Our Savior is a spirit Being,Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 10:4. Paul called Him a. “spiritual Rock.” This attribute has far-reaching implications few may realize. Note exactly what he wrote: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock wasMessiah.”
Other Biblical passages also refer to Him as the “Rock,” such as Psalm 18:2. Thereference in 1Corinthians 10:4, however, is fromExodus 17 where Moses struck the rock in Horeb and water gushed forth. But the Bible also says the rock followed them. Are we to imagine this as a “Rock” tumbling along behind them?
The Jewish commentary on the Old Testament is known as the Midrash. It dates back from the time of Ezra. The Midrash explains that this rock itself followed the Israelites in their wanderings. It says the rock was round and rolled like a swarm of bees. When the tabernacle was pitchedthe rock settled itself in the vestibule, remaining there until the tabernacle was again moved.
Life-giving Water from the Rock
Adam Clarke’s Commentary says that Paul speaks of the rock, but metaphorically he meant the water from the rock, which the Israelites stored up in their skin-bottle containers.
They took their containers with them, and in that sense the rock (the water it produced) came with them. No evidence exists from Scripture that an actual rock followed the wandering Israelites. This calls for another look at 1Corinthians 10:4.
Going to the Greek text, we learn that the objective pronoun “them” is not there. The clause simply reads, “That spiritual Rock which followed,” or a better rendering, “A spiritual following Rock.” (See Companion Bible note.)
Yahshua Is Manifest
Paul mentions four outstanding events occurring to the Israelites.
• They went under a cloud and were protected and guided by a pillar of fire by night and by the cloud in the day.
• They all passed through the sea and by the cloud and sea were metaphorically baptized into Moses.
• They ate the spiritual meat (manna – a miraculous spiritual food which appeared six times a week).
• They drank of the spiritual rock that followed the three other miracles, and had far greater significance for Israel and us.
All of these special events were miracles, and Paul mentions them in the sequence they occurred: The protection of the cloud; crossing the Red Sea; the daily manna. These miraculous acts were all followed by the miraculous water gushing from the Rock. The gushing water came after the three other miracles, showing Yahweh’s care of His people.
Paul clearly identifies the “Rock” as the Messiah. The Apostle John picks up on this theme, showing the New Testament application of this Water of Life that comes from the Savior. Yahshua tells us as well as the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of Elohim, and Who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4: 10).
Source of Living Water
Yahshua went on to explain that He was the source of living water, the special water that would quench our spiritual thirst: “But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4: 14).
Upon the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Yahshua stood and cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given]; because that Yahshua was not yet glorified” (John 7:38-39).
Yahweh’s people in the Old Testament were given physical blessings, representative of spiritual blessings available to His faithful followers.
Our decision to obey or not to obey makes all the difference when it comes to what our Savior means to us: “Unto you therefore which believe [He is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the Head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed” (lPet. 2:7-8).
Yahshua can be a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense for many who will not accept and follow what He taught. Or He can be the solid Cornerstone when we build our spiritual house upon the Rock of Salvation. It is all up to us.
Sargo, the Babylonian, lounges by the Hanging Gardens, daydreaming of the far distant future. What will the 21stcentury be like, he wonders. “What if I could go to those future lands spoken of in the legends, to see how people live 4,000 years from now?” he fantasizes,chomping on a pork chop.
“Will the great god Bel have allowed the people to be powerful? Will Earth Mother Beltis have protected them through the years, and will Ishtar have blessed them with many children to sacrifice? Or will future faiths have forgotten our Babylonian beliefs?”
No, Sargo, you would be pleasantly surprised to know that were you alive today you would not feel all that uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the state of religion in the 21st century. In fact, you may even be moved tell the modern churchgoer, “You worship much like I do.”
Sargo, your Babylonian beliefs have become the standard for nearly all the world’s religions. They are evident the world over in a wide variety of religions and practices.
Hindus practice it, still keeping your sacred cow sacred, and still honoring the Trinity – except they changed the names to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. They haven’t lightened up on your belief in immortality of the soul, either, just gave it their own spin in the wheel of samsara.
Your story of Nimrod and Tammuz taught them well. In fact, the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation is a hot item in parts of Europe and America. It’s called New Age. I know, Sargo, it is not new. I realize they should give credit where credit is due. After all, you Babylonians are the true masters of all things heathen.
The fastest growing religion today is Islam. It was started by a man, just as Nimrod founded your faith, Sargo. Mohammed gleaned many of his beliefs from Judaism and another religion called Christianity. You’ll find essentials of your revered Babylonian mysteries in these religions as well.
Your notion of a gloomy, dark world where evil people go at death and burn forever still is very much alive. Here again lives that immortal soul idea you are so famous for. Your faith in many deities has an outlet in some faiths today with their veneration of saints.
Sargo Would Be Very Comfortable
What day is it? you ask. This is Monday, Sargo. You get it? Mon-day/Moon Day, the day your forefathers set aside for moon worship. It still comes right after Sunday, the day your ancients worshiped the sun-god Shamas.
All the other days of the week still reflect heathen worship, like Tuesday, the day the deity Tiu was honored. And Wednesday, named after Woden, a Celtic deity who came later in Europe. Then there’s Thor’s day (Thursday), Frigg’s day (Friday), and of course, Saturn’s day (Saturday).
No, Sargo, most people today don’t worship the planets as you Babylonians did, but they do read horoscopes where they seek their futures from the stars – in the same manner your fathers did.
Fortune-telling by the stars is so popular today that even a former First Lady consulted an astrologer before advising her husband.
I believe in the Bible. The Bible condemns prophesying through the stars.
And the Bible doesn’t name the days of the week either, it only numbers them, except for the seventh, which is called the Sabbath.
What’s the Bible, you ask? It’s the Book inspired by the true Almighty Yahweh and on which Christianity is claimed to be based. Christianity is a major religion that has spread around the world. Its worshipers claim to worship the true Heavenly Father.
You may be surprised that they call Him God. Yes, that’s right. It’s not a name. And I agree that it is rather odd that Christianity seems to be the only major religion in all of history that doesn’t honor the One it worships by name.
Pardon me? …Oh of course, their Mighty One does indeed want to be called by His Name, just as you do yours. He said over and over in His inspired Word that His Name is Yahweh, and even sealed it in the Third Commandment. But THEY don’t think it is important.They say, “He knows who I mean.”
I agree, it IS very strange – and very confusing. But there are many aspects about this faith that you would find familiar, Sargo.
For instance, if you could see its temples, called churches, you would recognize the tall spires most of them have … Yes, you’re right. They are a carryover of the Asherah you had in Babylon. This is what a scholar says about the asherah:
“Originally a tree, symbolical of the ‘tree of life,’ it was an object of reverence and veneration. Then came the perversion of the earlier idea which simply honoured the origin of life; and it was corrupted and debased into the [male] organ of procreation, which was symbolized by the form and shape given to the Asherah. It was the phallus image of Isaiah 57:8, and the image of the male, Ezekiel 16: 17.” (Companion Bible, Appendix 42)
Babylonian Days Prosper
This religion worships on the venerable day of the sun, just as you and your forefathers did, Sargo, when you worshiped sun deities. Strangely, their own Bibles command that they worship on the seventh day, not the first day of the week (Ex. 20:10). But because they wanted to break clean from another faith known as Judaism, they decided on their own to change their day of worship.
They chose Sunday because that is the day their converts from pagan Babylonian religions were accustomed to keeping holy. A king even enforced it. His name was Constantine. And they have been observing Sunday ever since.
But there is much more.
They observe a holiday each year in honor of your goddess Ishtar. It still sounds similar: Easter. Many of them even are aware that Ishtar was the Babylonian queen deity of love and fertility, yet they still paint and hide eggs, symbols of life and reproduction, and flood this observance with rabbits, also symbols of fertility.
They claim they observe it because the Savior was resurrected on Sunday morning, although Scripture says He was already gone by the time Sunday sunrise rolled around. Anyway, they still honor where this observance really comes from – with your now symbolic rabbits and eggs.
You Babylonians certainly were big on worship of sex. But is that something to be proud of, Sargo? The big paradox is that the Bible condemns mixing these rites with True Worship. “Learn not the way of the heathen,” Jeremiah 10:2 reads, but they continue practicing your pagan traditions of worship anyway. They cite something about doing it for the children’s sake.
In Ezekiel, the One they seek to worship says He will have no mercy on those who practice sunrise worship rites:
“And He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east: and they worshiped the sun toward the east… and they put the branch [asherah] to their nose… Therefore shall I deal in fury…” (8:16- 18)
Modern Holly Folly
Amazing, isn’t it, how all these rites of your influential heathen faith are so entrenched in today’s worship? But I’ve barely scratched the surface, Sargo. Where your religion really shines today is in the annual extravaganza called Christmas.
The biggest promoters are the merchants, who have kept this observance alive and growing in order to reach their annual sales quota. They claim to make half of their annual sales in the last two months of the year before Christmas, when gifts are exchanged and people go into debt for the next year. So they start Christmas advertising in September.
The Bible prophesies that the merchants of the earth will “have waxed rich through the abundance of her [Babylon’s] delicacies,”Revelation 18:3. Amazingly accurate, isn’t it? Never so accurate as in this the biggest shopping extravaganza the world has ever seen.
You’ll be more amazed at how Christmas rites are so very like those in ancient Babylon.
Some practices may have changed cosmetically through the years as they left Babylon and diffused through the Mithraic cults and into northern Europe, but the essence still shines through.
For instance, you know about the myth of Nimrod, symbolized by a tree, and how he became deified and was “reincarnated” after being cut down. Well, the fable is still celebrated in December with a yule log. At Xmas the burning log represents the glowing sun god Mithras returning to the skies after the winter solstice.
In Egyptian worship Nimrod reappeared as the palm tree. In Rome and northern Europe he was the fir or evergreen that is always green and seemingly immortal.
One source put it this way, “Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod redivivus – the slain god cometo life again,” The Two Babylons, p. 98. It continues, “This entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas-eve, and the appearance of the Christmas-tree the next morning,” p. 97.
You pagans were always quite concerned when your source of life, the sun, appeared less and less each day at the end of the year. At the winter solstice, about December 25, you celebrated the return of the unconquered sun as it made its cyclical appearance once more and promised springtime renewal of life from the dead of winter.
In honor of the solar deity, even though they may not realize it, people at Christmas today decorate their evergreen trees with bulbs and balls symbolic of the returning sun, as well as to honor the renewal of life. Then they stand back and virtually worship this tree idol, placing gift offerings beneath it.
Yes, Sargo, without hesitation you could say that Christmas is indeed a gift from you sun-worshiping Babylonians. Some people today still claim December 25 is the day the Savior was born,but many know better.
In her book, All About American Holidays, Maymie R. Krythe writes, “The exact date of [the Messiah’s] birth is not known; and during the first two or three centuries little note, apparently,was taken of the anniversary. For church officials opposed such celebrations as savoring of paganism,” p. 254.
Early American colonists detested the Christmas observance, realizing its true origins. Associated Press writer Peter Coy writes, “Celebrating Christmas in Massachusetts three centuries ago was risky: Anyone who took the day off from work could be fined 5 shillings. When George Washington crossed the Delaware River the night of Dec. 25, 1776, he could count on catching the Hessian soldiers drunk and sound asleep after a day of carousing. But, for Washington’s men, Christmas was just another day. And it wasn’t until 1836 that the first state – Alabama – declared Christmas a holiday.”
Christmas is also rooted in the Roman Saturnalia, a sister heathen festival in honor of Saturn, deity of agriculture. According to Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Reference Encyclopedia, “The customs of the Saturnalia were later, in Christian times, blended with those on January 1, the celebration of the New Year, when it was also the practice to give presents, and much of the traditional merrymaking of the Christmas season seems to have developed from the earlier pagan festival,” Saturnalia, p. 7825.
Passing on the Mysteries?
You see, Sargo, other cultures also borrowed from your mysteries, and ours borrowed from and built on theirs as well as yours. The Roman counterpart to your Tammuz was Mithras, the sun deity. He supposedly hatched from an egg on December 25.
Because Mithraism was one of the last of your mystery cults to reach the West, it became a rival of Christianity, with which it was contemporary. Many of the practices of Mithraism were picked up by Christian worshipers.
The book, The Golden Bough, says about the blending of Mithraic rites with Christmas nativity customs, “In the Julian Calendar the twenty-fifth of December was reckoned the winter solstice, and it was regarded as the Nativity of the sun, because the day begins tolengthen and the power of the sun to increase that turning point of the year. Now Mithras was regularly identified by his worshipers with the Sun, the Unconquered Sun, as they called him; hence his nativity also fell on the twenty-fifth of December,” p. 416.
What is the harm in observing holidays your forefathers began? you ask. Well, Sargo, your pagan background allows for the worship of numerous “gods.” Naturally, these “gods” don’t mind sharing your worship because they don’t exist.
But Almighty Yahweh does exist, and because of Him you exist. He says that if you seek salvation – to live forever in His Kingdom – then you must obey and worship only Him.
Here are His exact words: “I am Yahweh: that is My Name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images,” Isaiah 42:8. He also said through the Apostle Paul, “Take heed unto yourself, and unto the doctrine: continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you,” 1Timothy 4:16.
We can’t compromise True Worship, Sargo. The Roman Empire tolerated many different religions because they did not understand truth, and what they were really after anyway was political unity. So they forfeited truth whenever expedient to appease their subjects. And compromise is what began the fall of man in Eden.
You see, being a follower of the one true Mighty One Yahweh means enjoying a close, father-child union with Him. He actually lives in us by His Holy Spirit power. He says, “You are the Temple of the living Elohim; as Elohim has said, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.’ Wherefore, ‘come out from among them, and be separate,’ says Yahweh, ‘and touch not the unclean thing,’ “ 2Corinthians 6:16-18.
If I worship other deities in the popular customs, even though maintaining that I’m really worshiping the true Creator Yahweh, then I can no longer be a son of Yahweh. He makes that clear. It’s like giving up my family and all it stands for and going to live at the neighbor’s house.
What would you think if your child did that to you, Sargo? It is the same with the Father Yahweh, the only true Mighty One of the universe. When we accept false worship and we compromise the truth, it is the same as leaving our Father.
The typical theologian’s dodge to a difficult question is, “That certainly is a mystery!” This is a buffered reply intended to protect one from further embarrassing questions. This response is simpler than a clumsy attempt to justify a doctrine not based upon Bible teachings. We find this answer in response to a query to explain the concept of the trinity out of Scripture, for instance.
The Apostle Paul, however, was given deeper understanding of spiritual truth and from time to time revealed this wisdom through what he called “mysteries.” Biblical mysteries are part of a grand program that Yahweh is working out with those He has chosen, but remain hidden to the majority. In general, churchianity does not fully comprehend Yahweh’s plan.
According to Paul, Yahweh has a special program destined for Israel, which He promised to Abram when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. The Bible contains Yahweh’s grand design for redeeming mankind through Israel, which He is working out even today. You and I have been called to have a part in this program.
Gentiles Put Into Prior Covenant
Most Bible believers have a distorted view of Yahweh’s plan. They think the “church” is now the focus of Yahshua‘s atoning work after Israel failed in fulfilling its mission in the Old Testament.
Popular teaching erroneously says that the New Testament reveals that Israel has been set aside. Favor has now been extended to the “church,” the “ekklesia,” the called-out ones who believe in the Savior. All the promises made to Israel are now transferred to the “church.”
They teach that the “church,” which is composed of those who have “accepted the Messiah as Savior,” has now replaced the Jews and all Israel as the favored people. The truth is, Yahweh is still working with Israel and the only way one can have any part in His plan for the faithful is to become a part of Israel. It is through Yahshua that the uniting of Jew and Gentile into one Body is to take place. That is the thrust of the New Testament, the “New Covenant.”
Not only is Yahweh calling out a people now to replace the rebellious of Israel, but He will also bring a spirit of repentance to Israel, who at the end of the age will accept Yahshua as the promised Messiah.
Yahweh’s calling requires a softening of the heart and turning to Him by both Jew and Israelite. At the same time He is also calling out a dedicated people from the Gentiles for His Name.
Musterion Means Mystery
The Apostle Paul wrote much about the Bible’s hidden knowledge, revealing deeper truths by what he refers to as “mysteries.” Calledmusterionin Greek, a mystery refers to a secret or knowledge that is impossible for humans to penetrate. Each of Paul’s mysteries is closely related to the coming Kingdom and Yahshua’s return. Man can only know as Elohim has chosen to make it known. Man could never have discovered this had Yahweh not revealed it.
Nominal understanding in general is a smooth message of love and grace or health and wealth. Discipline, faithfulness, obedience to Yahweh’s laws, and “working out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) are cast taboo. Smooth, bland, soft messages that ignore Bible truth are in vogue today.
An emphasis on dedication, discipline, and high moral integrity as described in Yahweh‘s Word is not popular anymore. The Bibleitself is continually being replaced in sermons with cute little human interest stories designed to tickle the ears. Paul’s prophecy about this has come to pass in the last 40 years: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears,” 2Timothy 4:3.
Instead of teaching the Bible as a way of life, that the Ten Commandments are to mold us and our character, the vast majority ofchurches contend that keeping Yahweh’s law puts one under bondage. They say they are free from the law.
Churchianity has far removed itself from the Savior’s lessons of disciplined obedience to Yahweh‘s way of life. The Savior was born a Jew and obeyed Yahweh‘s laws all His life even so far as observing Passover with His disciples on the very day died. He never gavelicense to anyone to ignore or flout any of the Ten Commandments. He plainly said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17).
Nowhere does the Apostle Paul teach that the mysteries or the Savior did away with Yahweh’s law or His commandments, nor did Paul himself teach such. In fact he plainly said that the sacred treasures given to Israel included the law: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertain the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of Yahweh, and the promises”(Rom.9:4).
The only way we can obtain the adoption, the promised glory or the promises is to become a spiritual Israelite.
Paul’s Mystery
Paul’s first mention of a mystery is found in Romans 11:25: “For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant 0/ this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Paul reveals that blindness fell upon those Israelites who refused to see Yahweh’s plan in Yahshua (Rom. 11:7-8). They rejected the Messiah and continue in slumber even to this day. However, the elect (those who are called out) have obtained the blessing by becoming spiritual Israelites.
Even now, Yahweh is grafting Gentiles who are not physical Israelites into the Abrahamic olive tree. Paul says not all Israel are fleshly Israelites: “... they [are] not all Israel, which are 0/ Israel… That is, they which are the children 0/ the flesh, these[are] not the children of Yahweh: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Rom. 9: 6, 8).
The true Israelite today is one who obeys Yahweh’ s laws from the heart. To Paul it was revealed that the Gentiles would be given the same opportunities through Yahshua: “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Messiah by the evangel”(Eph.3:5-6).
Because of their miracles and wonders among the Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas joined those going to Jerusalem to ask about what to do with Gentile converts. Peter explained that Yahweh had already shown that He put no difference between Jew and Gentile, having given both of them the Holy Spirit, Acts 15:7-9. James agreed, stating that Yahweh choose from the Gentiles a people for His Name, Acts 15:14–17 (quotingAmos9:11-12), emphasizing, “That the residue of men might seek after Yahweh, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my Name is called, says Yahweh Who does all these things” (Acts 15:17).
Calling Spiritual Israel
Clearly, Yahweh wants a people for His Name; a people who would honor His Name, be called by His Name, be obedient to Him and be known as His people. He had hoped that would be ancient Israel, but they failed in this calling.
Yahweh has no plans to jettison His promises made to Abraham, which He began to fulfill in earnest when He redeemed Israel with a stretched-out arm. In no way is He planning to abandon or reject them, turning His attention solely to the Gentile church.
He continues to replace rebellious Israelites with pious, commandment keeping Gentiles. Just as He replaced the rebellious Israelites redeemed from Egypt with the new generation 40 years later, He is today grafting Gentiles into the Israelite promise. He is bringing Jew (Israelite) and Gentile together in one fold. He is uniting them into one body, called “the Body of Messiah, “the Ekklesia.”
In Acts .1:6 His disciples asked Yahshua whether He would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel. His reply: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own power.”
Those who are called out now to be followers of the Savior will replace the stiff-necked Israelites who reject Yahweh’s Messiah. A spiritual Israelite is one that becomes a member of the Body of Messiah through baptism into His saving Name, and is then placed in the ranks of Israel.
We are to become spiritual Israelites, to learn of Yahweh‘s ways and become teachers of His laws and commandments the same way physical Israel did. The Apostle Peter refers to us as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar [treasured, consecrated, acquired, purchased] people, to show forth His praises,1Peter 2:5; 9. We are also called “kings and priests who will reign on earth,” Revelation 5:10.
Spiritual Marriage Anciently
Yahweh said He was married to Israel and pleaded with them to return to His way of living and admit they had transgressed: “Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your Elohim, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Yahweh. Turn, O backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”(Jer. 3:13-14)
Verse 15, which follows, pictures the restoration when new and faithful rulers will teach and guide a reunited Israel and Judah. Jerusalem will be the center of Yahweh’s rule, where all nations will come to learn obedience and follow His ways, Isaiah 2:3. “And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.”
We learn in the New Testament that the followers of Yahshua will also become His bride when He returns. The saints (those who are being called) will have been obediently prepared for His coming and are referred to as the bride:
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints”(Rev. 19:7-8).
Yahshua was the Yahweh of the Old Testament (l Cor. 10:4), and He was put to death at Calvary. He was betrothed to fleshly Israel, but they were the very ones who put Him to death, so His betrothal to them is no longer binding: “But we speak the wisdom of elohim in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which Elohim ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [it}, they would not have impaled the Sovereign of glory,”1Corinthians 2:7-8.
Yahweh brought Yahshua back from the dead, and now He is free to marry whomsoever He will. He can legally marry Jew or Gentile, bond or free. He will marry His bride consisting of those who are given glorified bodies in the first resurrection. This will include the ancient worthies and the grafted-in spiritual Israelites.
A spirit of reconciliation will pervade many humble hearts and turn many Israelites to accept the Savior as the promised Messiah,and many Gentiles will accept the role of an Israelite. It is then that the union of Jew and Gentile will be complete inYahshua theMessiah.
The following passage has been misunderstood by many and cited as doing away with the Ten Commandments. These verses are given us to show that through His death Yahshua has united both Israelite (Jew) and Gentile, making them one body.
Remember, this was written to the Gentile congregation at Ephesus. They were not of Israel, not Jews. They were not yet brought into fellowship with Israel. The passage is Ephesians 2:10-16: “For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yahshua unto good works, which Yahweh has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
We are being taught Yahweh’s law, which was given Israel in the Old Testament, that we should walk in obedience (unto good works) obeying the Commandments just as Yahshua did. “Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands.”
Are ignorant, just as the Ephesians were Gentiles in the flesh, and unaware that we are to obey Yahweh’s laws now and learn of His ways so that we could teach them to others both here and in the Kingdom. “That at that time you were without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without Yahweh in the world.”
When Yahweh called us to become His sons and daughters, we were aliens from Israel. Now we seek to learn of His ways and walk in His, which were given anciently to Israel and will again be taught in the Kingdom. As spiritual Israelites, we teach and help others along the way.
“But now in Messiah Yahshua you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Messiah.” By accepting the sacrifice of Yahshua, we are accounted worthy of His love, and we can now draw near and approach Yahweh at the throne of grace. For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
When Israelites accept Yahshua as the Messiah, and Gentiles accept the Torah (Law), then we will both be one. The middle wall of partition is thought to be the waist-high wall in the court which divided the Jew and Gentile in Temple times. Now we are one, for we are united in Yahshua. “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.”
The Knowing Guide the Unknowing
There is no longer any animosity over the special handwritten ordinances that were given especially for the pagan Gentiles to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:20)
And that he might reconcile both unto Yahweh in one body by the tree, having slain the enmity thereby.
By His death, the Savior paid the penalty for both the sins of Jew and Gentile, and both are now united in one body. No hatred or enmity exists because we are all known as the Israel of Yahweh.
Paul emphasizes in Galatians that we as the called-out Gentiles are considered spiritual Israelites. Yahweh has given us a new heart, a new attitude, a broken and contrite spirit which is needed to develop into obedient new creatures as Yahweh’s Israel:
“And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of Yahweh”(Gal.6:16). Yahweh will yet gather all His people together at the end of the age through Yahshua’s working with Israel: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Messiah, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth [even] in him”(Eph.l:10).
Through Yahshua the world will be reconciled to Yahweh. Yahshua will put down all rebellion and bring this earth to perfection, where everything will be under Yahweh’s perfect control. We are being called now to learn of Yahweh’s ways, and walk in His paths.
Perhaps it is the better understanding given to us through the New Testament writers that strengthens our faith and clarifies some of the obscure sayings of the Old Testament. The writer of Hebrews says this knowledge gives us the opportunity to help perfect others.
“[Elohim] had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect,”Hebrews 11:40 (NIV).
Our minds collapse when we attempt to fathom the depth of the promises given us in the Bible. Even what we understand fills us with awe. Yet there is much more we do not yet comprehend, for Paul writes:
“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the hear of man, the things which Elohim has prepared for them that love him. But EIohim has revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of Elohim”(l Cor.2:9-10).
The New Testament clearly teaches that Yahweh is calling out a people now to replace the rebellious Israelites. They failed to be the model nation that would receive all the blessings of Yahweh and be a wonder to the world. We can be grafted into the olive tree and become a kingdom of priests in the Kingdom. We will join other Israelites when Yahshua returns to help teach others Yahweh’s laws.
We are right now attending the school of life to test us to see whether we will seek Yahweh’s favor, call upon His Name, and be obedient to His word. Then all the world will know and understand the “mysteries” that are revealed to us now.
Others from ages past will join us as we which have followed Yahshua, in the regeneration when the Son 0f man shall sit in the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28).
Our desire is that this truth will move you to make a commitment right now to join the growing number of spiritual Israelites!
Watch: “Secrets Unveiled” from Discover the Truth TV below.
The “church” has left the foundation of exclusive worship of the Father and is morphing into an environment where, utterly illogical and unthinkable, the worshiper esteems and exalts self above the One worshiped. Ancient apostasies are returning full circle as age-old Gnostic teachings are dramatically changing the religious landscape. They called it New Age, but there was nothing new about it. It was as old as Babylon and even older. This heresy that says we humans are really “gods” reaches all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when Ha Satan enticed Eve that she could be “divine” if she followed his instructions to defy Yahweh.
Popularized by the ‘80s New Age Movement, the dogma of self-glorification moved into mainstream culture and now into the Main Street church. Ancient mystery worship is back. One of its daughters, Gnosticism, began to permeate the New Testament movement early on and to pollute true teachings nearly from the start. So insidious were its diabolical dogmas that they were to dramatically influence the next 2,000 years of church doctrine and worship, opening the door to the grand-scale sacrilege we see today. It is time we learned where today’s trendy doctrines really came from and how you can come out from under the spell of an age-old scourge that Paul calls “damnable heresies” and their “pernicious ways that many would follow.”
Apostles Were Concerned
As he traveled from town to town teaching the truths he learned from the Savior, the Apostle Paul was a witness to many successes. At the same time he began to be increasingly concerned with what he was hearing from various quarters.
Concern led to alarm as Paul launched a campaign to warn the various Assemblies about the insidious heresy. So did Peter. Each was aware of apostates out to get their own followers at the expense of truth taught in the newly established Assembly. Just as the New Testament Body was beginning to get its feet on the ground, wolves were circling. The Apostles’ early fears proved abundantly justified.
Little is known about what exactly happened in the first two centuries following the death of the Apostles. One thing is sure, however. What occurred was far-reaching and would change the face of New Testament worship worldwide for the next two millennia down to our day. The die was cast, and its imprint was a familiar one. Many heretical teachings have become major tenets today, and none supported in Scripture. We also know that Gnosticism was at its most influential while the early Assembly was in its infancy. One researcher describes it this way:
“As the apostolic age comes to a close, the [Assembly] seems to pass through a dark tunnel. When it comes out at the other side, the original bond of unity, the clear standards, and the love of [Yahweh] seem to have been replaced by an unsettling, institutionalized spirit of domination and by beliefs which are more Gnostic than Christian. What happened? We are now confronted with the possibility that the original identity and true definition of Christianity have become lost,” from The Apostasy of the Lost Century, p. 9.
Why were the Apostles so concerned? What was it that posed such a deadly threat to the truth? It was nothing less than age-old Babylonian mystery religion beginning to take root through heretical and influential teachers. These apostates were mixing the teachings of Eastern mysteries and Greek paganism with the Bible. The Apostles had already confronted one of them, whom the Scriptures identify as Simon (Magus). “Magus” because he was a member of the Median tribe of Magi or Persian mystics who interpreted celestial phenomena and used wizards’ spells, according to the writer Herodotus. We read of Simon Magus when he attempted to buy the Holy Spirit from Peter and John in Acts chapter 8.
Another heretic was Marcion, a man who worked hard to completely separate the Messianic Faith from its Old Testament roots. He regarded the Old Testament as a catalog of crimes against humanity by an evil, sinister Mighty One.
Truth Nearly Smothered
These men were leaders in this farreaching movement of Gnostic teachings. This was primitive idolatry that centered on worship of self, not on Yahweh. In fact, Yahweh was seen by Gnostics as an evil sub-deity who made a serious mistake in creating the physical world. He imprisoned human beings in physical bodies even though they are innately “divine.” You can sense the rudiments of the immortal soul doctrine in the making.
The Gnostic believed humans possessed a spark of divine nature just waiting to be released at death to reunite with the true deity. The problem the Gnostic saw is that man doesn’t know that he is at the center of this great plot by a sinister creator, and is imprisoned by the created world. All that is physical is evil and useless. The way to salvation is knowledge, the Gnostic says. Enlightened knowledge is what Satan tempted Eve with: “For Elohim knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” Genesis 3:5.
This heresy, according to some historians, became a formidable contender with the early Faith and nearly smothered it. So powerful were its dogmas, so far-reaching was Gnostic teaching that its tenets were to impact church teachings irreconcilably and saturate popular worship all the way down to today.
More than one source has noted that Gnosticism made a deep impact on Christianity: “Scholars have debated whether (1) Gnosticism was a widespread scheme that flourished before the birth of [Messiah) and influenced Christianity from the outset, or (2) whether it was a movement that developed concurrently with Christianity and came to affect it significantly only in the second a subsequent centuries, or (3) it was a basic alteration of Christianity that arose after the disappointment of the earliest Christians’ expectation of the end of the age,” Dictionary of Bible and Religion, “Gnosticism,” p. 396.
Regardless as to the exact time of its inception, Gnosticism was to work its evil on the early faith. As one scholar writes, “The great menace, in fact of Gnosticism, was its refusal to remain outside of Christianity. It fastened itself as a parasite upon the Christian faith,drawing substance from it and at the same time robbing it of its individual character and vitality,” Deceptions and Myths of the Bible by Lloyd M. Graham, p.284.
That “individual character” being robbed was the early Assembly’s Israelite faith and the fact that the New Testament Assembly shared the same bond with Yahweh that Israel did — including the same commanded obedience to His statutes. With Gnostic influence, that relationship would forever change, and the “church” would early on-adhere to unscriptural beliefs and practices that would dominate and alter its personality and character. Only a small remnant would continue teaching the truth of the Bible.
Back to Babylon
With today’s decline in Bible-centered religion and worship, the sinister teachings of ancient Gnostic forefathers and other Babylonian mysteries have begun to grow and infiltrate in ever newer and bolder ways. How could such an obviously pagan movement be coming back? For NeoGnosticism to flourish today, traditional standards and values must first be dismantled. This is being done socially, politically, in the classroom, and now in churches. For this new Gnosticism to be successful, the past and its values must be completely erased.Secular history is being rewritten to take out references to the Bible and Biblical mores. The breakdown in the family and educational misdirection will ensure that traditional values will not be passed on to the next generation.
Socially, behavior that was once driven by Biblical undertones supported by a deep reverence in and fear of the power of the Almighty has been replaced by a man-made “politically correct” worldview. Whereas Biblical religion teaches that Yahweh alone constructs the reality of right and wrong, good and evil, NeoGnosticism sees the culture itself as divine. Gnostic philosophy says every problem must have a societal solution. The new behavioral standard of correctness is now fluid, changing with the times, rather than unchangeable since creation.
To grasp the significance of what is happening to the “church” as well as to society, we must first come to know more about the Gnostic religion, how it rose to prominence in the first centuries of the New Testament era, and how it still lives in doctrines and teachings of most denominations.
Gnosticism: A Quick Course
The Greek word Gnostic derives from a verb meaning “to know” It combines aspects of Greek philosophy, Oriental mysticism, and Christianity. It stresses salvation through gnosis or knowledge.
This teaching says “history is a progress from materialism and paganism, by way of religion and ethics, to spiritual freedom and gnosis ….The spirit in man is united with the soul so that it may be formed and educated in practical life, for it needs psychic and sense training,”Encyclopedia of World Religions, p. 146.
How did such a hybrid religious system arise? According to the book, Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, by Joscelyn Godwin, it was a combined effort. “In both Palestine and Egypt at the end of the Hellenistic age, unorthodox Jews mingled with Greek philosophers and Persian dualists; and somewhere in that confused but thrilling encounter Gnosticism was born, the religion of Gnosis — knowledge of the true nature of things” (p. 84).
“True nature”? Here is what this source describes as a major tenet of Gnosticism: “The world is a stupendous mistake, created by a foolish or vicious creator-god. This creator or Demiurge (Yahweh) is a god of very low grade on the celestial hierarchy, himself the result of a grave error, who thinks he is supreme. His pride and incompetence have resulted in the sorry state of the world as we know it, and the blind and ignorant condition of most of mankind. The Gnostic, however, is not fooled. Although like every man he suffers under the tyranny of this monster, he knows that far above the Demiurge there is another God. He believes, moreover, that humanity is not totally without hope of reaching this true God whom the Demiurge does his best to hide, both from himself and from his subjects,” Ibid.(Demiurge is Greek meaning “craftsman, maker, creator.”)
To understand modern doctrines we need to realize that Gnosis-centered teachings also reject the law of the Old Testament, the holy days and weekly Sabbath, as well as many other commands Yahweh gave to His chosen people Israel.
It is the hidden force behind the immortal soul doctrine, universal salvation teachings, the once-saved-always-saved tenet, the belief in a reward in heaven, and many practices engaged in but not supported by the Scriptures (like the custom of pouring rather than immersion for baptism). It even explains the pervasive belief that Yahshua the Messiah came to do away with His Father’s “harsh,” Old Testament laws.
Clearer View of Worship Today
As one digs deeper into the tenets of this mystic religion, one begins to see the pieces of a diabolical puzzle begin to come together. When the pieces are placed side by side a clearer picture of modern worship emerges from the darkness of mysticism. The simple fact is, Gnosticism and Christianity grew up together and would strongly influenced each other.
Notice this statement: “Gnosticism emerged in schools of thought within the church in the early second century and soon established itself as a way of understanding Christianity in all of the church’s principal centers … Gnosticism was thus a major threat to the early church,” Holman Bible Dictionary, p. 558.
Another source shows just how powerful this movement was in turning people from the Scriptures: “Its rapid growth in the ancient world was encouraged by an early Christian fascination with Greek philosophy and mythology … early Christians were led into Gnosticism when they rejected the Old Testament and their Jewish roots, and turned to Platonic Dualism,” Mercer Dictionary of the Bible,p. 334.
One of the Gnostic sects had a particularly profound impact on early Christianity. Its founder was the Persian Mani. “He established a highly syncretistic form of Gnosticism called Manichaeism, which became widespread and which even included Augustine among its converts,” The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 417. This heresy combined Zoroastrian, Gnostic Christian, and pagan elements.
With one of the “church fathers” even involved, it is no wonder that many Christian teachings would be forever influenced by the heresies of this paganistic movement.
Doctrinal Ties to False Worship
There are really only two religions in the world: the religion of “He” (Yahweh) and the religion of “Me” (paganism). All false religion has as its core the worship and advancement of self through human philosophy. Anything that replaces the worship of Yahweh is idolatry. Any religion based on the worship of another mighty one either springs from a rebellious heart that refuses to acknowledge Yahweh as supreme, or is simply practiced out of ignorance. Either way, True Worship is displaced while glory is given to idols — even the idolatry of self-worship. The Prophet Samuel told King Saul, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1Sam 15:23).
Let’s look at some modern doctrines and see how they equate with what was being taught in Gnostic circles even while Peter, Paul, James, and John were teaching the truths of Yahshua and the Scriptures.
First, here are some revealing statements about some of today’s New Age notions, as well as church beliefs and practices that, astonishingly, are tied to Gnostic teachings. “From the Coptic Gnostic papyri (and their Greek originals) it is evident that the Christian Gnostic systems developed for some centuries alongside the orthodox forerunner of the main Christian church. and were distinguished by such matters as giving priority to immediate experience rather than ecclesiastical structure, teaching that ignorance rather than sin is the cause of suffering, recognizing a feminine as well as a masculine element in the divine, explaining the resurrection of [Messiah] as spiritual rather than bodily, and pointing to self-knowledge as knowledge of [Yahweh],” Myth and Mysteryby Jack Finegan, p. 258.
This writer explains that while Biblical worship stresses a single, correct faith that is ever one and the same, the Gnostics believed that the Holy Spirit continued to teach new things in an evolution of beliefs.As a result, the apostate church “came to alternative thoughts and practices that were plainly meaningful to many, and that have continued to be of influence in various forms of religious tradition, including the esoteric,” ibid.
The belief among some that the “church” has the authority to set doctrine over the Bible is in line with this same Gnostic belief of an ever-growing and expanding belief system. This belief is at odds with Psalm 119:89: “For ever, O Yahweh, thy word is settled in heaven.” In other words, no new is revealed over what has already been revealed in Scripture.
Teachings that were once Bible based began to take on Gnostic flavor, as one authority notes: “The early Christian preachers and writers, seeking to speak and write to be understood, used terms current in the first century world in the vague context of gnostic religious longings and gave them new meaning in the context of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of [Yahshua],” Holman, p. 559. This same source also reveals, “The classic answer to the question of why gnosticism arose is that it represents the ‘radical Hellenizing of Christianity.’ In this view, gnosticism’ resulted from the attempt of early Christian thinkers to make Christianity understandable, acceptable, and respectable in a world almost totally permeated by Greek assumptions about the reality of the World,” p. 559.
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, says that the “church” did not go into wholesale corruption until after the martyrdom of James the Just (61-62 C.E.), “when Symeon the cousin of [Yahshua] was chosen bishop of Jerusalem, and a certain Thebouthis, who was not chosen,began the corruption ‘by the seven heresies, to which he belonged, ‘” A Source Book for Ancient Church History, Joseph C. Ayer, p. 109.
Old Heresies Strong Today
These seven heresies or movements in Gnosticism were initiated by Gnostic teachers, two of whom were Simon Magus and Marcion. They and other teachers were so effective and influential that many of their heresies are still alive and well in the basic beliefs and majordoctrines of most denominations today. Let’s look at some.
Universal salvation
The Gnostic Carpocratians taught that each person must pass from body to body until one has experienced every kind of action in the world. Then the soul is liberated to soar upward to the god who is above the maker(s) of the world (meaning the lesser mighty one,Yahweh). In this way all souls are saved. This belief arises from Oriental teachings of reincarnation. It traces to the world’s first lie, when Satan told Eve, “You won’t die if you disobey Yahweh.”
Elements of this universal salvation teaching of Gnosticism are still evident in the common belief that the dead live on in heaven when they “die.” Furthermore, if all are saved eventually anyway, where is the need to honor Yahweh through obedience? The logical conclusion leads inevitably to the Gnostic-rooted teaching of grace over obedience, along with the “faith alone” teaching, neither of which the Bible supports or teaches.
Law versus grace
It was the Old Testament Mighty One of harsh law and retributive justice (Yahweh) who made the world, Marcion taught. Through it He maintains unjust control. It is the higher New Testament god of love and grace, from whom Yahshua came, who is above Yahweh and unknown who will ultimately triumph over the lesser Old Testament deity. Marcion made much of the contrast between the law and the Evangels, that is, the first as coming from a wicked mighty one while the latter from a loving Father. These Gnostic notions were to profoundly affect church doctrine.As one source notes, “Christian theology also had taken seriously the concepts of love and mercy, rather than stressing law and ecclesiastical authority,” Mercer, p. 548
The law is against us
This idea is implicit in most church teachings today with their misinterpretation of grace and love. That the law is somehow bad is not found in any Scripture, however, and therefore had another origin. In fact, the Scriptures say just the opposite, that the law is good and good for us, Romans 7: 12; Psalm 19:7; lJohn 5:3; John 14:21. The Gnostic Ptolemaeus wrote that the law was imperfect, unjust, and had to be abrogated by Yahshua. The law came from an imperfect Demiurge (Yahweh), an inferior mighty one.
No-law beliefs were popular among Gnostics. “They claimed that the spiritual Christians were not responsible for what they did and could not really sin. Thus they could act in any way they pleased without fear of discipline,” Holman, p. 558. In the mind of the Gnostic, it wasn’t the human being who brought on his own problems, but Yahweh who was responsible.
“The Gnostic Marcion thus rejected the Old Testament, pointing out that the lesser or subordinate god revealed in it dealt with matter, insisted on law rather than grace, and was responsible for our decaying, tragedy-filled world,” Ibid. The reason Marcion rejected Yahweh “was not for His role as Creator, but for having given the Law,” Mercer, p. 548.
Gnosticism lies at the core of the modern belief that if man obeys Yahweh he is being “legalistic,” which is the same diabolic lie Satan used on Eve when he told her that she need not obeyYahweh’s warning against eating of the fruit of the tree. “He’s only trying to keep you from being as great as He is, Eve.” The Gnostics fell under the same spell, only they thought they could even be GREATER than Yahweh.
Finegan says that obeying the Scripture was not popular among the enlightened Gnostics, “For those [Gnostics] who are spiritual and perfect, however, such a course of conduct [obedience to Yahweh] is not at all necessary. They will be entirely and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are spiritual by nature,” Myth and Mystery, p. 231.
The same reasoning is shared by the no-law clerics of our day. If I’m already saved, why obey any law? is their rationale.
The strength of Gnosticism was that it played on man’s carnal desires. And it struck at the heart of True Worship by attacking Yahweh and opening Him up to suspicion and doubt. Since Yahweh was inferior and was doing all He could to keep man from attaining his full,spiritual potential, keeping His laws and commandments will only inhibit man and keep him chained and in subjection, the believed.
In the same way, to reject Yahweh’s laws today is reflective of a covert animosity toward Yahweh as well. Only a rebellious heart refuses to obey. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against Elohim.” Enmity means deep-seated hatred.
John, however, writes, “For this is the love of Yahweh, that we keep His commandments,” lJohn 5:3. The converse of this verse is also true — disobedience to His laws means a rejection of Him and His desires for His people.
The ancient Gnostic and today’s neo-Gnostic both reject what Paul wrote in Romans 7: 12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” They also avoid the passage that reads, “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
Immortal soul
The teaching that the human being is an immortal being is central to Gnosticism. As shown, the Gnostic held that man is divine being held in a physical world by an evil sub-Mighty One who created the physical world and imprisoned us. Man’s true place belongs with the gods, says the Gnostic.
Finegan writes, “The Gnostic systems envision not only the end-experience of the individual, for whom death is liberation from entanglement in matter and the beginning of the ascent of the soul to its proper heavenly home, but also the end-goal for the whole cosmos,”Myth and Mystery, p. 257.
The notion of an immortal soul is rooted squarely in paganism. As Ramsay MacMullen writes, “Their religious views we might suppose began with, or logically rested on, ideas of immortality. Homer portrayed man as having a soul, and Elysian Fields to go to after death.Plato taught of life indestructible” (Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100-400, “What Pagans Believed,” p. 11).
This writer offers further insight as he describes the words spoken at a pagan funeral, remarkably similar to what one hears in funerals today: ” … he [the deceased] now lives among the gods, traversing the heavens and looking down on life below” (Ibid.).
The pagan Greek philosopher Plutarch, writing in the first century, once gave this consolation on the death of a child: “It feels no more pain; its soul is indestructible, according to ‘traditional teachings’ and Dionysiac rites; better, according to ‘traditional and ancient customs,’ the soul returns to a ‘finer and more divine fate and country,” MacMullen, p. 126.
An inferior Old Testament
The biggest force for rejecting the teachings of Yahweh in the Old Testament comes from Marcion. “The gnostic Marcion thus rejected the Old Testament, pointing out that the lesser or subordinate god revealed in it dealt with matter, insisted on law rather than grace, and was responsible for our decaying, tragedy-filled world.” =Holman Bible Dictionary, p. 558.
Another source writes about Marcion, “He has [Yahshua] descend to Hell after the Crucifixion to rescue the Old Testament ‘villains’ and all the Gentiles, leaving behind Abraham, Moses and all the other henchmen of [Yahweh]” Godwin, pp. 85-86.
Marcion even compiled and wrote his own New Testament, in which he contrasted the Old Testament to the New Testament on love and justice. He omitted what did not promote love.
Through the influence of Marcion the picture is becoming clearer why the precepts of Yahweh as first given in the Old Testament Scriptures are put in the closet today by most denominations.
Trinity
Some Gnostic teachings reflect the Babylonian and Egyptian concepts of a trinitarian godhead. The worship of three main deities is common in ancient, pagan religious systems. The oldest is from Babylon, where the father Nimrod was worshiped along with his wifeSemiramis and son Tammuz. Other variants of this include Egyptian (Osiris, Isis, Horus); Graeco-Roman (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades; Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto); Christian (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).
The Gnostic work called The Gospel of the Egyptians includes the trinitarian concept and provides another bridge to this teaching in churchianity. “The first section of the work…tells of the origin of the heavenly world. From the supreme God, who is the Great Invisible Spirit, there evolves a trinity made up of Father, Mother (Barbelo), and Son,” Myth and Mystery, p. 251.
Significantly the deification of Mary as the “mother of G-d” fits well into the trinitarian pattern of ancient worship systems involving a mother in a trine god hierarchy.
Mother of G-d
The idea of a mother god is 4,000 years old. The Chaldeans called her Beltis, in Assyria she was known as Ishtar (from which we get Easter); the Phrygians called her Cybele; she was Isis or Hathor in Egypt; Astarte among the Canaanites; Dianna with the Ephesians, and Aphrodite in Greece.
Here is how the Gnostic embraced mother god-ism: “The being who fell out of the Pleroma [heavenly hierarchy] became the mother of Christ, and Christ returned to the Pleroma. Jesus emanated from Christ who returned to the Pleroma (although other ideas of his origin were advanced too), and the Holy Spirit emanated from Ecclesia. The mother, however, was unable to return to the Pleroma, and she brought forth another son, the Demiurge, who is the creator of all things outside the Pleroma, and the ruler of everything under him,” Myth and Mystery, p. 229.
Hence we have the Gnostic concept of the ancient belief in a “mother of G-d.” She becomes the literal mother of the Demiurge Yahweh and is called Sophia (Wisdom). Significant are the parallels between this mother concept and the “Virgin Mary” is presented venerated today. Ultimately, Sophia or Mother wisdom is restored to her place among the deities, not unlike the way prayers are directed to Mary today.
New Age
New Age is nothing more than warmed-over Gnosticism, as noted by Christopher Lash in an issue of Omni magazine: “The New Age movement is best understood … as the 20th century revival of an ancient religious tradition, gnosticism … ”
As churchianity accelerates the watering down of Scriptural precepts, New Age neo-Gnosticism is stepping through church doors and into the pulpits. As the book The New Age Explosion explains, “It is interesting that New Agers such as Besant would mention ‘Gnosis’ in the church.’ For in essence, the New Age is a revival of the gnosticism that was prevalent in the days of Paul and the early apostles,” p. 42.
Sophia the Feminist
Exalting of the female long predated Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug, who are just minor characters in an age-old worship of feminine power and mystique. Feminist roots reach back to the beginning of creation — to the mystic’s interpretation of Genesis, where Eve caught on to the “plot” of the Demiurge or creator and realized that it was the snake, not Yahweh, that was telling the truth. The snake was the emissary of the real “god.” The enlightened Eve with her special wisdom realized that she need not be subject either to Yahweh or to her husband and could transcend this fleshly existence through ignoring what Yahweh told her. All she had to do was to believe Satan.
Eve, therefore, becomes the bearer of truth on earth for the mystic. Some Gnostic teachings say that Eve became the light-bringing serpent.
From the idea of wisdom in the form of a woman came the Gnostic Sophia, a feminine deity whose name in Greek means skill and wisdom. She is seen as the mother of Yahshua, even the progenitor of Yahweh and the world-soul. She is seen as the mother goddess of many pagan religions.
New Age religion also focuses on Sophia as the divine providence who will save humanity. According to certain Gnostic teachings, man is physical and evil; woman is spiritual and divine. The idea of women as manifestations of the true “divine” is at the root of the movement to ordain women, to lead worship back to its “true” origins — back to Dame Wisdom.
As William Gentz writes of Gnostic teachings, “The two most common themes in this literature as a whole are the creation of the world as a perversion of the divine plan, and the role of wisdom [Sophia] and/ or Jesus as the bearer of the divine message of deliverance from the world of matter,” The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, p. 396.
History is also reflected in the modern push to get rid of the patriarchal order in society and replace it with a matriarchal one. Because the family is what passes on traditional values to the next generation, the family order is the next logical institution to come under attack.
Family responsibilities to rear children are increasingly being taken over by the state, which can mold them into its “politically correct” ideology. Without parental guidance, young people are increasingly finding their values on the streets and in gangs. Instead of advocatinga return to family values and responsibilities, those in power perpetuate what has already proven to fail. As a former first lady said in a Mother’s Day commencement address at George Washington University a few years ago, “Our community must be a family.”
‘Come Out of Her My People’
These are some of the salient teachings of Gnosticism. This ancient heresy that is making a big comeback throughout our culture stands Biblical truths on their head as it seeks to make right wrong and wrong right. Gnosticism is an effective and powerful tool that theAdversary has used through the centuries to corrupt True worship and twist proper and true teachings so that the vast majority will worship in error. This is the heresy that gave Paul one of his biggest headaches, which was a harbinger of bigger problems to come in our day.
Return with us to pure, unadulterated worship of the one true Father in heaven. Leave the doctrines of heathendom produced by compromise with error. Come out to the light of truth. Enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way that leads to everlasting life!
When Yahshua the Messiah returns, where will He descend? To whom will He return? To Christians who keep Sunday? To Muslims who keep Friday? To Jehovah’s Witnesses who keep all days? To the U.S. Naval Observatory to confirm the day of the week and the equinox? Or to those who keep the Biblical Sabbath and Feasts – just as He did Himself?
Bible prophecy tells us that world conditions indicate that the return of our Savior is drawing ever nearer. He could return at one of the Feast days of the seventh month – at year’s end – because He is prophesied to return at the last trumpet sound. When Yahshua returns, only the believers are raised to an incorruptible state.
The New Testament deals with the end times and moves step by step through the chapters of Revelation and the sounding of seven trumpets of Yahweh. A number of verses corroborate the return of the Messiah, stating that it is at the seventh and last trumpet that our Savior returns. One such is lCorinthians 15:52: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (ICor. 15:52).
The Apostle Paul also wrote, “For Yahshua Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Yahweh: and the dead in Messiah shall rise first” (1Thes. 4: 16).
While we are assured that Yahshua will return at the last or seventh trumpet, we are also told that He will return to Jerusalem to the mount of Olives: “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (Zech. 14:4).
Atonement and the High Priest
Many believe that the Savior will return at one of Yahweh’s Festivals — perhaps the Feast of Trumpets.
There is also justification for the belief that the Day of Atonement may be the time of His return. Leviticus 16 gives a detailed account of the high priest’s duties on Atonement day. None of the Israelites could enter that holy place at any time, and the high priest entered the Holy of Holies only on the day of Atonement.
Our Redeemer is pictured in type as having gone to the heavens where He as our High Priest is also our advocate or mediator between His ekklesia (Assembly) and the Heavenly Father.
The populace waited outside with baited breath for the return of the high priest, knowing that when he emerged, the sacrifice for himself and the people was then accepted by Yahweh. Had he been struck dead in the Holy of Holies, the message was clear that the Atonementsacrifice was rejected, and the people were still in their sins.
So it is with us. When we see the returning Messiah, we will know that we are among the redeemed and our sins have truly been forgiven. We can now stand in His presence: “So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:28).
True Roots Soon Lost
In preparing for the coming birth of the Savior to Bethlehem, Yahweh under Ezra and Nehemiah had brought the exiled Jews back from Babylon. The Temple was rebuilt and Jerusalem was again occupied by the Jews. Under the Romans, the Levitical priesthood wasallowed to function.
The community of Jews in the Holy Land was the only composite witness to the world that Yahweh was indeed the Mighty One of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yahweh sent His Son as His prophet to a people now restored in the land, but they received Him not,John 1:11-12.
Dr. Ethelbert Bullinger’s Companion Bible notes that had the people back then accepted Yahshua as the Messiah, the Kingdom could have been established at that time. However, their rejection of Him brought tragedy upon the whole Jewish nation. A number of Jews along with some Gentiles did accept the Messiah, which was the beginning of the early ekklesia or Assembly of believers, erroneously called “the church.”
Yahshua had spent three and a half years teaching and preparing His twelve Apostles concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. They were to be His witnesses, proclaiming His truth after His return to the Father in heaven. These and other Jewish converts to the Messiah made up the early believers and were known by the world as “Jewish Christians.”
However, soon after the Savior’s death and resurrection the Jewish converts died off and were replaced by Gentiles. The ekklesia(known as the early “church”) for the most part became “Gentile Christianity” and lost its Israelite or Jewish roots. Paganism was adopted wholesale.
Enter Heathenism
The church soon was composed of unconverted pagans who continued in their heathen customs. Pagan doctrines began to supplant the Savior’s New Covenant teachings and perverted His message. Sunday replaced the Sabbath.
Pagan days such as Christmas, Hallowe’en, Lent, and Easter soon displaced the holy days of Leviticus 23. False teachings like going to heaven and the immortal soul idea were baptized and woven into the fabric of “Christian” worship. Pagan worship continued on pagan days, but was now syncretized with a new meaning supposedly adapted to the Bible.
The “gentile church” now claimed the promises made to Israel. Christianity no longer looked to the Jews to learn when Passover was to occur, but turned to the worship of Ashtoreth at the time of the vernal equinox, calling it “Easter.”
Pagan worship revolved around the movement of celestial bodies, and the solstices and equinoxes were the standards for heathen holidays. Xmas came at the time of the winter solstice. The term Easter was derived from the pagan deity Eostre which was the name of the goddess of spring. “In her honor sacrifices were offered at the time of the vernal equinox,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 6, “Easter.”
The celebration in honor of Eostre (Ashtoreth) was adopted by the church and changed to honor the resurrection of the Savior, an observance nowhere commanded in the Bible. We are never told to remember His resurrection, but to remember His death.
Zion-centered Truth
Yahshua clearly states, “Salvation is of the Jews,” (John 4:22), referring to Himself as the ultimate Savior Who would spring from Judah. Paul emphasizes the important role the Jews had in preserving Yahweh’s Word: “What advantage then has the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles (Greek logion, utterances) of Yahweh” (Rom. 3:1-2). It is the Jews who have meticulously copied and maintained the accuracy of the Old Testament for us.
Notice that Yahshua Himself made His presence known at the Feast of Dedication in December (John 10:22- 23), a memorial of the cleansing of Ezra’s Temple after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes. This was not a commanded observance, but has great historical significance to Israelites.
The Old Testament speaks of the final deliverance of Yahweh’s people as taking place in Mount Zion and Jerusalem where the Jewish nation is presently recognized: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Yahweh has said, and in the remnant whom Yahweh shall call” (Joel 2:32).
During the Sabbatical year of 69-70 C.E., the Temple was destroyed and the Levitical priesthood ceased to function. The Jews were soon driven from the Holy Land following the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 C.E. Few returned.
For almost 2,000 years Yahweh has not had a “showcase” witness on this earth as was the nation of Israel in the time of David and Solomon, of whom the world could attest to blessings of obedience from Yahweh.
Pagan customs and worldly influence continue to hold sway in churches as corruption of Bible teaching proceeds apace. However, sincere Bible students reject traditions and practices not found in the Bible but seek the Bible’s admonition and example to return to the pristine truth of Scripture as closely as we are able.
It was only in this century, after 2,000 years, that in 1948 Yahweh saw fit to reestablish Israel back in the Holy Land. Israel is the only nation in the world where the seventh-day weekly Sabbath is nationally acknowledged as the day of rest (but not necessarily observed by everyone). While His personal Name, Yahweh, continues to be disguised and avoided, His feast days are tolerated and even respected by most Jews in Israel today.
Once again Yahweh has a viable, visible showcase where His laws and ways are acknowledged (but not always observed).
This tiny nation called Israel, with some 4 million people, has been preserved and spared by Yahweh in spite of repeated attacks from the Arab coalition sworn to push the fledgling country into the sea. It has not happened, and will not happen, because Yahshua Himself will yet intervene at Israel’s darkest hour: “Yahweh also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah” (Zech. 12:7).
Israel was given the Torah and a priesthood to educate them in Yahweh’s ways. Each of the priest’s activities in some way symbolized the redemptive work of the Savior. The Sabbaths have special significance in carrying out Yahweh’s grand design for mankind. Yahweh set apart special days and times for the worship of Himself. These days are prophetic, Colossians 2:17.
These special days are in harmony with the harvesting of crops in the Holy Land. Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread mark the beginning of the barley harvest, followed by the Feast of Weeks for the wheat harvest, and Tabernacles for the general harvest.
Savior to Return to Zion
When Yahshua returns, He will go to the Holy Land and stand on the Mount of Olives, Zechariah 14:4. He will then establish Jerusalem as the bright and shining beacon of light showing His truth to the whole world.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:2-4).
Yahshua will rule with a rod of iron from Jerusalem with the resurrected saints. All His Sabbaths will be strictly honored and kept, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says Yahweh” (Isa. 66:23).
All Feast days will be observed as well, Ezekiel 45:21-25; also Zechariah 14: 16-18. His Name Yahweh will be revered by all and they will gladly serve Him in the Kingdom: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the Name of Yahweh, to serve Him with one consent” (Zeph. 3:9).
Passover and the Equinox
Because we know that the Sabbaths and Feast days will be observed in the Kingdom, it is incumbent upon us as the Elect of Yahweh to learn as much as we can of these special times.
By keeping these sanctified days now, we will understand and comprehend their deeper spiritual lessons.
Yahweh teaches us spiritual truths through physical actions. We keep the weekly Sabbath to be reminded every week, 52 times a year, that Yahweh is our Creator, the One we serve and obey. We are reminded weekly that Yahshua came to show us how we are to walk in His footsteps and live the truth He teaches.
In the year of His death, history records that the Savior kept the Passover at the same time as did the Sadducees. John 18:28shows that some Jews had not yet partaken of the Passover, but Yahshua and His disciples had done so in John 13. His disciples raised no question about their observing Passover before the Jews who followed Rabbinic Judaism.
Historians agree that while the Temple was standing the Jews kept Passover BEFORE the equinox. Because Yahshua kept Passover as determined by the Sanhedrin before the equinox during Temple times, then we are on safe ground to do likewise. Nothing is said about having to observe a NEW MOON that appears after the vernal equinox before keeping Passover. Historians point out that the vernal equinox often comes during the month Abib.
McClintock and Strong’sCyclopedia of Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 3, p. 13, under Easter states: “Many of the Church fathers are of opinion that, according to the original calculation of the Jews up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the 14th Nisan had always been after the spring equinox, and that it was only in consequence of a miscalculation of the later Jews that the 14th of Nisan occasionally fell before the equinox. They therefore insisted that the 14th of Nisan, which for both parties within the church determined the time of Easter, should always be after the equinox.
“As the year of Jews is a lunar year, and the 14th of Nisan always a full-moon day, the Christians who adopted the above astronomical view, whenever the 14th of Nisan fell before the equinox, would celebrate the death of [Messiah] one month later than the Jewish Passover. As the Christians … had to make their own calculations for the time of Easter … These calculations frequently differed, partly from reasons already set forth, and partly because the date of the equinox was fixed by some at the 18th of March, by others at the 19th,by others at the 21st of March.”
Man Sets His Own Rules
Notice that the Christian “Church fathers” established their own rules by relying upon the vernal equinox as did the pagans, instead of the green ears of barley as the Bible requires (Abib = “green ears,” Deut. 16:1).
Another authority writes, “That the vernal equinox occurred in Nisan [Abib] is attested by Josephus (Ant. 1. x. 5) and also in cuneiform literature (Muss-Arnolt p. 77) Nisan corresponded to the first zodiacal sign (Aries) in which the vernal equinox fell. The sacred year was determined by the annual festivals and the first of these festivals was henceforth fixed by the Passover moon.” “Equinox and the Calendar,” Dictionary of the Bible, James Hastings, p. 765.
Notice that Hastings says, “The vernal equinox occurred in Nisan Abib.” That is to say, sometime during the month of Abib, after the new moon of Abib, the vernal equinox took place. Thus, the equinox came AFTER the new moon of Abib! This counters those who erroneously cling to the idea that the new moon must occur AFTER the equinox.
Nothing is mentioned here about letting the equinox determine the month of Nisan. The vernal equinox fell within the month of Nisan [Abib] -which means the new moon of Nisan came BEFORE the equinox! That is, the new moon came establishing the month of Nisan (Abib), then came the equinox, then the Passover. Therefore, those who insist upon keeping the Feasts a month later are out of harmony with Yahweh’s calendar.
Fausset’s Bible Encyclopedia, under “Year [Hebrew year] reads, “They began it with the new moon nearest to the equinox, yet late enough to allow of the firstfruits of barley harvest being offered about the middle of the first month. So Josephus (Ant. iii. 10,5) states that the Passover was celebrated when the sun was in Aries” (p. 727).
Many authorities and Bible dictionaries corroborate the fact that the Passover was kept AFTER the equinox, but that the new moon of Abib, which began the new year, was that which was nearest the vernal equinox. Some even declare that the equinox came in the month Abib-Nisan, which is AFTER the new moon. Therefore, history confirms the fact that the idea is from paganism that the new moon of Abib must come AFTER the vernal equinox. Often it precedes the equinox. .
Savior Likely to Come at Feast
Because the return of Yahshua will have wide repercussions, many serious Bible students anticipate that the Messiah may well return on one of Yahweh’s prophetic annual Feast days. Trumpets may be a likely time, for this festival has not yet been fulfilled and we read that the Savior will return at the sound of a trumpet: “For Yahshua Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first” (1Thess. 4: 16).
We also read that the Savior will return to the land of Israel: “Then shall Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of ittoward the south” (Zech. 14:3-4).
At Last, a Return to Truth
Almost all great Bible events have taken place upon special days that Yahweh has set aside for His worship. Still not fulfilled are the four annual Sabbaths of the seventh month.
The Hebrew tekufah (Strong’s No. 8622) is assumed by a few to be the spring equinox. It appears four times in the Bible with the following literal meanings: Exodus 34:22; at the year’s end (marg.: revolution of the year) 1Samuel 1:20; when the time was come about(marg.: in revolution of days) 2Chronicles 24:23; at the end of the year (“in the revolution of the year” – margin) and Psalm 19:6[concerning the sun] “His going forth [is] from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”
Tekufah means at the end of a complete circuit and not the vernal equinox at the beginning of a year.
Before the Savior comes there will be a movement of New Testament believers who will diligently seek the ancient paths and return to keeping Yahweh’s Torah in preparation for Yahshua’s return. The union of Judah and Ephraim will surely come as the latter rain when Yahweh’s Spirit is poured out on His people.
The Savior will return to the mount of Olives, which is in the land of Israel. It will most assuredly be on a Feast day (perhaps Trumpets?). Would not He honor His people by returning when they are obediently keeping the feasts of the seventh month?
Because the Jews were given the oracles of Yahweh, their observance of His holy days would certainly be in the right season, in the correct month, and not a month later as determined by an unbiblical “new moon after the vernal equinox.”
This practice would delay the Feast Days one whole month. Furthermore, observing the signs of the heavens such as the equinoxes and solstices was the practice of pagans who gave us Easter and Xmas. We are better off to be in harmony with the Jews than attempt to observe another month through worldly customs outside the Bible.
Remember the words of Yahshua: “You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews,”John 4:22. Keep the days Yahweh has commanded, in the time that is appointed, not according to the notions of man.
Yahweh in His wisdom has given us a calendar in the sky for all to see. He uses the sun and moon to establish days, months, years, and also His appointed observances, Genesis 1:14. A critical component to His calendar is the new moon, which starts each Biblical month. Yahweh commanded special offerings on each new moon, and one special new moon is even a Feast day called the Feast of Trumpets,Isaiah 66:23.
Yahweh uses the new moon to establish moedim, or commanded observances, Psalm 104:19. Special offerings were also given on the new moons, 2Chronicles 2:4; 8:13; 23:31.
Apostolic Believers, who remained true to His Word, continued to honor new moon days as well as observe Feast days in the New Testament, Acts 18:21; 27:9; 1Corinthians 5:7-8.
Further, we learn from Ezekiel’s prophecy (46:3) that new moon days will be kept in the coming Kingdom: “The people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before Yahweh on the sabbaths and on the new moons.”
Make no mistake. The Biblical admonition to observe the new moon as a special marker in the Biblical calendar is not a pronouncement about worshiping the moon itself. Yahweh prohibits worshiping any celestial body: “And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which Yahweh your Elohim has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19). At the same time He commands us to watch for and observe the new moon each month so that we honor and follow His unique calendar and the setting of His special holy days.
What Constitutes a New Moon?
What exactly is a new moon according to the Scriptures? The Jewish calendar creates some confusion because it uses the conjunctions of the moon (Hebrew molad) in setting the beginning of each month. Also somewhat confusing, a certain verse of Scripture seems to equate the new moon with the full moon.
If you are baffled about what the new moon is, we hope this study will settle the issue for you.
Let’s first look at the astronomical conjunction. A lunar conjunction is when the sun, moon and earth are directly in line. Because the sun is behind the moon, no sunlight is reflected from the lunar face. The moon is a total blackout during a conjunction. No part of the moon can be seen in an astronomical conjunction.
The average wall calendar portrays the conjunction with a large black dot and calls it a “new moon.” But in reality it is a “no moon.” It is invisible, and a “no moon” conjunction is not what the Bible means by a new moon, which we will see.
The Bible uses the same Hebrew word for both “new moon” and “month.” Therefore, the new moon is linked to and sets the beginning of the month. But on our Gregorian wall calendars the “no moon” conjunction floats all over the 12 calendar months. Modern calendars completely ignore the Biblical way of setting the first day of the month by the visual new moon, even though the word “month” is derived from the word “moon” and should be oriented to the moon as it was intended by the Creator.
Historically, new moon spotters in Israel watched for the thin crescent to establish the beginning of each month. Once seen they reported their sighting to the calendar court authorities of the Sanhedrin. Note what one authority says, “Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical calculation, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance of the crescent of the moon,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12, p. 1039.
The switchover from watching for the first visible crescent to calculating conjunctions to determine the month’s beginning came with Hillel II’s calendar revisions in the 4th century C.E. “By the middle of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued” (Ibid).
Going by the calculated lunar conjunction contradicts the command in Deuteronomy 16:1: “Observe the month [chodesh, new moon] of Abib and keep the Passover…” Here, the word “observe” in the Hebrew is shamar and also means “look narrowly for, search” (No. 8104 in Strong’s). The Holladay Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon defines it as watching in the sense of looking. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words includes the definitions “mark, watchman, wait, watch, look narrowly.” The command is to look for, wait for, watch and mark the new moon.
The problem is that you cannot see a moon that is completely black or dark, as it is during a conjunction. It would be lunacy sending out new moon watchers on the night of a conjunction to look for a moon they cannot see. To visually confirm the new moon there must be something to identify. Obviously, the invisible conjunction is not that something.
Another predicament is created by the use of the conjunction because during the period surrounding the conjunction there are as many as two or even three nights when no moon is visible. This leads us to wonder which three invisible moons are we commanded to “look narrowly for”? On which of three invisible starting points does the month begin? Yahweh’s calendar is based on observation. Man’s calendars are based on calculation.
No U.S. Naval Observatory existed in the time of the prophets or Apostles. The ancients had to have something tangible to go by that was visible on only one day each month. They needed to see the first thin crescent of a moon as it began its building or waxing phase.
Philo was a prominent Jewish leader who lived in Alexandria from about 20 B.C.E. to about 50 C.E. and was a contemporary of both Yahshua the Messiah and Paul. He was aware of what the Savior and His followers considered was the new moon. In his Treatise on the Special Laws, Book II, XI (41), Philo discusses the Biblical observances. Note how he describes the new moon:
“[It] is that which comes after the conjunction, which… [is] the day of the new moon in each month.” In his detailed discussion of the new moon, Philo describes what constitutes a new moon: “…at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders.”
As Philo noted, the new moon follows the conjunction but it is not the conjunction itself. His observation reveals to us what was considered the new moon in Yahshua’s day and what the Savior Himself also observed as the new moon. That is all we need to know to realize what still constitutes the Biblical new moon today.
Does ‘New’ Mean ‘Full’?
Some read Psalm 81:3 and conclude that the new moon is a holy feast day, and also (because of mistranslation) that the new moon is the full moon and not the first light of the moon. The KJV reads, “Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.” Time “appointed” is the Hebrew kacah and means “to plump, i.e. fill up hollows” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words). This appointed time is a full moon totally filled with light and on which a solemn Feast day occurs. Does that mean that the new moon is the full moon?
The New King James and some other translations add to the confusion by not translating Psalm 81:3 precisely enough: “Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day.” One immediate problem we note is that nowhere in Scripture is the regular monthly new moon referred to as a Feast day, nor is it a full moon, as we shall see.
Other translations clear up the problem by showing two completely different and separate observances in this verse: “Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon, and when the moon is full, at the day of our feast” (NIV).
In Psalm 81:3 Yahweh is speaking of a new moon as well as another observance or appointed time that comes at a full moon. During each of these separate times the trumpet was to sound.
The Hebrew in fact reveals two distinct clauses in this passage, making a definite division of thought. The first is the trumpet as applying to the new moon. The second is the trumpet as it applies to a solemn feast day, which is by Biblical definition different from a regular monthly new moon.
From the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, one would translate Psalm 81:3 this way: “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, and in the fullness of our festival day.”
The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament also makes a differentiation between the two clauses of verse 3: “Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast.”
The Complete Jewish Bible reads: “Sound the shofar at Rosh-Hodesh [new moon], and at full moon for the pilgrim feast.”
The Psalms for Today: A New Translation from the Hebrew into Current English translates the verse: “Sound the trumpet at the new moon, and at the day of our festival, when the moon is full.”
These Hebrew-based translations show that the new moon is different from the full moon and different from a Feast day. The Hebrew shows that the new moon and the full moon are not synonymous. The first is barely visible, the second totally visible. Different words are used for each.
The Hebrew word levanah meaning white, occurs three times in the Hebrew text and poetically refers to the white brilliance of the full moon (see Song of Solomon 6:10; Isa. 24:23; 30:26). And the Hebrew word kehseh, meaning fullness, is twice translated full moon (Ps. 81:3; Prov. 7:20). Chodesh, on the other hand, refers to the new moon and is never used for full moon.
Counting Backward from the Full Moon?
Some postulate that all that is necessary is to wait for the full moon and then count back two weeks for the beginning of the month.
First, such a method ignores Scriptural mandate and practice. Why would one need to “narrowly look for” and diligently search for a full moon? A full moon is in plain sight all night long.
Second, by this reckoning there would historically have been no need for special moon watchers to search the evening sky and report their findings to the Sanhedrin.
Third, those moons immediately preceding and following a full moon have nearly full lumination and are difficult to distinguish from the actual full moon without side-by-side comparison and an expert, discerning eye. This is not the case with a new moon crescent that is either seen or not seen, as by a shepherd boy like David out in the sheep fields.
Fourth, the astronomical full moon does not consistently fall at the exact midpoint between two lunar conjunctions. The full moon may follow the lunar conjunction by as little as 13 days, 21 hours and 53 minutes, or by as much as 15 days, 14 hours and 30 minutes. That is why months vary in length between 29 and 30 days. This anomaly is because the moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular.
Fifth, this method is based on the conjunction, which we have shown is not the Scriptural new moon.
Consequently, determining the new moon by counting backward from the full moon is anything but scripturally ordained and at times quite inaccurate. And in one special case doing so would even be out of the question: the Feast of Trumpets, itself a new moon and the first day of the seventh month, would be two weeks past by the time the full moon arrived and the backward count is made.
Scimitar-shaped New Moon
Scholars who know the Hebrew language also know that the new moon is defined as a thin, crescent moon. Vine’s says, “Chodeshmeans ‘new moon,’ ‘month.’ The word refers to the day on which the crescent reappears.” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testamentsays of (c)hodesh, “Although this word properly means ‘new moon,’ it is commonly used as an equivalent to our word ‘month’ because the month began when the thin crescent of the new moon was first visible at sunset.”
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says hodhesh (chodesh) means “‘new,’ ‘fresh.’ As the Hebrews reckoned their months from the actual first appearance of the young crescent, hodhesh is most frequently translated ‘month’ ” (Vol. 1, p. 303).
The verb form of (c)hodesh is hadash, a primitive root meaning to rebuild, renew, repair, refresh. This gives us additional proof as to what constitutes a new moon. A full moon is not in the rebuilding or renewing stage. It is already rebuilt, complete, and as full as it will get before waning back down to nothing, where it starts to re-grow from complete blackness once more.
According to Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon the word hodesh derives from a word which means to be new, or to polish a sword. Etymologists have observed that the basic sense is that of cutting and polishing. And the significance of newness relates to a polished sword. The new moon resembles a scimitar or curved sword.
The New Brown Driver Briggs Gesenius says chodesh is rooted in the meaning of conceal, as in “to conceal behind a curtain.” A full moon is anything but concealed. A crescent, on the other hand, is nearly all concealed by a curtain of darkness except for just a curved sliver of light along the right edge.
An Act of Worship
Looking for the new moon crescent each month is, above all, an act of worship. It is axiomatic that we cannot let our worship be done by someone else. James tells us, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” 1:22. Do we have the dedication to go out and search the evening sky for a sliver of moon that is often very difficult to locate? Or do we just rely on others in our area or in some other part of the world to do it for us?
As we learn through hundreds of lessons in the Scriptures, True Worship takes effort and self-sacrifice to search out Yahweh’s ways in order to honor Him. It takes no effort or sacrifice to see a full moon or follow computer calculations.
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The Bible’s yearly calendar of feasts is based in agriculture and Israel was an agrarian culture. The Feasts are also agriculture-based. Salvation itself is awarded to those spiritually called firstfruits. They will be resurrected first in a harvest of faithful ones to serve in His coming Kingdom. “These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto Elohim and to the Lamb,” Revelation 14:4. The importance of firstfruits in the biblical calendar cannot be over-stated.
The series of seven annual Feasts begins with the month Abib, a name describing the first green grains of ripening, firstfruits barley. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is designated “the Abib” (haAbib), a definitive term for a specific stage of barley growth. It was in the new-year month of Abib when Israel kept the Passover just before coming out of Egypt, Deuteronomy 16:1. All the annual feasts are set by the critical first month of Abib, the month of green barley ears, Exodus 12:2. To establish Abib as the first month we must find the ripening firstfruits of barley grain. This beautiful harvest calendar is a lesson for in faithful obedience and reliance on Yahweh’s mercy and blessings and not fixed, calculated dates for personal convenience.
Calendars are as common as wristwatches and you probably see at least one every day. Odds are, the calendar you see is the Gregorian calendar, named for Pope Gregory XIII, who updated the earlier Julian version in 1582 to align it more closely with the spring season. Gregory added rules for leap years, which insert an extra day in February. His rules have kept this calendar synchronized with the solar year to within one day in over 3,300 years.
Other calendars are in use today as well. Two of these are very important to those who observe biblical feast days. The Bible specifies exactly which days of the year the feasts are to be observed – and it does not use the Gregorian calendar.Without a proper calendar keyed to the Bible it is impossible to observe the feast days on the correct days of the year, and the Bible stresses that having the correct days is very important for proper worship.
This study examines the original calendar of the Scriptures (the biblical calendar), and the modified calendar derived from it (the calculated Jewish calendar).We will actually address three calendars: the biblical calendar (based on natural observations), today’s Jewish calendar (based on calculations), and the transition between these two – a calendar that started with observations, began supplementing them with calculations, and after 2,000 years finally metamorphosed into today’s Jewish calendar.
Keeping the Right Day Is Paramount
Of all calendars, the true biblical calendar is one of the easiest to understand and the one True Worshipers follow today in observing scriptural days. It is so logical that any rational person can easily comprehend its structure. It requires no complicated calculations or arbitrary rules to keep it aligned with the seasons of the year. It is a lunisolar calendar, which means that both moon and sun play a part in its construction.The rules for that construction come entirely from the Bible and are so simple that after reading them for yourself you should be able to understand and explain them to anyone.
Without an accurate understanding of His biblical calendar, Yahweh’s people would be unable to obey Him. Yahweh told His people they were to assemble at certain times of the year to observe His Feast days, and He did not mention “April” or “October” or any of our other Gregorian calendar months. He used words like “the tenth day of the first month” and “the first day of the seventh month” to pin down Feast day observances (moedim in Hebrew).He says, “But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbears to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of Yahweh in his appointed time, that man shall bear his sin” (Num. 9:13).
We learn that Yahweh instructs us to observe all His feast days at precise times (Lev. 23:2), not holidays of our making at times we choose. We sin if we don’t observe them at the commanded day and time. If True Worship means keeping Yahweh’s commands, how do we determine when the fifteenth day of the seventh month is (Feast of Tabernacles)? There are varied arguments among various Feast keepers about the correct day for Passover and Pentecost, and it is certainly prudent to prove what is right (as any good Berean would), rather than blindly accept the opinions of others.
Yahweh tells us rather plainly how to deduce the correct days from a “calendar” in the sky. Note Genesis 1:14: “And Elohim 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 seasons, and for days, and years.”
How Would YOU Create a Calendar?
Calendars record the days of the year, laid out in a format that usually spreads them over months and weeks (not all calendars use 7-day weeks, incidentally). A basic calendar relates four time elements: day, week, month, and year.Of these elements the day is foundational. How does Yahweh determine the length of a day? “In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth… And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light.And Elohim saw the light, that it was good: and Elohim divided the light from the darkness.And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen. 1:1-5. The New International Version reads, “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.”)
One evening and one morning equal one day. Why did Yahweh start His day at the “end” of it?We are so accustomed to starting our days at midnight that we think it illogical to start a day at any other time.What could be more illogical than midnight?
If you were living in ancient times and interested in creating your own calendar, at a time unencumbered by our modern society’s need to define and calculate everything exactly, would you not start your days at an easily observable time? What would you use as a starting point for the day?Noon is no good because it is hard to tell when noon is. Midnight is even worse. Sunrise is okay, but most people are asleep then, and even if not, determining just when the sun peeks over the horizon is much harder than determining when it drops below it because you can see it in the process of going down but not coming up. So sunset is a natural time to start, as well as end, the day.
Now isn’t that a coincidence? The Bible tells us exactly that: “The evening and the morning were the first day.” In many places, including the first part of Genesis, Scripture tells us that days begin and end at sunset. Evening is metaphor for night, morning means daylight in Hebrew.
How many of these days do we string together to make a week? Why do we count off seven days, then, and call them a week?The Hebrew word translated “week” is shabua, and it signifies completeness, or perfection.The week was also introduced to us early in Genesis (2:3): “And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohim created and made.”The word translated “rested” here is from the Hebrew root word shabath, Strong’s Concordance No. 7673 – the Sabbath. That Yahweh uses a seven-day week is clear throughout the Bible (Lev. 23:15).
How many days would you put in a month?Remember, you are an ancient observer and you are observing a couple of heavenly bodies for extended periods. The sun rises and sets and the days go by.The moon is doing something a little different.It also rises and sets but the amount of it you can see varies – sometimes it is not visible at all. But it does follow a cycle.
You notice over time that the moon starts as a very thin crescent on one side, gets fuller and brighter, then recedes to a very thin crescent on the other side. Then it disappears for a little while, only to repeat these phases. You count the number of days from one point to the next identical point and you notice there are about 29½ days for the moon’s cycle to complete itself. But when do you start your moon cycle count?
You conclude that starting with the first crescent sighting makes the most sense and sidesteps unnecessary calculations. You decide to use this moon cycle for your calendar because just marking off solar days one at a time doesn’t seem to be of much practical use.
You also notice something interesting from watching the moon. From the time you can just barely see the new crescent until the moon is at its brightest (full moon) takes 14 days.Each quarter (first, second, third, fourth) marks a seven-day period.You decide this is handy – you can count days in a package of seven by looking closely at the moon.Surprise!That’s the way Yahweh created it!
Does Yahweh include months in His calendar? Again, as with weeks there are many biblical references – but three are sufficient, starting with Deuteronomy 16:1: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto Yahweh Elohim: for in the month of Abib Yahweh Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”In Hebrew, the word translated “month” is Strong’s2320, chodesh, which means “the new moon; by implication, a month.”
Yahweh not only includes months, but He also starts them with the sighting of the new moon. This verse literally says, “Look for the new moon of Abib, and keep the Passover.…”The Passover is to be observed on Abib 14 (Ex. 12:6): “And you shall keep it (the paschal lamb) up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
The second reference to months and their timing is Psalm 104:19:“He appointed the moon for seasons.”The third reference is also in Psalm 81:3: “Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.”Here the only feast that begins on the first day of a month (Ethanim) is mentioned – Trumpets.Other “chodesh” verses abound in the Bible (over 200 of them), all meaning “new moon.”
As you observe about a dozen moon cycles, you notice that the sun seems to be moving along the horizon at its setting time, going from south to north and back to south. As soon as you realize this, you pick out an object on the horizon near the setting sun, and in a few days you begin to get an idea about how fast it is moving away from your object.Over time you also notice the world around you is getting warmer, then cooler, then warmer again.
You count the days from the sun’s position at your marker object until it returns there, going in the same direction. Your count is 365 days. This number, representing the cycle of the sun, and the number representing the cycle of the moon (29½), are not evenly divisible.A little basic math tells you a solar year will not exactly equal 12 lunar months. The difference between 12 months of 29½ days (354 days) and the length of a solar year (365) will cause the four seasons to move around through the year.
This may be of no importance to you whatsoever – why should you mind if spring comes in the first month or the second month or the third month?But Yahweh minds. Yahweh told Moses in Exodus 12:2, “This month (Abib) shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Abib is the Hebrew name for this month, and it means “green ears” of grain. It is the month in which green ears of grain appear. But which grain? Turn to Exodus 9, where we read of one of the plagues Yahweh visited upon Pharaoh.
“And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and Yahweh sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and Yahweh rained hail upon the land of Egypt. … And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field…And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up” (vv. 23, 25, 31-32).
The grain that Abib refers to is barley, the one crop already “in the ear,” and the month in which the first Passover took place is Abib, the green ears of barley month.The month of Abib and the state of barley are tied closely together. If barley is not in the proper stage at that month, that month cannot be Abib.
Turn to Leviticus 23. Here Yahweh explains the concept of firstfruits to the Israelites, and tells us what shape barley must be in during the month of Abib: “And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your Elohim: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:14). The Israelites were not permitted to harvest their crops of barley until the firstfruit sheaf was waved before Yahweh by the priest.
Barley is planted in November and takes about four months to mature. It must be in the green ear stage during the first month, and at least some of it ready for harvest by the time of the wave sheaf offering that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.We know it occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread because these verses explain how to count forward from the wave sheaf to the Feast of Weeks. Yahweh keeps the seasons aligned with the months by having us observe the maturing barley.
An interesting find in Israel called the “Gezer” calendar shows that the Israelites were an agrarian society that based its months from agriculture.
In the March-April 2002 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review on page 45 we read, “A different clock governed everyday life in ancient Israel. The society was agrarian— virtually everyone was a farmer— so people naturally regulated their daily lives by the rising and setting sun. Likewise the yearly calendar was defined by seasonal activities related to farming and herding. This small limestone tablet, found in 1908 at Gezer and called the Gezer Calendar, associates the months of the year with activities like sowing, pruning and harvesting, and gives us a glimpse into a way of life very different from ours— a life strongly tied to the earth and it’s natural rhythms.”
Written in Paleo-Hebrew, the Gezer Calendar dates from the 10th century BC, the time of the construction of Solomon’s Temple. It contains the following text:
“Two months of harvest
Two months of planting
Two months are late planting
One month of pulling flax
One month of barley harvest
One month of harvest and feasting
Two months of pruning vines
One month of summer fruit”
This calendar lays out the fundamental importance of the agricultural cycle in King Solomon’s day, this can be seen in the temple festivals of Shavuot (“Feast of weeks”) or First Fruits in early summer (the “month of summer” fruit in line 8), and the Feast of Ingathering (the harvest) in the fall which culminates to the Feast of Tabernacles. The mention of feasting reflects the pilgrimages festivals which involved feasting.
Yahweh’s Calendar – Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4
We have worked our way through the rules for the biblical calendar and discovered that they are simple and logical:
1.Start and end days at sunset (Genesis 1:5).
2.Start weeks at day one and end on day seven, the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15-16).
3.Start months with the sighting of the new moon (Deuteronomy 16:1).
4.Start years in the month barley will be harvestable by the middle of that month (Leviticus 23:4-14).
These rules require you to observe Yahweh’s creation – sighting a sunset or a new moon and looking at a barley crop. Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the earth fear Yahweh: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Is there a better way than to get outside and look at some of these awesome, timekeeping sights of creation?
The ‘Original’ Jewish Calendar
That the biblical calendar given by Yahweh was with us from creation seems logical, but Yahweh’s revelation of it to Moses took place just before the exodus, about 3,500 years ago, as Yahweh explained the Passover, its significance and timing. In the first five books of the Bible, the Torah (all written by Moses), the rules for the “original” biblical calendar were given by Yahweh to the people of Israel by oral and (later) written instructions.
Today’s modified Jewish calendar, however, is one of the more difficult to comprehend. It has added and revised rules that move dates without biblical authorization. The original Hebrew calendar was the biblical calendar of the exodus. For over 40 years in their journey from Egypt to the Jordan River crossing the Israelites in the desert determined their years exactly in accord with the four rules declared by Yahweh through Moses. What happened from then until now?
To answer that we will need to consult non-biblical sources.Be careful!Unlike the rock-solid Word, there are many sources of “fact” written by men, and where there is man-made “fact” there is man-made counter-fact.
The Talmud is a combination of fact, teachings, traditions, analyses, ideas, opinions, and in some cases outright prejudice – which are considered “facts” by many Jews today.During the Talmudic period, observation of the moon and crops evolved toward calculation.First, the Israelites would have noticed that the new moon appeared either every 29 or 30 days – never shorter, never longer.Simple counting, then, gave them the ability to anticipate the actual observation.
After settling in the Promised Land they would have noticed something about the year, also. The maturation of their crops of barley could be correlated with the position of the setting sun on the horizon. The seasons are very important to agrarian peoples. Knowing proper planting times is crucial to survival, and fixing the beginning of a season, particularly spring, is advantageous.
Yahweh decreed that the year was to begin in the month when barley would be ready for harvest. The Israelites quickly noticed this happened very near or in the spring season, and that the beginning of spring could be determined from the sun’s setting position on the horizon. Over time the observation of the sun’s position replaced the observation of barley. The pagan Egyptians and later the Romans also observed a solar calendar.
Today’s Calculated Jewish Calendar
Beginning with their possession of the Promised Land, the Israelites became more scattered and communications with Jerusalem’s priests (who observed moons and waved grains) became increasingly difficult. Later, the Israelites of the Dispersion generally took up the civil calendars of their conquering countries and were informed by messengers from Jerusalem of coming feasts. Certainly by the end of the Talmudic period, and most probably hundreds of years before, the Jews had accumulated sufficient knowledge to convert a calendar based on observation to one based on calculation alone.
According to the Apostle John, Yahshua’s Passover meal was eaten the night before the Passover meal was eaten by His Jewish accusers – this indicates that two ways of determining dates existed at the time of the impalement. That the new moon of Abib could have appeared on two different days is, of course, impossible.
In any case, the separation of Israel’s peoples made it increasingly difficult for those not residing in the Holy Land to stay in synchronization with their brothers.Indeed, after the failed Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 CE the Sanhedrin – the post-exile Jewish supreme council – was barred from meeting. Something had to be done to preserve holy day observance, and about 359 CE patriarch Hillel II revealed a method of Jewish calendar calculation that contained many elements obviously learned from places like Babylon.According to Hillel, and to the many Jews and others who believe that the methods of calculating this calendar were divinely presented to the Israelites, this calendar was in place from the very creation.
Here are some facts about the calculated Jewish calendar:
• A month is determined by the calculation of the conjunction of the moon (Hebrew molad, a point in the moon’s orbit exactly between the earth and the sun – and invisible to us), not new moon sighting; hours are added to the molad to determine when the new moon should or should not be visible.
• The first molad occurred 5 hours and 204 chalokim (3 1/3 seconds) after sunset at the beginning of day 2.
• Every molad is calculated from this point by adding 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 chalokim.
• A nineteen-year cycle of months of 29 and 30 days is employed, together with leap months inserted in seven of the years, to keep the seasons in line with the solar year; the cycle consists of regular and leap years as follows: R-R-L-R-R-L-R-R-L-R-L-R-R-L-R-R-L-R-L.
• The cycle is not exactly the length of nineteen solar years – it is a little over 2 hours longer; every 216 years this adds up to a whole day, and there are no corrections in the calculations to prevent spring from moving away from Abib; if the calculated Jewish calendar had existed at the beginning, this error would have already moved the seasons 26 days away from Abib – one entire month.
• The year begins with the seventh month (Ethanim), not Abib; the first day of Ethanim is Rosh Hashanah.
• Postponement rules for Rosh Hashanah are required such that an annual Sabbath is never juxtaposed with a weekly Sabbath (prevents two consecutive non-work days); these rules are not simple – here is one of them: if the molad of a year following a leap year which begins on Tuesday is later than Monday, 15 hours and 589 chalokim, Rosh Hashanah of the second year is postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
• The calculated molad can sometimes start a month before the new moon is visible, and the postponements can actually cause a month to begin the day after the new moon is sighted.
• The entire calendar, from the beginning to any point in the future, is fixed by its starting point, the length of a molad, and the postponement rules; no observation is necessary.
No Biblical Basis for Changes in the Calendar
All these rules and calculations keep the seasons and the solar year rather closely aligned, without a single observation of a new moon or a series of sunsets. They are very handy for Jews but not a single bulleted item we’ve noted is mentioned in the Bible, and using this calendar means you will be celebrating feast days at times different from those the biblical calendar specifies.
Did the perversion of the biblical calendar start in Talmudic days, or was it later, around Hillel’s time? Yahweh confirmed the importance of the biblical calendar at the beginning of the Exodus (Lev. 23), and that is the time Satan began his work to pervert it.Isn’t it amazing howSatan has twisted everything in the Bible to his advantage?Yahweh gave us laws to live by while Satan tells us they are just for ancient Israelites.
Because His Feast days are important to Yahweh’s plan for mankind, Satan replaces them with those important to his plan. He also derails Yahweh’s inspired calendar by man-made calendars.
If we must have a Messiah to be saved from sin’s death penalty, then the adversary causes churchianity to refute Him by convincing them to celebrate Easter! They take the very first inspired time of the sacred year and celebrate it with sunrise services, egg-laying rabbits, and leavened hot-cross buns. To top it off, Satan puts it on the wrong day.For those who escape this trap, he lays another one.When Numbers 9 says observing Passover on a particular day and at a particular time is very important, Satan confuses time itself.
If the bulleted items on pages 12-13 seem a bit convoluted and confusing compared to the four rules Yahweh originally gave the Israelites, it is because they are.Whenever Satan works, things always get complicated.
Why Not Use the Vernal Equinox to Start the Year?
Some ignore barley altogether and set Abib 1 according to the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox is that instant when the sun is directly above the earth’s equator while going from the south to the north (for inhabitants of the northern hemisphere). It is the time that most consider the beginning of spring.
Those who employ the vernal equinox point to Genesis 1:14, claiming that the sun, moon, and stars set the year’s beginning. It is true that the sun divides day from night and inaugurates the seasons by the earth’s tilt, while the new moon sets the beginning of months. Yet, nowhere in the entire Bible can one find that the vernal equinox establishes the first month Abib. Nowhere in the Bible is there even any mention of the vernal equinox. To say that Genesis 1:14 refers to the vernal equinox is reading into Scripture what simply isn’t there.
Passover is related to spring through the growing cycle of crops. First and foremost, it must occur in the month of Abib. And Abib is a condition of grain as much as it is a time of the year.
The King James Version has led some astray in the way it translates moed in Exodus 13:10, Num. 9:2, 3, 7, and 13. The KJV uses “season” in these verses, causing some to believe that the command is specifically for springtime, and therefore must involve the vernal equinox. In reality, the Hebrew moed simply means “set time” or “appointed time.” Yahweh has set Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread by the criteria of ripening crops, not by the vernal equinox.
The vast majority of Jews gradually got away from actively looking for the green ears of barley, going instead by a calculated calendar that involved the vernal equinox. This was done for the sake of convenience. But Yahweh tells us that His growing cycle reveals the proper month for His Feasts. The first month of the year, Abib, means a green ear (of grain), not vernal equinox.
McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 3, p. 13, under Easter states: “Many of the Church fathers are of opinion that, according to the original calculation of the Jews up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the 14th of Nisan had always been after the spring equinox, and that it was only in consequence of a miscalculation of the later Jews that the 14th of Nisan occasionally fell before the equinox. They therefore insisted that the 14th of Nisan, which for both parties within the church determined the time of Easter, should always be after the equinox.
“As the year of Jews is a lunar year, and the 14th of Nisan always a full-moon day, the Christians who adopted the above astronomical view, whenever the 14th of Nisan fell before the equinox, would celebrate the death of [Messiah] one month later than the Jewish Passover.”
Christianity Sets Its Own Rules
Note that the Christian “Church fathers” established their own rules by relying upon the vernal equinox as did the pagans, instead of the green ears of barley as the Bible requires (Deut. 16:1).
Another authority writes, “That the vernal equinox occurred in Nisan [Abib] is attested by Josephus (Ant. 1. x. 5) and also in cuneiform literature (Muss-Arnolt p. 77) Nisan corresponded to the first zodiacal sign (Aries) in which the vernal equinox fell. The sacred year was determined by the annual festivals and the first of these festivals was henceforth fixed by the Passover moon.” “Equinox and the Calendar,” Dictionary of the Bible, James Hastings, p. 765.
Nothing is mentioned here about letting the equinox determine the month of Nisan. The vernal equinox fell within the month of Nisan [Abib] which means the new moon of Nisan came BEFORE the equinox. That is, the new moon came establishing the month of Nisan (Abib), then came the equinox, then the Passover. Therefore, those who insist upon keeping the Feasts a month later are out of harmony with Yahweh’s calendar.
Fausset’s Bible Encyclopedia, under “Year [Hebrew year] reads, “They began it with the new moon nearest to the equinox, yet late enough to allow of the firstfruits of barley harvest being offered about the middle of the first month. So Josephus (Ant. iii. 10,5) states that the Passover was celebrated when the sun was in Aries” (p. 727).
Vernal Equinox and Historic Paganism
When the Roman church deliberately acted to separate Easter from Passover, it ruled in 325 CE in the Council of Nicaea that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This setting of an observance was entirely man-made, and it is appropriate that it applied to a man-made holiday called Easter. The Roman church on its own volition, therefore, bestowed a legitimacy on the vernal equinox as a calendar marker where it had none before – at least not in any kind of biblical context.
That does not mean, however, that the vernal equinox had no significance among historic pagans and their calendars. Note the following:
• “Easter, too, celebrates the victory of a god of light (J-sus) over darkness (death), so it makes sense to place it at this season. Ironically, the name ‘Easter’ was taken from the name of a Teutonic lunar goddess Eostre (from whence we also get the name of the female hormone, estrogen). Her chief symbols were the bunny (both for fertility and because her worshipers saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg (symbolic of the cosmic egg of creation), images which Christians have been hard pressed to explain. Her holiday, the Eostara, was held on the Vernal Equinox Full Moon. Needless to say, the old and accepted folk name for the Vernal Equinox is ‘Lady Day.’ Christians sometimes insist that the title is in honor of Mary and her Annunciation, but Pagans will smile knowingly.” – Lady Day: The Vernal Equinox, by Mike Nichols.
• “The vernal equinox has long been a significant event in the lives of agricultural peoples as it symbolizes nature’s regeneration, fertility, growth and bounty. The word equinox comes from Latin and means ‘equal night’ (Tag- und Nachtgleiche). On this day, night and day each last twelve hours. The Vernal Equinox used to be considered the beginning of the Pagan New Year. It was a time of joy called forth by the resurrection of the ‘Light of the World’ (sun god) from the underworld of the winter, from where he arose to join his goddess Eostre.” –by Ruth Reichmann, Max Kade German-American Center, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis.
• “Babylonians and Assyrians placed greater importance on the Equinoxes than the solstices. The most important festival in Babylonia was the New Year, which occurred at the Spring equinox. This was the akitu, a twelve-day ceremony in which the King, as the son and representative of the divinity, regenerated and synchronized the rhythms of nature, cosmos, and human society.” –Tales of the Vernal Equinox, by Robin DuMolin
• “Modern Pagans also celebrate the universal principle of Resurrection at the Equinox – which is named for Eostre, a Pagan goddess. She is the goddess of Spring to whom the offerings of cake and colored eggs were made at the Vernal Equinox. Rabbits, especially white ones, were sacred to her, and she was believed to take the form of a rabbit. She is also said to be the goddess of the East, that being the direction of rebirth. Since the sun rises in the East, she is linked with the sunrise. Traditional Easter services stem from this association,” Ibid. “Easter is supposed to be derived from Anglo Saxon Eostre, the name of the Norse goddess whose festival is celebrated by the pagans at the vernal equinox.” – A Book About the Bible, George Stimpson, p. 180.
• “Ostara, also known as The Spring or Vernal Equinox, the Festival of Trees, Alban Eilir, Ostara, the Rites of Spring, and the Rites of Eostre, occurs between March 19 and 21 and marks the first day of true Spring. Day and night are equal on this day, hence the name Equinox. It is observed by Pagans throughout the world.” –from The Witches’ Web
• “Pagans revere the G-d and G-ddess through rituals or ceremonies of various kinds. Pagans of the western traditions celebrate eight festivals or Sabbats each year. They comprise the four solar quarters i.e. the two solstices (longest and shortest days) and the two equinoxes (day and night are the same length) plus four Celtic seasonal festivals. All these mark important events in the cycle of life. They are: Ostara (Easter), the spring equinox, 21st March: Return of the sun from the south, springtime proper. Some celebrate a holy union between G-d and G-ddess.” –from What Do Pagans Do?
Vernal Equinox as the ‘Tequphah’?
The argument has been attempted that the vernal equinox corresponds to the Hebrew word “tequphah,” which is found several times in the Bible. The definition of tequphah (Strong’s Concordance No. 8622) is: “A revolution, i.e. of the sun course (of time) lapse: circuit, come about, end.” From the definition, we find it next to impossible to attach any firm connection of tequphah to a spring equinox. The evidence, in fact, points to the end of the year, not the beginning.
The following passages contain the Hebrew word tequphah as well as its meaning, as indicated by the quotation marks:
• Exodus 34:22 (Feast of ingathering at the “year’s end”)
• 2Chron. 24:23 (Syria attacked Judah at the “end of the year”)
• 2Chronicles. 24:23; 36:10 (“end of the year/year was expired”)
Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon defines the tequphah (Strong’s No. 8622) as: “coming round, circuit;–Ex. 34:22, adv., at the circuit (completion) of the year, so 2Chron. 24:23= pl. cstr. 1Sam. 1:20; sig. Sf. Of finished circuit of sun.” p. 880. This source says about the root of tequphah: No. 5362 naqaph: 1. An intransitive verb meaning to surround something… (Isa. 29:1, let feasts go around, i.e. run the round (of the year). 2. make the round, i.e. complete the circuit. Job 1:5 when the days of feasting had completed their circuit.
The closest we have in the Hebrew to spring as a season is 6779, tsamach, a primitive root meaning to sprout, bear, bring forth, bud, grow, cause to spring (forth, up). Yahweh again reveals that the time for His Feasts is based on the growing of crops, not to the vernal equinox.
Ancient Israelites were farmers and herders, not astronomers. It stands to reason that Yahweh would zero in on their crops as a starting point for their annual Feast calendar. The calculated calendar does not work with the command to give Yahweh the firstfruits.
Yahweh’s Calendar v. Jewish Calendar
Let’s sum up the differences between what Yahweh said about keeping time and what the Jews of today do with the calculated Jewish calendar.
• Yahweh said begin the year with Abib when crops are green and growing. Jews begin with Ethanim in the autumn.
• Yahweh said begin Abib by checking the barley crop. Jews check the date of the vernal equinox and add hours.
• Yahweh said begin months by sighting the crescent moon. Jews calculate from a molad (invisible conjunction).
• Yahweh said nothing about not putting two Sabbaths back-to-back.Jews create postponement rules.
• The rules laid down by Yahweh automatically adjust for what’s going on in the solar system.
The Jews’ calculations have built-in errors that must sooner or later be corrected. Yahweh never said that months should be 29 days long or 30 days long or
any exact number of days.He said new moon to new moon was a month, Isaiah 66:23. Yahweh never said how many months were in a year, either – just that they started with new moons, Ezekiel 45:17-18. The words for “molad” or “equinox” or even spring, when used as a season, do not appear in the Bible.
The critical difference between the biblical calendar and the calculated Jewish calendar is that they produce different days for observing the feasts. One is correct, the other is wrong. One obeys Yahweh, the other does not.
Keeping this in mind, let’s look at the major reasons offered by some for using the calculated Jewish calendar to determine feast days and times, and their counter-arguments.
• Yahweh committed the oracles to the Jews and we should follow their lead.
This argument comes from the Apostle Paul’s writings to the Romans. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of Yahweh” (Romans 3:1-2). What were the “oracles”? The proponents of the calculated Jewish calendar include the rules for calendar-making in these oracles – but that logic could include anything they added, including the Talmud.In Acts 7:38 the same Greek word for “oracles” is used – (No. 3051), where it says, “This is he (Moses), that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us.” Here oracles refers to the law given Moses on Mt. Sinai.The oracles or laws were all given to all of Israel as is recorded in Deuteronomy, not just to the Levites or to any one tribe.
•The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat, so we must obey them.
This argument comes from Yahshua’s words in Matthew 23:1-3: “Then spake Yahshua to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not.” According to Yahshua, this metaphor means they read the law to the people on the Sabbaths, just as Moses transmitted the law.Reading the law and doing what it says are two different things, as Yahshua pointed out, but this argument usually omits the part about “do notafter their works: for they say, and do not.” Someone who says one thing and does another is a hypocrite. Did Yahshua follow the Pharisees’ interpretation of when the Passover should be observed (remember, they kept the Passover on the 15th)? Clearly He did not.
•The Jewish calendar is a complicated calendar, and although the rules for its construction are not given in the Bible, the Levites were given these rules in order for them to relay correct dates to the people.
That the calculated Jewish calendar is complicated is true.Its rules are not in the Bible, and it should not be logically concluded from this that they were given orally to the Levites. If the Levites were given the correct rules for calculating the Jewish calendar, then why do their calculation tables today use a solar year that is 365.25 days long? That figure is about eleven minutes longer than the solar year really is. Also, the 19-year cycle is longer than 19 solar years by over two hours.
If Yahweh gave the Levites the rules, why did He not also tell them the correct value for the mean length of a solar year, and also give them rules to adjust the cycle to prevent future problems with the months and the seasons, like adding a periodic 13th month? Why would a perfect Creator give us imperfect rules? And why would He have told only the Levites something so important? In just about every instance, when Yahweh spoke to Moses, He started out with a phrase something like, “Say to the house of Jacob,” or “Tell the people of Israel,” or “Speak unto the children of Israel.” If you read the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, where the feast requirements are laid down, this is particularly true.There is no place in the Bible that says that Yahweh told Moses to tell the Levites to in turn tell the people something.
Turn to Deuteronomy 1:3.Here, just before the people were to cross over the Jordan and into the Promised Land, Moses made his farewell speech to the Israelites. “And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that Yahweh had given him in commandment unto them.” Notice that he was not talking to the Levites alone, but to all the Israelites. Also notice the word “all” in this verse.It is the Hebrew kole, Strong’s 3605, “from 3634; properly the whole; hence all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):—(in) all (manner, [ye]), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, [no-] thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso (-ever).” The root word (3634) means, “to complete, make perfect.” The verse does not say Moses withheld words for the Levites’ ears alone.
In chapter 16 verse 1 of this book is the commandment for observing the moon of Abib, to keep the Passover. It is very significant that Moses gathered every tribe together and explained again everything they needed to know before possessing the land. No one tribe or person was to have this knowledge exclusively. They all started out equally in the Promised Land. They would not be able to blame any other person or tribe for their mistakes.
•Not everything Yahweh taught the Levites is recorded in the Bible.
It seems logical that Yahweh could have said and done things not recorded in the Bible. But is it logical that Yahweh would have omitted something so important to His worship, depending only on the instructions of a special group to relay His requirements? He never did that with any of His other instructions and commands.
•Postponements are not condemned in the Bible; the calculated Jewish calendar does not violate one Scripture.
In Deuteronomy Moses was making his wrap-up speech to the Israelites before they parted.Read Deuteronomy 4:2: “You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh Elohim which I command you.” See also Revelation 22:18-19. If we are told not to add anything to the Word, and doing so changes the very day a Feast is observed, and as a result I am cut off from my people, it is clear I have violated something in the Scripture.
• The Bible does not define what a new moon is, so we are not instructed how to watch for the new moon.
This argument is made in support of substituting the astronomical conjunction for the actual sighting of the new moon.
Let’s look again at Deuteronomy 16:1, paraphrased as closely to the Hebrew meanings as Strong’s dictionary allows. “Look narrowly for the new moon of the green ears of grain and keep the Passover.” Once again, Moses was speaking to all of Israel here. He told them to look for the new moon of Abib. He did not tell them to check with the Levites about molads. A molad (conjunction) as we have already learned, is when the moon is exactly between the earth and the sun. This argument substitutes the molad, a moon you cannot see, for the new moon crescent, which you can.
Imagine a desert-dwelling shepherd from the tribe of Dan trying to figure out when the molad of Abib would occur!He definitely would not have “looked narrowly for” a dark moon that he could not possibly see! Saying that we were not instructed in how to look for a new moon is ridiculous. Saying we are to look for a black moon is ludicrous.To equate the words “new moon” to “molad” is even more ridiculous. If I asked you to observe my “new car,” and I pointed to an empty parking space, what would you think? Apply the same logic to the phrase “new moon” and then go out and try to spot the conjunction. It’s impossible.
The biblical calendar can be projected, but it is confirmed only by observation of barley and the new moons. Just as Yahweh planned when He created the “lights” in the sky, Genesis 1:14, we are to establish His appointed times (moed) by the monthly lunar cycle and tostart at that particular time of year when the sun causes barley to grow and begin to produce grain in the ear.
When we follow the scriptural calendar, all the complications that calculated calendars try to overcome just disappear. And we rest assured that we are observing the days Yahweh commands – at the proper time He commands them.
All of Yahweh’s seven annual Feasts or moedim (appointments) revolve around the harvest cycle of cereal grains and other produce. This is clear with the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, which occur at the barley harvest (Ex. 9:31). Then comes the Feast of Firstfruits, also known as Pentecost in the New Testament. This special time occurs seven weeks after Unleavened Bread and represents the firstfruits of the wheat harvest made into two loaves of bread that were waved (Lev. 23:17). Then in the seventh month we come to the Feast of Tabernacles, otherwise known as the Feast of “Ingathering.” (Ex. 23:16). Tabernacles represents the general harvest at the close of the growing cycle when everything is “gathered in”– from grains to vegetables, melons, nuts, and fruit.
Clearly, the various harvests are central to Yahweh’s Feasts and are key to them like nothing else is. The harvests prophetically point to the harvest of souls in Yahweh’s great salvation plan — from the firstfruits, which indicate His first chosen people, to the general harvest of souls later. Even the first month of the sacred year is named Abib, which in Hebrew means “tender, green ears.” The “ears” refer to barley grain, the only grain mature enough at the time of the Passover to be green and in the head (Ex. 9:31, “And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled” [bolled=podded, BDB No. 1392, Heb.gibol]. “32: But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.). Therefore, Yahweh says, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you,” Exodus 12:2. “This day came you out in the month Abib,” Exodus 13:4.
The state of the crops, especially the barley and flax grain, is the only criterion that Yahweh gives for establishing the timing of the first month of the year. Nothing in the Bible explains how to establish the first month of the year in any other fashion than the developing green ears of barley grain.
In the spirit of maturing crops, we are to establish and observe the first month – when the barley grain is green, Leviticus 23:14 (note the words “parched” meaning roasted, and “green”). Baking or parching the green barley dried it. This was not ripe barley, it was young and green barley. We cannot establish Abib if the barley head is not developed or if the barley seed is dry, ripe, yellow and ready to harvest; by then it would be too late. The barley must be green and this occurs in a specific month.
Can I Look in My Locale?
Can we look at the barley crop growing in our own vicinity to establish Abib? Naturally we will find a difference of many weeks between barley that is ripening in southern Texas and barley that is growing in North Dakota. The same is true of barley that may be grown in Brazil compared with the grain growing in Russia. Seasons are opposite on either side of the equator. Therefore, whether a small or a great difference in distance, Abib would occur at widely varying times depending on where one lives.
The only way to reconcile this discrepancy in growing seasons is to look at the barley that is grown in or around Israel. It was to people living in that area of the world that Yahweh gave the command to keep the Passover and Feast during the green ear month of Abib. It is that area of the world that will give us the proper and accurate time of maturing barley, when Yahweh commanded Israel to keep the first month.
Interestingly, barley originated in the Mediterranean region. How appropriate, then, that we look at the barley maturing in Israel, and not barley grown in North Dakota, Texas, or Australia to establish Abib.
What About 1999?
Two different sources confirmed that the barley had green ears in the head by wave sheaf time in Israel this year, or April 4. One report claims the barley was green even by March 18. Not believing these reports and choosing to rely on barley growing in the United States, some observed Passover on April 29 this year, making the wave sheaf day May 2.
The law provides that the wave sheaf be of the firstfruits of the barley. Whatever barley field produced green ears first, from that crop the wave sheaf was taken. Once the wave sheaf was offered to Yahweh, the harvest could begin. Harvesting of barley typically begins in early April near Jericho and in early May in the mountains around Jerusalem.
We find a serious flaw with the keeping of an April 29 Passover and a May 2 wave sheaf this year based on barley:
The firstfruits barley would have been past Abib stage by May 2. In other words, these would not be “green” ears, but brown, ripe ears. Agriculturalists maintain that only a couple of weeks elapse between the time of barley green ears and mature and yellowing ripe ears. Therefore, waiting an additional FOUR more weeks would be far too long for green-ear firstfruits.
Note this astounding report about barley grown in the Middle East, from the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges(Exodus 9, p. 76): “In Egypt, according to a farmer living in the Delta (cited by W.R. Smith, Journal of Phil. xii. 300), flax blossoms and barley ripens in Jan.; but, he adds, the seasons vary, and so the travellers cited by Kn. mention mostly Feb.: wheat and spelt are ripe, in any case, about a month later.”
In light of this information, the argument that an April 4 wave sheaf was too early to be seen in Israel this year has no validity whatsoever.
The explanation of why only the barley and flax were damaged by the plague of hail in Egypt (Ex. 9:31) brings up an important confirmation point many miss: “…for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.” “Bolled” is from the Hebrew gibol and means swollen, podded, in the bud. Therefore, one can use the flax as a second witness to the month of Abib if the flax shows to be in the pod at that time.
Why Not Use the Vernal Equinox?
Some ignore barley altogether and set Abib 1 according to the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox is that instant when the sun is directly above the earth’s equator while going from the south to the north (for inhabitants of the northern hemisphere). It is the time that most people take as the definition of the beginning of spring.”
Those who employ the vernal equinox point to Genesis 1:14, claiming that the sun, moon, and stars set the Feasts. It is true that the sun divides day from night and establishes the seasons, while the new moon sets the beginning of months. Yet, nowhere in the entire Bible can one find where the vernal equinox establishes Abib. We can go even further and say unequivocally that nowhere in the Bible is there even any mention of the vernal equinox. To say that Genesis 1:14 refers to the vernal equinox is reading into Scripture what isn’t there.
Passover is related to spring through the growing cycle of crops. First and foremost, it must occur in the month of Abib. And Abib is a condition of grain as much as it is a time of the year. The King James Version has led some astray in the way it translates moed inExodus 13:10, Num. 9:2, 3, 7, and 13. The KJV uses “season” in these verses, causing some to believe that the command is specifically for springtime, and therefore must involve the vernal equinox. In reality, the Hebrew moed simply means “set time” or “appointed time.” Yahweh has set Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread by the criteria of the crops, not by a purely astronomical reckoning known as the vernal equinox.
The vast majority of Jews gradually got away from actually looking for the green ears of barley, going instead by a calculated calendar that involved the vernal equinox. This was done for the sake of convenience. But Yahweh tells us that His growing cycle reveals the proper month for His Feasts.
Vernal Equinox and Historic Paganism
When the Roman church deliberately acted to separate Easter from Passover, it ruled in 325 CE in the Council of Nicaea that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This setting of an observance was entirely man-made, and appropriately applied to a man-made holiday called Easter. The Roman church on its own volition, therefore, bestowed a legitimacy on the vernal equinox as a calendar marker where it had none before — at least not in any kind of Biblical context.
That does not mean, however, that the vernal equinox had no significance among historic pagans and their calendars. Note the following:
“Easter, too, celebrates the victory of a god of light (J-sus) over darkness (death), so it makes sense to place it at this season. Ironically, the name ‘Easter’ was taken from the name of a Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre (from whence we also get the name of the female hormone, estrogen). Her chief symbols were the bunny (both for fertility and because her worshipers saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg (symbolic of the cosmic egg of creation), images which Christians have been hard pressed to explain. Her holiday, the Eostara, was held on the Vernal Equinox Full Moon. Needless to say, the old and accepted folk name for the Vernal Equinox is ‘Lady Day.’ Christians sometimes insist that the title is in honor of Mary and her Annunciation, but Pagans will smile knowingly.” — Lady Day: The Vernal Equinox, by Mike Nichols.
“The vernal equinox has long been a significant event in the lives of agricultural peoples as it symbolizes nature’s regeneration, fertility, growth and bounty. The word equinox comes from Latin and means “equal night” (Tag- und Nachtgleiche). On this day, night and day each last twelve hours. The Vernal Equinox used to be considered the beginning of the Pagan New Year. It was a time of joy called forth by the resurrection of the “Light of the World” (sun god) from the underworld of the winter, from where he arose to join his goddess Eostre.”– by Ruth Reichmann, Max Kade German-American Center, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis.
“Babylonians and Assyrians placed greater importance on the Equinoxes than the solstices. The most important festival in Babylonia was the New Year, which occurred at the Spring equinox. This was the akitu, a twelve-day ceremony in which the King, as the son and representative of the divinity, regenerated and synchronized the rhythms of nature, cosmos, and human society.”–Tales of the Vernal Equinox, by Robin DuMolin
“Modern Pagans also celebrate the universal principle of Resurrection at the Equinox – which is named for Eostre, a Pagan goddess. She is the goddess of Spring to whom the offerings of cake and colored eggs were made at the Vernal Equinox. Rabbits, especially white ones, were sacred to her, and she was believed to take the form of a rabbit. She is also said to be the goddess of the East, that being the direction of rebirth. Since the sun rises in the East, she is linked with the sunrise. Traditional Easter services stem from this association.” Ibid o “Easter is supposed to be derived from Anglo Saxon Eostre, the name of the Norse goddess whose festival is celebrated by the pagans at the vernal equinox.” — A Book About the Bible, George Stimpson, p. 180.
“Ostara, also known as The Spring or Vernal Equinox, the Festival of Trees, Alban Eilir, Ostara, the Rites of Spring, and the Rites of Eostre, occurs between March 19 and 21 and marks the first day of true Spring. Day and night are equal on this day, hence the name Equinox. It is observed by Pagans throughout the world.” — from The Witches’ Web
Pagans revere the G-d and G-ddess through rituals or ceremonies of various kinds. Pagans of the western traditions celebrate eight festivals or Sabbats each year. They comprise the four solar quarters i.e. the two solstices (longest and shortest days) and the two equinoxes (day and night are the same length) plus four Celtic seasonal festivals. All these mark important events in the cycle of life. They are: Ostara (Easter), the spring equinox, 21st March: Return of the sun from the south, springtime proper. Some celebrate a holy union between G-d and G-ddess.– from What Do Pagans Do?
Vernal Equinox as the ‘Tequphah’?
The argument has been attempted that the vernal equinox corresponds to the Hebrew word “tequphah,” which is found several times in the Bible. The definition of tequphah (Strong’s ConcordanceNo. 8622) is: “A revolution, i.e. of the sun course (of time) lapse: circuit, come about, end.” From the definition, we find it next to impossible to attach any firm connection of tequphah to a spring equinox. The evidence, in fact, points to the end of the year, not the beginning.
The following passages contain the Hebrew word tequphah as well as its meaning, as indicated by the quotation marks:
Exodus 34:22 (Feast of ingathering at the “year’s end”)
2Chron. 24:23 (Syria attacked Judah at the “end of the year”)
Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon defines the tequphah (Strong’s No. 8622) as: “coming round, circuit;–Ex. 34:22, adv., at the circuit (completion) of the year, so 2Chron. 24:23= pl. cstr. 1Sam. 1:20; sig. Sf. Of finished circuit of sun.” p. 880
Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon says about the root of tequphah, No. 5362 naqaph: 1. An intransitive verb meaning to surround something… (Isa. 29:1, let feasts go around, i.e. run the round (of the year). 2. make the round, i.e. complete the circuit. Job 1:5 when the days of feasting had completed their circuit.
The closest we have in the Hebrew to spring as a season is 6779, tsamach, a primitive root meaning to sprout, bear, bring forth, bud, grow, cause to spring (forth, up). Yahweh again reveals that the time for His Feasts is attached to the growing of crops, not to the vernal equinox.
If all truth seekers would realize that the Feasts have profound significance in the plan of Almighty Yahweh, and that His year as well as His Feasts are closely tied to the harvest, then greater truth would be known and Yahweh and His salvation plan for man would be far better understood.
Significant lessons about Yahweh’s plan and your life can be found in the Passover and Feast.
Seeking signs and wonders to get closer to Yahweh and His Word is not the way to acquire more Bible truth leading to life everlasting. Yet, that is how thousands believe they can find salvation.
When True Worshipers do great miracles they will not flaunt their successes or sing their own praises on television or radio. Scripture plainly tells us, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Prov. 27:2).
Unholy “miracles” will be so convincing, however, that even the very elect would come close to being deceived, said our Savior inMatthew 24:24. Signs and wonders by themselves are not absolute proof, and He warned that they can in fact be Satan’s masterful deceptions. Acts 3:20-21 foretells of a return to Bible truth in the days before the appearance of the Messiah. “And he shall send Yahshua the Messiah, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Elohim has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
We at YRM are dedicated to returning to the teachings and practices of Yahshua and the Apostles that have been neglected for 2,000 years. Truth is much more than an emotional response to miracles and great acts of wonder, healings, and unexplained phenomena. It involves changing lives to conform to the life of Yahshua the Messiah.
Bibles Everywhere Go Unread
The abrupt return to the message of the Bible will likely be brought about by some significant event or discovery that will verify the truths of the Book that the world in general ignores. Most homes in this country have at least one Bible and most all public libraries have multiple copies of the Bible. But the general population is ignorant of the Scriptures that reveal to man the very mind of Almighty Yahweh. Something will occur that will call worldwide attention to this Book of books.
It may be that more revelations unearthed in archaeological digs will attract even greater interest in the Bible. There could likely be more fascinating bits of information soon coming to light that will reveal facts about the dark period of history following the first hundred years after the Savior’s ascension to the heavens.
Very little is known about the second century following the days of the Messiah. Yet it was during this time that truth became corrupted and the early assembly became infused with heresies and paganism that would put the early “church” on an entirely different course.
Passover’s Revelations
Serious students of the Bible know that Passover was not something that just happened in Egypt. It was foretold and foreordained long before by Yahweh Himself. Passover is the beginning of the seven annual festal observances given to mankind by our Almighty Creator.
In the creation account in Genesis we read of the preparation that Yahweh made for Passover and the ensuing Feasts. “And Elohim 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 seasons [Hebrew = moed), and for days, and years” (Gen. 1:14).
The Hebrew “moed” means appointed times. Yahweh has set aside certain time periods throughout the year when He meets with His people. Many are unaware of these appointed times because churchianity has ignored them and left them untaught.
But to understand Passover and the other annual appointed days is to uncover our great Creator’s master design recorded for us in the Scriptures.
A Promise to Abraham
Abram is called the Father of the faithful. The Bible focuses on him and his family. It follows his progeny not only in the Book of Genesis but also through the entirety of the Old Testament in the history of fleshly Israelites. In fact, the New Testament continues with the spiritual seed, the “called-out” spiritual Israelites. This fundamental truth, very basic to the Scriptures, is unknown by most today.
Abram lived in the worldly city of Ur in ancient Babylon. Ur means “moon-city” and was a great cosmopolitan center where worship of many deities and pagan teachings flourished. “Now Yahweh had said unto Abram, Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto a land that I will shew you” (Gen. 12:1).
Then follows the wonderful promise made to Abraham of making his progeny a great nation, filled with blessings, and in him all families of the earth would be blessed. Abram obeyed and departed with Lot his nephew, Genesis 12:2-4.
Paul writes in Galatians 3:8 that this was the evangel that was first preached on earth. Many preachers imply the “gospel” is the New Testament teaching as opposed to the Old Testament’s teaching of Law and sacrifices. But Paul said the “gospel” began back with faithful Abram.
The blessings that would come through Abraham and his seed included the Israelite families, Moses the Law-giver and Yahshua the Messiah, Savior of the world. This is the true “Evangel” and is taught from Genesis to Revelation.
Passover, Abraham, and Israel
Passover was not just an event that occurred in Egypt and just “happened” to be in the spring. It was foretold at least 400 years before that, and indications are that other events took place that were forerunners of these later occurrences. When Abram left Haran, he took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and “all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.” Abram left Haran, the city of Ur of the Chaldees (called the city of the moon-deity) with his wife and nephew, along with their servants who were sheep-herders and cattlemen.
Some 400 years later the Israelites left Ramses of Egypt on Abib fifteen (Num. 33:3) and started for the Promised Land with all their goods and families, including a “mixed multitude,” Numbers 11.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that Abram left Ur the very same day, the fifteenth of Abib, arriving at Shechem on the Feast of weeks, Genesis 12:6-7. There he built an altar unto Yahweh. Some scholars understand that the places where Abram stopped signify annual Feast days: Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles.
Amazing Parallels
Genesis 12:20 tells of Abram, with his family, being thrust out of Egypt, just as were the Israelites 430 years later, Exodus 12:33. Both were increased with wealth as they left Egypt. Furthermore, Yahshua Himself was taken to Egypt and then was called out of there also: “When [Joseph} arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of Yahweh by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matt. 2:14-15).
When Yahweh introduces His Covenant to Israel, note how He describes Himself: “I [am] Yahweh your Elohim, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Ex. 20:2). Not only did Yahweh bring Abram out of Egypt, Israel out of Egypt, and Yahshua out of Egypt, but through His Word He is also calling YOU out of the Egypt of this world! He is asking you to forsake the ways of the world and take up His way of life and follow in the footsteps of His pattern Son Who also was brought out of Egypt.
We may not all be the fleshly seed of Abraham, the “dust of the earth” (Gen. 13: 16), but we certainly strive to be the spiritual Israelites, the celestial “stars of the heavens” (Gen. 15:5). This we can be if we keep His Commandments and have the faith of Yahshua, Revelation 14:12. This includes observing the Feast days of Leviticus 23.
When Yahweh made the Covenant with Abram in Genesis 12, He emphasized that He was Yahweh and that Abram’s seed would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and afflicted 400 years.“And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:41). The Israelites were not made slaves immediately; it took some time, likely a period of 30 years. Over this time the situation had changed. Joseph had died, and the Hyksos (“foreign rulers”) who knew not Joseph took over rulership of Egypt, Exodus 1:8.
Significantly, prophecy was fulfilled to the very day—the same day Abram left Ur and the Israelites left Egypt!
Spring and the Passover
Passover marks the beginning of the Annual Holy Days in Yahweh’s program for mankind. It comes in the spring of the year. Passover always falls on the fourteenth of the month Abib (Hebrew,meaning “green ears” of barley grain). Abib begins the year in Yahweh’s plan when the northern hemisphere comes to life again after the winter season.
The grass greens, the trees bud and the leaves and fruit follow. The birds build their nests, animals are born, and the warming sun stirs the earth to life once again. Yahweh established spring to begin the new year, not January in the dead of cold winter.
The Feast Before Sinai
Yahweh’s plan for the redemption of mankind began with Abram. Abram was chosen by Yahweh and told to leave his family, leave his friends, leave the land he knew, and he would be shown a new homeland. Yet he would be a stranger in the land as he continued to seek the heavenly Jerusalem, Hebrews 11:8-10.
Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread had special significance for Abraham. Genesis 18 describes him as sitting in the tent door among the oaks of Mamre. When three celestial beings appeared, he recognized one of them as Yahweh Himself! Abraham quickly told Sarah to make unleavened cakes while he fetched a young calf and fed his guests; Genesis 18:6-8.
The Book of Judges tells of Gideon also preparing unleavened cakes for the Angel of Yahweh who appeared to him, Judges 6: 19. The appointed times (Hebrew: moedim) are a special time when Yahweh has met with His people and will commune in the future.
Isaac is promised to be born of Sarah at “this set time” (moed) in the next year, Genesis 17 :21. The promise is given to Abraham that this Being (Yahweh) will return “according to the time of life” (Gen. 18:10), which is understood to mean in spring, when the earth comes to life.
The promise is repeated in .Genesis 18:14, “the time of life”is the Passover season and days of Unleavened Bread.
When the two angels continued to Sodom, Lot met them and baked unleavened bread for them, Genesis 19:1-3. Lot’s family was taken out of Sodom and protected while the sinful city was destroyed by fire and brimstone.
Some 400 years later the land of Egypt was stricken with 10 plagues, each of which was directed against specific deities of Egypt. Yahweh showed that He is more powerful than all the deities of Egypt. The blood on the doors of the Israelites protected them while the Egyptian firstborn were slain.
Israel was brought out of Egypt, while Pharaoh and his armies—who were in the worldly opposition—were destroyed in the Red Sea.
Significant Season
We see a pattern here. Spring is the time when the earth comes back to life in this northern hemisphere. It is the time when Sodom and the sister cities were destroyed and only Lot and his family were led out of harm’s way. Neither Sodom nor Egypt could interfere with Yahweh’s plan for His people.
Abraham’s son Isaac was born to him at this time of year, Genesis 21:2. Passover season is the starting point of our walk with Yahweh. We accept the shed blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Then we keep seven days of unleavened bread therewith (in addition to Passover), Deuteronomy 16:3. We feed on the “Bread of Life” seven more days, learning of Him and walking in His ways. We overcome the temptations and meet the trials of life and help others along the way.
Spring is a time of coming alive. Just as the foliage brings forth fruit, we are to bear much fruit. The Feast of Tabernacles in the fall of the year is the time for the ingathering of fruit and symbolizes the coming Millennial Kingdom with Yahshua ruling with a rod of iron, Revelation 2:26-27.
Watching What We Ingest
Passover begins on Abib 14. Paul cautioned us not to gorge ourselves at this time, but to take a token amount of the fruit of the vine, and a token amount of unleavened bread as a memorial of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood.
Then follow the seven days of Unleavened Bread where we examine all the doctrines we believe, making certain all are based on the Bible and not teachings of men. It is much like a spring housecleaning. We cannot partake of the emblems of the Saviour’s death and continue our sinful ways.
Unleavened Bread reminds us to check everything we eat to make certain it is proper food for the remnant of Israel. We become “label-readers” as we confirm the food we take is in accord with Yahweh’s Word. In a spiritual sense we are to do the same thing. We are to verify that those things we believe are not leavened with “hypocrisy or formalism; erroneous doctrine or teachings; political religion or worldliness,” as noted in Dr. Bullinger’s Bible comments on leaven, page 1338.
If you have not kept the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread, we urge you to seek Yahweh’s truth seriously. Start calling on Yahshua’s Name, the only name in Scripture that promises salvation, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Choice Is Yours Now
Yahweh is still working with His people, calling certain ones out of the world to keep the days that He Himself ordained. These annual observances will be kept and taught in the Millennial Kingdom, Ezekiel 45:21-25; Zechariah 14:16-18; Hosea 12:9. They were never abolished, and neither are they just for Jews.
One can elect to keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths in this life, learning what to do, when to do it, and have a closer walk now with the Savior. Remember, He also kept these days in His earthlysojourn. He likely will return at the time of one of Yahweh’s sacred appointments (moedim) at the sound of the trumpet, 1Thessalonians 4:16.
Become a part of the kingdom of priests who will be teaching others in the sovereignty of Yahweh (Rev. 5:10; 20:6). Those who resist will be forced to keep these days in the kingdom under severe penalties. You have a choice now. Choose life by obeying Yahweh and conforming to His Word.
Israel was commanded to observe the special days listed in Leviticus 23, which included the weekly Sabbath as well as the seven annual Sabbaths. Significantly, these times are for many more people than just Israel. The Feasts will be kept by everyone worldwide in the coming Millennial kingdom. It’s no wonder— Yahweh commanded them forever.
In addition, Exodus 12 speaks of a special night to be observed. Notice: “It [is] a night to be much observed unto Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this [is] that night of Yahweh to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations” (Ex. 12:42). The Jewish Tanakh reads a bit differently: “That was for [Yahweh] a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night [Yahweh’s], one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages.”
A Night to Leave?
Some have understood this verse to mean that the night to be much observed was the night Israel left Rameses in Egypt to begin their trek to the Promised Land. That is, the beginning of the 15th of Abib, the High Sabbath, the first of the days of Unleavened Bread.
The setting sun, which ended Abib 14, saw all Israel gathered at Rameses with all their belongings, their livestock, and all their family including children and the aged. This first High Sabbath was to be a memorial for leaving Egypt. They were prepared for the march to the Promised Land. The last day of Unleavened Bread is marked by the Israelites’ crossing over the Red Sea and being completely free of Egypt. Thus, the seven days of Unleavened Bread memorialize Israel’s exit from bondage.
The Israelites kept Passover properly at the beginning of the 14th just after the setting sun, doing so until the captivity.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica reads, “The Feast of Passover consists of two parts: the Passover Ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally, both parts existed separately, but at the beginning of the exile they were combined” (Vol. 13, “Passover,” p. 169).
Today the Jews keep a Seder service with the family at home on the 14th of Abib, and on the beginning of the 15th they gather at the synagogue to observe what they call “Passover” on the first day of Unleavened Bread.
Israel left Egypt by night the next night after Passover, Deuteronomy 16: 1. The first annual Sabbath during Unleavened Bread commemorates leaving Egypt. However, the verses dealing with this first high Sabbath nowhere mention a special night of watching, or a vigil during normal hours of sleep. Nor do we find examples of Yahweh’s people remembering this preservation-night of Yahweh.
Preservation and Beginning
Just as ancient Israel kept vigil the night the destroying angel was about, Yahweh’s people were to observe a night of vigil on Passover night as well. Evidence is clear that the Passover night is the “night much to be remembered.”
Keil and Delitzsch agree that this speaks of Passover night, and state, “Because [Yahweh] had preserved the children of Israel that night from the destroyer, it was to be holy to them, i.e. to be kept by them in all future ages to the glory of [Yahweh], as a preservation” (Old Testament Commentaries).
A brief review of the situation will help us gain a deeper perspective of this momentous occasion.
This event is really the birth of the nation of Israel. The first three plagues came upon everyone in the land of Egypt. Yahweh sequestered the land of Goshen (where the Israelites were) from Egypt. Henceforth Israelites were not affected by any more than the three plagues.
The Israelites had been told to take a yearling from their flock and kill it at the going down (Heb. bo) of the sun, ending the day. At sunset the 13th ended, and the next day, Passover, the 14th began.
Throughout Goshen preparations for the Passover were well under way. The lamb had been set aside since the 10th of that month. Firewood collections and roasting pits were ready. Some of the Israelites with small families arranged to join neighbors,Exodus 12:1-4.
The lambs were killed between the evenings (of sunset and dark) and the blood collected in a basin and smeared on both the lintel and doorposts. The lamb was then roasted whole over the glowing coals in the pit already prepared.
Several hours later the blackened carcass of the lamb was placed on the table in their houses as the Israelites gathered to eat of its flesh with unleavened bread.
Everything was done hurriedly, with trepidation and fear. At midnight the destroying angel would come and kill all unprotected firstborn of the land, both man and beast.
They WOULD Remember!
The night of the Passover was a very solemn, somber night of abject fear and trembling. The Israelites knew judgment was coming and were praying they would be “passed over” by the destroying angel and allowed to survive the night. Huddled in their houses, the Israelites prayerfully trusted that the destroying angel would see the blood at their door and spare them by “passing over” their houses.
Sleep was hard to come by that Passover night because of the anguished cries in many Egyptian houses upon discovering their dead firstborn. All Israelites were warned to remain within the protection of their blood-marked houses the entire night. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning,” (Ps.30:5).
What a night to remember!
The “Watch” Word
The command we wish to focus upon is found in Exodus 12:42:
“It [is] a night to be much observed (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance No. 8107) unto Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this [is] that night of Yahweh to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” Strong’s No. 8107 isshimmur, from No. 8104; an observance. Strong’s says of No. 8104 shamar: “A prim. root; prop. to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e.guard; gen. to protect, attend to, etc.: -beware, be circumspect, take heed, keep, mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save, sure, wait, watch.” Clearly the meaning is watchings.
The Tanakh on Exodus 12:42 reads, “That was for [Yahweh] a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is [Yahweh’s], one of vigil for all the children of lsrael throughout the ages.”
The Passover night’s activities made up the key events leading to the release of Israel from Egypt. It is much observed because it was the death of the firstborn that caused Pharaoh to release Yahweh’s people, bringing them out of Egypt.
Watching at Passover in the New Testament
Following the celebration of the Passover with His disciples, the Savior went with His disciples to Gethsemane to pray. It was the night of the Passover. “And when they had sung a Psalm, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Mat. 26:30). It was the custom at Passover to sing the Great Hallel (“praise”), Psalms 113 to 118.
When they came to Gethsemane, the Savior asked the disciples to sit there while He went a bit further with Peter, James and John to pray. He then says to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry here, and watch with Me” (Mat. 26:38).
Then we read, “And He came unto the disciples, and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, What, could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat. 26:40-41).
This happened three times. Yahshua expected His disciples to stay awake and watch with Him. But instead they slept.
Was it not on this night, the 14th, when ancient Israel had been afraid to go to sleep while the destroying angel was going about Egypt slaying all the firstborn of man and beast?
How fitting that the Savior should ask His disciples to watch with Him so they could recall at a later time the agony He went through in preparing for the excruciating ordeal and the final victory that followed.
Be Awake, Alert
The underlying Greek word translated “watch” in both the Complete Biblical Library (CBL)and Strong’sis gregoreo, (CBL No. 1121) and (No. 1127 in Strong’s, from No. 1453). The word means to be vigilant and wide awake; to be alert: be or stay awake, to keep awake, be alert, i.e. watch. It is translated be vigilant, awake, be watchful.
Yahshua wanted His disciples to be alert and watchful that night after they celebrated the Passover. It was the same night some 2,000 years earlier that Israel kept vigilant all night, fearing the destroying angel. It was a night much to be remembered, for on this night the world under Satan thought it had triumphed by taking prisoner “Yahweh’s Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.”
Instead, the Jewish authorities and the Romans played right into Yahweh’s hand. Within twelve hours He would be nailed to the tree at Calvary and put to death.
People, People Everywhere
A question arises as to why there were so many prominent people about this late on Passover night. Was it only because there was a scheme afoot to get rid of the Nazarene? Or was there another reason that even the young damsels were up and about? Notice the Bible’s account:
• “Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, you also were with Yahshua of Galile.” (Mat. 26:69).
• “And when he [Peter] was gone out into the porch, another [maid} saw him, and said unto them that were there, This [fellow] was also with Yahshua of Nazareth” (Mat. 26:71).
• “And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there came one of the maids of the high priest: And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And you also were with Yahshua of Nazareth” (Mark 14:66-67).
• “And a maid saw him [Peter] again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is [one] of them” (Mark 14:69).
• “But a certain maid beheld him [Peter] as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with Him” (Luke 22:56).
• “And after a little while another saw him, and said, You are also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not” (Luke 22:58).
• “Then said the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Are not you also [one] of this man’s disciples? He said, I am no” (John 18:17). It is apparent that this was an extraordinary night.
Why Were Young Girls Out Late?
John 18: 16-17 shows that young girls were up and about, even the responsible porter (one who kept charge of the door of the palace of the high priest). Why were these young girls up at this time of a chilly night?
Why the one charged with keeping the door of the high priest was still up we can perhaps understand. But what about the others? The Savior had just celebrated the Passover with His disciples some 12 hours earlier and had asked them to keep a vigil while He prayed.
Was this not the shimmurim, the night of watchings?
Customarily those observing Passover would stay awake all night long. Many would sing songs to keep awake out of respect for those ancient Israelites who had huddled in their houses in Egypt for fear of the destroying angel.
Whenever one of the party fell asleep, the atmosphere of the vigil was broken, the group broke up, and everyone retired.
The New Testament supports the Passover as “the night to be much remembered,” especially when viewed through the activities of the Savior. Going to the Mount of Olives, as their leader, Yahshua evidently sang the last part of the Hallel. He sang the lines ofPsalms 114 through 118, and the disciples responded with “HalleluYAH!”
He thus promised to keep His vows; ultimately to triumph despite rejection, and call all nations to praise Yahweh. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 539)
A Time for Us Today
Passover is an important one of the annual observances. It was observed in the Garden of Eden, it was kept by Israel, by the prophets, by Yahshua, by His Apostles after He rose from the dead, and will be kept in the Kingdom, Matthew 26:29. Shouldn’t we also be keeping it today?
May future commemorations of the Passover lift us to new heights as we rejoice in the reassurance we all have in Yahshua as we keep the “Night to Be Much Remembered.”