Times & Seasons

Times & Seasons

 

Introduction

As the first in a series of Harvests & Celebrations studies, Times and Seasons, is an introduction to time and astronomical observances wherein seven of the Lord's mandated observances originate. God’s commandments concerning the feasts will be referenced, as well as who, scripturally, was permitted or required partake in them. The terminology of agricultural harvests and feasts are found prophetically in scripture; both as shadows of their spiritual fulfillment, and as foundations to church ordinances applicable today. Knowing Hebrew agriculture, feasts, customs, and terminology, increases understanding in the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well as, God's single plan of redemption seen throughout history and prophecy.

Signs, Seasons, & Set Feasts

• Strong's Hebrew 226 - אוֹת ʼôwth; probably from 225 (in the sense of appearing); a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.

  
  

• Strong's Hebrew 4150 - מוֹעֵד môwʻêd; or מֹעֵד môʻêd; or (feminine) מוֹעָדָה môwʻâdâh; (2 Chronicles 8:13), from 3259; properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand)

  
  

Genesis 1:14 KJV - "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 years:"

(Signs H226; Seasons H4150)

Leviticus 23:2 KJV - "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts."

(Feasts H4150)

While astronomy tells God’s story, astrology twists it to tell mankind’s story. The luminaries were created for the measurement of time and were also set to display a special signal that marked significant events and times that God planned to meet with His people. The first time feast appears in its plural form, it uses the same Hebrew word for seasons.

The Lord's Feasts

These feasts have been known as Jewish feasts to many gentiles. The book of Leviticus says the feasts are the feasts of the LORD.

Leviticus 23:4 KJV - "These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons."

Leviticus 23:37 KJV - "These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:"

Leviticus 23:44 KJV - "And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD."

When observances are not done in the manner that God commanded, God uses the word, “your".

Isaiah 1:14 KJV - "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them."

Holy Convocations

• Strong's Hebrew 4744 - מִקְרָא miqrâʼ; from 7121; something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal

Leviticus 23:2 KJV - "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts."

(Convocations H4744)

The Lord’s feasts are proclaimed to be holy convocations. When the feasts were established in the time of Moses, congregational gathering for fellowship with one another and the Lord occurred on the feast days. These gatherings were highly in contrast to the weekly sacrificial gatherings at the temple. There is a direct correlation between the holy convocations and the New Testament Church; which is covered in a lesson of its own.

Strangers & Sojourners

The feasts were intended for God’s people. In the time that they were setup, not only were the Israelites God’s people, but also all those who were once strangers who became sojourners.

Exodus 12:48-49 KJV - "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."

(See also: Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 16:29, 19:34; Numbers 15:13-16, 26, 28-30; 2nd Chronicles 6:32-33; Ezekiel 47:22-23; and Ephesians 2:11-19.)

Identifying Appointed Times

• Shabbat

• Rosh Hodesh/Head of Month (New Moon)

• Pesach/Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Harvest Feast)

• Shavuot/Feast of Weeks (Harvest Feast)

• Yom Teruah/Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah/Head of the year (Solemn feast & New Moon)

• Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement/A Day of Fasting (Solemn Assembly)

• Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles/Feast of Ingathering (Harvest feast)

2 Chronicles 8:13 KJV - "Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles."

Leviticus 23:5 KJV - "In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover."

Leviticus 23:6 KJV - "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread."

Leviticus 23:16 KJV - "Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD."

Leviticus 23:24 KJV - "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation."

Leviticus 23:27 KJV - "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 offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD."

Leviticus 23:34 KJV - "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD."

Leviticus 23:39 KJV - "Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath."

The appointed times included three major harvests with feast celebrations, as well as, three days of observance that included meals, and a day of fasting, for a total of seven holy observances. Traditionally these days are referred to as holy days. To accurately observe the appointed times, God’s people were required to know how to compute time by the luminaries and how to properly watch for the appointed times to arrive.

Computation of Time

-DAYS-

In Hebrew culture, each day of the week is named according to their numerical order:

Yom Echad = "Day One" or Yom Rishon = "Day First"

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." - Genesis 1:5 KJV

Yom Sheni = "Day Second"

"And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day." - Genesis 1:8 KJV

Yom Shlishi = "Day Third"

"And the evening and the morning were the third day." - Genesis 1:13 KJV

Yom Revi'i = "Day Fourth"

"And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." - Genesis 1:19 KJV

Yom Chamishi = "Day Fifth"

"And the evening and the morning were the fifth day."- Genesis 1:23 KJV

Yom Shishi = "Day Sixth"

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." - Genesis 1:31 KJV

Yom Shevi'i = "Day Seventh"

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." - Genesis 2:2 KJV

Yom Shivi'i, the seventh day, became known as Yom Shabbat, meaning, "rest day" or "cessation day" because God rested from his works. God appointed the seventh day to be a holy day. Shabbat was the first holy day created for man.

• Strong's Hebrew 7673 - שָׁבַת shâbath; a primitive root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific)

  
  

• Strong's Hebrew 7676 - שַׁבָּת shabbâth; intensive from 7673; intermission, i.e (specifically) the Sabbath

Genesis 2:3 KJV - "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

(Rested H7673)

Exodus 35:2 KJV - "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death."

(Sabbath H7676)

Computation of Time

-MONTHS-

The moon was the biggest calculator of time. The starting of a new month in Israel was dependent upon the sighting of the new moon. Since the moon's orbit takes 29.5 days, this also makes the length of one month different from another. This created the need to watch the skies to determine what day it was. The need to prepare for every seventh day, new moon, and feast, created the motivation and criticalness to watch. 

Historically and in scripture, the names of the months were also known by their numerical order. Since the times of captivity in Babylon, the numbered name of the months adopted a new name. The adopted names are still used today in Israel.

Monthly numerical names:

• Month 1 (Exodus 12:2, Deuteronomy 16:1, Nehemiah 2:1, Esther 3:7)

• Month 2 (1st Kings 6:1, 37)

• Month 3 (Esther 8:9)

• Month 7 (Numbers 29:1)

• Month 8 (1st Kings 6:38)

• Month 9 (Nehemiah 1:1, Zechariah 7:1)

• Month 10 (Esther 2:16)

• Month 11 (Zechariah 1:27)

• Month 12 (Esther 3:7)

Monthly adopted names:

• Nisan 30 days (Nehemiah 2:1, Esther 3:7)

• Lyar 29 days

• Sivan 30 days (Esther 8:9)

• Tammuz 29 days

• Av 30 days

• Elul 29 days (Nehemiah 6:15)

• Tishrei 30 days

• Cheshvan 29 days

• Kislev 30/29 days

• Tevet 29 days

• Shevat 30 days

• Adar 29/30 days (Ezra 6:15, Esther 3:7,13, 8:12, 9:1, 15, 17, 19, 21)

• Adar II 29 days (only leap years)

Computation of Time

-YEARS-

In ancient Israel, leap years were determined by the ripening stage of the barley crop. This is covered in "The Barley Harvest".

Prior to the Israelites leaving Egypt, The Hebrew people held to a civil calendar. Tishrei was the first month of the civil calendar year. After the exodus, God established an ecclesiastical calendar year, where Nissan became the first month of the year and Tishrei became the seventh month of the year.

Exodus 12:1-2 KJV - "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you."

Along with having to watch for appointed times in the days and months, God also appointed an observance for every seven years, called the Shmita or "year  of release", as well as every fifty years, called Yovel; and also known as the "fiftieth" or "jubile year".

Deuteronomy 31:10 KJV - "And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,"

Leviticus 25:10-11, 28 KJV - "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. ... But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession."

Computation of Time

-SIGHTING-

The Mishnah and the Tosefta describe how the new months were determined by the sighting of the new crescent during sun down in Jerusalem. Two eye witnesses were required for the Sanhedrin to proclaim it a new month. When the new month was proclaimed, fires were lit to signal to distant communities that the month began. It is said that Samaritans began to give off false signals, resulting in the cessation of lighting fires and the start of sending messengers. When it became difficult for messengers to travel to far away communities, the feast days ended up being celebrated on two days instead of one.

There is also a challenging aspect to identifying the crescent. There may be a day that is considered the new moon; however the following day may not be the first visible day of the crescent. The first crescent may be too small to see with the naked eye, thus making the day after, the first day of the new month. This posed a great challenge for feast keepers as they struggle to identify the true day of the first month. Since Passover is on the 14th day of the first month, if the month starts on the wrong day, Passover could potentially be held on the wrong day. If God’s people did not meet with God, the right way according to his commandment, they would miss out on meeting him and God would not bless them.

The Hebrew people reached a point when they decided that they did not like this keeping watch method and created mathematical calculations to determine dates, such as when there would be leap years.

Summary

God, being all knowing, set the order of the sky to compute time. He set it up knowing exactly how everything would unfold and when he planned on meeting with his people; both Israelites and sojourners alike. God blessed and met with his people as long his people watched and sought him. God set a calendar in the heavens so his people could remember his appointed holy days. The moon seemingly plays the largest role in the computation of time. If one was not alert and watchful, they could miss their appointed time with God.