Looking ahead at the coming Pesach and feast of Unleavened Bread 2023
Explaining the Calendar
This calendar shows the period from the last week of the 10th month to the last week of the 1st month.
Key:
Sabbaths are shown in brown.
Moon phases in yellow.
New moon days in green.
Conjunction and Equinox in red.
Special events in orange.
Workdays are blank.
Looking at this period shows the expectation of what we see and basing our expectations on.
Mat 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
The calendar, when we look ahead, is not cast in stone. We do not know for sure when NMD (New Moon Day) will be as it is in the Hand of Yahuah. We have signs that give us a pretty good idea of when it will be, but the ultimate is Yahuah confirming it to us with His sign/light in the sky, being the FVC (First Visible Crescent).
There are three types of days:
Six working days.
Shabbath days.
New Moon days.
Eze 46:1 THUS says ADONAI YAHUAH; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Shabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.
(This verse on its own should already show Saturday keepers and Sunday keepers that their calendar is biblically wrong, as they do not have a 3rd type of day, namely New Moon Day.)
The feasts of Yahuah are given to us in Leviticus 23.
This calendar, the calendar of Heavens, is based on the movements of the Moon, Sun, and Stars.
Gen 1:14 And ELOHIYM said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for appointed feasts, and for days, and years:
(Another red flag for Saturday keepers and Sunday keepers)
Work days are when you do all your work; worship days are the Shabbath and New Moon days. On those days, you do not work or do things you could do on your work days.
Amo 8:5 Saying, When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the Shabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the sheqel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
Isa 58:13 If you turn away your foot from the Shabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Shabbath a delight, the holy of YAHUAH, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
What comes to mind is how we tend not to work on Shabbath but still do our own pleasure… The same goes for NMD. Also a worship day.
Many argue that NMD is not like a Shabbath, where no work is allowed. Maybe so, but why do things that could easily wait for a workday? Let your conscious lead you. Read Amos 5: 8 again and feel the frustration in the voice of them that speak. They cannot wait for NMD and Shabbath to be over!
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from New Moon to his New Moon, and from Shabbath to his Shabbath, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says YAHUAH.
New Moon Day explained.
The new moon is born the moment the old moon dies and light starts growing again on the moon. This is called a conjunction. The old moon grows smaller until there is absolutely no light on it, and dies. The light grows on it again a moment later, and the new moon is born. This is the beginning of the new moon period. The new moon period is over when Yahuah shows us the sign in the heavens. This sign is the First Visible Crescent. (FVC) It is a sign because it is visible. Therefore, the conjunction is not visible and cannot be a sign. The sign tells us two things. It tells us that the new moon period and day one are over. It also tells us that the next day is the first working day of the month, and the week, the first week of four.
New moon day can be one or two days. We do not know in advance, though we have a good idea. It is only fully known once Yahuah has shown us the sign that it is over. We find that over a period of a year, about 50% of the time, we have two new moon days.
An example of this in scripture is 1 Sam 20. David speaks to Jonathan (on a Shabbath) and says tomorrow is NMD. On new moon day, they feast with the king, and David has to be present. But David knows the king wants to kill him and makes a plan not to attend the new moon celebrations. He tells Jonathan he will hide for three days because he is unsure whether NMD will be one or two days.
1 Sam 20:5 And David said unto El-Yahunathan, Behold, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at evening.
The question comes to mind. How did David knew the next day is New Moon? The day after the 4th Shabbath of the month is when the month changeover period starts. It is always the New Moon after the 4th Shabbath. The only thing unclear is whether it will be one or two days ‘changeover.’ We, therefore, assume that David was speaking on this last Shabbath of the month.
The phases of the moon.
I show this to show that the Shabbath is always near a moon phase. The phase can be the day before Shabbath, the day of Shabbath, or the day after Shabbath. By phases of the moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter is meant. The last Shabbath of the month is always a dark moon. There is no visible light on the moon.
8,15,22,29
Shabbath always falls on the 8th day, the 15th day, the 22nd day, and the 29th day. This is scriptural, and you can look here for my article on the subject.
Global visibility maps.
These are a best attempt to show when and where FVC will be visible where in the world. This is not an exact science and an estimate. The FVC cannot be exactly predicted, whereas everything else about the moon can be accurately predicted mathematically. The map, however, gives us a very good idea when used with a combination of factors like moonrise time, sunset time, moonset time, percentage of light on the moon, the time between sunset and moon set, etcetera. The principle is the moon must be high enough above the sun so that the light on the moon can be seen even in the strong glare of the setting sun. The darker green area is where the FVC could be easily visible to the naked eye.
Look at the first month, ie, the Pesach/Unleavened bread month. If your location is in the darker green area on the visibility map for the 22nd of March 2023, then chances are your whole calendar will move up by one day, and you will have an NMD period of one day only. This will be especially true for our brothers and sisters in the continental USA, much of Europe, Israel, and the top part of Africa. Remember, this calendar has been made for South Africa and eastwards to Australia and NZ.
Pesach, Unleavened bread, and waiving the sheath.
To learn more about these feast days, you can read these articles.
Pesach
The Wave Offering