This is a follow up to my previous post on what I observed on March 20, 2014.
Today (March 21, 2014), we had another beautiful sunny day, so I was able to start marking the shadows in the morning (using a blue marker).
Right away I could see the tips of the shadows were off from yesterday’s line.
So I continued to mark it without connecting the dots until mid-day.
We’ve been tracking the path of the sun for the past three weeks in Central Virginia. I shared my notes on what we used for a sundial a few days ago and the path of the sun for various days leading up to the “equinox”.
For the past few days we have not had any clear sun to go by, but today (3/20/14) it was clear from the moment the sun rose above the horizon. So I began making my marks (black dots in the picture below).
I expected the line to be straight until mid-day, given what I’ve seen in the past. Then, typically around what I believe to be solar noon the line bends. So, I waited until late in the morning to connect the dots.
Genesis 1:14-15 tells us that Elohim/God put luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, to give light upon the earth and to serve for signs to mark, for seasons, for days and years.
For the past 2-3 weeks, we’ve been tracking the path of the sun to see what we can learn as it relates to being “for signs to mark, for seasons, for days and years”.
We made a raised, level rectangular metal table with the short ends facing north and south. We attached a screw (about 1-1/4″) on its head near the southern end of the table. I’ve been marking the tip of the shadow throughout various clear sunny days, and connecting the dots for days with enough data to show a path from mid-morning to late afternoon. (We have trees along the eastern and western horizons here, so it’s hard to map the early morning and late evening “hours”.) Continue reading
I’m often amazed at how many doctrines of men are a result of verses in Scripture ripped from their immediate contexts. Sadly, so many are unaware that much of what they believe to be true is not supported in Scripture when rightly divided. This is why we need to test everything, studying to show ourselves approved.
There’s a familiar instruction in the Hebraic community to “kindle no fire” on the Sabbath day. The forbiddance of lighting candles and oil lamps, building campfires and heating homes, and cooking or heating food on the Sabbath stem from this particular instruction. However, this instruction is only found one time — in the book of Exodus.
Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do. Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Exo 35:1-3 ESV)
Is this verse telling us we are not allowed to light a dark place, heat a home, or cook a meal on the Sabbath day or is there something else going on here? Continue reading
We see in the Tanakh (Old Testament) where it is promised that YHVH will raise up a seed after David, which shall be of his bowels, who will build a house for Him. He will be a son to YHVH and His throne will be established for ever.
And it came to pass in that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and say to David my servant, Thus said the Lord, Thou shalt not build me a house for me to dwell in it. For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up Israel until this day, but I have been in a tabernacle and a tent, in all places through which I have gone with all Israel: did I ever speak to any one tribe of Israel whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why is it that ye have not built me a house of cedar? And now thus shalt thou say to my servant David, Thus saith the Lord Almighty, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the flocks, to be a ruler over my people Israel: and I was with thee in all places whither thou wentest, and I destroyed all thine enemies from before thee, and I made for thee a name according to the name of the great ones that are upon the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant him, and he shall dwell by himself, and shall no longer be anxious; and the son of iniquity shall no longer afflict him, as at the beginning, and from the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel. Also I have humbled all thine enemies, and I will increase thee, and the Lord will build thee a house. And it shall come to pass when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house, and I will set up his throne for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and my mercy will I not withdraw from him, as I withdrew it from them that were before thee. And I will establish him in my house and in his kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be set up for ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so spoke Nathan to David. Continue reading
It seems that the understanding of the Messiah being both the Son of David and the Son of God is pictured in the Tanakh (Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7:8-16), but the Jews in Yeshua’s day did not understand how Yeshua could be both.
Jesus (Yeshua) answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus (Yeshua) answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus (Yeshua) answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came–and Scripture cannot be broken– do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God‘? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. (Joh 10:25-39 ESV)
They considered Yeshua, who they knew to be a man, was making himself God, yet Yeshua never said such a thing. He only claimed to come from the Father and to be “the Son of God”. I believe Yeshua was speaking of a spiritual Father-Son relationship, but they weren’t getting it. Continue reading
Scripture clearly tells us there are 12 months (H2320 “chodesh”) in a Biblical year and infers there are 30 days per Biblical month/chodesh. So does this mean there are 360 days in a Biblical year?
For years I thought that’s what Scripture was telling us. I knew that currently our years consist of 365.24 days, so I figured something must have gone out of whack since the time of Noah, and that it would likely be restored in the time of the end. But then, I came across something in the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch) was written and read prior to Yeshua’s (Jesus’) birth over 2,000 years ago. In fact this text was cited and quoted in the book/letter of Jude and many of the thoughts and ideas expressed in the New Testament seem to come from this book. This suggests to me (and others) that it was commonly read at the time of Yeshua.
It turns out that the Book of Enoch has been preserved through the centuries as a sacred Ethiopian text and is considered by many to be inspired. I was introduced to this book a few years ago, but I did not venture into it much right away. It wasn’t until the fall of 2012 while I was studying the Biblical calendar when I started looking deeper into it. Continue reading
The Hebrew word most often translated as “month” in the Tanakh (Old Testament) is “chodesh” (H2320), and it is always used when a date is given. Scripture clearly states there are 12 chodesh in a year, but only infers there are 30 days in each chodesh. We see this first in the Genesis account of the flood.
The Flood
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month (chodesh), on the seventeenth day of the month (chodesh), on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month (chodesh), on the seventeenth day of the month (chodesh), the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. (Gen 7:11-12, 17-24; 8:1-4 ESV)
If there are 150 days from the 17th day of the 2nd chodesh until the 17th day of the 7th chodesh, that is an average of 30 days per chodesh over five chodesh. The only other indication of how many days are in a month that I have found in Scripture are references to a future event. Continue reading
Did Yeshua ever indicate when the Sabbath day was? I used to think not, but then an online acquaintance brought to my attention the following gospel accounts, which I now realize clearly indicates a particular day of a month (“chodesh”) to be a Sabbath day.
(NOTE: This is not an argument for a Lunar Sabbath reckoning.)
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Mat 12:1-8 ESV) Continue reading
About a year ago I had an “Aha!” moment about the calendar put forth in Torah. At the time I was of the understanding that there were 12 “chodesh” in a year and 30 days in each “chodesh” based on what the Bible says.
I read in the Book of Enoch that there were precisely 364 days in a year. The extra days were quarterly divider days that come between the 3rd & 4th chodesh, the 6th & 7th chodesh, 9th and 10th chodesh, and the 12th and 1st chodesh of the next year. Enoch describes them as what we might commonly refer to as the solstices & equinoxes.
With a 364-day year, it is divisible by seven, thereby making a particular day of the year fall on the same day of the week (or 7-day pattern), from year to year. My question at that point was, “Which days of the year were Sabbath days?” Continue reading
