The month is a unit of time closely tied to the moon cycles. The Hebrew word for month is also meant for moon. The reason for the connection between the moon and the month is at the beginning of a month was marked by the new moon. The Israelites in the Bible times kept time by the moon cycles which was the Creators time keeping system for keeping his appointed times for worship that was commanded throughout our generations forever.
While it is true that the Jews today worship on a Saturday sabbath, this does not prove that it is the true Sabbath. They did not always worship on the Saturday sabbath. Jewish scholars are very clear that the original method of calendation was different from the modern calendar and that under intense persecution during the fourth century A.D., the Jews gave up their original lunar-solar calendar.
Declaring the new month by observation of the new moon, and the new year by the arrival of spring, can only be done by the Sanhedrin. In the time of Hillell II [4th century C.E.], the last President of the Sanhedrin, the Romans prohibited this practice. Hillel II was therefore forced to institute his fixed calendar, thus in effect giving the Sanhedrin's advance approval to the calendars of all future years. ("The Jewish Calendar and Holidays (incl. Sabbath)": The Jewish Calendar; Changing the Calendar.
The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle. (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 410)
Hidden and Lost Teachings, Yet To Be Fulfilled
Many people have dreamed through the years how great it would be to have lived during Biblical times. They imagine what it would have been like to live during the time of Jeremiah, Isaiah or one of the other prophets. They think how exciting it must have been to have heard first-hand the words of John just days after he saw the vision. If you have ever been one of those who thought this way, I encourage you to consider that we live in an even greater time today. Not only are we reading these exciting prophecies in our day, but we are also living them out. We are truly witnesses to the day which the prophets longed to see. Moses himself spoke one of those prophecies in this weeks bible study. Moses has already stated he was not merely speaking to the people who were gathered on that day, but to multitudes who were not there. He was speaking to a generation yet to come. That would be us. When he spoke the words of Deuteronomy 30:1-6, he was not only speaking to the people he was seeing with his natural eye, but also to a people he could only see with his spirit. He was speaking to you and to me! In verse 1 he says, "When you start thinking." Take a moment and consider the last few years of your live. Was there a time when you could say you just "started thinking" about the words of Torah (first 5 books of the Bible). “Are they for us today?” “Do they have any relevance in my life?” “Were they truly done away with?” “Was I taught wrong?” If these are questions you have asked, then the words of Moses are literally being fulfilled in your life today. It is sometimes difficult to imagine that our lives are really fulfilling scripture. The fact is that life on most days just seems so, well, daily. We get up and go about our normal routines of life day after day. The weeks and months pass by at such an incredibly fast pace that we can be living a life of prophecy and never truly take the time to consider what is happening to us. We just think we are living our life, when in fact the pages of scripture are being lived out in every new day of our lives. Every time we look at the news we see scripture coming alive before our eyes. Every time you and I read a verse of Torah, find something new to us and seek to place that verse into our life and lifestyle, we are fulfilling the words of scripture. Each of us is in the midst of starting to think and our actions are driving us to become a people restored to our Creator and to the instructions He has given to us for life. In the midst of that restoration our spirits are beginning to yearn for the full promise of being restored to our home, Israel. In just a few short days we will enter into the Fall Feasts. We will begin with Yom Teruah, when we see the New Moon in the sky will be the first day of the seventh month. Then 10 days later Yom Kippur (future day of judgment) and then 5 days later Sukkot (the rehearsal of our wedding feast when the messiah returns for his bride). These 3 appointed times are coming for the Messiah to fulfill. These are days in which we are called to reflect on the life that was, the life that is, and the life to come. Do not allow the busyness of these days to cause you to miss the point of the days. These feasts are to be times we are to set aside the normal cares of life and focus on Him. We are to focus on His call on our life, the day He has called us to live. We are to ask YHVH to cleanse our vessels and prepare us for the next steps along the way. The Fall Feasts are a mixture of both personal time and community time. If at all possible make every attempt to live out both aspects to their fullest. Take time to not only start to think, but to also continue to think of the place He has called you to in His family. Know that He has placed each of us here for a specific time and for a specific purpose. Take time to think this through and you may find that there is truly no greater time to be alive than right now. We are not just reading about a prophecy to come, but instead living it out with every breath we take. Lev.23 Great study of 3 appointed times he is coming to fulfill. YaHuWaH is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever!
When is Sabbath?
While it is true that the Jews today worship on a Saturday sabbath, this does not prove that it is the true Sabbath. They did not always worship on the Saturday sabbath. Jewish scholars are very clear that the original method of calendation was different from the modern calendar and that under intense persecution during the fourth century A.D., the Jews gave up their original lunar-solar calendar.
Declaring the new month by observation of the new moon, and the new year by the arrival of spring, can only be done by the Sanhedrin. In the time of Hillell II [4th century C.E.], the last President of the Sanhedrin, the Romans prohibited this practice. Hillel II was therefore forced to institute his fixed calendar, thus in effect giving the Sanhedrin's advance approval to the calendars of all future years. ("The Jewish Calendar and Holidays (incl. Sabbath)": The Jewish Calendar; Changing the Calendar.
The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle. (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 410)
Praying for all eyes shall be opened to the True Hebrew Messiah.
You can follow the Fall moadim instructions in Leviticus chapter 23: beginning in verse 23 to 43
Remember a day on the Creators Calendar begins in the evening to evening. Yom Teruah is the Feast of Trumpets it begins on the evening the first new moon is sited on the Creators Calendar in the 7th month.
Yom Kippur will begin at sunset, 10th day of the 7th month on the Creators Calendar.
Feast of Tabernacles,
Sukkot will begin at sunset on the 14th day in the evening which begins the 15th day on the Creators Calandar and continues for 7 days and the 8th QuaDaSH day is a High QuaDaSH/Holy Day on the Creators Calandar.
If you love me keep my commandments John 14:15
Favorite Quotations
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?" -Mark Twain
Moon Phases: Click HERE
