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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS
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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to
New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9
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CHINESE AND JEWISH CALENDAR SIMILARITIES
A
similarity exists in the Biblical calendar of the Jews and in the traditional
Chinese calendar; they both are lunar-solar. This is the only correct
calendar
from the requirement of Genesis 1:14. In a lunar calendar each month begins
at new moon, the narrowest half-circle of moonlight in the
sky. Each month is
actually 291/2
days so the months alternate 30 days, 29 days, 30 days, etc. The
lunar year has 3543/8
days in twelve months but the solar year has 3651/4
days,
(the time the earth makes one orbit of the sun). Chinese and Jewish calendars
equalise the lunar and solar year lengths the same way, by a thirteenth month
added whenever needed. This works out practically in a nineteen-year cycle
wherein twelve years of every nineteen years have 12 months and seven years
have 13 months. Nineteen years contain 235 lunar months; so in this way the
moon keeps time, and the sun keeps time, and the years keep to the seasons.
Every
new moon is set apart as a holiday or special day in both
traditions.
In the Bible, new moons are sabbaths (rest days) and feast days
for family and
friends. New moon observance will be in effect in God’s kingdom; Eze. 46:1,3.
In both
calendars New Year Day is at a new moon and set apart as special.
The Bible merely speaks about the
“beginning of
months.”
In the Oriental and
Jewish traditions the month chosen as first month was sometimes changed by
custom or by decree. But God told Moses to begin counting the months at the
month ABÌB (springtime), also called NISÀN; Ex. 34:18; Lev. 23:5; Est.
3:7. The
present Jewish custom has New Year Day in the autumn, six months later
than
the Law of Moses. The existing Chinese custom has it two months earlier
than
the Law of Moses, but eventually all peoples in the New Earth will
observe the
‘beginning
of months’
in accordance as God told to Moses; (see
Eze.
45:18-21).
Passover
begins at 14 ABÌB (Joshua 5:10) and is two weeks after the Biblical
New Year Day. Passover is a full moon holiday. Full moons are 14
or 15 days
following new moons. In some years Qing Ming holiday comes at Passover.
In former times it probably was a full moon holiday and then would always be
exactly at Passover. There may be a connection. Qing Ming has a tradition
about plague, in which many people died suddenly. This may commemorate
the first Passover night in Egypt wherein all of Egypt’s firstborn died—anyone
not protected by the blood of the lamb. The Passover of the Jews is followed
by seven more days, “the feast of unleavened bread.”
SUKKÒT
(Feast of Tabernacles) is another full moon holiday, the fifteenth
of
the seventh month—the same day in autumn as Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
SUKKÒT is very festive, a day to rejoice with an abundance of grain and fruits
from autumn harvests. All nations will celebrate this holiday in God’s kingdom
(Zech. 14:16-19) and already the Chinese observe it in part. (But SUKKÒT has
seven days more.) This is the last holiday of the year as ordered by Moses.
The Fast
of Esther is 13 ADÀR (Esther 3:13; 8:11-13), the day of Yuan Xiao Jie
(Chinese Lantern Festival). Jews also observe the next two days, called PÙRIM
(Esther 9:20-28). This is another full moon event, a day of
light-hearted mirth
and street parades amongst the youth. It began with the Persian Jews, and it is
certain they would have brought it with them when they arrived in China.