Exodus 12:2 establishes the first month of the year as the starting point for the sacred calendar when God instructs Moses on the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, declaring that this month shall be the beginning of months and the first month of the year. The name of this month is given in Exodus 13:4 as Abib, a Hebrew term denoting the young, tender, green ears of barley that ripen in early spring. This identification places the first month at the onset of the spring season. After the Babylonian exile the month received the additional name Nisan, a term appearing only in post-exilic writings. The text explains that the month began when the new moon coincided with the green-ear stage of barley growth. Ancient observers monitored the local crop to determine whether the ears would reach that stage by the next new moon; if they would, that new moon inaugurated Abib, and if not, the following month was selected instead. Over time the Levites developed precise astronomical calculations based on centuries of recorded data, allowing them to predict new-moon conjunctions accurately; visual confirmation followed, after which the high priest sanctified the new moon for the nation's appointed times. Although certain biblical phrases have been interpreted as evidence for a Tishri New Year, the material maintains that these references are better understood within an agricultural or seasonal framework and do not overturn the explicit command of Exodus 12:2. That foundational statement therefore functions as a definition verse, anchoring the sacred year in spring and rendering any January 1 observance inconsistent with the scriptural pattern.

The annual cycle governing God's appointed festivals, or moedim, begins with the new moon that ushers in the Hebrew month of Abib, making Abib 1 the starting point from which the yearly holy days are reckoned. This new moon is directly tied to the Hebrew word khodesh, meaning new moon, which serves as the marker for determining when each of the appointed feasts occurs throughout the year. The significance of Abib 1 is demonstrated in how subsequent festivals are calculated from it: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for instance, falls on the fifteenth day of Abib, that is, fifteen days after the new moon that begins the month. This pattern illustrates the broader principle that the fall of most annual appointed feasts is determined by the occurrence of a new moon, consistent with God's statement in Genesis 1:14 that the sun and moon would serve as signs for festivals, seasons, and appointed times. This role of Abib 1 in establishing the annual cycle stands in direct contrast to the method by which the weekly seventh-day Sabbath is determined, and this contrast forms a central point in refuting the doctrine of the lunar Sabbath. Lunar Sabbatarians argue that because the weekly Sabbath is mentioned within Leviticus 23 alongside the moedim, which are explicitly tied to new moons such as the one beginning Abib, the weekly Sabbath must likewise be governed by the lunar month. However, this reasoning is answered by recognizing that God instituted two distinct and separate cycles: an annual cycle, which is intrinsically connected to the new moon and specifically to the new moon of Abib, and a weekly cycle, which operates independently of any lunar reckoning. The annual cycle beginning at Abib 1 defines a set of seven holy days occurring throughout the year, while the weekly Sabbath is defined by an uninterrupted seven-day cycle established at creation, one that does not reset or reference the new moon at all. This distinction is reinforced by the observation that neither khodesh (new moon) nor moedim (appointed times) appears in the key passages establishing the seventh-day Sabbath, including Genesis 2:2-3, the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8-11, or Leviticus 23:3 itself. The repeated use of khodesh throughout Leviticus 23 in connection with the annual feasts, contrasted with its complete absence in passages describing the weekly Sabbath, demonstrates that the new moon marking Abib 1 governs the annual festival cycle alone and has no bearing on the determination of the weekly Sabbath. Thus, while Abib 1 is essential for establishing when the annual appointed feasts occur, it plays no role whatsoever in fixing the day of the seventh-day Sabbath, which proceeds on its own continuous, unbroken cycle of seven days regardless of the lunar month's beginning.

The sacred calendar begins on Abib 1 in the spring, while the civil calendar begins on Tishri 1 in the autumn, making Tishri the seventh month of the sacred year yet the first of the civil year. This distinction allows the Feast of Trumpets to fall on Tishri 1 and the preceding day of Elul 29 to mark the close of the year of release. The dual calendars therefore connect the civil observance of the Feast of Trumpets directly to the sacred timing that governs the seventh-year cycle of release, rest for the land, cancellation of debts, and release of Hebrew servants. By anchoring the sacred year at Abib 1, the structure ensures that the year of release functions as a recurring Sabbath reminder of God's ownership of the land and His provision for His people, extending the same principle of faith and forgiveness that operates every seventh day into a seven-year pattern.