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A puzzle is a pretty picture that someone took or painted and then cut up into a hundred or a thousand pieces and challenges someone else to reassemble. When all the pieces are assembled, a beautiful scene emerges. Sometimes, however, a piece just doesn’t fit. No matter how hard you try, you cannot cram it into that spot. Yes, you can force jam it in there, and even add some touch-up to help it to match, but it’s still not quite right, and when the puzzle is “completed” the whole picture will be off. This is exactly the case with Bible teachers who are promoting the so-called Enoch-Zadok 364-day year calendar. No matter they cram pieces of the argument together and paint them to match, the picture is still off.
Are you an earnest Bible-Truth seeker who is tired of being lied to in the mainstream Christian church? You know that the gospel message is true. You know and love Yeshua, your Lord and Savior. Now you want to love him in a fuller and more blessed way by making YHVH’s Torah a part of your life. This includes celebrating the Sabbath and biblical feasts. But how? More importantly, when? Enter calendar confusion!
More than six decades ago when I started in this Hebraic, Torah-walk, there was one calendar, then 40 years later a second one came on the scene that was closer to the truth than the first one. Now there are numerous ones all claiming to be biblically accurate including the one that is the subject of this study. Perhaps what follows will help you to unravel the Gordian knot of confusion that surrounds the subject of the biblical calendar, so that we can back to just loving Yeshua by keeping his commandments including the biblical feasts. If this is your desire, then please read on.
The Enoch-Zadok Calendar Explained
The Enoch calendar is based on a 364-day year (not 3651/4 days) and is first mentioned in the ancient pseudepigraphal book of First Enoch. This calendar purportedly originated with Enoch, the great grandfather of Noah. This is in spite of the fact First Enoch was written in the third or second century bc, some 2,000 years after the time of the biblical Enoch, who died prior to Noah’s flood. This calendar is appealing to a growing number of pro-Torah Christians who are digging into the Hebraic roots of their faith and endeavoring to keep YHVH’s sabbaths, including the weekly Sabbath and biblical feasts, in accordance with the Creator’s Torah-instructions. Since the Enoch calendar purports to be of ancient derivation, some people assume that it may well be the Bible’s original calendar, hence, the one we should use today to determine when to celebrate the feasts.
But how did we get from Enoch until today? And is there a biblical basis for the Enoch calendar? These are excellent questions that will be discussed and hopefully answered below. In the mean time, let’s give an overview of a few of the claims that the advocates of this calendar make.
The claim is made that, since the Enoch calendar supposedly dates to the time of Enoch, it must be the calendar that Moses and the Israelites used back in the Book of Exodus. Whereas the Levitical priests were the keepers and teachers of YHVH’s Torah-law, it is correctly assumed that they would have known when to observe the biblical feasts and thus should have the final say in this matter. At the end of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, YHVH made an everlasting covenant with Phinehas (or Pinchas), the grandson of Aaron the high priest (the brother of Moses), that to his descendants would be given the priesthood forever (Num 25:12–13), and with that charge came, presumably, the knowledge of the correct biblical calendar.
Moving forward several hundred years to the time of King David, Zadok, a descendent of Phinehas, was the high priest whose progeny carried the mantle of the covenantal promise YHVH made to Phinehas along with again, presumably, the knowledge of the true biblical calendar.
We hear nothing more about Zadok or his descendents until Ezekiel mentions the descendents of Zadok in regards to his famous but enigmatic temple prophecy (Ezekiel chapters 40–48). In this prophecy, YHVH makes the sons of Zadok the officiants in the temple because of their faithfulness to him and his commandments (Ezek 40:46; 43:19ff; 44:15f; 48:11), and it is their role to interpret the Torah-law in matters of controversy including calendrical issues (q.v., Deut 17:8–11). Because Ezekiel states that the Zadokites had been faithful to YHVH’s law, they were given this glorious charge. However, there is much debate among Bible scholars concerning whether Ezekiel’s temple is literal or allegorical. Moreover, was it fulfilled in the building of the Second Temple, or is it an allegory referring to Yeshua and the church, or is it a literal temple yet to be built? The prevailing view is that this is a millennial temple—called the Fourth Temple—that is yet to be built. One thing is certain. The Second Temple that was built in the fifth century bc and was destroyed in ad 70 never fit the description of Ezekiel’s temple, and thus Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the sons of Zadok is for a future time.
Despite the fact that Ezekiel’s temple is yet to be built, and the Zadokite priesthood as officiants in that temple is for a future era, the proponents of the Zadok calendar still cite Ezekiel 44:15 and 23–24 as proof for their calendar. Ezekiel states that the sons of Zadok will teach YHVH’s people the difference between the holy and unholy, between the unclean and the clean. They will also act as judges in controversies regarding YHVH’s appointed times and Sabbaths (q.v., Deut 17:8–11). This, the claim is made, was fulfilled by the Zadokite priests of the monastery at Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel beginning in the late second century bc and lasting for about 175 years afterwards. After that, the inhabitants of Qumran disappear from the pages of history until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.
Additionally, not letting facts and historical realities stand in their way, the proponents of the Enoch calendar, now referred to as “the Enoch-Zadok calendar” (or simply “the Zadok calendar”), have somehow parlayed the faithful priests mentioned in Ezekiel’s future temple prophecy into the priests living at the time of the Maccabees in the second century bc. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls (or dss) and the Qumran community enter the picture. The dss were discovered in 1947. The original group of dss scholars from that era who, based on the evidence available to them at that time, firmly believed that a group of righteous priests had been excommunicated, if you will, from the Jerusalem temple when a group of supposedly illegitimate Maccabean priests took charge thereof in the second century bc. The legitimate (Zadokite) priests fled Jerusalem and established a monastery at Qumran near where the dss were discovered. It is believed that they were largely the writers of the dss of which the Book of 1 Enoch is a part of this larger corpus. Since the The Book of Enoch promotes the Enoch calendar, and since, it is believed, that these scrolls dictated the lifestyle practices and theology of the Qumran sectaries, and since, it is assumed, these priests were the literal, biological descendents of Zadok and Phinehas the high priests, and since YHVH said through Ezekiel that the sons of Zadok had been faithful to guard and obey his laws, it is assumed that the Zadok calendar is the true biblical calendar for us to follow today in order accurately keep YHVH’s feasts. Hopefully you followed that line of reasoning, since it is essential to understanding the pro-Zadok calendar argument.
There is more, but this is the essence of the pro-Zadok calendar argument. The proponents rely solely on extra-biblical books including those of the dss to prove the validity of the Zadok calendar. Then, almost as an after thought, they reach back into the Bible, which contains not even the slightest allusion to the Zadok calendar, and attempt to “prove” their point by twisting Scriptures, a technique that the anti-Torah and “the law is nailed to the cross” and “done away with” mainstream Christian church has mastered over the centuries to the detriment of Bible truth resulting in the deception of myriads of people who now longer believe in the validity of YHVH’s Torah-law. Old habits die hard!
In what follows, we will critically analyze several of the key elements undergirding the Zadok calendar theory to see if these square with the empirical evidence, and then we will leave it up to you to decide where the truth lies.
The Traditional Model of the 1940s Regarding the Qumran Community and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Since the Zadok calendar is revealed in the intertestamental Book of Enoch, a book that is found among the dss, let us first discuss the earliest and traditional view put forth by the first discoverers and translator of the dss from 1947. This view promotes the idea that there is a strong correlation between the Jewish settlement at Khirbet Qumran (or Qumran for short) and the scrolls located in eleven nearby caves. This model is summarized by Geza Vermes (one of the early translators of the scrolls into English from 1962 to 1996) as follows:
[F]rom that place [i.e., Qumran], members of an ancient Jewish religious community, whose centre it was, hurried out one day and in every secrecy climbed the nearby cliffs in order to hide away in eleven caves their precious scrolls. No one came back to retrieve them, and they remained undisturbed for almost 2,000 years. (The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, p. 1)
This early model which connected the Qumran community with the dss also proposed a link between the sect of the Essenes and Qumran sects (ibid., p. 3). Vermes then goes on to make the further connection between the Teacher of Righteousness mentioned in the dss and the Qumran sect.
The principal novelty provided by the manuscripts consists of cryptic allusions to the historical origins of the Community, launched by a priest called the Teacher of Righteousness, who was persecuted by a Jewish ruler, designated as the Wicked Priest. The Teacher and his followers were compelled to withdraw into the desert, where they awaited the impending manifestation of God’s triumph over evil and darkness in the end days, which had already begun. (ibid.)
Vermes then explains what he called the “Maccabaean theory.” He states that the consensus among the earliest dss scholars quickly formed around this theory in 1952 and 1953.
The so-called Maccabean theory, placing the conflict between the Teacher of Righteousness and the politico-religious Jewish leadership of the day in the time of the Maccabaean high priest or high priest Jonathan and/or Simon, was first formulated in my 1953 doctoral dissertation, published in 1953, and was soon to be adopted by such leading specialists as J. T. Milik, F. M. Cross and R. de Vaux. (ibid., p. 4)
Please note that the theories upon which the present Zadok calendar proponents base many of their arguments were put forth by the earliest dss translators who did not, at that time, have all of the dss documents before them,which were only available to later scholars (e.g., Wise, Abeg and Cook who published their translation of the dss in 1996 and 2005) more than 50 years later! The release and translation of the dss has been a painstakingly slow process involving numerous scholars, academic institutions, several countries along with economic and political interests over the past 70 some years. The translation of subsequent dss documents since the 1950s has refined, and in some cases, radically changed some of the theories of the earlier age—a point that Wise et al make in their introductory remarks in their dss translation (A New Translation—The Dead Sea Scrolls). Thus, many scholars who have analyzed and translated more recent scrolls are now questioning the original 1950s theoretic model that purported to link the Qumran sects with the dss and the Teacher of Righteousness. What follows are quotes from various scholars who are now questioning the older views including the Maccabean theory. Why is this important to know? Because the older (out of date) view forms the premise for those teachers who are currently promoting the Zadok calendar. With this in mind, let’s now go on as we put the pieces of the puzzle together. Let’s discover if the original view that links the dss and the Teacher of Righteousness to the Qumran sect still hold true in light of the new discoveries. The validity of the Zadok calendar stands or falls on this understanding.
Did the Qumran Sectarians Write the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The original model assumed that because the dss were found in proximity to the monastery at Qumran, the sectarians must have been their authors and librarians. That is to say, the dss were the sectarians’ writings that revealed how they lived and what they believed. Thus, since the Book of Enoch along with several other intertestamental writings lend credence to the Zadok calendar theory, it is assumed that this must have been the calendar of Qumran. But as we go on, the evidence reveals that this older view is overly broad and cannot be taken carte-blanche and at face value in light of new evidence to the contrary.
Not only were hundreds of different scribes responsible for the [Dead Sea Scrolls] texts, but very few seemed to have written more than one scroll. Only about a dozen “repeats” have at been identified. Needless to say, this situation does not square very well with the theory-now-fact that Qumran scribes produced the scrolls at the site…The logical inference is that most of the scrolls come from elsewhere. Indeed once that much has been conceded, the burden shifts and it becomes necessary to prove that any scrolls were written in Qumran. (A New Translation—The Dead Sea Scrolls, by Wise et al, p. 23)
At most, then, about fifty people inhabited the [Qumran] site, only those who could fit within its walls. (ibid., p. 24)
In the interest of honesty, it would be disingenuous of me to fail to mention the close proximity to Qumran of several of the caves, thus leading the early dss archeologists and translators to assume an intimate connection between the two. As Vermes writes,
With negligible exceptions, scholarly opinion recognized already in the 1950s that the Scrolls found in the caves and the nearby settlement were related. To take an obvious example, Cave 4 with its 575 (or perhaps 555) documents lies literally with a stone’s throw from the buildings. (Vermes, p. 14).
Vermes’ statement is slightly hyperbolic. Unless one has the throwing arm of baseball pitcher, Caves 4 and 5, according to Google maps, are some 600 feet from the nearest Qumran building plus several hundred feet above the valley floor on the face of a cliff. So yes, although the community was located near at least two of the 11 caves (others of which are located miles away), it is not a leisurely stroll from Qumran’s nearest building to the nearest cave unless you have some rock climbing experience. Despite the close proximity of two caves to Qumran, archeological evidence suggests that they may not have been frequently visited by the members of the sect.
Aerial photography has likewise revealed no paths linking the caves where the scrolls were discovered to the site of Qumran. The movement back and forth that would have produced a path evidently did not occur. Thus the caves could not have functioned as separate libraries or repositories to which sectarians would repair for reading and reflection (p. 24).…On can no longer reasonably argue for a strong connection between the site and the scrolls, though the two may have a weak connection; that is, though the site may have been used by the sect, it cannot have been their main location. (Wise et al, p. 25)
Another theory is on the table as to the origins of the dss. Perhaps they were placed in their caves just prior to the Romans’ attacks on Jerusalem in ad 66-67 and again in ad 70, which is more than 100 years after the founding of the Qumran community. As Vermes notes, but refuses to agree with,
More recently Norman Golb of Chicago [professor of Jewish history in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago] has launched a forceful attack on the common opinion [the Qumran sect is was the source of the dss]. His objections, reiterated in a series of papers, culminated in 1995 in a hefty tome. The target of his criticism is the provenance of the scrolls found at Qumran. According to him, the manuscripts originated in a Jerusalem library (or libraries), the contents of which were concealed in desert caves when the capital was besieged in 67 and 70 ce. (Vermes, p. 19; see also The Dead Seas Scrolls and the First Christians by Robert Eisenman, p. xxiv).
So here is yet another opinion from another scholar. What is the take-away here? The traditional, original view or model proposed by the dss scholars of the early 1950s has since been questioned by several scholars who have access to additional dss manuscripts. Therefore, the Zadokite calendar proponents’ nicely packaged view that the dss, the Qumran Community, the Book of Enoch, the Teacher of Righteousness and the sons of Zadok are all inextricably linked is now being called into question. Stay tuned. We have only just begun to unwrap this package.
Were the Qumran Sect and the Jerusalem Priests Really at Odds With Each Other?
For those of us returning to the pro-Torah, Hebraic roots of our Christian faith, the Sabbath and biblical feasts are fundamental our faith—they outline the Creator’s plan of redemption for sinful man. Recovering these lost biblical truth treasures, that the early church fathers quickly abandoned after the death of the last apostles, is vital to our spiritual growth and development. To keep YHVH’s feast as the Bible instructs, we need to know how and when to celebrate them. The when part necessitates a calendar, but which one? Hopefully the study below will help the reader to navigate these troubled waters.
When I came into the Torah faith more than six decades ago, we knew of only one biblical calendar—the Hillel 2 or rabbinic calendar from ca. AD 360. Then forty years later, a second calendar appeared on the scene—the abib (green in the ear) barley, visible new moon calendar, which was much closer to biblical truth than the previous one. Now, in the last 25 years, numerous other calendars have spontaneously combusted all claiming to be the “true biblical calendar” dividing the body of believers into numerous factions opposed to each other. Many of these calendars rely on extra-Bible sources to substantiate their validity. This is a problem for those of us who look to the Bible as the final word on how to obey YHVH. The latest calendar to emerge center stage is Enoch-Zadok calendar. Is this finally, the truth once and for all delivered and we need to look no further, or is this another sleight of hand on the part of Bible peddlers who have something to sell or a following to build?
How to Examine New Information
I went into the study of the Zadok calendar open-minded. What could I learn? Honestly, I knew very little about the so-called Zadok priesthood, the Qumran community, the Essenes and my understanding of the teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) was rudimentary at best. When examining new information, we must be careful to guard against bias confirmation—that is, looking only to information that confirms our preconceived notions or our deeply held beliefs. 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). I have been a truth seeker all of my life. Were I not so, I would still be in the church I was born into—12 churches ago! Thus I dove into a study of the Zadok calendar.
Does the Bible or Do Non-biblical Sources Determine Truth?
A big question each person has to ask themselves when determining spiritual truth is whether they are going to rely primarily on the Bible or on non-biblical, secular sources. No one is averse to conducting research using reputable, secular or extra-biblical sources for background information that supports the Bible. 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 Christianity has been doing for the better part of 2,000 years does when denying the more pro-Torah, Hebraic truths of the Scriptures. We have inherited many lies, and in our search for Truth, many of us have exited the mainstream church system. This chicanery started with 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 end up with a tangled web of truth and error, good and evil where the word of Elohim is made of none effect by men’s traditions and philosophical theologies as Yeshua warned us against (Mark 7:9–13).
With these words of caution ringing in our spirits, let’s now move on to examining the pro-Zadok calendar arguments and see if they line up with sola Scriptura, or are they merely another example of men’s philosophical theologies.
Addressing Pro-Zadok Calendar Arguments—Answered and Refuted
The Enoch-Zadok Calendar Explained
The Enoch calendar is based on a 364-day year (not 3651/4 days) and is first mentioned in the ancient pseudepigraphal Book of First Enoch. This calendar purportedly originated with Enoch, the great grandfather of Noah. This is in spite of the fact First Enoch was written in the third or second century BC, some 2,000 years after the time of the biblical Enoch, who died prior to Noah’s flood. This calendar is appealing to a growing number of pro-Torah Christians who are digging into the Hebraic roots of their faith and endeavoring to keep YHVH’s sabbaths, including the weekly Sabbath and biblical feasts, in accordance with the Creator’s Torah-instructions. Since the Enoch calendar purports to be of ancient derivation, some people assume that it may well be the Bible’s original calendar, hence, the one we should use today to determine when to celebrate the feasts.
But how did we get from Enoch until today? And is there a biblical basis for the Enoch calendar? These are excellent questions that will be discussed and hopefully answered below. In the mean time, let’s give an overview of a few of the claims that the advocates of this calendar make.
The claim is made that, since the Enoch calendar supposedly dates to the time of Enoch, it must be the calendar that Moses and the Israelites used back in the Book of Exodus. Whereas the Levitical priests were the keepers and teachers of YHVH’s Torah-law, it is correctly assumed that they would have known when to observe the biblical feasts and thus should have the final say in this matter. At the end of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, YHVH made an everlasting covenant with Phinehas (or Pinchas), the grandson of Aaron the high priest (the brother of Moses), that to his descendants would be given the priesthood forever (Num 25:12–13), and with that charge came, presumably, the knowledge of the correct biblical calendar.
Moving forward several hundred years to the time of King David, Zadok, a descendent of Phinehas, was the high priest whose progeny carried the mantle of the covenantal promise YHVH made to Phinehas along with again, presumably, the knowledge of the true biblical calendar.
We hear nothing more about Zadok or his descendants until Ezekiel mentions the descendants of Zadok in regards to his famous but enigmatic temple prophecy (Ezekiel chapters 40–48). In this prophecy, YHVH makes the sons of Zadok the officiants in the temple because of their faithfulness to him and his commandments (Ezek 40:46; 43:19ff; 44:15f; 48:11), and it is their role to interpret the Torah-law in matters of controversy including calendrical issues (q.v., Deut 17:8–11). Because Ezekiel states that the Zadokites had been faithful to YHVH’s law, they were given this glorious charge. However, there is much debate among Bible scholars concerning whether Ezekiel’s temple is literal or allegorical. Moreover, was it fulfilled in the building of the Second Temple, or is it an allegory referring to Yeshua and the church, or is it a literal temple yet to be built? The prevailing view is that this is a millennial temple—called the Fourth Temple—that is yet to be built. One thing is certain. The Second Temple that was built in the fifth centuryBC and was destroyed in AD 70 never fit the description of Ezekiel’s temple, and thus Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the sons of Zadok is for a future time.
Despite the fact that Ezekiel’s temple is yet to be built, and the Zadokite priesthood as officiants in that temple is for a future era, the proponents of the Zadok calendar still cite Ezekiel 44:15 and 23–24 as proof for their calendar. Ezekiel states that the sons of Zadok will teach YHVH’s people the difference between the holy and unholy, between the unclean and the clean. They will also act as judges in controversies regarding YHVH’s appointed times and Sabbaths (q.v., Deut 17:8–11). This, the claim is made, was fulfilled by the Zadokite priests of the monastery at Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel beginning in the late second century BC and lasting for about 175 years afterwards. After that, the inhabitants of Qumran disappear from the pages of history until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.
Additionally, not letting facts and historical realities stand in their way, the proponents of the Enoch calendar, now referred to as “the Enoch-Zadok calendar” (or simply “the Zadok calendar”), have somehow parlayed the faithful priests mentioned in Ezekiel’s future temple prophecy into the priests living at the time of the Maccabees in the second century BC. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls (or DSS) and the Qumran community enter the picture. The DSS were discovered in 1947. The original group of DSS scholars from that era who, based on the evidence available to them at that time, firmly believed that a group of righteous priests had been excommunicated, if you will, from the Jerusalem temple when a group of supposedly illegitimate Maccabean priests took charge thereof in the second century BC. The legitimate (Zadokite) priests fled Jerusalem and established a monastery at Qumran near where the DSS were discovered. It is believed that they were largely the writers of the DSS of which the Book of 1 Enoch is a part of this larger corpus. Since the The Book of Enoch promotes the Enoch calendar, and since, it is believed, that these scrolls dictated the lifestyle practices and theology of the Qumran sectaries, and since, it is assumed, these priests were the literal, biological descendants of Zadok and Phinehas the high priests, and since YHVH said through Ezekiel that the sons of Zadok had been faithful to guard and obey his laws, it is assumed that the Zadok calendar is the true biblical calendar for us to follow today in order accurately keep YHVH’s feasts. Hopefully you followed that line of reasoning, since it is essential to understanding the pro-Zadok calendar argument.
There is more, but this is the essence of the pro-Zadok calendar argument. The proponents rely solely on extra-biblical books including those of the DSS to prove the validity of the Zadok calendar. Then, almost as an after thought, they reach back into the Bible, which contains not even the slightest allusion to the Zadok calendar, and attempt to “prove” their point by twisting Scriptures, a technique that the anti-Torah and “the law is nailed to the cross” and “done away with” mainstream Christian church has mastered over the centuries to the detriment of Bible truth resulting in the deception of myriads of people who now longer believe in the validity of YHVH’s Torah-law. Old habits die hard!
In what follows, we will critically analyze several of the key elements undergirding the Zadok calendar theory to see if these square with the empirical evidence, and then we will leave it up to you to decide where the truth lies.
One more word of warning. My comments and notes below are mind-numbing in detail and neither intended for the faint of heart of for those looking for a quick overview of this subject. This is a deep dive and is angled for only the most knowledgable and detail-oriented Bible students. Please do not feel bad if this material is difficult to wrap your mind around. Most of my other writings and video presentations on the Zadok calendar, are much less detailed, more digestible, yet still cover the main points. If you get bogged down in what follows, I humbly invite you to check out some of my other material. Or better yet, skip to the end of this article for section entitled “Summary and Conclusion”, which is a short summary and of the following study and my conclusions.
Onward…!
What Proponents of the Zadok Are Saying and My Responses
In what follows, we will critically analyze several of the key elements undergirding the Zadok calendar theory to see if these square with the Bible, and then it will be up to you to decide where the truth lies or whether lies are being peddled for truth. The following are my personal responses and notes after watching several video presentations by several pro-Zadok calendar teachers.
It is here! A day of joy or sorrow depending on whose spiritual team you are on—YHVH’s our the devil’s.
On Monday, October 14, 2024 we will be celebrating Yom Kippur, 2024 according to the visible crescent new moon, abib barley, ancient Torah-based calendar. Leviticus 23:26 commands YHVH’S people to celebrate Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month on the biblical year. Exactly 10 days ago, the new moon was spotted in Israel making October 14, then, the tenth day of the seventh month. In five days we will begin celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Chag haSukkot). HalleluYah! To learn more about the Day of Atonement so that you can celebrate it with meaning and joy, please read on.
But before we proceed to our list of links to a whole boatload of free instructional materials on Yom Kippur, so that you can celebrate it with purpose and meaning, we must first address some destructive heresies regarding some erroneous so-called biblical calendars out there. The sword of the Spirit is sharp and two-edged, for it divides soul and spirit, between lies and truth, between fact and fiction, between the Word of Elohim and the traditions of men. Some people may find the truth to be offensive, but who are we aiming to please here? YHVH or men? Let us be those who prefer the praise of YHVH Elohim over those of men! Selah.
In the Messianic, Hebraic roots or pro-Torah Christian community there is much debate, strife and confusion over biblical calendars, sadly. We refuse to be part of this. We give the biblical reasons for why we adhere to the biblical visible new moon, abib barely calendar by giving you the most accurate information from the Bible that is possible, then we allow you to decide for yourself what you will do. We are not your judge in these matters. We speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Each us is eventually and ultimately answerable to YHVH for our actions be they good or bad with regard to serving and obeying him.
That said, I can say with full assurance and authority that all the various designer, flavor of the month calendars out there except one are based on ignoring Scriptures that disagree with their premise, twisting Scriptures including Hebrew word meaning, or relying on the traditions of men and extra-biblical sources without which none of these non-biblical calendars will stand against the Truth of the Bible. Let me give you some examples of what I mean.
In my articles and videos on the new moon, abib barley calendar, I prove the validity of this calendar solely from the Bible. Yes, I quote a few extra-biblical sources as confirmation, but these are not needed to prove the point as you will see if you read or watch the materials that I present. This is not the case with the any of the other calendars out there. For example,
The rabbinic Jewish calendar currently in use by Judaism worldwide was created in the fourth century AD and was approved by Emperor Constantine. It is an inaccurate calendar. This year, for example, the Jews are celebrating a pseudo Yom Kippur on the eighth day of the seventh month, not on the tenth day as the Torah commands. So discard this calendar.
Then there is the calendar based on the astronomical conjunction of the new moon. This too is a non-biblical calendar. Those who adhere to this calendar either twist or ignore the Scriptures that prove that the new moon must be seen. It is a visible, not an invisible, sign in the heavens that determines the beginning of the new month.
Then there is the calendar that is based on the sun’s equinox. Again, no matter how you search or twist the Scriptures, the Bible makes no mention of the equinox.
Then there is the Zadok, Qumran or Enoch calendar. Again, this calendar relies solely on extra-biblical sources as well as the twisting of Scriptures, the deliberate mistranslating of Hebrew words to mean something that they do not mean or the flat-out ignore of Scriptures that render this calendar invalid.
There are bevy of other calendars out there too such as the Noah calendar, the eternal truth calendar, the lunar Sabbah calendar and too many more to mention here.
Enough said. Either we follow the whole Truth of the Bible based on solid biblical and linguistic research or we don’t. The choice is yours.
For those who want to learn more about both the biblical calendar, the biblical feasts and Yom Kippur, we invite you to check out these free resources:
Also look for our podcasts on Yom Kippur on Apple and Spotify podcasts. In the search engine on each site, type in “Hoshana Rabbah” and you will find us. May YHVH bless YOU as you seek him and his Truth!
Happy Yom Teruah! Let the season of our joy begin!!!
Learn more about Yom Teruah (the Jewish name is Rosh HaHashana) and how it predicts history in advance (also known as Bible prophecy) as it relates to the end times and the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah, was well as what we as the saints must do to prepare to meet our coming Heavenly Bridegroom.
We invite you to check out our following free resources from someone who has been celebrating Yom Teruah for nearly 60 years and who has been teaching about it for 25 years. There is something here for everyone whether this is your first time celebrating Yom Teruah or whether you have been doing it for years.
May these resources be a blessing to you, bring you closer to Yeshua the Messiah, strengthen your spiritual walk, and bring glory to YHVH Elohim and our Lord and Saviour Yeshua!
