DOES COLOSSIANS
2:16 abolish the
FEASTS of GOD?

Keith Hunt

Many a man down through the ages - some famous, some not famous and some infamous - have tried reading the Bible, but ended up rejecting it as coming from an all powerful God. These individuals were stunned by the Bibles seemingly contradictions. "This book" they said, "can not possibly be inspired for it contains dozens of contradictions." And at first glance they would seem to be right. Some Biblical scholars on seeing this predicament have written whole books to answer the sceptics concerning these contradictions. These Biblical scholars knew that Jesus had said, "The Scripture cannot he broken'." God did not contradict Himself in His word. They knew that for every seeming contradiction there had to be a logical and harmonious answer. For those outside the "church" to be sceptical of how the Bible is written is one thing, and we should expect to find this. But it has never ceased to be of amazement to me when some Biblical scholars, ministers and lay people also believe, by what they say and write, that the Bible contradicts itself ! And what is even worse - they seem to be quite happy with that belief and make no attempt to untangle their mind. One of these seeming contradictions of the Bible concerns verse 16 of Colossians chapter 2. It is said by the apostle Peter that one reason Jesus came to this earth was to leave "us an example, that you should follower His steps: Who did not sin" ( 1 Pet. 2: 21, 22 ). The apostle John wrote, "He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6). Now those verses are quite plain I think - it doesn't take a degree in a theological school to understand them. All we have to do is look in the four Gospels and see HOW Jesus lived - what HE taught, commanded and observed - and follow after Him - walk as He walked. But here's where the problems start for some. You see most have thought that Paul was telling the Jews and Gentiles at Colossae (in chap.2:16) through his letter that those old laws in the Old Covenant about eating and drinking, the 7th day Sabbath, the New Month days and the Feasts, were now ABOLISHED (no longer had to keep them) when one became a Christian. Ahhhhhhhh, but didn't Peter say Christ came to set us an example for us to follow? Jesus kept the "eating and drinking" laws - He kept the weekly Sabbath - He kept the Feasts of Leviticus 23. Jesus did not teach these things would no longer need to be observed after His death. He said nothing about.........abolishment of the things listed by Paul in verse 16. In fact the opposite is the case. Look at what He said in Mat.5:17-20. He first tells His disciples NOT to think He has come to abolish the law (first five books) then notice one of His plain teachings in verse 19, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, AND shall teach men so (to break what they think is the least commandments) he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven (doesn't say he'll be in the Kingdom), BUT whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven. FOR..." notice this, verse 20, "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness(see Ps.119:172) shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven." The scribes and Pharisees kept the laws of Col.2:16 externally at least. So to many Paul contradicted Jesus - he taught differently than Jesus - he changed the teachings of Jesus. But is that REALLY SO? PAUL CONTRADICTS HIMSELF? Not only do some think that Paul contradicted Jesus but that Paul contradicted Paul. He tells the Jewish/Gentile church at Rome (according to many) that they can choose their own days to keep holy to God, and the Lord will accept them - Rom.14. Now surely some - even some Gentiles - would have chosen the 7th day Sabbath and the feast of Pentecost or day of Trumpets, as would have some Jewish Christians. Paul teaches it would seem to many here - FREEDOM! Yet, to the Jews and Gentiles at Colossae he calls them out and instructs them to not let people teach them to observe the ways of eating and drinking, the weekly Sabbath, new month days and Feasts. At least many claim Paul is teaching this to the Colossians. With all this seeming to be, contradictory teachings of Paul, what do we find in the book of Acts on how Paul LIVED and the FEASTS he observed? Why we fined he kept the 7th day Sabbath - he kept the Passover (but the NT way as instituted by Christ) - he kept the feast of Pentecost. In fact Paul did nothing that his Jewish Pharisaical enemies could accuse him in breaking the laws of God, see Acts chapters 22 through 26. Some claim Paul was a Christian Jew and as such it was okay for him to still keep his Jewish heritage by observing the Sabbath and Feasts, but the Gentiles did not have to do this, or they could observe the 1st day of the week and different festivals other than those found in Leviticus 23. With this reasoning, let's ask some questions. A Jew that accepts Jesus as the Messiah - does he stop keeping the 7th day and start keeping the 1st day? Does he continue to keep the 7th day because it is national heritage and also start observing the 1st day as the Christian Sabbath? Or does he not observe either the 7th or 1st day but can choose another as Romans 14 would suggest he can do, according to how some interpret this section of scripture. Does the Gentile have to keep Sunday as the NT "Lord's day" ? If so - what then is Romans 14 teaching? Does God have the 7th day for Jews and the 1st day for Gentiles? Does God have one set of Feasts for the Jewish Christians and another set of Feasts for the Gentile Christians? What does a person do if they are half Jew and half Gentile blood? And how does Romans 14 apply to all this? Does God have different ways of salvation for different people? It is not the purpose of this article to explain what Paul is teaching in Romans 14 - I have another article which does that - all I will say here is that the "days" of Romans 14 have nothing to do with Sabbaths or Feasts of God as found in the Old Testament. No Paul never contradicted himself either in what he taught or practiced. Now let's get to what Paul was teaching the church in Colossians chapter 2. THE CONTEXT OF COL.2:16 Even the mightily inspired apostle Peter had to admit that some things Paul wrote were "...hard to be understood" and he went on to say that those who were unlearned AND unstable did wrest unto their own destruction (2 Pet.3:16). The reason why so many have trouble with Paul's writings is because they will not look at the context of verses like Col.2:16 and the context of Paul's life as recorded in the book of Acts. Too many want to isolate a statement by Paul from the verses around that statement and from other words of his in other letters. They read Paul with what we call "tunnel vision" or with blinders (like some horses wear over their eyes when racing) over their eyes so they do not see all Paul wrote. First, let's notice the basic spiritual condition that the people to whom Paul was writing were in. They had faith in Christ and love for all saints (chap.1 v.4). They had been alienated from Christ by the way they had lived but were now reconciled (v.21). Paul took pleasure in their order and steadfastness of faith in Christ (chap.2:5). They had been baptized (v.11-12). And their sins had been blotted out (v.13-14). Secondly, we need to see the apprehension and fear that Paul held for them and WHY. Paul wanted them to have full assurance of understanding(v.2). He was concerned about them being led astray by men with enticing words (v.4). He wanted them to WALK in the way of Jesus (we have seen Peter said to do the same - Jesus kept the Sabbath and Feasts of Lev.23) - see v.6. Paul warns them about men preaching deceit, wrong philosophies, teachings of the world, and ideas of men - that were opposed to Christ's teachings (v.8). He warns them against people who were entrapped in worshipping the spirit world, teaching observance to the physical, from man's commandments, and asceticism (v.18-23). He warns them about all this, the ways of the unconverted and deceived religious world of various false dogmas. With that background we can now start to understand what Paul is warning the Colossian church about. Here was a people who had been taught the gospel, had been shown the way and teachings of Jesus - they had come to recognize they were sinners in need of forgiveness - they had accepted Christ as Messiah and Savior - they had been baptized, had their sins and debt of death removed. They were now walking after Christ - living as He lived - practicing things as He practiced them. Then Paul gets word that sinister evil men were trying to shake and destroy their faith and walk with Jesus, by enticing them with many traditions, philosophies, doctrines, commandments of men and asceticism. These men are falsely telling them about how they have had contact with the spirit world. They are preaching to the Colossians that they have the spiritual truths not Epaphras their minister. These beguiling men are saying to those who will listen, that to follow this Christ and walk as He walked is foolishness, and that they have the correct traditions, customs, worship and commandments. Try to put yourself in the picture. You were a part of a false pagan or religious society - doing things contrary to the ways of Christ. Along comes a minister of Jesus and expounds the saving truth to you - and you see your sins - you see that what you have been believing and practicing have been the philosophies, traditions and commandments of MEN. You see you are a sinner in need of forgiveness - you see Jesus is the savior - you repent and are baptized - you start to live as He lived, walk as He walked. Your former friends and philosophical leaders see they no longer have any influence over you pertaining to your spiritual life. They do not understand your new faith - they think what you are now doing is crazy!! Then they make every effort to entice you back into their world and their man made concepts and traditions. SO IT WAS FOR THE CONVERTS TO CHRIST AT COLOSSAE! These converts to Jesus at Colossae had been in sin - but now are forgiver by the death of Christ on the stake. They now have repented or their old former way of life, and are now walking as Jesus walked - they are obeying God's laws concerning eating and drinking - they are keeping as Jesus kept, the festivals that God says are "my feasts" (Lev.23:1). Many are now observing the 7th day Sabbath as God commanded in the fourth of His 10 commandments (Ex.20). These followers of Jesus now observe the Jewish calendar and honor the new month days set by that calendar, together with the yearly Festivals as outlined in the books of Moses. Then after they start to live this way - the way Christ lived - along came men trying to criticize, sit in judgment, and govern them back into their man made, philosophies, commandments and traditions. Paul admonishes the Colossian church, "Let no man therefore judge you..." What does Paul mean by "no man"? Is he saying that their minister should not guide and govern them into God's way and truth? Does he mean that he Paul should not lead and guide them into the truth of Christ? Does the body of Christ - the church - have no leadership, guidance, or government among itself? Of course it does! See 1 Cor. 5 and 6:1-8. Paul is telling the Colossian Christians that they should let no man of these ENTICING, BEGUILING, vain, fleshly minded men of the world govern or sit in judgment over them concerning the way they now eat and drink, and the festivals they now observe. No PART of this way of life is to be governed by the outside people of this world who reject Christ, or who make up their own rules of religion for their spirit worship of the unseen. The Colossians are not to be governed by the fleshly unconverted minds of men in regards as to "...eating and drinking(as the Greek is), in regards festivals, new months or sabbaths." The day to day eating and drinking habits, the yearly, monthly, and weekly festivals, that God's people follow should not be influenced, determined or governed by the philosophies, traditions, doctrines and commandments of men who would entice them from walking in Christ Jesus. Now notice verse 17. Did Paul teach and believe the physical laws of eating and drinking were "done away"? Did he believe the Festivals, new month days, the weekly Sabbaths of God were "done away"? Look at what he says regarding these, "Which ARE" present tense in the Greek - "Which ARE (not were) a shadow of things to come..." A shadow leads to the reality! A shadow of a man appearing around a corner will lead you to the man. So it is with all of God's yearly, monthly and weekly festivals - they have GREAT MEANING about "things to come." The Passover lamb was slain on the 14th of Nisan - Jesus as the reality of the shadow was slain on the Passover day as the true Lamb of God. The Passover festival was a shadow of things to come. The feast of Firstfruits(Pentecost) was a shadow of things to come - the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit came on that precise day (Acts 2). The feast of Trumpets is a shadow of the coming last trump when Jesus will return to earth. All the weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals are a "shadow of things to come." They ARE, presently, today, continually a constant reminder of the wonderful plan of God for this earth and the people on it. If the Christian world had continued to observe God's festivals they would not be in confusion today as to what is the plan of Salvation that the Lord has for mankind. ....BUT THE BODY OF CHRIST? This phrase of Paul's has also been misused, abused, and not understood but by a few. It is claimed that Paul was telling the Colossians that laws to do with eating and drinking, festivals and sabbaths were not important - were "done away" - only accepting Jesus as the Messiah and Savior was now important. Just "give your heart to the Lord brother," just "come as you are," the law is "done away and it's only grace today" is what many teach that Paul is basically saying here in verse 17. Nothing could be further from the truth! In the inspired original Greek that the New Testament was written in, the little word "is" can not be found - it is not there. This phrase should read, "but the body of Christ" and that puts a whole different light on this passage. The word "but" is a connecting word, and what most miss is WHERE it is connecting. It is connecting with the thought of verse 16 - the phrase, "Let no man therefore judge you." Put these two phrases together and you have Paul's complete thought and statement with a parenthetical thought inbetween. So Paul's complete statement should be, "Let no man therefore judge you(parenthetical thought)but the body of Christ." The Greek contained no punctuation whatsoever. Today we would write verses 16 and 17 like this, "Let no man therefore judge you(in eating and drinking, or observance of a festival, or new month, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come)but the body of Christ." The "body of Christ" are the collective remembers of the church. This can be seen from the following verses of scripture: 1 Cor.6 15; Rom.12:5; 1 Cor.12:12-27. It is the church of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and the Ministry that God has established (Eph.4:11 12) that is to govern and guide the church as a whole in matters of Christian living and observance of Festivals, not those outside the church with their various ways of a so-called spirituality, based upon "the way that seems right unto man but which ends in death." Certain individuals were endeavoring to get the followers of Christ at Colossae into observing man made food and drink commandments (i.e. touch not, taste not, handle not - give up something during the Lent season. Or, do not eat fish on Friday) as well as their festive traditions (i.e. pagan Easter, Xmas, January lst and the Roman-Greek calendar), philosophical teachings, humanism, bodily flagellation (they still walk on their blood covered knees while reciting prayers to the altar, in some parts of the world) and spirit (angel-demon) worship. They wanted the Christians to give up following the physical and festival laws of the Hebrew God and reject Jesus as the Savior from sin. Paul tells the Colossian church to pay no attention to these fleshly minded men, but to let the body of Christ - the church - be their light and guardian over the things they were NOW ALREADY practicing (in the way of eating, drinking, festivals and sabbaths) as they walked in Christ. Contrary to the popular teaching or Colossians 2:16 this section of scripture is one of the greatest proofs in the New Testament that the Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity continued to observe not only the physical laws of God, but also the weekly Sabbath, the new month days(Hebrew calendar as governed by the Jewish authorities) and the Festivals of the Lord as outlined in Leviticus 23. ............. Foot note I've purposely stayed away from getting too technically scholastic with the Greek in this presentation, while at the same time bringing out what the Greek means. I do not believe God's children need a degree in NT Greek to understand what Paul is teaching in this part of his letter to the Colossae church. It is really quite plain to see from the whole context. For those who could desire a somewhat more technical presentation of this passage I refer you to the scholastic book FROM SABBATH TO SUNDAY by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi (4569 Lisa Lane, Berries Springs, Michigan 49103 USA). Dr. Bacchiocchi has another way to explain this section of Paul's letter. While I personally do not agree with his explanation, it does still agree with the truth I have presented here - namely that the Christians (Jews-Gentile) of the first century A.D. continued to observe the Sabbath and Feasts of God as established in the Old Testament. One of the most technical study articles I've seen to date on this section of Paul's writings is by Larry Waker. He basically gives the same explanation as Dr. Bacchiocchi. His articles are available on computer disk (ASCII text format) for a donation of $2.50 from: Sharing Disks, c/o John Guffey, 9700 South Anderson Road, Oklahoma City, OK 73165, USA. ................... Written May 1987 by Keith Hunt All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published, e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit.

Chronology of Exodus 12 to 16

Throw away the Charts!

CHRONOLOGY OF THE ISRAELITE EXODUS (Exodus 12 to 16) by Keith Hunt I have seen over the last number of decades a few pretty fancy charts and outlines, from people trying to put together a day by day CHRONOLOGY of the Israelites coming out of Egypt - chapters of Exodus 12 through to 16. Such "chronologists" have spent HOURS and hours figuring it all out. Most of them have been from the Churches that DO observe the Festivals of Leviticus 23. They somehow want to "fit" the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and some even Pentecost, into this nice neat framework of dates and days, to give I guess, more credence to those Festivals of the Lord. It has been a complete WASTE of time for them. They would have been better to have spent their time on other studies, than this chronology stuff about the chapters of Exodus 12 to 16. They have been day dreaming, and doing back flips and juggling tricks, to make those events of Exodus 12 to 16 "fit in" with their ideas, that to them will add weight to the observance of the Festivals of God. The FESTIVALS of the Lord DO NOT NEED SUCH jig-saw puzzles of chronology to establish them as God's Festivals that should be observed by His people today!! Such chronologers have MISSED the simple points of Exodus 12 to 16. Now, dear reader, you take out your Bible and read from Exodus 12 through to 16:1. Have you seen it? It is pretty simple! Exodus 12 is the Passover ON the 14th of the month, the first month. The Israelites reach the wilderness of Sin, ON the 15TH DAY of the SECOND MONTH! WITHIN FOUR CHAPTERS we have covered ONE MONTH AND ONE DAY!! Now, go back and read through once more, very carefully, noting the places the Israelites pitched their tents, to stay a while. Exodus 12:37 - They left Rameses and pitched at Succoth, which is just a Hebrew word for "booth" or "tent." The next we are told is in chapter 13 and verse 20. They moved from Succoth to Etham, by the edge of the wilderness. Then it's chapter 14 and verse one. They are to encamp before Pihahiroth, over against Baalzephon; by it they were to camp over against the sea. Pharaoh and his army are coming after them, is the rest of chapter 14. The children of Israel do go through the Red sea by NIGHT and in the morning watch, and when the morning is appearing the Egyptians try to flee but are drowned in the Red sea. We are at chapter 15. We have singing and praises for God and His mighty power. Moses brings the Israelites through and out of the Red sea, and to the wilderness of Shur - verse 22. They go THREE DAYS JOURNEY in the wilderness - verse 22. They get to Marah, verse 23. They had no water. They come to Elim and there is water, and they camp, verse 27. They pick up and come to "the wilderness of sin" which is between Elim and Sinai - ON THE 15TH DAY OF THE **SECOND** MONTH!! It should be pretty easy and plain to see that FROM THE 14TH OF THE FIRST MONTH (PASSOVER DAY) - CHAPTER 12; RIGHT TO CHAPTER 16:1 IS ONE WHOLE MONTH PLUS ONE DAY! Now, it has to be either they stopped in those places way MORE than ONE day, or there were OTHER places they pitched their tents that we are NOT TOLD ABOUT. Then I suppose it could be possible it was BOTH! FURTHER PROOF You want a little more to back up what we have just read? Turn to Numbers 33 and you will find it. Look at verse 3. Ah, it tells us clearly the Israelites DEPARTED FROM RAMESES on the 15TH OF THE FIRST MONTH! They moved from Rameses and pitch at Succoth - verse 5. They departed from Succoth and pitched at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness - verse 6. They removed from Etham, and turned to Pihahiroth, and they pitched at Migdol - verse 7. They departed from Pihahiroth, and PASSED THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE SEA INTO THE WILDERNESS, AND WENT THREE DAYS JOURNEY IN THE WILDERNESS OF ETHAM AND PITCH AT MIRAH - verse 8. They left Mirah and CAME UNTO ELIM, where there was water - verse 9! They moved from Elim and encamped by the Red sea - verse 10. They removed from the Red sea and encamped in the wilderness of Sin - verse 11. NOW THAT HAS BROUGHT US BACK AGAIN TO EXODUS 16:1. HOW SIMPLE IT IS! FROM THE PASSOVER ON THE 14TH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH, TO THE DAY THEY ARRIVE IN THE WILDERNESS OF SIN, TOOK ONE WHOLE MONTH AND ONE DAY! They got to the wilderness of Sin, on the 15th day of the SECOND month - Exodus 16:1. We are told SO LITTLE, just about NOTHING, of the "chronological" day times of this period of time - one month and one day. We are told the Passover was on the 14th day of the first month. We are told they left Rameses on the 15th day of the first month. We are told they crossed the Red sea by night. We are told they did a three day journey into the wilderness. AND THAT IS IT FRIENDS!! It is NOT POSSIBLE - it was NEVER INTENDED by the Lord - for us to KNOW THE EXACT DAYS OF LENGTH THEY PITCHED THEIR TENTS AT ANY ONE OF THE LOCATIONS MENTIONED. If you want to say they only pitched at each location mentioned to us, for only one night. Then ACCORDING TO NUMBERS 33, you get a total of SEVEN or EIGHT DAYS, to reaching the wilderness of Sin! And that has to include a three days journey into the wilderness mentioned to us. So you could extend it all to 10 or 11 days, to reach the wilderness of Sin. BUT IT'S NOT POSSIBLE to figure it that way, as we see CLEARLY from Exodus 16:1 that it took the Israelites ONE MONTH AND ONE DAY (from the 14th of the first month to the 15th of the second month) to reach the wilderness of Sin! THROW THE CHARTS AWAY, THROW THE DIAGRAMS AWAY FOLKS! It is just not possible to figure the chronology of Exodus 12 through to chapter 16:1. AND FURTHER - IT DOES NOT MATTER - THE FESTIVALS OF THE LORD ARE NOT ESTABLISHED UPON CHRONOLOGY! ................... Written December 2007

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 ADDED February 2010 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.

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WHY DID JESUS NOT DIE AT THE TIME OF THYE PASSOVER - EVENING - BEGINNING OF THE 14TH ?

I thought I needed to put this as an answer easy findable for people, for indeed many have this question.

Hi Keith

Hi Claire,

I have been reading your teachings with great interest an illumination.

***Glad you found my website.

I agree the last supper was on the beginning of the 14th.

***Yes it was.

But what I am struggling with is that Jesus had to die according to scripture. So would this not mean that he should have died on the eve of the 14th, when as you say the real Passover killing of the lambs took place.

***The Israelites had to eat the Passover at the beginning of the 14th as they were to leave Goshen in the morning of the 14th to Rameses and leave there the evening of the beginning of the 15th, Jesus was the Passover lamb of the 14th; but no where was it ever said he had to die at the beginning of the 14th. It cannot be found in any prophecy

about his death that he had to die EXACTLY when the Passover lamb was killed and eaten. It is like this: not all things regarding Christ as the Passover lamb was to be fulfilled EXACTLY the same, i.e. the Passover lamb was roasted by fire; Jesus was not burned at the stake, but hung on a cross; yes his blood was shed when he was speared in the side, cried out and died. So though he fulfilled the Passover lamb in type, not all "type" was done exactly, Jesus was not roasted at the stake as I've just pointed out.

He was to partake of his last Passover with his disciples so he could change the New Testament Passover to bread and fruit of the vine and foot-washing. Dying on the 14 was the main thing; the exact hour was not the main thing. It was unheard of that any Jew was put on a cross and died in the evening. The law of Moses said such had to be taken down before the new day began. That was why they came to brake the legs, so death would happen, but when they came to Jesus he was already dead.

All of this is on my website but there are many many Passover studies and it is all in one of them.

I know he still died on Passover but the way my brain works because it was 3pm on the 14th day, does this not mean he failed to fulfil scripture or is the time not important.

And if time was not important why was god so specific about the time in the OT.

***Because you must remember the time in the OT was connected with Israel leaving Egypt and the death angel passover over that night of the 14. So the Passover then was much more than just a type of the Passover lamb of God {Jesus} dying on the 14th. The original Passover was tied in with how God decided Israel would leave Egypt. As I've explained in many studies. It was just fine that Jesus died on the 14. Oh and it was not at 3 PM..... I have a study on that also. The first hour was 6 to 7. So work it out....you have an hour in which he died, we are not told what part of that hour he died. So even that proves the exact time on the 14 was not important, as long as it was on the 14.

I have searched for 3 days your teachings but can't find anything that answers this question.

***It's all there but there is so much it may take more than 3 days to find it all. Sure took me more than 3 days to study it all and write it all, about 3 years I would say :-)

In a few days I am due to fly to Uganda to preach do would very much appreciated getting this sorted as I don't want to preach anything other than the word.

***Hope it is now sorted out for you. all the best. Keith

P.S. Not all parables can be taken to full face value so to speak; they often break down at some points, i.e. the parable called "The Unjust Judge" The woman pleads with the judge - in Luke 18:1-8. It is obvious the unjust judge is referring to God the Father - God the Father is never "unjust." The main point is something else in the parable … verse 7,8 is the main point of the parable.

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Seven Annual Sabbaths
Is It A Sin If You Do Not Keep Them?

Those who tell us it is SIN to break the 7th day weekly Sabbath will point to the fourth of the Ten Commandments in Ex.20 together with the verses of 1 Jn. 3:4 and Rom. 6:1 to show us that being saved by GRACE does not mean we can continue to sin at will. When these same individuals are asked about the 7 annual Sabbaths God gave to Israel,and is it sin to not keep them as sabbaths, many will say, "no it is not sin to break them." When asked why they say this, an often reply is, "The 7 annual Sabbaths are not a part of the Ten Commandments, so we need not keep them." But is this reasoning of something not specifically being a part of or not being stated in the Ten Commandments, a valid argument ? God says to us, "come let us reason together." Let us be willing to look at ALL of God's word and also use common logic. It is surely indeed true that the Ten Commandment law does define what sin is ( 1 Jn 3:4; Rom.7:7 ). But, are the literal words of these commandments the all complete - beginning and ending, as to what is sin ? Or are they merely the basic foundation upon which the whole gambit of sin and what constitutes sin is built upon ? Surely even a casual reader of the Bible will come to see very quickly that God expounds and amplifies throughout His word, the meaning of sin - what constitutes sin, and various other thoughts, attitudes and actions of life that are not specifically worded in the Ten Commandments, but are nevertheless just as much sin as those specifics of the TEN. Let me illustrate. Because of a general wrong heart in the Israelites who would not look at the spirit and intent of the Ten Commandment law ( Deut.5:29 ) - God amplified for them those commandments with many specifics. The commandment to honor father and mother for example, was expanded to prohibit specific physical actions as well as a general disobedient attitude - punishable by death. "And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death" (Ex.21:15 ). "And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death" (Ex..21:17 ). "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they chasten him, will not hearken unto them.......And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die......." (Deut.21:18-21). The simple command to rest on the Sabbath wasn't sufficient for a nation without the spirit and heart to obey God. In Exodus 16, the Israelites had to be told to stay at home after some went out looking for manna on the Sabbath (v. 27-30 ). They had to be instructed to keep the Sabbath in earing time and in harvest (Ex.34:21 ). In Ex.35:2 3 fires were prohibited on the Sabbath. Some commentators state that this prohibition referred only to industrial fires used in the construction of the Tabernacle (see the context of chapters 35-39 ). In any case, it is an example of a more specific regulation being added to the broad general commandment. The disregarding of this amplified instruction regarding the Sabbath carried the death penalty (Num.15:32-36). The 8th command against stealing did not always carry a death sentence, but one specific amplification of this command did, "And he that steals a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand (kidnapping ), he shall surely be put to death" (Ex.21:16 ). The command against murder was enlarged to include the death sentence for anyone who knew his ox was wont to attack people, but did not take protective measures and it had killed someone (Ex. 21:29 ). The command against idolatry was expanded to include the death sentence upon parents who sacrificed their children to pagan gods (Lev. 20:2 ), upon witches (Ex. 22:18), upon wizards, consulters with evil spirits, and those that used divination etc. ( Deut. 18:9-14 ). Adultery was punishable by death, but this law was enlarged to include incest, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality (Lev. 20:10-17). We could go on and on showing how God amplified His Ten Commandments in the first five books of the Bible, but the reader can do this for him/her self. The point is this: the Ten Commandments are not the all in all as to what is sin. They are the basic foundation and laconic form from which many other laws of God are covered and taken. The Ten commandments can be divided into two sections - love towards God (the first four) and love towards our neighbour (last six). When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He did not fall into the trap of naming any one specific law, but said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your life, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Jesus was not doing away with any of God s commands. He was just succinctly putting them all under two basic headings, namely, love to God and love to neighbour, for He finished His answer with, "On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets" (the entire Old Testament - Mat.22:35 40 ). The TEN commandments are a concise form for ALL of God's laws, and the commands, "love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself " are an even more succinct way to state all of the commandments of God. ANOTHER ARGUMENT ANSWERED - WHEN HOLY? It is argued: The weekly Sabbath was made holy at creation from the beginning - the 7 annual Sabbaths were not. And from this reasoning it is taught we do not have to keep the annual Sabbaths - it is not sin to break them. Is this using correct understanding and logic? When we recognize WHO and WHAT is God, this argument falls apart. God is the Eternal CREATOR of all that is visible and invisible (Gen.1:1; Eph.1:12-16).He is HOLY character(Lev.19:2 ). Wherever God IS in matter or time it becomes HOLY (Ex.3:4,5; 20:8 11). God's presence in matter or time makes that matter or time HOLY, whenever He chooses. For anyone to say God can not make a period of time HOLY whenever He decides to make it holy, has never yet come to understand who and what is God. Who is man that he should reply to God, "You only made the 7 annual Sabbaths at Moses time, so they are not holy or sabbath rest days" (cf.Rom.9:20 ). When God appeared to Moses out of the burning bush and told him to take off his shoes because the ground he stood upon was holy, it was holy at that time not before - because God's presence was now in that ground and as long as it was in that ground IT WAS HOLY!! That piece of ground was not holy at creation but became holy at Moses' time - God making it holy by His presence in it. There is some evidence that God established His FESTIVALS from the beginning, even ordaining them before He blessed and sanctified the weekly 7th day sabbath, but even if that were not so, He did bless and made holy 7 annual sabbaths at the time of Moses - seven annual holy days that His presence was in and is still in, for there is not one word from God in all His holy word the Bible, to say He has since Christ or at the start of the New Testament - abolished them. They are then still holy - still sabbath days - and still sin to break them. The man made arguments to abolish them by using Col.2:16; Eph.2:14,15 and Rom.14 are answered elsewhere in our studies CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS and LAW AND GRACE. SACRIFICES ON THE SABBATH Some people want to say that because annual sacrifices were performed on the annual sabbaths and as there is no longer a Levitical priesthood and a physical Temple in Jerusalem, as these have been "done away with" so also have the annual Sabbaths. This is incorrect on at least TWO counts: 1. Ask the Jews if they agree with this reasoning. 2. Animal sacrifices by the Levitical priesthood were done not only on the annual sabbaths, but on the weekly sabbaths and on each day of the week (Num.28,29). If the ending of physical animal sacrifices for this age "does away" with the annual sabbaths, then it must by the same reasoning and logic, put an end to the weekly sabbath and to all the days of the week. It is also worth noting that from Ex.12 we learn that God gave Israel TWO of His annual sabbaths BEFORE revealing to them which was the weekly sabbath (Ex.16), BEFORE the giving of the Ten Commandments (Ex.20) and BEFORE the introduction of the sacrificial system (Jer.7:22,23). Now it is time to see what is written in the law of God regarding the weekly and annual SABBATHS. THE WEEKLY SABBATH And on the seventh day God ended His work.....and He rested on the seventh day.....and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it..... (Gen.2:2-3). ......Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord.....for today is a sabbath unto the Lord.....So the people rested on the seventh day (Ex.16:22-30). Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.....But the seventh day is the sabbath to the Lord your God.....Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex.20:8-11). You shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defiles it shall surely be put to death.....Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.....the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant (Ex.31:14-17). Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation - you shall do no work - it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings (Lev.23:3). 7 ANNUAL SABBATHS And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for festivals (seasons - Hebrew same as translated "festivals" in other places), and for days, and years (Gen.1:14). Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread.....And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy assembly to you, no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you (Ex.12:15, 16). In the first day you shall have a holy convocation - you shall do no servile work therein.....In the seventh day is an holy convocation - you shall do no servile work (Lev.23:5-8; Num.28:16-18, 25). Concerning Pentecost or First-fruits we read: And you shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation unto you - you shall do no servile work (Lev.23:15-16,21; Num.28:26). In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a sabbath - a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. You shall do no servile work....(Lev.23:24,25; Num.29:1). And it shall be a statute forever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day shall you afflicy your souls, and do no work at all.....It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you.....(Lev.16:29-34). Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you.....And you shall do no work in that same day.....And whatsoever soul it be that does any work in that same day, that same soul will I destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work.....It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest (Lev.23:26-32). The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation - you shall do no servile work.....on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you.....it is a solem assembly - you shall do no servile work.....on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath....(Lev.23:34-39; Num.29:12, 33). ANNAUL SABBATHS - ARE THEY HOLY? Even with all the above evidence and words of the Lord concerning His weekly and annual sabbaths, some will still argue that somehow the annual sabbaths are not really holy sabbaths, not holy as was and as is the weekly sabbath (if they still believe the weekly 7th day sabbath is still holy, which many that once did have now discarded). They want to argue that the word "holy" is not used with the annual sabbaths in the same direct way it is used with the weekly sabbath. The answer to this clever but weak argument was anticipated by the Lord, hence He inspired the priest Ezra to give the truth of the matter. Please turn to the book of Nehemiah, read it for yourselves, mark it well, never forget it, for the first day of the seventh month, the day and feast of Trumpets, it is written: "......This day is HOLY unto the Lord your God......for this day is HOLY unto our God...." (Neh.8:9,10). This section of Scripture, together with the ones quoted above prove: 1) The annual sabbaths are Sabbaths. 2) The annual sabbaths are Holy to the Lord. 3) No regular or servile work is to be done on the annual sabbaths. 4) Like the weekly sabbath, the annual sabbaths are holy convocations. A LOGICAL QUESTION ANSWERED It will be asked: If we have not had this truth of God s word and commands revealed to us, or if we do not know when these seven annual sabbaths are on the calendar, if there are no Jews around to give us this information. If we are in ignorance - surely we are not sinning? Does pleading "ignorance" disqualify you from the penalty of breaking man s laws? NO! But you may be dealt with in a more merciful manner. If you are not aware of God's law against stealing and you steal, are you then not a thief? If you are ignorant of God's law against fornication and you have sexual intercourse before marriage, are you then free from any guilt or sin? If you are unaware God says that you should not be a liar, and you lie, does that mean you have not lied? Let us see what God's word teaches regarding IGNORANCE. Notice the account of ABTIMELECH - the King of Gerar - Gen. 20: 1-18. Because Abraham had said that Sarah was his sister and not his wife, Abimelech was going to take her as his wife. God revealed in a dream to the king that Sarah was Abraham's wife (v.2,3). King Abimelech was doing this in the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands (v.5). God acknowledged this was so. He showed extra mercy on him because of this (v.6), but notice - if Abimelech had touched her in sexual union he would even in ignorance, have sinned! For God said,".....I also withheld you from sinning against me - therefore suffered I you not to touch her." When God introduced the sacrificial system to Israel under Moses, one section covered sacrifices for IGNORANCE! You will find this in Leviticus, chapter four. Note verses 2, 13, 22, 27, 28. Breaking ANY of the commandments of the Lord, even in ignorance, is still SIN! That sin must still be covered by blood (the blood of animals represented the shed blood of Jesus) - the penalty of sin - death - still had to be atoned for. Sins through ignorance were still sins, during the age from Adam to Moses, and during the age from Moses to Jesus. What about this age then? Here is what Christ taught, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom His Lord shall make ruler over His household.....Blessed is that servant, whom His Lord when He comes shall find so doing (see Mat.7:21-27)......And that servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall BE BEATEN with many stripes (he's in real bad shape - Heb.10:26 31). But he that KNEW NOT (ignorant ), and did commit things worthy of stripes (being ignorant did not mean he was guiltless), shall be beaten with few stripes (the penalty is still there). For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:42- 48). What a privilege to be granted to know the Lord's will - to be given His truths. But with that knowledge comes responsibility and the cross-roads of life. We then must CHOOSE - death on the one hand - eternal life, and the first resurrection on the other. To know to do "according to His will" and to do it not is to DIE in the SECOND death (Rom.6:23; Rev.2:11; 20:6,14; 21:7,8). For those not called in this life (Jn 6:37, 44, 63-65; 1 Cor.1:26) - for those ignorant of sin - those who do not know the commandments of God - for those whose sins have not yet been covered by the blood of Christ - for those who have not been granted repentance (Rom.2:4; 2 Tim.2:24-26 ) to the forgiveness of sins. For them is more grace and mercy shown. They shall be raised in the SECOND resurrection - the JUDGMENT period of Rev.20:11-13. Then God's books (the Bible ) will be opened to them - the book of life also. They will come to see what sin IS. Most will repent - have their sins forgiven, covered by the blood of Jesus - receive the Holy Spirit and enter the very family of God for all eternity. How great and wonderful are the ways of the Lord and His plan of salvation as shown to us through His 7 Annual Sabbaths. They are indeed HOLY - let's keep them that way.

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PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS

EXODUS 12:18

DOES THE PASSOVER AND 7 DAYS OF
UNLEAVENED BREAD ALL BEGIN AT THE SAME
TIME, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 14TH, AND SO
WE THEN HAVE ONE SPRING FEAST FOR 7 DAYS?

If from Ex.12:18 we are to understand the Feast of
Unleavened Bread beginning at the beginning of the 14th of the
first month, and if verse six is telling us that the Passover was
to be slain and eaten at the beginning of the 14th of the first
month, that together with verse 16, would be stating a number of
things we have not understood before, namely: 1) The Spring
Feast is 7 days long and not 8. 2) The 14th day is a Sabbath
day. 3) The Passover day is the first Sabbath day of the feast
of Unleavened Bread.

Understanding these verses this way, may seem correct within
Exodus chapter 12. But, the Bible contains other verses on the
same subject matter. These also we must take into account. We are
not to read the Bible with horse blinkers over our eyes, or just
ignoring other verses that shed light on the same subject. When
we look at all the other sections of Scripture in the Old
Testament(OT) concerning the Passover day and feast of Unleavened
Bread, there are some large errors in believing the Passover day
and feast of Unleavened Bread(FoUB) are all one, both beginning
at the same time, at the beginning of the 14th.

There are some sections of Scripture that are hard to
understand, at first glance. Peter was inspired to say that some
of the things Paul wrote were hard to understand, by the
unlearned that is, as he went on to say (2 Peter 3:15 and
context). Sometimes we have to search the Scriptures (Acts 17),
study to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing(putting
together verse with verse) the word of truth (2 Tim.2:15), to
come to the truth of the matter on a specific subject.
The above are a few keys to correctly understand the Bible.
I have covered in other Passover studies, many other truths
concerning this Spring Feast. I have proved in earlier studies
that "between the two evenings" - the phrase used in Exodus 12:6
as to when the Passover lamb was to be killed and then eaten,
MEANS, from letting just the Bible interpret itself, at DUSK, or
TWILIGHT - the BEGINNING OF THE 14TH DAY.
All of this I have covered fully before. Hence we clearly
and plainly see from Exodus 12:6 that the Passover lamb was slain
as the 14th day began, and the Passover meal was eaten as that
14th night moved on.
That was the FIRST Passover celebration, starting at DUSK,
at the beginning of the 14th day of the first month. Then if we
turn to Lev.23:5 we find this truth once more reiterated. And
again the phrase "between the two evenings" is used. The
Passover, which was the killing of the lamb to spread it's blood
upon the door posts (in Ex.12) so when God passed over THAT NIGHT
(Ex.12:12) those under the blood of the lamb would be saved from
death, that Passover is IN the 14th day, and at TWILIGHT of the
14th day.
The Passover lamb has to do WITH THE 14TH DAY, and I have
proved in other studies on how God used NUMBERS in the Bible,
that the number 14 is the number for SALVATION - BEING SAVED! It
is two times 7, the number used by God for PERFECTION or
COMPLETENESS (the Eternal completed His work and rested the 7th
day - Gen.2). The number 14 is DOUBLE perfection, as if saying
completely perfect, or perfectly and completely saved - God
making sure it is double "perfect" if He saves anyone.

Now, notice Lev.23:6,7.

"And ON the fifteenth day of the same month is the FEAST of
UNLEAVENED BREAD unto the Lord: seven days you must eat
unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy
convocation: you shall do no servile work therein."

Within THREE verses next to each other are TWO days
mentioned - the 14th and the 15th. The Passover on one and the
feast of Unleavened Bread starts on the other. I submit this is
prettysimple to understand.
I submit to you that a grade school child could easily
figure this one out. Something called the Passover is IN the
14th day, not before and not after, but IN the 14th day. Argue
all you like about WHEN in the 14th day, but the words clearly
say it is IN the 14th day. Then ON the 15th day, not before, is
the feast called Unleavened Bread. Then the thought continues
with verse seven, that the FIRST day of this feast is a Sabbath
of rest from servile work.
The 15th comes AFTER the 14th. On the 15th and for SEVEN
days is the feast of Unleavened Bread in which unleavened bread
is to be eaten. Now ask your grade schooler to start counting
SEVEN DAYS, with the first day being the 15th. Ask them to
stop when they come to the seventh day count. They will stop
counting ON and including the 21st day.
As the 15th day starts at the end of the 14th, when the 14th
finishes, which according to the beginning, from the beginning as
Christ often said ("....but from the beginning it was not so"
Mat.19 for one example) was the "evening" (days beginning and
ending in the evening, Genesis chapter one), was at dusk or
twilight, the 15th was from dusk, evening to evening. So the
21st day was not over until the END of that day at dusk
or evening.
I submit, these verses in Leviticus, are simple to follow.
In the first month there is the Passover day, being the 14th,
followed by, starting with the 15th day, the feast of Unleavened
Bread, continuing for seven day, until the end of the 21st day.

This makes a TOTAL of EIGHT DAYS, not seven!

One of the keys to understanding the Bible and all its
doctrines, is to let the simple easy to understand verses tell
you what they are telling you, in a logical way, without any
fancy foot interpretation.

Let's look at one more simple logical couple of verses
concerning the Passover and feast of Unleavened Bread. Turn to
Numbers 28, and just read verses 16 to 18.
Again, it is IN the 14th day that the Passover is. And it is
IN the 15th day is the feast, the feast of seven days of
unleavened bread, and IN the first day (of this feast, the
logical continuation of the thought) is an holy convocation with
no servile work to be done.
Now, with simple logic, if as some argue the Passover is at
the END of the 14th day, and if we go along with their argument
for verse 16, then the same logic and context of words for verse
15, means the feast is at the END of the 15th. Yet, no one that
I know about who observe the feast of Unleavened Bread, start it
at the END of the 15th day.

Once more in pretty clear language, the Passover is not
before or after the 14th but IN the 14th day, and the seven days
of Unleavened Bread feast, is not before the 14th but starts with
and in the 15th day.

The word "passover" is found 48 times in the OT. Only in
the two sections of Scripture we have looked at - Lev.23 and
Num.28 do we find the word used with fourteen and the feast on
the fifteenth. In other words only in these two places do we have
the simple and logical truth clearly laid out for us that the
Passover is IN the 14th day and the feast of Unleavened Bread is
IN the 15th day, and continues for seven days, the 15th day being
a Sabbath of rest from servile work. In Exodus 12 and Lev.23 we
are also told that the seventh day of this feast is also a
Sabbath of no servile work.

All of what I have just taken you through is very important
to our understanding of Exodus 12:18. It is first of all a
letting of the easy Scriptures tell us in plain language
what they say, meaning what they say and saying what they mean.
When we have that as our foundation and rock to stand on, then we
may proceed to untangle the few harder verses that seem to say
something different.

Now, as we read the Bible from cover to cover, there will be
some other things we will pick up on such as a BASIC NORM on
certain words and then now and again EXCEPTIONS to that norm. We
need to remember that exceptions are just that - exceptions, to
the normal. They are not the norm or normal, but exceptions,
otherwise the exceptions would be the norm and the norm would be
the exceptions.

We may ask: How or WHEN does God start the 24 hour day? Is
it at noon? Is it at sunrise? It is at 12 midnight? Is it at 3
p.m. in the afternoon? Going to the BEGINNING - the book of
Genesis and chapter one, we learn right off the bat, from the
beginning, that God STARTED days in the evening. Now that is the
NORM! You can even look up the word "evening" in the Hebrew
lexicons, especially the larger and more detailed ones such as
"The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament" and see that
from the Hebrew language, the norm is that days began in the
evening, at dusk or twilight.
So, in the norm, a 24 hour day has only ONE evening, at the
very beginning of that 24 hour day.
Hence, when God was telling Israel about the day of
Atonement feast in Lev.23, He told them that they should
celebrate their Sabbath from EVEN(ing) to EVEN(ing). And
that Sabbath day of Atonement was the 10th day of the seventh
month. The norm in God's mind is that days begin from evening
and last (the 24 hour day we are talking about, not the day light
part of a day) until the next evening, when a new day then
begins. The celebrating of Atonement feast was IN or ON the 10th
day, from evening to evening.
The word "even" or "evening" is used dozens of times
throughout the Bible. In most cases it is just a part of speech,
such as saying, "and the evening had come." Sometimes it is used
in conjunction with a number, like: "during the evening of the
third day" and no more is said. In all such places it takes the
NORM, as first given to us in the beginning, the evening of the
day being the beginning of the day.
That is letting the basic simple, first and MAIN meaning and
understanding of how the Bible uses "evening" interpret for us,
as we find this word in dozens of places.

But, and here come the "but" with capital letters, BUT, from
time to time there are EXCEPTIONS, with capital letters for
emphasis, so you will remember this point.
And as we are talking about the feast of Atonement in Lev.23
we shall stay there and see our first exception example.

Lev.23:26 tells us in clear language that it is the 10TH day
of the seventh month that is the day of Atonement. Verse 32 says
it is a Sabbath of rest, then the last half of that verses says
we shall celebrate it FROM "even" to "even." The NORM is that God starts days from evening to evening as we
see in Genesis chapter one. But there are times when God inspires
writers to use what to us has come to be known as the Roman way
to start and end days, from midnight to midnight.

When we understand this then all what might seem to be
contradictory is cleared up.

The evening of the 9th day, in this case, is indeed the evening that follows the
day light portion of the 9th day. And can so be called, in the
Roman way of counting days, the evening of the 9th day. At the
same time, in the norm of how God counts days, from evening to
evening, it is the start of the 10th day in this 7th month.

Within a relatively short passage of Scripture, God uses BOTH
ways to count days. He uses His way, hence the 10th day, and He
uses the Roman way, hence the feast of Atonement begins on the
evening of the 9th day, which is also the start of the 10th day
as we view it from the counting of days as found in Genesis
chapter one.

The evening following the day light part of the 9th day is called
here still the evening of the 9th day. It is the way we think of it
in our Roman way of counting days, from midnight to midnight. It is
the evening of the 9th day, but in the norm of God's recognizing it
is the start of the 10th day. So God uses both ways of recognizing in
one sentence. It is the evening of the 9th in Roman counting of days,
but it is also the start of the 10th in the norm of Genesis chapter
one.

There are NORMS in the Bible for MANY things, but there are
also EXCEPTIONS to the norm at times. Generally and normally,
the Spirit of God is given to a person under the New Covenant, at
BAPTISM, see Acts 2:38, BUT we find in the book of Acts
some EXCEPTIONS to that norm, the Spirit was given BEFORE
baptism! See Acts 10:44-48.

We find in the New Testament, concerning "evening" an
EXCEPTION to the norm. Turn to the gospel of John, chapter 20.
The context is clearly the FIRST DAY of the week. Also proved by
the rest of the gospel writers - Matthew, Mark and Luke as they
write concerning the same happenings.
Notice, verse 19. Mark it well. "Then the SAME DAY, at
EVENING, being the FIRST DAY of the week......"
Here John, under inspiration by the Spirit, does the same as
the Eternal did in Lev.23:32. He puts the evening that would
normally start the new day, or in this case, would have started
the SECOND day, as PART OF the same day of the context - the
FIRST day.
Yes, there are now and then exceptions to the rule or the
norm.

Now, with all the above firmly and clearly understood.
Knowing from the easy to understand verses we looked at in Lev.23
and Numbers 28 concerning the Passover in the 14th day and the
feast of Unleavened Bread in the 15th day, starting and
continuing for seven days, to the end of the 21st day. Knowing
there are EIGHT days altogether from the 14th to the 21st - eight
days not seven. Knowing that the rule and norm for the evening of
a day to be the beginning of the day, but knowing the Bible does
use exceptions to that rule once in while. Knowing we must take
the easy to understand verses on a subject, first, and let them
say what they say, and then in their light tackle the harder and
at first what may seem like contradictory verses.
With all the above we are now ready to understand Exodus
12:18-20.

Previous studies have proved from the Bible interpreting
itself, that "between the two evenings" and "even" of the 14th
day when the lambs were to be killed and the Passover eaten, was
the BEGINNING of the 14th, at DUSK or twilight. Hence verse 6 of
chapter 12, was at dusk, the beginning of the 14th day. The
CONTEXT, right up to the end of verse 14 (interesting, verse 14
the context goes to) NEVER CHANGES. The Lord's Passover (verse
11) is IN the 14th day, not after it. The Lord PASSED OVER
(Passover) "this night" (context is still 14th day) of the 14th
day (verses 12-13). This SAME DAY - the 14th - is a MEMORIAL (see
also 1 Cor.11 and the Greek for "in remembrance of me" - verse
24,25. It is "in THE remembrance/memorial of me." And Paul was
talking about the SAME NIGHT in which Jesus was betrayed, verse
23).
Verse 14 of Exodus 12, calls the Passover a MEMORIAL and a
FEAST.
God has SEVEN feasts and the Passover is ONE of those
feasts.

Verse 15 of Exodus 12, STARTS a NEW thought and a set of new
commands and instructions. From verses 15 to 20 the context is
the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It is the same as Lev.23 and Numbers 28 we looked at, with a
few differences. It is SEVEN days in duration, the first of those
seven days is a holy convocation, a Sabbath of rest, no work
except that which may be for eating food. Exodus 12 tells us the
7th day of this FoUB is also an holy convocation, a Sabbath day.
We now come to verse 18. The only way to understand this
verse, in the light of the plain simple verses on the subject of
starting and finishing this seven day feast, as given to us in
Lev.23 and Numbers 28, is that here we have an EXCEPTION to the
norm or rule, of the use of evening. An exception such as found
in Lev.23:32 and John chapter 20.
The evening here in verse 18 would normally be the START of
the 15th day, but God chose to change the fast ball to a curve
ball for this pitch to home plate. He can do this you know, as
He is God, He is the pitcher, the one delivering the goods, and
He can deliver as He chooses. God here chose to deliver with an
exception to the norm of speech that uses the word "even" or
"evening." Here God chose to put the evening of the 15th AS PART
OF THE EVENING OF THE 14TH, THE EVENING HERE IS THE END OF THE
14TH, STARTING INTO THE 15TH DAY, GOING TO THE END OF OR
THE EVENING OF THE 21ST DAY, WHICH IS THE START OF THE 22ND DAY,
BUT PUT HERE AS STILL BELONGING TO THE 21ST DAY. The same
principle as John saying Jesus came to them in the evening, being
the first day of the week. John putting the evening of the second
day (normally speaking as from the beginning - Gen.1) not with
the second day, but as part of the first day. The same principle
as God putting the day of Atonement in Lev.23:32 as from the
evening of the ninth day to the evening of the tenth day. An
exception to the norm, which usually as the rule of thumb, puts
the evening of a day at the beginning of the day, the start of a
new day, as from the beginning in Genesis chapter one.

So, Exodus 12:18 DOES NOT CONTRADICT Lev.23:5-7 and Numbers
28:16-18, or the rest of the Scriptures proving the Passover was
at the beginning of the 14th, and the feast of Unleavened Bread
beginning on the 15th at dusk or evening, being a Sabbath day,
the first day of the seven day FoUB, lasting to the end of the
21st day, which was the last day, and a Sabbath day, to end this
Spring feast season, which consisted of TWO feast to the Lord,
the Passover memorial feast and the feast of seven days called
Unleavened Bread.

All is in complete and perfect HARMONY when you believe the
simple and easy to understand verses FIRST, willing to search for
all verses on a subject, and then realize there may be an
EXCEPTION to the norm which then seems to be harder to understand
and even contradictory, but it is not, when you understand the
use of exceptions to the normal.

..............................

All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr.Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed without his consent.

Easter/Passover Debate - Whitby 664 AD

The British Church did not observe Rome's Easter

From the book "A History of the English Church and People" by Bede FOREWORD and added comments by Keith Hunt The book by Bede is still in print and available through your Bible Book Store. The "Introduction" by Leo Sherley-Price is most revealing, as it admits that the practices of the British Church were in many ways far different from that of Rome, yet in time the Church of Rome dominated and all the "closer to the truth practices" of the British church were finally extinguished in those Isles we call Britain. A turning point in favor of the Roman Church was the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD. Bede recorded in his "History" the interesting debate that took place. Here it is with my added comments throughout. THE SYNOD OF WHITBY - 664 AD King Oswy opened by observing that all who served the ONE God should observe one rule of life, and since they all hoped for one kingdom in heaven, they should not differ in celebrating the sacraments of heaven. The synod now had the task of determining which was the truer tradition, and this should be loyally accepted by all. He then directed his own bishop Colman to speak first, and to explain his own rite and its origin. Colman said: "Thee Easter customs which I observe were taught me by my superiors, who sent me here as a bishop; and all our forefathers, men beloved of God, are known to have observed these customs. And lest anyone condemn or reject them as wrong, it is recorded that they owe their origin to the blessed evangelist Saint John, the disciple specially loved by our Lord, and all the churches over which he presided." (This is indeed what church history of the SECOND century also tells us, in that Polycarp stated to the bishop of Rome, in their debate over the time to observe our Lord's death, that he was taught by John the apostle, who always observed it on the 14th of the first month in the Jewish calendar - Keith Hunt) When he had concluded these and similar arguments, the king directed Agilbert to explain the origin and authority of his own customs.

Agilbert replied: "May I request that my disciple the priest Wilfrid be allowed to speak in my place? For we are both in full agreement with all those here present who support the traditions of our Church, and he can explain our view in the English language more competently and clearly than I can do through an interpreter." When Wilfrid had received the king's command to speak, he said: "Our Easter customs are those that we have seen universally served in Rome where the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul lived, taught, suffered, and are buried. We have also seen the same customs generally observed throughout Italy and Gaul when we travelled through these countries for study and prayer. Furthermore, we have learnt that Easter is observed by men of different nations and languages at one and the same time, in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and throughout the world wherever the Church of Christ has spread. The only people who stupidly contend against the whole world are these Scots and their partners in obstinacy the Picts and Britons, who inhabit a portion of these the two uttermost islands of the ocean." (Of course Wilfrid was very correct here in stating that Easter was observed in all parts of the world, where the Christian Gospel had gone, for Easter was of great antiquity in the pagan nations. A full study of Easter celebrations can be found on this Website - Keith Hunt) In reply to this statement, Colman answered: "It is strange that you call us stupid when we uphold customs that rest on the authority of so great an Apostle, who was considered worthy to lean on our Lord's breast, and whose great wisdom is acknowledged throughout the world." Wilfrid replied: Far be it from us to charge John with stupidity, because he literally observed the Law of Moses at a time when the Church followed many Jewish practices, and the Apostles were not able immediately to abrogate the observances of the Law once given by God, lest they gave offence to believers who were Jews (whereas idols, on the other hand, being inventions of the Devil, must be renounced by all converts). For this reason Paul circumcised Timothy, offered sacrifice in the Temple, and shaved his head at Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla, for no other reason than that of avoiding offence to the Jews. For James said to Paul: 'Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law.' But today, as the Gospel spreads throughout the world, it is unnecessary and indeed unlawful for the faithful to be circumcised or to offer animals to God in sacrifice. John, following the custom of the Law, used to be begin the Feast of Easter on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, not caring whether it fell on the Sabbath or on any other day. (Interesting here to note Wilfrid knew that John observed the Lord's death on the "evening" of the 14th day, yes, just as Jesus did when He observed His last one with His disciples as recorded in the Gospels. Also note that the same old argument that if you do "anything" from the Law of Moses you do it to appease the Jews only. Yes, it is the old argument from the early second century that many of these "observances" were merely "ceremonial" and "Jewish" while the NT Gospel did away with all them and established new days and feasts to observe. It is the original RC Church teaching - that they, with the Pope as the line of succession from the apostle Peter, have the authority from God to change "the times and seasons and laws" - Keith Hunt) But Peter, when he preached in Rome, remembering it was on the day after the Sabbath that our Lord rose from the dead and gave the world the hope of resurrection, realized that Easter should be kept as follows: like John, in accordance with the Law, he waited for moonrise on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. And if the Lord's Day, then called the morrow of the Sabbath, fell on the following day, he began to observe Easter the same evening, as we all do today. But, if the Lord's Day did not fall on the day following the fourteenth day of the moon, but on the sixteenth, seventeenth, or any other day up to the twenty-first, he waited until that day, and on the Sabbath evening preceding it he began the observance of the Easter Festival. (This is of course utterly false and a plain lie from Wilfrid, for there is NOTHING that even comes close to proving in all recorded history in the Christian church and its writings, even from the so-called "church fathers" that state the apostle Peter ever practiced or taught such a things as what Wilfrid just stated Peter did. In all my studies over the last 40 years in Church History, I have never read anywhere, from anyone, that Peter practiced such an observance of the Lord's death, or Passover, or Easter, or what ever other name you want to call that Spring Feasts - Keith Hunt) This evangelical and apostolical tradition does not abrogate but fulfil the Law, which ordained that the Passover be kept between the eve of the fourteenth and twenty-first days of the moon of that month. (Again, Wilfrid tries to make out that Peter's observance of the Lord's death could be anytime BETWEEN the 14th and 21st days of the first month in the Jewish calendar. This is all very sloppy Biblical scholarship. For the OT or law of Moses clearly states the Passover is on the evening of the 14th and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is from the beginning of the 15th to the end of the 21st day of the first month. There was NOTHING in the OT to state you could pick ANY day between the 14th and 21st to celebrate the "Passover" or the Lord's death. But such do people reason who think they have the weight of all the world - where the RC Church had gone - to back them up. It becomes easy to make up your own "theology" as you go along. It would seem Colman just did not have the wisdom to see the gross error Wilfrid was teaching, or he did not have the backbone to speak up LOUDLY against such false Biblical understanding and show that the apostle Peter would NEVER have developed such a practice as Wilfrid was making out that Peter did - Keith Hunt) And this is the custom of all successors of blessed John in Asia since his death and is also that of the world-wide Church. This is the true and only Easter to be observed by the faithful. (Hummm....sounds like the "theology" that arose in another world- wide church, under a man named Herbert W. Armstrong - a theology that stated, "We are the only faithful, and I, as inspired of God, as the leader of God's faithful, will tell you what to practice, be it according to the Scriptures or not" - Keith Hunt) It was not newly decreed by the Council Nicaea, but reaffirmed by it, as Church history records. (True per se, for Easter observance in the Roman Church began in the early 2nd century, that is why Polycarp and Polycrates, who came after Polycarp, went to Rome to debate the Easter/Passover date issue with their respective bishops of Rome in their life time - Polycarp and Polycrates were bishops in Asia Minor and practiced what was taught to them by John the apostle - a 14th day observance of the Lord's death on the in the first month of the Jewish calendar - Keith Hunt) It is quite apparent, Colman, that you follow neither the example of John, as you imagine, nor that of Peter, whose tradition you deliberately contradict. Your keeping of Easter agrees neither with the Law nor with the Gospel. For John who kept Easter in accordance with the decrees of Moses, did not keep to first day after the Sabbath; this is not your practice, for you keep Easter between the fifteenth and twenty-first days of the moon, you do not, for you keep it between fourteenth and twentieth days of the moon. As a result, you often begin Easter on the evening of the thirteenth day, which is not mentioned in the Law. Nor did our Lord, the Author and Giver of the Gospels, eat the old Passover or institute the Sacrament of the New Testament to be celebrated by the Church in memory of His Passion on that day, but on the fourteenth. (Here we begin to see some of the ERRORS of the then British church. Over the SIX centuries they had indeed fallen away into some error on this issue and observance of our Savior's death. When a people do this, be it by carelessness or by any other means, the ones who are also in error have a readily made "crack in the wall" to further their denunciation of what truth is remaining by those who are somewhat closer to the truth, yet also in error on parts of that truth - Keith Hunt) Furthermore, when you keep Easter, you totally exclude the twenty-first day, which the Law of Moses particularly ordered to be observed. Therefore, I repeat, you follow neither John nor Peter, the Law nor the Gospel, in your keeping of our greatest Festival. (And it was indeed true, the British Church had wandered from the straight and narrow way, and had so fallen into error that made their observance of the Passover or Lord's death, neither by the standards of the Old or New Testament- Keith Hunt) Colman in reply said: Do you maintain that Anatolius, a holy man highly spoken of in Church history, taught contrary to the Law and the Gospel, when he wrote that Easter should be kept between the fourteenth and twentieth days of the moon? Are we to believe that our most revered Father Columba and his successors, men so dear to God, thought or acted contrary to Holy Scripture when they followed this custom? The holiness of many of them is confirmed by heavenly signs, and their virtues by miracles; and having no doubt that they are Saints, I shall never cease to emulate their lives, customs, and discipline. (Oh my, what a wrong mindset Colman had allowed himself and others in the British Church to wander into. It is one of the sure ways into error, even if you have a basic truth. God can use and even show He is using and working with, men that are not all infallible in their beliefs and customs, God allowing them to not see all truth on all points of His word, in their life time. God allows this, He reveals truth as He wills, sometimes it is for other servants of His to find more truth on things that ones before them did not find all truth on. To put yourself into the mindset as what Colman had put himself into, is to surely trip up and fall on your face as you basically try to hold to the faith once delivered to the saints - Keith Hunt) It is well established that Anatolius was a most holy, learned, and praiseworthy man,answered Wilfrid; but how can you claim his authority when you do not follow his directions? For he followed the correct rule about Easter, and observed a cycle of nineteen years; but either you do not know of this general custom of the Christian Church, or else you ignore it. He calculated the fourteenth day of the moon at Easter according to the Egyptian method, counting it in the evening as the fifteenth day; similarly, he assigned the twentieth to Easter Sunday, regarding it after sunset as the twenty-first day. But it appears that you do not realize this distinction, since you sometimes keep Easter before full moon, that is, on the thirteenth day. And with regard to your Father Columba and his followers, whose holiness you claim to imitate and whose rules and customs you claim to have been supported by heavenly signs, I can only say that when many shall say to our Lord at the day of judgement: "Have we not prophesied in Thy name, and cast out devils, and done many wonderful works?" the Lord will reply, "I never knew you." Far be it from me to apply these words to your fathers; for it is more just to believe good rather than evil of those whom one does not know. So I do not deny that they were true servants of God and dear to Him, and that they loved Him in primitive simplicity but in devout sincerity. Nor do I think that their ways of keeping Easter were seriously harmful so long as no one came to show them a more perfect way to follow. Indeed, I feel certain that, if any Catholic reckoner had come to them, they would readily have accepted his guidance, as we know that they readily observed such of God's ordinances as they already knew. (A great deal of "savvy" as we say used here by Wilfrid. He knew the British Church had errors and mistakes in their observance of when to observe the Lord's death. He could see the contradictions in their "theological approach" to the issue, and with some "kind" psychological charm, could make the debate swing favourably in his Roman Catholic Church's direction to all those listening to this debate. By using their weakest links Wilfrid could then bring out the pomposity of the Church of Rome being superior in Biblical understanding. Where truth is not fully followed, or where there is no more "growing in grace and knowledge" but only a looking to the outside of "men's lives" as Colman had done towards some of his great men of God from the past ages in his British Church, it is the surest way to destroy what truth there might be remaining, as in this instance, for the Church of Rome did finally succeed in implanting their observance of Easter and Sunday all over the British Isles, over the next 3 or 4 centuries - Keith Hunt) But you and your colleagues are most certainly guilty of sin if you reject the indeed of the Apostolic See, indeed of the universal Church, which are confirmed by Holy Writ. For, although your Fathers were holy men, do you imagine that they, a few men in a corner of a remote island, are to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout the world? And even if your Columba - or, may I say, ours also if he was the servant of Christ - was a Saint potent in miracles, can he take precedence before the most blessed Prince of the Apostles, to whom our Lord said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven"? (Now, Wilfrid thought it was the right time to bring in the upper cut to the jaw of Colman. He now knew that Colman was not much of a debater and did not have the understanding of the Scriptures to cause any "come-back" with what he was now going to throw up to him. He knew he could now hit him below the belt, with this final discourse he hurdled out to him and everyone standing by - Keith Hunt) When Wilfrid had ended, the king asked: Is it true, Colman, that these words were spoken to that Peter by our Lord?' He answered: It is true, Your Majesty. Then the king said: Can you show that a similar authority was given to your Columba? No, replied Colman. Do you both agree, (the king continued), that these words were indisputably addressed to Peter in the first place, and that our Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Both answered 'We do.' At this, the king concluded: Then, I tell you, Peter is guardian of the gates of heaven, and I shall not contradict him. I shall obey his commands in everything to the best of my knowledge and ability; otherwise, when I come to the gates of heaven, there may be no one to open them, because he who holds the keys has turned away. When the king said this, all present, both high and low, signified their agreement and, abandoning their imperfect customs, hastened to adopt those which they had learned to be better. .............. So it was, the part truth that the British Church had on celebrating the death of our Lord Jesus, was mainly abandoned from that day forward. It was to be another 500 years before the 7th day Sabbath of the British Church was finally extinguished from Britain. Many small pockets of people in the hills and valley of Wales and Scotland, held on to this truth, but the day did come when the nation was fully drunk with the wine of the spiritual fornication of the Woman who rode the beast (Revelation 17).

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PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS THE TRUTH ABOUT 1 COR.5:7,8

by Keith Hunt

The plain truth about certain verses of the Bible have not been the exclusive right of understanding to just the leaders of Sabbath observing Churches of God. Some well known scholars from the Protestant world of Theology have also not only seen certain truths of the Word of the Lord, but have had the courage to proclaim them, write them, and even answer some arguments as they did so. Such is the case with 1 Corinthians 5:7,8. What I am going to give you in this study is from TWO well known scholars and what has become a classic of a work, in their book called THE LIFE AND EPISTLES of ST.PAUL. The two scholars are W.J. Conybeare, M.A. (Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge) and J.S. Howson, D.D. (Dean of Chester). The above book is published by Eerdmans Company, Grand Rapids, MI. I do recommend this book to all who want to seriously study the life of the apostle Paul. We shall begin their quote on page 381 as they introduce the First Epistle to the Corinthians. " 1 The date of this Epistle can be fixed with more precision than that of any other. It gives us the means of ascertaining, not merely the year, but even (with great probability) the month and week, in which it was written. (1) Apollos had been working at Corinth, and was now with St.Paul at Ephesus (1 Cor.1:12; 3:4, 22; 4:6; 16:12). This was the case during St. Paul's residence at Ephesus (Acts 19:1). (2) He wrote during THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, i.e. at Easter (1 Cor.5:7; see the note on that passage), and intended to remain at Ephesus till Pentecost (16:8, cf. 15:32)...................." These two scholars could see from 1 Cor.5:7,8 that It was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread that Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth. Now we shall pick up their comments for those two above verses in chapter five. All capitalization is mine. " In spite of the opinion of some eminent modern commentators, which is countenanced by Chrysostom, WE MUST ADHERE TO THE INTERPRETATION WHICH CONSIDERS THESE WORDS AS WRITTEN AT THE PASCHAL SEASON, AND SUGGESTED BY IT. The words leaven, lump, Paschal Lamb. and feast all AGREE NATURALLY WITH THIS VIEW. It has been objected, that St. Paul would not address the Corinthians as engaged in a feast which he, at Ephesus, was celebrating; because it would be over before his letter could reach them. Any one who has ever written a birthday letter to a friend in India will see the weakness of this objection. It has also been urged that he would not address a mixed church of Jews and gentiles as engaged in the celebration of a Jewish feast. Those who urge this objection must have forgotten that St. Paul addresses the Galatians (undoubtedly a mixed church) as if they had all been formerly idolaters (Gal.4:8); and addresses the romans, sometimes as if they were all Jews (Rom.7:1), sometimes as if they were Gentiles (Rom.11:18). It we take 'as ye are unleavened' in a METAPHORICAL sense, it is SCARCELY CONSISTENT with the previous 'cast out the old leaven' ; for the passage would then amount to saying. ' Be free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY) as you are free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY)' ; whereas on the other view, St. Paul says, ' Be free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY) as you are free from leaven (LITERALLY).' There seems no difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians JOINED WITH the Jewish Christians IN CELEBRATING THE PASCHAL FEAST AFTER THE JEWISH MANNER, AT LEAST TO THE EXTENT OF ABSTAINING FROM LEAVEN IN THE LOVE-FEASTS. AND WE SEE THAT ST. PAUL STILL OBSERVED THE 'DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD' AT THIS PERIOD OF HIS LIFE, FROM ACTS 20:6..............." Do you see the LOGIC and HONEST evaluation of those two verses that these two men of Theology learning, were willing to give and expound on this section a scripture. Verse 8 is an admonition by Paul to effect a correct and righteous attitude of mind and even certain literal church disciplines that needed to be exercised, so the feast they were observing could be kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. As Christ was the true Passover Lamb of God, as He had come and given Himself in sacrifice for sins, to put away sin, to free them from the bondage of sin (Egypt) and Pharaoh (Satan), and to lead them out of that bondage into the Promised land of TRUTH and RIGHTEOUSNESS and the KINGDOM (Moses being a type of Christ). Because of all that truth, they were to put away the evil that was as leaven in the bread, that would if not corrected eventually leaven with sin the whole lump of the local church(verses 1-8). Here they were as the people of God, celebrating the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast. They had the Passover memorial service ALL MESSED UP, some getting drunk on the wine, others making a huge meal out of it and not even sharing what they had with those who had nothing, as we see from the correction Paul gave them in chapter 11. And the feast of Unleavened Bread? Well instead of coming out of sin, they were allowing INCEST to take place, and everyone knew it. They were turning a blind eye to it, thinking that they were being KIND and MERCIFUL. Even PROUD about not doing anything in the way of discipline to the unrepentant sinner. Paul lays it on the line with them. He tells them there are some things in the church that they are TO JUDGE. God will judge those outside the church, but those open defiant sinners within the church THEY are to judge, and the leaven was to be put away. They were to observe the feast by putting open wickedness within the congregation away, and "Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST........WITH THE UNLEAVENED BREAD OF SINCERITY AND TRUTH." Those last words we shall look at in detail next time. .......................

Written April 1997by
Keith Hunt

PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS THE TRUTH ABOUT 1 COR.5:7,8. continued Paul had written to the church at Corinth concerning what action they should take in regards to a man practicing INCEST within the very congregation. They all KNEW it was happening, even took some pride in being kind and merciful to the man. Probably thought if they took no action but showed how patient they were towards him and his open sin, he would come to see he should not be doing such evil, and withdraw from it all by himself. Paul thought no such thing, and was very open to show them their error on the matter. He told them he had judged the situation as if he was right there with them. He told them that with the power of Jesus Christ and in His very name, together with Paul in spirit among them, they should disfellowship the un-repentant sinner from their congregation(1 Cor.5:1-5). To glory in doing it any other way he told them was NOT GOOD(verse 6). It was the days of Unleavened Bread. They had put physical leaven out of their homes. They were unleavened in that area and sense of their lives. Now they were to get out the spiritual UNleavened bread of open sin that was taking place among them, and that would IF NOT CORRECT eventually spread like a cancer until the whole was leavened with sin and wickedness. He reminds them that Christ the Passover was sacrificed. That sacrifice was not taken upon Himself so we could wilfully, casually, openly, with a care free attitude, just sin to our hearts content, so God's grace could be further magnified and glorified(Rom.6:1-6). Christ did not come and die as the Passover Lamb so we could continue in sin. He died to save us FROM sin, to put away sin, to have us live not after sin but after righteousness. Yet here they were allowing open un- repentant sin to be practiced within their fellowship. The very feast they were observing was to teach them that sin MUST BE PUT AWAY, CLEARED OUT OF OUR LIVES, AND TRUTH AND SINCERITY WAS TO ENTER. Paul said to them: "Therefore(because Christ is our Passover, and what that means) LET US KEEP THE FEAST........" The Greek TENSE for the words "let us keep" is FIRST PERSON, PLURAL, PRESENT, SUBJUNCTIVE. You can find this on page 148 of the ANALYTICAL GREEK LEXICON. The FIRST PERSON PLURAL is readily seen in the words "let us" - very personal and plural. He was telling them as a group of persons, as Christians, THEY, US, should do something. They were actually at the very time of his writing DOING SOMETHING. They were observing the feast of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. They had put away physical leaven, now it was time for THEM(plural) to put away the spiritual leaven of open sin. Then we have the PRESENT TENSE. From the book ESSENTIALS OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK, Lesson three, page 11, by Summers, we read: "The present tense indicates PROGRESSIVE action at the PRESENT time - 'he is loosing' ........." They were at the time Paul was writing PROGRESSIVELY DOING OR OBSERVING the feast of Unleavened Bread. Yet this PRESENT tense is also SUBJUNCTIVE. This will take a little more study and investigation, but the time and trouble will pay off in fully understanding the thoughts and wishes of Paul for the church at Corinth. Lesson 26 in the book ESSENTIALS OF NT GREEK, is called "The Subjunctive Mood: Conditional Sentences. Page 105, under Grammatical Study we read: "(1) The forms of the subjunctive mood: Except for some very rare occurrences in the perfect tense the subjunctive mood is used only in the present and the aorist in New Testament Greek................. Page 106,107 under: (2) The function of the subjunctive mood: In grammatical study mood is defined as the affirmation of the relation of action to reality. Is the action actually taking place, or is it only potential?........the real and the potential. In NT Greek there are FOUR TRUE mood; one expresses real action (indicative), THREE express potential action (subjunctive, optative, and imperative). IN OTHER WORDS, action which is viewed by the speaker as real is expressed by the indicative mood; action which is viewed by the speaker as POSSIBLE, contingent upon CERTAIN CONDITIONS, is expressed by ONE of the POTENTIAL moods.......four English sentences illustrate this principle: Indicative mood: THE CHILD RUNS. This expresses action which is really taking place. Subjunctive mood: IF THE CHILD RUN, he will escape. This expresses action which is not really taking place but which is objectively possible. The child has the ability to run. This of all the potential moods is nearest to reality. Optative mood: OH, THAT THE CHILD WOULD RUN!.........one step further away than the subjunctive. Imperative mood: RUN, CHILD..........It is the furthest removed from the real action of the indicative mood..........." Let's stop there for a moment. Our phrase "let us keep" is present progressive subjunctive. And subjunctive is action that is objectively possible, contingent upon certain conditions. It is the NEAREST to the actual reality of the thing in question(the action) taking place. Now stop and think about the context of 1 Cor.5:7,8. And the very context of verse 8 itself. Paul WANTED THEM TO TAKE ACTION AND PERFORM SOMETHING AS THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD WAS IN PROGRESS, AS THEY HAD UNLEAVENED THEMSELVES PHYSICALLY, THEY SHOULD(ACTION) UNLEAVEN THEMSELVES SPIRITUALLY FROM SIN AND WICKEDNESS(BY DOING A LITERAL ACT OF PUTTING AN UNREPENTANT OPEN SINNER OUT OF THEIR FELLOWSHIP). Action then that was POTENTIAL UPON THEM MEETING CERTAIN CONDITIONS. IF THEY WOULD START TO KEEP THE FEAST WITH SINCERITY AND TRUTH THEY WOULD PUT AWAY THE LEAVEN OF SIN(SPECIFICALLY THE MAN PRACTICING INCEST). Hold on to all that, we shall come back to it very shortly, but I want to give a little more from lesson 26 of Summers' book. Page 108. "1. The HORTATORY subjunctive is the use of the FIRST PERSON PLURAL to EXHORT OTHERS TO JOIN US IN AN ACTION......'Let us go into the house.'............" Remember our phrase in the Greek "LET US KEEP" is in the FIRST PERSON PLURAL, PRESENT. SUNJUNCTIVE. So first of all, Paul was EXHORTING OTHERS TO JOIN IN AN ACTION WITH HIMSELF. He had already told them he had judged the matter, and what they should do when they came together with him there in spirit, was what he personally had judged - the sinner was to be put out of their fellowship. In so doing they were being exhorted to CONTINUE PROGRESSIVELY(present tense) to unleaven themselves spiritually from sin and wickedness, as they had unleavened themselves physically from leaven. Yet them doing this was SUBJUNCTIVE action they had NOT REALLY YET actually done, but it was the closest to the reality. Hence Paul did not use the Present Indicative mood(action actually taking place), for they had not yet received his letter that was exhorting them to take the action he was encouraging them to take - disfellowship the open unrepentant sinner. Their action was not YET reality, but it was the closest to it. It was action viewed by the speaker Paul as POSSIBLE, contingent upon CERTAIN CONDITIONS. To progressively(present tense) continue keeping the feast of Unleavened Bread in the true spirit of no leaven of wickedness, but the unleavened of righteousness and truth, THEY would have to fulfil and meet the conditions of putting away this blatant sinner from their fellowship. When that was done then the present SUBJUNCTIVE, would become the present INDICATIVE - action on their part that was literally and actually taking place. Let me once more try to put it all into simple English. Paul had received news about MANY problems the church at Corinth was having. One was the problem of an open unrepentant sinner practicing incest within their midst. He had heard they were doing nothing about it, and even glorying in the mercy they were showing this person by saying and doing nothing to correct him. Paul did not agree with this kind of closed eye mercy or favor. He had judged the matter very differently. He tells them in his reply what they should be doing about this condition and the Godly discipline they should exercise, by disfellowshipping this man. As it was the feast of the days of Unleavened Bread, as they had physically unleavened themselves in their homes, as they knew that Christ was the Passover Lamb, and that He died to save us FROM sin not IN our sins, not so we could continue to sin freely and openly to our hearts content. As it was the feast that pictured PUTTING AWAY SIN, the old leaven of wickedness, and putting on the unleavened of truth and holiness and right acting, he then EXHORTS them to do as he would, to go forward in the progressiveness of the feast they were celebrating, by taking the right action, based upon meeting the conditions of demonstrating that right action, which was the judging of this man to be such a sinner that it was needful to put him out of their fellowship, until he had repented of his malodorous, gross, unmistakable open sin of incest. What was the outcome to all this some may ask? Ah, it was a good outcome for EVERYONE in the end. We find in Paul's second letter we have preserved for us ( 2 Corinthians) in the first number of chapters, the answer. The church did take action, the correct discipline on this matter. The sinner was put away from them, with much sorrow(for such action by a congregation should never be a joy to do in one sense). The sinner did in much grief come to heart felt repentance over his practice. And Paul tells them because of these good results from this action, to re-instate the man back to full brotherhood and fellowship (2 Cor.2:1-11, see such translations as the Amplified Bible). Oh, what great lessons we are given in the word of the Lord concerning His wonderful and meaningful FEASTS. What a BLESSING they are! What a GREAT PLAN of Salvation, Truth, Justice, Mercy, and Love, are ours through the knowledge of the Feasts of the Eternal. Let us never take them for granted, but let us REMEMBER them. Let us MEDITATE upon them. Let us CONTINUE TO OBSERVE them in SINCERITY AND IN TRUTH. In our next study we shall look at 1 Corinthians 11:20-34. ..........................

Written April 1997
by
Keith Hunt

#9

Unusual Passover Observances!

The truth about the Samaritans/Passover

JEWISH FESTIVALS #3 History and Observance by Hayyim schauss (1938) UNUSUAL OBSERVANCES Change of Emphasis After the destruction of the second Temple, the custom of making Pesach sacrifice was, of course, discarded. But Pesach did not lose its status as a great national holiday. The celebration, however, was exclusively in the home. In some places Jews still partook of roasted meat on that night, exactly as they had done before the destruction of the Temple, in certain places outside of Jerusalem. But in general, only a reminder, a symbol of the Pesach sacrifice, remained. It was customary in those days for two main courses to be served at festive banquets of the rich, and these two courses were served at the Pesach feast of every Jew. But after the destruction of the second Temple, these two courses were interpreted as reminders of the Pesach sacrifice and the "chagigoh," the second or supplementary sacrifice. These two courses usually consisted of a piece of roasted meat on the bone, and a roasted egg. The holiday still remained for Jews the festival of redemption. The freeing of Jerusalem from foreign rule became the main item in the Messianic hope after the destruction of the city by the Romans, and Rabbi Akiba therefore added a prayer to the benediction for redemption in which was expressed the hope of the Jew to live long enough to observe Pesach in a new, free Jerusalem. Far from declining through the destruction of the Temple, Pesach now attained still greater importance as the anniversary of deliverance from the first and as the mdel for delivery from the last exile. The ceremonial of Pesach eve was made even richer and fuller. Jews would sit till late in the night, repeating and discussing the story of the Exodus; often the coming of dawn found them still gathered discussing the miracles of the occasion. The plagues visited upon the Egyptians grew and grew from the original ten to hundreds. The Jews spoke of Egypt but they meant Rome. They spoke of the discomfiture of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, hoping at the same time for the identical plagues to be visited upon the Roman emperor, his governors, and his soldiers, who had laid waste the holy city, destroyed the Temple, and spilled oceans of Jewish blood In the main, the basic rite of the Pesach eve ceremonial stayed the same as it had been in the days of the second Temple. But the ritual for the evening became more set and formalized. In the course of time various items of the ceremony were removed and others added. We shall discuss this further when we speak of the customs and ceremonials of Pesach. It is enough to say here that the Jews of the Middle Ages celebrated the holiday almost as it is observed by the Jews of today. The Festival of Fear The ceremonial remained the same, but the attitude during the Pesach festival changed in the latter part of the Middle Ages. A new and evil force came from the outside and left its imprint upon the old spring festival and observances, making of it a time of fear for all Jews, a time of horrible visitations, a time of terror and panic in the Jewish sections. At that time the Church had the peoples of Europe completely under its control. Fanatical priests and dark forces of reaction continually fanned hatred against the Jews and spread the wildest charges against them. The most horrible of these was the blood libel. The blood libel began to spread in the thirteenth century, and countless numbers of Jews perished as a result. Due to the ignorance and superstitious beliefs of the masses of those days, the blood libel became bound up with Pesach, especially with the Pesach eve ceremonial. It was charged that Jews killed Christian children to get blood for the baking of matsos. Pesach was, therefore, a time of great fear for the Jews of the Dark Ages. It was so easy to spread a rumor that Jews had murdered a Christian child; there were many cases where some individual enemy of the Jews would plant the body of a dead Christian child in a Jewish home and give the signal for a raid on the Jewish quarter on Pesach eve. Such an event is described in Heine's historical romance, "The Rabbi of Bacharach." This superstition that Jews use Christian blood at Pesach is not entirely a thing of the past. We, of this generation, have memories of such charges in various European countries, and to this day there are Jewish enemies who spread this accusation of the Middle Ages in the very heart of Europe. (Remeber the author is writing in 1938 - Keith Hunt) Even in America, only a few years ago, in Massena, New York, the rabbi of the town was questioned on the blood ritual libel when a little girl happened to disappear. The girl was found unharmed the next day, and the mayor, the instigator of the questioning, made a public apology. The Marranos Observe It. At the end of the European Middle Ages there was evolved a notable method of observing Pesach among the Marranos, the secret Jews of Spain and Portugal. These Marranos were entirely separated from Jews and from Jewish life. They had no Jewish books, and the only book on which they could draw for rules of Jewish life was the Latin Bible of the Catholic Church. Basing their ideas about Jews and Judaism on this one book, their conception of Jewish life became an entirely false one. They tried to live not as the Jews of their day did, but as the Jews of the time of the Kings and the Prophets. They knew nothing of the development of Pesach through the ages; they practiced the Pesach described in the Bible. The question arises: How did these Marranos, who had no Jewish calendars and no contacts with other Jews, know when to observe the various Jewish festivals? Actually, they did not; they reckoned the Jewish holidays by the calendar in general use, applying the Jewish days to the secular month. Thus they observed Yom Kippur on the tenth day after the New Moon of September and Pesach at the full moon of March. When the spies of the Inquisition discovered these observances, the Marranos of Spain advanced the dates of the festivals, observing Yom Kippur on the eleventh day following the New Moon of September and celebrating the Seder (the ceremony of Pesach night) on a Pesach eve that came sixteen days after the appearance of the New Moon of March, instead of fourteen days. On this sixteenth day they would bake their matsos; on the two preceding days which, according to their curious Jewish-secular calendar, were really Pesach, they ate neither bread nor matsos. There was no ceremony of the burning of the chomets. Instead they burned a piece of the dough prepared for the baking of the matsos. In the evening they observed a secret Seder in their homes, eating an entire roast sheep, all the participants wearing their traveling shoes and bearing staves in their hands, exactly as described in the Bible. There were even Marranos, those of Mexico, who followed the old biblical injunction to smear the blood of the sheep on their doorposts. One noteworthy custom grew up among these Marranos: the custom of beating the waters of a stream with willow branches, which they interpreted as a reminder of the separating of the waters of the Red Sea. It is interesting to note that to this very day the Jews of Morocco make their way to a stream on the last day of Pesach and there recite prayers and blessings. It is possible that this was an old Spanish Jewish custom and that the Marranos took it over and added to it the ceremony of the willow branches which rightly belongs to Sukkos. That holiday they could not observe at all, since one of the requirements of the festival is to sit in booths in the open. The Pesach of the Marranos is not entirely a thing of the past. There are, to this very day, Marranos in Portugal who still observe Pesach in the manner just described. (As this book was written in 1938 I have no idea if this way of observing Passover is practiced by anyone today in 2010 as I enter this - Keith Hunt) The Samaritans and Falashas Marranos observed ancient forms of the Pesach ceremonial because they were forcibly separated from the Jewish life of their time and were forced to seek instructions from the books of the Bible. External conditions forced the Marranos to return to a primitive form of observance. There are, however, in our own day, groups of Jews that never came in contact with the masses of the Jewish folk; the never had anything to do with those Jews who are the bearers of Jewish history and Jewish life. They, therefore, observe Pesach exactly as it was observed two to three thousand years ago. Such Jews are the Samaritans of the city of Nablus in Palestine, and the a Falashas of Abyssinia. ***Modern historical research has proved that the Samaritans are not descendants of the heathen colonists settled in the northern kingdom of Israel by the conquerors of Samaria, as was once assumed. Nor are they to be identified with Nehemiah's opponents of the Persian period. Actually, the Samaritans of today are a small and poor remnant of an old and great Jewish sect that appeared in Palestine about the beginning „ of the Greek period. They form the oldest Jewish sect in existence. They were always strongly religious Jews who beieved in one God and strictly observed the Law of Moses. The only religious books that they possess, however are the Pentateuch and Joshua. They never recognized the books of the Bible beyond Josh as holy. Moreover, they denied the sanctity of Jrusalem. They believed that Shechem, the present Nablus, was the holy city and that the holy mountain was not Zion, but Mount Gerizim. They built a temple on top of that mountain, which was later destroyed by the Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus. The Samaritans and the Jews became blood-enemies who hated and despised each other just as in later years the Karaites and the Rabbinic Jews hated each other.*** (Please NOTE what was just stated by the author, read again between the *** stars I entered for emphasis. The "Jewish Encyclopedia" has a many page entry on the "Samaritans" - who claim they are the descendants of the tribe of Ephraim. That possibility could be true. It is quite possible that when the House of Israel [in Samaria] was taken captive by the Assyrian forces, SOME Israelites escaped, as is nearly always the case when people are overrun by other people, and taken captive. What is certain is that the Samaritans of Jesus' day and those of today, were NOT pagan Gentiles that adopted some strange old Samaria teachings and observances - Keith Hunt) In the days of the second Temple almost the entire central part of Palestine, between Judah and Galilee, was thickly populated with this Jewish sect of Shechem; there were also many followers of the sect in southern Syria and in other eastern lands. Today, however, there are barely two hundred left; they speak Arabic and inhabit a special quarter in Nablus. They have a synagogue there and a High Priest, who is their teacher and spiritual leader. (I have not done any research today in 2010 to see if such Samaritan sect is still in existance, I guess a search on Google would soon tell us - Keith Hunt) These two hundred Samaritans observe Pesach to this day (the author was writing in 1938 - Keith Hunt) on Mount Gerizim, in a manner that other Jews ceased practising thousands of years ago. The custom of offering sacrifices has died out with the Samaritans, except on the fourteenth day of Nisan, when they offer the ceremonial Pesach sacrifice. Exactly as do other Jews, they clean the "chomets" out of their homes the night before Pesach eve, according to their calendar which closely resembles the Jewish. The next day they make the pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim and there set up their tents, one for each family, outfitting them with furniture and utensils. There, on the slope of the hill on whose top once stood their temple, they observe Pesach, living there for the entire festival. The Samaritan Practice A study of their ceremonies and observances during the festival is of special interest to us, because they practically duplicate the rites of the Jews of the very old days. What certain knowledge we have of Pesach and its rites dates only from the last century of the second Temple; of what happened before there are no exact records. We can learn much about the holiday, however, from the observances of the Samaritans of today; they are for us a living record and monument of the old life lived by the children of Israel on Mount of Ephraim. Much of the Pesach that was observed in the days of the second Temple is still unknown to the present Samaritans. They know nothing of the use of wine, of the "charoses," of eating the sacrificial animal comfortably from a table, of reclining at one's ease, and of many other observances, because these customs came into Judaism in the latter part of the second Temple days, after the Samaritans had already separated from the rest of Jewry. The main ceremonial in the Pesach observance of the Samaritans is the sacrifice of a sheep and eating it at night, in great haste, together with matsos and bitter herbs. They begin the preparation for the feast late in the afternoon. The Mount of Gerizim becomes a center of activity. All the males of the sect are gathered there, dressed in white, festive clothing, stoking the fires in two huge pits, the one for the roasting of the sheep, the other for the burning of the offal and all the remains after the feast. A huge cauldron of hot water is also ready. Half an hour before sunset the ceremony starts. The High Priest leads the assembled congregation in silent prayer; the worshipers fall to their knees, their faces toward the peak of the hill, the spot where their temple once stood. The High Priest raises his voice and all join him in a series of chanted prayers. Exactly at sunset (Note - it was sunset, not in the middle of the afternoon; the Samaritans had retained the correct time of the slaying of the lamb - Keith Hunt) the High Priest faces westward and reads that portion of the Pentateuch which orders the slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. About twelve or fourteen of the younger Samaritans busy themselves, meanwhile, with preparing the sacrificial animals. They form a circle about the pit of fire, holding the lambs between their legs, and as the High Priest utters the words, "And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk," they utter a benediction and throw the lambs, throats to the pit, where they are slaughtered by two ritual slaughterers. Six or seven sheep are slaughtered. An extra animal is available, should a physical defect be found in one of the sacrificial animals. The slaughtering is a signal for general rejoicing. Greetings are exchanged in the oriental manner; the participants kiss one another, first on the right shoulder, then on the left. This ends the first part of the ceremony. The second part, which takes place late at night, is the roasting of the animals. First, the bodies must be cleaned and spitted and prepared for roasting. The fire made for the offal burns and smokes as the insides of the animals are cast therein. At about ten o'clock the High Priest issues forth from his tent and orders the roasting of the sheep. Six or seven men bear the spitted animals on their shoulders and the High Priest leads them in prayer; then all the sacrifices are cast into the pit together. The bodies are covered first with leaves and grass and then with caked mud. For three hours the roasting process goes on, the Samaritans meanwhile passing the time in prayer or in talk. Some go to sleep; but most of them rest on their cots, for rest is needed so that the participants will feel fresh and ready for the third part of the ceremony, the eating of the sacrificed animals. At one in the morning all are awake and ready. Hands and feet are washed and white garments donned. With girded loins and with staves in their hands, they gather in one assemblage. The roasted animals are in baskets and placed upon the earth. Matsos and bitter herbs, that were gathered on the Mount, are placed on the sheep and later portioned out by the High Priest. When all is ready, the Samaritans form groups about the sacrificed animals and, after uttering the prescribed blessing, fall upon the roast meat, pulling it hastily to pieces with their hands. Portions are brought to the women and children in the tents. Everybody eats rapidly and in twenty minutes all that is left is a mound of bones, which are thrown into the offal pit together with the baskets and utensils that were used and with any matsos that happen to be left. Matsoh is not prepared in advance for the entire festival. The Samaritans bake a fresh supply every morning. (What we have been reading about the way the Samaritans observed the Passover is near enough the way of the original Passover in Exodus 12. It was just about an all night meal ceremony; the killing, preparing, and roasting and eating of the lamb, would take many hours. Hence in Exodus 12 THAT NIGHT was the "night to be much observed" - for it was a special night, wherein the Israelites would have stayed up all night. With such a meal, taking many hours to perform, starting at sunset, the death angel passing over at midnight to kill all the firstborn; with the miracle and excitement of that night, except for small children, it is inconceivable that anyone would have slept. This practice by the Jewish sect of the Samaritans proves the time and night of how the original Passover was observed - Keith Hunt) The burning of the remains does not, however, end the ceremony. The Samaritans stay awake till dawn, reciting prayers. (Again, showing that the original Passover of Exodus 12 was an all night observance - no one was going to go to sleep on that great and splended night when God would deliver Israel from the bondage of Egyptian slavery. Truly a night to be much observed - Keith Hunt) Another Jewish Sect There is still another Jewish sect that makes the ceremonial Pesach sacrifice: the black Jews, the Falashas, of Abyssinia. Who these Falashas are we do not know for certain, nor do we know what percentage of Jewish blood flows in their veins. There are some who claim that the Falashas are Jews who intermingled with the Africans. Others, however, contend that the Falashas are African natives who, a long time ago, became converted to the Jewish faith. Their Judaism is based on the laws and practices of the Bible, which they read in an Ethiopian translation, and they observe, therefore, only the old biblical holidays and festivals, according to the laws laid down in the Pentateuch. They gather in their synagogue on the fourteenth day of Nisan, before sundown, and in the name of the entire community, an animal is sacrificed and eaten according to the laws of the Bible, to the accompaniment of chanted prayers. They also clean their homes of "chomets" and prepare special dishes and utensils for Pesach. Dramatic Presentations The Jews of the Caucasus region observe Pesach night sitting on the ground, dressed in their festive best, with a spear and sometimes a pistol by their sides. The women adorn themselves with jewelry of all kinds and the young girls weave flowers in their hair. The most interesting part of their Seder, however, is the dramatic presentations acted there. These are introduced when that part of the services is reached which states that in every generation each Jew must feel as if he himself was redeemed from Egypt. The Chacham (the rabbi), who leads the services, thereupon wraps a piece of matsoh in an old cloth, places it upon his shoulder and paces off four cubits, saying, "In this way our forefathers went out of the land of Egypt, their kneading-troughs, bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." He makes quick gestures at the same time to demonstrate the haste with which the Jews left Egypt. The young men, meanwhile, go to another room and choose one of their number to play the part of the fugitive Jew who has just returned from Jerusalem bringing word that the redemption is near. The others clothe him in rags, place a sack on his shoulder, put a staff in his hand, and send him out. In a short time a knock is heard at the door. There stands the masqueraded youth, begging for permission to enter. The following conversation takes place: "Who are you and what do you want?" "I am a Jew and I wish to observe Pesach, our time of deliverance, with you." "How are we to know that you are a Jew?" "I wear a four-cornered garment with fringes." "Anybody can put one on. What other proof have you?" "I have not cut the corners of my hair. See my side-curls." "That is not enough, either. If you are a Jew, why do you travel so late at night? Don't you know this is a festival?" "I come from Jerusalem, the holy city; the road is long and filled with obstacles. Everywhere our enemies await us; like an iron wall they stand between you and me in an effort to keep me from celebrating the festival with you." The masquerader breaks into tears. Those in the household still make no move to admit him. They remain silent and deep in thought; occasionally one sighs deeply. Suddenly the leader of the services gives a sign and the masquerader is admitted. He stands amongst them with a sword by his side, a belt girt about his loins, a staff in his hand, and a sack on his shoulders. His sandals are roughly soled and his clothes are covered with dust. The household suddenly becomes joyous and the masquerader is showered with questions: "What is happening in Jerusalem, the holy city? How fare our brothers? Is the Messiah coming soon to free us from exile? Have any omens appeared pointing to our redemption?" The traveler tells them of Jerusalem, of the sages and saints that live there, of the fields and villages that surround the city, of the mountains and holy graves; and he assures his listeners that the sages of the city have seen signs which point to the coming of the Messiah, who will shatter the iron wall that keeps them from entering the holy city. They listen with rapt attention and at the conclusion they raise their hands high and, sighing deeply, call out again and again, "Amen: So be His will." The Jews of Morocco are also fond of dramatization on Pesach eve. After the reciting of the Seder services, every male in the household slings a rod and pack over his shoulder. They rush out of the house and run up and down the street, shouting, "In this manner our forefathers went out of Egypt, their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." These Moroccan Jews carry away with them from the Seder a piece of the "afikomon," the matsoh saved for the end of the meal. They carry it as a safeguard on ocean voyages and throw it into the waters in time of storm, claiming that it has powers to calm the sea. The last day of the festival is visiting day. The congregation makes its way to a stream on that day and offers prayers. Toward evening the people go in groups from house to house to say farewell to the holiday and to wish each other a happy year. The day after Pesach they march outside the town and recite blessings over the trees. ............................. INTERESTING INDEED! ESPECIALLY INTERESTING IS THAT ABOUT THE JEWISH SECT OF THE SAMARITANS, AS THEY PRESERVED WHAT WAS CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL PASSOVER NIGHT OF EXODUS 12. Keith Hunt March 2010

The Passover in Temple Times

Pharisee Traditions!

#10 THE JEWISH FESTIVALS #2 by Hayyim Schauss (1938) PASSOVER IN TEMPLE DAYS Pilgrims in Jerusalem At no time in its long and varied histoy was Jerusalem a beautiful as in the years preceding the destruction of the second Temple. In addition to the permanent dwellers, the three great festivals would bring countless pilgrims from near and from far, from every country to which Jews had wandered. It is estimated that Jerusalem, at that time, had a permanent population of close to one hundred thousand and that this was more than doubled by the pilgrims who came for the holidays, especially at Pesach. No matter in what corner of the world Jews lived, Jerusalem was a holy place to them, and the greatest wish of each and every Jew was to enter the inner court of the Temple at least once in his lifetime and to pray to God, to the accompaniment of the holy music of the Levites. At no other time of the year did so many pilgrims descend upon Jerusalem as at the season of Pesach, when nature newly carpeted the brown earth with green, and the fields of Judah seemed a tapestry of flowers gleaming and glistening in the sun. Jerusalem was never so crowded as during the Pesach holiday. Every inn was filled to overflowing, and whoever had a bit of room in his house made it available to the visiting pilgrims, never accepting any payment. It was customary, however, for the pilgrims to offer their hosts the skins of the animals they had sacrificed in the Temple. Many of the pilgrims set up tents in the squares and open places of the town, living there during their entire pilgrimage. Jerusalem was so crowded at this period that the very fact that everybody was able to find accommodations somehow, somewhere, was declared to be one of the miracles of God. These thousands of pilgrims did not form a single, homogeneous group; they were as varied as the world and as full of color. There were Jews and Jewish converts from every country of the known world, from Syria and Asia Minor, from Babylonia and Medea, from Cyprus and Greece, and from Egypt and Rome. They did not speak the same language; those from Mesopotamia and thereabouts spoke various dialects of Aramaic; most of the Jews who came from the west spoke Greek. There was, too, a great difference in the outward appearance of these pilgrims. Side by side one would see poor Jewish peasants who had traveled from various districts of Palestine on donkeys, and rich Jewish merchants or bankers that had arrived from distant lands by boat. All these pilgrims did not come to Jerusalem solely because of pious motives. Many merchants arrived laden with wares, ready to do business, for a holy city that attracted so many pilgrims offered a fine opportunity for sale and barter. Jerusalem was a ready market, even during ordinary times. There was always trade in cattle and other live stock, which were needed for the sacrifices, and in raw materials and finished products of all kinds. Jerusalem was an especially fine sheep and cattle market before Pesach, for so many animals were needed for the Pesach sacrifices. There was also a large sale of the spices needed for Pesach eve. Most of the cattle came from the immediate neighborhood, but the spices were, in the main, imported from Mesopotamia. Long camel trains from Mesopotamia, laden with spices and herbs, were a common sight at this time of the year. Preparations for Pesach Jerusalem is crowded with people and tumultous with their noise. A steady succession of pilgrims pours into the town from every side and through every gate. Further confusion is caused by the near-by peasants, driving their cattle and sheep to market. The Roman Procurator has already arrived from Caesaria, with additional soldiers to guard against any possible uprising during that period. He is quartered in Herod's Palace, which is more than a dwelling, being built like a fortress, encircled by a high wall, studded with soaring towers. It is early morning. The morning services has been completed in the Temple and the worshipers have left the synagogues. The market place, a broad street that stretches its way through the entire town, is now filled with people. Both sides of the thoroughfare are lined with booths, stands, and tables. Everything is on sale here, whatever the eye can see or the heart long for. Look! There are cakes made from wheat grown on Mount Ephraim! And there, fish from the depths of Lake Kinnereth! A third sells wine and a fourth calls to the passers-by to purchase spices and condiments for the Pesach feast. Here is a booth offering for sale jewelry and adornments which are the fashion in Alexandria and Rome, and there is a street merchant offering a syrup pressed from grapes. One dealer offers golden adornments for the head, a specialty of the goldsmiths of Jerusalem, and he calls, "Buy golden Jerusalems as a souvenir of the holy city." (a golden souvenir which the goldsmiths of Jerusalem sold to the people) Not an inch of space is wasted. In front of the houses and between the booths and stands sit tradesmen, using the street as their workshop. A tailor sits cross-legged and sews fringes on a coat; opposite him sits a shoemaker repairing the torn sandals of a pilgrim; a blacksmith stands nearby, hammering away on the handle of a sword. Each of the little side streets that lead off the market street has its particular trade. There is the street of the butchers and the street of the wool-combers; each little street has its specialty. But the big street, the really interesting street, is the great market place. Every moment it becomes more crowded and noisy, and the scene becomes more varied and exciting. The buyers, the sellers, and the idlers crush and jostle each other for space. Here comes a group of pilgrims from Alexandria, dressed in Grecian garments and speaking Greek to each other. In contrast, a group of pilgrims from Galilee, very pious Jewish peasants from the north of Palestine, follow them. Their voices are heard high above the tumult of the market place, and by the Galilean dialect of their Aramaic speech it is recognized where they are from. Perhaps the greatest noise and the greatest crowds are in the cattle market near the Mount of the Temple. Sheep and goats are sold there by the thousands. Poor Jews bargain over the prices of the animals; the richer pilgrims do not deign to bargain and so pay higher prices for their sacrifical animals. It is, however, not enough just to buy a sheep or goat in order to be ready for Pesach eve. The sacrificial animal is not eaten for one alone, but in groups that are made up in advance, for one man cannot eat an entire animal and it is forbidden to leave any part of the animal for the next day. So Jews rush about making arrangements to form groups or to become part of one. A group cannot consist of less than ten people, for it takes at least that many to eat an entire sheep at one sitting. But some Jews form huge groups, numbering so many that each member can get no more than a mere taste of the sacrificial animal, a piece no larger than an olive, entirely too small to satisfy one's hunger. IT is customary, then, for such groups to slay another animal, an additional festive offering called "chagigoh. This animal is always useful. Unlike the official sacrifice, which had to be eaten before dawn, the "chagigoh" may be held for a second day. The Morning Before Thousands of priests and Levites are gathered in the Temple. There are twenty-four divisions of them on duty throughout the land and, generally, there is only one division present in Jerusalem to take care of the Temple service. However, during the three great festivals, when there are so many people in town and so many, to be sacrificed, all divisions come to Jerusalem. (What you are going to read now is the traditions of the Pharisees, as they added to the word of Moses and even got the wrong time to observe the eating of the Passover meal. The correct observance is covered in detail in my studies on the Passover on this Website - Keith Hunt) The "chomets," the bread and sour dough, is cleaned out of „ the houses. The night before, by the light of oil lamps, every, corner is searched and every bit of "chomets" removed. All the people in Jerusalem wait for the official signal to burn the "chomets." This signal is given by the priests in the Temple who use two disqualified loaves of the thanks offering. These loaves are placed on top of the outside colonnade of the Temple. As long as these two loaves are in view, "chomets" may still be eaten. When one loaf is removed, the people cease eating "chomets." When the second loaf is removed, then the people begin to burn their "chomets." But this system of signals is not sufficient for all of Jerusalem and another is arranged. Two kine are set to plowing the earth on top of the Mount of Olives and as long as both are attached to the plow, "chomets" may still be eaten. The unhitching of one is a signal to cease eating "chomets" and the removal of the second is a sign to burn "chomets." (None of this tradition of course can be found in the books of Moses. And the discription that follows is as the Pharisees taught it on the daylight part of the 14th of Nisan - Keith Hunt) Midday The spirit of the holiday has permeated every nook and canny of Jerusalem. By now all have ceased working; even the tailors, the shoemakers, the haircutters, and washers have finished the last piece of work for the pilgrims. Thousands of Jews march through the town, this one with a sheep, that one with a goat, riding high on his shoulder. All direct their steps to the Temple, to be among the first to offer their Pesach sacrifice. The regular afternoon sacrifice at the Temple is offered an hour earlier than usual and at about three o'clock the people begin the slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. The ritual is repeated three times. When the court of the Temple is filled with the first comers, the gates are shut. The Levites blow the ceremonial "t'kioh, t'ruoh, t'kioh" (a threefold blast) on their trumpets and the sacrifice begins. The owner himself slays the animal. The priests stand in rows, bearing aloft gold and silver trays, each metal borne by a different row of priests. They perform their share of the ritual and the Levites stand on a platform and sing "Hallel," Psalms of praise for holidays, to the accompaniment of musical instruments. The elaborateness of the ritual and the singing and playing of the Levites add dignity and beauty to the scene, and the Jews gathered in the court are filled with devotion and piety. The first section files out of the court and the second section files in. The same ritual is performed again. It is repeated once more for the third and final section. Members of the third section are called "Lazybones." The entire ceremony and ritual is carried on in a comparatively quiet and orderly manner. Once, in the time of the famous Hillel, there was such a surge and crowding at the sacrifice of the Pesach that an old man was crushed to death, but that never happened again. So orderly is the crowd that all three sections have finished in less than two hours, and the priests are left alone to clean up the court. (At the crucifixion of Christ with darkness coming from about noon to His final death, the Temple curtain being split in two that divided the holy place from the most holy place, there would have been so much fear and confusion in the Temple, it is not possible what you have read above, would have been administered. And besides that, the books of Moses carry no such instructions as needed in the Tabernacle or Temple as pertaining to the Passover slaying. For it is clear from the books of Moses that the individual groups could slay and eat the Passover, without any priest being involved. No "out of the norm" ritual service was needed in the Temple apart from that which was designated by the laws of Moses, certainly the slaying of the Passover lambs DID NOT have to be done in the Temple - Keith Hunt) Towards Evening Thousands of Jews rush from the Mount of the Temple through the streets of Jerusalem, each bearing on his shoulder the sacrificial animal wrapped in its own skin. All are busy and expectant, preparing themselves for the great night of the year, the night of redemption. Darkness descends on the holy city. Everywhere sheep and goats, spitted on fragrant pomegranate wood, are roasting in the clay stoves which stand in the courtyards of the homes. These stoves are called "Pesach-ovens" and are movable; should there be heavy rain they are carried into the house. The groups are now gathering. Relatives and friends assemble from near and from far. Every large room is a meetingplace for a group. Nobody is omitted. The poor are invited to the homes of the rich and a spirit of brotherliness, of national unity, binds all together at the feast. All are partners: masters and slaves, men and women, the aged and youthful. All are dressed in white, festive clothes, much adorned and bedecked. The women, especially, wear jewelry in honor of the occasion. The Babylonian women are easily differentiated from the native women, since they wear brilliantly colored garments; the Palestinian women, however, wear only clothes made of bleached linen. The celebration begins. All is quiet in the streets. The full moon moves over the flat roofs of Jerusalem and bedecks every thing in silver. In the homes people lounge on sofas placed around the room. The left hand rests on soft cushions, the right hand takes food and drink from small, individual tables set before each feaster. One sits at the head of the room and leads in the ceremonial observance. First a glass of wine mixed with water is taken. Then the right hand and is washed and all partake of lettuce dipped in a tart liquid. Then the sacrificial animal is served and is eaten with matsoh and bitter herbs, dipped in charoses, a mixture of ground nuts and fruits in wine. Then begins the second part of the ceremonial of the evening; the reciting of the story of the festival, and the discussion of the ceremonies that go with it. A second glass of diluted wine is drunk and the son of the household asks why this night is different from all other nights. His father answers him with excerpts from the Bible telling about the deliverance from Egypt and then explains the meaning of the sacrificial lamb, the matsoh, and the bitter herbs. All listen to him with great attention and devotion. And when he starts to sing Hallel, they all join in loudly. They conclude with the benediction for redemption and are filled with the hope of immediate deliverance from their enemies and the removal of the foreign governor and his foreign soldiers from the holy city. It is now quite late in the night. The third and fourth glasses of wine have been finished and the feast, with its atten- ant ceremonies, is over. The older members of the group, however, still recline on their sofas and relate and interpret the story of the Exodus. Here and there a member of the group nods, or falls fast asleep. Some of the younger element would like to celebrate further, but their elders restrain them. After eating the sacrificial animal, no entertainment is allowed, such as is common after ordinary feasts. The feasters must satisfy themselves with going from one group to another, greeting and hailing friends. Once more the streets of Jerusalem are filled with promenading Jews, natives and pilgrims side by side. Many of them are on their way to the Mount of the Temple, for the Levites now open the gates of the Holy House and Jews spend the rest of the night there, praying and singing hymns of praise to God. ………………………………. Such was the observance of the Passover as the Pharisees had formed it over the centuries after the Jews came forth from the Babylon captivity. Many things had been added and adopted, the two worst being the added Temple slaying of the Passover lambs, and secondly, even more incorrect, the Passover being on the 15th day and not the 14th, hence the blending of the Passover meal with the first holy day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, which then blended what was originally TWO feasts, making up 8 days in total, into a Feast of 7 days. Truly the words of Christ in Mark 7 about "traditions" making void the commandments of God, come to clear view in the Pharisee teaching on how and when to observe the Passover - Keith Hunt To be continued

#11

Christ in the Passover

The Modern Seder

by Ceil and Moishe Rosen (1978) THE MODERN SEDER (Jesus came from the tribe of Judah; He was Jewish; although you could say Christianity came from Judah, it is not true that Christianity came from "Judaism" for a New Covenant came into being with Christ, and that New Testament set another new way to remember and observe the Passover. Christianity moved into its own life and form; it left behind the old. Those trying to find "Jewish Roots" or involved in "Messianic Judaism" and going back to various Jewish traditions, many of them the traditions of the Pharisees that made void the commandments of God, and are going backwards. Christianity moved out from under the canopy of Judaism, it moved forward, setting its own path and a different way of life. It's not wrong to remember your nation and culture from whence you came, but Christianity is like as the apostle Paul said, knowing his background in the nation of Judah, and his Pharisee theology: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" [Philippians 3:7-8]. Yet, for your interest I have reproduced this chapter of this book. It shows you how the Jews are locked into the old Passover [with added rituals] for not accepting Christ Jesus as the Messiah. One day, they will see their Messiah coming in glory, they will see He was the Christ of 2,000 years ago, and they will then move into the New Testament life and the Passover of the New Covenant - Keith Hunt) THE MODERN SEDER In Jewish homes, the lighting of the holiday candles separates the sacred from the mundane, the Sabbath of rest from the week's cares. Tonight the blue white flames cast a halo of light over the holiday table, inspiring a sense of holiness. They lend a soft patina to the silver service, and their flickering glow is mirrored in the eyes of the seated company. Savory aromas from the kitchen mingle with the scent of the hot wax, the grapy smell of the wine, and the acrid fumes of freshly ground horseradish. An air of festivity reigns, tempered by solemn anticipation. The father or grandfather of the family conducts the Passover seder. For this special occasion, the leader of the feast is wearing a long, white outer garment of cotton or silk called a "kitel." The kitel is worn by Orthodox Jewish men at Passover and a few other special times. It is also a burial garment. 1 This wide-sleeved ceremonial robe is a symbol of purity, reminiscent of Temple times when no one could participate in the sacrifices unless he was in a state of Levitical purity. It also reminds us of the white robe of the high priest and of the robe of righteousness that God has promised to give to His elect (Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 6:11; 7:9). On his head, the leader of the feast wears a tall, white, silk head covering shaped like a crown, portraying ...... 1 See "Kitel," Encyclopaedia Judaica, 10:364. ...... that on Passover night a man is king and religious leader over his own household. 1 All eyes now turn expectantly to the leader as he stands and opens his Haggadah. He raises his wine glass for all to see and chants the kiddush, the prayer of sanctification that ushers in all Sabbath days and most of the Jewish holidays. This blessing expresses thanksgiving to God for choosing Israel and for giving feasts and holidays to His people. Tonight a special blessing is added for the commandment to commemorate the redemption from Egypt. The most widely recognized portion of this prayer is: "Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine." Upon the close of this benediction, everyone at the table sips from the first cup of wine, called the cup of sanctification. This cup of sanctification consecrates the ritual meal. Next the hostess brings in a small towel and a silver bowl filled with water. This ceremonial washbasin contains only about a cup of water. The leader dips his fingertips into the bowl and dries them with the towel in preparation for handling the food. He picks up the "karpas" (celery, parsley, or lettuce) from the seder plate and hands a small portion to each participant. Everyone recites together: "Blessed art thou, Lord God, King of the Universe, who createst the fruit of the earth." And everyone dips the greens into salt water and eats. At ancient Greek and Roman banquets, this was the traditional beginning for a formal meal. This Hellenistic culture influenced Jewish custom and practices during the formative stages of stand- ...... 1 Jewish men wear a small head covering (yarmulke) when they pray. The miter described above is usually reserved for the cantor who leads the synagogue worship. At Passover the host, as religious leader of the evening, may wear the miter. ...... ardizing the seder. Contemporary thought endows the ritual with added symbolism: the greens represent life, which is often immersed in tears, represented by the salt water. The host now turns his attention to the unity, the three wafers of unleavened bread. He bypasses the top wafer, takes out the middle wafer, and breaks it in half. He puts one of the halves back into the unity. Then he wraps the remaining piece of this middle matzo in a white napkin or puts it into a special, white, silk bag. While the children cover their eyes, he hides or "buries" that portion of the middle matzo, usually beneath one of the pillows or under the tablecloth. This buried or hidden wafer of unleavened bread now has a name, "aphikomen." We will see the aphikomen later in the Passover service. The ritual that follows is very old. We know this because the prayer is in Aramaic, the language used in the land of Israel, mainly during the time of the second Temple. To this day it is read in Aramaic, not Hebrew. The host uncovers the unleavened bread again, holds up the plate, and everyone recites: "This is the Bread of Affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need come and celebrate Passover." Then they include phrases that must have been added after the destruction of the Temple: "This year we are here: next year in the land of Israel! This year we are slaves: next year free men!" Here again, as with the cup set out for Elijah, we see the Messianic hope expressed. Although we are free from Egyptian slavery, we are slaves. When the Lord brings us back to Zion in the days of the Messiah, we will be truly redeemed, truly free! (Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It was He who said, "The truth shall set you free!" But the Jews today are not free, for they will not acknowledge the truth, so they live in the past, while still looking for the Messiah to come - Keith Hunt) Now the wine glasses are refilled, and the youngest child at the table asks the traditional four questions: Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights we can eat bread or matzo. Why, tonight, only matzo? On all other nights, we can eat any kind of herbs. Why, tonight, bitter herbs? On all other nights we don't dip herbs we eat into anything. Why, tonight, do we dip twice? On all other nights we can eat either sitting up straight or reclining. Why, tonight, do we all recline? The last question about reclining is a relatively late addition to the original questions. It may have been added as a replacement for the question referring to the Paschal lamb, which was asked while the Temple and the sacrifices remained: "Why do we eat only meat which is roasted?" The father or grandfather replies with the prescribed answer in the Haggadah, taken from Deuteronomy 6:21 and 26:8: "We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD our God brought us out thereof with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." From this introductory statement proceeds the reading of the whole epic of redemption from the Haggadah. The Mishnah describes this answer as "beginning with shame and ending with glory" (Pesahim 10:4). The narrative combines Bible history and rabbinical commentary. It includes God's calling Abram out of idolatry, the hardships of the Hebrews in the land of Egypt, the punishment of the Egyptians, the dividing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Sabbath, and the giving of the Law. The climax is the recital of the ten plagues that God poured out on the Egyptians. With the mention of each plague, everyone dips or pours out one drop of wine from his wine goblet into a small saucer. This saucer, not the goblet, is known as the cup. When the saucer is filled with the ten drops of wine, it is called the cup of iniquity, a term symbolic of God's judgments. Now is posed the rhetorical question: "Is it for this [the judgments] that we praise God?" The answer follows: "No, for God loved the Egyptians even as He loved us. But it is for God's infinite mercies that we praise Him." This sets the stage for a happy song recounting the numerous acts of love and mercy that God bestowed upon Israel. The name of the song is one Hebrew word, "dayenu," meaning, "it would have been sufficient." At the end of every line of the song comes the one-word refrain, "Dayenu," sung about ten times with much gaiety and handclapping. The song ends with the spoken words: "Then how much more, doubled and re-doubled, is the claim the Omnipresent has upon our thankfulness! For He did take us out of Egypt and execute judgments ... and justice ... [did] tear the sea apart for us ... satisfy our needs in the desert ... give us the Sabbath [and] ... the Torah [Law] ... bring us into the land of Israel, and build us the House of His choosing to atone for all our sins." Now, in obedience to the ancient admonition of Rabbi Gamaliel, the host makes special mention of the three crucial ingredients of the Passover: the Passover sacrifice (symbolized by the shank bone on the seder plate), the bitter herbs, and the unleavened bread (matzo). He explains each item, holding up the bitter herbs and matzo. However, he does not lift up the shank bone, lest what is only the symbol of the Passover lamb be given the significance of a real sacrifice, which is forbidden. Then he adds these words: "In every generation let each man look on himself as if he came forth out of Egypt. As it is said: 'And thou shalt tell thy son ... it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt'"[see Exodus 13:8]. This text is based on the teaching of the Mishnah (Pesahim 10:5) that the Exodus and redemption are not to be taken only as history; each Jew is to consider the experience as personal. (Even so, those of us who are spiritually redeemed by Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, see Him as being sacrificed for each of us, individually and personally, although the actual event happened two thousand years ago.) (The Jews believe they are the children of God as much as any Christian believes they are. Their theology teaches they can be saved WITHOUT Christ; the Christian therology teaches there is only ONE through whom you can be saved - Christ Jesus - Acts 4:12 - Keith Hunt) Now the company raises the wine glasses in a toast of thanksgiving to the goodness of God and proclaims: "Let us then recite before Him a new song: Hallelujah!" They put the glasses down without drinking and recite Psalms 113 and 114, the first portion of the Hallel, which literally means "praise." Then they raise the wine glasses once again, repeating the ancient prayer of Rabbi Akiba, probably written just after the destruction of the Temple. "Blessed art thou, O Lord ... who redeemed us ... and has brought us to this night ... So, O Lord ... bring us to other festivals ... happy in the building of thy city ... And there may we eat of the sacrifices and the paschal offerings, whose blood will come unto the walls of thy altar for acceptance. Then shall we give thanks to thee with a new song, for our redemption and the liberation of our soul. Blessed art thou, O Lord, Redeemer of Israel. Blessed art thou ... Creator of the fruit of the vine." This is the signal for drinking the second cup of wine, called the "cup of praise." Following the drinking of the second cup, they pass around the basin of water. Everyone repeats the special prayer for ceremonial handwashing and washes his hands. The head of the feast now breaks off pieces of unleavened bread and distributes them to all at the table. They recite together the prayers of thanksgiving for bread and for the commandment to eat unleavened bread; they eat a morsel of the matzo. Next the host dips some of the bitter herb into the sweet charoseth mixture and offers a piece to each participant. Before eating it, they pronounce another benediction, thanking God for commanding the eating of bitter herbs. The resultant tears produced by this ceremony are a fitting memorial to the hardships of our ancestors! The host goes on to make a sandwich of bitter herbs and unleavened bread. He eats it, saying: "In memory of the Temple, according to the custom of Hillel. Thus did [Rabbi] Hillel when the Holy Temple still stood: he used to combine unleavened bread and bitter herbs and eat them together, to fulfill that which is said: 'They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.'" By this time, the younger children are a bit droopy-eyed from the warmth of the room, the sips of wine, and the hypnotic flickering of the candles. The older people are not drowsy; they have just been jolted into alertness by the mouthful of horseradish. But now the hostess sets aside the seder plate and disappears into the kitchen, and this is the real cue for everyone to come to life. Here come the good things that have been teasing their nostrils all day! The Passover meal is literally a banquet. It usually begins with the traditional hard-boiled eggs dipped or flavored with salt water. Then come the appetizers. In Ashkenazi homes (those of northern and eastern European culture), two of the favorite appetizers are chopped liver, similar to the French liver pate, and gefilte fish. The latter is similar to Scandinavian fish balls without the sauce. Jewish people like to use horseradish instead, even when it is not Passover. Then, almost always, there is a matzo ball soup, a rich, clear chicken broth accompanied by fluffy, featherlight dumplings made of finely ground matzo and many well-beaten eggs. The main course is usually a stuffed, roasted fowl, or beef of some kind. Jewish people today traditionally do not eat lamb on Passover, because there is no Temple and no Passover sacrifice. But those of us who are Jewish believers in the Messiah Jesus feel that it is fitting and meaningful to eat lamb at our Passover meals in remembrance of the One who came to be the Lamb, whose sacrifice overshadows the sacrifices of all the lambs slain in the Temple (Hebrews 9). (Let me say here, there is nothing in the New Testament Scriptures to forbid you eating lamb at any meal during the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Passover evening, correctly being the beginning of the 14th day of the first month, Nisan or Abib, is NOT A MEAL! Hence lamb will not be eaten during that specific service, for it is not a meal under the New Testament ordinance - all fully explained in my many studies of the Passover - Keith Hunt) There are many more good things to eat, like salads and vegetables, limited only by the cook's imagination and resourcefulness. For dessert there are dried fruits, nuts, specially baked Passover cookies, sponge cakes, and coconut macaroons, all made without leaven; and imported marzipan and other candies from Israel. (Remmeber all this is going on during the first evening hours of the 15th day, which is technically the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the practice handed down from the Pharisee Jews - Keith Hunt) Jewish people of Eastern and Mediterranean descent (Sephardim) have different favorite foods, in keeping with their own culture and tradition. Their cuisine often includes tomatoes, eggplant, and fruits like dates, figs, and oranges, which are native to their countries. The only foods never to be found on any Passover table, besides bread or other types of leaven, are pork and shellfish. These are forbidden at all times by Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 to those Jewish people who are still under the Law. (The authors are Christian Jews and so they believe such laws of clean and unclean foods are abolished, and only none-Christian religious Jews need to obey them - nothing could be further from the truth - Keith Hunt) With dinner at an end, the dessert dishes are cleared away, but the Passover seder is far from finished. Something is missing - the "aphikomen"! The name aphikomen comes from the Greek "epikomios," meaning "after dinner revelry," or "that which comes last." In ancient times, this was apt to be rather rowdy. Since that type of behavior was totally unsuitable for a religious celebration, the rabbis of old substituted a solemn commemoration of the Paschal lamb. In Temple times, the lamb was the last thing to be eaten; now, in the absence of the sacrificial lamb, the unleavened bread was to represent the Passover sacrifice. The taste of the matzo and the memory of the lamb were to linger in the consciousness of each celebrant. The children search now for the missiing aphikomen, making a little game of it. The adults call out advice as the children search the room: "You're way off base!" "You're cold." "You're getting warmer!" Soon someone finds it and turns it over to the head of the feast with a triumphant grin of anticipation, for he knows that he will receive a reward for it - a small gift or sum of money. The gaiety and boisterousness of the search give way to solemnity as the ritual of the seder continues. The host unwraps the "aphikomen" and distributes olive-sized pieces to everyone. 1 All partake of it with quiet reverence. In Western culture, there is no blessing or word spoken. But in the Sephardic or Eastern tradition, they say: "In memory of the Passover, sacrifice, eaten after one is sated." Nowhere do they add the prophetic words of Jesus at the Last Supper: "This is my body which is given for you" (Luke 22:19). After this, no one may have any more food or drink at the seder other than the third and fourth cups of wine. At ...... 1 By rabbinic tradition, an olive-sized morsel is the smallest over which one can say a blessing. ...... this point many Haggadahs include the recital of Psalm 126, one of the Songs of Ascent. Now that the meal is officially concluded by the eating of the aphikomen, the ritual portion of the seder continues with the recitation of the final table grace. At Jewish meals there is a berachah (short prayer of thanks) for each food as it comes to the table, but the main table grace always comes after the meal. At the seder, the host now pours the third cup of wine before this prayer. Then he stands and repeats the traditional words in Hebrew: "Gentlemen, let us recite the blessing." The seated company responds: "May the name of the Lord be blessed from now unto eternitv." The host continues: "Let us bless Him of whose food we have eaten." Then the participants read a lengthy prayer of thanksgiving. Toward the end of this table grace, we hear again the expression of hope in God's final deliverance in the days of the Messiah. "Take pity, O Lord ... on Israel ... on Zion the habitation of thy glory and on the kingdom of the House of David, thine anointed ... may there rise and come ... the remembrance of us... and our fathers, and the remembrance of the Messiah the son of David, thy servant ... and Jerusalem thy holy city ... and all thy people, the House of Israel ... on this festival ... The Compassionate One - may He send Elijah the prophet (may he be remembered for good) to us that he may bring us good tidings of salvations and consolations. (Oh indeed God will send someone who will come in the "spirit and power" of Elijah before the day of the Lord, as the prophets and Jesus have said, but the Jews will not recognize him, for he will come in the name of the Messiah Christ - Keith Hunt) If Passover falls on a Friday night (the beginning of the Sabbath) they also add the following: "The Compassionate One - may He cause us to inherit that day which is all Sabbath and repose, in the everlasting life. The Compassionate One - may He find us worthy of the days of the Messiah and of the life of the world to come." (You see how they pray that they will find everlasting life and the world to come. They pray for this while they ignore or reject the One who can give them eternal life. The are blinded, the vast majority in Israel are blinded as Paul shows in Romans 9 through 11. The day will come when that blindness will be removed - then they will find salvation and the world to come, but until that time, they must wait and rest [in death, if dead before Jesus the Messiah comes in glory] until their resurrection day - Keith Hunt) This speaks of that ultimate Sabbath of rest about which Paul is writing in Hebrews 4:9. Immediately following that prayer, the host leads again in the blessing over the wine, and everyone drinks the third cup, commemorating the verse in Exodus 6:6b: "I will redeem you with a stretched out arm." This third cup is the cup of redemption, also at times called the cup of blessing. It is the cup of redemption because, say the ancient commentaries, it represents the blood of the Paschal lamb. Some Haggadahs call it the cup of Elijah because it directly follows the prayer for the coming of Elijah. Another reason for that title may be because of what happens next. The children have been watching Elijah's cup at the foot of the table. In some households, the cup was filled at the beginning of the seder; in others, it is filled now. They squint hard at the dark red contents of the cup. Will Elijah come and drink from the cup? Maybe he is here now, only he is invisible. Did he take a sip? It looks like there is just a little less wine than there was a while ago! Alas, if that is true, it is only due to evaporation. But maybe he is still going to come! Wait and see, but now we must go on with the service. (They look for the Elijah to come, and he will, in the form of a man, as like John the baptist was Elijah in his day [Mat. 17], but not knowing Christ or the New Testament Scriptures, they will look for him in vain. But then again the huge majority of Christians will not know the Elijah to come before the day of the Lord, for He will speak the word of truth, which they are blinded from. Only the very elect will recognize the Elijah to come, and the restitution of truth - Keith Hunt) Jewish scholars think the prayer that comes next, "Pour out Thy Wrath," originated during the Middle Ages when Jews were severely persecuted for the faith, especially at Passover time. This prayer is not found in the earliest editions of the Haggadah. It calls for God's judgment on the heathen, and it sounds rather harsh. But taken in context with the other prayers given above for the coming of Elijah, it fits into the pattern of thought: "May God send the Messiah, heralded by the prophet Elijah, to vanquish all our enemies and set up His Kingdom of peace." (The Jews pray for the still coming of the Messiah, while they cannot see that He already came in the form of Jesus Christ, two thousand years ago. Yet the Messiah will come and the Jews will in that day recognize Him as the prophet Zechariah tells us in chapters 12 and 13. See my expounding of that prophetic book on this Website - Keith Hunt) The leader now sends one of the children to open the door to see if Elijah is coming in answer to the prayers. The words are not prescribed until later in the Haggadah reading, but just as the door is being opened, everyone usually exclaims: "Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord" The youngsters are round-eyed with awe as the door slowly creaks open. A gust of cool night air sweeps into the room but no one is there. Oh well, maybe next year. The child closes the door and comes back to the table. Next the host leads in the recitation of the second portion of the Hallel, Psalms 115 to 118. These verses are the same as those of Temple times. They lead into the Great Hallel, which is Psalm 136. In this well-known psalm, the Levitical choir in the Temple sang out the praises of Jehovah and the great events of Israel's history. At the end of each phrase or line, the congregation responded, "For His kindness endureth forever!" The earliest commentaries (Pesahim 10:7 of the Mishnah) record a "Benediction of Song" after the Hallel. The Talmud, which is a commentary on the Mishnah, teaches in Berakbot 59b that one of these benedictions was the Great Hallel and another was at least some part of a hymn called "The Breath of Every Living Thing." This closing hymn before the fourth and final cup of wine is again a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. It begins: "The breath of every living thing shall bless Thy Name," and ends: "Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, God and King, who art mightily praised, God of thanksgivings, Lord of wonders, who chooses song and psalm, King, God, the life of the world." Once again, everyone at the table lifts his wine glass and chants the blessing over wine. Everyone drinks from the fourth cup. This last cup of the Passover seder commemorates the verse in Exodus 6:7: "And I will take you to me for a people." One of the modern versions of the Haggadah 1 comments very aptly on the fourth cup and the verse it commemorates: "The redemption is not yet complete. The Fourth Cup recalls us to our covenant with the Eternal One, to the tasks that still await us as a people called to the service of God, to a great purpose for which the people of Israel live." The editors of that particular Haggadah see the purpose of Israel as being "The preservation and affirmation of hope." But we, who are familiar with the promises and prophecies of Scripture, see a greater purpose for Israel that of one day proclaiming to the whole world that the Messiah is, indeed, Saviour and King! Because of the words, "I will take you to be my people," some call this fourth cup the cup of acceptance. Others prefer to call it the cup of Elijah. There is merit to both titles, for Elijah will yet come to herald the redemption that will be complete only when Israel fulfills God's entire plan; that is, when Israel recognizes and proclaims the Messiah (Zechariah 12:10), she will truly be the people of God, as foretold in Jeremiah 32:38-40. And now, at last, with the drinking of the fourth cup, the seder is drawing to a close. Happy songs and festivity often continue afterward late into the night, but the service ...... 1 Herbert Bronstein, ed., "The New Union Haggadah," rev. ed., p. 91. ...... officially ends with one last prayer for the rebuilding of Jerusalem: Concluded is the Passover seder, According to its law and custom. As we have lived to celebrate it, so may we live to celebrate it again. Pure One, who dwells in his habitation Redress the countless congregation. Speedily lead the offshoots of thy stock Redeemed, to Zion in joyous song. NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM! 1 ...... 1 Jewish people already living in Israel say instead: "Next year in Jerusalem rebuilt!" ...... ............................. Note: So it is that the Jews without Christ in the Passover, live in the past, praying for the prophet Elijah to come and reveal good news to them. He will come and he will reveal good news to them and all the world, but most will never know he came and restored all things, they will blindly go their way, tripping over the truth, picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and walking on as if never seeing it. Then will come the end of this age, then will come the Messiah, then the blindness will be lifted from all faces, then the world will see who the Elijah was, and who the Christ Messiah is. Then the covering cast over all faces will be lifted, light of truth will pour into their minds, and all people will finally rejoice as the knowledge of God will cover this earth as the waters cover the sea beds. Then all will know Christ in the Passover. Keith Hunt February 2010

The Meltdown Continues

Saturday, March 22, 2025

PASSOVER QUESTIONS ANSWERED #1, #2, #3, #4, #5,, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10. #11,

DOES COLOSSIANS
2:16 abolish the
FEASTS of GOD?

Chronology of Exodus 12 to 16

Throw away the Charts!

The NIGHT to be much Observed?

A Re-Look at the Scriptures

Seven Annual Sabbaths
Is It A Sin If You Do Not Keep Them?

Easter/Passover Debate - Whitby 664 AD

The British Church did not observe Rome's Easter

Unusual Passover Observances!

The truth about the Samaritans/Passover

The Passover in Temple Times

Pharisee Traditions!

Christ in the Passover

The Modern Seder

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Saturday, March 22, 2025

PASSOVER QUESTIONS ANSWERED #1, #2, #3, #4, #5,, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10. #11,

DOES COLOSSIANS2:16 abolish theFEASTS of GOD?

Chronology of Exodus 12 to 16

Throw away the Charts!

The NIGHT to be much Observed?

A Re-Look at the Scriptures

Seven Annual SabbathsIs It A Sin If You Do Not Keep Them?

Easter/Passover Debate - Whitby 664 AD

The British Church did not observe Rome's Easter

Unusual Passover Observances!

The truth about the Samaritans/Passover

The Passover in Temple Times

Pharisee Traditions!

Christ in the Passover

The Modern Seder

No comments:

Post a Comment

DOES COLOSSIANS
2:16 abolish the
FEASTS of GOD?

Seven Annual Sabbaths
Is It A Sin If You Do Not Keep Them?