First month of God's year: Rosh Ha'Shana - Nissan/Aviv

This coming Shabbat, 29th March, after sunset, we enter a new week, a new month AND A NEW YEAR!

Since I have been a believer, over 40 years, I have heard many sermons, and much teaching and for most of those years I actually never questioned any of what I heard. As I have got older I have realised that many people cannot give any historical, rational or sometimes even biblical argument for a lot of what they believe, and sadly teach. They believe what they believe because they have inherited those beliefs from others who believed them. They know doctrine but do not know how the doctrine was formed.

I now have a passion for truth, God’s truth, being aware that all men are fallible in their understandings, so as my late husband Michael would always say when he taught: “Don’t take my word for what I will say, check it out for yourselves.” So my starting point now is ALWAYS – What does God say?

So let us start with what God said about HIS NEW YEAR, as recorded in Exodus 12: 1-2 just as the Children of Israel are about to be amazingly, wonderfully and dramatically brought out of Egypt, out of slavery, by the Mighty Outstretched Arm of The Lord.,

“The Lord spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt: He said: You are to begin your calendar with this month, it will be the first month of the year for you.” (Exodus 12:1-2).

That seems quite clear. Then a bit later in Exodus 13:3 God refers to this First Month as in the month of Aviv, meaning Spring. But God did not name any other months, they are always referred to as the 2nd, 3RD, 4TH 5th month etc. I know they were given names by “man” during and after the Babylonian exile, but when referred to in the Tanach the months are always referred to with the number and only sometimes the names that were later adopted.

My point is simply this, The Lord clearly stated when the first month of the year was to be, in the spring. Sadly during the exile, and after the first temple had been destroyed, or for whatever other reason, man decided that he would make the 7th month of the God’s year, which is quite clearly only called Yom Teruah by Him, the first month of what is now called the Civil Year. So the first of the 7th month is now called Rosh HaShana (Head of the Year) and the actual number of the year is changed on that day – REALLY! A MAN DECIDED TO DO THAT even though God stated quite quite clearly when the first month of His ordained New Year should start. So do you want to stand on truth, on God’s word, or on what man decides. For me that is a no brainer.

So as I said after sunset this coming Shabbat (29th March) we not only enter a new week, but a new month AND a New Year. This is the ONLY New Year that matters, God’s New Year. It is also good to remember that ALL God’s Appointed Times always have been, and always will be according to His Calendar.

So we enter the month of Pesach, The Week of Unleavened Bread, The Festival of First Fruits, and the beginning of the counting the Omer. A remembrance of God's amazing plan to reveal Himself through the Children of Israel, to the whole world. The Birth of a Nation, and a new calendar set. It was almost like a re-set, as God prepared to give his Torah (Way of Life) to this selected group, with the command “To Be A Light to The nations.”

Added to the conundrum of course, we now have a quite complicated system over a 19 year cycle, that occasionally adds a leap year every now and then, which gives us the 12th month (Adar) twice. Adar Aleph and then Adar Bet, to make sure that the first month of the biblical year, Aviv, now called Nissan, comes in the Spring. Otherwise it would get earlier and earlier and NOT BE in the spring. Again, maybe this sounds good to you, a great idea, BUT it was an idea of man, Rabbi Hillel.

So here’s the thing, have you ever thought what the Children of Israel did before Rabbi Hillel worked out this 19 year cycle, actually as recently as the 4th century (CE). I am quite a simple person, not academic at all, so let’s look at this simply. We have no encyclopedias, no smart phones, no google search, no precedent at all, so when God spoke clearly This is the first month of your year, the month of Spring, that is all we have to go on. We know the new month starts with the sliver of the New Moon. Right at the beginning of B’rsheet, Genesis, God says : “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night, let them be for signs, seasons, days and years”. Then in Numbers 10:10 “at the designated times and on Rosh Chodesh you are to sound the trumpets…”

So here is my deep theological and academic take on this! The first month of the New Year would begin when there are the signs of Spring - blossoms - and the Barley harvest - together with the sliver of the New Moon.

As God never said how many months there should be in a year, I have to say we are “probably” entering the first month of the new year, but in any year we could actually be a whole month out of sync with God!

Now. Big Breath, there is a bit more to come - I hope we all know and agree that when Yeshua came he fulfilled ALL the spring feasts: He died at Pesach; He rose on First Fruits and the Holy Spirit fell on Shavuot. I don’t have time to elaborate on that, but most believers believe he will fulfil all the Autumn/Fall Feasts when he returns: Yom Teruah, (wake up people) Yom Kippur (maybe last chance to repent) , and Succot (once again He dwells with us for ever). BUT, WE ARE TOLD He will come like ….…”A thief in the night, when we least expect it”. Only The Father knows when it will be, not the son, not even the angels. So here is the Thesis of Fran Cohen: Because we do not calculate the Biblical year the way God told us I am pretty sure we “could be” out of sync with Him in any year, which means most probably when Yeshua comes again it will be SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED. It will happen during the Autumn Feasts but maybe a month before or after man’s calculations.

My advice: Just BE READY. Live your life as if Yeshua died yesterday, rose today, and is coming back tomorrow.

So of course the most significant event that took place in this first month was the Exodus from Egypt, and the command of God to REMEMBER this amazing event each year.

The Lord gives clear instruction to the Children of Israel what they needed to do before they leave Egypt in the first month. I am sure you all know the story well.

On the 10th of the month take a lamb into the house, Make sure it has no defects,

On 14th day - kill it and smear its blood on the wooden door frame. So as believers in Yeshua it’s quite important that if we call him the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb, that there is some connection with him and the Pesach Lamb. Well let’s see:

On the 10th of the month take a lamb into the house. It is very well recorded in the gospels that the year Yeshua died that on the 10th day of the first month he entered into his Father’s House, The Temple. As you probably know at this time of year the Jewish people start cleaning their houses and making sure there is no Hametz/ leven/yeast in the house, which is a symbol of sin Just as Yeshua entered his Fathers house and then cleansed it by turning over the tables of the money changers and dealers in doves and pigeons.

Next command make sure the lamb has no defects: Well not only do we know that Yeshua was sinless, as the Son of God, but he was symbolically tried too before his crucifixion, and not even Pilot could find any fault in him.

Kill on the 14th day of the first month: It is well documented that Yeshua died the same time as the Passover Lambs were being killed in the Temple, which begs the question of course how he and his disciples managed to have their “Passover Seder” already when the rest of Jewry had not – but it would take too long to go into that.

Then daub the blood on the wooden frames of the houses – this will be a SIGN. It is well documented that Yeshua was nailed to a wooden beam and obviously then his blood would have gone on that wood, but the interesting thing is that The Lord said it would be A SIGN, as written in Exodus 12:13, it says, the blood will be a SIGN, and the word in Hebrew there is OT, spelt with just two Hebrew letters , aleph tav, (את ) the first and last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. Well we are told in Rev. 1:8 that Yeshua is the Aleph and the Tav the first and the last So just as the blood was a sign at that first Pesach, coming out of Egypt, so now Yeshua is the OT, the sign of God offering the whole world freedom deliverance and rescue.

Of course the only slight problem we have here as believers is that the Passover Lamb was not a sacrifice for sin, the blood on the doors was JUST a SIGN for the angel of death to not kill the first born of the Children of Israel. It passed over their homes, just killing the first born of the Egyptians. But I believe there is a definite connection to Yeshua and the Yom Kippur sacrifice for the sins of the nations, which is remembered in the 7th month. Lev. 16 explains all that the High Priest had to do on this day, including the sacrifice of a goat, on behalf of all Israel. BUT there were two goats, one to be killed and one to be released, known as the scapegoat.

So the year Yeshua died, before Pesach, there were two men, Yeshua, Son of God, and Barabbas (meaning Son of the father) As written in Matthew 27:17. We read Pilate asked the people TO CHOOSE, which one to sacrifice, to kill, and which one to release. I think this was to give us another SIGN connecting Yeshua to the sacrifice offered for the sin of the nation at Yom Kippur

Now I want to point out that its not just the Rabbis that like to mess with God’s calendar, I am now going to give a little bit of historical fact just in case there is someone here who has not heard it before.

In 325 CE After Yeshua) The Emperor Constantine, convened the first Council of Nicaea and one of the things on the agenda was to have independence from the Jewish calendar - you hear that, They wanted their Jewish Messiah BUT they did NOT want to remember his death and resurrection on the Jewish Festival of Pesach – so they established that the death and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST, would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. I HOPE ALL THAT IS CLEAR! Added to that of course is they gave this man-made date a new pagan name of Easter. So the pagan date on which the Christian world now celebrates the death and resurrection of their Jewish Messiah was ripped away from Passover and is so OBVIOUSLY WRONG - JUST PLAIN WRONG. Are you happy with that – I know I am not. Of course you can get all excited when Easter does happen to fall around the same time, but the heart of the thinking of the Christian dates was totally anti-Jewish, anti- The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, anti Gods calendar, so as I said, WRONG!

The Lord repeats the command to celebrate Pesach in Lev 23:5 , Numbers 9:1, and again in Numbers 28:16, So it is pretty clear He really wanted the children of Israel to remember this every year, to tell the story again and again every year, “You are to celebrate is throughout your generations as a permanent statute” Ex. 12

Though it is thought by some that they did not celebrate during the years of wondering, I am not sure if you can make a case for this from silence, but we know from Joshua that it was on the 10th day of the first month that the children of Israel eventually entered the Promised Land, and then it is recorded that they celebrated Pesach. This is such an important remembering. God brought The Children of Israel out of slavery, started a fresh new calendar, gave them specific instructions how to live their lives, and when to do things. It was a new beginning INDEED, a very significant point in God’s redemptive plan for the whole world.

Well NOW we have another hot potato regarding the counting of the Omer. We have the command in Lev. 23:15 saying “You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbat, seven shabbats, count 50 days. “ First I need to re-iterate that God did not name the days of the week , just as he did not name the months, and even though we call the 7th day Shabbat, that is not in fact its name. God says 6 days you shall work and the 7th day is A Shabbat - do no work. So the 7th day of the week is a Shabbat just as the first AND last days of the Chageem, Week of Unleavenend Bread Succot, etc. are also called Shabbats, God says clearly in Lev. That the first day of the 7th month (Yom HaTeurah) Feast of Trumpets, IS A SHABBAT , and the day of Atonement Yom Kippur, is a Shabbat, these days clearly not always falling on the 7th day of the week.

So not surprisingly there are different opinions about when we start counting the Omer: According to Rabbinic Jews, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, they start counting on the day after Pesach, but the Karaite Jews start counting after the Weekly Shabbat during the week of Unleavened Bread. Since at least the 8th century Karaite Jews across the world have kept to an interpretation of Judaism in which the Bible , the Tanach, is taken as the ultimate authority on religious practice. Karaites will consider the insights of the Oral Law, Talmud, Mishnah etc., BUT do not accept their rulings as binding, and outright reject rabbinic traditions that clearly contradict the plain meaning of scriptural verses. Wow, I like these Karaites!

So, as it clearly says in Lev 23:15 when speaking about the counting of the Omer, to count seven Shabbats, not seven weeks, the word in Hebrew is Shabbat, not Shavua, I would think clearly referring to the weekly Shabbat, so Shavuot would always then fall on the first day of the week.

Most of the references to the first month of the year in the scriptures are related to Pesach but there are a couple of others. In fact this week’s Parashah, P’kudei, in the last chapter of Shm’ot, Exodus, “On the first day of the first month of the second year, the tabernacle was set up. Then….the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and Moshe was unable to enter the tent of meeting.

The people of Israel did all the work just as The Lord had ordered Moshe. Moshe saw all the work, and there it was! They had done it! Exactly as the Lord had ordered. Wow!! Total obedience, blessing, and God's presence

In 2 Chronicles 29: 3 we read that Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began his reign in Jerusalem, he did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, and followed the example of everything David his ancestor had done, and in the first month of his reign he reopened the doors of the House of The Lord and repaired them, - after he brought the Cohanim and Lviim to consecrate the Lords house it is recorded: They began consecrating the house on the first day of the first month

So the first month, most importantly contains this wonderful annual reminder of the mighty outstretched arm of The Lord when He brought his People out of slavery, a New beginning for the Children of Israel.

But also the month that the Tabernacle was first erected, when God dwelt in their midst, the month the children of Israel eventually entered the Promised Land and the month the temple was reconsecrated. A month of new beginnings, of fresh starts, in fact THE FIRST MONTH OF A NEW YEAR.

Indeed Abba Father, thank you thank you for your faithfulness, goodness, protection, provision, and patience. We dedicate ourselves afresh to you as we enter this new week, new month and new year, this new portion of time. May we be ever ready in our personal lives to meet with you, and to welcome Yeshua’s return, whenever it may be.

יהי רצון מלפנין יהוה אלהינ ואלהי אבותינו שתחדש עלינו חודש טוב