I have recently heard from someone on the issue of the calendar, particularly the calculation set forth in Yovheliym (the Book of Jubilees) and Chanoch (the Book of Enoch).  Here are his comments:

Since seeing your video on the eth Cepher on YouTube and visiting your website cepher.net I am well pleased to hear and have the opportunity to discuss the Word of YHWH with a lawyer; for, I have been longing to discuss the finer points of The Law with someone who I would be able to have an intelligent discussion with. And I enjoy reading the accounts of Yashua discuss The Law with the lawyers of His day. I have been thoroughly enjoying using the eth Cepher application. I have been reading your blog and have a few questions and answers concerning your conclusion in determining the first day of the first month of the year as I believe they violate the principles set forth in Genesis, 1 Chronicles, Jubilees, and 1 Enoch, and grammar.

Firstly from a scriptural viewpoint your conclusion for following the moon to determine the beginning and the ending of the months violates the principles set forth in Genesis.

In Genesis note that days are counted and, evening and morning pass independent of the Sun, Moon and stars'' presence. Upon closer inspection of the creation account in Genesis we see that the counting of days ends on SHaBaT thereby founding the week upon which the days of the year may be built.

In the middle of this first week we see the greater light, the lesser light and the stars are created. This means that the days of the week are independent from the days of the month and the days of the year.

And note as well that in Genesis we are only told that the lights are markers for signs, seasons, days, and years. Yet we are not instructed on how to use these markers until and Jubilees and 1 Enoch. In the story of Noah we are given a hint as to the average number of days per month: "And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days", this is conclusive evidence that during these five months each month consists of thirty days. But how to determine the total months in a year? 1 Chronicles 27:1 tells us: "Now the children of Israel after their number...which came in and went out month by month through all the months of the year...", "...after their number..." that is to say the twelve children of Israel are the twelve months of the year. And yet we are missing the number of weeks in a year so, how to calculate this? If one week equals seven days and there are thirty days per month we multiply seven until we get close to thirty days: 01 Week = 07 Days 04 Weeks x 7 Days = 28 Days or 4 Weeks Now add the two remaining days: 28 Days 2 Days = 30 Days or 04 Weeks and 02 Days Next we multiply the sum above by the number of months in the year: 30 Days x 12 Months = 360 Days 04 Weeks and 02 Days x 12 Months = 50 Weeks and 04 Days We now have a rough draft of the calendar: 01 Day = Evening and morning 01 Week = 7 Days 01 Month = 30 Days or 4 Weeks and 2 Days 01 Year = 360 Days or 50 Weeks and 04 Days or 12 Months

But wait we are short 1 Week and 3 Days of 52 Weeks! Why do we say there are only 52 Weeks in a year? How do we know this to be true? Secondly in Jubilees 6 we are given an account of the patriarchs'' example of celebrating the feasts throughout the year and therefore their stories are why the facts were recorded on how to observe the feasts throughout the year (vv. 17-28). Reading further we see that the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth months are each separated by three months or thirteen weeks or ninety days; so, in total we are told that there are twelve months or fifty two weeks or three hundred and sixty and four days in a year (vv. 29-32).

Jubilees 6 closes with a warning that if we disturb this perfect timing that YHWH has set in motion then we will err with the timing of everything throughout the year, including when each season begins and ends, and as to the tracking of the sun, moon and stars (vv. 33-35). We are even told that we will err in our calculation of the year by following the moon seeing as it completes the year ten days too soon (v. 36)!

This section closes with The Angel of Presence telling Moses that when we reckon the year other than three hundred and sixty and four days (i.e. to add to or take away from YHWH''s Letter of the Law) then we will end up mixing the clean with the unclean; the holy with the unholy; the blood with the flesh; and, go wrong as to the timing of the SHaBaTs and feasts and jubilees (vv. 37-38). Now that we know that there are indeed fifty two weeks in a year we are not told where the extra 1 Week and 3 Days comes from nor, are we told the number of days it takes that the sun, moon and stars to complete their courses.

What are your thoughts on this Stephen? Thirdly 1 Enoch confirms the claim of their being not only three hundred and sixty and four days in a year but also that there are fifty and two weeks in a year. Beginning in 1 Enoch 71 we see the sun is confirmed as, "...that great luminary.." (v.6; cf. Genesis 1:16a) which sets in the west rises in the east (vv. 8, 12) and rises and sets in a sequence of {30 Days, 30 Days, 31 Days} (vv.13, 15,17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 36, 40, & 41) for a total of 364 Days (v. 42). Following the Sun we have, "...an inferior luminary,...which is the moon" (72:1; cf. Genesis 1:16b) whose appearance changes every month and whose periods are as the Sun (v.3a); and when the Moon is full its light amounts to 1/7th of the light of the Sun (v. 3b). In the first month it appears as a full moon (v. 4-5) with the Sun. When all of its light in extinguished in heaven it called the new moon when it first receives light (77:14). During three months the moon effects in thirty days its period of waxing; and, during three months the moon effects its period in twenty nine days of waning, in which waning is its first period and waxing its second period, in the first gate in one hundred and seventy seven days or twenty-five weeks and two days or six months (77:19-20; 78:2-3). The figures are as follows: 03 Months x 30 Days = 90 Days 03 Months x 29 Days = 87 Days = 00 Months 177 Days When we multiply the weeks by the six months we get: 04 Weeks and 2 Days x 06 Months = 25 Weeks and 2 Days Finally when we multiply our sum and product by two we have the following: 177 Days x 2 = 354 Days 25 Weeks and 2 Days x 2 = 50 Weeks and 4 Days The latter product makes sense from my introduction of it in my first point seeing that it belongs to the moon and not the sun. But what of 1 Week and 3 Days missing to make the moon complete 52 Weeks or 364 Days? And what of the days and weeks of the sun?

Below is the answer: Sun (Weeks) 26 Weeks x 02 = 52 Weeks 52 Weeks x 07 Days = 364 Days Moon (Weeks) 25 Weeks and 2 Days x 2 = 50 Weeks and 4 Days 50 Weeks and 4 Days x 07 Days = 352 Days and 8 Hours 364 Days - 352 Days and 8 Hours = 11 Days and 2 Hours Sun (Days) 30 Days 30 Days 31 Days = 91 Days or 13 Weeks 91 Days x 04 Periods = 364 Days 13 Weeks x 07 Days = 364 Days Moon (Days) 29 Days x 03 Months = 87 Days 30 Days x 03 Months = 90 Days = 177 Days 177 Days x 2 Periods = 354 Days 364 Days - 354 Days = 010 Days Which calculation for the moon is correct? Let us consult 1 Enoch again. In three years the Sun has an excess of thirty days which amount to 364 when completed; the sun and stars have six days excess in each of the five years which amount to thirty days (73:11). But what of the four other days to make 364 days?

They are added in the calculation of the year (81:5-25). The six days are Enoch informing us that the sun year truly has 360 Days and four days are added to make the divsion of the seasons or quarters of the year which gives us 364 Days in one year, 1,092 Days in three years, 1,820 Days in 5 years, and 2,912 Days in 8 years. The moon respectively has 1,062 Days in three years, 1,770 Days in five years, and 2,832 Days in 8 years (73:11-16). The moon then falls behind the sun and stars by ten days (73:11-16. Cf. Jubilees 6:36). In short the process in which the Sun, Moon and stars give an account of their days each year is this: Sun and stars = 52 Weeks or 364 Days Moon = 50 Weeks and 04 Days 52 Weeks and 00 Days - 50 Weeks and 04 Days = 01 Week and 03 Days Last we add the difference to the weeks and days the moon has accumulated: 50 Weeks and 04 Days 01 Week and 03 Days = 52 Weeks and 00 Days And here we have a harmonious unbroken year that completes exactly every 52 Weeks or 364 Days. Whose words do you believe in more Stephen, Enoch whom YHWH found righteous and gave a grand tour of heaven and earth and all of their workings or, in other men whom YHWH did not do the like as He did with Enoch? Fourthly from a grammatical viewpoint I find it confusing that CHoDeSh (Cheth-Daleth-Shin) can be translated as month or moon especially when the Hebrew word for moon is YeRaCH (Yod-Resh-Cheth). Why do you use the Hebrew word for moon interchangeably with the Old English word for moon, mona which in English can also be translated as, month? In conclusion I am writing to you because I see you as a fellow brother in YHWH and from reading your writings and seeing your videos I don’t believe that you are the lawyers and scribes whom YaHSHuAH rebuked saying that they place heavy burdens on others whomthey will not even lift a finger; but, I believe you are the latter to whom YaHSHuAH said you have answered well and are not far from the Kingdom (see Mark 12:32). I hope to hear from you shortly.

Sincerely, Jeremy

Here is my response:

Jeremy:

I am very aware of this calculation, and I do not disparage the words of Chanoch.  From a scientific point of view, we complete our orbit around the sun in a 365.2 day cycle.  Therefore, the Enochian calendar advances 1.2 days every year, which means that in thirty years, Pecach will be held in February.  In 60 years, Pecach will be held in January, and so forth, until in a period of 365 years, the first of the year will be found in the same place in terms of the earth’s rotation and orbit around the sun.

Many who read Enoch and who have adopted the calendar, declare the first of the year to begin on the vernal equinox, declaring the day to be Wednesday.  They do this in order to coordinate the Enochian calendar to what is now a 365.2 day year.

Consider Psalm 81:3

Takah b’chodesh shofar b’kehseh l’yom ha’chagnu. 

Blow the shofar on the dark new moon today on our feast.

Now, some say that chodesh does not mean moon, because yireach means moon.  However, yirach, its root, means month (H3391).  Chodesh is of the same root as chadash (as in brit chadasha) which means renewed.  Although the moon is implied in the word chodesh (the renewal), in the Hebrew language, it has always been considered to mean the renewal of the moon cycle.

Consider (for the purist): Blow the shofar on the covered renewal today on our feast.  Which covered renewal? Is this referring to a lunar eclipse? A solar eclipse? There are no feasts appointed on lunar or solar eclipses. So maybe this means at sundown?  That would require the shofar to be blown daily.  No, the implication is clearly the renewal of the moon cycle, when the moon is darkened. 

There is but one feast (of the seven moediym) which is denoted on the first day of the month, which is Yom Teruah (the feast of the trumpet fanfare).  Obviously this is the feast when the shofar would be blown.  Therefore, Teruah is the feast marked in this passage, and proclaims the first day of the month, which begins with the renewal of the moon cycle, i.e., the dark moon.

Now, the question is, how does the year begin?

Chanoch (Enoch) 77:15

It becomes precisely completed on the day the sun descends into the west, and the moon ascends into the night in the east.

This calculation describes the last month of the year when the sun descends to the west of due north, yet the moon ascends (shines in its fullness) to the east of due north.  Following the vernal equinox, the sun sets to the east of due north and the moon ascends to the east of due north.  When the moon ascends (shines in its fullness) to the west of due north, and the sun also descends to the west of due north, the autumnal equinox is reached.  It is this verse which establishes the method by which the first month of the year is calculated: it is that month when the moon in its fullness arises to the east of due north, which is only after the vernal equinox.

For those who demand that the calendar be calculated as a 364 day year as established in Chanoch (Enoch) consider the discussion in chapter 71:

Chanoch (Enoch) 71:1

The cepher of the revolutions of the luminaries of heaven, according to their respective classes, their respective powers, their respective periods, commence their progress, and their respective months, which Uriy’el, the holy angel who was with me, explained to me; he who conducted them.  The whole account of them, according to every year of the world forever, until a new work shall be effected, which will be eternal.

A new work has been crafted in the heavens: a work which ultimately slowed the earth, and brought us a greater year.  The year now goes beyond 364 days, because of two occurrences:

Yahusha (Joshua) 10:12-14

Then spoke Yahusha to YAHUAH in the day when YAHUAH delivered up את eth - the Emoriym before the children of Yisra’el, and he said in the sight of Yisra’el: Sun, stand you still upon Giv’on; and you, Moon, in the valley of Ayalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Yasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that YAHUAH hearkened unto the voice of a man: for YAHUAH fought for Yisra’el.

Yashar 88:63-65

And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening, and Yahusha said in the sight of all the people: Sun, stand you still upon Giv’on, and you moon in the valley of Ayalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies. 64 And YAHUAH hearkened to the voice of Yahusha, and the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day. 65 And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that YAHUAH hearkened to the voice of a man, for YAHUAH fought for Yisra’el.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 38:7-8

And this shall be a sign unto you from YAHUAH that YAHUAH will do this thing that he has spoken; 8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

Now, in justifying the words of Yovheliym (Jubilees) and the words of Chanoch (Enoch) to this equation, note that the calculation at the time it was given was exactly correct, because the earth had a 364 day orbit, and further, the moon cycle which is intermittent, comported with the numbered days at that time, so that there was no distinction between the calculations.