The Bull of Abib by Yakov Levi

Transcription

1 by Yakov Levi How do we start the Biblical year? How do we start the Biblical months? Does scripture explicitly tell us? The answer is certainly not in the express explicit language of any translations. However, when considering the original Hebrew text in context of ancient Hebrew thought, the answers are revealed. The ability to set-apart the beginning of years and months which are integral for establishing the Feasts and associated Sabbaths comes only from the knowledge, insight, wisdom and understanding that Y-H-V-H imparts to His anointed; such is the order in the creation. Once the proper timekeeping is imparted through His anointed, the gifts of timekeeping are all Israel s to keep. It is written, The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law; Deuteronomy 29:29. In order to discern proper Biblical Timekeeping, one must be able to discern the Torah in completeness and balance, which is justice. To get a clear understanding, all four levels of Torah study must be acknowleged that includes the Peshat (express), Remez (implied), Drash (symbolic) and Sod (mystery, hint, hidden) levels. There are four potential witnesses involved in beginning the Biblical year. There are two potential witnesses that determine when the Biblical month begins that integrate the moon and the constellations. There are two schools of thought that define when the Biblical month begins based exclusively on the moon with no consideration of the constellations. The four potential witnesses that set-apart the beginning of the Biblical year are the constellations, first crescent moon, the spring equinox and Abib barley in the land of Israel. To learn more about the special relationship between the first two witnesses that set-part the Biblical year and months, study the testimony titled, A Witness In The Constellations: A Timepiece In The Heavens, How Biblical Months Are Set-Apart. This teaching can be found at Go to the main menu, look for the menu item MY LIVING ROOM > The Study Room and choose from the menu Study Room Topic Areas > Corrections for the Body of Moshiach and look for the testimony. The two witnesses that determine the beginning of the Biblical month are the constellations and First Crescent Moon. The scope of this testimony will further develop Page 1 of 8 Copyright 2010 by Solomon s Porch, 3/22/10, 11/2/10, 11/14/10

2 the significance of the First Crescent Moon in helping to set-apart the beginning of the Biblical year and months. A Typical Biblical Month: The first school of thought defines that the Biblical months begin when the First Crescent Moon is observed in the evening sky. Take a look at the figure to the right titled A Typical Biblical Month. Every traditional Jewish calendar has full lunar months that are either 29 or 30 days long. Our ancient forefathers observed the night sky and had an understanding that each day of the Biblical month was associated with a lunar phase. This association was not always perfect as depicted in the graphic. Try this little project; print the graphic A Typical Biblical Month and cut-out the lunar phases and paste them onto any traditional Jewish calendar and you will see how each phase is associate with a day in the Biblical month. Match the day of the month to the Hebrew date of the Hebrew month on any traditional Jewish calendar. For example, in the month of Tishri, day one of the lunar month should be matched to Tishri 1. Day two of the lunar month should be matched to Tishri 2 and so on. You can do this for any Jewish month on any traditional Jewish calendar. The second school of thought asserts the Biblical month starts in the Renewed Moon period or otherwise known as the "dark" period of the moon or "no moon." In Biblical terms, this is the Renewed Moon period of the month which is the 29 th and 30 th days of the Biblical month. See the figure above A Typical Biblical Month. In the figure to the right, the First Crescent Moon is visible and can be observed. The proper term for the First Crescent Moon is often confused and sometimes it is called the New Moon. The term New Moon is erroneous and misleading; it does not exist in scripture when the underlying Hebrew is properly translated. The figure above is a graphic of the Renewed Moon which cannot be seen. The Renewed Moon cannot be observed in the night sky. Page 2 of 8

3 It is my testimony that the second school of thought using the Renewed Moon to start the beginning of the month instead of the First Crescent Moon is a deception. Starting the Biblical month based on the Renewed Moon will lead to incorrect timekeeping. Improper timekeeping leads to desecration of the Feasts and associated Sabbaths since accounting for days of the month may vary from time to time by one day. Those who start the Biblical month using the Renewed Moon are typically using what is known as the Conjunction as a marker. The Conjunction is a straight-line alignment between the sun, moon and earth. This can be calculated using specific mathematical formulas. The Conjunction is the time when the orbit of the moon falls in between the Sun and the Earth. At this point in the orbit of the moon, the dark or un-illuminated portion of the Moon faces almost directly towards the Earth so that the Moon is not visible to the naked eye. At times, the conjunction can be found to occur just before the sighting of the First Crescent Moon. When this happens, those starting the Biblical month based on the conjunction are in synch with those starting the Biblical month based on the First Crescent Sighting. For additional testimony that will continue to establish the premise that we must account for the beginning of months based on the First Crescent Moon can be found at Go to the main menu, look for the menu item MY LIVING ROOM > The Study Room and choose from the menu Study Room Topic Areas > Corrections for the Body of Moshiach and look for the two teachings titled, What is the Date for Pesach? The 14 th or 15 th of Abib? and The Sabbath That Could Not Be Measured. The second study will establish why the term New Moon is grossly erroneous. The Bull and the Beginning of Biblical Months and Years: Exodus 12:1-2 is the key verse that defines how we are to begin the Biblical months. It is also a key verse defining when to begin the Biblical year. It is written, And the LORD Page 3 of 8

4 spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. The timing of this event is the first Passover for the Israelites right before they left the land of Egypt. The key to understanding this verse is to define the word "beginning" and what it means in the Hebrew. The phrase "the beginning of" in relation to the word "month" is defined by Strong's #7218. A computer search reveals two other references where Strong's #7218 is used in context to the word month in the scriptures. It is found in Numbers 10:10 and Numbers 28:11. Let's take a look at the simple definition of the word Ro sh. OT:7218 ro'sh (roshe); from an unused root apparently meaning to shake; the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.): KJV - band, beginning, captain, chapiter, chief (-est place, man, things), company, end, X every [man], excellent, first, forefront, ([be-]) head, height, (on) high (-est part, [priest]), X lead, X poor, principal, ruler, sum, top. The most important point of this definition is that Ro sh is synonymous with head. The Brown-Driver-Brigg s Hebrew Lexicon definition offers a more extensive definition that is more reflective of how the ancient Israelites would have viewed this word. According Brown-Driver-Brigg s, the definitions are as follows: the head, the top, the summit, the upper part, the chief, the total, the sum, the height, the front, the beginning: a) the head (used of a man, animals); b) the top, the tip (used of a mountain); c) the height (used of stars); d) the chief, the head (used of a man, a city, a nation, a place, a family, a priest); e) the head, the front, the beginning; f) the chief, the choicest, the best; g) a head, a division, a company, a band; h) a sum. A brethren of mine once noted to me the ancient Israelites related this word "Ro'sh" to the head of the bull. The Strong's definition as well as the Brown-Driver-Brigg s definition clearly testify that the definition of "Ro'sh" is expressly associated with the head of an animal than can be viewed in the context of the night sky. Y-H-V-H often Page 4 of 8

5 speaks in pictures extensively throughout the scriptures. Even the Hebrew Alephbet testifies to this truth. This area of study is known as Hebrew word-pictures. The ancient or nomadic Israelites would have associated the two horns on the head of a bull to the crescent moon in the night sky. Carefully consider the figure below depicting the head of the bull to the crescent moon. When Y-a-huah E-l-ohim gave this commandment, it would have been very clear to our ancient forefathers that He was referring to the First Crescent Moon in the night sky during its most horizontal position of the year which is during the month of Abib. Today, we are so far removed from the agricultural basis of the scriptures; it will be hard for us to imagine what the ancient Israelites would have viewed without a graphical example. Our ancestors spent their days harvesting the ground and tending their animals, and their evenings observing the night sky. Unlike today, they didn't have all the distractions we do and all the different shapes and sizes of buildings, lights, etc. Most of our life we spend indoors or in office buildings. During Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) in 2004, a Messianic couple from Northern Idaho shared with me an interesting observation they had made for the 14 years prior to They testified that the First Crescent Moon moves from a horizontal plane during the month of Abib to a vertical plane during the month of Tishri and the back to a horizontal plane. This observation really impressed me and re-confirmed the analogy of the head of the bull to the First Crescent Moon and its role in helping to establish beginning of the month as well as being another indicator to help establish the beginning of the year. The graphic below is an illustration of the progression of the moon phases from the beginning of the Biblical year, Abib through the end of the Biblical year, Adar. Page 5 of 8

6 Notice that the moon itself testifies of the work of the cross as it is arranged in the horizontal position in the spring in the first month of the year, Abib; and then by the seventh month, Tishri; it is arranged in the vertical position. Together, the position of the First Crescent Moon in the month of Abib; and the First Crescent Moon in the month of Tishri, form the resemblance of a cross. In 2004, I was not familiar with the Stellarium planetarium application. I reference this application in the teaching A Witness In The Constellations noted earlier and offer tips on its usage. It is interesting that today, we can actually replicate the skies on our computers and regain some of the lost knowledge our forefathers acquired over seasons, years, centuries and millennia. The graphic below illustrates the appearance of the First Crescent Moon over the western horizon in Israel as seen from Jerusalem. The date is selected based on Nehemiah Gordon s First Crescent Moon sighting (except Adar). The evening of the following day after the initial sighting was chosen for better rendering of the crescent using the computer application. Notice how the crescent hovers in the same horizontal plane during the months of Adar and Abib. It swings in from the right during Shebat, hovers, then swings back out to the right again. Page 6 of 8

7 Notice in the figure on the right the position of the First Crescent Moon. It is now nearly vertical for the month of Tishri. In the following months, it will begin to move back towards it s horizontal plane. Concluding Comments and Insights Jewish calendars call the first day of the month "Rosh Chodesh" meaning "head of the month." The Karaite Jews begin their months by sighting of the First Crescent Moon; see The Rabbinic Jews forecast the approximate timing of the appearance of the Renewed Moon in advance by calculating the Conjunction of the sun, earth and moon which happens twice a month; once at the Full Moon and second at the Renewed Moon. The Rabbinic Jews determine the traditional Jewish calendar by this method. This renders the Feast Days and associated Sabbaths to differ by a day or two in comparison to observing the First Crescent. Notice that in the middle of the month is when the Feasts of the Lord for Pesach and Feast of Tabernacles is observed. Keep in mind these were pilgrimage festivals. The presence of the full moon during the pilgrimage festivals is what provided traveling Israelites from the countryside the light needed for travel to Jerusalem. The Feasts of the Lord are a picture of spiritual courtship or intercourse between Y-H-V-H and His Bride, the Body of Moshiach. The full moon is symbolic of an open womb. A blood red moon is symbolic of Israel s uncleanness and she is ripe for judgment. The moon is born again every month and testifies in the heavens the spiritual concept of being born again. The First Crescent Moon is like a head coming out of a womb being born each month. Isn t it interesting that the moon, when properly observed, testifies of two key concepts in the B rit Chadasha- the concept of being born again and the work on the cross? The full moon is also symbolic of a silver coin. Silver is the metal of redemption. The number 15 is the number of redemption. Pesach and Sukkoth are both observed on the 15 th of the Biblical month. The gematria value for Y-ah, יה (5+10) is 15. When referring to Y-H-V-H as Y-ah we are emphasizing His redemptive attribute. Notice Exodus chapter 15 is the Song of Moses sung right after the deliverance/redemption of the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus chapter Page 7 of 8

8 Notice that approximately every seventh day during the Biblical month you find an interesting pattern. Around the 7 th day from the sighting of the First Crescent Moon is the appearance of the 1 st Quarter Moon. Around the 15 th day of the month, is the appearance of the Full Moon. Pesach and the first day of Feast of Tabernacles are on the 15 th of the Biblical month. Around the 21 st day of the Biblical month is the appearance of the 3 rd Quarter Moon. The graphic on the last page is an illustration of what the 1 st Quarter, Full Moon and 3 rd Quarter moons look like. Join me on Facebook, or Solomon s Porch Social Network and Forums (SPSNF) where I will open up the scriptures and discuss practical application of these principles; go to the home page of to connect. It is extremely important you weigh all precepts in completeness and balance. This is justice. There are other topics of interest and urgency offered at in the menu option "MY LIVING ROOM." Be sure to get updated versions of this teaching directly from in the menu section MY LIVING ROOM > The Study Room. Sheh E-l-ohim Yivarech Otcha (May God Bless You) Yakov Levi Bondservant in Yeshua HaMashiach Page 8 of 8