16 – Two Hebrew Biblical Calendars

Three Different Calendar Years

Copied from 2 – A Missing Lesson of The Sabbath

• Roman -> Julian -> Gregorian: Year begins January 1st
• Hebrew
  • Ecclesiastical: Year starts Nisan 1^st (in the spring)
  • Civil: Year begins Tishrei 1^st (The seventh month of the ecclesiastical calendar)

Why two Hebrew calendars?

Hebrew Ecclesiastical Calendar

This month [Nisan] shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Exodus 12:2 ESV

Note: This new year begins on Nisan 1^st, which is NOT A HOLY DAY.

Hebrew Civil Calendar?

• Begins on Tishrei 1st, a HOLY DAY:
  • Feast of Trumpets
    • Shofar/Trumpet is ONLY IMPLIED
  • Feast of Breath, Blowing, Breathing, Shouting
• Hebrew Names:
  • Yom Truah or Teruah: Day of Blowing
  • Zicharon Truah: Remembrance of Blowing
  • Yom Hazicharon: Day of Remembrance
  • Yom Hadin: Day of Judgement
  • Rosh Hashanah: Head of The [new] Year
    • The most common name used by modern Jews

Rosh Hashanah – The Hebrew New Year

⁸ “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. ⁹ Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. ¹⁰ And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. ¹¹ That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. ¹² For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.

¹³ “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

Leviticus 25:8-13 ESV

The Early and Latter Rains

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. James 5:7 ESV

Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. Joel 2:23 ESV

The First and Last

So the last will be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:16 ESV

The Autumn and Spring Rains

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. James 5:7 NIV

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23 KJV

Outpouring of The Holy Spirit on Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4 ESV

¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” Acts 2:12-13 ESV

Peter’s Response

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: Acts 2:14-16 ESV

Peter’s Quote from Joel 2

¹⁷ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams;
¹⁸ even on my male servants and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
²⁰ the sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
    before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
²¹ And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

Acts 2:17-21 ESV

Joel 2:28-32 ESV

²⁸ “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
²⁹ Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

³⁰ “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. ³¹ The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ³² And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Contextual Clue

The Autumn and Spring Rains

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23 KJV

When and Where?

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest… Leviticus 23:10 ESV

Features of The Ecclesiastical Calendar

• It begins in the spring Exodus 12:2 ESV
• The spring was DEPENDENT upon Israel being located in the NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
• The Wave Sheaf Offering was DEPENDENT upon the SPRING barley harvest Leviticus 23:10-14
• The Feast of Weeks was DEPENDENT upon the SPRING wheat harvest Leviticus 23:15-21
• Similar dependencies can be seen in the fall feasts

Jerusalem at 32 Degrees NORTH Latitude

Perth, Australia at 32 Degrees SOUTH Latitude

Ecclesiastical Calendar in Southern Hemisphere 

To begin in spring, would start in the month of Tishrei!!!

The Two Calendars of The Two Hemispheres

• The two hemispheres give us two calendars:
  1. The northern ecclesiastical calendar, beginning Nisan 1^st
  2. The southern “civil” calendar, beginning Tishrei 1^st
• The two calendars overlap in a particular way
• They alternate
• Later:
  • We will see that they connect in what appears to be an “odd” or “peculiar” way
  • And begin to help us to see the LARGER framework – The framework of the framework

Closing Thought

He [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 ESV