The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is have the Jews been faithful in their charge.
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of January 26, 2013
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged." (Rom 3:1–4 emphasis added)
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In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly." And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord." Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. (2 Kings 22:3–11 emphasis added)
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And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23:21–23 emphasis added)
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Most fellowships of the Sabbatarian Church of God keep the Passover according to rabbinical Judaism’s calculated calendar, giving to rabbinical Judaism—the ideological descendants of the Pharisees of the second temple—authority over the salvation of these Sabbatarian Christians. And indeed, eating the Passover relates directly to salvation; for if a disciple refuses to cover his sins with the blood of the Lamb of God, the first born son of God dwelling in the “house” (i.e., fleshly body) of the disciple will perish when the death angel again passes over heaven and earth, slaying uncovered firstborns at the Second Passover liberation of Israel.
The above is plain enough: the inner self of the disciple that was given spiritual birth through receipt of a second breath of life, the breath of God [pneuma Theou] in the breath of Christ [pneuma Christou], is a firstborn son of God through the indwelling of Christ, the First of the firstfruits; i.e., the First of the firstborn sons of God. And if the outer self of the disciple will not eat the Passover at its appointed time, then the inner self has no covering for transgressions committed, such as anger and lust (Matt 5:21–22, 27–28) … when the Law moves from regulating the hand and the body (e.g., murder, adultery) to regulating the thoughts of the mind and desires of the heart through being written on the heart and placed in the mind under the New Covenant (Jer 31:33) so that all Know the Lord (v. 34), what defiles the outer person isn’t what goes into the person, but what comes out from the person in the speech and deeds of the person.
The sacrifice of a bleating Passover lamb pertains to the outer self, the fleshly body of a person who would in turn dwell in an inanimate physical house. The outer self would be circumcised. Hence, in ancient Israel, women were non-persons. Even their entry into the temple was restricted.
But the physical (wood and stone) temple no longer stands, and “Israel” is no longer an outwardly circumcised nation. Rather, Israel is the nation that is circumcised of heart, meaning that Israel since Calvary is a nation of living inner selves [souls], a nation that does not eat the flesh of bulls or lambs, nor drinks water that evaporates. The “food” Israel ingests is knowledge; the work Israel does is righteousness. The means by which Israel works is belief of God; i.e., faith. And as outwardly circumcised Israelites dwelt in houses they did not own in Egypt when forming the shadow and type of this non-physical nation of living inner selves (having life from heaven) dwelling in physically living fleshly bodies, the bleating lambs that ancient Israel sacrificed on that first Passover formed the shadow and type of the Passover Lamb of God, sacrificed at Calvary, one sacrifice that is “eaten” annually on the same night that Moses commanded—eaten by partaking of the blessed bread that represents the slain Lamb’s body, and drinking from the blessed cup that represent the blood, the life of this slain lamb that is Christ Jesus.
In the days of Moses, Egyptians did not eat the Passover; nor would Egyptians have seen the importance of eating the Passover or of remaining in their houses until dawn on the night that the Passover was eaten (Ex 12:22).
In the days of Moses, Egypt and Egyptians did not represent all of the earth nor all of the people on the earth … there are no historical accounts of firstborns in China, or firstborns in Mesopotamia (both people keeping written records by this time) being suddenly and dramatically slain on a particular night. Thus, the Passover slaying of firstborns in Egypt should be considered a local phenomenon, unique to Egypt and Israel, and thereby forming the visible (and preceding) shadow and copy of a later slaying of uncovered firstborns at a higher level on a hierarchal chain. And this is and will be the case: there will be a greater Passover and Passover Exodus still to occur, one sufficiently greater that ancient Israel’s Exodus from Egypt will be forgotten:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.” For I [YHWH] will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. (Jer 16:14–15)
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.” Then they shall dwell in their own land. (Jer 23:7–8)
Nothing in the past three and a half millennia has caused Israel to not speak-about, not remember the Exodus in the days of Moses [the Son, the meaning of Moses]. So the exodus of Israel from the north country, represented by Assyria and by Death, is yet to occur—and when Egypt represents Sin, with individual Christians leaving sin and beginning a lifelong trek to the Promised Land where they shall dwell forever (i.e., outside of time), individual Christians must also overcome death, from which they cannot free themselves just as they could not free themselves from sin [disobedience, unbelief].
Salvation represents two journeys of faith, one from sin or from unbelief, which will see the disciple keeping the Sabbath as the non-physical shadow and copy of entering the Promised Land (cf. Heb 3:16–4:11; Ps 95:10–11; Num chap 14), and after arriving in Sabbath observance, the disciple will make a second journey of faith, with this second journey made entirely within Sabbath observance and analogous to Abraham’s second journey of faith when the Lord tested Abraham’s belief:
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. (Gen 22:1–4)
It is Abraham’s second journey of faith that the Apostle Paul ignores, but about which James writes in his epistle—and Paul ignores this second journey of faith because it did not, does not pertain to the Church collectively in the 1st-Century, but pertains to the Church collectively in the 21st-Century—
If Sabbatarians will not become “Christians” and if Christians will not become “Sabbatarians,” no initial journey of faith has been made: the person, Jew or Gentile, is as Abram was when dwelling with his father in Ur of the Chaldeans [Babylon], or as Abraham was when dwelling with his father in the land of Haran.
But once a person is a Sabbatarian Christian with a living inner self that is analogous to Abraham’s seed of promise, his son Isaac, a second journey of faith must be undertaken, with this second journey of faith causing the Sabbatarian Christian to leave his or her comfortable place and journey to a figurative land of Moriah where what the Sabbatarian Christian believes to be true will be severely tested … the Sabbatarian Christian must be willing to place at risk his or her own salvation (analogous to Isaac) while trusting God that the promise of salvation is certain.
Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together. (Gen 22:5–8 emphasis and double emphasis added)
Even when Abraham didn’t know how it was that Isaac would return with him to the young men, Abraham knew that both he and Isaac would return; that God would provide the lamb.
God has provided the Lamb, His Passover Lamb, Christ Jesus.
In analogy, Abraham’s father Tereh equates to the disciple’s old self, old nature, old man, that leaves spiritual Babylon, but that does not and indeed cannot enter heaven (does not leave the land that represents Death). Abraham becomes the representation of the Sabbatarian Christian, the Christian who knows to keep the commandments and who strives to walk uprightly before God; becomes the “Abraham” with whom God Almighty [El Shadai] makes a covenant (Gen 17:2) that promises spiritual birth, a son born of promise, a living inner self that is as Isaac was. Hence, Paul’s analogy:
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (Gal 4:22–31 emphasis added)
In Paul’s analogy, Christ Jesus represents Abraham: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:28–29).
But backing up a step, if Abraham had two sons, one humanly born and one born of promise, then the last Abraham (Christ) will also father two sons, with the birth order reversed due to the chiral nature of the analogy. The son of promise will be fathered by Christ before the son of the flesh is fathered—and the son of the flesh had already been fathered when Paul wrote to the holy ones in Galatia, the reason for Paul having to write to these saints that had begun circumcising themselves in the flesh.
Sabbatarian Christians tend not to exercise their minds: they do not closely read texts of any sort, let along Scripture. Therefore, they don’t pay attention to what the words on the page reveal … in Paul’s tour-de-force analogy, Christ Jesus represents Abraham who fathered a son of promise, Isaac, who in turn fathered two sons born of promise (Gen 25:21–23); so it can correctly be stated that all Christian’s truly born of God through receipt of a second breath of life are represented by Isaac, whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice. But in Paul’s analogy, Abraham has two sons [in actuality, Abraham fathered six additional sons by Keturah after Sarah dies — Gen 25:1–2], with this second son representing for Paul all of Judaism.
Again, in Paul’s analogy, Judaism is born of the flesh and is therefore in bondage to the prince of this world—but in Paul’s analogy, Judaism as represented by Ishmael who dwells in the land between Egypt and Canaan, the land where Moses hid when Egyptians sought his life. The land of Moriah could represent the overlap of the northern lands of Ishmael and the southern lands of Canaan and as such be spiritually inside of Sabbath observance.
Certainly what is seen historically is that Christ fathered two sons, one humanly born that represents greater Christendom, and one born of spirit that represent the Elect, those disciples foreknown by God, predestined, called, justified, and glorified through inner selves receiving life via receipt of a second breath of life. The word <Christian> was not yet in general use; so Paul couldn’t (and wouldn’t have) identified those Galatians that were circumcising themselves as Christians. Nor would Paul have assigned the identifier to disciples that did not keep the commandments of God. For Paul, there were no humanly born Christians: every person who believed that Jesus was the Christ did so through having the indwelling of Christ.
The reality seen every Sabbath, every Sunday is that greater Christendom is not of one spirit, one mind, one Body. Somehow the spiritual Abraham fathering only one son of promise has produced equivalent peoples identifying themselves as Christians to all of the earthly sons that Abraham fathered by three women, with Arian and Trinitarian Christendom being analogous to the sons of Hagar and Keturah.
Judaism, Islam, Messianic Christianity, Sacred Names sects—all fall under the rubric of Unitarianism, with those one-godders who believe that Jesus was glorified after death being Arian Christians.
The Apostle Paul writes before Christendom has become a worldwide ideology, and said, “So, whether you eat or drink the Passover sacraments], or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:31–33 emphasis added).
Today, Greeks profess to be Christians even when remaining “Greek.” Jews remain “Jews,” and their rivalry with Ishmael continues in the ideological struggle of Islam against the ideologies of the sons of Isaac. And lost in the worldwide fray of competing ideologies is the Church of God that will, again this year, eat the Passover Lamb of God as Moses commanded Israel in Egypt to eat the Passover.
From a few seeds of darnel, a few stems of this false grain will grow in a corner of a field—and these few stems will become stalks that will not be harvested, for the seeds of darnel are worthless. But by leaving the darnel in the field and not rooting it out so as not to damage good grain, many more seeds of darnel come—and come until the entire field is darnel that is fit only for burning … the field is burned, and burned hot enough to destroy the seeds of darnel that have fallen to the ground. And this is the story of greater Christendom when Christ Jesus returns.
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When no one in Israel had been or was born of spirit (i.e., born of God), a bleating lamb was the appropriate Passover sacrifice. But once the spirit was given and the inner selves of disciples were made alive through the indwelling of Christ, Israel ceased being the outwardly circumcised nation that covered its transgressions with the sacrificial blood of lambs and goats. Israel became the circumcised-of-heart nation whose transgressions are covered by the garment of Christ Jesus’ righteousness (usually identified as “grace”). But as was the case before, sacrifice only covers unintentional transgressions (see Heb 9:7 as one example text); grace only covers unintentional transgressions. The person who willfully sins is simply not of God; for John wrote,
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 1:1–11 emphasis added)
The person who willfully sins, intentionally sins is of the devil; for when the inside of the cup has been cleansed (when the heart is pure), the whole cup [vessel] is clean … filth and righteousness cannot come from the same mouth, same heart. A son of God will not, indeed cannot serve both God and the Adversary.
Paul wrote,
I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. … We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Cor 10:1–6, 9–22 emphasis and double emphasis added)
When Paul wrote to the holy ones at Corinth—wrote to address their questions rooted in Greek philosophy—his assumption was that these holy ones sought to obey God; yet what does he say about how they were keeping the Passover?
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. (1 Cor 11:17–34 emphasis added)
A distinction exists between how outwardly circumcised Israel celebrated the Passover and how inwardly circumcised Israel observes the Passover, this distinction seen in John’s Gospel when compared to Mark and Matthew:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. (John 13:1–4 emphasis added)
During supper—there was a meal being eaten, with Judas Iscariot being present when this Passover meal was being eaten. And this meal was the traditional Passover meal as Sadducees, not Pharisees, observed the Passover on the dark portion of the 14th day of the first month, according to Moses’ instruction in Exodus, not Deuteronomy (that is, the Moab Covenant).
It is in understanding the difference between the Passover and the Passover covenant as given by Moses to Israel in the land of Egypt and the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread as given by Moses to the children of Israel on the plains of Moab where difference exists between the Elect and the remainder of Sabbatarian Christendom … a symbol derives its meaning from its context, and this pertains to all symbols, whether the vehicle a person drives or the clothing worn by a person or the appearance of the house/home in which the person lives. The manner or style of the cap a Christian woman wears to cover her hair can be “read” as a symbol. Likewise, the styling of a non-Christian woman’s hair will be read symbolically, as will be her shoes and handbag and outer apparel.
There is really nothing that cannot be read as a symbol that takes meaning from its context; thus, all of culture can be deconstructed, with the Bible forming a significant aspect of Western culture and of even worldwide culture. For what does Paul declare:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Rom 1:18–20)
In the Passover Covenant that Moses mediated in Egypt, we find,
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For [YHWH] will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, [YHWH] will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that [YHWH] will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of [YHWH]’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Ex 12:21–27 emphasis added)
This Passover covenant was codified as follows:
And [YHWH] said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to [YHWH], let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you." All the people of Israel did just as [YHWH] commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day [YHWH] brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. (Ex 12:43–51 emphasis added)
The New Covenant is the replacement covenant for this codified Passover covenant made on the day when the Lord told the father of Israel by the land and led that nation out from Egypt … but, a huge caveat, Israel did not leave Egypt until late, very late in the afternoon of the 14th day of the first month. Israel did not leave Egypt when Passover lambs were slain and roasted whole (not disemboweled: “‘They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts’” — Ex 12:8–9), with the roasting whole of even small lambs taking hours. Thus, it was about midnight when these roasted lambs would have been ready to eat: Israel in their houses would have been eating the Passover when the death angel passed over all the land, slaying firstborns in houses without the blood of the Passover lamb on its door posts and lintels. And then, Israel was not to leave their houses until dawn.
In Egypt, Israel was a slave nation. Free Egyptians did not live next door to enslaved Israel—and it was free Egyptians that Israel plundered after dawn on the 14th day of the first month, meaning that plundering Israelites had to walk a ways to get to the homes of the Egyptians whom they asked for silver and gold and fine clothing. Then, Israel, being herders, had to gather their flocks. Moses and Aaron were busy removing the bones [the mummy] of Joseph (Ex 13:19). The men of Israel had to gather together weapons. And realistically, we are already at noon or in the early afternoon on the 14th day … Israel probably didn’t begin to move as one people until about when Jesus’ life left Him, the ninth hour (or 3:00 pm) of the 14th day. And the back of the line would not have begun moving before sundown, the end of the 14th day and beginning of the 15th day; for on this first day of its three day journey into the wilderness, Israel did not journey far, from Rameses to Succoth [still in Egypt] (Ex 12:37) before setting up camp.
If a person makes bread with a levain (chef), a piece of leftover dough from a previous batch of bread, the action of the yeast differs from using modern rapid-rise yeasts in that considerable time is required and attention paid to the starter before additional flour can be added and a lump of bread dough exists as modern cooks expect bread dough to appear. The passage about Israel baking unleavened cakes/bread because Israel was thrust out of Egypt before their dough could rise (Ex 12:39) doesn’t mean that two or three hours passed between when the death angel passed over the land and Israel left Egypt, but means that in the haste to get ready to leave Egypt, no pieces of levain were placed in a starting mound of flour to which additional flour would be added before the bread dough began its initial raising … the nature of baking sourdough breads require that the baker works a half day to a day in advance of when the baker places the risen bread dough in an oven.
An additional few words need to be said about baking breads with levains as Israel would have in Egypt: the capture of wild yeasts and their selection for flavor and vigor takes time (my brother was mad at me for years because I threw out a century-plus year old sourdough starter he had given me; I threw the starter out my first Feast of Unleavened Bread in 1973, and it was indeed an excellent flavored yeast but it was a leavening agent). The action of wild yeasts takes time. And thirty days out of Egypt, Israel had eaten all of their provisions: they had no levains left that could have risen dough even if the nation had camped in one place for long enough to let dough raise. However, the yeasts imbedded in the dough troughs of Israel were still present so any time flour would have been left in these troughs overnight, a new levain could have been made. Hence, manna could not be kept overnight, would not keep overnight except on the Sabbath. Thus, with leavening representing sin [unbelief], manna made into bread in the same vessels that had held Israel’s levains in Egypt could not be allowed to go from one day to the next day. Rather, the work of the imbedded wild yeasts in Israel’s dough bowls caused the manna to breed worms and stink and become inedible, except when the Sabbath interrupted the work of sin.
So to confirm what has been written: in Egypt, Israel did not leave their houses the night that the death angel passed over all the land of Egypt, but not over the land of China or of Celts in Europe. The death angel slew the firstborns of Egyptians, both of man and of beasts—and would have slain firstborns in the houses of Israel that had not sacrificed the Passover at even beginning the 14th day of the first month and had smeared the blood of this lamb on doorposts and lintels. Then on the daylight portion of the 14th, Israel spoiled the Egyptians and gathered their flocks and their herds while Moses attended to the mummy of Joseph. And in late afternoon, about the hour when John’s Gospel has the glorified Jesus appearing to His disciples (John 20:22), Israel began its long procession out of Egypt, but a mass of men 600,000 strong (plus wives, children, and strangers) would have taken many hours in simply leaving Rameses: it was probably after midnight before Israel was out of Rameses under the best of circumstances. Most likely, it was well after daylight before Israel was fully out of Rameses. Israel was all night (of the 15th day) in leaving Rameses.
Now, consider what Moses tells the children of Israel on the plains of Moab about the Passover covenant:
Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to [YHWH your Elohim], for in the month of Abib [YHWH your Elohim] brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to [YHWH your Elohim], from the flock or the herd, at the place that [YHWH] will choose, to make His name dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, but at the place that [YHWH your Elohim] will choose, to make His name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that [YHWH your Elohim] will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to [YHWH your Elohim]. You shall do no work on it. (Deut 16:1–8)
Note the “by night” — Israel did not leave Egypt during the day portion of the 14th of Aviv, but by night on the 15th day. But in this passage is the line that causes confusion: “‘there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt’” (Deut 16:6).
What level of precision should be assigned to the above citation? Pharisees used this line to support killing the Passover lamb about three p.m. on the 14th day of the first month. Rabbinical Judaism has coupled the practices of second temple Pharisees killing the Passover just before the High Sabbath of the 15th day began to these Pharisees observing the Wave Sheaf Offering on the morning of the 16th day of the first month to justify Judaism eating the Seder as its Passover meal on the dark portion of the 15th and of the 16th day of Aviv. However, from best evidence, Sadducees did not observe the Wave Sheaf Offering on the morrow after the High Sabbath, but in the morrow after the weekly Sabbath that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Likewise, Sadducees ate the Passover going into the dark portion of the 14th day, not going into the dark portion of the 15th day. So neither modern Judaism nor the Pharisees of the second temple hold/held practices that agree what’s seen in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
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A Christian would not, today, select and confine a bleating lamb of the first year, an unblemished male, on the 10th day of the first month (of the sacred year) and then sacrifice this lamb at even on the 14th day of the first month, roast the lamb whole without gutting or skinning it, then eat the lamb, leaving none of it by morning. Even rabbinical Judaism, for all of its spiritual density, ceased sacrificing bleating lambs after Herod’s temple was razed by Romans … the Seder is acknowledgement that the sacrifice of Passover lambs is behind (and ahead) of present day Judaism. And unless a Passover lamb, one per house, is slain and its blood smeared on the door posts and lintel of the outwardly circumcised Israelite’s house, the Israelite is as an Egyptian before God.
There is a controversy that is reflected in not even King David eating the Passover as commanded in the Book of the Covenant, according to the scribes keeping the Book of the Kings—and this controversy is over when the Passover should be eaten.
Before engaging the fore-mentioned controversy, some additional background information is needed: the Book of Deuteronomy represents the giving of the Moab covenant, with Christ Jesus replacing Moses as the mediator of this covenant made not with the nation of Israel that left Egypt, but with the children of Israel—
These are the words of the covenant that [YHWH] commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that He had made with them at Horeb. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that [YHWH] did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day [YHWH] has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am [YHWH] your God. And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. You are standing today all of you before [YHWH] your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of [YHWH] your God, which [YHWH] your God is making with you today, that He may establish you today as his people, and that He may be your God, as He promised you, and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, but with whoever is standing here with us today before [YHWH] our God, and with whoever is not here with us today. (Deut 29:1–15 emphasis and highlighting added)
The references go from third person to first person then back to third person … Moses was God to Aaron (Ex 4:16), but was Moses the one who led Israel for forty years in the wilderness (Deut 29:5)? Did the clothes and scandals of Israel not wear out for these forty years so that Israel might know that Moses [the Son] was YHWH (v. 6)? No, although that is what Moses seems to say before returning to third person address.
What’s seen is voice merging, an inscription technique that gives authority to the speaker/writer through speaking/writing the words of someone with greater authority or name recognition.
What are the terms of this covenant made with Israel on the plains of Moab?
And when [Moses speaking] all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where [YHWH] your God has driven you, and return to [YHWH] your God, you and your children, and obey His voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then [YHWH] your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where [YHWH] your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there [YHWH] your God will gather you, and from there He will take you. And [YHWH] your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And [YHWH] your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love [YHWH] your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And [YHWH] your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of [YHWH] and keep all His commandments that I command you today. [YHWH] your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For [YHWH] will again take delight in prospering you, as He took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of [YHWH] your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to [YHWH] your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of [YHWH] your God that I command you today, by loving [YHWH] your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and [YHWH] your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving [YHWH] your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that [YHWH] swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deut 30:1–20 emphasis and double emphasis added)
The context for the implementation of the Moab covenant will have Israel being delivered into the hands of enemies, and while a captive people in a far land, Israel turns to the Lord and begins to keep all that was written in Deuteronomy (this Book of the Law — Deut 30:10). And in order for this context to be in place so that the Moab covenant can be implemented, Israel must by faith return to the Lord; hence, the Apostle Paul identifies this Moab covenant as “the righteousness based on faith (Rom 10:6).
Paul’s righteousness based on faith will have the disciple keeping the commandments and all that is written in Deuteronomy, including the high Sabbaths of God. But in keeping the commandments under the Moab covenant, there is a change from the first Sinai covenant. Compare:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days [YHWH] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore [YHWH] blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Ex 20:8–11 emphasis added)
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Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as [YHWH your Elohim] commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to [YHWH your Elohim]. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and [YHWH your Elohim] brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore [YHWH your Elohim] commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deut 5:12–15 emphasis added)
There is a difference in linguistic identifiers used to represent the Lord, and a different justification for keeping the weekly Sabbath. At Sinai, the Sabbath represented “creation”; on the plains of Moab, the Sabbath represented “liberation.”
There is a connection between creation and liberation, with creation being a special form of liberation. Until the dust of this earth was molded, sculpted into the likeness of a man (or another living creature), there was no possibility of this dust being liberated from absolute lifelessness. But creation of all that has been made isn’t the same as liberation of Israel, the Lord’s firstborn son, from physical slavery in Egypt.
In analogy, the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt can be likened to the liberation of living human beings from indwelling sin; from being consigned to disobedience (Rom 11:32) as sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2–3). But in order for this analogy to hold, there must be a Second Passover liberation of Israel at which time uncovered firstborns will perish at a figurative midnight hour (i.e., when men can get no farther away from the light that is God). And we are ready to seriously look at clearing away ambiguity.
There is a difference between the beginning of Israel’s journey out from Egypt by the nation numbered in the census of the second year, and the conclusion of this journey forty years later by the children of Israel crossing the Jordon behind Joshua (in Greek, ’Iesou — Jesus). Of the nation numbered in the census, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land, making Joshua and Caleb the bridge between creation and liberation. For the purpose of the Passover, Joshua/Jesus links creation to liberation .
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Again, the New Covenant replaces (supersedes) the Passover covenant that requires a covering for sin (transgression of the Law); for under the Passover covenant, there is a remembering of sin.
Now on the First Unleavened [translators’ extra words have been removed] the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, 'The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, He reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." And they were very sorrowful and began to say to Him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?" He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." Judas, who would betray Him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?" He said to him, "You have said so."
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matt 26:17–29 emphasis and double emphasis added)
If Jesus had implemented the New Covenant when He, after Judas Iscariot left Him and the Eleven to do his dastardly deed, changed the symbols representing the sacrifice that covered the transgressions of Israel, then there would have been no forgiveness needed for sin for there would be no remembrance of sins:
Behold, the days are coming, declares [YHWH], when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares [YHWH]. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares [YHWH]: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know [YHWH],” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares [YHWH]. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:31–34 emphasis added)
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For He finds fault with them when He says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord [Kurios], when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord [Kurios]. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord [Kurios]: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord [Kurion],' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb 8:8–13 emphasis added)
What is “becoming obsolete and growing old” and “is ready to vanish away” remains in effect despite it being about to be no more … at no time since Hebrews was written a quarter century after Calvary has anything occurred that caused what was becoming obsolete and ready to vanish to vanish and disappear. Disciples were still eating the Passover as the Lord’s Supper when Paul wrote to the holy ones at Corinth—and Paul corrected the practices of these holy ones concerning how they were eating the Passover, returning the fellowship to what is seen in Mark’s Gospel and Matthew’s Gospel (Luke’s Gospel is problematic here and in many other places).
The covenant made at the first Passover remains in effect although symbols were changed in a manner analogous to the difference between creation versus liberation – or said otherwise, as bleating lambs pertain to the Passover covenant made in Egypt with a nation that would not enter the Promised Land because of its unbelief, the body and blood of the Lamb of God pertain to the Passover covenant made with the children of Israel (the offspring of the Woman) that do enter into God’s Rest by choosing life when both life and death are placed before these children of promise …
The difference between drinking from the blessed cup that represents the blood of the Passover Lamb of God, poured out for the forgiveness of sin—with the cup covering remembered sins of disciples but not dissolving these transgressions so that they cannot be remembered—and having no need to drink from the cup representing the blood of Christ is the difference between creation and liberation.
This Sabbath Reading has reached a length that it will be best to continue pursuing the subject in the Reading for February 2nd, 2013.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."