COUNTING TO PENTECOST when UB feast begins on Sunday
by Jan Aaron
UCGia has the following website for answering how Pentecost is
determined in a year as this when Passover occurs on a weekly
Sabbath.
http://www.ucg.org/un/un0501/countingpentecost.htm
Franks says he considers all the Scriptures, but does not reply
to what I and others have brought up when this situation happened
several years ago.
Someone honestly seeking the truth would properly address counter
verses and reasons which seem to contradict his position instead
of hiding them. But UCG ministers as WCG ones want to do the
thinking for ordinary members.
One of Frank's dumb reasons:
"In years when the Passover falls on the weekly Sabbath and
Unleavened Bread begins on Sunday, members remove the leavening
from their homes before sunset on the 14th. In reality, during
such years there would be eight days without leavening instead of
the normal seven. We begin the count for Pentecost on the First
Holy Day (a Sunday), because we believe this is the correct day
for the wave sheaf."
What a snow job! If this was really a problem, God would have
eliminated Passover occurring on a weekly Sabbath. Even though
Franks complains that 8 days would have to be unleavened, this is
still the same case for UCG! How have they eliminated having 8
days instead of 7? In no way! Yet they keep dragging out this
argument from the 1997 study paper on the subject.
Dumb.
In reality, leavened bread can still be eaten on the 14th, such
as outdoors. So there are still only 7 DUB required.
My oh my, leaven can still be eaten at home on the 14th, even if
the 14th is on a Saturday. I did it this year of 2005, finished
off some leaven stuff I had. It does not take hours of house
cleaning to get leaven out, and if you have a family (wife and
children) to pitch in it only need take minutes. The argument by
UCG Frank's fellow is, have to agree with Jan aaron...dumb.
(Keith Hunt).
-----------------------
Another dumb reason of Frank's in Luke 6:1--
The New Testament offers little explicit information on how to
count Pentecost. Luke 6:1 contains the obscure and controversial
Greek term 'deuteroprotos.' In Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament we read this definition of the word:
"1) second-first; 2) the second of the first Sabbaths after the
feast of the Passover."
Since this is the only place where this term can be found in the
Scriptures, it is very difficult if not impossible to know
conclusively how
it should be translated. Some scholars consider this term as an
indication of the counting of the Sabbaths between the Passover
and the Feast of Pentecost. It is possible that this verse
contains evidence of controversy between the Pharisees and the
Sadducees in the first-century community on the counting
of Pentecost when the First Day of Unleavened Bread fell on a
Sunday. But one cannot know conclusively that this is the intent
of the term.(See the United Church of God study paper "Pentecost
and Its Observance" for the various possibilities in explaining
this verse - www.ucg.org/papers.)
This is another dumb reason since in the passage Sadducees are
not mentioned! Only what to do on a normal weekly Sabbath is
considered.
The term, second-first Sabbath, is correct and what this means
most likely I have at the end of this post. Nothing in the Bible
indicates why there would be "firsts Sabbaths". UCG, 'grasping
for straws', latches on to a term "very difficult if not
impossible" to justify their position. Which is, of course,
dumb.
-------------------------
The only reason which might have a chance is about Joshua 5.
However, no Wavesheaf is mentioned. Anyway, God would not accept
an offering of Canaanite labor (Ex 23:16 of your labor that YOU
have sown in the fields).
In a normal year depicted by Lev. 23 about the Wavesheaf, old
crops are eaten until the Wavesheaf is offered so the new crop
can then be eaten. But in Joshua 5, it is not that but a switch
to eating produce of the land of Canaan.
Franks does not bring up the fact that those who undergo
circumcision are so sore afterwards that they cannot defend their
lives within 3 days after the
procedure (Gen 34:24-25). UCG doctors of spin then say that
there was miraculous healing, yet the opposite is mentioned, that
they had to wait while healing took place (Josh 5:8-12). This
would make the Passover of the first month impossible for all
those who were circumcised at the time, and means they must have
taken the Passover in the second month. This makes the last of
the manna end exactly 40 years after it began (Ex 16).
(I am not in full agree with it being the second month as
suggested by Aaron, but because no words "first month" appear in
the text, and the point of staying until being whole, does give a
strong indication this Passover would have been the SECOND month
Passover, for a healing of such flesh cutting on the foreskin of
the male penis would naturally take about a month, unless there
was a herbal type product of the land (like aloes, which can
rapidly speed up healing) used, and which we are not informed
about - Keith Hunt).
The day of the Wavesheaf must be a work day (Lev 23:10), so
it could not occur on any Sabbath. While offerings are allowed
any Sabbath, the Wavesheaf is the start of harvesting.
(This is a very important point, overlooked by most. The
instructions are that the Israelites could not START harvesting
UNTIL the new wave sheath of the new grain had been cut and
presented to the Lord. The clear inference is that as soon after
that was done (on the morning of the Sunday, the people could
IMMEDIATELY start harvesting - that Sunday could then NEVER be a
Sabbath sunday - Keith Hunt).
In most years, UCG uses the rule that the Wavesheaf is on the day
after the weekly Sabbath during DUB, and gives no good reason why
this rule has an exception. The 14th is not a DUB. There are
only 7 DUB and the 14th is not one of them.
No day of the week is mentioned regarding Joshua's Passover.
What is dumber than the above UCG reasons? That the same
reasoning is followed by most of the COGs and the ministers still
think they know best in this matter. And Franks may be the next
UCG president.
-------------Likely calendar of Luke 6:1--------
Patriarchal Calendar
From the book, "The Fullness of Time" (1990) by Joseph M. Egan:
"This 364-day calendar was first made known to Western biblical
scholars by Jules Oppert in his article on Chronology in the old
Jewish Encyclopedia.
While it offered an immensely valuable point of departure for
later work, it was largely ignored. Later publication of the
Book of Jubilees showed how seriously this calendar was taken by
the fervent Jews. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls revealed
that even in early Christian times this calendar was still being
used by Jewish zealots.
"Annie Jaubert, in 'The Date of the Last Supper' made no
reference to Oppert's work, but she did conclusively show the use
of the calendar in understanding the chronology of Genesis."
-------
"Jules Oppert not only rediscovered the 364-day year, but also
the 23-year cycle used to intercalate it, by inserting the needed
week four times in that period. This cycle has 8400 days (1200
weeks) in the 23 years: 28 intercalated days (4 weeks) are added
to 8372 (= 23 x 364).
"The merit of this system is its synchronism with 50 priestly
cycles of 168 days. Jewish priests, divided into 24 classes
served in the Temple for a week at a time. After 168 days their
Temple duty would begin
again. Oppert did not note the connection between the
Patriarchal Cycle and the priestly cycle. That connection helps
us to understand why the priestly chronologist used it in
Genesis.
"Oppert did demonstrate convincingly that the Genesis writer
employed it.
From Adam to the Flood 1656 years passed; it is 72 such
Patriarchal Cycles [23 x 72 = 1656]. In that span there are
604,800 days (72 x 8400 = 604,800): this is as many days as there
are seconds in a week (7 x 86,400).
Thus the great Jewish scholar did deftly bring order out of
chaos, showing this clear analogy between the 'week of creation'
and antediluvian time."
-----
Each normal year had 364 days, exactly 52 weeks. Each quarter of
a year was 91 days and began on Wednesday. Priestly courses were
according to this calendar and were changed in the middle of the
week. While efficient for priestly duties, this calendar was not
used for Holy Days directly since they would always fall on the
same day of the week every year.
Intercalation involves adding extra days in certain years, such
as in leap years an additional day of February 29 in the Julian
or Gregorian calendar.
To keep the Patriarchal calendar year synchronized fairly well
with a solar year, a week was inserted in some years.
"This week was not, however, considered an addition to the 52
weeks of the 52-week year: it was seen as a doublet, or rerun,
of one of those weeks.
"In this, we see the analogy between the Patriarchal calendar and
the Julian calendar which, in its classic form, did not consider
the intercalated day to be the 29th day of the month, but rather
a repetition of the 24th day.
Since this 24th day originally was, in ordinary years, six full
days before the first of March, it was called the 'sixth day
before the Kalends of March.' When, in leap years, it was
doubled, it was called the second-sixth day, (dies bissextilis),
before the Kalends of March.
"On a similar basis, the Sabbath of the intercalated week was
called the 'second-first Sabbath.' St.Luke (6:1) makes the only
known reference to it: Ignorant ancient scribes (and some modern
editors), unable to explain it, have cleverly hidden their
ignorance by eliminating it from the text.
"Actually, to have five intercalations in 28 years (5,6,5,6,6)
keeps pace with the Julian calendar: 28 x 365.25 = 10,117 days =
1461 weeks."
-----
"The Second-First Sabbath"
"St.Luke speaks in his Gospel (6:1) of a strange day, the
'second -first Sabbath', when Jesus and his disciples were
walking through a field of grain. The disciples picked the
grain, ate it, and so provoked the criticism of bystanding
Pharisees. The expression 'second-first Sabbath' is
surely unusual, and exegetes have been baffled by it. In
discussing the intercalation of the Patriarchal Calendar (or
Qumran calendar), I have shown how it makes sense. To keep this
364-day calendar synchronized with the tropical year, it was
necessary every five or six years to intercalate a week. It
seems apparent that that week was not considered as
added to the year, but as a 'rerun' of a week already observed.
This procedure is analogous to the intercalation of a day into
the old Roman calendar of 365 days: this day was not considered
to be added (as Feb.28) but Feb.24th was counted twice.
"In the same way, the Sabbath of the intercalated week (also the
seventh day of that month) was simply called the 'second-first
Sabbath'. Since intercalation was a rather rare procedure, once
in five or six years, we have here an identifiable point in the
public ministry of Jesus."
"Who but the original author would have had reason to introduce
it into the text? It is precisely those arcane details that have
the most authentic sound."
Jan (2005)
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