The Temple Calendar

by Michael
(South Africa)

When Yahweh gave instructions concerning His feasts, He started with the weekly Sabbath:

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein:
it is the sabbath of Yahweh in all your dwellings.”
( Leviticus 23: 3 )

In other words no work may be done on the weekly Sabbath, servile or otherwise – no kindling a fire (cooking) for employers or ourselves – no working for ourselves or anyone else: in all our dwellings !
Many daily functions in the Temple required work and the kindling of fire. Only in the Temple of the “Lord of the Sabbath” was this rule in the Law of Moses not applicable, as it was not our dwelling !

Most “high day” Sabbath festivals also required work and/or the kindling of fire in our dwellings – only servile work was prohibited on these days, thus allowing other work, and therefore they could not fall on the calendars weekly Sabbaths ! More specifically, except for the Day of Atonement when no work at all was allowed, on all these other days only servile work was forbidden, thus allowing other work and therefore, to repeat, they could not fall on the calendars weekly Sabbaths ! This includes the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or the Feast of First Fruits, the Day of Trumpets, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day ( the “eighth day” – the day after the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles ).

Only on the Day of Atonement was no work allowed at all, but Yahweh also says that all these feasts and holy convocations, including the Day of Atonement, are apart from the normal weekly Sabbaths, they are: “ . . . Beside the sabbaths of Yahweh, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto Yahweh . . .” ( Leviticus 23: 38 ).

If these feasts and holy convocations could ever be on any weekly Sabbath in which no work may be done at all, Yahweh need not have said “no work” or “no servile work” may be done on these days, neither would He have said that they were all always: “Beside(s) the (weekly) sabbaths of Yahweh”.

So, except for the fire and offerings prepared and made in the Temple, if any of the following things fell on the calendars weekly Sabbaths, then that calendar was incorrect and therefore is still incorrect:

• Separating the Passover lamb from the flock.
• Preparing the home, Passover lamb and venue in both the first and second month Passover.
• Roasting the Passover lamb. 1st & 7th day of Feast of Unleavened Bread – “no servile work”.
• Cutting/reaping the Omer/Wave Sheaf.
• Festival of First Fruits and therefore also Pentecost – “. . . unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days . . .” – there are only the weekly Sabbaths in the third month for Pentecost to follow after, so the Pentecost count and reaping of the Omer has to start after a weekly Sabbath in Abib: not after a festival Sabbath/High Day !
• Day of Trumpets “no servile work”. Day of Atonement: “Beside(s) the (weekly) sabbaths”.
• First day of the Feast of Tabernacles – “no servile work” ( but allows cutting down branches etc. to make booths ), and the following “eighth day” – “Last Great Day” “no servile work”.

Therefore if any of these things do fall on the weekly Sabbaths, then that calendar is incorrect !

Determining Wave Sheaf Day and Weekly Sabbaths in Abib by the Process of Elimination:

If separating the Passover lamb on the 10th Abib cannot be done on the weekly Sabbath, then the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a weekly Sabbath.

If the Passover preparation day on the 14th Abib cannot be on a weekly Sabbath, then the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a weekly Sabbath.

If roasting a lamb into the evening of the Passover feast on the 15th Abib cannot be a weekly Sabbath, then the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a weekly Sabbath. ( This rules out the lunar based calendar ! ) On the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread “ . . . no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you . . . ” ( Exodus 12:16,) thus allowing the continued roasting of the Passover lamb after sunset.

If reaping the Omer ( Wave Sheaf Day ) has to occur after the weekly Sabbath within the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread, this leaves only four days in the Feast to place it, and one is its Sabbath:

There are only the weekly Sabbaths in the third month for Pentecost to follow after, so the Pentecost count and reaping of the Omer has to start after a weekly Sabbath as well !

The 15th, 17th and 21st Abib within the Feast of Unleavened Bread are already eliminated as weekly Sabbaths. Therefore the 16th and 18th within the Feast of Unleavened Bread cannot be “the day after the Sabbath” to reap the Omer.

That only leaves the 19th or 20th Abib to reap the Omer within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The 21st Abib is also the last and seventh day of unleavened bread when only “no servile work” may be done. This applies to the Omer start of the grain harvest. This means that the 20th cannot be the weekly Sabbath and therefore the 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th Abib on any calendar also cannot be a weekly Sabbath.

The 19th is the only day left over within the Feast of Unleavened Bread to reap the Omer. This means that the 18th Abib is the weekly Sabbath following which the Omer is reaped.

After the third day, the 18th is the resurrection centre of the Feast of Unleavened Bread !

If the 18th is a weekly Sabbath, then the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th are the weekly Sabbaths in Abib !
This also agrees with the DSS’s starting the first day of the year, on the fourth day of the week !

Cutting the Omer is the first reaping beginning the grain harvest and its grain is waved in the Temple. The harvesters prepared it in the field before the weekly Sabbath by tying the grain into bundles ready to cut. After the weekly Sabbath, straight after sunset, they cut and reaped the Omer and the grain was given to the priest: “ on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” ( Leviticus 23: 11 ).

If however, reaping the Omer falls after the weekly Sabbath following the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then applying the same logic again leaves four days in this week unaccounted for. They are the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 27th. One of these days has to be a Sabbath, and the Omer has to be waved the following day. The Omer also can only be waved on the 24th, 26th, or 27th, because the 24th is a non-Sabbath work day and the 25th therefore cannot be the wave sheaf day. There is no way of pinpointing whether it is waved on the 24th, 26th, or 27th, unless we agree with the Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar starting the year on the fourth day of the week, as indicated by Genesis 1:14–19. In this case the weekly Sabbaths of Abib are still the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th, and therefore the Omer is waved on the 26th, the day after the last Sabbath. The uncorrected solar calendar of the Dead Sea Scroll’s shows it this way, but it is not the way the Temple Sadducees practiced it – as shown above the Temple Sadducees started the Pentecost count one week earlier, with the Omer/Wave Sheaf on the 19th Abib after the weekly Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread: Christ Himself did not contest the Sadducee calendar practices for all of the weekly Sabbaths, Omer wave sheaf, and Festivals –
and He attended them according to the Temple calendar of the Sadducees themselves !

( This is a copy of page 16 and 17 of The Temple Calendar in http://www.declarethedecree.com/the_temple_calendar.doc )