Rosh HaChodesh or Rosh HaShanah?
The following is a short article that I recently felt compelled to write to expose the error of keeping Abib as the Head of the year and the Beginning of the Sabbath/Jubilee Years. I was urged to keep the past period of Abib 1 to this Abib 1 as a Sabbath Year. I was determined to follow it if it proved out to be correct. However I was never fully convinced and after much consideration of this subject I have concluded that this is in fact a false teaching. If you can logically and clearly show that some or all of what I have posted here is wrong please do so clearly and with integrity. I ask that any points be made one at a time, point-counterpoint. May the TRUTH prevail!

The start and end of the Land Sabbath and the time of the New Year needs to be correctly ascertained before properly discerning the Jubilee. There is a seeming contradiction in the Torah concerning this, and that cannot be. Any contradictions must be due to translational complexities and the consequential misunderstandings.
It is written:
Deu 11:12 a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year.
Either YHWH only cares about the Land 7 months of a year and not the other 5 or 6, or one of the following passages is poorly translated.
This passage seems to indicate that Abib is the beginning of the year:
Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
However these passages state the end of the year is in the 7th Month:
Exo 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
Deu 31:10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
This leaves one with three logical possibilities.
1. The “year” consists of only seven months.
2. Exo 12:2 is unclearly translated.
3. Exo 23:16, 34:22 Deu 31:10 are translated improperly along with many other supporting passages that show the intimate connection between the feasts and the joyful gathering of the 7 species of praise.
I believe the correct choice of these three possibilities is number 2. I will therefore show below some reasons for the differences between some translations of Exo 12:2.
One of the keys to understanding this verse correctly is the understanding of the essence of the Rosh Pina. The ROSH PINA is the CHIEF cornerstone, the HEAD of the corner and the HEAD STONE of the Temple that is made without hands.
1Pe 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
The word “beginning”, in the KJV translation (and others), of Exo. 12:2 is the translator’s choice of expression for the Hebrew word “Rosh”. This word primarily means to “shake” as in shaking the head, “Head” or “Chief”. “Beginning” is a secondary use. For example the Scriptures 98 Translation renders Rosh as “Chief” in:
Psa 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the (rosh)chief corner-stone.
Abib is given the recognition of the “Chief” of the months because it is the anniversary of the Deliverance of the Exodus and now the Great Deliverance. This does not change the Anniversary of the Creation of Ahdahm’s soul and the count of the years of man from that day. The set time of the changing of the year count cannot be changed, it has been set by Creation. It is the time that the Spirit of Life began to dwell in earthly tabernacles, as it did in the first Adahm at the set time of the first “Tabernacles” (temporary dwelling-places) and likewise with the second Ahdahm as well. Furthermore the word also denotes a “shaking”, this is what the Priest is doing with this first of the 7 first fruits, he is “shaking” the First-Firstfruit during the “Chief” month (Rosh HaChodesh) of the Festival Months.
Likewise was YAHUSHUA our Chief “shaken”. The First of the 7 first fruits, who was marked when “green and tender”(Abib) and then cut down just like the barley that had been marked by the Priests and people on “The” New Moon (hachodesh) and that 2 weeks later became the “Wave Sheaf” at the set time and when it was first just ripe enough to be a sacrifice. This wasn’t His “beginning” but the time of the “beginning” of His Sacred Priesthood and Resurrection, the time He became Chief and the end of the time of His Earthly Ministry and the beginning of His Sacred Heavenly Priesthood. The latter does not erase nor replace the former, but is built upon it. So it is with the Biblical Calendar, which is to be a perfect reflection of HIM. The Calendar’s Spiritual Cycle begins in Abib and in harmony with the role of our “Rosh”. There are Spiritual and Earthly events co-operating at the same time and culminating in the fulfillment of their joint purpose at the End, the “Tekoofah”. The Sacred Moons begin with the “Tenoofaw” and end along with all the moons at the “Tehkoofaw”. This is the ingathering at the years end (Aseef Tehkoofaw Shanah) of Exo 34:22, or the final gathering at the End of the Year. Also called the “gathering at the going out of the year” (yah-tsaw shanah awsaf) in Exo 23:16. This is also a clear picture of the “Final Gathering at the end of time”. The “New Year” cannot begin until the “Old Year” has ended. Therefore Abib is not “Rosh HaShanah” but as it is written: “Rosh HaChodesh!” The Earthly and Spiritual “Rosh HaShanah” will occur after the final gathering!! HalleluYah!
Here is the Strong’s definition for the word translated as “wave” used in Exo: 29:24 which describes the “Wave Sheaf”:
ten-oo-faw' H8573 From H5130; a brandishing (in threat); by implication tumult; specifically the official undulation of sacrificial offerings: - offering, shaking, wave (offering).
YAHUSHUA was “offered”, “shaken”, “brandished”, “threatened” - tumultuously so. Beaten beyond recognition, just like when Barley seed is being beaten out of the hull. This process is now called de-hulling. A further process is called “pearling”. If you look at de-hulled and/or “pearled” barley it does not look like the sheaf it came from. YAHUSHUA also was beaten beyond recognition. Removing the hull from barley is a rigorous activity and is done mostly by machine in this age.
I like to think of YAHUSHUA as the “Pearl of Great Price”!
Here is the definition for the “End” of the year (shanah) used in Exo 34:22:
H8622 tek-oo-faw', tek-oo-faw'
From H5362; a revolution, that is, (of the sun) course, (of time) lapse: - circuit, come about, end.

Another key is the understanding of the word translated as “first” in Exo.12:2. This is the Hebrew word that is pronounced Rishon. A fuller meaning of this is: first in place, time or rank. “Rank” must be a possible meaning in this passage.
Another key is the understanding of the word translated as “year”. This is the Hebrew word “HaShanah”. It is not merely “Shanah”, a revolution of time, but “HaShanah”. This signifies that this “Shanah” is THE revolution. It is THE Anniversary of THE EVENT! So HaShanah can be understood as “THE Anniversary REVOLUTION”. Think about the Exodus as “THE SACRED REVOLUTION”. Think “Annual Anniversary of the Sacred Schedule of Events”.
Another key is the word translated as month. This is the word pronounced “HaChodesh”- not simply “chodesh”. Ha means THE. Like in the Hebrew word “HaSHEM”–“The NAME”, or literally “The Sacred NAME”. So HaChodesh can be understood as “The New Moon” or even as “THE SACRED NEW MOON” (of the Exodus and our season of joy), not just “a new moon”.
Therefore in consideration of these understandings the passage in Exo 12:2 can be understood to mean: This, the Sacred New Moon, shall be to you the Head of the sacred (festival) new moons; it shall be the First Moon of the SACRED Revolution (Annual renewal of the Exodus and Passover thru Sukkot festival/harvest season of 7 months).
One translation renders it as: "This chodesh shall be to you the head of months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year."
See: http://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/74478/jewish
This literally means Abib is the Chief Month and the First in Rank, the High Month of the Sacred Months and therefore all months. Much of Christianity keeps something very similar called “Holy Week”. The “Holiest Week” or the Chief of the weeks, months and year comes annually in a revolution apart from the 1st day of the year in that counterfeit system.
A common misunderstanding of many Christians and likewise many “Messianics” and others is that Abib is the beginning of the Calendar year. These are sadly in error. Some commentaries state that the New Year Day originally was just after the 7th Moon but that this somehow was changed due to Exo 12:2. They seem to completely ignore the fact that Exo 23:16, 34:22 and Deu 31:10 are chronologically given after Exo 12:2. They also seem to ignore the fact that the Feasts are in perfect harmony with the gathering of the 7 primary crops of YAHUAH’s Praise. [Deuteronomy 8:8: (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey)]. This gathering begins with the New Moon of Abib Barley and the ceremonial beginning of Barley harvest at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the beginning of the grain harvest and the Season of our great joy and gathering. The Feast of Weeks marked by the counting of the Omer takes place 50 Days later at the end of the grain harvest with the last of the wheat being gathered in its appointed time. It is absolutely impossible to fulfill the command to gather 6 years of Barley and Wheat in their appointed times if you start a Sabbath year cycle anytime within the appointed growing seasons of Barley and Wheat. It necessarily must be after harvest and before planting. Barley and Wheat for grain in Eretz Yisrael were/are always planted in the fall time frame. Remember that Jerusalem is in the same latitude range as Abilene TX, farmers in Texas do not plant spring wheat or barley, doing so is not feasible. Keeping Abib as the beginning of the calendar year and beginning of the Sabbath Year means you would not gather 6 years of Barley or Wheat but only 5. Subsequently you would not experience the full measure of Joy meant to be experienced in the 6 years of commanded gathering. Truly the prophet Jeremiah describes this very type of calamity in: Jer 5:24 ‘And they do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear יהוה our Elohim, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He guards for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
And a sad result of not discerning the “Appointed weeks of the harvest” i.e. the weeks of the counting of the Omer is described in Jer 5:25 “Your crookednesses have turned these away, and your sins have kept the good from you.”
Deu 16:9 makes it quite clear that the seven weeks of the Omer count start at the beginning of the grain harvest. Deu 16:9 “Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.
Truly this is to be the season of our joy and is mentioned even by Isaiah: Isa 9:3 You shall increase the nation; You shall make its joy great. They shall rejoice before You, as in the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Truly the time of the Exodus was and is to be a time of joy: Psa 105:43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
Psa 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Psa 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him
If you do not sow in the fall season you will not have sheaves of Joy the next spring. The first year after an “Abib” based Sabbath year will be a sad one with no sheaves of grain.
Gal 6:7 Do not be led astray: Elohim is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap.
2Co 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
The other thing about keeping an Abib based calendar change is that you will not reap what you sow your 6th year. The scripture describes this type of thing. Mic 6:15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
Some will argue that we don’t need to gather 6 years of grain contrary to the Torah command to do so, claiming that 5 years will do because of the promised blessing on the 6th year production that it is to last till the 9th year. This provision is in part for prosperity, as it’s always nice to have some extra to sell for spending allowances beyond just base sustenance, and also especially for the sustenance during the 50th year of Jubilee when two consecutive years see no fall planting. The proponents of Abib being RoshHaShanah also fail to fully understand Lev 25:22: “And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.” This shows we are to plant grain in the fall after Sukkot, after the 7th year Sabbath ends. This grain would then be harvested the next season during the "appointed weeks" of harvest and would not be fully processed and prepared along with the other 7 species of praise until the end of that season/year (“aseef tekoofah shanah”) just before the beginning of the next and “9th” year. Without this promise adequate “flowing” supplies of some of the promised provisions would not be available all year, there would be a partial shortage every year. The Land is described as a “Land flowing with milk and honey”, not one with seasonal shortages. One must remember that these instructions were given from Mount Sinai before even the first year of the possession so the 8th year can be understood as year 8 of the habitation of the Land. Just as the 50th year would be the literal 50th year of possession. These instructions given set a clear precedent and pattern for the first 51 years that was to be repeated according to the set times and set revolutions. I must add that something must also be said of the symbolic meanings attached to the numbers 6, 7 and 8. Consider the application to years and months. 6 representing Man, 7 Representing Perfection/Completeness/Shalom and 8 Representing "New" beginnings. The 8th year is a New Beginning and The 8th month from Abib is the first month of a New Beginning.
To carry out the Torah Commands concerning Agriculture was/is paramount to remaining in the Land under the Blessing of YHWH. Any who don’t completely know them cannot completely perform them and should have no more reasonable expectation to dwell in the Land peacefully than those who were dispersed for their rebellion. It is also impossible to fulfill them while living outside of the “Promised Land”. Thanks be that YAHUSHUA covers our transgressions.
I was shocked to recently learn that Barley for Grain is not currently even acknowledged as a crop in Zionist Israel. Just a small amount of barley production for silage is reported to currently take place. Less tons per year than my small farm produces! And the majority of that is sold to Arabs for sheep feed! Further research of barley in that region reveals that Wild Barley is not the same barley as the domesticated barley of the Biblical period. It is a wild relative, so to speak.
The following two quotes are taken from here:
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/17/4/499
“Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the founder crops of Old World agriculture.”
“The wild progenitor H. spontaneum is still colonizing its primary habitats in the Fertile Crescent from Israel and Jordan to south Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, and southwestern Iran (Harlan and Zohary 1966 ; Nevo 1992 ). In the same area, H. spontaneum also occupies an array of secondary habitats, such as open Mediterranean maquis, abandoned fields, and roadsides.”
Remember 0+5+0=5. 5 harvests in 7 years are all you can have with an Abib based start.
But who can know that if no-one is actually doing the Torah Command of harvest?
Just because some doctrines are in harmony with some rabbinic teachings does not mean by default that they are wrong. Not that I subscribe to all Rabbinic literature and teachings but I think we all owe some respect to Hillel II for setting a calendar in the time of the last dispersion in the 4th Century. Maybe it’s at least as good as observing weeds. Without it who was going to have even remembered anything of the historical practices of the Feasts? Were the descendants of the Northern Tribes preserving any of it? Such it is with the Abib being the Head of the months but not the Head of the Year. Remember even Yahushua said, “do as they say, not as they do.” Ironic it is to find many who reject sound doctrines solely on the basis that such doctrines happen to agree with Rabbinic Schools of thought, and yet at the same time many of these same people support the current Militant State of Zionism. The Kingdom of Heaven is not of this World. Be in the world, not of it.
Selah.
Credit to MSR for assistance in preparing this article.
Yohs

Houston, we have a problem!

Upon searching for information concerning the Abib Barley Crop in Eretz Yisrael I discovered, much to my amazement at my own ignorance, that there is no Barley harvest for grain according to a government report.
http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Grain%20and%2...

Barley
Production:
There is a limited amount of barley produced in Israel, but it is all harvested as silage; all barley grain is imported. All barley production is located in the south of Israel. Most of it is sold to the Arab sector for feeding livestock, mainly sheep. Due to non-favorable rainfall in the southern parts of the country, production in crop year 2008/09 totaled about 1,500 tons, unchanged from crop year 2007/08 levels.

Barley for silage? That's not grain!
1,500 tons of silage? That's a very small amount, even for a tiny country. Just a small farm can produce that much.
So are we to set our clocks by the observation of tares growing by the wayside?
I don't find that very kosher!
We have wild oats that grow here. You do not want them anywhere. Especially in your grain fields. All they do is rob your crop of moisture, nutrients and sunlight. They literally strangle your crop if they come too profusely. No farmer in his right mind would set his harvest schedule based on the maturity of wild oats. The wild barley being used as a calendar factor reminds me of wild oats. Wild grasses like these grow randomly and with highly variable maturity. Fall seeded barley for grain would not be like that. Not on my farm.
When I watched the video of the "observation" of Abib barley I am even less convinced this is correct.
It seems the whole of Yisrael is failing to keep the Torah.
Exo 23:10 “And for six years you are to sow your land, and shall gather its increase,
Can it really be that no one grows barley grain there these days? WOW!!!!

Further research of barley in that region reveals that Wild Barley is not the same barley as the domesticated barley of the Biblical period. It is a wild relative, so to speak.
The following two quotes are taken from here:
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/17/4/499
“Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the founder crops of Old World agriculture.”
“The wild progenitor H. spontaneum is still colonizing its primary habitats in the Fertile Crescent from Israel and Jordan to south Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, and southwestern Iran (Harlan and Zohary 1966 ; Nevo 1992 ). In the same area, H. spontaneum also occupies an array of secondary habitats, such as open Mediterranean maquis, abandoned fields, and roadsides.”

OK I have bumped this post to include the next video.
The funny thing about this field is that the guy in the video highly promoted last Abib to this Abib as a SABBATH YEAR. According to his doctrine that field is cursed and should not have been planted last fall. This is the basis of my year one = 0 discussion. Sabbath Years cannot begin in Abib unless you only want to have 5 years of Barley harvest and gathering.
0+5+0=5
This scripture is very plain to me:
Exo 23:10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
How difficult is it to understand that I am to gather 6 years?
I am a barley farmer and the Torah Commands me to gather 6 years.
Maybe some non farmers can afford to have 2 out of 7 years without income but all the farmers I know can't.