Rosh Qodesh
The Following are special dates for our serious consideration that we might take the time to honour theme. May these enrich your walk with the Creator of the Heavens.
YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 66: 22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says YHWH (the Lord), “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says YHWH (the Lord.) Shalom!
Rosh Kodesh Adar- The season of Joy & Spiritual Ripening
Shalom Friends! The Hebrew Month of Adar is upon us so let’s see what we can discover about it:
Adar marks the end of the Biblical year so in the month of Adar, the barley is inspected to see how far along it is in the growth process. If the experts find that the barley will not be ripe by Nisan 1, it may signify that we add another month to the end of the year but this is one of the signs. Today we have ways of forecasting the moon’s cycle, so that we can project our calendars way into the future. However, there are still people physically monitoring the moon in Jerusalem, and also inspecting the barley crop, to verify that we are on the correct day on the calendar.
Prepare Your Heart
So, what is the relevance of this process for our lives?
Adar is a month of becoming ripe, growing and progressing in maturity in time for the month of Nisan. What happens in Nisan? Three of the year’s seven Feasts occur this Month: Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The month of Adar is a time of preparation for the coming Passover Lamb, a time to listen and obey, to soak in the Spirit and follow his leading, as we wait on him to make us holy and prepare us for our future.
The barley is ripe when the seeds have reached full size and are filling with starch. When that happens, the barley is ready to eat or to use to make food. When we’re following this pattern of Yahweh’s calendar spiritually throughout the year, by the end of Adar — the end of the year – the seeds that have been planted earlier in the year are ready to be harvested. Then, in the month of Nisan, the fruit of those seeds is transformed into food that sustains us and those around us.
So, this month reflect on your year. What seeds were planted this past year? Make time this month to wait on the Lord, soak in his Spirit and hear his voice regarding the coming year. Prepare your heart to receive the Passover Lamb by Nisan 1.
Bemidbar [Numbers] 10:10
“Also on your days of rejoicing, at your designated times and on Rosh-Chodesh (the head of the month), you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; these will be your reminder before your Elohim [God]. I am YHWH [Adonai] your Elohim [God].
The holiday of Purim falls in the month of Adar. According to the Book of Esther, the month of Adar was “reversed…from grief to joy.” Similarly, the Talmud declares, “When we enter Adar, we increase in joy.” Yet one may wonder; why is the month of Adar considered such a happy time for the Jewish people? There are indeed many different joyous dates on the Jewish calendar, such as Passover, for example, yet none other than Adar lasts the entire month. Why is this month different than all others?
According to Jewish tradition, the answer to this question is that the excessive joy that the Jewish people experienced during Purim surpasses the happiness that Jews had experienced throughout history. During the first Passover, for example, the Jewish people had already witnessed many awesome miracles before they were liberated from slavery in Mitsrayim [Egypt]. They witnessed the ten plagues that befell the Egyptians, as well as the parting of the Red Sea and the manna that fell in the wilderness. The liberation from Egypt came at a time when the Jews were already “seeing the light”.
However, during the Purim story, the Jewish people were at an all-time low – experienced complete darkness and near annihilation. They were exiled from their ancestral homeland, the Jewish Temple had been destroyed, and thus Jews were no longer witnessing the miracles that were performed daily in the Jewish Temple. Indeed, Haman saw all of this, and figured that he would succeed in destroying the Jewish people during the month of Adar – the month of Moses’ death (not realizing that Moses was also born in Adar). Yet nevertheless, despite all of this, the Jewish people held onto their faith and managed to succeed in preventing genocide, on the 14th and 15th of Adar. It was a complete and extreme reversal from darkness into light, mourning into joy, death into life. And so the joy of Adar lasts an entire month, rather than just during the Purim holiday.
Purim in the Streets of Yerushalayim [Jerusalem]
It is important to note that other than the Purim story, many wonderful things have happened to the Jewish people during the month of Adar. For example:
1 Adar- in 1313 BC- the plague of Darkness, the 9th plague came upon Mitsrayim [Egypt].
2 Adar- 598 BC – Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar & Jeconiah is taken prisoner.
3 Adar- 515 BC – The Second Temple is completed.
4 Adar, in 1798, the Jewish ghetto in Rome was legally abolished.
7 Adar, in 1392 BCE, Mosheh [Moses] the prophet was born. In 1273 BCE on the same day he dies.
13 Adar – 161 BCE- The Maccabees defeated Syrian general Nicanor.
13 Adar - Fast of Esther.
14 Adar- Purim.
15 Adar- Shushan Purim.
16 of Adar, 371 BCE, King Cyrus permitted the rebuilding of the Second Temple.
17 of Adar, 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty.
17 Adar- in 522 BCE- Yom Adar- the day the Jewish people left Persia following the Purim story.
18 Adar, the Jews of Yemen celebrate the Purim of Sana’a, where the Jews of Yemen are believed to have been spared after a murdered Yemenite prince miraculously arose to point out his true killers, thus absolving the Jews of responsibility for his death.
18 of Adar, 1953, Joseph Stalin passed away, thus saving thousands of Jews from being deported to Siberia.
20 Adar, Vincents Fettmilch, who was known in Germany as a new Haman, was executed in 1616.
21 of Adar, 1948, the siege of Jerusalem came to an end.
25 Adar in 561 BC- Nebuchadnezzar dies [Jeremiah 52:31]
27 Adar 561BC- Zedekiah died in Babylon.
27 of Adar, in 1821, the Portuguese Inquisition came to an end.
28 of Adar, 163 BCE, King Antiochus V granted the Jews of Israel religious freedom.
28 Adar in 1524, the Purim of Cairo occurred when Egyptian ruler Ahmed Pacha, who had decreed the extermination of the Jews, was killed. Wikipedia- by Rachel Avraham]
Conclusion:
May our focus for this month be that of rejoicing on the great deliverance we have received & on internalizing the seeds that have matured this year in preparation for the coming of Nissan & what it represents.
