PASSOVER LAMBS —— ALWAYS KILLED BY PRIESTS IN THE TABERNACLE AND/OR TEMPLE?
SOME HOLD THIS VIEW AND HAVE MANY ARGUMENTS THEY WILL ENTER TO SAY THIS IS TRUE.
THE ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSOVER GOES ON AND ON IT SEEMS.
IT IS REALLY NOT COMPLICATED, BUT PRETTY SIMPLE. JESUS SAID UNLESS YOU BECOME LIKE A CHILD READING GOD’S WORD, YOU AIN’T GOING TO BE IN THE KINDOM OF GOD.
EXODUS 12 IS SIMPLE. THERE WERE NO HIGH PRIEST OR LEVITICAL PRIESTS AT THIS POINT. THERE WAS NO TABERNACLE EITHER. THE FAMILIES KILLED THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE, JUST THAT SIMPLE.
YES LATER THROUGH MOSES GOD SAID THAT WHEN IN THE PROMISED LAND, THE PEOPLE COULD NOT SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER LAMB OR KID, JUST ANYWHERE, IT HAD TO BE DONE WHERE GOD PLACED HIS NAME. FIRST IT WAS SHILOH, THEN LATER JERUSALEM.
THIS MEANT A FAMILY OR PERSON COULD NOT KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE AT HOME IN THEIR FAMILY DWELLING; THEY HAD TO GO TO SHILOH AND LATER JERUSALEM TO SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER. IF YOU AS A FAMILY OR PART OF A FAMILY COULD NOT GO UP TO SHILOH AND LATER JERUSALEM, YOU COULD NOT KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE AT HOME. YOUR PASSOVER EVENING OF THE 14TH OF THE FIRST MONTH WAS THEN A REGULAR MEAL PER SE. WHEN ISRAEL WAS IN THE PROMISED LAND YOU HAD TO GO UP TO SHILOH AND LATER JERUSALEM, TO KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE.
NOW IN THE 40 YEARS WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS, THE ISRAELITES HAD A HIGH PRIEST AND LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD AND THE TABERNACLE. THEY LIVED AS A COMMUNITY AND THE TABERNACLE WAS IN THEIR MIDST.
NOW READING THE BIBLE AS A YOUNG CHILD, AS I DID FROM AGE 7, WHEN MY DAD SENT ME TO A CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL, YOU CAN READ ALL THE BOOKS OF MOSES OVER AND OVER, AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND A VERSE OF PHRASE THAT SAYS, “THE PRIESTHOOD SHALL KILL THE PASSOVER LAMB FOR YOU.” OR, “YOU WILL TAKE YOUR PASSOVER LAMB TO THE TABERNACLE AND THE PRIESTHOOD WILL KILL IT FOR YOU.” OR, “IT IS PART OF THE PRIESTHOOD’S DUTY TO KILL YOUR PASSOVER LAMB FOR YOU.” OR, "THE PRIESTS ONLY SHALL KILL THE PASSOVER LAMB."
YOU CAN LOOK AND LOOK AND LOOK, THROUGH ALL THE RITUALS AND DUTIES OF THE PRIESTHOOD, AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND SUCH WORDS AS— “IT IS ALSO PART OF THE PRIESTS DUTY AT THE TABERNACLE, TO KILL YOUR PASSOVER SACRIFICE OF A LAMB OR KID.”
SUCH CLEAR PLAIN INSTRUCTION OF THE PRIESTS IS NOT THERE, YOU CAN NOT FIND IT PERIOD!
SOMETHING SO MONUMENTAL AND IMPORTANT FOR THE PRIESTS TO KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE FOR YOU, WOULD BE THERE IF TRUE, IN VERY PLAIN WORDS. SUCH INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRIESTS CAN NOT BE FOUND.
THE PRIESTS HAD A BUSY TIME DOING ALL THE DAILY SACRIFICES, AND SPECIAL SACRIFICES ON THE FEAST DAYS, AS WELL AS THE PEOPLE BRINGING PERSONAL SACRIFICES. YOU TALK ABOUT BEING BUSY. THEY WERE.
DR. SAMUELE BACCHIOCCHI IN HIS BOOK ON THE SPRING FEASTS, GOES INTO DETAIL ABOUT HOW MANY LAMBS SUPPOSEDLY WERE KILLED BY THE PRIESTS AT THE TEMPLE, DURING THE TIME OF JESUS’ MINISTRY. THERE ARE VARIOUS RECORDED NUMBERS, BUT THE NUMBERS GIVEN BLOW YOU AWAY, IF THE PEOPLE HAD TO HAVE THE PRIESTS KILL YOUR PASSOVER SACRIFICE.
THE FACT IS THERE IS NO LEVITICAL LAW UNDER MOSES THAT SAID IT WAS THE PRIEST’S JOB, AND ONLY THEIR JOB, TO KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE FOR YOU, AT THE TABERNACLE AND LATER TEMPLE.
ONE ARGUMENT GIVEN ME IS DEUTERONOMY 16: 4-6, OR EVEN FROM VERSE ONE TO SIX.
NOW DO YOU SEE THE WORD “PRIEST” IN THOSE VERSES?
DO YOU SEE ANYTHING IN THOSE VERSES THAT SAYS IT IS THE PRIESTHOOD WHO SHALL KILL THE PASSOVER LAMB FOR YOU?
IT SURE DOES SAY WHAT I’VE ALREADY SAID; WHEN IN THE PROMISED LAND THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE COULD ONLY BE KILLED AT THE PLACE GOD PUT HIS NAME— FIRST SHILOH AND THEN JERUSALEM. THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE WAS NOT TO BE KILLED IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE COUNTRYSIDE OF ISRAEL.
BUT KILLING IT AT THE PLACE GOD PUT HIS NAME DID NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN YOU TOOK YOUR PASSOVER LAMB TO THE TEMPLE, TO BE KILLED ONLY BY THE PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE.
ALL OF THAT IDEA HAS TO BE READ INTO IT, TO MAINTAIN THE ARGUMENT ONLY THE PRIESTS AT THE TEMPLE COULD KILL YOUR PASSOVER LAMB.
AND IF THAT WAS INDEED THE LAW UNDER MOSES, YOU’D THINK YOU COULD FIND THAT LAW ALL SPELLED OUT FOR YOU, IN THE BOOKS OF MOSES— IT IS JUST NOT THERE PERIOD!
YOU CAN JUMP THROUGH HOOPS, TWIST AND TURN, DO CART-WHEELS, STAND ON YOUR HEAD, WALK ON YOUR HANDS, ROLL OVER AND OVER A THOUSAND TIMES, AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND IN THE BOOKS OF MOSES, ANY INSTRUCTIONS OR LAW, THAT STATES IT WAS THE DUTY OF THE PRIESTS TO KILL THE PASSOVER LAMBS AT THE TABERNACLE OR TEMPLE WHERE GOD PLACED HIS NAME.
YES IT IS JUST THAT SIMPLE, AND GOD SAYS YOU MUST NOT ADD OR TAKE AWAY FROM HIS WORD.
NOW, HOW THEN DID IT BECOME A CUSTOM FOR THE PRIESTS AT JERUSALEM TO KILL THE PASSOVER LAMB SACRIFICE?
FIRST YOU MUST UNDERSTAND SOME THINGS ABOUT THE PHARISEE SECT.
WHEN THE JEWS WERE IN BABYLON CAPTIVITY FOR 70 YEARS, TO KEEP THE WORD OF GOD ALIVE, THERE WERE SMALL GATHERINGS OF THE JEWS HERE AND THERE IN THE LAND OF BABYLON. WHEN THOSE JEWS WHO RETURNED TO THE HOLY LAND, WHEN ALLOWED, THE SECT OF THE PHARISEES CAME ALONG, AND THE LOCAL SYNAGOGUES CAME INTO BEING. THE PHARISEE SECT RULED THE SYNAGOGUES. THEY ALSO IN TIME DOMINATED THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE RELIGIOUS JEWS. THE SADDUCEES WERE THE UPPER-CLASS SHALL BE SAY, WHO WORKED THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.
THE PHARISEES HAD ENOUGH INFLUENCE AND RELIGIOUS POWER TO EVEN DOMINATE THE TEMPLE, AND WHAT TOOK PLACE THERE.
THE PHARISEES LOOKED AT THE HISTORY OF HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH IN 2 CHRONICLES AND ADOPTED THE TWO SPECIAL HISTORY EVENTS, AS THE YEARLY COMMON PRACTICE, FOR THE TEMPLE PRIESTS TO SO PRACTICE LIKEWISE, EACH YEAR AT PASSOVER TIME.
LET’S LOOK AT THESE TWO HISTORIC PASSOVER CELEBRATIONS OF HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH.
HEZEEKIAH
2 CHRONICLES
CHAPTER 30
And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.
THERE IS ALLOWANCE FOR THIS UNDER THE LAWS OF MOSES - Keith Hunt
3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.
13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
14 And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.
15 Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.
16 And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites.
WHY WAS THIS—— ANSWER COMES——Keith Hunt
17 For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites, had the charge of the killing of the Passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord.
IF IT WAS A LAW OF MOSES THAT THE LEVITE PRIESTS WERE TO KILL THE PASSOVER LAMBS, VERSE 17 WOULD NOT BE NEEDED TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING, FOR ALL WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD ONLY THE PRIESTLY LEVITES HAD THE RIGHT TO KILL THE PASSOVER LAMBS. BUT NO SUCH LAW EXISTED IN THE LAWS OF MOSES. WE SEE HERE THE LEVITE PRIESTS DID IT ONLY BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE NOT CEREMONIALLY CLEAN— A SITUATION ONLY AT THAT TIME, AS THEY WERE ALL COMING BACK TO SERVE THE LORD GOD. WE ARE TOLD WHY THE PRIESTS DID IT FOR UNCLEAN PEOPLE - THE CONTEXT OF A SITUATION OF RETURNING TO THE TRUE GOD AND BEING IN THAT SITUATION MANY WERE LOOKED UPON AS UNCLEAN, AND HEZEKIAH THOUGHT THE PRIESTS SHOULD KILL THE PASSOVER LAMBS FOR THOSE UNCLEAN PEOPLE - Keith Hunt
18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one that 19 prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
AGAIN THE PHYSICAL RITES OF THE OLD COVENANT, NOT BEING DONE, WHATEVER IT WAS THEY NEEDED TO PHYSICALLY DO, WAS NOT DONE, BUT THEY ATE THE PASSOVER ANYWAY. HEZEKIAH IN THIS UNUSUAL SITUATION PRAYED FOR THE PEOPLE THAT WERE NOT CLEANSED ACCORDING TO THE PURIFICATION OF THE SCANCTUARY, AND ——
20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
IN A NUMBER OF WAYS THIS PASSOVER WAS DIFFERENT AND NOT THE NORM, BUT GOD HEARKENED TO HEZEKIAH AND ACCEPTED THE PEOPLE, HEALED THE PEOPLE—— AN EXCEPTION TO THE NORMAL RULE OF OLD TESTAMENT PASSOVER OBSERVANCE - Keith Hunt
21 And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord.
22 And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.
23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.
HERE WAS ANOTHER EXCEPTION TO THE NORMAL! UNDER THE WHOLE SITUATION THIS OBSERVANCE WAS IN, A DEEP REPENTANCE SITUATION, ALL THOUGHT IT WAS FITTING TO OBSERVE ANOTHER 7 DAYS. MANY THINGS AT THIS PASSOVER TIME WAS DIFFERENT, AND GOD ACCEPTED IT ALL, FOR HE LOOKS ON THE HEART MORE THAN THE LETTER. NOW DID THE PHARISEES TAKE THIS PART OF THIS PASSOVER, AND MAKE IT AN EVERY YEAR OBSERVANCE? NO OF COURSE THEY DID NOT, BUT MAKING A FANCY PROUD PHYSICAL TEMPLE RITUAL OF PEOPLE BRINGING THEIR PASSOVER LAMB TO BE KILLED BY THE PRIESTS AT THE TEMPLE, WELL THEY SURE CLUNG TO THAT PART— MORE POMPOUS OUTWARD SHOW AND POWER OVER THE PEOPLE, THAT WERE FOLLOWING BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND, AS JESUS TAUGHT ABOUT THE PHARISEES; SEE IT ALL IN MATTHEW 23.
ABOUT THE ONLY THING THE PHARISEES HAD CORRECT WAS THERE WILL BE A RESURRECTION.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.
27 Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.
YES A MIGHTY TURN TO THE TRUE GOD WITH DEEP REPENTANCE, AND SOME OUT OF THE ORDINARY PASSOVER OBSERVANCES THAT ARE CLEARLY NOT THE NORMAL WHEN PEOPLE ARE CLEAN UNDER OLD COVENANT SANCTUARY RITES, THAT ARE LOST ON MOST OF US TODAY. IT WAS INDEED AN OLD COVENANT OF MANY PHYSICAL RITES AND CEREMONIES. AND WHEN SOME OF THOSE RITES WERE NOT KOSHER, THEN HEZEKIAH ADJUSTED AS HE THOUGHT WAS NEEDED, AND GOD ACCEPTED IT ALL - Keith Hunt
NOW FOR JOSIAH
2 CHRONICLES
CHAPTER 34
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.
31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.
32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.
CHAPTER 35
Moreover Josiah kept a Passover unto the Lord in
Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord.
3 And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord, put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel,
4 And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.
6 So kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
AGAIN I SAY YOU SHOW ME IN THE LAWS OF MOSES, THAT THE PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE, TABERNACLE, ARE TO KILL THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE FOR THE PEOPLE - IT AIN’T THERE - Keith Hunt
7 And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the Passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.
8 And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.
9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.
11 And they killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE PRIESTS DOING THE KILLING OF THE LAMBS OR KIDS, JUST AS IT WAS IN THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH THAT WE HAVE SEEN. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE FROM THE CONTEXT, THAT THIS WAS NO REGULAR ORDINARY PASSOVER - Keith Hunt
12 And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
And they roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among the people.
14 And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priest the sons of Aaron were busy in offering of burnt offering and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place according to the commandment of David, and Asaph and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.
NO SECOND 7 DAY FEAST AS IT WAS IN THE TIME WE HAVE SEEN BY HEZEKIAH - Keith Hunt
18 And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.
THERE IT IS IN PLAIN WORDS— NO PASSOVER LIKE IT FROM THE DAYS OF SAMUEL— THIS WAS NOT ANY COMMON ORDINARY YEARLY PASSOVER; IT WAS UNIQUE, NOTHING LIKE IT FROM THE TIME OF SAMUEL.
THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THE NORM IN GOD’S WORD. I HAVE PROVED THAT TO YOU IN OTHER STUDIES I’VE UNDERTAKEN. THERE IS THE NORM IN MANY OR ALL OF GOD’S LAWS AS UNDER MOSES, AND THERE ARE THE EXCEPTIONS TO THAT NORM.
HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH IN THOSE PARTICULAR PASSOVERS WE HAVE STUDIED, WERE EXCEPTIONS TO THE NORM.
JESUS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE
Anyone should be able to see by reading the gospels, Jesus observed the Passover, His last one on earth. His disciples asked him where they were going to observe the Passover. In one account it was getting so close to the beginning of the 14, they were getting anxious because Jesus had not told them where to go to prepare the Passover room. He finally did tell them where and to make ready.
This was not the afternoon of the 14, but the beginning of the 14. The Pharisee Jews would not start to kill Passover lambs or kids, until about noon the next daylight part of the 14, with the priests in the Temple killing the lambs or kids. This was also called by these Pharisee Jews, the Passover, for to them it was, just as it is with the modern Pharisee Jews of today.
The disciples of Christ knew when Jesus would celebrate the Passover—— the beginning of the 14 day, the evening to night of the 14 day.
No Temple priest slaying of Passover lambs started on the evening and night of the 14.
Jesus knew the correct time of observing the Passover; so did His disciples!
Jesus, as the God of the Old Testament, knew it was small groups or families, that got together on the evening of the 14 and they themselves killed the Passover sacrifice of the lamb or kid.
The Passover study should be pretty simple to understand when all the Scriptures are brought together.
I have had to write study after study after study, to answer all the arguments people bring up on this subject.
Jesus had to tell His Disciples to be aware of the doctrines of the scribes, Pharisees, and Saddusees. They had a few points of truth but in the main, they were full of errors and false teachings.
The scribes and Pharisees especially got the very blunt talk from Jesus.
You can read it all in Matthew 23.
It is a scathing rebuke of them by Jesus.
This study is just one of the false teachings and practices of the scribes and Pharisees, who loved the outward portrayal of the physical pompous rites of religion.
Such is still going on in certain Christian religious circles around the world. The book of Revelation calls it BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION!
It will all come crashing down when Jesus returns. May that day come soon is my prayer!
Keith Hunt
No comments:
Post a Comment