Vernal Equinox dating confirms the video's timeline, and more: click here to listen to my Vernal Equinox audit between 2010 and 30AD. Happily, it means somehow our current calendars got corrected, despite all the corruption and manipulation of them, post-30AD. Whew.
Moreover, He's the Paschal Lamb for our sins, so His Day of Death and He Himself, are pointedly called "Preparation" in the Gospels -- no fronting (nee: definite) article in the Greek. So they don't mean 'Friday', ever. Those "Preparation" verses also use wordplay and sarcasm to tell you that the Jewish calendar was running four days LATE that year. Of course, you could also know that fact from translation and even from any Bible movie about that week: For The Lamb of Our Passover cannot EAT the Passover if He's supposed to be slain ON the Passover, and instead be EATEN by others. So the lunar calendar that year wasn't corrected for solar days. But if you don't know Passover rules, you won't spot that obvious tweak at the Jewish calendar's running four days late. Alas, people thus deem BIBLE wrong in its description of this Most Important Week. And so century after century, people lose faith -- for no reason. No reason, and very little homework. For the Jewish sacred year starts with the vernal equinox, which often occurs on 21 March. Jewish sacred year is lunar, and runs only 360 days, versus the solar year of 365.25 days. So it needed to be intercalated in 30AD, but had not been. Our calendars are off by up to 4 years, and worse. But the solar-year anniversary of His Arrest and Crucifixion would be something close to March 30 and April 3 each year. So FirstFruits=Easter, would begin the 4th day following, technically April 6th after sundown: which we moderns would count as April 7th. If you knew when the vernal equinox actually occurred each year, you could just count (10, then 4 more, then 4 more) days from that, to get the true dates. Simple. (But the councils of Nicaea and ever after, didn't know how to read Bible, so couldn't coordinate to the vernal equinox -- though they repeatedly tried. They finally gave up and invented some convoluted solution which you can find in Encarta or on the web. I don't remember what they came up with.) Abib/Nisan is the first month of the Jewish sacred year: so the official Jewish calendar was running four days late. So going by it, the nominal (pre-corrected) dates of His Arrest and Crucifixion were 14 Nisan and 18 Nisan, respectively. That's why the first night of Passover -- which must always begin 14 Nisan under the Law -- is instead the night of His Arrest; had the calendar been corrected that year, it would have been the 10th of Nisan, and there'd have been no Passover seder. Same, for the Crucifixion date, which pre-correction was 18 Nisan; but the true date is 14 Nisan. So it was running 4 days late (5, counting the day itself, since there's no "0" in dates), since it had not been corrected for the new year (which begins 1 Nisan). FirstFruits thus began at sundown on that ending Saturday: aka, the Resurrection, Easter. All this is to fulfill on time, the accounting purpose expressed in Daniel 9:24: that's why He says on the Cross, "it is finished" (tetelestai, in Greek, John 19:28-30), while still alive. Payment for sin was fully accomplished -- Greek verb suntelew used in clever covenant-cutting wordplay with suntemnw, in Dan9:24 -- Fully Accomplished by the Son, Who is the Brit(e) DayStar of our hearts. |
You can prove all of this, you can prove it in Bible, and you can prove the dates fit all the way back to Adam. To do that, you have to read God's Book using God's Chosen Method for telling you the information: you can't impose some external idea, however 'expert' its claim, since the outside idea, isn't God's and isn't in God's 'language'. God's Language is extremely precise, sane, and above all, Balancing to events past or forecast. For God structures time in 1050-year units of time, and all time is structured around His Son, Hebrews 1:3 (Greek, usu. mistranslated). "Daniel Timeline" link at pagetop (Mirroring.htm) explains this Accounting Structure for Time in excruciating detail. And you can test and prove all of it, even as you can test and prove everything in this page. For a thing unaccounted, is a thing indefensible. Belief is based on Reason, Reason is based on Facts, and Facts are based on God. For God is a Fact, and the Source of Facts. All of which you can prove, if you are willing to wait and learn. Calculus requires knowing 1+1=2, etc. -- so the learning takes Time.
After all these centuries, the correct dating of Passion Week should be common knowledge. That it isn't common knowledge, that every Bible documentary and movie keeps on getting it wrong; that even scholars still mess it up, means we barely look at our Bibles; means we never use 1Jn1:9 to get His Brains to replace the ones we lost at salvation. We should be utterly ashamed for about 90 seconds, breathe 1Jn1:9 as needed and then crack open The Book.
This webpage will be a slog to go through. Here, the main four divisions in the page are repeated; they are also intra-page links. It is firmly recommended that if you have time, you first master the "Modest Proposal" section, His Grand Strategy (see intra-page links near pagetop or click here to go there): for God uses Israel's calendar to tell the whole world His Story, and its own history -- all the way through eternity future.
The Passion Week Divisions of this webpage are:
You can never conclusively prove anything if you don't prove the WHYs. In criminal prosecution, it's called "intent"; in science, it's called "origin"; in pathology, it's called "pathogen". In short, the Starting Place. For if you don't know where something came FROM, you have no real clue where it's gone or where it will go or how it goes. All math, accounting, law, science, and especially all learning about God, has to work this way. Question is, how do you do this tracking with respect to God?
When you Track Forward From Source like this, any mistakes you make in logic or conclusion, will stick out like porcupine quills. So someone can come behind you and check your work; better still, the work can be re-tracked to get rid of the error. For in accounting anything, you have to audit over and over and over, because there are so many possible errors which self-cancel, so remain undetected. [Say you have a million dollar portfolio, in which two transactions are $40,000 each. But one is going IN, and the other is going OUT, so they cancel each other -- it's as if the $80,000 wasn't there! But when you track by transaction rather than ending balance, you find them. That's a too-simple example, but it vaguely illustrates the idea of errors you can easily miss. Hence l repeatedly audit my faith for accounting errors, in these webpages; and am totally grateful for any corrections. Having now seen how we all get it wrong about God, I trust myself, not at all.]
So here, we gotta address the WHY (Division #1), to understand how Passion Week's dating (Division #2) and His Crucifixion Date (Division #3) are provable. Our Data Source is the Bible. First-class condition, then: assume the Bible is Right. Time and again, if you don't use the Bible FIRST and assume it True (subject to later testing of course), you chase your tail in any kind of faith auditing; that's why there are soo many goofy ideas out there. People go to just about any other source but the Bible. Lots of money and time are thus wasted. Let's now see why, with respect to the Passion Week. After all, the consensus is we don't really know if and when it happened -- right? Yeah, if we don't look at Bible we don't know!
The most important OT Chapters to read will be Exodus 12-13, Numbers 28, Leviticus 23 and 27, Deut 16, and Exodus 34 (the whys summarized). Numbers 28 and Lev23 focus on the holidays' procedure, Exo12-13 focus on the reasons; Exo 34 is a brief yet panoramic review of why-these-holidays. Ezekiel 45-46 is also important, for by comparing its Millennial sacrifice scheme, you get the strong impression God concatenates all the Law's pre-Cross holiday sacrifices, into a meaningful Victory Memorial, since Messiah is on earth at that point, ruling. In the OT, the sacrifices were prospective memorials; in the Mill, they are retrospective. For Church, there is no such thing, for we are Body, and as such constitute Qorban, so to speak. [Qorban refers to anything which is wholly dedicated to God; burnt offering was qorban, and was immediately used. But even a piece of property could be qorban, in which case its use was holy, no matter what. Since we are Body of Christ, no matter what we are or do, we are Dedicated to Him. So His Rights are 100%. No such thing as tithing anyway (it was income tax, not spiritual giving) -- 100% of you belongs to Him, and you can't do squat about that. If you love knowing Him, that's good news: else, it's not.]
The Jews are the luckiest people on the planet, to have this Messiah -- and through them, we all get Him. What a salvation has come from the Jews, John 4:22, Romans 9-11! [The real Mosaic Law in the Bible is beautiful, witty, profound. So if I sound Jewish, it's probably because the Law is so gorgeous: the Law, not the pil-pul you hear in 'Judaism' which is actually the antithesis of the Bible in every respect. The Jews, not the perversion the rabbis make of the Law. But we Christians make plenty of perversions of our own. No one really knows his bloodline background; only fancies he does. Who can really trace his genealogy -- and didn't God promise Abram his sons would be greater than the stars in the sky? So what's this anti-semitism nonsense -- the anti-semite might then be against himself! Who knows why anti-semitism persists, but woe to anyone who has it, Gen12.]
Four key OT passages to evaluate regarding First Fruits (search on the term if you have Bible software) and Passover are Exodus Chapters 12-13, Numbers 28, Leviticus 23 (especially verses 10-14, note how order of First Fruits follows the Seventh day of Passover, not the first one), and Deut 16. Exodus 34 explains the underlying Separation/Holiness and Witness Purpose, to show Israel's God is the real GOD, not pagan idols. See especially Deut 16:9-12, Lev23:15-21 on how the 50 days 'play'.
While Numbers 28 and Leviticus 23 focus on the procedures of these holidays, Exodus 12-13 gives you the underlying reasons for Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. At that time, the concept of "sabbath" as a Holy Day Of Rest For The Whole Nation was not stated, though it did happen. Obviously, the first day they left, they weren't working by nightfall, for they camped that night and celebrated their first night of Freedom. God doesn't tell you everything at once, because then your brain would be overloaded. He always marbles Word with experience, so you get a chance to absorb and internalize, what He's teaching (good advice for Bible study, too -- study a little each day, and be sure to internalize what you learn). Not until Exo16 do the people learn the idea of Sabbath, and they first had to learn the penalty of grumbling (the quail incident, same chapter) before they could absorb its converse, resting in Him. Manna and sabbath and Word are thus linked indissolubly. Hence the Lord makes reference to that fact in Matt4:4 (quoting Deut8:3ff, which is a retelling of Exo16).
So by keeping these Holiday Laws over and over and over and over they kept on being reminded of their Messiah-to-Come. So, kept on being reminded of Where They Were Going -- to live with God Forever (see Psalm 23 for how David uses that remembrance). That's what the Law is for: remembrance. Never for works. Never for earning any credit before God. Never for angst over whether you said a blessing right or lighted a candle properly, for crying out loud!
The most important NT Chapters will be the Gospels, read in the following (true chronological) order: Matthew (written/distributed circa 50 AD), Luke (circa 60 AD), Mark (circa 68AD), John (circa 90 AD). In each one, start with the Last Supper, read until the end. The starting Chapters are Matt26, Luke 22, Mark 14, John 14. If that's too much reading just read John 14-19 inclusive. The order of reading matters, for the Holy Spirit uses successive Gospels to teach upgraded material. Gospels aren't designed to copy each other in order to prove anything to skeptics: dunno where we got the stupid idea in Christianity. Of course it's the Word of God: read it and you'll know. God knows they're true, and HE runs the whole teaching system, so HE will do the proving, if you need it. But Teaching, not proof, is the purpose of any Bible book. So each Gospel has a 'slant' which builds on whatever books went before it. Matthew basically proves He's the Messiah; Luke tells a comprehensive story even a Gentile can understand; Mark upbraids a later generation of Christians for being like the Jews of Messiah's Day -- for Temple destruction is "euthus", imminent (keyword in his Gospel); John reminds the generation after Mark, and focuses USE of the Gospel for a post-Temple world of believers. This is a too-simple summary of each 'slant', but you can see the purpose is to teach something you can live on, not prove whether God the Holy Spirit can testify to something 20+ years prior. Moses wasn't in the Garden, yet he wrote about it, duh. So ignore all that claptrap even Christian scholars whinny, about how did the writers get their information, as if they got it from other humans. God the Holy Spirit provided it, and if you read the Gospels with 1Jn1:9 "on" as needed, you'll hear that fact directly from Him. For, He's your Teacher via your pastor, John 14:26, Matt 10:24, Luke 6:40, Eph4:11-16. [Note to self: Luke 6:40 uses katartizw just like Eph4:12 does! What a nice shock!]
All four of these men were eyewitnesses; but not, to everything. God the Holy Spirit supplied them with the missing information. That's how you proved Divine Authenticity. Something only God could do or know. So forget all that claptrap about whether the Synoptics 'borrowed' from other human witnesses. If that's what they'd done, you'd have mere copies. God doesn't operate that way. He parcels out and keys what He says to each generation -- proving HE, not man, is orchestrating the rollout of the Word. So He, not man, will prove it to the reader right now. Today. Whatever day that is. God would know what He meant by what He commissioned written, since He empowered it, in the first place. So He testifies live to any reader who wants to know. Your comprehension, ability to connect the dots, to see it's really from God -- all that perception, is how God makes it clear. Not by goofy voices or visions.
Notice how the Word is a rollout to successive generations or different groups. All fitting together on all prior Scripture, though. Maybe most folks at the time didn't know that -- but we sure can. The cross-referencing and allusive fit of Bible can only mean One Mind Wrote It: God's. No human being lives much more than 100 years, let alone 1500 years (1440BC-96AD, the time Canon was written). You cannot see this Genius in any translation. Wordplay is native to its own language; our translations are abysmal, but even if everyone did his best and breathed 1Jn1:9 constantly: it can't be done. You simply cannot transport the brilliance of Bible in the original to another tongue. That's why God preserved the original-language texts, finally getting them out from under the elitist destruction and kidnapping of 18 centuries. That's why our Bible is literally in pieces. It's been attacked for nearly 2000 years. You just try to find another holy book which has been so abused by so many.
This brilliance isn't emotional: it's the sheer density of multiple, fitted meaning in the content. It's not human wisdom, either, brilliant though some human wisdom can be. So while there's a lot of Bible wit (every verse I've ever seen), a good deal of poetry, and scads of minute detail on facts which put most of us mortals to sleep in translation -- it's the fitted Genius of Content which is the Divine Signature, from Genesis to Revelation.
Let's first look at the big picture: WHY does God make these holidays so important?
Satirist Jonathan Swift wrote a scathing indictment of society's hypocrisy called "A Modest Proposal" in 1729; ostensibly about how England was heartless toward Ireland, it was on a deeper level an exposé about how no one really cares about the poor, essentially using them as food for one's ego. Sotto voce, Swift basically says, why pretend to be noble? Why not go all the way and openly eat the poor, instead of the less-profitable way you are doing now? We didn't hear him then, and we don't hear him now: all our vaunted welfare programs still trap the poor just as much as back then. So too, man's works trap him, but he fancies himself good. Arrogance is like that: blind, hence hypocritical.
God wrote His Calendar for Israel as a Modest Proposal tweaking, too: Why persecute My Son's relatives for My giving them the Land, slyly wasting your efforts on mere dirt -- go ALL the way! Hate them openly! Because I gave them TIME itself! That's why you even breathe! Everyone who rightly understands this, is insulted. Never mind, that anyone could become a Jew by faith in Him, since that's what Abram did (Gen15:6, Romans 4). For God means to rescue us all, but we resent that. We resent that He channeled His Message through a given people; and that, to be giving everyone His favor. For man's overweening sin-nature ego, knows no bounds. That's really why life is so bad, down here. We're so busy being insulted or intimidated, the eye never sees how this 'insult' is a promise of Integration with Infinity: aka, fellowship with Very God. Not an insult, except to Him! Which has to mean, He LOVES us despite our being puny! But we don't see that. Instead, we see one group of folks getting "favor", and we're all jealous. So we pretend we are the 'true Israelites', or we hunt down the true Israelites, makes no difference. Which is funny, when you realize God's promise to Abram was that his progeny would be countless, like the stars of the sky (Gen15:5, 17:4, 16, 22:17, 26:4, Exo32:13, Deut 10:22, etc).
So I guess we all are supposed to be pretty ticked off this one guy, Abram, is the beneficiary on whom we are all made to depend. Via his Future Son, Who died for all mankind's sins on Calvary. What a modest proposal, John 3:16 and John 3:36,10:34-36, Gal3:26!
This mirroring is accomplished by a system of credits and debits of Time itself. Idea of a thing gained or lost, and the opportunity cost of restitution. If you apply the secular practice of accounting (or actuarial science) to God's 490-year "promise" system as (for example) disclosed in Daniel 9, you readily learn that the entire calendar follows this mirroring system as well. This is heavy stuff. Gorgeous stuff: but hard to wrap your brain around. God is no soundbyte.
Synopsis of Calendar's Meaning: God's calendar for the Jews always operates in a mirrored fashion, and on a bizillion levels; it always displays the entire roadmap of their history, their future; of the world's history and its future. So the metaphors are dense, rich, and you can spend whole days just noting the many 'spokes' of their significance. Uppermost-visible level, the calendar itself is bifurcated into sacred and secular, with the secular's first month a mirror of the sacred's first month. That parallelling continues, and then the two meet in the middle: that's why the secular calendar begins in the seventh month of the sacred year. Hence the sacred calendar's first six months is 'mirrored' by its last six months, because "six" is the number of "Man". The whole point of history is the Man, the Messiah: Christ Jesus, Who inaugurates the Promise. For seven, means "promise". Promise of Rest. Promise of Heaven. Promise of God with us forever.
To see this fact, we must first understand the Jewish calendar's structure. Jewish calendar months generally begin somewhere near mid-month of a Julian/Gregorian calendar month, because Jewish calendar months begin based on the new moon. The beginning of the year is the vernal equinox, generally our March 21. Agriculturally, tide-wise, etc. the waxing and waning of the moon is important. Affects weather, winds, everything. All this is to depict the first six days God the Holy Spirit restored the earth, Gen1:2 and following (see "Creationism" entry in VERindex.htm if you aren't already familiar with the fact that Gen1:2 et. seq. is not the initial creation of the earth).
However, the calendar year was 360 days, usu. 30 days per month; not the 354 days you'd get going strictly by lunar months (which are on average 29.5 days, the time it takes for someone on earth to see a full cycle of the moon). The solar year is 365.2416 days (rounded in this webpage to 365.25). So at the end of the Jewish lunar year, or at the end of every third or sixth lunar year, "intercalation" -- adjustment of lunar year to solar -- was made. God's Times in Bible, as well as His Calendar, are generally expressed in terms of the adjusted year. But Bible also quotes people's own reckonings, which may or may not be adjusted. If an adjustment is needed to correct their reckonings, something in the Bible's text will alert you to that fact. This it does re Passion Week, 30AD, which is demonstrated in Division #2 (intra-page link at pagetop).
Here's the calendar: days are given in the Jewish month date, not ours. Moreover, if Bible states a given day, it usually uses the solar date, but the actual event usually starts at sunset, since Jewish days begin AT sunset prior (night-first accounting of 'day'). Bible-mandated sacred Holidays are in bold font. Secular holidays, are not. You might find it more convenient to instead load the external copy of this calendar, which uses a smaller font and has the priestly courses to show you how each Week of the Year is structured: Click here for [ Jewish Calendar, external webpage copy ]. That link is also among the intra-page links near the top of the page, if you need it. Sometimes you'll wish you had both webpages open, for side-by-side viewing.
Really, intercalation is a very simple, natural thing. Jewish calendar starts with the vernal equinox, generally our March 21. So your count of the year begins there, and by the end of the 360 days -- two sets of the 24 priestly courses, split 7.5/7.5 so that each priest served a fortnight per year -- you know you are 5.25 days away from the next vernal equinox. So that month is Adar, and just let it run for those extra remaining days. Then, the anniversary of the vernal equinox comes, and it's 1 Nisan all over again. Couldn't be simpler. Every year should work like that. Easy. Even now, you could just start up a calendar on the vernal equinox, count the days in the Jewish style back then, and you'd be hitting the dates the Bible talks about. They used 30 days per month despite the timing of the new moon, keeping that moon-appearance monthly accounting for agriculture, festivals, etc. But for the calendar, it was semi-adjusted, quasi-solar; night-prior accounting would be self-adjusting per month. So the priestly courses were always on time.
So how is it, the modern Judaic calendar is very messed up? It accounts the years wrong, not counting properly from Adam's Fall in Genesis 5, there being nothing in the Bible which tells you how far before the Fall God created the universe. So it also messes up Abram's birth year, and a bunch of other stuff. Moreover, its months are weird, though they have the same names: the calendar shouldn't be 'wandering' as it does, no need for that, since it self-adjusts every Adar, and you know how many days away you are from the vernal equinox; and can verify that equinox when it happens. So if you try to reconcile the Judaic calendar to Bible, you'll just go in circles. Use God's dating scheme, only. Then if you have problems in reconciliation, you search Bible for the answers. Seriously. People have been trying to get the dates right for centuries, and they keep messing up because they don't use Bible, but rather outside sources, to derive chronologies. God invented time, so He knows how to tell time; so He knows how to tell us time, so we need to take the time to read His Book. Yes, it's a slog. And very worth it, as you'll see later on in this section.
Salvation is always the same, and you are always saved to Heaven forever. But the spiritual life you get due to salvation, gets upgraded, in Church. That's why Paul states we are a new spiritual species (Gk: kaine ktsis, new-in-species creation), in 2Cor5:17. Jews were a new racial species; no matter what race or even gender we are, we become a new Royal spiritual species in Christ. You are not the product of mindless biology, k?
For it's all about Grace. God makes the unholy, holy. And He loves doing that. So we get to know Him. So we get to celebrate life with Him. Him. Him. Him. Shemah, Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad! Each Echad: Him, Him, and Him.
So here's the decision facing us: since payment for sin occurred, therefore the full replication of Divine-and-Human Thinking of Christ, can go into an individual. For the Method of Paying Sins is also the Method for Implementing the New Covenant Promise of His Head in Our Heads. (Book of Hebrews, 1Cor1:5 and 2:16, with the goal of Eph4:13, are some of the salient passages, though every verse in the NT is about this topic.) Which Thinking can go in, because Salvation doesn't merely mean living forever. Oh no. It's far more shocking than that. Salvation means Being Made At God's OWN Level Of Existence, 2Cor5, Col 1:27. To be with Him forever as king-priests (if we grow up, that is): 1Pet2:5, 9, Rev1:5, 5:10, all "inherit the kingdom" verses. So clearly, God's Salvation Plan didn't intend to beget drooling pets, slaves, or Stepford wives. But instead, Equals: 2Cor5:21, Gen15:6. Because, it's not enjoyable to have an intimate relationship with someone incompatible, lesser-than. Pretty shocking stuff, huh.
It shouldn't have to be said that God deserves the BEST. We are not the best. He could just snap His Fingers and flat make us the Best, or whatever He wants. Omnipotence can do anything. God did make us at His Own level at salvation, 2Cor5:21. But He does not want to coerce. So, it's a decision of how much God wants to make of you, or how much you want to make of you. The human race is so trapped in its insecurities and ignorant arrogances, that it keeps on insisting that what it makes of itself, has value. What poppycock. Think: would you rather be king of this world and all it contains forever -- or would you rather share God's Own Thinking, so to see Him? No contest, baby: knowing Him is better than anything else. Well, that's what Christ purchased at the Cross, which Passover depicts, and Unleavened Bread celebrates, Deut 8:3, Jer3:16, 31:31-34. See how Matt4:4 uses Deut8:4, and how Heb8:8-12 through 10:15-17, uses the Jeremiah verses (Book of Hebrews uses those verses as a rhetorical framework).
"The Whole of God is in every place." My pastor frequently reminds us of this expression of the definition of Infinity. So if Christ's Thinking is in you, that's the function of "Christ in you, the Confidence of Glory", Col 1:25-27, 1Cor2:16=Scripture. Divine DNA, baby. Wholly God, Wholly in you, since you died in Him, theme of Romans 6 and 2Cor5. Thus that DDNA Structure becomes a DDNA Function of His Thinking being built and wholly operating in you. One dot at a time, but remember: the Whole of God is in every place. You, for example. So: that's why you can be you, and yet be at God's Level. Hypostasis, union of opposites, indissoluble.
No wonder Israel got fat-headed. What an inheritance she turned down! What a bigger inheritance He thus upgraded for Church, which she can get Now, theme of Romans 9-11!
And what about those reserved 7 years for the Tribulation? Oh they're still reserved for the future Dan9:27, but in a different way: God exchanged seven years from the Temple's premature demise. More on that follows in a pink table in Division #1's "Why FirstFruits" section (intra-page link near pagetop).
Shocking, huh. God's Accounting is pretty meticulous. So of course the Temple must be dedicated in the first month of the Civil Year, which corresponds to our September-October (mid-month to mid-month): after all, not everyone in the world believes in the God of Israel, and needs time to reconsider. No matter how good God shows Himself to be at keeping TIME.
For the Millennium cannot occur, until the Harvesting is done. So Time is of the essence. New Year cannot begin, until the old one ends. Civilization and hence the Civil Calendar, depends on the Sacred Being Completed. But it will be completed: first Messiah, and then His Bride, and through His Bride -- the world. So every 1 Ethanim Israel's celebration of the New Year, was a reminder of God's Promise that He would harvest them, and through them -- the world. Trouble is, when the Groom came for His Bride, she turned Him down. That's where we come in. That's why Christ founded the Church upon HIMSELF, Matt16:18 ("Petra" means Christ, never anyone else in either OT or New.) [Same verse contains the diminuitive "petros", which is Peter's name in Greek. Kephas is the Aramaic for the same chip-off-the-block name. So Petra is not Peter's name in that verse, but Christ's, and there are 77 "Petra" verses in LXX and the NT to prove it. Sure wish people would do their homework, especially when they presume to know Bible in Greek, presume to speak for God or presume themselves scholars.]
Sixth Holiday is Succoth="Booths" (today pronounced soo-COAT with aspirated "t"); it begins five days after Yom Kippur, and is a week of living outdoors in tents, aka booths. It again reminds Israel that they were in the wilderness before coming into the Land; even the Temple had been in temporary shelter. Meaning? This whole world is temporary. The real life comes after you check out of this body. Thank God for that! In terms of the flipside, Feast of Unleavened Bread, it's again a reminder of how God delivers in haste -- but then, you live down here, PREPARING for the day He takes you home. Kinda silly to value anything down here. We vaunt our possessions, connections, our tiny moralities way too much. It's all just a vapor trail in the sky, subtheme in James 1 and 4.
Booths is the only mandatory holiday for all nations in the Millennium, Zech 14:16-19.
The Seventh and Eighth Holidays are Chanukah and Purim. You'd pronounce the "Ch" of "Chanukah" deep in your throat, KHAN-oo-khah. And Pooh-rim is "Purim".
Chanukah and Purim are linked by Christ Himself to Daniel 9:25-27, in Matt16:18 through Matt 24. So let's see what these two Holidays have in common. Vashti/Esther analogy is the basis for Matt16:18 (going out to the highways and byways to replace the rejecting spouse), as well as the basis for Matt22, so Purim is used to explain the role of Church and its founding; Daniel 9's timeline depended on a successful ending to the yet-future Purim, without which Jerusalem would not have been rebuilt; else, we'd all not be here. As for Chanukah, its basis is the framework He chooses for Matt24, which plays on Daniel 8:14 (which by then was historical) and its future paradigmal recurrence in the Tribulation, as explained in Daniel 7, 9:27 and Daniel 12.
So let's examine the meaning of Chanukah. In Jewish calendar order, the Feast of Dedication (=Chanukah), aka the Feast of Lights (=how they celebrated the first Chanukah), commemorates the Rededication of the 2nd Temple. Rededication was first celebrated 25 Chislev. It thus lasted until their 1 or 2 Tebeth. The Lord ties this event to Daniel 8:14 and Daniel 9:26-27 in Matt24, so uses the event as a paradigm of two then-eschatological events (one was fulfilled in 64-70AD, the other is yet future, no set date).
Most significantly, God ties together the last half of the Calendar TO what we call Chanukah, way back on 21 Ethanim (End of Booths), 521BC. On that date, God's message to Haggai wittily ties Booths to Weeks (Pentecost's harvesting theme, kicked off by FirstFruits, the parallel day in Nisan to 21 Ethanim); and then, He ties to 25 Chislev foundation of the 2nd Temple, 357 years before there could even be a Chanukah. Parallelling this, in Zechariah 14:16-19 God mandates Booths for all the nations in the Millennium, in the context of the Harvest. All these threads, interweave as the main theme of Haggai 2 and Zechariah 14. You can see these threads even in translation: read each whole chapter, pay close attention to repeated dates and phrases, for that's how any legal promise 'tracks' to its conditions and commitments. God is making a promise here. The entire OT is a series of contractual promises, notices of breach of contract, provisions how to get back into the contract -- all done with Divine Love and Wit. I just don't know how anyone can doubt God wrote this Book. The wit alone, is provably Divine.
Hence all this stress on 25 Chislev has got mean it's a birthdate of David, a death date of David, maybe the commencement date of His Kingship or Retirement -- something of David. The date's importance does not derive initially from the Temple, since the Temple derives from David (promised to him, not to Israel, 2Sam7 contract). It's more probable they picked that date to lay the foundation stone due to a significant date in David's life, since the 2Sam7 promise of the Temple=Messiah was made to David. Same, for the later desecration: surely the 25 Chislev date Antiochus picked, was to send a message; little did he know Daniel 8:14 had long predicted what he did, how long it would last, and that he'd be the second poster child for the final desecrator in Daniel 9:27. (Nebuchadnezzar was the first and really the foundational simile in Daniel 9, read Daniel Chapter 3). So the only thing I've not been able to find is what date in David's life, 25 Chislev represents. But it's in the Bible, somewhere!
Note well: the 25th begins At Sundown on the 24th. So for this promise to be effective, it must be made on the day of the 24th; so it goes into effect, after it's been made. That's why the "from this day on" language and significance in Haggai 2:6, 15, 18, 19, 21-23 is so witty and important. Jewish time reckons at-sundown on Day "a" as the beginning of Day "a+1". Evening-and-morning accounting goes back to Adam, when God restored the Earth (dawdling for six days to teach man the meaning of the 7th), Gen1:2ff.
So technically, the Lord's Birthday will be the 24th of Chislev post-sundown. Notice how that means it's the same 24th-and-25th day all around the world. Smack dab in the middle. After all, wouldn't God who created time, know how to tell time? He located Israel in the middle of the globe, so to make it easier for everyone to reach her; He made her nation the landbridge of three continents, so you couldn't travel except through Israel. So a maximum number of people could hear the Word, and transmit it as they went onward -- negative or positive, people talk about what they hear. Especially, if they don't like what they hear. So God can orchestrate time, too.
We know of the Daniel 8 starting, because it's already happened. The last day of the 2300, is the Lord's Birthday (but not birth year); so in Matt24, the Lord's making a kind of wordplay on His Being the Temple the Temple depicts: desecrated for our sins.
Back in Daniel 8:14, 2300 days works out to 6.29 solar years. That information will be important, so Israel can recalate its lunar calendar for solar, upon restoration. The implication is that Antiochus took them off the Jewish calendar back in 169 BC. But I can't prove that, so in this webpage I'm only counting the lapse in the calendar from 167-164BC. When you see the convergence with that assumption, you'll know why I keep it.
It isn't until 141BC that Israel is her own nation, again (23 Ziv or Bul 141 BC, 1Macc13:41-51). It won't last long. The Seleucids will keep on fighting; the Maccabees will get tangled up with the Herods, who then get Rome involved; the Lord will be born under the Romans. And by the flipside of 141 BC, which is 140 AD, what was once called Jerusalem and her Temple has been twice destroyed, 70AD and 140 AD by the Romans. In 140 AD it's called Aelia Capitolina, and a pig temple stands where once the Holy of Holies, was. Abomination of Desolation, yet again. Oh well: maybe it's all a coincidence, huh.
Pentecost is always understood in the Jewish Holiday metaphorical scheme to be the ushering in of the Millennium, harvest completion. You'll remember that in that scheme, the next harvesting done is of products which metaphorically depict Israel: figs (especially in Jeremiah), olives (all over the OT), and grapes (again, all over the OT). That's why Peter interpretatively quotes Joel 2, in Acts 2: to explain the elongation of 'Pentecost', due to Israel's rejection of Christ. It's an assurance that God will still keep His Promises. Book of Hebrews is devoted to explaining how this changeover works from the standpoint of the old Law; new priesthood, new covenant, a Preparation (play on sabbath eve) for Operation Footstool being the definition of Now. 'Pointed allusion to "Booths", throughout Hebrews 4 -- explaining that the Jews are to be gathered, see. So Church is real, has its own covenant, and Jews can get a better version than what they'd have had under the OT, just as promised; this Church will thus be used to rescue Israel's time. Jews were familiar with Bible, so they'd understand all that: but many would be insulted, since goyim would be the agents of Israel's salvation.
Summer is a time of warring, in ancient or modern times. It's hard to move armies through snow or sludge. So when generals plan their wars, they try to start them after the April rains (or whenever the spring rains have ended). That leaves May-June as the best time to begin a campaign, so you can be sure of ending it before the winter comes. Hitler lost in Russia because he forgot this most important rule. That's how Stalyin beat him, waiting him out. That's how Napoleon lost, too. Pentecost occurs in Sivan, which runs May-June.
Because they aren't harvesting anything, "Weeks" is proceeding without them. Instead, they are to BE harvested, just as predicted back in the OT: figs, grapes, and olives. And then, back in the Land. Aka, the Millennium. But preceded by, the official Tribulation: first nine verses in Isa63 is the Son=Messiah, returning from killing all Israel's enemies in the bloodbath which will be high as a horse's bridle, Rev 14:20. Most translations of Isa63:1 won't tell you His 'garments' are drenched with blood. But verses 2-6 don't leave any doubt. "Winepress" is always used to show Divine Judgement: see Rev 19:15.
This second, post-Weeks period of harvesting is explained in Joel 2, so on Pentecost 30AD, Peter reminds the Jews of it in Acts 2. So where we are on the Prophecy Map of Time, is simultaneously a Weeks period, but also that dead spot period of no holidays, because the second harvest is going on. Which harvest, the Jews -- and by extension, all unbelievers -- are warned to get in on, in Joel 2. For when the harvesting ends, the Tribulation begins (theme of Joel 3). You don't know when a harvesting ends until it's over. You can guess, but since so many hands are involved in a harvesting, well -- you can't predict it. Sounds like the Rapture, huh.
So all the "harvest" references in the NT are in part designed to clue us into where we are in God's Calendar.
Which Word requires tending, just like any crop. You linger over it, pay attention to it, take care of it, and grow it. Of course, all this occurs inside you, so it's a deft Catch-22, like all God's rituals are. You can't do the sacrifices under the Law unless God provides the blemishless animals: who but God can make animals, especially ones without blemish? So here with the Word, God must produce it, and give it to you. Moreover, in order to grow it you have to eat it: lol, you eat a harvest which then grows? Reverse of the normal life! You bet. God always turns everything on its head, never politically-correct, no works please -- so you are eating what's invisible, really. Then it produces the crop, once inside you. See? Bible is unendingly ironic and witty, huh.
The next holiday is at the end of the second harvest, Booths/Ingathering, which itself balances to the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. So the period from 11 Sivan through the end of Elul, is in effect celebrated at Booths/Ingathering, mid-Ethanim. But there would BE no Booths to celebrate the ending of the 2nd harvest, unless the 2nd harvest COMPLETES. And we'd not be here to talk about it, absent Purim. So let's look at Purim, next.
The other holiday is Purim; it occurs mid-Adar, meaning (generally) end-February. Adar is the last month on the sacred calendar, and depicts the end of time. How apt: without Purim, there'd have been no Chanukah, there'd have been no Israel and hence no 2nd Temple to remain. So there'd have been no Messiah, and we'd all not be here. So "Purim" is not only a historical event, but also a paradigmal mini-prophecy of the Tribulation and 2nd Advent. Now you know why it's tied to Chanukah by the Lord in Matt16:18, Matt22, and Matt24:6-10 (really, all of Matt24, given the origin and outcome of Purim).
That's what we see play here: the Temple 490 had not yet run out when the 1st Temple was destroyed in 586BC: 950BC, First Temple was dedicated - 490 years = 460BC. But if the Temple isn't standing, it's not being productive, so technically the world ought to end. But the 70 missed sabbatical years (the voting period) due was a kind of contingent credit which could play, since God Himself required the 70 sabbatical years under the Law, and therefore could 'invoke' them. So if enough Jews were willing to rebuild the Temple between 586BC and 516BC when the 70 years ended, then a new 490 would be granted, and also the 70 years would be mirrored back to form yet another intercalated 560-years.
So: from 586-516BC, you see the Voting via those books of Daniel, Ezra Chaps 1-6 (ending with 6:15, which is 516BC); Haggai and Zechariah play contemporaneously with those chapters of Ezra. For the second 70 mirrored voting years of 516BC-446BC, you first have the book of Esther, which starts 2 years before David's Kingship 490 was due to end, as you'll see below. That's why Esther is demonstrably Canon: it's God's way of explaining how He fulfilled His promise to Daniel in Daniel 9:25. Followed by, Ezra Chaps 7+, and the contemporaneous Nehemiah and Malachi. These latter two books focus on Jerusalem's completion in 446BC (20th year of Xerxes 1's son, mostly). The actual period referenced in both books ends about a generation later; but for our purposes 446BC is significant. For that's the year when the mirrored 70, ran out: the 483-year ("69 weeks") countdown to Messiah, begins then. [If you are also a student under my pastor, there is likely a typo in his Daniel books regarding the identity of Darius in Nehemiah. The typo should have been corrected, since what my pastor teaches on audiotape shows the chronology of Nehemiah to end with 446BC, which he's known and taught all along (i.e., in any of the audiotapes on the topic, even in the 1960's). The typo in the books, however, claims that Nehemiah 12:22 references Darius III -- which is demonstrably untrue, since Darius III is one hundred years later, the last of the Persian kings, defeated by Alexander. It's real easy to get mixed up over which Darius is which; we all know how easy it is to miss a typo or other mistake. I keep having to re-edit this Purim section for that same reason. Only God and His Word HE Wrote in the original-language texts, is Perfect!]
You can easily tell God forbids any Temple Rebuilding after 70AD: Daniel 9:26, Eze Chaps 39 et seq., Matt24, whole Book of Hebrews, and Rev11:1 are painfully clear. John builds his whole Gospel around the Temple not being rebuilt, for we are the Temple, since The Messiah=Temple is risen. John elaborates on what the writer of Hebrews wrote. [Each writer of the Gospel uses a rhetorical style; it's not a mere recitation of the facts, which everyone long knew anyway. It's an analysis, first. Because, each generation who got a fresh Gospel (and there were four of them), needed the analysis: faith doesn't last very long before it sags. Faith is designed to be supported by Reason; and Reason, supported by Truth You Can Prove. Faith is never faith, if 'blind'.]
A quick look at history since 70AD shows that the Land has been under almost continual attack, and that Jews have (usually in small numbers, until the 20th century) been on that Land. Just as prophesied here in Ezekiel 38, just as prophesied in Daniel 9:26, and Matt24. Don't listen to the claims that I am returned, the Lord warned. For He returns on one day at night, with the day being the night, and the night being the day (Zech 14:7): Zech Chaps 12-14 tie to Ezekiel 39. Only then will the contract with the nation be restored, say those chapters.
But Gen12 and 17 contracts remain in effect (promises about the sons of Abraham). That's why God switches legal vocabulary to "My people.. Israel" in Ezekiel 38. Woe to any anti-Semites, who'll use Israel's hapless national status, to harm even a hair on any Jew's head: that's the resounding message in Ezekiel 38.
So notice: in Ezekiel 37 they are dead, Israel is Dead. So in typical Hebraic style -- where the following chapter provides details explaining the previous chapter, like Gen2 does for Gen1 -- Ezekiel 38 shows how that Ezekiel 37 slaughter, occurred (campaign of Armageddon). So the next Chapter, 39, shows the Lord coming down to fulfill Ezekiel 37 -- to which Rev19ff, all ties. Only God can breathe life back into dead corpses. Not, a declaration by some however-well-intentioned, political entity.
God never says one should go to 'Egypt' (other humans) for deliverance. Ezekiel 37-39, Matt24 warnings, Rev11 warnings, and especially Dan9:27 tells you that Israel will 'go to Egypt' again anyway, just like she did during Sennacharib's time (see Isa Chaps 28-35). Balfour is but another 'Egypt', Satan's tactic, and so that's why Armageddon will be so bad -- Israel shubbed (returned) without God's approval. "I WILL bring" God says. 2nd Temple's order to rebuild came from a prayer of Daniel's, not from political maneuvering. The "decree" in Daniel 9, is God's, not some king's, for crying out loud. What, does no one read the context of Dan9:25, which proved Who Decreed, verse 24? After all, the angel is a messenger of the King, God Who Decreed something. Can God be more obvious it's Him Who decrees? Can any mere human king decree time?
We don't read our Bibles, we thump them. Satan knows that. Satan used that. So the bloodbath of Armageddon occurs because, again, Israel didn't seek God. But woe to anyone who uses that fact to take upon himself, what alone is God's Role of Disciplinarian!
That's what Satan&Co. tried to do, using Purim: angling for a Mistrial. That's always their strategy. Back at (what became) the initial Purim, by killing the Jews they would prevent the First Advent. Now, by killing the Jews they would prevent the Second Advent. But Bible assures us that, although God never gerrymanders Freedom, Satan&Co. will not succeed. Because, there will be enough in Church growing up spiritually, to buy Israel time. Those votes, plus the votes of Jews during the Trib, will be enough to successfully conclude the Trib and usher in the Millennium.
Modern-day application: grow up spiritually in God's System! And, defend the Jews with your life, if need be. God blesses those who bless the Jews, and curses those who curse them, Genesis 12. Surely the sordid, obsessive, rock-and-rocket-throwing history of the Arabs and Islam, is enough proof of Gen12.
Of course, 14 Nisan is Passover. So the notice to annihilate goes out ON Passover, 474 or 473 BC. Cute, huh. You just can't MISS it, that Satan&Co. ("the gods" consulted) were having a little fun in their choice of dates. Thus Persia was warned it was messing with demons, not real gods. Oh well.
Book of Esther in the Septuagint has a lot of added text which is demonstrably not Scripture. So when you read it, you just cut out the verses which are invalid (this is S.O.P. for Bible, anyway). It's interesting that the valid verse of Esther 3:15 in the Septuagint uses Greek verb tarassw, sense of extreme agitation, upset, terror, to translate Hebrew buk (to have "tumult" in the soul). That same Greek verb is used of King Herod and the Jews on hearing Messiah is born, Matt2:3. So Matthew is tying His Birth to Purim! [Tarassw is used over 90 times in the OT, but only 3 in the NT: Matt2:3, Luke 1:12, and John 13:21. Each of the NT uses are about the Lord; in John 13:21, the Lord Himself is tarassw, and I'd bet money that toi pneumati means BY AGENCY OF the Spirit, given the 'groaning' doctrine in Romans 8. Concept of max empathy: the Lord knows the horror which will result in all history due to that betrayal, the constant pogromization of the Jews; and HE their Savior is the 'cause' of it?! How would you survive such knowledge? So this usage in Matt2:3 has to be a deliberate parallel to the tumult in Susa way back in Esther's day: public announcement which causes soul tumult is the same setting then, as when the magi visit Jerusalem.]
Jealousy kills. So when a king sponsors the Jews, he reaps trouble from those jealous of the Jews. True back then, true still today. So we Christians inherit a kind of jealousy, since Christ is real and we are really of Him. Paul spends a lot of time trying to explain this problem in Galatians (bond vs. free woman) and in Romans (esp. Chaps 9-11).
Every time you turn around, God puts the Jews at the center of things. The nation is centrally located, and its trade-route importance makes all the nations run through it -- and run through to conquer, too. Moreover, its people are often made hostages due to their leadership/executive talents. That was true of Daniel. Even more: Nebuchadnezzar's dad and Nebuchy himself, had only been able to conquer (the dad conquered Assyria in 612 BC, four generations after the latter sacked Samaria and Jonah was dispatched to evangelize the Assyrians) -- due to an alliance with the Medes. Which Medes, allied with the Persians. So you have an Orchestrated Setup to Protect The Jews going on in the background. With Israel -- here, represented by Daniel -- smack dab in the middle. Principle: if you learn God in God's System, everything revolves around you, not the other way around. Solemn thing to remember.
Nebuchadnezzar learned this the hard way, but he learned: see Daniel 4. I gotta study this more. Here's the gist of what I understand thus far. Looks like his kingdom didn't learn from him, else the sons would have prospered. Looks like Daniel 4 happened to him sometime between 579-570 BC, with the period 569-562 being a mirror of his lost seven years, going by God's Accounting System for Time. (How well you can prove that from history, I'm not sure: maybe they hid his seven-year zoanthropic insanity from the world at large. It's common to hide the sickness/death of a king, especially when an empire's independence is at stake.) You know his madness had to occur after 586BC, else he'd not have razed the Temple. Obviously his madness occurred after he made that stupid statue in Daniel 3 -- actually, the statue demonstrates his descent into that madness, as his own confession demonstrates. (Dan4:29-30, so maybe the statue-worship went on during the previous 12 months, and another 12-24 months prior to that, was its construction? Takes a lot of time to collect that much gold, craftsmanship, issue the proclamation, create the systems for the music players and enforcement throughout such a large empire, etc.) So after he'd finished the statue and the proclamation, etc., God struck him, circa 576 BC; that's a plausible dating (i.e., ten years after razing the Temple, Nebuchy himself is razed of his sanity). That there would be seven years after his recovery is plausible historically, as no one regains a larger kingdom immediately: things take time. (The siege of Tyre could have been in his name, not him personally; that civil war occurred during his madness makes sense, including the rebellion of Tyre. Gossip travels. Moreover, a kingdom-regaining period which eventuates in larger territory and wealth controlled as a result of defeating enemies also makes sense.) You also know that when he recovered, now believing in Christ (as He was then revealed), God must have told him the Temple was not to be rebuilt by him. Daniel had to know that answer also, for surely Daniel TIMED his prayer for its restoral, in 538BC. After all, God said the Land must first get its sabbaths (Dan 9:2). So on the one hand, the Temple has to be rebuilt by 516BC; but clearly, not much before that is acceptable, either. Yeah, and it doesn't get finished until the last month of 516BC (Ezra 6:15)!
For the next seven years after Nebuchadnezzar's death in 562 BC (a successful seven is always mirrored back), Babylon enters a kind of civil war. It finally stabilizes under Nabonidus, but then goes into an apathetic decline (theme of Daniel 5) from 556 until 539 or 538BC, when General Gobryas under Cyrus the Great's uncle Darius Cyaxares II, marches into Babylon almost unopposed.
Think of the big picture during these 70 years from 606 through say 536: in Jerusalem, you had Ezekiel and then Jeremiah explaining to those left behind, how their evil caused all the calamity, and the world yet depended on them; Ezekiel gets deported in 597, so only Jeremiah is left behind, brave and ever more persecuted, especially by the puppet kings and their false prophets. Finally the last deportation occurs. Meanwhile, Daniel's at the center of Babylonian and then Persian power, himself persecuted by all the government folks yet strangely revered by the King, calmly and quietly revamping the now-vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar and then Cyrus. Meanwhile, Ezekiel in the second deportation of 597 BC forward is apparently muted and thus can only talk prophecy to the dullards in exile (see Eze1:1-2) from 592 BC onward. (There's a really interesting website I chanced upon after writing up the Exile chronology in this page: http://www.pytlik.com/observe/daniel/timeline.html#. You might want to peruse it, as its timeline spans the same period. So that source is independent, has its own methods for deriving dates.)
So people could have voted, but didn't. They didn't vote in Jerusalem, they didn't vote in Babylon. So only a handful of believers are 'carrying' history at this time: Daniel and his three cousins, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and maybe a few other folks scattered here and there. Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar goes mad, believes in Christ as then Revealed, gets his sanity back -- but his kingdom doesn't vote as he voted. So they end up getting conquered, too. Just as Jeremiah kept on explaining (i.e., Chapter 25, esp. 25:12).
Jews are used by God as the paradigm for humanity, so we should learn from them. So what they do wrong, we do wrong. What they do right, we do right. What God promised them, He promises us. So: initially they were supposed to be the Priest Nation, but since they rejected that role -- here, illustrated by the razing of the first Temple, playing out the negative promise of Lev26 -- they are being pogromized. God the Son portrays Himself anthropopathically as the Jealous Husband through much of the OT, especially in prophetical books. Israel is His Possession, His Prize, etc. She, in turn, is in training to become the Bride. When she's ready, ideally, then the Groom will come in the Flesh to fetch Her. All this, the Temple depicted in every detail.
So when she misbehaves, the Temple goes down -- or, if still standing, she gets punished in some other way. Lev26 lays out the stages of punishment. We should take deep lesson as the Esther replacement; for if when Israel played Vashti, she got cut out -- what should happen therefore to us? Paul makes this point to the puffed-up Roman believers in Romans 11 (beginning the point in Chapter 9).
So historically, we have a long train of evidence as to how God disciplines His People. We were not His People, but now are His People (theme in Hosea). Notice also how the rise of nations is impacted. Joseph and Moses were the causes for Egypt's prosperity. Daniel was the cause for Babylon's and then Persia's prosperity. So that's the high end, and that explains why the low end -- pogroms and all manner of really horrible disaster -- attend the People God Chose. We should take deep notice, for we are the Bride, now -- and of course any Jew can become Church just as any Gentile could become a Jew by doing what Abraham did, Gen15:6, John 3:16.
Peasant thinking always projects its own arrogance onto its superiors, in order to put down those superiors, and make the peasant feel better. At the other end, the superiors often put down the peasant, in order to make themselves feel better. God doesn't think like either side. The purpose of promotion is LOVE, and particularly love for those who are under you: PARENTAL. No good parent puts down his kids. No good kids, put down their parents. So God's out to promote everyone, no matter how low. Fatherly thing to do. That's how we should regard our promotion IN Christ -- which is the same way as HE regards it, Isa9:6, Hebrews 2, 5:7-9. So let's learn how to add up the verses, so history's days can keep adding on!
Think on this: you're Xerxes I, and technically your subjects are supposed to worship you. That's the oriental style of kingship. But at the same time, you've just proved not only you, but your dad was not favored by the gods, since this little Greek group of tribes had been continually defeating you, and hampering your control, for well over 20 years. (Personally, you respect their prowess much; your son will end up respecting so much the very general who defeated the father, the son will welcome the general and feed him for life -- when the Greeks themselves reject that same Themistocles.) So your kingdom is in peril, really. You have enemies in your own court, just dying to find a way to kill you, so to restore the 'honor' of the gods. So: the last thing you want to do, is pick some queen whose god claims to repudiate all the other gods. To do that, is to risk all-out civil war. Or at least, the intrigue which culminated in the Haman conspiracy.
Come on: no king will pick someone from the harem without an extensive background check. It's not as though Xerxes I didn't know Esther was Jewish. Doesn't matter that Mordecai warned her not to tell her ancestry; she was living in Susa at the time, and mouths other than hers, are all too eager to talk for a little gimmel gelt. So either he really loved her, or he was crazy. For he surely knew the potential political suicide he was committing to make her queen, 2 years after the defeat at Salamis. This same Xerxes I will end up murdered by one of his generals (more on that follows in #6, "Epilogue", below).
Jeremiah 44:17-18 -- people worship whomever seemingly gives them body stuff, feeds their egos. Never mind, what the truth is. Never mind, who the Real God is. So this Xerxes I either ended up believing in Adonai Elohenu, which took great courage to do, risking his kingdom -- or was nutso. No middle ground. I'd bet Xerxes I asked Esther point-blank about her God before the marriage, and since she must answer him truthfully, she did. I'd further bet that he believed in the Jewish God, but for political reasons, didn't let on or felt he couldn't let his personal faith intrude on his political rule. Or, he was nuts. Again, no middle ground. Bible doesn't say which it was, so far as I can yet tell.
Oh: Israel's King David retired from Kingship in 970BC. 490 years after that is 480 BC, so the protection for the world owing to David's own God-given Blessing-by-Association timeline, is expiring. The Temple's own 490 was gonna run out in 460BC (950-490). After that, there are no more 490's left to bless the world, except the one given Daniel; and it, was contingent on a thing which hasn't happened till yet: the rebuilding of Jerusalem. GOD had decreed it to begin 516BC. [ For how many centuries have we misread Who Made The Decree in Daniel 9:24-25? Why did we think it was Cyrus or Darius? No wonder we can't get the accounting in Daniel 9 to balance from 538BC or whatever date we use for Cyrus! It isn't Cyrus' decree that is the accounting basis, but God's! And God's basis is clearly stated: 586-70=516 is the deadline for the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, to commence. Neither king was speaking to Daniel in Dan9:24-25, but an angel was announcing His King's Decree -- God! Could it be more obvious, since the Hebrew "dabar" is used -- Word of the Lord, get it? So oh! Now that we know Whose Decree, suddenly the accounting in Dan9 balances perfectly! Mirroring.htm has the details in its "To Be or Not to Be" intra-page link at its pagetop. Grammatically, GOD is decreeing in v.24, and there is no change to a new speaker or actor in v.25. So the One Decreeing in v.24 is Still Talking in v.25. Sheesh, how we love to cut God's Head off and switch to some mere man decreeing, interrupting God! The usual kant about it being Cyrus' decree or some other mere man's decree is incredible. First-year seminary you are taught to track the nominatives. Oh, how God must love us despite ourselves: we, so very sincere, scholastic, hardworking believing humans don't even get it -- because we cut God out of a Bible verse, and put a man in, instead! End Romans 7! What a Savior we are blessed to have! What satanic opposition there is, too -- how is it for centuries we all didn't notice Who was decreeing, in Dan9:24? Forget the Exorcist-type movies: Satan&Co.'s main activity is to block out our ability to see Bible. And they are devastatingly good at it, as this blindness to Dan9:24, depicts.]
But the 'votes' weren't there. Enough only to finish the Temple. Then, Israel lapsed into unbelief again (quintessential human trait), so there was no Jerusalem. That's why the times are so arrogant, self-centered, and violent, worldwide. Rise of culture and rise of war, go together. Why people call this period a "golden age", I'll never fathom. It was a period of concentrated evil, a time of Satan&Co. winning as the "gods" over The Real One, all over the earth.
Temple got completed on time, but Daniel 9:25 relates to the rebuilding of Jerusalem itself. And it's not done yet. No wonder there is so much war. David had died 7 years after he retired from Kingship, so the 490 related to his death, ends in the very year of the Haman conspiracy. So had that conspiracy been successful, there'd have been no Temple -- note that the Temple is still under Persian suzerainty that year! So if the "Purim" decree to massacre the Jews had gone through, you can bet that all the Jews in Jerusalem would have been killed, and the Temple razed; and history, over. So this Purim is a pretty dramatic event: you and I would not be here, without God's deliverance back then.
So note the confluence:
So "first year of Cyrus" in Ezra 1:1 would be the year prior (esp. since he's designated as king of Persia). So Daniel 9:2 is Daniel's recognition of the 70-year deadline to rebuild the Temple, and that's the impetus for his prayer. [Bible is very precise when it dates a thing; first you must determine what idiom of dating is being used. For example, in Ezra 5:13, the idiom is to the current king of Persia, so Cyrus as king of Babylon is used, since that designates the year he became king of Babylon, having already been King of Persia when he did it. Ezra 6:3 doesn't have an added descriptor, but just his name -- due to prior context of 5:13. So 6:3, 5:13 and 1:1 = the first year of Darius the Mede in Dan9:1; but not the first year of Cyrus in Dan1:21, since that was when Cyrus took over from Darius the Mede (who died); so it IS the first year of Cyrus, relatively speaking (directly); but the THIRD year of Cyrus, absolutely (indirectly). It's a painstaking thing to work with Bible dates. When you think you see a contradiction, assume that you lack information; never assume the Bible is wrong due to a scribal error until you have proof in some other Bible manuscript. Too many go extra-Biblical for their sources, as if what's outside the Bible is somehow more reliable. Balderdash.]
To say "immediately" doesn't mean you get all the answer at once. Notice how the Book of Daniel is structured. God starts the answer right away, but God has a much bigger answer than Daniel expected. So God starts His Answer with a setup, getting Daniel and his cousins so they can live there in Babylon yet not violate the Law (i.e., the dietary restrictions). Then, God continues His Answer by giving Nebuchadnezzar a dream which only Daniel -- immediately, within 12 hours -- knows. That answer teaches Daniel the outline of history to the end of time. The Why is given first, the big picture. Then, Chapter 3 rolls out with a test for Daniel's cousins, which sets up Nebuchadnezzar for Chapter 4. And why? Because (Chapter 2) -- Nebuchadnezzar is that head of gold. (Statue dimensions rather suggest an obelisk vaguely cast like a human, a kind of phallic pillar representation like our Washington Monument, but with a head on top, maybe; look how Egypt similarly crafted representations of its gods.) So God is playing out the answer for Daniel, live. It's a crash course in the rest of history: for Daniel. Why Daniel? Because God talks to you when you talk to Him using His Protocol. If kings of the mere earth have protocol you must follow, how much more, should God? How we Christians disrespect Him, to think He should just slobber over us, not have fellowship rules of His Own! Disgusting.
Then comes the silver part of the Chapter 2 'man' outline of history, and Daniel gets more in-depth answer via the Medes and the Persians taking over (Chapter 5). Then Chapter 6 is a furtherance of the answer -- giving now-elderly Daniel an outlet to express his gratitude, and providing yet further setup for the crescendo, the official Decree of Chapters 7- 9. We humans need time to absorb learning. It's not enough to get an answer. We need time to think it over and internalize. Moreover, God likes doing things big and small, weaving them together. So prayer is always answered immediately: but the answer is huge -- "more than we can ask or imagine", as Paul puts it in Ephesians 3:20 -- and is rolled out.
To say "immediately" doesn't imply Daniel had never asked for the Temple's restoration, prior. What instead results, is the recognition of when was the right time to pray. See, Prayer is a voting. It requires some tenacity. What happens is that you learn as a result of praying. As you are talking to God, if you're breathing 1Jn1:9 you hear His Answer immediately, principle of John 14:26, not dreams or visions (for Church, we have Canon in writing so don't need that pre-Cross kindergarten stuff). So you alter what you are going to say next. Thus you mature in your understanding about what you are praying. So what happened to Daniel, was that he knew he should keep voting, but he also knew God was training him -- and of course he knew God was saying "not yet" as the answer. For Daniel knew the 70 years was the criterion. Daniel then knew the same fact, from what Jeremiah had confirmed -- Jeremiah's scribe came there in 594BC, reading the warning proclamation of God against Babylon, then throwing it into the Euphrates (Jer 51:63). Daniel also knew God was evangelizing Babylon through him -- most especially, Nebuchadnezzar himself. So you too also know while praying, what the answer is. But that doesn't mean you stop praying. For prayer is a voting.
So when Cyrus takes over, Daniel knows when to pray: for obviously he knew -- as certainly as Nebuchadnezzar had -- that until the proclamation against Babylon would be finished, there would be no rebuilding of the Temple. Well, when Belshazzar was slain, that was the fulfilling of the proclamation. So Now it was the right time to pray for the Temple, in 538BC. Just as you know you go to the polls every four years for a Presidential election, so you prepare for it in advance, so also you prepare for prayer, by study and prayer. Spiritual life is a thinking. You gotta practice the thinking. Prayer is a vote, it's conversation with God (look how David handled it, talking to God all the time about everything). And it's the best thinking practice, to talk to God in HIS Terms about what you are learning. Relationship is always a thinking, never really a doing. Shared thinking.
Prayer is VOTING. So, God replies; as always, you get more than you asked for with God, Haggai 2:15-24, Mal3:10ff, Luke 6:38! It's not about people, but about God! GOD gives! You give a measly vote of barely-positive volition, what else can you do with your sin-in-Adam nature. God then turns around and moves heaven and earth, time, pours and pours and pours. I can't even think of a prayer I prayed which God didn't answer, or which I didn't know the answer before I finished praying. But then, I know the protocol for prayer. Because, Love never coerces, and Love always wants to pour. So He withholds, when we withhold our Positive Votes. True since Adam. True forever future. Try it yourself, and see for yourself: GodSystem.htm (link at pagetop, far left) has a short item #5 which lists the proper protocol for prayer. Again, try it yourself, see for yourself! [Repeated prayer with your brain on is essential. Forget rote/set prayers, unless you make up the words yourself and understand them as you are saying them. The Lord warned us not to pray mindlessly like the Gentiles, nor legalistically like the Pharisees. And you know something? Whenever people bug me for answers in Bible, I tell them to ask God -- and they won't, as if getting the answer from me were somehow preferable. What, they want my doo-doo instead of His Diamonds? So I don't answer them anymore. Writing these webpages is something God wants so I can learn Him better -- I don't internalize what I learn unless I write it out as if for someone else. So that's why I know this stuff and they do not: I never stop asking Him. Don't you, either. His Word is Priceless!]
See, the 490 running from David's initial Kingship over Hebron (1010 BC) runs out in 520 BC (1010-490). So when God dispatches Haggai to talk to Zerubbabel and remind him of the propitious laying of the foundation stone back in 537 BC 24 Chislev, it's 521 BC. Zerubbabel would have known the 490 from David's initial kingship would run out (say) 18 months later. For in those days, everything was reckoned in years from a significant king's dates. God's Accounting for Time is in those terms, itself. So THAT's why what Haggai says to Zerubbabel, is so significant: Time Deadline! Davidic Deadline is approaching! And YOU are the "signet ring" (seed, = zeru) of David! So honor Father and your father! For the next Davidic deadline (490 years after David's death) is seven years later, but the 70-year Decree Deadline runs out in five years! For surely Daniel told Zerubbabel his own half-cousin, of God's answer (Daniel was of the Royal Family too, descended from David and Abigail, search on "Daniel" verses in the OT, esp. Dan1:6).
When God does numbers convergence, He does it to demonstrate He's GOD so you can know you didn't hallucinate. So you can be sure of dates. So you can be clearer on Doctrine. This isn't that incredibly-blasphemous Bible Codes nonsense, which impugns the Holy Word down to the level of an acrostic for people who want to be entertained and titillated, never learning What God Writes. Rather, all numbers in Bible have a Doctrinal Significance, so you can Learn God Better. God, not when to play the stock market or predict the Rapture. Sheesh: we don't want to learn Him at all.
So let's see the Doctrine here demonstrated by the Orchestration of Time: Learning God, buys the World Time, for all Time is built around Messiah, Hebrews 1:2. [Which in translation should say not "world", but "covenantal epochs" or "Ages".] See, God wants you to see how important HE is. Since you're part of Him once a believer, that makes what you think and do important. So you can thus orient to the Time. Else, you'll waste your time. Further, if you need real proof versus the many false doctrines and counterfeit ideas of God are out there -- what better proof can you have, than the Word which tells you what Time it is? Only God can Orchestrate Time. Numbers help you test that. So watch:
Compare the 24th of Elul date for recommencement of Temple building, to Nehemiah 6:15, which shows the Wall of Jerusalem (signifying completion of the city by God's Accounting) being finished on the 25th of Elul, 446BC. This is no coincidence. So preparation through foundation construction occupied 537 BC, starting in Ziv (Ezra 3:8); that 24 Chislev, the first foundation stone was laid (Ezra 3:10 compared to Haggai 2:10,15,18, 20, 23); the foundation was finished in 537 BC but construction had to stop due to orders from the King (Ezra 4:5, 24). Then building recommenced 15 years later (compare Ezra 5:1 to Haggai 1:1). So an interval of 15 years ensued between Temple foundation's start and Temple building re-commencement, 536-521BC. "15" is the number of days a priest serves in Temple during a year, as well as the most-common commencement date for a festival in the Bible, i.e., Passover begins on the 14th AT sundown, which is the 15th in Jewish night-first accounting. Booths in the fall begins on the 15th and is a 'mirror' of Passover Week, as explained earlier in this "Modest Proposal" subsection.
Notice further a 6-year period for building the Temple proper, since all that had been done back in 537BC, was just the foundation, from Ziv through Chislev (Ezra 3:10). So beginning mid-way through 521BC they start again, finishing at 3 Adar (last month of year), 516BC (Ezra 6:15). So seven months followed by the 15-year hiatus; then beginning again, one-half year; then four full years, then 11 months. Total is 6 years: so "in the 2nd year" and "in the sixth year" of Darius (the Great, here) means they began and ended nearly coterminous with the beginning and ending of those regnal years, as well. Thus you know God raised Darius to protect all that rebuilding, with God matching Significant Day to Significant Day. And notice: 7 years total, when you tack on the waste, for they returned a year prior, in 538BC. 7 years allotted for construction, just like back in 1Kings 6. God watches the time, keeps the time, even when we waste time. The 15 years' hiatus is not Israel's fault, so is not counted against her. God watches justice, too: even when we are helpless and victimized. [There's also an accounting tie to the amalgamated 20-year period it took for Solomon to complete both the Temple and all his other buildings, but it takes too long to explain: it's outside the scope of this webpage.]
Now for the Doctrine Taught: if He'd do that careful an accounting of Israel's time, then how much more will He do in your life, since you are part of Christ Himself (i.e., as stated via all the "in Him" verses in the NT)? Israel was never 'part' of Christ, because He hadn't yet come. But you are, from the very day you were born. Christ paid for AlL the future human race 2000 years ago! Granted, your "in" status didn't turn "on" until you believed, John 3:16 -- but the potential remained. And remains, for everyone born.
For, don't you think that you -- no mere dead stone, but paid for with the Living Thinking of Christ on the Cross, theme of Romans 6 -- don't you think that you are worth more to God than a building? Especially since the Building always stood for the Living Monument of Christ (see last half of Eph2)? Your life is orchestrated, too. Trick is to get on God's Timing for your life. Which means you live in God's System, and never stop hearing/talking with Him. That's why we get Bible in writing. So we can have an unending conversation, at God's Own Level, Eph4:13, 1Cor2:16, Col 1:25-27, 2Cor5:14-21. DDNA, baby. Growing you up from baby-in-Christ to a mature-as-Christ person, Eph4:13-14. Via your own God-appointed right pastor (not a denominational issue), Eph4:16. [Ephesians 4:12-16 is mistranslated in every Bible I can read in any language, so I had to retranslated it in Eph41216.htm.]
Next, back in 537 BC the foundation was laid on the 24th of Chislev, which caused such a fuss with those hating Israel, they got Cyrus to stop construction, end Ezra 4. The Lord will be born 25 Chislev 4BC, exactly on an anniversary of both the laying of the 2nd Temple's foundation stone; and, the date God announced Messiah would be coming from Zerubbabel's seed (a pun on his name). God makes a big stink out 24/25 Chislev in Haggai. Click here to jump to their full-text listing, look for the underlined, medium-blue font phrases.
Preview of coming attractions: So the Ezra 3:8 Ziv date is 537BC, probably. So the announcement to Zacharias in Luke 1 is in Ziv, 5 BC. Both are anniversary years of the Exodus evenly divided by 7. Next, the Temple Building re-commenced on 24 Elul 521 BC (Haggai 1:15). The Wall of Jerusalem was finished on 25 Elul, 446BC per Neh6:15. The pregnancy of Elizabeth occurred in Elul 5BC. Understand, you were taught to measure like this to see God's Hand in a thing; so you couldn't possibly mistake the orchestration.
You'll need to remember all these seemingly-irrelevant or arcane facts when you get to Father's orchestration of the Lord's 25 Chislev (!) Birthday, because every date here for the 2nd Temple is used to craft when the pregnancy of John will be announced (Ziv, 5 BC), when Elizabeth will conceive (Elul); when Mary gets her Annunciation (Adar), etc. It's incredible, the confluence. In the year He is born, on the one hand you can posit the calendar got intercalated prior, and His Brithdate still works. Or -- which I guess scholars presume -- that the Jewish calendar is only intercalated every fourth year, so His Birthdate is thus 'off' intercalation by 14.4 days; so that year, 25 Chislev=25 December on the calendar we use. (Actually, it works out the same whether intercalated or not, for different reasons.) Basically, between then and our modern era (post 1750's), 14-20 days got cut from the calendar itself, by various adjustments made by popes and governments, trying desperately to bring the calendar back in line. That's not the entire solution to the confluence with our calendar, but it does mean that somewhere in the world, 25 December is His Birthday each year. (If 5BC was intercalated post-Annunciation, 25 Chislev 4BC still =25 December 4BC, but in a different way.)
So the meanwhile, as you can see from this brief recap of the region's history, everyone around Israel was at war. This is the classical period, the golden age for Greece and Persia; also, its bloodiest period. [It's pretty astonishing, how classical Greek is so Hebraistic (i.e., the dramas and their concepts, many of the idioms and terms). Wonder if anyone ever did a dissertation on the similarities.]
It was a golden period for Israel, doctrinally, and He prospered her. For Canon was completed, the last book being Malachi; then it is distributed. Right on God's Daniel 9 Timeline, too: 516-70-70=446-49=397BC. So notice three things:
So notice something else: from 397-323 BC, Persia was crumbling, and Greece would overtake, just as the angel explained to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2, and then in detail to Daniel, in Daniel Chaps 10-12. That Greek was Alexander. So due to Alexander the Great, Greek became a 'common' language, and the New Testament could be written. The New Testament is chock-full of Atticisms owing to the popularity of Greek drama in the culture, which today scholars neglect (they didn't used to do that). But the underlying language is koine. So people could more readily understand it when Christ came, and what the Gospel is. God orchestrates history without gerrymandering a thing! Man proposes, but only God, disposes. And when God disposes of a people, a nation -- He does it, to bless them the more. He disposed His Son to dispose of sin. And we stupid humans, keep on proposing the goofy idea that we can do something of value. Even if we could, look -- we can instead be exchanged into HIS Nature, contract in Isa53:10-12, which Paul cites in Romans 12:1-3! So why settle for being what you are, since the contract is to make you like HIM, instead? [So of course Romans 12:1-3 is egregiously mistranslated to make it look like man's works count, totally reversing Paul's point: see Rom121-3.htm. Other passages are 1Jn3, and all of 1 Cor and Ephesians -- both of the latter books are horribly mistranslated too, always cutting God's head off, just like the translators do with the Book of James (which is on the same topic). I don't have time to retranslate all that, but I tried to point out the tenor of the translation problem in 1Cor in ArchiDes.htm's endnotes; Eph41216.htm retranslates Eph4:12-16 so you can at least see that part telling you the idea is to BECOME Him in Thinking, which God chooses to make happen through whomever HE appoints as your own right pastor (it's not a denominational issue). As for the Book of James, comments on the egregious mistranslations in Chapter 2 are scattered throughout 'my' websites. My pastor exegeted the Book's relevant passages in 1991 and he exegeted all of Ephesians verse by verse over seven years from 1985-1991. So you can get those for free, yourself. OR, under whomever God appoints as YOUR right pastor (that's always the better option, to go with God's choice for you).]
To get the significance of the language change, think of how today most of the world speaks at least some English. God rolled out Greek, back then. Because, those who would be writing the New Testament would be employed by God to do it in Greek. Greek, not English (which didn't exist then). So it could disseminate faster. Now only the original authors' writings are inspired -- translations are all errant, no way you can translate the Word as good as the original -- but most of the teachers who know the Word well, speak English. Same basic idea: the language the world needs is the language of the people God sends. So again, like time -- only God can orchestrate language. So don't settle for learning Bible in translation, since obviously the world is being taught the original language of most of the best teachers. God knows all languages, and can teach anyone anything. So it becomes a symptom of negativity to God, if someone refuses to learn Bible in its original-language texts. People in the Dark Ages could only get original-language Bible if they became a monk or nun, yet you have this incredible proliferation of monasteries in Europe and Russia, beginning around the 4th century AD onward. Missionary activity spread that even further. Yet today, with interest in Bible at an all-time low and high, simultaneously -- we, however remote -- we all can just dial up to the internet and get it. So who do you think has more responsibility to learn?
In sum, Chanukah and Purim are tied in meaning to Pentecost, like bookends. Result? This stretched-out Pentecost 'harvesting' period is the gateway, and is thus reflected on the 'other side' of the calendar by 11 Chislev. Moreover, causality between the first harvest's completion and the second harvest's completion is stressed. There won't BE a 'new year' (Millennium) until and unless the harvesting completes. Since chronologically Chanukah precedes in the annual calendar, but is historically predicated on Purim, it makes a nice, tidy package.
After writing this webpage in 2006, I made the following videos summarizing a) Bible statements He was born on Chanukah, and b) how Bible NEVER says there was a 'star' over Bethlehem, but an angel. You'll need to watch fullscreen and in HD (the '720p' setting), to well read the text beginning with the third video in the playlist. If the videos here don't work for you, watch them on Youtube, CLICK HERE.
We just saw in the "Chanukah" subsection above, how lapses in Jewish-calendar intercalation made 11 Chislev=15 Chislev = 25 Chislev. We also just saw that Haggai 2 in effect folds in what became Chanukah 357 years later, and what became Purim, 47 years later, and that in Haggai 2, God predicates Booths on Weeks on Pentecost, tying them all to 25 Chislev. But is that all we have to go on for His Birthday? Oh, there's much much more in Bible on His Birthdate! Whole calendar is built on it! So let's see how. This subsection is very long and involves a lot of number crunching and Bible-verse research, sorry.
You probably know that many people dispute the idea He was born at Christmas. It is true that the Roman Catholic Church used the pagan Saturnalia festival to claim Christ was born then. Back when He really was here, Saturnalia began 25 December on the Julian calendar. It lasted for a week. Roman god Saturn was deemed the god of the harvest and later -- god of time, combining him with Greek Chronos of the same character -- so had the nickname "Father time". Gifts were given out, people venerated their little home ancestral god statues (called "Lares") mid-week.
Christmas as a holiday apparently began with Constantine. The early Christians didn't celebrate it as a special day, so far as we know. Hence the current fad of many Christians who (inter alia) prowl the chat channels, saying that Christmas is a fraud, just one of many lies instituted by the Roman Catholic Church. Would they ever be surprised if they read this section, to see how God converges all time on His Son! Which in the Year He is Born, ties the Roman Saturnalia and Jewish Chanukah holidays together!
Frankly, King David knew when His Greater Son would be born, and inculcated the Levites with that information; bear in mind, there was no such thing as Chanukah or Purim, back then. Since we moderns never bother to translate Hebrew names, we don't know all the prophecy in the names. And especially, we don't know the embedded prophecy in the names of the Levitical priestly courses. But Luke sure did; that's why he tells the story of Zecharias plus the two prophesying people in the Temple. Very wry wit, Luke's. So in this section, we'll spend lots of time on those priestly course names and their prophetic meanings. [I'd not even know about the priestly courses if someone didn't write me an email about Zecharias, at the very time I was trying to understand where in the Bible to look for proof of the Lord's Birthdate. So I'm guilty of ignorance, too. God knew that, obviously!]
What's most surprising about this convergence is how baldly Bible states it: punningly. Same style of explanation as for Passover's timing, which requires you know the Mosaic Law, to get the many puns. Bible makes very many puns, almost one per verse: and as you know, the glory of a pun is what's not said. You have to already know something, so you can enjoy the punning. Once you have to explain the pun, it's not funny anymore. We usually miss the Bible's puns, so there's much about Bible we don't know; for example, we don't know these dates; frankly I had missed them, too. But God has this habit of pointing you to things. Punningly. So while I was editing this "Modest Proposal" section in 2/2006, I was listening to some older audiotapes of my pastor's. I follow his lessons sequentially, so never know what to expect. Turns out that back near Christmas 2000, my pastor suddenly began saying that the Lord's Birthday is really 25 December 4BC after all, but based on the Feast of Dedication, which is the formal name for Chanukah. At first I was incredulous: he's not the kind of person to be insistent, but when he is, well after decades of being under him (all my adult life), I've yet to find him wrong, and only succeed in finding out more why he was right.
And what an anniversary it was. The brith has to be held on the 8th day following a boy's birth. Bethlehem being only a few hours' travel meant He was presented at Temple in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. So here He is, some 30+ years later, on the anniversary of His first Visit to that Temple, which was why those dippy magi came to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem, being as the angel DEDICATED TO GUARDING the Royal Couple had to let them see his light. After all, it was the Feast of Lights (just over, then), and the Couple had to hang around for another month or so until Mary could be purified and the Child, officially dedicated as per the Mosaic law (Luke 2:22,39). Which is how the magi could even track the Child back to Nazareth when the couple left -- with Herod's agents, tracking them as they followed what they still thought a 'star': that no one else could see that star didn't register yet on their magic-clouded brains. But they did believe in Him. Christian and Crazy both begin with C for a reason.
And here maybe 30 years later, the Object of all that attention and murderous aftermath, the Object of that most famous announcement of three types -- shepherds, magi-running-around-town and baby-murdering Herod -- here the Object of that most famous announcement of three decades, is 'asked' yet again to say He is the Christ, at His Own Birth and Brith's, anniversary?! Yeah, 'asked' by those seeking to kill Him so He won't have another anniversary (religious types insult Him as if He were illegitimate, in John 8:41, 59, 10:32).
So any reference to shepherds and sheep would have special meaning, at the Feast of Dedication of Him Who Saved Us, John 10. John 10, on the 'heels' of John 8-9, where He is accused and condemned by the religious crowd, for curing a guy who couldn't see; never mind, the miracle good deed done for him. So finally, the now-seeing guy caught up with Him again, and thus the religious crowd caught Him. So here He is, in the very Temple which depicted His Body for Israel since David's day. David, to whom God Granted that Temple, 2Sam7. So now the Chief Shepherd Who is the very prophesied Son of David, during the anniversary week of His Birthday, explains how no one will pluck His Sheep out from His or His Father's Hand, because He and the Father are United (oneness, main theme in John's writings) -- as He walks through Solomon's Colonnade.
Date-wise, that equating of 25 December and 25 Chislev (or 11 Chislev, as we now know) might happen, depending on how you account lunar versus solar, and anniversaries of 25 Chislev. In 2005, Chanukah in the US and Christmas coincided, if I remember. Problem is the modern Judaic calendar is weird, so how much you can trust it? On the other hand, maybe the coinciding was based on metonics, that 19-year lunation thingy, where every 235 lunations the full moon occurs on the same day of the year as it did on the first lunation. In any event, it does happen that Chanukah and Christmas coincide.
Prior to his teaching in the year 2000, my pastor had taught that the Lord's Human Birth probably occurred in the fall, tying in some manner to Yom Kippur, which of course makes sense. But it makes even more sense, if Pentecost is left 'hanging' without a parallel holiday, and Temple rededication occurred on what would have been the parallel holiday -- that the Lord would be born based on Temple Rededication. Especially, since He is the Temple, and He will defeat all of Israel's enemies at the 2nd Advent. Verses in Bible tell us plainly about Passion week, and also in wordplay show that the Jewish calendar's being off four days is corrected by His Dying on the true 14 Nisan. So, given the above about 11 Chislev, something parallel will be in verses related to His Birth.
So the reason we don't know His Birthdate is a) no one bothered to pass it down to their kids, which means everyone lost interest in Him sometime within the first 100 years; and b) We Don't Read The Bible, which is pretty blatant about when He was born. So again, we are hypocrites, loudly saying how we love Jesus, and yet proving by our ignorance, how much we hate Him. Yes, it's that pathetic, and I'm just as guilty as anyone else. By the time you finish this subsection, you'll be shaking your head in disbelief how simple and blatant is God's statement of His Birthdate.
Notice the distinction between fallacious "arguments from silence" and wordplay evidence in Scripture. Wordplay tells you a whole LOT of information; humor in that wordplay, makes that information memorable. Silence, by contrast, tells you nothing. Pointed omission is not silence: something which ought to be said but is left out, is a kind of 'talking'. We do this all the time, when we are pushed to say something we don't want to say, or find ourselves in an awkward situation.
So your task with Bible's many pointed omissions, is to learn why they are left out. Pointed omission usually happens in Scripture to express disapproval i.e., you'll find no office of pope anywhere in Bible, OT or New; you'll find no Roman Church in Rev1-3; but you will find the harlot of Rev17 based in Rome, with colors you can easily match. Same thing with puns or jokes: omission is key to getting the joke, but surrounding what is pointedly omitted, will be other material so you can tell what is omitted and why. That's what makes the joke, funny.
It is witty that God would Dedicate His Son Who Will Be The Dedicating Founder of Father's Priesthood, on the Day of Dedication of the Temple. So logic would dictate you look for such language in the Bible, especially when the topic is on the Lord's Birth. Book of Hebrews in essence points to Dedication at Birth in Heb10:5, very bald; that, plus dedication to resolving the Angelic Trial, throughout Hebrews 2 and 10. In fact, Hebrews 8-10 are climactic chapters on the topic, and Hebrews 11 ends with the crescendo purpose of Church tying up all history (11:39-40). While this theme doesn't guarantee that He was born on 25 Chislev, if He had been, you'd expect this kind of wordplay to be wryly stressed in the NT. For Bible always matches wordplay to nature or name, viz., all the fathering wordplay on Father and Abraham in the OT.
It shouldn't have to be said, but nothing else in life is worth even wanting, except God. Everything else is too small, unsatisfying. Being in these bodies is a humiliation, not so much because of the body's own characteristics, but because the body is too small to do anything worthwhile for God. So why did God ordain us to be in these bodies? How does He solve this problem, and how is it that He can make a Royal Priesthood for Father out of these measly bodies? God cycles His Infinite Nature inside finite creation via DDNA -- transmission of His Thinking, which is Truth. That's how. DDNA webseries (link at pagetop) is dedicated to that topic. Here in the Thinking series, we're focusing on the legal Angelic Trial issues and the play-out of this Goal.
So first of all, somehow angels must have been offered a priesthood role under the Angel of the Lord, a title for the Son (main theme of Hebrews Chaps 1-2). For we know Satan was to head the angels but he rebelled, as explained in Part I. So instead there was this civil war among the angels, and other angels took the place of the rebellers. Then the Trial was held, Satan&Co. were sentenced, but Satan appealed on the grounds that God is not loving, as explained in Part I. So the Son was to be born Human to make this priesthood. It was gradually announced and disclosed, and the entire nation of Israel was to become that priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood was a schoolmaster for this goal, as Paul explains in Galatians, a book which went out with or near the time of Matthew's Gospel. Israel rejected Christ, so now Church becomes that priesthood, and any Jew can enter it, thus realizing a better "new covenant" than had been eschatologically offered Israel, so Psalm 110:1 is "on"! That's actually the main theme of Book of Hebrews. [Just like the Flood epic of Gen6, you can find in all the world's current and past faiths, some version of this prehistoric angelic conflict. Stories retold morph from their original truth. But if you keep on digging into the root similarities, you see the same story whether in the 'mouth' of the Greek myths, the Koran (Iblis story, spread across the Suras), the polytheistic retellings.]
Messiah is to rule forever. His Royalty as Son of David is only one of Three Royal Patents. First, He's God, so is Royal Son of God in that capacity. Then, He is Son of David, so Royal there as well. But as Dan9:24-25 explained -- as does most of the OT -- "Messiah" also means the One to defeat Satan, Gen3:15. That's why angels make the announcement. For this Battle, predates Adam. So for Son to add Humanity to Himself and be born, first resolves the Angelic Conflict. Hence He will become King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- the latter title is His Headship over the angels. Hebrews 1:4 says in the Greek that even in His Human Nature, He is higher than all angels put together. So together those two Titles constitute His Third -- Battlefield -- Royal Patent. Hence the angels under Him as Lord of Lords, serve us (see end of Heb1). [My pastor spends a lot of time teaching the Angelic Conflict. So if God wants it, you can freely order tapes from his ministry. His website is http://www.rbthieme.org. Other pastors also focus on the Angelic Conflict, but I know less about how well they handle the subject. A proper grounding in that subject is essential to understand the Bible; God spanked me big-time for being bored with the topic 20 years ago. That's one reason a janitor named Jesus gave me my first Windows computer he found in the trash -- because I was thinking of finally writing about the topic, and had decided not to -- unbeknownst to that janitor, of course. So I'd not want someone else to get spanked, k? This doctrine is important.]
The "King of Kings" is the Royal-Priestly Patent; that's why Luke 2:14 uses the neuter gender of upsistos. The Royal Priesthood is an office, so it's 'neuter'; moreover, there are no gender distinctions toward Father, as earlier explained by Paul in Galatians. Hebrews 7 elaborates on that, as it's the central reason for the changeover from the Mosaic Law to the New Royal Priesthood under Christ. Full context runs from Chapter 5-10. [Sigh: this doesn't mean women can become pastors to other humans. Human-human relationships down here are gender-distinct for sound reasons and are temporary, but must be respected. Unless you like being heartily spanked by God.]
So both the 3rd and the 2nd Royal Patents are inaugurated in Luke 2:14; hence an army of angels passes in review, and an angel (Gabriel) makes the announcement to shepherds at the former fort of Migdol Eder (near Bethlehem): famous then for keeping huge flocks of Temple-sacrificial sheep, year-round. Isagogically you know that's where it was because of the location; and, because military verbs are used for the shepherds, so these aren't ordinary shepherds, but professionals. The verbs are agraulew -- someone who lives outdoors all year round as a military function of protection -- and phulassw, to stand sentinel. More about the latter verb will be said later, as it's pregnantly used by Luke to rubricate His Birthdate. [Nerd note: "host" is a politically-motivated mistranslation dating back from 1611, to cover up the Bible's many military meanings throughout KJV. Womb verses demonstrably suffer from the same political-coverup motive. Bible says life begins at birth and not before.]
Now remember: at the time He is Born, Israel hasn't rejected Him. So the announcement has two audiences. First, the Jews: for them, the announcement is a massive Declaration of Spiritual Independence, called "Jubilee." The term references the Millennial promise of Israel being a priest nation. So it means ending the Law's current restrictions on fellowship, priesthood, which is why the sacrifice schematic in Ezekiel, is no longer of multiple design, but instead one concatenated, memorializing scheme. Moreover, as explained Jeremiah (3:16, 31:31-34, see Heb8:8-10:17), God would institute a massive upgrade, called "the New Covenant". That's a huge OT eschatological theme, and the whole thing is to be inaugurated by Messiah.
So the Luke 2:14 announcement to the shepherds, was told everywhere by everyone. So that angelic announcement was well known by the time the Lord started His Ministry, which is why He announces His Ministry by quoting Isa61:1 (Luke 4:18ff).
Now to the second audience: when Luke writes, it's the "time" of Church, Israel has rejected Him -- so the announcement has that Royal Family of God meaning given to Church. Galatians had gone out contemporaneous with Matthew's Gospel: so everyone would get the wordplay of the neuter "upsistos" in both its traditional meaning of highest-levels-of-Glory, highest-levels-of-Heaven, as well as it being by agency of individuals made the Highest due to His Battlefield Victory at the Cross.
So this announcement has added meaning to the 60 AD audience to which Luke writes. Of course everyone already knew about it. The NT is an elaboration of how this new Glory Level works. Paul wrote all of his letters based on that announcement, Galatians being the most pointed. The "glory" announcement is repeated, as in Eph1:15-23 (stressing Church as agency God makes glorify Him and His Son), Eph3:19, 4:13. Colossians explains how Satan&Co. get defeated, to result in Battlefield Royalty. Book of Hebrews' rhetorical takeoff point is the change in priesthood to His, the Ultimate, highest-level-of-Glory. Peter ties to the Luke 2:14 announcement in 1Pet1:7-8, and Rev3:4-5 also ties to it. All the "riches of glory" verses, in fact all the "glory" verses in the NT refer back to this announcement to show how it is implemented.
When the Temple was rededicated, there was a parade, with thousands of candles -- hence the "Feast of Lights" is another name for Chanukah. This is the only holiday in Israel's calendar which has a parade inaugurating it. So what do you think Luke is pointing at, by stressing this parade of the angels at His Birth, hmmm? Pretty witty, huh.
So it should be obvious that the Lord did not come to bring "peace on earth", but the Word-sword (Matt10:34, Luke 12:49-53); for this is not a time of peace, but of the final warring in the Angelic Conflict (main theme of Book of Hebrews). End times. End times prophecy is what Messiah is all about, Daniel 9:24-25, Isa61, Eze39ff, all of Zechariah. So, then: we've really blasphemed the Word in our horrible translations of Luke 2:14. When an army of angels is making the announcement, then peace is not the topic. War is the topic. The Hero to Win the War, has arrived, Heb10:5!
If you love someone, you want to do what they want. If you hate someone, you don't want to. Man has no capacity for Love, but God can create that capacity, via the Word cycling in your head. As you learn this Word, you come to love the Word, and you come to have via the Spirit, the ability to Live this Word. So you need something to "do". And what you "do" is the Word, In Your Head. Not so much what you do with the body. That sanctifies the body. It's not works, but the Holy Spirit's Power. So you want to give up your body, even though you know it does nothing for Father. You just need that outlet. Hence Hebrews 10:5, the Son's Birth Speech of Dedicating Himself to Destruction for Father. Spoken from His newly-born Humanity. Yes, a miracle.
It's almost impossible to comprehend that scholars don't add together what Luke says in Luke 2, with what Matthew says in Matt2. (For an aside about bad Bible scholarship re Gospels, click here.) Reading the century-old commentaries which come bundled with BibleWorks, I keep smacking the monitor: how can you bleeping think they left from Bethlehem to Egypt! Then I have to use 1Jn1:9. But then some among them still think there was a Star of Bethlehem, too. Yeah, what star or planetary conjunction flies around low and then stops, then disappears, then hovers over a house, all of which Matt2:9 tells you, even in translation! See how Dedicated that angel was, even though he knew he'd be calling attention to Joseph and Mary -- since obviously he had to let the magi see him, and since the rest of Jerusalem obviously could not -- the magi were getting big hints he was no 'star'? See how dedicated Jerusalem was to blindness, that they needed some bleeping Persian sorcerers to trumpet the news of His Birth? Nope, we didn't see all this. We thought it was a star, too: because we never reconciled to the Law. But God always does, since He created the Law. Ooops.
So when Matthew reserves the 2:23, Nazar-Eth -- meaning, Dedication House (-eth makes it a noun) or Dedicated Town, simply "Dedication", "Branch", "Sentinel" -- many wordplays -- we don't see that, either. So of course we'll miss what Luke says in Luke 1:26 about when Gabriel came to visit Mary. (But I'll reserve Luke 1:26 for dramatic effect in the next category.)
Both Matthew and Luke did that same kind of rhetorical reserving in their genealogy listings, making the last entry, climactic: Matthew, in 1:16 (juxtaposition with Mary) and Luke, his lead-in 3:23, and 3:38. Both of them structure the genealogy to play on God's 490-year Time Accounting System: Matthew uses doubled 7's (the 14), and Luke structures his to show the Lord is the 77th Son. David died when he was age 77 (1Kings 6:1, 2Chron3:1-2 -- they aren't scribe mistakes, see "David" entry in Mirroring.htm). Get the pun? 7 and 7. Seventy seven. Seventy sevenS, lit. Hebrew of Daniel 9:24.
Just as, Luke tells you when Mary got pregnant, in Luke 1:26: month of Adar, sixth month on the civil calendar, stated in official Greek (double-article) terms. So the Lord had to be born the following Chislev. #24 will go into Luke 1:26 and the confluence of 25 Chislev. For now, just notice that the Bible is not hiding anything. Matthew's audience was close enough to the events such that wordplay on Nazarene and the angel, was all they needed. Luke's audience is largely Gentile: "Theophilus", the addressee, is a famous term meaning "Lover-of-God", not necessarily a particular individual. So Luke takes an official approach in writing out the Birth -- kinda like an official recording a birth certificate, using official Greek formats: census affixes the year of birth, and Luke 1:26 affixes the month of the year in which Mary got the Annunciation. Were you in first-year Greek in seminary, and were you tested on Luke 1:26, you'd flunk the question if you said it meant Elizabeth's six month. Relative-based months don't use two Greek articles in their dates, but rather only one. Oh well.
The Feast of Dedication, coming as it did at the end of the Roman tax year, would be a really convenient time to register for the tax census in Judaea; it would be an essential deadline, for the Romans. For the Jews, well, look: you could stop in a town of your birth on the way down to Jerusalem, or on the way back. You'd probably be doing that anyway, to visit childhood friends and family. The new Augustan head-tax scheme implemented probably back when Quirinius became consul in 12BC, had been handled by Herod directly, so the Jews wouldn't be further antagonized by a greater Roman presence. Moreover, Herod would sometimes rebate a portion of the taxes to the Jews. This benefitted Rome, which thus had lower overhead in tax administration. But Herod was dying. Hence the need for a census, because if Herod died Rome would have to take over: Augustus, a close friend of Herod the Great, couldn't trust his sons with kingship.
You can find stuff on this tax scheme on the internet. The timing of it due to Herod's death less than four months later, is a logical conclusion. Luke 2 never says that Quirinius was a formal governor at that time. Greek text merely says he had authority, and that could be a special-task type -- i.e., to implement the new tax scheme. Nor does Luke say what time elapsed between his heading up the Augustan tax scheme, and its implementation in Judaea. But you can know from other sources that a) Herod ran the taxes, so any census wouldn't be in Roman records, but Jewish; b) that Herod was dying of his many illnesses in 4BC, which logically would mean the Romans would have to take over (and we know they did); c) that Quirinius was a roving emissary for his pal Augustus; d) that Augustus did overhaul the tax code after he took over and Rome became an empire (sometime after 23 BC). So I'm concluding it was Quirinius based on Luke 2 and Augustus' usage of Quirinius, which you can find out about, extra-Biblically; and the 4BC timing of that first census is a conclusion based on the logical idea that close-to-Herod Augustus, would naturally know if his pal's health was bad enough to affect tax administration. These conclusions make more sense than anything else I've read on the topic.
Luke prefaces his narrative with a contrast between the initially-doubtful Zecharias, and the hurrying, dedicated Mary at the Annunciation. Two announcements given by Gabriel receiving two different reactions. Zecharias has a moment of bitterness he gets past, but he is made mum during the entire nine months because of it. By contrast, Mary's reaction is so inquisitive and positive -- lol she questions the angel as if he were giving her a Bible class, which in essence he is -- she ups and packs immediately to go see her cousin Elizabeth, who is a whopping 90 miles away! That same dedicated hurry will be reflected in the shepherd s, at the time of the Child's Birth.
Of course, Mary's reaction in translation, is completely blanded out. No substitute for the angel's or her witty command of Greek. In what's usually dubbed her "Magnificat" she demonstrates a fluency with Scripture which makes it obvious she sure had Bible in her head day and night. Sure wish people would laud that, rather than her sexual status. So if you would imitate Mary, imitate her being in God's System, learning and living on Bible under your right pastor, 24/7. She sure did that. Can't become that fluent in Bible thinking, else.
Dedication during danger is hardest of all. The "sign" given the shepherd s advertised the danger and His Birth Purpose: for the Baby was wrapped as if for burial, not the normal swaddling method then in practice; and, He lay in a feeding trough -- idea of being fattened up for slaughter. Greek word "semeion" always has a connotation of judgement, something bad. Important, yes; good to come out of it, yes; but the bad is what happens 'on the ground', your first experience. Shocking in some way. Pretty shocking, to see a healthy newborn wrapped as if a corpse and lying in a feeding trough as if he was cowfodder. And all that, done by his own parents! Click here if you want exegetical details on this meaning in Luke 2:12.
Which being DEDICATED, they had to do; to portray Eze16:4,6, Isa1:1-6; to demonstrate that Ps40:5 was being fulfilled, as Heb10:5 would later explain. For the closest thing to hagiazw (sanctification, set-apart, dedication) was the Nazirite vow, and here a Person is the Once and For All Sacrifice. So, He must be wrapped in grave strips. From there, the couple would have to keep on doing what the Law required, which Luke is very careful to record; so they go to Jerusalem, probably by the 8th day after His Birth, on which the Law required His Circumcision ("bris" in modern Judaism); then, offer sacrifices for His Dedication under the Law of the Firstborn sometime after he was a month old; and Mary, had to offer for her own purification under the Law after her 40th day post-partum -- right under the nose of Herod. All of which Luke notes, so you realize they went to Jerusalem, were no longer in Bethlehem. And were Law-obedient.
As noted earlier, Matthew instead focuses on how the Jews were not interested in Him; oh yeah, everyone was talking about that Newborn King -- due to some goyim magi who make a very loud public entrance into Jerusalem (paraginomai, Matt2:1, contrasting with the secret birth in Bethlehem). So that's why Herod even heard about it. So think: it could not long have been a secret that Herod sought to kill the Child; maybe the magi were naive, but surely not those hearing Herod pretend interest -- the family was already too famous for murdering rivals, even and especially within the family. Imagine being Joseph and Mary, then: how dedicated must you be, to go through the very public bris when the child is named? It's a registry, especially for royal couples. It's not like they could hide. So if the Feast of Dedication was also going on, well more ears would overhear; more mouths would be talking. No wonder Luke 2:22 doesn't record them as staying in the city, but they went into the Temple. There wouldn't be room in Bethlehem due to the celebration, nor much room in Jerusalem due to it, and who'd want to risk exposure? The Feast itself only lasts a week. But it's a dead time of year, and you linger. Joseph and Mary had to wait there a full month afterwards, since the Law for the Dedication of the Firstborn and her own purification ceremony required Temple presentation (again, public) about a month after the bris. So here is the behavior and thinking of Dedication. Again, the "Bible's True Nativity Narrative" link in LvS4a.htm spends more webspace on the event.
Luke, therefore, likes to whisper his climactic statements -- or stop just short of being explicit.
Hebrew verb zakar also means meditation (on the Word) and related functions. Idea of thinking, remembering, keeping to the Law like Moses warned. Hence the description of Zacharias demonstrates he fits his name. He plays on his own name when he extols the birth of John, saying that God remembers Israel. Here's another important fact: Zechariah (the Hebrew equivalent) was the one who directed the rebuilding of the 2nd Temple, which of course is still standing, in the Luke narrative. Another important fact: Abijah was also Hezekiah's mother. Jewish primogeniture goes through the father, first; but Jewish bloodline goes by the mother. So Zacharias is distantly of the royal line of David. So Luke means to show confluence, God orchestrating time, giving to a royally-related namesake the task of rebuilding the 'temple' of believers -- preparation, again. Of course you'd know that from the genealogy, with the Lord being the 77th son from God Himself. See: names really matter in the Bible. My pastor said that so often, I can't long forget to look up every name I find. Lexicons are notorious for giving you no data on proper names. So you have to spend a lot of time guessing at the Hebrew roots, and then searching for them.
One of Luke's goals in writing this information is to demonstrate that Zecharias is a VALID Levite priest. When the Lord was born, the long usurpation of the Maccabees had utterly corrupted the priesthood; the Maccabees (aka Hasmoneans) also usurped the Davidic throne within a generation or two of ousting the Greeks. So there were individuals serving in the priesthood who were not eligible, either. On top of that, the High Priest was appointed, whether or not he was the proper eldest son of Aaron per the Law. So it's important to know that SOME of the priests -- here, Zecharias -- were of the proper lineage. Moreover, Mary is a distant cousin of Zecharias' wife. For Aaron had married a woman from the tribe of Judah, so the two tribes intermarried throughout the centuries. That matters, for one of the Lord's Titles is King-Priest. Hebrews 7 and 10 cover this. By His lineage, He would not qualify as a High Priest, but He did have Levite lineage.
Since Luke is writing 50+ years after the fact, the reader is reminded how John, the next priest in line, and validly -- refused to serve. That tells you volumes about how corrupt the priests were. Remember, it was God who appointed John. And He didn't appoint him to be in the Temple, but in the desert -- though under the Law a priest who refused to serve in Temple would be killed or otherwise severely punished. So the priesthood would have to be pretty corrupt, for God to ordain a qualified priest to stay away from the Temple. Kinda reminds you of those Witnesses in Rev11. So: if you have any doubt about how bad the priesthood was, just read the rampant, pettifogging legalism in the Mishnah: the rabbis talking in it largely were alive when the Lord walked down here. How He kept His temper around them, I can't fathom. I lose mine after three pages' reading!
So Matthew and Luke demonstrate that despite all man's usurpations, God still continued both a Kingly and a Priestly line. Principle: God keeps His Promises.
Luke calls attention to the priestly course names and the weeks in which they occur: he's thus telling you that the prophecy of when Messiah is born, was fulfilled. Each priestly course name is a kind of prophecy of Israel's history for that 'week'. We'll see much more about what prophecy is disclosed by each course name, later on in this subsection.
Luke also demonstrates how the Birth is deliberately tied to significant Temple months. There are three for the second Temple: Elul, Chislev, and Adar. For the First Temple, there are also three: Ziv, Bul, and Ethanim. More about these months will be said in later categories. But the point here is, Luke wants to show how Messiah=Temple, is fulfilled by the timing. So Zecharias is a priest serving in Ziv and Bul, tying to the first Temple. Luke also makes it clear Elizabeth got pregnant in Elul (Luke 1:36, witty play on sixth month, tying Adar and Elul, which are opposites to each other on the calendar). So you know when John will be born: in Sivan, at Pentecost. So you know when the Lord will be born: in Chislev, on Chanukah.
As you read what follows, it's important to know that Jeh, iah, yah, jeho, je and Eli all mean "God" as prefixes or suffixes. In Hebrew, you can suffix or prefix the noun or verb.
NIV 1 Chronicles 24:7-18
The ancient Greeks developed a five-pronged "if" debating/reasoning technique, designed to track out WHYS from a source. That's why Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle are revered even to this day. The "if" becomes a premise in an "if..then" construct of reasoning; and the "if", comes in five flavors. In this webpage, we'll use the first of them, the so-called "First-Class Condition": "if" and it's TRUE (or presumed true, a lesser-used variant). In Greek, this reasoning technique uses "ei" (=if) and takes a verb in the indicative mood. Means that you are taking a truth, or a presumed truth, and logically tracking it from that source through to the end. Then you evaluate whether the end itself, is true. For if so, then unless you messed up in your reasoning, you know an entire framework of truth 'under' it. The other four class conditions assume false, maybe-true, wish-true, and wish-false; you'll see them all in the Bible, from time to time. But the first one is the most used, since it is generally more profitable to start with something true, and track it forward.
All the sacrifices depict soul characteristics in the Sacrifice, Messiah. Each sacrifice type, tells you meaning. Lamb and goat, you know. The others are kinda obvious, too: Flour=Word, oil/fat=Spirit-Empowering, salt=Word's blessing-by-association, drink offerings=blood=thinking (Lev17:11), ox/bull=fidelity, constancy (of Messiah -- see Rev4 Escutcheon). I'm not sure how to best classify "ram", since it's the most widely-purposed of the offerings, yet is the only class allowed for substitutionary restitution-related sin ("guilt offering" is an offering which makes restitution, Hebrew term "asham", from which we get the English "shame"). Seems to stress power/aggression, aggressive devotion, leadership. Which obviously, He is.
If you go through the Bible as a whole, you'll notice that God writes a Book about once per generation; idea is, to have a prophet (roving teacher, not necessarily a foreteller) everyone can eyeball. When that guy's ministry ends -- or, as in the case of Moses, Jeremiah and Paul, when that guy's audience is too far-flung -- a Book is written. So it is for the Gospels. Matthew wrote first, circa 50 AD, when the second generation post-Cross, needed a buckup; followed by Luke, about 10 years later, with a focus on Gentiles; followed by Mark, less than 10 years after Luke, because the Temple was about to be destroyed, given Daniel 9:26; followed last for the third generation since the Cross, by John -- partly to show how the Temple's Destruction, would be the paradigm of time until the Tribulation and Millennium, with Church in between.
It's probably best to at least read Lev23, before going on. For that way you get a frame of reference for reading. With 1Jn1:9 "on" as needed, you can get much even out of a translation, if you read large portions (i.e., a whole Chapter).
So do you wanna take bets on how many people, DNA-wise, are likely to have even a smidgen of Abraham's genes? What with all the prolific childbearing (Jews are extraordinarily fertile, Exodus 1); what with the many Diasporas, Jews needing to hide their identities to stay alive over the centuries of pogroms and societal ostracisms, year after year -- by now probably 75% of the world's population, will have at least some of Abraham's genes. Gen 17:4, Abraham means "father of many nations" (Heb: le'ab hamon goyim, deft wordplay). Not just one. So: could be 100% of the world's population, since to become a son in God's Accounting, you must do what Abram did, Gen15:6, Rom4. For you have to BELIEVE, to cut a covenant. See Romans Chapters 4 and 9, for all the details.
For God is out to beget Sons for His Son, and anyone in the human race, can be begotten OF Him. Hence the Mosaic Law's Holidays are Structured to Disclose and Display the Map of World History and Eternity. Think of it as blatant Due Diligence. God tells you everything up-front; for what He has to say, is shocking. One thing God is not: coy. He's honest, but even. Doesn't hesitate to say what is wrong, but at the same time you'll never find a truer Friend. Husband, even, in the sense of Protector, Intimate. So never coy. Doesn't want to be, doesn't have to be. So He never minces words in His Word, though the translations always bland Him down. And His Word truly is shocking. Probably would be banned from all Christian churches, if they knew the real words in the Word of the original-language texts. Words that build your soul once you believe them, however much they might bother one's hypocritical 'sensibilities'.
So God's Holidays are like that, too: complex, stark, full of meaning. And above all, shocking. For they depict the future, and roughly half of that future depicted, has come true. You could say the world is waiting for the other shoe to drop. In terms of this Holiday calendar, we are in the 'summer' of it. Time of harvesting and waiting for yet more harvesting. How long this time will last, well: that's one thing He's not predicting.
God orchestrates time, and He does it in mirrored fashion. Idea of restitution. Deeper idea of Infinity, represented by Hupostasis: union-of-opposites, YH+WH, He Who Always Was, Becomes! That very "Sacred Tetragrammaton", His Most Holy Name, is a concatenation of opposites depicting the eventual Hypostatic Union. Hebrew verb "hayah", means "to be": the verb itself is a play on God's Own Name, to depict Eternal never-a-beginning-existence. Notice how Hebrew "ha" is also a definite article, and "Yah" is the first Syllable in the Name: YH. Hebrew ancient verb "hawah" means "to become". Notice how Hebrew "ha" is also a definite article, and "Wah" is the Last Syllable in the Name: WH. There's nothing secret or mysterious about God's Name; but rather Grace Genius and Wit, His Naming!
Month # 'Our'
Equiv.Month Name Holiday
Month # 'Our'
Equiv.Month Name Holiday 1 Mar-Apr Abib
(=new barley)
aka Nisan
Sacred cal's1st mo.Passover
(10th,14th, both starting AT sunset),
Unleavened Bread
(14th AT sunset through 21st AT sunset),
First Fruits, the first day of Weeks
(usu. starts on 21st or 22nd AT sunset)7 Sept-Oct Ethanim
(=flowing water or fruits) aka Tishri
CIVIL cal's 1st mo.Rosh HaShanah
(=New Year, 1st),
Yom Kippur
(=Day of Atonement, 10th),
Succoth
(=tents, booths, 15th-21st)2 Apr-May Ziv
(=flowering)-- 8 Oct-Nov Bul aka Marcheshvan
(Bul=rain)-- 3 May-June Sivan Pentecost
(ends Weeks, 50th day from First Fruits)9 Nov-Dec Chislev
(=Foolish/ Confident Heart) Chanukah
(from 25th Chislev until 2 Tebeth)4 June-July Tammuz -- 10 Dec-Jan Tebeth (=muddy) -- 5 July-Aug Ab="Father" Note: 9th of Ab
is First and probably 2nd Temple's Destruction date. 11 Jan-Feb Shebat="Ceasing" -- 6 Aug-Sept Elul -- 12 Feb-Mar Adar
(intercalation goes here)Purim (14th or 14-15)
The sacred calendar is listed above. The civil calendar reverses the month numbers: so the 7th month on the sacred calendar, is the 1st month on the civil calendar; so the Nisan becomes the 7th month on the civil calendar, and you go 'down' from there. Month names don't change, just their month numbers. So when you read the Bible month dating, you have to be sure which calendar is referenced, sacred or civil. When intercalation occurs, it's called "Adar sheni", meaning another Adar. I'll fill in the translations of the witty month names as I have time to analyze the best way to translate them.
Notice from the above table how God mirrored the Holidays to 'face' each other, such that the second six months reflect the first six months.
So let's now re-cap these Holidays one-by-one, and see what story they each tell. First is Pesach (pronounced PAY-sach), aka Passover. It represents Salvation, Deliverance, Freedom. 2nd, Unleavened Bread, begins on the same day as Passover; it lasts for one week. It depicts HOW we get saved, freed. Specifically, it depicts
It shouldn't have to be said, but God is Holy and has a Right to Receive Holiness. Problem is, we puny are not holy, and cannot ever of ourselves become holy. So Someone Else must make us holy, so we are fit to be seen by Holy God. That's what the Cross does, is make us holy, 2Cor5:21. Passover depicts all that. Sanctification, justice, justifying how the unholy can be allowed to exist. Especially, since the unholy rejects God. The world rejects God, and God must be paid for that rejection; atop that, is the issue of our own restoration so we can be made holy. So, just as the Holy Spirit restored the earth in Gen1:2ff, so He restores us via Christ Who the Holy Spirit empowered to grow up AS Holy, and even Holy Enough to pay for all the sins of history. Through Whom, we can be ourselves made holy functionally as well as positionally in Him by agency of that Same Holy Spirit Who Pours His Thinking into us, Romans 5:5. See, all this ties together: and it ties, in Israel's own holidays. God is consistent.
That's why (i.e., in Rev12) Israel is depicted as the sun, the moon, and the stars, which we all know control agriculture. The food is for man, not the man for the food. The work is God's for man, not man's for God. God's Work is Messiah, and we are all in Him. No racial distinction during the 'interlude' of Church, see Galatians 3. So until the Tribulation occurs (which you cannot predict), just as the Gentile became a Jew by faith in Him back in the Old Testament, circumcision being evidence of that faith, for a male; so also, any Jew Now who believes in Him gets a circumcised heart, and is in Him as Church. Principle of Gen15:6, but Now due to the Session, upgraded to 2Cor5:17, 21 (see whole chapter of 2Cor5).
Hence 3rd, Shavouth="Weeks", a 50-day period. Pronounced scha-VOOT with aspirated "t", it begins piggybacked on the sunset which ends the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. First day of Shavouth is called "First Fruits", to represent His Resurrection Victory in Paying for Sin. Equals our modern "Easter" (which term, lol, derives from an ancient pagan Teutonic goddess festival). In the Bible, "50" means 'retirement', 'freedom', restoration, and above all Redemption. So that's where we are right now: "Pentecost" is the last of the 50 days, ending "Weeks". For the whole Shavouth period represents the Harvest Of The Rest Of The World (Gentiles, a term for anyone not yet Jewish). ["Pentecost" in English is but a transliteration of the Greek word for "fiftieth", so Bibles do translate using the term.]
At this point in her calendar, Israel is in summer. Summertime is used to harvest, so there are no feasts. It's a dead spot, the end of history as we know it. That harvest ended the year, depicted the ending of history. Next event on their 'calendar' was supposed to be the new civilization we call "The Millennium" (not a Bible term, but yes a Bible doctrine in OT and New). As you can tell it's not happened yet, Heb 11:39-40.
The 4th Holiday is Rosh HaShanah=New Year (today pronounced rahsh-ha-SHAH-nah); so it's reserved for rest and recognition. Again, 1Ethanim aka Tishri. "Ethanim" means "steady water flow". "Tishri" relates to planting/rooting. Oh how appropriate, for that's the month the First Temple, Fountain of Our Word, Root of Our Existence, was dedicated in 950BC. God thinks that date is kinda important. Look: 950BC was
Fifth Holiday is Yom Kippur="Day of Atonement" (today pronounced yahm-kipper); it begins 10 days after the New Civil Year, still in Ethanim aka Tishri. Here, one reflects on how He was set aside to pay for sins on the flipside of the calendar, 10 Nisan. So one sets the self aside, to study and think about How He Atoned, thus forever covering salvation. In many ways, this is the most solemn day of the year; huge penalties assigned for not observing it, too. The New Year exists because He was set aside, 10 days into the beginning of the sacred year. God is being real blunt here about how Passover depicts a real future week during which our sins get paid for by Messiah. No Jew can miss this meaning. How they manage to miss it year after year anyway, is Paul's theme in Romans 9-11. But then, look how we Christians miss it too, blasphemously calling it Good Friday, the prescribed 4 days later? There's no way at all He could ever die on a Friday. As you'll see in Division #2, of all the days we pick to honor His Payment, since we don't even bother to know how Passover works, we pick the most illegal day of the week -- breaking all of God's Law in the OT -- for the day He died. How much we hate Him, then. We couldn't care less about Bible, either. So not only the Jews are negative to God, huh. Why would God ever want to make us? He pays for us TWICE OVER!
Succoth also represents the final phase of harvest, when grapes, figs, olives, late grains are harvested; so is a kind of 2nd Pentecost in meaning though not in length. So it's also called the Feast of the Harvest/Ingathering (Hag Asiph) in Exo 23:16, Exo 34:22, Deut 16:13.
So that September-October month is also busy. But then silence until Passover, when the sacred year starts over.
Chanukah Meaning, Calendar Confluence
Did you read Haggai 2 and Zech 14? Pretty bald prophecies, huh. Note how God parallels the rhetoric of both the dates He gives the messages, the harvesting content, and the Seed Promise to Zerubbabel (whose name means Seed), in Haggai 2:1 with 2:6, 2:10, 15, 18-23. Compare also to Zechariah 4 and 14. Honestly, I don't know how God could be more blunt about what day is Messiah's birthday and that it's to complete the calendar, especially in light of Zechariah 4:6-10 (verses at very end of page, blue font, underlined). How have we missed all this for centuries?
Chanukah is also prophesied in Daniel 8: the length of Antiochus' overrunning Israel until Israel triumphs and institutes that first Chanukah, is counted to the day in Daniel 8:14. The 2300 days there cover the period from 169 BC when Antiochus originally took over, until the 164BC celebration of that first Chanukah. So when Antiochus did that pig sacrifice on 25 Chislev 167BC, everyone should have remembered Haggai 2. And obeyed, Daniel 8:14. [See also 1 Macc 1:21-30.]
The purpose of such specificity, as also in Daniel 12:11-12 for the last 1335 days of the Tribulation, is to teach Jews to flee during that period, and how long to count before their deliverance will come. It's a calendar of events. Obey it or perish, is the idea. No mysticism, here. No allegories or turning days into years. You'd need this information if caught there at that time. And its start date is not predicted in either case. You are told what's the triggering event, and then you begin the count. Literal days. Else, you'll die. Pretty easy to remember. The Jews in both periods will not heed the warning. Zechariah 12, 14 and other passages show how the Lord delivers those who stay during the Tribulation; we know historically how He delivered those who didn't flee during the time of Antiochus, from 1 Maccabees.
The Jews could not possibly have influenced Antiochus taking over Jerusalem on such an auspicious date, nor would they have necessarily even known the calendar well enough to recognize the mirroring. For they were rather preoccupied, and 1 Maccabees shows some knowledge of the Law, but none with respect to the 490-year dating system of God. It's interesting that on the flipside of Alexander's death in 323 BC, Constantine comes to power in 324 AD, per Encarta and Dupuy (p.152). The latter goes on to note that on 18 September 323 AD, Constantine won that power via crushing defeat over Licinius, who fled; he was apprehended and executed in 324 AD. The territory he gets includes what used to be Antiochus IV's in 167 BC. 323 AD is 490 years after 167 BC. Alexander came to power in 336 BC. Constantine's rule ended 337 AD. Someone is paying attention to mirroring, even when it doesn't add up to a 490, and even when the rulers are brilliant-but-evil; and Israel is always in the middle. Oh well: maybe it's all a coincidence, huh.
Purim Meaning, Calendar Confluence
It's a huge and disastrous misreading of Scripture to deem the political entity of Israel as God's fulfilling of Ezekiel 37. Read Bible In Context: Ezekiel 37 is a setup chapter for the 'play' to follow, kind of like a prologue in stage drama. Ezekiel 38 then tells the story of the Armageddon Campaign, period of Daniel 9:27, prophecy about the final attack which brings in the 2nd Advent, a Tribulation passage, not pre-Trib. Israel is not regathered until Ezekiel 39, the Second Advent. So Ezekiel 37 calls Israel DEAD BONES -- prior to the 2nd Advent. So whatever entity is there in Eze38 to be attacked, is NOT accounted as God-approved, get it? See also Matt24 and Daniel 9, Rev 11 which all portray The Nation Israel as not-being, a way of saying not-being-under-Contract With God. No Temple, no national contract, hence no nation, no national blessing by God. See also Hebrews Chaps 7-10, which explain why also that contract was abrogated, since it is now In Christ, and no one else.
Satan smacks his lips, uses the love for the Jews to trap them into depending on 'Egypt', rather than on God. For you need to regather your enemy, so you can kill him better. If Satan&Co. can kill all the Jews, then God fails to keep His Promise to Abraham, to continue 'Israel' -- the people -- until Messiah comes/returns; and then it's a Mistrial, the Judge miscarriage-of-justice failure, so the case against Satan must be thrown out of the Supreme Court of Heaven. A quick summary of the meaning of Mistrial is in #1 of Satan's Plan Thesis in SurpConc.htm. If you've not already read it, you might want to, now.
Much more than Daniel asked to know, huh. But God Explains Why, always. And the Why, is that the Messiah must be born and die in time. Hence the decree is justified. And that, only because the 1000th anniversary of King David's Death ends 37AD. Mirroring.htm's "David" link walks you through the math.
David's 1000th anniversary of consolidated Kingship ended 3BC (=late 4BC, when subtracting years from years); and David's 1000th anniversary of Abdication to implement 2Sam7, ended 30AD. David's 1000th anniversary of death -- which enacted the 2Sam7 promise -- ended 37AD. So the Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26 must be born by 3BC, must die no later than 37AD, and thus has the same number of regnal years as David (for Messiah would be born a King), 40. Of course, we know that Israel rejected Him, so He had to Abdicate instead like David did -- to fulfill/complete the enactment of 2Sam7 -- by 30AD. Which is what happened. Right on time, exactly as foretold by the structure of the Passover holiday.
Notice how the 'activity' of this stretched-out Pentecost, is indeed a kind of Purim, Matt16:18, Matt22: gathering the harem in order to rescue everyone, including (as always) the Jews. Chanukah fits in, because if Jewish time is rescued, then the "abomination" state of the Temple can be recovered and rebuilt at the 2nd Advent, just as Ezekiel Chaps 39ff (rest of the book) promises. So in a way, time is suspended at the 'Pentecost' of world history, passing over the remaining holidays to Purim; in so doing, the Rosh HaShanah through Chanukah Holidays are encircled, as it were; so they are redeemed, and can play out as promised: but out of their initial intended order, due to Israel's Rejection. So the first are last, and the last, first. But all are enfolded via the 'Esther' which will be Church, theme of Romans 11, Heb11:40. How long that will take to accomplish, no one knows.
And on Chanukah 4BC, 25 Chislev = 25 December = 11 Chislev?
Is that Fantasy, Possibility? Or Providence? And is all that really in the Bible?
By the way, he didn't say anything about tying up the holiday calendar like I do in this webpage. That idea came about solely because I was trying to figure out what Doctrine would justify what he's saying, in order to figure out where to search in Bible for proof. (Beginning in the year 2000, he had to keep it simple, stupid, in Bible class.) Oh: in Mirroring.htm and the Thinking series I always say "3BC" as His Birth year. It's really a beginning-of-the-year calculation; so an end-4BC Birthdate also tallies to all the 490's. That makes the 25 Dec 4BC idea immediately sensible, even poetic: tying up both the Roman and the Jewish calendar, all at the same time!
Weather-wise, it's not at all true to say that every winter in Palestine must be too cold for shepherds to be out at night. Moreover, ancient practice was to stay out all year; ISBE had an article about how so many Syrian sheep died owing to a surprise snowfall: it covered up the food, so they starved to death. So it wasn't the cold which hurt them. Even the normal enclosures back then were somewhat open (seldom had roofs). Migdol Eder, the location of the shepherds in Luke 2, was an old fortress commonly used for guarding sheep. So it was a very large walled-off space, and they went inside by night. Wouldn't be roofed, just walled off from predators. So they can still see the sky, and hence the angels.
Moreover, we all know about suddenly-warmer days in winter, and we welcome them. Why wouldn't shepherds? And wouldn't God provide a warmer-than-normal day for His Son to be born in a stable? (Greek word phatne means either a stable or a feeding trough inside one, usu. euphemistically translated "manger".) And everyone seems quite toasty in John 10:22ff; toasty enough to be outside, where there are stones to throw at Him -- at the Feast of Dedication? ('Probably outside the east gate, going by the description.)
In Luke 2, the Greek text used to describe the shepherds is technical. Greek verbs agraulew and phulassw stress their commitment and -- keyword for the time of His Birth -- DEDICATION. These were professional shepherds, militarily-oriented, and by that profession, they lived out-of-doors all year round. Their guarding is in shifts, and (my pastor's speculation) there were probably 12 of them (or perhaps more). As noted above, some Syrian shepherds also operated that way. In winter, foraging grounds would be farther apart, so much traveling would be needed; hence the utility of those shepherding fortresses, the old abandoned forts like Migdol Eder.
So imagine the irony, since those shepherds were the only non-family witnesses invited on His Birthday to see Him -- imagine the irony, of the Lord explaining to the religious crowd in John 10 during His Brithday Anniversary that (again, sigh) He is the Christ, just as was told the world by those shepherds. My pastor speculates that they became shepherds of men not long after their visit to see Him. The ironic use of shepherding terminology -- after all, King David started out as a shepherd , despised -- would run throughout the NT now with this added layer of meaning -- these eyewitnesses spread the news far and wide. [Self-note: L.1878, 92SD, first heard on 04/29/2006. On s.2 he talks about the meaning of Ephrata in Micah 5:2; in BibleWorks I was able to prove that yes, "ashes", not "fruit", is the real root (red heifer offering, ties to Isa53:10's im tasim asham naphesho) -- makes more sense, too, in light of the verse and meaning of Beth-Lehem as House of Bread. Feeding on the Word and using 1Jn1:9's equivalent, makes for spiritual growth. Col. believes strongly though he can't prove it, that the shepherds were in the audience during John 10; that they carried Israel as a pivot during the Disp of HU; pointed parallel made to the US, think it out thoroughly. The interp of the shepherds being so well known (but not maybe by sight); and, being even in the audience, makes sense in light of all the shepherding wordplay in Gospels and in NT, not merely done as a reminder of Ps.23 and David's being a shepherd . True "pastor" concept.]
So let's leave behind those hoary scholars who pooh-pooh a 25 December brith/birth due to weather.
We've changed our Western calendars many times, and each time, we messed up the chronology. You can even see from Encarta how Julius Caesar redid the Roman calendar in 45 BC; Constantine redid the calendar in 325 AD; it was messed with again to correct those errors, in 465 AD; then again, sometime in the 500's AD; disputes kept on going amongst Christians and the Catholic Church. Then Pope Gregory redid it again, but he only went back to 325 AD in his 'correction', thus chopping off 10 days, in 1582 AD; then Britain did it in 1752 AD, chopping off another 11 days, and redesignating the beginning of the year, as January 1. In short, with all that adulteration of our modern calendars, about every 2 years 25 Chislev=25 December, if 25 Chislev has not been intercalated (from lunar to solar). Moreover, those still on the Julian calendar (i.e., Greek Orthodox) equate 25 December with January 6. That's a two-week difference, alone. Finally, what USED to be December 25 in Christ's day is now called December 17. An intercalated 25 Chislev is therefore often close to 15 December on our calendars. So the calendars are but two days apart; not even enough to count as being off. Again, it depends on how you account between calendars.
Bible makes a big stink about when He was born, and the NT epistles use so much wordplay on His Birth, you realize Bible expects you to know when. Moreover, Bible keeps on stressing He came at the "end of time", meaning the Real End; idea that if He didn't come, Time Would Have Stopped. All these statements repeatedly refer the reader back to Daniel 9:25-26 -- that the Lord comes at the End of Time, hence we are now in the "end times". Literally. Dare we even say punningly? End-of-year, get it?
NT catchphrases "fullness of times", "end of times", and synonymal forms are each euphemistic for the end of pregnancy, and in two ways. First, the graphic Hebrew of Isaiah depicts Him paying for our sins as if raped and made pregnant with them. Second, prophetically: He came at the very end, which of course is what Dan9:25-26 says. So if we don't know when He is born, how can we know that prophecy was fulfilled? Additionally, if He was born deliberately to tally to the Feast of Dedication, we learn much about How God Thinks. Of course, maybe Father picked some other date or tying mechanism. But you just know He'd Make The Date Something To Please Himself. And He loves Orchestrating Time. You've seen that in the 490 bullets listed above; you've seen that in the very construct of the Jewish calendar. So this Most Important of Birthdays, well, it's orchestrated, count on it. [Pleroma verses in LXX and NT are many, and they always have the connotation of a Body Being Filled Up, especially being filled up by God. There's a Greek myth about how the God Chronos impregnates, which Paul plays on in Gal4:4 to tie to Isa53 and 49:1. BibleWorks search of the Greek text yielded these English-mapped verses: Ps. 24:1 (23:1 in LXX); 50:12 (49:12 in LXX); 89:12 (88:12 in LXX); 96:11 (95:11 in LXX); 98:7 (97:7 in LXX) ; Eccl. 4:6; Jer. 8:16; 47:2 (29:2 in LXX); Ezek. 19:7; 30:12; Matt. 9:16 (mistranslated "garment", really means the BODY of the garment) and Mk. 2:21; and especially, Rom. 11:12, 25; 13:10; 1 Co. 10:26; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:23; 3:19; Col. 1:19; 2:9. There are tons of verses using the cognate verb plerow. Romans Chapter 8, coming as it does from the divorce-and-remarriage themes in Romans 6-7, is all about us getting filled up and pregnant with Our Husband's Word, bearing 'kids' of sweet-savor thinking to Father. All of Philippians is built around the kindred concept of megalunw (used in Phili1:20), which etymologically relates to bearing much fruit, children. If you read Philippians with that idea in mind, you'll see how Paul keeps on drawing analogy to himself being replicated, so to speak, in the Philippians; and all are replications of Christ. Very tender and profound. One should always regard plerow/pleroma verses as having a pregnant-with-god's-seed cultural connotation, to get what the Real God means by filling you up with His Son's Seed, the Word in you. It's really the main theme of the Bible, but expressed in a variety of ways in OT and NT. Big hint, the promise to Abram was of SONS. We really need to get rid of our evil, fake-pious ascetic bents about wordplay on pregnancy which is so rife in Bible, for the asceticism robs us of learning Him. Oh well.]
Here's a 25-category listing of relevant info from Bible, so you can test it all yourself. #24 shows the confluence of the dates, and is marked off by two scarlet lines. There's so much wordplay and even prophecy evidence of a 25 Chislev Birthday in both OT and NT (esp. in Haggai 2, the names of the priestly courses, and the wordplay in Matthew and Luke Birth accounts), I have trouble succinctly describing it all. Maybe just skim the material. This whole section will gradually be edited for clarity.
Days 1-7, 11 the ninth to Jeshua [God is Salvation=Jesus' name, Yah+shua],
See the pun? Pretend you already well knew He was born on the first day of Chanukah. So reading these Gospels would cause you to recognize all that Dedication, and smile. You'd smile at the pun, not needing it explained. So when Luke covers their visit to the Temple, he's not silent about when the Birth occurs; he's letting the pun do its 'job'. So Luke stresses God's Own Dedication, which is a central theme throughout his book: how profound, that the Dedication of the Firstborn was also the Feast of Dedication. Notice that Luke never once says it was the feast of Dedication, since he doesn't have to; he goes so far as to even leave out the Dedication of the Firstborn, listing instead the last of the rituals required at the Temple, that of Mary's own purification; and then for added dramatic effect, he only quotes the end of the law about what sacrifice to make, the birds. Those birds signify peace, which in Scripture means reconciliation of relationship to God. The Scripture definition of eirene is spiritual, and any earthly peace is tangential at best, see Lev26 and Deut 28. So Luke is tying together the angelic message given the shepherd s to the Source, His Birth and now Dedication at the Temple. In Greek, when you say the end of a commonly-understood quote, rule, event you stress the completion of the whole.
Law required Temple dedication of both firstborn son and the mother's purification, so Joseph and Mary had to be in Jerusalem's environs for a month.
See the pun, again? For Matthew to delay naming Nazareth when everyone knew the name already, and then almost pretentiously say "a town called" -- well, that's like me writing, "a town called Dedicated". Very cute pun, given the context of what he's writing.
Frankly, people put far too much weight on whatever ancient documents they find or cannot find. They don't think about the relevance, in either event. You wouldn't find a census record that far back, unless it was an exception; for census records become outdated rather quickly, and the medium on which they were written, would be reused. Many Bible manuscripts were erased and written over, for crying out loud (called "palimpsests"). Else we'd not have some of them. Thank God, you can chemically treat a written-over ancient document to see what was there, prior! So to discount what Bible says about Quirinius because you can't find he was governor then (Greek doesn't say "governor", either), or because you can't find a census that year, is flat silly. Why is it soooo easy to believe Egyptian records, which are known to be often defaced and lying, but so hard to believe the Bible, which proves how God orchestrates even time? Sheesh.
My pastor spent a lot of time explaining Luke's rhetorical style, when he exegeted Acts for his congregation. Bible writers each have their own personality, so tend to express that personality in their God-breathed writing. Luke favors Atticisms and finessing. Paul liked to hit you right between the eyes, so often resorted to coarse talk. John likes Greek drama, so much of his style apes Greek drama structures. Peter loves Greek drama too, resorting often to its terms; he especially likes the dramatic accusative, hupo-prefixed words (stressing subordination as a pleasure), and stone words (playing on the Rock of his salvation being the Same Rock for everyone). Moreover, Peter loves being grammatically and politically incorrect. These are all deliberate styles, not mistakes. You can tell the difference, by the repeating and the tying of words. Patterns deliberately repeated are not mistakes.
The Hebrew meaning of Zacharias' very name is a big red flag: God remembers. Meaning, God remembers Israel. God Remembers His Promise -- and therefore keeps it. God Remembers His Word -- and therefore fulfills it. In Hebrew even more than Greek, the omission of direct object means ALL objects are direct objects. So most Hebrew names are compounds of Yah or El -- abbreviations for God -- plus a verb. So too, here. "Remembers" is a promise word, and you'll find it all over the OT -- God will remember, specifically, His Promise to David. It's a promise of the Temple, which depicts Messiah-to-Come. So the reader is enjoined to Remember the Law as he reads. Thus the reader will get the many puns Luke seeds throughout his letter.
This is the key to knowing for sure when Messiah is born: God deliberately fashions the timing of conception and birth for both John and the Lord, to play on significant Temple dates. By so doing, He 'completes' the second half of Israel's calendar, and all History. So in this webpage and occasionally in Mirroring.htm, you'll see me try one idea or another as to what these ties are, with respect to David. For all these Temple-significant dates, are also significant to David. But I'm experimenting with possibilities. What's certain is that the above months -- and particular dates in them -- are all interwoven to converge on His Birth. Maybe some of the how-they-converge ideas in this webpage are partly inaccurate, but it's true they all tie, somehow. If you can see a better tie than I do in this page, I'd beg you to email me or make an anonymous blog entry in blogSched.html. But, that's your free choice.
Days 8-15, the second to Jedaiah [God knows/knew, Yah+yada (terminating ayin) -- see 2Cor5:21],
Days 16-22,
8 the third to Harim [Dedicated, devoted to destruction, haram cognate, plural],
Days 23-30,
the fourth to Seorim [Ripe barley, stressing its hairiness, plural],
Days 1-7,
9 the fifth to Malkijah [God is My King, melek+Yah],
Days 8-15,
the sixth to Mijamin ["auspicious child", min+yamin],
Days 16-22, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz [The Thornbush/Briar, ha+qots],
Days 23-30, the eighth to Abijah [My Father is God, God Fathers, ab+i+Yah -- the "i" is a first-person singular suffix],
Days 8-15, the tenth to Shecaniah [God Dwells (in His House with us, esp. in the 1st Temple at its Dedication), shakan+Yah],
Days 16-22, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib [My God Causes Return -- a kind of benediction, Eli+shub],
Days 23-30, the twelfth to Jakim [God Rises Up -- think of all the entendres in English, including Rising up to Defend, Rising up to Testify, Win -- Yah+qum],
It also tells you that it's only the thought that counts. Not, what you are doing. All Temple work is menial housework. The breadth of skills required is also present, for the priests had to be good architects and building contractors, doing all the work themselves. So you see here a vast range of body-work, but none of it means squat, without the thought behind it. So, God designed the Law and all the rituals and priestly service work, to Signify Huge Truths. So much so, even the course names are about Messiah and the timing of His Coming, Going, and Returning. The idea was, every time you tossed blood out of a laver, that reminded you of what He'd do for you. For the Whole World. Every time you washed your hands up to your arms, that reminded you of God's Righteousness being unparalleled, so He Would Give His Own Righteousness To You, precedence of Gen3:15, 15:6. So what's menial, isn't menial anymore. Omniscience knows all the small and horrible, and all the great and glamorous, yet wants ALL of it, Eph1:23. Which prior to Paul penning that verse, was repeated in every little yod in the Scripture, every little movement in your life. So you couldn't forget it.
We all perpetually do, of course. So although we perpetually forget, God Remembers: zakar, Zecharias.
1 Maccabees tells you that Israel won her independence back from the Greeks in 141BC, on 23 Ziv or Bul (probably Ziv), 1 Macc13:51. That book is not Canon, but it does have historically-verifiable information.
Thus Luke finesses the point that the Temple=Messiah ties in timing all the way back to that First Temple, answering Solomon's long Prayer that God remember to fulfill His Promise to David (1Kings 8:12ff -- affirming what God said in 1Kings 6:11ff, see also 1Kings 9). God keeps His Promises! [Nerd note: "Remember" is a legal contract verb, meaning to fulfill a promise. It does not mean God can forget something. Anthropopathisms are used in Bible to help man understand God: doesn't mean God is like people. Whole denominations are completely messed up because they don't even bother to learn literary stylistics like anthropopathisms, which are common in every culture's literary works.]
This priestly course structure proves how God Mirrors Each Six Months of the Calendar. So Israel would know to look for a future TEMPLE holiday in Chislev, to 'fulfill' its opposite holiday at Pentecost. As you read through the following course-name bullets, you'll see this mirroring, yourself. Awesome stuff. Compare, if you will, the events you know of in Israel's history after King David, to the course names which were given beforehand, BY King David (see 1Chron Chaps 22ff to see David's designing).
Notice how whatever holiday would be ordained for the second half of the calendar to 'fit' this kickoff in Nisan, DEDICATION will be the theme. Because it is due to the Devoted-to-Destruction week being finished. Piggybacks on it. Remember, the 22nd begins on the night of the 21st, and that is FirstFruits, our Easter. Dedication of the new crops to God. More about how First Fruits works will be explained in Division #1.
So here you have the predicted date of His Resurrection commemorated.
People are hostile to those who just plain want to know God. That was just as true then, as now. So the Nazirite vow allowed a person who wanted to devote time and study, to do that. Others were supposed to leave the person alone. They didn't, of course: either they demeaned the value of setting aside time just to be with God by their praise, or by their disdain. Praise of one's setting aside time to be with God is one of the commonest ways to insult God -- as if their praise of you mattered, but the time you got to spend with God in His Word, mattered not at all. So if you were trying to win human approval, you'd seek the Nazirite vow. And many did.
The story of Martha and Mary in Bethany well illustrates the innate hostility people have to those who are interested in the Word (Luke 10:38-42). You hear that same story play over and over, every day. Funny thing is, learning the Word buys time for the rest of the world to do what it considers important.
By the way, the Lord did not have long hair. Nazarite vow was a temporary thing, and while you grew your hair you absented yourself from society; men wore short hair as a badge of authority. You'll see Paul explain all this, and excoriate long hair on men in 1Cor11, so obviously the Lord didn't have long hair, k?
All of Him is Dedicated to being the Passover Lamb. That's why HE is FirstFruits, Himself. So He had short hair, and He drank wine, too. That's why calling Him "Nazarene" was a play on His Purpose, but used the name of His Home Town; for He was not a temporarily-dedicated Nazirite -- but Messiah Himself. To see that "Nazarene" meant where He lived, see both the end of Matthew 1 and the end of John 7, how the Temple priests argued against Him being Messiah. Look: the priests were real big on Nazirite vows. They even trapped Paul with 'em. So had the Lord done the long-hair thing, the priests wouldn't have been so against Him. Sure wish we'd all do our Bible homework, instead of taking some artist's unBiblical fantasy, as gospel truth. But as noted above, people are hostile to learning God. Only weirdoes want to know God. Everyone else, just wants to make up stuff.
Ok: how can God make it more obvious when Messiah will be born? Again, David invented the priestly courses (see last 7 chapters of 1 Chronicles). So um -- everyone knew when Messiah would come, 1000 years in advance. That's why Haggai 2 is so witty. Bear in mind, that the 2nd week of Chislev=the third week of Chislev when the calendar is not intercalated. Which happened with some regularity. So for our dead spot in Chislev opposite Pentecost, we saw how in 167 and 164BC, both 15 and 25 Chislevs tied to 11 Chislev.
To the Jews, "SHUB" is a legal verb in Hebrew and Bible prophecy: it means the Regathering of Israel. All OT prophecy is subsumed in this one verb. Every Jew talks about shub, dreams of shub, and all that bobbing at the Wailing Wall is done to pray God SHUB to shub the Jews into their right place in history. Doesn't get bigger than this, in Jewish eyes. All the Palestinian conflict is about shub, too: the right of the Palestinians to return. For shub means Jubilee, when all property reverts back to the original ownerships. Which is the real reason why Palestinians want it. But they don't own the Land, and didn't but live there as day laborers. It's an inheritance dispute going back to the days when Abraham kicked out Ishmael and his other sons by Keturah, frankly. [Koran claims the Bible is from God, but that the Jews adulterated it. So Koran spends a lot of time validating Bible portions. What's so odd, is that the Koran never once says that the Moslems are supposed to get or take over the inheritances of the Jews, but rather promises a separate covenant for the Moslems. The Jews got their benefits, and the Moslems get other benefits. The two sets of covenants are extremely different, and the Moslem definitely gets the short end of the stick. Bible promise to the Arab based on the fact he's a son of Abraham is light-years superior, and the Koran never echoes it. Clearer proof a demon wrote the Koran you couldn't have, for man is not so clever; even more, Koranic derisive word play and holiday play against the original-language texts of Bible. Which no one could get, at the time the Koran came out in 610 (or so) AD. It's downright embarrassing, how we don't do our holy-book homework in any of our faiths. So any Moslem or Arab who claims to fight the Jews based on the Koran, never really read his own holy book. No authorization, no inheritance, not even the idea that they should take what became the Dome -- is in there. Christians and Jews aren't the only ones who can't read their holy books. But I digress!]
So as you can see, anyone who was of the Royal Davidic line was persecuted avidly. This was especially true from 167BC forward, when the Hasmoneans -- a minor Levite tribe, the "Maccabees" -- usurped Temple service and even claimed kingship for itself. The true Davidic royalty would have to lay low, after that. The story of that persecution and identifying the line was of extreme popular (and political) interest. You see its weird obsessiveness even today, with all the hoopla over the SAME claim, in stuff like Holy Blood, Holy Grail or the 20-years'-later (almost spoofing) Da Vinci Code, the movie "Dogma", and the hundreds of other books people droolingly waste their money on. So you can tie into the obsession and danger of being anywhere close to the line of Zerubbabel, way back then.
Such obsession is demonic. Can't continue an obsession like this over so many centuries, and call it human. We humans just aren't interested enough to maintain such an obsession. Do you see anyone obsessing like this over Gautama aka Siddartha who was a crown prince before he found the "middle way" and became the founder of Buddhism? Do you see anyone so obsess over Mohammed? Sure, the Shi'ites are pretty ticked off their pal Ali didn't take over after The Prophet died in 632AD -- but who else? Yet the whole world obsesses over the Da Vinci Code -- so much, the Catholic Church has to forbid its parishoners to buy the book/movie? LOL, everyone keeps on writing stupid books in refutation or alleged corroboration of what seems to me a spoof of the entire claim, at least the way Dan Brown presents it in his book: your big hint is the way he presents decades-known lies as "Fact" on the very first page! Remember, that Plantard guy already admitted to hoaxing those Dossiers Secrets about some alleged (obviously-fake) Prieurè de Sion back in 1989 or so, long before Dan Brown put pen to paper. Sheesh. Sucker born every minute. I remember when the Rosacrucians tried that same tactic back in 1972. I remember they took out an ad in one of the Spanish magazines or newspapers showing a historical roster: Every famous person ever born was a Rosa Crucian, so shouldn't the reader become one, too? LOL what snares man's ego. So what Plantard did in the 1980's, had already been done in the 1970's!
So now imagine you really are of the "disposyni", aka the Royal Line of David: you'd not exactly want to be known. So those getting the Matthew and Luke genealogies would know what the aliases meant; we can tell they are aliases, because the names are often plays on Hebrew and Greek words (i.e., "Rhesa" in Luke 3:27 is closely related in sound to the idea of kingly inscription in the Hebrew, and wise/prophetical sayings, in the Greek). So you'd tie by the meanings of the names, probably. This is and should be hard to do -- again, because of persecution.
So: the meaning of the names Shealtiel, Pedaiah, Zerubbabel, tell you how Jeconiah's adoption worked: through Nathan.
Now here's where it gets interesting. The lexicon TWOT, for example, presumes Shealtiel died childless. So then, maybe his adoptive brother Pedaiah was picked -- Pedaiah means "ransomed of God" -- and maybe is another adopted son, or else a blood son of Jeconiah. For according to 1Chron 3:18-19, both Shealtiel and Pedaiah were at least the legal sons of Jeconiah. "Pedaiah" is also the name of the father of Jeconiah's dad's mother -- meaning, Jeconiah's maternal great-grandfather -- implying that Pedaiah is a blood son. or, a "Pedaiah" from that line, was adopted. (In Jewish custom, you name sons after the fathers or grandfathers, see 2Kings 23:36. It makes sense that Jehoiakim and Jeohiachin would not be names used for future sons.) 2 Kings 24:12 and 15, the verses of Jehoiachin aka Jeconiah's deportation to Babylon, does not list any kids. He was obviously old enough to have kids, but yet none are listed. Pointed omission. God chooses what man despises, and despises what man chooses. Can't miss that message.
So then God still brings in the line, but adoptively, under Shealtiel. Now get this: "Zerubbabel" also stems from a root verb zarab which means to burn, Hebrew verb zarab. But also, "zera" (variant "zeru") means "seed", and is used in the OT mostly to signify the promised descendants leading to Messiah. So look: burn and (different root) seed! Since Bible assigns the legal primogeniture to Shealtiel but puts Zerubbabel also under Pedaiah, you could make an even stronger case for Zerubbabel himself being the one adopted, especially since God Himself adopts him, in Haggai 2 and throughout Zechariah. God makes a big stink out of Zerubbabel, who himself may have been adopted by Shealtiel.
You'll see God do this same kind of grafting out and cutting in with Moses, cutting out the whole Levite tribe and putting Amram (a minor branch, see "Jochebed" link in MisTrans.htm) first. So given the roots in Zerubbabel's name and the huge emphasis on him, I'd bet money Zerubbabel, Shealtiel and Pedaiah are each adopted, their royalty running through Nathan (who is a son of Bath-shua (aka Bathsheba) usually listed before Solomon in the genealogies); and maybe, all the others listed in 1Chron 3 are adopted, too. A king needs to have a line of succession, so wouldn't stop at just one son in the line. Especially, a persecuted line which is to eventuate in Messiah. Again, just look at the obsession today over the mere idea that Christ or some royal in the line of David has surviving kids, and you'll understand the need to hide, back then.
Look: in any intercalated year, by Chislev the calendar is still off by 4 days. So even had Adar Sheni been correctly done before Nisan began, every subsequent month is .43 days off (=5.25/12). So the 15th of Chislev will always be equivalent to 11 Chislev. Now if the calendar is not intercalated the prior two years, it's off by 14 or 15 days (5.25+5.25=10.5+(5.25/12*9 or *8). So that is equivalent to 25 Chislev. Thus you have a span of up to three priestly course weeks, all in Chislev, all on the same theme of God Here With Us: aka, "Immanuel" (the meaning, in Hebrew).
See the clever design of three priestly courses, so that in every year, intercalation or no, they will fit His Upcoming Birthdate? Between these course names and Haggai 2, I just don't know how God could more blatantly advertise when Messiah would be born. All you'd need would be confirmation of the year -- which you get, from Daniel 9 when triangulated with David's 1000th anniversaries. Messiah would have to be born by David's 1000th anniversary of united Kingship over all Israel, or time runs out. Because the outer limit is the 1000th anniversary of David's death, for Messiah to pay for sins: and that's a 40-year span, the time David ruled Israel. For Messiah must be born a King. So He can't live longer than age 40; the Temple having been destroyed the first time, affixed history's allotted time to end 37AD. But Messiah must be born by the 1000th anniversary of David's united Kingship, for that's when that 1000 expired. So then the Kingship Offer expires, 1003BC (more likely, 25 Chislev 4BC).
Now you know why Luke tells you the course of Zecharias. To fold in all this meaning of the course names -- AbiYah!
Hmmm. Looks like the very names of these priestly courses are timely and prophetic, huh. Prophetic, because it was David who set up the whole thing: read 1Chron24. So 1000 years in advance, we are told of something happening in the last week of Elul and Adar that provides a quickly-needed Divine refuge in the nick of time; which week/event is preceded by Moses-like something (Dalah relates to Moses' name, Exo2:19, the only place the verb appears); which is preceded by a Requital Decision/Action that Weans Israel; all started by, God's Preparation Decree.
Yeah, Adar is a pretty important month. And of course, that's when Gabriel is dispatched to inform Mary that she's pregnant, Luke 1:26. So she gets pregnant by the Holy Spirit that month; given 9 months (270 days at full term, for the Fullness of Our Salvation), she was made pregnant on the equivalent of 24 Adar, post-sundown.
Of course, Elul is opposite Adar, and that's when Elizabeth got pregnant (wit in Luke 1:36, probably to the day). For Him to be born 25 Chislev (really, 24 Chislev post-sundown), Mary had to become pregnant on the equivalent of 24 Adar (post-sundown). We'll go over this Luke wit in #24 in some detail; calendar intercalation confluence matters altogether here. Gird yourself for a numbering slog, from this paragraph, forward.
At the moment, just notice how the priestly course names for Adar and Elul, are rather blatantly prophetic? Click here to jump to the Bible verses, note the bolded Adar, Elul, and Chislev phrases.
The year Elizabeth conceives is therefore 5BC. Our deadline when all time ends if Messiah doesn't finish on the Cross is 30AD, per Daniel 9:25's math (Mirroring.htm has details). We know He was 30 years old when He first began His Ministry, same age as David, Luke 3:23. So we know she conceives in 5BC, since that's the 1435th anniversary of the Exodus; and Passover-FirstFruits week that year ought to run Wed-Wed, because 205*7=1435, an n+1 year.
Here's how we know 5BC is the right year. 30AD is also an n+1 year; we know this because Bible is real blatant on Him rising the first day of the week, on the fact He was three days and nights in the Grave, and above all: HE ATE PASSOVER. Can't be the Passover and eat the Passover unless the Jewish calendar wasn't intercalated the previous year. Can't eat and be the Passover in any year except an n+1 year. So we don't have to know how often they intercalated. We only have to know they hadn't, THAT year. Division #2 covers the Bible verses in detail.
So, dividing by 7: the prior n+1 years are 23, 16, 9, 2AD; then, 5BC. Only 5BC is in the time frame: the other years are too late. [Each of these is also a sabbatical year, looks like? No, that doesn't sound right. Rethink. ] In any event, it's supposed to be a Wed-Wed Passover week in 5BC. If the calendar had been properly corrected, we'll be able to tell. For if corrected, 1 Nisan would begin on a Thursday; 10th of Nisan was thus a Saturday; 14 Nisan would be a Wednesday, with Passover beginning at sundown, just as it was supposed to be in 30AD.
But the calendar in 5BC is off, just like it was in 30AD. Because if, going by Zecharias' serving weeks, Saturday is the 53rd day of the year, when his Ziv service starts, at sundown -- then the year began on a Monday, nominally. So it wasn't intercalated yet: 53/7=Monday, because 7*7=Friday (ending Saturday, a week), so count back four more prior TO Friday, and you get Monday. You can also take a spreadsheet and label the 53rd day "Saturday" and then name the days backwards; the 1st row in the worksheet will be Monday. Thursday-Monday is five days, just what it should be if the calendar is off due to not being intercalated for ONE year. But "Monday" begins Sunday night, in Jewish accounting. So it ends up being another Sat-Sat Passover-FirstFruits Week, just like in 30AD.
While cruising the internet, I was surprised to learn on 3/22/06 that it's a common Judaic belief that Messiah will be born in the month of Ab, due both to Temple Destruction, and because "Ab" means Father. I used to think that also, given OT's witty stress ON the Father, using ab-prefixes all the time. Earlier versions of this webpage and LvS4a.htm advanced the notion of an Ab birthdate, pooh-poohing 25 December. For "Ab" wordplay is rife in the OT; plays on Father and Father Abraham, both at once. Father fathered Abraham, and Abraham will be the father of the Fathering of our salvation: all that wit is in Isa 63, esp. v.16. [How Jews can therefore maintain they are monotheists, I'll never know. Tritheism is Biblical, aka Trinity; not polytheism (which depends on inequality of deities). Three Equal Infinite Gods: Father, Son, Spirit. Son=Messiah, always. No screwy hydra-headed misdefinitions of Three in one, as if God were some kind of egg. Infinity is not diminished by plurality of number. Plurality only affects what's spatial. Godness is not spatial.]
Jews maintain Ab is Messiah's birth month, because they also claim that both the first and second Temple were destroyed on Tish b'av, the 9th of Ab. I can see how that's true: Ab runs mid July to mid August. It makes sense to say the calendar was neglected the last three+ years prior to 70AD, owing to the siege; hence 9Ab=27-29 August 70AD, depending on when intercalation stopped. Conventional history will tell you the Temple was razed by Titus on 28 or 29 August 70AD.
Jeremiah 52:12-13 does say it was the 10th of Ab that the First Temple was burned; using night-before accounting, that equates to 9th Ab as a solar day -- close enough. There's convergence on the year, too: 586BC was the Temple's destruction under Nebuchy baby; 70AD destruction under Titus is 586 years later. As you'll see in the "Two Stone Witnesses" link of Part IVa (LvS4a.htm), there are a lot more convergences than just these. [Even Satan keys to the Temple destruction dates in how he orchestrates the Moslems -- and in a very cruel and petty manner against them, as if they were just cattle or something. Makes you sick at heart, to see your fellow man so burlesqued.]
But it's also true that the warring months are July and August, when the weather is driest and people so busy harvesting (thus less prepared for attack). Most booty then, too. So Ab would have a calamity character naturally, no matter what its name.
Bible's Time Accounting rules out an Ab birthdate. For that to happen, John would have to be born in the Shebat prior: Shebat is opposite Ab on the calendar, and we know John is six months older from Luke 1. So that means Elizabeth would have had to conceive BY the last week in Ziv, for John's birth to occur inside Shebat. And we know she did not, because the last weeks of Ziv and Bul, are Zecharias' service weeks. So if he got the announcement in Ziv, well -- he didn't go home until its last day ended, at sundown. I suppose you could postulate that when he got home that night, she got immediately pregnant. Which would make John's birth occur at the end of Shebat. But then the Lord's Birth would have to be the end of Ab. Where's the doctrinal fit? No Temple dates tie to these posited birthdays. None.
Obviously if he got the announcement in Bul, Elizabeth wouldn't conceive in time.
Egg on face time: I sure wish I had learned the priestly courses before I wrote about an Ab birthday. I shoulda done my homework better. Thank God, a reader asked me about Zecharias, or I'd never have been alerted (by God, of course) to the proper proofing in Bible! It's sooo easy to be slipshod in scholarship, huh. Lesson? Always audit one's faith, just like you would an asset portfolio or bank statement. For whatever is true, will be as good as or better than, what you now believe. True God is always better.
So the very pregnant Ab course names which also apply to Shebat -- "Swine", "God Shatters", "God opens the Womb" and "God is My Refuge" -- they well fit with "God Remembers" (=Zecharias) and "God Fathers" or "Father is God" or even "My Father, God!" (=AbiYah, Zecharias' course name). But their fit must apply in some other way.
Therefore, if Ab is to qualify as the birth month, it must do a Chislev 'job' doctrinally and also datewise, due to intercalation lapses. So Jewish calendar in 5BC would have to be off by way more than the number of days assumed above and below, for an Ab birthdate to do a Chislev 'job'. Like, by up to a whole month more: if 15 or 30 days off at the beginning of 5BC, the year would still start on a Monday: and it will go off by 5+ days, come the end of the following (4BC) Adar. Which might be fine, since the intercalation done varies from every year, to every fourth year, to every sixth year. Intercalation methodology wasn't consistent.
So how would that work? Pretending the Lord's Humanity is conceived in 25 Chislev nominally, He must be born 3rd week of Ab ("God opens the womb" course) the following year -- that can only happen if Adar Sheni is 30 days long; 15 days won't work (nine months must really elapse). Under that Adar Sheni ASSumption, John would then have been conceived 3rd week of Sivan, to be born third week of Shebat, so both are in the "God opens the womb" course, and in the "God Returns" 11th course (priestly course of the two conceptions). None of the other courses in Ab would work. So we have no other choices.
We saw how God made 25 Chislev 167BC = 25 Chislev 164BC = 15 Chislev 167BC = 11 Chislev, back when covering that initial invasion by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the initial Chanukah. (Click here to peek back there.) Those equatings are all valid solely due to intercalation lapses. Obviously the Jews themselves didn't orchestrate a Greek guy's invasion, his takeover of the Temple, his burning of Bibles and his outlawing of all things Jewish. Obviously the Greek guy himself didn't intentionally orchestrate that Testimony To God Being The God Of the Jews; for if he knew what all that confluence signified, he'd go out of his way to do nothing -- or at least, he'd wait for less-auspicious dates. So God did it. Can't be anyone else. When you examine Division #2, you'll see a parallel confluence, this time the Jews are doing all the wrong activity, and they are too dumb about their own law (temporarily) to realize they are testifying to the fact Christ is Messiah (they do catch on too late, John 19:31's Greek). So God did Passion Week on the right Law dates.
Also, for Ab to be the right Birthmonth, it must also tie to Adar. Adar's last week, plus the first two in Abib(=Nisan), were when the Pharaoh and the people finally turned toward letting Israel go. Moreover, Adar was a Temple dedication month, as we saw, above. Adar was also the month of the restoration of the Messianic line, owing to the release of Jehoiachim, who adopted Shealtiel. And Purim, which occurred mid-Adar, was the reason there could BE a later Adar. So to leave out a tie to Adar, well it just can't be Ab for either His conception or His birth. There's no benchmark or intercalation of any length, which can tie Ab to Adar.
Eph1:23: Jewish calendar is all about matching, Law of Restitution is all about Matching, and our sins were matched in an Exchange, 2Cor5:21. So no little thing like dates is gonna deter God's Absolute Penchant for Matching, Matt7:1-2 (uppermost level of meaning, repeated in thousands of ways in the OT).
Jewish calendar is reproduced here for navigation ease. You'll need it for these Bible verses.
If you know your Mosaic Law, Jewish calendar rules, Temple History and Daniel 9:25, you know what month that must be: Adar. You further know immediately that the Birth will be in Chislev. So you thus know what day in Adar Mary got the notice -- Purim or what would be its equivalent day, had the calendar not been intercalated. And thus you know what day He will be born: the equivalent of 11 Chislev, which will be Chanukah if the calendar is not intercalated by the following year. For the lunar calendar runs fast gradually through the solar year: you lose .43 solar days per month elapsed. That's why intercalation happens at the end of Adar.
Pause to enjoy the wit: in Adar, a Dedication month -- anniversary of the 2nd Temple's Dedication, the Dedication of the new Messiah line and the Dedication of people to destroy the Jews (Purim) -- Gabriel is dispatched, even 'dedicated' to inform Mary, who lives in a town called Dedicated, that SHE is to be dedicated to bearing the Dedicated One, Messiah.
Further, that God already Dedicated the Herald of Messiah in the only other Dedication month, Ethanim. See: there was this Judaic rule about when after conception you can say you're 'with child'; varies between 7-40 days. According to my 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica ("Pregnancy" article), and my pastor's many classes on the Virgin Pregnancy, implantation of what EB calls "the conceptus" in the uterus, occurs on the 7th day. So Elizabeth probably conceived post-sundown on 24 Elul (which we can justify, since her husband wasn't at Temple then); but it wouldn't 'count' until 1 Ethanim (when implantation and Temple Dedication occurred). Is God witty, or what? [Takes 40 days for the corpus luteum to be replaced by the placenta. I don't know if that's why the Judaic rule about 40 days -- which is apparently how they date in Israel today -- is keyed to that fact. I learned about the 40 days from a chat friend who lives in Jerusalem. It's supposed to be in the Talmud, but I don't yet have Talmud on CD, so I can't find the location.]
See, the 1st Temple was dedicated at the beginning of the civil year, Rosh HaShanah. 2nd Temple was dedicated 3 Adar. So the two conceptions occur in two DEDICATION months, and Messiah=Temple=Dedication therefore can only be born at the Feast of Dedication, and his herald is born at the end of the Dedication of the Harvest, aka Weeks, aka Pentecost! Is God witty, or what?
Of course, if we apply the same 7th-day logic to Mary, depending on whether the calendar was intercalated after the end of the regular 30 Adar -- well, if an Adar Sheni, it would still be a dedication month. And if not intercalated, well there's no greater Dedication than Devotion to Destruction, the Passover Lamb. For the month following a non-intercalated Adar, is Nisan, the first month of the sacred year, containing Passover.
Luke -- via the Holy Spirit, no doubt! -- deftly accomplishes communicating all that information simply by use and omission of the Greek ("the") article in both Luke 1:26 and 1:36. Verse 26's Greek goes like this: "En de toi meni toi hektoi" -- that's the normal way of saying the CALENDAR is in the sixth month. You can prove Bible's Greek conventional dating words with ease. Look at the following verses in the LXX: 1Kings 6:1, 1Chron 27:9, Haggai1:1, Ezra10:9. Two (nee: definite) articles are there, not just one. OT is chock-full of dates; our eyes glaze over from their abundance.
So Luke 1:26 demonstrates an absolute calendar date, not a relative-to-someone date. Relative dates only use one article, which you read like a possessive, i.e., in 2Chron 5:3 the second article is absent, so it's the seventh month relative to the sacred calendar. But the second article is present, in Luke 1:26. So v.26 doesn't use the relative construction as for Elizabeth's pregnancy months (menas pente, no article), in v.24. But our brains just see Elizabeth being in her own fifth month, so in Luke 1:26 we ASSume it's her sixth month. Which proves we didn't READ the Greek -- for centuries. That's why we don't know when He was born. Pretty embarrassing, huh.
Luke 1:26 and 36 thus employ clever and exacting wordplay on the confluence of Elizabeth being in her own sixth month -- means she herself conceived just before the beginning of the year. Clever way to tell you which type of year it is, sacred or civil. It's the Civil Year. The pun: at the end of the sacred year and at the end of the civil year, each of the two women conceive. So "sixth month" in Luke 1:26 can only mean the sixth month of the civil year.
If you well knew your Mosaic Law; if you remembered the prophetical significance of the names of the priestly courses; if you well knew the facts about the First Temple and how it came to exist; if Luke keeps talking Temple Temple Temple in Luke Chaps 1-2, then you don't need to be told how to add up those facts. Clever writing leaves off stating the obvious, so the reader can enjoy his own discoveries.
Royal Family of David were educated, k? So when Gabriel is talking to Mary, he uses the clever "houtos men hektos", placed so he doesn't have to repeat "hektos". Obviously he needn't tell Mary what month it is on the calendar. Pun would be spoiled, if he stated what month it was. But we needed to know; so Luke had informed us what month it was with the standard two articles, back in v.26a. We wouldn't need that extra information if it was merely Elizabeth's sixth month.
Um, Mary must have known Greek very well. This wordplay won't port over in translation. Thus ends another pointless controversy over whether the Lord spoke Greek. You can't read His Words in Gospels and not know He was was a sheer Genius in Greek, sorry. [It was a really cool moment in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" when Pilate first talks to the Lord. Pilate begins in Aramaic, but the Lord replies in Latin. Then Pilate, surprised and impressed, switches to Latin. It's common for even common people to be multi-lingual. Look how many poor Africans in documentaries can speak English, French, Portuguese -- as well as their own tribal dialects? So why is it so hard for us to imagine a Royal King-to-be, would know official government languages like Latin and Greek, besides Hebrew and Aramaic? In a place where trade depended on being multi-lingual, and His father owned his own construction business? Sheesh! People who want to debunk Bible will grab at any thoughtless straw to make a thoughtless argument! Why do we bother listening to them?]
Interesting how she reacted to Gabriel versus Zacharias. He doubted it. She didn't doubt it. But she didn't understand the mechanics. For since the Savior was to be sinless, but she acknowledged she was a sinner (see Luke 1:47, duh); and since she also knew the doctrine about Adam's sin being transmitted through the male -- how could God justify making her pregnant? It's a justice question, and she's analyzing, like in Bible class! See, it's not whether God has the power, but rather what's the Justification.
That's why Gabriel's answer in Luke 1:35 is so consummately witty, using well-known LXX words for the Holy Spirit's enduement and Temple Indwelling; but with this result -- so that in His Humanity, The YH would be(come, WH) the Son of God. The AbiJah, get it? So it's Justified! What a delicious Bible! [The well-known LXX meaning is succinctly covered in Thayer's lexicon in BibleWorks, but that lexicon is probably available in any seminary. Next, look: in the much-vaunted "Magnificat" of Mary, how does her first sentence end? "God My Savior", Luke 1:47. Do no brains turn on, when that Magnificat is repeated over and over? See, this is satanic clouding. It never occurs to us how silly are the claims in religion. It never occurs to us, so when we read or say Bible verses, we can't see or hear the words. Or, even count to three. Understand, my Catholic books (Library of Catholic Devotion, imprimatur Cardinal Stritch, 1953, Chicago) justify Mary's being sinless based on "fanciful anecdotes" and the Koran, for crying out loud. As if gossip and the Koran were proper authority? And this by a denomination which arrogates to itself the power to save you by wetting you and giving you last rites, a bunch of chanting? What, did the Catholic Church die on the Cross? Only God has the power to save and forgive sins, sorry.]
24 Elul would be the nominal date, but at the time it occurs, the 5BC calendar is too fast by 5.25+(.43*6)=7.83 days. So 24-8=12 Elul. So if at the end of 5BC the calendar is intercalated, John will be born at Pentecost, yet God still tied to 24 Elul, the dates of Temple re-commencement in 521BC (Haggai 1:15) and the date of Jerusalem's completion (wall signifies completion, Neh 6:15).
The metaphor and tie is too rich to pass up orchestrating to these dates. God causes life when HE wants it. Bet He caused it here. All it takes is the intercalation to be done, which is needed anyway. So judicious timing of conception makes for a timely birth. Intercalation in effect moves down the nominal number of the date, the next year. So what would be 24 Sivan the following year, will become a 12 Sivan birth: more specifically, 11 Sivan, Pentecost, post-sundown. After all, one is not supposed to labor on Pentecost, it's against the Law!
In essence, intercalation inserts more days between conception and birth. The 'deadline' of God's Orchestration would be nominal dates which also tie back to their real counterparts in both intercalated and non-intercalated years. So for John, the tie is to Pentecost, since he is the herald-harvestor. For the Lord, the tie is to 11 Chislev, 15 Chislev, and 25 Chislev, since He is the Temple Being Dedicated, Devoted-to-Destruction, Desecrated For Our Sins. So John has to be born after sundown on the following 11 Sivan (end of Pentecost), and the Lord has to be born after sundown on the following 24 Chislev. Remember, in Jewish accounting the next day begins on the eve of the prior day.
Here's why the foregoing makes sense.
It really boils down to how long each woman was pregnant. With a first-born, you can't predict it wholly. God orchestrated these prophesied births to the calendar, so you can know HE was on time.
That God would order your existence is a far bigger thing than mere creation, which post-Fall, is mere biology. So David's awestruck that God would bother to 'order' his existence, especially since the biology is dead. You need to get the wit that pregnancy is a deadness, in order to get David's awe: he closes the passage in v.16 with the same awe: I was just a golem, a bundle of biology, not alive; like days not yet occurring on a calendar -- but now born, alive to hear Your Thoughts!
This is where "Ab" comes in. It's the ORDER for a body to be made. Look: Ab is already a pregnancy-connoted month, as we saw from its priestly course names: "Swine", "God Shatters", "God opens the womb", and "God Strengthens". The entire month is about desecration and fathering crops. Particularly, grapes, figs, and olives: three common metaphors for the sons of Jacob; and by way of extrapolation, the sons of men. Ab is the month they ripen: Elul, is when you harvest. So the Temples were ripening in Ab, too -- for destruction, due to apostacy. So now their Savior is 'ripening' to deliver them, too. It's a closer Doctrinal match, than had He been born that month. For the Temples died that month, and as Bible repeatedly says -- most poignantly, in Isa53:10-11 -- pregnancy is a kind of death. A thing unborn, a mere golem, unformed, not yet even a legal person. Under the ground, so to speak. So His Birth should not be occurring here, but after He Himself has gone through pregnancy. Such as, becoming pregnant with our sins (again, Isa53:10-11, esp. "me amal" in Hebrew text). So you match the pregnancy to Ab, but not birth.
You become both physically and ceremonially unclean in the process of harvesting, for there are bugs and all kinds of other stuff. You are shattering the ground to harvest; you are thus desecrating and opening earth's womb to extract her 'fruit'; and from it, you get strength. Now, since the Temples were both destroyed on the 9th of Ab, they too need a kind of 'pregnancy' period to be reborn. So smack dab in the middle of both women's pregnancies, are two interludes of three months: each matching the other. For Elizabeth, the interlude is between Ziv when her husband returns, and Elul, when she becomes pregnant; which we know, because the Annunciation is occurring in Adar. Which we know, because in the sixth month -- Luke 1:26 -- Gabriel visits Mary. Gabriel is in Heaven. God is King in Heaven. So it's the sixth month of the God's Absolute Calendar -- hence the One He Instituted, beginning with Rosh HaShanah, 1 Ethanim. Which we also know, because Ziv is when the 1st Temple began preparation, back in 1Kings 6:1, based on the sacred calendar -- for it's the Temple, and it's Sacred. But it's DEDICATED on Rosh haShanah, 1Kings 8:1, 66 (notice he sent them home in time to properly celebrate Yom Kippur which would be coming up in just two days -- then they return for Booths). Because Son of David Who Will Be King of the Jews Forever, is to be born.
So Mary doesn't get visited until three months after Bul. With the result that, the Child will be born in Chislev, opposite Elizabeth's child, who obviously will be born earlier in Sivan that same year. Note how those two months contain Pentecost and Chanukah, respectively: so the following Ab, Mary is in her own fifth month of pregnancy, in the middle. Just like the 1st Temple was, between Ziv and Bul. It's a mirror.
Isn't it more enjoyable to know someone else is better than you? Isn't it a heartbreak to know someone else is inferior? For if the person is better, you can enjoy celebrating that person, looking up to that person. It's fun and satisfying to look up to authority. Everyone always talks about leaders, celebrities -- pouring over tabloids, looking into their biographies (and of course, violating their privacy, in the hunger to know more). By contrast, you can't have much fellowship with a baby, a plant, a dog. You try, but there are limits. Who wouldn't wish that their pets could talk? Oh well.
Christ isn't kidding in John 10:34. God is out to make us AT HIS LEVEL. Not lesser-thans. For the same reason as we love it when babies grow up, or pets can talk: Togetherness, Flat! This is the main theme in all my webpages, and it is most succinctly stated in Bible, in the BHS and LXX texts of Isa53:10-12, the contract of our Salvation and Spiritual Growth Plan. DDNA webseries is based on that contract. Paul never stops talking about it in his letters.
So let's do the math: 6 days remaining in Elul, plus 264 days after that equals what? Well, it means the 24th of Sivan, post-sundown. Okay, now subtract 13 days, because if they don't intercalate at the end of 5BC, they'll reset the calendar and call the reset date "1 Nisan", 11 days early. By Sivan, it's 13 days early. So nominally it would be called 11th Sivan; because in 4BC the Passover Week runs Sunday-Sunday, 11 Sivan would be Pentecost. Of course, it's completely understandable that John might be born a day or two earlier than 270 days. The window for full-term birth is 266-270 days, according to the "Pregnancy" article in my Encyclopedia Britannica (aka "EB" in my websites).
So you can bet God birthed John on nominal 11 Sivan 4BC, after sundown, somehow. Heh: you're not supposed to work on Pentecost, so John wasn't born until after sundown. It's just a question of finding out how.
Look: in 4BC, what they call 14 Nisan (beginning of Passover, AT sundown) is really 3 Nisan, because the calendar is 11 days too fast as of 1 Nisan. So what they call 21 Nisan (ending of Passover, beginning of Weeks) is really 10 Nisan. So 50 days from 10 Nisan, is really the beginning of Sivan: 2 x 5.25/12 between 1Nisan and 1 Sivan, have to be added to correct the date, in addition to the 11. So because they did not correct the date, to them it's 12 Sivan beginning on the night of 11 Sivan. And that's when they'd celebrated Pentecost. Notice how full-term pregnancy still occurs, so both the real calendar and the nominal calendar, are met. Just like God does in Passion Week, 30AD.
You'll remember from the Pentecost 'bubble' section that figs, olives, and grapes largely occupy the harvesting activity after Pentecost (click here to peek back there, if you forgot). Again, those are all metaphors of Israel, and by way of extension, all the nations of the world: a people 'crop' of SONS. Just as promised since Genesis 15:13. Full circle. Circumcision=Contract=covenant="brith" (Hebrew term, today called "bris"). Now all the Lord's many 'harvest' parables and statements, skyrocket in their significance -- you realise He's also talking in calendar terms, stressing the Prophecy the Holidays Teach. Now you know why He tied Chanukah and Purim to Daniel 9:26: He is the Deliverer of Israel, just as long promised. So He ties up the disaster holidays, too -- in Himself. The left-out 2nd half of the calendar gets a Pentecost mirrored, married: its two sad 2nd-half secular holidays are hupostatized to result in a Birth due to the brith made with Abraham, oh so long ago. The weeping endured for the night, first half; but the joy comes in the morning, when mourning gets turned to joy, Ps30:5, a Psalm for dedicating the Temple. Also Isa54:1, sons from the sterility of sin. For with God nothing is impossible.
A martinet would whine, Well, you really don't know what DAYS they will be born. Yes, I do know. God doesn't orchestrate like this except to match the day. He made a point of saying so with respect to the Exodus, Exo 12:41. "To the very day". So how much more, the Birth of His Own Son and His herald? So we do know. Know the Law, know the Doctrine being referenced, and you know WHY; then, go look for the keywords and wordplay confirming it; thus you know What Day, for the Day signifies the fulfillment of the Doctrine in God's Holy Word. Period, over, and out!
When you see so much confluence of meaning, you quickly realize you have the right interpretation. This is how you test both Scripture and your understanding of it. For God is Perfect and Consistent. If the fit of an interpretation goes pan-Bible -- and see how this does -- then God made you see it, and God's testifying of it. So whatever you don't know, well -- you either don't need to test further, or you test to refine your understanding. But this is a bull's eye, and HE did the proving. Far better and faster to use Bible, than men's ideas and traditional explanations.
Now watch God tie all this into the goyim, us Gentiles, and even at the end of our year, as well. For Christ paid for all mankind, 1Jn2:2.
But we've changed our calendar from those Julian days, and have chopped out days. For example, Council of Nicaea in 325AD, which was the 491st year after Antiochus' desecration, reset the Julian calendar based on the vernal equinox, to March 21. Per Encarta 2004 on my computer, Pope Gregory cut 10 more days off the Julian calendar to reach the 325AD reset level, in 1582AD. So from that, one knows that a result of these resets, what would be November 26th (non-intercalated) or December 10th (intercalated), became December 25th.
For the Julian solar calendar was 11 minutes, 14 seconds fast per year, and was instituted in 45BC by Julius Caesar. So it would have been 3 days too fast by 325AD. What you don't know is whether 2 extra days were somehow screwed up when the Julian calendar was instituted; so maybe the Council adjusted 5 days, not 3, in 325AD. For sure, the Julian calendar being too fast, was too fast by at least 13 days, in 1582, absent any adjustment in 325AD; so giving the benefit of the doubt to the astronomers in 325AD or 1582AD, the official usage of December 25 can be accounted as based on math, not myth or any attempt to borrow from the pagan Saturnalia. It's awfully close, especially since the principle for calendar correction was the right one, the vernal equinox, which also began the Jewish calendar.
Time to appreciate the Divine Genius here. Notice that by cutting out the same number of days as was not intercalated in 4BC, we tie right back to 11 Chislev, the flipside of Pentecost. In 1582, relative to the Julian calendar in 45BC, the solar calendar itself was also at least another 13 days too fast. So the sum of the two-too-fasts, is about a month: 4BC ran ahead 14 days on the Jewish calendar, but 25 Chislev is the DAY that Chanukah begins, whether too fast or not. As we saw earlier, since it is running too fast back then, 25 Chislev is really 11 Chislev, in 4BC. By the same token, by 1582, the solar calendar is also too fast by the same number of days (you -1 since there is no zero "day"). So by cutting those days off, you 'run into' the too-fast anniversary of that too-fast 25 Chislev. Yet, it's December 25. They cut off the days based on an intercalated year, because they reset to the vernal equinox. But the exact anniversary of His Birth, is based on a non-intercalated year which ran 14 days ahead. So they 'meet', on a true anniversary of His Birth.
Look: December 25 on the Gregorian calendar should be December 11, if you restore the cut days. December 10 should be the intercalated version of 25 Chislev. Given Jewish night-first accounting and what time of day He was born, plus the leftover minutes fast or slow in the solar calendar between 45BC and 1582 (not rounding to just days, which they undoubtedly did in 1582), this is a pretty good fit.
By contrast, if intercalation occurred in 5BC after the Annunciation -- as I believe it should have and did, but can't prove -- then a different tie occurs. Both John and Lord would have been born on their same dates, but the intercalation needed, is irrelevant. For to the Roman calendar in 4BC, the relationship is the same, because the nominal dates are the same. This is true because it was intercalated at the beginning of the year, so it's not until the next year that the dates would be out-of-kilter. So 25 Chislev properly equals December 10 on the Roman calendar that year. But the cuts in the calendar by the Catholic Church alone add about 10-15 days. With the result that what we call December 25, had been December 10 on the Julian calendar back in 4BC. The subsequent too-fastness of the Roman calendar wouldn't have to be relevant. It's still a tie back to that year in which He was born.
In short, we have convergence: it's just a question of whether that convergence is every year since His Birth, most years since His Birth, many years since His Birth, or only back to that initial year. Which to most normal people, is what Anniversary means, anyway: the anniversary of the original year. Is God smart, or what?
This is exactly the same kind of thing as happened in Passion Week, which you'll see in Division #2. Without this lack of intercalation, the Lord Who Is the Passover, could not have eaten the Passover that first night. That's why Passover as a Holiday, was a prophecy of Messiah paying for sins, and that's why you know it would have to occur in a year following an intercalated year, or the 4-day set aside rule, couldn't work. Awesome stuff, God's Calendar!
Sorry, only God is this smart. We didn't even know of the tie to 11 Chislev, let alone know about 25 Chislev as His Birthdate, officially; I can't find anyone else who knows about it other than my pastor, even now. That He used humans to accomplish His Goals at correcting to the anniversary of His Birth without waiving any human freedom, is of course His Justice and Genius, working. [My pastor just flat stated that He was born on 25Chislev=25December, didn't go through the number-crunching to explain why. Again, from about the year 2000, he had to dumb down the teaching, since the congregation weren't as tolerant of the details, anymore. Congregations of course change in demographics over time. The congregations of the 1960's - 1990's, got a lot of detail, all of which is thankfully recorded for later folks to hear.]
Holiday was to honor Saturn/Chronos/Kronos: he was the Roman/Greek god of time, aka Father Time, father of Zeus who would later overthrow him. You can read about that myth on the internet. Notice how God out-saturns 'Saturn', then. Paul actually says this in Gal4:4 with the expression usu. translated, "fullness of time". Greek is pleroma tou chronou, and it's very witty: culturally, "pleroma" means pregnant-by-a-god -- and particularly by Chronos, the god of time. Chronos had this habit of eating his kids; so he himself was 'pleroma' with his own kids. Finally, his wife hid Zeus from him shortly after Zeus' birth. That latter would grow up and unseat the father. So in the wording of Gal4:4, Paul is making a witty allusion to the Zeus story as well, with Herod playing the part of Chronos -- Herod is a Roman, as well as a Hasmonean Arab playing the nominal Jew. Yeah, the Real God unseated them all, just like that 12th priestly course name predicted, and in the same week! Paul is also tying back to Isa49:1 in Gal4:4 (the main level of tie-back). Only God is this smart, k? Wit in Paul came from God, clearly.
So we don't know, because we don't learn the Mosaic Law like they did. You never interpret a verse outside its context, and here the context is the Mosaic Law. Can't read the Gospels properly, if you don't know the Law properly. That's why we can't date Passover right, as you'll see in Divisions #1 and #2. If you don't know the Law timing, you don't know the WHY timing. So we always overlook in Bible what God 'hides' in plain sight, here via the standard CALENDAR's double usage of the (nee: definite) article in Luke 1:26 -- revealing, all. The first year in seminary you learn the importance and usage of the (nee: definite) article; can't track original-language Bible text if you don't know how the article is used. How embarrassing we all forgot. Ok, let's beat ourselves up for 30 seconds -- then, crack open the Book.
In sum, His Birth Date being 25 Chislev=25 December 4BC, ties up Israel's entire holiday calendar; now the second six months exactly mirror the intent of the first six. So despite Israel's rejection of Messiah, He can nonetheless rescue her via Church; so just as initially intended, all these second-half holidays, are related to Israel's restoration. But they play out of order, due to the Pentecost 'bubble' we are still in, historically. Thus the deliverance of the "New Covenant" (Millennium) must be preceded by the Tribulation, the last event of 'summer'. What a chilling, bigger picture: these last five holidays display the characteristics of the 'fall-winter' period in man's history.
Not too hard to see what these last five holidays represent, either. In fact, you could come up with a number of great metaphorical schemes, all of them true. (Scripture is always multilevel in meaning.) So, one scheme might be: Rosh HaShanah now means the Rapture, and we don't know when that will occur, only what it means. Notice how you can say Rosh HaShanah either begins the Mill, or the Trib. In the latter scenario, the Trib is still Jewish in covenantal nature (not the nation, but the people), so it is a "new" year. So, continuing with this scenario, Rapture kicks off the Tribulation, which is "the Day of the Lord", in a sense; so it plays the role of 10th Ethanim, Atonement (that's kinda how Daniel is told about time, in Daniel 9:24, and only the last week of that Time now remains).
As a result, 2nd Advent: the Official Return of the Lord, Jubilee. Which He inaugurates with a bloodbath so bad all of Israel is covered in blood up to about five feet high ("horse's bridle" verse, and the 180 miles is the length from Dan to Beersheba, see also the beginning of Isa63). So look, Booths: they obviously have to live in temporary shelters until the blood soaks back into the ground; burying the dead alone will take seven months. Followed by the Real Temple being built and dedicated, play on Chanukah, the next holiday in the now-completed calendar; followed finally by the regathering of Israel, which is Purim -- Temple has to be rebuilt, first. Meanwhile, Baptism of Fire (one taken-to-hell and another left-on-earth to enter Mill, Matt24:37ff) can be likened also to Purim. Then the new sacred year begins, starting with Passover. Ezekiel covers the Millennial changes in the Law's Temple observance, all of which are now retrospective memorials, rather than the OT system of prospective memorial. That's why the sacrifices in Ezekiel, are so unified: everything's brought together, in the Mill, for Israel. And we will all be there to share in her joy. Some of us will be ruling Gentile nations, as part of the peace-from-her-enemies promise so rife in the OT.
See, many parallels. You can make other schemes of roughly the same meaning, but differing composition and timing, out from these five holidays. [The 2nd-Advent Baptism of Fire can also be a paradigmal warning to Church to be ready for the Rapture, which of course is the reverse: all Christians will be 'taken'. Still, it's no picnic, for whatever growth down here you accepted or refused, will be publically known and acknowledged, at the Bema. True for all of us, Heb9:27-28.]
Other faiths have nice things in them, but nothing so comprehensive, provable and accountable, as the Torah and its Law. Now you know why a bunch of tree-worshipping, pale-skinned naked Gentiles became "Western Civilization" -- tamed at last by this Law, as carried to them by Paul and folks like him -- for Christ fulfilled that Law, and they believed in Him. Of course, like the Jews before them, they too abused the upgrade in Christ. As a result, world history underwent a massive structural shift due to that Law (see Book of Hebrews), which continues for an unspecified time. So it's worth time, to better learn about the Law's first three feasts -- even though technically they belong to the past. Can't understand and properly date the Passion Week, else. Can't understand the Rapture, else. So past and future become clearer, just by reading a Book.
Look at yet more overwhelming confluence and evidence. Always Begin with Whys.
For the contract of eternity past, between Father, Son, and Spirit is Isa53:10-12 (see Isa53trans.htm for a corrected translation). That contract is not fully translated in any Bible of any language I can find. Part of the text is in the Greek OT, and part in the Hebrew. The clauses together show how first He pays for sins, which provides a circulation mechanism for His Thinking to get in those who want it. DDNA webseries is dedicated to this contract. Point here is that post-Cross, since He fulfilled that Contract, we don't get little cookie-cutter rules as training aids. Because He completed as a KING, so we are all of us, in training to become kings.
Gotta believe in Him, to go to heaven, John 3:16; but more importantly, gotta believe in Him, to be eligible to get that Training, Eph4:11-16 (Greek -- see Eph41216.htm). Then, you've got to live in God's System (link at pagetop, upper left) your whole life, using 1Jn1:9 as needed to keep getting back in. Through which, you get the training. Through which, you become Pleroma (pregnant with His Thinking), yourself. Through whom -- you now, for the eternity-past contract folds us all in it -- through you, those who believed in Him for salvation but otherwise rejected the Training, can have a good life in heaven. They are immature, comparatively. That's why there needs to be a hiearchy, with kings at the top. Of whom, you can be one. It's never too late to start being in God's System.
The Genesis 12:1-3 protection clause for the Jew is based on bloodline, not whether he believes, so woe to anyone who attacks the Jew. Or, the Arab: Ishmael is a son of Abram, and was circumcised; see also Gen17:18-27. [Bible doesn't say, but you have to wonder if Ishmael didn't become a believer, since his mother DID, Gen 16:7-13. Verse 13 shows that in His Office as "Angel of the Lord" God personally appeared to her: well, He doesn't make appearances to unbelievers. Wonder if the Arabs know that Ishmael is the son of a Jewess-by-faith; and he was circumcised, too.] Hence no one really knows who is a Jew, especially since God promised Abram that his sons would number more than the stars of the sky, Gen 15:5, 22:17. One drop of Abram's blood is all you need to get the Gen12 protection. So, better to be nice to everyone else, including yourself! [Blacks were intermingled with the Jews from the very beginning. Bible references to this are kinda pointed, like the fact that the Egyptians had many black-skinned citizens, and at the Exodus Egypt was pretty much depopulated; then Moses' second wife was an Ethiopian (aka "Cush"); then there's the Queen of Sheba, and a Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon, etc. In the NT you have the Ethiopian eunuch reading his Bible, and Philip ordered by God to go help him. So much for the stupid "Identity" people who really couldn't read their Bible though it bites them. Really crazy, how people credit or debit mindless corpuscles of melanin which are designed to adjust to the amount of repeated sun exposure, lol. Can you imagine calling someone else better or worse than you because they have a permanent tan?]
It's completely shocking that the Jews don't see this total fulfillment of YHWH faithfulness, b'emuna, Ps33:4. Dunno how much stronger a proof God could make. Even 1000 angels flying in the sky 24/7 announcing "YHWH" repeatedly, would be less proof. Look: only God can orchestrate TIME. We all know that.
Passover and its 'attached' Feast of the Unleavened Bread, commences the Jewish Sacred Year. It is entirely a prophecy of how God will procure Salvation for the Human Race. Its many punctiliar rules are all prophecy markers, which the Jews are to use to know Who is the True Passover Lamb. All God's Holidays have this essential structure: Hi, I'm giving you details of real events which will really happen in metaphorical and ritual formats to depict them, so you can learn them even in your body, even as instinct, even as brain dendrites. So recognition will be full, and the soul will be full of it. Mosaic Law is entirely about learning God, and the rituals help integrate the body life so you are constantly seeing Him, despite even the most menial functions. Grace, baby.
But Israel rejected Him. But the same chain reaction, nonetheless occurred. Again, Part IVa (link at pagetop) sketches the effect He's had on history.
So with all this big-picture meaning in mind, let's now look into what seem the menial details about Passover et. seq.
So Exodus 12:6 (with its kindred passages) is real specific about when you kill the lamb on 14 Nisan: BEFORE sunset. So the Lamb is slaughtered at the END of the Jewish 14 Nisan; but eaten beginning at sunset (Hebrew bari'shon be'areba'ah, Exo12:18); which is still technically 14 Nisan, on the solar calendar. Whether you call it the 14th or the 15th is a matter of confusion among scholars; Bible always calls it the 14th, even after sundown: using the solar calendar's 'name' for the day is a Bible habit. [If you see me deviate from that convention, and I'll fix my mistake in periodic editing reviews of this webpage. No such thing as a perfect writing, except the Bible's. Everyone and his brother has something to say about this topic. Aim here is to demonstrate the proof someone can independently confirm in Bible before the Lord, not just an answer. All accounting is meant to be tested.]
The "At twilight" is Neusner's translation. I didn't yet buy the Mishnah in Hebrew, so don't know if it says that in Hebrew. But the translation is the reverse of what the Bible says. More about that problem follows in a few paragraphs. Meanwhile, note that this text clearly belongs to the 1st century AD, since the Temple was destroyed by 70AD. So notice how if you knew that Exo12:6 means BEFORE sunset, items D-J would be true. The "daily whole offering" had to be done before sunset, and in Temple times it was done around 3pm, same hour as Christ died on the Cross. See also Exo29:39, which uses the same before-sunset wording in Hebrew as for the Passover, applied to the ending daily Temple sacrifice (2Chron 8:13). For there were two lambs sacrificed per day, the sunrise lamb to sanctify the day, and the before-sunset lamb to sanctify the night: depicts buying time, since there would be future payment for sins. [Fausset's Dictionary notes that in Temple times it was custom to slay the Passover lamb "shortly after" the Temple sacrifice. Again, could be the translation is in error. See 2756.03 of "Passover" entry in Fausset's, which seems to use Josephus as the source for this information.]
Now, watch this next bit, to show those 1st century rabbis' brains weren't working too well:
"6.1 [p.239] A. These matters regarding the Passover sacrifice override [the prohibitions of] the Sabbath: B. (1) slaughtering it, (2) tossing its blood, (3) scraping its entrails, and (5) burning its [sacrificial] pieces of fat. C. But roasting it and rinsing its entrails do not override [the prohibitions of] the Sabbath. D. Carrying it [to the Temple], bringing it from outside to inside the Sabbath limit, and cutting off a wen which is on it do not override [the prohibitions of] the Sabbath. E. R.Eliezer says, 'They do override [the prohibitions of the Sabbath].'"
Now ask yourself this question: how can you roast what you didn't first slaughter? Roasting is part of the Biblical command to observe, it's not optional, Exo12:8-9. Just as God Says in Exo12:6ff: so the whole thing must be done before sunset. One letter, big difference, between "ben" (between) and "be" (at, in, on, upon). Ya gotta be eating (at table) AT sunset, Exo12:18, bari'shon be'areba'ah. So BEFORE sunset, ya gotta kill, dress, roast that lamb, Exo 12:6, ben ha'ar(eh)bayim. And as to the food, any preparation of that food can be done on the 2 High Sabbaths, Exo12:16; so you don't need the pil-pul related to covering to keep warm, etc. The Mosaic Law is not petty; but the Mishnah (despite its wit) is insufferable, blotting out God with olive bulks -- yet calling itself holy, Luke 14:5, Rom2:1-24 (see contexts)! Torah portion gets shallowly read on Saturday, and never learned. Yet are we Christians any less insufferable, listening to 'respectable' men instead of to the Word God wrote?
In the Bible, Passover is all about When You EAT, and that's why you EAT AT SUNDOWN; so preparation must precede sundown. Eating is always a metaphor of believing, of learning Word. Aka, "Torah". BEFORE Sunset -- before the day is over you prepare, so AT sunset, you can relax and eat His Food, His Word. See Hebrews 4 play on this fact using the Word as the Preparation Metaphor, "while it is yet today". For it's the Preparation, which kept the Temple going. And it's the lack of Timely Preparation, which got the 2nd Temple destroyed (main subtheme of that Chapter).
Why is all this before-sundown emphasis given? Is God being Petty? Nope. Sabbath is about learning Word. Sabbath is about trusting God to keep your food warm, your house warm; trusting that the stoppage will not harm you. This is not a God of works. So by stopping, you learn Him, how to Trust Him, etc. But if you are a new people just out from 400 years of slavery, you have no frame of reference for trust. So the teaching to trust, must be harshly stated, for harshness is what you understand; and black-and-white terms give you a clarity, so you can learn what "trust" even means. For slavery traumatizes. We the human race are traumatized, so we get a Bible which talks to us sternly. For then we can 'hear' what it says.
So notice this irony: "twilight" happens JUST AFTER the sun has gone down. So if you followed the Mishnah passage quoted above, you'd violate the Passover and its sabbath. Penalty for violation is not what the Mishnah says, but rather Death: Exo 12:15 (a refrain, see also Numbers 15:29-41). Death of the day, death of the light in you if you don't learn Word, so learn it before your lamp goes out.
If you keep on reading in that Mishnah Section 6 and following, the text becomes downright embarrassing, it's so far off-base versus Torah. Now it makes more sense why the Lord kept on telling them they were blind guides (Matt12:11, 15:14, Luke 6:39). And aren't we all? [The big reason to criticise is to show how we're all in this together. Sect or Group "A" merely has a different flavor of error versus our own. It's always my intention to show the pattern of continuing errors to demonstrate how we are ALL so easily duped by Satan &Co., largely because we are too disinterested to study the Word with our 1Jn1:9 brains on in God's System. We're no match for Satan&Co. Without God's brains, forget accuracy. The Jews are probably the smartest group of folks on earth, by Divine Design (gift to Abram); yet look how worthless their brains, on what to them is the most important of Bible topics!]
My BibleWorks Bible Dictionaries and lexicons often mess up on this "twilight" thingy too; it's weird how they see and yet don't see the right answer. There's no mystery to this question. God made it simple: See, there's this Big Fiery Orb In The Sky, measure time by that "or" [Hebrew word for lightsphere]. When it goes UP in the sky, and when it comes DOWN. Hence, even today every Jew on the planet will tell you that Sabbath, Passover (etc.) begin at sundown, if pressed for a quick answer. You even see it on your typical calendars, too. Moreover, "opsias" in Greek means SUNSET, so guess what? The Lord was right on time in Matt26:20, ALREADY reclining at table for Passover AT Sunset, exactly as Exo12:18 commanded. [Nerd note: Hebrew summarizes then gives detail later on. So the sun and moon and ALL the "lights" were created in Gen1:3, in a nanosecond. The later description of sun and moon has another purpose. Don't regard them as two different events. Dingdongs who read with modern-day ideas about how a story should be told, impose on Bible a 'contradiction' which doesn't exist. Even in modern times we like it when an abstract precedes the full story...]
Yet look: for example the fabulous lexicon TWOT (The Workbook of the Old Testament) tells you straight off that benha'arehbayim means sunDOWN, going so far as to trace the etymology for you. But then weirdly says that it's "likely" to mean "twilight", defined as that interval after sundown and before night, while there is yet "illumination". That's not sundown, but after sundown. See, the entire day is defined by sunrise and sunset, in the Mosaic Law: 12 hours beginning at sunrise, is a "day". You can't work at sunset, that's when work must STOP. It's not bad that we make mistakes: it's bad that we won't FIX them. Century after century.
So if Bible translations and commentaries reverse the before-sunset meaning of Passover's kill-then-cook rule; if we don't spot that reversal though holiday calendars say Passover "begins at sundown"; little wonder, no one gets right the chronology of Passion Week. You can't find an accurate Bible documentary or movie on that week's chronology. Bible is not being consulted. Tradition is being consulted, and the tradition is wrong. For centuries. As a result, millions of people lose faith in the Bible no one consulted, since by not consulting it, one can't resolve the 'contradictions' that inevitably derive from the traditional arguments. Um -- Between Friday and Sunday is NOT three days and nights. But movies about Passion Week don't care: they go right on claiming "Good Friday" as if Bible ever said that. Oh, since it's about God it needn't make sense.. and of course no one checks the Bible to see what IT has to say. So Bible gets blamed for men's 'traditional' contradictions. Century after century.
Not to worry, God's System fixes everything: we aren't designed to operate with our own brains, which after all are completely saturated with Adam's fallen genes. That's why you don't need to angst over anything, now: "Christ Our Passover", and the many verses in Hebrews, Romans, etc. explaining how the Law is fulfilled IN Him so is obsoleted, give you the nice choice of maybe sometimes celebrating the Passover as a memorial if you feel like it -- or not. Because due to the Crucifixion, Every Day is Passover. LvS4a.htm covers that whole changeover from Mosaic Law to Church (link at pagetop).
So, Passover begins seven days which are called the "Feast of the Unleavened Bread"; the first of them was a HIGH sabbath. See, the original Passover was a Thursday. So it's a Day Of Preparation for Sabbath, and God is preparing Israel for her first Sabbath -- only the Nation gets that sabbath, and they're not a nation, until they LEAVE Egypt. Hence the Passover AND the Exodus; and that's why they have to hurry up to eat and pack, not even waiting the extra day or so it takes for their bread to rise. Following that egress, is the Sabbath, on which they are to do no work. But Passover is essentially GOD PREPARING, so man does nothing. So two days of man doing nothing, are in essence decreed. The first, is the Passover, a High Sabbath to commemorate that original Thursday night to Friday night. But Friday night that original year (1440BC) also, began a regular sabbath. For on that First Friday Night, they were Out Of Egypt, finally Free. So that first Friday night, they might not have known it was a sabbath, since we don't hear of God instituting the sabbath until the quail incident a month later (Exo16:1ff). But they were still resting during that period, count on it. God keeps His Promises (pun: "sabbath" and "promise" are the same word, sheba=7).
So when you see the genealogy in Matthew stressing 14's, he's reminding the reader that God Prepares in Advance: progenitor Abraham via the 490-promise-years' units results in Christ 'fathering' salvation. In short, it was all orchestrated, all done on time, and all done exactly as promised. First and Last of the list are progenitors, and the 14*40 generations sandwiched in=560, the intercalated 490-year promise unit to stress unlimited atonement for all mankind. For everything in God's Calendar is an Advance Notice: while it is yet "today", you can believe in Him and be saved in advance of your own death. Matthew selects those royals who accepted the promise, believing in Him; leaving out some of those not doing so. To show that the promise was fulfilled despite all the apostacy. For just as with the Gen 5 roster, there must always be someone to accept the promise, for it to remain open to successive generations (see also Romans 9-11). Love never foists itself on anyone.
Messiah fully accepted God's Promise, and thus was made sin as a SUBSTITUTE for us (2Cor5:21), per the Isa53:10-11 contract in eternity past: im tasim asham naphesho -- if You will give Your Soul as a substitute for sin (literally, as a guilt offering for sin). For Psalm 40:6-8ff, God will Prepare Messiah to Come in the Flesh. So Heb10:5, on 25 December=25 Chislev 4BC, He is wrapped in death bandages (to depict Isa1:1-6) and supernaturally speaks from that feeding trough, Sacrifices and offerings you do not want, but a Body you Prepared for Me. 33 years In Advance of the End of Time. So seventy sevens is God's Promised-Time unit. So 7 is the number of holiness, perfection, completion of contract. 7, God. 7, Perfect Humanity. Seventy Sevens. 77. 14.
This three times 14-generations' device also neatly depicts how Messiah would die on the completion of the 490x3 anniversary of the original Passover, to the very day. Prepared from Abram to David, representing "Father", 14 generations, 2160BC-1040BC (birth to birth). Prepared from David through Babylonian Captivity, 14 generations (initial carrying off of the Royal Family), 1040BC-597BC (2Kings 24:12, 15). This much shorter period, represents "Spirit". Captivity to Christ, 14 final generations: the Son Has Been Prepared. Despite all opposition, too: the Royal Davidic bloodline switched from Solomon to Nathan during the Captivity via Shealtiel being adopted by Jeconiah who was jailed in Babylon his entire adult life so didn't have kids (compare 2Kings 24:12 to 25:27).
But back when Israel had left Egypt, she didn't know all this future. So God stressed this advance Preparation fact in an unusual way, via the distinction between Passover and Unleavened Bread, in Leviticus 23:5, compared to 23:6. You might want to open up your Bible (any kind will do) and look at the text you have. Notice that in v.5, the Lamb is to be slain "before sunset" (corrected translation from the Hebrew, compared to whatever you have). That means, before the day ENDS. For again, a Jewish 'day' runs sunset to sunset. So before sunset, is still the 14th of Nisan. The new day technically begins AT sunset, but this is the sacred year, and it begins on the same calendar day. So notice now, v.6 -- "seven days" beginning on the 14th.
The analogy being made is bald: the first-born of Egypt who died, are identified with Messiah the Firstborn-Lamb-to-come. Because THEY were slain, the lamb is slain; because the lamb is slain, you are now sinless, which is why there is no leaven in your house or in your mouth. Think that over for a minute. HIS being slain is predicated on THEIR being slain. But -- paradigmal meaning, not necessarily the truth about those individuals at death -- they got slain, because they didn't BELIEVE in Him, right? So notice how God respects the deaths of those who rejected Him. And YOU profit from that. And Messiah is only born, to be SLAIN. For them. And, for us.
So you are only born, to celebrate the Lamb paying for your sins. So you celebrate the Sacrifice Of The Firstborn -- in this case, God's First-Born, Messiah-to-Come. The new day begins only because of that sacrifice. Which is why, the Lamb must be slain before sunset: which is before, all those first-born in Egypt were slain. Paying up-front, get it? So before the first dawn for Adam, God "set aside" the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (theme in John 1, Eph1). And at the right time (analogous to 14 Nisan), God slays His Son, His Lamb, FOR the sins of the world. To resurrect all who died. And we all will resurrect, whether we rejected Him or not -- question is, where we go afterwards. That, is a private question: John 3:16 plus what think ye of Christ?
Passion Week Fulfills This Salvation Metaphor Meaning Of The Exodus, and the bundled holiday God Instituted to Remember it. See how these rituals have meaning, and are not mere mystical, magical, motions? See how it's about God's LOVE for the whole world?
For the Exodus, is completely about the salvation of the entire world. That's why God sent Abraham's sons into Egypt, in the first place. To Gather The Gentiles, not just the sons of Abraham. Can't divorce the Passover from the salvation of the entire world. Can't divorce the Exodus from Christ PAYING for all the sins of the world. No one is left out. Everyone is paid for BY the Firstborn. Look: the only pure Jews ever were Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. Issac married a non-Jew, Rebekah. She of course became a Jew, believing in the Lord, as we know from Genesis 25. Esau did not; so Edom (Esau's progeny) is outside the covenant, and Jacob -- who did believe, as we know from Genesis -- Jacob became the carrier of the covenant. He also married non-Jews, Rachel and Leah. Rachel appears to have converted, I'm not sure about Leah, but from them comes the bloodline, anyway. But the bloodline is not Jewish, but mixed. Again, Abraham and Sarah were changed biologically (they were both sexually dead, as Rom4 explains); so only Isaac.
You'll see God mandate this very reasoning, in Exo13:15 -- and mandate the children of Israel be taught by their parents. So notice how LOVE is paramount: all those who don't believe are in essence 'sacrificed' to God, just as those who WILL believe, analogous to soldiers who die in battle being remembered by those in their home countries. For Passover is all about REMEMBRANCE. God is making a big point here about even the unbeliever being MEMORIALIZED.
See? God isn't condemning anyone. Rather, He is announcing that He will send His Son To Be Condemned On Behalf Of Everyone. And we who get saved, are to revere Him, surely; but also to revere those who did not believe, for in essence their loss is our gain. (That's another reason why the Law has this constant refrain about treating the stranger with equal respect as one's own people/nation.) Even as, Christ Himself would not be as BIG as He is in His Humanity, if He didn't need to be spiritually developed to such size, to pay for such sins. The more the sins were, the Bigger He Had To Become. Which, only the Holy Spirit could do. So the loss of the unbeliever, even though his own fault, is PASSED OVER, in favor of LOVE. For Love never condemns, but instead always honors. Honors everyone, "pas" (Greek word used in the plural to signify unlimited atonement) -- "pas", meaning "All, Without Exception." So those who DID believe, made a 'cross' in their doorways that first night (hyssop soaked with the lamb's blood, dotted at top and on the sides of their entrance lintels, Exo12:22). The angel would see that blood (prequel to Yom Kippur sprinkling on Mercy Seat) and pass by the house, leaving the occupants unharmed. Anyone could do that; so it was due to the Blood of the Lamb 'sprinkling' that they were not harmed. It was not because of their blood (symbolic of human works), but because of HIS. [The term usually translated "sprinkling" in the OT always means Atonement, and specifically references the Yom Kippur sprinkling in the Holy of Holies. See the Book of Hebrews explain this significance, if you are unfamiliar with the rituals of the Mosaic Law. You might have to cross-reference OT passages as you read, to master the technical vocabulary (i.e., "sprinkling") that the writer of Hebrews uses, so for this purpose it would be wise to get a study Bible. Scofield Study Bibles (which come in KJV, NASB, and NIV translations) are the best cross-referenced study Bibles I know of. You can buy such Bibles at Amazon for under $20, I believe; you have over 1500 different styles to choose from (last time I checked, in 2004).]
Moses is tracking forward from source as he writes the first five books of the Bible; Exodus is part of the PRECEDENCE (source) of the Mosaic Law. So now you know why the Book of Genesis accounts days beginning with the NIGHT first (well, some translations don't show that, but the Hebrew is real punctiliar). And the reason why it begins with night first, is that the earth was trashed up by Satan&Co., so in Gen1:2, the Holy Spirit has to act like a mother hen (lit. Hebrew) and turn on the lights. (Gen1:2 and following is about the Restoration of the earth, not about its initial creation, see "Creationism" entry in VERindex.htm.) So the 'day' begins at night with His Restoration of Light, then the turning of the earth, etc. as you can read in Genesis 1.
Moses wrote Genesis; so he's writing to explain what LED UP to the Law, since the purpose of Genesis is to explain the Origin (purpose and bloodline) of Messiah; it's not about how God created the universe. Try reading Genesis with that revised idea in mind: you'll get a bizillion dollars of wisdom from its metaphors of light, darkness, etc. [Again, see "Creationism" entry in VERindex.htm for details.]
Rest, rest, rest, overlapping. See the metaphor this ceremonial structure depicts? GOD GIVES YOU REST. Now when you read Heb4, it will make more sense: Rest Is The Word, so Rest In The Word, God Will Deliver You. And as the writer of Hebrews 4 concludes, that Rest Remains. [Hebrews 4 uses a great play on words. Rest, remnant, remain are all the same Hebrew word, and all reference PROMISE, for "sabbath" simultaneously means "seven", "promise", "rest". But he's writing in Greek, to demonstrate the Change In Covenant due to the Victory of the Cross; in Greek, "rest", "remnant", and "remain" are loyalty and homey words (roots of marital and martial, intimacy and fidelity) -- which words, allude to the Lord's frequent use of "menw" when He was down here. Verb "menw" has many compounds, and they are all spokes of concepts of marital intimacy, fidelity, martial intimacy-with-combat and fidelity (i.e., fighting/staying-at-post despite all opposition). While we don't know that until we read the Gospel of John (written in the 90's AD), the content of what the Lord said is heavily built upon in all the NT (most of which was written approx. 50-70 AD). John uses "menw" heavily in both his Gospel and in 1Jn, so it's a word worth learning. So "Rest", "remnant", and "remain" also signify the idea of being At Home in Him; and ultimately, Him Taking Us Home; to meanwhile and forever dwell in Him, live in Him -- fulfilling the long-ago Promise He made to deliver His People, that starry, scary night of the First Passover. For more on "menw" and its thesauretical plays in Scripture, read the first section of Part IVd. When you see how Bible uses its words, whatever doubts you may have had about its Divinity, vanish. 1000 angels flying in the sky overhead, wouldn't be better proof. Especially, with respect to how "menw" is used in Bible.]
Important to remember: when Bible uses the word "sabbath" legally rather than colloquially, it means the regular sabbath; even colloquially, you'll see some kind of special designation for a NON-Saturday (Fri-Sat sundown) period, as in John 19:31. If you can't tell the difference between a special ("high", in modern Jewish parlance) sabbath and the regular sabbath, you'll mess up the timing and events interpretation of Passion Week. It's easy to mess up the timing, for the contemporaneous audience of the Gospels all knew the timeline, so it didn't have to be said. We more remote moderns need to look at additional verses Bible provides, to back into the timeline. Most importantly, they all knew how Passover was constructed, but we usually do not. So we miscast its events; scholars misdate FirstFruits as beginning the day after the first sabbath after Passover occurs. That horrible "Good Friday" error has long been known, but little has been done to retrace the week. So the false movies, documentaries, etc. go right on being made. The Jewish calendar that year is advertised by God Himself as being off 4 days -- the Lord can't be the Passover Lamb and celebrate Passover Himself on the right date; which date is the date He Himself is "set aside", Arrested. Big glaring hint, that...
Another Especially Helpful Hint: due to this differential in Jewish and solar calendar, you can Know Exactly When A Past Event Occurred, if you use the Bible's Exodus as your 'hub'. Then for vetting, you can check the history books, etc. So you also can know where the history books get it wrong (i.e., with respect to when the Exodus is dated). Phenomenal, how a dating system can track and correct errors, once you know how to use it properly. Then, you can verify the dates secularly based on the surrounding historical facts the Bible gives. The dates given in history books, documentaries, etc. are thus frequently proven wrong. Exodate.htm is a case study in this comparison of Bible versus non-Bible accounting, so you can see how to use the secular data, and how vastly right the Bible dates are.
So: We can also know when the Cross occurred, and the exact date and hour of His Physical Death. And then we can audit that result All The Way Back To The Exodus, to vet our math.
Since the lunar calendar each year is short by 5.25 days, Israel's Passover of 14 Nisan is really 14 Nisan, but by the end of the year, it's 5.25 days short. So if it remains unadjusted, what then looks like the Anniversary of 18 Nisan is really 14 Nisan -- because, the calendar is not subtracted for being too fast. As we'll see in Division #2, this is Precisely What Happened In The Crucifixion Year. [So no intercalation was done for the year prior to 30AD. Hence the calendar that year was four days off (i.e., true 10 Nisan was 'booked' as 14 Nisan, Passover). Bible says this.]
So if we call the first "correct" year "n", then by "n+1" (beginning of the second year), the Dates Themselves Are Four Days Ahead (five, when you also count the day itself).
So to tie the Crucifixion to the Original Passover -- and you'd expect God to do that, with His Son -- then you'd have to make things happen (Lamb set aside, Lamb slaughtered) on what would be the adjusted dates (10 and 14 Nisan, respectively). Even despite the official calendar that year. As you'll see in Divisions #2 and #3, that's Exactly What God Does to His Son, during that Passion Week He used to save us all.
Repeating: what God does, without gerrymandering human freedom, volition, history, the truth -- is to Exactly Fulfill The Promise Of That Original Passover, By His Son Going On The Cross The Exact Same Date -- 1470 years later. Which means -- as will be later shown -- the Lord was Arrested on the True 10 Nisan (thus set aside, fulfilling the Law regarding Passover), and was Crucified on the True 14 Nisan before sunset (again, fulfilling the Law regarding our Passover). Which means His Resurrection, Fulfills the First Fruits Law -- but more on that, follows below.
It will be important to keep all this material in mind, as you thread through the intricacies of the Lord's Passion Week. The real God does a Miracle you can Prove Mathematically, so you know you didn't hallucinate it, you didn't misinterpret it, And You Didn't Have To Be There To Know It Really Happened! Math is a miracle science, capable of auditing all the others, if you know the math principles well enough (all sciences run on math principles; it's just a question of Seeing The Proper Patterns). With the proper math, you can audit history, too.
Clearly, God's Miracles are huge, Full of Lessons, and scary. That's God's Style. But if you want to know Him, well you'll have to thread through and thus plow through a lot of Bible 'math' (verses). Bizillion Bucks of Bible Profit will come from that threading, by the way. For no good reason, the timing of the Passion Week and its events, have always been a 'mystery' to 'Christians'. However: if you're breathing 1Jn1:9 as needed, by the time you finish reading this webpage and research the verses in it, you will no longer be mystified. Bible is clear, and God is out to make Bible clearly running IN your head, 24/7. That's His Guarantee: John 8:32 via John 4:23-24, backed up by Eph1.
So over time, all these holiday-and-calendaring intricacies became instinctive to the Jews. Like kindergarten stuff, mother's milk, information on which you are weaned. So of course, the two terms "Passover" and "Unleavened Bread" were used synonymously in common speech (i.e., in the NT), as if they were One Event. But remember, they are not the same: Passover commemorates the Actual Egress From Egypt; the rest of the days commemorate Celebration After The Egress. So the entire bundled holiday lasts seven days; the last of these days was also a sabbath, and you ended the week AFTER sundown, with another festal meal. Didn't matter on what day of the week they fell, you didn't work on the first day following Passover night, nor on the 7th day following Passover night. So if a regular sabbath came in between, well you didn't work on that day, either. Three sabbaths, depicting the Triune Involvement occuring AT -- what would become -- the Cross.
First Fruits is the Counterpart Feast to Passover. So its ceremonies, sacrifices and offerings are 'bookends', and hence in some respects are opposites. For Unleavened Bread depicts Payment For Sin, whereas First Fruits signifies Eternal Salvation Being Accomplished. It begins, piggybacked on the night of the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. For the Festival of Weeks, which FirstFruits starts, is always listed in Bible after the LAST Day of Unleavened Bread, never near or after the first day, which is Passover itself. Compare Exo 23:15-16, 34:22 (note it's the wheat, not barley); Lev23:8 with 9-11, 15ff; Num28:25-26; Deut 16:8-10.
Trouble is, Joshua 5 doesn't say they celebrated First Fruits per Lev23:10-11; moreover, that Leviticus passage is conditioned on them planting and then harvesting -- which obviously didn't happen, since they'd only been in the Land for four days (compare with Joshua 4:19). Rather, Joshua 5 goes to great lengths to tell you a) the new generation had been circumcised (which is why they named the town "Gilgal", which means "foreskin", very witty); and b) this angel appears to Joshua in what seems to be a warning mode. Why? Israel often didn't celebrate the Feasts appointed. Just cruise through Kings and see how Hezekiah and Josiah are exceptional Passover-celebranting reigns.
But the 'normal' interpretation, that First Fruits follows the next day after Passover -- contradicts all the other OT FirstFruits verses listed above [again -- compare Exo 23:15-16, 34:22 (note it's the wheat, not barley); Lev23:8 with 9-11, 15ff; Num28:25-26; Deut 16:8-10]. However, the other OT FirstFruits verses weren't conditioned based on entry into the Land, so could be said to represent the ongoing rule, not the initial one. However, to say FirstFruits is the day after Passover also contradicts the metaphorical depiction of Christ AS FirstFruits, in the NT. Division #2 lists the First Fruits verses so you can peruse them and ask God yourself.
At times, my own pastor went the route of the 'normal' Bible scholarship on the dating of First Fruits (i.e., you can see him call it occurring mid-Passion-week in some of his older books). But even since 1965, he repeatedly told the congregation (and put in print, too) that the Lord was on earth for 40 days, and then TEN days later, Pentecost arrived, every time he explained the chronology of Acts and exegeted the first chapter. So he's dating Pentecost from the Day of Resurrection. Which Day, has to be First Fruits, under the Law.
If you're a student under him, cruise the "1992 Spiritual Dynamics" tapes for the year 2000, for the latest update. He comes up with a June 8, 30AD date for Pentecost. That accounting works only if Firstfruits begins piggybacked on the LAST day of Unleavened Bread. You can test it with the Kaluach (calendar) from aish.com. It's a really neat calendar you can download to your computer. There you'll see that Jews call "counting the Omer" the 50 day period beginning on the FIRST day of Unleavened Bread, rather than on the last day -- which is why conventional Christian theology also misdates Firstfruits. But as noted above, the Bible prescribes the count to begin the first day of the "sabbath" after the last day of Unleavened Bread. And in 30AD, Passover ended with a regular sabbath (last day and regular sabbath were the same day). So Firstfruits -- His Resurrection -- occurred post-sundown of that same day. And the count of the Omer, should have begun then.
In Passion Week 30AD, the Passover ran Saturday-Saturday, so there is no intervening sabbath. So we can't tell whether back then, this modern "counting the Omer" was dated by Jews then as beginning on the first day of Unleavened Bread, or sometime after that; or, if it was dated as the Bible prescribes, beginning on the first day of the sabbath CLOSING Unleavened Bread (unless Passover ended on a Friday, in which case you couldn't 'do' First fruits until after the regular sabbath ended).
Of course, you can cruise the verses yourself, ask God -- a good habit, always. You'll also want to review Acts 2:1 compared to Acts 1:3,5 and 15, to see there was an elapse of some days (10, really, when you do the math) between the Ascension and Pentecost. Trouble is, each English Bible mistranslates one of these verses; so if you only use English Bibles, it will be confusing to vet the dating. Acts 2:1 in particular uses the Greek verb sumplerow, which seems a kind of wordplay, signifying it was TRUE Pentecost, playing on the Filling of the Spirit via that verb -- so was that also the official Pentecost on the Jewish calendar? I don't know, it could have been. Everyone would have known the official calendar was (at that point) five days too fast, but relative to the Resurrection, it would have been the 50th day. So still right, because the official Firstfruits began on the same day AS the Resurrection. Kinda poetic, huh.
Well, poetic and predictive. See, the only way Christ could die on true Passover AND be Resurrected after three days, would be if the Jewish calendar were FAST four days in that year, and IF that year the official Passover week ran Saturday-Saturday. So no doubt, in that year, Who He was. God likes bluntness, huh.
Gives new meaning to His telling everyone (sometime during his second year of public ministry?) that as Jonah was in the whale three days, so would the Son of Man be in Hades (Matt12:39-41, 16:4, Luke 11:29-32). See, had the Passover calendar been correct, He would have to resurrect SEVEN days later, not three -- to be Firstfruits. Preview of coming attractions, huh. [Playing devil's advocate with myself to test this interpretation, I ask, "ok, but what if the calendar had been intercalated?" Then, Passover would have begun on its proper Wednesday, and He'd have been arrested BEFORE the week began (that prior Saturday would have been 10 Nisan), and still would have resurrected after the following Saturday evening. Which implies, that First Fruits CAN be in the middle of Passover week. But I can't prove that's true from the Bible verses cited above, unless there's something I'm missing. If I'm wrong, I'm sure God will deploy someone to correct me. Correction is refreshing, always.]
That causal, piggybacking meaning is what explains the purpose of Passover Week: to GET to the Harvest, which First Fruits represents. What's cool about this piggybacking definition is that it amalgamates the meaning of the day-after-the-sabbath-following rule in Lev23:10-11, with the other OT verses (i.e., in Deut 16 and Exo 23). For He Resurrected on what was also the night following the ending of what otherwise would have been a regular sabbath, post-Passover. For THAT year, the final high sabbath was also a Saturday. It's rather prophesyingly poetic. The only way He could Resurrect with only three days and three nights intervening, was if the Jewish calendar was OFF four days in the week He dies. All six "paraskeuè" verses ("preparation") in the Gospels thus rubricate this fact. Very deft Greek, that. These verses are intra-page links within Division #2 for that reason. Worth a bizillion bucks of happiness, to learn them. Thus you learn that there are no intervening sabbaths in 30AD -- as you'll see in Division #2, Bible is patent that Saturday-Saturday was the Passover Week. FirstFruits is the day He resurrects. That's why the NT verses call Him FirstFruits (verses are listed near the beginning of Division #2).
So these soothing aromas, are soothing to YOU. Imagine: if you lived in Israel, you would constantly smell cooking meat. For the sacrifices were continual throughout the day; the priests had official for-the-nation sacrifices every evening and morning; but throughout the day, a stream of people came in with their trespass offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings, thank/freewill offerings. So it was one constant barbeque. Apparently man's sense of smell is the most memory-deepening sense he has. You can forget a lot of things, but you will remember, based on smell. So Israel was given so many rules and rituals, as REMINDERS. Which are totally soothing, once you come to love God. Can't come to love God and not grapple with your own utter inadequacy, no matter what other mere people think of you.
So you'd expect First-Fruits as a holiday to depend on that Rest, intervening: theme of Heb4, stated baldly in v.1. You know this first, though, from Acts 1. The Lord is the FirstFruits (many verses saying so are listed at the beginning of Division #2, link at pagetop); He's on the earth for 40 days. Pentecost comes 10 days later. You also know it from the way the Festival of Weeks, which FirstFruits starts, is always listed after the LAST Day of Unleavened Bread, never near or after the first day, which is Passover itself. Compare Exo 23:15-16, 34:22 (note it's the wheat, not barley); Lev23:8 with 9-11, 15ff; Num28:25-26; Deut 16:8-10. Then compare to First Fruits verses in NT saying He is First Fruits, like 1Cor15:20 (full list is at the beginning of Division #2). He cannot be First Fruits if He didn't Resurrect ON First Fruits. That's the real proper name for Easter. ["Easter" is a Teutonic goddess pagan holiday which we stupidly applied to First Fruits sometime in the 4th century AD or earlier, I forget. You can find this info easily, if you want details. If there is a way to malign God's Son, we'll find it!]
See, the 50 days is mirrored back. It's the flipside of a prior expense, a restoring credit. You can't have redemption unless there is restitution, and restitution is due to a previous payment. The previous payment was the Lamb, and Passover week is reckoned for that purpose as being 10 days, beginning with the set-aside date. So the 40 days prior to its own 10, are metaphorical of life down here, waiting for salvation to be accomplished. Hence when the Lord Resurrected, He only stayed 40 days, since He is the Payment. But the world gets another 10 days mirrored back as a credit from HIS 10 days, because He completed salvation. God always mirrors time, and He does so ON time.
Israel's holiday calendar is a mirror, as the "Modest Proposal" section (intra-page link at pagetop) explains. The second six months are a mirror of the first six months, to show the restitution accomplished by the first six months. All time is constructed in a mirror. Because, there is an up-front expense, and then the profit resulting from that expense. In God's Accounting, everything must yield a bizillion percent interest, such that even the expense is something you ardently yearn to incur (Luke 22:19). So He yearned ardently for the Passover, to PAY for us. This is a shocking fact. So God invented the Mosaic Law, with its many shocking sacrifices -- how hard it must have been to cut the throat of an innocent lamb. As the Book of Romans recounts in threaded format, due to the fall of Adam, sin entered the body and thus soon enters the soul of every baby who gets upset at 'whatever'. Thus man became violent of his own volition. So violence, is used to teach him. Notice how animals must DIE for you to be fed. No human being can live without vitamin B-12, and the only way you can get it, is by eating an animal who had to die for you. You too, die for the animal, in that you must take care of it for its entire life cycle, to GET food from it. 99% of what we do in life kills something, and we kill ourselves to get what we need to live. Pretty violent cycle, huh.
Moreover, everything in God's calendar and accounting is egregiously gorgeous and expensive. God enriches the poor (all of us), but is no ascetic. He's profligate in the extreme. It's utterly unfair that we exist. It's utterly unfair that He must pay for us. And it's utterly profitable to Him -- not because of us, we're an unending puny burden, even once sinless -- it's utterly profitable to Him, to do it. For God expresses Love to GOD this way. For He is infinite, and even a bizillion percent interest is a pindrop compared to Him. So it's Him to Him to Him, 24/7. Whew. You couldn't have a stronger juridical basis for confidence: because this is a mirror among Them, no flaw or ugliness or other bad thing can be anything but a bizillion percent profitable to US. For after all, we exist, and They see us 24/7 all-at-once, past present future one big Now. So we are tools of Their Love. So we have to be made a bizillion percent profit. No matter what we are, ourselves. And that's the future available to us on the other side of this mirror of life, if we believe in Him; even more so, bizillion x bizillion x bizillion, if we grow up to Pleroma maturity (Eph3:19, 4:13) in God's System (link at utter pagetop).
You should be getting the impression that God is doing all this because He wants to, not because He has to. He didn't have to wait six days to restore the Earth. He doesn't have to wait to make us good little boys and girls. He wants it to work this way, and so if He says He will make a bizillion percent interest and give it to us (1Cor15, "eye hath not seen" verses, all of Isa54 and 55, etc.) -- then that's what He WANTS. This God can merely think a whole and completed universe into existence in a nanosecond, Gen1:1's Hebrew. So He's not 'into' our sacrifices or our pain. He'd rather elevate us up to His Own Level, John 10:34. Christ was nearly stoned for telling the Pharisees that. Notice He never threw any. Instead, He threw away, HIMSELF.
So why does He do this? We need it. If you love someone you need to kill yourself. Look at how you linger over what or who you love. Look at how you avoid what or who you don't love. Look at how painful it is to the soul, when you simultaneously love and want to avoid someone, because you can't take the pain of being around them. Conversely, look at how painful it is when you consider yourself impotent to express the love you have? So when we finally leave this body and SEE Him face-to-face (i.e., 1Jn3, 1Cor15:20ff) -- we'll all want to kill ourselves. Like lambs. So what a comfort it will be to know that God-to-God-to-God ACCOMPLISHED VALUE out of our puny lives. I swear, the suffering we get down here is the best of all, Rom8:18,38. We just can't appreciate it now. We need it. And He graciously responds. What, do you think Christ wanted to go to the Cross as a show-off? Or because He Needed The Outlet For His Love?
So why does He put up with us? What's the gameplan? To grow up in His Son, learning and living on Bible. Holy Spirit builds as it were Divine DNA -- Christ's Own Thinking -- in your soul. DDNA webseries (link at utter pagetop) is about this process. But put simply, your thinking transmutes into God's Own, with your every discrete consent to learn and live on the Word, in God's System. That's what He wants. More than all the kingdoms of the world. Of course, you should really cry all the way to the bank about this, since it means you will intimately know God as a consequence. No mysticism. Real God, real knowledge, real intimacy. And real scary and seemingly-unattainable, for a really long time. But one day, all those discrete learnings add up and get knitted together in your head and you really see Him, 24/7. It's a perception, no dreams or visions, please -- at which point, everything else in life, good or bad, is not even worth talking about: "better things have come" (NT catchphrase).
Since the last day of the Feast of the Unleavened bread is also itself a (High) sabbath, then you get this tableau of "Sinless FirstFruits Enters Heaven." Neat, huh. See Hebrews Chapters 2, 4, 6:18-end, and Chap 9. Writer is talking about this very metaphor (coupled with He-is-the-Living-Temple metaphor of frequent OT stress). As you'll see in Division #2 below, in 30AD the last day of Unleavened Bread is the Same Day On Which FirstFruits Begins (at sundown): the day on which He was Resurrected (sometime after sundown). So the writer of Hebrews makes pointed reference to this fact throughout Hebrews 4, likening the unbelieving Jews to those in the wilderness; how they refuse His Preparation and hence Passover of Salvation; so, they don't share in the Gathering of Weeks (a wry way to remind them of promise, since seven=week=promise in the OT). So he uses that OT Holiday frame-of-reference to explain why the covenant changed as a result of His Resurrection. And the writer explains in HASTE; for a New Exodus Began as a result of His Resurrection; so imminent destruction of the Temple, is upon Jerusalem (impetus for the letter). [Thus fulfilling Daniel 9:26; author doesn't even have to mention that well-known verse, especially not in 68AD when he wrote it: Titus then had Jerusalem under (vacillating) siege, and was anxious to negotiate surrender terms which would save the Temple from invasion and destruction. See Josephus.]
So the formulaic definition of First Fruits is date-inflexible as to its beginning and ending -- but only after they entered the Land. From that point forward, the finish of Unleavened Bread kicks off the First Fruits/Weeks. But the first time First Fruits was inaugurated, was also formulaic, but date-unknown: the Closing Evening of the first Passover Week upon Entry INTO The Land. See, they entered the Land on 10 Nisan, 1400BC, Joshua 4:19. Exactly 1430 years later to the day, Christ was arrested. Jewish calendar was four days off that year (30AD), so it was too fast -- hence by the calendar, it was 14 Nisan. 10 Nisan, Lamb set aside. 14 Nisan, Lamb slain before sundown, which you eat AT sundown, the first Passover. So He was slain 490*3=1470 years to the day, after that first Passover which caused the Exodus. But because the calendar was 4 days off, He ATE the Passover on the very night He was arrested. So that is how the Lamb can EAT the Passover yet be slain ON it, John 19:14, 31, 41-42's threaded theme. Clever of God to so orchestrate time, huh.
This parallel is deliberate. For in exactly the same manner, the Lord's Arrival to Pay for Sins was given with a specific accounting in Dan 9. But what was formulaic, was how He'd finish. For it would be up to His Volition, to provide the Sabbath Rest for All Time. So you could tell when He'd Arrive -- 1000th anniversary of David's becoming king was one easy measure -- and you knew the deadline was 1000th anniversary of David's Retirement, with seven years to spare (between retirement and death); or, you could use the Daniel 9 timeline to get the deadline again with 7 years to spare. For the seven years is floating in between. Just like Passover Week will, once they get into the Land. For before they entered the Land they knew Passover always came first. Paying for sins comes first, then the harvest. But you can't exactly say for sure, how He'll use that time, nor how Israel will respond to Him when He comes. Of course, at the time they were wandering in the wilderness, they knew nothing of David or Daniel. They knew nothing of when Messiah would come. They didn't even know how long they would be wandering in the wilderness, for it was formulaic too: when everyone age 20 and older except Caleb and Joshua and Moses had died, then they would enter. Floating, then.
The writer of Hebrews is bluntly telling every reader that because Israel missed THE Passover -- nickname for Messiah -- they are still effectively wandering in the wilderness, and hence will be destroyed just like that first Exodus generation. Because Titus is in Jerusalem, and Temple Destruction is imminent. Everyone knew that. Most had gotten out of there. But a few were lingering behind. So the writer of Hebrews plays the role of Jeremiah, especially since Paul has just been executed (see Heb 13:23, compared to the request of Paul for Timothy to visit him). It's the year of the Four Emperors. I don't know if Vespasian had yet been called to take the mantle of empire, but if not -- he soon would be, leaving his adopted son Titus to finish off this armpit of the Empire, moaned over by every king since time immemorial. As a companion piece, Mark's Gospel has just come out, too (Timothy brought Mark with him). So there's nothing subtle about the Book of Hebrews. Time doesn't permit soft words.
Again, 50 represents the 40 years in the wilderness, the seven days of Passover Week, and three extra days, the period between the day you set aside the Lamb and the day you slaughtered it: three not four, since you are slaughtering it before sundown: 10th is set aside, count 3, then slaughter on the next day. For the night before, belongs to the day before. So that's why the Lord kept on repeating that He'd rise after the third day, i.e. in Matt 12:40 accounting. (English Bibles often misconstrue third-day verses: there are 61 of them pan-Bible, and you need to reference the original-language texts.) Since in Jewish accounting nights are first, then He has to arise AFTER the third day, to complete the same hiatus. For as you'll see in Division #2, He is arrested on true 10 Nisan, maybe as late as midnight, which is a type of set-aside; crucified on true 14 Nisan, before sundown; and then anarthrously referred to as "the Preparation" by NT authors in the Gospels; so you know exactly when He died. So: that same amount of time is Mirrored Back as time He spends in Hades prior to His Resurrection, another three days. Because, He sanctified time.
So representing the 40 years in the wilderness, 40 years of His Time was mirrored back to Israel, via Church. Beginning ON Pentecost, Church began. Because, as you'll see in the pink (Bridal parchment) table below, Israel ran OUT of Time. So the only way she keeps on living, is due to Church living down here. When Church ends, Israel gets the Trib. Because He BOUGHT that time, by giving up 7 years of His Own Time (the leftover 7 years mentioned above). So look: God mirrored back to Israel His 33 years, because He successfully completed them. Then God mirrors back the 7 years previously reserved for the Tribulation, 'early'. So, everyone could know that by 70AD, time was UP. And here it is, 68AD, Paul being executed as the two-minute warning. They didn't listen. Roman records claim 90,000 people remained after the siege of 70AD in good enough health to be made prisoners and carted back to Rome in triumph. That has to be less than ten percent of the initial population, k? 90,000 very stupid people, but at least post-destruction, they are alive to read Daniel 9:26. Most of their countrymen didn't make it. God keeps His Time ON Time. "While it is yet Today", as Hebrews 4 warns. [Why so many 'scholars' attack the population figures in the Bible, I'll never understand: they impose their Western ideas of 'personal space' on the Bible. Even today you can see that people in the Middle East and Asia throng together, so population density and cultural values related to it, are not like ours. Moreover, agricultural economies are labor-intensive and require a lot of people. If you look at ancient living quarters you'll find they are generally very small. You're constantly on the move, anyway, so it's not like our modern sedentary culture. Look at how densely populated are the towns in Pakistan, with throngs always on the move in the streets. You get used to that style of living. Pakistanis I know find it even enlivening, and tell me how much they like that crush of people. The land was extraordinarily fertile in those days, promised from God to be so. Rain was withheld when apostacy reigned, but the quality of the land itself, its generally temperate weather, its location, its richness in minerals, etc. would be attractive to a large number of people. So to say that there could be 9 million people in southern Israel is no stretched figure. Seriously: all you have to do is turn on some TV program which shows you how people pack together in the Middle East, Africa, Asia. If you ever lived in these places, you know how realistic it is that nine million people could live in so small a geographical space.]
The message is one of persecution. So when you go back and forth between the genealogies in 1Chron Chaps 3 and 4, compared to Matthew 1, Luke 3 -- you have to remember that to protect the Davidic line, especially from 167BC onward, aliases had to be used; it was already common enough for one person to have multiple names, so even if we're not looking at aliases in Matthew and Luke, the names then known to the audience, were used -- names morph over the centuries. From Shealtiel backward it's Nathan's line (i.e., Luke 3:31). Look: it's not as if Matthew and Luke didn't have 1Chron Chapters 3 and 4 in their possession. So when they deliberately use different names, there's a reason. It's not a mistake. So also, you know their genealogies can't be accused of being made up by Christians, who also had 1Chronicles in their possession. Else the genealogies would at least match, in Matthew. So much for all the pointless diatribes against the Matthew and Luke genealogies. Funny how obsessed people get, never learning the Word. Oh well.
To protect that family whose descendants may still be alive when Luke (and earlier) Matthew wrote. [Matthew traces Joseph's line, and Luke, Mary's. They both cross over at Shealtiel.]
Month # 'Our'
Equiv.Month Name Holiday
Month # 'Our'
Equiv.Month Name Holiday 1 Mar-Apr Abib
(=new barley)
aka Nisan
Sacred cal's1st mo.Passover
(10th,14th, both starting AT sunset),
Unleavened Bread
(14th AT sunset through 21st AT sunset),
First Fruits, the first day of Weeks
(usu. starts on 21st or 22nd AT sunset)7 Sept-Oct Ethanim
(=flowing water or fruits) akaTishri
Civil cal's 1st mo.Rosh HaShanah
(=New Year, 1st),
Yom Kippur
(=Day of Atonement, 10th),
Succoth
(=tents, booths, 15th-21st)2 Apr-May Ziv
(=flowering)-- 8 Oct-Nov Bul aka Marcheshvan
(Bul=rain)-- 3 May-June Sivan Pentecost
(ends Weeks, 50th day from First Fruits)9 Nov-Dec Chislev
(=Foolish/ Confident Heart) Chanukah
(from 25th Chislev until 2 Tebeth)4 June-July Tammuz -- 10 Dec-Jan Tebeth (=muddy) -- 5 July-Aug Ab Note: 9th of Ab
is First and probably 2nd Temple's Destruction date. 11 Jan-Feb Shebat -- 6 Aug-Sept Elul -- 12 Feb-Mar Adar
(intercalation goes here)Purim (14th or 14-15)
The confluence doesn't stop there. Witness the following ties back to 11 Chislev and forward to our 25 December!
Scholars routinely ASSume that since five months is mentioned in v.24, the "sixth month" referred to in v.26, means Elizabeth's sixth month. So centuries of speculation on when He was born, proves we didn't read Bible to find out when He was born. What we did instead, was rely on 'experts' who didn't do their homework. No nice way to admit this truth. Since we get miffed if someone misses our birthday, um -- well, enough said.
Now, it is also Elizabeth's six month. Verse 36 in Greek literally reads, "kai houtos men hektos estin autei"; translated, "in fact this month [sixth of the calendar, get it] is six to her [who was loudly derided as sterile]." In Greek, the "six" is in the same position it would be if noting proper calendar month, except here it's used as an ordinal number, so is not in the dative. That's how you get the double wordplay on month and six months of pregnancy.
Wordplay key is "houtos men hektos", which refers the reader back to v.26. Bible's Greek and Hebrew will centrally place words in a sentence to point backwards and forwards when they affect two clauses simultaneously. The technique also dramatizes the word in question as a 'hero', doing double duty. Very elegant. You see constructions like this in Isa53:10-11 ("Your Soul" in both Hebrew and Greek texts), Romans 8:28, Hebrews 11:1, John 3:16, all "love of God" verses, many other passages.
Mary would have immediately smiled on hearing that. No wonder she was in a hurry to go to Elizabeth's house. [Nerd note: she was pregnant by the time she quickly got there. One second she was not pregnant, and the next second, she was.] If you know the Law well, and Temple History and that Messiah is Temple -- and she's Royal, so she must know -- then six-month mirroring accounting between the two calendars, is wittily presented by this genius angel.
Everyone in Israel was at least somewhat tri-lingual, especially among the educated classes. Frankly, the educated classes were usually tri-lingual up until after WWI in Europe as well. You couldn't be in the upper echelons of society if you didn't know several languages. So any royalty was educated in languages. Royalty entertains. Royalty rules. So it must be cosmopolitan in orientation.
So now let's tackle when in Adar this wit occurred.
So we know Mary got this Announcement nominally on 24 or 25 Adar. 24 or 25 Adar is equivalent to 13 or 14 Adar, which is Purim. This is true, because the calendar is too fast by 11 days, at the end of 5BC. If she becomes pregnant immediately, the same day, then both the announcement and the pregnancy tie to Purim -- and back to Elul, since that's Elizabeth's 'tie'. But we don't know that she became pregnant immediately; we do know that by the time she got to Elizabeth let's say at the outside, four days later, she's pregnant by then. So it becomes a question of whether her pregnancy ends by the normal 270-day limit. First-borns habitually don't adhere to what modern doctors call the normal pregnancy period, which after all is an average number; many first-borns are considered 'late'. So the intercalation of 11 days to create a 2nd Adar (now called Adar Sheni) after she gets the announcement, would suffice to cover even a later-than-'normal' birth. By modern standards, a first-born would be up to a week late. So if she's not pregnant until the day she reaches Elizabeth, that's four of the 11 days, leaving seven. Of course, modern standards might not apply at all back then, but at least we know the timing is plausible.
Notice how the tie between Elizabeth and Mary works if intercalation occurs at the end of 5BC. If they did not intercalate, the lack of intercalation causes these two mothers' dates to still tie together, despite the two-week date differential between them. I try to plot both assumptions -- intercalation and non-intercalation -- in this webpage. So this #24 is sometimes confusing, as I often switch between one assumption and the other.
So here, we presume they intercalated after she got the Announcement. As a result, Messiah would be born on 25 Chislev (really, 24 Chislev post-sundown). In accounting you look for the fit. Especially, doctrinal fit with God's Thinking. God orchestrates, and He does it with wit. So you have to find the right why, to find the right what. And the people who got the Gospels all knew the what, and how that mathematically fit together. So we can know, too.
Rather than intercalate every three years, they could just insert an extra course on rotation whenever the number of days too fast, went over 7. I'm not sure if the Bible covers this -- there ought to be something in the Law about it -- so I'll have to do some digging. But it makes no sense to wait three years to intercalate, even though that seems to be the consensus of the scholarly material on the topic (i.e., in BibleWorks and study Bibles). Still, in the rest of this webpage I'm sorta going along with the consensus, and NOT assuming intercalation post-annunciation in 5BC, for the consensus would mean intercalation would occur after His Birth, at the end of 4BC, instead. I'm not comfortable with that assumption, but it yet remains in this webpage. And the numbers balance to a 25 Chislev 4BC Birth with that assumption.
David actually plays on this theme of dedicating, in Psalm 139:13. There, Hebrew verb qanah means to order (something), decree, set aside, acquire-by-purchase, dedicate-to-something, ransom; it's a quintessential OT Redemption verb, and the sacrifices stressed it. Eve uses the verb to craft her first-born's name, Cain (raucous euphemism in Gen4:1). So qanah never means "formed" or "created" which you find in translations. [Gratuitous sidebar: I don't believe in abortion, either. And I especially don't believe in Aborting The Word Of God for the sake of a political agenda. So NoWombLife.htm has a table which retranslates Psalm 139. So if you're interested in a corrected translation of it, just search on "qanah" when you load the page.]
It's really strange how some people find offensive, the idea that God controls things. Who else can insure justice? Who else must Absolutely Love you, since He can wipe out your puny life at any time, but clearly does not? Who else can author the soul? Are we all so terminally insecure, we can't stand someone else having more ability and power than ourselves? Guess so.
All this CONFLUENCE is deliberately told by Luke, who knows when to go mum. Luke 1:24, 26, and 36 are not coy, but they are succinct. If you knew the culture and the Mosaic Law and the priestly course name meanings, you wouldn't need Luke to tell you the exact date, because you'd know: people lived, ate and drank Scripture as a cultural, societal lifestyle, not merely on Saturdays. Scripture is extremely witty, so you'd want to play with it all the time. So Luke could just leave it unsaid in his typical style of being silent about the obvious, and you'd be grinning from ear to ear. No wonder we don't have a record of when He was born extra-Biblically -- anyone knowing the Law and those courses, plus the history of the 1st Temple, wouldn't need to have a written record: it's already embedded, obvious. Just like we don't always say "December 25", but merely "Christmas", so also they wouldn't need to say any specific date for His Birth, but use their own shorthand: "Nazarene". For the Nazirite vow was famous. For the Temple was famous. Remember how Antiochus IV was so fixated on the Temple? And after him, Caligula? DEDICATED=Temple=Messiah=Nazar=Nazarene. Famous as our term, "Christmas". Needing no elaboration.
Hence the Bible term, "latter days". Last half, after-part, post-Crucifixion. For by God's Calendar due to Israel's rejection, Bible writers expected history was supposed to end 1070 or even 1077AD: 30AD Crucifixion, followed by -- had Israel accepted Messiah -- 40 years of the "times of the Gentiles" which was to nest the Tribulation in its last 7 years or tack it on, Dan9:27 (precedence for the 40 'housing' is Pharaoh's dream of the 7 lean years, inter alia). Followed by, the Millennium, which was a promise to David; 1000 years is also the warning period for the ending of a civilization; David's Greater Son would hence be born in the 1000th year of what would be David's commencement of unified Kingship; and, He was. He would die in the 1000th year of David's Retirement from Kingship, due to Jewish rejection (retirement, however, was solely David's vote, 2Sam7); so, the Last David, 'retired' also. [See "David" entry in Mirroring.htm for details on this calculation, since the legal standing of David versus Israel matters a bunch; since also, scholars assume 1Kings 6:1 is in error, don't recognize its import and tie to 2Sam7, and wrongly assume David died when age 70 based on Josephus. 1Kings 6:1 tells you David was 77 when he died. Number play on Hypostatic Union, which 77 are the two factors God uses to construct Time itself (7,2,5): Matthew and Luke use God's construct of Time as a rhetorical number construct in their genealogy chapters.]
Hence Israel's intended eschatology -- and via her, the world's future -- is laid out metaphorically, via her appointed feasts, with the larger historical meaning of the last five, yet future. Not only that, but the timings of the feasts correspond to the time of the actual events we can prove happened. Passover is an anniversary of the Exodus; the anniversary of His Crucifixion; First Fruits is the anniversary of His Resurrection, and Pentecost is the anniversary of the day the Church began. Real events, happening on the real dates as really foretold by the Real God of the Real Bible, well over 1000 years before they occurred -- to Moses. Given that, plus His Insistence on timing Israel (and now Church) in sets of 490-year grants so the world can continue, you could say God has 'this thing' about being on time. [Pentecost was not an explicit prediction of Church, but it was known as the beginning of the harvesting period for the Gentiles. That's why Peter talks the way he does in Acts 2, explaining to the Jews how Church gets the role only due to Israel's rejection; else, the times of the Gentiles are "on", as scheduled -- because Christ is the Messiah.]
No other faith has any structure like this: what faith has a whole set of both holidays and priest-workweeks which tie to actual historical events in advance -- just like a calendar should -- which you can repeatedly proof? What faith gives you an Accounting of Time, demanding you prove it being met over and over again? You're expected to do this with Bible: and you're a bad believer, if you don't know it, don't do this rigorous testing. Remember how the Lord chided people for not reading the times (Matt16:2-3)? Bible's admonishment to its believers is that you don't accept what isn't proven: the person who claims to speak for God, well -- what he says must prove true (running theme in Jeremiah). The Lord talked that way to the Pharisees, in John 10:22 et. seq. They were ticked off He equated Himself with God, and He told them that they should base their decision on what comes true -- in this case, the miracles they saw Him do, as well. He didn't tell them they must believe Him, but they must investigate the Evidence. Which, frankly, is overwhelming. No other faith bids you test it like the Bible does. For the Bible wants you to learn by means of testing. Other faiths bid you go by feeling, mysticism, magic. Not the Real God.
Hence Pentecost, the last day of "Weeks" (third Holiday), is Now playing; it's harvesting Gentiles, just as intended, but has lasted a whole lot longer than 40 years. Of course any Jew who believes as well, is in it. Again, the Lord's Matt16:18 fiat ties Pentecost to Purim. Here's more detail on that, since Matt16:18 is everywhere mistranslated and nearly everywhere mistaught (not one Bible documentary using the verse but mucks it up). When He knew Israel had rejected Him as Messiah, He announced Matt16:18, "Upon this BedRock [Himself, Rock of Salvation, "Petra" in Greek OT] I WILL build My Church." Matt22 is a pointed parallel to Esther -- only it's Israel who played Vashti, and alike will be sought among the highways and byways (in Diaspora, since the Temple is to be destroyed, Matt24); since the "will" in Matt16:18, is future tense: for Pentecost is 50 days post First-Fruits, and the Lord hadn't yet been crucified, so hadn't yet Risen AS the First Fruits. So while He was still down here, He kept on stressing that switchover from Israel to Church, because from Matt16:18 forward, He knew Israel was rejecting Him.
So one needs time to absorb and respond to this Shocking Word and its historicity; time to debate with the self; one needs lots of disclosure, repetition, time to think over, acclimate and become skilled in, what He's Saying. Because, one must decide and train for this Future He discloses up-front. Kinda like training for a job, a career, a new skill -- there's lots of downtime. But you can't train without goals, and for that you need advance information. So the Mosaic Law was all about Learning, which is why Moses wrote the Torah. Why there was a Tabernacle. Why there were set times and behaviors, and holidays. Each designed to teach. No other reason, since YHWH does all the work. Adam did no works in the Garden, and Israel was to learn how to stop depending on itself, too. For what man does, isn't even remotely on the same playing field, as what God does. And only if a thing is at God's Level, is it satisfying to God. So the trick is, to be grown to God's Level -- BY God.
We are still in that stretched-Pentecostal period; except of course now the Temple is gone, so all those first-century Pentecost gifts are gone as well. Bible replaced them, as Paul explains in many different ways in Galatians and 1Cor; as the Book of Hebrews explains in painstaking detail, in Chapters 4-12. So only the harvest remains, and there is no racial distinction. Part IVa explains the legalities birthing this connection between Pentecost (Dan9:26c) and Purim (Esther): for with God everything is based on Precedence. Israel is still Israel, and Church is still Church -- we don't usurp Israel's Covenants. But any Jew can become Church just as any Gentile could have become Jewish in the OT.
So let's begin examining Passion Week where God does: with the MEANING of Passover, the quintessential metaphor of our so-great salvation.
Satan will be out to wreck the timing of the Exodus, and will fail. Satan will try to wreck the timing of Our Savior being Sacrificed (trying to get Him killed too early). Both Passover and Passion Week are the types for the Tribulation, which is why all those Revelation disasters have the same characteristics as the Exodus Plagues. Passover depicts Our Lamb, and Our Lamb's Last Week depicts how the Last Week of History will go, since His Last Week was supposed to BE the last week of history. He was supposed to die, then the Tribulation was to play in 'mirroring' restitution, His Last Week. In short, had the Jews accepted Him when He came, that would have set off a chain reaction over the entire world, so the entire world would have become embroiled in choosing for or against Him. Then He'd return, and Israel would become the Queen of Nations, just as promised.
Hence like that initial night for Adam, the night of the sixth day: Passover itself begins at sundown, because the Jewish 'day' runs from sundown to sundown. So you eat unleavened bread, roasted lamb, commemorating the killing of the FirstBorn, the event which freed Israel to leave Egypt the very next day in great haste; so you are not allowed to work from sundown, until sundown the next day. So you must SET ASIDE the lamb on the 10th of Nisan, and wait (preparing), cleaning your house from leaven, etc. -- until the 14th of Nisan. It takes THREE INTERIM DAYS to prepare for the celebration and eating of the Passover meal. By Law. This is the Opening Event Of The Jewish Spiritual Calendar, 14 Nisan. God is real punctiliar about it.
The Mishnah, Bible translations, and even Bible scholarly material mess up the definition of WHEN Passover begins. Mishnah I've got is by Jacob Neusner, Yale University Press, 1988. Presumably he had the translation thoroughly vetted before publishing it? For Section Pesahim, page 237, #5.3D -J. reads as follows:
The Mishnah is not alone. Published Bibles usually mistranslate the timing as "twilight" like here in the Mishnah. (Maybe Mishnah's Hebrew is right, though.) By contrast, the LXX is The OT which the Lord and the apostles used; it is older than the Masoretic Hebrew text; it was a translation made by Jews from the Hebrew OT they had, into Greek for Jews who couldn't read the Hebrew OT anymore, circa 273BC. In Greek, its Exo12:6 phrase "pros esperan" means the same as the Hebrew, that window of time between late afternoon and evening: evening is when the sun goes DOWN. Operative term, sunSET. Young's Literal Translation and Darby fortunately use the literal translation, so you can see better the before-sunset Hebrew meaning: "ben ha'ar(eh)bayim". Latin Vulgate can be interpreted to get it right, too: "ad vesparem" can mean TOWARD the evening, but not IN it. So BEFORE sunset.
"D. [If one slaughtered it] for those who eat it and not for those who eat it, for those who are registered for it and not for those who are registered for it, E. for those who are circumcised and for those who are uncircumcised, F. for those who are unclean and for those who are clean, G. it is valid. H. [If] one slaughtered it before midday, it is invalid, I. since it is said, At twilight (Ex.12.6). J. [If] one slaughtered it before [the time of] the daily whole offering, it is valid."
"Passover" is an ADVANCE function. Originally, God told Moses to get everyone to eat quickly, because as a RESULT of that night Pharaoh would let the people go. But ON that night, Pharaoh had not yet agreed. So it's an Act Of Faith to eat the meal that way -- trusting God to deliver on His Promise. So that's why the Jewish days and year begin at sundown, and with the Passover. Sacred year begins 1 Nisan. 14th of Abib (the older month name for Nisan) 1440BC is Israel's Birthdate, the Original Date The First Passover Occurred. But PREPARATION began 4 days prior (counting 14 Nisan until sundown). And the type of preparation was to Kill the Firstborn sometime not long after midnight -- so also a new solar day, Exo12:29; analogous to Abram sacrificing Isaac. But here God sacrifices those who didn't believe in Him, On Behalf Of Those Who Do Believe In Him -- meaning, the Cross, since Christ paid for everyone, Isa53:10-11, 1Jn2:2, etc. That's why they had to make a Cross on the lintels and doorposts of their house-entrances: hyssop with blood at the top and sides marked that door, and the Angel of Death Thus Passed Them By That Night.
So the "Feast of the Unleavened Bread" began back-to-back with Passover. The latter, is ONE day (running sundown PRIOR to sundown NEXT, a hard concept for modern people to grasp); but the "Feast of the Unleavened Bread" which it begins, is SEVEN days. First day of it, is a sabbath (the day following the previous Passover night). Last day of it is a sabbath. Because, originally it ran from Thursday night, so it ended with a feast on the following Thursday night (with that final Thursday also a high sabbath). Followed by, yet another regular Sabbath, 24 hours later (at sundown).
Note how there are nearly always THREE sabbaths: TRINITY. Father slays the Lamb Sustained by 'Mom', the Holy Spirit Who Restored the Earth. There are a lot of Old Testament Trinity verses playing with this idea, and they all use embedded Hebrew wordplay (and soundplay) which doesn't translate well in English. Someone should do his Phd. on that topic, it's utterly gorgeous. The verses just suddenly appear from nowhere, usually in the prophecy passages and in the Psalms. They take your breath away, for high humor is always in the presentation: God begetting kids. Awesome stuff. [Fathering soundplay (on abba and Abram) plus Spirit soundplay (fff'ing sound or ruach synonyms or sounds like those words) plus Son soundplay (wide variety of synonyms) plus begetting sound and wordplay (birthing ideas, lots of use of the Hebrew preposition min). Would take a year just to collate all the verses. Then all the ties to rest, being at home, being led home. Oh, to be young and have the time to do this! I was only able to list a few of these verses as footnotes in the "Mystery Math" section (and table) of LvS4a.htm. "Creationism" entry shows Isa45:18's Trinity wordplay. Isa63 devotes the whole chapter to how the Spirit led them in the wilderness, the Son will deliver them at 2nd Advent; and the Father planned it all. TrinityCites.htm has that Chapter's outline somewhere near the beginning of its page.]
As will be explained more in Divisions #2 and #3, the Jewish sacred calendar is lunar, running 360 days of 12 months (each 30 days). Since that calendaring runs short of the solar calendar (which is 365.25 days), over time the days on which these original events fall, change. Moreover, after about six lunar years, the actual dates are 31.5 days short, compared to the solar years. So an extra month is inserted into the Jewish calendar to 'catch up', so to speak. Hence these holidays are quasi-floating. Yes, Passover always must begin on 14 Nisan, so the three prior days of preparation always must be done (and ALL leaven throughout Israel had to be eliminated, not just what's in one's kitchen, Exo 13:7). But on what DAY 10 Nisan and 14 Nisan began, varied. So too, the ensuing seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread would vary, and every six out of seven years it did not begin on a sabbath. Hence the rule to treat its first and last days AS a sabbath, again -- to commemorate the original days. [Surprisingly, there's much dispute over how Jewish calendar intercalation was done. Some sources say days were intercalated throughout the year, some say the intercalation was done every three years, others say other methods.]
Helpful hint: when Bible gives you a number of years, you can usually ignore the fact the years are lunar. When Bible is accounting within a year, you might need to use lunar. For long periods, God uses the adjusted-to-solar accounting, i.e., the run of a '490' from Exodus to Temple Dedication, Exo 12:40, Daniel 9, etc. In shorter calculations such as for Passover Week, you must know the Jewish lunar calendar for that time; was it intercalated, how, and how much. If you don't know that (and Bible verses are always around to tell you), you'll screw up (for example Passion Week) timing.
Now the plot thickens: for there are three holidays here, not just the two. We already saw Passover, and Unleavened Bread. But look! On the first night after that seventh day of Unleavened Bread -- "First Fruits" begins, aka "Weeks". Because, it's a new 50-day period to recognize God's Blessing Harvest. It piggybacks on the night the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, ends. So Salvation's Completion is the root meaning of First-Fruits. Harvest. Father Planned it, Spirit Empowered it, Son Executed it. Just like Isaiah 63 reads: Son 'gets' the first 8 verses; 9-10 belong to all Three of them; 11-14, to the Spirit; Father gets 15-19. How Israel got harvested in the beginning at the Exodus is the pattern for the world. So of course Isa63 is a 2nd Advent prophecy which sums up why He comes from the bloodbath in Basra that He personally caused. (2nd Advent is not a rosy sight: if you aren't believing in Christ when you SEE Him coming from the sky, the only wakeup call you will hear is a painful death -- maybe you'll believe at the last minute. Even gruesome death is designed to rescue and bless, Rom8:1.)
Gotta take a sidetrip here on how this page differs from the 'norm' on the dating of First Fruits. So-called 'normal' Bible scholarship puts FirstFruits just after Passover. As far as I can tell, it thus dates based on Joshua 5:10-12, which records that Israel ate from the new produce of the Land they entered, the day after Passover. The scholars then tie that verse to Leviticus 23:10-11, which says you wave the sheaf on the first day following the sabbath after you enter the Land. And that first sabbath would at least be Passover itself, which is a high sabbath, no matter on what day it falls. And the year they entered the Land, Passover was NOT on a regular sabbath day, but on a Monday night. The sabbath, would have been the 12th, two days after they entered the Land. They could have celebrated First Fruits therefore on Sunday, per Lev23:10-11.
That FirstFruits is conditioned on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread is most baldly demonstrated in Leviticus 23:11, compared with 23:8. In the Hebrew you can't miss it, because the only "sabbath" in context is the last day of Unleavened Bread, in v.8. In the LXX, it's even balder, for the Greek uses the definite article in the dative followed by "epauraion tes protes" ("morrow of the first day of the week", but remember Jewish days begin at sundown). Get the pun? First Fruits are offered on the First Day of the Week, which comes on top of the Last Day of the Week.
You'll see the same piggybacking construction in Numbers 28:26, which also uses the dative in the LXX to show that the Last Day of Unleavened Bread (Num28:25) is the CAUSE of First Fruits. See, the dative case is cleverly used to double as a conduit causative, much like the Hebrew use of "be" (pronounced "buh") in the same verse. Idea of founded on it and through it, comes your salvation. Hence First Fruits itself is founded ON the Passover, which begins and ends with two high sabbaths, no matter on which days they fall. Hebrew prepositions buh, min, and 'al are used in much the same manner, especially by Isaiah. Sheer genius of economy.
So here we have three distinct offerings to depict the relationship between salvation represented by Passover Week; and redemption, represented by FirstFruits: which kicks off Weeks, which ends with Pentecost:
So notice how Pentecost is only at the end of the 50 days: for the Cause of First-Fruits, is the Last Day of the Unleavened Bread feast, but that Day is due to FirstFruits! Promise of the Resurrection. So you wouldn't have First-Fruits, unless there was Unleavened Bread. So you couldn't be 'harvested' to God (saved) if you didn't have a Savior. And you couldn't have a Savior, if He didn't Resurrect! Which Savior, you commemorated first by the Passover/Unleavened Bread "week" ("7" signifying Holy Perfection, Promise, Sanctification). So now, you commemorate your own produce (which God gave you, obviously) because you are saved. It's a great thing, to be doo-doo but know God makes Diamonds out from you. And you commemorate it on the 50th day, because "50" is a redemption/ransom/Freedom number.
See, once you know God you'll be tempted to hate yourself and the puniness of this life. So you yourself need to be assured of atonement, propitiation, reconciliation, redemption. These animals are all classified and grouped to give you this assurance. It's not you sacrificing, but God. And thus you need continual assurance that His Cost is something He Loves Bearing. Because you can't stand being less than Infinite Righteousness, now that you know Him. This is the 'cross' of being human: if you know God, you can't tolerate anything less, anymore.
Note the contrasts: Unleavened Bread, you eat lamb at home, but First-Fruits, you don't. You don't, because the Lamb already paid for you and since you already believed in Him (depicted BY the eating), you don't have to eat (believe) again, to be saved. Salvation is permanent. Eating is a kind of permanence, because you can't eat again the exact same mouthfuls you just had: you can't reverse the initial eating, either. ("only God is Good", Mark10:18, so only God is Permanent. So anything God does is permanent, and God saved you.)
It's 50 days, because they spent 40 years in the wilderness, with no Passover. So, you add a "7" and a "40". But Passover's PREPARATION starts three days prior, on the 10th of Nisan. On that day, the lamb is set aside. So you add 3. So the 50 represents their total ransom package, illustrated by 40 years of learning to trust, then the set-aside of the Lamb, then Passover upon entry; upon which ending day seven days later, First Fruits begins. So next notice how the 50 on the other side of Entry into the Land, is "mirrored" back to Israel once she ENTERS the Land: 10 days representing Preparation and Passover Week 'restores' the 50 days of Weeks, ending with Pentecost.
So First Fruits represents ransom, redemption, restitution, production; hence it kicks off Weeks, and culminates in Pentecost. So these 50 days function as a memorial of God's Delivery on a promise He'd made centuries prior to Abram before the latter even had kids, Gen 15:13. Unleavened Bread, No Yeast offered, but rather, flour and oil; but at Pentecost 50 days later, the Bread Must Be Baked With Leaven. Unleavened=sinless, leavened=sinners, so sinless BUYS sinners. So the Sinners are Harvested, and are offered to the Lord. Hence all the meat sacrifices are sin-type offerings, at Unleavened Bread; but at Pentecost, you have the peace offerings added (those two lambs added to the goat). The ritual sacrifice means acknowledgement of God and dedication to God. It's not an appeasement, but a Recognition-Of-Contract: specifically, the contract later recorded in Isa53:10-11, a contract between Father and Son in eternity past (LXX+BHS text). All of this signifying that works don't do anything for God, so sacrifices don't either, Heb10:4. So the sacrifices are there to teach and communicate. For of course, God doesn't eat: we do. The priests and the persons making the offering shared in Learning The Meaning Behind The Motions.
Uppermost meaning is God Sacrifices Gladly for you. That's not said to motivate guilt, fear, competition, but to motivate REST. You can Rest in Me, and to prove it's Okay, I designed a way to save you that is as Good as I am. So you can relax, John 3:16. So salvation is contingent on but "1": your FIRST belief in the Sinless One, Gen15:6 (an accounting transaction, in which you Become Accounted Righteous as God Himself -- see the counterpart verse in 2Cor5:21). If you believe, you are resting. Trusting is surely a great rest, whew!
Note the formulaic definition of when First Fruits begins, and its Precedence: Entry Into The Land, Exo13 and Lev23. So the Entry Into The Land is likened to the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, which in turn depicts Going to Heaven, Because Sinless. You couldn't get any kind of relationship with God if not sinless. That's the whole point of Passover and Unleavened Bread. In Bible, "leaven" is a metaphor denoting sin (puffs one up).
Heaven, is our future home. Entry into THAT Land, we await "groaning", down here (theme of last halves of Romans 8, 1Cor15, 2Cor5). So "the Promised Land" is indeed a physical place, even as Heaven is. In the eternal state, there's a new universe, and we'll be living in a new Earth -- but that's a 'heaven' analogy, too. Even as, "the Land" is. God's Promises always have a specific TIMING, SPACE, and PLACE. So whatever you read about Israel always has an added metaphorical layer you extrapolate -- the Whole Story of All Eternity. It's literal as well as metaphorical. It's not allegorical, but real. Not just some nice words to hymn or make movies from, but a real future: yours.
So His Precedence is prologue: all future celebrations were dependent on that last High Unleavened Bread Sabbath, occurring successfully. Else, time would have ended, as you'll see in the pink table immediately below. Just as, that first celebration of First-Fruits, might not have occurred. They knew the rule of sabbath, Leviticus 23:10ff. But they didn't know until year 40 when God would take them into the Land. He took them in circles for nearly 40 years, to wait out those who rejected Him (believer rejection in the exiting adult populus); to wait until the second generation grew up enough, spiritually (principle is in Deut 8:3-4, quoted by the Lord in Matt4:4). And He's waiting, still. Only now, because Christ is Risen, He's waiting on Church. Let's see more about why this parallel to First Fruits, applies to us.
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Rapture is here analogized to that first Entry into the Land -- it Kicks Off A Predictable Event, but itself is not date-predictable, but rather Formula Predictable (depending on Contingencies being Fulfilled); but the Trib is dependent on it, so the Trib is predictable once the Rapture starts. So you know for sure that the kick-off is coming, but you don't know exactly when. Because, even as He is the First Fruits, we are First Fruits of Him: Rom8:23, 11:16, 1Cor15:23, 2Thess2:13 (NRS gets the trans right), James 1:18, Rev14:4. More about that analogy is in the "Precedence" link of PartIVa (link to IVa is at pagetop). The contingency of Entry into the Land was that Israel be Ready. Only then would FirstFruits occur, as we saw above this table. Same idea, is behind the Rapture. When the Church has been completed -- a two-fold requirement, covered at length in Part IVb -- then the Church is Ready, and it enters 'the Land' which is heaven. Aka, the Rapture. Really, the resurrection of the Church, that sea of glass in Rev4:2ff (the Rapture occurs in Rev4:1). Then the Lord gets the Title Deed to Earth, and the Trib begins. It all takes a nanosecond of Earth time. RevPlay.htm walks blow-by-blow through Revelation so you can see that rollout. Here, we're focusing on the Precedence. For the Tribulation is the AntiType of Passion Week, 'mirroring back' in 'reply' to Christ being rejected; but the Tribulation couldn't even exist, if Christ wasn't first Resurrected: Dan9:27 is contingent ON Dan9:26 occurring. So the fact that you're breathing, and there's a Dome Of The Rock, proves that He Resurrected, just as Daniel 9:26 (and Matt24) predicted. The Rapture wasn't initially IN the Plan for Time. (God provided for it, obviously, but it wasn't disclosed, since Israel might have accepted Christ when He came.) So initially, the seven years for the Tribulation was patterned on the civil war which ensued from 1010-1003 BC, resulting in David being crowned over all Israel. This was a loss piece. It got redeemed in the sense that David was finally crowned, but the odd thing is, there's no additional seven-year payback which occurs from David onward. Sevens like this always must be mirrored. But this one didn't get mirrored. So a seven is owed back. Time is thus short seven years, from 1003 onward. That's why God debits seven years in Daniel 9, reserving it for the Tribulation. Analogously, there's a seven-year hiatus between the building of the 1st Temple and its dedication. David died in 963BC, not the 970BC 'scholars' ASSume based on Josephus. For as you'll see at the end of 1 Chronicles, David retired his kingship in favor of Solomon in 970BC, and then went on to finalize the priestly courses and other Temple matters, since the Temple was promised to him, cutting OFF Israel from the promise (see 2Sam7 and 1Sam10, 12, 15:27-28 on the cutoff). 1 Kings then picks up the story, jumping to the first three years after David dies, showing what happened in Solomon's reign, the problems he had. So by 1Kings 6, it's the fourth year after David died; so it wasn't until 2 Ziv 960BC that Solomon began building the Temple. There was an acquisition period of six months (Ziv until Bul, partly covered in 1Kings 5 -- the LXX of 1Kings 6:1 is really helpful, here, and you won't find it in translated Bibles). Temple construction began then, too; it finished in another Bul, 953BC; so the total time spent on actually building the Temple was seven years, and the extra six months is accounted to acquisition. Notice that this is the exact same timelength and character as David's initial 7.5 years of kingship, before he became king over all Israel. But then another hiatus ensued, and the Temple wasn't dedicated until 1 Ethanim, 950BC. You can find all this in 1Kings 5-8, and 2Chron3. But you have to dig and analyze the verses. However, this hiatus didn't prevent the Temple from being dedicated on time (deadline was 950BC, and it did happen by the deadline). Point is, Temple=Messiah, and that redeems time. So in the Temple Building we see the promise of the redemption of Time. Patterned exactly. [The six months overlaps, so it's not an additional time cost to be redeemed.] So that leaves the civil war of 1010-1003 as the model for the Tribulation, and there is a true 7-year short in time due to that war. So now fast-forward to His Incarnation. His Incarnation was supposed to last for 40 years, the same number of years as David ruled en toto. That would have 'paid back' the civil war period; Time still had the 7-year short in it (you don't go back and redo time past), but at least Israel could have, by accepting Messiah, reaped a credit for His full 40-year period. Thus you see God actually cut off the Tribulation period in Daniel 9:27, but yet when you crunch the numbers of Daniel 9:2 plus :24-26, you get to 37AD (the full 40 years being allotted to the Lord's Lifetime, with that offsetting 'seven', designed just as David's). Look:
Mirroring.htm covers this math in excruciating detail. [Sidebar: the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is God's Decree. If people would just read Daniel 9:24 to know WHO is doing the decreeing, they'd not mistake the very next verse as suddenly switching to some mere human. That's why when you try to use Cyrus of any date, Daniel 9 no longer balances. God's not using lunar years. He never uses lunar years when tallying years in prophecy. Prove it to yourself: take whatever's bothering you, use solar years, and see if it doesn't suddenly balance.] So God made provision for Messiah to have a full 40 years, would but Israel accept Him. It was up to Israel, to use it. So initially, that seven-year shortage was 'due' to play out in the Second Temple destruction, Daniel 9:26 and 27: the 'due' schedule of the playing out, was supposed to BE the Tribulation. But due to the extra seven years' credit so that Christ could have a 40-year reign as David did, there was a contingency piece God could justifiably use, should Israel turn negative. Which, she did. Hence the ambiguity in Dan9:26, about how long between the destruction of the Second Temple, and the beginning of that last seven years. So basically, Christ's Time is debited due to Israel's rejection. And His Time had to be debited seven years, for the next-closest covering 1000, was the 1000th anniversary of David's Abdication/Retirement from Kingship (970BC+1000=30AD). But Christ was Successful, still on time with what amounts to a reduced allotment of 33 years. So the 'loss' of the seven years, is now owed Him. So that loss of seven years can be made up. Time is now 14 years short, a point Matthew 1 cleverly makes in his parallelling of the Abram-David period, with the David-Christ period. On the 'right' side of the parallel, time is 14 years short. Details are in the "one week" link of Mirroring.htm. Thus Everything Ends Up, Still On Time. So now what? Well, the second seven debited against Christ, which belonged to the 62 weeks, plays in the siege of Jerusalem, and ends with the 70AD destruction of the Temple. Thus the Tribulation remains due to be paid. Its character however, is now changed: it is owed Christ, since His Lifetime was shorted to 'pay' Israel. Character is still Davidic, hence never belongs to Church. But Christ owns it. Thus you know a) the Tribulation never belongs to Church, and b) its beginning is predicated on the Rapture, since that is the completion of Church which Christ also owns. Math is pretty straightforward. No way to mistake it. So Israel's Time Bank Balance is zero. So the World's Time Bank Balance is zero. But Christ is the Successful Messiah and is now Seated, with Psalm 110:1 our actual historical position. So Messiah Is owed the seven years of the Trib, and From His OWN Time. So Israel must be grafted in Him to be rescued, just as God promised David (disinheriting Israel in favor of David), in 2Sam7: verses 11 and 13 are double-entendre, near-and-far fulfillment, as most prophecies usually are. That grafting had been contingent (on the Cross, see Heb2); but now, He is Resurrected, Seated; The Formulaic Contingency Is Fulfilled (Heb1-2). Paul talks about this mirroring in Acts 13:20, so you can see how Church is used to Rescue Israel, since the Saul period is a precedence. Thus you know how Daniel 9:26, works. So Christ gets 40 years, divided like David's: 33 and 7; David's rule is a mirror of that: he first ruled 7 years in Hebron, then 33 more over united Israel. Christ is Born a King, so His lifetime is still a Ruling, whether Israel had voted for Him or not. But whose King, if they reject Him? Same issue David faced, back in 1010BC. That's the thorny legal issue: so when they did reject Him, He must come up with a Contingency Plan; which Plan, is analogous to Vashti/Esther, flipped/mirrored/punned -- the Matt16:18 Announcement About Himself (not Peter, for crying out loud -- Petra is the Rock of the Holy of Holies, in the LXX, why don't people do their Bible homework).
For upon His Resurrection, the Justification for the Tribulation, 'resurrects' with Him: the seven debited years, can now be 'mirrored back' as a credit, since the contingency of the 69 weeks WAS met.
So He had to INSERT the Church into the timeline, which meant He'd be paying far more in sin costs if He made that choice. John 17 is the most awesome chapter in the Bible. For there He ASKS for all who will believe in the apostles' word (and those who hear them, of course, verses 20-21). That's an Open-Ended Vote of His to Father, which accounts even more for why Church is an Open-Ended period of No Set Duration. It's up to Father how long it lasts, as John 17's very careful language, shows. So get this loud and clear: the only 'church' in the Tribulation is Satan's Fake church of Rev17. Which he began cultivating almost immediately, since he doesn't know when the Rapture will happen, either.
Paul isn't kidding when he uses the expression, "fullness of time", which is a pregnancy metaphor signifying About To Give Birth. Time running out. [Again, Greek term "Pleroma" originated as a made-pregnant-by-a-god word, so it's that kind of "fullness" which the Bible means when it uses the term.] This is real time we're talking about: not metaphors, similes, funky movies you make about "the end times, brother." Redeeming the Time is a real thing. Each day's results justify Continuing Another Day, or justify Ending Time. We are the Temple, now. We are the morning and evening lambs now. When you get up, and while you are up, and when you go to sleep, Word-on-the-arms, on-the-brain, spiritual tfellin. God is consistent, and this is the Mammoth Upgrade of Upgrades, to Get His Thinking in Our Heads. Buys yet another Day; just as, it always has. Only Now, Much More Responsibility, Much More Reward. To Jew or Gentile, as the Jewish Messiah has been Seated at the Right Hand, theme of Book of Hebrews, so We are all the Same New Spiritual Species (2Cor5:17), and race or gender or physical stuff, matter not at all (theme of Gal3). Higher. Royal Priests. In Him. So the only way Time gets elongated now, is due to the Grafting-in of Church. That's why those "redeem..time" verses are in Scripture. They are real. Part IVa goes over the legalities, and Part IVb goes into the numbers-of-believers criterion, so you can see You Really Really Really Have The Most Important Job Possible: The More You Grow, The More You Are Caused To Redeem Time. This is a real thing. Every day is a sudden-death round, because we don't know when that Rapture "sabbath" will arrive. There is no known set time for its arrival, but rather a Condition Of Volition. He had to complete on Time, and is One Person. But we are a corporate Body, and our volitions are not predictable, individually. We know it will happen, but we cannot know when -- just like the Lord told the disciples, in Acts 1:7 (golly, how some so-called 'experts' misuse that verse's Greek -- it's an idiom for "no way can you know")! So Our Date Of Completion Depends Each Day On How We Grow Spiritually. And not at all, on prophecy. For There Is No More Time, So There Is No More Prophecy, either -- Until the Church Completes. Same sudden-death situation as He faced, paradigmally. Whoa: now I understand what my pastor meant by calling the Church Age "a dead spot": just as Dan9:26c, reads! There's one other ominous parallel to FirstFruits: it was preceded by a judgement of believers. Writer of Hebrews stresses this in Hebrews Chapters 2-4, telling his audience that we are in that same wandering-in-the-wilderness paradigm, as Church. The Jews were to be warned to believe in Messiah; believers were to be warned to get in the Word (Heb4:12). Because the Rapture's criteria are basically two-fold: when believers are sufficiently negative to be fully judged, and when enough positive believers reach Pleroma, that is when God pulls the plug. Hence the "do not harden your hearts while it is still called Today" language. For it can be Today. Same parallel, as they faced. It didn't have to be 40 years before they entered the Land. That's just how it turned out. It took that long to judge all the negative believers, and develop the positive ones. So that in aggregate, Israel was Ready. Precedence is prologue. That's why you can't predict the Rapture. |
Now, let's go back to First Fruits. We just saw that its first celebration, was contingent on something that was known to occur, but not exactly when: first entry into the Land. But when it does occur, it begins at the end of Unleavened Bread. So unless that sabbath occurred, there is no First Fruits. Depicting, Christ's Resurrection -- for without that, time's up! Real Time. Really gone. Again, if He didn't finish the Cross and Resurrected, we'd all not be here.
But now that it has happened, the holiday becomes a type of Jubilee, freedom due to harvest, now you rest; it's a 'taste' of the Millennium, metaphorically: because the Millennium is composed of 50s (50x20). Passover and Unleavened Bread were times of tribulation (analogous to wandering in the wilderness, to the Passion Week, to waiting for the harvest, etc). Now comes the Reaping, the Redemption, the Freedom. At last. After all, it's been a good six months since the prior harvest. Time to celebrate, then, with a New one. This is the "late" harvest, in Bible. Now you know why. [Remember that the Jewish calendar is bifurcated? The agricultural (aka civil) calendar runs September-August, beginning on Rosh haShanah. So the early harvest, is in the fall. We Westerners use the opposite terms, so get confused when we read Bible, because our year starts in January, so an April-June harvest by OUR accounting, is "early". But not, in their accounting.]
So the 50th day following its start was to be a day of rest; but the first day of it was not a day of rest. Note again the Contingent Nature of First Fruits. Its beginning is not a sabbath, but a Gathering. You offer the first-portion (lit. meaning of "first fruits"), God's Portion, at the Beginning. You celebrate the Completion of the Gathering, on the 50th day.
Now do you see why Pentecost was used to warn the Jews, in Acts 2? They missed the GATHERING, so now it's the turn of the Gentiles.
Church never replaces Israel. Church is here to Rescue Israel. Just because Israel played Vashti, doesn't mean she is rejected in turn. Doesn't mean someone takes over her UNconditional covenants granted to Abraham via Isaac via Jacob via Moses via David now via Christ. He is her Messiah, still. Her King, still. But He takes a different Bride, us. Any Jew who believes in Him is in the Bride, if he believes during the Church covenantal period ("Age over the Ages", a lexeme in Eph3:21); flipside of fact that any goy became a Jew by believing in Him during Israel's covenantal period (which right now is in abrogation status, pending her Millennial Restoration). So Church is Esther, and there are no racial distinctions in her. We are all Royal Family of God in Christ, as Paul explains in Galatians. So it's the Royal Wifely Thing to Do, to Rescue our Sister, just as Our Husband commands. Meanwhile, 'Esther' is being prepared in order to be crowned (@Rapture).
Notice, therefore, how Abraham becomes the father of so many nations: via the calling out of the Gentiles, which came from the Jews, which came from Abram's faith way back in 2085BC (when he was age 75, so maybe earlier than that age).
First Fruits was always tied to the prophecy of harvesting the Gentiles, and at both 'ends': first, Exodus started Passover, due to the sacrifice of the firstborn, and that originally was composed of Gentiles, the Egyptians. Replaced by, Messiah, so Unleavened Bread depicted paying for sins of all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike. And also, Exodus meant the Priest Client Nation to God -- to be a Light of ALL nations -- hence the Entry into the Land, displacing Gentiles again -- was for them to know Who was the Real God so they could be saved. 2/3rds of the Exodus population, were "mixed multitudes" -- Gentiles. Anyone can join. So, it's a kind of Gathering of Souls to Harvest for God, of which Israel was to be the First Fruits, headed up by Messiah Himself. [Paul spends a lot of time on this theme. Odd how he's the only virgin apostle, yet spends nearly every verse using propagation terms. Romans 8:11ff is all about the pregnancy harvest, i.e., theme in Rom8:18ff, passim, explicit in v.23. Then there's 1Cor15:20ff. All of Ephesians is rhetorically patterned after the famous Greek play of the propagation of the Greeks, "Ion". And of course we all can tell the obvious "Body of Christ" analogy in 1Cor6, 12 (with Chapter 13 describing the Head, the Completion of the Word in writing for our heads), Eph4, etc. Too bad these portions of the Word always cut God's Head off in translation, and bland out all the sexual innuendo. Read them in the Greek; lots of Bible software out there so anyone can learn what's said in the Greek with good lexicons (better than Strong's, please) and a good Greek grammar; if you're learning in God's System, you have the Holy Spirit's brains, so forget all the excuses about it being too hard or you being too stupid. The wit is astounding, refreshing, and you know you're seeing God face-to-face. God is the Ultimate Birther!]
But Israel played Vashti when He came: so she's missing the SECOND 'end' of that harvesting, Pentecost. But doesn't have to, individually. Any Gentile could become a Jew back then, as Exodus 12 makes clear. So too, any Jew can become Church now, as Gal3, Romans 9-11, all explain. Circumcision was always of the heart: you have to believe to undergo it, like Abram did, at age 99. God is Consistent. Justice is Absolute. So Israel-turned-Vashti is out, and goyim (or Jew, makes no difference, John 3:16) Esther Replacement, is now corporately sought on the highways and byways, Matt22 parable: playing, live.
So they miss the Harvest. So the Lord is building an Esther, to hopefully rescue them, theme of Romans 9-11.
So "First Fruits", "Weeks", "50 days", "Pentecost" are all talking about the same contingent 50-day period, which stands for Jubilee. And it's still OPEN, since "Pentecost" hasn't completed yet. It's kinda suspended, stretched in time, Dan9:26c still in play. "Weeks" runs 50 days, because normally the "seven [consecutive] sabbaths" criterion of the period, will be 49 days plus one (the first day). But its actual commencement depends on the kick-off sabbath. Since the kick-off is Rest (meaning of sabbath), and is Promised (another meaning of sabbath, lit. sevened, promised) -- the writer of Hebrews uses that multiple-entendre to craft his warning, in Hebrews 4. We Church are Evidence of that Warning still Being Open (i.e., in Heb4:1, 11).
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RELATIONSHIP TO THE FIRSTBORN: in Whom, the whole human race can share. See Rom15:27, 1Cor9:13 (note the underlying premise), 1Cor10:17, 1Cor10:18, Eph3:6, Phili1:7, Col1:12; and above all, Heb2:14, 3:1,14, 6:4, 12:8 (wider context), 1Pet4:13, Eph4:13. |
Whew. That's a lot of Bible verses on Firstborn and "partakers" of Him, huh. Just using that keyword. Wonder how many other keywords are used thesauretically -- um, gotta be a lotta them. Yeah, and I guess then 1 John's continual stress on "firsts" ties together First Fruits and First Commandment, huh. After all, that's what Christ is always doing, in John Chapters 14-17! Father's House of Kids, John 14:2 (Greek) and Vine and Branches (John 15) and Oneness (John 17)! Golly gee willackers! This Bible is a thesaurus! Shore don' look like some thumpin' hillbilly book, anymore! [Search on "firstborn" verses in the New Testament, because these are refrains. Some of the easier ones to see are in Luke 2:23 and Heb11:28 (precedence cited and applied), Heb1:6, Heb12:23, Rom 8:29 (theme of chapter, see also Eph1); Col1:15-18, Rev1:5. The wording isn't always exactly the same as the two quotes, but the meaning is the same. See also how NT writers use this doctrine in Acts 2 (vv1ff, Peter explains how Pentecost=fulfillment of Isa28's goyim-ingathering prophecy); 1Cor15 (Paul uses it to explain our new life and eternal future, vv20-23); and James 1 (v.18 uses it as explanation of our new purpose). When writers quote other Bible verses, they do it interpretatively, which means they change the wording to show how to use the quote. So sometimes a quote will be truncated to just its keywords (often, only one keyword); or, will be concatenated with another quote, kinda like a math formula. In short, the way Bible handles quotes is not at all like our modern "verbatim" practice. Bible debunkers don't know this isagogical fact, so they imagine the Bible contradicts itself or is otherwise errant, expecting a quote to be verbatim, to be valid. No language ever on earth uses quotes only that way; the world's nightly newscasters certainly don't use quotes that way (they mangle quotes with their own 'spin', never listen to them after an official's speech, lol) -- but let's not confuse the debunkers with the facts!]
So let's continue our Greek first-class condition truths:
For God never rejects His People. And all become Ammi in Him.
Ergo, All The Sabbaths And Holidays Are About Remembrance and Rescue. And all Remembrance and Rescue, is based on the Exodus, God Delivers His People, God Saves His People. And thereby, The Whole World, 1Jn2:2. And they thus become His Inheritance, and thus the Firstborn is dedicated to Him; main theme in 1Jn is on this tie of Firsts, First Commandment and First Fruits, which is our inheritance from Him, 1Jn4:12-19 (very climactic, in the Greek, v.19 should be shouted). All other holidays, are essentially elaborations of that fact (really, the holidays also constitute a telling of Israel's whole future, in metaphor and mime). For the eternal future, is a Life With GOD. And we being not God, need to be trained for that life with God. Forever.
Hence Israel's future is the world's future, precisely because He is Jewish, and Savior. So HIS Future, Is The Basis For Israel's Future; HIS Future, Is The World's Future. We only pick which side of That Future, we'll be on: the Hell side, or the Heaven side. Let's backtrack to the original meaning of the Exodus -- to produce MESSIAH. To do that, God had to craft a people to represent His Message, since people would rather listen to other people, same pattern as in Gen3 (Adam listened to his wife, rather than God). And He did it, by choosing someone who believed in Him, each time. Genesis thus traces out that faith 'bloodline', culminating in Abram. So anyone who believes as Abram did, is a 'child' of Abram (refrain in OT and NT, the latter being easier to see). But since Abram is the recipient, then Those Born From Him By Blood As Well As By Faith, Are To Be Blessed. Thus anyone else can become a 'son' just as Abram did -- by faith in Him, Gen15:6, John 3:16, Rom9, Gal2:16ff. At the Exodus, about four million Gentile souls did just that, so by faith they became Jews (and of course the males circumcised themselves). So about six million people left Egypt, having become sons just as Abram did: for as Paul wittily notes in Romans 4, Abram himself was a Gentile until age 99 when he circumcised himself due to faith in El-Elyon. So of course that precedent, always remains true.
See, this is what all those we-are-the-true-Israelites dingdongs miss. The entire plan, as we saw above when the "Defense" rested, was a Unity. Like anything else that develops over time, the initial Gen3 promise of a Savior ("He shall crush your head" clause), became gradually more and more sophisticated. So while it's true that only certain things belong to the Jews directly, on the other hand indirectly, the entire world got saved that way. So now, those who were favored and thus we who were not favored, got saved; so even now those who reject Him and thus are technically unfavored, can be saved. That was one of Hosea's favorite themes, and he even named his kids "My People" and "Not My People" to illustrate that PROMISE. (Read the Book of Hosea; even the translations don't strip it all out.)
Paul outlines this whole story brilliantly, in Romans 11. God's 'fishing', see (I don't remember if the English translation brings that out), so that Israel can get caught in His Salvation Net. And in the process, Due To The Resurrection -- the updated version of FIRST FRUITS is playing. So they get a "better covenant" (Attic word kreittwn (sp), used by the writer of Hebrews) than they had prior. So no loss to them. So no loss to us, that they had the benefits of being Jewish (which benefits remain in some ways, secularly). Because We Are All One Now, theme of Galatians 3 ("neither Jew nor Greek" clause, especially).
John 17, oneness; Ephesians 2, oneness (joined walls, Jew and Gentile); Church has a Far Superior Standing due to what? FIRST FRUITS! You saw how many verses there were in the NT on that, above: just before the Defense rested, the second time. The Harvest is Bigger now, because Christ Is Bigger Now. And so the change in covenant, is "better". Paul also uses that term, but he likes "huperbale", which is even stronger -- "surpassing", is how it's usually translated (idea of the Head 'surpassing' atop the Body, really cute wordplay in Greek of 1Cor12:31, repeated in Eph3:15-19, and a dozen other places).
So, as usual, when God shuts one door, He opens a Better Door. For the Jew, and the goyim. No longer separate, but One. And every one wins. I mean, think: would you rather be a King of your own kingdom under the King of Kings, or merely get a city (one of the rewards in the OT for growing up spiritually)? A kingdom is much more than a city. And royal priesthood was not even available to the Jews: took the writer of Hebrews five whole Chapters to explain that (Chaps 5-10). So where are the Jews cheated? So where is there need to pretend that they aren't really Jews (based on utterly blind 'scholarship')? Heck, Everyone Got This Huge Upgrade! All because He Resurrected Time when He was Resurrected on the Cross, and He Did It In Time, For First Fruits. Now are you beginning to see how important it is to understand Passion Week Meaning and Timing? Heck, if the we-are-the-true-Israelites dingdongs understood it, they'd stop trying to call 'lost', the 10 tribes which weren't ever even physically lost! "Lost" is only a drama series on ABC.com. God never loses, anyone.
The Jews are God's Chosen People. That predates the Law. Genesis 12, 15, 17 outline the contract provisions. So believer or not, anyone with a drop of Jacob's blood is a Jew. The covenant is to Abraham, but Isaac was the son of the promise, and Jacob believed in that promise, hence the 12 tribes -- 13 really, but Joseph's two sons are half-tribes. That's a pre-Law bloodline promise, and it applies down here. Then there's the eternal promise, which Paul explains in Romans 9-11. Anyone can get 'in' it. In the OT, you circumcised yourself and became a Jew by faith. In the NT, you believe in Christ, who is Son of David. Anyone can get in on the eternal promise, which is a Unity -- God making "sons of God in Christ Jesus", Galatians 3.
The Kingship of Christ is multiple, and it also pre-dates the Law, going back to Melchizedek. This, the Book of Hebrews painstakingly explains. That too, is something anyone who believes in Christ can potentially "inherit the kingdom" -- become a king, under the King of Kings. That's why you're still down here, believer: to train in that inheritance. Most of us, will abdicate. So then Who will rule us who abdicate? Those who did not abdicate. Very few. Very precious few.
So the anti-semite dingdongs -- who usually claim to be oh-so-smart-in-Bible -- reveal themselves to be children, still screaming in the sandbox, never growing into their True Inheritance "in Christ Jesus". But hopefully, most of them at least 'did' John 3:16 and will go to Heaven. But they won't be anything but Royal peasants. Happy, yes. But you can't play in the sandbox down here and expect God to zap you with spiritual maturity. He never coerces volition.
In a word, the old covenant, is Disinherited (Heb7:18, Heb9's main theme, Heb10:4, Rom10:4). And a new one, is Grafted In (ibid, "second" is the keyword). Now if grafted in, as Paul notes through Rom9-11, then there's a unity, not division. So those grafted in shouldn't be divisive, but should remember from where they came, he reminds his haughty readers by the end of Rom11: oh, the Riches of His Grace, bottomless! ohhhhh parakalOH, don't get fat-headed about it! Replay of Moses' warnings to the people throughout Deuteronomy, as they were about to dispossess those living in the Land. Sound familiar?
But let's pick a key disinheritance event which happened shortly after the Exodus. God Disinherited the entire Tribe of Levi, since Levi had disinherited Shechem of its males (see Genesis, search on "Shechem"); then He grafted that whole tribe as His Own Inheritance, onto Aaron. And Aaron was only involved, because Moses refused to be God's mouthpiece. ["Jochebed" link in MisTrans.htm provides further details and Scripture on the disinheritance of Levi.] And all of Israel was disinherited, first because only Moses found favor in God's sight (many verses on this, i.e., Exo33:13-14, read through v.16) -- but because Moses interceded for all of Israel, God granted that (v.17). [Mirroring.htm's "David" link shows the same thing happening again, due to David. It's a real and strong pattern, this inheritance/disinheritance. Primogeniture or bloodline is wiped out if faith is not present. We truly are the sons of God by faith. Always true, since that first disinherited son, Cain.]
Remembrance of how you got your inheritance, through someone else's DISinheritance. Salvation is a Gift. See? Exo13:15, again the command continues, to be passed down from every parent to every child: We were strangers in Egypt, so we respect strangers, and treat them as ourselves. Because the whole world is Egypt, now: our "Land" is not of this world, and (Heb4 again) the Promised Rest, remains! So we are all strangers, in her. Disinherited from this world, yet not in the next, but belonging to God, just the same. So the potential roster is no longer as small as Hebrews 11's. It began with one wandering progenitor, Abram. It now has -- well, when you can count the sand of the sea, let me know.
Moreover, not one of the dozens of previous disinheriting-and-grafting-in events God did (since Cain, who was the first one disinherited), involves a Grafted-In Person (or group) who lacked faith. Seth replaced Cain, for example. You can trace the others: most notable is the disinheriting of all Israel in favor of David. Which disinheritance actually began when David was first anointed, but which was put into contract form in 2Sam7 (parallel passage in 1Chron 17, very witty Hebrew in 1Chron 17:11). For Israel had rejected God as her King, back circa 1050BC, which is why Saul was appointed. Then God disinherited Saul (Paul's point, in Acts 13:20), replacing him with David; so Israel could only continue, due to the Davidic line. But the kingly branch of that line also rejected Him, hence the Coniah curse and the grafting in of the erstwhile junior line, from Nathan. [You'll find the connection through Shealtiel in Matt1:12, and Luke 3:27. Not all the NT generations will be listed in the OT after the exile, especially since the last book of the OT is 433BC. The royal line was persecuted, and needed to hide; so I'd bet money that the later generations named in Matt and Luke are given names the enemy wouldn't be able to know. A person was known by more than one name, generally, so it's not lying. Then again, maybe they are given easily-known names, since God will protect them despite all opposition.]
So notice: Messiah Himself Is Grafted In. His Humanity is partly from the Holy Spirit (grafting in), and partly from Mary (as just mentioned). Moreover, even from Mary, it's a grafting IN, due to Shealtiel being grafted in.
In sum, at each turn the human race has survived all this time with the narrowest of chances for having even another DAY. If God didn't graft in those who believed, those who didn't, wouldn't have been able to live. So what goes around, comes around. Those who got disinherited and remained rejecting, instead of resting, were kept alive because in each generation there was at least one person who could be grafted in. Now that's something to remember.
If you look at Mirroring.htm on Joseph, you'll see there'd have been no Egypt for Israel to go to, had Joseph not been kidnapped. Joseph, who BELIEVED. Here's a too-brief recap. Joseph couldn't have been kidnapped if Jacob didn't re-enter the Land. Jacob couldn't have re-entered had he not left. And he left, due to a fracas over pretending to be Esau, in 1960BC: 490 years after the Flood. Of course, had Jacob not been born, he'd have been unable to go anywhere: when he was 9 years old, Amenemhet I comes to power in Egypt (palace coup, assasinates Mentuhotep); thus the 12th Dynasty begins; then Amen baby's assasinated, too; but his grandson will be the Pharaoh with the cows dream. Meanwhile, Jacob is growing up, getting in trouble, serving three times the intended years for his intended ONE mate, but gets a double portion and double-trouble, to go with it. So when Jacob returns to his birthplace, it's 1940BC: Joseph is only 7 years old. So Joseph is sold into slavery at age 17, and then it's 1930BC: 490 years later, is the Exodus. Never underestimate the Power of God. One's gotta be real evil, to reject the Father Who Alone birthed the SOUL of each individual. Personally. [Nerd note: it should be pretty patent that the soul is immaterial, so is not produced by biological processes. So who is our real Father, huh?]
These 490-year periods are assigned to an individual, each time. They keep on being assigned, as God has this 1050-unit of Time "Accounting" which is based on Israel, but now re-routed to His Son (main theme of Book of Hebrews). Hence we Church are the conduit of one more day continuing, and that only because we are grafted in. Individually. So the slavery continues, but the whole unbelieving world is in it, unbelieving Jews included. And the signs are blatant, sheesh -- who but God can Orchestrate Time and the Two Stone Witnesses which weren't even created by the Jews? The Jews didn't create the Dome, nor the 70AD destruction of the Temple. The Jews didn't create the 490-year tracebacks of time you can see from Bible go all the way back to Adam, and all the way forward to Christ and even Now they play. Now we don't know who the individuals are, but heck -- we got a track documented in Bible going all the way back to Adam. So Who do you think MUST be the Real God, among all the fakirs out there in every religious flavor? Salvation truly has come from the Jews, and it's blatant. One Day at a Time. While it is yet Today.
Circumcise your hearts, oh My people, God continually says from Genesis to Revelation. Longing to take her under His Wings, Matt23:37, Luke 13:34. But she's a dodo bird, still. But not all of her. The remnant hear His Voice. Sheep we remnant are, still getting ourselves in trouble, no better than those other sheep who yet don't hear. That's ALL we can do, for crying out loud, is Hear, Oh Israel! For any competence to come from that Hearing, must be the Holy Spirit's. For we lost our brains at salvation, Eph4:23 (witty Greek).
Whoa. So now we know the fitted meaning of these three holidays:
Thus we now understand the goals of Passion Week: To Bring To Fruition (pun intended) All This Magnificent Plan Which God Designed. One Plan, though in compartments. One Fitted Plan, to in effect commence the Final Harvest, the final Exodus -- for everyone.
So will you now be surprised, if God chooses to pull this off by Disinheriting His Own Son? Well, frankly, that's what Daniel 9:26 means when it says Ho Christos will be CUT OFF. In the Hebrew text, cut off the foreskin is meant, which in today's Hebrewspeak is a "bris", meaning "covenant" (brith in Bible Hebrew). It also has a dual connotation of being cut off from life (echoes of Isa53:8, "and who can speak of his descendants" -- predicting that He'll be disinherited). Cut off also has a connotation of accomplishing nothing, from a worldly point of view. And why is that? Well, look: if He's to be disinherited, given the Precedence -- wouldn't a Better Inheritance have to ensue? Yes, says the Book of Hebrews, over and over. Beginning with Heb1, "a more excellent name/person/reputation", how He's higher than all the angels. But in our context, what did He win with respect to the Mosaic Law? Per Hebrews 3, He's the Builder of the House. Ahhh, but this is a Royal House of people, not wood and stone, just as He explained in John 14:2. But how is that true, if He had no descendants? Isa53:11 leads to Isa54:1! Hunnnh? Remember how there are two tracks for becoming a son of AbRAHam? By bloodline AND by Faith? The famous "sons of God in Christ Jesus", Gal2:16ff and 3:26ff, whether Jew or Greek. [See, "in Christ Jesus" means that we died IN Him while He was ON the Cross, analogous to how we all were IN Adam when Adam sinned, Rom5:12. It's Isa53:10-11 (again, sorry, this is the Grand Central Station of the Bible) which actually shows how that Baptism Of The Cross, worked to propitiate Father. See Romans 6 for elaboration on what "Baptised into Christ" means: it's a great way to understand the exchange of our sins for His Righteousness. Isagogics: Romans was written after Galatians, but the meaning was known from the Lord explaining what His OWN "Baptism" meant: the Cross. You can read Him talk about it in the Gospels; there are about two-four verses on the topic, and some of them use the drink..cup analogy. Baptism is an identification, etymologically. There was never any kind of magic property assigned to water, and out of the seven types of baptism in the Bible, only two are wet, and they are merely symbolic (Baptism of John, and the witness Baptism to being saved). So Romans 6 is a primer on the structure of salvation, since the Romans were not as familiar with it, as the Judaized Galatians. Always gotta know the why of a verse, before you know what it's about. Warning: you are not saved if you believed you had to be baptised to BE saved. Simply Believe In Christ Right Now; 'do' John 3:16. And Then You Are Forever Saved. No Additives!]
How well do we know we're only God's sons, but by faith? Let's put our Greek debater's technique through its paces again, still using that First-Class Condition:
Whoa. Then God is saddled with us for all eternity! Christ Himself says, "I and the children You Gave Me" (see Heb2 and its OT context)? Isn't that a bigger burden than the Cross itself? So How Big Of A Compensating Inheritance Must He Get, to Justify The Disinheritance He lost? He was King of Israel. Rightly. The Sanhedrin used that fact to indict Him before Pilate, Luke 23, John 18-19. [That's the ONLY truth they told, which is why Pilate had to listen to them. Else, Pilate could have dismissed the case entirely, or immediately arrested and sentenced Him. Roman procurators have their own intelligence system, too.] Of course, if Father didn't disinherit Him here on earth, we couldn't be grafted in while still alive here on earth, and thus couldn't be grafted in at all.
Hmmm. To be better, it sure can't be an inheritance in THIS world! And We Need To Be Better, Too, Or It's Not Fair To HIM! So then: what Replacing Inheritance should He get?
How about, "My Kingdom is not of this world", and "King of Kings", etc. Best of all, King-Priest kata Melchizedek to FATHER Forever (theme of Heb5-10, again). Which makes us Royal Priests and potential Kings, 1Pet2:5, 9, Rev1:6, 5:10, blatant. Many more verses, really, since this is foundational to the entire NT. But you have to know something about priesthood and kingship, to spot them: "near", Rom5:1 coming-to-the-throne, all of Hebrews 10,12 (esp. Church of the Firstborn title), the we will judge angels verse (1Cor11, I think), etc. We really are to become gods for Our God. Nothing less will satisfy Father, John 10:34, answer to His John 17 prayer for Oneness. Think: oneness means The Same Nature. Guess Whose, 2Cor5:21, "in Christ", all those Firstborn "partaker" verses in the rainbow table above and "eternal life" verses. And on and on and on. God doesn't need to settle for lesser-thans. He's Omnipotent, k?
My pastor has long taught that the demons get disinherited with Church replacing what was supposed to be the angels' original rulership role. He bases that claim at least in part, on Zechariah 13:2, Col 2:15 (the one-on-one replacement being bald there isagogically, Roman triumphal march to Mamertine Dungeon), Rev20:1-3. The Zechariah passage has a whole bunch of related cut-out, graft-in verses in BibleWorks' TSK database for KJV. But by now you see that's a Divine replacement pattern from the Exodus itself, if you didn't see Him start it with Cain. Look how it works in the Exodus: Egyptian firstborn, replaced; people in Canaan, replaced. Which Divine replacement pattern, obviously started with the ANGELS, since Michael and Gabriel and others were promoted to seraphim, replacing head cherubim Satan and whoever else had been on his side at the uppermost echelon. Of course, then there's Matt22, where Vashti is replaced with Esther, and that depicted by the 'king' replacing the originally-invited guests with (what has to be the same number of) other folks out on the highways and byways. Hmmm, God's sure into matching when He replaces, huh. Like in, Bright Morning Star replaces the initial Son of the Dawn (also translatable as "Morning Star", even the Koran noticed that), Haylel ben-Shachar, Satan's original name (Isa 14:12). [Self-note: besides the Satanology tapes, Matt 65 Lesson 16 listed the Zech and other verses in connection with the one-on-one replacement. It comes up often in classes, but I didn't remember the Zech verse being mentioned before.]
Oh, let's see how Father did this Most Memorable Thing, how He Blessed Yet Disinherited His Own Son, and ALL at the Same Time.
So let's apply the timing issues of Passover to Passion Week, and see how its timing illustrates and accomplishes, all this epic purpose. Once we date these holidays rightly, we'll see something awesome about His Passion Week: the very DATING of Passover Week's 'play' upon Him, proves He's Messiah. So the week He's crucified and rises, the Passover He celebrated counts as Day #1, beginning at sundown Saturday, as you'll soon see in this Division. So He rises on Day #8, which is sundown the following Saturday. That last sundown, BEGINS the First Fruits day, since (again) Jewish time runs sundown to sundown.
We have to cover the Bible verses telling us the overall chronology of Passion Week, first. Then we'll go through a day-by-day, blow-by-blow review of that Week. You should test this Divisions's contents with Bible; particularly, since every Tom, Dick and Harry claim we can't know from Bible, this chronology. Or, they claim the Bible contradicts itself. What a crock, what slipshod homework on their part. Let's see why.