The Letter J and a True Conversion

I remember sitting in Mr. Hornbach’s classroom when I first started learning about YHUH’s Son’s name. I was in eighth grade, and Mr. Hornbach was one of my favorite teachers. He was my English teacher and my Spanish teacher. He, like me, was interested in history, culture, words, and languages. I think I learned more facts about history, culture, and etymology in his class than Grammar and Spanish. We were learning the Spanish alphabet at the beginning of the year one day, and he made a statement I will never forget. He was telling us how the English letter, “j” was not in existence until about 400 years ago, and how in Spanish, it’s pronounced more like an “h”. For an example, he used the name, “Jesus”. He said that Jesus could not be the correct name for the man Christians believed in. He said that in old Bibles, the name, Jesus, was written with an I instead of a J, and that the I or J was pronounced like a Y. He then pointed out that in Spanish, this name was pronounced, hey-sus, which jumped out at me to sound like, hey-zeus. I was learning about the name, Zeus, in English/Lit. class, in Greek mythology, and I was disturbed by this name issue, but I didn’t dig any further into it for many years.

I was seeking truth about religion and faith. I was reading the Bible, reading the Quran, whatever I could get my hands on to sort out who or what I was supposed to believe in. I went to church with my Mormon friend and her family, my Catholic friends, and my Baptist friends, trying to figure out which was truth. For the most part, I’d say I was drawn to the Bible, though not raised up in church, and not raised by a believer. I had a Jehovah’s Witness children’s bible that was given to us when they came to visit, so I was introduced to that name early on. I knew there was a creator when I observed the creation around me, and I never believed in evolution, I always believed the creation account, the Exodus story, and I recognized the voice of the Shepherd in the New Testament. I hated witchcraft in its most obvious forms, and hated all evil, as I understood it at the time.

At the age of 18, the summer I graduated High School, I accepted the One I called Jesus as my Savior and Messiah. I hadn’t simply inherited the faith of my parents or grandparents. The source of my faith wasn’t that I had been drilled with scriptures and never questioned what I was told. I was not raised by believers in the Bible, nor was I raised in church. My conversion to being a believer in the Bible, YHUH, and His Son, came about for many reasons. The first being, I grew up fatherless. I was rejected. I wanted a father, a dependable, faithful, father. I saw how scripture refers to YHUH as our heavenly Father, and I wanted that relationship badly. I also wanted a husband, and I saw in scripture that He referred to Himself as our husband. He’s a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow. It was a lonely time in my life, and I wanted a friend. I also wanted truth, and I believed the good news in the Bible, was truth. I just didn’t understand that truth, but I believed it before I understood it, before I could explain it to others. Some call that blind faith. What is faith if it isn’t blind? Having to see to believe doesn’t seem like faith at all.

Yahusha saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29

I had an experience the day I came to believe in Yahusha, that I cannot explain. My older sister who has since rejected the Bible, had invited me to her church. Her pastor preached a sermon that nailed on everything I mentioned I wanted above. He called people up to the front to accept the Father and His Son. I felt a very strong desire to go up, but I was too scared to budge. I was embarrassed. It was a large church and it was packed. I knew that if I made a public proclamation of faith, that I would be bound to my word, and that I would be held to a higher standard, and I didn’t know if I was ready for all that. I just bowed my head and prayed that I wouldn’t have to go up there. Everyone went and sat back down. However, the pastor kept saying there was one more person who’s heart was being tugged on to go up to receive prayer.

I knew he was talking about me. I felt my face turn red and hot and my heart was pounding. I started sweating and squirming. I could feel the pastor staring at me. I just knew everyone knew I was the one. My sister knew, too. She grabbed my elbow and asked if I wanted to go up. I nodded, that was all I could do, and she gave me the budge I needed to take the first step, and escorted me to the front. I burst into tears as the pastor laid his hands on me and prayed for me. It was such a relief as the burdens came off.

It turns out, I HAD to make a public proclamation of my faith in order to go through the way, the door:

Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven...Matthew 10:32-33

I grieved for days at how I had grieved Him with my sins, how I had brought his death and suffering for my sins. I mourned over Him whom I had pierced, but I felt an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness and joy, and I kept wondering, “Why me?” I felt like He had left the 99 to come after the one, that He really cared for me, for some reason. Many are called but few are chosen. He chose me that day. How could I repay Him? To obey Him didn’t seem like nearly enough.

I was given a Bible, and I was directed to go to the Book of John, which directed me to the beginning, in Genesis:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH Aluhym, and the Word WAS Aluhym. He was in the beginning WITH Aluhym. John 1:1-2

I read and devoured those books, but I didn’t have the faith to live out what I read. The testing had begun. There was conflict in me, between the spirit and my flesh.

I had a desire to be a friend to the world, I struggled with the verses about being unequally yoked, thinking I could save my new unbelieving friends I was making, that I could be a light to them in a dark place, by hanging out with them. However, I would become a partaker in their evil deeds. I was weak in the faith and their darkness extinguished the little light I had. This caused me to set-aside that Bible for several years, because deep down, I had guilt about it. I was cruisin’ for a bruisin’. I didn’t want to hear that I needed to give up my new “friends” and other things that satisfied the flesh.

I occasionally picked that Bible back up and blew the dust off the cover, only to put it back down again. There was a struggle to do what was right, and I didn’t understand what I was reading, how I was to implement it into my life. Christians would not accept me because I was straddling the fence, I was trying to live a double life, but I hung around with unbelievers because I wasn’t convinced I couldn’t or shouldn’t. I desperately needed the faith and knowledge to stop one life in order to start the other.

Finally, I found myself pregnant, and without a husband. I prayed for a believer, whether a husband or friend, to be sent to be an example and teach me how to walk out what I was reading in the Bible. I accepted a life without a husband, whatever the will of the Father, but I was weak in the faith, and felt I needed a friend, and a support system, someone to encourage me in my walk. I wanted someone to hold me accountable, someone to tell me when I was being dumb.

Within weeks I was sent a friend who would start teaching me to avoid certain types of music, certain people, certain thoughts, certain articles of clothing, certain movies, etc…and encouraging me to pray, read my Bible, think on what’s good, and very soon this friend would become my husband.

We began walking together, and after a few years of marriage, YHUH got our attention about the Torah and we learned that we had been deceived about the names of the Father in heaven and His Son. We were informed that their names were Hebrew, and that there was no “J”, or “j” sound in Hebrew, that it was pronounced like a “Y”.

We were introduced by a family friend, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi, to the names, Yahweh, and Yeshua. All of a sudden I remembered what I had learned in Mr. Hornbach’s class that I had apparently filed away in the back of my mind, regarding the letter “j”, and Messiah’s name. We stopped using the names and titles we had originally been taught and saw in our modern Bible translations, and we began using Yahweh and Yeshua, as we were taught by the rabbi.

The Yahweh/Yeshua Conspiracy

After about 4 years in the Messianic/Hebrew Roots teachings and assemblies, I began to get annoyed that the same people that taught me these new names, were still often using the old ones they told us were wrong. To me, this was double-mindedness. It appeared to me as hypocrisy to tell Christians they are wrong for calling the Son, Jesus, which can mean, Zeus, sus, horse, or pig, in various languages, and then continuing to do that which they criticize. I started hearing the congregational leaders who once preached the name Yeshua, starting to criticize those who became zealous for that name.

Those who were zealous were labeled Sacred Namers. The Sacred Namers were discouraged and told that maybe their understanding wasn’t correct, maybe other variations of pronunciation were better, we couldn’t know for sure, so Yah would accept whatever we call His Son for now. The Sacred Namers were told not to cause confusion and division, and chastised if they studied out and used the name and taught it to others. This was all very frustrating, very confusing to me. I was being told one thing out of one side of the mouth, and another thing out of another.

One Friday night, I heard a young man, a relative of my husband, ask the Messianic Rabbi about the Father’s name. The Rabbi replied, “His name is Yahweh, but we do not speak that name, because it is too holy, and we are not holy enough to speak it, so we use Hebrew titles, such as Ha Adon, Ha Shem, etc…”

Something snapped within me when I heard that. I was boiling inside, a righteous anger was rising up, but I held my peace. The same man that told me as a Christian to stop using Greek titles such as Lord and God, that these titles had no meaning, and were not His name, was now telling us to use Hebrew titles instead, rather than the names he taught us. I began to wonder if we were still being deceived about the names, because it seemed like there was also a conspiracy going on in Messianic Judaism, to replace the names with titles. It was becoming apparent that the conspiracy to do away with His name was not just a Roman conspiracy, but one from Jerusalem as well. How could we know if the names we were told by these people were indeed their names?

And YHUH said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 11:9

My heart went out to that young man that wanted to know what the name was of the One he prayed to. Scriptures were brought to my remembrance about the importance of calling upon His name.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me…Hosea 4:6

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Mark 13:13

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of YHUH. Genesis 4:26

I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of YHUH. Psalm 116:3

Learning Hebrew

I wanted to learn the true names, so I started seeking out those who knew Hebrew better than myself. One person stepped up to teach our family Hebrew, who was learning it from a Jewish Holocaust survivor. This Jewish man had a doctorate and spoke many languages, including Hebrew, and had written several books on languages. So we began attending classes, learning the aleph bet. One of the first things I remember learning, is that there was no letter “v” or “v” sound, in ancient Hebrew, but that now the Jewish people pronounce the Hebrew letter “vav” (which some call the “waw”, and I call the “uau”), like a “v”, or sometimes a “w”, or a “u”.

We were also taught the letter, “bet” was always a “b” sound in ancient Hebrew, but that now in modern Hebrew they would sometimes pronounce it as a “v”, and call it a “vet”, and this would be indicated by vowel pointers, how you should pronounce it. So Hebrew went from having no letters that say, “v”, to two letters that produce that sound.

Yehovah – No “V” in Ancient Hebrew

Eventually, we got around to learning about the Father’s name. This Hebrew “expert”, informed us that his grandfather was a Levite rabbi, killed in the Holocaust, and that before he died, every year on Yom Kippur, his grandfather would pronounce the name of the Father in his prayers, only once a year, and that he overheard how his grandfather would pronounce the name. He said the name was pronounced, “Yehovah”. That sounded strange to me, in the light that they had just taught us that the ancient Hebrew had no “v” sound. We blindly went along with that for a while, not realizing that this was no better than using Yahweh, not knowing how we would know for sure.

More of our friends were starting to use Yehovah, as this was the name being taught by Nehemiah Gordon, and the growing Karaite Movement among the Hebrew Roots crowd. One day, I was listening to Nehemiah and Keith Johnson teaching on the name, and Nehemiah also mentioned that there was no “v” sound in ancient Hebrew, but then went on to insist that His name was pronounced, “Yehovah”.

He said it is uncertain how the name was pronounced in ancient times, but that Yahweh was wrong, because the ending, eh, with a long “a” sound, was wrong. He said the name had to end in an “ah”, in order to be correct. So here was another Hebrew “expert” saying there is no “v” sound, and essentially admitting to teaching a false name.

Double speech. I was starting to notice a pattern of this in the Hebrew/Messianic/Jewish teachers. Within one week I would hear two other Hebrew teachers make the same admission, that there was no “v” sound in ancient Hebrew, but still insisting on the pronunciation with a “v” sound.

Letting the Spirit and the Word Teach Hebrew

I was sent a teaching about the name by someone in an email. It explained also that there was no “v” sound in ancient Hebrew, but it did offer a tip in seeking out the truth on the matter – to look up other Hebrew words with the “vav”, to see how it was pronounced in less controversial Hebrew words, like Judah, pronounced in ancient times as Yahudah. This method sounded like wisdom to me, because it calls for other witnesses from scripture.

In the word, ruach, as in ruach hakodesh, or holy spirit, the “uau” is still pronounced as a long “u” sound. I find it extremely interesting that I would come to use this word, ruach, spirit, to aid me in sorting out how to pronounce the letter uau, and how to pronounce the names. It reminds me of this verse:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13

The Hebrew word, ruach, spirit, led me into all truth regarding the names. How is the “uau” pronounced in the word, Jerusalem/Yarushalayim? It’s not pronounced as a “v”, “o”, or a “w”.

What about David? I noticed the “vav” in his name while looking through a concordance. Remember that his name is supposed to mean, beloved? Well, right there in the concordance, under David’s name, which is spelled dalet-uau-dalet, there is the word the concordance said was pronounced, dud, with a long “u” sound, and the definition of that word, was beloved.

If the word, beloved, is pronounced, dude, silent e, long u, and the word means beloved, then why would the name, David, which means beloved, and is spelled exactly the same, not be pronounced the same way? Of course it would be.

We are told that the name of Messiah, is the same name, spelling, and pronunciation, as Joshua’s Hebrew name, and is found in the Hebrew bible as, yod-hey-uau-shin-ayin, or y-h-u-sh-a, in Numbers 13:16, when Joshua’s name was first changed from Hosea to Yahusha by Moses. If the “vav” was a “v” sound, wouldn’t the Son’s name have a “v” sound in it, since it has a “vav”, or uau? There’s not a consistent pronunciation of that letter between Yehovah and Yeshua. Either it’s a “vav” that says “v”, a “uau” or “waw” that says “u” or “w”. Some modern Hebrew words even have the “vav” with vowel pointers suggesting it sometimes makes a long “o” sound. I will explain why I believe this is wrong as well.

I can see how the “u” and “w” sounds can be interchangeable, as far as in some words, like ruach, or Yahuah, because you can have both a “w” and a “u” sound, in those words, depending on how one pronounces it. Yet, these words are only spelled with one “uau”, and no other letters that make that sound. (Several months ago, I was chastised by a member of WLC’s website for not spelling out YHUH, the way WLC spells it out, Yahuwah.) It’s not spelled YHUUH, or YHUWH, just 4 letters, YHUH, and the “uau”, when you move from the “u”, to the “ah” sound in the hey, it CAN create a “w” sound, if one gets lazy with the Hebrew pronunciation. We see that in some English words as well. If YHUH doesn’t spell His name in the Hebrew with 2 uau’s, why do I have to spell it in the English with a “u” and a “w”? Whether you spell it, YaHUaH, or YaHUWaH, in English, or Hebrew, either way, it’s pronounced the same.

In words, like Dud, Yahudah, and Yarushalayim, there is a “u” sound, no “o” sound, no “v” sound, and no “w” sound. For this reason, I decided that the “u” is the most logical pronunciation of that letter, and that the letter is a “uau”, that it is in some ways similar to a “w”. I read the “w” came later, hence the name double u. The u was first. If the “uau” was originally an “o” sound, like in Yehovah, we would be calling them “Joes”, not “Jews”. The “u” sound was always there. Jerusalem/Yarushalayim would be Yaroshalayim/Jerosalem, Judah/Yahudah would be Jodah/Yahodah. Please think about how we would pronounce these words if the “uau” were supposed to be pronounced as a “v” or “w”. How would we pronounce Jerusalem or Yahudah in this case? People don’t think things through, do they?

Then there was the issue with the “yod”, or yud, at the beginning of the names of the Father and His Son. How was that to be pronounced? Is it “Ye”, or “Ya”? Again, I went back to the older version of the pronunciation of words that began with yod, or y, like Yarushalayim, Yahudah, yada (to know), Hallelu yah, pick any word or name beginning with a “yod” in the Concordance, and you will find most words are pronounced with a “Ya”. I read the “Ye”, came later. Some say it was introduced in Babylon, others say it was much later with the Greeks, but in any case, it came later, and was involved in the “Je” in Jesus, Jehovah, and Jerusalem, obviously not the correct and original pronunciations of those names.

The last issue was the pronunciation of the last “hey”. I knew it made an “h” sound, but was not sure if it was a long “a” ending sound, like in Yahweh, or “ah”, like to praise, yadah, and Yahudah, which means to praise Yahuah, as we see in Genesis 29:35. I used the same method I used for the “u” and the “ya”, and looked at other Hebrew words in the concordance that ended in hey like Yahudah. I found in most of them that the hey at the end makes the “ah” sound, and the few words with the “eh” sound, like in Moshe, were pronunciations that came later, and were influences from the nations, things picked up by the Jews in exile at some point.

I was starting to see that there may be a bit of truth and a bit of a lie mixed in both of these versions of the Father’s name. The Yah in Yahweh rang true with other Hebrew words beginning with the “yod”, but I had to put down the ending. In Yehovah, the ah ending appeared to be the good I needed to hold onto, because of the evidence in other Hebrew words with the same “hey” ending, having an “ah” sound.

Yahudah and the Door

I also noticed that YaHUDaH, YHUDH is spelled exactly the same as YaHUaH, YHUH, except Yahudah adds the dalet, which means door. I could not help but notice that Yahusha, the door, came from the tribe of Yahudah. That gives us even more insight into why Yahudah would be the tribe the door, Yahusha, would come to us through. If you take the “d” out of Yahudah, you get Yahuah. Take the dalet out of Yahudah, and put the shin in its place, and you get Yahusha. It’s spelled yod-hey-uau-shin-ayin, or y-h-u-sh-a. How we get Yeshua out of that, I don’t know. That would be yod-shin-uau-ayin, y-sh-u-a, and you have to switch around the shin and uau and leave out the hey in the Father’s name, in order to get Yeshua, not to mention you’d have to mess up the Ya and twist it to ye.

Then said Yahusha unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. John 10:7

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. John 10:1

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. John 10:2

Yahusha Comes in Yahuah’s Name

Scripture says Yahusha comes in Yahuah’s name. Yeshua is nothing like Yehovah or Yahweh. Yahuah and Yahusha ARE similar, they both say Yahu at the beginning, and have an “ah” sound at the end.

YaHUSHA comes in YaHUaH’s name. In YaHUSHA, we have the yod, hey, uau, with the addition of the shin and the ayin. In Yeshua we have the yod, and the uau, but no hey. Without the hey, Yeshua does not reveal the Father’s name, as hey, means to reveal. Yahusha said in John 17 that He revealed the Father’s name. The name Yeshua does not fulfill that, the name Yahusha does.

I’m not seeing Yeshua in the text anyway. Messiah’s name is clearly the same name as Joshua’s, and that never appears in Hebrew as Yeshua. Yashua, yes, sometimes, or Yahusha, or Yahushua, but He comes in the Father’s name, and the Father is YaH, not Yeh. Praise Yah! Hallelu YaH!

Joshua’s name is mentioned 216 times in the Tanach, according to Strong’s, and 214 of those times it appears as Yahusha, yod-hey-uau-shin-ayin, and only twice as Yahushua as an alternate spelling for Yahusha. That spelling is the same, but with a second “uau”. However, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Joshua’s name appears as Yahusha and Yashua, but also Yahushua. All 3 seem to be used in both the Masoretic text and the Dead Sea Scrolls, so it seems the Masoretic text is supported by the DSS. All 3 variations of the Yahusha’s name appear to be valid. This happens with the Father’s name, too. We understand the text calls him YaH, YaHU, or YaHUaH. One is longer than the others, but we know they are all still speaking of the same BEING, none of THESE 3 variances of the Father’s name are incorrect or the result of a conspiracy.

The Son of YAHUAH, has His Father’s Name with a Shin and an Ayin added to the end. Shin means “Tooth” and Ayin means “Eye”. So in the death of the Son, the law of an “Eye for an Eye, and a Tooth for a Tooth” is fulfilled.

The spelling “Yahushua” is found in Deuteronomy 3:21 and Judges 2:7, but in each case they are referencing the person named Yahusha and the context involves supplication, someone is crying out. In Deuteronomy, Moses is crying out about not getting to enter the land, and telling Israel that Yahushua/Yahusha/Joshua, will be leading them instead. In Judges, there is mourning because of Yahusha’s death (Joshua) of Nun), so, this is why the “shua” was added to the end of the name here. This may have been a play on words, to add more spiritual understanding and emphasis to what was going on in these 2 stories. “SHUA” means “to Cry out for help or salvation.

Hebrew names can be translated; they make a statement, like Yahusha means “YAHUAH is Salvation” or Deliverance.

I Have Come in My Father’s Name, and you Do Not Accept Me; but if Someone Else Comes in his own Name, you will Accept him. YAHUCANNAN/JOHN 5:43

YASHA YAHU/Isaiah 62:11 reads, Behold, YAHUAH hath proclaimed to the end of the world, “Say ye to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, THE DELIVERANCE/Salvation come; behold His reward is with Him and His work before Him.’”

“His” points back to Salvation and describes Salvation as a person. The Hebrew root word used here is yasha, and means salvation, liberty, deliverance, free, to be safe, deliver. Therefore, YAHUAH’s Salvation, or YAHUSHA, was to come to set at liberty, deliver, free and cause to be safe, the daughter of Zion.

MATHATHYAHU/MATTHEW 1:21: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name YAHUSHA, for He will Save/DELIVER His people from their sins.”

YaSha(H-3467) is a primitive root that means salvation, to save. It means to make free, deliverer or Savior.

Joshua’s Original Name, Husha, Becomes Yahusha

I mentioned before, that Yahusha shared His name with Joshua, son of Nun. If you remember, in Numbers 13, Moses changed Joshua’s name. Joshua was at first called Hosea, or Husha, which means salvation. The root of that name is yasha. There is no shua in Husha’s name. Moses changed Husha son of Nun’s name to Yahusha. Let’s examine the evidence:

הוֹשֵׁעַ

Remember this is read right to left. Husha is spelled in Hebrew, hey-uau-shin-ayin. Hmmm, exactly like Yahusha, except without the yod. Well, then in verse 16, Moses added the yod to make it YaHUSHA, yod-hey-uau-shin-ayin. How does that not form the name Yahusha? How does that say Yahushua, or Yeshua, or Yashua? There is no SECOND uau, and the uau that IS there, is before the shin, not after it.

Strong’s says Husha means salvation. Tack a Ya on the front like Moses and YHUH did and you get Yahusha – YaH is salvation, or salvation of YaH. I believe the Ya was added for several reasons, the first one to demonstrate that it was YaH who brought them into the land, not the man – Husha – who led them in. I believe it was to give glory to YaHUaH for that miracle, rather than a man, to stress that salvation is from YaH. The second reason I believe his name was changed to Yahusha, is to prophesy that just as the man we call Joshua today, who the scriptures call Yahusha, led Israel into the land, so also will come another with the same name, who will lead us into the Kingdom. It’s ALWAYS very significant when someone’s name is changed in scripture.

Strong’s will tell you Husha should be pronounced Hosea, Hoshea, or Oshea, but we can’t believe everything Strong’s says, because it goes along with the conspiracy to hide and change the names of the Father and the Son. Of course they will hide the true pronunciation of Husha, because it’s in the name Yahusha. To get the pronunciation Oshea, one must remove the Hebrew letter “hey” from the beginning of the name. One must also use a vowel pointer telling you to pronounce the “uau” like an o, and don’t ask me where they are getting a “sheya” sound at the end. The ending of Husha is shin-ayin, which says “sha”. I was never taught that the ayin can have a long “a” sound, like cake. It seems to me to get, “sheya”, one would also add a “yod” to the end of Husha, before the “ayin”, to get the “ya” sound. Hosea is English, not Hebrew.

Speaking of Hosea, there’s the prophet Hosea, Husha, who also gives us a brilliant picture of Yahusha, being the husband to Israel, the harlot, who redeems her and brings her back to Him again.

Learning Hebrew

I don’t agree with the Jewish vowel pointers, that tell the reader how to pronounce the word, as the reader may have already noticed.

I just sound out the letters, knowing what sounds they make. They are very similar to English, in my mind, as I understand that all languages branched off from the one language that they were using at the tower of Babel, and that their languages/tongues, were changed just enough that they could not understand each other enough to accomplish their evil plans.

Hey says “h”, uau is a long “u” sound, shin says “sh”, and ayin is a short “a” sound, that sounds like a short “o”, as in the English words, got, or ox, or the Hebrew word, Abba, which means Father. I actually met some people online that spell Yahusha in the English as, Y-H-U-SH-O, but pronounce the “O”, or ayin, at the end, like the “a” in Abba. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I think they use the “O” instead of the “A” because of the ayin word picture of the eye, which would appear more like the English letter O than the A. Hebrew is much more simple than man makes it out to be. They complicate it because they want those not schooled in Hebrew to believe they have to follow the Jews in order to understand the Torah. Scripture says otherwise.

You can learn the letters of the aleph bet, learn the sounds they make, not according to what the Jews teach and their vowel pointers, but with witnesses from scripture, and allow the word and spirit to teach you the language YHUH originally chose to speak to His people in written form.

Here’s a link to a chart I referred to often as I was learning Hebrew. It’s very helpful, I found, in translating the Modern Hebrew to an easier to understand, more biblical and ancient Hebrew:

http://ancient-hebrew.org/alphabet_chart.html

Division Over Names

I’m zealous about His name, and see that I am commanded to proclaim His name, exalt His name, bless His name, and praise His name, as Moses, the Prophets, Yahusha, and His disciples did. We are to do as Yahusha did, and Yahusha revealed His name to the disciples, his students:

“Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb. “For I proclaim the name of YHUH…” Deuteronomy 32:2-3

I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. John 17:6

I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected them and guarded them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. John 17:11-12

And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:26

He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the congregation.” Hebrew 2:12

I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Psalms 22:12

Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know! Psalm 30:4

John 17:11 teaches us that the Father and Son’s names are One, that Yahusha revealed and made known the Father’s name, that the Son received His name from the Father, that those names bring protection, and that those names bring unity to those who call upon those names in order to be saved.

I don’t know how many times, when the issue of the names comes up and I begin to proclaim them to people who don’t exalt the names I use, they begin to suggest that insisting on using those names is causing division. Yes, Yahusha does say He comes to bring a sword:

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34

A sword cuts and divides in two. In fact, Yahusha’s name consists of the letter shin, which means two, cut, sharp. Sounds like a sword to ME, something sharp that cuts things in two. A sword brandished in times of strife, conflict, and division.

Even the letters in His name imply that the very essence of His name is to bring division, to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, those in darkness from those in light. So, yes, His name brings division, and it brings persecution, because His enemies hate his name, it pierces their soul, it exposes their evil thoughts and evil intentions and evil deeds. The darkness hates the light. His name is light.

And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. Luke 21:16-17

For the word of Aluhym is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

According to the verse in Luke 21, it’s those who DON’T LOVE His NAME, who betray and put to death those who do. Who are the ones causing the division here? It’s their choice to hate His name, and it’s that choice that brings the division. I don’t cut off fellowship with someone because they do not use the same names I do, because I also used other names at one time, before I studied it out. I’m certain there are others still uninformed, that would embrace the names once the knowledge in the scriptures concerning them is given them. For this reason, I continue to declare the names to those who do not yet cling to them, and do not cut-off fellowship, but my use of the names has sometimes resulted in others cutting off fellowship with me. Many Sacred Namers have been chased away by those who criticize being zealous for the names, because of all the accusations of causing division, all the verbal stoning, the discouragement, the temptation to bow the knee to men and Baal, all the attempts to get us to deny Him and blaspheme and bring guilt upon ourselves.

As long as we use Yahweh because it’s what the Orthodox Jews teach, or use Yehovah because it’s the name the Karaite Jews insist on, division will remain, because some sheep follow those men, and other sheep follow this other man, instead of following the true Shepherd – Yahusha the Messiah – who comes in the Name of and leads us to the Father – Yahuah.

There was a time when I wondered if we should divide over the names. However, I noticed that in Acts, the apostles were not afraid to enter the market places of the gentiles, or the synagogues of the Jews on the Sabbath, to proclaim the names to those who used other names. Paul was in the Jewish Synagogues ON THE SABBATH, persuading the Jews AND the GREEKS. Paul was NOT meeting them in Greek Temples on Greek appointed times, but Jews and repentant Greeks alike, even in GREECE, were acknowledging YHUH’s Sabbath, and gathering THEN in the synagogues, to hear what Moses had to say on the Sabbath day. This should be our model regarding when and where we meet to hear Moses preached. We should continue to proclaim His name to those who hate His name, and if they choose to divide or come after us with verbal tongue lashings because we continue to preach in His name, so be it. That said, I do not pray with them in other names, and I do not compromise the truth and light of His name in my efforts to share truth with others.

Acts 5 and Acts 18 and the Names

In the Book of Acts, Chapter 18, we read about Paul preaching the name of Yahusha and His role as Messiah in the synagogues in Athens, Greece:

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. Acts 18:4

…And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Yahusha was Messiah. Acts 18:5

…In verse 6, the Jews are infuriated, and “oppose” themselves (set themselves against their own nation and King), and blaspheme, because they are enraged by Paul’s testimony that Yahusha was Messiah.

Paul shakes his garment as a sign to them that their blood be upon their own heads, and announces he is going to the gentiles. What caused Paul to leave the synagogue in Athens was the Jews’ opposition and blasphemy against the testimony of Yahusha…continuing on in Acts to the next verse:

And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped Aluhym, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Acts 18:7

And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Master with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. Acts 18:8

I’m sure the other religious leaders were furious about all the people being converted to believing in Yahusha, even the leader of the synagogue and his house. Going on to the next few verses in Acts 18:

Then spake the Master to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of Aluhym among them. Acts 18:9-12

So a year and a half later, while dwelling with the brethren and teaching them the Word in that house…

And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship Aluhym contrary to the law. Acts 18:12-13

…Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. Acts 18:14-15

So Gallio said the Jews were bringing him matters of words and names and the Jewish law, and verse 13 says the Jews accused Paul of persuading men to worship Aluhym contrary to the law. It appears, throughout this chapter, the issue the Jews have is with Paul’s testimony that Yahusha is Messiah, and that this testimony agrees with and is taught in the Law, and that they could worship YHUH in Messiah Yahusha. They are accusing Paul of idolatry and blasphemy. Yahusha was accused of blasphemy when he was killed, because He and His followers claimed Him to be THE Messiah, YHUH’s Son, and the King of the Jews. Because Paul held to the same testimony, he would face the same accusations from the Jews who would not believe in Yahusha’s NAME.

Just in case there’s STILL any doubt among some that the NAMES were not a major issue between Paul and the Jews who persecuted him, let’s take a look at Acts 5, starting at verse 17:

17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

19 But the messenger of YHUH by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,

23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.

24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.

25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.

26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.

29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey Aluhym rather than men.

30 The Aluhym of our fathers raised up Yahusha, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

31 Him hath Aluhym exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom Aluhym hath given to them that obey him.

33 When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

There’s the testimony of Yahusha cutting the heart, remember, the shin in His name means to cut, and now those who do not believe in His NAME, take counsel to slay/cut…

34 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

This was the same Gamaliel mentioned by Paul in Acts 22:3, whose feet Paul sat at and learned the Law from. It appears Gamaliel is urging the Sanhedrin to tread carefully and not harm those who hold the testimony of Yahusha, and suggests there is a possibility their works could be of Aluhym, and that to fight against their testimony, could be fighting against YHUH, and in vain.

35 And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.

36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

39 But if it be of Aluhym, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against Aluhym.

40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Yahusha, and let them go.

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Yahusha Messiah.

They disobeyed the council, the Sanhedrin, and they continued to teach and preach Yahusha and His NAME. In verse 29, when commanded to not speak in that name, the believers stated that it was better to obey Aluhym rather than men. YHUH’s Word ALWAYS trumps the word of the Sanhedrin and other men in positions of “authority”. Yahusha says you are to avoid their leaven, therefore, you shall do it. Because the Sanhedrin misused their authority, attempting to elevate their YHUH given authority over YHUH, YHUH took their authority away soon after they rejected the One who gave them that authority. Yahusha prophesied King and Priest would be rejected and the Temple and Jerusalem would be destroyed and they would go off into exile. They lost the authority He had given them. Judah handed Shiloh the scepter that was rightfully and originally His. The scepter now departed from Judah, because Shiloh – Yahusha, had come. Genesis 49:10.

Last year, I was a member on a website, and a Messianic contacted me saying he and his wife were seeking fellowship, that we had similar beliefs. We began to compare our beliefs on core issues, and he mentioned he noticed that we don’t use the name Yeshua, which they used. I replied with our testimony about why and how we began to use the name Yahusha. He replied to me that they were aware of the “correct” way to pronounce the name, but that in following the Jews, they INTENTIONALLY MISspell the name, so as not to speak the name. Again, someone admitting to me that they intentionally lie, giving false testimony, about His NAME. I was floored that this person actually admitted to me what I had suspected for years. He was involved in a great conspiracy against the NAMES. What a terrible fate awaits such as these! Indeed, there is still a conspiracy against YHUH in Judah, and as Ezekiel states:

Why do the nations conspire     and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up     and the rulers band together     against YHUH and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains

And throw off their shackles.” Psalm 2:1-3

Back to the Greeks in Acts 18

On Mars’ Hill, in Acts 17, Paul introduces the Greeks in Athens to the names of the Father and His Son, who resurrected:

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Acts 17:23

…And the times of this ignorance Aluhym winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30

The Greeks were IGNORANT of His NAME. They did not know His name. Paul says Aluhym NOW commands ALL men everywhere to REPENT of this IGNORANCE of NOT KNOWING His NAME. If one is in ignorance regarding YHUH’s name, it’s not because nobody has declared it to them, but because they have not heard and tested what’s being said to them. If a person is still unsure about the names, by not studying the matter out, he is making a choice to sin against that command to repent of that ignorance of His name. That person is choosing to blindly follow the Pharisees or the religious leaders of the Romans or Greeks who suppress the knowledge of the names, he is choosing to remain in ignorance on the matter – a matter of salvation. We are blessed if we seek His name:

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. Genesis 32:29

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. Exodus 20:24

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them. Numbers 6:27

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. Psalm 91:4

As Paul was told in Acts 18:9, we cannot be afraid, we cannot continue to hold our peace out of fear of rejection or fear of losing fellowship. Perfect love casts out all fear, so if we have fear, we do not have love. We must love YHUH before, and more than, our brother. Fear of men leads to obeying men instead of YHUH, in an effort to save one’s own life:

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16:25

Yahusha declared “‘Love YHUH your Aluhym with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

YHUH comes first, the command to love our brother was put second. Choose this day whom you will serve…

Blessings in Yahusha/Yahushua/Yashua Messiah’s Name

 

Jubilees 1:1, states that it was the 16th of the 3rd month when Moses was called up the mount.

And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, [2410 Anno Mundi] that Aluhym spake to Moses, saying: ‘Come up to Me on the Mount…’ Jubilees 1:1

This verse is sometimes quoted by those who understand it to support their position that the Israelites arrived at Sinai mid-month, not early in the 3^rd month, to establish that Shabuot occurs later than the Jewish tradition of dating the Feast early in the 3^rd month. I propose that, those who quote Jubilees 1:1 to support the testimony that Exodus 19:1 tells us that Israel arrived mid-month in the 3^rd month, are correct in doing so. However, these same individuals will often claim Jubilees 15:1 is a lie, because it disagrees with their doctrine on the date of Shabuot. The Book of Jubilees testifies several times throughout the book that the First Fruits of the Wheat Harvest Festival is on the 16^th of the 3^rd month.

And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain harvest. Jubilees 15:1 And she bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which YHUH had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruitsof the harvest, Isaac was born. Jubilees 16:13

Individuals who reject these testimonies in Jubilees pick and choose what agrees with them, and throw the rest out. When it comes to scripture, certain scrolls that claim to be inspired by YHUH, hold to the testimony of the law of Moses, and prophesy of Yahusha Messiah, I don’t believe there are any bones to spit out. While there are minor mistranslations in a few places, in ALL translations, I have found that when each verse is examined in the light of ALL the other scriptures, we can have confidence in them all, I don’t believe the scribes did so much damage that we can’t put our faith in much or even in ANY of it, as some would have us to believe.

I believe Israel arrived on the 15th, at night, two months after they left Rameses. I also believe that the camping place (Rephidim) prior to their arrival, was a short journey away, where they rested on the Sabbath before arriving at Sinai the following night. That night, after they arrived at Sinai, they set up camp, and in the morning, on the 16^th (Remember, a day/date begins in the morning), Moses was called up the mount.

Shabuot, the establishing of the covenant, and the giving of the law, could not have taken place before the 16th of the 3rd month, as the Bible and Jubilees agree that these things did not take place before they arrived at Sinai. A Pentecost on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th day of the month would be impossible, and not in line with the witnesses.

The Book of Jasher is a 3rd witness about the date of the Feast and these events. In Jasher 82:6, we read that YHUH gave the 10 commandments to Israel on the 6th day of the 3rd month, however, I believe that’s an error on the part of the translators, that it should read the 16th.

And the children of Israel proceeded from Rephidim and they encamped in the wilderness of Sinai, in the third month from their going forth from Egypt…And in the third month from the children of Israel’s departure from Egypt, on the sixth day thereof, YHUH gave to Israel the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. Jasher 82:1, 6

I go into how/why I come to that conclusion more on my website, but that’s the only way I know to understand Jasher 82:6 if we are to believe these books agree and strengthen the testimony, and I believe they do, because on a calendar that puts Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, as the Bible, Jubilees, and Jasher do, the 6th can never be 7 Sabbaths after the 16th OR the 23rd, no matter when you start the count. The only way to reconcile the testimony of Jasher 82:6 with the Bible, Jubilees, and the lunar Sabbath, is to interpret this verse in Jasher to be saying that it was on the 16th, and it would not be a far stretch to suggest that someone went with 6th, rather than 16th, knowing the translator was probably very familiar with the Jewish traditional date for Pentecost, counted from the 16th of the 1st month. The translator interpreted Sabbaths, as seven days, not Sabbaths or complete lunar weeks. However, if we look at Jasher in the light of all the other scriptures, the way I’m suggesting, that Jasher 82:6 should read 16^th, not 6th, we bring the testimonies of the three books into agreement – the Bible, Jasher, and Jubilees – and we now have three witnesses in agreement about the date for the arrival at Sinai, the giving of the law, the establishment of the covenant, and the date for Shabuot.

While some lunar Sabbath keepers will agree with me on the date for the arrival at Sinai and the giving of the law, they disagree that this is also the date for Shabuot and Israel entering the covenant with YHUH. They disagree for several reasons. One is belief that the date for the Feast of Weeks is found by counting 7 Sabbaths plus another 50 days, resulting in the first fruits of the wheat harvest being put off until the end of the 4^th month. I think the scriptures in Jubilees and Jasher obviously make this an impossibility, and the scriptures do, as well, but in a less obvious way for some people. Let me explain…

I’ll focus on their strongest arguments for a later Feast of Weeks, albeit, not very strong when one takes into account ALL of the SCRIPTURES concerning the matter. They believe Israel did not enter into covenant until the tablets were given in stone. They also believe the first fruits of the wheat cannot be ready until the end of the 4th month, never in the 3rd month. They believes there is a season called Spring, and that if Shabuot was supposed to occur in the 3rd month, scripture would call it a “Spring” Feast, during a “Spring” harvest, with “Spring” fruits. Because scripture, Philo, and Josephus, speak of Summer, not Spring, in regards to the timing of Shabuot, they believe this means Shabuot must happen in what THEY consider Summer, which THEY believe to be after the beginning of the 4th month.

If you are not yet aware that there is no such thing as “Spring” in scripture, only Summer and Winter, that in Summer are ALL of the feasts and in Summer are ALL of the harvests, and ALL of the ripening of fruits for the year, please verify what I’m saying in a concordance. I go into the issue further on my website and my blog, about how certain Hebrew phrases got translated as “Spring” and “Fall”. There is a link to the blog and my website at the end of the article. Summer has 6 months, and the 3rd month is Summer. Passover and Unleavened Bread are also in Summer.

Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. Psalms 74:17

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

So that addresses the Summer/Spring issue. Since there is no season called, “Spring” mentioned in scripture, of course Pentecost is called a Summer festival, even in the 3^rd month. We can put that argument to rest.

The next argument for a later Shabuot is the claim that wheat cannot ever be ripe in the 3^rd month, even the first fruits. You may have already ready seen my testimony with videos showing entire fields of wheat being harvested in the 3rd month on my blog. If you have not seen these testimonies, you can find the links on my blog in the article titled, Pentecost and Ready Wheat on 3-16, In that article, you can also read about how “winter” wheat, harvested in Summer, and sown the previous winter, is perfectly acceptable as a first fruits offering, and would be ready before the wheat sown a few months earlier.

As far as I’m concerned, because I was not there in Israel in ancient times, I cannot claim that it was never possible in Abraham’s day for wheat to be ready in the 3rd month. Some are arrogant enough to call Jubilees 15:1 a lie. They claim it is not possible that Abraham celebrated the Feast of First Fruits in the 3rd month as Jubilees states. I guess they were there so they would know, right?

I believe the Feast of First Fruits can be a week-long celebration, like the other two chagim festivals, though not commanded that way…If you look closely at the events in Exodus 19 and 24. The sequence of events begins at the 16th, and lasts about a week, with the climax of the week being Moses ascending the mount and disappearing into the cloud on the seventh day. (Exodus 24:15-18)

Starting on the 16th, it sounds like, the cloud covers the mountain, and the glory climaxes on the seventh day, and then leaves. During that week, while the cloud is on the mount, from the 16th-22, what happens first, is the exchange of vows (Exodus 19:5-8 and Exodus 24:3), then later comes the sacrifice (Exodus 24:4-6), the reading of the Book of the Covenant/Law (Exodus 24:7), then reaffirming of the vows (Exodus 24:7), sealed in the blood (consummation of marriage covenant already established) (Exodus 24:8), wedding feast on the mount with 70 elders (Exodus 24:11), then Moses is called up the mount again to receive the tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12). Moses went up in the cloud on the seventh day after YHUH again invited him up the mount to receive the tablets. So Exodus 24 is telling us very clearly the sequence of events, and which event represented the establishment of the covenant – the vows that came first. In fact, one of the root words in Shabuot, is shaba, H7650, a verb that means to make a vow, an oath, a promise. What happened on that day is even explained in the word for the name of that feast.

Everything else – the blood, the wedding feast with the 70 elders, the tablets – was putting a stamp on what already happened. This teaches us that the laws are put on our hearts first, heart circumcision, our vows are what make us bound to YHUH, not stone tablets. Our words, or vows, are important and binding. Stone tablets and physical circumcision come later. Stone tablets can be broken or lost, but our words are binding for life.

See Deut 22. If a man sleeps with another man’s betrothed virgin (they are engaged, exchanged vows, but not consummated yet, yet still considered married), the man who has lied with the virgin has committed ADULTERY, not just fornication, he must be killed, for violating another man’s WIFE, not fiancé. According to scripture, we are married when we agree to marry, not when we lie with someone. That’s when he becomes her husband, and she becomes his wife, when they agree to marriage.

Sex with a virgin results in the spilling of blood, and is a seal on the covenant already established, as we see in Exodus 24:8. Adultery is a specific form of fornication, involving sex with a woman who has made vows, and is therefore married to, another man. If a man lies with a virgin who is committed to another man, he must die. If she is not committed to another man, he is expected to marry her and/or pay the bride price for a virgin, if the father allows it, and the man can never divorce her, and he is not killed. This clearly defines a marriage covenant as the exchange of oral vows, not blood, and not the writing of the terms/ketubah/tablets which is a record of the terms/vows already established.

In Deut. 22:23-24, the husband is betrothed to his wife, but she is still a virgin, so obviously sex did not make them married, because sex and the spilling of the blood hadn’t happened yet. Numbers 30 also teaches us it is our words/vows that are binding, and Romans 7:1-3 should be read in that light/context, that a woman is bound to her husband as long as he is still alive. No where does scripture say a ketubah of any sort is binding. It’s simply a record of what was agreed upon verbally. Deut. 29:12 is another witness that the vow, or oath, YHUH made sealed and established the covenant on that very day.

That thou shouldest enter into covenant with YHUH thy Aluhym, and into his oath, which YHUH thy Aluhym maketh with thee this day. Deuteronomy 29:12

When you add in the testimonies of Jubilees about the date and Feast that YHUH first made the covenants with Israel’s fathers, Noah and Abraham, and the date for Isaac’s birth, the evidence is overwhelming for the date of Shabuot in the 16th of the 3rd month, and this being the anniversary and the fulfillment of the covenants made with them. We’ve not even mentioned the count in Lev 23 in this conversation. That’s another topic I go into more on my website.

I believe enough scriptures have been presented to establish that Pentecost cannot take place before the 16^th of the 3^rd month, and that putting it off another month and a half to the end of the 4^th month doesn’t work, either. The witnesses all agree in strength that Israel entered the covenant, and Pentecost occurs, on the 16^th of the 3^rd month.

In Yahusha Messiah

The crossing of the Sea on the way out of Egypt is often associated with the barley wave sheaf, because it’s believed by many that the date Moses led the people across the Sea, was the “day after the Sabbath” that YHUH was referring to when He commanded Israel to wave the barley sheaf in Leviticus 23. For this reason, MOST who believe this will claim Israel crossed the Sea on Abib 16, In this article, we will examine the evidence of sacred, inspired writings that exalt the name of YHUH, exalt the Torah of Moses, and prophesy of Yahusha HaMashiach.

Concerning the timing they left Egypt, Numbers 33 and Deuteronomy 16:1 inform us the date and time of day. Remember as you read these verses and study the sequence of events, that a date/day begins in the morning:

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto YHUH thy Aluhym: for in the month of Abib YHUH thy Aluhym brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Deut. 16:1

And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. Numbers 33:3

Because Exodus 19:1 says they left EGYPT two months before their arrival at the Mount, this is another reason many believe this must mean they crossed the sea on the 16th of the 1st month, the morning after they left Rameses. I suggest that Exodus 19:1 is not saying they crossed the Sea two months before, but that they began their journey out of Egypt two months before arriving at Sinai. They left Rameses on the 15^th, at night, in agreement with Numbers 33. 

The belief that the sheaf was waved on the 16th ties in with the date they believe Israel crossed the Sea. I, too, believe the crossing of the sea was at the timing of the waving of the sheaf. However, I understand this date to have occurred a week later than the date most have come to. I’m going to show where scripture says they crossed the Sea a week after the traditional date.

I, also, was taught the Israelites crossed the sea on the 16th, which is also when I was taught the sheaf was waved. However, I started to wonder how that date could be possible for the Sea crossing in the light of the scriptures which say that when they left Rameses on the 15th (Num 33:3), they camped at Sukkot (Num 33:5).

The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Sukkoth. Numbers 33:5

The Book of Jasher 81:5 says they arrived at Sukkot on the 15^th.

And the children of Israel traveled from Egypt and from Goshen and from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth on the fifteenth day of the first month. Jasher 81:5 (I believe they arrived at night, not during the Sabbath portion of the day. Deut 16:1 and Num. 33 say he brought them out by night, and on the 15^th, so this did not break the commandment to keep the Sabbath day kadosh.)

Then they left Sukkot and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness (Num 33:5-6, Exodus 13:20, and Jasher 81:7).

They left Sukkoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. Numbers 33:6

And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. Exodus 13:20

And the Egyptians buried all their firstborn whom Ha Adon had smitten, and all the Egyptians buried their slain for three days. And the children of Israel traveled from Succoth and encamped in Ethom, at the end of the wilderness. Jasher 81:6-7

According to Jasher 81:8-11, THREE DAYS LATER, after they completed burying their dead, the Egyptians decided to find out why Israel had not returned, when they had only asked to leave for three days to celebrate a feast unto YHUH.

And on the third day after the Egyptians had buried their firstborn, many men rose up from Egypt and went after Israel to make them return to Egypt, for they repented that they had sent the Israelites away from their servitude. And one man said to his neighbor, Surely Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh, saying, We will go a three days’ journey in the wilderness and sacrifice to the YHUH our Aluhym. Now therefore let us rise up early in the morning and cause them to return, and it shall be that if they return with us to Egypt to their masters, then shall we know that there is faith in them, but if they will not return, then will we fight with them, and make them come back with great power and a strong hand. And all the nobles of Pharaoh rose up in the morning, and with them about seven hundred thousand men, and they went forth from Egypt on that day, and came to the place where the children of Israel were. Jasher 81:8-11

Jasher 81:10 says the next morning (this would have been 4 days later) they went to ask Israel why they had not yet returned to their work in Egypt. Jasher 81:12 states that when the Egyptians found the Israelites, they were found feasting before Pi-hahiroth.

And all the Egyptians saw and behold Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel were sitting before Pi-hahiroth, eating and drinking and celebrating the feast of YHUH. Jasher 81:12

Exodus 14:2 and Num 33:7 confirm Pi-hahiroth was the next camping spot BEFORE crossing the sea (see Num 33:1-8).

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. Exodus 14:2

They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol. Numbers 33:7

Jasher 81:14 states that by the time the Egyptians find Israel at this spot, it’s now been 5 days since they left, and they have still to cross the sea.

And all the Egyptians said to the children of Israel, Surely you said, We will go a journey for three days in the wilderness and sacrifice to our Aluhym and return. Now therefore this day makes five days since you went, why do you not return to your masters? Jasher 81:13-14

Jasher 81:15 says Moses and Aaron informed the Egyptians that they would not be returning to Egypt.

And Moses and Aaron answered them, saying, Because YHUH our Aluhym has testified in us, saying, “You shall no more return to Egypt, but we will betake ourselves to a land flowing with milk and honey,” as YHUH our Aluhym had sworn to our ancestors to give to us. Jasher 81:15

Jasher 81 goes on to say that Israel fought with the Egyptians, and gave them a beating, and the Egyptians returned to tell Pharaoh the Israelites were not going to return.

And when the nobles of Egypt saw that the children of Israel did not hearken to them, to return to Egypt, they girded themselves to fight with Israel. And YHUH strengthened the hearts of the children of Israel over the Egyptians, that they gave them a severe beating, and the battle was sore upon the Egyptians, and all the Egyptians fled from before the children of Israel, for many of them perished by the hand of Israel. And the nobles of Pharaoh went to Egypt and told Pharaoh, saying, the children of Israel have fled, and will no more return to Egypt, and in this manner did Moses and Aaron speak to us. Jasher 81:16-18

This all took some time. Though the Bible does not mention the fighting between them, it does mention Pharaoh was informed that Israel had no plans to return to Egypt in Exodus 14:5.

And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? Exodus 14:5

So when Pharaoh’s army arrives, Israel is still camped at Pi-hahiroth, they had been feasting and had kept the Sabbaths of Unleavened Bread. Now they are very afraid, and not wanting to fight. Moses tells them they won’t have to lift a finger in defense. (Exodus 14:13-14 and Jasher 81:28, 32)

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of YHUH, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. YHUH shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:13-14

And Moses said to them, Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of YHUH which He will effect this day for you. Jasher 81:28

And Moses said to them, Stand in your places, for YHUH will fight for you, and you shall remain silent. Jasher 81:32

I don’t see how Israel could have camped at all 3 places, stopping to bake unleavened bread (Exodus 12:39) before crossing the sea, if they crossed on the 16th, the morning after they left Rameses, according to Numbers 33:5-8 and Exodus 13 and 14. The Book of Jubilees tells us when they crossed:

 …and the festival of unleavened bread, that they should eat unleavened bread seven days, and that they should observe its festival, and that they bring an oblation every day during those seven days of joy before YHUH on the altar of YHUH your ALMIGHTY. For you celebrated this festival with haste when you went forth from Egypt till you entered into the wilderness of Shur; for on the shore of the sea you completed it. (49:22-23)

So they completed the feast on the shore before they crossed the Sea. I believe that when Miriam led Israel in song and dance with tambourines on the morning of Abib 23, the first day of the week, after the Egyptians were washed away in the Sea, that was symbolic of the wave sheaf offering of barley, as that is the day after the Sabbath AFTER Unleavened Bread. It may have even occurred at the time of the morning sacrifice that day. It could be YHUH commanded the wave sheaf that day to commemorate the crossing of the Sea, and that is how the belief came to be that the wave sheaf was on the day of the Sea crossing! How appropriate!

Conclusion: We have established with more than the required number of witnesses from scripture, that the claim that Israel crossed the Sea on or before the 16^th of the first month, is BOGUS! I also believe we have established that a very symbolic, very significant event has taken place on the date that I, Leviticus 23, Exodus 19, Exodus 24, Jasher, and Jubilees, pinpoints for the day the sheaf was waved. If you count 7 sabbaths, 50 days, 7 COMPLETE weeks from the Sea crossing, you come to the date Jubilees and Exodus 19 say Israel entered the covenant with the exchange of the wedding vows, and receiving of the law…on the 16^th day of the 3^rd month…

In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. Exodus 19:1

And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, [2410) Anno Mundi] that Aluhym spake to Moses, saying: ‘Come up to Me on the Mount…” Jubilees 1:1

Isn’t it just beautiful how these numerous witnesses in the Bible, the Book of Jubilees, and the Book of Jasher, all line up in complete agreement, strengthening this testimony, and giving us our 2-3 witnesses required to establish this matter? Many will try to discredit Jubilees and Jasher, because these books testify that some individuals are holding to and teaching false doctrines. They slander the testimony of these books, these books which proclaim the law and the testimony, and prophesy of Messiah Yahusha, just as the Torah does. Let us not listen to false witnesses about these books without hearing the testimony (reading the books) ourselves, and testing it with Torah. Remember, the Bible mentions Jasher more than once. These books also support a lunar Sabbath, just as the Bible does.

To continue the story and see how/when Israel entered the marriage covenant on Shabuot/Shabuat, on the 16^th day of the 3^rd month, please read my article entitled, The Exchange of Vows on 3-16.

Submitted in Yahusha’s love

 

 

 

Dark New Moon and the Paths of Light

First off, I apologize if the length of this article looks long and daunting. I think I managed to address every excuse I’ve heard for not observing the New Moon and the appointed times that hang on it, and for not accepting the dark New Moon. I’ve heard so many excuses, and address them here, but I may have still missed one. It’s worth the read. No more excuses, only scriptural evidence.

What provoked me to begin searching out the possibility of a conjunction New Moon was when someone came to me asking if it was possible we were in error in going with the first visible crescent (FVC) as the New Moon. Afterall, we had been following the Karaite Jews and Nehemiah Gordon with the observation of the FVC and barley to begin a new year and month. She reasoned that, because Nehemiah Gordon and the Karaites reject Yahusha as Messiah, they are blind, and when we follow them, we’re letting them lead us into a ditch.

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:
“YHUH has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.”
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!
BUT THROUGH THEIR FALL, TO PROVOKE THEM TO JEALOUSY, SALVATION HAS COME TO THE GENTILES. Romans 11:7-12

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Romans 11:25

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Matthew 23:24

For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up. Isaiah 9:16

Yahusha also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Luke 6:39

I assured her that we were not in error, and then my reply to her began to annoy me. I began to think that maybe I should consider this possibility of a dark New Moon that she was asking about, and not go at it with the attitude of trying to PROVE MYSELF TO BE RIGHT, but simply take it to YHUH in prayer and search the matter out, testing everything with scripture as a Berean, and certainly I should consider the possibility that I might be in error! How arrogant it would be of me not to?!

In the Beginning…

So I took it to YaHUaH in prayer, asking Him to teach me about which phase of the moon is HIS New Moon, when the beginning of a month is, and He answered me, “If you want to understand MY TIME, go back to the beginning.” Well that made sense, because the word, beginning, is the beginning of TIME. When I came to Torah, it was suggested that one should start in the beginning, in Genesis, to understand the Bible, and it’s Messiah, not at the end of the book. A few scriptures came to mind to support the answer I heard from YHUH, to go back to the beginning to understand His time. The spoken word always confirms the written word. If not, it’s not YHUH’s voice we’re hearing:

“In the beginning was the Word…” John 1:1

“Declaring the end from the beginning…” Isaiah 46:10

“…hath it not been told you from the beginning…” Isaiah 40:21

 “…which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in Aluhym who created all things through Messiah Yahusha…” Ephesians 3:9

“…all things continue as they were from the beginning…” 2 Peter 3:4

“Remember the former things of old…” Isaiah 46:9

“Ask for the old paths…” Jeremiah 6:16

So I went back to the beginning, to Genesis, which means, “in the beginning…”, and I read:

In the beginning Aluhym created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Aluhym moved upon the face of the waters. Gen 1:1-2

Rosh Chodesh of the First Month of the First Year

So, in the beginning was darkness. Right away, I understood, this was Rosh Chodesh, the head, or beginning of the month, the first day of the first month of the first year in time. Time began in darkness.

When I first saw this dark New Moon, I was still observing Saturday as the seventh day Sabbath. At this point, I was still blind to the New Moon day being separate from the creation week, and weeks in general. About 12-13 months after I learned that the dark moon was the New Moon, I came to the truth about the luni-solar Sabbath, which helped me understand that the New Moon day is a day separate from working days and the Sabbath day (Ezekiel 46:1), and that the first day of creation week, was when YHUH created the light, and separated it from the darkness. I eventually began to see that the FVC (first visible crescent) is how we see the beginning of this separation of light from darkness on the moon, after the month begins, on the first day of the week.

Gen 1:4

And Aluhym saw the light, that [it was] good: and Aluhym divided the light from the darkness. Remember, it was the first DAY of creation WEEK, not the first day of the month, that light was divided from darkness. Light and darkness were JOINED TOGETHER – IN CONJUNCTION – until the first day of the week began, when He DIVIDED them. On the second day of the moon/month, which was the first day of the creation week, light was divided from darkness. The previous verses tell us that before the first day of the week, there was darkness, New Moon Day, the first day of the first month of the first year.

The Hebrew word for darkness in Gen 1:4 is:

Strong’s H2822g’s H282

חֹשֶׁךְ

choshek

1)  darkness, obscurity

1. a)  darkness
2. b)  secret place

       Notice how close the word, choshek, which means darkness or secret place, is to the word chodesh.

 

Psalm 91:1 states: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Notice the word, shadow, in Psalm 91:1. A shadow implies darkness, and the context here is protection, hidden, in darkness. In Hebrew it reads:

יֹשֵׁב בְּסֵתֶר עֶלְיֹון בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלֹונָֽן׃

 The Hebrew word for “secret place” in Psalm 91:1 is sether/cether סֵתֶר

1) covering, shelter, hiding place, secret

1. a)  covering, cover
2. b)  hiding place, shelter, secret place
3. c)  secrecy

The first letter, samech, of this word, sether, means to protect. Tav, the second letter, means mark, sign, signal, and resh, the last letter, is a word picture of a head of a man and means first, top, beginning. Do not all these  letters in the word picture here point to the New Moon being a mark in the head of the month, a sign for appointed times, which we are commanded to protect or keep, and we will find a secret hiding place of protection and shelter if we do it?

The words in Psalm 91, secret place, shadow, to me, are hinting that we can meet with Him or dwell with him or abide with him at his New Moon, Sabbaths, and feasts, according to His calendar, determined by the New Moon. All the information here seems to be pointing to a concealed, covered, hidden, secret, protected, canopied moon. Nothing appears to be pointing to or suggesting a crescent or full moon.

The Hebrew word for “divided” in the verse in Genesis 1:4 I mentioned previously is:

 

Strong’s H914

בָּדַל

 

badal

 

1) to divide, separate

1. a) (Hiphil)

1) to divide, separate, sever

2) to separate, set apart

3) to make a distinction, difference

4) to divide into parts

1. b) (Niphal)

1) to separate oneself from (reflexive of 1a2)

2) to withdraw from

3) to separate oneself unto

4) to be separated

5) to be excluded

6) to be set apart

  

Gesenius’s Lexicon explains this to mean to separate, disjoin, as two places with a veil, fence, wall, things previously mixed together…so, in the beginning there was darkness (Rosh Chodesh), when light and darkness was mixed together, but then on the first day of creation week (the second day of the month), THEN came division between the two, and there was light.

 

Mixture and Separation

Just as YaH will eventually completely separate us from those we were mixed together with, eventually we will be separated from darkness, we will be light separated from darkness, but we begin in darkness, in the world and in sin…not only will He separate us, but in the meantime, he hides us, like the conjunction moon, we are hidden amongst the nations. He will choose the time for the Sons of Aluhym to be revealed. Romans 8:19

The “New” Moon and Patterns of Light and Darkness

I did a study on the word chodesh, which means to rebuild, renew. When light grows on the moon, it is rebuilding, renewing the month. As light diminishes, the month is dying, being torn down, being brought to an end, and the process begins again moments later with conjunction. The word, month, comes from moon. When the light disappears, the month disappears, when there is new light growing on the moon, a new month has already begun. This is one of many reasons I no longer use the FVC (first visible crescent), nor the full moon, as the New Moon (NM). To look at a moon that has increased in light since yesterday, and say, “Oh, look, there’s the new moon, it’s the beginning of a new month!” when it is in the same lunation it was in yesterday, it has the same light on it that it had yesterday, only more, makes no sense. That’s like looking at the sun at high noon, and saying, “Oh, look, there is the sun, it’s now morning and the beginning of a new day!” Likewise, it doesn’t make sense to call the FVC the “New” Moon, because we know that “new” light has already been building on the moon since conjunction for 1-2 days by the time we can see the FVC. Just because we can’t see the new light yet, because of limitations, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. There must be a period of darkness, a division, between days and months and years, in the form of night, New Moons, and Winter, this is the process of renewal with light and darkness in these segments of time. These are patterns of light and darkness that teach us when to rest and when to work, and when to “go up” to worship YHUH.

YHUH showed me that His paths have no darkness in them. You start on the path in darkness, where you are standing, at the New Moon, it represents where we are before we start our journey we call life, whether that be spiritual or physical. The path begins on the first day of the week when you begin to work, that’s the time of the First Visible Crescent (FVC), your sign to walk, to work, because now you have light. Six days you work, then on the first quarter moon is your first Sabbath. (Isn’t it interesting that we always call the FIRST quarter moon, the FIRST quarter? Hint, hint, His ways aren’t difficult.) Work six more days until the full moon, in the middle of the month. Work six more days until the last quarter moon, then six more days of light on the moon until the last Sabbath, then conjunction and the moon/month is renewed, when you press pause for worshipping YHUH again.

The cycle of the moon mirrors the day. You wake up in the morning with the morning light increasing and get to work, solar noon is the middle of the day, just as full moon is the middle of the month, you work until the light decreases and you rest/renew in darkness. This pattern is the same with the year. Seedtime and harvest is in the summer, when you work and do your labors in the field. In the winter, which is the dark period of the solar year, the land rests.

 

Life cycles and Lunar Cycles

 

There is so much meaning in the Hebrew words, and each letter gives meaning to the word. The main meaning I found for Chet in Chodesh is life, like in Chai (Hebrew word for life). The word picture for the letter Chet was of a wall and can also mean fence, sin (darkness), divide, half.

 

I found it especially intriguing that Chet means life. When does life begin? Does it begin when one is born, when the baby comes forth, or does it begin at conception, while still hidden in the womb? Birth from the womb is just one phase of life, not the beginning. Death leads to life. The sperm dies in the seed of the woman before the baby begins to form. When the moon light fades with the last crescent, it’s almost dead, the end of the cycle. When the light is gone, it is dead, but it is also alive. Death is intermingling with life. We must die to ourselves, our flesh, to be truly “born again”. Life is intermingling with death just as light intermingles with darkness at the beginning of the day and the beginning of the Sabbath and millenial reign, and at the beginning of creation (life).

YaHUSHA DIED and resurrected that we may also have LIFE. Life begins in the womb, hidden in the dark. It grows as the phases continue, waxing light, and then waning as it grows old, and then that eventually dies, only so it can begin again, renewed. We believe in YaHUSHA’s death, burial, AND resurrection, not just the resurrection. The dark moon is symbolic of YaHUSHA in the tomb, in a dark place. (No, I’m not saying Yahusha was in the tomb on the New Moon, I’m talking about the symbolism of the New Moon.) As light increases on the first day of the week, it is a sign of the resurrection. (Still speaking of symbolism, not saying there was a FVC when Yahusha rose. I once considered that possibility when I briefly observed the full moon as the New Moon, but YHUH pointed out to me that is not what Genesis 1 teaches about the beginning.) The resurrection does not come without death beginning the process of renewal.

When a woman is pregnant, about to give birth, the nurse or midwife checks her cervix as she gets closer to delivery. She is checking to see if it is “waxing”, opening, getting larger, to make room for the baby to leave the womb. LIFE, does not begin AFTER her cervix “waxes” or BEGINS to “wax”, or AFTER the child comes forth, but BEFORE, when the seed of the man (sun) and the seed of the woman (moon) come together in conjunction. The term “waxing”, is also used for the moon, as light grows on it, it is said to be waxing. The connection between life and the moon is notable. The woman’s menstrual cycle is the length of a lunation, and is even named after the moon. The life cycle and the moon’s cycle both begin in darkness. Creation begins in darkness, the day begins in darkness. Spiritually, we begin in darkness as we are born into sin, why wouldn’t the month begin in darkness? The beginning of Genesis does say that in the beginning there was darkness. Why would YHUH break this pattern that He has set from the beginning in Genesis? In Genesis is the account of the beginning of LIFE, and the beginning of TIME.

Going back to the Hebrew letters in the word chodesh, we talked about the chet, meaning life. Next is Dalet, the second letter in chodesh, is a picture of a door, and can mean move, hang, entrance, and fish. The door here can represent the entrance or door, which is YaHUSHA, the living TORAH that we may go through to get to YHUH, to His feasts, His kingdom, His peace, His rest, His Sabbaths. If we knock at this door, He will open. The beginning of the first day of the first month is the door to the beginning of His calendar. It is the door we go through to meet with Him.

Knock, and the DOOR Will Be Opened…

Shin, the last letter in chodesh, is a picture of a tooth, and can mean teeth, sharp, press, eat, two, peace, corruption, and falsehood. I’m getting a picture of YHUH’s Word here, His mouth, the double-edged sword, that comes to divide and cut and pierce even the soul. I’m thinking PEACE and TWO (sun and moon in conjunction) are interesting meanings here. We go through the door-the concealed moon, we enter His calendar, His feasts, His kingdom, Yom Teruah (NEW MOON), His Sabbaths, His PEACE…when the TWO light witnesses in the heavens become echad. When the door, the moon, is opened, then light begins to grow on the moon, leading you onto the path to the appointed times that fall in the month.

Psalm 81:3 and a Full New Moon?

The Halleluyah Scriptures words it this way: Blow the ram’s horn at the time of the New Moon, at the covering, on our festival day. Psalm 81:3

The NKJV interprets it like this: Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. Psalm 81:3

So which is correct, or are they both wrong? Many are confused by this verse. The Strong’s Concordance didn’t help clear up the matter, at least, unless you look a bit deeper at what it has to say about it. The question is, is this verse saying we are supposed to blow the shofar on the New Moon, and is this verse saying the New Moon is the full moon? I once thought this might be what it’s saying, so for almost 6 months, I observed the full moon as the New Moon. However, it made no sense to have conjunction in the middle of the month, in the middle of the paths of light, and YHUH reminded me of Genesis 1, which said that in the beginning, there was darkness.

“Full Moon” (or, in the KJV “in the time appointed”) is actually “b’kece” in the Hebrew; (‘b’ or ‘bet’ meaning ‘in’) and “kaf-samech-aleph”(k-s-a), according to Strong’s; and they label it word H3677. While Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance translates “kece” as “full moon”; Gesenius’ Hebrew – Chaldee Lexicon questions that translation, saying; “The etymology is not clear to me, for it is not satisfactory to say that it is so called from the whole moon being covered with light. Verbs of covering are often applied in the sense of hiding and covering over, but never, as far as I know, to that of giving light”. While Strong’s Concordance says this word is spelled “kaf-samech-aleph” and translates it twice in the Old Testament as “full moon”; The Hebrew Scriptures (namely, the Stone Edition TaNaK & Chumash, The Shottenstein Edition Interlinear Tehillim and the Greene’s Interlinear Hebrew-English Bible) all show the word in Hebrew as “kaf-samech-hey” which corresponds to Strong’s word H3680, which they translate 147 times to mean “covered”, “veiled”, “clothed”, “hidden” or “concealed”.

When Moses’ face was shining, it wasn’t hidden, he had to veil it, cover it, hide it. This meaning corresponds also to Brown-Driver-Briggs and Klein’s Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language. Also, I’ve noticed most people ignore the Hebrew letter, lamed, before day, in the Hebrew, in Psalm 81:3. The Hebrew letter, lamed, is the letter l in English, and when used like a prefix, at the beginning of a word, is like a preposition, and means “toward”, or “to”, or “leading into”.

Now, with the proper understanding of the terms, we’re going to look again at Tehillim / Psalms 81:3. In the Hebrew, it reads; תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שֹׁופָר בַּכֵּסֶה לְיֹום חַגֵּֽנוּ׃

Usually we read Hebrew right to left, but for some reason, MS Word flipped it around to read left to right when I posted it to this document. Now, we’re going to read it in English as it more accurately translates from the Hebrew.

Blow the ram’s horn in the renewing, in the concealment, toward the day of our feast. Psalm 81:3

So what does that mean, TOWARD the day of our feast, or chag? Some say the chag this verse is referring to, is the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because of the context of the rest of Psalm 81, being the time when Israel was delivered from Egypt. However, YHUH tells us the reason why we celebrate Sukkot in the seventh month, why we dwell in the sukkah, is to remind us that YHUH caused Israel to dwell in Sukkot when He delivered them from Egypt. Lev 23:42-43. All of the appointed times are connected in theme, back to the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Scripture even says that the reason we keep the Seventh day Sabbath is because He delivered us from Egypt on this day. Deut 5:12-15. The chag it’s referring to here, in Psalm 81:3, I believe, is Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. So, the New Moon previous to that, when you would blow the ram’s horn, in the time of concealment, or covering, announcing the coming chag/festival, is Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets. This appointed time falls on the first day of the seventh month, when the moon is hidden, dark, concealed.

On the New Moon, the priests are commanded to blow 2 silver trumpets. Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and Christianity suggest that the shofar is what is to be blown on all the New Moons, but not so, Numbers 10 specifies the 2 silver trumpets to be blown for the New Moons. So why does Psalm 81 say it’s a command for Israel and a testimony of Joseph to blow the shofar, the ram’s horn, and why am I saying this is about the Day of Blowing, which is a New Moon day? I believe, because this is a special New Moon day, the Day of Blowing, that the ram’s horn is called for here, in this month, to announce a time of repentance, a time of judgement, war, atonement, and the celebration with YHUH later in that lunar cycle on Sukkot. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes 10 days after Yom Teruah, 5 days before Sukkot, and is a day we are commanded to blow the shofar to announce the year of Jubilee. It is a day of humbling and afflicting ourselves, a day of repentance. We want to be right with YHUH, instead of facing judgement, so that we can feast with YHUH 5 days later, on Sukkot, the day of our Chag, feast. Yom Teruah is not a Chag, but does L’yom Chag, LEAD (lamed) us TOWARD (lamed before a word means to or toward, not on) the day of Chag Sukkot. Let’s read it in English again.

Blow the ram’s horn in the renewing, in the concealment, toward the day of our feast. Psalm 81:3

The Hebrew Word for Moon

I found the Hebrew word for moon is yereah, or yaryah.

יְרִיעָה

Yereah is the Hebrew word for moon. Strong’s H3394. Am I the only one that sees YAH in this word? Even the moon comes as a messenger in YHUH’s name. No wonder He singles it out as His faithful witness in the sky in Psalm 89:37. I encourage you to look up all the words in the Strong’s concordance that begin with yod, resh, and see if you see thematic connections. See if you can see how these words are related. Remember, the root words add meaning, and the letters in the word also add meaning to the Hebrew word picture. Yeria/Yaria, Strong’s H3407 means tent curtain, tent, curtain, shelter, dwelling. Jericho, yeriho/yarihu, Strong’s H3405, means moon city, because the Canaanite inhabitants of Jericho worshipped moon gods. Jerusalem, Yarushalayim, Strong’s H3390, means foundation of peace. There are several words beginning with yod resh that have to do with a foundation. Remember, Chodesh means to rebuild. Build on what? A foundation. The Tabernacle was set up on the New Moon, the first day of the first month. Exodus 40:2 Why did YHUH command the Tabernacle go up THAT day, on the New Moon of the FIRST month? To commemorate the day when He began to create upon the Earth, when He set up a tabernacle for us to dwell in – the Earth. Do you see the picture?

Scripture is Not Clear About the New Moon?

Some say that the Bible isn’t clear about which phase of the moon is the New Moon. I beg to differ. It’s there, it’s clear, it’s just hidden from most, like the New Moon at conjunction. Once you see it, it’s all over the place. It’s the New Moon’s nature to hide, even in the scriptures, lol. It is the glory of Aluhym to conceal a matter, and the honor of kings to search it out. Remember that scripture? There are many scriptures in the Old and New Testaments referring to secret and hidden things in the scriptures, that we can only see once our eyes are opened, and the veil removed from our eyes.

“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Luke 8:17

“The secret things belong to YHUH our Aluhym, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. Deut. 29:29

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3

“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.” Daniel 2:22

He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.” Daniel 12:9

“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Mark 13:32

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

…that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints…Colossians 1:26

There are additional scriptures that blatantly tell us which phase is the New Moon. The problem is, many don’t consider them to be scriptures, even though the scrolls themselves claim to be inspired by YHUH, written by messengers and patriarchs of old. They were found amongst scrolls many others DO consider to be inspired. Their message has been hidden by the “powers that be”, but ultimately, by The Most High Power, YHUH, who has waited for the appointed time for them to be revealed. I speak of the scrolls found at Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other books that confirm them found in places like Ethiopia. Many have claimed these scrolls speak of a solar-only calendar. They claim the Book of Jubilees, Enoch, Jasher, all of these books reject the moon. They claim that ALL of the scrolls, and the Bible, speak of a solar-only calendar, and that anything that appears to refer to the moon must have been added or changed. Really? I suggest these people are either very mistaken, badly misinformed because they haven’t read these books themselves, or intentionally trying to deceive YHUH’s people because they KNOW MOST people will not verify what they say and read the scrolls themselves, but rather, will believe what these people say about the scrolls because these people hold certain important titles such as, “Dr.”, “Professor”, or “Rabbi”. Let’s examine the evidence. Just do a search for Sirach and the chapters I mention, and you can verify what I say online. Here’s some pretty convincing passages from the scroll, Ecclesiasticus, also known as, Sirach, found at Qumran:

I HAVE STILL MORE in my mind to express; I am full like the moon at mid – month. Sirach 39:12

So much for the scriptures not being clear! Obviously, the moon is full at mid-month, according to Sirach. When is mid-month? If a moon cycle is on average between 29-30 days, and if we begin a month the dawn after conjunction, we should have a full moon falling the night before the 15^th, but not always. Why does it vary? There are variations in the lunar cycle. The lunation slows down its speed of waxing and waning at conjunction and at the full moon, but speeds up at the quarter moon phases. Sometimes, the first half of the lunation will be longer than the second half, sometimes the second half will be longer. This can place the full moon on either the night following the 14^th or the night following the 15^th – either way, mid – month. Because the lunation slows down at the full moon, the moon may APPEAR full for about 3 nights, over the 14^th, 15^th, and the 16^th. It is only 100% full, however, on one of those nights, usually between the 14^th and 15th. Using the FVC moon will give you a full moon on a later date, and does not match the testimony of Sirach. The method of using dawn (nautical twilight) after conjunction to begin the month lines up with what Sirach says. Let’s take another look at Sirach to see what else it has to say about the moon’s role in the month and appointed times:

There is also the moon, marking time, an eternal sign of the changing seasons. The moon determines the holy days. Its light grows full and then grows dim. The month is named after the moon, marvelous to watch as it grows fuller each night, a signal light for the heavenly armies, shining out in the dome of the sky. Sirach 43:6-8

There it is, the moon determines the “holy days”. Is the Sabbath a holy day? Yep! Remember the command to keep the Sabbath day holy? If we could read the Hebrew, that would most likely say “appointed times”, instead of holy day. Lev 23, in the first few verses, with Genesis 1:14, establishes that the working days and Sabbath days are also appointed times. Sirach is a 3^rd witness to Psalm 104:19 and Genesis 1:14 that the moon is for appointed times. This verse tells us the moon marks time. Not only is this verse another witness that the moon is for appointed times and that it is used in a month, but it is also another witness that the New Moon is conjunction, and the full moon occurs at mid-month. It mentions that the word month, is named after the word, moon. We see that in a woman’s MONTHLY MENStruation as well, menes. They are linked. How on EARTH does this sound solar-only? Talk about giving a false testimony! Some people are out-right LYING about these books! What about the scroll of Enoch? Don’t some people say it’s a solar calendar?

And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her… On the side whence the light of the moon comes forth, there again she wanes till all the light vanishes and all the days of the month are at an end, and her circumference is empty, void of light. Enoch 78:12, 14

So Enoch says that on the first day of the month, she is called the New Moon, or Rosh Chodesh, because on that day, which is the day after conjunction (which either falls on the 29^th or 30^th of the month), the light rises upon her (whether we can see it or not). Enoch is also saying, when the moon has no light, the month has ended, and the next one begins. I feel like the defense should be able to rest here, but there’s more I’d like to share. Are you getting angry yet about all the false witnesses about these scrolls? Do you understand yet why so many people are discouraging us from reading these books for ourselves? Hasatan does NOT want us to discover this information! It’s been there all the time, available to us for years, but YHUH is in control, and is opening our eyes and ears now…

…Yeah, But the Pharisees Were Not Rebuked by Yahusha for the New Moon and Sabbaths They Kept…

Some people get hung up on the fact that the Pharisees weren’t rebuked by Yahusha for what New Moon or Sabbath they kept, so this is all confusing to some people. The Pharisees were keeping the right Sabbath at the time of Yahusha, because every time Yahusha performed a miracle on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees were right there to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath laws. We are told by Judaism, and those that follow the rabbis, that this means Yahusha was keeping the Sabbath on the day we now know as Saturday, and that the New Moon he observed was the one Jews keep today, because that’s what Judaism and man’s history says happened back then. That’s simply not the case. See Lamentations 2:6 and Hosea 2:11. (The Book of Jubilees has a third witness that the New Moons, Sabbaths, and ALL the appointed times would be forgotten, in agreement with Lamentations 2 and Hosea 2.)

And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: YHUH hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. Lamentations 2:6

I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. Hosea 2:11

But if they do neglect and do not observe them according to His commandment, then they will disturb all their seasons, and the years will be dislodged from this (order), [and they will disturb the seasons and the years will be dislodged] 2 and they will neglect their ordinances. And all the children of Israel will forget, and will not find the path of the years, and will forget the new moons, and seasons, and sabbaths, and they will go wrong as to all the order of the years. For I know and from henceforth shall I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising; for the book (lieth) written before me, and on the heavenly tables the division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. Book of Jubilees 5:33-35

The prophecies say that YHUH caused ALL the appointed times to be forgotten when the Temple was destroyed, that the New Moons, Sabbaths – ALL the appointed times were forgotten. This did, indeed come to pass. YHUH said the way you know if a prophecy or prophet is true, is if it comes to pass. Because Lamentations, Hosea, and Jubilees, predicted this would happen, and it came to pass, this proves these were true prophets, true prophecies, and authoritative books of YHUH. The Sabbath the Pharisees kept in Yahusha’s time was by the New Moon, and not the NM they keep today, and when the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people who survived assimilated and accepted the Gregorian week, which is divorced from the moon, and they created a calendar by calculation that has gotten off from conjunction and is no longer always in line with the lights in the heavens. It has gotten off and they admit it, but they refuse to move from their traditions. The Karait Jews are even further from the true NM. The Jewish people were allowed to keep a seventh day Sabbath when they went into the nations, but were pressured by religious and government powers to observe the seventh day when man said to. All those who would not assimilate were martyred. We are familiar with these verses in Lamentations 2, and Hosea 2 about the forgetting of the Sabbath, because these verses were quoted to us often to convince us we needed to keep the seventh day Sabbath, not Sunday, and that we needed to observe a lunar calendar of months for feasts, not the Gregorian months. However, we were given the old bait and switch. A counterfeit seventh day was fed to those who were waking up to the truth of the commandments and the Sabbath, and a counterfeit New Moon was also given. Because the Sabbath is a sign for those in covenant with YHUH (Exodus 31:13), Satan really doesn’t want us to start donning this commandment. He will do anything to get us to break the covenant. According to the Old and New Testaments, those even of Judah who would turn from His commandments would be “cut off” from the covenant. When you are cut off from the covenant, you lose the sign of the covenant, the Sabbath, mentioned in Exodus 31:13:

“Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am YHUH who sanctifies you. Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death. Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from among his people. Exodus 31:13-14

Those who are cut off will need to be grafted back in, and when one is grafted back into the covenant, they again have the sign of the covenant, the Sabbath, restored to them. The Jewish people who have not yet put their faith in Yahusha are not yet restored to the covenant or it’s sign – the Sabbath. These verses in Hosea and Lamentations were witnesses against us testifying that we were in error and had forgotten the Sabbath and the New Moon. When we came to that realization, we were presented with a counterfeit from Judah who was also without the correct Sabbath, as they had abandoned YHUH’s Sabbath and adopted the Catholic Gregorian week. Saturday is no more the seventh day than Sunday is. Just as the Gregorian months and years were divorced from the moon, so also the Gregorian week is divorced from the moon. Lamentations is saying Judah and ALL of Israel forgot the appointed times, not just the Northern Tribes. Judah forgot the Sabbath, too, AND the New Moons, AND ALL the appointed times, including the Sabbath years, the Jubilee years, and even day the sheaf and loaves were waved. We know this because Lamentations say the forgetting of these times happens when YHUH destroys the Temple and destroys His places of the assembly. When Yahusha warned to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, he was warning us in the last days, too. Judaism claims they never forgot the Sabbaths and New Moons. When they claim this, they are essentially calling YHUH, Hosea, Lamentations, and Jubilees liars. They claim the Sabbath was always Saturday. They claim they have always known when the New Moon is, that they never forgot it, again calling YHUH a liar. We know they forgot these appointed times in Exodus while in Egypt because YHUH had to again teach them the Sabbath with the manna and retaught them the beginning of the months and years in Exodus 12:2 when he said:

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Exodus 12:2

Let YHUH be found true and every man a liar. So, can we get over what the Rabbis claim already? Can we get over the fact that YHUH has blinded them temporarily until the fullness of the gentiles comes in, like Romans 11 says?

There is a REASON YHUH tells us from the beginning, in the opening of Genesis, that in the beginning there was darkness. Remember, we are supposed to go back to the beginning for our answers, to the ancient path, not the commentaries of the Jewish religious leaders who are both physical and spiritual descendants of those who Yahusha said were the seed of satan, who is the father of lies. Remember, He said to avoid their leaven. They contradict themselves in their own writings. Like Yahusha says, when they read Moses from Moses’ seat, do what they say, but don’t do what they do. In other words, do what Moses says. If they did what Moses said, you could do what they do, but they don’t do what Moses said. Go back to Genesis, the beginning. Remember, Isaiah tells us YHUH reveals the end from the beginning, and Jeremiah said to ask for the old, ancient paths.

The Traditions and Leaven Concerning the New Moon

So, do the Orthodox Jewish rabbis have any scriptures for forsaking observance of the signs in the lights in the heavens, commanded in Gen 1:14 and Psalm 104:19, and forecasting the New Moon based on calculations only, for the Hillel calendar? I haven’t heard any yet. I don’t see such verses when I read Moses. They also don’t observe the molad, or conjunction, as the New Moon, on the Jewish calendar, though they claim to. Let me explain. The Jewish calendar they go by now, was calculated using the molad for every month, but it was done hundreds of years ago and then set in stone so that all the Jews would be on the same page as to when to celebrate the Feasts hundreds of years in advance, with no adjustments (other than postponements) since then. After hundreds of years, their calendar started becoming inaccurate, not lining up with the lights in heavens anymore, so that sometimes their New Moon will line up around conjunction, and other months it might line up at the time of the FVC. If the moon is a sign for the appointed times, and it is, then why are their signs in the moon not consistent with the beginning and end dates of the months? On top of that, if you ask a rabbi when the New Moon is, you may get several different answers. If you ask 3 rabbis, you’re likely to get 10 different answers. I’m not kidding, the joke is funny to some, because it’s true, it’s been my experience, too. Its sad, not a joke, they are as lost and confused as the gentiles. They say that until they have unity, they go by the calendar calculations they did long ago, unless you’re a Karaite Jew, of course.

Due to one phrase in Exodus, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you”, the Karaite Jews teach that when YHUH instructed “This month”, that YHUH was pointing to a FVC in the sky – even though scripture does not state that, this is their own imagination of what they want you to think happened – they are adding to Torah here, and we are commanded not to add our own words to what He said in the Torah.

Calculations are great, and are helpful for occasions when we can’t see the moon due to atmospheric, weather, or environmental conditions, but observance should always be used FIRST, with calculations being backup when necessary, or confirmation, or a second witness. The Jewish Pharisees of today are aware of this problem with their calendar not being in agreement with the light signals, and admit to it, and continue in it. Are these the people you want to follow? They are obviously blind and confused. If the blind follow the blind…well, you know what happens. Yahusha called them the sons of Satan, who He called the Father of Lies. Like kind produces like kind, and Proverbs says that liars breathe lies. Yes, the Jewish religious leaders who reject Messiah and the New Testament, breathe lies and try to convert believers to Judaism, convincing them to reject Yahusha as Messiah in the process. Would Yahusha want us to listen to ANYTHING they have to say, when He said to avoid their leaven, when Paul said, “What fellowship hath light with darkness and believers with unbelievers?”

I Can’t Observe a Dark New Moon

I know, some claim that you can’t observe the dark moon, because you can’t see it. Regardless, it IS a phase of the moon, and the moon is for appointed times, so we have to put the dark moon SOMEWHERE in the month, so why not as the New Moon, so you have your paths of light for walking, for working and resting – your weeks – in light? John 8:12 says that he that follows Yahusha shall not walk in darkness. His path is light, so that we don’t stumble. Where you are standing, before you begin walking on the path, you don’t need light, you only need light in front of you, to take that first step. So, on the New Moon, where you are at when you begin the month, you don’t need light, until the first step, the first day of the week. You have light until you get to the end of the month and start on the next path, or month.

You CAN predict the approach of conjunction, and not just with calculations, but also with observance of what IS visible, observing the waning crescent and the LAST VISIBLE crescent moon. This is the method David used to determine that the New Moon was the next day, in advance, in 1 Samuel. In the last week of the month, one can look in the east in the morning before sunrise, and observe the Last Visible Crescent (LVC) to determine if there will be one or two New Moon days. If conditions are right, one can see the LVC on the 29^th in the morning, and know that the next day will be the 30^th day of the month, and the following would be the first day of the next month. However, if one does not see the LVC on the morning of the 29^th, and conditions are clear, then the next day is the first day of the next month, and there is no 30^th day. Just to be sure, you can check for the LVC again the next morning, and verify with calculations you did earlier in the week or using online websites such as timeanddate.com, it uses local time for your location and we’ve found it very accurate.

Because conditions are not always favorable to observe the LVC and FVC, it can be useful to use online sources for the phases of the moon, and the percentage of illumination from one day to the next. To ensure an accurate beginning of the month, so that the phases of the moon lines up with the appointed times more closely, begin the first day of the month on the dawn (nautical twilight) after conjunction, and make sure your source is using your local time. Never follow a website’s calendar or app without verifying it with observation of the lights in the heavens and your own calculations. Use at least 2 or 3 witnesses. Even better to have other people observing the signs in your area and other areas for additional confirmation. There is strength/confidence in many counselors.

What about Josephus and Philo?

YHUH is showing us truth and YHUH doesn’t need Josephus or the Talmud or the Mishnah or the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the Karaites to reveal it to us. All we need is the Word of YHUH. We must stick with inspired scriptures that prophesy of the Messiah and exalt the Torah. Josephus is not inspired. Even those in Judaism will tell you it is only a historical document containing Jewish traditions of the Pharisees. Yahusha warned us to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees.

Judah Was Given the Scepter and the Law Goes Forth from Zion

Some say we should obey Judah’s interpretation of the law because Judah was given the ordinances of Yah, they were given the scepter, the rod, the staff, which is the Torah, and they were given authority to reign in accordance to Torah. I partially agree. They were given authority to reign in accordance to Torah-NOT Rabbinical LAWS! ALSO, Judah was ONLY given this authority with the law/sceptor UNTIL SHILOH (YAHUSHA) came. Gen 49:10. When Judah rejected Yahusha, they rejected the law/sceptor, because HE IS the law! Now the people are to obey Shiloh/Yahusha, who is the Lawgiver, and received His scepter back when He came and took away Judah’s Kingdom and destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple, and the priesthood. Gen 4:10

Yahusha is called Shiloh because Shiloh was the city among the Northern Tribes where the Tabernacle of YHUH was first set up when the Israelites entered the land. When the Northern Tribes rebelled, YHUH removed His presence from there and chose Jerusalem in Judah instead. Yahusha was to be called, Emmanuel, Aluhym dwelling with us, because He would dwell in Israel (believers) as a little Tabernacle WHEREVER Israel goes. Matt 1:2, Rev 21:3, Ezek 11:16.

Judah chose to forsake the Torah and they began to cling instead to their traditions and judge according to THEM, instead of Torah justice. They have been feeding us the lies of their father Satan, not the Torah truth of our Heavenly Father YHUH. They are in the synagogue of Satan, and when Messianic congregations decide to follow them, they graft themselves into the synagogue of Satan, which eventually causes them to reject Yahusha, their salvation.  Please note that I am not anti-Jew, racist, or Anti-Semitic. On the contrary, my desire is for the Jewish people to repent, and receive His forgiveness and be grafted back in like Romans 11 says they will be one day, as I also repented of my sins and was grafted in. Those in Islam and Christianity will also need to repent and come out of Babylon, just as I have, to be saved. However, I have come to realize that, by following them, I will not lead them to Messiah. I, as a believer, am to LEAD THEM, to Messiah Yahusha. WE, believers, are the head, and not the tail. I am a physical descendant of Israel, and I am married to one as well, but we were both raised as gentiles, among gentiles in the nations, and had gentile pagan customs and had adopted falsehood and the lies of our fathers, as the Jewish people have, as well. We do not put our trust in genealogy, however, because we were all cut off at one time or another because of sin and rebellion, and must be grafted back in through faith in Messiah Yahusha, the Law Giver.

Zion is not currently in Jerusalem. After Judah rejected Yahusha, the glory of YHUH left, and the Temple was destroyed. Now He dwells within us, wherever we go in exile. The law goes forth from US – Zion, which means, grafted in. YHUH will bring us back into the land when this happens, and reestablish His glory in Jerusalem, when we are dwelling there again. A remnant is returning spiritually, even physically, but we are not all there yet, the fullness of the gentiles has not yet come in, there are still gentiles repenting before Judah’s veil will be lifted so that they can see again.

The Sun and Moon Were Not Created Until the 4^th Day

Another reason some assert that the dark moon can’t be the New Moon, is their insistence that the sun and moon were not created until the 4^th day. Some versions of the Bible do state that the sun and moon were “made” on the 4^th day, in Genesis 1, but if you look at that word in the Hebrew, it doesn’t suggest they were “made” or created that day. It’s actually the Hebrew word, asah, which is more commonly and better translated as, appointed, or prepared. The sun and moon were appointed their roles for being signs for appointed times that day, they were not created that day. The word for created, like in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning Aluhym created the heavens and the earth”, is the Hebrew word, barah. Barah means to create from nothing, but if you look at all of the verses in the Bible where the word asah is used, it’s never speaking of something being created out of nothing. One instance where this word is used, is when the 3 messengers appear to Abraham outside of the tent in Genesis 18. Abraham orders that food be prepared for them, and it states that he took a tender calf and MADE it for food for them. The word, made, or prepared, is asah. So, are we to believe that Abraham created a calf? No, Abraham just took what already was and prepared it to be eaten, he made it into food.

So also with the sun and moon in Genesis on the 4^th day. They were asah, not barah, on the 4^th day, for their roles of ruling the day and night, and dividing light from darkness, to give light upon the earth, and appointed their role of telling time. Are not the sun, moon, and stars, part of the heavens? Yes. So when YHUH created, barah, the heavens, He created the sun, moon, and stars, at the same time He created the earth, in the beginning, in verse 1. That’s when He created the earth and the heavenly bodies. Creation week, when the first day of the week began, He began to create upon the heavens and the earth that He had already created. The first day of the week began when YHUH said, “Let there be light.” That was morning. Genesis goes on to say that the sun is for days, so for the first day of the week to exist, that suggests there was a sun. The same people who use Genesis 1 to say the moon can’t be used for the appointed times or Sabbaths because the SUN AND MOON weren’t made until the 4^th day, these same people use the sun for appointed times and Sabbaths. That’s hypocritical. Think about that one for a minute. So I hope that helps those hung up on the 4^th day thing, because a lot of people stumble over those verses.

Psalm 27:5 Psalm (Tehillim) 27:5 “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.” There are many layers of interpretation here. For one, He did indeed set us on a rock – the Earth. Of course, spiritually, the rock we are set on, is Yahusha, but I believe, also this has another hidden meaning, the moon. He shows us how to build our foundation, our faith, the appointed times, on the moon, which looks like a stone in the sky. I believe that the stone the builders rejected, does not JUST refer to Messiah Yahusha, how the builders rejected Him, but also, the moon, and how they reject the moon. When people try to divorce the moon from the days, appointed times, months, and years, as is the case with the Gregorian years, months, weeks, and holidays, they are essentially rejecting the chief cornerstone, the rock in the sky that we are to build years, months, days, and appointed times on. The term keseh or keceh, in Psalm 27:5, mentioned previously, is derived from the Hebrew root kacah, which means to “conceal, cover, or hide.” Yom Teruah, on the New Moon of the seventh month, is sometimes called Yom HaKeseh, or the Day of the Hiding, because it was hidden from us all. “Of that day and hour no one knows, only the Father.” Matt 24:36 However, at the same time, while it will come upon unbelievers suddenly, at the same time, YHUH does nothing without first REVEALING the SECRET to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 Colossians 2:16-17 says that the New Moons and Sabbaths are SHADOWS of the things to come. They will teach about the Messiah and His coming. Also, see Ezekiel 32:8 and Ezekiel 34:12, Joel 2:10, Micah 3:6, about the coming dark day of YHUH.   כָּסָה Kaf, samech, chet 1) to cover, conceal, hide a) (Qal) conceal, covered (participle) b) (Niphal) to be covered c) (Piel) 1) to cover, clothe 2) to cover, conceal 3) to cover (for protection) 4) to cover over, spread over 5) to cover, overwhelm d) (Pual) 1) to be covered 2) to be clothed e) (Hithpael) to cover oneself, clothe oneself How can keseh mean full moon if it comes from the root word kasah which means to cover, conceal, hide, clothe? Also interesting, in Psalm 81:3, keseh, interpreted, “in the time appointed” or sometimes, “full moon”, which we are seeing really is talking about the concealed moon, is also related to Strong’s H3678, Kisseh. Strong’s #3678: kicce’ (pronounced kis-say’) or kicceh {kis-say’}; from 3680; properly, covered, i.e. a throne (as canopied):–seat, stool, throne. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon: ּkissê’ / kissêh 1) seat (of honour), throne, seat, stool 1a) seat (of honour), throne 1b) royal dignity, authority, power (figuratively) Part of Speech: noun masculine Relation: from H3680 So what does this have to do with the new moon? Kisseh means throne, seat, authority, stool, royal dignity, power, covered, canopied. The new moon is covered, a canopy over the throne, seat of YaHUSHA, when He is given authority over His kingdom.  Isaiah 66:1 says: “Thus saith YHUH, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” KJV The Hebrew word for heaven here is Strong’s H8064, Shamayim. שָׁמַיִם 1) heaven, heavens, sky a) visible heavens, sky 1) as abode of the stars 2) as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc b) Heaven (as the abode of God) This is the same word used in Genesis, when YHUH created the heavens and the earth, and put the lights in the firmaments of the heavens. I’m thinking, it looks like the moon is YaHUSHA’s throne, if it is canopied, it will not give its light. Which reminds me of another verse: But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt 24:29 We have been told the moon represents Israel, but sometimes, the moon seems to represent Messiah more so than it represents Israel. Israel makes YaHUSHA king. What I’m getting to is this, the hidden moon, Yom Teruah, the Kingdom, power, the thrown, a canopy, echad, it’s all linked. I Samuel ties it all together with what happened with King Saul (the King), Jonathon, and (soon to be king) David. David hides in a field. Representing Israel being hidden in the nations, Messiah’s identity being hidden, and the moon being hidden at the new moon. The events all happened during a New Moon feast according to the text, probably Yom Teruah, because there is mention of an annual sacrifice. The only annual sacrifice on the New Moon is Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets. David hides in the field until the evening of the third day, beginning the night before the new moon feasts with Saul started, and ending 2 evenings later. A hidden moon would ensure that David would not be seen out in a field at night. David is missing (hidden/invisible-like the moon) at his seat/thrown at the table. There is a lot of struggle between the king and soon to be king and the authority and power that goes along with that in this story. Do you see the thematic connections? (If you begin a date in the evening you will confuse the sequence of the events in the story with David, Saul, and Jonathon. Scripture teaches the day begins in the morning. While the observance of an appointed time begins in the evening, a date begins in the morning. See my article, The Beginning of a Day.) Day by Day They Utter Speech, Night by Night They Display Knowledge Another thing YHUH has shown me about His covered in darkness New Moon, is that the Heavens declare the glory of YHUH. Remember, it is the glory of YHUH to conceal a matter. After several years of observing the lights in the heavens and trying to understand His calendar and the New Moon, YHUH showed me a pattern in the heavens. All WEEKS OF 7 are in light, but the NEW MOON days are in darkness. It is not a co-incidence that there are approximately 28 days of light on the moon each month (7×4=28, with 4 lunar weeks in a month/moon cycle), and 1-2 dark moon days (the same number of New Moon days in a month) with the light appearing by the end of the daylight period of the third day. If you begin the month the morning after conjunction, the 29th always begins with a bit of light remaining on the moon, even if you can’t see it anymore. Conjunction might occur later that day, but that morning there is still light on the moon. Also, at the BEGINNING of the month, the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK comes with the appearance of the FVC in the evening. You always have the moon becoming visible to the eye either the evening before or the evening following the first day of the week. This is our light signal to begin buying, selling, and trading again, after the New Moon. Just as the sun is our light signal to wake up and begin the day working, so also the moon gives us our go ahead to begin the regular work week of “6 days you shall work…” New Moons Absent from Leviticus 23 Most are not aware of this, and I was not aware until a couple years ago, but many are still not aware that the 7th day Sabbath is listed in Lev 23 as an appointed time. Did you realize that Lev 23 ALSO mentions the 6 working days as appointed times? They are an appointed time to work. Remember, the lights in the heavens are signs for appointed times, that would include the 6 working days mentioned in Leviticus 23, in fact, they are the first appointed time mentioned, because after the New Moon, they are the first appointed time to occur in the year and in Genesis 1. Notice, the New Moon days are not listed in Leviticus 23 as appointed times. Why? They are hidden days, concealed, veiled. Yom Teruah, the Hidden Day, is the only exception, it is revealed in Lev 23. Grace I don’t know about you, but I can’t blame those who have been going by the crescent moon, or the full moon, for that matter. After all, I’ve tried both of those methods, and hey, we were just going on the information available to us from what we THOUGHT was reliable history and Jewish traditions. But, there is only one authority that does not err, and that is YHUH and His word, and as times approach, and as we learn to dig and search for Him, and His spirit leads us into ALL truth, we will find Him. We only need to let Him lead us, walk humbly with our Aluhym, and have a teachable spirit, study to show ourselves approved unto YHUH, hear all things and hold onto what is good, and come to Him as little children. Isn’t that all He asks for us to do for us to be able to inherit His Kingdom? I’m Too Busy to Study the Calendar, I’m Too Sick, It’s Too Difficult We all have times when we have a lot on our plate. We all have times when we don’t feel well, and some of us will die before we ever discover the appointed times. It’s worth studying out while you’re still alive, no matter how bad off you are. That’s when His grace is sufficient, when we do everything we can, and we fail to hit the mark. It’s not too hard to understand, as even my children understand it. For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it too far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Deut 30:11-14 Do you believe this? His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Truly, He does not give us more than we can bear. When we make excuses, we call Him a liar. We are not believing His word when we say such things. I don’t care if you can’t read Hebrew, if you are legally blind, if you are deaf, if you are mentally ill, if you have a low “IQ”, if you are lame, if you have 8 kids or a demanding husband, boss, creditor, or slave master. It doesn’t matter, because where there’s a will, there’s a way. YHUH is the one who makes minds to understand, ears to hear, and eyes to see. He made us, He formed us in the womb. You never know, maybe your putting forth the effort to get to know Him and His ways will give Him reason to heal you and bless you. Grace is NOT an EXCUSE to Continue Sinning Just because His grace is sufficient, does not mean He is okay with you sitting on your hands. Study to show thyself approved unto Aluhym suggests that to NOT study is to show oneself UNapproved unto Aluhym. Once you study and acquire the knowledge, and know what you ought to do, you ought to do it. It is a sin to know what you ought to do, and then not do it. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17 He knows our hearts, and He says our hearts are wicked. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 We assume our hearts are good, but we don’t know our own hearts. May our will change from making excuses to wanting to do everything in our power to get understanding of those things that please Him. The Call to Come Out Come out of her! Revelation 18:4 Take that first step! The more we WALK in the truth that we have already been shown, the more the path in front of us will be revealed. YHUH directs our steps. Proverbs 20:24 Don’t be afraid to take the first step. Israel left Egypt before they knew the who, what, when, where, why, how of going into the promised land. They took a step of faith. The great thing about paths, and the great thing about repentance, is that if you find you are going the wrong way, you CAN t’shuvah, repent, and turn in the right direction, as soon as you realize you’re on the path to destruction. Imagine what would have happened to Israel if they would have stayed in Egypt because they doubted. It’s called faith for a reason. It would do folks good to give it a try. Albert Einstein is said to have said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the a different result.” If you like your life and want to stay in Egypt, stay in Egypt. See what happens. YHUH is offering us something different, and I’m in. I Observe “Other” Sabbaths and New Moons for the Fellowship I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this. People tell me all the time that they agree with me on the timing of the New Moons and Sabbaths, but that they meet with others on “other” Sabbaths (Saturday, Sunday, etc…), New Moons, and appointed times, for the fellowship. Some have even admitted forsaking the Sabbath they believe in and keeping one they do not, for the sake of fellowship. I am 100% convinced that if each person who understands the moon is for the Sabbath were to stop meeting with others on Saturdays, and started keeping appointed times according to their own convictions, and meeting on those set-apart days ONLY, we’d have so much fellowship we would not have time to even THINK about what was going on down the street in the Saturday synagogues and Sunday churches! Broad is the way to destruction! Their leaven contaminates the whole lump. Just stay away. I’m hesitant to have fellowship with those who meet on “other” appointed times. That puts me on guard. Remember Jeroboam who set up the golden calves to be worshipped by the Northern Tribes in Dan and Bethel a month after Sukkot? I don’t want such idolatry to contaminate me, my children, or the other sheep in the flock. It caused the division of the 2 houses of Israel. It causes division now. It’s double-mindedness. That stuff is set-apart for destruction. When you leave Egypt, when you leave Sodom, don’t look back at the people and things you leave behind! Warn them and then run for your own life! You can continue to warn them until the day of destruction, but be like Abraham, not Lot. Don’t wait until the last minute to come out. Come out of her my people, lest you partake in her plagues, lest you share in her sins! Choose this day whom you will serve! He Took Away the Sabbath and New Moons, So He Must Want Us to Remain in the Dark I keep hearing people say, “We can’t know for sure when the New Moon is, we will just have to wait for Him to return to reveal that to us, since the scriptures just are not clear on the matter.” Ok, I used to be one of those people. When we say things like this, aren’t we just sowing seeds of doubt? Isn’t that what’s really going on there, just encouraging people to give up on seeking the truth, and settling for remaining in confusion? I no longer consider people who still cling to that attitude to be BELIEVERS. Why? Because they are not BELIEVING His word when He says, “If you SEEK, you SHALL FIND, if you ASK, you SHALL RECEIVE, if you KNOCK, the door SHALL be OPENED.” I praise YHUH, because HE increased my faith in these scriptures to BELIEVE. To be believers in His word, we need to believe His word. Do you BELIEVE the word when He says the spirit WILL lead us into ALL truth? Is the New Moon and the Sabbath an exception? Didn’t He reveal the Sabbath and New Moon to Israel before they entered the land? If you want to learn, come out of Egypt. Come out of the Babylonian assemblies. The Israelites were in slavery and ignorance until they left Egypt. If you want to remain in confusion, stay where you are at. If you want truth, join us in the wilderness, where YHUH teaches the Sabbath with manna from heaven, His Word. It is not the truth seekers, the lunar Sabbath keepers, the New Mooners, those who question the traditions of the rabbis, who are the ones causing the division. It is the forsaking of the commandments of YHUH for those traditions of men that causes the division, and those who follow men in an effort to bring a false sense of peace and unity in a confusing tower of Babel, that keep us divided and in exile. Falsehood hasn’t worked to bring unity for thousands of years, it’s not going to work now. Remember the definition of insanity? This is why you have so many different denominations and religions. Look at all the varying groups doing Saturday. Seventh Day Adventist, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and so many sects within them. Are we to believe He would give a death penalty for not keeping His Sabbath, and at the same time, make it impossible to discern with His Word when the New Moon and Sabbaths are? Would He set us up for failure like that? Do you think He would command us to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, and then require us to disobey that command by requiring us to study and obey their writings and text books in order to find His Sabbaths and other appointed times in Lev 23? Do you REALLY BELIEVE? People say, “I don’t believe a loving Father would hide the truth of the appointed times from us like that, we shouldn’t have to seek.” Well, HE’s the Creator, not YOU! WHO cares what YOU think? Who are you but a fading flower, a withering blade of grass, a breath of wind, here today and gone tomorrow? Faith requires ACTION. It is HIS prerogative if HE wants to require it of you to seek. It’s His glory to conceal it from you, to show you how foolish you are, how blind you are without Him and His wisdom. He gives understanding to the humble. You are so arrogant to claim that He is not a loving Father, when He gave you life, that you won’t humble yourself before Him and admit that HIS ways are higher than YOUR ways? Why would He gift wisdom to such a proud person, that you would try to exalt yourself and YOUR understanding over the ONE who CREATED you? WOW! It is the honor of Kings to SEARCH OUT a matter, so be a King…ASK, STUDY, SEEK, KNOCK…

Lyndsey Sanchez Blog: https://pentecostcountdown.wordpress.com/ Aluhym created light out of darkness. Gen 1:1-3

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:5 For Aluhym commanded the light to shine out of darkness. 2 Corinthians 4:6   It is the glory of Aluhym to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 He concealed the New Moon, now you go search it out…

A BIBLICAL “Hebrew” Perspective

My husband and I were taught by a Messianic Jewish rabbi that first introduced us to a lunar calendar, that the Jewish people understand the day to begin in the evening, that this is based in Genesis. He said that because Genesis 1 lists evening before morning, that means evening comes first. We accepted that at the time, as we were 100% certain since we were children that a day did not begin at midnight like we learned in kindergarten when they started teaching us the Roman clock on the wall.

When we were faced with the lunar Sabbath, we realized that the whole “Hebrew” “Lunar” calendar we had been taught was a lie. It was based on calculation only, and did not include observation. Not just the months and years had been divorced from the moon, but the days of the week also. There were some stumbling blocks we had to get over before we could accept the lunar Sabbath. We had to come to the realization that the Jewish people do not really have a Hebraic understanding of the Bible, as we had been brainwashed by Messianic Judaism and the Hebraic “follow the rabbi movement” into believing that we needed the Jewish rabbis to understand the Bible, that the Ruach Hakodesh and His Word was not enough to lead us into ALL truth, and on the right path. (John 16:13, Psalm 119:105)

YHUH’s commandments are not so high in the heavens that someone has to go up to heaven and bring it back down and explain it all to us, not across the ocean that some rabbi has to come from the land of Israel to explain them to us, but in our hearts and in our minds and on our lips that we may do them. (Deut 30:11-14) We had to believe Yahusha’s words when He said that the Jews are in darkness, and there is NO light in them, because they do not yet have Messiah. (Isaiah 8:20, 2 Cor 6:14) We had to believe Yahusha when He said of the Jewish religious leaders and their leavened teachings, “If the blind lead the blind, then they both fall into the ditch”. We were discovering that Yahusha’s words had come to pass, that truly, just as he said, our following Judaism (which has married Catholicism, bowed down to the Pope, in MANY respects) by doing the Gregorian weekly Sabbath, led us into the ditch! It was time to stop listening to them! Scripture says that those of Judah that still choose to remain of the Jewish faith, those who still reject Yahusha and follow other rabbis – are blind, and we decided it behooves us not to follow ANYTHING they do. We understood we needed to take seriously Yahusha’s warning to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (Mark 8:15), that we needed to surrender EVERY thought captive that’s been put into our minds, and let scripture renew our minds.

So, the issue of when a day begins was put on the table for consideration. We remembered back to when we were children, before we were ever indoctrinated that the day began at midnight, and before we were introduced to the rabbis, when did we believe the day began, just from observing the creation around us? We decided that as little children, we understood the day to begin in the morning, that when we arise from our slumber, we wake up to a new day, a new day is dawning, new beginnings. Does this remind you of a scriptural song? It did me. “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, is a song that includes a verse from Lamentations, “morning by morning, new mercies I see”. (Lamentations 3:22-23) If the day/date began in the evening, why would we not see NEW mercies when evening comes? Why would NEW mercies wait to come until morning?

Patterns of Light and Darkness

We also were understanding that YHUH tends to work in patterns. We reasoned that if the year begins while coming out of darkness (winter is ending) and into increasing light (summer is coming), and if the month begins with coming out of darkness and into increasing light (we begin the month before we can actually see the light on the moon, but after conjunction, we know there is already light growing on the moon) that it would make sense that a day also would begin coming out of darkness, and into increasing light. We don’t begin the day at sunrise, when we see the sun, but at dawn, when we see the LIGHT of the sun. (Supporting scriptures will be mentioned later) We don’t see the sun yet, but we know it’s coming, a new day is dawning. Just like we don’t begin the month when we see the moon, but we understand that after the moments of conjunction, there is already light coming on the moon, even if we don’t see the light on the moon yet, we know it’s there, and so we begin to walk in the month with a lighted path, just like we walk during the day with a lighted path, just like we work in the summer with a lighted path.

We are often told there are Spring and Fall Feasts. However, we are only seeing 2 seasons in scripture – Summer and Winter. There is no mention in scripture of the Spring or Fall as seasons, no Hebrew word for such seasons in scripture. Many translations do use those words, but we haven’t found it in the Hebrew. For example, sometimes our translations might mention Springtime, but when you look at the Hebrew, it would be speaking of seedtime. There is seedtime and harvest, early and latter rains, return of the year and the end of the year, but no Spring and Fall in the Hebrew in scripture. The only seasons mentioned are Summer and Winter. (Psalm 74:17, Gen 8:22) Summer and Winter, and day and night, mirror each other. We work the land in Summer, we work in the daylight, while there is light to see. We let the land rest in Winter, we rest from our work at night, while it is dark. Just as these periods of light and darkness mirror each other, so also, the feasts and daily sacrifices mirror each other. We have Passover and Unleavened Bread and the first fruits of the barley harvest falling in the beginning of Summer, after the sun has returned to the Northern Hemisphere, just as we have a morning daily sacrifice. We have Sukkot and the end of the harvest season falling at the end of Summer, just as we have an evening sacrifice, occurring when the day, not date, is declining, but it is yet day. There are no sacrifices slaughtered at night, no Feasts in the Winter. We sleep at night in darkness and the cool of the night, the land rests during the winter in darkness when it is cool, and on the dark new moon days, days similar to a Sabbath, we do not buy, sell, or trade, but New Moon days are not Sabbaths either, with the exception of the Day of Trumpets. These are patterns YHUH is teaching us in His word. These are rest and work cycles which tell us when and how to work and worship Him.

Scriptural Evidence

We decided we needed to test our understanding from observing creation with His Word though, as every matter must be established by at least 2 witnesses in the Word as well. First, we started with Genesis 1:5, and asked ourselves if the fact that the Word lists the evening before morning is a sound foundation for beginning the day/date in the evening. We found that there were MANY MORE scriptures listing morning before evening, and day before night, and there were more of these verses than there were verses that switched them around the other way. For example, scripture lists the morning sacrifices before the evening sacrifices.

Clean in the Evening

What about the scriptures that instruct us that when one becomes unclean, he can wash and become clean in the evening? Some would say that means you start the new day clean in the evening, that this is stating the day begins in the evening. However, we are no longer seeing it that way. The scripture never states that being clean at evening has anything to do with when a day begins. I’ve recently discovered that this actually has to do with burying dead bodies that have been cursed by hanging before the end of a day/date, but after sundown, in the evening, and beginning the observation of an appointed time the evening before the date commanded. When to begin a date, and when to begin to observe it, are two different things. This is explained in the commandments for the Day of Atonement and Unleavened Bread. These are two witnesses to establish this matter.

Unleavened Bread and the Day of Atonement

Some would say, and we also once said, that the fact that we are commanded to begin eating unleavened bread and begin afflicting ourselves on the evening before means that the day/date begins in the evening. That’s a good point, BUT, what DATE does the scripture give for the evening before? Leviticus 23 states that the date for Yom Kippur is the 10^th day of the 7^th month. It says to begin afflicting ourselves the evening before, on the 9^th! Therefore, YHUH says the evening following the 9^th, belongs to the 9^th! It is not the beginning of the 10^th! Otherwise, He would just say, begin afflicting yourself on the 10^th, if the 10^th began that evening. It is the same with Unleavened Bread and when we are instructed to begin to eat unleavened breat – the evening before the first day of the feast, until the evening before the last day of the feast.

Passover

This brings up another important point concerning the Passover, which may help to illustrate the fact that it cannot be possible for the day/date to begin in the evening. If the day begins in the evening, then the Passover in Exodus in Egypt doesn’t work with the sequence of events when you pay close attention to the instructions, which were to be done on certain dates and times.

The lamb is supposed to be killed on the 14^th DAY, between the evenings, after noon, but before night. Yahusha died during the daylight hours, on the 14^th. Because His blood removes our sin, we remove the leaven that afternoon after the lamb is slain, before the blood is applied to the doorposts. Then the lamb is supposed to be eaten that night, still the 14^th, with unleavened bread. If the 14^th begins in the evening, before the 14^th day of the month, then Israel eats a LIVE lamb, because they don’t slaughter it until the next day, on the 14^th day of the month, between the evenings! Also, they eat unleavened bread with that live lamb, before they are required to be rid of the leaven. This is backwards! This is obviously not what happened, and not what YHUH commanded! This does serious violence to the scriptures! I can’t believe we didn’t notice this earlier. See what happens when we follow men and their silly, vain traditions?

There are Sabbath keepers that have noticed this error with the Passover event, and so instead of beginning the day in the morning to rectify the issue, they do additional violence to the scriptures even further by changing other various commandments concerning the Feast, adding and taking away, in an attempt to keep things in line with the tradition of the day beginning in the evening. Many criticize Judaism for eating their Passover Seder the evening before the 15^th, because in the mind of many Messianics, that night is the beginning of the 15^th, not the 14^th. The rabbis do it on the night before the 15^th DAY, because they have figured out it’s impossible to do it any other way, while still following all the other instructions. Not that Judaism follows all the other instructions concerning the Passover, because they don’t. The Messianics are still in the dark about the fact that they themselves are also in error on MAJOR issues the Torah addresses, like when to keep the Sabbath.

 ARISE and SHINE for your LIGHT has COME! Isaiah 60:1

When do we arise, and when does the light come? In the morning! Of course, we know Yahusha is the light of the world that has come in this verse, and we know this is speaking of the DAY of YHUH, when He comes. The Book of Amos says that the DAY of YHUH will be a DAY of deep darkness to those who are disobedient. If we are in His light, as Israel had His light in Goshen, that very dark day will be as light to us if we remain in Yahusha and His commandments.

Yahusha answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him.” John 11:9

Judaism teaches believers to forsake Yahusha, and forsake the commandments of the Father for traditions of men. They reject the light. These teachers stumble, if you follow them into the darkness, you will also stumble. The blind lead the blind into the ditch. Many believers try to yoke themselves with the Jews, thinking they can be a light to them in darkness, and thinking that maybe they can learn something from them. Sadly, more often than not, the result is the little light the believer had is extinguished. Ultimately, many are rejecting Yahusha and the New Testament because of the anti-Messiah teachings that are popular among the Jews. There are a high number of atheists among the Jews today because they do not have the testimony of Yahusha, who is the living Torah. There is no Torah without Yahusha, so many Jews have rejected Torah altogether, or only do some things out of tradition and culture of their people, not as obedience to a commandment. We have been warned against being unequally yoked and fellowshipping with unbelievers in darkness. Just because some of them claim to keep Torah, doesn’t mean they do. Yahusha said about the Jewish leaders, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me.” Many say the Jews have the law, so they must have some light to give us. No, they don’t have the law any more than the churches do. Yahusha said so, He said they don’t believe Moses. They claim to see, but what did Yahusha say about those who only CLAIM to see? Yikes! Torah is impossible without Yahusha. It is in vain to even try.

So Yahusha said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Yahusha spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. Yahuchanan (John) 12:35-36

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 9:4-5

These are all verses that point to walking and working in the day. The gates are closed to worship at night. They are open during the day only, on New Moons and Sabbaths, and closed in the evening. Israel left Egypt on the 15^th, at night, after the Sabbath hours had passed. (Num 33 and Deut 16:1) Since the sun rules the day, we use the light of the sun to tell us when the day begins and ends. Day comes first on any given date, then night follows the daylight portion on that same date. I begin the date of the 15th and the Sabbath day in the morning, but we begin to observe the Sabbath the evening before, evening to evening, as Yom Kippur and Unleavened Bread are observed. I do not believe the night following the Sabbath is to be kept as a Sabbath, because if we were supposed to, we would find at least 2 witnesses in Scripture showing Israelites keeping the Sabbath the nights following the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the month. When Yahusha died on the 14th, that evening following that day, the women rested according to the commandment, in the evening before the Sabbath day, not after it. It appears they were observing the Seventh Day Sabbath, which is also the first day of Unleavened Bread Sabbath, from evening to evening. The Book of Nehemiah is another good example of beginning observe the Sabbath day the evening before the Sabbath. He closed the gates to the city on the evening of the sixth day of the week, before the Sabbath, no mention of them being closed until the morning after the Sabbath.

The first of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. John 20:1

Here we read that it was early in the morning, the first day of the week, while it was yet dark. This would be dawn, or more specifically, twilight, when there was morning light in the eastern sky, but the light was not yet overpowering the darkness, the sun was not up yet. Once the sun is up over the horizon, it’s not dark anymore. Keep reading in the same chapter to verse 19:

Then the same day at evening, being the first of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Yahusha and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace unto you. John 20:19

See that, verse 19, says that it was the SAME DAY, the FIRST OF THE WEEK, and it was EVENING! We read earlier in the chapter that that morning was early on the first day of the week, and we read in 19 that when evening came, it was still the first day of the week, the SAME DAY! So, if evening were to begin the day, this should have been the beginning of the second day of the week, not still the first, and not the SAME DAY, but a DIFFERENT ONE! Here’s another verse with the same testimony that evening does not BEGIN a NEW day, but CONTINUES a day/date:

And the same day, when the evening was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. Mark 4:35

It states that when evening came, it was still the SAME DAY!

More on Nehemiah’s Gate Closure the Evening Before the Sabbath

It’s been suggested that since Nehemiah had the gates closed in the evening before the Sabbath day in Chapter 8 of the Book of Nehemiah, that means a day begins in the evening. Let’s look at the verse:

And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. Nehemiah 13:19

This scenario with Nehemiah and the closing of the gates the evening before Sabbath simply is not PROOF that the day/date begins in the evening. He does appear to be beginning the observation of the Sabbath, but that does not mean the Sabbath DAY begins in the evening.

When Could and Could Not the Priests Eat the Meat of the Sacrifices and Offerings in Leviticus?

The scripture that we found that stood out the most to my husband as conclusive evidence, no doubt about it proof that the day begins in the morning, we found while reading in Leviticus:

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. Leviticus 7:15

If evening began a new day, the sacrifice would need to be burned up by evening, and nobody would be able to leave it until evening, because that would begin the next day, and the verse we just read stated it had to be eaten the same day. But that’s not the case, it says to eat it the same day, it does not disallow anyone eating it in the evening, because evening is still the same day. However, it does specify that it must not be left until MORNING, because morning begins the next day. A similar verse:

On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I am YHUH. Lev 22:30

That word morrow in Lev 22:30, is actually boqer, morning, and here is what Strong’s has to say about when morrow (tomorrow-next day) is:

1. morning, break of day
   1. morning
   2. of end of night
   3. of coming of daylight
   4. of coming of sunrise
   5. of beginning of day
   6. of bright joy after night of distress (fig.)
2. morrow, next day, next morning

What Did Moses Teach “Tomorrow” Means?

Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast…Exodus 10:4…And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and YHUH brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all night; when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. Exodus 10:13

So the threat made by Moses was if Pharaoh did not let the people go, ON THE MORROW, the locusts would come. True to the promise, ALL THAT DAY AND NIGHT the wind blew, and the locusts appeared in the morning, on the morrow, the beginning of the next day.

What About Genesis 1?

The way we now read those verses of the creation week, “and there was evening and there was morning”, is this: When Aluhym said, “Let there be light”, on the first DAY of creation week, it was now day, because there was light. He spoke the light out of the darkness. That was the beginning of the day-morning. These are the creation hours. He created upon the earth during the daylight hours. Then came evening, continuing the date through the night until morning. Morning brings the sunlight – our light SIGNAL – that day one has ended and we have now begun day two, and now YHUH continues creating again during the daylight hours which is when He says we can work, and He divides the firmaments and the waters on this DAY. Then comes evening, then night, which isn’t mentioned, because He only mentions the daylight portions, which brings us to morning which is the beginning of the third DAY, on which He creates again during that DAY, and so on…Remember, Gen 1:14 says that the lights in the heavens are for days. YHUH says in the same chapter that the sun rules the day and that light was called day. How would the sun and light disappearing be a sign to us of a new day? How does the coming of the moon and stars and darkness announce the beginning of a day, when YHUH said the moon and stars rule the night, and that darkness is called night, not day?

What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. Isaiah 5:20

“They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.” Job 17:12

I’ve provided MUCH more than the required 2-3 witnesses to establish the foundation from which I stand on, from scripture, that the day begins in the morning. Truly we have inherited lies. (Jeremiah 16:19)

For those who like to pull the race card on those that disagree with Judaism, we have discovered our Jewish ancestry and are not anti-Semitic. We love Judah and pray for ALL of Israel to see the light. The best way we can love, and be a light to Judah, is to do what YHUH’s written word says, even though that means forsaking their teachings and traditions. To do Torah works is love and light to all mankind!

In Yahusha Messiah’s love

Shalom Ya’ll!

My purpose for this blog is to share what I’m learning, to disperse/scatter knowledge. Proverbs 15:7