EZEKIEL

 

and YHWH’s

 

 Judgment

 

 

for the

 

Good News

 

PEOPLE

 

 

 

VOLUME XV

 

Calendar and Festivals

 

 

EZEKIEL and YHWH’s

 

 

Judgment for the

 

 

 Good News People

 

 

 

 

Volume XV--Calendar and Festivals

 

 

 

 

 

by

 

an unworthy servant

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you shall know the truth,

 

and the truth will make you free.

 

(John 8:32)

 

 

Common Law Copyright, 2003 & 2005 CE, an unworthy servant, Calder, Idaho.  The author claims his Right of exclusive ownership and control of this publication, the fruit of his labor, as a matter of Intellectual Property protected by the Laws of YHWH and as guaranteed by the US Constitution for the United States.  Permission is granted to quote provided appropriate credit is cited together with the Publisher’s web site name and postal mailing address––WWW.age-end.com PO Box 473, Calder, ID 83808, USA. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

 

 

 

Volume XV--Calendar and Festivals 

 

 

CHAPTER                                                                              PAGE

 

 

      -                  Cover Page                                                                                                         1

 

      -                  Title Page                                                                                                             2

 

      -                  Contents                                                                                                              3

 

      -                  Publisher’s Preface                                                                                           5

 

 

Part SS--The Sabbath

 

      217             Sunday or the Sabbath?                                                                                   6

 

 

Part TT--Calendar and Times

 

      218             Sun Worship and the Calendar                                                                    18

 

      219             The Day                                                                                                             26

 

      220             The Scriptural Calendar I                                                                                42

 

      221             The Scriptural Calendar II                                                                               51

 

      222             Calendar Changes and Confusion                                                              58

 

      223             The Jewish Calendar                                                                                      74

 

      224             Other Calendar Issues                                                                                    84

 

 

Part UU--Christian Holidays Versus YHWH’s Feasts 

 

      225             Easter or Passover?                                                                                         89

 

      226             Lent, Mardi Gras and Fasching                                                                   100

 

      227             Christmas and New Year’s Day                                                                  104

 

      228             More Christian-Religion Holidays                                                               110

 

      229             Secular Holidays in Christendom                                                               113

 

      230             The Hebrew Festivals I                                                                                  125

 

      231             The Hebrew Festivals II                                                                                 137

 

 

Part VV--Chronology

 

      232             Overview of Scriptural Chronology                                                             145

 

      233             Scriptural Chronology of Adam I                                                                 151

 

      234             Scriptural Chronology of Adam II                                                                163

SHEERIT YISRAEL

PO Box 473

Calder, Idaho 83808, USA

 

 

Publisher’s Preface

 

Greetings!  The following presentation is volume fifteen of a 36-volume production of some 6,000 pages on “Ezekiel and YHWH’s Judgment for the Good News People,” all of which is on the Internet at the www.age-end.com web site. 

 

This overall effort provides an interpretation of the Good News message in the New Testament, its linkage to the book of Ezekiel, and an application of both to the age-end prophecies relating to certain nations and peoples now out in the world.  In order for this single volume to be understood and comprehended, it is imperative that the study be read from its beginning--from page one of volume one. 

 

Anyone trying to read this volume or the study’s 6,000 pages at any mid-point will end up in a state of confusion without having read and digested the preceding material.  It is crucially important that this work be read in sequence from its beginning--otherwise, the reader will almost certainly end up missing the essence of the message! 

 

The effort was originally set on a Macintosh computer with Microsoft Word 6.0.1.  It was set in Helvetica, 12-point type (18 pt on chapter headings); single line spacings; and margins:  left 1.2”, right 0.8”, top 0.7”, bottom 0.8” and footer 0.6” (for page numbers). 

 

For further information on obtaining this study in 18 computer floppy disks (IBM-formatted, high density, 2HD, 1.44 MB, 3 1/2 inches); in a single CD-Rom; or in hard copies (when the Internet or a compatible computer is not available); please write the publisher at the above address and send a stamped, self-addressed, long (legal-size), return envelope. 

 

With a CD-Rom or computer floppy disks, the study is readable on Macintosh (systems 5.0 and later) or IBM/compatible (with Microsoft Word-Windows) personal computers.  May The Great CREATOR and SOVEREIGN OF THE UNIVERSE bless you as you study His word to learn His will and to obey Him.  Shalom (peace) to you and yours! 

 

an unworthy servant, Hanukkah 2003 CE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 217--Sunday or the Sabbath?

 

 

Sunday 

 

In terms of the calendar and festival time themes (in the context of “set aside” [Hebrew kodesh] days), it would be well to initially reflect some on the question of Sunday in the Word since Christians often suppose that it was the resurrection day (which it was not, as outlined in a prior chapter), or that the Seventh day Sabbath was somehow changed to Sunday in the NT (which is simply not true, as will be proven in comments to follow). 

 

In fact, many Christians try to use these allegations as support for their Sunday worship and abolishment of the Seventh day Sabbath--though both ideas are wrong! 

 

 

Sabbath in the Scriptures 

 

As a start place, it is important to observe that the Seventh day Sabbath was set apart by The CREATOR at creation (Gen 2:2-3).  It is repeatedly enjoined as a day of rest and worship throughout both the OT and NT (Ex 20:8-11; 23:12; 34:21; Lev 19:3, 30; 26:2; Deut 5:12-15; Neh 9:14; Heb 4:4-10).  It predates the giving of the law at Sinai (Gen 1-2; Ex 16:23-30). 

 

Please note that the Torah sets the specific seventh day in a weekly cycle apart and not just any one day in a seven day weekly period (Ex 20:10).  This is a profoundly important point to keep in mind when examining Christian practices and theology later in this and succeeding chapters. 

 

From the standpoint of obedience by a follower of YHWH YESHUA, no explanation is needed on why the Seventh day Sabbath was formally created by The CREATOR.  On the surface, it is readily apparent that a weekly day of rest is needed.  The Sabbath day accomplishes this need. 

 

Perhaps the New Testament offers the best conclusion on this when YESHUA said that the Sabbath was made for Adam (Mk 2:27).  On this NT reference, the point must be made that the remark surely pertains to Adam since the KJV man in this text comes from the Greek anthropos (noted in a previous chapter, as typically meaning Adam). 

 

Does this mean that behemah servants or work animals are not deserving of the Sabbath rest?  No, the Sabbath was made for Adam.  But the law stipulates that Adam is to extend this rest day to servants, slaves and behemah humanoids and work animals as well (the KJV incorrectly translates behemah to cattle in Ex 20:10--which covers this need).  

 

Significantly, the Sabbath is a sign or mark which identifies YAH’s people (Gen 2:2-3; Ex 31:12-17; Ezek 20:12, 20).  Yet, the two nations (the Houses of Yehudah and Yisrael) both despised YHWH’s set apart things and profaned His Sabbaths (Ezek 20:12-24; 22:8, 26; 23:38). Thus, breaking of the Seventh day Sabbath became one of their primary sins during the days of the divided kingdom. 

 

Because neither House would correctly observe the Sabbath, they were both sentenced to the judgment of a conquering army and captivity.  This fact was brought out by Yechezkel, as noted above, when he reported three times that both nations “polluted” YHWH’s Sabbaths (Ezek 20:12-24; 22:8; 23:38).

 

The House of Yisrael was divorced and taken into Assyrian bondage and Yehudah spent 70 years in Babylonian exile before being allowed to return.  In the divorce, Yisrael lost The MOST HIGH’s name (discussed earlier) and her Sabbath sign of identification (Lam 2:6).  Truly, the House of Yisrael became lost in terms of her own knowledge, as well as in the comprehension of others. 

 

 

The Jews Learned About the Sabbath 

 

But after correction and instruction (Neh 13:15-22), Yehudah finally learned about the Sabbath and began keeping it.  In fact, in the NT environment, Yehudah was so Sabbath conscious that the Jewish leaders built an unscriptural hedge around the Sabbath (in the Talmud) to supposedly protect it from abuse, as discussed earlier. 

 

Of course, YESHUA, Shaul and the other NT figures all kept the Seventh day Sabbath--per the prevailing custom of the people (Lu 4:16; Acts 17:2).  As Dr George Lamsa notes in his “Holy Bible from Eastern Texts,” the NT says “It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath” (Heb 4:9). 

 

While some persons confuse YAH’s law on prohibiting a fire (Ex 35:3--which refers to an industrial or construction fire for work at the Tabernacle and plainly not otherwise, per Lev 6:13) and not carrying a heavy load or any load involving work (Num 15:32-36; Jer 17:19-27; Neh 13:15-22), the law is fairly simple and easy to understand. 

 

 

Sunday in the Word 

 

Actually, the weekday of Sunday seems to only appear twice in the Word in an allowable fashion.  Mark “possibly” referred to it once in the NT (Mk 16:9).  And in the OT, Yeshayahu alludes to it in his statement on the Sabbath (Isa 56:2-12) when he suggested that on the morrow after the Sabbath (thus, the first day or Sunday after the seventh day), evil men shall set it aside as a day of happiness and feasting. 

 

The KJV of the Scriptures uses the expression “first day of the week” some eight times in the New Testament.  In all instances, the word “day” is supplied by the translators as it is not in the actual Greek text.  Otherwise, the word “week” comes from the words Sabbaton or Sabbata (which must at once suggest the weekly Sabbath). 

 

In Mark 16:9, the word “week” comes from the Greek word Sabbaton, in the singular.  In all of the other seven cases in the Greek NT, the work “week” is from the Greek Sabbata, plural of Sabbaton (“The New Englishman’s Concordance of the Greek New Testament,” p. 679). 

 

Moreover, Mark 16:9 uses the Greek word protos (meaning “first”) for “first.”  But in all of the other seven NT cases, the word “first” comes from the Greek mia which means the cardinal number “one” and not the ordinal number “first.”  Thus, there are some fundamental differences between Mark 16:9 and the remaining seven expressions of the “first day of the week” in English translations of the New Testament. 

 

 

Confusion? 

 

Actually, there is no confusion on this theme if one is familiar with the Scriptures and Second Temple Judaism.  The count to Pentecost (Lev 23:16) involves a count process of seven Sabbaths (or weeks) to the 50th day (as will be described in a later chapter on the Hebrew festivals).  In Hebrew/Jewish mentality, this count is one of the Sabbaths (or weeks), two of the Sabbaths (or weeks) and so forth. 

 

Therefore (literally), the Greek mia Sabbata refers to one of the Sabbaths (possibly the first Sabbath or perhaps one of the other Sabbaths) in the count to Pentecost, while protos Sabbaton (in Mk 16:9) is very plausibly the first Sabbath. 

 

Christian translators quite often link the word Sabbath to week for protos Sabbaton at Mark 16:9, and for mia Sabbata in the other seven cases found in the NT (thereby implying the first day of the week or Sunday in all eight instances). 

 

But there must be another explanation on both mia Sabbata and protos Sabbaton since the Greek language already has other appropriate words for day and week--like hemera for day and hepdomads (meaning sevens) for week (hepdomads is used in Classical Greek, per Colin Deal in the Dec 2002 “End Time News,” p. 1). 

 

As Christian writer Colin Deal outlined in the Oct 2002 “End Time News” (p. 3), the “first day” in Greek should appear as “protos hemera.”  In this sense, it is possible that the first day of the week is not to be found at all in the Greek NT.  Maybe, protos Sabbaton means the first Sabbath in the count to Pentecost while mia Sabbata means any one of the seven Sabbaths in the count to Pentecost. 

 

In raising a question over translating Sabbaton/Sabbata as “week” (instead of recognizing hepdomads), it must be acknowledged that it is conceivable that Sabbaton does indeed mean a week (singular), as Colin Deal points out in Luke 18:12 where a Pharisee said that he fasted twice in the week--obviously, he didn’t fast twice on the Sabbath (Dec 2002 “End Time News,” p. 3). 

 

The essence of this presentation is that mia Sabbata probably means one of the Sabbaths (or possibly one of the weeks) and protos Sabbaton logically means either the first Sabbath or the first week--in the count to Pentecost. 

 

 

Shmuel Safrai, Revisited 

 

The New Testament also has another most interesting remark on this subject of counting (of the omer--the wave sheaf) to Pentecost.  This one surfaces in Luke 6:1, where the “King James Version” refers to “the second Sabbath after the first.”  Of course, there is some question about what Luke may have had in mind in such a statement. 

 

Shmuel Safrai, Professor of Jewish History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period at Hebrew University, observes that the actual Greek in this text reads the “second-first Sabbath” which in Second Temple days meant the second Sabbath of the counting of the omer to Pentecost (per an article on Sabbath Breakers, appearing in the Jul/Aug 1990 “Jerusalem Perspective,” p. 3). 

 

Other students of the Book suggest that second first Sabbath meant the second high Sabbath of the feast (days) of Unleavened Bread.  This latter statement could be the same finding as Safrai’s conclusion, depending on how the Sabbath days fell during that occasion and/or whether Sabbath always meant a week or not. 

 

 

Ridiculous Christian Arguments 

 

Yet, many Christians ignorantly try to argue that the so-called “Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10), mentioned by Yohanan, is mysteriously and somehow Sunday.  This is virtually too stupid to even be discussed by students of the Word since there is absolutely nothing in the Book to allow or suggest such a connection.  The allusion only arises because some Christians “say” it’s so and not because it is so. 

 

Actually, the Tanakh abundantly describes a coming “Day of YHWH” which refers to the coming period of time when The ELOHIM intervenes in world affairs to terminate Satan’s rule of this planet and man’s irresponsible propensity for sin (Isa 2:12).  Yohanan’s reference in Revelation 1:10 connects to this coming day of YHWH (the “Lord’s Day” in the KJV, where YHWH surfaces as “Lord”). 

 

Perhaps the most ridiculous position of sun worship Christianity is the theory that Christians are free to keep Sunday as their rest and religious day on the premise that “any” one day in seven meets YHWH’s law, as outlined above. 

 

For this Christian theory, Christians typically try to misread, misquote and twist the Scriptures and claim that the law only requires the setting aside of any day, as if man or the Christian Church has the authority to decide which day it wants to set apart for worship.  No, not so!  This is blatant nonsense and stupidity.  The law doesn’t specify one day in seven.  It expressly specifies the seventh day (Ex 20:10). 

 

 

More From Colin Deal 

 

The above cited Colin Deal has an incredibly wrong slant on the weekly Sabbath because he incorrectly confuses the weekly Sabbath with the annual Sabbaths (like the first day of Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Kippur, etc, which were discussed in a previous chapter on the Sign of YESHUA, and as will be further described in subsequent remarks herein). 

 

Since Deal is unable to tell the difference between the two types of Sabbaths in the Word, he actually comes to a position that the Book prescribes neither the seventh day or the first day for rest and worship (Oct 2002 “End Time News”).  Deal does this with the following words: 

 

“Although many sincere Christians keep Saturday as the day of worship what some fail to recognize is that ancient Israel’s ‘seventh-day Sabbath’ did not always occur on Saturday.  They were changing Sabbaths, being observed on two different days each year because of an additional Sabbath being observed at Pentecost. 

 

“If we suppose, for instance, that the 15th of Abib (when Yisrael left Egypt, see Lev. 23:5-6--ed) which was on the Sabbath, was Saturday, then the seventh day Sabbath would fall on Saturday for seven weeks or until forty nine days had run their course.  The fiftieth day, which would be Sunday, would be Pentecost (Lev. 23:15-16).  The next seventh-day Sabbath after Pentecost would fall on Sunday. 

 

“Thus it would be until Pentecost of the following year which would change the seventh day Sabbath again.  This time it would fall on Monday until the next Pentecost which would be fifty days after the first fifteen days of Abib, as stated, or on the sixty-fifth day of that particular New Year.  Thus, Israel’s Sabbath did not always fall on a Saturday throughout the year.” 

 

It is almost useless to even discuss this incredible reasoning of Deal.  He simply does not understand that the first day of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15) and Shavout are annual Sabbaths which generally can fall on any day of the week.  He never understands the mitzwah in Exodus 20:8-10 which demands six days of work and then a Sabbath day of rest.  With Deal’s thinking, some weeks would have eight days. 

 

This totally false idea of a week which varies in the number of days will be addressed in some detail in subsequent chapters herein (which assess the calendar).  Suffice to say, a variable week is totally unscriptural.  Deal is thoroughly confused and he has transmitted that confusion to his readers.  For sure, there are no such things as variable weeks or floating weekly Sabbath days which change each year. 

 

 

The Jewish Sabbath or YHWH’s Sabbath? 

 

One of the popular Christian arguments against the Sabbath is that it is the Jewish Sabbath and is not binding upon other peoples.  Actually, this stupid argument is used for all of the demands of the Torah which Christians passionately hate and oppose.  This Christian reasoning and hate goes back to the days when the Greeks ruled the civilized world (before the Romans took over in the first century BCE). 

 

The famous Christian apologist and spokesman Justin Martyr carried this Christian hate one step further in his confrontation with Trypho the Jew in the mid second century CE. 

 

Justin said:  “As I stated before, it was by reason of your sins and the sins of your Fathers that, among other precepts, God imposed upon you the observance of the Sabbath as a mark” (Jul-Aug 2000 “Petah Tikvah,” by Sid Roth, p. 15, quoting the “Ante-Nicene Fathers”).  Justin added that this mark (of the Sabbath) was to single the Jews out for the punishment that they so well deserved for their infidelities. 

 

This Christian hatred and opposition to The CREATOR’s Sabbath have been around for most of the last 2,000 years.  It is the story of Christianity, despite even the NT admission that the Sabbath was created (by The CREATOR) for Adam (Mk 2:27). 

 

Anyone believing this heresy (of the Sabbath being the Jews’ Sabbath) should not be reading this study at hand.  This traditional Christian hatred is too stupid to be believed by Scripturally informed people.  Yet, it was anciently believed and is still in the hearts and minds of multiplied millions or billions of people today. 

 

 

Christian Hatred for Judaism, Revisited   

 

Previous chapters have discussed the supposed Christian hatred for the Jews (especially in groups like the Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazis, etc).  The truth is that almost all of these Jew hating groups are strongly Christian in theology and temperament.  In this context, they don’t really hate Jews, per se.  What they hate is the Jewish religion--Judaism. 

 

Yes, generic Christians passionately hate Judaism and the mitzwot of YHWH--at least, those which do not conform to the theories of Christian humanism in the vein of commandments demonstrating the supposed love of other humans/humanoids (mentioned in a prior chapter on love and the Torah and to be detailed in later chapters). 

 

This hatred is so strong, passionate, powerful and pervasive that it must be demonic in origin.  As will be subsequently proven conclusively, this Christian hatred for Judaism has its basis in ancient Grecian sun worship, as noted above and as cited in previous chapters (where the old Greek sun worshippers passionately hated Judaism--but not Jews, per se). 

 

In the perpetuation of this hatred and animosity toward Judaism, the focus has always been upon those mitzwot in the Torah which primarily serve to demonstrate love of The CREATOR YHWH and His various manifestations (like as YESHUA The MESSIAH).  In effect, what is hated is not the Jews, but the Sabbath (and the Jewish religion for advocating it).

 

This is a hard pill for most people to understand and grasp.  But evil sun worshippers have always hated YHWH’s Sabbath mitzwah--in ancient days, as well as today.  Manifestly, ancient Greeks and modern Christians have both hated the Sabbaths. 

 

Effectively, the former Greek sun worshippers and modern Christians have hated anything and everything which will serve to reflect love of The MOST HIGH instead of love of humans/humanoids.  Thus, keeping of the weekly Sabbath and the Scriptural calendar and festivals are hated violently by all sun worshippers (both past Greeks and modern Christians) because those mitzwot show love of The ELOHIM. 

 

 

Why Sunday Worship? 

 

Since Sunday worship is totally foreign in terms of the Scriptures and since the fourth commandment in the Decalogue is so plain and clear, one has to wonder how in the world anyone professing a belief in YHWH YESHUA and the Scriptures could ever be motivated, persuaded or impressed to worship on Sunday. 

 

Well, the answer is quite simple.  In 321 CE, the sun worshipper Constantine decreed that thereafter all persons in the Roman Empire were under obligation to sanctify and set Sunday apart as a rest and worship day (under threat of death).  Of course, all complied and became Sunday keepers, if they were not already keeping Sunday.  The actual reference will be discussed in a future chapter herein. 

 

Now, while the sun worshipper Constantine imposed Sunday worship on the collective Roman Empire by dictatorial fiat, it must be observed that the collective Christian Church was already keeping and sanctifying Sunday worship and had been doing so for 279 years before Constantine came along with his imperial edict.  The full story of this condition will be elaborated upon in a future chapter. 

 

Thereafter, in 364 CE (or possibly in 336 CE, per some reports), the Universal Catholic Church held her Church Council of Laodicea which passed an edict prohibiting rest on the Seventh day Sabbath, under penalty of death.  The few Seventh day Sabbathkeepers in the then Roman Empire had to go in hiding, for fear of their lives. 

 

In the late fourth century, the decree of the emperors Gratianus, Valentinianus and Theodosius said-- “On the day of the sun, properly called the Lord’s day by our ancestors, let there be a cessation of law suits, business, and indictments; let no one exact a debt due either the state or an individual; let there be no cognizance of disputes, not even by arbitrators, whether appointed by the courts or voluntarily chosen” (Code of Theodosius, Book 8, Title 8, Law 3). 

 

To show how serious those early Catholic Christians were, this same law from the Code of Theodosius went on to declare that anyone violating that law would not only be adjudged notorious, “but also impious who shall turn aside from an institute and rite of holy religion.”  Obviously, this would pave the way for them to be executed at the hands of the state. 

 

 

Eusebius 

 

In a commentary on the Psalms, the famous Christian historian and Catholic Church leader Eusebius wrote that “All things whatsoever it was our duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day, as more appropriately belonging to it, because it has precedence and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath.” 

 

Eusebius’ words bring to mind Yeshayahu’s famous prophecy, outlined in previous comments in this chapter, on the change of the Sabbath from the Seventh day to the first day of the week (Isa 56:2, 12).  Like Yeshayahu predicted, men would think to change the solemnity of the Seventh day to the next day (the first day of the week). 

 

Stupid Protestants, who know little or nothing from YHWH’s Word, suppose that Sunday worship is something to be found in the Scriptures.  In fact, there is absolutely nothing in the Book about it.  Its entire authority comes from Rome! 

 

Over the years, the Roman Catholic Church has consistently admitted that Sunday has been sanctified and established as a holy day by her own edicts.  Even today, informed Catholics will quickly attest to this historic reality. 

 

 

Catholics Are Far More Informed 

 

Yes, Catholic Christians are far more informed.  Many know and understand that the Catholic Church has set the first day of the week aside and sanctified it.  Many of them brag and boast of the role that the Catholic Church has played in the change and how Protestant Christians are ignorant and maybe even stupid for accepting the change. 

 

A Catholic theologian named Henry Tuberville, wrote in 1833, in an article on “An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,” that the Sabbath was changed by the governors of the Christian Church (the Catholic Church).  He said that the Church’s change of the Sabbath was proof that she had authority to command feasts and holy days. 

 

In answer to the question of “How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?,” Tuberville noted “By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.” 

 

Tuberville went on by charging that “by keeping Sunday, they (the Protestants) acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest (of the feasts) by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.” 

 

In an 1868 article on the “Plain Truth About the Protestantism of Today,” Catholic theologian Louis Gaston de Segur wrote:  “It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of JESUS CHRIST, has transferred this (Sabbath) rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of the Lord.  Thus, the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) Church.” 

 

Catholic Stephen Keenan wrote in the 1876 edition of “A Doctrinal Catechism” that the Catholic Church has power to institute festivals of precept and had she not this power, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for Saturday, the seventh day, “a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” 

 

The January 1883 issue of “The American Catholic Quarterly Review” had an article by John Gilmary Shae on “The Observance of Sunday and Civil Laws for Its Enforcement,” which said “Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the (Catholic) Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought, logically, to keep Saturday as the Sabbath.” 

 

 

More Catholic Words

 

Catholic Priest T. Enright of Redemptorist College of Kansas City, MO for years had a $1,000 offer to Protestants.  In a 1884 lecture at Hartford, KS, he noted “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy.  There is no such law in the Bible.  It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone.” 

 

Writing in the 1892 book on “The Papal Controversy,” D. B. Ray noted that “From this same Catholic Church you have accepted your Sunday, and that Sunday, as the Lord’s day, she has handed down as a tradition; and the entire Protestant world has accepted it as tradition, for you have not one iota of Scripture to establish it.” 

 

An editorial in the Sep 23, 1893, “Catholic Mirror” of Baltimore, MD reported “The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of their Divine mission, changed the day (of worship) from Saturday to Sunday... The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church, as Spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world.” 

 

In the “Catholic Mirror” of Dec 23, 1893, James Cardinal Gibbons wrote:  “Reason and sense demand the acceptance for one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday.  Compromise is impossible.” 

 

Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, wrote in a Feb 10, 1920, letter that “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day.  In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” 

 

The Aug 14, 1942, “Question Box” in the “Catholic Universe Bulletin” suggested that the Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by the right of the divine, infallible authority given her and that the “Protestants, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.” 

 

An article on “To Tell You the Truth,” in the Oct 3, 1947, issue of “The Catholic Virginian,” asserted that “Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the (Catholic) Church outside the Bible.” 

 

 

Still More Catholic Words 

 

Priest Peter R. Kraemer of the Catholic Extension Society of Chicago wrote that Protestants, who accept the Bible as their rule of faith and religion, should go back to the Sabbath and the fact that they do not, “stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.” 

 

Going on, Kraemer said that Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith because they have the authority of the Church as a rule to guide them.  He argues that it is laughable to see the Protestant Churches demand the observance of Sunday of which there is nothing in their Bible. 

 

In the 1965 edition of “The Faith Explained,” Catholic Leo J. Trese asserts that there is nothing in the “Bible about the change of the Lord’s day from Saturday to Sunday.  It comes from the tradition of the (Catholic) Church.” 

 

Trese goes on to say “That is why we find so illogical the attitude of many non-Catholics, who say that they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the Bible and yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord’s day on the say-so of the Catholic Church.” 

 

The many quotations outlined above from numerous Catholic writers and authorities have been taken largely from a tract from the Bible Sabbath Association, quoting those sources.  Interestingly, there were many, many more.  But space would not allow their presentation. 

 

 

Christian Sunday Worship is Very Ancient 

 

Actually, Christianity has been keeping Sunday as her holy day--probably from her beginnings, around 42 CE or so.  Even recently, the modern Pope John Paul II has issued a Pastoral Letter to all Roman Catholics declaring that Sunday is the true Sabbath of “God” and that many world problems are due to the neglect of the Sabbath commandment (May 1999 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 69). 

 

So, where did Christianity get Sunday worship and why?  This too is easy.  She got it from the old sun worship cults--all of which worshipped on Sunday.  Sunday has always been the primary holy day of sun worshippers. 

 

In his book on “Fossilized Customs” (p. 7), Lew White says that the ancient ritual among sun worshippers was to gather at dawn on Sunday mornings to watch and greet the rising sun.  Surely, this has been the basis of Easter sunrise services, to be discussed in a subsequent chapter. 

 

Writing in “The Outline of History,” H. G. Wells wrote that “It would seem the Christians adopted Sun-day as their chief day of worship instead of the Jewish Sabbath from the Mithraic cult.”  Of course, the Mithra cult, as well as all other ancient sun worshippers, worshipped the sun on Sunday.  Historians, apparently without exception, have recognized this reality. 

 

Gerald L. Berry adds:  “Since Mithra was the sun god, Sunday was automatically sacred to him--the ‘Lord’s Day’ --long before Christ” (“Religions of the World,” p. 56). 

 

However, the writer of this study at hand would note that the great presence of Chrishnaism in the first century CE Roman Empire would suggest that Sunday worship might also could have come from Chrishnaism.  Perhaps the Christians got Sunday from both the Mithra and Chrishna cults. 

 

And while the linkage may not be positively established, there is reason to believe that the earlier mentioned Yarovam may get some credit for imposing Sunday sun worship on the Northern ten tribes of Yisrael when he took over that kingdom and broke it away from Rechavam and Jerusalem. 

 

Yarovam was evidently a sun worshipper who picked up that faith from his Egyptian wife or from his stay in Egypt (II Chron 10:2). 

 

For certain, he did change the fall feast (Sukkot) to the 15th day of the eight month, instead of YHWH’s ordained seventh month (I Kg 12:32-33), as mentioned earlier, and perhaps changed the solemnity of the Seventh day Sabbath to the next day, as some persons suggest (including Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God). 

 

Hence Israelites, who later became Christians, may have already had a dose of Sunday sun worship.  Apparently, it is correct to say that Christian Israelites have been sun worshippers ever since the days of Yarovam, almost 3,000 years ago. 

 

 

The Present Weekly Cycle 

 

Before proceeding on to new topics, a few words must be shared on the question of the validity of the present weekly cycle.  In other words, is the present Seventh day of the week the same day as the Seventh day commanded in Exodus 20? 

 

Some Christians, wanting to argue and find an excuse to keep Sunday, say that the calendar has been changed over the years.  While some ancient areas of Europe did experiment for a while with an eight day week, the seven day week always prevailed and nullified all efforts historically to alter it. 

 

The next chapter will address this question in some detail.  Hence, there is no need to elaborate upon it at this time.  Suffice to say, the present Roman calendar came from Egypt in 46 BCE and the few changes in it never interfered in the weekly cycle (just as the leap year change, every fourth year, does not alter the weekly cycle). 

 

Assuredly, the weekly cycle, as established in the Roman Empire in 46 BCE, has never changed.  From 46 BCE to present times, the Jews have diligently kept the Seventh day of the week as the Scriptural Sabbath.  Manifestly, the Jews would never have allowed any alteration of their worship days and cycles (as will be proven in the succeeding chapters). 

 

YESHUA, Shaul the apostle and the other Apostolic people verified the Seventh day Sabbath (as kept by the Jews) and its cycle in their routine worship activities--mentioned previously herein.  Collectively, they always worshipped with the generic Jews on the Sabbath day.  There is never an indication otherwise. 

 

 

The Bottom Line 

 

The present Christian Church started keeping Sunday around or evidently by 42 CE.  Christians have been just as adamant about keeping Sunday.  They have not and would not have allowed any alteration of that day and cycle in their worship. 

 

The validity of the present Seventh days (as kept by Jews) and present Sundays (as kept by Christians) will be discussed and proven in the following chapters.  There is no justification for anyone to argue against Christianity and Judaism on this thing.  The point is that history and both the Jewish and Christian religions and peoples declare that the present weekly cycle has not been altered in the last 2,000 years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 218--Sun Worship and the Calendar

 

 

The Julian-Gregory Calendar 

 

Our present Western calendar is called the Julian-Gregory calendar.  The Roman Empire (the basis of the Western culture) adopted this calendar when the emperor Julius Caesar obtained it from Egyptian sun worshippers in 46 BCE.  Since it is a solar calendar, ordained by sun worshipping Egyptians, it correctly can be called a sun worship calendar. 

 

Rome had historically been using a lunar calendar at that time. But using his power and authority, Caesar imposed the (sun worship) solar calendar on the empire (per “The Clock We Live On,” by Isaac Asimov, “Encyclopedia Britannica” and “Encyclopedia Americana”). 

 

The point of this calendar (with its cycles of days, months, years and choice of names) is that it is a solar, sun worship calendar adopted from Egyptian sun worshippers.  Conversely, there is a Scriptural calendar which is a luni-solar calendar with very different cycles, periods, days, months, years and names. 

 

Despite a few modifications over the years (i.e., a name change, a leap year alteration, taking a day away from one month to add to another month on three occasions and principally the change by Pope Gregory, to be shortly discussed), the weekly cycle was never altered or changed in the European sun worship culture (though there were some ancient attempts to use a eight day week in a few areas, as noted earlier). 

 

The few historic changes to the Julian calendar were of the same order as the present leap year alteration (as pointed out in the prior chapter).  Approximately every four years, a day is added to February.  But this added day never disrupts the weekly cycle.  Thus, the established weekly cycle continues unaffected. 

 

In other words, the seven day weekly cycle, established by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, has never changed.  Thus, it has never been disrupted or altered in any manner.  This is a most important point.  The weekly cycle operates independently of the months and solar year features of the calendar and the addition or dropping of a day does not alter the weekly cycle. 

 

So, when Gais Octavius Augustus (emperor from 44 BCE to 14 CE) dropped one day from February to add to August 2,000 years ago, the weekly cycle was unaffected.  His other few minor changes were of the same nature. 

 

And strangely enough (but of great benefit to people attempting to obey YHWH), the weekly cycle in the current sun worship calendar is fairly close to Scriptural truth (one problem arises in the international date line, as will be described in comments to follow).  However, there are now enormous efforts worldwide to change the present Julian-Gregory calendar (primarily, in some fashion to disrupt the weekly cycle). 

 

 

Some Holdouts to Rome 

 

While most of the Roman Empire fell into line on this calendar in 46 BCE and its few minor modifications in later years, there was some holdouts in immediately adopting this calendar and/or some of its few changes over the years, even though the Caesars and the later popes were very powerful in the old Roman Empire.

 

For example, by this calendar, the new year starts just after Christmas and the winter solstice at the “birth of the sun.”  Besides being totally ridiculous, in terms of logic, this new year in the dead of winter is totally unscriptural. 

 

As will be proven in a later chapter, the Scriptures prescribe a new year starting at the new moon (Aviv 1) nearest the spring day equal night (equinox), which occurs around March 19th to 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere in the sun worship calendar (religious Jews call this Aviv 1 “Yom Kippur Katan,” a small Yom Kippur). 

 

Despite a change of New Year’s to January 1st by Rome, the peoples in Great Britain (and later colonial America) continued to start their new year in the spring on March 25th.  In terms of the Egyptian-Julian solar calendar, this date of March 25th is interestingly very close to what would have been calculated for creation week, if that week and the Julian solar calendar were linked together. 

 

The question of the creation week will be addressed in a later chapter herein.  Suffice to say, here, there is much support for the first day of that first year to have been calculable on or near March 25th, per the Julian solar calendar.   This date is not far-fetched at all in general terms (if one insists on using a strictly solar date without the benefit of the new moon). 

 

The point of this truth is that there is every reason to believe that the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic tradition for this date goes back a long way to the history of those people in ancient Canaan land (as discussed in a previous chapter).  It is highly plausible that these people held onto that concept when the Romans imposed the Egyptian-Julian calendar on them. 

 

 

The Ten-Day Correction 

 

Otherwise, the English/British peoples also refused for ages to recognize a needed correction of the Julian solar calendar, as decreed by Pope Gregory in 1582, despite otherwise using the basic Julian sun worship calendar. 

 

These Gregory stipulated changes came about because under the Julian calendar every fourth year was a leap year automatically with an added day.  By following this practice, the calendar “added” an approximate extra one day every hundred years. 

 

By the just mentioned reign of Pope Gregory in the 16th century, some ten days too much had been added to the solar calendar (throwing the calendar off ten days, per the solar cycle) over the centuries, from the time of Julius Caesar--which threw it out of alignment with the spring equinox by ten days (“The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 127). 

 

To correct this ten days deficiency, Gregory ordered a drop of ten days in 1582 (which did not alter or affect the weekly cycle) and a provision that in future years, a leap year would be added every fourth year, except it would not be added every 100 years unless that year was divisible by 400.  In other words, in the first three 100 year periods, only 24 leap years would be recognized and not 25. 

 

But in the fourth 100-year period, 25 leap years would be observed.  Otherwise, the calendar would remain as it had been observed and used for centuries.  Generally, the civilized world came to accept this change (though some Eastern Orthodox areas did hold onto the old Julian calendar without the Gregory modification--which has caused some confusion between them and Rome over observing the pagan Easter). 

 

Eventually, in 1752, Britain (and her American colonies) adopted the changes decreed by Pope Gregory and also changed the New Year from March 25th to January 1st.  But the spring reckoning persisted somewhat because even US presidents were inaugurated around March 4th in America, until Roosevelt came along in the 1930s and changed it to January. 

 

As was true in Augustus’ days, when he initiated some five minor calendar alterations, none of the Gregory, British or Roosevelt changes affected the weekly cycle.  The seven day weekly cycle established by Caesar in 46 BCE is still the same one so-called humanity observes today (as asserted in the preceding chapter). 

 

There is some fantastic proof of this reality and proof that this present seven day weekly cycle is the precise same one which was established with Adam at creation. 

 

While there might have been some confusion over exactly when the seven day week started and ended (when Yisrael first came out of Egypt), The HIGHEST worked a miracle for forty years to dramatically affirm the cycle and teach it to the Israelites.  YHWH fed the Israelites manna for forty years. 

 

Per His Word, they gathered the manna for six days.  On the sixth day, they gathered a double portion.  On the seventh day, they rested and did not gather food (Ex 16:4-6, 15-26).  Please note that this weekly cycle and Sabbath day observance was established some time before the Ten Commandments were even given on Sinai. 

 

It is also true that the Israelites in Canaan land (both in the House of Yehudah and the House of Yisrael) transgressed and violated YHWH’s Sabbath days of rest and were both accordingly thrust into slavery and captivity, as Yechezkel asserted (per the outline in the prior chapter).  But for all of those years, they had the prophets up to and including Yirmeyahu and Yechezkel. 

 

The prophets understood the correct Scriptural weekly cycle and which day was the Sabbath day.  Be assured that this reality was constantly brought to the people’s attention.  The Israelites may have chosen to disobey YHWH’s law (Ex 20:8-11), but they knew the truth or they would not have been held accountable for Sabbath breaking.  

 

 

The Jews Learned 

 

During the Babylonian exile, the Jews finally realized the importance of the weekly cycle and observance of the Seventh day Sabbath.  However good or bad the Jews have been, the one thing that they have done diligently for 2,500 years, since the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, is that they have kept and observed the correct weekly cycle with the proper Seventh day Sabbath. 

 

On returning to Canaan land from the exile, the Jews had Ezra, Nechemyah, Haggai, Zekharyah, Malakhi and other leaders to all guide and direct them in observance of the correct weekly cycle and Seventh day Sabbath.  It is a certainty that these leaders would have correctly known the Scriptural Sabbath and would have imposed it on the people (as happened in Nehemiah 13:15-22). 

 

The Jews were so diligent and careful about observing the correct Seventh day Sabbath that at one time a group of some 1,000 of them were attacked by a Greek army on the Sabbath and they refused to come out and fight that day.  They were all murdered--men, women and children (I Maccabees 2:32-38).  After this incident, the Jews have been willing to defend themselves--even on the Sabbath. 

 

In New Testament days, the Jews observed this same weekly cycle and Sabbath.  They had a certain ritual and procedure to follow at the synagogues for the worship on the Sabbath.  The leaders and people of the first century Apostolic Assembly all kept this same weekly cycle and Sabbath with the Jews.  There is never any mention or suggestion that anything was wrong with the Sabbath day, as designated by the Jews. 

 

 

Confirmed by YESHUA and the Apostles 

 

At least, on one or more times, YESHUA’s Own comments confirmed the correctness of the weekly Sabbath, as determined by the Jews (Lu 13:16).  The Scriptures note that, per their custom, YESHUA and Shaul both went into the synagogues for worship on the Sabbath days, as designated and followed by the Jews (Lu 4:16; Acts 17:2). 

 

There is never one iota of evidence to suggest that any person in the NT had any problem, question or concern over the correctness and validity of the Seventh day Sabbaths, as specified by the Jews (as established in the former chapter). 

 

It is manifestly certain that YESHUA or Shaul would have never went to the synagogues for worship on a wrong day and particularly if the Jews had lost the true cycle.  They were not hypocrites and certainly abided by truth in their personal worship practices (Jo 4:24). 

 

 

The NT Sabbath Issues 

 

Further dramatic proof of this conclusion is clear from the several conflicts YESHUA had with the Pharisees (evidently of the School of Shammai) over the Sabbath--such as plucking grain and healing on the Sabbaths, as mentioned in a former chapter.  Please note that these conflicts were not over keeping the Sabbath; but rather, they surfaced on how to keep the Sabbath. 

 

As discussed earlier, the Talmud developed a number of man-made restrictions on how to keep the Sabbath and not on whether to keep the Sabbath.  The Shammai Pharisees were responsible for some of these.  But some were evidently older traditions of men.  Clearly, YESHUA disobeyed many of these man-made restrictions which impeded upon the Sabbath (as ordained by The ELOHIM). 

 

If the Jews had lost the weekly cycle and were worshipping on the wrong Seventh day Sabbath, YESHUA would have certainly known about it.  One can be absolutely sure that He would have pointed this problem out to them whenever they accused Him of Sabbath violations. 

 

Yet, He always agreed with them over which day was the Sabbath (either in His Own words [like at Lu 13:16] or in His actions of assent)--while disagreeing with them over their Talmudic rules.  Since YESHUA and the Apostolic Assembly kept and observed the same Sabbath (and weekly cycle) as the Jews, it is a certainty that the weekly Sabbaths that they were keeping were right and correct. 

 

 

Sun Worshippers as Well 

 

Another group of early religious adherents who observed a seven day weekly cycle was the Mithra sun worshippers in Rome and assuredly most sun worshippers around the world (certainly, long before 46 BCE and the adoption of the Julian calendar by Rome).  Indeed, the evidence is most persuasive that all sun worshippers worshipped the sun on Sunday--the first day of the week, as discussed elsewhere herein. 

 

Sunday sun worshippers certainly knew which day was Sunday.  They obviously had been observing a weekly cycle of seven days for some time (although some minor parts of Europe reportedly tried an eight-day week in ancient times--before settling in on the seven-day week).  It’s hard to fathom that the Mithra sun worshippers became confused over which day was Sunday. 

 

The Christian faith came into being manifestly before the fall of Jerusalem to Rome in 70 CE (evidently in 42 CE), probably through the efforts of Simon Magus and Apollonius, elsewhere commented upon in this study. 

 

Since Christians have attached so much importance to their Sunday worship for 2,000 years, it’s ludicrous and out of the question to speculate that they would have dared to allow any alteration of the weekly cycle which would have interfered in their Sunday worship in the old Roman Empire (certainly in modern Europe). 

 

As mentioned in the prior chapter, we can all rest assured that the world ruling and dominant Christian Church has not stupidly and incompetently allowed any alternations in the prevailing weekly-cycle to affect their historic and present Sunday worship holidays. 

 

The point of this presentation is that during the years following Caesar’s establishment of the seven day weekly cycle, a number of religious faiths have kept and observed that cycle for the next 2,000 years because of their worship on certain days.  Both the Christians and the Jews are quite adamant that no disruptions of the weekly cycle have occurred since Rome adopted the Egyptian sun worship calendar in 46 BCE. 

 

 

International Date Line 

 

Besides starting a day at midnight (which had commercial appeal and acceptance for profit and gain), instead of sunset, as is Scriptural, one of the main other problems respecting the weekly cycle in the modern sun worship calendar and culture concerns the establishment of the international dateline for the beginning of a day and the resulting week (as briefly touched upon in the above comments). 

 

This imaginary (zig zagging) line was established in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1884 by the leading nations in the world (per “Biblical Astronomy and The Calendar,” by Harold Hemenway).  Apparently, commercial, trade, monetary and economic considerations were the motivations for the line chosen without any obvious concern over what the Word might say. 

 

Of course, there is an apparent need for such a line or place on the circular globe to start the days and the weeks (and even the months and years) in order to facilitate man’s governmental, commercial and social activities across the planet.  The problem is not so much about designating such a line; but rather, the dilemma surfaces because of man’s choice of a location for that line. 

 

For the student of truth, it seems clear where the “new” day and “new” week started.  Read Genesis 1 and 2.  Adam and the created order around him evidently started in the Euphrates River Valley of modern Iraq--perhaps even South in the Persian Gulf, although there is a Jewish tradition that the Garden of Eden site was at Jerusalem. 

 

This Jerusalem option is not far fetched at all.  It is very possible that the Garden of Eden was a huge area.  It may have resembled the later land grant to Avraham (from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.  In that case, it could have included both Jerusalem and the Euphrates Valley.  In terms of the territory involved, the day would have still started at the Euphrates. 

 

In any case, the first seven days of the first week and the first day of the second week dawned upon or commenced (at sunset) with the creation (and particularly with Adam on the 6th day) in that precise locale (which likely was the Euphrates Valley or perhaps Jerusalem--if the Garden of Eden was limited to that area). 

 

Why would persons attempting to obey The MOST HIGH want to substitute a man-made imaginary line to start the new day and new week in some other place other than what the Word clearly teaches?  While such a line in the Pacific Ocean might sound good for man’s commercial reasons, the fact remains that it is unscriptural. 

 

 

A Modern Response 

 

The above discussion on the international date line prompted a response from a reader of this production (when it was still in draft).  The respondent was a Sabbathkeeper, probably fairly close in theology to the Seventh day Adventists. 

 

This reader recognized the plain reality that the date line should be in the Middle East, per the Scriptural record.  However, this respondent went on to inject some human thinking and rational into the discussion.  The reader thoughtfully added--that the paradox is that it probably works best, away out in the blue Pacific where it doesn’t split any large land areas and populations. 

 

Of course, the world authorities who established the international date line in the middle of the Pacific used this precise rational.  Seemingly, none of them ever really gave any consideration whatsoever to the Scriptures and precisely what the Word does say or what The CREATOR may have intended. 

 

Actually, as already outlined by the writer of this study, in the above comments on the date line, the real motivation for the line chosen was undoubtedly profits and economic factors (from trade and commercialism) which would be less affected by a line out in the middle of the Pacific, as opposed to a line which ran through a land mass with a population or populations of people to contend with. 

 

But the reader’s letter, just noted, brings to the surface the interplay of human reasoning and contemplation on a subject like this.  Even when man has been exposed to truth from the Scriptures, he can still rationalize and justify his actions of rebellion against truth as being a proper and legitimate action--based upon human reasoning. 

 

Man always seems to have the capability and capacity to rationalize, justify and support his acts of sin and rebellion on the basis of human reasoning.  Actually, human pride and especially the pride of life (confidence and trust in this human governed system of things) always comes into play to affect man’s thinking. 

 

The bottom line here is that what works best is the obedience of the Word.  Disobedience never works best, contrary to human reasoning.  The date line could be placed in Iraq (where it seems to belong) and it would work out totally satisfactorily--just as there are time zones all over the world which essentially work out all right (because world commercialism and profits were never YAH’s plan and way). 

 

 

Some Observe the Wrong Day for Sabbath 

 

Because of man’s stupidity and rebellion toward YHWH’s Word, this line in the Pacific makes the culture, society and peoples living between that line and where it should be (evidently just to the East of the Euphrates River to the mid Pacific) function, live and conduct their lives generally on the wrong days of the week. 

 

Now, this may not seem to be a big deal for some of the days of the week.  But it is profoundly important to persons attempting to obey The HIGHEST in terms of the Sabbath.  Most Sabbath keepers take to heart the seriousness of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue and try to do their level best to keep it correctly. 

 

Consequently, the Sabbath that now starts at the present international dateline is, in fact, wrong since that day correctly should be involving the 6th day of the week (providing it starts correctly at sunset) at the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. 

 

Actually, the true Sabbath will not commence until the (sixth day of the week) sun sets in the Euphrates Valley.  All this means, of course, is that people (certainly including Israelites) using the sun worship calendar in Australia and the Far East typically recognize the Sabbath as being on the sixth day of the week. 

 

 

Another Ridiculous Action of Man 

 

Incidentally, the stupidity of this international date line in the middle of the Pacific is about as gross as have been Christian attempts to date the birth of their Gee-Zeus in 1 CE--as seems to been done for centuries.  Previous comments and a later chapter herein describe and establish the reality that The Scriptural YESHUA was actually born about 5 BCE. 

 

Today, many Christian scholars admit the dating mistake.  But they are in no mood to take any action to set the record straight.  Baptist leader Jerry Falwell typifies the compromise and confusion of Christian leaders.  Falwell’s newspaper, the “National Liberty Journal,” had a remark on its masthead in December 1999 which said “Celebrating the 1999th Birthday of Jesus Christ” (evidently on Christmas). 

 

Falwell probably doesn’t know the truth.  Like Christians at large, it is evident that Falwell still believes in the Christian Christmas story, as occurring around December 25 in I BCE or so (although the Catholic monk Dionysius Exiguus calculated the birth of the Christian Gee-Zeus in 1 AD--Jan-Feb 2001 “End Time News,” p. 2). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 219--The Day

 

 

Gene Heck 

 

In a very evident act of ridiculous calendar manipulations, a man named Gene Heck has theorized that a day runs from noon to noon, instead of sunset to sunset (which is defined as evening in the Hebrew term ehrev), as the Book so states (Gen 1:5, Ex 22:26; 30:8, Lev 22:7; 23:32, Deut 24:15; Josh 8:29; 10:26; Jud 14:18; II Sam 3:35; Neh 13:19; Ps 104:19; Prov 7:9; Dan 6:14; Mk 1:32; Lu 4:40; Eph 4:26). 

 

A classic proof of sunset is outlined in Deuteronomy 23:11 where the unclean man must go outside the camp of Yisrael and wash himself as “evening (ehrev) cometh on.”  My KJV text has a footnote for “cometh,” indicating that in the Hebrew it means “turneth toward.”  In context, the man can come back into the camp of Yisrael when the sun is down (sunset). 

 

Sunset is also conclusively proven by the Hebrew “bo,” meaning to come-arrive at, come up to, come to pass, march out or in, to bring to, to go in, enter into (meaning closure, as the arrival and/or precise moment of sunset)--per Botterweck & Ringgren (v. II, p. 20-49); Brown, Driver & Briggs (p.97-99); Young’s (p. 424); Gesenius (p. 106), Halliaday, (p. 34), Davidson (p. 70) and other Hebrew lexicons--at Deut 16:6; Josh 10:13, 27; II Chron 18:34; etc (which the KJV translates as “going down” of the sun). 

 

This man Heck refuses to accept the meaning of the Hebrew “boqer,” meaning daybreak (which he claims is midnight) and the above cited Hebrew “ehrev,” meaning sunset (which he attaches to high noon). 

 

He has even went to the extreme of preparing a publication of 60 pages or so to support his ridiculous thinking.  Tragically, for truth’s sake, a number of Scripturally shallow people have actually become his followers (Heckites) to join in to help promote his stupid theory (like Christian Identity leader Pete Peters). 

 

Heck utterly ignores the Hebrew “tsohar” (meaning noon or midday), which differentiates from ehrev and boqer in Psalms 55:17 (where David said he prayed three times a day--evening, morning and noon).  Here, David noted these three distinctively different points of time identifications and even laid them out in their proper sequence, as they occur during a 24 hour civil day.  

 

In his book (“The Weekly Sabbath When?,” p. 21-23, 57-59), Heck abundantly criticizes the Talmud, but then goes on to hypocritically use a quote from the Talmud with a bad interpretation and incorrect conclusion (ibid, p. 16)--along with human traditions from sun/star worshippers and various English dictionaries to try to prove his stupid thesis (too bad for Gene, but the Scriptures weren’t written in English). 

 

Heck then goes on to develop charts which have no Scriptural basis whatsoever (ibid, p. 7-19).  They may look good to ignorant people, but they have no bearing on truth. 

 

He refuses to accept the recognizable and observable signs of sunset and sunrise (as required and stipulated in Gen 1:14) for evening and morning and instead chooses the uncertain points of noon and midnight, which can only be known precisely with a clock or other man-made time device (ibid, p. 24).  He says that noon and midnight never change (ibid, p. 24). 

 

True, they never change by man-made clocks (theoretically only, since all man-made clocks develop errors over time and necessitate corrections).  However, high noon and midnight change regularly in the observable heavens (especially in respect to the earth, moon, stars and constellations) and this reality is what counts in respect to the Scriptural calendar. 

 

In the winter months and in the Northern hemisphere on planet earth, the sun (high noon) appears visibly more in the Southern skies while in the summer months, it moves more into the Northern skies.  At the equinoxes, it is directly overhead (near the equator). 

 

 

Problems 

 

For followers of Heck, wishing to use shadows to determine high noon, reality is that the presence and direction of any shadows at high noon are constantly changing because they are utterly dependent upon the time of the year. 

 

Since there is an obvious need to observe the sun and heavenly signs in order to determine the new day and to properly keep the Sabbath, one wonders how a person can observe midnight (without a man-made clock subject to error)?  How about high noon? 

 

Clearly, Genesis 1:14 demands the observation of the sun to establish the day and not the observation of a sundial, clock or shadow.  People can’t look at the high noon sun without blinding themselves! 

 

Sometimes, Heck says that “evening” means high noon (ibid, p. 20, 25); sometimes 6 PM (ibid, p. 32); sometimes sunset (ibid, p. 30-31); sometimes when the sun is going down from high noon (ibid, p. 25); sometimes when shadows fall (ibid, p. 33); sometimes night or darkness (ibid, p. 29); sometimes a second before midnight (ibid, p. 9); and sometimes the twelve hour period from noon to midnight (ibid, p. 15)--yet saying that it is a never changing sign (ibid, p. 24). 

 

It appears that Mr Heck defines evening by whatever time condition that he may need on any particular Scripture to justify his overall thesis about a noon to noon civil day.  He exhibits similar confusion over the meaning of morning when he bounces around with various points in time. 

 

For defining morning, he uses an English dictionary and definition to grant him some leeway or latitude to make it mean anything from midnight to high noon (again, for whatever time factor he may need on a particular Scriptural interpretation). 

 

Importantly, the contextual uses of the Hebrew and Greek words for morning often clarify it as daybreak--like at John 8:2 (using the Greek “orthros”), which proves that midnight is out of the question. 

 

On this line of thinking, Mark 1:35 (as suggested by Heck) proves nothing because the Greek “proi” (translated as morning at Mk 1:35) is not as precise on daybreak, as are the Hebrew “boqer” or the Greek “orthros.” 

 

The Greek “proi” seems to allow some latitude, just as is true with the English word “morning,” although Acts 28:23 (using proi) certainly will never allow for a belief that Shaul preached to his visitors from midnight to noon, as would be true with Heck’s theory. 

 

Since he wishes to believe that he should use English dictionaries to define words he finds in English translations of the Book (without regard to their original Hebrew and Greek meanings), Heck chose to define the English word “even” (as used in the KJV) as meaning “equal” (ibid, p. 16), never understanding that in Old English (in use in 1607), even was the same as evening (Funk & Wagnalls’ “Standard Desk Dictionary,” p. 219). 

 

The 1607 King James translators “sometimes” translated the Hebrew word “ehrev” as even, instead of evening, as they otherwise did.  Of course, Heck tried to use the Old English “even” with a modern English meaning of “equal” to conclude that since high noon divides the daylight hours into two equal parts, it must mean the same as “even” in the KJV. 

 

So what?  Again, the Hebrew Scriptures were not written in English.  Thus, it matters not one whit what “even” meant in 1607 or 396 years later in 2003.  As a matter of information, the Hebrew “tsohar” means high noon and most English translators would not dare attempt to translate it as “even” (beyond the confused Mr Heck). 

 

 

More Problems 

 

Using his ideas, Heck concludes that the Passover day (starting at sunset) actually started some six hours earlier at high noon (“The Weekly Sabbath When?,” p. 32); that the Passover lamb was slain at 12 o’clock noon (ibid, p. 32); that The MESSIAH ate the Passover at 6 PM (ibid, p. 32) in contrast to eating it at night as the law required (Ex 12:8); that YESHUA, as The Passover LAMB, did not die on Passover day, but a day later (ibid, p. 54); and that the Book’s reference to three days and three nights makes no sense at all (Matt 12:38-40). 

 

While his unscriptural theories make some days of the month, like Aviv 14, start six hours “earlier” at noon on the real Aviv 13 (ibid, p. 32), Heck otherwise maintains that some days of the week (like the Seventh day Sabbath) start some 18 hours “later” at the next high noon following sunset (ibid, p. 59).  Yet, he complains about Babylonian confusion (ibid, p. 23-24). 

 

Gene Heck tries to make a big deal out of the situation with David and Jonathan when they agreed to meet “at even” on the third day (I Sam 20:5), but Jonathan actually showed up on a morning (I Sam 20:35) where the KJV states “at the time appointed” (ibid, p. 34).  Of course, it doesn’t matter what time one attaches to these stated differences of morning and evening, there is some confusion in these texts. 

 

Consequently, if one recognizes the Hebrew ehrev and boqer as meaning sunset and sunrise, I Samuel 20:5-35 presents a problem with the time difference. 

 

However, the same precise time difference surfaces with Heck’s theories of ehrev meaning high noon and boqer meaning midnight or however else he may attempt to translate these words with his ideas on multiple meanings.  The “Soncino Books of the Bible” (v. III, p. 128) presents the more authoritative Hebrew assessment of I Samuel 20:35. 

 

It notes that Jonathan was late (for whatever reason) on his meeting with David (per the chronological construction of I Sam 20:5-35).  Thus, Jonathan was supposed to be there at sunset on the third day; while he actually arrived some twelve hours later at sunrise on the same third day.  The problem in this text is that I Sam 20:35 appears to have a bad translation, as suggested by the Soncino editor, Dr S. Goldman. 

 

This Jewish Rav and Hebrew authority gives the better view as “to the place appointed” and not the time appointed.  What happened was that Jonathan was late.  But he correctly came to the proper “place” as appointed and there met David, after shooting the arrows.  Moreover, the ravens fed Eliyahu at boqer-daybreak and ehrev-sunset at I Kings 17:6 and not at noon and midnight, as Heck would believe. 

 

If Gene Heck would spend just a small portion of time pursuing an understanding of the Hebrew text (in places like I Samuel 20:35, I Kings 17:6 and the other cited problems) in lieu of his attention on English dictionaries and the theories of star worshippers, then he likely would not have confused and misled his several followers who are blindly following him down the primrose lane of sin. 

 

For benefit of people like Heck and all other teachers of the Scriptures (including this writer as well), Yakov wrote that would be teachers will be more critically judged than other people (Jas 3:1, where the KJV mistranslates the Greek “didaskalos”). 

 

The reason being is that when teachers are wrong, it doesn’t necessarily involve their personal sins only.  Their wrong teachings can lead any number of other gullible people to also become sinners. 

 

 

Some Are Taken In By Heck 

 

The only thing that can be said for Heck’s effort is that it appeals to a number of sun worshippers in the Identity movement, who want to have some justification for their Sunday morning sun worship in defiance of the Word.  Quite naturally, sun worshippers go out of their way and the extra mile to try to find some reason or basis to rebelliously disobey the fourth commandment in the Decalogue. 

 

Interestingly though, by Heck’s methodology (“The Weekly Sabbath When?,” p. 50-51, 59), the one, single, possible, NT reference to Sunday (Mk 16:9) and Christian ideas for a Sunday morning resurrection end up falling on the second day of the week, per the Greek “epiphosko” (dusk at Matt 28:1 and Lu 23:54), discussed earlier. 

 

So it’s hard to understand why Christian sun worshippers would be taken in by Heck’s stupid theory, as some of them have been taken in. 

 

Actually, this noon to noon reckoning for a day is not an invention of Gene Heck.  In truth, the old star worshipping astrologers used a noon to noon reckoning for a civil day (per Isaac Asimov in “The Clock We Live On”)--because they were up at night watching (worshipping) the stars and the noon to noon thinking allowed them to attach one date to the entire night. 

 

The commercial world preferred the midnight to midnight day for obvious profit reasons.  Since money is the name of the game, the wishes of the commercial world prevailed in the Christian sun worship society. 

 

Heck argues that the US and other nations kept the noon to noon day until 1925 when it was changed (to midnight); but offers no proof beyond confusing statements from a 1842 newspaper and Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, coupled with claims that US government offices were open on Saturday mornings to noon and the change in government administrations happened at noon (ibid, p. 36, 42-43). 

 

Of course, none of this has any bearing on the Scriptures. 

 

This writer has read the newspaper reference made by Heck and there seems to be no reason at all to read the interpretation into it which he does.  In other words, it doesn’t support a noon to noon day at all. 

 

Obviously, the change of administrations (like the US presidents and governors) happens at noon because this is the most practical time.  A change and ceremony would be out of the question at midnight, sunrise or even sunset. 

 

US government offices closed at noon on Saturdays because the traditional sun worship culture used Saturday afternoons as a “preparation” time to get ready for their Saturday nights of partying, playing and fun and Sunday sun worship services. 

 

While Christian sun worship services historically occurred on Sunday mornings, some Catholic sun worshippers went in for midnight services, as noted in a prior chapter.  Still other Christians liked Sunday morning sunrise services. 

 

 

The Passover Problem 

 

One of the several things which led Heck astray was over how the Talmud handled Passover in YESHUA’s day. 

 

Though he clearly misunderstood the words, Heck quoted “Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon” that “The Pharisees...and the Rabbinists considered the time when the sun began to descend to be called the first evening...and the second evening to be the real sunset” (p. 16 of Heck’s book).  He believes these two evenings to be high noon and midnight. 

 

Whether by accident or by intent to deceive, Heck chose not to quote the rest of Gesenius’ (p. 652) defining remarks on the phrase “between the two evenings,” which were that “according to the Karaites and the Samaritans (which is favoured by the words of Deut 16:6), the time between sunset and deep twilight.”  While Heck’s book doesn’t tackle this material, some explanation is needed at this time for understanding. 

 

The basic Passover law was laid out to Moshe (Ex 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 9:3-5), when YHWH declared that the Israelites were to take a choice lamb on the 10th day of the first month (of Aviv) and set him aside until the 14th day of that month and sacrifice him (in the Hebrew) “beyn ha arebayn” which literally means “between the evenings” (“Englishmen’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance,” p. 976). 

 

This phrase (in Ex 12:6) was to eventually become a point of confusion to Jews as well as Christians.  Taken literally, between the two evenings would certainly be between sunset on one day and sunset on the next day.  Assuredly, there is no other way to first address these words.  And as one can later see in the manner that the impalement of YESHUA was handled, this literal interpretation has to make sense and prevail. 

 

While many translations, like the KJV and others, chose to translate those words as “evening,” as if they were precisely the same as the Hebrew “ehrev,” meaning evening, others took a different view.  For example, Samson Raphael Hirsch’s “The Pentateuch” (v. I, p. 133) gives them as “between the two evenings.” 

 

Dr J. H. Hertz in the Soncino Edition of the “Pentateuch and Haftorahs” (p. 255) renders them as “dusk.”  “Encyclopaedia Judaica” (v. 13, p. 170) reports the critical view that originally, between the evenings meant “at the setting of the sun.”  Many other good translations use the words dusk or twilight for the phrase. 

 

As Gesenius’ definition suggests, confusion did arise over these words. 

 

The place that most Jews came to was stated in the “Pentateuch and Haftorahs” as “According to the Talmud, the ‘first evening’ is the time in the afternoon when the heat of the sun begins to decrease, about 3 o’clock; and the ‘second evening’ commences with sunset.  Josephus relates that the Passover sacrifice ‘was offered from the ninth to the eleventh hour,’ i.e. between 3 and 5 p.m.” (Gesenius, p. 254). 

 

 

Scriptural Clarification

 

If one does wish to try to check other uses of this phrase “beyn ha arebayn,” some interesting statements can be found.  For instance, it was used by Moshe in describing the two times that the Israelites would eat their meals--one between the evenings or at dusk and the other at morning or daybreak (Ex 16:4-26). 

 

While ehrev or evening is the same as ba ehrev or at even, Exodus 16 is interesting because it contrasts ehrev with between the evenings (beyn ha arebayn).  In verses 6, 8 and 13, the quails came up and covered the camp at even while in verse 12 the people ate the quails between the evenings. 

 

Obviously, the quails arrived at sundown.  The people caught and cooked them and ate them between sunset and actual darkness.  Other texts in Exodus 16 differentiate evening from morning when the manna came up over the night to appear as the morning dew (Ex 16:13-20).  Dew is on the ground in the early morning hours and not at midnight or noon as Heck believes. 

 

Later, YHWH told Yisrael to offer two lambs daily--one between the evenings and the other the next morning (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:4-8).  When ritual uncleanness occurred, the person was unclean until evening or sunset, the end of the day (Lev 11:24-40; 14:46; 15:5-27; 17:15; 22:6).  It would be ridiculous to equate this time period to noon or some vague reference from noon to midnight. 

 

In another case, Aaron lighted the lamps for the tabernacle between the evenings or at dusk (Ex 27:21; 30:8; Lev 24:2-3). 

 

Actually, there was one continuous flame in the Tabernacle and from it, the several other lamps were lit daily, between the evenings (Ex 27:20-21, “Soncino [Jewish] Chumash,” p. 519).  Again, there is a dusk period of time (after sunset) while it is still light for an hour or so before darkness sets in.  This is called “beyn ha arebayn” in the Hebrew. 

 

People in the US military know this dusk period as the evening nautical twilight.  Obviously, the Passover was to be slain in this early portion of Aviv 14 (at or just after sunset and before actual darkness).  This is the sunset time of the earlier mentioned Greek “epiphosko” (Matt 28:1; Lu 23:54) and the Hebrew “bo” (Deut 16:6). 

 

 

The Passover Event 

 

Once sacrificed, the Passover lamb was to be eaten sometime that same “night” (during darkness of Aviv 14), as the Word so states (Ex 12:8). 

 

Also, the Israelites were told that the Messenger of Death would pass over them that same night (Ex 12:12), although the exact time of the Messenger’s pass over was not initially stated.  Later, it actually happened at midnight of that same night of Aviv 14 (Ex 12:29). 

 

Since there was some uncertainty about the exact hour that the Death Messenger would pass over and since it is questionable whether the Israelites had any methods of correctly identifying the time of midnight precisely, they all had to remain in their houses (protected by the blood on the doorposts) and not come out until morning or daybreak, when they could come out and burn the leftovers from the lambs (Ex 12:10). 

 

That night, the Messenger (YHWH) slew Egypt’s firstborn and at some time (not stated, but obviously after midnight and before daybreak), Pharaoh cried and called for Moshe and Aaron (Ex 12:30-31).  Since Moshe and Aaron perhaps would not have risked their lives to leave their homes, they may have went to Pharaoh around sunrise. 

 

That daylight portion of Aviv 14 saw the Israelites burn the leftovers, collect their wages, pack up and get organized and ready to leave Egypt.  With something in excess of two million people, this process took time.  It was not done instantly, as some uninformed people suppose. 

 

And if the reader doubts it, just look how long it takes virtually any military unit of size in the world to organize and move (usually days, weeks or months are needed, as the 1991 and 2003 Iraqi wars proved).  It took six weeks to move 5,000 US military people to Albania for the Kosovo conflict in 1999. 

 

Or alternatively, note how long it takes a large city of two million persons to partly empty at the close of a workday (and even as routine as this process is for people living in the suburbs, but working downtown).  If all persons in a large city (men, women and children) had to totally pack up and move (lock, stock and barrel) from the city, it would be an enormous undertaking. 

 

Hurricane Floyd struck the US in mid Sep 1999.  Some 2.6 million people (with the convenience and ease of using automobiles) evacuated much of the East coast from Florida to North Carolina.  This was the largest evacuation of American people in history.  Literally, it took at least a couple of days to effect this movement.  Cars were backed up for hours, almost bumper to bumper, on the roads leading West. 

 

Please understand that this hurricane Floyd motion only involved people and not necessarily their household and personal effects.  Can the reader possibly envision the enormous problems of getting ready and moving two and a half million people by foot with “all” of their personal possessions?  If Moshe did this in 24 hours, he must be applauded.  Well, he did it--with YHWH’s help! 

 

 

Back to Egypt 

 

After darkness, on the next night in Egypt, and during the full moon of Aviv 15, the Israelites commenced their journey out of the country (Ex 12:42; 13:3-4; Num 33:3; Deut 16:1).  Their preparations and movement out produced the interesting spring festivals. 

 

The first event was the Passover, as cited above (Lev 23:5).  It is always a one day celebration involving unleavened bread on Aviv 14 (per a whole host of Scriptures).  There are no Scriptures which would allow more than one day for Passover. 

 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven days celebration of Yisrael’s actual Exodus from Egypt (Lev 23:6-8), starting on Aviv 15 and ending on Aviv 21, when Yisrael crossed the Red Sea--apparently by walking on top of frozen ice (from some type of an earth cataclysm), per the explanation of Dr Ernest Martin, formerly of Portland, Oregon (Ex 13:9; 14:15-31). 

 

Therefore, eight days (of unleavened bread) are involved in total--the one day Passover festival and the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This one and seven parallels the fall feasts of seven (Sukkot) and one (Last Great Day), totaling eight festival days. 

 

 

The Talmud Changes 

 

While the Word is clear enough on these festivals, the Judeans (probably Amalek-Edomites) by YESHUA’s time had changed them considerably. 

 

“Encyclopaedia Judaica” (v. 13, p. 163) says that the Passover is a seven day festival starting on Aviv 15 and that correctly the feast consists of “two parts:  The Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Originally both parts existed separately; but at the beginning of the Exile they were combined” (ibid, v. 13, p. 169). 

 

Thus, the Talmud cooked up the false theory that the first evening meant around 3 PM in the afternoon while the second one meant sunset.  Gene Heck, discussed above, came along 2,000 years later and confused the words of the Talmud by trying to apply the first evening to high noon and the second evening to midnight. 

 

This false belief allowed the Judean Jews (evidently sons of Satan-Kain) in rebellion against Moshe’s writings to legally kill the Passover on the afternoon of Aviv 14 (literally between the two evenings of sunset to sunset, as noted previously) and then go on to improperly eat the Passover meal at the night portion of Aviv 15 (thus, this Aviv 15 is the day on which they incorrectly observed their Passover ceremony). 

 

So, with this change, the evil Judeans involved created a situation where the Passover ceremonies actually fell on two days.  The Passover was sacrificed on the afternoon of Aviv 14 and the actual meal was eaten later during the night of Aviv 15 (despite all of the Scriptural references which say that both events are to happen on Aviv 14). 

 

With this background, one can now understand the situation in the New Testament.  In the early part of Aviv 14, at sunset, but before darkness set in, the apostles killed the Passover lamb (Matt 26:17).  Sometime that night of Aviv 14, they ate the Passover (Matt 26:20, 26; Jo 13:2). 

 

Please understand that the Greek “opsia,” used at Matthew 26:20 (for the time of evening when YESHUA sat down for the Passover), does not necessarily mean exactly sunset as the Hebrew ehrev does. 

 

The corrupted Greek language, like other questionable Western languages, allows for some latitude with opsia meaning “late near sunset to nightfall” (“A Greek-English Lexicon,” p. 606; “The New Analytical Greek Lexicon,” p. 301).  Probably, The MESSIAH and His disciples assembled in this dusk period, drank and enjoyed fellowship while the lamb was cooking (to be eaten later that night). 

 

The rest of that night of Aviv 14 saw YESHUA’s anguish in the garden of Gethsemane, and His arrest and trial before the different authorities.  He was hung on the stake at about 9 AM on Aviv 14 and died about 3 PM the same day--just about the time that the Judeans were killing their Passover offering. 

 

Obviously, the phrase between the two evenings has to legally be right, as it can literally be understood from the end of Aviv 13 to just before the start of Aviv 15 since YESHUA’s death had to meet the legal requirements of the law in order for Him to be The PASSOVER.  Any other explanation won’t hold water. 

 

 

The Jews’ Passover in the NT? 

 

However, numbers of uninformed and ignorant Christians have come along and tried to claim that YESHUA ate the Passover on the wrong night and that the next night (Aviv 15) was correct for eating it (as the evil Judeans were doing).  And of course, Heck argues that The MESSIAH and apostles ate the Passover on the correct night (Aviv 14), but that He was impaled and died a day later. 

 

Though the Passover festival of Aviv 14 is correctly a festival of YHWH The ELOHIM, it is interesting and obviously significant that the writer Yohanan habitually referred to the Judeans’ observance of it as the Judeans’ Passover (Jo 2:13; 6:4; 11:55)--because the evil Judeans and their followers had changed it--to eat it on the wrong night. 

 

In fact, by the Jewish calendar, some of the other feasts were slightly changed as well, prompting Yohanan to also call them feasts of the Judeans.  Problems with the Jewish calendar will be assessed in the succeeding chapters. 

 

 

Leviticus 23:32, Revisited 

 

A former chapter on pride discussed a friend of this writer who advertised himself as “Elder” so and so.  One of the major points of difference between the elder and this writer was over which was the Scriptural day of the Passover.  As outlined in previous comments, this writer takes the position that all of the Scriptures say Passover is Aviv 14.  There is absolutely nothing to base Passover on Aviv 15. 

 

As commented upon in the preceding chapter, the Jews long ago seem to have changed the Passover from Aviv 14 to Aviv 15 (which is correctly the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread--the day Yisrael started leaving Egypt).  The best guess is that this incorrect Jewish thinking influenced a number of people over the years, including my “elder” friend. 

 

As was elaborated upon in the previous chapters, my elder friend based Leviticus 23:32 as one of his arguments for Passover being on Aviv 15.  He maintained that since the reference to the starting of the Day of Atonement was at the even of the ninth day in Leviticus 23:32, it meant that all references to Aviv 14 was in the context of the end or conclusion of the 14th day as it approached the 15th day. 

 

At this point, the gist of the problem is that when a Scriptural day (which starts at evening) is named--is the meaning of that numbered or named day mentioned in the vein of the start of that day or is it the end or terminus of that day?  Thus, if the Word refers to the 14th day, at even--is the message here the end of the 14th day or the starting of it? 

 

In other words, do Scriptural references to a particular day refer to that day in the sense of its start or in its end?  And this is a good question which will be answered in comments to follow. 

 

In the case of my proud elder friend, the reality of the phrase “between the evenings” was pointed out to him.  This is the normal reference to the Passover on Aviv 14.  It is to be contrasted with just the “at even” message, which is associated with Ethanim 9 in the context of being the beginning of the 10th day. 

 

 

Dennis Bitterman 

 

Frankly, this writer has thought little more about the subject until working on this study at hand.  One day, in early 2000, this writer received a copy of the “EAOY Newsletter” for Jan-Feb 2000 which broached this subject of whether a mentioned day is outlined in a beginning or ending sense. 

 

The “EAOY Newsletter” presented a couple of word studies by Dennis Bitterman which very clearly seem to settle the issue at hand.  These remarks were somewhat abbreviated.  But they prompted me to also go back and look more carefully at the Hebrew words in the various texts. 

 

“Young’s Analytical Concordance” (p. 696) says that the word “ninth” in Leviticus 23:32 comes from the Hebrew “tishah” which means “nine.”  Young’s points out that there is another Hebrew word meaning ninth.  It is “teshii,” used at Lev 25:22 and in the vein of the ninth year, month or day in several different texts (like Num 7:60; II Kg 17:6; 25:1; Jer 36:9; 39:1, etc). 

 

The “Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon” (p. 781-782) notes that these words are cognates which come from the root “tesha,” which means “nine” (used many times in the Book).  The “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament” (TWOT) has a slightly different interpretation from Young’s on tishah.  The TWOT (v. ii, p. 982) says that tishah means ninth (this appears to be the correct interpretation) 

 

There is no denying that the words are related.  But it is obvious that they are slightly different for some reason.  Bitterman notes the presence of the “yod” in tishah with its absence otherwise.  He then points out the similarity to yasha which means “salvation” and raises a question about whether the tishah in Leviticus 23:32 could be referring to “self evaluation” in the sense of the next day (Yom Kippur). 

 

Dennis Bitterman concludes that this lone verse (Lev 23:32) is not a sole witness that numbered and cited days start or end at evening.  The writer of this study at hand would not be dogmatic either.  But it is certainly something to think and study about. 

 

 

Samson Raphael Hirsch 

 

“The Pentateuch” commentary (v. iv, p. 681-682) by the great Jewish sage Samson Raphael Hirsch addressed this word problem in Leviticus 23:32.  Hirsch correctly notes the Jewish rule that days are reckoned from eve to eve and the fasting message for Yom Kippur (which occurs on Ethanim 10 in the Scriptural calendar). 

 

But Hirsch goes further and offers some alternative ways of looking at the reference to the ninth day.  He allows that the fasting must begin on the ninth day (that is, at a time that still belongs to the ninth day)--in the late afternoon before the arrival of sunset and the commencement of the 10th day. 

 

In terms of Jewish practice, in starting the weekly Sabbath (discussed earlier), Jews actually start the Sabbath just before the 6th day officially ends.  So perhaps Hirsch’s comments have relevance in that the Yom Kippur Sabbath (or at least, its fasting implications) must commence before the 10th day officially starts. 

 

 

More Thinking 

 

With this background, the writer of this study at hand will offer a few more ideas which could have pertinence in establishing the question of understanding whether a remark “at even” applies to the beginning of the just cited day or its end. 

 

It seems that whenever a day is referred to (certainly, if in the context of being all inclusive from evening to evening), the meaning is clearly all of that day from evening to evening.  For example, the seventh day Sabbath covers the beginning of the seventh day (at even) to its conclusion or terminus some 24 hours later at even.  Thus, references to Passover on Aviv 14 are referring to all of that 24 hour day. 

 

Part of the difficulty with the Ethanim 9 remark (in Leviticus 23:32) is that there seems to be some distinction here in the sense of whether the number is a cardinal number (in size like one, two, three or nine) or an ordinal number (in position and order, like in first, second, third, ninth). 

 

As the TWOT illustrates, the tishah seems to be an ordinal number which represents position and sequence.  The Hebrew tesha clearly means the cardinal number nine (which represents a collection or total of nine).  Therefore, tesha is likely used in the vein of the cardinal number.  Perhaps a reference to a cardinal number is a reference to it in the context of being all inclusive in total. 

 

Thus, if the remark reads day nine (tesha), one would understand it to mean the totality of the ninth day from beginning to end.  But Leviticus 23:32 has a kicker by using the ordinal number meaning ninth.  Even the context does not suggest the totality of the ninth day.  So, as a minimum, one must look at the ordinal number (in Lev 23:32), either as a start point or end point and no more to define the entire day involved. 

 

This does not seem to be true with the usual Scriptural uses of cardinal numbers (as often with Aviv 14) which communicate all of the inclusive hours, minutes and seconds in the day cited (the totality of the day, from start to finish in a cardinal number). 

 

But there are some more complications and especially on the number 14.  The “Hebrew Primer and Grammar” (p. 165), by C. P. Fagnani and A. B. Davidson, indicates that beyond the number ten, the cardinal numbers are used for the ordinals.  Furthermore, the “Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance” (p. 674) suggests that the masculine gender of four is usually the cardinal and rarely the ordinal.

 

The Hebrew text seems to read the same or almost the same in the sense of four and ten for 14 or 14th, without any appreciable distinction.  Therefore, is it possible that in some instances the Hebrew text can be read the four and ten day (or day 14)? 

 

The essence here is that based upon the Hebrew text, one apparently can read 14 as either a cardinal or ordinal number.  This puts the burden on the translator to communicate sense and understanding in how he chooses to handle the problem.  Usually, translators translate the four and ten day as the 14th day. 

 

But they could be wrong in some instances.  In terms of the 14 (day 14) or 14th day of Aviv (Passover), it appears that English translators do not seem to distinguish between the cardinal number, as opposed to the ordinal number in discussing Passover. 

 

Going on from there, it would seem possible that both Samson Hirsch and Dennis Bitterman could be correct.  Maybe, on the ninth day of Ethanim, in the late afternoon and just before sunset and the commencement of the tenth day (which is elsewhere identified as the Day of Atonement), the believer should go through a process of self evaluation in connection with the commencement of Yom Kippur. 

 

In terms of the disagreement with the elder who chose to hang onto Leviticus 23:32 to say that references to day 14 or the 14th day of Aviv also meant an ending of the day, the essence here is that the Hebrew word for “ninth” obviously was used in the sense of the ending of the ninth and not the starting of it; while normally, the references would be to the starting of a day and/or both the starting and ending of a day. 

 

Thus, here is just one more presentation which makes Passover be the totality of the 14th day of Aviv.  Combine this factor with previous remarks on the meaning of the “between the evenings” phrase and it is clear that the Jews, the proud elder in question and a number of other so-called believers have got the wrong slant on truth, when trying to say that Passover falls on the 15th. 

 

 

Until (the Hebrew Ad)

 

There is one more key point which needs mention in Exodus 12:6 and one which is especially germane to the Passover subject.  The above cited Dennis Bitterman also teaches the relevance of the word “until” in the KJV (ad in the Hebrew).  Of course, it takes no genius to figure out at once that the word until means the start of the 14th day and not 21 hours later or at the conclusion of the day (as it approaches the 15th day). 

 

Manifestly, Exodus 12:6 says to keep the Passover lamb “until” the 14th day of Aviv and to kill it that day at evening.  “Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary” defines the Hebrew ad as “prep 1) as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as 1a) of space 1a1) as far as, up to, even to.”  For sure, this text suggests the slaying of the Passover at the start or early part of the 14th day.  There is no other way to interpret this text. 

 

 

One More Problem 

 

Before leaving this theme, one more point needs mentioning.  Some feast observers recognize Aviv 14 as both the Passover day and the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread.  This view has it that the spring festival has solely seven days in it--from Aviv 14 to Aviv 20.  Besides the fact that this belief will not hold up to the harmony in the several Scriptures on the issue (as clarified in Lev 23:5-8), there are other problems. 

 

Proponents of this idea will not turn loose of the theory that the spring festival is the Passover only and with seven days--sometimes quoting Num 9:11 and 10:11 to try to prove that the second Passover had seven days in it (but as Lev 23 illustrates, the spring festivals involve a one-day Passover and a seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread--yes, one and seven, just as the last feasts have seven and one.  Thus, Num 10:11 has nothing to do with Num 9:11.  Similarly, Tabernacles and living in booths are always referred to in the Word as involving seven days and never as eight days).  

 

Next, in the 41st year of the Exodus, when Yisrael entered the promise land, the sequence of events was the Passover (Aviv 14), next Aviv 15, and then Aviv 16, which was manifestly the day of the Wave Sheaf offering (Josh 5:10-12, as will be further addressed in a later chapter on the festivals).  Per Leviticus 23:14-15, the day preceding the Wave Sheaf was a Sabbath day--which has to be Aviv 15. 

 

Thirdly, the chronology of the death of YESHUA in 30 CE demands that He died on Passover day on Aviv 14 and that the next day, Aviv 15, was the high Sabbath when His disciples did rest, in accordance with the commandment (Mk 16:1; Lu 23:54-56, as was explained in a former chapter herein). 

 

 

The Exodus Chronology 

 

Finally, much of the day to day chronology of Exodus clearly lays out what happened for the first three months of the first year of the Exodus and establishes the general outline of the Scriptural calendar.  

 

To appreciate this chronology, one must allow that the months then possibly involved 30 days each and not the 29 1/2 days now known to exist (although even in the present calendar situation, it is possible to have two 30-day months, back to back). 

 

The chronology of Genesis 6-8 suggests that the year evidently was of 360 days with 12 months of 30 days each.  The 30-day-month seems present during the Exodus, when considering the time period for mourning of the dead as a month (Deut 21:13) of 30 days (Num 20:29; Deut 34:8). 

 

One more foundational point seems relevant.  Apparently, the people under Moshe never traveled on the weekly Sabbath days.  They probably rested those days. 

 

Thus, the first day of the first month (Ex 12:2) seemingly occurred on a fourth day of the week (as will be established in comments to follow).  The Passover of Aviv 14 (Lev 23:5) probably happened on a third day of the week.  Aviv 15 came next, when the people started their movement out of Egypt during the night part of the 15th day (Ex 12:37-42; 13:3-4; Num 33:3; Deut 16:1). 

 

They marched three days to reach the point where they were to keep their anticipated festival (Ex 3:18; 5:3; 8:27; 10:9).  This means that they marched on Aviv 15, 16 and 17 and rested on Aviv 18, a Sabbath day (Ex 14:1-4). 

 

Exodus 14:5 notes that Pharaoh was notified of Yisrael’s arrival at Pi-hahiroth, which means freedom--since the Israelites received their freedom that day (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 409).  The “Chumash” adds that this event occurred when the Israelites reached their three days journey to keep their feast. 

 

Pharaoh’s army overtook the Israelites at Pi-hahiroth--evidently on Aviv 20, a second day of the week (Ex 14:9).  Clearly, they rested at Pi-hahiroth on Aviv 18-20.  On Aviv 21, the third day of the week, Yisrael crossed the sea; and the Egyptian army was destroyed as it tried to follow them (Ex 14:15-15:21). 

 

On Aviv 22, the Israelites resumed their journey for three days.  Probably, they wanted to rest after crossing the sea; but Moshe compelled them to continue moving, against their will (Ex 15:22, per the “Soncino Chumash,” p. 419).  So the Israelites continued moving on Aviv 22, 23 and 24 (Ex 15:22). 

 

They came to Marah where they obviously kept the Seventh day Sabbath, rested and murmured (Ex 15:22-27).  The “Chumash” (p. 421) suggests that at Marah YHWH gave the Israelites the statutes respecting the Sabbath.  This surely occurred on the Sabbath of Aviv 25. 

 

It is not clear how long that they stayed at Marah, but they eventually moved on to Elim where they may have stayed a couple of weeks or so (Ex 15:27).  They then resumed their journey and came to the Wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month (Ex 16:1-30).  The 15th day of the second month (Ex 16:1) would have had to occur on the sixth day of the week (before sunset). 

 

The next day, Ziw 16, they were on their Sabbath rest--during which time, they again murmured.  YHWH then gave them quail after sunset on the first day of the week (Ex 16:13, at even, means of that day [at the end of the Sabbath]-- ”Soncino Chumash,” p. 525).  The next morning, on the first day of the week, the seven-day count of the manna commenced. 

 

Going on to Sinai, the Hebrew text of Exodus 19:1-2 indicates that they arrived on the first day of the third month (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 451); and by the already established calendar, a first day of the week (the Israelites certainly did not travel on the preceding Sabbath day). 

 

Four days after the first day of the week takes one to the fifth day of the week (per the Exodus 19:3-11 daily count), the law was then given on Siwan 5, a fifth day of the week (Ex 19:12-25). 

 

Since the giving of the law formed the basis for the later observance of Shavuot, this very event spells out the certainty that the day for the Wave Sheaf (Aviv 16) would also have fallen on a fifth day of the week (in order to allow the count of seven weeks or fifty days). 

 

If the date for the Wave Sheaf was set on Aviv 16 (as happened, in the year of the Exodus), it places the high Sabbath the day before, or Aviv 15.  Of course, Aviv 15 would be a high Sabbath to celebrate the actual commencement of the movement out of Egypt (which happened on Aviv 15).  This event would suggest a feast day of celebration (Ex 12:42). 

 

Not only does this chronology help clarify the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread as being Aviv 15, but it demands that the count to Shavuot start with Aviv 16 (the subject of making the 50-day count to Pentecost will be covered in detail in a later chapter herein). 

 

The above chronology is predicated upon 30-day months for Aviv and Ziw.  This defines Aviv one as occurring on the fourth day of the week.  If by chance, one month was 29 days while the other was 30 days (which seems impossible, per the Scriptural chronology), it would allow Shavuot on Siwan 6, a 6th day of the week--which is the traditional view of Judaism (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 454). 

 

 

Qumran, Revisited 

 

Before moving on, it should be noted that the Qumran people evidently had the Passover-Unleavened Bread chronology in the right perspective.  They had problems, but this was not one of them. 

 

Despite some calendar difficulties (to be noted in the later chapters), the Essenes seem to have correctly observed Passover at twilight on “their” Aviv 14 and then kept a separate seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread, starting on “their” Aviv 15--with Aviv 15 as the High Sabbath (“The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation,” p. 463). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 220--The Scriptural Calendar I

 

 

The Scriptural Luni-Solar Calendar 

 

The validity of a luni-solar calendar is well established in the Book.  Genesis 1:14-16 opens with a statement that both the sun and moon lights were made to observe the Scriptural feasts (Hebrew moed) and establish years (shanah in Hebrew). 

 

Here, seasons in the KJV is a mistranslation of the Hebrew “moed” which means a “set feast” (referring to the annual feast days of the Word in Leviticus 23).  Psalms 104:19 follows up with a charge that it is the moon which was appointed for seasons (Hebrew moed). 

 

Solar calendars ignore the use of the moon and its cycle in the determination of Scriptural festivals and calendar events.  Consequently, Genesis 1:14-16 and Psalms 104:19 demand the use of both the sun and moon to establish set feasts (hence, a luni-solar calendar).  There is no alternative on this conclusion. 

 

The 430-day witness of Yechezkel (Ezek 1:1-2; 3:15; 3:24-4:8; 8:1), if true, proves the periodic use of an intercalcary year of 13 months (noted earlier).  Yechezkel’s trial started around the 12th-17th day of the fourth moon of the fifth year of Yehoyakhin’s captivity.  It ended before or by the fifth day of the sixth moon of the sixth year--thus covering the believed 430 days.  Clearly, this reference suggests an intercalcary year in a luni-solar calendar. 

 

This writer has a friend who follows an unscriptural solar calendar.  He refuses to accept the Scriptural luni-solar calendar because he says that he cannot find the word intercalcary or a definition of it in his “Bible.”  This man refuses to consider the merits of Yechezkel’s’ time of trial over 430 days; which, on the surface, has to have materialized in a luni-solar year of thirteen moon-months. 

 

Since this man is so obsessed with trying to find a particular English word and a precise definition of it in the Scriptures, one must pause and wonder how in the world can this man can go on to accept a solar calendar of 365 or 366 days when his “Bible” doesn’t have the words solar year or a definition therein of a solar year.  Is this being hypocritical or what? 

 

Finally, the solar calendar followed by most of these calendar deviants is predicated upon the first day of the month and first day of the year falling on or near the spring equinox. 

 

In such a calendar, it makes Aviv 14 fall around April 2d.  In 30 CE (the year of YESHUA’s death), April 2d was on a first day of the week in the Julian-Gregory calendar (“The Official Associated Press Almanac 1974,” no 1, p. 288).  Clearly, this won’t mesh with the NT realties of His death and resurrection (as cited earlier). 

 

 

The New Moon 

 

Psalms 81:3 clarifies the start of the new moon with the establishment of Yom Teruah (the feast of the first day of the seventh moon, the Day of Trumpets) at the “time appointed” which in Hebrew is “kasah,” meaning to cover or conceal.  The new moon is totally covered and concealed precisely at the astronomical new moon. 

 

While few students of truth realize it, but the astronomical new moon is a totally observable phenomenon.  Using a sextant, compass and similar devices, it is even possible to focus upon the fading old moon and to determine and accurately predict when the next astronomical new moon will occur (aside from the fact that astronomers have been calculating and publishing astronomical signs in almanacs for ages). 

 

Samson Raphael Hirsch’s “Commentary on the Psalms” (v. II, p. 85) gives this Psalms 81:3 text (in the Hebrew Tanakh for Ps 81:4) as “But blow the Shofar at the New Moon, on the day of the veiling of the moon for the day of our festival.”  Manifestly, Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets) is a day for the blowing of the trumpet--the Shofar. 

 

Besides the astronomical new moon belief, there is a contrary argument on the start of the new moon from some students of the Word. 

 

Some savants contend that there are historical records suggesting that the Second Temple Jewish authorities did not use a calculated calendar, but actually looked for the new moon each month in the form of the first visible crescent which comes after the astronomical new moon by 14 to 72 hours, depending upon several variables--like visibility and the position of the moon in conjunction.   

 

In “Biblical Astronomy and the Calendar” (p. 25-41), writer Harold Hemenway quotes “Encyclopedia Britannica” and other authorities to try to prove that the new moon looked for and used was the first visible sign of the crescent.  And while some of his comments make sense, the better view is that new moon probably means the astronomical new moon--for reasons cited above. 

 

While there is some logic and possible authority to slip or delay the start of the new moon until the following night (dark hours), when the astronomical new moon condition occurs during daylight hours (as will be briefly described in later remarks on Jewish methods of slippage), this practice may not automatically justify any other delays--apart from Scriptural authorizations. 

 

If there ever was a year which was really complicated on this issue, it was the year 2000 (which will be assessed in detail in later comments) since the astronomical new moon occurred around March 6th-7th which is just marginal for the start of a new year. 

 

If this start date is too late, it shifts not only the new moon, but the new year a month later to April.  If the crescent was looked for in 2000, it was visible around Mar 8th or 9th--which some people would have accepted as a more plausible date for the new moon starting the new year. 

 

 

Moon Month 

 

There are two Hebrew words translated as month in the Tanakh.  They are chodesh and yerach.  Yerach is a derivative of the Hebrew yareach, which means moon (“Young’s Analytical Concordance,” p. 667).  In the KJV, yareach is commonly translated as moon while yerach appears as either moon or month.  Specific months like Ziw, Bul and Ethanim are expressly identified as yerach (I Kg 6:37-38; 8:2). 

 

Chodesh is another word which has caused some confusion since it has been translated as month or new moon.  The terms chodesh and yerach are often apparent synonyms which are used interchangeably in the Word. 

 

For instance, in I Kings 6:1, the month Ziw and the second month are from chodesh while the next reference to the month Ziw, in I Kings 6:37, comes from yerach (“Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the OT,” p. 404, 565). 

 

Another duel situation occurs in I Kings 6:38 where the month Bul comes from yerach while the same eighth month comes from chodesh.  In I Kings 8:2, the seventh month (chodesh) is identified as the month (yerach) of Ethanim.  So, what’s the difference? 

 

As noted above, yerach/yareach clearly links to the moon.  In historic times, the word month was always derived from moon, apparently in all early civilizations (although it was to change in time in Egypt with her adoption of the sun worship, solar calendar). 

 

The word chodesh is more complicated.  The “Theological Wordbook of the OT” (p. 266) says it properly means new moon.  Chodesh is from chadash which “Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon” (p. 263) gives as a meaning “to polish a sword...its primary sense is newness as that of cutting or polishing.” 

 

Obviously, the renewal cycle of the illumination of each sequential and cyclic new moon offers in time “moon light” which appears as a newly polished sword that glistens in the sun light.  Some scholars have suggested that yerach is the older term, which in later Scriptural years was slowly changed to chodesh. 

 

This writer believes that both words are not precisely the same, although they are very close together and can sometimes be used interchangeably. 

 

Based upon the idea that light shines from a newly polished sword, some scholars believe that the first visible crescent must be seen to represent the chodesh state.  But does the beginning of the faint crescent really look like a sword or does such a sword image materialize still a few days later? 

 

While chodesh is often translated as new moon and can be so used, it appears that the word has a broader meaning to cover the entire periodic and cyclic renewal of the moon’s illumination orbit which makes it very close to yerach (as found in the above numbered examples from I Kings). 

 

Therefore, chodesh is not just the first visible crescent of the new moon.  It is a larger, broader definition to cover the complete cycle of moonlight shining like a sword. 

 

 

The Full Moon on the 15th 

 

Though the kasah new moon is assuredly dark, it is interesting that the moon occurring on the 15th day of each month is a full moon which is demanded for the first day of unleavened bread on Aviv 15 since Yisrael left Egypt at night (Deut 16:1) in the full sight of the Egyptians (Num 33:3).  Consequently, they were fully visible with the full moon. 

 

This is a good point worth remembering.  The full moon of the typical month comes on the 15th day of that moon/month by counting with the astronomical new moon as the first day.  By waiting for the first visible crescent (which can be from 14 to 72 hours later), the fifteenth of the moon/month will often fail to occur on a full moon. 

 

There is another reality which frequently dictates the start of the month with the astronomical new moon.  Of course, it is this need for the 15th day of Aviv and Ethanim to be a full moon which also becomes a governing factor on the start of these months.  Consequently, the seven-day Feasts of Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles end with only one quarter (of the moon) remaining (the end of the 21st day of the months). 

 

The 15th day of the seventh month in the Scriptural luni-solar calendar is also fascinating for still one more reason. 

 

The full moons nearest the spring and fall equinoxes literally cover the nights (that is that they come up just about the time of sunset and stay up all night until sunrise).  It is only these two times during the year when the full moon rises at sunset and stays up all night to depart at sunrise.  At all other times, the moon cycle at night does not always correspond exactly with the period of darkness. 

 

Of these two times, it actually turns out that it is only the full moon of the 15th day of the seventh month which will always cover (kasah) the night with moon light with some regularity and certainty.  Clearly, this is another implication of Psalms 81:3. 

 

The same thing can sometimes be said for the full moon of Aviv 15th, but not always.  The difference is that the full moon nearest the spring equinox is not always Aviv 15--since part of the time it is the full moon of the last month of the preceding year.  This condition arises because the Aviv full moon must be the first full moon after the spring equinox. 

 

Thus, if the Adar full moon falls a day or so just before the equinox, it will be the one which covers the night and not the later Aviv full moon. 

 

Consequently, Aviv 15 is simply not always the full moon nearest the spring equinox (when the preceding full moon of the last month of the old year becomes the one nearest the spring equinox).  In such cases, the Aviv 15th full moon can be so far away in time from the equinox that its cycle does not cover the night as the phenomenon suggests. 

 

However, the issue in Psalms 81:3 is the festivals of the seventh month.  In this case, the full moon of Ethanim 15 should always be the kasah full moon which covers the night. 

 

 

Therefore 

 

The importance of Psalms 81:3 (dictating that the dark part of Ethanim 15 falls on a full moon) combines with the reality that the dark part of Aviv 15 also should be a full moon to suggest that indeed the start of each moon should be established by the timing of the full moon.  Thus, the 15th day of a given month should provide for a full moon during its dark portion. 

 

Interestingly, the Church of Israel in Schell City, MO seems to calculate the beginnings of its calendar months by the full moon on the 15th.  Since the full moon must be the 15th, it is simple to count back 14 days and determine the first day of that month.  Normally, this process works out correctly to establish the month’s first day.  But there can be rare times when a problem does surface. 

 

If a month’s cycle is indeed near 29 1/2 days, this count back from the full moons will usually work out fine.  But the problem comes up if the moon’s cycle is substantially greater or lesser than 29 1/2 days.  If the cycle is 31 days (as can happen), it means that the first day of the month will not fall on the astronomical new moon, but a day or so later (perhaps with the visible crescent).  This probably is a correct determination. 

 

But the real problem surfaces when a moon’s cycle is 28 or 29 days which may theoretically produce the start of the month a day earlier than the astronomical new moon.  Is it then correct to start the new month before the astronomical new moon?  At this point in time, this writer is reluctant to start a new month before the astronomical new moon. 

 

Ideally, the new month should start with the astronomical new moon.  If the start date slips a day or so after the astronomical new moon, this writer does not necessarily reject that date.  But a start before the astronomical new moon has to be put into the questionable category.  Certainly, much prayer would be needed in those cases. 

 

 

The New Year 

 

The first month in the new year is Aviv (Ex 13:4).  The word Aviv means “sprouting, budding,” per Young’s “Analytical Concordance” (p. 3).  The spring sprouting and budding of vegetation is demonstrated from the Word in saying that the barley was in the ear and the flax was bolled at that time (Ex 9:31-32). 

 

As Mark 4:28 suggests, this barley in the ear stage comes just before the full, mature grain is in the head for harvesting (see the “Complete Jewish Bible” for a good translation of this text).  Logically, this is the beginning of the green ear state, which will be shortly assessed. 

 

Since the festivals of the month of Aviv are closely linked to the spring harvest event (the barley harvest starts with Aviv 16), the historic Jewish position is that these occasions must fall no earlier than the spring equinox of Mar 19-22.  If these feasts start earlier, they would be winter feasts and not spring festivals, as is demanded (“Biblical Astronomy and the Calendar,” p. 48). 

 

The May-Jun 2002 “Prophecy Flash” (p. 71) had a reader’s letter which quoted Josephus as saying that the Passover had to take place in the zodiac sign of Aries (which is approximately March 21st to April 19th, depending upon exactly which day the equinox occurs, per the current Julian-Gregory solar calendar, “The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 942). 

 

Apparently, this was the Jewish position for the full moon of Aviv 15, which the Jews celebrated as the Passover.  With the first full moon appearing on or after the spring equinox, one can conclude that the new year should essentially start with the new moon nearest the spring equinox (which is a practical general rule to usually follow on establishing the new year). 

 

 

Green Ears 

 

An article by Alan Mansager, on “Equinox or Barley,” in the Jun 1999 “Search the Scriptures” (p. 3-5), makes the case that the harvest starts with green ears because the word parched in Leviticus 23:14 rules out barley that is too dry, ripe or yellow. 

 

Leviticus 23:14 does rule out eating (making bread) of the new year’s barley, if it is “parched.”  But it also lays on a restriction on barley that is still too green, as well.  Hence, this text is stipulating a precise point of ripeness where the first grain (to be cut) is beyond the first green state (when it first comes into the ear), but still not overly ripe and dry. 

 

The “Jewish Chumash” (p. 400) is very specific for the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 13:4 (coming a few days later than Ex 9:31-32) by noting that Abib-Aviv means ripening of the harvest or first ripening or being fitted (for harvesting).  Probably, barley ripens throughout Israel for the whole month.  Thus, the month of Aviv is the month of the ripening of the barley harvest in Israel. 

 

It makes sense that the beginning of the harvest would start with the first ripening of the barley.  Since the barley harvest must start on Aviv 16, discussed above and briefly cited in a prior chapter, the first portion of the barley harvest (not necessarily all of it) would have to be sufficiently ripe to be harvested, starting on that day. 

 

As Mansager’s article points out, there is only about a two weeks delay from the time that the barley reaches the initial green ears (perhaps this is when the barley is first in the ear) and the time that it yellows to ripe ears.  This means that the barley must be in the ear and green around Aviv 1. 

 

Thus, it would seem that the green ear state must be reached in early Aviv to allow the barley to be sufficiently ripened to permit harvesting, starting on Aviv 16 (obviously, at a point of not being too green or too ripe).  Hence, Leviticus 23:14 is really specifying a precise place in time for the starting of the harvest. 

 

Mansager also makes a good point by noting that the historic sun worship cults established their spring Easter celebrations based upon the vernal equinox.  This same reality is what one finds in Christendom which establishes her pagan Easter observance on the basis of the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. 

 

 

The Barley is the Key 

 

So while the day equal night phenomenon is generally indicative of Aviv, the ultimate key is in the status of the barley (which is crucial).  The barley harvest is the beginning of the grain harvests worldwide in the Northern Hemisphere and is perhaps one of the most important signs of spring.  Barley is in the ear and beginning to ripen in the early spring in the Middle East (late March and early April). 

 

In Yisrael, it matures first in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea (North to Jericho) to provide the first cuttings of the year for the Wave Sheaf Offering.  As Leviticus 23:14 demands, that first cutting in the lower Jordan Valley must be beyond just the green stage and not yet at the parched state of ripening. 

 

However, there seems to be some possibility that there can be some variation on when the barley reaches this acceptable stage of development for the harvest to start. 

 

This condition was brought out in the above quoted reader’s letter in the May-Jun 2002 “Prophecy Flash” (p. 71) which noted that Alfred Edersheim (“The Temple Its Ministry and Services,” p. 204) said that the Sanhedrin planted the barley seventy days before Passover (so it would be ripe at the proper time). 

 

On this quote, Edersheim also noted that the ground was ploughed in the autumn (before the autumn rains came on or about Oct 15th) and then the barley was sown later, seventy days before Passover.  Obviously, in this context, the Sanhedrin was working with a known/determinable calendar which must have still allowed some possibility for variation on the planting date, depending upon weather/climate factors. 

 

 

Other Festivals Affected Also 

 

Not only must the Scriptural new year start correctly to allow the spring barley harvest, but there are also issues over the other two harvests as well.  The Shavuot festival involves an offering from the first or start of the late spring, wheat harvest (Ex 23:16; 34:22).  Though wheat is sown at the same time as barley, it ripens about two months later (“Encyclopaedia Judaica,” v. 16, p. 480). 

 

Manifestly, Sukkot must come at the end of the harvest year or cycle (Ex 34:22), and after gathering in from the threshing-floor and the winepress (Deut 16:13, per “The Soncino Edition of the Pentateuch and the Haftorahs,” p. 817).  A number of other texts also make it clear that Sukkot must “follow” the conclusion of the great summer harvest of grain and fruit (Ex 23:16; Lev 23:39). 

 

There is a tendency among some believers (including this writer on occasion) to call the final yearly harvest the fall harvest.  This is not technically correct because the final harvest of the fruit is Scripturally defined as the summer harvest.  Jeremiah 8:20 notes a linkage between the passing of summer and the end of the harvest.  Clearly, this summer harvest should be (totally or generally) completed before the fall equinox. 

 

Possibly, it is this reality which has prompted the Jews to take a general position that the full moon of Sukkot must come after the fall equinox (“Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period,” p. 613).  However, even the current calculated Jewish calendar does not abide by this restriction because Yom Teruah can come anytime from Sep 4th on (in 1614, Yom Teruah did fall on Sep 4th, per the Jewish calendar). 

 

To have Sukkot this early (Sep 18th), it means that the new year had to have started around March 9th (which seems to be about the earliest apparent date that the Jewish calculated calendar allows for Aviv 1 (per the current Julian-Gregory solar calendar). 

 

Obviously, the determination of the first month of the new year will affect not only Passover, but the other harvest festivals as well.  Care must be exercised in this determination.  This situation could have been one of the reasons that YESHUA had in mind in saying that the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moshe’s seat.  Someone must have the authority to determine this complex point in time. 

 

While the condition of the barley harvest (which is often predicated upon its sowing date) and the implied timing for the other harvests (as well, to a lesser extent) seem to be the crucial overriding principles in establishing the new year, there can be problems even here because all believers do not live in Israel or may not have access to information on the condition of the harvests and weather/climate in a particular year. 

 

Manifestly, if a believer cannot ascertain the status of particularly the barley (and the other harvests, based upon empirical knowledge) in a given year, the astronomical signs of the new moon nearest the spring equinox must logically apply.  However, the believer must use his head on this issue. 

 

 

More on the New Year 

 

As noted above, the year is Scripturally prescribed in Genesis 1:14-16 where the word year comes from the Hebrew “shanah,” meaning a repetition, the course of the sun or of the seasons--spring, harvest and winter.  The year’s end is identified in the Hebrew word “tekufah” (or koophah), meaning a revolution or circuit (“Young’s,” p. 298). 

 

This Hebrew tekufah is translated “end,” as in year’s end at Exodus 34:22.  It also appears at I Samuel 1:20, II Chronicles 24:23 and Psalms 19:6 (“Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance,” p. 1356).  “Encyclopaedia Judaica” (v. 5, p. 46-47) indicates that it correctly means the seasons, referring to the circuit around the sun, starting from the spring equinox (Mar 19-22) to the next spring equinox (Mar 19-22). 

 

Exodus 34:22 suggests that the festivals have to occur once a year in this circuit or cycle.  Obviously, if the festivals actually started before the spring equinox, then it could create a condition where some festivals could be observed twice in one year (one circuit around the sun) and/or not at all in another year. 

 

The conclusion is clear.  The actual year must provide for one observance (and no more) of each of the festivals in one circuit around the sun.  This fact alone demands the intercalcary process and the starting of the actual feasts on or following the spring equinox.  The first festival in this cycle is Passover, which occurs on Aviv 14, and the last one is the Last Great Day (Ethanim 22), to be covered in the next chapter. 

 

 

The Year’s End 

 

Thus, tekufah (or koophah) is used at Exodus 34:22 (and II Chronicles 24:23) to demonstrate the end of the year or completion of the sun’s circuit (around the heavens).  Tekufah is also used elsewhere to seemingly communicate the revolution of days in a year. 

 

The way Exodus 34:22 is worded (in the KJV) might make a reader suppose that tekufah or koophah comes “at” the festival of Sukkot since that time is the Scriptural end of the agricultural year (and this reasoning could well be correct).  Many Jewish commentators make the point that Sukkot must come at (or just after) the “turn of the year” (in reference to the fall equinox). 

 

While this usage in Exodus suggests that tekufah falls exactly at the end of the agricultural year (at a precise moment in time--at the autumnal equinox), the case can be made that it runs from one spring equinox and barley in the ear to the next spring equinox and the next occurrence of barley in the ear in the Middle East (as will be described in the following chapter). 

 

Manifestly, the new year starts with the month of Aviv in the spring, “near” the spring equinox phenomenon.  There seems to be no alternative on this issue. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 221--The Scriptural Calendar II

 

 

EAOY, Revisited 

 

The Nov/Dec 2001 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 2) addressed the question of starting the new year and added that the new year must start early enough to allow Passover to occur by the spring equinox and in order for Sukkot to arrive at the year’s end (or at the turn of the agricultural year, at the fall equinox when the law was to be read during Sukkot, and at the end of seven years--Deut 31:10-13). 

 

In a follow-up mode, the Jul/Aug 2002 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 3-12) was very clear in building a case that tekufah in Exodus 34:22 means year’s end at the autumnal equinox.  To support this view, EAOY offered a slightly different interpretation on some of the words and ideas associated with the seventh month’s ending feasts. 

 

In Exodus 23:16 and 34:22, the fall festival is described as the Feast of Ingathering (the Hebrew “asiph,” per Young’s “Analytical Concordance,” p. 514), in reference to the summer harvest.  Yet, other references (like Lev 23:34 and Deut 16:13) seem to refer to the harvest feast as the feast of tabernacles (the Hebrew sukkot [ibid, p. 105, 953], which actually means a booth). 

 

The Jews and virtually all Messianic believers who observe the festivals accept the idea that the Feast of Ingathering and Tabernacles are one and the same. 

 

However, the Jul/Aug 2002 “EAOY Newsletter” distinguishes between these two references and says that Ingathering is actually the “Last Great Day” (the so-called eighth day which is also cited in John 7:37).  The Jews observe this eighth day as Shemini Atseret.  The Talmud says that this eighth day is actually a separate festival (B. Suk. 47b-48a, as cited in “A guide to Jewish Religious Practice,” p. 169). 

 

Interestingly enough, the Talmud is correct here because the mitzwah to dwell in booths is always for seven days only and not eight days (Lev 23:42). 

 

So we correctly have the seven-day Feast of Booths and then a separate one day festival called Shemini Atseret (or the Last Great Day)--making a total of eight days (seven and one), which compare with the spring feasts of one day (Passover) and seven days (the Feast of Unleavened Bread). 

 

 

More From EAOY 

 

EAOY makes the case that it is this Last Great Day which marks the end of the year (while EAOY usually cites this end in the vein of the end of the agricultural year, EAOY also makes it clear that it is the end of the harvest year that started in the spring with Passover and the Wave Sheaf Offering)--by saying that “the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15, ed) will always be after the vernal equinox (beginning the harvest year) and the Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles will always be after the autumnal equinox (tekufah) ending the crop harvest season.” 

 

In this statement, there is an obvious implication (though not actually stated as such by EAOY) that the seven days feast of tabernacles (or booths) could conceivably fall before the autumnal equinox--as long as the Last Great Day occurs on or after the autumnal equinox. 

 

Of course, EAOY could be correct in attributing Ingathering strictly to the Last Great Day (Shemini Atseret). 

 

But regardless, it may not directly impact upon the present discussion on the calendar, per se.  In other words, interpreting the feast only with Booths or only with Shemini Atseret will not alter the likelihood that EAOY is correct in charging that the last festival day in the cycle must end on or after the autumnal equinox. 

 

Undoubtedly, EAOY is correct on its statement of starting the harvest season and the annual festivals with the spring equinox and ending them both with the autumnal equinox.  Since months have to be observed on the basis of the moon’s cycle, the harvest and feasts do not always start or end precisely on the two equinoxes.  But the point is that they will always start and end on or just “after” the equinoxes. 

 

In another matter, some feast day keepers have recently made the case that the new year starts with the first new moon following the spring equinox and others argue that the festivals have to be in the so-called spring and fall seasons (both of these options will be discussed at some length in the following chapter). 

 

As the Nov/Dec 2001 “EAOY Newsletter” notes, (p. 2) these reasonings will not allow Sukkot to fall properly near the fall equinox (at the agricultural year’s end).  The Jul/Aug 2002 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 5) says that the shifting of a moon before or after the tekufah is not paying attention to all Scripture and doing what is right in one’s eyes. 

 

 

Other Views 

 

In another view on this subject, Harold Hemenway makes the point that the Hebrew tekufah in Exodus 34:22 really says “after” and not “at” (“Biblical Astronomy and the Calendar,” p. 44)  So the case can be made that year’s end comes “after” Sukkot and/or the autumnal equinox (actually some months after at the next spring equinox). 

 

The technical vernal equinox occurs at about March 19th-22nd--when the sun crosses the celestial equator, causing the day to equal the night at that point (Funk & Wagnalls’ “Standard Desk Dictionary,” p. 214).  Most often, the equinox occurs on March 21st.  But its Julian-Gregory date depends much upon how leap years are handled (with February having 29 days). 

 

In some rare situations, the equinox can slightly vary from March 21st (as it did, by the way, in the year 2000, as will be assessed in subsequent remarks).  Therefore, it can come as early as March 20th and possibly even March 19th.  Presumably, March 22nd is another rare possibility. 

 

Conversely, the observable astronomical sign of the new year (day equal night phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere) can occur from a few hours up to a day or two later from the technical vernal equinox.  Certainly, “day equal night” is the sign in the Jerusalem area where the festivals were Scripturally first commanded and kept on a recurring basis. 

 

The same is true in Northern Egypt (where the issue of Passover first surfaced) and in the Euphrates Valley in Iraq (which was the likely site of creation and probably is the place where the new day, new week, new month and new year should start).  Actually, the areas of Egypt, Palestine and Iraq are very close together and produce almost the same calendar conclusions.  Thus, there really is no reason to argue the differences. 

 

So--although the technical vernal equinox occurs around March 19-22, the effective day equal night in the lands of Scriptural Yisrael (and even of the modern House of Yisrael nations) in the Northern Hemisphere does not always occur until about March 20-23. 

 

Obviously, the visible sign (watched for and observed) has to be day equal night (in the Middle East), which is usually March 20th to the 23rd.  The exact solar day (per the Julian-Gregory calendar) when this event occurs, depends, of course, on exactly when the vernal equinox occurs (at the equator). 

 

 

Creation Calendar 

 

Since the sun and moon were created (or reconfigured) on the fourth day of the week (Gen 1:14-19) and since the moon merely reflects sun light, the sun would have had to be in orbit and shining on the daylight portion of the fourth day of (re)creation week at the Euphrates (or Jerusalem). 

 

Hence, the (correctly invisible) astronomical new moon would not have occurred until the dark portion of the succeeding fifth day of the week.  An explanation of how this came about will now be outlined. 

 

By concluding that the day equal night “sign” was the sign of the sun (required in Genesis 1:14) for the festivals, it seems factual that the day equal night phenomenon had to have occurred during the time of the recreation week of Genesis 1. 

 

Strangely enough, there is one primary remark suggesting the spring vernal equinox in this first chapter of Genesis.  It occurs in Genesis 1:4-5 when The ELOHIM seemingly established the sun to provide light on an orbiting earth.  The MOST HIGH “divided” the rotating earth into two parts--day and night. 

 

The implication in this “division” is that YHWH divided the day and night into equal parts.  Precise equal parts must come at the spring or fall equinoxes.  Since spring is the time for the regeneration of life, the event had to be the vernal equinox.  This event concludes the first day (apparently of 24 hours as man now calculates time). 

 

On the second day, The HIGHEST divided the waters and established the atmospheric heaven to exist between the waters in orbit around the earth and those on the earth (Gen 1:6-8, which is discussed in other chapters herein).  The next day, the third day, He apportioned the water on earth into seas and brought forth dry land and ultimately vegetation on that land (Gen 1:9-13). 

 

 

The Sun and Moon 

 

Now, the real revelation about the calendar and festivals occurs in Genesis 1:14-19 on the fourth day of creation week.  For the first time in the narrative, the moon appears.  Thereupon, The ELOHIM designates the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night.  He then went on to establish the fact that these two lights would determine His festivals or set apart times (in the word seasons [the Hebrew “moed”] of Gen 1:14). 

 

What this amounts to is that while the sun is important in regulating the festivals, the moon assumes center stage in establishing the times for those festivals.  Thus, the sun lays out the general times of the year for those festivals, but it is the moon which precisely dates them (this fact is brought out in Exodus 12 and later remarks which define the Scriptural calendar, as discussed elsewhere herein).  

 

The context and wording of Genesis 1:14 also would allow that this fourth day was just after the vernal equinox and perhaps near the day equal night event in the Northern hemisphere.  However, the fact is that the sun and its precise division at the equinox seems to have already been established in Genesis 1:4; thus, discounting such an event in Genesis 1:14.  

 

Therefore, it is possible that the sun and moon remarks in Genesis 1:14 do not address the equinox in that time frame, but in a general concept of future time periods when the sun and the moon would rule over the day and night.  Truly, the focus in Geneses 1:14 is upon the relationship of the sun and moon ruling the day and night. 

 

Obviously, this relationship is continuous all year long and not just at the vernal equinox.  So correctly, the division of sun (ruling the day) and moon (ruling the night) was not precisely equal (in the sense of the vernal equinox) on the fourth day of creation week, nor were they precisely equal in time during the coming months until the later fall equinox. 

 

If the vernal equinox occurred on the first day of that creation week, it stands to reason that the day equal night phenomenon in the Northern hemisphere occurred within a day or so later (in the Middle East near the Euphrates or at Jerusalem).  Probably, day equal night was already past by the fourth day of the week in Genesis 1:14. 

 

Because the status of the moon is only determinable in relation to the sun, it is very likely that this first astronomical new moon occurred during daylight hours (as cited above).  Of course, as demonstrated elsewhere herein, the daylight hours occurrence kicks the visible astronomical condition of new moon (of no light) to that night (which automatically takes one to the fifth day of the week). 

 

 

The First Aviv One 

 

The first day of that first moon or monthly cycle (starting at sunset and occurring on the fifth day of the week) would have possibly been the night of March 24th-25th (per the present Julian-Gregory calendar), on the premise that the vernal equinox occurred around March 20th. 

 

Anyway, the gist of these remarks is that based upon the Genesis account, it would be very plausible to date the first day (with the new moon) of the new year at creation to March 25th.  In that sense, it is possible that the later Israelite settlers of Britain correlated this information when the Julian calendar was imposed upon them.  Maybe, that is the reason that they arbitrarily chose to start their new year on March 25th. 

 

Of course, they ignored and passed up the tremendously important reality of the moon and the moon’s cycle to establish both the yearly calendar and the festivals.  But at least, they were close to the Julian-Gregory solar calendar aspects of Genesis 1. 

 

 

The 14th Day of Aviv 

 

Furthermore, this sequence of events in Genesis 1 would have allowed the 14th day of Aviv to occur on a fourth day of the week, which is significant for another reason to follow. 

 

As established earlier, from the Scriptures, it is also possible to determine the calendar in general at the time of the Exodus (from the chronology of the book of Exodus) and during the final days of the life of The MESSIAH in 30 CE (from the three days and three nights phenomenon of Matthew 12:38-40). 

 

At the death of YESHUA, the same general calendar outline seems to have  prevailed as in Genesis 1.  Aviv 14 fell on the fourth day of the week and the new year apparently started on the fifth day of the week, just after the spring equinox, as it now seems possible to date (as outlined in a former chapter on the Sign of YESHUA). 

 

Probably, Aviv 14 fell on the third day of the week at the time of the Exodus (as discussed earlier), but there is some possibility that the new year started about the time of the spring equinox (at least, it would have been logical at that important time). 

 

While not being able to precisely date the actual vernal equinox at YESHUA’s death or at the Exodus, the possibilities remain interesting.  Of course, such information could be theoretically calculable by astronomers, if the exact years can be ascertained. 

 

One significant problem on this theme is that the vernal equinox can appear from March 19 to March 22 (based on the Julian-Gregory calendar).  In the old days of just the Julian calendar, the variation was even more extreme.  The problem is that the current solar year is about 365 and 1/4 days which causes some flux or movement in the solar date for the vernal equinox. 

 

Thus, all of the Julian-Gregory dates for the vernal equinox have to be approached on an approximate basis since there can be some variation on dating the events. 

 

In this vein, this writer believes that the Aviv new moon for 30 CE (the year of the death of YESHUA) must be dated by the Julian calendar to around March 23d or 24th (as discussed earlier).  Could the vernal equinox have occurred around March 20th that year?  Or perhaps even March 18th, 19th, 21st or 22d cannot be ruled out since the calendar involved was the Julian calendar and not the Julian-Gregory calendar. 

 

The point is that the astronomical conditions at the creation and at YESHUA’s death were very close together.  As a minimum, they both had a new moon and a first day of the new year falling on the fifth day of the week, and apparently following the vernal equinox by two to five days.  The year of the Exodus could have been similar on the equinox, though the new moon probably is dated to the fourth day of the week. 

 

Again, as pointed as before times, the fact that the first day of the weekly cycle started first, earlier and independently of the creation or revelation of the sun and moon in Genesis 1 and 2, proves that the first day of the week cannot be tied to a first day of a month or year.  The cycles are utterly different and cannot be forced together. 

 

 

Names of the Months 

 

While still in the discussion stages of this presentation on the calendar, it would be well to take a moment and relate the Scriptural names of the months to the Jewish use of names.  Actually, some of these names have already been cited in previous chapters, but this presentation will serve as a recap. 

 

It should be noted that the Scriptures do name most of the months, but not all thirteen of them.  Some of these names surfaced before the Jewish exile to Babylon while others were mentioned after the exile. 

 

Furthermore, it is important to note that during the exile, the Jews picked upon the names of the months as used by the Babylonians.  To this day, this Babylonian influence has persisted among almost all of the world’s Jews.  In any case, the Jewish names determined in Babylon will also be outlined herein for a comparison with the Scriptural statements.  These names of the months can be stated as follows:

 

                                                                                                                  Babylonian

         Number            Scriptural                  Scriptural                        Jewish

         of Month          Names                       Reference                       Names

                1                  Aviv                            Exodus 13:4                    Nisan

                2                  Ziw                              I Kings 6:1                       Iyar

                3                  Siwan                         Esther 8:9                        Siwan

                4                  none                           Jeremiah 52:6                 Tammuz

                5                  none                           Jeremiah 52:12              Av

                6                  Ellul                            Nehemiah 6:15              Ellul

                7                  Ethanim                     I Kings 8:2                       Tishrie

                8                  Bul                              I Kings 6:38                     Heshvan

                9                  Kislew                        Zechariah 7:1                 Kislew

               10                 Teveth                        Esther 2:16                      Teveth

               11                 Shevat                       Zechariah 1:7                 Shevat

               12                 Adar                            Esther 3:7                        Adar I

               13                 none                                                                     Adar II

 

It seems to be likely correct that a person can refer to the fourth, fifth and thirteenth months as the Fourth Month, Fifth Month and Thirteenth Month.  And conceivably, one could support a reference to the thirteenth month as Adar II. 

 

On the Jewish names, they were largely picked up by the Jews while in the Babylonian exile.  Some of them are Scriptural names (in that they are stated in the Scriptures), but some of them have no Scriptural basis at all and are totally pagan to the core (i.e., Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian deity). 

 

However, use of the Babylonian names otherwise seem definitely out, except as they have been used in the Scriptures.  Normally, this writer uses the Scriptural references as being proper. 

 

While this Jewish use of corrupted names for their calendar prevails to this day among religious Jews, it is clearly not YHWH’s way (since the words are unscriptural).  Therefore, these names should not be used (except for possibly Adar II, which might can be justified). 

 

There are other features of the Jewish calendar which are at odds with the Scriptural calendar.  These issues will be addressed and commented upon in a subsequent chapter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 222--Calendar Changes and Confusion

 

 

Other Disruptions 

 

While the outlined calendar manipulations, changes, confusion and problems, described in the former chapters, seem to be the most prevalent ones, they are certainly not the only ones.  As limited, little men can dream up and scheme methods of disrupting the Scriptural calendar, they do so. 

 

Actually, one of the classic changes initiated by the prevalent sun worship culture has been to start a new day at midnight, instead of the Scriptural sunset, as noted earlier.  This one, as ridiculous as it is, stuck because merchants, bankers and businesses generally liked all daylight hours bearing a common date for obvious profit reasons.  Money is always the name of the Christian game! 

 

Therefore, businesses can date transactions all the same during normal, working, daylight hours.  Since money is the name of the game, this calendar scheme stuck and became the mode of sun worshippers. 

 

Moreover, there is actually a movement under way by a limited number of people to try to claim that the new day starts with morning or sunrise and not sunset, as the Word dictates (at Lev 23:32).  This one would also be in serious conflict with what the Word outlines (as discussed in a prior chapter on the Gene Heck idea of the new day starting at noon). 

 

 

Changing the Weekly Cycle 

 

One of the classic acts of stupidity arises when some so-called believers theorize that if the first day of the month is established by the moon cycle, then the first day of the first month of the new year should constitute the first day of the week, as if all of these first days have to fall on exactly the same day. 

 

With a constant change of the weekly cycle each year, there is then a yearly disruption of the weekly cycle producing a new Sabbath day annually. 

 

This bouncing Sabbath means that the last week each year preceding the change will be a variable week (long with eight or nine days or short with one or two days) in contrast to the other weeks of seven days (since there are 365 or 366 days per year; while 52 weeks of exactly seven days only equals 364 days, leaving an extra day or two each year to address). 

 

Of course, anything different from the repetitive seven-day cycles produces a week dissimilar to creation week (Gen 1-2) and in conflict with the fourth commandment of the Decalogue, requiring six days of work and one day of rest (Ex 20:8-11).  If a week is different from seven days, it means that the believer can’t possibly work six days and rest the seventh day, as outlined by YHWH. 

 

Actually, the weekly cycle is utterly independent of the month and year cycles so that this specious reasoning of a floating Sabbath won’t hold water.  Also, creation week itself in Genesis 1-2 proves that the weekly cycle is utterly independent of the month and year (as outlined by the sun and moon). 

 

But the advocates of this belief, who persist in believing it and teaching it as truth to others, cause mass confusion among some persons (who claim that they want to obey The MOST HIGH).  While space is too limited in this study to examine this stupid belief in any detail and cite the Scriptural reasons why it is false, it should be brought up (as now done) and laid to rest with a minimum of response. 

 

There is one primary problem (and many secondary ones) in this crazy thinking.  This main problem is that the book of Exodus lays out sufficient calendar information in such a fashion that a person can take this data and construct the Exodus calendar. 

 

In such a construction, it seems possible to prove that the first day of the first month of Aviv (Ex 12) fell on a fourth day of the week.  And in terms of the equinox that year, perhaps something similar happened as occurred in the years of the creation (Gen 1) and of the death of The MESSIAH (as covered in preceding discussions). 

 

Besides trying to calculate the weekly Sabbath on the basis of the new moon starting the year, there is another interesting alteration which some people teach. 

 

Some people actually want to make the new moon each month a weekly Sabbath (with each of the following seven days counted as weekly Sabbath days until the next new moon when the weekly cycle starts new all over again).  Obviously, this ridiculous thinking gives one both a new Sabbath and a disruption of the weekly cycle every month. 

 

 

Changing the Month 

 

Beyond the attempted changes affecting the definition of a day, it should also be noted that even in terms of the luni-solar calendar, a number of people have come along to try to change the start of a month. 

 

The Scriptures clearly teach the start of a new month with the astronomical new moon.  Yet, a group of persons are now trying to promote a belief in the full moon as being the first day of a month, instead of the new moon. 

 

Even by accepting the new moon as the start place, a number of other people try to argue over what constitutes new moon and which new moon becomes the first month of a new year. 

 

Some say that the new moon occurs when the moon’s first sliver is visible at an observer’s location (but this makes the whole process subjective and unscriptural since it is clear in the Book that the new moon day was known in advance and not following a subjective determination--I Samuel 20:5 and 18). 

 

Still other persons take some other stance over the new moon or something else to cause conflict and question.  

 

Therefore, it must be pointed out that a number of alleged believers have went to the extreme in the last several years of being ridiculous in attempts to try to change the days, weeks and months in some fashion to disrupt the cycles to cause persons to worship at wrong times.  As noted before, these efforts appear to be demonically inspired and directed. 

 

 

Changing the New Year 

 

The Sardis Sacred Name movement has devoted much attention to the calendar question over the last several years.  This focus has prompted some of the Sacred Namers to produce at least a couple of variations in the start of the new year. 

 

As briefly allowed in the prior chapter, one group in the Sacred Name motion came up with the idea that the new year had to start with the first new moon following the vernal equinox.  Another group came up with the belief that Passover had to fall in the “spring” season and that Sukkot had to occur during the “fall” season.  These two approaches will now be addressed. 

 

The problem with both of these ideas is that if one is not careful, he can lean in the direction of procrastinating and pushing the feasts too late into the year.  Judgmental people and certainly farmers want the feasts to occur as quickly as possible in the cycle since there are always risks of agricultural losses if things are unnecessarily delayed (from adverse weather or something else). 

 

One of the difficulties that the US Western migration faced over the historic Oregon Trail is that procrastinators could find themselves trying to cross the Blue Mountains in Eastern Oregon in a snowstorm (with horses and wagons, this would be a catastrophe beyond description).  There was great pressure on to speed up and do everything as fast as possible in the Western trek. 

 

The “Oxford Companion to the Bible” (p. 18) indicates that the dry season in Palestine was from April 15th to October 15th.  The autumn (early) rains started around October 15th.  This means that ideally the harvest had to be completed, Sukkot was over, and the plowing of the fields was finished by October 15th (the plowing had to be done in the dry season before the rains started). 

 

Since the harvest was technically the summer harvest, it meant that the harvest had to be generally completed (except for perhaps the olives which could run late) before the autumn equinox (which is around Sep 20-23).  Often the new year and Yom Teruah came at the right times for all of these qualifications to happen satisfactorily.  But the problem comes up if one tries to start the new year too soon or too late. 

 

There is another issue here which must be acknowledged (although Christians won’t understand it or care one way or the other about it).  The festival of Sukkot involves “living in booths” for seven days.  Booths are wonderful in the desert to keep the hot sun off of a person.  But in a rainy environment, there is no joy in trying to live and exist in a booth of foliage and tree limbs (and especially if poorly constructed). 

 

Sukkot is a time of joy and happiness.  The very idea of Sukkot “suggests” that the festival is to be observed before the autumn rains commence.  Therefore, there is great pressure to complete Sukkot by October 15th. 

 

Moreover, there is the condition of the kasah full moon which must cover the first night of Sukkot with light (Ps 81:3), as described in a preceding chapter.  This kasah condition cannot occur if either of these two delayed methods of starting the new year are followed.  In other words, a full moon Sukkot in late October is too late to fulfill Psalms 81:3. 

 

There is still one more powerful reason why Sukkot must fall at or just after the fall equinox.  In I Kings 12:33, Yarovam established a sun worship festival on the 15th day of the 8th month to take the place of YHWH’s Sukkot on the 15th day of the 7th month. 

 

When the new year starts at or just after the spring equinox, it makes Yarovam’s feast fall right at or near Halloween.  Manifestly, Halloween is the classic Christian fulfillment of Yarovam’s sun worship feast. 

 

Since Halloween is established in the sun worship solar calendar to occur at the end of October, it means that ideally the best calculation for the new year (starting at or just after the spring equinox) cannot be delayed too long. 

 

If there is too much delay for the new year in the spring, it forces YHWH’s Sukkot to fall near the heathen Halloween celebration and Yarovam’s fall festival to be thrust even further into the year.  Obviously, this is not the way The ELOHIM designed and ordained His calendar.  Sukkot must take place some days before the heathen Halloween celebration honoring Yarovam’s sun worship feast. 

 

 

More on Changing the Year 

 

The situation with the Jewish calculated calendar has been noted in the preceding remarks and will be further addressed in the following chapter.  The Jews have a general rule to try to observe the full moon of Sukkot after the autumn equinox.  But practically speaking, they vary on this a few days since Yom Teruah can come as early as Sep 4th--making Sukkot start on Sep 18th (before the fall equinox). 

 

Thus, it would seem that the rule the Jews really follow is that Sukkot cannot be completed before the autumn equinox.  So the feast can start as long as it is not finished until after the equinox.  Of course, this means that at the most, Sukkot can only overlap into summer by a few days (one to five days).  Since the fruit harvest is the summer harvest, will it be completed by five days before the equinox?  Perhaps yes! 

 

Well, the issue here is the weather and climate factors for a given year.  Probably, the summer harvest is largely completed several days before the equinox.  Again, there is the pressure to get everything done before the rains start (around Oct 15th). 

 

Obviously, if the new year starts with the new moon after the vernal equinox, it can mean a start of the new year as late as April 21st which would make Yom Teruah appear around Oct 15th (with Sukkot starting on Oct 29th).  Manifestly, this seems to be, on the surface, entirely too late in the year (as established in the above remarks). 

 

In terms of the other alternative (of the keeping of YHWH’s feasts in the spring and fall seasons), there can be equally troubling points.  In the first place, the seasons do not seem to be defined in the word (for sure, autumn or fall does not seem to be defined or even discussed, beyond the word “tekufah”). 

 

While the English word “season” is used, it does not refer to spring, summer, fall, or winter.  Usually, it translates the Hebrew “moed” which merely means a set feast or an appointed time, in reference to the annual festivals (as at Gen 1:14). 

 

Certainly, there appears to be a lack of data stipulating that the festivals have to occur during spring or fall (beyond the fact that the year’s circuit starts on the vernal equinox, dictating that Passover must come on or after the start of the circuit, as discussed previously herein).  So while the case can be made that Passover must come in the spring, there seems to be a lack of evidence demanding that Sukkot come in the fall. 

 

 

“Search the Scriptures” 

 

The “Search the Scriptures” newsletter out of Clarksville, Arkansas has been the primary Sacred Name group promoting this idea of keeping Sukkot totally in the fall season.  Its Jul-Aug 2002 issue (p. 1) said that this group would keep Sukkot from Oct 22d to Oct 29th in 2002.  Well again, as noted above, this seems awful late in the year to be keeping Sukkot (in view of the preceding discussion). 

 

This source adds that “Almost everybody else is a month too early... This is a result of them following the Rabbi Hillel II calendar, commonly called the Jewish calendar.”  True, the calculated Jewish calendar does have some problems (which will be addressed in the following chapter).  However, its handling of Sukkot does not seem to be a big question. 

 

 

The Essene Calendar and Truth 

 

Previous comments focused upon the problem of the calendar followed by the Essenes.  At this time, that issue will be revisited in an effort to contrast the Essene beliefs (which has affected a number of believers over the years--even to modern times) with what the Scriptures precisely outline. 

 

The writer of this study has known a number of people over time who have advocated and taught a solar calendar which seems to differ slightly from the Julian-Gregory calendar (some of whom will be cited below in terms of their calendar peculiarities). 

 

The one thing that these persons could never produce was any Scriptural references to authenticate their solar calendars.  They always tried to rely on human thinking (rather than the Word) to take them to their solar calendars. 

 

It appears that one of the underlying problems in the thinking of man on this theme occurs when man wants to bring the weekly cycle into some type of an alignment with the years and months (as was just described above with an attempted alignment at the start of the new year).  Man would like to have everything uniform and organized so that all the cycles are repetitive and linked together. 

 

Of course, the weekly cycle is utterly independent of the sun and moon cycles and can never be reconciled to them in the present arrangement.  The weekly cycle can only be known through experience and never from observation, as is true with the yearly and monthly cycles (this condition will be precisely proven in the succeeding chapters).  But there are more complications. 

 

Admittedly, a solar year of roughly, or on average, has 365 1/4 days and a lunar cycle of “about” 29 1/2 days (more correctly, a solar year has some 365.2422+ days and the moon has 29.53059 days per cycle) do present a real problem in attempting to logically understand them in the context of a luni-solar calendar (which results in the need of an intercalcary 13th month, approximately every three years [seven in 19 years] to keep the months in line with the solar year). 

 

 

Problems With Solar Calendars 

 

But there are similar problems in all solar calendars developed by man.  Twelve months of 30 days only gives one 360 days.  Four quarters of 91 days each with 13 weeks of seven days each gives one 364 days (which is what the book of Jubilees advocated and which is what the Essenes seem to have used). 

 

With a real solar year of some 365 1/4 days, this 364 day year also has problems, which necessitates some modifications and alterations over time. 

 

Whereas the Jews have used and historically followed a luni-solar calendar for the establishment of the annual feasts, the Essenes and many other people over the years have used solar calendars which cannot be explained or rationalized Scripturally; because, as noted above, there are no Scriptures which support a solar calendar. 

 

A final note on the Essene calendar situation needs mention.  While the Essenes apparently used a solar calendar (of perhaps 364 days annually), it is fascinating that they also maintained data on the lunar months and made efforts to reconcile or correlate the two sources for some reason.  This reality has been brought out in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

 

For example, the Scrolls contain a whole series of documents which harmonize the priestly courses at the Temple with both the solar calendar and lunar month data (“The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls,” by Geza Vermes, p. 335-360).  One series of documents attempted to correlate moon phases to solar calendar data (ibid, p. 360). 

 

 

Pete Peters, Revisited 

 

One of the most energetic and successful of the Christian Identity people is Peter Peters of the LaPorte, Colorado Church of Christ (a reported leading pastor in the Identity movement who has been discussed in previous chapters herein).  Some of those previous remarks were made on the pride issue and how Peters has invented some very ridiculous theories to impose upon his followers. 

 

Significantly, one of the most gross and pathetic examples of trying to alter and change the calendar into Christian Babylonian confusion and pandemonium has happened with Christian Identity leader Peters. 

 

As described previously, this so-called “pastor” came out in Aviv of 2001 with a special alert for his followers to “observe the five Sacred Days and Live,” as he put it.  In his alert, he briefly went into a discussion to try to build a case for an observance of the Passover--apparently, in accordance with a calendar calculation involving just the solar feature of the spring equinox. 

 

As noted in a prior chapter herein, Peters has built his calendar on a solar basis without regard to the moon.  He has counted fourteen or fifteen days (this writer is unsure of whether Peters makes his count at fourteen or fifteen days) from around the spring equinox to arrive at his Passover which he designates as a Sabbath day. 

 

Then Peters proceeds on to seemingly designate something near the two solstices (winter and summer) and two equinoxes (spring and fall) also as Sabbath days.  All of these calculations are predicated upon the solar calendar without any reference to the moon cycles or conditions. 

 

 

Not the First With a Solar Calendar 

 

Actually, Peters is not the first person to grab hold of this very unscriptural position and try to promote it as truth--at least, not the first individual to use a solar calendar and try to compute Scriptural festivals with it without regard to moon cycles (although he may be a first in modern times with his designations on the making of the solstices and equinoxes Sabbath days; but then, this is surely something that was in vogue in the ancient past among the more outright sun worshippers). 

 

As pointed out above, the book of Jubilees and the Essene sect at Qumran seem to have followed a solar calendar production over two thousand years ago.  Please note that these persons were Jewish people and a part of the framework of Judaism of those days (as Josephus so states). 

 

Anyway, something was profoundly wrong with their calendar theories--as noted elsewhere herein in the vein that YESHUA and the Apostolic Assembly had nothing to do with the Essenes for some obvious reason.  The evidence suggests that this Essene break-away sect was not only at odds with traditional Judaism from Ezra’s day (over the calendar); but assuredly, they were at odds with YESHUA and His work. 

 

The evidence is massive that demonic powers have come to various so-called believers over the centuries to build confusion into the calendar question so that people of faith would disrupt their observances of Sabbaths, feasts and festivals in some way to result in sin.  As noted earlier, the Sardis motion has been notorious for dreaming up and advocating some ridiculous calendar alteration scheme. 

 

Though Peters of LaPorte is substantially behind multitudes of others (who have tried to mess up the calendar), he has now appeared on the scene to try to put his two cents worth into the equation in order to deceive and mislead the Scripturally shallow and uninformed Christian Identity people. 

 

 

Attack on Judaism 

 

As justification for his attack upon and rejection of a luni-solar calendar (which is totally Scriptural, as proven in the prior chapters), Peters launches into a tirade and attack upon Judaism and the Jews as if they are responsible for the luni-solar calendar. 

 

Manifestly, Peters is in ignorance and simply doesn’t know what he is talking about.  However, a lack of knowledge has not held him back.  He has charged ahead full blast and blamed the Jews for the Scriptural luni-solar calendar. 

 

Importantly, in his special alert mailed out to his followers, he even blamed traditional Christianity (which he is a manifest part of) for allowing herself to be Judaized by the Judaizers.  He said that the early church did not keep the Jewish feasts, but that she did keep Passover (per I Cor 5:8). 

 

And then, he blamed Judaizers for somehow causing Constantine and the Catholic Council of Nicaea to abandon the Passover for the pagan Easter, which is partially calculated on a lunar-solar basis (it is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon--which comes on or after March 21st, the spring equinox, per Funk & Wagnalls’ “Standard Desk Dictionary,” p. 200). 

 

Of course, these ideas of Peters are too incredible and too stupid to be discussed by intelligent people.  But Peters has had a measure of success in the Christian Identity motion with some of his very unscriptural theories.  It seems that there are always suckers out there looking for things which are totally ridiculous to even consider. 

 

And that’s the essence of Peters’ work.  He is determined to blame the Jews and Judaism for the paganism and calendar deviations present in Christianity. 

 

 

Classic Confusion 

 

Peter J. Peters seems to have struck a home-run in absolute and total demonic calendar confusion in an undated flyer that he put out in early April 2003 from his “Scriptures for America” (“Scriptures for America” is the Peters’ periodical which he publishes from time to time from his LaPorte, Colorado headquarters). 

 

The Christian Identity leader Peters labeled his message as “An Urgent Call to the Lord’s Christian Remnant to Pray and Fast.”  Specifically, he told his followers: 

 

“Having just concluded a study on the Passover (in the early morning hours of April 2nd, 2003), I have felt Holy Spirit led to immediately call for a solemn assembly and a day of prayer and fasting (Joel 2:15).  The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread concluded with a solemn assembly (Deuteronomy 16:8), which was the 21st day of Exodus 12:18, and that day was the day that Pharaoh’s army died in the sea (Exodus 14:28). 

 

“That day is from noon April 9th to noon April 10th, 2003.  Since the Christian remnant is scattered there can be little physical assembly, but in spirit we can and must assemble, and fast and pray.  Pray the prayer of Joel 2:17 (remember, in Christ we are all priests--Revelation 1:6).  In my opinion it is imperative and something big will happen! 

 

“With Christian sincerity and urgency, Pastor Peter J. Peters.” 

 

This whole presentation is almost too stupid and absurd to even address and comment upon--since most of what Peters communicated or commanded to his followers is very wrong and contrary to the Book.  It would be well if Peters would have talked about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the need to get leavening out of one’s house (in the form of sin). 

 

But his focus was upon some false ideas which simply did not conform to the Scriptures.  For instance, the 21st day of Aviv is a day which the Book requires the eating of unleavened bread.  In other words, the believer should eat unleavened bread that day.  Plus, it is a fact that Sabbath days (like Aviv 21) are times of great joy, feasting and happiness.  This is not the proper time to be fasting. 

 

Too, one must pause and wonder what in the world is an assembly which is spiritual?  The mitzwot on assembling are always cast in the sense of physical assemblies.  There does not seem to be any allowance for a person to ignore the physical requirements of assembling on the premise that he obeyed the commandment spiritually. 

 

Then when one adds in the Peters pandemonium on the solar calendar and days running from noon to noon, there is truly nothing beneficial in this message of urgency from Peters.  Tragically, people, like Peters, have and will heap a huge array of confusion, rebellion and sin upon many of the gullible and Scripturally illiterate Christian Identity people. 

 

 

The NE Washington Holy Rollers, Revisited 

 

Other presentations herein mention some Northeast Washington Holy Rollers who likewise follow a solar calendar (like Peters and the Essenes). 

 

As noted elsewhere herein, the leader of one group (the captain of the ship) actually tried to blame the Jews for the alleged Christian change of the Seventh day Sabbath to Sunday.  He also keeps the Scriptural festivals on a solar basis but acknowledges that they should be kept on a luni-solar basis. 

 

When this writer pushed this big shot for an explanation on why the Jews changed the Sabbath from the Seventh day to Sunday, he digressed into a discussion about the evils of Constantine (which he obviously knew little about). 

 

A later discussion on the Holy Roller movement will discuss the captain and his very obvious confusion.  So there is no intent to try to cover it now.  But it is relevant to note the position of him and his followers on the calendar issues. 

 

 

Yes, Jew Haters 

 

It is absolutely amazing and enough to blow a sane person’s mind, but these Jew haters come along and launch an attack upon Constantine and the early Catholic Church (which were admittedly very profoundly evil) and then blame the Jews and Judaism for all of the evil present with Constantine and the early Catholic Church. 

 

The Jews are simply not responsible for the gross wickedness, sin and paganism found in Christianity.  The people who led the way in this depravity were all Christians--who were Judaism haters.  They were sun worshippers and their theology was always predicated upon historic sun worship.   The Jews are responsible for a lot of things.  But they are not responsible for the sun worship now present in Christianity. 

 

Incidentally, a paradox really arises in the above attacks upon the Jews by Peters and the NE Washington Holy Rollers to some extent. 

 

Peters particularly has all of a sudden discovered that he can keep the Passover in accordance with a solar calendar method which rejects the traditional Jewish approach.  What the confused Peters fails to understand is that his own version of the solar calendar can be traced back in history to Jews (as discussed earlier).  Is Peters a hypocrite? 

 

Yes, this is quite a fluke that Christian Identity big shot Peters blames the Jews and Judaism for the changing of a sun worship solar calendar into a luni-solar mode. 

 

Yet, the truth is that it was pagan Rome which changed the luni-solar calendar into a sun worship solar presentation (which later Christianity approved of and went along with).  The Jews are not responsible for these calendar changes.  Religious Jews have always tried to follow a luni-solar calendar (because it is truth). 

 

And in an amazing display of ignorance, the captain of the ship in NE Washington blames the Jews for changing the Seventh day Sabbath to Sunday.  Of course, it was Christendom which made this change and not the Jews.  How utterly stupid! 

 

 

More Changes? 

 

But there are still further calendar changes afoot by man presently if he has his way here in the age end (as briefly outlined in preceding chapters). 

 

In recent years, some so-called believers have cooked up any number of other absolutely ridiculous ideas which are so contrary to Scripture that they seem to produce no interest at all--even in the hearts and minds of the most rebellious of people who normally look for stupid things to grab hold of for their own proud purposes. 

 

It’s hard to fathom that so-called believers would set around and contemplate such things which are just unimaginable.  Yet, they do so.  And once they come up with these unfounded theories, they typically then try to teach them to others.  Tragically, most persons out in the world are extremely Scripturally illiterate or Scripturally shallow at best. 

 

When these calendar kooks arrive on the scene with some stupid calendar manipulation, many of these uninformed people get taken in and become believers and advocates of such ideas.  In this massive state of confusion, such people bounce around from one stupid theory to another stupid theory.  They generally seem incapable of using the Word to establish truth. 

 

 

The FDR Changes 

 

But perhaps one of the most stupid changes of all has come about in Christian America in the 20th century.  In WWII, Roosevelt wanted the workers to start their days earlier in the summer months (when the days are longer than in the winter), so that the nation would observe longer work days. 

 

Traditionally, most Americans had started their work days at the historic 8 AM time.  There seemed to be no way that the workers would be willing to start their days at 7 AM.  Thus, the problem was how to impose this change.  So FDR and his lackeys decided to change the hours of the day (by changing 8 AM to 7 AM).  They did so with the introduction of “daylight savings time.” 

 

When warm weather came in the spring, FDR mandated that all the clocks in the nation be put forward one hour (making 8 AM come at the old 7 AM).  When fall comes with the shorter days, the clocks were set back one hour.  But when the war ended, the daylight savings time practice did not cease.  It was largely retained.  Why? 

 

Businesses (such as bowling allies, miniature golf courses, the malls, etc) which do some or all of their business (profits) in the evening hours (when workers are finished at the job) quite naturally liked the daylight savings time because it gave them longer hours (for profits and gain). 

 

And in almost any and every discussion on what course of action to take in the sun worship culture, greed and money (profits) always seem to dictate the decisions.  Money is truly the name of the game in the sun worship environment. 

 

Of course, the United States stayed with the daylight savings time process.  Never mind that it completely disrupts the hourly cycles in people’s lives.  What counts is that some individuals can make more profits. 

 

Some few people have complained over the years (over how stupid and disruptive these annual time changes are).  But their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.  Again, money is the name of the game. 

 

 

More on Time Changes 

 

Since Christendom was the legal and authorized religion of the civilized world from the time of Constantine (c313 CE), and if Christianity actually believed in and obeyed the Scriptures (instead of just carrying them around for show purposes), one has to stop and ponder on how in the world it has been possible for the civilized, ruling, Christian world to change just about everything which the Word prescribes on time measurements (like the calendar)? 

 

Even in those instances where certain calendar practices were already in place in opposition to the Scriptures (from Caesar’s days), when Christianity gained world prominence and power (c312-325 CE), one has to wonder why they continued them and made no effort to correct them and return to the Word? 

 

And yet, it has happened, does happen and continues to happen over the ages.  Whatever the Book says, it appears that Christians happily do exactly the opposite--all the while that they carry their “Bibles” around and claim that they live by them.  Obviously, something smells in this environment (and it’s not cheese). 

 

 

Daniel 7:25 

 

The prophet Daniel probably had this whole situation in mind when he wrote about a coming horn entity which would rise to power and displace three of the other ruling horns over the Roman Empire (Dan 7:25).  This horn would think to “change times and laws.”  Some students of the Word have equated it with the later little horn of Daniel 8:9. 

 

Many Protestant students of the Book have concluded that this horn which changed times and laws must be the Roman Catholic Church.  The writer of this study would agree with this conclusion (at least as an ante-type) with but one modification.  Likely, this power is Christianity and not just the Roman Catholic Church. 

 

It is interesting that “all” of the Protestant Churches came out of Rome.  She was their “mother” and they owe their lives and beings to her.  They have all retained most of the important doctrines and teachings which she espouses.  It is the entire mass of Revelation 17 that is evil--the whore mother (Catholic) church and all of her harlot (Protestant) daughters. 

 

Of course, Christianity has fulfilled Daniel’s words.  From the religious perspective, she has changed (or allowed to change or be accepted as changed) almost everything the Word teaches (Sunday for Sabbath, Easter for Passover, midnight for the new day instead of sundown, the Julian-Gregory calendar instead of the Scriptural luni-solar calendar, etc). 

 

Even beyond what the church proper has changed herself, Christian people have regularly and consistently continued to change YAH’s laws, times and calendar for the last 1,700 years (like with the previously discussed international date line) which the church has merely accepted without a protest at all. 

 

 

In Short 

 

The constraints of space will not permit much of a review of the above problems.  But the true Scriptural calendar does start in Genesis 1 and 2 and in Exodus 12.

 

The Scriptural festivals and feast days are outlined, discussed and summarized in Leviticus 23 and other discussions herein on the Scriptural feast days.  Since the Scriptural calendar is adequately described in various places throughout the Book, there is little need to say more about it in this brief review. 

 

Another word on these changes affecting the Sabbath days must be made.  As noted in previous comments on angels/messengers, there is much Scriptural evidence suggesting that all of the Christian denominations, other false religions and false religious beliefs have guiding demon spirits inspiring, supervising and monitoring them from behind the scenes.  

 

These demons invent these stupid calendar theories to achieve the apparent aim of causing Babylonian confusion in the world at large and particularly among so-called believers.  By disrupting the weekly cycle in some fashion or altering a Sabbath or calendar event, some people end up disobeying the Scriptures and truly committing sin because of ignorance and confusion. 

 

 

More From the Christian Identity Leaders 

 

Preceding commentary has noted the supposed great calendar “intelligence” and “wisdom” of people like the captain of the ship in NE Washington, Pete Peters and Gene Heck.  In mentioning these men and their calendar “expertise,” it must be pointed out that all three of them are calendar leaders in the Christian Identity movement, which has been commented upon at length throughout this study. 

 

But these three calendar “experts” are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the calendar IQ levels of most Christian Identity people.  It’s bad enough that many or most of the lay people in the motion know little or nothing about the Scriptural calendar; but manifestly, the leadership is absolutely lost (at least, in the early 21st century).  It is no wonder that The HIGHEST will remove them from leadership at some point in time! 

 

This writer is acquainted with two more so-called “super experts” on righteousness and the Christian “Bible” in the generic Christian Identity movement.  One of them is a very obvious mixed blooded mamzer (who is really quite a buffoon) and the other is a “Bible teacher” who has a reputation among some Christian Identity people of being a person of high intelligence (allegedly). 

 

On different occasions, this writer was told by third parties that the two leaders were Seventh day Sabbathkeepers.  Hence, this writer asked both of them, separately and on different occasions, if that was his position. 

 

The buffoon was asked first.  He launched into an emotional outburst that “no one” could prove to him which day was the Sabbath.  He grabbed a book to show me; which proved, per his view, that it is impossible to say which day is the Seventh day Sabbath.  i didn’t have my glasses with me and could not look at his book. 

 

But the thought came to me that yes, no one could prove anything to this buffoon.  He was so arrogant, intellectually proud and stupid and so obviously demonized on the calendar question that it would be a total waste of time for any informed person to try to tell this Christian Identity buffoon anything on any subject.  He was right!  Neither Moshe or YESHUA could tell him anything. 

 

The second calendar wizard in the Christian Identity motion was also just as arrogant, intellectually proud, stupid and obviously demonized that it, too, would be impossible to tell him anything.  He commenced a tirade at me that he didn’t know which day was the Sabbath (whether it was Sunday or the Seventh day) and that he didn’t know when the Sabbath started--at noon, or whenever (in reference to the Heck theories). 

 

Of course, the bottom line is that it would be a total waste of time to even try to talk to such ignorant super big shots--who think that they know so much; when, in fact, they know so little.  The tragedy is that they are Christian Identity leaders.  And they have followers who listen to them and believe the lies and distortions that they put out as truth and righteousness. 

 

Well maybe, the god/Gawd that they follow and worship has failed to reveal the dating and times of his calendar days, but The MOST HIGH this writer believes in has revealed in His Word His dating and times for His calendar days.  Any true follower of YHWH can readily know at once when the calendar days start and which day is the Sabbath because these issues are positively laid out in the Scriptures. 

 

In fact, the Word has had to lay them out because there are commandments which declare certain days as being set apart and kodesh.  Obviously, EL SHADDAI is not stupid or incompetent.  He would never command something which cannot be determined and understood by limited, little, people who could face a death penalty for non-compliance (the Sabbath command has a death penalty linked to it). 

 

The very fact that the fourth mitzwah in the Decalogue establishes by law the need to set apart a particular weekly day necessitates the condition that Israel particularly and people generally can understand which day that is.  The very fact that The HIGHEST similarly declares certain days as being set apart days in Leviticus 23 demands that His Word define and establish when the days start and how to ascertain them. 

 

Like Yohanan wrote, the believer must test the spirits (which mentally come to people, like the proud leaders mentioned above) to see whether they are true or false (I Jo 4:1).  How does one test the spirits?  Prove all things (I Thes 5:21); be like the noble Bereans in searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11); and study to be approved (II Tim 2:15). 

 

 

The Problem 

 

The essence of the issue with these two super big shots has to be that they are both Christian sun worshippers who keep Sunday as their weekly Sabbath.  Since they cannot justify their weekly Sunday sun worship, they have latched onto this stupid excuse that they cannot know which day is the Seventh day Sabbath or even when it takes place in the scheme of things in terms of time. 

 

There is one more point on these two super big shots which should be noted.  While neither of them understands the Scriptural calendar, the weekly cycle or even how to define a day (as they both have effectively admitted), there is one prime thing that they certainly have or would tell the truth about.  Neither of them can be told anything on the subject.  Yes, they are both very proud and vain men! 

 

As a matter of information, this writer has or had sent both of them material on Gene Heck and the calendar (as now reflected in this study at hand in the earlier chapters which addressed Gene Heck and the calendar).  Manifestly, neither of these two leaders read the material sent them; or alternatively, if read, they never grasped any understanding of the contents outlined. 

 

Incidentally, the stupid Jehovah’s Witnesses hold some related views.  Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses are Sunday keeping sun worshippers, they have cooked up the theory that they keep every day holy.  In other words, in the JW mentality, each day of the week, including both the Seventh and first days, are Sabbath days.  It is amazing how far evil people will go to justify their sin and rebellion toward YHWH. 

 

 

More on Future Changes 

 

A final word on calendar changes needs mention.  Beyond the previously mentioned change efforts, there is still one more powerful force on the horizon to disrupt the weekly cycle.  The problem (for profit and gain oriented men) is that 52 weeks (with seven days each) in the year equals 364 days.  Yet, the Julian-Gregory year has 365 days (366 in leap years). 

 

Greedy people would like to have an extra day (a world day or world holiday) inserted each year which would not be a part of a week.  In leap years, the addition would be an extra two world days.  Of course, this arrangement would be absolutely marvelous to the business and commercial world since the whole subject of time calculations would be greatly simplified. 

 

With this added day (or days), the true weekly cycle would be disrupted--just as also happens in the previously mentioned scheme of having the first day of the week start each year on new year’s day. 

 

By adding this extra day (or two), the remaining 364 days year would allow all four quarters to be exactly the same in structure (13 weeks of seven days each for the four calendar quarters in the year).  However, 52 weeks of 7 days plus an added, odd day would serve to disrupt all future weekly (seven days) cycles, as just noted. 

 

Will there be some age ending attempts to alter the weekly cycle?  Could be.  The adversarial power has been unable to do it in 6,000 years. 

 

So it might be that The MOST HIGH allows it to happen in the age end as a part of the final trial and test to come upon the election.  Certainly, Christendom would accept such a calendar change.  But how many of the called out ones would accept it? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 223--The Jewish Calendar

 

 

The Jewish Calendar Revisited 

 

At this juncture, some comments are needed on the luni-solar Jewish calendar, which is a totally calculated calendar (but one that does not always agree with actual astronomical manifestations--thus, it is calculated but not exactly in conformity with real astronomical conditions). 

 

Therefore, the Jewish calculated calendar can be and often is correct.  However, it can also be wrong and in conflict with the Word.  Actually, astronomical conditions must be checked in order to establish the true Scriptural calendar. 

 

In mentioning the Jewish calendar, it should be noted that the present calculated Jewish calendar was supposedly established by Hillel II, long after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans (c359 CE, per the Sep-Oct 2002 “Search the Scriptures,” p. 2). 

 

Some Christian calendar students argue that the Jews of Second Temple days followed an observation method, far removed from the present Jewish calculated calendar.  However, the “Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period” (p. 110-111) disputes this assertion by saying that the present calendar is attested to in Rabbinic literature and something like it was practiced at an earlier time. 

 

In any case, this writer is certainly not endorsing the Jewish calendar, per se, in this study at hand (although it can be correct on occasion, and it has many strong points). 

 

 

Authority? 

 

Regardless of how the calendar was determined in ancient times, one must always remember that in Second Temple days, YHWH granted the previously mentioned binding and loosing authority to the scribes and Pharisees--for them to sit in Moshe’s seat and establish discretionary items, but not things prescribed in the Word (Matt 23:2-3). 

 

Does this authority now exist with the modern Orthodox Jews?  While one might make this case, the more likely truth is that in the coming age end, a legitimate Philadelphia Assembly of believers will surface which will have authority to establish the calendar for at least its people (Col 2:16-17). 

 

Regardless of the carnality of the scribes and Pharisees back then and since (and all other organized groups of men for that matter), YESHUA seemed to have generally observed the feasts and Sabbaths just as the Pharisees observed them. 

 

If there was a difference between the Jews and truth, the Scriptures would have likely highlighted and delineated those differences (as for example, with the Jewish change of Passover from Aviv 14 to Aviv 15, as discussed elsewhere herein). 

 

It also seems evident that the non-conforming Essenes went off on a tangent, or in the wrong direction, with a 364 day solar calendar which distorted and interfered in their observation of the annual feast days (as was pointed out in previous comments).  While the Essences otherwise were extremely obedient and faithful people, this erroneous teaching put them at serious odds with truth in keeping the festivals. 

 

Thus, the Jews began calculating the luni-solar calendar long ago and have used their calculated calendar for long centuries.  Their calendar is astronomically correct in some years; but sometimes, it appears questionable or doubtful in other years to further complicate the calendar problem, as pointed out above. 

 

Please note that these problems over the Jewish calendar calculations do not always arise.  They surface only in occasional months or years. 

 

As just cited above, the first problem of some magnitude is that the Jewish calendar is totally calculated.  Therefore, all calendar events do not necessarily correlate to the exact astronomical conditions. 

 

This reality creates a big problem in that the new months do not always fall precisely on the new moons (the molad), as should be the case. 

 

Because of the Jewish calculation method, months generally alternate between 29 and 30 days (as will be addressed below).  This process does not always jive with the actual new moons (since astronomically, these conditions do not precisely occur in a 29-30 days alternating pattern). 

 

Likewise, the monthly 15th days do not always fall on a full moon, as should normally happen (as pointed out elsewhere herein). 

 

 

And More 

 

For the next primary problem, the Jews have a practice of shifting (displacing) the start of the new moon (and effectively, on occasion, the new year) a day or two, in accordance with a scheme that ignores the astronomical signs (as required in Genesis 1:14).  These displacements will be discussed below. 

 

On the surface, this may seem to have some logic behind some of these displacements, although most of them have to be questionable since they are not described in the Scriptures. 

 

Probably, a new moon not detectable during daylight hours (especially from late morning forward) should slip to the next day (to allow the condition of new moon to occur during the night), and some adjustment may be called for to insure that the full moon falls on the 15th day of the month; but other slippages are questionable. 

 

Too, there is still one more reason on why the calculated Jewish calendar is so wrong.  As outlined earlier, the Jews have named their months in accordance with Babylonian ideas and not as outlined in the Scriptures.  This deficiency was cited earlier and needs no further mention now. 

 

 

Fixed Days 

 

To add to the problem in calculating the Jewish calendar, there is a requirement that the Jewish calendar for a given year meet one of the following six types:

 

“A regular, common year consisting of 12 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 354 days. 

 

“A defective, common year consisting of 12 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 353 days with Kislew having 29 days instead of 30. 

 

“A excessive, common year consisting of 12 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 355 days with Heshvan having 30 days instead of 29. 

 

“A regular, intercalcary year consisting of 13 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 384 days. 

 

“A defective, intercalcary year consisting of 13 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 383 days with Kislew having 29 days instead of 30. 

 

“A excessive intercalcary year consisting of 13 months having 30 and 29 days alternately which totals to 385 days with Heshvan having 30 days instead of 29.” 

 

The above may sound good and logical, per some people.  But real students of the Book and astronomy know that most actual years never work out the way the Jews have stipulated.  The visible astronomical features are usually very different from the way the Jews have predetermined for their calculated calendar. 

 

 

Starting the New Year 

 

Moreover, the Jewish new year starts in the fall instead of the spring.  Theoretically, the new moon of the seventh Scriptural month starts the Jewish new year.  However, that rule does not always apply. 

 

In accordance with the preceding stipulations, there can be a shift in the start of the new year (called Tishrie one by the Jews; but correctly, Ethanim one, per the Scriptural calendar).  For instance: 

 

“The Day of Atonement, Tishrie 10, cannot be permitted to fall on a Friday or Sunday in the weekly cycle.  To avoid such, Tishrie one is postponed one day. 

 

“The seventh day of Sukkot, Tishrie 21, cannot be allowed to fall on a weekly Sabbath.  To avoid such, Tishrie one is postponed one day. 

 

“If the time of the new moon occurs between noon and sunset, then Tishrie one is postponed (Hebrew addu) to the next day. 

 

“If the molad in a common year falls on a Tuesday at 3:11 AM and 20 seconds, then Tishrie one is postponed two days (one day because of rule one above). 

 

“If the molad occurs on a Monday at 9:32 AM and 43 1/3 seconds in a year following a intercalcary year, then Tishrie one is postponed to a Tuesday.” 

 

 

Still More

 

Last, there is sometimes a problem with the start of the new year (both spring and/or fall).  It can be unnecessarily delayed by one month because of the determination of the new month used to start the new year (which Scripturally should be in the spring, as elaborated upon in previous comments). 

 

Of course, this remains as a major problem for the calculated Jewish calendar because it may delay the start of the new year by one full month.  Apparently, the year 2000 was one of those uncommon years where the Jewish calendar could have been wrong (the year 2005 will also face a similar problem). 

 

Since the issue of determining the start of the new year is so terribly complicated, per the Book, this summery is presented before visiting the difficulties of 2000 and 2005. 

 

It appears that the new year should typically start with the new moon nearest the spring day equal night in the Northern Hemisphere (hence, with the Passover of Aviv 14 generally falling on March 20th or later and the first day of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 15, falling on or about March 21st or the 22nd or later).  This allows the fall equinox to always occur before or during (at the latest) the festival of Sukkot.   

 

But the primary over-riding principle is that the Aviv new moon must always allow the first sheaf of the barley harvest to be harvested at the morrow following the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 16), as elsewhere discussed herein.  In other words, the barley must be in the ear in the Dead Sea area of Yisrael (where the harvest starts) in order for the month of Aviv to start. 

 

In conjunction with Temple authorities, the scribes and Pharisees would have had to carefully monitor the spring barley crop (to be sure that it would be ready for harvest at the right time), before deciding upon the first day of the first month of the new year.  Thus, they apparently had some role to play in establishing the calendar in Second Temple days. 

 

 

2000, Revisited 

 

Some comments above mentioned the unnecessary delay of one month sometimes with the Jewish calendar.  This seems to be the situation with what happened with the Jewish calendar for 2000. 

 

Here, the astronomical New Moon in the Middle East occurred around March 7th (actually, daylight hours of March 6th, which slipped the New Moon to that night or effectively March 7th).  This writer accepted this instance as the new moon, starting the new month and new year.

 

As noted earlier, this March 7th date seems a little early and could be incorrect (certainly, the Jews and most luni-calendar people did choose a late start of the new year in April 2000).  But this writer chose to stay with the March date (if it was incorrect, that fact should have become known as the rest of the year developed). 

 

This early date surfaced because the spring equinox came early by the Julian-Gregory calendar.  The equinox and day equal night phenomena in the Middle East actually arrived on March 19th-20th (depending upon where one was located) which was a little early and thus, somewhat uncommon. 

 

Thus, Passover in the Middle East appears to have been on March 20th and the First Day of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 15, likely fell on March 21st.  Admittedly, this may seem early.  But this reality was not because of the astronomical signs; but rather, because of the Julian-Gregory calendar and its method of handling leap years (which came in February 2000). 

 

But as just observed, the Jewish calculated calendar slipped to early April of 2000 for some strange reason, thereby delaying the new year by one whole month (assuming that the March 2000 date was correct, as this writer believed during 2000).

 

While March 7th seemed early, it might be that the barley was correctly in the ear at that time this year.  The warm weather in the last couple of years (from El Nino and La Nina) suggested that the barley was probably ready for harvest in the Dead Sea area of Yisrael by March 21-23--when necessary for the hypothetical Wave Sheaf Offering in 2000. 

 

On the basis of the sighting of the first crescent of the moon, the 2000 new moon day would have been even later--around March 8th or 9th (if that method had merit).  An April new moon (per the Jewish calendar) at the moment just doesn’t seem to have fit in with what has been building up in the age end (as was discussed in former chapters and as will be further covered in later chapters and in Appendices D and E). 

 

 

And in 2005 As Well 

 

Just as there is a difference between the Scriptural calendar dates offered in this study for 2000 as opposed to the alleged same dates per the Jewish calculated calendar, the same phenomenon occurs in 2005.  This writer projects the new moon of Aviv one as falling on March 11, 2005.  Yet, the Jewish calculated calendar slips one month into April. 

 

Often, this difference would not particularly mean much.  However, it just so happens that this slippage affects which year will be an intercalcary year.  Per the Jewish calculated calendar, the years 1999 and 2004 are intercalcary years.  This writer gives the intercalcary years as 2000 and 2005. 

 

In the sense that Yechezkel’s 30th or 32d year might be an intercalcary year (at least, the 30th year was an intercalcary year in the historical ante-type), this question becomes extremely important.  Too, as noted in previous comments, the Pharisees (now the Orthodox Jews) sit in Moshe’s seat.  Manifestly, they have great authority. 

 

 

Jewish Calendar Was Largely Correct 

 

With the various man-made efforts to change the Scriptural calendar, as noted so far and as will be done shortly in detail, it would be well to recall the above mentioned remarks in this chapter and elsewhere that YESHUA and the members of the Apostolic Assembly all usually worshipped with the Jews--basically in accordance with the Jewish time calculation methods. 

 

Because of this reality, the assumption has to be made that the basic calendar or methods of time computation used by the Jews were largely correct in NT days or otherwise, the NT would reflect any ensuing problems. 

 

Actually, the NT does this very thing with the Passover observance, as described in other comments herein.  Again, it appears that the Jews had incorrectly changed this observance.  The NT communicates this change and what is the truth. 

 

If a day started at noon or at midnight (instead of at sunset) or if a new month started at the full moon or some other aberration existed, as described herein, the NT would surely have clarified the problem and brought truth to the attention of its readers. 

 

The fact that YESHUA and the others largely went along with the Jews is clear evidence that the Jews certainly had it right on the weekly cycle and usually otherwise close to being correct on their luni-solar calendar as well. 

 

If the Jews were wrong in any of their worship procedures (linked to the calendar or the festivals), it is manifestly certain that that fact can be conclusively established from the Scriptures--as in the case of the Passover, and evidently on other occasions, as well, with how the Jews calculate their annual calendar. 

 

While questions can be raised about the Jewish calculated calendar in some years, it often is correct, as noted above.  For certain, it was correct in Aviv in 30 CE, as the Scriptures conclusively prove. 

 

 

Starting a New Month and New Year 

 

The Jewish calculated calendar envisions a situation where all persons following the calendar all over the world start each new month and the new year with the same, common day--just as the week is started with the same day.  But tragically, like Christendom, the Jews have been taken in by the international date line in the middle of the Pacific.  Of course, this is wrong, as commented upon in prior comments.  

 

If the new week starts in the Euphrates Valley (because that was where it likely started during the creation of Genesis 1), should the new moon and new year be determined in the precise same place?  Well probably, the answer is yes!  In other words, it is logical that each day, week, month and year calendar event starts or commences at the exact same place (whether at the Euphrates or elsewhere in the Middle East). 

 

In Exodus 12:2, Moshe wrote about the “beginning of months.”  The “Soncino Chumash” (p. 386) notes that this was the first commandment ordained upon Yisrael as a people.  At that time, Yisrael was in bondage in Goshen, Egypt (which was evidently located just East of the Nile in the Northeast area of Egypt).  In longitude and latitude to a certain point, it was very near Canaan and the Euphrates. 

 

This single text from Moshe could possibly build a case to start the new month and new year at the Northeast segment of Egypt.  However, there is still another Scripture which must be taken into account.  Yeshayahu wrote it by saying that the Torah shall go forth out of Zion (Isa 2:3).  The intent here seems to be Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem (this remark may possibly include the calendar). 

 

 

More Questions 

 

And evidently, in the kingdom days and following the Jewish exile and even in the period of the Judges to some extent, the new moon and the new year were possibly determined in Jerusalem (or at the Eastern limits of Yisrael).  During the actual exile to Babylon, it’s hard to be 100% certain of what happened. 

 

But even if the calendar was established at the Euphrates, it would have been very close to Jerusalem since Babylon is so close to Palestine.  However, the evidence is suggestive that the Jews in Babylonian exile probably followed the establishment of the days, weeks, months and years at the area near the Euphrates (which might have been the same prevailing condition when the Jews were in Palestine earlier). 

 

In other words, it would appear possible that the calendar determination process did not change with the Israelite people when they were removed to Babylon.  Thus, the process being followed in Palestine was continued by the people (to perhaps include Yehoyakhin, Yechezkel and Daniel) when they arrived in Babylon. 

 

It’s hard to imagine that when Avraham and later Yakov-Yisrael left Mesopotamia for Canaan land that they crossed an international date line.  From Avraham’s time forward, there was much contact between Palestine and the area of the Euphrates to the East.  Surely, the day and week starting at the Euphrates was the same one starting in Palestine. 

 

 

In the Millennium 

 

Finally, the evidence is massive that the Eastern border of Yisrael will extend to the Euphrates when YESHUA returns for the millennium (because this is the Eastern border of the land grant to Avraham).  This single reality is sufficient to suggest that the date line at that time will be the Euphrates (otherwise, geographical Yisrael could find herself divided in terms of dates). 

 

This situation suggests that days, weeks, months and years should start in the Euphrates Valley.  In other words, the days, weeks, months and years were historically the same in the Middle East from Babylon to Palestine and even to Egypt (which would demand that the new day, week, month and year start at the Euphrates).   

 

Alternatively, it is possible that the people established the calendar events when those events came to them, as the case may be--in Egypt, Palestine or in Babylon (with the new month and new year decided, based upon the arrival of the new moon wherever the people were then situated).  However, even here, it is doubtful that an international dateline existed between the Euphrates and Palestine. 

 

During the years when Israelites were scattered all over the world in the Diaspora and lost in terms of identity, astronomical data and communications with Jerusalem or Iraq, one might build the case that some Israelites keeping the Scriptural calendar and festivals could and did keep the new moon and new year days as they came to them (wherever they were physically located). 

 

 

The Better Course

 

But with astronomical information and with communications and contact with Jerusalem and/or Iraq and reality in those areas (as is possible here in the early 21st century), there are some very good reasons to date the new moon and the new year as starting in the Middle East. 

 

At the moment, this writer believes that all calendar events should start or be dated from the Middle East and/or in the Euphrates Valley (except for the time of the start of the Sabbath which has to be universally recognized as sunset, as previously discussed.  The Sabbath day starts at the Euphrates.  But the time of the hour/minute for starting the Sabbath is always sunset whenever sunset arrives at a given locale). 

 

However, the case for dating calendar events can be possibly argued for Jerusalem (as discussed in previous remarks) and this writer would not dare argue against that position. 

 

Perhaps this is the course implied in the Age to Come or World to Come when people from all over the world will keep Sukkot at Jerusalem (Zech 14:16-17).  Zekharyah’s remarks plainly suggest that people from all over the world will be keeping the new moon and year dates based upon astronomical events, probably in effect in Jerusalem. 

 

Of course, if the calendar does date from astronomical signs at the Euphrates, it still would be perfectly compatible for people who will be coming to Jerusalem for the feasts.  So, using the boundary at the Euphrates (as outlined above, in the vein of the Euphrates being the Eastern boundary of Yisrael) offers no problems or inconsistencies. 

 

Therefore, probably the Euphrates is the place one should now use to establish each new day, new week, new moon and new year.  In other words, the days, weeks, months and years should now be determined by the astronomical signs, starting at the Euphrates. 

 

Although the evidence is massive that the calendar should start at the Euphrates, something different could surface in the world tomorrow. 

 

YHWH YESHUA may well designate Jerusalem as the place to start the days, weeks, months, years, etc (and particularly so, if creation week actually started in Jerusalem).  In fact, the coming of the final “two witnesses” will likely clarify the issue.  Students of the Book will just have to wait and see what happens in Jerusalem in the coming days.  

 

 

“Search the Scriptures,” Revisited 

 

The former chapter quoted the “Search the Scriptures” newsletter out of Clarksville, Arkansas and its effort to promote the idea of keeping Sukkot totally in the fall season (Jul-Aug 2002 issue, p. 1).  This source added that “Almost everybody else is a month too early (in 2002)... This is a result of them following the Rabbi Hillel II calendar, commonly called the Jewish calendar.” 

 

In the way of supposedly having support for its calculation, the “Search the Scriptures” group mentioned an 2001 article by Wayne L. Atchison on “Evidence Against the Spring Passover Rule Evidence For the Observed Calendar Rules Of The Second Temple.” 

 

While this Atchison article did line up some alleged support for the delayed Passover/Tabernacles followed by the Arkansas group, it did not disprove the validity of the Jewish rules on observing Passover after the spring equinox or tabernacles in the fall at the fall equinox. 

 

Atchison’s work seems to have involved an attempt to ascertain certain astronomical events in Second Temple days and relate those events to solar/lunar cycles, the Julian dates and available calendar implications from Second Temple data.  The Atchison article attempted to reconstruct all of these events and mesh them into one overall production. 

 

 

Problems 

 

But several problems inevitably surface from the compiled data.  For instance, how reliable was the data in the artifacts, the various calendar information compiled, etc.  As will be broached in a later chapter, man-made calendar information is notoriously corrupt.  Too, the actual lunar-solar data may not be totally calculable (because of possible changes in astronomical cycles before the Greek and Roman periods). 

 

In short, the historical data is not reliable enough or thorough enough to make any firm determinations of what all Atchison attempted to prove. 

 

Despite the inherent shortcomings in the data compiled in the Atchison study, some good points were made.  For example, the author argued that Jerusalem was a central authority for the calendar used by the Jews throughout the Roman world.  This enforces the idea that indeed the scribes and Pharisees did sit in Moshe’s seat to establish calendar dates (as outlined earlier herein). 

 

Atchison also stipulated that not only did the Jews intercalculate a 13th month in some years (if necessary), but they also were known to intercalculate an extra 6th month, if necessary, to be sure that the festivals of the seventh month did occur in their proper times. 

 

While the data used by Atchison did not seem conclusive on the two points on the Jewish calendar to the writer of this study at hand, his remarks certainly were interesting to consider.  In other words, if the year started off too early, in terms of the summer harvest, there conceivably was the possibility of inserting an extra 6th month in the cycle. 

 

Anyway, the Evidence article attempted to prove that the spring and fall rules followed by the Jews (in the present calculated calendar) were not followed in Second Temple days.  Frankly, this writer cannot support the alleged proof (for the reasons cited above).  All of the Atchison data is too abstract, theoretical and speculative.  It seems to me to involve a lot of guess-work and lacks firm historical support. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 224--Other Calendar Issues

 

 

More Christian Rebellion and Confusion 

 

While not impacting directly upon the annual calendar subject, there is another “time” measurement issue which is very Scriptural; but which has been largely ignored, made fun of or ridiculed in historic Christianity. 

 

This time measurement theme concerns the Scripturally mandated Sabbath and Jubilee years (Lev 25).  These time cycles will be described and commented upon in subsequent chapters and in Appendices D and E, and need no further comment at this time. 

 

To demonstrate how far Christendom is willing to go, in an obvious effort to disrupt or interfere in YHWH’s cycles--at least, as they now truly exist--Pope John Paul II, on Nov 27, 1998, issued a proclamation that the coming Julian-Gregory calendar year of 2000 was to be a Christian Jubilee year--with the granting of indulgences, as discussed in a prior chapter. 

 

This new Christian Jubilee started at midnight on Dec 31, 1999, and extended to the next Christian new year on Jan 1, 2001.  There is a lot of condemnation that can be made of this Catholic action since the Christian practice was decidedly different from what the Scriptures outline in terms of duties. 

 

But moreover, the whole dating event is contrary to the Word.  The true Jubilee runs from the Day of Atonement (in the fall) to the next Yom Kippur. 

 

With a minimum of work and study of chronology in the Scriptures, it is possible to calculate and determine precisely which years were Jubilee years historically.  This will be covered herein in later chapters and in Appendices D and E.  The years 1917-18 and 1966-67 were Jubilees (fall to fall).  The next one will be 2015-16. 

 

 

Other Definitions 

 

The definitions of a day and the Sabbath have been thoroughly addressed in previous remarks and need no further clarification at this time. 

 

Finally, the feast days are themselves laid out in many Scriptures--and particularly in Exodus 12, Leviticus 23, Numbers 33 and Deuteronomy 16 (also, see other discussions elsewhere herein on the Scriptural feast days).  It would seem that there are sufficient Scriptures to adequately delineate the correct Scriptural luni-solar calendar. 

 

Otherwise, as noted previously, there are the present Julian-Gregory sun worship calendar of 365/366 days (discussed herein), the 364 day year calendar in Jubilees (and something similar in Enoch) and a Scriptural prophetic calendar of 360 days of 12 months or moons of 30 days each (Dan 7:25; 12:7 and Rev 11:3; 12:6, 14, where a prophetic time or year is 360 days). 

 

As noted earlier, the chronology of Genesis 7-8 suggests that the year evidently once was of 360 days with 12 months or moons of 30 days each--perhaps at (re)creation.  The 30-day month seems substantiated during the Exodus, when considering the time period for mourning of the dead as a month (Deut 21:13) of 30 days (Num 20:29; Deut 34:8).  

 

Obviously, the sun and moon orbits have changed to the present cycles of a moon with near 29 1/2 days and the sun with about 365 1/4 days.  What changed the orbits?  Well, the flood could have influenced them, although they may not have changed much at that time in view of the just cited 30 days mourning period later during the Exodus. 

 

Also, during Yehoshua’s long day (Josh 10:12-13), there was a tremendous interference in the heavenly bodies.  Moreover, in the days of Hizkiyahu’s sun dial, when it reversed itself (Isa 38:8), there was something extraordinary happening to certainly the sun.  Finally, something else could have happened over the ages to disrupt the orbits. 

 

 

A Possible Why for the Complications 

 

In the sense of the irregularities in the motions of the heavenly bodies, as opposed to the Scriptural calendar with its cycles of days, weeks, months and years (the new year and new month do not always start with a new moon exactly on the equinox or on a first day of the week, etc), there can be problems in studying and learning about the Scriptural calendar. 

 

The difficulties are such that one must pause and wonder why or how is it that The ELOHIM has created such a problematical situation for a person attempting to obey Him.  The writer of this study at hand certainly has no authority or commission to speak for The MOST HIGH and would never attempt to do so without a firm authorization. 

 

But since this dilemma has been ever present in my years of attempting to obey Him and keeping His Scriptural festivals and feast days, it is something which can surface from time to time in mental thought and study.  Perhaps the problem is compounded because there are so many false prophets and teachers out in the world, teaching their brands of lies and deceptions. 

 

Moreover, there are any number of people like my friend (who is a so-called “Bible” teacher of sorts), mentioned earlier, who refuses to accept the luni-solar calendar because he cannot find the word intercalcary or its definition in the Scriptures (yet, he hypocritically accepts a solar calendar which he also cannot find mentioned or defined in the Word). 

 

Clearly, the calendar complications give rise to these false teachers and their efforts at creating calendar confusion among Israelites who are attempting to obey The SUPREME ONE.  So, without being dogmatic, this writer would offer a possible reason for the calendar and feast day difficulties--in the sense of one’s attitude toward truth. 

 

 

Does Truth Matter? 

 

In the context of the eyes of historic sun worshippers (from the old cults unto modern Christianity), exact and precise times for festivals and worship days were never a particular problem or issue. 

 

To this day, multitudes of Christians will argue that such matters mean nothing to The CREATOR and that what does count is what is in one’s heart and/or practicing Christian love and tolerance (whatever that is).  Since most Christians place no value or emphasis on calendars and times, they obviously can never understand these issues in the Word (because of unbelief and being uninterested). 

 

As repeated many times heretofore, a person’s heart cannot possibly be in the right place if he is in rebellion (in a state of pesha sin) from the Words and laws of The ETERNAL.  YHWH made the heavens as He did.  He inspired and directed the writing of the Scriptures as He did.  He mandated certain days to be kept kodesh, set-apart and separated days for resting and worship. 

 

Rebellious, sinning, Christian sun worshippers may choose to ignore, belittle, make fun of and ridicule YHWH’s calendar and feast days, but that is not the path that His very elect will ever follow--because they, above all else, have been called out of Babylonian sun worship into a state of love for Him and respect for and obedience of His Word. 

 

 

Study and Approval Are for the Very Elect 

 

Otherwise, as mentioned often in this production, there is an extraordinary need to study to be approved.  Understanding the Scriptural calendar and feast days takes much, hard study and effort.  It is a much more difficult process than what the typical person (including the typical Christian) is willing to spend. 

 

This whole study process is only for the very elect who have been called out to undertake the task of deep study and commitment.  In other words, it might be that YHWH’s calendar and festivals are things only for His people, who will study to be approved.  Perhaps it is effectively not for others in this present age and dispensation. 

 

While YHWH has legislated much information on His calendar and feast days, one must recall the situation with the principle of binding and loosing of discretionary items, as discussed previously. 

 

This power, granted to the scribes and Pharisees in Second Temple days and to the later Apostolic Assembly, is no excuse to set aside or disobey any aspect of YHWH’s calendar that is legislated or covered in His Word. 

 

In other words, what The ELOHIM has legislated in His Word takes precedence over all other aspects of what men may choose to do under discretionary authority.  Discretionary authority for the scribes and Pharisees and the later New Testament Apostolic Assembly can never offset or override what the Scriptures plainly say in writing. 

 

But this option does open the door for a need for some legitimate oversight authority to determine discretionary items and certain complicated questions--like deciding upon the Aviv new moon and new year (which is subjective depending upon the state of barley in the Jordan valley). 

 

 

The Believer’s Dilemma! 

 

Comments heretofore have outlined and described the Scriptural calendar as mandated by The HIGHEST for His people.  Previous presentations have also presented the absolute rebellion of so-called humanity over the question of the Scriptural calendar.  One of the things that Adam particularly has done for vast, long centuries is to change the calendar. 

 

The dilemma which all believers must face up to is what can they do about this gross perversion and wickedness of man to alter The ELOHIM’s ordained calendar?  Certainly, the believer lives in the evil corrupt world of rebellion and sin (as perpetuated for the last 2,000 years by the Christian Church). 

 

Therefore, there is a push and almost demand to frequently or periodically use the present Julian Gregory calendar as prescribed by worldly Christianity.  Even when one wants to use the Scriptural calendar, he finds that it is an almost impossible task in order to live and exist in this corrupt world of Christendom. 

 

But the believer is not totally helpless.  He can do something constructive in the form of obedience.  Since the whole Julian Gregory calendar usage is a custom or culture of sun worshippers and since it is so blatantly contrary to Scripture, why wouldn’t a true believer want to at least use the Scriptural calendar in his/her own family and personal lives as a minimum?  Why not? 

 

Real believers cannot alter the rest of the Western society and culture, but they can change their own lives.  Of course, Christians, with their sun worship religion, are quite content and happy with the present solar calendar and its sun worship cycles, periods and names.  Why would they want to abandon it for a Scriptural one?  Naturally, they don’t and won’t.  This should tell the reader something, shouldn’t it? 

 

 

Finally 

 

A final note is now due from this writer.  For my part, the Scriptural calendar is the way to go.  But in this production, it has been necessary to usually use the heathen Julian-Gregory sun worship calendar prescribed by the Christian West. 

 

Numerous quotations and references to secular writings and works are scattered throughout this production.  Almost all of these citations are dated by the Western Christian method.  It has been impractical and virtually impossible for this writer to even begin to attempt to convert those dates to a Scriptural calendar date. 

 

With the serious or total lack of historic astronomical data and a complete inability to determine past agricultural questions (on the state of the barley at the Dead Sea area and up to Jericho), there is thus an incomprehensible problem and complication in trying to redate secular Julian-Gregory dates to precisely reflect an event by the Scriptural calendar (in a hindsight profile). 

 

Even in attempting to date current events by the Scriptural calendar, there also remains enormous problems because of the many questions and difficulties. 

 

There is too the dilemma of the minor variations between the Scriptural calendar and the Jewish calculated calendar.  Whenever using Jewish stipulated dates, this becomes an enormous complexity. 

 

Hence, to deal with the huge assortment of difficulties of getting this mammoth work prepared, this writer simply gave up on any attempts to convert the sun worship Julian-Gregory dates (or even Jewish calendar dates) to a Scriptural profile.  It has been and would be an impossible task for me to ever do this work with all of the existing problems. 

 

Last, if the conversion was done (as virtually impossible as it would be), it would largely carry little or no meaning to many Christian readers of this effort who simply do not think in terms of the Scriptural calendar.  In order to communicate, this writer has often allowed the sun worship dates to prevail. 

 

Just as The ELOHIM has allowed the words baal, bel, etc (as associated with the sun god) to become incorporated into the Scriptures (for communications purposes), this writer has allowed the pagan sun worship terms associated with the calendar to become a part of this production. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 225--Easter or Passover?

 

 

Easter 

 

Another good illustration of how Christendom has subverted and misused the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures is the matter of the supposed Friday afternoon death of YESHUA and His speculated resurrection some 36 hours later on a Easter Sunday morning (as outlined in previous remarks). 

 

This belief provides some of the Christian rational for observing the annual Good Friday and Easter celebrations.  But are they Scriptural?  As proven in the previous presentation on this issue, the answer is an astounding no! 

 

Although the public generally may find the Easter "theory" useful, good and supportive of Churchianity's Sunday morning worship services (which are categorically contrary to YHWH's laws defining good and righteousness) and of the public's happiness in attending Easter sunrise services (just as sun worshippers do when they watch the rising sun), such are not in the Book at all. 

 

Too, the Easter business sounds good to justify the pleasures of a ham dinner and hot cross buns (also both contrary to YHWH's laws defining good and righteousness) and of the joy, fun and excitement which children have over an Easter egg hunt (just as children have had in numerous pagan, sun worship societies from antiquity); but again, such are not in the Word at all! 

 

Furthermore, the Scriptures categorically will not allow or permit the belief of the “Good Friday” execution theories which have dominated Christendom for the last 1,940 years.  Actually, this Good Friday mythology has its origin in Persian sun worship (as will be presented and proven in the following comments), just like so much of the rest of Christian theology. 

 

 

The Sign of YESHUA, Revisited 

 

The total false and ridiculous aspects of a sixth day of the week (Friday) afternoon/evening execution and a first day of the week (Sunday) morning resurrection of YESHUA The MESSIAH have been detailed and proven in a former chapter on the Sign of YESHUA.  Suffice to say, this historic and common Christian belief is all wet and wrong. 

 

Instead, the Scriptures conclusively establish that The MESSIAH was executed on a fourth day of the week (a Wednesday in the current sun worship calendar) and resurrected on the following Seventh day Sabbath.  This period of three days and three nights in the tomb conclusively proved and authenticated YESHUA as being The Legitimately Promised MESSIAH. 

 

Yet, as false as the Christian teachings are on this theme, Christendom continues to use this false thinking in support of her observation of Easter.  This refusal of Christianity to give up Easter completely boggles a thinking mind.  It is incredible! 

 

 

Source of Easter 

 

Without taking the time at this juncture to describe in detail the origins of Good Friday and Easter, it is sufficient to note that they are not Scriptural occasions at all, but link to ancient sun worship ceremonies. 

 

As noted above, the Good Friday observation comes about from Persian sun worship, specifically Mithraism, where it was believed that the sun god Mithra fought the bull “Taurobolium” on a Good Friday; or more correctly, on a Black Friday (per Gerald L Berry, in “Religions of the World,” p. 57). 

 

“What the Great Religions Teach” (p. 99) goes on to say that Mithra was killed in this battle with the bull on Black Friday.  His image was laid in a rock tomb (called Petra) where he was resurrected to life subsequently on the following Easter Sunday morning (obviously at sunrise). 

 

Writer Darrell W. Conder suggests that every one of the ancient Sun-god saviors rose from the dead on the first day of the week, following three days in the tomb (“Mystery Babylon and the Lost Ten Tribes in the End Time,” p. 51, 65-67). 

 

Conder specifically mentions Attis and Adonis.  Actually, reality in this instance is that every one of the Sun-god saviors rose from the dead on Sunday morning, after being in the grave since the prior Friday. 

 

 

The Term 

 

Vines’ “Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words” reports that “the term Easter is not of Christian origin.  It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven.”  Davis’ “Dictionary of the Bible” says that Easter was “originally the spring festival in honor of Ostara, the Teutonic goddess of light and spring.” 

 

In the Tanakh, Easter is described and referred to as the wife or consort (the moon goddess) of the sun god Baal in Canaan.  She is called Ashtaroth, Ashtoreth, Astaroth and Astarte (also known as Ishtar to the Babylonians, Isis to the Egyptians and Eostre/Eastre/Easter to the Anglo Saxons--per Maurice Canney’s “An Encyclopedia of Religions” and Funk and Wagnalls’ “Standard Desk Dictionary”). 

 

In her honor, the various sun worship cults in the Middle East and Europe developed a spring fertility festival around the time of the spring equinox (per "Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary").  Being a fertility holiday, it was quite natural to associate rabbits and eggs with the occasion.  To this day, witches and warlocks have spring equinox ceremonies; so the practice is still around (May 3, 2002, “The Week,” p. 4). 

 

 

The Great Mother Goddess

 

In Babylonian mythology, it seems that this queen of the heavens became the mother goddess worshipped by the Babylonians (and picked upon by the later Roman Christians as Mary worship). Also, in Babylon, this goddess was often linked to the child-god Tammus in a mother-child religious duality (like Mary and “Jesus” in Christianity) in the sun worship cult (Hislop’s “The Two Babylons,” p. 19). 

 

In time, this Great Mother was found in Phrygia sun worship (as noted in a preceding chapter), and the mother child pair is similarly found in Egypt (“The Story of Civilization,” p. 595) and India (“The Rise, Decline & Fall of the Roman Religion,” p. 130). 

 

Allegorically, she seems to go all the way back to Semiranis (Easter), wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz, who eventually became deified as the sun god to the early Babylonians (actually, in some Babylonian mythology, Nimrod was slain and was reincarnated in his alleged son Tammus, born after his death, who eventually married his own mother Ishtar or Easter, “Come Out of Her My People,” p. 90). 

 

The latest Christian innovation on the mother goddess is that some 4.3 million Catholics in 157 countries have petitioned Pope John Paul II to exercise papal infallibility to pronounce Mary as “Co-Redemtrix (co-redeemer), Mediatrix (mediator), of all Graces and Advocate for the People of God” (May-Jun 2000 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 19). 

 

This same report noted that Pope John Paul II has exalted Mary even in his official documents.  In his encyclical Redemptoris Mater (Mother of the Redeemer), published March 25, 1987, he referred to Mary as “Mediatrix” three times, and as “Advocate” twice.  The entire third section of this work of John Paul II was dedicated to the theme of “Maternal Mediation.” 

 

 

Sunrise Services 

 

In “Who Wrote the New Testament?  The Making of the Christian Myth” (p. 288), Burton L. Mack suggests that Constantine the Great saw Easter as the festival closest to the core of the expanding Christian religion and that Helena (Constantine’s mother) believed that the Christian mother church should be located in Jerusalem where Easter could be appropriately celebrated. 

 

The importance of the thinking and beliefs of these early sun worship leaders of the developing Christian Church gains extraordinary significance when Yechezkel’s likely prophecy about Easter and age ending Christians are examined in some detail (Ezek 8:16), as briefly mentioned earlier and to be focused upon again in succeeding remarks. 

 

One of the common features which Christians like to engage in as a part of their pagan Easter celebration is the practice of assembling on a mountain top early on Easter Sunday mornings to watch (actually to worship) the rising sun to the East.  Christians typically bow, pray and sing songs to Gee-Zeus--all the while that they face the rising sun. 

 

Since this exercise is totally unscriptural and has no basis at all in logic or common sense, one must wonder why it has come about over the years and why it remains so extremely popular by vast numbers of Christians all over the world?  The answer?  Yes, it’s basis lies in the ancient sun worship cults. 

 

Historically, sun worshippers have always bowed, prayed, worshipped and faced the rising sun to the East as a part of their sun worship holidays and festivals (and especially, at the spring equinox).  C. J. Koster, in “The Final Reformation” (p. 18-20), documents this pagan worship in quite some detail, as will now be presented in comments to follow. 

 

 

Facing The East 

 

Having just mentioned this reality of groups of Christians assembling on a hill or mountain for “sunrise” services on Easter Sunday mornings, to include bowing and praying before the sun as it comes up in a pagan unscriptural ceremony, it will be enlightening to look at the issue of facing the East in prayer and worship in general. 

 

Actually, this deplorable religious exercise is widespread in large portions of Christendom and clearly constitutes a gross act of sun worship, regardless of “who” these sun worshippers think they are worshipping.  Clearly, in the Book, true believers “never” gather on hillsides or otherwise to face the rising sun to the East, while worshipping and/or praying. 

 

Additionally, there is some Scriptural evidence that in the age end, some heathen sun worshipping Christians will carry this wicked practice with them as they escape the fall of their own, sun worship governments to Jerusalem--just about the time that a new Third Temple goes up on Mount Moriah. 

 

Once in Jerusalem, at an evident spring or fall equinox, these sun worshippers engage themselves in a sunrise service early one morning--possibly Easter or Sukkot (Ezek 8:16, as cited above).  This seems to be a common practice among sun worshippers--facing the East and praying towards the East in the morning while the sun is rising. 

 

This blatant sun worship ceremony (perhaps at Easter time or maybe at Sukkot) angers The MOST HIGH so much that He righteously and justly orders the execution of these ignorant Christian sun worshippers who would dare defile His Temple (or Temple site) with their pagan sun worship practices (Ezek 8:17; 9:5-6). 

 

In “The Final Reformation” (p. 5-6), C. J. Koster addresses this question of facing the East in worship and prayer by quoting from the early Christian Church fathers.  For example, the writings of Clement of Alexandria (150-215 CE) and Origen (150 CE) both mention the practice of Christians praying toward the East. 

 

Koster adds that in 197 CE, Tertullian condemned the Christian practice of praying and worshipping towards the East in “Ad Nationes 1,13.”  Yet, C. J. found that as late as 258 CE, Cyprian, Christian Bishop of Carthage, exhorted his followers to pray toward the East at sunrise. 

 

C. J. Koster quotes F. J. Dolger in “Sol Salutis” and reports that this type of worship probably originated from Brahman India and was a well known custom, particularly in the Manichean and the Mithra solar cults.  Actually, it was widespread and found throughout the ancient world, wherever sun worshippers lived and worshipped. 

 

 

Face the East in Buildings and Temples

 

Consequently, Christian Churches are customarily constructed in such a fashion so that morning worshippers usually face and worship towards the East.  Where or what then is the basis for worshippers to build their buildings in a way that the worshipers can face the East during their morning worship services? 

 

Yes, the answer is obvious.  It is a traditional, historical practice of all of the old sun worship cults (per C. J. Koster, p. 18-20).  Their temples and buildings were always constructed and built so that the worshippers would face the East (towards the rising sun) during morning worship services.  In the post flood Mesopotamia, sun-worship temples were routinely constructed to face the East (“Too Long in the Sun,” p. 17). 

 

Conversely, the Temple of YHWH in Jerusalem (and the earlier Tabernacle in the wilderness) was constructed, built and employed so that the worshippers would always have their backs to the East, as they faced the West.  Thus, true worshippers never faced the rising sun, as sun worshippers have traditionally done. 

 

Incidentally, Jews in the Diaspora traditionally build their synagogues in a way to allow the worshippers to face Jerusalem.  It is also important to note that religious Jews likewise pray facing Jerusalem.  Contrast these practices with sun worshipping Christians who pray facing the rising sun. 

 

Likewise, it must be significant that the Christian dead are typically buried facing the East as well (yet, the believed Essene people at Qumran buried their dead in a North and South direction-- “Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls,” p. 16). 

 

 

The Scriptural Passover (the Hebrew Pesach) 

 

Having established in a preceding chapter the fact that YESHUA was impaled on Passover Day (Aviv 14) and resurrected to life some 72 hours later on a Sabbath afternoon, it is interesting how Christendom came to abolish and do away with the observation of those events in exchange for a Easter celebration and holiday. 

 

In the first place, the recognition of Passover is not only of importance with its basis clearly established in the Tanakh by Moshe (Ex 12), but it has NT significance because it was this single event which YESHUA told His followers to observe in remembrance of Him--of course, in the context of the additional points or duties He outlined (Lu 22:19). 

 

So sun worshipping Christianity came along and changed the Passover ceremony (celebrating YESHUA’s death) to an Easter Sunday celebration (of Gee-Zeus’ supposed resurrection).  The early translators of the “King James Version” were so confused over this issue of Easter for Passover that they actually mistranslated one important verse about it in the NT. 

 

Acts 12:4 refers to the Hebrew Passover event.  The KJV mis-translates the Greek Pascha to Easter, a perfectly ridiculous and wrong translation since Pascha correctly refers to the Passover in 28 other NT usages (Matt 26:2, etc).

 

 

The Quartadecimancins, Revisited 

 

Actually, some of the early Christians seemed to have correctly observed the Passover for quite some time.  These adherents were called “Quartadecimancins” (as mentioned earlier). 

 

The beliefs and history of the Quartadecimancins of the Eastern Churches have been well documented in the “Ante-Nicene Fathers” writings and almost all Christian dictionaries and encyclopedias.  In early Christian history, they observed the Passover on Aviv 14 as an annual event--just like many Jews and other commandment keepers and as commanded by YESHUA. 

 

By 190 CE, Victor of Rome tried to impose the Easter Sunday holiday on them.  But they refused to change.  In a letter to Victor, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, protested and noted that Polycarp (c150 CE), an alleged contemporary with the Apostle Yohanan, taught the observance of the annual Passover (per the “Ante-Nicene Fathers”). 

 

This division in early Christianity, over whether to observe the Scriptural Passover or the sun worship Easter Sunday, continued on for some years.  It was a point of controversy when the sun worshipper Constantine I took over in 312 CE. 

 

In 325 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine I summoned the Council of Nicea, where the Catholic Church Council dropped the Passover and installed Easter Sunday celebrations.  The Quartadecimancins were then excommunicated and branded as heretics. 

 

 

Communion and the Mass  

 

While the Christians came to drop the Passover event and adopt Easter, it is furthermore interesting how they retained (but changed) some of the features of Passover, as added by YESHUA.  At that meal, The MESSIAH introduced a ceremony of partaking of some unleavened bread and fruit of the vine, as symbols of His flesh and blood, along with a foot washing ceremony. 

 

Having dropped the Passover, Christians picked upon the ceremony of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine, but usually ignored the foot washing procedure.  This practice became the sacrifice of the Mass (where symbolically, Christians sacrifice their Gee-Zeus weekly or more often) and have communion (also called the Lord’s Supper, Memorial Supper, Last Supper, Eucharist, Oblation or Breaking of Bread). 

 

Instead of observing it as an annual event, Christendom largely does it weekly, although some Protestants may do it less frequently (the SDA Church keeps it quarterly, as Ellen White apparently got that schedule from the Methodists where she once belonged).  The Catholic Churches allow the circular sun worship bread to be served to the laity.  But the liquid (wine) is consumed only by the priests. 

 

While some Protestant Christian denominations would claim that their “Lord’s Supper” is different from Catholic Mass and Communion, the truth seems to be that all of the Christian observances of this occasion have their origins in Catholicism with but very few modifications and changes.  Manifestly, all of these Christian observances are closely related and are far removed from the Scriptural Passover. 

 

So, what is the source of this Christian communion in collective Christianity?  Of course, it comes from ancient sun worship.  Most of the procedures followed, particularly in the Roman Church, come from Mithraism (per “Religions of the World,” “The Two Babylons” and “The Story of Civilization”). 

 

In Mithraism, the communion ceremony was a common procedure.  It was observed frequently by initiates.  The early Christian defender Justin Martyr seems to have mentioned that Mithraism had a diabolical imitation of Christian communion (“Is Christianity a Fraud? Round Two,” p. 52). 

 

Historian Will Durant in “The Rise of Civilization” (v. 3, p. 595) reports that “the Mithraic ritual so closely resembled the eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian fathers charged the Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail minds.” 

 

 

The Bread 

 

Also, Barbara Walker reports that the sun god Mithra had a last supper with his twelve disciples--just before he died on a cross and returned to heaven.  It is in memory of this meal that his worshippers partook of a sacramental meal (called mizd or missa in Latin and mass in English) of bread marked with a cross (“The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets,” p. 662).  Was this bread the start of hot cross buns? 

 

Writing in “Mystery Babylon and the Lost Ten Tribes in the End Time” (p. 45), Darrell W. Conder quoted Justin Martyr (mentioned in the above comments) and went on to note that the followers of the Egyptian star/sun god Osiris also had a similar meal which involved water, not wine, for its initiates. 

 

Additionally, Alexander Hislop, in “The Two Babylons” (p 160), notes that the sun worshipping Egyptians used a thin, round cake for their sacrifice ceremony or meal (mass).  This circular bread, symbolizing the sun, was eaten by the faithful. 

 

Since the Catholic Christian theology is that the round cake actually becomes the body of their “Gee-Zeus,” the sacrifice of the Mass involves his symbolic sacrifice on each occasion.  This whole pagan exercise sounds much like the ancient sun worshippers in Yisrael who ate of the sacrifices to the dead (Ps 106:28). 

 

 

The Liquid of Communion 

 

In “Religions of the World” (p. 57), Gerald L. Berry writes that initiation into the Mithraic mystery involved an elaborate twelve day ceremony with the initiates being given a sacrifice (mass and/or communion) of bread and water.  Berry says that the early Christian Churches also used bread and water before eventually settling in on wine. 

 

Thus, wine became the liquid of choice in the Roman Catholic Church and later among several other churches (that were much like Rome in theology), although wine had not been commonly accepted among the old European sun worship cults in existence before Constantine and the advent of Christianity. 

 

Conversely, many of the eventual Protestant groups bolted from Rome and began using unfermented grape juice.  In fact, many of the Protestants became ascetics of sorts and would not drink or use any alcoholic beverages of any kind--charging sin on the part of their usage. 

 

The Baptists and most of the Pentecostals are particularly noted for this abstinence.  These Christian teetotalers (and many Christian vegetarians as well) probably acquired this thinking, based upon the Chrishna faith (asceticism and/or vegetarianism and the refusal to use alcoholic beverages). 

 

In fact, the popularity and strength of these alcohol abstainers became so widespread and entrenched in the American culture that the 19th century Christian temperance movement eventually was able to impose the 18th amendment to the Constitution on the US in 1919 prohibiting the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages. 

 

This change to the United States Constitution opened the door for an explosion in organized crime (which was broached earlier and will be covered again in some detail in a future chapter).  Of course, the 18th amendment turned out to be a unenforceable flop.  So the 21st Amendment was passed in 1931 to repeal the 18th amendment. 

 

Not content with this 1931 failure, the Protestant teetotalers have continued their attack on alcoholic beverages of all sorts.  As late as May 1997, the “Bible Advocate” (p. 13), published by the Church of God (Seventh Day), had an article on “Ignoring the Alcohol Peril.” 

 

Interestingly, this group will attack alcohol--all the while that they encourage and promote open miscegenation among their ministry and membership (to be discussed in a future chapter). 

 

 

Wine in the Book 

 

In turning to the Book, one finds that wine (Hebrew “yayin”) is a blessing and something good for human consumption (obviously, in moderation, because drunkenness is clearly a sin). 

 

Some persons try to argue that yayin refers to grape juice.  But this is not so--because there is another Hebrew word for freshly pressed grape juice.  It is “tirosh” which is often translated as “new wine” (Prov 3:10; Isa 65:8; Hos 9:2).  In the NT, the Greek oinos can refer to either wine or grape juice. 

 

It is important to note that in the Tanakh, yayin and tirosh are used and differentiated in the same verse (Hos 4:11).  Furthermore, it should be recognized that the firstfruits of the vine harvest offered at the Temple involved unfermented grape juice (tirosh) and not wine (Deut 18:3-4; II Chron 31:4-5; Neh 10:37-39; 13:5, 12). 

 

Also, it is well to note that yayin is Scripturally used in the same text to contrast wine with a vine product called the blood of the grape (Gen 49:11; Deut 32:14; Isa 63:1-3; Rev 14:19-20).  Thus, a reference to blood of the grape would not be to wine.  Obviously, it would be to tirosh or grape juice.  Here, blood is from the Hebrew dam or dawm. 

 

Strong’s “Hebrew Dictionary” says that dam means “blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animal; by anal. the juice of the grape; fig. (espec. in the plur.) bloodshed (i.e. drops of blood): blood (-y,--guiltiness, [thirsty], + innocent.”  The Greek NT uses the Greek “haima” for blood--both of men or grapes (per Strong’s). 

 

Priests serving YHWH in the Temple were prohibited from drinking yayin while on duty and working (Lev 10:9).  In NT times, it is quite certain that YESHUA, Himself, drank fermented wine on occasion because the Pharisees accused Him of it and He admitted it (Matt 11:18-19). 

 

At a marriage in Cana of Galilee, YESHUA turned water into wine (not grape juice).  Clearly, this was wine because the ruler of the feast acknowledged that every man serves his good wine first at a feast so that when the people had drunk it (and were beginning to be a little intoxicated), the bad wine could be then served when they would not know the difference (Jo 2:10). 

 

 

Fruit of the Vine 

 

It is possible that the Jews served yayin at the Passover celebrations in Second Temple days, although the Torah does not prescribe it.  Notwithstanding this likelihood, the truth remains that such a practice would not dictate its use as the fruit of the vine which YESHUA outlined for His followers in their future observance of Passover and His death (Matt 26:29). 

 

In other words, YESHUA could have properly used grape juice (tirosh or dawn) as the fruit of the vine for the additions He made to the Passover ceremony.  It is useful to note that the English fruit in that text is from the Greek gennema which more correctly means “produce” (per Young’s “Analytical Concordance”).  Shaul connects this produce to blood (I Cor 10:16).  Yohanan says YESHUA was the vine (Jo 15:1). 

 

Since fermented wine is a mocker (Prov 20:1) and can get people drunk if drank excessively, and since the priesthood was forbidden to use it while on duty working in the Temple (Lev 10:9), it is quite manifest that wine is not the vine produce prescribed by YESHUA to represent His shed blood.  The bottom line on this is that YESHUA prescribed the blood of the grape or grape juice and not wine for this observance. 

 

 

Preservation 

 

In an article on “Wine or Grape Juice,” published by the Assemblies of Yahweh of Bethel, PA, the point is made that in Apostolic days, grape juice could be and was preserved from the summer harvest until the next spring Passover.  One preservation method involved putting the juice in an amphora and sealing the cork, sinking it in a fishpond and taking it out 30 days later. 

 

Thereafter, the juice could be kept fresh for another year--certainly long enough for the next Passover.  While the opened grape juice will ferment, so will wine ferment (until wine becomes vinegar).  It is ridiculous to oppose grape juice by citing its fermentation capabilities since wine ferments as well. 

 

Health food advocates suggest that if a person drinks grape juice only for about three days, his/her body undergoes a complete blood transfusion.  Clearly, fresh grape juice is perhaps the most important product of all that resembles human blood. 

 

Grape juice would have to be the fruit of the vine prescribed by YESHUA to represent His shed blood.  Surely, sour wine (in a fermentation stage and process of becoming vinegar) would not be appropriate for His blood. 

 

What a pity it is that sun worshipping Christians have bounced around from water (like from the Mithra cult) to wine (which is unscriptural for the blood of YESHUA) to grape juice (because of ignorance and Chrishna sun worship asceticism, instead of Scriptural knowledge and the desire to obey The ELOHIM). 

 

 

Agape Love Feasts 

 

A number of Christian churches have what they call “agape love feasts” or just “love feasts” and often in the context of Shaul’s words at II Corinthians 11:20-22--mentioning what some persons choose to believe is a fellowship meal.   Sometimes, they have these feasts once a year (near Easter) and sometimes on more than one occasion annually (monthly, quarterly or some other arrangement). 

 

It is true that the Scriptures describe and mandate a meal ceremony called the Passover which is well established, as outlined above.  In Shaul’s remarks to the Corinthians, it appears that the Passover is the issue under discussion. 

 

In other words, when believers get together for a Passover meal and observance, it is not a time for partying, feasting and having fun over food.  The Passover event is a very solemn occasion and one where believers need to be serious with an understanding of what all it symbolizes.  Hence, Shaul’s advice seems relevant. 

 

So, what about these Christian agape love feasts?  What is their source and why do some Christian groups try to have such meetings?  In the “Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” (p. 12), Barbara G. Walker discusses the Catholic Saint Agape feast and links it to Aphrodite’s holy whores and their love feasts. 

 

Walker indicates that Agape originally personified the rite of sexual communion in Aphrodite’s pagan temples.  She says it was adopted by some early Christian sects as a Tantric type of “spiritual marriage.”  By the 7th century, the Catholic Church declared the ceremony heretical, but the practice has continued in Christendom through the years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 226--Lent, Mardi Gras and Fasching

 

 

Lent, Mardi Gras and Fasching 

 

Although not observed by Protestants, Lent, Mardi Gras and Fasching are all popular Catholic religious observances.  Mardi Gras and Fasching are wild partying, playing, merrymaking and fun exercises, held just before the forty-day Lenten period of penitence and (so-called) fasting before Easter.  Since none of these events are Scriptural, one may wonder as to their source(s). 

 

According to Gerald L Berry (“Religions of the World," p. 57), the period from Christmas to Easter was celebrated among ancient sun worshippers with an inclusion of a 40 days recognition (including a fast of sorts) to commemorate the mystical 40 days search for the Osiris of Egypt (another popular solar deity). 

 

This 40 days event was to eventually become the 40 days Lenten period, as will shortly be shown.  In “Comparative Religion” (p. 105), writer E. O. James notes that in mythology, Osiris was slain by his brother Set and cut into fourteen pieces and scattered over Egypt. 

 

Osiris’ wife Isis (Easter), who also was his sister, decided to go and search out and collect the fourteen pieces so that they could be put together and mummified and then he could be resurrected to life.  She found the dead parts on Black Friday (Good Friday).  Thus, the sun god Osiris was resurrected to life on Easter Sunday. 

 

In an article on “The Anatomy of a Church” (p. 9), the former Dr Ernest L. Martin offered a slightly different twist on this Osiris story.  He said that Isis found all the parts, except one (the male sex organ of Osiris).  Supposedly, Isis erected various kinds of obelisks, always upright and erect, to remind people to continue looking for the lost sex organ. 

 

Both Fasching (40 days period from Epiphany to Shrove Tuesday) and Mardi Gras (on Shrove Tuesday) developed as wild, happy, feasting, partying, carnival celebrations by the pagan sun worshippers to immediately precede the start of Lent, just after Shrove Tuesday. 

 

 

Modern Mardi Gras 

 

In the United States, the popular Mardi Gras celebration occurs each year in New Orleans--where it is an extra ordinary festival of partying, playing, copulating, drinking, eating, frolicking and indulging in the most gross forms of pleasure and depravity.  Other heavily French Catholic (Cajun) communities in Southern Louisiana also have their own traditional Mardi Gras celebrations. 

 

The Louisiana Cajun population stems from the expulsion by the British of the French Acadian peoples from Nova Scotia in the 18th century.  Many of these people relocated South and settled in French Louisiana (which later became part of the United States during the Louisiana Purchase by the Thomas Jefferson Administration in 1803). 

 

Being Catholics, these French Cajuns brought with them their Catholic religion and culture--to include all the excesses of Mardi Gras.  While the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations are the most famous, other French Cajun communities do have their own celebrations which offer the same social depravity and sickness. 

 

 

NPR 

 

On Feb 26, 2001, National Public Radio (NPR) had a Cajun guest on from Southern Louisiana, who discussed some of the traditional practices of the Mardi Gras celebration in his community.  Of course, there are the usual Mardi Gras excesses--of partying, eating, drinking, costumes, masks, fornicating, singing, dancing, frolicking, reveling, playing and having “fun” in general. 

 

However, some or all of the Cajun communities have at least one grossly sick Mardi Gras practice which typically receives little or no publicity from the US media during the exercise.  According to the NPR guest, the Louisiana Cajuns try to reverse things in life.  Therefore, women dress as men and men dress as women (which specifically transgress Deut 22:5). 

 

To show how far these supposedly Catholic and now Protestant “religious people” go in their supposedly “religious festival,” all one has to do is turn to Sydney, Australia.  Sydney has an annual Mardi Gras celebration, except it is one devoted to homosexual and lesbian queers. 

 

This “Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras” started in 1977 and attracts some 500,000 people annually (Apr 2000 “National Liberty Journal,” p. 19).  It is an all night affair with a homosexual parade and a vast profusion of queer orgies and sicknesses.  But Sydney likes it because it pumps $100 million into the local economy.  Truly, money is the name of the game in the Christian West.  

 

Actually, the whole Mardi Gras exercise represents something totally sick and depraved--at least, as viewed by people of real Scriptural faith and belief.  Why would any true believer want to participate in this sickness and sin? 

 

 

More on Fasching 

 

While Mardi Gras is popular in French Catholic communities, German Catholics lean more in the direction of their closely related Fasching celebrations.  In modern Germany, Fasching is extremely popular.  All of the excesses and depravities common in Mardi Gras also surface in Fasching. 

 

In the post WWII era, this writer served in the US military in Germany on two different tours.  Fasching was one of the German festivals which many American soldiers looked forward to with real anticipation.  Not only was there all of the revelry, frolicking and having fun, but the wild sexual orgies were especially common. 

 

Married German men and women, who would not dare play around on the side during the rest of the year, would be out looking for some sexual encounters and adultery during Fasching.  A sexually active soldier could have a fill of this stuff during the stupid and evil Fasching event. 

 

“Our Wonderful World” indicates that Fasching (and perhaps Mardi Gras as well) was celebrated in early Greek, Phoenician and Babylonian cultures.  Quite naturally, early Catholics saw the popularity of ancient sun worship events early on and chose to incorporate them into the Universal Christian faith.  The Protestant Reformation dropped some of them (but not all of them).  

 

 

Words From Involstadt, Germany 

 

The Mar-Apr 2001 “Prophecy Flash” magazine (p. 88) had a reader’s letter which said:  “Hello from Involstadt, birthplace of the Luciferian Illuminati.  This town and area of southern Germany are staunchly Catholic.  Statutes of Semiramis Queen of Heaven are everywhere as are hideous crucifixes which the Catholics like to have in their shops, hotels (one in each room and a big one in the entrance), in their fields and even in the woods! 

 

“Tuesday 17th February was Fasching which the Catholics liken to Christ’s 40 day fast in the wilderness.  Fasching is a public holiday in Bavaria.  It is a big day for the church of Rome and most local people seem to take part in it.  Fasching ends at about 6 pm on the Tuesday when a pick-up van with an effigy hanging by a noose around its neck is driven from the gates of the Catholic Church to the local green. 

 

“A large crowd follows the effigy with the Catholic priest leading the way.  About ten women dressed in long black dresses follow behind chanting prayers.  When the procession reaches the green, the effigy is hoisted up by a crane and a fire is lit beneath it.  The priest and black clothed women chant prayers as the effigy is burnt.  Drums are beaten as this takes place. 

 

“It does not take a genius to understand that this was a pagan service which once involved human sacrifice in times past.  I wonder when the good people of this town stopped using human sacrifices--1,000 years ago?  500?  100?  Knowing our enemy, I suspect that the Illuminati and Catholic Church are carrying on in secret.  But I have little doubt that this hideous Satanic service will be carried out during the Tribulation. 

 

“...we need to face the facts that the Pope is no Herbert W. Armstrong who has taken to dressing as a cod-fish in a gold embroidered tunic and fish hat.  No, the Pope of Rome is the head of a genocidal criminal cartel which is working to enslave all mankind.  The Catholic Church is the longest running tyranny in history and old ‘fish-head’ is the prime minister of the devil on earth.  We should never forget that...”

 

This letter tells the tale about Fasching in modern times.  Assuredly, it developed from ancient pagan customs among the Germans. 

 

 

Ash Wednesday 

 

The forty days Lenten period observed by Catholics and other Christians correctly starts with Ash Wednesday.  The Christian position is that this event reminds man that he is ashes and earth and shall return thereto.  Naturally, there is nothing about it in the Scriptures. 

 

In the “Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” (p. 66), Barbara Walker says the festival was actually taken from Roman paganism; which, in turn, took it from Vedic India.  She notes that ashes were called the seed of the fire god Agni with power to absolve all sins. 

 

Walker suggests that in ancient Rome, it was a type of a Feast of Atonement in March in which people wore sackcloth and bathed in ashes to atone for their sins.  That’s why the pagans could have a carnival of fun, eating, drinking and sinning on the day before (Shrove Tuesday, mentioned above).  The theory was that the pagans could be forgiven of all of their sins the next day--Ash Wednesday. 

 

Apparently, this Roman festival of Ash Wednesday combined or merged with the Egyptian mystical search for Osiris (discussed above) to eventually become the popular Lent observed by Christians, when Christianity displaced the old sun cults. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 227--Christmas and New Year’s Day

 

 

The Birth of YESHUA 

 

A preceding chapter herein addressed the question of the dating associated with the birth of YESHUA The MESSIAH.  Suffice to say, He was not born on or around Christmas day as Christianity has taught for ages.  The Word seems to precisely date His birth during the Passover season--perhaps around the tenth day of the first Scriptural month--Aviv. 

 

 

Christmas and New Year’s Day

 

In general, as one may objectively look at contemporary Christian worship procedures and liturgy, there is a strange absence of most of it from the Scriptures (as already proven in previous chapters herein). 

 

If Christian actions, rituals and practices appear at all in the Word, they most often seem to surface as sin or in a very unfavorable vein.  A good sample of this is the classic Christian Christmas tree, as penned 2,600 years ago by the prophet Yirmeyahu (Jer 10:1-5).  Of course, many Christians claim that the Christmas tree is not an issue in Jeremiah 10 (though it certainly reads that way). 

 

As the Nov/Dec 2001 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 2) noted, tree worship is expressly forbidden in the Book (Deut 12:1-4).  Though most ignorant Christians acknowledge that the tree involved in Jeremiah 10 is an idol, they contend that that they don’t worship Christmas trees or treat trees as idols.  In any case, a related text is at Deuteronomy 16:21-22 which condemns both trees in worship and pillars which can result from vertical trees (as noted by the Assemblies of Yahweh of Bethel, PA).

 

Manifestly, it is classically clear that these stupid Christians simply have no concept whatsoever about the words idol or worship.  As described elsewhere herein--in Second Temple Jewish mentality, any reverence or great respect shown an object constituted idolatry and worship.  It’s still the same today! 

 

When Christians go wild to spend money, time and effort to obtain and adore their Christmas trees, they are involved in idolatrous worship, whether they know it or not.  Admittedly, many don’t understand and lack comprehension of what their despicable actions constitute.  But their ignorance of reality does not alter that reality. 

 

Not only was and is the Christmas tree categorically pagan and filthy from antiquity, but it should also be observed that the whole Xmas celebration is merely a carryover from ancient sun worship.  In Rome, when YESHUA was born, the Christmas event was called the "Saturnalia" and/or the "Natalis Invistisolis" which meant the "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" (per "An Encyclopedia of Religions," by Maurice A Canney). 

 

The Roman Saturnalia was a seven-day religious festival or holiday period in recognition of the "birth of the sun," which occurs on or about December 22nd each year at the time of the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year when the sun seems to literally die.  By December 25th, the days begin to noticeably grow longer and the sun begins its process of annual birth and renewal). 

 

Along with the winter solstice celebration, the other relics of Christmas were also picked upon and promoted by Christendom.  For example, the early Celt sun worshippers venerated mistletoe for long ages (per Gerald L. Berry, “Religions of the World,” p. 5).  As just noted, the Tanakh itself points out the heathen origin of the Christian tree idol (Jer 10:1-5). 

 

 

Santa Claus 

 

Even the mythological Santa Claus goes way back in antiquity to historic sun worship.  Historically, modern Christians have come to believe that Santa Claus is the same personage as Saint Nicholas, a legendary person who was born in the third century CE in Asia Minor.  This Saint Nicholas supposedly gained fame for his kindness and generosity. 

 

A reader’s letter in the Jan-Feb 2003 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 2) suggested that the ancient despot Nimrod was the first Santa Claus.  The reader could not cite his source for this suggestion, but did say that he had read it somewhere.  While it is unclear whether Santa Claus started this early or not, the truth remains that the whole concept of Santa Claus is indeed quite old. 

 

From the beginning legend, the concept of Santa Claus evolved in Christendom and the stories and folklore about him were embellished into the modern Santa Claus.  The only thing missing about the stories is the evidence that the legendary Saint Nicholas or Nick was just another early name for the Devil (as many English dictionaries so point out--like the “World Book Dictionary,” under its article on “Nick”). 

 

Truly, Satan reached the height of his ambitions when he became personified as the legendary Saint Nick or Santa Claus (see Isaiah 14:14). 

 

Otherwise, there are a host of other Christmas emblems, symbols and idols which also have their roots in ancient sun worship societies.  Here, one can mention the sun worship boar (which paved the way for Christmas ham dinners), the goose, Yule cakes and the famous Yule log.  All of these ancient symbols go back to ancient sun worship in Babylon, Egypt and/or other early sun worship locales. 

 

 

The Timing 

 

Of course, it was at the winter solstice that all of the classic sun gods of antiquity were allegedly born (actually, on December 25th, when the days start to grow longer, as all books on mythology indicate).  For vast ages, in ancient times, December 25th was celebrated by the pagans as the birthday of their sun gods--like Saturn, Jupiter, Tammuz, Bacchus, Osiris, and Mithras (Jan-Feb 2003 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 38). 

 

At one time, in the early Roman Empire, the emperor Diocletian (cited earlier) even proclaimed himself a “sun god” and celebrated his birthday as being on December 25th (“Religions of the World,” p. 72). 

 

In writing about the observation and worship of December 25th (by the Mithraists, in honor of the birth of the sun god Mithras), Gerald L Berry says that they held elaborate rituals and celebrations “in which bells were rung, hymns were sung, candles lit, gifts given, (and) sacraments of bread and water administered to the initiate” (“Religions of the World,” p. 57).  It sounds just like a typical Christian Christmas celebration. 

 

This Saturnalia and Mithra birthday celebrations (of the sun god) were firmly in place and widely popular in the Roman Empire when the sun worshiper Constantine accelerated the merging of sun worship and Christianity in his marriage of church and state in c312-325 CE. 

 

While both Christmas and New Year’s Day honor the winter solstice and the birthday of the sun, New Year’s Day is furthermore important because it honors the Roman god Janus, who had two faces--one looking back and the other looking forward.  In time, these relics from sun worship became Christmas and New Year’s, which Protestant Christians refused to give up when they broke from Rome. 

 

Persons interested in the failure of Protestant Christianity to part with the heathen festivals of the Roman Catholic Church should take a few minutes and go back to the writings of Martin Luther in the early days of the Reformation.  Luther did address the problem, but then did little about solving it. 

 

What does the Book say in terms of truth?  Well, the Scriptural New Year starts with the new moon evidently nearest the spring equinox (actually, day equal night in the Northern Hemisphere--around March 20th-22d).  This first moon (month) in the Hebrew luni-solar calendar is called "Aviv" (month of green ears of barley--Ex 12:2) and it is far removed from January, with its heathen, sun worship origin. 

 

 

Winter Solstice Celebrations? 

 

While Christianity and Christians generally go wild every year in acknowledged Christmas and New Year’s celebrations (in honor of the birthday of the sun), something surfaced in late 2000 (early December) which just about blew the mind of this writer.  It was extraordinary and absolutely most incredible in the context of established Christianity. 

 

A National Public Radio (NPR) radio broadcast noted that the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (evidently, in New York City--but the one in Spokane, WA could have been the focus or maybe both of them were involved) would hold a winter solstice celebration on Dec 31, 2000.  As cited on the broadcast, this event was to presumably be an all night celebration (maybe to include part of New Year’s Day as well). 

 

Both of the Cathedrals under discussion are Episcopal Churches and are well known land marks in New York City and Spokane. 

 

NPR and assuredly some other TV and radio networks and stations broadcasted the event live from St John’s (making it seem to be a very important event in modern America).  The radio announcer (who reported the coming ceremony) pointed out that the winter solstice event involves the Roman celebration of the birthday of the unconquered sun and that it would be a celebration of the return of the sun. 

 

Frankly, this writer is not sure what this Christian Church in New York/Spokane had in mind in terms of a “winter solstice celebration” --celebrating the return of the sun.  In my many years of trying to live and exist on this planet, nothing like a “winter solstice celebration” in a Christian Church has ever crossed my awareness. 

 

Probably, some part of the observance will focus upon the heathen New Year’s event (with music and ceremonies).  Also, it must be allowed that the church will dig up some old, heathen, solstice, celebration practices and incorporate them somehow into the presentation. 

 

The North Idaho Unitarian Universalist Church in Coeur d’Alene was a little bolder on Dec 22, 2002, when she held a winter solstice celebration (Dec 23, 2002, Idaho “Spokesman-Review,” p. A6, A8).  This one was supervised by the pastor--a woman named Sue Hansen-Barber.  A picture of Sue was in the paper.  She had a dress or jacket of some sort on filled with symbols of Witchcraft (stars, crescent moons, etc). 

 

The article said that this Christian worship would “give thanks” to the “awakening of the newborn sun.”  During services, the Christians lit candles, rang bells, shared a few minutes of quiet meditation, and made an offering to nature (sun flower seeds meant to feed the wild birds).  One woman participant read a passage which said:  “Farewell darkness.”  As candles glowed around her, she added “Go now, fly.” 

 

Evidently, in the Christian past, some or many Christian Churches have had such winter solstice celebrations.  But it is certainly something new for America in 2000-2002.  Or is it?  After all, Christians have been having Christmas and New Year’s celebrations for ages. 

 

Regardless of what all these Christian Churches had in mind in accomplishing these celebrations, the fact that they had the audacity and gall to present such undertakings, with their very clear and obvious connection to historic sun worship, blows one’s mind.  This is absolutely incredible.  But it seems to be the real world of Christianity in the years 2000-2002. 

 

 

The Winter 2000-2001 Power Crisis 

 

A multitude of reasons seem to have come together during the winter of 2000-2001 to create a power crisis across the Western part of America.  Actually, this crisis was only part of the beginnings of trouble to come upon the United States because of enormous national sins which have been accumulating for years. 

 

In any case, early December 2000 (around the 10th day of the 10th month?) saw electric power authorities in the Western US announce that there would be coming, rolling, power outages.  California was the first state to make the announcement.  A few days later, Washington state followed up with a similar pronouncement. 

 

Actually, a shortage of electric power generating capacity came at a wrong time for the US West, because early December 2000 indicated that the 2000-2001 winter would be cold.  It’s not so much that there was a lot of snow (there wasn’t), but the heating problem intensified because massive cold waves of arctic air pushed South into the Pacific Northwest and eventually even into California. 

 

So the response of both government officials and electric power authorities was to begin a systematic campaign to indoctrinate the public on the need to turn lights off and thermostats down in order to save power.  Incentives were issued to big power users to cut back on their power usage. 

 

Of all of the proposed cutbacks, one of the things which was never really properly addressed was the wild, fanatical, Christian obsession of Christmas lights--in and out of homes, on trees and generally on property, both public and private.  Surely, Christmas lights were something which cold, miserable people could do without. 

 

But no, the public was in no mood to cut the Christmas celebration short.  Even President Slick Clinton, who is the moral role model and social example for all Americans, actually went on and lit the national Christmas tree in Washington City on December 11th, just before he left for Ireland. 

 

 

Gross Stupidity 

 

The whole Christian lighting phenomenon was so classically stupid that some power companies on the West Coast did have the courage to suggest that people wait until darkness to turn on their Christmas lights (many leave the Christmas lights on both day and night).  One power company actually had enough intelligence to suggest that it would be good to cut the Christmas lights off when going to bed. 

 

In order to provide power to California (so Californians could have Christmas lights), US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson (under his “emergency authority”) ordered electric companies in the Pacific Northwest to sell power to California companies.  Of course, this meant some new profits for the power companies--so they did not object too strenuously. 

 

To do this, water generated power plants in the Pacific Northwest had to draw down the water behind the dams.  While this unusual effort helped to generate more power (which could be funneled to California), it greatly endangered local salmon, insured great hurt upon the salmon industry and raised real questions if the NW power companies would need water power later for their own customers. 

 

Some of the leading environmentalists in the US, who have been concerned about the declining salmon runs, became angry and upset over this action.  Their argument was why should the salmon be destroyed in the Pacific Northwest in order to provide power for California Christmas lights.  Truly, politics, profits and the revelry associated with the pagan Christmas occasion were all far more important than salmon. 

 

This insanity and fanaticism over Christmas lights (when people were facing rolling power outages) remind this writer of the so-called Arab oil embargo back in the 1970s, when there was allegedly a shortage of gasoline and people had to line up and wait to get a little gas at their friendly service stations. 

 

Maybe the public didn’t have gas to drive their cars, but the shortages and rationing did not affect the use of gasoline to drive the school busses all over the country in order to achieve court ordered racial integration and amalgamation (as will be discussed hereafter). 

 

 

James Lloyd 

 

James Lloyd, editor of the Christian Media, wrote a Nov 2002 letter to his readers which addressed the terrible times we are now living in and the urgent need to start making preparations for great trouble--like buying and storing away some survival foods and supplies. 

 

Lloyd said:  “I am dead serious as we are all out of time to take the steps that are absolutely crucial to our spiritual and physical survival.  At the risk of redundancy, let me put it just a bit more bluntly:  If you’re celebrating Christmas and buying presents instead of survival goods, you deserve your fate.  If you’re sending a dime to any organized church, their iniquity has been added to your eternal account.” 

 

Frankly, this writer must agree with Lloyd on both accounts. 

 

It is utter foolishness and stupidity (as well as being evil and wretched) to spend money on Christmas or the pagan Christian Churches.  Yet, multitudes of Christians continue to pour forth the dollars to both of these entities without any perception at all about their great evil.  Why won’t Christians wake up? 

 

The absolute incredible insanity, stupidity and gullibility of the American public is enough to blow a sound mind.  Anyway an objective student of truth can slice it, one must ultimately come to a realization that Christianity has been an utter disaster for righteousness and truth over the centuries.  The madness associated with the Christmas and New Year’s seasons proves it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 228--More Christian-Religion Holidays

 

 

Halloween and Related Days 

 

Christendom has some interesting holidays which fall in sequence, starting on October 31st.  They are Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.  While essentially Catholic and Anglican Christians observe the last two, the primary Halloween festival is recognized by almost all of Christianity with few exceptions. 

 

As is true with all of the commonly accepted Christian holidays and festivals, the one thing that can be said for these three occasions is that there are no Scriptural references to them in the context of duties for believers.  In short, they are just not in the Book as something for believers! 

 

The Word does identify an event that happened historically in ancient Yisrael which most often falls at or very near the Halloween celebration. 

 

This reference surfaced when the evident sun worshipper Yarovam (who spent some time in Egypt and evidently picked up sun worship there or from his Egyptian wife) broke the Northern ten tribes of Yisrael away from the Judean king Rechavam, as discussed elsewhere herein in some detail. 

 

At the time of this division, Yarovam set up false worship sites at Bethel and Dan in the Northern kingdom in an effort to keep the people from going to Jerusalem to worship YHWH there.  For certain, he did change the fall feast (Sukkot) to the 15th day of the eight month (Bul), instead of YAH’s ordained seventh month (I Kg 12:32-33). 

 

In terms of the Scriptural calendar, this Yarovam initiated event falls at about Halloween time.  In regards to the House of Yisrael, it is highly possible that she established Halloween specifically in honor of Yarovam’s festival. 

 

The one thing that can best be said about Halloween (the pagan Samhain of the Druids, per Gerald L. Berry in “Religions of the World,” p. 6) is that it is patently “Devil” worship and is an extremely important observance in Witchcraft (one of the highest Sabbaths or Holy Days of the year) and Satanism (per “Halloween, Trick or Treat” video). 

 

In terms of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples, Halloween certainly dates from Druid sun worship times and evidently has a basis in the former sun worship cults as well.  Even the delights of many children in the familiar trick or treat, black cats, snakes, broomsticks, bonfires, Jack O’ Lanterns, apple dunking and strange costumes can be traced to ancient pagan practices (per “Halloween, Trick or Treat” video). 

 

Respecting this festival, which falls on or near the 15th day of the eight moon, it must be pointed out that in modern times this historic event seems to have a close correlation with stock and financial market troubles which have occurred often in the United States.  Could there be a connection?  Maybe yes! 

 

 

All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days

 

All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days are Christian festivals in honor of dead immortal souls.  “An Encyclopedia of Religion” indicates that All Saints’ Day stems from an ancient Greek (sun worship) festival called “To all the Gods.”  All Souls’ Day also appears to likewise be pagan in origin. 

 

By honoring and sacrificing to the dead, it is quite obvious that these practices conflict with a host of Scriptures.  Moshe wrote a condemnation of the Israelites when they began a practice of making sacrifices to the dead (Num 25:1-3; Ps 106:28).  Later, Shaul added similar remarks (I Cor 10:20-21; Col 2:8). 

 

With all of this homage being paid to dead souls and Devil worship, it was only natural that the concept of ghosts and goblins would gain prominence on these occasions.  Witchcraft and occult believers believe that this is the time for evil spirits to be manifested.  These events are clearly associated with black magic, superstition, the occult and pagan sun worship as well. 

 

 

Valentine’s Day 

 

Another popular Christian festival is “Saint Valentine’s Day,” celebrated on February 14th.  Like so many Christian holidays, this one has its origin in ancient sun worship.  Originally, it was the sun worshipping Roman feast of Lupercalia, which was “Christianized” by the Catholic Church in honor of the Catholic Saint Valentine who died about 270 CE (per “The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 743). 

 

This same encyclopedia (ibid, p. 743) notes that in the middle ages, Valentine’s Day became associated with the union of lovers under conditions of duress.  Most Christians celebrate the holiday with writings and communications, often comic, but stressing sex and/or love.  Of course, the little cupid or Eros figure is also commonly associated with the occasion. 

 

In Roman sun worship mythology, Cupid (or Amor) was the naked infant son and companion of Venus, the Greek representation of the Babylonian Ishtar or Easter (per “The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 272)--thus, a representation of the famous mother-child figure of sun worshipping Babylon (discussed in a prior chapter). 

 

As outlined earlier, Eros was the bisexual god of love in Greek sun worship mythology (“Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets,” p. 283).  He was supposed to be the son of Aphrodite and Aries.  In his youth, he was shown winged with a bow.  Supposedly, he was one of the oldest Greek gods born in Chaos, but personifying harmony (per “The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 272). 

 

In “The Rise, Decline & Fall of the Roman Religion” (p. 38), James Ballantyne Hannay wrote that this Roman feast of Lupercalia (along with several other similar sun worship festivals) was a celebration where “all bonds were loosed” and the people indulged in open licentiousness.  He also noted that the Romans observed it with a huge model of the (phallic) male organ being carried in procession. 

 

 

May Day 

 

Another one of the popular festivals in Christendom is the annual May Day celebration.  In Communist thinking, it has progressed to the point of being a major holiday.  With its popularity in Communism, many Western Christians progressively have begun to lose interest in the occasion, although it used to have wide acceptance years ago. 

 

Obviously, May Day is certainly of no Scriptural significance whatsoever.  So, if it has been and is observed, one must ask why?  The answer?  It’s from the old pagan sun worship cults, as so many other things one finds in Western Christianity. 

 

In “Religions of the World” (p. 6), Gerald L. Berry wrote about May Day (May 1st) and said that May Day replaced the old Druid sun worship celebration of Beltane, which was celebrated on May 1 with great bonfires and sex orgies in the fields.  Berry notes that human sacrifice was common; and of course, the female priestesses were available for sexual rites. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 229--Secular Holidays in Christendom

 

 

Birthday Celebrations 

 

One of the extremely popular customs of the present Western civilization is the insane, crazy obsession that multitudes have for their birthdays and their related birthday parties.  Significantly, for persons who are attempting to obey and follow The HIGHEST, there is not one word, suggestion or implication in the entire Word which would justify, encourage or support birthday celebrations. 

 

Whenever a person undertakes to live by the Word, the presence (both from a good point of view or an unacceptable one) or absence of some act or custom can be very enlightening.  That’s why study is so crucial.  The true believer must be mindful of the proper ways of living, as found in the lives of all of the historic believers, plus those things found in their lives which were wrong.  Birthdays are certainly in this category. 

 

There are clearly two instances and probably one more where birthday parties and celebrations took place in the Book. 

 

The earliest example of this practice surfaced during the life of Yosef in Egypt when the Pharaoh had a birthday party which included the hanging of his chief baker (Gen 40:20-22).  For this event, it is patently obvious that the practice was one of sun worshippers in a sun worship culture and society (the Egyptians worshipped the sun god Rae). 

 

The other certain birthday celebration happened in the first century CE, when King Herod had a birthday party which prompted him (at the bequest of the daughter of his wife Herodias) to order the beheading of Yohanan the Baptist (Mk 6:21-27).  As discussed previously, this depraved Amalek-Edomite Herod was certainly no believer and follower of truth and should not be emulated by anyone desiring righteousness. 

 

Finally, some students of the Word feel that Iyov’s children were involved in a birthday celebration when their lives and futures were finally terminated by an act of Satan and nature, as authorized and approved by The SOVEREIGN YHWH, Himself (Job 1:12-13, 18-19). 

 

In the first mention of Iyov’s children, in the context of them feasting on their (birth?) days (Job 1:4), the Word goes right on to communicate how this partying troubled and upset the obedient Iyov (Job 1:5). 

 

There is some evidence (discussed elsewhere in this study) suggesting that this famous Iyov probably lived in the land of Egypt.  If so, that fact would suggest where and how his children picked upon the birthday celebration. 

 

 

A Sun Worship Origin 

 

The point of all this is that for people who live by the Book and charter their lives by the Book (and who do not merely carry the Book around for pride and show off purposes), there is no Scriptural basis whatsoever for birthday celebrations, practices and customs.  In fact, if one takes what the Word says, birthday parties have their origins in Egyptian sun worship and are practices and customs of pagan sun worshippers. 

 

In “Fossilized Customs” (p. 29), the previously quoted Lew White says that the birthday rituals of the cake, candles, wish and presents serve to give thanks to sky luminaries for allowing the birthday celebrant to reach the annual cycle of his birth. 

 

The cake was baked for the Queen of Heaven (Astarte or Easter) and decorated and monogrammed with the celebrant’s name.  The candles symbolized the sacred fire, carefully numbered for each annual cycle completed.  In Witchcraft, one’s birth is considered to be the most significant event in his or her life. 

 

This short dissertation on birthdays should also provide some additionally good reasons on why the Christmas celebrations practiced in Churchianity are all wrong and contrary to the Scriptures.  There is just no way that an honest student of truth can justify and support the heathen Xmas customs found among modern sun worshippers. 

 

Manifestly, The CREATOR did not ordain and establish any birthday celebrations.  Obviously, this truth must even apply equally as well to any idea of the celebration of YESHUA’s birthday.  Yes, as even as desirable as it might seem to celebrate the anniversary of the date of the birth of The MESSIAH, the truth is that this important occasion is not to be celebrated. 

 

The bottom line here is that no one’s birthday should be celebrated and set apart as happens routinely in both the secular and Christian world.  Birthdays are out! 

 

 

Man-made Holidays in General 

 

Former chapters discussed the sun worship evil of several of the commonly accepted Christian holidays (meaning holy days).  This prior discussion has focused upon Sunday, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Easter, Good (Black) Friday, May Day, Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday, Agape Love Feasts, Lent, Mardi Gras, Fasching, Halloween, All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. 

 

There are still several other so-called religious days (which were not discussed in the previous chapter on Christian religion days) that also need mentioning--like:  Epiphany, Palm Sunday and Whitsunday Pentecost.  Moreover, for Catholics, there are a vast host of holidays associated with the multitudes of the so-called Roman Catholic saints. 

 

 

For Both Christians and Non-Christians 

 

As outlined in this study, it isn’t only the fact that religious people recognize and observe these sun worship holidays.  Instead, secular people in the Christian society and culture are just as devoted to these manifestations of sun worship.  Goyim who don’t even go to a Christian sun worship church on Sunday mornings still keep Sunday and most of the other sun worship days as holidays and festivals.

 

Having Sunday off is not just something for those Christians who want to go to sun worship services.  The generic people in Christian lands are just as adamant about having Sunday and the Christian holidays off.  Virtually everybody is devoted to Christmas parties or showing off a new hat on Easter. 

 

 

All Over the World 

 

But the outreach is not only to Christian and non-Christians in Christian lands, it is interestingly all over the world and even in the most grossly pagan or atheistic nations and among the most atheistic people imaginable. 

 

In a discussion on Christmas, the Jan-Feb 2003 “EAOY Newsletter” (p. 1) reported upon a newspaper story on “Christmas catches on in China,” with an accompanying big picture of a Santa Claus looking down from a mall.  The article said that “Christmas-minus the religious overtones--is thriving in China.” 

 

Going on, EAOY noted that the reason why Christmas is so popular in China is that it parallels the traditional Chinese holidays. 

 

EAOY adds: “In China, 97.2% of mostly urban respondents knew about Christmas.  This is a larger percentage than the United States where Christmas was ‘popularized by Christianity.’  Moreover, it proves that more non Bible believers believe in Christmas than supposed Bible believers (a good indication that the Messiah was never in Christmas in the first place).” 

 

The Apr 26, 2003, Spokane “Spokesman-Review” (p. E3) had an article by Kathi Wolfe on “Sweeney loses her religion” which told the story of actress Julia Sweeney (she plays “Pat” on TV’s “Saturday Night Live”).  Sweeney, a former Catholic, is now an atheist and humanist (who has a new show on “Letting Go of God” which opened in Los Angeles on April 17, 2003). 

 

But Christian ritual and holidays are still a part of her life, as she tells it.  At Easter time, Sweeney rolls Easter eggs with her 3-year-old daughter (she tells the child that they symbolize spring); and she has a Christmas tree at Christmas time, and sends out solstice cards for Christmas. 

 

Despite whatever shortcomings and problems Julia may have, she did hit a homerun in one remark for the article.  She said that “If you want to get people to leave the (Christian) church, have them read the Bible.”  Apparently, the former Catholic, Julia, was prompted to read the Scriptures by some Mormon missionaries.  Thereupon, she discovered that the church and the “Bible” were in two different worlds. 

 

Manifestly, it is common for pagans around the world to observe all or almost all of the common Christian holidays just as devoutly and seriously as do Christians in the United States or Christian West. 

 

 

No End To it 

 

Actually, in terms of human religions (i.e. Christianity), governments and peoples, there is no end to so-called holy days, holidays, festivals and set apart times.  While establishing a precise linkage to the historic sun worship cults and peoples is not always possible for all of them, it is correct to say that all or almost all of them have no Scriptural basis whatsoever (except for Jewish holidays among Jews and in Israel). 

 

Since this mass of holy days/holidays is not Scriptural, it is clear that one must look elsewhere for their origins.  This “elsewhere” ultimately devolves to ancient sun worship cults and practices; or as a minimum, in a few instances, man-made efforts in more recent years. 

 

 

More Holidays 

 

Besides those days that plainly connect to historic sun worship, the national United States has holidays in honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, Presidents’ Day (actually on or near Washington’s birthday), Columbus Day, Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Labor Day. 

 

The goofy, warped US society went so crazy over Martin Luther King Jr that almost every city was forced to change the name of one of its streets to honor him. 

 

With the huge success of the Martin Luther King Jr birthday celebrations, the United States now has an organized effort afoot to make the birthday of Ceser Chavez into a national US holiday (Apr 22, 2002, “American Free Press,” p. 2).  Chavez was a Mexican migrant worker who built the farm workers’ union in California.  This motion is just more of the incredible stupidity of White Americans. 

 

Beyond these formally recognized holidays, there are a vast assortment of others which receive national recognition--like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. 

 

 

An Array in America 

 

Besides the above listing of national holidays, it must be noted that a number of the US and Canadian states and jurisdictions have their own local holidays which they set aside and observe. 

 

“The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2003” gives this list of these other holidays--Benjamin Franklin’s Birthday, Groundhog Day, Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty Day (NM), Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, Susan B. Anthony’s Birthday (FL and WI), Texas Independence Day, Town Meeting Day (VT), Andrew Jackson’s Day (TN), St Patrick’s Day, Evacuation Day (Suffolk Co, MA), Seward’s Day (AK), Pascua, Florida Day, Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday, Patriots Day (ME and MA), San Jacinto Day (TX), National Arbor Day, Truman’s Day (MO), Armed Forces Day, Victoria Day (Canada), National Maritime Day, World Environment Day, King Kamehameha I Day (HI), Flag Day, Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk Co, MA), Emancipation Day (TX), West Virginia Day, Canada Day, Pioneer Day (UT), Colorado Day, Victoria Day (RI), Bennington Battle Day ((VT), National Alliance Day, Women’s Equality Day, Grandparents Day, Admission Day (CA), Citizenship Day, Child Health Day, Native American Day (SD), Alaska Day, United Nations Day, Nevada Day, Election Day, Will Rogers Day (OK), Discovery Day (Puerto Rico), Acadian Day (LA), John F. Kennedy Day (MA), National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Bill of Rights Day, Wright Brothers Day, Boxing Day, Islamic New Year, and First Day of Kwanzaa (Blacks). 

 

 

Foreign Days as Well 

 

Foreign nations and peoples around the world also have their host of formal or recognized holidays, as well--beyond those that are religious in significance. 

 

Not only are some peoples totally goofy over their own national man-made holidays, but many persons are equally as obsessed over the holidays of foreign nations and peoples. 

 

The Nov 22, 2002, “The Week” (p. 6) noted that the city of San Francisco spends more money celebrating multicultural holidays than it does on American stand-bys (such as Veterans Day).  In 2002, the city spent $113,000 on Carnaval (a Brazilian holiday), $84,000 on the Chinese New Year, $68,000 on Cinco De Mayo (a Mexican holiday), and $16,000 on the Samoan Flag Day. 

 

There are at least two important things that can be said about the mass of popular holidays in America and Canada, and indeed, around the world.  First, none of them are Scriptural (in fact, most of them are actually contrary to the Scriptures).  And second, if the Christians and others have been so anxious to set aside holidays, why then didn’t they include some of the Scriptural festivals outlined by YHWH? 

 

 

But Why? 

 

Admittedly, it is often quite difficult and hard to establish a sun worship link precisely for each and all of these man-made holidays (holy days).  Probably, many of them are quite ancient and do, in fact, have a connection to the old sun cults or ancient sun worshippers.  But for sure, none of those cited have any clear linkage whatsoever to Scripturally established festivals (cited earlier and to be described in later chapters). 

 

Because the Word already lists, delineates and defines a number of festivals and occasions for YHWH’s people, why is it that real followers of Him would want to create, define and substitute some human, man-made occasion in exchange for those belonging to Him. 

 

Take the situation with the US Thanksgiving Day--coming in the fall in late November.  Legally, Thanksgiving Day was established by the professional politician and occultist Abraham Lincoln (who deceitfully changed a lot of things in the United States).  However, Thanksgiving Day had a much earlier origin--at least back to the Pilgrims in New England in the 17th century. 

 

The fact that the Pilgrims were religious Christians (who specifically went out of their way to substitute man-made holy days for Scriptural festivals and times), one must pause and wonder if the origin of Thanksgiving Day is even older in time than the 17th century.  This writer is not certain of that answer.  But it must be allowed that perhaps Thanksgiving Day does go back in time to ancient sun worship in some way. 

 

 

One Big Problem 

 

However, the real problem with the US Thanksgiving Day is clearly because it is a man-made attempt to ignore and demean the Scriptural festivals (like Sukkot and Hanukkah); and instead, to substitute a non-Scriptural, Christian holy day (holiday).  This action is simply not right for the people of YHWH YESHUA.  Though Christian sun worshippers may do this, it is not for the people of faith. 

 

In fact, the case can be made for the same rational for all of the man-made holy days (holidays) and occasions.  Since followers of YHWH YESHUA do not and cannot properly observe birthdays (because they have a sun worship origin), why is it or how is it that people of the Book would dare try to establish a holiday (holy day) to observe the birthdays of Martin Luther King Jr, George Washington or anyone else? 

 

The same questions have to be raised on all of the US holidays (holy days).  If it is important to put flowers on the graves of the dead on memorial day--why not do this on just any spring day?  Some persons might try to argue that it could be done on Shavuot.  But the requirements of Shavuot are Scripturally established.  Plus, one must wonder if the placing of flowers on graves could have a pagan origin or not. 

 

The same reasoning applies to the exchanging of gifts and the sending of cards during the heathen Christmas occasion, as noted earlier (or as modern Jews now do with Hanukkah).  If a person wants to give gifts or send cards to others, why not do it at all times of the year and especially during the Scriptural festivals.  This course will be shortly discussed below in the vein of showing real love. 

 

As far as having specific holy days set aside for veterans, labor and independence, the believer of truth must always stop and ponder the observance of these occasions in contrast to what the Word outlines.  Surely, if a believer wants to observe an Independence Day, why not observe Passover and Shavuot.  These are the Scripturally defined independence days for Yisrael and Israelites. 

 

And of course, the person really concerned about truth should be aware that the US Independence day in 1776, apparently occurred on the 17th day of the Fourth Scriptural month--a Hebrew fast day. 

 

All House of Yisrael Israelites should be fasting on this day where possible because it seems to have particular significance for the House of Yisrael in the age end (as mentioned in a preceding chapter and as will be further assessed in later presentations herein). 

 

 

The Differences 

 

Beyond the obvious in terms of origin (yes, most modern holidays come from ancient sun worship or more recent human concepts--as opposed to the Scriptures), there are several other major differences between modern man-made festivals and the Scriptural feasts. 

 

The man-made festivals are predicated upon the basis of Greek sun worship ideas in that they are almost totally dedicated to pleasure and the gratification of the human flesh--eating, drinking, making merry, sexual gratification, socializing, partying, playing, getting drunk, having fun and a good time, etc. 

 

This Grecian thinking on the pursuit of pleasure, entertainment, having fun and enjoying one’s self has been mentioned earlier and will be further described in later chapters. 

 

Conversely, the Tanakh festivals of Leviticus 23 are often more solemn occasions commemorating profoundly important historical events (from the Scriptures and usually relating to the history of Yisrael) or foretelling extraordinary future events (predicted in the Word and typically associated with the future of Yisrael). 

 

True, many of the Leviticus 23 festivals do include eating, drinking, socializing and enjoying one’s self.  But this is not their primary focus. 

 

However, mixed in with the enjoyment of one’s self, there are almost always certain rituals prescribed by The HIGHEST--which the observance of such allows the participant to honor, respect and worship The MOST HIGH in the way which He has prescribed and outlined in His Word.  Yes, when we do what He says and teaches, we are worshipping Him in spirit and in truth (Jo 4:24). 

 

Hence, there are elements present of the worship and respect for The ELOHIM when we obey His rituals (here, the issue is “His” communicated rituals and not those that are man-made).  Therefore, it is important that we keep the Passover, in the context of a meal of joy and fellowship involving a certain ritual.  Also, it is important to get all leavening out of one’s house for Passover and Unleavened Bread. 

 

It is important to follow the Scriptural calendar and count the weeks to Shavuot.  It is important to fast on certain days (especially Yom Kippur).  It is important to dwell in booths at Sukkot (not only to commemorate the past, when Yisrael dwelt in booths, but also the future when Philadelphia will be protected in a sukkot during the great tribulation).  All of the prescribed rituals have meaning and are important in worship. 

 

By the way, these important Hebrew festivals, as described in YHWH’s Word, will be broached and discussed in some detail in the succeeding chapters.  The reader is asked to be patient and they will all be clarified and defined. 

 

The point is that the Book already defines and establishes the festivals, occasions and times which followers of YHWH YESHUA should be observing and setting apart.  The very idea that some human holy day (holiday) could be set apart to observe takes away from and demeans the Scriptural festivals and fast days. 

 

 

One More Big Tragedy About Man-made Holidays 

 

As suggested above, Christians have picked upon the old Greek sun worship ideas of having fun, partying, playing, enjoying sex (especially illegal and/or perverted sex) and so forth during man-made holidays and festivals.  This propensity for Grecian sun worship revelry and fun permeates virtually all of these man-made holidays and occasions. 

 

Recognizing that the pagans are incredibly evil and wretched and love their pagan holidays, smart merchants (and especially perceptive, shrewd, cunning, clever, evil, Amalekite bankers/masters) realized long ago that these man-made festivals offer a fantastic opportunity to make a lot of money. 

 

So these fat cat merchants seized upon the Christian occasions and invented a number of new ones to get money out of the Christian suckers.  Clearly, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are classic illustrations of how merchants and commercial people have put over man-made festivals to make money. 

 

Therefore, with the inherent desire on the part of Christian sun worshippers to devote themselves to pleasure, fun, entertainment and revelry during their holidays, it was easy for conniving merchants to begin massive selling campaigns on the idea of inducing the evil Christians on the need to send gifts to each other and/or at least spend their money on something to fuel their pleasure and fun during their holidays. 

 

Since so many Christian holidays are focused upon eating and making merry, the gullible public has been sold on the need to have a ham dinner at Christmas, a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving, hot cross buns, bunnies, eggs and a new hat at Easter and so forth.  But the merchants have cleverly went beyond the sale of self gratification. 

 

As outlined earlier, the Christian society has completely commercialized the pagan sun worship Christmas into a giant giving campaign where almost everyone has to buy gifts to give to other people (cards, presents, etc).  The shrewd merchants went on and made the same thing prevailing at as many other festivals as possible. 

 

Thus, people have been pushed and motivated to send Valentine cards on Valentine’s Day.  Of course, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day were popularized by the commercial society (of mainly diabolical Amalekites) to make everybody spend their money on gifts or telephone calls to their mothers and fathers on those occasions.  The merchants have even went after the Jews by pushing gifts at Hanukkah. 

 

Since money is the name of the game and since the commercial world has so many cunning, clever and smart merchants, they have successfully seized upon man’s inherent evil to push all of this wretchedness upon the people.  And the people, of course, have went along with it. 

 

 

Real Love? 

 

But there is something that is totally overlooked by all of the planners, pushers and participants in this depravity.  The reality is that love, care and concern cannot be properly expressed when a person has to do it in the form of giving a gift or performing an action on the basis of a duty or requirement engineered by clever merchants and the generic society of evil people.  

 

In other words, all so-called human beings alive should show love and concern to their parents.  In fact, the Decalogue specifically commands honor to parents (in the fifth commandment).  The expression of love by a child to a parent should occur periodically and as often as possible throughout the year.  Children should routinely look for opportunities to give a gift or perform an act of love for parents. 

 

If one should do this regularly and routinely throughout the year, it becomes hypocritical to have to be forced to do it on a secular holiday (created and popularized by clever Amalekite merchants to make money).  In other words, the warped, pathetic society has created a method of making money for merchants by imposing a duty or requirement on people on a particular day during the year (i.e. Mother’s Day). 

 

Hence, if a child loves a parent, he or she should give the parent gifts and acts of love during the year (on the basis of love and concern) and not because of a duty imposed upon him or her by a secular state of money hungry merchants. 

 

The same reasoning applies during the year in respect to the sun worship Christmas occasion.  If people really have love and affection for someone else, they would look for opportunities to give a gift or perform acts of love--all during the year.  They would not wait until a society ordained occasion arose demanding a gift (as at Christmas, on birthdays, anniversaries and so forth). 

 

When a person responds to the demands of the society and the manipulative acts of clever merchants and gives a gift to someone, the evidence is massive that there is no love, care and concern involved.  Instead, the whole effort involves a duty and the demands of society or the clever persuasion of merchants (to make money). 

 

In reality, real love must be spontaneous and from the heart, based upon the feelings of the heart, and not because of a duty or something that everybody in the secular society is doing because of the massive advertising and manipulation of the society by clever merchants out to make money. 

 

In other words, if you love your mother, give her gifts as often as possible--but give based upon love from your heart.  Do not sit back and expect to express love to her on Christmas Day or Mother’s Day based upon being manipulated and controlled by a warped, evil, sun worship society and system that has no concept of even what love is. 

 

 

On YHWH’s Days? 

 

Incidentally, this writer is not against giving gifts or performing acts of love in connection with the YHWH ordained Sabbaths and festivals in the Scriptures. 

 

Therefore, it is an intelligent and good move to give children a gift on Sabbaths.  Likewise, it would be honorable and proper to give parents or anyone else a gift or good deed on a Sabbath or one of YAH’s ordained festivals (except for possibly Hanukkah, which falls so close to Christmas that the idea of giving gifts becomes revolting). 

 

The problem arises in giving gifts and performing acts of love as duties over a sun worship or man ordained holy day, holiday or occasion.  It is wrong to show honor and respect to pagan, heathen holidays and occasions--just as it is wrong to pay honor, respect and worship to the names of the sun god (Gee-Zeus, the Lard, Gawd and so forth). 

 

There is another pathetic aspect of giving gifts or performing good deeds on sun worship and/or man ordained holidays--as opposed to giving gifts or performing good deeds on YHWH’s festivals.  The sun worship society ordains and almost mandates that the general public participate in the evils of the festivals by giving gifts on a duty or obligation basis. 

 

Therefore, people living in a sun worship culture and civilization face an almost mandatory requirement to send Christmas cards and buy gifts for others at Christmas time.  Since almost everybody does it in the society, a person becomes an outcast and a symbol of evil when he doesn’t do it.  People who do not participate in Christmas are looked down upon as “Uncle Scrooges” and persons of evil. 

 

Non-participants become objects of hate.  For example, if a person chooses to not participate in the heathen Halloween ceremony, little children then respond with acts of vandalism and destruction upon the non participant’s property.  If one does not have a big meal on Thanksgiving day, the assumption is then made by the general society that he is weird, evil and warped in some way. 

 

The same is classically true of the wickedness associated with the weekly Sunday holidays and most all of the sun worship days.  It is no big deal that a business man might choose to close his business on one of these days.  Many sun worshippers expect it, as noted earlier.  Even those businesses that do open on sun worship days, often open after sun worship religious services in the local sun worship churches. 

 

The sun worship culture (in almost all sun worship societies, including Christian sun worship nations) expect and almost demand that all people observe, respect and pay homage to the sun worship occasions.  It is very hard to oppose this system and exist in it (that’s why the Sabbath is a test mitzwah for believers). 

 

 

YHWH is Different on This 

 

However, in terms of giving gifts on the Sabbath days or festivals, there is a prime difference.  YHWH’s Word does not put the matter of giving Sabbath gifts on the basis of a mandatory, cultural requirement, duty or commandment.  In other words, Scripturally observant people are obligated to pay honor to parents (this suggests that performing acts of love for parents is a duty). 

 

But there is no specification that one “must” give these gifts or acts of love and honor on the Sabbath day or any other Scriptural festival (although there might be some semblance of a duty suggested in the Passover meal occasion).  By and large, a person can give a parent or a child a gift on Sabbath or not. 

 

From YHWH’s point of view, He has not demanded that gifts among us humans/humanoids be made on His days and set apart times.  However, His Word does demand that certain gifts and offerings be made to Him in the context of the Temple and its system.  Albeit, this is a different matter than people giving gifts one to another. 

 

Obviously, the followers of YHWH (who love Him and are attempting to obey Him) look for ways to honor and show Him respect by honoring and respecting His set apart times.  Therefore, it is a privilege for a parent to honor the Sabbath and teach a child to honor and love the Sabbath when the parent gives a child a gift on Sabbath. 

 

Clearly, the most important meal of the week is the Sabbath meal.  It should be the best one.  The Sabbath day should be made a day of joy by believers! 

 

As noted elsewhere herein, if a family can only eat meat, a dessert or something special once a week, then the Sabbath day is the best time to enjoy it.  But this is not on a mitzwah/commandment basis.  It is a suggestion on the basis of a little common sense in the vein that believers want to please and honor The ELOHIM and His set apart days. 

 

 

Bottom Line 

 

On virtually any discussion on Scriptural Sabbath days, Christians inevitably bring up Romans 14:4-6, as discussed at some length in a preceding chapter on Shaul and the Torah (while Christians apply this text to the Scriptural days, they refuse to apply it to pagan, man-made holidays--which are, in fact, addressed). 

 

Since Christians won’t let go of this text, those previous remarks need to be recalled here.  As pointed out earlier, Romans 14:4-6 seems to present a problem for a lot of Christians because they want to suppose that Shaul was making all days the same (thus, abolishing the kodesh [Hebrew word meaning set apart] aspects of the Seventh day Sabbath). 

 

However, Shaul was in no position to abolish “any” of YHWH’s laws (including the Sabbath), nor would he have attempted to do so.  As noted previously, in Romans 14:4-6, Shaul is merely declaring that in terms of the sanctity of days, one needs to do what his master wants. 

 

And regarding the sanctity of the various holidays established by “man” (yes, Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, etc), they are all the same as other days with no differences whatsoever in the Book (which is the essence of Shaul’s words in Romans 14:4-6).  Of course, none of these man-made days and human devised holiday times have any significance whatsoever in the Book. 

 

Thus, a slave in a household would be forced and obligated to do what his master demands for those days.  So, if a master in a household keeps Independence Day, it is obvious that slaves will be forced by the master to keep that holiday--perhaps not because they want to, but because the master will demand it. 

 

Conversely, for believers in YHWH YESHUA, they should spend some time and find out what their RULER (OWNER) wants on the recognition of the solemnity of particular days.  Does the Scriptures have anything to say on the setting aside of certain days for religious purposes?  Assuredly yes!  Should the followers of YESHUA recognize these days as established by their RULER? 

 

Is there a difference between man-made days as opposed to the Scripturally defined days?  Yet, Christians inevitably adopt, follow and adore the man-made holidays and generally reject the Scripturally ordained days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 230--The Hebrew Festivals I

 

 

The Christian Problem 

 

This and the following chapter will address the festivals, feasts and time occasions in the Scriptures (as ordained by YHWH for His people). 

 

Suffice to say, The ELOHIM did not establish Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Halloween and so forth as religious “holidays” to be observed by His people, at anytime in history--past, present or future.  These man ordained days are all pagan sun worship to the core (as proven earlier). 

 

The first problem Christians face when attempting to broach the Scriptural festivals and feasts is that they look upon them as a part of the OT Torah--which they say was abolished and done away with; or alternatively, was fulfilled, completed and having no more relevance to man.  Evil Christians are always looking for stupid excuses to willfully disobey the Torah in outright rebellion (pesha)! 

 

Perhaps the Sep 2000 “Destiny Letter” (p. 1-4), previously cited, represents this Babylonian mentality with a whole focus in this direction by Wilfred Marks Jr.  To demonstrate the foolishness of this Christian theology, some of the ideas of Marks and Destiny will now be shared. 

 

Marks quoted from Leviticus 23 and asked if we are to celebrate these feasts today, “as one would celebrate some other religious holiday” (does he mean Christmas or Easter here)?  He then went on to say that their celebration would require animal sacrifices; which, of course, he argued against.  His premise was that the Scriptural feasts should not be observed (since sacrifices were once made on those days). 

 

 

In Fact 

 

The truth is that the Jews have celebrated those occasions for the last 2,000 years without making sacrifices (because there is no legally approved Temple for sacrifices).  This writer has kept the weekly Sabbath and the annual Hebrew festivals (outlined in the Torah) for over 30 years, and i have never made a sacrifice at a Temple, nor have i felt obligated to offer physical animal sacrifices. 

 

The question is moot since there has been no Temple for 2,000 years.  Once a Third Temple is built, then maybe the question of sacrifices will arise.  But until that day arrives, it is Christian nonsense and rebellion to be complaining and whining about sacrifices. 

 

While sacrifices were made on those Scriptural, festival days (as long as the Temple stood), the truth is that the Daily Sacrifice and sin offerings were regularly made every day--to even include being made on pagan (Christian), sun worship holidays, like Christmas, Easter, May Day, Halloween and Sundays (since Temple sacrifices were routinely made on the sun worship days in Second Temple days, does it mean that the sun worship holidays ceased with the end of the Temple operations and sacrifices?  Which modern Christian wants to come forward and declare that Sunday, Easter and Christmas are now out as holidays--because the Temple sacrifices made on those days came to an end in the first century CE?). 

 

The daily sacrifices (made every day on YHWH’s days as well as sun worship days) had absolutely nothing to do, per se, with the festivals (whether they were YAH ordained or sun worship/Christian ordained).  They were not directly connected. 

 

 

Festivals Were Not Contingent on Sacrifices 

 

In other words, the keeping of the feasts were not dependent upon making sacrifices.  In fact, people in both the OT and NT routinely kept the “kodesh” days wherever they were physically located (Acts 13:14-44; 17:2; 18:4; 27:9; 28:17).  But they could only personally make sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem on appropriate occasions (like for sin offerings, or as Shaul did for purification--Acts 21:24-26). 

 

In the case of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot and the weekly Sabbath, they all started long before the Tabernacle/Temple and its sacrificial system.  So there is no direct link between the festivals and sacrifices, per se.  The only tie between the two is that on the Sabbath and feast days, the number of sacrifices made were increased to show honor for the festivals, as opposed to the other, regular, calendar days. 

 

Going on, Marks tried to make the case that to celebrate the Passover with sacrifices would be saying that “we don’t think Jesus’ sacrifice was good enough to fulfill the Passover laws.”  Since there has been no Temple for sacrificing, this issue is moot and totally irrelevant to discuss. 

 

In any case, every day that the Temple stood, NT believers did offer sacrifices--including Shaul the apostle (as just noted and as described in a former chapter herein). 

 

Next, Marks launched into a discussion that the law (dealing with the feasts in Leviticus 23) was a schoolmaster for the “actual events which were to be performed by God the Father, through God the Son, Jesus Christ.”  The relevance of the schoolmaster idea has been discussed earlier and needs no further mention here. 

 

The article involved then goes on to declare that once “Christ” died and was resurrected, then the only thing that remained was for “God’s people” to have faith in the performed and completed work of “Christ.”  Marks said that the work of fulfilling the laws of sacrifice (whether added at Sinai or not) was a work which “God has taken the responsibility for.” 

 

However, this idea that the festivals of Leviticus 23 were “all” fulfilled by YESHUA is utter and complete nonsense.  It simply is not true.  Assuredly, Marks and Destiny do not know what they are talking about.  They both need a lot of milk teachings on truth. 

 

Prior chapters have already disproved this theory.  But this presentation will amplify it still further.  Only the Passover was fulfilled by YESHUA.  The other occasions were all future when The MESSIAH died.   Most of them are still future, today, here in 2003.  This chapter will demonstrate some of the meanings about these festivals which are still future, as these words are being written. 

 

 

The Torah Provisions for the Feasts 

 

One of the great principles which YHWH made to govern His people is that the “Sabbath” is to be a sign between Him and Yisrael (Ex 31:17).  Later, Yechezkel repeats the message but uses the plural “Sabbaths” (Ezek 20:12, 20).  While these remarks certainly include the weekly Seventh day Sabbaths, the plural form could and apparently does extend to cover the seven annual Sabbaths as well. 

 

Since the weekly Sabbath has been and will be thoroughly commented upon in other chapters herein, there is no need to present that focus at this time.  The only addition worth mentioning is that the NT lays out the wonderful, ultimate, prophetic significance of the Sabbath (as described elsewhere herein, in the context of the 7,000 years of Adam). 

 

As will be discussed at some length in later commentary herein, the Seventh day Sabbath is reflective of the coming, great, Sabbatical millennium of YHWH when YESHUA directly rules the earth for a thousand years (Heb 4:4-13). 

 

The Torah outlines three primary festival periods (corresponding to the three, great, agricultural harvests in Canaan, as discussed in former chapters) which largely focused upon and included the just mentioned seven annual Sabbaths. 

 

The wording for six of the seven annual Sabbaths seem to differ from the weekly Sabbaths in that “no servile work” is allowed on them, whereas “no work” is allowed on the weekly Sabbaths.  Jewish scholar Dr J. H. Hertz says that the servile idea implies a less strict abstinence from labor and does not prohibit the preparation of food (“The Soncino Edition of the Pentateuch and Haftorahs,” p. 520). 

 

Christian writers Larry and June Acheson of Plano, Texas offer the same conclusion (based on the fact that the work restriction for the Day of Atonement is the same as the weekly Sabbath--since food preparation is prohibited on Atonement, it may suggest that it is allowable on the other six annual Sabbath days). 

 

There is one more relevant distinction about these annual high Sabbaths.  Except for one instance (in Lev 23:32 where the word Shabbat is used for the Day of Atonement), the other references in the Tanakh use the Hebrew Shabbaton for the annual Sabbaths (at Lev 16:31; 23:24, 32, and 39 [where both the first and last days of Sukkot are called Shabbaton]). 

 

Per the “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (v. II, p. 903), Shabbaton means a “Sabbath Observance.”  Jewish translations often render it as a Sabbath of rest.  Besides its use with the annual Sabbaths, this word is also used at times for the weekly Sabbath (Ex 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Lev 23:3) and for the seventh year land rest (Lev 25:4-5). 

 

It is unclear to this writer why Shabbaton is typically used for the annual Sabbaths instead of Shabbat.  Possibly, the focus on these days is directed more to the ideas of observance and remembrance than on the matter of work, as in food preparation. 

 

 

The Three Pilgrimages 

 

All three of these primary festivals required all male Israelites in Canaan to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for their observances. 

 

The New Testament has a number of references indicating that YESHUA, the Apostolic Assembly and the Jewish people collectively all kept and observed these YHWH ordained feasts (certainly more seriously than modern Christian Israelites do with their human ordained holidays--which are actually quite contrary to the Word, as was established in preceding remarks). 

 

Not only were all three of these occasions important in recognizing past, historical events of significance to Yisrael, but all three were and are prophetic of the future for Yisrael.  In this sense, they were examples of things to come.  Surely, the person wanting to understand future, prophetic events must start with these festivals. 

 

 

Passover, Revisited 

 

Passover is the first of these events.  It occurs in the early spring at the time of the commencement of the barley harvest.  Of course, it commemorates the Passover event, manifested during the Exodus when The Messenger of Death passed over the Israelites to kill Egypt’s firstborn (Exodus 12:1-51) and YESHUA’s death (Lu 22:19). 

 

Significantly, Passover, appointed for Aviv 14, is a day of unleavened bread.  It is totally associated prophetically with the life and work of YESHUA (Ex 12:3-14, 21-28, 43-51; 13:8-16; 34:25; Lev 23:5; Num 9:4-14; 28:16; Deut 16:1-3, 5-7;  Matt 26:17-30; Mk 14:12-26; Lu 22:7-30; Jo 13:1-35; Heb 11:28).  He was The Passover LAMB! 

 

The Passover day itself is not a Sabbath day of rest.  Nowhere do the Scriptures attach the word Sabbath to the Passover (yet, it is a profoundly important day in YHWH’s scheme of things). 

 

However, Christian Identity leader Peter Peters of LaPorte, CO has cooked up a calendar deviation which allows him to keep Passover on some type of a solar basis (as mentioned in former chapters herein).  Peters has decreed that his (unscriptural) Passover day is a Sabbath day of rest. 

 

The best evidence is that procedurally, today, the Passover ceremony and meal should follow the Jewish Seder practice with the added use of the unleavened bread and grape juice symbols to be followed by the foot-washing ceremony, after the meal, as covered by YESHUA (Jo 13:1-17). 

 

Since The MESSIAH stipulated this symbolism, it is manifest that He intended that His followers keep the annual Passover ceremony (yes, per Lu 22:19). 

 

Per “A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice (p. 126-137) and the “Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period” (p. 270), one of the important procedures during the Passover observance is the practice of reciting/chanting/singing the Hallel (Ps 113-118) and reciting/singing the Hallel Gadol (the Great Hallel--Ps 136).  Likely, YESHUA sang the Great Hallel at His last Passover, as the last or final event (Matt 26:30). 

 

 

Unleavened Bread 

 

Next, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven day feast from Aviv 15 to Aviv 21 (Ex 13:6-10; 23:14-16; 34:18; Lev 23:6-8; Num 28:17-25; 33:3; Deut 16:3-4, 8, 16-17; II Chron 8:13; 30:21-23; 35:17; Ezra 6:22; Ezek 45:21; Acts 12:3-4; 20:6; I Cor 5:7-8); which, with Passover, means a total of eight days of unleavened bread. 

 

The first and last days are high Sabbaths (Aviv 15 and 21).  This festival symbolizes Yisrael’s removal from Egypt for seven days to cross the sea--over frozen ice from a rare, catastrophic event (per Dr Ernest Martin, formerly of Portland, OR).  Prophetically, it outlines the believer’s removal from sin and ultimate reconciliation with The ELOHIM. 

 

The need to get rid of the leavening in one’s house and life and the eating of unleavened bread is symbolic of the need to deal with the pride and vanity problems in man (as discussed in prior chapters).  The true believer must experience the circumcision of the heart--where the evil pride and vanity (leavening) is replaced with humility and meekness. 

 

In the age end, the Philadelphia congregation may make her move to safety (before the impending Great Tribulation), during the week of unleavened bread.  Also, some part of the ultimate return of fleshly Yisrael to the promised land of Canaan may occur during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

 

Last, the day following the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 16, is the day for the Wave Sheaf Offering which effectively symbolizes YESHUA, in conjunction with the Passover harvest of the first of Adam, previously discussed (Lev 23:10-11). 

 

 

Shavuot or Pentecost, Revisited 

 

From the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, there is a count of 50 days (seven weeks or seven Sabbaths, inclusively) to arrive at the high Sabbath of Pentecost or Shavuot in the Hebrew (Ex 23:16-17; 34:22-23; Lev 23:9-21; Deut 16:9-12, 16; 26:1-3, 10; Josh 5:10-12; II Chron 8:13; 31:5; Neh 10:34-37; 12:44; 13:31; Prov 3:9; Jer 2:3; Ezek 20:40-43; 44:30). 

 

The Torah was given to Moshe on Shavuot at Sinai.  So this festival commemorates that event.  In the NT, Shavuot was a very important festival (Acts 2:1-4) where it prophetically represented the late spring, wheat harvest of the NT election, the firstfruits, described in former chapters (Rom 16:5; I Cor 16:15; Jas 1:18; Rev 14:4). 

 

Pentecost falls on or near Siwan 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8--depending upon when the count starts and on the number of actual days in the count of the moons between Passover and Pentecost. 

 

In terms of the House of Yisrael, the nation of Ephraim had her start near Shavuot (in 1607 and 1610) and her final judgment starts just after Shavuot in perhaps Yechezkel’s 32d year.  Finally, the present Jewish state was born in 1948, near Shavuot. 

 

 

The Determination Problem, Revisited 

 

A former chapter on the election introduced Shavuot as being reflective of the just mentioned second harvest of Adamites (evidently the 144,000 Israelites of the Apostolic Assembly).  That presentation mentioned the two problems facing the student of truth wanting to observe the Pentecost festival. 

 

First, there is the problem of which Sabbath to count from (as noted above); and second, there is the issue of how to count 50 days/seven weeks/Sabbaths (whether by inclusive counting or by progressive counting, as outlined in the former chapter).  These questions will now be assessed. 

 

Thus, one of the complications involved in determining Shavuot in the Hebrew culture is the matter of where to count the 50 days or seven weeks from (starting with the morrow of which Sabbath or which day with the offering of the Wave Sheaf and the beginning of the spring harvest of barley).  This issue has divided both the Jews historically and now the Sardis Messianic people. 

 

Christians and particularly the Sardis people have confused this subject by trying to insist that the count must start with the day following YESHUA’s resurrection (a first day of the week) on the premise that He was The WAVE SHEAF and had to appear in heaven that day as The WAVE SHEAF OFFERING (Jo 20:16-17). 

 

Frankly, there is no Scriptural reason to believe that He ascended to the heavenly throne on that first day of the week.  So the real world seems to knock this traditional Christian theory out of the window.  In fact, the evidence is that He did not ascend at that time at all as The WAVE SHEAF; but rather, that He ascended over forty days later around Pentecost.  Perhaps He was in the grave as The WAVE SHEAF. 

 

 

The Count Starts With Aviv 16 

 

Clearly, the count to Pentecost typically starts with Aviv 16 (as proven in a former chapter).  There are several Scriptures which make it conclusive that the count should start with this day, following the high Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15), instead of a weekly Sabbath. 

 

In the first place, the Wave Sheaf is placed in the context of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:9-16).  This means that the Wave Sheaf and count to Pentecost must start sometime during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In another powerful proof, a historical illustration of this event makes it clear that the count started with Aviv 16 during Yehoshua’s entrance into the land (Josh 5:10-12, as cited earlier). 

 

Moreover, as established earlier, a further key factor tying the count down with Aviv 16 is the matter of the day by day chronology of the Exodus and the fact that the giving of the law to the people probably happened on Pentecost on Siwan 5 (a fifth day of the week) which dictated a count from Aviv 16 (although the Jews claim that Shavuot occurred on Siwan 6, a sixth day of the week). 

 

Another point of confusion has been that the Hebrew word for Sabbath in the count of seven in Leviticus 23:15-16 is correctly Shabbat which usually refers to a weekly Sabbath day in the Tanakh (but as noted above, it can be used for the annual Sabbaths).  Conversely, the count of weeks in the reference at Exodus 34:22 and in the count at Deuteronomy 16:9 are both shavuot, which correctly does refer to a week. 

 

Accordingly, some students of the Book believe that Shavuot involves a count of seven weekly Sabbath days and then to the next day for the 50 days (making Pentecost always occur on a first day of the week). 

 

Question--does it matter whether one counts seven actual weeks of seven days each or of seven weekly Sabbath days, as long as the count includes and progresses to the point of encompassing 50 days (by inclusive counting)?  In other words, the count must involve in total seven full weeks of 50 days and seven weekly Sabbaths. 

 

If the count starts with a sixth day of the week (as on Aviv 16, following a high Sabbath of Aviv 15, the day before), it will count the first day (Aviv 16) as day one (on the premise of inclusive counting).  The next day, the Sabbath, would be both the first weekly Sabbath and day two of the count of 50.  Such a count would proceed past the seventh weekly Sabbath some six days to arrive at the 50th day. 

 

 

The Right Sabbath 

 

The important thing is to start the count “away from” the right Sabbath.  When counting away from the Sabbath, the 50 days count is by progressive counting (from or away from the Sabbath, in contrast to the inclusive counting with the morrow of the Sabbath).  But a point of contention over which Sabbath surfaces, as noted above. 

 

Theoretically, it could be the first or last high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread or the weekly Sabbath before, during or after the feast. 

 

The Pharisees used the first high Sabbath (Aviv 15), while the Sadducees used the weekly Sabbath during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (except that YESHUA said that the Sadducees did not know the Scriptures--Matt 16:12; 22:29).  The Falashas and some other groups used the last high Sabbath (Aviv 21). 

 

In fact, by recognizing that Passover is also a day of unleavened bread, the case can be made that the eight days of the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread allow two weekly Sabbath days to exist.  In which case, there are far more complications in trying to decide between the two of them (and the 50 others as well). 

 

Hence, if the weekly Sabbath day is involved, the student of truth is faced with much difficulty.  There is a possibility that which weekly Sabbath day can refer to any of the 52 weekly Sabbaths (as the “Soncino Chumash” suggests), plus the possibilities of a high Sabbath of Aviv 15 or of Aviv 21. 

 

However, the dilemma is settled in the Word because of the reasons cited above--the day by day chronology of the Exodus (which established the first Pentecost on a 5th of the week); Joshua 5:10-12 (outlined above--establishing the Sabbath as Aviv 15); and the fact that the Wave Sheaf must occur in the seven days period of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15-21). 

 

 

Shavuot or Sabbath 

 

So, why then did The ELOHIM choose to use the word shavuot in one case and the word Shabbat in the other, in defining the count?  As just noted, it probably doesn’t matter since one can count 50 days either way and arrive at the same terminal point.

 

Clearly, the harvest must commence with the Wave Sheaf which normally should occur on Aviv 16.  But suppose that in a given year the high Sabbath of Aviv 15 occurs on a sixth day of the week, making Aviv 16 fall on a Seventh day Sabbath. 

 

Can a Seventh day Sabbath be the first day of the spring harvest of barley (as the Wave Sheaf requires)?  Of course, there has to be a question of the validity of harvesting grain in a field on the Sabbath day.  Moreover, there is the distance factor from Jerusalem (in terms of the cutting of the Wave Sheaf). 

 

Probably, the barley harvest starts in the Jordan Valley, near Jericho, or a little further South near the Dead Sea.  It is almost impossible to perceive that the High Priest and/or a delegation of priests from the Jerusalem Temple would walk this distance on the Sabbath day in order to start the barley harvest in the Jordan Valley. 

 

The 2,000 cubits’ rule on limiting the walking distance in Second Temple days was in effect.  It does not seem likely that a delegation of people would carry a scythe and/or reaping tools and walk from Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley on the Sabbath day in order to gather the first grain and then walk back to Jerusalem that same day in order to make the offering at the Temple. 

 

Even if the High Priest or his delegation traveled to the Jordan Valley the day before the Sabbath, it still is hard to imagine that he and/or his people would wait until the Sabbath to reap the barley near the Jordan and then have to go back to Jerusalem that same Sabbath day in order to make the Wave Sheaf Offering. 

 

This possibility can become even more complicated when the day before the Sabbath is the first high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (as would be the case).  Obviously, all kinds of problems could arise to make it very difficult to try to cut grain in the Jordan Valley on a Sabbath day.  These reasons seem to make it impossible that the Wave Sheaf would be harvested on the Sabbath day (even if it was Aviv 16). 

 

Therefore, maybe the count does not always start with the first High Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. 

 

Perhaps in such a complication (when Aviv 16 falls on the Sabbath day), the Sabbath day involved for the count is the weekly Sabbath--making the count and the harvest commence the next day (Aviv 17, a first day of the week).  Though this is a rare situation, it must be considered as possible. 

 

If this thinking has merit, the conclusion that must be drawn is that neither the Wave Sheaf Offering or the festival of Shavuot can occur on a Seventh day Sabbath. 

 

 

Always Siwan 6? 

 

A final problem surfaces when uninformed persons try to claim that the above count method always takes one to Siwan 6.  If this belief was true, why then use a count, instead of just referring to a date? 

 

The truth is that the above method does not always take the counter to Siwan 6 because of two variables--when to start the count from and the number of days in each month from Aviv to Siwan (which can vary from 28 to 31 days.  Actual moon cycles are not always exactly 29 or 30 days and they do not always alternate between those two figures--though the calculated Jewish calendar usually outlines the alternating 29 and 30 days.  However, the calculated Jewish calendar is sometimes wrong, per the actual astronomical conditions, as pointed out in a prior chapter). 

 

The point is that Shavuot can come on several dates in early Siwan and not always on Siwan 6. 

 

 

Another Possible Clarification 

 

Though not wanting to give any particular credit to the Septuagint, it would be well to note how that translation handled the dilemma.  A reader’s letter in the Sep-Oct 1999 “Prophecy Flash” (p. 69-70) offered a short analysis of the count to Pentecost question, as revealed from the Septuagint (which presumably was quoting a Hebrew text). 

 

The letter correctly noted that Leviticus 23:11 in the Septuagint does not use the word Sabbath.  The Greek reflects the “first” referring to the first day.  However, in Leviticus 23:15, the Greek uses “sabbaton” one time in the first reference to the problem.  It can mean either week or the Sabbath.  But there is another kicker. 

 

The Septuagint uses the Greek word ebdomadus, ebdomadou or ebdomas, translated as week or weeks (as derived from hepdomads which is found in Classical Greek, per the discussion on the Sabbath in a prior chapter) in the other relevant references (in Leviticus 23:15-16 and Deuteronomy 16:9-10). 

 

The “Prophecy Flash” reader’s letter notes that the hebdomad correctly means the number seven or a period of seven days (irrespective of which day the count starts from).  Thus, the Septuagint teaches seven weeks, starting with any day of the week.  

 

 

The Ethanim Festivals 

 

There are four important high Sabbaths in the month of Ethanim in the fall.  The first one is the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets), which comes on the first day of the seventh month (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6; Neh 8:1-12; Ps 98:6). 

 

It commemorates the blowing of the trumpets during Yisrael’s wilderness wanderings following the Exodus.  Otherwise, it is prophetic of the seventh trumpet to announce the return of YHWH YESHUA in the age end (I Thes 4:16; Rev 11:15).  Should a trumpet (correctly a ram’s horn) be blown in worship on Yom Teruah?  Has a cat got a tail? 

 

Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the next high Sabbath and it involves a day of total fasting (Ex 30:10; Lev 16:2-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11; Acts 27:9).  It comes on the 10th day of Ethanim and commemorates the establishment of the scapegoat ritual in the wilderness (Lev 16:8-26). 

 

Prophetically, Yom Kippur covers the future shattering of Satan’s kingdom at YHWH YESHUA’s next coming and the placing of sin on the Devil, where it fully belongs.  This process starts in earnest when YESHUA returns in His second phase to enter Jerusalem to expel the Beast power. 

 

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot is next.  It starts with a high Sabbath on Ethanim 15.  Technically, it runs seven days, to be followed on Ethanim 22 with another high Sabbath (called the last great day--Shemini Atzeret in the Hebrew).  Symbolically, Sukkot covers the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and its use for atonement (Ex 26-39) up until Shlomo built the Temple. 

 

This festival also commemorates the great, concluding harvest of the Adam kind during the millennium (evidently, when each Adamite is resurrected from the grave to be motivated, taught and corrected to understand and commence obeying the Torah--which Adam has historically ignored over the past 6,000 years of his governorship over planet earth). 

 

 

More on Sukkot 

 

Prophetically, Sukkot thus portrays the coming redemption of Yisrael and likely Adam, as well.  It is to be kept in booths for seven days to commemorate the patriarch Yakov’s sojourn at Sukkot and the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings where they lived in booths (Gen 33:17; Ex 12:37; 23:14-17; 13:20; 34:21:24; Lev 23:33-44; Num 29:12-40; 33:5-6; Deut 16:13-17; 31:10-13; Ezra 3:1-6; Neh 8:13-18; Matt 16:3-4; Acts 18:21; Heb 11:9). 

 

In “The Temple:  Its Ministry and Services” (p. 215-216, as quoted in the Nov-Dec 1999 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 7), the great Jewish writer Alfred Edersheim described details of Sukkot in Second Temple days.  Edersheim notes the detailed descriptions provided in the Mishnah.  He makes the point that the requirement is a real booth, made from live trees. 

 

The ceremony of the waving of the “lulav” (following a benediction and the word Hoshana, meaning “save us” and while reciting/chanting/singing the Hallel [Ps 113-118]) was noted earlier. 

 

The lulav was made with branches of the myrtle (3 branches), willow (2 branches), palm (1 branch) and the pome citron (1 branch)--per Josephus, Ant. Bk. 3, chap. 10, par. 4 (quoted in the Nov-Dec 1999 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 26).  The lulav is often waved while reciting Psalms 118:1, 25 and 29. 

 

There is a blessing to be said while waving the lulav (ibid, p. 42).  In Hebrew it is “Baruch Atta Adonia, Melek Ha Olam, Asher Kidshanu B’Mitzvotav, V’tzivanu Al Netilat Lulav” --which means in English “Blessed are you, O YHWH our ELOHIM, King of the Universe; Who has sanctified us by your commandments, And Who has commanded us the Taking of the Lulav.” 

 

Since the practice of waving the lulav in a spirit of joy (in the six directions--East, West, North, South, up and down, in a symbolic way of asking The ELOHIM for protection from all forces of evil from all directions) was associated with the Temple, one must wonder about it presently. 

 

An article by William F. Dankenbring on “The Mystery of the Lulav” in the Nov-Dec 1999 “Prophecy Flash” (p. 23-45) addressed this question and suggested that it plainly is a worship procedure applicable today (to demonstrate love of YHWH). 

 

Dankenbring correctly quoted several Scriptures which definitely describe the practice both historically (in the Torah at Lev 23:40 and when the people waved palm branches when YESHUA entered Jerusalem--Ps 118:25-26, Matt 21:8-9; Lu 19:38; Jo 12:13) and in the world to come. 

 

While YESHUA’s entrance to Jerusalem, just before He died, came at Passover, the people clearly waved something on the order of the lulav to greet Him.  Moreover, Dankenbring points out that the redeemed people in Revelation 7:9-10 are waving the lulav (the “New Revised Standard Version” has a better translation on this). 

 

Since Sukkot is a festival commemorating the wilderness wanderings of Yisrael following the Exodus, it is plain to see that waving the lulav is somehow associated with that event.  Dankenbring quotes Jewish writer Michael Strassfield who suggests that in waving it in six directions, it signifies The EL’s surrounding presence (in the wilderness, The EL encircled Yisrael in a cloud of glory). 

 

As the Word precisely declares, people will go to Jerusalem and keep Sukkot in the world to come (Zech 14:16).  One can just about bank on it.  They will build and dwell in booths and each will prepare a lulav and wave it in worship before The MOST HIGH.  Obviously, this practice is called for in the here and now.  It is simply not a stupid ritual from Judaism. 

 

In the complications of getting the right trees for the booths and for the lulav (for example, in modern America), one must use his head.  The idea is to do the best one can on this.  As the Mishnah seems to imply, the goal is “live trees.” 

 

 

The New Moons 

 

Otherwise, the New Moons were observed as festivals of some sort in Yisrael, but not as Sabbath days (Num 28:11-15; I Sam 20:5, 18, 24; II Chron 2:4; 8:12; 31:3; Ezra 3:4-5; Neh 10:33; Isa 66:23; Ezek 45:17; 46:1, 6, 11-12; Amos 8:4-5). 

 

There may not be an express command for Israelites to observe the new moons, but the custom was among the people that they did observe the new moons with a fellowship and meal meeting, during the evening of the day of the New Moon.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 231--The Hebrew Festivals II

 

 

Jewish Festivals Applying to the House of Yisrael 

 

After the Babylonian exile, a number of festivals developed in Yehudah with full Scriptural support and justification.  But strangely enough, most or all of these Jewish festivals appear to have future, prophetic significance to the House of Yisrael.  This correlation is most fascinating. 

 

None of the events are high Sabbaths or Torah mitzwot.  But all of them were observed in NT times--certainly, by YESHUA and the Apostolic Assembly.  Assuredly, most of them have a Scriptural basis and are dated in very ancient times--to 2,500 years ago. 

 

Five more fast days developed (beyond Yom Kippur)--the 17th day of the 4th month; the 9th day of the 5th month; the third day of the 7th month; the 10th day of the 10th month; and the 13th day of the 12th month. 

 

Moreover, there are a number of other days with partial fastings, as decreed by the Second Temple “rabbis” (Ethanim 2-9; days in Ellul; the first Monday and Thursday before and the first Monday after Passover and Sukkot; eight consecutive Thursdays in the winters during intercalcary years; from the 17th day of the 4th moon to the 9th day of the 5th moon; 7th day of the 12th moon; last day of each month; firstborn males on the eve of Passover; etc). 

 

While these partial fasting days may not have a Scriptural basis and could therefore be questionable, the others do have some authority.  Certainly, the fasts of the fourth, fifth, tenth and (the third day of the) seventh months have mention in the Word and would appear to be authoritative (Zech 7:3-5; 8:19). 

 

The fast of the fourth month (Tsom HaRevii) recognizes the fall of Jerusalem, as elsewhere described herein.  Ephraim Yisrael announced her independence from Yehudah on this day in 1776.  As noted previously, prophetically, the age end Yechezkel witness “may” possibly start around the 12-17th days of the fourth moon in Yechezkel’s 30th year.

 

The final collapse or fall of Ephraim and likely Manasseh, as well (to the invading Russians and their Muslim and Third World allies), will probably occur on this fast day--perhaps in Yechezkel’s 33d year (17th day of the fourth month, as calculated in the age end). 

 

 

Christian Stupidity 

 

All of the years that ignorant Christian Israelites ignored and sometimes made fun of and ridiculed the Jewish fast on the 17th day of the fourth month will cause shame and disgrace in the future to the descendants of those historic Christian Israelites. 

 

Yes, the ancestors of the modern Christian Israelites, who will be finally conquered by adversarial powers (operating as agents for The SOVEREIGN), should have been keeping and observing this fast day (instead of making fun of it). 

 

The fast of the ninth day of the fifth month (correctly Tsom HaHamishi; but most Jews call it Tish’ah Be’av) commemorates the burning of the Temple, both by the Babylonians and Romans (Rabbinic interpreters indicate that the fire was set on the ninth day and the edifice was finally destroyed by the fire on the tenth day, as Jeremiah 52:12 gives the date). 

 

Prophetically, this day will echo the time of trouble coming on surviving Israelites and the judgment of Yisrael’s leaders, after the fall of Yosef Yisrael (perhaps in Yechezkel’s 33d year). 

 

The ninth day of the fifth month, perhaps in Yechezkel’s 33d year, may signal the end of Yisrael, the arrest of Yisrael’s leaders and the start of much of the coming slavery and captivity on surviving Christian Israelites in the House of Yisrael nations--following their conquest by the Russians and their Islamic and Third World allies (as well as likely having significance to the Third Temple). 

 

Ezekiel 20:1 might possibly date this judgment (at least prophetically), coming upon these evil people--perhaps while Yisrael is in siege on the tenth day of the fifth month of Yechezkel’s 32d year (per Jer 52:12).  Otherwise, it could be that these evil people are arrested on the ninth day and are judged and convicted on the tenth day in Yechezkel’s 33d year. 

 

Thus, on, near or just after the fast day, Christian Israelites in the House of Yisrael will probably be sold on the blocks to pay for their foreign debts incurred over the years that they were throwing money all over the world in the form of foreign aid (to benefit their Amalekite, plutocrat rulers, who were operating in secret from behind the scenes) and to buy and use foreign consumer goods. 

 

Clearly, the ninth day of the fifth month of this coming year (probably Yechezkel’s 32d and/or 33d year) will be catastrophic for any surviving Christian Israelites in their former national homelands. 

 

 

More 

 

Obviously, the ancestors of these Christian Israelites should have known something about the fast of this day and what it would represent to their descendants in the age end--likely, in Yechezkel’s 33d year.  Christian Israelites should have been fasting on this day in former times, instead of just ignoring it and/or making fun of it. 

 

These dates  (9th or 10th days) will also have a major application to the Third Temple.  Just as the First and Second Temples were destroyed on these days in history, there is every reason to believe that in the days preceding the return of YESHUA, the European Beast power will invade Jerusalem and damage and/or destroy the Third Temple on these very same days (perhaps in Yechezkel’s 37th year). 

 

As noted above, Ezekiel 20:1 outlines some involvement of the House of Yisrael elders (leaders) on the 10th day of the 5th month of Yechezkel’s 32d year.  This event could predict the coming final judgment upon these evil people (as pointed out above).  Whatever happens here, it may extend on for some days.  Anyway, it is only one day off from the Jewish fast day, which must be important. 

 

The fast of Gedaliah (Gidalyahu in the Hebrew) is on the 3rd day of the seventh month (of Ethanim).  It commemorates the murder of Gidalyahu, who had been appointed Governor by Nebuchadnezzar, following the fall of Jerusalem.  Some Jewish patriots or zealots (but possibly non-Israelites--ed) killed him (Apr-Jun 2002 “Petah Tikvah,” p. 56).  In the future, this day may have something to do with a future Jewish leader. 

 

While it is not the reason for the solemnity attached to the third day of Ethanim, it should be noted that there is an ancient legend (“The Book of Legends Sefer Ha-Aggadah,” p. 170) which  says that during the Greek oppression of the second century BCE, the Greeks issued a decree that the Name of Heaven (YHWH) could no longer be mentioned by the Jews. 

 

During the restoration under the Maccabees, these legal bonds were abolished (on the third day of Ethanim).  This event was described in a previous chapter.  But it needs a recall here in the vein of the importance of this day. 

 

 

Still More 

 

The fast of the 10th day of the 10th month (in Hebrew, Tsom HaAsiri, Zech 8:19) was significant to Yehudah because the Babylonian siege was initially launched against her on that day. 

 

Possibly, the age end will see a similar beginning embargo or economic trouble of some type on Ephraim, likely near the same day in Yechezkel’s 31st year (perhaps just about the time that the Christian Israelites celebrate their Christmas and New Year holidays). 

 

The last fast day (the fast of Esther, on the 13th day of Adar, as observed by Jews on the last month of the year) will most likely have similar significance to Yisrael and/or the Temple and true worship in the age end (see I Maccabees 7:42-50 for another explanation on this fast day). 

 

This writer has been unable to decide precisely what might occur in the future on the fast of Esther, but a believer can almost bank on it that there will be a future event on this day which will impact upon Christian Israelites--who should have been observing all of these fasts historically (the final judgment of the Amalekites, the defeat of Gog/Magog, or the funeral dirge over the nations all could occur near this date, as will be covered in future chapters and Appendix E). 

 

 

Hanukkah, Revisited 

 

Hanukkah or the Feast of Dedication or Lights (for eight days, starting on Kislew 25) is important because historically, it represented the cleansing of the Temple, after it was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanies, the ante-type of the age ending Beast man.  YESHUA and His Second Temple contemporaries apparently observed or at least took recognition of this feast some 2,000 years ago (Jo 10:22-23). 

 

A Supplement to the Dec 22, 2000, “Jerusalem Post” offered the traditional story of Hanukkah, by saying that Epiphanies tried to force the Greek culture upon all of the nationalities under his governmental control (which included the Jews in Palestine).  Acceptance of the Greek culture meant the acceptance of the Greek pagan gods and Greek philosophy (Platonism and humanism, now in evidence in the Christian West). 

 

All of the peoples controlled by Antiochus fell into line and accepted this transition to Grecian sun worship--except for the Jews, who eventually rebelled and rose up in revolt against the process of conversion.  The pressure to become Greeks was enormous since opposition invoked the death penalty.  In any case, this situation set the stage for the surfacing of the famous Maccabees. 

 

The revolt started in the town of Modin when an aged priest name Mattityahu of the Hasmonian family and his five sons said “no” to the imposition of Greek sun worship.  Calling themselves the Maccabees, this family led the revolt which eventually saw a restoration of true worship on Mount Moriah. 

 

When the Maccabees came to the defiled Temple to restore it and true worship, they found that the Greeks had contaminated the oil (by breaking the seals) used to kindle the fire to light the Menorah.  However, they did find one small jar which had not been ritually defiled.  It was just enough oil to last one day.  And another eight days were needed to obtain additional oil. 

 

Regardless, the Maccabees proceeded to light the Menorah and restore true worship.  And miraculously, the oil did last the following eight days until a new supply could be obtained.  Thus, this eight-day event in the restoration of true worship paved the way for the establishment of the joy of Hanukkah (which YESHUA perhaps observed in His day, as noted above). 

 

Prophetically, Hanukkah probably illustrates the cleansing of Mount Moriah and the building of an altar by YESHUA when He returns for His millennial rule--perhaps in the fall of Yechezkel’s 37th year, following the defilement of the site by Satan and by the Beast man’s invasion and apparent destruction of it on the ninth day of the fifth month, as discussed above. 

 

The wonderful feast of Hanukkah curiously is about 75 days after Yom Kippur.  Since YESHUA returns first to Bozrah (to rescue the very elect around Yom Kippur), some 75 days (by inclusive counting) later takes one to Hanukkah--which would interestingly agree with the age end chronology (of 1260 and 1335 days given by Daniel). 

 

The specifics on this theme will be covered in some detail in subsequent chapters and in Appendices D and E. 

 

Otherwise, there is an interesting report by the Prophet Haggai on the 24th day of the ninth month.  Though Hanukkah starts on the 25th day, it has to be significant that Haggai wrote about several things as occurring on the 24th day of the ninth month in Darius’ second year (Hag 2:10-18).  Importantly, the foundation for the Second Temple may be cleaned, cleared, refurbished, laid or worked on in someway on that day. 

 

However, Haggai’s words were not only historical, in terms of describing what happened with the Second Temple, but they will be prophetic in predicting future events with the Third Temple in the age end (likely, in Yechezkel’s 30th year).  The prophetic relevance has been broached in a former chapter.  This issue will be assessed in more detail in Appendices D and E. 

 

 

A Problem 

 

A final word is needed on Hanukkah.  One of the tragedies over the years is that modern Jews have turned Hanukkah into a Jewish Christmas celebration where gifts and cards are exchanged and a Hanukkah bush is lit.  Much of these modern additions represent simple pagan sun worship exercises which have been added to deter from the meaning of the actual festival (which basically is good). 

 

Dennis Bitterman of the Evangelistic Assembly of Yahweh (of Fulton, MO), quoted earlier, has taught that Hanukkah involves pagan Greek worship whereby some Jews were promoting and observing the event as a replacement for Sukkot. 

 

True, II Maccabees 1:9-18 and 10:5-6 do allow that the Jews in Judea did write the Jews in Egypt in an effort to promote Hanukkah with a remark about it being or could be taken as a Sukkot festival for the Jews in Egypt. 

 

In my reading of II Maccabees, it is unclear whether the Judean Jews wanted the Egyptian Jews to abandon Sukkot in the seventh month by replacing it with Hanukkah in the ninth month or whether the actual intent was that the Egyptian Jews keep Hanukkah as a second Sukkot celebration (which is a possibility). 

 

Understandably, the Judean Jews were trying to establish Hanukkah as a Jewish festival to be observed by Jews all over the world.  In that sense, the case can be made that they were trying to create a justification to the Jews in Egypt that would allow a Hanukkah celebration for eight days.  In their letter to Egypt, the Judeans tried to link Hanukkah to the work of Nechemyah after he returned to Palestine from Persia. 

 

If the Jews in Judea were trying to build a case to replace Sukkot with a Christmas or winter solstice celebration on the 25th day of the ninth month, they clearly picked a wrong date which simply will not jive with Christmas in the normal or usual luni-solar calendar (Hanukkah will almost always fall in late November or early December and not around December 25th). 

 

For sure, if the new year starts around the spring equinox (as is the ideal situation and one of the most common presentations), then there is no way that the 25th day of the ninth month will fall on or near the winter solstice or the traditional Christmas day of December 25th.  In the luni-solar calendar, December 25th most often falls around the 12th-20th day of the tenth month. 

 

The point being is that if Satan was trying to get the Jews to substitute a celebration around Christmas for Sukkot, he surely would have created a basis for it on a day falling near the winter solstice or Christmas.  The 25th day of the ninth month (or seven days later) simply is not close enough to ever justify a Christmas celebration.  

 

In any case, the basis of the Hanukkah celebration is a good one (in that the Maccabees cleaned the Temple and removed the pagan sun worship defilements created by the Greeks). 

 

If some Judean Jews did get carried away in the wrong direction and tried to encourage the transfer of Sukkot to the ninth month in celebration of the victory of the Maccabees (which remains as an unproven theory, despite the wording of II Maccabees), it would not alter the legitimate basis of the basic Hanukkah celebration. 

 

Notwithstanding the possibilities of some sun worship motivation in the “modern” Hanukkah celebration, this writer builds the case that the festival as originally established was very likely observed by YESHUA and His disciples in His day (as implied in Jo 10:22-23).  Of course, any recognition of the festival does not suggest that the Christmas trappings be added to it, as the Jews have done over the years. 

 

 

Purim 

 

The final festival is Purim which occurs on the 14th and 15th days of Adar.  Historically, it recognized the time when the Jewish Israelites obtained victory over their arch enemy, the Amalek-Edomite Haman (Est 9:17-24).  Prophetically, it probably will symbolize YESHUA’s ultimate punishment to be imposed upon the collective Amalek-Edomites, who have put so much hurt on both Yehudah and Yisrael over the centuries. 

 

The Jews, to their credit, have remembered Moshe’s words (Deut 25:17-19), discussed previously, which required that the deeds and evil of the Amalekites be recalled periodically in Yisrael (obviously, so that Yisrael would not be victimized by the Amalek-Edomites in future times). 

 

In reference to this commandment, the Jews do read the Scriptures about the Amalekites during Purim season.  Annually, religious Jews read the Scriptural story of the Amalek-Edomites on the Sabbath preceding Purim (“Maimonides The Commandments,” p. 203). 

 

Though religious Jews have not fully understood the profound significance of Purim in the context of the wickedness of the evil Amalekites, they at least keep it and do read the remarks by Moshe, noted earlier.  In this sense, they are miles ahead of Christian Israelites who utterly ignore and hold in contempt the words of Moshe and any thought that they should be reading and studying the historical record of the Amalekites. 

 

YHWH’s coming judgment on the evil Amalek-Edomites has been thoroughly discussed in previous chapters.  For now, it is important to recognize that religious Jews have wisely obeyed by remembering the great evil of these diabolically wicked people, despite not understanding the Amalekite presence among the Jews. 

 

What a shame it is that the House of Yisrael has consistently ignored YHWH’s law, while the Jews have obeyed it.  Someday, House of Yisrael Israelites will understand the importance of all these festivals in the context of their own destiny.  For sure, the House of Yisrael should have heeded Moshe’s words and remembered the evil of the Amalekites. 

 

 

Christian Reactions 

 

The Sabbath days legislated in the Torah (the weekly Sabbath and the seven annual Sabbaths) are all defined as being days of rest with no work plus one more interesting feature.  They all involve so-called “holy convocations” (Lev 23:2). 

 

The English word “holy,” of course, comes from the familiar Hebrew kodesh, which means set apart and separated, as commented upon in prior chapters. 

 

Convocation comes from the Hebrew word miqra.  It is interesting because it means “A calling (together), convocation” (“Young’s Analytical Concordance,” p. 202).  Most lexicons agree with Young’s.  However, Dr Daniel Botkin gives an added meaning as “a rehearsal” (Sep-Oct 2000 “Gates of Eden,” p. 5).  Botkin notes that the rehearsal means a practicing for the real thing. 

 

Consequently, during the Temple days, the Israelites held a convocation or calling together three times a year at the Temple.  In Second Temple days, the weekly convocations were held at the synagogues, scattered throughout the Roman Empire.  But as Botkin suggests, these meetings were all rehearsals for future convocations (clearly, in the millennium). 

 

Yet, Christians demean the Sabbaths and some say that they were shadows of things to come which were fulfilled (by misunderstanding Colossians 2:17).  These Sabbaths have never been shadows of things fulfilled.  In fact, as Botkin notes, they are (prophetic) rehearsals of future coming convocations (in the millennium). 

 

For 2,000 years, organized Christianity, in the generic sense, has totally ignored the above and earlier mentioned festivals--all of them, whether those from Moshe or those of the Jews.  The historic position of Christianity has been that these festivals have been abolished and are not to be respected and observed by Christians.  Manifestly, Christian Israelites have almost always followed this traditional Christian stance. 

 

In a deviation from historic Churchianity, Christian Identity leader Peter Peters is promoting a theory that his solar calculated Passover and four other solar days (near or on the two solar equinoxes and the two solar solstices, per his Apr 2001 “Special Alert,” as discussed earlier) are Sabbath days.  Of course, Peters’ solar days are nothing but blatant sun worship. 

 

 

More Scriptures 

 

These Christian reactions to YHWH’s festivals bring up a most wonderful remark in the Psalms.  In terms of YHWH’s wonderful Sabbaths, the Psalmist wrote that some evil persons (apparently Christian Israelites) said “let us abolish the feast days” of The ELOHIM from the land because they did not see the wonders thereof (Ps 74:8-9, per the “Lamsa Translation”). 

 

In a related text, Yohanan quoted YESHUA as saying that since certain Israelites (assuredly including House of Yisrael, Christian Israelites) would not believe (or study to believe) Moshe (his writings), there is no way that they would believe his (Moshe’s) words concerning Himself (YESHUA)--obviously, as The Coming MESSIAH (Jo 5:46-47). 

 

Yes, since Christian Israelites won’t even consider, respect, obey, heed or give credence to the words of Moshe, how can anyone believe that they will show any respect, consideration, obedience or support for the Words of The MESSIAH (Whom Moshe spoke of). 

 

While the Jews learned their lesson in the Babylonian captivity and have kept the Sabbaths and festivals since then, not so with the House of Yisrael people who lost them all in YHWH’s divorce c700 BCE.  In Yisrael’s abolishment of the feasts and the substitution of sun worship holidays and festivals (Sunday, Christmas, Easter, etc), the House of Yisrael literally fulfilled Psalms 74:8-9, as outlined above. 

 

Though Christendom has abolished YHWH’s feasts, it is appropriate to note that in the world tomorrow they will be observed (Lev 23:2-4; Ezek 45:17; Zech 14:17). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 232--Overview of Scriptural Chronology

 

 

Background Information 

 

A solar year has approximately 365.2422 days and the moon has about 29.53059 days per cycle (on average); thus, making an ordinary (luni-solar) year have 12 moon/months and an intercalcary year have 13 moons/months with some seven intercalcary years every 19 solar years. 

 

Astronomically, no time will ever evidently repeat itself precisely.  But there are some time cycles which are very close and will almost repeat themselves--like every 19, 315, 1040, 1355 or 1374 years. 

 

The Scriptural cycles involve a luni-solar year.  Yearly time is counted on the basis of every seven years and every 49 years.  These 7 and 49 year cycles are apparently not linked to astronomical conditions (similar to the weekly Sabbaths). 

 

Thus, the possibility of a given time situation ever repeating itself precisely seems unlikely.  However, some yearly cycles do seem to carry Scriptural significance--to include 7, 40, 49, 70, 360 (a prophetic year or time), 390, 400, 430, 483, 490, 1260, 1290, 1335, and 2520. 

 

The Word contains all kinds of dates.  These can be studied and put together to form a yearly dating scheme from Adam as “Anno Hominis” or the year of the era of man or Adam (abbreviated as AM). 

 

Since the Julian yearly dating method is flexible, allowing dates into the infinite past with the Before the Common Era (BCE) definition or forward with the Common Era (CE) reference, it is possible to relate any given Anno Hominis year to a Julian-Gregory year (within reason). 

 

 

Dating Creation 

 

Most Christian chronologists calculate that Adam was created in about 4004 BCE.  And this seems to be almost right, per the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Tanakh.  There seems to be no major disagreement among Christian chronologists on this general time frame for creation. 

 

Conversely, Jewish chronologists have dropped something over 200 years from the Persian period (making the year 2000 to be the Jewish year of 5760).  Jewish scholars realize that this dating presentation is seriously flawed and they typically do not use it in their work. 

 

Even scholarly works, like “Encyclopaedia Judaica,” seem embarrassed with the flaw and rarely use the scheme in their articles.    

 

 

Ages 10-12 

 

In a work or study of chronology, ten to twelve years of age for a child seems to be very important for some reason or reasons.  Avraham prepared to offer Yitzhak, evidently when he was ten; and YESHUA apparently entered the Temple for dialogue and discussions with the Temple elders and leaders just after entering his twelfth year. 

 

At a first glance, it would seem that age 10 to 12 should be the bar-mitzwot occasion.  But today, it is 13 (“Encyclopaedia Judaica,” v. 4, p. 243-245).  In Second Temple days, a boy could complete his first fast and be blessed by the sages at 12 or 13--which suggests the bar-mitzwot event (Talmud Sof. 18:7; Judaica, v. 4, p. 244).   

 

The Damascus Document, evidently used by the Essenes, equates childhood up to age 10.  This source expressly says that starting at age ten, the child is considered a youth instead of a child (“The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation,” p. 145). 

 

 

Some Problems 

 

Another problem surfacing is that there can be different starting and ending points of a year.  While the entire Western, Christian, sun worship culture presently uses a January 1 to December 31 year reckoning, other peoples use other time frames. 

 

The Scriptural year starts on Aviv 1, which means a spring to spring reckoning, starting around day equal night (about March 20d-22d in the Northern Hemisphere).  Thus, the correct Hebrew year runs from Aviv 1 to Aviv 1 (in the spring), as discussed herein. 

 

However, there is an agricultural year (of planting and harvesting), which runs from Sukkot to Sukkot in the month of Ethanim in the fall. 

 

The Sabbath years follow the agricultural year and the Jubilee year almost corresponds to it, although the Jubilee seems to run from Yom Kippur to Yom Kippur.  The kings in the House of Yehudah evidently operated on the correct Aviv 1 to Aviv 1 basis, while those in the House of Yisrael followed a Ethanim 1 to Ethanim 1 cycle. 

 

Of all of the problems facing the chronologists, perhaps the most difficult one to deal with is determining what time period is precisely involved in any reference to chronological dates.  For example, events that take place in human lives do not necessarily conform to certain explicit dates.  There is much flexibility in the actual occurrence of events. 

 

Kings die at different times of the year and their rules typically are not precisely a given number of years.  Like human ages (governing births and deaths), a given, Scriptural age can be more correctly a precise number of years, months and days.  But normally, the Word merely reports the year figure while ignoring the other more definitive dates. 

 

This has often worked for good because the Judean kings always had a Scripturally reported rulership of a certain number of years. 

 

Thus, when a new king came to power (in his accession year) that whole year (from Aviv 1 to Aviv 1) would be allocated to the outgoing or dying king in power on the preceding Aviv 1.  Hence, if a Judean king was king on Aviv 1 and died on Aviv 2, that whole year to the next Aviv 1 would be called his year. 

 

Any king dying before his official reign started on Aviv 1 would only receive mention of his reign in months or days.  The new king’s “years” of rule would not commence until the next Aviv 1, assuming that he was still alive and still in power on that date. 

 

 

The North Was Different 

 

Conversely, the kings in the North seem to have had reported years based on a fall to fall reckoning (although this was to possibly change with Achav).  Obviously, the reported years can be considerably different between the two kingdoms. 

 

Though the counting of the years of the Judean kings was fairly clear with only one year being allocated to one king, things were more complicated in Northern Yisrael where the accession year counted as a year for both the incoming and outgoing kings.  Thus, when a king died and a new one took over, that year (with a fall to fall reckoning) was ascribed to both kings.  This practice seems to have changed with Achav. 

 

It appears that people’s ages in the Book were counted and recorded much the same way modern persons generally count and record ages, although it might be true that whole years only were reported in the various ages given for ages of the patriarchs (similar to the kings).  This seems to be the only way that chronology will make sense. 

 

 

Different Methods of Counting 

 

The last major issue in reported years is that there is inevitably a question of exactly how many years are involved in a count because of the differences in counting; based upon inclusive counting, as opposed to progressive counting.  This situation was commented upon in previous comments on three days and three nights.

 

The phrase “in three days” can mean any part of three days (based on inclusive counting).  Thus, it might mean something just slightly over one day. 

 

Therefore, it is conceivable that references to three years might actually only address one year and a part of two other years.  Otherwise, progressive counting (like the definitive three days and three nights) is closer to truth. 

 

Hence, the time, from one year to about the same time next year, constitutes one year.  Counting from a point in one year to the same point (or nearby) in later years gives one the correct total number of years.  Examples of progressive counting involve Yishmael’s birth to his circumcision (Gen 16-18) and the 12 years of Nechemyah’s governorship (Neh 5:14). 

 

 

The Main Difficulties 

 

There are a couple of other most profound problems dealing with any work on chronology. 

 

First, there is a human tendency to want to go beyond the Scriptures and turn to some secular work to tie chronology to--as a fixed stationary post.  The problem with this practice is that almost all other dates, outside the Scriptures, are notoriously corrupt. 

 

Even the few that might seem to be correct have to be handled suspiciously and carefully because of the common problem with secular dates as reported by man.  Numbers of these dates are pathetically wrong.  Many, many chronologists go to one of these wrong dates and attempt to use it to tie or connect Scriptural dates to--as anchors.  And it won’t work. 

 

At best, all one can do is recognize a secular date and read it in the context that it may or may not be correct--although since the time of Julius Caesar and his adoption of the Egyptian, sun worship calendar in 46 BCE, secular dates are more likely to be correct. 

 

The second extraordinary problem to deal with, in the context of studying and working with chronology, is that such an effort is extremely complex and involves much difficulty in trying to establish truth.  About the only thing a person can do is to determine Julian or Julian-Gregory dates which are approximate or very close within one or two years, either way (up or down). 

 

 

The Controlling Factors 

 

In a work on chronology, the overriding control factor is YHWH’s Sabbath years and Jubilee years.  Though not clearly defined in the Word, these years were land rest years and thus were essentially agricultural in orientation. 

 

The Word prescribes certain things as happening on those dates.  For example, on Sabbath years, the law was to be read, Hebrew slaves were freed, debts were remitted, and the land enjoyed a rest (Ex 23:10-11; Lev 25:1-7 20-21; Deut 15:1-18; 31:10-13). 

 

The Jubilee years were similar in that the land enjoyed a rest, freedom was granted to slaves, debts were remitted, and most importantly, the land was returned to its rightful owner (Lev 25:8-55). 

 

Obviously, when there is a Scriptural record of some of these things taking place, it is logical to give some consideration to the likelihood of a Sabbath or Jubilee year. 

 

The Sabbath and Jubilee years are primarily complicated because they are outlined on a fall to fall reckoning (with the agricultural cycles) while YHWH otherwise uses a regular year (or religious year) calculation for chronology and other purposes (from Aviv 1 to Aviv 1), except possibly for the kings of the House of Yisrael, before Achav. 

 

Thus, the Sabbatical land rest years started at Sukkot in Ethanim of the sixth chronological year and ran until Ethanim of the seventh chronological year. 

 

This means that any reference or focusing on a record of an event in a Sabbath year could involve the latter part of the 6th year or the first half of the 7th year.  The only thing that would be clear is that the law was supposed to be read at the end of the 7th (agricultural) year--actually at Sukkot in Ethanim of the seventh chronological year. 

 

 

The Jubilee 

 

Since the Sabbatical year starts in the 48th year and extends into the 49th year, the Jubilee immediately followed by starting at Yom Kippur in Ethanim of the 49th chronological year (near the completion of the 7th Sabbatical year) and running until Ethanim of the 50th year. 

 

Like the count to Pentecost, this 50th year is also a year one of the next cycle (both agricultural and regular). 

 

Leviticus 25 mixes these yearly references up somewhat to leave the reader a little confused, if he does not differentiate between the numbering of the regular chronological years as opposed to the numbering of the agricultural years. 

 

Thus, Leviticus 25:3-21 addresses the agricultural years, but verse 22 changes the reference to the regular Aviv 1 to Aviv 1 year, in the context of the Jubilee.  If one does not recognize this change in counting, confusion inevitably results. 

 

Consequently, what is sown in the fall of the eighth year (the barley grains, which are sown in the fall/winter just after the close of the Jubilee in the 8th or 50th agricultural year) can be harvested at the next spring in the early part of the ninth (or 51st) chronological year. 

 

Because of this difference in definitions, it is manifest that more complications are introduced in any attempted establishment of chronology. 

 

 

The Bottom Line 

 

Again, the work of a chronologist, in the context of achieving absolute, 100% correctness in data, is no easy proposition.  Determined dates must generally be kept in the approximate mode, although many of them can be closely dated within a year or two. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 233--Scriptural Chronology of Adam I

 

 

To Avraham 

 

Despite a couple of minor hitches which cause some confusion, the chronological count to Avraham is comparatively easy with a count of the years from one father to his oldest son.  Starting with Adam to Seth and forward to about Noah’s 600th birthday, one arrives at the flood (Gen 5:1-32; 7:6).  This count of years adds to 1,656 years. 

 

There is no particular problem with the count to the flood.  But the first hitch occurs with the birth of Arphaxad, which happened two years after the flood (Gen 11:10).  Since the flood persisted for a little over a year, it is clear that Arphaxad’s birth happened when Noah was 603 years old (Shem was 100 years old, as a matter of information).  This gives one a date of 1,659 years from Adam. 

 

From Arphaxad, it is again possible to add the ages up of the birth of the children and one comes easily to the birth of Terah (Gen 11).  But there are problems in determining the birth of Avram.  The first remark seems to say that Avram and his brothers were born at Terah’s age 70 (Gen 11:26). 

 

But the NT has a slightly different twist on this by noting that Avram left Ur of the Chaldees upon the death of his father (Acts 7:4).  He left at age 75 and his father died at age 205 (Gen 9:32; 12:4).  This means that Avram was born when Terah was 130 years old.  By adding up from Arphaxad to Avram, one finds 350 years, which totals to 2009 AM. 

 

When the student of truth recognizes that year one of Adam started with the latter or bottom part of a Jubilee, it is clear that 2009 AM was in the 40th Jubilee since creation.  This is most interesting when another 99 years are added to reach Avraham’s 99th birthday when he entered into the covenant with YHWH (Gen 17-18; Acts 7:8).  This 99 years takes one to 2108 AM--which just happens to be another Jubilee. 

 

 

To the Exodus 

 

Yitzhak was born the next year, when Avraham was 100 years old (Gen 21:5).  By adding in this next year, one arrives at 2109 AM.  And while it is possible to continue from there and count dates on forward to Yisrael and Yosef, this is a dead end in terms of establishing the overall time system. 

 

Instead, the student must jump forward to the Exodus where the Book says that the Exodus occurred to the very day of the completion of a 430-year period of time in which the children of Yisrael were in Egypt (Ex 12:40-41). 

 

Most chronologists attempt to start the 430 years count with Avraham’s 99th year.  Some even try to calculate from the birth of Yitzhak.  But neither of these determinations will work out with the facts, plus the crucial question of maintaining the Jubilee cycles. 

 

Avraham’s 99th year was a Jubilee and year one of the Exodus was the latter or bottom part of a Jubilee, because it was the beginning (year one) of a new time cycle. Moreover, the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that Moshe received his commission in a Jubilee (“The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation,” p. 263). 

 

Year one of the Exodus had to be a Jubilee.  If the Jubilees hold, as they must do so, one would have to count something like 441 years from Avraham’s 99th year or 440 years from the birth of Yitzhak to arrive at the Exodus.  Manifestly, the 430 year count cannot commence in either of those two definitions. 

 

So here, a real complication can arise because there are problems in defining this 430 years and particularly in determining its start point.  Again, the answer lies in the NT where Shaul noted that the 430 years started when the covenant was confirmed with Yitzhak (Acts 3:25; Gal 3:15-17).  The Word describes this event (Gen 22:1-17); but doesn’t date it, beyond making it plain that Yitzhak was a child or youth. 

 

 

Avraham’s Trial 

 

Actually, the thing that precipitated this trial for Avraham on Mount Moriah was his attitude toward his son Yitzhak.  Avraham had come to treat the boy as his idol, his beloved (Gen 22:2). 

 

YHWH put it to Avraham to take the youth to Moriah in the context of offering him on an altar.  Significantly, the actual Hebrew text does not provide an express command to Avraham to kill the boy; but rather, to prepare him on the altar for an offering. 

 

Perhaps as long as Yitzhak was under age ten, The ELOHIM put up with or tolerated the idolatry of Avraham over how he loved Yitzhak.  In short, YHWH must have winked at the ignorance of Avraham as He has done with Yisrael and indeed so-called humanity at large in later centuries. 

 

But when the idolatry continued past Yitzhak’s age ten, as the boy left childhood to become a youth, The MOST HIGH must have determined to intervene to separate Avraham from his idol. 

 

Importantly, Avraham must have known that he was wrong.  In that context, he perhaps assumed that he was to slay the boy.  In any case, he went to Moriah and did confirm the covenant when he laid Yitzhak on the altar and was prepared to kill him.  Now, the problem is one of determining Yitzhak’s age at this trial. 

 

In the context that Yitzhak was a child or youth, the only way that the Jubilee cycle works out is if the Moriah trial happened when Yitzhak was 10 years old.  The next alternative would be that Yitzhak was 59 years old (to hold firm on the Jubilees) and that option is totally out of the question since he was married and almost a parent by then. 

 

 

The 400 and 430 Years 

 

With this outline, it is obvious that Yisrael was not directly in Egyptian slavery for the 430 years, but only about half that time--which is reasonable since the related end of the 400 years of affliction connects with the fourth generation (Gen 15:16).  Exodus 6:16-26 outlines the four generations of Levi’s line to Moshe and Aaron. 

 

Since a child is in the loins of his father (Heb 7:1-10), the children of Yisrael were in Yitzhak’s loins from his birth.  Add this to the fact that Egypt controlled most of Palestine and the Middle East, and it is easy to see that the 430 years started with Yitzhak at age ten. 

 

The reference to the 400 years, just mentioned, is also important and must be interpreted and understood in relationship to the 430 years.  On this, it is essential to note that they do not cover exactly the same time frames, although they do often closely parallel each other.  

 

Actually, the 400 years involve affliction which can be added up from Yitzhak to the birth of Yakov (50 years); from the birth of Yakov to his entrance into Egypt (130 years); the rest of the Egyptian captivity, which consisted of slavery and affliction (180 years) and which did not include the 70 good years under Yosef; and finally the 40 years of affliction in the wilderness. 

 

These events add to 400 years.  There are evidently other methods of calculating this 400 years as well. 

 

By adding in the 430 years from the offer of Yitzhak, this gives one 2549 AM at the Exodus, which just happens to be the latter part of the 52d Jubilee.  Thereupon, Yisrael spent 40 years in the wilderness and entered the land in the 41st year of the Exodus.  Eight or nine years later, the land was divided to its rightful owners in the 53d Jubilee. 

 

 

To the Temple 

 

It is possible to trace all of the dates from the Exodus to the building of the First Temple.  However, it is not necessary since I Kings 6:1 carefully reports that 480 years elapsed from the Exodus to the second month of Shlomo’s fourth year.  This calculates to 3029 AM. 

 

Some nine years later, after completion of the Temple and its furnishings and utensils, another Jubilee arrived (in 3038 AM)--in conjunction with the Temple’s dedication and following the return of some land to its original owners (I Kg 6:38; 8:1-66; II Chron 8:1-2). 

 

While not spending time with the actual years of the judges, it is possible to verify the 300 years outlined in Judges 11:26 (completely) and the 450 years (approximately) mentioned by Shaul in Acts 13:20. 

 

This material is extremely complicated.  But it will be useful to realize that complete reconciliation is possible and particularly so when one understands that on occasion, there were two judges, both functioning at the same time in Yisrael (one on the West bank and the other on the East bank of the Jordan). 

 

There is some complication over the judgeship of Shmuel and the reign of Shaul.  Shmuel and his sons get credit for judging 20 years to the time when YHWH’s choice of David took over the unified kingdom (I Chron 11:3). 

 

This judging by Shmuel and his sons essentially paralleled the time that the ark was in the hands of the Philistines (seven months) and at Kirjath-jearim (20 years) before David recovered it (I Sam 5:1; 6:1; 7:1-2; I Chron 13:6). 

 

Correctly, Shmuel and his sons judged about two years before Shaul, the 11 or so years of Shaul and the 7 years of Ishbosheth (while David ruled Yehudah 7 years--I Sam 8:1-2; 31:6; II Sam 2:4, 10-11; 5:4; I Chron 13:6). 

 

The implied 40 years reign of Shaul in the NT (Acts 13:21) is impossible in view of the fact that the ark was only in Kirjath-jearim 20 years.  Shaul’s rule was a part of this 20 years.  What then is the NT 40 years reference?  It is not clear--unless it was Shaul’s age or some other definition relating to Shaul or his line. 

 

Approximately 36 years later, after the Temple started, one comes to the last year of Shlomo--which was Rechavam’s accession year and possibly involved the division of the kingdom (which also could have conceivably happened in the first countable year of Rechavam and Yarovam).  In any case, this takes the counter to 3065 AM. 

 

 

The Kings 

 

The chronology of the kings of Yehudah is next.  And this is not as hard as many scholars try to pretend.  Actually, the king lines in Yehudah can be readily added up and they add up to 393 years. 

 

However, this is one year short when one calculates the 23 years of Yirmeyahu’s prophecies (Jer 25:3).  Apparently, the throne was vacant on Aviv one just after the reign of Jehoahaz (who is only credited with a three months reign--II Kg 23:31; II Chron 36:1-14).  Thus, by adding in the 394 years, one comes to 3459 AM, the year Jerusalem fell (which actually happened early in the year, in the summer). 

 

One must understand that these 394 years are calculated by progressive counting from Shlomo’s last year and Rechavam’s accession year (this count is 395 years by inclusive counting), as noted above (or 394 years from Rechavam’s first year to Tzidkiyahu’s 11th year, by inclusive counting). 

 

This time frame completely jives with several Scriptural references which identify or suggest Sabbath and/or Jubilee years.  For example, the law was read in Jehoshaphat’s third year (apparently a Sabbath year--II Chron 17:7-9), and the Jubilee sign was given to Hizkiyahu in about his 12th or 13th year (II Kg 19:29-30; Isa 37:30). 

 

There is another powerful confirmation of the 36 and 394 year counts to take one to 3459 AM.  According to Jewish traditional knowledge, the First Temple lasted 430 years.  This truth verifies the Scriptural record of the lines of the Judean kings and disproves all attempts of Christian scholars to cook up some other explanation for the Jewish kings as they have attempted to do over the years. 

 

In a related matter, it should be noted that the actual division of the kingdom possibly occurred in Shlomo’s last year.  By progressive counting to Tzidkiyahu’s 11th year, some 394 years elapse.  This point will be significant later in addressing the prophetic age end and the allocation of 394 years to Ephraim and judgment. 

 

 

The Four Decrees 

 

The decreed punishment on Yehudah was 70 years (Ezra 1:1-5; 3:1-6; 5:13; 6:3; Jer 25:1, 9-14; 29:10; Dan 5:31).  This 70 years to the release under Cyrus takes one to 3529 AM which correctly just happened to be the bottom part of the 72d Jubilee year (correctly, as it should be). 

 

The next important calculation must address the point commencing the period of the prophetic 483 years to The MESSIAH (Dan 9:24-26).  This one is complicated because there were four decrees. 

 

Different people have tried to use each of the four decrees in conjunction with secular dates in an attempt to bring the 483 years up to about 27 CE, which is alleged to be the start point of YESHUA’s ministry (correctly, it seems to have started in the fall of 26 CE, following His spring baptism, and lasted 3 1/2 years). 

 

Actually, at least three of the four decrees are important and complement each other, although one of them is the primary vehicle to reach The MESSIAH. 

 

The first decree, and certainly the most important one, is the one made by Cyrus in his first year (II Chron 36:22; Ezra 1:1-5; 3:1-6; 5:13; 6:3).  It covers the return and the commencement of the rebuilding of the Temple. 

 

The next decree apparently came around 31 years later in Darius’ second year (Ezra 4:24; 5:7; 6:1-12; Hag 1:1-2:1, 10; Zech 1:1).  This one revived and reinstated the first one, which had lapsed from the persecution by the Samaritans and their Amalekite allies to halt the Temple work. 

 

Darius issued the third decree in his seventh year in the form of a letter to Ezra to authorize him and others to return to Jerusalem and to carry some silver and gold as offerings and to inquire about Yehudah and Jerusalem, according to The ELOHIM’s law (Ezra 7:8, 11-26). 

 

The fourth decree came some 13 years later in Darius’ 20th year (Neh 1:1-2:1, 6-8; 6:15; 8:1-18; 9:1).  It authorized the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which was to come about 49 years (or one Jubilee) after the first decree. 

 

In any case, this last decree came in a Jubilee year which would be the next one following the one occurring with Cyrus’ release.  By inclusive counting, the end of the seventh and/or forty-ninth year (which starts the next Jubilee) is confirmed when the covenant was renewed and the law was read (Neh 8:1; 9:38). 

 

There is another subtle aspect of this 483 years count off to The MESSIAH which is not readily apparent upon reading the decrees and looking at their historical fulfillments.  This concerns a possible application in the age end.  It will be assessed in some detail herein in later chapters and in Appendix E. 

 

 

The Important One 

 

But as noted above, the important decree is the first one where the mark off to YESHUA correctly commenced. The actual data on the Persian king line and the early years of YESHUA seem to suggest that the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-26 involves inclusive counting. 

 

In this context, it does represent a change in the method of chronological counting (which apparently had been progressive counting earlier).  In any case, the 483 years from 3529 AM by inclusive counting takes one to 4011 AM. 

 

It found its fulfillment when Miryam took YESHUA to the Temple for her purification (Lu 2:22-39).  At that time, both Shimon and Anna recognized YESHUA as The MESSIAH, as their own words clearly reveal--obviously, in the context that Yisrael was then looking for the fulfillment of Daniel 9:24-26.  This event actually happened when YESHUA was perhaps around two or three years old (c2 BCE, as will be later established). 

 

Why the delay in this custom?  First, the law required at least a further lapse of 33 days beyond the 8 days wait for circumcision (Lev 12:1-8).  Hence, the people sometimes had a delay from a child’s birth (and circumcision, if a boy) until they had an (or another) occasion to go the Temple for the purification.  In Miryam’s case, she, Yosef, and The Baby YESHUA fled to Egypt, shortly after His birth and circumcision. 

 

Literally, she had no practical opportunity to go to the Temple until after they returned from Egypt (following the death of Herod) and possibly just before going on to Nazareth (Lu 2:22-39). 

 

Matthew 2:22 seems to suggest that upon returning from Egypt to Palestine the family went initially to the Galilee.  Perhaps the Galilee was the initial, temporary destination; before Miryam went on to Jerusalem for her purification, and then a return to the Galilee. 

 

Regardless of the exact chronology and movements, the evidence is persuasive that Miryam’s purification probably did not happen until around the year 2 BCE, which seems to be the close of the 483-year prophecy to the coming of The MESSIAH. 

 

The best evidence is that YESHUA was born around the 10th day of Aviv in 5 BCE.  Supposedly, Herod died in 4 BCE.  However, that date is now being disputed by recent scholarship which tries to make the case for the death of Herod in the period 3-2 BCE. 

 

Frankly, this writer would not argue the point either way.  If Herod did die from 4 to 2 BCE, Yosef, Miryam and YESHUA could have returned easily in 2 BCE (perhaps in very early Aviv, 2 BCE, before His third birthday).  Likely, some time elapsed for them in Egypt to learn of Herod’s death, to make preparations and to return to Judea and Jerusalem. 

 

 

More on the Delay in Returning to Palestine 

 

Plus, the political situation in Palestine following the death of Herod was extremely pernicious.  In “A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ” (p. 1-6, v. ii, division 1), Dr Emil Schurer describes the climate there of one almost like civil war.  The problem arose because there were three different factions vying for power. 

 

Old Herod left three or more conflicting wills which divided up his kingdom to his surviving sons.  In will two, Herod’s son Antipas was named successor to get most of the empire.  But in will three, Antipas only got the Galilee and Perea while son Archelaus received Judea, Samaria and Idumea and son Philip and Herod’s sister Salome was given the other territories. 

 

This conflict caused the sons Antipas and Archelaus to plot and connive against each other in Palestine and in Rome, as they each tried to take over.  In time, both of them took off for Rome to try to persuade Caesar to intervene in his individual behalf.  But there was a third faction in the game. 

 

As will be addressed in a later chapter, Herod was a very evil tyrant whom the people passionately hated.  Consequently, when he died, the true Jewish people in Judea decided that they had had enough.  Some of them began congregating around the Temple area at Passover time (perhaps in 4 BCE) to try to get some justice from Archelaus for Herod’s murder of two “rabbis.” 

 

Archelaus responded by rushing in soldiers to run the people out of the area or  disperse them.  The soldiers were outnumbered.  So the people stoned them and they retreated.  Archelaus sent in more troops and the area was on the verge of anarchy, before the soldiers finally put down the rebellion. 

 

The common people suffered greatly under the evil of Herod.  So, after the incident with Archelaus, they decided to send a delegation to Caesar to plead for a termination of the rule of the Herods.  This delegation did go to Rome and make its plea--along with the requests of Archelaus and Antipas.  As will be later discussed, Rome took Judea from the Herods and placed it under a Roman Governor in 6 CE. 

 

But even thereafter, the evil, Amalekite, Herod family continued to pull many of the strings of power in much of Palestine.  In 41-44 CE, Judea was placed under Herod’s grandson Agrippa I.  With his death, it reverted back to the Romans (but again, with the Herod family continuing to exercise much power in the background). 

 

 

The Turmoil Was Known 

 

This political turmoil and interplay going on in Judea with the death of old Herod would have been known at some point in time by Yosef and Miryam.  There is almost no question about it whatsoever--they would have surely been hesitant about rushing back to Palestine until things settled down somewhat.  Easily, one or two years could have elapsed before they left Egypt.  Probably, they returned to Judea around 2 BCE.   

 

Eight years later, one arrives at 7 CE  (4019 AM)--which was a Jubilee year and possibly the year that Luke describes as being the year YESHUA started His twelfth year (His birthday) and His visit to the Temple.  If YESHUA was born in early Aviv of 5 BCE, He completed eleven years and entered His twelfth year in 7 CE. 

 

 

Revisiting the Other Decrees 

 

Though the decree with Cyrus in 3529 AM is assuredly the right one, two of the other decrees can also be used.  A count of 31 years from 4011 AM (c2 BCE) takes one to 30 CE and the death of YESHUA on Moriah.  The essence of this calculation is that the 483 years can be calculated from Darius’ second year to arrive at YESHUA’s death. 

 

The fourth decree also has relevance in that it came at the end of the first 49 years and commenced the next count of 62 weeks (of 434 years) to also arrive at 4011 AM or about 2 BCE by inclusive counting.  In other words, a person can count 483 years from Cyrus or 434 years from Darius’ 20th year and still arrive at the same place in time. 

 

What this amounts to is that three of these decrees complement each other and act to confirm the validity of the overall chronology.  All three provide a means to reach YESHUA, depending upon whichever method a person wishes to follow.  But correctly, Cyrus’ first year is certainly the one being referred to in the Scriptures. 

 

This writer is unable to attach significance to the third decree in Darius’ seventh year at the moment, although it may have importance as well and particularly if the chronology of YESHUA’s life is not exactly known as most scholars now believe. 

 

As cited above and as calculated in a former chapter, the best evidence is that YESHUA was born in 5 BCE (although the case can be made that He was born in 6 BCE--if He actually completed 12 years in 7 CE).  He was baptized at Passover upon completing 30 years of age.  As noted earlier, this would have been in the spring of 26 CE (30 years from 5 BCE).

 

During the fall of 26 CE, His public ministry commenced, evidently in the seventh month (Lu 4:16-21).   Since His work was to apparently cover a 3 1/2 years time frame, it would have ended at Passover in 30 CE, which; as noted earlier,  is the traditional year that most Christians accept for His death.  Thus, He was cut off in the midst of a week. 

 

However, if this accepted chronology on the life of YESHUA has any dating flaws, there could be some minor alterations in the fulfillment of Daniel 9:24-26 which would still allow all four of the decrees outlined so far to have enormous importance.  Without trying to be dogmatic on this line, it must be acknowledged. 

 

 

Verifying the 40 Years 

 

By counting 40 years from 30 CE (for the test on the Jews, following the death of YESHUA), one arrives at 70 CE, when Jerusalem fell. 

 

The Mar-Apr 2002 “Prophecy Flash” (p. 22-24) had an article by William F. Dankenbring on “How Long Was Jesus Really in the Grave?” which focused on the dating of YESHUA’s death in 30 CE and the elapse of forty years before Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.  

 

Dankenbring’s work quotes several excellent sources to establish this forty-year dating arrangement quite conclusively.  First, this article cited the Talmud (Shabbat 15a) which said that forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin was banished (from the Chamber of Hewn Stone) and sat in the trading station on the Temple Mount. 

 

Forty years before the destruction of the Temple in the summer of 70 CE certainly takes one back to 30 CE.  Dankenbring than asks if the Sanhedrin had to move its work because of the earthquake which struck the Temple Mount with the death of YESHUA (Matt 27:51)? 

 

This “Prophecy Flash” story also took note of the words of Rav Leibel Reznick that the Sanhedrin stopped judging capital cases for forty years when it was moved to the shopping mall (in 30 CE, per the Talmud).  The Talmud (Sanh 1:1; 7:2) has a similar passage indicating that capital punishment was taken from the Jews forty years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. 

 

Based upon these reports, Dankenbring then asks if the elimination of this power by the Sanhedrin had anything to do with the execution of YESHUA that year? 

 

 

More From the Talmud 

 

The Talmud also offered some other phenomenal reports that happened forty years before the Temple was destroyed.  First, the “Jerusalem Talmud” said that the “western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand.  They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open.” 

 

The “Babylonian Talmud” (Yoma 39b) said that “the lot (‘For the Lord’) did not come up in the right hand, nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel (Temple) would open by themselves.” 

 

The lot involved was the one cast on Yom Kippur to determine which of the two goats would be for YHWH and which would be the scapegoat for Azazel or Satan.  The lot was in the form of a white or black stone.  The process involved a random selection based simply on chance.  Per the Talmud, for forty years (after 30 CE), the lot always came up black. 

 

Statistically, the odds for this occurrence was put at 2 to the 40th power or one out of 1,099,511,627,776 (per Dankenbring).  Thus, it was statistically out of the question. 

 

The second miracle concerned the crimson strip which was tied to the Azazel goat.  Historically, it turned white.  Starting in 30 CE, it remained crimson.  The next miracle occurred for forty years when the Temple doors would open by themselves automatically at night for 40 years.  The last miracle was that the Menorah light in the Temple went out for forty years and would not shine. 

 

Obviously, something happened in 30 CE to completely altar events in the Temple for the next forty years until the facility was destroyed by the Romans.  Assuredly, these several events help establish 30 CE as the year of YESHUA’s death. 

 

 

Other Options 

 

But there is more to come on YESHUA’s chronology.  Some years ago, Christian scholar Dr Ernest Martin, formerly of Portland, Oregon, offered some research suggesting that YESHUA was actually born around 3 BCE or much later than usually believed by most scholars. 

 

Also, over the years, some few Christian denominations have built a case that The MESSIAH was impaled in 33 CE.  If these two possibilities can be supported, some interesting significance can be attached to Dan 9:24-26. 

 

If the first decree of 483 years (of Cyrus) expired in 3 BCE (which could have happened if the previous 70 years of punishment of the Babylonian exile was by inclusive counting), it would have authenticated YESHUA’s birth.  If the 483 years was counted from the second decree (Darius’ 2d year or 31 years after the Cyrus decree), it would still take one to 29 CE and the possible start of YESHUA’s ministry. 

 

A count of five years by inclusive counting or four years by progressive counting takes one to 33 CE and the alleged impalement year. 

 

In this instance, Daniel’s 70th week would have started in 29 CE.  And in the midst of that 70th week (Dan 9:26-27), YESHUA would have been cut off.  That chronology would allow only a need for 3 1/2 more years or so of the 70th week to be fulfillment during the work of the real two witnesses (when they, like YESHUA, will preach truth to the world). 

 

Obviously, if this chronology can be worked out, it might also be applicable in some fashion in the context of YESHUA’s life covering 6 BCE to 30 CE.  This possibility is for information only.  Actually, none of these options will have any material impact on the overall question of chronology, which is the subject of this chapter. 

 

 

Some Difficulties 

 

Some complications can arise over the Persian years when the Book’s dating practices slowly passed off the stage.  First, there is the question of determining exactly what time frames were used to identify the yearly reigns of their kings. 

 

Possibly, their accession years started when they assumed the throne and maybe their dating methods involved a count starting on some other month besides Aviv near the spring equinox.  Darius’ 20th year suggests this--since the 9th Scriptural month (Neh 1:1) comes before the 1st month (Neh 2:1) and the 6th month (Neh 6:15). 

 

Yet, in Haggai and Zekharyah, the months seem sequential from the 6th one forward to also complicate the start of Darius’ reign (perhaps meaning that the dates in Haggai and Zechariah are Scripturally stated in the Palestinian environment while the dates in Persia in Nehemiah are expressed in the Medeo-Persian methodology). 

 

There is furthermore a problem in determining which kings ruled In Persia and over which years.  The key to understanding and reconciling these years evidently can be found in Daniel 11:1-3, which allows for four or five more Persian kings before the Grecian empire gains power under Alexander the Great. 

 

The Persian rule was a little shorter than what most Christians would allow (but far longer than Jewish calculations).  Once the student of truth arrives at the time of Alexander the Great, work on chronology becomes substantially easier.  Secular records are available which outline the reigns of various rulers of Greece and Rome. 

 

While some of these secular records may not be completely correct and should be used with caution, their availability does otherwise help considerably in research on chronology. 

 

There is some data from the Apocrypha and particularly the two books of Maccabees which helps greatly in verifying these secular records.  There is even some chronological references in the New Testament which can benefit the student of truth working on chronology (Matt 2:1; Lu 2:2; 3:1; Jo 2:20, etc). 

 

To the extent that the NT is authoritative, one can certainly accept these remarks as being correct. 

 

Ultimately, the chronological findings from man’s record of history can always be subjected to a check of the Sabbath and Jubilee years to verify them and keep them in check.  Indeed, they should be linked with the Sabbath years and Jubilees to insure their validity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 234--Scriptural Chronology of Adam II

 

 

YESHUA’s Time--A Benchmark 

 

By chronologically getting to the time of YESHUA in the first century BCE (as was done in the preceding chapter), it is possible to relate all of this material to the current Julian-Gregory calendar.  

 

While one may use the historical data on the life of YESHUA, the best method is likely the use of the fulfillment of prophecy, in the context of the fall of Jerusalem.  Most chronologists date this event to be about 586 BCE, primarily because of fallible secular records. 

 

But the correct dating can be readily established because seven prophetic times of 360 years each (totaling 2,520 years) was to fall on Yehudah before her punishment ended in respect to Jerusalem.  And when did this 2,520 years end?

 

It ended in the Six Day War of early June 1967 when the Jews took control of the old city.  The period of 1966-1967 was a Jubilee, which makes a lot of sense.  By counting back 2,520 years from 1967, a person arrives at 554 BCE for the fall of Jerusalem.  

 

Since 554 BCE equals 3459 AM (on a spring to spring reckoning), it is evident that 554+3459-1 will establish the Julian-Gregory year of creation. 

 

With this single date of 554 BCE, all other relevant chronological dates immediately fall into place and correctly connect to all Jubilee and Sabbath years.  Per this writer’s reconstructed chronology of history, the creation of Adam is put at about 4012 BCE (concluding 6,000 years in the spring of 1989). 

 

In terms of the Jubilees, many of them have already been highlighted above and in the preceding chapter.  Mention can be made again to several important ones--like 6-7 CE (when YESHUA went to the Temple, evidently upon entering His twelfth year), 1868-1869 (the start of modern, Jewish plans for Aliyah to Palestine), 1917-1918 (Allenby’s conquest of Jerusalem) and 1966-1967 (Jewish capture of old Jerusalem). 

 

 

The 7,000 Years of Adam’s History 

 

The Scriptures appear to describe an allocation of 7,000 years of time to the Adam kind for certain purposes, which evidently will be fulfilled in the context of those 7,000 years (technically 7,056 years, as will be demonstrated below). 

 

The primary basis for this expected 7,000 years block of set off time hangs initially on the prophetic significance of the seven day weekly cycle, established at creation (Gen 1:1-2:2).  The seven day week, now known to man, is extremely unique for a lot of reasons. 

 

First, it is different from all other calendar computations since the weekly cycle is totally independent of all astronomical motions now known to man.  If the weekly cycle does correlate to some heavenly cycle, this fact is now largely unknown to man on planet earth. 

 

Perhaps, in the world tomorrow, under YHWH YESHUA’s government, incredible new knowledge and understanding will surface.  Some or much of it may even now be present in the Hebrew Scriptures, but just be beyond the capability of us mortals to presently understand it. 

 

Otherwise, man and work animals as well need a rest day.  And they need it once every seven days (following six days of work).  The biological rhythms of men and domesticated work animals (and possibly other life forms as well) properly adjust to such a pattern.  Any other attempts at a six or eight day week have always failed in the historic sense. 

 

In the context of Scriptural prophecy, the Word declares that a day to The MOST HIGH is like a thousand years to the Adam kind inhabiting planet earth (Ps 90:4; II Pet 3:8).  In the vein that Adam has been allocated 6,000 years (or six days according to The HIGHEST) for work here on earth, he is due a sabbatical rest--which is what Shaul alluded to in his epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 4:8-9). 

 

The early “Epistle of Barnabas” offered this analysis in support of the idea that 6,000 years was allocated to Adam and the seventh 1,000-year period would be the millennium under YESHUA (“The New Testament A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings,” p. 386).  This thinking has affected believers for most of the last 2,000 years. 

 

 

A Dual Meaning 

 

George M. Lamsa’s work on the Scriptures, from the Aramaic Peshitta, gives Hebrews 4:9 clearly in the sense that it is the duty of the people of The ELOHIM to keep the Sabbath--in reference to the Seventh day Sabbath. 

 

However, most translations translate Sabbath as rest.  This allows most students of the Word to connect the idea to a great Sabbatical rest or Sabbath for the collective people, as the context of Hebrews 4 allows. 

 

Therefore, the best view seems to be that Hebrews 4:8 has a dual application and meaning.  In the historic sense, it represented the weekly Seventh day Sabbath and its application to the people of The ELOHIM.  But this reference is also prophetic.  In that vein, it has far reaching significance for the people of The ELOHIM in the future. 

 

Since a day with YHWH represents a thousand years with Adam, the Seventh day of YHWH appears to represent a coming 1,000 years of rest for Adam.  Students of the Book have come to understand this coming 1,000 years of rest as the promised, seventh millennium when YESHUA returns to judge man and rule this planet for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-7). 

 

 

The 144 Jubilees 

 

Thus, the Scriptures appear to describe an allocation of 7,000 years of time to the Adam kind for certain purposes, which evidently will be fulfilled in the context of those 7,000 years (yes, YESHUA is A SON OF ADAM when He rules earth for the seventh period of 1,000 years). 

 

But since The MOST HIGH has tied His dating method closely to the Jubilee cycle, it is also probable that this 7,000 years block of time is related to the Jubilee periods. 

 

Accordingly, it appears that the total allocation of this age seems to be 12 x 12 Jubilee periods (of 49 years each)--meaning 7056 years in total.  The number twelve in the Scriptures signifies completion.   Manifestly 12 times 12 (totaling 144) would be the epitome and totality of completion. 

 

Besides the value of twelve and the fact that 7,056 is the summation of 12x12x49, there is some interesting Scriptural evidence in support of this likelihood.  The chronology of Genesis 6:3 establishes some reasons to believe that 144 Jubilees (12 times 12) is indeed the total allocation of time in this one block being allocated to reconcile Adam.   

 

Per the chronology outlined in the prior chapter, Adam’s son Seth was born in c3883 BCE.  From his birth to the year 1998, precisely some 120 Jubilees (5,880 years) pass.  Genesis 6:3 allocates 120 periods/yomim (which can mean Jubilees) to Adam man in some configuration.  The year 1998 is awful close to the age end, which will be described and established in subsequent chapters and in Appendices D and E. 

 

This writer is suspicious that this allocation of 120 periods is an approximate reference to the allocation of time to Adam’s children to govern themselves before their governments on earth are terminated with the arrival of YESHUA, The SON OF ADAM, and His millennial reign over earth. 

 

Perhaps the case can be made that Adam’s time (after he was expelled from Eden and before the birth of Seth) must be included in this 120 Jubilee calculation.  That may seem plausible.  But manifestly, Adam was in a different category than his children (in the sense of his unique creation and the fact that the promise of life given him may have been somewhat different from that given to his children). 

 

 

Possibly 7,056 Years in Total 

 

In any case, if the total allocation was 7,056 years and if Seth and his children receive 5,880 years, what about the difference--which is 1,176 years.  Well, by adding in Adam’s rest, which occurs during YESHUA’s precise rule of 1,000 years (Rev 20:1-7), and the 130 years of Adam (before Seth was born--Gen 5:3), one accounts for 1,130 of these years--leaving only 46 years. 

 

By adding the 46 years to 1998 CE, one comes to the year 2044 CE which possibly is the last year to precede the exact point of the start of Adam’s rest and the 1,000-year millennial rule of YHWH YESHUA (which probably commences in the spring of 2045 CE). 

 

Furthermore, if the Adamic kind was allowed precisely six days (of 1,000 years each) then Adam’s 6,000 years was up in about 1989 CE (which is what Adamic chronology adds to--as illustrated in this production).  Thus, from 1989 (the technical end of Adam’s 6,000 years of work and mis-rule) to 2045 (the start of YESHUA’s actual 1,000-year reign), there are exactly 56 years. 

 

Could this 56 years be transitional years between Adam’s 6,000 and YESHUA’s 1,000?  This writer believes so.  This would mean that from the spring of 1989 CE unto the spring of 2045 CE, the world can be in a transitional state with the phase out of Adam’s mis-rule of earth (correctly under Satan’s direction since he has been the real deity or “god” on earth followed by Adam) and the start of YESHUA’s reign. 

 

While this 56 years may possibly occur at the end of the 6,000 years, and the beginning of the last 1,000 years, it might be allowed that some of the years in the count may have occurred at the beginning of Adam’s time (for example, the book of Jubilees indicates that the first sins of Adam and Eve occurred seven years after their creation--Jan-Feb 2001 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 15). 

 

Maybe Adam’s allocation of 6,000 years started with his entrance into sin. 

 

 

The Delay 

 

The last question is why does it take 56 years to phase in YESHUA’s rule?  The answer is simple.  The problem is that when YESHUA returns (in Yechezkel’s 37th year), the world will not accept His government.  There is first His conquest of the promise land; and second, the Gog and Magog conflict--both of which occur after He returns (Ezek 38-39). 

 

Furthermore, there is the obvious 40 years of punishment upon Egypt because of her sins (Ezek 29:1,9-16).  The peoples of the world are not going to immediately abandon Easter and Christmas for Passover and Sukkot--as will be the requirement when YESHUA returns (Zech 14:16).  Egypt and certain other nations will rebel and refuse to worship YHWH YESHUA (Zech 14:17-19). 

 

Yes, there will be a transition because the nations will not readily accept YHWH YESHUA’s rule.  It will take time to bring the globe’s people into harmony with YHWH YESHUA and His laws.  The world must abandon its historic sun worship religions and human governments and accept YHWH YESHUA’s laws and government in Jerusalem.  This will take time. 

 

Putting these texts together, it appears that it will take 40 years of punishment upon Egypt to bring them into line and make them worship YESHUA and keep Sukkot.  The essence of this presentation is that the world has been in a transitional state since 1989.  Yakov’s Trouble seems to strike the House of Yisrael in Yechezkel’s 30th year.  So things will really intensify from then on to when YESHUA finally does return. 

 

Therefore, it appears that 6,000 years was given to Adamic rule, 56 years for the transition, and then finally the 1,000-year millennium (under YHWH YESHUA’s total government over earth) to be started in 2045 and to end with 3044.  This adds to 144 Jubilees of 7,056 years. 

 

 

6,000 Years Are Up 

 

Per this presentation on chronology, it would appear that Adam has now completed his basic six thousand years of work and misrule of this globe.  As noted above, this 6,000 years was perhaps up in early 1989.  And truly, since then, the world has been waxing worse in a period of transition (under man’s misrule) and growing more unstable, as a prelude to the age end. 

 

Something big is now on the immediate horizon--as it correctly should be--per YHWH’s proven chronology of Adam’s time.  And really, that’s what the Scriptures depict and communicate. 

 

Finally, the only chronology that seems possible has to be in the context of the chronology associated with Adam. 

 

In this sense, who knows how old the earth really is?  Who can correctly date Genesis 1:1?  If it takes huge thousands and/or millions of years for the light from various stars to reach earth (from Avraham’s time to the present), it is patently clear that the universe is substantially older than 6,000 years.