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Monday, May 16, 2016

Pentecost & Our Covenants with Our Father in Heaven

Overview

Pentecost is the date that covenants our Father in Heaven made covenants with his chosen people in the past.  The book of Jubilees makes it clear that Pentecost is celebrated 15th or 16th day of the third month, which is June 2nd or June 3rd using a solar calendar.  When Moses received the law they were instructed to celebrate Pentecost to be 7 weeks after the Wave Sheaf which is also known as the Feast of First Fruits. Pentecost is also known as the ‘Feast of Weeks’.

The events below come from the Book of Jubilees  and all appear to have occurred on Pentecost.  As you read about each event, notice the following:

·         These events are all in the third Hebrew month.  The third Hebrew month typically starts on our current calendar date of May 20th.  
·         The events occurred on the 15th or 16th day of the third month, also stated as the middle of the third Hebrew month. This is June 2nd and 3rd on our current calendar and it depends on the time of day of the spring equinox.
·         In some of the verses the feast day is reflected as the ‘Feast of Weeks’ or the first fruits of the grain harvest.  Note that they are not referring to Wave Sheaf since that was not instituted until after 2450 AM.

The Dead Sea Scroll also confirms the date of the Feast of Weeks and that a solar calendar was used (see below). 

1309 AM - Noah Receives Covenant from our Father in Heaven

Jubilees 6:1 And on the new moon [beginning] of the third month he went forth from the ark, and built an altar on that mountain. And he made atonement for the earth, and took a kid and made atonement by its blood for all the guilt of the earth; for everything that had been on it had been destroyed, save 3 those that were in the ark with Noah.  (also see Genesis 8)

Jubilees 6:17 For this reason it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets, that they should celebrate the feast of weeks in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year. And this whole festival was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation till the days of Noah -twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years [1309-1659 A.M.]:

Neither the Book of Jubilees nor the book of Genesis state how long it took Noah to build the altar in preparation for the feast and they do not state the actual date of the Feast of Weeks.  Noah probably celebrated the ‘Feast of Weeks’ on the 15th or 16th of the third month. 
  

To learn more about this covenant made with Noah, see this page


See our Father's Solar Calendar to learn more about this calendar.  

1964 AM – Abraham Renews the Covenant Noah Received

Jubilees 14:1 1 After these things, in the fourth year of this week, on the new moon [beginning] of the third month, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a dream, saying: 'Fear not, Abram; I am thy defender, and 2 thy reward will be exceeding great.' And he said: 'Lord, Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and the son of Maseq, the son of my handmaid, is the Dammasek Eliezer: he will be my heir, and to me thou hast given no seed.' And he said unto him: 'This (man) will not 4 be thy heir, but one that will come out of thine own bowels; he will be thine heir.' And He brought him forth abroad, and said unto him: 'Look toward heaven and number the stars if thou art able to number them.'  (also see Genesis15)

Jubilees 14:9 And He said unto him: 'Take Me an heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, and a sheep of three years, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.' And he took all these in the middle of the month [still the third month] and he dwelt at the oak of Mamre, which is near Hebron. And he built there an altar, and sacrificed all these; and he poured their blood upon the altar, and divided them in the midst, and laid them over against each other; but the birds divided he not.  (also see Genesis15)

Jubilees 14:18 And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, (also see Genesis15)

Jubilees 14:20 And on that day we made a covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month; and Abram renewed the festival and ordinance for himself for ever.

1979 AM – Abram becomes Abraham and Receives Covenant

Jubilees 15:1 And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, [1979 A.M.] in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain harvest. And he offered new offerings on the altar, the first-fruits of the produce, unto the Lord, an heifer and a goat and a sheep on the altar as a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord; their fruit offerings and their drink offerings he  offered upon the altar with frankincense. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him:  'I am God Almighty; approve thyself before me and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, and said (also see Genesis 17)

Genesis 17:21 But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time in the next year."

1980 AM – Isaac Born to Abraham and Sarah

Jubilees 16:13 Sarah and did unto her as He had spoken and she conceived. And she bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which the Lord had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruits of the harvest, Isaac was born. And Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day: he was the first that was circumcised according to the covenant which is ordained for ever. (also see Genesis 21)

2129 AM – Judah Born to Jacob-Israel and Leah

Jubilees 28:14 And again Jacob went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week. [2129 A.M.]  (also see Genesis 29)

2172 AM – our Father in Heaven promises Jacob-Israel that he will be a Great Nation

Jubilees 44:1 1 And Israel took his journey from Haran from his house on the new moon [beginning] of the third month, and he went on the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac on the seventh of this month. And Jacob remembered the dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt. And while he was thinking of sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he remained there seven days, if perchance he could see a vision as to whether he should remain or go down. And he celebrated the harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of Canaan there was not a handful of seed [in the land], for the famine was over all the beasts and cattle and  birds, and also over man. And on the sixteenth the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, 'Jacob, Jacob'; and he said, 'Here am I.' And He said unto him: 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up (again), and in this land shalt thou be buried, and Joseph shall put his hands upon thy eyes. Fear not; go down into Egypt.'  And his sons rose up, and his sons' sons, and they placed their father and their possessions upon wagons. And Israel rose up from the Well of the Oath on the sixteenth of this third month, and he went to the land of Egypt. (also see Genesis 46)  Note:  Genesis 35 may have happened in the third month and is a related event.

2450 AM - Moses Receives the Law

 Jubilees 1:1 And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, [2450 Anno Mundi] that God spake to Moses, saying: 'Come up to Me on the Mount, and I will give thee two tables of stone of the law and of the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayst teach them.' And Moses went up into the mount of God, and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and a cloud overshadowed it six days. (also see Exodus 19)

Based on Exodus, this covenant was made between our Father in Heaven and his chosen people on Pentecost:

Septuagint Exo 19:5-6 And now if ye will indeed hear my voice, and keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations; for the whole earth is mine.  And ye shall be to me a royal priesthood and a holy nation: these words shalt thou speak to the children of Israel.  


See this calendar for more specifics about the dates and events

Below are the laws that Moses received regarding the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost):

Leviticus 23:15-21 "You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.  You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.  You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.  And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.  And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.  And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.  And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation [assembly]. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

Deuteronomy 16:9-12 "You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.  Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.  You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

During King Asa – Covenant made with our Father in Heaven

2 Chronicles 15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets

Josephus Regarding the Wave Sheaf & Pentecost Feast Days

Josephus confirms in Book 3, Chapter 10 the calculation of Pentecost, as follows:
When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs; and when they have only presented them to God, they are made ready for supper for the priests; nor is it permitted to leave any thing of them till the day following. They also slay three bullocks for a burnt-offering, and two rams; and fourteen lambs, with two kids of the goats, for sins; nor is there anyone of the festivals but in it they offer burnt-offerings; they also allow themselves to rest on every one of them. Accordingly, the law prescribes in them all what kinds they are to sacrifice, and how they are to rest entirely, and must slay sacrifices, in order to feast upon them.

Josephus confirms in Book 13, Chapter 8 that Pentecost is the day after a Sabbath day:
And truly he did not speak falsely in saying so; for that festival, which we call Pentecost, did then fall out to be the next day to the Sabbath. Nor is it lawful for us to journey, either on the Sabbath day, or on a festival day (24) But when Antiochus joined battle with Arsaces, the king of Parthin, he lost a great part of his army, and was himself slain; and his brother Demetrius succeeded in the kingdom of Syria, by the permission of Arsaces, who freed him from his captivity at the same time that Antiochus attacked Parthin, as we have formerly related elsewhere.

Josephus confirms in Book 14, Chapter 13 that they continued to celebrate Pentecost:
But while there were daily skirmishes, the enemy waited for the coming of the multitude out of the country to Pentecost, a feast of ours so called; and when that day was come, many ten thousands of the people were gathered together about the temple, some in armor, and some without.

Josephus again confirms in Book 17, Chapter 10 that they continued to celebrate Pentecost:
But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours, so called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of men got together; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but out of their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he offered them.

Dead Sea Scrolls Date

According to a book called the Quman Cave by John M. Allegro, the Dead Sea Scrolls calendar showed that Pentecost was celebrated the 15th of the third month and was called the ‘Festival of Weeks’ or the ‘Festival of First Wheat’.  The picture below is from his book.  



 The Dead Sea Scroll or Qumran calendar reflected on this link also reflects that Pentecost or the ‘Feast of Weeks’ was celebrated on the 16th of the third month. 

Conclusion

Pentecost appears to be a very important date on our calendar and our Father in Heaven has stated that we must appear before him on this date. 

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents; and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you.

According to the Book of Jubilees it has been being celebrated in heaven since the date of creation and we are to continue this important festival.  Pentecost is symbolic of our Adamic Covenant with our Father in Heaven that represents the restoration of our race and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. 

Please see more information on this page regarding the Pentecost Feast Day




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