Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
DID GOD MYTH THE POINT?
Noah’s flood must be a myth. What could it possibly have to do with the Crucifixion?
THIS IS RATED AS A NINE MINUTE READ BUT MAY SEEM LONGER! It is more of a teaching blog than an entertaining one and may not be an easy read because there is more here than a normal, well adjusted person would generally want to know. But the time will be well spent. The detail which makes me a boring person brings the Bible alive for me. If, however, you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here.
[NOTE: Important words analysed below are identified with Hebrew/Greek transliterations into English and Strong’s Numbers so that whoever wants to can check them out — the recommendation is that you do. I use the Blue Letter Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ BLB)]
Just in case you missed it
There have been several articles about Noah emanating from The Dove Stable recently. They are guilty of being engaging, well constructed, and encouraging. If you missed them, do yourself a favour.
But, as good as these are, they are homilies — only part of the story. The Lord has much more in store.
A rush of blood to the head.
They brought to mind a comment a few years back by the greatest living Social Commentator, Homer Simpson, when he said, “Ahhh, God. My favourite mythical character.” As I read the fare of this Medium platform it seems he had a touch of the Prophet about him, too. Not the other Team, that’s to be expected, but our Team as well. I admit that some of the Contents of the Bible are hard to believe, but what makes John 3:16 (being raised from the dead and living for Eternity) more believable that the Noah episode? I’m open to correction, having no Theological Qualifications, but I sometimes think we get Christianity wrong. As I read it, Jesus didn’t die so that bad people could do good things. He died so that dead people could have life. As the late American Bible Teacher, Chuck Missler, would say, “He didn’t come to perfume the cesspool people were living in. He came to get them out of the cesspool.” C.S. Lewis’s explanation of why Jesus was more concerned with Spiritual Things than the Social Order [though He did Champion affordable Health Care] was that spirits live for Eternity [some will enjoy it — some won’t] but Empires don’t last long. The most enduring one, the Roman Empire depicted as the legs in Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream (worth a study), was not overthrown, it atrophied and is having it’s last gasp now in the Western World. A few thousand years compared to Eternity is a whisker rounding error.
But Genesis is weird
True. But God says, “My ways are not your ways.” When He appeared to Job, after about 35 Chapters of questions, He completely ignored what Job had said, and proclaimed His Glory. So get over it and read what He has actually written — not what you think He should have written.
Something strange within something weird
The strange thing to me is, “Why is there so much redundant precision contained in a myth that, of course, could only be written by someone who was there but wrote it much, much later?” (Wrap your wisdom around that.) Is it just an effort to make the lie more credible? Where I’m not open to correction (I’ve done a few sums in my life) is that, if those numbers have a definite meaning — even only one of them — the narrative has credence. It is therefore a place to dig deeper.
Why does the narrative revolve around numbers?
For one thing, numbers are harder to corrupt than words. George Orwell wrote in his book, ‘1984’, “First kidnap the word, then hijack the meaning”. If you don’t see that happening now, you haven’t been paying attention. [1984 is a book recommended to all Christians these days. That would not have been the case a few years back.] So, the Author has always been ahead of the pack. He seems more Intellectually Agile than some old white guy (Charlton Heston) wandering around the wilderness on a camel. (Wrap your wisdom around that, too.)
One piece of useless information
It is written in Genesis 8:4 || “and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” So what?
It makes no sense without some knowledge of the Jewish calendars.
Yes, to those who are unaware, there are two. Initially, there was the Civil/Agricultural year which begins in Autumn (Former Rains) in the Hebrew month of Tishri (Sept — Oct). In Exodus 12:2 the The Lord racks it up a notch by declaring the beginning of the Religious Year. [The Torah is on the way but we won’t get into Dispensationalism.] It begins in Spring (Latter Rains) in the Hebrew month of Nisan (Mar — Apr). These two run concurrently, as shown in Figure 1. (Source of graphic unknown)
Figure 1: Jewish calendars and Yehovah’s Feasts
[Travelling through the OT the Civil and Religious years are often flipped around, depending on the circumstance, so keep vigilant.]
It is easily seen in the Figure that the seventh month in the Civil/Agricultural year is Nisan, the first month of the Religious year. That is, the seventeenth day of the seventh month (17th Nisan) is in the middle of the Spring Feasts of the Lord.
Yehovah’s Feasts
Regularly misnamed as The Feasts of Moses, they are described in Leviticus 23. There are the Autumn Feasts (Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles), the Spring Feasts (Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits). In the middle is the Feast of Weeks. They should all be studied but, because of our interest in 17th Nisan, it is the Spring Feasts (described in Leviticus 23:4–14) that grab all the attention.
Précis of Leviticus 23:4–14
The action starts to happen on 10th Nisan (detail given in text) but cranks up between 14th (detail given in text) and 21st Nisan (calculated from detail provided). There is apparently no specific mention of 17th Nisan.
(It is easy to forget that the Jewish day begins at starlight. You may already be aware that our day begins at midnight, several hours later. Also, the Leviticus Passover meal is slightly different to that of Exodus because the Egyptian one was a one-off.)
• 14th Nisan: Day of Preparation — Passover lamb slain and prepared — normal working day.
• 15th Nisan: First day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread — Passover lamb eaten during hours of darkness — it is called a Holy Gathering or Holy Convocation — no servile work allowed.
• 21st Nisan: Final day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread — it is called a Holy Gathering or Holy Convocation — no servile work allowed. [Note that the Hebrew word translated convocation/gathering is a commandment directly from the Lord to gather. This is confirmed in Hebrews 11:25. All of us who have left churches must examine in our heart why we left.]
There is another annual feast between 16th and 20th Nisan, Feast of the Firstfruits, the day of which is linked to the weekly Shabbat.
The weekly Shabbat
There is something different about this day.
Leviticus 23:3 defines it precisely || “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh (H7637) day (H3117) is a Sabbath of solemn(H7676 & H7673) rest (H7677), a holy (H6944) convocation (H4744). You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.”
These Strong’s Numbers are easily tracked down by anyone interested. But briefly:-
• H3117: Day/yom is one complete rotation of the Globe.
• H7637: It is the 7th day in order; i.e. cyclic.
• H7677: It is a day for which Yehovah has already made provision so we can rest. We need not labour because we are in Him. He’s got this.
• H7676: It is a day given a name. 15th and 21st Nisan are Holy Convocations having no work but they are not given a name. This becomes important shortly.
• H7676 & H7673: Not just slow down a bit. It is a solemn/complete rest. Our clever-britches Society is just catching up to God’s mental health days. We should really get over ourselves.
• H6944: It is Holy — set aside for Him to enjoy His Children as we enjoy Him.
• H4744: It is a commandment to gather together. It speaks of of Home Churches. Something that is becoming more important in Australia.
Positioning the day of the Feast of the First Fruits within the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.
It is written in Leviticus 23:11 || “and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
As discussed earlier, Shabbat is Shabbat. Obviously there is only one Shabbat in a seven day period, so the Feast of the First Fruits is after a Holy Convocation that week but it is not 15th or 21st Nisan. It is Shabbat, as described. [I’m using the teaching principle of telling what I’m about to say, saying it, then repeating what I just said, because there is danger of this becoming controversial.]
The day of the Feast of the First Fruits can be defined as, “The first day after the weekly Shabbat in the Feast of the Unleavened Bread,” or, “The first day after the first Shabbat after the slaying of the Passover lamb.” However, not everyone does it this way. Many elements of Rabbinical Judaism use the 15th. The Samaritans don’t. (There are still a few of them around according to the Internet.)
Why is this important?
A bit of arithmetic.
From Genesis 8:4, the Ark lands on 17th Nisan.
From Matthew 27:45–50, Jesus makes His last gasp at about 3p.m. on 14th Nisan.
Jesus in the Grave for three days. 14th + 3 = 17th. THERE IT IS!
The Resurrection of Jesus was noticed early morning of first day of the week (Sunday) which is the day after Shabbat that week.
What this means is that 14th Nisan was not that Friday. Satisfying all the constraints points to Wednesday at about the ninth hour (on the Hebrew clock; there is also a Roman clock lurking around to confuse the issue) by my initial reckoning but the conversation on the Road to Emmaus has muddied the water so more investigation is necessary. There are many more delightful coffee mornings to be consumed refining the issue. Some good people use the Emmaus discussion to point at Thursday but that presents a problem with a clash of Shabbat and 15th Nisan that week. The point is that it is a refinement caused by the frailties of mortals.
Does this mean the fabric of the Universe, as we know it, is about to unravel?
Well it hasn’t yet. After a few thousand years it looks safe — for now.
This Easter thing is a ship that will never be turned around. Those who today push to erase Good Friday are confusing the Lost even more; and for what purpose? It seems that applying the Principle of, “A gram of inaccuracy saves a tonne of explanation,” is the approach which causes less damage.
There is too much emotional energy defending Good Friday in today’s Church. Some of the arguments are embarrassing. Using a date, 14th Nisan, instead of a day, Friday, to determine the day of the Crucifixion, would eliminate this confusion but it’s too late for the general populous; that will happen in the future but not yet. However, the guys on our team should know about it. If only to stop all this annual bickering. Once someone is firm in the Faith would be an opportunity to tell them, “I’m sure, when you misunderstood what you thought I said, it wasn’t what I meant in the first place.” It needn’t be a big deal. Those in the know could quietly celebrate on the correct day.
Just in case you weren’t paying attention
Evidence that a piece of redundant detail, extracted from an ancient myth (which, by the way, is claimed to be plagiarised from older myths) pin-pointed the day of the year the Resurrection of Christ occurred.
If you don’t think this is Twilight Zone stuff, you’ve either got ice flowing in your veins or you have already met the One Who holds the Intellectual Rights for the Holy Bible.
The Challenge
Explain this.
My explanation ( But I have no Theological qualifications.)
God took a shot way back when and did not myth.
The Volume of the Book is written of Me.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
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