When Does The Year Start?
By Isaac Aluochier
All scriptural quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from the Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible, available at http://www.ebible.org/bible/hnv/
1:14
The Mighty One said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 1:15and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the eretz," and it was so. 1:16The Mighty One made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 1:17The Mighty One set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the eretz, 1:18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. The Mighty One saw that it was good. 1:19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.The lights in the expanse of the sky are "for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years".
The implication being that just as the lights in the expanse of the sky DETERMINE the commencement of days, SO ALSO they determine the commencement of years!
If so, HOW do they determine the commencement of years?
While particular lights have been stated as ruling over the day and over the night, no particular light is here stated as ruling over the year, or season, or sign. Do particular lights rule over the year, or seasons, or signs?
7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noach's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky's windows were opened.What constituted the commencement of a month?
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 2320:
chodesh, kho'-desh; from 2318; the new moon; by impl. a month:- month (-ly), new moon.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 2318:
chadash, khaw-dash'; a prim. Root; to be new; caus. to rebuild:- renew, repair.
It therefore appears that the commencement of a month is determined by the commencement of a new moon, by the commencement of the rebuilding or renewal of the moon.
When does the moon commence its rebuilding or renewal? At the time when it becomes dark, or at the time when the first light or crescent is observed from it AFTER it has become dark?
It seems that the time when the moon becomes dark should be termed the end or cessation of that moon. For if it was made to be a "light", a light RULING over the night, it appears that its light function would determine when it is new. For when it is dark it is not shedding its light on the earth, and therefore NOT RULING over the night, the night being termed as being without its ruler. But when its light begins to shine again on the earth, observed as a crescent, it resumes its ruling over the night by again shedding its light on the earth.
It therefore appears that a new moon is determined by the observance of renewed light shining from the moon on the earth. The commencement of a new moon or month therefore appears to take place AFTER the moon has become dark, and with the first observance of new light shining from the moon. The first observed crescent of the moon therefore appears to determine the beginning of the month, and the day in which the crescent of the moon is observed is indeed the first day of the moon or month!
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 8141:
shaneh (in plur. only), shaw-neh'; or (fem.)
shanah, shaw-naw'; from 8138; a year (as a revolution of time):- + whole age, x long, + old, year (x -ly).
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 8138:
shanah, shaw-naw'; a prim. Root; to fold, i.e. duplicate (lit. or fig.); by impl. to transmute (trans. Or intrans.):- do (speak, strike) again, alter, double, (be given to) change, disguise, (be) diverse, pervert, prefer, repeat, return, do the second time.
A year is therefore a revolving or recycling period of time that recurs regularly.
8:13
It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the eretz. Noach removed the covering of the teivah, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried.What constituted the first month, the first day of the month - in other words, the beginning of the year?
At What Time Of The Year Was Yahweh Speaking With Avraham?
17:15
The Mighty One said to Avraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. 17:16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."17:17
Then Avraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?" 17:18Avraham said to the Mighty One, "Oh that Yishma'el might live before you!"17:19
The Mighty One said, "No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Yitzchak. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. 17:20As for Yishma'el, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 17:21But my covenant I establish with Yitzchak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time in the next year."When was "this set time" of the year that Yahweh was speaking with Avraham?
18:1
Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. 18:2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the eretz, 18:3and said, "My master, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant. 18:4Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 18:5I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant."They said, "Very well, do as you have said."
18:6
Avraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." 18:7Avraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. 18:8He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.18:9
They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife?He said, "See, in the tent."
18:10
He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son."Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. 18:11Now Avraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 18:12Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my master being old also?"
18:13
Yahweh said to Avraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?' 18:14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."18:15
Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid."He said, "No, but you did laugh."
18:16
The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sedom. Avraham went with them to see them on their way. 18:17Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Avraham what I do, 18:18seeing that Avraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the eretz will be blessed in him? 18:19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Avraham that which he has spoken of him." 18:20Yahweh said, "Because the cry of Sedom and `Amorah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, 18:21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me. If not, I will know."18:22
The men turned from there, and went toward Sedom, but Avraham stood yet before Yahweh. 18:23Avraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 18:24What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are therein? 18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the eretz do right?"18:26
Yahweh said, "If I find in Sedom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake." 18:27Avraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Sovereign, who am but dust and ashes. 18:28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?"He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
18:29
He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?"He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."
18:30
He said, "Oh don't let the Sovereign be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?"He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."
18:31
He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Sovereign. What if there are twenty found there?"He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."
18:32
He said, "Oh don't let the Sovereign be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. What if ten are found there?"He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."
18:33
Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Avraham, and Avraham returned to his place.19:1
The two angels came to Sedom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sedom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the eretz, 19:2and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you will rise up early, and go on your way."They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
19:3
He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked matzah, and they ate. 19:4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sedom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 19:5They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."19:6
Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. 19:7He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. 19:8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."19:9
They said, "Stand back!" They said, "This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 19:10But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 19:11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.19:12
The men said to Lot, "Do you have you anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: 19:13for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before Yahweh. Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."19:14
Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city."But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. 19:15When the morning arose, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city." 19:16But he lingered; and the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. 19:17It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, neither stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!"
19:18
Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my master. 19:19See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have showed to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 19:20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."19:21
He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 19:22Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Tzo`ar.19:23
The sun was risen on the eretz when Lot came to Tzo`ar. 19:24Then Yahweh rained on Sedom and on `Amorah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. 19:25He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. 19:26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.19:27
Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. 19:28He looked toward Sedom and `Amorah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.19:29
It happened, when the Mighty One destroyed the cities of the plain, that the Mighty One remembered Avraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.What time of the year was it that Yahweh referred to as "when the season comes round", when he would return to Avraham?
"Season" for what?
When was "the set time", "when the season comes round", that Yahweh would return to Avraham and Sarah would have a son?
Was there any significance to that "set time", "when the season comes round", and Lot baking matzah for the two men who had accompanied Yahweh in his visiting Avraham, and then carried on to rescue Lot from the destruction of Sedom and Amorah? Was that "set time", "when the season comes round", a time for baking matzah?
21:1
Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. 21:2Sarah conceived, and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which the Mighty One had spoken to him. 21:3Avraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitzchak. 21:4Avraham circumcised his son, Yitzchak, when he was eight days old, as the Mighty One had commanded him. 21:5Avraham was one hundred years old when his son, Yitzchak, was born to him. 21:6Sarah said, "the Mighty One has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me." 21:7She said, "Who would have said to Avraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."When was "the set time" that Sarah bore Avraham a son, "the set time" that Yahweh the Mighty One had spoken to Avraham?
Yahweh's Commands For The Beginning Of The Year
12:1
Yahweh spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Mitzrayim, saying, 12:2"This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. 12:3Speak to all the congregation of Yisra'el, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; 12:4and if the household be too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 12:5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: 12:6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra'el shall kill it at evening. 12:7They shall take same of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it. 12:8They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and matzah. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. 12:9Don't eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. 12:10You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. 12:11This is how you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh's Pesach. 12:12For I will go through the land of Mitzrayim in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Mitzrayim, both man and animal. Against all the mighty ones of Mitzrayim I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh. 12:13The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Mitzrayim. 12:14This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.12:15
Seven days shall you eat matzah; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yisra'el. 12:16In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. 12:17You shall observe the feast of matzah; for in this same day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Mitzrayim: therefore shall you observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. 12:18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat matzah, until the twenty first day of the month at evening. 12:19Seven days shall there be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Yisra'el, whether he be a sojourner, or one who is born in the land. 12:20You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat matzah.'"12:21
Then Moshe called for all the Zakenim of Yisra'el, and said to them, "Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the Pesach. 12:22You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 12:23For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Mitzrim; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 12:24You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. 12:25It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. 12:26It will happen, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 12:27that you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Pesach, who passed over the houses of the children of Yisra'el in Mitzrayim, when he struck the Mitzrim, and spared our houses.'"The people bowed their heads and worshipped. 12:28The children of Yisra'el went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moshe and Aharon, so they did.
12:29
It happened at midnight, that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Mitzrayim, from the firstborn of Par`oh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 12:30Par`oh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitzrim; and there was a great cry in Mitzrayim, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 12:31He called for Moshe and Aharon by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Yisra'el; and go, serve Yahweh, as you have said! 12:32Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!"12:33
The Mitzrim were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all dead men." 12:34The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 12:35The children of Yisra'el did according to the word of Moshe; and they asked of the Mitzrim jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. 12:36Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitzrim, so that they let them have what they asked. They despoiled the Mitzrim.12:37
The children of Yisra'el journeyed from Ra`meses to Sukkot, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children. 12:38A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much cattle. 12:39They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Mitzrayim; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of Mitzrayim, and couldn't wait, neither had they prepared for themselves any food. 12:40Now the time that the children of Yisra'el lived in Mitzrayim was four hundred thirty years. 12:41It happened at the end of four hundred thirty years, even the same day it happened, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Mitzrayim. 12:42It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Mitzrayim. This is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed of all the children of Yisra'el throughout their generations.12:43
Yahweh said to Moshe and Aharon, "This is the ordinance of the Pesach. There shall no foreigner eat of it, 12:44but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it. 12:45A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. 12:46In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth anything of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall you break a bone of it. 12:47All the congregation of Yisra'el shall keep it. 12:48When a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Pesach to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 12:49One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who sojourns among you." 12:50Thus did all the children of Yisra'el. As Yahweh commanded Moshe and Aharon, so they did. 12:51It happened the same day, that Yahweh brought the children of Yisra'el out of the land of Mitzrayim by their hosts.13:1
Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 13:2"Sanctify to me all of the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Yisra'el, both of man and of animal. It is mine."13:3
Moshe said to the people, "Remember this day, in which you came out from Mitzrayim, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 13:4This day you go forth in the month Aviv. 13:5It shall be, when Yahweh shall bring you into the land of the Kana`ani, and the Chittite, and the Amori, and the Chivvi, and the Yevusi, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. 13:6Seven days you shall eat matzah, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to Yahweh. 13:7Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you, neither shall there be yeast seen with you, in all your borders. 13:8You shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'It is because of that which Yahweh did for me when I came forth out of Mitzrayim.' 13:9It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Mitzrayim. 13:10You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.The first month of the year, Aviv, is "the season" or time for observing Yahweh's Pesach and feast of matzah according to commandment.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 24:
abiyb, aw-beeb; from an unused root (mean. to be tender); green, i.e. a young ear of grain; hence the name of the month Abib or Nisan:- Abib, ear, green ears of corn.
The implication one derives from Strong's definition is that Aviv, the first month of the year, is a time or season for grain ears being tender or green.
Is Determination Of The First Month Dependent On Observing Green Ears Of Grain?
Is the first month of the year determined by the observance of grain ears becoming green or tender, or is its determination INDEPENDENT of the observance of grain ears becoming green or tender? In other words, if the determination of the beginning of the year is independent of grain ears being green or tender, and it is just an observed occurrence that grain ears are green or tender at the beginning of the year, how is the beginning of the year determined? On the other hand, if the determination of the beginning of the year is dependent on the observed occurrence of grain ears being green or tender, exactly how is it so determined?
If the determination of the beginning of the year is DEPENDENT on the observed occurrence of grain ears being tender, the following is a plausible manner of so determining.
The commands pertaining to Pesach and matzah must be honoured in the first month of the year. By the commencement of the time for fulfilling Yahweh's commands of the first month of the year it should indeed be clear to all that it is indeed the first month of the year. The only manner such certainty can be attained is if by the time Yahweh's commands in the first month have to be fulfilled, the grain ears are already green or tender, such that Yahweh's commands pertaining to his Pesach and matzah can be adhered to. If the grain ears become tender on or about the 22nd day of a month, it is impossible to honour Yahweh's commands pertaining to both his Pesach and matzah within that month. The first qualifying month in which these commands can indeed be honoured is the subsequent month. This subsequent month then is indeed the first month of the year. It therefore appears that the grain ears must first become tender or green before the fulfilment of Yahweh's commands of the first month of the year before that month is declared as the first month of the year. The first month that so comes upon or after the greening or tendering of grain ears!
Potential Problems In Determining The First Month
What if the grain ears green or become tender prior to the morrow after the Shabbat for offering the sheaf of wave offering to Yahweh, the closest Shabbat prior to the 14th day of the month, but after the 10th day of the month?
Such a month appears to present some problems. For the 10th day of the month is the day for setting aside the sacrificial lambs and kids of Yahweh's Pesach, and the 14th day of the month is the day for killing these lambs and kids. In such a case, come the 10th day of the month it would not be clear to the people that they were indeed in the first month of the year! For they would then not have seen the greening or tendering of grain ears. Such a month indeed cannot be the first month of the year.
It therefore appears that in such a case the manner a first month of the year is determined, based on the greening or tendering of grain ears, is by the month SUBSEQUENT to the greening or tendering of grain ears being declared the first month of the year! In other words, in such a case, a year commences only AFTER the greening or tendering of grain ears, commencing at the time of the next new moon!
Again I ask: is the beginning of the year determined in a manner dependent or independent of the greening or tendering of grain ears? If in a manner dependent, then the above model can serve as a determining method. But if in a manner independent of the greening or tendering of grain ears, then what is this manner, and where is the scriptural support for such a manner?
23:14
"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. 23:15You shall observe the feast of matzah. Seven days you shall eat matzah, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Aviv (for in it you came out from Mitzrayim), and no one shall appear before me empty. 23:16And the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. 23:17Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign Yahweh.What is the duration of a year under Yahweh's reckoning? If it begins in the month that the feast of matzah is observed, and ends in the month that the feast of harvest is observed, how long is this period? And is there a gap of time, measured in months, between the end of one year, in the month of the feast of harvest, and the beginning of the next year, in the month of Aviv?
The First Harvest Of The Year At Its Beginning Is NOT A Wheat Harvest
34:21
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 34:22You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end. 34:23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign Yahweh, The Mighty One of Yisra'el. 34:24For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your Mighty One, three times in the year.34:25
"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Pesach be left to the morning. 34:26You shall bring the first of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your Mighty One. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."34:27
Yahweh said to Moshe, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Yisra'el."Shemot 34:22 shows that the feast of weeks is observed with the first-fruits of WHEAT harvest.
But by the time of wheat harvest at the time of the feast of weeks, there had already been a previous harvest from the ground, as shown in Shemot 34:26, that connected with the sheaf of wave offering waved to Yahweh prior to Yahweh's Pesach. The sheaf waved on the morrow after the Shabbat closest to Yahweh's Pesach but prior to it. It therefore appears that the first-fruits of the ground pertaining to the wave of sheaf offering is NOT wheat, but a different grain!
Which grain is this pertaining to the waving of the sheaf of wave offering? Barley?
9:27
Par`oh sent, and called for Moshe and Aharon, and said to them, "I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 9:28Pray to Yahweh; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."9:29
Moshe said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to Yahweh. The thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is Yahweh's. 9:30But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear Yahweh The Mighty One."9:31
The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. 9:32But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up. 9:33Moshe went out of the city from Par`oh, and spread abroad his hands to Yahweh; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. 9:34When Par`oh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 9:35The heart of Par`oh was hardened, and he didn't let the children of Yisra'el go, as Yahweh had spoken through Moshe.9:31-32 clearly shows that the first harvest was indeed a barley harvest, with the wheat harvest not yet ready when the barley is ready for harvesting.
Also, the time that Yahweh sent his plague of hail over Mitzrayim, just prior to the Pesach observed by Yisrael in Mitzrayim, was a time of the barley being "in the ear". The first month of the year, Aviv, is there the time that the barley is in the ear, and the flax is in the bloom.
23:1
Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 23:2Speak to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. 23:3Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Shabbat of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of work: it is a Shabbat to Yahweh in all your dwellings. 23:4These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season. 23:5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is Yahweh's Pesach. 23:6On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of matzah to Yahweh: seven days you shall eat matzah. 23:7In the first day you shall have a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work. 23:8But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work. 23:9Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 23:10Speak to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, When you are come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the Kohen: 23:11and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the next day after the Shabbat the Kohen shall wave it. 23:12In the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh. 23:13The meal-offering of it shall be two tenth parts of an efah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a sweet savor; and the drink-offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 23:14You shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your Mighty One: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 23:15You shall count to you from the next day after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Shabbatot shall there be complete: 23:16even to the next day after the seventh Shabbat shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal-offering to Yahweh. 23:17You shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an efah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with yeast, for first-fruits to Yahweh. 23:18You shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish a year old, and one young bull, and two rams: they shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh. 23:19You shall offer one male goat for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. 23:20The Kohen shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave-offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to Yahweh for the Kohen. 23:21You shall make proclamation on the same day; there shall be a holy convocation to you; you shall do no servile work: it is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 23:22When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleaning of your harvest: you shall leave them for the poor, and for the sojourner: I am Yahweh your Mighty One. 23:23Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 23:24Speak to the children of Yisra'el, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of shofarot, a holy convocation. 23:25You shall do no servile work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 23:26Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 23:27However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict your souls; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 23:28You shall do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your Mighty One. 23:29For whatever soul it be who shall not be afflicted in that same day; he shall be cut off from his people. 23:30Whatever soul it be who does any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people. 23:31You shall do no manner of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 23:32It shall be to you a Shabbat of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even to even, shall you keep your Shabbat. 23:33Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, 23:34Speak to the children of Yisra'el, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh. 23:35On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work. 23:36Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh: it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no servile work. 23:37These are the set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meal-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, each on its own day; 23:38besides the Shabbatot of Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill-offerings, which you give to Yahweh. 23:39However on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 23:40You shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your Mighty One seven days. 23:41You shall keep it a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year: it is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month. 23:42You shall dwell in booths seven days; all who are home-born in Yisra'el shall dwell in booths; 23:43that your generations may know that I made the children of Yisra'el to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim: I am Yahweh your Mighty One. 23:44Moshe declared to the children of Yisra'el the set feasts of Yahweh.Different Feasts Of Yahweh In Different Seasons
23:4 shows that there are different seasons for different feasts of Yahweh, with each feast of Yahweh proclaimed in its appointed season.
Waving To Yahweh The Sheaf Of Wave Offering
23:9-11 talks of a harvest that the children of Yisrael were to reap when they came into the land that Yahweh was to give them, the land of Promise. As earlier seen from Shemot 34, this first-fruits harvest is not a wheat harvest, but that of another grain.
23:13 shows that a meal-offering of fine flour is made of this first-fruits harvest, implying that the grain that is harvested in this first-fruits harvest is used for making meals.
The King James Version of the Holy Bible renders the phrase "meal-offering" in Shemot 23:13 as "meat offering".
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 3899:
lechem, lekh'-em; from 3898; food (for man or beast), espec. bread, or grain (for making it):- ([shew-]) bread, x eat, food, fruit, loaf, meat, victuals. See also 1036.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, No. 3898:
lacham, law-kham'; a prim. Root; to feed on; fig. to consume; by impl. to battle (as destruction):- devour, eat, x ever, fight (-ing), overcome, prevail, (make) war (-ring).
23:14 shows that no bread, or parched grain, or fresh ears was to be eaten by the children of Yisrael prior to waving to Yahweh the sheaf of wave offering as per Yahweh's commandment. This indicates that the waving of the sheaf of wave offering was to take place in a time of "fresh ears", in the first month of the year, the month of Aviv.
The Time Yisrael Entered The Land Of Promise
4:19
The people came up out of the Yarden on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Yericho.5:10
The children of Yisra'el encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Yericho. 5:11They ate of the produce of the land on the next day after the Pesach, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the same day. 5:12The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the children of Yisra'el manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Kana`an that year.4:19 shows that the children of Yisrael entered the Promised Land on the 10th day of the first month, the day for setting aside the sacrificial lambs and kids for Yahweh's Pesach.
5:10 shows that the children of Yisrael kept the Pesach on the 14th day of the first month.
5:11 shows that the children of Yisrael ate of the produce of the land the next day after the Pesach, that is on the 15th day of the first month, eating unleavened cakes and parched grain in that same day, the 15th of the month.
5:12 shows that the manna ceased on the next day, the 16th of the first month, after the children of Yisrael had eaten of the produce of the land.
It is therefore evident that the children of Yisrael, in obeying Yahweh's commands contained in Vayikra 23:14, did not eat bread, or parched grain, or fresh ears, prior to waving to Yahweh the sheaf of wave offering. It is thus evident that the sheaf of wave offering was waved to Yahweh in the first month of the year!
It should also be noted that by the time the children of Yisrael had arrived in the land of Promise on the 10th day of the first month of the year, the first-fruits of the land was already on the field ready for harvest. This implies that if the greening or tendering of grain ears is the determinant of the beginning of the year, and by the 10th day of the month it is evident that the grain is ready for its first-fruits harvest, and also by the day after the relevant Shabbat prior to the feast of matzah it is evident that the grain is ready for its first-fruits harvest, that month is indeed the first month of the year!
In other words, the greening or tendering of grain ears does not need to take place in the prior month, but can actually do so within this month provided it does so prior to the commencement of the essential activities concerned with Yahweh's set feasts. These activities include the waving to Yahweh of the wave of sheaf offering, and the setting aside of the sacrificial lambs and kids for Yahweh's Pesach. Provided the grain ears green or tender prior to these two events, the month for undertaking these two events is indeed the first month of the year.
But if the tendering or greening of grain ears does not take place prior to the appropriate monthly dates for either of these two events, that month cannot be the first month of the year. An additional month must elapse for the harvest to indeed be fully ready for its first-fruits harvest as per Yahweh's commandment.
The "return of the year" or "coming in of the year" appears to be the time of the renewal of the year, the same season for observing Yahweh's feasts of Pesach and matzah.
4:7
Shelomo had twelve officers over all Yisra'el, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.A year typically has twelve months.
The second month of the year is called Ziv.
The eighth month of the year is called Bul.
40:1
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there.Yechezkel received a vision at "the beginning of the year", in the tenth day of the month.
It appears that the city of Yerushalayim was also struck on the very same day, the tenth day of the first month of the year!
The eleventh month of the year is called Shevat.
The ninth month of the year is called Kislev.
The twelfth month of the year is called Adar.
In my scriptural analysis above, I did not find scriptures showing how the various lights in the sky determine the commencement of years or seasons. What was found was the commencement of the month, derived from the meaning of "month", which is new moon.
The new moon appears to be the renewed moon, when it first resumes shedding light on the earth. It therefore appears as a crescent, after having been dark.
It appears that Yitzchak, Avraham's son, was born at the beginning of the year, at "the set time" "when the season comes round". It also appears that Lot was observing the feast of matzah during this same season the year before Yitzchak was born, for it is during this set time of the year that the feast of matzah is observed according to Yahweh's command.
The only scriptural indication I found showing the beginning of the year is that connected with the name of the first month of it, Aviv. This is the month of green or tender ears of barley grain. It therefore appears that the month associated with the greening of barley grain ears of the first harvest in the land of Promise is that which marks the commencement of the year.
Yahweh has given various commands pertaining to the first month of the year. If all of these commands cannot be fulfilled in a particular month, that month cannot be the first month of the year. But the month that facilitates the fulfilment of all of Yahweh's commands pertaining to the first month is indeed the first month of the year. It is therefore my opinion that the first month of the year is determined by that month that facilitates the fulfilment of all of Yahweh's commands pertaining to the first month of the year, Aviv.
Therefore, if a month appears to meet some of the requirements of the first month of the year, but does not succeed in fulfilling all of Yahweh's requirements for it, that month cannot be the first month of the year. The next month or new moon thereby becomes the first month of the year, and marks the beginning of the year.
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