16:1 “Observe¹ the month² of the Aviv³ and celebrate the Passover to Yãhweh your Almĩghty, for in the monthº of Aviv Yãhweh your Almĩghty brought you out of Egypt by night.ª

(MISB: Deut. 16:1): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/deuteronomy.html#16:1

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. Observe or watch here refers to 1. all the commandements for the month, 2. Observing the new moon to get it on the right day. Certain astronomical signs must be watched for including the timing and movement of the sun to the equinox to determine the year length, and which new moon to watch for, and then the new moon itself must be watched to determine the calendar for Aviv. There are therefore plenty of things that must be watched and observed. There is no commandment to observe barley, compute percentages of it in fields, or examine its ripeness to fix the proper new moon. Such is pure tradition. Even if the text is taken, “Watch the new moon of the green ears” the construct state does not specify the temporal relation of the new moon and the green ears, whether the new moon should be before, during, or after the appearance of green ears. Nor does tell us that it has anything to do with observing green ears. The month was named after “green ears” for a reason. Sitting Bull was named too, and those who had to watch for him were not down at the corral.

 2. The term is properly translated “month” here since “observe” includes all the rites and ceremonies of the month. But the sense of “new moon” is also meant, because it was necessary to keep watch for the appearance of first crescent of the new moon. It was known from the solar year (cf. Exodus 13:10) which new moon would be Aviv as the head of the year, but to determine the exact day, it must be sighted by witnesses. Hence the renewed moon must be literally observed.

 3. Aviv is fixed by the new moon nearest the beginning of the solar year, such that the Festive Passover offering on the 15th of Aviv falls on or after the spring equinox. Although, Aviv means “green ears”, which do on average appear before the completion of the solar year under normal conditions, so to be available for the 16th of Aviv wave sheaf, any slowness or prematurity in the barley crop (green ears) is overruled by the commandment to keep Passover from “days to days” (Ex. 13:10)—where days = 365 days. The meaning is one solar year to the next solar year, or one 365 day period to the next 365 day period. Another commandment prohibits delaying firstfruits, and yet another requires three feasts per year. To keep these commandments requires that “green ears” not be a determining factor. “Green Ears” is the name of the month. We say that summer begins at the summer solstice, but we do not schedule summer at some other time just because a volcano makes it unusually cool. So if anyone tells you that Passover is to fall before the new year (spring equinox) or that it comes late on account of the barely not being ripe, then don’t listen to them.

 o. The context here shows that the Hebrew word חֹדֶשׁ means “month” and not “new moon”. For it was 15 days after the new moon that they went out of Egypt. This tells us that “observe” at the beginning of the verse also refers to all the observances of the month. The barley is supposed to appear before the spring tequfah that begins the year, which is why the month is named, “Aviv”, but this does not mean the month should be before the tequfah if the barley for some reason ripens too early, nor does it mean that the month should be postponed if there is no barley (which would be unusual). The fixing of the set times by barley violates the Torah which says that the times are to be set by the lights that Yahweh created (Gen. 1:14).

 a. Israel went out of Egypt by night. This statement is not understood by most. First Israel slew the lambs in the afternoon of the 14th. Then they ate it that night. Then at midnight the firstborn of Egypt died. But Israel was not allowed to go out of their houses “until morning”. The Exodus began in Egypt when the sun rose at the beginning of the 15th day of the month. They assembled at Rameses, and as the sun set they set out by night to cross out of Egypt. It was the night following the day part of the 15th that they went out.
         In the morning of the 16th they baked their dough into unleavened bread. In ancient Egypt, and in ancient Israel, all calendar days were counted from daybreak to daybreak—EXCEPT FOR SABBATHS. Accordingly the 14th was a day and a night, and the 15th was a day and a night. But the annual memorial Sabbath is kept in the night of the 14th and the day of the 15th, from sunset on the 14th to sunset on the 15th. Thus the annual Sabbath straddles two observances, the Passover in Egypt on the 14th, and the Exodus on the 15th. I know tradition dies hard, but it is the reason no one can explain things right.

9 You shall count seven sevens¹ for yourself—from when the sickle is made halal² in the standing grain, you shall begin to count seven sevens³.

(MISB: Deut. 16:9): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/deuteronomy.html#16:9

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. “Seven sevens” are to be counted. This could also be translated “seven weeks”. But the Hebrew word is “שָׁבֻעֹת”, which is really a passive plural of “seven”, שֶׁבַע. So it means a period of seven of something. In this case periods of seven days. See also Ex. 34:22; Num. 28:26. So to count seven sevens means to count seven days seven times. And it also means to count “sevens” (weeks) unit wise. Thus, 1st day of 1st seven unto 7th day of 7th seven (i.e. the 49th day). Then after the 7th day of the 7th seven is complete, the 50th day is the feast of Shavuot (sevens/weeks).

 2. The hiphil infinitive construct הָחֵל means “to make profane”, or “to make common”. The same root also means “to begin”, and is used that way in the second clause of the verse. The Arabic cognate means “free from obligation”, which is used by Arabs as roughly equivalent to, “Kosher”. Sometimes in Jericho or other dry places in Israel it was necessary to harvest the grain before Nisan 16. However, it was not legal to eat it (cf. Lev. 23:11-14) until a sheaf of it was waved in the Temple by the priest. Thus before Nisan 16 the grain was not “common”. It was not “free from obligation”. When the sheaf was waved, it became “common” or “profane” . . . that is legal for human consumption.

 3. The grain becomes common for eating after the sheaf is waved in the morning of Nisan 16. Thus we know that the counting begins in the morning, and not the night before as the Rabbis explain. The sickle does enter the grain before this time, but it may not be eaten. Farmers bring a sheaf to the feast to be waved by the priest, and as soon as the waving is done, the grain market in Jerusalem opens. So from the moment of the waving in Nisan 16, it is time to count the 1st day of the 1st seven (week).

10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “After the boundary of¹ the seven² years, in the set time of the year of the release, in the Feast of Booths³,

(MISB: Deut. 31:10): http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/deuteronomy.html#31:10

http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html

 1. The Hebrew word קֵץ can mean an endpoint at the beginning of something or at the end of it. This is explained by Eben Ezra and proved by the sense of Jer. 34:14, wherein an Israelite slave is to serve six years, but “at the boundary of seven years” he is to be freed, which is the exact same phrase used here: מקֵּץ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים. Eben Ezra’s explanation agrees better with the chronology of the return from Babylon and explains why Nehemiah enforced debt cancellation, and why the Torah was read in the seventh month, since it was a Sabbatical year.

 2. The “seven” year is the same as a sabbatical year (cf. Deut. 15:19): “year of the seven, year of the release” שְׁנַת־הַשֶּׁבַע שְׁנַת הַשְּׁמִטָּה. So the Hebrew text does not refer to a seven year period but to “seven years” where the adjective “seven” is used with the same meaning as “seventh”. A seven year period has two boundaries which are. a. Tishri 1, year 1, and then seven full years, and the end boundary is Tishri 1, year 1. A seven year has two boundaries, Tishri 1, year 7, and Tishri 1, year 1. The boundary meant is: Tishri 1, year 7, i.e. the beginning of the year of release. Accordingly “seven years” means “seventh years”, just like “seven” in “year of the seven” means only the sabbatical year, and not the whole period of years that goes with it.

 3. The septennial reading of the Torah is to take place at the feast of tabernacles at the beginning of the sabbatical year. This is the minority Jewish opinion supported by Eben Ezra. The majority opinion has the reading at the end of the seventh year. But again, the majority opinion is incorrect in counting the Jubilees also 1..50, 1..50, when it is counted 1...49 50/1... 49 wherein year 50 is year 1 of the new cycle (cf. Judah HaLevi). The reason for the change is likely to be blamed on an attempt to confuse the Torah reading and debt release in Nehemiah and the correct interpretation of Daniel 9:24-26 in support of Messiah Yeshua. So to observe Torah properly requires the Torah to be read at the start of the Sabbatical year.