The Hebrew Month of Cheshvan | Flow Forward or Fall Backward

The Hebrew month of Cheshvan represents a month of physical and spiritual potential. It’s a moment of choice on our spiritual journeys to either ascend with focus, faith, and determination or descend in negligence. While there are no biblical feasts in the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, it does not lack richness of purpose or significant history. 

Biblical Events During the Hebrew Month of Cheshvan 

• The Flood: According to Jewish tradition, the flood during the days of Noah began on the 17th of Cheshvan (Genesis 7:11).
  
• Solomon’s Temple: The First Temple was completed in Jerusalem in Cheshvan (1 Kings 6:38); although dedication was delayed until the following Tishrei.
  
• Season of Rain (Yoreh—First Rains): Cheshvan is recognized as the beginning of the rainy season in Israel, which is crucial for agriculture and represents provision and prosperity for the year ahead.
  
• Counterfeit Worship: While Solomon’s Temple was completed this month, 1 Kings 12:28-33 warns us about a counterfeit temple that was also erected during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan (the 8th month):

“Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

“Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”

True to form, directly following the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which holds the three Feasts of the Lord (including one *pilgrim feast), the enemy sneaks in and offers a counterfeit in the name of convenience. Therefore, in this season, we would be wise to remain alert for a counterfeit offering from the enemy, likely in the name of convenience over obedience.

Interestingly, according to the tradition of Chassidic Sages, when the Messiah from the House of David rules, the third temple will be consecrated in the Hebrew month of Cheshvan–a month reserved for just Him.

*Pilgrim Feasts (in Hebrew they are known as Shalosh Regalim) are three biblical festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) during which the Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord and offer sacrifices at the Temple. These feasts are connected to agricultural cycles and significant encounters between God and the people of Israel. 

Hebrew Letter: Nun and the Dual Nature of Cheshvan

The letter nun (pronounced noon) is part of a group of five Hebrew letters with an ordinary form and a final form. If the letters chaf, mem, nun, feh, tzaddi[k] appear at the end of the word, they take on a slightly different shape than if they were to appear elsewhere.

This distinction represents a dual nature for the letter nun and the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. 

What is dual nature? As stated at the beginning, this is a month with great potential, and opportunity can either flow forward or backward. Where there is potential to ascend, there is also potential to fall. And often, the greater the opportunity, the greater the risk. 

This dual nature is an example of humanity. Our spiritual side is often battling against the desires of the physical nature or material world. This struggle within either ends in victory as we press on towards the things of God—denying our flesh—-or it ends in falling backward when we succumb. 

Your Soul and the Battle for Transformation

Nun is associated with the soul of man as it begins the word neshamah, representing the soul or the spiritual temple that is embodied within humanity.

Thus, the Hebrew letter nun represents the age-old and never-ending battle for us to subdue our flesh to fully realize the potential of the gifts within us. 

In the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, we are reminded of the importance of causing our neshamah (soul) and spirit to come into alignment with the Word and promise of God—focusing on the eternal, which endures, versus the potential enticement of the world around us.

Every journey faces advancements, setbacks, ascents, and descents. But the question remains the same: 

• Will we endure, be persistent, and remain consistent in our faith after coming through the glory of the days of the feasts? 

This is the question presented to us during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. And we must answer it for ourselves. 

The nun, representing our dual nature and the struggle within, also means transformation. We can transform the mundane into the holy just as we can drag what is holy down into the void. This is the power and the dual nature of possibility and potential. 

An Opportunity for Freedom: Numerical Value of the Hebrew Letter Nun

The numerical value of the Hebrew letter nun is fifty, which is a significant number in Jewish teaching and biblical understanding. It often represents a journey from bondage to freedom or an ascension process of restoration. 

• Jubilee Year (Yovel): According to Leviticus 25:10, each fiftieth year is a Jubilee Year, signifying a year of release and restoration where freedom is granted, debts forgiven, and land is returned. Jubilee years and the cycle of the Shmita year are understood to have economic and agricultural significance. 

“And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.”—Leviticus 25:10

• Counting of the Omer: There are fifty days between Passover and Shavuot, which symbolize the journey of slavery in Egypt to a place of spiritual freedom and renewal through receiving the Torah, God’s instruction.
  
• Elevation Beyond the Material: The number fifty transcends the natural order or cycle (represented by 7 cycles of 7 weeks of years) and symbolizes holiness and completion, a divine gift outside the scope of physical limitations. 

Restoration and Freedom in Jubilee

In biblical texts and Judaism, “seven” or “seven by seven” defines the natural world. Thus, eight and the number fifty represent that which is beyond the limitations of nature. 

We see this reflected in the:

• Seven days of creation
• Seven elements
• Seven days in a week
• Seven Feasts of the Lord 
• Seven years of the Shmita cycle

Seven Shmita cycles equal forty-nine, with the fiftieth year being the year of restoration found in Jubilee.

“Sayings of YHWH [are] pure sayings—Silver tried in a furnace of earth, refined sevenfold.”—Psalm 12:6 (LSV)

Various translations use the word “sevenfold” in Psalm 12:6, interpreted to mean seven times seven. The Talmudic interpretation of this verse is that God’s Word can be understood layer upon layer (in this instance, forty-nine layers. Still, the fullness of understanding, fifty, rests in God alone.

• True restoration rests in God alone. 
• True freedom rests in God alone. 
• Cancellation of debt or atonement for sin rests in God alone. 

This is Jubilee. This is the gift we are offered.

In the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, we should be encouraged to seek to know the Father more deeply, embracing wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 7:4). The more intimately we know Him —layer upon layer—is an opportunity for freedom and restoration.

Giving God Time to Heal and Making Time to Know Him

So often, when we seek freedom from bondage, the experience takes time to allow the Lord to remove what has been hindering us. The healing process takes time before finally reaching the root; our Father is gentle as He binds our wounds and restores us. 

After the season of the Fall Feasts, the Hebrew month of Cheshvan offers us an opportunity to continue on our spiritual journey of ascension–to know Him more. 

• Do we return to our former ways?
• Do we look back or continue to press forward and journey up the mountain, seeking what is beyond our current understanding?

Isn’t this the challenge presented to all of us after a “spiritual high?” To fully embrace the significance of the gift of an encounter with God’s heart, we must apply the truth we have received and endure. This is the challenge of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. 

We have been given a fresh start, atonement, and renewed covenant relationship but now how do we live that out in the year ahead?

Once again, we see the power of potential reflected in this season. 

Take the parable of the seeds in Matthew 13. In Tishrei, we received many seeds planted in faith, but now the condition of our heart soil and our ability to nurture what has been planted determines the outcome of the harvest. Thus, making the Hebrew month of Cheshvan a crucial month of opportunity. 

Embracing Levels of Understanding 

Some Jewish sages believe there are symbolically fifty gates of understanding (this is strictly interpretative teaching and not something clearly stated in the Torah). They believe that mankind can ascend from one level to the next in understanding but God alone possesses the final level, the fiftieth, of understanding.

As humanity, we should always seek to know further and understand the heart of the Father, but ultimately, some knowledge, comprehension, and wisdom are left in His heart alone. This is part of the process of surrendering to His Lordship. We have faith in God without the ability to fully understand. 

Surely, this is something that each of us can relate to. We have all walked through moments where we did not understand the “why” but had to lean into trusting God as Lord in the midst. The purest form of trust comes from moments like these.

Hearing and Answering Wisdom’s Call

While this interpretative teaching of Fifty Gates or portals of understanding is not clearly outlined in the biblical text, we do know that, in principle, our spiritual journey as Believers should always reflect an ascension process. 

We should seek to know the Father more intimately over time–layer upon layer of revelation. Our goal should always be to press forward in our understanding as disciples and our ability to receive wisdom from Heaven.

In fact Wisdom calls us:

• “Can’t you hear the voice of Wisdom? From the top of the mountains of influence she speaks into the gateways of the glorious city. All the place where pathways merge, at the entrance of every portal, there she stands, ready to impart understanding, shouting aloud to all who enter, preaching her sermon to those who will listen. I’m calling to you, sons of Adam, yes and to you daughters as well.”—Proverbs 8:1-4 (TPT)

Many of us who have embraced a One New Man or One New Humanity lifestyle see this layer upon layer of revelation and understanding coming to light as we better understand the Feasts of the Lord and things tied to the roots of our faith. And this is just one point or place of understanding. The richness of revelation births transformation, and transformation directly impacts our destiny. 

The Apostle Paul encourages us with his prayer:

• “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”—Ephesians 1:15-21

Redemption and Eternity

The Hebrew letter nun is associated with the verb netsach, which means “perpetuation, and conveys the concept of eternity and endurance.” 

It is connected to the concept of descendants who perpetuate their ancestors’ memory. This has the potential of being very good or dangerous, determined by the state of the ancestors.  We would be wise to make sure we are perpetuating good fruit. 

In speaking of the Messiah, it is written:

• “His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun.”—Psalm 72:17

Enduring: For mankind to endure, to continue on and to reach eternity, we must first be redeemed. There is no eternity with God without the redemption of salvation. 

Both concepts: Eternity and redemption represent a spiritual realm and a spiritual gift that is beyond the natural realm or goes beyond human understanding. 

The Risk of Falling and the Protection of Independence 

While we have looked at the positive attributes of the Hebrew letter nun, the letter also symbolizes nefilah, the Hebrew word for falling or falling away. It is believed that the letter alludes to the fall of the nation of Israel, and hence Psalm 145, an acrostic psalm that follows the same pattern, suddenly omits a verse beginning with a nun. 

Notably, King David mentions grace to those who fall in the very next verse, stating, “Adonai supports all who fall and lifts up those who are bent over.” (Psalm 145:14)

The Hebrew letter nun is also recognized as a number of independence and isolation as it has no numerical partner. Some scholars say that this is likened to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people who stand in solidarity independent of the rest of the world. 

• “From the top of the rocks I see them, from the hills I behold them—yes, a people what will dwell alone and not think itself one of the nations.”—Numbers 23:9 (CJB)

In the Hebrew month of Chesvan, we are challenged to keep pressing forward so that we do not fall backward—recognizing that to do so, we must remain independent of the world and seek His Kingdom first. Sometimes, as painful as it is, independence and isolation protect us. 

History of Cheshvan: Consequence of Disunity

If we look back at the biblical history of this month, we see that the historical power of potential is woven deep into the fabric of this season. Some scholars teach that because the United Kingdom of Israel split into two, most likely during the month of Tishrei (the previous month). This division and lack of unity awakened a new potential for evil. This left space for some of the most evil decrees against the Jewish people, including decrees from multiple regimes, taxes, and levies. 

Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Tribes, furthered the sin of disunity by leading the people into idolatry and setting up golden calves in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 2:28-33) in the name of convenience. 

As mentioned earlier, this took place during the eighth month (Cheshvan). Therefore, the rabbis teach that the breach in unity in the nation of Israel had far-reaching consequences.

Opportunity During the Flood of Noah

The world was created in Tishrei, and the flood began on the 17th day of Cheshvan, destroying nearly everything that had been made. 

Some scholars say that when the Word says in Genesis 7:11, “…the windows of heaven were opened,” there is an implication that this was an opportunity for the Torah to be given just as Moses would receive generations later. However, Noah’s generation did not repent and instead the opportunity of an open heaven became a destructive flood. 

Thus, the greater the opportunity—the greater the potential—-the greater the risk for downfall. A heavenly opportunity and invitation awaited but its rejection was equally daunting and consequential.

During the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, we are presented with an opportunity to advance, facing the risk of regression should we not fully embrace what the Lord offers us. It is wise to take what was imparted to us during Tishrei to advance forward, for the alternative is a dangerous position. There is much to be gained, just as there is much to be lost. 

We are encouraged this month to continue on our spiritual journey of “aliyah” (ascent or to rise) to cause the light deposited within us, our neshamah, to burn more brightly as we seek the heart of our Creator who breathed life and light into us. 

• “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”—John 8:12

• “For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”—Ephesians 5:8

Cheshvan and the Tribe of Manasseh 

Cheshvan is believed to be symbolically connected to the tribe of Manasseh.

When Moses blessed the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, he did so through their father, Joseph. We see this in Deuteronomy 33:13-17:

“And of Joseph he said: ‘Blessed of the Lord is his land, with the precious things of heaven, with the dew, and the deep lying beneath, with the precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months, with the best things of the ancient mountains, with the precious things of the everlasting hills…

‘With the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come ‘on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’

“His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; together with them He shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

To paraphrase the story of Genesis 48, when Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, he called them to himself and adopted them as sons born in Egypt, as his own. This gave Joseph a double portion inheritance through his seed:

• “Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are. The children born after them will be yours…”—Genesis 48:5,6 

Jacob tells Joseph, “I want you to bring them here to me so I can bless them.” (v9)

We see the heart of a father and grandfather as Jacob reflects that he never again expected to see Joseph much less his grandchildren and we peek into his humanity when he says “…but God has allowed me to see your children too!” (v11)

While we don’t know the exact age—some scholars say that the boys could have been in their late teens or early twenties—it is interesting that Genesis 48:12 (CJB) says: 

• “Joseph brought them out from between his legs and prostrated himself on the ground.” 

To me, this points to the fact that perhaps the children received this blessing at a much younger age. 

Joseph proceeds to position them before his father with the firstborn Manasseh being on the right of Jacob and Ephraim being on the left. This was according to man’s customs and traditions. Instead of asking them to switch places, Jacob simply places his right hand on the secondborn, Ephraim, and his left hand crosses over to reach Manasseh. 

He blesses the boys to remember their spiritual inheritance and that of their family “who they were and what they stood for.” And he blessed to “grow into teeming multitudes on the earth” (v16).

Joseph proceeds to correct his father and says, “Don’t do it that way, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head” (v18).

Jacob responds, “I know that, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will be great; nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will grow into many nations” (v19).

Although Manasseh received the blessing of the secondborn, some Jewish scholars teach that while Ephraim led in spiritual matters, Manasseh maintained some leadership in worldly matters, balancing what both tribes offered through the double portion given to Joseph’s seed. It is believed that the tribe of Manasseh remained proficient in Torah study but was also gifted in the ability of leadership to settle the land. They believe this is why Jacob crossed his arms and did not have the boys fully switch positions. 

Thus, when the blessing is given: “May God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh!” (Gen 48:20) they are being blessed with both spiritual revelation and success in matters of the world–may they lead in both things of the spirit, and in things of the world.  

In Judaism, we find that we do not separate the worldly and the mundane from the spiritual; both of these pursuits are part of the human experience and should be performed with a single purpose: 

• To fulfill God’s will and expand His Kingdom. 

Manasseh’s ability to do both uniquely qualified him to lead.

In the month of Cheshvan, we are reminded that as we have come from the heights of all the Fall Feasts in Tishrei and get “back into the groove of life,” we should seek to blend that which is holy, our spiritual journey, with the mundane. Like Joseph—he was a leader in Egypt but he was also saturated with God’s instruction and holiness. 

In Summary

Taking all of the above into consideration, during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan we have the opportunity to:

1. Embrace opportunities for potential and transformation.

Look for ways to apply the lesson of the impartation of the High Holy Days to your life in the biblical new year.

2. Remain alert and aware of counterfeit offers. 

Just as Jeroboam offered a counterfeit in the name of convenience, be aware of the enemy’s attempts to rob you of true worship; make a decision to prioritize obedience over convenience.

3. Continue your spiritual “aliyah” and journey of ascent.

Make a choice to further your discipleship and stay focused on that which is ahead versus falling behind. Choose growth. Choose faith. Choose obedient sacrifice in the month of Cheshvan–tending to the soil of your heart and nurturing the seeds of the Fall Feasts.

4. Balance the spiritual with the day-to-day.

Following the example of the tribe of Manasseh– embrace a practice and mindset that everyday responsibilities can further your destiny when done from a position and purpose of serving to advance God’s Kingdom.

5. Pray for your soul to align.

Pray for the spiritual alignment of your soul (neshamah) and God’s Word (instruction) as you navigate this season of potential and risk. Pray for restoration and the strength to endure. Pray for wisdom to see and discern as you journey forward.