| 4 |
4 And this |
| 10 | 10 Then, the sons of Yisra’ēl encamped in Gilgal. Then they did the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the setting on the plains of Yeri̱ḥō.† 11 Then they ate from the product of the land in the day after the Passover, unleavened bread, and grain being roasted, on that same day.‡ 12 Then, the manna ceased in the day after, when they ate from the produce of the land. And there had not been any more for the sons of Yisra’ēl manna. Therefore, they ate from the comings of the land of Cena‘an in that year.‡ |
| 13 |
13 Then it was, in being Yehōshū‘a by Yeri̱ḥō, then he lifted up his eyes. Then he looked. And behold, a man |
5:5¹ ^ “All” here means 100%. There was a significant minority that was uncircumcised.
5:7‡ ^ Were the uncircumcised sons supposed to be circumcised? Yes. Did they keep the Sabbaths? Yes. See Num. 15:32. Therefore, there were uncircumcised sons in Yisra’ēl who grew up keeping Sabbath, but who were not circumcised in the wilderness, because sabbath work was punished by death, but apparently uncircumcision was not punished. Apparently, there was an obligation to be circumcised here, but it was not held to be a captial offense against the sons of Yisra’ēl while they were in the wilderness. It was only addressed when they inherited the land. Likewise, for the non-Jew in the exile (called gentiles by many), they are obligated to the covenant, but the lack of circumcision is in the judicial penalties overlooked until the ten tribes return to the land. There is no condemnation for it, even though it is required. The great heresy is comitted by those who exempt non-Jews from the whole covenant (while requiring it of Jews) because they don’t understand why Gŏd would not punish uncircumcision like he did with Mōshēh. Such a position is grace-less.
5:10† ^Then, the sons of Yisra’ēl encamped in Gilgal. Then they did the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the setting on the plains of Yeri̱ḥō. “Then they
“In the setting” (בָּעֶרֶב) bae̒rev̱. This word strictly speaking means the receding of the light, which was considered to begin at noon, when the sun began to descend, and then ended with the disappearance of twilight. The translation “setting,” therefore agrees with the senses across multiple contexts. The time is given in Exodus 12:4 as “between the settings,” which is the same time as the daily offering in the afternoon. Therefore, they killed the lamb in the mid-afternoon on the 14th day of the month.
5:11‡ ^Then they ate from the product of the land in the day after the Passover, unleavened bread, and grain being roasted, on that same day.‡ There are two ways to comprehend the timing indicated in this text. Both methods conclude that the day indicated is the 16th of A̕v̱i̱v̱ (Nisan).
Firstly, reckoning from a sunset epoch for the calendar day, the Passover slain on the 14th, was eaten at the beginning of the 15th. The text is then interpreted as follows, “Then they ate from the product of the land in the day after [
The second method is based on the fact that there were two Passover offerings, and the reckoning of a calendar day using the sunrise epoch. The first offering was made on the 14th, and eaten the night following. The second offering was made on the 15th, and eaten the night following. The first offering corresponds to the Passover in Egypt, and the second corresponds to the memorial of the Exodus, which is explained in Deut. 16. Both offerings were called “passover.” In the second method, “the Passover” in this verse refers to that second offering on the 15th. And the day after it is the 16th of the month, only it is reckoned as beginning at sunrise on the 16th.
The second method is the correct ancient reckoning. “The Passover” in this verse refers to the second offering described in Deut. 16, which was sacrificed on the first day of unleavened bread (A̕v̱i̱v̱ 15), and after it were six days of unleavened bread (Deut. 16:8). Counted in all, these are the seven days of unleavened bread, and the seventh day is a holy assembly. The sixth of these days of unleavened bread is the same as the seventh day of assembly. And this second offering was made at the time they departed from Egypt (cf. Deut. 16:6), which was not at the time of the first offering on the 14th. Rashi explains the six days in Deut. 16:8 as six days they were allowed to make the unleavened bread out of the new grain from the land. The six days begin “in the daybreak” when they go to their tents after the second passover offering (Deut. 16:7), which is the daybreak of A̕v̱i̱v̱ 16.
The method of understanding Scripture is to use one text to understand another. The reason for this is that not everything is exactly explained in every place, but like a parable, there is some figuring and comparing left to do. The incompleteness of a given text encourages the Spĭrit led reader to seek the answer from other texts, and allows he who does not seek to have his or her own speculative answer. The layout of Scripture, therefore, is as a parable. He who has ears will hear, and he who does not have ears to hear will not hear. The method also provides a place for teachers who do understand to explain the sense using other texts.
The key to understanding Lev. 23:11, “in the day after the Sabbath” is found in this Joshua text and Lev. 23:14, “And you shall not eat bread, and roasted grain, and fresh produce, until this same day, until your making come the offering of your Almĭghty: it is a statute for ever by your generations in all your dwellings.” Firstly, the words, “in the day after the Sabbath,” are used in parallelism to “in the day after the Passover,” and therefore indicate the same time. And secondly, eating the new grain was prohibited until the wave offering had been made.
They were eating the new grain from the land on the 16th of A̕v̱i̱v̱ in this Joshua passage. So the sheaf of new grain must have been waved before they ate the new grain according to Lev. 23:14. And so, Lev. 23:11, “in the day after the Sabbath” is explained by this Joshua passage as “in the day after the Passover,” and so indicates that the annual Sabbath on the first day of the feast is meant in Lev. 23:11.
The above explanation is additionally confirmed by the date of Passover when Yisra’ēl came into the land, which was 1592 bc. Here is the chart:
Month: I AVIV, 1592 BC 2548 A.M. Sab. Cyc: 7. Jub. Cyc: 49 Cycle No: 52
Q1: 1.314 A Q2: -0.309 F LG: 93m W: 0.992' AL: 20.9 AV: 19.3
New Moon calculated for longitude: 35.20 and latitude 31.77
Location of calculations: Mt. Nebo, Jordan Author: Daniel Gregg
I II III IV V VI VII
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
↑ │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │
AVIV/NISAN│New Moon │ │ │ │ │ │
│ APR 5 │ APR 6 │ APR 7 │ APR 8 │ APR 9 │ APR 10 │ APR 11 │
│M │M │M │M │M │MD │ceased │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
│ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │ 10 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ APR 12 │ APR 13 │ APR 14 │ APR 15 │ APR 16 │ APR 17 │ APR 18 │
│M │M │M │M │M │MD │ceased │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~██╫██▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀██╫██
│ 14♦ │ 15 │16-0-1 │17-0-2 │18-0-3 │19-0-4 │20-1-5 │
│Passover │Passover │ Sheaf │ │ │ │ │
│ APR 19 │ APR 20 │ APR 21 │ APR 22 │ APR 23 │ APR 24 │ APR 25 │
│M │M │ceased │ │ │ │ │
~██╫██▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
│21-1-6 │22-1-7 │23-1-8 │24-1-9 │25-1-10 │26-1-11 │27-2-12 │
│7thULB │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ APR 26 │ APR 27 │ APR 28 │ APR 29 │ APR 30 │ MAY 1 │ MAY 2 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒
│28-2-13 │29-2-14 │
│ │ │
│ MAY 3 │ MAY 4 │
│ │ │
The 14th of A̕v̱i̱v̱, in this year, came on the first day of the week. The second Passover offering was on the 15th day, and after this day was when they ate the new grain (Lev. 23:14), and therefore, the sheaf of new grain must have been offered at the Tabernacle after this day, on the 16th of A̕v̱i̱v̱. According to the passages, then, it is not possible that the sheaf was waved on Sunday, APR 26th (A̕v̱i̱v̱/Nisan 21), as the Karaites would have to compute it.
5:12‡ ^Then, the manna ceased in the day after, when they ate from the produce of the land. And there had not been any more for the sons of Yisra’ēl manna. Therefore, they ate from the comings of the land of Cena‘an in that year.‡ The manna ceased on every weekly Sabbath, and so we may conclude from this that this ceasing was was either on the weekly Sabbath, or it was an extraordinary ceasing after the manna had resumed following the Sabbath. I have marked in the chart above the mornings they received new manna with “M” and the double amount on Friday with “MD”; On the Sabbath is marked “ceased.” The statement that the manna ceased for a particular day, or on a particular day indicates that the previous day manna had been received. And we see that is the case as manna was received on the 14th and the 15th, the first and second day of the week, but ceased on the 16th, the third day of the week. The ceasing was the final ceasing.
The above detail is ignored by the Karaites. For this is how they wish to explain Joshua 5:10-11:
I II III IV V VI VII
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
↑ │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ 7 │
│New Moon │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│M │M │M │M │M │MD │ceased │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
│ 8 │ 9 │ 10 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13 │ 14 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│M │M │M │M │M │MD │ceased │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │finally │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
│ 15 │ 16 │ 17 │ 18 │ 19 │ 20 │ 21 │
│Sheaf │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│finally │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ceased │ │ │ │ │ │ │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~█████▀▀▀▀▀▒▒▒▒▒
│ 22 │ 23 │ 24 │ 25 │ 26 │ 27 │ 28 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
~▒▒▒▒▒~~~~~▒▒▒▒▒
│ 29 ↑ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
They wish to explain that the 15th of the month landed on a Sunday, so that it is after the weekly Sabbath on the 14th of the month. Accordingly, they speculate that the sheaf was waved on the 15th after the weekly Sabbath, and that the 15th was the day after the Passover. They are now in the position of having to accept the contradiction that the manna ceased on the first day of the week after it already finally ceased on the Sabbath.
Another side effect of having to speculate that the 15th was on a Sunday is that when the year is actually known, astronomical calculation may prove it not to be the case. The chances of a speculation being wrong are 6/7. The Karaites gambled on a 1/7 chance, and are proved wrong. Every incorrectly constructed chronology eventually blows up in the face of the speculator once enough biblical details have been applied to test it. And that is the case here.