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6 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 8

Revealing the Passover the knowledge of the correct time for the
Sabbath. So the Israelites literally dwelt there in
Recall that the ancient Israelites, who SIN because of not keeping the Sabbath Day.
were descendants of righteous Abraham, went That is why YEHOVAH God had to specially
down into Egypt (Exodus 1:7) -- the country show the Israelites exactly WHICH TIME IS the
YEHOVAH God considers as a TYPE of sin -- true Creation Sabbath, shortly after delivering
and were enslaved by the cruel Egyptians them from Egypt.
(verses 8-14). Let’s study now the astonishing manner
The Egyptians did not know YEHOVAH in which YEHOVAH revealed the true Sabbath
God because they did not have YEHOVAH’s Day, and learn the LESSON INTENDED for us
true seven-day week. They did not rest on the TODAY!
Sabbath Day which IDENTIFIES the true God. When the Israelites were assembled just
From the time of the Tower of Babel (Genesis prior to escaping from Egypt, YEHOVAH God
11:1-9), their pagan ancestors REFUSED to -- through Moses -- gave His laws to them
keep the Sabbath and therefore did not know the regarding the Passover.
true God. 1. Read Exodus 13:3-10. Notice
COMMENT: Regarding the Egyptian CAREFULLY what verses 6 and 7 reveal. The
calendar, Hutton Webster notes: last part of verse 6 says that “in the SEVENTH
“Although the Egyptians had DAY shall be a FEAST to the LORD.” At first
ABANDONED the old LUNAR year and glance the casual reader would think the
LUNAR month, perhaps as early as the “seventh day” is referring to the seventh day of
beginning of the fourth millennium B.C., the the Feast -- Nisan 21. But is this true?
people continued for many centuries to observe COMMENT: The question that has
as festivals the FIRST and FIFTEENTH days of been raised is WHAT “seventh day” is this
the [solar] month. In the EARLIER [LUNAR] referring to? WHAT “seventh day” does the
calendar these would have coincided with the FEAST to the LORD fall on? Is it the seventh
two significant epochs of the LUNATION, day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 21)
namely, NEW MOON and FULL MOON. The -- or the seventh day of the WEEK?
“monthly feasts” and the “half-monthly feasts” In the ancient Hebrew, as with other
are mentioned in the very ancient texts preserved languages of the time, punctuation was NOT
in the pyramids at Sakkara of kings of the Sixth used. When the Hebrew is translated into
Dynasty” (Rest Days, pp. 166-167). English, the translators must provide
During the time that the Israelites were in punctuation according to the context and where
bondage in Egypt, Webster reveals that the THEY THINK it should go.
“feasts” mentioned above “were practised under 2. Let’s try something here. After the
the Twelfth Dynasty” and appear “clearly from word “bread” in verse 6, place a period or full
the well-known inscription of Khnumhotep II, stop instead of the comma. Capitalize the “a” of
cut on the walls of the chapel chamber in his “and” and place a comma after “LORD” instead
tomb at Benihasan” (ibid., p. 167). of the period. Leave out the words “shall be” as
But since the Egyptians were observing these were supplied by the translators and were
only TWO of YEHOVAH’s original Sabbath not in manuscripts. The two verses should now
days -- and in the SOLAR month instead of the read as follows: “Seven days thou shalt eat
LUNAR -- thay had LOST knowledge of unleavened bread. And in the SEVENTH DAY a
YEHOVAH’s true Sabbath! Feast to the LORD, unleavened bread shall be
Because the Israelites were slaves in eaten seven days;...”
pagan Egypt for hundreds of years, they too lost COMMENT: Doesn’t this cast a

YEHOVAH God’s TRUE Sabbath Day -- Part2