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8 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 14




count? Leviticus 23:15-16. number “AFTER the seventh sabbath”? Same
COMMENT: The English translators of verse.
the Old Testament outline a method of counting 5. Now turn to Numbers 28:26. Here
which is, to say the least, a little unclear. Since you find the expression “at your Feast of
most people (including the so-called Jews) think WEEKS...” The Hebrew word here can mean
the weekly Sabbath falls on what we call only weeks, not Sabbaths.
Saturday in the pagan solar calendar we keep 6. Read, now, Deuteronomy 16:9. How
today, and the festival High days are determined many WEEKS do we number from cutting the
according to the Hebrew lunar month, the Wave Sheaf?
confusion becomes even greater! Leviticus COMMENT: You should now be able
23:15 tells us to count from the “morrow after to see where all the confusion comes from! We
the sabbath,” however it doesn’t seem to clearly have “Sabbaths,” “days” and “weeks” to
indicate WHICH sabbath (weekly or High Day) determine Pentecost with! But this problem
it’s talking about. As a result of NOT EVAPORATES when we use the CORRECT
understanding YEHOVAH’s TRUE calendar, calendar!
there has been a controversy among scholars and 7. On what day was the Feast of
religious groups as to WHICH “day after the Pentecost to be kept? See comment.
sabbath” to begin the omer count from! This COMMENT: YEHOVAH’s church is
controversy has raged for millennia! to count from the day after the weekly Sabbath --
The various theories that have been which is also the day after the FIRST DAY of
promulgated include counting from the day after Unleavened Bread -- that is from the first day of
the first day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 16), the week (Nisan 16).
counting from the day after the LAST high The simplicity of YEHOVAH’s calendar
Sabbath of that festival (Nisan 21), to counting becomes evident when we realize that the
from the day after the weekly Sabbath, based on weekly Sabbaths fall in the QUARTERS OF
our solar calendar of today, that supposedly falls THE MOON. When we follow Leviticus 23:15
sometime within the days of Unleavened Bread. and count SEVEN SABBATHS toward
This, of course, can create numerous problems Pentecost, we are actually counting the THIRD
depending on WHEN this solar sabbath ends up Sabbath of the first lunar month -- from the 22nd
falling! day of Nisan through the FIRST Sabbath of the
But when we realize that the weekly THIRD lunar month (Sivan 8).
Sabbaths of YEHOVAH God are determined by The next part of the count -- and the very
the LUNAR calendar just like the Feast days, KEY to correctly determining Pentecost -- is
then the problem is EASILY solved! With found in verse 16 of Leviticus 23. Notice how it
YEHOVAH’s calendar the WEEKLY Sabbath says, “Then AFTER the seventh sabbath shall
ALWAYS falls on the first day of Unleavened you shall count fifty days” (Hebrew --
Bread -- year in and year out! “yowm”).
The instructions for determining To give a clearer understanding, in the
Pentecost are found in Leviticus 23:15-21, course of the Biblical directions you will pass
Numbers 28:26-31 and Deuteronomy 16:9-12. through SEVEN SABBATHS -- beginning on
Much of the confusion has been caused by these the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread
three passages because people DO NOT (Nisan 16):
understand YEHOVAH’s calendar! 1st Sabbath = Nisan 22 -- Last Quarter
4. Read Leviticus 23:15-16 again. How 2nd Sabbath = Nisan 29 -- New Moon
many SABBATHS “shall be complete” in the 3rd Sabbath = Iyar 8 -- First Quarter
count to Pentecost? How many DAYS shall we 4th Sabbath = Iyar 15 -- Full Moon




Day of Pentecost -- The Church in YEHOVAH’s Master Plan
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