The New Moon, When is it?

A profound sign that truth is present is when controversy abounds. Satan and all his agencies are well aware of the Festival Days and their proper calculation from the first visible sighting of the New Moon. He has long been a student of Scripture and knows the paramount importance of the luni-solar truth as set forth by Yahuwah at Creation. If this truth is once comprehended and received by the populace masses around the globe, like dynamite, it would blow His greatest demonic deception, into oblivion. This truth would cause Satan's counterfeit mountain of time (har mo'ed) to fall like a house of cards. At this pinnacle of time, nothing could impede the progress of Yahuwah's faithful followers more, than yet another undermining obstacle within the luni-solar calendar truth. Satan has once again masterminded an attack against the Scriptures' true calendar by creating confusion over exactly which lunar phase constitutes the true New Moon.

Many people when they first discover the Holy Appointed Festivals and the corresponding luni-solar calendar truth, find it disconcerting that there could be so many claims as to when the first visible crescent New Moon actually occurred. This will continue to be the case as long as Satan has the freedom to deceive. In spite of this apparent obstacle, there is abiding peace, knowing that Yahuwah knows the truth and will lead into all truth, those who seek and ask Him.

There are four opposing views as to exactly what constitutes the New Moon. Some believe the New Moon to be the dark conjunction lunar phase. Some believe the New Moon to be the first visible crescent lunar phase. Others believe the New Moon to be the full moon lunar phase. Still others believe the New Moon to be the last visible crescent lunar phase.

It is imperative to prayerfully consider the evidence for each viewpoint. The choice you make will determine when the seventh-day Sabbath is located. It must be realized that there is only one correct New Moon just as there is only one true seventh-day Sabbath. While each viewpoint has at least one credible point worth considering, the truth will be wrapped in the "weight of evidence".

Each individual must wrestle with Yahuwah in prayer knowing that:

• He wants us to know truth. John 4:23
• We have not, because we ask not. James 4:2
• When we ask for bread, He has promised not to give us a stone. Matthew 7:9
• Each "truth" is based on two or three principles of truth. Matthew 18:16
• Christ Yahshua said, "Ye are children of the light, not of darkness." 1Thessalonians 5:5
• It is a promise that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, but we must ask. John 16:13

And when the debate is, they shall stand in my (hemispherical) domes, and shall consider and believe my laws; and they shall keep my commandments in all my solemnities, and they shall hallow my Sabbaths. Ezekiel 44:24 Wycliffe Bible of 1382

Principle #1: Ye are Children of the "Light"

The very first thing Yahuwah did in the creation week was to speak forth light out of the darkness. Then, during each daylight of creation, He created all that came to be. Absolutely nothing was created during the dark of night.
Throughout Scripture Yahuwah has used the contrasting principles of light and dark to teach His spiritual truths. "Darkness" was to represent infidelity, spiritual blindness and evil, while "light" was to represent "truth", spiritual understanding, and righteousness. Yahshua uses these principles over and over throughout His ministry.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 1Thessalonians 5:5-6

According to Scripture the night was divided into four watches. The moon, along with the position of the stars, was the guide to knowing each fourth part of the night:

1. Evening Watch – commenced at sunset and its duration was one fourth of the darkness of night, ending at approx 9:00 P.M. Matthew 13:35
2. Midnight Watch – commenced following the evening watch and ended at Midnight. Luke 12:38
3. Cock Crowing Watch – commenced at midnight and ended at the cock crowing. Luke 12:38
4. Morning Watch – commenced at the cock crowing and ended at sunrise. Matthew 14:25

Notice how these parameters of the "night" also define the boundaries of the "day". There can be no overlapping. The night ends as the new day begins at sunrise.
The term "Night Watch" was born out of the idea of watching for the first rays of a "new day" at sunrise. The focus was always on the "light"; looking for the "light"; ever seeking the "light". In this way a living illustration was created that expressed the value Yahuwah places on the light in contrast to the dark.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:20-21

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:23-24

Principle #2: "Truth" in Scripture is Synonymous with "Light"

• Christ Yahshua said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12
• "Ye are the light of the world". Matthew 5:14
• "Let your light so shine before men" Matthew 5:16
• In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:4
• The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. John 1:7
• "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John 3:20
• But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who had called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1Peter 2:9
• But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. Proverbs 4:18-19

Since sin began, and Adam and Eve were forced from the comfort of their garden home, Yahuwah has proactively continued to call His faithful out of darkness into His marvelous light. According to these scriptural principles, which lunar phase would fit His symbology, the dark conjunction phase or the first visible crescent after the dark phase? Remember, the lunar phase He appointed must represent truth as it beacons the New Year, the new month, the four successive weeks, along with His most holy and sacred seventh-day Sabbath. Can the darkest of all lunar phases even qualify for this task? Can darkness "beacon" anything?
It has been approximately 6000 years since creation. From a purely logical point of view, at a time when telescopes were non-existent, Yahuwah would have most likely placed His beacon of time to be a visible manifestation or sign. For something to be visible in a dark sky, it would have to be "light".

Webster's Dictionary Definition

beacon-- 1: a signal fire commonly on a hill, tower, or pole. 2: a lighthouse or other signal for guidance b: a radio transmitter emitting signals for guidance of aircraft 3: a source of light or inspiration. b: to shine as a beacon.

Principle #3: God Gave "Lights" to Beacon His Signs, Seasons,Days & Years.

But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Ephesians 5:13 In the beginning of recorded scripture Genesis 1:14-18 states:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:14-18

• Of paramount importance, notice that Yahuwah was making a distinction between darkness and light by separating them.
• The "lights" are plural.
• Let them be for signs: In an orchestrated dual action process, the sun and moon work together for signs and seasons specifically. This would not hold true for the New Moon if it were the dark phase or conjunction. This is because if you have a dark moon it is because the sun is not shining on it, as seen from our vantage point. Nothing is shining or working together, but all would be invisible in the darkness.
• Pure light is the signature of Yahuwah and His creative power, and not darkness, or any mix of darkness with light. Therefore, something as important as the New Moon to beacon a month of His holy seventh-day Sabbaths must itself be of the "light".
• There are "three" purposes of the sun and moon as they work in tandem: 1) To give "light" upon the earth. 2) To "rule", measuring time for the day and for the night. 3) To divide the light from the darkness. . .

The sun and moon were ordained by the Creator to work together in dual orchestration to separate the light from the darkness. This is a principle that Yahuwah continues to use as an illustration of the contrast between righteousness and sin, between good and evil. By its very nature, a dark conjunction lunar phase is not visibly able to either work together, or "divide the light from the darkness". But this is a requirement of the sun and moon as His beacons for signs in the heavens. It is, also, a consistent feature of truth and light. This shows that what Yahuwah set in motion during the first week of creation was to continue forever, both as a physical principle and as a moral symbol of truth.

Principle #4: William Miller and October 22, 1844

In the 1840's, William Miller, a student of prophetic time and a leader of a great religious awakening around the globe, believed the Lord was to return very soon. Together with Samuel Snow, they reckoned from Scripture and ancient Hebrew luni-solar calendation that the prophetic 2300 evenings and mornings were symbolic of literal years. They discovered that this prophetic period that began at the time of Artaxerxes' decree in 457 B.C., was to end in October 22, 1844. While this date was to clearly mark the anti-typical Day of Atonement and the cleansing of the Sanctuary on earth, it was wrongfully assumed by Miller that this marked the second coming of Christ Yahshua in the clouds of heaven. Because of this error as to the event to take place, they, along with all the believers world wide, experienced what is commonly known today as the "Great Disappointment of 1844".
The participants in this religious movement were Christians from all religious faiths and were called "Adventists" because they looked to the soon return or second "advent" of Christ Yahshua. The Seventh-day Adventist church was born out of this great disappointment, but was not officially organized until 1863. William Miller died in December of 1849 before the Seventh-day Adventist church was organized. Therefore, his teaching and preaching must not be confused with those of the Seventh-day Adventist church and vice versa.
William Miller and Samuel Snow were basing their detailed calculations of the fulfillment of the prophecy from the "first visible crescent" New Moon just as the Hebrew people of antiquity would have had to do. Otherwise, we would be recognizing either October 20 or 21 of 1844, instead of October 22. Later, Ellen White, a leader of the newly organized Seventh-day Adventist church, placed her stamp of approval from the Lord upon the date of October 22, 1844, but not upon the event the Millerites had believed was to happen.
All those teaching that the New Moon is the dark "conjunction" lunar phase, either don't know or reject the value of William Miller's calculations of October 22, 1844. This was referred to as the Seventh Month Movement, because the Day of Atonement is always on the 10th day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the luni-solar calendar. October is always the tenth month of the Gregorian calendar. It was only Miller's calculated and pinpointed conclusion that received the stamp of approval by the Lord Yahuwah, as stated by Ellen White.  (Refer to article, "Millerite Use of the Luni-Solar Calendar" )

Principle #5: The New Moon, U.S.N.O. and N.A.S.A.

Much of the New Moon confusion today arises because both the United States Naval Observatory (U.S.N.O.) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A.) label the dark conjunction phase as the "New Moon". No doubt the same is true of all other nationally based astronomical organizations. These are the same organizations that, in many of their illustrated models, depict the lunar month as only 28 days in length. This is a contradiction of the detailed records they themselves keep in numeric form, which do show the lunar month to be 29 or 30 days in length. In this way they are speaking out of both sides of their mouths. All lunar months in recorded history have always been either 29 or 30 days in length. Anyone can check this out for themselves simply by making note of each phase over a 30 day period. When the lunar phase you start your count with comes back around again, then you know that you have completed your count on the previous day.
The real confusion lies in the records that are kept by these organizations where they consistently refer to the dark conjunction lunar phase as "New Moon", rather than the first visible horned crescent. However, all is not lost. Because of the consistency of these organizations, it is possible to calculate utilizing all the data given to determine when the first visible crescent New Moon for any given month would have been. The following example is from N.A.S.A. using the dark conjunction lunar phase for the year of Christ Yahshua's Crucifixion.

YearNew Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter
AD 31 Apr 10 11:32 Apr 18 15:06 Apr 25 19:59 p May 2 10:42

The year was A.D. 31 and the first month of that year was April. Since N.A.S.A identifies the Gregorian 10th day to be the conjunction, all we must do is add a day to arrive at the first visible crescent as viewed in the night sky following sunset on the 11th of April. The following day April 12 is then New Moon day, which is also the first day of the luni-solar month of Abib/Nissan. Since we know from Scripture that Christ Yahshua died on the 14th of the luni-solar month of Abib/Nissan, then we simply count to 14 and, therefore, arrive at Wednesday April 25, A.D. 31, as the day of Christ Yahshua's crucifixion.

The following luni-solar calendar is for the entire year of A.D. 31 and begins in the spring in the month of Abib. The purpose of this illustration is multifaceted as it reveals the calendar used by Christ Yahshua, proclaiming Him to be the Messiah. To view the details of this illustration it is necessary to increase your screen visibility to 200%.

• The first visible crescent New Moon announces that the following day is New Moon Day, and that a new month will begin.
• The first visible crescent New Moon also announces New Year's Day to begin on the first day of Abib in spring.
• The Full Moon was visible on the night of the 13^th.
• In this chart notice first how the Gregorian months float through this luni-solar calendar as depicted in black boxes. Then notice how the weeks and Saturday's float through this calendar that was kept faithfully by Christ Yahshua. The Sabbath that was kept by Christ even while in the tomb was according to this luni-solar calendar as you see in neat rows of dark blue.
• Notice by the color coding that when the New Moon refreshes each new month, it also refreshes the weekly cycle. Every month the weekly cycle is broken by the New Moon day, which according to Ezekiel 46:1 is neither a week day nor a seventh-day Sabbath.
• There are exactly 354 days in a regular twelve month luni-solar calendar year. (Refer to the gold text in the far right column.)
• There are exactly 177 days from Abib 1 to Elul 30. Therefore, there are exactly 177 days from Tisrei 1 to Adar 29. It also appears that there are exactly 177 days within any seasonal grouping of a luni-solar six month period.
• An Embolismic Year containing a thirteenth month is simply 354 days plus 30 days, which brings it to a total of 384 days.
• Notice how the color coded rows of seventh-day Sabbaths connect the spring Feast of Unleavened Bread to the fall Feast of Tabernacles.

Principle #6: Waxing and Waning Lunar Phases Clarify Truth

There is not just one, but two reasons why the "dark conjunction" lunar phase is not only dark but also never visible. The first reason is phase related, as the sun only shines on the moon's back side as viewed from earth, in this way making the visible side dark. The second reason the "conjunction" phase is never visible is position related. This dark lunar phase cannot be seen because it comes between the earth and the sun at sunrise, similar to an eclipse. Both the phase and its position work together to insure consistency, thus it will never be visible. This is because each lunar phase is also bound by physical laws to its position in the heavens. Outside of latitude variation, each lunar phase consistently appears in its approximate longitude position every 29 or 30 days.
If the ancient Hebrews were to look for the dark "conjunction" phase as the "New Moon", they would have had to go out at sunrise and face the east looking for the moon, yet it would never be visible. The act of facing the sun at sunrise was considered an abomination to Yahuwah. This could have too easily been confused with sun worship. This is exactly opposite of what the Lord Yahuwah taught through the ceremonies of the Sanctuary. At sunrise, the priests were to face due west toward the Holy of Holies. What confusion might arise if they were also looking over their shoulders to get a glimpse of an invisible dark conjunction lunar phase?
In Yahuwah's mercy, the New Moon was to be announced by the trumpet blast on the evening prior to New Moon Day (first day of the month). This was for the purpose of allowing the people time to prepare for this Holy day after sunset, when it was dark. Because half of the months of any given year were 29 days in length, His people would have been just observing the seventh-day Sabbath during a 29th day month, prior to the setting sun. It was at that moment that the New Moon was announced by the blowing of the trumpet. The dark hours between the seventh-day Sabbath and the New Moon Day gave His people time to prepare for it. Remember, Yahuwah's ordained Sabbath and New Moon Days were only 12 hour periods which were observed from the sunrise to sunset. (For more on this subject see the article, "Sabbath Restoration: Three Months in a Row").
If the New Moon phase was the dark waning conjunction phase, which was to be viewed at the sunrise, there would be absolutely NO time to prepare for this Holy day, as the new day would be already upon them. The entire purpose of the trumpet blast was to announce the coming Holy day, allowing time for the people to prepare for it, both physically and spiritually.

Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full . . . . Psalms 81:3

Every 24 hour period of a lunar month the moon is on the average 45 minutes short of its previous position in the night or morning sky. The waxing phases occur during the first half of the month. This means that each night following sunset, the lunar phases display "more light" of the sun than the previous night. The waning phases which occur during the second half of the lunar month displays "less light" of the sun than the previous day. With this in mind, I have a question for you.

Question:	Looking at the illustration on page 2 or 3, does the "dark conjunction" lunar phase receive more light than the previous night, as in the waxing phases, or does it receive less light than the previous day, as in the waning phases?
Answer:	It displays less light as in the waning phases.

The reason this is so important to understand is because the dark conjunction phase has all the markings of a waning phase, it is therefore self-evident that it belongs to the end of the second half of the old month. It cannot be both part of the old month and part of the beginning of a new month. Since it appears to be in the waning category it cannot be a "new" refreshed or rebuilding lunar phase that signals a new month has begun. This darkest phase of the month is forever grouped with the waning phases as they, day by day, receive less and less light of the sun until it is completely void of light. By definition, the dark conjunction phase is a waning phase and always part of the second half of the old lunar month. Never can it be any portion of the waxing phases of a "new" refreshed and rebuilding month, as these alone are receiving more and more light with each phase than the preceding phase until the moon is full.
It is because of the importance and intrinsic nature of this dark conjunction phase, that by coming out of its darkness, the first visible crescent moon is dubbed with the term "new". It can only be "new" because the previous moon and month ended in the obscurity of darkness as if its own light had gone out. During the entire month, the lunar phases reflect a percentage of the suns light except for the last phase. This conjunction phase is the only lunar phase that is completely dark and absent of any reflecting rays from the sun from earths perspective. It is not until the next night that there would be any possibility of seeing a crescent moon coming out of it's darkness into the marvelous light. And sometimes it isn't until the second night that a horned crescent moon is actually visible. A visible crescent moon following a non-visible lunar phase has the most apparent markings, fitting all the criteria, for what Scripture defines as the New Moon.

Principle #7: End time Prophecy of Revelation 12:1

In the end of recorded Scripture, Revelation 12:1 states:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born."  Revelation 12:1-4 KJV

"A halo of light and glory clustered about the time of Jesus' death and resurrection, immortalizing the sacred facts that he was the Saviour of the world." Early Writings, p. 197.

It has only recently been discovered that this halo cluster of twelve stars is the self same one described in Revelation 12:1. It is this unbroken cluster of truth that adorns the head of this faithful and pure woman. She, alone, is symbolic of Yahuwah's faithful at the end of time, and is represented as standing on the moon, clothed with the sun, and with this halo of twelve stars above her head. Notice that the sun, moon and stars are each elements of time that make up the Creator's luni-solar calendar as He appointed in Genesis 1:14. It was this same luni-solar calendation system that was again highlighted, at the culmination of the fullness of time, by the Savor's death and resurrection.

1. Year – A.D. 31	7. Full Moon Day is the 14th or 15th
2. Season – Spring	8. Feast of Passover on the 14th
3. Month – Abib/Nisan	9. Crucifixion – 9th hour of death on 14th
4. Date of Month – 14th day	10. Feast of Unleavened bread on 15th
5. Day of Week – 6th day	11. High Sabbath Rest in Tomb on 15th
6. Preparation Day – 6th day	12. Resurrection Day/Wave Sheaf on 16th

For an in-depth study on these Twelve Criteria, see the article entitled "Twelve Criteria of the True Crucifixion Date" and the corresponding e-course.
Each of the celestial terms given in Revelation 12:1 are reminiscent of the Genesis Creation account. It is also significant that this verse depicts the moon under her feet because it signifies that the moon is "visible". Nothing can be illustrated if it is invisible.
Here is depicted a people who have proactively come full circle back to the pure calendation truths of Scripture. They worship their Creator in spirit and truth by following His ordained orchestration of the sun, moon and stars, which He placed in the heavens for signs, seasons, days and years. They have discovered that it is only these created celestial bodies in the heavens, working together, that beacon all His holy festival days, including the seventh-day Sabbath, rather than the calendar hanging on the walls as inspired by Rome.
This pure woman is presented in striking contrast to the harlot woman of Revelation 17 who rides the seven headed beast. This seven headed beast is the same one represented as seeking to devour the offspring of the pure woman. Clearly, something about the pure woman has made this second harlot woman who rides the beast extremely jealous and angry. So what does it all mean? Could these seven heads of the beast represent the continuous, uninterrupted seven-day-cycle of pagan origin? Is it possible that each of the seven heads are representative of each of the planetary gods that has been applied to the pagan Gregorian calendar week-day, and known as Sun-day, Moon-day . . . Saturn's-day, etc.? Is it possible that Satan, under the guise of these planetary gods, would utilize a false Roman calendar with its unbroken cycle of weeks to undermine and destroy the knowledge of the truths of Yahuwah? Would he think to attempt to set up his own counterfeit mountain of time (har mo'ed) so as to receive worship as Yahuwah? Remember Satan's strong and boastful declaration?

I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount (har) of the congregation (mo'ed), in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:13-14

Throughout the entire Bible this boastful declaration of Satan trumps all others as he proactively seeks exaltation as Yahuwah, or in place of Him. The point that is really interesting is the method he chooses to reach his ultimate goal of "god status" and worship. Rightly, many have discerned that Satan would receive worship through a counterfeit holy day. However, it appears that Satan's ultimate goal was to create an entire "mountain" of counterfeit calendation, consisting of weeks, months, years, holy days, and seventh-day Sabbaths.
For most of us this is a new concept that Satan's ultimate achievement of "god status" would be reached via usurping a counterfeit "calendation mountain" in place of Yahuwah's "principles that rule in the heavens". So in dissecting Satan's declaration in Isaiah, what proof can be uncovered that reveals this was indeed his goal and whether it has been achieved yet? The first step is to find the meaning of the phrase "mount of the congregation", and then what is meant by the phrase "in the sides of the north".

Strong's Concordance:
mount - #2022 = har – mountain (literal or figurative)
congregation - #4150 = mowed, or moed -- an appointment; a fixed time; a festival; an assembly; tech. the congregation; the time, the place or the meeting itself; of the three meanings, the appointed time is most basic. The meaning of moed is fixed within the context of Israel's religion.

The "mount of the congregation" literally means Yahuwah's "mountain of appointed fixed time". His appointed fixed time system is used to locate His appointed seventh-day Sabbaths as well as His yearly holy Feast days. It has been discovered in Strong's Concordance that "seasons" = feasts = moeds. These can be referred to as Yahuwah's mountain of calendation of fixed time, and/or prophetic time. All the appointed Feasts (seasons or mo'eds), whether weekly or yearly, are reckoned by the New Moons of the luni-solar calendar.
Next, the phrase used by Satan, "in the sides of the North" at first glance appears to be rather vague. However, he was being most specific, which will be demonstrated shortly. It must not be forgotten that the battle between Yahuwah and Satan is waged over the hearts and minds of all those living on earth. Therefore, this illustration demonstrates earth with the points of the compass, which all the people scattered upon the earth hold in common.
In this illustration, notice that there are two objects relating to time, which are visibly rotating from east to west around the earth. These are the sun and the moon. They can be recognized from all points on earth exactly as Yahuwah positioned them to determine time 6000 years ago and can be described as "the principles that rule in the heavens". While throughout any given year their location will vary slightly, it is an undisputed fact that our continued observation of them is that they appear to visibly be moving from east to west.
To all appearances from earth they remain permanently on the "sides of the north" from every locality. So without Satan actually using the terms "sun and moon" or "the principles that rule in the heavens", he is actually saying exactly the same thing by coining this new phrase—"in the sides of the north". It was no secret to Satan that Yahuwah's laws and dominion included the elements of timekeeping. This is self-evident in that he specifically declared that he would "sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north". From the Strong's definition above, Satan was clearly declaring that: He would sit on the throne of Yahuwah's mountain (har) of the appointed feast times (seasons and moeds), and rule over the whole earth via his counterfeit of all elements of timekeeping, and not simply the Sabbath which is only a single unit of time and only a by-product of the much larger counterfeit "mountain of time".
A logical conclusion to Satan's declaration is that since he was neither the creator of the time ordained sun and moon, nor was he the author of their orchestrated function. His only option was to author and legislate a counterfeit replacement. This he accomplished in slow increments over 2500 years beginning in 600 B.C. It has recently been discovered that Constantine did not change the sanctity of the Saturday Sabbath by moving it to Sunday. Shocking as this may be to some, within the Roman Empire, Judaism or Christianity, Saturday had never been the seventh-day on their calendars. The change occurred only after the length of the Roman week was changed from an eight-day week to a seven-day week. This change came to completion in A.D. 324 under the leadership of Constantine. He usurped to legislate a seven-day successive week cycle, a counterfeit of Yahuwah's New Moon month and weeks. In doing so he placed the solemnity on "Sun" day, in position of the first day, as the symbol of Rome's "sole" source of calendation. In contrast, Yahuwah's Holy seventh-day Sabbath was reckoned by the orchestration of both the sun and the phases of the moon, which only rarely cycled to cause the true seventh-day to fall on the Roman Saturday. “(Please see The Creator's Luni-Solar Calendar Outlawed and Pagan Origins of the Modern Calendar.)”
There are some historical records that speak of Jewish cities not engaging in battle on Saturday and, therefore, were taken captive. These were the Jews that had apostatized to the ways of the pagan gods. How can we know this? Those who remained faithful to Yahuwah's calendation and true Sabbath, He promised to protect from their enemies. The only time Israel ever went into captivity was because of her unfaithfulness to the Lord Yahuwah's commands. An additional proof of this is that prior to A.D. 324, Saturday had been the "first day" of the pagan Roman week. It had never occupied the place of the seventh-day of the Roman week until this calendation change occurred in A.D.324.
It was not until this counterfeit time system evolved that the teaching regarding – "unbroken chains of successive weeks have continued since Creation", was proclaimed. This is just another lie of the "hissing snake", promoting his counterfeit calendar or mountain of time, that he may be worshiped in place of the Creator Yahuwah. The unbroken chains of weeks concept is a mere 2500 years old, and not 6000 years old as previously thought. In other words the unbroken seven-day week cycles did not originate at creation.
The laws of God and the time of God were to be changed by this antichristian power . . . . In the prophecy it is plainly shown that this papal power would with deliberate intention change the law of God . . . . Signs of the Times 11/19/1894

In Conclusion:

The New Moon, (according to Strong's Concordance: chodesh #2320, #3394, #3842, #7720, #4582, #3391, #3376) is given approximately 300 times between Genesis and Revelation as compared to the seventh-day Sabbath which is given approximately 150 times. New Moons beacon the beginning of each new month according to Scripture, and were designed at creation to designate by its changing phases exactly when the true seventh-day Sabbaths will fall. Among all the lunar phases, the New Moon, according to Scripture, is the most significant lunar phase and of great importance to Yahuwah's calendation principles. This is because it beacons that a new month is to begin the following morning at sunrise, and begins the count for the entire month, as well as for the entire year. The Creator's luni-solar month and its corresponding weeks has been the ongoing target of Lucifer's unending attacks. For if the real truth were leaked out regarding the importance Yahuwah places on the "New Moon", Lucifer's mask would come off, and he would be exposed for the imposter and mastermind of deception that he is.
The count beginning at New Moon locates all the Lord Yahuwah's Holy appointed Feasts. According to Genesis 1, Exodus 12 and 16, and Leviticus 23, His Feasts are divided into two categories; the four weekly Sabbaths each month, and the annual appointed Feasts. Yahuwah's faithful will recognize that it was Moses who recorded all three of these vitally important accounts in Scripture. His faithful will discover that Exodus contains the pivotal record and time centric key that unlocks His calendation principles of both Genesis and Leviticus. It is in Moses' record of Exodus 12, 16, and 19 that the application of Yahuwah's "seven-day week" is made with regards to His months and years. It is only in the restoring of Yahuwah's calendation truths to Israel at the Exodus that the full calendation picture is given which presents the details of exactly how the Creator placed His ordained and holy seventh-day Sabbath as His most precious gem within the framework of His lunar cycle setting. (For more on this, refer to the article "Sabbath Restoration: Three Months in a Row" and the corresponding e-course.)

If you do not now fully recognize yourself and your doctrinal beliefs in the illustration and symbology of this pure woman of Revelation as she stands as a witness upon the moon, then prayerfully ask the Lord Yahuwah to help you change your predicament. The only other choice will be to belong to the symbolic harlot woman who continues to ride the seven headed beast. Saturday Sabbatarians have long held that they have never ridden the beast. However, Revelation 13:3 states otherwise as it says that, "all the world wondered after the beast." Saturday is not the antidote to wondering after the beast because Saturday Sabbatarians are included in the term all. Certainly all the world has wondered after the beast, but Yahuwah is now calling His faithful to come out from among her.

. . . And all the world wondered after the beast. Revelation 13:3 KJV

At a time when it is not popular to believe in the Creator's luni-solar calendar, its crescent New Moons, its Holy appointed Feasts days, or its sacred seventh-day Sabbaths, the Lord Yahuwah's still small voice is calling. He is now making up His number of faithful followers who will be willing to stand by faith upon His sure foundation. Amidst great opposition from all sides, these will take up their cross and walk in this new light of His oracles of Scriptural truth.

Yahuwah’s Original Calendar

In the beginning, the Creator made everything from nothing. Matter existed at the sound of His voice. Life entered man with the breath of his Maker flowing into his lungs. Everything from nothing. All provisions for the happiness of man were provided by a loving Creator. And then, Yahuwah God gave man the Sabbath: a blessed and holy time in which to give back love and worship to his Creator. All people need to worship; it is how man's brain is made.

But, lest after generations become confused and lose track of the days, Yahuwah provided at Creation a built-in, ever present, always accurate clock/calendar to measure time and clearly designate the work days from the worship days. In order to worship Yahuwah on the day He appointed, people must be able to understand how His clock/calendar works to know which day is number one, the starting point for counting the six days to work, with worship on the seventh.

The calendar established at Creation was kept by the Jews until well into the 4^th century A.D. It was a luni-solar calendar with months lasting either 29 or 30 days. Each new month started with the first appearance of the crescent moon. The years did not have a continuous cycle of weeks but instead the weekly cycle started over with each new moon. New Moon day was a worship day followed by six working days, with the seventh-day Sabbath on the eighth of the month. Three more successive weeks completed the month.

Most people find this concept so different it leaves their brain reeling. At the very least, it is tempting to denounce it as wrong simply because it is so foreign to everything Seventh-day Adventists have ever heard, believed, or preached. However, there is scriptural, historical, astronomical and prophetic proof that this description of the original calendar is true. This article will consider the scriptural and historical proof for the original calendar.

First, a definition in terms. There are only three kinds of calendars in use: the solar, the lunar and the luni-solar.

Solar calendars are based upon how long it takes the earth to revolve around the sun. The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with each new year arbitrarily beginning in the middle of winter on January 1. The solar year is 365.2422 days long. The left over time (approximately ¼ of a twenty-four hour period) accumulates over a four year period and is resolved by adding a leap day, currently February 29, every four years. Because the remaining time isn't precisely ¼ of a twenty-four hour period, adding one day every four years actually adds too much time. The extra time is removed from the calendar by, on a rare occasion, having eight years between leap years, rather than just four.

Centurial years that are equally divisible by 400 are leap years; centurial years that are not equally divisible by 400 are not leap years. This is why A.D. 2000 was a leap year, but 1900, 1800 and 1700 were not, while 1600 was a leap year.

Lunar calendars are based strictly on the cycles of the moon. A lunar calendar is only 354 days long, or 11 days shorter than a solar year. As a result, the dates of the lunar calendar float through the solar year. An example of a lunar calendar is Islam's religious calendar. This is why Ramadan is at differing times of the year on a Gregorian calendar. Sometimes Ramadan is in spring; other times, it comes in November or January, etc.

Luni-solar calendars are a combination of the two. The days are marked off by the rising of the sun while the months are tied to the cycles of the moon. A luni-solar calendar, because it uses both the sun and the moon, does not shift as much as a strictly lunar calendar, so spring feasts remain in the spring, while fall feasts remain in the fall. The Jewish luni-solar calendar used both observation and calculation.

Because Yahuwah established His clock/calendar at Creation, it would be reasonable to expect some reference to that in the Creation account given in Genesis. It is found right where one would expect to find it – in the record of the fourth day of Creation. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years" (Genesis 1:14.)

The word here translated "seasons" is mo'ed (#4150.)¹ It means:

Congregation, festive gathering; appointment, signal. . . . Mo'ed often designates a determined time or place without any regard for the purpose. Since the Jewish festivals occurred at regular intervals, this word becomes closely identified with them . . . Mo'ed is used in a broad sense for all religious assemblies. It was closely associated with the tabernacle itself . . . God met Israel there at specific times for the purpose of revealing His will. It is a common term for the worshiping assembly of God's people.²

All of Yahuwah's worship days in the Bible are called mo'eds. Leviticus 23 lists all of them. The very first one listed is the seventh-day Sabbath:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts (mo'ed) of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts (mo'ed). Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. ³

From there, Yahuwah goes on to list the rest of His mo'eds – Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles. They are all called mo'eds. People who keep the feasts, figure them by the moon, but the very first "feast" listed is the weekly feast (mo'ed) of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Anciently, the Jews waited to observe the first crescent of the moon and then the day following that sighting was New Moon day.

The Hebrew month was lunar,⁴beginning with the evening on which the crescent moon appeared. The 1^stday of the month was called the new moon (1 Samuel 20:24-27) . . . At first, visual observation was used to determine the appearance of the crescent. If the crescent was seen on the evening following the 29^thday of the month, a new month had begun; if not, another day was added so that that particular month had 30 days (a month never had more than 30 days).⁵

The biggest difference between the calendar of creation and the calendars in use today is how the weeks cycle through the year. The Gregorian calendar, like the Julian calendar before it, has a continuous cycle of unending weeks, one after the other. The Creator's calendar does not. The weekly cycle started over with the appearance of each new moon. This is how each month's calendar looked for the night preceding the day:

Again, the first visible crescent not only began each new month, it also restarted the weekly cycle. As a result, the seventh-day Sabbath always fell on the 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th of the month.

To those who have never known anything different than a continuous, unending cycle of unbroken weeks, the idea of starting the weekly cycle over again each month strains credulity. However, be assured that the work week was never longer than the prescribed six days. Once a month they would have what today would be called "a long weekend," and in a 29-day month the seventh-day Sabbath was immediately followed by a New Moon sabbath, but the days for work never exceeded 6 days.

Since the world has been on an unending weekly cycle for over 1,000 years, people today are unacquainted with a weekly cycle that is not continuous. Seventh-day Adventists, therefore, have misunderstood the following quote:

Like the Sabbath, the week originated at creation, and it has been preserved and brought down to us through Bible history. God himself measured off the first week as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time. Like every other, it consisted of seven literal days. Six days were employed in the work of creation; upon the seventh, God rested, and he then blessed this day, and set it apart as a day of rest for man. ⁶

It has been assumed that this referred to a continuous weekly cycle. But all this quote is saying is that the week as a unit of time is still the original length of seven days. Studying the units of time measurement in the Hebrew economy is very revealing. Notice in particular the definitions of the various words.

Calendar Units (in the Hebrew economy)

The day–In calendar terms, the day is the smallest and most consistent unit of time. In the ancient world, the term day was used in two senses. It described a 24-hour period, as well as daylight in contrast to the night (Gen[esis] 1:5) . . . .

The week–The week was a seven-day unit begun at the time of creation (Gen[esis] 1:31-2:2). The word week means "seven" (Gen[esis] 29:27; Luke 18:12). In the Bible the days of the week were called the "first day," "third day," and so forth (Gen[esis] 1:8-31; Matt[hew] 28:1), although the seventh day was known as "sabbath" (Ex[odus] 16:23; Matt[hew] 12:1). The day before the Sabbath was called "the Preparation Day" (Mark 15:42) . . . .

The month–The month was a unit of time closely tied to the moon. The Hebrew word for "month" also meant "moon" (Deut[eronomy] 33:14, NIV, NASB). The reason for the connection between the month and the moon is that the beginning of a month was marked by a new moon. The moon was carefully observed by the people of Bible times. When it appeared as a thin crescent, it marked the beginning of a new month.

The lunar month was about 29 days long. Therefore, the first crescent of the new moon would appear 29 or 30 days after the previous new moon. At times the crescent was not visible because of clouds. But this was allowed for with a rule that the new moon would never be reckoned as more than 30 days after the last new moon. This prevented too much variation in the calendar.⁷

What has been preserved since creation is a seven-day week. At different times through history, various cultures experimented with weeks of differing lengths. Some weeks were eight days long, while others were ten days long, depending upon how far apart were their market days.

Following is an illustration of an 8-day week Roman Republican calendar. Each column stands for a month with the eight days of the week represented by letters in the columns.

However, saying that the week as a unit of time has been preserved since Creation is different from assuming that the cycle of the weeks has been unbroken since Creation.

Sabbatarians have long used Isaiah 66:23 to prove that the seventh-day Sabbath will be the day of worship throughout eternity. Unfortunately, it has not been realized that this very same text also reveals the calendar by which Yahuwah's Sabbaths are calculated: "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD."

The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt offering, with the proper meat offerings and drink offerings, and a kid as a sin offering. Num[bers] 28:11-15. As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraft work were stopped, Amos 8:5, and the temple was opened for public worship. Isa[iah] 66:23; Ezek[iel] 46:3. The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals. Num[bers] 10:10; Ps[alm] 81:3. It was an occasion for state banquets. 1 Sam[uel] 20:5- 24. In later, if not in earlier times, fasting was intermitted at the new moons. The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths. . . . The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time.⁸

An indication that the New Moon Sabbaths were actually considered to be higher than the seventh-day Sabbath is the additional sacrifices offered that day.

One of the clearest passages in the Bible that show that the Jews kept the luni-solar calendar is found in Exodus 16. Ironically, it is one of the chapters Sabbatarians have used to "prove" that Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath. It is the account of the Children of Israel first receiving manna.

Exodus 16:1 & 2 states:

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

It may not be immediately clear how this proves a luni-solar calendar. This is because of a change in punctuation when the Bible was translated into English. Technically speaking, the ancient Hebrew did not have punctuation marks as exist today. However, they did have little marks, or breaks, that let the reader know where the end of the thought was or, in effect, "where the period is supposed to go." This is called an atnach and is found after the location given in verse one. A correct rendering of these verses, than, is this:

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. (Atnach)

And on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

On the fifteenth day of the second month which, by luni-solar reckoning is always a seventh-day Sabbath, the Israelites griped to Moses and Aaron because their food had run out. The Lord's response is found in verse four:

Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

So, here He is telling them, "I'm going to give you some manna; and the way I'll know whether or not you obey Me will be if you try and work to collect it on the seventh day. I'm spelling it out for you now to prepare twice as much on the sixth day. We'll see if you obey Me."

The story continues in verse six. Moses and Aaron went and announced to the people that at "even" they would have meat and in the morning they would see the glory of the Lord.

And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground.⁹

The meat "came up" at "even" – the "even" after they complained, and the next morning they found manna.

Moses then explained that the manna was bread from Yahuwah God and they were to gather it for six days without leaving any left-overs for the next day. On the sixth day, he said, they were to gather twice as much as there would be none on the seventh day (verses 15-22.) When the sixth day arrived, Moses gave them some additional instructions:

This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD; bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

They gathered the manna for six days. Six days starting when? Starting the 16^th of the month, the day on which the manna first fell after their complaining on the 15^th. The next day, Moses said, was "the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord." It's a simple math problem: 15 + 7 = 22. Again, when the first of the month is a New Moon Sabbath, the 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th are also always seventh-day Sabbaths.

The next day, which would have been the 22^nd, the Sabbath, "there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none."¹⁰

This was the test the Lord referred to earlier – would they obey Him and keep the Sabbath by resting on it or not?

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.¹¹

The seventh day from when? From the first day they received the manna which would have been the 16^th of the month, a first day.

Seventh-day Adventists have always said that the Sabbath was established by the fact that for 40 years Yahuwah provided proof as to which day was the Sabbath by two miracles:

1. Giving manna on the six working days;
2. Withholding manna on the seventh day.

It has not been seen that this same passage provides an insight into the construction of the luni-solar months. Other passages in the Bible also support such configuring of the luni-solar month, but it is not within the scope of this work to go into all of them.  (Refer to article, Sabbath Restoration: Three Months in a Row and the corresponding e-course.)

Since the lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar year, Yahuwah provided a reliable way of anchoring the new year to the spring. He did this by connecting the first lunation of the year to the barley harvest. Most years had 12 lunations or months. These were referred to as "perfect" or common years. Embolismic years, or "leap" years, had 13 lunations as an entire additional month was required to reconcile the wandering lunar year to the solar. Embolismic years were considered "defective."
The barley-harvest law, when applied to a continuous series of years, is the same in its performance as the law of the 19-year cycle . . . The extra moons are interpolated that bring the lunar year into harmony with the solar . . . The embolismic years follow the same cycle number indefinitely, and the cycle can be numbered from any year in the series.¹²
The order runs as follows:
Embolismic year (13 lunations) - * common year (12 lunations) – c

*cc*cc*cc*c*cc*cc*c

During the years of Israel's obedience, Yahuwah faithfully sent the early (fall) and latter (spring) rains. The priests planted a field of barley in the Kidron Valley. Throughout the Julian/Gregorian March and into the first week of April the latter rains fell, bringing the grain to full maturity. It was the grain from this field that was offered as the wave sheaf on the second day of Feast of Unleavened Bread (or Nisan 16 – the day Jesus was resurrected.) Anytime before the first week of April, the barley would not have been ready. Therefore, by tying the start of their year to the month of the barley harvest, Yahuwah reconciled the lunar cycle to the solar cycle. This simple harvest rule kept the people from fixing the year to the spring equinox as did the pagans.
The idea that the Jews have never lost track of the true Sabbath is as erroneous as the idea that the weekly cycle in use today is the same one since Creation. The Jews themselves did away with their Creator-ordained calendar. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people from their homeland, it became increasingly difficult, with the addition of their rabbinical regulations, to calculate a calendar tied to the barley harvest. Under intense persecution in the fourth century, the Jews themselves abandoned their barley-harvest regulation at which time a fixed, counterfeit 19-year cycle tied to the vernal equinox was established.  (Refer to article, Jews Admit! "The true calendar was set aside." )
An additional difference in the Biblical calculation of time is when the day begins. Ever since Mrs. Rachel Oakes brought the light of the seventh-day Sabbath to Adventists, it has been assumed that the Sabbath began on Friday. Initially, for a number of years, Adventists kept the Sabbath from 6 p.m. Friday evening until 6 p.m. Saturday night. Later, a text was found that led them to believe the Sabbath should start instead at "even."
This was startling to Ellen White. "I inquired [of the angel] why it had been thus, that at this late day we must change the time of commencing the Sabbath."¹³
The angel's response is very intriguing. He replied, "Ye will understand, but not yet, not yet."
The text, from which they extrapolated the idea that the Sabbath was to start at sunset, is found in Leviticus 23:32: ". . . from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." Rather than investigating further, Seventh-day Adventists have always just assumed that text applied to the seventh-day Sabbath.
However, earlier in the vision, the angel instructed Ellen White: "Take the word of God, read it, understand, and ye cannot err. Read carefully, and ye shall there find what even is, and when it is."¹⁴
Had they been correct in believing that the Sabbath began at "even," the angel would certainly have confirmed that. He did not. Instead, he redirected them to the Word of God, because a careful study of the Word will reveal that "what even is, and when it is", is not what has been assumed.
In English, the word "even" is synonymous with "evening/twighlight." The same does not hold true in the Hebrew. To the Jews, "even" was anytime from noon until sunset, just as "morning" was anytime from dawn until noon. This is why Jesus, as the anti-typical lamb could die at the 3 o'clock in the afternoon and it still be the time of the evening sacrifice.
When Leviticus 23:32, the main "proof text" for sunset to sunset Sabbath keeping, is read in context, a startling contradiction comes to light. In this passage, it is speaking of the manner in which the Day of Atonement is to be kept. The Jews always fasted on the Day of Atonement and they based that practice on this text.

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls . . . And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement . . . Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.¹⁵

Did you catch it? It is spelled out right there in the very last sentence. "In the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." First of all, in this context, it is speaking strictly of the Day of Atonement. Furthermore, if they were to afflict their souls (fast) starting the evening of the ninth and going until the evening of the tenth, they would be fasting on the ninth and not the tenth! If the day begins at sunset (or even) as has always been assumed, then the "ninth day of the month at even" would be the sunset following the day of the eighth.
In other words, were the day to start at even, than the entire 24-hour day begins at the evening of the day before. Yahuwah's people cannot afford to be inconsistent. If "even-to-even" is correct, as has been assumed, the text would be saying that they were to begin "afflicting" their souls on the evening that begins the day of the ninth. The fast would then end on the evening that begins the tenth with no fasting whatsoever on the actual Day of Atonement.
This, obviously, cannot be what was meant. The text needs to be interpreted in the way intended: the day begins in the morning with the dawning of a new day. Therefore, the fast would begin on the ninth of the month at evening, the evening before the Day of Atonement, and end when evening came, the night of the tenth.
Another inconsistency brought to light in the even to even theory is found in the story of the Passover. Jesus, the great anti-typical Lamb, was slain at the time of the evening sacrifice – the time when the Passover lambs had been slain for centuries:

When the loud cry, "It is finished," came from the lips of Christ, the priests were officiating in the temple. It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be slain . . . With a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand . . . All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops from his nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God's son. The great sacrifice has been made.¹⁶

"The Passover was observed as it had been for centuries, while He to whom it pointed had been slain by wicked hands, and lay in Joseph's tomb."¹⁷
Christ perfectly fit all of the types of the sanctuary service, even to dying at the precise time the Passover lamb was slain at the time of the evening sacrifice. Now there is a problem. Back in Egypt at the first Passover, the angel of death went forth at midnight. If Jesus died at 3 p.m. on the sixth day of the week, the preparation day, when the Passover lamb had been slain for centuries, then that means that the angel of death did not "pass over" the houses of the Israelites on "Passover" at all. If the new day truly started in the evening, then the angel of death passed over the Israelites at midnight on the 15^th of Nisan, not truly on Nisan 14, the Passover. Only if the day starts at dawn does this make sense. The angel of death did not pass over on the 15^th, but rather on the 14^th, the Pass-over. He went through Egypt at midnight, following the daylight hours of the 14^th.
The new day started at dawn, not sunset. Other texts confirm this, too. Matthew 28:1 states: "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." The Sabbath ended and the new day, the first day of the week, began at dawn.
Seventh-day Adventists have always believed that the reason the Jews were so anxious to get Jesus and the thieves off the cross was because Sabbath was coming at evening. But this is not consistent with the Biblical account. If the Sabbath actually began at evening, rather than the morning, they were already breaking it by waiting until evening to begin the work of getting them down.
Matthew 27:57-60 tells us:

When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb . . . ."

All of this takes time, especially when he first had to go to Pilate to receive permission, then wait while Pilate sent a messenger to Golgotha to see if Jesus was really dead. If the point was to "keep the Sabbath", the Sabbath was already being broken by the fact that they did not even begin until "even was come."
The account in Luke gives even more detail of the lengthy process involved and reveals clearly just when the Sabbath began:

And, behold there was a man named Joseph, a counselor; and he was a good man, and a just . . . This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.¹⁸

The account in Matthew reveals that this process did not even start until "even was come", while Luke's account clarifies that the hours in which this was accomplished fell on the preparation – still the sixth day of the week.
The phrase translated "drew on" in this text, is the Greek word, epiphosko. The definition is startling: "to begin to grow light: – begin to dawn."¹⁹." It is a form of #2017, (epiphauo), which means "to illuminate . . . give light."²⁰Because they waited until evening to even begin the process of seeking permission to take the body, taking it down, cleaning and wrapping it, etc., it took them the night hours to do their work. They did not finish until the Sabbath began as it started to grow light.
Did Ellen White believe the Sabbath was to be kept from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday?
Yes.
Does that in any way affect her standing as a prophet of the Lord?
Absolutely not. Ellen White must not be held to an unfair standard. Daniel has never been denounced as a false prophet simply because he did not understand everything. To caution against extreme reactions when new light is brought forth, Ellen White wrote:

We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and Heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed. ²¹

Just what have we, as a church, actually unlearned since this statement was made? Yahuwah's people must not stumble over something just because it is new. Rather, study with an open mind, determining to obey if it is true.

We must not think, "Well, we have all the truth, we understand the main pillars of our faith, and we may rest on this knowledge." The truth is an advancing truth, and we must walk in the increasing light. ²²

Hebrew Calendation Principles

Each day started at sunrise and continued until the next sunrise.
Evening was from noon until sunset.
Sunset until sunrise was night and was counted as part of the previous day.
There were four watches during the night: sunset to 9:00; 9:00 to midnight; midnight to 3:00; 3:00 to sunrise.
Months started with the day following the observation of the crescent moon in the western sky after sunset.
Months, lunations, had either 29 or 30 days.
If no crescent was seen, the month automatically started on the day following the 30th.
The 30^th was a work day, not a worship time.
Six working days followed the New Moon day.
The Sabbath always fell on the 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th of each month.
The year had either 12 months (common) or 13 months (embolismic).
The year had six 29 day months and six 30 day months – 11 days short of the solar year.
The year began with the one crescent moon after the spring equinox which provided a Paschal full moon between the Julian/Gregorian dates of April 8 and May 6.
Allowing the barley harvest to reconcile the lunar year to the solar year, the years fell naturally into a 19-year cycle of common and embolismic years.
There were never more than two common years in a row before an embolismic year.
There were never two embolismic years in a row.
A cycle of 19 years gave a nearly perfect alignment with the solar year.
In the nineteen year cycle, there were seven embolismic years.
The 19-year cycles can be calculated on a perpetual calendar both forward and backward for thousands of years.

When a doctrine is presented that does not meet our minds, we should go to the word of God, seek the Lord in prayer, and give no place for the enemy to come in with suspicion and prejudice. We should never permit the spirit to be manifested that arraigned the priests and rulers against the Redeemer of the world. They complained that He disturbed the people, and they wished He would let them alone; for He caused perplexity and dissension. The Lord sends light to us to prove what manner of spirit we are of. We are not to deceive ourselves. Gospel Workers 301

¹ "The following Lexical Aids provide more extended definitions of key words than James Strong's A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible, found at the back of this Bible. Hence, the reader has in the same volume with the text of the Bible, information that is normally found only in Hebrew lexicons, word studies, and commentaries," Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version, 1594.
² Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version: "Lexical Aids to the Old Testament", 1626.
³ Leviticus 23:1-3
⁴ The month was lunar while the year was luni-solar as can be proven by the fact that Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were always in the spring when the barley harvest was ripe. This allowed them to offer the wave sheaf of first fruits before the Lord on the second day of Feast of Unleavened Bread. Had the Hebrew calendar been strictly lunar without any reconciliation to the longer solar year, the spring feasts would have drifted through the solar year and not remained in the spring.
⁵ SDA Bible Dictionary, revised edition, Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1979, Commentary Series, Vol. 8, 757-758.
⁶ Ellen G. White, Christian Education, 190.
⁷ Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.
⁸ Smith's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted, emphasis supplied.
⁹ Exodus 16:13, 14
¹⁰ Exodus 16:27
¹¹ Exodus 16:28-30
¹² Grace Amadon, "Ancient Jewish Calendation", 8-9, Box 1, Folder 9, Grace Amadon Collection.
¹³ Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1 116.
¹⁴ Ibid., emphasis original.
¹⁵ Leviticus 23:27, 28, 31 & 32
¹⁶ Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, 756 & 757.
¹⁷ Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, 774.
¹⁸ Luke 23:50, 52-54, emphasis supplied.
¹⁹ James Strong, #2020, "Dictionary of the Greek Testament", The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990, 32.
²⁰ Ibid.
²¹ Ellen G. White, Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, 203.
²² Ellen G. White, Councils to Writers and Editors, 33.

The Biblical Calendar: Divinely Designed Time

In the heavens there is nothing accidental, nothing arbitrary, nothing out of order, nothing erratic.  Everywhere is order, truth, reason, constancy . . . I cannot understand this regularity in the stars, this harmony of time and motion in their curious orbits through all eternity, except as the expression of reason, mind and purpose   . . . Their constant and eternal motion, wonderful and mysterious in its regularity, declares the indwelling power of a divine intelligence.  If any man cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of any feeling at all.⁽¹⁾

The beautifully simple words of Roman Stoic, Cicero, gives voice to his admiration for the heavens and heaven’s Creator.  He further observed, “When you see a sundial or a water-clock, you see that it tells the time by design and not by chance.”⁽²⁾

Scripture, history and archeology agree: all ancient civilizations used luni-solar calendation.⁽³⁾ The perfection of the luni-solar calendar as preserved by the Hebrews is well-summed up in the words of Joseph Scaliger as “the most ingenious and most elegant of all systems of chronology.”⁽⁴⁾ The reason the Creator’s method of time-keeping is the most accurate, precise and elegant, while at the same time the “most ingenious” is because built within it are checks and balances which require no man-made manipulation to keep perfect track of time.  The history of all counterfeit calendars is one of continual adjustment; not so with the true calendar of Creation.

The Creator’s calendar is based on three observable facts.  1. The spinning of Earth on its axis: a day.  2. The revolution of the moon around Earth: a lunation, or month.  3. The revolution of Earth and sun: a year.  Taken individually, each segment of nature’s clockwork is “off” by just a little bit.  The weeks do not perfectly align with the lunations; the lunar year is not quite as long as the solar year.   And yet, when taken as a whole, the parts unite to provide a coordinated time-keeping system that is precise enough for the most exacting astronomical calculation, while simple enough for a child to just lift his eyes to the heavens and understand the calendar of the Creator. 

Some, in studying luni-solar calendation, have supposed that prior to the flood, the planets were in perfect alignment: each month had 30 days; the years were 360 days long.  Such speculation is not supported by the statements of antiquity.  Much of the book of Enoch deals with lunar and solar calendation and the astronomical principles that correlate the two.

Berosus, a Chaldean historian, describes the patriarch Abraham as having great knowledge of astronomy:  “In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man [Abram] righteous and great, and skilful in the celestial science.”⁽⁵⁾

Before leaving Ur of the Chaldees, Abram stood as a witness for the God of Heaven.⁽⁶⁾ He used the need to intercalate ⁽⁷⁾ the apparently irregular parts of the precise whole as proof that nature itself was not god, but there exists a Being superior to nature Who is its Creator. 

This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus:– “If [said he] these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they made it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that commands them; to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honour and thanksgiving.”⁽⁸⁾

Luni-solar calendation was used by all ancient civilizations because it was the method brought down from before the flood by Noah and his descendants.  Historical artifacts and records reveal that Sumer, the first post-flood civilization, possessed the largest and most accurate body of antediluvian knowledge.  The applied mathematics of Sumer with their measurement of the heavens is still in use today! 

In grade school, my fifth-grade teacher announced to the class that we all had to learn the metric system because the United States would soon be changing to that system of measurement: “The rest of the world is ahead of the U.S. in adopting the metric system and we need to catch up.  The Imperial system of inches, feet, yards, miles, etc., is clumsy, irrational and makes no sense.”  Well, that did not make any sense to me!  I knew how long a foot was.  I knew how long it took to drive the 35 miles into school.  I did not want to learn a new method of measurement!  The fact that Canada was lauded for changing to the metric system did not inspire me in the least.  Fortunately for me, the United States still has never converted to the metric system although the belief that the Imperial system is an awkward, out-modded, primitive system still exists. 

However, nothing could be further from the truth!  The metric system is simple to understand (for most minds!) because it is based on ten.  The Imperial system is just as scientific because it is based on astronomy.  Sumerian astronomers, looking at the sky, saw a circle from horizon around to horizon.  They assigned 360 degrees of equal distance to this measurement and today the same degree of calibration is used for circles, geometry and angles (even by those who use the metric system!)  The earth is measured with latitude and longitude, the time zones are laid out, all using the universal 360°.   This system, the sexagismal system, is based on 60.⁽⁹⁾ It is from the sexagismal base of 60 that there are 12 inches in a foot and three feet in a yard.  Without the sexagismal system, a right-angle would not be 90 degrees or a straight line 180 degrees.

Time measurement itself uses the sexagismal base of 60.  There are 60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; and 12 hours in a day (2 x 12 in a complete 24 hour period).  Both 12 and 60 are factors of 60.  The sexagismal system even solves the mystery of why the prophetic year is 360 days long.  (6 x 60 = 360.)  The prophetic year of 360 days is actually a metaphor for luni-solar calendation.  A solar year consists of 365.24 days.  The lunar year is 354.37 days long.  Add these numbers together, round to 720 full days, then average, dividing by two.  The answer is 360.  Contrary to what some have assumed, the antediluvian year was not 360 days long.  Rather, a 360-day year is solar and lunar time averaged.

There can be no true substitute for the governing principles of luni-solar time, which mark out to the minute the exact time and place of beginning of the moon’s new year.  These laws were established by the Creator from the very origin of time and they will last throughout eternity.  If they seem useless and impractical to us, it is because we do not understand them.⁽¹⁰⁾

It is time for knowledge of the Biblical calendar to be restored and understood.  If at first it seems difficult to grasp, it is merely because it is a new concept.  Unfamiliarity does not, by definition, prove something is in error.  Even the Gregorian calendar has rules that are unfamiliar to most people, such as the rare occurrence of eight years between leap years.  If the technical aspects at first bog you down, skip to the next chapter.  You can always come back later.  The subject becomes easier to understand as one grows more acquainted with the rules of luni-solar calendation.

Day

Scripture establishes three types of worship days: seventh-day Sabbaths,⁽¹¹⁾ New Moons,⁽¹²⁾ and annual feast Sabbaths.⁽¹³⁾ The annual feast days, as the most important Sabbaths, had the most sacrifices specified for those days.⁽¹⁴⁾ Interestingly, considerably more sacrifices were required on New Moons than even for the weekly Sabbaths!⁽¹⁵⁾ The New Moons were a day to consecrate oneself to God for the up-coming month and were days on which no commerce was to be conducted.  These three types of worship days were all calculated by the luni-solar calendar. 

New Moons and Sabbaths are frequently linked in scripture with no evidence that they are to be calculated using different calendars.  Likewise, there is no evidence in scripture that the calendar used to calculate the yearly feasts was different than that which was used to calculate the weekly Sabbaths and New Moons.    Scripture clearly reveals that both new moons and seventh-day Sabbaths will be observed as worship days throughout all eternity.⁽¹⁶⁾ Prophecy also foretells that at least the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed in eternity.⁽¹⁷⁾ Consistency demands that the same calendar be used to calculate the weekly Sabbath as is used to calculate New Moons and yearly feasts.

Week

The one aspect of the Biblical calendar that is the hardest to wrap one’s mind around at first is the difference in the weekly cycle.  The Gregorian calendar, like the Julian calendar before it, has a continuous weekly cycle.  The Biblical calendar does not.  Because time itself is continuous, this may seem contradictory.  However, it creates a very user-friendly calendar.  Every date of every month always falls on the same day of the week.

The week of seven days was connected with the lunar month, of which it is, approximately, a fourth.  The quadripartite division of the month was evidently in use among the Hebrews and other ancient peoples; but it is not clear whether it originated among the former. It is unnecessary to assume, however, that it was derived from the Babylonians, for it is equally possible that observations of the four phases of the moon led the Hebrew nomads spontaneously and independently to devise the system of dividing the interval between the successive new moons into four groups of seven days each.  . . . The emphasis laid on the requirement [Leviticus 23:15] that the weeks of Pentecost should be “complete” (“temimot”) suggests that weeks might be reckoned in such a way as to violate this injunction.⁽¹⁸⁾

The above quote highlights an interesting point: the emphasis in the count to Pentecost being on complete weeks does infer that the weekly cycle in use would not automatically provide that. 

Month

The month begins the day after the first visible crescent is observed.

The month was a unit of time closely tied to the moon.  The Hebrew word for “month” also meant “moon” . . . The reason for the connection between the month and the moon is that the beginning of a month was marked by a new moon.  The moon was carefully observed by the people of Bible times.  When it appeared as a thin crescent, it marked the beginning of a new month.

The lunar month was about 29 days long.  Therefore, the first crescent of the new moon would appear 29 or 30 days after the previous new moon.  At times the crescent was not visible because of clouds.  But this was allowed for with a rule that the new moon would never be reckoned as more than 30 days after the last new moon.  This prevented too much variation in the calendar.⁽¹⁹⁾

Astronomers refer to the conjunction as the new moon.  The conjunction is when the earth, moon and sun are all in alignment and the moon cannot be seen from earth.  This is also referred to as the black, or dark moon.  The month began on New Moon day, the day after the crescent moon was observed in the evening sky.  In fact, the word calendar comes from the word calends which means to call or proclaim (announce the month had begun).⁽²⁰⁾

Various lunar Sabbatarians differ in their understanding of precisely what is the “new moon.”⁽²¹⁾ Some believe that it is the last visible crescent, while others believe that it is the astronomical new moon, or conjunction.  The overwhelming weight of archeological ⁽²²⁾ and scriptural evidence, however, establishes that originally the first visible crescent (after conjunction) was considered the new moon.⁽²³⁾  The word chôdesh means to renew.  It is translated both as “month” and as “moon.”  The phrase “new moon” refers to the first visibly seen moon, as it is re-lighted, or renewed, after the dark phase.  In order for the moon to be renewed or seen, there must actually be something there to be seen.  In the following quote, notice the emphasis on the changing light of the moon as a sign to be seen.  When the moon is in conjunction, there is nothing to be seen, and thus it is not a sign.

He made the moon also to serve in her season for a declaration of times, and a sign of the world.  From the moon is the sign of feasts, a light that decreaseth in her perfection.  The month is called after her name,increasing wonderfully in her changing, being an instrument of the armies above, shining in the firmament of heaven; The beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars, an ornament giving light in the highest places of the Lord.  At the commandment of the Holy One they will stand in their order, and never faint in their watches.⁽²⁴⁾

The crescent moon is sighted above the Western horizon after sunset.  The moon appears at different angles and positions depending upon one’s location on earth.  The following graphics show what the first visible crescent looks like for different points on earth.

Northern Hemisphere:                  

Equator:                                            

Southern Hemisphere:                  

The points of the new moon are called “horns.”  These point to the pathway of the setting sun.  Depending upon one’s latitude, the distance away from the path of the setting sun will be plus or minus 5°.  At arm’s length, the width of one finger is 1.5 degrees.  The furthest away from the sun’s pathway that the crescent ever appears, will be approximately four fingers.  If one is at the equator, the moon will appear to set directly over where the sun set.

The further North or South one goes, the more degrees away from the sun’s path the moon will appear.  The following graphics ⁽²⁵⁾ show the position of the crescent in relation to that of the sun.

Northern Hemisphere:

 

Equator:

 

Southern Hemisphere:

 

Like the sun, the moon also rises in the East and sets in the West.  The time of day the moon rises, determines whether or not it will be seen, and how much of it will be seen.  Following is a listing of times the moon rises according to its phase.  The moon follows approximately the same pathway as the sun and always rises approximately 50 minutes later each 24-hour period.

Moonrise times:

Conjunction – sunrise (The moon rises with the sun and thus cannot be seen.)
First Quarter – noon.

Full moon – sunset.

Last quarter – midnight.

Because the weekly cycle started over with each new moon, the days of each month were numbered “according to the moon.” ⁽²⁶⁾ In other words, “the days of the month were the same as the days of the moon.” ⁽²⁷⁾ Each New Moon (first of the month), was followed by the six work days.  The seventh-day Sabbath thus fell on every 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th of the lunar month.

The format of the calendar was like this:                                                                                                                                                                                                

	New Moon day #1
Six work days (dates 2 thru 7)	Sabbath #8
Six work days (dates 9 thru 14)	Sabbath #15
Six work days  (dates 16 thru 21)	Sabbath #22
Six work days(dates 23 thru 28)	Sabbath #29
Translation day, 30th, if needed

                                                                                                                                             

In modern calendar format, every month appears thus:

The 30^th of the month, like the first of the month, was not part of the weekly cycle.  However, it was counted and did have a date as an account must be made of all time.

Year

All calendars require some form of intercalation.  The solar Gregorian calendar has two rules for intercalation:

1. Every fourth year, one extra day is intercalated on February 29.
2. Centurial years are leap years only if they are equally divisible by 400.  For this reason, 2000 was a leap year, but 1900, 1800 and 1700 were not.

The luni-solar calendar has a leap month instead of a leap day.  A solar year of 365 days is longer than a lunar year by 10 days, 21 hours and 121 parts.  As this extra time accrues, every two to three years a 13th month is intercalated.  Various pagan cultures used the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the fall equinox or the winter solstice to tie the shorter lunar year to the longer solar year.     The Creator wanted to remind His people of His loving watch care over them so He anchored the beginning of His calendar to the barley harvest.  This was a constant reminder that their prosperity depended on their Maker as He provided the harvest for their needs.

In ancient times, the law commanded Israel that a handful of the first fruits of the land should be presented to the priest for an offering at Passover time before any bread, parched corn, or green ears should be eaten by the people.  This was to be a statute forever throughout their generations in all their dwellings.  (Lev[iticus] 23:10-14.)  By this law the ancient Jewish year was regulated, and the full moon of barley harvest marked the first month of the year, which was called Abib, signifying the new fruits or “green ears.”  (Deut[eronomy] 16:1.)  Consequently, the sickle became the sign of the first month, and the paschal season.⁽²⁸⁾

The aim of the Mosaic command was to regulate the months according to the course of the moon, and the whole year in accordance with the course of the sun – by assigning as a starting point the lunar month coinciding with the beginning of a determined solar season.⁽²⁹⁾

Meton of Athens claimed to be the first to discover that every 19 years the sun, earth and moon come back to the same location relative to each other.  Called the Metonic Cycle, this is basic astronomy. 

The barley-harvest law, when applied to a continuous series of years, is the same in its performance as the law of the 19-year cycle.  The moon dates themselves follow the same law, and periodically, in harmony with the 19-year cycle principle, the extra moons are interpolated that bring the lunar year into harmony with the solar.  Every 19 years, the barley-harvest moon dates repeat within a day.  The embolismic years follow the same cycle number indefinitely, and the cycle can be numbered from any year in the series.⁽³⁰⁾

There are seven leap years within the 19-year cycle.  “This order of common and Veadar [13th month] years never changes in barley-harvest reckoning, and the embolismic [leap] month is always in the spring.”⁽³¹⁾ The pattern of common and embolismic/leap years is as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Notice that there are never two embolismic years in a row, nor any more than two common years before there is another leap year.

WARNING!

If your brain is getting weary of the details, go to the next chapter and come back later.  It is only unfamiliarity with the topic that makes it difficult to grasp at first.

It is in the method of intercalation that the genuine calendar of the Creator shines forth as superior to all counterfeits.  The various segments that appear to be “off” when considered individually in actuality account for the moon’s various anomalies and provide an extremely accurate and predictable calendar.  While the technicality of these principles may make your eyes begin to glaze, in practice it is so simple anyone need only watch the heavens to know when it is. 

The simplicity of the genuine calendar is such that everyone on earth can use it by observation.  The precision of the Creator’s calendar can be seen in the following chart which reveals how the different common and embolismic years account for the moon’s varying anomalies.  (Because lunar months are 29.5 days long, the months typically alternate between 29 and 30 days long.)

 

Common Years					Leap Years
Month	Deficit	Reg.	Full		Month	Deficit	Reg.	Full
Tishri	30	30	30		Tishri	30	30	30
Heshvan	29	29	30		Heshvan	29	29	30
Keslev	29	30	30		Keslev	29	30	30
Tebet	29	29	29		Tebet	29	29	29
Shebat	30	30	30		Shebat	30	30	30
Adar	29	29	29		Adar	30	30	30
V’Adar	—	—	—		V’Adar	29	29	29
Nisan	30	30	30		Nisan	30	30	30
Iyar	29	29	29		Iyar	29	29	29
Sivan	30	30	30		Sivan	30	30	30
Tammuz	29	29	29		Tammuz	29	29	29
Ab	30	30	30		Ab	30	30	30
Elul	29	29	29		Elul	29	29	29
Totals	353	354	355			383	384	385

V’Adar simply means Adar II.  It is the 13th month added only in leap years.

Precisely speaking, a lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours and 793 parts.  As a result, the lunar month is roughly 45 minutes longer than the official given length of a lunar month which is 29.5 days.  To account for this discrepancy, two methods are used:

1. The eighth month, Heshvan, had 30 days in certain years, rather than the typical 29 days.
2. The ninth month, Keslev, had 29 days some years rather than the usual 30. 

Heshvan and Keslev are the only months which are adjusted.  They bring the lunations back into balance, working independent of each other.  All time must be accounted for, which is why Gregorian calendation, once every 100 years or so, has eight years without leap years.  For a calendar that is based on observation, this may appear overly technical.  However, it is the very exactness of lunar motion that allows for such calculations. 

During the century preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, the Sodha?bour or “Secret Council for Intercalation” appointed by the Sanhedrin, fixed each year of the Jewish calendar by means of astronomical calculations based on certain regulations kept secret for a long time, which in the end transpired [via Hillel II] to the outer world.  The direct observation of the new moon on the evening of the 29^th day of the month, and the statements of witnesses – observers to be received with the customary formalities by a tribunal designated by said Council – were used merely to confirm the astronomical calculations, and, above all, in order to surround with mystery, the deliberations of the Council behind closed doors.⁽³²⁾

The various combinations of embolismic years and common years, along with the moon’s anomalies, provide six possible lengths of the year.

Regular Common year	=	354 days	(12 months x 29 or 30 days)
Deficient Common year	=	353 days	(Keslev [8th  month] with 29 days)
Full Common year	=	355 days	(Heshvan [9th  month] with 30 days)
Regular Leap year	=	384 days	(13 months x 29 or 30 days)
Deficient Leap year	=	383 days	(Keslev [8th month] with 29 days)
Full Leap year	=	385 days	(Heshvan [9th month] with 30 days)

Because a lunation is 29.5 days long, six lunar months are exactly 177 days.  Abib 1 to the last day of the sixth month is always 177 days.  It was this precise astronomical principle that was used by the Millerites of the 1840s to calculate in advance Day of Atonement on October 22 in 1844.⁽³³⁾

These numbers provide a reliable means of calculating the year in advance.  After the Molad (new moon) of Tishri is found, the Molad of the next year’s Tishri is calculated.  The length of the year is simply the number of days in between those two points.  The number of days reveals into which of the six possibilities that year falls, and thus, how many days are in Heshvan and Keslev.

The luni-solar calendar is the only calendar which has roots in the Bible.  It was established by God at Creation.  All other calendars are grounded in paganism.  The Creator Himself designed the time-keeping system His creatures are to use for worshipping Him.  The Sabbath, as a memorial of Creation, must be kept using the calendar established at Creation! 

⁽¹⁾ Cicero, pp. 144-145, as quoted in Bill Cooper, After the Flood, (England: New Wine Press, 1995), p. 29.

⁽²⁾ Ibid., p. 27.

⁽³⁾ Egyptians, as sun worshippers, are believed to be the first to move to a purely solar calendar although originally they, too, used a luni-solar calendar. 

⁽⁴⁾ Joseph Scaliger, De Emendatione Temporum, (Francofurt, 1593), p. 108, as quoted in “Report of Committee on Historical Basis, Involvement, and Validity of the October 22, 1844, Position, Part V,” Box 2, Folder 4, of the Grace Amadon Collection, (Collection 154), Center for Adventist Research, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

⁽⁵⁾ Berosus, as quoted by Josephus (c.a., C.E. 37 – C.E. 101) in Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter 7, Verse 2.

⁽⁶⁾ The Chaldeans, influenced by Nimrod, had already apostatized from the worship of the Creator God.  In turning from their Creator to the creation, the city of Ur had taken for its patron god, the moon god, Sin (called Nanna by the Sumerians.  The moon god was the father of the sun god).  Josephus states:

He [Abram] was a person of great sagacity [wisdom], both for understanding all things and persuading his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinions all men happened then to have concerning God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, that there was but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other [gods], if they contributed anything to the happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their own power.  (Josephus,Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chapter 7, Verse 1.)

⁽⁷⁾ Intercalation: inserting extra days or months to align the shorter lunar year to the longer solar year. 

⁽⁸⁾ Ibid.

⁽⁹⁾ Genesis 10:25 states: “Unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided,” or measured.  It was not measured using the metric system with its base of ten!  Rather, the sexagismal system, their standard unit of measure, was likely what was used. 

⁽¹⁰⁾ Grace Amadon, “Brief Review of the New Views Regarding Millerite Chronology,” Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection, op. cit., emphasis supplied.

⁽¹¹⁾ Genesis 2:2, 3; Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 31:13-17; Isaiah 66:23, etc.

⁽¹²⁾ Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:1; Amos 8:5.

⁽¹³⁾ Leviticus 23

⁽¹⁴⁾ See Numbers 28 and 29.

⁽¹⁵⁾ Compare Numbers 28:9, 10 with Number 28:11-15.

⁽¹⁶⁾ “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the LORD.”  (Isaiah 66:23.)

⁽¹⁷⁾ In the context of the new earth, prophecy foretells: “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”  (Zechariah 14:16.)

⁽¹⁸⁾ Emil G. Hirsch, “Week: Connection with Lunar Phases,” www.JewishEncyclopedia.com.  This quote clearly supports a weekly cycle restarting with each new moon.  The author mistakenly believed that the first day of the work week was the first date of the month.  However, this cannot be the case as proven by the scriptural dates for the seventh-day Sabbath, which always occurred on the 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th.  Thus, First Day of the first week, is always on the second (date) of the month.

⁽¹⁹⁾ Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.

⁽²⁰⁾ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, T. F. Hoad (ed.), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

⁽²¹⁾ Difference of opinion during the process of rediscovery should by no means be taken as “proof” that the belief is error.  Rather, truths long buried under the rubble of error and assumption are being dug out.  Everyone should have the freedom to pursue truth and be granted the religious liberty to follow his/her convictions.

⁽²²⁾ Clay tablets and stele still extant reveal that all ancient civilizations originally began their months with the observation of the first visible crescent. 

⁽²³⁾ Ecclesiasticus, written in the first century B.C.E. refers to the light reflecting on the moon: “And then the moon, ever punctual to mark the times, an everlasting sign: It is the moon that signals the feasts, a luminary that wanes after being full. The month derives its name from hers. She waxes wonderfully in her phases, banner of the hosts on high, shining in the vault of heaven.”  (Ecclesiasticus 43:6-8, c.a. 190-180 B.C.)

⁽²⁴⁾ Ecclesiasticus 44:6-10

⁽²⁵⁾ Graphics: © Nick Strobel, www.astronomynotes.com.

⁽²⁶⁾ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, (Whiston, tr.), Cincinnati, 1844, p. 75, as quoted in “Report of Committee on Historical Basis, Involvement, and Validity of the October, 22, 1844, Position,” Grace Amadon Collection, op. cit.

⁽²⁷⁾ Ibid.

⁽²⁸⁾ Grace Amadon, Ancient Jewish Calendation, Box 1, Folder 9, Grace Amadon Collection, op. cit., p. 15

⁽²⁹⁾ David Sidersky, Étude Sur L’Origine Astronomique De La Chronologie Juive, “Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l’Académie des Inscriptions et belles-lettres de l’institut de France,” Erna Borm (tr.), (Paris, 1913), Vol. 12, part 2, p. 615, as quoted in Grace Amadon Collection, op. cit.

⁽³⁰⁾ Grace Amadon, Ancient Jewish Calendation, op. cit., pp. 8-9.

⁽³¹⁾ Ibid.

⁽³²⁾ Sidersky, op. cit., p. 625.

⁽³³⁾ In 1844, the Jews kept Day of Atonement on September 23.  This was based on the adjustment to the calendar made by Hillel II, which tied the beginning of the year to the spring equinox.  The Millerites rejected the Rabbinical “perversion” of the Biblical calendar and instead used the barley harvest law of Moses for determining the New Year.  From this they calculated the Day of Atonement (tenth day of the seventh month) by using the 177-day count.  “It can be briefly stated that the September Yom Kippur in 1844 was based upon modern Jewish calculation, while the October 22 date was computed in ancient Jewish time, in harmony with the calendar of Moses.”  (Grace Amadon, “Millerite Computation of the October 22 Date,” Box 2, Folder 4, Grace Amadon Collection, op. cit.)  See also L. E. Froom, Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, Vol. 4, p. 796; also, Vol. 2, pp. 196-199.