“Happy New Year!”  Or is it? 

Many of us understand that the Biblical New Year depends upon the maturity of the barley in the Holy Land.  (See “Section Five: The Year” in the article “What Are God’s Rules for the Calendar?” which is Part One of the “You Can Understand God’s Calendar” series available on the www.BelovedofGod.org Web site.) 

We know that we must have abib barley in order to have the Biblical “month of the abib.”  We know that we must have ripened barley for the wave sheaf/omer offering during the days of Unleavened Bread. 

However, other crucial questions arise:  How much barley has to be matured to the stage of abib when the new year new moon begins?  Does it matter what varieties of barley we use?  Is the setting in which the barley is growing important?  Which barley should we use in determining the New Year?  Which barley should we reject? 

What has our Almighty Father recorded for us in response to these questions? 

First, let’s recall a few of the foundational Scriptures pertaining to the wave sheaf/omer offering: 

"Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.  Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD.  Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine.  Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.  You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.  You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.’  (Leviticus 23:10-16) 

"Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God; you shall do no work on it.  You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.  Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you;” (Deuteronomy 16:8-10) 

What principles do these verses teach us which are applicable to our questions? 

1. “You shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.”  

• The counting toward Pentecost must begin with the first sheaf of barley which is cut anywhere in the land – the wave sheaf during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Therefore, no harvest activity – including cutting of the sheaves – is allowed to begin before the Days of Unleavened Bread. 

2. “Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth.” 

• None of the new barley crop was permitted to be consumed until after the wave sheaf/omer had been offered (during the Days of Unleavened Bread). 

3. “Then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.” 

• The wave sheaf/omer offering cannot be an isolated event, separated by weeks from the remainder of the harvest.  The Bible does not demand any set amount of harvest-ripe barley, nor should we.  However, the wave sheaf/omer must represent the beginning of the harvest.  Consequently, immediately following the Days of Unleavened Bread, there must be some additional quantities of ripe barley, so that the several weeks of the harvest season are genuinely ready to progress. 

4. “Put the sickle to the standing grain. . .” 

• Barley to be used for the determination of the New Year must be situated in sickle-harvestable areas. 

If we are to have God’s mind, we must understand a very important point in this regard: 

Fields which are suitable for mechanized combining can certainly be sickle or scythe-harvested, given an adequate labor force.

However, many smaller or more awkward areas which are quite suitable for sickle harvesting would be completely impossible to harvest using modern mechanized methods. 

Consequently, when we insist that the abib barley be found within “harvestable” areas, the Bible requires that we include among the admissible, areas which are harvestable by sickle, whether or not they are harvestable using any other device. 

What other passages of Scripture apply to our questions?  How do they apply? 

"Observe the month of [the] Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of [the] Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.”  (Deuteronomy 16:1) 

5. "Observe the month of [the] Abib…” 

• The first month of the year, the month containing the Passover, is not the month after the abib; rather it is the month “of the abib.”  Thus, we should expect to find barley progressing through the abib stage as it matures in various regions of the Holy Land during the course of the first month. 

Further Biblical passages clarify additional aspects: 

'Again, if a man consecrates to the LORD part of the fields of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it: a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver.’  (Leviticus 27:16) 

Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?  Does he not level [or, make agreeable] its surface, And sow dill and scatter cummin, And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place, and rye within its area?  For his God instructs and teaches him properly.  (Isaiah 28:24-26) 

6. “barley seed”  . . . “plow . . . turn, and harrow” 

• In Biblical times, as is less true today, barley was planted and cultivated to be a food crop in the Holy Land. Therefore, under ideal circumstances, domestic barley would be used for the determination of the New Year. 

NOTE:  Expert abib searchers today rely significantly on the wild two-row barley for the determination of the New Year out of concern that the modern developed domesticated strains (even of the two-row varieties) are less reliable as equivalents to the ancient strains referenced in Scripture.  Of course, when Christ restores the pure strains and requires righteous farming practices in His Kingdom, domestic barley will certainly be the standard. 

§         Thus, in today’s world, wild barley may provide the closest approximation to what is referenced in the Biblical commands. 

7. “'Again, if a man consecrates to the LORD part of the fields of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it: a homer of barley seed . . .” 

• A homer of barley seed (about 5 modern bushels, more or less) would be sufficient to plant a field approximately 100 yards wide by 100 yards long (2 -2 ½ acres).  

While the above verse does not rule out multiple homers of seed for larger plots, the field size that is mentioned is quite small, particularly when compared to the modern mega-agriculture seen in many parts of the USA. 

What else can we learn from the Word of God to answer our questions? 

And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows -- how, he himself does not know.  The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.  But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  (Mark 4:26-29) 

8. “When the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” 

• “When the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle.”  

Why immediately?  This physical/spiritual analogy given by Christ is underscored physically by the real and present agricultural reality that for harvest-ripe barley to remain uncut in the fields for several weeks (while waiting for an unnaturally late wave sheaf offering) would be expected to generate disastrous crop loss. 

In addition to threats from any inclement weather (compare Exodus 9:31-32), stalks of harvest-ripe barley weaken rapidly following maturity and will often fall over, sprouting, molding, and/or becoming fodder for insects. 

Hence, any New Year which can be appropriately declared should not be delayed due to non-Biblical considerations. 

Jesus’ parable of the sower has also been applied to the abib question.  Yet has it been applied accurately?  Let’s take a look at the parable, section by section (Multiple accounts are provided where more than one Gospel adds detail): 

Seed beside the road: 

"The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up.”  (Luke 8:5) 

Seed on rocky soil: 

"And other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.”  (Luke 8:6) 

"And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.  But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”  (Matthew 13:5-6) 

Seed among thorns: 

"And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  (Mark 4:7) 

Seed on good ground: 

"And other seeds fell into the good soil and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."  (Mark 4:8) 

"And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”  (Matthew 13:8) 

Agriculturally speaking, what do we have here?  We have a progression: 

First, are the seeds on the footpath at the side of the road which are trampled underfoot and eaten by birds, never even getting a chance to sprout.  This situation clearly has no connection whatever with barley that is able to sprout, grow, and mature to the stage of abib. 

Next, are the seeds upon the rocky places.  Just how rocky?  We have numerous rocks in many of the farm fields here in western Oregon.  Is that the type of setting being discussed in this parable?  By no means!  

9. “Immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.  But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.” 

• In this parable the “rocky places” are so extremely rocky that the plant is never able to become a full-sized plant. Lacking root structure and starved for moisture, this barley dies in its infancy – just as soon as the hot midday sun has the opportunity to impact it. 

Here again, according to Christ, these “rocky places” clearly have no connection whatever with barley that is able to grow and mature to any advanced stage, such as abib. 

Third, we come to the seed among the thorns, an analogy which has some potential applicability to the abib.  In a thickly-thorned environment, it is conceivable that barley might grow and mature to the abib stage, and yet be choked out in that crucial fortnight before ripening. 

10.  “The thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.” 

• As would seem to go without saying, thorn thickets are not suitable environments for determining abib barley. 

Lastly, we find that the “good soil” is the only soil that produces any harvest at all! Further, the “good” soils produce significantly varying yields at harvest.  Why is this?  Could it be, as is the case here in western Oregon, that a field with numerous rocks, or with less desirable soil characteristics, or which receives less moisture, might constitute a micro-environment which produces only thirty-fold, rather than the one hundred fold produced by a prime soil? 

11.  "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” 

• God’s definition of “good soil” allows for yield-lowering conditions – such as field rock, limited moisture, and/or less desirable soil compositions – as long as there exists the capacity for a productive harvest. 

• Situated here in the lush agricultural Willamette Valley of western Oregon, we have often expressed fascination to one another that our local area is composed of subtle geographic variations which create dozens (if not hundreds) of natural micro-environments, many of which impact not only crop yields, but also temperatures, and thus the rate of progression of crops to maturity.  The same would certainly be true of many, if not most, agricultural regions around the globe.  To exclude natural “micro-environments” from consideration would set up an artificial and distorted norm. 

Further, God’s definition of “good soil” – “some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” – supports the inclusion of natural micro-environments. 

NOTE:  The above should not be taken to argue for the inclusion of artificial microenvironments created by human practices that generate an artificial greenhouse effect, nor those which induce an artificially stressed environment for the growing barley. 

For example: We would include for consideration a field that had been ditched to provide a source of water, or terraced for stability of soil.  However, we would exclude premature rows of barley immediately adjacent to asphalt pavement, sprayed with herbicide, or embedded in a wire mesh retainer on a steep slope. 

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the ultimate wave sheaf.  Was He planted in prime soil in order to qualify as our Lord and Savior?  Was He a majestic sheaf of   fine wheat for all to admire? 

Quite to the contrary. 

“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”  (Isaiah 53:2-3) 

What  does this Messianic prophecy show us? 

12. “He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty. .  .” 

• In earthly presence, our Savior, the ultimate wave sheaf, was a lowly specimen, grown in meager conditions, of the lowly poor man’s grain – barley. 

What then of the rest of the barley harvest, picturing the Church? 

From the perspective of us as the firstfruits (compare James 1:18), there is an interesting analogy here.  Are the firstfruits, the smaller first harvest, grown only in ideal conditions?  Or are we not subject to more difficult “growing conditions” than those who will be part of the later great harvest during the Kingdom of God, some of whom will not have to contend with Satan, and all of whom will live in a world governed by God’s Law and the Messiah? 

Hopefully, bearing all of these Scriptural principles firmly in mind, we can each be prayerfully equipped to discern and to support valid declarations of the Biblical New Year, and to reject any declarations which are inaccurate. 

Agricultural aspects of this article have been reviewed for accuracy by professional agronomist Ruthanne Koch.