Barley Enough!

Shalom, everyone!  All the pictures here come from friends in Israel from today and yesterday.

The above are two of many shots of the “Khodesh”, or the ‘renewed crescent of the moon’, starting a new lunar cycle this evening.

Now, we are obliged to determine if it is also the month of the “Aviv”…

“Aviv” is a mysterious word: it means both “ripening” and “His Father”.

To ‘sire’ something as a Father, “Av”, is to give it life. That is the concept of the Aviv: there is ‘new life’ in the earth. You can see from the pictures above that we have a crescent in the sky above Israel, and on the ground, the wheat is turning colors. But, We have to check the barley, to see if it is “aviv”, or “in the ear”.

The biblical requirements to make that determination are:

• It is brittle enough to be destroyed by hail and has begun to lighten in color (i.e. it is not ‘dark green’) [Exodus 9:22, 31-32]
• The seeds have produced enough dry material so it can be immediately eaten parched (not having to first be dried out)[Leviticus 2:14]
• Field is natural and of sufficient quantity of aviv (a vast majority) to clearly indicate the field would be fully harvestable (karmel) within a few weeks (representative that other fields within the region should also have reached a minimum stage of aviv by Passover ) There should be enough grain harvestable to make the offerings in the Temple. [Leviticus 23:10; Deuteronomy 16:9; Joshua 5:10-12]

There are plenty of fields in Israel that show that there is sufficient barley to have a first wave sheaf available by Passover and Matzot, and then some. We have multiple reports out of Israel to show us this.

A lot of people call this ‘spring’, and of course, scientifically, it is not ‘wrong’. But, in the Bible there are two seasons, “kayitz and khoref”, summer and winter קיץ , חורף.

But, the proof of all our conclusions needs to be Yeshua. He settles all the ‘arguments’, and our doctrine is His doctrine. He gives us an additional sign that ‘summer’ is here, settling the inevitable squabbling of Rabbinic doctrine that is most likely to ensue this year concerning the Aviv. Some people are waiting for another look before they say that THIS ‘khodesh’, or crescent moon, is the one of the Aviv. They are waiting as late as ten more days. This is too late to make the call about the ‘crescent’ of the aviv; that would be the yare’akh, or even the kiseh, the full moon. But it is the ‘khodesh’ that must be declared the 1st Khodesh, of the Aviv. We believe we have that, given the multiple witnesses reporting out of Israel of aviv fields of barley. And to settle the argument, Yeshua gives us a clear indicator of the ‘season’:

The fig tree:

“From the fig tree learn a mashal. As soon as its branches become tender and bring forth leaves, you know that summer is coming.” Mat 24:32

Summer is not the roman/western version, but the whole middle part of the year, from Passover to Yom Teru’ah.

The fig trees are indeed tender and bringing forth leaves in Israel, right now:

If you’ve paid attention in Texas, you know that life is vigorous right now, and that there is no need to wait to declare that ‘summer’ is arriving. We have seen pictures coming out of Israel that show us not only Aviv barley, but also flowers, golden wheat, and bird migrations that always happen before Passover. Those are not part of the biblical mandate, but they are affirmations, confirmations, especially given that Yeshua Himself said that the fig tree sets the season.

As such, we are indeed celebrating our Passover according to Biblical reckoning, and since today IS the first day of the Sacred Year, Passover will be on Sunday night, March 24, 14 evenings from this evening.

Join us to experience Yeshua like you never have!