With spring nearing again and the previous post in mind, it is a good reminder to review God's command in Exodus 12:2.
"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2
When you speak to others you will find that most people are surprised to hear that God’s New Year is in the spring. Today this is not observed by the Gregorian calendar nor by the Jewish calendar. God commanded us to start our year in the spring, not in September (Jewish calendar) and not in January (Gregorian calendar). Can we just ignore this command? What is the definition of breaking a command of God?
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" 1John 3:4
The very definition of sin is to break His law. What is a law of God? It is simply an instruction that He gives us. God gave us a great body of laws which tells us what pleases God and what doesn’t please Him. The passage of time does not change how God feels about these things. They are the rules of right and wrong. These rules are often called the Law of God or Torah. This calendar commandment is one of those laws.
All the apostles followed this body of laws which teaches us about true morality, morality that is flawless and doesn’t change, unlike a crowd morality which is swept back and forth by current popular opinion.
The body of Christ will hold to God’s Will like an anchor and will not be swayed by the sinful cultures we are surrounded by. We know that the Gregorian calendar is a pagan calendar and their new year coincides with pagan sun-god worship. We know that the Jewish calendar now celebrates the new year in September as they changed the commanded Yom Teruah into Rosh Hashana, that by the will of the people not by the Will of God.
Look at the names of the months on the pagan Gregorian calendar. Among their false god names they also reveal something! At one time they also followed a spring new year and simply numbered their months.
You can download the Roman Months chart below (expand the photo all the way for a png version or get the pdf version available on the downloads page).
You can see that December wasn’t the 12th month on their calendar but only the 10th. Originally after the 10th month they just had an unnamed period which was ignored, and the beginning of their calendar began again in March. Later, they added 2 months to fill that unnamed period although it wasn’t quite as we see it today. January was the 1st month but February became the 12th month. Their calendar looked like this:
Jan, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Feb
But later Feb was moved between January and March.
The original Roman calendar is thought to be taken from the Greek lunar calendar which was derived from the Babylonian calendar. The Babylonian calendar had 12 months which began in the spring with the month Nisanu. It used the moon cycle for months, and added a 13th month on designated years so that it would remain coinciding with the seasons.
The Babylonian month names were Nisanu, Ayaru, Simanu, Duʾuzu, Abu, Ululu, Tashritu, Arakhsamna, Kislimu, Tebetu, Shabatu, Adaru, with the occasional 13th month called Adaru II or Ululu II (these Babylonian names are listed next to the Jewish months in the photo below). The month started when the first sliver of the new moon could be seen. The days also began in the evening at sunset in the same way the Jews observed previous to and after the exile.
After the capture and exile of the Jews to Babylon in 586 BCE, the Jews began calling the months by their Babylonian names which they still use to this day. (for simplicity, below I grouped word meanings under ‘Babylonian’, which includes Babylonian, Sumerian, and Assyrian, because the Jews picked up these words while in Babylon).
You can download the chart photo below (pdf version is available on the downloads page).
The 8th Babylonian month may show the origin of using just numbers for months, but may also be named for Esmun, a Phoenician god who was strongly associated with the number 8. For Gentiles turning back to God, it is difficult to reprogram our brain to God's calendar. It is helpful to have a wheel chart showing how the Jewish months correspond to the Roman months.
This photo chart is downloadable here as a png if you expand it all the way, or go to the downloads page.
The Babylonians had two New Year’s days, one in spring and then one in autumn for the second half of the year which was the beginning of the civil year. The Jews adopted this 7th month New Year and civil year practice, converting the commanded biblical Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets/Noise) to Rosh Hashanah (Head of the Year).
This joining between Israel and Paganism shows that the nation of Israel never truly came out of Babylon, they incorporated the pagan practices into their lives. As a result, God’s Laws were put aside via compromise so that they could keep these pagan ways. Christ rebuked them sharply for this sin.
“He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions … … Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Mark 7:6-13
Paul emphasized that God’s people are to separate themselves from pagan ways.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common: Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate’, says YHWH. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’. And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says YHWH Almighty.” 2Corinthians 6:14-18
We are to be different just as Christ was different, He was constantly at odds with the world because He stood by the Truth. So for the faithful obedient, you will know it in your hearts that all God’s commands are true and still to be followed. Just as the Old Testament law of ‘do not murder’ is still in effect, so too are the rest including the calendar. Although Christ was born a Jew, He never followed any traditions that conflicted with God’s Laws, nor should we!
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