[This week’s review of the Watchtower study (w13 12/15 p.17) has been
provided by one of the forum members following a good deal of research.]
It would appear that some feel the calculation the Organization has been using for decades to establish the date each year in the Gregorian calendar for the Jewish date of Nisan 14 is questionable. It would also appear that sufficient doubt has been raised to motivate the publishers to devote the better part of two study articles to the matter. This is the first of them.
Par. 3 to 7 – This section of the article gives only the most elementary details of the Passover; that it takes place on Nisan 14, followed by seven days of unleavened bread. The Revised NWT reads:
(Exodus 12:1-18) Jehovah now said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 “This month will be the beginning of the months for you. It will be the first of the months of the year for you. 3 Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they should each take for themselves a sheep for their father’s house, a sheep to a house. 4 But if the household is too small for the sheep, they and their nearest neighbor should share it between themselves in their house according to the number of people. When making the calculation, determine how much of the sheep each one will eat. 5 Your sheep should be a sound, one-year-old male. You may choose from the young rams or from the goats. 6 You must care for it until the 14th day of this month, and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel must slaughter it at twilight. 7 They must take some of the blood and splash it on the two doorposts and the upper part of the doorway of the houses in which they eat it.
8 “‘They must eat the meat on this night. They should roast it over the fire and eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter greens. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, cooked in water, but roast it over the fire, its head together with its shanks and its inner parts. 10 You must not save any of it until morning, but any of it left over until morning you should burn with fire. 11 And this is how you should eat it, with your belt fastened, sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you should eat it in a hurry. It is Jehovah’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and I will execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah. 13 The blood will serve as your sign on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood and pass over you, and the plague will not come on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “‘This day will serve as a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to Jehovah throughout your generations. As a lasting statute, you should celebrate it. 15 Seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. Yes, on the first day you are to remove the sourdough from your houses, because anyone eating what is leavened from the first day down to the seventh, that person must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you will hold a holy convention, and on the seventh day, another holy convention. No work is to be done on these days. Only what every person needs to eat, that alone may be prepared for you.
17 “‘You must keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day, I will bring your multitudes out of the land of Egypt. And you must keep this day throughout your generations as a lasting statute. 18 In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, in the evening, you are to eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month, in the evening.
“As Jews under the Mosaic Law, Jesus and his apostles shared in the annual Passover. (Matt. 26:17-19) The last time they did so, Jesus instituted a new event that his followers thereafter were to keep annually—the Lord’s Evening Meal. But on what day were they to observe it?” (From par. 7)
The footnotes and references of the article point to considerable confusion and differences of opinion as to when the meal of the slaughtered lamb was eaten, whether on the night of the 14th at the beginning the day, or whether after the conclusion of the 14th, in the early darkness hours of the 15th.
Another factor not revealed clearly in the publications is that Jesus instituted this Passover observance a full day before the Jewish nation observed it. This permitted Jesus to later that same Nisan 14 sacrifice himself becoming the Passover lamb for the Jewish Nation, which observed a “great Sabbath.”
(John 19:31) Since it was the day of Preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the torture stakes on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath day was a great one), the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away.
Great Sabbaths occurred when Passover (Nisan 15) fell on a Saturday.
There are two factors that help us resolve the question of when did the disciples share this final meal with Jesus: (1) Travel was restricted on the Sabbath.
(Exodus 16:28-30) So Jehovah said to Moses: “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 Take notice of the fact that Jehovah has given you the Sabbath. That is why he is giving you the bread for two days on the sixth day. Everyone must stay where he is; nobody is to leave his locality on the seventh day.” 30 So the people observed the Sabbath on the seventh day.
Therefore, we have to fit the arrival of the crowds in Jerusalem for the Passover festival and the movements of Jesus around Sabbaths on Nisan 2nd, 9th and 16th.
A Second factor that helps is the reconstruction by NASA and the US Naval Observatory of 5000 years of ancient calendars, based on reconstruction of ancient eclipses for the purpose of historical analysis.
So we can combine the Julian Calendar date of the new moon eclipse of March of 33 C.E. with the scriptural records of the Sabbath.
Chart of Events for 33 C.E.
Next week, we’ll continue this discussion, bringing it forward to our day to see if April 14th is truly the correct day for the commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ. This may turn out to have significance to many who, like us, recognize both the need and the danger of partaking within the present climate of the Organization.
Par. 16 – “Yes, young and old alike should be confident that Jehovah was a Deliverer not just in the past. As he delivered his people in Moses’ day, he will deliver us in the future.—Read 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10”
(1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10) For they themselves keep reporting about our first contact with you and how you turned to God from your idols to slave for a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from the heavens, whom he raised up from the dead, namely, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Now I have no problem in calling Jehovah our deliverer in general terms. However, when we do this by quoting a Scripture which explicitly names Jesus as our deliverer, I fear we are missing the point which Jehovah himself is trying to make. It’s like we are saying, “Yes, Jehovah, we know you’ve named Jesus as is our deliverer, and that’s all well and good, but we just want to focus on you, okay?”
Par. 18 – “Christians who hope to live forever on earth depend on that same blood for preservation. They should regularly remind themselves of the assurance: “By means of him we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness.”—Eph. 1:7”
Again we have a misapplication of Scripture. We are taking verse 7 out of context and applying it to a group of people we have not proven even exist—a vast flock of so-called other sheep with an earthly hope. Consider now the context:
(Ephesians 1:5, 6) . . .For he foreordained us to be adopted as his own sons through Jesus Christ, according to his good pleasure and will, 6 in praise of his glorious undeserved kindness that he kindly bestowed on us by means of his beloved one.
The adoption as sons through Jesus applies to anointed Christians who all have a heavenly hope. (Romans 8:23)
There can be no denying that this is going to be a challenging study to sit through for those of us who have come to see that full extent of the hope for heavenly life extended to all those who put faith in the Christ.
Archived Comments
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Comment by Alex Rover on 2014-02-17 23:33:03
Last year, 2013, there was a discussion on http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/4704-memorial-dates/?hl=memorial where a brother made a prediction for the 2014 memorial date and was right. Perhaps there is some clue there on how Jw calculate it. Below some quotes from that forum:
Quote 1
The beginning of the month of Nisan was the sunset after the new moon nearest the spring equinox became visible in Jerusalem. The Memorial date is 14 days thereafter.
There is some interesting info about calendars in the IT book.
Quote 2
We do not find record of a definitely fixed or standardized form of Jewish calendar until the fourth century of our Common Era (c. 359 C.E.), when Hillel II specified that the leap years of 13 months should be the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th of each 19 years. Such a 19-year cycle is commonly called the Metonic cycle, after the Greek mathematician Meton (of the fifth century B.C.E.), although there is also evidence that such a cycle was perfected before him by the Babylonians. (See Babylonian Chronology, 626 B.C.–A.D. 75, by R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, 1971, pp. 1, 3, 6.) This cycle takes into account that every 19 years the new and the full moons fall again on the same days of the solar year.
Quote 3
Imagine you lived at the time of the Israelites. They counted months by the New moon. Remember the New moon is the EXACT opposite of the FULL moon (ie it is total dark vs total light).
A Lunar month may vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days. The average Lunar month is 29.530588 days or slightly more than 29.5 days. Twelve average Lunar months are equal to 354.3670 days while the solar year is 365.2422 days. So there is a difference of 11 days from a Lunar calendar to a Solar one - like we use. What can you do?
We know the Israelites added an extra month - every so often. See the calendar in the back of the Study Bible - Adar and VeAdar (month 13). When did the add it? Well it seems they would have added it every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th of a 19 year cycle. (see IT book). So which of the 19 years in a 19 cycle are we in. It looks like we are in the 1st.
Comment by imacountrygirl2 on 2014-02-18 00:21:58
The page is not loading correctly for me. After this paragraph:
There can be no denying that this is going to be a challenging study to sit through for those of us who have come to see that full extent of the hope for heavenly life extended to all those who put faith in the Christ.
I just get code starting with this:
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w:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
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This has never happened on this site before. I am wondering is anyone else is having this problem? Or maybe I am having a problem with my PC. Comments?
Thought provoking article, I had never considered the correctness of the date.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-18 07:34:39
I had missed this. Thanks. I've corrected the problem by replacing the chart object with a JPG.
Comment by imacountrygirl2 on 2014-02-18 00:23:41
Correction, I am wondering "if", not is
Comment by Menrov on 2014-02-18 03:24:25
Regarding the codes, I see the same. I guess it is created on the orginating side not on the receiving side.
Anyway, with respect to the contents of the memorial day, I believe the exact calculation of this can be arbitrary. Question is, would Jezus mind if you would organize this a day earlier or later? I cannot find Him saying: Do this on exactly the same day. I am sure that if the exact calculation of the correct day would be critical it would have been defined more clearly by Jesus. I have not read the study article yet.. But I agree with the comment that it will be a Challengin Study to Sit Through !!Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-18 08:06:34
The irony of all this quest for exactness hits me when I realize that we are often weeks away from the precise day that Jesus held his evening meal. We can measure a year with incredible precision. A lunar calendar requires regular adjustments to reset it to the true solar year marked by the earth's orbit around our Sun. If we wanted to commemorate the Lord's meal at the same time he did, at the same point in the spring that he did, we would hold it every year after sundown on April 2nd. That is the way we measure every other celebration. Why do we hold to the Jewish calendar on this one commemoration? I can find no Bible directive to use a lunar calendar. As scientific knowledge has opened our minds, we stopped writing on scrolls and now publish on iPads. Why not allow the same to happen and commemorate the Lord's meal on the same day, April 2nd, that he did?
Reply by Menrov on 2014-02-18 08:19:03
I understand and indeed it sounds a peculiar to use the Jewish calendar for this whereas for everything else in the western world we use another calendar. I guess it fits the perception of the WT that their beliefs are close to the "true bible teachings". I have nothing against being accrate with dates. And for certain things it will be more important than for other things. However, I merely wanted to indicate that it is I guess more important to understand the meaning of the memorial.
My biggest concern though is the actual lecture during the memorial. I personally was not impressed with the one last year. Although it was Jesus that gave the instructions, His role was not much explained.
I also notice, at least in my congegration, that the tone of the meeting is rather 'down', like it was bad news instead of good news.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-18 08:38:04
You are quite right. The talk is more about explaining our doctrine of who partakes rather than explaining the good news of the Christ. It would be far more appropriate and encouraging to spend the time remembering the man so that we can love him the more and follow him the better. However, the main purpose of the event these days seems to be as an opportunity to get back those who have left our ranks and to recruit new members.
Jesus held the meal only with his most intimate even though there were many faithful disciples by this time. What little we know of its commemoration in following years indicates an intimate gathering. It wasn't the "come one, come all" event we advocate today.Reply by GodsWordIsTruth on 2014-02-18 08:58:57
I actually do not believe that is peculiar for them to use the Jewish calendar. Our religion is stuck in the past and because of that we fail to focus on the Christ. Like the Jews we focus on Jehovah. We have managed to turn the Memorial of Jesus’ death as an opportunity to focus on Jehovah.
Jesus has concluded the new covenant with solely with 144,000 and is their mediator . In turn it seems they act as some sort of priestly class ( or mediator) for the remaining “great crowd or “other sheep”. If this is truly the case ….why do we (the great crowd) even need to be there? We are not observers as they claim; we are participating in the event by passing the emblems around. I may be going on a limb here but why are those of this “non priestly” class even touching these utensils.( plates, wine glasses)
We always read this scripture at 1 Corinthians 11:26 "For as often as YOU eat this loaf and drink this cup, YOU keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives." Christ has arrived…. invisibly in 1914.
( sorry for the rant this morning)
Menrov…. I commented to my sister last year that I felt like I just left a funeral last year after the Memorial talk at our Hall.
Reply by on 2014-02-21 11:57:41
And this is our only yearly celebration. It should be our special gathering. We're inviting people from any other religion to join us on this sacred night just to try to get "Bible", (really FSD publication studies), studies. Smacks of interfaith to me.
Comment by Menrov on 2014-02-18 03:25:29
Sorry, I am Dutch and I sometimes automatically spell Jesus with a Z instead of S.
Reply by GodsWordisTruth on 2014-02-18 03:51:45
Menrov,
I agree with your comments.
From a group that gulps down the camel and strains the gnat this shows a lack of humility. Why are they going through all these lengths to prove that date they have chosen is correct if it's wrong. Maybe Jesus thinks its a big deal Maybe he does not (I think it's important to get it right... But that's just me).If they got it wrong... its ok! Just make it right. I suspect in the coming years they will declare all calendars to be apostate and we will be restricted to using the JW calendar.
I'm pained at the heart this year at attending.The memorial was my favorite time of year! I don't want to publicly reject the emblems.Why can't we just sit the items on the table then allow the "anointed" to come up and partake? Instead we must pass "the body of christ" and his shed "blood" around the entire congregation and refuse it. I never thought I would say this but this whole ceremony is disrespectful to the Christ.
Sitting through the WT is bearable for me only after we have discussed it on this site. Thanks Meleti for the overview.
Comment by kev on 2014-02-18 05:05:08
Im not sure about the dates Brothers and sisters but try to partake and they will try to kick you out .They will question your loyalty to the organisation .I honestly believe that i am not welcome at our congregations memorial Last year they even sent an invite through our door and deliberatly wrote on the invite my sons name and missed mine off .Why are they so vehemently against people partaking .each year every brother and sister i know publicly rejects the body and blood of our lord which was poured out for forgiveness of thier sins when they pass those emblems on .Kev
Reply by kev on 2014-02-18 07:47:27
Also with regard to the memorial if romans 8 v 16 is so pivotal on determining who should partake ie the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are gods children which is obviously a personal calling why do they insist that your not and still deny us communion . Kev
Reply by Alex Rover on 2014-02-18 08:55:11
It depends. If you are an active Jw, talk to the elders and let them know you will be partaking. If you are not coming to the meetings normally, then just hold the memorial at home.
I take part in the memorial event and see it part of my duty, or testimony, to the congregation. In fact, perhaps we should have a discussion on how to encourage others from the least amount of words and scriptures, to investigate their personal calling too.
Maybe a question: How can you be sure you don't have the heavenly calling? Did you read scripture x,y,z under prayerful meditation?
Almost every thinking JW I meet once wondered if they them-self could be anointed. But like me, growing up, you think that it's just not possible.
Maybe an anonymous letter to members of the hall, with only WT excerpts and scripture quotes? Example: January 15, 1952 Watchtower, Pages 63 and 64 shows the hope is cultivated.Reply by Alex Rover on 2014-02-18 09:02:58
Sister X shares her problems in service.
Answer: Do you feel like the Holy Spirit helps you, leads you to do the right thing?
Sister X: yes, definitely.
Answer: Then this must be a comforting scripture to you. Read Romans 8:14 "All who are led by God's Spirit are God's sons and daughters." So when you experience this guidance, take comfort that Jehovah is witnessing to you that you are special to him.
Sister X: Gosh, thank you. I never considered myself for such privilege.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-18 10:06:17
Alternate outcome: Sister X: "But that's not what the faithful slave says." She then goes home and tells Brother X, you know Sister Y said the strangest thing to me today....
Reply by In Need of Grace on 2014-02-18 10:31:17
I think the objective is to find those who are spiritually ready for solid food ;) In every congregation you will have those who are just flipping through their watchtower and when they have a question look up the answer on the jw library.
But you will also have those who meditate on things more deeply. Those we can help ;) Besides that, I'm sure that even't the GB can't even publicly argue against scripture, by us reading scriptures and quoting publications, there is not much wrong we can do.
For me personally, I try to keep it it on the downlow at this stage since I am a few years younger then when Jesus left us, and just let the elders know of my desire to part take. If the congregation receives it well, I'll work hard to win hearts for the beautiful truth laid out for us.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-18 10:33:21
I admire your courage!
Reply by on 2014-02-18 09:51:24
*** w52 1/15 p. 64 Questions From Readers ***
So, it seems that after you have inspected the matter of time, the possession of God’s spirit, his dealings with you, then you have to take into consideration, “What are my real, sincere, heartfelt hopes in this matter?” Then you decide your position; no one else can decide for you. Decide whether you have the consuming spiritual aspirations. If so, then follow through with those. That is in your system and you cannot get it out, so act accordingly. Participate in the Memorial emblems. Whereas, if you do not have that hope, if you are divided and uncertain, then it appears that you are of the earthly class, and hence should not partake of the emblems at Memorial time.
Reply by kev on 2014-02-18 12:07:59
Thanks alex im glad it worked out for you .And its nice to know of your experience Thanks for putting the record straight and showing me that it doesnt always work like it did with me . Perhaps its the way we handle it .kev
Comment by on 2014-02-19 10:21:14
If we use Jewish sources to understand Jewish practices, we conclude that the lambs (of the whole Assembly of Israel ) were slaughtered late in the day (twilight, or between the evenings) on Nisan 14, and eaten after sundown with the unleavened bread of the 7 day festival Nisan 15 to 21.
Exodus Chap. 12:
"6 You must care for it until the 14th day of this month, and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel must slaughter it at twilight. 7 They must take some of the blood and splash it on the two doorposts and the upper part of the doorway of the houses in which they eat it. 8 “‘They must eat the meat on this night. They should roast it over the fire and eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter greens."
This timing and symbolism corresponded with the Jew's final meal in Egypt and the journey of release into the wilderness. (They were condemned to a life of slavery and death; they had to gather themselves into an organization {assembly}; they required a ransom and the sacrifice of propitiatory, life-giving blood; they had to exit Egypt by the guidance of both a mediator and angelic forces, etc.)
In order to cover the uncertainty of procedure, observant Jews today have a double evening meal (14th & 15th) at both the beginning and the end of the 7 days. That covers it for sure.
The trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, and the confirmation of the death penalty the next day by the Jewish court had to be completed before the sundown beginning the Nisan 15th Festival.
Therefore, Jesus had to institute the Memorial after the sundown beginning Nisan 14. The Jewish "Assembly" did their Passover meal 24 hours later.
For the Memorial we say we use that date, but typically we delay the start of Nisan an extra day, not applying the stated 18 to 30 hours after astronomic new moon.
There is no "Jewish" calendar. While in Egypt Jews used the Egyptian Calendar and from the Babylon exile forward, they used the Babylonian Calendar. Nisan and Tishri are Babylonian months. The WT Article footnote dances around this point by saying: “Although Nisan was the postexilic name for the Hebrew [Babylonian] month, for simplicity we will refer to the first month of the Jewish Hebrew calendar as Nisan.”
Babylonian astronomy, celestial mathematics and eclipse prediction were highly developed 300 years before Christ. It was part and parcel of their religion.
The notion that the Jews stood on the western wall waiting maybe days for the clouds to clear so that the new moon was physically visible, in order to start a new lunar month, is not true.
The visual calibration of the moon-sun separation by "fingers," performed before and after the new moon event, was part of refining the eclipse tables by professional astronomers. The moon moves about one finger per hour relative to the sun if one holds a hand to the sky. If one measures the height of the moon above the sun in fingers per hour at sunrise before the new moon, and repeats the measurement at sunset after the new moon and compares the times, one can calibrate the exact hour of solar eclipse or astronomical new moon.Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-02-19 10:28:12
Thank you. That is the clearest, most concise explanation I've seen to date.
Comment by Crazyguy on 2014-02-22 01:17:42
I plan on partaking for the first time this year, its what Christ wanted and told us to do if we wish to have life with in ourselves. This shows him we believe he is our Master and we are not slaves of men. To not partake is to be like Peter and disown Christ. What's more important our relationship with Jesus and our Father or a bunch of indoctrinated people that would jump off a cliff if the Governing Body told them to? Jesus said that only a few would get though the narrow gate, is it possible that knowing exactly what he was teaching and doing what he wanted be the factor of who gets through?
Comment by smolderingwick1 on 2014-02-24 09:32:55
Meleti,
It appears we are on the same page when you saw Ephesians 1:7 quoted out of context in par. 18. I saw this before even reading your summary. Just how are we to be released “by ransom through the blood of that one” if we haven’t been “adopted as his own sons through Jesus Christ” as the two preceeding verses so clearly state?
This article is a definite prelude into discouraging all of us from partaking in Christ this memorial season. Interestingly, par. 20 makes the following statement:
“There are, however, differences between the Passover and the Lord’s Evening Meal. These show that the Passover that the Jews were to memorialize was not to foreshadow what Christ told his followers to do in memory of his death. Back in Egypt, the Israelites partook of the lamb’s flesh but not of its blood.”
I’ll stop here since they focused on “Back in Egypt” and the literal partaking of “the lamb’s flesh but not of its blood.” This is deceptive reasoning as the celebration did in fact come to include unleavened bread and wine—much wine, actually.
Consider the Hallel Psalms (113-118 ftn. On 114) These were sung over four cups of wine and as the ftn says, “Doubtless this was done by Jesus and his disciples,” which turns out to be another deliberately misconstrued interpretation in citing Mark 14:22-25 since verse 26 goes on to say “Finally, after singing praises, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” According to the ftn., those praises were the Hallel Psalms with the doubtless context that Jesus and his disciples also consumed four cups of wine.
Further, paragraph 20 goes on to say:
“That differs from what Jesus directed his disciples to do. He said that those who would reign “in the kingdom of God” should partake of both the bread and the wine as symbols of his flesh and his blood. We will consider this in more detail in the following article.—Mark 14:22-25.”
In fact, Mark 14:22-25 does not say anything about Jesus giving any such direction to those who might reign “in the kingdom of God.” Verse 25 simply says “I shall by no means drink anymore of the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” I sometimes wonder how Jesus feels about how much we have written that actually suppresses what he intended to convey! Imagine how many heavenly heads shake over our dumbed down, cognitive dissonant heads.
Comment by When to Commemorate the 2015 Memorial | Beroean Pickets on 2015-03-06 11:48:40
[…] Last year, we discussed ways to calculate the date of the anniversary of the Lord’s Last Supper. (See “Do This in Remembrance of Me” and “This Is to Be a Memorial for You“) […]