Fall 2021
The Background
The calendar texts from Qumran Cave 4 are numerous and significant. They comprise eighteen texts (4Q319-330 and 4Q337), not including many which, while not strictly calendrical, present a calendar system.
Especially noteworthy is the absence among the Qumran caches of any text advocating a different calendar. This absence is striking because the calendar of the Qumran materials was only one of several in use and seems to have represented a minority position. The calendrical texts are, therefore, central to any attempt to understand the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In order to follow the rather technical expositions of these texts, one must know a few facts about the calendar they advocate, and about the priestly courses (mishmarot) which served in the Temple at Jerusalem.
The calendar is based on a particular understanding of the Creation account found in Genesis. In its exclusive reliance on the sun, it stands in stark contrast to later Rabbinic Judaism, which followed a lunar calendar of 354 days relying solely on the moon. Earlier, the Pharisaic forerunners of Rabbinic Judaism seem to have followed an even more lunar-oriented calendar, though from the evidence of the Qumran texts, the lunisolar calendar seems already to have gained currency during at least some of the period of the Scrolls.
In the system that finally emerged, probably under Greco-Roman influence, in Rabbinic Judaism at the end of the fourth century AD, extra lunar months were intercalated seven times in every nineteen years to produce the kind of harmonization necessary to ensure that the calendar remained fixed to the seasons of the solar cycle. The Muslims, for their part, reflecting probably an earlier phase of this historical process, never made the complicated
mathematical and calendrical intercalations necessary for passage from a lunar to a lunisolar calendar.
With this calendar the year always contains precisely 364 days. Each year consists of twelve months of thirty days each, plus four additional days, one of which is intercalated at the end of each three-month period. Thus the first and second months are 30 days long, while the third month totals 31 days; then the pattern repeats. New Year’s Day and the first day of each three-month period always fall on a Wednesday.
Wednesday is the day mandated as the first day by the creation order, since the heavenly lights - sun, moon and stars, the basis of any calendar - were created on the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-19). The great advantage of the Qumran calendar over its lunisolar rival is that it results in fixed dates for the major festivals.
They cannot fall on a Sabbath, thereby avoiding worrisome difficulties affecting sacrifices. In fact, this calendar guarantees that a particular day of any given month will always fall on the same day of the week every year.
Although the authors of the Qumran calendrical texts disdained the lunisolar calendar, a number of their writings synchronize the two versions. The reasons for this synchronization are not entirely clear, but they may have found it necessary to be able to point out errors with the current system and to know the correct answers.
The only question that must be asked is whether this calendar goes back to Maccabean times, as the third text on Priestly Courses implies - or even earlier - and whether the Maccabees themselves preferred it before the Pharisees took over with the rise of Herod once and for all. However this may be, the anti- Pharisaic and consequently, the anti-Herodian character of the calendar cannot be denied.
Enoch 72:32-33
32 On that day the night decreases and amounts to nine parts, and the day to nine parts, and the night is equal to the day and the year is exactly as to its days THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR. 33. And the length of the day and of the night, and the shortness of the day and of the night arise--through the course of the sun these distinctions are made.
Jubilees 6:34-38
And all the children of Israel will forget and will not find the path of the years, and will forget the Months, and Seasons, and Sabbaths and they will go wrong as to all the order of the years. For I know and from henceforth will I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising; for the book (lies) written before me, and on the heavenly tablets the division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. For there will be those who will assuredly "MAKE OBSERVATIONS OF THE MOON −how (it) DISTURBS THE SEASONS and comes in from year to year ten days too soon.
For this reason the years will come upon them when they will Disturb (the order), and make an Abominable (Day) the Day of Testimony, and an Unclean Day a Feast Day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for THEY WILL GO WRONG AS TO THE MONTHS AND SABBATHS AND FEASTS AND JUBILEES. For this reason I command and testify to thee that thou mayst testify to them; for after thy death thy children will disturb (them), so that THEY WILL NOT MAKE THE YEAR THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY−FOUR DAYS ONLY, and for this reason they will go Wrong as to the Months and Seasons and Sabbaths and Festivals, and they will eat all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.
The Priestly Order
The Qumran calendars were reckoned not only by months, but also by the rotation of the priestly courses (mishmarot).
The courses would come into Jerusalem for service at the temple for one week, then rotate out as the next group arrived to serve. Qumran texts relied upon this
‘eternal cycle’ not only for their calendar, but also for their chronology and history. Every Sabbath, month, year and feast bore the name of a priestly family.
The priestly rotation required six years before the same group would be serving once again in the same week of the year. This sexennial cycle reflects the need to synchronize the solar calendar with the lunisolar version. Since the solar calendar totaled 364 days to the year, while the lunisolar calendar alternated months of 29 and 30 days, the lunisolar calendar would ‘fall behind’ by ten days per year. After three years, however, the lunisolar calendar was intercalated with an additional 29 or 30 days, bringing the two versions once again into harmony (364 X 3 = 354 X 3 + 30).
Two such cycles fit perfectly with the six years needed for one complete priestly cycle. The order of the priestly courses was originally determined by lot, and is laid out in 1 Chr. 24:7-18 as follows:
1 - Yehoyarid 2 - Yedayah 3 - Harim 4 - Se'orim 5 - Malkiyah 6 - Miyamin 7 - Haqqots 8 - Abiyah 9 - Yeshua 10 - Shekanyahu 11 - Elyashib 12 - Yaqim 13 - Huppah 14 - Yesheb'ab 15 - Bilgah 16 - Immer 17 - Hezir 18 - Happitstsets 19 - Pethanyah 20 - Yehezqel 21 - Yakin 22 - Gamul 23 - Delayahu 24 - Ma'azyahu
The Qumran calendars refer to the same names, but it varies the order by beginning the cycle with Gamul instead of Yehoyarid. Apparently the reason for this change is that the list as given in 1 Chronicles began the rotation with Yehoyarid in the autumn.
The Qumran cycle aligns with the God ordained year which begins on Abib 1 in March/April, coninciding around the time of the vernal New Year.
The Creation happened in the spring; thus an eternal order based on the Creation must of necessity begin at that time. Observing the vernal New Year meant that the priestly cycle would begin with Gamul.
Luke 1:5
(5) There was in the days of Herodes, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, a certain priest named Zeḵaryah, of the division of Aḇiyah...
1 Chronicles 24:3
(3) And Dawiḏ, with Tsaḏoq of the sons of El‛azar, and Aḥimeleḵ of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices in their service.
Priest's Name Day of the Zadok
Month
Gregorian Day
Feast Days
Genesis 1:14
(14) And Elohim said, “Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years,
Leviticus 23:2
(2) “Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, and say to them, ‘The appointed times of הוהי, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings are...
Scripture Reference
History
In 167 BCE, King Antiochus returned to Jerusalem after his second campaign in Egypt, and he immediately banned the Hebrew religion and the Zadok Priestly Calendar, and prohibited all religious practices. He dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem to Zeus, the Lord of Heaven (Baal Shamen), and ordered the Hebrew people to worship Zeus and to participate in the festival honoring Dionysus, who was Zeus' son, (who was called Bacchus by the Romans), and Dionysus/Bacchus was known as the "dying and rising god" as he was "twice born." This festival, called Bacchanalia, was held on March 16th and March 17th to pollute the Hebrew Spring Equinox Day and New Year's Day. When King Antiochus began sacrificing swine and making abominable offerings in the Temple, this began the Maccabean revolt (1 Maccabees Chapter 1, and 2 Maccabees Chapters 4, 6 and 7)
After the death of King Antiochus, in 164 BCE, some of the Hebrew priests tried to restore the Solar Calendar, but the Greek New Moon influence was all around them. Later, in 359 CE, Hillel II introduced the fixed calculated New Moon Calendar that is based on the conjunction of the moon, and it is the Lunar Calendar that has been used by Jews and others to this day to determine the 1st Day of the Months and the Annual Feast Days. However, the term "New Moon" (yareach chadash שׁ ָד ָח ַח ֵרָי ) ) is not written anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Ancient Hebrew Names for the Months
1ˀAbībבבא(Green ears of grain) Exodus 12:2; 13:4 -Nissan 2Ziwוז(Bright flowers) 1 Kings 6:1 -Iyar
3Mattanןתמ(Gift of crops) -Sivan
4Ḏabaḥחבֿד(Offering of produce) -Tammuz 5Kararררכ(Heat of summer) Menachem -Av 6Ṣaḥḥīymםיחצ(Shining of sun) -ElulNeh 6:15
7ˀAytanīymםינתיא(Perpetual streams) 1 Kings 8:2 -Tishrei 8Būlלב(Rain for crops) 1 Kings 6:38 -Marchesvan
9Marpaˀīymםיאפרמ(Remedies of plants) -Kislev 10Pagrīymםירגפ(Corpses of plants) -Tevet 11Puˁullōtתולעפ(Labors of late planting) -Shevay 12Ḥayrריח(White of frost) -AdarEzra 6:15, Ester 3:7 The Modern Jewish names were only adopted after their return from Babylon
Path of the solar orb throughout the year
Moon Rise & Set Sun Rise & Set Enoch 74:5 On stated
months it changes ; and on stated months it makes its progress on each. In two the moon sets with the sun, in those two gates which are in the midst, in the third and forth gate. It goes forth for seven days , and makes its circuit.
Graphing the sun and finding the seasons
The information found in the book of Enoch regarding the movements of the sun and moon through the gates in the heavens gives us enough information to accurately chart in a couple ways. The images to the left are a good representation of what happens when the solar data is charted on a standard cartesian coordinate graph. It is essentially a simple sine wave form and can be represented by the formula r=1+sin. However, when the same equation is plotted on a polar coordinate graph you get what is called a cardioid shape as shown above. This cardioid shape is basically a radial representation of the 2x multiplication table. Isn't it interesting that we have 2 main seasons (summer and winter), with 2 periods of transition (spring and fall), and this just happens to perfectly represent that? The cardioid shape can be also duplicated in nature but only inside a rounded enclosure as seen in the copper ring above.
As the sun progresses through the gates it makes the same cardioid motion above the earth. As it approaches the center or the north we have summer, and as it declines toward the south, winter sets in just as Enoch states.
Significance of 7 & 12 in the calendar
7x7x7 = 343 7+7+7 = 21 343+21 = 364 days 364/7 = 52 weeks 12 Months 12 Tribes 12 Disciples
12 x 12,000 = 144,000
The city is measured 12,000 furlongs
Has 12 foundations, and its walls are 144 cubits, which is 12 x 12
Intercalation??? What is it and why?
Intercalation is the practice of adding days to a calendar to bring it into sync with another. Our modern Gregorian calendar does this every four years to keep it in sync with the solar progression throughout the years.
How to intercalate or if we even need to intercalate is a major question when examining the Zadok calendar and its Enochian counterparts. Fact of the mater is that there isn't any
information in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the book of Enoch, Jubilees, or the cannon of scripture that has been made available which indicates how the 364 day calendar was kept in sync with the 365+ day solar and stellar years. The best we can do is to look to the heavens and search for patterns and signs while reviewing data from past years to hopefully establish a system that works.
While some insist on adding a single day either at the beginning of the year as a zero day, or at the end of Sukkot as a leap day, we cannot get around shifting the sabbath. Plus there are over 4 years of lunar data given in the Dead Sea Scrolls that indicates that the priestly courses never shifted in regards to the lunar phases which appears to nullify the above mentioned method. So while there is some compelling opinions on the matter, it is our current position that the sabbath has and will for ever be a fixed 7 day cycle.
Jubilees 6:30-32
And all the days of the commandment will be two and fifty weeks of days, and (these will make) the entire year complete. Thus it is engraven and ordained on the heavenly tables. And there is no neglecting (this commandment) for a single -year or from year to year. 32. And command thou the children of Israel that they observe the years according to this reckoning, THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY−FOUR DAYS, and (these) will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts.
According to the above it seems that intercalation is not required or even allowed, yet to neglect to do so would cause the feasts to be kept out of season.
What we have found is that the signs given in Enoch regarding the moon setting with the sun in ch74 v5, and the day being equal parts light and dark (eqilux) signaling the transition into the Great gate in the midst of the 3rd and 4th gates doesn't always happen before the end of the 364th day. in 2020 because those signs didn't happened by then witnessing the new year, we added a week at the start of the year. Based upon what we have found over the past 100 years, this method corrects the year to average 365.25 days matching the solar and stellar years nearly perfectly. That alignment happens again in 2027.
Enoch 74:13
The moon brings on all the years exactly, that their stations may come neither too forward nor too backwards a single day, but that the years may be CHANGED with correct precision in three hundred and sixty four days...
2-Oct Week 51 Torah: DEUTERONOMY 22-26
Prophets: EZEKIEL 10 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 14
New Testament LUKE 22
Non-Canonical: SIRACH 50 Wisdom Writings: SONG OF SOLOMON 3-4
9-Oct Week 52 Torah: DEUTERONOMY 27-29
Prophets: EZEKIEL 11 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 15-16
New Testament LUKE 23
Non-Canonical: SIRACH 51 Wisdom Writings: SONG OF SOLOMON 5-6
16-Oct Week 1 - Year 3 Torah: GENESIS 1-4
Prophets: EZEKIEL 13 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 18
New Testament 1 CORIN. 1-2
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 1-5 Wisdom Writings: PSALM 118
23-Oct Week 2 Torah: GENESIS 5-8
Prophets: EZEKIEL 14-15
Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 19 New Testament 1 CORIN. 3-4
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 6-11 Wisdom Writings: PSALM 119:1-40
30-Oct Week 3 Torah: GENESIS 9-11
Prophets: EZEKIEL 16 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 20-21
New Testament 1 CORIN. 5-6
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 12-14 www.torahislight.org
Wisdom Writings: PS.119:41-88
THE WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING WITH MY HOUSE MINISTRIES
For more information visit https://myhouseministries.blog/
Weekly Reading Schedule
October
2021
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Shabbat
26 27 28 29 30 1 2
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Shekanyahu
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Sukkot 1 Sukkot 2 Sukkot 3 Sukkot 4
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Elyashib
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Sukkot 5 Sukkot 6 Sukkot 7
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Yaqim
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
8th month (Bul) begins
26 27 28 29 30 1 2 Huppah
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Yesheb'ab
31 1 Notes:
10 11
Numbers shown in blue are the dates of the Enochian/Zadok calendar www.torahislight.org
OCTOBER 7 th /8 th Month
‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees, and willows of the stream, and shall rejoice before YHVH your Elohim for seven days.Leviticus 23:40
2021 ˀAytanīym (Eithanim) םינתיא / Perpetual (streams)
Būl (Bul) לב / Rain (for crops)
Yamim Noraim םיארונםימי "Days of Awe"
Yom Kippur Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27-32)
(from evening to evening)
High Sabbath
Sukkot Feast of Tabernacles
(Lev 23:34-42)
High Sabbath
8th Day The Great Last Day
High Sabbath
Noah's Ark rested on the Mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4)
Simchat Torah End of the Torah Cycle
6-Nov Week 4 Torah: GENESIS 12-17
Prophets: EZEKIEL 17 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 22
New Testament 1 CORIN. 7 Non-Canonical: ENOCH 15-18
Wisdom Writings: PS.119:89-128
13-Nov Week 5 Torah: GENESIS 18-21
Prophets: EZEKIEL 18-19
Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 23 New Testament 1 CORIN. 8-9
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 19-22
Wisdom Writings: PS.119:129-176
20-Nov Week 6 Torah: GENESIS 22-24
Prophets: EZEKIEL 20 Historical Writings: 2 KINGS 24-25
New Testament 1 CORIN. 10-11
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 23-31
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 120-124
27-Nov Week 7 Torah: GENESIS 25-27
Prophets: EZEKIEL 21 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 1 New Testament 1 CORIN. 12-13
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 32-39
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 125-130
4-Dec Week 8 Torah: GENESIS 28-30
Prophets: EZEKIEL 22 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 2 New Testament 1 CORIN. 14
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 40-44 www.torahislight.org
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 131-134
Weekly Reading Schedule
THE WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING WITH MY HOUSE MINISTRIES
For more information visit https://myhouseministries.blog/
November
2021
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Shabbat
31 1 2 3 4 5 6
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Bilgah
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Immer
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Hezir
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
9th month (Marpeim) begins
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Happitstsets
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pethanyah
5 6 Notes:
15 16
Numbers shown in blue are the dates of the Enochian/Zadok calendar www.torahislight.org
NOVEMBER 8 th /9 th Month
“Do not go after other mighty ones, the mighty ones of the peoples who are all around you, for YHVH your Elohim is a jealous El in your midst..."Deuteronomy 6:14-15
2021 Būl (Bul) לב / Rain (for crops)
Marpaˀīym (Marpeim) םיאפרמ / Remedies (of plants)
Yarob'am establishes idol worship in Israel
(1 Kings 12:32)
4-Dec Week 8 Torah: GENESIS 28-30
Prophets: EZEKIEL 22 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 2 New Testament 1 CORIN. 14
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 40-44
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 131-134
11-Dec Week 9 Torah: GENESIS 31-33
Prophets: EZEKIEL 23 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 3 New Testament 1 CORIN. 15-16
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 45-50
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 135-136
18-Dec Week 10 Torah: GENESIS 34-36
Prophets: EZEKIEL 24 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 4 New Testament 2 CORIN. 1-2
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 51-54
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 137-139
25-Dec Week 11 Torah: GENESIS 37-40
Prophets: EZEKIEL 25-26
Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 5 New Testament 2 CORIN. 3-4
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 55-59
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 140-143
1-Jan Week 12 Torah: GENESIS 41-43
Prophets: EZEKIEL 27 Historical Writings: 1 CHRON. 6 New Testament 2 CORIN. 5-7
Non-Canonical: ENOCH 60-61 www.torahislight.org
Wisdom Writings: PSALM 144-145
Weekly Reading Schedule
THE WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING WITH MY HOUSE MINISTRIES
For more information visit https://myhouseministries.blog/
December
2021
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Shabbat
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pethanyah
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Yehezqel
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Yakin
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Winter Solstice 10th month (Pagrim) begins
29 30 31 1 2 3 4 Gamul
26 27 28 29 30 31 1
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Delayahu
2 3 Notes:
12 13
Numbers shown in blue are the dates of the Enochian/Zadok calendar www.torahislight.org
DECEMBER 9 th /10 th Month
"From whose belly comes the ice? And who gave birth to the frost of the heavens?"Job 38:29
2021 Marpaˀīym (Marpeim) םיאפרמ / Remedies (of plants)
Pagrīym (Pagrim) םירגפ / Corpses (of plants)
Day of Remembrance Intercalary Day
Nebukadnetstsar besieges Yerushalyayim (2Kings 25:1) Flood waters recede (Gen 8:5)
