A Rod and a Staff
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4
After all that time in floating about in the great sea, or whatever was in that primordial swamp known as the flood, the rains finally stopped, and the fountains abated. Water usually dries up in the sun and after some days. Water of this magnitude however does not. Unless, of course, there's some fountains draining back down into the deep. If there's not, it will stay just that, a sea. In this case though it did dry back up and the ark floated back down on top of the mountains of Arafat.
And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
Exodus 17:29-31
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Exodus 25:9
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Exodus 23:24
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
Exodus 23:34
Under Mosaic law, the seventh month also contained the day of Atonement. It was a day when the people came to God bringing with them the first-borne sheep or cattle without any blemish. This would then be given to the priest and slain on the altar to God. It formed a picture that showed God is holy and before him can be no darkness even at all. If sin forms the darkness, then upon them it would come and separate them as if from his face. Then again, that's the whole purpose of this isn't it, a reminder of what sin really cost, even the blood of his own Son. Though as the record shows, this offering really wasn't forever, was it.
God's Son would last forever with what he had done. Now would the rest know though what true peace really meant that triumphed over what all man would do. Now, the Levitical law demanded the feast of tabernacles, or the dwelling in booths as in a temporary structure. So too were man's living in the tent of their own bodies just as temporary. Then just before during the feast that followed the day of atonement would be the sound of a trumpet of jubilee which signaled the freedom of the people. With sins debt cancelled, so would their service to others be released. Thus, their bondage to sin and their debts would not last forever as with the law it would soon end. It's not really so much of an ending though, as much as it is a fulfilling by that which is greater.
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
1 Kings 8:2-3
We know that King Solomon built his temple with all the unnecessary layers to it, right. I think there was stone on the outside, then wood in between, and finally some gold for the innermost details. It's enough to make any room feel awfully cramped and small, especially one that has some large objects inside. Remember, they had to fit in the ark and the two cherubim and all that other prescribed stuff. King Solomon was so wasteful with his resources, that he even cut down several large trees and stuffed them inside for the doors. Maybe the people just hadn't realized it yet. Anyhow, the seventh month then was the time the people had gathered to move it all in. The ark was once said to contain the glory of God and only those authorized or spent in its' service could move it or do any such.
But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
2 Kings 25:25
It's now about the time of the Babylonian captivity. These had come to carry the people off, but it was some and not all that went the first time. I mean, all the people of Judah that is. Gedaliah was a substitute governor appointed in the Babylonians stead to stay and manage the land and with it the rest of the people that had been so left. Gedaliah it seems had several bad habits. The first and most deadly of which was he had taken the notion to befriend and hang out with Chaldeah. That in itself usually isn't a bad thing, but his friendship soon turned into servitude. It was about this time that Ishmael came to get an earful of the self-same advice. It might have seemed good for a time. Everything changed though in the seventh month when he somehow found out differently. The end result of the matter then was that Gedaliah was slain and perhaps a few others though it is uncertain. The issue here is the fact of the unstable Chaldeah which in itself was really no myth or even a lie. The choice then was between a little insurrection or the removal, the servitude, and the losing of quite possibly the rest of the people there in the land.
In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.
Ezekiel 45:25
The seventh month really was a time for feasts as we see here. These continued through the time of Ezekiel all the way until the veil of the temple was torn at the cross for a time only to be finished with the doing away of that second earthly temple, I believe at the hands of the Romans.
In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,
2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
Haggai 2:1-2
This month it seems is a time for the leadership. What has been old or worn out is replaced or even restarted. That which is about ready to pass away is then released to the Son. Here the issue as always remains whatever should be done about any of these things. After a time of examining and purifying the ways of the old, there comes a time for the new. At the time of Haggai, it was about time to return to the people back in Judah who had come on back home. Oh look, I see Zerubbabel there. Now I'm not sure if this was the one that they had blinded his eyes or not. Regardless though, there is leadership needed. Haggai knows it as does the Lord, who even sent him in with this message in the first place. One can only guess what Zerubbabel is now going to say to the people. As the text says, he will simply remind them to trust in the Lord and so to serve him and thereby remain, nothing more, nothing less.
Ethanim (7th) / April, Aries, a rod and a staff