Category Archives: Feasts

The Fatal Flaws of the “Zadok Priestly/Enoch Calendar”

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By Nathan Lawrence (not fully edited notes)

This is a lengthy, deep dive into the so-called Zadok Priestly/Enoch/Qumran/Dead Seas Scrolls Calendar as opposed to the traditional visible crescent new moon/abib barley calendar that was extant in the second temple era and during the time of Yeshua and his followers. This is a detailed, technical and somewhat tedious read. If you are not inclined to slog your way through this, I suggest that you scroll down to the end and read my concluding overview comments.

(If you encounter typos in this article—and you will—please email me at hoshanarabbah@earthlink.net, so I can make corrections! Thank you.)

Division and Strife Within the Messianic, Hebraic Roots Movement

New winds of doctrine and earl tickling teachings are perpetually blowing through the Hebraic roots movement. I refer to it as “The Flavor of the Month Club. A few examples of this include: the lunar Sabbath, following rabbinic Judaism, the flat earth, new calendars, plural marriage or polygamy, unorthodox Bible translations, sacred names cults to name a few.

It seems that many people including some Bible teachers are ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 3:7). One minute they are championing this new doctrine (and peddling their merchandise to promote it and gaining a following), then the next minute they are promoting some new doctrine and their money grubbing gig repeats itself.

Sadly, the Hebraic roots movement lacks true scholars or those who have learned critical thinking skills, the rules of biblical interpretation or hermeneutics and exegesis which are based the science of logic. Thus, the movement is full of many unskilled teachers who teach errant doctrines and proffer false information. Buyers beware!

Add to the unskilled teacher the many self-appointed Bible “experts” and “teachers” who have neither been mentored by or are who are accountable to anyone including spiritual elders, who are more likely to possess knowledge, wisdom and understanding and can help mentor and raise up the newbies.

On top of all of this, enter the internet where anyone can get up and say anything no matter how inaccurate, whacky or off-the-wall ridiculous and gain a following especially if what they are saying is well-packaged and marketed. A good package can make even unkosher treif look appealing, tantalizing and palatable.

In Matthew 24, Yeshua warned us against false teachers, prophets and those who claim to be anointed (little messiahs, if you will). Even the very elect could be deceived (Matt 24:24 cp. 2 Pet 2:1–3)!

How to Examine New Information

I went into this study open-minded. What can I learn? Honestly, I knew very little about the so-called Zadok priesthood, the Qumran community, the Essenes and the my understanding of the teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) was rudimentary at best. When examining new knowledge, we must be careful to guard against bias confirmation—that is, looking only to information that confirms our preconceived notions or our current deeply held beliefs about something. Maintaining objectivity and keeping an open mind is essential if one is searching for truth. We must let the facts speak for themselves (in hermeneutics referred to as exegesis) as opposed to reading into the facts our own interpretations and biases (eisegesis).

A Picture Quickly Began to Form Regarding Zadok Priestly or Enoch Calendar 

The more I listened to the proponents of the so-called Zadok calendar, the more I realized that their arguments are fundamentally flawed. A house may look beautiful, but if it is built on a foundation of sand or straw, no matter how wonderful the superstructure may look, it will fall down. I soon discovered, and it is easy to see, that the arguments for the Zadok calendar are built on a foundation of sand or straw. The advocates of the Zadok calendar make many gross and misleading assumptions at the outset and then build their case from that point onward. That is like saying that 2 + 2 = 5, and then building a system of mathematics on that premise. No matter how elaborate and sophisticated that system may look, it is still predicated upon a false premise and is thus erroneous and irrelevant. This is the case with the Zadok calendar.

Don’t Be So Open Minded That Your Brains Fall Out!

There is no doubt that many people who are teaching, promoting and following the Zadok calendar are well meaning and zealous truth seekers. Their heart is intent on serving YHVH Elohim and rediscovering biblical truths that have been lost over time or purposely hidden by Christian and Jewish religious systems. But as we search for truth, we must make certain to get our facts straight before moving into a new belief system, so that we do not repeat the errors of the past. Stay open minded in the search for truth, but keep your wits about you. We can’t be so open minded that our brains fall out and we end up unwittingly following a false teaching.

In recent times, past erroneous belief systems have fallen away as our understanding of Bible truth has been ungraded as we return to the truths of our biblical and Hebraic roots. The problem is that some people are ever learning and never coming to the truth. As soon as a new “truth” comes on the scene, too many people jump on the band wagon of that new doctrine. It was a problem in the first century, and it is a problem now. Sadly, there is always a bevy of well-meaning but misguided teachers, as well as just plain false and greedy peddlers who are all too willing to take people’s money as they promote their new teachings. The Bible warns us against these folks. Therefore and ultimately, it is the duty and responsibility of each Bible student to roll up his or her sleeves and to prove who is right or wrong based on what the Bible says. When you buy an automobile or house, do you just blindly take the seller’s word for it that all is good, or do you investigate, ask questions, and even seek the help of impartial experts to determine if what you are about to purchase is in good condition and is all that it is represented to be? To wit, the Bible instructs us to rightly divide the word of Elohim, to be good Bereans and see if what we are being told lines up with the Scriptures or not, and to prove all things and to hold fast to that which is good. There are no short cuts in this process. It requires hard work and much effort.

Does the Bible or Nonbiblical Sources Determine Truth?

A big question each person has to ask themselves when determining spiritual truth is whether they are going to rely primarily or foundationally on the Bible or on primarily on secular sources. I have no problem with looking to reputable, secular or extra-biblical sources for background information that supports what the Bible says. However, there is a problem when we look to extra-biblical sources as our primary source of truth, and then reach back into the Bible and cherry pick verses therefrom to confirm what the secular sources are saying. This is exactly what mainstream Christian theologians and Bible teachers have been doing since the time of the early church fathers in their efforts to disprove the seventh day Sabbath, the biblical feasts, the biblical dietary laws and YHVH’s Torah-law in general. Let’s not repeat their mistakes and up with the tangles web of truth and error that characterizes modern Christian theology.

Beware of Sectarianism and Exclusivism Which Can Lead to Cultism

Everyone wants to feel special like they have something that no one else has, and that they have an inside track on the truth, are part of an exclusive group that has secret knowledge. Because of this, people can be led to believe that htey a special relationship with Elohim that no one else has. But being part of an exclusive group is dangerous when what we believe is not based on Bible truth, especially if we are following a personality who is promoting this hidden truth. This can even become a form of neo-gnosticism. This is how cults get started.

Nathan’s Analysis of Claims Made By Proponents of the Zadok Calendar

In response to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCXV76e8dgE&list=PLdoqNkN5ekbjKOCFdQTL7o7hIahXOsLiC&index=6 (a teaching by from two of Eddie Chumney’s disciples speaking in their local congregation)

The claim is made that the term rosh chodesh is found only three times in the Bible and is not proof that the new month begins at the sighting of the new moon. This is a specious argument and is proof of nothing. The Torah says that a matter must be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. The Hebrew word chodesh meaning “new moon” is found 279 times in the OT.

The claim is made that Exod 12:2 does not specifically state this will be the first day of the month or new year. However, it is implied that this is the case since in verse two we read that on the tenth of the month the lamb is separated out for Passover. Day ten makes no sense, unless we are counting from day one of this month, which is implied in verse two. The Scriptures imply many things that are not explicitly spelled out or stated in black and white but the context clearly indicates a fact (e.g., Nadab and Abihu were drunk, do not light a fire on Shabbat if it is a work related fire). Interestingly, of these three verses, the Dead Seas Scrolls Bible reads the same as the Masoretic Text.

Their claim is true that the Zadok priesthood is the true priestly lineage with YHVH’s authority to judge in controversial matters regarding Torah (Ezek 44:24 cp. Deut 17:8–13), but this does not imply that all of the Essenes were Zadokites, that everything that the Essenes taught was exactly true to Scripture, or that everything that the Pharisees and Sadducees taught was unscriptural. That is like saying that everything that mainstream Christianity teaches is unscriptural. It is not. To say it is would be an ignorant lie.

The assumption is made that many of Yeshua’s were Nazarenes (and thus members of the Qumran community or Essenes including Mary and Martha). There is zero biblical proof of this. For example, if Zechariah, the father of John, was a Nazarene, then how could he continue to officiate as a priest in the temple under the Sadducean system?

It is assumed, without biblical proof that John was a Nazarene and an Essene.

Supposedly, Yeshua was an Essene based on the etymology of the word Nazarene, which goes back to the Hebrew word branch, which is one of the terms the Qumran community applied to themselves. Isn’t that like saying that because the word law appears in my last name Lawrence, that must mean that I am a law-yer? Also, the Book of Acts refers to the early believers as being of The Way, which was also an Essene term. That’s like saying that because I call myself a Christian, that is proof that I am a Roman Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant or some other type Christian you want to name. This may or may not be true.

The following is from my Bible commentary:

Matthew 2:23, Nazaret…Nazarene. (Cp. Acts 24:5). Nazareth means “the guarded one” (G3478). The name Nazareth is not found in the OT. The closest word similar to it is naziyr (or nazarite, H5139) meaning “one who is consecrated, devoted.” Naziyr derives from nazar (H5144) meaning “to dedicate, consecrate, separate, to keep sacredly separate.” The appellation “the sect of the Nazarenes” was applied to the early redeemed Israelite believers in Acts 24:5 by their enemies.

There is debate among some Bible students about whether the word Nazarene derives from Nazareth. The fact that Matthew juxtaposes the two words in a form of literary parallelism indicates that he saw some etymological, spiritual or prophetic connection between them. 

There is no Old Testament prophecy declaring that the Messiah will come from Nazareth or will be called a Nazarene, nor does any known apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text include such a statement. So to what prophecy is Matthew referring? He may be making a wordplay on the similarities between the Hebrew words Nazarene and netzer meaning “branch” as it relates to the Messianic title in Isaiah (Isa 11:1 cp. Isa 53:2) (Commentary on the NT on the OT, p. 11 by Beale and Carson). Keener mentions other Old Testament prophets that likened Messiah to a tree branch (or scion from Judah), although they do not use the Hebrew word netzer in their prophecies(Jer 23:5; Zech 3:8; 6:12) (The IVP Bible Background Commentary—New Testament, p. 51, by Craig S. Keener).

Chumney quotes Dr. Robert Shriner from his book,Yeshua—He Will Be Called a Nazarene, who says that Matthew (Matt 2:23) is not linking Yeshua to the town of Nazareth (based on linguistics) but is connecting him rather to the sect of the Nazarenes or Essenes. This is further confirmed in Acts 24:5 where Paul is linked with the sect of the Nazarenes (or Essenes). This apparently is positive proof that Yeshua and Paul were connected spiritually to the Essenes. The same scholar asserts that some verses in the NT where the word Nazarene is found associates Yeshua with the town of Nazareth, while others associate him with the Essenes. Both the words Nazarene and of Nazareth are the Greek words (G3480, found 18 times in the NT), while the word Nazareth (G3478) is different, though related. Shriner maintains that the phrase of Nazereth is referring to the Essenes, since if it were referring to being an inhabitant of Nazareth, it would be a different Greek word. Chumney then relates Yeshua being an Essene back to Isaiah 11:1 who is prophetically called “The Branch.” This prophecy is stating, among other things, that Yeshua (and his disciples) would have been connected to the Essene community, which the NT seems to indicate. Chumney then quotes Yair Davidy (a non-scholar and a sloppy historian who makes many unsubstantiated statements in his books) to further substantiate his belief. 

Jubilees 2:9 (found in the DSS and written ca. 100 to 25 BC) is another supposed proof of the solar-based not lunar-based Zadok calendar for determining Sabbaths, feasts, etc.

Jubilees 6:23 mentions four special days of remembrance that are the first days of certain months each season. This is based on the dates listed during Noah’s flood and were supposedly ordained by Noah.

The claim is made that the Zadok/Enoch calendar year is 364 days long and that the Hillel II calendar is 354 days long. This is false when you intercalate a thirteenth month seven times every 19 years. This makes the abib barley, visible new moon calendar a lunar-solar calendar that now syncs with the solar year of 365.25 days unlike the Enoch calendar of 364 days (1 Enoch Ethiopic Version 73:11; 81:7 cp. 72:4–5).

The Zadok/Enoch calendar is 360 days plus four “special days of remembrance” at the beginning of each season (Jubilees 6:23), which equates to a 364 day year. Proponents of the Zadok calendar claim that Noah (not YHVH) ordained them forever, and therefore, we are mandated to do the same. Where is this in the Bible??? These special days of remembrance are based on the spring equinox. That is how you know when to observe them. This is an unbiblical reckoning since there is no mention of the equinox in Scripture are any command to reckon the biblical calendar thereto.

Proponents of the Zadok calendar claim that because the sun is the greater light and the moon is the lesser light (Gen 1:16), the sun, therefore must regulate the calendar, not the moon which is the lesser light. The claim is also made that all of the ancient calendars (e.g., Babylonian, Egyptian, etc.) were lunar based including the Hebrew calendar, which, it is also claimed came from the Babylon influence while the Jews were in exile. However, it is incorrect to say that the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. It is a lunar-solar calendar.

The claim is made that the new year begins on either the eve of the tenth of the first month at Passover. Therefore, if day 14 is four days after the first day of the month, then day 14 is not really day fourteen as the Bible calls it, but, in reality, is day four on the biblical calendar. This assertion, however, contradicts Scripture—specifically, Exodus 12:2–3, which, if this claim is true, makes no sense when the Torah says to separate the lamb on the tenth day of the month and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month (four days after the tenth of the month), which is actually the first day of the month. This kind of illogical reasoning and twisting of the Scriptures is mind-boggling if not mind-numbing, to say the least!

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Dead Sea Scrolls & Solar Calendar Misinformation Update

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In this video, Nathan analyzes information brought forth by noted Dead Seas scrolls scholar and biblical historian and linguist, Dr. James Tabor who is a professor emeritus of University of North Carolina. Tabor has been working with the DSS for many decades and is an authority on the subject. As an objective and impartial expert and educator, Nathan was curious to know his views on the subject of the Zadok calendar, the Qumran community, the Essenes and the Dead Sea scrolls. The information that Tabor presents is revealing and flies in the face of what many of the proponents of the Zadok calendar are claiming.

 

The Unbiblical “Zadok/Enoch Calendar” & Its Fatal Flaws Exposed

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In this video, Nathan Lawrence goes head to head with those who are promoting the so-called Enoch/Zadok priestly calendar, and he exposes the unbiblical and fatal flaws thereof. The promoters of this heretical calendar rely solely on extra-biblical sources to prove their point, then cherry pick out a few Bible verses out of context, and twist those verses to confirm their bias. This is dishonesty! Nathan shows how they do the very thing that they accuse the Christian church of doing when it attempts to do away with the Torah, the Sabbath, the biblical feasts and dietary laws. This is a hard hitting video and is not for the faint of heart, but is for those who are biblical Truth seekers and believe that the Bible, the Word of Elohim, is all that we need to determine spiritual Truth.

 

Happy Biblical New Year…in One More Month!

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After careful consideration, reviewing all of the reputable reports from the land of Israel, and in discussion with the beit din of the elders of our online congregation, we at Hoshana Rabbah have concluded that the barely in the land of Israel is not yet abib/aviv and that we have, approximately one more month until the new biblical year begins. So put your dust pans and whisk brooms away. You have another month of spring cleaning and deleavening your homes!

Although several messianic ministries have declared the barley in the land of Israel to be abib, the evidence they have produced is either based on non-biblical criteria, or they have failed to produce actual photos of barley grains in the abib state as the Bible requires and as practiced by ancient Judaism. Thus we reject their findings.

One reputable and scholarly Jewish man in the land of Israel did ostensibly find abib barley in the hot Jordon River Valley, but this barley was located a a short distance from a paved highway. The highway’s pavement reflects heat to the adjacent barley and due to the greenhouse effect, this barley appears to have ripened ahead of all of its nearby neighbors as well as all the other barley throughout the land of Israel (see photos below). Obviously paved highways did not exist in biblical times. Based on this evidence, we cannot conclude that the barley is abib in the land of Israel, and thus we have one more month to go until the biblical new year begins.

Below are links the two reputable sources that this ministry relies on for conducting Bible-based abib barley searches.

The first one is Hebrew In Israel by Yoel Halevi at https://www.facebook.com/HaleviTeacher. Yoel and his team determined the barley not to be abib.

In the picture of the barley along the highway on Yoel’s FaceBook page, you will notice that the barley adjacent to the road appears to be abib, while as you move away from the highway, it appears to be more green (not abib).

The second one is Devorah Gordon at https://www.facebook.com/datetree.

Devorah and her team examined eight barley fields throughout the land of Israel and documented the state of the barley as you can see. She also determined that the barely was not abib.

And there you have it.

So happy biblical new year in about a month!

 

The Truth About the Vernal Equinox Calendar

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What Calendar Did Yeshua Follow?

So which calendar is the true calendar of the Bible? As of this writing, there are three calendars vying for this distinction. They are:

  • The rabbinc Jewish or Hillel 2 calendar, which originated in ca. A.D.
  •   359–360 as the last act of the last Jewish Sanhedrin and was approved and sanctioned by Roman emperor Constantine. (For more information on the history of this calendar, go to https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/new_moons.pdf.)
  • The aviv barley/new moon calendar (for more information on this calendar, read my online teaching at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/caldemyst.pdf and https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/vis_moon.pdf).
  • The vernal equinox calendar.
  • There are several other fringe calendars (e.g., the Noah calendar, the Enoch calendar, the Zadok Qumran calendar as well as several other Essene calendars) that have caught the attention of some Bible students that are totally unsupported biblically; therefore, we won’t even take the time even to address them.

In previous articles, we have discussed the Hillel 2 calendar above, which most of Rabbinic Judaism currently follows and was sanctioned in A.D. 360 by Roman Emperor Constantine. However, this was not the calendar that the biblical Jews used in the time of Yeshua. We know that Yeshua used the same calendar as that of mainstream Judaism of his day. This is evident from the Gospel, the Book of Acts record and from the writings of Paul, since Yeshua and his disciples observed biblical feast days (e.g., Passover, Atonement, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles) on the same day as the Jews.

The next calendar, the abib/aviv barley, visible new moon calendar, which is the one that this ministry follows for the reasons given in the article links provided above. We also believe and have proven from the Bible and ancient records that this is the calendar of mainstream biblical Judaism as well as of Yeshua and the first century saints.

The last calendar is the vernal equinox calendar, which looks to the vernal or spring equinox to determine the beginning of the new biblical year and, hence, the dates for the biblical feasts, while ignoring the abib/aviv barley growing in the land of Israel. This is what we want to discuss below. Many modern believers, in frustration over calendar controversies and in light of the confusing nature of the subject itself, have thrown up their hands in frustration and have chosen simply either to follow the traditional rabbinic or Hillel 2 calendars, or to base the biblical calendar on the spring equinox. For example, the Christians church uses the spring equinox to determine the date of Easter. But is this how the Bible and the first century Jews determined the biblical new year and festival dates? This is the question we’ll answer below.

Overview of the Biblical Jewish Calendar

The calendar that the rabbinc Jews use today is a modified version of the one used at the time of Yeshua and the apostles in the first century and originates from ca. A.D. 360. It was the opus maximum or life work of a Jewish sage named Hillel 2 (A.D. 330–365, Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, by R. J. Zwi et al, p. 78, Holt et al; 1966). Up until that time, the entire Jewish diaspora (Jews living outside the Holy Land) depended upon the Judean Sanhedrin (the ruling Jewish body of elders in Jerusalem) to determine the calendar and legal observance of the annual biblical Sabbaths. Yet because of the persecution in the Roman world against the Jews, the messengers from Judea were often menaced or threatened as they attempted to convey calendric rulings from Judea to Jewry in the diaspora. This presented a perplexing problem for synagogues in distant lands such as Babylon or Egypt that depended upon news from Judea to determine their calendar, and hence feast day observances. “But as the religious persecution continued, Hillel determined to provide an authorized calendar for all time to come, though by doing so he severed the ties which united the Jews of the Diaspora to their mother country and to the patriarchate” (Dictionary of Ancient Rabbis, by Jacob Neusner, p. 200, Hendrickson; 2003). This is a brief explanation of the origins of the modern rabbinc Jewish calendar.

By contrast, and in contradistinction to the rabbinc calendar, the Torah-Word of Elohim states that the new year should start on the month when the barley was green in its head (i.e., abib/aviv) and at the sighting of the crescent new moon (Exod 9:31; 12:1–2; 13:4, for more information on this calendar, read my online teaching at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/cal_demyst.pdf and https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/vis_moon.pdf). This determines the entire calendar for the upcoming year including when to observe YHVH’s commanded annual feasts (Lev 23). In an effort to be faithful to YHVH’s Word, the Jewish sages of the Second Temple era established elaborate rituals and protocols to determine when the new moon had occurred. (This information is available from ancient Jewish sources, and I reference them in my articles on the subject at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast.)

The Vernal Equinox in Determining Passover

Up until the second century A.D., the rabbinic Jews in fact followed the abib barley calendar as I document in my other (earlier referenced) calendar articles. True, the Jews supplemented the observance of the barley with astronomical observances as well (e.g., the equinox, which they learned from the Babylonian astrologers) along with other natural spring phenomenon. Nevertheless, their ancient writings reveal that a recognition that the barley has preeminence for determining the year. A Jewish Torah scholar or sage (a second century Tanaitic source) says in the Babylonian Talmud,

Our [sages] taught, based on three things is the year intercalated: on the abib, on the fruits of the trees, and on the equinox. Based on two of them the year is intercalated but based on one of them alone the year is not intercalated. And when the abib is one of them everyone is pleased. (Bavli Sanhedrin 11b; from http://www.Karaite-Korner.org/abib_faq.shtml#rabbanites_and_abib)

Another Jewish sage declares,

Our [sages] taught [that] the year is intercalated based on [the abib in] three regions: Judea, Transjordan, and Galilee. Based on two of them the year is intercalated but based on one of them alone the year is not intercalated. And when Judea is one of them everyone is pleased because the omer [wave-sheaf] offering can only come from Judea. (Bavli Sanhedrin 11b; ibid.)

These quotes from the Babylonian Talmud reveal that the Jews in Babylon (outside the land of Israel) used other factors (i.e., the fruit trees and the vernal or spring equinox in addition to the abib barley) to determine the biblical calendar. This is because Babylon was hundreds of miles north and east of Israel, and lacking modern communications abilities and means of rapid travel, it wasn’t easy for the Jews outside the land of Israel to look to the barley and new moon in Israel to calculate the biblical calendar. These are no longer impediments in our modern times of instant communications, so gaining this information is no longer an issue.

The Biblical Calendar and the Vernal (Spring) Equinox

Because of a misunderstanding of how and to what degree, if any, the vernal equinox factored into determining the biblical calendar, some folks are recommending that the vernal equinox be the main factor in establishing the new biblical year.

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How Do We Know When to Declare the Month to Be Aviv or Not?

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Quite often at the beginning of the biblical new year there is confusion as to whether the barley in the land of Israel is aviv (or abib) or not. After searching the land of Israel for aviv barley in the early spring, some search groups declare the barley to be aviv and some do not, even though both groups look at the same barley. Why the confusion, and who is right? Eventually each person has to make up their own mind, but below we will explain the criteria for determining whether the barley is aviv or not.

At this point, some of who are reading this may be saying, “Huh?” when it comes to the term aviv barley. What is aviv barley and what does that have to do with anything that pertains to me? To answer this question, let’s quickly review some basic truths regarding the biblical calendar. This is important to know if we want to celebrate YHVH’s biblical feasts at the right time and according to his Torah-instructions.

The first fundamental truth to understand in determining when to observe the biblical holidays is that months on the biblical calendar begin when the new moon is sighted. (I’ve already discussed this issue elsewhere. For that info, go to http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast.) To know the dates of the biblical feasts, one must determine when the months begin, and this is dependent on knowing when the biblical new year begins—that is, figuring out when is the first day of the first month of the biblical new year.

On our modern Roman calendar, determining new year’s day each year easy to do. But this is not the case with the biblical calendar. Why is this? The Roman calendar is based on the solar cycle, which is 3651/4 days long. By contrast, the biblical calendar is a luni-solar calendar. This means it’s based on both the solar cycle and the lunar cycle. The latter is only 354 days long, or roughly 11 days shorter than the solar cycle. The biblical feast go off the lunar cycle, not the solar cycle and is based on knowing when each month begins. This means that if you base your year only on the lunar cycle, then each lunar year will fall behind the solar cycle 11 days each year. In three years, that will be 33 days or a little more than a month. That being the case, eventually, the biblical feasts will fall further and further behind the solar calendar and the seasons. Were this to occur, then in three years we would be celebrating Passover a month earlier, or in the winter and not in the spring. In a number of years, Passover would occur in December, then in the autumn, and then in the summer, and in a few decades, we would be back in the spring again. This cannot be so, since the Torah declares that the feasts must fall “in their seasons” (KJV) or “at their appointed times” (NKJV) (Lev 23:4). Thus they cannot fall outside their appointed seasons. There are deep spiritual or theologically reasons for this, but we will save that for another discussion.

Because the lunar calendar is 11 days shorter than the solar calendar, roughly at the end of every third year going into fourth year on average the lunar calendar needs to make an adjustment to stay in sync with the solar calendar. This means that one must add a thirteenth month (in Hebrew called Adar Bet) to the calendar in order to keep up with or to stay aligned with the solar year. This is called a leap year, or, technically, an intercalary year. It is the same idea of adding an extra day onto the month of February every four years on our modern calendar.

Now how do we know when to add a thirteenth month? Well, the Bible doesn’t just spell it out in Greek-thinking logic like a mathematical equation. As with most biblical subjects that reflect Hebrew block or step logic, we have to search the Scriptures for the answers and then put the pieces of the puzzle together. The same is true when figuring out issues pertaining to the biblical calendar including when the new year begins and when to add a thirteenth month.

We won’t go into much detail here, since this is a brief overview of the subject. (Again, for the details, see the link to my articles on the biblical calendar at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast.) Suffice it to say, the ancient (now wild-growing) barley in the land of Israel is the factor that determines whether to add a thirteenth month or not. In fact, the first month of the biblical calendar is called the “month of the aviv” (or abib, see Exod 13:4; 23:15), which is a technical agricultural term relating to the state of maturation the barley grain in the early spring season of the new year.

Barley is the first grain crop ripen in the land of Israel in the early spring, and typically comes ripe roughly 50 days before the wheat harvest in the late spring during the time of the biblical Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.

For the first month of the biblical calendar to be called “the month of the aviv,” the barley must be in the aviv state of maturation. This means that the barley grain is “green in the ear” and is at the least parchable, that is, it can be roasted over a fire to make it grindable. Why is this important? It is to be able to fulfill the biblical command to offer up to YHVH an omer of grain (roughly an amount equivalent two-litters) on First Fruits Day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread season. The spiritual and prophetic importance of this day is yet another discussion which I cover elsewhere (https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/unlbread.pdf and https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/firstfruits.pdf). Suffice it to say, it prophetically points to Yeshua the Messiah’s ascension to heaven after his resurrection.

So in the biblical calendar, if we come to the end of the twelfth month, it is necessary to go searching through the land of Israel for aviv barley. If you find it in sufficient quantities (at least 32 omers), then this marks the beginning of the first month of the new year. If you don’t find it in sufficient quantities, then you add a thirteenth month onto the end of the current year (again referred to as Adar Bet). Again, roughly at the end of every third year, a thirteenth month must be added to the biblical calendar to keep the lunar calendar (which the biblical feasts are based on) in sync with the solar calendar (which the biblical year is based on).

If one finds aviv barley, how much aviv barley is enough? There must be enough to make a sheaf or an omer’s worth of grain, which is a biblical measuring unit equal to about two liters. Why this amount? This is because the Torah commanded the priests to offer up an omer of barley grain on the First Fruits Day (called the omer or first fruits offering) in conjunction with the time of Feast of Unleavened Bread that falls during the second half of the first month of biblical calendar (Lev 23:9–14). So finding a few stalks of aviv barley in a field is not sufficient. There must be enough to make two liters worth of flour.

Now at this point in the discussion some well-meaning, Torah-pursuant people will disagree about the need to find a full omer-amount of barley on the first day of the new month. Say, for example, you find only a few stalks of aviv barley, but not enough to make an omer, won’t there be enough barley that will have ripened within two to three weeks to make an omer for the first fruits offering on First Fruits Day? Maybe, but we cannot predict this for certain. It is mere speculation to say that the barley will have ripened from the first day of the month until roughly two or more weeks later when First Fruits Day occur. Why is this? Those who say yes are speculating that weather conditions will be such that there will be enough aviv barley to make an omer offering in time for First Fruits Day. But what if the weather suddenly turns cold, or cloudy and the barley doesn’t ripen in time after you have declared the new year? What then? What if you have declared the new year based on finding only a few stalks of aviv barley, but not enough to make an omer and all Israel is now preparing to keep the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread? In biblical times, during this time each family would have been separating out their Passover lamb on the tenth day of the first month in preparation for slaughtering it on the fourteenth day on Passover as the Torah commands. Moreover, the Israelites would have been making plans to travel to Jerusalem or wherever YHVH had chosen to place his name in Israel in order to keep the Passover and Unleavened Bread as the Torah mandates. What happened if, after all of this, it is suddenly discovered that there was not sufficient barley for an omer offering because the weather conditions in the land of Israel weren’t conducive for the barley to ripen? You would have just thrown the whole nation of Israel into chaos. Thousands of lambs that were separated for the Passover sacrifice now have to be put back into the flock and travel plans have to be postponed for a month. All the temple preparations have to be put on hold, and all the plans that the priests and Levites have made as they were preparing to officiate at the spring feasts now have suspended for another month. The thousands of lambs that were brought to Jerusalem and sold by merchants to the Jewish pilgrims who were coming there to celebrate the feast now have to be returned to their pastures or stalled and fed for an extra month. Moreover, in ancient times people traveled by foot, and it took many days to get somewhere and provisions had to be stored up and then transported, so postponing a trip wasn’t easy to do. Though these issues aren’t factors for modern man, they were issues when the Tanakh (Old Testament) was written, and this is the cultural context in which we are to understand the Torah’s commands. If we try to understand and apply scriptural truths outside of this context, we run the risk of coming up with a false hermeneutic and we can end up twisting the Scriptures anyway we want to make it say whatever we want. This is not good! Those who do this risk becoming false teachers, which is a serious sin biblically. It is this wrong approach to interpreting Scripture that has led the mainstream Christian church (as well as modern rabbinic Judaism) to the place it is today with all of its unbiblical and manmade doctrines and traditions that often make of none effect the word of Elohim. This is something we are trying to get away from. We don’t want to leave behind the lies of the church (and rabbinic Judaism) in pursuit of biblical truth only to create our own unbiblical lies and traditions!

For these reasons, we have chosen the more cautious, less speculative approach that involves finding sufficient aviv barley in the land of Israel as done in ancient times to make an omer by the first of the month, rather than speculating what might or might not occur visà-vis the barley crop in two or three weeks.

As more and more of YHVH’s people are returning to the ancient paths and biblical Truth of YHVH’s Torah, they are wanting to follow the biblical calendar instead of unbiblical manmade calendars such as the current calendar of rabbinic Judaism that dates to A.D. 360 and was approved by Roman Emperor Constantine. This means that many people are now going out and searching for barley in the land of Israel. This is good. However, as with everything, there are differing opinions on a lot of issues.

Who is right?

That’s up to you to decide.

For the reasons stated above, we have chosen to take a more cautious and less speculative approach that involves finding sufficient quantities of aviv barley at the start of the new near and well before the omer offering was to be made on First Fruits Day. Other people will take the more speculative and risky approach and predict ahead of time that there will be an omer’s worth of barley somewhere in the land of Israel in time for the omer offering. And they may be right. But who knows for sure if the grain will be ripe until it happens? What if it doesn’t happen after they have already declared the new year? Then what? This is confusion, and YHVH is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33)!

If there is sufficient quantities of aviv barley by the first day of the year, then it logically follows that there will be sufficient quantities by First Fruits Day. By taking this approach, we believe that we are on more solid ground logically and biblically.

Both sides of the issues have their valid arguments, but we have chosen the more cautious approach over the more speculative one.

One more point needs to be made. The Torah mandates that one cannot eat any barley from their crop until the First Fruits Day offering is made (Lev 23:14). What if a farmer’s field of barley came ripe before First Fruits Day? Could he harvest his crop as long as he didn’t eat of it until the omer offering was made? Yes. This is because there is no prohibition in the Torah from doing this. Some people may point to Deuteronomy 16:9 as such a prohibition to cutting one’s barley before First Fruits Day. Let’s look at this passage carefully.

You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.

Now let’s compare this passage to some more detailed instructions found earlier in the Torah and one which is more specific to First Fruits Day.

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before YHVH, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to YHVH.” (Lev 23:10–12)

In this passage, we find two actions occurring: reaping the barley harvest and subsequently bringing that harvest to the local priest who lived in the farmer’s own village or region. Nowhere does this verse say that the reaping of the grain and the day the priest must make the wave offering (on First Fruits Day) are on the same day. That is to say, if a farmer’s field of barley comes ripe earlier than First Fruits Day, he is not prohibited from reaping; he simply is prohibited from eating the barley before First Fruits Day (Lev 23:14). Therefore, since the Torah does not forbid it, the barley farmer has the Torah’s implicit permission to reap his crop before First Fruits Day (as long as he doesn’t eat any of it). This insures that he won’t lose his crop (i.e., the barley seed won’t fall to the ground), while he is waiting for the omer offering to be made on First Fruits Day.

Since the Leviticus 23:10–12 passage is the primary command pertaining to First Fruits Day and gives us more specific information and occurs prior to the Deuteronomy 16:9 passage, we believe our interpretation is the correct one in this case. This is because according to the basic rules of biblical interpretation (or hermeneutics), we are required to interpret a latter passage in light of an earlier passage and not vice versa. Therefore we do not consider the argument valid that one is prohibited from reaping their barley before First Fruits Day. They just are prohibited from eating their barley before First Fruits Day. 

For these reasons, we are convinced that the barley must be aviv before and not after the first day of the new biblical year.