PENTECOST --
The Final Analysis
The correct counting of
Pentecost remains a volatile issue in the minds
of
some who insist that when all is said and done, Pentecost must be
counted
from the weekly Sabbath, not the 16th of Nisan, as the Jews have
done
for millennia. They insist that the word translated "Sabbath" in
Levi-
ticus
claim,
is "fatal" to any argument that we should count from Nisan 16.
What is the truth? Can we determine this matter, once and for
all? Are
YOU willing
to look into this subject, personally, and OBEY GOD?
William F. Dankenbring
The
single verse of Leviticus 23:16 has been used by proponents of the
Sadduccean Pentecost counting
method to justify their "Sunday" or even a "Monday"
Pentecost. This, they claim, is their
"conclusive proof' that Pentecost should not be counted from the day after
the fixed first annual holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
According
to these people, the Hebrew word shabbat means
exclusively the seventh day of rest -- and can never mean
"week." For example, if you
look up the word "Sabbath" in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, you
will find that in the overwhelming number of cases it refers to the weekly
Sabbath. On a few occasions it refers to
a high holy day or annual Sabbath. In a few cases, it refers to the sabbath-year
of rest, every seven years.
Now,
some Bible translations translate it as "week" or "weeks"
in Leviticus 23:15-16, but others do not.
Merely quoting Bible translations, in this case, does not prove one way
or the other how the word ought to be translated. According to critics, those who translate the
word as "week" or "weeks" are simply wrong!
Were
the Pharisees Wrong?
The
Pharisees, whom Jesus Christ described as the guardians of the law of God
(Matt. 23:23), understood the "Sabbath" of Leviticus 23:11 to
refer to the first day of Passover or the first day of Unleavened Bread, the
15th of Nisan, which was a high Sabbath day of rest (Ency. Judaica, vol.
14, pp. 13-19).
The
apostle PauL who was also a Pharisee before his conversion, still acknowledged
that he was a "Pharisee" years after his conversion. He cried out to a council of religious
leaders, approximately 60 A-D., 26 years after his conversion in 34 A-D.,
"I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6). Paul also said that as a Pharisee he was,
"as touching the law, a Pharisee," and that as "touching the
righteousness which is in the law, BLAMELESS " (Phil 3:5-6).
Does
this sound as if the Pharisees were wrong in the way they counted Pentecost?
If
the Pharisees were wrong in the way they counted Pentecost, since they counted
from the first day after the annual Sabbath, as Josephus, the famous Jewish
historian of the first century shows beyond any doubt, then Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, our Savior, would not have said to His disciples, "The scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe, and DO. .
." (Matt 23:2-3).
Consider
for a moment. The Pharisees very plainly
said that people should count the days till Pentecost beginning with the day
after the 15th of Nisan -- beginning with the 16th of Nisan. Jesus said that His followers should DO
whatever the Pharisees bid them observe, concerning the law of God. Therefore, He was telling them very plainly
that they, too, should count Pentecost from the 16th of Nisan!
According
to some modern churches, therefore, Jesus either made a mistake, or He
contradicted Himself! Because they teach
that Pentecost must be counted from the day after the WEEKLY SABBATH, not the
day after the HIGH HOLY DAY that begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Who
is right? These
"self-appointed experts"?
Or Jesus Christ, and the Pharisees, whose teaching in this regard He
endorsed and supported?
These
things are not mere "academic" issues of nothing but intellectual
importance. These things involve
OBEDIENCE TO THE LAWS OF GOD! We are
either RIGHT, or we are WRONG! There is
no "middle ground" on this issue.
There is no room for compromise!
Though
there are some who accuse me of being a "false prophet" because of my
strong teachings concerning the laws of God, particularly the presentation I
make concerning Passover and Pentecost, the facts are plain enough if we are
willing to look at them with an objective, unbiased approach. Why do some
insist, stubbornly, on "getting around" these plain,
"Thus-saith-the-Lord" Scriptures?
I must shake my head with amazement, and sadness, and even a degree of
anger when I see the stubborn, stiff-necked, self-righteous refusal on the part
of some to sincerely look into and investigate this question with an open mind
and honest heart!
The
Hebrew Word "Shabbat"
Obviously,
Jesus would not tell us in one place that the scribes and Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat, and that we should DO what they tell us to observe, and then turn
around and contradict Himself somewhere else! Our Messiah was, and is, PERFECT! He did not he, or make mistakes.
He was a perfect "sin offering" for us, without blemish,
without spot, without sin! (Heb. 5:9,
What,
then, about the word "Sabbath" which some make such a huge point
over? Can we prove that it also means
"week" or "weeks"?
What is the truth? The fact that
in the vast majority of cases, a word is used one way,
does not mean that it cannot sometimes have another meaning. A scientist studying "bats," small
nocturnal flying mammals, would most often be thinking of them when using the
word. However, a baseball player in the
major leagues, upon hearing the word "bat," would almost always think
immediately of a baseball bat, a slender, carved piece of wood with a handle,
smoothly sanded and polished, which he uses to hit the ball. One word -- two totally different meanings!
Now,
as I have shown in other places, one way we can come to understand the Biblical
usage of word is by studying related passages of Scripture, where the same subject is being
discussed Let us do this, for a moment, concerning the word "SABBATH"
as used in Leviticus 23:11, and 15-16.
First, notice what Moses was inspired
to write in Leviticus, word for word:
"And ye shall count unto you
from the morrow after the SABBATH, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of
the wave offering; SEVEN SABBATHS shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after
the SEVENTH SABBATH shall ye number fifty days. . ." (Lev. 23:15-16, KJV).
Now the Jewish Scriptures, called the
Tanakh, render these verses this way:
"And from the day on which you
bring the sheaf of elevation offering -- the day after the Sabbath you shall
count off seven WEEKS. They must be
complete: you must count until the day after the SEVENTH WEEK fifty days (The
Holy Scriptures, the New Jewish Publication Society Translation according to
the Traditional Hebrew Text).
Obviously, the King James Version
says one thing; the official Jewish Scriptures, based on the Massoretic or
Traditional Text of the Old Testament, says clearly "weeks" and
"WEEK" when the King James Version says "Sabbath" and
"Sabbaths.
If it were merely a matter of
opinion, we could chose whoever we wanted to believe,
I suppose. But human opinion has nothing
to do with it!
Many Bible scholars and translators
admit that "weeks" and "week" could be used in these verses
-- as well as "sabbath" and "sabbaths." Some few today however, claim that ONLY
"Sabbath" and "Sabbaths" can be used -- that
"weeks" and "week" are totally incorrect! Do such men have even a shred of evidence to
prove their contention, which flies in the face of all scholarship?
Years ago, when Herbert W. Armstrong
wrote a booklet entitled "Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days -- Which?", he admitted in that booklet:
"It is of very grave importance
that we figure the right day. This day,
and this day only, is made holy by the Eternal Creator. Suppose at the same time the
That is a good question! CHAOS would have been the result! Confusion!
Pentecost -- "Feast of WEEKS"
The parallel Scripture which tells us
HOW to count "Pentecost," is found in Deuteronomy 16:9. We read:
"SEVEN
WEEKS [gUcJ, SHAVUAH] shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the SEVEN
WEEKS from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the FEAST OF WEEKS. .
." (Deut. 16.9-10, KJV).
Says the Jewish Holy Scriptures, the Tanakh:
"You shall count off SEVEN
WEEKS; start to count the SEVEN WEEKS when the sickle is first put to the
standing grain. Then you shall observe
the FEAST OF WEEKS to the Lord you God" (same verses).
It
should be perfectly obvious to anyone, I believe, that these verses clearly
show that the "seven Sabbaths" referred to in Leviticus
Gesenius' Hebrew
Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, says of
the Hebrew word "SHABBAT" the following:
"Shabbat
-- 1) to rest, to keep as a day of rest . . . The primary idea appears to be
that of to sit down, to sit still . . . 2) to cease, to desist, to leave off. .
. 3) to celebrate a Sabbath. . .
"Shabbath,
const. state . . . 1) Sabbath, the seventh day of the week . . . 2) PERHAPS A WEEK,
LIKE THE SYRIAC AND GREEK (Matt. 28: 1) Lev.
This
same authoritative lexicon says of the word "shavua," in Deuteronomy
16:9:
"Shavua. Dan. 9:27, Gen. 29:27, should be rendered the
week of this woman) . . . a hebdomad, septenary number . . . 1) of days, a week, Gen. 29:27, 28. Daniel 10:2, 'through three weeks' . . . the
feast of (seven) weeks, Pentecost, so called from the seven weeks which were
counted from the Passover to this festival, Deut. 16:9 . . ." (p 800).
This
word always means weeks and never means "Sabbath." Therefore,
when this word, and the word "Sabbath," are used in precisely the
same way, in similar sentences, it is very obvious to all but the most blind
that "shabbat" in the Hebrew can also refer to a "week," or
"weeks." As Gesenius points out, in both the Syriac and Greek
languages, the word "Sabbath" can also be translated
"week."
For
example, in Matthew 28.1, we read, "In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the WEEK. . ." The Greek word for
"WEEK" here is SABBATON, THE VERY SAME WORD TRANSLATED
"SABBATH" in the first part of this very verse!
The
emphasis of Pentecost is on "weeks.
" It is called in the Scriptures, the "Feast of Weeks."
The emphasis is not on "Sabbath days," at all, but WEEKS! As God instructed the Hebrews, "Also in
the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the Lord,
AFTER YOUR WEEKS BE OUT, ye shall have an holy convocation . . ."
(Num. 28:26, KJV).
"On
the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain
during the FEAST OF WEEKS, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work"
(ibid, NIV).
In
this verse, the word "shabbat" must refer to "weeks," for
it does not make any sense for "Sabbaths" to "be out"! Weeks can be "out," that is,
"completed," but hardly could "sabbaths" be
"out." This is speaking of
weeks being fulfilled or completed.
Biblical
Usage of "Shabbat"
Since
this is a very controversial point to some few churches, let us draw on the
Scriptures themselves to prove that the word "SHABBAT" can refer to
other than the weekly Sabbath or an annual Sabbath!
Turn
to Leviticus 25. We read here of the
"Sabbath year" of rest for the land (verses 1-4). Notice what God says:
"But
in the seventh year shall be a SABBATH unto the land, a Sabbath for the
LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field,
nor prune thy vine" (Lev.25:4, KJV).
Now
notice verse 8: "And thou shalt
NUMBER SEVEN SABBATHS OF YEARS unto thee, seven times seven years; and the
space of the seven SABBATHS OF YEARS shall be unto thee forty and nine
years."
Here,
plainly, "sabbaths of years" must mean "WEEKS OF
YEARS"! There is no other way to
understand it! A "sabbath" of
years would simply be "seven years" -- or a complete "week of
years"!
In
this verse, the word "shabbat" obviously CANNOT refer to the Sabbath
day! It plainly refers to the number SEVEN,
or WEEK. "Seven SABBATHS
of years" means seven weeks of years, or seven sevens of years -- the
identical meaning that seven SHAVUA of years would have!!!
Thus
in Hebrew, just as in Syriac and in Greek, the word "shabbat" can
also refer to week or weeks -- there is simply no skirting, avoiding, or
getting around this fact!
How
plain! Yet some people are like those
depicted by Winston Churchill, who once said that some people walk along,
stumble across the truth, pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and continue
on as if nothing had happened to them!
How
true!
Other
people, when confronted with the truth of God, tend to get all confused in
their mind. When the truth does not
conform to what they have previously believed, or what they have assumed to be
true, they react with dismay, consternation, bewilderment. The error in their minds, like a pea-soup
fog, blocks their minds from seeing the crystal clarity of the new truth!
Others
have the attitude, "Don't confuse me with the facts." Still others say, "Leave me alone. I'm content
with what I've always believed. Don't
disturb my slumber."
I think of the minds of such people
as being like a cement mixer, churning up sand, rocks, cement, and water to
make concrete. Once the concrete is
poured out, and the sun bakes it for a while, and it dries, it becomes
permanently set. The minds of such
people are like that concrete -- all mixed up, and permanently set!
From the
Ambassador College Correspondence Course
It is very interesting to me that one
of the groups which insists that Pentecost must be counted
from the weekly Sabbath, as the Sadducees counted it, and who dismiss the
teaching of the Pharisees totally, is the Worldwide Church of God. Yet, in an old lesson of the Ambassador
College Correspondence Course, the authors admitted that the word
"Sabbaths" meant "weeks" and not Saturdays. Notice this remarkable admission:
"3.
How many days were the Levites to count?
Lev. 23:15-16.
"Comment: The phrase 'seven Sabbaths' does not mean to
count seven Saturdays, but 'SEVEN WEEKS,' as Hebrew scholars admit. The word 'Sabbath' here comes from an
original Hebrew word which can mean 'weeks' (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). The Greeks who translated the word into
'Pentecost' clearly understood that it meant weeks, and that they should
number, not seven Saturdays, but seven weeks and a day -- or fifty days! Now turn to Numbers 28:26. Here you will find the expression "After
your weeks be out." The Hebrew word here can mean only weeks, not
Sabbaths" (Lesson 35, original course).
Another
Authority Speaks Out
The
Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, by
M'Clintoch and Strong, volume VIII, published in 1877, says about Pentecost:
"Pentecost,
the second of the three great annual festivals on which all the males were
required to appear before the Lord in the national sanctuary, the other two
being the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles.
It fell in due course on the sixth day of Sivan, and its rites,
according to the law, were restricted to a single day . . . The time fixed for
the celebration of Pentecost is the fiftieth day reckoning from 'the morrow
after the Sabbath' of the Passover (Lev. 23:11, 15, 16). The precise meaning, however, of the word
[shabbat] in this connection, which determines the date for celebrating this
festival, has been a matter of dispute from time immemorial. The Boethusians and the Sadducees in the time
of the second temple (Mishna, Menachoth, x, 3), and the Karaites since the 8th
century of the Christian era, took [shabbat] in its literal and ordinary sense
as denoting 'the seventh day of the week,' or 'the Sabbath of creation,' and
maintained that the omer was offered on the day following that weekly Sabbath
which might happen to fall within the seven days of the Passover, so that
Pentecost would always be on the first day of the week. But against this it is urged
"(a)
That Joshua 5:1 1, where [the morrow after the Passover] is used for [the
morrow after the Sabbat] shows that [shabbat] in Lev. 23:11 DENOTES THE FIRST
DAY OF PASSOVER, which was to be a day of rest.
"(b)
The DEFINITE ARTICLE in [ha-shabbat, or 'the Sabbath'] in Lev. 23:11 REFERS TO
ONE OF THE PRECEDING FESTIVAL DAYS.
"(c)
The expression ['shabbat]is also used for the Day of Atonement (Lev.23:32), and
the abstract ['shabbat'] is applied to the first and eighth days of Tabernacles
(ver. 39) and the Feast of Trumpets (23:24), as well as to 'WEEK' (23:15;
25:8); hence this use of sabbaton in the N.T. (Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 18:12).
"(d)
According to Lev. 23:15 the seventh week, at the end of which Pentecost is to
be celebrated, is to be reckoned from the Sabbath. Now if this Sabbath were not fixed, but could
happen on any one of the seven Passover days, possibly the fifth or sixth day
of the festival, the Passover would in the course of time be DISPLACED FROM THE
FUNDAMENTAL POSITION which it occupies in the order of the annual festivals.
"(e)
The sabbatic idea which underlies all the festivals, and which is SCRUPULOUSLY
observed in all of them, shows that the reckoning could not have been left to
the fifth or sixth day of the festival, but must have FIXEDLY BEGUN ON THE 16TH
OF NISAN. Thus, each Sabbath comes after
SIX EVEN PERIODS:
"1.
The Sabbath of days, after six days
"2.
The Sabbath of months, after six months
"3.
The Sabbath of years, after six years
"4.
The Sabbath of sabbatic years, after six sabbatic years
"5.
The Sabbath of festivals = the Day of Atonement, after six festivals; hence the
SABBATH OF WEEKS, i.e., PENTECOST, must also be at the end of six common weeks
after Passover, which could be obtained ONLY by reckoning from the 16th OF
NISAN, as this ALONE yields six common weeks; for the first week during which
the counting goes on belongs to the Feast of Passover, and is NOT common.
"(f)
The Septuagint, Josephus, Philo, Onkelos, and the synagogue have understood it
in this way and acted upon it, and most Christian commentators espouse and
defend the traditional interpretation . . . It is therefore EVIDENT THAT THE JEWS,
WHO DURING THE SECOND TEMPLE KEPT PENTECOST FIFTY DAYS AFTER
THE 16TH OF NISAN, RIGHTLY INTERPRETED THE INJUNCTION CONTAINED IN
LEV.23:15-22" (Cyclopeifia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical
Literature, by M’Clintoch and Strong, vol.
VII, p.924-925).
The
Evidence from Joshua
The
reference cited above mentions the evidence from the book of Joshua that the
"morrow after the Sabbath" of Leviticus 23:11 must refer to the first
annual Sabbath of Passover. Let us look
at this verse in Joshua more closely.
Notice:
"On
the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the
plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the PASSOVER. The DAY AFTER THE
PASSOVER, THAT VERY DAY, THEY ATE SOME OF THE PRODUCE OF THE LAND: unleavened
bread and roasted grain" (Joshua S. 1-11).
Remember,
the Israelites were not permitted to eat of the grain of the harvest UNTIL the
"wave sheaf offering" had been presented on "the morrow after
the Sabbath" (Lev. 23:11). God
commanded, "You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, UNTIL THE
VERY DAY you bring this offering to your God" (Lev. 23:14).
Since
the Israelites ate that grain on the morrow AFTER THE PASSOVER and remember,
the Passover was slain on the 14th of Nisan, but EATEN on the 15th of Nisan
therefore, this "morrow" would have to be the 16th of Nisan!
Therefore,
"the day after the Sabbath" of Leviticus 23:11 must be the same day
as the "DAY AFTER THE PASSOVER" of Joshua 5. 11!
Remember,
the Bible interprets its own symbols and figures of speech, and makes
its own puzzles plain. All we need to do
is "SEARCH THE SCPJPTURES" and we will find the answer to these
enigmas which have stumped theologians and Church leaders for years!
Sadly,
many are still befuddled and perplexed by these questions!
Follow the Sadducees?
Some
insist that we must observe the same day as the Sadducees of Jesus' time. But who were the Sadducees? As we have already seen in the works of
Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, they were a Hellenizing
sect which was subservient to the Pharisees in terms of practice. The people all followed the Pharisees. Although many of the priests were Sadducees,
this did not mean they governed the set times for holy days, or regulated
Temple rituals and practice. They were
forced by circumstances beyond their control to cooperate with the Pharisees,
who had the people on their side.
Should
we follow the capricious teachings of the Sadducees, as some continue to
suggest? Let us look into the Bible
itself and see. What does Jesus say
about their knowledge of the laws of God, and His commandments?
When
a group of Sadducees came to Jesus asking Him a "technical question,"
Jesus rebuked them. Notice the account:
"That
same day the SADDUCEES, WHO SAY THERE IS NO RESURRECTION, came to him with a
question. 'Teacher,' they said, Moses
told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the
widow and have children for him. Now
there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since
he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and
third brother, right on down to the seventh Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife
will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?'
"Jesus
replied, 'YOU ARE IN ERROR BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW THE
SCRIPTURES OR THE POWER OF GOD. . ." (Mat. 22:23-29, NIV).
Does
this statement of the Messiah Himself, Jesus Christ, sound as if we should look
to the doctrines of the SADDUCEES for our beliefs?
Be
honest with yourself! Confess it! Do you really believe that? If the Messiah Himself blasts the Sadducees,
and rakes them over the coals, and makes a broad, sweeping denunciation of
their teaching, saying THEY KNOW NOT THE SCRIPTURES, nor the POWER of God,
would you then go to THEM for spiritual "enlightenment" as some
insist today on doing?
How
amazing! How dumfounding! How flabbergasting!
I
must confess, that I would not trust anybody with that kind of mentality
working for me. With that kind of
"wisdom," or foolishness masquerading as wisdom, they are sure to
destroy whatever business they control, given enough time!
True,
many Sadducees were priests. But most of
the priests of that time were reprobates, renegades, disobedient to God, and
used their priestly power to serve the king, not God. They were clever politicians, seeking political favor
and handouts, and did not really serve God at all. Jesus roundly condemned them in scathing
language, many times.
Josephus tells us that the high
priesthood during those times was a game of musical chairs, with the priests
subservient to the king, who appointed them to office according to HIS
pleasure. King Herod had the priests
slavishly seeking his favor and pleasure, as he was the one who appointed the
high priests. We read:
"Herod was then made king by the
Romans, but did no longer appoint high priests out of the family of Asamoneus;
but made CERTAIN MEN TO BE SO THAT WERE OF NO EMINENT FAMILIES, BUT BARELY OF THOSE
THAT WERE PRIESTS. . .
"Archelaus also, Herod's son,
did like his father in the appointment of high priests, as did the Romans also,
who took the government over the Jews into their hands afterward.
Accordingly, the NUMBER OF THE HIGH
PRIESTS, from the days of Herod until the day when Titus took the temple and
the city, and burnt them, WERE IN ALL TWENTY-EIGHT; and the time also that
belonged to them was A HUNDRED AND SEVEN YEARS" (Ant., XX,x, 1).
These high priests only reigned for
about 3.8 years, on the average. They
were shuttled in and out like an express elevator. Originally, however, God had appointed this
office to be for life, and it was hereditary, through the sons of Aaron -- not
an office to be held at the whim of a pagan or heathen king or despot! (see Exodus 28:1; 40:12-15). But by the time of Christ, the office of high
priest had degenerated into disgrace, disrepute, and disregard. Says the New Westminster Dictionary of the
Bible:
"The chief priests who are
mentioned in the N.T. were the
officiating high priest, former high priests still alive, and members of their
families. They were AN ANOMALY OF THE
TIMES. The law that regulated the
succession to the high priesthood HAD COME INTO ABEYANCE THROUGH POLITICAL
CONFUSION AND FOREIGN DOMINATION. HIGH
PRIESTS WERE MADE AND UNMADE AT THE WILL OF THE RULERS" (article
"Priests," p.764).
Are these the kinds of men we should
look to for leadership and determination of God's commandments, the figuring of
dates of God's holy days, and spiritual guidance and enlightenment? You be the judge!
Are these the kinds of men we should look to for leadership and
determination of God's commandments, the figuring of dates of
God's holy days, and spiritual guidance?
GOD FORBID!
Any who would look to the Sadducean
priests for spiritual truth and guidance must have rocks in their heads! You figure it out!
Why can't grown men, supposed to be
ministers of the Most High God, see this plain and stark truth? Or are they, too, blind, like the "king
who had no clothes," and didn't know that he was stark naked?
Bo Reicke, in The New Testament
Era, wrote:
"When he became king, however,
Herod repressed both the patricians and the priestly aristocracy, turning the
Sanhedrin into a DOCILE INSTRUMENT FOR CARRYING OUT MS POLICES . . . Ananus 1,
or Annas, held the office of high priest from A.D. 6 to A.D. 15. He was the head of a priestly family that,
upon his accession, began to supplant the family of BOETHUS, WHICH WAS
RELATED TO THE HOUSE OF HEROD and had hitherto dominated the priesthood . .
." (p.142).
Boethus, who was related to the
house of Herod, was himself a Sadducee.
These high priests were completely confused spiritually; they dwelt in a
spiritual wasteland. They had perverted
the ways and truths of God. Their
spiritual degeneration was so gross and despicable that Jesus went so far as to
tell them pointedly, "You DO NOT KNOW THE SCRIPTURES" (Matt. 22:29,
NIV).
What
about the Samaritans?
There
was one other renegade, heretical group during the time of Christ which also
counted Pentecost from the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Festival of
Unleavened Bread. They were the infamous
"Samaritans." Who were they?
Should we respect and follow their reckoning in this matter?
Rather
than give you my own personal opinion, notice what Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
had to say about the Samaritans. One
time when Jesus was going through the countryside of Samaria, He stopped at a
village called Sychar. It was about
noon, and a Samaritan woman came to the well, where Jesus was resting, to draw
water. Jesus asked her for a drink,
which amazed her. Notice the account:
"The Samaritan woman said to
him, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.
How can you ask me for a drink?' (For JEWS DO NOT ASSOCIATE
SAMARITANS)" (John 4.7-9, NIV).
All through the history of
Israel, the Samaritans had been a PLAGUE to the Jews who returned from
Babylonian exile. They opposed the
construction of the Temple, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and were a continual
pestilence. Their teachings were a
smorgasbord of pagan Babylonian beliefs which they combined with some of the
beliefs of the apostatizing Kingdom of Israel, which had been carried into captivity
(see II Kings 17). They even went so far
as to build their own competing "temple" at Mount Gerizim about
400. B.C., out of disdain and hatred of
the Jews.
Should we look to pagan
Samaritans, who adopted some of the beliefs of the northern Kingdom of Israel,
and misinterpreted the Scriptures, and combined some Bible teachings
with their pagan superstitions, for guidance in faith and practice?
Jesus Himself answers this
question. Later on in this same chapter
of John, He tells the woman from Samaria:
"YOU SAMARITANS WORSHIP WHAT
YOU DO NOTKNOW, we [Jews] worship what we DO KNOW, for SALVATION IS FROM
THE JEWS" (John 4.22).
If you want to follow someone who
doesn't even know what he is worshipping, such as the SAMARITANS, then as the
old saying goes - "have at it."
"Be my guest." But include me out!
"This Is My God"
Famous novelist Herman Wouk,
himself a Jew, discusses Pentecost in his book This Is My God. According to Wouk:
"On the morning of the second day of Passover [Nisan 16],
in olden times, the community brought a measure called an omer of barley into
the Temple for a ceremony hailing the earth's awakening fertility . . . with this omer the annual harvest
actually began; new produce was never eaten in Palestine until after the barley
rite . . . From the day the measure of barley came to the Temple, seven full
weeks were told off. On the fiftieth day
the nation celebrated the summer festival Shavuos . . . The Talmud calls it
Atzeres, or Last Assembly Day, implying that the holiday is the end of a single
religious observance that starts with Passover.
Leaving Egypt was the beginning of the event; the climax was Sinai.
"The Rabbis found, analyzing the narrative texts of
Exodus, that the revelation at Sinai occurred fifty days after the second day
of Passover, the date of Savous. The
summer festival therefore became the feast of Sinai revelation . . ." (This
Is My God, p.74).
Another Commentary, called Aid to Bible Understanding, published
by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, says concerning Pentecost:
"A later name used to denote the festival of harvest
or festival of weeks, called also 'the day of the first ripe fiuits'. . .-It
was to be celebrated on the fiftieth day from Nisan 16, the day that the barley
sheaf was offered (Lev.23:15,16). In the Jewish calendar it falls on Sivan 6.
It was after the barley harvest and the beginning of the harvest of wheat,
which ripened later than the barley. Ex.
9:31,32.
"The Israelites were not allowed to begin the harvest
until the firstfiuits of the barley had been presented to Jehovah on Nisan
16. Therefore, in Deuteronomy 16:9, 10
the instructions are: 'From when the sickle is first put to the standing grain
you will start to count seven weeks.
Then you must celebrate the festival of weeks to Jehovah your God.' . .
. The Jews traditionally hold that Pentecost corresponded to the time of the
giving of the law at Sinai, when Israel became a distinguished people. It was early in the third month (Sivan) that
the Israelites gathered at Sinai and received the law"
("Pentecost," p.1284-1285).
Pentecost and Josephus the Jewish Historian
It is well known that the Pharisees observed Pentecost on
Sivan 6. It is also well known that
Josephus, Jewish historian of the first century, who was himself a priest, a
famous general in the war against the Romans in 70 A.D., was a Pharisee as
well. He
writes about Pentecost:
"But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is
the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth,
for before that day they do not touch them . . . . They also at this
participation of the first fruits of the earth sacrifice a lamb, as a burnt
offering to God.
"6. When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice,
(which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is
Pentecost . . . they bring to God a loaf made of wheat flour" (Antiquities,
III, x, 5-6).
Observing this day was the customary practice of the Jews
in the time of Christ. Josephus tells us
that ALL THE MULTITUDE followed the teachings of the Pharisees in this
respect. He tells us: ". . .the
Pharisees, who are one of the sects of the Jews . . . These have SO GREAT A
POWER OVER THE MULTITUDE, that when they say anything against the king or
against the high priest, they are presently believed" (Antiquities,
XIII, x, 5).
Concerning the Sadducees, the other sect of the Jews, which
included some of the aristocracy and some of the high priests, who counted
Pentecost from the day after the weekly Sabbath which fell during the Days of
Unleavened Bread, Josephus tells us:
". . . the Sadducees are able to persuade NONE BUT THE RICH, and
have not the populous obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the MULTITUDE
ON THEIR SIDE. . . " (Anti., XIII, x, 6).
Who
Were the PHARISEES?
Since
the Pharisees were very important during the time of Christ, and He had many
"run-ins" with them, it behooves us to know as much about them as
possible. Who were they? What did they believe?
In
his book The New Testament, Bo Reidke describes the origins of the sect
known as the Pharisees, who Jesus said "sat in Moses' seat." Reidke writes:
"At
the beginning of the Maccabean revolt in 167 B.C., we read of a group of
Hasidim or Pietists (Hebrew singular Hasid, 'Pious') who had pledged themselves
to obey the law and consequently opposed the Hellenizing policies of Antiochus
IV and joined the Maccabean movement (I Macc. 2:42). In 161, some outstanding scribes belonging to
this group were deceived by Alcirnus, the Hellenistic high priest (I Macc.
7:12-18); this forced them once more into association with the Maccabees. Scholars are wont to consider these Hasidim
the predecessors of the Pharisees, or even a parallel or particular group of
them. This view is in harmony with the
Pharisees' appearance at the end of the century as a school still closely
associated with the house of the Hasmoneans. . ."
Reidke
continues:
"Both
in the New Testament and in Josephus, as well as in the overwhelming majority
of the Rabbinic passages, the Pharisees appear as the very opposite of an
isolated sect: they are a most expansive popular party, with highly developed
social relationships and structures. In
Rabbinic literature, the context in which the name appears suggests a meaning
such as 'Puritan,' a zealous proponent of ritual purity . . . Since this
interpretation agrees with the passages from the New Testament and Josephus
(such as Matt. 15:2; Josephus Ant.
XVIII, 12-15), we may assume the same meaning for the preChristian and
early Christian period. The basic
concept was therefore not that of separation from the rest of the people . . .
but rather separation 'from the pouutions of the peoples of the land' (Ezra 6:2
1; 9: 1; I 0: 11; Neh. 9:2; 10:28) and 'from the nations of the world with
their abominations' (Mekilta Exod. 19:6, 71a).
In this sense the Pharisees may be thought of as PURITANS . . . God had
revealed the norms of purity through holy Scriptures, traditions, and scribes:
The Pharisees sought to develop this revelation and make it applicable to
society, so that every Jew could realize the ideal of the covenant people . . .
To preserve and develop the purity of this Levitical covenant people, the
scribes had to master and interpret the commandments and statutes EXACTLY,
according to the model of Ezra and his Levites (Neh.8:7-9; 13). Reicke goes on, describing the exacting
attitude the Pharisees had toward the law:
"IN
SCRUPULOUS DETAIL the Pharisees analyzed and discussed the books of the Bible,
which provided the legal norm . . . Pharisaism, then, was an attempt to
transfer concretely to the covenant people the PURITY revealed by God through
Scripture and tradition . . . Among the obligations of the Pharisaic brethren
were strict observance of cultic purity (Mishna Dem ii.3), such as the washing
of hands (Mat. 15:2 and parallels), as well as THE SCRUPULOUS OBEDIENCE TO THE
COMMANDMENTS" (see The New Testament Era, Bo Reicke,
Fortress Press, Phila., 1981, p.156-161).
The
Apostle Paul and Pentecost
The
apostle Paul also admitted to being a Pharisee, which tells us he also observed
Pentecost on Sivan 6, counting fifty days from the 16th of Nisan. There is no indication in all the New
Testament, or in any of Paul's letters, that he ever discontinued this
practice.
Paul
himself observed Pentecost (Acts 20:16).
Being a Pharisee, he must have observed it at the very same time as the
other Pharisees. When he arrived in
Jerusalem, to keep the Feast, he went up to see James, and all the Jerusalem
elders of the Church, to report what God had done through their ministry. When they had done this, James and the others
said to Paul:
"You
see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and ALL OF TBEM ARE
ZEALOUS FOR TIHE LAW. They have been
informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away
from Moses . . . What shall we do? They
will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a
vow. Take these men, join in their
purification rites, and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads
shaved. Then everybody will know there
is no truth in those reports about you, but that YOU YOURSELF ARE LIVING IN
OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW . . ." (Acts 21:17-24, NIV).
The
next day Paul went to the Temple, as instructed, and encountered a crowd
there. What were they doing in Jerusalem
at that time? The same thing Paul was --
observing the day of Pentecost! Paul was
there at the same time Jews from around the world had gathered, and the
scattered Jews that came were undoubtedly Pharisees, and not Sadducees. Paul was therefore keeping the same day they
were observing.