May All Have a Jubilant and Blessed Biblical New Year.

"Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." (Psalm 81:3)

May God inspire All to know His Truth and know in certain faith "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). May All be enlightened to daily seek the Truth and read the Word of God guided by His Holy Spirit, and avoid the deceptions and falsehoods promoted throughout the world today by so many. May All resolve to READ YOUR BIBLE and discern the Truth guided by His Holy Spirit, to "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21). May ALL strive to Walk with Christ and follow His example on the narrow path that leads to Life (Matthew 7:13-15).

The sliver of the crescent New Moon was observed in Israel on evening of 23 March 2023 just after sunset (read here and here). This makes the first day of the first month of the Biblical New Year from sunset as observed from Jerusalem, Israel on 23 March to the sunset on 24 March 2023. 

The Moon is God’s faithful witness in heaven (Psalm 89:37) and coupled with the Word of God, you can know with certainty the time of God’s appointed Holy Days (Leviticus 23, Numbers 28-29). If your religious institution or faith leader’s declared Holy Days DO NOT match God’s appointed Holy Days, YOU must choose – obedience to God’s Truth or abdication to Man’s deceptions -- Choose wisely. 

Below is a calendar that reflects God’s appointed Holy Days (Leviticus 23, Numbers 28-29) based on the confirmed observation of the New Moon within Israel by more than two witnesses. Take it upon yourself to prove and validate these appointed Holy Days yourself, to "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

This first month of the Biblical New Year is uncommon and distinctive; the first day of this new month begins on the sixth day of the Biblical week. The first day of the first month of the first year of the Creation of Man, Adam, was on the sixth day of the Biblical week, which was two days after the moon was created new on the fourth day of the Biblical week. (Genesis 1)

The first day of the first month of the Biblical New Year of Jesus's Passover also began on the sixth day of the Biblical week. If you want to know more on how this was determined read this post.

Many desire to know how to determine or validate when the Biblical New Year starts.

The truthful answer to this question is READ YOUR BIBLE!!! If you read and study the Bible with inspired guidance of the Holy Spirit, the answer sought will be revealed (John 14:26). If you, by your own "inspired" independent effort, discovery, and validation, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21), then your confidence and faith should be unshakeable.

If you follow the example recorded in the Bible and Walk with Christ, you cannot stray from the narrow path. Ask yourself simple questions and seek the answer -- like: How was the Biblical New Year determined in Jesus's time? You know that Jesus was without sin, and for this to be the Truth means Jesus had to properly observe God's Holy Days as a newborn baby, a child, a teenager, and as an adult. This means that God had to intercede and ensure the religious leaders (Sanhedrin) of Jesus's time properly determined God's Holy Days, and that Jesus's parents, Joseph and Mary, adhered to God's will and were obedient to His precepts, statutes, and laws  - read this post for further insight.

If you discerned the Truth from the Bible, followed the example Jesus set, and know how the Biblical New Year was determined in Jesus's time by the religious leaders (Sanhedrin), then you should have concluded that the ripeness of barley in spring time and the appearance of the crescent new moon, must both be observed in close proximity to Jerusalem to declare the Biblical New Year.

How to Observe the Initial Appearance of the New Moon?

“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” (1 Corinthians 3:18)

Become a fool to be wise? Yes, disregard everything you know and the opinions of others. “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” (Mark 13:37) WATCH!! Observe the setting of the Sun, the greater light, and the Moon, the lesser light, will appear at its appointed time (Genesis 1:16). It is truly that simple, as God intended it to be in the times of Adam, times of Moses, times of Jesus, as it is today, and into the future. While the appearance of the Crescent New Moon can be observed at any location on Earth at different times, understand the only true perspective is of God and His chosen location, Jerusalem, Israel (Revelation 3:12).

For further insight read this post from last year. What follows immediately below is updated predictive data for this new year, that might save you independent research time.

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For those that desire more detailed information or predictions of the Moons lunar phases, they abound if you seek them.

For many that have a typical printed wall calendar the four major phases of the Moon (New, First Quarter, Full, & Third Quarter) are usually illustrated. Almost all with a electronic device, have internet access, and access to multiple websites and applications that provide the Moon’s phases in detail.

Textual dates of moon phases and equinoxes/solstices are available at the website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is called SKYCAL (Sky Events Calendar).

A typical website that provides Moon phase data is timeanddate.com as illustrated in picture below.

While knowing the date and time of the New Moon phases is edifying, the desired information of many is what date and time is the Crescent New Moon potentially visible. This information is also readily available if you seek it.

The astronomical data for “Crescent Moon Visibility” from website Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office Websurf 2.0 provides textual predictive data - this website is currently undergoing maintenance and is not displayed properly.

Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office has an additional website called MoonWatch that provides diagrams of global projected visibility and probability of sighting the new crescent moon. They provide a series of diagrams that span the potential days for sighting the new crescent moon as shown below. (Note: this website is also currently undergoing maintenance and is not displayed properly, but PDF files are available if you follow the menus. Click this LINK to view the PDF file.)

The website In-The-Sky.org provides ephemeris data for the Moon in a tabular format showing moonrise, moonset, and predicted moon visibility times for each day. The following table shows ephemeris data for Jerusalem, Israel for March/April 2023.

The Israeli Society for the View of the New Moon website provides their own diagrams to aide in the sighting of the Crescent New Moon tailored to the Jerusalem, Israel location as shown below. They also solicit report data on actual sightings within the bounds of God’s declared Holy Land, Israel.

The website TorahCalendar.com provides forecast diagrams of “New Moon Day” based on observation from Jerusalem, Israel as shown below.

There are many more websites that provide dates and times for Moon lunar phases and forecasts of the probability of sighting the Crescent New Moon. As with everything, use your own inspired judgement and “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

If you desire even more insight beyond the single snapshots of static data of the Moon’s lunar phases and appearance of the Crescent New Moon, a realistic, real-time simulation (planetarium) of the movement of heavenly bodies spanning past, present, and future times is available in a program called Stellarium. Stellarium is free to download and use and has capabilities and customizations beyond the needs of a novice user. The first picture below is from the program Stellarium with location set to Jerusalem, Israel for date of 23 March 2023 just after sunset at time of 18:00 PM IDT -- note the items underlined in RED. The second picture is from our location in Naga City, Cebu, Philippines of the new crescent moon on 23 March 2023, about six hours before it is observed in Jerusalem, and Yes, we know the only place to declare the sighting of the new moon is in proximity to Jerusalem, Israel.

If you follow the guidance above and trust in your own "inspired" abilities to discern the Truth, determing the day of the appearance of the New Moon should be simple, as even a child can do it.

This year the New Moon predictions did not turn out as expected, as the New Moon was observed many places throughout the world on 22 March 2023, but not in the Holy Land of Israel (read here and here). As stated above, the sliver of the crescent New Moon was observed in Israel on evening of 23 March 2023 just after sunset (read here and here). This makes the first day of the first month of the Biblical New Year from sunset as observed from Jerusalem, Israel on 23 March to the sunset on 24 March 2023. 

How to Determine the Maturity of Barley

If your unfamiliar with farming and the growth of grain crops, it is incumbent upon YOU to do a little research and studying to have the wisdom to make an informed decision about the maturity of barley for yourself – understand this is not hard or difficult. Start by reading some generic information about barley or read more in detail: R1, R2, R3. Some will assert that the arid land of Israel produces little to none domestic barley - read this annual U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Grain and Feed Annual Report for the country of Israel for an informed perspective.

A common method to provide standardization of the growth stages of grains is “cereal growth staging scales” (read here), of which the Zadoks scale is one of the more accepted growth scales; illustrated in picture below.

As indicated in the Zadoks growth scale above, barley requires about 90 days from seed to harvest in optimum conditions.  Fall-planted barley achieves harvestable state about 60 days after the plants begin to grow in spring, primarily dependent on temperature. Understand that fall-planted barley germination is also heavily dependent on temperature (At an average temperature of about 7°C it takes 5 days for visible germination to occur. At 10°C it takes 3.5 days. The minimum temperature for barley germination is 1 to 2°C.) If the temperature is too low, fall-planted barley may or may not germinate immediately and enter a period of dormancy until such time the soil temperature is warm enough for the barley seed to germinate and sprout, or the plant to continue growth. There are many other variables that can impact the time required for barley to reach a mature harvest state. Once conditions are favorable and the barley plant is visible and growing, the Zadoks scale can be used to "estimate" where the barley plant is in its life cycle.

Once you understand the basics of barley growth and development, next research barley harvesting methods. In the modern agricultural world, one method of barley harvesting is using a machine designed to harvest, called a combine harvester, that performs reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnowing into a single straight-cutting process that separates the barley seed from the plant and other impurities. For this method to be effective the barley plant is fully mature (about 92 days on the Zadoks scale), its green color has changed to yellow or golden/brown, the barley heads are no longer upright and have tilted or fallen over pointing to the ground, seeds have a moisture content below ~15%, and the barley seed is hard, not easy to dent with a thumbnail and it cracks when biting with teeth. Understand that during the time of Jesus, that barley fields would most likely NOT be harvested at this level of maturity, as the seed loss would be very high due to manual harvesting methods.

Another modern-day method of harvesting barley is called swathing or windrowing which terminates plant growth and results in a shorter time interval to harvest. A machine cuts the barley plant stalk at a specified height above the ground, uniformly arranges the stalks, and deposits them in a loose pile on the remaining plant stalk stubble above the ground to allow accelerating drying of the barley head seeds/ears. Understand that the barley seed head continues to fill and then dry as the cut barley stalk withers and dries out. Once dry, the rows of barley are processed by a combine harvester to separate the seed from the barley plant. Typically, swathing barley fields needs seed moisture content below 35%, the barley peduncle (the thin stem bearing the seed head) loses its green color and the grain is done filling, the barley seed is about the medium dough stage (about 81-85 on the Zadoks scale), the barley seed is hard but can still be dented with the thumbnail. In most cases the barley seed head is still upright and not pointing to the ground.

Previous methods of harvesting barley used a machine called the reaper-binder that cut the barley plant stalk close to the ground, arrange the cut stalks into bundles, and then tied the bundle into what is called a sheaf or sheaves (Genesis 37:7, Leviticus 23:10). Before the reaper-binder was a machine called the reaper that just cut and bundled the barley, and the bundles had to be manually tied into sheaves. Before the mechanization of barley harvesting (mid 1800's) and still the primary method in undeveloped countries, the entire process of harvesting barley was done by the manual "labours" of Man (Exodus 23:16) - the barley stalks were cut with a sharp blade called a scythe or sickle (Mark 4:29, Revelation 14:18), the cut barley stalks were arranged by hand and tied into bundles called sheaves. The sheaves were arranged vertically and leant against each other in the field with the barley seed heads off the ground to dry out, forming what is called a stook. Once dry, these bundles/sheaves were moved to an area for threshing (2 Samuel 24:18) that separates the barley seed from the plant stalk/matter and winnowing (Ruth 3:2, Isaiah 30:24) which separates the chaff and other material from the barley seed/ear/grain. As these manual methods resulted in not all the barley stalks being bundle and many of the barley heads/seeds falling to the ground in the field, the remaining barley was often collected by a tedious process called gleaning (Leviticus 23:22, Ruth 2).

It is important to realize that the method of harvesting barley is a significant determining factor of when to “reap the harvest” (Lev 23:10) and put the “sickle to the corn” (Deu 16:9). As discussed above, the maturity of barley to be harvested mechanically by the combine harvester requires barley to be about 92 days on the Zadoks scale with a very low moisture content below ~15%. If barley were to be harvested at this level of maturity by manual methods, the physical act of manually cutting the barley stalk, arranging the cut stalks and tying them, many of the barley heads would likely shatter due to dryness and a significant number of seeds would fall to the ground.

Some would still advocate harvesting barley at this level of maturity, as one only needs to grab and pull the individual barley seed head, in which the barley seeds (ears) would separate in their hands, and could easily be placed in a container, basket, or jar. Some would Biblically justify this method, as did not Jesus and "his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands" (Luke 6:1) - a valid but imperfect perspective. Understand: Discernment of God's Truths is only revealed by His grace, guidance, and inspiration (John 14:26). Jesus's disciples did not understand many of Jesus statements and the scriptures; they also did not believe Jesus was to be resurrected until Jesus appeared to them and Jesus "opened he their understanding" (Luke 24:45). Jesus stated that "many prophets and righteous men" (Matthew 13:17) were not aware of many "things" which still applies to most today, so when confronted with different viewpoints, state and advocate the Truths revealed and discerned, but decline to condemn and argue with those who relationship with God is unknown to you and not yours to judge, for God guides All (Isaiah 66:4) according to His pleasure (Isaiah 46:10).

During the times of Jesus and still the same today in the modern world, to have a successful barley harvest, a judgement must be made as to the barley's level of maturity with close scrutiny of the barley’s seed/ear moisture content. Understand, that farmers both past and present, made the same assessment of their barley crops to determine the optimum time to harvest and their judgement not only determined the quality and the yield obtained, but determined their future survival and livelihood.

During the times of Jesus, the farmers in near proximity of Jerusalem, with consultation with religious leaders, had to make a judgement on barley maturity with the additional requirement that barley maturity needs to be tender, young, green ears of corn/grain (Lev 2:14) to a state of fully ripened by the 15th to the 21st day of the month of Abib, depending on the day of the Biblical week the New Moon was sighted on. The picture below shows the number of days till the wave sheaf offering from the day of the Biblical week the New Moon was sighted on -- example: if the New Moon is sighted on the forth day of the Biblical week then the wave sheaf offering is 19 days later. The difference due to the day of the Biblical week the New Moon is sighted is because of verse Leviticus 23:11, "And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it." where "the morrow after the sabbath" means the weekly seventh day Sabbath.

Most concordances translate abib/aviv as fresh, young ears of barley.  Some define the basic meaning of the word abib/aviv as the stage in the growth of grain when the seeds have reached full size and are filled with starch, but have not dried yet. From Chabad.org website, The Hebrew word aviv (Heb. אביב) actually translates as the season of “spring.” Aviv comes from the Hebrew word of eebeha (Heb. איבה), literally translated as “greenness,” explaining that it means the month in which the grain fills out in its “greenness.”

The Bible provides some verses to discern the maturity of barley: "thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears" (Leviticus 2:14) - this verse provides a very definitive range of barley maturity at the time of the wave sheaf offering; "And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God;" (Leviticus 23:14), "And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled." (Exodus 9:31)

Many, not all, understand that the maturity of barley must be determined just prior to or at the same time the New Moon is sighted in close proximity of Jerusalem to declare the Biblical New Year, as was done in the times of Jesus. Some understand that depending upon the day of the Biblical week the New Moon was sighted, the barley had to be mature enough for the wave offering 15 to 21 days after the New Year was declared. Some understand that a normal Biblical year, 12 sightings of the moon - lunisolar, was about 354 days and differed from a solar year by about 11 days and this difference would cause the harvest maturity date to shift accordingly each passing year. Some understand that planting time, rainfall, temperature, weather, and many other factors could impact the growing time for a barley harvest. Despite all these varied factors, each year a judgement of the maturity of barley was made to support the wave offering as commanded by God (Leviticus 23:10-16).

The following charts illustrate the condition or maturity of barley at the time the New Moon is sighted over a three year period with optimum growing and weather conditions and the assumption that barley matures at relatively the same time for each of these years. Closely observe the maturity of barley in these charts at the time of the sighted New Moon -- sometimes the barley maturity will not be optimum, but a decision must be made regardless.

As can been seen in the example above of Year 3 of 3 Leap Year, the Barley Wave Sheaf Day, the maturity of barley is past the optimum range of harvest for barley and the barley would likely be overripe and at the head shatter stage. It is also possible that Year 2 of 3, if time is shifted just a little earlier, that the barley maturity would appear to young to support a harvest. The illustrations above focus primarily on the issue of "time" as to when to harvest and purposely omit the many other factors that impact barley growth and harvest. It should be evident that the determination of barley maturity is made from a judgement based in experience and faith -- choose wisely.

In the times of Jesus, leap years were decided on a year-to-year basis by the religious leaders (Sanhedrin); many of today's world assert no one has the authority to decide when the Biblical New Year starts and must follow Jewish calendar traditions set in place by the last Sanhedrin religious leaders. Despite the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. by the Romans, the disbandment of the Sanhedrin in 425 A.D. by the Byzantine Empire, many still adhere to the Jewish calculated calendar attributed to Hillel II, instead of the texts within the Bible.

Few discern that when Jesus freely choose to relinquish His life to fulfill the will of God and died on the cross on Passover Day, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matthew 27:51) signifying the end of animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins; as Jesus stated, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) The ripped veil also signifies the beginning of direct personal access to God through the Holy Ghost, if one so chooses; no longer is a mediator, a Man, a religious leader between YOU and God. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). So one can freely chose to follow the Word of God or the word of Man - chose wisely.

Another consideration, before a barley harvest, the farmer tends and monitors his fields, and makes a determination on which areas of his fields are the best based on the speed and fullness of growth, the uniform unblighted color of the leaves indicating lack of diseases/fungus, the lack of invasive weeds and insects, texture and drainage of the soil, etc. The goal of the farmer’s survey is to determine which areas of his barley crop has the very best characteristics to be harvested for seed grain for the next season’s planting; the farmer reserved these areas unto himself (2 Timothy 2:6). He ensures the harvest of these areas is at the optimum time and the threshing and winnowing results in seed grain of the highest quality. As the very best was to be offered as Firstfruits or tithes, it is very likely that this choice barley reserved by the farmer was what was chosen to fulfill religious obligations.

Few realize that the process of winnowing, which is intended to separate the impurities - chaff, dirt, weed seeds, insects, etc. by tossing the barley in a current of air, also resulted in the choicest, heaviest barley seeds falling directly downward (easily separated from the rest), while the lighter or broken barley seeds fall further away, as does the impurities. In the modern world, the judgement of the farmer as to what is his best is validated by buyers who not only validate size, moisture content and lack of impurities, but perform chemical analysis to ensure the highest standards are met – read this barley standard for perspective.

In the times of Jesus, only the choicest and best barley ("the first of the firstfruits" (Exodus 23:19)) was selected for an offering, usually after it was "heaved" - tossed forcefully in the air - and the best separated from it (Numbers 18:30). Some narrowly focus on word "first" to mean the order or day that barley is cut and harvested, instead of "first" also meaning the very best of something.

For additional perspective, read the post "Sheaf of Firstfruits" before continuing. 

To gain insight into the status of barley and its maturity there are websites and media sites that provide their assessments/opinions and in many cases pictorial evidence of barley within the lands of Israel. Review them with scrutiny and above all, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The websites for Israel New Moon sightings listed above, some also provide barley reports.

As you evaluate pictorial evidence of barley, it is very important to know the location of where the pictorial evidence is from – surprisingly, some of these websites will not provide location information due to their vanity and perceived competition with other barley seeker groups – if no location is provided, whatever information provided is essentially useless. Comments or questions on many of these websites are not permitted, and if they are, and you state a Biblical verse that they disagree with, often you’ll be censored, deleted, or banned by the site owner. Understand and expect division between these groups – some is based in difference in ideology, some is based on their attempts to increase subscriber count and attempts to solicit money for their “efforts”. Most of these websites tend not to seek the opinion of the real local expert, the Jewish farmer, for reasons unknown – one would assume that courtesy dictates permission be sought from the land owner prior to entering their property to inspect barley – but this is also not disclosed. There are many other criteria to evaluate, so use your inspired judgement when reviewing any information provided.

Another source of barley pictorial evidence, is from Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, and other photo sharing websites. You’ll need to perform searches and review many pictures, but the unbiased photos of a tourist or local in Israel can sometimes provide valued information. Also, local Israel news sites usually report on religious events and Passover is a significant topic which often is accompanied with pictures related to barley and the wave sheaf offering. Questions on the past or current state of weather in Israel is also available 24/7 on local Israel websites. Realtime video of Israel religious sites, nature preserves, water levels in the Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias or Lake Kinneret), and more are all available via internet sites.

Additional perspective can be obtained by reviewing the past history of what months Biblical New Years were declared in and when leap years were used.

So the bottom line on when the is the barley mature enough to support a wave sheaf offering? It depends on your "inspired" judgement -- judge wisely!

The basis of my decision as to when to start the Biblical New Year was founded on the review of many reports, observations, and pictures from the internet, and one additional factor that most did not discern. Read the post Sheaf of Firstfruits for more insight.

As expected, in the lower elevation, micro-climates of northern Israel the maturity of barley was ahead of God's chosen place of Jerusalem.  Some declared the start of the New Year when the crescent New Moon was observed in Israel on the evening of 21 February 2023 just after sunset -- from "their" perspective they declared the Passover (Jesus) to be on the sunset of 6 March to the sunset of 7 March 2023 and the barley Wave Sheaf (Firstfruits/Resurrection) to be on the sunset of 11 March to the sunset of 12 March 2023.

As it is God's gift of freewill choice, another group decided the maturity of barley was insufficient and has declared the next sighting of the New Moon predicted to be visible in Israel on 21 April 2023, just after sunset, to be the Biblical New Year making the Passover (Jesus) to be on the sunset of 4 May to the sunset of 5 May 2023 and the barley Wave Sheaf (Firstfruits/Resurrection) to be on the sunset of 6 May to the sunset of 7 May 2023.

Another group declared the start of the New Year when the crescent New Moon was observed in Israel on the evening of 23 March 2023 just after sunset along with their assessment there was enough "aviv" barley to support the Wave Sheaf. For them the Passover (non-Jesus) begins on the 15th of the Biblical month which is the sunset of 6 April to the sunset of 7 April 2023 (Understand this group does not observe God's declared Passover of Leviticus 23:5) and the Wave Sheaf is fixed to the 16th of the Biblical month which is the sunset of 7 April to the sunset of 8 April 2023.

Another group, that subscribes to the calculated Jewish calendar, does not consider the actual sighting of the New Moon, has declared their New Year is the day prior to the actual sighting of the crescent New Moon and is observed on the sunset of 22 March to the sunset on 23 March 2023.

The Christian groups that adhere to the edicts of Man, the Vatican Pope, also do not observe the sighting of the New Moon as stated in the Bible, declare the Crucifixion of Jesus to be on 7 April 2023 which does not match Biblical texts.

A very few observe the start of the Biblical New Year based on the actual sighting of the New Moon in Israel at the sunset of 23 March; which makes the first day of the first month of the Biblical New Year from sunset as observed from Jerusalem, Israel on 23 March to the sunset on 24 March 2023. This year is very similar to the above illustration of "Optimum Conditions Year 2 of 3" as a leap year month was just added the year before. The pictorial evidence and reports from most support the decision that barley will be of maturity to support a Wave Sheaf offering (Resurrection) on the 17th day of the Biblical month starting at sunset of 8 April to sunset of 9 April. The one additional factor that was consider is the start of the first day of THIS first month of the Biblical New Year occurs on the sixth day of the Biblical week -- the pattern of the Moon and the days of this month exactly match the year of Jesus's Crucifixion and the Creation of Man - Adam.

May God bless and guide your decision and choices.