The Biblical calendar is an absolute conundrum. Anybody who honestly and thoroughly investigates it will agree with this statement.
After reading many different opinions over two years regarding the Biblical calendar, I was more or less convinced of one version
for a time. However, of the many, many permutations you look at, there is
always some or other detail that doesn’t gell. After I was eventually disillusioned with the most convincing version, I
almost gave up in despair of ever getting
definitive proof of the true Biblical calendar.
Very reluctantly I started a third year – looking at it from another view which I discovered a few people were promoting on the internet. Surprisingly, battling against the main stream, this stifled voice proved very interesting and promising, easily debunking its main competitors
! Unfortunately it
also had some details that didn’t gell with the
overall Biblical picture.
During this stage I had also spent some time confirming the Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar, and it was through this third year that I kept thinking
a process of elimination might reveal the Biblical calendar. I kept on pushing this thought aside however, until I again despaired of ever “
proving” a Biblical calendar.
That’s when I finally said to myself “
OK, lets give this process of elimination a go !”
Looking at the relevant Biblical area in which to apply this logic, certain
generally accepted but erroneous preconceptions immediately became apparent. We have to be brutally honest with ourselves: We cannot continue to blindly accept other peoples ground rules without question. People who do this (like I admittedly also did) cannot see the wood for the trees. We cannot assume what anybody says is correct, no matter what authority they are, or claim to be
! We cannot leave one stone unturned, and cannot leave anyone to stand on any stones for fear of dethroning them
! We have to test and prove everything
! It’s like your money: If you don’t guard and spend it wisely yourself, someone else will do it for you. If you don’t carefully bring up your children in the right way, the state, Hollywood or someone else will do it for you . . . Do you trust them with your money, your children, and also your soul
?!Having said all that, please, I
urge you to take pen to paper and prove “
The Temple Calendar” logic for yourself
:Write
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . to
30 across the top of the page.
Remember, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is from day
15 to day
21.
Read the following, and when indicated mark off the established days from the top of your page
!Proving the Sabbaths and the Omer date:When Yahweh gave instructions concerning His feasts, He started with the
weekly Sabbath:
“Six days shall work be done: but the
seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do
no work therein: it is the sabbath of Yahweh in all
your dwellings.”
( Leviticus 23: 3 )
In other words
no work may be done on the
weekly Sabbath,
servile or otherwise –
no kindling a fire (cooking) for employers or ourselves –
no working for ourselves or anyone else: in all
our dwellings
!Many
daily functions in the
Temple required work and the kindling of fire. Only in the Temple of the “
Lord of the Sabbath” was this rule in the Law of Moses
not applicable, as it was not
our dwelling
!Most “
High Day” Sabbath festivals also required work and/or the kindling of fire in
our dwellings – only
servile work was prohibited on
these days, thus allowing
other work, and therefore they could
not fall on the calendars
weekly Sabbaths
! More specifically, except for the
Day of Atonement when
no work at all was allowed, on all the
Feast days only
servile work was forbidden, thus allowing
other work and therefore, to repeat, they could not fall on the calendars
weekly Sabbaths
! This includes the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or the Feast of First Fruits, the Day of Trumpets, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day ( the “eighth day” – the day after the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles ).
Only on the
Day of Atonement was
no work allowed at all, but Yahweh also says that
all these feasts and holy convocations,
including the Day of Atonement, are
apart from the normal
weekly Sabbaths, they are: “ . . .
Beside the sabbaths of Yahweh, and
beside your gifts, and
beside all your vows, and
beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto Yahweh . . .” ( Leviticus 23: 38 ).
I.e. a “
High Day”
cannot fall on a normal weekly Sabbath ! “
High Days” are normal work days
that have been made a Sabbath ! If these feasts and holy convocations could ever be on any
weekly Sabbath in which
no work may be done at all, Yahweh need not have said “
no work” or, “
no servile work” may be done on these days, neither would He have said that they were all
always: “
Beside(s) the (
weekly) sabbaths of Yahweh”.
So,
except for the fire and offerings prepared and made
in the Temple, if
any of the following things fell on the calendars
weekly Sabbaths, then that calendar was incorrect and therefore is
still incorrect
:• Separating the Passover lamb from the flock.
• Preparing the home, Passover lamb and venue in both the first and second month Passover.
• Roasting the Passover lamb. 1st & 7th day of Feast of Unleavened Bread – “no
servile work”.
• Cutting/reaping the Omer/Wave Sheaf.
• Festival of First Fruits and therefore also Pentecost – “. . . unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days . . .” – there are only the
weekly Sabbaths in the third month for Pentecost to follow after, so the Pentecost count and reaping of the Omer has to start after a
weekly Sabbath in Abib
: not after a Festival Sabbath/High Day !• Day of Trumpets “no
servile work”. Day of Atonement: “
Beside(s) the (
weekly) sabbaths”.
• First day of the Feast of Tabernacles – “no
servile work” ( but allows cutting down branches etc. to make booths ), and the following “eighth day” – “Last Great Day” “no
servile work”.
Therefore if
any of these things do fall on the
weekly Sabbaths, then that calendar is incorrect
!Determining Wave Sheaf Day and Weekly Sabbaths in Abib by the Process of Elimination:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
If separating the Passover lamb on the 10th Abib cannot be done on the
weekly Sabbath, then the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a
weekly Sabbath.
If the Passover preparation day on the 14th Abib cannot be on a
weekly Sabbath, then the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a
weekly Sabbath.
If roasting a lamb into the evening of the Passover feast on the 15th Abib cannot be a
weekly Sabbath, then the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a
weekly Sabbath. (
This rules out the lunar based calendar ! ) On the first and also seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread “ . . .
no manner of work shall be done in them,
save that which every man must
eat, that
only may be done of you . . . ” ( Exodus 12:16 ),
thus allowing the continued roasting of the Passover lamb after sunset.
If reaping the Omer ( Wave Sheaf Day ) has to occur after the
weekly Sabbath
within the seven day
Feast of Unleavened Bread, this leaves only four days in the Feast to place it, and one is its Sabbath:
There are only the
weekly Sabbaths in the
third month for Pentecost to follow after, so the Pentecost count and reaping of the Omer has to start after a
weekly Sabbath as well
! The 15th, 17th and 21st Abib
within the Feast of Unleavened Bread are
already eliminated as
weekly Sabbaths. Therefore the 16th and 18th
within the Feast of Unleavened Bread cannot be “
the day after the Sabbath” to reap the Omer.
That only leaves the
19th or
20th to reap the Omer
within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The 21st Abib is also the last and seventh day of unleavened bread when only “no
servile work” may be done.
This applies to the Omer start of the grain harvest. This means that the 20th cannot be the
weekly Sabbath and therefore the 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a
weekly Sabbath.
The
19th is the
only day left over
within the Feast of Unleavened Bread to reap the Omer. This means that the
18th Abib is the
weekly Sabbath following which the Omer is reaped.
After the third day, the 18th is the resurrection centre of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: For the whole year every 7th day before and after is a Sabbath !If the 18th is a weekly Sabbath, then the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th are the weekly Sabbaths in Abib and agrees with the DSS’s starting the first day of the year, on the fourth day of the week !1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30
Cutting the Omer is the first reaping beginning the grain harvest and its grain is waved in the Temple. The harvesters prepared it in the field before the
weekly Sabbath by tying the grain into bundles ready to cut. After the
weekly Sabbath, straight after sunset, they cut and reaped the Omer and the grain was given to the priest: “
on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” ( Leviticus 23: 11 ).
If however, reaping the Omer falls after the
weekly Sabbath
following the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then applying the
same logic again leaves four days in this week unaccounted for:
They are the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 27th. One of these days has to be a Sabbath, and the Omer has to be waved the following day. The Omer also can only be waved on the 24th, 26th, or 27th, because the 24th is a
non-Sabbath work day and the 25th therefore
cannot be the wave sheaf day. There is no way of pinpointing whether it is waved on the 24th, 26th, or 27th, unless we agree with the Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar starting the year on the fourth day of the week,
as indicated by Genesis 1:14–19. In this case the
weekly Sabbaths of Abib are still the
4th,
11th,
18th and
25th, and
therefore the Omer is waved on the 26th, the day after the last Sabbath. The
uncorrected solar calendar of the Dead Sea Scroll’s shows it this way, but it is not the way the Temple Sadducees practiced it – as shown above the Temple Sadducees started the Pentecost count one week earlier, with the Omer/Wave Sheaf on the 19th Abib after the weekly Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread: Christ Himself did not contest the Sadducee calendar practices for all of the weekly Sabbaths, Omer wave sheaf, and Festivals – and He attended them according to the Temple calendar of the Sadducees themselves !As shown the 19th was the only day left over within the Feast of Unleavened Bread to reap the Omer. This means that the 18th Abib is the weekly Sabbath following which the Omer is reaped.
After the third day, the 18th is the resurrection centre of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30
For the whole year every 7th day before and after the resurrection 18th Abib, is a Sabbath !( Click here to see all of
The Temple Calendar : http://www.declarethedecree.com/the_temple_calendar.doc )