The Biblical Feast of Shavuot
(The Feast of Sevens)
***
Introduction to Second Edition
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§589.07
Shavuot, or the feast of 'weeks' as it is sometimes called, falls 50 days
after Passover. Beginning on the day after the Passover Sabbath,
50 days are counted to the day of Shavuot. This feast often goes
by its better known name outside Jewish circles as Pentecost:
The key text is Lev. 23:15-16:
And you shall
count for yourselves from time after the rest
(from the day of bringing the sheaf of the wave offering) seven complete
rests there shall be till from time after the seventh
rest counting fifty days.
Notice that I have rendered
'shabbat' literally as 'the rest'; Now the question arises as to
which rest is meant. Since the text says 'the rest,' we are to look
for a definite 'rest' mentioned in the preceeding context.
There are three options in the preceeding context. (1) the weekly sabbath,
[Sadducees, Karaites] (2) the first day of unleavened bread [Rabbis;
Josephus; Philo], (3) the last day of unleavened bread [Falashas].
The Falasha viewpoint we can rule out immediately on the basis of Joshua
5:11, even though the last day of unleavened bread is the most immediately
mentioned 'rest.' The next 'rest' in line for 'the rest' would
be the first day of unleavened bread. This is the next logical choice.
Finally, when we consider the first choice: the weekly sabbath, it
is not only more remote in the context than the first day of unleavened
bread, but there are too many choices (a) the sabbath before unleavened
bread, (b) the sabbath in unleavened bread, (c) afterward, or (d) a sabbath
on which ripe barley is found, or (e) a random sabbath in the spring.
We cannot expect the text to be so ambiguous. And indeed, one
could not suggest the weekly sabbath without admitting the possibility
of the other choices, which means that if that were the case, then we should
be compelled to appeal to the oral Torah to settle the issue, since our
people preserve the oracles of YHWH.
We should notice also that
in this case the weekly sabbath is mentioned as 'complete rest.'
Why is that? Perhaps it is to distinguish it from the festival rest
on which cooking was allowed? So, after the festival
rest, you are to find seven complete rests (regular sabbath days on which
cooking is not allowed) and count them one by one --- first of the
sabbaths, second of the sabbaths, third of the sabbaths, fourth of the
sabbaths, fifth of the sabbaths, sixth of the sabbaths, and seventh of
the sabbaths. We are then to pass up the seventh sabbath by
counting all the days from the time after the festival rest to the time
after the seventh sabbath when the count equals fifty days.
For an example, I give the
year of the Exodus:
.
.
The first day of unleavened
bread (blue) is followed by seven sabbaths (green, numbered with purple
numerals), and also followed by fifty days (red numerals).
The first of the sabbaths, is therefore the very first sabbath after the
Passover. This day is the anniversary of Yayshua's resurrection.
The reason for the fifty day count is that this is the time it took us
to go from Egypt to Sinai. Moshe told Pharoah that we must
go a three day journey into the wilderness [of Sinai --- though he didn't
tell him that part of it] to serve him [at the holy mountain --- he didn't
mention that to Pharoah either] as per the instructions of YHWH.
The counting of the seven sabbaths emphasizes the sabbath day, that the
Law was given on the sabbath day; that is the reason for counting
them.
Daniel, 1999 c.e. (6138 A.H. Tishri basis).
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Introduction
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§589.1
A great many Messianic groups, and Feast Keeping groups such as the World
Wide Church of God and its offshoots error in placing Pentecost always
on a Sunday. The Roman Church also places Pentecost on a Sunday.
On the other hand, Messianic Congregations well educated in Judaism observe
Pentecost at its biblical set time 50 days after Passover as marking the
day that God gave the Law to Israel 50 days after the Exodus.
In the first century,
Pentecost was not always on a Sunday (see §617-18), because the Pharisees
saw to it that it was observed in the Biblical manner. Not only that,
but the Messiah himself fully endorsed the Pharisees' legal authority (Mt.
23:1-3), over and above that of the Sadducees who would have imposed a
Sunday Pentecost if they could have. The Sunday Pentecost was also
pushed by heretical groups such as the Karaites and the Samaritans, and
finally by the Church of Rome which saw in it a chance to make Sunday even
more significant in their theology.
The introduction of
the Sunday Pentecost into Judaism is one of the oldest theological heresies
on record. Not only that, but its introduction divided Israel and
has created division and dissension to this day.
§589.2
Ironically, the single most devastating evidence against the Sunday Pentecost
is the Resurrection account itself (see §589.3ff). To
this is added the testimony of Exodus 19-24 (see §§590-607),
and finally Biblical Chronology, in conjunction with Astronomy testifies
against the Sunday Pentecost (see §600, §607). To this
we add an explantion of Joshua 5:11ff, and a refutation of the arguments
based on Lev. 23:11 and Lev. 23:15-16 (see §§612-616) and above
§589.07
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The First of the Sabbaths and the Wave Sheaf
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§589.3
Now the resurrection was upon the Sabbath day. If the reader has
jumped ahead in this book, it will be necessary to go back and read the
proof of this, since we are simply assuming it here, and it forms the foundation
for the refutation of the Sunday Pentecost. The fact that Yayshua
rose on the first of the sabbaths forms the strongest argument against
the Sunday Pentecost. It is also an argument that there is no way
to escape, as there are weak ways to get out of some of the other arguments.
Matthew says that
it was ,
i.e. later of Sabbaths, which means the latter of the two sabbaths in Passover
week, the former being the Passover Sabbath (Wednesday sunset to Thursday
sunset), and the latter being the weekly Sabbath.
§589.4
Then he proceeds to say it was
one of sabbaths, which is expanded by the other accounts as first of
the sabbaths. If the wave sheaf had been waved on the next day,
Sunday, on which the counting is supposed to begin according to the Sadducees,
the Karaites, the Samaritans, and Coulter, then Why does it appear that
the counting has already begun? The first of the sabbaths in the
Karaite enumeration comes a whole week later. So it is
evident that the gospel accounts side with the Pharisees on the question
of counting the seven sabbaths of Lev. 23:15-16 (see §70). It
is also clear then, that the Nazarenes observed Pentecost 50 days after
the Passover Sabbath, and not perpetually on Sunday as the Sadducees taught.
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The Testimony of Exodus 19-24
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§590
Fred Coulter errors when he states that the 'wave sheaf was offered on
the morrow after the weekly Sabbath' (page 170, The Christian Passover),
which means he starts counting the 50 days to Shavuoth (Pentecost) from
Sunday, the first day of the week. The mistake is in confusing the
weekly Sabbath with the Passover Sabbath, which usually falls on another
day of the week. For the text speaking of the wave sheaf only says
"the sabbath," without specifying if it means the feast Sabbath or the
weekly seventh day Sabbath. Orthodox Jews, from the remotest antiquity
to the present have always understood that the wave sheaf was offered in
relation to the Passover Sabbath. So, Pentecost is not traditionally
computed from the 'weekly Sabbath,' but from the Passover Sabbath, which
is the Sabbath mentioned in Lev. 23:11 & 15.
§591
The Sunday Pentecost theory was propounded by the Sadducees. Among
other things they also did not believe in angels, demons, or the resurrection
of the dead. That does not make them candidates for legitimate spiritual
authority, which explains why the am-ha-arets (people of the land) did
not listen to them. The Pharisees vigorously opposed their mistaken
Sunday Pentecost, and made sure that they did not tamper with the calendar.
Yayshua rebuked the Sadducees on a number of occasions. When it came
to legal interpretations of the Torah, he endorsed the Pharisees (Mt. 23:2-3a).
§592
Pentecost, or the feast of Shavuot (sevens), by its more accurate title,
is the feast that was ordained to remember the giving of the Law on Mt.
Sinai. Remember that Moshe told Pharoah that we must go three days
journey into the wilderness to keep a feast to Yahweh? (Exodus 8:23, 10:9).
He wasn't bluffing. He wasn't lying. And the feast did take
place. He said, for a feast of Yahweh [it is] to us ().
So they entered the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the third month
(Exodus 19:1). It took them the stated three days to arrive at Sinai,
which were Sivan 1, Sivan 2, and Sivan 3, the first three days of the third
month, and then Yahweh instructs them to cleanse themselves and be ready
for the third day, which would be Sivan 4, Sivan 5, and Sivan 6, which
was the third day (Exodus 19:10-11), and which was the 50th day from the
Exodus (16th-29th of Aviv = 14 days; Ziv = 30 days; Sivan = 6 days: 14+30+6
= 50).§597.6 And on this day Yahweh gave the two
tablets of the Law.
§593
So the ten words (commandments) were given 50 days after the Exodus!
Remarkable! And then God gave them the feast of Shavuoth (Pentecost)
to commemorate the event.
§597.5
Exodus 19 has three days of travel (see §592), plus two days of preparation
(washing clothes, Exodus 19:10), and then they were ready the third day
when the law was given. There is no room to skip over the Sabbath
day, without making it one of the preparation days or travel days.
Hence, the Law could not be given on during a five day stretch: Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Every day between Sunday
and Thursday, inclusive, requires them to violate the Sabbath. Therefore,
the law had to be given on a Friday, or on the Sabbath. And this
is based only on the internal evidence of Exodus 19.
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§597.51
Now, the Sabbath was the day sanctified (made holy) by God, which means
it was set apart as holy time. On it he instructed the people to
call an assembly, a holy convocation, to meet with God in prayer, worship,
and reading his Law (Lev. 23:1-3). Therefore, does it not stand to
reason that He would give us his Law on the Sabbath, during holy time,
set apart for meeting with God? Did just Moshe receive the Law on
the Sabbath and give it to the people on "Sunday"? No, Yahweh Elohim
Himself spoke out loud to the people the ten words, so that the people
thought they would die (Exodus 20:19), then Moshe went up the mountain
and received further instructions, which he wrote and spoke to the people
on the same day (see §599.1).
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End Notes
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§597.6
The Sunday theorists would compute the 50 days as, 16-30 Aviv for 15 days,
plus 29 days in Ziv, for 44 days, plus 6 days in Sivan, and Sivan 6 would
be a Sunday, but also note that this places the 15th of Ziv on a Monday.
Or they could compute 16-29 Aviv for 14 days, plus 30 days in Ziv, for
44 days, plus 6 days in Sivan, and Sivan 6 would be on a Sunday,
but also note that the 15th of Ziv would fall on a Sunday. However
both of these combinations are negated by the argument in §597.5.
On the other hand, if we want Friday to be the date of Pentecost that year
(Sivan 6), then Sivan 1 is a Sunday, making Ziv 29/30 a Sabbath, which
makes Ziv 15/16 a Sabbath. These are only theoretical considerations
which are negated by the actual astronomy of the case (see §607).
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Desecration of the Sabbath
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§599
The more serious matter, however, is neglecting the holiness of the Sabbath
by having God give the Sabbath command on Sunday, and then celebrating
it forever after on a Sunday Pentecost! The appropriate day for giving
the law is the Sabbath, which is when the law was given. If the law
was given on Sunday, then Coulter would have the people washing their clothes
on Friday and the Sabbath (Exodus 19:10), only to have a holy convocation
with God on Sunday!
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The First Pentecost was on the Sabbath
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§600
It can be proven that Sivan 6, which was when the law was given,
fell on the Sabbath. It can also be proven that Sivan 6 that year
was exactly 50 days after the Passover (i.e. Aviv 16 - Sivan 6 = 50 days).
I will start from the year of Hezekiah's Passover revival, which was in
his first year. The first year of Hezekiah was [724.25] 725 b.c.e
to [723.25] 724 b.c.e. (see §630). This is confirmed by the
fact that Shalmaneser laid seige to Samaria in [721.25] 722 b.c.e., which
was the beginning of Hezekiah's 4th year. But it is known that Shalmaneser
died in December 722 b.c.e. [721 1/12], and that his son Sargon II finished
it. (See David L. Cooper, Messiah: His First Coming Scheduled, pg.
291, c. 1939 Biblical Research Society)
§601
It is also known that the sinful apostacies of Israel took up 390 years
(Ezekiel 4:5, see §631), but that after Israel was exiled, Judah's
sinful apostacies took up only 40 years after her sister's exile (see §631.1).
Israel's apostacy ended at Hezekiah's passover revival, because it
is recorded that Israel repented (II Chron. 29-31), and became a major
force in the removal of idolatry.
§602
The 390 years of sin include all the years of the oppressions in the book
of Judges, as well as all the years of the wicked kings of Israel.
Israel's years of righteousness are counted up to the 4.5th [5th] year
of Solomon as being 480 years (I Kings 6:1), which figure does not include
the years of oppressions. (For proof of this see §627).
§603
God had two clocks you see. One for righteousness, and one for wickedness.
We are told the reading of the the righteousness clock in the 4th year
of Solomon (480 years), and we are told the final reading of the wickedness
clock for Israel (which includes Judah prior to Israel's exile), viz 390
years. When one clock was running, the other was not.
§604
The Righteousness years were counted starting with the Exodus, but that
clock stopped with the first oppression, and the wickedness clock started
running. With the first judge the righteousness clock started up
again, but when Israel went astray again, God sent another oppressor and
started his wickedness clock again. And so the process went on.
§605
We know that the righteousness clock did not stop in Solomon's 4th year,
because the nation was righteous, and served God faithfully until
Rehoboam's 4 year, when Jeroboam was able to lead Israel into idolatry
(II Chron. 11:17). The wickedness clock runs on the civil year, viz.
fall to fall, but the righteousnes clock runs spring to spring by the religious
year. The judges and kings of Israel always computed their years
on a fall to fall basis, hence Solomon's 4th year actually began the 480th
year in the fall, meaning that year ended precisely after he reigned 4.5
years.
So that leaves 35.5 years for Solomon, plus 3 years that the nation walked
with God after the division of the kingdom. After that, the majority
of the nation apostacized until Hezekiah's revival.
Therefore, we have a total number of years as:
480 + 390 + 35.5 + 3 = 908.5 years.
But the Passover was
in the middle of Hezekiah's first year, i.e. 723.75 [724] b.c.e., and the
fall to fall sin clock shows the enumerated 390th year, but since this
last part of a year is counted as a whole year, it is evident that it was
precisely 389.5 years, the last half year being enumerated the 390th, so
we must correct our calculation:
480 + 389.5 + 35.5 + 3 = 908.0 years.
So adding Hezekiah's
passover to the number of righteousness and wickedness years elapsed gives
us the exact time of the Exodus:
908.0 + 723.75 = [1631.75] 1632 b.c.e.
Which by notation means
3/4 of a year back from Jan 1, 1631 b.c.e, which would be spring 1632 b.c.e.!!
§606
Now this calculation is further confirmed by many facts and datum.
First there is an even number of Jubilees between the entry into the land,
when the cycle beings (1631.75 - 40 = 1591.75 [1592] b.c.e.) and Hezekiah's
Jubilee: 709.25 [710] b.c.e., II Kings 19:29., viz 1591.25 - 709.25 = 882
= 49 * 18, i.e. there are exactly 18 Jubilees between the entry into the
land and Yahweh's instructions to Hezekiah not to sow and plant in the
sabbatical and Jubilee years of his 15th and 16th years.
Furthermore, all the
reigns of the kings and judges fit exactly into the time periods just stated.
The Year 1632 b.c.e. submits a conquest date of 1592 b.c.e., which brings
the archaeological evidence from Jericho into harmony with the scripture.
The burn layer can no longer be claimed to belong to an earlier destruction.
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The First Pentecost: Astronomical Check
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§607
Now that we know that 1632 b.c.e. was the year of the Exodus, we can calculate
the dates of Passover and Pentecost with the aid of a computer. (See
§126-144 for details).
So we see that Sivan 6 was
a Sabbath by astronomical calculation. This
.
Joshua 5:10-12 and the Wave Sheaf
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§608
I have briefly mentioned the date of the entry into the land as 1591.75
[1592] b.c.e. Astronomical calculation shows that the 15th of Aviv
for 1592 b.c.e. was on a Sunday (4/19), viz. Saturday (4/18) sunset to
Sunday (4/19) sunset. . Joshua 5:10 mentions "the passover," which
can only mean the killing of the lamb, since the definite article is used
(§538, 555). Hence Joshua 5:11 refers to the afternoon of the
14th of Aviv, which must be the weekly Sabbath day. Then the
text proceeds to say:
And they ate out of the produce of the land in the time
after the passover (Joshua 5:11a).
When was the "time after"?
The same word is rendered, "in the time to come," elsewhere (cf. §615).
It at least means after the passover, but how long? We have already
established that the counting must begin with the waving of the sheaf after
the rest day sabbath, viz. the 15th of Aviv. Now it is evident that
the 16th is that day after the 15th rest day, and that the 16th is two
days after the 14th. So "time after" in Joshua 5:11 means two days
after the killing of the lamb.
On the other hand,
vs. 11a could be read such that "ate" modifies the word "passover": "And
they ate out of the produce of the land following [eating] the passover."
But the Passover is eaten on the 15th, and hence the time following would
be the 16th of Aviv, 1 day after the eating of it.
Or, the 14th could
be given a common day definition (cf. §40), and the time following
could be one day after the killing, viz. on the common day 15th after sunset,
which is equivalent to the night portion of the standard 16th of Aviv.
I would submit then, that the sheaf was reaped just after sunset on the
common 15th (beginning the standard 16th), and waved immediately, so that
the people could eat the new grain that evening.
.
.
Now, the rest day of that year would be the the first day of the week,
since the 15th fell on that day. So the time after that special sabbath
would be the second day of the week, which is the 16th of Aviv. We
have already shown that Pentecost is to be counted after the Passover Sabbath,
and not the weekly Sabbath, hence, "the time after the Passover," is equivalent
to "the time after the [Passover] Sabbath" in Lev. 23:11, but we can now
see that the time after the killing of the lamb was two standard days,
but the time after the rest day (when they ate it) was one standard day.
And the time after the killing of it was one common day.
We can also see that
the manna was ended on the same day that it began: a monday (cf. §521).
But, if the text takes note of the manna ceasing, it appears that they
had to have manna the day before, or the ceasing statement would be attached
to the day before, if no manna was on that day. Why wait two days
to tell us that it had ceased? Hence, the day before it ceased could
not be a sabbath. For there was no manna that day. This would
be a normal interpretation, but I know that the Sunday-Pentecost people
will try to say "it had ceased," on Sunday the 15th, even though it would
"have ceased" on the Sabbath before, and should have been noted then.
The only problem with such a view is that the verb form is imperfect.
Since manna cannot progressively cease, it follows that the sense of the
imperfect is "first began to cease," not "had ceased," which would require
a perfect.
So, there had to be
manna the day before, proving that that day was not a sabbath, and hence
the new grain was not eaten on Sunday, but on Monday the 16th of Aviv.
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Key Passages In Leviticus 23
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§612.1
The key passage for the timing of Pentecost is found in Lev. 23:11 (see
below quotation). The translation is a literal one. The time
following the rest is traditionally set on the 16th of Aviv [Nisan], which
is the day immediately following the Passover Rest day. Usually,
though, the Passover Rest is called "The Sabbath," or "The Passover Sabbath."
The Hebrew word for "sabbath" actually means "rest" or "cessation," and
insofar as the language is concerned can be applied to any day of the week.
"Sabbath" is not a technical word for the seventh day. That is why
it is necessary to specify the "seventh day" when the weekly Sabbath is
meant, because other Sabbaths are possible.
And he shall wave
the sheaf before Yahweh for your acceptance following the rest the
priest shall wave it (Lev. 23:11).
§612.2
The "rest" refered to is the first day of unleavened bread mentioned in
vs. 7. This is the traditional interpretation. In fact, the
LXX (Septuagint) translates the underlined portion of Lev. 23:11 (see above
quote) as "the day after the first day," obviously meaning the day after
the first day of unleavened bread, so it is clear how the passage was interpreted
ca. 250 b.c.e. The passage itself, however, is ambiguous, and might
lend itself to being interpreted as a weekly Sabbath.
The ambiguity is removed by the gospel accounts (see §589.3-589.4).
And you shall count
for yourself, following the 1rest, from the day of the
bringing of the sheaf of the wave offering seven rests 2complete
they will be; until a day following the rest, the seventh counting
fifty days (Lev. 23:15-16).
§613
"The rest" (note 1) refers to the rest in Lev. 23:11, which in turn refers
to the rest commanded on the first day of unleavened bread in Lev. 23:7.
It is necessary to translate the Hebrew word 'shabbat' literally as the
rest because the connection will be missed between it and the first day
of unleavened bread by English ears.
§614
The seven rests are called complete (note 2) because unlike the festival
sabbath upon which cooking work is allowed, these are seventh day rests
upon which no work whatsoever is permitted, hence they are complete rests,
and it is necessary to distinguish them from the festival rest. The
Sabbaths are counted because the law was given on the eighth sabbath day
after counting exactly seven sabbaths from the Exodus.
§615
At the same time as counting the sabbaths, fifty days are counted, and
even when the seventh sabbath is finished, we are to continue up to fifty
days. The words while in the time following in Hebrew (note 3) are .
Most of the time this is translated as the morrow, but that is really not
the basic meaning of the Hebrew, which is why I did not translate it that
way in vs. 11 or 15 either. The word
is simply the feminine gender of
which means time to come, time after, time following, and hence it is not
limited to just one day after, which is another reason the passage
is ambiguous. Recall that the gospel accounts resolve the ambiguity
(see §589.3-589.4).
§615.1
It is easy to be led astray by modern translations on Lev. 23:16, viz.
the morrow of the seventh sabbath, because this can only mean Sunday, and
this sense is argued by some to resolve the ambiguity. However, the
translation the morrow of is more precise than the Hebrew, which merely
means following. The word
is based upon the Hebrew root
which means "after" (Langenscheidt's Pocket Hebrew Dictionary). The
difference between the two words has to be something like the difference
between our "after" and "afterward."
The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon under the
entry for
has has " on
the morrow of (=after) the sabbath, Lv. 2311.15.16" BDB's "after
the sabbath" will do nicely, since we would have "until after the sabbath
counting fifty days," which does not point to the day after the sabbath,
but the period of time after the seventh sabbath.
§616
Modern translators also try to render the word sabbaths (rests) in this
passage as 'weeks,' but Hebrew already has a words for weeks (really it
means sevens), which is used in the parallel passage of Deut. 16:9: shavuot
from which Pentecost gets its name, the feast of weeks (sevens).
The word shavuot indicates to count 49 days (7 x 7) up to the day of Pentecost.
Leviticus does not confuse the issue with the sabbatical year either:
You shall have counted
for yourself seven rests, seven occurances, so that it shall have been
for you days of seven rests of years: nine and forty years. (Lev. 25:8).
§616.1
It should be noted that a literal translation of Deut. 16:9 is:
Seven sevens you
shall count for yourself; from the time that it becomes legal to harvest
the grain you shall count seven sevens.
This is explained in Lev.
23:15-16 to mean seven sabbaths and sevens days seven times plus one for
fifty days. Like sabbatical years, it is very probable that sevens
refers to the sabbaths as well as to the counting of 49 days.
§616.2
It might be interesting to note just how much scripture would need to be
trashed in order to have Pentecost the Sadducees way: If Pentecost
is counted from Sunday after the weekly Sabbath, then first of the sabbaths
in the gospel accounts cannot mean first of the sabbaths. Neither
can the same phrase have that meaning in Acts 20:7 or I Cor. 16:2.
If these cannot mean this then, the resurrection could not have been on
the sabbath, but then if it could not have been on the sabbath, then it
could not have been in three days and three nights, nor could it have been
after three days. Furthermore, Daniel's prophecy would be royally
messed up as well as Astronomy, the Sabbatical year, and with it all of
Biblical Chronology.
§616.3
On the other hand, if the Sign of Jonah is to have any validity at all
the resurrection must be on the Sabbath; as I have pointed out, Messiah
died at the time of the Passover lambs; he rose at the legal end
of the day of firstfruits. He rose on the first of the Sabbaths for
counting to Shavuot. Messiah then establishes the timing of Passover
as the afternoon the the 14th, and the timing of Shavuot as counting from
the day after the Passover. He also establishes the Sabbath day as
the day of rest and redemption. Messiah Yayshua is therefore the
restorer of Torah against all heresy and corruption; he fixes the
Passover, Shavuot, and the Sabbath day. He also establishes
the saying that YHWH desires mercy rather than sacrifice and the knowledge
of Elohim (Hosea 6:6).
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Who Controlled the Temple Calendar?
.
§617
Coulter and others make the claim, 'The Sadducees were in charge of the
temple during the days of Jesus Christ' (pg. 34). This preposterous
assertion is only made by those who are in total ignorance of the religious
politics of the Jews in the first century, or by those who wish to lead
us astray. Joachim Jeremias puts the k'bosh on this theory:
§618
Generally speaking, however the Pharisees' influence on politics and the
administration of justice in Palestine before AD 66 must not be exaggerated66
(footnote 66: with the outbreak of the revolt against Rome they suceeded
in breaking into the administration of justice. The Sadducean penal
code was now abolished and that day celebrated as a national day ...) Their
only real importance during this time was in the realm of religion, and
here they, not the Sadducees, were supreme. The religious life, and
especially the liturgy, was ordered by Pharisaic laws (Ant. 18.15).
The last Jewish king, Agrippa I (AD 41-44) himself lived according to Pharisaic
rules (Ant. 19.331).
The Sadducean high priests,
however unwillingly, had to fulfil the liturgical ceremonies according
to the Pharisaic interpretation of the Torah; for example, the drawing
of lots for the two goats ... and the burning of incense on the Day of
Atonement, ... the libation of water at Tabernacles ... and the rite of
the Red Heifer; this was true even with rites which had no biblical
foundation, such as the libation of water at Tabernacles. The complete
calendar, especially the feast of Pentecost, was fixed according to Pharisaic
reckoning. About 20 BC Hillel had already established that the Paschal
lamb could be slain even on the sabbath day, and so on this point too he
had abolished the Sadducean practice hitherto in use. The following
facts shows how powerless the Sadducees were: they once tried by a trick
to fix the calendar according to their calculation for the feast of Pentecost,
and to do this they sought through false witness to mislead the commission
appointed by the Sanhedrin to deal with the calendar (pg. 264-65,
Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus).
§619
Jeremias goes on another three pages demonstrating the points already stated.
The truth is that the Sadducees were in charge of NOTHING in the Temple
without the oversight and control of the Pharisees! Coulter's bold
assertion is without foundation. And what is the lame excuse
that we get from modern proponents of the Sunday Pentecost, who have not
a shred of historical evidence to bolster their claim? They claim
that the Pharisees rewrote history to suit their religious viewpoint.
So they add assumption to assumption. And do they have any
proof that the Pharisees rewrote history other than what it was?
Not at all. It is truly said that the Jews preserve the
oracles of YHWH, and if YHWH Elohim had not left us a remnant we would
have become like Sodom and Gommorah; It is therefore YHWH himself
who preserves the knowledge of the truth among the Jewish People.
Is any matter too hard for you to judge among yourselves? Go and
ask the priests and the levites. And that is the command of Torah.
.
Paul the Pharisee
.
§620
Paul tells us that he was a Pharisee and that he was blameless according
to the righteousness of the Law (Phil. 3:6). Now why would he say
he was blameless if he didn't observe it correctly? Paul said he
was educated according to the exactness of the law of our fathers (Acts
22:3). Why would he say 1exactness if he did not believe
he had learned the observances rightly? (note 1: akribeia, BAG).
Paul did not hesitate to use his upbringing as a Pharisee in his own defense
(Acts 22:6-9). And why would he follow the Sadducees regarding a
Sunday Pentecost when they showed their spiritual bankruptcy and ineptitute
by denying the resurrection of the dead, which is much more clearly set
forth in the scriptures than the timing of Pentecost?
.
End Notes
.
§620.01
I have revised my translation of the verse after exhaustive research (again)
on the Hebrew word .
The rigor of linguistic analysis often requires me to refine the technicalities
of my translation. In this case the end result is the same,
but the argument much more persuasive. First a few observations.
The English translation of this word 'morrow' or 'tomorrow' is very
misleading, because 'morrow' in English connects us with the English root
'morn' 'morning,' which does not allow the flexibility found
in the Hebrew root
in context. The second consideration is that the fem. noun
derived from the root
must have the same basic linguistic meaning as the root, the masc noun.,
the adv., and construct states in other contexts. My former
translation appeared to stretch this rule on Lev. 23:16 too much.
Furthermore, I had to rely on the assumption that the word was
a defective spelling of .
This is no longer necessary.
§620.02
Our first clue that the root does
not mean 'tomorrow' is found in Gen. 30:33, where the meaning of the phrase is
clearly not 'tomorrow,' but 'later,' or literally, 'on a day afterward.'
Our second clue comes from the use of the root to mean 'in time to come'
(cf. BDB), and Exodus 13:14. Several derivations have
been proposed for the root ,
but the most promising are suggested in Koehler. The one I
favor is the first suggestion: .
That is to say, machar < yom achar.
And the root fits
our unusual contexts (Gen. 30:33; Exod. 13:14; and Lev. 23:16) well because
the root means
'after,' 'following.' Therefore, the meaning is not necessarily 'the
day after,' but 'a day after,' which could be, if the context so requires,
'after' by quite a bit.
§620.03
The use of the Hebrew word 'yom' ()
to to mean 'time,' e.g. 'day of YHWH,' 'in the day he created
them' (Gen. 2:4) is well known. That seems to be the case with ,
which well explains the meaning 'time to come' given in Brown-Driver-Briggs.
Therefore, I translate the phrase in its primary significance as 'time
after,' and the prep. min, 'from time after,' with the proviso that this
means as soon after as the context will allow, so that all our context
where the resultant meaning is 'morrow after,' (without contradiction)
is left unambiguous.
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