Tag: New Year

Rules for the New Moon

Many followers of Yahweh recognize the importance of correctly observing Yahweh’s sacred calendar.

At the same time, there seems to presently exist some confusion regarding the determination of a scriptural month and year.

We know that Abraham was justified to receive the Promised Land “because Abraham obeyed my (Yahweh’s) voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, MY STATUTES, and my laws.” (Gen. 26:5)

The observance of Yahweh’s Festival Days is a STATUTE that Abraham would have kept as a requirement for justification to achieve salvation and eternal life.

One would also have to conclude that Abraham did, in fact, observe the Festival Days correctly. Otherwise, he would have failed to keep them and Yahweh would not have justified him.

During our present time, if one is in error regarding Yahweh’s sacred calendar, it follows that one is not properly keeping Yahweh’s statutes and, therefore, would fall short of Yahweh’s commands. Continue reading “Rules for the New Moon” →

Beginning the New Year – Part 2

moon3In 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


moon3When 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 1

barleyAs 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” →

New Year’s Day Dilemma

Because of the wide range of opinions prevailing among the various followers of Yahweh there seems to be no unified consensus regarding the truth as how to determine the beginning of the scriptural new year.

At the same time, all claim to possess the truth of the matter while insisting that they have derived their conclusions directly from Scriptures.

What we are left with are two possibilities:

1. One conclusion is correct.
2. All conclusions are wrong.

For the sake of simplicity let us proceed with the possibility that all are wrong. All we are trying to do is clear away the confusion to get at the heart of the matter. Once we are finished only Yahweh’s truth should prevail.

Continue reading “New Year’s Day Dilemma” →