And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ² “This month will be the beginning of months; it will be for you the first of the months of the year… “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night.

Semeach Rosh Chodesh and Rosh HaShanah! Welcome to Aviv 2024!

This is a special posting of TMTO. I’ve been led of Yah’s Set-Apart Spirit in this post to proclaim and expound upon this new Biblical Year and the advent of the Month of the Aviv 2024.

 

I won’t infringe too much on your valuable time this evening, which by the way, is T-esday, April 9, 2024 and by the time this is posted Aviv 1, other than to pass on to you some of the more important days, concepts, terms, and spiritual applications that are embedded in this set-apart month of Yah’s Biblical Calendar.

 

Calendar Update (Jot these down):

 

• Wed 4/10-Biblical Rosh HaShannah – Aviv 1 (Depending on the sighting of the renewed moon). Yah, through Moshe, commanded us to Guard this Month (Deu 16.1-2).
• Tue 4/23-Pesach/Passover – Aviv 14.
• Wed 4/24-Tue 4/30-FOUB – Aviv 15-21.
• Sun 4/28-Wavesheaf/Firstfruits – “the morrow after the Sabbath that falls within the week of the FOUB.

 

Please consult the Netsari–Messianic Calendar section of themessianictorahobserver.org website’s landing page for these dates if you can’t jot them down. As well as I invite you to go to The Essential Elements of the Messianic-Hebraic Faith (themessianictorahobserver.org) and scroll down to the calendar and orient yourself to this month’s essential moedim.

 

Key Terms and Concepts Embedded in the Month of the Aviv (aka Nisan)

• Biblical Rosh HaShannah — Define

When we hear the phrase Rosh HaShanah, both within and without our faith community, depending upon our level of Torah understanding AND our religious affiliation (i.e. Christian, Rabbinic/Orthodox Judaism, Messianic, etc.), we most likely know it as a Jewish holiday. The more knowledgeable of us may even narrow that understanding to that of Rosh HaShanah being the phrase used to declare the Jewish or Hebrew New Year. But what most of the world, yea even many of our of Jewish brethren, don’t know about the phrase is its fuller meaning and implications to our redemption and salvation. For, as Jewish as the world has attempted to make the term Rosh HaShanah throughout the centuries, it in all actuality belongs to Yehovah. Rosh HaShanah, biblically, does not belong to the Jews. How and why, you may ask. Well, simply this: Yehovah establishes the times and seasons for humanity to follow and keep, based on His reckoning of time. When it comes to the things of Yehovah, it’s about His reckoning, not man’s. He determines when the start and end of a time will be. And with Rosh HaShanah, which by the way is not a phrase you’ll find in most English translations of your bible, unless we are in tune with what the Almighty has and is doing with His human creation, it certainly will mean nothing more than some type of Jewish holiday which has nothing to do with most of us.

 

But the truth of the matter is that Rosh HaShanah has everything to do with those of us who are called and who bear His holy and eternal Name upon our souls and spirits.

 

Along with the fact that Rosh HaShanah is NOT in and of itself a phrase found in most of our English bibles, SCRIPTURE DOES NOT give us a date or time for Rosh HaShanah. It’s the strangest thing you could ever imagine.

 

We find first-mention of a new year – aka Rosh HaShanah – in Exodus 12. Background-wise, we, the children of Jacob, had been enslaved in Egypt/Mitsrayim for four-centuries. Exodus 12 records that the time for our exile in Egypt had drawn to an end. Yah dispatched Moshe to lead us out of Egypt and deliver us to the Land of Promise. And after a series of devastating plagues Yah sent to judge the elohim/the gods of Egypt, the time came for our deliverance and redemption. It was time for us to emerge as a people wholly dedicated to Yehovah and His service: a kingdom of priest and a holy nation, set apart unto Yehovah to serve Him and His purposes. And what better way to kick-off this new beginning for the sons and daughters of Jacob/Ya’achov, and for that matter all humanity, than to declare our redemption be inextricably tied to the start of a new year? Consider the following:

 

Now Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2“This month will mark the beginning of months (i.e. Rosh HaShanah) for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you (i.e. Rosh Chodesh HaShanah) (Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures-modified: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Ex 12:1–2).

 

Why, thank you very much, LORD. This is wonderful. But for us who are 3,500+ years removed from this historic declaration, Moshe did not note the month we were in at the time Yah made this pronouncement. Well, if we are careful in our studies, Yah through Moshe provides us all we need to pinpoint the season and timing of this declaration. We find in Deuteronomy the following:

 

“Keep the month of Abib (et chodesh ha abib) and celebrate the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 16:1).

 

Okay then, we now know the name of the month, Aviv or Abib, that we are supposed to keep as Rosh HaShanah. However, this still doesn’t show to us when we are to start every new year. Well, the clue to this is found in the name or descriptor Yah gave to the month. The month of THE ABIB/AVIV.

 

This, in all reality, is not the name of a month, but it is a descriptor. It is the month of the Aviv. Which begs the question: What is the Aviv/the Abib? HaAviv/HaAbib is defined as “ripe ears of grain” and is a direct reference to barley and the barley crop in the Land. We do have some biblical proof to this definition. Consider that after the plague of hail had ceased at the very tail-end of our Egyptian enslavement, Moshe made the following comment as recorded in Exodus 9:

 

31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear (i.e.”se’orah ‘aviv” or the barley was aviv), and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 9:31–32).

 

So, at this period of time, the ripened (i.e. HaAviv/HaAbib) barley crop in the Land of Egypt had been destroyed by the plague of hail. The particulars of Aviv barley make it such that it could not survive a significant hailstorm as the Egyptians experienced in this judgment.

 

That still leaves the question of when during the Aviv barley season or month is Rosh HaShanah to occur. We already knew when a month begins and ends. It was common knowledge in our day throughout that region of the world. Therefore, Moshe did not need to stipulate when the precise day a month begins. But for us who are some 3,500+ years removed from this story, it should be understood that each month begins and ends with the sighting of the first sliver of the renewed moon each month. Otherwise referred to as Rosh Chodesh, aka renewed moon.

 

The Tanach attests to the importance of the renewed moon as it applies to Yah’s reckoning of time each month (1 Sam 20.5-24; 2 Kin 4.23; 1 Chr 23.31; 2 Chr 2.4; 8.13; 31.3; Ezr 3.5; Neh 10.33; Psa 81.3; Isa 1.13-14; 66.23; Eze 45.17; 46.1-6; Hos 2.11; Amos 8.5; and in the Brit Hadashah in Col 2.16).

 

It is indeed interesting that the renewed moon event is mentioned throughout scripture in context with the weekly Sabbaths and Feast Days. So, one is hard-pressed not to wonder why so many within and without our faith community reject calls for Yah’s people to return to keeping/guarding Yah’s sacred observational calendar. Yehovah created the sun, moon, and stars to serve as “signs, and … seasons, and … days and years” (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ge 1:14). I certainly get the necessity for Yah’s people to go to a calculated calendar during the extended time of their exile. But now that the exile has been partially lifted and we have full access to the Land, there is no reason NOT to return to Yah’s reckoning of time. And Yah’s reckoning of time is based on a luni-solar system — the luni or lunar, whereby we sight the renewed moon each month; the solar, whereby the barley crop germinates and ripens in the Land at the terminus of each biblical calendar.

 

So, there we have it in a nutshell. Rosh HaShanah, according to Yehovah, is on Aviv 1, or rather, it is on the first Rosh Chodesh (the first new moon sighting) of the month that the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el is in an aviv-state of maturity. IT IS NOT, as our orthodox Rabbinic brethren have made it out to be. Biblical Rosh HaShanah IS NOT on Tishri 1 (aka on the first day of the 7th month).

 

 

 

• Guarding the Month of the Aviv

The Command to Guard the Month of the Aviv is given in Deuteronomy/Devarim 16.1:

 

Observe (i.e. “shamar” which means to guard; to ensure that all aspects of the month are kept without fail) the month of the Abib, and keep the passover unto Yehovah thy Elohim: for in the month of the Abib Yehovah thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. (Deu 16:1 KJV)

 

Now, I don’t want to use our precious time together this evening to go over something as foundational as what Yah meant by His Torah to “Guard the Month of the Aviv.” I’ve posted a number of teachings over the years that address what it meant and what it means to us today to guard the month of the Aviv and I’m not led to reinvent that wheel this year. So, that being said, here are links to some of those teachings for your information and reference:

 

Guarding the Month of Aviv-Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Rosh Hashanah Happy Biblical New Year and Guarding the Month Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Observe and Guard the Month of Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Keep (Guard) the Month of the Aviv–Replay (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Explaining the Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

 

• What are the relevant elements of the Month of the Aviv that we are commanded to guard?

 

1. Rosh HaShanah — The Biblical New Year. According to the JPS Torah Commentary on the Cepher of Exodus, Rosh HaShanah — the day we left and were redeemed from the gods and the pharoah of Egypt, according to Nahum M. Sarna, “visualized the start of a wholly new order of life that is to be dominated by the consciousness of God’s active presence in history. The entire religious calendar of Israel is henceforth to reflect this reality by numbering the months of the year from the month of the Exodus” (Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 54).

 

1. The weekly Sabbaths. Yah commanded us to “zakar HaShabbat yom” or remember the Sabbath Day (Exo 20:8). We zakar/remember the Sabbath Day each week by keeping it holy/set apart. And the reality of this command is this: If we fail in our keeping the weekly Shabbat holy, it’s pretty much a given that we won’t keep the Month of the Aviv nor the Spring Feasts that are embedded in the Month of the Aviv. So, we start by keeping the weekly Sabbath holy.

 

1. Cleansing our homes of all leaven in anticipation of our keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yehovah, through Moshe, commanded us: “You shall not eat ⌊with it⌋ (i.e. the Pesach on Passover Day) anything leavened; seven days you shall eat ⌊with it⌋ unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with you in any of your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 16:3–4). The prophetic shadow picture that is embedded in this instruction is powerfully undeniable. Yet, few of us keep this command to eliminate all leaven from our homes and our diet for the duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is something that we must do out of obedience.

 

1. Passover Day (aka Pesach) to be kept at twilight on the 14th day of the month of the Aviv. Yah, through Moshe commanded us: “5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:5). I’ve posted a number of teachings on Pesach/Passover that I invite you to listen to or read as you are so led. We’ll also discuss the significance of Passover from Yeshua’s perspective in the coming days.

 

1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread to be kept from the 15th to the 21st of the month of the Aviv. Of this seven-day feast, Yah commanded us: “6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:6). Thus, we are commanded to eat unleavened bread during this seven-day feast as well as not eat any foods containing leaven in it. Like Passover/Pesach that immediately precedes this feast, the shadow picture embedded in this Moedim of Yehovah is undeniable and we’ll discuss it in coming days.

 

1. The Day of Firstfruits (aka the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering) is to be observed during the week of Unleavened Bread. Yah commanded us: “10 “…when you come to the land that I am about to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf ⌊before⌋ Yahweh for your acceptance; the priest shall wave it ⌊on the day after⌋ the Sabbath” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:10–11). This set apart day is rarely kept nor understood by folks in our faith community for various and sundry reasons. But the long and short of the issue is that it serves as a memorial – a reminder of our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach, the Firstfruits of a new creation unto Yehovah. We keep this day by rendering unto those ministries that feed us, offerings that are representative of the first and best of our physical and spiritual increase for the year.

 

1. The Prophetic Shadows of the Spring Feasts: The Spring Feasts of the LORD all foreshadow the Passion of our older Brother, Savior, Master, and King, Yeshua Messiah.

 

What’s Ahead for us here at TMTO in The Month of the Aviv 2024 — Setting the Tone?, which, Abba willing, shall guide our thoughts, hearts, and minds in coming posts.

 

I’m led this year to do something I’ve not done in previous posts for the Month of the Aviv. I would like to walk us through the Prophetic Shadows of Yeshua’s Passion, which is what the Holy Week of Passover/Pesach points us to. For us, who are redeemed of Yehovah, our focus is more on Yeshua and what He did and is currently doing for us, than what transpired in the Exodus. This, I pray, will be a memorable journey that I pray you will joyously join with me on.

 

I would humbly ask, if you’ve not already done so, consider reading or listening to my previous teachings on Guarding the Month of the Aviv and on Keeping/Observing Passover. This will provide those of you who are new to this walk with a detailed primer on what Pesach/Passover was about and how it was practiced back in the day. With that background in place, you will be raring to go with Yeshua’s Pesach presence.

 

• Why do we Guard the Month of the Aviv? We guard it:

 

1. Because Yah commanded us to do it.
2. When we guard the of the Month of the Aviv, we will be blessed. Yah promises to meet us on His set apart days. And in our meeting Him on those set-apart days, which comes about only when we Guard the Month of the Aviv, we stand to be abundantly blessed. Those that know better are expected to do better.
3. Like you, I want to make it into the Kingdom. Those who obey Yah stand a better than average chance of making it into the Kingdom. What is our whole duty unto Yehovah but to fear Him and keep His commandments (Ecc 12:13).
4. In our Guarding the Month of the Aviv, we share in the knowledge of our Master’s ministry and sacrifice. This prepares us for eventually sharing in his sacrifice and in His glory: A Kingdom necessity for all those of us who love Him and earnestly seek His appearing (Tit 2:13; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Pet 1:7).

 

And with that, beloved, let us reverence this precious month that the Creator of the Universe refers to as the Month of the Aviv, for it contains and embodies the fulness of our redemption and forms the foundation of our Faith. As Moshe instructed, let us then guard this month with everything that is in us. Blessed be the Matchless Name of our Heavenly Father Yehovah and our Older Brother/Master/Savior/King, Yahoshua Messiah.

 

Until next time. Take care.

 

Rod (TMTO)