G-d's appointed times: lost in translation

Because the meanings within the Hebrew language are multi-layered, familiarity with even a little Hebrew can deepen our understanding of G-d’s Word. Since we’ve just walked through a number of Ad-nai’s festivals, here’s a perfect example of G-d’s love, beauty and Truth inherent in the language that gets lost in English translation: “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:14 NKJV).
The Hebrew word for seasons is Moadim מוֹעֲדִים which means appointed or set times, as in “let us celebrate the moadim,” “let us celebrate the appointed times.” What’s the big deal? “Seasons” are equated with 12 months broken into 4 parts (summer, winter, spring, and fall), not specifically “set times,” which Ad-nai details in Leviticus 23 and all throughout Scripture.

In the beginning, G-d said…everything we need to know, but unfortunately so much Truth has been forgotten, hidden, or twisted by the world. But Ad-nai is revealing what has been hidden for so long that we would be prepared for this: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24, NJKV).

Like the Torah, the Living Word, the Hebrew language is a living language, the only truly living language. And though Hebrew lay dormant for centuries when it was only spoken by a small number of religious Jews, it has re-emerged as a vibrant, breathing, powerful language that Ad-nai is drawing out from within His people to glorify Himself. Learning Hebrew is not just about words and letters. Like everything else Ad-nai has created, it’s really about His Amazing love and the little gifts He graces us with, some wrapped in jots & tittles (Matthew 5:18), gifts of Himself.

Here's a side by side Hebrew/Engish Bible site.

Bark at the moon?

On the fourth day God said, "'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years'" (Genesis1:14 NIV).

God set up our moon-driven calendar system on the fourth day of Creation, which Jewish history deduces was approximately 5768 years ago, as that is the current Jewish year. So the Jewish people have maintained the Hebrew calendar system, while the world saw fit to revise this method--in order of development: Roman Calendar, Julian Calendar, and the now widely used, Gregorian Calendar.

While the Gregorian calendar is ruled by time alone, the Hebrew month is calculated by the phases of the moon.

So the beginning of each month (there are 12 months, 13 during leap year) is a new moon or Rosh Chodesh. The appointed holidays, for example, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, fall on the same day of the month every year as calculated by the moon. Yom Kippur, for instance, falls on the 10th day of Tishri (the 7th month) every year and Passover occurs on the 15th day of Nissan (the 1st month). But that has nothing to do with our secular calendar and so Yom Kippur can occur in September or October and Passover or Pesach can occur in March or April.

If you celebrate Easter, did you ever wonder why it could be early March one year and late April another? As Christian holidays are uncannily related to Jewish holidays, so their dates often coincide, as Christianity is really based on Judaism, right?

Wikipedia: Lunar Phase
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary-Calendar

In the northern hemisphere, the crescent moon is visible on the right side of the moon on the 1st or 2nd day of the Hebrew month, then waxes to the left as the month progresses; in the southern hemisphere, the crescent is on the left, then waxes to the right. View the Current Moon phase--northern hemisphere.

The full moon is the middle of the month which is the 15th of the month. God appointed certain festivals where His people were to travel to Jerusalem to be on the 15th--Passover and the 1st day of Sukkot--so that the full moon would remind them it was time and the light would guide their pilgrimage.

So bark at the moon if you like--but don't sneeze at it (sorry, pathetically poor pun). God may have called it the "lesser light"(Genesis 1:16) but He gave it incredible power: to light the night, guide the time, determine His appointed times, control the tides. Non-sequitur alert: that reminds me that our bodies are 50-70% water.

Rosh Chodesh Kislev

November 11, 2007 or according to the Hebrew calendar 1st Kislev, the year 5768, is the New Moon, Rosh Chodesh. According to the Bible, days begin in the evening (repeated 6 times in Genesis 1 for instance: "So the evening and the morning were the first day" NKJV). And so the New Moon Festival begins at sunset November 10. There will be no moon visible until the moonrise of November 11 or 12 and that will be a tiny crescent.

New Moon in the Bible
Numbers 10:10 "Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, ^[a] and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God"(NIV).

Isaiah 66:22 "'As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,' declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure" (NIV).

Psalm 81:3-5 "'Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, A law of the God of Jacob. This He established in Joseph as a testimony, When He went throughout the land of Egypt, Where I heard a language I did not understand'" (NKJV).

Psalm 104:19 "He appointed the moon for seasons; The sun knows its going down"(NKJV).

And it all began here:
Genesis 1:14-15 "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth'; and it was so" (NKJV).

Rosh Chodesh Blessing

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov!
Sabbath Peace and Good Month!