Which Is the

True
Calendar of God?

by
Carl D. Franklin &,
Fred R. Coulter
 All Scriptures used in this
booklet are quoted from:
The Holy Bible In Its Original Order—
A Faithful Version With Commentary
ISBN 978-0-9819787-7-2

Copyright 2016
Christian Biblical Church of God
P.O Box 1442
Hollister, CA 95024-1442

www.cbcg.org
www.churchathome.org
www.theoriginalbiblerestored.org
www.afaithfulversion.org

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no
part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by
any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This
includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well
as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.
 Table of Contents
God’s Weekly Sabbath, The Annual Festivals and
Holy Days, and the Calculated Hebrew Calendar …………... 1
So-Called Visible “New Moon” Sightings of the
Waxing Crescent Are Not Applicable On a
Worldwide-Global Basis ……………………………………. 3
The Weekly Seventh-day Sabbath Cycle …………………… 4

God’s Seven-Day Cycle Unbroken …………………………. 7

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar …………………………... 10

The Calendar of Noah ………………………………………. 16

Understanding the Postponement Rules

Determining the Beginning of the Month …………... 23

Calculating the Molad of Tishri …………………………….. 25

Adjusting the Calculation of the Molad to the

Correct Day of the Week ……………………………………. 25

The Calendar From Ezra to Hillel II ………………………… 27

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar is Accurate for Us Today .. 29

 Which Is the True Calendar of God?
God’s Weekly Sabbath,
The Annual Festivals and Holy Days, and
The Calculated Hebrew Calendar
As Sabbatarian Christians, we are readily familiar with the
never-ending “Sunday versus Sabbath” controversy. Today,
however, God’s people are confronted with a number of
“Sabbath/Calendar” schemes designed by men to regulate the
observance of the weekly Sabbath and the annual festivals. Such
calendar systems have proven to be complex, confusing and
contradictory to Scripture—and they are causing considerable
uncertainty among the brethren. But we know that God is not the
author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). Rather, it is the misguided
schemes of men that cause confusion, a condition that often leads
to a loss of faith, love and obedience toward God.
In order to address this issue, we need to ask one
fundamental question:
Did God leave it to men to devise their own calendars in
order to observe the Sabbath and holy days on the days of their
choosing? Indeed, if God has not provided clear, definitive
directions on the observance of what He considers to be holy
time, then any calendar scheme men might devise would, by
default, be acceptable before God. But such a proposition is
absurd, and suggests that God is weak, indecisive, and not in
control of His creation. But if God did give definite instructions—
commandments, laws and statutes—in His Word concerning
when to observe His Sabbath and festivals, then are we not
obligated to follow those instructions?
Of the God Who created the entire universe, Scripture
says: “ ‘To whom then will you compare Me, or who is My
equal?’ says the Holy One. ‘Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, Who has created these things, Who brings out their
host by number? He calls them all by names by the greatness
of His might, for He is strong in power; not one fails. Why do
you say, O Jacob, and O Israel you speak, “My way is hidden
from the LORD and my cause is disregarded by my God?” Have
you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak
nor weary? And His understanding no one can fathom’ ” (Isa.
40:25-28).
Since God is creator of the entire universe—all the stars
and galaxies, which He calls by number—He knows how it
functions. After all, He created time and the astro-mathematics by
which the entire universe has functioned since the beginning of
creation, and will continue to function throughout the ages into
eternity. Thus, the Almighty is the only one Who can provide
mankind with a fully accurate method of determining the
“appointed times” He has created. No man has that ability—only
God.
As we will see, no man or group of men has ever been
able to devise a calendar that is as accurate as the Calculated
Hebrew Calendar (CHC)—not even NASA or the U. S. Naval
Observatory, with all of their hi-tech computerized equipment.
Since no man can correctly determine the “appointed
times” of God, He alone had to reveal it! The fact is, God did
reveal His method of accurately calculating the Sacred Calendar
to the Levites and the Aaronic priesthood of ancient Israel. This is
why we find in the Scriptures the specific dates commanded for
the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (with two holy
days); the proper count to Pentecost—using seven complete
weeks, each ending on a weekly Sabbath, plus one day for the
Day of Pentecost; the Feast of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement;
the Feast of Tabernacles; and, finally, the Eighth Day Festival
called the Last Great Day.
As an example, we know from Scripture that Passover is
on the evening of the 14th day of the first month. But how do we
determine exactly when the first month of the year begins?
Any crescent that is sighted is not the new moon because
only the waxing crescent is visible. The new moon is formed at
the beginning of the lunar cycle and is not visible until one to
three days has passed. By this time it is in the waxing stage and is
no longer the new moon. The new moon can only be determined
by calculation. That is why the Sacred Hebrew Calendar uses a
mathematical formula to date the beginning of the months.
Because this formula is based on the average lunar cycle, in some
years it must be adjusted to fit the actual time of the new moon.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Counting the month of Tishri from the first day of the

lunar cycle will ensure that the 15th day will be a full moon in
every year as ordained by God in Psalm 81 and Leviticus 23. The
formula and the authority to calculate His high days was given to
the Levitical priesthood—and to no one else. This formula is not
preserved in the Bible and the Levitical priesthood no longer
exists. Even so, this mathematical formula has been preserved in
the mathematics of the Calculated Hebrew Calendar by the
descendents of the Levitical priesthood within the Jewish
community. Indeed, God clearly designated the priests in
Leviticus 23 to proclaim the appointed feasts: “These are the
appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you [the
priests] shall proclaim in their appointed seasons” (Lev. 23:4).
This is why the apostle Paul wrote, “What then is the
advantage of the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much
in every way. Primarily, in that they were entrusted with the
oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1-2). This means the oracles of God
were given to the Levitical/Aaronic priests within the Jewish
nation. The oracles consist of the entire Old Testament and the
methods of calculating the Hebrew calendar. Jewish rabbis later
perverted this trust by falsely claiming that their humanly-devised
“oral traditions” were also given by God. (For information on the
traditions of Judaism, please write for the book Judaism—
Revelation of God or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal).
Indeed, the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is not something
to be devised according to the whims and traditions of men. It is
in fact set by God—and has been preserved for us to this day.

So-Called Visible “New Moon” Sightings of the

Waxing Crescent Are Not Applicable On a
Worldwide-Global Basis
The New Moon phase is defined as the instant at which
the apparent celestial longitudes of the Moon and the Sun are the
same—considering the Sun, Moon, and the Earth to be points not
disks. Adopting this definition, the New Moon phase is certainly
a unique instant all over the world. But in reality the Sun, the
Moon, and the Earth are viewed as disks not points, and so,
observers on the Earth in different locations will not see the

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

centers of the Sun and the Moon at the same longitude in the
same instant.
The difference may reach up to four hours. This would be
obvious during a solar eclipse, which can be considered as a
"visible" New Moon phase, since it is well-known that a solar
eclipse does not begin at the same instant all over the world.
For most purposes, it is suitable to consider the New
Moon phase as a unique instant all over the world, and so, nearly
all the astronomical books and magazines publish times of New
Moon phase as a unique instant, which is for the center of the
Earth.
But to observe the very thin [waxing] crescent shortly
after the New Moon phase, and to know the exact interval
between the New Moon phase and the observation time (moon’s
age), we should adopt the instant of the New Moon phase that
occurs from the location of observation [Thus a Jerusalem time,
nor any other location of observation, can be used on a global,
worldwide basis for establishing the date of Nisan 1]. (Used with
the kind permission of astronomer Moh’d Odeh of Abu Dhabi,
Copyright © 1998-2006 Islamic Crescents’ Observation Project
(ICOP), All Rights Reserved).

The Weekly Seventh-day Sabbath Cycle

To begin, we must first examine God’s weekly seventh-
day Sabbath cycle. Did God leave the choice to men to select one
day in seven as a day to worship Him? Or, in the beginning, did
God specially create the seventh day as His Sabbath, specifically
blessing and sanctifying the seventh day?
According to the scriptural account, He indeed did! He
specifically designated the seventh day of the repeating seven-day
cycle as the Sabbath! We have the record in Genesis chapters one
and two. From the beginning, we find that God continuously
counts seven days in a never-ending sequence, and that the
seventh day is always the weekly Sabbath. There are no
exceptions in the entirety of the Bible. Therefore, Sunday (or any
other day) can never be God’s weekly Sabbath, because He has
created only the seventh day to be holy. Moreover, no man has
the authority to make any day holy!

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

The account in Genesis chapter one gives us the record of

the creation of the earth (actually the renewing of the earth) in six
days. Each day is numbered and designated by the phrase “the
evening and morning” in describing a whole day—a 24-hour day.
Each day is counted in sequence with no gaps, partial days, or
uncounted days.
In Genesis chapter two we have the record of God’s
creation of the first Sabbath day—the seventh day: “And by the
beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He
had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had made. And God BLESSED the seventh day and
SANCTIFIED it because on it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made” (Gen. 2:2-3). Thus, God’s
Sabbath cannot fall on any other day of the week, and no man has
the authority to change it. Notice also that the Sabbath is
independently reckoned by counting the days in a continuous
seven-day sequence. As we will see, this day-by-day reckoning of
the weekly cycle is separate from the reckoning of the days,
months and years of the sacred CHC. The seven-day weekly cycle
never varies and has never been changed by God. In fact, there is
not a single passage in the Bible indicating that time has ever
been “lost” or not counted—not a day, week, month or year has
ever gone missing! God accounts for all time!
The Exodus and the Sabbath: During the Exodus from
Egypt, God revealed the seventh-day weekly Sabbath to the
children of Israel by the giving of manna (Ex. 16). In this account,
beginning on the morning of the first day of the week, God sent
manna from heaven for the children of Israel to eat each day. For
the first five days of the seven-day week, He sent only the portion
for each particular day. God specifically commanded them not to
gather more than what was to be eaten for each day. Those who
disobeyed and gathered more found that the extra manna bred
worms and stank, making it unfit to eat.
However, on the sixth day, God commanded the children
of Israel to gather twice as much as they did on each of the first
five days. This two-day supply was for the sixth day and the
seventh-day Sabbath. Moreover, God commanded them not to go
out to gather manna on the seventh day, because He would not
send it. Notice God’s reaction when some disobeyed His
command and went out on the Sabbath morning to look for

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

manna: “And it came to pass that some of the people went out on
the seventh day in order to gather, but they did not find any. And
the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My
commandments and My laws? See, because the LORD has given
you the Sabbath (God determines the Sabbath—not man),
therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let
each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place
on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day” (Ex.
16:27-30).
For forty years God consistently sent manna six days a
week—with a double portion on the sixth day—but He never sent
manna on the seventh-day Sabbath. The seven-day weekly cycle
remained unchanged for the entire forty-year period.
To help Israel always remember that it was God Who fed
them for those forty years, He commanded that Aaron gather an
omer of manna be kept before the Lord as a witness of what God
had done: “And Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the LORD
has commanded, “Fill an omer of it to be kept for your
generations, so that you may see the bread with which I have fed
you in the wilderness, when I brought you out from the land of
Egypt.” ’ And Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a pot and put an omer
full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD to be kept for
your generations.’ As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron
laid it up before the testimony to be kept. And the children of
Israel ate manna forty years until they came to a habitable land.
They ate manna until they came into the borders of the land of
Canaan” (Ex. 16:32-35).
Later, after the Ark of the Covenant was made, the omer
of manna was put inside the ark along with the tables of stone (on
which God had written the Ten Commandments) and the rod of
Aaron that budded (Heb. 9:4). At the end of forty years, after the
children of Israel entered the Promised Land, the manna ceased
the day after they had eaten of the grain of the land (Josh. 5:12).
However, the continuous counting of the seven-day cycle has
remained unchanged.
It is essential to understand that God correlates all time—
days, months and years—with His created seven-day cycle, with
the Sabbath always being the seventh day of the week. The seven-
day weekly cycle is the foundation of all time on earth. There
is absolutely no exception to the day-by-day count of seven

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consecutive days. This seven-day cycle has been repeated

perpetually from creation until now, and will likewise continue on
into the future.

God’s Seven-Day Cycle Unbroken

At no time has God ever mentioned or even hinted in
Scripture that the seventh-day weekly Sabbath is to be reckoned
by any other method than by a continuous counting of seven days
as established from creation. This fact is supported by God
establishing the weekly Sabbath as a perpetual covenant: “You
shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you.
Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for
whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from
among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the
seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever
does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Therefore the children of Israel [the church is spiritual Israel]
shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout
their generations as A PERPETUAL COVENANT. It is a sign
between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days
the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day
He rested, and was refreshed” (Ex. 31:14-17).
When God gave the Ten Commandments, the Fourth
Commandment was the Sabbath command. Notice how this
command reflects a continuous counting of days in the seven-day
cycle from creation: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you
shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your
manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the
stranger within your gates; for in six days the LORD made the
heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and sanctified it” (Ex. 20:8-11). God also
commanded that the Sabbath was to be kept from sunset to sunset
(Lev. 23:32).
In the New Testament we find that Jesus and His disciples
kept the weekly Sabbath. As “God manifested in the flesh,” Jesus
proclaimed that He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28); as

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Lord God of the Old Testament, He was the one Who had created
time, beginning with the continuous seven-day cycle leading to
the seventh-day Sabbath. He is the one Who created the cyclical
seven-day Sabbath count.
Contrary to what some religionists claim, time has never
been lost. God—“with Whom there is no variation, nor shadow of
turning” (James 1:17)—has continually upheld the vital seven-
day cycle. While numerous religions have designated various
days as “holy days” or “Sabbaths,” such proclamations are null
and void before God. All self-proclaimed human decrees or
calendar schemes have absolutely no effect upon God’s
divinely ordained seven-day cycle—nor do they alter His
seventh-day Sabbath.
Today, in most of the world and in nearly every language,
the seventh-day Sabbath is known as Saturday on the Roman
Civil Calendar. In spite of the fact that Europe utilizes a calendar
that has been reconfigured to make Sunday appear to be the
seventh day of the week, God is not bound by this calendar
arrangement devised by men and sanctioned by the Roman
Catholic Church. The European calendar notwithstanding, the
seventh-day Sabbath of God, as commanded in the Bible, is still
designated on the Roman Calendar as Saturday (though it appears
as the sixth day on today’s European calendar). Man’s attempt to
make it appear that Sunday is the seventh day of the week does
nothing to change the true seventh-day Sabbath as commanded by
God throughout Scripture.
For thousands of years, the Jews’ observance of the
seventh-day Sabbath has been and continues to be living proof of
this fact. While scattered into all parts of the world, the Jews have
never lost the correct day for the Sabbath. (The weekly Sabbath is
reckoned from sunset to sunset wherever one may live on the
earth. For more information on the Sabbath, you may request our
booklet Which Day is the True Christian Sabbath.)
In spite of these irrefutable proofs from God’s Word, self-
appointed religionists continue to come up with new schemes to
change the weekly cycle, and hence change the Sabbath. With
bizarre and perverted interpretations of God’s Word, some have
devised their own calendar systems, claiming that they are God’s
Sacred Calendar. But in order to do this they must completely

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

ignore (and thus reject) the clear commands of God for the seven-
day Sabbath count.
One particular humanly-devised calendar alters the count
toward the Sabbath by starting the seven-day cycle with the second
or third day of the lunar month—with the sighting of the waxing
crescent. This is done regardless of the day of the week on which
this sighting falls on. With the waxing crescent day as the first day of
the seven-day cycle, the seventh-day Sabbath can fall on any day of
the week—until it is “reset” at the next sighting of the waxing
crescent! This idea is utterly preposterous and has absolutely no
basis in Scripture! This foolish scheme is in some ways more
destructive than the Sunday error of Orthodox Christianity.
The Calculated Hebrew Calendar is designed so that the
months in the year conform to the weekly cycle—not vice versa
as is the case with the Lunar/Sabbath Calendar. This astronomical
fact is dictated by the reality of the relationship of the sun, the
moon and the earth.
The method by which the calendar is adjusted to the
weekly cycle is the application of the rules of postponement, not
attempting to do so by discarding days willy-nilly along the way!
The weekly cycle cannot be made to conform to the months of the
year (as the enthusiasts of the Lunar/Sabbath are attempting to
do) because the lunar months of the year are in reality not all 28
days in length!
As God did not design the moon’s orbit so that each lunar
month has exactly 28 days, Lunar/Sabbath enthusiasts must
discard 1 or 2 days each month! The so-called Lunar/Sabbath
does not exist in reality—it only “exists” in the vain imaginations
of the twisted minds of those who believe it is so and like
mindless lemmings so enthusiastically profess it.
All calendars must conform to the reality of the solar
system as God created it and must be expressed in a mathematics
that models that reality. We cannot fantasize a solar system into
existence patterned after our own insane imaginations, fabricate a
mathematics that models that insanity and expect that we are
actually worshiping the Creator of the universe as He has
commanded!
(You may request additional detailed information and
sample calendar charts showing how serious an error this lunar/
Sabbath method is.)

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar

The Sacred Calendar of God is called the Calculated
Hebrew Calendar (CHC). As a Luni/Solar calendar, the CHC
bases its years on the sun and utilizes the phases of the moon to
determine the beginning of months. Importantly, the CHC retains
God’s continuous, cyclical count of the seven-day week to which
the months and years must conform. The CHC is in harmony with
and includes the counting of the days of the week (which are
reckoned each day from “sunset to sunset”). In other words,
God’s reckoning and calculating of the months and years is
entirely separate from—but runs parallel to—the weekly cycle.
On the fourth day of creation, God set the positions of the
sun and moon (and the stars), which form the basis of the
calculations of the CHC in establishing days, months and years.
“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heavens to divide between the day and the night [days are first],
and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons [the annual
feasts], and for days [the annual holy days] and years [including
the seventh-year land Sabbath and Jubilees every fifty years]; and
let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light
upon the earth.’ And it was so. And God had made two great
lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night; and God had made the stars also. And God set them
[in their exact positions] in the firmament of the heavens to
give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the
night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God
saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the
fourth day” (Gen. 1:14-19).
From Genesis chapters seven and eight, we are able to
determine that at the time of the Flood each month of the Hebrew
Calendar contained the same number of days as they do to this
day. The Flood began “in the second month, on the seventeen
day of the month…. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a
hundred and fifty days … and at the end of the hundred and fifty
days the waters had gone down. And in the seventh month, on
the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the
mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 7:11, 24; 8:3-4). From these passages
we can conclude that from the very moment of creation God's
Sacred Calendar was the same as it is today.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Every calendar in the history of man has attempted to

measure time by either the solar or the lunar cycle. The Civil/
Roman calendar we use today is a solar calendar. Because it is a
solar calendar, its months are synchronized with the equinoxes
and solstices of the solar year.
The 365 days in the solar year are divided into four
months with 30 days (30 x 4 = 120), seven months with 31 days
(31 x 7 = 217), and one month with 28 days (120 + 217 + 28 =
365 days). Although the calendar year is 365 days, the actual
solar year is 365.2425 days. The fraction of a day (approximately
¼ day) is made up by adding one day to February every 4 years.
This synchronizing adjustment of one day is a postponement.
Thus, March 1 is postponed by one day every four years.
Because we live in a culture that uses this calendar, it
governs our days and months of worship. It governs our work
schedules, vacations, graduations, weddings and funerals. It
governs our financial system. All businesses, large and small,
depend on the calendar to set dates of contracts, interest
schedules, tax schedules and billing periods.
The Hebrew Calendar served the same purposes for
banking and commerce in ancient times. However, its most
important function was, and still is, to set the dates of the annual
holy days that God established at the creation of the world.
Genesis 1:14 tells us that God arranged the sun, moon and
stars in the heavens “for signs, and for seasons, and for days and
years.” The word “seasons” is translated from the Hebrew moed,
which means “appointed times.” Observing God’s appointed
times helps us to understand His plan of salvation for mankind.
These appointed times are listed in Leviticus 23, where
the Hebrew moed is translated “feasts.” The first feast, or
appointed time, is the weekly Sabbath (v. 3). The annual feasts,
which take place during the three harvest seasons in the year, are
listed next.
The Passover, the first of the annual feasts of God, is
observed at the beginning of the 14th day of the first month (v. 5).
The 14th day itself is not a Sabbath but a day of preparation for
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins on the following
day, the 15th, and lasts for seven days (v. 6). The first day and the
seventh day are Sabbaths of rest (vs. 7-8).

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The next verses describe the wave sheaf offering, which

takes place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread on “the day
after the [weekly] Sabbath,” which then is the first day of the
week—Sunday. From this first day of the week/Sunday, seven
complete weeks are counted (v. 15) and the following Sunday
(the 50th day) is the Feast of Firstfruits, (vs. 16, 21). This feast is
referred to in the New Testament as Pentecost, which means
“fiftieth (Acts 2:1).
The following verses in Leviticus 23 describe the fall
festival season, which is composed of four separate feasts that all
take place in the seventh month of the year. The Feast of
Trumpets is the first day of the seventh month and is a Sabbath of
rest (v. 24). The tenth day is the Day of Atonement, also a
Sabbath (vs. 22-28). The Feast of Tabernacles begins on the 15th
day and lasts for seven days (v. 34). The first day is a Sabbath of
rest (v. 35). Immediately following the Feast of Tabernacles is the
last feast of the year, which is also a Sabbath of rest (v. 36). This
feast day is called the “Last Great Day” in the New Testament
(John 7:37).
All these feasts, or “appointed times,” were observed by
the servants of God in the Old Testament down to the time of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Before Jacob’s death, he and his
eleven sons went down to Egypt, where his son Joseph had risen
to rulership. After several generations of living among Egyptian
sun worshippers who observed pagan festivals, the descendants of
Jacob lost all knowledge of God’s feast days.
When God sent Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, He
began to restore the knowledge of His appointed times. Exodus
12 records His instructions for the feasts of the first month:
“And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land
of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months: it shall be the first month of the year to you’ ” (vs. 1-2).
The following verses in Exodus 12 give instructions for
the feasts of the first month—the Passover on the 14th day and
the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th through the 21st day.
These are the only feasts that are recorded in Exodus 12.
Although the other feast days are not listed in Exodus 12, God
gave Moses instructions for them also. Psalm 81 testifies that God
delivered instructions for all His appointed times when He
brought Israel out of Egypt:

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“Blow the trumpet in the new moon, in the time

appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for
Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This He ordained in Joseph
for a testimony…” (vs. 3-5).
Verse 3 is referring to the new moon of the seventh
month. This is the only new moon of the year that God appointed
as a feast day. The New King James Version of Psalm 81:3 gives
the complete meaning of the Hebrew text, confirming that this
verse is speaking of the seventh month:
“Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the
full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel,
A law of the God of Jacob. This He established in Joseph as a
testimony…”
There is no question that Psalm 81 is referring to the
seventh month. No other month of the year has a commanded
feast on both the new moon and the full moon. The seventh
month is the last month of the annual holy day season. Thus
Psalm 81:3 confirms that God delivered a complete calendar for
observing His appointed times when the Exodus took place.
The Hebrew word that is translated “New Moon” in Psalm
81:3 is chodesh. This same Hebrew word is translated “month” in
Exodus 12. Chodesh is used numerous times in the Old
Testament and may be translated either “month” or “moon”
depending on the context in which it is used. Its literal meaning is
“new moon,” which is the first day of each month in the Hebrew
Calendar.
The fact that the Hebrew text uses the same words for
“new moon” and “month” gives us insight into the calendar that
God delivered to His people. The months of this calendar are set
by the lunar cycle—not by the equinoxes and solstices of the
solar cycle.
Because the lunar cycle varies from month to month due
to irregularities in the moon’s orbit, the Hebrew Calendar uses the
average length of the lunar cycle to calculate the months. The
average lunar cycle is 29.53 days (rounded off to the nearest one
hundredth). Since months cannot consist of half days, the months
of the Hebrew Calendar are alternately assigned 29 and 30 days.
This sequence of 29 and 30 days works very well to keep the
months aligned with the new moons.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Based on the average lunar cycle of 29.53 days, a 12-

month year will have 354.36 days (12 x 29.53). As the monthly
average of 29.53 days is attained by a combination of 29 and 30-
day months, so the yearly average of 354.36 days is attained by a
combination of 353, 354 and 355-day years.
These three year lengths keep the calendar aligned with
the movement of the moon, but they can not keep the calendar
aligned with the seasons of the solar cycle. Lunar years that are
353 to 355 days in length are 10 to 12 days shorter than solar
years.
If the Hebrew Calendar consisted only of 12-month years,
all the annual feasts of God would drift farther and farther from
their correct seasons. To prevent this from happening, the
calendar uses intercalation. Intercalation is the process of adding
a 13th month every 2 or 3 years. The result is a combination of 12-
month “common” years with 353 to 355 days and 13-month
“leap” years with 383 to 385 days. There is a fixed cycle of 12
common years and 7 intercalary years in each period of 19 years,
producing an average of 365 days per year.
Adding a 13th month to the end of a year does not change
the length of the holy day season, which begins in the first month
of the following year. In every year, there are 177 days from the
new moon of the first month to the new moon of the seventh
month. The new moon of the seventh month is the pivotal point
for calculating the holy days for the year. The Hebrew Calendar
calculates this moon first, and then counts back to the new moon
of the first month.
This procedure is supported by the decree of God in Psalm
81 concerning the new moon of the seventh month. The word
“testimony” in Verse 5 is translated from the Hebrew aydooeth
and is elsewhere used of the Ten Commandments, which were
inscribed in tables of stone by the hand of God. In like manner,
the calendar that God delivered to Moses was a written decree for
calculating His appointed times. In ancient Israel, the blowing of
the trumpet on the first day of the seventh month was a
proclamation of the “New Moon of the Year”—so named because
it determines the beginning of all the months of the year.
Since the first day of each month is a new moon, the
fifteenth day of each month is a full moon. This is the time that
God appointed to begin the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the first

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

month and the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month. The

timing of these feasts is the primary focus of the calculations of
the Hebrew Calendar. The calculations aim for the best
illumination of the moon for the arrival of these two major feasts
of the year.
It is not possible to achieve 100% illumination in every
year due to variations in the lunar cycle. Despite these variations,
the calendar has maintained an average of more than 99%
illumination for thousands of years. No lunar calendar designed
by man has ever survived the test of time.
The Hebrew Calendar requires many more calculations
than our modern solar calendar. Due to the many variables in the
lunar cycle, it is necessary to use complex mathematical averages
to calculate the months and years. Because the lunar year is
shorter than the solar year, 13-month years are needed to keep the
holy days in their appointed seasons. While these calculations
provide accurate dating in most years, there are years when the
variables in the lunar cycle require additional adjustments to the
calendar.
In such years, the calculated dates are corrected by
mathematical formulas that keep the calendar precisely on target
for observing the holy days. These mathematical formulas are
expressed in simple terms as the Rules of Postponement. These
four rules are applied when the calculations that are based on
averages place the new moon of the seventh month too early,
which would cause the holy days to be observed before their
appointed times.
God in His wisdom set the sun and moon in their positions
expressly for the purpose of establishing His appointed times.
Foreseeing every circumstance that would arise with the passing
of time, He made provision for all irregularities to be corrected
when He gave instructions to Moses for calculating His feast
days. This revelation was committed to His people for all time.
Regardless of their unfaithfulness, God has preserved the
Hebrew Calendar through them. Although they have changed
their observance of the Passover and the Feast of Pentecost, they
have retained all the calculations of the Hebrew Calendar. Paul’s
letter to the Romans confirms this truth:
“What then is the advantage of the Jew? ... Much in every
way. Primarily in that they were entrusted with the oracles of

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief nullify
the faithfulness of God?” (Rom. 3:1-3.)
The Hebrew Calendar is the same today as it was in the
days of Noah, Abraham, Moses and all the prophets of the Old
Testament. It is the calendar that Jesus and His apostles followed.
It stands as a testimony to the faithfulness of God in our time, and
it will remain in effect during the coming reign of Christ (Isa.
66:23, Zech. 14:6) (by Carl D. Franklin, July 31, 2014).

The Calendar of Noah

In light of the recent unprecedented floods in the
midwestern United States, I decided to review the account of
Noah’s flood in Genesis 7 and 8. This study resulted in bringing
to my attention the very detailed recording of the passage of time
as the events of the Flood took place. These events are given to us
as inspired by Christ, the Word, in a chronology of days and
months through which God reveals a system for measuring time
that parallels the present calculations of the Hebrew Calendar.
A number of assumptions have been made about how time
was measured when the events in the book of Genesis took place,
the most prominent being that a year was comprised of twelve 30-
day months. According to this view, the forty-two months and the
1260 days that are prophesied in Revelation 11:2-3 are identical.
It should be noted, however, that the 42 months of the prophecy
in Revelation 11 represent the period of time of the treading down
of the Holy City while the 1260 days represent the period of time
that the two witnesses prophesy. Neither the assumption that there
were originally only 30-day months nor the premise that the
moon’s orbit originally matched the yearly cycle of the sun is
verifiable by this scripture.
Many believe that both of these conditions existed at the
creation of the world but that through the passage of time and
events the relationship of the sun and moon to the earth was
altered, giving us the average lunar month of 29 days, 12 hours,
44 minutes, and 3&1/3 seconds. However, a study of the
scriptural account of the Noachian Flood will demonstrate that the
moon’s orbit has never changed. The irregularity of its orbit does
not allow a calendar with the same number of days in each year.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

The rather wobbly orbit of the moon periodically requires

the addition of one or two days to the year to keep the months
aligned with the phases of the moon, and the length of the moon’s
orbit periodically requires the addition of a thirteenth month to
the year to align the calendar with the solar seasons in order to
keep the holy days of God at their appointed times. This
intercalary month is necessitated by the yearly cycle of the sun,
which is longer than the lunar cycle. All moon-based calendars,
including those based on moon sighting, require some type of
intercalation in order to prevent seasonal shifting.
In the Hebrew Calendar, the length of the year is regulated
by an established intercalary cycle and by four mathematically-
based rules of postponement. When neither intercalation nor
postponement is needed, the year is composed of six 30-day
months and six 29-day months, which makes a year of 354 days.
However, many years have a greater number of days due to the
need for intercalation or postponement to align the calendar with
the actual positions of the sun and the moon. The necessity to
adjust the calendar to the orbits of the sun and moon results in six
different lengths of years: defective common years with 353 days,
regular common years with 354 days, excessive common years
with 355 days, defective leap years with 383 days, regular leap
years with 384 days, and excessive leap years with 385 days.
Knowing the number of days in a specific year enables us
to determine whether or not intercalation or postponement was
needed that year. Some years may require both processes in order
to keep the calendar in time with the movements of the sun and
moon. The excessive leap year of 385 days occurs only when
both intercalation and the rules of postponement are applied.
This fact has great bearing on the chronology of days and
months in the scriptural account of the Noachian Flood. If the
chronological record reveals that the year of the Flood was 385
days in length, it is unequivocally established as an excessive leap
year and demonstrates that the calculations of the Hebrew
Calendar were in effect many centuries before Moses received
them from God. Let us examine the scriptural account of the
Flood.
Genesis 7:11: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in
the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on this day
all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

windows of heaven were opened.” This verse gives us the starting

day of the Deluge: the seventeenth day of Iyar, the second month.
The fact that the Noachian Flood began in the second month of
the year tells us that it was the season of spring.
Some may question this statement in the belief that the
seventh month, Tishri, should start the year. They may even claim
that Adam and Eve had to have been created in the fall of the year
in order for them to have food to eat. But the garden was tropical,
or semi-tropical, producing food throughout the year. Moreover,
the calendar that God delivered to Moses clearly began in the
spring of the year.
Exodus 12:2: “This month shall be to you the beginning of
months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.” God gave
Moses specific instructions for determining the beginning point of
the year. This is the first of many scriptures designating the time
that God ordained to start the year.
It should be noted that at this time Moses was not in
Jerusalem but in the land of Goshen. According to some,
Jerusalem is the only geographical area from which to sight the
new moon of the first month. In addition, when God gave His
instructions to Moses, the first month had already begun. As the
new moon had already arrived, it was too late for Moses to
determine the beginning of the year by observation. Instead,
Moses received instructions from God for determining the months
of the year by calculation.
According to the calculations of the Hebrew Calendar, the
first month of the year is composed of 30 days. The account of
the Flood states that the forty days of rain started on the
seventeenth day of the second month, revealing the passage of 46
days from the first day of the year to the beginning of the Flood.
Genesis 7:11: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the
second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day
all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the
windows of the heavens were opened.”
The breaking up of the fountains of the deep depicts
massive earthquakes releasing immeasurable quantities of water,
producing incredible tsunamis and storms of violence that modern
man has never witnessed. No man-made shelter could have
withstood the enormity of the violence that passed over the face

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

of the earth. Verse 12: “And the rain fell upon the earth forty days
and forty nights.”
This verse records that the initial length of the outpouring
of water was forty days, and Genesis 7:17 confirms it: “And the
flood was on the earth forty days, and the waters increased and
bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.”
Note that it was the accumulation of water during the forty
days that resulted in lifting the Ark high above the earth. The
description in Verses 17 through 23 is relating what took place as
a result of the forty days of rain and the breaking up of the
fountains of the deep. At the end of forty days, the Ark was
fifteen cubits above the highest mountain (v. 20).
Genesis 7:24: “And the waters prevailed upon the earth a
hundred and fifty days.” The basic meaning of the Hebrew word
that is translated “prevailed” is to be “strong, mighty” (Brown,
Driver and Briggs, p. 149). The waters did not prevail over the
earth on the first or second day of the Flood. They prevailed at the
end of the forty days when the Flood reached its maximum depth,
making the one hundred and fifty days of prevailing consecutive
to the forty days of rain. Both periods of time need to be included
in order to determine the total length of time of the events of the
Flood.
As recorded in the scriptural account, God did not allow
the level of the Flood waters to drop until they had prevailed for
one hundred and fifty days. He prevented this by sending
additional rain and by bringing up waters from the fountains of
the deep. God caused the waters to continue for one hundred and
fifty days to maintain the level at fifteen cubits above the highest
mountains. This ensured the death of all air-breathing life on land.
Genesis 8:1-3:“And God remembered Noah, and every
living thing, and all the animals which were with him in the ark.
And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters
subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of
heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was
restrained. And the waters receded from off the earth continually,
and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters had gone
down.”
These verses describe the process by which God began to
dry up the Flood waters. This process continued for an extended
period of time as demonstrated by the word translated

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

“decreased,” “gone down” or “abated” 2637 at the end of Verse 3.

This word is used in the account to describe the removal of the
waters from the flooded earth. Gesenius gives the following
definition of this word: “(1) To be devoid of anything, to lack, to
be without, followed by an accusative.” As we continue to
examine the scriptural account, we will learn the exact length of
time that it took for the waters of the Flood to recede and the
ground to become dry.
Genesis 8:4: “And in the seventh month, on the
seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains
of Ararat.” This verse gives the impression that the Ark settled
down on the mountains of Ararat because the waters had started
to decrease. However, for the Ark to rest on the ground would
have required the depth of the water to have fallen considerably.
The highest mountains were covered to a depth of fifteen cubits—
not a great depth until you consider that fifteen cubits of water
above Mt. Everest at 29,000 feet would make a depth of more
than two miles above Mt. Ararat at 17,000 feet.
In addition, consider that the date given for this
occurrence, the seventh month, the seventeenth day, was only 194
days into the six hundredth year (Nisan 1 through Tishri 17).
However, the scriptural account records that 236 days of that year
had passed before God started to dry up the Flood waters (46 plus
40 plus 150 equals 236). If you figure that the forty days of rain
were part of the 150 days, the total would still be 196 days before
the waters began to decrease. It was therefore impossible for the
Ark to have been lodged on the ground on the seventeenth day of
the seventh month as the waters had not yet begun to decrease.
What then is the meaning of the word “rested” in Genesis
8:4? The word “rested” 5117 is describing a stopping of movement
or activity. The same Hebrew word is used in Exodus 20:11:
“God rested on the seventh day.” His activity or movement
ended.
The use of this word in Genesis 8:4 tells us that the Ark
remained immobile at a specific location. It was no longer rolling
and plunging through churning, turbulent Flood waters. The
winds that had driven it ceased to blow, the waves subsided, and
the waters surrounding the Ark became calm and placid. The Ark
came to a stop as if God had anchored it above the tops of the
mountains. God maintained the location of the Ark at Mt. Ararat

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

not because it was physically stuck but because God wanted it

there. It did not settle upon the ground until after the waters had
fully abated from their two-mile depth above Mt. Ararat.
The scriptural account reveals that the decreasing of the
waters took place gradually over the remaining months of the
year. To determine the total passage of time in the account of the
Flood, it is necessary to know the exact date that the last of the
waters dried up. This date is recorded in Genesis 8:13: “And it
came to pass in Noah’s six hundred and first year, in the first
month, the first day of the month, that the waters were drying up
from off the face of the earth. And Noah removed the covering of
the ark and looked, and, behold, the face of the earth was
drying.” This verse tells us that the waters were drying up on the
first day of the six hundredth and first year, and Noah’s removal
of the covering confirmed this fact. This state of dryness was
reached exactly one hundred and fifty days from the time that the
waters had ceased to prevail.
It should be noted at this point that counting the initial
forty days of the Flood as part of the one hundred and fifty days
of the waters prevailing would make the six hundredth year only
345 days in length (46 days to the beginning of the Flood plus
150 days of the waters prevailing plus 150 days of the waters
decreasing equals 346 days, minus 1 day for the first day of the
601st year equals 345 days). There is no yearly cycle, either
calculated or observed, that would fit a 345-day year. This fact
confirms that the 40 days of rain and the 150 days of the waters
prevailing were two separate periods of time, just as the 150 days
of the waters abating were separate from the 150 days of the
waters prevailing. These three periods of time extended from the
second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life to the first
month of his six hundredth and first year.
*In the KJV this verse states that on the first day of the
first month all the Flood waters were gone and the earth was dry,
but the scriptural account extends beyond this point. (See page
31) Genesis 8:14: “And in the second month, on the twenty-
seventh day of the month, the land was fully dry.” (FV) This verse
may seem to contradict the preceding verse, but the word used in
Verse 13 to describe the dryness of the earth does not have the
same meaning as the word used in Verse 14. The Hebrew word
that is translated “dried” and “dry” 2717 in Verse 13 is chareb.
* See note on page 31.
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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

However, the Hebrew word translated “dry” 3001 in Verse 14 is

yabesh. Gesenius notes that these two Hebrew words represent
different levels of dryness. The first denotes an absence of water,
and the second represents a condition more akin to that of a lack
of moisture, or withered. Verse 13 depicts a condition of no
standing water whereas Verse 14 is describing dry soil that is no
longer saturated. This stage of dryness was reached 56 days after
the Flood waters dried up.
The account records that Noah remained in the Ark until
the earth reached this second stage of dryness. There was good
reason for waiting to leave the Ark until the soil had dried. If
Noah had released the animals before the ground was dry, the
elephants and other large animals might have gotten bogged
down and entrapped in mud.
After the withdrawal of the Flood waters and drying of the
ground, the earth was prepared to receive the survivors of the
Flood. They had entered the Ark on the seventeenth day of the
second month in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. Below is a
computation of the number of days that passed in the year of the
Flood.

Gen. 7:11 Flood begins on 17th day of 2nd month 46 days

(30 days in the 1st month plus 16 days in the 2nd)

Gen. 7:12 Rain for 40 days and 40 nights 40 days

Gen. 7:24 Waters prevail 150 days

Gen. 8:3 Waters abate 150 days

Total: 386 days

Gen. 8:13 Water dried on first day of the next year -1 day
Total: 385 days

The chronological facts that are recorded in the account in

the book of Genesis clearly establish a period of 385 days in the
year of the Noachian Flood. This year length is significant
because it is the exact number of days required for an excessive
leap year in the Hebrew Calendar. This remarkable account of the

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Flood, which God inspired to be recorded in his Word, is

indisputable evidence that the Hebrew Calendar bears His stamp
of approval. There can be no doubt that the calculations of the
Hebrew Calendar have been the basis of God’s true calendar from
the beginning.
After the Flood of Noah, dated 2369/2368 BC, to the final
exile of the Jews to Babylon in 585 BC, a total of 1782 years,
there were various astronomical events by which God temporally
altered the arrangement of the heavenly bodies within the solar
system—including the sun, moon and earth. Nevertheless, the
mathematical formula comprising the present Calculated Hebrew
Calendar has remained the same from creation!

Understanding the Postponement Rules

Determining the
Beginning of the Month
The months of the Hebrew Calendar are set by the lunar
cycle, which begins with a sliver-thin crescent that has an
illumination percentage a few points above zero. It is formed at
the point of conjunction when the moon appears to be enveloped
in total darkness. At this point, however, a very narrow arc of
light is exposed along one edge. This narrow arc of light is the
new moon.
Too faint to be visible, the new moon is portrayed on
calendars as a black circle. However, its existence as a formed
crescent has been scientifically demonstrated.1
Because the new moon cannot be sighted until it has been
waxing for one to three days, it must be determined by
calculation. This is the reason for the mathematics of the Hebrew
Calendar.
1
Although the new moon is typically depicted as a black
circle its actual phase is a very thin crescent, because the
moon does not pass directly in front of the sun (except during
a solar eclipse). On July 8, 2013, French astrophotographer
Thierry Legault successfully photographed the new moon,
although the crescent itself was not visible to the unaided eye.
(Wikipedia, s.v. “New Moon”)

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

To calculate the time that the new moon will occur, the
calendar uses a formula based on the average lunar cycle. The
calculated date is called the molad (the Hebrew word molad, or
moled, means “renewal”). The term “molad” clearly identifies the
new moon with the renewal of the lunar cycle at the time of the
conjunction.
Correctly identifying the new moon as the crescent that is
formed at the beginning of the lunar cycle is essential for the
observance of God’s holy days at their appointed times. Counting
from the first day of the lunar cycle ensures that the moon will be
full on the fifteenth day of the month as ordained by God in
Leviticus 23 and Psalm 81:1-3.
Since the full moon occurs midway through the lunar
cycle, in an average cycle it will fall at 14.765 days—about five
and a half hours before sunset beginning the 15th day. In a cycle
that is shorter than average, it may fall from six to twelve hours
before the 15th begins. In an average cycle the full moon occurs
at 22 minutes past noon on the 14th, but in a shorter cycle it
occurs on the morning of the 14th. In either case, it is at or near
100% illumination when it rises on the eve of the 15th.
The calculations of the Hebrew Calendar are designed to
provide the best possible illumination for the beginning of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15 and the Feast of
Tabernacles on Tishri 15. Relying on the visible crescent to set
the beginning of the month will in most years delay the
observance of these festivals until the 16th day of the lunar cycle,
after the peak period of illumination has passed.
Although the Hebrew Calendar consistently provides the
best illumination for Nisan 15 and Tishri 15, it is not possible to
achieve 100% illumination in every year due to variations in the
length of the lunar cycle. The average length of 29.53 days
includes cycles that range from 6 hours shorter to 7 hours longer.
In some years the peak period of illumination does not coincide
perfectly with the 15th day. Despite these variations, the Hebrew
Calendar has maintained an average of more than 99%
illumination for thousands of years.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

Calculating the Molad of Tishri

Although each month in the Hebrew Calendar begins with
a molad, the focus of the Hebrew Calendar is the calculation of
the Molad of Tishri. Calculating the Molad of Tishri is the first
step in determining the date of Tishri 1, which sets the holy days
for the entire year. The fact that in every year there are exactly
177 days from Nisan 1 to Tishri 1 makes it possible to count
backward to the beginning of the holy day season. In years when
additional days are needed to keep the calendar synchronized
with the movement of the sun and the moon, these days are
added before Nisan 1 so that the holy days never shift from their
appointed times.
The Hebrew Calendar, designed by God Himself, has a
proven method for synchronizing the lunar year with the seasons
of the solar year. It accomplishes this by the process of
intercalation, producing leap years as needed to keep pace with
the longer solar year. Because the lunar year is 11 days shorter
than the solar year, a 13th month is added in a fixed cycle of 7 out
of 19 years to prevent the holy days from drifting out of their
seasons. Adding a 13th month does not affect the weekly cycle of
days, which remains unchanged from sunset to sunset, serving as
a primary consideration in the declaration of Tishri 1.

Adjusting the Calculation of the Molad

to the Correct Day of the Week
The calculation of the Molad of Tishri, which is based on
the average lunar cycle, does not always fit the actual movement
of the moon. The mathematical formula that is used for
calculation allows the Molad to fall on the morning or afternoon
of any day in the week, but the movement of the moon prevents
the renewal of the lunar cycle from taking place on certain week
days. There is a forward progression in the week from one year to
the next that limits the first day of Tishri to specific days and
specific times of day.
In 39 years out of 100, the calculation of the Molad will
arrive at the correct day for the first day of Tishri. In the 61 years
when the day calculated for Tishri 1 is not accurate, the date must

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

be adjusted. The Postponement Rules are the mathematical

principles that God established to make this adjustment.
The Postponement Rules take effect when the date
calculated for the declaration of Tishri 1 does not fit the actual
time of the new moon. In such years, the calculated date is
adjusted by the application of one or more of the Postponement
Rules to keep the calendar precisely on target for the holy day
that begins the month of Tishri and sets all other months in the
year. (The mathematical basis of the Postponement Rules is
explained in the article “The Hebrew Calendar Made Simple” by
Dwight Blevins. This article is freely available upon request.)
God in His wisdom placed the sun and moon in their
positions expressly for the purpose of establishing His appointed
times. Foreseeing every circumstance that would arise with the
passing of time, He made provision for all irregularities to be
corrected when He gave instructions to Moses for calculating His
feast days. This revelation was committed to His people for all
time and is preserved in the Calculated Hebrew Calendar (by Carl
D. Franklin, June 5, 2015).
RULE ONE
When the Molad of Tishri or advancement occurs on a
Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, the declaration of Tishri 1 is
advanced one day to a Monday, Thursday or Saturday (Sabbath)
respectively.
RULE TWO
When the Molad of Tishri occurs at noon (18 hours 0
parts) or later, the declaration of Tishri 1 is advanced to the next
day.

RULE THREE
When the Molad of Tishri of a common year falls on
Tuesday, at or after 9 hours and 204 parts, the declaration of
Tishri 1 is advanced to Wednesday. The application of Rule One
advances the declaration one more day to Thursday.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

RULE FOUR
When the Molad of Tishri of a common year immediately
following an intercalary year occurs on a Monday, at or after 15
hours and 589 parts, the declaration of Tishri 1 is advanced to
Tuesday.

From the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple,

the Jews were exiled into many of the countries in the Middle
East, with the majority of them living in Babylon. After the 70-
year exile, some of the Jews returned to Judea to rebuild the city
and the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the governor,
and Joshua, the high priest. Since they kept the Passover and the
Feast of Unleavened Bread after the completion of the Second
Temple, it shows that the priests determined these festival
dates using the calculations God had given to them before the
exile.

The Calendar from Ezra to Hillel II

Some years later, before the city of Jerusalem was
completely rebuilt, these calculations were preserved by Ezra the
priest. In order to return the Jewish people to the true worship of
God, Ezra established the Great Assembly of 120 priests. It was
Ezra, with the help of these priests, who was responsible for the
canonization of the Old Testament into the form we have today.
At the same time, Ezra also formed what later became known as
the “Calendar Court,” which was responsible for properly
calculating and proclaiming the festivals and holy days in their
seasons as God had commanded in Leviticus 23. From that time
until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the priests of the
Calendar Court faithfully calculated the Sacred Calendar and
proclaimed the “feasts of the Lord in their seasons.”
During the time of Christ, the High Priest and president of
the Sanhedrin was called Nasi, and was in charge of the
calculations for the CHC. The Nasi had a lineage going back to
Ezra, who traces his line back to Hilkiah, the High Priest who was
the father of Jeremiah the prophet. They had all inherited a full
knowledge of the CHC, with all of its God-given rules for the
proper calculation of the high days.

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

The Nasi’s, still of priestly lineage, continued to calculate

and set the annual holy days beyond Jerusalem from just after the
time of Christ up to Hillel II in the 300s AD. Thus, we have a
central calendar authority invested in a single family of the
Aaronic line, going from the middle 300s AD back to Ezra, and
then back to Hilkiah.
Anyone who says Hillel II invented the CHC with its
various rules of calculation is going directly against the records of
history, both in the Bible and those histories that have been
accurately maintained by the priests and Levites within the Jewish
community. Hillel II, as the last of the great sages, used his office
of Nasi to absolutely guarantee that the knowledge of the CHC
and its methods of calculation would not be lost. He made sure
this priestly knowledge—withheld from the general populace
until his day—was imparted worldwide to all the Jews, and hence
to the world as well. This knowledge has been preserved within
the Jewish community and is known as the Calculated Hebrew
Calendar. Why? He was worried that continued Roman
persecution might do away with the observance of the Holy Days
at the proper times as commanded by God.
The Jewish people and the early New Testament
Christians were scattered far and wide throughout many
nations—from the Middle East to the Atlantic and the British
Islands in the west; to Europe, Scythia and Parthia in the north;
from Babylon and Persia to India in the east; and from Egypt and
North Africa to Ethiopia in the south.
However, the calculations God gave to the priests and
Levites to accurately reckon the festivals made it possible for the
holy days to be observed at the same time worldwide.
Furthermore, with the CHC, the high days could be precisely
determined years in advance. The discussion of the ancient rabbis
in the tractate Rosh Hashanah offers historical evidence that the
Sacred Calendar at the time of Christ and the apostle Paul was
calculated, with all the necessary rules to keep festival
observance accurate throughout time. In fact, the calculations of
the CHC can be used to determine festival dates for any year into
the future, as well as to accurately calculate such dates back in
time to the time of Noah and beyond.
Today, even with the advent of “modern astronomy” and
its super-telescopes coupled to high-speed supercomputers, no

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one has been able to improve on the CHC. Indeed, the CHC that
God has given to the Aaronic priesthood (which has been
preserved for us today) is more accurate in calculating the
festivals and holy days of God than any modern method. And it
should be, because God ordained it.

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar is

Accurate for Us Today
We need to know whether or not the CHC—as it is
currently calculated, and has been calculated for thousands of
years by the Levitical priesthood—is in fact the God-ordained
method we should use today to determine when God’s holy days
should be kept. If it is, and we can prove it, then we should not
tamper with it. It is just that simple.
Simple Proof of the Accuracy of the CHC: According to
the CHC, on the night of the beginning of the 15th day of the first
month (Nisan), the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and on the night of the beginning of the 15th day of the seventh
month (Tishri), the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles, there is
a full moon. Anyone can observe the moon on those two nights
and see that it is full. Personally, I have done this for more than
51 years and the moon has always been full. This is simple proof
of the accuracy of the CHC.
Two Major Additional Proofs: In the Harmony of the
Gospels and in the Faithful Version of the Bible, we present
detailed scriptural and calendrical information about the birth and
death of Jesus Christ. This information clearly proves that God
used only the CHC in fulfilling His prophecies about these two
most important biblical events.
Proof Number One: Paul writes of the “appointed time”
of Jesus’ birth: “Now then, I say, for as long a time as the heir is a
child, he is no different from a servant, although he be lord of all;
but he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed
beforehand by the father…. But when the [appointed] time for
the fulfillment came, God sent forth His own Son, born of a
woman…” (Gal. 4:1-2, 4).
Proof Number Two: In his epistle to the Romans, Paul
again writes that Jesus’ death occurred at the “appointed time” of

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

God: “For even when we were without strength, at the appointed

time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). We find in the
book of Revelation that this “appointed time” of Jesus’ death had
been predetermined from the foundation of the world, as Christ is
“the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev.
13:8).
WHAT DAY WAS THAT? It was the Passover day,
Nisan 14, in 30 AD, according to the CHC—and April 5
according to the Julian Roman Calendar. Furthermore, the CHC
shows that this day was in the middle of the week—the fourth
day, Wednesday, on the Roman Calendar. This made it possible
for Jesus to be in the tomb for three days and three nights, and be
raised from the dead toward the end of the weekly Sabbath—
exactly as He had prophesied!
Why is it important that God fulfilled these two central
prophetic events on the exact day He said? THEY PROVE THAT
GOD’S WORD IS TRUE AND THAT HE FULFILLED THESE
EVENTS ON THE EXACT DAY HE HAD APPOINTED
BEFOREHAND—FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE
WORLD! Moreover, all of the prophesied details of the events of
that day were fulfilled! Not one word failed!
These key events were fulfilled on the exact days foretold
by prophecy thousands of years before. This means the timetable
God used to accomplish these prophecies was predetermined by
the CHC. Thus, the CHC—with all of its rules and
postponements—is the only calendar designed, ordained and
authorized by God for the observance of His Sabbaths and holy
days. All other calendar schemes of men are null and void. No
one should allow himself or herself to be deceived into rejecting
the CHC in order to follow calendar schemes of men!
Carefully examine appendices E and F in the Faithful
Version; study the CHC evidence and the historical details
concerning the proof of when Jesus was born and when He was
crucified. As you will discover, there is no question that God used
the CHC and the framework of the Passover and the holy days to
fulfill these vital prophecies.
We have available the full Calculated Hebrew Calendar
Pack. It contains numerous detailed written studies; four 90-
minute DVDs; a book on how to calculate the Hebrew Calendar;
calendar charts showing the error of the so-called lunar/Sabbath

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 Which Is the True Calendar of God?

calendar heresy; and a CD that contains the mathematical formula

for calculating the feasts and holy days of God in advance, or
back as far as the time of Noah and beyond.
We have God’s Sacred Calendar online at our website
here: http://cbcg.org/Calendar/index.html.

_____________________________
Note from page 21.
* (KJV) Gen 8:13-14 “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and
first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were
dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark,
and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the
month, was the earth dried.”
(FV) Gen. 8:13-14 “And it came to pass in Noah’s six hundred and first
year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were
drying up from off the face of the earth. And Noah removed the
covering of the ark and looked, and, behold, the face of the earth was
drying!
14. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month,
the land was fully dry.

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Christian Biblical Church of God Offices:
United States
Post Office Box 1442
Hollister, California 95024-1442
Canada
Post Office Box 125
Brockville, Ontario
K6V 5V2 Canada
Australia
GPO 1574
Sydney 2001
Australia
United Kingdom
Post Office Box 8224
Witham CM8 1WZ
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Post Office Box 73
Pokeno 2473
New Zealand
Republic of South Africa
Post Office Box 494
Frankfort 9830
Rep. of South Africa
Iglesia de Dios Cristiana y Bíblica
www.iglesiadedioscristianaybiblica.org
PO Box 831241
San Antonio, TX 78283

www.cbcg.org
www.churchathome.org
www.theoriginalbiblerestored.org
www.afaithfulversion.org