This is a brief article describing how God keeps track of time. In the beginning, He set the sun, moon, and stars in the...
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God s Calendar Many people do not realize that God has instituted a way of telling time, a calendar. Today we use the Gregorian calendar, where many of the months and all of the days of the week are named after various pagan gods. The Gregorian calendar was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. It was used in Europe, in the Catholic nations, and spread around the world from there. But lets focus on what God has done instead of man. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; (Genesis 1:14) The word translated as "seasons" in Hebrew is "moed" (mow-ed) (( )מֹועֵדplural: moedim). It means appointed time or appointed place. God set the lights in the heavens to tell appointed times. Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12:1-2) The word for month is "chodesh" (khō'·desh) ()חֶֹדׁש. And it also means "new moon" or "renewed moon", meaning when the sliver of the moon reappears, it is a new month. This is called the month of the Abib (Hebrew: Aviv, )אביב. Abib is not technically its name, (none of the months were given names by God, but were given names later by men). Abib means ripe. It is the month when the barley becomes ripe. This is how God prevents seasonal drift. The Gregorian calendar has leap years for the same reason.
New moon as seen over Israel
A biblical year normally consists of 12 months, however, every 2-3 years the barley is not ripe on time and a 13th month is added on. A week still had seven days, based on creation week. None of these days had names either, except the sabbath day. A day went from sundown to sundown based on the repetitive theme in Genesis 1 of "evening and morning". Note that the biblical calendar is different, though This calendar was and still is significant
very similar to the Jewish calendar. The Jews used
because this is what governs the timing of the
Gods calendar up until they last of hem where
holidays. God has 7 “moedim”, appoint times,
removed from Israel in the fourth century. Since
(usually translated “feasts”) where he intends
they were no longer going to be in the land to see
to meet with His people throughout the year.
the signs, Hillel II established a fixed calendar based
Each of these is based on this calendar.
on mathematical and astronomical calculations and
Each of the festivals has great depth and
works on a 19 year cycle. It was only meant to be
significance to God. They each describe
used until the Jews returned to the land, however,
something He has done in the past, and has or
today the Jews are back home and they still use this
will be fulfilled by Jesus. To learn more about
calendar today.
these feasts please see each feasts corresponding article: (FEAST ARTICLES TO BE ADDED AS THE FEASTS ARIVE)
