SACRED CALENDAR Section Eight of Biblical Holy Days Compiled by Richard C. Nickels Distributed by: Giving & Sharing PO Box 100 Neck City, MO 64849 Revised Edition, copyright 1995 by Sharing & Giving, Inc. Introduction Section Eight of Biblical Holy Days covers the Sacred Calendar. As with the other sections, our purpose is not to convince others to observe the divine appointments of the Almighty. It is to provide resource material and in-depth instruction for those who already observe these sacred times. For hundreds, if not thousands, of years there has been controversy surrounding the determination of God's Calendar. Therefore, this portion of Biblical Holy Days is the most controversial section. After much study, I have concluded that the calendar rules of the Hebrew calendar follow God's will for His people. The arguments of various "observable calendar" proponents do not hold water. Here is a summary collection of Calendar data: Sacred Calendar The year and day are solar, while the month is lunar. Therefore, God's calendar is both solar and lunar. God's calendar is based on both observation and calculation. A year has either 12 or 13 months. Abib 16 and Pentecost must be in the spring. Nineteen solar years almost exactly equal 235 lunar months. The current 19-year time cycle adds a 13th month in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. To prevent unauthorized Sabbath work, the Day of Atonement can never fall on a Friday or a Sunday. Abib 21 is the only Holy Day that can fall on a Friday. Extensive food preparation is not permitted on other Holy Days. The sun and moon are not in harmonious orbits. The earth revolves around the sun in about 365.24 days, while the moon revolves around the earth in about 29.53 days. Periodic calendar adjustments are necessary, such as the one in the second century A.D., to prevent the Holy Days from falling out of their proper seasons. In the fourth century A.D., Hillel II made public heretofore secret sacred calendar rules used by the Jewish Sanhedrin to confirm observation. These rules were given to Moses. Genesis 1:14, Psalm 104:19, Leviticus 23:4 and Exodus 12:2, 13:4 are important scriptures relative to the calendar. Sacred Calendar -- Table of Contents How Does God's Calendar Work? 1 Explanation of Hebrew Calendar rules, and why they make sense. Why ordering the calendar is difficult and why there is a 19-year time cycle. Lists of the Holy Days and New Moons to 2015 A.D. Calendar of Biblical events. Calendar Controversy 17 Refutation of controversial arguments of anti-Hebrew calendar proponents. How the Bible rules for observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread demonstrate validity of Hebrew Calendar rules which prevent Holy Days from falling on certain days of the week. Views of Jewish sage Maimonides are superior to Karaite objections to calculation. How people today have adopted Karaite views. The "Equinox Theory" is false, which says that the spring equinox has everything to do with determining the first day of the Biblical year. Answers to those who say they can observe the New Moons for themselves. There is no "Bible Calendar." We should accept the calendar rules preserved by the Jews. Review: The Calendar God Gave to Moses 35 Refutation of paper by Solinsky and Anderson. Proof that a visually observed calendar is an impossibility. Bible does not show a precise relationship between ripe barley and first month called Abib. How Does God's Calendar Work? Should a Bible believer know and use God's Calendar? How can one be sure of keeping God's Holy Days at the proper time? To whom did God reveal the knowledge of His Calendar? Can certain Holy Days fall only on certain days of the week? What are the rules governing God's Calendar? Why the Calendar is Important What day is today? The typical answer one would give is the current date on the Roman Calendar. How does God look at time? Does He have a Calendar which governs how His true servants should love and worship Him? If God does have such a calendar, does it not seem obvious that those who love Him would know how it works, and use it? During the time of King David of Israel, certain of the children of Issachar "had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do," I Chronicles 12:32. They had knowledge of astronomy and the calendar of God so as to know the times of the Sabbaths, Holy Days and New Moons that Israel was commanded to keep holy and observe. Are we supposed to know what we ought to do regarding God's sacred times? Ephesians 5:17. Will God help us to understand if we ask Him? James 1:5-7, Luke 11:5-13. Of what value is it to know and use God's Sacred Calendar? It is as valuable as eternal life. In speaking of Passover, Jesus said that "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day," John 6:53, 54. Passover as the annual memorial of the death of our Savior is commanded to be observed by New Testament Christians, I Corinthians 11:23-26. So are the other Holy Days of God. When shall they be observed? Much confusion exists. There is only one right, narrow way. The true Christian should know, and know that he knows how and when to observe God's sacred times, I John 2:3-6. A. Does God Number the Months? Job 3:6, "the number of the months." How many months are there to a common year? Daniel 4:29, Jeremiah 52:31. In prophetic terms, are there twelve months to a year of time, with thirty days in each month? Revelation 11:3 compared with 13:5, and Daniel 7:25. Then originally, there may have been a 360 day year (12 months times 30 days each). NOTE: God's Sacred Calendar as it presently exists, does not and cannot have twelve months of thirty days each. The revolution of the moon around the earth and the earth around the sun do not quite correspond to twelve thirty-day months, as we shall see. What were some historical events that may well have altered the length of the months and the year? See Joshua 10:12-14, II Kings 20:8-11 and Isaiah 38:4-8. Note: another factor is that the earth's rotation has slowed down over the centuries. Will the earth's orbit be re-ordered by Jesus Christ? Compare Acts 3:19-21 and Isaiah 24:18-23. Should we look forward to this event? See Hebrews 11:8-10, and II Peter 3:10-14. B. What are the Names of the Months? Generally are the months of God's Calendar denoted by numbers instead of names? Leviticus 23:5, 24, 27, and 34. The Hebrew names of all the months are not given in the Bible. Those that are given are Abib, the first month, Exodus 12:2, 13:4, and Deuteronomy 16:1, a time in the spring when barley and flax have headed out, but before wheat has grown up, Exodus 9:31, 32. Zif, the second month, a time for construction to begin, I Kings 6:37. Ethanim, the seventh month, time of the Feast of Tabernacles, I Kings 8:2, 65, 66, and Bul, the eighth month, a time for construction work to cease before winter rains, I Kings 6:38. The names Jews of today give the months of the year are derived from Babylonian names as a result of their captivity in Babylon. Some of these names are mentioned in captivity or post-captivity books, such as Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther and Daniel. For example, we are told that Nisan is another name for the first month and Adar is the twelfth month, Esther 3:7. Here is a complete list (English spellings may vary according to the source): Months of Sacred Calendar Month Days 1. Abib or Nisan* 30 2. Zif or Iyyar 29 3. Sivan* 30 4. Tammuz 29 5. Ab 30 6. Elul 29 7. Ethanim or Tishri* 30 8. Bul or Cheshvan 29 or 30 9. Kislev 30 or 29 10. Tebet 29 11. Shebat 30 12. Adar 29 (has 30 days in leap year) 13. II Adar or Veadar 29 (intercalary or leap year month) * Denotes a month having Holy Days C. Must God's Months Fall in Their Proper Seasons? Do the Feast Days fall in particular seasons? Leviticus 23:4. What determines these seasons? Genesis 1:14, Psalms 104:19. NOTE: God tells us in the Bible to keep His Holy Days in their proper seasons from year to year. Yet the Bible does not tell us how to figure the calendar upon which these Holy Days are derived. We must go to another source -- the Jews, Romans 3:1, 2 and Matthew 23:1-3. They have been entrusted with the preservation of God's Calendar. God could not order us to keep His Holy Days without also preserving His Calendar which tells us when to keep them. The first of Nisan or Abib is always the first new moon near the beginning of Spring (near March 21). So Nisan falls in Spring. Likewise the month of Tammuz falls in summer, Tishri in the autumn, and Tebet in the winter. The purpose of the calendar laws is to ensure Holy Days fall in their proper seasons. D. Can We Determine the Calendar For Ourselves? Various theological reference books state that the Hebrew Calendar evolved. If this is true, then so did the Bible! The Jews, it is believed, first determined the beginning of the months solely by observation of the new moons. The year was determined by observing the clouds which ended the rainy season and which allowed the spring harvest to begin. Is this true? Is observation alone the basis of God's Calendar? If it were, then what if the day were cloudy and no one could see the new moon? How could the first of the month be determined if some could see the new moon and others could not? Observation alone cannot be the basis for God's Calendar, because God's Holy Days are divine appointments (moed), times which God, and not man, has predetermined, Exodus 23:15, Psalms 81:3-5. God, not man, determines the seasons, Daniel 2:21. Even if the Jews themselves reject the true meaning of the Sabbath and Holy Days, still God has forced them to preserve the "oracles," the Scriptures and the Calendar which tell us when to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, Romans 3:1-4. Mankind is forbidden to observe the new moons for himself and to determine when to keep God's appointed times. Because at times some have done this very thing, God has said, "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth . . . ," Isaiah 1:14, and Hosea 2:11. Specific Bible laws forbid us to determine for ourselves when the year and the months begin. We are told not to "observe times [from the Hebrew anan, cloud or soothsayer; see Englishman's Hebrew Concordance, page 966, and Strong's #6049]" Deuteronomy 18:10, 14, Leviticus 19:26. An observer of times "watched the clouds" to foretell the future. Those who adapt this practice to determine when the winter rainy season is over and when the spring harvest season begins, set themselves up in the place of God, who alone can determine when the year begins in the spring. In Galatians 4:10, Paul forbids the observance of "days, and months, and times, and years" which the Gentile converts to Christianity had been accustomed to celebrating. Here is a New Testament command not to follow the months of the pagan Roman calendar then in use, but instead to follow the months of God's calendar. The Western calendar in use today is the same as the Julian calendar, with a minor adjustment by Pope Gregory. Because professing Christians rejected God's calendar, the Roman calendar is still in use today. God's calendar is determined primarily by calculation, the laws of which have been handed down from at least the time of Moses to the present day. (See Sanctification of the New Moon by Moses Maimonides.) God revealed the truth of His Holy Days and has also revealed the calendar that tells when to keep them, Deuteronomy 29:29. E. Will Someone Attempt to Change Times? See Daniel 7:25. NOTE: This is why it behooves every true follower of God to study God's calendar so as not to be fooled by deceivers who strive to institute a "World Calendar" to upset the weekly cycle. Great religious confusion is at our doors. Will we be ready, II Timothy 2:15? F. Will God's People Have Understanding of the Times? Did certain men of Issachar understand the times governing what Israel was to do? I Chronicles 12:32. NOTE: They had knowledge of astronomy so as to maintain God's calendar so Israel could keep the Holy Days according to the proper harvest season. See also Esther 1:13. Are we to seek to know the wisdom of God? See Proverbs 1:1-6. Can the one that lacks wisdom obtain it? See James 1:5-7, and John 16:13. G. Why is the Ordering of Calendar Difficult? The Bible year is solar, while the Bible month is lunar. God's calendar is determined both by sun and moon. The Roman calendar which the world uses today is entirely a solar calendar. The ancient Romans forgot about God's ordering of the new moons, Romans 1:18-20. Will we? A year is that period of time in which the earth performs one revolution in its orbit around the sun. Such a "tropical year" consists of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46.069 seconds, or slightly less than 365-1/4 days. A lunar month (also called "synodic month") is the period of time it takes the moon to revolve around the earth. God begins His months with the new moon, the first faint crescent visible from Jerusalem, of the moon after its conjunction with the sun. The conjunction of the moon with the sun, known in Hebrew as the molad, is the point in time at which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun and is thus invisible. Shortly thereafter, it becomes visible as a "new" moon. For religious purposes, the Hebrew calendar rules give the average time between one new moon and another as 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3-1/3 seconds, or a little more than 29-1/2 days. (The present astronomically correct value is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.841 seconds. The moon has accelerated slightly in the centuries since the Hebrew calendar was instituted. The cumulative effect of this is so small it will remain negligible for hundreds of millennia.) Twelve lunar months do not exactly equal one solar year. It is true that twelve new moons do not complete one solar year, actually they equal approximately 354 days (12 x 29-1/2), whereas a solar year has slightly more than 365 days. Thus a lunar year of twelve new moons is about eleven days (365 minus 354) LESS than a solar year. If a Bible year always had twelve new moons, Passover would come about eleven days earlier each year. In a few years, Passover would occur in the middle of winter, then in the fall, and still later in the summer! Passover would wander instead of remaining in its proper season. God's Holy Days must be observed in their proper agricultural seasons, Leviticus 23:4. Because of these facts, there must be an intercalary, or added, month, every so often in order to keep the Holy Days in their proper seasons. Because the solar year does not equal a whole number of lunar months, the ordering of the calendar is difficult. H. Why does God Have a Nineteen-Year Time Cycle? As has been shown, the solar year exceeds the lunar year of twelve new moons by about eleven days. In nineteen years, the solar cycle exceeds the lunar cycle by about 209 days (11 x 19), which is approximately seven lunar months (7 x 29-1/2 = 206.5). Thus in a cycle of nineteen years, if seven months are added (intercalated), the Holy Days will remain in their proper seasons. To put it another way, if seven months were not added every nineteen years, Passover would occur about 209 days earlier than it should! Thus, every two or three years in a nineteen-year time cycle, there must be an added thirteenth month, making that year a leap year. At the end of every nineteen years, the earth, moon and sun come almost into exact conjunction. Once every nineteen years there will be a new moon on the spring equinox. A nineteen-year cycle of God's calendar has twelve common years of twelve moons (months) and seven leap years of thirteen months, for a grand total of 235 months (12 x 12 plus 7 x 13 equals 235), which almost exactly equals nineteen solar years. 19 solar years = 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46.069 seconds x 19 = 6,939 days, 14 hours, 26 minutes, 35.311 seconds 235 lunar months = 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3-1/3 seconds x 235 = 6,939 days, 16 hours, 33 minutes, 3.333 seconds Resulting in a difference of: 2 hours, 6 minutes, 28.022 seconds over 19 years. Thus, there is nearly the same amount of time in nineteen solar years as in 235 moons (months). Yet this slight difference means that each Hebrew calendar year exceeds the tropical year by 6 minutes, 39.370 seconds. Though this difference is very small, it amounts to one day's variation in 216.34 years, or 4.6 days in a thousand years. Thus, Passover -- and as a result, Pentecost -- are continually forced later in the season. Without a calendar adjustment, such as the one in 140-163 A.D., Pentecost would eventually occur in the summer, which is not permitted according to the calendar law. For the proof, and how this 6-1/2 minute difference proves a Monday Pentecost, see "A New Look at Pentecost in Light of the Calendar Adjustment in the Second Century" by Herman L. Hoeh. The nineteen-year cycle is God's way of accounting for the eleven-day difference between the 365-day solar year and the 354-day lunar year of twelve moons. In every nineteen-year cycle of today, a thirteenth month, called Adar II or Veadar, is added in the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 -- or seven times in nineteen years. God's nineteen-year time cycle, written in the heavens, is based upon seven, God's complete number signifying the Sabbath, added to twelve, the number of tribes of Israel and Jesus' original apostles (7 plus 12 equals 19). I. How Does God Keep Time? A year in God's calendar can be either common (12 moons) or leap (13 moons). A month is approximately (within a day or two) the time from one new moon to the next. It may have either 29 or 30 days. Usually, the months in a year alternate between 30 and 29 days. Months having 30 days are termed full (Hebrew male), while those having 29 days are defective (Hebrew haser). A week has seven days, and is concluded by the Sabbath. A day has 24 hours, usually about twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness, John 11:9. For religious purposes, such as observation of a Sabbath, the day begins at sunset, Genesis 1:5, Exodus 12:18. In the reckonings of the molad (conjunction of the moon with the sun), the day is figured as beginning at 6:00 P.M. at Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew calendar, an hour is not divided into sixty minutes or 3600 seconds, but 1080 halakins or "parts," of 3-1/3 seconds. Thus, the average month expressed in Hebrew parlance is 29 days, 12 hours and 793 parts (which is the same as saying 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3-1/3 seconds). The number of days in a Hebrew calendar year varies. Multiplying 29 days, 12 hours and 793 parts by twelve moons in a common or thirteen moons in a leap year would yield fractional values. Since a month can only have 29 or 30 complete 24 hour days, the number of days in a year must vary. (Refer to Section B.) The eighth and ninth months, Heshvan and Kislev, vary with either 29 or 30 days. A common, twelve-month year may have either 353, 354 or 355 days. A leap, thirteen-month year, may have 383, 384 or 385 days. This makes six types of years. Different terms are given for these six basic types of years, as follows: Perfect Regular Defective Common Year 355 days 354 days 353 days Leap Year 385 days 384 days 383 days Heshvan 30 days Heshvan 29 days Heshvan 29 days Kislev 30 days Kislev 30 days Kislev 29 days The Hebrew names for perfect, regular and defective are shelema, sedura, and hasera. Actually, there are 14 types of years, 7 common and 7 leap, as will be explained later. J. What Are the Rules Governing the Calendar? (1) The reason for the existence of intercalation, or adding a thirteenth month, is to prevent Nisan 16 from occurring before the vernal or spring equinox (on or about March 21). The spring equinox is the time when the sun rises due east and sets due west, and everywhere in the world there is equal daylight and equal darkness (12 hours each). Spring must have arrived on or before Nisan 16. This is the number one cardinal rule of God's calendar. Why is this so? Why can Passover, Nisan 14, be no earlier than two days before the spring equinox? Because when Passover falls on Friday and the wavesheaf was cut the following Sunday, Nisan 16, that Sunday must occur in spring. Otherwise, the harvest would begin in winter. The Feast of Unleavened Bread would not be a spring Feast. Nisan is predominately a spring month. Having thirty days, at least half of them -- Nisan 16-30 -- must be in the spring. The spring Holy Days cannot fall in the winter! From the time of Moses through the time of Christ, Passover itself apparently never fell before the spring equinox. That is why Josephus was correct in stating that Passover always fell "in Aries" (which begins with March 21). See Antiquities of the Jews, III, x, 5. Because of the 6-1/2 minute difference between a sacred calendar year and the true astronomical value (refer to Section H), Passover occurs one day later every 216 years. As a result, Pentecost is pushed later and later into the year. A corollary to rule #1 is that Pentecost must occur in the spring. Because of the 6-1/2 minute difference, from the time of Moses through the first century of the Christian era, Pentecost was being pushed closer and closer toward the beginning of summer. As has been shown (see "A New Look at Pentecost in Light of the Calendar Adjustment in the Second Century" by Herman L. Hoeh), an adjustment to the intercalary cycle of leap years became necessary in 161 A.D. in order to prevent Pentecost from falling on the beginning of summer. In Jesus' day the leap years in a nineteen-year time cycle were 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, and 18. Today the leap years are 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. Today we are observing Passover and the Holy Days earlier than when Jesus observed them in the first century. We are observing them correctly. Some five hundred years from now, there will of necessity be another calendar adjustment in order to prevent Pentecost from falling in summer. God's Holy Days must continue to be observed "in their season." (2) In ordering the calendar, the molad (conjunction of the moon and the sun) of Tishri is of paramount importance. Though Nisan is the beginning of the religious year, Tishri is the beginning of the civil year. Tishri 1 (Day of Trumpets) rarely falls on the molad of Tishri because there are four obstacles, delays, or considerations (Hebrew dehiyyot) which may cause Tishri 1 to be postponed one or two days. (a) Consideration #1 is that the Day of Atonement may never fall on Friday or Sunday, nor may Tishri 21 (seventh or last day of the Feast of Tabernacles) fall on a weekly Sabbath. The reasons for this rule are profound. God is a God of mercy, compassion and purpose. He made the weekly Sabbath as well as the yearly Sabbaths for man, Mark 2:27-28, for man's good. His laws do not put unnecessary burdens upon His people, Matthew 11:30. On the contrary, God's Holy Days are days of joy and gladness, Numbers 10:10. In order to keep them so, there are necessary rules in God's calendar. If the Day of Atonement were to fall on a Friday, there would be no possibility of preparing food for the weekly Sabbath. One would have to fast for two days instead of one. Likewise, if Atonement fell on Sunday, the cleaning-up and chores of the Sabbath would have to be postponed until Monday, or one would do too much work on the Sabbath in preparation for Atonement. Also, if Tishri 21 fell on the weekly Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day would both fall on Sunday. Preparation for these High Days would have to be on the weekly Sabbath, which is not permitted. As a result of these prohibited days for Atonement and Tishri 21, Tishri 1 may never fall on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. God's laws make sense! They are for our own good. (b) Consideration #2 is entirely for an astronomical reason. It states that if the molad is at noon or later, Tishri 1 is delayed one day, or two days, if this would fall on a prohibited day as in Consideration #1. As mentioned in Section H, in the reckonings of the molad, the 24-hour day is figured as beginning at 6:00 P.M. at Jerusalem. Therefore, noon is the middle of the twelve-hour period of daylight (since Tishri 1 is near the fall equinox, this is about right). Observation, as well as calculation, is important in God's calendar. If one cannot see the new moon (assuming a clear sky), it does not yet exist! Experience has proven that if the molad takes place before noon, then the new moon can be seen by an acute observer the same day near sunset, and that same day was the first of Tishri. If the molad occurs after midday, the new moon cannot be seen until the next day, and Tishri 1 has to be postponed. (c) Consideration #3 is as follows: If the molad in a common year falls on Tuesday at 204 parts past 3:00 A.M. (i.e., 3:11 A.M. and 20 seconds), Tishri 1 is put off two days. Consideration #1 forbids it from being postponed to Wednesday, so it is deferred to Thursday. (d) Consideration #4 is very infrequent. It states that when the molad of Tishri immediately following a leap year occurs on Monday at 15 hours, 589 parts (9:32 A.M. and 43-1/3 seconds), Tishri 1 is delayed from Monday to Tuesday. The complex reasons and proofs for Considerations 3 and 4 are given in the Encyclopedia Judaica article "Calendar," page 44. Thus, for any particular month, the first day of the month in God's calendar may coincide with the new moon, or it may be one or two days later. This fact has confused some. An understanding of the above calendar rules, remembering that calculation has precedence over observation and that the Holy Days must be kept in their proper season, should help us to understand. (3) These rules produce another calendar law: Passover (Nisan 14) can only fall on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sabbath. This is important and is well worth memorizing. ALL the Holy Days are tied together. There is a constant, fixed number of days between Passover and the Day of Trumpets (to be exact, 163 intervening days). There are no variable months or intercalary months between the first and seventh months. Therefore, since the Day of Trumpets cannot fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, Passover and all the other Holy Days (except Pentecost) cannot occur on three unique days of the week. To put it another way, each Holy Day other than Pentecost can occur on only four days of the week. Pentecost itself, always falling on a Monday, is limited to only four distinct days of the third month, Sivan 7, 9, 11 and 13. Sunday is very rarely a Holy Day. Only when Passover is on a weekly Sabbath does the First Day of Unleavened Bread fall on a Sunday. This happens on the average of only once in every ten years. NONE of the other Holy Days can EVER occur on Sunday. It was not chance, it was not evolution, that resulted in the eighth and ninth month being variable in length, or an intercalary month following the twelfth month. It was the divine hand of the Creator of the Sun, Moon and the whole universe! (4) Again, a calendar rule that has already been reviewed is the fact that the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of every nineteen-year time cycle are leap years with a thirteenth month. Although the Bible does not mention a thirteenth month, rules of astronomy and Leviticus 23:4 demand intercalary months. (See our article on "Calendar Controversy" for a discussion of how Ezekiel proves a thirteenth month.) (5) In conclusion, these rules produce fourteen different kinds of years, according to the "character" (Hebrew keviah from kava, "to fix") of the year. There are three elements which determine the "character" of the year: (1) The day of the week on which Passover (Nisan 14) occurs, (2) the day of the week on which the Day of Trumpets (Tishri 1) occurs, and (3) whether the year is "perfect," "regular," or "defective." The following is a listing of these fourteen basic kinds of years, as adapted from the Jewish Encyclopedia, article "Calendar." Succeeding pages give a sacred calendar, and supporting charts. TABLE 1 TYPES OF SACRED YEARS Type of Year Code (A) Corresponding Roman Years (B) (Common years) 1 2-5-R 1984, 1987, 1990, 1997 2 2-5-P 1993 3 4-7-D 1976 4 4-7-P 1979, 1982, 1986, 1989 5 6-2-D 1992 6 6-2-P 1978, 1995, 1998 7 7-3-R 1981 (Leap years) 8 2-5-D* 1980 9 2-5-P* 1983 10 4-7-D* 1996 11 4-7-P* 1975, 1999 12 6-2-D* 1985, 1988 13 6-2-P* 1991 14 7-3-R* 1977, 1994 (A) Explanation of Codes: first digit gives the day of the week of Passover (Nisan 14), second digit gives the day of week of Trumpets, third digit whether the year is defective (D), 8th and 9th month both having 29 days; regular (R), 8th month has 29, 9th month has 30 days; or perfect (P), 30 days in both. No asterisk indicates a common year of twelve months; an asterisk indicates a leap year of thirteen months. (B) "Roman year" represents the year A.D. having Holy Days. NOTE: "1977" was the last year of a 19-year time cycle, and 1978 was the beginning of a new cycle, ending in 1996. TABLE 2 TYPES OF SACRED MONTHS Type of Month Number of Days Day of Week New Moon Falls 1 30 1 2 30 2 3 30 3 4 30 4 5 30 5 6 30 6 7 30 7 8 29 1 9 29 2 10 29 3 11 29 4 12 29 5 13 29 6 14 29 7 DO-IT-YOURSELF WALL CALENDAR Purpose: To know and use the dates of God's Calendar, recognizing the Holy Days, new moons and Sabbaths as God has ordained. Secondarily, to have Roman Calendar equivalents necessary for business in this world. Method: (1) Make 12-13 copies of the following template pattern, depending if the current year is a common or leap year. (2) Number each sheet with the month number. (3) Fill in the blanks, beginning with God's Calendar day on the top of each square. Then put the Roman Calendar day on the bottom. Use pages 12-15. (4) If a month according to God's Calendar begins on a Sabbath, and the month has thirty days, you will have to split the lower left calendar box to fit two days. (4) Highlight the Holy Days and New Moons. We use the color green. Don't miss the divine appointments! (5) Staple the 12 or 13 sheets together and hang on the wall. Benefits: On a day-by-day basis, you will know the progression of God's Calendar, avoiding the observing of the days and times of this world, Galatians 4:10, having an excellent usable reminder of God's appointed times. K. Calendar of Biblical Events Americans remember July 4th as Independence Day. Other dates of the Roman calendar are noted as the anniversaries of various historical events. What about God's calendar for God's people? Are there dates which are noteworthy as the anniversaries of historical and Biblical events? Dates which even Jesus Christ took note of? Indeed there are! Notice John 10:22. Jesus was in the Temple during winter at the Feast of Dedication (also known as Hanukkah, or Festival of Lights). Beginning on Kislev 25 (9th month), this is a eight-day celebration instituted by the Jews to commemorate the purging of the temple and the rebuilding of the altar after Judas Maccabaeus had driven out the Syrians in 164 B.C. It is also the anniversary of the pollution of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. (fulfilling at least in type the prophecy of Daniel 11:31). Like the American and Canadian Thanksgiving Day, it is a national holiday of giving to God of thanks for His blessings and deliverance in time of trial. Another commemorative day shown in the Bible is Purim, the Feast of Lots. This annual festival of the Jews on the 14th and 15th days of the last month (Adar or Adar II) was instituted to commemorate the preservation of the Jews in Persia from the massacre with which they were threatened through the machinations of Haman (Esther 9). Notice Esther 9:27-28. The Jews -- not God -- ordained this annual festival to be kept throughout every generation. It's not wrong to take note of these historical occasions, since they were definitely anniversaries of God's intervention on behalf of His chosen people. Certainly since the Christian should desire to be spared from destruction, Luke 21:36, Purim should mean much more to the Christian than July 4, Thanksgiving Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day combined. The Eternal God has a habit of repeating similar actions on the anniversary of the same day. The "night to be much observed," at the beginning of Nisan 15, Exodus 12:42, occurred on the selfsame day, 430 years after God made His covenant with Abraham (compare Genesis 15:5-18 with Exodus 12:40-42 and Genesis 17:19-21). Other events are noted in the Bible according to the day on the calendar in which the event occurred. The following is a listing of Biblical events according to their dates on God's calendar. First Month 1New Moon, New Year. 1Hezekiah opens doors of Temple and begins to repair it, II Chronicles 29:3, 17. Finished the work on the 16th. 1Prophecy given to Ezekiel that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, would be given the land of Egypt, Ezekiel 29:17-20. Reaffirmed at a different time of the 7th day, Ezekiel 30:20-26. 1God ordains a bullock to be sacrificed and the Temple to be cleansed, Ezekiel 45:18-19. Also to be done on the first day of the seventh month, verse 20. 1Ezra decides to leave Babylon for Jerusalem with the intent of seeking God's law, doing it, and teaching God's statutes and judgments to Israel, Ezra 7:6-10. Departs on 12th day, Ezra 8:31. 1Waters dried up from the Flood almost a year after rains began, Genesis 8:13. 10Passover lamb kept up until the 14th day, Exodus 12:3-6. 13Haman's death sentence against the Jews was posted in the kingdom of Persia, Esther 3:12-13. 14Passover observed beginning of 14th (evening), Exodus 12, Leviticus 23:5. 15, 21Feast of Unleavened Bread, first day and last day are Holy days, Leviticus 23:6-8. 24Daniel had been fasting for three weeks, is given understanding by an angel, Daniel 10:2-4. XIsrael came into desert of Zin, abode in Kadesh; Miriam died there, Numbers 20:1. XNehemiah asks Artaxerxes to allow him to rebuild Jerusalem, Nehemiah 2:1. Second Month 1Eternal spoke to Moses in wilderness of Sinai on second year after they were come out of Egypt, Numbers 1:1. All Israel from twenty years old assembled together, verse 18. 2Solomon begins to build the Temple in the fourth year of his reign, II Chronicles 3:2. 14Second Passover, Numbers 9:9-14; II Chronicles 30:1-5, 15. 15-21Feast of Unleavened Bread kept in second month, Hezekiah's time, II Chronicles 30:13, 21-23. 17Fountains of deep broken up, 40 days of rain begin the Noachian Flood, Genesis 7:11. 20Cloud taken up, Israel begins journeying from Sinai in the second year of the Exodus, Numbers 10:11. 27God told Noah to go forth out of the ark, Genesis 8:14. XConstruction of Solomon's temple began, I Kings 6:1, 37. XFoundations of the temple laid by Zerubbabel, Joshua and others returned from captivity, Ezra 3:8-13. Third Month 1Again, God gives Ezekiel a prophecy as to Egypt's fall, but that their conquerors the Assyrians will fall likewise, Ezekiel 31:1-18. 23Haman, enemy of the Jews, hanged. King of Persia's letter went out allowing Jews to defend themselves against their enemies on Adar 13. Mordecai advanced, Esther 8:1-17. XPentecost, a Holy Day, always falls on second day of the week, can be on 7th, 9th, 11th, or 13th of third month. XAsa and other faithful of Israel enter into a covenant with God, II Chronicles 15:10, 12. Fourth Month 5God begins to work through Ezekiel, gives him visions and prophecies, Ezekiel 1:1-2. 9Besieged by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, there was sore famine in Jerusalem, and the city was broken up about 586 B.C., Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6-7; II Kings 25:3. Jews remembered this horrifying event by commemorating it with a fast, Zechariah 8:19. Fifth Month 1Ezra arrives in Jerusalem from Babylon, Ezra 7:6-10. 1Aaron died on Mount Hor in the fortieth year of Israel's wandering, Numbers 33:38. Israel mourned for thirty days, Numbers 20:28-29. 7 - 10Babylonian army burns the Jerusalem temple, King`s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem, takes most of the rest of Judah captive, Jeremiah 1:3; 52:12-16; and II Kings 25:8-12. Jews commemorated this sad event with a fast, Zechariah 8:19. God was wrathful with their corrupted manner of fasting, Zechariah 7:1-13. 10Certain elders of Israel come to inquire of the Eternal before Ezekiel. He is given a message from God that the reason they are in captivity is that they have polluted God's Sabbaths, Ezekiel 20:1-49. Sixth Month 1God begins to work through Haggai the prophet, Haggai 1:1. 5Ezekiel is given a vision from God, sees several abominations being committed by God's people, Ezekiel 8. 24The Eternal stirs up the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant of the people to do the work of the building of God's House, Haggai 1:14-15. 25Rebuilt wall of Jerusalem finished, Nehemiah 6:15-16. Seventh Month 1Day of Trumpets, a New Moon and a Holy Day. 9At the end of this day, Atonement fast begins, Leviticus 23:32. 10Day of Atonement, a fast, and a High Holy Day. 10(Implied) Ezekiel given a vision of the rebuilt Millennial Temple at Jerusalem, Ezekiel 40:1 and following -- implication is that "the beginning of the year" means the civil year. 17Noah's ark rested on mountains of Ararat, Genesis 8:4. 15 - 21Feast of Tabernacles. Holy Day on the 15th. 21Prophecy of Haggai, Haggai 2:1-9. 22Last Great Day, a Holy Day. 23Completion of dedication of Solomon's Temple, II Chronicles 7:9-10. 24After the reinstitution of keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles at the return from Babylonian captivity, a fast is observed and God's Law is read, special services held, Nehemiah 9:1-3. XIshmael of the royal seed kills Gedaliah, the ruler of Judah appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and flees to Egypt in fear of the Chaldeans, II Kings 25:25, Jeremiah 41:1-3. Eighth Month 15King Jeroboam of Northern Israel institutes counterfeit "Feast of Tabernacles," I Kings 12:32,33. XGod began to work through the prophet Zechariah, Zechariah 1:1. XSolomon's temple finished, I Kings 6:38. Ninth Month 4Word of Eternal came to Zechariah, told him that the fasts of the fifth and seventh months were not done to God, as the people would not heed God's prophets, Zechariah 7:1- 13. 20Jews and Benjamites returned from captivity, gathered together at Jerusalem at the behest of Ezra and were told to separate from strange wives who were of a different race and religion, Ezra 10:9-11. 24Word of Eternal came twice to Haggai that God's people were unclean and that God would shake the heavens and the earth, Haggai 2:10-23. 25Beginning of eight day Feast of Dedication, or Hannukah, John 10:22. XA fast was proclaimed in Judah as a result of reading Jeremiah's prophecy, but King Jehoiakim burns the scroll, Jeremiah 36:9, 22. Note: the ninth month is in winter. XNehemiah, the Persian King's Jewish cupbearer, learns of the lamentable state of Jerusalem and his fellow Jews, Nehemiah 1:1-3, 11. Note: Chisleu is an alternate spelling of Kislev, the 9th month. Tenth Month 1Waters from Flood had receded until tops of mountains were seen, Genesis 8:5. 1Ezra and elders meet to determine the putting away of strange wives, Ezra 10:16-17. 5Ezekiel was struck dumb by God until an escapee from Jerusalem informed him the city was smitten. God gave him a message as to why this event happened: they heard God's words, but did them not, Ezekiel 33:21-33. 10King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon begins siege of Jerusalem, about 588 B.C., Jeremiah 39:1, 52:4, II Kings 25:1. Remembered by Jews in a annual fast, Zechariah 8:19. Ezekiel given a message from God about the sins which caused this event, Ezekiel 24:1-27. 12God's prophecy concerning Egypt was given to Ezekiel, 29:1-16. Eleventh Month 1In the 40th year, Moses spoke to the children of Israel the words of the Eternal, Deuteronomy 1:3. 24God spoke to Zechariah in a vision, Zechariah 1:7. Twelfth Month 1, 15God told Ezekiel to take up a lamentation for the fall of Egypt, Ezekiel 32:1, 17 plus other verses of the chapter. 3Rebuilt Temple finished, Ezra 6:15. 13Publishing of Haman's death sentence upon all the Jews in captivity, Esther 3:10-13. 14 - 15Purim, celebration of Jews' deliverance from Haman's death decree, Esther 9:1-32. 25 or 27Evil-merodack, King of Babylon, releases former King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison and given him a daily allowance for the rest of his life, II Kings 25:27-30; Jeremiah 52:31-34.ê Calendar Controversy A number of controversial issues have been raised as to the correct calendar for determining the Holy Days. This article examines some of these issues. Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Calendar The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a unique Festival. On each of the seven days, one must eat unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:6. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread . . . . And in the first day [Nisan 15] there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day [Nisan 21] there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that ONLY may be done of you (Exodus 12:15-16). What does this mean? Why did God specify that on the two Holy Days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that work involving food preparation may be done? God did not repeat this allowance for the other Holy Days, not even the Sabbath. Why not? What is the purpose of this law? Is there proof? Does it make sense? Of all the Holy Days, only Nisan 15 (the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread) can ever fall on a Sunday. When it does, which is a rare occasion, Nisan 14 (Passover) falls on the weekly Sabbath. In this case, preparation for Nisan 14 must be made on Friday, Nisan 13, while cleaning up of the Sabbath dishes and any last-minute food preparation for the night to be much observed and the morning of the Holy Day may be done on the Holy Day itself (Sabbath sunset to Sunday sunset). No food preparation for Sunday Nisan 15 may be done on the weekly Sabbath. Passover (Nisan 14) and Nisan 21 (the last day of Unleavened Bread, a Holy Day) can and often do fall on a Friday. Nisan 21 is the only Holy Day that ever falls on the sixth day of the week. In such cases, preparation for the Holy Day and the succeeding weekly Sabbath should, as much as possible, be done on the day before the Holy Day (Thursday, Nisan 20). But a certain amount of food preparation for the Sabbath and the cleaning up of the dishes of the Holy Day may have to be done on the Holy Day. And God's law of Exodus 12:15-16 permits this. The two annual Holy Days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are special. To a certain extent, food preparation may be done on them that may not be done on the weekly Sabbath, OR on any of the other annual Holy Days. Pentecost is always on Monday, not on a Sunday. One of the basic reasons is that food preparation for Pentecost must be on the day before Pentecost, not on Pentecost itself. God's Word allowing food preparation on Nisan 15 and 21 does NOT extend to Pentecost. In the Old Testament, the two large waveloaves had to be baked ahead of time in order to be offered on Pentecost morning as the firstfruits, Leviticus 23:15-17. The priest ate these loaves, verse 20. This baking could not have been done on the weekly Sabbath, Exodus 16:23. If the Pentecost loaves were baked on the preceding Friday, the bread would be two days old, hardly fit for an offering to the Eternal! Therefore, this is an important reason why Pentecost must be on Monday, not Sunday. Those waveloaves were baked on Sunday, before Pentecost. To place Pentecost on Sunday is to violate the Sabbath. Those who believe in a Monday Pentecost and at the same time believe that food preparation is allowed on Pentecost are inconsistent. If they are right in their assumption, then the waveloaves could have been baked after the end of the seventh sabbath, and Pentecost might therefore be on a Sunday. A Sunday Pentecost violates either the weekly Sabbath or Pentecost itself. It opposes the very principle of the Sabbath. God's laws do not contradict themselves. Pentecost is on a Monday, a day on which food preparation is NOT allowed. Concerning the fall Holy Days, it is significant to note that the Day of Trumpets, Tishri 1, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Tishri 15, an Holy Day, and the Last Great Day, Tishri 22, all fall on the same day of the week (1 + 7 + 7 = 15 and 15 + 7 = 22). None of these three annual Holy Days can ever, according to the rules of God's Sacred Calendar, fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. Not on a Sunday, because these Holy Days must be preceded by a day of preparation. God's Word nowhere allows the preparation of food on these Holy Days, which are also to be FEAST days as well. Therefore Trumpets, first day of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day must always be preceded by a preparation day, which cannot be the weekly Sabbath, and therefore they can never fall on a Sunday. Why not on a Friday? Why can't these three Holy Days fall on the day before a weekly Sabbath? It wouldn't matter, if food preparation for the Sabbath were allowed on these days. But we have seen that food preparation is not allowed on the weekly Sabbath nor on these specified Holy Days. If Trumpets, for example, could fall on a Friday, then food preparation for the Sabbath would have to be done on either this Holy Day or the Sabbath, which Scripture does not allow. The mind of the Eternal foresaw the implications of His own laws. They are perfect, and do not contradict. If Exodus 12:15-16 did not explain that certain food preparation is permissible on the Holy Days during Unleavened Bread, the follower of God would be put into a straight-jacket. Either way, he would be forced to break God's laws during the spring Holy Days. But the Eternal God is not so capricious. In the same manner, and for like reasons, the Day of Atonement can never fall on a Friday or a Sunday. No food preparation is allowable on the Sabbath, and absolutely no work at all on Atonement, the "Sabbath of sabbaths," Leviticus 23:32, literal Hebrew. God's calendar laws regarding Pentecost and the fall Holy Days prove that the allowed work of food preparation of Exodus 12:16 does not extend to the Holy Days other than Nisan 15 and 21. The High Days of Unleavened Bread are indeed unique, like no other. Truly, God's laws make sense. God intended that every one of the days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread should be a "feast" in the sense that unleavened bread is to be eaten in festive meals. To make sure they are special, God's law allows the preparation of that which one must eat on the Holy Days (first and last) of Unleavened Bread. This does not abrogate God's laws regarding what work is or is not permissible on Sabbaths. It upholds the sanctity of the Sabbath. "This that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe [boil] that which ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning," Exodus 16:23. "There remaineth therefore a rest [margin: "keeping of a sabbath"] to the people of God," Hebrews 4:9. Easter-Passover Calendar Controversy Why does the professing Christian world celebrate Easter? On the other hand, why does the Church of God observe Passover? One way of answering this is that the Church of God has adhered to the sacred calendar, while others have rejected it. It should be noted that to the majority of professing followers of Christ, "Easter is central to the whole Christian year; not only does the whole ecclesiastical calendar of movable feasts depend upon its date, but the whole year of worship is arranged around it" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1966 edition, article "Easter"). Preceded by forty days of Lent and "Holy Week," and succeeded by seven Sundays until Whitsunday (or Pentecost), Easter is the central religious day to many. It has even been termed "the Christian Passover." From very early times, certain believers have kept Sunday as a "little Easter," a weekly commemoration of the supposed day of the resurrection of Christ. History records the Quartodeciman Controversy during the period of 100-350 A.D. Early Christians were mainly Jewish, and continued to observe the Passover on the 14th of Nisan along with Gentile converts. They followed the lunar-solar Hebrew calendar according to the Jewish Sanhedrin. False religious teachers brought in damnable heresies into the true Church of God, Acts 20:28-30. Having enmity against God's laws, and seeking a personal following for monetary gain, they attempted to change the year of Jesus' birth, the year of His death, the day of His crucifixion, and the day of His resurrection. Sunday was already established as a pagan day of worship, so it was a convenient day in which to transfer "Christian" worship. Those who resisted the almost wholesale departure from revealed truth in the first and second centuries adhered to the Sabbath and a Nisan 14 Passover. The real heretics, who soon became the majority, observed Sunday and Easter. Not until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. did the Easter-Sunday supporters gain complete victory in the Roman Empire. True Christians were forced to flee! Instead of the Passover, which always falls on Nisan 14 (on either the second, fourth, sixth or seventh days of the week), heretics began to observe the "Christian" Passover on the following Sunday, the first day of the week. Since the Roman world used the Julian calendar, how would Easter be calculated? The answer is that the "Jewish" calendar would be totally rejected in favor of the Roman calendar. The dominant Gentile influence felt that the church should have an ecclesiastical year independent and separate from Judaism. Easter was fixed at Nicaea (325 A.D.) as the first Sunday after the full moon which occurs on or next after the spring equinox (March 21). The "equinox theory" began in the false church! If the full moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is postponed until the following Sunday, thus preventing the possibility of Easter coinciding with Nisan 15, the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. The Eastern Orthodox Church still follows this practice. The Roman Catholic (Western) Church ignores the full moon (Passover) factor entirely, making the western church's Easter sometimes before Passover week, sometimes after it, and sometimes in it. In reality, "Easter" is a counterfeit Wavesheaf Sunday. For the first so-called Easter was on a Sunday, the day Christ ascended to heaven to be accepted by the Father John 20:1, 17. It was NOT the day of Christ's resurrection. The calculation of Easter appears to be very similar to the computation of Passover and Wavesheaf Sunday. Actually, it is not the same. The rules of computing Easter totally disregard God's calendar with its intercalary months. Thus, Easter is sometimes one month earlier than Wavesheaf Sunday. Easter does not always fall on the true Wavesheaf Sunday in about one out of every five years, according to the Western, or Roman Catholic, computation. The acceptance of Easter negates the calendar God instituted, with the Sabbaths, Holy Days, and New Moons. Its institution in the Catholic Church had this as its purpose. Church councils of Nicaea and Laodicea in the fourth century A.D. expressly stated that they wanted nothing in common with the "despicable" Jews. God's people, however, do want to be "Jews," John 4:22. True Christianity IS a "Jewish" religion. Anti-Jewish sentiment had much to do with the abandonment of the Sabbath, Passover and the Hebrew calendar. This sentiment continues in many who reject the Hebrew Calendar. Polycarp "was not only instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed Bishop of the Church of Smyrna." He came to Rome around 154 A.D., attempting to convince Anicetus the Bishop of Rome that the Passover should be observed on the fourteenth, not on the following Sunday, since he had received this truth from the apostles. Anicetus argued for Easter observance. "For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it [the Passover] because he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated," (quotes are from Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 24, and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume I). Some 35 years later, the Passover-Easter controversy again broke out. Victor, Bishop of Rome, attempted to excommunicate churches of Asia for observing the Passover. Polycrates, successor of Polycarp at Smyrna, answered in defense of the truth, "As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia great luminaries have gone to their rest, who shall rise again in the day of the coming of the Lord . . . I speak of Philip, one of the twelve apostles . . . John, moreover who reclined on the Lord's bosom . . . then there is Polycarp . . . these all kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in accordance with the gospel, without ever deviating from it, but keeping to the rule of faith" (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume III, Pages 773-774). Christians of the first and second centuries observed God's calendar with the Passover and Holy Days. The Western World has two calendars, Roman and Hebrew. Which one will you observe? The Code of Maimonides The Code of Maimonides, Book Three Treatise Eight, "Sanctification of the New Moon," translated by Solomon Gandz. Edited by J. Obermann and O. Neugebauer. Yale Judaica Series. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1956. In his preface to Maimonides' work, Julian Obermann says that Moses ben Maimon, known to history as Maimonides, wrote this treatise from 1173-1178 A.D., drawing from an Arabic authority, al-Battani. The most direct source of Maimonides "Sanctification" was the work of Abraham ben Hiyyah, known as Savasorda of Barcelona (b. 1065) who wrote Sefer ha-ibbur (Science of the Fixed Calendar), which work is available today, edited by H. Filipowski, London 1851. The calendric works of Saadia (d. 942) and two other scholars of Cordoba were quoted by Savasorda but these books have not been preserved. The calendric controversy between Rabbanites and Karaites came to a head in the last part of the 8th Century A.D. The Karaites asserted that the appearance of the new crescent alone determined the beginning of the months, and that this had been Israel's practice at all times. Saadia Gaon went to the opposite extreme in refuting this, saying that the fixed calendar, computation of molad and tekufah is a Mosaic-Sinaitic law that had been followed at all ages of the past, while observation of the new crescent was merely a passing episode introduced by the Sadducees to show the correctness of calendric calculation. Maimonides shows that in the Mishnah, or Oral Law, visual observation of the new crescent and its computation by true astronomical values were prescribed to supplement each other in the regulation of the calendar during the period of the Sanhedrin. Moses and Aaron were shown by God at Sinai the crescent of Nisan, Exodus 12:1-2, and the rules of calculation. Thus, the calculation rules were based upon what would be visible. Here are several interesting quotations from Maimonides' work: Chapter 1, Paragraph 5: "The authority over the observation of the new crescent (and the subsequent proclamation of New Moon Day) was given not to everyone -- as is the case with the Sabbath day . . . which everyone counts 6 days and rests on the seventh day -- but only to the court [the Sanhedrin]. The day sanctified and proclaimed by the court as the beginning of the month was New Moon Day. For it is said: This month shall be unto you (Exodus 12:2), that is to say, accepting or rejecting evidence concerning this matter is put into your hands." Paragraph 6: " . . . the Jewish court, too, used to study and investigate and perform mathematical operations, in order to find out whether or not it would be possible for the new crescent to be visible in its 'proper time,' which is the night of the 30th day. If the members of the court found that the new moon might be visible, they were obliged to be in attendance at the court house for the whole 30th day and be on the watch for the arrival of witnesses. If witnesses did arrive, they were duly examined and tested, and if their testimony appeared trustworthy, this day was sanctified as New Moon Day. If the new crescent did not appear and no witnesses arrived, this day was counted as the 30th day of the old month . . . . If, however, the members of the court found by calculation that the new moon could not possibly be seen, they were not obliged to be in attendance on the 30th day or to wait for the arrival of witnesses. If witnesses nonetheless did appear and testified that they had seen the new crescent, it was certain that they were false witnesses, or that a phenomenon resembling the new moon had been seen by them through the clouds, while in reality it was not the new crescent at all." Paragraph 7: "Scripture made it incumbent upon the court to discover by calculation whether or not the new moon might be visible, to examine the witnesses, and then to sanctify the new moon and to send out messengers to inform the whole community which day was to be New Moon Day, so that the people would know on which days the holidays would fall (Lev. 23:37, Ex. 13:10)." Paragraph 8: "Only in Palestine was it permitted to compute and proclaim new moon days . . . ." Chapter 2, Paragraph 8: " . . . it was not the observation of the new moon but the official pronouncement of the Mekuddas (sanctification) formula by the court which legally initiated the new month." Chapter 2, Paragraph 10: " . . . for the authority over this matter had been given to them [the judges] only. He who has commanded us to observe the festivals has also commanded us to follow them, for it is written: which ye shall proclaim (Leviticus 23:37)." Chapter 5, Paragraph 2: "It is thus a Mosaic tradition from Sinai that in times when there was a (Palestinian) Synedrium [Sanhedrin], declaration of New Moon Days was based on visual observation [confirmed by court calculation as previously shown], while in times when no Synedrium existed, this declaration was based on calculations such as we are using today and no attention was paid to observation of the new crescent. Rather, the day established by calculation might well coincide with the day in which the new moon became visible, but it might sometimes be the day before it or the day after it." Chapter 18, Paragraph 7: " . . . the court followed a tradition transmitted by the Sages from one generation to another on the authority of Moses . . . on the basis of calculation . . . ." Karaite Objections to Calculation An excellent book which covers the calendar controversy is Karaites in Byzantium, The Formative Years, 970-1100, by Zvi Ankori. AMS Press: New York, 1968. Karaites are a tiny Jewish sect which may even survive to the present day. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary defines them as a sect originating in Baghdad in the 8th Century, that rejects rabbinism and talmudism and bases its tenets on interpretations of the Scriptures. The name Karaite comes from the Hebrew kara, "to read." Karaites flourished during the Byzantine Empire, 970-1100 A.D. Anan ben David led the Karaite anti-Rabbanite rebellion. His "Book of Precepts" is a "Talmud of his own." His widely heralded fundamentalism and exclusive reliance on the written Letter of the Law is largely a misnomer. He read into the Bible the customs and practices he already observed. The Dead Sea Scrolls people, the Essenes, seem to have a close affinity with later Karaites. Karaites refused to light Sabbath candles Friday night, saying it was a violation of Exodus 20:10. Contrast the cheerful illumination in Rabbanite Jewish homes with the gloomy darkness in Karaite houses. Because the Jews had been exiled from Palestine, Karaites rejected the Jewish (and Biblical) concept of oneg shabbat (Sabbath delight). Karaites consistently pressed for the actual observation of the New Moon and for up-to-date reports of the state of new crops (abib) in Palestine as the only admissible evidence for determining Rosh-Hodesh (New Moon) and the leap-year, respectively. Accordingly, they often celebrated the festivals on dates other than their Rabbanite neighbors, who had a pre-calculated calendar. Late 11th Century Rabbanite leader Tobias ben Eliezer refuted the Karaites' demand for lunar observation by stating that because the Jews were scattered, they based themselves on the rules of the intercalation formula the way it was calculated from Adam to Noah, Noah to Shem, and Shem to Jacob, Jacob to Kehath, and Kehath to Amram the father of Moses. Ben Eliezer said that this method of calculation had been transmitted to the Sages of Israel of his day so that they may sanctify the month accordingly. Even though "Jewry is scattered in lands where the moon is not seen in the way it was seen in the Land of Israel, yet the Torah had stated, 'Ye shall have one law' (Numbers 15:29), and not a variety of observances." A third point of contention between Karaite and Rabbanite Jews was the interpretation of Leviticus 23:15, "the morrow after the Sabbath." Karaites said that seven weeks had to be counted for Pentecost, and they kept the Festival of Weeks on a Sunday. On the other hand, the Rabbanites held to a fixed date, Sivan 6, for Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). The Karaites' reasoning was similar to the old Sadducees, and also that of Byzantine Greek Orthodox Catholics. Other unique beliefs of the Karaites were: (1) they demanded even their children fast on the Day of Atonement, (2) ordered their months from Nisan rather than Tishri, (3) distinguished between Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, (4) called Tishri 1 the "Feast of Trumpets" rather than Rosh ha-Shannah, (5) did not observe Hanukkah since it was post-Biblical, (6) observed the Jubilee Year, (7) called calendar calculations the same as witchcraft, (8) thought the lulab and ethrog materials were to build the sukkah rather than to wave, (9) allowed the eating of fowl meat with milk. In spite of other differences, the main point of contention between the Karaites and Rabbanites was conflict over the calendar. "The history of any [Jewish] religious sect . . . is to a great extent a history of its calendar deviations. For such deviations have always been the most outstanding symptoms of the sect's break with its normative environment or with the general body to which its members adhered originally. Of course, differences of calendar are hardly the reason for secession; rather they seal the separatist trend and constitute the group's final declaration of self determination and independence . . . . [calendar controversies] became active ingredients in the ever more pronounced process of estrangement of the two factions, and widen almost irreparably the social rift between the opposing camps (page 293)." Karaites were so much in favor of an observable calendar that they would not marry another Jew without having in the marriage contract the freedom to observe their Holy Days. Although few today have heard of Karaites, their position has a following today by some Messianic believing Holy Day keepers. Relating the arguments from 1000 A.D. sounds much like the calendar arguments we are hearing in our day. The Rabbanites followed the molad [the pre-calculated birth of the New Moon] and they did not search for the abib [ripened barley] near the vernal (spring) equinox. Babylonian Karaites did not search for the abib, but followed the computation of the vernal equinox alone, and stipulated certain conditions different than the Rabbanites. The Palestinian-oriented Karaites observed the abib alone and did not investigate the position of the sun (equinox). Karaites in the Byzantium empire followed the Palestinian reckoning for several hundred years (pages 303-304). Byzantine Karaites felt they needed written confirmation from Jerusalem as to the status of the barley each spring. They had misgivings as to the correctness of their calendar ideas and thus the Rabbanites would taunt the Karaites for their confusion. Karaites would follow the Rabbanite way of calculation, unless changed by a report from Jerusalem. Sometimes the barley ripened early and the Karaites' Nisan would equal the Rabbanites Adar (12th month). More frequently, the barley ripened later, so the Karaite's Nisan was equal to the Rabbanite's Iyar (2nd month), resulting in Karaite Holy Days being a month later. Karaites and Rabbanites lived in close proximity. Because their Holy Days often differed, feuds developed. At one time, Karaites filed government charges against the Rabbanite factions, resulting in a heavy tax on the Rabbanites. Tensions became so bad that a wall may have been constructed in Constantinople between the Karaite and Rabbanite communities. In 1099, the Crusaders destroyed the Karaite center in Jerusalem. It became more difficult to obtain information on the state of the crops there. Eventually in the 13th Century, the Karaites in Byzantium abandoned the attempt to observe the abib and gave in to the Rabbanite precalculated 19-year cycle of intercalation. Those around Palestine continued to observe the barley. Another major issue was lunar observation to determine the first day of each month. As the Byzantine Karaites gave in to the Rabbinate method of intercalation, lunar observation became the leading factor for continuing divisiveness between the two groups. Passover and Trumpets were often observed one day differently. Rabbanites argued that the precalculated postponement rules have always been binding since the time of Adam. Leviticus 23:2 does not say we are to individually observe the seasons, but they are proclaimed, sanctified by court decision (kiddush beth din). The second reason given by the Rabbanites was the issue of unity. Without an official standard, confusing factions would divide God's people. Rabbanites would tease the Karaites: "What about observing the moon when the sky is cloudy?" There was confusion in the Karaite community because equally "pious" and "reliable" observers in different localities saw the new moon on different days, this made them "the laughingstock of the whole Jewish community." This confusion "was helplessly admitted by the Karaite scholars themselves," (page 352). Besides division among themselves, Karaites fought against two other Jewish minority sects: the Tiflisites of Armenia and the Mishaivites. Tiflisites kept Pentecost on a Sunday, but used a different calendar than the Karaites. The Mishaivites also differed with the Karaites and Rabbanites over the calendar. Their calendar was strictly a solar one of 364 days. It ensured that yearly fasts and feasts fell on fixed days in the week, rather than on fixed days of the month, the way lunar a lunar calendar would have it. Their Day of Atonement always fell on a Sabbath, Passover on a Thursday, Pentecost on a Sunday seven weeks after the first Sunday after Passover. Mishaivites rejected the Karaite and Samaritan custom of beginning the Pentecost count on the Sunday within Passover week, and insisted it must start on the Sunday after Passover week, the position advocated by Apocryphal Book of Jubilees and the Qumran sect. Mishaivites also began their days in the morning rather than in the evening. The purpose of giving the above historical tidbits is to show that calendar controversy has long been an issue among those striving to observe the Holy Days and New Moons of the Bible. True to human nature, "there is nothing new under the sun." Arguments by modern day "Karaites" and other sects closely parallel their historical counterparts whether they are aware of their predessors or not. As Zvi Ankori states, calendar differences were "crucial in the sect-forming process of all times: calendar independence heralded a sect's self- determination and final separation from the Mother Institution," (page 377). This is as true today as it was in 1000 A.D. Modern Karaites A number of Sabbath-keeping Churches of God observe the annual Biblical Holy Days. Among them, there is a considerable disagreement as to when these days occur. Which calendar should be used to determine the annual Bible Holy Days? The Hebrew Calendar, or other calendars? Does the Bible specify when to observe the Holy Days? Is there a Bible Calendar? Does it make a difference which calendar we use, as long as we are "sincere"? Some groups follow the Hebrew (Jewish) calendar: Worldwide Church of God, Church of God International, Church of God the Eternal, Mt. Zion Reporter (Messianic Jews), Biblical Church of God (with reservations), etc. Other groups have other ideas of when the Holy Days are to be observed. These are some of the "modern Karaites": Seventh Day Church of God (Caldwell, Idaho), Church of God of Cleveland Ohio (Carl O'Beirn), Truth Fellowship of Clifton Park New Jersey (David L. Bierer), Assembly of Yahweh of Bethel Pennsylvania, Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah of Rocheport Missouri, etc. Even those churches who only observe the Passover (Lord's Supper) and not the annual Holy Days, are divided: the Church of God, Seventh Day of Denver Colorado follows the Hebrew Calendar, while the Church of God Seventh Day of Salem West Virginia follows the equinoxes. What a babylon of confusion! Who is correct? The Equinox Theory The diminutive Church of God Seventh Day (Salem, West Virginia) makes the calendar a major issue of difference between them and the much larger Church of God Seventh Day (Denver, Colorado). Here is their position: We use God's time-pieces, the same ones that have been used by men and women of God at any age since man was created . . . . the sun, moon, and stars . . . . When the sun is directly over the equator, day and night are equal. This is called the equinox and the sun crosses the equator in the Spring and Fall of every year. Each new moon begins a month. The first month of the year then begins with the new moon nearest the Spring equinox (Ex. 12:2, Ps. 81:3,4; Isa. 1:13) . . . . There is no human calendar made that can equal God's way to tell time (Advocate of Truth, February 1971). Notice! The above "proof" scriptures do not mention the equinox! In applying the equinox theory, the Salem, West Virginia group stated that in 1971, the new moon nearest the true equinox was on March 26, 2:24 p.m., and became visible the following night at 12:47 a.m., therefore March 28 was the first day of the new year for 1971. Again, scriptural proof is absent for this position. Their position is merely a "human calendar" based upon the unprovable "equinox theory." Another group, the Church of God Evangelistic Association of Missouri, has a different version of the "equinox theory." For them, the first month is determined by the first visible new moon AFTER the spring equinox. Their April 10, 1983 tract, "Reason to Question" tries to reason how Moses could have determined when to observe the equinox and the first new moon. They don't answer the question, stating that "It is extremely unlikely that without modern day understanding of astronomy, he could have been certain within a day or two." If Moses would have had a hard time determining the first new moon by observation, how can modern day people have an easier time to do it without calculation? This group fails miserably to prove their point. Does It Make a Difference? At this point, some will say that it doesn't make any difference which day we observe. The Eternal looks at the heart and attitude, some will say, not the physical details of the letter. But wait a minute! Sabbath keepers' reason for existence is that the day kept does make a difference. Many people sincerely keep Sunday as the "sabbath." Yet we believe they are sincerely wrong, Matthew 15:9. The same must be true of the annual Passover memorial and the Holy Days. Look at Passover. This day is so important that the Law even specifies that the service may be kept one month later when unavoidable circumstances prevent one from keeping it on the 14th day of the first month, Numbers 9:1-14. No, this does not justify keeping two different Passovers. It is the same Passover, one Passover, a service so important that it cannot be missed. Everyone must keep it, once a year, not twice or three times. The annual Passover is as important as eternal life, John 6:53-54. Carlo Rasmussen, in a 1978 Advocate of Truth, illustrated this: The two important dates for God's people to remember; the Lord's Supper date and the Seventh Day Sabbath, have been so cunningly and strongly bombarded by the Devil's wiles that many are lured . . . [into] thinking that it really makes no difference . . . . Concerning the Lord's Supper date, there has been only one true date for that memorial. God has set aside the day that He chose and has not changed, or altered it in any way. The Lord has set this date . . . by His time-piece in the heaven, the sun, moon and the stars . . . . Men under [Satan's] influence have tried continually to cause a change in this date by various attempts . . . or rationalize that they may have more than one date during the year. There are many, many alternatives to the sincere believer in choosing the correct time-piece. Which is right? Josephus and the Sign of Aries One of the "Holy Day keeping" groups that does not follow the Hebrew Calendar is the Seventh Day Church of God of Caldwell Idaho. They publish a 13-page booklet entitled "Ecclesiastical Calendar." A key point of the Caldwell group is that "Passover cannot occur earlier than March 20, nor later than April 18. Passover will always fall in the sign of Aries [one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac] according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus." The statement of Josephus is found in his Antiquities of the Jews, Book III, Chapter X, section 5: In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries (for in this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians,) . . . [is] the Passover . . . . "Aries" is the constellation known as the Ram, the first of the twelve signs of the pagan zodiac, an imaginary belt in the heavens that encompasses the apparent paths of all the principal planets except Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The zodiac is divided into twelve constellations, or signs, for astrological purposes. Aries is today held to be the in the March to April period. Can Aries, a heathen zodiacal sign, be used to determine the Creator's sacred appointments? The booklet, "Horoscopes and the Christian" shows that the pagan Zodiac signs were based upon Ptolemy's inaccurate astronomical knowledge. Due to the inexact revolution of the earth, Spring arrives 20 minutes earlier each year. This is the scientific phenomenon known as the "precession of the equinoxes." What astrologers call Aries today is in reality Pisces, the second sign of the Zodiac. On March 21 each year astrologers say that the sun is in Aries. In reality, the sun is not in the constellation Aries (though it was 2000 years ago) but is in the constellation Pisces. (page 37). Heathen signs of the Zodiac are not the basis for the Eternal's calendar. Remember that Josephus, a Jew, was writing for Gentile audiences. During the time of Josephus, it was always true that Passover fell in the period of the sign of Aries. Due to the slowing down of the earth's rotation, an adjustment to the Hebrew calendar had to be made in the 2nd Century, A.D. Please see our article, "A New Look at Pentecost in Light of the Calendar Adjustment in the Second Century" in this series on Biblical Holy Days. This adjustment was necessary in order to prevent Pentecost from occurring in the summer, out of season. In some years, the first of Nisan or Abib occurs before the spring equinox. As time moves on, this will not be the case. At some date in the future, another calendar adjustment will be necessary. The historical fact of the Hebrew calendar adjustment proves that the calendar is not tied to a zodiac sign. Josephus was not stating a calendar law when he said that the sun was in Aries when the Passover sacrifice was slain. It was an observation, based upon actual oral calendar laws, which later became codified to protect the calendar. It was these same calendar laws which demanded the 2nd Century change in the intercalary cycle to prevent Pentecost from falling in the summer. And these same laws are in the Hebrew calendar of today. The so-called sign of Aries is an erroneous basis for calendar law. Sacred Name, Observable Calendar One grouping of Sabbath-keepers has emerged today as the leading proponent of a visually observed calendar, supposedly apart from calculation: the "Sacred Name" believers. Anti-Hebrew calendar sentiment is so prevalent among Yahwehists that the Sacred Name and observable calendar seem to go together. However, this is not universally the case. Just as they disagree over the exact pronunciation of the Hebrew names (Yahweh, Yahvah, Yahovah, etc.), some Sacred Name believers keep their Holy Days by the Hebrew calendar. Recently weakened by a split, Jacob O. Meyer's Assembly of Yahweh, Bethel, Pennsylvania is still perhaps the largest Yahwehist group. The following is a summary of the arguments for an observable calendar from his article, "What Is the Authoritative Biblical Calendar for Yahweh's Assembly Today?" (February, 1982 Sacred Name Broadcaster magazine): We follow the Bible exclusively. The Biblical calendar is based upon the visible new moons, viewing the first crescent of the new moon after sundown. The calendar of Hillel II is not authentic and stems no earlier than the fourth century A.D. It is man-made and assimilated many errors from the Babylonish calendar, as witnessed by the use of the names Nisan, Tammuz and Adar for the months. Deuteronomy 16:1 literally says "Watch for the new moon of green ears and keep the Passover unto Yahweh." Abib means new or green ear month. Not all Jews keep the Hillel calendar today, as witness the Karaites. The Jews did not preserve the sacred calendar, God's Word did. Because the Jews keep Passover on the 15th of Abib, instead of the correct 14th, this proves that they did not preserve the correct traditions for keeping the Holy Days. It is not burdensome to prepare food for a Holy Day two days in advance, e.g. preparing for Sabbath and (Sunday) Pentecost on the preceding Friday. It is true (as the Worldwide Church of God says) that the astronomical new moon calculated for the U.S.A. is in general a day or two earlier than the appearance of the first faint crescent of the new moon in the west after sundown as observed from Jerusalem. The barley must have come to a head. Every year, the Assemblies of Yahweh inquires concerning the condition of the harvest in the Holy Land. The spring Holy Days must be observed no earlier than about 10 days following the spring equinox to keep them in harmony with the Israeli harvest season. Is there a Bible Calendar? Meyer is adamant that the Bible says the first visible crescent determines the new moon (first of month). But scriptural support for this idea is totally absent. Deuteronomy 16:1 in the literal Hebrew (Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green) says "Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to Jehovah [YHVH] your God; for in the month Abib Jehovah your God brought you out of Egypt by night." Another Sacred Name believer, Jacob Hawkins of Odessa, Texas clearly refutes Meyer's contention that this scripture tells us to observe the new moon for ourselves (article "The Jewish Calendar" in The Prophetic Watchman). Meyer claims falsely that the word "observe" in Deuteronomy 16:1 means "watch for and see with the eye." The Hebrew word is shamar, the same word used in Deuteronomy 5:12, "keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it," and verse 29, "keep all my commandments." These and hundreds more uses of this word show that "observe" in Deuteronomy 16:1 does not mean "watch for and see with the eye the new moon of Abib," but to keep, celebrate, the Passover in the month Abib. Chodesh, the word translated month, can mean new moon or beginning of the month, and also one whole month from one new moon to the next new moon. The Eternal did not bring Israel out of Egypt on the night that the month became new. On the contrary, it was a full moon. Passover is observed (kept) on the fourteenth day of the first chodesh, Leviticus 23:5. Meyer claims to know Hebrew. He claims there is a Bible calendar. Yet he misinterprets Deuteronomy 16:1 and adamantly says that he follows the Bible calendar, without citing proof texts. There are no such texts. There is no "Bible calendar." As Hawkins remarks, there are at least three or four sects that each claim to get their Calendar from the Bible. "But the strange thing is," he says, "is none of these sects keep the Feast Days on the same days. Somebody must have read the Bible wrong." But there is a sure way. Putting aside anti-Jewish bias, let us examine what the Jews record of their history. Jewish Encyclopedia (1904 edition), Article, "Calendar" "The first appearance of the new moon determines the beginning of the month . . . . It may, therefore happen that in different places the reappearance of the moon is noticed on different days. In order to prevent possible confusion, to the central religious authority, the chief of the Sanhedrin, in conjunction with at least two colleagues, was entrusted with the determination of new moon day for the whole nation. "Although the Jewish calendar was thus regulated by direct observation, the members of the court seem to have been in possession of a recognized system, called 'Sod ha-Ibbur' [secret of the calendar intercalation] . . . which enabled them to test the accuracy of the evidence of the eye-witnesses . . . . There were times of persecution when the president and the Sanhedrin could not exercise their authority; times of trouble and war when neither witnesses nor messengers could travel in safety. On such occasions calculation had to be relied upon. The substitution of calculation for observation became gradually permanent, helping to maintain the religious unity of the nation, and insuring the uniform celebration of the 'seasons of the Lord,' independently of the vicissitudes of the times as well as of the distance of Jewish settlements from Palestine. A permanent calendar, still in force, was introduced by Hillel II, nasi of the Sanhedrin about 360." Note: here are the Messiah's comments about the validity of the Jewish Sanhedrin: "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not," Matthew 23:2-3. Encyclopedia Judaica, Article "Calendar" "According to a tradition quoted in the name of Hai Gaon (d. 1038), the present Jewish calendar was introduced by the patriarch Hillel II [in 358/359 A.D.] . . . . This possibly only refers to the present fixed order of the seven leap years in the 19-year cycle, whose introduction would have had to be more suitable at that time than earlier to achieve the main raison d'etre of intercalation -- to prevent the lunar Nisan 16 from occurring before the day of the tekufah [equinox] in the crucial 16th year of the 19-year cycle -- on the presupposition that the tekufah of Nisan stands for the true, not the mean, vernal equinox . . . . While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II the fixing of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present fixed calendar is doubtful [because there are early indications of intercalation, even from Scripture in Ezekiel 1:1, 8:1]. " . . . the Jews 'secret of the calendar intercalation' [sod ha-ibbur] [was] jealously guarded by its experts from outsiders, both Jewish and gentile." Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Article "Calendar" "Comparatively little is known about the calendar of the early Israelites from the time of the patriarchs to the end of the period of the First Temple . . . . It is possible that an extra month was inserted (intercalated) every two or three years, as is done in the present Jewish calendar; in fact, Jewish tradition asserts that King Hezekiah (end of 8th century B.C.E.) made just such an intercalation . . . . "Up to the middle of the 4th century C.E., the Palestinian patriarchate retained the prerogative of determining the calendar, and guarded the secrets of its calculation against the attempts of the rapidly advancing communities in Babylonia to have a voice in its determination. It was not until after [false] Christianity had become dominant in the Roman Empire [under Constantine], and the Christian rulers forbade the Jewish religious leadership to proclaim leap years or to communicate with the Jews outside the empire, that it was determined to abandon the method of official proclamation of months and years and to fix the calendar in permanent form. The patriarch Hillel II, in 359, decided to publish the rules for the calculation of the calendar, so that all Jews everywhere might be able to determine for themselves and to observe the festivals on the same day. From that time on the Jewish calendar has been stabilized." The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar by Arthur Spier "This method of observation and intercalation [by the Sanhedrin] was in use throughout the period of the second temple (516 B.C.E. -- 70 C.E.), and about three centuries after its destruction, as long as there was an independent Sanhedrin. In the fourth century, however, when oppression and persecution threatened the continued existence of the Sanhedrin, the patriarch Hillel II took an extraordinary step to preserve the unity of Israel. In order to prevent the Jews scattered all over the surface of the earth from celebrating their New Moons, festivals and holidays at different times, he made public the system of calendar calculation which up to then had been a closely guarded secret. It had been used in the past only to check the observations and testimonies of witnesses, and to determine the beginnings of the spring season. "In accordance with this system, Hillel II formally sanctified all months in advance, and intercalated all future leap years until such time as a new, recognized Sanhedrin would be established in Israel. This is the permanent calendar according to which the New Moons and Festivals are calculated and celebrated today by the Jews all over the world." Did Hillel II Invent the Calculated Calendar? Based upon the historical record, it would be an absurd assertion to say that Hillel II invented the calculated calendar. A fourth century calendar invention, coming during a time of persecution of Jews, would have been the last thing Jews would have accepted. The Sabbath and Holy Days were the glue that kept Jewish faith alive through the dark ages, even through the 20th Century Nazi persecutions. On the contrary, it was Hillel II's publication of calendar rules kept secret for centuries that preserved the Hebrew calendar, and the Jewish faith, up until our day. The Solar Calendar and Jeroboam's Calendar Have you ever heard of a "solar" calendar? Modern day advocates of this calendar totally ignore moon phases. The Encyclopedia Judaica, article "Calendar" reminds us of the fact that rebel King Jeroboam of the 10-tribed northern Israel counterfeited God's true calendar, as recorded in I Kings 12:32-33. The Samaritans seem to have followed the Northern Israel calendar. The Dead Sea Qumran sect appears to have had a 364-day solar calendar. Also, the apocryphal Book of Jubilees stresses that there are exactly 52 (4 x 13) weeks, or 364 days in a year and condemns vehemently those who observe a lunar calendar with festival dates different than theirs. The "calendar God gave to Moses" was lunar AND solar. Proof of A Lunar-Solar Calendar There is proof, directly from the Bible, for a lunar-solar calendar, and that from time to time there must be 13 lunar months in a year. A lunar-solar calendar requires the month to be complete days and the year to be complete months. I Kings 4:7 and I Chronicles 27:1-15 show that normally, a year has twelve months. A passage in the Book of Ezekiel seems to show a Bible example of a 13-month year, and that the Hebrew calendar is NOT solar. Ezekiel dates his first vision as the 5th year of King Jehoichin's captivity, the fourth month, and the fifth day, Ezekiel 1:1-2. Then Ezekiel was commanded to go to the Israelite captives and speak the Eternal's words to them, Ezekiel 3:4. He sat down before them speechless for seven days, verses 15-16. In chapter four, the Eternal commanded Ezekiel to act out several prophecies. In one, he was to lie on his left side 390 days for the iniquity of Northern Israel. In another, Ezekiel was to lie on his right side 40 days for the sin of Judah. Each day represented a year of punishment. After further prophecies, Ezekiel dates the time in Ezekiel 8:1 as the sixth year, sixth month, fifth day of the month, or an elapsed period of one year and two months from chapter 1. At least 7 + 390 + 40 = 437 days, plus travel time, had to have elapsed between chapters one and eight. If Israel were keeping a solar calendar of 364-365 days, a year and two months could not have elapsed (365 + 60 = only 425 days). If there were 14 lunar months averaging 29.5 days, this would only come to 413 days! But if there were a 13th month during this year, the total would come to 443 days, enough to allow for 437 days plus a few for travel time and additional prophesying. In this one passage, a Hebrew solar calendar is disproved, and evidence is shown that some years were 13 months long. Who Invented the 19-Year Time Cycle? Some claim that a Greek named Meton invented the 19-year time cycle, and Hillel II merely copied this from the Greeks. Not so! The earth, moon and sun actually do align every nineteen years. The 19-year cycle is written in the Heavens and did not originate with the idea of a Greek scientist. Every nineteen years the Holy Days are the same as the Roman calendar date, or plus or minus 1 day (the Roman calendar has to be adjusted every four years with an added leap year day, February 29). Here is a comparison between 1967 and 1986, which are 19 years apart: 1967 1986 Passover Apr 24 (Monday) Apr 23 (Wednesday) Feast of U.B. Apr 25-May 1 Apr 24-30 Pentecost June 19 June 16 Trumpets Oct 5 Oct 4 Atonement Oct 14 Oct 13 Tabernacles Oct 19-26 Oct 18-25 Because Pentecost is calculated from the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Passover fell on different days of the week in 1967 and 1986 the date Pentecost is of more than plus or minus one day. Every 19th year from 1966-2000 that I have checked falls out with the holy days (other than Pentecost) on the same Roman calendar day, plus or minus one day. Here are our answers to some questions on the calendar: Question on the Calendar Adjustment "Would you happen to have any literature on the Jewish Calendar and the changes made in the 4th Century? Does the new month begin with the new moon, or the visible tiny crescent? It's hard for me to have confidence in the Jewish Calendar (with its changes) for the determination of Yahweh's Holy Days." D. W., Ohio COMMENT: To our knowledge, there were no "changes" in the Hebrew (it is not "Jewish") Calendar in the fourth century. A Church of God minister in St. Louis, Missouri has said, falsely, that "The modern Jewish calendar was not constructed until after 300 A.D." However, the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, article "New Moon," contradicts his statement: "It was not until the middle of the 4th cent. B.C.E. [before the Christian era] that the astronomical calculation of the new moon, which had, for along time, and up to that period, been guarded as the secret knowledge of the dynasty of the Patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] in Palestine, was made public." The 12th Century A.D. Jewish scholar, Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides, states that the rules of calendar calculation were given to Moses at Sinai. After Moses, authority for proclaiming the New Moon day was not given to everyone, but only the Council of Elders, the Court of the Sanhedrin, were responsible for proclaiming the New Moon. "The court followed a tradition transmitted by the Sages from one generation to another on the authority of Moses . . . on the basis of calculation . . . ." See: The Code of Maimonides, Book Three Treatise Eight, "Sanctification of the New Moon." Maimonides is regarded as a great Jewish scholar, second only to Ezra. He clearly and authoritatively taught that the rules governing today's Hebrew calendar were the same rules given by the Creator to Moses and the Patriarchs, and that calculation has precedence over observation. You and I do not have the authority to determine for ourselves when the month begins. People living in cloudy climates such as western Oregon couldn't see the first visible crescent most of the time anyway. Did the Almighty preserve His Sacred Calendar and other oracles through the Jews (Romans 3:2) or didn't He? The Bible does not give calendar instructions. Either we look to the Jews or we look to history and human reason. Late in the 2nd Century A.D., the Hebrew Calendar was adjusted, much like the Roman Julian calendar was adjusted by Pope Gregory several hundred years ago. The Calendar did not change, because the rules governing the Calendar necessitated an adjustment. And Calendar rules were not invented by Hillel II as some falsely claim. Because there are so many false teachers today who are ignorantly or deliberately attacking the Sacred Hebrew Calendar, many sincere people have lost confidence in what they deride as the "Jewish" calendar. Religious principles that one does not like are often referred to as "Jewish." The pagan Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire rejected the Sabbath, Holy Days and Sacred Calendar. "Let us have nothing in common with the detestable Jews" was his view. Did it ever occur to Constantine that Messiah and all the New Testament writers were Jews or Israelites? And so it is today. Many Sabbath-keepers reject the Holy Days, terming them "Jewish Feast Days." Most Sacred Name groups reject the Hebrew Calendar, terming it "Jewish." Yet believe it or not, Sacred Names groups say that the Jews preserved the proper cycle of Sabbatical Years! This is another example of the "picking and choosing" approach to Truth. Few really study an issue before drawing conclusions. I'm sure there are many who have rejected the Hebrew Calendar who haven't heard of Maimonides, the Karaites, or the 2nd Century A.D. calendar adjustment. One thing should be noted: there are many conflicting ideas about when the "visible" new moon occurs. "Support" for conflicting positions must come from historians. Someone once said that you can "prove" anything from history, and the myriad of diverse calendar beliefs certainly demonstrates this. The Sacred Hebrew Calendar, given to the Patriarchs and Moses, has continued down through the ages. Its rules make much sense, unlike the confusion of Babylon. Why Not Look to the Bible? A reader of our literature wrote us, " . . . you state that 'Maimonides is regarded as a great Jewish scholar . . . and that calculation has precedence over observation.' Also, 'Either we look to the Jews or we look to history and human reason.' Why not look to the Word of God! God states that the lights -- sun AND moon -- (Genesis 1:14, etc.) are to be for calculating time -- i.e. a calendar."J.G., Florida " . . . most of us [Yahwehists] do use the heavenly calendar (Sun, moon and stars, Gen. 1:14) which makes Passover fall on the full moon on or after the days and nights are equal [spring equinox] . . . . We do not trust the Jews as they are indoctrinated from Babylon."L.B., Indiana B.R. of Oregon asked a number of technical questions relating to the Hebrew Calendar, as to the effect of the first month and the vernal equinox, and phases of the moon at that time of the year. COMMENT: The spring equinox in A.D. 31 was on March 23. The first of Nisan or Abib is always the first new moon near the beginning of spring. It is NOT correct to state that Abib 1 is the new moon closest to the spring equinox. Abib 1, according to the Hebrew Calendar, can fall either before or after the spring equinox. Abib 14 can be up to two days before the equinox. The rule demanding Pentecost to be in the spring forces how late Passover may occur. Some who study the sacred calendar attempt to express the calendar in a one rule sentence, such as "Abib 14 is the first full moon after the spring equinox." The Sacred Hebrew Calendar cannot be expressed in a single rule. Some Sabbath keepers use this man-devised "rule," and as a result observed "Passover" around the full moon of March 25, 1986, rather than the evening preceding April 23, 1986 as we did. Others also observed March 25, but for a different "rule." These hold that Abib 1 is the new moon nearest the spring equinox. Some hold that Passover must always be after the beginning of spring. Others hold that someone in Jerusalem must observe the barley, and when it is ripe, then the preceding new moon was the beginning of the year, Abib. Still others hold that Abib 1 must always be after the vernal equinox. Truly this is a Babylon of confusion. All claim to follow the Bible yet there is a multitude of conflicting arguments from history and human reason. We will gladly offer $1,000 to anyone who can show, using the Bible only, how to determine the proper days for the Sacred Calendar. It is not there! Either the Sacred Calendar has been preserved, or we have no basis for observing the Holy Days. One of the few direct Bible statements is that the Holy Days are to be observed in their proper "seasons," Leviticus 23:4, Genesis 1:14. In attempting to be "righteous," some say that Passover can never occur before the spring equinox, that Passover must be in the spring. Nothing in the Bible says this. Those who observed "Passover" in 1986 around March 25, when the correct date was Tuesday evening April 22, in the same year observed Trumpets, Atonement, and part of Tabernacles in the summer! But "everyone" knows that these Holy Days are fall feasts, aren't they? NO! Actually, Trumpets and Atonement sometimes do occur in late summer! The Hebrew word for "seasons" is moed, and it means "an appointed time." The Eternal appoints the times for His Holy Days, not the vain imaginations of men. In the spring of 31 A.D., the preceding year was intercalary, so Adar II (which always has 29 days), began on Wednesday, March 14, 31 A.D., and ended on Wednesday April 11. April 12 was a new moon near the beginning of spring. That is why we said in our article on God's Calendar that "The first of Nisan or Abib is always the first new moon near the beginning of spring." The new moon of March 14 of 31 A.D. was nearer to the equinox than April 12. However, there is no Hebrew Calendar rule stating that Abib 1 must be the new moon nearest the spring equinox. ALL the calendar rules must come into play. There is no single rule to govern the calendar. In 1986 I heard a Church of God minister say that the reason they were keeping Passover (Lord's Supper) around March 25 and not April 23 was that they were "following the Bible" and not the Jews. I am sure this man was sincere, but he is very wrong. There is no such Biblical law. The very reason for the Quartodeciman Controversy in the early centuries of the Christian Church centered over the calendar. Quartodecimans believed in carrying on the Jewish (Hebrew) traditions and calendar. Gentiles leading the apostate church decreed that their "Easter" should fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, but always after Passover week. Eastern Orthodox Catholics follow this rule. The western, Roman Catholics deleted the reference to Passover. In 1986, the Roman Catholic Easter was on March 30, while Eastern Orthodox believers kept their Easter a month later. In rejecting the Jews (Hebrew Calendar), some Sabbath keepers today are siding with Rome. Most students of history know that the Eastern Orthodox Catholics are in some ways not as far removed from the truth as are Roman Catholics. Bible believers do not reject ALL Jewish traditions. The Messiah did not. Neither did Paul. You have a choice. Believe in a simple one line rule for the Calendar, as so many have done, by an interpretation of history. Many others choose a simple rule different than yours. OR, you can accept the Hebrew Calendar with its handful of rules, based upon historical evidence, and the Bible indication that the Jews will preserve God's oracles, Romans 3:1-2. Which will it be? You don't have to make a phone call to Jerusalem to see if the barley is ripe, or pore over astronomical data on new moons and equinoxes, or continually research ancient writings of Pharisees and Karaites arguing over the calendar. Knowing that the earth and moon are out of kilter from their original creation, and that the earth is slowing down, I can understand why there had to be rather complicated calendar rules. This is not the way it was in the beginning, and until the Almighty restores all things at the return of the Messiah, it won't be again. Not observing the Day of Atonement on a Friday or Sunday makes sense, as do the other calendar rules. That is, IF you understand how to keep the Sabbath, and how to keep the "Sabbath of Sabbaths," the Day of Atonement. Heavy food preparation and cleanup is not permitted on the Sabbath. That is why Atonement can't fall on Friday or Sunday. It is illogical on the one hand to accept the Masoretic text of the Old Testament, carefully preserved by the Jews, and on the other hand to reject the Hebrew Calendar, also carefully preserved since the days of Moses by the Jews. The Bible tells us that the calendar is lunar and solar, but the Bible does not tell us how to figure the calendar. Using the Bible ONLY, one cannot determine when to keep the Holy Days (or even the weekly Sabbath). "Jewish" Timekeeping: Both Exact and Inexact? From the record of the Jews and secular history we can determine that the weekly cycle has not been lost or destroyed. So we are confident that Saturday is the Sabbath. Likewise we can determine that the Sacred Calendar and its calculations have been preserved since the days of Moses. The "self-observable calendar" proponents claim that by individual observation, they can determine for themselves when the Holy Days occur. So there are many, many different observations and everyone does what is right in their own eyes. They deride the Jews for their unbiblical traditions, claiming to follow the Bible only. Yet these anti-Hebrew calendar proponents themselves follow the non-Biblical traditions of a minority Jewish sect, the Karaites, who nearly a millennium ago rejected the Sacred Calendar calculation rules. Observe this glaring contradiction of logic: "Yahshua the Messiah knew exactly which day was the Sabbath. Yahshua showed it to Israel in the wilderness by withholding the miracles of the manna on the Sabbath. Even though our calendar has been changed . . . it was only the monthly date that was changed, not the sequence of days in the week. "Jewish historians are very exact in their chronology. The weekly cycle has never been broken. The Jews never forgot or confused the proper Sabbath sequence through history. Their calendar shows the same seventh day as ours." Above quoted from The Sabbath, A Memorial and Promise by Assemblies of Yahweh in Messiah (now called Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah), pages 31-32. All of the above is true! However, this group believes the Hebrew calendar is mistaken as far as correct calendar days. The Jews did carefully preserve the weekly cycle. They did not sloppily foul up the new moons which determine Holy Day times. The Calendar Evolution Theory We continually receive mail attempting to "straighten us out" on our "error" regarding the Sacred Calendar. Once in a while we learn something new (to us). We are often confronted with the nauseating "calendar evolution theory." This false idea states that the Jews (correct term is Hebrews or Israelites) were ignorant savages not capable of calculating a precise calendar as did the Egyptians and Greeks. Finally, some three to four hundred years after Christ, it is believed that the Jews had qualified astronomers. Then Hillel II published a calculated calendar for the first time. The Jews' knowledge supposedly took more time to evolve than other more advanced peoples. This idea is pure hogwash. It borders on anti-Semitism. Historical research proves Abraham was a scientist. The Bible states Solomon's scientific knowledge was immense, and that the men of Issachar had knowledge of the times. One Sacred Name church leader (name withheld) sent us excerpts from James Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible in an attempt to "prove" that the Hebrew calendar is of very recent origins. Hastings evolutionary beliefs are evident in his support of "higher criticism" teaching that the Torah was written by the "P" and "Y" writers. At least Hastings was a little more honest than most who attempt to develop a "Bible Calendar." He says, "The Bible offers insufficient data for confident generalizations regarding the methods employed at various periods for measuring and indicating the passage of time." That is, Hastings correctly states that there is no Bible calendar. The "calendar evolution theory" is a spurious attempt to belittle the civilization and culture of the children of Israel and is directly contrary to the Bible. Do We Reject the Hebrew Calendar? Some say that we reject the Hebrew Calendar. They say, "You don't keep Passover on Abib 15, but on the eve (beginning) of Abib 14. You don't keep the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) on Sivan 6 as the Jews do, but on a Monday 50 days after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Therefore, you reject the Hebrew Calendar and are inconsistent." The Messiah kept His last Passover a day earlier than many Jews of His time. So do we. He did not reject the Hebrew Calendar. Neither do we. Just because today's Jews observe several false Holy Days is no reason to follow them in error. We use their calendar because it has been carefully preserved. Today's Jews are the majority of many centuries of debate over sacred times. In the business world, we must observe, take note of, track time by, the Roman calendar. That does not mean we are to keep false pagan Roman holidays such as Christmas, Easter, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. We are forced to observe the Roman calendar, but in no way to we have any part with pagan Roman holidays! The Hebrew Calendar is NOT the Holy Days. The calendar lays out the months and days of the year. The Bible does tell us when, according to this calendar, to keep the Holy Days (Trumpets is the first day of the seventh month, etc.). $1000 Offer Challenged One man wrote us claiming to satisfy our $1000 offer for any scriptures that show us how to determine the Sacred Calendar. Through study he has rejected the Vernal Equinox Theory, and now goes "simply by the new moon during green ears." Scriptures given are Exodus 12:2, 23:15, 34:18, Deuteronomy 16:1. We made the offer honestly. He made a sincere reply. But these scriptures do not tell when this man's "holy" days will occur. Exodus 12:2 states that "this month" (elsewhere proven to be Abib, which means "green ears") is the beginning of months. There is nothing here to tell us when Abib 1 occurs. Are there other months that have green ears? Green ears of what? Some think it is barley. If so, green ears of barley where? Even in Israel, barley ripens in Jericho sooner than in Jerusalem. In eastern Washington State, they grow Luther's barley. It ripens according to the growing season there. Maybe March, April or June. In Alaska, barley ripens much later. In Australia, barley ripens around September and October because seasons in the southern hemisphere are reversed from the north. There are places on the earth where barley doesn't grow. What do we do then? Look at green ears of sagebrush? Is Passover therefore to be observed locally depending upon barley or some other plant in your area? Remember, it wasn't until the Twentieth Century that we have been able to communicate instantly with Jerusalem from around the world. Exodus 23:15 and 34:18 state that Israel is to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the month Abib, when they came out of Egypt. So when is the green ears month? Does it have 29 days, 30 days or whatever? When does the Abib month start? These passages do not say. These verses are examples of the many times in the Bible when chodesh, Strong's #2320 means "month" rather than "new moon." When chodesh means "new moon" (e.g. I Chronicles 23:31), there is never a Bible definition given of how to figure the new moon. What is a new moon? Must you see it to define it? When? Standing in a valley or on a hill top? What if you miss seeing it and your neighbor sees it? He keeps one day as a holy day, and you keep another. This is utter confusion! Deuteronomy 16:1 tells us to observe the month of Abib. Not the new moon, the month. Because in the middle of Abib, on the full moon, the Eternal led Israel out of Egypt. There were green ears then, which ripened at different times in the Nile Delta versus the Sinai peninsula and elsewhere. I don't know when next year's barley green ears will appear where this man lives. He lives in a mild climate. Suppose I move next door and plant my barley seed a few weeks earlier than he does, or several months earlier in a greenhouse. My green ears will come earlier than his. I'll get the jump on Passover and keep it before he does. How absurd! Yes, we are belittling the ideas (but not the people that espouse these ridiculous concepts). Elijah belittled the prophets of Baal for their absurd actions. A Spiritual Conclusion Since the Bible doesn't spell out a calendar, nor firm guidelines how to calculate the Sacred Calendar, some observe the "new" moon, the barley, the equinox or follow James Hastings or some modern religious leader's method. And there are others who believe the Creator preserved the Calendar through the Jews just like He used them to preserve the scripture (even though they themselves don't follow it perfectly). We have perhaps spent too much time on this subject when judgment, mercy, faith and love are more important (Matthew 23:23). Judaism since the destruction of the Temple has been dominated by Phariseeism. The Master made this definitive statement [our comments in brackets]: The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat [of authority]: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe [compare with Hebrew word shamar, #8104, used in Deuteronomy 16:1 to observe the month of Abib], that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not [they set out the correct calendar, yet they don't follow the Bible instructions of when to correctly observe Passover and Pentecost; they have preserved the weekly cycle yet often ignore the Holy Sabbath day]. Modern Karaites rebel against the scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat of authority. They falsely claim to have Biblical authority for their calendar. Karaites have always been schismatics. They must be exposed. After a thorough analysis of the evidence from a multitude of sources, the only valid spiritual conclusion is that the Hebrew Calendar is valid for us today.ê Review: The Calendar God Gave to Moses The Calendar God Didn't Give to Moses Of all the arguments against the modern Jewish (Hebrew) calendar, the one most cited by Messianic Sabbath-keeping, Holy Day keeping groups is the study paper, "The Calendar God Gave to Moses" by Herbert Solinsky and Rob Anderson. Mr. Solinsky is the major author, and was a member of the Worldwide Church of God, which does not agree with his conclusions. This "scholarly" work has been given wide publicity by a number of groups, who claim that it gives proof we are not to follow the modern Jewish calendar. The paper says "Jewish scholars are certainly aware of the fact that the current Jewish calendar differs from the calendar God gave to Moses." Only four "proofs" are given. Three of them are citations from those who disagree with the calendar. Jewish scholars have always argued among themselves. The fourth "proof" is the fact that the Jewish year is 6.553 minutes longer than the actual solar year. This is no proof at all, because the earth has slowed in its rotation since the time of Moses. All calendars have to be adjusted from time to time, even the modern Gregorian calendar used throughout the Western world. This "scholarly" work presupposes the "fact" that today's Jewish calendar is a different calendar than the one God gave to Moses. Throughout, there is a total lack of admission of the fact that the calendar was adjusted (intercalary years changed) in the 2nd Century, A.D. and that this adjustment was proper and necessary. There is no admission that Pentecost must be in the spring, which was the reason why the calendar adjustment was necessary. There is also a total lack of understanding of Exodus 12:15-16 which shows that food preparation is limited only to the Unleavened Bread Holy Days, as we have shown. Visual Calendar Is an Impossibility! Chapter One of the paper gives a lesson in the astronomy of the sun, earth and moon. If azimuths and syzygies and other complex astronomical concepts can be made simple, they sure aren't in this lengthy chapter. It is almost as if the authors purposely attempted to write in unplain, technically-oriented language. I'd be surprised if 10% of the people who read this paper really gain a good grasp of what it says. Page eight is most revealing. The new moon conjunction (molad) is when the earth is between the moon and the sun. "When the [astronomical] new moon [molad] occurs, it is invisible; however, the time of invisibility of the moon usually lasts from one to three nights, so without measurements and calculations, it is not possible to accurately determine the new moon." Likewise, the full moon looks like a full circle for at least two nights, so knowing the precise time of the full moon does not determine the day of the visible new crescent. The major goal of the paper is to show that the Bible does contain enough information to visually determine the calendar. However, the paper shows that observation alone is not enough to determine the calendar. Complex calculations and measurements are necessary! The new moon after the vernal (spring) equinox is held to be the key factor in determining the Bible calendar. This equinox can vary from March 19 to March 21 on our Gregorian calendar. German astronomer Karl Schoch developed a table whereby one can calculate when the new moon could be observed, depending on where he is located on the earth. Solinsky recommends a "most accurate method" to determine the visibility of the new moon by using a computer program to determine the altitude and azimuth difference from Schoch's Table. "Even when limiting one's attention to Jerusalem, a simple rule involving required time from the new moon to sunset is not possible," (page 29). The calendar God gave to Moses, this paper says, is based upon human observation, but without a highly accurate mathematical model of the solar system, future biblical dates cannot be predicted to the exact day. Thanks to the computer, Solinsky says, we can do this today! (page 56). As a computer professional, I am well aware of the law, "garbage in, garbage out"! Poor Moses didn't have a computer! Far from showing a simple Bible calendar that could be followed by someone stranded on a desert island, this study paper proves that a "self-observable calendar" is not possible. Why should I rely on this man's computer program based upon his faulty logic? NEAR a Tkufah The Hebrew word moed means "appointed time," not astronomical "seasons" as some incorrectly state. The King James Version incorrectly translates Leviticus 23:4, "the feasts of the LORD . . . in their seasons." We agree with Solinsky on this point. Again, it is correctly stated that the Feast of Ingathering is the same as the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) and that Exodus 34:22 is literally translated "the Feast of Ingathering [near] tkufah [the autumnal equinox of the year]." The Hebrew word tkufah refers to an equinox, either spring or fall. Solinsky admits that there are no scriptural uses of tkufah referring to the Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread period. But it is obvious that the spring equinox is six months prior to the fall equinox (September 21-24 on our Gregorian calendar), and therefore since Tabernacles is near the fall equinox, then Passover/ Unleavened Bread is NEAR the spring equinox. So far, so good. Then, without any scriptural or logical basis, Solinsky concludes that Exodus 12:2 really means (although this is not the literal translation), "This [visible] new crescent [which is on or first after the day of the vernal equinox, is] chief of [visible] new crescents to you; it [is] first among [visible] new crescents of the year to you," (page 51, comments by Solinsky). The reason given (page 52) for this interpretation of Scripture is that this is "a simple, natural, aesthetically satisfying, visually observable method . . . for determining the first month." Of course, with the aid of a sophisticated computer program. How is the transition accomplished? Tabernacles is held (correctly) to be "near" the fall equinox. Moed does not mean astronomical season. But Abib 1 must be AFTER the spring equinox? Where is the proof? Certainly not in the 84-page paper entitled "The Calendar God Gave to Moses." There is no scripture that even mentions Abib 1 (new moon of first month) or Abib 14 (Passover) in relation to the tkufah, or equinox. There is absolutely no proof given that Abib 1 must be AFTER the spring equinox. Observing the spring equinox is no more exact, without sophisticated computer calculations, than the first visible new moon. This calendar method satisfies many who dislike the (ugh) "Jewish" calendar. Hence, following this study paper, the Church of God, Evangelistic Association of Missouri, says it's easy to determine Passover and other Holy Day dates: (1) Find the time of the vernal equinox, (2) find the first visible new moon AFTER that, and (3) Passover is the 14th day of that "month." Here is a brief quote from their March 1983 Newswatch magazine, page 34: The Passover is never to occur except in the springtime. The first day of the new year is to be the first new crescent after the vernal equinox that begins spring. The Jewish historian, Josephus . . . held that the Passover was always a Springtime feast (Antiquities, Book III, X, 5). Philo Judaeus, in Ten Festivals, Ch. XI, stated the Passover occurred AFTER the Spring Equinox. Notice carefully the above quotation. It has four sentences. Sentences 3 and 4 support sentence 1. Sentence 2 is NOT supported! Neither the Missouri church nor Solinsky give any proof that the first day of the new year is the first new crescent AFTER the spring equinox. The statements of Josephus and Philo are correct for what WAS true prior to the 2nd Century Calendar adjustment. Before the adjustment, Passover was always in the Spring. It is now. But in the first couple of hundred years after the adjustment, Passover was before spring. In every case, Nisan 16 (the earliest possible date for Wavesheaf Day) has always been in the spring. The Newswatch quote shows a totally dishonest use of historical "proofs." I Samuel 20 and the New Moon Solinsky and Anderson's paper extensively uses I Samuel 20. David had to hide from King Saul who was trying to kill him. He told his friend Jonathan in verse 5-7: "to morrow 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 until the third day at even. If thy father [Saul] at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family." It was the day before the Day of Trumpets. King Saul, according to custom had a feast day for two days, Trumpets and the day after. Verse 18 shows that Jonathan also knew that "tomorrow is the new moon." Not a day to wait for observers to confirm the sighting of the new moon for it to be proclaimed. But it was definitely the new moon! Verse 24, "when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat." Saul noticed David was absent, but didn't say anything that day, assuming he was unclean. Verse 27, "And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month . . . ." This time Saul asked Jonathan why David wasn't there, and became angry with Jonathan's answer. The phrase "the second day of the month" in the KJV, is translated from the Hebrew ha chodesh ha shaynee. Solinsky points to the Interlinear Bible which literally renders this as "the new moon second." So he concludes that the 30th and 31st days of each month were set aside for observation of the new moon, since there were two possible days on which the crescent could first be seen if weather conditions were favorable. Further, he maintains that the Israelites were at this time not capable of calculating the exact day of the visible new crescent. Certainly not by Solinsky's method, because that requires a FORTRAN computer program! There is no Bible indication that there was doubt which day was the new moon. David and Jonathan both said it was tomorrow, which verse 6 clearly shows was the Holy Day of Trumpets. The prophet Samuel, who wrote I Samuel in verse 24 said it was the new moon. Why is Solinsky unsure of when was the new moon? Chodesh can either mean "new moon" or "month." Solinsky himself admits this on pages 36 and 38. He shows that chodesh means "month" in Genesis 29:14, Numbers 10:11, I Kings 5:14, while in II Kings 4:23, Ezekiel 46:3, Hosea 2:11, Amos 8:5, chodesh means "new moon." The question is, what does chodesh mean in I Samuel 20:27? Solinsky reveals deceptiveness in his vain attempt to "prove" there were two new moon days, since he feels Israel was unsure as to when the new moon day was, lacking sophisticated methods of calculation. Here is why Solinsky is wrong: (1) David, Jonathan and Samuel were positive as to when the new moon day was, in advance. (2) Solinsky doesn't quote I Samuel 20:27 in context. Before the phrase ha chodesh ha shaynee is the word mi-mohorat, which means "on the day after" (Green's Interlinear). "On the day after the [new] moon the second" is the literal Hebrew. Even if chodesh here should be translated new moon, the sentence still means, as Green's margin shows, "on the next day (of) the new moon." That is, the second day of the month. If Saul and his court were waiting for reliable witnesses to confirm the sighting of the visible new crescent, why would there definitely be two days of feasting if witnesses confirmed the first day as the new moon? There was no confirmation necessary. It took three days to travel from Jerusalem to northern Israel. There wasn't time to let others know when the first new moon was visually sighted. Calculation had to have been in force even in the early days of Israel, or they could not have kept the Holy Days! Yet Solinsky tells us that the "primitive" Israelites weren't intelligent enough to properly calculate the calendar! (3) Numbers 10:11 uses a similar phrase to that of I Samuel 20:27. The Hebrew there is ba-chodesh ha-shaynee, meaning "in month the second," or "in the second month." The structure of I Samuel 20:27 demands a translation "the second day of the month." Is the Barley Ripe? Solinsky correctly concludes that "The Bible does not define a precise relationship between the barley and the first month called Abib," (page 49). Abib or Ahveev in the Hebrew means "green (implying young and tender) ears (of barley)." In Israel, barley is planted in the late fall, around November. Today, the barley harvest in mountainous areas of Palestine begins in the middle of May, while on the hot coastal plains near Jericho, it begins in April. Of the Biblical uses of ahveev, twice (Exodus 9:31 and Leviticus 2:14) it refers to ears of barley, and six times it refers to the name of the first month (Exodus 13:4, 23:15, 34:18 twice, and Deuteronomy 16:1 twice. Solinsky gives seven reasons why the barley harvest is not proper key to determining the first month. (1) He says that Leviticus 23:10-14 restricts using the new crop for food before the wave sheaf offering, but does not prohibit harvesting and storing the crop before the ceremony. This is not true. Exodus 22:29 is a statute showing that one is not to delay offering firstfruits. One could not go out and harvest, and then weeks later come and offer a wave sheaf offering. There is not a precise relationship between the barley harvest and the first of Abib. True! Just like there is not a precise relationship between the spring equinox and the first of Abib! Why not be consistent in logic? (2) Barley ripens at different times in the various parts of Palestine, as much as 50 days difference due to regional differences. (3) Solinsky says that the Bible is not clear on whether the barley is to be ripe on the first of the month or on the wave sheaf offering day. True. But he fails to mention that the Bible does not say whether or not the barley has to be ripe for the wave sheaf offering! Abib means "green, tender ears." Go out into a field of wheat or barley sometime. Grab some husks and chew them, like the Messiah did when he walked around Palestine. If they are green, they are soft and chewy. If they are ripe, they are hard and more dry. The month of green ears of barley is Abib, not the month of dry, uniformly ripe ears! Carl O'Beirn, former Worldwide Church of God minister of Cleveland, Ohio, left that church about the year 1970 over the issue of the calendar. His main point was that the barley must be RIPE, or the first month is postponed. He had an "official observer" in Palestine to report on the barley harvest. O'Beirn insisted that the "meat (cereal) offering" of Leviticus 23:13 was of the new produce of the land, failing to mention that the drink offering of the last part of the verse is of wine (obviously from the last fall or earlier grape harvest). O'Beirn's Holy Days are generally a month later than the Hebrew calendar. Let's test O'Beirn's "ripe barley" theory. What happens in the seventh sabbatical year, or the jubilee year, when no barley is sown at all? Do we cancel the Holy Days those years? Obviously not, but there isn't any barley, ripe or not, to examine! What about Deuteronomy 16:13? "Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine." Do you mean that you have to postpone the Feast of Tabernacles if all the crops are not harvested? But I broke my plow, we had a late summer, the grapes were late this year! No wonder the Rabbanites teased the Karaites, with the pitifully weak Karaite arguments presented by such as O'Beirn! (4) The fourth reason given by Solinsky why the barley cannot be the key to calendar determination is that Genesis 8:4, 13-15 show that Noah could determine the first month without ever leaving the ark. No need to observe the barley crop. (5) Genesis 1:14 show that the sun and moon, not the barley, determines the holy day seasons. (6) During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Israel didn't have barley crops to examine, yet they knew when Passover was, Numbers 9. (7) Barley harvest determination leads to conflicts and disputes, whereas (Solinsky's) calculated method with his computer is "more objective." Yes, the barley harvest is not the sole determining factor for determining the first new moon, nor Passover. And neither is the vernal equinox, nor Solinsky's computer program. Future Intercalary Cycle Change Necessary Mr. Solinsky is worried about the 6.553 minute per year "error" in the Hebrew calendar. He says that "No authoritative writing on the Jewish [sic.] calendar exists that reveals a provision in its rules to allow a change in its intercalary year sequence," (page 59). This is not true. Both the Jewish Encyclopedia and Spier's Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar discuss the five centuries future adjustment. Spier says it will be the task of a new Sanhedrin to make a decision as to when and how the calendar should be adjusted. The date of the crucifixion of the Messiah, Wednesday April 25, 31 A.D., demonstrates that a different set of intercalary years was in effect at the time (before the 2nd Century A.D. adjustment). Contrary to Solinsky's paper "The Calendar God Gave to Moses," this fact proves that the 19-Year intercalary cycle was being followed, and that it makes since. Our Savior criticized the Scribes and Pharisees on many issues, but never on the calendar calculations. Herbert Solinsky and Rob Anderson's paper, "The Calendar God Gave to Moses," is a poor job of fake scholarship. It has deceived some who are set to form their own independent church groups. Remember what Zvi Ankori said in his book on the Karaites: (1) Karaites are themselves unsure of their position, and (2) Calendar differences are a crucial element in the sect-forming processes, a reason for separation from another institution or group. These two character weaknesses are very much evident in "modern Karaites." Solinsky has proven that a "self-observable calendar" is not possible. Calculation is necessary. Why not follow the rules sanctified by the Sanhedrin? This is the TRUE "Calendar God Gave to Moses."ê