It is interesting that the “Holy Week” this year replicates the week that Christ died. This is not always the case since Christians insist on holding Resurrection Day on Sunday every year. Let’s examine this coincidence of the Calendars and see how Yahweh’s proscribed days foretold man’s salvation through the annual celebration of Passover and Yeshua’s merciful act of his sacrifice as the perfect Passover lamb, without blemish.
Much of the following comes from my book Grafted: Embracing Torah, available at Amazon (yes, it’s a shameless plug for my book, but I wrote it to be read . . . who is gonna read it if they don’t know its out there).
Yeshua’s death is celebrated on the wrong day of the week. He told his disciples:
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)
“Three days and three nights” is 72 hours. The Talmud insisted that graves be watched for three days to ensure actual death (a person might only be in a temporary coma). Unless Yeshua was dead for three complete days, the Jews could argue he had not actually been dead when he was laid in the sepulcher.
Good Friday evening to Easter Sunday morning (Mary arrived before dark and the stone was already removed) is less than 40 hours. Wednesday evening to Saturday evening is, at the least, 72 hours (three days and three nights).
Passover was (as it is this year – 2020) on Thursday in the year Yeshua died. Remember the Hebrew day starts at sundown, so the lamb is slain on Wednesday before sunset.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (John 19:30-31)
“. . . that sabbath day was an high day” meaning that it was not the normal Saturday Sabbath. Passover is a Sabbath no matter what day of the week it falls on. Mary comes to the tomb after the normal weekly Sabbath (three days after the crucifixion).
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. (John 20:1)
“Three days and three nights” is 72 hours. The Talmud insisted that graves be watched for three days to ensure actual death (e.g., a person might only be in a temporary coma). Unless Yeshua was dead for three complete days, the Jews could argue he had not actually been dead when he was laid in the sepulcher.
Good Friday evening to Easter Sunday morning (Mary arrived before dark and the stone was already removed) is less than 40 hours. Thursday evening to Saturday evening is, at the least, 72 hours (three days and three nights).
On Sunday, when Christians are eating chocolate bunnies (mmmmm . . . chocolate); hunting eggs and celebrating Resurrection Sunday. Torah believers are celebrating Yahweh’s proscribed day of First Fruits (Bikkurim) which takes place THREE days (and three nights) after Passover.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11)
The first fruits of everything are considered the provision of Yahweh (e.g., grain, livestock, children, etc.). This offering commemorates the blessings and follows the first of the grain harvests. It appears the grain (in this case, barley) is literally “waved” before the altar and then the Priests would keep the offering (the Levites have to eat, also).
This sacrifice is not burned as the animal sacrifices are and appears to be on the first day of the week after the first Sabbath after Passover. This is played out the narrative of Yesuha’s death and resurrection.
Criminals that were sentenced to death were generally tossed into Jerusalem’s garbage dump – The Valley of Hinnom (also known as Ge-henna). The valley was the site of child sacrifice that was sanctioned by earlier Israeli kings, so the land was defiled and had no other purpose. The fires in Gehenna never went out because people were constantly fueling the flames by throwing their trash into the valley. This was the image that Yeshua gave his disciples when he spoke of everlasting punishment.
Yeshua’s body may have been tossed into the valley after his crucifixion if not for the intervention of Joseph of Arimathæa (Luke 23:50-53). Joseph begged Pilate for the body and placed it in his own sepulcher so this ‘wave offering’ of the first fruits would not be burned. It also provided a perfect evidence for the resurrection: the empty tomb.
We celebrate Yeshua’s sacrifice on Wednesday – which is in conformity with Yeshua’s revelation to his disciples in Matthew 12. We remember Yahweh saving Israel in Egypt with the Passover lamb AND we remember Yeshua’s sacrifice as the perfect, Passover lamb – without spot or blemish – at a Seder meal Wednesday after sunset.
Finally, on Sunday (“. . . on the morrow after the sabbath . . .”), we celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection as the First Fruit of Yahweh’s redemption of man.
This is why we choose to celebrate Yahweh’s prescribed days. They foretold of the coming of His son; the sacrifice he willingly accepted for us; and they also foretell of his second coming and the judgment of the world. Choose Yahweh’s days rather than the ‘Christian’ holidays that have been corrupted over time by Pagan rituals.
This corruption is examined in detail in my book Grafted: Embracing Torah (yes! Another shameless plug).
Notice the photo has five crosses (I had to add two). There is a very interesting study you can do concerning harmonizing the verses covering the crucifixion. My book gives more details on how you can easily do this (third and final shameless plug of my book). Or you can ask about it in the comments.
May your faith be strengthened during this holy season – and continue to grow as long as you live.