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Continue now Leviticus 23: "And ye shall COUNT..."
(verse 15). The date of the next annual holy day is determined by
COUNTING. We ought to be able to COUNT straight. The directions
are plain and simple: ...ye shall COUNT unto you from the morrow
after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the
wave offering..."
For almost 1900 years, according to historic records,
there has been dispute as to which day to count FROM. Josephus,
the Jewish historian who wrote about 70 A.D., shows that in his
day most of the Jews counted FROM the annual Sabbath---the FIRST
holyday, Abib 15th. Some counted from the last annual Sabbath,
Abib 21. The Jews today count FROM the day they call Passover,
which is not Passover at all but Abib 15, the first annual holy-
day. They do not count from the morrow AFTER that day, but from
Abib 16. The Sadducees and another Jewish sect, the Samaritans,
counted from the day after the weekly Sabbath occurring during the
days of unleavened bread. The Samaritans are the ONLY sect that
have continued to observe all these festivals down to the present
day exactly as in the days of Moses. They still sacrifice and
roast the paschal lamb. They have kept up all these rites
continuously without a break. They are the ONLY people who have
continued these rites exactly as God originally gave them to the
Israelites under the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant.
They have NEVER MADE ANY CHANGE in their doctrines or manner of
observing the holy days. They use the same calendar---the original
sacred calendar---that is today called "the Jewish calendar." They
kill the Passover lamb between sunset and dark, the night of the
14th Abib. They roast and eat it that same night. They observe
the FEAST the following night, same as all Jews, beginning of the
15th. THEY HAVE CONTINUED TO FIGURE PENTECOST FROM THE SUNDAY
FOLLOWING THE WEEKLY SABBATH OCCURRING DURING THE DAYS OF
UNLEAVENED BREAD---just as God originally gave it to the people
thru Moses!
Jesus, the great Antetypical Lamb, and after His
resurrection, the Antetypical Wave-sheaf, was presented before and
accepted of God on the morrow after the WEEKLY Sabbath during the
days of unleavened bread, A.D. 31. That is the day we now call
Sunday. He was in His grave on the morrow after the annual
Sabbath, Abib 16th. So the fulfillment of the type ought to set
us straight beyond doubt as to which day to count FROM. We count
FROM the day following the weekly Sabbath---always FROM a Sunday.
Making it PLAIN!
Let us get that point fixed plainly in mind. we count in
order to determine which day is Pentecost. Can we COUNT? We count
FROM a Sunday, always. The particular Sunday which follows the
weekly Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread.
This particular year Passover was the eve of April 19th
---that is, after sunset Sunday April 18th. The days of unleavened
bread were April 20th to 26th inclusive (each day beginning the
previous sunset). The weekly Sabbath DURING these days was April
24th. The morrow AFTER the Sabbath was Sunday April 25th---the day
on which the wave-sheaf would have been waved.