The Festival of Tu'ba Shevat (Lev. 19) - The Calendar of the Trees

Shalom, friends. my name is Chadwick Harvey, and you have reached Faithful Performance. Thank you for joining us tonight as we celebrate and proclaim Tu'ba Shevat — known as the Calendar of the Trees — which we find in Leviticus 19. We will also work through related scriptures from the teachings of Yeshua, from Paul, and from Psalm 1, which represents us as trees in the Holy Bible. We will cover all of those connections, as well as the anointings of the month of Shevat that tie into the Calendar of the Trees.

To begin, let's look at the biblical calendar to show where Tu'ba Shevat falls. The month of Shevat is the eleventh month — nearly at the year's end, with one more month remaining before the new biblical year. Tu'ba Shevat lands in the middle of Shevat, on the fifteenth day, which is why it falls on a full moon. If you look outside tonight and see a full moon, that is Tu'ba Shevat. If you have been with us throughout this year's journey, we have almost completed the biblical year, with about a month and a half remaining before the new biblical year begins. This year, Nissan 1 falls on March 19th.

Let's trace the path of where we have come from. Most are familiar with the first seven months and the purification journey that can be drawn from them. I covered that in a video recorded in the Cayman Islands, available on my YouTube channel, which goes through the first seven months — essentially the feast season from Passover through the Feast of Tabernacles.

When we enter the month of Tishri, the books are opened, then closed, then sealed for the year. This brings in a new dimension — a new journey from the seventh month forward toward the first month. The final feast days listed in Leviticus 23 occur in the seventh month. After the feast season, when the books have been opened and closed and all nations and individuals have been weighed in the balance, we move into what you might call the fall and winter season.

Month eight, Cheshvan, is the month when the roots are hidden and new beginnings occur. Think of a tree — the roots push out from beneath the ground first, working their way up through the soil. The number eight itself signifies new beginnings. Cheshvan is also notable for having no feast days, fast days, or appointed times of any kind, which is why it is said to be reserved for the Messiah Yeshua. When he returns, the first full month of the millennial kingdom will be Cheshvan.

Moving forward, the month of Kislev is when Hanukkah occurs — the warfare between light and darkness, between true worshippers and false worshippers, which is precisely what the Maccabees were fighting against. Everything that went underground into the roots during Cheshvan begins to be illuminated in Kislev. The victory of the Maccabees and the triumph of the true worshippers make this a very powerful month.

Then we come to Tevet, the tenth month, when judgments — good or bad — begin to fully emerge. A useful reference point is when Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem, which connects to the judgment theme of Tevet. Those judgments can be either good or bad, depending on individual and national behavior.

Then we arrive at the month of Shevat. This is when the calendar begins to turn toward the new biblical year in Nissan 1. We are now in the last quarter of the year on the biblical calendar — the calendar given in Exodus 12, the calendar of Moses — consisting of Tevet, Shevat, and Adar. Tonight, on Shevat 15, we are at the exact midpoint of that final quarter. It is a full moon. It is called the Calendar of the Trees.

In the modern State of Israel, trees are planted at this time of year and counted from this date forward. Each year on Shevat 15, that count determines the age of the trees. The commandment behind this practice comes from Leviticus 19, which we will get into shortly.

After Shevat comes Adar, the final month before the new biblical year. Adar is a month of reversal — for those walking in obedience and praying into these things, it is a time when decisions reverse for good. Think of the Book of Esther and the festival of Purim. Mordecai and Esther experienced a complete reversal: Mordecai was to be hanged on the gallows, but Haman was hung there instead. The reversal came in favor of the believers. So if you are praying through trials, tribulations, or any difficult circumstances, this is a beautiful season opening up for the people of God.

In my personal view, that season really begins tonight — on the full moon of Shevat 15, Tu'ba Shevat, the Calendar of the Trees — when a kind of inventory is taken. Yahweh looks down at his trees, at you and me, to see whether we are bearing good fruit or bad fruit. For those producing good fruit, praying, loving God, loving their neighbor, and interceding for the times we live in, this opens a beautiful process in which that fruit is delivered. The Calendar of the Trees leads into the festival of Purim in Adar, another powerful anointing for the believers to pray into. Then comes the new biblical year — Nissan 1 on March 19th — where springtime and new beginnings arrive and the fruit cultivated through the winter months of Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, and Adar begins visibly to manifest.

All of this aligns with how God views things through the agricultural calendar: trees, good fruit, bad fruit. Then come the deliverance months — Adar and Purim from the Book of Esther, the Exodus in Nissan 14 when the children of Israel left Egypt (which carries prophetic meaning for us today, which is why we count the omer after the resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits). Then we move through the spring months of Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan — highly anointed months of favor for the believers — culminating in Shavuot, the wedding of the Torah, when the blessed Holy Spirit was also poured out.

This is a beautiful trajectory. If you have not been following it, welcome — you are going to see remarkable things unfold in your life as you follow Yahweh on the calendar, attending to its anointings, its agricultural imagery, and the symbolism of good fruit and bad fruit that Yeshua the Messiah, David, Paul, and all the writers of Scripture pointed to in connection with the Calendar of the Trees.

So where do we find this in Scripture? We find it in Leviticus 19. This is the passage from which the Jewish people derive the Calendar of the Trees. Leviticus 19:23–25 reads:

"When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you; it shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be holy, a praise to Adonai. And in the fifth year, you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase. I am Adonai, your Elohim."

That passage is the foundation for the Calendar of the Trees. As I mentioned, there are actually four new years on the biblical calendar. Most are familiar with Nissan 1 — the new biblical year. Then there is Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets, which marks the beginning of the civil year by which time has been counted from Adam to the present. Third is Tu'ba Shevat — Shevat 15 — the new year of the trees. And fourth is the new year for livestock, which falls in the month of Elul. So there are four distinct new years, each tracking a different dimension of life: the civil year from Adam on Tishri 1, the redemptive year from Moses on Nissan 1, the year of the trees on Shevat 15, and the year of livestock in Elul.

Returning to Leviticus 19, the text says: when you come into the promised land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. For three years the fruit is uncircumcised and shall not be eaten.