Between the Evenings & Deleavening

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Feb 19, 2021

News Letter 5857-001
The 5th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 26th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 7th day of the 1st month 5857 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence
2031 Days until the Two Witnesses

February 20, 2021

Shabbat Shalom to the Royal Family of Yehovah,


It Was A Riddle Not A Command Audio

We are very pleased to announce that our book It Was A Riddle Not a Command is now available in audio format. And can be found in our store. It has been narrated by Sally Cave and we have cut all the costs to make this affordable to everyone.

This means we have done away with the expensive productions costs that Audible charges and the edits and all that goes into making this book 100% perfect. The normal going rate for an audible book that goes through this process is about $37 US or more. We are not charging that but we are asking for $5 donation to help us finance more translations in the future.

We hope you will listen to the teachings in this book while you drive or as you walk about with your phones.

 


Shabbat Zoom Meeting

There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat at 12:30 PM Eastern Time Zone, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our youtube channel.

We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.

We start off with some music and then some prayers and its as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.

 Sabbath Feb 20, 2021, will be a 1 PM Eastern. The room opens at 12:30 EST

We have between 60 and 100 groups joining us each week. In those groups are between one and six people listening and taking part with us. We have not done a census to know how many join. There is between 100 and 300 each week. We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.

Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Personal Meeting Room

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Septennial Torah Portion

If you go to Torah Portion at our archived section, you can then go to the 4th year which is the 4th year of the Sabbatical Cycle, the one we are in now, as we state at the top of every News Letter. There you can scroll down to January 23, 2021, and see that this Shabbat we could very well be midrashing about

Gen 24
1 Samuel 1-2
Psalm 48-50
Mat 28- Mark 1:28

If you missed last weeks exciting discoveries as we studied that section you can go and watch past Shabbats on our media section.


New Year 2021 and Holy Day Dates

We at Sightedmoon.com have begun our New Year Saturday evening after the sun sets. Sunday February 14, 2021 will be the first day of the New Year.

I do hope you all will share the videos of the barley being Aviv far and wide so others can also judge for themselves and not rely on the testimony of some who are not even in the land.

Even though Devorah does not agree with us this year she has been very kind in providing a calendar with the various dates when the Holy Days will be depending on what you believe. I do sincerely thank her and appreciate the act of love towards all the brethren.

Let not our differences be cause for division. But do let them spur you to investigate each one and determine for yourself what you and your family will do.

For those who have not seen the Barley, we have two reports for you to consider, Actually three. Last Friday Devorah posted in her barley report that she found no barley ready for Passover next week. Yet we had Becca post her report January 9, and February 8, that the Barley at that time was Aviv.

Here are both reports and you can decide. Becca’s video from January 29, 2021, February 8, 2021, and Devorah’s from February 11, 2021.

Recently we tried to share this information with others on Brian C Hoeck’s Biblical Calendar Forum: Aviv Barley and New Moon Sightings which is a group on Facebook. My posts were then removed and someone asked him why they were removed and I then expressed my disappointment at not sharing all the facts. The page was then taken down. It seems he is only following the reports of Brian Convery who flies to Israel once a year to report on the state of the barley. And they also believe you can only keep Passover after the equinox.

Brethren you need to get all the facts. The facts provided by Becca, by Devorah, by Brian Covnery and anyone else who is able to go and report the state of the Barley. Then once you have those reports you must be able to determine if the barley is going to be Aviv by wave sheaf day. This is the only reason we search for the barley. So that we could make a proper first fruits offering if the Temple was there today.

And it is from this Barley being Aviv, that we are then able to determine when each of the Holy Days are which are told to us in Lev 23.

It is of the highest importance that you know and understand. Do not let any one man or group tell you or deny to show you all the facts about the barley. Ask questions and search and dig and figure it out.

The one thing that all the other groups do not understand nor take into consideration is this. Becca is the only one who understands this. The Barley must endure rough handling to go from being cut by the sickle, bundled as a sheaf, and stood in a stock, until it is then thrown on a wagon three days later and then off loaded and brought to the threshing floor. During this entire process the seed must remain in the head until the threshing begins. This is why it is called “Green Ears”.

Once you harvest the barley, it sucks all the energy out of the stock and puts it into the kernel. After a day the kernel is almost ready to be made into flour or reseed itself. With the exception of Becca the rest do not understand how quickly the barley goes from dough stage to ready for flour stage once it has been cut. And this is crucial for you to know and understand and to explain to others so they all can get it.

Stop arguing and fighting. Just deal with the facts. Just the facts. Leave the personalities out of it and deal with the facts. You can check out all the reports from Becca at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWStfWxNZkJrtG2HU29R2Eg/videos

https://www.facebook.com/739137150/videos/10158217877757151/

 


Pray the 7th Day

March 20, 2013 I first shared with you a teaching I was then shown by Dr. Dave Perry about the 7th day of the first month.

I want to emphasize this once again now as we approach the 7th day of the First month today.

18 So says the Lord Jehovah: In the first month, in the first of the month, you shall take a bull without blemish, a son of the herd, and cleanse the sanctuary. 19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh of the month for each man who goes astray, and for the simple. So you shall atone for the house. (Ezekiel 45:18-20)

It is just seven day more until Passover when the blood is again placed on the door of the house for protection.

We all have spouses and children and parents and family who do not and will not have anything to do with Torah. Yet it is now the Torah that has become your way of life.

Many times you wonder why they do not get it. Why you are the only one. All these years and they still make fun of your Sabbaths and Holy Days.

Here in Ezekiel we are told to pray for our house hold on the 7th day of the first month. “Thus says Yehovah”.

Why? I do not know but He said to do this. So I am going to do this and we will see what happens after. Pray and obey. This time you are being told to obey by praying.

Look at what happened in Acts.

12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, not discriminating. And these six brothers went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he declared to us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said to him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose last name is Peter, 14 who will tell you words by which you and all your house shall be saved. 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the Word of the Lord, how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 17 If God gave to them the same gift as to us, they having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God? (Acts 11:12-17)

Here we have Gentile believers receiving the Holy Spirit and the whole household was saved.

Is this not what we all want for our families?

Yehovah has given us a specific date to meet him for us to plead for our families. Will you take Him up on this opportunity?

28 But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. 29 Then asking for a light he rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And leading them outside, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your household. 32 And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his household. 33 And taking them in that hour of the night, he washed from their stripes. And he was baptized, he and all his, immediately. 34 And bringing them up to the house, he set a table before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his household. (Acts 16:28-34)

In both these cases it was just one person who believed and then the whole family was blessed. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this. I cannot imagine having my whole family keeping this walk with me. How awesome that would be.

If you’re having trouble praying here is one King David used to help you get started.

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust. 3 Surely He will deliver you from the fowler’s trap and from the destroying plague. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall trust. His truth shall be your shield, and buckler. 5 You shall not fear the terror by night; nor because of the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor for the plague that walks in darkness, of the destruction laying waste at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes you shall look and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because You, O Jehovah, are My refuge; if You have made the Most High Your dwelling-place, 10 no evil shall befall You, nor shall any plague come near Your dwelling. 11 For He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You in all Your ways. 12 They shall bear You up in their hands, lest You dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread on the lion and adder; the young lion and the jackal You shall trample underfoot. 14 Because He has set His love on Me, therefore I will deliver Him; I will set Him on high, because He has known My name. 15 He shall call on Me, and I will answer Him; I will be with Him in trouble; I will deliver Him, and honor Him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation. (Psalm 91:1-16)

If you keep the commandments and are striving to walk them out; If you keep the Weekly Sabbath, the Annual Holy Days, and are going to keep the coming Sabbaitcal year all of which are part of the 4th commandment, and you are walking in Torah then you are righteous. Even if your not perfect.

If you’re doing this then you are considered one of the righteous. And if you’re one of the righteous, then Yehovah will hear your prayers.

Jehovah is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29)

15 The eyes of Jehovah are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of Jehovah is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry, and Jehovah hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 Jehovah is near to the broken-hearted; and saves those who are of a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Jehovah delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:15-19)

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. 17 I cried to Him with my mouth, and exaltations were under my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, Jehovah will not hear; 19 Surely God has heard; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed is God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me. (Psalm 66:17-19)

1 Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Do you remember the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer to Our Father. In it we confess our sins. This is what Solomon and Daniel do in their prayers. They confess the sins of the nation and of themselves and then Yehovah will turn and hear us where we are in our affliction and save us. Go read these things and know He waits until you repent and then He answers.

11 Let him turn aside from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their prayers. But the Lord’s face is against those who do evil. (1 Peter 3:11-12)

We are de-leavening right now in preparation for the days of Unleavened Bread. It is symbolic of putting sin out of our lives. Do not cover up your secret sins. Nor walk past the obvious elephants in the room. Take care of them and address them and turn back to the truth and have your prayers heard.

He who covers his sins shall not be blessed; but whoever confesses and leaves them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

Yehovah listens to those who fear Him, who stand in awe of His greatness, goodness and power.

16 Then those fearing Jehovah spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And Jehovah listened and heard. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Jehovah, and for those esteeming His name. 17 And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My treasure. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him. 18 Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him. (Malachi 3:16-18)

16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much. 17 Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to sprout. (James 5:16-18)

Our bibles are full of examples of people who prayed and Yehovah heard their prayers and answered them. Repent of your sins and your secret sins and return to the truth. Let your name be found in the book of remembrance as one whose prayers were heard and answered.

Take up the appointment to pray for your family on Aviv 7 5857. That is sunset Friday, February 19 and Shabbat February 20, 2021.


Tracking Time

I would like to recommend the following charts for all of you to begin to use as we are now into the new year. Pauline Readon-Benjes developed these charts a number of years ago and has offered them to you on our web site for you to download and use. You can record when the moon was sighted and then begin to count the days to each Holy Day.

You can also note significant events that take place and see if a pattern is developing.

Go to this link and click on the download button. That is the button to the right of the zoom 100% in the heading line. Download it to your computer and then you can print it off on your own printer. You will notice that Pauline already has this first page filled in for you below. You can also print this one off if you like.

And these sheets can be reused each month from year to year. May they be a blessing to you as you number your days.

Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, so that we may bring a heart of wisdom.


Passover Schedule for Sightedmoon.com

Friday February 26, 2021 at 7 PM Eastern Time zone using the same zoom meeting information as above and here Join Zoom Meetingmhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/3505855877 we will be conducting our foot washing ceremony.

This is what Yehshua did at the Last Supper. It is somber night. It is not a night for chit chat and joking around. This is the last night our Saviour was alive and is His final instructions to His disciples and to us before He was murdered for our sakes.

Please come and join us. There will be no midrash and no discussion on this night.

It is the start of the fast of the First born in remembrance of the first born of Egypt who died that night instead of the first born of Egypt.

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Shabbat Saturday February 27, 2021, we will begin our regular weekly Sabbath teaching at 12:30 PM Eastern time zone. We will keep this service shorter because many will be preparing for The Passover Meal which is to be eaten after the 14th of Nisan and is part of the 15th High Holy Day celebrations.

We understand that with various time zones around the world people will be leaving to eat this meal and maybe joining us afterwards, depending on where they live.

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Sunday February 28, 2021 is wave Sheaf day and it is also the High Holy Day of the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread. We will host a double Sabbath service this day.

The Morning service will be at 10 AM Eastern Time zone and the after noon service will be at 2 PM Eastern Time zone.


What Leaven Do we Remove

Leaven, Leavened and Unleavened Bread

Saor, Chametz, vaMatzot

By Yochanan Zaqantov

We are quickly approaching Pesach (Passover) and the Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread).  As we get ready for these days we are told we should remove the leaven from our homes.  So with this in mind today we will be studying what is leaven, leavened and unleavened bread from the Tanakh.  Also, we will look at what is leavened of the food/condiments/etc’ that should be put out of our homes for these days.

The first word we will cover is Leaven or Sa’or (Sin-Aleph-Resh), which is a masculine noun, found in the BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew English Lexicon) on page 959 as reference number 7603 and in the New Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance (NEHC) on page 1195.

Shemot/Exodus 12:15,19

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall cause to cease (bayom harishon tis’bitu  בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ) leaven (sa’or שְּׂאֹר) from your houses, for anyone eating anything leavened (chametz חָמֵץ) that soul shall be cut off from Yisrael, from the first day until the seventh day. (Interlinear Bible)

On the first day the leaven (sa’or) should already be gone from our homes.  The word here is Shavat which means Cease.  Just like you are to Cease work on the Shabbat Day.  The reason for Ceasing is to insure no Leavened or Chametz would be eaten. And anyone eating anything Chametz or Leavened will be cut off.  So Chametz is the result of something exposed to Sa’or.

19 Seven Days leaven (sa’or שְׂאֹר) not shall be found in your houses. For anyone eating anything leavened (mach’metzet מַחְמֶצֶת), that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, a stranger or a citizen of the land.

He we see again Sa’or is not to be found in our homes.  We are also not to eat anything Chametz.  This applies to the home born (ez’rach) and the stanger (ger).

Shemot/Exodus 13:7

7 Throughout the seven days unleavened bread (matzot מַצּוֹת) shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be seen with you (velo yera’eh lekha chametz
וְלֹא־יֵרָאֶה לְךָ חָמֵץ), and no leaven shall be found (velo yera’eh lekha sa’or  וְלֹא־יֵרָאֶה לְךָ שְׂאֹר) in all your territory (boundaries).

All seven days we are to eat Matzot.  No chametz is to be seen with you.  No Sa’or is to be seen within our boundaries/borders.  The area we control.  Both are not to be seen.

Vayiqra/Leviticus 2:11

11 No meal offering that you offer to Yehovah shall be made with leaven (chametz חָמֵץ), for no leaven (sa’or שְׂאֹר) or honey may be turned into smoke as an offering by fire to Yehovah.

The fire offering was not to have sa’or in it. Thus it was not made Chametz.

Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:4

4 For seven days no leaven (sa’or שְׂאֹר) shall be seen with you in all your borders, and none of the flesh of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall be left until morning.

From these references we can see that we are to remove the leaven (sa’or שְּׂאֹר  or שְׂאֹר ) from our homes for the seven days of the feast of Unleavened Bread.  It is not to be seen within our borders.

Next, we will look at the next word which is Leavened or Chametz which is a verb found in the BDB on page 329 as reference number 2556 and in the New Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance (NEHC) on page 440.  In Hebrew it is chet-mem-tsadie.

Shemot (Exodus) 12:19,20,34,39

19No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened (mach’metzet מַחְמֶצֶת), that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country.

20You shall eat nothing leavened (kal mach’metzet כָּל־מַחְמֶצֶת); in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.

All leavened items we are not to eat.

34So the people took their dough before it was leavened (yech’matz יֶחְמָץ), their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders.

39And they baked unleavened cakes (Matzot מַצּוֹת) of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened (lo chametz לֹא חָמֵץ), since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions (food for journey) for themselves.

You will notice that the condition of the dough would be that it did not get to rest.  Also no Sa’or was added to it.

Tehillim (Psalms) 73:21-22 (Interlinear Bible)

21For my heart was in ferment (yit’chametz יִתְחַמֵּץ) and I was pierced my reins.

22 And I was brutish and I did not know; I was like animals with you.

We see it used to describe something fermented or lifted up like ones heart which is haughty or overly proud.  These are being used in a figurative sense.  But they tell us that leavened is something lifted up.

The other references are literally concerning the bread.  What is interesting from verses 34 and 39 is that they had dough when they left.  Dough here is batzeq  בְּצֵק (1217) pg.130 BDB.

The kneading process could have included adding a leavening agent.  Since they weren’t to eat leavened bread and they rushed to get out of Egypt with the bread and the bread was unleavened. We will be looking at what was leavened in their day and for us today.

The indication from Numbers 33:5 would seem to indicate more than a day’s journey from Rameses to Succoth.  They start out with dough in the morrow after the Passover offering as seen in verse 4.  This would be the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This meant that the dough without the right conditions and introduction a leavening agent would not rise right away.

Lets read it.

Bamidbar (Numbers) 33:3-4

3They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. It was on the morrow of the passover offering that the Israelites started out defiantly in plain view of all the Egyptians. 4The Egyptians meanwhile were burying those among them whom Yehovah had struck down, every first-born’whereby Yehovah executed judgment on their elohim.

5The Israelites set out from Rameses and encamped at Succoth.

This matches the account in Exodus 12:33 – 39

33The Egyptians urged the people on, impatient to have them leave the country, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders. 35The Israelites had done Moses’ bidding and borrowed from the Egyptians objects of silver and gold, and clothing. 36And Yehovah had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request; thus they stripped the Egyptians.

37The Israelites journeyed from Raamses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

Bread making and Leaven

I have some excerpts from Vladia Rudel article “Leavening Agents in Breadmaking”.

“Unleavened flat bread is the oldest form of bread known. Flat breads were either baked or fried on a hearthstone or griddle. Today, as in earlier times, bread is usually baked or fried, but almost always some kind of leavening agent is used to make it lighter and finer than the dense, heavy, flat bread of the past.”

“There are three common methods by which bread can be made to rise. These are by the presence of steam during cooking, aeration, and the production of carbon dioxide in the dough. All of these methods involve incorporating and trapping gas in the substance of the bread”

“Steam is helpful in the last minute rising of yeast breads when the oven heat boosts the final activity of the yeast in what is termed “oven spring.” Steam also helps form the bread’s crust during the first half of baking. But once the bread is cooked, steam becomes the enemy. As it recondenses, it will ruin the crust and sog the interior of a loaf if not allow to escape and evaporate as the bread cools.”

“Air lightens baked goods by expanding with heat. The air pockets that permeate a dough or batter also provide space for the accumulation of carbon dioxide gas and steam. Beaten eggs hold air inside batter and create the proper structure for leavening. Therefore, air is most often a leavening agent in egg breads and, cakes. It is also an important secondary agent in the lightening of pastries, especially puff pastry. By the end of the sixteenth century the French pastry masters had learned to aerate their many pastries through the use of eggs and cream.”

“The most important leavening agent for many breads is carbon dioxide, a byproduct of certain chemical or organic ingredients. Carbon dioxide will lighten heavier doughs that are barely affected by steam or air. Its rising action occurs rapidly or slowly depending on what agent is producing the gas. The texture of the bread depends on how the dough or batter is handled before the rising.”

“Today three types of baking powder are manufactured: phosphate, anhydrous phosphate, and sodium aluminum sulfatephosphate. The difference between them is the speed with which they product carbon dioxide. Sodium aluminum sulfatephosphate is common household baking powder. It reacts the most slowly of the three. Baking powder is the primary leavening agent for all quick breads not containing acidic ingredients.”

“All chemically leavened bread doughs and batters require a light hand and little handling. The bread must be baked very soon after mixing, so that the carbon dioxide will be released during baking rather than lost to the atmosphere beforehand. Because quick breads are handled lightly and rapidly, the gluten in the flour is not highly developed, which makes for an airier and less cohesive texture than yeast breads.”

“It is believed that yeast-risen bread was first developed in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians were accomplished brewers and so had yeast at hand; they grew an early strain of glutenous grain called Emmer wheat, and they were the scientists of their time – able and willing to experiment with the results of the first batch of accidentally fermented bread dough. They also invented the first bread ovens.”

“Sometimes ale itself would be used in the dough. Since fermented beverages were not pasteurized, the yeast cells would still be active. But the problem with brewer’s yeast or barm is its bitterness. Bread made from barm is noticeably more bitter than bread made from dough fermented without it. Its rising capacity also is less than that of straight yeast.”

“Other than from the brewer, the only way a baker had to obtain yeast was straight from the air. The air around us is full of wild yeast cells, some of which are good for raising bread. A mixture of liquid and flour (and possibly a bit of sugar) set aside in a warm place will collect wild yeast form the air. As the yeast feed and the decomposing flour (sugars result from the breakdown of the starch) fermentation occurs with by-products of carbon dioxide and alcohol. Fermentation means the yeast colony is growing. Allowed to grow for a few days, the flour mixture becomes quite sour and full of active yeast cells. This sourness is pleasant and characteristic of yeast bread and not like the bitterness of brewer’s yeast.”

Thus, the creation of a sourdough starter or barm the byproduct of making beer before it’s pasteurized.

So the Leavening (Yeast) would have to have to gather through a careful process.  Or the dough would have to sit in warm area to draw in the Wild Yeast.

So we can see that Yeast, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and eggs can be used to leavening (lifting up) bread.  Eggs form a seal for the dough that traps the gases from baking but does not cause the bread to rise itself.  Baking soda and Baking powder are chemical and cause air to be created in the bread like eggs.  None of these three (eggs, baking soda, baking powder) agents ferment bread.  Yeast does cause fermentation, which causes the lifting

Chametz in its noun form is used to show something is leavened.  It is reference 2557 in the BDB on page 329.

Related to Feast of Unleavened Bread

Shemot/Exodus 12:15

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall cause to cease leaven (sa’or) from your houses, for anyone eating anything leavened (kal  okhel chametz כָּל־אֹכֵל חָמֵץ) that soul shall be cut off from Yisrael, from the first day until the seventh day. (Interlinear Bible)

Seven days unleavened bread you shall eat.  Indeed on the first day it is already removed.

ShemotExodus 13:3

3And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how Yehovah freed you from it with a mighty hand: no leavened (chametzחָמֵץ) bread shall be eaten.

Here we see that we eat these in remembrance for this event.

Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:2-3

2 And you shall sacrifice a Passover to Yehovah Eloheykha of the flock, and of the herd, in the place which he shall chose to cause His Name to dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened(chametz חָמֵץ) with it.  Seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, bread of affliction for in haste you came out from the land of Egypt so that you may remember the day that you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

Not offered with some sacrifices, offerings.  Also reminding us of why we eat it.

Shemot/Exodus 23:18

18You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened (chametz חָמֵץ); and the fat of My festal offering shall not be left lying until morning.

Shemot/Exodus 34:25

25You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened (chametz חָמֵץ); and the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover shall not be left lying until morning.

We can see the similarities of these two verses are both talking of the Pesach sacrifice.  No leaven is to be offered with the blood of this sacrifice.

Vayiqra/Leviticus 6:9-10

9What is left of it shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened cakes (matzot  מַצּוֹת), in the sacred precinct; they shall eat it in the enclosure of the Tent of Meeting.

10It shall not be baked with leaven (chametz חָמֵץ); I have given it as their portion from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

The unleavened bread they were to each no leaven or chametz was to be baked in it.

Vayiqra/Leviticus 2:11

11No meal offering that you offer to Yehovah shall be made with leaven (Chametz), for no leaven (Chametz) or honey may be turned into smoke as an offering by fire to Yehovah.

Offered with Some Sacrifices

Vayiqra/Leviticus 7:11-13

11This is the ritual of the sacrifice of well-being that one may offer to Yehovah:

12If he offers it for thanksgiving, he shall offer together with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes with oil mixed in, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of choice flour with oil mixed in, well soaked.

13This offering, with cakes of leavened (chametz חָמֵץ) bread added, he shall offer along with his thanksgiving sacrifice of well-being.

We know that Chametz was not to be put on the Altar so this was eaten and not burnt up on the altar.

Vayiqra/Leviticus 23:15-17

15And 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:

16you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to Yehovah.

17You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering; each shall be made of two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening (Chametz חָמֵץ), as first fruits to Yehovah.

We can see that was to be used sometimes and not for other times.

There is also the word Chomatz that is reference number 2558 and found on pg. 330 in the BDB.  It is from the root of verb usage of Chametz.

Bamidbar/Numbers 6:3

3he shall abstain from wine and any other intoxicant; he shall not drink vinegar (chomatz חֹמֶץ) of wine or of any other intoxicant, neither shall he drink anything in which grapes have been steeped, nor eat grapes fresh or dried.

This is the Nazir.  We see that he may not drink of Chometz (fermented) Yayin (wine).  Since wine itself is fermented but never referred to as Chametz then Chometz while dealing with the similar idea of Leavened is not in and of itself the same as Chametz.

Rut/Ruth 2:14

14At mealtime, Boaz said to her, “Come over here and partake of the meal, and dip your morsel in the vinegar (bachomatz בַּחֹמֶץ).” So she sat down beside the reapers. He handed her roasted grain, and she ate her fill and had some left over.

Again, this is a vinegar.

Tehillim/Psalms 69:22

22They give me gall for food, vinegar (chomatz חֹמֶץ) to quench my thirst.

Another reference to Chometz.  Vinegar would not quench a thirst.

Mishlei/Proverbs 10:26

26Like vinegar (kachomatz ךַּחֹמֶץ) to the teeth, Like smoke to the eyes, Is a lazy man to those who send him on a mission.

Vinegar is bitter to the one who drinks it.  This is using it in a Metaphor.

Mishlei /Proverbs 25:20

20Disrobing on a chilly day, Like vinegar (chomatz חֹמֶץ) on natron, Is one who sings songs to a sorrowful soul.

Butting something sour on something sweet takes away its sweetness.

Based upon this relationship of being from the same root some have reasoned that because the they have the same root that all things which are fermented like vinegar (Leavened Wine) are also prohibited during the Days of Unleavened Bread.  So that anything fermented or soured would also be forbidden to eat during Pesach (Passover) and Chag HaMatzot.  Not all Karaites agree with this interpretation.

In the article on Passover and Matzot, Hakham Nehemia quotes an Ancient Karaite Sage who holds the position that only the leavening of grains know to leaven are forbidden to eat as leavened. You can also read this at http://www.karaite-korner.org/passover.shtml

“and the sage our teacher Yosef Kirkisani said… only the five types of grain can be made into Hametz, namely wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye. And the sage was correct because whatever experimentation shows to leaven can be used for Matzah, but the flour of the other ‘seeds’ do not leaven. For example, [the flour of] millet, rice, beans, lentils, and peas do not leaven but spoil [lit. ‘stink’].” [Aharon ben Eliyahu (14th Century), Gan Eden, pp.45d-46a].

“The sage Yosef Kirkisani said that only the five types of grain can be made into Hametz, namely, wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye. It has also been said that if experimentation shows that a thing can become leaven then it can be used to make Matzah. However, all the other ‘seeds’ such as bean, lentil, pea, millet, and rice flours do not leaven but spoil [lit. stink]. And the sage our teacher Aharon (author of Etz Hayyim) said that all of these matters can become known through experimentation and he has spoken well for millet flour if left with water for a number of days does leaven. Therefore, in truth, there are six types of grain that can leaven and from which Matzah can be made: the aforementioned five as well as millet. And if Hametz is made from any of these it must be destroyed… and so too any alcohol made from the five types of grain [e.g. beer] or from millet. But some of the fools in our times who pretend to be wise do not eat anything that ferments based on the verse ‘no leaven shall you eat’ such as fermented milk [i.e. yogurt, etc.] and fruits soaked in water; they also refrain from eating beans and rice and any type of ‘seed’ and this is because of their foolishness and their lack of knowledge…” [Elijah Baschyatchi (15th century), Aderet Eliyahu, Ramla 1966, pp.133-134]

“The second school of thought argues that Hametz is not strictly speaking “leavening” but something like “fermentation”. They point out that in biblical Hebrew vinegar is called “Hometz Yayin” meaning “leavened-wine” (others translate: “soured wine”). This is used as proof that Hametz refers not only to the leavening of grains but any fermentation or souring process. Based on this reasoning, they forbid the consumption of anything fermented. Included in their list of forbidden foods on Passover are all forms of alcohol, lentils, rice, and all milk products such as yogurts and cheeses. This school also considers wine to be Hametz, which is somewhat surprising given that vinegar is called “leavened-wine” (implying that the difference between wine and vinegar is that the latter is leavened but the former is not!). Adherents of this view include the medieval Karaite sage Samuel al-Maghrebi and the modern sage Hakham Meir Rekhavi (download his introduction to the new Karaite Haggadah.”

We have read that leavening is a fermenting process.  The question is whether leaven includes all fermented products or only those that cause bread to leaven.  In reading the context of the verses that tell us that we are not to have leavened bread, the focus of leaven is that which leavens the dough.  While Chomatz is related it is never used in relationship to the verses in reference to Chametz and Pesach (Passover) and Hag Hamatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread).  So I would conclude that the leaven we are concerned about is that we would use to leaven bread.

So now lets look at Unleavened Bread or matzah, which is reference number 4682 in the BDB on pg 594.  It is a feminine noun.  In Hebrew, mem-tsadie–hey.

Unleavened bread (Matzah)

Vayiqra/Leviticus 2:5

5If your offering is a meal offering on a griddle, it shall be of choice flour with oil mixed in, unleavened (matzah מַצָּה).

No Sa’or was to be added to this.

Vayiqra/Leviticus 8:26

26From the basket of unleavened bread (hamatzot הַמַּצּוֹת) that was before Yehovah, he took one cake of unleavened bread (matzah מַצָּה), one cake of oil bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat parts and on the right thigh

The basket was to hold all the Matzot which is plural of Matzah.

Shemot/Exodus 12:15,18

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread (matzot מַצּוֹת); on the very first day you shall cause to cease leaven (sa’or שְּׂאֹר) from your houses, for anyone eating anything leavened(chametz חָמֵץ) that soul shall be cut off from Yisrael, from the first day until the seventh day. (Interlinear Bible)

18In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread (Matzot מַצֹּת) until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Every day we are to eat Matzah.  Again we are not to have seen with us either Sa’or or Chametz.

Shemot/Exodus 12:8

8They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread (uMatzot וּמַצּוֹת) and with bitter herbs.

We are to eat Matzah with Bitter herbs (Marorim).

Bamidbar/Numbers 9:11

11they shall offer it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread (Matzot מַצּוֹת) and bitter herbs,

Summary – What are we to do?  Why do we do it?

Shemot/Exodus 12:15,19

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall cause to cease (bayom harishon tis’bitu  בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ) leaven (sa’or שְּׂאֹר) from your houses, for anyone eating anything leavened (chametz חָמֵץ) that soul shall be cut off from Yisrael, from the first day until the seventh day. (Interlinear Bible)

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:3

3 You shall eat no leavened (chametz חָמֵץ) with it.  Seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread (matzot מַצּוֹת), bread of affliction (Lechem oni  לֶחֶם עֹנִי) for in haste you came out from the land of Egypt so that you may remember the day that you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

We can see we are not to eat leavened bread for these days.  Also all leaven in our homes is to be removed.  For all of us, we recognize what is leavened bread.

We also see that dough without introduction of leaven will eventually leaven on its own but only after a period of time at rest and in ideal conditions.  The question rests with what is leaven?  Leaven is that which would cause the grains of wheat, spelt, barley, oats, millet and rye in a dough form to rise.  Yeast is the way the bread would raise.

We have read that leavening is a fermenting process.  The question is whether leaven includes all fermented products or only those that cause bread to leaven.  In reading the context of the verses surrounding the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it tells us that we are not to have leavened bread, the focus of leaven is that which leavens the dough.  While Chomatz is related it is never used in relationship to the verses in reference to Chametz and Pesach (Passover) and Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread).

So in my mind the leaven we are to remove is that which when added to dough would leaven it or contain the leavening materials like flour and yeast.

1.      Remove all leavening agents (sour dough starter, brewers yeast) and leavened bread products.

2.      Thoroughly search your homes for leavened products you are not aware are there.

3.      Beer (made from grains and by product can be used for leavening)

4.      Remove flour that has leavening agents in it. (Self-rising).

Question is baking soda a chemical leaving agent actually so’ar.  That is a good question since they did not exist during the time of Yisrael and the Navi and Gadol Cohen are not present today.  We have to decide for ourselves whether to use it or not.  For Yisraelim, Yeast would have been the only leavening agent of their days.

How detailed should we remove the leaven (Chametz) from our homes?  We are commanded to remove all leaven.  What about those crumbs in the toaster? Or what about the crumbs in a couch?  If the part of the bread was leavened then the particle of it was leavened too.  So we should do out best remove all we can get to.

What about Malted things?  When we look at things which are processed should we also look at the Malted, or Maltodextrin and other ingredients which may have been make into Chametz.

Malt beverage is an American term for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic fermented beverages, in which the primary ingredient is barley, which has been allowed to sprout (“malt“) slightly before it is processed. By far, the most predominant malt beverage is beer, of which there are two main styles: ale and lager. A non-alcoholic beverage brewed in this fashion is technically identical to “non-alcoholic beer.” Such a beverage may be prepared by either removing alcohol from the finished product or by using a slightly altered brewing process which yields very little alcohol (technically less than 0.5% by weight).

The term “malt beverage” is often used by trade associations of groups of beer wholesalers (e.g. Tennessee Malt Beverage Association) to avoid any negative connotations associated with beer. Additionally, the term is applied to many other flavored beverages prepared from malted grains to which natural or artificial flavors have been added to make them taste similar to wines, fruits, colas, ciders, or other beverages. This subcategory has been called “malternative,” as in Smirnoff Ice, or “maltini,” as in 3SUM, which also has energy components like caffeine. Marketing of such products in the United States has increased rapidly in recent years.

In most jurisdictions, these products are regulated in a way identical to beer, which allows a retailer with a beer license to sell a seemingly wider product line. This also generally avoids the steeper taxes and stricter regulations associated with distilled spirits.

In Texas, such beverages must be referred to as “flavored beers” rather than “Malt Beverages”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt_beverage

You can see that Beers and other malted beverages are something we need to look at being removed.

As a rather common additive to a number of different types of foods, maltodextrin is classified as a sweet polysaccharide. While containing sweet qualities, maltodextrin is considered to contain fewer calories than sugar. Here are some examples of how maltodextrin is made from natural foods, as well as how maltodextrin can be used in a number of recipes.

While considered to be a carbohydrate, maltodextrin is understood to be more easily digested than some other forms of carbohydrates, leaving behind less of the potential for healthissues. This can be especially important for an individual who is trying to manage their Type 2 diabetes with their diet. Usually made from rice, corn, or potato starch, maltodextrin is produced by cooking down the starch. During the cooking process, which is often referred to as a hydrolysis of starch, natural enzymes and acids help to break down the starch even further. The end result is a simple white powder that contains roughly four calories per gram, and extremely small amounts of fiber, fat, and protein.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-maltodextrin.htm

Maltodextrin if from the five grains could produce a problem.  If from Corn, Rice or Potatoe then it poses no problem.  If it does not tell you then we wary.

Malt vinegar is made by malting barley, causing the starch in the grain to turn to sugar. An ale is then brewed from the sugar and allowed to turn into vinegar, which is then aged. A cheaper alternative, called “non-brewed condiment,” is a solution of 4-8% acetic acid colored with caramel. Malt has a distinctive flavor that contributes to the flavor of malt vinegar and brewed beverages such as beer. Malt vinegar is popular for pickling, especially walnut pickles. It is most famous as the companion to fish and chips. Any English recipe calling for vinegar typically uses malt vinegar unless otherwise noted.

http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=630

You can see that while wine vinegar would not be considered Leavened to me the Malt Vinegar is because it is from Barley and froma brewing or leavening process.

Vegemite is a dark brown savoury food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuits, as well as a filling of pastries like Cheesymite scroll, in Australia and New Zealand. It is similar to British and New Zealand Marmite and to Swiss Cenovis.

Vegemite is made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacture, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty – somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter. It is not as intensely flavoured as Marmite and it is less sweet than the New Zealand version of Marmite.

Vegemite is popular with many Australians and New Zealanders, who commonly consider it a national food and a cultural icon.[1] It can be found in shops around the world, particularly where there are large populations of Australian expatriates. Vegemite has not been successfully marketed in other countries, apart from New Zealand, and has failed to catch on in the United States, despite being owned by US food giant Kraft Foods. When seen in the United States, the Vegemite label often does not contain the Kraft logo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite

Vegamite would also be a chametz and be a prohibited food for Days of Unleavened Bread.

Yeast extract is the common name for various forms of processed yeast products that are used as food additives or flavourings. They are often used in the same way that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is used, and, like MSG, often contain free glutamic acids. The texture ranges from liquid to a light paste. (Herbst p.681) Glutamic acid in yeast extracts are produced from an acid-base fermentation cycle, only found in some yeasts, typically ones bred for use in baking.

Autolyzed yeast
Autolyzed yeast or autolyzed yeast extract consists of concentrations of yeast cells that are allowed to die and break up, so that the yeasts’ digestive enzymes break their proteins down into simpler compounds.

Yeast autolysates are used in Vegemite (Australia), Marmite, Promite, Oxo (New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and Republic of Ireland), and Cenovis (Switzerland). Bovril (The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland) switched from beef extract to yeast extract for 2005 and most of 2006, but later switched back. Autolyzed yeast extract is also the primary source of monosodium glutamate for the food industry.

Hydrolyzed yeast
Hydrolyzed yeast or hydrolyzed yeast extract is another widely used food additive, used for flavouring purposes.

Manufacture
The general method for making yeast extract for food products such as Vegemite and Marmite on a commercial scale is to add salt to a suspension of yeast making the solution hypertonic, which leads to the cells shrivelling up; this triggers autolysis, in which the yeast self-destructs. The dying yeast cells are then heated to complete their breakdown, after which the husks (yeast with thick cell walls which wouldn’t do the texture much good) are separated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast_extract

Marmite is the name given to two similar food spreads, a British version produced in the United Kingdom and South Africa and the other in New Zealand. Marmite is made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing, and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

The British version of the product is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour. Being both extremely salty and extremely umami, the taste of Marmite is comparable to soy sauce. This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company’s marketing slogan: “Love it or hate it.” It is similar to the Australian Vegemite and Swiss Cenovis. Bovril is a similar-looking spread made from beef-extract.

The distinctive product was originally British, but a version with a noticeably different taste has been manufactured in New Zealand since 1919, and this is the dominant version in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

The image on the front of the British jar shows a “marmite“, a French term for a large, covered earthenware or metal cooking pot.[1] The British Marmite was originally supplied in earthenware pots, but since the 1920s has been sold in glass jars that approximate the shape of such pots.[2] A thinner version in squeezable plastic jars was introduced in March 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

So here are some other things to consider for the Days of Unleavened Bread.


Curiouser and More Curiouser

It is not Alice looking through the looking glass but it is now us and it so surreal.

On Sunday February 14, 2021, we began our New Year celebration online. It was strange starting the year this early. But we do have Tombstone evidence that those living in Zoar also kept Passover in February in the 285 to 515 AD time period. We shared that information with you just 7 weeks ago. They did so not once but at least a dozen times. We have shown this to you in other News Letters.

Last year we went over the ripening process of the barley in our first News Letter for 2020 or 5856. But as the New year began for us a series of events took place that caused us all to do a double take. Let me refresh your memories a little.

January 9, 2020, the first death from the newly discovered COVID-19 virus occurred in a 61-year-old man who was a regular customer at the Wuhan China market.

On January 19, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the USA was a 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever.

The first U.S. cases of non-travel–related COVID-19 were confirmed on February 26 and 28, 2020, suggesting that community transmission was occurring by late February.

Officials in Santa Clara County, California, announced last night that at least two deaths in early February can now be attributed to COVID-19.

Until now, the first US fatality from the pandemic coronavirus was assumed to be in the Seattle area on Feb 28, but postmortem testing on deaths from Feb 6 and Feb 17 now confirm that COVID-19 was spreading in the San Francisco Bay area weeks earlier than previously thought.

Both fatalities in Santa Clara County had no travel history, and likely acquired COVID-19 through community spread.

Last year on the first day of the New Year, February 25, 2020, the United States had its first  two deaths, a man from Washington near the Seattle area. The country also reported two more cases, bringing the total number to 68.

Today February 18, 2021 as I write this, the USA COVID count is 27,866,972 US with 491,724 deaths in the USA. And the world has now had 110,164,028 cases of COVID-19 with 2,436,173 deaths.

The numbers are now dropping off but are still high and we now have two new variants which are both causing the spread to accelerate.

Just one year.

The entire world has been in lock down and economies shattered and millions and millions having lost their jobs and have no way of paying the rent or mortgage and buying food.

Again in the USA there are ever growing food lines and more food agencies that feed the hungry running out of food.

COVID-19 was preceded by the massive events in Australia with the biblical sized wildfires that raged across that nation. But even those massive wildfires were dwarfed by the Armageddon sized wildfires in the USA that darkened the skies at noon for days and turned the hue into an eery orange glow.

This past year was also marred with travel restrictions and no flying to most nations. People were told to shelter in their homes and not to go out for months except for essential things.

That was the year that began to take shape on the very day we declared a New year February 25, 2020. Then on March 11, 2020 W.H.O. declared a world wide Pandemic. That just so happened to be the very day we were keeping Passover on last year in 2020.

Then to add to this on May 31, 2020 the riots across the USA began and went on until the Capitol Hill riots on January 20, 2021. This just so happened to match the things we were warning about in The 2300 Days of Hell book and all our books and teachings since 2005.

I say all of this to remind you of what we have shared and what has happened this past year, to preface what I am now sharing.

2021, the New Year began on February 14, 2021.

In Arlington, Texas, the Arlington Police department responded to more than 80 car crashes since 10 p.m. on February 10.[1][11]

A car driving in the Texas snow, Feb 2021
On the early morning of February 11, 2021, due to the frigid weather, Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, Texas was icy, which was unusual for the area. As a result, at 6:30 AM CST the first collision occurred when a vehicle skid off the road, which led to several vehicles, including semi-trucks, to pile up on the motorway. Ultimately, 133 cars piled in the incident which left motorists trapped in their vehicles. Six people died and sixty-five people were transported to a local hospital.

On February 14, the expected impacts from the storm resulted in over 170 million Americans being placed under various winter weather alerts across the United States.[5] Over 120 million of those people were placed under winter storm warnings or ice storm warnings by the National Weather Service.[19] The winter storm caused power grids to fail across the U.S., causing blackouts for over 5 million homes and businesses, which became one of the largest blackout events in modern U.S. history

The February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm was a major winter and ice storm that had widespread impacts across the United States, Northern Mexico, and parts of Canada from February 13–17. The storm started out at the Pacific Northwest and quickly moved into the Southern United States, before moving on to the Midwestern and Northeastern United States a couple of days later. The winter storm resulted in over 170 million Americans being placed under various winter weather alerts across the United States and caused blackouts for over 9.7 million customers,[5][1] including over 5 million customers in the U.S. and 4.7 million customers in Mexico.[1] The storm also brought destructive severe weather to Southeastern United States, including several tornadoes. So far, there have been at least 20 direct fatalities and 13 indirect fatalities attributed to the storm.

Temperatures in Saskatchewan Canada at this time were around the -40 degree Celsius, not counting the wind chills.

Is there something else going on here that we need to be watching? I think there is. We are in the 2300 Days in which Yehovah is going to reduce the USA and UK and the rest of the Israelite nations to just 10% of what they once were.

This is just a simple polar vortex and winter storm. We are used to them in Canada, but Texas is not. Wind turbines, oil pipelines and hydro grids all froze up.

U.S. crude oil production has plunged by as much as 40 percent due to the Polar Vortex that brought freezing temperatures to swathes of the United States, most notably including Texas, where wellheads and pipelines froze. Now, this is turning into a global problem.

Bloomberg’s Alex Longley writes that according to estimates by Citi, the total lost U.S. production by early March could reach 16 million barrels. According to traders, however, the lost production could be twice as high.

“The market is underestimating the amount of oil production lost in Texas due to the bad weather,” Ben Luckock, co-chief of oil trading at Trafigura, said as quoted by Bloomberg.

And it’s not just lost oil production, either. Power outages led to the shutdown of several refineries in Texas, which removed an estimated 3 million bpd or more in refining capacity.

“The Gulf Coast is a gasoline machine and sends products across the U.S. as well as international markets,” said Kitt Haines, Energy Aspects analyst. “For a brief period at least, this could help European refining.”

European refiners will be just one of the groups that will benefit from the Texas deep freeze. Another is OPEC+. The extended cartel is meeting in early March to discuss progress with its production cuts, and the Texas events could strengthen the hand of producers that want to start boosting production sooner rather than later.

Saudi Arabia already signaled that prices are at a more comfortable level for it: the Kingdom said it will end its voluntary 1-million-bpd production cuts from March.

By March, the weather in Texas should be back to normal. In fact, according to forecasts, it should be back to normal by the end of this week. However, it will take more than a few days to bring production and refining back to normal.

So what does this mean for you and your pocket book?

If there is to be a first half 2021 economic black swan event the roaring stock market isn’t properly comprehending, look no further than a likely spike in gas prices thanks to the deep freeze well underway in Texas.

The national average price for gasoline may jump 10-20 cents a gallon from its existing price of $2.54 a gallon over the next two weeks, says GasBuddy, as millions of barrels of refining capacity has gone offline due to brutal weather in Texas. Such an increase would bring the national average to $2.65 to $2.85 a gallon, marking some of the highest prices since 2019 and loftiest seasonal prices in more than five years.

Gas prices on a national average have leapt about 17 cents from late January, according to GasBuddy data.

GasBuddy estimates that 11 refineries in Texas and Kansas have at least partially shut down due to the deadly weather in Texas. The outfit notes about 20% of total U.S. refining capacity was offline as of Tuesday midday.

Jefferies analyst Giacomo Romeo is a bit more dire. He believes about half of Texas’ 5.8 million barrels per day of refining capacity is currently non-operational.

“Even after this event is over, it may take refineries days or even a week or two to fully return to service, and with gasoline demand likely to accelerate as we approach March and April, the price increases may not quickly fade,” says GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan.

GasBuddy estimates gas prices could hit $3 a barrel by Memorial Day as refiners try to bounce back from the storm activity.

Yehovah sends one little storm and the USA is brought to her knees. But the USA does not repent. How many do you see on the nightly news praying for repentance and telling the people what they need to repent of?

Here is some more news to show you just where we are sitting as a nation. You have little time to get your affairs in order.

I’ve said the U.S. is caught in a debt death trap. Monetary policy won’t get us out because the velocity of money, the rate at which money changes hands, is dropping.

Printing more money alone will not change that.

Fiscal policy won’t work either because of high debt ratios. At current debt-to-GDP ratios, each additional dollar spent yields less than a dollar of growth. But because it must be borrowed, it does add a dollar to the debt. Debt becomes an actual drag on growth.

The ratio gets higher, and the situation grows more desperate. The economy barely grows at all while the debt mounts. You basically become Japan.

The national debt is $27.8 trillion. A $27.8 trillion debt would not be an issue if we had a $50 trillion economy.

But we don’t have a $50 trillion economy. We have about a $21 trillion economy, which means our debt is bigger than our economy.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is about 130%. Before the pandemic, it was about 105% (the policy response to the pandemic caused the spike).

Already in the Danger Zone

But even a ratio of 105% is in the danger zone.

Economists Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart carried out a long historical survey going back 800 years, looking at individual countries, or empires in some cases, that have gone broke or defaulted on their debt.

They put the danger zone at a debt-to-GDP ratio of 90%. Once it reaches 90%, debt becomes a drag on growth.

Meanwhile, we’re looking at deficits of $1 trillion or more, long after the pandemic subsides.

In basic terms, the United States is going broke. We’re heading for a sovereign debt crisis.

I don’t say that for effect. I’m not looking to scare people or to make a splash. That’s just an honest assessment based on the numbers.

Tax cuts won’t bring us out of it, neither can structural changes to the economy. Both would help if done properly, but the problem is simply far too large.

So, an economic time bomb is ticking. Velocity is dropping. Debt is growing while growth is slowing. The explosion will come in the form of asset bubbles bursting and stocks crashing.

There’s no way out of the debt death trap. Or is there?

There is actually a way out. It’s the only solution left, really. And that’s inflation.

Deadbeats Love Inflation

Deflation increases the real value of debt. With deflation, the value of money increases, making it more burdensome to pay off debt. This is why debtors hate deflation.

And guess who is the world’s largest debtor nation? That’s right, the U.S.

On the other hand, inflation decreases the real value of debt. It’s easier to pay down debt because you’re paying back debt with dollars that are less valuable than when you originally borrowed them.

But the Fed has failed to produce inflation for over a decade now, despite all the trillions of dollars it’s fabricated.

Then how can the government and the Fed produce inflation now?

The solution is to increase the price of gold in order to change inflationary expectations. That will increase money velocity and get the growth engine running again. The Fed could actually cause inflation in about 15 minutes if it used this method.

FDR did this to perfection in 1933, and his actions began to dig us out of the Great Depression. Jerome Powell, Biden and his Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen could do it again if they wanted to (assuming they know how, which is probably too much to assume).

But how could they increase the gold price to increase money velocity and change inflation expectations?

Inflation in 15 Minutes

I’ve written about it before, but it bears revisiting, especially since there are newer readers who may be unfamiliar with it. Here’s how they can do it:

The Fed can call a board meeting, vote on a new policy, walk outside and announce to the world that effective immediately, the price of gold is $5,000 per ounce.

They could make that new price stick by using the Treasury’s gold in Fort Knox and the major U.S. bank gold dealers to conduct “open market operations” in gold.

The Fed will be a buyer if the price hits $4,950 per ounce or less and a seller if the price hits $5,050 per ounce or higher. They will print money when they buy and reduce the money supply when they sell via the banks.

The Fed would target the gold price rather than interest rates.

The point is to cause a generalized increase in the price level. A rise in the price of gold from $1,900 per ounce to $5,000 per ounce is a massive devaluation of the dollar when measured in the quantity of gold that one dollar can buy.

There it is — massive inflation in 15 minutes: the time it takes to vote on the new policy.

It’s Happened Before

The first time this happened was in 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered an increase in the gold price from $20.67 per ounce to $35.00 per ounce, nearly a 75% rise in the dollar price of gold.

He did this to break the deflation of the Great Depression, and it succeeded. The economy grew strongly from 1934-36.

The second time was in the 1970s when Nixon ended the conversion of dollars into gold by U.S. trading partners. Nixon did not want inflation, but he got it.

Gold went from $35 per ounce to $800 per ounce in less than nine years, a 2,200% increase. U.S. dollar inflation was over 50% from 1977-1981. The value of the dollar was cut in half in those five years.

History shows that raising the dollar price of gold is the quickest way to cause general inflation. If the markets don’t do it, the government can. It works every time.

Would the government and the Fed consider the gold trick I just described? They may have no choice ultimately.

‘What Can I Do?’

The real message is that the solutions to current debt levels are inflationary. That means revaluing the dollar either through a higher gold price or marking the gold to market and giving the government money.

There are a lot of moving parts here, but they all point in one direction, which is higher inflation.

It’s the only way to keep America from going broke and falling into a sovereign debt crisis.

Unfortunately, it will also slash the value of the dollar. Your savings could quickly evaporate, and your standard of living will suffer.

That’s why I recommend you put around 10% — but no more than 20% — of your investable assets into physical gold.

I also recommend select gold stocks, which can massively leverage the spot price of gold to produce enormous returns.

That will give you the protection you need to safeguard your wealth and grow it.
Regards,

Jim Rickards

And this just in;

The Fed just announced that it is going to let inflation rage.

They didn’t use those words, but in “Fed speak” that is precisely what Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Fed, said yesterday.

As I’ve clearly laid out in the last few weeks, inflation has already entered the economy. We see it in food prices, energy prices, housing prices, just about anything you can name.

Yet despite all this, Fed President Daly stated with a straight face, that inflationary pressures are now “downward” — meaning inflation is disappearing…

More than that, she said it’s “not time to worry about inflation risks right now.” And that doing so would cost the economy jobs.

Put simply, at a time when inflationary pressures are already rising at a pace not seen in decades, one of the top Fed officials commented that inflation is moving “downward.”
This is the closest thing you can get to the Fed formally endorsing a hot inflation regime.

Remember, once inflation appears in the financial system, the only thing that can stop it would be the Fed aggressively hiking rates as Paul Volcker did in the early 1980s.

This time around, when inflation is clearly already running hot, the Fed is not merely  unwilling to raise rates… but it won’t even admit that inflation is present.

This is a recipe for a truly horrific inflationary storm. Think the 1970s: Double digit inflation with a crumbling economy. Agricultural commodities prices are already up nearly 40% in the last seven months alone!

Be forewarned. Inflation is here. It’s going to get worse. And the Fed is asleep at the wheel.

Regards,

Graham Summers

I have one more article to share with you. And this one shows you the problem. They say it is Climate Change. That is not the problem at all. When people say this they in fact hide the real problem. The fact they do not obey Yehovah.

‘California and Texas are warnings’: blackouts show US deeply unprepared for the climate crisis

Both states have faced widespread power outages after failing to plan for extreme weather

When California saw widespread power blackouts last year during wildfires and a summer “heat storm”, Republican lawmakers from Texas were quick to deride the coastal state’s energy policies. “California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” tweeted senator Ted Cruz during the record-breaking heatwave in August.

Those Republicans, including Cruz, had to swallow their words this week as a massive winter storm took out the Lone Star state’s power grid, leaving nearly 4 million people without electricity and heat amid polar temperatures.

The crises in California and Texas are different, in scale and severity. One faced fire, the other an ice storm. But experts say the power outages in both states make one thing clear: neither is prepared for the chaos of the climate crisis.

“There’s a lot of similarities, between what has happened in Texas and California,” said Roshi Nateghi, a researcher at Purdue University who studies infrastructure sustainability and resilience. “In both cases, you had an extreme climate or weather event. And in both cases, the states were not prepared.”

Over the past two decades, across the United States, severe weather has been the main cause of sustained power outages, Nateghi said.

An analysis of Department of Energy data published in September found weather-related power outages are up by 67% since 2000. Climate change is expected to continue fueling hotter heatwaves, more bitter winter storms and more ferocious hurricanes in the coming decades. As both California and Texas have discovered in recent years, power plants, generators and electrical lines are not designed to withstand the catastrophes to come. And all the while, the fossil fuels that both states rely on to power these faulty systems are driving the climate crisis, and hastening infrastructural collapse.

“We’re already seeing the effects of climate change,” said Sascha von Meier, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. “There will be more of this and it will get worse.”

California’s power system is facing pressure on two fronts: delivery and demand.

For the past few years, the state’s large electricity providers, Pacific Gas and Electric in the north and SoCal Edison in the south, have shut off power when its equipment is at risk of setting off wildfires amid dry conditions and high winds. Across the state, old, faulty power lines have sparked deadly wildfires – and the companies have said that updating their grids will take years.

The rolling blackouts during the heatwave in August came after state agencies failed to line up enough power to allow millions of residents blasting their fans and air conditioners all at once.

The heat storm was an “extraordinary event”, the state’s Energy Commission, Independent System Operator and Public Utilities Commission said in a report. “But it is our responsibility and intent to plan for such events, which are becoming increasingly common in a world rapidly being impacted by climate change,” they acknowledged.

Republicans across the US seized on the power outages to deride California’s climate and green energy policies, arguing that the state’s reliance on renewable energy sources like wind turbines and solar panels was to blame. But the issue wasn’t that California couldn’t produce enough power but that it didn’t invest in batteries to save and store power, von Meier said.

Texas, like California last summer, failed to plan for the extreme weather it is now facing. And as in California, its equipment was overdue for upgrades.

Last weekend, the state’s grid operators found their estimates of just how much energy residents would require this winter were off. At the same time, officials had allowed several power plants to go offline for maintenance. As temperatures dropped, households used more and more energy to keep warm – triggering rolling blackouts. By Monday, the icy conditions also disabled power plants, further diminishing the state’s power supply amid the deadly storm.

In a state that relies heavily on natural gas for power generation, infrastructure wasn’t equipped to withstand heavy snow and cold temperatures – wells froze, and the power outages made it impossible to pump the gas. “You need electricity to generate electricity, which really causes these disasters to escalate,” Nateghi said. And because most of the state operates its grid separately from the rest of the western region, largely to avoid federal regulations, Texas wasn’t able to easily import power from neighboring states.

In Texas and California, power issues have endangered elderly, poor and disabled residents most. When PG&E started pre-emptively shutting off electricity during the 2019 fire season, many disabled people found themselves in a precarious situation after their medical devices lost power and life-sustaining medications that required refrigeration began to go bad. Last year, when the heat storm triggered blackouts, the outage caused a failure at a wastewater treatment plant – forcing working-class people of color in Oakland to choose between opening windows to cool their homes, and closing them to shut out the smell as 50,000 gallons of raw sewage flowed in the nearby bay. Likewise, this week in Texas, the state’s poorest neighborhoods were the first and hardest hit by the prolonged outages.

Yehovah says

Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze.

Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits.

As we enter this new year, I want to remind you that Yehovah acts on the set apart days. He shows those watching for Him things we need to pay attention to. Last year the Covid-19 plague started as a trickle and then took over the entire nation and the world in just one year.

Are these recent events similar in that they are forewarning us of what is about to come? I do not know. But this I do know. Because we as a people do not obey Yehovah and His torah and because we have arrived at and are in Jacobs Trouble as Jeremiah says more devastating events are coming.

Jer 30:1  The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Jer 30:2  So speaks Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write all the Words that I have spoken to you in a book.

Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Jer 30:4  And these are the Words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

Jer 30:5  For so says Jehovah, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

Jer 30:6  Ask now, and see whether a man is giving birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Jer 30:7  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Jer 30:8  For it shall be in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him,

Jer 30:9  but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

Jer 30:10  And you, O My servant Jacob, do not fear, says Jehovah. Do not be terrified, O Israel. For lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

Jer 30:11  For I am with you, says Jehovah, to save you. Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will not leave you entirely unpunished.

Jer 30:12  For so says Jehovah, Your break cannot be cured, and your wound is grievous.

Jer 30:13  There is none to plead your cause; for yourulcer there are no healing medicines for you.

Jer 30:14  All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many.

Jer 30:15  Why do you cry over your crushing? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many, I have done these things to you.

Jer 30:16  So all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your enemies, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And they who rob you shall be robbed, and all who strip you I will strip.

Jer 30:17  For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.

Jer 30:18  So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place.

Jer 30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the voice of those who rejoice. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Jer 30:20  Also their sons shall be as they were before, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all who ill-treat them.

Jer 30:21  And their rulers shall be of themselves, and their governor shall come from among them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach Me. For who is this who pledged his heart to come near to Me? says Jehovah.

Jer 30:22  And you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

And why are we in Jacobs Trouble? Because we would not obey. You need to read all of this again and go slow and soak in what is being said. I only needed to goto verse 21 or 22, but the more I read the more I could see world events right now taking place and getting ready to start. So you read them and understand.

Curses for Disobedience

Deu 28:15  And it shall be, if you will not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to observe and to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, all these curses shall come on you and overtake you.

Deu 28:16  You shall be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field.

Deu 28:17  Your basket and your store shall be cursed.

Deu 28:18  The fruit of your body shall be cursed, and the fruit of your land, the increase of your cows, and the flocks of your sheep.

Deu 28:19  You shall be cursed when you come in, and cursed when you go out.

Deu 28:20  Jehovah shall send on you cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings by which you have forsaken Me.

Deu 28:21  Jehovah shall make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from off the land where you go to possess it.

Deu 28:22  Jehovah shall strike you with lung disease and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew. And they shall pursue you until you perish.

Deu 28:23  And your heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth that is under you iron.

Deu 28:24  Jehovah shall make the rain of your land powder and dust. It shall come down from the heavens on you until you are destroyed.

Deu 28:25  Jehovah shall cause you to be stricken before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a trembling to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Deu 28:26  And your body shall be food to all birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. And no man shall frighten them away.

Deu 28:27  Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with the hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, of which you cannot be healed.

Deu 28:28  Jehovah shall strike you with madness and blindness, and astonishment of heart.

Deu 28:29  And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall always be pressed down and spoiled forever, and no man shall save you.

Deu 28:30  You shall become engaged to a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, and you shall not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not gather the grapes of it.

Deu 28:31  Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it. Your ass shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you, your sheep given to your enemies, and you shall have none to rescue them.

Deu 28:32  Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail for them all the day long. And there shall be no power in your hand.

Deu 28:33  The fruit of your land, and all your labors, shall be eaten up by a nation which you do not know. And you shall always be oppressed and crushed,

Deu 28:34  and you shall be mad because of that which you shall see with the sight of your eyes.

Deu 28:35  Jehovah shall strike you in the knees and in the legs with an evil ulcer that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

Deu 28:36  Jehovah shall bring you, and your king which you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.

Deu 28:37  And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations where Jehovah shall lead you.

Deu 28:38  You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in, for the locust shall eat it.

Deu 28:39  You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but shall neither drink the wine nor gather, for the worm shall eat them.

Deu 28:40  You shall have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint with the oil, for your olive shall drop off its fruit.

Deu 28:41  You shall father sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity.

Deu 28:42  All your trees and the fruit of your land the locust shall possess.

Deu 28:43  The stranger within you shall get up above you very high, and you shall come down very low.

Deu 28:44  He shall loan to you, and you shall not loan to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Deu 28:45  And all these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

Deu 28:46  And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever.

Deu 28:47  Because you did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things;

Deu 28:48  therefore you shall serve your enemies which Jehovah shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the lack of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Deu 28:49  Jehovah shall bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand,

Deu 28:50  a nation fierce of face who shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young.

Deu 28:51  And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or flocks of your sheep, until he has destroyed you.

Deu 28:52  And he shall besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down, throughout all the land. And he shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Jehovah your God has given you.

Deu 28:53  And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which Jehovah your God has given you, in the siege and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you.

Deu 28:54  The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his sons which he has left;

Deu 28:55  so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his sons whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left to him in the siege and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you in all your gates.

Deu 28:56  The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not have ventured to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

Deu 28:57  and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her sons whom she shall bear. For she shall eat them secretly for lack of all things, in the siege and anguish with which your enemies shall distress you in your gates.

Deu 28:58  If you will not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH YOUR GOD,

Deu 28:59  then Jehovah will make your plagues remarkable, and the plagues of your seed great and persistent plagues; with evil and long-lasting sicknesses.

Deu 28:60  Also, He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid. And they shall cling to you.

Deu 28:61  Also, every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Law, Jehovah will bring them on you until you are destroyed.

Deu 28:62  And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you would not obey the voice of Jehovah your God.

Deu 28:63  And it shall be, as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nothing. And you shall be plucked from off the land where you go to possess it.

Deu 28:64  And Jehovah shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other, and you shall serve other gods there, which neither you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone.

Deu 28:65  And among these nations you shall find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest. But Jehovah shall give you there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind.

Deu 28:66  And your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall fear day and night, and shall have no assurance of your life.

Deu 28:67  In the morning you shall say, Oh that it were evening! And at evening you shall say, Oh that it were morning, for the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

Deu 28:68  And Jehovah shall bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again. And there you shall be sold to your enemies for men-slaves and women-slaves, and no man shall buy you.

 


The Quartodecimanism Controversy

When I first posted this article in 5848-003 many of us were deeply influenced by the teachings of the World Wide Church of God. They kept the Foot Washing at the start of the 14th and the Night to be Much observed at the end of the 14th. In doing this Passover was fuzzy as to when it actually was.

The ceremony of the Foot Washing indicated that this was the Passover evening as done by Yehshua. In fact one WWCG leader, Fred Coulter would write a voluminous book in favour of Passover being at the start of the 14th.

It is my hope that last weeks teachings along with this weeks will help you to know and understand the Quartodecimanism controversy and it’s errors in understanding. Here is what wiki pedia says on this.

Quartodecimanism (from the Vulgate Latin quarta decima in Leviticus 23:5,[1] meaning fourteenth) refers to the custom of some early Christians observing the Passover beginning with the eve of the 14th day of Nisan (called Aviv/Abib in preexilic times in the Hebrew Bible calendar).

The Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts seven days (Leviticus 23:6), starting with the sunset at the beginning of the 15th day of the month Nisan. Judaismreckons the beginning of each day at sunset, not at sunrise as is the ancient custom in European traditions referencing Leviticus 23:32 “evening until evening” . The Hebrew biblical law regarding Passover is said to be a “perpetual ordinance” (Exodus 12:14), to some degree also applicable to proselytes (Exodus 12:19).

Regarding the chronology of Jesus, the Gospel of John (e.g., 19:14, 19:31, 19:42) implies that Nisan 14 was the day that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, while the Synoptic Gospels instead place the execution on the first day of Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17). Both John and Synoptics agree that the day of crucifixion was on the day of the Preparation, which is the reason Christ and the two thieves had to be quickly taken off the cross and rushed into the tomb before the sun had set in John 19:42. By the time of Christ, many customs in regard to the festival had changed, notable among them the intermixing of the two festivals in some customs and terminology. The whole day of Nisan 14, when the passover lamb was to be killed, was often collectively referred to as the Passover, when in fact the passover was not a day but a meal eaten at the very end of the day and the start of Nisan 15.[2][3]

The Quartodeciman controversy arose because Christians in the churches of Jerusalem and Asia Minor observed the Passover on the 14th of the first month (Nisan), no matter the day of the week on which it occurred, while the churches in and around Rome changed to the practice of celebrating Easter always on the Sunday following first Full Moon following the vernal equinox, calling it “the day of the resurrection of our Saviour”. The difference was turned into an ecclesiastical controversy when the practice was condemned by synods of bishops.[4]

Finally remember this one fact. The Sabbath and the Holy Days are tests.

Exo 16:4  Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.

Yehovah gives you certain situations to see if you will obey Him or not. He is testing you. Is the Passover to be kept on the 14th or the 15th. This is another test. Will you prove it? Will you be Berean enough to prove it beyond all possible doubt? Scriptures say to eat the Passover meal on the 15th with unleavened Bread. The test is will you obey or move it to another day that makes sense to you?

Between the Evenings

I did not realize when I posted the News letter 5848-003 for this Shabbat how many were confused by the chronology of Passover and when it is to be eaten. I have had phone calls and many emails, all of them stating I am wrong; All them basing their position on the Ben Ha Arbayim or between the evenings understanding. Or should I say misunderstanding. I have also received many thanking me for making the chronology of the events of Passover very plain.

It is my desire that we all keep each feast as we are commanded in Torah. But over time Satan has confused and muddied many of the scriptures.

Let me say right here I am not going after any one person or group. I feel it is of utmost importance to keep the Passover. And to keep the Memorial that Yehshua established. But we are warned by Paul in 1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. 29 For the one who is eating and drinking unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Master. 30 Because of this many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we were to examine ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Master, that we should not be condemned with the world.

When an issue such as this comes up it forces me to again double check my understanding. And then to search for the reason why so many have it another way and which one is right.

And because of the importance of the issue I have felt compelled to issue this News letter before next Shabbat to give those who need it time to sort out this issue before Passover comes at the end of this coming week.

We are commanded to go and tell our brother when we see him sinning in both the Torah and Brit Chadasha, New Covenant.

Lev 19:17 ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Reprove your neighbour, for certain, and bear no sin because of him.

Mat 18:12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, would he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, going to seek the one that is straying? 13 “And if he should find it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 “Thus it is not the desire of your Father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should be lost. 15 “And if your brother sins against you, go and reprove him, between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 “But if he does not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be established.’ 17 “And if he refuses to hear them, say it to the assembly. And if he refuses even to hear the assembly, let him be to you like a gentile and a tax collector.

Let us now read in Clarks commentary what these two verses actually mean.

Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible
Thou shalt not hate thy brother – Thou shalt not only not do him any kind of evil, but thou shalt harbor no hatred in thy heart towards him. On the contrary, thou shalt love him as thyself, Leviticus 19:18. Many persons suppose, from misunderstanding our Lord’s words, John 13:34, A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another, etc., that loving our neighbor as ourselves was first instituted under the Gospel. This verse shows the opinion to be unfounded: but to love another as Christ has loved us, i. e., to lay down our lives for each other, is certainly a new commandment; we have it simply on the authority of Jesus Christ alone.

And not suffer sin upon him – If thou see him sin, or know him to be addicted to any thing by which the safety of his soul is endangered, thou shalt mildly and affectionately reprove him, and by no means permit him to go on without counsel and advice in a way that is leading him to perdition. In a multitude of cases timely reproof has been the means of saving the soul. Speak to him privately if possible; if not, write to him in such a way that himself alone shall see it.

Luke 17:3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
1 John 2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

If we do not tell our Brother of their sins when we see it, it is the same as hating our Brother and walking in darkness and the same as if we had murdered him.

In the 613 Mitzvot this command to warn your Brother is found in Mitzvot #30

(30) Do not cherish hatred in your heart. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart.” (Leviticus 19:17) Could it be that the rabbis actually got one right? This is apparently a no-brainer, the converse of #26, “You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself.” But look at what follows: it almost sounds like a contradiction: “You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.” In light of this close contextual connection, we shouldn’t automatically assume Moses has moved on to a different subject. Actually, I believe the second phrase defines what it is to “hate your brother.” And the truth that emerges if we make this connection has stunning relevance for us today: we are not to be tolerant of false teaching, but are rather to “rebuke” those in error—to neglect this correction is to hate our brother. Remember the rabbinical mitzvah (#27) that said Do not stand by idly when a human life is in danger? This is the practical outworking of the principal: if your brother is in spiritual error, if he espouses doctrines that Yahweh’s Word says will kill him in the end, then to withhold rebuke and admonition is to hate him. By tolerating his heresy, you are sending him to hell, like indulging a diabetic’s sweet tooth.

What does it mean to “bear” sin? The Hebrew word is nasa, meaning to lift, or carry. It is “used in reference to the bearing of guilt or punishment for sin” leading to the “representative or substitutionary bearing of one person’s guilt by another.” (B&C) Yahweh did not want false teaching tolerated in Israel because the guilt—and thus the punishment—incurred would eventually be borne by the entire nation. He would have spared them that pain. He would spare us that pain.

This ought to shed new light on Yahshua’s confirmation of the principle that loving Yahweh and our fellow man is the path to life. “One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: ‘Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?’ Jesus replied, ‘What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?’ The man answered, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘Right!’ Jesus told him. ‘Do this and you will live!’” (Luke 10:25-28 NLT) Friends don’t let friends fall prey to false teaching.

I am going to let you read from someone who has done the research on this subject that I am not able to explain satisfactorily. Please forgive me for my inability to explain this to those whom I have been communicating with. May Yehovah guide us all into the truth. Please read this in order to understand and not to argue and fight.
http://www.hope-of-israel.org/arbayim.htm

Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Mystery of Ben Ha Arbayim —

When Was the Passover Killed?

Some proponents of observing the Passover insist that the Hebrew expression Ben Ha Arbayim — translated literally as “between the two evenings” — has to refer to dusk or twilight, the period of time after sunset and before dark. The Jews and orthodox Judaism, however, maintain that this expression refers to the period between noon and sunset. Which is the truth? Since the Passover lamb was killed “ben ha arbayim,” this question is of vital importance in determining when Passover should be observed! Let us lay aside the opinions of men, and tradition, and prove from the Scriptures exactly when the Passover was to be killed!

In Exodus 12:6, YEHOVAH God commands Israel, “And you shall keep it [the Passover lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Many have been perplexed by this expression, “in the evening.” The margin of my National Bible says, “from the ninth to the eleventh hour.” In Israel, the day had twelve hours, beginning around 6:00 AM our time as the first hour. Therefore, the ninth to the eleventh hour would have been from 3:00 PM in the afternoon till 5:00 PM.

However, another Bible I have has a marginal rendering of this expression, saying, “Hebrew, between the two evenings.” The question is, does this period of time refer to the afternoon of Nisan 14, especially from 3:00-5:00 PM? Or does it refer to the BEGINNING of Nisan 14, which begins about 6:00 PM the previous evening, from the time the sun sets until dark sets in — a period of about forty minutes or so?

Some who observe “Passover” at the beginning hours of Nisan 14, shortly after sunset, claim this expression means twilight, between sunset and dark. Is this really true?

In his book entitled The Christian Passover, Fred R. Coulter, former minister of the Worldwide Church of God, asserts that this expression is “the vital key to understanding.” He claims that the Scriptural meaning of ben ha arbayim is the period of time after sunset, normally referred to as dusk or twilight — definitely NOT “late afternoon”! Coulter simply rejects out of hand Jewish explanations and exegesis on this expression, as well as the studies of most scholars. Coulter claims that the traditional Jewish explanation of this term, such as that of Rabbi Rashi, a renown scholar of the Torah, simply contradicts Exodus 12:8, which, he says, shows that the entire Passover was to be kept on the 14th of Nisan, and the Passover lambs were to be eaten on the night of the 14th, not the 15th!

These are very strong words. Coulter claims that Exodus 16 is the KEY PROOF that he is right, and all the rabbis and scholars are wrong. He accuses various scholars, including Robert Kuhn and Lester L. Grabbe, formerly with the Worldwide Church of God, of “either ignoring or overlooking the plain commands of God which were given in the original Passover and which have been preserved in His Word” (p. 28, The Christian Passover ).

What is this “proof” which he refers to?

The Mystery of the Word “Evening”

Asserts Fred Coulter, the Hebrew term generally translated “evening,” or “even” — ba erev — means “sunset.” Therefore, according to him, all the common Bible translations are in error, as well as Strong’s Concordance and every Hebrew lexicon in existence! Coulter does not bother to “prove” that ba erev should be translated “sunset.” He simply asserts it is so, saying so dogmatically, without providing any evidence whatsoever. Coulter declares that “the meaning of ba erev is without controversy,” and further says it means “sunset.”

But is this really true?

The apostle Paul says that we are to “prove ALL things” (I Thess.5:21). Otherwise, slick, oily, and imperious deceivers will twist Scripture and have us believing white is black and sweet is sour, truth is error and error is pure truth! Isaiah the prophet warns,

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21).

The Jews and rabbis most emphatically do NOT agree with Coulter’s claim that ba erev should be translated “sunset.” This is a blatant untruth. Therefore, his assertion that his statement that ba erev means “sunset” is “without controversy” is simply amazing, to put it mildly. According to the Jewish rabbis and all scholars, the term ba erev simply means “evening,” in a general sense. Notice! Here is the proof to back up my statement:

Says the Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament, of the term erev,

“(1) evening (m. and fem., I Sam. 29:5) . . . at evening . . . Dual, arbayim, the two evenings; only in the phrase, ben ha arbayim, between the two evenings, Exodus 16:12; 30:8, used as marking the space of time during which the paschal lamb was slain, Ex. 12:6; Lev. 23:5; Num. 9:3; and the evening sacrifice was offered, Ex. 29:39, 41; Num. 28:4 . . .” (p. 652).

Genesis shows that the word erev simply means “evening,” and makes no mention at all of its meaning “sunset.” However, he points out that the expression ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings,” is controversial.

“…according to the opinion of the Karaites and Samaritans…the time between sunset and deep twilight. The Pharisees, however (see Josephus Bellum Jud. vi. 9, par 30), and the Rabbinists considered the time when the sun began to descend to be called the FIRST EVENING (Arabic ‘little evening’; when it begins to draw towards evening); and the SECOND EVENING to be the REAL SUNSET” (p. 652, emphasis mine).

Coulter, having asserted that ba erev means “sunset,” then proceeds to the next step in his explanation: He states that there is a “legitimate, Biblically sound, chronologically defined, Scripturally documented way to prove, beyond any shadow of doubt whatsoever, that ben ha arbayim originally meant the time period from sunset to dark” (p. 37). He says this “proof” is in Exodus 16. Let’s take a look.

The Mystery of the Quail

Coulter quotes Exodus 16:6, “And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, AT EVEN, then shall ye know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt.” Coulter inserts in parentheses, after the words “AT EVEN,” the following interpolation: “ba erev, or sunset-ending that Sabbath on which this message was given” (page 41, The Christian Passover). Notice! He defines ba erev as “sunset.”

Coulter is building a “case.” Once he gets the reader to accept this “re-definition” of the expression ba erev, he has the reader at his mercy. For he then refers to verse 8 of Exodus 16. Notice, once again: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, AT EVEN [Heb. ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings”] ye shall eat flesh . . .” (verses 11-12). “And it came to pass, AT EVEN [ba erev ] the QUAILS came up, and covered the camp” (verse 13).

Coulter says YEHOVAH God sent the quail at ba erev, which he says is “sunset.” Therefore, since the quails came at sunset, and were EATEN at ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings,” Coulter reasons that this “proves” that ben ha arbayim must refer to the time after sunset, or dusk!

The problem with this interpretation is that ba erev does not mean “sunset,” as a point in time, but means “EVENING”! Therefore, this passage in Exodus 16, which Coulter admits is the “KEY” to the whole question, turns out to be an argument based solely on his own personal definition of ba erev. Therefore, Coulter’s case falls flat on its face! He has proved nothing.

Says The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible:

“It [the daylight portion of the day] was divided into morning, noon, and evening (Psa. 55:17; cf. Dan. 6:10)” (“Day,” p. 214).

This authority adds:

“The festival [Passover] began on the 14th of Abib at EVENING, that is, in the beginning of the 15th day, with the sacrificial meal (Lev. 23:5-6). A lamb or kid was slain between the evenings, that is, TOWARD SUNSET (Exo. 12:6; Deut. 16:6; cf. between the 9th and 11th hours . . .” (“Passover,” p. 705).

In the remainder of this article, we will prove beyond any reasonable doubt that this authority is correct — and that the Jewish tradition is correct. Rather than be misled by Coulter’s definition of “at even,” let’s see what the Scriptures themselves tell us about this expression. And, afterward, let’s see how the Scriptures themselves interpret the expression “between the two evenings.”

Letting The Bible Interpret “At Even”

Can the term ba erev mean later afternoon? Coulter says it means “sunset.” However, if you look in a Bible Concordance such as Strong’s, you will find this expression is translated “evening” 49 (7 x7) times in the Old Testament! It is never translated “sunset.” Let us notice some of the places where it is used, and how it is used.

In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his faithful servant to find a wife for Isaac back in his own original country, so he will not marry a Canaanite woman. When the servant travels back to the land of Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor, he stops. We read:

“And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the EVENING, even the time that the women go out to draw water” (Gen. 24:11).

What time would women go out to draw water? This would refer to late afternoon, not after sunset when it is getting dark outside. Women would not wait until it is growing dark, or till dusk or twilight, before getting their water from the well. Remember, these were communal wells, and supplied water for the entire community, and would have been used by many women. They would certainly allow themselves plenty of time so that they would not be lined up at the well, in the dark, waiting their turn to draw water.

Let’s look at another example. Turn to the story of David and Goliath. Notice:

“And there went out a a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span…And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us….

“And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days” (I Samuel 17:4-16).

When did Goliath approach the Israelite army, to utter his defiant challenge? Do you think he waited until sunset, or twilight, the period after sunset, to make his boast? Logically, this challenge would have been uttered before the Israelite army mid-morning and mid-afternoon — long before sunset!

Jeremiah the prophet, however, makes it very plain that the term “evening,” or ba erev in the Hebrew language, can mean afternoon. Notice his words!

“Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out” (Jeremiah 6:4).

When are shadows lengthened or stretched out? At high noon, there is no shadow cast. As the sun goes toward the western horizon, the shadows are lengthened out. As the sun nears the horizon, the shadows become their longest. But after sunset, there are no shadows cast at all — for it is the sun which casts shadows. Therefore, here we find proof positive that the term ba erev or “evening” refers to the time of late afternoon, before sunset!

Now then, with this understanding, notice how this word is used to denote the beginning and ending of a “day.”

The Day of Atonement and Passover Week

In Leviticus 23:27 we read: “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement . . .” There is no question that the Day of Atonement is the tenth day of Tishri — nobody argues otherwise. But now notice how YEHOVAH God Himself delimits and defines this period of time! Notice how YEHOVAH God uses the term “at even” to refer to the END of a day rather than the beginning hours!

In Leviticus 23:32 we read, “. . . in the ninth day of the month AT EVEN, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath [the Day of Atonement].” The expression “at even” here is obviously used to mean the ENDING portion of the ninth day. Thus the Day of Atonement starts after the concluding portion of the ninth of Tishri. It lasts until the concluding portion of the tenth of Tishri. The “evening” of the 9th would be the afternoon, up until sunset; the evening of the 10th would be the afternoon of the 10th, until sunset. A grade school student could see that principle. The Day of Atonement begins at sunset, when the 9th day of Tishri ends, because the Day of Atonement IS the “tenth day” of the month!

However, in stating this fact, the Bible says the Day of Atonement, the 10th of Tishri, begins “in the ninth day of the month, AT EVEN . . .” Clearly the “AT EVEN” here has to refer to the ending of the ninth day, NOT ITS BEGINNING! If this expression referred to the twilight portion of the day, beginning the day right after sunset, then the Day of Atonement would be the 9th day of Tishri!

Another Biblical example of this truth is found in the instructions YEHOVAH God gives on when to keep the days of Unleavened Bread. Notice! We read: “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” (Exodus 12:18). If “at even” here meant the beginning of Nisan 14, then this verse would be saying the 14th of Nisan is the first Day of Unleavened Bread, and we should therefore be observing the Feast from Nisan 14 to Nisan 20 — not from Nisan 15 to Nisan 21! Obviously, “on the fourteenth . . . AT EVEN,” refers to the END of Nisan 14! And the 21st day “at even” refers to the ENDING of the 21st day of the month! Even those who argue that Passover should be observed at the beginning of Nisan 14 admit that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is from Nisan 15 to 21. They admit that the “even” mentioned in Exodus 12:18 refers to the END of the day. Logically, then, the same should be true, in speaking of the Passover (Exodus 12:6)!

Letting the Bible interpret the Bible, then, “on the fourteenth day AT EVEN” plainly means at the END of the fourteenth — as Exodus 12:18 says. The Bible is consistent. YEHOVAH God does not contradict Himself. “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Therefore, the rule of consistency proves that the term “even” or “evening” as used in both Exodus 12:18 and Exodus 12:6 means the same thing in both verses — that is, the word “even,” as used in verse 6, which deals with the slaying of the Passover lambs, also means at the ENDING PART of Nisan 14. However, since the actual expression in Exodus 12:6 is a variation of the term “evening” in Hebrew — a term which would technically be translated as “between the two evenings,” let us see just how this term relates to the term “evening” in the Scriptures.

Evidence from Deuteronomy

When, then, was the Passover to be killed? Before or after sunset? Let’s understand!

Notice Deuteronomy 16:4. This verse shows that the Passover is a part of the days of Unleavened Bread, leading right into them. We read: “And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day AT EVEN, remain all night until the morning.” Here the 14th of Nisan is called “the first day.” That is because it is the late afternoon of the 14th that the Passover was sacrificed, leading right into the First Day of Unleavened Bread that same sunset!

This shows, too, that the “first day” when all leaven was to be put out of the houses of the Israelites was Nisan 14 (Exodus 12:15; compare Deut.16:4 and Exodus 12:18-19). From the end of Nisan 14 they ate unleavened bread until the end of the 21st day of Nisan.

Now, notice verse 6 of this chapter. Here is the solution to the problem! Here Moses is told by YEHOVAH God, “But in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover AT EVEN, at the GOING DOWN of the sun . . .”

Letting the Bible interpret the Bible, then this expression ba erev or “evening” when the Passover was killed, and the expression ben ha arbayim, which also denotes the time the Passover lambs were killed, was the same moment or time period described as “the going down of the sun.” Literally, the expression “at the going down of the sun” can only mean when the SUN IS IN THE PROCESS OF DESCENDING IN THE WESTERN SKY! That is, from the time the sun BEGINS to DESCEND, at high noon, until SUNSET — when it has completed its descent to the point where it is below the western horizon and has disappeared from sight!

Notice! It is the “going down” — present progressive tense — showing the action of the sun moving down in the western sky. This period of time must be, has to be, by logical, careful analysis, from the moment after NOON, at the earliest, lasting until the sun disappears behind the horizon, or the actual moment of SUNSET! Once the sun has “set,” it is no longer “going down” — it has, rather, “GONE DOWN”!

The expression “at the going down of the sun” means “as the sun goes down” — showing it was during the action of the sun moving down in the sky toward the western horizon. In English, this is the present progressive tense. If YEHOVAH God had meant to convey the idea that the lambs were to be killed AFTER the sun went down, that is, after sunset, then He would have stated it differently. He would have said, “AFTER the sun goes down,” or, “After the sun HAS GONE down.” The sun “goes down” until it “sets.” After it “sets,” it has technically “gone down.” YEHOVAH God commanded that the lambs be slain as the sun sinks in the western sky — not after it has already plunged beneath the horizon! The Jews have always faithfully done this, as long as the Passover was sacrificed, throughout their history.

The Septuagint makes it perfectly clear. We read:

“Thou shalt not have power to sacrifice the passover in any of the cities, which the Lord thy God gives thee. But in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, to have his name called there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even AT THE SETTING OF THE SUN . . .”

The command is plain that the lambs had to be slain ON THE FOURTEENTH of Nisan, in the late afternoon, BEFORE the sun had set! But if the lambs were not slain till AFTER SUNSET of the 14th, they would have been slain on the FIFTEENTH! That would have been a violation of the commandment! Also, if they were slain at the beginning of the 14th, after sunset of the 13th of Nisan, that would not have been during the “going down” or “setting” of the sun.

Could anything be plainer? Even a small child can understand this truth! Why is it that so many cannot grasp these plain and simple Spiritual, Biblical truths?

“The Going Down of the Sun”

This same expression is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. “And when the sun was going down . . .” (Gen. 15:12). The Hebrew Scriptures state: “AS THE SUN WAS ABOUT TO SET . . .” Clearly, this expression refers to the time BEFORE SUNSET, not afterward!

“And afterward Joshua smote them (the Canaanite kings), and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees UNTIL THE EVENING. And it came to pass at the TIME OF THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain unto this very day” (Josh. 10:26-27).

The Septuagint also makes this verse clearer. Notice!

“And Joshua slew them and hanged them on five trees; and they hung upon the trees until the evening. And it came to pass toward the setting of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, and cast them into the cave into which they had fled for refuge, and rolled stones to the cave, which remain until this day.”

This event shows that the expression “going down of the sun” refers to the time right up until sunset or sundown, but not after. The Israelites were commanded, in the law of YEHOVAH God, not to allow the dead bodies of criminals to hang on a tree at night. God told Moses, “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall BURY HIM THE SAME DAY” (Deut. 21:22-23). Since each day begins and ends at SUNSET, to bury such a criminal “THE SAME DAY” means he had to be buried PRIOR TO SUNSET! Thus, we read again of Joshua who slew the king of Ai. “And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree UNTIL EVENING; and AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree. . .” (Joshua 8:29, RSV)

This same expression is used in the Bible of the death of king Ahab. As Ahab was fighting the Syrians, he was struck by an arrow from a bowman and was sorely wounded. “And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and DIED AT EVEN: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there went out a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country” (I Kings 22:35-36).

The Hebrew Tanakh, or “Holy Scriptures,” has this verse, “as the sun was GOING DOWN . . .”

Again, the reference is to the time just prior to sunset or sundown, as the sun’s disk begins to move toward the horizon and set in the west.

YEHOVAH God’s Covenant with Abraham and the 400 Years

After YEHOVAH God brought Abraham out of the land of the Chaldees, He made a covenant with him, promising him that his children would someday be innumerable like the stars of heaven. Then, that afternoon, YEHOVAH had Abraham sacrifice a heifer of three years age, a she goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove, and a pigeon. These sacrifices were a type of the coming sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah, who became a Son of God at his resurrection. His ministry lasted exactly three years, which is the age of the sacrificed heifer, she goat, and ram. After he completed the sacrifice, Abraham drove away the birds that attempted to alight on the carcasses of the sacrifices (Gen. 15:1-11). Then we read:

“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell over Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward they shall come out with great substance…In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land . . .” (Gen. 15:12-18).

Why did a “horror” or a “nightmare” come over Abraham, as the “sun was going down”? This is the same expression we have just been studying. This “horror” came over Abraham at the same time the future Passover lambs would be slain — at the identical time when Yeshua the Messiah our Passover would be slain for us! No wonder Abraham felt this sense of horror — the innocent “lamb of God” would be slain at the very time the Son of God would die upon the tree of crucifixion!

These sacrifices pictured the Messiah, and they were performed in the late afternoon, as the sun was going down, and descending in the sky. Four hundred years later, on the very same day, YEHOVAH God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt!

“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover . . .” (Exo. 12:40-43).

What Abraham was permitted to preview, some 400 years earlier, to the very self-same day, was the ordinance and sacrifice of the Passover! Therefore, for the typology to be complete, just as these sacrifices he performed were done in the afternoon, at the going down of the sun, before sunset, even so the Passover lambs some 400 years later would be slain in the afternoon of Nisan 14, and eaten on Nisan 15 — the very night of the Passover, when the LORD “passed over” the children of Israel, and slew the firstborn of the Egyptians — the very night YEHOVAH God freed His people from slavery and bondage by the act of the “Passover”!

A New Look at “Between the Two Evenings”

Since the term ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings,” is so controversial, let us see how this expression is used in the Scriptures. According to the Word of YEHOVAH God, there were four things which were to be performed at the time period known as “between the two evenings” — it was the time the Passover was to be killed, the time of the evening sacrifice, the time the lamp-stand in the Temple was lit, and the time the incense was offered.

Notice, now, how this expression denotes the time of the “evening sacrifice.”

In the book of Numbers YEHOVAH God gives instructions concerning the daily sacrifices which were to be offered before Him. YEHOVAH God commanded, “And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot DAY BY DAY [Heb. ‘IN A DAY’], for a continual burnt offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer IN THE MORNING, and the other lamb shalt thou offer AT EVEN [Heb. ben ha arbayim, or between the two evenings] . . .” (Num. 28:3-4).

Notice carefully! Both these offerings were to be offered DAILY, “day by day,” “IN A DAY” — that is, WITHIN THE SAME DAY! The first one is the morning sacrifice, and the second one is the EVENING sacrifice. In order for the evening sacrifice to be offered the SAME DAY as the morning sacrifice, it had to be offered BEFORE SUNSET! Otherwise it would have been the NEXT day! What could be clearer? Thus, here we find incontrovertible, inexorable, yet simple proof that “between the evenings” has to refer to the period of time BEFORE SUNSET, not after sundown, as the Samaritans taught!

Notice it again! In this plain passage of Scripture, we are told that the DAILY SACRIFICE involves both a morning and an “evening” sacrifice, and the “evening” sacrifice occurs “between the two evenings.” Yet this passage says plainly that these two sacrifices were “IN A DAY.” The morning sacrifice, which was done first, was in the SAME DAY as the “evening” sacrifice, which was made that same day, “between the two evenings”! Since the day ENDS at sunset, this expression ben ha arbayim HAS to refer to late AFTERNOON! If it referred to dusk, or twilight, after sunset, as some claim, then it would be THE NEXT DAY!

How clear it all is, when we simply let the Bible interpret the Bible! It’s really NOT complex at all. It’s simply a matter of following the Bible and not a man, even if that man happens to some self-anointed “scholar” or swaggering minister who is “wise in his own eyes” and a “legend in his own mind.” The question is, will we follow the INSPIRED WORD OF YEHOVAH GOD — or will we follow the opinions of a man?

Lighting of the Lamp, and the Incense

The lighting of the Lampstand in the Temple, and the incense offering, both also occurred at ben ha arbayim, or “between the two evenings.” Interestingly, at the time of the morning sacrifice, which was offered at 9 o’clock in the morning, the Temple lamps were “dressed,” and incense was also offered, together with the morning sacrifice (Exodus 30:7). Then at the time of the evening sacrifice, we read:

“And when Aaron lighteth [Heb. “setteth up” or “causeth to ascend”] the lamps at even [“between the two evenings”], he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations” (Exo. 30:8).

Therefore, the daily sacrifice, the incense offering, and the lamp lighting and trimming, was done every day, throughout the generations of Israel, as long as there was a Sanctuary or a Temple, at the appointed time called “between the two evenings.”

Can we establish this as being in the mid-afternoon, or about 3:00 o’clock, by another approach to the subject?

The Appointed “Time of Prayer”

The daily sacrifice was a time of “prayer” at the Temple, and the daily sacrifice and incense were physical types of prayer and sacrifice of ourselves to the service of YEHOVAH God. The apostle Paul speaks of prayer as “the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Heb.13:15). David declared, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2).

In the book of Revelation, we read:

“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand” (Rev. 8:3-4).

Thus it is clear that “incense” and the time of prayer are connected in the Word of YEHOVAH God. They are connected with each other, and with the time of the “evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2). What is this “time”? Is it after sunset, or before? Is it after dark, or during the afternoon? Let us continue.

It was customary for the people of Israel to be at the Temple, and to pray, at the time of the offering of the incense, and the evening sacrifice. We read in the book of Ezra, Ezra the priest declared:

“And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God” (Ezra 9:5).

Likewise, Elijah the great prophet of YEHOVAH God, at the time of the evening sacrifice, prayed to YEHOVAH, and fire came down from heaven and devoured his offering atop Mount Carmel. The scene was Mount Carmel in northern Israel. The prophets of Baal have been crying out to their god to bring fire down from heaven to consume their sacrifices. But nothing happens. We pick up the story:

“And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any answer, nor any that regarded. . . . And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God” (I Kings 18:29, 36-39).

Here again, prayer to YEHOVAH God is connected with the evening sacrifice — it is the time of “evening prayer.” As David said in the Psalms, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17). Daniel also prayed three times a day to YEHOVAH, at the hours of prayer (Daniel 6:10). One of these times was the time of the evening sacrifice — as Daniel records:

“Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation” (Dan. 9:21).

This custom continued into New Testament times. Luke records of Zecharias, the father of John the Baptizer:

“According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of the incense” (Luke 1:9-10).

When Was the “Time of Prayer”?

Thus the time of incense, the time of the daily sacrifices, morning and evening, was the time of prayer. But when was the “hour of prayer”? Does the Bible tell us elsewhere when the appointed, traditional, customary “time of prayer” at the Temple occurred? Yes, it does! The book of Acts, in the New Testament, gives us the literal, undeniable answer:

“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the NINTH HOUR” (Acts 3:1).

“And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard . . .” (Acts 10:30-31; also 10:1-4).

The ninth hour of the day, Jewish time, would be 3 o’clock in the afternoon, our time. This was therefore the time of evening devotions, the evening sacrifice, the evening incense offering, the time of the lighting of the lamps in the Temple — and it is the time called “between the two evenings,” or ben ha arbayim!

The morning time of devotion and prayer, was the time of the morning sacrifice, the morning incense, and morning lamp trimming in the Temple. It was the time Peter and the disciples went to the Temple, to worship, on the Day of Pentecost, in 31 A.D. At that time of prayer, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and lighted on the disciples, like a flame of fire, and enabled them to speak in many different languages, miraculously (Acts 3:1-13). Peter said to the assembled multitude, worshipping at the Temple:

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day” (Acts 3:14-15).

What is the real significance, then, of these times of prayer — 9 o’clock in the morning and 3 o’clock in the afternoon? We read in the gospel of Mark:

“And it was the third hour [9:00 AM], and they crucified him. . . . And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? . . . And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mark 15:25, 34-38).

Yeshua the Messiah was nailed to the tree of crucifixion, at 9 o’clock in the morning, where he remained all day, suffering, until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when he died. Thus he was nailed to the tree as the “morning sacrifice,” and died at the same time as the “evening sacrifices” were normally killed. He died at the very time of ben ha arbayim, or “between the two evenings.” But there is even more to the story. Yeshua the Messiah died at the very time of the Passover sacrifices in Jerusalem, which also were offered at ben ha arbayim — in the afternoon, before sunset!

During the Time of the Messiah — an Eye-Witness Speaks

During the time of the Messiah, the Jews were slaying their Passover lambs at the Temple of YEHOVAH God — about 250,000 lambs at each Passover celebration during the first century. We are not told precisely how so many lambs were killed during the afternoon of Nisan 14, but undoubtedly hundreds of priests were conscripted into service, so that the logistics of the problem could be met. Additional areas on the Temple Mount, including the sacred area of the Mount of Olives, where the red heifer sacrifice was performed, may also have been drafted into service to accomplish the task. However it occurred, Josephus the Jewish historian who lived during the first century, relates:

“So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour to the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice . . . and many of us are twenty in a company, found this number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty six thousand five hundred: which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to two million seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons that were pure and holy” (Wars of the Jews, Book VI, 9:3).

Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, used Jewish time reckoning, so when he says the lambs were killed from the “ninth to the eleventh” hour, he means from about 3 o’clock in the afternoon until about 5 o’clock.

Yeshua the Messiah — Perfect Passover Lamb, Perfect Proof!

Yeshua the Messiah was killed at 3:00 PM in the afternoon of Nisan 14, according to Scripture. At the ninth hour, when the Jews began killing their Passover lambs, Yeshua himself hung on the tree.

Matthew’s gospel states, “Now from the sixth hour [noon] there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour [3:00 PM]. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias [Elijah]. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost” (Matt. 27:45-50).

Yeshua, the Saviour and Messiah, YEHOVAH God’s Anointed One, the “Lamb of God” (John 1:36), IS YEHOVAH’s suffering servant who gave his life for the sins of the world, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote:

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are HEALED.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a LAMB to the slaughter [the Passover lamb!], and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was CUT OFF from the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

“And he made his grave with the wicked [the two robbers slain with him], and with the rich in his death [he was given Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb]; because he hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make HIS SOUL [LIFE] AN OFFERING FOR SIN, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days [be resurrected!], and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:4-10).

As Paul put it plainly: “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7-8). Yeshua the Messiah fulfilled the symbolism of the ancient Passover lambs perfectly. He was YEHOVAH God’s “lamb without blemish.”

The Perfect Proof

Certainly the Messiah, the Passover Lamb, had to be slain at the proper time! Those who claim that the Passover is to be observed at the BEGINNING of Nisan 14, and admit that the lambs were slain in the afternoon of Nisan 14, have a very serious problem. According to their chronology, Yeshua was therefore not slain until some twenty or twenty four hours LATER than the time they claim the Passover is to be observed!

On the other hand, those who claim that the Passover lambs were slain after sunset of Nisan 13, during the dusk or twilight of the beginning of Nisan 14, have an even greater problem. According to their reckoning, the Messiah died about 20 hours AFTER the Passover lambs were to be slain, at the beginning of Nisan 14 — thus invalidating and compromising his claim to being our Messiah! By their reckoning, his death was at the wrong time, and did not therefore perfectly fulfill the Passover typology!

If that were the case, then the Messiah could not truly have been our Saviour, YEHOVAH God’s Passover Lamb — he would be a fake, a fraud, an impostor, a counterfeit!

But thank YEHOVAH God, the Messiah was the PERFECT fulfillment of the Passover. Therefore, he was slain at the VERY MOMENT the Passover lambs were being slain at the Temple of YEHOVAH God! He was slain at the VERY TIME YEHOVAH God commanded for the Passover to be killed — “between the two evenings”!

Even as these sacrificial lambs were being slaughtered at the Temple, in 31 A.D., YEHOVAH God’s own True Passover Lamb, Yeshua the Messiah, was being slain for all of us who accept his shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins (II Cor. 5:20; I Cor. 5:7-8). Thus Yeshua the Messiah fulfilled the TYPE of the Passover lambs PERFECTLY — RIGHT ON TIME, exactly on schedule!

If the lambs were sacrificed the previous evening, as come claim, then Yeshua missed the correct time by twenty hours — and did not fulfill the type of the Passover perfectly! If that were true, then he could not be our SAVIOUR! He would be an impostor! But Yeshua fulfilled EVERY Scripture that prophesied of his coming TO THE MOST INFINITE DETAIL, in every respect — PERFECTLY in all points!

Now, let’s look at this question from the reverse angle. We know the Messiah was our Passover lamb (I Cor. 5:7). Therefore, we know that he must have died at the right time, when the Passover was to be killed. The fact that the gospels plainly show that Yeshua was killed at precisely 3:00 PM on the afternoon of Nisan 14, then, PROVES that the original Passover lambs were to be killed at that same time! This is further proof, then, that ben ha arbayim has to mean the late afternoon!

Here, then, is the ultimate proof — the example of Yeshua the Messiah himself, our Passover lamb! HE was slain at 3:00 PM in the afternoon; he HAD to fulfill the commandment to be slain “between the two evenings” (Exodus 12:6). Therefore, ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings,” MUST refer to a time which includes 3:00 PM in the afternoon!

What More Proof Do We Need?

If the Pharisees were wrong in sacrificing the Passover in the late afternoon, then Yeshua would have been wrong to say they sit in Moses’ seat and that we are to follow their interpretation of the Law (Matt. 23:1-3). If they were wrong in the time they sacrificed and observed the Passover, then Yeshua would have been derelict in his duty as the Son of YEHOVAH God and the one “greater than Moses” for never chiding or faulting them for such a heinous error of the greatest magnitude.

If the Pharisees were wrong, then the apostle Paul, who said he was a Pharisee, and that he kept the law of YEHOVAH God “blamelessly” as a Pharisee (Phi. 3:6), would have been a liar. But both Yeshua, and Paul, endorse the teachings of the Jews, and the Pharisees, as the correct teachings concerning the time of killing the Passover, and observing the Passover. They never faulted the Pharisees on this teaching.

To know and understand the truth of YEHOVAH God is a wonderful blessing. To obey YEHOVAH God is even better! The times of ignorance YEHOVAH has winked at, but now commands all who learn the truth to repent of error, and to correct their mistakes.

It may not seem to men to be a very important thing as to when they observe Passover, or how they keep it. But it is important in the sight of YEHOVAH God. YEHOVAH God Himself sets the parameters of true worship — not men, ministers, priests, or other human beings. Will we obey YEHOVAH in this matter? Or will we follow men? Will we serve YEHOVAH God? Or follow Baal?

I know that many have gone through traumatic changes, in recent years, concerning church doctrines, teachings, and fellowship. Some don’t want to see any more “changes” for a long time — even if they happen to be wrong! But isn’t the truth of YEHOVAH God worth more than all the accolades of men? Isn’t fellowship with YEHOVAH God the Father and Yeshua the Messiah, by observing His Passover at the correct time — which He appointed “for ever” (Exo. 12:14-16), and He does not change (Mal. 3:6) — worth far more than fellowship with erring, sinning, human groups and churches which are too traumatized or too intransigent, to face this truth honestly?

Thank YEHOVAH God for His wonderful, inexpressible, glorious Truth!

— Edited By John D. Keyser.

Hope of Israel Ministries — Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 2186
Temple City, CA 91780, U.S.A.
www.hope-of-israel.org

12 Comments

  1. Hans Horneman

    Joseph,

    All of this plaques & sorrows come from not obeying Jehova you said, we the Israelites must suffer by not practice the commandments! Can you tell me in clear words why Yeshua warned us in Matheus 24 for not being deceived.
    I mean it’s already foretold by Him to the disciples.
    The whole world is deceived by Satan! He is after the elect, he wants our souls, that’s what God gave us, the book of life.
    Our DNA is the blueprint from God wich they want to destroy by their vaccins, no more clear thinking with a free will.
    Why is it that they need to locate a virus by a test swab to put almost to your brains and we are talking about a virus wich jump over by not take a distance of 1.5 meters!
    Take care that nobody is deceiving you and endure till the end how hard it might be.
    “Her merchants ruled the world & by her sorceries ( pharmakeia) were all the nations deceived Rev.18:23

    Reply
  2. Sue W

    I’ve read explanations for the passover lambs being ‘kept” for 4 days before slaughter.
    One practical rather than spiritual rationale would be to keep the animal from grazing to allow the entire digestive system to clear before roasting it with it’s innards as instructed (a farmer or butcher would know how long is required).
    Imagine not doing that. Yuk

    Reply
  3. Johan

    Good article, but the use of the pagan names hurt my eyes!

    Reply
  4. mark stewart

    Hello to all; Watched both videos of searching for aviv barley. Would someone please explain how there can be such a stark difference in the barley plants between the two videos. I see why there is so much confusion.
    Since we wait on the crescent moon to be sighted in Jerusalem to begin a month, shouldn’t there also be a specific area near Jerusalem that could be used annually for checking the barley. Then we could all be on the same page starting the new year.
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Jayson

      Mark, I’ve also had a similar thought that the barley was examined in a specific area every year which I happen to believe used to be south of Jerusalem near Bethlehem, more specifically near Migdal Eder. The lambs used for the tamid offerings (morning and evening lamb sacrifices) came from the royal flock located at Migdal Eder which were shepherded by Levite priests. Not just any ‘ol lamb could be used for this offering. Yeshua, the lamb of Elohim, was born in these same royal stables and wrapped in the same swaddling cloths (old priestly garments). Mary, because her father was a Levite priest, would have known about and had access to these immaculate facilities when there were no “room in the inns”. If the morning and evening lamb sacrifice was this specific (meaning that the priests couldn’t just use any lamb they came across), it only makes sense that there existed a priestly field of barley that was specifically tended to for temple use. I do not believe that the priests roamed the country looking for the first barley on every and any field. It’s my opinion that these barley (and wheat) fields existed near the royal flocks at Migdal Eder; I’m sure this info will surface someday just as the info on Migdar Eder has.

      Reply
      • cosmos1947

        Jayson lucidly iterates a point in my previous privately-sent email to J.D. “If the Aviv Barley was inspected further than a reasonable walk, [as undertaken by the barley-carrying Kohanim from, and back to, the pre-70.C.E. Jerusalem temple], so why include it? Hence if the witnesses drove to the field, that invalidate their modern-day Wave-Sheaf recreation-exercise, surely. Maybe there are NO nearby wild barley fields in today’s metropolitan Israeli world. So we are left to guess!
        The published videos did not articulate convincingly-enough that vital geographical factor.
        Also variable soil richness and variable angles to the warming sun would cause uncharacteristic uneven misleading ripeness/aviv-ness in a field of wild barley.
        So a viable 1st. or a 2nd. Witness has not yet been presented.”

        Reply
  5. Michael Miiller

    Joe, 2020 proved to be interesting with your timeline of events, prior to 2020. Would you care to share what’s in store for 2021, dates, etc.?

    Reply
    • Joseph F. Dumond

      I shared somewhat in the News Letter this week. I have nothing specific to share. I am watching the completion of the 2300 Days. That means events and trends that will see the destruction of the nations of Israel. Not the Peace and Prosperity message some are preaching.

      Reply
  6. C.K. Ho

    Wave Sheaf Day should be on the Nisan 16th, (deceiver’s march 1st), Day of Ish Messiah Yehoshua’s ressurection.

    Reply
  7. Ella

    Thank you Joe for another good day of learning. I have been with you all the way on the time of what happened on the 14th and 15th, even before today. I still have to figure out the time for the wave sheaf offering! Blessings and may you continue to walk boldly with the Father and may our prayers for our families be answered soon.

    Reply
  8. ELAINE

    Last year i walked into my sons room and humbly washed his feet,, he had no idea what i was doing, so i explained to him, this yr i have bill paul and my son. you could always wash your mothers feet Joe. you do have your mom whether shes a follower or not .it is a humbling experience.May Yah bless you and all who help bring us together to learn Yah’s Word .

    Reply

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