he Intertestamental Period and Outliers
After Ezra and Nehemiah and Before the Birth of Yeshua
Part 2: The Intertestamental Period How did the Jews get a day off?
Aristobulus, referred by Anatolius of Laodicea…
Understand the milieu in Judea at the time of Hezekiah: King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, was a wicked king who worshipped the gods of the people that surrounded Judea; he cut up the temple fixtures and put up his own altars around Jerusalem, sacrificed children…and appealed to the king of Assyria for help against Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Chr 28…). Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah (Isa 1:1, Hos 1:1; Mic 1:1) were prophets at the time. Israel fell to Assyria in 721 B.C. The king of Assyria took Samaria and moved Babylonians and other foreigners into the tribal lands of the former northern kingdom of Israel. The majority of Israelites were panicking from this invasion, but most didn’t repent. During the transition from Ahaz and Hezekiah, Assyria was THE constant threat. Hezekiah reigned for 14 years, from about 715 to 701, during which time Sennachirib, king of Assyria surrounded Jerusalem (2 Kings 18-20). After this, Hezekiah got deathly sick, and was healed, getting an extra 15 years added to his life. I could have the years a bit off, but when it came to the Passover spoken of in 2 Chronicles 29 and 30. We go now to the Passover that Hezekiah sponsored in 2 Chr 30. The people were not ready and presumably, especially the tribes of the northern kingdom, had not been keeping the feasts. Hezekiah asked for forgiveness for them not being prepared.
The exception that was granted to Hezekiah became the rule when the Pharisees were in control of the temple. The Levites were sacrificing the Passover offerings instead of the heads of households, and what would have been sacrificing individual lambs or goats BY the head of households, became the duty of the priests AT THE TEMPLE, which was contrary to the original ordinance of the Passover listed in Ex 12 AND implied in Dt 16. It seems the Pharisees were happy to usurp the control of the Levites to their control…and, follow the exceptions extended to both Hez and Josiah, to let the Levites kill the evening Passover sacrifice, and of course DO kill the daylight sacrifices that later, after the original Exodus instructions and the Dt instructions, …the instructions given in Josiah’s time could be interpreted to mean that ALL the sacrifices for the Passover time, both night and day, were to be done by the Levites. Once a power is given, it’s hard to take it back…
From yahoranger.com…though I don’t recognize several of the views expressing at this website, the info re: the Sadducees rings true…14. Passover-Aristocratic Practice 1
Astounding historic facts revealed: Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon describes the Aristocratic interpretation of when the day (and night) began: “between the two evenings” Ex 16.12, 30.8, Ex 12.6, Lv 23.5, Nu 9.3, and evening sacrifice was offered. Ex 29.39, 41, Nu 28.4, according to the opinion of the Sadducees (modern Karaites) and Samaritans (modern …? In Israel)…looking to Dt 16.6, the time between sunset and dark…”at the going down of the sun”. The Pharisees and Talmudists took this to mean from the hour of the sun’s decline (after Noon) until its setting; and this was the later temple practice (Pesach. V 1; Jubilees, 49; Jos.,BJ vi.ix.3)