I have just sent a mail out to a sister in Messiah and felt the need to incorporate it in a blog for your attention:
The subject at hand is one of those ongoing "Messy Messianic Midrashes" (Biblical discussions for the purpose of arriving at the Truth) arising from our trying to discover the Truth of the Word.
It is a fact that our Biblical view of The Word is influenced by our colourful and varied cultures and backgrounds.
Add to that the freedom many of us are finding to now study and think "outside of the box" of the main-line established religions which most of us have been exposed to, it is no surprise that many of us are having to learn to now walk out our own salvation with fear and trembling - WITH OUT ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHY. Discovering this privilege of having to do our own research and study of the Scriptures can be both exciting and daunting, and can lead to animated discussions, thus our passion to Midrash.
You see it only stands to reason that those accepting the call to "come out" have decided to take responsibility for their own salvation and the walking out thereof in Faith (obedience to the leading of The Ruach HaKodesh according to The Word) - they no longer place this burden in the hands of the others - "ordained clergy".
The entire spiritual struggle from day one I believe can be summed up in two words - RELIGION & RELATIONSHIP and that is what the entire Word is based on from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 - doing things Elohim's Way and not mans' way!
So that having been said here is the opinion I believe is worthy of consideration at this present time of my understanding of The Scriptures as led by The Ruach, because obviously if I did not believe what I am writing here I would be a person presenting false witness and thus deliberately leading the Sheep of YHWH astray…quite frankly the consequences of such an act do not even bear thinking about:
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I watched the Jonathan Cahn youtube and I believe it was traditionally correct; but here is my dilemma - it was traditionally correct - THAT DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE IT TORAH CORRECT FOR THE OCCASION OF THE PASSOVER MEAL!
Most of what was celebrated and practised can be verified in the Word (except the egg - Ishtar?; the Shank bone - which he himself says is a mystery as to why it is there):
In my opinion what we see in the Gospels, and what we call the “Last Supper” WAS NOT A PASSOVER MEAL, BUT RATHER A CELEBRATION MEAL, iets soos a Matriekafskyd met joy onerwyser (something like a Matric farewell with your teacher):
Let me explain please:
When a Rabbi completed his course with his disciples he would often hold a sort of end of course meal, and I believe this is what this meal was -
Why do I say that it was not a Passover meal?
Firstly - John 13:29-30 - these verses tell us it was night (ie. after sundown) and that when Yeshua told Judas to go and complete the betrayal his other disciples thought it was to go and buy provisions for the Feast (Passover meal): In the normal practice if this was a Passover Celebration they would have sat down at Sundown to begin the Passover meal, AND ALL PREPARATIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETED: Then the sun would have gone down moving the whole meal into the First day of unleavened bread, commonly called a High Sabbath (Lev. 23:4-7)- A DAY WHEN NO BUYING OR SELLING COULD BE DONE - THERE IS NO WAY THAT JUDAS WOULD HAVE BEEN SENT OUT TO BUY PROVISIONS FOR THE FEAST - in fact nothing in Jerusalem would have even been open for business.
Secondly - The Passover Lamb (fore-shadowing Yeshua) was to be offered up on the eve (afternoon traditionally from15:00) of the 14 day of Nissan so it could be eaten from Sundown 14 Nissan into the breaking of 15 Nissan - First day of unleavened bread - TO HAVE HELD THE FEAST BEFORE THIS DATE WOULD HAVE BEEN SINFUL, AGAINST TORAH (Ex. 12:6-8) and then Yeshua would have not been the Passover Lamb WHOSE BLOOD IS USED FOR OUR REDEMPTION!
Think of this please - YESHUA IS THE LAMB, HE HAS TO SUPPLY THE BLOOD FOR A COVERING/CLEANSING - COULD HE NOW THAT, ALL THE LAW HAD BEEN FULFILLED EAT OF HIMSELF? This would be circular thinking/application - if we read John 17:1-8 it would seem that Yeshua has COMPLETED HIS WORK AND IS NOW PRAYING IN THE ROLE OF THE HIGH PRIEST OF MELCHIZEDEK - NB: OUR MASTERS PRAYERS OF JOHN 17 WOULD HAVE BEEN PRAYED ON THE 14 OF NISSAN - INSPECTION TIME HAS PASSED!
Therefore I opine that up till this point HE had been instructing and showing us how to walk in The Torah as redeemed believers (Mat. 5:17-20) thus HE kept and fulfilled the entire Law (Mat. 3:13-17); HE has now completed this portion of HIS work and Abba has chosen HIM and placed HIM in HIS, ELOHIM'S HOME (Ex. 12:3-7 The earthly Temple represent HIS HOME HERE ON EARTH) before the Priesthood from 10 Nissan for their inspection of The Lamb to see if HE had any blemishes, HE HAS NONE -
At the time of this Last Supper Yeshua was transitioning fromYeshua the 2nd Adam to Yeshua The High Priest and Perfect Atonement - does this make sense?
Thirdly - it would seem according to the Gospel accounts that Bitter herbs and unleavened bread (Matzah) which are part of the Eternal instructions when holding the meal, were not included in this meal - (Ex. 12:8); also there is no mention of even eating lamb included in the Gospels! See Mark 14:1 - Greek for unleavened bread is G 106b - azumos; and Mark 14:22 Yeshua broke the bread G740 - artos - bread as raised, a loaf. See also 1 Cor. 11:23 - again refers to G740 - artos. HAD THIS BEEN THE PASSOVER MEAL ANY YEAST PRODUCTS WITHIN THIS ROOM/HOME WOULD HAVE BEEN A CONTRAVENTION OF TORAH - AGAIN A SIN!
Next we have the leaders of the Sanhedrin wanting to speak to Pilate after the arrest of Yeshua and Pilate had to come out to them and he, PILATE, accepted this break in Protocol because according to their (Pharisee’s etc) Oral Torah (Pharisee’s etc NOT OURS) - TO GO INTO THE PLACE OF THE GENTILES ON PREPARATION DAY (i.e. the 14 Nissan) WOULD MAKE THEM UNCLEAN TO HOLD THE PASSOVER MEAL AND THEY WOULD HAVE TO APPLY Num. 9:10! See John 18:28-29. See Peter’s misplaced dilemma regarding being with “Gentiles” recorded in Acts 10!
In John 18:3 we also see the Temple Guard, accompanied by a band of men and officers (G4686- speria - a mass of men - a Roman Military cohort, (an ancient Roman Military unit) also by analogy a squad of Levitical Janitors) coming to arrest Yeshua:
This word speria is used in Mat. 27:27; Mark 15:16, Acts 10:1, Acts 21:31; Acts 27:1 and all their applications seem to indicate them being used for Soliders of Rome:
We see that the Greek word speria, by analogy can be applied to a janitor as well;
- 1580s, "an usher in a school," later "doorkeeper" (1620s), from Latin ianitor "doorkeeper, porter," from ianua "door, entrance, gate," from ianus "arched passageway, arcade" (see Janus) + agent suffix -tor. Meaning "caretaker of a building, man employed to see that rooms are kept clean and in order" first recorded 1708. Fem. forms were janitress (1806), janitrix (1818).
By my reckoning John 18:3 takes efforts to identify the personnel sent to arrest out Master - and it would seem that they are Roman Soldiers with Officers and Levitical janitors, Temple Door Keepers/ Guards WHO I BELIEVE DO NOT HAD AUTHORITY OR JURISDICTION TO TO ARREST ANYBODY OUTSIDE OF THE TEMPLE PRECINCTS, and Yeshua’s arrest was definitely not within the Temple precincts - see Acts 3:1-4:22 which took place in The Temple precincts:
Just the fact that the Sanhedrin approach Pilate, and Pilate in his turn uses Herod (the civil leader of Israel empowered by Rome) to me proves thats the Sanhedrin had no civil authority at all - only religious authority confined to the Temple precinct, and in John 18:28-40 proves this when Pilate also has the supreme authority to circumnavigate the civil laws with a customary one almost at whim!
In Acts 6 we read of the arrest of Stephan, we are not told where it took place, but just that a mob was organised to basically “use violence" to incapacitate & drag him before the Sanhedrin - now seeing that Stephan was who he was, it can be assumed that he attended Temple everyday for the prays (Acts 2:46) and this would have presented a daily opportunity to enforce an arrest, illegal or not!
Therefore I submit that had Yeshua and His disciples held a Passover seder then the day of His arrest would have been the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread AND THERE IS NO WAY THAT “JEWS AND GENTILES” WOULD HAVE EVEN BEEN SEEN TOGETHER LET ALONE WORKED TOGETHER ON THE ARREST OF THE MASSIVELY EXPLOSIVE SITUATION INVOLVING THE MESSIAH - See an example of this in Acts 12:1-5 - here we see Herod using soldiers NOT TEMPLE GUARDS as his actors AND THEN DECIDING TO NOT DO ANYTHING TO PETER BECAUSE IT WAS DURING THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD AND POLITICALLY AND RELIGIOUSLY UNPALATABLE!
Do you not think that if the dates that were used by the corrupted priesthood had indeed been incorrect THAT YESHUA WOULD NOT HAVE SAID SO -BUT HE DID NOT!
If the dates that were used by the corrupted priesthood had indeed been incorrect AND YESHUA HELD A PASSOVER SEDER ON THE CORRECT DAY THEN TORAH WOULD STILL HAVE BEEN BROKEN BY YESHUA'S DEATH BEING HELD ON THE WRONG DAY - THUS MEANING YESHUA IS NOT THE MESSIAH, OR YHWH IS NOT IN CONTROL - HEAVEN FORBID!
We also see that the Disciples are relaxed at this Feast, in fact so much so that John was leaning his head against the bosom of Messiah (John 13:23); when in fact we are instructed to eat this meal in haste, dressed and ready at any moment to depart with Yeshua out of Egypt - Ex. 12:11!
There is more we can talk about such as the verse which seem to indicate that this “Last Supper" took place on the 14 Nissan (Mat. 26:17; Mark 14:12); Mark 13:34-35 where Yeshua says that He is giving a “New Commandment” - if Yeshua was indeed giving a “New Commandment” HE IS AGAIN NOT THE MESSIAH BECAUSE HE IS IN CONTRAVENTION OF ADDING TO THE WORD Deut. 4:2; 12:32 & Rev. 22:18-19 where in fact what Yeshua says actually lines up with Lev. 19:18 as also seen in 1 Cor. 13; and where Yeshua says that HE had looked forward to sharing this Passover with His Disciples prior to His death Luke 22:15-16; the foreshadowing of the Bridal Meal with the Cups of wine and so forth.
To sum up: Is it possible that Yeshua was giving us a pattern of a special fellowship meal which can be held at any time at all, a “Love Feast” if you will where we get together as Believers to fellowship around a meal and just contemplate and speak of Messiah; to just centre our thoughts on Him and what HE did, the same as the Shalom Offering (Shelamim korban - voluntary or thanks offering)? - See Lev. 3 & 7:11-34. Looking at Acts 2:46-47 and Jude 1:12 this may bear out my opinions at this time, opinions which may change as I grow in His Word!
So it would seem to me that the only instruction that we have as to how and what to eat at the Passover meal on the night of 14 Nissan into 15 Nissan is found in Ex. 12: we need to have is THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB OVER OUR LIVES WHICH ADDITIONALLY, BECAUSE OF HIS COVENANT, WILL COVER OUR UNSAVED SPOUSES AND FAMILY WITHIN STILL UNDER OUR ROOF (1 Cor. 7:14); we need Matzoh and not leavened bread; we need lamb (braaied - not boiled or braised); we need to be prepared and ready to flee at any moment; we need to eat in haste; and we need to pass on the story of the first Passover and Messiah’s redemption for us and our forefathers when coming out of Egypt to our children, and I believe a good explanation of the *** second Greater Exodus would not be out of order -
The Passover seder that Jonathan Cahn presented is, I believe, sincere and traditional, BUT IS IT THE PROPER WAY WE ARE INSTRUCTED TO HOLD THE PASSOVER MEAL? I am not sure that it is.
Let me know what you think please!
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***Here is another link which I include from the same source as the one above which helped bring my thoughts together on the Last Supper vs. The Passover. I do not agree with all this young man says but his honesty and attitude really appeal to me.
I do not want to labour a point, but maybe we should really be paying more attention to HIS Ways, especially at what now seems to be a very late date in History!
Blessings and shalom in Messiah Yeshua in this, HIS approaching Pesach season.
Bo'az
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