I HATE YOUR FEASTS . . . Isa. 1:14
God instituted his feasts ( Heb. mow'ed, appointment, an appointed time) and commanded that they be observed forever (Lev. 23). The context of Lev. 23, Isa. 1, and other scriptures show that God is talking about the same feast days. Why would he express hatred for his own commandment?
"Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them." Isa. 1:14
The answer lies in the differences between his (God's) feasts (Lev. 23:2), and "your appointed feasts" (Isa. 1:14). The differences are more easily understood when we consider the history of these feasts and of the people who preserved the knowledge of them.A Contradiction, or a Choice? Would God command you to do something and then make it impossible for you to accomplish it? Since the penalty for disobedience (sin) is death, the answer is "No!". We know this is true because he tells us that we have a choice between life and death, and he encourages us to choose life.
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both you and your seed may live:" (Deu. 30:20).Since the choice is ours, God must provide the means for our obedience to all his commands. Regardless of our situation, he does promise to provide the means for obedience.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13).A Choice of Days, or a Commanded Time? God commands the observance of his feasts on specific days of specific months. His instructions are recorded by Moses in Ex. 12:1-57, Lev. 16:1-34, Lev. 23:1-44, Num. 9:1-14, and Deu. 16:1-17.
How important is it to God to observe a specific day? The High Priest was commanded to enter the Holy of Holies (literally coming before God who was on the mercy seat) on a specific day, to offer the annual atonement sacrifice for all Israel. God declared that should the Priest attempt to enter on any other day, He would kill him (Lev. 16:2). The Jewish Talmud states that during the period of the Second Temple, so many High Priests were killed upon entering the Holy of Holies, that it became a custom to tie a rope onto the leg of the High Priest, so that if he were killed, others could retrieve his body from outside the veil, without being killed themselves (Footnote 1). It would appear that the Jewish priests during this time were often observing the wrong day for Atonement.The Development of the Jewish Feast Schedule Many rely on the current Jewish calendar, or parts of it, to schedule their observance of God's feast days. According to Jewish history, a primitive and rather inaccurate form of this calendar was first adopted by the Jewish rabbis in either 359 AD or sometime after 500 AD, but more likely, in the 8th cent. AD. It was modified periodically, to correct inherent errors, until the 9th cent. AD when it assumed the form which religious Jews use today. It still contains an error factor which has now accumulated to an extent that it can no longer be ignored. Due to the accumulated error in this calendar's sequence of intercalation (the adding of a 13th month in 7 of every 19 years), the feast days are sometimes one month later than they should be, according to the seasons (Num. 9:2, 3, 7, 13). Because of this inherent mathematical error, the Jews are determined to discard their calculated calendar just as soon as a new Sanhedrin can be convened in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin will return to the method of observation , which they refer to as "the calendar in the Bible". ("Calendar",The Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem, Keter Pub. House Ltd. Jerusalem, Israel, 1971, pp. 43-54.)
In addition to this error, the Jewish calendar uses postponements to prevent God's feast days from interfering with their Friday and pre-Atonement preparation rituals. In many cases, this reschedules the holy convocations (church services) to be observed one or two days after God's ordained feast days. Since men cannot actually postpone the moon's conjunction, and since most (non-Catholics) would not claim to have the authority to reschedule God's feast days, this is justified by postponing Tishri 1, by one or two days and the result is the same. Using this logic, we could call Monday, the first day of the week, which would then make Sunday, the seventh day or the Sabbath and claim that we had not postponed Sabbath. (In some parts of Europe, this has already been accomplished. See related article, "The Future of Time".)
With the Jewish calculated calendar, God's feast days are scheduled by men using rules adopted by other men over the course of hundreds of years. These rules are for the purpose of making the calculations work with a minimum degree of error, as astronomers tell us that no perpetual, error-free calendar can be designed by men to harmonize the cycles of the sun, moon and earth. (The Flammarion Book of Astronomy, 1964, p. 27; and, "Calendar (Jewish)", Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Edit. by Hastings, 1928, Vol. 3, p. 122.)
God commanded that Passover would be in the first month of the year, Abib (also called Nisan), which corresponds to our Roman calendar dates (in 1999) of Mar. 17-18 to Apr . 15-16 (See Ex. 12:1-28; 13:3-4; 23:15; 34:18; Deu. 16:1.) The Jews, by their tradition however, consider Tishri to be the first month of the year and base their calculated calendar on establishing Tishri 1, from which they count backwards to schedule Passover and all the other feasts of God. While Jewish rabbis count backwards to schedule their feasts, God said to count forward to observe his feasts . All of God's feasts are counted from the first month and from the first day of the month
Historical Coincidences?Some astronomers say that it took at least 2,000 years of observation and record keeping before the earliest astronomers could accumulate enough data to accurately measure these cycles. While man has, from earliest history, considered the stars, modern astronomy (or the point at which it separated from superstition and astrology) is dated to the 5th century BC, or almost exactly 2,000 years after the Flood of Noah.
In the 5th century, most of the Jews from Palestine were still living in Babylon. Only 42,360 had returned with Zerubbaal in 538 BC to rebuild Jerusalem. Sixty years later another group, also not large, returned with Ezra.
Conquering nations have almost always tried to utilize the wise men of conquered nations, to their best advantage. After WWII, the American government welcomed German scientists who would cooperate in America's rocket program. In earlier times, the wise men and the educated princes were often used as counselors at the court of the conquering king. Hence, we see Daniel and other princes in the court of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar and his successors (Dan. 1, 5, 6). The priests were among the best educated in Judah, but outside of the Jerusalem Temple, they could not offer sacrifices. So what services could they provide the Babylonians? Babylon was, at the time, one of the world's centers of education and knowledge but like most pagan kingdoms, its leaders would consult with stargazers before starting a war, signing a treaty or making any major decision, to see if the stars were favorable to their plans.God's command to observe his feast days was still in effect for the Jewish captives, but the Jewish tradition was that the timing of the feast days was to be based on observation from Jerusalem, simply because that's where the Temple was located. Without observers in Jerusalem to identify the first day of the first and seventh months, and with Jews scattered from Persia, to Babylon, to Egypt, and to Greece and even further west, their solution was to attempt to find a way to calculate those days. So it was a perfect match of needs, timing and opportunity. And who better suited to help refine the science and purge out the pagan superstition, than the non-pagan Jews.
"Jewish astronomy seems to have contributed an element to the great synthesis of oriental and Greek science."
(A Social and Religious History of the Jews, Salo W. Baron, Columbia Univ. Press, 1952,Vol. 2, p.307).So Babylon got the latest scientific discoveries, the Jewish wise men had their research funded, mankind began to receive a pure science of astronomy from the previous mixture of superstition and science, and the Jews eventually came up with what they believed to be a workable calendar for scheduling the feast days. The errors weren't fully understood until later, at periodic intervals when adjustments or corrections were made. This tinkering with the Jewish calendar continued until the 9th cent. AD, although some Jewish groups did not accept it until the 14th and 17th centuries. Since then, the remaining error factors have been shown to be unavoidable, but no better system can be humanly devised because of the nature of the cycles.
Frequently, "New and Improved!" This brings us back to the Jewish calendar. Since it is inaccurate, why did the Jews adopt it? First of all, they weren't fully aware of its inaccuracies when they adopted it. Some of its errors only became obvious with the passage of time.
"Gamaliel I sent out regular messages to keep the entire Diaspora [scattered Jewish communities] informed about changes in the calendar."
(Baron's, Op. Cit., p. 135).Secondly, they didn't adopt it when it was first available anyway. The famous Babylonian Jewish astronomer, Mar Samuel (165-250 AD), secretly sent a 60-year schedule to the High Priest of Judea. But it was only used to compare with the observations until, (according to Hai Gaon in 1038 AD) Hillel II published The Secrets of Intercalation in 359 AD. There are no other sources to confirm Hai Gaon's statement. The Talmud comments on everything else, but never mentions postponements or any nineteen-year intercalary cycle . Since the Talmud was undergoing editing and revisions until 500 AD, it appears that the calculated calendar wasn't adopted until sometime after 500 AD. Jewish history shows that it was only after much debate that it was accepted outside of Palestine. In fact, it was actually first published in Tiberius, Samaria, not in Jerusalem. (Remember the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Hillel II lived about 300 years later.)
And thirdly, the Jews have never unanimously accepted the calculated calendar. According to the Jews, there was more than one calendar in use in Christ's time. That shouldn't surprise us since the Talmud (according to Ausebel) records 24 separate Jewish religious sects in Judea by 70 AD. Even today there are Jewish groups who still use observation to determine the feast days.
So observation was used for more than 1,700 years [1491 BC to Mar Samuel] before the calculated calendar could have been available. The calculated calendar was reportedly used by the priests, in secret, for another 100 years before it was officially accepted. And since there have always been some Jews who have used observation, the visual method has been in continuous use for 3,490 years (to 1999). In contrast, the calculated calendar has only been in existence, in part, for about 1,750 years, and in its current, but still inaccurate form since the 9th Cent. AD, or only about 1,100 years. When we compare 3,450 years of God's feasts to the 1,100 years of the current form of the Jewish calendar, the calculated calendar is still a relatively new thing .
The Rest of the Story There were a number of factors which led to the Jews' acceptance of a calculated calendar. To keep this brief, we shall discuss only the major ones here.
It would be easy to read the books from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah through the time of Christ and to assume that the Jews were, for the most part, unified and single-minded until they became divided over the acceptance or rejection of Christ as the Messiah. But division among and within the tribes is seen as early as the events recorded in the book of Judges. It deteriorates to the point of civil war by the time of David, and the nation becomes permanently divided in the time of his grandsons. The northern tribes, now called Israel are carried away into captivity in the 8th century BC, and become mostly lost to history. The southern kingdom, consisting of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and parts of Levi and Dan, became known as Judah and its citizens were called "Jews".But living among and intermarrying with the Jews were Canaanites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Philistines, (Judg. 1:22, 34; 14:2). The practice of intermarriage continued even after (some of) the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon (Ezra 9:1-2). This added to a diversity of languages, even among the Jews (Neh. 13:23-24), many of whom no longer understood classical (Biblical) Hebrew, but spoke Aramaic. Hence, Ezra had to provide translators for many of the Jews during the reading of the law at the feast of Tabernacles (Neh. 8:1-3, 7-8). Aramaic was an international language of the time in the same way that English is used internationally today. Especially with the Jews absent from Palestine, Aramaic became the predominant language of the land. When the Jews returned, they were a minority in Palestine. (Note: Ezra 7:12-26 was written in Aramaic, not Hebrew.)
The Aramaic (of Ezra's time) later gave way to Greek as the common language of the people in the time of the Greek and Roman Empires. Hence, we see the public sign, above Christ's body, posted in three languages (Lk.23:38). Greek was the common language of the people and of the Empire while Latin was the official language of Rome. The word Hebrew in Luke 23 is translated from the Greek word Hebraikos, meaning Hebraic or the "Jewish language", which in the time of Christ, was Aramaic, the same language in which Christ cried out his last words (Luke 23:46, Mat. 27:46, Mk. 15:34). All references to the Hebrew language in the New Testament are translated from three Greek words (Strongs' 1444, 1446 and 1447, meaning the Jewish (Chaldee) language . [What was considered erroneously, in the time of Mr. Strong (c. 1890) to be the Chaldean language is now correctly understood to be Aramaic. It was never considered by translators or scholars to be Old Testament (classical) Hebrew.]
(See related article: "What is His Name?".)Palestine was never completely Israelite in the physical sense. At the Exodus, a mixed multitude (Ex.12:38) accompanied them out of Egypt. When settling the land, most of the tribes disobeyed God by failing to drive out the current inhabitants (Judg. 1:19, 21, 27--2:3). So Palestine has always had a mixed population, just as it does today.
Intermarriage with Canaanites, tribal loyalties and language differences were only the start of the divisions.
A Reluctance to Come out of Babylon The Jews who returned were a minority (Neh. 7:4) among the native Canaanites and Samaritans who had remained. Neh. 7:66-67 shows only 42,360 returning and these were from several different tribes (Neh. 7:1-73). While some Jews gradually drifted back to Palestine (Ezra 7:7), the majority never went back. The primary reasons were economic, political and environmental.
Palestine was dry and hot when compared to the lush, green country of Babylon in the fertile crescent of former Mesopotamia. When Judah did evil in the sight of God , it did not receive the promised rain in due season . The natural result was famines in Palestine (Ruth 1:1).
Politically, Babylon was peaceful compared to Palestine which, in the nearly 1,000 years since Joshua, had never enjoyed more than 80 consecutive years of peace with freedom. In the approximately 377 years of the book of Judges, Israel was periodically oppressed or at war for 101 years, or about one third of the entire period. In contrast, Babylon existed for 700 years before Israel existed as a nation, and as a part of the Roman Empire it continued for another 300 years after the second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, for a total of 1,821 years.The political differences are reflected in the economic differences. Peace often yields prosperity while defeat in war and being under tribute to foreign governments always leads to financial hardships. Adding to their burden, the puppet kings of Judah heavily taxed the Jews to buy favor with their Roman sponsors. King Herod even used Jewish tax money to build Greek temples including one in Rhodes, Greece, dedicated to the god "Apollos". He built the Roman styled city of Caesarea, in Palestine and organized its Olympic games to be held every five years. He re-paved the main highway through Antioch, Syria, with polished stones and lined the street with covered walkways and "appointed revenues" for their maintenance, to boost the local economy, to restore the reputation of their Olympic games and the "respect" for the associated (pagan) "sacrifices and other ornaments" earning so much favor that "he was generally declared in their inscriptions to be one of the perpetual managers of those games." [Notice that money scandals in the Olympics is not a new thing.] (Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, Book 16, Ch.5, Sect. 3.)
When Herod's massive building program began winding down with the completion of the main part of the Temple, there was considerable unemployment. This is perhaps seen in the crowds of thousands who came out to hear John the Baptist and Christ, speak and teach. They probably would have come out anyway, but we do not see here the problems caused by work stoppages as seen in Egypt at the time of Moses (Ex. 5).Another reason for the low numbers returning was age. It was 70 years from the time Judah was taken captive until Zerubbabel was allowed to bring a group back. Only the oldest among them had seen the first temple (Ezra 3:12). By the time Ezra goes to Jerusalem,130 years had passed and all the Jews then living in Babylon had been born there. For most of the Jews, it was not a matter of going back as they were natives of Babylon, not Palestine.
Not only were many Jews reluctant to go to Palestine, some of them found life there so difficult in comparison to Babylon, that they didn't stay. Some returned to Babylon (physically if not spiritually, 1 Pet. 5:13) while others migrated elsewhere.The Rise of Jewish Politics At the time of Moses, Israeli politics consisted of inter-tribal rivalries and the leadership ambitions of individuals or small groups. God resolved the more controversial issues by plagues, pestilence, disease, being swallowed by the earth, and fire out of heaven (see Ex., Num., Deu.). By the time of Christ, we see four predominant groups practicing politics as effectively as any modern party. Their origins are primarily during "the time between the testaments", or the time during which the Bible is silent, in other words, between the OT prophets and the NT gospels. Jewish history is not silent about this period.
The Sadducees The priesthood was instituted by God, who commissioned them to help the Israelites in offering their sacrifices and to instruct them in the law of God. The Israelites were seldom faithful to God for more than one or two consecutive generations. When they backslid into idolatry, it usually included the king and often included the priesthood, sometimes to the extent that they physically lost the scrolls (Moses' books of God's law) and all memory of them (2 Kings 22:1-23:25). The High Priests were considered righteous from Ezra (ca. 445 BC) until (probably) Simon the Just (300-291 BC) according to Jewish tradition. After this, the office of High Priest was often occupied by incompetents and worse. The office was bought, sold, and given away as reward for political support. Herod limited the term of High Priest to one year in order to use it politically and as a source of revenue. Politics, intrigues and even murders were committed in order to secure the office. One Jewess purchased the office for her husband.
". . . Martha, daughter of Boethos, who allegedly acquired for her second husband, Simon son of Gamala, the high-priestly office for three qabs (approximately 1 1/2 gallons) of gold denars." (Baron's, Op. Cit., Vol. 1, p.263.)The priests, dedicated to the ceremonial aspects of the Temple, became isolated from the common people. God originally declared that they would not have inheritances (agricultural and grazing lands) in Israel, but would receive the tenth of livestock and fruit, grain and oil produced in Israel. They were given cities scattered throughout Israel for their families and this is where they lived when not serving in the Temple. These properties included a two mile "green-zone" beyond the city's edge. After the Jewish captivity, the tithing laws were continued, sometimes by force, but the land rules no longer seemed to apply. The priests became the "landed gentry", the aristocratic elite, the wealthy upper class of Palestine, and came to be called the Sadducees . Philosophically, they had no use for the prophets of the OT, and did not believe in a resurrection, just the here and now, which fit in comfortably (outside the Temple) with the Greek culture of Hellenism. This gave them a common interest with the puppet kings of Judah. In addition, they periodically held political control with the kings of Judah, both because of their numbers (as many as 24,000 in Jerusalem alone) and because of their wealth. Their main opposition came from the Pharisees.
They were isolated from the common people by their education, wealth, and philosophy. They became alienated from the populace because they looked down on them as riff-raff and because of the abuses of their offices. At times the highest priests even stole the tithes which belonged to the more rural Levites, taking them by armed force.The Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (a committee of up to 23 elders, but more could be added, to a maximum of 70, to resolve tied votes), first mentioned in 198 BC, was originally composed only of priests, but as the Pharisees gained power, they also occupied seats in it, by the order of Herod. It is said to have originated as a result of the incompetency of some of the High Priests after the time of Simon "the just". Herod ordered that it should always include Pharisees, another of his new laws for priestly matters.
The tradition that the first version of the Jewish calendar was published in 358 AD is based solely on the testimony of one man, Hai Gaon, in the 11th century AD. The earliest date at which the existence and official use of a calculated calendar can be established by two or more witnesses is sometime after 500 AD, after the close of the Talmud.
In 358 AD, there was no Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the Temple having been destroyed 288 years earlier, in 70 AD. In fact there was no Sanhedrin anywhere, as it was also abolished by Roman rulers in 70 AD and replaced (in principle, by the Jews) by the Beth Din (Court of Judgment). Although regarded in the Talmud as continuous with the Sanhedrin, it was composed only of scribes. In the absence of the temple priesthood, the rabbis transferred all moral and religious authority to this previously "civil" court composed only of scribes.The "tradition" is that Hillel II published the calculated calendar based upon his authority as a "nasi", the head of a "Sanhedrin", in 358-59 AD.
The facts are that the "Sanhedrin" was abolished in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed
The last date given for a Beth Din in Tiberias is 193-220 AD.
("Sanhedrin", The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England, Tyndale's, USA,1980, Vol. 3, pp.1390-1391.)Tiberias was ceremonially off-limits to orthodox Jews.
"Tiberias. City built by Herod Antipas in AD 18 on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee and named in honor of the Emperor Tiberius. Built on a graveyard, it was considered unclean by Jewish law, and Orthodox Jews, including Christ, did not set foot in Tiberias."
(Almanac of the Bible, Wigoder, Paul, and Viviano, Jerusalem Publishing House Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel, 1991, p. 94.)There was a Jewish community in Tiberias, but it would not have been "orthodox" according to the information above.
"After the crushing of the revolt of the Jews against the emperor Gallus and his commander Ursicinus in 351-52 C.E., which resulted in the destruction of many Jewish communities (Sepphoris, Tiberias, Lydda), new decrees were issued against the internal authority of the communities and against the observance of Judaism."
("Hillel II, 330-365, ,The Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem, Keter Pub. House Ltd. Jerusalem, Israel, 1971, p. 486.)
Whether it was orthodox or not, according to Jewish history, it was destroyed in 352 AD by the Romans, six years before Hillel II is said to have published the calendar from there.So the Jewish tradition states that the calculated Jewish calendar was never proclaimed from the Temple, nor even from Jerusalem, but from a city outside the land of Judah. It was not proclaimed by a Sanhedrin of Levitical priests but by a "nasi", the head of a scribal court. Based on the dates given for the Beth Din, Hillel II may have even been acting alone, without a court. If he was in Tiberias, it appears that he would have been ceremonially "unclean".
Of course, this tradition about Hillel II and the calendar is based solely on a statement of Hai Gaon who lived 700 years later. Little wonder that this "tradition, which stands quite alone, is confronted with grave objections."
("Calendar, Jewish", Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Edit. Hastings,1928, Vol. 3, p.118.)The Pharisees Beginning sometime after Moses, individuals who could read and write were assigned to make copies of the books of Moses and later, the books of Samuel, David, Solomon and still later, those of the prophets. These copyists were called scribes. They were educated in the law and in languages by the nature of their work. Sometimes they were priests, but not always. While the original copies of Moses' books were inside the ark of the covenant , copies were needed for review and teaching by the Levites scattered throughout Israel. As the Israelites scattered throughout the world by captivities and migrations, more copies were needed. Under Ezra, a system of public education was instituted to teach the law primarily, but also associated skills such as reading and writing. At younger ages, the girls were also instructed. This is considered to be the origin of our modern practice of free and mandatory public education.
During the Jewish captivity in Babylon, the synagogue was conceived and developed. As a place for public reading of the law, teaching and discussion, prayers and fellowship, it accomplished what the Temple priests and the scattered Levites failed to do. It was a means, outside of the family unit, by which the cohesiveness of the nation was maintained. When the Jews returned to Jerusalem, they brought the concept back with them. According to Jewish accounts, there were 394 synagogues in Jerusalem when Titus destroyed the city in 70 AD. ("Synagogue", The Illust. Bible Dict., Tyndale, Vol. 3, pp. 1499-1503.)Worshippers still made sacrifices at the temple, but they read the Torah, discussed the scripture, prayed and fellowshipped at the synagogues. Unlike the periodic, annual proclamations to huge crowds at the Temple, the conveniently local synagogue allowed interactive questions and discussion. The scribes increased in popularity as the temple priests seemed to become more distant. Being closer to the people, the scribes tried to relate the law to the daily lives of the people, whereas the temple priests concentrated solely on the temple ceremonies.
According to the Pharisees' own history of themselves, when the priesthood became reprobate, the scribes who were faithful to the law, were the ones fighting for purity in religion. Among several attempted explanations for the origin of the word Pharisee, one is that it relates to this struggle to keep the religion pure. According to the Pharisees, this is how they came to be in opposition to the priesthood, known politically and philosophically as the Sadducees.While God's laws cover every aspect of human life in general, they do not give specific instructions for every case, exception and extenuating circumstance of human activities. The rabbis' judgments about what was legal in specific cases were accepted as oral tradition but could not be added to the written law because of the prohibition of Deu. 4:2; and 12:32.
Soon this body of traditions became too cumbersome to commit to memory and scribes made secret notes. After this body of oral law and its once-forbidden, now-public notes had been in existence for several hundred years, attempts were made to edit out the contradictions and the more outrageous judgments. This editing and revision began in the 2nd cent. AD, and was finished about 500 AD. The finished product which includes the Mishna and the Gemara is called the Talmud. Even after all the editing, a main characteristic of this body of previously oral traditions, is its contradictions. According to Jewish scholars, it is meaningless to say "the Talmud says", because for any statement of the interpretation of God's laws, taken from the Talmud, another can be found within the Talmud to contradict it, often in the same section.
So what started out as an interpretative guide to properly applying God's laws ended up being, as Christ called it, a system of legal burdens on believers (Mat. 23:4; Lk. 11:37-46). And those scribes who developed it, who began with righteous motives of teaching the law, and who reportedly tried to maintain its purity, ended up becoming a political party competing with the Sadducees for control of the civil government under the king.
Josephus numbers the Pharisees as "above 6,000" which means that they were actually a minority compared to the Sadducees and other groups. Their power came as a result of their popularity with the general public.
Space does not allow us to begin to discuss all the political maneuvering, the plots and schemes, or the armed conflicts that transpired during the struggles for power and influence between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Jews who were there (Pharisees) have documented their history and it is available in many Jewish histories today. (One such history, compiled by Salo Baron in 1952 comprises 18 volumes.) These conflicts should not be considered to be anything like the rebellions against Moses and God, but are more similar to the internal political and military conflicts in later English and French history for the control of those countries.
When Christ said that "the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat" (Mat. 23:2), he was acknowledging the political reality of the time, not divine approval or design. In the last days of Hyrcanus' reign, and during all of Janneus' reign, he would have had to acknowledge that the Sadducees sit in Moses' seat. According to the authors of the four gospels, it was publicly accepted that the scribes had no spiritual authority (compare Mat. 7:29, Mk. 1:22, Lk. 4:32, Jn. 7:46). There were times when neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees had unopposed control of the civil government. Their political and philosophical differences sometimes escalated into armed conflicts. (A Social and Religious History of the Jews, Salo W. Baron, Vols. I, II, Columbia U. Press, 1952.).
Even the throne itself was vacant from 160 to 153 BC.
The Pharisees, a non-priest, non-Levite class had gained both popular and royal support and had assumed the priest's assigned role of teachers of the law in Palestine. Being aligned with the throne, they had influence over the civil government, even under the hated puppet-kings installed by foreign oppressors.
Meanwhile, the Babylonian Jews were ready, capable and more than eager to assume control over world Jewry. As the situation in Jerusalem deteriorated, it was only logical and reasonable to the Jews in Babylon, that they assume that control. The only obstacle was the "traditional" authority of the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Sanhedrin and the position of High Priest was abolished. The rabbis looked to the remaining civil courts, the Beth Din, as a temporary substitute, and the "nasi" as a temporary replacement for the High Priest. The "authority to proclaim the annual feast days was transferred to the Beth Din out of desperation. [Sometime later, Jewish writers began to refer to the Beth Din as a "sanhedrin" and the distinctions blurred, as with the authority of the "nasi" and the High Priest.]
As long as they were still in "greater" Palestine, and had control over world Jewry, this substitute "sanhedrin" and it's head, the "nasi", continued to have some power and influence and continued to receive the half-shekel temple tax from Jews all over the world. This amounted to huge sums of money, and between that and the hope of a restoration of Jewish control, there was no incentive to voluntarily abandon it. Soon, however, the Beth Din was also outlawed by the Romans, and any calculation of feast days was proclaimed to be punishable by death.From the time of the Maccabees (beginning 196 BC) elements of the Jewish population had caused problems for the foreign governments who had control over them. The resistance ranged from roving gangs of bandits, to riots, to armed rebellions. As resistance and rebellion increased, the oppression increased and the freedoms were curtailed. The Roman rulers worried about the High Priest's system of sending messages interstate and across international borders. By the time it became obvious that Rome was going to stop this practice, effectively stopping the announcement of feast days by Jewish officials, the rabbis apparently had enough confidence in the calculated calendar to proclaim it as the acceptable but temporary method of observing the feast days. But this proclamation, made in desperation, was intended only until such time as the Sanhedrin could be re-convened to return to the former method of observation. By declaring the calculated calendar as the official calendar, the Palestinian rabbis prevented the Babylonian Jews from assuming control over the proclamation of the feast days. Even if Hai Gaon's "tradition" about Hillel II was incorrect, it still had the effect of legitimatizing the calculated calendar. In a way this prevented the rabbis in Babylon from assuming "official" control over world Jewry and Judaism, although in practical fact, they achieved it anyway.
So, in the end, the acceptance of the calculated calendar was a matter of desperation, politics, power and money. While Jewish historians do not make a big issue out of this subject, the details are documented in their writings. These include works as common as the Jewish Encyclopedia and as extensive as Baron's 18 volume social and religious history of the Jews plus additional works named in the other articles in this series.
The King's PartyFrom the reign of King Saul there was a group of people who surrounded the king to serve and support him. This assortment of assistants, staff members, aides, advisors, counselors, attaches, personal guards, servants, cooks, housekeepers, gardeners, craftsmen, relatives, personal spies, representatives, ambassadors, lawyers, judges, interpreters, physicians, military commanders, court entertainers, musicians, friends, concubines, sycophants, and hangers-on, together with their families, amounted to a great many people.
The king's actual power was in God's support if he were righteous, or in popularity, or control of a standing army otherwise. After 585 BC, except for a brief period of independence under the Maccabees (a family dynasty), the nation of Judah was continually under the control of outside governments. Jewish kings were selected and supported and therefore largely or totally controlled by foreign governments. In exchange, they were expected to keep the peace and to collect taxes and tributes for their foreign bosses. Some of them were very enthusiastic about pleasing the foreigners, while caring nothing about the needs or problems of the Jews and so all the people and the other Jewish political parties hated them accordingly.
Nevertheless, to maintain any control over internal affairs, chief of which was the Temple and its income, it was necessary for political parties to negotiate some kind of deal with the king. Under Hyrcanus, the Pharisees were in control until they managed to offend the king, who kicked them out and installed the Sadducees. The next king, Janneus, worked with the Sadducees until on his death bed, he counseled his wife, Queen Alexandra, that to maintain herself on the throne after his death, she should give control of the government to the Pharisees who had more popular support among the general population. From this time forward, the Pharisees held control and thus, were in "Moses' seat" at the time of Christ. So their influence (since they had no divine authority), even their very existence as a political party, was due to the weakness of the throne and the competition for control of the government, and not due to a divinely ordained succession of power from Moses.The Zealots The Zealots felt that the solution to all Judah's problems would be solved by force and faith. Of course their faith was in their own use of force, not in God. They understood the prophecies to say that Judah would be involved in an armed struggle against oppressors and that, according to prophecy, just before their total defeat and annihilation, the promised son of David would appear and lead them to victory and back to the physical greatness of the kingdom under Solomon. Hence their heroic stand at the Temple and later at Masada. They felt very strongly about driving out the foreigners and making Judah racially pure . This was based on God's original command to drive out all the Canaanites from Palestine (Deu. 7:1-26).
The Zealots were fragmented into subgroups and often opposed one another, just as their counterparts do today. Even at the final Roman siege of the Temple, the defenders were divided into three groups who not only wouldn't cooperate among themselves in the defense, but attacked one another, helping the Romans to an earlier victory. (Wars of the Jews, Josephus, Book 5, Sect. 1-5).
No numbers are given, probably because their popularity waxed and waned with the both the internal and external political climate. The worse things became politically and economically, the more followers they could attract and it was not unusual for them to field thousands of troops for rebellions.The Essenes Another group should be mentioned. The Essenes were non-violent and non-political. They rejected most of Jewish society and tried to live peacefully in their separate communities. Their teachings were so similar to Christ's that some have thought that Christ arose from among them. In reality, it appears that many of those who came to follow Christ were former Essenes.
Josephus numbers the practitioners and initiates at 4,000 but including those who more or less followed the Essene philosophy, there were many thousands more.More Divisions and Conflicts So in addition to the language and ethnic differences, we see extreme philosophical and political differences among the Jews, to the point of civil riots and armed conflicts among themselves. But there is yet more to the picture. There was a struggle for intellectual and academic prominence not only between the Jerusalem colleges of Hillel and Shammai, but against the colleges in Babylon.
The Jewish histories reveal a strong rivalry between the Jewish academic communities in Jerusalem and Babylon. Both had schools of higher learning, but Babylon had a much larger Jewish population which enjoyed a great economic advantage over the of Palestine. The best and brightest students in Palestine frequently abandoned Jerusalem for the schools in Babylon. Babylon was in the lush fertile crescent where farming, ranching and life in general was far easier than in Palestine's arid and war-scarred land with its oppression and heavy taxation. The only advantages that Jerusalem had was the prestige of the Temple and the "traditional" authority of the High Priest.
When the Pharisees arose from the scribal class as a political power, they gained public support by "interpreting" the laws to make life easier for the common man and especially for women. Under Queen Alexandra, they received the support of the throne, and eventually, control of the civil government. The Sadducees, or priestly political party, eventually had no choice but to yield to the Pharisees in most matters.
The effects of the brain drain to Babylon is still reflected today in that when a Jew refers to the Talmud , he is almost always referring to the Babylonian Talmud (BT), not the Jerusalem Talmud (JT) which is incomplete and considered inferior. The JT is accepted only when it agrees with the BT, or when it comments where the BT is silent.
Limited Jewish Acceptance Today we have "Christian" Sabbath-keeping ministries defending their use of their modified versions of the Jewish calendar with arguments of desperation, saying, "If this ain't it we don't know what is.".
Since the history of the Jewish calendar is so easily researched, why do the Jews still accept it? Not all of them do. There has never been a time when all of the Jews accepted it. Even in the time of Christ, more than one calendar was in use, which helps us to understand answers to some of the Passover disputes, but we'll address that in another article.
Those who do accept it, do so because they accept the authority of the Sanhedrin, or because of "tradition", which according to Jewish historians is the only basis for it. Frank Nelte in his paper on the subject quotes Shlomo Sternberg's Studies in Hebrew Astronomy and Mathematics."The second Hillel and his court enacted the fixed calendar which is still enforced today [sic]. The only problem of a legal nature which we have in regard to this calendar, is a theoretical one, namely, on what basis was the enactment of this calendar valid? It is a generally accepted legal principle that the central court, being representative of the people, had the right to determine the years, months, and therefore the festivals. The question is whether the court is empowered to determine the months and the years far into the future or not. According to the opinion of Maimonides, the legal basis of the court's power is not so much judicial or legislative as it is that the court acts as the instrument representing the community as a whole. As such, it is not empowered to enact calendrical decisions into the future. Our current calendar is based legally on the fact that all Jewish residents of Israel, in fact, follow this calendar in practice. pp.XXV-XXVI."
Assuming this is an accurate quote, it shows that the Jewish calendar is not a matter of law but of simple Jewish cultural tradition . It seems to say that the Sanhedrin's power is only democratic ("representative of the people") and that its decisions are based on popular opinion. [This contrasts noticeably from the various church of God ministers who insist that the church must determine which calendar is observed and not the individual nor the majority of the congregation.]
We are reminded of Christ's comment that, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat." (Mat. 23:2). He never said they had a divine commission or authority to sit there. Compare this with Mat. 7:28-29, "He (Christ) taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.". It appears that the general public in Christ's time understood the difference between political power and divine authority.
The Jewish "Calendar"
IS NOT
"The Sacred Calendar of the churches of God"
Since the Jews have openly preserved the history and the continuing inaccuracy of their own calendar, why have groups like the (pre-1984) Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and its many offshoots still accepted it? Not all of them do. There are many calendars being used today. Most are a partial or modified form of the Jewish calendar. Some use a combination of observation and calculation, while a few use only observation. Among all these groups, most use astronomical data to some extent.
Those who rely on observation often refer to such data to help them keep track of the spring and fall equinox and the monthly lunar conjunction but their only calculations are to count forward and they do not see any scriptural basis for postponements .The WCG and its largest offshoots defend their use of the Jewish calendar while at the same time rejecting the Jewish schedule for two of the three Holy Day seasons. The Jews kill their lambs in the daylight portion of the 14th. After sunset on the 14th (beginning of the 15th) they observe Passover with a large meal and they celebrate Israel's coming out of Egypt "by night", ('after midnight' or in the morning) on the same night.
WCG and its offshoots observe Passover on the previous night, (sunset on the 13th, beginning the 14th) with unleavened bread, but then eat leavened bread on the daylight portion of the 14th, and begin at sunset on the 15th (beginning of the 15th) to eat unleavened bread for seven days. They celebrate Israel's coming out of Egypt by having a large meal and festive fellowship after sunset on the 14th (the beginning the 15th day of the month).
[Ed. notes: As of 1999, the administration of WCG has reportedly completed its transition to a mainstream Protestant organization and no longer teaches the observance of any of God's Sabbaths or Holy Days.]The Jews count fifty days from the day after the Sabbath of Passover (14/15th of Abib) to Sivan 6, to determine Pentecost, or the feast of weeks . The Jews always arrive at Sivan 6 because they use preset lengths of months for months 1 through 7 regardless of the actual astronomical length or the visually-observed lengths of those months. WCG originally observed the same day but soon changed to counting exclusively from the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath within the seven days of unleavened bread to arrive at a Monday as Pentecost. In later years, WCG changed this to counting inclusively from the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath within the seven days of unleavened bread to arrive at a Sunday as Pentecost.
In addition, the Jews have a tradition based partly on scripture, of observing two consecutive days for each high feast day with the exception of Atonement (a fast day). They also observe many other feast days including Purim which is mentioned in the book of Esther, and the first day of every month, or "new moons" as they are called in scripture. WCG and it's largest offshoots have never observed any of these additional feasts preserved by the Jews.Selective Imitation , Not Inspiration How do these groups justify their selective imitation of the Jews? By the use of two mutually contradictory arguments.
Argument No. 1:
That the Jews have faithfully preserved the oracles given to Moses, which (the former) WCG and its main offshoots define as "information not written down", in other words, "oral traditions". Hence, these groups use the Jewish calculations, up to a point, including the postponements which are solely to prevent God's feasts from conflicting with the Jewish "traditions" of Friday and pre-Atonement preparation rituals.
One church of God minister puts it this way, "The same people who preserved the scriptures preserved the calendar and the oracles." (Jim Franks, ("Questions and Answers on the Hebrew Calendar", In Transition, April 22, 1996, p.13.)(Note: The Jews observe many of their feasts or Sabbaths, back-to-back. This is only a hint of the many contradictions contained within the Jewish traditions . [See also, "What Are The Oracles".] Also, the Jews' oral traditions which became written down as the Talmud, don't mention postponements or a nineteen-year intercalary period, the basic elements of the Jewish calendar.)
Argument No. 2:
That the Jews have not faithfully preserved the oracles given to Moses. Hence, (the former) WCG and its main offshoots have rejected the Jews' schedule of Passover/Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost, and nearly all other Jewish traditions . Here they will refer to Christ's condemnation of the Jews' traditions which is selectively not applied to argument 1, above.
Jim Franks, a minister in UCG, AIA, wrote, "With the Israelites having lost so much knowledge (even about the Sabbath) while in Egypt, it is rather odd to think that they would have maintained the proper calendar."
("Questions and Answers on the Hebrew Calendar", In Transition, April 22, 1996, p.12.)
If the contradiction between arguments 1 and 2 above seems strange, then consider that a Sunday Pentecost also produces a back-to-back Sabbath, a contradiction of the proposed justification for accepting the Jewish postponements in the first place. So it appears that these groups are not only borrowing human traditions but also their inherent contradictions .
While WCG leaders proclaimed their modified use of the Jewish calendar as "God's Sacred Calendar", the Jews never were so presumptuous, and the later offshoots of WCG dropped the word sacred from their references to the calendar.
3. Without the claim to sacredness, their remaining appeal to authority is based on Mat. 23:2-3, . . "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not."
There are several factors to keep in mind here:A. According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the scribes had no authority. "For he (Christ) taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Mat. 7:29, (also Mk. 1:22, Lk. 4:32, Jn. 7:46).
B. Moses, at God's direction, delivered God's words to Israel, but he never presumed to change laws or the observance of God's feast days, based upon his own authority. The first and only time that Moses assumed the authority of God, God punished him (Num. 20:7-13; 27:12-14; 32:48-52).
C. God commanded Moses to turn his office over to Joshua, who, fulfilling his commission to lead Israel into Palestine and to divide up the land among the tribes, had no successor (Judges, chs. 1 and 2). Later, Judges were raised up by God to deliver Israel, but they were intermittent, and were sometimes only over a local part of Israel. Eventually, Israel rejected Samuel who was both prophet and judge, and they demanded a king. So, God gave them kings.
If you consider Moses as a civil ruler, then his successors in the time of Christ were the Roman-appointed, Hellenistic kings, who were neither Pharisees, scribes nor priests. They and their supporters were called the Herodians.
D. Moses, in following God's commands, instructed Aaron in consecrating himself and his sons as the Levitical priesthood. The priests had charge of the temple, the sacrifices and the teaching of the law. Aaron's successors were to be direct descendants of himself, not Moses. At the time of Christ, the priests were mostly Sadducees. This term applies to their philosophical and political beliefs. Even in the time of Paul, their differences with the Pharisees were enough to start a riot (Acts 23:6-10).
E. The Pharisees arose from the scribes (copyists of the law) and came to gain popular support by interpreting the law (in the synagogues) to make daily life easier for the common man and woman. The term Pharisee applies to their philosophical and political beliefs. They were successors to the scribes, "copyists", who had no divinely-given power or authority.F. The Essenes were a non-violent and non-political group.
G. The Zealots were a militant group, most often responsible for the civil strife and rebellions against Rome. They share much in common with some freemen/separatist groups in the United States, today.
Except for the peaceful Essenes, these groups opposed each other, often to the point of armed violence and sometimes even killing each other. Their mutual opposition was not unjustified.
The office of the High Priest could be bought, and often was, from the Roman administrators. The highest priests even stole the offerings from the non-priestly Levites and from low-ranking rural priests. The highest priests became the wealthy class of Palestine, and looked down on others as riff-raff .The king was a puppet of Rome and profited by pleasing Rome not the Jews, nearly all of whom hated him.
The Zealots included gangs of roving bandits, who preyed mostly on non-Jewish merchants and travelers.
The Pharisees were not above bribery and political maneuvering to maintain their influence in the civil government of Palestine (as seen in their actions involving Christ). They even negotiated with the Romans against their own people when it suited their purposes. While they came to popular power because of the support of the common people, the best educated came to feel so superior to the commoners that they refused to eat with or be seen with publicans, sinners, prostitutes and others (e.g. as they condemned Christ).
Because of the Pharisees' increasing political clout, the Sadducees increasingly yielded to their wishes (as seen in the events of Christ's trial and death). The Pharisees numbered at the most, about 6,000 (according to Josephus), but gained political control over all of Judea.
This includes Jerusalem and roughly the same land given to the tribe of Judah at the time of Joshua. It does not include the northern half of Palestine, which was divided into Samaria, Galilee and other districts.
Although Herod ruled (by Rome's authority) over parts of Palestine outside the "district" of Judea, the Pharisees had no jurisdiction outside of Judea proper. Hence, Christ could move about and teach freely in Samaria and Galilee and often escaped out of Jerusalem to those areas whenever the situation got "too hot" for him in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was only a few miles from the Samarian border.This is the Palestine that Christ knew and addressed. When he said that, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat", he was merely acknowledging that they had by their political maneuvering, by their popularity and by their support of the puppet kings, gained control of the Jewish civil government, and, through intimidation, they had gained influence over the priesthood.
Projected Authority?
Many ministers today, somehow project upon themselves the mantle of the Levitical priesthood although Christ and the apostles explained that priesthood has been replaced by one "High Priest in heaven". Others, perhaps realizing how the priests abandoned the Levitical responsibility of teaching, which was assumed by the scribes and Pharisees, project upon themselves the authority of Moses by the use of this comment about his "seat". Using this claim to authority, they maintain their right to accept the Jewish calendar, errors and all. Some also project authority upon themselves by using scriptures regarding the "church". In some organizations the church is legally defined as "a corporation sole", in other words, "the man at the top". In others, it's "the men at the top", and in some, it's the entire full-time, ordained ministry. In another, it's the entire membership, but authoritative decisions are still made only by the "ordained" ministry. In view of Jewish history, to claim even projected authority, based on the Pharisees being "in Moses' seat", is to claim authority on the basis of political scheming, intrigues, secret plots, negotiated political alliances with the hated puppet kings of Judah, armed riots and even murder of some of the Sadducean priests.
The subject of authority in the church is too large to address here. We will simply refer to one scripture, Mat. 20:25-26.By the 4th century AD, Pharisaism had succeeded to the point that Pharisaism and Judaism meant the same thing and that's still true today.
This brings us to a question. If Pharisaism/Judaism had the authority of Moses in the time of Christ, why doesn't it have that authority today? It does, but only for some Jewish groups.
If it has lost something since the dissolution of the Sanhedrin, will it recover that something when the Sanhedrin is reconvened? Will these non-Jewish, Sabbath-keeping churches then submit to the Sanhedrin and observe the current Jewish Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost? Or will they revise their understanding to somehow justify their current church of God tradition which is less than 60 years old.Desperation, Not Inspiration The offshoots of the WCG trace their use of the Jewish calendar back to (pre-1984) WCG, whose acceptance of the Jewish calendar was not one of inspired understanding but one of controlled desperation.
The UCG, AIA, in its "Doctrinal Statement Adopted by the Council of Elders", in 1996, quotes a letter written in 1940, from Herbert Armstrong to the membership of the Church of God (Seventh Day) in which he stated, "In conclusion, unless God has preserved His sacred calendar through the Jews, then we do not know how to figure Passover or any of the holy days this year."
The GCG quoted this same statement in its article, "Which Calendar Has God Authorized?", (Global Church News, Vol. 4, No. 4, July-August 1996, p.4.)Is this any way to determine God's truth, to determine true doctrine? "If this ain't it then we don't know what is?" ? Christ said the Holy Spirit would guide us into "all truth", not into "some truth with occasionally desperate speculations".
Finally, there's the appeal to "unity". Several church of God authors have insisted that it doesn't really matter which day we keep, as long as we keep it together . This is the same logic used to justify observing Sunday in lieu of the 7th day Sabbath, Saturday. One author, Gary Fakhoury, went so far as to attempt to prove that God's feast days aren't holy , like the weekly Sabbath, and therefore, the schedule doesn't matter. By this logic, we could all observe any of 365 days, but Fakhoury's purpose was to appeal for unity, so his argument was that, it doesn't matter which day God commanded as long as we pursue unity.
We cannot find any scripture that indicates that unity is more important than truth.Conclusions Why does God say I hate your feasts?
1. Obviously, most of man's "religious feasts" were never ordained by God and most of them have at least some remote connection with paganism or idolatry. The origins of these days are usually found in most encyclopedias. Celebrations are not wrong of themselves, but when men try to create holy days with which to honor or worship God, in effect adding to his law (Deu. 4:2, 12:32) then he says that he "hates" those days (Amos 5:21).2. God really isn't interested in the blood or burnt offerings of animals, grain or incense (Isa. 1:11). He wants spiritual sacrifices from us of a broken and contrite spirit (Psa. 34:18). Even King David understood this while the Levitical system was still in place (Psa. 40:6, 27:6, 51:16-17). The Jews kept the ceremonies but failed to understand the lesson they were designed to teach. Even the keeping of the right day, but with a wrong attitude, is hated by God (Isa. 1:14). The feast, or celebration, that God desires of us is not just a few days of somber attendance at an occasional "event" but a year-round 24/7 attitude that includes showing up on time for his scheduled "appointments".
3. God commanded the priests to ceremoniously purify themselves before approaching the altar. What he expects of us is to cleanse ourselves of sin, through repentance and obedience whenever we come before him. And we are always in his presence (Psa.139:7-13).
If we fail to come before him with the right sacrifice , he will not accept it, any more than he accepted Cain's sacrifice (Gen. 4:3-7).4. Showing up on the right day, the one appointed by God, was emphasized by the penalty of death for disobedience (Ex. 12:13, 31:15, Num.15:32-36, Lev.16:2, 23:27-30).
Death is the penalty for sin. Therefore the observance of the right day is a matter of not sinning. It is a matter of life or death. Part of the lesson of the Day of Atonement is that "which" day we observe does make a difference to God.5. Some non-Jewish ministers and organizations claim that the Jews preserved a calendar given to the Jews by God. Not all Jews accept the calculated calendar and even those who do accept it do not believe or claim that it was divinely proclaimed to Moses.
Some claim that the Jews had the authority to legislate the calendar, and that somehow, by extension, ministers have the authority to proclaim or to accept it. What the Jews say, is that they accept it, not because Hillel II may have issued it, but because of their "tradition" of using it. And we now see some ministers saying that the offshoots of the WCG should use it because WCG "always used it".
Some still call their modified and limited version of the Jewish calendar, "God's sacred calendar". The Jews never called any of their modified calendars, "sacred", otherwise they could not have added to or taken away from the methods and formulas they used to come up with a schedule. The Jews consider it a "temporary calendar", valid only until the next Sanhedrin can return to using observation.
Making up your own rules for the observance of God's laws is something God hates (Deu. 4:2, 12:32).More Than Lev. 23? Ministers who defend their partial use of the Jewish calendar say that "there is no (perpetual) calendar in the Bible". And that's true. They also admit that all of the elements are there. That's also true. That sounds like a contradiction unless you realize that God never commanded that a perpetual calendar be calculated or observed. He only commanded that we observe his schedule of feast days.
If this sounds like an over-simplification of the matter, then keep in mind Christ's statement. "Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mat. 18:3) Little children can easily count up to 15, but one must understand the rules of negative numbers and decimals in order to perform the math necessary to calculate the Jewish calendar. Also, the astronomical principles and the historical data for date adjustments are seldom discussed outside of a college-level classroom or a space observatory.The Jews have not only preserved the current version of their calculated calendar for 1,100 years, but have also preserved their history showing the development and the reluctant acceptance of that calendar. These are the same people who say that there is "a calendar in the Bible". The same people who preserved the Jewish calculated calendar are the first to admit that it is faulty, often as much as a month, and needs to be abandoned as soon as possible to return to "the calendar in the Bible".
Lev. 23 contains all one needs to know about the schedule of God's feast days except for two facts. How are we to recognize the first day of the month and the first month of the year? Corporate ministers say this is not given in scripture. Yet the Jews do see any problem here.
How to recognize the first day and the first month is explained in related articles, "Facts about the Jewish Calendar" and "The Calendar at a Glance".
Which are the days that God commands? That is explained in the next article, "These Are My Feasts".***
Footnotes:
1. "From the Zohar in the parsha of Emor", according to Rabbi Baruch Weiner. Rabbi Weiner lives in Israel and is part of an "advance Talmudic Institution" devoted to the study of the areas of the Talmud dealing with the study of the Temple and the Temple sacrifices. He may be contacted at allexperts.com under "Orthodox Judaism".
Next Calendar Index Copyright M.H. and G.H. 1996,1999. Updated and revised 2001, 2007. All rights reserved.