Feast of Trumpets: Key to Deciphering the Warning?

Sep 22, 2022
Feast of Trumpets Key to Understanding Warning Illumination of Conscience

Want to know what the Bible says about the Warning? A friend from MysteriesOfTheRosary.org just sent me an explanation of Old Testament prophecies which could be key to understanding the Warning, or Illumination of Conscience. Here is his fascinating email. (My notes are designated by my initials, "MF.")

This is a little long but please bear with me– it is extremely relevant.

God wanted Moses to convey to his people some truths that He wanted them to never forget. Those truths form the very basis of salvation history.

So, he made them a list of festivals to be celebrated every year: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Feast of Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. (Lev 23:4-43)

Why the Old Testament Feasts Were Prophecies

God called these feasts “holy convocations, my appointed feasts” (Lev 23:2). Convocation in Hebrew “קָרָא”,(transliterated: “kaw-raw”), has two meanings and God meant both: a convocation and a dress rehearsal.

A convocation is when all the Israelite men, were to convene in the place designated for the worship of Yahweh: the place where the Ark of the Covenant resided (Deut 16:6). After the Exodus, but prior to David, that place varied between Bethel (Jug 20:27), Shiloh (1Sam 1:3), seven months (1Sam 6:1) in the hands of the Philistines in Ashdod, in the temple of Dagon (1Sam 5:2), Kiriath-jearim (1Sam 7:3) and later Gibeon, in the house of Obed-edom (2Sam 6:11). After David, it was Jerusalem.

“Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.” (Deut 16:16)

Women and children went to Jerusalem for Passover which is a family feast but were only required to go to Jerusalem for Tabernacles on a Sabbatical, Shmittah year – years divisible by 7 (Deut 31:10-13). They did not need to attend the other Feasts. (The holy family went to Jerusalem every year for Passover (Lk 2:41).)

A dress rehearsal implies that the feasts are prophecies of something beyond themselves. These feasts form the cornerstone of the practice of the Jewish faith.

Jesus was Jewish, and the Jewish faith is focused on the Feasts of the Lord. Jesus said:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Mt 5:17-20).

It is easy to understand how Jesus fulfilled the prophets, but how do you fulfill the law unless there is prophecy in the law?

The law defines the Feasts of the Lord and requires that they be celebrated every year. That the Feasts of the Lord were all Messianic prophecies was missed by the Jews as the apostle John indicated when coming out of the tomb of the risen Christ:

"We did not yet understand the scripture." (Jn 20:9)

Jesus has already fulfilled five of the seven feasts: Tabernacles, Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits, and the Feast of Weeks, and He fulfilled each of them on the specific day of each feast!

Because God does not forget his promises, Jesus will also fulfill the two remaining feasts: Trumpets and Atonement.

So here is an overview of the Feasts of the Lord and their fulfillment...

Passover (Pesach)

"The Lord's Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan 14)." (Leviticus 23:5)

Passover (Pesach) is celebrated on the 14th day of the first month, Nisan. It is a remembrance of the sacrifice of an unblemished, male lamb; whose blood saved the 1st born sons of the Israelites.

It is in fact a dress rehearsal for the sacrifice of God’s First-Born Son, the Lamb of God, to save all men.

MF: The sacrificial lamb would have to be without any defects, and once it passed inspection the sins of the people would be transferred to the lamb by laying hands on it's head (Leviticus 16:21). When it was sacrificed, none of it's bones could be broken (Exodus 12:46). In the same way, Jesus was put on trial and Pilate found no fault in Him (Luke 23:4). Jesus took the sins of humanity upon himself (1 Peter 2:24), and none of his bones were broken (John 19:32-33).

St. Paul, understanding that Jesus fulfills the Feasts of the Lord, said to the Corinthians, "For Christ our Passover has now been immolated" (1Cor 5:7).

Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)

"On the next day, the fifteenth day of the first month (Nisan 15), you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the Lord continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast." (Leviticus 23:6)

Unleavened Bread (Chag Matzot) begins on the 15th of Nisan with the Seder Meal which was both the sacrificial meal for the Paschal lamb and a Todah sacrificial offering of unleavened bread and wine. The Seder Todah was in thanksgiving for the deliverance, about to be provided, by the blood of the paschal lamb: the angel of death would see the blood on the doorposts and lintel of the homes of those who had participated in the Seder meals. The Angel of death would then "pass over" their houses (Ex 12:21-23). 

The word “Todah” means “thanksgiving”. Todah in the Greek is “Eucharistia”. The Seder is a dress rehearsal for the Eucharist: a Todah, Eucharistic, offering of unleavened bread and wine in thanksgiving for the deliverance [from sin] accomplished through the blood of the Lamb of God.

MF: The bread is unleavened because when the Israelites were preparing to escape from Egypt, they did not have time for the bread to rise. God used this to point them to the Messiah, the Bread of Life, who was without sin. Yeast represents sin (Matthew 16:3, Galatians 5:9), so God commanded the bread to be made without yeast in order to represent the body of Christ.

The Seder Meal is celebrated on Nisan 15, after the death of the Paschal Lamb. Jesus could not very well celebrate the Seder Meal after He was already in the grave. However, God provided the solution to the problem by having two calendars in use in Jerusalem at that time: The Temple calendar which was a lunar/solar calendar and the Essene calendar which was a solar calendar.

The Last Supper, a Seder meal, was celebrated on the 15th of Nisan, according to the Essene calendar. God uses both of His calendars!

All three Synoptic Gospels have Jesus celebrating the Seder Meal with the Apostles (Mt 16:17-20, Mk 14:14-16, Lk 22:7-12, Lk 22:15). The Last Supper that Jesus celebrated was an “un-bloody” sacrifice; as the Essenes were not allowed to offer sacrifice in the temple. It was completed on the cross, with the completion of the Seder ritual’s consumption of the 4th cup and the declaration of the Nirtzah: “It is finished”. That happened right before the death of the Paschal lamb, the Lamb of God, on the Feast of Passover: Nisan 14 on the Temple calendar!*

Jesus, the Lamb of God, had been selected by the people on Lamb Selection Day as the lamb for sacrifice for all, by the people waving palm fronds and shouting "Hosanna" as was the custom for when the high priest brought into the city his selection of the lamb that he would sacrifice for all the people.

First Fruits (Reishit Katzir)

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first fruits of your harvest. On the day after the Sabbath (Nisan 16) the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf.'" (Leviticus 23:9-11)

First Fruits (Reishit Katzir or Yom HaBikkurim) is the celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. It is an acknowledgement that God continues to provide for us.

Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection, opening the Kingdom of God and demonstrating that God continues to provide for us for all eternity (1Cor 15:20). First Fruits was the third day: Passover Eve (the day the Lamb of God died on the cross) is the first day; the first day of Unleavened Bread (the Seder) is the second day; and First Fruits is the third day. First Fruits was the day Jesus rose from the grave.

So, in answer to the question: Where does it say in scripture that the Messiah must die and rise on the third day? Something we profess to believe every time we say the Nicene Creed at Mass, when we say: “and on the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures”. Although most scholars will quote Hos 6:2, it is specifically in the fulfillment of Passover and First Fruits!

Passover, Nisan 15, is always a Sabbath. The calendar is always tweaked so that two Sabbaths will never occur back to back: Friday & Saturday or Saturday & Sunday. That was because no cooking was done on the Sabbath and without refrigeration food would not keep for two days without cooking. Thus the Feast of First Fruits is always on the 3rd day.

Feast of Weeks (Shavuot)

"From the day after the Sabbath - the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering - count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later (Sivan 6). Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord." (Leviticus 23:15-16)

Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) means 50 days and is the 50th day after First Fruits. It is a memorial of the day God himself came down on Mount Sinai in a cloud of fire and smoke and a blast of God's trumpet (Ex 19:18-19), to ratify the covenant with his people.

It is a dress rehearsal for the day the Holy Spirit comes down as flames of fire on the disciples, with a noise loud enough to draw a crowd of over 3,000 to the Cenacle, to ratify the new covenant written in our hearts.

MF: This feast was also to celebrate the harvest of grain, which comes after the spring rain. In the scriptures, water is used to describe the Holy Spirit. On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out like the spring rain upon the disciples, and this resulted in a great harvest of souls. Whereas in Exodus 32:28, 3,000 people died after Israel disobeyed the law, now 3,000 souls are baptized after hearing Peter's preaching (Acts 2:41). This occurred on the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead.

Tabernacles (Sukkot)

"And the Lord said to Moses, 'Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the appointed month (Tishri 15)—five days after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the Lord will last for seven days. On the first day of the festival you must proclaim an official day for holy assembly, when you do no ordinary work. For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord. This will be a solemn occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day.'" (Leviticus 23:33-36)

Tabernacles (Sukkot), the Feast of “God with us”, in Hebrew “Emanuel”, is on the 15th day of the 7th month. It is the feast that celebrates God’s physical presence with the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light during the Exodus (Ex 13:21).

The feast is celebrated by living in “Sukkot”, tents with a thatched roof, through which the stars must be visible, and rain must leak into the dwelling. On the feast of Tabernacles four giant menorahs were constructed in the court of women in the temple which, like the pillar of fire during the Exodus, provided light for all of Jerusalem.

Tabernacles is a dress rehearsal for the birth of Jesus; when God came to live among his people as the Light of the World and the Source of Living Water.

Jesus was born in a stable, which with the thatched roof qualified as a sukkah.† The stable was used to protect infant lambs during their first week of life, while they were still vulnerable to the weather. Jesus, like infant lambs, was inspected by Levitical Shepherds and found without blemish thus qualified for sacrifice on Passover: The Lamb of God!

MF: Remember from earlier: "Jesus, the Lamb of God, had been selected by the people on Lamb Selection Day as the lamb for sacrifice for all, by the people waving palm fronds and shouting 'Hosanna' as was the custom for when the high priest brought into the city his selection of the lamb that he would sacrifice for all the people." Well, it so happens that the Feast of Tabernacles also traditionally involves the waving of palm branches, which again points to Jesus Himself, the Spotless Lamb, being the fulfillment.

(By the way, walking back in time from Av 9‡ in 70AD which is the only time a division of priest is associated to an identifiable date on the roman calendar back to 3BC will show that Zechariah was serving in the temple from the morning of the 23rd of Tammuz until the 1st of Av. So Elizabeth's 6th month began on the 1st of Tevet and the little celebration of light Chanukah's 8th day, that year, was on the 2nd of Tevet and 40 weeks or 278 days later was the Feast of Tabernacles in 2BC so that when Jesus began his ministry after his baptism He was 30 years old exactly as Luke says.)

Trumpets (Yom Teruah): The Warning?

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the seventh month (Tishri 1), you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with a loud blast of a trumpet. You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the Lord.'" (Leviticus 23:23-25)

Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is celebrated on the 1st day of the 7th month. The feast celebrates God's judgement, when all the world is judged before God’s throne. It is  also known as Yom Hadin, or the Day of Judgment, on which God opens the Books of Life and Death, which are then sealed on Yom Kippur.

It is unfulfilled, but it is thought that it could be the Warning or Illumination when everyone will see themselves as God sees them.

MF: The Silver Trumpets, or Chatzotzerot, were used to assemble the congregation, signal wilderness journey camp movements (Numbers 10:1-2), in times of warfare (Numbers 10:9, 31:6, 2 Chronicles 13:12-14), and in celebration (Psalm 47:5, 81:3). Yom Teruah is a celebration of the final harvest at the end of the season. It is also associated with a "day of awakening" or an "awakening blast."

MF: Putting all of this together, it makes sense that the Warning could be its fulfillment. By means of the Warning, God could "wake up" and assemble his faithful ones–rallying the troops for warfare, so to speak–giving them instructions for where to go or what to do. It would be a final harvest of souls before the end of an age.

This is the first of the three events that must yet be fulfilled before the Messiah returns: that the Gospel must have reached all men.§ If you think about it, the only way that can happen is with the Warning, a supernatural event in which all men recognize the truth.

MF: "And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come." (Matthew 24:14)

It is interesting to note that it is the only event that happens to everyone in the world on the same day. If you think about it, there is no time when it is the same day everywhere in the world, but Trumpets is also a 2-day feast– oh what a coincidence!

MF: Yom Teruah is also the hardest of the feasts to schedule because it falls exactly on the new moon of the seventh month. Until the new moon actually appeared, "no man knoweth the day or the hour." (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32)

MF: When the new moon was finally sighted, fires were lit everywhere to announce it. From mountain top to mountain top, the fires were lit until all in the land of Israel knew that the new moon had been sighted. Because you could not know the exact day or hour in advance, two days were always celebrated.

MF: In terms of the Warning, no one knows the exact day or hour, but when we pay attention to the scriptures and the signs of the times then we do have a general idea that it could be arriving soon so that we will be prepared. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. For all you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5)

Atonement (Yom Kippur): After the Warning?

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of of that same month (Tishri 10) - nine days after the Feast of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord. Do not work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut of from God's people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day.'" (Leviticus 23:26-30)

Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the holiest day of the year. It is celebrated on the 10th day of the 7th month. It is unfulfilled. It is thought to be when the Jewish nation will acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.

The second event that must happen before the end is the appearance of the anti-Christ, and the third is the conversion of the Jews [MF: which will only happen after the gentiles have wholly come in (by the Warning, perhaps)].§ That third event is not meant to be the personal conversion of every Jew but rather the acknowledgement by the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, that Jesus was/is the Messiah.

MF: To prepare for Yom Kippur is a ten day period of repentance called "The Days of Awe." The ram's horns have been blowing during these ten days and the final blast of the rams horn is blown on the Day of Atonement. This day also commemorates the day Moses received the revelation of the name "Yahweh," after he ascended Mount Sinai for the second time, on Tishri 10 (Exodus 34:4-9).

MF: After the Warning, it stands to reason that there would be a period of repentance. After all, everyone has just been shown the true state of their souls! So could it be that, after a certain period (perhaps ten days including the day of the Warning), the Jewish nation will finally acknowledge Jesus as "Yahweh"? It's an interesting thought.

What All This Could Tell Us About the Warning

If, in fact, the Warning is the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets, then like the other five Feasts that have been fulfilled, it will happen on the Feasts of Trumpets. This year, the Feast of Trumpets falls on September 26 and 27.

After the Resurrection, Jesus said:

"See the fig tree, and all the trees: When they now shoot forth their fruit, you know that summer is nigh; So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand. Amen, I say to you, this generation shall not pass away, till all things be fulfilled." (Luke 21:29-32)

Jesus is not talking about the end of the world, but the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies.

A generation is 80 years for the strong according to scripture (Psalm 90:10). [I believe] the "Fig Tree" bloomed in 1948 when Israel became a nation. So, when would all things be fulfilled? 1948 + 80 = 2028.

This coming year is a Jubilee year. All the signs are in place for this to be the year of the Warning. That leaves 7 years for the Anti-Christ [to appear] before the 2000th anniversary of the beginning of Jesus' ministry, at the end of September in 2029.

UPDATE 9/25/22:

MF: I asked my friend what he thought about the age of the world and how it relates to these dates. The Apostolic Fathers taught that the Era of Peace (i.e. the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) would occur during the seventh millennium of the world, corresponding to the 7th Day of Creation. Just as "one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8), the Fathers taught that the 7 Days of Creation in Genesis prefigure seven thousand years of human history. In other words, just as God rested from his work of Creation on the 7th Day, the coming Era of Peace will be humanity's own "Sabbath rest." Here is his reply:

At Answers in Genesis you will find a good discussion of the issues involved in establishing the date according to the bible.

The Jews believe that the world was created on the 25th of Elul 5782 years ago, and thus Adam was created on the 1st of Tishrei (on the Feast of Rosh Hashanah). There is however debate as to how many years they were in slavery in Egypt. There are several researchers who come up with 3970 - 3971 BC, which thus makes the 6000th anniversary (the start of day 7 of Creation) in 2029.

In my opinion, what date that is is not important. What is important is that multiple prophets and saints have told us we are at the end of an era.

Something to also remember is that the book of Revelations was also fulfilled in 70 AD and by adhering to it and the book of Hebrews there were no Christians in Jerusalem when it was destroyed in 70 AD. They had all gone to Pela.

Just as we ended the Old Testament era and started the Christian era when Jesus began His ministry, we seem to be at the end of the era of the Gentiles and hopefully beginning the era of Peace, with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart [of Mary].

MF: I then asked, do you believe the antichrist comes before the era of peace, or after the era of peace and just before the 2nd coming? There are different camps in that regard, so I'd love to know your opinion based on these connections you are making.

The Jews also call the Feast of Trumpets “God’s final harvest of souls.” If you think about it: everyone now knows the truth. Everyone decides either for the truth and and the confessionals are overwhelmed so much that the faithful bring sack lunches and thermoses of coffee to the priests because they can’t stop hearing confessions. Or they decide for their own personal truth and hate without measure everyone who has chosen God. The whole world is polarized.

The devil’s minions grab control of all the power and begin the exploitation and extermination of the faithful. There are many, many martyrs. At some point God steps in with the three days of darkness and all the devils and their minions are killed. Then the faithful come out of hiding and begin rebuilding society in the era of peace.

But God is not standing idly by watching. There was a teenager in Modene Israel who had a near death experience on the Feast of Tabernacles in 2015 and was shown the future and heaven and where he would spend eternity. He was then offered the opportunity to go back and tell his rabbi about heaven and thereby have the opportunity to improve his future in heaven. He took the offer. You can see the YouTube video with subtitles here:

The Antichrist will come right after the warning. He has 3 years to establish his world wide rule. The church’s split has already begun. In this country, there will not be an election unless the democrats think they can pull off an even more massive fraud than they did the last time. So the rule of law is gone. The rest of the world will abandon the dollar as the currency for international trade and the value of the dollar will drop to its true value less than 10 cents.

The rest of the prophecies can happen very quickly. Many have already occurred. Somewhat random order here but I haven’t thought much beyond the conversion of the Jews and Mary’s statement that the Jews will be the salvation of the Church. At the conversion of the Jews, the Church will be in such a mess that although the Jews will acknowledge Jesus as God and the Messiah they will not become Roman Catholic!

MF: What about Hanukkah?

The Jewish spelling of Hanukkah is Chanukah. The thing about Chanukah is that it is the little celebration of Light while Tabernacles is the big celebration of Light. It became a feast because when the Macabeees finally freed Israel they wanted to re-establish their relationship with God so they started the re-dedication of the Temple after it was purified. But they discovered that they only had one days supply for the lamps that needed to remain burning for eight days. Miraculously, the lamps remained lit all eight days. They realized that God had just shown them that He approved of the new relationship between the Jewish people and Himself, so they commanded the people to celebrate the event every year thereafter. In addition, years later in 3BC on that same Feast, the eighth day of Chanukah, God provided an even greater Miracle: God Himself became Man, thereby establishing a new relationship between Himself and all mankind. Thus also fulfilling Chanukah!

Also that explains how Mary, a 14 year old girl, got to Elizabeth's house that was 90 miles away: Chanukah was the only Feast on which one didn't have to go to Jerusalem. Thus the people that hosted the travelers from Nazareth went to Nazareth for the holiday. The very next morning there would have been a caravan returning to Jerusalem. What family with 4 or 5 kids under 10 wouldn't happily welcome a 14 year old babysitter to join them for a 6 or 7 day walk. Ein Karem, where Elizabeth lived was only 2 miles south of the road about 6 miles west of Jerusalem.

Concluding Notes

MF: I'm still trying to wrap my head around these feasts and the prophecies they contain, both fulfilled and unfulfilled. I need to think about it more, but it's a very intriguing idea that the Feast of Trumpets could be a "dress rehearsal" for the Warning or Illumination of Conscience.

MF: As far as the timing of the Warning: although many people think it could happen in 2022, I am a bit skeptical just because the world hasn't completely gone bonkers yet (I mean, yes, it has gone bonkers, but I had thought that the Warning would occur during a time of extreme chaos). It certainly does feel like we are on the verge of something really big, though. And as we now know from 2020, the world can change in the blink of an eye. It definitely doesn't hurt to be prepared for an Illumination of Conscience to occur next week... or at any day for that matter! (Get thee to a confessional!!)

MF: Assuming that there was indeed a "countdown" that began in 1948, and assuming that 80 years is the time of the countdown, then it seems to me that we could still have a few years for the Warning to occur. That is, according to these calculations, the Warning could still occur ANY time over the next 6 years, through 2028. It is quite interesting to think that this calculated "end date" (not the end of the world, nor the end of the age, but the date by which "all things will be fulfilled") could actually coincide with the 2,000th anniversary of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry!(‖) I'll have to think more about what that could signify.

MF: One thing's for sure: from now on, I will definitely be paying more attention to the laws and feasts of the Old Testament!


 

*More about this in Pope Benedict XVI's homily at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on April 5th, 2007.

† The fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles with the birth of Jesus explains:

  1. Why there was no room in the inn: the inns had a walled courtyard which was where the pack animals and baggage was left while the rich went into the inn for the night.  The poor slept in the courtyard with the animals. But during the Feasts of Tabernacles the rich put up their sukkot in the courtyard thus consuming all the space in the courtyard.
  2. Why Mary, in Joseph's home town did not give birth in a friend or relatives home: It was the Feast of Tabernacles, there is no way Mary would stay anywhere that did not qualify as a sukkah.
  3. Why Jesus was born in a stable: it qualified as a sukkah and provided more privacy than a poor man’s sukkah (but providentially also qualified Jesus, the Lamb of God, as a Paschal Lamb).

‡ Av is a month on the Hebrew Calendar. The 9th of Av is a special day because that day has been cursed by God. It was the day on which the spies that Moses sent into the Promise land came back and told Moses that they could never win (Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God). Soloman's Temple was destroyed on the 9th of AV and the Romans destroyed the temple on the 9th of Av in 70AD. There have been numerous other disasters that occurred throughout history on the 9th of AV. Because it was such a famous day and the destruction of the Temple was such a big deal both the Talmud and the historian Josephus told us  the division of Jehoiarib (the first division) was serving when the Roman Soldiers finally broke into the Holy of Holies on Sunday evening the 10th of AV. There are 24 divisions of priests which served in unbroken order since the time of the Maccabees. Each division served at least twice a year. The spread sheet I used can be found here. If you scroll down the spread sheet (there are more than 3000 entries to it is easier to look at sheet 2 which starts at the beginning of 4BC and goes forward in time) the spreadsheet shows that Abijah (Zechariah) was serving in the temple from the morning of the 23rd of Tammuz until the 1st of Av. So Elizabeth's 6th month began on the 1st of Tevet and the little celebration of light Chanukah's 8th day, that year, was on the 2nd of Tevet and 40 weeks or 278 days later was the Feast of Tabernacles in 2BC so that when Jesus began his ministry after his baptism He was 30 years old exactly as Luke says.

§ Romans 11:23-28: "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and, contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive tree; how much more shall they that are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, (lest you should be wise in your own conceits), that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles should come inAnd so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is to them my covenant: when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are most dear for the sake of the fathers."

‖ Luke tells us that John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius began his reign on the 17th of September in 14 AD. That means his 15th year began on September 17, 28 AD and ended at his 15th anniversary which would have been Sept. 17, 29 AD. John was a rabbi (Jesus called him a rabbi). Rabbi's can only begin their ministry at age 30 and John became 30 on Passover of 29 AD. So on Jesus's birthday, Tishrei 15 (October 11) of 29 AD He could begin His Ministry. He would likely have waited until after the 8 days of Succot on the 19th of October to go out into the desert to find John the Baptist.

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