Passover Offering: Deuteronomy 16

Understanding the Passover Sacrifice and the Passover Offering

Fred R. Coulter—March 4, 2017

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Let's continue in our study concerning the Passover:

  • Which day is the correct day?
  • Which time is the right time?
  • What difference does it make?

After the tabernacle and the altar's were setup, Leviticus 9:23: "And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out and blessed the people. And the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and burned up the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. And all the people saw and shouted and fell on their faces" (vs 23-24)—they prostrated themselves down.

  • How important is it when God says something does He really mean it?
  • How much 'fudge-factor' do we have?
    • especially in the worship of Him?
    • and the things that He commands us directly?

Leviticus 10:1: "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had commanded them not to do."

Think about where God says 'you shall not add to, shall not take away from. You shall not go to the right, you shall not go to the left.

How important was this? Verse 2: "And there went out fire from the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD." Was that important? Yes, indeed!

Concerning the Christian Passover, I'm sure there will be some people who would say, 'Passover? That's for the Jews!' Let's see what Jesus said about the Passover. It is the Passover that we are to take, the Christian Passover!

John 6:53: "Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.'"

There are symbolic emblems of that: the bread and the wine. But you can also apply that to the Word of God. 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.'

I want to emphasize "…you do not have life in yourselves." It's not what you may suppose, like Nadab and Abihu; it's what God declares! It's not what you think you need to provide to God, as Cain did; it's what God said to provide. That applies to:

  • the Truth of God
  • the Ten Commandments
  • the Christian Passover

Verse 54: "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life… [begettal from God through the Holy Spirit] …and I will raise him up in the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him" (vs 54-56).

Now then, take the opposite. If you are not doing that, you are not dwelling in Him, and it doesn't matter what you profess. Profession of human sincere good intentions is not proof of Truth. Truth is Truth. The Truth comes from God. How many people believe so many things that are lies, yet, they believe that they are true?

Here's the whole point of it when we come to the Passover, in our covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ:

Verse 57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me."

What did Jesus say concerning foot-washing? If you don't wash one another's feet, you have no part with Me! (John 13). Here He says that if you don't eat the bread and drink the wine you have no part with Him.

Since this is so important with everything being proper and exact, and according to the Word of God, what do you suppose Satan likes to do with it? Change it as much as possible!

Did Jesus teach the disciples concerning the Passover with the foot-washing, the bread and the wine? Yes, He did! I'm making a point of this, because we're going to answer the questions:

  • Why do the Jews say that the Passover is on the 15th, when God says the Passover is on the 14th?
  • Why, even though they know that, they still keep a 15th Passover?
  • What about the Church?
  • Why can the Church keep a 14th Passover?
  • But the Jews in the Diaspora cannot?

They cannot keep a 14th Passover. So, in a sense, the Jews are right for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and are part of the scattered Diaspora. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, like the disciples and so forth,

  • Were they not Jews?
  • Did they take a 14th Passover? Yes!

We will see that the Jews in Old and New Testament times did keep a 14th Passover, and they did keep a 14th Passover in the time of Jesus Christ.

Here's the point I want to make: By whose authority…? Remember the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and would say, 'By what authority do You do these things?' He said, 'Well, I'll tell you. Answer Me this question: The baptism of John, was it of God or of men?' So, the Jews—famous for counsel—all huddled together. You have to figure out the right political answer:

'What do we say? If we say it's from men, the people will stone us, because they counted Jesus as a prophet. If we say from God, He'll say, 'Why didn't you believe Him'

Matthew 21:27: "And they answered Jesus and said, 'We do not know.'…." So, by whose authority do we keep the 14th Passover. According the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, on the 14th—after sunset on the 13th and 'ben ha arbayim' beginning the 14th? God's authority! Christ's authority!

Matthew 28:18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.'" Sorry, pope, you've been left out in the cold. You're a good pagan pope, but you have nothing to do with Christ.

Verse 19: "Therefore, go and make disciples in all nations… [wherever the disciples are they keep the Passover] …baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them… [a command] …to observe all things that I have commanded you…." (vs 19-20)—each and every one.

When you consider that one-third of the New Testament has to do with the events leading up to the Passover and crucifixion, and the crucifixion on the Passover Day itself, you have all the authority you need from God.

  • you don't need the traditions of men
  • you don't need the teachings of men
  • you don't need the convenience of men

A lot of people say that they don't wash feet today 'because that's really kind of a humbling thing to do.' That's the whole purpose!

Verse 20: "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…. [How long is this to go on?] …And lo, I am with you always, even until the completion of the age.' Amen." The age has not been completed, so therefore, these words must be applied.

I want to talk about The Christian Passover book again. I'm going to have to make a statement here for everybody: This is the only book in the world that teaches and goes through in detail in every aspect of the Passover—Old Testament and New Testament—Abrahamic and Christian. The only book!

Last time—in Difficult Scripture in the O.T. for Passover—we came to Deut. 16 and during the week I repented. We cannot use copied pages from three different Bibles and keep it organized enough to understand it. So, I printed it out with parallel columns so that it will be easy to read across.

Two things I want to get to before we get to these printouts. Why can't the Jews in the Diaspora… Remember that I'm talking about those Jews who believe in Jesus.

Sidebar: Jonathan Kahn—a well-known Messianic Jew—says that he's from the priestly house of Aaron. He professes Jesus Christ. He has the Jews come to their building for their Friday night Sabbath services. I don't know what they do during the day on the Sabbath. Then on Sunday morning Kahn has all the Christians come and they have their services. That tells me that if he's a prophet—and he has prophesied some things that are corrected; I've verified that he has…

But Deut. 13 tells us that if a prophet, who has not been sent from God, tells you something and it comes to pass, and he says, 'Let's worship God in a different way' you're not to believe him because it's not of God! How can he reconcile Sunday for the Christians and Friday night for the Jews?

Let's talk about false prophets for just a minute. What is one of the rules of Bible study? Take it in context! What are the verses before and the verses after.

Deuteronomy 12:28: "Be careful to observe and obey all these words, which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God. When the LORD your God shall cut off the nations before you, where you go to possess them, and you take their place and dwell in their land" (vs 28-29).

Already made cities, wells, orchards, fields, and God blessed the pagans in preparation for Israel coming in. The pagans probably thought, 'Look what our gods are doing for us' not knowing that God was preparing the land for the children of Israel to take over.

Verse 30: "Take heed to yourself…" Why do you have to watch out for yourself? Because the carnal mind is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked! A lot of things that look good and sound good are not good. In fact, a lot of them are destructive!

"…that you do not become ensnared by following them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not ask about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods that I may also do likewise?' You shall not do so to the LORD your God…" That's clear!

If you don't believe that and you're a supposed Christian, a Sunday-keeper, and you're offended with everything I've said up to this point, stop, take a deep breath and go online to either truthofgod.org or churchathome.org and download The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. You will see that everything that the Catholics have and 80% of what the Protestants have came from ancient Babylon and Egypt. What does God say about Babylon and Egypt? You can read it in the Bible!

"…for every abomination to the LORD, which He hates, they have done to their gods; even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods" (v 31). We know that in Jeremiah that's what they did.

Verse 32: "Whatsoever thing that I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

Deuteronomy 13:1: "If a prophet rises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder, which he foretold to you comes to pass, saying, 'Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them'" (vs 1-2). That's exactly what the Catholic Church did with all the pagan observances.

Verse 3: "You shall not hearken to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you…" Today we're going to be tested an awful lot, and we have been with the Passover. How many with the Church of God have failed the test with the Passover?

Remember the paper I gave out that is 40-years-old written by Robert Kuhn and Lester Grabbe? Deliberate subterfuge infiltration into the Church of God to bring false doctrine! Why did that happen? Because they weren't doing Deut. 12!

"…to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (v 3). That's what it's all about.

In marriage it's easy to understand. A man and woman get married—that's marriage. Same sex is not a marriage; that's lust! That's sin!

So, here is marriage: the two shall cleave together as one flesh. What happens when one in the marriage—either the husband or the wife—says, 'Honey, I love you.' And then when the husband goes off to work he has an affair with a woman at work. OR When the husband goes off to work, or the wife goes off to work—because today both have to work—she ends up having an affair. What does that do to the marriage? Ends it!

Some become so depraved that they just have open marriages, which means that 'we're married legally, but we'll have sex with anybody, and we both agree that that's okay with each other. That sounds a little bit like the religions of the world in relationship to God.

Verse 4: "You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him."

Then he says that under the Old Covenant that you take him out and destroy that prophet. Today we're not under the administration of death within the Church, so we don't do that. We have to test all the prophets.

Let's answer the question why the Jews in the Diaspora keep a 15th Passover. And they really don't keep a 15th Passover. They keep the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and call the whole seven days—they know it should be eight so they add another day at the end—Passover, instead of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

Remember, all the way through Num. 1-7 this started on the first day of the first month of the second year. The first 12 days were occupied by each of the tribes giving a heave offering to Aaron and the priests. The Levities were also dedicated. Each day, the ceremony of one tribe came up and gave those things to the priesthood, and so forth. That's how they carried the tabernacle. They'd fold it up and put everything in there and so forth.

Num. 8 is the dedication of the Levites.

Numbers 9:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 'Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time'" (vs 1-2).

Remember what we covered in Difficult Scriptures in the Old Testament for Passover, the Sabbath is an appointed time. God appointed it!

Verse 3: "In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, you shall keep it in its appointed time. You shall keep it according to all its statutes, and according to all the ceremonies of it." Where do you find that? Exo. 12!

Stop and think about this for a minute, because we're going to see something very astounding in a few minutes.

Verse 4: "And Moses spoke to the children of Israel to keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month between the two evenings in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, the children of Israel did" (vs 4-5).

We have studied when they were to kill the lamb for the Passover. When was that? Between the two evenings, which comes after sunset! We have proved that that is true by Exo. 16, where God said that 'on the Sabbath Day at sunset, I will send you flesh to eat.' All of this becomes very simple, even a child not having gone to school could understand this. God sent them at sunset.

Remember, the earth is always turning. The sun is going down toward night. Where did God send the quail to come to them? Right on the camp! Why did He do that? Sunset ended the Sabbath Day, and here came the quail right at sunset! What happened to the Sabbath Day at that point? It was over! That means that God kept His Sabbath. Why was that important? Remember the next Sabbath. He had told them that in the morning they were going to have manna. He said that on the sixth day they were gather twice as much and don't go out on the seventh day because they wouldn't find any.

What happened? Some went out to look for it and they didn't find it! They didn't believe God! God said to Moses, 'How long will the people refuse to keep My laws and commandments?' I mean, right in the face of God!

God also told them in gathering the manna that they were only to gather so much, just what they could eat for each day. Remember, they should have learned the lesson of the Sabbath, because manna came six days every week for 40 years! And they still didn't get it!

Years ago we had a man in the Church—he's no longer living—whose business was raising quail to sell. He was also the man whom we slaughtered the little kid goats to see how long it would take. He knew how to do it, because he did it all the time. In 20 minutes they were ready to go.

Some people say it takes a long time. It doesn't! You can do it real quickly when you know what you're doing.

So, what we did then was ask him—and he showed us—how long it took to make a quail ready to roast over coals that have been kept going all day. You couldn't make a fire on the Sabbath there in the wilderness, but they would keep the coals going.

He said, 'The first thing you do is wring its neck.' Delores said that her grandma used to get a chicken and grab it by the neck and then whirl the chicken around until the head came off and then the rest of the chicken would run around and get rid of the blood.

Do you like chicken today? Just go to the store and buy it! Think if you had to grow it, feed it, let it get so big and then say, 'Let's have chicken tonight.' What do you do with the feathers? What do you do with the guts? They had all those things figured out.

By the time grandma killed the chicken and we started eating, it was three hours. My grandma did the same thing, only she used and axe and cut its head off. I was about six-years-old at that time and she let the chicken go. My heart was thumping!

It took less than three minutes to wring the quail's neck and make a little incision in the skin so you could skin it. The two breasts are what you eat. The wings and legs are too little. You could cook it in 15 minutes max!

That's why God sent the quail on the camp. He didn't want them working on the Sabbath, and since it was getting dark He didn't want them going out into the desert area to try and find quail lying on the ground.

He told them that at sunset He would send the quail, and between the two evenings they would eat them. The simple equation is—even a five-year-old could figure this out—can you eat something before you receive it? No!

The Jewish explanation is that between the two evenings means from about three in the afternoon until about five. If God would have sent the quail in the afternoon, what would He have done? Broken the Sabbath! Then He couldn't correct them the next week for going out and looking for manna, could He? Because He broke His own Sabbath!

That proves that God's Word, first person singular, by God Himself between the two evenings 'you shall eat flesh.' Proves after sunset, because you can't eat something before it arrives. Next time you send someone out for pizza and when they come home say, 'I've already eaten my pizza.' I like the ad where the guy comes in for his pizza and there's a big piece missing.

Let's make the point here that's important. They did not take their lambs to the tabernacle and have them killed there. Would that not have been the ideal time to do it, to initiate it? Yes, indeed!

Let's find out something else, and answer: Why don't the Jews today keep the 14th Passover in addition to rejecting Jesus Christ? Though they know the Bible says the 14th, they keep it on the 15th. They call it Seder, a Seder meal.

Numbers 9:6: "And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, 'We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in its appointed time among the children of Israel?'" (vs 6-7).

Notice that it didn't say at the tabernacle. That means they killed them right by their tents. Probably took some blood and put it on the tent poles, and across the pole that goes in between.

Verse 8: "And Moses said to them, 'You wait here, and I will hear what the LORD will command about you.' And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, "If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean because of a dead body, or in a journey afar off…" (vs 8-10)—that means outside the boundaries of Israel.

You look at the geographical area where all 12 tribes were, and they had to be in that area. If you're outside of that:

"…he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. They shall keep it the fourteenth day of the second month between the two evenings…" (vs 10-11). Notice that in the Faithful Version Bible there's a star after 'between the two evening' in three places. That means 'ben ha arbayim' in the second month.

"…eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and holds back from keeping the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time, that man shall bear his sin" (vs 11-13).

Sounds an awful lot like John 6. Same tenor. So, the long and short of this, and I've got in the book by a Karaite rabbi: "We being in the Diaspora, because of the sins of our forefathers in whose steps we are walking, do not keep a 14th Passover because we are not in the land of Israel."

That's why the Jews keep a 15th Passover. Not only have they been disobedient in rejecting Christ, they are still in the Diaspora for rejecting Him. Are they not spread around the world everywhere? They cannot keep a 14th Passover, only if they repent and accept Christ.

They can keep it in the second month, because if someone is still in the land and has to handle a dead body, then he'll be clean by the second month, no problem. But if he's on a journey and doesn't come back, he can't keep it in the second month until he gets back into the geographical area of Israel. So, while they're in the Diaspora they can't keep a 14th Passover. Only a Night to be Much Remembered Seder meal called Passover.

The incense was to be burned by the priest every sunrise and between the two evenings. We've established 'between the two evenings' as after sunset until dark. Additional proof is after sunset, not beginning at mid-afternoon the ninth hour or 3pm. The lamps were lit to burn all night.

Exodus 30:7: "And Aaron shall burn sweet incense on it every sunrise; when he dresses the lamps, he shall burn it." Burn the incense. At sunrise he dresses the lamps because they burned all night.

Verse 8: "And when Aaron lights the lamps between the two evenings, he shall burn it for a perpetual incense…" You have the lamps lit because it's night.

God's command for the temple offerings: He never commanded at any time that the Passover lamb, for the Passover service, was to be slain at the temple. It was always to be slain at home for the domestic Passover.

I put in a whole chapter in The Christian Passover book to show that very importantly that it has morning and evening sacrifice, it has the Sabbath sacrifice and it has the beginning of the month sacrifices. Then after the sacrifices for the beginning of the month. For every day and every Feast there are the commanded sacrifices, but:

Numbers 28:16: And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be a Holy convocation. You shall do no kind of servile work. But you shall offer an offering made by fire for a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year. They shall be to you without blemish" (vs 16-19)—and the same thing on the seventh day.

Why is that important? If there were Passover lambs to be offered at the temple for the Passover, it would have said so. God never commanded that it be offered at the temple.

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Deuteronomy 16:

Deut. 16 becomes important. The mistake that most people make, and most ministers have made, as well, is that they read Exo. 12 where it talks about slaying the lamb between the two evenings—'ben ha arbayim.' You're to roast it, you're not to boil it, you're to do it at home and you're to burn everything that remains, have it all burned up by morning.

Sidebar: We took one bone of that lamb—the biggest shank bone—and took it home and burned it in our fireplace to see how long would the most difficult part of burning the lamb take. It took two-and-a-half hours. The other bones of a young lamb—there's not too much calcium in them—burn up pretty quickly.

If you read Exo. 12 and then come to Deut. 16:1-12. I want you see the comparison of Exo. 13. Most people read Exo. 12 and then jump over to Deut. 16 and then they make the wrong conclusion.

Deuteronomy 16:1: "Keep the month of Abib, and observe the Passover to the LORD your God…." Notice that no specific dates are listed. So, where do we go for the specific dates? Exo. 12 and Lev. 23!

"…For in the month of Abib, the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night" (v 1).

  • When did they leave? In the morning!
  • Where did they go? To Rameses so they could all start the exodus! They started right as the 14th day portion was ending and the beginning of the 15th!

That's why that day is called The Night to Be Much Observed unto the Lord, in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. That was the beginning of the 15th.

Verse 2: "And you shall, therefore, sacrifice the Passover offering to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd…" What was the command in Exo. 12? A lamb or a kid!

"…in the place, which the LORD shall choose to place His name there" (v 2)—rather than at your home.

So, they read this and say, 'It looks like God changed it.' It does look like He did change it, IF that's what actually happened. But we saw in Numb. 9 that the tabernacle was all up and that was the place to worship God. He placed His name there! They didn't offer the lamb at the tabernacle.

Let's see if we can pick up some clues here, v 3: "You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it…"

Verse 2: "…flock and the herd…" Have you ever heard of a Passover calf? No! A calf is decidedly bigger than a little lamb. Could you have killed it, eaten all the meat and burned all the parts and bones by morning? Not with a calf!

Verse 3: "…Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction…" What does that tell us? When are we to do that? The Days of Unleavened Bread!

"…for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste…" (v 3). When did that start? The night of the 15th!

"…so that you may remember the day that you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life" (v 3). That's not the 14th, because they were still in their houses until daybreak on the 14th. They assembled at Rameses and they hadn't started out, yet.

Verse 4: "And there shall be no leaven seen with you in all your borders for seven days. Nor shall any of the flesh, which you sacrificed in the first day at sunset remain all night until the morning. You may not sacrifice the Passover offering within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you" (vs 4-5).

So, not reading Exo. 13, they don't know what Moses is talking about. They assume and conclude that God changed the sacrifice of the Passover lamb from the home to the tabernacle or temple. We'll see, not so!

Verse 6: "But at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place His name in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover offering at sunset, at the going down of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. And you shall boil and eat it…" (vs 6-7). The King James says to roast it.

I remember when I was studying this, and that Passover paper came out by Kuhn and Grabbe, I had written A Harmony of the Gospels and I said that if there's any change I'll let you know. So, I had to approach it this way:

  • Do I want the Truth?
  • Do I want to know what is right?
  • Yes!

Then study everything! Don't leave out any detail! So, here I am reading along in the Hebrew Interlinear. It has the English below. I'm lying in bed reading this and I read boil! Exo. 12 says don't boil it! I thought, that's it! Two key things:

  • of the herd
  • boil it

I jumped out of bed with that! It was something!

"…in the place which the LORD your God shall choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents" (v 7). What does that tell you? This is talking about the Night to be Much Observed—which is the day after the Passover. What did they do? They stayed up all night!

Verse 8: "Six days you shall eat unleavened bread…." That's the only place in the Bible that it says six days. That's because that once you kept the Night to be Much Observed the next morning—if you count the days—there are six more days left.

"…And on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly… [which is the last day] …to the LORD your God. You shall do no work."

  • How do we solve the problem?
  • What is the Passover Offering, if it is not the Passover Sacrifice for the 14th?

Remember, no dates are here. We can only conclude that this has to be the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why? Because it talks about unleavened bread for seven days! And the first day!

Exodus 13:

The Schocken Bible puts Exo. 12:51, the very last verse, as the first verse of Exo. 13. That's what it should be. So, I followed that, as well.

Exodus 12:51: "And it came to pass the very same day, when the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies" The beginning of the 15th day.

Exodus 13:1: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Sanctify all the firstborn to Me, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, of man and of beast. It is Mine.' And Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of His hand. There shall be no leavened bread eaten. On this day you are going out, in the month Abib'" (vs 1-4). Tie that phrase to Deut. 16:1—In the month of Abib; the day you came out.

Verse 5: "And it shall be when the LORD shall bring you into the land of the Canaanites…" This was to begin when they got to the 'promised land' and were possessing it.

"…and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month" (v 5). What service?

Verse 6: "You shall eat unleavened bread seven days… [that agrees with Deut. 16] …and in the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD"—and that agrees with Deut. 16.

Verse 7: "Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with you, nor shall there be leaven seen with you in all your borders. And you shall tell your son in that day, saying…" (vs 7-8).

Now, let's look at the difference between this and the explanation for the meaning of the 'domestic Passover' at home.

"…'This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out from Egypt.' And it shall be a sign to you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD'S Law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. You shall, therefore, keep this law in its season… [the appointed time] …from year to year" (vs 8-10). What is the season? Unleavened Bread!

Verse 11: "And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the womb, and every firstborn that comes of any animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD'S" (vs 11-12).

You take it alive and give it to the priest and he will offer it. All the meat and everything from that belongs to the priest.

Verse 13: "And every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem." How do you redeem it? With a lamb or a kid! You could even redeem it with a calf, because Deut. 16 says of the herd.

Verse 14: "And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'The LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand, from the house of bondage. And it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of animals. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD all that opens the womb, that are males. But all the firstborn of my sons I redeem'" (vs 14-15).

Here are the children of Israel in the morning. The sun is starting to come up and they know they have to go to Rameses. Josephus writes this foolish statement that they were 'assembled there in Rameses and kept the Passover at their tents.' So, I've got a whole chapter on that in The Christian Passover book. It couldn't be!

Let me just say this: there is no teaching in the Bible that is so mixed up with so many crazy things concerning the Passover, when you add in the sacrifice of the Mass of the Eucharist of the Catholic and the Lord's Supper by the Protestants, and the timing and the days. This is the most messed up thing in the world, because Satan does not want people to be in covenant with God, and the Passover renews the covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

If you were the enemy, would you not want to go right to the heart of the thing that binds people to God and try to destroy it? Substitute it? Bring in different things? Yes, indeed!

Moses starts out:

  • remember this day
  • in its season
  • year by year

When you compare Exo. 13 with Deut. 16, you can answer the question: What sacrifices were these Passover Offerings that were not the Passover lamb for the Passover service? These were the offerings beginning on the day portion of the 14th leading into the 15th to redeem the firstborn of man and the unclean animals, and to dedicate the firstborn of the clean animals to the priest!

When you understand that, let's read in Deuteronomy 16:1, again: "…For in the month of Abib, the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. And you shall, therefore, sacrifice the Passover offering to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place, which the LORD shall choose to place His name there" (vs 1-2). This is not the Passover sacrifice of the domestic Passover, but the redemption of the firstborn offered on the day portion of the Passover and all of the firstborn.

Think of this: All of the firstborn, as well as their families, all start leaving their homes and they get on the road and the crowd gets more and more as they get to Rameses. You see all the Egyptians burying their firstborn of man and beast. That means that if it's a firstborn woman, she's gone, too.

So, in a family, you could have as many as three dead: father and mother, if they were firstborn, and the firstborn of theirs. Plus the firstborn of their animals, in every single Egyptian household! They were out there from midnight on the Passover night wailing and bewailing the death, and finally Pharaoh sent a message to Moses.

Moses didn't go, because God said to not go out of your house until morning. Even though it looks like in the translation that Moses went. Pharaoh sent for Moses; that means he sent a message to Moses: GO! So, here they are, they're all going and the Egyptians are burying their dead!

How long would it take to bury 20% of the population and say, 20% of the animals? That's a big job!

Numbers 33:1: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting places. And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month…." (vs 1-3). As the sun was going down going into the 15th.

"…On the next day after the Passover day, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians" (v 3)—while the Egyptians were still burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had stricken among them.

If you were an Israelite firstborn walking down the road and seeing all the dead firstborn of the Egyptians, you would be rejoicing! 'Whoa! I'm glad we kept the Passover. God spared me, and my dad because he's the firstborn, and my mom because she's the firstborn. And my sheep, the firstborn of those.'

Here you are leaving, refugees, coming out of Egypt. God delivered them! When it came time to offer the offering in thanksgiving for deliverance of the firstborn that were spared, when he had his firstborn, he would go and offer that at the tabernacle or temple.

Since this was to be a celebration of the Night to be Much Observed, they started offering those later in the day on the Passover Day. As the population grew, there were more and more. So, on the day portion of the Passover they were offering these offerings for the dedication and sanctification of their firstborn and redemption of the firstborn children in preparation for the Night to be Much Observed.

Without reading Exo. 13[transcriber's correction] and understanding the command there, you cannot understand Deut. 16 just by reading it. You cannot understand it by going from Exo. 12, leave out Exo. 13, and jump over to Deut. 16 and understand what it's saying. These were called Passover Offerings while they were not the Passover Sacrifice for the Passover itself.

Deuteronomy 16:4: "And there shall be no leaven seen with you in all your borders for seven days…. [that ties right in with Exo. 13] …Nor shall any of the flesh, which you sacrificed in the first day at sunset remain all night until the morning." That sounds like the Passover Offering:

  • Didn't it say that nothing shall be left in morning?
  • What else did it add?
  • You shall burn it!

God didn't want any remains back there in Egypt except ashes!

Verse 5: "You may not sacrifice the Passover offering within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you." That looks like a complete change from Exo. 12 if you do not read Exo. 13 and understand that the only place you can redeem your firstborn is at the temple or tabernacle! And that was not required until you came 'into the land.' That's why it's listed this way.

Let's also understand that this was given to the children of Israel while they were still in the plains of Moab, ready to cross the Jordan River. That's why these instructions are given here in Deut. 16. The initial instructions were given in Exo. 13.

Verse 6: "…at the going down of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt." Everything here is focusing on the time they came out of Egypt, not while God passed over the house of the children of Israel. There's a difference. There are two different things, two different days, two different explanations.

Exodus 12:21: "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.'" It's not called Passover Offering.

Verse 22: "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise, for the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as a law… [according the instructions God gave in the first part of Exo. 12] …to you and to your children forever. And it shall be when you have come to the land, which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service" (vs 22-25)—as He gave it (Exo. 12).

Verse 26: "And it will be, when your children shall say to you, "What does this service mean to you?" Then you shall say, "It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover… [not Passover Offering] …Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses."' And the people bowed their heads and worshiped" (vs 26-27).

Let's see about the dedication of the firstborn, which is the next day.
Exodus 13:13: "And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'The LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand, from the house of bondage…. [that's the night leaving] …And it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of animals. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD all that opens the womb, that are males. But all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.'" (vs 13-15).

That's why Deut. 16 has to do with the offerings of the redemption of the firstborn, and not the Passover Sacrifice to be observed in their homes.

I want you to study this, because I know for sure that there's going to be an assault again of the 14th Passover, and they are going to conclude that the Jews are right—that it is on the 15th and not the 14th. But God is the One Who is right, not the Jews! The Jews are right in the sense that since they don't accept Jesus Christ, and they are in the Diaspora, they cannot keep a 14th Passover and they all know that!

I've got the quotes from the Jews themselves, and even a quote from a Jewish rabbi in Vancouver, British Columbia, who says that 'now that they're back in the land, when it comes to the temple they may have some offerings late in the afternoon on the 14th at the temple.'

The problem is not over. In the next sermon we will discuss the New Testament problems.

Scriptural References:

  • Leviticus 9:23-24
  • Leviticus 10:1-2
  • John 6:53-57
  • Matthew 21:27
  • Matthew 28:18-20
  • Deuteronomy 12:28-32
  • Deuteronomy 13:1-4
  • Numbers 9:1-13
  • Exodus 30:7-8
  • Numbers 28:16-19
  • Deuteronomy 16:1-3, 2-8
  • Exodus 12:51
  • Exodus 13:1-12
  • Deuteronomy 16:1-2
  • Numbers 33:1-3
  • Deuteronomy 16:4-6
  • Exodus 12:21-27
  • Exodus 13:13-15

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

  • John 13
  • Numbers 1-8
  • Exodus 16
  • Leviticus 23

Also referenced:
Books

  • The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
  • The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop (truthofgod.org or churchathome.org)
  • A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter

Sermons: Difficult Scriptures in the Old Testament for Passover

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 3/14/17

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