TABERNACLES PENTECOST, 2008
Note: the following two sections were added after these first seven were
published—Yahweh added the eighth and the ninth.
Upon completing what you have just read, I did read the article the woman
sent me the link to about Pentecost. The reason I did so was because she
said that under the old Passover-first calendar, Pentecost actually falls
in the fourth month and not in the third. In other words, with Passover
in the first month, it is traditionally fifty days from First Fruits, which
always places it in the third month. However, the article noted that Leviticus
23:15-16 places Pentecost, not fifty days out but, ninety-nine days out.
Overcoming my aversion to reading anything Christian about Pentecost was
this matter of Pentecost being in the fourth month. Why an interest? Because
in The Waltz of Life, we
saw the incredible truth regarding the 1 – 4 – 7 pattern where, by Yahweh’s
mercy, He brings man into priesthood and rivers of living water flow out
of his innermost being. As we saw, He does so by stacking the five on the
four and the eight on the seven.
The problem with both the four and the seven is that they are failures.
The testimony of the four being a failure is that Aaron was supposed to have
gone up on the mountain on the fourth trip, but did not go up until the fifth.
The testimony of the seven being a failure is that it is supposed to be a
sabbath rest, but because of unbelief man fails to enter that rest and Yahshua
has to come early and labor and perform miracles on the sabbath.
If indeed Pentecost falls in the fourth month under the Passover-first calendar,
then Passover is in the first month, Pentecost is in the fourth
month, and Tabernacles is in the seventh month. This is, of course,
the highly significant 1 – 4 – 7 pattern. But keep in mind, this is a
pattern that demands mercy—Yahshua has to come early, reverse the cursed
shortfall and failure of man, and perform the work Himself.
Let us now briefly examine this matter of Pentecost being forty-nine days
further out than the way accepted by both Jews and Christians alike today.
Why the concern? One, is the interest in the feasts testifying to the 1
– 4 – 7 pattern. But also, and this is what truly provoked me after reading
that article: How could this affect the Pentecost that is added to Tabernacles?
Is December 26 then not the correct date, and was our intercession on Tabernacles
Pentecost in 2005 in error? Obviously, these are very important questions.
Let us begin by quoting Leviticus 23:15-16, which provides instruction on
when the feast of Pentecost was to take place:
“You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to Yahweh.”
As you see here, this is
not the way Pentecost is counted today. Here we read that, first, seven
complete sabbaths were to be counted out, and then a count of fifty
days was to follow. If this practice was applied, Pentecost does indeed
fall in the fourth month; in fact, at the very end of the month. We will
examine the sound justification of this count, but let us now read Deuteronomy
16:9-10.
“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as Yahweh your God blesses you.”
Did you notice that the
only count here is the seven weeks (lit., seven sevens), with the celebration
of Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks) immediately following? There is not the
addition of another count of fifty days—“count fifty days to the day after
the seventh sabbath.”
So, which one is correct? The fact is, they are both correct. Once again
we have a Bible contradiction, just like we find in the Gospel comparisons
and in the comparisons between Kings and Chronicles. For the concrete thinker,
this is troubling, and has offered theological problems throughout the history
of the Scriptures. But for Yahweh, these are riddles, even legal means whereby
He can and will accomplish His works. For example, we know that Yahweh’s
law is to not labor on the sabbath. Yet, Yahshua came and did so, saying
that His Father was still working. For the concrete-thinking Pharisees,
this was unacceptable. But from the standpoint that Yahshua was prophesying
that He would cut the period of the church short, come early—on the seventh
day—and labor, He was attesting to truth. Thereby, Yahweh has to lay out
two things—what is right by original law, and what He has to do in grace
in order to get man to where he needs to be.
Thus we see these troubling contradictions in the Scriptures, even as we
see evidenced here regarding Pentecost. Was it to be celebrated fifty days
after seven complete sabbaths, or seven weeks from the time of First Fruits?
Clearly, both are stated.
Let us examine history and nature and see what they hold. We cannot go into
the depths of these matters, but will see the relevant truths they afford.
First, it is significant that much evidence supports the Leviticus 23 reckoning
of Pentecost. To begin with, one clear testimony of Pentecost was when the
Law was given on Mount Sinai, Moses came down the mountain with the tablets,
and 3,000 were killed. This, of course, looked to the 3,000 that were added
on the day of Pentecost, representing the 3,000 years the church was receiving
wherein kingdom men would die. So how does that Pentecost event on Mount
Sinai fit into the Passover law of Leviticus 23? It is an obvious match.
In Exodus 19:1 we read, “In the third month after the sons of Israel had
gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness
of Sinai.” Though not directly stated, it is assumed that this statement,
“on that day,” refers to the day of the month that the sons of Israel came
out of Egypt—in other words, it was two months to the day. That day in the
first month was the fifteenth, the day after Passover (Numbers 33:3), therefore
they came to Sinai on the fifteenth of the third month.
First, we should note that the fifteenth of the third month is already past
when Pentecost would fall if counting seven weeks—at the first part of the
third month. Verse three of Exodus 19 tells us that Moses then went up on
Mount Sinai for the first time. If you then lay out the various trips up
the mountain that Moses fulfilled, as well as delays such as the three days
in 19:11, along with the extensive forty days and nights that Moses was on
the mountain during the sixth trip, this brings the count to where Moses
descended with the Law on the day of Pentecost. Of course this reckoning
is according to Leviticus 23 which is ninety-nine days from First Fruits.
There are other chronological evidences that this Pentecost count is a correct
count. During the plagues that came upon Egypt so as to bring deliverance
to the sons of Israel, we read in Exodus 9:31-32 that the plague of hail
did not affect the wheat. This is significant, for Pentecost is the celebration
of the wheat harvest, and the time of its ripening determines the timing
of Pentecost.
(Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are later.)
Clearly, this was spring
wheat that was planted at that time of the year. Though in the ground, it
had not yet germinated and begun to protrude. If so, it too would have been
destroyed with the barley and the flax. (Vis-à-vis, Christianity had not
yet started, and the first Remnant died.) Now, spring wheat takes 110 to
120 days to mature. Therefore, based on those required days, it is quite
obvious that the wheat would not be ready for harvest come fifty days after
First Fruits in Passover. We are talking about sixty or seventy days growing
time is all at that point. But, add the other fifty days ascribed in Leviticus
23, and you have a wheat harvest indeed.
Thus we see that both the first Pentecost held at Sinai, as well as the testimony
of the plague of hail and the growing requirements of wheat, point to Leviticus
23 being the accurate accounting of Pentecost.
But, and this is the “but” that drives the literalist and zealous crazy,
though it makes no sense naturally, Deuteronomy 16 gives another option.
This option is like telling the Pharisee, it’s OK for Yahshua to labor on
the sabbath. But at least in this case there is a clearly stated passage
that affords an otherwise illogical option, the actual count Yahweh seems
to take. Remember, Yahweh repeatedly makes a practice of cutting time short,
and evidently He does the same for Pentecost.
Of course when I first saw this evidence for Pentecost being ninety-nine
chronological days out, it absolutely necessitated serious and circumspect
examination, including how it might affect adding a Pentecost to Tabernacles.
Was it then on the ninety-ninth day following Tabernacles? This would place
this year’s Pentecost into 2009 on February 13. To be honest, I was not
happy with a wait that far out. But there is far more to this than my initial
considerations and response. Let us now look at history once again, this
time at the Passover Pentecost when the church began.
The question begs to be answered here: So when did the Holy Spirit fall on
the first Remnant—after ninety-eight days as in Leviticus 23, or after forty-nine
days as in Deuteronomy 16? There are two ways to possibly answer this.
First is the written testimony of those who lived at that time. These would
be Josephus and Philo, both contemporaries who recorded the religious practices
of that very day. As you will see, the counting of Pentecost at that time
is the same way both Christians and Jews alike do so today—the Deuteronomy
16 count of forty-nine days, concluding with the fiftieth Pentecost. Here
are three different quotes from Philo:
And the day of pentecost, which is numbered from this day by seven portions of seven days, in which it is the custom to offer up loaves, which are truly called the loaves of the first fruits, since, in fact, they are the first fruits of the productions and crops of eatable grain, which God has given to mankind, as the most tractable of all his creatures [Decalogue 160].
The solemn assembly on the occasion of the festival of the sheaf having such great privileges, is the prelude to another festival of still greater importance; for from this day the fiftieth day is reckoned, making up the sacred number of seven sevens, with the addition of a unit as a seal to the whole; and this festival, being that of the first fruits of the corn, has derived its name of pentecost from the number of fifty, (pentēkostos) [The Special Laws, 2, 176ff].
In the first place, these men assemble at the end of seven weeks, venerating not only the simple week of seven days, but also its multiplied power, for they know it to be pure and always virgin; and it is a prelude and a kind of forefeast of the greatest feast, which is assigned to the number fifty [Suppliants VII(65)].
The conclusion here is
clear. We will now see that his contemporary, Josephus, who actually wrote
about Philo, reported the same practice concerning Pentecost.
When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven [Antiquities, Book 3, Chap 10, section 6].
Thus, recognized historians
at that time agreed that Pentecost was followed according to the instruction
of Deuteronomy 16:9-10—following a count of forty-nine days, Pentecost was
then celebrated on the fiftieth day. Is there any other evidence? Indeed,
in a most unusual yet affirming way.
In Daniel 12:11-12 we read:
“From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is established, there will be 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!”
Addressed in the opening
section of The Great Tribulation,
the 1,290 days spoken of here are the days from Yahshua’s baptism by John
on Atonement, 29 A.D., to four days before Pentecost when the eleven apostles
fallaciously cast lots to determine who the replacement would be for Judas.
That act was in fact the abomination of desolation where they stood in the
place of the Holy One, errantly effecting a placement that He alone had the
authority to effect. Read The
Great Tribulation to understand more about this.
As addressed in that writing, four days later, on day 1,294, was Pentecost,
counted according to Deuteronomy 16. However, if Pentecost at that time
was being followed according to Leviticus 23, it would not be for another
forty-nine days, or on day 1,343. This offers a very real problem relative
to the prophecy of Daniel 12:11-12. If Daniel 12:12 had read—“How blessed
is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,343 days”—then the evidence
would be that Pentecost was being counted based on Leviticus 23. But, this
cannot be the case. The promised blessing on day 1,335 is eight days before
a Leviticus 23 Pentecost, so there is no reason to have a blessing on that
day.
As noted in The Great Tribulation,
the blessing on day 1,335, forty-five days after Pentecost, would undoubtedly
have been the events in Acts 3 and 4 when the lame man was healed, Peter
preached in the portico of Solomon, he spoke about the Elijah who would restore
all things, 5,000 were thereupon numbered, and the place where they were
praying was shaken. Prophetically, this 1,335 event speaks to the latter
rain. Thus the message of day 1,335 is the hope of the latter rain.
Obviously, unless the Holy Spirit had been poured out on day 1,294, there
would not have been the miracle on day 1,335. Therefore, based on the
historical accounts and Daniel 12:11-12, we can conclude that Pentecost and
the outpouring of the former rain did indeed occur on the fiftieth day according
to Deuteronomy 16.
Why would Yahweh work off of the shortened Pentecost waiting period rather
than the more natural longer one? One thing clear about Yahweh is that,
gratefully, He is constantly coming early and shortening time. Indeed, I
hope this is the case for December 26, 2008, in two ways—He cuts Christianity
short from three days to two; and, He gives us the fulfillment of Tabernacles
Pentecost on December 26. He gave the first Remnant their Passover Pentecost
on the shorter count (though attesting to the duration of the church according
to the longer—3,000 were numbered), and we trust He will do the same for
us on our Tabernacles Pentecost.
Continue to last page of Tabernacles
Pentecost, 2008 for HOPE-FILLED INTERCESSION