Download PDF transcript version

Pentecost
The Feast of Leavened Bread
Part Two
Shavuot at Mount Sinai

Transcribed and edited from video

www.answersoflife.com

For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Messiah the firstfruits; afterward they that are Messiah’s at his coming. (1Co 15:22-23 KJV)

We are continuing our journey in a five part agenda about Pentecost. We are in Part Two, the Historical Shavuot, that journey that the Israelites took when they left Egypt under the command of Moses and they went to Mount Sinai.

Review
Last Session

• Agrarian Foundation
• Five names refers to same day

   

  – Feast of Harvest (Exo 23:16)

  – Feast of Weeks (Shabua Exo 34:22)

  – Day of First Fruits (Num 28:26)

  – Pentecost (Acts 2:1)

  – Feast of First Fruits (common reference)

• Old contract background

   

  – Shavuot derived from seven or week

  – Commemorates wheat harvest

  – Includes leavened wave offering

• New contract background

   

  – Pentecost derived from “50”

  – First Fruits believers represented by wheat (Mat 3:12)

• Wave sheaf significance (Joh 20:17)
• Torah instructions
• Calendar accounting
• Two types of firstfruits

   

  – Barley – Days of Unleavened Bread

  – Wheat – Shavuot

In Part One we took a look at the agrarian nature of this particular festival and all of the festivals for that matter have an agrarian foundation because of when they took place while the Israelites were busy harvesting their crops. There are different names associated with this day; the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Weeks, the Day of First Fruits, the Day of Pentecost and so forth. These all reference the same day of what I would use the noun Shavuot or Pentecost interchangeably.

We have looked at how this day was derived from seven or seven weeks and that is the foundation of the word “Shabua”, or Shavuot and how it commemorates the wheat harvest. The earlier harvest was the barley harvest but of unique nature in this particular holy day or Holy Convocation is the fact that the offering includes two leavened loaves. We will get into that in Part Three in detail.

We also looked at how the New Testament derives “Shavuot” from the term ”count to fifty”. In the Greek it is pronounced Pentecost, “pen-tay” meaning fifty and “kos-tay”, or “koste” meaning count, so “count to fifty”. Also in the New Testament it references a number of scriptures; actually we see this as we dig into it that the firstfruits believer are represented by the wheat harvest.

We have already taken a look at the significance of the wave sheaf and the connection to the New Testament, particularly in John chapter 20. We have looked at the instructions in the Torah that give us the guidance and what we do on this day and what the Levitical structure was in the day. It’s not that we keep the Levitical structure in any way because that system has been abolished. We do gain insight on what this day is about and its purpose from looking at the instructions.

The calendar is important to look at in terms of counting to Pentecost because there are two main different ways of counting and we have gone into that, the Sadducee protocol versus the Pharisee protocol. I have also shown you that there is something the Essenes did with the Qumran Calendar or the Jubilee Calendar as it might be called.

We have also examined the different types of firstfruits. When we talked about barley firstfruits we were fundamentally talking about the Hebrew word “reyshith”, and when we talked about the wheat harvest we were talking primarily about the Hebrew word “bikkur”, and the difference of those meaning the reyshith is the first time place and order, and bikkur is the harvest that is first of the crop. That has been a real interesting examination and we will probably continue to put some emphasis on that as we go through this series of presentations.

Let’s get our foundation for this particular session underneath us and we will start with the Israelites leaving Egypt and going to Mount Sinai.

Egypt to Mount Sinai
11 Campsites the first 50 days – 42 Total

In Numbers 33 we see a detailed list of the campsites of the travels and wanderings of the Israelites during their forty year sojourning before they went into the Promised Land. Of interest is the first section of Numbers 33 which details the campsites that got them to Mount Sinai. In fact there are eleven campsites that were used that the Israelites lived in during the first fifty days, probably about forty seven or forty six days before they came to Mount Sinai. As a side bar discussion, if you go through Numbers 33 you will find that there are forty two total campsites during the forty year period that they were wandering in the desert. Our examination is going to be on these first eleven.

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

– Num 33:4  For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which YHWH had smitten among them: upon their gods also YHWH executed judgments.

– Num 33:5  And the children of Israel removed from Rameses ^{first location}, and pitched ^{H2583=pitch a tent, camp} in Succoth ^H5523=booths.

– Num 33:6  And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.

The word “pitched” is useful to know because it is translated in a couple of different ways, but it means to pitch a tent. Of course here it would be obvious in this translation that the word “pitch” means to pitch some kind of a shelter; it means to pitch a shelter or a camp. They also camped in Succoth and the word “Succoth” is really the plural of “Sukkah” which means “booths”. They stayed in tents; some translations would call it tabernacles. Here is their first location. They stopped in Succoth.

– Num 33:7  And they removed from Etham, and turned again ^{H7725=to turn back} unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. ^{they departed from Buthan and encamped at the mouth of Irath, which is opposite Beel-sepphon, and encamped opposite Magdol – Brenton}

There are a couple of points about verse 7 and that is that they pitched before Migdol. The Septuagint Brenton translation says they departed from Buthan and encamped at the mouth of Irath, which is opposite Beel-sepphon, and encamped opposite Magdol, same locations with a Greek pronunciation. It’s interesting that they camped at the mouth of Pihahiroth or Irath as it says. If you are doing a detailed study on the travel during the first fifty days that the Israelites were in their exodus, you might want to take a look at the Brenton Version because it gives a little different perspective than the Masoretic Text, from the King James and most modern translations that you will see.

This word “turn again” in the Masoretic text has the connotation of turning back, or making a loop back toward the direction that you came from. These might all be clues of where they went and how they proceeded.

– Num 33:8  And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. 

– Num 3-3:9  And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there.

– Num 33:10  And they removed from Elim, and encamped ^{H2583=pitch a tent, camp} by the Red sea. 

– Num 33:11  And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped ^H2583=same in the wilderness of Sin.

– Num 33:12  And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.

– Num 33:13  And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.

– Num 33:14  And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.

– Num 33:15  And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. 

Sinai is our destination, so this is the road map that we are going to examine and put on a calendar and see if we can make some sense of where they were and when they were there. There are a number of plausible alternatives to the route that was taken during this fifty day journey. There are a couple of points about this.

Travel Limitations – Travel days and distance controversy

The travel limitations from a logistical standpoint may or may not be valid because we think of this from a human standpoint and how far could a person walk in a day. Most Bible commentaries will say that a day’s journey is about twenty miles, but keep in mind this was upward of a couple million people, maybe even more, with all of their herds. They had animals and animals don’t always go the direction you want them to go so you think about how they had to travel, the distance, and the number of people. When we look at the map of how far some of these alternatives are to get to Mount Sinai it may not seem plausible.

However, take a look at a couple of points about this before we move on.

And YHWH went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
(Exo 13:21-22 KJV)

They had light all of the time. It’s not like when the sun goes down and it went dark and there would have been no moon at some periods of time. They had this pillar of fire to light the way by night and they also had a cloud by day. YHWH didn’t take the pillar of light by day or the pillar of fire by night. They had this all of the time.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exo 19:4 KJV)

The indication that they are going to be traveling on eagle’s wings, suggests you might be traveling very fast. There could be some miracle extra physical out of the ordinary events that happened that we don’t know, but we are going to take a look at the list of miracles that we do know about and it is a lengthy list. This particular map has some of the common alternatives on it.

There are several other alternatives that are well researched. I have looked at this in detail thinking that a person could figure this out. A lot of other people have thought that and I think the conclusion is that I don’t know. What I do see is that if you pick on any one of these theories on the route that was taken and examine it, you look at the pros and the cons, most of these alternatives are plausible. There are pros and cons to all of them and some of them have some pretty serious travel indications about them too.

The one that I want to look at that is commonly thought of is the red line that goes down through the southern tip of Sinai and then crosses over the Gulf of Aqaba (the straight line where the arrow is seen pointing to Midian) for the final destination of Sinai at Jebel El-Lawz. That particular alternative has some variations depending upon where they crossed the Gulf of Aqaba but look at the distances involved to get there. The legend shows that fifty miles is an inch and three quarters or so long and when you take a look at where they started the destination down at Jebel El-Lawz is two hundred and fifty or more miles away.

At a minimum it is two hundred and twenty or thirty miles away to get to the sea crossing so if you divide this up, if in fact they went through the Red Sea on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread they basically had six days to go some two hundred and thirty miles or so. They would have had to travel about forty miles a day, plus they had three campsites in that period. Is that possible? Sure, it sure is, it’s just a long way.

The other common side is Jebel Musa in the Sinai, so we have the two largest alternatives, one in the Sinai Jebel Musa and the other one in the Arabian Desert, Jebel El-Lawz were the land of Midian is identified. When you look at this you probably will find the land of Midian is actually farther north but that is okay for the purposes of this discussion. The other alternative that you find a lot of evidence and support for is Jebel El-Lawz.

With that in mind, there are a number of alternatives. I should also mention that there is a northerly alternative where the Israelites went through a series of large lakes that were in place before the Suez Canal was there. The Suez Canal goes through the area from Migdol to Ismalia and today the geography is substantially changed from what it was thirty five hundred years ago particularly the water masses.

We take this as good information, it’s really a fun study, it’s exciting to look at these alternatives and I have learned a lot just examining them myself. I would encourage anybody to take a look on your own and see what you conclude.

Travel Limitations – Travel days and distance controversy

And YHWH went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
(Exo 13:21-22 KJV)

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exo 19:4 KJV)

What I want to present on this particular page is the travel limitations may not be a factor. Going on here in Isaiah 40, it says:

But they that wait upon YHWH shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isa 40:31 KJV)

With YHWH’s spirit guiding us and guiding the Israelites they could mount up on eagle’s wings and they can run for long distances and not be weary and walk long distances and not faint. YHWH’s spirit will guide people and perhaps provide that additional miracle that we don’t have any evidence of to travel long distances. Of course the Israelites complained a lot, we know when they got thirsty and hungry but they could have traveled long distances and we just don’t have any record of it.

• Cf. Rev 12:14

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Rev 12:14 KJV)

Revelation 12 is comparative about eagle’s wings that I always think of when I read through this section of traveling on eagle’s wings. Of course this is referring to what appear to be the saints or the elect being taken to a place of safety and of course some people think this means flying on the wings of an eagle is a 747. That could be also, but it’s an interesting comparison to the same terminology of flying with wings of an eagle or wings as an eagle.

When you start putting down other miracles that have taken place on a piece of paper, it is an amazing list that we know of. There are probably some others that I have overlooked but look what has happened here to the Israelites just in the last couple of months from the standpoint of where we are in this journey that they have just taken which is the exodus from Egypt.

There had been ten plagues in the last few months which include:

• Miraculous events

   

  – Ten Plagues (Exo 7-12)

  1. Water turned to blood – Exo 7:19

  2. Frogs – Exo 8:2

  3. Lice – Exo 8:16

  4. Flies – Exo 8:21

  5. Domestic animal plague – Exo 9:3

  6. Boils – Exo 9:10

  7. Hail – Exo 9:32 8. Locust – Exo 10:12

  8. Locust – Exo 10:12

  9. Thick darkness – Exo 10:21

  10. First born die – Exo 11:5

  – Red sea – (Exo 14:15-22)

  – Quail and Manna (Exo 16:1-15)

  – Water at Massah (Exo 17:7)

  – Clothes and shoes didn’t wear out (Deu 29:5)

  – Holding back the Jordan (Jos 3:13)

The hail gives us guidance of what crops were destroyed and which ones withstood. It gives us guidance how the Abib barley was developing. Pharaoh decided that these ten plagues were enough so he let Moses tell the Israelites to go. We will detail the quail and manna this time as it gives us a time marker during the course of the month. We will also look at the water at Massah, but note there are other parts associated with the miraculous events associated with the exodus. Their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out and then we have the holding back of the Jordan River.

And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. (Deu 29:5 KJV)

This is some forty years after they left and thirty eight or thirty nine years after the time they spent at Mount Sinai, they were at Mount Sinai about eleven months. Moses is telling them now, during this time just before they go into the Promised Land and also by the way, the giving of the Mosaic Covenant at this point. That is something we have gone into in detail in the Covenant Study.

If you haven’t seen that it is on the website and you are watching this from the website, look at the covenant study and it will give you a lot of details. There are a number of sessions about the covenants and what was valid and what wasn’t.

Also in Joshua chapter 3, we find this event at the Jordan:

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of YHWH, the Master of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. (Jos 3:13 KJV)

YHWH put his angels there to dam up the Jordan upstream from where they were crossing from the land of Moab into the Promised Land. A number of miracles have happened, the reason I have gone through this kind of detail here is that I don’t think there are limitations so with the miracles that have happened and the ones that we don’t know about.

There probably aren’t many travel limitations in terms of how far they could travel in a day. There might be other considerations associated but the travel limitations are probably non-existent with these scriptures in mind. With YHWH’s hand leading them and the ability for them to travel long distances multiple days in a row, probably without stopping for rest, they could have make any of the crossing alternatives without a limitation.

There are a couple of references; the Bible website is a good detailed source of information about the crossing of the Red Sea particularly. They have done a good job of examining that. The Bible origins.net url that is here is also a good detailed account.

These two accounts don’t agree so if you are just interested in an objective view and want to see different opinions about this, these are a couple of places that you can find them. I am not saying either one is right or correct but this is the study that I found.

The further that I got into it the more I thought I would just don’t know. You will have to do your own homework and make your own determination.

• References:

   

  – http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-travel-times-distances-days.htm

  – http://www.bibleorigins.net/RouteOfTheExodusMapSites.html

With that in mind, we are going to start with a blank calendar. We will put the first three months of what is approximately the year 1446 BCE which is this period of time that we are working on. We will put this up and fill in the cells of the calendar, the days of the calendar as we go through and read the scriptures in Exodus chapter 16 through 19.

You will notice the calendar will have thirty day months back to back. I know that today we have thirty day months back to back so it’s not uncommon but at some point in time that may have changed from what was a consistent thirty day month cycle.

The example that I have used in the past is that if you read the account of Noah and the flood, you will find in Genesis 7 that Noah talks about the second month in the seventeenth day the rain started and he also says in Genesis 8, a chapter later that on the seventh month and the 17^th day the rain stopped. He also notes in that period of time that there was one hundred and fifty days that transpired. What we can deduce from that, and there are some people that don’t agree with this by the way but I just read the scripture for what it is, take that which is obvious and say that must be what it was rather than to try to have some work around to what is obvious. Usually people like to have a work around to what is obvious and then try to prove what is obscure. In this case, it seems obvious that there were a hundred and fifty days that went by in a five month period when you read the scriptures. That would be thirty day calendar months consistent. It would have to be thirty day calendar months for five months running.

It is probable that there was a calendar change in the time of Joshua, perhaps another one in the time of Hezekiah. The long day of Joshua so that he could complete his battle cleanup and that Hezekiah had the sundial turned backwards ten degrees. I suspect those two events, or at least one of the two has altered the calendar and perhaps to the point of what we have today. In any case, it is all conjecture certainly but just note that there will be thirty day months in the first two months that we will be looking at this.

Timeline Anchor

• Exo 16:1-5 – Quail and manna

   

  – Vs 1 – 15^th day second month

  – Vs 8 – flesh in the evening and bread in the morning

  – Vs 12 – beyn ha arbayim – dinner served

  H996 – beyn = between

  – Vs 13 – at even – quail arrive

  – Vs 13 – in the morning manna came

• Exo 16:16 – 30

   

  – Vs 16 – 1 omer = 2 quarts

  – Vs 22 – gather double on the 6^th day

• The first timeline anchor that we see in the scripture throughout this whole period of time happens in Exodus 16 and it is an excellent part to examine and see if you can come up with the same conclusion of exactly when this event happened.

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

That is significant; the fifteenth day of the second month is when they came here.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to Elohim we had died by the hand of YHWH in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said YHWH unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. (Exo 16:1-5 KJV)

Think about this as you read it and you see that YHWH is telling them that coming up is going to be an event that starts in six days you are going to perform this event. That event is gathering in the manna, and on the sixth day you are going to gather in twice as much. We are going to see that it starts tomorrow in the subsequent verses. We are at the fifteenth day of the second month is what this scripture at least says to me.

Going on in Exodus 16:

And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even ^{H6153=dusk, night}, then ye shall know that YHWH hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: And in the morning ^{H1242=boker=dawn, freak of day}, then ye shall see the glory of YHWH; for that he heareth your murmurings against YHWH: and what are we ^{Moses and Aaron}, that ye murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be, when YHWH shall give you in the evening ^{H6153=ereb=dusk, night} flesh to eat, and in the morning ^{H1242=boker, dawn, break of day} bread to the full; for that YHWH heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we ^{Moses and Aaron?} your murmurings are not against us, but against YHWH. And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before YHWH: for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of YHWH appeared in the cloud. (Exo 16:6-10 KJV)

Here they are on the fifteenth and they look toward the edge of the wilderness, off to the horizon and they see the glory of YHWH coming in a cloud so it’s getting late in the day. There are a couple of points about this, flesh in the evening and bread in the morning. Not intended for a detailed examination in this particular presentation, however, this particular scripture not only talks about what day it is, is used in some Hebrew Roots circles, it may not always be Hebrew Roots circles, but there are some that would be called the “Passover Fifteeners”, not the “Passover Fourteeners”, that believe that the Passover supper that Yahushua observed wasn’t really a Passover, it was a last meal and that the real Passover is between the end of the day on the fourteenth and the beginning of the day on the fifteenth.

This particular scripture is oftentimes used as one of the proof points for that particular thought. If you look a little deeper into this scripture that we have just read, I think you clearly see what the difference is between a couple of definitions. One is “in the evening”, so when we see “at even” in the text, you have to really look to see what the Hebrew is to know what part of the evening it’s talking about.

The first even that is mentioned about in this text is plain old even. Even though it says “at even” the “at” is subjective in this translation because the word even just means plain old dusk. “At even ^{H6153=dusk, night}, then ye shall know that YHWH hath brought you out from the land of Egypt.” And going down a little further it says: “This shall be, when YHWH shall give you in the evening ^{H6153=ereb=dusk, night} flesh to eat.” He is going to give you something to eat at dusk, at the beginning of night and in the morning he is going to give you something else to eat so keep that in mind. The word “even” here is 6153 ereb in Hebrew, so it’s a Hebrew noun.

As we proceed with this and go on in Exodus chapter 16:

And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At ^{H996=beyn=between} even^{H6153=ereb=dusk, night} ye shall eat ^{H398=consume, devour, dine} flesh, and in the morning ^{H1242=boker=dawn, break of day} ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am YHWH your Elohim. And it came to pass, that at even ^{H6153=ereb=dusk} the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning ^{H1242=boker=dawn, break of day} the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which YHWH hath given you to eat. (Exo 16:11-15 KJV)

The manna from heaven of all things, isn’t that amazing? What we know is that in ‘at evening’, this bread from heaven came. “At even you shall eat”. When was this delivered? It was delivered at even but it also says “At even you shall eat”, the first ‘at even’ that was delivered in the previous scripture should tell us that something has to be delivered for dinner before you can cook it. The fact that “at even you shall eat”, this word beyn enters into this equation, and this is the key to “beyn ha’Arbayim” is the argument that you see for the fourteenth versus the fifteenth Passover. Beyn ha’arbayim is talking about a later point in the evening than the plain old evening, ereb all by itself. I hope you will take a look at this scripture and you should be able to see that the quails arrived at ereb, but you eat at beyn ha’arbayim. That would have to be later than the time that the quails arrived so beyn ha’arbayim has to be later in the evening not earlier in the day as the Fifteeners theory would have you believe.

That is not the point of what I want to focus on in this particular presentation but it does come up and this is perhaps one of the best proof of this terminology “beyn ha-arbayim” in the scriptures and it gives us what should be the point that is clear should be taken to be applied to all of the scriptures, not the point that is vague. When you look through this, and you can do your own research on this you can decide if this is a correct parsing of this or you have a different idea.

The point of it is that this started on the fifteenth, the next day they received their first dose of manna.

This is the thing which YHWH hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. (Exo 16:16-22 KJV)

There are a couple of points about this, obviously if they were starting at any other day of the week, and the Sabbath, keep this in mind, they wouldn’t have been told, nor did they know when the Sabbath was. That was the whole point of this, to define the Sabbath Day for these Israelites. YHWH knew when the Sabbath Day was, he created it, it is page one of The Book, the Sabbath day was created and you can be sure that YHWH was honoring the Sabbath all along and probably some of the patriarchs knew of it and were keeping it also but the captivity of the Israelites in Egypt allowed them to forget about it. Why does the fourth commandment start with the word ‘remember’? It is because people forget, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”. That is an interesting commandment; it’s the only one that starts out that way. Remember, in other words since you have forgotten, try to remember.

The only way this could have taken place in this order was if this count was starting and the manna and the quail were going to start from the day after the 15^th, which would have been day one of the six day count. We would call that Sunday on our calendar today. For example, if they would have been Wednesday or something like that they would have counted six days and come to the following Tuesday of Wednesday depending upon which day of the week you might be talking about.

The only way this could be explained is that the day that is being talked about, the fifteenth day, was a weekly Sabbath day and they were counting forward to the next weekly Sabbath day. Also, this word ‘omer’ is defined in the measurement system as about two quarts. When it says to go get an omer it’s talking about 2 quarts. Four omers are going to be about four quarts or a gallon.

Going on in this account in verse 23:

And he said unto them, This is that which YHWH hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto YHWH: (Meaning, after the sixth day you gather double.) bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto YHWH: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And YHWH said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that YHWH hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exo 16:23-30 KJV)

They had manna every which way and got creative in how they prepared their manna. They would make manna biscuits, manna pancakes, manna bread; they probably had manicotti and probably chased it down with Manischewitz wine.

This account gives us a framework for the Sabbath and when the Israelites rested and the next day is the first day of the week. When we put this on a calendar chart, we go to the second month because it was the fifteenth day when they arrived and they camped at Sin. This was when the quail and the manna were promised starting that night.

The quail came when it was starting to be evening, and later in the evening they would have cooked it up at beyn ha’arbayim and then the six day count to get them to the next Sabbath started. We just read through how they had their manna for the second Sabbath which would have been the 22^nd, so this is a good solid anchor on our timeline. Now we can back up and add some other points on the calendar. Since we know when the 15^th is, we can back up two previous Sabbaths and know when the new moon day was. I would argue that since YHWH’s Shekinah Glory was leading them with a pillar of fire in the night and the cloud by day.

YHWH knew when the Sabbath was, and throughout the rest of the journey from the 15^th day of the 2^nd month forward they were starting to camp, some of the camps were being set up to be ready for the Sabbath. They were being fed manna and had double gathering to do for food preparation. I would argue that the same camping schedule would have applied the weeks before this because we know there were several camp spots before this. YHWH’s Spirit isn’t going to be leading them to travel on the Sabbath day. When the cloud and light stopped, they were to stop. It isn’t spoken of in the text but I would argue that the Sabbath day was in place but they didn’t know they were keeping the Sabbath.

That is why I put the camp at the location near the Red Sea as it says in Numbers 33 when we read it. I suspect that was a Sabbath day camp, and the camp at Elim was a Sabbath day camp also. That gets us back to knowing some points on the calendar for the first month, the month of Abib. Since we know when new moon day is in the second month, we know that the day before that was the end of the previous month, and again, I said I made the assumption that it was a thirty day month. That takes the first day of the month back to what we would call today a Thursday, a new moon day. That would also put the Passover on the fourteenth which would have been a Wednesday and the First Day of Unleavened Bread would have been on a Thursday with these assumptions. They may be wrong, but they are reasonable assumptions.

The First Day of Unleavened Bread is the day that they left Egypt and they left by night. We know that in Deuteronomy 16:1 that says:

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto YHWH thy Elohim: for in the month of Abib YHWH thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
(Deu 16:1 KJV & LXX)

I take that to be what it says; they left by night some night. They couldn’t have left the night before so the Fifteeners have to have a work around to this; they have to have a patch for this particular scripture that seems obvious. The patch for this that I have heard is that it is allegorical, not literal of what Deuteronomy 16:1 says.

I take it to be literal and in fact there is a complementary scripture that we have already read in Numbers 33.

And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover. (Num 33:3-4 KJV & LXX)

When you study into when the Passover really is, these two scriptures, Deuteronomy 16:1 and Numbers 33:3 are anchors to me. These are plain easy to understand scriptures and if these are your foundation then you don’t need a work around for anything else. If you get into a discussion with someone whether the Passover was really the fourteenth of fifteenth it enters into this beyn ha’arbayim discussion, all of this adds together. In any case, they left by night on the fifteenth and that would plot out to be this particular day on Thursday in approximately 1446 BCE.

With that, we can also make some assumptions and yes, they are assumptions, don’t take my word for this, go do your own homework. There are probably other reasonable alternatives to this. We know that the first camp that they had was in Succoth, and again I would argue that Succoth would have been a Sabbath day. They got to Succoth and YHWH’s glory stopped and so they stopped and camped.

One problem with the chronology of this is that they camped at Succoth and they camped at Etham and then they camped at Migdol. These are the three camps before the Red Sea crossing. Somewhere in this calendar there needs to be back to back campsites.

I have been on a lot of camping and backpacking trips and know that just something simple like backpacking, when you have everything instant out of your backpack, it takes a while to set up. It isn’t a thirty minute set-up plan and it isn’t a thirty minute take down plan when it is time to leave a few days later. It is quite a bit of time unless it is hailing on you. If you are getting hailed on in the high mountains you make haste and speed to set up your tent to get everything inside.

Camping and setting up for two million people would not be a simple chore, and taking down would also be another amount of time. Having back to back camps may not be a practical alternative. I suppose it is possible to move the camp Succoth a day earlier and move Etham into this spot. They camped on the sixteenth, got ready for Sabbath and then that would give a day between Succoth and Etham. In any case, these are all conjectures that go on this calendar at this point.

It’s also an assumption that the Last Day of Unleavened Bread is the Red Sea crossing. By the way, it’s also an assumption that Pentecost or Shavuot occurred at Mount Sinai three days after the Israelites arrived. These are rabbinic traditions, I think they are good and logical and you can build a case that supports them but they are not provable from the scriptures. The Last Day of Unleavened Bread being where it is on the calendar is a reasonable probability but it’s not provable either.

After the Red Sea crossing we know that the scripture says it was a three day journey to get to camp Marah. Again, this scripture in Numbers 33:

And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. (Num 33:7-8 KJV)

I suspect that Marah was again a Sabbath stop for the same reasons I just outlined, that YHWH’s spirit told them when to stop and that is what they did. They stopped even though they didn’t know about the Sabbath.

The extension of what we started out with at the camp at Sin on the fifteenth had some legs to it and some assumptions.

Camp Rephidim

Exo 17:1-16

– Vs 3 – no water

– Vs 7 – Massah = H4532 = testing, trial
– Vs 7 – Meribah = H4809 = quarrel, strife

– Vs 8-10 – war with Amalek

– Esau grandson –
And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Elephaz Amalek
(Gen 36:12 KJV)
Edom denies passage to the Israelites Num 20:17- 21

Saul spares King Agag 1 Sam 15:5-9

Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite ^{dynasty name?} Est 3:1

– Vs 11 – Moses’ hands get heavy

– Vs 12 – End of the day

– Vs 15 – Moses builds alter (next day)

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment ^H6310=mouth of YHWH, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink…and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto YHWH, saying, What shall I do unto this people… And YHWH said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb ^{H2722=Sinaitic mountains}; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted YHWH, saying, Is YHWH among us, or not? (Exo 17:1-7 KJV)

We will examine a couple of points on this, the names of the locations follow the character of the people, but I do want to comment on what YHWH said. “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb” , when you look into Mount Sinai and study it you see a lot of commentaries say that Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are in fact, one in the same place. I suspect that is true but they weren’t to Mount Sinai yet although this is called Horeb. I suspect in looking at this, Horeb is like a mountain chain, where we live we have the Rocky Mountains that run through. The Rocky Mountains are a long series of mountains and well could be that Horeb is in the Sinaitic Mountain chain and that it was a series of mountains.

Perhaps the main mountain in this chain is named Sinai. This is conjecture but it makes me wonder if they are at Horeb and Horeb is in fact the same place as Sinai but we are not at Sinai yet. There is somewhat a conflict here and has some reasonable explanation I’m sure because the scriptures are true. Perhaps this is something like the Mount of Olives and Bethany; they are fundamentally the same place. Bethany is a spot on the Mount of Olives and Horeb is a spot on the Sinaitic mountain group.

Because the people were complaining and testing him the words that Moses attached to this place were Massah and Meribah. The reason he called it Massah is because Massah means testing and trial. That is what Moses felt was going on. Meribah means quarreling or strife so he called this particular place after the characteristics of the people.

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of Elohim in mine hand… And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Obviously this is the end of the day, the going down of the sun. I can relate to the heavy hands, it doesn’t take too long to hold a sheet of sheetrock on the ceiling and try to nail it in you get pretty tired. If you are trying to win a war you don’t want to let your hands down. Moses knew when he let his hands down Amalek would prevail.

We know that YHWH told Moses to write this for a memorial and this war went on until the going down of the sun and Joshua discomfited, it’s a nice way to say he wasted Amalek.

I believe this is the first notation of the documentation of an account in the Bible. Moses wrote these books, these first five books of what we call the Torah today but here is a first example of YHWH telling Moses to write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.

And Joshua discomfited ^{H2522=to overthrow, waste away}Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And YHWH said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi ^{H3071=YHWH is my banner (refuge-LXX)}: For he said, Because YHWH hath sworn that YHWH will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exo 17:8-16 KJV)

Moses built an alter and he probably didn’t start it until after the sun went down which would be the next day, that night. “Because YHWH hath sworn that YHWH will have war with Amalek from generation to generation”. What a statement that is, when you parse this out Amalek was a real thorn in the side going forward. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, we see that in Genesis 36:

And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Elephaz Amalek (Gen 36:12 KJV)

I would guess that is the tribal name that has been carried forth. Remember that Esau is the great grandfather, the father of the Edomites and the Edomites were the ones that denied a passage of the Israelites when they first left Egypt. You will find that account in Numbers chapter 20. Moses said let us pass and they said no so Moses said that they wouldn’t touch anything and still the Edomites said the Israelites still couldn’t pass even after Moses said they would pay. The Edomites were a real pain and YHWH told Saul to get rid of them and we see that account in 1 Samuel 15. Of course Saul takes place some 350 or so years later than where we are at today talking about 1446 BCE, Saul would have been somewhere around 1050 or 1100 BCE.

And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive,

Notice that the Amalekites from Havilah until they came to Shur, so the Amalekites were there at this location with the Kenites. They were mixed together is what it sounds like so the Kenites were told to depart. Over against Egypt, so this doesn’t appear to be in Arabia, perhaps the translation is better in the Septuagint, it may give us a better clue. In any case, it doesn’t look like this is in Arabia.

and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. (1Sa 15:5-9 KJV)

Saul’s instruction from YHWH was to destroy everything. When Samuel confronts Saul with this problem of not destroying everything, Saul says that he saved the best for an offering. Nice workaround Saul. Samuel tells Saul that he was supposed to destroy everything, what is the bleating of the sheep that I hear? There should not be any bleating of the sheep, it turns out that Samuel ended up killing King Agag.

Agag also became a name as this continues on. I suspect this is a dynasty name and if you look at the account in Esther you see that Haman the son of Hammedatha was an Agagite. I think that means that Haman was of this family of Agag that goes all the way back to 1 Samuel 15 though it is a question and perhaps it is just a same name, but I suspect that Haman was the result of not killing the original Agag as Saul was supposed to. Haman develops and causes all kinds of problems for Esther and Mordechai.

Of course it is the end of the day and Moses builds an alter which would have had to have been by necessity at the going down of the sun for the next day.

Camp Rephidim

• Exo 18:1-27 – Chronological order?

   

  – Vs 1-5 – Jethro and Zipporah arrive

  Jethro – lineage Abraham and Keturah Gen 25:4 (sons of Midian)

  Moses/Zipporah circumcision incident – Exo 4:18-26

Vs 24 – And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that YHWH met him ^Moses and sought to kill him.

When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that Elohim had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that YHWH had brought Israel out of Egypt; Then Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom ^{H1648=refugee}; for he ^{Moses cf. LXX} said, I have been an alien ^{H1616=foreigner} in a strange land: And the name of the other was Eliezer ^{H461=El of help} ; for the Elohim of my father ^Moses, said he, was mine help, and delivered me ^Moses from the sword of Pharaoh: And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of Elohim: And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.
(Exo 18:1-7 KJV)

When you look at this and examine it particularly if you look at it the Septuagint you will see that Moses is recounting here how and when he named his sons. He named his sons when he was in the land of Midian before he went back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out. Of course he married Zipporah there and when he was there they had two kids. He named them according to his disposition. His disposition was that he was an alien or foreigner in a strange land meaning Egypt. He also named Eliezer according to the help that he was getting from YHWH, the Elohim of my father.

They came to this camp in Rephidim, and to the mount of YHWH, this is interesting because wouldn’t the Mount of YHWH probably be a reference to Mount Sinai? This is thought of as the Mountain where YHWH came down and gave the Ten Commandments and also the account starting in Exodus 20, 21, 22, 23 and going on where all of the Levitical law was given because the first covenant was broken by the Israelites. This reference here that we think of is at camp Rephidim could be a thematic interjection at some other point.

I still have it on the calendar chronologically from where we just left off going forward to Mount Sinai but I am starting to see that this might be a reference to a different point in time. Perhaps it is a reference during the stay at Mount Sinai, and this is significant here because they camped at the Mount of Elohim. That is what it says, “And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of Elohim. : And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.” What is missing here is ‘how are you Zipporah? Sure glad to see my wife and my kids’. That dialogue is obviously missing and I wonder why. There isn’t much about this in the scripture but we will learn a little bit more about Jethro himself.

• Lineage of Abraham and Keturah

And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. (Gen 25:4 KJV)

One would think that a priest of Midian would also be part of the tribe or this part of the group of Midian and Jethro therefore would be a Midianite because he was a priest. That would take him back to this genealogy of Abraham and Keturah.

• Jethro AKA Reuel

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters…And when they came to Reuel their father, (Exo 2:16-18 KJV)

Jethro is also known as Reuel and you will see in this account if you read the context going beyond verse 18 that it certainly must be referring to Jethro because Reuel is mentioned and then Jethro is mentioned again.

• Midianite = Kenite

And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah (Jdg 1:16 KJV)

Here is a reference to a Kenite being Moses’ father in law. The Midianites are the Kenites, or part of them or vice-versa and remember what I said, keep your eye on this tribe called the Kenites, they were told by Saul to go ahead and leave before the slaughter of King Agag and his group. Here is a reference to the Kenites being Moses’ father in law.

I don’t know of if there is any indication that Moses had another or different wife that he was called the father-in-law. Whenever he was called father-in-law, Jethro was his father-in-law. It is interesting to make that connection.

• Kenites showed favor during Exodus

And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. (1Sa 15:6 KJV)

This is probably referencing to some of the events of Jethro himself. Of interest, just a couple of days ago I made a discovery in Genesis that the Kenites were also a part of the inheritance that YHWH gave to Abraham and the cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15.

• Promise to Abraham

In the same day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites….(Gen 15:18-19 KJV)

It goes on to list the number of the tribes of the people that lived there, the Kenites were the first in the list. The Kenites were to become part of what Israel was going to dispossess. This is all interesting to make these discoveries. I would say that certainly if you go do research on your own there are some commentaries that say that even though you can see these connections, they say that there are no other connection so this may or may not be correct. All I Know is what I’m reporting, I see these connections and it looks like these are proper connections and if they aren’t you can do your own homework on this.

It’s easy to get side tracked on some of these discussions but my wife Linda and I couldn’t help but wonder more about some of the comments about Zipporah and her two sons and the lack of attention that Moses paid when Jethro showed up with his wife and kids. You would think the emphasis would be that his wife and kids are here, but the emphasis seemed to be on Jethro. The account that helps put a little of this together is back in Exodus chapter 4. We don’t really have a lot to stitch together Exodus chapter 4 has to do with the circumcision of the two boys. Moses didn’t do it, and it appears from the context that Zipporah certainly did. She wasn’t happy about it; it looked like a confrontational situation. Also in that section of scripture it appears that YHWH was not happy with Moses and specifically in verse 24 it says:

And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that YHWH met him, and sought to kill him. (Exo 4:24 KJV)

I have looked at this and looked at the Septuagint Version and it sure appears that the context of this is that YHWH met Moses; the angel came and was thinking to kill Moses because of his delinquency in not circumcising these boys and the wife having to do it. That Zipporah doing the circumcision seems to display that it displeased YHWH even though it doesn’t say that. Why would it be said that YHWH went to meet him and kill him? I’m reasonably certain that the context of this is talking about Moses. Read between the lines here and you could perhaps conclude that Moses wasn’t happy with Zipporah for some reason and these two boys come and they did in fact in this account in Exodus chapter 4 go to Egypt with him so we see that Zipporah and the family went to Egypt. This account that we are reading in Exodus 18 previously said that Moses sent her back. What we don’t know are the circumstances of how she was sent back. It’s just an interesting sidebar in the discussion.

Camp Rephidim

• Exodus 18:1-27

  – Vs 1-5 – Jethro and Zipporah arrive

  Jethro – lineage Abraham and Keturah

  – Vs 13 – next day Moses judges personal matters all day

  – Vs 14-20 – Jethro advises Moses

  – Vs 25 – captains in charge

  – Vs 27 – Jethro departs

And Moses told his father in law all that YHWH had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how YHWH delivered them.

To interject that Zipporah must have been sent back quite a long time previous to this otherwise she would know if some of these events, as an example, if she was there during the ten plagues is something that her father probably would have known. It appears that he didn’t know about any of this according to his comment.

And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which YHWH had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, Blessed be YHWH, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that YHWH is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

Where the other gods were proud, YHWH was above all of that.

And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for YHWH: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father in law before YHWH. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. (Exo 18:8-13 KJV)

As we go on here Jethro is giving Moses advice as he observed what Moses was doing during this day of counselling.

And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of YHWH: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of YHWH, and his laws. And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and YHWH shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to YHWH, that thou mayest bring the causes unto YHWH: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. (Exo 18:14-20 KJV)

This is pretty good advice from Priest Jethro, notice that mentions twice the “statutes of YHWH and his laws”, and “teach them ordinances and laws”. Certainly there were ordinances and law from creation and I am certain that the patriarchs knew the law, they knew of the Sabbath as an example, YHWH created the Sabbath and Adam and Eve and all his family knew the Sabbath. They knew that there were appointed times, we know that when we read page one of the operation manual. There were times and appointed seasons and the sun and moon were there for that purpose.

There were certainly ordinances and laws but it’s interesting that this would be here at this point and this is another one of those little indications when we add that to that they were at the Mountain of YHWH, which is probably a reference to Mount Sinai itself and the statutes and laws were given there. This leads me to think that this account is possibly not in chronological order although I have left it that it is in chronological order for purposes of this presentation.

Another part of this that we know may show that this isn’t in chronological order continues:

Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear Elohim, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and Elohim command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land. (Exo 18:21-27 KJV)

This account is echoed in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and it takes place at Moab some thirty nine years later just before the Israelites went into the Promised Land. Moses is rehearsing what had happened in their past forty years and one of the first things he says in Deuteronomy.

So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.. And when we departed from Horeb, (Deu 1:15-19 KJV)

Here they are at this mountain group or location which ever it is of Horeb which now sounds like Sinai. This account in Deuteronomy doesn’t say that Jethro told him to do this, Moses is telling the people what he did. It is the same account and the same counseling technique that Jethro told him about back in Exodus 18. Deuteronomy 1 looks like it takes place at Mount Sinai and goes on from Mount Sinai through the next forty years of history. That is what the first five or so chapters of Deuteronomy is, it is a recapitulation of the history.

This might be another indicator that this account of Jethro is not in chronological order, again for purposes of presentation I have left it in chronological order.

What we see here are several things, since we were at the camp of Sin and they had the quail and manna and they rested on the 22^nd of the second month, they had this camp at Dophkah and Alush and we saw that in Numbers 33.

And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
(Num 33:12-15 KJV)

That is the period of time we are focusing on. We know when they were in Rephidim; again, that was probably a Sabbath day. They were resting on the Sabbath day and preparing their food according to the instructions given back in Exodus chapter 16. There was a war with Amalek, which would not have been on the Sabbath day; it was probably the day after. That was the day Moses had to have props under his hands to hold them up.

Fundamentally that takes us to the end of the second month so we have a new moon day come up the following day. I have assumed that chronically that is when this alter would have been built. We know that it was after the war with Amalek so I would say likely that is the first day of the following month and then Jethro shows up. We start to get this chronology going in place that they are now at Mount Sinai.

At Mount Sinai

• Exo 19:1-25

   

  – Vs 1 – third month, arrived the same day as they left Egypt

  – Vs 2 – left from Rephidim

  – Vs 5 – peculiar treasure = special

  cf. 1 Pe 2:9 – peculiar = purchased possession

  – Vs 10-11 – 3 day sanctification

  – Vs 13 – wait for the trumpet sound (Yobel)

  – Vs 16 – thunders, lightning, cloud and trumpet

  – Vs 18 – smoke of a furnace (cf. Gen 15:17)

  – Vs 20 – Moses called to meet YHWH

Starting in Exodus chapter 19 we read:

In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

That is where we were on the calendar; they were in the beginning of the third month. This first verse here in Exodus 19 verse 1 can be interpreted two different ways. One way would be in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day, the same day that they left Egypt, in other words if they left on a Thursday they would be arriving on a Thursday. That is one; the other interpretation is that in the third month they came to the wilderness of Sinai on the same day. The same day of the third month probably meaning the first day of the month and I don’t believe that is the correct interpretation. I think what is being talked about here that this is telling us that they came to Mount Sinai in the third month on the same day of the week that they left Egypt, a couple of months previous. Again, that is assumption and conjecture. You may have a different opinion on that which is all fine and well. That obviously changes the dynamics of the calendar so you have to make some other changes to accommodate that.

For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

It doesn’t say the mount of YHWH, or the mount of Elohim, just “the mount”

And Moses went up unto Elohim, and YHWH called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

I think that is an interesting statement, YHWH brought the Israelites to himself; they were to be his first born. We have studied that in the Covenant Study and how the significance of the first born was to YHWH. Here is a track of that.

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure ^{H5459=special treasure or possession} unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which YHWH commanded him. (Exo 19:1-7 KJV)

Notice that at this point in time there isn’t a Levitical system. The whole nation was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, the Levitical system followed as a result that they didn’t obey his voice and they didn’t obey his legislation so YHWH came up with plan B which was a Levitical system.

Here we are at the front end of the third month now and this terminology here that says “peculiar treasure” which means a special treasure or special possession. Look at what has happened in the New Covenant now. The Israelites forwent their opportunity so effectively as a part of YHWH’s plan the Gentiles were able to be grafted in and the peculiar people now are an enhanced group of peculiar people. It says so in 1Peter.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ^{G4047= acquisition, purchased, possession}; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1Pe 2:9 KJV)

Here is the same thought pattern that was intended for the Israelites. In the Greek, “a peculiar people” means an acquisition, purchased, possession. In Ephesians 1 it says:

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession ^G4047=same, unto the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14 KJV)

This term “purchased possession” is the same Greek word in Strong’s number 4047 and it means acquisition or purchased possession.

YHWH’s plan was to have his Israelites be his holy nation and to be the priests but it didn’t work out that way so now we have a new and different covenant. Yahushua has given his life for us and we have redemption through Yahushua’s blood.

YHWH told them here at Mount Sinai to prepare for a special event:

And all the people answered together, and said, All that YHWH hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto YHWH. And YHWH said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto YHWH. And YHWH said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day YHWH will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

Note that this is a forward looking pointer to the time of Yahushua’s crucifixion. Today is the first day, tomorrow is the second day, and he says on the third day he will come. Here is a great way of showing inclusive counting. There is no way you could justify that this goes back to a fourth day so this is the discussion on when the crucifixion was. There is no way you can count backwards from the third day which Luke 21:36 says is the third day. Luke says it is the third day and it is the first day of the week. There is no way you can back to a Wednesday crucifixion with this and here is evidence of how things were counted. At best you get back to Thursday and maybe Friday.

And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet ^{H3104=yobel=continuous blast, signal of the silver trumpet} soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exo 19:8-13 KJV)

Here is the first indication or the first usage of this word ‘yobel’, this continuous blast and it’s noted that it is the signal of a silver trumpet. We will talk about the yobel as we get to the end, but here is the first usage of it here at Mount Sinai during the time period of Shavuot.

And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with YHWH; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because YHWH descended upon it in fire ^{H784=fire, burning}: and the smoke ^H6227=smoke thereof ascended as the smoke ^{H6227= smoke} of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and YHWH answered him by a voice. (Exo 19:14-19 KJV)

Here the mountain is alive with YHWH’s glory, thunders, lightening a cloud and with a trumpet; it’s interesting to see that he descended upon it with what is called fire and smoke, and the smoke of a furnace. We see that same terminology and the same Hebrew translation of these words. It goes back to Genesis 15 at the cutting of the covenant with Abraham.

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking ^H6227=smoke furnace, and a burning ^{H784=fire, burning} lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims… (Gen 15:17-20 KJV)

The smoking furnace and burning lamp look to be that it is Yahushua and YHWH here in the midst with Abraham. Here it is again on Mount Sinai which is very close to the same terminology. Moses is called to meet YHWH.

And YHWH came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and YHWH called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And YHWH said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto YHWH to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to YHWH, sanctify themselves, lest YHWH break forth upon them. And Moses said unto YHWH, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And YHWH said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee ^{And YHWH said to him, Go, descend, and come up thou and Aaron with thee – LXX}: but let not the priests ^{Not Levitical} and the people break through to come up unto YHWH, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
(Exo 19:20-25 KJV)

YHWH said let not the priests come up, notice that they aren’t Levites, but he said don’t let the priests come up, so they had priests in those days but they weren’t Levites. As I have read this, particularly in the past, I have noted that in the King James Version, the Masoretic Text, it seems like YHWH has somewhat an annoyance with Moses because he said “away”, but when you look at this in the Septuagint it clears up. What is going on here is that Moses and YHWH are just clarifying what they are supposed to do. There isn’t any annoyance. In the Septuagint, the same verse that seems to be an annoyance in “away” and “get you down”, it says:”And YHWH said to him, Go, descend, and come up thou and Aaron with thee”. It is as simple as that, it doesn’t appear that there is an annoyance on anyone’s part particularly YHWH’s.

As we add these items to the map, we see that they traveled to Sinai when we were in that part of reading the scriptures. I said that they arrived on the same day that they left and we see that they left according to the original plotting of this calendar on a Thursday, the First Day of Unleavened Bread. It turns out that indeed works out with this calendar chronology that they arrived what would have been on the fourth day. Then they had three days of sanctification starting the next day which was the first day, the weekly Sabbath, and then the third day of sanctification puts it on a Sunday.

It is interesting to note that when we add the Shabua counting of this, we go all the way back to the original Passover. They didn’t have a wave sheaf offering legislation when they left Egypt so that came later in the Levitical system that developed at Mount Sinai. If you would have put the wave sheaf offering it would have been according to this calendar, on what would have been Sunday the 18^th of Abib.

That would have put the count of weeks at the start of Camp Marah to be the first one. The second one would be Elim, the Red Sea the third, the camp at Sin the fourth and fifth, the camp at Rephidim the sixth and then the seventh count of weeks here at Sinai followed by the Day of Shavuot.

Calendar wise we can get to the Day of Shavuot or Pentecost occurring there at Sinai. It lines up to the third day of sanctification and the giving of the Ten Commandments and so forth.

The calendar study has been interesting and certainly there are parts of conjecture and supposition that go along with this but again, it has been a fun exercise to look at.

The fifty day journey is about liberation and I think the fact that the jubilee trumpet was blown here has significance.

50 Day Journey

• The fifty day trek – journey of a liberated nation
• Liberty from Egypt )Exo 19:13)

I will rehearse this verse again:

And be ready against the third day: for the third day YHWH will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet ^{H3104=yobel=continuous blast of horn (1st occurrence)} soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exo 19:11-13 KJV)

Why was the yobel used? I think the yobel used in the scriptures is about liberty. We certainly see the liberty model is clearly identified in the instructions that are given in Leviticus 25 which is the main chapter that tells us about the Sabbatical and Jubilee.

• Jubilee model of liberty

And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee,

Instead of seven Sabbaths of weeks, it is seven Sabbaths of years

Seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile… And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile ^H3104=same unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession ^{H272=something seized, that is, a possession (especially of land)}, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Lev 25:8-10 KJV)

This is the master reset, the reboot if you will, the reboot because fifty years has gone by and land has been leased out and family structure has changed on who lives where. Debt has been incurred and the Jubilee is a reset of all of that, especially the land. This word ‘yobel’ has twenty seven matches in the Old Testament but you will only find it in the first five books.

– H3104 – 27 matches

– H3104 – Yobel

• Exodus 1 match
• Leviticus 20 matches
• Numbers 1 match
• Joshua 5 matches

– Possessions restored

– Families restored

• 7 Sabbatical years followed by 50^th year Jubilee

   

  – Same architecture as count 7 Sabbaths followed by Shavuot

By far the most occurrences occur in Leviticus which provides the instructions. Leviticus 25 has the most occurrences of this word and Leviticus 27 has some additional instructions. We only see the usage of it here once in Exodus which is the first usage and Numbers usage is more about instruction and we see the actual application of it with Joshua with five occurrences, or five matches in Joshua chapters 5 and 6. Then we don’t see it anymore, we don’t see any relevance or any match in the other scriptures of this word ‘yobel’.

I will comment that the counting to the Jubilee is the same as the counting to Shavuot. Of course there is always a controversy, something that is as simple as this some people want to take the Jubilee cycle and compress it into a forty nine year cycle and say that the fiftieth year is actually the first year of the next forty nine year cycle.

Of course the problem with that is that the legislation that says that you have six years to sow and reap isn’t applicable any longer during that first section of the next forty nine years. You only have five years to sow and reap if you try to impose or compress the Jubilee into that.

We believe that the Jubilee is a separate fiftieth year and that the legislation for Pentecost actually proves that. The fiftieth day of the count to Pentecost is a separate day. Of course the forty nine year people would say that the fiftieth day is actually the first day of the next seven day week so that is why they compress the fiftieth year of the Jubilee cycle into the next group of Sabbatical count.

In any case, everybody has to do their own homework on this but the Sabbatical and the Jubilee follow the same pattern and have some of the same ramifications that have to do with liberty.

We will summarize this by looking at a comparison of Pentecost at Mount Sinai versus Jerusalem. Mount Sinai dating to approximately 1146 BCE to Jerusalem which is a New Testament Pentecost that was initiated in 30 CE.

This event occurred a couple of days after Shavuot but it was right here at the same location.

That of course brings us to that highlight scripture that Paul told us in 2 Corinthians.

With YHWH’s spirit and the sacrifice of Yahushua for us gives us life according to 2 Corinthians.

Also the same glory, the Shekinah glory, by the way, you don’t find the word Shekinah in the scripture it is a rabbinic term for the description but it’s an apt one.

When we look up the scriptures that are associated with the New Testament version of Pentecost, we find them in Acts where YHWH’s presence during Pentecost was accompanied by a mighty rushing wind.

I also mention that there three thousand people saved, that is in Acts 2:41

In 30 CE the Spirit became the teacher for all of the believers; we see that mentioned in John 14.

The Comforter that shall teach you all things is a proper masculine noun. I also said that the believers are the Temple of YHWH; we see that in a few places.

We have a good comparison for the time at Shavuot in 1446 BCE in Mount Sinai contrasted to 30 CE at Pentecost in Jerusalem. We have covered a lot of material, and certainly you have to check out some of the items of conjecture and see whether these things be so. Scrutinize and examine.

Do Your Own Homework

Ephesians 5 gives us some good guidance. It says “For ye were sometimes darkness”, I sure have been in in darkness in my past life, but now are ye light in the Master; walk as children of light: for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; proving ^{G1381=test, examine} what is acceptable ^{G2101=fully agreeable}, well pleasing unto the Master. (Eph 5:8-10 KJV)

Prove ^{G1381=test, discern, examine} all things; hold fast that which is good. (1Th 5:21 KJV)

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched ^{G350=scrutinize, examine} the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Act 17:11 KJV)

Study to shew thyself approved unto YHWH, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing ^{G3718=make a straight cut} the word of truth. (2Tim 2:15 KJV)

www.answersoflife.com