In the book of Genesis chapter 1, God, as the Creator in verse 5 “called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” Because of the wording of this verse, Jewish reckoning of a day goes from sundown to sundown. Whereas here in America, it is from midnight to midnight.
Let’s say today is Thursday. When the sun sets tonight, as the Israelites reckon time, even though it is nighttime, it will actually be Friday. It will be Friday until the next sunset, when it becomes Saturday for the nation of Israel.
The Week consists of seven days: Sunday through Saturday. In the Bible, the days of the week are designated only by numbers. Back to Creation, the first day is considered Sunday, the second day Monday, and so on until Saturday, the seventh day of Creation. Only Saturday has a name, which is Shabbat. This is Israel’s holiest day of the week; their day of rest. According to the Talmud, the observance of Shabbat is a testimony to believe in God, believe in the Creation, and believe in the Divine Providence.
The seventh day is the day that God told them to keep holy. Genesis 2: 1-3
1 So the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 On the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because on it He rested from all His work which He created and made.
The start of a new month begins when a new moon is seen in Israel. This is called Rosh Chodesh; the head of months. It is important of this sighting because then the new moon sets the Feasts days for that month. The middle of the month is where the full moon occurs. The end of the month is the gradual disappearance of the moon before the new moon is sighted. Therefore, the Israelites view time as circular, not linear.
Each Hebrew month consists of 29-30 days. There are a total of twelve months. The reckoning of the lunar year is contains only 354 days. Thus, the lunar calendar does not coincide with a solar calendar, which has 365 days. Therefore, every two or three years, a thirteenth month is added to the year. This month is called Adar II or Veadar.
The beginning of the Hebrew religious calendar year is on Nisan 1, which corresponds to March or April. This religious calendar is the one described in the Bible. The beginning of the Hebrew civil year is Tishri 1, which corresponds to September or October. The civil calendar is utilized for setting up kings, reckoning childbirth, and establishing contracts.
But the authentic Jewish calendar is a luni-solar calendar that actually combines the elements of both solar and lunar calendars to ensure that the Feasts of the Lord occur in the same seasons that God appointed. The calendar makers utilize agricultural, economic, and religious considerations as well as astronomical calculations to set the next year’s calendar.
To count the years from Creation according to the Jewish people, one would take the calendar we use today (the Gregorian) and add 3760 to it. Thus take 2026 + 3760 = 5786. This is correct until Tishri 1 at the Feast of Trumpets. This is the Jewish New Year for their civil year. Then the correct year would be 5787. Once January 1 arrives, then we would take 2027 + 3760 = 5787. The Jewish and the Gregorian calendars is out of whack from September until January.
Why did God change the calendar? The Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years. The Egyptian worshipped Ra, the sun god. God wanted Israel to distance themselves from the Egyptian way of life. The moon renews itself each month. And the sun never changes at all; it rises and sets each day. The moon gives hope to the observers. The sun doesn’t give hope but rather depression because it doesn’t change. In the wilderness, Israel needs this reminder that things will change.
God created time in Genesis.
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons, and days, and years.
The following is the Hebrew definitions of the English words for signs, seasons, days, and years.
Sign (Hebrew owth, 226) sign, signal, mark, miracle; utilized most often to describe amazing events.
Seasons (Hebrew moed, 4150) means an appointed time or place. It can signify an appointed meeting time; a specific appointed or fixed time, usually for a Feast. It can also signify an appointed meeting place. This place is usually the place where God’s people were to focus on God and their relationship with Him; a tent of meeting or Moses’ Tabernacle.
Day (Hebrew yom, 3117) meaning day, time, year; most basic conception of time in the Old Testament.
Year (Hebrew sanah, 8141) meaning a year. It means simply a division of time, a year.
In Deuteronomy 16:10, the word Feast in Hebrew is hag (2282); a feast or festival. These Feasts are to be joyful and celebratory. These are called holy days. This is where we get the English word holidays.
Convocations (Hebrew miqra) 4744) meaning convocation, reading, a public meeting, and an assembly for religious functions.
The Hebrew moed is the topic of our discussion in this book. Moedim (plural of moed) are special days of the year that are to be dedicated to God, when we should be devoted to the Word of God and our pursuit of Him. We should enjoy the fellowship with our Creator and God through music, fellowship with others, and food. The whole purpose of the Feasts is to become closer to our God and celebrate with Him.
The Feasts provide an in-depth look into the Lord Jesus Christ’s life and ministry. The Feasts point to all that Jesus did on earth; from being born; to redeeming us from sin; to what He will do in the future.
God ordained Seven Feasts or appointed times with His people. These Feasts are called the Feasts of the Lord. These Feasts are the Feast of Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits which are in the springtime, the Feast of Weeks in the summertime, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Feast of Tabernacles which are in the Fall.