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According to the Hebrew Scriptures (Masoretic Text), Nisan 15 was never designated as a Sabbath. There were three types of Sabbaths: 1) the weekly Sabbath, 2) the land Sabbath where the land had to lay unused every seventh year 3) the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), an annual Sabbath that fell in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur not only had being called Sabbath in common, but both of them were the only holy convocations that prescribed the death penalty for breaking them. The rest did not demand the death penalty for breaking them. They are also the only two holy convocations that used the expression SHABBATH SHABBATHOWN, and they both are the only ones that forbade ANY work. The other six forbade only *servile* work.
There were seven annual holy convocations in the Jewish Year and six of them forbade only servile work and were never called Sabbaths. There is a reason why the Day of Atonement was called a Sabbath, and the others weren't. It forbade ANY work, not just servile work, just like the weekly Sabbath. Leviticus 16:29, 23:28, 30, 31; Numbers 29:7.
For example, refer to Exodus 20:10, 31:14,15; Leviticus 23:3, Deuteronomy 5:14; Jeremiah 17:22 to see the weekly Sabbath forbade ANY work too.
Notice the Day of Atonement and the weekly Sabbath both prohibit ANY work. So the Day of Atonement has the same definition as the weekly Sabbath.
Furthermore, in every place in the Hebrew Scriptures where "the Sabbath" is found it refers to the weekly Sabbath. So too, apparently in the Greek Scriptures (New Testament).
There are, in Leviticus 23 of the KJV, four holy convocations in the sacred seventh month of the Jewish Year (Tishri) that are called Sabbaths in the KJV but three of them come from a different Hebrew word for Sabbath (SHABBATHOWN) than the weekly Sabbath (SHABBATH). The Day of Atonement uses the same word for Sabbath as the weekly Sabbath. The SHABBATHOWN is spelled similarly to the weekly Sabbath but it means "REST" and is never used for a holy convocation that forbids ANY work. It is even translated as REST elsewhere in the KJV and is used sometimes with the Hebrew word Sabbath as in "A Sabbath of REST (Exodus 16:23, 31:15, 35:2, Leviticus 16:31, 23:3, 32; 25:4,5. Only the weekly Sabbath and the Day of Atonement are paired in this manner, SHABBATH SHABBATHOWN and only those two Sabbaths are capital offenses when broken. The other six holy convocations do not prescribe the death penalty for failure to keep it properly.
Just keep in mind if a holy convocation forbids ANY work, it is a Sabbath. If it forbids only servile work, it is not a Sabbath, it is just a rest day. This is according to the Hebrew Scriptures. If used in conjunction with the weekly Sabbath it is a "Shabbath Shabbathown" (Sabbath of Rest). The non-Sabbath holy convocations are rest days like the sabbath, but they forbid only *servile* work. They are called SHABBATHOWN without the SHABBATH preceding them.
Even in the Septuagint (LXX), in Leviticus 23 those three holy convocations in the seventh month that the KJV translates as Sabbaths are NOT called Sabbaths in the Hebrew. They are, however, called ANAPAUSIS in the LXX, which in Greek means "REST". ANAPAUSIS is also used in the Christian Greek Scriptures (the New Testament) and it means REST there too (G372).
There are places in the KJV Bible where the new moons, sabbaths, set feasts, solemnities, solemn feasts, assemblies, and such are mentioned together. These can be found in I Chronicles 23:31; II Chronicles 2:4, 8:13, 31:3; Nehemiah 10:31,33; Hosea 2:11, Lamentations 2:6, Ezekiel 44:24, 45:17.
After these verses were written they remained the same until perhaps about the time of the Babylonian Captivity or later, or perhaps the third century BC when the Jews in Alexandria, Egypt began translating the Hebrew into Greek. Nisan 15 was a non-Sabbath holy convocation until the Jews went into Babylonian captivity and for seventy years, they were in Babylon they observed their Nisan 15 as a Sabbath because Nisan 15 was a Sabbath to the Babylonians. The translation of the Septuagint carried the new view of Nisan 15 being the sabbath. Check Leviticus 23:11, 15 for this. The Jewish translators of the Septuagint took the Hebrew words “on the morrow after the sabbath” in Leviticus 23:11 and changed them to “on the morrow of the first day" (of the Feast)”. This means the first Day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15) would hitherto be celebrated as a Sabbath by the Pharisees and later rabbinical authorities, as well as their descendants. The morrow of the first day would be the morning of Nisan 16, the day the Omer would be waved in Judaism. The LXX in Leviticus 23:11 is more of an interpretation than a translation. Once the Pharisees gained control of the Temple for good the Nisan 15 Sabbath has been a Jewish tradition ever since.
Hence the waving of the sheaf would always occur on Nisan 16 under the Pharisean and rabbinical reckoning. Since “on the morrow of the first day (of the Feast) is the referent for Sabbath in Leviticus 23:15 then it follows that Nisan 15 was called a Sabbath by the Pharisees and later the Rabbis.
The Sadducees in the first century BCE and early first century CE disagreed with this view. They were known as the Torah literalists of their day, and they did not call the holy convocations "Sabbaths". The Sadducees did count the fifty-day countdown from the waving of the Omer to Shavuot (Pentecost) and they controlled temple worship when Jesus was alive. So, by the time Jesus was crucified early in the first century AD Sadducee Jews waved the Omer every year on the day after the weekly Sabbath that followed the Passover meal.
The Rabbinical authorities, led by the Pharisees insisted the correct day to wave the Omer was the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread and to start the countdown from that day. However, they did not regain control of the Temple until about 20 years after Jesus died. The Sadducees controlled the Temple worship when Jesus was alive and they observed the waving on the Omer the first Sunday after the Passover Seder. The Pharisaic Jews thus reverted to observing the waving of the Omer on Nisan 16 after they regained control of the Temple.
Josephus relates this practice in Antiquities of the Jews in Book III, Chapter 10, verse 5. Read the following:
“But in the month of Xanthicus; which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year; on the fourteenth day of the Lunar month, when the sun is in Aries; for on this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians: the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt: and which was called the Passover. And so we do celebrate this Passover in companies, and leave nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following. The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the Passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days: wherein they feed on unleavened bread. On every one of which days two bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats, which is added to all the rest, for sins: for it is intended as a feast for the Priest on every one of those days. BUT ON THE SECOND DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, WHICH IS THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, THEY FIRST PARTAKE OF THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH: FOR BEFORE THAT DAY THEY DO NOT TOUCH THEM (Capitals mine).
It is important to note that the observance of the Passover Josephus describes was the way it was when he was writing Antiquities of the Jews in the 94 CE. The Jews no longer had the Temple to worship in, so they partook of the Passover in companies and made their own sacrifices. Before 70 CE the Jews traveled to the Temple and the priests did the sacrificing. Now, as Josephus wrote this, his people kept the Passover in companies and would sacrifice their own animals like the Jews did before the priesthood was established. This is the Pharisee reckoning of celebrating Nisan 15 as a Sabbath without the Temple and where there was no Sadducee reckoning. On the 16th day of the month, they partook of the fruits of the earth. I find it plausible they were not in Jerusalem when they did this, but back on their own farms. The Temple had been destroyed in 70 CE and Josephus is writing in the present tense when describing this Passover celebration. This was the way the Jews celebrated it in 94 CE.
Some claim that the Sadducees controlled Temple worship all the way up to the destruction of the Temple. However, according to a Jewish document, the transfer of power occurred during the lifetime of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai who lived from 30 BCE -90 CE. Yohanan was appointed president (nasi) of the Sanhedrin in 50 CE. So, the Sadducee's controlled the Temple worship when Jesus was alive. Here is a piece from Wikipedia. It’s interesting to note the nasi did not always have to be the high priest.
From AI on the internet:
During the Second Temple period (c. 530 BCE–70 CE), the high priest could also serve as the nasi, or president, of the Sanhedrin. The position of nasi was created around 191 BCE when the Sanhedrin lost faith in the high priest's ability to lead. As nasi, the high priest was responsible for state affairs, while the av bet din, or "father of the court", was responsible for synagogue affairs. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish judicial and administrative body made up of local elites, including members of the high-priestly family, scribes, and lay elders.
Among the dates penned in Megillat Taanit and which were all forbidden to fast thereon, and for others also forbidden to lament the dead thereon, are to be noted the following:
There were seven annual holy convocations in the Jewish Year and six of them forbade only servile work and were never called Sabbaths. There is a reason why the Day of Atonement was called a Sabbath, and the others weren't. It forbade ANY work, not just servile work, just like the weekly Sabbath. Leviticus 16:29, 23:28, 30, 31; Numbers 29:7.
For example, refer to Exodus 20:10, 31:14,15; Leviticus 23:3, Deuteronomy 5:14; Jeremiah 17:22 to see the weekly Sabbath forbade ANY work too.
Notice the Day of Atonement and the weekly Sabbath both prohibit ANY work. So the Day of Atonement has the same definition as the weekly Sabbath.
Furthermore, in every place in the Hebrew Scriptures where "the Sabbath" is found it refers to the weekly Sabbath. So too, apparently in the Greek Scriptures (New Testament).
There are, in Leviticus 23 of the KJV, four holy convocations in the sacred seventh month of the Jewish Year (Tishri) that are called Sabbaths in the KJV but three of them come from a different Hebrew word for Sabbath (SHABBATHOWN) than the weekly Sabbath (SHABBATH). The Day of Atonement uses the same word for Sabbath as the weekly Sabbath. The SHABBATHOWN is spelled similarly to the weekly Sabbath but it means "REST" and is never used for a holy convocation that forbids ANY work. It is even translated as REST elsewhere in the KJV and is used sometimes with the Hebrew word Sabbath as in "A Sabbath of REST (Exodus 16:23, 31:15, 35:2, Leviticus 16:31, 23:3, 32; 25:4,5. Only the weekly Sabbath and the Day of Atonement are paired in this manner, SHABBATH SHABBATHOWN and only those two Sabbaths are capital offenses when broken. The other six holy convocations do not prescribe the death penalty for failure to keep it properly.
Just keep in mind if a holy convocation forbids ANY work, it is a Sabbath. If it forbids only servile work, it is not a Sabbath, it is just a rest day. This is according to the Hebrew Scriptures. If used in conjunction with the weekly Sabbath it is a "Shabbath Shabbathown" (Sabbath of Rest). The non-Sabbath holy convocations are rest days like the sabbath, but they forbid only *servile* work. They are called SHABBATHOWN without the SHABBATH preceding them.
Even in the Septuagint (LXX), in Leviticus 23 those three holy convocations in the seventh month that the KJV translates as Sabbaths are NOT called Sabbaths in the Hebrew. They are, however, called ANAPAUSIS in the LXX, which in Greek means "REST". ANAPAUSIS is also used in the Christian Greek Scriptures (the New Testament) and it means REST there too (G372).
There are places in the KJV Bible where the new moons, sabbaths, set feasts, solemnities, solemn feasts, assemblies, and such are mentioned together. These can be found in I Chronicles 23:31; II Chronicles 2:4, 8:13, 31:3; Nehemiah 10:31,33; Hosea 2:11, Lamentations 2:6, Ezekiel 44:24, 45:17.
After these verses were written they remained the same until perhaps about the time of the Babylonian Captivity or later, or perhaps the third century BC when the Jews in Alexandria, Egypt began translating the Hebrew into Greek. Nisan 15 was a non-Sabbath holy convocation until the Jews went into Babylonian captivity and for seventy years, they were in Babylon they observed their Nisan 15 as a Sabbath because Nisan 15 was a Sabbath to the Babylonians. The translation of the Septuagint carried the new view of Nisan 15 being the sabbath. Check Leviticus 23:11, 15 for this. The Jewish translators of the Septuagint took the Hebrew words “on the morrow after the sabbath” in Leviticus 23:11 and changed them to “on the morrow of the first day" (of the Feast)”. This means the first Day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15) would hitherto be celebrated as a Sabbath by the Pharisees and later rabbinical authorities, as well as their descendants. The morrow of the first day would be the morning of Nisan 16, the day the Omer would be waved in Judaism. The LXX in Leviticus 23:11 is more of an interpretation than a translation. Once the Pharisees gained control of the Temple for good the Nisan 15 Sabbath has been a Jewish tradition ever since.
Hence the waving of the sheaf would always occur on Nisan 16 under the Pharisean and rabbinical reckoning. Since “on the morrow of the first day (of the Feast) is the referent for Sabbath in Leviticus 23:15 then it follows that Nisan 15 was called a Sabbath by the Pharisees and later the Rabbis.
The Sadducees in the first century BCE and early first century CE disagreed with this view. They were known as the Torah literalists of their day, and they did not call the holy convocations "Sabbaths". The Sadducees did count the fifty-day countdown from the waving of the Omer to Shavuot (Pentecost) and they controlled temple worship when Jesus was alive. So, by the time Jesus was crucified early in the first century AD Sadducee Jews waved the Omer every year on the day after the weekly Sabbath that followed the Passover meal.
The Rabbinical authorities, led by the Pharisees insisted the correct day to wave the Omer was the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread and to start the countdown from that day. However, they did not regain control of the Temple until about 20 years after Jesus died. The Sadducees controlled the Temple worship when Jesus was alive and they observed the waving on the Omer the first Sunday after the Passover Seder. The Pharisaic Jews thus reverted to observing the waving of the Omer on Nisan 16 after they regained control of the Temple.
Josephus relates this practice in Antiquities of the Jews in Book III, Chapter 10, verse 5. Read the following:
“But in the month of Xanthicus; which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year; on the fourteenth day of the Lunar month, when the sun is in Aries; for on this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians: the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt: and which was called the Passover. And so we do celebrate this Passover in companies, and leave nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following. The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the Passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days: wherein they feed on unleavened bread. On every one of which days two bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats, which is added to all the rest, for sins: for it is intended as a feast for the Priest on every one of those days. BUT ON THE SECOND DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, WHICH IS THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, THEY FIRST PARTAKE OF THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH: FOR BEFORE THAT DAY THEY DO NOT TOUCH THEM (Capitals mine).
It is important to note that the observance of the Passover Josephus describes was the way it was when he was writing Antiquities of the Jews in the 94 CE. The Jews no longer had the Temple to worship in, so they partook of the Passover in companies and made their own sacrifices. Before 70 CE the Jews traveled to the Temple and the priests did the sacrificing. Now, as Josephus wrote this, his people kept the Passover in companies and would sacrifice their own animals like the Jews did before the priesthood was established. This is the Pharisee reckoning of celebrating Nisan 15 as a Sabbath without the Temple and where there was no Sadducee reckoning. On the 16th day of the month, they partook of the fruits of the earth. I find it plausible they were not in Jerusalem when they did this, but back on their own farms. The Temple had been destroyed in 70 CE and Josephus is writing in the present tense when describing this Passover celebration. This was the way the Jews celebrated it in 94 CE.
Some claim that the Sadducees controlled Temple worship all the way up to the destruction of the Temple. However, according to a Jewish document, the transfer of power occurred during the lifetime of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai who lived from 30 BCE -90 CE. Yohanan was appointed president (nasi) of the Sanhedrin in 50 CE. So, the Sadducee's controlled the Temple worship when Jesus was alive. Here is a piece from Wikipedia. It’s interesting to note the nasi did not always have to be the high priest.
From AI on the internet:
During the Second Temple period (c. 530 BCE–70 CE), the high priest could also serve as the nasi, or president, of the Sanhedrin. The position of nasi was created around 191 BCE when the Sanhedrin lost faith in the high priest's ability to lead. As nasi, the high priest was responsible for state affairs, while the av bet din, or "father of the court", was responsible for synagogue affairs. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish judicial and administrative body made up of local elites, including members of the high-priestly family, scribes, and lay elders.
Among the dates penned in Megillat Taanit and which were all forbidden to fast thereon, and for others also forbidden to lament the dead thereon, are to be noted the following:
- "And from the eighth day thereof (i.e. the lunar month of Nisan) until the end of the [last] festival day [of Passover], the Feast of Weeks (Shavu'ot) was restored, [being days on which] it is prohibited to mourn" [Original Aramaic: ומתמניא ביה ועד סוף מועדא איתותב חגא דשבועייא די לא למספד]
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