Category: Abib

The Math of Passover & Unleavened Bread

Some time ago, a popular Sacred Name group published a list titled “10 Key Passover Facts,” found in their Jan-Feb 2018 magazine.

We will address Fact #5, which reads:

While leavening is not prohibited on Passover day, Abib 14, it is disallowed with the Passover memorial, Exodus 12:8. The Passover is a time of removing leavening in preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows.

Modified Version
For many, this would seem to be a reasonable statement because it reflects the present-day acceptance, by most, of a modified version of the Hasidic/Pharisaic practice of Passover and Unleavened Bread, which encompasses the dates of Abib 14-21 and results in an observance consisting of 8 days. Continue reading “The Math of Passover & Unleavened Bread” →

Beginning the New Year – Part 2

In our previous discussion, Beginning the New Year – Pt. 1, we addressed the issue of the Hebrew terms תקופה (tequphah) and תקופת (tequphath).

We learned that a tequphah is a solar event and is a point in time that could be an equinox or a solstice.

It was also recognized that a tequphath represents a season of the solar year. The two seasons for calculating Festival Days being spring-summer and autumn-winter.

With this in mind we will continue in Part 2 with an examination of the Festival of Tabernacles and the Festival of Ingathering. What we will discover is how they both relate to the determination of the scriptural New Year.

Khag of Tabernacles
We must next be cognizant of the difference between the use of the labels “the Khag (Festival) of Ingathering” and “the Khag of Tabernacles,” the latter forming only a part of the former. The instructions from Deuteronomy and Leviticus for the seven-day Khag of Tabernacles state:

Continue reading “Beginning the New Year – Part 2” →

Beginning the New Year – Part 1


When all of the window dressing is removed, we discover that the entire issue about when to begin the year rests with the instructions regarding the Khag of Ingathering and its tequphath (season of the year).

Preliminary Statement
The late Jews tell of four תקופת (tequphath) of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), each calculated as a period following one of the days of a תקופה (tequphah): the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice.1

It is also important for us not to confuse the occurrence of a tequphah (i.e., equinox or solstice) with the season (tequphath) although the same word is sometimes used in common speech for both.

To begin with, a tequphah (equinox or solstice), as spoken of by Scriptures, is a solar event, marking a point of passage of the earth around the sun. It represents a day wherein one of two visual effects occur.

1. A solstice day is a day when the sun, as seen along the earth’s horizon, reaches its furthest point of rising or setting either on the north or south.

2. On the day of an equinox, on the other hand, the rising and setting of the sun lies on the horizon precisely in the middle between the two solstice points. As a consequence, the length of the periods of daytime and nighttime on that day of the equinox are almost exactly equivalent.

The Tequphath
The Hebrew word תקופת (tequphath)—various transliterated as tekufath, tequfoth, tequfath, and so forth—is a form of the term תקופה (tequphah)—tekufah, tequfah, and so forth. Tequphah is itself derived from the word קופ (quph), meaning to, “go round.”2 The term תקופה (tequphah) more precisely means, “a revolution, i.e. (of the sun) course, (of time) lapse:—circuit, come about, end”;3 a “circuit,”4 “orbit of the sun . . . circle of the year.”5

Continue reading “Beginning the New Year – Part 1” →

The Abib and Barley Error – Part 2

In Part 2 of our discussion, we will delve deeper into the Pharisaic influence on many followers of Yahweh regarding the practice of considering the maturity of barley to determine the month of Abib and the scriptural New Year.

Picking up from where we left off in Part 1, the month-name ha-Abib was next connected by the Pharisees with the day of the omer wave offering. An עמר (omer) is a dry measure or gathering of “newly cut grain,”32 as in “a heap.”33

Omer Wave Offering
The omer wave offering of newly cut grain was a requirement under the Torah of Moses as a gift to Yahweh, being the first-fruits  from each year’s harvest. The offering occurs in the spring at the time of Unleavened Bread and is directly connected with the Promised Land. This offering is described in detail by the book of Leviticus.

When you come into the land (of Promise) which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have brought in this omer, the beginning (first-fruits) of your harvest, to the priest, then he will wave this omer before Yahweh for your acceptance. On the day after the Sabbath the priest will wave it. (Lev. 23:9-11)

Technically, the instructions from Scriptures do not specifically mention which first-fruits from which harvest. It only indicates in a subsequent passage that the Israelites were not permitted to eat bread, קלי (qali; roasted whole grains),34 or כרמל (karmel; fruits and produce)—all indicating a variety of produce—derived from the new year’s crops until after the omer wave offering had been made.35

Continue reading “The Abib and Barley Error – Part 2” →

The Abib and Barley Error – Part 1

As springtime approaches that same old controversy rears its ugly head once again among the many followers of Yahweh concerning the beginning of the New Year.

Several questions that are usually brought forward by those concerned regarding the New Year are:

• What is the definition of a scriptural New Moon?

• Is a visible crescent of the moon required to begin the month?

• From what location does one need to determine the New Moon?

• Does one use the spring equinox to determine the month of Abib?

• Does one only use the “green ears of barley” formula for the month of Abib?

• Can one use only calculations for the New Moons?

• Does one use both the spring equinox and barley for the month of Abib?

• What group today has Yahweh’s truth and authority to proclaim and sanctify the true New Year?

• Can we rely on the current Jewish Calendar for the correct dates?

As you can surmise, there can exist much confusion as one tries to sort out the actual truth of the matter.

In previous articles, we have already discussed the issues of visible new moons and calculations as they relate to Yahweh’s sacred calendar.

In this particular discussion, we will address the validity of the so-called requirement of “green ears of barley” to determine the month of Abib and the beginning of Yahweh’s New Year.

Continue reading “The Abib and Barley Error – Part 1” →

Passover & Water Baptism – Pt. 1

Prior to the observance of Passover during our present time, there frequently emerges a serious quest by some newer followers of Yahweh to experience a proper and valid water baptism.

The reason being that the majority of Sacred Name groups of today assert that in order for a person to partake of the Passover meal or emblems they must have undergone a mandatory water baptism in the proper name of the messiah.

It is also maintained by most of these groups that before the death of Yahushua the messiah, in order to partake of the Passover meal, all men had to be fleshly circumcised.

Different Passover Systems
We must first admit to a basic difference in the opinion about Passover. To begin with, many are often unaware that there were several different Passover systems practiced by the ancient Jews.

Continue reading “Passover & Water Baptism – Pt. 1” →

Sabbath Year – Abib or Tishri?

This article is intended for all those who recognize the validity of observing the Sabbath and Jubilee years per the instructions from Scriptures.

It just so happens that many people believe that a Sabbath year begins on the Day of Atonement during the 7th month of Tishri, the autumn of the year, extending up until Tishri of the following year.

Interestingly, these same people readily admit that Scriptures explicitly state that Yahweh’s sacred year begins during the 1st month on Abib 1, which occurs at springtime.

The justification for this anomaly is the claim that Scriptures indicate a different beginning of the year for the Sabbath years other than Abib 1. As stated earlier, they believe that Scriptures reveal a different year system for Sabbath years and Jubilee years in that they would begin on Tishri 10 of the 7th month. Continue reading “Sabbath Year – Abib or Tishri?” →

39. Passover-Abib 14 is a Festival Day!

It is abundantly clear that an overwhelming amount of evidence supports the 7-day observance of Passover and Unleavened Bread being Abib 14-20. Also, this study will demonstrate that this was the practice of Yahushua the messiah, and the early assemblies who later were referred to as Quartodecimans. (System A)

Nevertheless, many would stubbornly disagree with this conclusion in the face of the facts and continue with a modified form of the Pharisaic/Hasidic practice (System B). This newer modified form would have an 8-day observance of eating unleavened bread from Abib 14-21 (System G).

Continue reading “39. Passover-Abib 14 is a Festival Day!” →