The Jewish Feasts

Posted in February 5, 2020 by David

The Jewish feasts are largely unknown to most Christians. Most have heard about Passover only because it intersects with Easter. Few Christians have even heard of the other six major Jewish feasts or festivals on the Jewish calendar

All seven of the major Jewish festivals hold significance for Christians, however. We will go through the first four of these feasts which have had their fulfillment in the First Coming of Christ – especially the Passover.

The Spring Jewish Feasts

Shari was Jeff's nurse while in the hospital.

Shari – Jeff’s Nurse – Image by juiana juli from Pixabay

“But you don’t really believe any of that stuff, do you, Jeff? I mean really, angels? I haven’t even thought of such fairy tales since I was five years old!”

Jeff started dating Shari Johansen after he got out of the hospital. She worked as a nurse part-time there and had taken care of Jeff when he was on a ventilator. As Jeff improved and got off the ventilator, something unusual happened; he fell in love. Patients often fall in love with their nurses, especially the ones who are kind and thoughtful like Shari.

She was about ten years younger than Jeff and had remained unattached without a serious boyfriend until now. But she recognized in Jeff something different; a man who was deeply conflicted, someone who needed her help. Of course, Shari was interested in him as a patient, patiently encouraging him to sit up, stand on the floor, and finally getting enough strength to walk. His improvement was painfully slow, but she was there to help.

Jeff was very rich in material things, but poor in spiritual values.

Jeff had all the money he would ever need – Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

At first, she was confused by her newly found feelings for this particular patient. He was outwardly no different from any other man she had taken care of during her fifteen years of nursing. She bathed him every day, cleaned him up after bowel movements, and even helped feed him when he was too weak to hold a fork. Many men are driven toward success and feel women an irritating but necessary obstruction to their career goals. Jeff had already achieved material success and was very rich. By all outward appearances, Jeff “had it all.”

She could sense a sadness; no, desperation that Jeff was fearfully hiding from everybody else. She was trained to be observant and in her attraction toward him physically, also felt he was struggling.

After Jeff got out of the hospital, they started dating. Of course, for Jeff, Shari was just another woman meant for conquest; at least initially. But Shari was different somehow, most substantial than most of the bimbos he was used to dating. She was interested in him as a person, not as a one night encounter.

He felt strangely attracted to her and wanted to be with her more and more. As their trust developed, Jeff finally confided with her concerning his angelic dreams hoping she wouldn’t think him crazy or mentally unbalanced.

Shari and Jeff’s Visions

But, that was her first impression. Being a nurse, she was used to hearing about hallucinations and knew they could seem very real. Sometimes, patients would even tell her they knew that the hallucinations talking to them were not really there. Other patients would carry out a complete conversation with a perceived visitor who was nothing more than a vision conjured up by dysfunctional neurons. She liked Jeff; she liked him a lot. But she was ready to end the entire relationship if it turned out Jeff had psychiatric issues.

She had to find out Jeff’s mental status before she let her feelings for him develop even more.

Hallucinations can seem very real at times - everybody thought Jeff was likely having hallucinations due to his excessive drug abuse.

Hallucinations – Image by stuart hampton from Pixabay

“Look, Shari,” Jeff said defensively. “I know this all seems pretty weird. I thought about seeing a shrink many times throughout all of this.”

“Well, why didn’t you? I mean, most people who have visions or hear things get progressively worse unless helped. Jeff, I know some good psychiatrists -”

“I’m not interested in seeing any shrink. I’ve been reading about this stuff on the Internet, and hallucinations don’t give you facts, figures, and knowledge about stuff you’ve never heard of which turn out to be true! I mean, this is stuff I’ve never thought of, and couldn’t come up within my wildest dreams.”

Jeff smiled at the metaphor because that’s exactly how he came up with this stuff, “in his wildest dreams.”

“Look, Jeff,” Shari said, “I’m a trained nurse, I’ve been doing this for years, and I know hallucinations can seem very real – as real as anything. But they are not real at all. Jeff, you’ve got some kind of mental problem, maybe developing schizophrenia or paranoid delusions. This angel is telling you that you are going to die soon – that’s certainly a red flag you’ve got problems!”

Shari seemed to get even more emphatic as she summarized his visions.

“But this is the kicker, Shari. When people have hallucinations, they can’t be told stuff they don’t know, because their visions are coming from their own mind. I can’t come up with the knowledge I don’t have!”

“But Jeff, how do you know you really don’t have this knowledge. I mean, your parents were very religious and probably told you all kinds of stuff you might not even remember; stuff which has been stored in your subconscious brain for decades and is only now coming to the surface. Often, we may not be able to access memories from our childhood, particularly if traumatic in some way. But it might be accessible by hypnosis or medication, or come out in other more destructive ways; like in dreams.”

“I don’t think so, Shari. Some of this stuff wasn’t even known when I was a child.”

“Well, anyway, you need help and you’d better get it if you want to see me again.”

Shari was getting tearful and needed to get out of there before she started crying. She got up, gathered her belongings, and just walked out the door never looking back. One less messy relationship over with, she thought; how could she have gotten involved with such a wacko – seeing angels and apparently becoming a Bible thumper. Really! She must have lost her mind to have gone out with him.

Jeff sat bewildered. could all of this just be hallucinations; might his visions only be an early warning sign of serious psychiatric problems? How could he find out; how could he be sure he wasn’t just remembering something from earlier in his life he had long forgotten. Jeff had been into some heavy drugs most of his life; could they have so altered his brain that he was beginning to lose his grip on reality?

It was getting late. Jeff stayed up a little longer after having been jilted by his girlfriend and had a few drinks to settle his nerves. Alcohol always made Jeff feel sleepy, and he quickly succumbed to his fatigue and went to bed; alone, which was quite a disappointment in its own right.

That night would be one of his angelic visitation nights, and he would have to discuss reality with his angelic visitor. He swiftly drifted off to sleep; almost immediately, his room was filled with intense, nearly unbearable light, and the faint, translucent image of the angel materialized directly in front of him.

The Jewish Feasts

“Son of Earth,” his familiar angel friend began, “what do you know about the Jewish feasts?”

One thing that would always bother Jeff was the way the angel addressed him – Son of Earth. It seemed to impersonal, so unnatural, that it seemed almost derisive. Jeff was used to being respected; his clients always addressed him as ‘Sir’ and would never think of referring to him by his first name, let alone ‘Son of Earth,’ But when you are up against an ethereal, spiritual being – well, you give it a little deference.

“Angel, can do I know that you are real and not some hallucination; some aberration of brain chemistry perhaps caused by a few drinks of wine that causes me to see things which aren’t really there? How do I know that you are not just a ‘figment of my imagination?”

“Son of Earth, you are entering upon the science of epistemology – the philosophy of the origin of human knowledge; the science of knowing, if you will. How, indeed, do you know anything is real? How, Son of Earth, do you know you are asleep in a room in your house and that your “knowledge” of these things has not been placed in your brain by an evil spiritual entity, for example,”

“Angel, don’t be silly. I know I am in my house because I can experience it; I can touch feel, and otherwise, experience through my six senses the house in which I have lived for years. In fact, it is so familiar to me that I know the number of steps in the staircase going up to the second floor. I built the bookcase on the second floor and fixed the plumbing under the kitchen sink only last week. I think I would know my own house!”

“Yes,” pressed the angel, “but you ‘know’ these things through your fallible senses which are inaccurate, limited, and frequently wrong. For example, how many times do you hear noises in the house and presume there erroneously there is an intruder. Certainly, you have heard of optical illusions which show how reality is perceived incorrectly by your presumed accurate senses.”

“Yes, I guess that is true,” admitted Jeff.

“But more importantly, there is no way you can prove to me what you are experiencing every day are not memories placed there by a malevolent scientist, or the product of some hallucinogenic chemical.”

“I guess that is true, but rather unlikely.”

Rene Descartes sought to develop a way of finding truth starting with the one absolute truth - I think; therefore, I am.

Rene Descartes – Public Domain, Link

“Son of Earth, your senses are so limited, you can “see” only a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; you cannot, for example, see X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light, radio waves, and so forth. Your hearing is very limited compared to dogs, as is your sense of smell. The philosophy of “knowing” was explored most famously by a 17th-century philosopher and mathematician named Rene Descartes; in fact, he wrote an entire book exploring that very question called Principles of Philosophy.[1] He developed how we know things to be true – or most likely true – by starting off with the first precept, “I think therefore I am.”

“OK, so what does that book say about how to know things – experiences – are really there, are valid representations of reality?”

“Son of Earth, you would need to read his entire book to more fully understand his philosophy. But it might be easiest to suggest reality is that which is most likely to be true. Thus, is it more likely the house in which you live really exists, or that it is a hallucination?”

“Clearly, it is more likely that it really exists, that I have experienced this reality for years and that it is truly material and not a part of my imagination.”

“Exactly. Similarly, all of the knowledge which I have imparted to you – and the small portion of which you have validated – suggests your dreams of me are real as well.”

“OK, I see where you are going with this angel. What you are trying to say is that in the same way, I know my house is “real” I must admit that you are real as well?”

“If my visits were characterized by fables, invented stories, and nonsense, then you might well presume they were not real. However, if these experiences are full of reliable and verifiable facts then my reality to you becomes more plausible.”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

“You must verify what I am saying is true, Son of Earth. You can verify my information easily through the Internet or the local university library. Through this means you can verify my facts and realize what I am telling you is true.”

“I guess that might be a good idea.”

“But I have much to tell you tonight, but this diversion into epistemology and Descartes was sufficiently important for us to further explore. Son of Earth, what do you know concerning the Jewish feasts?”

“What are the Jewish feasts?”

“I see it is as I feared; you know nothing about one of the most important aspects of Judaism because it is vitally important to your future.”

“My future; how is that?”

“It will not be possible for me to fully explore this topic in our time tonight; this will probably require several visits. While I find your ignorance disturbing, your lack of knowledge only represents the state of the Christian church in general and most Christians in specific regarding the importance of Jewish customs to your personal life.”

“That’s very harsh angel.”

“Ah, but it is true. You see, Christianity and Judaism parted ways shortly after the first century. Christians mistakenly blamed the Jewish people for killing Christ and so persecuted the Jews mercilessly through history and scrubbed everything having to with Jewish tradition from their memory. For example, do you what the Feast of Tabernacles is, or Purim, or what an afikomen is?”

“No, I don’t – especially that “afi” thing!”

“We will begin our discussion tonight, but be prepared for some lectures, son of Earth – this will take multiple nights. We will have to lay down some groundwork for you to understand.

Few Christians understand these Feasts, and few still understand their implications for the future of the world – you will start to understand tonight.”

“But angel, why is this important for me? I thought you were coming to me to show me the way to God?”

“You will see and understand, Son of Earth, how all of history of part of God’s plan. So let us begin.”

“Why do I feel, angel, like I am beginning a long journey like you are preparing me for something big?”

“Because I am. You will see much of the historical past as well as a glimpse of history future. You are living in a great important time, Son of Earth, when many Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled in your life-time. And this exploration of history will take much time because of your ignorance of Scripture; you have misspent your life accumulating “things” when you should have spent your life learning about God. You have lived your life for yourself rather than living it for others; but, Son of Earth, you still have time -though you have precious little.”

“You keep beating me over the head about my allegedly “misspent life” – I really wish you would cut it out.”

“Son of Earth, you should not be concerned about my assessment of your life; rather, you should be concerned about God’s assessment. I am sure you know about appointments; they are times when there is a meeting between two people. You, Son of Earth, have appointments all the time with other people do you not?”

“Of course I do, angel. I frequently have meetings with the management of my brokerage firm to discuss how the company is doing and how we all can improve our bottom line – you know, profits.”

“God has laid our multiple appointments he has made with mankind. The appointments which concern us were first expressed when God told Moses, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘the Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations, even these are my appointed feasts.’[2] The word ‘feast’ is from the Hebrew word ‘moed’ which is defined in Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary[3] as “an appointment, i.e., a fixed time or season: also, a signal (as appointed beforehand).” These feasts have many purposes including the constant reminder of important events in Jewish history, but they also serve another purpose as reminders of important future events.”

“So angel, these feasts were to commemorate important past events – such as the Passover in Jewish history, as well as a secondary event in the future?”

“Precisely correct. The feasts are all tied to the seasons; four of them are in the spring, and three of them are in the fall. They are tied to the seasons because they are tied to the sun and moon; indeed, one of the purposes of the sun and moon were to remind people of the feast times,

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs [owth] and for seasons [moed] and for days, and years.”[4]

“The Hebrew word for ‘signs’ is ‘owth’ which can also be defined as a ‘signal.’”[5] God chose to perpetually communicate the time for certain future appointments through the signals of the sun and moon. These future appointments are specific times during the history of God’s interactions with mankind such as the giving of the Law to Moses, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Passover, and the most recent interaction – the Pentecost when the church age was initiated. All of these appointments – including several in the future – are all signaled by changes in the sun and moon.”

The Passover commemorated the time when the Angel of Death "passed over" the Jews living in the land of Egypt.

Ten Commandments – Image by Jondolar Schnurr from Pixabay

“Ok, I guess. So angel, let’s take the first one, Passover. Every Christian kid from my generation remembers the Jewish holiday of Passover. We all watched Charlton Heston confront the Pharaoh, bring down the plagues on Egypt, lead the Jews out of Egypt and part the Red Sea in the movie, The Ten Commandments.[6]”

“And many Christians of your generation only know about God and their Savior from movies and songs, never having read all of Scripture even once.” The angel seemed a little stern as he said this.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true too.”

“Passover is the first feast. Do you remember when the Passover is commemorated, Son of Earth?”

“Uh, no, actually I don’t. But really, angel, Christians don’t celebrate the Passover.”

“And so many Christians don’t remember God’s appointments, Son of Earth. All the Jewish feasts were to be remembered by God’s people forever, not just by the Jews. It is because of the Church’s ignorance of these feasts that many Christians don’t understand what soon is to take place.”

“Ok, I get it, angel. So when does Passover occur?”

“Passover always occurs on the first full moon as seen from Jerusalem after the vernal equinox or start of spring, in the northern hemisphere;[7] Jewish calendars are set so that Passover always occurs on Nisan 14 as indicated in Scripture, ‘In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover.’[8] Nisan is the first month of the Jewish religious year, while Tishri – which begins with Rosh HaShanah initiates the beginning of the Jewish civil or secular year. Incidentally, in Christianity, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after Passover so the two are linked in time. Easter is also set to always occur in the Spring – it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.”

“In this way, Passover is not on the same date of your secular or Gregorian calendar, but is always on the same Hebrew calendar date of Nisan 14 and will always occur near the start of Spring.”

“So just so I understand, Passover and Easter are linked together in time.”

“Yes, Son of Earth – and that is very important as we will soon see. Do you remember, Son of Earth, the importance of Passover?”

“Well, kind of. As I remember from the movie, it was when the Angel of Death ‘passed over’ the Jews as it killed the firstborn in Egypt.”

“Yes, Son of Earth. There were ten plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians for refusing to let the Hebrew people leave Egypt. But God was doing more than just pressuring the Egyptian Pharaoh; he was also teaching the Jewish people about the many false gods in Egypt and his supremacy over them.”

“That’s kind of interesting angel; could you elaborate?”

“When God[9] turned the Nile to blood, he was attacking their worship of Khnum[10], their god of the Nile River. The next plague of frogs was an attack on Heqet[11], the frog-headed goddess of resurrection and new life since frogs bred so prolifically after the Nile flooded. Heqet was the wife of Khnum in Egyptian mythology. Lice stopped their sacrifices due to cleanness issues, and flies were against the god Beelzebub[12] prince of the air because flies were always flying around his ears. Livestock suffered disease as punishment against Apis[13] the sacred bull while boils were opposed to Imhotep[14], the god of medical cures. Hailstones showed the weakness of Nut[15] the sky goddess while locusts opposed Nepri[16], the grain god. Darkness was an against Ra[17] the sun god, and death of the firstborn attacked all gods.”

“The sparing of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt from the death was to be remembered for all generations to come. The Hebrews were told,”

This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. ‘Speak to all the congregations of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.’”[18]

“The lamb was an attack upon the Egyptian god Amun[19], the head of all their gods. Amun was presented in a human form, but his animal was a ram. The month of Passover was in the month of Nisan, the month when the Egyptians celebrated Amun.”[20]

“So, in other words, angel, the ten plagues in Egypt were not random events but were inflicted upon Egypt’s most important deities!”

“Exactly correct, Son of Earth The Egyptians were being taught that the God of Moses was greater than any of their gods. Do you know why the Jews were told to pick a lamb that was without any blemish on the tenth day?[21]”

“I have no idea, but I’m sure there was some significance!”

The Passover Lamb represented Christ who was without blemish, inspected for four days, and then killed.

Passover Lamb – Image by Marianne Flückiger from Pixabay

“Well, after they were told to get a lamb without any blemish on the tenth day, the Scriptures then say that they need to keep it for four days until the fourteenth day,”

And you shall keep it [the lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month; then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.[22]

“So why the fourteenth day, angel?”

“First, the lamb was held in captivity to remind the Jews of their captivity in Egypt – one day of captivity for every hundred years the Jews were kept in captivity in Egypt. Second, the young lamb often became a pet to the family especially with the children, so when it was sacrificed and then eaten everybody would learn the seriousness of the penalty for their sins. Son of Earth, sins are not just some minor infraction against God, but can permanently separate you from his presence unless some means for forgiveness is obtained.”

“OK, well that makes sense; there are no unimportant details in Scripture, I’ve been told.”

“There is another important small detail that is often overlooked; the Jewish calendar is arranged so that the fourteenth day of the first month named ‘Nisan’ would always fall on a full moon which the Egyptians believed was the pinnacle of Amun’s power! Sacrificing the lamb meant that Amun – the ram god – had no power at all!”[23]

“So much of what happened during the first Passover had real significance to the Egyptians – much more than we realize today. It meant that the God of Moses was more powerful than any of the Egyptian gods!”

“Correct, Son of Earth. Then after the lamb was sacrificed, each Jewish family,

took some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.[24]

“The angel of death would then “pass over” the houses that had the lamb’s blood on the door sparing the firstborn in that house from certain death. However, throughout Egypt, the firstborn of every household and of every farm animal was killed; that is the meaning of the Passover. God then commanded the Jews to remember the original Passover every year throughout every future generation on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan when the moon was full.”

“You will find, Son of Earth, that modern Jews often still practice the Passover meal even though they are not religious. It has been so ingrained into the Jewish culture throughout thousands of years that it has become a part of their identity.”

“So then the Jews were allowed to leave Egypt, right?”

“Yes, Son of Earth, but there is more you must learn, and we are running out of time. We will continue with your Passover lessons in another dream. Please remember the importance of the Passover; it would forever remind the Jewish nation that God rescued them from slavery to become a mighty nation; the proud Jews had to keep reminding themselves of their humble beginnings, and that their success as a nation was solely due to God’s mighty intervention.”

With that, the room gradually darkened, the angel slowly disappeared blending into the fading light, and then finally disappeared. Jeff then woke up and it was morning again. He was alone in his expansive house, but he was glad to be able to ponder all he had seen the night before. The angel had shown him, just before fading from vision, the wailing of Egyptian women over their dead sons, crying out to Pharaoh to let these dreadful slaves go forever into the desert where – hopefully – they might all die of starvation.

Jeff saw the Pharaoh, and experienced his grief over the death of his son who was destined to become ruler of Egypt were it not for these accursed slaves. He was beaten; the most powerful man in Egypt was beaten by the ragged clothed, stuttering man named Moses. Was it all true, after all? He had grown up believing the whole Moses-thing was a myth created by a beaten-down people to glorify their dimly remembered past. He recalled ready about archaeologists believed there was no evidence that there was a significant Jewish presence in ancient Egypt – but hadn’t he seen a special somewhere on TV where large areas of ancient Jewish houses were found in northern Egypt right where Scripture said they were located? Jeff was also bothered by the apparent loss of his most recent girlfriend, Shari. He had hoped at one time to maybe settle down with her, but she left him because of the dreams. Jeff realized he might be changing, changing from the inside. He didn’t care what Shari thought; he knew what he knew and that was he was being visited by some other force, being, whatever. Of course, he had not bothered to check out any of the information the angel had been giving him over the past few nights. He found the awe and wonder of seeing an angel, feeling his presence and – well – majesty, intense brilliance of light, actually feeling his words vibrate through your being, that was convincing enough.

If Jeff were to investigate what the angel was telling him, he would find everything verifiable. There was nothing the angel was telling Jeff that wasn’t already known; maybe not to the general public, and few had access to the entire picture, but everything was known in parts to some people. Jeff was being presented with the beautiful mosaic of God’s truth, piece by piece. While one small piece might not seem very convincing or even very majestic, the entire mosaic was breathtaking. Piece by piece the angel was knitting the mosaic together, and gradually Jeff was catching a glimpse of what was being laid out for him.

There were still many questions, reservations, doubts, and profound skepticism. Jeff could start to feel God’s presence seeping into his consciousness; gradually, almost imperceptibly; and he would fight this invading, unsettling stranger with all his might. There would need to be many more angelic visitations before there could be any hope of changing Jeff’s heart.