Thursday, May 20, 2021

From Passover, Tabernacles, Hanukkah, to the next Passover

This observation from the Gospel of John was recorded about four months ago on 2021.01.19.

From one Passover to the next, the final year of the earthly ministry of our Lord Iesus.

John 6:4 ASV
Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

John 7:2 ASV
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand.

The weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread, commonly called the Passover, begins on the 15th day of the First Month, whereas the week long feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) begins on the 15th day of the Seventh month of the Biblical lunar year.

There is thus a gap of six months between John 6:4 and John 7:2.

At Passover, our Lord revealed himself as the Bread of Life.

John 6: 35 ASV
. . . I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6: 48 ASV
I am the bread of life.

On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, the 22nd day of the 7th month, our Lord revealed himself as the giver of Living Water, the water of life, which is the Holy Spirit.

John 7:37 - 39 ASV
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. 39 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Additional notes, posted on Fri 2021.06.25

It was another two months later, on the 25th day of the Ninth month (Chislev, around end Nov/Dec), at the start of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, that the Lord Iesou walked in Solomon's Porch (or Solomon's Colonnade, NIV) in the Temple area in Jerusalem. There, he was confronted by the Jews who asked him,

"How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Anointed One, tell us plainly" (John 10:22 - 24 NIV)

So the gap between John 7:37 (last day of Tabernacles, 22d 7mth) and John 10:22 (beginning of Dedication 25d 9mth) is about two months.

After that, it would be another stretch of about four months before we approach the Passover of the following year at John 12:1, "Six days before the Passover", which is around the 8th day of the 1st month (Abib) when the Lord Iesou arrived in Bethany. The next day, he entered Jerusalem triumphantly riding on a donkey, as a great crowd waved palm branches and shouted,

"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the LORD (Yehovah)" (John 12:12 - 15).

That would be his final visit to Jerusalem before his crucifixion on Passover Day (or 1st day of Unleavened Bread) on 15th day 1st month, and his resurrection on 17th day 1st month.