The Original Passover Coordinated With Subsequent Passovers
Exodus 12:1 through Exodus 13:16
Now we examine the original Passover passage, taking into account the later passages previously covered that make the Exodus 12 passage from the third viewpoint unified with the rest of the Bible.
One. From verse 6 on, the ONLY time that can be pegged as the Passover is found in verse 6, and the 14th day starts from the end of the 13th, at sunset, and extends through to the end of the 14th, at sunset…In this whole Passover passage, this day identified as the 14th is the foundation… through chapter 13, verse 16. I designate this by using subscript 1 for this point throughout the passage.
Two. Specific words
So, HERE’S THE PROBLEM: Verse 6 IMPLIES that the first day of Unleavened Bread is the fifteenth…then verse 7 continues on…”In the first day is a holy convocation…”. Verse 8 concludes the thought that the seventh day is also a holy convocation. Regarding verse 6, I say “implies” because, as we will immediately see by comparing this verse with Deuteronomy 16:4, WHICH day is the first day…?
Now, hold your place there, and go read Exodus 12:6-10, focusing on verse 10. Go back and forth, noticing, in context, that the “flesh” that was “not to remain” is the Passover sacrifice in both instances. Read Dt 16:1-7 and compare that to Exodus 12:6-12. We will get to “by night” (Dt 16:1); “of the flock and of the herd”(Dt 16:2);”…sacrifice the passover, at even, at the going down of the sun”(Dt 16:6) when we compare Exodus 12:6…”keep it up until the fourteenth day…kill it in the evening/between the evenings”…and, ”until the morning”(Ex 12:6,10,22). And we will go into more detail regarding Ex 12:18 AS WELL…
Back to comparing Dt 16:4 and Ezekiel 45:21, 22 and 25, which states which DAY was/is/will be the first day of the seven days of UB, when the Passover was killed…compare those two verses with Lv 23:5-7:Read…and NOTICE that, according to “The Fourteen Rules for Bible Study”, Rule 6…”What does the passage NOT say”… Verse 15 DOES NOT SAY that the fifteenth day is “the first day” of UB. It’s not in that verse. Granted, it is certainly implied, by our reasoning, because day 15 follows day 14, and then verse 7 immediately says, “In the first day you shall have a holy convocation…”, believing that verse 6 heavily implies that the 15th is the first day of UB.
From the viewpoints of both the Jews and the 8 Dayers, this seems quite clear to say that the 15th is the first day of UB. And what I’m introducing here seems confusing and contradictory, but, as we expose all the many other scriptures that back up the fact that the 14th day IS the first day of UB, as Dt 16:4 clearly says, it will all fit together at the end.
Now, Ex 12:15:
Now, Ex 12:15:
Setting: They couldn’t do the Wavesheaf offering until they came into the Promised Land, so Moses is telling them what they needed to do in the future. They couldn’t do this in the wilderness….Unfortunately, Mr. Coulter retained the heading of the KJV, which can mislead and has mislead, Bible teachers to consider the Wavesheaf offering as holy time.
It is always on the first day of the week, after the weekly Sabbath, but it is not a time that we are commanded to keep. It has confused some modern-day pastors who say that there are 4 feasts of the Lord in the Spring and Summer, and only 3 during the Fall. But there only 3 in the Spring/Summer-Passover, the first holy day; the seventh day of UB; and the day of Pentecost, in the Summer. The Fall festivals start with Trumpets, then Atonement, then the 15th day of the seventh month, which is the first day of Tabernacles; then, the eighth day, which is called the Last Great Day, which starts the eighth millennium.
Lev 23:10 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
Now, Ex 12:15:
“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
We CAN conclude, after reading Dt 16:4 compared to Ex 12:15, that the Bible says that the “first day is when the Passover was killed, thus, the first of the seven days of UB is the 14th, which is the Passover…the Passover service was on the night portion, done by the heads of households, with the holy day convocation and bull/sheep/goat offerings on the daylight portion, done by the Levites. I will also add, to solidify the point, Mk 14:12, unique amongst the Gospel accounts because in most translations, there are no skipped italicized words added by translators:
Mk 14:12 “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, ‘Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?’
Hold that thought in abeyance for the time being, recognizing that there is, certainly, a seeming contradiction here, between Ez 45:21,22,25/2Ch 35:1,13,16/Dt 16:4/Ex 12:15/Mk 14:12 as opposed to Lv 23:6 and Numbers 28:16-18.
Let’s now delve deeper into Exodus 12:1-Exodus 13:16…Originally, before chapter breaks were added, this was one uninterrupted passage that never leaves the topic of the Passover.
Ex 12:1-Ex 13:16 There are two broad interpretations: Jews and NeoQs; the 8-Dayers have straddled the fence for 80 + years (there is no historical example of this viewpoint except from Herbert Armstrong)
a. when does a “day” start? Gn1:..Lv 23:27 and 32..Atonement.
Notice verse 32, that “at even” is the evening of the ninth, and then a unique phrase, “from even unto even” designates a 24-hour period that sets apart the tenth day of the month. This unique phrase, only used once in the whole Bible, does not designate “between the evenings” that is addressed in Ex 12:6. Because 2 evenings are addressed here, then the first “at even”, the ninth, is the exception, which is different from that addressed in Ex 12:18;
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.”
By this reasoning, if the phrase used in Ex 12:6: “…up until the fourteenth day of the same month:” and “shall kill it in the evening”…”in” H996: bane, between, and “the evening” H6153: ereb: dusk/night means at the end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th, then “one and twentieth day of the month at even” CAN mean the end of the 20th, NOT including the 21st. If what we’ve covered so far truly proves that the end of the 13th/the beginning of the 14th, at sunset, starts the first day of UB, then this WOULD confirm the NeoQ viewpoint. In the last section, we will see that into the 7th century C.E., a faithful remnant NOT influenced by the Catholic Church, DID keep the 14th through the 20th UB.
c. v 6. “…until the fourteenth day, at even…Jews: noon to sunset; 8Dayers and NeoQs: between sunset and dark ben ar barim…
b. head of household…no priest involved
d. v 8-10, : eat it that night, “roasted” with fire…with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
V9; roasted not raw nor boiled with water…clearly a distinction on how it is cooked…tsally roasted…as in, over a spit, or putting a pole through it and turning it over coals, as opposed to cutting it into pieces and putting it into pots to slow simmer, thus getting more tender…IMO, vs bashal” cooked, as in pots BUT can also mean “fully done in cooking”…thus meeting the criteria of “not raw”. We will see the significance of this later in Josiah’s time.
V 10: let nothing of it remain until the morning…remains burned with fire…let it dehydrate and fall into coals and be burned up completely, bones and all.
V11: loins girded, shoes on feet, staff in hand, eaten in haste “chippazon” with trepidation implied, vs v hurry (Egyptians)
V12 …pass through “this night”, which night?, see v 6 It is either the midnight of the 14th, or the midnight of the 15th…the only two options…firstborn killed if not within the house covered by the blood. Presuming any second, or third-born, etc. would not be killed if they left the house. Yet, no one could leave the house…v..? See Logistics of the Exodus to debunk of 15th.
V 14:
e. Was this a holy day? A “chag” It was definitely during the moedim “appointed times” of Lv 23…
f. Conflating Dt 16 and Nu 33.3 with Ex 12….
Exodus 12:1: month begins…when does a day start? Gn 1…Lv 23: 10th day Atonement, ninth at even…
Exodus 12:3: First month, 10th day, sacrifice chosen, every man a lamb=each head of housedhold chose a lamb or kid (goat) for his family [anyone who coud fit into his, his family and close neighbors…NT Talmud? 10 perople per lamb/goat.
V5: Sacrifice animal was either a lamb or young goat, “a male of the first year” around a year old, no blemishes. While it could have been just born, this most likely was a lamb born the previous spring.
V6: kept UNTIL (ad H5704…up until, but not including, so excludes the 14th) the 14th, Two viewpoints: (at end of 13th..It didn’t survive into the 14th, OR
V7: Blood struck on doorposts, specifically to protect ONLY all firstborns, so NOT all the inhabitants were at risk.
V8: Eaten that night, roasted (H6748: tsaliy=roasted) with ,mat-tsah unleavened bread.
V9: Eaten not raw (tough, uncooked), nor sodden (H1311:bashel=boiled) cp to Josiah’s P…H1310:bashal, roast, be done in cooking, sodden) Note the subtle difference… No water in cooking…it took more time to finish cooking by boiling or simmering in water, than direct roasting over a fire or hot coals. H1311 phohibits boiling in water, while h1310 offers the option of “to be done in cooking”, which fits v8 specificity. H 1310 implies the meat being finished cooking, when roasted, making sure it’s completely done, not raw. It was not a meal to be enjoyed it sounds like. They didn’t have hours to let it simmer, to bring out the flavor…they ate it with bitter herbs. It was not a meal to savor, to linger over, to enjoy.
V10: None of it…to remain until H5704:ad=the object[in this case ‘the morning’] can be inclusive or exclusive, in this case not to include the morning, or before they left their homes for the last time…but again, same as v6. The modern-day reckoning is similar, but the start of the day is different.
V11: Eat it with “loins girded” [completely dressed], “your shoes on your feet”[ready to go outside] “staff” (H2649:maqqel=stck for walking, striking, guiding
Comparing the 3 Viewpoints, the Jews …the 8 Dayers, that consider they left their homes, made their way to Ramses, then left on the 15th, …Neos…Fits better: Eat, ready to leave, in the dark part of the morning, while it’s still dark. They had spoiled the Egyptians possibly a few days earlier, but also on their way to Ramses. Then, those who lived at Ramses would have gotten organized into 5 groups, then left by night as the 15th started. Those that lived several miles from Rameses, herding their cattle, spoiling the Egyptians, had to rest at Ramses, before leaving in the early morning hours of the 15th, near dawn.
Quote all of chapter 11:
Ex 11:5: “And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.”
3 points: it was the 10th plague that freed the Israelites, And it was Yeshua, NOT a “death angel”, that killed the firstborn of the Egyptians, AND, by the way, REDEEMED THE FIRSTBORN OF ISRAEL, PROTECTED BY THE BLOOD. And 3, they had begun spoiling the Egyptians BEFORE the daylight portion of the 14th…Moses delivered these instructions to the Israelites before the tenth plague started…maybe a few days before.
and then the morning part of the day which starts before daybreak in this instance. (See notes on Ex 12:10: Mk 1:35, Gn 19:15-32, Ru 3:8-15). It is probable that they left BOTH days, at night… the 14th from their homes, and the 15th, from Rameses… “by night”.
3. Nu 33:3…departed from Rameses …on the fifteenth day of the first month…
b. a high hand victorious, nearly gleeful attitude vs Ex 12 and elsewhere, “with strength of hand”…The LORD’s imposed control of the whole process of the Exodus, culminating in the death of the firstborn pagans, at midnight of the Passover night. IN the Nt, we don’t see anything on that night as victorious or gleeful, but reflective even somber.
Sidenote: it was NOT a “death angel” who smote the firstborn pagans…it was our Savior! One argument expresses the view that Yeshua commanded it, and He had an angel do it, but let’s look at Rv …His garments are dipped in blood, suggesting He takes an active role in subduing His enemies.
LOGISTICS of the Exodus: