2005.03.D.05b Pesach Chag HaMatzoth & The Vernal Equinox Created by James3 on 9/7/2019 12:08:23 PM Pesach Chag HaMatzoth & The Vernal Equinox
Greetings
Following is an article which sets out the case for the biblical new year beginning now, before the equinox.
There are two schools of thought, one that the first month of the year is determined only from consideration of the ripening of the Barley in the land of Israel and another which holds that notwithstanding the state of the Barley, the new year can only begin after the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
I do not have full clarity on this at this time.
The last time this situation occurred, i chose to go with the interpretation that took account of the Spring Equinox.
Today i feel a need to take time to pray about this.
In considering the arguments for and against, the article that follows seems to argue convincingly that the books of the bible do NOT give any indication that the equinox should be taken into account.
On the other hand, the article also argues for limited technological capability to determine astronomical dates without sighting at the time of Moses. However i am aware of what i consider to be a significant body of information that indicates that human beings thousands of years ago, including at the time of Moses, had much more advanced technology than we realize.
For example, we do not today have the technological capability or have at best only recently developed the capability to build a structure such as the Great Pyramid which requires precise survey and leveling, cutting of stone, etc.
An argument in favour of the astronomical determination taking account of the spring equinox is that not all believers have access to information to know the state of the Barley in the land of Israel and therefore a date determined by observation in Israel is not practical for those who live elsewhere in the world and do not have access to such information.
Please consider this information prayerfully and make a considered choice regarding whether the New Year has just begun -- this decision impacts all the feast and fast dates for the next year.
Warm regards and blessings
----- Original Message -----
From: Restoration Records
To: james@etimin.org
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 8:31 PM
Subject: Pesach/Chag HaMatzoth & The Vernal Equinox
* Hear Oh Yisrael Yahweh Our Mighty One Yahweh Is One
* *And You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
PESACH/CHAG HAMATZOT AND THE VERNAL EQUINOX
by Nehemia Gordon (portions by Yochanan Mascaro)
Some scripture students argue that the Pesach/Chag HaMatzot (Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread) cannot be observed even when barley is found in the condition of Avib (an early ripened phase) in the land of Yisrael if doing so would precede the vernal equinox. They argue that certain passages in scripture (specifically Gen 1:14) should be interpreted to mean that the sun - and especially the vernal equinox as determined by the sun - must dominate the ultimate timing of the moedim (Yahweh's appointed times) irrespective of any sighting of barley in Avib and the observation of the next crescent moon.
This article will show that this reasoning is fallacious and a misinterpretation of the Hebrew word "Tekufah" which has in latter days come to mean "equinox" while in the beginning, it was not so.
"Keep the month of the Abib and make the Passover (sacrifice) to YHWH your Elohim at night, because in the month of Abib YHWH your Elohim took you out of Egypt"
Similarly we read:
"You will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as have I commanded you, at the time of the month of the Abib, because in the month of the Abib you went out of Egypt." (Ex 34:18)
The word "Abib" refers to barley which has reached a certain stage in its development. This meaning of Abib is preserved in the verse:
"And the flax and the barley were smitten, because the barley was Abib and the flax was Giv'ol. And the wheat and the spelt were not smitten because they were dark (Afilot)." (Ex 9:31-32)
To keep the Passover Sacrifice in the Month of the Abib requires taking the Abib (ripening barley) as an indicator of the beginning of the year. This is entirely consistent with Gen 1:14, for the ripening of the barley is dependent on the seasons of the year and therefore indirectly is controlled by the sun.
Central factors, which cause the barley to ripen, are the lengthening of the days and the increasing sunlight, changes in humidity, and other factors which affect the environment. Therefore, it is the sun, which indirectly causes the barley to ripen, and thereby acts as an indicator of years. It is this indirect effect which causes the barley to become Abib which Gen 1:14 is referring to when it says the sun and moon will be for years.
It is true that scripture indicates that we are to use the sun and the moon as indicators of times and seasons. However, we will see that this includes the earthly effects caused by the sun and the moon upon the earth. It does not necessarily require that we place an undue importance to the sun itself such as to halt the determination of a particular scriptural event i.e., until "the sun has spoken". To do so would be akin to what the pagans do in their "sun worship" cults. e.g., The Roman system waits until the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox for the establishment of "Easter" - a syncretized "feast" named after the pagan sun and fertility goddess "Ashteroth"or "Astarte". See
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter.html and
http://web.infoave.net/~toolong/easter.html
As we have seen, in the instant case scripture specifically instructs us that the remembrance of Pesach is to occur in the month in which barley is found to be in Avib - for it is the very condition of that barley that lends the first scriptural month of the year its very name. [YHWH in scripture uses numbers alone to "name" days, and months and years. Month # 1 of the year is technically not "called" Avib but it is referred to as such by scripture precisely because in that month the barley is in the condition of Avib. So that first month is often referred to as Avib.]
For those who would argue that this does not mandate that it be in the "first month" that barley is found to be in Avib miss the whole point of scripture specifically mentioning the condition of the greening of that barley. It is the greening of that barley that is the focal point of "the sign" and thus it is when that condition is first seen that is relevant, not at some later date though that green condition may clearly still be present.
We must recall that scripture also says that "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter is established." Not just one witness. The witnesses in the heavens thus also must work in concert. To think that the sun's only Yahweh-given purpose involves its relative position in the sky to cause what we on earth call "equinoxes" to occur is a mistake. For in addition to lighting up the sky during the part of the 24 hour cycle known as "day" the sun also plays a significant role in affecting climate and temperature and humidity and thus indirectly, the timing of crops.
It should also be noted that the equinox is never mentioned in the entire Hebrew Bible. Gen 1:14, which has often been cited as proof of the equinox theory, does not mention the equinox either. On the contrary, the use of astronomical calculations for determining the time of the equinox, was in this period synonymous with the idolatrous practice of fortune telling and was certainly not practiced in ancient Israel (Isa 47:13)
VERNAL EQUINOX and TEKUFAH
Some may ask: Isn't the equinox (Tekufah) mentioned in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible)?
No. In Post-Biblical Hebrew "Tekufah" is the word for equinox. While this word appears in the Hebrew Bible four times, it never has the meaning of "equinox". Instead, Tekufah in Biblical Hebrew retains its literal meaning of "circuit", that is something which returns to the same point in time or space [from the root Nun-Quf-Peh meaning "to go around"].
Tekufah in Exodus 34:22
The first appearance of Tekufah is in the list of Pilgrimage-Feasts (Hagim) in Ex 34:22 which refers to the agricultural character of the Feast of Booths (Sukkot):
"And the Feast of Ingathering at the circuit of the year (Tekufat HaShannah)."
Being mislead by the Post-Biblical Hebrew meaning of Tekufah, some students of the Bible have recently interpreted "circuit of the year" anachronistically to refer to the Autumnal Equinox (it is doubtful whether the ancient Israelites even knew of the equinox and they certainly had no way of calculating when it would be). This anachronistic reading leads to the suggestion of fixing the beginning of the year so that Sukkot (The Feast of Ingathering) falls out at the time of the Autumnal Equinox. However, a closer investigation shows that "circuit of the year" has nothing to do with the equinox. The list of Pilgrimage-Feasts also appears in a parallel passage in Ex 23:16 which describes Sukkot as follows:
"And the Feast of Ingathering at the going out of the year (Tzet HaShannah), when you have gathered in your work from the field."
Looking at Ex 34:22 and Ex 23:16 together, it is clear that the "going out of the year" and the "circuit of the year" refer to the same time. The "going out/circuit" of the year is described in Ex 23:16 as "when you have gathered in your work from the field". This agricultural ingathering is also described in Dt 16:13:
"You shall keep the Feast of Booths for seven days, when you have gathered in from your threshing floors and from your wine presses."
The Feast of Booths/ Ingathering is described as the "going out of the year" because it takes place at the end of the yearly agricultural cycle of planting, harvest, threshing, and ingathering. At the same time, Sukkot is described as taking place at the "circuit of the year" because once the agricultural cycle ends it then immediately recommences (making a circuit, returning to the same point in time) with the planting of the fields after the first rains (sometimes during Sukkot itself).
Tekufah in Psalms 19:7
The term Tekufah (circuit) appears in Psalm 19 in reference to the sun, but here too it has nothing to do with the equinox. Psalm 19 describes the heavens and sun, which from their unique vantage point are witness to all things in creation, and thus (metaphorically) testify to the incomparable glory of God.
Verses 5-7 describes the sun:
"(5)... He [YHWH] placed a tent among them [the heavens] for the sun. (6) Which is as a bridegroom going out of his chamber, and which rejoices as a strong man running a race. (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"
Verse 6 describes the sun as a bridegroom that bursts forth out of his chamber and as a hero that runs along a path. Verse 7 then describes the "going out" of the sun at one end of the heavens and the "circuit" (Tekufato) of the sun at the other end. Clearly what is being described is the daily path of the sun which rises at one end of the heaven (its going out) and sets at the other end (its return), "and none is hidden from its heat" during the course of the day. What has confused some readers is that the going out or exiting of the sun refers to sunrise, but this unusual terminology is used throughout the Tanach. For example, we read in Judges 5:31:
"Thus shall all the enemies of YHWH be destroyed; and all those whom he loves shall be as the going out of the sun (KeTzet HaShemesh) in its might". (Jud 5:31)
Those loyal to YHWH shall shine forth with glory as the "going out of the sun", that is sunrise. It may seem strange that sunrise is referred to as the "going out" of the sun. After all, in Exodus we saw that the going out of the year was the end of the year, whereas the going out of the sun seems to be the beginning of the day. However, this is consistent with Biblical usage and in fact the common Biblical way of saying sunset is the coming in or entering of the sun.
This is related to the ancient Israelite conception of the sun which at night they thought of as dwelling in a celestial chamber (Ps 19:5). At dawn the sun goes out of the chamber and the earth is lit while at night the sun comes into the chamber and it is dark (this is also the thought behind the comparison of sunrise to a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber). Ps 19:7 refers to the going out of the sun (sunrise) at one end of heaven and its circuit (return to the same place, to its nightly chamber) at the other end, that is sunset (for a similar thought see Ecc. 1:5). We see that here too Tekufah (circuit) has nothing to do with the equinox.
Tekufah in 2Chronicles 24:23
As seen above the "Tekufah (circuit) of the year" in Exodus referred to events in the autumn (the time of the ingathering). The same expression (circuit of the year) is also used to refer to events which take place in spring as we see in 2Chr 24:23:
"And it was at the circuit (Tekufah) of the year that the army of Aram went up and they came to Judah and Jerusalem..."
In this instance the "Circuit (Tekufah) of the year" comes in place of the common expression "Return (Teshuvah) of the year" which appears several times in the Tanach as "the time when kings go out [to war]" as in:
"And it was at the return (Teshuvah) of the year, and Ben-Haddad counted Aram and went up to Afek to war with Israel." (1Ki 20:26).
"And it was at the return (Teshuvah) of the year, at the time the kings go out [to war] and David sent Yoav... and they smote the Amonites and besieged Rabbah..."
The time that the kings went out to war was the spring, since before the spring the mud roads in the Land of Israel were impassable. We see here that Tekufah (circuit) of the year is used interchangeably with the more common Teshuvah (return) of the year. Spring is referred to as the "Return/ Circuit" of the year because the Festival Year ecommences (making a circuit, returning to the same point in time) in spring with the First day of the First Month (Nissan) (see Ex 12:2; Lev 23; Nu 28; Dt 16:1).
Tekufah in 1Samuel 1:20
The term Tekufah (circuit) also appears in 1Sam 1:20 which says:
"And it was at the circuits (Tekufot) of the days, and Hannah conceived and bore a son..."
Here the "circuits" of the days apparently refers to "the same time the following year" [or possibly to the completion of the term of pregnancy?].
None of the four appearances of Tekufah in the Hebrew Scripture have anything to do with the equinox. Instead, this term is used in Biblical Hebrew in its primary sense of a "circuit", that is a return to the same point in space or time. Only in Post-Biblical Hebrew did Tekufah come to mean "equinox" and to read this meaning into the Tanach would be an anachronism.
Shalom and may you experience His protective presence this coming Pesach/Chag HaMatzot.
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Restoration Records is a ministry serving believers on Yahshua HaMashiach (Yahshua The Messiah) who are interested in the scriptural message of proclaiming "the restoration of all things" (Matt 17:11; Mark 9:12; Acts 1:6; 3:19-21) and in scripturally-based praise n worship psalms. The ministry is led, and the related websites www.restorationrecords.com and
www.kahalyahshuahamashiach.org are published by Yochanan Mascaro.
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