Watch Dates: True Feast of Weeks and Mount Sinai

11 June 2011, Updated 12 June 2011

By Mark Farquharson

There is so much stuff out there that is based on traditions that are wrong, and translations that are incorrect, and interpretations of those translations which are also incorrect. The problem is trying to get to the true amongst all those translations and interpretations that are out there. You can not rely on traditions, or beliefs that are held by the majority. In fact the majority and traditions are usually incorrect. But this entry is not about discuss all that, I started with this, to try to open you mind to looking at the things I will present in this entry in a new way. Instead of believing what you have been told or read, that might have been based on faulty translations and or understanding.

To properly understand the Feast of Weeks you have to start at Unleavened Bread/Cakes. The Feast of Weeks is not Pentecost, which is actually a full fifty days later than the feast of weeks. I will not be covering the feasts in full detail that is not needed for our understanding.

Leviticus 23:6-8 and on the fifteenth day of this month, is the festival of unleavened cakes unto Yahweh,—seven days—unleavened cakes, shall ye eat. On the first day—a holy convocation, shall there be to you: no laborious work, shall ye do. And you shall bring near a fire offering to Yahweh seven days. On the seventh day is a holy meeting, when you shall do no occupational work at all. {Rotherham}

On the 15th of the first Hebrew month, you have the start of Unleavened Bread, which starts with a special Sabbath, which is not the weekly Sabbath. It tells us it is a Sabbath, because it states that they were to do no laborious work. The weekly Sabbath is a continuous seven day cycle, sometimes it could fall on the 15th, but other times it will not. The last day of the feast is also a special Sabbath, with no work, that is there are two special sabbaths.

Leviticus 23:10-11 Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them:—When ye enter into the land which, I, am giving you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring in a sheaf of the first-ripe corn of your harvest, unto the priest; and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, that ye may be accepted,—on the morrow of the sabbath, shall the priest wave it. {Rotherham}

People have incorrectly understood this to mean the first weekly Sabbath after Passover. Some translations even have the word “first.” For instance the CLV has “From the morrow after the first sabbath the priest shall wave it.” However the words “after” and “first” have been added by the translator. No doubt the person thought they were needed for correct understanding. And it does help understanding if you understand the meaning correctly. However many take it to be the first weekly Sabbath, however it is the first Sabbath in the feast of Unleavened Bread, as there are two Sabbaths for unleavened bread.

Thus the First Sabbath of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th of the first month, and the morrow, that is the next day is the 16th. That is wave-sheaf is always on the 16th of the month, unless the 16th happens to be the weekly Sabbath, then it would be on the next day the 17th.

Which brings us to the count to the Feast of Weeks:

Lev 23:15 You will count off for yourselves from the morrow after the first sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave offering: there shall be seven flawless sabbaths. {CLV}

This first count of the Sabbaths is the feast of weeks, but it is not the Pentecost count. The Pentecost count is the fifty days in the next verse, which I will get to later. You will see that the count starts on the wave sheaf offering day. People take it to be 49 days which is seven weeks, but that is were they go wrong, it is not seven weeks, it is seven sabbaths. You do not need seven whole weeks to have seven weekly sabbaths. The sabbath is on a continuous weekly cycle, which means it could fall on any of the six days after Wave-Sheaf. The first weekly Sabbath after Wave-sheaf offering can come as early as the next day, the 17th of the month. The latest it can come is six days after wave-sheaf, as that would be a seven day week. Thus the most it can be is 49 days, but often it is shorter than 49 days.

Thus the correct way to count is to start at the first Sabbath after wave sheaf, that is the first Sabbath in your count. And you count seven, Sabbaths which will not get you to 49 days. This brings you to the feast of weeks or celebration of weeks.

Deuteronomy 16:9-10 You shall count off seven weeks for yourself. From the start of the scythe in the raised grain shall you start to count off seven weeks. Then you will observe the celebration of weeks to Yahweh your Elohim with a tribute of a voluntary offering from your hand which you shall give, just as Yahweh your Elohim may have blessed you. {CLV}

You will notice that Deuteronomy does not mention the fifty day count, this is because the feast of Weeks is not Pentecost, which means 50, it is a celebration of weeks. It says seven week count, but it does not mean seven whole weeks, as the first week in the count ends with the weekly sabbath, which could fall on any of the six days after wave-sheaf.

When then is the feast of weeks this year. You have to start at the first weekly Sabbath after Wave-Sheaf. Which brings us the question? When is the weekly Sabbath? I have mentioned a 11 day adjust, but after further research I was wrong about that, and have removed it from passed entries, sorry about that. What I have been trying to do is find out when it is, I know most people say it is Saturday, those who do not believe it was Saturday believe in a lunar Sabbath.

It is not a lunar sabbath, because the Sabbath does not announce the phases of the moon. Similar because the moon was not created until day four, and can not have been created until day two, when the expanse was created. The Sabbath is a continuous weekly cycle and has nothing to do with the moon phases. However that does not mean the Sabbath is Saturday, like traditions holds. However I can not find any article about some other day.

My thinking currently is that it is Monday. There is a quote from an earlier writer that says about Jesus rising on Sunday. Now tradition holds that the weekly Sabbath was the day before. However the day before was the special sabbath, not the weekly sabbath. The weekly sabbath was the day after Jesus rose from the dead, which then would have been Monday. I do not want to get sidetracked into a big explanation about the crucifixion and resurrection here, but Briefly:

Matthew 28: 1 Now it is the evening of the sabbaths. At the lighting up into one of the sabbaths came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to behold the sepulcher. {CLV}

Matthew 28: 1 And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre, {YLT}

Notice it does not say “as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” like it does in the “KJV.” The original text had Sabbath, that is the women came to the tomb on the weekly Sabbath, not on the first day of the week. This being the first sabbath in the count for the feast of weeks, the count of seven. However the verses above incorrectly imply that it was the evening of a sabbath, which would mean two sabbaths in a row. However more correct is “On the later of the Sabbaths.” That is the second Sabbath as there were two, the special sabbath and the weekly sabbath. There is much more I could cover but that is not for this entry.

Taking Monday as the Sabbath, you end up with the count ending on the sixth of June this year. I got a sign, or what I took as a sign on Friday the 3rd of June. Someone said “you got two days,” indicating Saturday and Sunday, to do something before the sixth, however I had until the ninth as I said. Thus I had two days before the count end on the sixth, which is linked to the ninth sign as I actually had until the ninth. If I am correct. Anyway the date for feast of weeks has past.

Count to Pentecost:

Lev 23:15-16 You will count off for yourselves from the morrow after the first sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave offering: there shall be seven flawless sabbaths. Until the morrow after the seventh sabbath you shall count off fifty days; then you will bring near an approach present of new grain to Yahweh. {CLV}

The fifty day count starts on the morrow after the seventh sabbath, not 50 days from wave-sheaf offering. Note the word “after” in the verses, that is it is after the seven sabbath. the fifty day count starts. Which would put you after the 50 day count near the end of the four Hebrew month.

Jesus return to Galilee {John 4:3} and the “Galileans receive Him, having seen all whatever He does in Jerusalem in the festival, for they also came to the festival” {John 4:45}. The festival in Jerusalem was passover which is in the first month, John 2:13. On his return to Galilee he says: “Are you not saying that, 'Still four months is it, and the harvest is coming'? Lo! I am saying to you, Lift up your eyes and gaze on the countrysides, for they are white for harvest already" {John 4:35}. That is the harvest of the grain is in the fourth month, not the third month. There are over things that support this, but Pentecost is not the focus of this study.

Jesus did not appear over a 40 day period after his resurrection, he appeared 40 days, that is forty different days, which were spaced apart {Acts 1:3}. The book of John shows some of the spacing, for instance John 20:26 states that Jesus came again after eight days.

Adding fifty days on to the 6 of June and you get the 26 July 2011, which is late in the fourth Hebrew month, not the third month. If the provision is to start in the third month then it will not come at Pentecost. I could explain a lot more but it is not the focus of this entry.

Provision Starts in the third Month

Go back to the Double feast of Unleavened Bread that was observed in the days of Hezekiah that was explained in the entry: “Double Feast of Unleavened Bread”

If you read that entry you will remember the provision start in the third Hebrew month, but we are not told when in the third month. However that is assuming that the double feast does apply this year with the provision starting in the third month as in 2 Chronicles 30.

If this is the case, then what is the date to watch? As explained we have pasted the seven Sabbath count which ended June 6th.

Moses goes up the mount on this third day of their arrival, then comes back down, with a lot of knowledge that he has received from Yahweh. Which he gives to the people and writes down. Is this the timing of the coming of the knowledge?

On the four day is when he goes up to begin the forty days and nights. However Yahweh does not call until the seventh day from the cloud {Exodus 24:16}. On the forty day Moses comes back down with the stone tablets on the day of Pentecost. Since they arrived in the third month, then forty days brings you to the forth month.

What does all this mean for us? These then are watch dates for the third Hebrew month. Starting with when they arrived, which is not given in Exodus 19, however Jubilees 1:1 points to the date. I have not studied Jubilees, to know if it should be relied on it, but going by it since we have no other date, Jubilees tell us when Moses went up the mountain at the start of the forty days.

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, 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." {translated by R. H. Charles 1917}

If you compare this to Exodus 24:12-18, you will see that it is the start of the forty day count. Thus Moses started the forty day count on the 16th of the third month. They arrived three days earlier on the 13th of the month.

If I am correct and the third Hebrew month started on the 1st of June, then on the 13th of June is when they arrived. The third day when Moses went up is the 15th and the forty days start on the 16th. The seven day after that is the 22nd of the month.

Part 2: Watch Dates: Mount Sinai Part 2

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