German Saxon, things are moving very slowly with me at the moment, but I have started going over more of William Strittmatter website as you suggested. It is definitely an excellent site from which I am learning a lot. I have still to read much more, especially regarding his interpretation of the calendar, but I feel that I can’t agree with it
so far. It may be premature for me to comment on his calendar now before fully reading and wrapping my head around his views, but to keep this thread flowing I will comment in the meantime subject to revision and/or correction:
From what I can see in his “The Passover in the New Testament” it seems that it indeed was written before details of the Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar became available to us, because he refers to 1981, 1983 and 1984 as future events.
He believes that the Sabbath floats by stating that:
“The weekly seventh day Sabbath occurring during the days of unleavened bread can be on any day from the 15th to the 21st.”
I believe as the DSS’s, that
this Sabbath is always fixed on the 18th Abib, and interestingly, although William Strittmatter believes that according to his calendar version the Sabbath floats, he shows it as also occurring on the 18th
at the first Exodus Passover, as well as again on the 18th at the
crucifixion Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. He states regarding an 18th Sabbath at these two events:
“The interesting point is that both years the pattern was the same.”
! ! ! Yes, maybe because like the DSS’s calendar this
was the case
every year, which would mean that the 1st Abib is
always the 4th day of the week. However he believes in
floating Sabbaths which happens to periodically reoccur on fixed dates, as with your birthday on the Roman calendar.
The DSS’s believe that Sabbaths are fixed on the same dates
in all years, because the year and calendar always
starts afresh when the calendar is reset to the same day of the week, on the first day of every solar year
! The week is reset along with the year ! Why should the years
months be reset but not the
weeks ? Why can’t the
whole calendar be reset at the start of every year
?( The
false lunar calendar is
also reset,
but at the beginning of every lunar month, and again every few years it’s
false Abib month and year is also re-synchronized to start as close as possible to the spring equinox
from which it continually strays ! )
William Strittmatter’s
first Exodus Abib agrees with
all the DSS’s Abib’s which have fixed Sabbaths. All his subsequent Abib’s will have different Sabbath days for several years, depending on a leap year, until they eventually again reoccur on these same Abib days. During this period surly his Abib’s
weekly resting Sabbaths will sometimes fall on the 10th or 14th
working days, when the Passover lambs are separated and killed,
contrary to the weekly Sabbath commandments; and they will also sometimes fall on the 15th and 21st (which are High Days),
contrary to Leviticus 23: 37-38.
This is the problem with the
continuous ad infinitum every seventh day floating weekly Sabbaths (just like the Roman Sunday): they will often fall on Biblical days that require work and the kindling of fire/cooking,
which is forbidden on the weekly Sabbath, or they will
fall incorrectly on High Days ! This doesn’t happen with the
fixed Sabbath calendar
because it also resets the weeks along with the months at sunset starting the new year after witnessing and confirming the northern hemisphere spring equinox on the last day of the year.
William Strittmatter also starts the Biblical day at
midday. I would like to see more convincing proof for this and also feel that it would be very impractical to implement in everyday life.
There are always Biblical verses which may seem to indicate different interpretations, but based on the
preponderance of evidence I go with the general consensus of a sunset to sunset day. In the Old Testament “
evening” can mean any time between midday and sunset. In the New Testament “
at evening” can
also mean
before sunset. For example after Christ appeared to the women near the tomb
around sunrise:
“Then the
same day at evening <Strong’s no. 3798> . . .” (John 20:19), Christ
again appeared in the
late afternoon ! The Biblical “
same day” means
before sunset,
and this verse obviously also excludes a midday day change ! Strong’s no. 3798 for “evening” can support this view.
So although not detracting from his other interesting work thus far I feel his calendar is faulty according to the
preponderance of evidence, although I admit that I have yet to completely read all his work on it.
Regarding William Strittmatter’s two calendar theory of solar and lunar parallel Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread crucifixion events you are referring to:
Jesus must die on the correct Passover date or he failed His mission.
The “
Last Supper” occurred in the evening. Later
that same night, Christ was arrested, tried, later crucified, and died about
3p.m. the next afternoon.
Even if the “
Last Supper”
was the correct solar
Passover, then surly Christ
did fail in His mission because then He actually died about 18 hours or more
after this “
Last Supper”
Passover Feast, and therefore at least 24 hours
after the Passover Lamb was supposedly killed ! Christ
Himself was supposed to
be that perfect unblemished Lamb of the Sacrifice of the Feast of Yahweh’s Passover,
which He couldn’t be Himself and also simultaneously eat it with the disciples at the same time,
as Luke 22:15-16 actually alludes to !Also if the “
Last Supper”
was the correct solar Passover date, then was Christ incorrectly sacrificed
much later on a
false possibly lunar calendar
as the Sacrifice of the Feast of SATANS Passover ? ? ! ! Think of that ! ! !Or was the “
Last Supper” simply Christ's last opportunity to teach His disciples before He was
later correctly sacrificed on the Biblical solar Sadducee calendar, as the perfect unblemished Lamb of the Sacrifice of the Feast of Yahweh’s Passover ?After all, the lamb is always killed
first before the Passover Feast of the same roasted lamb ! With the Passover/”Last Supper” issue there are different Gospel verses which
seem to indicate different timelines. We have to resolve the differences and/or
go with the preponderance of evidence, which suggests that
correctly speaking the Passover is
killed on the “
Preparation Day” and is eaten between sunset and midnight on the following
High Feast Day evening.
In addition some people have pointed out that by the time of Christ the Passover festival
as a whole was viewed as being an
eight day period starting on the “
Preparation Day” when all leaven was removed, the venue prepared, unleavened bread baked etc, and the Passover lamb killed, skinned, hot coals prepared and the roasting of the lamb started.
That was followed after sunset by the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread initiating the actual Feast of Yahweh’s Passover with bitter herbs and fresh unleavened bread.
By the context
is it possible in both Testaments to see if the “Passover” is referring to
the killing of the lamb or the feast of the lamb,
or both ? If so, the actual days referred to can respectively be either the
first “
Preparation Day”, the
following High Day with its evening
Passover Feast, or
both in succession.
It is my belief at the moment that at the time of Christ the Passover Feast was eaten
near home, that they ate it standing up dressed ready to leave, and marched the short distance back home after midnight,
thus simulating the original Passover when leaving Egypt. I have read that there are early references to this practice in Jerusalem.
“Thou mayest
not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose
to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. (Deuteronomy 16:5-7).
Christ Himself chose the upper room then, and today does He not wish to put His name
in our foreheads,
the upper room of our Temples ?The “
Preparation Day” starts at sunset and is not a Sabbath, but was considered part of the
festival period because so much is done on this day for the following evening Feast. ( Compare this Biblical Passover festival with the preparations for all
our nonsense pagan practices
today. Even your genuinely honorable “Thanksgiving” requires a lot of family, cooking and venue planning before the time, followed by many of the participating relatives and neighbors
walking or driving home later in the evening. They may
also remain completely dressed ready to leave afterwards,
except that they eat the meal sitting down with their shoes on.)
So the
whole Passover Feast “
period or festival” started with the
Preparation Day in which
after sunrise they would ensure that all leaven is removed whilst doing all the
other necessary preparations. It’s “festival” ended with the last of the
seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread eight days later, on another
High Day. The first High Day “
Passover Feast of Yahweh” was after sunset starting the second day,
which was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. ( ‘our’ Pagan festivals
also extend past the actual
days celebrated.)
Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Regardless of when the day changes this is not referring to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread because that occurs only on the 15th
after the Passover Lamb
is already slaughtered on the 14th !I.e. although on the first day of this “feast/festival period”, i.e. on the “
Preparation Day”, they were
not forbidden to eat unleavened bread because the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” only started at the next sunset, they may
still have considered it
a day of unleavened bread because they spent a portion of the day ensuring that there was no longer any trace of leaven or leavened bread to be found in their households by the end of the day –
yet this was the day that the Passover was killed ! Again this explains the seemingly contradictory statement of Luke 22:7 “Then came
the day of unleavened bread,
when the passover must be killed.” Alternatively this might be more broadly interpreted as indicating that “Then came the
period/time/festival of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed”, always remembering that the Passover Lamb
is killed first, and
then the Passover Feast takes place
on the following evening of the first day of the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So although
technically not one of the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread, from its
sunrise the “Preparation Day” could have been considered a day of unleavened bread by virtue of the fact that they sought out and removed all leaven and leavened bread in preparation for the Feast. Nevertheless,
from its earlier start at the previous sunset, there is nothing about the Preparation Day that prohibits it from accommodating Christ's “
Last Supper” in the
upper room booked as the venue for the
rest of the Preparation Day preparations and following evening Passover Feast ! I.e. The upper room could have easily been booked from the Preparation Day starting at sunset for Christ’s “Last Supper”, to after the 14th Preparation Day crucifixion/lamb killing and 15th Abib Passover Feast.
Wishing to making ready for the Passover, their lamb would have been chosen already and kept separate. They secured the venue, and prepared the “Last Supper” to be eaten there as Christ wished. This was still the
beginning of the Preparation Day in the upper room venue where the Passover would be eaten after all the preparations were completed about 24 hours
later on the 15th Abib.
At the “
Last Supper” they ate bread:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread <740>, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” ( Matthew 26:26 )
“
bread” here is Strong's no. 740 which indicates
leavened bread - 740 artov artos ar'-tos
From 142; bread (as raised) or a loaf:- (shew-) bread, loaf.
This is confirmed by the “
sop” of bread:
“Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a
sop, when I have
dipped it. And when he had
dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.” ( John 13:26 )
A “
sop” of bread is able to “
sop up” and become “
sopping wet”, yet the Passover is roasted
dry,
without water in any way, and is eaten with
unleavened bread with which it is difficult to make a “
sop”.
Justification for how Exodus 12:18 is interpreted is probably decisive in determining whether the “Last Supper” was a Passover or not ! If the “
Last Supper” was a Passover according to Exodus 12:18, then they would have eaten
unleavened bread that day and
up until the twenty first,
making it a Feast of eight days Unleavened Bread and not seven days ! I believe Exodus 12:18 is correctly interpreted in the same way as explained in the Biblical interpretation of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23: 27-32. Verse 32 ensures that the 10th referred to in verse 27, starts at the end of the 9th so that there can be no mistake
! ( If it started at the
beginning of the 9th then it wouldn’t be the 10th
! ! ! )This supports the
similar Greek expression of John 20:19 previously mentioned above.
Joseph of Arimathaea was
also a disciple of Christ and helped comply with the Temple calendar:
“And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.” (Mark 15:42-43 )
The context of the text appears to indicate that he does it
in agreement with the Sadducee Temple calendar.
Only
much later when the Sadducees were disempowered,
did the Pharisees opportunistically change the Omer from the Sadducee’s date to the 16th Abib after the Temple was destroyed, indicating that this was the first crucial step to
re-introducing the false Babylonian
lunar ‘Biblical’ calendar
well after the crucifixion.
So basically, although I stand to be corrected, I think that the
preponderance of evidence is in favor of
this view at the moment, although I still have to finish much of William Strittmatter website and may be missing something in the meantime.