kept by the Messiah himself. NOWHERE DOES THE BIBLE AUTHORIZE US TO DO OTHERWISE! And where should the new moons be observed? In Jerusalem! Jerusalem is where YEHOVAH God placed His name, and is where Yehovah God and His Messiah (Yeshua the Messiah) will return to and set up the Government of YEHOVAH God -- ruling and disseminating YEHOVAH's Law from the Temple and throne of David! This is the only place the new moons are to be determined -- not locally in whatever part of the world you live.

Today, in this computer age, we have programs that will determine the new moon crescent for us ahead of time, so that actual observation is not necessary. However, there is nothing wrong with using physical sightings in Jerusalem as a corroboration for the programs we use.

The annual Holy Days were intended for all mankind, even as the  weekly Sabbath was ordained for all mankind! (Compare Gen. 2:1-3; Mark 2:27-28).  Note that the "Sabbath" -- which includes the annual Sabbaths (Lev. 23:32, 38-39) -- was  "made for MAN" (Mark 2:27) -- not just for the Jews! In the coming Kingdom of YEHOVAH God,  ALL NATIONS will observe YEHOVAH's annual and weekly Sabbaths according to the  lunar-solar calendar (Isaiah 66:23), and go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles  (Zech. 14:16-19).

Following is the calendar for the year of 2000 -- with the Sabbath days and Feast days placed in their proper relationship.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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