Re: PASSOVER not understood by Christians

Thanks for your reply Paul, but...

"Paul J Gans" <gans@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dpfbad$4b3$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> prd <X_header@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>In sci.archaeology message xDCuf.2890$If.871@trnddc05">news:xDCuf.2890$If.871@trnddc05 by
>>"Larry Wilson" <misha_linword@xxxxxxxxxxx> . . . :
>

> This is factually incorrect. The new day begins at sundown,
> not at midnight.
>
No. This is an extremely common and consistent belief based upon poor
observation. Thus of tehnical note, the actual "secular day" begins not at
sunset but at nightfall. The Jews light a candle to represent the beginning
of a new day per their tradition. Check it out. We also understand this
because they begin the count of the hours not at sundown, which is the 12th
hour but the following hour. Thus the daylight period immediately after
sundown is still considered part of that day.

Recall to mind the practice of the Jews to wait for three stars to come out
before considering it the "next day" or using a cloth with green and blue to
determine the next day when there was not sufficient light to distinguish
color. Or they wait until everything turns "silhouette" to know when the
next day begins.

Please stop...for a moment and actually think about this. The above
practices do not occur at sundown.

The concept of the day beginning at sundown is thus unique to a sabbath day.
The sabbath day is thus slightly longer than the regular night-to-night day
because it begins at sundown but still ends at night. You can confirm this
by simply logging onto a Jewish website that speaks of how the sabbath day
is celebrated and when specifically that day ends and they light a candle to
officially end the sabbath day. This does not occur at sundown.

Thus the sabbath day begins with a common meal and ends with a common meal
and is a day + one meal long. It is counted from sundown-to-nightfall.

Of course, obviously, if the sabbath day is a little longer, then the day of
"preparation" is correspondingly shorther. It is timed from
nightfall-to-sunset.

Which means, with all due respect, the very deeply hot-wired idea
everywhere, even among some Jews that the days begin and end at sunset is
simply not specifically accurate and it does not correct the above. This is
the casual, traditional reference but it is not the specific reference
either in the Bible or in practice.

> I'd also note that Passover is a multiday holiday. Preparation
> is needed on all days.
>
"Preparation" is a specific day in the Bible and in Jewish tradition for the
day preceeding a sabbath. It would thus be a specific reference to those
days only and not a general reference to details involved with any of the
other days.

THE CALENDAR DATE: Even so, the actual calendar date is another story.
That's another concept of the "day" and that was counted by the Jews from
midnight-to-midnight. This caused some confusion sometimes in referencing
a certain "date" for an event because the first six hours of the day
belonged to one calendar date different from the remaining 18 hours. Thus
when referencing "sabbath" days, the Bible becomes more specific and notes
that the day begins the previous day "in the evening." Reference Leviticus
23 where a reference is made to the day of Atonement which has a celebration
on the 10th of the7th month. But since the sabbath day began at sunset the
Bible says to "afflict your souls on the *ninth* of the month in the
evening." (Lev. 23:32).

But likewise, Passover which is eaten the same night the Jews left Egypt,
which was the 15th of the month, must begin on Nisan 14th "in the evening."
This quite clear when referring to the seven days of unfermented cakes since
the first day, indeed begins not on Nisan 15th but Nisan 14th in the
evening: (Ex. 12:18) "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the
month, in the evening you are to eat unfermented cakes down til the
twenty-first day of the month in the evening." In other wors the follow
seven "secular days" over a period of parts of eight calendar days.

Day 1 Nisan 14/15
Day 2 Nisan 15/16
Day 3 Nisan 16/17
Day 4 Nisan 17/18
Day 5 Nisan 18/19
Day 6 Nisan 19/20
Day 7 Nisan 20/21st

Finally, we have a another specific reference that a new day was considered
to begin at midnight because the Jews were commanded not to leave out of
their homes "until morning" and also not to leave any of the passover meal
over into "morning." However, we know the Jews left that night shortly
after midnight. Did they disobey this command? No. The importance of
remaining inside was to be protected from the angel of death which appeared
at midnight to kill the firstborn. After the angel had come and gone, of
course, it was now safe to leave their homes.

As well, the significance of the passover meal was tied into this as well
and lost it's significance after the angel of death passed over. Thus the
command to end the meal specificall at "morning." Only the time reference
here is at midnight. Since "morning" is the reference to a new day, it is
clear that the Jews considered midnight one concept of "morning" and a new
day, and that was the calendar date, even though their sabbath and secular
days were counted from nightfall or sunset. The command not to leave
their homes and to end the passover meal before morning was a reference to
midnight.

As well, the Egyptians began their days at midnight as well, which the Jews
were accustomed to and since it is is a reasonably advanced concept, they
maintained it as we have today.

As a historical reference to this, you can refer to Jewish tradition for
celebrating passover and the Seder meal and see how precisely it is laid
out. You will note that the meal must end at midnight. It is not carried
on until sunrise the next day.

Based upon the above, if Jesus sent his disciples out the day the lambs were
traditionally sacrificed, meaning Nisan 14th, then Jesus ate the traditional
passover with his disciples. This has nothing to do with Jews over the
world who might celebrate passover twice because of being displaced from
Jerusalem. This is the specific time Jesus ate the traditional annual
passover. In that case, he was arrested on Nisan 15th, a Saturday, in 33
CE, a sabbath day. The Bible says Jesus died a day before a "high sabbath"
which is a reference to a special kind of sabbath, not the usual Saturday.
This fits the "high sabbath" of the 7th day of unfermented cakes, Nisan
21st. This was on a Friday followed by the regular Sabbath on Saturday.
The two sabbath days in a row allow for Jesus to die one day before a
sabbath and raise up one day after the sabbath on the first day of the week
and still be in the grave for "three nights" (Thursday, Friday, Saturday
nights). This is not possible under any circumstances if Jesus died on
Friday Nisan 14th (Friday, Saturday nights, just two) and especially on the
day he was arrested, Saturday the 15th, since he would have been raised up
the very next night.)

> --- Paul J. Gans

Thanks, again, for your comments, but at this level we must get past the
traditional believes and presumptions and get to the critical details
involved to get a better understanding. It is often due to casually
repeated generalities that false presumptions in other areas occur as in
this case.



.

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