TEQUFAH

The tilt of the Earth's axis and its orbit around the Sun makes is seem the Sun moves above and below the equator. When the Sun is directly above the equator in the spring and autumn, it is generally called the equinox, a Latin term meaning "equal night." The length of the day and night are roughly equal.

The first moon of the new year arrives AFTER this equinox. If we start the first moon many days prior to this, we begin the first moon while it is still winter.

The arrival of spring (often called ABIB) should not be thought of as a moment, or even a single day. Scripture refers to the seasonal change as the TEQUFAH, and it is a smooth transition into longer and warmer days caused by the Earth’s orbit and tilt. The sun appears to draw nearer to, and finally crosses over the Earth’s equatorial region. Summer (kayits) and winter (khoref) are the only two seasons known to Scripture, and are taken from the perspective of the northern hemisphere, since the seasons are reversed for the southern hemisphere. More about the term tequfah (cycle) will be explained below.

The winter ends as it becomes noticeable that the Earth is showing signs of greening, the result of the sun having arrived near enough to the equatorial region to cause budding to occur. Watch for buds, and greening, and you know that “summer” is near. Yahusha made such a statement at Matt. 24:32:

“And learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near.”

The term “leaves” means sprouts. Summer is kayits, what we call springtime. Yahusha said it is "near" because the arrival of the next new moon counts as the beginning point of the year (Ex. 12:2). Many private interpretations by teachers cause many distortions, so there are dozens of different calendars now with more appearing as the deceptions increase. The older brother, Yahudah, has been observing the times and seasons, but Afraim will eventually join into one tree - but Afraim is very contentious.

Yahudah knows when the appointed times are. If only Afraim would stop trying to argue over when they are, they could spend more time explaining to Yahudah what they mean. www.fossilizedcustoms.com/redemption.html

When a new moon arrives when budding of trees is apparent and green grasses becoming active, it’s the first month of the year. It is not just barley that becomes evident, there are many indications all around. There is no Scripture indicating that anyone is to first go out to hunt for the appearance of barley prior to the new moon, even though that’s what most are led to believe by those teaching them. The barley is a grass that flashes-up quickly and goes to seed, just like your lawn does when you don’t cut it for a week or so.

During the week of Matsah, the first-fruits of the barley was cut down (the omer, a bundle of barley), and then waved by the High Priest, foreshadowing the day of Yahusha’s resurrection. To go out and find barley “in the head” (seed) and then watching for the NEXT new moon is not found as a directive in Scripture, yet this is what most teachers insist on. The term ABIB means grain, and refers to the seed having become ripe enough for grinding. ABIB doesn’t mean “green ears.”

We often refer to something as being “green” because it is not yet ripe; but ABIB indicates the seed is ready to harvest and be ground into flour.

Scripture reveals the end of winter (koref) is a tequfah, the change of season or circuit/cycle. The lengthening of the days around the time of the arrival of spring (spring is called kayits cognate with life and is equivalent to summer) produce enough warmth to start grasses to grow, and sap in trees to begin to rise. The fact that the first new moon this year may be 8 or 9 days before the official moment of the equinox will not matter at all to the grasses that appear with their seed ready to harvest within a couple of weeks. One of those grass-like plants is barley. Those who postpone recognizing the first new moon of the year will find their barley also, but the first fruits will already have been harvested. Each spring there are teachers proclaiming their own views, yet when we do things as each one sees fit we are not aligned with the older brother who has been doing this for thousands of years. It’s very easy to deceive people who never work with crops, isn’t it? We are working toward the restoration of the two houses, guided by love, and avoid contention over so-called knowledge that opposes that restoration. People dispute over the beginning and ending of days, weeks, moons, and years. The most obvious solution is to look to the one group that received and preserved the Living Words:

“What then is the advantage of the Yahudim, or what is the value of the circumcision?

Much in every way! Because firstly indeed, that they were entrusted with the Words of Alahim.

For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief nullify the trustworthiness of Alahim?

Let it not be! But let Alahim be true, and every man a liar, as it has been written, ‘That You should be declared right in Your words, and prevail in Your judging.’” Romans 3:1-4

TEQUFAH: Hebrew word #8622 A general term for the circuit of time, a cycle, and may be applied to the term of a year, a period of a pregnancy, or the end-point of anything, such as a day. The term is used in a variety of ways, as you can see at Ex. 34:22, Ps 19:6, and 1Sam 1:20.

We will never draw people to the Truth with just facts and figures, but by loving and serving them. It’s our humility and love, not our knowledge, that will draw them, and we have the greatest Servant of all living within us to enable us to do this. He is Yahuah’s Servant, the Branch – Zech. 3:8.

Study Philippians chapter 2 & Romans 12; either we have the Mind of Yahusha, or we don’t.

His goal is to unite us, even as our enemy seeks to divide us over whatever leads us away from loving one another.

TEQUFAH: Hebrew word #8622 A general term for the “circuit of time”, a cycle, and may be applied to the term of a year, a period of a pregnancy, or the end-point of anything, such as a day. The term is used in a variety of ways, as you can see at Ex. 34:22, Ps 19:6, and 1Sam 1:20.

In the Scriptures, there are only TWO SEASONS: summer (kayits) and winter (koref). Western cultures have made things more complex, dividing the 52 weeks of the year into four groups of 13 weeks each. If we simply realized that the EQUATOR and the sun's position relative to it was all that mattered, then we can better interpret the meaning of the Scriptures. When the sun reaches the equator, the length of the night and day become "equal", so we express this with the word Latin word, "equinox", meaning "equal night". This occurrence is known as a tequfah (Hebrew), the point at which a circuit comes to a close. When winter ends for the northern hemisphere, it is because the sun is directly over the equator. There are 26 weeks of summer (what we would call spring + summer), and 26 weeks of winter (what we would call fall + winter).

The equinox actually spans several days - the sun is directly over the Earth's equator for a period of days. It is not a precise moment, but is blurred over a period of several DAYS before and after a center-point.

"Day and night are not exactly of equal length at the time of the March and September equinoxes.

The dates on which day and night are each 12 hours occur a few days before and after the equinoxes.

The specific dates of this occurrence are different for different latitudes. (note the word "dates" for this occurrence).

On the day of an equinox, the geometric center of the Sun's disk crosses the equator, and this point is above the horizon for 12 hours everywhere on the Earth. However, the Sun is not simply a geometric point. Sunrise is defined as the instant when the leading edge of the Sun's disk becomes visible on the horizon, whereas sunset is the instant when the trailing edge of the disk disappears below the horizon. These are the moments of first and last direct sunlight. At these times the center of the disk is below the horizon. Furthermore, atmospheric refraction causes the Sun's disk to appear higher in the sky than it would if the Earth had no atmosphere. Thus, in the morning the upper edge of the disk is visible for several minutes before the geometric edge of the disk reaches the horizon. Similarly, in the evening the upper edge of the disk disappears several minutes after the geometric disk has passed below the horizon. The times of sunrise and sunset in almanacs are calculated for the normal atmospheric refraction of 34 minutes of arc and a semidiameter of 16 minutes of arc for the disk. Therefore, at the tabulated time the geometric center of the Sun is actually 50 minutes of arc below a regular and unobstructed horizon for an observer on the surface of the Earth in a level region.

For observers within a couple of degrees of the equator, the period from sunrise to sunset is always several minutes longer than the night. At higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere, the date of equal day and night occurs before the March equinox. Daytime continues to be longer than nighttime until after the September equinox. In the southern hemisphere, the dates of equal day and night occur before the September equinox and after the March equinox."

At the equinoxes, Earth's tilt places the sun directly above the equator.

The equinox spans several days, as this statement correctly expresses it:

"The dates on which day and night are each 12 hours occur a few days before and after the equinoxes." (U.S. Naval Observatory quoted above).

The Naval Observatory concedes that the equinox is really spread over a period of days, and our position on the Earth causes geometric variables in observed data. There is some "approximating" going on with whatever set of data one goes on, however if everyone separately analyzes what appears right to them, as we see commonly done anyway, some will be right and the others wrong.

Tekufah appears in the Scriptures four times, and relates to the calendar at least three times.

This refers to the end and, therefore, the beginning of another year, demarcated by the spring equinox and the new moon.

This speaks of the sun's daily course, or it's yearly circuit through the equinoxes

Isn't the term "bible" the proper name of a fertility deity whose temple was located at ancient Byblos, a coastal town named for her?
Does Yahuah's Word ever refer to itself as a "bible"? Our fathers have inherited only lies and things of no profit (YirmeYahu 16:19). Also, tradition has altered names like Yahudah to "Judah," and replaced the Name of Yahuah with "LORD" (Baal in Hebrew), and inserted the name of the identity thief, Jesus, for the true Name, Yahusha. Also, are there names for the Zodiac in the texts at Iyub (aka Job) chapters 9 & 38 in the translation you use (from the Hebrew words EISH, KESIL, KIMAH, and MAZZAROTH? The new BYNV (Besorah of Yahusha Natsarim Version) is repairing these, and many other kinds of inherited misunderstandings, and is live right now at AMAZON KINDLE (link below).

After meditating and praying about what the Hebrew words He used meant, the answer has come to us. Yahuah used these words before mankind had discovered any use for them – so we’ve caught up to the point they make sense for the first time. We’re not in the 16th century anymore, Toto!