Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion to “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.  Most of the symbolic material in Part 1 won’t be repeated here in Part 2.

This two-part topic is tying ancient Israel’s traditional wedding pattern for betrothal & marriage to the sequence of the Lord’s Old Testament (OT) holydays, and to New Testament (NT) writings.  We’re discussing their wedding customs, and typing them to Christ and His church.   

In the NT, Jesus portrays Himself figuratively as a Groom or bridegroom (Mk.2:20), and the church is His Bride.  In 2Co.11:2, Paul the apostle figuratively betroths the church/Bride to Christ.  (I’ll capitalize the words Groom and Bride when they refer to Christ marrying His church.)

There were seven annual God-ordained holy occasions for Israel.  Here’s a list of the Lord’s annual days and the time of year in which they occurred, from Leviticus 23:

Their sacred year began near the spring equinox of March 20.  Le.23:5 Passover was 14 days later, in early April.  v.6 Passover began the seven Days of Unleavened Bread.  v.15-16, 21 Pentecost/Shavúot occurred 50 days later, near June 1.  v.24 the Day of Trumpets/Shouting, Rosh Hashánah (“Beginning of the [civil] Year”, Ezk.40:1a), occurs near the autumnal equinox of September 21.  v.26-28 the Day of Atonement or Yom Kíppur fast is ten days later, around October 1.  v.33-36a the 7-day Feast of Tabernacles (FOT)/Sukkót/Booths began in October, five days after Yom Kippur.  v.36b the Last Great Day 8, called Shémini Atzerét, culminated the FOT.  (also see the topics “Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained” and “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”.)

So far, in Part 1 we tied the traditional Jewish wedding pattern only to the OT sequence of Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost/Shavuot.  A shared cup of wine, to seal the betrothal or érusin, linked to Passover.  After the prospective groom went away to “prepare a place” for his betrothed at or near his father’s house (Jn.14:1-3), she would begin purifying herself.  That loosely ties to the Days of Unleavened Bread.  While the groom was away, he would send gifts to her.  That custom is reflected in Pentecost, when the gift of the Holy Spirit (HS) was given to the church/Bride, Ac.2:38 etc.  see Part 1.   

However, the betrothed groom & bride didn’t know the date of the actual wedding or nisúin.  It was for the father of the groom to decide when his son had the wedding chamber (húppah Strongs h2646, Hebrew) and house sufficiently prepared for her.  Only the father knows the time for his son/groom to come back for her!  Jesus said of His return in Mk.13:26, 32 “No one knows the day or hour, but My Father only”. 

{Sidelight: Paul said he was taught by Christ’s revelation (Ga.1:12).  Did Paul ever ask or wonder, ‘When are you coming back, Lord’?  If Paul did, he wasn’t told the date.  For that matter, none of the apostles knew the date.  Though in 2Pe.1:14, Peter knew he himself would soon die.  Mk.13:32 Jesus Himself didn’t know an exact date for His return; only Father God knows!  After Jesus’ resurrection, He told His disciples in Ac.1:5-7…it’s in His Father’s authority.  Those verses indicate that the date of Jesus’ coming was something He did not then know.  Israelites and saints, such as Peter, have kept fulfilling the number of their given days on earth, Ex.23:26b.  (However, as Jesus prophesied in Mk.13, Jerusalem & the temple were destroyed in 70 AD when Jesus ‘came’ as Judge, Ja.5:9b.)}

The betrothed Jewish bride would wait in faith that her groom will return and take her to the place he’d prepared.  He.11:1 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.”  Though he was absent, she trusted that he would come for her!  We in the church too must maintain faith.

It’s said that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.  She may not have known him all that well.  Peter wrote of Jesus in 1Pe.1:8. “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you don’t see Him now, you believe in Him.”  The betrothed bride believed her groom would return to take her away.

Customarily the groom came at midnight!  Mt.25:1, 5-6 “In the middle of the night there was a shout, ‘Behold the groom! Come out to meet him.”  The shout would identify that her groom wasn’t a real thief stealthily intruding.  Mt.25:10-13 “Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour.”  Lk.12:40 “Be you also ready, for the Son of Man comes at an hour when you think not.”  The groom usually would return at a late night-time hour.  But leading up to his return….

As the months elapsed with the groom absent, the bride would lie awake watching for him night after night.  Then she’d fall asleep!  Paul wrote the church in 1Th.5:1-2, 10 “You know the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. That whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.”

At last…her groom would come and ‘steal’ her away!  She’d been veiled since betrothal.

At betrothal, customarily the marriage contract or ketúbah was signed by two witnesses. cf. Re.11:3.  John the Baptizer was a witness for the Groom, Jesus (Jn.1:6-7, 15, 32).  Jn.3:26-29 John called himself the “friend of the Groom [bridegroom]”.  At the groom’s return, one of the two witnesses or the groom himself would shout (Mt.25:6).  Her family then knew he’s not a real thief on her father’s property!

1Th.4:16 “The Lord Himself [Jesus] will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”  v.15 the saints who are alive shall not precede those who had “fallen asleep”.  That is, the saints who’d died precede those who will read Paul’s letter.  Jesus said in Jn.5:25, “An hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live”.  Deceased saints, “fallen asleep”, are taken away by Jesus the Groom.

This coming of the groom was typed by the Day of Trumpets/Shouting.  Le.23:24 Yom Téruah.  This holyday occurs on the 1^st day/new moon of the sacred 7^th month, 1 Tíshri.  They knew the season, but didn’t know whether the moon’s first visible crescent to mark the new month would appear on the 29^th or 30^th day of the old month.  Our Ancient Days: Yom Teruah “The day and the hour that no man knows.”  Jesus said in Mk.13:32, “But of that day and hour no one knows”.  Only the Groom’s Father.

Ancient Israel would watch…then a new moon sighting traditionally had to be confirmed by two witnesses.  The new moon is almost entirely dark.  It’s just a thin sliver.  cf. Mt.24:29-31 “…The moon will not give its light. Then they will see the Son of Man [Jesus] coming.”  The Day of Trumpets/Shouting was also known as the ‘Day of the Concealed Moon’, Yom Kéhseh, the ‘hidden day’.

Mal.4:2 “For you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness [Christ] will arise with healing in His wings, and you will go forth.”  Jesus is here depicted by the Sun, and the moon’s first visible crescent too reflects the light of the Sun/Son!  Benson Commentary Mal.4:2 “Christ, who is fitly compared to the sun. The church is described as ‘clothed with the sun’, Re.12:1, adorned with graces communicated to her from Christ.”  Again, the groom while absent would send gifts to his betrothed bride.  (see Part 1.) 

{{Sidelight: The 1^st day of the 7^th month, Rosh HaShanah, was also known as the ‘Day of Remembrance’, Yom HaZíkaron (Le.23:24 memorial/zikarón h2146), as birthday of the world.  And as Yom HaDín, the ‘Day of Judgment’.  The sealing/execution of the judgment was then signified by Yom Kippur, ‘Day of Atonement’, occurring ten days later.  see the topic “Day of Atonement (2)”.  (Note: Also there are plural layers of meaning within the concept of Jesus’ Coming.)}}

It’s dark when the saints close their eyes in sleep or death!  A symbolic Day of Trumpets/Shouting is typed in 1Co.15:51-52. “We will not all sleep…for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.”  Although it wasn’t known exactly when the first sliver of the moon will be visible, the very ill and those advanced in age know that death is near.  (ref 2Pe.1:14 Peter, 2Ti.4:6 Paul.)

Again, the Groom comes in the night for His Bride.  Then she will no longer reside in her father’s house.  Ps.45:10-11 Septúagint “Hear, daughter. Forget your people and your father’s house. Because the King has desired your beauty.”  When the Father of the Groom decided, He would send His Son to take the Bride from her childhood home (earth).  Paul the aged said of himself in Php.1:23, “To depart and be with Christ is much better”.  SSol.2:10 “Arise, My darling, come away with Me.”  She is veiled. 

With a procession, the bride was taken to the huppah bridal canopy, at/near his father’s house.  The ketubah marriage contract was read at a night ceremony.  Customarily included in the reading was Ps.118:26 (Mt.21:9). “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The contract was given to the bride by the groom or by the two witnesses.  (see Joel 2:16 for more groom/bride/huppah language.) 

Is.61:10 the groom decks himself with ornaments and the bride is adorned with jewels.  Gill Exposition Is.61:10 “A bridegroom puts on the best clothes he has on his wedding day.” 

Now her veil is removed.  At the wedding nisuin…the bride and groom finally stand face-to-face! 

Ge.32:24, 29-30 “Jacob said, ‘I have seen God face to face, yet I am still alive.”  Traditionally, Jacob saw the face of Christ the Messenger of YHVH on Yom Kipper.  ltradio.org “Face-to-face’ is an idiom for the Day of Atonement.”  Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, did Israel’s High Priest dimly come face-to-face with the mercy seat of Christ (Le.16:2), amid smoke in the Most Holy Place.    

The typological Day of Atonement (At-One-ment) holyday was the 10^th day of the 7^th month, 10 Tishri.  (It follows Rosh HaShanah.)  Ge.2:24 a husband and wife become one flesh; they become figuratively as one.  Paul wrote of the espoused church/Bride in 1Co.13:12, “Now we see dimly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.”  When the Bride is face-to-face with Jesus, she then really gets to know the Groom!   

David wrote in Ps.17:15, “I shall behold Thy face in righteousness”.  Behold the face of the Lord.  The disciple John wrote in 1Jn.3:2b, “We will see Him as He really is”.  The Groom/Son of God.  SSol.6:3 “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”  v.3-9 represents a type of Christ and His gifted Bride(s).

After the wedding, the bride and groom would spend 7 days in the wedding chamber or booth.  Only then was the marriage consummated!  (They’d been apart from the betrothal date until he came for her.)  Laban spoke of his daughter to his son-in-law Jacob in Ge.29:27, “Complete the week of this one”.  Jdg.14:17 Samson was with his new bride for 7 days. 

Weddings were often held either in June or near the 7-day Feast of Booths in the 7^th month, after the Day of Atonement.  The 7 days in the canopied huppah or chamber is typed by the FOT/Booths. 

A wedding was a big celebration!  Mt.22:9-11 guests were expected to wear attire customarily suitable.  A wedding feast was held (cf. Ge.29:21-22, Jdg.14:12).    

The marriage feast for Jesus and His Bride(s) culminates at His Father’s house in heaven.  Re.19:1, 7-9 “I heard a loud voice of a multitude in heaven. The marriage of the Lamb [Jesus] has come and His Bride has made herself ready. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  

After the celebratory wedding feast, the couple would go to their new home, usually built at/near the house of the groom’s father.  They hope to live ‘happily ever after’.

The 8th Day Shemini Atzeret was the next day (22 Tishri), immediately following the FOT.  That ends God’s sacred holydays for the year.  That day is thought to foreshadow the new heaven and the new earth.  (Note: There were some traditional variations in wedding custom details and typologies.)

After Christ’s marriage feast of Re.19…Re.21:1 “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”  The Bride(s) will live forever with her/(their) Husband, the Lord Christ.  (see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)

And for those presently alive on this earth, Re.22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say come”.  All should believe in Jesus for salvation!

Few of us know in advance the total number of our days/years.  But elderly saints and the terminally ill are closer to completing their days here.  Then they, and eventually we too, will close our eyes for the last time, as have all the saints who went before. 

We anticipate then becoming part of that great cloud of witnesses who preceded us!  He.12:1, 22-24 “We have a great cloud of witnesses. The general assembly and church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and Jesus.”  cf. Ec.12:7.  (1Co.15:44 we too will have a spiritual body.  see “Life and Death – for Saints” and “Rebirth to Physical Life”.)

In OT times, the Lord was the figurative Husband of ancient Israel, Je.3:14.  (see “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  His name YHVH was engraved upon the mitre plate on the high priest’s forehead, Ex.28:36-38.  Re.22:4 then we shall see His face and His name shall be in our foreheads.  A bride is given the name of her husband.    

The ancient wedding typology presents a beautiful and meaningful picture!  Only Father God knows when to say to His Son, ‘The hour has come, go get your Bride’.  At the time we take our final breath, may each of us be ready.

 

Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained

This topic identifies the days/occasions which God commanded His people ancient Israel to observe.

In the Old Testament (OT), these occasions are divided into three categories…feasts, new moons, sábbaths.  Concerning Israel, the Lord declared in Ho.2:11 LXX, “I will turn away all her gladness, her feasts [Strongs g1859 hehortáy, Greek], her new moons [g3561 noumenía], her sabbaths [g4521 sábbaton], all her public assemblies”.  (God would send away Israel captive to Assyria in 721 BC.)

Those days/occasions are entered in the two Tables below.  On the left side of the Tables, the sabbaths, new moons, and feast days are listed in rows.  The four columns across the top of each Table show the various Aspects of the Days/Occasions, and their differing characteristics.  A bullet dot ● means an Aspect applies to a Day or Occasion.  Analysis and discussion of the data is below the Tables.

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 1

Aspects (across):	Sábbath	No Work	Holiday	No Work
	Cessation	At All	Semi-Rest	“Servile”
Strongs numbers:	sábbaton	érgon	anápausis	latréutos
Greek = g	g4521	g2041	g372	g2999.1
Hebrew = h	shabáwth	melakáh	shabathón	abodáh
	h7676	h4399	h7677	h5656
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sábbath	●	●	●
Day of Atonement	●	●	●
Land Sabbath – Year 7	●		●
New Moons
New Moon – Month 7			●	●
Passover Sacrifice
Unleavened Bread Day 1				●
Unleavened Days 2-6
Unleavened Day 7				●
Péntecost/Weeks				●
Feast of Booths Day 1			●	●
Booths Days 2-7
Last Great Day 8			●	●

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 2

Aspects (across):	Feast/	Do Only By	Assembly	Assembly
	Festival	God‘s Place	Summons	Feast Exit
Strongs numbers:	hehortáy	God‘s tópos	klaytós	éxodios
Greek = g	g1859	g5117	g2822	g1840.5
Hebrew = h	chag	mawkomé	miqrá	atzerét
	h2282	h4725	h4744	h6116
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sabbath			●
Day of Atonement			●
Land Sabbath – Year 7
New Moons	●		●
New Moon – Month 7	●		●
Passover Sacrifice	●	●
Unleavened Bread Day 1	●	●	●
Unleavened Days 2-6	●
Unleavened Day 7	●		●	●
Pentecost/Weeks	●	●	●
Feast of Booths Day 1	●	●	●
Booths Days 2-7	●	●
Last Great Day 8		●	●	●

The above two Tables/grids reflect the days and occasions which the Lord gave to ancient Israel.  There are three categories of occasions…sabbaths, new moons, feasts.

The three categories were evident in the prophecy of Ezk.45:17 JPS Tanakh. “It shall be the prince’s part… in the feasts [Strongs h2250 chag, Hebrew], the new moons [h2320 chódesh], the sabbaths [h7676 shabáwth], in all the appointed seasons [h4150 móed] of the house of Israel.”

The apostle Paul wrote in the Greek New Testament (NT) Col.2:16, “Don’t let anyone judge you…with respect to a feast [g1859 hehortay] day, a new moon [g3561 noumenia], or a sabbath [g4521 sabbaton] day”.  (False teachers and Pharisees were acting as judges of how to keep various occasions.)

All days in my two Tables were an appointed time/season, h4150 moed.  There are 220 occurrences of this Hebrew term in the OT.  Moed h4150 had various meanings: Occasions both God-ordained and man-ordained (Zec.8:19), a personal meeting time (David & Jonathán in 1Sm.20:35, Amasá in 2Sm.20:5), a set meeting place (140 occurrences, Ex.27:21 tent of meeting), a signal (Jg.20:38), the regularity of migratory birds (Je.8:7), a period of years (Da.12:7).  The Greek LXX translation in English is season, time, assembly, signal, etc.  Moed h4150 didn’t refer solely to religious days/times of God.

Following is detail about the three categories of days, and a comparison:

1. Sabbath Strongs h7676 shabawth noun occurs 100 times in the OT Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT).  In the OT Greek Septúagint/LXX the corresponding term is sabbaton g4521.  In the NT, sabbaton g4521 occurs 60 times.  I commonly refer to the Hebrew shabawth & Greek sabbaton as “sabbath” in English.

The root of the Hebrew shabawth h7676 is shabáth h7673 verb, meaning ‘to cease, rest’.  Ge.2:2 “On the 7^th day God ended His work which He had made, and He ceased [h7673, g2664 katapáuo] on the 7^th day.”

Sabbath h7676 was a near-full cessation.  The only occasions which are sabbaths: The weekly 7^th day sabbath, the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kíppur), and the land sabbath every 7 years (Le.25:1-7).  Although the land sabbath year of rest isn’t a ‘day’, I’ve included it among God’s other OT occasions.

Pertinent OT LXX and NT verses about the 7^th day sabbath g4521: Ex.16:23-29, 20:8-11; De.5:12-15; Ne.13:15-22; Is.56:1-6; Je.17:21-27; Mt.24:20; Mk.2:27-28, 6:2; Lk.4:16, 23:56; Ac.13:42, 16:13.

The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur was a double sabbath, according to the LXX (Le.16:31, 23:32).  It was the holiest day of the year.  Verses pertaining to the Day of Atonement: Le.16:1-34, 23:26-32, 25:9; Nu.29:7; Is.58:5, 13; Ezk.40:1-ff; He.9:6-7.

2. New Moons Strongs h2320 chodesh Hebrew noun, meaning moon or month.  As a new moon (the 1^st day or beginning or head of a month), it occurs 30 times in the Hebrew MT: Ex.40:2, 17; Le.23:24; Nu.1:1, 18, 10:10, 28:11, 29:1, 6; De.1:3; 1Sm.20:5, 18, 24; 2Ki.4:23; 1Ch.23:31; 2Ch.2:4, 8:13, 29:17, 31:3; Ezr.3:5-6; Ne.8:2, 10:33; Ps.81:3; Is.1:13-14; Ezk.45:17-18, 46:1-6; Ho.2:11; Am.8:5; Hag.1:1.  In the Greek LXX, the 1^st/beginning of the month is often rendered as “new moon”/noumenia g3561.  In the NT, “new moon” (noumenia g3561) occurs only in Col.2:16.

In the OT, there’s no direct command for the general populace of Israel to observe all new moons.  However, a combining of the above verses (in bold) regarding new moons indicates they were kept.  The new moon traditionally was sort of a mini-holiday for women in some respects.  The religious importance of new moons (Rosh Hashánah excepted) was less than that for sabbaths and pilgrim feasts.  Recognizing each passing new moon maintained awareness of God’s calendar for annual festivals.

Rosh Hashanah was New Year’s Day.  It traditionally commemorated the ‘birthday of the world’ of Genesis 1 at creation.  Le.23:24 Rosh Hashanah is the new moon (day 1) of Month 7 (as in the above Tables), according to Israel’s sacred year/calendar which begins near the spring equinox.  However, Rosh Hashanah is the new moon of Month 1, according to Israel’s civil year/calendar which begins near the autumnal equinox.  The Month 7 new moon references in Le.23:24; Nu.29:1; Ezr.3:6; Ne.8:2…are according to the sacred calendar occasion of Rosh Hashanah which is around Sep 22.  Barnes Notes Le.23:24 “The 1^st day’ of this month was the 1^st day of the Civil year…and was observed as the festival of the New year.”  JFB Commentary “That was the 1^st day of the ancient civil year.”

Rosh Hashanah means ‘head of the year’.  Rosh Hashanah precedes the Day of Atonement by 10 days and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering by 15 days; these were at the “end of the year” (Ex.23:16).  That is, when the old civil year ended and the new civil year began.  The onset of a Jubilee year was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Le.25:9-10).  cf. Ezk.40:1 (“beginning of the [civil] year”).

3. Feasts Strongs h2282 chag Hebrew noun, occurs 60 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term is hehortay g1859, which also occurs 27 times in the NT.

The three pilgrim feasts were Passover/Unleavened Bread, Péntecost/Weeks, Tabernacles/Sukkót.

Pilgrim feasts were based on the agricultural cycle in Israel.  The Lord commanded they be kept only at the one place where He dwelt, De.12:5, 16:16; 2Sm.6:2…never at two or more locations simultaneously.  Passover wasn’t allowed in their other various towns, De.16:5.  Those who didn’t come to Jerusalem for Booths/Tabernacles were to get no rain, Zec.14:16-19.  No location of man’s choosing was authorized.  (King Jeroboám’s attempted feast elsewhere failed, 1Ki.12:32–13:5.)  Pilgrim feasts, with their required offerings, were done only near/by God’s place (it was only in Israel).  see Table 2.

Israelite males were to attend three times each year.  ref Ex.34:22-24, De.16:16.  Benson Commentary Le.23:3 “Feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, where all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, in synagogues, and in their private houses.”

Unlike the feasts, the weekly 7^th day sabbath and the Day of Atonement were observed in all their dwellings/towns.  see Le.23:3, 31-32.

Passover h6453 pésach occurs nearly 50 times in the MT.  The corresponding LXX term is g3957 pásha, which also occurs nearly 30 times in the NT.  ref Ex.12:1-11, 43-48; Le.23:5; Nu.9:1-14; De.16:1-8; Mk.14:12; Lk.22:1, 7; Jn.11:55.  Passover and the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread began on Abíb 14-15.

Passover was done only at one location (at a time).  Lk.2:41-42 Jesus’ parents took Him to Jerusalem every year.  It would have been sin for them to try to ‘keep’ Passover in a Galilee town, De.16:5.  (A man unable to do Passover at God’s sole place was allowed to keep it there the next month, Nu.9:9-14.)

After the initial Passover meals (and the Wave Sheaf ceremony, Le.23:9-14), the remainder of the seven days of Unleavened Bread can be kept in their home dwellings.  ref Lk.24:13-ff where two people were leaving Jerusalem on Sunday a few days after Passover, but still during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

During Israel’s history, the Passover became somewhat synonymous with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Ezk.45:21 “Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.”  Lk.22:1 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover….”  Interchangeable terms.

Unleavened bread h4682 matzáh occurs 50 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term, ázumos g106, also occurs 9 times in the NT.  ref Ge.19:3; Ex.12:15-20; Jdg.6:19-21; Ac.12:3, 20:6; 1Co.5:7-8.

The feast of Pentecost or Weeks (Ex.34:22-23) or Shavúot was 50 days later, Le.23:15-21.  Some may interpret v.21 as Pentecost can be kept “wherever you live” (CSB) in some circumstances?  Barnes Notes Le.23:21 “The Feast of Weeks was distinguished from the two other great annual [pilgrim] feasts by its consisting, according to the Law, of only a single day.”  In the OT, there’s no clear example of anyone traveling to the temple to observe Pentecost (there is in the NT, Ac.2:1-14, 20:16).  The apocryphal book of Tobit 2:1 shows him eating a meal in the land of Assyria at the time of Pentecost.  As Israelites migrated from captivity, many couldn’t afford the trip back to Jerusalem for this one-day observance.

The annual seven-day Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering/Sukkot h5521 was very early in each new civil year (5 days after Atonement).  At the culmination of this feast was the 8^th Last Great Day called Shémini Atzerét.  ref Le.23:33-43; De.16:13-16; Ne.8:14-18; Zec.14:16-19; Jn.7:2, 37-39.  The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles too was kept only at the sole place in Israel where God’s Name dwelt.

Feasts and new moons weren’t complete rests…they weren’t shabawth h7676 or sabbaton g4521.  (see Table 1.)  Rather, extensive work could be done preparing the food they’d feast on.  No “servile” work was done.  They were holidays or semi-rests/near-rests, in that sense.  Assemblies/convocations were held at the tabernacle or temple during feast days.  (Assembly days for Occasions are noted with a ● in Table 2.)  Some days were shabathón h7677 or anápausis g372 rest (noun)…not a near-full cessation.

The Hebrew term shabathon h7677 noun occurs 10 times in the OT (all in Exodus and Leviticus): Ex.16:23, 31:15, 35:2; Le.16:31, 23:3, 24, 32, 39 (2), 25:5.  The LXX term is anapausis g372, which also occurs 5 times in the NT as “rest” KJV (not as “sabbath”/sabbaton g4521!).

Harvard grad William Converse Wood Sabbath Essays, p.130-131 “Sabbath days’ does not refer to Jewish festivals….feasts are often spoken of in the NT, but not one of them anywhere is called a sabbath, or credited with the nature of the sabbath….The feasts of trumpets [Rosh Hashanah] and tabernacles are termed merely shabathon….The Septuagint notes this distinction, not translating these feasts by the Greek sabbaton [sabbath], but by anapausis, rest.”  Shabathons were like sabbatóids.

Bible translations don’t always reflect the distinction between (Hebrew) shabawth h7676 and shabathon h7677.  They wrongly translate shabathon as “sabbath”.  e.g. Le.23:24, 39 KJV incorrectly rendered shabathon as “sabbath” for Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Booths Day 1, and Last Great Day 8.

Sabbaths did encompass the concept of semi-rest or near-rest, so they too were h7677/g372.  Yet more than that…sabbaths were near-total cessations.  Le.23:3 “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein.”  The “sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities, most (tiring) activities.  see Table 1.

Pulpit Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath and the Day of Atonement were the only days in which no work might be done, whereas on the other festivals it was only no servile work that might be done.”  No work at all was done on the 7^th day sabbath h7676/g4521 (De.5:14).

Again, sabbaths weren’t feasts and feasts weren’t sabbaths.  The Lord prohibited extensive food preparation on the sabbaths (unlike the feasts).  The Day of Atonement sabbath was even a fast day!  Israel was taught the lesson in Ex.16 by gathering manna six days each week…for 40 years!  But they didn’t gather on the 7^th day.  No work of any kind was permitted on sabbath (other than priests may do God’s work, Mt.12:5).

Bible translations in English differ.  But God’s various occasions (with their Aspects) can be accurately identified by the Strongs numbers which are associated with the old Hebrew & Greek source terms.

The Hebrew OT Ex.20:8, “Remember the shabawth [h7676] day, to keep it holy”.  It doesn’t say, ‘Remember the shabathon [h7677] (semi-rest) day, to keep it holy’.  The Hebrew/Greek terms shabawth h7676/sabbaton g4521…aren’t shabathon h7677/anapausis g372.

In Mt.11:28-30, Jesus exhorts believers to come be yoked to Him and find “rest”.  v.29 the Greek term here is anapausis g372…not sabbaton g4521 sabbath.  Jesus didn’t say He is the sabbath/shabawth!  To see Jesus as the sabbath is wrongly adding to His words.  Jesus isn’t our sabbath.  God/Jesus is greater than the sabbath and all else He created or ordained!  Thus Jesus is Lord of the sabbath (Mk.2:27-28), and of all creation.  Since Christ ceased from creating on the 7^th day, the weekly sabbath identifies God as Creator.  Vincent’s Word Studies Mt.11:29 “By coming to the Savior, they would first take on them the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and then that of the commandments, finding this yoke easy and the burden light.”  A rest from the Pharisees’ oral law yoke of bondage; cf. Ac.15:10, Ga.5:1.

Of all the days in the Tables, the 7^th day sabbath is the only occasion made holy (Gen.2:1-3) prior to Moses, the Old Covenant, and the Levitical order.  JFB Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath has the precedence given to it.”  Presbyterian scholar Ligon Duncan acknowledges in The First Things – The Creation Ordinances “In Genesis 1 and 2…there are four great creation mandates given….our four Creation ordinances are procreation [Ge.1:28], labor [Ge.1:28, 2:15], Sabbath [Ge.2:1-3] and marriage [Ge.2:21-25].”  Not Old Covenant Levitical feasts or new moon celebrations.  God’s four Creation ordinances supersede both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and all priestly orders!  Therefore, the 7^th day sabbath is the only day in the Tables which may be applied to the present Christian order of Melchisedek.  Let’s not forget…the 7^th day has been holy time since Creation!

{Sidelight: My own personal practice for decades is to observe the 7^th day sabbath as a day of rest.  (I’m not Seventh Day Adventist.)  I may also worship the Lord and traditionally go to church on Sunday or any day.  I’ve found that putting out leavened bread for seven days each spring helps renew my resolve to put/keep sin out of my life.  (cf. Ac.20:6.  Paul figuratively related leaven to sin, 1Co.5:6-8.)  Also I fast on the Day of Atonement (cf. Ac.27:9) and may attend a church meeting on that day or on Rosh Hashanah.  Doing these things can help a Christian stay focused on God.  This isn’t to say that honoring the annual Days of Unleavened Bread, Yom Kippur, or Rosh Hashanah is a substitute for Jesus’ sacrifice.  “Repent and be baptized” (Ac.2:38), and belief in His blood…is vital.}

Much more can be said about God’s occasions (and other observances) and their timing on the calendar.  For more detail, see the topics: “Sabbath 7^th Day” (series), “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, “Day of Atonement”, “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”, “Passover and Peace Offerings”, “Passover and the Exodus Timing”, “Feast of Booths”, “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”, “Christmas and Jesus’ Birth Month”, “Halloween All Souls Day”, “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.

Halloween and Noah’s Flood

Halloween ordinarily elicits images of death, ghosts and spirits.  We read about old heathen Hallowe’en customs of the West European Druid Celts, ‘barbarians’, etc…on All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve.

CBN: What Are the Pagan Roots of Halloween? “Halloween itself originated in paganism. The Celtic Festival of Samhain [Sáhwin] was observed on October 31 [or Nov 1, Celtic days began at sunset]. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on this day and the festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons said to be roaming about.”

Samhain is called the Witches’ New Year (celebrated by neo-pagans).  It was a harvest festival which preluded the darker winter season.  The word Samhain means ‘November’ on the Irish Gaelic calendar.

Encyclopaedia Brittanica: Halloween “People set bonfires on hilltops for relighting their hearth fires for winter and to frighten away evil spirits; and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognized by the ghosts thought to be present.”  This originated Halloween masks & costumes.

The Acronym: The Pagan Origins of Halloween “Celtic culture dates back to 1200 BCE. During the 3-day celebration, it was believed that the barrier between humans and otherworldly spirits was broken. Samhain was reframed as a Christian celebration to capitalize on the festival’s popularity, to help spread Christianity.”  History.com: How the Early Church Christianized Halloween “Tricks were traditionally blamed on faeries. Token offerings of harvested food [were] offered the spirits to placate them. Children would play games to entertain the dead. Pope Gregory 1 [590–604 AD] advised that a missionary should simply convert them [old religious customs] to a Christian religious purpose.”

But Is.5:20 warns, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil”.  De.18:10-12 NASB “There shall not be found among you anyone…who uses divination, who practices witchcraft, or a sorcerer. Whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.”  Witchcraft, etc. was an ‘abomination’ (KJV) in God’s eyes!

Wikipedia: Halloween “Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19^th century. Halloween activities include trick or treat [olden threats], attending costume parties, carving pumpkins [or turnips] into jack-o-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, scary stories, watching horror films.”  Facts.net: Halloween Facts “Halloween is the second highest-grossing commercial holiday, second only to Christmas in the U.S.”  It’s very popular!

On our modern Gregorian calendar, Halloween occurs the night of Oct 31^st.  Wikipedia: All Souls’ Day “Also known as the Day of the Dead, a day of prayer and repentance for the faithful departed, observed by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations annually on 2 Nov. The celebration is the last day of Allhallowtide, after All Saints’ Day (1 Nov) and Halloween (31 Oct).”  Like Samhain, 3 days.

The rest of this topic takes an unconventional look at Halloween and a very ancient All Souls’ Day.

It involves ancient calendars.  In 45 BC, Julius Caesar made January 1 the beginning of the calendar year (Julian calendar).  However, very anciently the new year generally began around mid–September.

Much earlier…Armenians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Hebrews began their year in late summer.

Old Assyrian Calendar Oxford Studies “The calendar of Upper Mesopotamian kingdom (Sámsi-Adád [1808–1776 BC]) started in August. Previous interpretations suggested a beginning of the Old Assyrian year the day of the autumnal equinox.”  (Akítu harvest festivals were held at both equinoxes.)

egypttoday.com 2021 “September 11 marks the beginning of the Egyptian year within the first calendar in human history; one of the first calendars known to mankind. This year is the 6,263^rd Egyptian year.”  Thoth’s Calendar “Established in the reign of Pharaoh Shépseskaf [2500 BC?]. New Year’s Day fell on the first of the month of Thoth, around August 29.”  Wikipedia: Thoth “The first month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between 11 Sep and 10 Oct of the Gregorian calendar.”  Wikipedia: Ethiopian Calendar “The New Year occurs on 11 September [Gregorian calendar].”

Let’s look at pertinent Biblical calendar background.  Moses’ ancestry included Isaac, Noah, etc., and he was also raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, Ex.2:9-10.  Ac.7:21-22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:10:1-2 Moses had been a general in the Egyptian army, warring against Cush/Ethiopia.  Moses, an Egyptian name, knew when the Egyptian year began.

Moses noted, Ge.26:12 (Septúagint/LXX) “Isaac sowed in the Land and reaped in the same year barley 100-fold”.  Circa 1900 BC.  The time to sow barley & wheat in Israel is Nov–Dec; and then it’s reaped in Apr–June.  For Isaac to sow and reap in the same year, their new year could’ve occurred near the autumn equinox.  But the new year couldn’t have occurred in Jan or at the spring equinox in March, between the sowing and reaping cycle of Nov to June.  Else Isaac would’ve reaped in the next year, not in the same year he sowed.  Isaac’s father Abraham had purchased land in Canáan from Hittites (Ge.23:10-20).  Ancient Calendars 5: Anatólia “Before the Late Bronze Age, the Hittite New Year came at the autumn equinox…Based on Akkádian documents from the Old Assyrian period.”

congdon ministries: Calendars of the Bible “At that time [of Moses, 1500s BC], peoples of Palestine, being agricultural, started their calendar systems in the early autumn, with the olive harvest. Likewise the Gezer/Egyptian calendar.”  The 900s BC ‘Gezer calendar’ tablet, found 20 mi. west of Jerusalem at the Philistine border, is one of the earliest Phoenícian or Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions discovered.  Times of Israel: Rosh Hashánah and the Mystery of the Gezer Calendar “The name Tíshrei is taken from the Akkadian month name Tashritu, or the ‘Beginning’ month. The first month in the inscription, ‘Moons of Gathering (agricultural produce)’, would then refer to Tishrei (Sep-Oct) and Héshvan (Oct-Nov).”

The month Tishri began Israel’s civil or calendar year.  Ex.23:16 the Feast of Ingathering/Booths at the full moon of Tishri occurred in early Oct “at the end of the year”. ref Ex.34:22.  Le.25:9-10 “You shall sound the ram’s horn on the 10^th day of the 7^th month [Tishri], on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kíppur, in Hebrew].”  The consecrated jubilee year was thus proclaimed in Israel on this 10^th day of Tishri, in the early autumn.  Ezk.40:1 “At the beginning of the year [Rosh Hashanah Strongs h7218 h8141, Hebrew] on the 10^th of the month [Yom Kippur].”  The annual High Holydays are Tishri 1-10.

{Sidelight: When the ancient Israelites were exiting Egypt, the Lord said to Moses in the early spring, Ex.12:1-2 “This shall be the beginning of months for you”.  It was the time of the first Passover.  In Ex.13:4 YHVH instructed Moses that their months (of the sacred year) were to begin then with Abíb the 1^st month. (also called Nisán, Est.3:7 & Ne.2:1; ‘Nísanu’, Babylonian.)  It follows that Siván would become the 3^rd month, Tishri (also called Éthanim, 1Ki.8:2) the 7^th month, Márcheshvan or Chéshvan or Heshvan the 8^th month, etc., according to God’s sacred calendar.  From the 1500s BC, at least two calendar reckonings were in effect simultaneously in ancient Israel.  The month Abib (Nisan), which began near the spring/vernal equinox, became the 1^st month of the year for future reckoning months, sacred festivals, and some king reigns.  The 7^th month Tishri, occurring near the autumn equinox Sep 20, was still the beginning month of the year for reckoning years, also jubilees and timing young unpicked or ‘uncircumcised’ trees (Le.19:23).  Abib/Nisan began the festival year.  New Years Day for ancient Israel remained at the month Tishri, according to the civil calendar (not the sacred calendar).}

The Jewish people celebrate the beginning of the (civil) year on Rosh Hashanah, the 1^st day of Tishri on the new moon.  It marked the “turn of the year” (Ex.34:22, 23:16).  Pulpit Commentary “The old Hebrew year ended…in autumn.”  Wikipedia: Rosh Hashanah Lit. “Head of the year’, the Jewish New Year, begins on the 1^st day of Tishrei…the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.”

Le.23:23-24 “The Lord spoke to Moses…‘On the 1^st day of the 7^th month [Tishri] you shall have a memorial by sounding [trumpets].”  Here the Hebrew term for “memorial” was zikarrón, and for “sounding”, teruáh.  New Year’s Day, Rosh Hashanah, is also known as: Yom Zikkaron, Day of Memorial…Yom Teruah, Day of Sounding (Trumpets)…Yom HaKéseh, Day of the Concealed Moon.

They acknowledged this Day of Memorial (1 Tishri) as the birthday of Adam.  In the days of Isaac, Abraham, Noah’s Flood, and back to the Creation…the season of Tishri was the 1^st month of the year.  It began in late summer near the autumnal equinox (+/- 15 days).

2,000 years ago, Josephus identified the name of the month and time of year when Noah’s Flood began.  op. cit. 1:3:3 “This calamity happened in the 600^th year the of Noah’s age, in the 2^nd month called by the Hebrews Marcheshvan; for so did they order their year in Egypt; but Moses appointed Nisan [Abib] should be the 1^st month [of the year] for their festivals…although he preserved the original order of the months [the civil calendar year starting in Tishri] as to selling & buying and other ordinary affairs.”

Ge.7:11-13 “In the 2^nd month, on the 17^th day of the month” (Marcheshvan or Cheshvan or Heshvan) the Noachian Flood came.  After the flood, Noah’s ark rested in the mountains of Armenia, and he planted a vineyard in the valleys (Ge.8:4, 9:20).  Ancient Armenian Calendar “The new year started with the month Návasard (from Armenian ‘New Year’) on August 11 [pre-2000 BC].”

Jewish Encyclopedia: Flood, The “The rain lasted during the months of Heshwan and Kíslew [time of Hanukkah]; the waters increased in Tebét, Shebát, Adár, Nisan, Iyár [spring]….The Hebrew year originally began in the fall.”  1200 AD Jewish philosopher Maimónides, “The beginning of our years is in Tishrei”.  And the month of Cheshvan still begins around Oct 15 on today’s Hebrew calendar.  (Long after Noah, Israel’s sacred calendar originated at Ex.12:2; then Cheshvan became the 8^th month.)

eyeopeningtruth.com “Chesvan is called the month of bool [1Ki.6:38 Bul], a name that stems from the word for ‘flood’. The flood began on the 17^th of Chesvan.”  Rabbi Ari Goldberg The Bitter Month “Chesvan is when darkness reigns, yet growth begins beneath the surface. Chesvan is classically referred to as Marchesvan. ‘mar’ [Strongs h4751] in Hebrew means ‘bitter’. The flood began on the 17^th of Chesvan.”  Bitter Chesvan.  Frederick A. Filby The Flood Reconsidered, p.106-108 “The old world perished in November. In ancient Assyria the ceremonies for the souls of the dead were in the month Arahsamna, which is Marcheswan.”

Pagan customs surround Halloween.  Sir James Frazier associated All Souls’ Day, the ancient Egyptian Festival of the Dead, with Nov 1^st in Adonis, Osiris, Attis. “The custom was observed throughout the whole of Egypt, and is referred by Heródotus as prevailing in the 5^th century BC.”  Nov 1^st falls in the month of Cheshvan or Marcheshvan or Heshvan in mid-autumn, according to the Hebrew calendar.

Some think the Deluge actually began on that day, November 1^st!  Again, for many ancient peoples, the new year began in mid-Sep.  For the 17^th day of the ancients’ 2^nd month to fall on Nov 1 according to our modern calendar, the 1^st day of the ancients’ 1^st month would’ve been near September 15.  D. Davidson wrote, “The day generally celebrated throughout the world, in ancient and modern times, as the anniversary of the Catastrophe [Flood], is 1^st November, with variations generally from 31^st October to 2^nd November.”  My desk calendar says the date Nov 2^nd is the Day of the Dead!

There is Old Testament evidence that the Jews memorialized and observed days of catastrophes.  Zec.8:19 “The fast of the 4^th, the fast of the 5^th, the 7^th, the 10^th months [sacred calendar].”  According to this verse, traditional fast days were instituted to remember four national afflictions.  In the 4^th month (on 17 Támmuz) Nebuchadnézzar took Jerusalem (Je.39:1-2).  In the 5^th month (on 9^th -10^th of Av) the temples of Solomon (Je.52:12-13) and Herod (Mk.13:1-2) were destroyed, 650 years apart.  The 2^nd day of the 7^th month was traditionally the date governor Gedaliáh was murdered (2Ki.25:25).  The 10^th day of the 10^th month was the siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC (Je.52:4, 39:1).  Again, since the 1500s BC, Hebrew months are reckoned from the spring Nisan/Abib.  (But years are still reckoned from Tishri.)

It seems the Jews didn’t view those national catastrophes as Divine Judgments, which could lead the people to national repentance.  Instead, they memorialized the national calamities and annually observed the dates on which they’d occurred (all too often without repentance)!

And it’s not only the Jewish people who memorialize catastrophes.  (Noah wasn’t Jewish.)  e.g. every Aug 6^th (‘A-Bomb Day’) the Japanese city of Hiróshima holds the Peace Memorial Ceremony.  In New York City, the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial is now where the World Trade Center buildings once stood.  And our Memorial Day holiday in late May remembers those who died in military service.

The dates appear to coincide to make All Souls’ Day the memorialization of an earlier great catastrophe…that rainy day when all souls died!  Nov 2^nd is the Day of the Dead!  Perhaps the old Halloween custom of bobbing for apples represents a very ancient gruesome reality?!

biblestudy.org: The True Origin of Halloween “It is entirely possible that the origin of the holiday is a perverted memorial to the people put to death in Noah’s Flood.”  Pastor Bradford Winship The Origins of Halloween and Noah’s Flood “October 31^st Halloween, meaning hallowed or sacred evening, is the day Noah boarded the ark and the great flood came. Taken as the devil’s holiday, but the day actually belongs to God.”  Yet there’s no record that Noah, Moses, or other patriarchs annually wore masks & costumes to hide their identity or scare away evil spirits!  I’m not endorsing Halloween observance!

{{Sidelight: A minority view thinks Noah’s Flood occurred in Iyar, the 2^nd month of Israel’s sacred calendar.  But that calendar didn’t exist prior to 1600 BC, in the time of Genesis.  Ge.7:11 & 8:3-4 the Flood lasted for 5 months, exactly 150 days.  But there’s only 147 or 148 days between the 2^nd and 7^th months on Israel’s later sacred calendar!  The historical sources Moses used for Genesis had a different calendar reckoning.  For evidence of an older new year, ref: Ex.23:16, 34:22; Le.25:9-10; Ezk.40:1-ff at the “beginning of the year” Ezekiel saw his grandest vision while fasting on Yom Kippur!}}

History does have a way of repeating itself.  e.g. the destruction of both Temples and a few other historical calamities which befell the Jewish people are said to have happened on the 9^th of Av!

To conclude…After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah and the living creatures.  Ge.9:9-17 God promised, “All flesh will never again be cut off by the water of a flood. This is the sign of the covenant; I will set my bow in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant.”

God was as a warrior who came in judgment in the days of Noah.  God’s bow imagery also symbolizes His mighty power.  (ref “bow” in Hab.3:9-10, Lam.2:4, Re.6:2, De.32:23).  Yet in Ge.9 His weapon was set aside unstrung in the clouds, representing peace.  JFB Commentary Ge.9:13 “A bow unstrung, or without a string, is a proper symbol of peace and friendship.”

The apostle Paul wrote in Ro.3:23, “All have sinned”.  Also Ro.6:23a “The wages of sin is death.”  Since the Garden of Eden, the result of sin has been death for all humanity (Ge.2:16, 3:19; Ro.5:12).

Regardless of the exact calendar day the Flood began, historically Halloween commemorates death.

We’ve all seen rainbows as they’ve occasionally appeared through the clouds.  But as Christians, we pursue the spiritual ‘pot of gold’ at the end of the rainbow!  Ro.6:23b “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Eternal life is our gift and our future through Jesus!  Thank You, Lord!

 

 

Feasts of the Lord and the Jews

Ceremonial observances such as tithing aren’t the weightier matters of God’s law, according to Jesus (Mt.23:23).  But there are Christians who unnecessarily do treat some rituals and ceremonial things as weighty matters.  This tendency has resulted in a measure of division in the Body of Christ.

The Lord’s Old Testament (OT) feasts were ceremonial things.  When did the feasts originate, and who were they for?  What did God require for their observance?  How were they kept  When and where were they to be observed?

There are several chapters of the Bible devoted to describing the occasions ancient Israel observed throughout the year…the appointed times (moedím), pilgrim feasts (chagím), new moons, sabbaths, shabbathóns (like sabbatoids).  ref Ex.12, Le.16, Le.23, Nu.9:1-14, Nu.28 & 29, De.16:1-17, 2Ch.30, 2Ch.35:1-19, Ne.8.  Also, within other chapters are shorter related passages.  All verses taken as a whole provide a description of the purposes for those occasions, their order during the year, and the do’s & don’ts of their observance.  Those several occasions had some similarities, but also significant differences.

Since Adam, there’s no example of God ‘dwelling’ with any group or nation in Genesis.  But in Exodus, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and they became His sole nation above all other peoples.  Ex.25:21-22 YHVH Himself ‘dwelled’ among Israel, so to speak, on the mercy seat above the cherubs atop the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle!  Ex.28:36-38 the Name of YHVH was inscribed on the gold plate across the Levitical high priest’s forehead as he served in the tabernacle sanctuary.  2Sm.6:2 “the ark of God which is called by the Name (HaShém), the very name of the Lord of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”

That was the specific place where the Lord dwelt among humanity and put His Name.  Le.9:23-34 & 6:13 holy fire from the Lord was to be kept burning continually on the altar at that sanctuary!  (see the topic “Fire From Heaven!”.)  There was no other place like it on the face of the earth!

The Lord YHVH took special measures and enacted regulations to help safeguard ancient Israel from going into idolatrous pagan worship.  Pilgrim feasts were enacted to worship the Lord God and offer sacrifices.  De.12:11 “The place in which the Lord your God shall choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you.”  De.16:16 “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before YHVH your God in the place He chooses…and they shall not appear empty-handed.”

The three pilgrim feasts were to be kept only at the location where God placed His Name, the location of the sanctuary/tabernacle/temple.  De.16:5-6 “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.”  See also De.12:5, 14, 17-18, 26, 14:23-25, 16:1-2, 10-11, 15-16 concerning keeping pilgrim feasts at that one place only.  That one place was in the Holy Land, not elsewhere in other nations!

A detailed sequence of many animal sacrifices was also required at that place during those feasts (Nu.28:16–29:40…that’s 55 verses about sacrifices!).  They were burnt by God’s holy fire.  Israelites were to bring their sacrifices, tithes, and other kinds of offerings to that place (1Sm.1:3, De.12:5-6).

The three pilgrim feasts were: 1) Passover (which began the days of Unleavened Bread), 2) Feast of Weeks/Péntecost/Shavúot, 3) Feast of Booths/Sukkót/Tabernacles/Ingathering.  The timing of the feasts was based upon the agricultural cycle in Israel.  God’s people were to keep them solely at the city where the sanctuary was, never at two or more locations simultaneously!  Keeping God’s three feasts elsewhere was not allowed in His Word!  (And man was not to add to nor take away from His commands, De.4:2.)

Since the ancient tabernacle was portable, at what locations or cities did YHVH place His Name as time passed, during ancient Israel’s history?  Prior to the building of the tabernacle, the very first Passover feast (Ex.12) was kept in the first month Abíb of the sacred year, only in Góshen Egypt.  This particular Passover was a one-time event, having some instructions which wouldn’t apply to any succeeding Passover (according to Dr. J.H. Hertz, late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire).

For example: they were to eat that one Passover in haste with their loins girded and staff in their hand (Ex.12:11); the animal blood was put on the doorposts of houses rather than sprinkled at the altar (Ex.12:7 versus Le.3:8, 2Ch.30:15-16 & 2Ch.35:11); that Passover was taken only from the flock and not also from the herd (Ex.12:5 & De.16:2); in Egypt there was no conditional allowance to keep the Passover in the second month of the year (compare Nu.9:1-14).

After leaving Egypt, the tabernacle was constructed.  The next year Israel kept the Passover encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness (Nu.9:1-5).  For 39 years the ark/tabernacle accompanied Israel during their wilderness wanderings.  Jsh.5:10 the first feast in the (Holy) Land of Canáan was Passover kept at Gilgál, where the ark/Name abode temporarily after they crossed the Jordan River.  Jsh.18:1 the initial established site for the sanctuary was Shilóh.  Je.7:12 wrote of this history, “My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first”.  Later the ark was moved to Bethél temporarily…Jg.20:26-27 “The ark of the covenant of God was there in those days.”  (ref “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)

Centuries after Moses & Joshua, Jerusalem became the ‘permanent’ place for the ark/Name and God’s Levitical priesthood.  Solomon’s temple was built there for Christ to ‘dwell’.  2Ch.6:38 “The house which I have built for Thy Name.”  1Ki.8:1 “In Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant.”  8:29 “My name shall be there.”  2Ch.7:1-3 the holy fire from the Lord fell there in Jerusalem on the altar!

The kingdom was divided after the days of Solomon.  Big Passover celebrations were later held at Jerusalem (nowhere else) in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reforms of Hezekiah (2Ch.30) and Josiah (2Ch.35:1-19).

But Judah disobeyed, so God sent them into captivity to Babylon.  At that time, Christ departed His temple sanctuary in Jerusalem (Ezk.10:4, 18-19, 11:22-23).  The armies of Babylon destroyed the temple.  The holy fire on the altar was extinguished.  There was no longer any sanctuary or animal sacrifices…no earthly place where God’s Name dwelt!

How then could the Israelites/Jews lawfully keep the three pilgrim feasts without a sanctuary (and no holy fire for their sacrifices), no place where God chose to put his Name?  The Bible reveals the answer…they couldn’t!  Two instances illustrate:

Daniel was a wise and righteous man (Ezk.14:20).  Da.10:1-5, 12-13 taken to Babylon, Daniel decided to fast for three weeks at the time of Passover (the 14th day of the first month Abib).  It would have been disobedience for him or anyone to keep a pilgrim feast in a town where God wasn’t placing His Name (De.16:5-6)!  So instead, Daniel fasted at that time…he didn’t keep Passover.

Later God ‘returned’ to Jerusalem.  Subsequently, Ezra recorded the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles again being kept at Jerusalem (Ezr.3:1-4).  Ezr.6:15-21 says the Passover was resumed in Jerusalem.  Several decades after this, Ezra himself came with many others to Jerusalem.  However, God didn’t authorize Ezra or anyone to keep the Passover anywhere else, and not while en route to Jerusalem.  See Ezr.7:8-10, 15, 8:15, 21, 30-33…just two days before Passover, Ezra departed the Ahavá River (near the Euphrates) on his four-month journey to the Holy Land.  No need for Ezra to delay his journey for three or four days until after Passover.  As with Daniel, it would have been disobedience for Ezra and his companions (some were even priests) to keep a pilgrim feast at a site near the Euphrates River away from Jerusalem!  So Ezra didn’t keep it.  (Then Ne.8:14-18 shows the Feast of Booths also was lawfully celebrated again in Jerusalem.)

For the man who was on a journey in another town at Passover time, God had even allowed him to keep the Passover at the tabernacle/temple the next month (Nu.9:9-11)…since there was no Passover being kept in that other town the man journeyed to in the first month.  This allowance is further proof that God had authorized the feast to be kept only at the city of the central sanctuary, and nowhere else!  (see “Passover and Peace Offerings“.)

What about Jesus in the New Testament (NT)?  Lk.2:41 “His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.”  The Name was there on the high priest’s mitre plate.  And John 7 shows Jesus going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths too.  Why didn’t Jesus and His family just keep those pilgrim feasts in Galilee at a lesser cost, rather than traveling three days each way to Jerusalem?  Because, it would have been sin for them to keep pilgrim feasts in a town of Galilee (cf. De.16:5-6)…only in Jerusalem then!  And if the sinless Jesus had ever sinned, we’d have no Savior!

Ac.2:1, 9-11 devout Jews living elsewhere in the Roman Empire came to Jerusalem to observe the pilgrim Feast of Pentecost.  In Ac.20:16 the apostle Paul was “hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost”.  Ac.18:21 KJV Paul said, “I must by all means keep this feast at Jerusalem”.  All NT passages about pilgrim feasts show them being kept only at Jerusalem.  There’s no scriptural example of a NT church convoking for any pilgrim feast in their local town/city…God hadn’t authorized it.  (Most Jews today call their spring celebration a séder.  It’s not a real Passover…that’s impossible now.)

Neither in the OT nor in the NT do we read of people, with or without the Holy Spirit, keeping pilgrim feasts in a town away from the environs of the central sanctuary where God had put His Name!  Not Elijah, not Daniel, not Ezra, not Jesus, not Peter, not Paul, not the Ephesians or Thessalonians…no one.  In the 900s BC, the man Jeroboám had disobediently tried to institute a feast site away from the altar of holy fire, the physical place of God’s Name in Jerusalem…but his hand withered (1Ki.12:32-13:5)!

Another of God’s requirements for keeping pilgrim feasts was physical circumcision.  Ex.12:48 “When a stranger/ger sojourns with you and does the Passover, let all his males be circumcised. No uncircumcised person may eat of it.”  Ezk.44:9 “Thus says the Lord God, ‘No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter My sanctuary.”  (also Lam.1:10, Ac.21:28-29.)  Uncircumcised gentiles were not allowed in the temple where the Passover and other pilgrim feasts were kept by circumcised Israelites/Jews & Jewish proselytes!  Outsiders could come no closer than the Court of the Gentiles.

John even went so far as to refer to God’s Passover and Feast of Booths as a “feast of the Jews” (Jn.6:4 & 7:2).  John so refers because the people keeping them were physically circumcised Jews, whereas God didn’t authorize the uncircumcised (who would also hear John’s gospel) to keep them.  Also Jn.11:55 “the Jews‘ Passover.”  When ancient Israel had entered the Holy Land, Joshua made sure all the males were physically circumcised, so they could lawfully keep the upcoming Passover at Gilgal (Jsh.5:6-10).

There’s no scriptures indicating the existence of any pilgrim feasts for saints who lived prior to the nation of Israel!  Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Job…none had pilgrim feasts.  There were no pilgrim feasts for gentiles in Genesis.  There was no Passover prior to the time when God the Word “passed-over” Egypt in Ex.12:23 and saved the Israelite firstborn sons.  (“Christ our Passover”, 1Co.5:7 according to the circumcised Jews, Paul & Sosthénes, 1Co.1:1 & Ac.18:17.)  Pilgrim feasts weren’t authorized for observance by anyone except the physically circumcised peoples from Israel & Judah and circumcised proselytes/aliens!  These feasts were only in the (Holy) Land.  see “Circumcision in the Bible”.

After the temple was destroyed again in 70 AD, there have been a small minority of Christians through the centuries who’ve claimed they’re keeping the above pilgrim feasts.  But what they’re actually doing is celebrating a church event or attending a church retreat or camp meeting…and just calling that occasion of theirs the Passover or Feast of Tabernacles/Booths.  They aren’t really keeping God’s feast…because they aren’t doing the necessary characteristic activities or requirements which defined God’s pilgrim feasts!  They’re ‘keeping’ a pilgrim feast in name only!  A pseudo-feast.  It’s been said, ‘You can call something whatever you want, but it doesn’t make it so’.

For example, you can call a possum a lion…but it’s still a possum.  Although both animals have four legs and fur, they aren’t the same creature.  I played some baseball in high school, and tennis.  A baseball game shouldn’t be called a tennis game, and vice versa.  Although both activities are sports with a ball and were played in the same season at school, they also have big defining differences.

It’s scripturally impossible to really keep a pilgrim feast today!  For nearly 2,000 years, the required singular earthly sanctuary where God was placing His Name hasn’t existed!  And I might add, in scripture pilgrim feasts weren’t authorized to be kept just anywhere by people whose bodies are the temple of God via the Holy Spirit (1Co.3:16).  Without that one place available, there was no lawful pilgrim feast!  Furthermore, many if not most Christian men aren’t physically circumcised (and don’t need to be, religiously).

Many churches occasionally have special church events, retreats, or camp meetings.  But there are a relatively few church organizations who set up their own simultaneous so-called pilgrim feast sites (plural) in various cities during the seasons of the ancient pilgrim feasts…and to these they invite physically uncircumcised members and others.  They call it God’s Feast of Booths/Sukkot/Tabernacles.  (And calling it that makes their event sound scriptural and may increase the monetary offerings they receive.)  Yet what they’re doing doesn’t have the defining characteristics and requirements of God’s pilgrim feasts.  What those groups are naming their event is a significant misnomer, or a counterfeit.  It can be inculcated.

Yes, these church groups and ancient Israel both worshiped the same God, and the modern so-called feasts are held at the same seasonal times as were the OT feasts…but there are big differences, as the above examination of scripture reflects.  The Lord’s commands regarding His pilgrim feasts weren’t just about what and when, but also about who, how and where!

Groups traditionally promoting pilgrim feast-keeping also can pharisaically cause other Christians, who don’t claim to be observing pilgrim feasts, to feel less righteous or perhaps lacking in Bible understanding.  This harms the “body of Christ” and causes division.  And division is further caused by calendar differences even among the groups trying to promote and pinpoint the exact when for their supposed feast observances.

The months in ancient Israel were reckoned by the moon.  But the Bible doesn’t define exactly what constituted the new moon.  Although Jewish historians have cited the method in use in the 1^st century Holy Land to reckon the new moon, scripture doesn’t clearly reveal a method.  Consequently, moderns who think they’re keeping the ancient feasts even disagree among themselves regarding whether the new moon is reckoned by: the first visible crescent as seen locally or seen from Jerusalem or calculated, Hillel II’s Hebrew calendar of around 350 AD, or the astronomical conjunction (‘dark’ moon).  It is confusion.

In narrowing this topic to the feasts, the other OT appointed times or the sabbaths or shabbathons haven’t been addressed.  Although some days falling within the pilgrim feast periods were shabbathons (Strongs Hebrew h7677), none were full sabbaths (h7676), other than the regular 7^th day weekly sabbath.  (To confirm this, reference Strongs numbers in interlinear Bibles or see the Septúagint/LXX or the Jewish JPS Tanákh.)  The annual Day of Atonement was a double sabbath, according to the LXX Le.16:31 & 23:32.

Following is a listing of Israel’s God-ordained annual days and the time of year they occurred:  Passover, with the seven days of Unleavened Bread & Wave Sheaf, occurred in early April.  Pentecost was fifty days later, near June 1.  The Day of Trumpets/Shouting, Rosh Hashánah (“Beginning of the Year”, Ezk.40:1a), occurs near the beginning of autumn.  The Day of Atonement or Yom Kíppur fast is ten days later, near October 1.  Lastly, the 7-day Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering and the Last Great Day 8 (Shémini Atzerét) began five days after Yom Kíppur in October.  see “Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained”.

The weekly sabbath, the remaining days of Unleavened Bread (subsequent to the Passover & Wave Sheaf), Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are unlike the pilgrim feasts in that those special days weren’t to be kept solely at the environs of God’s earthly sanctuary.  As G.J. Goldberg noted, “On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur there was no command to gather in the Temple“.  Those days were observed in all their houses and towns (ref Le.23:3, 23-24, 31-32, Ex.12:19-20).  Israelite laymen weren’t enjoined to bring animal sacrifices to the temple on those special days.  Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur aren’t pilgrim feasts.  Those two, and the recurring 7^th day sabbath, may be kept in any homes (without physical circumcision).

After going up to Jerusalem for the Passover (and Wave Sheaf) as commanded, in Lk.24:13 we read of two people returning home to Emmaús for the remaining days of Unleavened Bread.  Abroad, Luke refers to the days of Unleavened Bread (Ac.20:6).  And “the fast” Luke mentions in Ac.27:9 is thought by most to be Yom Kippur.  God had allowed these occasions to be observed anywhere.  The fact that Luke references them outside the Holy Land indicates they were being kept by Jews, and probably by some Christians too.

Many Jews (and some Christians) still observe them.  Jews traditionally refer to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (in the early autumn) as the High Holydays.  The sabbath of Yom Kippur is the most sacred day of the year for the Jewish people.  They renew their search for God, doing teshúvah/repentance during their ten traditional Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Many Jews who never go to synagogue at other times will attend the services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur!  Then some Jewish families traditionally erect a hut in their own backyard, in which they eat a few meals over seven days…but this isn’t viewed as really ‘keeping’ the pilgrim Feast of Booths as God had commanded it, e.g. De.16:16.  They go to work or school during the 7 days, since they can no longer lawfully keep the Feast anyway.

Goldberg wrote, “With the destruction of the Temple, the pilgrimage festivals could no longer be observed in their prescribed forms”.  Actually, God had commanded native-born Israelites to build temporary booths in the environs of the central sanctuary on the first day of the Feast of Booths, in which they’d dwell for seven days (Le.23:40).  Messianic Rabbi Jack Zimmerman wrote, “All Jewish men from near and far were required to journey to Jerusalem….crowds made their way to the Temple….since this was a pilgrimage feast, every Jewish man would have to be there.”  And again, God never authorized Israelites or Jews (or gentiles) to keep His pilgrim feasts outside the Holy Land.

Also seen in scripture are the two annual Jewish feasts of Hanukkah/Feast of Dedication/Festival of Lights (Jn.10:22, 2Mac.10:5-8) and Purím (Est.9:27-28).  They aren’t God’s pilgrim feasts.  So these later man-ordained commemorations of God’s visitations weren’t restricted by YHVH to the city of the central sanctuary, and are celebrated happily in other countries today (though limited in Arab nations).  During Hanukkah some Jewish families opt to exchange gifts, such as books and games, for seven nights.

Again, the scriptural exhortation is to not add to nor take away from God’s commands.  Some Christians mistake their church traditions for God’s written word.  Some knowingly prefer their traditions.  Jesus said of the Pharisees, “You reject the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition” (Mk.7:9)!

Paul wrote of those who “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Ro.10:2).  Although there are well-meaning Hebrew roots groups and Christians who think they’re observing pilgrim feasts in various cities simultaneously…there isn’t a way by which God’s pilgrim feasts can be lawfully kept today.  It’s one thing to attend a Sunday church service at the approximate time of the year when the ancient Feast of Pentecost was held…but it’s quite another thing to think one is actually ‘keeping the feast’, considering all that God required to really keep it!  It’s not that God is against supposed feast-keepers worshiping Him.  God seeks worshipers (Jn.4:23).  Christians in this nation are free to (prudently) set apart a day or days to worship God with church or family.  The issue is…masquerading they’re really keeping His pilgrim feasts!

Elder John Kiesz wrote of the minister in the Church of God 7^th Day who, decades ago, started teaching the OT pilgrim feasts should be kept in the USA. “It was in the fall of 1937 when elder’s [name withheld] credentials were revoked by the Church of God organization. The reason given by the Board of Twelve for this action was because he taught and kept the annual Feast days.”  For this error, COG7 didn’t allow him to continue in their official ministry.

Pilgrim feasts don’t exist in scripture apart from the required: 1) sole earthly sanctuary with God’s Name (and holy fire), 2) animal sacrifices, 3) physical circumcision!  Those definitive characteristics of pilgrim feasts aren’t part of the New Covenant.  The feasts are part of the Levitical order, not the order of Melchisedek (He.5:6).  And again, the timing of pilgrim feasts was linked to the agricultural cycle in Israel.  It’s not relevant to non-Jews in other nations where there are other cycles and climates, e.g. those in remote areas or in the southern hemisphere which has opposite seasons.  Yet the feasts and their typologies do remain good Biblical teaching tools of the Lord’s salvific acts, and show how YHVH worked with His people ancient Israel.

Lastly, there are several differing eschatological interpretations extant in Christendom today.  But if a person’s view or expectancy of reinstituted ceremonial things of God were to impute disobedience to God’s commandments, then their eschatology would be inconsistent with scriptural commands!  For example, some people eschatologically interpret Zec.14:16-21 in a literal manner which wouldn’t match God’s requirements for His feasts and sanctuary.  However, we read that even Zechariah’s Feast of Booths with uncharacteristic holiness concepts is kept only in Jerusalem!  Not in Egypt, not in two or more locations simultaneously, not anywhere else…only in Jerusalem (v.16-19) in the Holy Land!

{Sidelight: Zec.14:16-21.  Much of the book of Zechariah is symbolic.  To interpret him as saying Egyptian non-Jews wouldn’t get rain for their failure to go up to Jerusalem in the future, is an understood irony.  Because Egypt is arid desert which only averages 3 inches of rainfall a year anyway!  (Egypt’s crops were dependent on the Nile River’s annual flooding, not on rainfall.)  Israel’s ancient oppressor didn’t get rain to speak of (cf. the traditional water pouring ceremony).  Gill Exposition v.16-ff says they’re not literally keeping a Feast of Tabernacles.  Furthermore in v.20, the “Holy to YHVH” on the horses’ bridles is also symbolic, as it alludes to the “Holy to YHVH” on the high priest’s golden plate (Ex.28:36).  It’s not literal.  The horses won’t really be holy as the high priest was!  The cooking pots won’t really be as the sanctified bowls in which the priest caught the blood and splashed it on God’s altar.  Zec.14:21 neither will people throughout Judea really be cooking holy animal sacrifices unto the Lord in their homes.  This is symbolic too.  There’s no need for animal sacrifices of boiled offerings anyway!  Jesus’ final sacrifice finished it!  He ended the need for inferior animal sacrifices.  The book of Hebrews is clear on this (e.g. He.10:1-18).

The overall meaning of Zechariah’s passage relates to YHVH’s holy Name becoming known to all nations as the gospel spreads (e.g. Ezk.38:23, Ps.145:21b).  Matthew Henry said of the passage, “The life of a good Christian is a constant Feast of Tabernacles”.  Zec.14:8 “And it will come about that living water will flow out of Jerusalem”, to the east and to the west, in summer and in winter.  The Holy Spirit is that living water of which Jesus spoke at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jn.7:37-39 (also ref Jn.4:10-14), as Christians year-round are spreading the Name of the Lord to Egypt and to all nations!  Glory to God!

Pulpit Commentary Zec.14:16 “It is evident the announcement could never be literally fulfilled.”  Yes, Zechariah would have known that rainfall in Egypt is always scarce.  And he wasn’t really saying common horses’ bridles would have inscribed on them the Tetragrámmaton Name as was on the high priest’s holy mitre plate!  Zechariah didn’t mistake profane cookware for the holiness of God’s sanctuary vessels.  As a priest, he surely knew that God hadn’t authorized or sanctified kettles in common Judean kitchens for holy use.  Zechariah didn’t err about temple holiness or literally contradict God’s commandments or mean that physically uncircumcised gentiles will really go up and offer animal sacrifices in God’s earthy sanctuary!  We can trust the veracity of God’s precepts and requirements.  It’s faulty exegesis to interpret (prophetic) passages in a manner that has God literally contradicting His own requirements in scripture!  e.g. Jn.6:54 Jesus saying to eat His flesh & blood isn’t literal, since human cannibalism is sin (unclean)!  Much of the book of Zechariah is symbolic anyway…1:18-21, and almost the entirety of chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 11!  The imagery of Zec.14:16-21 is also symbolic, not to be interpreted literally as an actual Feast of Booths.  (Yet even Zechariah’s symbolic “feast” occurs only in Jerusalem, not in the USA or anywhere else!)}

To conclude…God doesn’t contradict His prescriptions.  The Lord wants a people who are right examples of His truth to family, neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates…not advocating modern pseudo-feasts as God’s truth.  Let’s have a right fear of God and not disobey His commandments (Ec.12:13).  And worship Him in truth!  Ec.8:12b “It will be well for those who fear God.”

Christmas and Jesus’ Birth Month

Christmas is the USA’s most popular holiday, annually celebrated by more than 90% of the populace.  Yet some people who believe in Jesus as Savior don’t feel they should celebrate His birthday, or not at the generally accepted season.  Maybe they don’t think December 25 was really His human birth date.  Maybe they disapprove of the ungodly heathen or wrong trappings which became attached to the celebration.  Or they don’t see the celebration commanded by God in the Bible.  And ‘Christmas Break’ is now called ‘Winter Break’.  This topic examines these issues, and offers a reasonable conclusion.

Many myths and legends began with an element of real truth or fact…where there’s smoke there’s fire.  That’s the case with Christmas traditions.  That Jesus was born and lived as a human is truth/fact.  The historians Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny refer to Him, all writing prior to 120 AD.  But then…questionable or objectionable customs and embellishments were added over the centuries.  e.g. Santa Claus, holly & mistletoe, wass-ale-ing, party spirit, xmas ham, excess materialism or greed.

Before Christ, religious sects in Israel also attached ritual customs to the Lord’s holydays.  And religious activity such as prayer, immersion in water, waving tree/palm branches, e.g…were customs of pagans too!  Should Christians avoid these practices just because the heathen did them for their gods?  The observance of Jesus’ birth spread among countries & cultures which attached pagan elements to His birth.  But did these early Christians remain heathens at heart?

The Bible also reflects occasions which were added, not commanded by God.  ref Est.9:19 Purim; Jg.11:39-40; Zec.8:19.  Hánukkah was attended by Jesus (Jn.10:22-23).  It commemorated the defeat of Antíochus Epíphanes in the 160s BC, rededicating the altar and cleansing the temple.  1Mac.4:52-59 & 2Mac.10:5-9 the Jewish people (not God) ordained Hanukkah by common statute (2Mac.10:8).  This man-ordained occasion begins on Kíslev 25 (in our Nov-Dec)!  Perhaps Jesus was born or conceived during Hanukkah, the eight-day ‘Festival of Lights’.  Let’s closely examine His time of birth.

The supposed old Jewish tradition of ‘integral age’ said a great prophet was born or conceived and died on the same date.  Jesus died during Passover week, around Apr 1.

Historically, Jesus’ human birth was set at: May 20, Apr 17, Mar 28, and Jan 6 (‘12 days of Christmas’ after Dec 25?) in the early Eastern church, Armenian, Coptic, Russian Orthodox.

Some think Jesus was born near a Sep 25 Rosh Hashánah, His conception being the previous Dec 25 Hanukkah.  But Rosh Hashanah was still the time of grape and fig processing, and for regional dates and pomegranates.  Agriculture provided tax revenues to Rome!  It seems unlikely that Rome would purposely antagonize Jews by requiring an agricultural society to travel to their old ancestral locales for a census (Lk.2:1-6) at this busy season.  The slow period for plowing, sowing, reaping was Dec–Feb.

Following is a capsule review of Jesus’ Nativity, tying together the accounts of Luke and Matthew.  Lk.1:5-25 the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias, who was serving in the temple.  He tells Zacharias that his elderly wife Elizabeth will bear a son named John.  Zacharias was of the priestly course of Abijáh.  1Ch.24:1, 5, 7, 10 Jehoiaríb’s was the 1^st weekly course, Abijáh’s the 8^th; each was sabbath-to-sabbath.  If Zacharias saw Gabriel in June, then that could place the birth of John the Baptizer near Passover (customarily set a plate for Elijah), with Jesus’ birth 6 months later near September 25.  But if he saw Gabriel October 1, then John was born 9 months later near July 1, and Jesus near January 1.

Lk.1:26-60 Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary.  Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus and travels 75 miles south from Nazareth of Galilee to visit her elderly aunt Elizabeth, who is 6 months pregnant with John (near Bethlehem or Hebrón in Judea).  Mary stays with Elizabeth for 3 months and John is born.  Upon Mary’s return to Galilee, her fiancée Joseph now sees she is 3-4 months pregnant.  What?!  Mt.1:18-25 in a dream an angel tells Joseph of the forthcoming miraculous virgin birth, and Joseph will wed Mary.

Lk.2:1-8 just before Mary goes into labor, she and Joseph travel 4 days south to Bethlehem, which is 6 miles south of Jerusalem.  They must go to this rather distant town of Joseph’s ancestors to register for Augustus’ census.  v.3 “All were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city.”

{Sidelight: This most likely wasn’t Feast of Tabernacles (FOT) time.  At FOT time, Joseph, their male relatives (and the shepherds too, Lk.2:8) would’ve gone to Jerusalem as commanded by God…not to Bethlehem or other original Israelite tribal areas/towns for census purposes.  ref De.16:11, 16, 12:11, 14:23-25; Je.7:12; 1Ki.14:21; Lk.2:41.  From the days of Solomon, the only location where God authorized pilgrim feasts be kept is Jerusalem, where the central sanctuary was…and never at two or more locations simultaneously! (see “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”.)  Ellicott Commentary Lk.2:7 “There was no room for them at the inn’. The town was crowded with persons who had come to be registered.”}

Lk.2:9-38 as Jesus is born, the shepherds witness His glorious Birth-day celebration in the heavens!  v.13-14 “Suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men.”  Then while staying at a (relative’s?) house in Bethlehem, Jesus’ ‘parents’ bring Him to the temple for circumcision, and then for Mary’s purification 40 days after giving birth (Lk.2:21-24, ref Le.12:1-8).

Probably the wise men/mági haven’t arrived yet with their expensive gifts, since Mary could only afford to offer two turtledoves (Lk.2:24), not a more expensive lamb.  Anna and witnesses begin to make knowledge of Jesus public.  (Lk.2:39 Luke’s account skips the magi visit and the holy family’s soon-coming flight to Egypt before returning home to Galilee.)

Mt.2:1-11 perhaps very soon after the purification offering, wise men or magi arrive at the Bethlehem house, bringing expensive gifts.  They came from Arabia (ref Is.60:6 gold & frankincense), or Babylon (ref Da.5:11 the Jewish prophet Daniel had been appointed chief of the wise men in Babylon) or Persia.  Joseph likely was needing to return to his Nazareth business…supposedly he’s of modest means.

Opinions vary about what the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ was…a great comet, supernova, visible conjunction of heavenly bodies, an angel, the shekínah glory returning after 500 years to conceive Jesus, or something else supernatural?  ref Nu.24:17, Is.9:1-2, Ezk.11:23.  Maybe the wise men saw the “star” 10 months previously, or maybe only 41 days previously?  It is thought that a small camel caravan could travel 15–20 miles a day, each carrying 200–300 lbs.  At that rate, a 700-mile journey could take 35–45 days.

After giving gifts, the magi depart.  Mary will treasure in her heart (Lk.2:19) the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ miraculous birth…the shepherd’s vision (Lk.2:8-20), the magi visit and their account of seeing the star, etc.  Mary will pass it on to Jesus’ disciples and others.  (see “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”.)

Mt.2:12-18 upon the magi’s departure, the family will leave Bethlehem.  But in a dream an angel warns Joseph not to travel 75 miles north to Nazareth…but instead take a (200-mile?) detour WSW to Egypt, to avoid Herod the Great.  Very soon Herod will murder all Bethlehem infants who are in their second year or under…7 to 20 infants, based upon population estimates.  Having just received valuable gifts from the wise men, the family now has the wherewithal to afford the sojourn in Egypt (whereas they could only afford to sacrifice two turtledoves on the 40^th day of purification, Lk.2:22-24).

Mt.2:19-23 an angel in another dream tells Joseph of Herod’s death.  (Josephs had significant dreams, cf. Ge.37:5-ff!)  The family returns home to Nazareth…perhaps via the Way of the Sea, to avoid ethnarch Archeláus in Judea.

In what calendar month was Jesus born?  Early Christians ‘fathers’ wrote:

Justin Mártyr (100–165 AD) said Jesus was born at Bethlehem, “As you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing made under [Quirínius] your first procurator in Judea”. (First Apology, 34)

Tertullian (160–250 AD) “His [Joseph’s] enrollment in the census of Augustus, that most faithful witness of the Lord’s nativity, kept in the archives at Rome.” (Against Marcion 4:7:7)  The census of Lk.2:1-5 was documented.

Hippólytus (165–236 AD) “The first advent of our Lord in the flesh, born in Bethlehem eight days before the kalends [1^st] of January.” (Commentary on Daniel 4:23:3)  That was inclusively Dec 25.

Cyril of Jerusalem (348–386 AD) reportedly asked Julius, bishop of Rome, to assign the true date of Jesus’ birth “from census documents brought by Titus to Rome”.  Julius assigned Dec 25.  That would place Jesus’ conception near the previous Passover (which corresponds to ‘integral age’ tradition).

Wikipedia: Christmas “A traditional Jewish belief [was] that great men were born and died on the same day. Jesus was therefore considered to have been conceived on March 25, as He died on March 25 [Tertullian].  In 221 AD, Sextus Julius Africánus gave March 25 as the day of…the conception of Jesus in his universal history.  St Ephráim [306-373 AD] taught that the date of the conception of Jesus Christ fell on 10 Nisán of the Hebrew calendar, the day in which the passover lamb was selected according to Exodus 12. Some years 10 Nisan falls on March 25 [Apr 6 old Julian calendar].”

Chrýsostom (347–407 AD) said a Dec 25 date was verified by actual census/tax records of Joseph registering in Bethlehem.  Chrysostom taught that John the Baptizer’s father Zacharias was serving on the Day of Atonement (late Sep/early Oct) when Gabriel appeared to him.  Lk.1:10 a “multitude” at the temple indicates it was a sabbath or a feast day.  That would place the birth of John the Baptizer around July 1 (and Jesus’ birth six months later, around Jan 1).

In 70 AD Sunday Aug 5 (the 9^th of Av) the temple was destroyed.  The 1^st priestly course of Jehoiarib was serving then (ref Talmud Olam Rabbah and Alfred Edersheim).  If the priestly service order had remained unbroken for decades, 70 years earlier was Zacharias’ service course of Abijah in early Oct?

The Jewish Christian historian Alfred Edersheim wrote in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.131, There are temple flocks (at Bethlehem) that “remain in the open alike in the hottest days and the rainy season, i.e. all year round”.  Winter temperatures there are similar to those in Houston, TX.

Shepherds witnessed the heavenly Birth-day celebration!  Wise men gave gifts to the infant King Jesus (birthdays of kings were celebrated).  Christ’s spirit is within Christians via the Holy Spirit.  Col.1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Many Christians celebrate Christmas by exchanging gifts.

However, an eternal Santa Claus (with hair white like wool, like snow, cf. Re.1:14) annually bringing gifts is a lie and counterfeits the glorified Jesus Christ.  Commercialism obscures and detracts from the proclaimed ‘reason for the season’.  Purchasers suffer too much credit card debt, sometimes the result of trying to outdo others in gift-giving.  And those old census records no longer survive.  Nevertheless….

If it wasn’t for Christ’s life…there would be no Christmas bearing His title!  Mal.4:2 the Sun/Son of Righteousness so far outshines former sun-gods, those pagan gods don’t even come to the minds of Christians who annually celebrate Christmas!  The origin of a custom doesn’t always determine its present meaning.  Celebrating Jesus’ birth is not only for the Roman Catholic Christ-mass (the mass began 1000 AD).  A Chicago suburban “Calvary Church” isn’t accused of worshiping a skull and the goddess Círce!  1Co.3:5 Apollos, in spite of his heathen god name, was the Lord’s servant.

Obsolete meanings don’t apply.  Our worshiping God/Christ on Saturday or Sunday or Monday doesn’t make us Saturn or Sun or Moon worshipers!  ref Ralph Woodrow’s Christmas Reconsidered (recommended reading).  He notes that it would be futile to spend our lives trying to eradicate pagan terms which permeate all of society!  e.g. the term “janitor” is from the god Jánus.  Ezk.8:14 Támmuz was anciently a pagan god.  Yet the month of Tammuz is Jun-Jul on the present Jewish calendar.  It’s from the Babylonian exile (cf. the month Nisan occurs Mar-Apr).

The designations BC/AD and BCE/CE, relating to our calendar, pivot around Christ’s birth!  Truth be told…He was born sometime, praise God…although we don’t know exactly when!

What about the Christmas tree custom?  Je.10:3-5 “They cut down a tree. The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They beautify it with silver and gold. They fasten it, it does not stumble. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field (upright as a palm tree), they cannot speak, they cannot walk.”  This is about idol worship, not a Christmas tree!  A scarecrow is a man’s image, not a tree’s image.  A scarecrow scares away birds, whereas a tree attracts birds…the opposite!  Gill Exposition Je.10:3 “A tree cut down with an axe, planed with a plane and formed into the image of a man or some creature.”  Life Application Bible Note “Those who put their trust in a chunk of wood, even though it is carved well and clothed beautifully, are foolish.”  Scarecrows and metal-plated gods can’t talk or walk.

Compare the Epistle of Jeremiah 1:70 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber garden, guarding nothing, so are their wooden gods, plated with silver and gold.”  v.7-10 “These gods of silver, gold and wood with clothing like humans, but they cannot preserve themselves.”  The book of Jeremiah and the epistle of Jeremiah both refer to the same idols.

Is.44:13 “Another shapes wood, works it with planes, and makes it like the form of a man.” (also Is.40:19-20)  Ps.115:4-7 “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths but they cannot speak; eyes but they cannot see; ears but they cannot hear, feet but they cannot walk.” (Je.10:5 is in the center margin xref!)  cf. De.4:28.  Such graven images were figurines or teraphím household gods (Ge.31:19, 34-35; 1Sm.19:13)…idols in human shape.  They weren’t Christmas trees.

Who today really worships a Christmas tree anyway?  Some few.  Yet it has symbolic meaning.

Re.22:1-2 “The tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit.”  An ever-green Christmas tree became symbolic of the tree of life, which was traditionally decorated with fruits & nuts.  (see the topic, “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.)  The USA began the tree custom after 1830 AD.  Churches that put up a tree, with lights and a figurative Star of Bethlehem at the top…they and other organizations may also feed or give gifts to the needy then!  The magi gave gifts; and Hanukkah too is a time of gift-giving.

Many, if not most, customs aren’t evil.  Some secular radio stations play hymns only in December at Christmas time…and the Name of Jesus spreads!  Praise the Lord!  Many Christmas carols are inspiring.  Php.1:15-18 Paul rejoiced because Christ is preached, even when their motives were questionable!  The old Jimmy Stewart Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, is a heartwarming story.

The Bible account of Christ’s birth isn’t pagan.  Matthew was Jewish, possibly Luke too.  Jesus’ birth-date observance isn’t a salvation issue.  Family relatives may keep it in faith.  Romans 14 indicates we shouldn’t judge other Christians in regards to non-essentials (e.g. the market where meat came from), thereby avoiding needless strife & division.  By honoring Christmas, Christian sabbathkeepers too can distinguish themselves from disbelieving Jews who also may keep a weekly sabbath.

It seems there wasn’t much question about the general season of Jesus’ birth in the early Eastern church (though its calendar differed a little).  The date/season is being challenged in recent years.  And since the early Christians didn’t customarily celebrate birthdays, early documentation is rather scant.

Christian families can annually honor their Savior’s birth, praising the Lord with uplifting Christmas carols & hymns…without doing the heathen customs of Santa Claus, holly & mistletoe, wassailing, party spirit, xmas ham, or engaging in excessive materialism.  Just throw out the bath water, not the Baby!  Omit wrongs stemming from carnality & paganism which can be divisive.

This concludes my apology (and ‘semi-polemic’) for celebrating Jesus’ birth, Christmas.

We don’t know for sure the date of Jesus’ human birth.  Yet from scriptural accounts and early writings, the weight of evidence seems to indicate December or early January.  Perhaps Jesus, the “Light of the World” (Jn.8:12), did come into this world during the traditional ‘Festival of Lights’…Hanukkah, Kislev 25!  And in 2016, Hanukkah (Kislev 25) again begins on December 25 of our calendar.