Frank W. Nelte

Feburary 2000

Proof that the 'Postponement Rules' of the Jewish Calendar are Contrary to the Bible

In this article I want to spell out WHY those of us who have rejected the Jewish calendar have "a conscience problem" with the present Jewish calendar. There is clear BIBLICAL evidence that the postponement rules go against the intent of God's instructions.

One of the main bones of contention around the present Jewish calendar involves the "postponement rules" or the "dehiyyot" as they are also known. Supporters of the present Jewish calendar are very defensive of these rules, which Jewish writings (like the Talmud) admit were introduced to avoid Holy Days falling on "INCONVENIENT" days of the week. Also the Talmud makes quite clear that in the first century A.D. the Day of Atonement DID fall on Fridays and on Sundays, clear evidence that these "rules" were only invented at a later date.

But this is evidence the supporters of the present Jewish calendar usually refuse to even look at. So in this article I want to present some BIBLICAL evidence that these "dehiyyot" are not biblical at all, that they actually oppose biblical revelation.

So notice.
a
1) The postponement rules make sure that: THE DAY OF TRUMPETS can never fall on a Sunday or a Wednesday or a Friday. This is just a fact of the Jewish calendar structure. When the molad falls on these days of the week, then postponements are enacted.

This has the effect that: PASSOVER (NISAN 14) can never fall on a Tuesday or a Thursday or a Sunday. This is because the present Jewish calendar always has exactly 177 days from the start of the year to the Day of Trumpets, exactly 177 days for the first 6 months.

So therefore: FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD can never fall on a Wednesday or a Friday or a Monday.

2) When we now consider the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread, we can determine which of those 7 days can be a Sunday and which of those 7 days cannot be a Sunday, based on the present Jewish calendar. Thus:

A) IF a Wednesday can never be the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread, then the SUNDAY during UB can never be the FIFTH DAY of Unleavened Bread.

B) IF a Friday can never be the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread, then the SUNDAY during UB can never be the THIRD DAY of Unleavened Bread.

C) IF a Monday can never be the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread, then the SUNDAY during UB can never be the SEVENTH DAY of Unleavened Bread.

Can you understand this effect which the Jewish postponement rules have? In plain English:

IF THE POSTPONEMENT RULES HAVE GOD'S APPROVAL, THEN IT MEANS THAT GOD INTENDED THAT THE SUNDAY DURING UNLEAVENED BREAD CAN NEVER BE THE 3RD OR THE 5TH OR THE 7TH DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD!

Can you follow this?

In other words, the Sunday during Unleavened Bread can ONLY be the 1st or the 2nd or the 4th or the 6th Day of Unleavened Bread. But it can never be the 3rd or the 5th or the 7th Day of Unleavened Bread.

So IF these postponement rules are an expression of the will of God, THEN GOD DOES NOT WANT THE SUNDAY DURING UNLEAVENED BREAD TO EVER BE THE 3RD OR THE 5TH OR THE 7TH DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD!

3) So what does "the SUNDAY during Unleavened Bread" have to do with this question? Well, you may recall that God instructed a very significant ceremony to be performed on that Sunday.

Leviticus 23:10-14 shows that on that Sunday God instructed Israel to "BRING A SHEAF OF THE FIRSTFRUITS" TO BE A WAVE OFFERING!

We commonly refer to it as "the wave offering" or as "the wavesheaf".

4) Now what did this "wave offering" represent? It represented GOD THE FATHER ACCEPTING THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST ON BEHALF OF ALL MANKIND!

This is something we all understand, right?

This "wave offering" was fulfilled when Jesus Christ on the Sunday morning after His resurrection ascended to God the Father, before any of the women were allowed to touch Him, remember? Later the same day He had returned and we see that they DID then touch Him.

5) Now consider the following:

WE KNOW that Jesus Christ was in the grave for exactly three full days (72 hours). We also know that it was very likely about 3 � days from the time Jesus Christ actually died (on a Wednesday afternoon) until He ascended to God the Father (very early on a Sunday morning).

[Comment: I suspect that that is one reason why the two witnesses will be dead for 3 � days, rather than just 3 days, to ensure they are not accepted quicker than was Jesus Christ.]

So the question is: WHY did God not fix the time for the wave offering to ALWAYS be exactly 3 � days after the Passover day, since that is exactly when He DID accept Christ's sacrifice? WHY did God design it in such a way that the day of the wave offering WANDERS through the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread? Wouldn't it have made much more sense to you and me, since God had already determined that the Passover would always be on the 14th day of the month, to have fixed the wave offering to always be on the morning of the 18th day of the month (as it was the year Christ was crucified)?

WHY did God not select a fixed day for the wave offering? Why did He let it wander through the Days of Unleavened Bread?

6) Here is why!

A) The fact that the wave offering was ALWAYS to be on a Sunday, the first day of the 7-day week, highlights the fact that Jesus Christ was "slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). "World" here is the Greek "kosmos", meaning "human society". So the symbolism of God the Father accepting Christ's sacrifice always on the 1st day of the week shows that Christ's sacrifice was symbolically brought and already accepted at the very start of God's 7000 year plan for mankind.

B) Now WITH the Jewish postponement rules it would mean that this Sunday could be only the 1st or the 2nd or the 4th or the 6th Day of Unleavened Bread. WHY did God institute SEVEN Days of Unleavened Bread? Amongst other things they must surely represent the 7000 YEARS of God's plan for mankind.

Now IF God approved the postponement rules, then WHY would He have wanted to accept Christ's sacrifice on ONLY 4 of those 7 days? WHY would He possibly not have wanted to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on mankind's behalf on the other 3 of those 7 days? Is there something more significant in the 1st and 2nd and 4th and 6th Days of Unleavened Bread when compared to the 3rd and 5th and 7th Days of Unleavened Bread? Hardly!

C) The symbolism should really be quite clear:

Each of the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread represents 1000 years of human existence. [Comment: This is not to imply that the "7 days" don't fulfill other symbolisms as well.] And by designing it in such a way that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is accepted simultaneously always on the 1st day of the week, but ALSO ON ANY OF THE SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, God is showing us that that sacrifice was brought at the foundation of human society AND that it covers ALL SEVEN of the 1000 year periods of His plan for mankind.

Thus:

- the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 1st 1000 years,

- the 2nd Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 2nd 1000 years,

- the 3rd Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 3rd 1000 years,

- the 4th Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 4th 1000 years,

- the 5th Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 5th 1000 years,

- the 6th Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 6th 1000 years,

- the 7th Day of Unleavened Bread represents the 7th 1000 years.

7) When the Jewish postponement rules PREVENT the sacrifice of Jesus Christ from being accepted by God the Father on the 3rd and the 5th and the 7th Days of Unleavened Bread, this represents God the Father NOT ACCEPTING THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST for people who lived during the 3rd 1000 years and during the 5th 1000 years and who will still live during the 7th 1000 years.

Can you understand this symbolism?

When correctly understood, the Jewish postponement rules actually LIMIT GOD! They limit the number of people who will have access to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! They imply that the people who lived, in rough terms, from 2000 BC to 1000 BC (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc.) and from 1 AD to 1000 AD (all the original apostles, etc.) and who will still live during the millennium will not be given access to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to cover their sins, because with those postponement rules God the Father can NEVER accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the 3rd or the 5th or the 7th Days of Unleavened Bread.

And this is all because the Jews don't want Atonement to fall on "an inconvenient day", one that might represent "a hardship", like having to cope with Atonement on a Sunday, horror of horrors!

8) The sacrifice of Jesus Christ (the Passover) is followed by SEVEN Days of Unleavened Bread, because that sacrifice COVERS all seven of those "days" (i.e. 7000 years)! It covers 7000 years of humanity from the time it was appointed that Jesus Christ would die for our sins. And God the Father MUST accept that sacrifice on any one and on every one of those seven days, so that ALL human beings born during those 7000 years will at least have access to that sacrifice.

The Jews in devising their postponement rules were guided by their own traditions regarding the autumn festivals. But they paid no attention at all to the limiting effect their postponement rules would have on THE SPRING FESTIVALS. And so the postponement rules destroy and obscure the significance God wanted us to understand from the spring festivals and the ceremonies He had commanded.

As long as people adhere to the Jewish calendar with its postponement rules, it is inevitable that this symbolism will escape them. That's the way it always works, we don't understand the real significance of an instruction God has given UNTIL we put that instruction into practice. THEN God opens our minds to understand why He has given this instruction and what it is to picture to us.

So the Jews OBVIOUSLY don't understand this because they start off with the wrong day for the wave offering (they always take Nisan 16, the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread for this wave offering). And if they didn't have that wrong, they would still not get it because they further limit the days on which it can be brought by their postponement rules. Likewise, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong didn't understand this for the simple reason that he accepted the Jewish calendar with its postponement rules, and therefore God wasn't going to show this to him; in this regard Mr. Armstrong simply wasn't asking ... seeking ... knocking.

9) The very fact that God DESIGNED it in such a way that the wave offering (the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice by God the Father) DOES take place on DIFFERENT DAYS of the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread (the present Jewish calendar allowing for only FOUR different days) is PROOF that God INTENDED it to take place on ALL of those 7 Days of Unleavened Bread. And Joshua 5:11 is clear proof that the wave offering was to be offered as early as the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread.

Having determined that the wave offering would take place (according to the Jewish calendar) on AT LEAST FOUR of the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread, it stands beyond any question that GOD'S INTENT is for this wave offering to take place on ALL SEVEN of the Days of Unleavened Bread. That is precisely what God is showing us by allowing the wave offering to move to different days within the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread.

So the Jewish postponement rules, which prevent this free movement of the wave offering (the Father's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice for all humanity) throughout the Days of Unleavened Bread, symbolically LIMIT SALVATION TO 4000 YEARS OF THE TOTAL 7000 YEARS ALLOTTED TO HUMAN BEINGS BEING BORN!

10) Can you NOW understand why the Jewish postponement rules are BIBLICALLY WRONG? They limit God; they limit the number of people to whom God will provide access to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Do you really believe that God (supposedly) selected ONLY FOUR of the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread for the wave offering, being far more concerned that people don't suffer "undue hardships" like having the Day of Atonement on a Sunday (I speak as a fool, to quote Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:23), than attaching A REAL MEANING to why He chose to have the day of this offering take place on different days within the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread?

Can you understand our VERY REAL CONSCIENCE PROBLEMS with the Jewish calendar and its postponement rules? Our consciences prevent us from accepting Jewish traditions which symbolically limit God's acceptance of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ to human beings out of only 4 of the 7 1000-year periods He has set aside for His plan of salvation.

Can you see that the way God designed the wave offering to be brought is IRREFUTABLE PROOF THAT THE POSTPONEMENT RULES TRANSGRESS GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS? THEY LIMIT GOD'S SAVING POWER!

Frank W. Nelte