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!
Month of Shevat
Shalom Netzarim! The Hebrew Month of Shevat is approaching so some significance should be derived:
The Message of Shevat
Each Biblical month has its own theme or message. The theme of the month of Shevat is renewal, restoration and rebirth. The month of Shevat marks the early beginnings of the spring season in Israel and the time in which their almond trees are in full bloom. Praise Elohim [God] for the blossoming of a new season in your life. Declare that the door to your past is closed and you are moving into a new season of fruitfulness in your walk with the Lord.
In Israel the almond tree is one of the first trees to “awaken” from its winter sleep. The word almond means “wakeful” because the almond tree is quick and early to bloom in January. It was said that the tree never slept and was always watching for the arrival of Spring. That was why some referred to it as the watching tree.
The prophet, Jeremiah, mentions it in a vision:
“Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, YermeYahu [Jeremiah], what do you see? And I said, I see a branch or shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in late winter]. Then said the Lord to me, you have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.”
In this instance, Elohim [God] uses the image of the almond tree to introduce a spiritual truth. Like the almond tree watching for the arrival of Spring, Elohim [God] watches over our lives awaiting the season in which His promises to us will come to pass. The Word of YHWH Elohim [God] contains the power to do what it says. Those who have been trusting in Him and believing in His Word are now in a season where we are entering into the fullness of the promise.
A date of significance during the month of Shevat is its first day because it was on this date that Mosheh [Moses] gave his final message recorded in the book of Devarim [Deuteronomy] to the generation that would enter the Land of Promise (Deuteronomy 1:3). Since the previous generation had died out in the wilderness, the next generation had to renew their covenant with YHWH [God] and accept His laws as the rule of their lives.
Before the Yisraelites crossed the Yarden [Jordan], Mosheh reminded them of their journey over the last 40 years, and recounted the Torah to them, explaining the blessings if they followed it and the curses if they didn’t. This is what they were going to need to succeed in the Promised Land – to know and keep the Torah.
It is therefore the perfect time to renew our covenant with Elohim [God] – accepting His Lordship over our lives, seeking His forgiveness for our sins and forsaking everything we know to be displeasing to Him.
It is said that on the 15th of Shevat the trees stop absorbing water from the ground, and instead draw nourishment from their sap. This signals the end of winter and the almond trees begin to blossom. A tree dies if uprooted from the earth; it exists and grows only when it continues to receive nourishment from its source. There is a connection between man, trees, and fruit in Bible Scripture:
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and [that] spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
As we continue to trust in the goodness of the Lord, let us pray that His Holy Spirit nourishes us so that we will be rooted like the trees and grow strong, bearing much fruit.
Prepare for New Life
So that’s the journey we’re beginning in Shevat.
This is a month to take stock of what we’ve learned so far. We remember where we’ve come from. We reset our minds on Yahweh’s [God’s] ways and recommit to walking in obedience and in his blessing. This prepares us for the new life that begins in the new year coming in Nisan/March-April.
The sign for the month of Shevat is Aquarius, the waterbearer. This further ties Shevat to the rainy season, reflecting the Biblical verse, “Water will flow from his wells.”
Shevat Remembrance
1. Shevat 1- Year 2488- The significance of Shevat begins with Mosheh summarizing the Torah [Misheh Torah] recorded in the book of Devarim/ Deuteronomy] on the 1st of the month:
Davarim 1:1,3 These are the words that Mosheh spoke to Yisrael beyond the Yarden [Jordan] in the wilderness… in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month [i.e. Shevat]
Yahudi [Jewish] tradition says that Mosheh preached the contents of Devarim for 37 days until Adar 7 so it is an opportune time to renew our study of the Torah.
2. The New Year for Trees- Tu B’Shevat
According to the great sage Hillel the Rosh Hashanah for Trees occurs on the 15th of Shevat when tithes from fruit trees were due to be given to the Priests. If we lived in Temple times, then beginning on Tu b’Shevat, we would observe our trees and tie a red ribbon around the first cluster of fruit on our trees. When these clusters grow to full maturity, we would then take them to the Temple for the firstfruits coming up in a few months!
It is also a tradition to eat new fruit from the land of Yisrael and recite this blessing:
Barukh atah YHWH [Lord] eloheinu melekh ha olam bore prei ha etz.
Blessed are you Lord our Elohim King of the Universe creator of the fruit of the trees.
Since the Torah alludes to human life as “the tree of the field” Deut 20:19 Kabbalists focused on eating fruits as a way of expressing teshuvah [repentance] for the original sin of having eaten from “the tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil”.
3. Shevat 2- Asher born [1628 BC]
4. Shevat 24- Zecharyah’s Prophecy [517 BC] Zech 1:7-16 In the 2nd year of Darius the word of YHWH [God] came to Zecharyah saying, “I will return to Yerushalayim in mercy, my house shall be built within her.” This was 2 years before the completion of the 2nd Temple on the 3rd of Adar, 515 BCE.
5. Shevat 28- Antiochus V abandoned his siege of Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] observed as a holiday in Hasmonean times [Megilat Taanit]
