Download PDF transcript version

Feast of the Jews
Pharisee and Sadducee background
Second Temple corruption
John Zebedee commentary
Yahushua’s Passover
New Covenant established
Passover – The Fourteenth of Abib

Transcribed and edited from video

https://www.answersoflife.com

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1Co 5:7 KJV)

We have titled this the “Feast of the Jews” which will make more sense as we unfold the meaning.

We are in Part 7 in this series that we started a couple of weeks ago, and this time we will go into the Feast of the Jews. We will take a look at a number of topics that all inter-relate to one another. We are going to look at the Pharisees and Sadducees, a little bit of background so we understand who they were and what they were about. We will look into our continuing emphasis on how the Second Temple, particularly during the first century BCE and first century CE was on a road to corruption, not following the Torah as it was originally instituted. We are going to bridge into a topic of John Zebedee and will have a little commentary about John because John is the one that used this term “Feast of the Jews”. He used it exclusively. We will end up talking about Yahushua’s Passover, the Passover that he conducted on the fourteenth, and the New Covenant that came forward from that and how it was established.

We have been through Part 5 which was a topic that was titled “Ben ha-arbayim”, and Part 6 which was titled “Ba ereb”, the two Hebrew constructions of the word that we see in English for in the evening and at even. We have looked at those in detail as a foundation for where we are at today.

We have a number of objective statements that we have been working on as we go through the presentation series, and this time we will move down this list. We have put some amount of attention on the Old Testament Passover scriptures, particularly last time with the Passovers of Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel. This session we will be looking at specifically at the New Testament Passover scriptures, the synoptic gospels and the account of John and will make a comparison between them.

We’ll take a look at the usage of this term that John uses called “The Jews Passover”, and take a detailed look at the Passover in thirty CE, and will compare the Synoptic Gospel accounts.

With that, a brief review of where we have been and what has been said. We see from the past discussions that we have had in the two previous topics that there are three scriptures that define the Passover and exactly what it is.

The first one is that you shall stay inside until the morning. The second one is that you are going to depart at night and the third is that you are going to depart on the fifteenth day of Abib.

There has been some discussion about the heresy of when the sun rises. We see clearly in the Book of Genesis when the sun rises, and see some evidence of this throughout the scriptures. Yes, in the land the people may have counted the day differently than what YHWH counted it, but one example that I see is in Nehemiah chapter 13.

And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. (Neh 13:19 KJV)

Here in Nehemiah there is clear evidence of when the Sabbath day started. Also the apostle John, or John Zebedee, as I have mentioned his sir name, knew when the day started.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. (Joh 20:1 KJV)

Here in this Book of John in the twentieth chapter, obviously John knows that the first day of the week is what we would call Sunday today. This terminology by the way has a little bit of a twist in the Hebrew because the word “day” has been added and the word “week” comes from the Greek translation of Shabbathon. This whole phrase, “the first of the weeks” is more likely a Greek idiom to count the days of the week. Clearly it’s the first day of the week, it is dark, and John calls it so.

We will put three key scriptures on a five day Abib calendar, to make sure in terms of review that we see when the Passover in Exodus indeed did happen. That starts with the selection of the lambs on the tenth day as we see in Exodus 12:3.

We know that it happens on the tenth day and we will work in reverse order in this brief review.

We know they left on the fifteenth day of Abib, and it says so in Numbers 33.

We even get the added benefit that this is the day after the Passover so we know on our calendar that the fifteenth day they departed.

That is the First Day of Unleavened Bread that we recognize when we look into Torah, particularly Leviticus 23. We know the Passover was on the fourteenth and the Children of Israel left after that day.

We also know that they departed at night, and in Deuteronomy 16 we get the evidence of that because we what it says, and see a second witness to that in the Brenton Septuagint translation in Exodus 12.

There is only one obvious place that the fifteenth and the departure occurs that they left by night. That would have been the night of the fifteenth, the night period going into the beginning of the fifteenth. That leaves just one scripture left over and the only one you need for the proof of when the Passover is. That is that they were told to stay in until the morning. I hear people say that they left at night, they had their staff in their hand, their shoes on and they were ready to run and as soon as midnight came they were out the door. That isn’t what this scripture says in Exodus 12.

This is what YHWH told Moses to tell the people. Do you think if you were there and there was death going on all around you that you would be willing to just jump out and go? I don’t think so. I’d take this scripture as golden, as literal and as exactly what it says. They stayed in their house all night and didn’t leave in the middle of the night.

We are going to look at a detail of the events that occur during the exodus when we get to the Days of Unleavened Bread. I have already built a presentation that go into the details of when they left and what was happening on the ground. The amount of time it would have taken for the Egyptians to understand that there was a lot of first born dead, and the Israelites stayed in all night. If you want to take this scripture and say that it doesn’t apply, that is all fine and well but we take it literally for what it says. They stayed in all night and that is a key part in understanding this.

If you understand what this scripture says, and see what it says, they had to have had the Passover on the fourteenth at ben ha-arbayim, just as we have described in the previous presentation. They stayed in till the morning of the fourteenth and they went out and took the goods from the Egyptians and then they left on the next night on the First Day of Unleavened Bread, a night to be remembered.

Also, keep in mind there were two memorials that were instituted in this period of time. The first memorial was that the death angel was passing over and that the Israelites first born were saved from the death angel. The second memorial happened on the night to be remembered, the exodus from Egypt.

With that little bit of rehearsal from the first two presentations and somewhat of a summary of what the conclusion is, I want to start out by talking about the terminology of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Terminology
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread Used Interchangeably

There are a number of places in Josephus, and I think there are six of them that I have here that we are going to look at. Josephus mentions the Passover season, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread season, and he uses the terminology interchangeably.

• Josephus accounts

Ant 2.15.1 (The Exodus c. 1450 BCE) Whence it is that, in memory of the want we were then in, we keep a feast for eight days, which is called The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now the entire multitude of those that went out, including the women and children, was not easy to be numbered, but those that were of an age fit for war, were six hundred thousand.

Ant 18.2.2 (Herod the Tetrarch c. 25 CE) As the Jews were celebrating The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we call the Passover, it was customary for the priests to open the temple-gates just after midnight

You see here that even Josephus is interchanging the terminology for Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread and it’s noteworthy in the first example he says it was an eight day festival which is called The Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Ant 20.5.3 (Tiberius Alexander c. 50 CE) When that feast which is called the Passover was at hand, at which time our custom is to use unleavened bread, and a great multitude was gathered together from all parts to that feast

Josephus in Antiquities has these mentions; he also has a couple of mentions in the Book of Wars.

Wars 5.3.1 (Destruction of Jerusalem 70 CE) As now the war abroad ceased…, the sedition within was revived; and on the feast of unleavened bread, which was now come, it being the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] when it is believed the Jews were first freed from the Egyptians

Wars 6.9.3 (Nero census and before Titus came to overtake Jerusalem 70 CE) So these high priests, upon the coming of that feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice…found the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred ^256,500 which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to two millions seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons ^2,700,200 that were pure and holy

You can probably conclude that the math isn’t right here because ten people times 256 thousand doesn’t equal twenty seven hundred thousand. The numbers are a little off and I think that is probably the result of a scribal error along the way. That isn’t the point; the point is that the name of the Passover is interchanged in these accounts with the Day of Unleavened Bread. It is also noteworthy that the time of the lambs being sacrificed on the fifteenth is noted here from the late in the afternoon.

I took you through the variations and permutations of that. This would be beyn ha-arbayim according to the rabbinic view, or the Pharisaical view in the first century. Clearly that doesn’t line up with what we saw in Exodus chapter 16 when beyn ha-arbayim occurred. Certainly they were doing sacrifices that day, they had called it Passover sacrifices, but as I showed you last time these were peace offerings and burnt offerings and some sin offerings probably mixed in the bunch.

Largely peace offerings that were being made on the fifteenth, so what is being talked about here is just that. Should they have been making peace offerings on the fifteenth? Of course they should have. Should they have been keeping the Passover on the night of the fourteenth? Yes they should have and Yahushua did exactly that. The point of all of this is that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the names are used interchangeably in Josephus’ writings.

Terminology
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread Used Interchangeably

• Matthew 26:17 – Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover
  Cross referenced
• Cf. Luke 22:1-7 & Acts 12:3-4
  Context dependent
• Synonymous terms – two festivals treated as one

Passover = Days of Unleavened Bread an eight day festival

Days of Unleavened Bread = Passover and eight day festival

• Passover = H6453=pesach= exemption, pretermission (let pass without notice)
• Tyndale ^{c. 1494 – 1536 CE} coined jargon

Passover, scape goat, mercy seat ^gnadenstuhl, popularized atonement

We see the same things in the scriptures by the way. Certainly we do the same thing today when the Passover season comes, I am using the term right now, the Passover season. What am I referring to? Am I simply referring to the fourteenth day Passover? Or am I referring to the collective eight days? Obviously in the context of what I just said, ‘when the Passover season comes’, I am referring collectively to the eight days. We might say the same thing when the Feast of Unleavened Bread comes. Obviously for us that are believers in Yahushua, the Feast of Unleavened Bread includes the Passover which is the day before, it’s the first of the eight days.

You have to be very careful when you see these terms in either in secular writings or particularly in the scripture, that you understand the context of what is being said. The first one I want to show is in Matthew, and we will come back to it in greater detail.

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahushua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
(Mat 26:17 KJV)

Here is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and those that have been around the Holy Days for some period of time will say that is the first of the seven days, the first day being a Holy Convocation and the seventh being a Holy Convocation, so we like to read that in the context of our belief system today. That isn’t what it’s talking about, it’s just using the terminology for the season.

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover…Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. (Luk 22:1-8 KJV)

If you assign this reading to a child, it’s obvious what the child would say this means, and that is how we read this, we read this as a child that the Days of Unleavened Bread came and there is a Passover that is going to be killed, and Peter and John are told to go prepare the Passover that we may eat. It’s not difficult. Acts chapter 12 is another example from Dr. Luke.

Then he ^Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. (Act 12:2-4 NKJV)

Obviously these terms are being used interchangeably and you have to be careful and get the context not just pick out just one verse that says the Feast of Unleavened Bread or The Passover, you have to look at the context of what is being talked about.

These two terms, Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, are synonymous terms when we read about them. You have to look a little deeper to understand, that is exactly why I started where I started in this presentation series with the original Torah legislation on what the Passover was.

It’s clear in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy what this is about. I’ve taken you through that, if you have missed some part of it, it’s worthy to go back. Both of these presentations are up on our website and you can review what was said.

The Passover can be referred to as the Days of Unleavened Bread, and it’s an eight day festival. The Days of Unleavened Bread can be referred to as Passover and can be an eight day festival.

A little bit of background on where this term “Passover” actually comes from. It’s a Hebrew term and it is Strong’s number 6453 = pesach and it means exemption or pretermission. A pretermission is an event that you let pass without notice. It would appear that William Tyndale was the one that actually coined this term and put it into the English Bible as we know it back in the sixteen hundreds. I believe there are two scriptures where this came from. Both of them are in Exodus 12.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass ^{H6452=pasach= hop, skip} over ^{H5921=al=above, upon} you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exo 12:13 RNKJV)

This term “pass over” is likely what Tyndale saw, and he coined the two words together for pass and over. The word pass is a slightly different Hebrew word than the word Pesach, this is pasach. It means to hop or skip and the word “over” is the Hebrew word “al” and it means above and upon, so hop or skip over or upon you and the plague shall not be upon you.
Exodus 12:23 uses the same combination.

For YHWH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, YHWH will pass^{H6452=pesach=hop, skip} over ^{H5921=al=above, upon} the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. (Exo 12:23 RNKJV)

I haven’t found any place that conclusively says that Tyndale used this, but I think this is where he got the idea. Tyndale actually is the one that put the word “Passover” in the English in a number of places that we now read commonly in the Old and New Testament.

Tyndale himself is an interesting study; I’ll just give you a two minute side bench on Tyndale. Of course Tyndale was one of the early reformers along with Martin Luther. William Tyndale lived in the fifteenth century period of time and he was a protestant. Certainly his mantra was that the pope was the problem and of course that caused a bunch of problems with the King of England at that point in time.

Tyndale was a good English guy; he coined a number of terms that we commonly see in the scriptures today. Tyndale was the one that translated the German text into English in the fifteen hundreds; it was the first English translation.

About seventy percent of the text that Tyndale translated was used, and is still used today in what we call the King James Version of the scriptures. Mostly Tyndale is responsible for what we have today. Terms like:

• My brother’s keeper
• Knock and it shall be opened unto you
• Seek and ye shall find
• Judge not that ye be not judged
• Let there be light
• The powers that be
• The salt of the earth
• A law unto themselves
• The signs of the times
• Filthy lucre
• The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak
• Jehovah ^{Exodus 6:3, Psalms 82:18, Isaiah 12;2, Isaiah 26:4}

If you look in the King James Version of the scriptures there are still four locations that the name Jehovah is still in the King James Version. You could look in your own King James Bible if you use that version at all and find the word Jehovah in these places. It appears that Tyndale was also one that used Jehovah throughout, and the King James translators took it out and put “the Lord”, and “the Lord God” in place of Jehovah Elohim.

Tyndale also coined some number of other common phrases that we use like scapegoat, mercy seat and the word atonement itself. He had quite an impact on what we say and understand today. Tyndale’s approach was to try to put the words in the language that meant what was going on, so I think he did a marvelous job of it.

Also, Tyndale was the one about the mercy seat. He came up with the term mercy seat and it appears he took that from Luther’s “gnadenstuhl” which “gnaden” is grace and “stool” is chair in German. Mercy seat is an interesting side discussion all by itself. If you go look and do a search for mercy seat you will see pictures of the Ark with a chair sitting on top of it, so it’s like where YHWH sits on top of the mercy seat. Of course that isn’t described in scripture or Torah but YHWH certainly was there between the Cherubim. That is a little bit about Tyndale and again, an interesting study if you want to look him up you will find out quite a bit about what was going on in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

I’ll give you a little bit of background about the Sadducees and Pharisees, and will continue to talk about the corruption that had developed, and continued to develop, in the first century particularly during the times of Yahushua and the practices that the Temple authorities had.

There are three columns on this chart, Sadducees, Pharisees and the Essenes, although there are a couple of other sects that were minority sects. One of them was the Zealots, and the other was the Hellenistic Jews, which I didn’t include in this examination. I am going to skip over some highlights on this chart. The Sadducees and Pharisees are a study all on its own if you really want to get into what was going on with particularly these two prominent parties.

Fundamentally, the Sadducees and Pharisees were political parties just like we would know political parties today. I suppose you could put donkeys and elephants as monikers, or symbols for them. You could put red or blue or some color associated with them but indeed they were political parties.

The Sadducees were the minority party, and they were the aristocracy. They were the wealthy and were a political force with money. The term Sadducee comes from the Greek word Sadoc, if you see what I am trying to explain as to how the word came together. It means righteous and justified.

By comparison, the Pharisees were the common man. They were the bourgeoisie; they didn’t have high paying jobs. They were separatists and the word Pharisee means just that and they were exclusively religious.

I would just mention the Essenes. The Essenes were a minority group in Qumran developed as a result of the distain for the first two, the Sadducees and Pharisees. They had a strictly aesthetic form of existence around Qumran and were against most anything that the Sadducees and Pharisees taught.

The Sadducees for the most part, were the priests or the high priests during the first century BC and CE, up to 70 CE when the Temple was destroyed. The Pharisees developed by the way, as a result of the Maccabean period of time when the priests outsourced the communication of Torah to the common people. The Scribes became ones that knew the most about the scriptures, so the Sadducees had the Scribes do the teaching and they morphed into the Pharisees which became at odds with what became the Sadducees. This all happened in the first century BCE.

A couple of other side points about the Pharisees and Sadducees, they both honored and kept a lunar solar calendar, a new moon calendar. There is ample evidence in the Mishnah and Talmud about how they observed the New Moon and brought people in for witnesses and how they communicated the new moon from Jerusalem to the outgoing locations by a series of fires on top of mountains.

The belief system of the Sadducees starts getting down to the core of what the political differences are. They held that the Messiah would be a physical earthly king and that the Jews would be freed from oppression when this physical earthy king came into being. It is something like David, a King David will return. Of course that king will be from the ranks of the Levites.

The Pharisees held to that there would be a Messiah, but that Messiah is going to usher in a new world order of peace. Certainly that will also be from the seed of David.

Hellenism was rampant in the first century BC and CE and actually dates back to Alexander the Great in 300 BCE. The Sadducees liked it; they tended to favor the Hellenistic viewpoint, the Greek way of thinking. It was like it was a more modern way to look at the world and have a prism of Hellenism on everything. The Sadducees favored it but the Pharisees were strictly against it. The Pharisees tried to hold their religion over politics.

A couple of statements about what each of these parties understood about the afterlife.

The Sadducees thought we had a mortal soul and we perish at death and there is no reward or penalties after death. In contrast, the Pharisees felt there was a resurrection of the body. Josephus mentions this resurrection of the body and calls it the immortal soul in his writing.

The scriptures are probably the biggest distinction. The Sadducees were literalists; they only used the written word of Torah, effectively Genesis through Deuteronomy as we would know that today. The Pharisees, in contrast, used the entire Tanakh, the entire Old Testament, the Torah prophets and the writings. The Pharisees held to the equal weight of the written Torah, and the oral Torah. Anything that was handed down orally, they held as equal weight to the written Torah.

The end result is that the Oral Torah got catalogued with the Mishnah and Gemara into the Talmud around the fifth century CE. Of course the Sadducees said there is no such thing as Oral Torah. That is where the head butting really starts to occur when we see in the scriptures that neither of these parties was good and clean and pure. There was not a righteous group, they were both pretty corrupt. The Sadducees had a tendency of pay for play as we would call it today. They had the money and the means so they would be able to pay the Romans for their position, and in some cases they actually bought their way into the priesthood.

Temple Corruption
Rabbinic Tradition

With that background, we will talk more about the Temple corruption. I ran across this writing, this op-ed in the Talmud some months ago, and included it in this presentation for this year’s version of it. What this goes into is actually a comment about Proverbs 10:27.

• The fear of YHWH prolongeth days” but the years of the wicked shall be shortened ^{Pro 10:27}

Here is what the Talmud says about that:

• “The fear of YHWH proloneth days” refers to the first Sanctuary, which remained standing for four hundred and ten years and in which there served only eighteen high priests.

“But the years of the wicked shall be shortened” refers to the second Sanctuary, which abided for four hundred and twenty years and at which more than three hundred (high) priests served. Take off therefrom the forty years which Simeon the Righteous ^{AKA Simeon the just} served, eighty years which Johanan the high priest served, ten which Ishmael Fabi served, or as some say, the eleven years of R. Eleazar. Count (the number of high priests) from then on and you will find that none of them completed his year. Talmud Yoma 9A

What a testimony against the Second Temple and the priests. For the most part most of the three hundred didn’t complete a full year in the priesthood. Things had gotten so corrupt that people were being swapped out, some probably killed as a result of it. In contrast to what happened in the First Temple period, that same four hundred and plus years, there were only eighteen high priests. This is an interesting testimony, think about what that means when you have leadership that is being swapped out during the Second Temple period. There is no cohesion, no consistency and it’s like the end of the Book of Judges, the very last sentence says that everybody was doing what was right in his own eyes in that period of time. That is what happened in the Temple period, particularly the period that we are talking about in the first century CE. Actually, there is a lot of that going on today unfortunately in the believing community; people are doing what is right in their own eyes.

Temple Corruption
Rabbinic Tradition
chabad.org

The chabad.org website has a good body of information about Judaism, but specifically Rabbinic Judaism. Mosaic Judaism dates so far back that few of the ways that Moses taught have been held to in consistency over time. Keep in mind if you look at chabad.org that it’s talking about Judaism fundamentally how it has morphed into todays practice.

One of the items that I found was under the name change, talking about Passover.

• The Name Change
  Oddly, although the weeklong celebration is consistently called the Festival of Matzahs in the Torah, it has come to be known as Pesach, or Passover, in common parlance and even in our liturgy.

What they are saying is what I showed you in Josephus, the names are used interchangeably. Here is an interesting comment about this current heresy that is going on about when the day starts.

• A Long Day

Also note that, in a certain sense, the celebration of the 15^th is considered to be an extension of the 14^th. How so? With regard to sacrifices, the verse states, “And the flesh of his thanksgiving peace offering shall be eaten on the day it is offered up; he shall not leave any of it over until morning.” In other words, if you were given one day to eat an offering, the day consisted of the daytime followed by its night (unlike all other purposes, for which Jewish calendar days consist of the night followed by the day). Thus, as far as sacrifices are concerned, the night after a sacrifice is brought is an extension of the day it is brought.

It’s pretty amazing to find something like this particularly in light of those that are promoting this idea today. It isn’t a new idea, obviously, it is a Rabbinic Judaism.

Therefore, when it comes to the celebration of the Passover sacrifice, while it was eaten on the 15^th, it was considered to be the same day as the 14^th.

This is all a good work around to eliminate Messiah out of the Passover. The question that comes to my mind when I read this is, are the people who are changing things and doing things like this scriptural? You are hearing this and probably say that it isn’t scriptural at all. I will argue that it is scriptural, and here is why.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isa 5:20 KJV)

That is what we have going on here, people putting darkness for light and light for darkness. They ae switching the days around and Isaiah weighs in on this and of course Isaiah is weighing in on it because of what was getting ready to happen to the Southern Kingdom around 700 BCE, but Jeremiah, a hundred years later also weighs in. Things had not improved.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jer 5:31 KJV)

I have always enjoyed this scripture because it seems like that is what we have going on today. People hear a testimony of something, they don’t bother going to check it out, “but the people love to have it so”. Jeremiah is asking obviously through YHWH’s spirit, what are you going to do about that? It turns out they did nothing, they went into captivity.

Second Temple Passover Dating Legends

• Jews kept the Egyptian calendar
  Day starts at sunrise
  Converts 15^th evening to 14^th
• North and South on different calendar
  North Israel kept Passover on 14^th
  South Israel kept Passover on 15^th
• Sadducees vs Pharisees calendar accounting
  Sadducees kept 14^th
  Pharisees kept 15th

I have run into how the fourteenth and fifteenth got co-mingled, we see plenty of evidence that it has, not from just what I am showing you in the scriptures, but from what the historians have said. People that have studied into this recognized that the system of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread in the legislation of when to keep it has been modified over the years since it was originally given back in the time that Moses presided over the first Passover in Egypt in 1450 BCE.

One of those legends that I have run into is somewhat associated with this day start day theory which the Jews kept in Egyptian calendar. On the Egyptian calendar the day starts at sunrise. That ends up converting the fifteenth evening to being a part of the fourteenth. You run into that, and you also run into the northern and southern parts of the land of Israel in this period of time circa first century CE or so, had a different calendar than the northern territories. The Galilean north kept the Passover on the fourteenth and Judah in the south kept the Passover on the fifteenth.

There is another legend that you run into and it has to do with the difference of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees and Pharisees certainly kept a different calendar and had a different accounting for the day of Pentecost. We know that, we have studied it, and actually both accounting methods are referenced in the Book of Josephus. The Sadducees we know were advocates of Pentecost being counted from the weekly Sabbath, and the Pharisees were advocates of counting from what they called the Annual Sabbath, nobody bothered to check to see that the Annual Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread really isn’t ever called a Sabbath or a Shabbathon anywhere, it might be a surprise to you but it is a Holy Convocation. It is never mentioned as a Sabbath. In any case, that controversy is there but the extension of that is that the Sadducees kept the fourteenth Passover and the Pharisees kept the fifteenth Passover.

It turns out that if you chase these legions, and I try to go look to find out if there is any truth in this, what I have found in all cases, I find person number one states it and refers to person number two, and I go to check what person number two said and they refer to person number three. Person three says that his accounting came from person four. Person four refers to person one. You find that in some number of these kinds of controversies and legions and traditions that people say were so and probably weren’t.

Second Temple Passover Practice

There is secular material that I have mentioned in the past and a little more detail about that.

• Post exile – Passover kept differently

The Encyclopedia Judaica has a great article so for anyone doing homework and the research; it’s a good place to look.

• Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread merged
  The feast of Passover consists of two parts: The Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally, both parts existed separately; but at the beginning of the ^Babylonian exile they were combined.
  (Encyclopedia Judaica – Passover Critical View, Vol. 15 p. 680)

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread rituals were originally two separate observances which were combined sometime between the events of the Exodus and the redaction of the text ^{exposition that developed later}.
(The Torah – A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition 2005, p. 419 W. Gunther Plaut)

In short, just as the priesthood of Christ was a real Old Testament priesthood, yet not after the order of Aaron, but after the earlier, prophetic, and royal order of Melchisedek, so the sacrifice also of Christ was a real Old Testament sacrifice ^{domestic household}, yet not after the order of Levitical sacrifices ^Temple, but after that of the earlier prophetic Passover sacrifice, by which Israel had become a royal nation.
(The Temple–Its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Christ – Alfred Edersheim 1825 – 1889) http://www.moellerhaus.com/edershime/Temple/temple.htm

The Levitical sacrifices or the Temple sacrificial system that I have mentioned, both were to be done, and both should have been done, but that is what got co-mingled, the two different orders of sacrifice.

This is useful information from Edersheim’s book. Edersheim was a nineteenth century historian and theologian. For those that hear this and are wondering about the background of all of this and if you are not interested in looking at much of this secular record but you want to read just one article about this, I think the one article that I have found that is useful from a historical and scriptural standpoint, you can find in Wikibooks.

• Reference
  Passover History – Wikibooks
  https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Hebrew_Roots/Holy_Days/Passover/History

This reference material is only a couple of pages long to read, and it’s quite good synopsis of the Passover, the institution of it, how it was originally provided and how it became corrupted into a single system that rabbinic Judaism has been promoting. If you only want one source and don’t want to get too far into it, this is one place you could go in my opinion to get a little bit of background.

Second Temple – Corrupted Practices

• Holy Days
  Passover combined
  Pentecost count controversy
  Feast of Tabernacles menorah, water libation ad lulav

The corrupted practices in the Second Temple weren’t confined to just the Passover. Yes, the Passover was combined, the fourteenth and fifteenth were combined, but there was this Pentecost controversy that I have already mentioned. What day do you count the wave sheaf from? Would it be the weekly Sabbath or the ‘Annual Sabbath’ or the Annual Holy Day? When you look at what was going on at the Feast of Tabernacles in this period of time in the first century, it’s really quite stunning and eye opening.

The Levitical system had developed into a lot of ceremony and ritual and there were at least two, and maybe four, seventy five foot tall menorahs that were put in the women’s court that were lit every year for the Feast of Tabernacles. There is much about it in the Talmud and Mishnah and they had these big menorahs that they lit, they also had a water libation ceremony that they performed daily during the seven days of the Festival, and a lulav ceremony that had to do with the four species of plants.

They had these rituals, is there anything wrong with putting up a menorah? No. Is there anything wrong with going and dipping a flagon of water out of the Pool of Siloam and having somewhat of a ritual associated with it? No. Is there anything wrong with waving four species? No. But that had become their center of attention, and when we read the account in John chapters 7 and 8, we read that Yahushua came to the Feast of Tabernacles. The background of these traditions and ceremonies were going on. I’ll mention a little more about that with that little bit of background.

Before we go on to Yahushua coming to the Feast of Tabernacles, we should talk about the Corban practice in Mark.

• Corban practice
  For laying aside the commandment of YHWH, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of YHWH, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift ^{to the Temple}, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of YHWH of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
  (Mar 7:8-13 KJV)

They have a patch, a work around to give unto your mother and father. You give to the Temple and call it Corban and you have fulfilled your obligation to mom and dad that way. They had patches for many things and a patch is simply a work around for something that doesn’t work out for you. We have a lot of patches and a lot of workarounds to the scriptures today. It is unfortunate, but that is the way it is, too many controversies.

• White washed hypocrites
  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
  (Mat 23:27-29 KJV)

They liked to paint up these sepulchers and make them nice and white, they didn’t want people to bump into them because they would be clean, but what a testimony against these hypocritical Pharisees. They promote one thing on the surface, they have all the righteous words clothes and actions, but Yahushua is telling them that they are like the dead man inside of a sepulcher and that was like walking into a mausoleum after it has been there for a few years. There is nothing but maggots and dead man’s bones and that is what Yahushua is telling these Pharisees. That would be quite an indictment for someone to tell you that.

• Traditions of men
  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Messiah.
  (Col 2:8 KJV)

We only want to be after the Messiah, we don’t want to be after the traditions of the world, but want to follow YHWH’s law, His way and practice. Not what man has said YHWH’s law is, but what YHWH’s law indeed says it is.

The Feast of the Jews has developed here. Have you ever wondered about this term in the scriptures? You see the feast of the Jews, I heard someone recently tell me in the last couple of months that the Feast of the Jews was a reference to the Torah and the festival days in the Torah. Those were the Feasts of the Jews, is that so?

Feast of the Jews
Empty Formalism and Legalistic Ritual
Original Instruction Versus Traditions

• YHWH’s Feasts
  And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of YHWH, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of YHWH in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of YHWH, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even ^{ben ha-arbayim} is YHWH’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto YHWH: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. (Lev 23:1-6 KJV)

The fourteenth day going into the period of time we call the fourteenth; this is not the period of time going into the fifteenth. It tells us what to do on the fourteenth, it is YHWH’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YHWH.

In contrast, we see in the Book of John that the feast of the Jews is mentioned and is only mentioned in the Book of John.

• Feast of the Jews
  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Yahushua went up to Jerusalem ^{1st Passover 27 CE}
  (Joh 2:13 KJV)

When you make a chronology of this, it would be Yahushua’s first Passover and it is likely 27 CE. The next time you see this term is in Chapter 5.

After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Yahushua went up to Jerusalem.
(Joh 5:1 KJV)

This verse doesn’t say what feast it is, and I think there are two possibilities, Shavuot or Feast of Tabernacles. It is probably the Feast of Tabernacles in the accounting of this but it isn’t certain.

There is one that we are going to come back to which is in John 6, but we will jump ahead to John 7:

Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand ^{29 CE}. (Joh 7:2 KJV)
Rivers of living waters – vs 37 – 38
I am the light (John 8:2)

This was the Feast of Tabernacles that I mentioned a few charts back where the menorah, the large seventy five foot menorahs were in the courtyard. It wasn’t just this year; it was every year around this period of time is what they did. They put up these large menorahs; they had a water libation at the Pool of Siloam, and then the ritual of the lulav waving.

Keep in mind that there were two parts of this, light and water. The Jews had rituals, so when we read the account of Yahushua going to this Feast of Tabernacles and he talks about rivers of living water coming out of the belly of those that believe in him, there is a meaning behind the water that was taken out of the Pool of Siloam and the ritual associated with it.

Yahushua also mentions that he is the light of the world. He mentions that on the Eighth Day of the Feast after the lights were put out, the menorahs were actually extinguished on the seventh day. There is some real interesting association of what was happening on the ground in the culture and in the Temple area. The traditions that were going on associated with this festival that prompted Yahushua to talk about water and light.

The problem is, the Temple authorities proclaimed that there would be a Messiah and they had this day called Hoshana Rabbah, “The great salvation”, “Ho san ah” is the Greek form of that. Yahushua comes up who is the salvation of YHWH, and they missed the whole point. It is really quite an account to examine and when we get to the Feast of Tabernacles we will have more to say about that.

And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves ^{4th Passover 30 CE}.
(Joh 11:55 KJV)

Not domestic household Passover ordinance
Preparation day event
Temple and priestly ordinance
Oral Torah
Mikvah immersion
Mishnah Tohorot – clean/unclean practices

Notice what John 11:55 says, in this one little verse “many went out of the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves”. It’s interesting that it doesn’t say that many came to Jerusalem to honor the Passover or to partake of the Passover peace offering, they came to Jerusalem and it’s mentioned that they purified themselves. This is not associated with the fourteenth Passover; it’s associated with the peace offerings at the fifteenth that we looked at last time. There is no Torah legislation or ordinance that talks about purifying yourself before you go to Passover. We will see here shortly a preparation day event that this purification is a preparation day event. The Temple and priestly ordinances were being focused on here about purifying themselves. Certainly there were purification rites that were a part of Torah and here is one example:

Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. (Lev 22:5-6 KJV)

He is unclean until the end of that day or until the evening of that day.

There is some number of those kinds of ordinances if you happen to touch the wrong thing or if you are sick, if you have leprosy, or ran across something that was unclean, there are a number of ordinances that do that, but it appears in this period of time that the purification was a major part. You come to Jerusalem and go take a bath before you can go into the Temple area compound. There was a lot of what are called mikvah baths in this period of time. There were a number of them right around and outside of the Temple area and this is another one of those oral traditions from the Torah.

Actually, if you research the Mishnah in the section of tohorot, you will see several pages of clean and unclean instructions that have been catalogued together of what you need to do. What is going on here is that people were coming and they were part of the ritual to purify themselves in the mikvah. It’s all part of the Feast of the Jews that’s developing and what John is talking about.

• Laws of the Jews

In scripture we see the laws of the Jews being mentioned and interestingly enough, it’s also in the Book of John.

It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true ^{Yahushua speaking}.
(Joh 8:17 KJV)

Yahushua is letting them know that it is your law, not YHWH’s law. He said that because they had corrupted it. They had added to and taken away and made it their own law so he is calling it “your law”.

Preparation for Feast of Unleavened Bread – Temple sacrifices
Only found in four gospel accounts

The term for the preparation day that we commonly use in our vernacular and in worship practices even to this day, seem to have originated from this period of time. What is useful to look at is the term “preparation day” is not in Torah. You don’t find the instruction in Torah for the weekly Sabbath that you have a preparation day. You don’t find in Torah to have a preparation day for any of the holy days that are mentioned in Leviticus 26. It’s a good practice, be prepared, we like to be prepared ourselves and have things in order so when we worship YHWH on the Sabbath we don’t have a mess in the house, or a mess outside that we didn’t get to.

When you look at this preparation day you will see that it only has six occurrences in the scripture. They are only found in the New Testament and are only found in the four Gospel accounts. They are all associated with the preparation day for the Days of Unleavened Bread; they are not associated with the Sabbath day. Go check this out on your own, here is one example in Mark.

^{Yahushua says} Making the word of YHWH of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. (Mar 7:13 KJV)

Yahushua said, “many such things”, this preparation day is probably one of those “things”, and like I said it isn’t wrong, it’s what they were doing in this period of time. Do your own homework on this, it’s an interesting insight into what we have commonly thought today is a Biblical practice, but indeed this practice dates back to this period of time and specifically the preparation for the Passover. I would submit that the preparation for the Passover in this period of time, the first century, had to do with mikvah, ritual, and preparation of the lambs for the peace offerings on the fifteenth. Here are a couple of examples:

There laid they Yahushua therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. (Joh 19:42 KJV)

Obviously this has to be the day before the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation ^{FOUB after seder-no problem} , the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, (Mat 27:62 KJV)

This is an interesting one; obviously it is the day after the preparation day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread. If you recall when you look at the account of Caiaphas and his entourage taking Yahushua to Pilot, they wouldn’t go into Pilot’s camp which is probably by the way, it’s the Fortress Antonio, the place of the judgment hall or the praetorium as it is called, was the headquarters for the on-site governor. That would have been Pilot in this period of time. Caiaphas wouldn’t go into the praetorium, because they had already purified themselves. It must mean they had already taken their bath and they didn’t want to go in. Look what happened, by this point in time Matthew 27; it is the next day following the preparation. In other words, the fifteenth Seder has already happened. Now it is the First Day of Unleavened Bread and the Pharisees came together to Pilot. Do you think Pilot went to their house? No. Do you think the chief Priests and Pharisees went to Pilot’s house? I think they did, they had purified themselves for their Seder meal, but now they come after the meal and go to Pilot. It could be that they met outside, I don’t know. It is an interesting account.

They are also tending to the ritualistic tradition, and yet, what are they doing here? They are committing murder in their hearts and are about to commit physical murder, but they are keeping to their own tradition, what hypocrisy.

John Zebedee Biography

John is the one that uses this term “feast of the Jews”. Did he know what he was saying, or did he just flippantly say that it’s the feast of the Jews? In mainstream Christianity today people take that to be that it is obvious it’s the feast of the Jews and we don’t keep those feasts anymore. What was this guy John about? We will spend a couple of charts to get a little foundation on John Zebedee. A bit about his biography is found in these few scriptures, and there is certainly more to know.

• cf. Mark 1:20; Luke 5:3-11 – his father was a local employer, a man of some wealth
  His father was a local business man that employed people and certainly John and James were his sons.
• Matthew 4:21-22 – John and Brother James were partners in a family fishing business.
  The father likely had some wealth; he had a fleet of fishing boats so it wouldn’t have been any small enterprise.
• cf. Matthew 20:20-21; Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25 – mother was possibly Salome, sister of Yahushua’s mother Mary. I don’t see where you can prove that from the scriptures, but the implications of these scriptures give you that potential.
• Matthew 10:2-4 – numbered with original 12 Apostles
• Mark 3:17 – nicknamed Boanerges by Yahushua = sons of commotion, violent anger, rage (rough neck), and Boanerges in Aramaic means thunder. Before their calling, they probably were rough necks or something like that. They probably liked to get into fights, and wouldn’t just go down to the local pub to have a beer. That is conjecture, by the nickname that Yahushua gave them, we know they were sons of commotion. Yahushua called a couple of guys out that had a rough background according to what this says. The fishing business would have been a rough business in those days.
• Mark 10:35-39; Matthew 20:20-21 – possessed entrepreneurial attitude and was an opportunity seeker supported by mother. The account where John and James go to Yahushua and ask to be on his right and left hand, they wanted to be the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister in Yahushua’s coming kingdom. The mother bought into that also in one of these accounts. They were entrepreneurial in their attitude.
• Mark 13:3; Matthew 17:1 – became one of the inner-circle along with James and Peter and Andrew.
• John 13:23; John 21:7 – was the disciple whom Yahushua loved
• John 19:26-27 – had means to take care of Mary, Yahushua’s mother, as Yahushua assigned that duty to him.
• John 18:15-19 – accompanied bound Yahushua to Caiaphas interrogation. John must have had some interaction with Caiaphas previous to the crucifixion. John went in with Yahushua into Caiaphas’ interrogation. John also went outside and brought Peter in so he must have had some connection to the High Priest and that chamber and group of people.
• John 20:2-4 – John and Peter were first to meet Mary after Yahushua’s resurrection
• Acts 3:1, 4:13 – John and Peter are frequently together after the resurrection. They performed miracles at the Temple, performed the miracle of the beggar that was at the Temple gates in Acts chapter 4.
• Revelation 1:1-11 – John witnessed the testimony and record of Revelation and Seven assembly’s report card. This is probably one of the most significant credential that anyone could have. John penned the Book of Revelation and was given this book in vision, he was told to write these things down. What an honor it was for John, it speaks highly of whom he was that he was the one chosen and the one that unfolded the Seven Assemblies and their liabilities and assets, their report card if you will that is mentioned in Revelation two and three. John was the one that penned the Book of Revelation.

With that bit of biography and background, what did John teach?

John Zebedee Quotes
Keep Commandments – Not Law of the Jews
John Knew the Difference

• 1 John 2:3-4 – we know Him if we keep His commandments, he that says I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar.
• 1 John 2:10 – he that loves his brother abides in light
• 1 John 3:24 – he that keeps His commandments dwells in Him
• 1 John 4:1 – many false prophets are gone out in the world
• 2 John 6 – this is love that we walk after His commandments

John has a theme of keeping YHWH’s commandments, not the laws of the Jews. I think John knew the difference. Certainly, the Book of John was written some twenty or thirty or so years, even as much as forty years after the crucifixion. The Book of Revelation was likely written in ninety five CE. There was a period of time that all of this was written and John would have grown in spirit and truth, but he is talking about keeping the commandments. I think what he knows about the commandments, he knows about the holy days, and knows the difference when he makes a statement about the Feast of the Jews.

• 2 John 7 – many deceivers are in the world who don’t confess that Yahushua has come in the flesh
• 3 John 4 – I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth
• Revelation 14:12 – here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of YHWH
• Revelation 22:14 – Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, the ending chapter in the Book of Revelation.

Commandments are mentioned here, not the law of the Jews. With that background, I said I would come back to John Chapter 6.

Feast of the Jews
Yahushua’s Reformation
Passover Prototype

We will look into John Chapter 6 because it is mentioned as one of these other times “a feast of the Jews”, or “a Passover of the Jews”, I will suggest ahead of time that this account in John 6 is Yahushua’s reformation of the Passover in preparation for the final year, one year from this account when he actually does the Passover dinner with his disciples in 30 CE.

• A feast of the Jews, was nigh
• 3^rd Passover 29 ^CE, John 6:4-71
  Yahushua – one year ministry controversy, or one and a half year controversy that Yahushua was one and a half years in his ministry rather than three years, and that this account is the account that stands in the way of proving whether there is a one and a half versus a three and a half year ministry. What this account has become is a controversy because of the word Passover that is mentioned in it. Yahushua didn’t go to Jerusalem for Passover and what the advocates of this one year ministry say is that Yahushua didn’t have a Passover this one particular year.

“Passover” removed in later MSS The word “Passover” was added and what you find when you look at the manuscripts, there are some five hundred manuscripts of this period of time for the scriptures and particularly in the Book of John, you find the word “Passover” was removed according to the advocates of this in the earliest manuscripts. Indeed, I think if you look at this that the word “Passover” is removed in the later, the newest manuscripts. The older manuscripts indeed have the word “Passover” intact. It is the newest manuscripts looking backwards that have had it removed.

Clement of Alexandria
Irenaeus of Lyon
Origen of Alexandria

You also find that some of the early Greek Church fathers, Clemet of Alexandria, Irenaeus of Lyon, and Origen of Alexandria, have reference to a one year, or one and a half year ministry of Yahushua. That all adds together of the controversy of this chapter. Just know that it’s there and perhaps you haven’t heard that before but know that it’s there, and there are some well-known commentators today that advocate the position that the word “Passover” is not in this account. We hold that it is, and was indeed a Passover. Of course if you take the word Passover out, that is the obstacle that stands in the way to prove that there is a one and a half year ministry. It is convenient to take the Passover out of this account because then the rest of your agenda can be brought forward to prove that it was only a one and a half year period of time that Yahushua conducted his ministry.

We will go on, and read the first bit of the account.

• G470=artos=raised bread

And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Yahushua then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he ^Yahushua said to prove him ^Phillip: for he ^Yahushua himself knew what he ^Phillip would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Yahushua said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Yahushua took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Yahushua did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. (Joh 6:4-14 KJV)

I want to get to the foundation and background of this miracle of the fishes and loaves. In all cases what we see as the word “bread” and “loaves” comes from the Greek word “artos”, and in most cases means raised bread, in other words, leavened bread. I am not saying that this was a Passover event right here, what I am suggesting is that they had barley and leavened bread, this is “artos” that is used here. That is going to come into play when we get to Yahushua’s Passover because the same word “artos” is used during Yahushua’s Passover. I have wondered about it, I don’t have a conclusion on it, I just wonder about it.

By contrast, it should be noted that there is in fact, a word for unleavened, uncorrupted bread.

• G106=azumos=unleavened, uncorrupted

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread
(Mar 14:1 KJV)

That word unleavened bread is “azumos”, just keep that in mind as we go forward. What is important in this first section that we are reading and getting the context is that the feast of the Jews was near. The Passover, the feast of the Jews was near. What is also important to realize here, and we will see this in the account at the end, this is happening in the Galilee, not at Jerusalem. This is happening north of Jerusalem in what we would call the southern part of the Galilee. The account goes on and by the way, all four Gospels, the three Synoptics plus John, have the account up to this point.

So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Yahushua walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. (Joh 6:19-20 KJV)

Right after this miracle of dinner for five hundred fishes and loaves, this event of Yahushua walking on the water occurs. Now from this point on, only John has the account so if you do your research on this, you will get a comparative analysis that the three Synoptic Gospels up to this point but now the rest of this is only in John.

^{Only in John} The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Yahushua went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that Yahushua had given thanks:) When the people therefore saw that Yahushua was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Yahushua. (Joh 6:22-24 KJV)

The day following; keep in mind that the Feast of Passover was near. What does near mean? Certainly it is subjective to ask if is near a couple of days, or three days? Probably near isn’t more than a week away, it probably means that it is within a few days. That is assumption, but what we are going to see here is that there is a reformation of the Passover that is going to be instituted in this account when we get to the end of it.

• G740=artos=raised bread
• G106=azumos=unleavened uncorrupted
  After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread (Mar 14;1 KJV)
• Bread of life – vs 35

Continuing:

^{Only in John} Then Yahushua said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you ^{Jews – Israelites} not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of Elohim is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Master, evermore give us this bread. And Yahushua said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (Joh 6:32-37 KJV)

Keep in mind that we are still seeing the same word “artos” for raised bread. The theme of this is starting to change now.

• Eat my flesh, drink my blood – verse 54
  cf. Matthew 26:26-28
  Mark 14:22-24
  Luke 22: 19-20
• In the Synagogue – verse 59
• New contract conditions, terms and properties
• Precursor for Passover in 30 CE

^{Only in John} Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Yahushua said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum ^{during Passover/Days of Unleavened Bread?} . (Joh 6:47-59 KJV)

Is this during that period of time before or at the Passover of the Jews that is mentioned in the beginning of this account? I think it is. I think the timing of it suggests that this indeed is a Passover event particularly when Yahushua says “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day”. That should be a familiar saying that we see at Yahushua’s Passover in the Synoptic Gospel accounts, and here they are. We will come back to them in more detail but I want us to read the highlights that match up to this.

And as they were eating, Yahushua took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new ^{G2537=kainos=new in freshness (not G3501=neos=new with respect to age, regenerate)} testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mat 26:26-28 KJV)

And as they did eat, Yahushua took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new ^G2537=same testament, which is shed for many. (Mar 14:22-24 KJV)

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new ^G2537=same testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luk 22:19-20 KJV)

What a remarkable coincidence that Yahushua said “Whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” particularly that we know that this is the Passover season. Is it the exact Passover Day? I don’t know but it sure points to the fact that it is the Passover season.

One of the parts of the controversy for the year and a half people for Yahushua’s ministry is usually something like this can’t be a Passover because Yahushua didn’t go to Jerusalem. So Yahushua has to go to Jerusalem for the Passover. No he doesn’t. What the Torah says is that you go to the Passover where YHWH places his name; it doesn’t say you have to go to Jerusalem. It is pretty interesting that Yahushua is here in the Galilee, it is the time of the Passover, and he is certainly mentioning the tokens and the symbols of the Passover, his flesh and his blood.

I’m putting together that this is Yahushua reforming the Passover and getting ready for the one year date from now when he actually does the Passover with his disciples and institutes the symbols of the New Testament.

It is noteworthy that this is in the Synagogue and the New Testament, or the New Contract conditions and the terms and their properties is yet to come so this is a precursor for the Passover in thirty CE.

Yahushua’s Passover
John’s Commentary

John’s commentary about Yahushua’s Passover in a couple of places that we see here says that:

Then Yahushua six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
(Joh 12:1-2 KJV)

This is an interesting account because we have made a pair of presentations about Six Days Before Yahushua’s Passover, they are already on the website, and what we have done is make a six day calendar that starts with this event and added to it the events in Mark 11 – 14. You find some specific day and date markers that show when things happened. It turns out that six days before the Passover, at this dinner, falls in perfectly in line with Yahushua’s Passover on the evening going into the fourteenth. That is a piece of work that has been done if you care to look at it. There are two sessions of Six Days Before Yahushua’s Passover on the website.

Also in John 13 The Jews Passover was at hand is how this section of John starts, so a couple of chapters previous in John 11 that is what is being said:

^{The Jews Passover was at hand – John 11:55} Now before the feast of the Passover ^{Days Of Unleavened Bread}, when Yahushua knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Yahushua knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from YHWH, and went to YHWH; He riseth from ^Passover supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
(Joh 13:1-4 KJV)

The Fifteenth crowd on this says that it is obvious that it is before the Feast of the Passover because that is what it says. Well, I sure hope that you have listened enough to know that you can’t tell exactly what day is being mentioned when you take the terminology of “Feast of Passover” because it’s inter changed with the days of Unleavened Bread. I have shown you how that is in secular writings as well as in scripture. You can’t just take this one account and build your whole case on it, and then put patches on all of the other accounts particularly the Synoptic Gospels that make clear mention of Yahushua’s Passover.

One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew. Then led they Yahushua from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment (The praetorium, probably Antonia Fortress west of the Temple Mount): and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? (Joh 18:26-29 KJV)

Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread combined
Fifteeners Seder
Original household Passover replaced with Temple Passover
Continues to this very day
Which Passover would you have attended, Yahushua’s or Caiaphas’???

Again, this scripture is often used by the fifteen crowd to say that it is obvious that they had not eaten the Passover yet. Yahushua is just now being interrogated and ultimately to be crucified soon.

Notice what it was, it was Caiaphas and his entourage that themselves went into the judgment hall that they should not be defiled. This was part of the preparation for the peace offerings and the Temple offerings on the fifteenth.

This event is the result of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread being combined. In this period of time it appears that there were some that kept the original fourteenth recipe but many who did not. The accounts that we have read so far would seem to indicate to us that is what is going on. It isn’t that the distinction that the fourteenth was lost, and the fifteenth is what is being done. There were people that kept the fourteenth and there were others, the majority that kept the fifteenth. They went through the ritual of coming to Jerusalem and slaying the lambs in what the rabbis called beyn ha-arbayim which is the middle of the afternoon on the fourteenth so they had their Seder dinner on the fifteenth.

Caiaphas has a Fifteeners Seder and they have replaced the original Passover with the Temple sacrifice system with the peace offerings that we have talked about in the last session.

This practice continues to this day, the question that comes to my mind when I see this is that Caiaphas obviously had his own Passover. Which Passover would you have attended? Or another question is which Passover do you attend today?

Yahushua’s Passover
Synoptic Commentary
Domestic Household Passover

Going on with Yahushua’s Passover and the Synoptic Gospel Commentary of Matthew, Mark and Luke, what is being described here is a domestic household Passover.

And it came to pass, when Yahushua had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. (Mat 26:1-2 KJV)

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
(Mar 14:1-2 KJV)

Clearly the feast day or the First Day of Unleavened Bread, Yahushua would not have been taken and again, recently you find all these controversies and one of them is that Yahushua was sacrificed on the First Day of Unleavened Bread because that matches up with the Temple sacrifices and the argument goes on.

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
(Luk 22:1-2 KJV)

You see in the three Gospel accounts Matthew says it’s the Feast of the Passover, Mark says it’s the Feast of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, and Luke says it’s the Feast of Unleavened Bread which is called the Passover. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that the terminology means that the beginning of it is called the Passover and the rest of it is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Going on in these accounts:

Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified ^{Verse 2}…. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahushua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Yahushua had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. (Mat 26:17-20 KJV)

You see even in Matthews account here, he calls it the feast of Passover and then he goes on to call it the first of unleavened bread, and then he refers back to the Passover. I hope you see that and don’t try to make a case. People like to have work-around and patches, it’s like we have a bunch of computer programmers that like to patch things that don’t work as they were originally intended so they put patches on them. This says just what it says.

I think even a child would understand this; it is straightforward in how it is presented here. We have a second account that fundamentally says the same thing in Mark. We have three witnesses and Yahushua is speaking in all of them.

And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
(Mar 14:12-17 KJV)

Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: (Luk 22:7-15 KJV)

What Passover are you going to keep? Are you going to keep what Yahushua said here, the fourteenth Passover? Clearly that is what the night is, the evening going into the fourteenth. Or are you going to keep Caiaphas’ Passover the next night? For us the choice is clear. These accounts are just stunning to read when you put them side by side to see what Yahushua said himself said and what he called this day.

Yahushua’s Passover
New Covenant Contract Established

The important thing about the true Passover, the Passover that the community of Believers in Yahushua observe, is that the New Covenant comes out of it. We see that as we continue with this comparison. Remember I said I would come back to this. I wonder about the bread that Yahushua took; it is artos which is raised bread. It could have easily been azumos which is unleavened bread. By the way, we use unleavened bread in our service and ceremony but I wonder about this when I read it.

And as they were eating, Yahushua took bread ^{G740=artos=bread as raised}, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new ^{G2537=kainos=new especially in freshness} testament ^{G1242=diatheke=a disposition, contract, especially a devisory will}, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new ^G2537=same with you in my Father’s kingdom. (Mat 26:26-29 KJV)

We have a new, especially new in freshness testament, or diatheke, which is a divisor, will. A divisor will is interesting to look at because that is what we fundamentally do with wills in the United States. A divisor will in which there is a testator and the will is only in effect after the testator dies. It’s interesting that is what Yahushua is putting in place. The testator is about to die of this new will, Yahushua, and he is going to die for all mankind. He is going to provide his sacrifice for all mankind.

In the Mark account comparison:

And as they did eat, Yahushua took bread ^{G740=artos=same}, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new ^G2537=same testament ^G1242=same, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of YHWH. (Mar 14:22-25 KJV)

The Luke comparison:

For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of YHWH. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of YHWH shall come. And he took bread ^{G740=artos=same}, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new ^G2537=same testament ^G1242=same in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luk 22:18-20 KJV)

In all cases the word new is “kainos”, and the word testament is “diatheke”. I will come to that shortly and make a couple of comments about “kainos” that equals new versus “diatheke” in the Greek.

There are several things that are important about this. Obviously this whole presentation series is intended to get the Passover on the right calendar. Let’s not forget what is most important about the Passover is that the new covenant is established on the Passover, and also that the Melchizedek order of the priesthood has been restored, or will be restored right after Yahushua’s death that is coming up in this account.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high Elohim. (Gen 14:18 KJV)

Have you ever considered that this event in Genesis 14 is actually a Passover prototype? In fact we are going to talk about that during the Days of Unleavened Bread. I will show you how this event with Melchizedek happened four hundred and thirty years prior to the exodus. The exodus account says that to the very day, the selfsame day four hundred and thirty years later the people of Israel left Egypt by night on the fifteenth day of the month is when this all happened. The account in Genesis 14 and 15 will be an interesting parallel when we get to it.

There is another heresy, that a couple of years ago, I added to this presentation because there are so many in the believing community that wants to make this New Testament a renewed testament. If you have heard of that, or if you believe that, this particular page is for you.

New versus New

• New in freshness – G2537=kainos ^{44 matches}
• New with respect to age, youthful to regenerate – G3501= neos ^{24 matches}

The word new in English has underneath in Greek two variations of the word. This is something like “at even”, or “in the evening”, in Hebrew there were two variations of beyn ha-arbayim or ba erev to determine when that period of time is. In Greek, the word “new” also has two variations and one is the word “kainos” which is the word Yahushua used which means new in freshness. In contrast the other Greek word is “neos” which means new with respect to age.

What you find is the renewed covenant heresy that is exactly what it is, what a slap in the face to Yahushua who provided his blood, his sacrifice, for us and calling it a renewed covenant when in fact it is a new covenant. He called it so. These two words are used in clear connotations in the Greek text. We will look at a few of them so you understand and make sure that the word new as you understand it with New Testament, new covenant, means new in freshness, not renewed.

I will also say that The Eth Cepher uses the terminology renewed; it is one of the newer Bible translations. Unfortunately if you look at the sections of scripture we are looking at you will see that the author of that has translated ‘new’ as ‘renewed’ which is incorrect.

Take a look at a couple of examples with the word new

• Neos with respect to age

And the younger ^{G3501= neos=new with respect to age, youthful, fresh, to regenerate} of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. (Luk 15:12 KJV)

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new ^3501=same lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1Co 5:7 KJV)

And have put on the new ^3501=same man, which is renewed ^{G341=renovate, renew} in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Col 3:10 KJV)

In this case, putting on the new with respect to age or the renewed man, is an adjective for man that follows the context of the line which is about renovation and renew, so the Greek word for new man is added into that.

Young ^G3501 men likewise exhort to be sober minded. (Tit 2:6 KJV)

There is one scripture that the renewed covenant group likes to use which is Hebrews 12:24 and that scripture says:

And to Yahushua the mediator of the new ^G3501 covenant ^{that was previously established, recently received its validity, a reference to its age}, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Heb 12:24 KJV)

cf. H2318=khawdash=to be new, rebuild, renew, repair

Keep in mind that this is in Hebrews that was written some thirty or forty years after Yahushua’s crucifixion. The word for new with respect to age is used here. You might say that I told you that it’s always a new in freshness, a kainos covenant, and that is what Yahushua said, and yes that is what he said. Are you going to take a scripture like this, a one-time scripture in Hebrews 12, that says renewed, rather than new in freshness, are you going to take that to build your case? You then have to have a work around for everything Yahushua said. Some people do that, and some of those same people keep Caiaphas’ Passover as well.

The terminology, “Yahushua the mediator of the new covenant” is in reference to its original institution. It is a reference to its age, some thirty years after it was instituted. That is what this is getting at. It was previously established.

The word new “kainos” in context we see:

• Kainos = New in freshness

A new ^{G2537=new in freshness} commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (Joh 13:34 KJV)

And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new ^G2537=same doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? (Act 17:19 KJV)

For in Messiah Yahushua neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new ^G2537=same creature. (Gal 6:15 KJV)

Again, a new ^G2537=same commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (1Jn 2:8 KJV)

And I saw a new ^G2537=same heaven and a new ^G2537=same earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Rev 21:1 KJV)

cf. H2319=khawdawsh=new, fresh

This comparison is a good one in the Greek; you can also make the same comparison in the Hebrew. The Hebrew has two terms for new, and renew. The Hebrew term for new in freshness is kahwdawsh and the Hebrew term for renew is khawdash. They are phonetically similar but they mean different things. If you do a search on these two terms in the Old Testament, you will see the same comparison of what they mean in the context of new in freshness or brand new, versus renew or to rebuild.

New Covenant Contract Established
Old Covenant Abolished

The contract that has been established, the New Covenant, the new in freshness covenant is what I want to end up with in this presentation. Yes, the Passover calendar is important, yes we believe the Passover to be the fourteenth going into the day of the fourteenth. Yahushua said it was in three Gospel accounts and we hold to that.

What is truly important though is that we have a new covenant and we have a Messiah that has given his life for our sins and that we have the opportunity as first fruits. By the way, the Passover on the fourteenth is about first fruits, it’s about saving the first born in Egypt so those first born are the ones that were the benefactor; they are the ones that were redeemed as a result of having the Passover on the fourteenth. The fifteenth has to do with leaving Egypt, which is what the record and the memorial are both about. The New Covenant has an interesting set of scriptures that Paul writes about.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency ^{G2425=competency} is of YHWH; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new ^{G2537=kainos new especially in freshness} testament ^{G1242=diatheke=a disposition, contract, especially a devisory will}; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, (What is he talking about? The ministration of death written in stone, he’s talking about the Old Covenant, the Moab Covenant. The covenant that they took into the Promised Land) so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away ^{G2673=katargeo=to render entirely useless, abolish, destroy, make of no effect, make void} (That glory was to be abolished): How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? (Do you see the comparison he is making?) For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away ^{G2673=katargeo= to render useless, abolish, destroy, make of no effect, make void} was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished ^{G2673=katargeo=to render useless, abolish, destroy, make of no effect, make void}: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away ^{G2673=karargeo=to render useless, abolish, destroy, make of no effect, make void} in Messiah. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it ^{the heart} shall turn to YHWH, the vail shall be taken away ^{G4014=remove all around, expiate (atone for)} . Now YHWH is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of YHWH is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of YHWH, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of YHWH. (2Co 3:5-18 KJV)

That we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of YHWH are changed, and for me, that is stunning to see YHWH’s face in this glass that is right before us. It is the reflection of his Spirit for us and through us, through this new covenant that has been established.

Summary
Promise to Abraham Fulfilled

• Promise is not through the old covenant law
  That all goes back to Genesis chapter 22.

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Gen 22:17-18 KJV)

By faith, thank you Abraham that we have a new covenant that Yahushua has given his blood for. Paul in Galatians says:

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (Paul is saying that when a man makes a covenant it is a deal, a handshake makes the deal. I remember the days when that was the case but it wasn’t too long ago you could make a deal with someone and a handshake and a look in the eye was a man’s word. It isn’t so much anymore) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Messiah. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of YHWH in Messiah, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but YHWH gave it ^{the inheritance} to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till ^{G891=up to, a terminus and G3757= at which place} the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator……. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Gal 3:15-19, 29 KJV)

That is what we are; we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. If we are not physically Abraham’s seed, we are grafted in.

I want to pick on this one little word ‘till’ the little four letter word in the King James Version. This word ‘till’ comes from a Greek word G891 in Strong’s and it means up to, a terminus. It also has a second word associated with it that means at which place. It is until and it is translated as till. If we read this with the understanding of what the Greek means, it would say it was added because of transgressions up to a terminus, a hard boundary. A terminus at which place the seed should come to whom the promise was made. This is not a virtual boundary; this is a hard boundary when Yahushua came. He came and gave his life for us and established this new covenant which we now have and we are grateful to him and honor him. Thank you our Father for Yahushua.

• Physical inheritance – old covenant
  People that are looking to the old covenant will have a physical inheritance.
• Spiritual inheritance – new covenant
  People that are looking to the new covenant will have a spiritual inheritance

Galatians goes on in a couple of verses later and says:

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of YHWH by faith in Messiah Yahushua. For as many of you as have been baptized into Messiah have put on Messiah. (Gal 3:25-27 KJV)

There is an important step that is mentioned here being baptized, and I am going to say being properly baptized. Unfortunately baptisms today have been conducted; perhaps innocently so, but in the Trinity and the Matthew 28:19 recipe, and unfortunately that is not the correct formula, a person has to decide what they are going to do about it but as many of you have been baptized into the Messiah have put on the Messiah. Not baptized into the Trinity, but baptized into Yahushua.

As my mantra is: Do your own homework

What I have said today is what we hold to. We hold to and want to protect secure, guard and defend against the anarchy and some of the heresies that are out there in the believing community. We pray to YHWH to show us the way.

Shew me thy ways, O YHWH; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth ^{H571=certainty, stability}, and teach me: for thou art the Elohim of my salvation ^{H3468=Yesha=liberty, deliverance, salvation} ; on thee do I wait all the day. (Psa 25:4-5 KJV)

Interestingly, if you didn’t know the word salvation in the old covenant, the first covenant, is in most cases a version of this Hebrew word 3468 in Strong’s. It is Yesha or Yahsha, certainly salvation from Yesha or Yahsha is a foundational part of Yahushua’s name. Yahushua is salvation from YHWH or Yah’s salvation. When you see the word salvation, built into it is a reminder of Yahushua, he is our salvation.

Teach ^{H3384=flow as rain water, shoot an arrow} me, O YHWH, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. (Psa 119:33 KJVA)

We all want to remember to seek first his kingdom.

But seek ye first the kingdom of YHWH, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Mat 6:33 KJV)

Study to shew thyself approved unto Elohim, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing ^{G3718=make a straight cut, dissect the divine message correctly- only occurrence} the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings ^{G2757=kenophonia=empty sounding, fruitless discussion – kenophobic=fear of empty rooms}: for they will increase unto more unrighteousness.
(2Ti 2:15-16 KJV)

https://www.answersoflife.com