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Christiaan Gerhardus Ebersöhn
Full Moon in the Bible
Why is Easter on a Different Date Each Year?
11 05 14
‘Full Moon in the Bible’
by Christiaan Gerhardus Ebersöhn
http://www.biblestudents.co.za
http://www.thelordsday.wordpress.com
04 00 14
Full Moon in the Bible
Re: Why is Easter on a Different Date Each Year? -04/14/1406:46 AM
Krause:
http://clubadventist.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/printthread/Board/102/main/62564/type/thread.html
What is it with Resurrection Sunday? One year it’s in March, the next in April! Is it true the British parliament tried to force the issue? And was ignored?
Check out the statement in paragraph 5! Very interesting!
Read more at[cut]
Here's the first statement of paragraph 5:
After all, the death and burial of Jesus Christ occurred on the day before Passover.
Samie:
This is true.
Passover is a full moon feast. That is why God instructed that Passover meal is always to be eaten after sunset of the 14th in the first month of the Hebrew calendar which is lunisolar. On any lunisolar calendar, the nighttime after sunset of the 14th of any month is ALWAYS a full moon. Why? Because the Creator designed the lunar cycle to be so.
The lunar cycle or the period from new moon to the next new moon is on the average 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes. The period from new moon to full moon is one half of this value and is equal to 14 days 18 hours and 22 minutes. This explains why the nighttime after sunset of the 14th of any month in a NON-FAULTY lunisolar calendar is ALWAYS a full moon.
This full moon evidence seemed to have been forgotten in the previous attempts of not a few scholars to arrive at the correct crucifixion date of our Lord. Jesus ate Passover on a full moon night, a day ahead of the Jewish national celebration. He was arrested that same night and crucified on the daytime that came which was preparation day of Passover. The Jews ate Passover nighttime after sunset that crucifixion day.
After all, the death and burial of Jesus Christ occurred on the day before Passover.
Sorry, but as I compare it with Scriptures, this statement is questionable, as we shall soon see.
Let us first take a look at the possible full moon occurrence when the Lord ate Passover with His disciples the night He was arrested. That full moon was the first full moon AFTER the date of vernal equinox. The Lord was crucified in the reign of Pilate - 26 AD to 36 AD. Here are the differentfull moon occurrencesAFTER date of vernal equinox in those years (Add 2 hours to get Jerusalem time):
26 April 20 Noon Sat.
27 April 9 4 p.m. Wed.
28 March 29 3 a.m. Mon.
29 April 17 3 a.m. Sun.
30 April 6 8 p.m. Thu.
31 March 27 11 a.m. Tue.
32 April 14 9 a.m. Mon.
33 April 3 3 p.m. Fri.
34 March 23 3 p.m. Tue.
35 April 11 8 a.m. Mon.
36 March 30 2 p.m. Fri
Considering that the apostle John recorded 3 Passovers after the baptism of Jesus which Luke said occurred in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius which started 14 AD, Jesus' baptism was 28 AD. The 3 Passovers recorded by John would have to be those in 29, 30 and 31 AD.
In 31 AD, full moon was Tuesday. If Christ ate Passover that night, then He was also arrested that same night, crucified Wednesday, and after 3 days and 3 nights as He Himself specified in Mt 12:40, He resurrected early Saturday morning. That He, in fact, resurrected Saturday, is corroborated in Mark 16:9 where it is specified that the Lord resurrected on "proi prote sabbatou" or early morning of the chief Sabbath. Between a ceremonial sabbath and the weekly sabbath in that paschal week, the chief sabbath is undoubtedly the weekly sabbath, Saturday.
SDA scholars believe in a Friday crucifixion, April 27, 31 AD.
It follows that Jesus ate Passover on Thursday evening, April 26. But full moon was on Wednesday, Apr 25 9:59PM, Jerusalem time. Will Jesus Who said He came to fulfill the law which obviously includes the law on when Passover is supposed to be eaten, eat Passover on a NON-FULL MOON night and thus violate the law He said He came to fulfill?
Gerhard:
The so called <Resurrection Sunday> you would have noticed is always <on Sunday> in the world under Roman Catholic domination. It is because in this 'world', 'Good Friday' is always on 'Friday' as near as possible <on a new moon>—a PAGAN festival!
You would have noticed from the <article> that <the death and burial of Jesus Christ occurred on the day before Passover.>
So <Easter> is always on the same days of the week in the Roman Catholic world but on different dates, every year.
It is because the passover in the Old Testament was “proclaimed to (or) in its season”—its ‘annual’ “season”, spring. New moon after equinox was “proclaimed” the first day of the First Month of the year (‘Abib’ or ‘Nisan’). Naturally the new moon could occur on any day of the week, and consequently, the full moon, fourteen / fifteen days after.
Ron:
I've heard many people claim that Passover is determined by the vernal equinox (using either the new moon or the full moon after equinox). But I don't see anything in Scripture that ties Passover to the equinox in any way.
Does the Passover connection to equinox come from the Catholics? Or does it come from the writings of the Jewish sages (such as the Talmud)?
Samie:
Did you know that in the first month of the Hebrew calendar, the full moon ALWAYS occurs after the vernal equinox? And this full moon, in a NON-FAULTY Hebrew lunisolar calendar, ALWAYS falls in the nighttime after sunset of Nisan 14.
Ron:
If we were to determine Passover only by the instructions contained in Scripture (which is the goal of the Karaite Jews), it would come near the middle of the lunar month when the barley crop will first be ready for Wave Sheaf day (during the week after Passover). And the first day of the month of Abib would be determined by the first sighting of the crescent moon in Israel soon after sundown (as it was at the time of Jesus), rather than being determined by modern astronomers using the calculated conjunction of the moon, which is erroneously called "new moon" today. (It actually marks the time of no moon rather than the time of new moon.)
I am aware that after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD the Jews developed calculated calendars for use in the diaspora without an active Sanhedrin. What is the source of your hypothetical non-faulty Hebrew calendar?
Samie:
So then, you are not aware that the first full moon in a NON-FAULTY Hebrew calendar ALWAYS occurs AFTER the vernal equinox. My source?
Ron:
I read post #694318 again. There is no source mentioned for the assertions you made, so apparently you have invented your own calendar and declared it "non-faulty" yourself.
Samie:
What is more apparent is the non-interest in your part to know that the average lunar cycle is 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes, and that the first full moon in the Hebrew year always fall after the time of the vernal equinox. You just could have easily proven it by yourself via cyberspace, brother. But why the non-interest in said fact? Afraid that fact will prove Samie's point is correct?
Ron:
If you were God, that would certainly give your calendar credibility. But since that is not the case, citing yourself as a source doesn't validate your imaginary calendar.
I know how long the lunar cycle is. Because I want to observe God's feasts as taught in the Bible, I also pay attention to lunar months, the sighted new moons, and the necessity of adding a 13 month at the end of some years so that Passover occurs when the Barley crop in Israel is ready.
How do you define the Hebrew year? Are you defining the Hebrew year as "a year that starts (and ends) with the lunar conjunction closest to the Spring equinox" or something similar? Where do you find that definition in the Bible? Where do you find that definition in historical documents of the Israelites during Second Temple period? If that's how you define a "Hebrew year" then of course the first full moon of the "Hebrew year" would fall after the Spring equinox (and we would have an example of circular reasoning).
I'm not interested in circular reasoning. I'm interested in learning God's ways so I can follow the example of Jesus. When you start presenting evidence that supports your theory from Scripture and from history and evidence that shows how your theory relates to the way that Jesus and the believing Jews of his day lived, then I'll be interested.
Any teenager can take astronomical software and start concocting speculative theories about historical months and years using modern ideas and definitions that were not used in Israel at the time of Jesus.
Samie:
What's with the tenor in your statement, brother?
Ron:
I have directly asked you for evidence to support your assertions about your speculative calendar theory. I have asked you for definitions of the terms you use, but you have not answered the questions nor presented the necessary evidence. Instead you have only repeated your assertions as if you expected people to accept your word as authoritative. That would work if you were God. Everyone else has to present real evidence to support their assertions, but so far you have not done so.
Samie:
Is it necessary to prove your point? If nighttime after sunset in the 14th of any month in a lunisolar calendar is not full moon, doesn't that make that calendar faulty?
Ron:
Faulty according to what definition and by what standard? Who says that the full moon has to occur in the middle of a month? There are people who (erroneously) believe that Biblical months start at full moon. They quote the same Bible verses that you quote to supposedly prove their theory. But they don't present any real evidence, except that they don't want to define a month the same way the Jews defined a month.
Samie:
I am afraid my brother is not really aware that 14th nighttime is always a full moon.
Ron:
That depends on when you start counting the first day of the month. You apparently start counting the days of the month somewhere near the calculated lunar conjunction. In which location on earth (in which time-zone) does the first day of the month begin? If the conjunction occurs two hours after sunset at that location, do you count the next daylight as the first day of the month or the last day of the previous month? Where does the Bible describe your method of determining the start of a month? Which historical documents describe the Jewish people of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus using your method of determining the start of a month?
The writings of the Jewish sages describe a different method of determining the start of a lunar month that was used at the time of Jesus. They depended on witnesses observing the first sliver of the new moon soon after sunset. The website of the modern Sanhedrin (sanhedrin.org) indicates that in the years ahead they expect to once again use the sighting of the new moon to determine the start of a month. Using that historical method, the 14th nighttime of a lunisolar month is usually not a full moon.
Krause:
Exactly Ron. It matters not if the Moon is "full" "blue" "new" "green" red, etc. Passover starts on Nisan 14, the lamb is eaten after sundown on the 14th, which would make the 15th Nisan the first day of Passover. Its to bad that Samie doesn't confirm with his local Jewish Rabbis to find out the real times and not just some theory that he holds as gospel!!!!!
Samie:
How would you compare the medieval computations then for possible crescent sighting with the computations using computers done today for ascertaining full moon occurrences forward or backward in time, Ron?
Can you cite any existing document that contains record of crescent sightings in the time of Jesus, Ron, which you said was basis for starting day 1 of the month? Consider this verse:
1 Samuel 20:5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.
When did David first see the crescent prompting him to say to Jonathan that tomorrow is the new moon and thus start day 1 of the new month? Does this not prove that probable crescent sightings were likewise precomputed?
Ron:
No, this doesn't prove that they were using a pre-computed calendar. Here are some other possibilities, beginning with the least likely one:
We aren't told the time of day when David was talking to Jonathan. If they were watching the sky after sunset David may have seen the sliver of moon and pointed to it when he said, "Behold, to morrow is the new moon."
Or if it was after dark, they may have already heard the report of the new moon sighting and could make plans for the
next day's feast.
Or they may have known that a lunar month would have only 29 or 30 days before the next new moon, so if they were talking at any hour on the 30th day of the month they would have known already that the next day would be the new moon, even if the sky was overcast and the new moon could not be sighted that evening. This is the procedure currently used by the Karaite Jews.
Samie:
So then, you are not aware that the first full moon in a NON-FAULTY Hebrew calendar ALWAYS occurs AFTER the vernal equinox. My source? Read post #694318, and post your objections, if any.
Therefore, there was precomputation done, mentally or otherwise, which negates your assertion that they have first to see the crescent.