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Statement of belief: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word
is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)
Created 5927± 05 22 2023 [2007-08-06]
Last edited 5929± 12 02 2025 [2009-02-28]
“The Feast of Tabernacles was the closing gathering of
the year. It was God's design that at this time the people should reflect on
His goodness and mercy. The whole land had been under His guidance, receiving
His blessing. Day and night His watchcare had continued. The sun and rain had
caused the earth to produce her fruits. From the valleys and plains of
When Does the Biblical Year Really Begin and End?
Lamentations 2:19: “Pour out your spirit before the
Lord in the beginning of the night
watches.”
Abstract:
Sometimes it may appear as though all traditions are in error, especially when it comes to some religious traditions that apparently have been time honored and religiously held over many centuries or even millennia.
It is a good thing indeed that we do have one certain reference: The Holy Scriptures.
A close and prayerful study of what the Holy
Scriptures are actually teaching regarding the beginning and the end of the
biblical year reveals that, although certainly Aviv is indeed “the beginning of
months” or at least “the foremost one of the months,” and the month numbered
One while fixing also all of the months to the solar year and the seasons, the
beginning of the biblical year as a whole must be considered as beginning with
the Eighth Day, which day signifies something new after the conclusion of “the
Feast of Ingathering, which is in the end of
the year…” (Exodus 23:16) and after “the end of every seven years, in the solemnity
of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles” (Deuteronomy 31:10.)
The
Seventh Day Shabbat is the last day and the conclusion of the week. The
Sabbatic year is the Seventh and last year concluding a seven year cycle. Isn’t
it only natural and by design that the 7th Moon is the last Moon
concluding the year? Indeed, isn’t that also indicated by these three (highlighted) Hebrew words:
Lev
23:24 דברH1696
אלH413 בניH1121
ישׂראלH3478
לאמרH559
בחדשׁH2320
השׁביעיH7637
באחדH259
לחדשׁH2320
יהיהH1961
לכם שׁבתוןH7677
זכרוןH2146
תרועהH8643 מקראH4744
קדשׁ׃H6944
Lev 23:24 (KJV+) SpeakH1696 untoH413 the childrenH1121 of
In
the Hebrew the words translated “a memorial of blowing of trumpets” constitute,
if I am not mistaken, an adjective and a “construct state” characterizing the
Sabbath here referenced. So then, what “blowing of trumpets” are to be
remembered and called to mind upon this special Shabbat if not especially those
of the twelve or thirteen new moons of the last biblical year being concluded
by the 7th Moon? (Cf. Numbers 10:10:)
Num 10:10 Also in the day of
your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings
of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over
your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the
LORD your God.
Interestingly
enough, I find conclusive evidence that not only Jeremiah and Ezra (cf.
Scriptural considerations below!) but
Josephus also reckons the beginning of the civil year from Tishri 22!
What
additional instructions re the Eighth Day may we, you as well as I, glean out
of the words of Moses and in the actions of Aaron and his two sons, Nadab and
Abihu, in Leviticus, chapters nine and ten? Cf. especially Leviticus 9:1, 6-7;
8:33-35; 10:1-2! For isn’t it true that these Torah passages tell us something
more about what the purpose is for the Eighth Day – and its importance?!
Scriptural
considerations:
Exo 12:2 (TLT)
This month [Aviv] shall be unto you the head of months: it shall be
to you the
foremost among the months of the year.
Exo 12:2 (KJV) This month [Aviv] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Exo 23:16 And the feast of ingathering, which is
in the end of
the year…
Deu 11:12 A land which the LORD
thy God careth for the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deu 31:10 And Moses commanded
them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles…
Jer 28:1 And it came to pass
the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that
Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the
presence of the priests and of all the people, saying…
Jer 28:17 So Hananiah the
prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Ezr 3:4 They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by
number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;
Ezr 3:6 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the
foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
Ezr 3:8 Now in the second year of their
coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant
of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out
of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years
old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.
1 Sam 1:20 (TLT) “And it was
towards the cutoffs of the hot days…” or
1 Sam 1:20 (TLT) “And it was
towards the cutoffs of the summer…” or
1 Sam 1:20 (TLT) “And it was
towards the cutoffs of the year…”
Exo 12:2 החדשׁ הזה
לכם ראשׁ
חדשׁים ראשׁון הוא לכם לחדשׁי
השׁנה׃
Exo 23:16 וחג
האסף בצאת
השׁנה ...׃
Deu 11:12 ארץ
אשׁר־יהוה
אלהיך דרשׁ
אתה תמיד עיני
יהוה אלהיך בה
מרשׁית
השׁנה ועד אחרית שׁנה׃
Deu 31:10 ויצו
משׁה אותם
לאמר מקץ שׁבע
שׁנים
במעד שׁנת
השׁמטה בחג
הסכות׃
Jer 28:1
ויהי
בשׁנה ההיא
בראשׁית
ממלכת צדקיה
מלך־יהודה בשׁנת
הרבעית בחדשׁ
החמישׁי
אמר אלי חנניה
בן־עזור
הנביא אשׁר
מגבעון בבית
יהוה לעיני
הכהנים
וכל־העם
לאמר׃
Jer
28:17 וימת
חנניה הנביא בשׁנה
ההיא בחדשׁ
השׁביעי׃
Ezr
3:4 ויעשׂו
את־חג
הסכות ככתוב
ועלת יום ביום
במספר כמשׁפט
דבר־יום ביומו׃
Ezr 3:6
מיום אחד
לחדשׁ
השׁביעי
החלו להעלות
עלות ליהוה
והיכל יהוה לא
יסד׃
Ezr 3:8
ובשׁנה
השׁנית
לבואם אל־בית
האלהים
לירושׁלם
בחדשׁ השׁני החלו
זרבבל
בן־שׁאלתיאל
וישׁוע
בן־יוצדק ושׁאר
אחיהם הכהנים
והלוים
וכל־הבאים
מהשׁבי ירושׁלם
ויעמידו
את־הלוים מבן
עשׂרים שׁנה
ומעלה לנצח
על־מלאכת
בית־יהוה׃
1Sa 1:20
ויהי
לתקפות הימים
ותהר חנה ותלד
בן ותקרא
את־שׁמו
שׁמואל כי מיהוה
שׁאלתיו׃
“"His word was with power." Luke 4:32. Under
a variety of representations He [“Jesus”/Yeshua] warned His hearers of the
calamity that would follow all who rejected the blessings He came to bring
them. He had given them every possible proof that He came forth from God, and
made every possible effort to bring them to repentance. He would not be
rejected and murdered by His own nation if He could save them from the guilt of
such a deed. {White, E.G., DA 452.3}
What is
the beginning of the year and what is the end per Scriptural definitions?
The Feast of Ingathering is the same as the Feast of Tabernacles,
which is defined in Leviticus 23 as the 15th through the 21st
days of the Seventh Moon, which falls somewhere in September or October each
year.
The beginning of the First Moon, Aviv, is defined by the
ripening of the barley in March or April each year.
How is
it that the end of the year is not immediately followed by the First Month of
the year?
Where does the time following the Feast of
Tabernacles but preceding the ripening of the barley belong? Should this time,
November through February and more, be reckoned with the preceding year or with
the subsequent year? Within the Jewish or Hebrew speaking people there are
proponents for both of these views. Are some of the Karaites (Karaites claim to
rest solely upon the Hebrew Scriptures) truly resting upon solid scriptural
ground when claiming that the year begins with Aviv while apparently ignoring
Exodus 23:16? Or are some of the Orthodox Jews correct when claiming that the
year begins with the beginning of the Seventh Month, Ethanim or Tishri? Can
both of them be correct or are none of them correct?
Or is this a question that can have no certain and
unambiguous answer? Can a doubting Thomas rightfully use an issue such as this
for claiming that the Holy Scriptures are contradicting themselves and cannot
be relied upon?
Could it be that the answer is easily found upon
pursuing a more detailed study of the exact words used in the Scriptures?
Let’s first consider the words “the beginning of
months.” Is there a difference between those words and the words “the beginning
of the year?” There is a distinct difference, is there not?
Are the
months related to the year in a way reminiscent to how the hours are related to
the biblical day?
When is the first hour of the biblical day? It begins
at sunrise, does it not? When is the last hour of the biblical day? It ends at
sunset, does it not? Yet, it is a fact that biblical [24 hour] days are counted
from sunset to sunset, or is that not a fact?
Is there a parallel between the day and the year?
Could it be that the months are, to a certain extent, to be compared with the
hours of the day? Could it be that just as the fourteen hours of day light and
the twelve hours from sunrise to sunset (at the time of the spring and fall
equinoxes) are associated with the time when people are awake and active, so
also the first seven moons are associated with the harvest seasons of every
year while the remaining moons are the colder, rainy, and darker period of the
year when there is much less activity for the agricultural people out upon the
fields. Could it be that just as the Seventh Day of each week is designed for
rest, joy, family, and church relationships under the guidance of the Creator,
so also the Seventh Moon is designed more than any other for such holy
convocations? Or isn’t it true that the Seventh moon has four specified timely
proscriptions, i.e. Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles,
and the Eighth Day, thus covering the greater portion of said moon?
Having asked myself the above questions, am I now
ready to see what the Scriptures actually say? Do the Holy Scriptures have a
definite answer for me?
I believe they do!
It remains for me – or for someone – to let God show me
whether, and to what extent, this way of reckoning has been used in Old and New
Testament chronology, since up to the time I first wrote this article I have
considered the “civil year,” which until then I assumed is usually used in the
bible, as beginning with the first day of the Seventh Moon, and another “sacred
year” used occasionally and in certain situations as beginning with the first
day of the First Moon. It remains to be seen what revisions of this chronology
work of mine may be necessary upon a closer study of these issues.
What about the lunar day and the lunar night? – Is
there a parallel there too?
On the First and Second Day of the just expired Feast
of Tabernacles [in the 2007 Gregorian year] I was blessed with sharing a holy
convocation with two Seventh-day Adventist brethren up near the peaks of the
Southern California Mountains. One thing I noticed was that the full moon
actually felt warm on my cheek. It, the full moon, reminded me of the heat of
the noon time sun in the middle of the day. It reminded me that sunset is the
time set in the midst between noon and midnight. What’s the lunar time in the
midst of full moon and new moon? It’s half moon, isn’t it? Half moon coming and
half moon going. Half moon going would correspond to sunset, would it not?
Thus sunset of the 24 hour cycle corresponds to half
moon going of the lunar cycle, which in turn corresponds to the fall of the
year…
What’s more natural than praising the Lord while
paying recognition to, and expectantly looking for, the points in time ending
and beginning each new cycle of time: The day, the week, the month, and the
year?
And aren’t the Scriptures teaching us to do exactly
that?! Isn’t the Eighth Day / Shemini Atzeret / The Last Great Day of the feast
days in the Seventh Moon indicating exactly that, i.e. the beginning of
something new, the new Scriptural year?
If that is true then the 22nd day of the 7th
moon, i.e. Tishri 22, constitutes the first day of the new year!
Interestingly, I find that Josephus
reckons his years beginning with Tishri 22! Cf. Herod
the Great’s reign and the 185th Olympic year!
On the incentive of my son, he and I have lately been
implementing a daily schedule patterned upon the appointed Feast Days of the
year. We feel that the Lord, our Creator, are blessing us abundantly in
consequence of this practice. No doubt we have plenty more to learn and
discover in these and other respects, but presently [Sixth Moon 2008] we are
using a daily schedule based upon these points of time:
05:00 (Local solar time.) First dawn. Time to rise and
spend private time with God. Cf. Aviv 1.
05:40 Preparation time before breakfast. Cf. Aviv 10
and the selection of the sacrificial lamb of Passover.
06:00 – 06:30
06:20 ±10 minutes. Breakfast time begins. Cf. The
Torah prohibition on eating of the barley prior to Hag HaOmer, the Waving of
the Sheaf, on the morning of the 7th Day Shabbat.
07:00 second signal
09:00 third signal
09:20 ±10 Mid-morning brief family get together. Cf.
the 7th week of the Count of Omer; days 42-49 counting towards
Pentecost.
11:00 fourth signal
13:00 fifth signal
15:00 sixth signal
17:00 Announcing the coming evening events. Cf. Yom
Teruah.
17:40 Family at-one-meant time. Cf. Day of
At-One-Meant.
18:00 – 18:30 Sunset. Family worship time. Cf. Feast
of Tabernacles.
18:45 Dark. Bedtime. Cf. Eighth Day.
Lamentations 2:19 Arise,
cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour
out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift
up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for
hunger in the top of every street.
Praise the Lord!
A note re the Hebrew word
transliterated ‘tekufah:’
I very much value Nehemia Gordon’s article (cashed (2009-02-27)) discussing the four
instances of the word ‘tekufah’ in the Tanach. Even though Nehemia’s article is
not recognizing it, the four instances of this Hebrew word give good support
for the main point of the within article:
[Even though the main point of Nehemia’s
article is the non-existence of any direct reference to the equinox in the
Tanach and even though I have seen no direct indication that Nehemia is as yet
aware of the truth and importance of the main message of the within article,
nor of the consistent observance of Hag HaOmer on the Seventh Day Shabbat, and
not on the First Day, throughout biblical times, most everything else of what I’ve
seen Nehemia teach and practice I find most excellent and well worth studying
carefully.]
Re the 1st instance of ‘tekufah’ in the
Scriptures – Exodus 34:22:
Nehemia’s explanation of the use of the word ‘tekufah’
in Exodus 34:22 makes a lot of sense to me. Read it!
Because Nehemia has not yet recognized the truth of
the within article, it is only reasonable that he does not recognize the
implications and the added support that the word ‘tekufah’ and its context – as
referenced throughout Nehemia’s fine article as well as in the Scriptures -
gives to all the other within referenced evidence for the exact point of the end
of the year (for purposes of dating documents etc.) being Tishri 21, and the
beginning of the year being Tishri 22. In consequence of that fact I must
question Nehemia’s associating the word ‘tekufah’ with any other time of the
year than that which is associated with the seventh moon, and most specifically
with the Eighth day, which very name suggests the beginning of something new, a
new year, albeit much deemphasized in the bible as such, evidently for a
purpose.
Re the 2nd instance of ‘tekufah’ in the
Scriptures – 1 Sam 1:20:
Nehemia
is thus interpreting 1 Sam 1:20 as follows: “ "The same time the following year" [or possibly to the
completion of the term of pregnancy?]” Yet, re his reference to her
pregnancy, Nehemia seems to be oblivious to the fact that one of the least
likely times for a lady to travel is towards the end of her pregnancy, and,
probably more so then than now in the absence of the conveniences of modern
travel, that time of staying put may well as a rule have been extended for some
time until the infant and mother had stabilized following the birth trauma. Indeed,
this matter of traveling is not the issue here (verses 23-24,) given that “she
stayed home until she had weaned him,” which may well have been even three of
four years.
Nonetheless, the
point is the timing of the event. The rest of the family was traveling to
Now, I don’t see any real strong indicator in the
text re which particular annual feast, if any, that may have been Elkanah’s preference.
Yet, considering the repeated reference to eating and drinking (1 Sam. 1:7,8,9,13,14,15)
without any reference to either unleavened bread, breaking of the bread, or
other reference to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it seems more likely to me
that the Feast of Tabernacles was the Feast that they made a habit of attending.
Perhaps the fact that Elkanah routinely brought his wives along is another
indication of that being indeed the season of their travel? For isn’t it true that the Feast of
Tabernacles is, and was, well recognized as a Feast strongly associated with the
marital relationship. Also, we may notice that shortly following this event at
Shiloh Hannah did indeed get pregnant. And isn’t it true that, since very early
times, the beginning of pregnancies were traditionally associated with the fall
season. It seems that originally the mating season was much more limited in
time, and much more regular, than it has since become.
Accordingly, I see no reason at all for not allowing
the word ‘tekufah’ to mean what it most obviously does mean, the cutoff or the
end of the hot season and of the year at the time of the several feasts ordained
for the seventh months. In fact, aren’t these several festivities, the Day of
Trumpets, the Day of At-One-Meant, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth
Day, a plurality of events all associated with the end of the year; thus the
word “circuits” (‘tekufot’) in plural?! In the Hebrew this passage is even clearer
in that it is using here, not the word “shanot,” but “jamim,” a word which most
fundamentally means “hot” as in “the days of summer” or “days,” i.e. the hot
part of the day when the sun is above the horizon. Accordingly a literal
translation of the three first Hebrew words is: “And it was towards the cutoffs
of the hot days:”
1Sam
1:20 ויהיH1961
לתקפותH8622
הימיםH3117
ותהרH2029
חנהH2584
ותלדH3205
בןH1121 ותקראH7121
אתH853 שׁמוH8034
שׁמואלH8050
כיH3588 מיהוהH3068
שׁאלתיו׃H7592
Re the 3rd instance of ‘tekufah’ in the
Scriptures – 2 Chron. 24:23:
Likewise in re to 2 Chron. 24:23 and apparently based
upon the assumption
that, without exception, kings always began their war activities in the spring,
Nehemia is associating the use of the word ‘tekufah’ with spring rather than
with fall in 2 Chron. 24:23...
Conclusion re Nehemia’s interpretation of ‘tekufah:’
Accordingly, I do not see any remaining argument left
in support for ‘tekufah’ or ‘tekufot’ (pl.) giving reference to anything but
the days at the end of the summer and the several appointed times of God within
the seventh month, which the Torah is teaching us constitutes the end of the
Scriptural year.
Re the 4th and last instance of ‘tekufah’
in the Scriptures – Psalms 19:6:
Re the word ‘tekufot’ and Psalms 19:6 I may add this
to Nehemia’s thoughts,
i.e. by replacing the translation “heavens” with “names.” Think in terms of the
reckoning of years using the name of the current king! The concept of name and
proprietorship is a most important one and one given much emphasis in the
Hebrew Scriptures - though unfortunately hidden in most translations:
“(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" ” Psalms 19:6 (Nehemia’s translation)
“(6) From the
end of the names is its [the sun's] going out and its circuit (‘tekufato’)
is to their [the names] ends, and none is hidden from its heat" ” Psalms
19:6 (TLT)
Praise the Lord!
. . . . . . . . .
A note re the Elephantine papyri vs. the possibility
that some of them could potentially have been dated in Tishri using a Scriptural
calendar:
The following note (in smaller font,) re the
Elephantine papyri evidencing scribal use at the time of a calendar beginning the year with Tishri 22, is now obviated
by:
1. The
recognition that the presumed “scribal error” of Kraeling 8 is based upon the false
assumption of Horn and Wood that "it
is impossible for the same month to coincide with Tishri four years
later;"
2. upon my discovery that an Egyptian
regnal year 2 at times (AP 6) begin prior to the end of a Babylonian or
Scriptural accession year (affecting AP 8, AP 9, & AP 10;) and
3. upon my own prior assumption that many
of the Elephantine papyri are using the Scriptural calendar (only Kraeling 6
has been shown to do that.)
Nevertheless, two (AP
8 & Kraeling 8) of the three presumed “scribal errors,” per Horn and Wood,
are now resolved in favor of the scribes, while the third (AP 10) is resolved
on the basis indicated above! (Cf. also this
link!)
The Elephantine papyri from the 5th
century BCE is evidence that the Eighth Day was then used as the beginning of
the year:
Of the 22 double dated papyri discovered there are
four dated in the month of Tishri (cf. Sigfried H. Horn, Ph.D. and Lynn H.
Wood, Ph.D., The
Chronology of Ezra 7, Appendix, pp. 39-40:)
1.
AP
15. [Tishri 25] = Epiphi 6, year [30 (or 16 /gs)] of [Artaxerx]es I (435 (or
449 /gs) BC)
2.
Kraeling
4. Tishri 25 = Epiphi 25, year 31 of Artaxerxes 1 (434 BC.)
3.
Kraeling
7. Tishri = Epiphi, year 4 of Darius II (420 BC.)
4.
Kraeling
8. Tishri 6 = Payni 22, year 8 of Darius II (416 BC.)
It is generally believed that Tishri 1 constitutes the
beginning of “the Jewish civil year.” However, using that assumption creates a
problem with the last one of the above papyri: Kraeling 8, which is the only
one dated in Tishri prior to Tishri 22. In consequence of the unawareness of
the biblical, or then current Jewish, calendar beginning with Tishri 22 said
problem is generally attributed to a “scribal error” since Tishri 6 would
then, under that false assumption, belong to the new year. Restoring the
“Tishri 6” date to the old year where it belongs resolves this problem (without
resorting to blaming the scribe for habitually writing the name of the old
Egyptian month (Payni) in place of the new one (Epiphi) or else prematurely
writing the name of the subsequent, yet future, Jewish month (Tishri) in place
of the current one (Elul,)) and thus this particular papyrus is evidence that
in the 5th century BCE Tishri 22, the Eight Day, was considered the
beginning of the year.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
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