Why the Memorial Is Held on the Wrong Day (page 4)

TD

Jehovah's Witnesses calculate Nisan 1st as the new moon closest to the spring equinox and this actually does produce a workable luni-solar calendar. If you count the number of days from Nisan 1st to Nisan 1st by JW reckoning, you'll see a pattern of "Normal years" of either 354 or 355 days and "Long "years" of either 383 or 384 days. This pattern follows a 19 year cycle with long years occuring in years 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17 and 19, so it is actually a Metonic cycle in its own rite.

However it is also a strongly cyclical system. Memorials can occur as early as a day or two after the spring equinox or as late as the 19th of April. This also follows a 19 year pattern with "early" Memorials occuring in years 3, 11 and 19. In recent years, "early" Memorials occured in 2008, 2005, 1997, and 1989.

This cycle isn't a problem for Jehovah's Witnesses because Memorial is the only day out of the year they're really interested in calculating, but it would be problem for Jews because they have many other holidays throughout the year and once you've set a date for one holiday, you've set the date for all the others in that year.

In 2008 for example, Jehovah's Witnesses calculated Nisan 14th to be March 22, just two days after the equinox. Again, not a problem for them, but this would have pulled the 15th of Tishri back to the middle of September, which is a little too early for Sukkot. (--Feast of ingathering. In 2008, this began on October 14.)

The modern Jewish calendar moderates the cyclical effect which produces "early" Memorials with a wider range of year lengths. Normal years can be 353, 354 or 355 days in length and long years can be 383, 384 or 385 days. Holidays therefore occur in a correspondingly narrower range of dates. The difference between an "early" Memorial and Pesach is usually about a month.

I don't know exactly what system(s) the Jews in the Tannaitic period used and I'm not sure that anybody does. (I hope Leolaia will correct me if I'm wrong on that.) I do know that they would have run into the same difficulty I've described here affecting holidays directly tied to agricultural events if they had used the exact system Jehovah's Witnesses use to calculate Memorial.

cantleave

Thank You Leo!

Desilusionnee

Marking.

Thanks Leo.

nugget

all good stuff. I think the society will always try to make a point of difference with mainstream religions of any colour. They always aim to make themselves look more scholarly and better informed than false religion and this is another example.

They don't really care whether they are right or wrong they only care that they appear to be right.

jwfacts

Thanks TD. How did you come up with such amazing information?

jwfacts

I just found this article. Is it trying to say that the Passover was held Nisan 15, but the last supper should be the day before on Nisan 14?

http://www.examiner.com/x-23072-Dallas-Messianic-Judaism-Examiner~y2010m3d23-Do-we-observe-the-Passover-Seder-Nisan-14-or-Nisan-15

According to this year's biblical calendar, Nisan 14 begins the evening of Tuesday, March 30, and Nisan 15 begins the evening of Wednesday, March 31. Believers in Yeshua split over debates about the proper time to observe the Passover Seder. A reading of the gospels appears to indicate that Yeshua ate the Passover with his disciples on Nisan 14. In imitation of him, his followers should as well. However, the gospels also indicate that the Passover had not yet begun when Yeshua died, and readings of the Torah corroborate that Nisan 15 is the proper time to eat the Passover meal, hence, the date followers of Yeshua should observe.
To resolve this debate, we will examine the scriptures. Yeshua came to fulfill the scriptures, so everything he did will line up with what was done before. The first Passover was celebrated in conjunction with the Exodus event recorded in Exodus 12. God told the Israelites to slaughter their lambs at twilight on the 14th; this translates to about 3:00pm our time. Then, they put the blood on their lintels and doorposts, roasted the lambs, and ate them as night set in along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Since biblical days begin in the evening, the meal they ate was consumed Nisan 15. According to Leviticus 23, the festival of Unleavened Bread lasts from the 15th to the 22nd; the first and last of which are high Sabbaths. Passover is Nisan 14 and Unleavened Bread is Nisan 15-22, but the entire eight-day period can be called either Passover or Unleavened Bread (Lk 22:7). Misunderstanding these details can result in confusion when reading the scriptures.
Yeshua's last supper with his disciples was the night of Nisan 14. During this meal, which they called the Passover (Mt 26:18, Mk 14:14, Lk 22:11) but was not yet the prescribed Feast (Jn 13:29), he taught his disciples the spiritual meaning of the Seder that would be held the following night, Nisan 15. He would, of course, not be in attendance, for the Passover Lamb would be arrested that night, hung on the cross at the time of the morning sacrifice, and would die at the time of the slaughtering of the Passover lambs: 3:00pm on Nisan 14. As everyone was roasting their lambs for the evening Seder, Yeshua was buried. This was still Nisan 14, the Day of Preparation for the Seder meal that would occur that night, Nisan 15, the time to eat the lamb with the bitter herbs and unleavened bread (Jn 19:31, 42, Mk 15:42, Lk 23:54, Ex 12:8, 14, Lev 23:4-8).

elderelite

This needs a bump for today :-)

Norcal_Sun

Gonna bump this too. Its exactly what I have been looking for. Going to the memorial tonight, hoping to share this info with my mother afterwards/later this week.

wha happened?

yep all good stuff, I often wondered why Jews celebrated the next day, well now I know. Because they have it right. Another WT example of being different, simply for the reason to be different. I think someone got it wrong at the WT, way back when, and they just can't stomache additional new light

insearchoftruth

Wow, great post!!!

Why the Memorial Is Held on the Wrong Day

Share this