Calendars are convenient ways of keeping track of time; Calendars keep Days on Earth orderly and easy to keep count of; thus making it easier to keep track of time as a whole. Calendars control a lot of things; much more than many people might consciously realize. calendar systems tell when to work, when to rest, when to have an appointment, and when its time to celebrate holidays and have celebrations. But did you realize the creator of time itself made his own calendar system he wishes for humans to follow?
The
creator of time made a way to keep track of that time and even is the way he
keeps track of time himself.
God ordains the sun,
moon, and stars to be the way to track all time on Earth:
God clearly intended the movement/changes of the Moon,Sun, and stars as seen in Earth’s sky to be the way humans (among other life he would create) would keep track of time on Earth: In fact, this is one of the main reasons for creating them (at least, in the perspective of a living being on the surface of Earth): to properly keep track of time (and special days/holidays) for a calender:
During creation week on the 4th day of forming Earth; God then looks to the light sources as seen in Earth's sky to further separate day from night on Earth:
Genesis 1:14
“and God said, 'Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,...'”
He further states one of the main reasons he's making these lights would be to properly keep track of time (and mark special days/holidays) on Earth:
Genesis 1:14
“and
God said, ' let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days,
and years,…’"
These
lights in Earth's sky are revealed to be the Sun (the great light to
rule the day) , The Moon (the lesser light to rule the night), and the
rest of the planets in the solar system and all the rest of the stars
in the local area in the Milky Way that can be seen to the naked eye in
Earth's skies at night (The Stars): Genesis
1:16 "And God made two
great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light
to rule the night; he made the stars also." We
see God clearly intended the movement/changes of the Moon, Sun, and
Stars as seen in Earth’s sky
to be the way to keep track of time on Earth: In fact, this is one of the main reasons for
creating them (at least, in the perspective
of a living being on the surface of Earth). And
ever since, humans have been using (directly or indirectly) the
movement/changes of the sun, moon, and stars as seen in Earth’s sky to
calculate time. Many
of the earliest human calenders known were directly based on their
movements: Such
as the Egyptian calendar, the Babylonian calendar, the Chinese calendar, and the Mayan calendar to name
some Why
all these human calenders incorporated the movement of the sun, moon,
and stars is one way or another; only one calender was
really formed (and thus completely approved of) by God himself in the
way he intended the movement of the sun,moon,and stars to be calculated
by humans on Earth:
and that was his very own Luni-solar (and stellar) calender he made for
his people Israel under the Old Covenant and main calendar system
refernced in his word (the Bible):
How
God’s holy calendar keeps track of time based on the movements of the
Sun, Moon, and Stars So
since this is a calendar ordained by God himself for humans to use, how
exactly does it work? Sadly,
God does not directly explain all the rules of his calendar in one main
place in the Bible there are certain verses where he hints (and
sometimes openly tells) how his calendar system works as well as
accurate historical sources that would have known how God's calendar
system worked that together seem to tell an accurate picture of how God
intended his calendar system to work:
The
Moon determines the (days of the) week, the weeks of the month, and the
months While
God does not openly mention how Israel would keep track of months in
his calendar in the Bible (probably because ,at this time, they already
knew how this calendar worked and there was no need to really explain
it to them), he does indirectly
links the months with the moon by telling Israel to
celebrate ‘new moon day’ as God commanded special silver trumpets to be
made and were to be blown on the new moon day
feasts/festivals: Numbers
10:1-10 “The
Lord said to Moses: ‘Make
two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community
together …The
sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets…at your times of
rejoicing—your…New
Moon feasts.' ”
So, the new moon day is a special day that was
celebrated with a feast; in other words it's considered a special
holiday.
God later reveals this special new moon day is also the first day of
the month:
Numbers 28:11-14
“On the first of every month,…each new moon during the year.”
So, New moon day=The first day of every month
In fact, the word ‘new moon day’ is the original Hebrew word “שִׂמְחַתְכֶ֥ם וּֽבְמֹועֲדֵיכֶם֮ ” (oo-buh’rah-shei chod’ shay-chim) meaning ‘the first day of the month” [1A]. : confirming this special day is indeed the first day of the month. And the word for the first day of the month, that is “חֹדֶשׁ” (kho'-desh) [1B] further connects the beginning of the month with the new moon: suggesting the beginning of a month on God’s calendar has something to do with the new moon (a phase of the moon where the moon is completely dark: or more accurately, when the moon is directly infront of the Earth and sun in its orbit) the root word for ‘Chodesh’ further confirms this is the case: because the root word “חָדַשׁ” (khaw-dash') means ‘to renew,rebuild, or repair’ [1C] suggesting that something has become torn or is missing from something and is being rebuild or made whole again: just like the moon after the conjunction/new moon phase seems to begin to become restored as more and more of the surface area lights up through the waxing phase.
All this strongly Hints that the moon’s phases are to be used to calculate God’s months on his calendar, this is further confirmed by King David many years later when he directly mentions the moon’s phases correlate directly to different days of the month: the new moon (that is where the moon is not shinning at all) to the beginning of the month and the full moon correlates with a festival within the month:(most likely referring to either the first day of festival of unleavened bread on the 15th day of the first month or the first day of the festival of tabernacles on the 15th of the seventh month [both days are exactly in the middle of the month which from the 1st day to the 15th day would be about the amount of time it would take for the moon to become completely full from a new moon]:
Psalms 81:3
“Sound
the ram’s horn at
the New Moon and when
the moon is full on
the day of our festival;..."
12
months are mentioned as being appart of God's calendar ,many by their
Hebrew names, throughout the Bible: So according to the entire Bible
these would be all the months in God's calendar:
1st
month-Aviv/Nisan (Esther 3:7 Deuteronomy 16:1) 2nd
month- Ziv (1 kings 6:1) 3rd
month- Sivan (Esther 8:9) 4th
month (Jeremiah 39:2) 5th
month (Numbers 33:38) 6th
month-Elul(Neiamiah 6:15) 7th
month-Ethanim (1 Kings 8:2) 8th
month-Bul (1 kings 6:38) 9th
month (1:1 Ezra 10:9) 10th
month- Tebeth(Esther 2:16) 11th
month-Shabat (Zechariah 1:7) 12th
month-Adar(Esther 3:7 )
Historic
sources comfirm and give more detail about the moon's connection to the
month While
this is all the Bible directly says about the moon's connection to the
month, many ancient historic sources comfirm that the moon is the way
to calculate God's months on his calendar: The first historic source is
the extra-Biblical book called Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus);
which agrees with the Bible on regards to the moon: It shows how
ancient Israelites viewed the moon’s role in their God-given calendar:
and clearly shows that the moon’s phases are directly how this
calender’s months are calculated and even says this is one of the major
reasons (at least from someone on Earth's surface) God created the moon:
Sirach 43:6-8
"He
made
the moon for
a declaration of times, and a sign
of the world…a
light that
decreaseth in her perfection.The
month is called after her name increasing
wonderfully in her changing, being an
instrument of the armies above, shining in the firmament of
heaven..."[2]
The
second historic source is
from a Jewish Levite named Philo: most likely a jewish 1st century
priest around the time Jesus was alive. Since ,at this time, Jesus
himself seems to be recorded as following and obeying this calendar
when celebrating passover and other holidays of God (and making no
mention of it being somehow corrupted or wrong in any way like many
other things he calls out in his ministry); It stands to reason that
the calendar system 1st century Jews followed would have been the same calendar system
God originally ordained and gave to Isreal/Moses some 1,500 years before.
Thus, Philo, would have correctly
understood how God’s
calendar system worked. With all this in mind, notice everything about
what he
says
about the
moon’s phases and how it signals the month in God’s calendar:
Speaking of the new moon
festival, Philo states new moon day began the day after conjunction (That
is
when the moon passes infront of the sun so none of its surface it lit
from Earth:
making it completley dark):
right when the
moon was
beginning to be become illuminated again. "The
third [festival] is that which comes after
the conjunction, which happens on the day
of the new moon in each month...it is the beggining of
the
month,...at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon
with...light..."[3A] So
we see comfirmation that new moon day does have to do with the new moon
and is when the
moon begins a new lunar cycle as the sun begin to
illuminate the moon's surface once again: completly agreeing
with the
Bible's description of it. So
we know that God's months begin on the day after the conjunction
when the moon begins to become illumiated again. Well, Philo reveals
the festival of passover, that takes place on the 15th day of God's 1st
month (the middle of the month) is when there is a full moon:
"
this feast (that is passover) is begun on the fifteenth day of
the month,in the middle
of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light,..."[3B]
Philo reveals that there is allways a full moon when passover is
celebrated on the 15th day: this seems to completly agree with King
David's statement of celebrating a sacred festival during a full moon
(which was likely on the 15th of either the first or seventh month) and
reveals something else about God's calendar: The
15th day is the middle
of God's month, and since his month begins on the day
after conjuction
(new moon) on 15th day of God's months there will allways be a
full
moon (or at least allways very near a full moon). This completly agrees
with
the lunar cycle itself: it takes about 15 days from the new moon for
the moon to become full and when the moon is full its half way through
the total lunar cycle![4] Speaking
of the festivals in
correlation to the moon's phases; according to David, one of the major
reasons God made the moon (at least to the perspective of someone on
Earth) was to
be a signal for his holy festivals (Translated as
'seasons' here):
Psalms 104:19 “He
made the moon to
mark the seasons (really festivals),…”[5]
So,
not only is the moon
supposed to be used for calculating the days (and weeks) in a month as
well as the beginning and ending of a month but also it was to be used
to signal when to celebrate God’s holy days! Philo
tells more detail about how the rest of God's month is broken down in
agreeance with the natural lunar cycle of the moon: Since
the moon's natural quarter phases (that is, the new moon/cresents, half
moons, and full moon; also called the principal phases) are broken down
into periods of
four seven-day periods, God calendar is
also very likely broken down into four seven-day week
periods: "it
receives the perfect shapes (quarter phases) in periods
of seven days the half-moon in the first seven day
period after its conjunction with the sun (that is, after
the first day of the month: new moon day) full moon in the second;
and when it makes its return again, the first is to half-moon then it
ceases at its conjunction with the sun.” [3C] Therefore,
Philo seems to be describing four seven day weeks in God's natural
lunar based month: As
most likely a Jewish priest, dealing with the number of seven days in
the period of God's natural lunar month: he would clearly have in mind the 7 day week period
God describes throuout his word: The
first time he indirectly describes the week is during creation week
itself recorded in Genesis 1:3-31 and Genesis 2:1-2 when he most likely
litteraly made the concept of a 7-day week for humans to follow in the
future when he worked for 6 days and rested on the final 7th day
(making a whole of 7 days). The
week is mentioned again by God when estabishing how his calendar would
work to Isreal:
cleary desribing it has 7 days: specifically, as he laid out when he
created the week in Genesis, the 7 day week is divided into 6 regular
working days with the
last 7th day of a week being
a sacred sabbath day of rest to him: Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath (or rest) to the Lord
your God…For in six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day (originally the seventh day or
rest) and made it
holy.”
Since
we've learned God's days in his month are controled by the
phases of
the moon and the phases of the moon are allways about the same
on the
same day of each month we can now see HOW thoses 7 day
weeks looked in
God's month by philo's description of the 7 day moon's phases:
There are four weeks in God's month, all correlating to one
of the moon's quarter phases: with each week having seven
days which is about
how long it takes the moon to change from one
quarter phase to another quarter phase (called
the transitional
phase): The
6 days are the transitional phase it takes to go from one
quarter phase to another. However by the 7th day the moon has reached
(or
is about to reach) a quaterphase; this 7th day ending the
quater phase transformation is very
likely the
7th sabbath day of God in his calendar the same
one he commands Isreal
to rest on. As the number seven in days, Philo would have definitly had
this in mind when speaking of the quarter phases. Though
he does not
directly say this it's stongly hinted at here and agrees with God's design
for
the moon to point to sacred days he has ordained: Thus each time the moon
reaches a quater phase its signaling its time for God's holy weekly
sabbath. After
new moon (conjunction: the very first day beggining a month)
the moon Begins a 7 day period on God’s calendar which is the first week of the
month: from newmoon/crescent to half moon (the
intermediate phase is called 'the Waxing Cresent') covering days 2-8 of
the month: When
the moon reaches the half moon it’s about (or exactly) the 8th day of
the month: the last day of the first week and also God’s first 7th holy
sabbath day of his month in his calendar. After
the 8th day, a new week begins: this is the second week in God’s
calendar which is from the half moon to the full moon (called 'Waxing
Gibbous') covering days 9-15 of the month:
When the moon is completely illuminated (full moon) it’s about (or
exactly) the 15th day of the month: the middle of the month and God’s
second 7th day sabbath. After
this week, the moon begins to redo the shapes of the cycle it has
previously went through as it's full light gets covered again; as it
goes from being a full moon to a half
moon in the third week (called the 'Waning Gibbous') covering days
16-22
of the month:
When the moon reaches the half moon again it’s about (or exactly) the
22nd day of the month: the last day of the third week and also God’s
third 7th holy sabbath day in his calendar. Finally,
this begins the final phase of the lunar cycle and thus the final
fourth week of God’s month: as the moon turns from a half moon to a
crescent/new moon (called 'the Waning Cresent') covering days
23-29/30 of
the month(the
29/30 day will be covered in detail later):
When the moon is once again either a crescent/new moon it’s the 29th
day and (sometimes) the last day of the month and the fourth and last
sabbath of the month. After
the moon finishes the lunar cycle and conjuncts with the sun and Earth,
it marks the last day of the month and the next day means is a new
moon day. As it begins to become illuminated again; it begins a new
moon day/new lunar cycle thus begins the first day of a new month on
God’s calendar and the cycle repeats again. This
is how the phases of the moon naturally are used to calculate God’s
months in his calendar.And God seems to confirm this is the case when
first teaching Israel when his holy sabbath’s were on his holy
calendar: He
reveals to Israel his sabbath was on the 22th day of the second month
in Exodus 16, this agrees perfectly with the conclusion of how God’s
calendar works above: The
text says God begin to teach them about his holy sabbath on the 15th
day of the second month: Exodus
16:1 “The
whole Israelite community…came to the Desert of Sin…on the fifteenth day of
the second month…” The
moon would have been full around/on this day (thus also making the 15th
day a sabbath day as well as Philo suggest; but Israel seems to no
realize this yet since God has not taught them about his sabbath yet).
That
would have been from the 16th day to the 20th day (the moon would be in
the waning gibbous phase: the third week of the second month). However
when the 6th consecutive day of gathering Manna came (that would have
been the 21st day and the day around the half moon phase) God commanded
Israel to gather twice as much to prepare for the next day: which he
reveals as his sabbath day of rest: Exodus
16:22-23
“On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much…and the leaders of the
community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, ‘This is
what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow
is to be a
day
of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord.’’” Thus,
God revealed to Israel his
sabbath would be the 22nd day of the second
month: exactly 7 days from the 15th day. and the day when the moon would be
at (or almost at) a half moon phase: Agreeing
with what is concluded about God’s calendar above: the 22nd of the
month is indeed
a sabbath since it coincides with a quarter moon phase
offcialy ending a transitional phase (that is the waning gibbous phase). The Sun determines days,
seasons, and years
Now
that we have confirmed the function of the moon in God’s calendar what
does the other great light in Earth’s sky, the sun, control?
Light from
the sun itself
(and its actual appearance in the sky) makes a clear boundary
between the daytime portion of a
day(when
the sun is up in Earth’s sky and its’ light illuminates the
world) and the
nightime portion of a day(when the sun is below the
horizon/its’ light stops shinning)and helps to tell when its day and
night; this is the first thing God made and clearly distinguished on
Earth to
begin the concept of an actual 24 hour day
(that is the time it takes Earth to complete a full rotation on its’
axis and from Earth’s surface this is determined by the time it takes
the sun to complete a full rotation from where it began) on
Earth: Genesis
1:4-5 “God
saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the
darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the
darkness he called ‘night.’
And there was evening, and there was morning—the
first day." And
from the time God made a clear distinction between day and night he
begins tracking days in the creation week. making this
distinction
mark the begging and end of a whole 24 hour day: thus the sun also
controls the beginning and end of a single day like the moon controls
the beginning and end of a single month. What
controls the begging and ending of seasons? While
it's clear the Moon also controls days
weeks of months and the sun controls individual days it's The
new year begins in/is associated with spring When
God freed Isreal from Egyptian slavery God told Moses the month he
freed them: which is identified as being Abib, was to be the first
month of the year on this calendar: Exodus
12:2 “This
month (Abib) is
to be for you the
first month, the first month (that is, in
the original hebrew 'The first New moon': thus the first day
of the new year [6]) of
your year.” So
here, God clearly states the new years on his calendar (and
thus the ending the old years) begins on the new moon of the month of
Abib:
This new moon beggining the month of Abib would officially signal the
beginning of a
new year (and thus the end of an old one). However
what is not exacly told about this month in this verse is it's
association with the spring season: In
the original Hebrew 'Abib' is basically
the Hebrew word for the spring season and the word itself (meaning new
green growth) strongly hints springtime [7]. This
strongly hints that the first new moon to begin the new year is
connected to/in the spring season;
telling that the new year is strongly connected with the spring
season.
in
later verses, this time is called
'the year expiring' or 'the return of the
year': 2
Samuel 11:1 (KJV) "And
it came to pass, after
the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to
battle,..." 1
Kings 20:22 (KJV) “And
the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said ‘…at
the return
of the year
the king of Syria will come up against thee.’ ” 1
Chronicles 20:1 “...that
after the year
was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle,…” 2
Chronicles 36:10 “And
when the year
was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to
Babylon,…”
In
newer translated versions, this phrase is transalated as spring futher
connecting this time with the spring season:
2 Samuel 11:1 (NIV) “In
the spring,
at the time when kings go off to war,..." 1
Kings 20:22 (NIV) “the
prophet came to the king of Israel and said, ‘…next
spring
the king of Aram will attack you again.’” 1
Chronicles 20:1 (NIV) “In the spring,
at the time when kings go off to war,…” 2
Chronicles 36:10 (NIV) “In the spring,
King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon,…” This
phrase originally
meant 'the return of the year' [8] The
word ‘the return of the year’ is not denoting any season necessarily on
its own its referring to a returning point: the
returning point seem to be the end mark/beginning mark of the year
(established to be the first new moon day of the first month Abib)
which is hinted
to be in around spring. So,
the old year ending/new year beginning=spring season But,
what exactly signaled the beginning of springtime to know when this new
moon began? Since,
God
tells us the lights in the sky (revealed to be the sun, moon, and
stars) determine the begging and end of specific times on Earth (as
stated above in Genesis).
Something must happen
in the sky with the movement of one of these lights near/in spring
to determing when Earth's season of spring begins/winter ends. From
here, the Bible does not directly say, but we are given a hint of what
it seems to be, in an indirect roundabout way:
God
says the festival of ingathering is at ‘the turn of the year’ When
God was explaining his festivals he wanted Israel to celebrate he
explains the festival of ingathering is directly linked
to ‘the turn of the
year’ Exodus
34:22 “Celebrate…the Festival of Ingathering
at
the turn of the year.” Now,
the festival of ingathering is the
festival of tabernacles: one of the very last festivals to be
celebrated before the festival/harvest season ended. However ‘turn of
the year’ here cannot
mean the last part of the year (the very end of
the year) like the former verses describe the 'turn of the year' to be,
because the festival takes place on
the 15th-21st days of the 7th month of God’s calendar: Leviticus
23:34 “Say
to the Israelites: ‘On
the fifteenth day of the seventh month the
Lord’s Festival
of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.’” Now,God’s
whole calendar year has 12/13 months in it: therefore the festival of
tabernacles is
nowhere near the end of God’s year; in fact its more like in the
middle of the year[9]!
So what does God mean by it taking place at ‘the turn of the year’? The
word ‘turn’ here is the Hebrew word “תְּקוּפָה” (tek-oo-faw') meaning
‘circuit’ or ‘finish’ it
pictures a
complete rotation from a starting point and circling
around until your at where you started thus completing a rotation or
revolution[10]. Sadly,
the Bible does not really say why God calls it this nor what exacly he
is refering to finishing its rotation at this time in the 7th month:
however, from
studying what is known about God’s calendar closely we can draw an
educated conclusion. We
know the beginning of God’s year begins in spring thus the 1st month is
in/around the springtime so by the time the 7th month comes 6
months/moon cycles
have happened since spring (that is, at least 174 days have gone by)
this means the spring season has gone by and even the summer season at
this point leaving
the beginning of the fall season happening at/in the 7th month[11]: Apparently
something completed a full rotation since the spring in the sky by this
time in fall; but what? There
is
only one main light in the sky that would do this: to a viewer on
Earth, this would be the sun during the fall equinox.
Since the spring equinox began it would
look like the sun is moving
across the sky reaching its peak on the summer solstice and it would
look like it finished its' complete rotation during the fall equinox:
to a viewer on Earth It
looks like the
sun has completed it’s rotation through the sky, thus by
the fall
equinox the sun could be said to
has finished it’s course: thus we can
conclude the 7th
month is the
beginning of fall and the completion of the final equinox
of the year and this is what God meant by ‘the turn of the
year’. This
small indirect detail is massive: because it strongly suggest the sun's
4
key movement through the sky (that is the equinoxes and solstices on
Earth: that is the spring equinox, the summer
solstice, the fall equinox and the winter solstice) mark when a
season
begins
and ends: and this makes perfect sence: This
is one of the most noticable events with the visible light's in the sky
directly
connected to the
seasons
on Earth so it makes perfect sence for God to use this sign with the
sun
to mark the beggining of a new (and end of an old) season. And many
ancient nations reconized the sun's movement signaled the beggining and
end of a season, even today the beggining of one of these 'quarter
movements' of the sun is commonly understood to be the 'first day of a
new season' [12] (now called astronomical seasons: as opposed
to the newer meterological season are the correct way to know when a
season has officially begun no other way has God ordained humans to
know the beggining and end of season except for the movement of his
lights in Earth's sky). This
small detail also shows God's festivals are directly connected to
seasons and their beggining solar equinoxes/solstices: As
God himself reveals, the festival of tabernacles is celebrated around
the fall equinox thus beggining of the fall season: thus it's directly
connected to the fall equinox and season. This is also strongly hinted
with what the festival is about: the final harvest of the entire year
from the final ripened crops! [13] Something that famously associated
with the fall season: often called ‘the fall harvest’. Since this is the case and since
the first month is associated with spring, God's festivals of passover
and unleavened bread are also most likely associated with the spring
equinox and season. This would also logically mean the
festival of pentecost would be associated with the summer solstice and
season in the fourth month (and four months would be enough time for
this to happen).
Historic
sources comfirm and give more detail about the sun's connection to the
seasons, festivals and years Eventhough the Bible does not
directly mention any of this, many
sources that recorded this topic comfirm all this is true concerning
the sun's role in God's calendar: The
first historic source is from the Jewish scholar Philo ,mentioned
before,
that confirms the first month happens at the spring equinox: "Moses
puts down the beginning
of the vernal equinox as
the first month of the year,..."[14A]
So
we see the 'the years return' translated into spring and the associatin
with Abib with spring is 100% correct: the first new moon to begin the
year is signaled by the spring equinox. Philo
goes to futher state why Moses (really God) was said to have chosen the
spring season; because of its nature:
"...,attributing the chief honour[of the beginning of a new year], not
as some persons do to the periodical revolutions of the year in regard
of time, but rather
to the graces and beauties of nature [in the spirng
season] which
it has caused to shine upon men..."[14A] And
this makes absolute sense why God would choose the spring season to be
the beginning the new year in his calendar:
In nature, spring is naturally the season of renewal for much of life
in temperate zones (the location
where his people Isreal lived in the promised land) and even polar regions : In spring you see
plant life that has died/went dormate in the former fall/winter seasons
waking up with new fresh leaves or regrowing again from new seeds.
often this is the time for plants to bloom a beautiful array of
colorful smelling flowers to be polinated. This is also the time for
many animals to be born and signals animals and insects to come out of
hibernation from the former winter season to begin their life again.
This includes polinators like honeybees that begin comming out to
pollinate and fertilize the new flowers.[15] Therefore,
the very nature of spring is about renewal from former
times, a time to
begin again; no wounder why God made the spring equinox to
signal it's time for a new year! Renewing
of life=renewal of new year/completle rotation point of Earth's
orbit Philo
also confirms all of God's festivals are linked with an equinox (or
solstice) and thus associate with that season:
The
festival of tabernacles is confirmed to take place around the fall
equinox, like God described: "...for
it (the festival of tabernacles) was the general festival of the Jews at the time of the autumnal equinox,
during which it is the custom of the Jews to live in tents."
[14B] He
confirms that the festival of unleavened bread is connected ,in the
same way, to the spring equinox: "In
the first season-- he calls springtime and its
equinox the first season-- he ordered that a feast which
is called 'The feast of unleavened bread' be celebrated for seven
days...the same reason governed
the relation of...the seven days of the feast (that is the
festival of tabernacles) to the equinox
that took place in the seventh month."[14C]
Considering
all this it's
also probably true the festival of Pentecost is associated with the
summer
solstice. This also shows that the month's these festivals are in (that
is the 1st, 4th, and 7th months) are also directly connected to the
equinoxes and summer solstice and that season. This is confirmed in
more detail in this source to be the case and futher explains how God's
calendar works with the sun's movements in reation to the months
(moon's phases):
“...the
four seasons in the Jewish year are called tekufot. More accurately, it is the beginning of
each of the four seasons – according to the common view,
the mean beginning – that is named tekufah (literally "circuit," from
קוף related to נקף, "to go round"), the tekufah of Nisan (This is
another name for Abib:
the 1st month) denoting the mean sun at the vernal
equinoctial point,
that of Tammuz(the 4th month) denoting it at the summer solstitial
point, that of Tishri(the 7th month), at the autumnal equinoctial
point, and that of Tevet (the 10th month), at the winter solstitial
point.”[16] So
this source shows us the whole picture of how seasons fit into his
calendar with his lunar months agreeing with all the other sources
above: We
see these four months are allways associated with a solstice or equinox
taking place in them. Thus each of these four months would allways be
the beggining of a new season: since
a season last about 90 days this would roughly take 3 lunar cycles
(which are 3 months) for a full season on Earth to take place (that is
the time from one solstice/equinox to the next). Therefore each season
has about three months to it in God’s calendar with the
solstice/equinox changing seasons happening after the third month in a
row: Therefore
this is what God's calendar would look like for a year:
Spring months 1st
month-Abib/Nisan -Spring equinox happens/new year 2nd
month- Zif 3rd
month- Sivan
Summer
months 4th
month tammuz -Summer solstice happens 5th
month 6th
month- Elud
Fall
months 7th
month Tishiri-fall equinox happens 8th
month 9th
month
Winter
months 10th
month tebeth/tebev -winter solstice happens 11th
month-shebat 12th
month Adar-last month of year
So
along with seperating the daytime and nighttime portions of a day and
24-hour days themselves the sun also determins the end and beggining of
seasons and even the end and beggining of years on God's calendar.
So this
is how God intended the two greatest lights in Earth's sky to determine
the times on Earth but what about the final lights: the
stars
(To be
continued) (Back to God's Calendar and holydays) Sources:
[1]
[A] Hebrew interlinear of Numbers
10:10, from Biblehub Webiste: https://biblehub.com/text/numbers/10-10.htm
[B] Strong’s Hebrew
#2320.--(kho'-desh) “new moon, a
month”--from Biblehub Website: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2320.htm
[C] Strong’s Hebrew
#2318.--(khaw-dash') to renew, repair--from Biblehub Website: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2318.htm
[2]
Sirach 43:6-8 From The Greek
Old Testament (Septuagint) from ELPENOR’s “The Greek Word”
Website:
https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuagint/chapter.asp?book=30&page=43
[3]
[A] From
“THE SPECIAL LAWS, II” law XI. (41) to law XXVI. (141) “The
Works of Philo” by Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38 A.D.-50
A.D. from Early Christian writings translated to English by Charles
Duke Yonge between 1854-1890 A.D. Website: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book28.html
[B] From
“THE SPECIAL LAWS, II” law XXVIII (155) “The Works of Philo” by Philo
Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38 A.D.-50 A.D. from Early Christian
writings translated by Charles Duke Yonge between 1854-1890 A.D. Website: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book28.html
[C] from “THE SPECIAL LAWS, I” law XXXV (178)
“The Works of Philo” by Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38
A.D.-50 A.D. from Early Christian writings translated by Charles Duke
Yonge between 1854-1890 A.D. Website: [4] from
"Understanding The Phases Of The Moon" by Farmers almanac
staff on
August 25 2025 Website: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/understanding-phases-moon
[5]
(The original word for 'seasons' in Hebrew
really means 'appointed times' and concerning days being appointed this
refers to God's holy festivals he commaded for his people to celebrate) [A] Hebrew
interlinear “Psalms 104:19” from Biblehub Website:
https://biblehub.com/text/psalms/104-19.htm [B] Strong’s
Hebrew --#4150
"מוֹעֵד"(mo-ade') 'Meeting,appointed time,appointed feasts,appointed
times,season ,appointed,appointed feast'--from
Biblehub
Website: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4150.htm [C] Hebrew
interlinear “Exodus 24:18” by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/34-18.htm
[6] (In
the original Hebrew ‘the month’ is really ‘the new moon’ thus God
is pointing out THIS specific new moon of the month of Abib as the
first day of a new year) Parallel
Hebrew of Exodus 12:2 by Biblehub Webiste: https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/12-2.htm
[7]
[A] The
Hebrew word today for spring is ‘abib’ the same word used for the first
month in God’s calendar: Websearch: [B] The
word ‘Abib’ in Hebrew means ‘young green ears of wheat/barely’
suggesting this month has something to do with new young growth
(strongly connected to spring). Strong’s
Hebrew #24.--”אָבִיב”(aw-beeb')--green, i.e. a young ear of grain, by
Biblehub
Website: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/24.htm
[8]
Strong’s
Hebrew #8666.--”תְּשׁוּבָה” (tesh-oo-baw')--a return, answer by
Biblehub
Website:
[11] A moon
cycle takes about 29 days to complete
since we know the months in
this calendar are directly linked to the moon's lunar cycle 6 months
would be 6 completed lunar cycles so 29x6=174. So this would mean at
least 174 days would have gone by from the start of the new year until
the beggining of the 7th month. And since it's strongly hinted that the
1st month begins somewhere around springtime. In general a season on
Earth is considered to last around 90 days so if 174/90=1.9
this means
almost 2 season would have had to pass at this point (that being spring
and summer) putting the beggining of the 7th month around the fall
season. [12] the
spring equinox is called 'the 1st day of spring' the summer
solstice is
called 'the 1st day of summer' ect.
[13] (the
word 'ingathering' refers to gathering something in this case it's
refering to gathering in crops for a large harvest) Strong’s
Hebrew #614.--”אָסִיף” (aw-seef')--ingathering, by Biblehub Website: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/614.htm
[14]
[A] From
“On the life of Moses volume 2” chapter XLI(41) section 222 “The Works
of Philo” by Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38 A.D.-50 A.D.
from Early Christian writings translated by Charles Duke Yonge between
1854-1890 A.D. Website: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book25.html [15] "Spring
is the season during which the
natural world revives and reinvigorates
after the colder winter months. During spring, dormant plants begin to
grow again, new seedlings sprout out of the ground and hibernating
animals awake." from
Live science “Spring: The season of new beginnings” By Nola Taylor
Tillman Contributions from Ailsa Harvey, Scott Dutfield on March 9,
2022 Webiste: https://www.livescience.com/24728-spring.html
[16] From
Jewish Virtual Library “Calendar” Webiste: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/calendar
So
we see clear evidence God intended the phases of the moon to control
the days of a month's week, the weeks themselves, and the months
throught the year: and not only that, the moon signals when it's time for God's
holy festivals: this is important because it reveals to us
that only
by the moon's phases can we trully know the true time/when to celebrate
God's festivals/sabbath, not by any other man-made
calendar!
not so clear in the Bible what controls the beggining and end
of seasons. however there
are slight hints of what
controls the beggining and end of a season when looking closer at
verses:
12
divided into 2 (or halved) is 6 so the 6th month is the middle of
the year. Since the 7th month is very close to the 6th month is very
close to being in the middle of the year.
[10]
(While
the hebrew is translated as ‘the turn [thus end] of the year the
original word tells about a complete rotation)
[A]
Parallel
Hebrew “Exodus 34:22” by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/text/exodus/34-22.htm
[B]
Strong’s
Hebrew #8622.--”תְּקוּפָה”(tek-oo-faw')--circuit, come about,
end
Website:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8622.htm
From
“Flaccus” chapter XIV(14) section 116 “The Works of Philo” by
Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38 A.D.-50 A.D. from Early
Christian writings translated by Charles Duke Yonge between 1854-1890
A.D.
Website:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book36.html
[C]
From
“On the life of Moses volume 2” chapter XLI(41) section
222 “The Works of Philo” by Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38
A.D.-50 A.D. from Early Christian writings translated by Charles Duke
Yonge between 1854-1890 A.D.
Website:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book25.html
[D]
From
“The Decalouge” chapter XXX(30) section 161 “The Works of Philo” by
Philo Judaeus of Alexandria around about 38
A.D.-50 A.D. from Early Christian writings translated by Charles Duke
Yonge between 1854-1890 A.D.
Website:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book26.html