The Calendar’s Relationship To Set-Apart Time

When most of us experience a spiritual awakening and begin to follow Torah, the calendar is rarely at the top of our list of things to understand. The ‘first things’ usually involve obeying YHWH’s commandments: to keep the Sabbath, follow His dietary laws, honor His appointed times and obey Torah.  Phase two of the awakening stage may likely include reading Apocryphal and historical writings such as Enoch, Jubilees and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  “And they will forget all My law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to new months, and sabbaths, and festivals and jubilees, and ordinances.” Jubilees 1:13

As we go deeper in the Word and begin to incorporate it into our lives, there inevitably will come a point when we all ask questions like “When does a day begin?” “What calendar should I use?” “Is the Sabbath day Saturday or Sunday?” “Am I on the same page as YHWH in terms of observing his appointed times?”

That ‘page’ is YHWH’s calendar,  and it goes beyond just being a register of the year. It is so much more than that. It  is the foundation of our Covenant with the Most High, and that makes it a critical component of our priesthood. Torah followers are destined to become a kingdom of priests must observe an accurate calendar. This is essential to fulfilling our covenant responsibilities. But there are so many versions of the creation calendar being published these days, it is hard to know which one is sanctioned by the Most High. Is it the lunar, solar or lunar-solar version?

Other questions pop up too. “How do we know when a day begins?” “Is a year 365 or 364 days?”  “Do Christian ‘holidays’ such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter meet the criteria for YHWH’s appointed times?” “Is the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday?” How we answer these questions will have a profound impact on the authenticity of our worship and obedience to Yah’s commandments.

Since the calendar anchors us to ‘set-apart’ time, if it is in error, we are destined to go astray in our walk and end up following false gods and their twisted pagan celebrations. It is something Yahuah warned His people about in Jubilees 6: 32-35.

Antiochus Epiphanes IV

In the Book of Daniel, it was prophesied that the calendar would be weaponized against us. In Chapter 7: 24, 25 we’re told that a ruler would rise who would blaspheme the Most High and change the calendar.

And the ten horns are ten sovereigns from this reign. They shall rise, and another shall rise after them, and it is different from the first ones, and it humbles three sovereigns, and it speaks words against the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time.

It was Antiochus Epiphanes IV who dislodged Biblical Israel from set-apart time. During his reign he imposed a lunar calendar on the nation of Israel for the sake of tax collection. The Aaronic High Priesthood was dethroned and a Hellenized priesthood, which accepted the new lunar calendar,  took its place (175-159 B.C.E).

In the midst of this transition the Hasmoneans stared a war which lasted from 167-164 B.C.E. and resulted in a new Maccabean/Hasmonean priestly dynasty being formed. This new priesthood had nothing in common with the Biblical priesthood that began with Aaron. This formed the backdrop from which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written.

Dr. Rachel Elior,¹ Professor of Jewish Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem:

In 175 B.C.E. King Antiochus Epiphanes IV (the Seleucid King) had conquered the land of Israel and had imposed his idea of what was called ‘bureaucratic order.’ He wanted to nominate his people (for positions in) the Temple. Because the Temple was a place where sacrifices were offered for the sake of the king. Not the Jewish king; for the sake of the ruler, according to the perceptions of Antiochus. He wanted to collect taxes in relation to ceremonial things in the Temple. He wanted to organize the Kingdom in accordance to one calendar – a lunar calendar of the Greek empire.

Prior to Antiochus Epiphanes IV, Hebrew Israelites followed a pre-calculated solar calendar. It guided their spiritual life and informed their identity as a set-apart people. To them it was a non-negotiable issue. Absolutely non-negotiable. So the Zadokite priests and others left Jerusalem and went into the wilderness of Qumran. This marked a time of historical and spiritual change for the nation.

As was mentioned earlier, it was prophesied that once Israel left behind the 364 day solar calendar, they would become spiritually dislodged from set-apart time. The result has been spiritual amnesia. We forgot how months, seasons and sabbaths are supposed to be divided and many are now walking after the ‘error of the nations.’

YHWH’s Appointed Times Versus Christian Holidays

Those of us who have been indoctrinated into Christianity will discover that so called ‘holidays’ such as Christmas and Easter are nothing more than pagan idolatry. These holidays have nothing to do with YHWH’s Mo’edim. Take Christmas as an example. This so-called celebration of the birth of our Messiah is a pulpit-sanctioned lie of the highest order. If you have an open mind and are committed to doing your own research you will find that December 25th is rooted in paganism. According to Ancient Origins:

Since it appears unlikely that Jesus was born on 25th December, it raises the logical question of why Christmas is celebrated on this date. The answer points back to the Romans’ pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Two celebrations in particular took place around December 25 – the Saturnalia, and the birthday of the Sun God, Mithra (Catholic Encyclopedia). The Saturnalia festival began on 17th December and later expanded with festivities through to the 25th December. It paid tribute to Saturn, the agricultural God of Sowing and Husbandry, and was associated with the renewal of light and the coming of the new year. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice in the Temple of Saturn, a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere.

Christmas circa 1867

This winter solstice Christmas holiday also involved going into the forest and either chopping down a tree and carving it into the shape of a female deity, or bringing the tree home to decorate it with silver and gold ornaments. Celebrants would make sure the tree didn’t tip over by securing it with a stand. Sound familiar?

Hebrew Israel was warned about participating in this abominable practice by the prophet Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah):

Thus said יהוה, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are awed by them. For the laws of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They beautify it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. Yirmeyahu 10:2-4

Then there’s Easter. Is is really about the Resurrection of our Messiah or does Easter originate from the Sumerian tale of Tammuz and his wife Ishtar? The legend dates as far back as 2100 B.C.E. and involves the ritual of ‘weeping for Tammuz.’

And He said to me, “You are to see still greater abominations which they are doing.” And He brought me to the door of the north gate of the House of יהוה, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 8:13,14

David H. Roper refers to Tammuz as the idol that provokes jealousy:

Tammuz was a widely worshiped false god. His history goes way back into Babylonian and Assyrian and Samarian and other early Near Eastern religions. He was the son in one of the well-known mother-son cults which spread throughout the ancient Near East. Different names were given to the individuals involved, but the elements are always the same. In Egypt it was Osiris and Isis. In Greek and Roman mythology they were called Adonis and Aphrodite, or Venus. And in Babylon they were called Ishtar and Tammuz. Ishtar was considered to be the queen mother of heaven, the “mother of all living”, as she is called at times. Tammuz was her son. Often they are pictured with the son seated on the mother’s lap.

Further research shows that initially, Easter was a way to worship the Spring goddess called Eostre. She’s also known as Ostara, Austra and Eastre. Worship was tied to the Spring Equinox that occurred around March 21st on the Gregorian calendar. It was a day of equal light and equal darkness and heralded the arrival of the fertility season. That’s why Eostre was often pictured with the hare or rabbit, a symbol of fertility.

We have the Roman Catholic Church to thank for adopting Asherah worship and re-branding it as Easter in 155 of the Common Era. The Catholic Encyclopedia admits that Easter was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn Ostara or Eostre.

If you are a Torah follower, you celebrate Passover/Pesach in Month One (Abib) on the 14th day each year on a 364 day solar calendar in which Passover and other appointed times are always on the same day each year. They are fixed dates.

The Christian Easter ‘holiday’ is not held on a fixed day each year. Wu Mongren explains why Easter moves around on the Gregorian calendar:

Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it would be celebrated on different dates each year. This was due to the fact that the correct prediction of this date depended (and still depends) on certain incredibly technical astronomical constants, including the length of a lunar month, i.e. 29.53059 days, and the length of a solar year, i.e. 365.2422 days.

Traditionally, Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring. By the 12 th century, however, the normal ways used to predict the date of Easter had gone wrong, and the Catholic Church had to find other means of doing so. It may be added here that whilst the Gregorian calendrical reform of 1582 was instituted to address the question of the date of Easter, this problem still persisted.

And the final insult to the Most High? That ‘moveable feast’ menu will usually include ham, a meat that we are told not to eat because it is unclean.

But What About Thanksgiving?

It has been said that history and origin determine whether something is considered pagan. If we do an honest study of the so-called ‘Thanksgiving holiday’ you will find it is rooted in superstition and false worship, and represents a counterfeit harvest. In other words, Thanksgiving is the counterfeit of YHWH’s Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) that is held in the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar.

The Christian Recorder

The idea of an annual Thanksgiving feast was floated during the 1800s by Sarah Hale. She wanted a national uniquely American holiday that combined a religious thanksgiving with Yah’s feast of Tabernacles. The January 17, 1889 edition of  The Christian Recorder described Thanksgiving as:

An annual religious festival observed in the United States, particular in New England, suggested by the Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles, or feasts of ingathering at the end of the year.

In 1870, Bishop Campbell wrote in the same publication:

These were The Passover; The Feast of Pentecost; and, The Feast of Tabernacles. Then He commanded them to keep annually a Holy Day, called The Day of Atonement. All these days and feasts which we have named, were ordained and kept by the expressed command of God, from which we draw our warrant, to have and to hold days of thanksgiving.

The Matter of The Calendar

Until 164 B.C.E. there existed Biblical Israel. The nation observed a 364 day solar calendar that had been part of the nation’s spiritual DNA for millennia. But the nation was knocked off its calendrical course about 200 years prior to Messiah’s first advent. The Antiochus Epiphanes IV mandated switch from a solar to a lunar calendar, coupled with the corruption of the priesthood, ripped Hebrew Israel from its spiritual anchor. As a result, adherents to the Enochian, pre-calculated solar calendar believed that this was such a non-negotiable issue that they took the Temple scrolls and fled into the wilderness of Qumran.

This brings us to Enoch and the Zadokite calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Scrolls confirm the centrality of the solar calendar to ancient Hebrew life. This 364 day calendar was composed by Enoch, who had been taught by Angels how to calculate the days and appointed times. This information can be found in the Enoch I scroll. The Enoch calendar days are divisible by 7 and is a Priestly calendar; divided according to the 7-fold division of time. All work is prohibited every 7 days and on the following 7 appointed times:

• Pesach/Passover
• Unleavened Bread
• First Fruits
• Shavuot
• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Sukkot/Tabernacles

Other interesting aspects:

• Every 7th year is a shmita (agricultural cycle) and 7x7s of years (49) +1 (50) make up a Jubilee.
• 364 equals the number of days Noah stayed in the Ark.
• King David composed 364 daily Psalms and 52 Sacred Psalms (one for each of the 52 Sabbaths/year).

Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of the Enoch 364 day solar calendar is the fact that while lunar calendars are based on man’s observations, the solar calendar is pre-calculated. This means that all the dates for appointed times (mo’edim) are static and immovable. They occur on the same date each and every year!

Contrast this to the Jewish lunar and Rabbinic lunar-solar calendars which are dependent on cycles of the moon and man’s observations. The months on these calendar also carry Babylonian names like Nisan, Tammuz and Elul.

Video Source: Rob Skiba

Finally, in Daniel’s prophesies, we see that the key that unlocks the timing of the end of the age is tied to ‘appointed times’ and not the standard years, months or weeks of the Gregorian calendar. That’s because YHWH’s calendar is primarily concerned with set-apart time. So, if you have the wrong calendar, your dates will be off and you will be like the 5 foolish virgins who ran out of oil.

And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, and he held up his right hand and his left hand to the heavens, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it would be for an appointed time, appointed times, and half (a time). And when they have ended scattering the power of the set-apart people, then all these shall be completed. Daniel 12:7

Instead of reading this as 3.5 ‘normal’ years. You would read this as 3.5 years of appointed times, which start each year in the First Month² of the solar calendar. This date will always fall on the 4th day of the week and is known as the Head of The Year.

Now can you see why the calendar you observe is so important? If you would like more research on the 364 day solar calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls, visit the Prophecy Vine Research page. You can also find useful research materials on Gina Sparks and Sara Davis’ website Restored 7s Calendar.

¹ Dr. Rachel Elior’s lecture at the University of Chicago. “Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and why were they forgotten?”

² This 364 day solar calendar is based on research from information contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Zadok/Enoch Calendar), The Book of Jubilees and Enoch I.

Photo/Image Credits:

Antiochus Epiphanes IV, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Bust of Antiochus IV at the Altes Museum in Berlin.

Christmas 1867 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons,  U.S. Public Domain.

“Ostara” (1901) by Johannes Gehrts. The goddess Ēostre/*Ostara flies through the heavens surrounded by Roman-inspired putti, beams of light, and animals. Germanic peoples look up at the goddess from the realm below.

The Christian Recorder newspaper image, https://www.accessible-archives.com

Visual link: embed.rocks