The Mystery of Ephraim

A Critique of Fred Coulter’s Passover (Ia)
Passover on the 14th or 15th?

Fred R. Coulter
Christian Biblical Church of God
Post Office Box 1442
Hollister California 95024-1442

This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The Passover is an extremely interesting Bible Study and we’ll follow it in details. The main issue is whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s work, from an internet online version, which I presume, is his latest. Most are in block form and indented so as to differentiate from other comments. This is from third edition 2010, a hard copy has 508 pages published by York Publishing Company, or 538 pages DPF copy on his website. The Scriptures must be our primary focus and guide. God’s concept may not match man’s concept. And sometimes the Scriptures say things very different from what we think! Quoted are excerpts from Fred Coulter’s book. These excerpts are in block form, in PINK, and indented so as to differentiate it from other quotes or comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!

And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:

Draft Ia

Chapter 1- 2

Critiquing this Passover book is hard; it’s a pain. I wonder if any of his devotees have read every word and chapter of this book. I pretty much doubt it. The bulk of the book gives the impression of a “book is the result and accumulation of studies done by the author over the past fifty years.” And there is another great claim, “the first book ever written and published that thoroughly explains all aspects of the Passover as recorded in the Bible.” It is an important subject, all right, ever since Malachi Message was written. And no doubt, we should not only read it through, but really study it. It has expanded from under 300 pages in his first edition to over 500 now, and it’s the most comprehensive book ever written on the Passover, “covering every aspects and questions ever raised.” But I doubt many of his devotees have really study it through. Here is what Norman Edwards says:

“He took a certain approach to the complex issue of the Passover, and every time he ran into a scriptural obstacle, he wove an elaborate web to get around it—hence the large size of his book, The Christian Passover. Readers frequently accept his arguments, not because they are simply and clearly true, but because proving or disproving his vast amount of writing is an exhausting task that few have the time to complete” (Edwards, Norman: Coulter’s The Christian Passover. Servants’ News. May/June 2002).

So at last, I have put an effort to make a comprehensive critique on his thick book. By following this series of critiques, I hope readers and his followers will also have numerous questions like I have in many doubtful points. Otherwise our readers and his devotees aren’t thinking, as confirmed by a saying of Dr Hoeh: “if you believe everything we say you are not thinking.” And there are many questions raised in this critique. So let’s move on.

This chapter started with some excellent statements, but I’m afraid Fred Coulter would soon lose his focus and wrote something contrary to what he wrote:

Jesus said that He is the “Beginning and the Ending.” The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ is the true Passover Lamb of God for all time by the one perfect sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 7:27; 10:10). Paul declared of Jesus, “For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7). This was the plan of God from the beginning. Jesus was “…the Lamb [of God] slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ there is no remission of sins, no forgiveness of sins before God the Father. John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is the Beginning! (Chapter 1, The Christian Passover, pg 6, PDF copy).

False doctrines and misinterpretations are continually being spread because ministers and teachers use the Word of God deceitfully (pg 13).

Anyone who twists and distorts the Scriptures is “using the law unlawfully,” as Paul said, and will end up believing false, satanic doctrines, which subvert the souls of men (pg 13).

Fred Coulter rightly says that the true Lamb of God is the perfect sacrifice for all mankind, slain from the foundation of the world. Hence the SACRIFICE OF THE LAMB is the primary focus. But he soon went off track by saying: “The Passover received its name from the night in which God passed over the houses of the children of Israel and spared their firstborn from the plague of death, while they were still in their houses in the land of Egypt, before the Exodus took place—not while the Exodus was taking place! The Lord passed over the houses of the children of Israel and saw the blood of the Passover lambs on the side posts and lintels of their doors, and He did not kill their firstborn” (Ch 2, Pg 16).

Here is his quote, emphasis his:

The Scriptures define the meaning of the word “passover.” The Passover is named for an event which was executed by God: “…It is the LORD’S Passover, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I WILL PASS OVER YOU. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:11-13).

This is a case of placing the cart before the horse. This term “the Lord’S Passover (h6453),” is the most important aspect of the Passover process: Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover (h6453). What happened “at evening” is the sacrifice — the KILLING of the LAMB. The emphasis is on “the Lord’S Passover” the KILLING as a Sacrifice — the rest are also important, but secondary. “And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord’S Passover” (h6453) Exodus 12:11.

The SACRIFICE of the LORD’s LAMB is of primary importance. HE is the VINE, we are the branches.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.

The cart shouldn’t be placed before the horse. The eating and the Death Angel’s “pass over” are also important, but only the effect, something that happens downstream. Cause and effects, or cause and consequences. Without the vine, all branches will fade away. Without that shed blood, that protection from the Death Angel “passing over” wouldn’t happen. Slain from the foundation of the world, it’s of supreme importance. But the Lamb’s sacrifice was to be remembered every year since the Exodus. And today we still remember it yearly. A source of confusion in translation: consonants are the same for both words, pacach and pecach in Strong’s Concordance, but vowels in the original Hebrew are different.

Exodus 12:23 פָּסַח H6452 pacach pass over (the LORD will pass over)
23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Outline of Biblical Usage for H6452 pacach

(I)      to pass over, spring over
(Qal) to pass over
(Piel) to skip, pass over
(II)     to limp
(Qal) to limp
(Niphal) to be lame
(Piel) to limp

Exodus 12:21 פֶּסַח h6453 pecach passover (to kill or eat the Passover)
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover H6453

Outline of Biblical Usage h6453 pecach

Passover
sacrifice of Passover
animal victim of the Passover
festival of the passover

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover H6453

Numbers 9:2 Let the children of Israel also keep the passover H6453 at his appointed season.

Ezekiel 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, H6453 a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Whenever the real Passover was referred to later, we can ascertain which is the real Passover. So says Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover H6453 — the emphasis was the event at “even” not the event at midnight!

The word to commemorates the Exodus is Pecach (H6453) and not Pacach (H6452) in Strong’s Concordance.

If H6452 pacach (as in sense of the Lord passed over) is intended in much of the reference in the rest of the Bible, it just doesn’t make sense if we were to “kill the Passover,” or to “eat the Passover.”

And in Exodus 12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, ‘What mean ye by this service?’ 27 that ye shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’S Passover (h6453), who passed over (H6452) the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’”

This specific term “the Lord’S Passover (h6453),” mentioned exactly word-for-word in Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover (h6453).

The emphasis is on “the Lord’S Passover” as a Sacrifice— On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover, (Levitcus 23:5). The emphasis is on the  Sacrifice, hence later on it makes greater sense in other Scriptures, especially in the New Testament period, to read about to “kill the Passover,” or to “eat the Passover.”

Elsewhere in the Old Testament, references of Passover as the sacrificial lamb being made:

(a) “to eat the Passover”— Exodus 12:43;
(b) ”to kill the Passover” — Exodus 12:21, II Chronicles 35:6;
(c) “to sacrifice the Passover” — Deuteronomy 16:2;
(d) “to roast the Passover” — II Chronicles 35:13.

The sacrifice of the LORD’s LAMB is of primary importance. The Death Angel’s “pass over” is also important, but only secondary. Cause and effect, or cause and consequence. Fred Coulter’s analysis is, unfortunately, too way off and greatly mistaken.

At their next Passover, the first one in the wilderness after the tabernacle was set up and dedicated, the nine rules for “keeping” the Passover are called statutes and ordinances: “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, you shall keep it in its appointed time. You shall keep it according to ALL ITS STATUTES, and according to ALL THE ORDINANCES of it” (Num. 9:2-3).(Pg 19).

Here Fred Coulter analysis is all over the place. He listed 9 rules or requirements for keeping the passover. He then harps about “ALL THE ORDINANCES” must be kept within the one-day period. Then he foolishly includes requirement number one: 1) Select an unblemished male lamb less than one year old on the 10th day of the first month (Ex. 12:3).

How careless! Can we trust him further? And he doesn’t understand there are three zooms in reading Exodus 12 regarding the Passover question.

(1) Passover “Between the evenings” or ben ha arbayim: “and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Exodus 12:6). “Ba·erev” “thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even” (Deuteronomy 16:6);
(2) Passover on a day: “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month,” (Exodus 12:6, Numbers 28:16);
(3) Passover as a season, or the Passover season, which includes identifying the lamb on the tenth of Nisan, the killing of the Passover lamb on the fourteenth, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread: One month generally: “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season” (Numbers 9:2, Exodus 12).

The question is why did Fred Coulter choose only the second zoom, and not the others. He didn’t explain. Another person could confine “ALL THE ORDINANCES” within the first month and then set up his own church with this flagship doctrine, while yet another would insist that Fred Coulter should confine “ALL THE ORDINANCES” within one to one-and-a-half hour as how he defines ben ha arbayim.

How could Fred Coulter confine all the ordinances within the 24-hour period, where he specifically list No 1 among the 9 rules? In fact, Passover is also a generic term, which encompasses the entire period of preparation, the travelling needed to Jerusalem when it was centralised, the process of deleavening the house, preparing food, setting tables, getting a hundred other things ready; the preparation of the lamb, and finally its consumption as a meal, and the entire seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows.

Just a reminder regarding the first rule in case readers still hadn’t noticed it:

1) Select an unblemished male lamb less than one year old on the 10th day of the first month (Ex. 12:3). (Pg 19).

I can imagine all the others, with all the editing and proofreading, in the work—Carl and Jean Franklin, Philip Neal, Albert and Mela Cataga John, Hiedi and Sasha Vogele—must be very comfortable with this masterpiece. Or are they sleeping?

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~ by Joel Huan on January 8, 2020.

Posted in Passover