July 26, 2005

Hi Bob,

I'm having a difficult time following Charlie's reasoning about the distinction between killing the lamb on the evening of the 14th in Exodus 12:6 and the death of Jesus at 3 PM in the afternoon. I can't tell for sure, but it seems he believes that the evening of the 14th means the evening that begins the 14^th. A lot of people make that mistake when they begin this study. He uses the "eve of the 14^th," which we usually take to mean the evening that begins the day. But killing the lamb can't be the evening that begins the 14th because the Israelites are to eat the Passover "that night" (v. 8) and be dressed in their sandals with their loins girded and staffs in hand ready to march out at Moses' command. Scripture is clear that the day they ate the Passover lamb was the 15^th and the day they left Egypt was also the 15^th. But if the lamb is killed on the evening that begins the 14^th, the Passover is to be burned up before morning, which would be the morning of the 14^th and they would never get to eat the Passover on the 15^th . Worse still, the Israelites are still slaves and they would have to work all day on the 14^th because they didn't leave Egypt until the 15^th. Killing the lamb on the evening that begins the 14^th means they have to work as slaves the day after they eat the Passover meal. That can't be. They get the word to move out of Egypt during the night and they leave Egypt "that same night." Charlie needs to do a lot of study to get all the pieces to fit.

Another important detail that most Christians new to this study fail to understand is that "Passover" involves two days, both the 14^th and 15^th of the month. Scripture usually talks about the 14^th of the first month as the Passover, but it never talks about the 14^th being the day the Passover is eaten. The Passover meal is always on the 15^th as the commemoration of the Exodus. But the 14th is also the Passover. How can this be? "Passover", as this term is used in scripture, involves two days. The 14^th is the preparation day for Passover, the day the lamb is killed and its body roasted in preparation for the Passover meal. The 15^th is the day that commemorates the Death Angel passing over the land of Egypt and taking the life of every first-born. This day is a kodesh mikrah, a holy convocation day, a Sabbath. Thus, the 14^th is the preparation day for the Passover meal and the 15^th is the Passover Sabbath. Both days are essential for the Passover celebration. There can be no Passover meal on the 15^th without the preparation of the Passover lamb on the 14th. I don't think Charlie understands how Passover works because he has in his chart that the 15^th is not Passover. That tells me very loudly that he doesn't understand the requirements of the Passover celebration. He has the 14^th as the Passover, and while many verses can be cited that say that, the 14^th is not the day the Death Angel passed over Egypt. Thus, the calculations in his chart are all goofed up.

The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first kodesh mikrah or holy convocation day, is the Sabbath of Passover. The Passover meal is to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This is the 15^th of the month of Nisan.

There are a lot of things going on during this time period and for someone who hasn't studied it, it is easy to get lost while making some really silly arguments based on a lack of knowledge. Every point needs to be supported by scripture. Charlie has more than one error in his chart.

Send him my chart on just the sequence of events of the Old Testament and have him look up all the verses in support of what I have on the chart to see how it works in the Old Testament. He has to understand how Passover involves two days before he can apply John 12:1 & 12 to the "six days before Passover" statement.

Keep me posted.

Jerry

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Now you are really confusing me. Bob, you asked to explain Exodus and what it meant, They did kill the passover on the eve of Nisan 14 and that is what Exodus says. I agree that Christ died on Friday about the ninth hour, 3PM, that also was the time that the priests were slaying the passover lamb when the veil was torn from top to bottom and the lamb got away, not Nisan 15 in the evening. Below is the quote from the email I sent you. It is in red to distinguish it from this email. The same is done later on in the email.

Okay, let me count for you. But first let me quote the Bible--"And ye shall keep it up until the fourteen day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.? Exodus 12:6.

Notice that as I said above that this below refers to the Exodus from Egypt, not the crucifixion of Christ which was on the ninth hour of Nisan 14, Friday about 3PM. Below is a copy of what I sent you, the left column is your remarks in previous email, the right column in bold print is what I wrote in answer to your column, again this is in regards to the passover lamb at the Exodus. However in both cases in Exodus and in the case of the crucifixion of Christ they both died on Nisan 14, in Exodus 12:6 in the evening and Christ in the afternoon about 3PM. I would have assumed that that below would have been understood by you because you questioned me about Exodus 12:6 on the slaying of the passover lamb at the time of the Exodus not on the death of Christ which I had previously said was Friday at 3PM. If in my poor scholarship I have failed to properly explain it so that you who are more educated than I am could
understand, I apologize because I was not the best English pupil when in school. However it does not change the fact that you asked me about the passover in Exodus and that is what I was trying to explain by saying the lamb was slain in the evening and not Friday 3PM. The only difference in the remarks I made below in answer to yours is that in the case of Christ's crucifixion He died at about 3PM not in the evening as you try to make me believe I said. Again the discussion was about Exodus and their slaying the lamb before leaving Egypt, not on the death of Christ. If you wish to make it that I was talking about Christ and that he died in the evening you failed to grasp what the discussion was on as stated before, or you are intentionly twisting what I said, I would rather believe that you failed to realize what I was referring to. You will notice that in my email that right after the chart I quoted Exodus 12:6 and was making my remarks to apply to that quote. Maybe you did not read everything I wrote, if not then that would explain what you wrote in regards to my statements on the evening of Nisan 14.

Below is a copy of sentence of my email to you. How you can say that I said that the evening of Nisan 15, [Sabbath evening] was the passover????? Email quote from previous email is in red.

"I will assume that you could not read the chart but it distinctly says that Thursday night till sundown Friday is the 14^th of Nisan." This is what I wrote you, clearly saying that sundown Friday is the end of Nisan 14.

It is possible that my thinking about what I was talking about below was different from what you read into it. You may have figured I was talking about Christ's death when I was referring to the Exodus, if this caused confusing I am sorry for it. The difference between the Exodus would have only been that Christ died on the afternoon of Nisan 14 instead of the evening of Nisan 14. Hope this will undo the confusion you have about
what I wrote. Below is in red to distinguish it as coming from previous email.

Bob's Count                            Charlie's Count

Let me count for you:------------Let me count it again for you

Passover - Friday evening -------This is Sabbath the 15^th not passover the 14^th.
1^st day - Thursday evening-------This is the 14^th when the passover is killed
2^nd day - Wednesday evening----this is the 1^st day
3^rd day - Tuesday evening--------this is the 2^nd day
4^th day - Monday evening--------this is the 3^rd day
5^th day - Sunday evening---------this is the 4^th day
6^th day - Sabbath evening--------this is the 5^th day
7^th day - Friday EVENING/Sabbath DAY-----this is the 6^th day before passover not the 7^th.

Like I said before we are chasing each other around the mulberry tree. Hope I have not confused you more but have made it clear.

Charlie