People often ask me what version of Scripture I use. Normally I quote from the New King James Version (NKJV), basically because it is widely trusted and fairly easy to read. However, I also correct the names and terms to the Hebraic forms. When I feel it is helpful to clarify something, or to give […]
The Jews have an ancient saying—that whoever’s calendar a man keeps, that is who he worships. If we will reflect on this saying for a little while, we should be able to see that it is true. In Scripture, a master tells his servant what to do. By the same, whoever a man willingly chooses […]
Before we launch into our study about the calendar the Torah tells us to keep, first we should take a look at history, and see how it was that the children of Israel drifted away from the Torah Calendar. Hopefully this will help us to understand how error can creep in, so that we can […]
The Fourth Commandment is the command to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was one of the Ten Commands that Yahweh inscribed in stone. Shemote (Exodus) 20:8-11 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it set apart. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath […]
While the Roman Gregorian calendar is based on the movements of the sun, the Torah calendar is based on the movements of the moon, and the agricultural cycles in the Land of Israel. We will discuss how the agricultural cycles in the Land of Israel relate to the Torah Calendar in upcoming chapters, but first […]
In the last chapter we saw that the new moon day (Rosh Chodesh) takes place when the first crescent sliver of the new moon is seen from the land of Israel. In this chapter we will see that the new year begins with one of the new moon days. This special new moon day is […]
The first of Israel’s seven annual festivals is a one-day festival, the Passover. It is followed immediately by the second of Israel’s festivals, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Since the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the very next day, these two festivals are often thought of as one long eight-day festival (and even Yahweh refers […]
If one counts the Passover and Unleavened Bread as one festival, then the second of Israel’s festivals is the Pentecost. The word Pentecost means ‘count fifty,’ but count fifty from what? What is the starting point to this ‘count to fifty’? The answer lies in the interplay between Leviticus 23 and Joshua 5. Leviticus 23:10-11 […]
Zechariah 8:18-19 speaks of four man-made traditional fast days which are not commanded in the Torah. Should we keep them? Zekaryah (Zechariah) 8:18-19 18 Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of […]
We saw earlier how the Head of the Year should be declared when the first crescent sliver of the new moon is physically sighted from the Land of Israel, after the barley in the Land of Israel has become Aviv. The declaration of the Head of the Year establishes the timing of all the Spring […]
The tenth day of the seventh month is called by several names, but it is usually called Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. However, the Torah actually calls it Yom HaKippurim (יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים), or ‘The Day of the Atonements (plural).’ The Day of the Atonements is the most set-apart day of our year. Yahweh […]
In the chapter on Hanukkah we discuss why Yeshua was probably born on the first day of the Fall Feast of Tabernacles, otherwise known as the Feast of Booths, or Sukkot. But why does Yahweh command us to hold the Feast of Sukkot? What is the significance? What are we to learn from it? In […]
Explains the 8th Day Assembly or Shemini Atzeret from the Bible.
Explains from the Bible the 7-year Shemittah land rest cycle, and the 50-year Yovel (Jubilee) cycle.
Explains from the Bible why we should not keep the man-made festival of Hanukkah.
Explains from the Bible why we should not keep the man-made feast of Purim.
Explains some of the deeper hidden meanings of the biblical feasts of Yahweh
Explains the possibility of a 70 week ministry for the Messiah
Explains why the Bible says we are not to celebrate birthdays.
Explains from the Bible why paying attention to anything (such as calendars, or rituals) qualifies as “service”.