The Present-Day Samaritans Keep the 14th Passover as the Start of Unleavened Bread
Peace
Non=-Salvational
COORDINATING MISUNDERSTOOD CROSS-CONTEXTUAL PASSAGES:
Then, 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…?
We will parse verses 1-7 of Dt 16 as we continue this study, and we will address every one of these 8 verses. The time context is just before Israel is about to go into the Promised Land, Moses is giving God’s final instructions about how they are to keep the three times per year they are to keep His “moedim” appointed times …
But for this particular point, just read verse 4: Notice, no leavened bread the seven days; then, notice “the first day, at even”. Highlight “the seven days” and highlight “the first day”. Notice that no “flesh, which you sacrificed “the first day, at even, shall remain all night until the morning”. THIS IS THE PASSOVER…
Now, hold your place there, and go read Exodus 12:6-10, focusing on verse 10. Go back and forth, noticing that the “flesh” that was not to remain is the Passover sacrifice in both instances. Read Dt 16:1-8 and compare that to Exodus 12:6-10. 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 12:10,22). And we will go into more detail regarding Ex 12:18 AS WELL…
Back to comparing Dt 16:4 and Ezekiel 45:21 and 22, which states which DAY is/was/is 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: 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 15 follows 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.
This 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, it will all fit together at the end. WE can conclude 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 Service on the night portion, the holy day convocation and bull/sheep offerings on the daylight portion.
Hold that thought in abeyance for the time being, recognizing that there is, certainly, a seeming contradiction here, between Ez 45:21,22,25/Dt 16:4 and Lv 23:6…2 against 1. (Numbers 28, which covers the specific sacrifices of the daily, weekly, monthly, and holy day offerings, says almost the exact same thing…v 16-18…read.
Recap: Jews/Messianics…keep Passover AND first day of the seven days of UB starting at the end of the 14th, the beginning of the 15th, and keep seven days beginning the 15th, ending at the end of the 21st.
CoG’s keep the Passover at the end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th as JUST a service, then can eat LEAVENENED bread during the daylight portion of the 14th, then at sunset, starting the 15th, keep a celebratory meal called “the night to be much observed” as the holy day starts; then have a consecrated meeting during the daylight portion of the 15th, keeping, just like the Jews, seven days until the end of the 21st.
The Neo-Quartodecimans keep Passover at the end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th, as Yeshua did, but then keep the 14th as a holy convocation/meeting (OT altar sacrifices of both bulls and sheep during the daylight of the 14th, ending their last day at the end of the 20th.
Recap: Jews/Messianics…keep Passover AND the first day of the seven days of UB starting at the end of the 14th, the beginning of the 15th, and keep seven contiguous/continuous days beginning the 15th, ending at the end of the 21st.
The churches of God (8 Dayers) keep the Passover at the end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th as JUST a service, then can eat LEAVENED bread during the daylight portion of the 14th, then at sunset, starting the 15th, keep a celebratory meal traditionally called “The Night To Be Much Observed” as the holy day starts; they then have a consecrated meeting during the daylight portion of the 15th, keeping, just like the Jews, seven days until the end of the 21st.
The Neo-Quartodecimans (hereafter contracted to “NeoQs) keep Passover at the end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th, as Yeshua did, but then keep the 14th as a holy convocation/meeting (Old Testament tabernacle/temple altar sacrifices of both bulls and sheep and goat during the daylight of the 14th), ending their last day at the end of the 20th.
(I’m primarily using Fred Coulter’s translation, “The Holy Bible In Its Original Order” throughout, adding Strong’s numbers for emphasis , unless noted otherwise).