Living Waters Wednesday Teaching C. Holoman-7 Christmas-1 October 29, 2008

Testimony and questions after the Feast of Booths last Sunday evening. The biblical feasts are not ‘play-acting’ visits to the past, but holy up-to-date engagements and affirmations of our scriptural heritage as the covenant people of God.

The whole book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ teaching and rededication of the second generation from the exodus to the heritage of Israel as the people of the covenant. Deuteronomy could, with a generous stretch of imagination, be thought of as an expanded three sermon Feast of Booths (Feast of Second Chances)

Deuteronomy 29:10 "You stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, both he who hews your wood and he who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God makes with you this day;

Deuteronomy 29:13 that he may establish you this day as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 Nor is it with you only that I make this sworn covenant, 15 but with him who is not here with us this day as well as with him who stands here with us this day before the LORD our

Christmas #1 ‘An adventure in scripture’

Luke 1:5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.. 13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself,

1 Chronicles 24:1 The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these... David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service...5 They organized them by lot, all alike, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God..7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib,.. 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,.. 18., the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. (24 orders) 19 These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him..

Note 52 weeks a year 2 one week services per order = 48 weeks of single order service = 4 weeks for double duty at the feasts. All orders served at the Feasts. one week at each of Passover and Pentecost, at two weeks at Booths.

When was the first month? Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; (The month of Passover, spring equinox)

We can date that Abijah’s 8 th week of service was the 12th week after the full moon beginning the first (Ex 12:2) month. This sets the 13 th week as Zechariah’s first opportunity to impregnate Elizabeth. (One quarter year from Exodus 12:2 has passed.). Since Nissan included the spring equinox, Elizabeth may (first opportunity) have been impregnated near the summer solstice.

Luke 1:36 And behold (Gabriel says to freshly impregnated Mary), your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

Luke 1:36 Elizabeth is 6 months (2 quarters of a year from summer solstice) pregnant when Mary encountered Gabriel and is impregnated with Jesus, which means Mary’s was impregnated at approximately the winter solstice.

Now the lunar month of the winter solstice is Chislev and on the 25 th of Chislev is the Feast of Dedication (1Maccabees 4:52,59). Since, the Feast of Dedication is celebrated for 7 days approximation is not particularly inaccurate.

The birth of John the Baptist (Assuming a 9 month pregnancy) would have occurred one quarter year from the winter solstice or three quarters of a year from the summer solstice, which is the spring equinox. This places John’s birthday in the month of Nissan or approximately at Passover (14 th ) of the first month Exodus 12:6.

Mary’s pregnancy is half year or two quarters behind Elizabeth’s. John’s birth, approximately at Passover then gives Jesus' birth approximately at Feast of Booths. If we look at the almost two week period from the Day of Atonement to the end of Booths, the approximation does not seem so inaccurate.

Luke 2:8,15 shepherds in the field near Bethlehem. This would be consistent with the extraordinary number of sacrifices associated with the Feast of Booths (Numbers 29:12-38). The knowledge-sensitivity-response (Luke 2:15-17) of the shepherds to the angel’s message does not fit common illiterate shepherds, but does fit Levitical shepherds overseeing kosher flocks selected for immediate sacrifice.

The Luke 2:1-2 census, (economic motivation for taxation), would likely have been in the fall, after harvesting, rather than springtime, when the economic disruption to an agricultural economy would be maximized. The Feast of Booths is near the end of the dry season, safely before the fall-winter rainy season, after the fall harvest and before the roads become near impassable (An excellent time for a tax census). A Passover census would have the opposite economic effect.

Summary. Elizabeth conceived near summer solstice. Mary conceived near winter solstice at approximately the Feast of Dedication. John the Baptist was born near Passover. Jesus near born near Atonement-Booths. The wise men visit Jesus at Bethlehem near Feast of Dedication 15 months after His birth. King Herod kills all the Bethlehem children under 2 years old Matthew 2:16. (The Greek words for infant Luke 2:12,16-17 and child Matt. 2:8,10)

Planned End Oct 29, 2008