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The 7th Chodesh of 2023 - Why this year WILL be different.
Updated: Sep 16, 2023
Genesis 1:16-19
16 Then God made the two great lights—the greater light for dominion over the day, and the lesser light as well as the stars for dominion over the night. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine on the land 18 and to have dominion over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So there was evening and there was morning—a fourth day.
September 16th, 2023 will be the 1st day of the 7th chodesh and it will also be the 1st day of the 7th month. You might ask, what’s the difference, are they not the same thing? The answer is emphatically NO!
Yom 4 is still in the developmental stage with the accumulation of details found in the 4th millennium, the 4th day, the 4th letter in the Hebrew alef-bet, and the 4th word in scripture. Each of these components are related to each other in some way. It has been an exciting journey to discover just what they are. It is in this millennium that we will find some very interesting answers. Because of His timing The Disciples Table channel can't wait for the completion of the video on this topic, so we are spreading the word here on the website.
What is a Metaphor?
Searching for the metaphors in Genesis 1:16 I knew that the stars represented the prophets, and Solomon’s temple represented the sun. But it was the moon that was my sticking point. Four weeks ago, I received the answer, finally after literally two years of not knowing how to answer the riddle.
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So there was evening and there was morning - day one.
The Greater Light: The Sun = The First Temple
In the video
we see that the temple was completed in the 3rd millennium, yet the doors were not yet placed. The House of Elohim will not be dedicated until the 4th millennium. It would have been sometime between the completion and the dedication of the temple that the doors were installed. Scripture does not tell us the day or the hour, but we do know the year. Does this evoke for you as it does me that straight and narrow path, not to the right or to the left, that narrow gate?
Solomon’s Temple was to be a light to all the nations, the “greater light” (1 Kings 8:41- 43). If we lay out a timeline of 6000 years Solomon’s Temple can be found at the center of the timeline. Now consider Elohim’s timepiece. In this year further revelation came to show that it is when the sun, traveling along the ecliptic path, crosses the prime meridian to the nearest 0h00m00s that the Rosh chodesh begins. The sun and Solomon’s temple are in the center of their respective timelines. The 1st Temple was at “mid-day”. However, we cannot forget that the light of the morning comes before midday. “The morning” was in the days of Moshe. Yes, Moshe was using the sun as the timepiece to lead the mixed multitude out of the land of Egypt 480 years earlier. (1 Kings 6:1). Just as the sun does not change, YHVH does not change. (Malachi 3:6). They did not add or take away days from the chodeshim. They followed the solar year completely. In the days of Noach, Elohim did not use the term "chodesh" when He spoke to Noach. Consider this period evening. Noach was "in the dark" so to speak. For it is in the writings contributed to Moshe that give us these details. To Moshe, did Elohim make these days known. The understanding of using the sun would be of no value to Noach as he and his family were "shut in". Elohim's instructions to him were merely reckoning days and nights. But this does not mean that the chodeshim were not yet established. Again, "I YHVH change not."
Exodus 12:1-2 12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This chodesh shall be your beginning of chodeshim; it shall be the first chodesh of the year to you.
The Lesser Light: The Moon = The Second Temple
What is the metaphor for the moon? The answer to the riddle is the 2nd temple. The 2nd temple period spanned from the days of their return from Babylon until 70AD. Unlike the 1st Temple period, during this period of time it became accepted to regard the beginning of the "day" in the evening. Furthermore, the Hebrew word “chodesh” came to mean “new moon” out of the traditional practice during their captivity and possibly even before that when we read the words from Isaiah. The tradition was to look up to see the “new moon”, while in fact we cannot see the moon when it is a new moon, rather what they observed was the waxing crescent. Traditionally, the thinnest sliver of the Waxing Crescent Moon is considered the New Moon. Today this method of time keeping is still in practice.
This point cannot be understated. It is vital to understand that this Hebrew word, “chodesh”, meant something entirely different in the days of Moshe, Judges, King David, and King Solomon. Yet, when reading the scriptures, we must also accept that after the exile the word “chodesh” meant following the waxing crescent and calling it a “new moon”. But using this method requires making changes by adding days. The moon changes. It has 8 distinctly different phases. It does not produce its own light. But YHVH does not change.
Despite His instruction not to add or take away from His Word, changes to the text were made in the 4th millennium as well, when additional consonants were added 900-501 BCE. The Masoretes did add vowel pointings to His Word during the years of 601-1000AD, but this was during the 5th millennium.
We are often reminded to understand scripture in context. Look again at Isaiah 1:14. The first 39 chapters are attributed to Isaiah in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah 767BCE - 687BCE (80 years) This last year is the year King Hezeki'ah died, 100 years later Jerusalem is destroyed.
Your New Moons and your Festivals My soul hates! They are a burden to Me. I am weary to bear them.
The Sun Knows Its Going Down
Psalm 104:19 He made the moon for appointed times, the sun knows its going down.
But on rare occasions these two great lights fall on the same day, which because of its uniqueness, set-apart condition, we should take notice. Here we see these two great lights side by side, interconnected, yoked together for one purpose - in this case, to announce the 1st day of the Year which establishes the timing of all the Feasts. This 1st day is often referred to as Yom (Day) of Trumpets although it actually translates more like the ‘Day of Blowing' or the ‘Day of Shouting.’ The Hebrew word ‘Teruah’ (תְּרוּעָה) refers to an acclamation of joy, especially of trumpets, and also as a cry of battle, or an alarm.
What Makes This Year So Different?
This year all those using the waxing crescent, “new moon”/2nd temple period of reckoning will observe the 1st "day" of the month as sighted on September 16th, in "the evening". Several reports confirmed the sighting beginning at 7:01PM (French Hill, Jerusalem Family Ben-Gad), 7:03PM (Zevulun Valley Yoel HaLevi & Family), and 7:14PM (Tiberias (Arbel) at 7:14pm by Kendra Daniels, Boyd Daniels, and Avivah Benyamin) in Israel. There are others that did not wait for the sighting in Israel and so began their 1st day in "the evening" on September 15th, 2023.
Those using the sun/1st temple period reckoning will be observing the first day of the chodesh "in the day" of September 16th.
Compare with Stellarium:
This means that all the Fall Feast days will fall on the same days using both disciplines. This is rare indeed. In this alone we see His kindness, not willing that any should perish. Beginning with "the first day". All will be blowing their shofars announcing the beginning of the “new” civil year. Let us rejoice! Yet, let us continue to be sober minded for we are also entering together into the next portion of prophecy.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Therefore, this is a noteworthy occasion. May the sound of your shofars reach the ears of many. May their sound be an alarm to those that still need to be awakened. It is getting late. Rise up. Are you properly prepared? Are your oil lamps full, YOU, who desire to follow your Master faithfully into the darkness He called Night?
Be strong, take courage,
And so, it begins.
Additional graphic of the heavens just before the sun meets the prime meridian on September 16, 2023:
“There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars. And upon the earth nations will be confused by the roaring of the sea and its waves.”