God instructed Israel right in the Law of Moses the day in which the New Year on the Hebrew calendar was supposed to begin.  That day was also supposed to be the first day of Spring in the month Abib (also called Nisan later in the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament in Nehemiah 2:1 and Esther 3:7).

Exodus 12:1-2 says: “And the Lord spoke 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.”

We should know for sure that this was referring to the month of Abib (or Nisan) due to the instructions which God gave concerning the Passover which was to be kept very shortly afterwards in the same month.

Later on in Leviticus 23:4-5 this would be reiterated.  Note that Passover was to be kept during the first month.

Leviticus 23:4-5: “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even (evening) is the Lord’s passover.”

Yet in spite of the Lord’s clear and plain instructions that the first month of the year was to begin in the Spring, the Jews eventually came to celebrate their New Year (which they call Rosh Hashanah) in the Fall.

The first day of the month which God called the seventh month was appointed to be the Feast of Trumpets (this was not technically a feast in the way many think of that- but it was a special holy day which was categorized among the feasts of the Lord in Leviticus chapter 23).

Leviticus 23:23-24: “And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 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.”

Nevertheless, the Jews now celebrate their New Year in the seventh month which occurs in the Fall.  This is in spite of God telling Israel that the Hebrew New Year was to be marked by the first month in the Spring which He associated with Passover.

This is another evidence that the Jews overall have greatly strayed from their own Scriptures.  They have done so even to the point where they have even failed to get the marking of the New Year correct (which was spelled out directly in the Law of Moses).  The Jews are thus blatantly defying what God said in Exodus 12:2.

I will be clear here: None of this is saying that Christians are supposed to observe the Jewish Feasts nor observe days on the Hebrew calendar at all.  We have many studies rebuking Judaizing and showing how God released gentile Christians from observing the ceremonies and rituals of Judaism (while the lessons from these things and the realities which they foreshadowed remain in full force).  Jewish Christians were also released from the Jewish ceremonies by the destruction of the Temple and the dissolving of the Jewish priesthood which made it impossible to follow the ceremonies and rituals of Judaism faithfully anyways.  

Nevertheless, we should be aware of the Hebrew calendar and receive the lessons about Christ and the spiritual realities which are communicated thereby (see our message “The Jewish Feasts Point to Jesus” along these lines).  

Those who are going to observe the Hebrew calendar ought to at least do it as much as possible according to the Bible’s instructions.  Moreover, in order to even properly be aware of the Hebrew calendar, we have to call the months of the year in the order which God calls them.  And if anyone won’t do this, it is clearly rebellion against the Lord.  

Some will say “What’s the big deal?”  

God giving His verdict in his Word about any issue makes that issue huge.

Deuteronomy 4:2: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought (any) from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

Deuteronomy 28:15: “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee…” (read the rest of the chapter to hear those curses).

This issue is another proof of deep, deep deceit and corruption within Judaism.  

This corruption had taken root and grown by Jesus’ time; and it has only gotten worse since the Jewish nation’s rejection of Jesus as their Messiah.  If the nation had been faithful to the Hebrew Scriptures rather than giving heed to vain traditions of men, it would have received Jesus as the Messiah. 

Mark 7:5-9: “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias (Isaiah) prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do (my note- this study is looking at one example of these things).  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”

It is no wonder that the Jews would generally go astray on an issue as plain as the date of the Hebrew New Year when Jesus Himself told the Jews that they reject Him because they do not heed their own Scriptures.  

John 5:39-47: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.  I receive not honor from men.  But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.  I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.  How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.  But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”

If I were to talk to someone who thought that the Messiah was supposed to come as a conquering military deliverer (as many Jews think) I would show them Psalm 110:7 to demonstrate that the Messiah must come to suffer before He’d be exalted and come again to reign.  

Psalm 110:7: “He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.” 

There it is.  The Hebrew Scriptures themselves show that, after humility and travail in a state of mortality, the Messiah would be both an exalted King and Priest who would be waiting in heaven until He returns to take vengeance on His enemies.

But nobody is going to come to Him and obtain life who won’t even acknowledge that the month which God called the first month on the Hebrew calendar ought to be the first month on the Hebrew calendar.  

Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com

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