CALENDAR CONFUSION
by Richard Burkard
There are estimates hundreds of groups have broken away from the old Worldwide Church of God (now called Grace Communion International) over the years. Splits occurred while Herbert Armstrong was alive, and accelerated after his successors made major doctrinal changes in the mid-1990s.
Some of the spinoff groups are very small, yet are strong in their convictions - even if their convictions are outside the normal Sabbath-keeping Church of God mindset. I happened to spend several days with one such group for the 2013 Feast of Tabernacles. The Lyons Bible Study Group met in a Kansas camping area. It was one of the closest Feast sites to my front door, and I was unable to get away from my new job beyond the annual holy days.
The Lyons Group was very friendly and welcoming to a stranger like me. The "services" were more like detailed Bible studies, with some worship music at the beginning. And a few of its convictions varied from the COG norm. After only a couple of days, the lead teacher (a former WCG member like me) handed me a 17-page "study paper" in a yellow folder on The New Moon.
A different article on this website explains what we've concluded about new moons from the Bible. It's based primarily on what Scripture says about that phrase, with help from some commentaries. But while our review was basic, some groups and ministers get downright nit-picky about this topic. They quarrel about when to count the new moon, among other things -- and that can matter, since the new moon to start a calendar year has an impact on every month thereafter.
The Lyons group was two days behind my "Feast schedule." I followed the traditional COG calendar, beginning on a Wednesday night. They started on Friday night. And that difference was what the study paper was all about. On many of its points, we agreed - but not all.
So let's sort through the statements I marked with questions, when I reviewed this study paper. Unfortunately, the Lyons Bible Study Group has not posted the paper online as I write this. So you'll have to trust our quotes as accurate -- and we'll even use their font type:
"Times: (H5732) A set period of time (A year, for instance. How about time itself?)"
THE "STRONG'S DEFINITION" of a word (as in the classic concordance) isn't always a complete one.
For instance, the Chaldean word iddan cited here does seem to indicate a set period in Daniel 7:25. At least, Church of God groups have tended to refer to "a time and times and a dividing of time" in that way - with "time" meaning a year. But the same word also appears in Daniel 3:5, 15, where the man of God gets in trouble for not worshiping an image "at what time you hear the sound of.... all kinds of music...."
"(G5550) A space of time."
THE STRONG'S DEFINITION is applied here as well, to the Greek chronos. We recognize that word today as a root of words such as "chronological," as in a timeline of events. But the New Testament can use that word in vague ways, such as in Acts 14: "Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord.... they abode long time with the disciples" (14:3, 28, KJV).
"Seasons (H2166, G2540) The seasons of the year."
NOT ALWAYS. Daniel 7:12 refers to prophetic beasts with "lives... prolonged for a season and time." Really now: how many preachers have you heard interpret this to mean the beasts remain for 15 months -- a three-month "season" plus a 12-month "time"?
(A few writers outside the COG movement look at it that way, including one who served in the Senate of South Vietnam before it fell to the North.)
"What are 'Times and Seasons'?"
EYE-OPENING. The guide gives three verses to answer this question - all of them thought-provoking:
* Daniel 2:21 says God "changes times and seasons." How should Christians understand this - especially COG's keeping Biblical holy days?
We can turn to II Chronicles 30 for one example, where Israel kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month instead of the first, and for 14 days at that. God apparently did not object; would He not have said something when He heard the prayers of the people (verse 27)? More on this is ahead.
* The other two verses put "times and seasons" in the context of the second coming of Jesus. The Lord said it was up to God the Father to know when "the kingdom" would be restored to Israel (Acts 1:6-7). Then Paul advises the "day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (I Thessalonians 5:1-2)
"Three other ways 'times' is used in the OT: (H7272).... Using your feet. (A journey.)"
COMPARE COMMENTARIES. This section quotes Exodus 23:14, about keeping feasts "three times in a year." While the Masoretic text may refer to using feet, Blue Letter Bible and Strong's explain that Hebrew word as primarily the "foot" itself.
"(H6049).... To hide or cover, cloud over, use sorcery (deception)."
"OBSERVE" IS THE KEY word in this reference to Leviticus 19:26, as noted by the original Strong's (see also Deuteronomy 18:10, 14).
"The equinoxes and solstices are all 3 months apart. Some languages and cultures equate these periods with the start or separation of the seasons, while others (like our country) use them to denote the center or midway point of the season."
WRONG. Unless I've missed something, no organized group in the U.S. considers the equinox in mid-March to be the "center or midway point" of Spring.
"According to the astronomers, the new moon is when the moon is in the shadow of the Earth, which causes it to appear black.... that period of blackness actually lasts for 3 or 4 days.... With the Hebrew calendar, it requires a more precise reckoning."
FALSE ARGUMENT. Modern astronomy does precisely reckon when a new moon occurs. Several websites can compute that, even to your time zone. It can be computed mathematically as well, to a range of about 14 hours. But here we come to potentially the main reason why some church groups reject that approach.
This study paper doesn't directly say so, but the astronomical figuring has its roots in the ancient Greeks and Babylonians. Wikipedia says the Babylonian approach was used by the second-century Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy. It's quite accurate - but COG's have a tradition of having nothing to do with "Mystery, Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17:5).
As I prepared this article, a United Church of God sermon from Washington state referred to this issue. A Pastor said he encountered arguments in Africa about new moons -- and he claimed those days were calculated in Old Testament days, based on I Samuel 20.
Verses 5 and 18 of that chapter indeed refer to an approaching "New Moon festival." But it doesn't say how the festival date was figured. Keep in mind this was the time of King Saul's rebellion and dealing with evil spirits (19:9) - so skeptics might say we can't be really sure he kept things correctly.
(Incredibly, this pastor went on to indicate New Moon keepers should keep it to themselves. Is that really how the Bible explained what happened in Old Testament days -- and will happen in the millennium?)
"God is patient with us. (II Peter 3:9) But He NEVER changes. (Malachi 3:6-7)"
NOT NECESSARILY. Didn't this paper already cite Daniel 2:21, when it comes to changing times and seasons?
"Jewish (after 70 AD) Talmudic.... By the third to fifth centuries, calculations were increasingly used. (By this time the calendar was being manipulated, lest Yom Kippur fall on a Friday or a Sunday.")
ESSENTIALLY TRUE, BUT.... Wikipedia's entry on "Hebrew calendar" admits: "Between 70 and 1178 CE, the observation-based calendar was gradually replaced by a mathematically calculated one."
But before this, the study guide claimed rabbis "manipulate the calendar for their convenience." Was it really for them - or for ensuring the people would not face difficulties, such as "working" to prepare Sabbath meals after keeping Atonement on Friday?
"Was the command to determine the month of Abib, in Deut. 16:1, a command for the people or the priests?"
MISLEADING QUESTION. Moses spoke the words to "all Israel," based on Deuteronomy 1:1. But the verse referenced here says, "Observe the month of Abib...." That word in Hebrew means, "hedge.... guard/protect." But of course, someone would have to determine when the first month of the sacred year is before they can observe it.
"Ex. 13:3-10; Ex. 23:14-17; Ex. 34:18; Deut. 16:1 These 4 sets of verses are the only places in scripture where Abib is mentioned (by name), and every one was an admonition (command) to the people, not to the priests."
FALSE ARGUMENT. The study paper apparently is trying to make a distinction between Moses and Aaron. But there's a verse it overlooks - and we had to do some online digging to uncover it. Psalm 99:5-6 says, "Exalt you the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. Moses and Aaron [were- NIV] among his priests...." (KJV)
The NIV Study Bible notes here both Moses and Aaron were among those "the Lord used as intermediaries with his people in times of great crisis.... The priestly function of intercession is highlighted...." (1995 ed., pg. 883) Keep in mind God Moses's father-in-law was designated a priest (3:1).
But let's go back to the study paper's references. What about Exodus 12? While the word "Abib" is not mentioned there, the first two verses of that chapter show the Lord instructed Moses and Aaron about when "the first month of your year" takes place. God explained it first to the leadership - yes, with a "top-down government" approach.
Moses turned around and gave instruction to the people about Abib, in Exodus 13:3. But what about the other passages in Exodus? The guidance in chapter 23 was given at Mount Sinai to Moses (20:22). Chapter 34 is based on a conversation between the Lord and Moses (verses 8, 10). Only Deuteronomy 16:1 is an exception to this, with Moses reminding the people. Yet God the nation of Israel the opportunity to become "a kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6).
"(If the Sabbath happens to be the seventh day of the Feast, then the wave sheaf offering would not be during the Days of Unleavened Bread, but after or outside of it.).... it is from that day that scripture tells us to count 50 days for Pentecost."
PROVE IT. This statement is made without offering evidence. But of course, the dating of Pentecost is a different calendar issue from the new moon. We have an article getting into it a little - but not directly addressing the matter of figuring the 50-day count when the Days of Unleavened Bread have a Sunday-Saturday timespan. And this admittedly was not an easy issue for us to sort out.
"From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks," advises Leviticus 23:15-16. "Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord."
This is the only specific instruction the Bible offers for the Pentecost count - and it's raised questions at both ends. At least one group broke away from the old Worldwide Church of God over Pentecost being moved from Monday to Sunday; some still contend Monday is the proper day. But our issue here is the front end.
The priests of old waved the sheaf "on the day after the Sabbath" (verse 11). That Hebrew word Shabbath can refer to a weekly Sabbath (Exodus 16:26, 29, etc.), an annual holy day such as Atonement (Leviticus 23:32) or even land sabbaths (II Chronicles 36:21).
"From the sixteenth of Nisan [or Abib] seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost" says Smith's Bible Dictionary (1986 reprint, pg. 499). This "Jewish calendar" figuring (still used by Orthodox Jews today) put Pentecost "on the sixth of Sivan" every year - which could be several different days in the week. It's the explanation Josephus offered, according to John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible.
Yet the context of Leviticus 23:15-16 seems to make clear the count to Pentecost should end on a Sunday, "the morrow after the Sabbath" (KJV). Would any Jew really call Wednesday a "Sabbath" during the 50 days of counting, if U.B. 1 (my shorthand for it) came on a Tuesday?
The Restored Church of God's article "How to Count Pentecost" has this explanation: "When the first day of Unleavened Bread falls on Sunday.... When do you think the wave sheaf offering would have occurred? Remember, we are to place it on the day after the weekly Sabbath. The first day of the week for the wave sheaf offering was to fall during the days of Unleavened Bread."
RCG also offers no proof for this statement. But other groups use Joshua 5:10-12 to justify placing the wave-sheaf offering on U.B. 1. They note the Israelites ate "unleavened bread and roasted grain" on "the day after the Passover.... The manna stopped the day after...." Since no roasted grain was supposed to be eaten until after the wave-sheaf offering was made (Leviticus 23:14), this would suggest Israel celebrated a Sunday-Saturday spring feast that year.
An independent website from Kentucky (apparently not tied to COG's) makes a Biblically logical argument the other way. "This point of understanding about the wave sheaf offering day always being a work day, and not a Sabbath, is because this day was the same day the Israelites, after the wave sheaf was offered to God that morning, could go out and begin harvesting their early, new grain."
Coffman's Commentaries on the Whole Bible, written by a Church of Christ minister, sums up the various arguments well: "....there was controversy among the Jews over which was meant even in the days of Christ's earthly ministry. The Pharisees insisted that the sabbath [for figuring the wave-sheaf offering] was a weekly sabbath (Saturday), and the Sadducees made it the 'high sabbath' of the first day of unleavened bread...."
But then Coffman runs into trouble. "The use of 'fully come' [citing Acts 2:1] shows that there was a dispute about when it came, that the apostles honored the more extensive count (as in the second interpretation), and that the Holy Spirit came on the day that the apostles accepted as Pentecost."
Well, not necessarily. The Greek word sympleroo for "fully come" in KJV also appears in Luke 9:51: "And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up...." The book of Luke continues 14 more chapters before Jesus is executed; things were not complete in chapter 9.
The UCG doctrinal paper Pentecost and Its Observance (which takes close to 20 pages sorting out the various viewpoints) emphasizes Josephus was a Pharisee. Yet Coffman says the apostles in Acts 2 did not follow the Pharisee custom -- even though Gill quotes Josephus claiming the exact opposite. See how confusing all of this can be?
It may seem strange to cite a Catholic author at this point, but we must note what George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary says about this:
"All the intermediate days took their denomination from this second day of the Passover [festival, another way of saying U.B. 2]; so that the next Saturday was called the first sabbath after the second day; in Greek Deuteroproton, the second-first; (Luke vi. 1,) a term which had puzzled all the interpreters until Jos. Scaliger made this discovery. (Emend. 6.) The Samaritans count from the day after that sabbath which follows the Passover; so that if the festival fall on Monday, they celebrate Pentecost later than the Jews.".
After giving this a lot of meditation and prayer, we're concluding this is the counting method which makes the most sense. Is "after the Sabbath" in Leviticus 23:11 written in the context of the weekly Sabbath, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Firstfruits is mentioned immediately after Unleavened Bread (verses 4-8), so we lean toward that view.
In all of this, though, we must still note practically all COG's do not keep a "lasting ordinance" event for the wave-sheaf offering (Leviticus 23:14). And come to think of it, would it make sense for God to have separate instruction about that offering if it occasionally was combined with U.B. 1?
Whew! Now that we've sweated over all that because of one sentence in the study paper, let's return to the new moon discussion....
"It is generally taught and believed that the grain offered for the wave sheaf, as well as used to determine the month of Abib, is barley."
CONFIRMED by several study Bibles. "Harvesting grain in ancient Canaan took place in April and May (barley first, wheat a few weeks later....)" (NIV Study Bible, 1995 ed., pg. 363)
"Ex. 23:14-19 speaks of appearing before YHWH 3 times in the year. In Jerusalem? I believe it was and will be again."
PROVABLE - through verses such as John 18:28, where Jews in Jerusalem "wanted to be able to eat the Passover." (See also John 7:2, 14 and Acts 2:1, 5.)
But that verse raises another intriguing issue - why Jews apparently were waiting to eat the Passover, when Jesus and His disciples already had hours earlier. This verse "does not mean that the time for the Passover meal had not yet come.... The term 'Passover' was used to refer to the whole festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread, which lasted seven days and included a number of meals." (NIV Study Bible, pg. 1629)
"The following day, another meal began the weeklong Festival of Unleavened Bread" (NLT Study Bible, pg. 1810) - thus making a distinction between the Lord's Supper and what COG's call the "Night to be Much Observed."
We should note the warning in Exodus 23:18: "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast." This could explain why COG's insist on using unleavened bread in communion services - yet we have another article showing New Testament Greek leaning toward exactly the opposite.
"From the day the barley becomes Abib, watch for the new moon, which is the first visible (with the named eye) crescent. Just as there needs to be independent confirmation of the Abib barley, there needs to be independent confirmation of the new moon."
LACKING BIBLICAL SUPPORT. No verse is quoted for this! The explanation is apparently based on ancient tradition. All the debate in church groups over how to compute new moons should point out the fact that there's no Biblical instruction for doing it. Scripture leaves that matter open.
"The barley depends on Israel, but the new moon depends on where you are."
WHY? The study paper says, "It makes a lot of sense.... that the authoritative determination of the barley will probably be from the area around Jerusalem." Yet where were Moses and Aaron when God pronounced the "beginning of months"? Exodus 12:1-2 shows they were in Egypt!
Using astronomical data to compute a new moon actually puts it at the same time everywhere on the planet. Any refiguring is done for your time zone, not when it "comes to you."
"But even if we didn't have access to others' sightings, what else could we do? For one thing, keep watch and keep a log."
ASTRONOMY DOES THAT! That science has computed the New Moon for hundreds of years - and apparently with accuracy, because I don't recall anyone challenging the times and figuring.
"We know the Sabbath starts at sundown at the end of the 6th day of the week, no matter where you live on this planet. If I live here, but fly there to visit (Jerusalem), then I live life on their time frame, not my U.S. timeframe."
YES, BUT.... Be careful with this kind of reasoning, because it invites cheating and "short-timing" the Sabbath. I faced this situation on the Day of Atonement several years ago. I drove two hours east of my motel to worship on the Holy Day, then stayed in that area the rest of the day. I chose to wait until after sunset in my original location to break the fast, so I could have a clean conscience before God in keeping the day properly.
"Just be careful about relying on doctrine or tradition to be your reference, rather than leaning on scripture."
WE AGREE - but do so to point out a big "blind spot" of this study paper. It depends on ancient traditions in its advice on how to figure New Moons.
CONCLUSIONS: As I worked through this study paper, one thought kept coming to my mind. How much do COG groups focus on Biblical "fine points" such as calendar figuring, while overlooking larger matters of Christian living?
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!" Jesus says in Matthew 23:23. "You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness."
People who make calendar arguments would go on and cite the rest of the verse: "You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." Yet they should examine themselves carefully and ask: which area am I emphasizing more? Are the issues I consider "major" ultimately minor ones, when it comes to the work of the Church and the proclaiming of the gospel?
A sermon I once read from a Church of God minister in Britain took the church as a whole to task for arguing about things such as calendar issues, "while people are dying." How much more can COG's do to offer those people what Romans 6:23 offers - "the gift of God.... eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"?
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© 2014, Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.