| The Truth about GOD’S CALENDAR (Part One) by Jamie McNab (England) |
|---|
| What is the truth about “God’s Holy Day calendar?” It is very likely that many of you will have been challenged over the past few years about the Holy Day calendar – and if you haven’t been challenged so far, you probably soon will be!! The story usually goes along the lines of: “The calendar that we have traditionally followed in the Church of God is a MAN-MADE CALENDAR. God originally gave the calendar rules to Moses, but the Jews have long since perverted those rules. The Jewish calendar we use today is the result of many alterations and is of purely human origin. If you keep the days shown in the “Jewish calendar,” you will often be adrift of God’s real Holy Days – sometimes by a day or two, and sometimes by an entire month!” You will then usually be shown an alternative calendar which, you will be assured, is based entirely on the Bible, and gives the proper dates for God’s Holy Days. The major divisions in the Church of God (such as United, Living, Philadelphia, International, etc.) continue to follow the traditional Hebrew calendar. There are a number of smaller groups who adopt different calendars. The calendar can become a very complex subject, and a huge amount has been written about it. With references to molads, conjunctions, dark moons, equinoxes, postponement rules, and so on, it can all become very technical and difficult to follow. In the space available in this article, it will not be possible to cover all aspects of the calendar debate. However, we will look in detail at a couple of specific points which are most often brought up; these will be KEY POINTS. As we look at these points, we will hopefully see why we have chosen to hold fast to the calendar traditionally observed by the Church of God. The two key points we will review are: WHEN in God’s calendar do the MONTHS start, and when does THE YEAR start? In assessing how valid any calendar is these are pretty fundamental points! The Month and the New Moon One of the first objections to the traditional Hebrew calendar that you are likely to hear is that its months begin “at the wrong time.” If you look around, quite a selection of possible times are “on offer” for how to establish the beginning of the months! Various calendar writers will propose, for example, the visible crescent (sometimes based on Jerusalem time, but others insist on their local time) – or the astronomical conjunction – or the dark moon. The Hebrew calendar uses the molad. So, straightaway that gives us around four or five possibilities to identify the start of the month! Which one is correct? Let us look more closely at one of the most popular of these ideas – that the months start with the VISIBLE CRESCENT of the moon. Here, we will be told that the months must always begin with the “new moon,” and that the new moon is to be defined as the first faint visible crescent of the moon, as observed over Jerusalem. This, we will be assured, is clearly demanded by the inspired Scriptures, and any other time of starting the month is not recognised by God and is not valid. But what, in fact, does the Bible say? Firstly, God did indeed give us the sun and moon “for signs, and for seasons and for days and years,” see Gen 1:14. In Psalm 104:19 we read of God that “He appointed the moon for seasons.” The Hebrew word for “seasons” here is moed, which means an appointed time. It is frequently used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the Bible Feast Days or assemblies of the congregation. Virtually all calendar writers acknowledge that the moon determines the beginning of the months. They usually refer to the relevant moon as the new moon. So far, so good. But what then IS the new moon? Can those who want us to follow a different calendar PROVE FROM THE BIBLE that the new moon is the first faint visible crescent? One writer says that he cannot find any Scriptures supporting the method the Jews adopt, but “I did find one demanding observation of the New Moon.” Is there such a scripture – that says we must physically SEE the faint crescent of the young moon in the sky? Which Scripture is the writer referring to? This particular writer devotes a whole chapter of his article to what he calls God’s Sacred New Moon. The chapter isover 4 pages long. Extensive quotes are made from a number of external sources (historians, calendar experts) to support his point, but strangely ONLY ONE SOLITARY SCRIPTURE is given to “prove” there must be a “visible” moon – Deut. 16:1. However this verse merely states: “Observethe month of Abib … for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.” The terms “month” and “new moon” are used interchangeably in the Old Testament. The writer opts to use the meaning “new moon” in this verse, then continues, “Notice the command to observe it! … The new moon must be observed.” He tells us that the new moon must be OBSERVED with the eye – seen visibly. In the sense that we might say: “observe that cat about to pounce on that bird.” The writer continues: “The word observe is the Hebrew shamar (Strong’s 8104) meaning to hedge about; guard; protect; mark; look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard.” Agreed. But the majority of these meanings do NOT require us to observe physically with the eyes! The Hebrew word “shamar” is very common in the Bible. It has a number of related meanings. According to Young’s Analytical concordance, the word is translated 284 times as “KEEP” – which is its most common meaning. It is translated a further 45 times as “observe,” and 19 times as “preserve” – and then a handful of times as the other words given in the definition above. Some of the over 300 usages are: · Ex 12:17: “And ye shall observe (shamar) the Feast of Unleavened Bread … therefore ye shall observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.” Obviously, we don’t just look visibly at the Feast days – we keep or celebrate them! · Deut. 4:40: “Thou shalt keep (shamar) therefore His statutes, and His commandments…” We don’t just visibly “look at” them. · Deut. 5:20: “Keep (shamar) the Sabbath day to sanctify it…” We don’t just look at the Sabbath day with our eyes – we KEEP IT holy. · Ex 31:13: “…Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep (shamar)…” This verse in Deut. 16:1 appears to be the main Scripture (possibly the only one) used to justify a visible crescent new moon. Yet the English word “observe” has here the sense of “keeping” as in hopefully most of us “observe” the laws of our land. And hopefully also “observe” the laws of God – i.e., DO THEM! Not just LOOK AT them! So, if Deut. 16:1 is the only verse they’ve got then there is, in reality, NO BIBLICAL SUPPORT at all for a visible crescent moon. That is why virtually all of its supporters refer to dictionaries, historical records, and other calendar “experts” rather than provide us with a collection of clear and convincing scriptures. There aren’t any. Rather than anything that needs to be physically seen, the Hebrew calendar uses what’s called the molad to determine the beginning of the months. For those with a technical interest, the molad is that particular moment in each month when the moon comes directly between the earth and the sun; this occurs, on average, every 29 days 12 hours, 44 minutes and a few seconds. The molad is obtained by calculation and has been worked out for decades to come. You may wonder, “Well then, if the Bible doesn’t command that the month begin with the visible crescent … does it then command that the month begin with the molad?” The answer, quite simply, is NO – the Bible itself does not give any instruction as to what, exactly, should constitute the “new moon” or new month. As we look further into the subject, we will see that the Bible itself does not contain sufficient information to set up a calendar whose rules are beyond dispute. If it did, we wouldn’t see more than a dozen different “true Bible calendars” circulating among the Churches of God! We will see why an authoritative standard must be established to ensure the safekeeping of God’s Holy Days. Some who argue for a visible crescent have said that a calculated conjunction (e.g., a molad) was an impossibility, because the ancients didn’t have the astronomical skills to calculate an “invisible” conjunction. This logic is flawed. A Jewish rabbi, Hillel II, is generally regarded as having made public the molad calculations somewhere around 390 A.D. A number of calendar writers demonstrate that these calculations go back to at least 300 B.C. However, bearing in mind that there was no new technology in use in those eras (no telescopes, radar, dopplers, computers!) then, if it were possible to calculate the molad in 300 B.C., it was also possible in 1,300 B.C or 3,300 B.C. There is historical evidence that the ancient Chinese calculated the conjunctions as far back as 1,850 B.C. So … we find NO BIBLICAL PROOF of a “visible crescent moon.” We see no reason logically to prefer a visible crescent over a calculated conjunction – both were accessible to the ancients. So, WHO gets to choose? Do we all get to select the one we prefer? The New Year If the Bible itself is essentially silent as to when the months should begin, does it at least give us a clear starting point FOR THE YEAR? Well – not according to the calendar experts, who will give you a choice of numerous starting points – for instance, the date of the equinox … or the new moon nearest the equinox … or the first new moon after the equinox … or the new moon when the “barley ears are green,” and one writer gives the date when the sun appears in the constellation of Aries. Not much agreement here!! One critic, commenting on the standard Hebrew calendar kept by the majority of the Church of God a few years ago stated: “This year you will recognise the first day of the year in the Winter, but next year you will recognise it in the Spring. This year you will keep the Feast of Trumpets in the Summer, and next year you will keep it in the Fall.” The writer states that he finds no scriptures for such practice, but that he does find a scripture “that demands that the Festivals be observed in their seasons.” Is this correct? Are we keeping the Holy Days in the wrong seasons? Are we disobeying God’s scriptural instructions? Well … we need to be a little careful here not to read our own ideas into the scriptures. In the context of the calendar, it is easy to interpret the term “seasons” as applying to Spring, Summer, Fall, and so on. These are of course “seasons” as used commonly in conversation and generally referring to astronomical or meteorological periods of time. We do, however, also hear of the “Yuletide season” – or the “football season” – or the “mating season,” and similar. By “seasons” we just mean recognized “periods of time” when certain things come about or happen. So, what is the Biblical usage of “seasons” when referring to the Holy Days? Gen 1:14, when talking of the sun and moon, states that they are given “for signs and for seasons.” Psa. 104:19 says God “appointed the moon for seasons.” The Hebrew term is mo’ed (Strong’s 4150). According to Strong’s the meaning is: “properly an appointment i.e., a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival … by implication an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose).” It is translated in the KJV as “congregation” 149 times, as “time appointed” 9 times, as “solemn feast” 9 times, as “set time” on 6 occasions, “set feast” 5 times, “feast” 6 times and “appointed season” 4 times. As we can see, none of the uses of mo’ed relate to what we might refer to as our agricultural or weather “seasons,” such as spring or autumn. People often quote Lev 23:4 “These are the Feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” However, the Hebrew here is mo’ed – and simply means that the Feasts are to be kept at the “time appointed.” There is no instruction regarding spring or autumn. The NIV translates the verse as: “These are the LORD’S appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.” The RSV: “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.” Perhaps a critic might use Num 9:2? In the KJV it reads, “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season.” So, doesn’t that demand a specific season such as Spring? However, here again we have the Hebrew mo’ed. The NIV gives us: “Make the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time.” The RSV translates as: “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.” So where are the scriptures that demand that the Passover be observed in the “season of Spring?” The only use in the Bible of the word “spring” is with regard to “springs of water” and so on! There is no “Spring season” mentioned anywhere. The only agricultural seasons mentioned are summer and winter, and there is no Biblical definition as to when winter ends and summer begins. [For clarity, there is a separate Hebrew word for “seasons” when we’re referring to agricultural activities. The Hebrew word is “eth.” It appears in Deut. 11:14: “the rain of your land in his season” or Job 5:26: “…like a shock of corn cometh in his season.” However, God did not use this word in connection with His holy days.] What the scriptures require therefore is that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread be kept at their appointed times. Likewise, the other Holy Days. That’s all the Bible says. We don’t have to attempt to shoehorn them into some particular agricultural season. The Equinox On the topic of “the seasons,” some writers make much of the importance of the “equinox” in producing “a true Bible calendar.” We are told that the Feast of Tabernacles MUST be kept in the Fall season. Perhaps the equinox is important? But, once again, where do we find the clear, explicit, scriptures which tell us so – and that it forms a calendar rule? Where is the clear BIBLICAL PROOF? The word “equinox” does not appear in the Bible. One writer, commenting on his view of the vital importance of the equinox, states that equinox is the “correct” translation of the Hebrew tequwphah as used in Ex 34:22. In Ex 34:22 we read: “Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end (tequwphaw).” The word is used only 4 times in the Old Testament, being translated (in the KJV) as “circuit” (2), “end” (1), “come about” (1). It is true that a number of writers identify one of the possible meanings of tequwphah as “equinox” – but others stand by its basic meaning of “revolution” or “end,” meaning, in this context, “the end of the growing season” or “the end of the year’s agricultural activities.” One critic writes of us, “This year you will keep the Feast of Trumpets in the Summer, and next year you will keep it in the Fall“. We agree – by our customary definitions of Summer, Fall and so on, that is correct. But we cannot find any Scripture saying that that is wrong! The feast days still fall at their “appointed times.” Recent Church History We could look at several other points, but this article is already long enough. One useful principle in all of this is: we do not want to move away FROM something TO something else, unless we have clear and unequivocal evidence that it is better. Many men have put in a tremendous amount of work investigating and debating the calendar. Some writers have spent more than twenty years researching the subject. We perhaps cannot doubt their sincerity. However, despite all the decades of hard work and scholarship, THERE IS NO SINGLE AGREED ALTERNATIVE TO THE HEBREW CALENDAR!! That is very interesting! I’ve read of at least EIGHT DIFFERENT ways of beginning the New Year, and FIVE DIFFERENT ways of starting each month – and you can “perm” those any way you want to get over a dozen different calendars, ALL claiming to be the authentic Biblical or Sacred calendars. And they obviously can’t all be right!! Although the Church of God seems to have lost much truth over the centuries, it appears that they generally held on to the truth of the Passover. During some eras of the Church, they also kept the Holy Days. Lesson 52 of the Bible Correspondence Course, referring to the Thyatira era in the late 1500’s, gives a history of the brethren in Transylvania, saying, “They also kept all the annual Sabbaths or holy days. They kept the true Passover with unleavened bread … Their civil New Year was the Feast of Trumpets.” Let us ask: What calendar did the Church of God use during these past nearly 2,000 years since the time of Jesus? The only calendar available to them is the calendar that we accept today – the Hebrew calendar! In our recent history, for nearly 90 years, most of the Church of God has followed the Hebrew calendar. Whilst the novelty of the other calendars can prove quite a fascination, and they can initially appear plausible, the end result seems to be the creation of more division among God’s people. As we saw earlier, the Bible nowhere gives us a clear and unambiguous definition of what constitutes a “new moon,” or how to begin a month. It does not give us a clear statement of what constitutes the “new year” – either when there are “green barley ears” or an equinox, or whatever other idea someone is suggesting. The Bible does not give us details of the various other rules that would be necessary for a fully functioning calendar. So – if we cannot find the calendar rules clearly stated in the Bible WHERE can we look to find out about the Holy Day calendar? Surely somebody must have them?! Interestingly, Mr. Herbert Armstrong came across the self-same problem some seventy-five years ago in his early days among the Church of God. Let’s read his comments to the brethren, taken from a Good News Letter 1940: “Research reveals two basic points on this question. 1st, GOD DID NOT RECORD IT IN THE BIBLE, which gives us absolutely NOTHING more to go on than I have stated above. 2nd, History is vague on the subject, shedding little light that can be accepted and trusted.” As we’ve already covered in this article, we can’t know purely from the Bible how to identify a new month or a new year! And calendar experts disagree with each other, so which one of those are we going to go with? Mr Armstrong adds, “In conclusion, unless God has preserved His sacred calendar thru the Jew, then WE DO NOT KNOW how to figure Passover or ANY of the holy days this year. For there is NO AUTHORITY for any other day. There is NO BIBLE AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER for (for example) figuring the 1st day of the month from the new moon NEAREST the spring equinox!” It’s hard to disagree with Mr. Armstrong’s conclusions of seventy-five years ago. It would seem most unlikely that God would have left His people with the almost hopeless task of sifting among the confusion of a dozen or more “biblical calendars,” with every man doing that “which is right in his own eyes.” I believe we can trust God to have faithfully provided His people over the centuries with access to the correct dates to keep His appointed times. And that standard has been the Jewish calculated calendar, as kept by the majority of the Churches of God today. |
| Holy Day Calendar and The Visible Crescent? Part Two by Jamie McNab (England) |
|---|
| In Part One we looked at some of the alternative calendars being “marketed” to God’s people today. We saw what the Bible does, and does NOT say, about how to determine the new moons and new year’s. We looked briefly at church history. We continue in Part 2 to look at how impractical it would have been for God’s people — especially over the past 2,000 years—to have kept a VISIBLE CRESCENT (which is probably the most popular alternative to the traditional Hebrew calendar). Part 2 was originally in the form of a letter written to a member of God’s church who wished for additional clarification of the calendar topic. I have retained the letter format in this article. You’ve asked in your e-mail if I can let you have proof of God’s Holy Day calendar. That’s what I call a challenging question!! There are all sorts of people out there who claim to have “proof” of “their version” of God’s calendar. I think the last time I counted; I came to over a A DOZEN DIFFERENT CALENDARS — all claiming to be the original Biblical Holy Day calendar. Some people, like Herbert Solinsky, have spent DECADES studying the calendar — only to have fundamental disagreements with other very sincere “calendar scholars” who have reached an entirely different opinion. It all reminds me somewhat of 2 Tim 3:7, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth!” I am enclosing a copy of an article I wrote for one of the recent Church of God Newsletters (this now appears as Part One of this series). It sets out, as clearly as I can, why we accept the calendar maintained by the Jews. Despite what some may say, I am firmly of the view that the Bible itself does NOT give adequate information from which to develop a working calendar — and that is a FACT. Compare the incredible amount of detail given in the Bible about LEPROSY (over 110 verses in Lev 13-14 alone!!), with the almost non-existent and vague references to “new moons” or the “beginning of months.” God could have made it crystal clear in the Scriptures if He had wanted to. He chose not to. Yet I do believe He did leave us a standard — an authority over the calendar — as I hope my earlier paper makes plain. Probably the main alternative to the calculated new moon of the Jewish calendar is the visible crescent new moon. This point is explained at some length in Part One, where hopefully I show that there is NO SCRIPTURE that demands we base the months on a visible crescent. It seems to me, however, that even common sense shows that a visible crescent is simply NOT POSSIBLE, or practical, as a means to identify the beginning of a new month. A visible crescent, by definition, has to be VISIBLE — it has to be SEEN. Historians will try to explain how “witnesses” had to appear before the Sanhedrin in ancient times to confirm that they had physically seen the new crescent — at which point, if the witnesses seemed credible, the Jewish leaders would allegedly make the new month “official.” Well, that might be very convenient for those Jews living in Palestine — but makes life rather tricky for those Jews or other believers living in Egypt, Ethiopia, Russia, Spain, Australia and so on! Without the benefit of telephones, faxes, and e-mail — how are they supposed to know when a new month has begun? Bonfires, and fast horseback riders, have been suggested, but come on — if you are over 2,000 miles away from Jerusalem, you probably wouldn’t find out for a week or longer that a crescent moon was seen, and that the new month has already begun! It is totally impractical! It couldn’t work. In some parts of the Diaspora, the Jews tried keeping TWO Holy Days at a time, so that at least ONE of them might be right! In fact, the custom still exists among the Jews to this day. Consider also the true believers in Britain back in the first and second centuries. They were surely keeping the Holy Days. How could they know for certain when the crescent moon had appeared over Jerusalem 4,000 miles away? What about the Church down through the centuries? What about the early Church of God in the USA back in the 1700’s? How could they determine when the visible crescent had appeared over Jerusalem? Don’t forget, the Jews had long since been driven out of Palestine, so there was in fact nobody there to look for the crescent, anyway! And certainly, no way to communicate with people thousands of miles away. But some will no doubt say that nowadays COMPUTERS allow us to work out the times of the visible crescent. So, let’s just ignore the “inconvenient” problem of HOW the Church figured God’s Holy Days over the past 1,900 years when it didn’t have effective access to Jerusalem, and didn’t have software on smartphones and lap-tops to work from. Let’s revert to the visible crescent, they say, even though IT COULD NOT HAVE WORKED for most of God’s people since the time of Christ. Well — what about the computer calculations of a visible crescent? Are they foolproof? Guaranteed? Can those who want to “observe” a “visible crescent” actually rely on a computer instead? As far as I can tell, the answer is a big NO! The sighting of the first thin visible crescent is not just a matter of calculating how much of the moon will be visible, and whether the sky will be dark enough to make it out and so on. The visibility is also affected by such things as temperature and humidity, which vary by the day and hour and cannot be predicted. If you go by the visible crescent, then, to be absolutely sure, you must physically observe it with the human eye (or would God allow binoculars? Once again, the Bible is silent!). Following are two quotes, one from the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England, and one from the US Naval Observatory, which explain the difficulty of any computer providing a perfect calculation of a visible crescent (emphasis added): ROYAL GREENWICH OBSERVATORY “It is NOT POSSIBLE to predict accurately the dates on which the new crescent Moon will first be seen each month since there is no collection of reliable, fully documented, observations that can be used to establish the conditions that must normally be satisfied at the time of first visibility. “The simplest basis for prediction is that the Moon should be more than a certain age (measured from the time of astronomical new moon) at the time of sunset at the place concerned. “It is, however, better to use the true elongation (the angular separation) of the Moon from the sun at this time, rather than the age. The new crescent is not normally visible until the Sun is below the horizon and so it is desirable to take into account the altitude of the Moon during twilight. The chances of seeing the new crescent depend slightly on the distance of the Moon from the earth, being greatest when the Moon is closest (i.e., at perigee). The local conditions, especially the height of the observer above sea level and the character of the surrounding surface, are important, and even when the sky is free from cloud there can be considerable variations in clarity of the atmosphere from day to day. “The visual acuity of the observer is also significant. It must be realized too that there are considerable variations in the astronomical conditions with both longitude and latitude on the earth so that even if the weather conditions were good everywhere, the dates of the first sightings would differ from place to place. Predictions can, therefore, only be valid, for restricted areas. Under ordinary conditions, the first sighting will not occur until the age of the Moon exceeds about 30 hours, but a few reliable reports are known of sightings, under very good conditions, when the age has been only 20 hours or even less. It is unlikely that the new crescent will be visible unless the elongation exceeds 10 degrees, and the Moon exceeds 5 degrees when the Sun is 3 degrees. It is interesting to note that the new moon can always be seen 30 days after the previous one and in half the cases it can be seen 29 days after, because the length of the synodic month is 29.53 days… “Since it is clear that ANY PREDICTION of the date of first visibility MUST BE UNCERTAIN, it is necessary to decide whether to prefer an early prediction that could not be substantiated by direct observation if conditions prove to be good, or a late prediction that could be validated by an observer on the previous day. The simple rule that this Office recommends is that the age of the Moon should be 30 hours at the time of sunset at the place concerned, but this rule is not so reliable in middle and high latitudes.” US NAVAL OBSERVATORY “Under optimal conditions the crescent moon can be sighted somewhat less than 15 hours after astronomical New Moon. Usually, however, it is not seen until it is more than 24 hours old. Often it is not seen for more than 48 hours… But despite these advances WE STILL CANNOT PREDICT THE EXACT TIME or geographical location at which the young crescent will first be spotted.” And so, we see that even scientists and astronomers, with the benefit of modern computer technology, are unable to GUARANTEE a predicted visible crescent in any particular location! So HOW would the church members in fifth century Britain, or 18th century America, possibly calculate the exact time of the visible crescent over Jerusalem, MANY THOUSANDS OF MILES away (and of course with no computers anyway)?? They couldn’t CALCULATE a visible crescent. They certainly couldn’t SEE it themselves. And in 1850 for instance, they couldn’t wait for a telephone call from a friend in Judea, to let them know the crescent had been sighted! So HOW DID THEY KNOW when to keep Passover and the other Holy Days? Simple —go find the nearest Jew and ASK HIM what the date is! God has not left His people at the mercy of numerous disagreeing calendar experts. God’s True Church has always relied on GOD’S FAITHFULNESS. God did not leave us without an accurate calendar for nearly 2,000 years. We’ve always found it with the Jews. Let’s be sure to HOLD FAST to what we have been given! |
| The Hebrew Calendar And its Postponements Part Three by Jamie McNab (England) |
|---|
| In the final part of our series on the calendar we review the entire subject one more time. We look at the various alternative calendars put forward by various calendar “experts” in the Churches of God. We also examine the Hebrew Calendar again and, in particular, look closely at the Postponements. And we answer the question: Is God FAITHFUL? As we look closely at God’s Holy Day calendar, it can all seem rather complicated. We come across unfamiliar terms such as molads, conjunctions, equinoxes, intercalary months, postponements, and so on. Do we need a university education in mathematics and astronomy in order to understand how to find God’s Holy Days, and OBEY HIS LAWS? Of course not! So, let’s have another look at the calendar. We’ll do this in two parts. We’ll firstly remind ourselves of some very basic principles which should allow any of us to reach an understanding of how to KNOW when God’s Holy Days fall. Even though these basic principles are clear, and most church members are generally happy with them, some have been troubled by certain objections that are raised by several of the calendar experts. We will try to complete the picture in the second part by looking briefly at some of these so-called objections — such as the visible crescent — or the “barley being green” — and especially those “nasty postponements!” Basic Principles We know that THE SUN and THE MOON play the major part in God’s calendar. “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years,’” Genesis 1:14. In Psalm 104:19 we read, “He appointed THE MOON for seasons.” The Hebrew word for “seasons” in these verses is moed, which commonly means congregation, FEAST, solemn assembly, APPOINTED TIME. And we can see from Psalm 104 that the moon is particularly important in arriving at God’s appointed times. The SUN divides the day from the night. For example, we all know that the setting of the sun determines when the Sabbath begins and ends. The sun also determines THE YEAR. Spring, summer, fall, and winter are all controlled by the movement of the earth in its orbit around the sun. The MOON determines the months. We are probably all familiar with the cycle of the moon — from when we see the slim crescent in the sky, getting slowly bigger till we get the big bright full moon, and then slowly diminishing night by night till it disappears from view. It takes about 29½ days from one part of the cycle to another. This is the average length of a lunar month. This is different to the calendar that we are used to today. Most of our months have 30 or 31 days (with 28 or 29 for February). Our months have no connection to the phases of the moon. So, we can see as a basic principle, that we need to use the sun and the moon to determine the dates for God’s appointed times. Where Do We Find the Dates? In Leviticus 23:4 we read of “the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times (moed).” God says, for example, that we are to observe Passover on the 14th day of the first month. We are to keep the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st day of the seventh month. If we want to meet God at HIS appointed times, it is clearly important that we know how to correctly calculate the various dates. If we turn up early — or late — then God won’t be there! In fact, God says He will “cut us off” if we DON’T observe His days! So WHERE DO WE GO to find the dates that God will be honoring? Well, let’s establish another basic principle. The Church of God has existed continuously from the days when Jesus preached throughout Galilee and Judea. Jesus said to His disciples, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the END OF THE AGE,” Matthew 28:20. Since God’s Church has existed since around 30 A.D., unto today, we should expect that God’s people have — to a greater or lesser degree — kept His Holy Days throughout that period. Certainly, the Passover on 14th Abib or Nisan would be the very minimum we would expect, even allowing for periods of neglect or spiritual lethargy. And no doubt for some years, all of God’s Holy Days would have been kept. So, WHAT calendar has God’s church used throughout the past almost 2,000 years? The answer is really self-evident, but let’s establish one more basic principle. Is God Faithful? If God requires us to keep His commandments — and to keep HIS HOLY DAYS — shouldn’t we expect our God to ensure we have access to His CALENDAR? Over the past 2,000 years, God’s people have been keeping the Passover and at least some of the Holy Days. From the first century … through the middle ages … right up to modern times. Could God have COMMANDED that we keep His Holy Days, but then left us without the knowledge of His calendar … for generation after generation? We need to recognize as a basic principle that God has always been FAITHFUL to fulfil HIS responsibilities! “Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to ALL generations,” Psalm 119:89-90. “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? CERTAINLY NOT! Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar,” Romans 3:1-4. Even though God’s people may not always conduct themselves right before Him, we can be confident God will do HIS PART! And making sure we have His calendar is part of that faithfulness. It is our decision as to whether we will KEEP His Holy Days, or not, but God makes sure we have the right days to choose from! We can conclude the following: · God has given us His Holy Days for our good — to teach us His purpose and plan. · He commands us to KEEP THEM · It is SIN to transgress God’s commandments, and He will “cut us off” if we do not keep them. · So, could God be FAITHFUL to require this of us … and then NOT ensure we have His calendar? In Matthew 7:9-11 we read, “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your Father who is in heaven give GOOD THINGS to those who ask Him!” God is a Giver of good things. He is a responsible Father! He is dependable and RELIABLE. He is not out to mock us or seek to trick us. He wants us to KEEP HIS HOLY DAYS. And He has made sure we can know WHEN His Holy Days fall! God IS FAITHFUL! He has not left His people — His children — in the dark for the last 2,000 years about His calendar! Objections to the Jewish Calendar The only calendar God’s church has had access to over the past 2,000 years has been what is commonly known as the Jewish Calendar, or the Hebrew Calendar. If any member of the Church of God ever wanted to keep the Holy Days, say in 100 AD, or 500 AD, or 1850 AD, they would just need to find the nearest Jew, and ask, for example, when is the 14th day of Nisan? It has been as simple as that! But hold on, say the “experts”, the Hebrew calendar is all wrong! It is the product of CARNAL MEN. It starts the months on THE WRONG DAYS. It starts THE YEARS at the wrong time. And it POSTPONES God’s true Holy Days over 60% of the time! These are serious allegations. And, if we think about it, they are really an indictment against God’s faithfulness. Because what other calendar could God’s people have used over the past 20 centuries?? Let’s look at some of the alternative calendars. The Visible Crescent Calendar The MAJOR alternative view to the official Hebrew calendar is one where the months start with the VISIBLE CRESCENT. When you can just see the tiniest thin sliver of the moon in the sky — in the west, usually very soon after sunset — that is the first day of the month, they say. Historically, that has been a popular method of keeping track of the months. It was used in ancient times in a number of countries and is still used today in the Islamic world (such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt). It is the most popular alternative in the Churches of God. But let’s consider some of the difficulties: · how do you identify day one of the month if the sky IS CLOUDY? And remains cloudy for several days!! · who has the AUTHORITY to decide if the crescent was or was not seen? The Jewish priesthood? There are none today. Perhaps Jewish astronomers? Or American astronomers? Since identifying day one is vitally important in arriving at God’s true Holy Days — WHO is in AUTHORITY? Some people may have better eyesight … some may use binoculars … some may mistake an unusual cloud formation for the moon (after all, some have mistaken clouds for UFO’s!). Perhaps the pilot of a Jumbo Jet arriving at Ben Gurion International airport near Jerusalem may see the moon more easily from his altitude of several thousand feet. But WHO is authorized to make the decision in the event of a dispute? · WHERE must the crescent be observed? Over Jerusalem? That seems logical humanly, but where is there A SCRIPTURE that clearly states God’s instructions? Some visible crescent enthusiasts have decided that the month begins when the crescent is first visible where they live — whether England, Kentucky, or Hawaii. · And if, for the sake of argument, we decide to use Jerusalem as the place where the visible crescent must first be seen, HOW was that information provided to people living in other parts of the world over the past 2,000 years? How would church members living in England in 1500 AD find out that a new crescent moon had been observed over Jerusalem? How would Church of God brethren in 1860 AD in Virginia or Pennsylvania know that the crescent for the first day of Tishri had been seen? The Feast of Trumpets falls ON the first day of the seventh month, so there isn’t much time to get the word out!! We might be all right today with telephones and e-mail, but IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE for God’s church historically to have kept a calendar based on observation of the visible crescent. Even the pony express, or carrier pigeons, would take days or weeks to carry the information several thousand miles. And, of course, don’t forget that the Jews had been driven out of Palestine, anyway, so there was no one there to even look for the crescent! In order to prove that God’s calendar is based on the visible crescent, we have to do the following: · find BIBLICAL PROOF that we are to use JERUSALEM. · find BIBLICAL PROOF that we are to use the VISIBLE CRESCENT · find BIBLICAL PROOF as to who has THE AUTHORITY to accept witnesses’ statements. · find BIBLICAL EVIDENCE of what to do when the moon is NOT VISIBLE due to poor weather. · find EVIDENCE that God’s church has kept such a calendar for 2,000 years. So, what does the BIBLE actually say about all of these features of the visible crescent calendar? One particular calendar writer has a web page devoted to the visible crescent, and in the past has run large advertisements for his calendar in the Journal. The new moon, as he points out, is absolutely critical to working out when God’s true holy days occur. In his major calendar article, he devotes one entire chapter to the New Moon. Yet in this entire chapter, only ONE BIBLE VERSE is given to show that the visible crescent (allegedly) must be seen. The verse is Deuteronomy 16:1, which reads: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” We are told that the word for month should be translated as “moon”, and then asked to accept that “observe” means to look at visibly and see with the eye. However, the Hebrew word for observe is translated 284 times as KEEP. This is its most common meaning as, for example, in Exodus 20:6, where we are told to “remember the Sabbath to KEEP it holy.” The instruction in Deut. 16:1 is not so much about looking at any moon, but about remembering, and KEEPING the festival time holy before God. And, as we’ll see later, the actual moon that is important to God in the month of Abib is not the new moon, but the FULL MOON that occurs at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! The Beginning of the Year Let’s look at another problem of the alternative calendars — figuring out WHEN the new year actually BEGINS! We know that Passover and Unleavened Bread fall in the first month. Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles fall in the seventh month. Okay — just WHEN is the first month … and the seventh month? Our British and American calendars are quite straightforward in this regard. There are 12 months in the year, and after the twelfth month (December) is finished, we start with the first day of the NEW YEAR — January 1st. That’s easy! A lunar-solar calendar is not so simple. There aren’t 30 days from the beginning of one month to the beginning of the next. The average time from one phase of the moon to the same phase of the next month is 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3.3 seconds — near enough to twenty-nine and a half days. So, over 12 lunar months this comes out at 354 days — about 11 days short of a normal solar year (we have 365.25 days in a year). Over a three-year period, the Hebrew calendar would be out by 33 days — effectively an entire month missing! This is rectified by ADDING IN an extra month about every three years. This is known as an intercalary month. This evens things up. The Hebrew calendar adds an extra month in seven years out of a nineteen-year time-cycle, and it fits everything together almost perfectly. [This is also the origin of the NINETEEN-YEAR TIME CYCLE that we are so familiar with in the Churches of God.] So, having got this far, a very obvious question is: WHEN is the start of the year in God’s calendar? When is the first “new moon?” Very simply — the Bible doesn’t say! Various calendar experts can provide at least 7 or 8 DIFFERENT ways of identifying the first month of the year. And each expert will claim he has the one, true, definite date — with everybody else being in error! All we are told in the Bible is Exodus 12:2, “THIS MONTH shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” But HOW do we identify “THIS month?” The Month of Green Ears Some say there is a clue in the name of the first month. The first month was originally named Abib — which means green ears. So, we are told, we need to look out for the month when the barley first starts to be green in the ear. If we get to a new moon (whatever we believe that to be!), and there are no green ears yet, then the year has not begun. If, however, the ears do start to show, then the next new moon is the first month of the year. In practice, some Churches of God do follow this procedure. They rely on individuals going out into the barley fields in Palestine every spring, looking for green ears of barley. And, as soon as they are spotted, the word goes out by telephone and e-mail. But, again, what were God’s saints supposed to do in England or the USA one hundred or five hundred years ago? How were they supposed to know that the barley was in ear in Palestine, without the benefit of telephones, and modern methods of communication?! Also, whereabouts was the barley to be green? Barley will ripen at different stages, depending upon whether it is in the warmer climate of the Jordan valley near Jericho, compared to the cooler area of Galilee. Or should we look for the barley ripening in Egypt? After all, that is where Israel was when God revealed the first month to them. And how, for example, did Noah keep track of the months and changeover of the year, when there was no barley around to ripen anyway, during his time on the ark? There are very specific dates for the Flood account in Genesis 7 and 8. The Spring Equinox A number of calendar experts choose to use the spring equinox as their benchmark for working out the beginning of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the spring equinox falls around the 21st of March. The logic here is that spring “officially” begins with the equinox (as far as astronomical spring is concerned; there is also a meteorological spring which starts with 1 March each year). Since Passover and Unleavened Bread are claimed to be spring festivals, they must fall shortly afterwards. But it’s no surprise that the calendar experts find areas of disagreement: · should you start with the new moon nearest the equinox (the nearest moon sometimes falls before, and sometimes after, the equinox)? · should you go only by the new moon which falls after the equinox? · should you go by the visible crescent … or the astronomical conjunction … or even the “dark moon” — whether nearest, or before, or after? · should you go by the visible crescent over Jerusalem, or in your local area, nearest to the equinox — or before or after or whatever? As is so often the case with the calendar, we see lots of confusion and disagreement! We can conclude this section by recognizing that THE BIBLE ITSELF does not clearly specify. · WHEN a month actually begins · WHEN the new year actually starts That’s just the way it is! The Hebrew Calendar We’ve looked at some of the alternative calendars out there “in the marketplace”, so now let’s take a closer look at the Jewish or Hebrew calendar. And keep in mind that this is the ONLY calendar that the Church of God has kept THROUGHOUT HISTORY. Have God’s people been wrong all this time? And let’s take a very close look at the POSTPONEMENTS, since they are the source of most of the criticism which is levelled at the Hebrew calendar. What is the Molad? The months in the Hebrew calendar are based upon what is called the molad. The molad is very similar to what astronomers call the conjunction. A conjunction is that precise moment in the month when the earth, moon and sun come into a straight line with each other. [If all are in the exact same plane at the time, there will actually be a solar eclipse]. It can be very difficult to calculate the precise moment of a conjunction, since the moon’s movement in its orbit around the earth is quite erratic at times (caused largely by the effect of the suns and the earth’s gravitational forces). The time from one month’s conjunction to the next month’s conjunction can vary up or down by as much as 12 hours. The Hebrew calendar overcomes this difficulty by using the molad. The molad is arrived at by using the average time from one conjunction to the next (rather than the actual time, which would vary month by month). The average lunar cycle is 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3.33 seconds. Molads are therefore regular and predictable. The POSTPONEMENTS The calculated molad of Tishri, the seventh month of the year, is THE MOST IMPORTANT DATE in the Hebrew calculated calendar. Why? Because all other calendar dates are derived from this one! For much of the time, the actual day when the molad occurs is used as the first day of the new month. Over half of the time, however, this is NOT the case, and the start of the month may be pushed back — or postponed — by one day, or sometimes even by two days, after the molad. There are four rules of postponement that may be applied in the Hebrew calendar, and this is the area that upsets a number of people. “You can’t postpone God’s Holy Days,” they say, “that’s just Jewish jiggery-pokery … it’s not right … this is the rabbis introducing their own weird ideas for their own carnal convenience.” In some ways, such criticisms “miss the point.” ALL calendars have rules. In our western calendar, the month of February usually has 28 days. But every fourth year, we add an extra day, and February then has 29 days. No one shouts that this is jiggery-pokery — that we are wrongly postponing the start of March! Everyone understands that it is necessary to add an extra day every so often so the right number of days fits into the year. The Hebrew calendar is no different. It has rules and procedures which are necessary to keep it properly organized with respect to the movement of the sun and moon. Now notice, there is NO BIBLE RULE that says a month MUST BEGIN with the day of the molad. The molad is part of the exercise, but there are certain circumstances which allow for the actual start of a month to be adjusted by a day or two. WHY the Postponements? But people want to know WHY? Why do the postponements exist? What is the REASON? Firstly, we need to acknowledge that there is nowhere in the Bible where it says we should postpone — or should NOT postpone. The Bible is silent on the issue. There are at least two basic reasons given to explain the postponements. Let’s look at each. “More Convenient?” The reason given by the Jews themselves is that the postponements are there mainly to prevent the Day of Atonement from falling on a Friday or a Sunday. How does it do that? If the molad of Tishri falls on a Sunday, a Wednesday or a Friday, the start of the month is put back — or postponed —by one day. The reason for this postponement, say the Jews, is that it is not considered appropriate to have Atonement fall, for example, on a Friday, since it would make it difficult to properly sanctify the weekly Sabbath. Friday is the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, and if the fast day of Atonement fell on a Friday, then it would interfere with the keeping of the Fourth Commandment. You would not be able to prepare for it properly. Some people are quite happy with this explanation. It makes sense to them that God would have made suitable arrangements for the keeping of His Holy Days, so that we can focus on the real meaning, rather than being distracted by physical logistics (especially when Yom Kippur is involved!). But quite a few people are still uneasy with this explanation. They don’t really trust the views of the Jewish rabbis. Is there not ANOTHER reason for the use of the postponements, they wonder? Astronomical Reason for the Postponements We have already seen that the average length of a lunar month is 29.5 days. So, DAY FIFTEEN of the month is clearly the halfway point. This would mean that on day fifteen of the month, we should expect to see a FULL MOON in the sky, since the full moon falls halfway through the moon’s monthly cycle. And we know, of course, that in the month of Tishri, the Feast of Tabernacles begins on the 15th day of the month. So, we should expect to see THE FULL MOON in the sky at the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles, shouldn’t we? We’re right at the half-way point of the month. Now it gets interesting! Let’s look at Psalms 81:2-4. This will turn out to be a KEY SCRIPTURE, which can help us understand the reason for the postponements. In these verses, in the New King James’ Version, we read: “Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the FULL MOON, on our solemn Feast Day. For this is a STATUTE for Israel, and a LAW of the God of Jacob.” Although the KJV uses the expression “in the time appointed” in verse 3, most modern translations show that the meaning is the FULL MOON. For example: “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the FULL MOON, on our Feast day,” NASB. “Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, and on the day of the FULL MOON when our festival BEGINS,” NET. The Hebrew is kese which the Hebrew lexicons define as “full moon.” These verses refer to a time of the year when we are to honor God at the time of a new moon AND at a full moon. And notice that this is a LAW and a STATUTE. There is only one time in the year when there is such a LAW, and that is in the seventh month, Tishri. In the seventh month we are required to keep the first day of Tishri, the Feast of Trumpets, at the new moon — and then the fifteenth day, at the full moon, we startthe Feast of Tabernacles. So, according to Psalms 81, any calendar we use must ensure that we are keeping the Feast of Tabernacles at the time of the FULL MOON! There is a similar situation in Nisan, the first month of the year. The Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on the 15th day of the month and, since this falls halfway through the month, there should again be a FULL MOON. Unlike the month of Tishri, however, God’s law does not require us to sanctify the first day — or new moon — of Nisan. Psalms 81:2-4 is referring to Trumpets and Tabernacles in Tishri. So, let’s put the Hebrew calendar, and its postponements, to the test. Do the postponements help in making sure that Tabernacles falls at THE TIME OF THE FULL MOON, as required by Psalms 81? Or are they just carnal inventions of the rabbis that move us away from the full moon? The year 2000 is an excellent test, because there were, in fact, two postponements that year! Since the molad that year fell shortly after midday (on Thursday September 28th), one of the rules of postponement requires day one to be postponed to the following day. But another rule of postponement prohibits the first day of Tishri from falling on a Friday, so day one of Tishri was therefore postponed to Saturday, the weekly Sabbath. So, according to the Hebrew calendar, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in 2000 was the weekly Sabbath of 14th October. As we gathered on the Friday night for the traditional “get-together” service, how close to the full moon were we? Answer: the moon on that Friday evening was 99.7% full! As far as the human eye is concerned that is a perfect full moon! Even after two days of postponement! If the beginning of Tishri had NOT been postponed, and we had used the day of the molad to start the month, the moon would have been only 97% full for Tabernacles. This would be quite easy to detect with the human eye; those who would have looked up at the moon that evening would clearly have noticed that it wasn’t yet FULL. So, despite the criticisms, the postponements actually ensure we arrive at the Feast of Tabernacles at exactly the full moon — as required by Psalms 81! And how did some of the other calendars do? Those Churches of God who start their months with the astronomical conjunction found that the moon was only 96.7% full when they arrived at “their” Feast of Tabernacles. The particular Church of God who use the “dark moon” for their months, came to their Feast with the moon only 92% “full!” Woefully adrift of God’s requirements. On this basis, the Hebrew calendar wins “hands down!” The postponements turn out to be absolutely necessary to ensure we coincide with the moon’s movements and comply with Scripture. Postponements in Other Years Was the year 2000 just a coincidence? Just a “happy accident” for the Hebrew calendar? What about some other years? Is the Hebrew calendar with its postponements consistently more accurate? We mentioned earlier that the calendar should also ensure that the 15th of Nisan — the first day of Unleavened Bread — should ALSO be a full moon. This would coincide with the Night to be Much Remembered. [And, of course, it should be no surprise to us that God would have arranged to take His people out of Egypt at the TIME OF THE FULL MOON, when the extra illumination would make their night time travel as convenient as possible]. In the year 2000, the Hebrew calendar gave us a moon on the Night to be Much Remembered that was 98.8% full. Again, that’s pretty close to a perfect full moon. The average of the two “festival moons” was therefore 99.2%. WITHOUT postponements, the average would be only 98%. So, although there is not a huge difference, a calendar with the postponements is clearly MORE ACCURATE! If we run a similar check over, say, the last 38 years (equivalent to two-time cycles), we find that the Hebrew calendar is much more accurate — year after year. See the Appendix at the end of this article. From the figures shown in the Appendix, we can see that, over a couple of 19-year cycles, the Hebrew calendar comes on average to within 99.4% of the festival full moons. Quite impressive for an ancient calendar “cooked up” by some rabbis! And note that the postponements IMPROVE THE ACCURACY of the calendar. Without the postponements, the correlation is only 98.7%. And in 2011 and 2016, in particular, the calendar would fall a long way short without the postponements! So, there is a clear ASTRONOMICAL NEED for the postponements to ensure that we “blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the FULL MOON, on our solemn Feast Day.” What about the Mishnah? Despite all of this evidence, some still want to argue against the Hebrew calendar. “Well,” they say, “there may be something to these postponements after all, but THEY WEREN’T IN USE IN JESUS’ DAY.” The usual argument is that the postponements were not in the “original” Hebrew calendar, but were added by Hillel II, around 360 AD. “So,” they say, “since Jesus didn’t follow them, neither should we.” Well … HOW DO WE KNOW whether the Jews kept the postponements at the time of Christ … or even hundreds of years before? The Bible says nothing; so, WHERE are we getting this information from? The usual answer is that they are not mentioned inTHE MISHNAH. What is the Mishnah? This is a collection of what were previously referred to as the “oral laws” of Judaism. It consists largely of the writings of rabbis and Jewish scholars, debating and arguing about the meaning of scripture, and how the “traditions of the elders” should be understood. The Mishnah is a major work and fills the equivalent of about 18 volumes of an encyclopedia. It is essentially a Jewish commentary on the scriptures. I think most scholars would agree it is riddled with contradiction, confusion and, at times, complete nonsense. [Incidentally, the religion of Judaism is actually based on the writings and teachings of the Mishnah, and not, in fact, on the teachings of the Bible]. In the 200’s AD, a Pharisee, by the name of “Rabbi,” collected many of the so-called oral laws into the Mishnah. In the process he discarded over 90% of the material then available — one can only imagine how much additional confusion and chaos was in the material he chose to destroy! In the main, these Jewish elders did not understand God’s purpose and plan. Jesus often upbraided them for making the COMMANDMENTS OF GOD of no effect by their traditions. There is little, if anything, we can learn about God’s ways from the Mishnah. Some of the comments within the Mishnah make reference to the rules and regulations the rabbis had introduced to “protect” the sanctity of the Sabbath and various Holy Days. Many of their rules just made the Holy days burdensome, with lots of regulations about what could or could not be done on a Sabbath. Some of the comments certainly imply that the postponements were not being kept at around 200 A.D. (for example, instructions are given as to what is “allowed” when Atonement falls on a Friday — something which is, in fact, prohibited in the Hebrew calendar, as we saw earlier). However, we are probably all familiar with the fact that the Jews disputed over almost EVERYTHING! The gospel accounts record how they argued over divorce — over whether there are angels — over whether there could be a resurrection — over what could be done on a Sabbath — and so on. History shows that some of the arguments among the Pharisees themselves were so fierce they led to bloodshed! Not to mention the disputes between the Sadducees and Pharisees (and other groups). We also know that even the time for Passover, and the correct day for Pentecost, gave rise to disagreement and dispute at certain times. Their arguments often involved very important, yet absolutely BASIC, areas of God’s Law. The calendar itself did NOT ESCAPE these disputes. There were plenty of calendar “experts” around in early New Testament times, just as there are today! There is nothing new under the sun. And, just like today, these experts “knew better” than the official Hebrew calendar! For centuries, the calendar caused debate and argument! History shows that the Mishnah we have available today originated largely from the very sizeable colony of Jews living IN BABYLON. They were perceived as being among the more liberal thinkers and were endlessly in competition with their fellow Jews based IN PALESTINE. The calendar, however, was historically determined by the official Sanhedrin based IN JERUSALEM. The Sanhedrin had to WORK HARD to preserve the unity of the Jewish people, and the calendar was carefully preserved by them against all attempts to corrupt it. Its rules were kept relatively secret, to avoid well-meaning amateurs from producing erroneous conclusions about the calendar. The Sanhedrin were faithful in this regard. However, in the late 300’s AD, as persecution and oppression were threatening the continued existence of the Sanhedrin, Hillel II took the difficult but very necessary decision to MAKE PUBLIC the underlying rules that regulated the calendar and its calculations. This was to ensure that all Jews — no matter where they were scattered across the earth — would have access to the true calendar and its dates and would not end up keeping a myriad of different dates. The calculations, and the postponements, were NOT NEW! They were simply now being REVEALED for all to see. As we’ve already seen, the postponements are necessary for us to comply with God’s STATUTE in Psalms 81 and ensure we have a full moon available for the start of the Feast. And the Sanhedrin always knew that. Really, the position we see today is no different to that faced by the Sanhedrin 2,000 years ago, or even by ancient Israel over 3,000 years ago. “And in those days, there was no king (or authority) in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” Judges 21:25. So, today, some still want to follow a calendar that is right in their “own eyes.” No doubt in most cases such individuals are sincere; many are technically very able. But where is their authority to set the dates for God’s people, when the BIBLE ITSELF is silent on so many details? Conclusion We could continue to investigate and write about the calendar for years to come — and we’d always come across someone who wants “to do it differently” — who has now really figured out the original, correct, true Bible calendar that God gave to Moses, etc. But, in essence, the position is simple: · is God FAITHFUL? · would He have left His Church without knowledge of His calendar for 2,000 years, making it IMPOSSIBLE for His saints to worship on His Holy Days? Surely the answer is clear? God IS FAITHFUL, and He HAS given us His calendar — the Hebrew calendar WITH its postponements! As the apostle Peter wrote, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness …” 2 Peter 1:2-3. Does the calendar “pertain to life and godliness?” Yes, for it tells us WHEN to come before God on HIS Holy Days — at HIS appointed times. Peter assures us that God has given us ALL THINGS that are necessary. That includes the knowledge of His calendar. So, let’s HOLD FAST to the Truth once delivered to us! APPENDIX Comparison, over 38 years (equivalent to two 19-year time cycles), showing how the Postponements of the Hebrew Calendar bring us NEARER to the Festival Full Moons … as required by Psalms 81:2-4. Column 1 gives the year. Column 2 gives the percentage of the Full Moon visible on the first Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles (averaged across both evenings) Column 3 gives the percentage of the Full Moon which would be visible if postponements were NOT applied. Note: all calculations based on visibility at Jerusalem. Year Hebrew Calendar Without Postponements 2020 0.993 0.981 2019 0.999 0.992 2018 0.988 no postponements this year 2017 0.993 no postponements this year 2016 0.996 0.977 2015 0.997 0.974 2014 0.998 0.985 2013 0.981 no postponements this year 2012 0.998 0.991 2011 0.995 0.978 2010 0.998 no postponements this year 2009 0.985 no postponements this year 2008 0.99 no postponements this year 2007 0.999 0.988 2006 0.995 no postponements this year 2005 0.997 0.98 2004 0.991 0.978 2003 0.999 0.990 2002 0.989 no postponements this year 2001 0.996 no postponements this year 2000 0.992 0.98 1999 0.996 0.973 1998 0.987 no postponements this year 1997 0.993 no postponements this year 1996 0.997 0.991 1995 0.996 0.975 1994 0.992 no postponements this year 1993 0.991 no postponements this year 1992 0.996 0.992 1991 0.997 no postponements this year 1990 0.995 no postponements this year 1989 0.983 no postponements this year 1988 0.998 0.98 1987 0.997 0.989 1986 0.996 no postponements this year 1985 0.996 0.996 1984 0.992 0.983 1983 0.997 0.99 1982 0.987 no postponements this year |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: The Truth about GOD’S CALENDAR Article by Jamie McNab Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
|---|
Views: 10
Sign up to Receive [The "New" Church of God Messenger] weekly newsletter: