HELP! My wall calendar doesn't tell me all of these things...

[Matthew23]

When exactly will the Feasts take place this year?

Feast of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Sheaf of Firstfruits
Feast of Weeks
Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles

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I don't know anything about the Jewish calendar...

Matt

[hyssop]

<U>New Moon</u> -
In Y'shua's day, the months were established by the sighting of the new moon. Two independent witnesses were required to describe what they saw and, if the two accounts agreed, the new month was established. After the destruction of the Temple, the Rabbis created a calculated calendar--this was truly a great feat. However, there is much to learn by the observance of the new moon, and we are one of a multitude of groups who establish the Holy Days by sighting the new moon.

<U>Passover</u> -
Passover is in the first month and must be obeserved "in its season," which is Spring (after the Spring equinox). There is a question about whether or not the new moon should be sighted in the Spring, but we follow the Jewish ruling that the Passover (and not the new moon) must be observed in the Spring. Since there are less than 365 1/4 days in the lunar year, an extra month has to be added periodically (it happened this year and the second month of Adar [Adar II] was added) in order to keep Passover in its season. The new moon should be sighted on the evening of April 2 (low in the west/southwestern sky just after sunset), and that would make Nissan 1 fall on April 3. Passover (the killing of the Passover lamb) is in the afternoon of Nissan 14.

<U>Feast of Unleavened Bread</u> -
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days long and starts at sunset on Nissan 14. From sunset, Nissan 14, through sunset, Nissan 15, is the first day and it is a High Sabbath Day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread ends on Nissan 21 (sunset, Nissan 20, through sunset, Nissan 21) with another High Sabbath. If one observes Hashem's commandments, then there is to be no leavening in one's house (nor is one to eat anything with leavening) for the entire week.

What are some of the spiritual lessons that Hashem teaches us through the keeping of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
Lesson 1: Y'shua is our Passover lamb, and we sacrificed Him before leaving "Egypt" in haste. What does the story of leaving Egypt represent?
Lesson 2: What does the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread represent?
Lesson x: ???

[Matthew23]

Originally posted by hyssop
Lesson 1: Y'shua is our Passover lamb, and we sacrificed Him before leaving "Egypt" in haste. What does the story of leaving Egypt represent?

We've been set free!
Romans 6:17-22
17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Be prepared for the "wilderness"...
Ephesians 6:13-17
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Originally posted by hyssop
Lesson 2: What does the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread represent?

We must set ourselves aside completely to YHWH, separated from any "leavening" influences.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
6...Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

Originally posted by hyssop
Lesson x: ???

I'm assuming that would be concerning the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread????
Leviticus 23:9-14
9 The LORD said to Moses, 10 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

This "sample sheaf" is the first of the coming "harvest".
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Did I do okay?
Thanks for the info on the Holidays.

Matt

[simchat_torah]

heh, I missed this post...

(In the best terminator voice I can muster...)

I'll be back...

-Yafet.