Calendars?

Recently, the subject of ‘calendars’ came up (in a very amicable way) so we decided to take a few minutes to see if ‘equal weights and measures’ is being applied in the exploration and application of this subject.

This is not an attempt to necessarily convert anyone from their current practice, but it IS an effort to communicate factual information so we can make informed decisions. This is also not an attempt to give an exhaustive exposition on calendar matters, but rather an effort to address just a few of the key questions, complaints and assumptions concerning calendar systems.

Our Heavenly Father left us with a set of instructions and His Word states that these instructions are not too difficult. And although it seems at times those instructions in The Word appear a little fuzzy, if we will allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, the fuzziness will become much more clear.

First, let’s understand that Scripture never dictates a set number of months in a calendar year. Although many calendar systems have the solar year divided into 12 distinct divisions (12 months), there is no such set division in Scripture. So when we begin to critique calendar systems, we should do so from the standpoint of The Word and not from the perspective of extra-biblical systems.

Scripture specifically lays out the pattern of the Gospel of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus the Christ) through the feasts of YHVH in the first seven months of the Biblical Calendar as laid out in Leviticus 23, but beyond that there is no set number of months per year dictated in the Bible.

Another concern that arises for some is the concept of intercalation (adding of extra days or weeks periodically) to make what’s on paper line up with what’s going in the atmosphere outside our window. What we mean by that is to make sure that when our paper calendar says it’s spring, it’s actually spring outside our window and not still winter.

A solar year consists of approximately 365 days, 6 hours and 9 minutes. That’s why our standard Gregorian calendar adds a single 24 hour period once every 4 years (4 x 6 hours is approx. 24 hours or one standard day). In that way, over a period of decades or centuries, our written calendar does not come out of sync with the natural seasons set into motion by our Creator and marked by the lights in the heavens. We are not declaring the Gregorian Calendar to be accurate biblically. We are just merely stating the process by which it is kept in line and in sync with the seasons.

And there are some who not only have concerns about the Gregorian calendar, since it is not based on a Scriptural timeline, but also have issues with what is referred to as ‘the jewish calendar’ or ‘the orthodox calendar’ due to it being an ‘intercalated’ system. Due to those concerns, there are those that turn to other calendar systems, such as the Zadok or Enoch Calendar systems. One reason for the popularity of these systems is they have the solar year divided up and packaged neatly in twelve months encompassing the four seasons and consistently set days and dates with a total of 364 days in each calendar year.

But since there are actually 365 days and a little over 6 hours in every solar year, how is The Zadok or Enoch system prevented or corrected from ‘coming out of sync’ with the natural progression of seasons as put into motion by our Creator? Through the process of ‘intercalation’ – the process of adding days or weeks to the calendric progression.

Since the Zadok or Enoch systems only have 364 days in each cycle and a true solar cycle is 365 days 6 hours and nine minutes, after a period of 25 years the written Zadok or Enoch calendar will be out of sync with the natural seasons by a full month. After 2 ½ decades of following the Zadok/Enoch systems, what’s on paper will say Spring and outside the window it will still be Winter. How is this problem dealt with? Intercalation.

To allow the Zadok/Enoch systems to stay on track (or to put them back on track) with the natural progression of the seasons, one full week has to be added every seventh year (sabbatical year) and another two full weeks intercalated every 4th sabbatical year (every 28 years). So not only does the Enoch/Zadok calendar systems not eliminate the concept of intercalation, they actually require the concept of intercalation to remain practical and useable.

But if we can approach the concepts of calendars in the same manner by which we should approach all Scriptural matters – as unbiased as possible – then the calendar issue would be much less troublesome.

So let’s take a look at what our Father has laid out for us in Scripture.

There are moedim – appointed times – beyond just the ones that we normally think of. New moon, weekly sabbath and the annual feasts of YHVH are all appointed times. But there are others as well. Sunrise and sunset are ‘set times’. The solstices and equinoxes are also ‘set times’, based on the lights in the heavens. You can virtually set your watch by their regularity. So how does that help us follow a calendar withOUT imposing biases? We do this by remembering that YHVH set the lights in the skies to mark the days, years and seasons and that Scripture does not mandate a set number of months in a year (beyond the 7 months of the pattern of the Feasts).

In Exodus 12, YHVH states that ‘this shall be the beginning of months . . .’ That should qualify as the beginning of the year. Later in those same passages it refers to this first month as Aviv or Spring. If we understand that astronomical spring begins at the Spring Equinox (which is an appointed time based on the lights in the heavens) and the new (Chadash – renewed) moon marks the beginning the month, we should be able to determine the first month of the new year and lay out the remainder of the year based on that initial starting point coupled with our Father’s instructions. And how many months will there be? Whatever number is required to bring us around to the beginning of our rehearsal cycle again.

Rhonda and I do not follow any organized calendar system, per se. We merely start with the Spring Equinox, then look for the first new moon following the Equinox, (which will constitute the first day of the first month) and then countdown 14 days to the day of the Passover.

For example, the Spring Equinox for 2024 falls on March 19/20, based on the alignment of the lights in the heavens. This begins the astronomical season of Spring. The first new moon after the beginning of the season of spring is April 8th, which marks the first day of the first month of this new Biblical year (Exodus 12:2). Counting down 14 days (Exodus 12:6; 12:8; Leviticus 23:5) brings us to April 22 (Passover) and April 23 (a full moon) as the first day of Unleavened Bread for 2024.

The need for ‘Intercalation’ comes into play when we require a system that we can encapsulate in a way that fits man’s box rather than simply following our Creator’s instructions without eisegetical bias.

According to Scripture, our Creator’s instructions are not too difficult, and they can and should cause us to think and act outside man’s box.

Our Father works in cycles. May HE give us the wisdom, discernment and insight to understand HIS cycles and the courage to step into them.

Blessings and Shalom in Yeshua’s Name. See ya at Passover.