< Previous“For,” they (the conservative Quar- todecimans) said, “it ought to be celebrated when the sun is in Aries, in the month called Xanthicus by the Antiochians, and April by the Romans.” 81 The Christian writer Anatolius, citing Ori- gen’s book of Phasekh, states: And in this book, while declaring, with respect to the day of Phasekh, that attention must be given not only to the course of the moon and the transit of the equinox, but also to the transcensum (passage) of the sun. 82 Why would the early Christians insist that the early Jewish priests up until the time of Yahushua the messiah always observe 14th of Abib, the day of the Phasekh, after the vernal equinox and never mention the connection with the Khag of Ingathering and the autumnal tequphath? There seems little doubt that the early Quar- todeciman Christians did, in fact, use the autumnal calculation to begin their year, for (1) it is known that they continued to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles, 83 (2) their calculations agreed with those of the early Aristocratic Jews, 84 and (3) they always celebrated Phasekh after the vernal equinox. But later Christians, especially under the influence of the Roman Church, began to move away from celebrating the Festival of Tabernacles and in doing so dis- carded any discussion regarding that issue. Nevertheless, they did strongly continue in their own versions of the celebration of Phasekh and Pentecost. This circumstance led to the modified approach of mentioning only those aspects of the calendar pertinent to their own celebrations. The later Christians received their informa- tion from the earlier Aristocratic Jews and Christians, who followed the more ancient priestly system. This system was based upon two pillars: first, the Khag of Ingathering must come after the day of the autumnal equinox; and second, it must fall within the same solar year as Phasekh. Both rules, as we have shown above, are scripturally based. Nevertheless, if one were to strictly follow the later Christian rule, which required only that Phasekh should follow the day of the vernal equinox, he would again find himself falling into error. For there would always be those occasions when the 14th of the moon will fall only the day immediately after the vernal equinox. In these cases, if the 14th of such a moon was established as the sole measure for the celebration of Phasekh, it would mean that the Khag of Ingathering would come “before” the autumnal equinox. Furthermore, under the late interpretation of the Roman Church, the 14th of Abib was no longer admitted as a day on which one should celebrate Phasekh, only the first day of the week which fell from the 15 through 21st days of the first month. In accordance with this newer interpretation, the 14th was now permit- ted to fall on the day of the equinox. 85 The result of a strict adherence to this late Christian view, therefore, would be a mistake in the cal- culations for the beginning of the year and the timing of Yahweh’s festivals. The scriptural rules for beginning the year also explains the unusual Hasidic system found at Qumran. The Qumran Covenanteers argued that originally both the entire festivals of Phasekh and Tabernacles were required to fall after their respective equinox. 86 By doing so, they argued that this system of following the equinox was still to be used. Yet they were only half right. Not realizing that the solar year pre- vious to 701 B.C.E. was 360 days with only 12 months, each 30 days long, they unfortunately tried to apply the results from the more ancient practice to a new calendric reality with a solar year of approximately 365.25 days. Nevertheless, their claim that originally the complete festivals of both Phasekh and Taberna- 81 Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica, 5:22. 82 Anatolius, Canon Paschalis, 1. 83 Chrysostom, Adver. Jud., 1 (PG, 48, p. 848). 84 Anatolius, Canon Paschalis, 10, compare with 3–6. 85 Bede, Opera Historica, 5:21. 86 Vermes, G. The Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Penguin books, Middlesex, England, rev. ed. 1968, p. 43; BCal, pp. 62–70, 112– 115; compare with The Book of Jubilees, 6:23, 29–30, 16:20–31; 1 Enoch, 72:1–82:20; Community Rules, 10:1–7, frag. 2, col. iv, 1– 6; and so forth. 10 t he B eginning of the Y eArcles came after their respective equinox was true. They, no doubt, found a record of this fact and established their views upon it. Yet if we return to that older solar year and month system and follow the two basic rules (i.e., that all three festivals must come in the same solar year and the Khag of Ingathering must follow the autum- nal equinox), we will find that the complete fes- tivals of Phasekh and Tabernacles would always fall after their respective equinox. The first day of the seven days of unleav- ened bread under both the older 360-day and newer 365.25-day solar years would always come after the vernal equinox in order to remain in the same solar year. Yet conversely, whereas today only the last day of the Khag of Ingathering need come after the autumnal equi- nox so that the 14th of Abib will come after the vernal equinox, in that by-gone age—when every month was 30 days long and the time between the spring and autumnal equinox was only 181 days 87 —it was not possible that the first day of unleavened bread (later called “Phasekh”) could fol- low the day of the vernal equinox unless the entire eight days of Ingathering also followed the day of the autumnal equinox. Interest- ing support for this earlier length of 181 days between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes comes with the fact, with 30-day months, that the 14th of Abib (Phasekh) and the 15th of Tishri (the first day of Taber- nacles) would have been exactly 181 days apart. Dur- ing an ideal year, the Phasekh would fall on the day after the vernal equinox and the first day of Tabernacles would fall on the day after the autumnal equinox. Therefore, when the addi- tional factor of the length of the year and months prior to 701 B.C.E. is taken into con- sideration, the error of the unusual practice at Qumran is readily uncovered. Conclusion According to the above evidence from Scrip- tures, the beginning of the scriptural year is reckoned from the Promised Land by a simple formula. (1) The eighth day of the Khag of Ingather- ing (i.e., the 22nd day of the seventh lunar month) must always come after the 24-hour legal day of the autumnal equinox. (2) All three khag periods (the Khag of Phasekh and Unleavened Bread, the Khag of Weeks or Pentecost, and the Khag of Taberna- cles and Ingathering) must fall within the same solar year. In essence, the Khag of Phasekh, the first day of the first festival of the year, will always follow the vernal equinox and the Khag of Ingathering, the last day of the last festival of the year, must always follow the autumnal equinox. If either one of these festivals is placed before its respective equinox, it is not a proper scriptural year. At the same time, when these instructions are followed, Phasekh will normally fall within the first of the twelve divisions of the solar circle, while the Khag of Ingathering will normally fall within the seventh divi- sion. Within this scheme the beginning of the year is established and the early Aristocratic Jewish and Christian views are understood. 87 At present, we have a 365.25-day year. There are 186 days between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes and 179 days between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes (The 365 Days, by Keith Gordon Irwin, p. 9). The previous orbit of the earth, which consisted of only 360 days during a year, was effected during the early spring in 701 B.C.E. (Clover, R. The Sabbath and Jubilee Cycle. Vol. 1 of the series on Ancient World Chronology. Qadesh La Yahweh Press, Garden Grove, 1992, sec. i). Publication available at www.yahweh.org. As a result, only that part of the earth’s orbit lying between the vernal and autumnal would have changed. This circumstance indicates that the number of days between the autumnal and vernal continued to be about 179 days. The number of days between the vernal and autumnal, on the other hand, was less than our present year system by approximately five days, being only 181 days. t he B eginning of the Y eAr 11Next >