How do we know when the festivals are?

Disclaimer- 2 Peter 2:21-Verily if would have been better for them not have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment that was delivered to them.

Greetings,

I know this entry is late. My work week was particularly stresful this past week. Three weeks until Passover, time is flying by.

So, how do we know when? How do we know when the new month starts? How do we know when the festivals are? As always, lets look to scripture for the answers.

Let's start in Ex. 12:2-This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you. What distinction is there to the beginning of the month? Month is strong's #2320 in the Hebrew Chodesh, meanning New moon. The new moon marks the beginning of each month.

Each month, we are to go out & sight the new moon and then have a celebration. When our kids were young, we would order in food, watch movies & have a family night. When our kids left home & the faith, my husband & I had a date night & then discussed our goals we wanted to accomplish over the next month. Now that it's just me, I go out to the cemetary & watch for the new moon. When it's seen, I blow a shofar & then have a nice dinner somewhere. Sometimes I order in, depends on my budget. There are many Facebook groups that watch for the new moon is Israel for that is the promised land. One Facebook group is Biblical Calendar Forum: Aviv Barley and New Moon Reports from Israel, another one is Devorah's Date Tree - Restoring the Biblical Calendar and the last one is abibofgod.com Biblical Calendar information. The last one was saying the barley was Aviv the month before the rabbinical calendar said the festivals were to start.

We have weekly appointments with God-the weekly sabbath. We have monthly appointments with God-the new moon. And we have annual appointments with God, the annual festivals. WE DON'T WANT TO MISS THESE APPOINTMENTS with God. We want to make sure we are on time. We don't want to have the attitude of this is what everyeone else is doing which makes it easier or we're just doing what we know to do. We are to be a light to the world. (Matt. 5:14-16) If we know a way that is scripturally based, then we should be doing it and teaching others to do the same.

Once each new month has begun, then we can set the festival dates. Let's look to Leviticus 23 for these dates.

Lev. 23:2-3-Talking about the weekly sabbath. This is an easy one, the 7th day of the week is the sabbath, Saturday. The sabbath is a delight.

Lev. 23:4-These are the feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their seasons. Proclaim in their seasons, this is important. We need to make we are keeping the festivals at the right time according to what God tells us to do.

Lev. 23:5-8-On the 14th day of the first month at evening is the Lord's Passover. On the 15th day of the same if the feast of unleavened bread. For 7 days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation, you shall do no work therein. And on the 7th day you must do a holy convocation and do no work therein.

The other 5 days you can work unless there is a weekly sabbath during that week. Something my husband & I started in 2021, we took the whole week off from work. We got work done around the house & the yard. We felt that taking those days off was something we should do. I have continued to do that & have been blessed as a result.

Now there is a day called the Wave Sheaf which I will cover in a later entry that falls during the week of Unleavened Bread.

Lev. 23:24-25-Feast of Trumpets/Day of Shouting, This new moon marks the beginning of the 7th month. We don't know when the 7th month begins until the new moon is seen. We have a good idea based on when the new moon was seen the month before & there are computer programs that will tell you when the new moon will be seen.

Lev. 23:27-32-This is the day of Atonement, Yom kippur, a day of fasting & prayer, this is the holiest day of the year, a day to draw close to God.

Lev. 23:34-42-This is Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot, 8 days of praise, worship, living in tents/booths at a place that God chooses. There are many sites around the world to keep Sukkot. Many are Church of God based, some are messianic, some are Karaite & others are a mixture.

Now, according to the rabbinical calendar, the festival days can only fall on certain days & double sabbaths (back to back sabbath) aren't allowed. For example, accoring to this year's biblical observed calendar, Yom Kippur falls on a Friday which then leads into the weekly Sabbath. According to the rabbinical traditions, thaere has to be a preparation day leading up to a sabbath. According to this year's rabbinical calendar, Yom Kippur is on a Thursday, then you have the prepartion day on Friday & then the weekly Sabbath. Having a double sabbath is a blessing. It's 2 days in a row that God gives us to rest, worships & rejuvenate.

When the rabbinical calendar was made Hillel had to make a calendar as the Romans prohibited the Jews from going out and sighting the new moon to set the festival days. The rabbinical calendar is based on a 19 year cycle that is getting more off as time goes on. The rabbinical calendar also has 4 rules of postponement that acutally changes the dates of the festivals due these rules and stringent sabbath keeping rules of the Jews.

These are the 4 rules of postponement-

1. The Jewish New Year, Feast of Trumpets, may not fall on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday.

2. If the New Moon (molad) for the seventh month falls on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, the New Moon is postponed until the following day.

3. If the molad of the seventh month in a common year occurs on Tuesday at 3:204/1080 A.M. or later, the New Moon is postponed until Thursday.

4. In a common year following a leap year, if the molad of the seventh month occurs after 9 a.m. and 589/1080 parts on a Monday morning, New Moon is postponed until Tuesday.

Now, I'll give you a few minutes, where are these rules in the Torah? Anyone?

Answer-They aren't. They violate the verses of don't add to God's word, don't take away from God's word so that you can do God's word. You are also putting the traditions of men ahead of the commandments of God. We are told in Rev. 18:4 to come out of her my people. We are to separate ourselves from the corrupt system of Babylon, meaning corrupt religious and worldly system.

My husband and I spent over a year looking at the the Biblical calendar before making the switch. A lot of study & prayer was done before we made the decision. We had a small sabbath keeping group that we brought the changes to & they diddn't want to change. They didn't see the need. We had the rabbinical calendar on business cards, one older gentleman said right or wrong, I'm going to go by what is on this card. He didn't want to follow God, he wanted to keep following traditions.

I barely scratched the surface of this topic. My husband wrote a couple of good articles on this topic. The first one is How do we know when? And the other one is New Moons, Yesterday, Today and Forever.

The next entry will be talking about the Passover Haggadah. This might be a touchy subject for some but it's another "tradition" that needs to be addressed.

Until next week,

Lori