On the Passover

Being a student of the Bible, one must realize that he cannot possibly know or study everything associated with all that is necessary in order to gain a truly thorough understanding of the entire book and the history of our race.  So on calendrical issues I usually defer to others - when their propositions are sensible - even though I myself have not done an in-depth study all of the details. 

However certain things are perfectly clear without much study.  The first is that the Feast of Weeks (first fruits), being anchored to the Passover by seven weeks and a day, must occur at the same time every year, or the calendar makes absolutely no sense from an agricultural perspective.  And it is perfectly clear from the nature of the required feasts that the calendar centers on agriculture.  So the correct calendar cannot possibly be the lunar calendar of the jews of today, which swings wildly from year to year and whereby the crops would either be rotting in the fields, or would not be harvestable at all in given years. 

It can also be established historically that the jews, having descended from the ancient Kenites, Canaanites and Edomites, all traceable through Scripture, never really cared much for agriculture. Therefore when the Edomites usurped the temple authority in the time of the first Herod, it is evident that the calendar of their ancient moon-god, Sin, eventually prevailed as the de facto “official” calendar.  For this reason – that there were competing calendars, we see that Christ and His disciples were able to celebrate the Passover two days before the “official” day celebrated by the rest of the Judaeans.

Therefore, calculating the correct Passover date, I would refer to both Eli James and Ken Lent in this matter.  This year the Passover begins on Friday evening, April 3^rd, Saturday April 4^th being the Passover day.  The last day of the Feast of Unleavened bread would then be Saturday, April 10^th, and the feast would end at evening on that day leading into Sunday the 11^th. 

While Eli and Ken have differences concerning the Sabbaths following Pentecost, they are in agreement on the Passover day. For more information, Eli’s paper is found at http://anglo-saxonisrael.com/site/yahwehssolarcalendar and Ken’s calendar determining the date of the Passover is found at http://www.solarsabbath.org/YHVHcal20102011print.pdf.

I would also like to state that we all find ourselves in diverse circumstances.  Not all of us can celebrate the Passover the way we would like to, and many of us are alone, isolated in our Faith.  And - as I am persuaded - for this reason Paul wrote "16 Therefore no one must judge you in food and in drink, or in respect of feast or new month or of the Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of future things." (Colossians 2).

Thank you, and praise Yahweh!

William Finck