We know that this observance was a command to the Israelites. Is it a command to us? We today are not subject to the laws and ordinances imposed upon the “nation of Israel. The law of Moses was taken away, superseded by the greater law of faith” and Christ. However, could God condemn our remembering … [Read more…]
A lunar year was made up of 12 lunar months and that figures out to approximately 354 days. A solar year or tropical year as it is called on which the return of the seasons depends is the interval between two consecutive returns of the sun to the vernal equinox, and this tropical year consists … [Read more…]
In the New Testament times they were still keeping some of the ancient Hebrew feasts. When Jesus was twelve years old, we read that Mary and Joseph, with Jesus, “went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast,” the feast of the Passover (Luke 2:42). The apostle Paul also mentioned certain of the feasts … [Read more…]
The Jewish people even today date their Passover from Abib. And yet they keep Saturday as the Sabbath, just as the Seventh Day Adventists do. But with the first new moon occurring on different days of the week from year to year, and the Sabbath being always seven days later, it is not possible to … [Read more…]
At some time, not noted in Scripture, the Hebrew people began observing a second new year which they still recognize today. This second new year (in the fall of the year) is often identified as their “civil” new year in contrast to the “sacred:” This new year falls in the seventh month, known in ancient … [Read more…]
Now there are a few complications in trying to match a lunar calendar with the four seasons, which are determined by the sun. On the Hebrew calendar, a lunar month was from new moon to new moon, which is 29 days, 12 hours and 44/100ths of a minute. Twelve of these months equal 3541/4 days, … [Read more…]
Before the Babylonian exile few of the months were identified by name. Numbers were the more common designation. During the exile the Jews adopted the Babylonian names of the months. The Bible records the names of most of the ancient Hebrew months. As we have seen, the month given by the Lord to Moses to … [Read more…]
The Hebrew marking of Abib as the first month of the year at the time of the Exodus was not the beginning of counting time by months, for notice the reading of Exodus 12:2, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months”—they already had months, of which this was to be known as … [Read more…]
We are particularly interested in how the Hebrews originally determined the time for beginning this sacred new year and how they counted the days and the months following. Several passages in the Bible show that the time of the months of the Hebrew year was determined by the moon. We read in Numbers 10:10: “Also … [Read more…]
Let us think about the units by which we measure time, and the source of those units. Some of these units of measurement are built into the created order. Others that we use every day are purely arbitrary. The first unit of time we want to consider is the year. A year is not an … [Read more…]