NIGHT TO BE OBSERVED???

 THE WCG UNDER HERBERT ARMSTRONG HAD IT WRONG----- SO DO MOST OF THE OFF-SHOOTS  FROM THE WCG INCLUDING FRED COULTER

The NIGHT to be much Observed?

A Re-Look at the Scriptures

A RE-LOOK AT "THE NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED" EXODUS 12:42 by Keith Hunt (December 2007) In the "old" Worldwide Church of God, under Herbert Armstrong, we observed "the night to be much observed" at the BEGINNING or evening of the 15th day of the first month - Abib or Nisan. It was the "tradition" to first meet as a local congregation and have an very fine evening meal and fellowship. It was done that way in the 1960s. Later it was "groups" of brethren getting together in different home, varying from year to year. Now, the evening of the 15th, is the start of the FIRST holy day of the SEVEN days of Unleavened Bread Feast. The reader is asked to study all my studies on the nitty-gritty of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. A long study, which should take a fair good time, if you are reading all the Scriptures and meditating on them all. But worth the while if you still have questions about "days" "evenings" "14th" "15" "7" or "8" days for Unleavened Bread, and many more questions. In all those studies, I do not remember if I gave much inquiry into the "night to be much observed." I guess it was not an issue at the time with most people, so I gave little or no time re-looking at it per se. I guess you could say I went along with the "traditional" keeping of it from way way back as taught in the old WCG. A recent gentleman emailed be about it and has indeed got me to re-investigate the matter. I must say I was some surprised at what I've found, trying to revisit this passage without any pre-conceived ideas. It has been truly said that, most wrong theological ideas come from a wrong premise or pre-conceived ideas. We must always be willing to look at sections of Scripture with a new and open mind, but as someone said, not so open that your brains fall out. So with this study I've endeavored to do just that, with also the CONTEXT in mind. Certainly the beginning chapters of Exodus 12 is the Passover. The lamb kept until the 10th day. Then on the 14th day they killed it in the evening. The Israelites were commanded to do certain things with its blood, and how to eat the lamb. The Lord was going to PASS OVER THEIR HOUSES THAT NIGHT of the 14th! (verses 6-13). It was to be a MEMORIAL day - a Feast day (verse 14). It did in Jewish history take a somewhat elaborate number of hours, lasting until the morning hours. I have elaborated on that in some of my studies. It was in Israel quite a full evening as at it was practiced by Jesus and His disciples, and other Jewish families also (celebrated with a few other families in small groups in homes). Exodus 12:15 starts a brief explanation of the 7 day feast of Unleavened Bread, through to verse 20. We are then taken back to the main topic of this section, the Passover in verse 21 and forward. They were to remember to teach their children the wonderful meaning of the Passover (verses 26-27). At MIDNIGHT the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh rose up in the NIGHT. He called for Moses by NIGHT told Moses that he and the children of Israel should RISE UP AND BE GONE! The Egyptians wanted them out mighty fast! So the people got going as fast as they could go with live stock, donkeys, sheep and goats, and don't forget small children. Yes, they took much "spoils" from the Egyptians also, I guess you could say "back pay" for hard work, very hard work, over generations of time (verses 31-36). I believe the verses 37-41 are INSET VERSES. Verses you can put in brackets as in fact and thought put within an overall basic context - the CONTEXT OF THE PASSOVER ON THE NIGHT OF THE 14TH OF THE FIRST MONTH. THEN YOU PICK UP THE CONTEXT AGAIN IN VERSE 42! IT IS A NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED UNTO THE LORD IN BRINGING THEM OUT FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT. THIS IS THE NIGHT TO BE OBSERVED OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. WHAT NIGHT HAS BEEN THE CONTEXT NIGHT? WHY IT'S BEEN THE NIGHT OF THE 14TH - THE NIGHT WHEN THE LORD PASSED-OVER THE HOUSES - THOSE WITH THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB ON THE DOOR FRAME, WERE SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB! PHARAOH RISES UP IN THE NIGHT AND TELLS MOSES AND AARON TO "GET OUT OF HERE - BE GONE - TAKE OFF" AND DO IT FAST! AND ISRAEL DID EXACTLY THAT - THEY GOT MOVING TO RAMESES. AFTER VERSE 42, WHAT DO WE IMMEDIATELY FIND? GOD STARTS TALKING ABOUT A CERTAIN IMPORTANT POINT OF HOW TO OBSERVE THE PASSOVER - ALL THE WAY DOWN TO VERSE 49! THERE WAS ONE SPECIAL DAY - THE 14TH DAY - THE PASSOVER EVENING/NIGHT OF THE 14TH AND THERE WAS A SPECIAL DAY OF THE 15TH, WHEN ISRAEL LEFT RAMESES UNDER FULL AND COMPLETE FREEDOM, FREEDOM FROM THE MIDNIGHT OF THE 14 ACTUALLY, WHEN PHARAOH GOT UP IN THE NIGHT AND TOLD THEM TO "MOVE OUT, AND DO IT QUICKLY." THE "NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED" OR AS THE MARGIN SAYS "A NIGHT OF OBSERVATION" FROM THE **CONTEXT** IS THE NIGHT OF THE **14** - NOT THE NIGHT OF THE 15TH!! In chapter 15 the day to REMEMBER in which God did a further "bringing them out of Egypt" with a STRONG HAND was the 15th day, when they LEFT RAMESES, AS they DID LEAVE Rameses on the 15th day of the first month - see plainly what Numbers 33:3 says. Yes of course they went out on that day from Rameses with a high hand in the SIGHT of the Egyptians! Hence that beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a mighty walk out from Rameses. There could have well been 6 million, including children. Add to all that their cattle and herds - it must have been some awesome sight in front of the Egyptians, as they hopelessly beheld the departure of their once slaved Israelites. So sure the beginning of chapter 13 pays attention to the importance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as Israel started to march out of Rameses on the 15th. And in that context there is NOTHING about leaving Rameses at NIGHT! If they depart on the MORROW after the Passover, as they did, see Number 33:3; then "morrow" after the Passover could have been after sunset, the beginning of the 15th, a cool night travel for 3 or 4 hours. OR, it could have been an early morning start on the 15th. Either would be a moving out of Rameses on the 15th, the day AFTER the Passover! ONE MORE PASSAGE Turn to Deuteronomy 16:1. "Observe the month of Abib, and KEEP the PASSOVER....FOR IN THE MONTH OF ABIB THE LORD THY GOD BROUGHT THEE FORTH OUT OF EGYPT BY NIGHT!" THE NEXT VERSE IMMEDIATELY TALKS ABOUT SACRIFICING THE PASSOVER! WE AGAIN HAVE "NIGHT" CONNECTED WITH PASSOVER AND ISRAEL COMING OUT OF EGYPT! IT SEEMS TO BE ADDING UP - AND TO MY THINKING THE WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE IS IN FAVOUR OF THE PASSOVER NIGHT, THE BEGINNING OF THE 14TH OF ABIB, AS THAT VERY SPECIAL NIGHT TO BE OBSERVED!! AND NOT THE 15TH PER SE. THE 15th IS IMPORTANT FOR IT IS A HOLY DAY. BUT LET'S FACE IT WHAT NIGHT AND DAY CAN COMPARE TO THE 14TH OF NISAN? IT WAS THE NIGHT JESUS SPENT THE LAST PASSOVER ON EARTH WITH HIS 12 DISCIPLES, AND INSTITUTED THE NEW TESTAMENT PASSOVER ORDINANCES. NOW THIS IS REALLY A NIGHT TO BE OBSERVED. THIS IS A MEMORIAL LIKE NO OTHER IN HISTORY - JESUS - GOD IN THE FLESH, WILL DIE FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD ON THIS VERY 14TH DAY, WHICH STARTS WITH THE MEMORIAL PASSOVER EVENING! SURE THE DAY OF THE 15TH AND THEIR TRAVELS DURING THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, TO MAKE THEIR WAY OUT OF THE PHYSICAL LAND IS IMPORTANT, AND SO WE HAVE THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD TO COMMEMORATE THAT MARCH OUT OF SIN TO A NEW LIFE WITH GOD! What about "this night being the night of bringing them out from the land of the Egyptians" (chap.12:42) - the Passover night; And "Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt" (chap.13:3) - the 15th day as they departed from Rameses. God often speaks at times AS IF it is a done deal. When He decides to do a certain thing - IT WILL BE DONE, so He speaks accordingly. When God had decided the time HAD COME for Israel to leave Egypt, then when that death angel passed over at midnight of the 14th, and Pharaoh made that call, and told Moses and Israel to LEAVE, ALTHOUGH PHYSICALLY they were still, at that point, IN THE LAND of Egypt, they had for all purposes and intent LEFT EGYPT. GOD HAD FREED THEN FROM EGYPT! THEY TRULY WERE OUT OF EGYPT, EVEN IF THEIR LEGS AND CATTLE HAD YET TO CROSS EGYPT'S BOARDER LINE. IT WOULD SEEM FROM THE LITTLE EVIDENCE GIVEN US THAT THE NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED IS **NOT** THE BEGINNING OF THE 15TH DAY OF ABIB, BUT THE VERY NIGHT OF THE 14TH - PASSOVER NIGHT! We certainly do not want to take anything away from the 15th Holy Day of Abib - the first of the 7 complete days where only un-leavened bread is to be eaten, but the night of the 14th is the memorial of our Lord's sinless sacrifice for you and for me. SURELY INDEED THAT EVENING AND NIGHT IS TO BE MUCH OBSERVED! ........................ Written December 2007 First, the WCG and others were and are wrong in teaching the "night to be much ovserved" was the evening of the 15th. Now, specifically "even the self same day" - this phrase is connected to the previous one "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years...." It is not written in the Bible per se (no chapter and verse) about 430 years ealier of Israel "dwelling in Egypt" but from this statement we know GOD KNEW to the very day when the tribes of Israel CAME INTO Egypt, and 430 years later, to the exact day - the 14th of Nisan, Israel or "all the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt" - same verse. God inspired Moses to so record that God knew the day Israel arrived in Egypt, and it was the same calendar day that He was going to bring them freedom from Egypt, 430 years later to the very same calendar day - context obviously is the 14th day. Now, "going out from Egypt" WITHIN the CONTEXT is simply meaning that that night of the 14th, when Pharaoh said "get out" - Israel had been set free, they had "gone out of Egypt" but not yet crossed the border line, but in true mental state they had left Egypt, they were free people, no longer in Egypt as under their domain, they were no longer slaves to the Egyptians. This has to be the way to understand this "being free that night" because EITHER WAY of the night of the 14th, OR the night of the 15th when they left Rameses (as we know other verses clearly tell us they left Rameses on the 15th), they only marched on the 15th to Succoth, which was not a town, but the word means "tent" or "booths" - they moved for a while and then pitched their tens for the night. So during the 14th day light they gathered at Rameses, and did not leaves Rameses until the 15th. Either way then THEY STILL HAD NOT left the physical land, had NOT crossed the border line of Egypt, on the 14th OR 15th. The phrase "went out from the land of Egypt" (which ever day, YOU WANT TO PICK - 14th or 15th) MUST MEAN "they were free, no longer slaves, no longer under the thumb or rulership of any Egypt master, not even Pharaoh." The phrase cannot be taken literally, as meaning they crossed the border line of Egypt into another country on that day, for the facts of the following chapters make it clear they DID NOT cross the border line of Egypt either on the 14th or 15th day. They did not leave the physical land of Egypt until they crossed the Red Sea, and that was NOT done on EITHER the 14th or 15th day. Hence there can be only one way to understand "went out from the land of Egypt" and that is they were free, and they STARTED to head for the border line. It is one of those phrases that must be understood WITHIN the context it is written in. The context is being slaves, under chains so to speak, of rulers, and then being SET FREE! I think the slaves of the United States of America could have used the very same phrase "I came out of the land of the United States the day I was freed from slavery." Some did literally leave, came to Canada, BUT NOT ON THAT DAY when they were given their freedom, and many stayed, but they had in 'spirit' been set free, had come out of the USA. Yet of course in this case the many who stayed willfully became part of the USA. In Israel's case they all left (with others also going with them, as it is written) Egypt. And the context shows, they were set free the night of the 14th. God had told them to prepare to be set free with the Passover meal, and then God set them free from Egypt through the death of the firstborn in Egypt, and the command from Pharaoh to "get out of here - be gone." NOTE: Some have tried to chronologize the events of Israel leaving Egypt to have them going through the Red Sea on the last holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is simply NOT possible to so figure! It is true the Israelites moved through the Red Sea at night - see Exodus 14:20-31. But if you take Numbers 33:1-10, noting especially verses 3-8 and the places they pitched their tents before moving through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, you cannot know for certain what day they passed through the sea. If you only give one day for each place mentioned, then it surely was NOT the last day of the Feast of UB when they passed through the sea. We are not told HOW LONG they stayed at the places mentioned. Giving each one day is human SPECULATION only. It is NOT POSSIBLE to figure the daily chronology from Exodus 12 to 16:1. We are told the Passover was on the 14th day of the first month and that getting to the wilderness of Sin, was on the 15th day of the second month. Anything else is PURELY up for grabs. You could have a thousand chronologies from a thousand different individuals and we still would not know which is the right one. And it is not important to know, unless you have some "pet" teaching you want to promulgate. Entered on my Website December 2007