Feast of Weeks

Exodus 23:14 ~ Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: Feast of Unleavened Bread, eating unleavened bread for seven days. 16 ~ Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of what you sow in the field; and Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year.

Exodus 34:22 ~ You shall observe the Feast of Weeks (aka Feast of the Harvest), of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. 26 ~ The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of Elohim..

At this time His people had not yet begun farming - they do not raise crops until they settle the promised land. I have learned that both wheat and barley were planted the same time but barley ripens earlier than wheat. Feast of Weeks begins with the barley harvest and ends with the wheat harvest. The sheaf of barley offering is made, and fifty days later the first fruits of the wheat harvest are offered. 

Leviticus 23:9 ~ When you enter the promise land and reap its harvest: you shall bring the first sheaf of your (barley) harvest to the priest who shall elevate the sheaf before YHWH for acceptance. The priest shall elevate it on the day after the sabbath... until that very day when you bring your offering you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears (of the new crop) 15 ~ From the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation - the day after the sabbath - you shall count off seven weeks... to day fifty, then bring an offering of new grain (wheat) to YHWH: two loaves of bread as first fruits to Yah.  On that same day (Day 50) you shall hold a celebration, a sacred occasion and you shall not work at your occupations. This is a law for all times throughout your generations.

Numbers 28:26 ~ On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain (wheat) to YHWH, you shall observe a sacred occasion and do not work at your occupations. 

Feast of Weeks begins with first fruits of the barley harvest (sheaf) and ends with the first fruits of the wheat harvest (new grain).

Deuteronomy 16:9 ~  Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to יהוה your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as יהוה your Elohim blesses you.  And you shall rejoice before יהוה your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Lĕwite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Mitsrayim (Egypt), and you shall guard and do these laws.

Now, Deuteronomy reads that the count begins at the harvest, when the sickle is put to standing grain. Leviticus says the count begins when the priest offers the first sheaf of the barley harvest to Yah, after the sabbath. If I brought my sheaf to the priest on the 5th day, he would wait until after the 7th day to make the offering on my behalf. But when does the counting of days begin? When the sickle is put to standing grain or when the priest makes the offering? I've always gone with Deuteronomy on this matter because it usually clarifies and summarizes all things that came before. Y'shua summarized all things that His Father put in place, even clarified and raised the bar here and there, but never changed anything. Moses is doing the same thing. Y'shua once said if we would have known Moses we would also know him. I suppose we can cycle this around using Y'shua as an example of Torah.

What about translations? That is what made me take a second look at my studies on Yah's moedim. There is a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls including Deuteronomy 16 translated as: "... begin to number the seven weeks from the time you raised the devoted grain."  And I quote the DDS translator: 

This word חרמש is interesting. The KJV has chosen to translate it as "sickle". While its meaning does include "to be cut off" it also refers to a devoted thing being cut off. In this case the devoted thing which is cut off is the omer that is offered up as a freewill offering. The timing of the count to the Feast of weeks is not from the beginning of the harvest but is after the harvest is complete. We take an omer from that harvest and offer it up as a freewill offering.

I personally stay away from quoting the KJV, but many other versions of Scriptures also use the word 'sickle' in Deuteronomy 16:9.  And I have never considered the offering being taken at the end of the harvest. First means first and anyone could have taken the first sheaf to the priest as soon as it was cut, leaving the rest of the workers to finish with the harvest.

Did someone get it wrong translating either Leviticus or Deuteronomy about this time to begin counting?  Does the barley ripen the same day year after year so that it can be included on a pre-printed calendar? It's no wonder that Yahweh put specific people in charge of keeping watch on things like this! Leaving it up to us common folk has opened up a can of worms. Who do we trust?

We know on Day 50 Yahweh came down on the mountain and gave His Laws to the people. For the mixed multitude along with the Hebrews, their count began the day they were set free from Pharaoh on the 15th day of the first month. Fifty days later they were assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai. It was on Day 50 that the Apostles received the Ruach haKodesh as promised by Y'shua. For the Apostles, the count began at the resurrection of Y'shua, who died on the 15th day of the first month and was resurrected 3 nights and 3 days later. He was taken up to heaven forty days later as the First Fruits of the Dead; and in another ten days was Shavuot.

Counting is something our Creator would like us to do.  He counted six days and rested on the seventh. He instructed us to do likewise, counting in seven day intervals from each new moon, each reckoned as His day of rest for us. If something was date specific, He told us as He designated the specific day of the month in keeping Unleavened Bread, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Sukkot. Feast of Weeks is not date specific but relies on the harvests.

When we come into covenant with our Maker there are terms of that covenant we are to abide by. A section of those terms are instructions in observing specific set apart times, His moedim. There are segments of those instructions we are unable to fulfill these days because the temple no longer stands in Jerusalem nor is there the priesthood to handle the daily affairs of temple life. This includes the various offerings which were to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year: the passover offering, first fruits of the wheat harvest, Shavuot and the Feast of Ingathering, Sukkot. Neither are we to substitute what we think is right in the meantime. His Set Apart times are meant to be observed throughout the generations, which we can do in 'remembering' why they were done and realizing how they train us up for a future time. We still treat them as sacred times and observe them as the Sabbaths that they are, sans sacrifice, offerings and traveling to Jerusalem.

With that being said, I will give it a rest, the discrepancy between what was written in Leviticus with what was written in Deuteronomy, because the physical actions cannot be performed in this day and age.  The timeline is still observed in remembrance of the mighty and awesome power of the One who created us, and all praise and glory belongs to Him! 

If you have more you can add to this, please enter your comments in the appropriate space below.  I'll come back to this later with a fresh perspective and more study time.

Moon Sighting and the Weekly Sabbath

I have been working on a study about the Set Apart times of YHWH - most know them as His Feast Days. In the course of this study, Exodus 12 keeps popping up in my brain. It is when Yahweh tells Moses this is the beginning of the year for you, the first month. Then in Exodus 19 we note His month begins with the new moon... Now, I trust Elohim to know what He's talking about and it is very evident that His calendar is not the one we've been using all these years.

If we believe YHWH indicates each month begins with the New Moon then we need to come out of the ever popular Gregorian Calendar system.  This won't be easy but as as we move along His Path of Righteousness, we exhibit another sign of becoming Set Apart because He is Set Apart.

I've avoided the topic of calendars and time keeping even though I have been aware of the discrepancies and changes made.  Andrew Gabriel Roth has a book that goes deep into Yah's method of time keeping titled Wheel of Stars which left me feeling even more confused, but I continue to refer to his wealth of information hoping to gain understanding.  Sometimes it takes me a while to catch on.

Here's some basic info on the history of calendars, none of which follow Yah's description:

The Egyptian calendar year comprised of 12 months, and each month had exactly 30 days. The months were further divided into three weeks, with each week lasting 10 days. The Babylonian calendar was made up of 12 lunar months, and each month would begin when a new crescent moon appeared. The Greeks used a calendar that was similar to the Babylonian calendar, but they also had other calendars, such as the democratic state calendar with 10 arbitrary months and an agricultural calendar. The first Roman calendar was created by Romulus, and it had 10 months in a year, with each month lasting 30 or 31 days. The Romans had a number of calendars, and the most notable one was the Julian calendar introduced in 45 BC by Julius Caesar.  In the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that there should be a change in the Julian calendar. Many European countries did not adopt the Gregorian calendar when it was introduced, mainly because of the Protestant Reformation that was taking place at that time. Nevertheless, by the 20^th century, the calendar became the standard calendar in Europe. Today, it is the most widely used calendar in the world. 

What has really been on my mind is this:

YHWH says the month begins with the sighting of the new moon, yet we are using the Gregorian (modern day) calendar to tell us when the month begins.  If you were to look on a calendar today, you would see one of the days marked as the "new moon". Scientists today regard the new moon as "conjunction", which is the moment the moon is in between the sun and the earth. In reality, conjunction is a dark moon, unseen. A day or two later the new moon crescent appears.  If we use that 'conjunction' symbol as a starting point and add a day or two to actually see the new moon as the beginning of the month and then count off seven day (sunset to sunset) cycles, we discover that the weekly sabbath does not always fall on what we call Sat.day, the day of rest, or Sun.day for that matter.

We know that the lights in the expanse of the sky not only separated day from night but serve as signs for the set times - the days and the years - and when YHWH was finished with His Works He rested on the 7th day (and this is what He expects of us, to rest on each 7th day...) He counted 7 days from the beginning of Creation - what beginning do we count from? 

Exodus 12 Yah tells Moshe that the month they are to be set free from Pharaoh is the first month of the year... and on the 15th day is when they were set free. 

Exodus 16: the Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the 2nd month after they left Egypt (when did the new count of days begin?)

Now this is where I connect the moon with the month => Exodus 19: On the 3rd new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt... 19:16 On the 3rd day as morning dawned. 

This reads, to me, a count of days from the new moon, the 3rd new moon since Yah told Moshe when the first month was. Three Moons = 3 months. (He says the third new moon and then counts the 3rd day from that new moon....) If I have this right then there are many of us keeping the sabbath on the wrong day.  If we've got the beginning of the month wrong, then we have the sabbath day wrong. 

This what YHWH said through Isaiah:

7:11 What need have I of all your sacrifices... I have no delight that you come to appear before Me - trample My courts no more. Bringing your offerings is futile, incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath you proclaim solemnities and assemble with wickedness I cannot tolerate. Your new moons (months) and your fixed seasons (man's traditions and substitutes for Yah's moedim) fill Me with loathing - they have become a burden to Me, no longer a joy. When you lift up your hands in false praise and worship I will turn My Eyes away from you.

When we came to the part of His Path where we discovered our Hebrew Heritage and realized that Torah is for everyone - His Creation - we didn't stop there... we kept reading His Words, learning and obeying His Instructions, which is what keeps us moving along His Path as the Ruach haKodesh continues to reveal Truth. We gave up man's traditions and replaced them with Yah's intended times. Our Walk is a learning process. Even the twelve apostles went through a learning curve which resulted in them being made ready to receive the Spirit of Elohim.

YHWH will restore all things when His time comes.  In the meantime let us not stagnate on a comfortable part of that path making the excuse that it's O.K. since "we are all on different parts of the path".  We are called to be His Set Apart People. Come out of the world system now. There is only One Path that leads to His Kingdom.

Isaiah 66:23 And new moon after new moon, and sabbath after sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship Me.

In my research on this topic I have come across the following website. As always, I find others who have looked into these things long before I became aware of them! I agree with most of what this person has uncovered and helps express my own thoughts:

God's Calendar 

Here is a quote from Nehemiah's Wall referring to the naming of months:

Today, few people remember the biblical name of Yom Teruah and instead it is widely known as "Rosh Hashanah" which literally means “head of the year” and hence also “New Years”. The transformation of Yom Teruah (Day of Shouting) into Rosh Hashanah (New Years) is the result of pagan Babylonian influence upon the Jewish nation. The first stage in the transformation was the adoption of the Babylonian month names. In the Torah, the months are numbered as First Month, Second Month, Third Month, etc (Leviticus 23; Numbers 28). During their sojourn in Babylonia our ancestors began to use the pagan Babylonian month names, a fact readily admitted in the Talmud:

“The names of the months came up with them from Babylonia.” (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1:2 56d) 

The pagan nature of the Babylonian month names is epitomized by the fourth month known as Tammuz. In the Babylonian religion, Tammuz was the god of grain whose annual death and resurrection brought fertility to the world. In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet described a journey to Jerusalem in which he saw the Jewish women sitting in the Temple “weeping over Tammuz” (Ezekiel 8:14). The reason they were weeping over Tammuz is that, according to Babylonian mythology, Tammuz had been slain but had not yet been resurrected. In ancient Babylonia, the time for weeping over Tammuz was the early summer, when the rains cease throughout the Middle East and green vegetation is burnt by the unrelenting sun. To this day the Fourth Month in the rabbinical calendar is known as the month of Tammuz and it is still a time for weeping and mourning.

Some of the Babylonian month names found their way into the later books of the Tanakh, but they always appear alongside the Torah month names. For example, Esther 3:7 says:
This verse starts off by giving the Torah name for the month (“First Month”) and then translates this month into its pagan equivalent (“which is the month of Nissan”). By the time of Esther, all the Jews lived within the boundaries of the Persian Empire and the Persians had adopted the Babylonian calendar for the civil administration of their realm. At first, the Jews used these Babylonian month names alongside the Torah month names, but over time the Torah month names fell into disuse. 

As the Jewish People became more comfortable with the Babylonian month names, they became more susceptible to other Babylonian influences. This is similar to the way that American Jews observe Hanukkah as a Jewish version of Christmas. This influence began with the seemingly harmless custom of giving gifts on Hanukkah. Until the Jews arrived in America this custom was unknown and it is still a rarity in Israel where Hanukkah does not need to compete with Christmas for the hearts and minds of the Jewish youth. Once Hanukkah took on this relatively trivial aspect of Christmas, it became ripe for more significant influences. Today, many American Jews have established the custom of setting up a “Hanukkah bush” as a Jewish alternative to the Christmas tree. These Jews did not want to adopt Christmas outright so they “Judaized” the Christmas tree and incorporated into Hanukkah. This example shows how easy it is to be influenced by the practices of a foreign religion, especially when there is some similarity to begin with. The fact that Hanukkah often falls out around the same time as Christmas made it natural for American Jews to incorporate elements of Christmas into their observance of Hanukkah.  

The ancient Rabbis were influenced by the pagan Babylonian religion. Although many Jews returned to Judea when the Exile officially ended in 516 BC, the forebears of the Rabbis remained behind in Babylonia where rabbinical Judaism gradually took shape. Many of the earliest known Rabbis such as Hillel I were born and educated in Babylonia. Indeed, Babylonia remained the heartland of Rabbinical Judaism until the 11th Century CE. The Babylonian Talmud abounds with the influences of Babylonian paganism. Indeed, pagan deities even appear in the Talmud recycled as "Jewish" angels and demons. (End Quote)

Even today's Gregorian Calendar uses names of pagan gods to denote the months of the year. In Scripture YHWH doesn't even want to hear these names come out of our mouths. Satan is pretty subtle.