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: Jan 26, 2017

News Letter 5852-043
The Shemitah Year-The Acceptable year of Yehovah
The 29th day of the 11th month 5852 years after the creation of Adam
The 11th Month in the Seventh year of the Third Sabbatical Cycle
The 3rd Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes, Famines and Pestilence
The Year of letting the land rest
The Sabbatical year that begins March 10, Aviv 2016 and goes to Aviv 2017

 

January 28, 2017

 

Shabbat Shalom to The Royal Family of Yehovah,


 

I would like to remind you that with this News Letter, you are about 6-7 weeks away from Passover. If Passover is in March and this year does not have an adar bet, a 13th month added, then in just 6-7 weeks time we will have Passover.

This means all those bread products you have in the bottom of your freezer or packed away in the pantry need to be used up before Passover comes. You are not have any leaven in your home or on your property at this time for the entire 7 days of Unleavened Bread. I do hope you have some matzos that you stored from last year to eat during these coming days of Unleavened Bread.

I just found some bagels way down near the bottom of my freezer and I thought I was out. So begin to check and get them eaten up before you have to throw them out.

 


 

“In the Mail”

Last week I made a mistake in our introductory comments. I gave the name of the persons ancestry that also kept the Sabbath before the 1600’s as Dimont. The name should have been Dumont and they lived in Normandy France and came to Canada in the 1600’s at the same time as my ancestry did. My family name at that time was LeMaistre and not Dumond. But that is another story for another day.

I also received this message this week about the Huguenots.

Shalom Joseph. I’m just reading your email and about to go to the newsletter. You said… “On the subject of prayer: In doing my family tree I discovered that in the 1300’s our family was persecuted for keeping the weekly Saturday Sabbath. They fled from France to Holland at this time of persecution. They were known as the Huguenots.”

Oh my!!!! My family too! Except my mother’s family fled France in 1650 to Zeeland. They were Huguenots. During WWII my grandfather (descendant of the Huguenots but now a Protestant) was a Gang Leader in the Underground (like Corrie Ten Boom). Long story of; getting Jews out and hiding Jews in the house near Haarlem.
After the war he moved the family to New Zealand.
Myself and my firstborn son are the only Sabbath keepers from that family line.
PR.

In our News letters the past two weeks I have told you to get your passports ready and keep them up to date. That means that if they are going to expire in the next 6 months you will not be allowed to enter any other country. They will send you back on the very next flight. So get them up to date and keep them that way. I also told you to save up your shekels and have enough money on hand to buy a plane ticket to anywhere should you have to flee at a moments notice. Again that means you need to have enough money to buy a plane ticket for each person in your family that is going to go with you. When Lot fled he asked his entire family to come and they all laughed at him and told him how good it was there in Sodom.

Gen 19:12  And the men said to Lot, Have you anyone here besides yourself? Bring your sons-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whatever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. 13  For we will destroy this place because great is the cry of them before the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah has sent us to destroy it. 14  And Lot went out and spoke with his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Get up and get out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law. 15  And when the dawn rose up, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, Rise up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

We can also read about Rahab the harlot in the book of Joshua and how her whole family was saved. They were saved because they obeyed the commands of the two spies. Rahab and her family were Canaanites and not Israelites. Lot and his family on the other hand were direct relatives of Abraham and yet they refused to heed the warnings except for Lots two daughters.

Jos 6:22  And Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring the woman out from there, and all that she has, as you swore to her. 23  And the young men who were spies went in and brought Rahab out, and her father and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. And they brought out all her kindred and set them outside the camp of Israel. 24  And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. 25  And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had. And she lives in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

We wrote last week and in the emails above about the Huguenots who were persecuted and they fled to other lands for religious freedom. Are you aware that 3 of the tribes of Israel never went into captivity. They along with many other Israelites left the Promised Land before Assyria invaded it. They saw the trouble coming. They heard the prophets and they left before the punishment arrived.

Julie Davidson was not impressed with my warnings and sent me the following message.

I would like to know where u r planning to fly your family to when it’s time to flee as u say?! If I recall, end time prophecy will effect the whole world not just the US. Is not death a place of safety as well considering that our Father and Savior have dominion over the grave? I may b limited physically but my Father and Savior not confined. I don’t pray to live thru end times, I pray for mercy that my loved ones and I are taken quickly.

I am tired of representatives of the Word of Yahweh that emphatically preach that only those who follow their interpretation of prophecy etc will b saved!!! U, Mr Dummond were divinely inspired to present a part as many others have also but I give none of u the benefit of having all of the answers or knowing it all or “listen to me cause I’m the only one that knows the truth!”. Like that is a new concept! U r one of many that believe and preach this way and u all spar like little children about who is right and who is wrong.

I believe, no, I know because the Word tells me that His thoughts and ways are not like ours, thanks b to our God! I anxiously wait for Yashuahs return, for all to b brought under one Spirit, one worship, one understanding, one interpretation, one God!!!!

Leave u opinions out of it! Present the Word as it stands and let God do the rest!

There is a lot I would like to say in response to this letter. The end of this age comes in stages. Many of you have been taught it comes in a 3 1/2 year period. No it is in total about 13 years of misery. She thinks that death is a great way to escape what is coming.

Rev_9:6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it. And they will long to die, and death will flee from them.

Also know and understand that the 144,000 live, LIVE through the tribulation. If you want to strive to be one of those 144,000 then you must live and you must survive what is coming. And like last weeks News Letter said, if you want to sit in your house and do nothing, that is up to you. Lots house was destroyed. Rahabs house was destroyed. The great nation of Israel and Judah were destroyed.

Yehovah says for us to come out of her my people, why?

Rev_18:4 And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.

So that we do not get caught in the plagues that are going to come upon her.

I am sick and tired of people who do not want to obey and criticize those who do obey. I am sick and tired of those who are armchair quarter backs who only point fingers and speak ill of those who are doing the best they can to provide you with all the info we have. There are many people who thought they were righteous as they hung Yehshua on the tree. Most did not recognize Him because they had bought into a false religion, even though they kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the Sabbatical years as they did at that time.

This past week, my Brother-in-law died. He no longer has any chance of knowing the truth. He had rejected it in the past. But he is not going to take part in the Millennial rest. He will be raised up at the end of this coming 7th Millennium. He will not be able to be a part of the Kingdom that is going to be here for 1000 years.

How do I know this?

Because Yehovah said that the unrighteous would not be in His Kingdom. And in order to be righteous you have to keep the commandments, including the weekly Sabbath, the Holy Days of Lev 23 and the Sabbatical year. Not keeping these and or not keeping them at the proper time makes you unrighteous.

The writer above wants her and her family to be taken or killed quickly which is nothing but a cop out. It is a selfish expression of a person that is only thinking of themselves and not trying to help others learn about the Torah of Yehovah.

If you do not want to help this work of warning about what is about to come then do not write me complaining about how you do not like what I say. UNSUBSCRIBE ME. I have no time to waste on defeatist peoples. Those who give up without even trying.

Luk 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

Rev 2:10 Do not at all fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the Devil will cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tried. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Mat 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life shall lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake shall find it. 40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a just one in the name of a just one will receive a just one’s reward.

I will tell you where I am going to flee to. I will tell you when I go there. And I have already told you when. And as of this posting I have now invested in sheep and goats in this place of refuge. There is coming 3 1/2 years of drought and famine in which 1/4 of the entire earths population will die. You know this is coming so begin to prepare for it. You also know that the USA and UK are that part of Israel that is going to be destroyed by Yehovah in this coming Sabbatical cycle. So keep that in mind when you prepare.


 

“2016 Controversial Year”

2016 has been a controversial year as far as calendar events are concerned. As some of you may recall last year the barley was declared by some that it could be Aviv by Passover. It was also declared by others not ready as of the end of the 12th month and so they added one more month, an adar bet to the year.

For me it was a very difficult situation as I weighed all the facts given me and spoke with those involved many times trying to resolve this issue. The benefit of it was that many of you finally got off your seats and began to review this subject and learn about the barley and why we must have it ripe to begin the year.

When I finally decided to go with March Passover and I did not go with the majority and add an extra month, I was verbally attacked by many people and condemned to hell many times. Yes by ‘Brethren’. Which gives me great trepidation going into this year, with what I have seen since last year, of the coming controversy and the attacks that well ensue.

One brother attacked me quite strongly last year, only to recant and publicly apologize for his lack of wisdom. When it was reported that the Jews were out harvesting the wheat one month earlier than what everyone else had thought would be Shavuot many began to reconsider their positions. Our early declaration was seen to be correct after all.

The man who was very critical of me and then apologized wrote the following later in the year.

If you come to realize that is was a mistake following those who declared a 13th month that is not retroactive – it is revelation. Sometimes we make mistakes and we need to learn from them. If you make a mistake with the Feast dates then correction is better than more mistakes.
Johan Koch

It takes a big man to admit he was wrong and Johan did it publicly and we still converse from time to time.

The many attacks that Nehemiah Gordon also received contributed to his decision to no longer site the moon nor look for the barley. He announced this right after Sukkot and that is the reason we had 40 days of no news letters. So I am wondering if any of you learned anything from all that took place last year, no matter which side you ended up on?

Should I search for the barley this year? Do I even want the harassment that is going to come when it does not agree with the plans of some of you? Should I go and do it for my own benefit and not tell you? None of you are sponsoring me. None of you are willing to pay for the information. The airfare, the hotel, the food and car, and the loss of time from my place of employment. Should I just share it with those who are supporting this work? Do I even want to do this and be attacked by both brethren and foes alike?

I go over each of these questions every day in my mind.

In preparation for the upcoming Barley Search we need to understand why we do it and what determines why we do it.

I am also hearing more and more voices, or talking heads. These are those “authorities” who are telling you that these calendar issues are a complete waste of time. They ridicule those of us who look for the barley and or who look for the moon. These same people also keep the Lunar Sabbath or see nothing wrong with that. They treat Yehovah’s Holy Days with a complete lack of respect and do not care when which day or even which month the Holy Days come on.

We again told you last week. Unless or until you begin to do your faith, that is walk it out, you cannot understand. Those who keep the Feasts at the proper time now understand them much better than those who do not. So stop listening to those talking heads that flip flop from one teaching to another and are not anchored in the Torah to obey Yehovah and do as He says to do when He says to do it. Oh yes they quote the Torah, so did Satan to Yehshua, but like Satan they do not and will not obey. And like Satan they think they are good already.


 

“The Tombstone of Hannah and Passover”

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, 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”

 

This death took place on the Sabbath which was also Passover and it was the 15th of Aviv in 439 C.E.

Torah Calendar has this 15th day on the 1st day of the week in 439 C.E. Torah Calendar also has this as April 16. But the tombstone said it was on the Sabbath and it was Passover the 15th.

Now if we look at the 13th month of the previous year 438, then we can learn the facts. If the moon was not seen at the end of the 12th month then they could have had a 30 day month that year. Is this assumption right? When we look at the tombstone then yes this will appear to be right.

So they had a 30 day month for the 12th month. Now Torah calendar says the next month is a 13th month. But they do this based on the Hebrew calculated calendar. Not on the barley being ripe or not. Now let us look at this 13th month in Torah Calendar and say it is the first month.

Because the 12th month had 30 days the first day of the visible new moon is now on Friday evening March 3 and Sabbath march 4th. This then would make the 14th on Friday March 17. Then on the Sabbath is the 1st day of Unleavened Bread and it is the 15th.  And this is exactly what the tombstone has just told us.

Each year there is another controversy over whether the Passover is on the 14th or the 15th. And here, right here on this tombstone you are told that Passover is on the 15th of the 1st month. And we have just shown you how to figure this out and double check the tombstone. Make sure you look at the Torah Calendar as you read this.

Passover is on the 15th day of the month. It is also the 1st day of Unleavened Bread. The 14th is the preparation of the Passover lamb that is killed just before the 15th begins. Again all of this is shown to you in this one tombstone.

There is more. If you again look at the Torah Calendar chart you can see that the equinox is on March 20, two days after the Passover. There are some today who will try and tell you that you cannot keep Passover before the equinox. That is just a flat out lie that has been created by modern men.

Back here in 439 C.E. the Jews living outside the land of Israel were keeping Passover before the equinox, according to the sightedmoon and according to the barley being aviv. And they kept Passover on the 15th and not the 14th like some modern day people misinterpret the bible to say. And they reckoned time according to the Sabbatical year even though they lived outside the land of Israel.

Do you realize how awesome this one tombstone is, in how it shows us the simple truths about the calendar, which is so messed up today by those who want to put forward their own man made views.

But the reason I bring this up, besides showing you all these other truths, was to show you one more thing. The Wave offering that year of 439 C.E. was on Sunday March 19. Again before the equinox. And this is the reason I bring this up. It is quite possible for Passover  this year to be on March

The full moon in February 13th is suppose to be another blood moon.  Then on Feb 26 2017 is to be another solar eclipse. I think this is the 6th solar eclipse since the blood moons in 2014 and they come at the first of the year and then on the 1st of the 7th month of Trumpets. You can see these next two eclipses in the chart at Torah Calendar at this link.  The reason we mention the blood moon and the solar eclipse is because of the things we have told you in our teachings on the Blood Moons. Do take the time to review it and tell others to watch it. We had a blood moon in January and now again in February. We had blood moons at Passover and Sukkot in 2014, 2015 and in this controversial year of 2016 all them telling us that war and famine is coming in this the 4th Sabbatical cycle when the curse of Lev 26 is to be applied. And that curse is the curse of war.

Torah Calendar then presumes the next month to be the 13th month. It could very well be the first month. If it is the first month then Passover, the 15th of Aviv will be on Monday March 13th evening to Tuesday March 14th. This then makes Sunday March 19 wave sheaf day and Monday March 20th the 7th day of Unleavened Bread. And all of this could be off by one day if the moon is not seen on Feb 26th.


 

“Genesis 1:14 and the Vernal Equinox”

Q: Doesn’t Genesis 1:14 show that the Vernal Equinox, not the barley, determine the holy day seasons?

We read in Gen 1,14:

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide between the day and the night and they will be for signs and for times (Moedim) and for days and for years.”

From this verse it is not clear what is dependent on what. Certainly no mention of the Vernal Equinox is made. Perhaps the year is dependent on the moon or the stars? If the year is dependent on the sun, then what about the sun effects the beginning of the year? Gen 1,14 does not specify these things and we must turn to other Biblical passages to get a more precise understanding of the Biblical calendar. In Dt 16,1 we read:

Keep the month of the Abib and make the Passover (sacrifice) to YHWH your God at night, because in the month of Abib YHWH your God took you out of Egypt”

Similarly we read:

“You will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as have I commanded you, at the time of the month of the Abib, because in the month of the Abib you went out of Egypt.” (Ex 34,18)

The word “Abib” refers to barley which has reached a certain stage in its development. This meaning of Abib is preserved in the verse:

“And the flax and the barley were smitten, because the barley was Abib and the flax was Giv’ol. And the wheat and the spelt were not smitten because they were dark (Afilot).” (Ex 9,31-32)

To keep the Passover Sacrifice in the Month of the Abib requires taking the Abib (ripening barley) as an indicator of the beginning of the year. This is entirely consistent with Gen 1,14, for the ripening of the barley is dependent on the seasons of the year and therefore indirectly is controlled by the sun. Central factors, which cause the barley to ripen, are the lengthening of the days and the increasing sunlight, changes in humidity, and other factors which affect the environment. Therefore, it is the sun, which indirectly causes the barley to ripen, and thereby acts as an indicator of years. It is this indirect effect which causes the barley to become Abib which Gen 1,14 is referring to when it says the sun and moon will be for years.

It should be noted that the equinox is never mentioned in the entire Hebrew Bible. Gen 1,14, which has often been cited as proof of the equinox theory, does not mention the equinox either. On the contrary, the use of astronomical calculations for determining the time of the equinox, was in this period synonymous with the idolatrous practice of fortune telling and was certainly not practiced in ancient Israel (Isa 47,13).


“Is the Vernal Equinox found in the Tanach?”

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.


 

 

“Did the Rabbis search for the Barley?”

Q: If the meaning of Abib in the Scripture is so obvious how come the Rabbis don’t follow the Abib calendar?

Up until the 2nd centuries CE the Rabbanites in fact followed the Abib calendar. True, they supplemented the observance of the barley with their astronomical calculations of the equinox (which they learned from astrologers) and other non-Biblical factors. Nevertheless, their writings reveal a recognition that the barley has special significance for intercalating the year. A Brayta (2nd century CE Tanaitic source) quoted in the Talmud Bavli says as follows:

“Our Rabbis taught, Based on three things is the year intercalated: on the Abib, on the fruits of the trees, and on the equinox. Based on two of them the year is intercalated but based on one of them alone the year is not intercalated. And when the Abib is one of them everyone is pleased.” (Bavli Sanhedrin 11b)

Another Brayta relates:

“Our Rabbis taught, The year is intercalated based on [the Abib in] three regions: Judea, Transjordan, and Galilee. Based on two of them the year is intercalated but based on one of them alone the year is not intercalated. And when Judea is one of them everyone is pleased because the Omer [Wave-Sheaf] Offering can only come from Judea.” (Bavli Sanhedrin 11b)

Doesn’t Josephus say that the New Year is determined based on the “1st of Aries”?

The “1st of Aries” is a reference to the Vernal Equinox and as seen above the Pharisees determined the New Year based on 3 factors, one of which was the Vernal Equinox. In his autobiography, Josephus himself informs us that he is a Pharisee, so it is not surprising that he should quote the Pharisee practice of intercalation. As is Josephus’ practice he only gives the details of a lwhich would be comprehensible to his pagan Greek readers. In this case Josephus does not mention the agricultural indicators of the New Year [according to the Pharisees the Abib and the Fruits] and only refers to the astrological indicators which his pagan audience would have been able to relate to. Josephus’ repeating the Pharisee position on intercalation does not give it any more credence.


 

“Is there proof in the Mishneh?”

Reading from THE TEMPLE AND ITS MINISTRY AND SERVICES, by Dr.Alfred Edersheim, page 258, we find exactly how this Barley Omer Offering was first “cut- reaped” and how it was then “brought” to the priest in the Temple.

Quote: ” Already, on the 14th of Nisan, the spot where the FIRST SHEAF was to be REAPED had been MARKED OUT by delegates from THE SANHEDRIN, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, the BARLEY THAT WAS TO BE CUT DOWN. Though, for obvious reasons, it was customary to choose for this purpose the sheltered Ashes-valley across Kidron, there was no restriction on that point, provided the barley had grown in an ordinary field – of course in Palestine itself – and not in garden or orchard land, and that the soil had not been manured nor yet artificially watered. When the time for CUTTING THE SHEAF (Omer) had arrived, that is on the evening of the 15th of Nisan (even though it were a Sabbath), just as the SUN WENT DOWN, THREE MEN, each with a SICKLE AND BASKET, formally set to work.

But in order clearly to bring out all that was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders THREE times each of these questions: ‘ Has the sun gone down?’ ‘With this sickle?’ ‘ Into this basket?’ ‘ On this Sabbath (or first Passover day)?’ and lastly, ‘ Shall I reap?’

Having each time been answered in the affirmative, they CUT DOWN THE BARLEY to the amount of ONE EPHAH, or TEN OMERS, or THREE SEAHS, which is equal to about THREE PECKS AND THREE PINTS of our English measure.

The ears were BROUGHT INTO THE COURT OF THE TEMPLE, and thrashed out with canes or stalks, so as not to injure the corn (barley grain); then ‘parched’ on a pan perforated with holes, so that each grain might be touched with by the fire, and finally exposed to the wind. The corn (barley grain) thus prepared was ground in a barely-mill, which left the hulls whole.

According to some, the flour was always successively passed through thirteen sieves, each closer than the other. The statement of a rival authority, however, seems more rational – that it was only done till the flour was sufficiently fine, which was ascertained by one of the ‘Gizbarim’ (treasurers) plunging his hands into it, the sifting process being continued as long as any of the flour adhered to the hands.

Though ONE EPHAH, or TEN OMERS, of BARLEY was CUT DOWN, only ONE omer of flour, or about 5.1 pints of our measure, was OFFERED in the Temple………”

In corroboration of these facts, the SONCINO TALMUD, a special limited anniversary edition of the Babylonian Talmud in English, published by The Soncino Press, tells about these procedures followed by these three men from the Beth Din (House of Judgment-Sanhedrin), to REAP this same Omer Barley Offering, which say:

“MISHNAH. What was the procedure? The messengers of the Beth Din used to go out on the day before the Festival and tie the unreaped corn in bunches to make it easier to reap. All the inhabitants of the towns near by assembled there. AS SOON AS IT BECAME DARK he called out ‘ Has the sun set?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ Has the sun set?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘With this sickle?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ With this sickle?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ Into this basket?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ Into this basket?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ On the Sabbath he called out further, ‘On this Sabbath?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ On this Sabbath?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ Shall I reap?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ ‘ Shall I reap?’ And they answered ‘Yes.’ He repeated every matter three times, and they answered, ‘Yes’ – ‘Yes’ – ‘Yes.’ ”

Again, let me remind you that what you have read above was the PHARISEE teaching and practice of the CUTTING and PREPARING the FIRST SHEAF for offering in the Temple by the priest.

They did it after the sun set on the beginning of the 15th of the first month, the annual Sabbath of the beginning of the feast of Unleavened Bread, and it was waved by the priest in the Temple on the day after this annual Sabbath, or the 16th of the first month.

This was the common practice of the Pharisees, and as the largest segment of the “religious” population belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, this practice was carried out and performed by the Temple administration, who in the main were Sadducees. Yet the Sadducees themselves in “theology” teaching DID NOT AGREE with this interpretation of WHEN this first barley sheaf should be cut and waved before the Lord in the Temple.

They said the waving of the FIRST SHEAF of the FIRST HARVEST, before the Lord in the Temple should be on the MORROW after the weekly Sabbath, which came during the feast of Unleavened Bread.


 

“Does the Barley have to be ripe by the end of the 12th Month or by wave sheaf day?”

The following is from a power point study given by Sandy Bruce who is Jewish and speaks Hebrew.

Exo 13:4  You are going out this day in the month Abib.

In the Hebrew this is actual written as the month of THE Abib. Is it suppose to be the month named Abib, or it is suppose to be the month of THE Abib? Which is it and what does it matter?

We read further in Exodus the following.

Exo 23:15  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty.

We are to guard, protect and observe the month of ha-aviv, THE abib. Our translations are not accurately translating this word ha-aviv.

Again in Exodus 34 we read the same thing again.

Exo 34:18  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.

In Hebrew it is ha-Abib, THE Abib.

Deu 16:1  Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover to Jehovah your God. For in the month of Abib, Jehovah your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night.

You are again told to GUARD or Observe the month of ha-Abib. THE Abib.

Each of these 4 verses show us that the scriptures tell us to keep the month of The Abib. ha-Abib or the month of the ripening of the barley. This does not come across in any of the English translations. Yet it it there in the Hebrew.

In the following 9 verses we will see the month is called the first month and not the month of Abib. This is important to understand. There is no Hebrew month named Abib or Aviv nor is it called Nisan. The Hebrew calls it the first month.

Exo 12:2  This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

This month in which the barley enters the ripening stage, known in Hebrew as Abib. We are going to show you this in this teaching and why it matters so much.

Exo 12:18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Exo 40:2  You shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation on the first day of the first month.

Exo 40:17  And it was in the first month in the second year, on the first of the month, the tabernacle was reared up.

Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, is Jehovah’s Passover,

Num 9:5  And they prepared the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month between the evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so all the sons of Israel did.

Num 28:16  And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of Jehovah.

Num 33:3  And they pulled up stakes from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

Jos 4:19  And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and camped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

We have a clear teaching here. The first month is not called the Abib in the above 9 verses. But in the first 4 verses (Exo 13:4, 23:15, 34:18, and Deut 16:1)we showed you this first month is referred to as THE Abib, or ha-abib. Many have become accustomed to calling the First month the month of Aviv or month of Abib, because of the way it is translated into English and the way we read with a western mindset and not the Hebrew mindset.

So the first month is the month of THE Aviv, now let us learn what THE Abib means.

When the barley is green it is flexible and soft. It is in the growing stage.

When the barley is ripening it is hardening and bowing down and turning yellow. It is becoming brittle as it turns yellow.

We read about the barley in Exodus being broken. It is broken because it is in the yellow stage or brittle stage. The Wheat and rye were in the green stage and able to withstand the hail storm.

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley were stricken, for the barley was in the head, and the flax was in bud.  MKJV

Exo 9:31 The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud ESV

Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley were smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom ASV

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. KJV

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. JPS

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. Darby

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley have been smitten, for the barley is budding, and the flax forming flowers, YLT

Exo 9:31  Meanwhile, the flax and barley crops had been destroyed by the storm because they were ready to ripen. CEV

Exo 9:31 The flax and barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe and the flax in bud. CJB

Exo 9:31 The flax and the barley were destroyed because the barley was ripe and the flax was budding, CSB

Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley was struck; for the barley was ripe, and the flax was in bud. OJB

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was advanced, and the flax was seeding. Brenton

Exo 9:31  And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut and the flax was in flower. BBE

What we are showing you through this study by Sandy Bruce, is that the month is the first month. In that first month is when the barley ripens. So which ever month the barley ripens in, that is the first month.

Passover is 14 days after the 1st of the month. And wave sheaf day when the Barley is to be waved can be as far away as 21 days after the first of the month.

Now look at the Zodak scales of Barley Growth. This chart tells you when the grain will be ready and the various stages in it growth.

If the barley is in the Milk stage at the end of the 12th month, then there is a possibility that the barley would be ripe enough to be roasted 21 days later or ground into flour. If we had wave sheaf day 15 days after the 1st of the month then the barley would have to be near the dough stage at the end of the 12th month in order to be ready in time for wave sheaf day.

Lev 23:10  Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

As we showed you above, this was cut after the Sabbath as the sun set and the first day of the week was about to begin.

Lev 23:14  And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears, until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

You were not to eat any of the barley until this wave offering had been completed on the wave sheaf day.

Deu 16:9  You shall count seven weeks to yourselves. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you began to put the sickle to the grain.

This wave sheaf day WAS THE DAY THE SCYCLE BEGAN THE HARVEST. This is when you start, with the very first sheaf’s collected and presented to Yehovah.

 


 

For some of you the following video is going to be brand new. To this day I have found no one who teaches this better than my friend Nehemiah Gordon. Listen carefully to what he says about the barley and when we are to keep it.

 

I also want you to listen the audio teaching Nehemiah does on the Spirit of Constantine. And the point I am making here is just how many times in history we have examples of Jews keeping two Passovers in one year as they waited for news of the barley being ripe of not.

I am quoting below just a couple of the many quotes found on Nehemiah’s wall about how groups of Jews would keep the Passover when they figure or calculated it was to be. And then when they later got word, they would if need be keep the Passover again, and deleaven again their homes in the next month. They wee zealous to obey and even without the phone or planes they did the best they could.

Eusebius, Life of Constantine, Chapter 18
“For their boast is absurd indeed, that it is not in our power without instruction from them to observe these things. For how should they be capable of forming a sound judgment, who, since their parricidal guilt in slaying their Lord, have been subject to the direction, not of reason, but of ungoverned passion, and are swayed by every impulse of the mad spirit that is in them? Hence it is that on this point as well as others they have no perception of the truth, so that, being altogether ignorant of the true adjustment of this question, they sometimes celebrate Easter twice in the same year. Why then should we follow those who are confessedly in grievous error? Surely we shall never consent to keep this feast a second time in the same year.”

Israel Hama’aravi, Seder Inyan Ha’ibur, 1313
“Most of the Karaite sages confess that it is good to follow the 19-year cycle because it is a close approximation of the Abib found in the Land of Israel. But the Karaite Israelites who live near the Land of Israel, specifically, the communities of Cairo and Alexandria, and the communities of Damascus and Aleppo. These communities send reliable emissaries each and every year to the Land of Israel who search out and investigate the barley in all the places where it is known from previous experience to ripen earliest. If they find a field that has ripened they take about two sheaves from the stalks of barley and bring them as testimony of the Abib. They show their communities the Abib and keep the Passover. The emissaries return to all these communities no later than the tenth of Nissan.”

This March I will plan to keep the Passover. I will deleaven my properties before Passover comes. I will eat the Passover meal and take the two Holy Days off from work. I will either wait for confirmation that the barley is ripe and can that it can be roosted. If I have to, I will go over and confirm this for myself.

If the barley is not ready by wave sheaf day then I will keep Passover in April. But if it is ready in March then I will not have missed it.

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