The Dating of Passover
Here is an interesting article by Ian Hodge, a member of the At God’s Table community, on the intricacies of calculating the date of Passover.
Here is an interesting article by Ian Hodge, a member of the At God’s Table community, on the intricacies of calculating the date of Passover.
Another source:
http://www.centuryone.com/crucifixion.html
Personally I feel it is an article with many good points but ignores the fact that the christian church has deliberately distanced itself from any hebrew roots, and the points made do not convince me otherwise. The point that we call this period Easter which has no biblical connections, but has connections with spring solstice festivals celebrated by pagans is reason to be aware of what we are allowing in. YHWH was very precise with His instructions to all peoples, and when we read of His anger at the children of Israel making a golden calf worshipping it as YHWH, I feel this is a similar thing the church has done, calling something YHWH’s when He has not given it to us.
The dating of Pesach, and all the other moedim (Holy Days) and other days and months is not complicated, as long as one follows the Creator’s calendar, and NOT the pagan calendars hanging on the wall. The Scriptures plainly tell us (Gen 1:14) that YHVH gave us the heavenly bodies to determine days, weeks, months and years. All we have to do is look up.
The biblical year begins at the first new moon (dark moon) after the vernal equinox. This is day one of the first month (Aviv) of the new year (Gen. 12:2). A biblical month is from one new moon to the next new moon, an average of approximately 29 1/2 days. The 14th day of Aviv is Passover, and the next day (15th) is the first day of Unleavened Bread.
So we simply count the days, and the months as they occur, looking for the first sliver of the “new moon” each cycle, and observe the Feasts at their proper months and days. The year will reset itself automatically again at the next vernal equinox, the “seasons” do not drift around in the year as some think. Yes, there will be an added month periodically (about 3 times every 19 years), but so what. Don’t get bent out of shape if this doesn’t line up with your beloved Gregorian calendar on the wall, concocted by Julius Caesar with the advice and calculations of Egyptian astronomers in about 46BC.
So, if the year, months, and days are determined by the heavenly bodies (the sun, moon, and position of the constellations), then why wouldn’t the week be determined by the same criterion? Forget the Sunday thru Saturday system and start thinking of simply counting days from the new moon. Work 6 days, then rest on the 7th, work 6 days, then rest on the 7th (Exo. 20:8-1). Counting the new (dark) moon as day one, that would make the Sabbath fall on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of the lunar cycle, ALWAYS. And it simply resets at the next new moon. And a careful examination of the Scriptures will show you that YHVH’s holy days, Feast Days, ALWAYS falls on one of these days, except for the Day of Atonement. At least 72 times in the Scriptures it is shown that the Sabbath falls on one of these days, and NO OTHER, EVER! Never is the pagan name of a day mentioned, such as Saturday, or Sunday, but only “the first day of the shavuah (week)”, or “on the Sabbath”. Ever wonder why???
We need to abandon the notion that YHVH has a double standard for timekeeping and shred the entire pagan calendar system that the world so closely follows. Surely haSatan has deceived the whole world in this matter.
HalleluYah!
Originally, you are correct, that G-d gave us the heavenly bodies to determine the appointed times. But just like the command to sacrifice changed from anywhere to the Temple to nowhere, the authority of the calendar was given to Israel and never taken away. You can think you know better than Israel, but by who’s authority?
Amein, Tom! YHWH is His wisdom has set His calendar and appointed times according to HIS signs, set in the heavens, that no man can corrupt; and defintely not according to any man-made ever- changing calendars.
ABBA YHWH is wise to all schemes and cunning. HalleluYAH!
This article seems to ignore the Quartodeciman Controversy from the Second Century whereby the Bishop of Rome repeatedly tried to stamp out “Nisan 14” dating in the churches in Asia (hence the name of the controversy).
Of course, Constantine’s own words tell us that the Nicean Council did not merely want to be more accurate with the date of Nisan 14, so let’s read some more of his decree, and a better view on what his motivation might have been:
“Constantine, August, to the churches… When the question arose concerning the most holy day of Easter, it was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated on the same day by all, in every place. …it seemed to every one a most unworthy thing that we should follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this most holy solemnity, who, polluted wretches having stained their hands with a nefarious crime, are justly blinded in their minds. It is fit, therefore, that, rejecting the practice of this people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite, in a more legitimate order, which we have kept from the first day of our Lord’s passion even to the present times. Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.” – A Historical View of The Council of Nice; with by Rev. Isaac Boyle, D.D.; T Mason and G Lane, New York, 1839; pp. 51-54
Hi Rick,
I ignored the Quartodecimans issue because apparently they were only small groups who refused to conform to 14 Nisan for Passover. Later, they were received into the catholic Church after renouncing their former position.
Thanks Ian,
I think you will find the opposite in the Quartodeciman Controversy. The dominate position was to celebrate on Sunday, whereas the majority of congregations in Asia were still following the 14th of Nisan and Passover. The dominate position won, and Rome established the first uniform dating for the resurrection on a Sunday.
In other words, the Roman position advanced by Bishop Victor of Rome established “Easter” thereby abandoning Nisan 14. The controversy continued to fester for a generation and was a primary reason for Constantine’s decrees from the Nicean Council. Constantine sided with the Roman view, and thereby made Easter the official holy day, at the expense of Passover on Nisan 14, NOT to complement it.
Wikipedia has sources for its article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartodecimanism
I am aware of the Wikipedia content. However, I went with L’Huillier’s explanation of these issues in his “The Church of the Ancient Councils.” He has far more content.
Ian,
I think you missed my point regarding the Quartodeciman Controversy. Regardless of how one interprets Eusebius’ description of it , it is quite clear that the intent was to remove “unbelieving” Jews from the dating of “Christian” holy days. Romanists cite the Quartodeciman settlement as one of the earliest instances of papal authority to “change law.” It is cited as the authority to switch the dating for celebrating the resurrection to a Sunday event, as well as switching to “Christian Sabbath” to Sunday.
These events demonstrate anti-Judaic, if not anti-Semitic motivations – not a desire to bring unity and orthodoxy as your article suggests. In particular, your conclusion:
“The Gregorian Calendar is thus a recognition of the continuity of Old Testament by the New Testament followers of Jesus Christ. There are certainly some areas where Torah was rejected. But Passover was not one of them.”
Chag Pesach Sameach.
Interesting about the dating of time. I agree as well. The constant loops of 7 don’t make any sense to me when I see the God specifically and repeated tell the dates based on counting from the beginning of a month. It seems simple and we have complicated it and taken a hook in the jaw on an assembly line of a cyclical 7 days. But when the feasts come around everyone jockies around all the sabbaths here and there. Even when Christians first hear of sabbaths they chuckle to find out there are extra sabbaths…oh this is a high one and this is one that belongs to the feast but they don’t need all the extra ones if they stuck with the original set up. We know that a nomadic people and those who didn’t have things written down would naturally be able to look into the heavens and have the blue print spread out in the sky. And if they got off, not to worry, a new month was soon to begin and reset the count. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia says that the original dating of the sabbath was based on the moon and not a loop of 7.
Well, I haven’t figured it all out but in my spirit I sense the count of the sabbath is in line with the rest of the feasts. If the Sabbath is the hub of the wheel and the feasts are the spokes it would seem they should be functioning in harmony. It’s a sweet dance in the luminaries but man decides to say I must have my set rotation so I can make my plans the way I want. 1234567, 1234567, 1234567. I think Brad Scott has hit on the fact that the world has been thrown out of order and chaos has entered and so has the order of time and his feasts received confusion…beginning with his first one.
Thanks Tom, good read.
Very good, Ian!
What amazes me is the Holy day of Pentecost. Why the church doesn’t seem to place much significance on this day which is celebrated by the Jewish community. The aniversery of giving of the Torah..the aniversery also of giving of the Holy Spirit to the believers. Very, very significant day, which no one can change the date of, and the day that will bring the Jews and Gentiles together as one in the near future.
Just read this and find it interesting that he mentions the “month of Nissan (or Abib, same month)” but does not address this. Scripture says that Passover is to occur on the 14th day of the month of “the abib” or aviv. This is a direct reference to the maturity of the barley which must be ripe enough at this time to be a viable firstfruits offering during the week of Passover/unleavened bread. And that this month (regardless of what the “month” or time is called) will be the first month of the year. The barley must be aviv by the new moon of that month.
The three mandated holy days are harvest related. Yom ha bikkurim is the first of the barley harvest. Shavuot is the first of the wheat harvest and Sukkot is the first of the fall harvest – grapes, etc. To disregard this as part of the timing calculation doesn’t seem “kosher”. : )
There is no calendar debate at all if one recognizes that G-d gave to Israel and Israel alone the authority over the calendar and never took it away. Today there are many Messianic Gentiles that reject this authority and so “every man does what is right in his own eyes””. Some follow an Anti-Semite in Israel, as if he had the authority to determine the New Moon!
The Jewish calendar is not perfect and coincides with the natural lunar calendar about 95% of the time (see The Apointed Times by James Sorrenson). We can all meet separately and be “right” or we can follow the appointed authority and fellowship together.
Randy,
You are quite correct. A clear-eyed look at the history behind the calendar and lunar dating is sadly needed in some corners of Messianic Judaism. It seems quite odd that the documentation most often quoted by Karaites for lunar observation is the Mishnah, the very document they reject for every other purpose.
The so-called “Hillel II” calendar is one of the most accurate calculations for celestial observations. Long before the Gregorian calendar, it could be used to accurately predict the new moon, adjusted for season, for over 5,000 years into the future (I wrote software that compares Julian, Gregorian, and Hillel II dates, and have tested the Hillel II out to year 7,000 CE for accuracy).
The Sanhedrin used the same well-known lunar calculations long before the First Century CE. The Mishnah in describing lunar observations, makes note of the metonic math used by several Sages of that time. The metonic math that used in the Hillel II calendar dates back to at least 500 BCE.
What about the language in De 16:1 Observe (Shmara) the month (new moon) of Abib , and (in addition to guarding the new moon) keep the passover unto the LORD thy God for in the month (new moon) of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
Passover is a memorial. Part of the memorial involves the new moon that appeared over the abib barley BECAUSE that’s the month when YHVH brought them out. We are to shmar the Shabbat and rest BECAUSE that’s the day Elohim rested from all His work. We guard it a certain way BECAUSE. If our intent is to obey the commandment to teach our children these things, then we have to believe that Avinu has made it simple enough for a little child to understand. Oh look the moon is gone. Lets go out each night and see when it shows up again.
The first time i talked to you, you were reluctant to put a title on what you were teaching, i now see this as being wise (theres very little in a title) i have been studying the calender lately, some of my conclutions are as follows. when the israelites went into captivity in babalon they went in with a solar calender and they came out divided between a solor calender and the babalonian lunar calender. Yeshuah kept the solar calender and the temple was on the lunar calender Yeshuah kept the passover according to the tanak. We know this because he kept passover well before the temple did Yeshuah had to keep the passover on the proper day because he was without sin. When Yeshuah went into the garden after the passover he surendered his life thus fufiling Hashems covenent passover. Have you ever wondered why the essen or disiples never questioned his early celebrating of passover. its because Yeshuah was keeping the passover according to the equanox or the solar calender and the pharesies for the most part were not. they were well aware of the two schools of thought. There were two groups of people (the zodakiem) who kept the solar calender and the house of shamie who were running the temple and they were keeping the lunar calender.
Actually, Yeshua obeyed the authority of the Pharisees and the Torah. A comparison of the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John show that Yeshua celebrated the Passover the night before he was betrayed. This is because it was just after sunset, the beginning of the Passover day. Then he was crucified the next “day” (still the same Passover day) at the 9th hour, thus fulfilling the Torah’s command that the Passover be sacrificed “between the evenings”.
It occurred to me recently that the Jewish tradition of celebrating the Passover for two nights outside of Jerusalem was Messianic in observance. On the first night we “do this in remembrance of me”. The second night we celebrate the Passover memorial to our own deliverance.
Great debate folks, I have another question to add to the mix. I hope someone can help.
If the dating of passover is according to the “abib” in Israel, how do those outside the land determine that day? Even today in many parts of the world there would be no way to communicate an occurance of barley being ripe in the field in the land of Israel. I’ve no doubt that the authourity for determing the festival times has been given to Israel, however I’m quite reluctant to agree that if one discoveres it is corrupted that they should continue to follow along anyway. That seems to scream out against all that Yeshua was doing when He walked on this earth.
I’m not sold on the equation of the equinox being a determining factor (the equinox doesn’t seem to be a determining factor in the scriptures themselves), however I’m also not sold on a predetirmined calculation in advance neither (the “abib” itself seems to be the determining factor). Both seem to have issues. I just want the truth according to scripture.
I hope someone can help, thanks in advance.
That’s the sticky wicket isn’t it Robert. We need to keep in mind that we are practicing for the day that we all are gathered together at the coming of the King in the land. We do the best we can with what we know. Modern Rabbi’s admit that when Messiah comes we will be keeping the new moons again. Up until the time of the internet it was impossible to sight the abib barley and the new moon and transmit the sighting around the world. Today even with that not everyone has internet. So as a community we can’t all inclusively obey the commandment to sh’mar the new moon of the abib. Therefore the Rabbi’s have concluded that the pre-calculated calender will be kept until Messiah comes so that all are celebrating on the same days together as a nation. The logic is impeccable if your goal is to keep the community intact in extreme circumstances. The development of the calender is divine brilliance. It has accomplished it’s goal. And I would still be gratefully keeping that calender if it weren’t for the need to practice and rehearse watching and teaching very young children to do the same. When that became my goal I had to go to the seriously inconvenient calender that requires me to be watchful. Oddly enough, as inconvinient as it is for me, once I taught it to my 3 year old grandson, he is now the one who pays attention and reminds me with great joy and excitement. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Thank you Pam for your response, most graciously stated.
I would tend to agree with you in regards to the “watching” part, if there’s any one thing that I have continually learned in the keeping of the commands of YHWH, it is that very thing. Watching, or the diligence required by it, is a large part of learning to walk the path of the upright. (Pslm. 119:1) I often struggle with this insofar as I tend to wander to the side of “legalism” and therefore removing myself from the joy of the gift of life, abundant life, in Messiah Yeshua. I’m oft reminded of the fact that Yeshua was rather hard (understatement 🙂 ) on those who had bound the people up in the detailed interpretations of the Law whilst not lifting a finger to ease their burden. I don’t want that same rebuke.
All things done in love, mercy and truth as a response of the same given to us. Thank you again for your gracious response, YHWH bless you and keep you…..
I understand the propensity toward legalism. My dear husband tends to lean in that direction.
When you stop and think about it, 613 laws isn’t much and the few that we can actually keep outside the land are nothing. I bet I obey at least that many just going to the store in my car.
However I prefer to think of Torah as Kingdom etiquette. Think about it. If all of us lived in the same community and behaved according to Torah, what kind of amazingly peaceful society would that be? No one would be poor, or abused, or ashamed, or damaged in any way. It would literally be heaven on earth. We will live like this one day. Our task for now is to develop a taste for that kind of life. It requires our participation. It can’t happen without it. If you missed Skips TW “Case Law” Go back and read it. It really gives a perspective that we as westerners completely miss.
https://skipmoen.com/2013/04/02/
One more thing about watching.
I began keeping the ancient ways according to the best information I had at the time 20 something yrs ago. Keeping the Sabbath was the beginning. It didn’t take long for me to realize that keeping the feasts of YHVH was all about showing up for the wedding feast of the Lamb prepared and on time.
I belong to a few groups who go out each month and sight the new moon. But we still rely on our internet network of observers around the world to predict the sightings according to modern calculations.
Well one month last year we were waiting for this certain night that the moon was supposed to be visible so we could get together and sight it and celebrate. The night before we were going to meet I got a picture text from someone in the group who had gone outside for some other reason and low and behold there was the tiniest little sliver he had ever seen.
When I received that text my heart sank as I remembered Yeshua’s words in Mt 24:44
Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.
I learned a valuable lesson that night. AGAIN!!! Don’t rely on man’s devices. I am responsible to be watching and ready for myself.
It appears that in Davids time the new moons were a three day feast. I used to think that was extreme and unnecessary for us enlightened modern folk who know when it will show up. We have so many other things on our plate. Who has time to be that watchful for the Lord’s appointments.
OOPS! I guess if keeping track of His appointed times is really important to me I’ll make the time right? Even though most of the congregation thinks I’m nuts. (I’ve become progressively accustomed to being mocked.)
So I’ve changed my ways. AGAIN!!! On the dark of the moon I prepare to celebrate His goodness to us in setting His clock/calender up in the sky and instructing us in how to read it. Even though I don’t start the month until the sliver appears, I go out and earnestly look for it’s appearing even when I don’t expect I’ll see it.
Pr. 9:12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou be a scorner, thou alone shall bear it.
I’m striving to be one of those wise virgins and teach my children, grandchildren, and soon, great grandchildren to be the same by weaving His instructions into their daily lives. It’s so fun. 🙂