Leap Years and the Equinox

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Oct 29, 2020

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Hello Joseph,
I am responding to your email newsletter and your query regarding the timing of the festivals given that there was a month’s difference in the observance thereof by different groups this year…
the criteria for establishing the beginning of the Passover season each year is determined by the first crescent moon and abib barley in Israel… so it really comes down to what witness you follow in this regard…
In this we agree. Which I addressed in my article that we need an authority organization that will here the witnesses and confirm when both the year and the month begins. Right now we have various groups trying to be more than just a witness.
you appear to have followed one witness who said that the barley was ready while the majority followed another witness that said that it wasn’t ready for another month… I am one of the latter number as I take my cue from the ministry found at https://www.abibofgod.com/   who have a long and experienced record in determining the facts of the matter… I invite you to study their testimonies, as frankly I was disappointed when I learned that you had decided on the earlier determination and I felt that it affected the credibility of your teachings…
We are quite familiar with the group. They broke off from Nehemiah Gordon who taught them about the barley. They began to add all sorts of other things to look for in addition to the barley. When they broke off was about the same time I began to use the barley to start the year. So our long and experienced history are almost the same, which is not that long.
But the thing I do recall about them was their abusive attacks against Nehemiah and those who used Nehemiah’s reports.
I wish you all the best in your search for spiritual truth and understanding… as it is there are several choices of calendar that various believers can follow which can be found at 7th-day.info under the Calendar category… hence the celebration of the feasts on different days by those who subscribe to one criteria over another…
And this is the very point of my article last week. Is Yehovah really happy that those who call on His name are keeping the Feasts all at different times? I am saying He is not and that there is going to be a day of reckoning.
I guess it comes down to a case of ‘live and let live’ and one of the reasons Christ is coming back is to restore all things including the calendar!… we may all be in for a surprise to find our cherished sacred cows may turn out like the story of the emperor with no clothes!… but the sad effect of which is doctrinal disunity and failed relationships within the body of Messiah.
I have to disagree with you here Reg. We are told that the Two Witnesses, Elijah would come first and restore all things. Yehshua is going to come not to restore but to judge and to punish those who are sinning. The book of revelation tells us quite clearly that the Beast is going to turn after his failed chase of the woman, the remnant that flees, and make war on those who keep the commandments…It does not say that Yehovah is going to protect this group. They will be martyred for keeping the Holy Days, in this case Passover on the wrong calendar. I am not going to be so flippant to think I can carry on with the wrong calendar knowing Yehovah knows my heart, when in fact the proper way of doing is available to all of us.
The calculated calendar followed by the Jews and the Churches of God is sadly inaccurate so the Sanhedrin is apparently going to formally rectify the situation in due course… in the meantime, the most important thing is to have a clear conscience like the Apostle Paul, in how we determine the timing of our worship of our heavenly Father… may God bless you in the heavy responsibility of guiding those who subscribe to your ministry…
Shalom,
Reg Brookhouse
Thank you Reg for your letter. I do appreciate it. And I am not attacking you. But you have brought to the table some of the very problems we are facing. My NewsLetter last week also warned of the penalty for those who did nothing and kept silent. They would be found guilty of murder.
But the Sanhedrin is not going to change it back before the Messiah comes. Those of us who go by the barley to begin the year and the crescent moon to begin the month can see the errors of the calculated calendar. This is awesome and such a huge step forward. But to stop there and assume you are now in the right group because you like a certain leader is a false assumption. It is very dangerous.
At Sightedmoon.com we examine all the reports from Israel about the barley and the crescent moon. For the 1st and 7th month we do not rely on any one witness. We weigh the evidence from each and everyone of them.
We have a great deal of trouble with abibofgod group due to the fact that he attacks all those who do not agree with him. This year he was attacking and stating his opinions based on his prediction from the preceding year even before he was in the land. That is not a witness. It is someone vying for political leadership. But we still used his very own information in our weighing along with all the other reports. And they confirmed the same thing. They were all consistent. Where they differed was on the use of the equinox as to whether or not Passover could be before it or not. Whether the barley had to be Aviv by the 1st of Aviv or by the 14th. Whether or not it was a hand full of many fields full.
Yehovah willing, sightedmoon.com will be on the ground this year as another witness. Not to attack any other group. But to provide another witness to the state of the barley.
Right now we have In search of His ancient and true path …from cover to cover which is on FB. And Devorahs Date Tree also on fb. And you can always tune into sightedmoon.com for updates from all those others we find who are reporting.
Shalom, Grandpa Joseph,
Thank you so much for your reply. And thank you so much for your teachings. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise because I only started reading your newsletters and books after the pandemic shut down happened in California.  It is a lot of information and at first it was overwhelming, but as I kept reading and listening it has become clearer in my mind. I have sent copies of your books to my family members and posted your recent interview with Dr. Doug Hamp in a Facebook group. I appreciate the hours of research and study you have committed to the timeline and Jubilee cycles – to be able to hear and see it and understand Yehovah’s timeline is a beautiful and amazing thing.
Regarding your move to the Philippines, we are hoping to join you all one day, but we don’t yet know when that will happen. I don’t know if you have seen this before, but I wanted to share it with you regarding what Ellen White said:  
General Conference Bulletin Vol. IV. April 16, 1901.  Extra no. 12 Pages 265…last para over into top of page 266
The day is coming when every Seventh Day Adventist in the United States of America would give everything that he has and almost his life, if he could be outside of the United States.   Let me say that again.  I am speaking something now that interests every Seventh Day Adventist. The day is coming and is not far off when every Seventh Day Adventist will wish to the depths of his soul that he were out of the United States; and multitudes shall condemn themselves and will fret themselves under the condemnation that they did not go out of the United States when they had the chance.  You know that this sign is given. “When our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government and shall make way for Papal falsehoods and delusions, we may know that the time of the marvelous working of Satan is at hand and that the end is near.  Has anybody here ever seen anything that suggests the repudiation by the United States of the principles of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government? Then you have seen some indications of this sign. Testimonies For The Church No. 32 Page 207 “As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem , so may the apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of Gods forbearance is reached and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight never to return….
I am Filipino but had no plans to ever move back until learning about your teachings and then also reading this quote from 1901. May Yahovah continue to bless you and keep you as you work to turn more hearts towards Him.
Shalom,
Cherylyn
Thank you Cherylyn, I have studied with SDA groups in the past. They are very knowledgeable about the scriptures and they also have memorized many of Ellen’s writings. The SDA led to the forming of the World Wide Church of God groups and the Sacred name groups. They are part of the restoration of all things that the spirit of Elijah would be doing in the last days. But they stopped at the Sabbath and never kept the Holy Days of Lev 23 which says the Sabbath is but the 1st Moedim that we are to keep. There are 7 others listed there.
It has been taught to me and is my view as well that the SDA were given this message from our Messiah Himself in Revelation

Rev 3:1  And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things. I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead.

Rev 3:2  Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works being fulfilled before God.

Rev 3:3  Remember then how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

Rev 3:4  You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. And they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

Rev 3:5  The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Rev 3:6  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Last weeks NewsLetter was for all of us to get out there and warn all the other groups. All the Sabbath keepers as well as those who keep the Holy Days and to those who do not keep any of them. We must do our part and warn them or we will be guilty of having murdered our brethren by our nonchalant caviler attitude, which we warned you about last week.

We also have the following responses.

I Know when the barley in Israel will be in its ripen state. I am not a farmer nor am I in Israel.
I realize there are several calendars and what I can determine most are pre-calculated.
So, it seems to me either ppl are not including the barley state or everyone seems to have their own interpretation of the barley state.
I asked my UCG pastor if UCG observes the barley state and received no response.
I also have tried to find an Israel website who tracks moon and barley and have come up more confused.
Allyson

We have this week and next articles to help address this which you all can share.

Hi Joe,

I enjoyed reading last week’s newsletter and believe you have actually put us all in a position of responding as you have challenged!!

I wouldn’t normally respond to such, and usually would sit quietly and continue to learn and discern from the word and others.

As you know we start our day in the morning and have done so since about 2009.

I would just like to respond to your ‘challenge’ and  offer you just 3 scriptures and no theology or opinions. My only request is for you to draw a picture to resolve all 3 scriptures.

These 3 scripture are taken from the sum total of the Torah instructions for this particular feast, which appear only 3 times in the Torah, so should resolve 100%

Numbers 29:7

Leviticus 16:29

Leviticus 23:32

Regards

Peter

Peter and his family are dear friends of mine and I have always enjoyed their company and studying when we meet in the land of Israel.
So here are the scriptures listed above.

Num 29:7And you shall have a holy convocation on the tenth of this seventh month. And you shall afflict your souls. You shall not do any work.

Lev 16:29And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, the native and the alien who is staying among you.

Lev 23:32It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.

So the argument here is to try and force you into their position by restricting your use of other scriptures.
So here is Lev 23:32 is the many various translations I have.

Leviticus 23:32

(ASV)It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye keep your sabbath.

(BBE)Let this be a Sabbath of special rest to you, and keep yourselves from all pleasure; on the ninth day of the month at nightfall from evening to evening, let this Sabbath be kept.

(Brenton)It shall be a holy sabbath to you; and ye shall humble your souls, from the ninth day of the month: from evening to evening ye shall keep your sabbaths.

(CEV)This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth.

(Darby)A sabbath of rest shall it be unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

(HOT)שׁבת שׁבתון הוא לכם ועניתם את־נפשׁתיכם בתשׁעה לחדשׁ בערב מערב עד־ערב תשׁבתו שׁבתכם׃

(HOT+)שׁבתH7676 שׁבתוןH7677 הואH1931 לכםועניתםH6031 אתH853 נפשׁתיכםH5315 בתשׁעהH8672 לחדשׁH2320 בערבH6153 מערבH6153 עדH5704 ערבH6153 תשׁבתוH7673 שׁבתכם׃H7676

(ISV)It’s a Sabbath of rest for you, on which you are to humble yourselves starting the evening of the ninth day of the month. You are to observe your Sabbath from evening to evening.”

(JPS)It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye keep your sabbath.

(KJV)It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

(KJV+)ItH1931 shall be unto you a sabbathH7676 of rest,H7677 and ye shall afflictH6031 (H853) your souls:H5315 in the ninthH8672 day of the monthH2320 at even,H6153 from evenH4480 H6153 untoH5704 even,H6153 shall ye celebrateH7673 your sabbath.H7676

(KJV-1611)It shalbe vnto you a Sabbath of rest, and yee shall afflict your soules in the ninth day of the moneth at Euen, from Euen vnto Euen shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.

(LXX)σάββατα σαββάτων ἔσται ὑμῖν, καὶ ταπεινώσετε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν· ἀπὸ ἐνάτης τοῦ μηνὸς ἀπὸ ἑσπέρας ἕως ἑσπέρας σαββατιεῖτε τὰ σάββατα ὑμῶν.

(LXX+)σαββαταG4521 N-NPN σαββατωνG4521 N-GPN εσταιG1510 V-FMI-3S υμινG4771 P-DP καιG2532 CONJ ταπεινωσετεG5013 V-FAI-2P ταςG3588 T-APF ψυχαςG5590 N-APF υμωνG4771 P-GP αποG575 PREP ενατηςA-GSF τουG3588 T-GSM μηνοςG3303 N-GSM αποG575 PREP εσπεραςG2073 N-GSF εωςG2193 PREP εσπεραςG2073 N-GSF σαββατιειτεV-FAI-2P ταG3588 T-APN σαββαταG4521 N-APN υμωνG4771 P-GP

(MKJV)It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.

(YLT)It is a sabbath of rest to you, and ye have humbled yourselves in the ninth of the month at even; from evening till evening ye do keep your sabbath.’

We also have the scriptures in Genesis 1

Gen 1:5And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:8And God called the expanse, Heavens. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Gen 1:13And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Gen 1:31And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

You now have 6 days in which the evening and the morning or the day constitute on 24 hour day. From sunset to sunset. This leaves you with one more evening and one more day that make up the 7th Day upon which Yehovah rested.

Gen 2:2And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

Gen 2:3And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work which God created to make.

Yehovah did not say outright that the Sabbath was from sunset to sunset. And this is what people use to justify keeping the day only part. If this thinking is right then the 6th day would have an extra 12 hours of darkness added to it. We have a precedent in Genesis 1 of what constitutes a day. The evening and the morning.

Then when we get to Lev 23 Yehovah wants to make absolutely sure you understand that the day begins at sunset so that you keep this day by fasting so as not to be cut off by Yehovah.

It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.

 


Striving For Success

 There is a famous fable about Pablo Picasso that goes something like this. One evening, while enjoying a meal at a restaurant, Picasso—the world’s most influential artist at the time—was interrupted by an admirer. The fan handed Picasso a napkin and said, “could you sketch something for me? I’ll pay you for it. Name your price.”

Picasso took a charcoal pencil from his pocket and swiftly drew a sketch of a goat. As the fan reached out to collect the napkin, Picasso withheld it. “You owe me $100,000,” he said.

The man was outraged. “$100,000? Why? That took you no more than 30 seconds to draw!”

Picasso crumpled up the napkin and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. “You are wrong,” he said. “It took me 40 years.”

Picasso’s point was it had taken him four decades to perfect his skill to the point where in under a minute he could craft a sketch that might take others months to accomplish.

   His response spoke volumes about the journey high achievers take to reach the tops of their fields. In many ways we still see this as believers. One day someone comes along and their message, “just blows you away,” and your eyes are opened to the amazing things that you never saw but have been there all along.

   Everyone wants to be the one who is important, who gets the spot light, and all the attention. Did this person just show up or come up with this understanding overnight, No! If you were to look at their life what you would have most likely seen was the desire to understand and comprehend more than just what is written in the Word of YHVH.

   As another example, one of my favorite stories which is derived from the life of the famous Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag, who many attributes to the writing of the Zoar, a book on Kabbalism. For much of his early childhood Yehuda would devote his every waking hours to learning the Tanach and in the end knew it so well he could quote it by heart from start to finish.

   The story does not end there, because of his obsession and passion, his whole life was consumed by the pursuit of knowing the real YHVH and would not settle on just knowing His Word. His dedication was so absolute that after he worked all day he would come home and study all but two hours every night until daybreak and then start over again. He would sit in his humble shack of a home with his wife and kids eating their meager dinner of bread, onion and maybe sometimes vodka to sustain them and to keep himself awake throughout the night, he would place his bare feet in ice cold water to prevent himself from falling asleep. In those days there was no such thing as insulation in wall of homes at least not these kind of homes, so they would be pretty cold to start with. 

   So, when he did take the time to teach, the people would gather around him and marvel at the depth of his understanding. Once when he visited a synagogue he was offered the highest chair meant only for the eldest scholars. He refused it saying that he did not want to put up on a pedestal because he was not important. They were looking to lift the man above the knowledge as if man was more important. He eventually left to never return because he saw man not interested in getting to know His Creator only in the success that it brought them.

   This is the way it is with those who seems to get all the attention. While we look upon this and wishful thinking and that it would be great to have the success and attention, I doubt those who seek Him like this, would say the same. Many who reach this level, whos focus is pin point, whos drive is all consuming, prefer to be left along, looking at spending time away from studding as a loss of valuable time that could get them closer to their goal, it is also a necessary step in their growth.

   It is only when those who have proven the understanding & knowledge that they have been given, share it and walk in it, and in doing so comes great spiritual growth.

   Know this. With every positive, gain, step forward, advancement, understanding, must also comes a negative or price to be paid, something must be taken away in order to allow something in. This is irrefutable! If you think that you can obtain this level of understanding of Torah and Him without leaving more baggage from this world behind, you are only kidding yourself and playing a fools game. The goal was never to arrive at the Kingdom with all our possessions including worldly knowledge, and what you think you know of His Kingdom and expect to get in. This world is our testing ground only and who’s sole purpose is to see where your heart lies. It is never to see how much we can accumulate because while you are protecting what is yours, you have less time to see and learn what is His.

   These people whom we lift up as great teachers have sacrificed much to get where they are to not only learn these truths, but also given up more than many. Sometimes it comes in the shape of person possessions, family, money, fame, friends. While many see these things as important, they are but fleeting, and in the end produce nothing that will take them into or bring them closer to the relationship that they are seeking.

   For many, they do not see the countless hours of dedication, the sleepless nights, weak eyes from reading so much, and much more, they only see the man or woman on stage who is getting all the attention and we label that as success in this world as a highly sought after item that has to be achieved by whatever means.

   For myself, I would rather be with the few that are sitting in the dark reading and discussing Torah into the wee hours of the night, those mysteries that fuel you all day long until you can return back to that chair, floor, bench and whatever you sat on, just to learn and understand a bit more. Sometimes I curse this weak body for falling asleep when I would rather be studding, so we must use our awake time, this valuable, precious short time that is given to us and not waste it chasing after things that will deliver us to the wrong place.

   The mysteries hidden deep within the Words, that take our spirits away, that one step closer to Him and knowing Him face to face, speaking with Him up close, knowing His desires, and heart and truly hearing His voice, not some made up crap we want to hear so we can feel good about living with our own sins. This is what is worth seeking.

What is it you seek when you wake each day? 

James Relf

 


Are You Teachable

After Last weeks Newsletter about sin and if you see a brother sinning and do not tell him you are guilty of murdering your brother, many of you posted parts of the News Letter on fb. The indignant responses made me laugh.

How dare you say I am sinning.

I did a study and we concluded the Sabbath is the day only and that settled it.

Why are you saying such hateful self righteous words.

I am not a sinner. I have kept the Feasts just last week with my whole heart. If I am wrong then Yehshua will show me when He comes. He knows my heart.

We will only know the truth when we are in the Kingdom.

You are the one who is hateful and not loving for saying these things.

Does any of this sound familiar to you as you post and share the truth about those who are keeping the Holy Days at the wrong time?

So before we even begin this weeks study, let me ask you a simple question. Are you teachable? Are you really? Am I?

Or do you or do I figure we have everything figured out because we attend the right church or are in the right group? Maybe we studied just enough Hebrew and can speak a enough Hebrew to be dangerous thinking you comprehend when in fact you do not.

Many people argue not in a midrash so that both can learn but to shame the other party so that they can remain in their self-righteous same position.

The Hebrew word midrash is derived from the root of the verb darash (דָּרַשׁ‎), which means “resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require”,[11]forms of which appear frequently in the Bible.[12]

Midrash (/ˈmɪdrɑːʃ/;[1] Hebrew: מִדְרָשׁ‎; pl. Hebrew: מִדְרָשִׁים‎ midrashim) is biblical exegesis by ancient Judaic authorities,[2] using a mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud. The word itself means “textual interpretation”, “study”.[3]

Midrash and rabbinic readings “discern value in texts, words, and letters, as potential revelatory spaces,” writes the Hebrew scholar Wilda C. Gafney. “They reimagine dominant narratively readings while crafting new ones to stand alongside—not replace—former readings. Midrash also asks questions of the text; sometimes it provides answers, sometimes it leaves the reader to answer the questions.”[4]

Vanessa Lovelace defines midrash as “a Jewish mode of interpretation that not only engages the words of the text, behind the text, and beyond the text, but also focuses on each letter, and the words left unsaid by each line.”[5]

The term is also used of a rabbinic work that interprets Scripture in that manner.[6][7] Such works contain early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (aggadah) and occasionally Jewish religious laws (halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture (Tanakh).[8]

“Midrash”, especially if capitalized, can refer to a specific compilation of these rabbinic writings composed between 400 and 1200 CE.[1][9]

According to Gary Porton and Jacob Neusner, “midrash” has three technical meanings: 1) Judaic biblical interpretation; 2) the method used in interpreting; 3) a collection of such interpretations.[10]

From this we should be able to understand that a midrash is not you expressing your opinions or feelings. It is sharing scriptures and dissecting the scriptures and even the letters to learn the deep and intrinsic meaning of what is being studied.

Last week we showed you what Yehovah said. We showed you what the Torah SAID. Not Joseph Dumond but the Torah and people got offended.

And then I get all these messages from the Philippines and pictures of people so eager to learn and to keep the Feasts. It just goes to prove what we have been saying since 2015.

Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged until He has set judgment in the earth; and the coasts shall wait for His Law.

Isa 41:5  The coastlands saw and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, and drew near, and came.

Isa 41:6  They each one helped his neighbor, and said to his brother, Be strong.

Isa 55:5  Behold, You shall call a nation that You do not know; a nation that did not know You shall run to You because of Jehovah Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You.

Isa 60:9  Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.

They seek the truth. They run to Yehovah. They read and discuss what is told to them. They search the scriptures and when they see it in the scriptures they let that truth sink into their souls. A totally different attitude than what is coming out of the mighty nations of Israel. Reading through the bible does not make you a scholar. One bible study on a subject does not define the subject.

The Jews read through the Torah once a year and still go to the midrashes and commentaries for deeper study even after years of study already. And you studied this one time and you now know…..your hysterical. I ask you to read James article above about the Rabbi who wanted to know Yehovah.

Last week we showed you how the Jews changed the Holy Days and kept them at a different time than what we are told to do in the Torah. They migrated from the sighted moon or witnessing the crescent moon to begin the month, to a calculated calendar. They did so out of necessity as they were being persecuted by the Romans and the Christians of the 3rd and 4th century.

(Last week we had a quote about Justinian rebuilding the Temple with the Jews and then stopping it. Not one person caught that or commented on it. This was a huge statement and when you investigate it further it will tell you where the Temple is and how much they rebuilt. I keep dropping these huge GEMs and no one sees them.)

Once they were forced off the land of Israel they had to then add the Metonic Cycles to keep the calendar somewhat lined up to when the Holy Days seasons were.

I got the following letter about the article last week. It is in the comments. This man is sincere and honest and wants an answer. It is a good question. Last week we focused on the moon aspect of the calendar. This week we are going to focus on the barley aspect.

There are many who follow aviv and not Hillel. This year it was in sync with Hillel. Please explain the precedent for taking a month away. Do we have historical context for how to judge the barley? This was the key point I was looking for in your article as we are not disagreed on Hillel. Why were we wrong to go with Devorah’s, Nehemiah’s and Rood’s understanding? Why is your understanding correct? While you could scour through a southern field of barley for a handful could you have found any in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem where they were cutting the barley sheaves as part of the pomp and ceremony of the time? It had never occurred to me that you can place the head of the year a month early by eliminating the 12th month as you did. And now I’m going to die for following the aviv calendar and sighted moon because of our understanding of how much barely you need. Were the priests traveling to the southern parts of the fields or harvesting the fields of Jerusalem? This I think is the key point of contention and not Hillel and it was not addressed. I would live to see this addressed with the in depth and historical consideration you offered here. Yes I should study this out for myself but with limited time and resource I lean heavily on my teachers like you. As usual thank you for a fascinating and highly useful newsletter.

Please keep reading. We are addressing this and more.

 


 

Metonic Cycle

Last week we share an article that we have share many times already about the Metonic Cycles and how they were discovered by Meton. Well he is credited with the discovery but the Babylonians were using it before him.

Traditionally, for the Babylonian and Hebrew lunisolar calendars, the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 are the long (13-month) years of the Metonic cycle. This cycle forms the basis of the Greek and Hebrew calendars, and is used for the computation of the date of Easter each year.

The Babylonians applied the 19-year cycle since the late sixth century BC.[3] As they measured the moon’s motion against the stars, the 235:19 relationship may originally have referred to sidereal years, instead of tropical years as it has been used for various calendars.

You can go to our article last week to read more about this or the wiki article linked above.

My question to you is this. Why would Hillel want to add the Metonic Cycle to the Hebrew Calendar? No one has asked me this before. So let me now ask all of you. And before you read any further, post your answer in the comments below. Once you do that then come back and read the rest. But do not read first and then comment. And do not go back and edit or delete your comments. Lets see how many of you know the answer. Honestly.

Why did Hillel have to put the Metonic Cycle into the Hebrew calendar?


 

Ramadan & Why there is no Intercalary Month

How many of you understand Ramadan? Lets see.

Why do the dates of Ramadan change every year? Why is Ramadan never at the same time each year?

For religious matters, Muslims follow a lunar calendar — that is, one based on the phases of the moon — whose 12 months add up to approximately 354 days. That’s 11 days shorter than the 365 days of the standard Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the Islamic lunar calendar moves backward approximately 11 days each year in relation to the regular Gregorian calendar.

So that means that the first day of the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, moves backward by about 11 days each year.

Understand what you are being told here. Especially those Einsteins who write me each year saying there is no biblical justification for adding a 13th month.

The Jewish year is also made up of 12 months. The Jewish year also has just 354 days in each year. Exactly the same as the Muslim calendar.

After all, Ismael and Isaac had Abraham as the same father.

Ishmael. Called Ismail in the Quran. Son of Abraham (Ibrahim) and Hagar . … Today Ishmael is considered the father of the Arab nation

Abraham would have taught them the calendar to keep. But you may be surprised the whole world at the time of Abraham kept the same calendar. And why not they would have learned it from Noah the father of them all.

In the following quote you will notice that both the Assyrians and Babylonians used a 12 month lunar calendar with an intercalary month added as needed.

The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. The calendar is based on a Sumerian (Third Dynasty of Ur) predecessor preserved in the Umma calendar of Shulgi (c. 21st century BC).

The year begins in spring, and is divided into reš šatti “beginning”, mišil šatti “middle”, and qīt šatti “end of the year”. The word for “month” was arḫu (construct state araḫ). The chief deity of the Assyrians is assigned the surplus intercalary month, showing that the calendar originates in Babylonian, and not later Assyrian times. During the 6th century BC Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews, the Babylonian month names were adopted into the Hebrew calendar. The Assyrian calendar used in Iraq and the Levant also uses many of the same names for its months, such as Iyyar, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tishri, and Adar.

Until the 5th century BC, the calendar was fully observational, but beginning about 499 BC the months began to be regulated by a lunisolar cycle of 19 years equaling 235 months. Although usually called the Metonic cycle after Meton of Athens (432 BC), Meton probably learned of the cycle from the Babylonians. After no more than three isolated exceptions, by 380 BC the months of the calendar were regulated by the cycle without exception. In the cycle of 19 years, the month Adaru 2 was intercalated, except in the year that was number 17 in the cycle, when the month Ulūlu 2 was inserted. During this period, the first day of each month (beginning at sunset) continued to be the day when a new crescent moon was first sighted—the calendar never used a specified number of days in any month.

So why do the Muslims not have an intercalary month each year. Well, at one time they did. But then they ruled it evil in the year 632 AD.

Others concur that it was originally a lunar calendar, but suggest that about 200 years before the Hijra it was transformed into a lunisolar calendar containing an intercalary month added from time to time to keep the pilgrimage within the season of the year when merchandise was most abundant. This interpretation was first proposed by the medieval Muslim astrologer and astronomer Abu Ma’shar al-Balkhi, and later by al-Biruni,[8][14] al-Mas’udi, and some western scholars.[15] This interpretation considers Nasī’ to be a synonym to the Arabic word for “intercalation” (kabīsa). The Arabs, according to one explanation mentioned by Abu Ma’shar, learned of this type of intercalation from the Jews.[7][8][14] The Jewish Nasi was the official who decided when to intercalate the Jewish calendar.[16] Some sources say that the Arabs followed the Jewish practice and intercalated seven months over nineteen years, or else that they intercalated nine months over 24 years; there is, however, no consensus among scholars on this issue.[17]

Postponement (Nasī’) of one ritual in a particular circumstance does not imply alteration of the sequence of months, and scholars agree that this did not happen. Al-Biruni also says this did not happen,[14] and the festivals were kept within their season by intercalation every second or third year of a month between Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram. He also says that, in terms of the fixed calendar that was not introduced until 10 AH (632 AD/CE), the first intercalation was, for example, of a month between Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram, the second of a month between Muharram and Safar, the third of a month between Safar and Rabi’I, and so on.[14] The intercalations were arranged so that there were seven of them every nineteen years. The notice of intercalation was issued at the pilgrimage, the next month would be Nasī’ and Muharram would follow. If, on the other hand, the names relate to the intercalated rather than the fixed calendar, the second intercalation might be, for example, of a month between Muharram and Safar allowing for the first intercalation, and the third intercalation of a month between Safar and Rabi’I allowing for the two preceding intercalations, and so on. The time for the intercalation to move from the beginning of the year to the end (twelve intercalations) is the time it takes the fixed calendar to revolve once through the seasons (about 32 1/2 tropical years). There are two big drawbacks of such a system, which would explain why it is not known ever to have been used anywhere in the world. First, it cannot be regulated by means of a cycle (the only cycles known in antiquity were the octaeteris (3 intercalations in 8 years) and the enneadecaeteris (7 intercalations in 19 years). Secondly, without a cycle it is difficult to establish from the number of the year (a) if it is intercalary and (b) if it is intercalary, where exactly in the year the intercalation is located.

Although some scholars (see list above) claim that the holy months were shuffled about for convenience without the use of intercalation, there is no documentary record of the festivals of any of the holy months being observed in any month other than those they are now observed in. The Qu’ran (sura 9.37) only refers to the “postponement” of a sacred month. If they were shuffled as suggested, one would expect there to be a prohibition against “anticipation” as well. If the festivities of the sacred months were kept in season by moving them into later months, they would move through the whole twelve months in only 33 years. Had this happened, at least one writer would have mentioned it. Sura 9.36 states “Verily, the number of months with Allah is twelve months” and sura 37 refers to “adjusting the number of months”. Such adjustment can only be effected by intercalation.

There are a number of indications that the intercalated calendar was similar to the Jewish calendar, whose year began in the spring.[18] There are clues in the names of the months themselves:

Rabi’ I – first spring
Rabi’ II – second spring
Jumada I – first month of parched land
Jumada II – second month of parched land
Sha’ban – Arabs “dispersed” to find water
Ramadan – scorched
Shawwal – female camels “raised” their tails after calving
In the intercalated calendar’s last year (AD/CE 632), Dhu al-Hijjah corresponded to March. The Battle of the Trench in Shawwal and Dhu’l Qi’dah of AH 5 coincided with “harsh winter weather”. Military campaigns clustered round Ramadan, when the summer heat had dissipated, and all fighting was forbidden during Rajab, at the height of summer. The invasion of Tabak in Rajab AH 9 was hampered by “too much hot weather” and “drought”. In AH 1 Muhammad noted the Jews of Yathrib observing a festival when he arrived on Monday, 8 Rabi’I. Rabi’I is the third month and if it coincided with the third month of the Jewish calendar the festival would have been the Feast of Weeks, which is observed on the 6th and 7th days of that month.

Prohibiting Nasī’[edit]
Further information: Nasi’

Illustration of Muhammad prohibiting Nasī’. Found in an illustrated copy of Al-Biruni’s The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries(17th-century copy of an early 14th-century Ilkhanid manuscript).[19]
In the tenth year of the Hijra, as documented in the Qur’an (Surah At-Tawbah (9):36–37), Muslims believe God revealed the “prohibition of the Nasī'”.

The number of the months, with God, is twelve in the Book of God, the day that He created the heavens and the earth; four of them are sacred. That is the right religion. So wrong not each other during them. And fight the unbelievers totally even as they fight you totally and know that God is with the godfearing. Know that intercalation (nasi) is an addition to disbelief. Those who disbelieve are led to error thereby, making it lawful in one year and forbidden in another in order to adjust the number of (the months) made sacred by God and make the sacred ones permissible. The evil of their course appears pleasing to them. But God gives no guidance to those who disbelieve.

— Surah at-Tawbah (9), Ayahs 36–37[20]
The prohibition of Nasī’ would presumably have been announced when the intercalated month had returned to its position just before the month of Nasi’ began. If Nasī’ meant intercalation, then the number and the position of the intercalary months between AH 1 and AH 10 are uncertain; western calendar dates commonly cited for key events in early Islam such as the Hijra, the Battle of Badr, the Battle of Uhud and the Battle of the Trench should be viewed with caution as they might be in error by one, two, three or even four lunar months. This prohibition was mentioned by Muhammad during the farewell sermon which was delivered on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah AH 10 (Julian date Friday 6 March, 632 AD/CE) on Mount Arafat during the farewell pilgrimage to Mecca.[citation needed]

Certainly the Nasi’ is an impious addition, which has led the infidels into error. One year they authorise the Nasi’, another year they forbid it. They observe the divine precept with respect to the number of the sacred months, but in fact they profane that which God has declared to be inviolable, and sanctify that which God has declared to be profane. Assuredly time, in its revolution, has returned to such as it was at the creation of the heavens and the earth. In the eyes of God the number of the months is twelve. Among these twelve months four are sacred, namely, Rajab, which stands alone, and three others which are consecutive.

— Translated by Sherrard Beaumont Burnaby[21]
The three successive sacred (forbidden) months mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (months in which battles are forbidden) are Dhu al-Qa’dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, and Muharram, months 11, 12, and 1 respectively. The single forbidden month is Rajab, month 7. These months were considered forbidden both within the new Islamic calendar and within the old pagan Meccan calendar.[22][6][23][24][25]

So before 632 AD Islam and the world had intercalary months. But the Jews by this time were totally on the Metonic cycles of the Hillel calculated calendar.

We can say that everyone used the same calendar system up until the time of Christ. Well not exactly.

 


 

Julius Caesar Calendar

The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in AUC 708 (46 BC), was a reform of the Roman calendar.[1] It took effect on 1 January AUC 709 (45 BC), by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and Greek astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandria.

The calendar was the predominant calendar in the Roman world, most of Europe, and in European settlements in the Americas and elsewhere, until it was gradually replaced by the Gregorian calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. The Julian calendar is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy as well as by the Berbers.[2]

The Julian calendar has two types of years: a normal year of 365 days and a leap year of 366 days. They follow a simple cycle of three normal years and one leap year, giving an average year that is 365.25 days long. That is more than the actual solar year value of 365.24219 days, which means the Julian calendar gains a day every 128 years.

For any given event during the years from 1901 to 2099 inclusive, its date according to the Julian calendar is 13 days behind its corresponding Gregorian date.

 


 

The Gregorian Calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world.[1] It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.

The calendar spaces leap years to make its average year 365.2425 days long, approximating the 365.2422-day tropical year that is determined by the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is:

Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are.[2]
The calendar was a revision of the Julian calendar and had two aspects.[Note 1] It shortened the average (calendar) year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes.[3] To deal with the drift since the Julian calendar was fixed, the date was advanced 10 days; Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15 October 1582.[Note 2] There was continuity in the cycle of weekdays and the Anno Dominicalendar era.[Note 3] The reform also altered the lunar cycle used by the Church to calculate the date for Easter (computus), restoring it to the time of the year as originally celebrated by the early Church. This calendar era has the alternative secular name of “Common Era”.

The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe and their overseas possessions. Over the next three centuries, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries also moved to what they called the Improved calendar, with Greece being the last European country to adopt the calendar in 1923.[5] To unambiguously specify a date during the transition period (or in history texts), dual dating is sometimes used to specify Old Style and New Style dates (abbreviated as O.S and N.S.). During the 20th century, most non-Western countries also adopted the calendar, at least for civil purposes.

 


 

Summary

In each and every calendar system mentioned above they all have the days of the week as being 7 days and the Sabbath is never changed. Even Pope Gregory change the dates by 10 days, the week when from the Thursday Oct 4 1582 to Friday October 15, 1582. No days were lost.

But the other point I want you to understand and to understand completely is this simple fact. The Solar year used by the Romans had a 365 day year with an added day each 4 years. And even then it was out by 10 days by the time they got to 1582.

The Muslims did away with that evil adding of months or intercalary months every so many years and now they have their holy days at different times each year and never connected to any season.

The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Greeks, all new they needed an extra month about every three years to keep the season and the months at the proper time. They used what we call today the Metonic cycle to know when to add that extra month each year.

It is my view that Noah showed his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,  Asshur, Cush and Nimrod who head up these great empires that grew using their names, when the seasons were to be kept. And as they grew further and further from the original source, Noah, they drifted and changed.

It is exactly the same thing with Israel and then the Jews. As they were driven out of the land they were forced to adopt what is today the Hillel Calendar and now 1700 years later, they are of sinc, as they themselves testified in our article last week, by as much as 3 days each year.

 


 

The Vernal Equinox

In this next bit of ancient history I want you to notice first the name of the first month of the year and just how ancient the equinox is and who it is that was using it.

Kha b-Nisan, Ha b-Nisin[1], or Ha b-Nison (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ‎, “First of April”), also known as Resha d-Sheta (Assyrian: ܪܫܐ ܕܫܢܬܐ, “Head of the year”) and as Akitu (Assyrian: ܐܟܝܬܘ), or Assyrian New Year[2], is the spring festival among the indigenous Assyrians of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran, celebrated on 1 April.

The festival has its roots in the ancient Mesopotamian religion practiced by Assyrians until its gradual demise in the face of Syriac Christianitybetween the 1st and 4th centuries AD. Today Assyrians are Christians,[3] with most being adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.

In the Julian calendar, the vernal equinox moved gradually away from 21 March. The Gregorian calendar reform restored the vernal equinox to its original date, but since the festival was by now tied to the date, not the astronomical event, Kha b-Nisan remains fixed at 21 March in the Julian reckoning, corresponding to 1 April in the Gregorian calendar. The Vernal equinox is celebrated throughout Greater Iran as Noruz (meaning “New Day”) on 21 March. However, in the ancient Assyrian, Akkadian and Babylonian traditions, the spring festival was celebrated in the first days of the month known as “Nisan”[5] and the calendar adopted by the ancient Assyrians had the month “Nisan” at the beginning of the calendar[6] lending to the term “Kha b-Nisan”, or the “first of Nisan”.

In the 1950s, a rising upsurge in Assyrian nationalism resulted in the creation of an official “Assyrian calendar” with its era fixed at 4750 BC, inspired by an estimate of the date of the first temple at Ashur in the Middle Ubaid period.[citation needed] In the same spirit, the Akkadian name of the spring festival, Akitu, was revived. It is essential to consider that the Assyrian people have generally celebrated Akitu on the first day of April since 4750 BC and that a creation of an official calendar would aim to unite the Assyrians in their nationalism.

Now I turn to Kariate Korner for the next article on the equinox.

Vernal Equinox and Tekufah
Q: Is the equinox (Tekufah) mentioned in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible)?

 

The claim has been made by proponents of the equinox calendar theory that the word equinox actually appears in the Tanach. They are referring to the word Tekufah or Tequfah which appears in the Hebrew Bible four times. Tekufah is in fact the post-Biblical word for “equinox”, however, it never has the meaning of “equinox” in the Tanach. In Biblical Hebrew, Tekufah retains its literal meaning of “circuit”, that is something which returns to the same point in time or space [from the root Nun.Quf.Pe. meaning “to go around”]. To claim that Tekufah means equinox in the Tanach, just because it had this meaning in later Hebrew, is an anchronism. This would be like saying that there were handguns in ancient Israel because the word EKDACH, the post-Biblical Hebrew word for handgun, appears in Isaiah 54:12. Let us consider another example of this anachronistic use of language: Before the invention of the electronic computer during World War II, the word “computer” referred to a man who sat at a desk calculating (computing) mathematical equations. Imagine if we found an 18th century document mentioning “computers” and proclaimed to the world that there were really electronic computers in the 18th century. This is exactly what the equinox-followers are doing with the word Tekufah. To better understand this, let us consider the four appearances of Tekufah in the Tanach.

Tekufah in Exodus 34:22

The first appearance of Tekufah is in the list of Pilgrimage-Feasts (Hagim) in Ex 34:22 which refers to the agricultural character of the Feast of Booths (Sukkot):

“And the Feast of Ingathering at the circuit of the year (Tekufat HaShannah).”

Being mislead by the Post-Biblical Hebrew meaning of Tekufah, some have interpreted “circuit of the year” anachronistically to refer to the Autumnal Equinox (it is doubtful whether the ancient Israelites even knew of the equinox and they certainly had no way of calculating when it would be). This anachronistic reading leads to the suggestion of fixing the beginning of the year so that Sukkot (The Feast of Ingathering) falls out at the time of the Autumnal Equinox. However, a closer investigation shows that “circuit of the year” has nothing to do with the equinox. The list of Pilgrimage-Feasts also appears in a parallel passage in Ex 23:16 which describes Sukkot as follows:

“And the Feast of Ingathering at the going out of the year (Tzet HaShannah), when you have gathered in your work from the field.”

Exodus 34 is actually an almost verbatim paraphrase of Exodus 23 and it is important to compare and contrast these two passages; the differences are often very enlightening. Comparing Ex 34:22 and Ex 23:16 it is clear that the “going out of the year” and the “circuit of the year” refer to the same time. The “going out/ circuit” of the year is described in Ex 23:16 as “when you have gathered in your work from the field”. This agricultural ingathering is also described in Dt 16:13:

“You shall keep the Feast of Booths for seven days, when you have gathered in from your threshing floors and from your wine presses.”

The Feast of Booths/ Ingathering is described as the “going out of the year” because it takes place at the end of the yearly agricultural cycle of planting, harvest, threshing, and ingathering. At the same time, Sukkot is described as taking place at the “circuit of the year” because once the agricultural cycle ends it then immediately recommences (making a circuit, returning to the same point in time) with the planting of the fields after the first rains (sometimes during or shortly after Sukkot itself).

Tekufah in Psalms 19:7

The term Tekufah (circuit) appears in Psalm 19 in reference to the sun, but here too it has nothing to do with the equinox. Psalm 19 describes the heavens and sun, which from their unique vantage point are witness to all things in creation, and thus (metaphorically) testify to the incomparable glory of God. Verses 5-7 describes the sun:

“(5)… He [YHWH] placed a tent among them [the heavens] for the sun. (6) Which is as a bridegroom going out of his chamber, and which rejoices as a strong man running a race. (7) From the end of the heavens is its [the sun’s] going out and its circuit (Tekufato) is to their [the heavens] ends, and none is hidden from its heat”

Verse 6 describes the sun as a bridegroom that bursts forth out of his chamber and as a hero that runs along a path. Verse 7 then describes the “going out” of the sun at one end of the heavens and the “circuit” (Tekufato) of the sun at the other end. Clearly what is being described is the daily path of the sun which rises at one end of the heaven (its going out) and sets at the other end (its return), “and none is hidden from its heat” during the course of the day. What has confused some readers is that the going out or exiting of the sun refers to sunrise, but this unusual terminology is used throughout the Tanach. For example, we read in Judges 5:31:

“Thus shall all the enemies of YHWH be destroyed; and all those whom he loves shall be as the going out of the sun (KeTzet HaShemesh) in its might”. (Jud 5,31)

Those loyal to YHWH shall shine forth with glory as the “going out of the sun”, that is sunrise. It may seem strange that sunrise is referred to as the “going out” of the sun. After all, in Exodus we saw that the going out of the year was the end of the year, whereas the going outof the sun is the beginning of the day. However, this is consistent with Biblical usage and in fact the common Biblical way of saying sunset is the coming in or entering of the sun. This is related to the ancient Israelite conception of the sun which at night was thought of as metaphorically dwelling in a celestial chamber (Ps 19:5). At dawn the sun goes out of this metaphorical chamber and the earth is lit while at night the sun comes into the metaphorical chamber and it is dark. This is also the thought behind the comparison of sunrise to a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber. Ps 19:7 refers to the going out of the sun (sunrise) at one end of heaven and its circuit (return to the same place, to its nightly chamber) at the other end, that is sunset (for a similar thought see Ecc 1:5). We see that here too Tekufah (circuit) has nothing to do with the equinox.

Tekufah in 2Chronicles 24:23

As seen above the “Tekufah (circuit) of the year” in Exodus referred to events in the autumn (the time of the ingathering). The same expression (circuit of the year) is also used to refer to events which take place in late spring as we see in 2Chr 24:23:

“And it was at the circuit (Tekufah) of the year that the army of Aram went up and they came to Judah and Jerusalem…”

In this instance the “Circuit (Tekufah) of the year” comes in place of the common expression “Return (Teshuvah) of the year” which appears several times in the Tanach as “the time when kings go out [to war]” as in:

“And it was at the return (Teshuvah) of the year, and Ben-Haddad counted Aram and went up to Afek to war with Israel.” (1Ki 20:26).

“And it was at the return (Teshuvah) of the year, at the time the kings go out [to war] and David sent Yoav… and they smote the Amonites and besieged Rabbah…” (2Sam 11:1)

The time that the kings went out to war was the late spring before the oppresive heat of summer and after the winter rains which made the mud roads in the Land of Israel impassable. We see here that Tekufah (circuit) of the year is used interchangeably with the more common Teshuvah (return) of the year. Whenever this annual set time for kings to go out to war comes around it is a “circuit of the year”, returning to the same point in time as last year.

Tekufah in 1Samuel 1:20

The term Tekufah (circuit) also appears in 1Sam 1:20 which says:

“And it was at the circuits (Tekufot) of the days, and Hannah conceived and bore a son…”

Here the “circuits” of the days refers to “the same time the following year” [or possibly to the completion of the term of pregnancy?]. It is worth noting that Tekufah is plural in 1Sam 1:20 as tekufot “circuitS”. If we apply the anachronistic meaning of Tekufah as equinox then we get the absurd translation: “And it was at the equinoxes of the days, and Hanah concieved and bore a son…” This emphasizes how important it is to understand Scripture in its historical and linguistic context.

None of the four appearances of Tekufah in the Hebrew Scripture have anything to do with the equinox. Instead, this term is used in Biblical Hebrew in its primary sense of a “circuit”, that is a return to the same point in space or time. Only in Post-Biblical Hebrew did Tekufah come to mean “equinox” and to read this meaning into the Tanach creates an anachronism.

The equinox is important to which calendars?

When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox; this was already the starting day of the year in the Persian and Indian calendars. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year by about 11.3 minutes on average (or 1 day in 128 years), the calendar “drifted” with respect to the two equinoxes – so that in 300 AD the spring equinox occurred on about 21 March, and by 1500 AD it had drifted backwards to 11 March.[citation needed]

This drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to establish the modern Gregorian calendar. The Pope wanted to continue to conform with the edicts of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD concerning the date of Easter, which means he wanted to move the vernal equinox to the date on which it fell at that time (21 March is the day allocated to it in the Easter table of the Julian calendar), and to maintain it at around that date in the future, which he achieved by reducing the number of leap years from 100 to 97 every 400 years. However, there remained a small residual variation in the date and time of the vernal equinox of about ±27 hours from its mean position, virtually all because the distribution of 24 hour centurial leap-days causes large jumps (see Gregorian calendar leap solstice). This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, and thus Easter Day might theoretically commence before the equinox. The consulting astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on 22 March (within Europe).

While we are looking at the equinox and how various groups try to apply it to Yehovah’s calendar, lets briefly look at the Qumran or Dead Sea Calendar. and the Enochian Calendar. Both of them are fatally flawed. Each one has only 364 days each year.

with only 364 days, it would get out of sync with the seasons so quickly: in only 25 years the seasons would arrive an entire month early.

I merely mention this because there are some who claim one or the other of these two to be the proper calendar. But they both are flawed and I am not going to waste yours or my time on them. We have address the Enoch calendar in other articles.

 


 

Summary # 2

By this point you should have a good understanding that the equinox has nothing to do with the calendar. It does not begin the year. It has something to do with determining when Easter will be. But it is not found in anything Yehovah said to use to determine the year or the start of the year.

Do we have proof that the Jews used the equinox to start the year? I have something even better. I have real artefacts called the Tomb Stones of Zoar.

They have the day of the week and the month and the year and how many years after the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD on the,. ALl I have to do is to look at them and then I will know with a little work what month was the first month of the year. And I can see if they kept Passover before the equinox.

This is exactly what we did in 2020 when the Barley was reported to be ripe early. We have not even gotten to the barley yet. We must first cover ll these other things that people say is part of the calendar. So we must look at them and examine them to come to complete understanding.

Let us now look at the Tombstones of Zoar and understand them.


Waiting on Yehovah is Always Exciting

The Glory of the Lord

Exo 40:34  And the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
Exo 40:35  And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of the congregation because the cloud stayed on it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
Exo 40:36  And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel journeyed on in all their journeys.
Exo 40:37  But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was taken up.
Exo 40:38  For the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, in all their journeys.

Can you imagine getting up each day and quickly opening the flap of your tent to see if the cloud was there or if it had moved to some other place? Each day you would check before you made any plans to do the things you wanted to get done that day.

You are all psyched to go and plant a garden and get dressed and gather the tools and go out the door and only then see the cloud is missing. You have to rush back and gather the kids and take down the tent and load it on the cart and then round up the flocks and herds and start to head in the direction of the cloud. The kids are asking where we are going and you say I do not know. The wife asks how much longer and you say I do not know. You ask yourself if there will be fields of grass and water for the herds and then say you do not know.

Can you imagine?

How exciting and how much it forces you to have faith in Yehovah. How awesome that would be?
Well, last week I was that guy going out to do my own thing and I had my plans for March to go to Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia. I was just about to book my flight and found one that leaves on a Wednesday and is half the cost of flying on Thursday so I can arrive there before Sunset on Friday and be checked into my room. I had my plans and had worked them all out and then bam, out of the blue I got the reports from Becca Biderman about the current state of the Barley. I was stunned like a deer in the headlights, frozen in my tracks.

So I quickly added her postings to the News Letter after already sending it out. I then was in panic mode for the rest of Thursday night and Friday.
I was absolutely positive we would have a 13th month this year. That is what I was sharing with you and taught you about last week. This has completely caught me with my pants down. Flights leaving on Thursday arrive in Riyad on Saturday. So I cannot do that. Leaving on Wednesday I would arrive early Friday and that was perfect, but now the Wednesday is potentially the High Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. What do I do? What do I do?


Then I began to reason that there was no way Passover could be before the Equinox. I never go by the equinox even though that seems to be an unwritten rule. Brian Hoecke even had a chart he showed me showing each year since 2000 how Passover was always after the equinox. I had disagreed but forgot where my proof was which showed me Passover could be before the equinox. And then I got busy with other things and forgot about it until now.
Here is the information courtesy of Brian Hoeck and I thank him for going and finding this and then for sharing it with us. Note that Passover will be 14 days after each of the New Moon sightings below and in each case was after the Equinox.

Here’s the info you requested:

“In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries, (for in this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians,) the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt, and which was called the Passover; and so we do celebrate this passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following.” (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book III)

Please note that Josephus did not say the New Moon that starts the year occurs in Aries, but rather he said the Passover was sacrificed (i.e., the ending of Aviv/Nisan 14) while the Sun was in Aries. In his day, the Sun was in Aries circa March 20/21 through April 19/20. IF the Passover sacrifice had to occur in Aries, then it would have to fall in between March 20/21 and April 19/20, which would mean then that the New Moon must be sighted between the evening of March 7 (which would produce an Aviv 14 on March 21) and the evening of April 6 (which would produce an Aviv 14 on April 20).

Here is New Year info for years 2000-2019 via Aviv inspections and New Moon watches:
2000: 1st New Moon visible Wednesday, April 5
2001: 1st New Moon visible Monday, March 26
2002: 1st New Moon visible Friday, March 15
2003: 1st New Moon visible Friday, April 3
2004: 1st New Moon visible Monday, March 22
2005: 1st New Moon visible Friday, March 11*
2006: 1st New Moon visible Thursday, March 30
2007: 1st New Moon visible Wednesday, March 20
2008: 1st New Moon visible Monday, April 7*
2009: 1st New Moon visible Friday, March 27
2010: 1st New Moon visible Wednesday, March 17
2011: 1st New Moon visible Monday, April 4
2012: 1st New Moon visible Friday, March 23
2013: 1st New Moon visible Wednesday, March 13
2014: 1st New Moon visible Monday, March 31
2015: 1st New Moon visible Saturday, March 21
2016: 1st New Moon visible Thursday, March 10*
2017: 1st New Moon visible Wednesday, March 29
2018: 1st New Moon visible Sunday, March 18
2019: 1st New Moon visible Friday, March 8*

There are 4 years above marked with an asterisk. These mark years of split views of aviv inspectors.

* In 2005, there was debate over the start in the Aviv camps. The date in the chart is derived from the Karaite Korner crew, whereas abibofgod declared a 13th month and began the year with the 1st New Moon visible Sunday, April 11, 2005. If the abibofgod determination is correct, it would be evidence against the Josephus parameter.

* In 2008, the Karaites & abibofgod both declared a 13th month and began the year with the New Moon sighted the evening of April 7, thus an April 21st afternoon Passover sacrifice. This would put it one day outside of Aries (which ended April 20).
The folks at torah calendar declared that the barley was ready for March 8, 2008 to begin the year: https://torahcalendar.com/PDF/2008_Abib.pdf

* In 2016, the Karaite group declared a 13th month, and thus their day of Passover sacrifice (April 23) fell outside of the parameter given by Josephus by 3 days. (There was a split amoungst the groups this year Some not adding a 13th month)

* In 2019, the Karaite group declared a 13th month, making their Passover sacrifice occur the afternoon of April 20 (still fitting the Josephus parameter).(There was a split amoungst the groups this year Some not adding a 13th month)

Let me share my experience here now that I have this record above. My first year was in 2005 and we kept the Passover via the Karaite view 30 days before the Hebrew Calendar. I have written about this many times. In 2016 with much debate, sightedmoon.com kept Passover earlier that the Karaite view which added a 13th month that year. We did not. In 2019 once again sightedmoon.com kept Passover 30 days before the Karaite groups again with much debate and much scorn. In both instances, Nehemia and I remained friends and still do to this day. And in both instances, sadly others stopped following us and talking with us. So we are well aware of the divisiveness of this subject and controversies it brings forth.

If Passover can be before the equinox and I can prove it then Becca has a case. Ha, Becca has a case no matter what I say. She has the barley and Yehovah is guiding that process. Yehovah is in charge and we must never forget that. And even as I say that my human reasoning is denying it. But Becca showed that some Barley was already in the head stage and flowering. Which means we could be just 40 to 30 days from it being ripe enough for Wave Sheaf day. It is most certainly going to be a very close year this year and we all must be ready either way.


I have not even begun to deleaven the house or the cars and…… Man, I am just not ready. Is the cloud actually moving? Arghhh I have to catch up.
But here is the thing. Yehovah is in control. He is in charge. If the rains continue and it remains cool then the husks do not develop and the milk does not gather so the seed does not begin to form. But once the dry warm winds come, then the process begins. When will that be?
According to the chart in exactly so many days. But in reality, only Yehovah knows.
Once again we are being shown this parable, this Hebrew idiom.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father.

Those who do not keep the Holy Days will not and cannot know when He is to come. They will not know the seasons. Paul said;

The Day of the Lord

1Th 5:1  But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you.
1Th 5:2  For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety! Then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon a woman with child. And they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4  But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief.
1Th 5:5  You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness.
1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm.
1Th 5:7  For those sleeping sleep in the night, and those being drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be calm, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and the hope of salvation for a helmet.
1Th 5:9  For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  who died for us, so that whether we watch or sleep we should live together with Him.
1Th 5:11  Therefore comfort one another, and edify one another, even as you also do.

Yehovah is demonstrating to us that we cannot know when but once we know the season then we can know about when.

Can you Have Passover Before the Equinox?

In all this thinking and my mind racing, I remembered where I had seen the proof that Passover was indeed possible to be kept before the Equinox. It was in the Tombstones of Zoar. The very same ones that had shown me many references to the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.
When I got home from work Friday I immediately began to go through every single tombstone once again and to see just how many had more evidence to give up. Things I had just read over and not valued.

Almost all of the Tombstones give you the year in reference to the year the Temple was destroyed. They give the name of the person deceased, and most give the month. And some even give the day of the week and the date of that day and the month. This was pure gold which I had not realized I had nor had I thought to use it before now.

With this weekday and the date and month, I could now go back and see when that year began and if indeed it was before the Equinox when they kept Passover. But then Friday night as I was going through each of these Tombstones, I also realized that they were telling me consistently when they had changed from the Crescent moon calendar to the Conjunction to begin the month. What an exciting find I had tripped over. It is with this understanding of the two systems used for the calendars that you must have in order to understand these 30 or so tombstones. This is why when many “authorities” looked at them like Marcus and Wacholder, Zuckerman and  Shurer, they dismissed them because they did not line up with their theories or understanding. This is why they are hardly mentioned.

So let me now share each one at a time and learn if in fact you can keep the Passover before the Equinox.

Proof # 24-Tombstone # 3 – 393 CE-Naveh’s # 7

Just so you understnd the listing above. This is my 24th proof of the Sabbatical Years. It is the 3rd Tombstone chronologically and Naveh who is the authority on the Tombstones has it listed in his list as #7.
Tombstones # 3 – 393 CE Naveh’s # 7
This is the tombstone of Jacob
Son of Samul, who died on
The second day (Monday), forty
years old, on the third day
of the month of Iyar (2nd month), on the first year
of the Shemitah
year three hundred and twenty
three to the destruction of the
temple
323 + 70 = 393 CE

This tombstone is telling us the 3rd of Iyar was a Monday. Just so you know what each month is in name and number here is a chart for you.
Nissan / Pesa? (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
Now we go to Torah Calendar (https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y393M2) for the year 393 CE and look at the 2nd month to see if it was a Monday. And what we see is that Monday in the 2nd month was indeed the 3rd of Iyar. Then when we check the 1st month we see that Passover was after the Equinox.
Now you must take special note here. This was a very simple check. That is because Torah Calendar goes by the Crescent moon to begin the month and this is why I use them so often. But… They also use the Equinox to determine when the first of the year is. It is always after the Equinox according to them. They also use the Metonic cycles to determine the leap years. We wrote about them last week and will not repeat them here now. You must keep this in mind in our search.
The other thing that jumps out here is the fact that this Tombstone in the year 393 CE was using the Crescent Moon to begin the month. I will show you another that proves they also were going by the Barley to begin the year in a moment.

Proof # 27-Tombstone # 6 – 416 CE- Naveh #20

May rest the soul of Jacob, the son of Shem’o who died on the second day, the 10th day of the month Shebat, in the 3rd year of the Sabbatical cycle, the years 300 hundred and 46 years after the destruction of the Temple. May he wake up to the voice of the announcer of peace. 346 + 70 = 416

Nissan / Pesa? (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
This man died on the 10th day of Shevat, the 11th month, which was a Monday, the second day of the week in the year 416 CE. This again matches exactly what Torah Calendar is showing us (https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y416M11) And when we then go back to check the 1st month of this year, Passover is found to be after the Equinox.
Once again in this year of 416 CE., they are still going by the Crescent Moon Calendar and the Barley being Aviv.

Proof # 29-Tombstone # 8 – 432 CE- No Naveh #

This is the grave of Iyrsh daughter of Marsa, the fellow who died on Thursday, the 17th day of the month Elul, in the fourth year of the Sabbatical cycle, the year 3 hundred sixty 2 after the destruction of the  Temple. May there come peace and may it rest on her resting place. Peace Peace 362 + 70 = 432
Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
Thursday the 17th day of the 6th month in the year 432 CE.
When we look at the 17th day of the 6th month in the year 432 it does not come up on a Thursday but on Tuesday (https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y432M6 ). What is going on now? Torah Calendar does not go by the barley but it does go by the Metonic cycles.

The Only way you can get the 17th of the 6th month to be on a Thursday is for there to be an Adar bet for the preceding year making this 6th month what Torah Calendar is saying is the 7th month.(https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y432M7)

This Tombstone proves that these Jewish people in Zoar at this time in the year 432 CE were still going by the Barley and they added a 13th month, an Adar Bet to the preceding year. When they did that then what Torah Calendar calls the 7th month is, in fact, the 6th month and matches the date on the Tombstone exactly. Remember Torah Calendar is going by the Metonic cycles and the Equinox. These people were going by the Barley and the Crescent moon.
This is exactly what I am looking for only going the other way so that Passover would then fall before the Equinox.

Proof # 31 Tombstone # 10 – 439 CE-No Naveh #


“This is the tombstone of Hannah, daughter of Ha[niel] the priest, who died on the Sabbath, the first festival of Passover, on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan,[JD1]  in the fifth year of the sabbatical cycle, which is the year three hundred and sixty-nine years after the destruction of the Temple. Peace. May her soul rest. Peace” 369 + 70 = 439 C.E.
When we look at the 1st month in the year 439 we see that Passover the 15th day is on a Sunday and not the Sabbath as the Tombstone has said.


I then checked the visibility of the moon to start this month and see if it could have been seen the day before which would then move the 15th back to the Sabbath and match what the Tombstone says. Here is the day it could be seen.
And here is the day before when it could not be seen.


When I then look at what Torah Calendar is saying is the 13th month of the preceding year I see that it was a 30 day month because the moon could not be sighted.  But I also see that if the moon was not sighted the month before and 30 day month declared then this month would put the 15th day on the Sabbath and match what the Tombstone said if indeed this was the 1st month and not the 13th.

This is HUGE

The year 438 is Adar Bet according to Torah Calendar. But if the month Adar bet was the 1st month and the moon was not seen on the first day then Sabbath would be the 15th day. Passover would be before the Equinox.
https://torahcalendar.com/Calendar.asp?YM=Y438M13
This Tombstone proves a few things that you need to make note of. It is a very important tombstone to note.

  1. That Passover is on the 15th at the end of the 14th. The 15th is when Passover is and it is the First High Holy Day. The 14th is not Passover as some claim today.
  2. When you check the calendars the only way you can have a Passover on a Saturday in that year is if you go by the Crescent moon to begin the month, not the conjunction.
  3. The only way you can have a Passover on a Saturday and to go by the crescent moon is if you do not have an Adar Bet. The Hebrew Calendar with the Metonic cycles makes you add a 13th month.  But the Biblical calendar that goes by the barley to start the year and then by the crescent moon to begin each month does not use the Metonic cycles and therefor what Torah Calendar is calling the 13th month can, in fact, be the 1st month and this tombstone proves it.
  4. This Tombstone shows you that the Jewish People in Zoar at this time were still going by the Barley determine the years and the Crescent moon to begin the month.
  5. This Tombstone shows you that they were not going by the Equinox and that Passover this year was before the Equinox.

Proof # 33-Tombstone # 12 – 455 CE-Naveh # 22

We now come a very important junction.

Hillel II  Hillel the Nasi, also known simply as Hillel, was an amora of the fifth generation in the Land of Israel. He held the office of Nasi of the Sanhedrin between 320 and 385 CE. He was the son and successor of Judah III. He is sometimes confused with Hillel the Elder, as the Talmud sometimes simply uses the name “Hillel”.
He is traditionally regarded as the creator of the modern fixed Jewish calendar. This tradition first appears in a responsum of R. Hai Gaon (written in 992[3]) cited by R. Abraham bar Hiyya in his Sefer Ha’ibbur (written in 1123).[4] The citation explicitly refers to the year that this event happened, 670 of the Seleucid era, which corresponds to 358/9 CE.
However, a number of documents have been found that indicate the calendar was not fully fixed in Hillel’s time; most famously a letter found in Cairo Geniza (from the year 835/6) indicates that the holidays were observed on different dates from those predicted by the current calendar.[3][5] The calendar did not reach its exact modern form until at least the years 922-924.[6] According to modern scholar Sacha Stern, Hai Gaon only attributed the establishment of a 19-year cycle, and not other details of the calendar, to Hillel.[3]
The fixed calendar was of great benefit to Jews of his and subsequent generations. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. That is, its months are synchronized with the phases of the moon, but its average year length approximates the mean length of a solar year. The Sanhedrin declared new months based on observations of the new moon, and added a 13th lunar month to certain years to ensure that holidays would continue to fall in the same seasons of the solar year. But Constantius II, following the precedents of Hadrian, prohibited the holding of such meetings as well as the vending of articles for distinctly Jewish purposes. The worldwide Jewish community depended on the calendar sanctioned by the Judean Sanhedrin to observe Jewish holidays on the correct dates. However, danger threatened the participants in that sanction and the messengers who communicated their decisions to distant congregations. Temporarily, to relieve the foreign congregations, Huna ben Abin once advised Rava not to wait for the official intercalation: When you are convinced that the winter quarter will extend beyond the sixteenth day of Nisan declare the year a leap year, and do not hesitate.[7] But as the religious persecutions continued, Hillel decided 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.

You are about to see the first time that I have discovered of the calculated calendar being used next.


May rest the soul of Rabbi Simon Binabi, who died the fourth day (Wednesday) the third day of the month Adar in the seventh year three hundred and eighty and five years after the destruction of the Temple. May he rest a sage in peace. May he wake up to the voice of the announcer of peace. 385 + 70 = 455
Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th)
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
This Rabbi died on Wednesday the 3rd of the 12th month in the 455 CE.
We have here now the first proof I have that the Conjunction moon is now being used. The conjunction took place Monday making it the first day and thereby Wednesday is now the 3rd day when you start to count from the conjunction moon. This explanation now matches what the Tombstone has said. And it shows us that Passover that year was on the day of the Equinox.

Proof # 34-Tombstone # 13 – 456 CE-Naveh’s # 4


This is the Tombstone of….Son of Megalos (?) who died on the Sabbath, the twenty-fifth day on the month Tevet, in the 1st year of the sabbatical cycle, 386 years after the destruction of the Temple.”  386 + 70 = 456
Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th)
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
Shabbat the 25th of Tevet 456 CE
The day of conjunction is Thursday, December 13th so this month does not match our day for Shabbat being the 25th day of the 10th month.


In order to have the 25th day on the Sabbath, you must begin the year one month earlier and use the conjunction moon and not the sighted one. This would make the 9th month according to Torah Calendar the 10th month which matches the tombstone date with the Sabbath being the 25th day of the month. The Conjunction would begin the month on the 4th day.

Because we have now pushed the calendar back one month according to Torah Calendar,  changing the 13th month of the previous year and making it the 1st month. This would make Passover March 9th if using the Conjunction and March 10th if using the crescent moon. But now have no way of knowing if they are using the Barley to begin the year because they are now using the calculated calendar. This is over one week before the Equinox.

Proof # 36-Tombstone # 15 – 468 CE-Naveh’s # 11

May the spirit {of Est} of Ester
daughter of Babah, who died of the sixth day (Friday) on the third day

of the month of Kislev (9th month) in the sixth year of the Shemitah, which was a leap year, year three hundred and ninety-eight to the destruction of the temple 398 + 70 = 468 Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd Tammuz 4th Av  5th Elul 6th Tishrei Succot/s 7th (Mar)Heshvan  8th Kislev 9th Tevet/s /  10th Shvat / 11th Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th) Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)
Friday the 3rd of the 9th month 468 and it was a leap year. When we look at the 9th month according to Torah Calendar it does not match so we then look at the 8th month.


Wednesday, October 2 was the conjunction of the moon making it day 1 and Friday day 3 just as the tombstone states.


This now means that the first month would be what Torah Calendars is calling the 12th month of the previous year. This would then make Passover fall on the 26th of February in that year of 468. I am not saying this is correct. I am saying that once they stopped using the barley as a reference to begin the year they began to keep Passover in February on the 26th day in the year 468 CE.

Proof # 37-Tombstone # 16 – 468 CE-Naveh’s # 14

We now have another Tombstone for the year 468.

This memorial of the deceased Mati (son of) Sabah, who died on the fifth day, twentieth of the month of Elul on the fifth year of the Shemitah year three hundred and ninety eight to the destruction of the temple May he rest in peace 398 + 70 = 468 CE

Thursday the 20th of the 6th month in the year 468. So if we follow the pattern as the previous tombstones have shown us. We should be one month earlier.
Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st, Iyar  2nd, Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd, Tammuz 4th, Av  5th, Elul 6th, Tishrei Succot/s 7th, (Mar)Heshvan  8th, Kislev 9th, Tevet/s /  10th, Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th), Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)

The Conjunction is on August 5 which makes the 20th move back by just one day and it does not land on the Thursday as the tombstone says.


The Conjunction is on July 5 which makes July 6 day one, and the 20th move back by two days and it does land on the Thursday as the tombstone says. So this is a second witness that this year of 468 CE. the months began one month earlier that Torah Calendar has them and that Passover was on February 26, weeks before the Equinox.

Proof # 38-Tombstone # 17 – 470 CE-Naveh # 24

May the soul of Yoseh son of Ofi who died in the city of Tefar in the land of Heymar and left to the land of Israel and buried on the sixth day the twenty sixth of the month of Tamuz on the first year of the Shemitah, which is identical to the year [400] to the destruction of the temple, Shalom

Peace on you in your resting place
400 + 70 = 470, Friday the 26th of Tammuz 470 CE, Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st, Iyar  2nd, Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd, Tammuz 4th, Av  5th, Elul 6th, Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th, Kislev 9th, Tevet/s /  10th, Shvat / 11th, Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th), Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)

When we look at the 4th month for the year 470 CE. we see the following from Torah Calendar.


You can only get Friday the 26th of Tammuz if you use the conjunction moon. Passover would be on April 4th. Passover was after the Equinox this year.

Proof # 39-Tombstone # 18 – 472 CE

This is the tombstone of Hannah, daughter of Levi, who died on Thursday on the 19th day of the month of Sivan, in the third year of the Sabbatical year, four hundred and two years since the destruction of the Temple. Peace upon Israel Peace. 402 + 70 = 472

Thursday the 19th of Sivan 472 CE.
Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st
Iyar  2nd
Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd
Tammuz 4th
Av  5th
Elul 6th
Tishrei Succot/s 7th
(Mar)Heshvan  8th
Kislev 9th
Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th)
Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)


Torah Calendar did add a 13th month in the year 471. Using the Crescent moon has not helped me to find the 19th on a Thursday in the month of Sivan. If I use the Conjunction then the only month that has Thursday as the 19th is what Torah calendar is calling month one.


This then makes the 12th month of the year 471 the 1st month and Passover would then be February 11th.

Proof # 40-Tombstone # 19 – 476 CE-Naveh’s #16

This is the memorial of Ya’akov (Jacob) son of ‘awid who died on the 2nd (day), on the 10th days of… Marcheshvan (8th month), on the first year of the Shemitah which is the year four hundred and six to the destruction of the temple. May he rest in peace. Shalom Shalom Shalom

406 + 70 = 476

Monday the 10th of the 8th Month 476 CE, Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st, Iyar  2nd, Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd, Tammuz 4th, Av  5th, Elul 6th, Tishrei Succot/s 7th, (Mar)Heshvan  8th, Kislev 9th, Tevet/s /  10th
Shvat / 11th, Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th), Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)


The pattern continues to hold that the only way to get the 10th of the 8th month to be on a Monday is to go to the preceding month and we have our match.


This then makes February 27, 576 CE Passover and it was before the Equinox.

Proof # 43-Tombstone # 22 – 505 CE-Naveh’s # 3

May rest the soul of Haifu the daughter of …, who died on Tuesday, the eleventh day of Elul, in the …year of the Sabbatical cycle that is the year four hundred thirty-five after the destruction of the Temple. Peace Peace Upon Israel, Peace!  435 + 70 = 505

Tuesday the 11th of 6th month 505 CE, Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st, Iyar  2nd, Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd, Tammuz 4th, Av  5th, Elul 6th, Tishrei Succot/s 7th, (Mar)Heshvan  8th, Kislev 9th, Tevet/s /  10th, Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th) ,Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)

The only way to have Tuesday as the 11th is by using the conjunction moon and starting one month earlier.

This would make Passover on March 8th 505 CE. Which is before the Equinox.

Proof # 44-Tombstone # 23 – 515 CE

“May the soul of Hasadiah the Priest son of Dematin rest, who died on Thursday, the fifth of Av, in the fourth year of the Sabbatical cycle, which is the year four hundred and forty-five after the destruction of the Temple. Peace on Israel. Peace.”  445 + 70 = 515

Thursday the 5th of 5th month 515 CE, Nissan / Pesach (Passover) 1st, Iyar  2nd, Sivan / Shavuot/s 3rd, Tammuz 4th, Av  5th, Elul 6th, Tishrei Succot/s 7th, (Mar)Heshvan  8th, Kislev 9th, Tevet/s /  10th, Shvat / 11th
Adar Aleph (First Adar 12th), Adar Bet/Baiz (Second Adar 13th)


The Conjunction this year was on July 26 which then makes Thursday the 5th of the 5th month. Passover this year was on April 15 515 CE. This was after the Equinox.

Conclusions

Based upon our findings using all the Tombstones at our disposal we have concluded that the ancient community of Jews in the town of Zoar, did not ever use the Equinox to determine when Passover would fall. They used the Crescent moon and the Barley to begin the year and then about 455 CE, which is the first record I have, they then began to use the Conjunction moon, also today known as the Hillel Calendar to govern the Holy Days and months.

Out of 13 Tombstones with the Day of the death and the date, we have checked each one to see if they kept the Passover before the Equinox.
We had 1 using the Barley and the Crescent moon to begin the month and they were before the Equinox. And we had 3 that were after the Equinox.
We had 6 using the conjunction moon to begin the month and they were before the Equinox. We also had 3 that were after the Equinox.

Therefore, is it possible to have the Passover before the equinox? Yes. Ancient history written upon the tombstones of Zoar, proves this to be the case. It is entirely possible for Passover to come this year of 2020 on March 11 with the 14th and preparation day being on March 10. This would then make the last Day of Unleavened Bread, March 17. But we must wait upon Yehovah to bring the warm winds to create the heads in the

Barley to know for sure. What we have done with this technical study is to demonstrate that the equinox is irrelevant as to when Passover will be.

The Conjunction this year was on July 26 which then makes Thursday the 5th of the 5th month. Passover this year was on April 15 515 CE. This was after the Equinox.

Conclusions

Based upon our findings using all the Tombstones at our disposal we have concluded that the ancient community of Jews in the town of Zoar, did not ever use the Equinox to determine when Passover would fall. They used the Crescent moon and the Barley to begin the year and then about 455 CE, which is the first record I have, they then began to use the Conjunction moon, also today known as the Hillel Calendar to govern the Holy Days and months.

Out of 13 Tombstones with the Day of the death and the date, we have checked each one to see if they kept the Passover before the Equinox.
We had 1 using the Barley and the Crescent moon to begin the month and they were before the Equinox. And we had 3 that were after the Equinox.
We had 6 using the conjunction moon to begin the month and they were before the Equinox. We also had 3 that were after the Equinox.

Therefore, is it possible to have the Passover before the equinox? Yes. Ancient history written upon the tombstones of Zoar, proves this to be the case. It is entirely possible for Passover to come this year of 2020 on March 11 with the 14th and preparation day being on March 10. This would then make the last Day of Unleavened Bread, March 17. But we must wait upon Yehovah to bring the warm winds to create the heads in the

Barley to know for sure. What we have done with this technical study is to demonstrate that the equinox is irrelevant as to when Passover will be.

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