The Hebrew Calendar-
Is It Valid for the Church Today?
By John H. Ogwyn
Since 1986, the calendar has been a recurring source of doctrinal controversy in the Church of God. Many articles and papers have proposed different methods of calculating the dates of the annual festivals, and at least a half-dozen different calendars and calculation methods have been offered. This has troubled many sincere brethren who want to do what pleases God. With all the controversy, they are unsure. But does God really expect each individual Church member to become an expert on calendar
matters?
We can understand the "calendar issue" by asking three simple questions, and then answering them from the Bible. Do the rules of the current Hebrew calendar conform to Biblical principles and guidelines?
Does God expect each Christian to determine the calendar for himself,or did He entrust some authority to make calendar decisions? And can we really know what calendar Jesus Christ and His Apostles used?
Is the Hebrew Calendar Based Upon the Bible?
Does the Bible give guidelines regarding the calendar we should use in observing God's festivals? If so, what are those guidelines and where do we find them? First, let us ask whether the calendar should be based on physical sighting of the
new moon, or whether it should be based on calculation. Some argue that the only valid way to begin a
new month is to actually see the faint crescent of the new moon.

Does the Bible resolve this argument?
Absolutely!
The Hebrew word chodesh is
translated "month" in most English-language
Bibles. Its root meaning
involves "making new" or "repairing."
The moon orbits the earth,
going through its phases as its position
changes in relation to the sun
and the earth. Approximately every
29-and-a-half days, the moon comes
into exact conjunction between the
earth and the sun, and the three orbs
are in a straight line with one another
(though not necessarily on the
same plane). In conjunction, the
moon is totally dark, reflecting none
of the sun's light. As it moves west-ward,
away from conjunction, it
again begins to reflect light.
Depending on the observer's location
and the earth's position at conjunction,
the new moon will generally
not be visible until one or two days
after the conjunction.
Note that basing the new month
upon physical sighting of the new
moon would require keeping the
Feast of Trumpets for two days! An
observer cannot know, in advance,
on which day he might see the new
moon. Depending upon the exact
time of conjunction, he might see
the crescent on either the 30th or
31st day after the last new crescent.
Since days begin at sunset, observers
would have to keep the 30th day
after the new crescent of Elul (6th
month) as holy time, as they might
see the new crescent that evening,
though they would more commonly
see it on the following evening.
For this reason, even in the land
of Israel, Jews who follow the
Pharisees' traditions observe the
Feast of Trumpets for two days back-to-
back. Without making it a two-day
celebration to ensure that the
right day is observed, it is impossible
to base the celebration of the Feast
of Trumpets, the first day of the seventh
month, on physical sighting of
the new moon. Yet upon examining
Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29, it is
clear that the Feast of Trumpets
must be observed for one day rather
than two. This alone mandates a calculated
calendar, in which the new
moon day is determined in advance.
Another even more significant
issue-the intercalary year-also
requires a calendar calculated in
advance. Intercalary years are those
in which a 13th month is added.
Twelve lunar months are equal to
just over 354 days. A solar year is

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equal to just over 365 days. Using a
calendar based only on 12 lunar
months, this 11-day difference would
cause the festivals to occur about a
month earlier every three years in
relation to the solar year and the seasons.
Yet Leviticus 23:10-11 man-dates
that the priests should offer an
omer of barley as a wave offering to
God on the Sunday during the Days
of Unleavened Bread, beginning the
50-day count to Pentecost. Clearly,
this required that the first month,
Abib or Nisan, could not be allowed
to fall so early that no ripe grain
would be available for the offering.
This required the addition of a 13th
month about every three years. But
how was this addition determined?
Those who argue for direct physical
sighting assert that the priests
examined the grain crop each year
before the end of the 12th month, and
if they saw that it would not be ripe
soon enough they added a 13th month
to postpone the first month for about
30 days. The only alternative would be
a regular cycle, calculated by the
priests, to determine which years had
12 and which had 13 months. Is there
biblical evidence as to the priests' practice?
There certainly is!
Acts 2, for instance, reminds us
that Jews came to Jerusalem from all
over the known world. If the decision
regarding the 13th month were
made a few weeks before Passover,
how would Jews all over the world
have known when to come to
Jerusalem-or, for that matter, when
to celebrate Passover in their own
area? Significant numbers would
either have been a month early or a
month late! Remember, they could
not call ahead on the telephone or
check someone's Web site! There
was either an established pattern followed,
or there would have been
confusion among Jews throughout
the Diaspora.
How could a calculated calendar
have been figured anciently? In
antiquity, man had only two ways of
knowing the time of the new moon.
One was by physical sighting of the
crescent; the other was by calculation
based upon the average time
between conjunctions.
Some today wish to offer a substitute
calendar based not on aver-ages
or observation, but on figures
they have obtained from the
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) or the U. S.
Naval Observatory. These figures are
derived from satellite observation
and are supposed to be more exact
than the averages from which the
traditional Hebrew calendar was
calculated.
Please understand, if there is one
calendar that we can absolutely prove
that Christ and the Apostolic
Church DID NOT use, it is one
based on satellite observation! The
only calculated calendar that could
possibly be used until after about
1968 was one based upon the
average length of time between
conjunctions.
How were these averages
obtained? Conjunctions of the sun,
moon and earth are invisible except
during a solar eclipse. Solar eclipses
can occur only at the time of the new
moon. Because the moon's orbit is
normally a few degrees above or
below the plane of the earth-sun
orbit, it is usually invisible when it is
lined up in a direct line with the earth
and sun-the time of conjunction.
However, when the moon is on the
exact plane of the earth-sun orbit, it
will block the sun as it moves across,
thereby making an eclipse of the sun.
A lunar eclipse, which can be
seen on earth far more frequently
than a solar eclipse, is the exact
opposite of a solar eclipse. It can
occur only at the time of the full
moon, exactly halfway between con-junctions,
when the moon is on the
opposite side of the earth from the
sun. By carefully recording the time
of such eclipses and calculating the
amount of time between them, the
ancients were able to arrive at the
average length of time between con-junctions.
We speak of an "average"
because the actual length can vary
from month to month by a few
hours, primarily because of the
earth's elliptical orbit around the sun
and the resulting variation in the
sun's gravitational pull on the moon.
While satellites may enable us to
record conjunctions that are invisible
from earth, ancient man could
only calculate based upon averages.
Using eclipses, the average
length of time between conjunctions
of the sun, moon and earth can be
calculated. This figure can then be
used to calculate the new moon for
years-and centuries-in advance.
While the exact conjunction (invisible
from earth anyway, except during
a solar eclipse) may vary from the
calculated molad (a Hebrew term
referring to the "birth" of the moon)
by up to a few hours, the calculations
average out over time. And

How could a calculated calendar have been figured anciently? In antiquity, man had only two ways of knowing the time of the new moon. One was by physical sighting of the crescent; the other was by calculation based upon the average time between conjunctions.
they are always very close; not accumulating
lost or gained time even
over many centuries.
The Hebrew calendar uses 29
days, 12 hours and 793 parts (an
hour contains 1,080 parts) as the
duration of the average lunar month.
This works out to 29.53059 days in
decimal form. According to the 15th
edition of Encyclopedia Britannica,
modern astronomers using satellites
and computers have come up with
the figure 29.530589-one one-millionth
of a day difference!
How did the Hebrew calendar
come to use such an accurate figure
for the average length of the month?
Some contend that they adopted their
number from Babylonian or Greek
astronomers. There is a problem with
that theory, however. The figure used
by the Greeks, Babylonians and
Egyptians was not as accurate as that
used by the Jews! If we grant that
Israel of old borrowed the number
from one of their ancient neighbors,
then why did they modify it? How did
they know to modify it just the right
amount, making it more exact than
the one used by anyone else?
Remember, the figure used anciently
to calculate the Hebrew calendar,
29.53059 days per month, was the
same one used by NASA up through
1968 when satellite and computer
technology allowed them to take the
number out one more decimal place.
How could an ancient Israelite mathematician
have arrived at a more exact
figure than his contemporaries?
Exodus 31:1-11 shows that God's
Spirit empowered two men, Bezalel
and Aholiab, to have special under-standing
and knowledge in being able
to craft the items needed for the tabernacle.
Did God's Spirit also lead some-one
to have special ability for making
astronomical calculations to fix the
calendar? Clearly, someone did make
a calculation that remained unsurpassed
until the decade when the
United States put a man on the moon!
Does the Bible support using
eclipses to calculate the length of
time from one new moon to another?
It certainly does! Notice Genesis
1:14. God set the sun and the moon
for signs and seasons. The Hebrew
word for sign, 'ot, is a term that
often refers to remarkable and dramatic
signs. It is used in Exodus
4:8-9 for instance, to describe the
dramatic wonders that God worked
in ancient Egypt. There are no more
dramatic signs designed into the
interaction of the sun and moon
than solar and lunar eclipses. These
signs provide the basis of a calculated
calendar.
Additionally, the heavenly bodies
were for what the King James
Version calls "seasons" and the
Jewish Publication Society Version
calls "appointed times." The Hebrew
word is mo'ed. This is the term used
in Psalm 104:19 where we learn that
God "has appointed the moon for
seasons [mo'ed]." In other words, the
phases of the moon determine the
progression of the month. God's
annual festivals are either connected
to the new moon at the beginning of
the month or the full moon at the
middle of the month.
Other biblical guidelines concern
the seasonal timing of the
Passover festival and the Feast of
Tabernacles. We are told that
Unleavened Bread is to be celebrated
in the month of Abib, which means
"green ears" (Exodus 23:15). From
Leviticus 23 we also learn that once
Israel entered the Promised Land
there was to be a priestly ceremony
involving the offering of the wave
sheaf, the omer, on the Sunday during
the Days of Unleavened Bread.
The grain harvest could not begin
until after that occasion. These stipulations
require that Passover come
in early spring.
Also, Exodus 34:22 refers to the
Feast of Tabernacles as coming at the
"end of the year" (Hebrew, tekufah).
This term literally means a "circuit"
or "revolution" of time-a cycle. In
later Rabbinic Hebrew, tekufah
became a technical term referring to
the equinox and, by extension, to the
season following. However, we must
be careful about ascribing to Moses
the technical usage of medieval rabbis.
The term, used only four times in
the Old Testament, was originally
more general in its meaning. It is the
term in 1 Samuel 1:20 that refers to
the cycle of time between Hannah's
conception and the birth of Samuel.
In 2 Chronicles 24:23, tekufah refers
to the time of the year when Syria
attacked Judah. The other place it is
used is in Psalm 19:6 where it refers
to the sun's daily circuit across the
heavens. Exodus 34:22 thus implies
that the Feast of Tabernacles should
occur when the cycle of the agricultural
year is complete, about the time
that summer gives way to fall. This
point is made in a slightly different
manner in Exodus 23:16. Again the
King James Version translates that the
Feast of Tabernacles is to occur at the
"end of the year," but this time uses a
completely different word, meaning
literally "the going out" of the year. It
is the same term used in Exodus 13:8
to refer to Israel going out of Egypt.
In other words, the Feast of
Tabernacles comes at "the going out"
of the harvest season of the agricultural
year, right after the time when
the harvest would be gathered into
barns (that is why the term "Feast of
Ingathering" is used), to protect it
from the upcoming rainy season. This
festival season of the seventh month
was celebrated when summer was
giving way to fall. To insist that teku-fah
could not refer to so much as one
day before the autumnal equinox is to
take a definition from the Talmud-
not the Bible-and insist upon reading
it back into scriptures written
more than 16 centuries earlier.
We have seen that the Bible gives
guidelines that require a calculated
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calendar, such as Trumpets being
celebrated for one day and not two.
It also shows that the interactions of
the sun, moon and earth were to be
factored in so that the numbering of
the days of the month would be connected
with the phases of the moon.
We have also seen that celebration of
the festivals is tied both to the beginning
of the grain harvest and to the
time when crops were to be gathered
into barns at the end of summer. But
are other aspects of the calendar,
such as the so-called "postponements,"
also necessary and based on
biblical guidelines?
We must note that in the Hebrew
calendar, the new moon of the seventh
month (Tishri) is calculated,
rather than the new moon of the first
month (Abib). As this is the only
new moon that is designated as holy
time, it is also the new moon that is
most essential to determine. The
other holy days are figured from it.
There is also an astronomical reason
for this practice, since the time from
the vernal equinox (spring) to the
following autumnal equinox (fall) is
about a week longer than from the
autumnal equinox to the following
vernal equinox.
The "postponements" are simply
calendar adjustments that
determine which day should be pro-claimed
as the first day of Tishri.
While there are generally said to be
four postponement rules, actually
there are two primary ones. The
other two are just logical extensions
of the first two, to ensure that a year
does not have too many or too few
days.
The first rule we should look at
states that if the calculated conjunction,
the molad of Tishri, occurs after
noon on a given day, the first day of
the month is "postponed" until the
following day. This rule results from
the way time is measured on a round
earth, and the length of time the
moon takes to move out of conjunc
tion and beyond the arc of the sun.
After all, the term for "new moon" in
scripture refers to the "repairing" of
the moon. While a calculated calendar
does not require that the visible
crescent be sighted, it should at least
be theoretically possible to sight that
crescent. And it takes six hours past
the conjunction before the moon has
moved far enough beyond the sun's
arc to begin reflecting light once
again-the "repairing" of the moon.
Whether or not a reflection is actually
seen is purely incidental, as the
calendar is based upon the calculated
averages. Clearly though, this postponement
rule is not merely based
upon a Pharisaic tradition, rather, it
is mandated by Scripture and by
astronomy.
The other main rule is that if the
calculated molad of Tishri occurs on
a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, the
first day of the month (which will be
the Feast of Trumpets) is considered
to begin on the following day, i.e.,
Monday, Thursday or Saturday.
What is the scriptural basis for this?
In Leviticus 23, where God first gave
Moses a detailed list of His festivals,
He explained that these days' levels
of sanctity fell into two categories.
For six of these days-the first and
seventh Day of Unleavened Bread,
Pentecost, Trumpets, the first day of
Tabernacles and the Eighth Day-
Moses was to instruct Israel that "no
servile work" be done. However, the
weekly Sabbath and the Day of
Atonement were different. On these
two days, "no work whatsoever" was
to be done. Clearly God placed these
two days in a slightly different category
than the others. Additionally, in
describing Trumpets, the first day of
Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day,
the term shabbaton, translated
"Sabbath," was used. For the weekly
Sabbath and the Day of Atonement a
different descriptive term-shabbat
shabbaton-was used, translated "a
Sabbath of rest."
Recognizing that God set the
weekly Sabbath and the Day of
Atonement apart in their level of
sanctity, the Levitical priesthood
sought to implement these instructions
in proclaiming the festivals.
They realized that the Day of
Atonement, a shabbat shabbaton
upon which "no work whatsoever"
was to be done, should not be the
preparation day for the weekly
Sabbath (which would occur if the
first of Tishri came on a Wednesday).
Additionally, they avoided the weekly
Sabbath being the preparation day
for Atonement, which would happen
if Tishri 1 fell on a Friday.
This practice also avoided the
weekly Sabbath, shabbat shabbaton,
being the preparation day for the
other three fall holy days which were
only shabbaton, (this would occur if
Tishri 1 came on a Sunday). Note
that according to Exodus 12:16, the
first and seventh days of Unleavened
Bread in the spring were in a different
category; God had specifically
approved the preparation of food on
these days. And Pentecost, of course,
always fell on Sunday as a result of
God-ordained calculation.
Two other rules concerning postponements
are really just logical
extensions derived from the first two,
regulating the number of days in a
year so that the first of each month
stays connected with the new moon.
The calendar adjustments
regarding Tishri 1 are based upon
instructions God gave to the Levitical
priesthood through Moses in
Leviticus 23. God made clear that two
days-Sabbath and Atonement-had
a special degree of sanctity, and based
upon those instructions the priest-hood
sought to conform their celebrations
to His wishes.
(Editor's note: In the January-February
2001 Living Church News,
John Ogwyn will explain in part 2 of
this article who has the responsibility
for keeping the calendar.)







Part 2.
Does God expect individual Christians to determine His calendar for themselves? Many self-appointed calendar experts each claim that their calendar is the right one. Did God intend the calendar to be pro-claimed by an authoritative body-or is it "every man for him-self?"
Increasingly, we see people simply doing what is right in their own eyes. Is God the author of such spiritual anarchy? To whom did God give responsibility for the calendar? God told Moses: "The feasts of the LORD, which you shall pro-claim
to be holy convocations,
these are My feasts" (Leviticus
23:2). But who was to do the pro-claiming,
and what does this
mean?
The Hebrew term for convocation
is miqra, which refers to an
officially called or designated
assembly. In Numbers 10:2, Moses
was told that two silver trumpets
were to be made and one of their
major purposes was "for the calling
[Hebrew miqra] of the congregation."
Who was to use those
trumpets? Verse 8 explains: "The
sons of Aaron, the priests, shall
blow the trumpets; and these shall
be to you as an ordinance forever
throughout your generations."
Verse 10 explains that "in the day
of your gladness, in your appoint-ed
feasts, and at the beginning of
your months…" the priests were
to sound the silver trumpets.
The noun miqra is derived
from the verb qara, the verb rendered
"proclaim" in Leviticus 23:2
and 23:4. What exactly does it
mean? It is the same word used in
Genesis 1 where God "called" the
light Day and "called" the dark-ness
Night (Genesis 1:5), where
He "called" the firmament Heaven
(1:8), "called" the dry land Earth
and "called" the gathered waters
the Seas (1:10).
Later, we learn that God
brought before Adam the animals
He had created to see what he
would call them. "And whatever
Adam called [qara] each living
creature, that was its name"
(Genesis 2:19). So we see that qara
means "to call"-to name or to
designate. In Genesis 1 it was God,
and in Genesis 2 it was Adam, who
did the naming or designating.
How does this relate to the
holy days? In Leviticus 23, we
learned that a certain group,
("you," plural) was responsible for
naming or designating the days on
which the congregation was to
assemble before God. Numbers 10
explains that this refers to the
priesthood, and shows the means
God gave them to announce the
designation of new moons and festival
days. It was not an individual
matter for each Israelite to arrive at
by himself; rather it was a collective
matter to be proclaimed by an
authoritative body.
But there is more! Most read
right over the implications of who
was to name, or designate, the days
that would be considered God's
appointed festivals. The priesthood
was given the right to name, or designate,
those days-in the same
way that God gave Adam the
authority to name, or designate, the
animals He had created. God gave
the priesthood guidelines and
principles by which they were to
designate those days, but He
did not spell out every single detail.
He gave them the principles
with which they had to make
judgments!
It is important to notice the difference
between the weekly
Sabbath that God gave to mankind,
and the annual festivals that He
gave to the Church. God did not
tell the priesthood that they were
responsible to name or designate
the weekly Sabbath. God Himself
had proclaimed the weekly Sabbath
at the end of creation week.
Mankind was simply told to
"remember" and keep holy the time
that God Himself had previously

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designated. The annual festivals were
different, as Leviticus 23:2 and 23:4
show. While each individual could
simply remember to observe as holy
the seventh day of every week, this
was not possible with the annual festivals.
Their exact timing would vary
somewhat from year to year, regulated
by the principles that God gave
Moses in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere.
So we see that while the weekly
Sabbath is to be remembered by each
of us as individuals, the annual festivals
are to be named or designated on
the calendar each year by an authoritative
body. They were never intended
to be an individual matter!
If each of us seeks to determine
our own calendar, we will end up celebrating
the festivals on a variety of
days. Yet God is not the author of con-fusion
(1 Corinthians 14:33) nor is He
the source of the spiritual anarchy that
many so effectively promote today.
Paul told the brethren in Colosse that
they were not to let any man judge
them in matters pertaining to holy
days, new moons, or Sabbaths, but
rather "the body of Christ"-the
Church (Colossians 2:16-17, KJV).
The Church has again and again concluded
that the current Hebrew calendar,
preserved in the Jewish community,
is authoritative for Christians today.
Which Calendar Did Christ Use?
We know from the New
Testament that Jesus Christ observed
the holy days and festivals command-ed
in Leviticus 23. Did He do so based
upon a calculated calendar such as we
use today-one that included the so-called
"postponement" rules-or did
He use a calendar based solely upon
physical sighting of the new crescent?
One thing is for sure: Jesus Christ did
it correctly! If we know what He did,
then all we have to do is to follow His
example. But is it possible to know
what He did? Absolutely!
The place to go to find the kind of
calendar which was authoritatively
proclaimed during Jesus' human life-time
is not the Talmud and later rabbinical
writings. These documents
were written well after the fact, and
record history with a Pharisaic bias.
Since the Pharisees dominated the
Jewish community after the fall of the
temple, their traditions came to be
considered normative Judaism. The
rabbis who compiled the Talmud
were their successors, and often
sought to read later traditions back
into earlier history.
Interestingly, many who claim to
reject the Hebrew calendar because
they consider it a tradition of the
Pharisees have used the Talmud as
their source of calendar information
and definitions-rather than simply
using the Bible itself! While later rabbis
tried to harmonize the traditions
of an observed calendar (favored by
the Pharisees) with the principles of
a calculated calendar (preserved by
the Sadducee priesthood), the two
are not really compatible. Much of
the Talmud's tortured logic relating
to the calendar comes from its
attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable.
However, we are not dependent
on the record of the Talmud, or
Josephus for that matter, to know
what calendar Christ used. We have
the authoritative record of the New
Testament itself!
From the biblical record, we are
able to match three festivals during
Christ's ministry with the days of the
week on which they fell. As we will
see, these three festival dates are
compatible only with one calendar
model-the calendar used by Jesus
Christ thus stands revealed by the New Testament!
The year of Christ's crucifixion,
and therefore of His final Passover,
can be established clearly by correlating
the prophecy in Daniel 9 with
the historical occurrence described
in Ezra 7. Daniel explained that
there would be a time period of 70
prophetic "weeks"-i.e., 490
prophetic "days." We are told that 69
of these "weeks" (i.e., 483 years)
would run from the decree to rebuild
Jerusalem until the appearance of
the Messiah. Ezra 7 records the
decree of King Artaxerxes that
begins the count of the prophetic
"weeks."
Secular history makes plain that
the Artaxerxes' seventh year
occurred in 458-457BC. The only
question is whether or not the
author of Ezra-Nehemiah (one
book in the Hebrew scriptures) was
figuring the years of Artaxerxes'
reign by counting from fall to fall or
spring to spring. A careful comparison
of Nehemiah 1:1 and 2:1 shows
that a fall-to-fall reckoning was
used. Nehemiah refers to an event
in the month Kislev (December) of
the 20th year of Artaxerxes, followed
later by an event in the
month Nisan (April) in the 20th
year of Artaxerxes. The only way
that both of these events could have
occurred in the king's 20th year
would be if the author was figuring
the years of the king's reign from fall
to fall.
This means that when Ezra 7
says that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem
with the decree in the late summer
(fifth month) during the seventh
year of Artaxerxes, this must refer
to 457BC. If we come forward 483
years, this brings us to just before
the fall festival season of 27AD.
This would be when Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist and
began His three-and-a-half-year
ministry-He began in the fall of
27AD and was crucified in the
spring of 31AD.
This reference in Ezra gives us a
benchmark. We also know from the
biblical record, apart from these calendar

questions, that Jesus Christ
was crucified on a Wednesday and
resurrected three days and three


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nights later, at the end of the weekly
Sabbath. This means that the
Passover of 31AD, the scripturally
established time of His crucifixion,
had to occur on a Wednesday.
Additionally, we will see that the day
of the week is made plain for two
other festival dates. One is the Last
Great Day of 30AD, which occurred
on a weekly Sabbath. And Scripture
shows that the second holy day of
Unleavened Bread in 29AD fell on a
weekly Sabbath. Now examine how
we date these two festivals.
John 7-13 recounts the events of
the fall festival period preceding
Jesus' final Passover. A careful reading
also shows that most of the
events of John 8-10 happened on the
Last Great Day. Jesus' words in the
temple during the evening of this day
are recorded in John 7:37-39. At
verse 53, Jesus and His disciples went
to the Mount of Olives for the night,
returning to the temple early the next
morning-the daylight portion of the
Last Great Day (John 8:1-2).
If we simply read on through
the next chapters, we find that the
woman taken in adultery and the
healing of the blind man both
occurred on that same day. From
John 9 we already knew that the
blind man was healed on an annual
Sabbath; John 9:14, using the definite
article with its Sabbath reference,
states plainly that it was also
a weekly Sabbath, which is why
such an issue was made of the
healing.
John gives us the basis for reconstructing
the chronology of Christ's
ministry, noting Jesus' words and
actions on several specific festival
occasions. We have already seen that
John the Baptist baptized Christ in
the fall of 27AD, just when Daniel's
prophecy showed the Messiah
should appear. Six months later, at
the Passover season of 28AD, He suddenly
came to the temple and began
His public ministry (John 2). When
we carefully read John 6-13, we see
that this is a continuous sequence of
the last year in Jesus' life, from the
Passover of 30AD to the Passover of
31AD. Therefore, the only Passover
not commented on in John's gospel
is that of 29AD-and the events of
that year's festival season are adequately
covered in the other three
Gospel accounts.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all
record the disciples plucking ears of
grain to eat as they walked with
Jesus through the grain fields. The
placement of this incident-in
Matthew 12:1- 8, Mark 2:23-28 and
Luke 6:1-4-shows that this
occurred early in His ministry, not
during the Passover the year before
His crucifixion. This only leaves the
Passover season of 29AD.
How do we know that this incident
occurred at the Passover season?
Luke 6:1 makes this clear by
describing that it happened "on the
second Sabbath after the first."
What does that mean? The Greek
phrase used is en sabbato deuteroproto,
which literally means "the second
Sabbath of first rank." This
expression can only refer to the seventh
day of Unleavened Bread, the
second Sabbath of first rank occur-ring
in the year.
The rest of the story-contained
in the accounts of Matthew, Mark
and Luke-shows that this was also
a weekly Sabbath. All three writers
link the event in the grain fields
with a later incident described as
"another Sabbath" (Luke 6:6) when
Jesus healed the man with the withered
hand. This phrase, taken
together with the points made in
Mark 2:27-28-that the Sabbath
was made for man and that Jesus is
the Lord of the Sabbath-emphasizes
that this was a weekly Sabbath
day. Luke is the only writer who
adds the detail that this took place
on the second holy day of
Unleavened Bread.
Do these facts provide evidence
for the kind of calendar that Jesus
recognized in His lifetime? Using
today's calculated Hebrew calendar,
notice what the dates of these events
in Christ's ministry would be.
Remember that today, leap years are
years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of a
19 year cycle instead of the earlier 2,
5, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 18. How do the
dates from the calculated calendar
compare to what would have been
obtained by sightings of the new
crescent moon?
In 29AD, the last day of
Unleavened Bread would have
occurred on Sabbath, April 23,
according to our traditionally calculated
Hebrew calendar. This date
results from applying one of the
postponement rules, since the molad
(or new moon) of Tishri that year
occurred after noon and the reckoning
of Tishri 1 would therefore have
been postponed to the next day. This
is the only way that the last holy day
9
If each of us seeks to determine our own calendar, we will end up celebrating the festivals on a variety of days. Yet God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) nor is He the source of the spiritual anarchy that many so effectively promote today.
10
10
of Unleavened Bread could have
come on a weekly Sabbath in 29AD.
By contrast, using computer-generated
models to determine the timing
based upon the observable new
moon in Judea, physical sighting
would have caused the last holy day
of Unleavened Bread to fall on
Sunday, April 24 in 29AD.
As for the Last Great Day in
30AD, calculations based on the traditional
Hebrew calendar show that
it would have occurred on Sabbath,
October 7. No postponement rules
would have been involved. But, significantly,
the Last Great Day would
have occurred on the weekly
Sabbath if and only if the calendar
were based upon the calculated
molad (the mean conjunction), not
the visible sighting of the new crescent.
This is made clear by examining
the computer model for the
observable new moon in 30AD.
The first visible crescent could have
been seen from Jerusalem no earlier
than Sunday night, September 17,
thus making Trumpets Monday,
September 18 and the Last Great
Day Monday, October 9 by that
reckoning.
In 31AD, the calculated date for
Nisan 1, according to the tradition-al
Hebrew calendar, was Thursday,
April 12. This would have occurred
only if the postponement rule that
did not allow the Feast of Trumpets
to come on a Friday had been in
effect. The calculated molad of
Tishri came on a Friday in 31AD,
and only by having postponed
Tishri 1 to a Sabbath would
Passover in 31AD have come on a
Wednesday. It is true that the
observable new moon of Nisan
would have also been seen on
Thursday, April 12, thus coinciding
with the calculated date for Nisan 1.
However, we have just seen that the
dates of the other holy days mentioned
during Christ's ministry only
coincide with the proper day of the
week when they are figured based
upon a calculated molad rather than
an observable crescent. As we saw
earlier, the biblical calendar guide-lines
require calculation rather than
physical sighting.
There is one additional point
regarding the timing of Passover in
31AD. Passover would have come on
April 25 only if 31AD were counted
as an intercalary year. Otherwise,
the Passover would have fallen a
month earlier-on Monday, March
26! Unless the priests were following
a fixed cycle of intercalary years,
there would have been no reason to
observe Passover in April rather
than in March of that year! The
equinox was March 23 at that time,
and there would have certainly been
some ripe grain for the priests to
offer on the day of the Wavesheaf-
March 28 by Pharisee reckoning
and Sunday, April 1 by Sadducee
reckoning.
The timing of three festivals during
Christ's ministry is clearly shown
in the New Testament. The Passover
of 31AD would have occurred on a
Wednesday only if there were a fixed
calendar cycle making 31AD an intercalary
year. A calculated calendar
would have required Tishri 1 to be
postponed from Friday to Saturday
for the dating to work out properly.
And the Last Great Day of 30AD
would only have come on a weekly
Sabbath if a calculated calendar were
used, though no postponements
within that calendar would have
been necessary that year. As for the
last holy day of Unleavened Bread
in 29AD, it would have come on a
weekly Sabbath only if a calculated
calendar were used and the noon
postponement rule was in effect.
Clearly, the Gospel accounts show
that these holy days occurred in a
way that could only have happened
if a calculated calendar using the
postponement rules had been in
effect in the time of Jesus Christ.
A Calendar for
the Church Today
The rules of the current Hebrew
calendar-the calendar traditionally
used by the Church of God-are
based upon Biblical principles.
These rules, as we have seen, can be
deduced directly from scripture and
do not depend on Talmudic traditions
and legends. Furthermore,
Scripture clearly reveals that God
assigned to an authoritative body,
anciently the priesthood, responsibility
to name or to designate the
annual festivals. This was never
intended to be a matter of private
interpretation. In addition, we have
the example of Jesus Christ Himself,
as given in the Gospel accounts. The
calendar He used is far more in
accord with the one the Church uses
today than are any of the alternative
models that have been proposed.
The Church has clearly and consistently
judged that Christians
should use the received Hebrew calendar
in observing God's festivals. It
is interesting that we have historical
witness and testimony, from no less
an authority than Roman emperor
Constantine, that three centuries
after Christ's crucifixion, the true
Church was still reckoning its festival
dates by the same calendar used
by the Jewish community. At the
Council of Nicea, held in 325AD, the
timing of the Paschal festival was
discussed (the early Catholics were
replacing Passover with Easter, but
were still using the scriptural
name-the Greek term pascha).
Note some excerpts of
Constantine's decree as preserved by
the early Church historian Eusebius.
He wrote that it seemed, "a most
unworthy thing that we should
follow the custom of the Jews in the
celebration of this most holy solemnity…
rejecting the practice of this
people, we should perpetuate to all
future ages the celebration of this