The Question of 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: Sep 22, 2007

Sighted Moon News Letter 5843-028

18th day of the sixth month 5843 after creation

September 1, 2007

Shabbat Shalom Brethren,

1] Chat room
2] Church group takes a stand against Homosexual
3] The Lunar Eclipse
4] The Equinox question
5] Time for you the jury to do your do diligence Please note the three testimonials from Herbert W. Armstrong and Hermon Hoeh, of the World Wide Church of God : Jim Franks, Burk McNair, Peter Nathan, Leon Walker, & Don Ward, Of the United Church of God International and Stephen Flurry and Mark Nash of the Philadelphia Church of God as well as many others and Jewish sources as well which can all be read at: “Admissions on the Calculated Rabbinical Calendar
6] Keep the Feast in Israel in 2008
7] Come Keep the Feast Days this year in the Greater Toronto Area. An invitation.
8] Food Prices on the rise as crops fail in North America and Australia and Fires in Greece and world water levels fall drastically. Read them all at Sightedmoon Archives This is getting very serious and the world just ignores it all. Well you?

1] For those of you seeking a chat room where you can talk to others about those things said on this site and other topics, a gentleman has offered to look after such a site. It is called meek and you can access it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/meek/
This is a new site.
You can ask any question you want it is less formal than this News Letter.
I hope to see you there from time to time.

2] I received this in the in box this week and would like to remind every one that if you do not stand up for your rights then you can expect to have them taken from you.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/081007dnmetgayfuneral.3617689.html

3] This past Tuesday August 28 2007 in North America it was very easy to watch the lunar eclipse in the early morning hours from 5 AM – 6 Am Eastern time. As I watched it, I was amazed to realize that three huge objects in the sky were interacting with each other. It was beautiful. The moon went from bright light to a yellow or Chinese lantern color. It then turn black, as sackcloth, before it went over the horizon and out of my view. As I watched it change colors I began to think on those scriptures which describe the moon as black as sackcloth. I am now wondering out loud if this description is one that tells us it will be at a full moon or possibly a full moon with an eclipse, such as the one we just saw. Just thinking out load. What do you think?

4]The following is taken from “Vernal Equinox and Tekufah and from Karaite Korner
Abib FAQ:
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 out of 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.

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Last Updated: Apr 07, 2006

5] We have now shown you in the past three News Letters 5843-024, 5843-026, 5843-027 and 5843-028, why you can’t know when the Messiah is to return  and at the same time know the day of His return on the Feast of Trumpets.

We have shown that Yeshua was born on the Feast of Trumpets in 3 BC {I am Yahovah } when the moon was a sighted moon.

We have shown you how the many different calendars fail to stand up to the word of Yahweh. “About Calendars and Why you need to know
We have also shown you how man has postponed the fall Holy Days which Yahweh never said to do. And in this news letter we have shown you how the equinox is a modern invention and was not used in biblical times.

As in many of the other News Letters I have shared with you, this one too, requires you, who are to judge angels, to be able to judge this matter of the right or wrong calendar. Is it the one called the Hebrew calendar or is it the one which uses the sighted moon and Aviv barley to determine the beginning of the month?
You now have a great deal of proof to decide. The question is well you decide. Then, will you act on that decision?

But before you do let me throw in what other leading men have said.

“The first day of the new year always begins with the day nearest the Spring equinox [11] when the new moon is first visible to the naked eye AT JERUSALEM (not in the United States).” (Herbert W. Armstrong, “WHEN, and How OFTEN, Should We Observe THE LORD’S SUPPER?,” second to last paragraph emphasis HWA’s)

“Every month of God’s Calendar begins about the time of the new moon when the moon’s first faint crescent is visible at sunset in Jerusalem. According to the Roman calendar a new moon may occur at any time during the month. Most people today probably don’t even know when a new moon appears.” (Herman Hoeh, The Crucifixion Was Not On Friday, p.34)
“It is not the Molad which is all important, but rather it is the appearance of the crescent of the moon that really counts.We don’t know when the Jews began using a calculated calendar instead of simply relying on visual observation.

(United Church of God Committee Members: Jim Franks, Burk McNair, Peter Nathan, Leon Walker, & Don Ward, Doctrinal Statement Adopted by the Council of Elders on the “Hebrew Calendar” 1997)
“First, the precise time the new moon appears must be determined. Anciently, this was done by sight.” (Stephen Flurry and Mark Nash, The Philadelphia Trumpet, April 1996, p.23, article: God’s Sacred Calendar)

These men from the Churches of God are all well known and well respected. Consider the things they too have stated in your deliberations on this subject.
It is now time to decide!

I have been very much in your face on these past News Letters on the calendar. Next week I will share with you why, you need to decide.

6] Brethren, I have been in touch with some contacts in Israel, and will talk to them as soon as I get there this year.
Micha Askenazi has agreed to take those who sign up on a tour of Israel. Nehemia Gordon has said he is interested in giving a presenation. Yair Davidy has expressed interest in giving a presentaion and well also meet with me this year in Jeruslaem. Aviv Lipkin, a.k.a. Victor Mordicai, has also been contacted and he too, would be interested in giving a presentation to our group in 2008. I will also meet him when I am there.

Plans are to see the Red Sea crossing site in Nuweiba, see first hand the original Temple site, which is not where every one says it is. You will know just by reading the history and your own bible. We will see the dead sea scroll, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, Gomorrorah, and Sodom, Masada, Megiddo, Visit the true site of the crucifixion and burial, which no one goes to see. We will wonder around the old city and visit the Temple Institute and see the instruments that have been made for the third Temple, and much more.

Not including airfare, I am hoping that this cost to be around $1500 US or less. It includes the tour and housing and two meals each day. You may meet brethren from around the world, who will be friends for ever.

This tour will be done in conjunction with the sighted moon and Aviv barley calendar, so the exact date will not be known until the spring. If this is of interest to you and you think you might want to go let me know ASAP so I can make arrangements according to the size of the group. This does not lock you in but lets me know how many are interested so I can talk to Micha with some numbers.
E-mail me with names of each person in your group who would like to go. I will get a firm price later and you can then decide.
Ask others you know who might be interested and those at the Feast you attend at this year. Spread the word. Come Home to visit your Father at His house, back in the land of Israel. Our Home land.

7] FALL FEAST DAYS 2007
For those who will be staying around the Toronto Ontario area this Feast season you are welcome to come and join others who will be keeping the Feast according to the sighted moon, which we have been discussing in these past News Letters
You are invited to join us as we study and look forward to our Messiah’s
end-time ministry for us as depicted in the fall festivals of Israel. Our
home will be open and convocations will be held according to the following
schedule:

  • Yom Teruah/Feast of Trumpets (annual sabbath) – Friday 9/14 – 11 AM + fellowship dinner
  • Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement (annual sabbath) – Sunday 9/23 – 11 AM + supper after sunset
  • Succot/Feast of Tabernacles (annual sabbath) – Friday 9/28 – 11 AM + fellowship dinner + 7 PM
  • Succot – Shabbat 9/29 – 4 PM
  • Succot – Sunday 9/30 – 1 PM + fellowship dinner + 7 PM
  • Succot – Monday 10/1 – 7 PM
  • Succot – Tuesday 10/2 – 7 PM
  • Succot – Wednesday 10/3 – 7 PM
  • Succot – Thursday 10/4 – 7 PM
  • Succot – Last Great Day (annual sabbath) – Friday 10/5 – 11 AM + fellowship dinner + 7 PM

Steve Kraner from Chicago will be with us during Succot, and will be presenting more of his enlightening studies. Other brethren and I will also give various studies, and I will include an emphasis on certain critical health issues. As well, several DVD presentations dealing with present truth will be available during the feasts at different times.

As noted, fellowship dinners are included on the four festival sabbaths, and those attendees who are able to do so are encouraged to bring vegan food contributions for these meals. Please inform me if you plan to attend, so that we can have some idea how much food to prepare.

The calendar we use to determine festival timing is based on simple Scriptural principles, i.e. the month (or moon-th) begins with the sighting of the new moon crescent at Jerusalem, and the year begins when barley has reached the appropriate green ear stage of ripeness in the Land of Israel. Those wishing to research this subject should go to http://www.karaite_korner.com
for more detailed studies.
Ron Buhler 905-729-1022

8] If you go to the forum area under the second curse you can read this weeks articles about the Fires in Greece and the latest news on the global crop failures due to the weather in North America and in Australia. As well you can also read the state of the worlds water supply. It is fast running out. Just as the Bible predicts it will.

Shalom
Joseph F Dumond
www.sightedmoon.com
Write to admin@sightedmoon.com

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