Yahweh's Restoration Ministry

Keeping Passover at the Right Time Is Critical

Passover is so important that if one is unable because of uncleanness or travel to observe it on the 14th of the first month, it is to be kept on the 14th of the following month, Numbers 9:10-14 As Yahweh began to prepare His people Israel to be released from the bondage of Egypt, He told Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you,” Exodus 12:2.

Deuteronomy 16: 1 reveals this month as Abib, the beginning of the year and first of the months in Yahweh’s calendar. Abib in Hebrew means“Green Ears” of barley. Abib comes in the spring when the warming sun brings vegetative life back to the earth in the northern hemisphere. Pass­over falls in this month, reminding us of the renewal of our life as portrayed by the time of our Savior’s sacrifice.

Because the Passover season ushers in the holy times of Unleavened Bread, Satan continues his attempts to influ­ence well-meaning people to follow teachings and practices outside the Bible. Not only does the Adversary confuse us as to the proper month, but he attempts to delay the proper day Yahweh’s people should observe.

By listening to those who ignore the plain teaching of the Bible, some are led astray to keep a day the Scriptures do not honor. Surely the Word will tell us plainly which day we are to keep for Passover! Yahweh would not make the proper time difficult to figure out.

First Biblical Passover

The seven Annual Holy Days were al­ready programmed early in Yahweh’s grand plan for mankind back at cre­ation. He 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” (Gen. 1: 14).

The word “seasons” in this verse does not refer to the four seasons’ of the year – spring, summer, fall and win­ter – but is from the- Hebrew moed. The word moed (Strong’s No, 4150) means “appointed time,” and is connected with Yahweh’s Feasts, His spe­cial times of the year. On the other hand, the Hebrew word eht means seasons of the year as we see in Deuteronomy 11: 14 andLeviticus 26:4.

There are those who contend that we should follow the Jews and keep the same days they do, as they have been observing the Feast days for some 4,000 years. The problem is that the Jews no longer follow the Bible in the special times that they observe. They have written their own rules missing from Scripture, and to­day they keep Passover a day late. However, they do have a “Seder” service that they keep at home with the family at the start of the 14th. They then go to the synagogue on the 15th for a supper, which they call “The Passover,” even though a day too late.

It would be well to review chapter 12 of Exodus to get the story flow of the first Passover. All Passovers must conform to the first example given us. Exodus 12:3-5 tells us that a lamb without blemish was selected on the tenth day of Abib and was to be kept until the 14th. Verse six reveals that each family was to slay its lamb: “And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

Between the Evenings: Dusk

When the 14th came the lamb was to be slain. Scripture shows that the day begins at evening (dusk, sunset), when the previous day ends (Genesis 1:5; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32), not at midnight as in our Roman-Gregorian calendar. Numbers 9: 1-5 is clear that every­thing pertaining to Passover is to be done on the 14th: “In the fourteenth day of this month, at even [between the evenings], you shall keep it in his ap­pointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the cer­emonies thereof, shall you ‘keep it. And Moses spake unto the children of Is­rael that they should keep the Pass­over. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: accord­ing to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel” (Num. 9:3-5). The 15th is nowhere men­tioned in connection with the Passover.

The Hebrew term “even” or “evening” referring to Passover fre­quently is ben-ha-arbayim, explained as “between the evenings” and understood by the Samaritans and Karaites as be­tween sunset and dark. The Jewish Tanakh published by the Jewish Publi­cation Society translates this as “twi­light.” Other Bibles follow suit or trans­late it “dusk.” The first evening is sun­set, the second is darkness. The majority of today’s translations (like the NASB) read twilight, dusk or after sunset – literally between the “evenings” of sundown and complete darkness.

Attempts at a different understanding have been made by those quoting vari­ous Rabbinical philosophies of the Pharisees who later reinterpreted the meaning of ben-ha-arbayim to mean “be­ginning at noon (or later) until sunset.”

Temple Practice

When the Jews returned from Babylon under Ezra, they first observed two days, the first for Passover and the sec­ond for the first day of the Feast. But in a later shift, they merged Passover and Unleavened Bread. There were legitimate changes made by Ezra after the Jews returned from Babylon. For Passover they no longer had their staff at hand, their shoes on their feet, nor packed for a journey. They were now in the Holy Land and lounged on benches. Four cups of drink were added, which Yahshua uti­lized in His symbols of His body and blood, the “cup of blessing.”

Records during the time of the Mes­siah and before show that the Sadducees were in charge of Temple worship and set the Feast days until 70 C.E., when the Temple was destroyed. The annual Sabbaths were set by the Sanhedrin when Yahshua walked this earth. The Savior, along with Mary and Joseph, kept the Feast days according the set times of the Temple, the calen­dar of the Sadducees: “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the cus­tom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Yahshua stayed behind in Jerusa­lem …”  (Luke 2:41-43).

He obviously continued observ­ing the Feast days according to the Sadducees while on earth, as He went to the Temple for Tabernacles, John 7:14. He had no quarrel with the Sadducees and their calendar.

Passover Clearly on the 14th

Following are passages that clearly state that the 14th is Passover:

“These are the feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s Pass­over” (Lev. 23:4-5).

“Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it” (Num. 9:2-3)

This is an especially significant verse, as it clearly states that every­thing dealing with the Passover is to be done on the 14th, which is the appointed time (twilight, NIV), the rites and ceremonies (rules and regu­lations, NIV) pertaining to it. Noth­ing pertaining to Passover was to be done on the 15th.

“And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that Yahweh com­manded Moses, so did the children of Israel” (Num. 9:5).

“And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of Yahweh. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten” (Num. 28: 16-17).

“And the children of Israel en­camped in Gilgal, and kept the Pass­over on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jeri­cho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow af­ter the Passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day” (Josh. 5:10-11).

“Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of Yahweh” (2Chr. 30: 15).

“Moreover Josiah kept a Passover unto Yahweh in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth [day] of the first month” (2Chron. 35:1).

“And the children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth [day] of the first month” (Ezra 6:19).

Unmistakable Sequence

The above verses distinctly state that the 14th is the Passover, and the 15th is the Feast (of Unleavened Bread). The follow­ing verses are a real problem for those who mistakenly insist upon a 15th Pass­over. Note the similar wording describing when the Passover and the Feast of Tab­ernacles will be observed in the Kingdom:

• “In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall’ have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleav­ened bread shall be eaten” (Ezek. 45:21, note the similar wording, keeping it on the 14th).

• “In the seventh month, in the fif­teenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, accord­ing to the sin offering …” (Ezek. 45:25).

If keeping the Passover at the end of the 14th is the correct time, then one should observe Tabernacles at the end of the 15th as the 16th begins and keep it seven days! This is an important compari­son, for the wording about both is almost exactly duplicated. If this means that Passover in the Kingdom will be kept at the end of the 14th just as the 15th begins, then Taber­nacles also will be kept a day later, at the end of the 15th as the 16th begins. But the Bible says that Passover is on the 14th of Abib and Tabernacles begins on the 15th of Tishri.

The sequence of events given in Yahweh’s Word is clear and logical. All verses dealing with Passover harmonize with a 14th Passover and 15th as the High Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread. After sunset ending the 13th, the 14th would begin, which signaled the time to slay the lamb and smear blood on the doorposts and lintel. The lamb was roasted and eaten that night before mid­night when the destroyer came over.

On the morning of the 14th, the re­mains of the lamb were taken out, and the people began gathering their fam­ily, flocks, and herds and assembling at Rameses some 30 miles from Goshen (Num. 33:3) and spoiled the Egyptians. From Rameses they left Egypt as the 14th ended and the 15th began, which Deuteronomy 16:1 says was by night. This took time, as an estimated total of 2-3 million Israelites left, Exodus 12:37.

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto Yahweh your Elohim: for in the month of Abib Yahweh your Elohim brought you forth out of Egypt by light” (Deut. 16: 1).

Once gathered at Rameses, Israel prepared themselves in marching order with their families and livestock to­gether and prepared to leave Egypt on the full moon night of the 15th.

“And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow af­ter the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians” (Num. 33:3).

Yahshua Observed It Properly

Yahshua kept the Passover at the proper time and fulfilled all righteous­ness right up to the time of His death. Even by that time the Jews were keep­ing Passover a day later, just as they do today, John 18:28. Notice that the dis­ciples were not confused about when He was keeping the Passover, Matthew 26: 18-19; Mark 14; Luke 22:8-14; John 13. All Evangels say Yahshua was entombed on the preparation day: Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54, John 19:31, 42. This in itself shows that Yahshua kept the Passover as the 14th began; was on trial that night, and was impaled as morning came.

Yahshua kept the Passover with His disciples and shortly afterward was taken prisoner and then severely beaten and scourged, His flesh ripped open. By His stripes we are healed. If He kept the lawperfectly, should we not also keep Passover on the beginning of the 14th?

We are told we should follow the practice of the Jews in observing the Passover on the 15th. Today, far too much credence is given to the practice of the Pharisees, who already in Yahshua’s time kept Passover a day late.

Beware of Jewish Custom

The Jews freely admit that the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were at one time two separate festivals. However, following their return from Babylon, the two were merged into one observance .and Passover is now kept by Jews on Abib 15. That they kept Passover a day late is clear from John’s Evangel:

“Then led they Yahshua from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover” (John 18:28).

The Encyclopedia Judaica admits that the Jews have fused the two obser­vances and now keep Passover a day late on the 15th, observing it along with the first day of Unleavened Bread: “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).

It is clear that the Bible knows noth­ing about Passover’s being observed on the 15th. Bible references show that Pass­over is to be on the 14th of Abib, which has to be in the evening when the 13th ends at sunset, and the 14th begins. Those who anchor their Passover to the Jews ignore the plain statements of Scripture that Passover is on the 14th. They depend upon a  misunderstanding ofMatthew’s statement. “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 you after their works: for they say, and do not” (Mat. 23:1-3).

Yahshua is telling us that when the scribes and Pharisees read the Old Tes­tament as Moses did, they will be quot­ing these same verses. These teachings, when from the Bible, we are to obey. We are not to DO what the Pharisees do, however, for they say one thing and do another. They tell us from their reading of the Bible to keep the Pass­over on the 14th. But in their practice they keep Passover on the 15th. “Do not after their works,” says our Savior. He also so much as says that the Phari­sees will not have everlasting life, Mat­thew 5:20. Why should we want to fol­Iow a custom of those who were fatally wrong in their practices?

Yahshua is telling us not to follow Jewish custom. We are to keep Pass­over on the 14th as Moses wrote, not as the Jews do today.

There is not one verse in the Bible telling us to keep Passover or any rite or ceremony thereof on ANY day except the l4th! We find no saints keeping Passover as the 14th ends and 15th starts. Yahshua kept the Passover at the beginning of the 14th, and we are to walk in His steps.

His Later Practice

The four Evangels show that the Sav­ior and His disciples were prepared to eat the Passover (Mat. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-17;Luke 22:7-18; John 13:1-2). Not one of these references shows the disciples questioning why the Savior is preparing to partake of the Passover early (or late).

In both Matthew and Mark the dis­ciples asked Yahshua where they should prepare for Him to eat the Pass­over. The disciples knew when Passover was to be held. They had no problem with keeping this special time correctly and went to make ready the Passover.

A Fabled ‘Memorial Supper’

Nowhere do we find any disciple keep­ing Passover a day later with the Jews, who apparently observed the 15th. The question is, why did the Jews keep Passover a day later than the Savior?

The Savior had already kept the Passover in John 13, five chapters earlier. Somehow a fable has arisen that Yahshua kept a sort of “memorial sup­per,” separate from the Passover. “Memorial Supper” nowhere ap­pears in Scripture. A careful reading of the four evangels shows that Yahshua and His disciples did indeed keep the Passover on the “preparation day,” which is the 14th of Abib. Further­more, the Bible says Yahshua ate the Passover meal with the Disciples.

“Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and be­gan everyone of them to say unto him, Master, is it I? And He answered and said, He that dips his hand with Me in the dish, the same shall betray Me” (Mat. 26:21-23).

Some historians and Bible dictio­naries admit that Passover was held on two consecutive dates in the year 31 C.E., including The Dictionary of the New Testament.

Passover is not a “Sabbath” or Shabbathown. It is a time to prepare for the ensuing week of Unleavened Bread. That is baking the “bread of affliction,” and ridding our domiciles of all leav­ening. Passover is for those immersed into the Savior’s Name and is to be ob­served religiously as a Feast Day every year in the spring:

“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh throughout your gen­erations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever” (Ex. 12:14).

If the Savior kept the Passover early and at the wrong time, as some allege, then He sinned and did not keep the law perfectly! He also made His dis­ciples to sin by misleading them to keep Passover on the wrong day!

Night of Watching

As He kept the Passover, Yahshua observed a much neglected command along with His disciples, given back in Exodus 12. We read little about it, but scholars con­tend that the following Passover verse tells those keeping Passover to go back to their tents in the morning after keep­ing a Shimmurim or all-night vigil, a “Night of watching”: “And you shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your Elohim shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go unto your tents” (Deut. 16:7).

This command is found where the Passover is first mentioned: “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).

Yahshua and the disciples kept the correct Passover on the 14th and fol­lowed it by keeping the “Night of Watching” when they went out to the garden. There Yahshua asked the dis­ciples to stay awake and pray: “Then said Yahshua unto them, All you shall be offended because of me this night: for it is writ­ten, I will smite the shep­herd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad … Then said He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry here, and watch with me” (Mat. 26:31-38).

Matthew clearly states that the disciples were asked to “watch” with the Savior that night. Three times He came to them, and they were sleeping. Reading the Evangels, we learn there were many Jews, priests, and even young maidens up and about in this chilly “night of watching” when Peter warmed himself outside.

Yahweh watched out for Israel dur­ing the night the destroying angel was about, and now His people are to keep a watch for Him.

by Donald R. Mansager

Passover Communion easter

Passover or Communion?

“So you keep the Passover?” the young man asked. “I thought that observance was just for Jewish people.”  I then asked him, “Do you practice ‘Communion’”?  “Yes,” he responded.  “Every week.” “Then you yourself keep a vestige of the Passover,” I told him. “The difference is that what you observe has become disconnected from the original truth of the Passover Memorial.”

Passover as the original event is an annual observance, not a weekly, monthly, or semiannual event. It com­memorates the slaying of the Passover lamb on the 14th of Abib, the lamb Yahshua was to become as He fulfilled what the Passover lamb foreshadowed. He provided new meaning in the symbols of the unleavened bread and cup, as now our sins could actually be paid for and removed and not just covered over as they were with animal blood. (Heb. 10:4) Just as He kept the Passover annually, so do His people.

Saved Through the Passover Blood

Why do Yahweh’s people continue to keep the Passover once every year and the Feast that follows? The answer is rooted in the first Passover recorded. In Exodus 12, the families of Israel were to take a lamb and at the start of the 14th day slay it and put its blood around the doors of their homes. That blood would protect the firstborn of the Israelite families from the death angel to come at midnight. Firstborn are firstfruit offspring of their parents. Yahweh’s people are typi­cally referred to as firstfruits in Scrip­ture. The firstfruit sheaf of grain be­longed to Yahweh and was presented to Him during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yahweh told Israel that unless they kept the Passover and protected their houses with the blood of the lamb, their firstfruits would die, Exodus 12:13.When the angel sees the blood he will “pass over” that house, Yahweh said.

Hence the name Passover

The lesson is clear. As firstfruits, Yahweh’s people must have the protec­tion and salvation that Passover blood of Yahshua provides. For salvation, the Passover is not an option, it is essential! Unless they keep the Passover, ap­plying the blood of the Lamb where they live – meaning to their personal lives – ­they will not be protected from the everlasting, second death. This is the significance of the death angel and sacrificial blood.

Passover is filled with significance directly relating to salvation. Church­ianity has lost that meaning by replac­ing the sin-cleansing of Yahshua’s Passover with the Easter resur­rection observance. It has ripped the memorial of the bread and cup from the Passover and used it in a hybrid observance, complete with new times and its own meaning. How can we find blessings in making up our own worship?

Proper Timing is Essential

As important as the observance itself is, the timing of the memorial is also critical. Had any Israelites kept the Passover a day late, the death angel would have already struck their firstborn dead. Keeping the Passover daily, weekly or monthly would have done them no good. Yahweh would not have honored it. Passover had to be kept at the beginning of the 14th day of the first month of the year as the law specified. Any other times or substitute observance constitutes adding to the Word and is a fruitless, even fatal act (Rev. 22:18; Deut. 4:2; 12:32).

passover salvation lesson

Passover and Salvation

A key to Yahweh’s salvation plan is found in the timeless Passover

Many today have the idea that Yahshua’s plan of redemption was finished when He was impaled on Passover day. His death, they believe, marked the end of the old Jewish system, the virtual end of Israel as the chosen of Yahweh, and the end of the laws of the Old Testament. They firmly believe that Yahshua’s death on the tree, followed by His resurrection, marked the beginning of the Christian era. Along with that assumption is that the New Testament Scriptures, and only those Scriptures, are in effect today.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Yahshua as the Passover lamb held the key role in a continuation of Yahweh’s design for His human creation.

The Passover is the first of the yearly observances of Yahweh and in the New Testament represents the beginning of the rest of Yahweh’s plan, not the complete scrapping of everything He had done up to that point. Granted, the original hopes for an exclusive, special people who would follow and worship only Him had now changed. Because of Israel’s continual rebellion, Yahweh opened His calling up to all who would repent and turn to Him, Israel included. Romans 9:27 is clear that a remnant of Israel shall be saved. Yahweh is certainly not finished with Israel. Therefore, when we look at the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows, we see a progression — and not an ending — of a salvation plan that was established at creation itself.

Passover is a memorial of an actual event that occurred long ago in Egypt. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are also shadows of events to occur later in the New Testament. What Yahshua did by becoming the Passover Lamb was fulfilled only in part. He spoke of a yet another fulfillment of Passover in the future. Throughout history we see the importance of this special observance. From ancient days to the Kingdom, the Passover is key to Yahweh’s blueprint for salvation of His creation. When the Egyptian firstborn from every house died, Yahweh sent a clear message of obedience to all of mankind. It was the firstborn that got twice the family inheritance, which was known as the birthright.

With the death of Egyptian firstborn, Yahweh dramatically demonstrated that those not covered by the blood of the lamb will have no life or inheritance in the Heavenly Father’s Kingdom. The other lesson we learn is that we are covered by that blood only if we follow Yahweh’s instructions explicitly. If anyone in Israel had not done exactly as Yahweh commanded, not putting the blood on the top of the doorpost but only on the sides, for instance, he would have faced the same consequences as the Egyptians. Yahweh had to see the blood on the lintel, as well as on the doorposts, Exodus 12:23. The entire door frame had to have a blood covering, symbolic of a complete protection from death by the blood of the lamb. For us, it means that if we aren’t totally covered by the blood of Messiah, we face everlasting death. Rather than having less meaning for us today, the Passover and Feast have much more serious implications than they ever had for ancient Egypt and Israel.

The physical consequences anciently for disobedience now translate into serious spiritual consequences for us if we are not in obedience.

Looking back in history, we see that Yahweh began a re-calling of His people at the Passover, ultimately to take them out of the Egypt of sin and unto Himself. He does the same today in the New Covenant observance of the Passover. It is an annual reminder for all who would be His elect not to get involved in the sin of this world or it will enslave us, just as Israel was enslaved in Egypt because they had repeatedly refused to obey their Heavenly Father. Passover offered a chance to rededicate their lives to Him, to turn back again in sincerity.

Exodus 12:19-20 is a warning against anyone who would not take the Feast of Unleavened Bread seriously as well. Therefore, each time that we participate in the Passover and Feast that follows, we undergo a renewal with Yahweh. That is why it is so important to keep these annual set times. Most important of all, they are called His. They honor Him. And they are central to the redemption of His people. At that time of year we rededicate our lives to the Father as we recount the sacrifice of the Son, and remove leaven from our lives in the seven-day Feast that follows Passover. Yeast is only one substance that we are to refrain from consuming during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Other leavening agents include: cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and calcium phosphate. Any chemical that causes fermentation would be classified as leavening. What leavening symbolizes is what is important. Leavening in the Scriptures pictures hypocrisy, false teachings, and wickedness. When leaven is removed, these evils that it represents are symbolically removed as well. His people are called peculiar in Titus 2:14 and we should be different. The context of this verse is of Yahshua’s sacrifice at Passover and what it does to renew our dedication to Him. If you are not seen as “peculiar” by the world around you, then you need to reassess your walk with Yahshua. Yahweh’s people should be a light of righteousness to those around them. And the further this world sinks into the abyss, the more your light should stand out in the darkness.

Yahweh’s people should be vastly different from the world. Yahweh’ standards are right and true and stand forever. And if we don’t meet them, we face our own personal judgment. The insidious, moral collapse occurring everywhere is nothing less than the action of leavening. It permeates and works slowly to induce a change. And spiritually, it spells corruption of the heart. Leavening induces a chemical change. In a chemical change, the nature of the substance itself is altered. To be constantly exposed to the leaven of hypocrisy, false teachings and wickedness of the world will eventually create a spiritual change in a person, not unlike the chemical change brought on by leavening.

The lesson of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to make us aware that influences exist and are real and can change us if we are not circumspect. To be unaware of leaven is to be unaware of the Satanic influences that will destroy us spiritually.

You cannot constantly be bombarded by trash day in and day out and not expect to get some of it on you, to be influenced by it, and even come to consider it normal. That is what we see in our society today. Many are searching for meaning today, but in all the wrong places. Yahweh says here is the way, walk in it. The Passover was a night when Yahweh executed judgment on the false religion of Egypt, and hence the false religions of the world. The lessons remain for us. Revelation shows that Many of the same plagues unleashed on Egypt will again be loosed on this earth in the last days. To keep the Passover correctly and on the right day is a serious matter. Salvation itself is tied to this observance. That is why Yahweh’s people will not ever neglect it. Many think of Yahweh not as a Heavenly Father, but as a kindly old Grandfather, who would never harm anyone and who puts up with His spoiled children forever. But Yahweh punished even believers in the New Testament with sickness and death for observing Passover carelessly, 1Corinthians 11:27-31.

Come out of a world deceived by traditions and practices that are not in the Scriptures. Come to truly know your Heavenly Father by keeping the only days commanded in His Word. The seven annual Feasts and Sabbaths of Leviticus 23 are the real Scriptural holidays that the True Worshiper should be observing.

passover or communion; is the communion the passover; should we do communion; Leavening; puffed up

Passover: The Original and Exclusive Memorial

“So you keep the Passover?” the man asked. “I thought that was just a Jewish holiday.”

Then I asked him, “Do you happen to practice communion?”

“Yes, every Sunday,” he responded.

“Then you keep a trace of the Passover,” I told him. “The problem is that what you and many others observe has become disconnected from the original truth and meaning of the death memorial of Yahshua.”

The Passover as the original event of His death is an annual observance, not a weekly, semimonthly or monthly event. It commemorates the slaying of the Passover lamb on the 14th of Abib, which looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Yahshua the Messiah. He fulfilled what the lamb only foreshadowed. He provided the greater sacrifice that not just covered the sin, but also removed its penalty for those who trust in Him.

He as our example kept the Passover annually, as did His earthly parents and His ancestors before that. The Passover is a New Testament observance every bit as important as it was in the Old Testament. Even more so, considering the ramifications for sin.

The Passover is not an option but a necessity for our salvation. Anyone in Israel who did not observe it was cut off, Numbers 9:13. Yahweh’s people require the protection and payment for their sin that Yahshua’s blood provides.  Without it we must pay our own penalty of eternal death. That is why the Passover is essential for us today.

His blood was foreshadowed by Israel’s placing the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, which protected them from the death angel. Similarly, Yahweh’s “Israel” today must be protected from everlasting death through His shed blood. Passover is filled with meaning directly related to our very salvation. Churchianity lost that significance when it traded the Passover observance for the Easter celebration allegedly honoring His resurrection. But there is no command in Scripture to keep a memorial to His resurrection. No one in the Bible ever did.

In the communion they have also torn the memorial of the cup and bread away from Passover and created a hybrid to add additional spiritual dimension to the mostly secular Easter observance, complete with its own time and meaning.

Keeping the Passover daily, weekly or monthly would have done Israel no good. Yahweh would not have honored it because He had told them exactly when to keep it, and He never allowed anyone to fiddle with His laws. His command is the same for us today:

“These are the feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Yahweh: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein,” Leviticus 23:4-8.

Substituting other rites and times for what is commanded is a fatal act. Revelation 22:18-19 warns, “For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, Yahweh shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Yahweh shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Yahshua and His disciples all kept the Passover religiously, and He even said He would keep it again with them in the Kingdom,Matthew 26:29. Clearly this is an observance that has not gone away. This is one of the seven annual observances that are appointed in the Bible.

None of the world’s holidays have any Scriptural sanction. None of them were kept in the days of the Bible. None of them are commanded. But Yahweh’s holy days were commanded, kept and promised for a future fulfillment.

Which are you going to keep?

Passover Observed In the New Testament

∙ Yahshua ordained Passover
Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20

∙ Yahshua observed Passover
Matthew 26:17-20; Luke 22:15; John 2:13, 23

∙ Yahshua’s family attended the Passover annually
Luke 2:41-42

∙ Yahshua impaled at the time of Passover
Matthew 26:2; Mark 14:1,2; John 18:28

∙ Yahshua is even called “our Passover”
1 Corinthians 5:7

∙ Passover continues after Yahshua
1Corinthians 10:16-17

Lessons in Leavening

Eating nothing but flat bakery goods for a week may seem strange in modern society. But is it any stranger than people dressing up in rabbit suits, coloring eggs supposedly laid by rabbits, and hiding them all over the house and yard and telling children to go search for them—all to celebrate the resurrection of the Savior? Where is there any possible connection between the ritual and the observance?

Yahweh’s people have a solid Scriptural basis for what they observe. Churchianity cannot say the same when its celebrations like Easter are rooted in ancient practices of heathens and their fertility deities, then rewrapped, relabeled and inconceivably tied to a supposed Biblical holiday.

It is the Father’s Decree

Following the Passover Yahweh commanded, “You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:20) Yahweh tells us to remove what is leavened and eat only what is unleavened in an effort to teach us significant lessons.

“Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:15).

It takes some diligence to do this as there are different kinds of leavening to watch for (see listing below).

But why does Yahweh have us avoid leavening? Why not hot sauce? Or meat? If leaven strictly represented sin, obviously it would not have been placed in other offerings presented before Yahweh (Leviticus 7:13).

We must look closely at the characteristics of leaven, its typology and metaphor to get the real teaching.

How Leavening Works

The main thing leavening does, and it does it quite well, is to spread rapidly throughout a substance.

In Matthew 13:33 Yahshua used this process to describe a parable about the Kingdom. Here His symbol of a woman refers to the assembly of believers. The truth grows as the leavening is placed in different areas. We see it at work when a believer learns of the truth and then tells friends and relatives, who in turn do the same. And thus the truth can grow exponentially.

Specifically, Yahshua was emphasizing the action of leavening – how it works and how it increases.

Yahweh’s Kingdom will grow in the same way. We are the firstfruits among many brethren. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:7).

Matthew 13:31-32 shows how small it starts and how large it grows.

“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yahweh hath prepared for them that love him” (1Corinthians 2:9).

We haven’t even fathomed what is designed for our future. If you have ever had the experience of traveling and coming around a bend and seeing a magnificent panorama of mountains and valleys open up before you – it takes your breath away. Perhaps that is what it will be like when Yahweh’s plan is revealed. No human experience will be able to compare to what Yahweh will one day show us!

We look through a dark glass now. We can only see shadows and images of the real thing. It is not always clear but we do the best we can. Once everything comes into sharp focus by the revealing of Yahweh, we will see why Yahweh has us doing what we do now in simple obedience.

Now let’s look specifically at what leaven represents. In Matthew 16:5-12 Yahshua discusses how the doctrine of these religious men was compared to leaven and how leaven spreads.

In Mark 8:14-15 we have the same analogy but directed at yet another type of leaven. What is the leaven of Herod? Actually it refers to the Herodians. They were members of an aristocratic Jewish group who supported the Roman government and favored the policies of Herod Antipas. They tried to trap Yahshua in not paying taxes to Rome (Matt. 22:15, 21 – “give unto Caesar”).

The leaven metaphor here deals with an evil disposition that these who were trying to entrap Yahshua had: hypocrisy, malice and wickedness. In fact, Paul talks about the same in 1Corinthians 5:6-8.

Take note how flat bread even looks humble. The opposite of prideful glory.

Verse 2 – These Corinthians were proud of themselves. “Puffed up” comes from a Greek word meaning to swell up. Leaven can refer to several things: bad doctrine; hypocrisy, malice, wickedness; self glory, insincerity; and falsity.

Why would Yahweh command leaven in the peace offering and the wave loaves for Pentecost? Certainly not because of what leaven represented, but for what leaven can do. It starts with just a little and grows. The baker would keep back a little sourdough to leaven the next batch. The use of yeast in breads is a more recent practice.

We are used in the same way by Almighty Yahweh to create a new batch of believers. The Word spreads by the influence of one or two and then grows by infusion of right teachings and good examples of living. This Feast teaches on many levels the ways and designs of Almighty Yahweh.

Get the Leavening Out

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Yahweh commands that no leavening be eaten or found on our premises: “Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread,” Exodus 12:19-20.

A leavening agent (sometimes called just leavening or leaven) is a substance used in dough and batter that causes them to rise. Nearly all breads, rolls, doughnuts, and cakes are made this way and are leavened. Some pies are, too.

Included here is a list of common leavening agents found in a variety of foods that must be used up or removed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Incidentally, it is not acceptable to remove leavening from your property only to bring it back once the Feast is over, Exodus 12:15, 13:7. The lesson is to remove corrupting activity entirely from our lives, which leaven represents here. To bring it back at the end of the Feast confounds the purpose of the lesson.

Here are leavening agents in products to avoid during the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

yeast
baker’s yeast
active dried yeast
baking powder
baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate)
sourdough
ammonium carbonate
ammonium bicarbonate
potassium carbonate
potassium bicarbonate
dipotassium carbonate

Also on the list:

Beer/wine/alcohol (leavened by yeast)
Preparation H (contains yeast)
Cat and dog foods with yeast
Toothpastes with baking soda

False Leavening

The following are foods or ingredients not leavened, although they may be mistaken for leavening or leavened food. They pose no problem for Unleavened Bread:

  • Puffed cereals Some food products are “puffed up” by mechanical means but cannot be used as a contact spreading agent.  They are just puffed up by air and are not chemically leavened.  They include: popcorn, beaten eggs, and air puffed cereal like puffed rice or wheat.
  • Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an inactive yeast, meaning the yeasts have been killed and have no leavening ability. This is the yeast remaining after beer making. It is used as a nutrient supplement to increase the intake of B vitamins.
  • Yeast extract, autolyzed yeast extract When yeast cells die, they automatically break up, a process called autolysis in which the yeasts’ digestive enzymes break their proteins down into simpler compounds. What remains is a collection of protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer.
  • Soda pop Although its name says “soda,” soda pop is not leavened as if with bicarbonate of “soda.” It is made with carbonated water, which has been infused with carbon dioxide in a non-leavening process.

The lesson of leaven is clear. Remove the corrupting influence that leads to sin. Become pure and unleavened in a world of impurity and corruption.

Yahweh's Restoration Ministry

Keeping Passover at the Proper Time

The Passover observance was to begin at a specific time of the day. Leviticus 23:5 and other passages define this time as being “at even” in the KJV, or in the Hebrew, “between the evenings,” Leviticus 23:5.

Some believe that the Passover should be observed in the afternoon on the 14th of Abib, contending that “between the evenings” means any time from noon to sunset. Others maintain that it means at dusk at the beginning of the 14th of Abib. A proper understanding of the term “between the evenings” will show us the proper time to observe the Passover.

Between the Evenings – Ben ha arbayim

The phrase “between the evenings” is from the Hebrew ben ha arbayim. It is this phrase that describes the time that the Passover lamb or goat was slaughtered on Abib 14. The exact definition of ben ha arbayim has long been debatable. The goal of this article is to establish a well-defined and scripturally supportable definition of ben ha arbayim.

There are two differing definitions attached to ben ha arbayim. The Pharisees, in accordance with their man-made Talmudic adherence, defined ben ha arbayim as any time from afternoon to sunset. Conversely, the Sadducees, Karaites, and Samaritans, in accordance with the Biblical Torah (law), all interpreted ben ha arbayim as being the time from sunset to complete darkness.

Exodus 12:6 reads, “And you shall keep it [the Passover sacrifice] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (literally, “between the evenings.”). The Pharisees interpreted this as meaning between midafternoon, when the sun’s heat abated, and sunset, whereas the Sadducees took it to mean between sunset and dark” (Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary, note at Ex. 12:6).

Another authority says, “In the evening. Hebrew, between the evenings. From very early days opinions have differed as to the exact time of the sacrifice. The Samaritans and the Karaites construed it as the time between sunset and complete darkness. The Pharisees held to the traditional explanation that it was from the beginning of lengthening shadows to sunset, approximately 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., and with this the Talmud agrees” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, note at Ex. 12:6).

And yet another source explains, “Between the evenings – Different opinions have prevailed among the Jews from a very early date as to the precise time intended. Aben Ezra agrees with the Caraites and Samaritans in taking the first evening to be the time when the sun sinks below the horizon, and the second the time of total darkness; in which case, ‘between the evenings’ would be from 6 o’clock to 7:20…According to the rabbinical idea, the time when the sun began to descend, viz. From 3 to 5 o’clock, was the first evening, and sunset the second; so that ‘between the evenings’ was from 3 to 6 o’clock. Modern expositors have very properly decided in favor of the view held by Aben Ezra and the custom adopted by the Caraites and Samaritans” (Commentary on the Old Testament, The Second Book of Moses).

It should be noted that the Pharisees, the political-religious leaders during the time of the Messiah, based their understanding not only the TANAKH, but also on their own rabbinical teachings that are found in the Talmud. The Messiah in Matthew 15 and Mark 7stated that the Pharisees transgressed Yahweh’s Word because of their traditions, referring to their rabbinical teachings found in the Talmud.

On the other side, the Sadducess and Karaites used only the TANAKH to establish their beliefs. Why is this important? Because we know that Yahshua kept the Passover not on the day that was reckoned by the Pharisees, but on the day established by Yahweh’s law and followed by the Sadducees, who were in charge of the Temple. Because Yahshua kept the Passover on the 14th of Abib as did the Sadducees, then He kept the Passover memorial between sunset and complete darkness. That could only have occurred at the start of the 14th to meet the requirement that the entire Passover be observed on the 14th (Num. 28:16).

Other Arguments Answered

Let’s look at some examples where ben ha arbayim is used in the Scriptures.

“I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even (between the evenings) you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your Elohim” (Exodus 16:12).

Exodus 16:12 states that Yahweh gave quail to the children of Israel between the evenings. Some speculate that this was done prior to sunset, thus being easier to capture the quail before nightfall. It is also a fact, however, that at sunset or dusk such birds are less active and more docile and confused because they have more difficulty seeing at twilight, thus making them easier to capture. There is, however, no evidence that this event occurred in midday or sunset.

In the Old Testament Yahweh instructed the Levites to offer one lamb in the morning and another lamb “between the evenings.”

“And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even (between the evenings), and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Yahweh” (Ex. 29:40-41).

Both lambs were to be offered on the same day. Some say that this proves that “between the evenings” is before sunset, because at sunset one day ends and another day begins.

This argument also lacks definitive evidence that “between the evenings” refers to midafternoon. Scripturally, at sunset one day ends and another day begins. If a lamb was offered at the start of the day after the sun set (ben ha arbayim), and the other lamb was offered the following morning of that same day, both would be offered the same day. See Exodus 29:41 and Numbers 28:4, 8 for additional reference to the daily sacrifices.

Another example of ben ha arbayim is when Aaron the High Priest was commanded to light the menorah between the evenings.

“And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even (between the evenings), he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations” (Ex. 30:8).

The lamp that Aaron was commanded to light every morning and evening (between the evenings) was located in the Holy Place within the tabernacle. This particular place could not have natural light. The only source of light within the Holy Place was that light that the seven-branch menorah produced.

Therefore, because the holy place of the tabernacle had no natural light it would make no difference whether it was lit midafternoon or at sunset. This again lacks anything definitive one way or the other for ben ha arbayim.

The last example of ben ha arbayim that we will look at is in connection with the Passover lamb.

“And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening [between the evenings]” (Ex. 12:6).

This passage alone does not precisely pinpoint the time of ben ha arbayim. However, by looking at the entire context of the Passover the exact time will be made clear, along with the proper meaning of ben ha arbayim. A few facts must be established to understand this crucial Hebrew phrase and the timing of the Passover.

Fact One: the entire Passover service, and everything connected with it, must be kept on the fourteenth of Abib.

“In the fourteenth day of this month, at even (between the evenings), you shall keep it [Passover] in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it” (Numbers 9:3).

The Passover cannot start on the thirteenth or go through the fifteenth. Yahweh says unequivocally that His Passover is on the fourteenth day of Abib. And ALL rites and ALL ceremonies of the Passover must take place on the 14th, Numbers 9:3.

Further, no part of Passover can be on the 15th because the Feast of Unleavened Bread is commanded to be on the 15th day of Abib (Lev. 23).

Fact Two: Yahweh’s day begins at sunset, and thus the Passover began at sunset. The importance of this fact will be clear after fact three.

Fact three: the death angel that killed the firstborn of both man and beast “passed over” at midnight on the fourteenth day of Abib. “And it came to pass, that at midnight Yahweh smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle” (Ex. 12:29).

If the children of Israel had waited to slaughter the lamb between midafternoon and sunset on the fourteenth day, all their firstborn would already have died, because it is written that the death angel came through at midnight (Ex. 12:29). Another contradiction: Slaughtering the Passover lamb between midafternoon and sunset on the 14th would also demand that the death angel would have had to pass through at midnight on the fifteenth day of Abib, not the 14th, which also opposes Scripture. All Scriptures maintain that the Passover is on the fourteenth day of Abib. Not one verse in the Bible allows otherwise. Yahweh reserved the 15th for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which specifically had to be kept in the wilderness and not in Goshen with the Passover, Leviticus 23: 6; Ex. 5:1.

Understanding Yahweh’s Passover is much like a puzzle. The complete, accurate picture becomes clear when all the pieces are put together correctly. It is a matter of Scriptural fact that Abib fourteen began at sunset and that the death angel came through at midnight, which would have been approximately six hours after sunset. Therefore, the lamb had to be slaughtered at or after sunset on the fourteenth, but before midnight on that selfsame night. Thus, we can quantitatively establish that ben ha arbayim means from sunset to complete darkness, not from midday to sunset.

Modern Translations Support Sunset

Most modern versions, including the TANAKH, New Revised Standard, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New King James, and New International Version, use the word “twilight” in Exodus 12:6 to describe ben ha arbayim. The Britannica World Language Dictionary defines twilight as, “The light diffused over the sky from sunset to dark and from dark to sunrise, caused by the reflection of sunlight from the higher portions of the atmosphere; hence, any faint light.”

In addition to the above Bible translations, the Revised English Bible, James Moffatt Bible, Lamsa Bible, Five Books of Moses, Harper Collins Study Bible, and Insight on the Scriptures all say that ben ha arbayim is from sunset to complete darkness.

Notice:

• “Have it in safe keeping until the fourteenth day of this month, and then all the assembled community of Israel must slaughter the victims between dusk and dark” (Ex. 12:6, Revised English Bible).

• “Lamb or a kid, but you must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month, when every member of the community of Israel shall kill it between sunset and dark” (Ex. 12:6, James Moffatt).

• “And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at sunset” (Exodus 12:6, Lamsa Bible).

• “Between the evenings: at Twilight” (The Five Books of Moses, note at Ex. 12:6).

• “Twilight, lit. “between the two settings,” apparently between sunset and the last of the residual light in the sky” (HarperCollins Study Bible, note at Ex. 12:6).

• “From the foregoing, and particularly in view of such texts as Exodus 12:17, 18, Leviticus 23:5-7, and Deuteronomy 16:6, 7, the weight of evidence points to the application of the expression “between the evenings” to the time between sunset and dark” (Insight on the Scriptures, article: Passover).

Likewise, the same support is found in many concordances and lexicons.

• “Between the evenings, i.e. prob. between sunset and dark” (The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon).

• “Even, Evening, Eventide – “To be or grow dark. The evening, when the day begins to be obscured. Between the evenings, the time when…the paschal lamb was slain” (Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies).

• “Evening, twilight, dusk, the fading of the day; twilight can be extended to the dark of the night” (Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance).

• “Through the idea of covering with a texture; to grow dusky at sundown(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible).

Summary

Overwhelming Scriptural and scholarly verification concludes that ben ha arbayim is from sunset to complete darkness. That is when the Passover observance was to commence, both anciently and today. This is provable from Biblical context, modern translations, and the majority of Biblical word studies.

passover high day; is passover a high day; passover is a memorial not a high day; is passover a feast day

10 Proofs Passover Is a Memorial, Not a High Day

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Throughout history a debate has raged concerning the proper timing of Yahweh’s Passover. Many observe the Passover on the 14th of the first month (Abib) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th. Others believe that both the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are on the 14th. Still others observe the Passover and first day of the Feast on the 15th of Abib. Why so much confusion? It need not be.

This study will harmonize both Old and New testaments to show that the two observances are clearly separate and distinct.

Part of the error is historical. After Judah and Benjamin went into Babylonian exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, these two Israelite tribes combined what is known in the Bible as the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

No one knows exactly when these two observances were combined, but what is known is that it happened during the Exile in Babylon. Israelites picked up a number of errors while under Babylonian influence, and the joining of Passover with the Feast was one of them. Because of this error some believe Passover is also the first high day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Encyclopaedia Judaica confirms the mistake committed by these Jews: “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 [Babylonian] exile they were combined,” Vol. 13, p. 169.

The book, The Torah, by W. Gunther Plaunt, corroborates, saying, “The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread rituals were originally two separate observances which were combined sometime between the events of the Exodus and the redaction of the text” (p. 445).

Clearly, the Scriptures proclaim that the 14th of Abib marks the Passover memorial, while the 15th of Abib starts the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But two particular deviations from this truth exist. One is that the Passover is the first high Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and falls on the 14th of Abib. The second is also that the Passover is the first high day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but occurs on the 15th of Abib.

One central fact plainly obvious in Yahweh’s Word is that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are separate observances. Consider the following passages (from the NIV):

  • “[Yahweh’s] Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month [Yahweh’s] Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast” (Lev. 23:5-6).
  • “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of [Yahweh]. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten” (Num. 28:16-17). Other translations are just as plain, including the KJV.

Clearly, the Passover is on the 14th of Abib, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th of Abib and advances through the 21st day of Abib, making a seven-day Feast.

Ten Plain Proofs

At least 10 clear distinctions separate the Passover from the high day or the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows it.

The first proof that Passover is a separate memorial comes when Moses was told that Israel could not keep a feast among the Egyptians. He emphasized twice to Pharaoh that he could not stay and hold a feast where Israel was living at that time in Egypt, in a region called Goshen:

— “Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, This is what Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert” (Ex. 5:1).

— “Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, go, sacrifice to your Elohim here in the land. But Moses said, That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer Yahweh our Elohim would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?” (Ex. 8:25-26).

Moses knew that holding the Feast of Unleavened Bread among the Egyptians would be disastrous. First, Yahweh prohibited it. Second, the Egyptians were notorious for animal worship. They held sacred some of the same animals that Israel was required to sacrifice during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Moses realized this fact and knew that by sacrificing these animals that he would be signing his own death warrant.

Among other animals, the Egyptians worshiped bulls and cows to the god Hathor. They even venerated crops to honor Osiris, the god of vegetation and maker of grain. No wonder Moses could not hold Yahweh’s Feast among them, with all of the daily animal and meal offerings that were required of Israel during the Feast.

Moses told Pharaoh that it was not possible to hold a Feast at that location. Still, they kept the Passover there in Egypt. Yahweh had commanded Israel to hold a feast to Him in the wilderness, not among the Egyptians where they observed that Passover. How, then, could Passover be the first day of the Feast?

2 Another difference between the two observances is the characteristic mood of each. The Passover symbolizes a day of suffering and pain, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a time of joy. Let us detail these differences.

Two major events contribute to the solemnity of Passover. First, Passover is the day that the death angel passed over Egypt destroying all firstborn of both man and beast. Second, this is the day that Yahshua our Savior was impaled on the torture stake for our sins.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is memorable for one great event. It is the day on which the Israelites were freed to leave and were no longer serving the Egyptians as slaves. Their harsh, brick-making days were over.

3 A third reason that Passover could not be a High Day is that there was only one sacrifice offered on Passover, while many sacrifices were commanded for the Feast days.

In Numbers 28:24-25 Yahweh commands Israel to offer various sacrifices during the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “In this way prepare the food for the offering made by fire every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to Yahweh; it is to be prepared in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.”

Here is an unmistakable command for additional offering for all seven days of the Feast. Nowhere in the Bible do we find these sacrifices commanded or offered by Israel or any other people during the Passover.

How could the Passover be the first day of the Feast, with no evidence of these other offerings given on the Passover?

In addition, the unleavened bread on Passover specifically represents Yahshua’s sacrificed body given in death for us (Matt. 26:26). But the unleavened bread of the Feast has a different meaning. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 5:8 that the unleavened bread of the Feast stands for “sincerity and truth.” Confusing these by combining the two observances perverts the different purpose and design for these unleavened symbols.

4 A fourth fact is that Passover is never called a  Sabbath or High Day. InExodus 12:25-26 and Exodus 13:5 Passover is called a “service.”

The Hebrew word for service is No. 5656, abodah in Strong’s Concordance, and is defined as “work of any kind.” How could the Passover be a Sabbath when the Hebrew word that depicts the Passover means to engage in work? Work is strictly prohibited on a Sabbath or Feast High Day.

A fifth and often overlooked criterion for Passover as a non-High Day is that the Passover is referred to as a Preparation day for the Feast in the New Testament.

In Mark 15:42-43 Joseph of Arimathaea asks for the body of Yahshua the day before the first high Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “And when even was now come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a councilor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of [Elohim]; and he boldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of [Yahshua]” (American Standard).

Yahshua was impaled on the Passover, which is called the Preparation day, the day before the High Sabbath or the first High Day of the Feast.

Joseph of Arimathaea knew that he had to remove Yahshua from the stake before sunset, which started the first High Sabbath of the Feast.

Another passage that validates the Passover as a day of preparation is Luke 23:53-54. In this passage Joseph of Arimathaea removed the body of Yahshua from the stake and prepared it for burial: “And he took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was hewn in stone, where never man had yet lain. And it was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew on” (American Standard).

Note the plain statement that the Passover was the Preparation day while the High Sabbath was yet to come. The Hebrew word for Preparation in Strong’s Greek Dictionary is No. 3904, paraskeue, “as if from No. 3903; meaning, to make ready or prepare one self.” The day of Preparation is the Preparation day for the Feast that follows the Passover.

The Passover is a day to make ready for the Feast of Unleavened Bread by removing all leavening from one’s premises. Remember that Passover is also called a service, pertaining to work.

“Drew on” is epiphosoko in the Greek and literally means “to begin to” or draw on toward.” The High Day was about to begin, not come to an end, after Yahshua was taken down and put in the tomb.

If the women would not so much as visit the tomb on the weekly Sabbath (Luke 23:56-24:1), how could Joseph of Arimathaea, a Jewish follower of Yahshua, literally work to take the body down and prepare it for burial on a High Sabbath?

6 A sixth distinction that eliminates the Passover from  a High Sabbath of the Feast is that the commandment of the Passover was only for the circumcised, while the Feast and Sabbaths were commanded for ALL in the household to observe, circumcised as well as uncircumcised.

In Exodus 12:19 Yahweh commands all of Israel, including the uncircumcised stranger, to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born” (NIV).

Yahweh says in Exodus 12:43, however, that no stranger or alien may partake of His Passover. All must be circumcised: “[Yahweh] said to Moses and Aaron, These are the regulations for the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it” (NIV).

A seventh factor that clearly separates the Passover  from a Sabbath or High Day is the strict prohibition against working on the Sabbaths.

This regulation can be seen in two passages. In Exodus 20, starting with verse 8, we have the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son nor daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Yahweh commanded no work whatsoever be done on His Sabbath day. This command is the same for the High Days of the Feast in passages found in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23.

In Luke 23:26 Simon of Cyrene comes out of the country — a literal field — on Passover day. “And when they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the stake, to bear it after [Yahshua]” (American Standard).

The Greek word for country in this passage is No. 68, agros. Strong’s defines agros as: “a field (as a drive for cattle): generally the country, spec. a farm, i.e. hamlet.” Incidentally, from agros we get our word agriculture.

Here one of Yahshua’s own disciples comes out of the agros or field on Passover day, indicating that Simon was working in the fields on Passover day. Neither Simon nor any other disciple would have done this on a Sabbath or High Day because of the strict prohibition against work on a High Day.

8 An eighth factor witnessing against a High Day  Passover is that no buying or selling is permitted on a High Day. When Israel returned to Jerusalem under Nehemiah, Nehemiah commanded them not to buy or sell on Yahweh’s Sabbath or Holy Day (Neh. 10:31): “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day” (NIV).

We find an additional proof in John 13:26-30, when Yahshua dips the bread (“sop” means a morsel, not a slice of leavened bread) and gives it to Judah Iscariot, the one that was soon to betray him. Yahshua said, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judah Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judah took the bread, Satan entered into him. ‘What you are about to do, do quickly,’ Yahshua told him, but no one at the meal understood why Yahshua said this to him. Because Judah had charge of the money, some thought Yahshua was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judah had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.”

We see two key facts within this passage. One is that Yahshua’s disciples acknowledged that the Feast had not yet begun, therefore the statement, “to buy what was needed for the Feast.” Remember that this was the start of Passover night. The other fact is that Yahshua’s disciples thought that Yahshua gave the money to Judah Iscariot in order to purchase supplies. But that would violate the commandment not to buy or sell on a High Day or the Sabbath. Would Yahshua have prompted his own disciple to break Yahweh’s law if this Passover were a High Day?

By His own instructions to Judah Yahshua shows that the Passover is neither Sabbath nor High Day. Nowhere does the Bible contain a prohibition against buying or selling on Passover.

A ninth fact is found in the Seder service held by  the Jews today. The Jews hold a Seder on the 14th of Abib to commemorate the Passover meal. The Seder service consists of prescribed foods, each of which symbolizes some aspect of the first Passover in Egypt. For example, they partake of horseradish, which signifies the bitterness of the first Passover. They also eat a blend of chopped nuts and apples, which symbolizes the building mortar used by the Israelites in their slavery. Also during this memorial the account of Exodus is retold and prayers of thanksgiving are offered to Yahweh. The entire family always observes the Seder service together.

What is interesting is that the Seder service is not a High Day service, but a memorial on the 14th, just as was the Passover.

On the one hand the Jews today honor the 14th Passover by observing the Seder service as a memorial, but at the same time they hold Passover on the 15th of Abib. Clearly we see a blending of the true Passover on the 14th with a tradition of keeping the 15th Passover that emerged from their Babylonian captivity.

10 A tenth reason why Passover is not a High  Day or the first day of the Feast may be found in two passages contained in Matthew 26:5 and Mark 14:2:

— “When [Yahshua] had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away — and the Son of Man will be handed over to be impaled.’ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest [Yahshua] in some sly way and kill him. ‘But not during the Feast,’ they said, ‘or there may be a riot among the people’ ” (Matt. 26:1-5, NIV).

—  “Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest [Yahshua] and kill him. ‘But not during the Feast,’ they said, ‘or the people may riot’” (Mark 14:1-2, NIV).

The Jewish religious authorities were planning to take and kill Yahshua, but they knew that it would not be possible to do so on a Feast day, for that was against the Law of Moses. Therefore, they knew that He had to be taken and killed before the Feast. Instead, they accomplished their deeds on Passover itself, proving it was not a Feast High Sabbath.

Let’s Review the Facts:

The Passover is commanded for the beginning of the 14th of Abib, at dusk, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread comes on the 15th. The Passover is a memorial separate from the first day of the Feast. We have detailed in this booklet the following ten points, which offer unmistakable proof of this fact:

  • Yahweh said Israel could not keep a Feast among theEgyptians; they were able to keep the Passover in Goshenbecause it was not a Feast. Passover is a memorial ser-vice of the death angel’s Passing over as well as thedeath of Yahshua under the renewed Covenant.
  • Passover is a time of pain and suffering; the Feast is atime to joyfully celebrate freedom.
  • Passover had only one sacrificial offering, while each dayof the Feast had many commanded sacrifices.
  • The unleavened bread of the Passover service has dif-ferent meaning and significance from the unleavenedbread eaten each day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • Work was done on the Passover; work was prohibitedon the High Days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • Only the circumcised could observe Passover; all werecommanded to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • Passover is never called a High Day or Sabbath. Rather,it is called the Preparation day for the Feast.
  • Commerce was done on Passover day; commerce wasprohibited on all Feast High Days.
  • The Seder on the 14th is a throwback to the true Pass-over and is not a High Day.
  • The Jewish leaders would not take and kill Yahshua on aHigh Day; but they did do so on the Passover.

Our desire is to keep the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread properly as commanded in the Scriptures. If we take all the evidence into consideration, we are left with only one conclusion: Passover is on the 14th, the Feast of Unleavened begins with a High Day on the 15th.

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Wine or Grape Juice for Passover?

Many people assume from their experience with “communion” that wine is the proper liquid to represent the memorial shedding of the Savior’s blood at Passover.

But was it wine that was in the Passover cup? There was once a group that could not decide, so they offered both wine and grape juice at the Passover memorial. Are we not commanded to discern what is right and proper from what is not? According to IKings 18:21,we are.

Have you ever investigated the meaning of the Passover cup and its symbolic contents?

Life in the Blood

A basic principle in the Bible is that the only possible atonement for the act of sin is a giving up of life. And the ONLY way we can be free of sin’s death penalty, which we have all earned because of our sins, is through blood, which contains life, Leviticus 17:11.

Israel’s sins were covered under an elaborate system of sacrifices in which animal blood was shed. That system gave way to a better sacrifice in the New Testament. Yahshua shed His blood on the torture stake as the perfect sacrifice. His blood paid the death penalty for our sins, just as the blood of animals was shed under the Old Covenant merely to cover Israel’s sins (but not take them away). Read Hebrews 9:13-15.

Contrary to what many believe, the principle of sacrifice remains, only now instead of animal sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of the Savior and the shedding of His blood that we trust in.

What Represents Blood?

Our Savior instituted a new symbol at that New Covenant Passover–the cup. This symbol represented the blood of the perfect Lamb, which was He Himself.

The question is, what liquid represented His pure, sinless life? Wine? Grape juice? Water? Is there any way we can know?

Yes, there is! Does it really matter? It certainly does, because one is right and proper, the rest are wrong and of no effect. Some readJohn 4:46 and say the cup should contain water, because Yahshua changed water into wine at Cana. They also opt for water in the cup because both blood and water came out of the Savior’s side when He was pierced by the Roman soldier while on the stake.

But the cup must symbolize blood. At best, John 4:46 shows only an association between water and wine, not water and blood.

The fact that both water and blood issued from His pierced side proves nothing in relation to the Passover cup. If He had shed only water on the torture stake, then we could conceivably call water his shed “blood.” But His blood is what saves us, not water. Therefore, we must find something other than water as the proper symbol for His blood.

Grape Juice Analogous to Blood

The Old Testament never mentions a cup for Passover–only the lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. You might be wondering, but what about the drink offering?

The drink offering used in regular Old Testament sacrifices comes from the Hebrew word “nacak,” and it means to pour out. Although called a “drink” offering because it was liquid, it was not drunk but always “poured out” at the altar. Paul wrote to Timothy that he was ready to be offered (Greek “spendomai,” poured out like a drink offering”) at the end of his ministry. The drink offering, therefore, can give us no clue as to the contents of the cup that was drunk in the New Covenant Passover service.

An important indication of the cup’s contents, however, is found in the Hebrew word for blood, “dam.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Dictionary defines “dam” or blood: “(as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animal; by anal. the juice of the grape; fig. (especially in the plur.) bloodshed(i.e. drops of blood).”

‘Wine’ Never Used for ‘Cup’

Both Yahshua and Paul referred to the Passover beverage simply as “cup” or “fruit of the vine.” They NEVER used “wine” in referring to the cup.

Fermented wine is the Greek “oinos,” used 28 times in the New Testament, but NEVER for the contents of the Passover cup.

What we can deduce, then, is that “fruit of the Vine” properly represents His blood (Luke 22:20). But is that fruit of the vine fermented, or is it the pure, unadulterated juice of the grape? Had the New Testament writers used “gleukos,” the other word for fermented wine (occurring one time in Acts 2:13), the meaning would be clear.

But just as they did not use “oinos” (fermented wine), neither did they employ “gleukos” in reference to the Passover cup. Why? Is there a reason they did not use “wine” when speaking of the Passover cup?

Wine Symbolic of Retribution, Celebration

Let’s look at the symbolic attributes of wine and see whether this substance would be appropriate for the solemn, redemptive Passover observance. In the prophetic Book of Revelation we find clear, symbolic meaning in wine. In 14:8 wine represents wrath unleashed for Babylon’s fornication. Verse 10 reads, “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of Elohim, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation…”

Wine (“oinos”) symbolizes the fierceness of Yahweh’s wrath in Revelation 16:19. He calls it “wine of her [Babylon’s] fornication” in 17:2. The use of wine (“oinos”) in other parts of the New Testament is significant as well.

In the New Testament wine is used in celebration, during times of rejoicing. The first miracle Yahshua performed was to change water to wine at a wedding feast, John 2. It is a celebration drink.

Upon Abraham’s victorious return from battle with the kings, Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek greeted him with bread and wine (“yayin”–a fermented drink).

Similarly, in Deuteronomy 14:26 we find that wine is expressly used for REJOICING at Yahweh’s joyous Feasts (“wine” here is the Greek “shekar,” an intoxicant, but we are commanded against drunkenness, Eph. 5:18).

Wine, therefore, would be inappropriate for the solemn, deadly SERIOUS and even frightening observance of the Passover (recall that the death angel struck absolute FEAR into the hearts of Israel).

Paul chastized the once pagan Corinthian Assembly for coming together at Passover to gorge themselves on food and drink. He showed in 1Corinthians 11 that the Passover was a solemn occasion and not a festive time. It is a time for sober introspection, v. 28.

Wine at the Passover would be inappropriate in light of what Paul was teaching about sobriety and humility at Passover. Both wine (yayin) and “strong drink” were expressly forbidden during worship services, “that you may put difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean.” This was a statute Yahweh gave forever, for “all generations” (Lev. 10:9-11). Under the New Covenant, an elder is not to be “given to wine,” 1Timothy 3:3.

Intoxicants simply have no place in a worship setting.

Wine: Chemically Altered and Leavened

Wine is not a firstfruit of the grape. It is a byproduct. Wine is produced when yeast, a leavening agent, acts on the sugar molecule of fruit juice to produce ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Wine, then, is juice that has been chemically changed into something different. It is not the original, pure fruit of the vine, but a secondary byproduct. As a symbol for the pure, uncorrupted, sinless blood of Yahshua, a modified substance like wine would be inadequate. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Messiah?…” (1Cor. 10:16)

More importantly, wine has been leavened in the same way bread is leavened by yeast. The Passover was to be eaten only with unleavened bread, Exodus 12:8. Nothing leavened was to be used at the Passover Memorial.

Unleavened bread represents Yahshua’s body unchanged by the corruption of sin, Mark 14:22. Similarly, the cup represents His pure blood, untainted by outside influences of the sinful world. Would a chemically altered drink like wine best represent His pure, unadulterated blood, or would the virgin juice from the grape?

Blood of the Grape

Biblically, the symbolism between blood and the pure juice of the grape is unmistakable.

In Genesis 49:11 we find a reference to the “blood of grapes.” A citation to drinking the “pure blood of the grape” is found inDeuteronomy 32:14.

Isaiah 63:1 speaks prophetically of the returning Messiah Yahshua, who comes from Edom (“red”) with dyed garments (red from blood) from Bozrah (meaning “vintage”–the yield of grapes from a grape crop).

Verse 2 reads, “Wherefore are you red in your apparel, and your garments like him that treads in the winefat?” “Winefat” is the Hebrew “gath,” which means to tread out grapes. It is not “yekeb,” which would be a wine-vat or a container storing wine.

“I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with Me: for I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garment, and I will stain all My raiment,” Isaiah 63:3.

“Winepress” is a misnomer. It is in fact a trough for squeezing grape juice, with a drain at one lower end. The grapes were pressed down and the juice flowed out the drain. Here, the juice that flows from the grapes is equated with the blood of those whom Yahshua will destroy when He returns. Their blood is equated with the “blood of the grape”–grape juice.

The analogy is complete in Revelation 14:20, where “blood came out of the winepress.” “Blood” here is the Greek “haima,” and according to Strong’s Concordance Greek Dictionary means: “Blood, lit. (of men or animals), fig. (the juice of grapes) or spec. (the atoning blood of [Messiah]).”

Savior as a Firstfruits

Yahshua is the firstfruit sacrifice for man, 1Corinthians 15:20. The people were to offer the firstfruits of their produce to the priests,Deuteronomy 18:4–“…the firstfruit also of your corn, of your wine…” “Wine” here is “tirosh.”

For more uses of “tirosh” as freshly pressed juice of the winepress, see 2Chronicles 31:4-5 and Nehemiah 10:37-39; 13:5, 12. Just as the winepress is really a giant grape juice press, so wine is also used metaphorically for grapes. “As the new wine [Heb. “tirosh,” fresh grape juice] is found in the cluster…” Isaiah 65:8. We don’t find wine in a cluster, but we do find grapes that way.

“New wine” signifies the best–that juice which squeezes out by the sheer weight of the grapes in the winepress, before the treading. Thus, it is the firstfruits of the grape batch.

Yahshua is called the firstfruit of the dead, and the true vine. This pure firstfruit can only equate with the first of the freshly squeezed grape juice, not with a byproduct or wine, adulterated through chemical change.

Pure, unadulterated juice is the only proper symbol of the pure, saving blood of Yahshua the Messiah in the Passover. Grape juice is the only symbol that fits all the criteria and offers the only symbolism that is unique to His pure, precious blood.

Paul tells us that the Savior represents the first of the harvest: “But now is the Messiah risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1Cor. 15:20).

Firstfruits offerings were commanded of Israel in Deuteronomy 18:4: “The firstfruit also of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil…” “Wine” here is the Hebrew “tirosh,” meaning freshly pressed juice. Similarly in Isaiah 65:8 we read of the “new wine [“tirosh,” fresh grape juice] found in the cluster” (see 2Chron. 31:4-5; Neh. 10:37-39; 13:5, 12).

Yahshua is actually the first of the firstfruits, 1Corinthians 15:23, and the true vine, John 15:1. This pure Firsfruit can only equate with the first of the freshly squeezed grape juice, not with the byproduct known as wine, which has been mixed with yeast spores and changed through aging and chemical action.

Can Grape Juice Be Preserved?

Some years ago a number of wine producers and processors of grape juice were contacted with the question, “Could grape juice have been preserved in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago from the fall of the year until early spring?” The response was equally divided. Those producing wine expressed doubts that grape juice could be preserved. Those producing grape juice stated it was possible even under primitive conditions, to do so. Furthermore, grapes in Israel had a high content of sugar, which was an advantage in preservation, some pointed out.

The Living Bible Encyclopedia in Story and Pictures explains how grape juice could be preserved: “The means for preserving grape juice were well known. Kato (De Agri Cultura CXX) has this recipe: ‘If you wish to have must [grape juice] all year, put grape juice in an amphora and seal the cork with pitch. Sink it in a fish pond. After 30 days take it out. It will be grape juice for a whole year’” (vol. 16, pp. 2088-2089).

Another method of preserving grape juice was to concentrate the juice by boiling it into a syrup. Stored in a cool place, this concentrate would not ferment. Adding water later yielded a sweet, unfermented grape juice. This was common in ancient times.

Still another way to have grape juice all year was to finely chop raisins, which are dried grapes–and then add water to produce the reconstituted juice.

Yahshua Kept His Promise

As Yahshua was participating in His memorial with His disciples, He said: “Drink you all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:27-29). About to die, Yahshua said He would not drink of the “fruit of the vine” until He was with them in the Kingdom. If the Passover cup contained wine, as some allege, then He broke that promise. Why is that? Simply this:

John 19:28-29 reveals that Yahshua’s thirst was satisfied when on the tree they gave Him “vinegar” (“oxos” in Greek), which is described as an inferior, common wine drunk by soldiers and laborers. (The Complete Biblical Library) “When Yahshua therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the Spirit” (John 19:30).

Yahshua had refused the wine (“oxos”) four times, but just before His death He did receive the wine. Had the previous Passover cup contained wine instead of “fruit of the vine” (grape juice), He would have broken His word not to drink of it again after the Passover and before the Kingdom.

Grape juice had to have been in the Passover cup. Pure, unadulterated “blood of the grape” is the only proper symbol for the pure, saving blood of Yahshua the Messiah in the Passover.

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The Timing of Passover

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One of the most contentious topics among True Worshipers is Yahweh’s calendar, especially as it applies to Passover. Because the first Biblical month is established at Passover, observing Passover in the correct month will help ensure that all the rest of the annual observances fall properly in the calendar year. One teaching says that we should use the vernal equinox in determining Passover. We discuss this issue a little later.

The Passover has been misconstrued since the time Judah and Benjamin were led away captive to Babylon. From that point in history the Passover has gone through various transformations. As Yahweh designed it, the Passover is a memorial (moed, appointed time) and separate from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but Judaism later combined the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread into one Feast and this has caused much of the problem among Feast keepers today.

Note what the Encyclopaedia Judaica says, “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 [Babylonian] exile they were combined” (vol. 13, p. 169).

Ten specific passages relating to Passover have posed problems for Bible scholars and students alike. We will examine each of these. An important point to note: If our understanding does not correspond with the original standard given by Yahweh to Israel in the Old Testament, then it is erroneous. Many go wrong here—they fail to consider what Yahweh commanded in the Old Testament and apply those historical facts to the present. Let’s look at our first passage.

• “And ye shall keep it [the sacrifice] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Exodus 12:6, KJV).

The word “even” in Exodus 12:6 does not very accurately translate the original term. The Hebrew for the word “even” is ben ha arbayim, literally “between the two evenings.”

According to modern Jewish rabbis, “between the two evenings” indicates a time between noon and sunset. However, most scholars maintain that this phrase originally signified the time between sunset and complete darkness, which is about a 45-minute period. A number of modern translations interpret this Hebrew phrase as beginning at sunset or twilight, including: The New International Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New King James Bible, James Moffatt Bible, Complete Jewish Bible, Lamsa Bible, The Holy Scriptures (JPS), and the Jewish TANAKH.

Evidence shows that the Jews began only later to define this phrase as the time between noon and sunset. The Jerusalem Bible, in an Exodus 12:6 note, says: “Either between sunset and darkness (Samaritans) or between afternoon and sunset (Pharisees and Talmud). TheZondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance identifies this phrase as, “evening, twilight, dusk, the fading of the day; twilight can be extended to the dark of the night.” The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon agrees, noting, “between the two evenings, i.e. prob. between sunset and dark.” The Harper Collins Study Bible gives this explanation, “Twilight, lit. ‘between the two settings,’ apparently between sunset and the last of the residual light in the sky.” And The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible says, “The phrase ‘in the evening’ [literally, ‘between the evenings’] means the period between sunset and darkness, ‘twilight’ (Ex. 12:6; KJV, ‘in the evening’).”

• “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever” (Exodus 12:14, KJV).

Based on this verse, some Bible students believe that the Passover is a Sabbath and first high day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in which no work is permitted. The King James Bible is often difficult to understand and in some cases like this one offers a poor rendition of the original meaning. Notice that a semicolon separates “memorial” from the phrase, “and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh…” as if they are two different observances. The word “it” is added (italicized), offering further evidence that the second phrase describes a Feast apart from the Passover.

The TANAKH seems to recognize this distinction, but renders Exodus 12:14 a bit differently, “This day shall be to you one of remembrance: You shall celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh throughout the ages…” The TANAKH says that we are to remember to observe the Passover “as” we might an annual feast, not that it is a feast. The annual feasts of Yahweh are to be observed on appointed times, and to neglect these feasts is to neglect the will of Yahweh.

For additional information on why Passover is not a high day or the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, write for our comprehensive booklet, 10 Proofs Passover Is a Memorial, Not a High Day (no charge).

• “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even” (Exodus 12:18, KJV).

Those who advocate that the Passover is part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread often use this passage to show that both the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread begin on the 14th day of Abib and stop before the 21st day of Abib. The confusion lies in the word “until.”

The word until is translated from the Hebrew word “ad,” which can mean up to a particular point. This same word “ad” is found inExodus 12:6, which designates the day in which the Passover lamb was slaughtered. Exodus 12:6 says that the lamb was to be kept “until the fourteenth day” of Abib. In other words, the Passover lambs were kept up to the 14th day, and as the 14th day began the lambs were slaughtered.

In the Hebrew a word may have several different definitions or be used several different ways, and such is true for the word ad. The primitive root of ad is adah. Adah means to advance through or go through a certain point in time. Therefore, knowing that the Passover by Yahweh’s command is on the 14th day of Abib and that the Feast begins on the 15th (Lev. 23:5-6), we can conclude that in this verse the meaning from the root word “adah” is proper.

Another example of this usage of adah is found in Exodus 12:15, where Yahweh says that we are to eat unleavened bread “until” the seventh day. We know from Leviticus 23:6 that we are to eat unleavened bread for seven complete days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, therefore showing that the word “ad” can mean the entire duration thereof. In this case, the Feast goes through the 21st, so that the Passover is not part of the seven days of the Feast.

• “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning” (Exodus 34:25, KJV).

The Authorized Version calls the Passover a “feast” in Exodus 34:25. The word “feast” as found in the King James and many other popular translations is from the Hebrew chag, which can mean either a feast or a type of sacrificial victim.

If we examine the context of Exodus 34:25 from the King James Bible, an inconsistency will be noticed. How can a feast be left “unto the morning”?

This poor rendition by King James translators, who did not keep the annual moedim, can be overcome by inserting the word victim instead of feast in Exodus 34:25. According to Exodus 12, the Passover lamb or victim was not to be left unto the morning. “And ye shall let nothing of it [Passover animal] remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:10, KJV).

By delving into the Hebrew and understanding the events of the Passover, this particular verse is made clear. A better rendition ofExodus 34:25 can be found in the Schocken Bible – The Five Books of Moses: “…You are not to leave-overnight, until morning, the pilgrimage-offering of Passover.”

• “In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a Feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten” (Ezekiel 45:21, KJV).

This is another verse used to support the idea that the Passover is part of a seven-day feast. What we must remember is that this is but one translation, and likely one of the most difficult translations to understand. We find an improved rendering of this verse from theTANAKH: “On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the Passover sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.”

The TANAKH shows a distinct separation of the Passover from the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Ezekiel 45:21. The semicolon after the word “sacrifice” shows that the second thought is separate from the previous one. (Hebrew lacked punctuation, which was inserted later by translators.)

The TANAKH harmonizes with other passages telling us that the two observances are separate and come on different days (seeLev. 23:5-6 and Num. 28:16-17, each showing clearly that Passover is on the 14th, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th).

• “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be impaled” (Matthew 26:2, KJV).

This passage is cited by those who advocate that the Passover is a Sabbath or Feast. In all English versions of the Bible we have words that were added by the translators in an effort to clarify specific passages. Yet in some cases these words only confuse the issue and make the original meaning difficult.

The translators of the Kings James Bible added the word “feast” in Matthew 26:2. In some Bibles, like the KJV, this is indicated when the word is put in italics. The word “feast” is omitted from Matthew 26:2 in the New Revised Version, Revised English Bible, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, World English Bible, New American Bible, Hebrew Names Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Young’s Literal Translation, New King James Version, New International Bible, and the Complete Jewish Bible.

• “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahshua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?” (Matthew 26:17, KJV).

Matthew 26:17 is also used by those who think that the Passover is part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It should be first noted that the word “day” in Matthew 26:17 was added by KJV translators. So this passage, with the word “day” omitted, would read, “Now the first of the Feast of Unleavened Bread…”

There is yet another clarification to be made, and that is that the word “first” as found in the Authorized Version can be interpreted differently according to the Greek. The word “first” is from the Greek word “protos” and is explained by the Complete Word Study New Testament, “The superlative degree of pro (4253), before. First; used of time (John 5:4; 1 Cor. 15:45, 47; 2 Tim. 4:16;Rev. 1:11, 17; 2:8); former, before, in a comparative sense, as first is often used in Eng. (Luke 2:2; John 1:15, 30, 42; 8:58; 20:4, 8;1Cor. 14:30); or order or situation (Acts 16:12); of dignity, first, chief, principle.”

The Greek protos signifies an order of events, and more precisely it indicates whether an event is before or concurrent with another. We know by the Old Testament command of Yahweh (Lev. 23:5-6) that the Passover was originally separate from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and only later did the Jews combine it with the Feast.

Knowing this fact, Matthew 26:17 should more accurately be translated, “Now before [Gk. protos] the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahshua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?” The Passover cannot be the first day of the Feast because the first day is a high day and no preparation work would be allowed—including purchasing unleavened bread. It was on the Passover that the disciples assumed that Judas was going to purchase Feast supplies, John 13:29, an assumption they never would have made had Passover been a High Day of the Feast.

Some believe that Yahshua ate only what the Jews call a seder that Passover night, but in Matthew 26:18 Yahshua plainly said that He would keep the Passover at a certain house with His disciples.

According to Yahweh’s law, if a person neglects to partake of the Passover, he will be cut off. “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 season, that man shall bear his sin” (Numbers 9:13). Yahshua obviously understood this law, and would by all means comply with the command to observe the Passover.

If Yahshua had neglected that last Passover, as some suppose, our Savior would have committed a sin and would Himself have been cut off! The Scripture confirms that He was sinless, 1Peter 2:22, and consequently we also know that He kept the Passover according to the law.

• “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover” (Luke 22:1, KJV).

Note the phrase, “which is called the Passover.” At that time there were two major Jewish sects, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Historically it is known that the Pharisees kept the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as one single Feast, just as modern Judaism does today, while the Sadducess kept two separate observances: the Passover on the fourteenth and the Feast of Unleavened on the fifteenth day of Abib. It is also widely known that while the Pharisees placed more authority on their own rabbinical teachings (Talmud) than they did on the Scriptures, the Sadducees accepted the Torah as their only source of truth.

Knowing that these differences existed when Luke wrote his Evangel, it is no wonder that he wrote “which is called the Passover.” There were those who kept the Passover as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Revised English Bible perhaps delivers a clearer interpretation than the Authorized Version: “The festival of Unleavened Bread, known as Passover, was approaching.” It is clear that Luke is not stating that the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread are the same Feast, but that some considered the Feast the Passover, no doubt because the one came immediately after the other.

• “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed” (Luke 22:7, KJV).

Here is another passage that appears to be stating that the Passover lamb was slaughtered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To discern the original intent of this specific passage, an understanding of the Greek is essential. The Greek word for “day” in the above passage is hemera. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible offers the following definition: “…the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole 24 hours…fig. a period (always defined more or less clearly by the context).” Strong’s offers two different definitions for the Greek hemera — either as a literal 24-hour span or figuratively as a period that is normally defined by the context of the passage.

We know from the Old Testament and Yahweh’s instructions that the Passover was separate from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, therefore, we know that the Passover lambs were not slaughtered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In addition, we also know that it was during the period of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that the Passover lambs were killed. Just as people today refer to the Passover by simply saying the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Luke does the same by stating, “Then came the hemera [period] of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.”

• “And it was the third hour, and they impaled him” (Mark 15:25, KJV).

Many believe that Yahshua was impaled at 9:00 a.m., but according to John, Yahshua was not yet convicted by that time: “And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!” (John 19:14). According to John, Yahshua was convicted about the sixth hour, which would be from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. How could He be impaled before being sentenced?

In addition, Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, and Luke 23:44 all state that there was darkness over the land from the sixth to the ninth hour. The fact is, no other passage referring to Yahshua’s impalement mentions the third hour. Mark 15:25 has offered a challenge to Biblical scholars from the start.

There are two possible explanations for this inconsistency. The first requires some background on how the Jews defined day and night hours. They broke both the day and night into four equal parts of three hours each: 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m; 9:00 a.m. to noon; noon to 3:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Mark could have possibly been using the Jewish method of calculating time in Mark 15:25.

According to the Commentary on the New Testament, “Mark divides the day into four quarters as he does the night; the second quarter, from nine in the morning until midday, he names after the hour with which it begins; hence, our L-rd was condemned by Pilate and crucified shortly before midday” (p. 224).

We can conclude that Yahshua was convicted roughly before noon, impaled shortly thereafter, and died at 3:00 p.m.

The other explanation is that the word “third” in Mark 15:25 could be a mistranslation. In ancient texts, numbers are often represented with letters. If this were the case in Mark 15:25, it is quite possible that a mistranslation could have occurred due to the similarities between the Greek letters that represent the numbers six and nine. We may never know exactly what time of day Yahshua was convicted and impaled, but we do know that according to three of the Evangels that these events occurred from the sixth to the ninth hour — noon to 3 p.m.

Equinox or Barley?

All of Yahweh’s seven annual Feasts or moedim (appointments) revolve around the harvest cycle of grains and other produce. This is clear with the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, which occur at the barley harvest (Ex. 9:31, Deut. 16:9).

These observances are followed by 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 (presented before Yahweh, 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. The harvests prophetically point to the harvest of souls in Yahweh’s great salvation plan — from the firstfruits, which represent His elect people in the first resurrection, to the general harvest of souls after the Millennium.

Even the first month of the sacred year is named Abib, which in Hebrew means “tender, green ears.” The “ears” refer to barley grain in the ear of the stock, the only grain mature enough at the time of the Passover to be green and in the head. Exodus 9:31 reads, “And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled” [bolled=podded, 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, 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.

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, dry 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, golden and ready to harvest; by then it is too late. The barley must be green and this occurs at a specific time in a specific month.

Where Do We Look?

Can we look at the barley crop growing in our own vicinity to establish Abib? We will find a difference in maturity of several weeks between barley ripening in southern Texas and barley growing in North Dakota. Therefore, the timing of Abib could vary widely depending on where one lives. Ostensibly, believers living at different latitudes could follow calendars that differ by a month or two if one goes by the local barley crop.

The only way to reconcile this discrepancy in growing seasons is to look at the barley that is grown in or around Israel. And that makes perfect sense, because it was to people living in that area of the world that Yahweh gave the command during the green ear month of Abib to keep the Passover and Feast. It is that area of the world that will give us the proper and accurate time based on the barely growing there 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 growing in the Middle East, and not barley grown in North Dakota, Texas, Australia or somewhere else to establish Abib.

The law provides that the wave sheaf be of the firstfruits of barley. Whatever barley field produced first, from that crop the wave sheaf was taken. Once the wave sheaf was offered to Yahweh, the harvest could begin. Harvesting of barley takes place in early April near Jericho. Abib barley has been reported by the middle of March in the Middle East.

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 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 could use the flax plant as a second confirmation for the month of Abib by examining whether it is in the pod at that time.

Why Not Use the Equinox?

Some ignore barley altogether and set Abib 1 according to the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox is that instant when the sun is positioned directly over the earth’s equator in its yearly migration from south to north. It is the time that astronomers define as the beginning of spring when days and nights are equal in length. (Yet there are still several days difference between equal night and day at the equator and equal night and day in the northern hemisphere where Israel and the U.S. are located.)

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 brings about the seasons, while the new moon sets the beginning of months. Nowhere in the entire Bible, however, can one find where the vernal equinox establishes Abib, nor is there one verse referring to the vernal equinox.

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 a spring season Passover, 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 crop growth, not by a man-made definition for when spring beings (the equinox).

Passover is related to spring only through the growing cycle of crops. First and foremost, it must occur in the month of Abib. Abib itself hinges on the condition of grain, not a season.

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 similarly man-made holiday called Easter.

The Roman church, acting on its own authority, bestowed a legitimacy to the vernal equinox as a calendar marker even though it lacks such in a Biblical context. That does not mean, however, that the vernal equinox had no significance among historic pagans and their calendars. (See more about this on our Web page at yrm.org)

Tequphah’ Is not the Equinox

The argument has been attempted that the vernal equinox corresponds to the Hebrew word “tequphah,” which is found four 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 certain 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 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 Bible to spring as a season is 6779, tsamach, a primitive root meaning to sprout, bear, bring forth, bud, grow, cause to spring (forth, up). The Bible’s “spring” is determined by crops, not by solar positioning.

Yahweh’s Feasts are agricultural in nature. It is this fact that binds them to the Biblical theme of salvation through the spiritually maturing and “harvesting” of souls for the Kingdom, which will occur when the angels come to weed out the tares and gather the elect for the Kingdom, Matthew 13:30. May you be counted among the good produce at that final harvest for Yahweh’s Kingdom because you were obedient in all things.

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passover on the 14th; passover on the 15th; passover on the 13th; passover is a high day; passover is a feast; the feast of passover

When to Observe the Passover

Answering the questions about what time of day to observe the Passover Memorial, whether Passover is the 14th or 15th of Abib, and whether or not Yahshua Himself observed the Passover memorial before He died

The root meaning of “Passover” (Hebrew Pacach, Strong’s No. 6452) is to “hop, skip over.” Its name is derived from the death angel’s “passing over” the homes of the Israelites on the 14th at midnight, Exodus 12:29. The Passover memorial and subsequent applying of the protective blood to the homes of the Israelites was observed at dusk prior to the angel’s passing over. Here is confirmation of these facts from the Scriptures.

A key passage to knowing the time of Passover is Deuteronomy 16:6: “But at the place which [Yahweh your Elohim] shall choose to place his name in, there you shall sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.”

The time of year the Passover was observed was Abib, the month of green ears of barley, Deuteronomy 16:1. “Going down” of the sun is the Hebrew bow. This key Hebrew word shows what time of day the Passover memorial is to be taken. “At even” is the Hebrew ben ha arbayim meaning between the evenings or between sunset and dark. We will look at the meaning of the Hebrew bowfirst.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Dictionary shows the meaning of bow (935): to go in, enter, come, go, come in. It means the sun as it goes down into the horizon.

The following verses illustrate the translation of the Hebrew word bow. These passages confirm that bow means at sunset or when the sun goes into the horizon, according to Brown, Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon:

Genesis 15:12, the sun was about to set, and verse 17; when the sun set;

Genesis 28:11, the sun had set;

Exodus 17:12, until the sun set;

Exodus 22:26, before the sun sets;

Leviticus 22:7, as soon as the sun sets;

Deuteronomy 23:11, at sundown; 24:13, at sun down; 24:15, same day before the sun sets;

Joshua 8:29, at sunset; 10:13, did not press on to set – [hasted not to go down]; 10:27, at sunset;

Judges 19:14, the sun set;

2Samuel 2:24, the sun was setting.

Note that the lamb was to kept UNTIL the fourteenth (“until” is the Hebrew “ad,” meaning “as far as,” “even unto,” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance No. 5704). According to the preposition, it was not to be kept up to the END of the fourteenth, but up to the BEGINNING of the fourteenth.

Here is how various translations render Deuteronomy 16:6:

New American Standard

“But at the place where [Yahweh your Elohim] chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.”

New Revised Standard

“But at the place that [Yahweh your Elohim] will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the passover sacrifice,in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.”

Complete Jewish Bible

“But at the place where [Yahweh your Elohim] will choose to have his name live – there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.”

The Bible in Basic English

“But in the place marked out by [Yahweh your Elohim] as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt.”

New King James Version

“But at the place where [Yahweh your Elohim] chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.”

Young’s Literal Translation

“Except at the place which [Yahweh your Elohim] doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle — there thou dost sacrifice the passover in the evening, at the going in of the sun, the season of thy coming out of Egypt.”

NIV

“There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.”

Tanak  “But at this place where [Yahweh] your Elohim will choose to establish His  name, there alone shall you slaughter the Passover sacrifice, in the evening, at   sundown, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.”

James Moffatt on Exodus 12:6:  “But you must keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when every  member of the community of Israel shall kill it between sunset and dark.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible   “You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where [Yahweh your  Elohim] chooses to have His name dwell. [Do this] in the evening as the sun sets at the [same] time [of day] you departed from Egypt.”

(NOTE: These Bible translators had no doctrinal agenda to promote or gain in their translation of this verse. They simply translated the Hebrew in the clearest, most precise way they could.)

Leviticus 23:5 reads, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s passover.”

The word even is the Hebrew ereb = even (6150) rendered “evening, night, sunset” (Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon. It is translated thusly = “even” 72 times, “evening” 47 times, “night” 4 times)

Hebrew scholars confirm that ben ha arbayim means dusk, twilight:

Ben Yehudah’s English and Hebrew Dictionary, page 98, says “dusk” is English for the Hebrew phrase “beyn-ha-arbayim.”

J.H. Hertz, a Jewish commentator who edited the Pentateuch and Haftorah, translated “between the two evenings” as “dusk,” inLeviticus 23:5, Exodus 12:6, Numbers 9:1 and 11.

The Jewish Family Bible according to the Masoretic text (editors Rabbi Morris A. Gutstein, Ph.D., D.H.L. and Rabbi David Gravbart D.D., Ph.D.) translates “between the two evenings” as “dusk.”

Dictionaries define dusk as the time after sunset and before total darkness:

Oxford English Dictionary (OED): dusk = “dark from the absence of light. The dark stage of twilight before it is quite dark at night; to become dim, grow dark.”

Dusk is synonymous with twilight:

OED: twilight = “The light diffused by the reflection of the sun’s rays from the atmosphere before sunrise and after sunset.”

The Sadducees, the Karaites, and Samaritans, who were in charge of temple worship, observed Passover at sunset at the start of the 14th, not mid-afternoon of the 14th. The Pharisees later changed the Passover to the 15th, adding many other non-scriptural traditions the rabbinical Jews still follow today.

The Interpreter’s Bible confirms that the Hebrew expression, “ben-ha-arbayim” has been reinterpreted by the Jews, revealing that the rabbinical teaching of from noon onward is a newer teaching. Notice: “The usage of the time referring to that after sunset and before darkness is the older practice,” page 919.

When the Spoiling of the Egyptians Occurred

The people were not told to spoil the Egyptians until just before the last plague fell, as we read in Exodus 11:1-2:

And [Yahweh] said to Moses, I will bring but one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after that he shall let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you out of here one and all. Tell the people to borrow, each man from his neighbor and each woman from hers, object of silver and gold.”

This is the first time that Moses is allowed to tell the entire congregation of Israel that they are to spoil the Egyptians. Moses told only the elders of Yahweh’s plan before this time, Exodus 3:16, 22. Later, the King James reads, “Speak now in the ears of the people…Exodus 11:2. Up to this point Moses had not made this known, but now—just before Passover—the people shall learn that they are to borrow from the Egyptians.

Passover is on the 14th, Feast of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th—two separate observances

*Passover is SPECIFICALLY commanded as the 14th of Abib: Lev. 23:5; Num. 9:3,5, 11; 28:16; 2Chron. 30:15; Ezra 6:19;Josh. 5:10

*Feast of Unleavened Bread is SPECIFICALLY commanded as the 15th of Abib: Lev. 23:6; Num. 28:17

A revealing admission is found in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 13, article “Passover,” page 169: “The feast of Passover consists of two parts: namely, Passover ceremony, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally, both parts existed separately; but the beginning of the exile they were combined.”

The Jewish Encyclopedia on page 553, dealing with Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread, says, “Two festivals, originally distinct, have become merged.”

Hastings Bible Dictionary says on page 686, article “Passover,” “Passover is always carefully distinguished from mazzoth [unleavened], which begins on the following day.” Hastings points out that each constitutes a separate observance, each on an entirely different day.

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, page 729, article, “Passover, “ states:“Originally, both were separate feasts…”

Yahshua ate the Passover with His Disciples at the start of the 14th  exactly as the Law mandated, or else He risked being “cut off”:

“On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to [Yahshua], saying, Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover? He said Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Teacher says, ‘My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples,’” Matthew 26:17-18 NRSV.

The parallel account in Mark reads, “The Teacher asks, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples…Make preparations for us there, Mark 14:14-15.

Luke 22:7 quotes the Messiah saying to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” To the owner of the house they are to ask, “The Teacher asks you, ‘where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’” NRSV.

Later we are told in Matthew 26:20-21 at evening Yahshua took His place with the twelve, “and while they were eating…” Verse 26 again reveals,” While they were eating” NRSV

Mark 14:18 reads, “And when they had taken their places and were eating, [Yahshua] said, Truly I tell you, one of you will betray Me who is eating with me.” Mark 14:20 reveals, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowwl with me.” NRSV

What the Bible says about Easter

Easter- The Fertility of It All

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Is Easter in the Bible?

 Egg-laying rabbits; hot cross buns; Lent and ham dinners; sun-centered worship — why the strange customs? Why the strange name, “Easter”?   

On an early Sunday morning in April dad gets up and stumbles in the darkness searching for his best suit. He swallows a quick juice and heads off to the church. There he joins 20 of his friends gathered outside. As they look to the eastern sky they become enraptured by the brilliance of the dawning sun. Someone begins to sing a hymn. Others join in, faces glowing as they respond in adoration of the warming rays of the yellow orb.

Back home mother drives the chill from the house as she warms the oven. The smell of baking dough will spread to the bedrooms, beckoning awakening children to join her in making sugary crosses on toasty cakes.

A fat ham roasts in the oven. Dad’s mouth waters as he anticipates returning home and dining on the ritual offerings he has come to savor each spring. But first one more prayer with hands stretched upward in praise as the vernal sun rises to jumpstart the life-cycle of another new year.

As he heads home he notices many others celebrating the return of spring in groves of trees that line the road.

The year is 500 years before the Messiah. Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah conveyed Yahweh’s disdain for a celebration that not only has survived millennia, but even blossomed into one of the major celebrations of Christianity today—Easter.

Easter takes its name from a deity of the Chaldeans known as Astarte or Ishtar. “Her presence was thought to guarantee fertility, and in her absence the land, humans, and animals could not reproduce,” Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.

Easter a Phantom Observance

But is Easter in the Bible? Can we find the word Easter? Only in Acts 12:4 in the King James Version. It is a mistranslation of the Greek Pascha or Passover.

Barnes Notes says about the KJV’s changing the term Passover to Easter: “There was never a more absurd or unhappy translation than this. The original is simply after the Passover.”

Here’s how other versions translate Acts 12:4:

New Living Translation:
“… Herod’s intention was to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover.”

International Standard Version
“…planning to bring him out to the people after Passover season.”

New American Standard Bible
“…intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.”

American Standard Version
“…intending after the Passover to bring him forth to the people.”

Bible in Basic English
“…his purpose being to take him out to the people after the Passover.”

Douay-Rheims Bible
“…intending, after the pasch, to bring him forth to the people.”

English Revised Version
“…intending after the Passover to bring him forth to the people.”

World English Bible
“… intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.”

Young’s Literal Translation
“… intending after the passover to bring him forth to the people.”

New International Version
“…Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.”

New King James:
“… intending to bring him before the people after Passover.”

New Living Translation:
“… Herod’s intention was to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover.”

Notice the preceding verse 3 of Acts 12: “These were the days of unleavened bread.” What connection does the Feast of Unleavened Bread have with Easter? None. What does Easter have to do with the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Nothing. But the Passover and Feast of UB have a lot to do with each other. In the law the Feast follows the Passover on the 15th of Abib.

The early New Testament believers in Acts were still observing the Old Testament’s Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread! Never did Yahshua the Messiah or His apostles or any of the Jews of their day observe Easter.

Easter today is known in other languages by words that link it directly to Passover: French-­Paques; Italian-Pasqua; Spanish­-Pascua; Dutch – Pasen. The word for Easter sounds similar in each of these languages. The problem is, it doesn’t sound at all like “Easter” but like the original and scriptural “Passover.”

Its absence in the ancient manuscripts shows that the Easter celebration was completely missing in New Testament worship. This fact has not escaped even secular sources. The New Werner Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica says, “There is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic fathers,” vol. VII, p. 531.

It wasn’t until 800 years after Yahshua that an observance of His resurrection was ever called Easter.

Nelsons Illustrated Bible Dictionary says on p. 317, “Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring Eostre, a Teutonic [Germanic] goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox, sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the 8th century the name was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Messiah.”

The word “Easter” is a renaming and completely unauthorized replacement of the Passover. The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica makes this short and eyeopening statement: “The name Easter (German Ostern) like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede, it is derived from Eostre or Ostara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated.”

Historically, Easter is the celebration of the ancient queen of heaven, Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. Her beau was the Babylonian Tammuz (Greek Adonis). She is the same goddess worshiped throughout the Near East and Mediterranean worlds almost from the beginning of recorded history. She was variously known as Inanna, Innin, Astarte, Ashtar, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.

Solar Survivals a Heathen Legacy  

Virtually all heathen religions of antiquity worshiped the sun. In Ezekiel’s day Judah had incorporated sun worship into their own worship of Yahweh. Yahweh was no more happy with their doing that than He is with admixing the same practices today and calling it a “biblical” observance. We have no authority to make our own worship. Doing so is making Yahweh into our image.

We read that this idolatry consumed ancient Judah in Ezekiel 8: “Then he brought me to the entrance to the north gate of the house of Yahweh, and I saw women sitting there, mourning for Tammuz. He said to me, ‘Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.’

“He then brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.”

The sun-worship services of the backslidden Israelites, with their women participating in the rites of Astarte worship (Easter) and weeping for Tammuz was detestable to Almighty Yahweh. Little angers our Father in heaven more than embracing the idolatry of the heathen nations.

No Commemoration for the Resurrection 

Nothing about memorializing Yahshua’s resurrection is commanded anywhere in the Bible. The proper observance of Yahshua’s death is the Passover, for which we have plenty of commands and examples in both Old and New testaments. Yahweh instructs, “These are the feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s Passover,” Leviticus 23:4-5. Nowhere is man given authority to alter this observance or morph it into something else.

Early believers observed the Passover according to the command. Ultimately the Roman church instituted Easter. “The Passover, ennobled by the thought of [the Messiah] the true Paschal Lamb, the first-fruits from the dead, continued to be celebrated and became the Christian Easter” (Britannica).

In the Passover-to-Easter transformation, the first act was to change the day on which Passover was observed. The Britannica notes, “A difference as to the time of its observance speedily sprang up between Christians of Jewish and Gentile descent, which led to a long-continued and bitter controversy, and an unhappy severance of Christian union.”

Some of the early churches stuck with the biblical command for the 14th of Abib. They were called Quartodecimani and were regarded as heretics.

Others couldn’t decide which day of the week they would observe the “holy day” and did as they saw fit. “In the words of Epiphanius, ‘Some,’ he writes, ‘began the festival before the week, some after the week, some at the beginning, some at the middle, some at the end, thus creating a wonderful and laborious confusion,’ ” Ibid.

It finally took a papal decree of Pius I to settle the issue. And thus we have the modern Easter falling on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

They Couldn’t Stick with Scripture

It would be bad enough to keep an arbitrary day named and observed for a pagan deity in honor of the Savior. But the atrocity doesn’t stop there.

The many trappings of the Easter rite sank the participant further into the abyss of idolatry. As the Roman Church grew it encountered heathen nations who held tenaciously to their idol worship and man-made customs. The Roman Church recognized that to amalgamate these peoples into its church-state, it would need to make an easy crossover for them. Rather than forcing the pagans to drop their worship altogether, the church found it expedient to recognize as much as possible their heathen rites in its own ecclesiastical calendar.

This blending of beliefs is explained by James G. Frazer in his book, The Golden Bough: “Taken altogether, the coincidences of the Christian and the heathen festivals are too close and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the compromise which the church in the hour of its triumph was compelled to make with its vanquished yet still dangerous rivals. The inflexible Protestantism of the primitive missionaries, with fiery denunciations of heathendom, had been exchanged for the supple policy, the easy tolerance, the comprehensive charity of shrewd ecclesiastics, who clearly perceived that if Christianity was to conquer the world it could do so only by relaxing the too rigid principles of its founder, by widening a little the narrow gate which leads to salvation.”

With those carryovers came the inclusion of the idol-rooted customs of eggs, rabbits, hot cross buns, ham dinners, bonfires, lent, and sunrise services all used in pagan worship.

Each of these was related either to sun worship, fertility worship of pagan deities and worship of life itself or, as in the custom of eating swine, a snub of the Jews they disdained.

Easter hams get their origin from the corn goddess and counterpart to Astarte, Demeter, whose mascot was the pig.

The heathens believed that by eating what represented their god, in this case swine, that they were literally partaking of their god.

What does Yahweh think of those who practice such things each year? Note Isaiah 65:3-5. “A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.”

None of Easter’s traditions can be found in connection with pure worship of the Bible. Not Lent. Not Good Friday. Not Easter itself.

It is no coincidence that Easter involves symbols of eggs and rabbits, historically representing fruitful reproduction. Consider Easter’s bizarre melding of two powerful symbols of fertility — egg-laying rabbits. It’s a powerful example of the whole absurdity of using this observance to celebrate Yahshua’s resurrection.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 ed., has the following admission: “A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring…The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been a symbol of fertility.”

The egg became associated with Astarte or Venus, when she hatched from a giant one that fell from heaven. The egg to the ancient represented the entire universe, which engenders everything. It is round, like the world, and is the universal principle of new life. The mystic egg was venerated in most paganistic nations of the world: Greece, Egypt, Persia, Babylon, India, Japan, and Phoenicia.

Lent on Loan from the Ancients

The 40-day, pre-Easter “fast” known as Lent is an appendage of the mythologies of Greece and Rome. But as with much of false worship, the custom of Lent was original with Babylonian paganism.

“From Arnobius we learn that the fast which the pagans observed, called ‘Castus’ or the ‘sacred’ fast, was, by the Christians in his time, believed to have been primarily in imitation of the long fast of Ceres, when for many days she determinedly refused to eat on account of her ‘excess of sorrow,’ that is, on the account of the loss of her daughter Proserpine, when carried away by Pluto, the god of hell,” Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 105.

Because the early Roman church had no direction from Scripture on the observance of Lent, its first steps with the custom were faltering. “Originally, even in Rome, Lent with the preceding revelries of the Carnival, was entirely unknown; and even when fasting before the Christian Pasch was held to be necessary, it was by slow steps that, in this respect, it came to conform with the ritual of paganism,” The Two Babylons p. 106.

At first, Lent was only half as long as the present 40 days. Hislop explains, “But at last, when the worship of Astarte was rising into the ascendant, steps were taken to get the whole Chaldean Lent of six weeks, or forty days, made imperative on all within the Roman Empire of the West,” pp. 106-107.

Each year before Easter we see people walking around with palm ash in the shape of a cross smudged in the middle of their foreheads. They are marking the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. It’s a time supposed to be spent in penitence and fasting, and is a practice completely missing from the Scriptures.

Cakes for a Pagan’s Deity

Mother’s making of hot cross buns for Easter traces to worship of the goddess Astarte or Easter. Jeremiah the prophet underscored this abomination in speaking Yahweh’s denunciation of these same heathen practices of his day: “See not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other deities, that they may provoke Me to anger,”Jeremiah 7:18.

In Jeremiah 44:19 is another stinging rebuke of those who offered to the pagan goddess. The prophet says in one of the succeeding verses, “Yahweh could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day,” verse 22. He continues, that because His people rejected His laws and statutes, a curse would befall them.

Various pagans have depicted Astarte differently, but always in connection with procreation. Her worship is alive and well today in the symbols and customs of Easter.

Passover: the Right Observance for Today

Yahweh tells us in Proverbs 14:12 that even if we think we are serving Yahweh in ways that seem okay to us, that those ways are still wrong and carry an ultimate penalty. “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

The masses just blindly fall into this observance each year because everyone else is just blindly falling into it. Unless something drastic happens to a person, he will continue traditional ways just as his parents did and their parents did and their parents did. And he won’t ever question why! We truly are slaves to habit, to custom, to routine, to convention and to ritual.

Our Creator has prescribed the only way He wants to be worshiped, and we as His creation have no authority to change anything. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,’ says Yahweh.”

Passover is the memorial commemorating the death of the Savior for the sins of mankind. Through His death, which paid the ultimate penalty for us, we can have everlasting life. That is the message Yahweh wants us to hold on to. And we do so every year when we partake of the Passover memorial emblems.

Easter has nothing in common with the Passover. We find no command anywhere in the entire Bible to observe the resurrection of the Savior. We are enjoined to remember the day of His death, however, with Passover. At its core Easter is nothing more than the perpetuation of the practice of pagan rites and rituals. And Yahweh warns not to learn such ways.

In 1Corinthians 10:14-22 is the apostle’s warning against profaning the Passover and its significance by other practices and other symbols not given in the Word:

“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Messiah? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Messiah? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to Yahweh: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.Ye cannot drink the cup of Yahweh, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of Yahweh’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Sovereign to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”

Now that you know the truth, you have a decision to make. Continue on in ways of ultimate destruction or return to the faith once delivered to the saints, Jude 3. That faith includes the true days commanded in the Word – His Feasts and Sabbath. You are being called to make a choice, which is truly a life or death decision. Choose life.

Watch: “Pagan Origins of Easter” below

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