VIDEO TIMELINE #8
FIRST PENTECOST TO FIRST PASSOVER IN THE PROMISED LAND
This 8th presentation covers the first Pentecost to the first Passover in the Promised Land.
To have an accurate timeline it must be understood that the events recorded in the Bible do not always happen in the order preserved by chapter, number or book. They need to be understood where they actually occur by the historic events being described.
Isa. 28: 9-10 says, “Whom will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
In II Tim. 2:15 it reads: “Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
One of the chapters out of order is Exodus 18. The first key to when this event occurred is found in verse 5 of this chapter. “And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was camped at the mountain of God.” Moses reached the campsite at the mountain at the beginning of Chapter 19, and this could not have happened before Moses was camped at Mount Horeb.
When going to meet someone the time and place are mutually pre-determined. Jethro’s going to Moses was an independent decision that he made, not by invitation of Moses. Ex. 18:1. And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and Israel His people - that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.”
Therefore, Jethro, after receiving intelligence from various sources would have been confident that Moses was at a permanent camp site before embarking on his errand to bring to Moses his wife and son. It is clear that this joyous reunion occupied several days, at which time Jethro observed Moses judging the people. Ex. 18:13-15. “So it was on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. So when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, ‘What is this thing you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?’ And Moses said to his father-in-law, ‘Because the people come to me to inquire of God.’” A question that comes to mind is how could Moses be judging without having first received the law, which happened after the Golden Calf debacle in the chapters that followed Exodus 18?
Jethro gave Moses sound, Godly advice. Ex. 18:20-22. “And you shall teach them the statues and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covertness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifty, and rulers of ten. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.”
This means that God had already given the Law to Moses, and meant that Jethro had arrived after the rebellion. What is found in Num. 10:29-30 shows that it would have been close to their time of departure from before the Mount of God. “Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said ‘I will give to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.’”
The first chapter of Deuteronomy confirms the time of the arrival of Jethro when they were preparing to leave the Mount of God. Verses 6, 9, 12-13 and 15 “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.’” Verse 9, “And I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I alone am not able to bear you.’” Verses 12-13, “How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints? Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, (the people choose) and I will make them heads over you.” Verse 15 “So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifty, leaders of ten, and officers for your tribes.” These scriptures refer to Jethro’s admonition to Moses in Exodus 18, placing this event near the time of their departure from the Mount of God.
Num. 10:11 reads, “Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of testimony.”
This scripture sets the time of the departure from Horeb, the Mount of God. The people arrived there on the first day of the third month during the first year, and left on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. AM 2520 or BC 1527 was the year of their departure.
As pointed out in the previous presentation, Israel observed Pentecost on the eighth day of the third month of God’s sacred calendar. Numbers 1:1 is important as a calendar marker. It tells us that the Sabbaths for the first seven months of the second year fell on the same days of the month as the first year Sabbaths in the year of the Exodus.
Num. 1:1. “Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, ………….” This places the Sabbaths for the second year of the second month on the first, eighth, fifteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-ninth, just as in the year of the Exodus. This occurrence is fundamental in that it does not happen again until the year 2563 AM or 1484 BC, forty-four years later. Also, going back in time it does not happen again until 2492 AM or BC 1555, twenty-seven years prior to the exodus. Both of these dates are well beyond the biblical documentation of time for the exodus of Israel, and are a calendar proof that substantiates the year of the exodus, without question, as 2519 AM or 1528 BC.
There is no biblical record of an observation of Pentecost a second time, but a second Passover was observed as recorded in Num. 9:1-3. “Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ‘Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.’”
The only other high day Sabbath observation recorded as kept was the Day of Atonement. This is found in Leviticus 16. The first 33 verses are a record of how this date was to be observed. Verse 34 tells that they kept it. Lev. 16:34. “This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year. And he (Aaron) did as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Going to Leviticus 23, verses 26-31 the time and how this day was to be observed was given. The tenth day of the seventh month of the second year was a Monday, the first of October in 1527 BC. This becomes an important date because it was the last recorded observation of a high day Sabbath until the first Passover is found in the Promised Land. Josh. 5:10 relates this. “So the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.” Why weren’t any of these days recorded in the many years of their trek in the wilderness?
It may seem strange, one of those “oh, well” feelings that we cannot explain or understand. But there is an explanation that is usually missed. However, it can be understood by looking at two scriptures. Josh. 5:2, 5,7,10 and Num. 14:31-34. Josh. 5:2 “At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.’ Verse 5, “For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. Verse 7, “So Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.” Verse 10. “So the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho,”
An important point to remember is that no one at that time could keep the Passover without being circumcised as explained in Exodus 12:48. Therefore all the uncircumcised could not keep the Passover. The reason they were not circumcised in the wilderness was that God suspended His covenant with Israel for almost forty years, and they were not allowed to circumcise during those years. All of the living youths under the age of twenty were already circumcised, and participated in the first and second Passovers. Those twenty and above who were of responsible age, and had refused to enter the Promised Land for fear of the people who inhabited the land, were subject to the death penalty, and were not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
The mixed multitude which came out with the Children of Israel did not participate in the first Passover. They were not circumcised. This is the reason for the explanation of how those who were non-Israelites were to be assimilated into Israel. It was the first mass circumcision, accounting for the statement in Joshua 5:2, which was the second mass circumcision. Numbers 14:31-34. “But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.”
The sons began their shepherding the year they left Egypt, so the year of the Exodus was the start of the forty years that God rejected Israel for not going directly into the Promised Land.
The year count of forty would include the year of the exodus with the math as follows: 2518 AM plus 40 = 2558 AM, the concluding year before crossing the Jordan River. The BC years are as follows: 1529 BC minus 40 = 1489 BC.
This places the year that Israel crossed the Jordan at the beginning of 2559 AM or BC 1488. Joshua 5:10. “So the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.”
From here time is tracked to the next definitive time of I Kings 6:1 when Solomon begins the building of the temple, shown in the next presentation.