April 27, 2024: Parashah Torah Portion Chol HaMoed Pesach
This week’s Parashah Torah Portion Chol HaMoed Pesach is taken from Exodus 12:1 – 50. Join Dr. Jeffery Myers, as he uncovers the story of Passover, the deeper meaning behind the many aspects of the Feast, the fulfillment of prophecies according to ELOHIM'S prophetic timetable, how YESHUA, the Lamb of ELOHIM, dies precisely at the time the sacrifices began, and how we are a part of ELOHIM'S Master Plan for these last days!!
Follow along in the AUDIO PODCAST, by clicking on the play button below, and reading along with the notes, as you listen to today's Torah Portion:
Lion of Judah Speaks: Parashah Torah Portion Chol HaMoed Pesach - Exodus 12:1 – 50:
Elohim declared Pesach to be a permanent celebration for all eternity! Historically Pesach celebrates Elohim’s deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt (Mitzrayim) where they were slaves to the Egyptians. The spiritual application is that Elohim wants us to know that Egypt is a type of the world’s system. It’s ruler, Pharaoh, was a type of Satan. The people are in bondage when they live according to the ways of the world’s system…it is sin. Historically Israel was delivered by putting blood on the doorpost of their homes and spiritually it is a picture of Yeshua and our belief in Him that delivers us from the bondages of sin and the rule of Satan.
Yeshua is the Lamb of Yah, and He is our Pesach! We who follow Yeshua are the House of Elohim. The doorposts are our hearts, and it is only through trusting by faith and walking in obedience by the shed blood of Yeshua our Pesach that makes us free!
Lev. 23:5-6 says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah.” Before we go into the the life of Yeshua to make the connection between His Pesach and the first Pesach, we must establish a valid reference point!
We need to understand the dates/days of these first Feasts because of the significance in Elohim’s prophetic timetable of the crucifixion. Why is a precise timetable essential? On the 4th day of creation according to Gen. 1:14, Elohim established a prophetic timetable. The word “seasons” is translated from the Hebrew word “mo’adim” meaning appointed times and religious feasts.
Sha’ul taught in Col. 2:17 that the Feast days, new moons, Sabbath days are shadows of things to come. Elohim’s calendar is a lunar calendar which was calculated on the basis of the lunar cycle (new moons). Things to come are future things and shadows (foreshadows) of things to come are prophecies. The whole of the Divine calendar is a prophecy!
Elohim knew many false messiahs would come so He did not leave us in the dark as to how to identify, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the one and only True Messiah! The answer is to be found in the fulfillment of prophecies according to Elohim’s prophetic timetable. The precision of the timetable indicates a MASTER PLAN beyond the control of man, because no man or people could possibly construct, predict, and execute the complexity of events at specific times over the course of time.
So, let’s look at Yeshua’s prophecy He made in response to the scribes and Pharisees who asked for a sign: Matthew 12:39-40 says, “He replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign? No! None will be given to it but the sign of the prophet Yonah. For just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.” Yeshua, Himself, gave this specific prophecy. It’s fulfillment exactly as given is required if Yeshua is who He claims to be! Yet, the traditional concept of a Friday crucifixion and Sunday morning resurrection fails to satisfy the three -night requirement. Even according to the traditional concept of any part of a day constitutes a full day or part of a night a full night still doesn’t meet the requirement.
To discern prophetic events, we must be aware of Elohim’s prophetic timetable as He established it at the moment of creation through Biblical Feast Days. In regard to Pesach and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is essential to realize there are two different dates for Pesach and that there are two kinds of Sabbaths. Also, be mindful that Elohim marked the days in Creation with each new day, beginning at twilight, followed by daylight.
Pesach at the time of Yeshua through today is observed on the 15th day of the 1st month. The 1st month is called Abib in the Torah and under the influence of Babylonian calendar during exile, the name was changed to Nisan. If Pesach was observed on the 15th day of Abib why does Leviticus 23:5 state, “In the 1st month, 14th day, verified by Num. 9:1-5 and Exo. 12:6-13? When and how did the date shift from 14th to the 15th?
During the time of Ezra (458 BC) Pesach was still being observed on the 14th day (Ezra 6:19). The shift appeared after Ezra probably around 300 – 100 BC and Deut. 16:1-6 provides the basis for this shift. Simply this: Pharisees combined these two separate observances (Pesach and Unleavened) into one observance which was legitimate based upon the Deut. passage. Deut. 16:6 says, “Pesach was to be eaten in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.”
The exodus began on the evening of the 15th of Abib, the evening after they had eaten the Pesach meal on the 14th (Num. 33:3). We can detect the subtle meaning of Luke’s statement (Luke 22:1). An extremely important consequence of this Pesach shift was an accompanying shift in Pesach “preparation day.” Preparation day was the day before Pesach when all the lambs were sacrificed!
In effect preparation day moved from 13th to 14th in conjunction with Pesach from 14th to 15th. This change would prove to be of great prophetic significance. To understand the timing of events we need to understand the difference between annual and weekly Sabbaths. The first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are referred to as “high holy days.” Annual Sabbaths are in addition to weekly Sabbaths. There are 3 Sabbaths during Pesach, 2 annual Sabbaths and 1 weekly Sabbath within the Feast. We also know that Yeshua was buried just before the onset (at sunset) of the high holy days of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Abib. Read John 19:31!
As we understand this crucifixion was not on Friday (weekly Sabbath) but on the 14th just before the annual Sabbath of Pesach. However, not all Jews observed the Pesach meal on the 15th…the Sadducees did not agree with the Pharisees and adhered to the old tradition. The more conservative Samaritans also observed Pesach on the 14th and the Feast of Unleavened on the 15th as two distinct feasts.
Scripture shows us that Yeshua and His disciples followed the original Pesach date, on the evening of the 14th of Abib. After His arrest, trial, and conviction He was crucified on the day of the 14th, “preparation day” for the rest of the Jewish population, who observed Pesach on the 15th. According to the historian Josephus, the lambs were slain between 3 pm to 5 pm. It seems that Yeshua, the Lamb of Elohim, dies precisely at the time the sacrifices began. Therefore, that which at first appears to be a contradiction in Elohim’s Word, namely different dates for Pesach in reality…reveals divine design! No human agency could have foreknown the prophetic events that would unfold at some distant time in the future.
As we look at the 4 days of the Messiah before the Feast of Pesach, we see He entered Jerusalem, He went to the Temple, and He went on public display for 4 days from Abib 10th through 14th. He was fulfilling again the original Pesach timetable.
As we look at the eschatology, these 4 days that the Lamb was hidden is prophetic of the people’s expectations that the Messiah would come 4,000 years from the creation of Adam as a part of the 7,000-year plan of Elohim to redeem both Adam and the earth back to how things were in the Garden of Eden. These 4 days are prophetic of the Messiah being hidden from the world and not coming to earth for 4 days (4,000 years) from creation of Adam. A day is understood to be prophetic of 1,000 years, based upon Psalm 90:4 and II Peter 3:8. Linking Psalm 90:4 to each day in creation, Elohim ordained each day in creation to be prophetic of 1,000 years of time and the entire redemption to take 7,000 years to complete from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
What do we see…Prophetic timetable, Prophetic lives, Prophetic destinies, Prophetic purposes for such a time as this! You are a part of what Elohim has planned for these last days!
Shabbat Shalom Mishpocha,
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Have a great Feast of Pesach and a powerful Sabbath as we celebrate our redemption through our Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach. What time to prepare yourself and come before our King giving thanks for the sacrifice of His life and the pouring out of His blood for our salvation. Come early this Sabbath as we worship Him in our Pesach Seder. It will be a blessing! See you at the altar!
Shalom Aleichem