How dependent is the Australian economy on the Chinese?
by Andrew C. Worthington
· PhD from Economics, University of Queensland
August 2020
Very.
Putting the recent impact of COVID-19 in 2020 aside, China is Australia’s most important trading partner, accounting for 35.5% of our exports (Fig 1) and 24.1% of our imports (Fig 2).
China is also Australia’s second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows (Fig 3), China’s 185K students represent the largest source of international students studying in Australia (Fig 4) and China is the largest source country for short-term visitor arrivals with over 1.4 million visitors nationally (Fig 5).
That’s pretty much your answer.
For the Quora article, click HERE
“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” Isaiah 9:21
For the next 10 Richest Countries (2020-2100) by GDP Projection, click HERE
by World’s Richest Countries in the Future (2020-2100) | pardee.edu
Most of Australian iron ore are sold to China
Australian Exports to China
{}{}{}
In an appearance on The Dean Obeidallah Show on SiriusXM, the president’s niece said that he was liable for American deaths caused by his actions.
Mary Lea Trump, 55, is Donald Trump’s only niece. Her father, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981, was his older brother. Her recent book “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” caused quite a stir in the U.S., broke sales records and remains in the top nonfiction spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
DER SPIEGEL: Your father, Fred Jr., was supposed to inherit the family’s real estate business. Instead, your grandfather anointed Donald as his heir and set in motion a series of events that has led us to where we are today. What was your grandfather like?
DER SPIEGEL: Is that how the myth of Trump took hold?
DER SPIEGEL: Not even his brother?
DER SPIEGEL: You have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. What’s your professional assessment of your uncle?
Trump: I had wanted to speak up before the 2016 elections, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Nobody would have listened to me. He was getting away with everything. Nobody has ever been willing to speak out about this. Certainly nobody close to him and the family.
DER SPIEGEL: Once the idea of a book tour becomes possible again, would you travel to Germany, the land of your ancestors?
US technology supremacy as represented by Silicon Valley, renowned for its world class high-tech companies and thousands of growing start-ups, has seen signs of being shaken by rising Chinese tech firms, as the Valley has obviously slowed its pace of innovation.
by Tyler Durden
A report in the latest issue of Modern Ships praises the Chinese multiple launch rocket system called the Type PCL191 as the most cutting-edge piece of weaponry capable of firing both rockets and ballistic missiles. The modular launcher appears to be based on the AR3 system intended for the export market.
Now, the problem is if you tie your fortunes to a country like the United States, which is very powerful though it is actually in steep decline, then where do you go geopolitically? You’re tying yourself to a declining part of the world. You’re cutting yourself off from very important new innovations, development, technological progress, and so on, which is exactly what’s happening now.
I think Britain’s interpretation of “one country, two systems” was “one system is the Chinese system, the other is the British system.” So, ever since the handover in 1997, Britain has never really respected China’s sovereignty and Beijing’s relationship with Hong Kong. It’s always been criticizing it. The classic example of this is Chris Patten, the former governor who was a leading conservative politician.
I think the most important answer is the 155 years of British colonial rule. That has had a profound effect on the Hong Kong population. Hong Kong’s population doesn’t think like the mainland Chinese. Although British never introduced any semblance of democracy in Hong Kong, they are attached to their relatively successful economy, an increasingly robust free media, rights to demonstrate, etc. I think this shaped the way the Hong Kong Chinese think.
Jacques: I think that it will remain a battleground for the foreseeable future. I think the extent to which it is a battleground will depend crucially on how well China handles the situation from now on. If it carries through very successful and popular reforms in the city and wins hearts and minds, then it become less a battleground. Because basically, the Western position depends on an echo chamber.
But how long is it over for? And that is what the Chinese have got to think about. How long will these phases last? At what point will the situation begin to change again? Will a different president in the US make a difference? What happens when Britain begins the expense of taking out Huawei stuff and putting in some new stuff? Is that going to be successful?
He feels that black people need to be split from the rest of the US.
But why?
Since there was no wood, the construction of new siege dams to attack the Antonia took three weeks. A sortie of weakened Jewish warriors had no success. Soon, the sound of the battering-rams was to be heard, and one night, a wall of the Antonia collapsed; but the legionaries discovered that a new wall had been built behind the breach. The Antonia had to be taken by other means.
The boundless riches from the Temple treasury were used to strike coins with the legend JUDAEA CAPTA (“Judaea defeated”). Any Roman would be reminded of their victory. The Jews were forced to pay an additional tax (fiscus Judaicus).
An Eulogy of its Death — Hellenized Themselves with the Governing Authorities (the Greek and then Roman). Following the Samaritans, they Interpreted Passover on the Misguided Early Fourteenth of Nisan and Pentecost Counted from the Weekly Sabbath. Rejection of the Oral Law and Ridiculed the Idea of Resurrection or Life after Death.
An Eulogy of its Death — Lived in Isolated Communities and Rejected the Calendar established by the Sandhdrin by having one of its own of having 364 days in a year. Every New Year starts strictly on a Spring Equinox with a New Month (of 30 or 31 days) and a New Week always on a Wednesday, disrupting the Orthodox weekly cycle.
6 But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul.
The Jews (Scribes and Pharisees) came, therefore, in a body to James (in Jerusalem), and said: “We entreat thee, restrain the people: for they have gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if he were the Christ.”
According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero. Catholic traditionally counted him as the first bishop of Rome—or pope—and also by Eastern Christian tradition as the first patriarch of Antioch. But other Christians attest that the first pope of Rome was another Simon—Simon Magus. Eusebius of Caesarea relates that when Peter confronts Simon Magus at Judea (mentioned in Acts 8), Simon Magus flees to Rome, where the Romans began to regard him as a god.
A legend later developed that his martyrdom occurred at the Aquae Salviae, on the Via Laurentina. According to this legend, after Paul was decapitated, his severed head rebounded three times, giving rise to a source of water each time that it touched the ground, which is how the place earned the name “San Paolo alle Tre Fontane” (“St Paul at the Three Fountains”).
He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Catholic writer Michal Hunt suggests that Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently abbreviated his forename. Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.
Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History (5:10) states that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia. Popular traditions and legends say that Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India, then went to Greater Armenia.
And even Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, considered a loyalist, was said to have written a note describing the President as “full of shit.”
“He doesn’t operate pursuant to philosophy, or grand strategy or policy,” Bolton reflected on his 17 months in the White House. “He’s often described as transactional, but what it means is that every day is a new adventure. Decisions get made on an ad-hoc and episodic basis.”
Samson lived a life far from what the people expected, and far from God. Regardless, he was able to defeat the Philistines, by the power of God. But in his victory, it was also his own death. That led to a sad end of Samson’s life, a sacrifice of himself to redeem a cause. He was martyred to defeat the Philistines, at the cost of his own life.
1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees recount numerous martyrdoms suffered by Jews resisting Hellenization and idolatry, being executed for such crimes as observing the Sabbath, circumcising their children or refusing to eat unclean food sacrificed to foreign gods.
A number of Maccabees died as martyrs. Judah Maccabee, the leader of the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Greeks was killed in the Battle of Elasa (BC 160) and together with his men, they died as martyrs. Jonathan Maccabee was captured by a Seleucid king and executed. Eleazar Maccabee was killed in the Battle of Beth Zechariah (BC 162). Simon Maccabee was assassinated in BC 135.
With the slowly advancing Roman army cutting supply lines, the rebels engaged in long-term defense. The defense system of Judean towns and villages was based mainly on hideout caves, which were created in large numbers in almost every population center. Many houses utilized underground hideouts, where Judean rebels hoped to withstand Roman superiority by the narrowness of the passages and even ambushes from underground. The cave systems were often interconnected and used not only as hideouts for the rebels but also for storage and refuge for their families. Hideout systems were employed in the Judean hills, the Judean desert, northern Negev, and to some degree also in Galilee, Samaria and Jordan Valley. As of July 2015 some 350 hideout systems have been mapped within the ruins of 140 Jewish villages.
The final battle of the war took place in Bethar, Bar-Kokhba’s headquarters, which housed both the Sanhedrin and the home of the Nasi. Bethar was a vital military stronghold because of its strategic location on a mountain ridge overlooking both the Valley of Sorek and the important Jerusalem-Bet Guvrin Road. Thousands of Jewish refugees fled to Bethar during the war. In AD 135, Hadrian’s army besieged Bethar and on the 9th of Av, the Jewish fast day commemorating the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples, the walls of Bethar fell. After a fierce battle, every Jew in Bethar was killed. Six days passed before the Romans allowed the Jews to bury their dead.
The Talmud reports that, in the mid first century, he was particularly active in opposing the Sadducees’ interpretations of Jewish law, and produced counter-arguments to the Sadducees’ objection to the Pharisees. So dedicated was he to opposing the Sadducee view of Jewish law, that he prevented the Jewish high priest, who was a Sadducee, from following the Sadducee interpretation of the Red Heifer ritual.
Although it may be concluded that Johanan spent the last years of his life and died at a place near Yavne, he was buried at Tiberias, where eleven centuries later, the Maimonides was buried nearby. In his role as leader of the Jewish Council, he was succeeded by Gamliel II.
Gamaliel’s greatest achievement was ending the opposition between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, which had survived even the destruction of the Temple. According to tradition, a voice from heaven was heard in Yavne, declaring that although the views of both schools were justifiable in principle (as “words of the living God”), in practice the views of Hillel’s school are authoritative:
In the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin met in the Temple in Jerusalem, in a building called the Hall of Hewn Stones. The Great Sanhedrin convened every day except festivals and the sabbath day (Shabbat).
The first three sects being the Pharisees, the Sadducees (allied closely with the Boethusiasns), and the Essenes. Zealots were an military offshoot of Pharisees (mainly of the Shammai branch) and believed “that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord.” Judah of Gaulanitis or Judas of Galilee was regarded as the founder of the Zealots. He was joined by one of the leaders of the Pharisees, Rabbi Zadok, a disciple of Shammai, and among its members, Simon the Zealot was selected by Jesus in the Gospel (of Luke 6:15) and in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:13) as one of the apostles.
Adhering to the rigid Shammaite form of Pharisaism, Zealots observed a rigid practise in not handling or looking at a coin bearing an image, believing that one should neither carry nor look at nor fashion any image; nor would they enter a city at the gate of which statues were erected, since they considered it unlawful to walk under an image. From this practise they would receive the name of ‘Zealots’ or ‘Sicarii,’ often, fanning local strifes into wars of rebellion. They called no one Lord except God, even lived a life to kill or be killed, and later they gloried in their martyrdom rather than to live under the dominion of idolatrous Rome.
At an opportune time in AD 66 Menahem, the son of Judas the Galilean, seized the fortress Masada in Galilee with the aid of a ruse, killed the Roman garrison, and then drove the Romans out of other fortresses; and finally his kinsman and successor as master of Masada. As the oppression of the Roman procurators increased, so also the passion and violence of the Zealots grew in intensity, affecting all the discontented, while one pseudo-Messiah after another appeared arousing the hope of the people for deliverance from the Roman yoke.
Ridzwan Abdul Rahman
It is interesting to note that the writer intends to arrive at the correct biblical position in this matter by seeking the relevant Scriptures, but the evidence is that this stated intent is only lip service. After all, UCG position has always been centered on what had been practiced historically.
Look at the official UCG logo and it tells a story. The church has the mistaken notion that the center of this Universe is the British Isles instead of Jerusalem, whereas God’s main interest is centered in Jerusalem. Here are the evidence:
The Targum known in Hebrew: תרגום, plural: the targumim play an important role in translating many of our modern editions. The range of its origin was from 530 BC to 500 AD. When the Israelites returned from their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BC, most of them could no longer speak Hebrew; they spoke Aramaic. Nevertheless, the Scriptures have always been read in Hebrew even if no one in the greater community could speak it.
The Movement is in “a process of constant evolution” and it “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” They stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete. Geiger sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice. Reform Judaism initially developed as lay Jews simply lost interest in the strict observances required of Orthodoxy, with many seeking shorter services, more frequent sermons, and organ music, modeled after Protestant churches.
In another way of saying: When the Exiles returned to Jerusalem, the Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites of the Aramaic version.
The status and influence of the Targums became assured after the Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70, when synagogues replaced the Temple as houses of worship. For it was in the synagogue that the practice of reading from the Old Testament became widely observed, along with the custom of providing these readings with a translation into Aramaic. When Scripture was read aloud in the synagogue, it was translated aloud by a meturgeman, or professional interpreter (hence the name Targum), for the benefit of the congregation. The translator tried to reproduce the original text as closely as possible, but since his object was to give an intelligible rendering of the biblical text, the Targums eventually took on the character of paraphrase and commentary, leaving literal translation behind. To prevent misconceptions, a meturgeman expanded and explained what was obscure, adjusted the incidents of the past to the ideas of later times, emphasized the moral lessons to be learned from the biblical narratives, and adapted the rules and regulations of the Scriptures to the conditions and requirements of the current age. The method by which the text was thus utilized as a vehicle for conveying homiletic discourses, traditional sayings, legends, and allegories is abundantly illustrated by the later Targums, as opposed to the more literal translations of the earlier Targums.
Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Again, your testimony runs contrary to the Targum in Leviticus 23:11-13
Why do we count? We learn several lessons by counting. The foremost is that the count demonstrates our thrill for the impending occasion of receiving our spiritual blessings, celebrated on Shavuot. When the Israelites were in Egypt some 3400 years ago, they had assimilated many of the pagan ways of the Egyptians. A countdown is when we all have obstacles removed between our uncleanliness and our spiritual goal. When the days pass, our spiritual goal is becoming more achievable. We simply countdown the days to indicate how much time is left. Every year in a renewed sense we count the days to show our excitement at receiving our spiritual blessing and look deep within ourselves and work on all of our negative attributes as we receive the Word of God and deeper understanding. Then each year we count up again, because the daily Omer count is a time of spiritual refinement, another spiritual rebirth that needs constant renewals. We are not counting down the days that pass. Rather, we are counting toward the end, climbing one step higher in our spiritual growth each day.
“In Israel the Urim and Thummim were entrusted by YHVH to Moses, and through him to the high priest as the representative of YHVH and as the mediator between God and the nation to whose decisions, through the Urim and Thummim, even kings bowed” (Urim and Thummim).
Manner of Waving the Omer.
Second, many of Christ’s sayings that have in the past been difficult to understand were presented and analyzed in the light of their Hebrew origins. The authors explain that lack of knowledge of Hebrew literary forms, especially the structure of poetry, and literal translations of Hebrew idioms caused formidable problems for translators, resulting in text that makes little sense to English (or even in Greek) readers. So, according to the authors, Hebrew, is the language that needs to be understood to correctly interpret the teachings of Christ in the synoptic gospels. This approach could yield exciting results, providing clear interpretations of sayings of Christ that are puzzling or confusing, thus making the gospels much more readable.
Starting with Ezra, the new communities found an answer. After hearing Ezra read a few verses of the Torah scroll in Hebrew, either he or other Levites translated it to Aramaic, hence it set the stage for the Aramaic version of the Bible, called a Targum, which simply means translation. Hence the Targum is an entrenched translation of the Hebrew Bible that was written or compiled in Judea from the Second Temple period until the early Middle Ages (late first millennium).
Again in Chapter 6 of his book, the Christian Passover:
How to Count Pentecost
In the Scriptures there are a total of nine times where it is used to designate Pentecost. Here they are:
20And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Eternal, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest. So Christ was the wave sheaf first offer but here you have 2 that are offered as a wave offering together with Him in that sense. So I think that the symbolism here probably is saying that this is a 2 part thing. You had the old testament and the old covenant and yet there were some back then who qualified for the kingdom of God even though Christ had not yet died. But remember His sacrifice is retroactive back to Adam and forward for all of mankind and thats why the wave sheaf cycles through all 7 of the days of unleavened bread. Because His sacrifice can go back and pick up those who lived and died before He ever came to the earth. It is an all inclusive sacrifice. So you have the 2 lambs representing those from the past and those in the future. Old testament and new testament. And indeed Hebrews 11 does tell us a great number of names of those who will be in the first resurrection from the old testament. Makes it very clear.
Matthew 28:9 And as they (Mary Magdalene and other women) went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail.” And they came, and held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him. — That means, they had all touched Him. But Jesus’ face didn’t shine like Moses! What happened? Moses needed a veil to cover his face when he returned to face his people (Exodus 34:35).
President — Victor Kubik
Again, nothing has been proven. That night, when the disciples sat down and ate, was called “supper” and when Paul later referred back, it was referred to as “the night he was betrayed.” If it was Passover, why didn’t he say “Passover” but used a rather long-winded description?
In the British common law system, we have an equivalent to what the Jews call the Oral Law, namely, judicial precedent for judges-made law. How they were derived from were similar — from precedents. Common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law) is the body of law derived from judicial decisions of courts and similar tribunals. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the British Empire spread the English legal system to its colonies, many of them retain the common law system we have today. These “common law systems” are legal systems that give great weight to judicial precedent, the style of reasoning inherited from the English legal system. This common law — so named because it was “common” to all the king’s courts across England — originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries to follow.
But sometimes, precedents were taken in the wrong direction, and a Parliament action is needed to turn the law back on course. Lord Denning (1899-1999), described as “probably the greatest English judge of modern times” according to Margaret Thatcher, was one who boldly argued against existing precedents in numerous cases while in the Court of Appeals. Although many of his decisions were overturned by the House of Lords a significant number of them were confirmed by Parliament, which passed statutes in line with his judgments.
But Hillel knew that the man wanted to do the right thing, but he didn’t understand the purpose of the Oral Torah. So Hillel began to teach him the Aleph Bet. The first day, Hillel taught him the first two letters, aleph and bet.
Second, it was God and not Ezra who instituted the laws regarding the slaughtering of the Passover lamb not needed be done solely within the Temple courtyard – but “inside or outside the camp.” This runs contrary to another of Fred’s heresies that 
John was a voice crying in the wilderness, and he said to make the crooked paths straight, he needed to hewn some trees and cast them into the fire (verse 9). Then John said that the Messiah that comes after him, will have a winnowing fan in His hand, and will thoroughly purge His floor by gathering the chaff together and burn them with fire (verse17). This story is so important that it is similarly recorded in Matthew 3:1-12.
Nar, among the Gospel writers, and even among all the other apostles, John lived the longest. He was there when there arose a revolting movement by the Gentiles to get rid of anything that had to do with being adhering to Mosaic Laws, anything considered as “Jewish.” With that in mind, John emphasized the Jewishness of those feasts by reiterating “Passover of the Jews” or “feast of the Jews.” He also mentioned a Jewish feast of tabernacles too in 
Being Galileans, John and the other disciples have to travel innumerable times passing Samaritan territories, including Jacob’s well in Shechem, which lies between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim in the hill-country of Ephraim, to come to Jerusalem to keep the three annual feasts. So bad and threatening to these Jewish faiths and practises since Ezra’s time that eventually the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, (John 4:9). So when John was writing, he emphasized “of the Jews” as distinct from that of the Samaritan’s. And to put a sting to their Jewishness, John even recorded Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), which all the other Gospel writers ignored, for it says in 
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
The Samaritans would keep their early fourteenth Passover at Mount Gerizim at sunset, but there is no record (at least I haven’t come across any) how the Sadduceans, the Boethusians and Herodians, would keep them. If they did, and probably they did, they would similarly have kept it on an early fourteenth. But they were an aloof aristocracy MINORITY (not a majority) during Christ’s time, confined to Jerusalem and the Temple.
There were also no mention of bunches of hyssop brushing blood on the doorposts and lintel either, neither did they remained in the house till SUNRISE, OR DAYBREAK, nor did they burnt any of the remains at daybreak, but they hurried off to the Garden of Gethsemane against all the ordinances needed to keep a “domestic Passover” — so it shouldn’t be any surprise that it wasn’t a Passover of whatever kind at all, unless it is a Simon Magus Passover, taking on a false hope with a wafer of bread and a goblet of wine that the Catholics introduced later.
Fred R. Coulter
Why didn’t he provide any Scriptures to back up his claim? Actually the Scriptures say the opposite — Goshen wasn’t in Israel, neither the Sinai Desert in Israel while wandering in the wilderness for the next forty years, yet they kept the Passover. Are his devotees still sleeping? Why such wretched writing and none of his devotees are thinking?
Anan ben David (715 – 795 or 811) is widely considered to be the founder of the Karaite movement, hence his followers were initially called Ananites; but now they are largely known as the Karaites. These Karaites challenge the Rabbanite establishment as they do not believe the rabbinical oral law is divinely inspired. Thus when interpreting the Torah, Karaites strive to adhere to the plain or literal meaning of the text; much like the Sadducees. Hence Abraham Geiger, a 19th-century German scholar who founded Reform Judaism, posited a connection between the Karaites and a remnant of the Sadducees, simply because many of their beliefs are similar.
Ezra was accredited with the beginning of the synagogues, where after the Babylonian captivity, the men of the Great Assembly formalized and standardized the language of the Jewish prayers and worship. 
The Targum says the instruction was to eat the flesh of the lamb on the fifteenth of Nisan. It is clear and simple.
Deuteronomy 16 (KJ21)
Let’s have another look at the original Passover, during the Exodus:
Moses knew he would die soon and his understanding had been conveyed to judges, Levites and priests where the true interpretation of the law were taught. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses spoke and explained unto all Israel “according unto all that the Lord had given him” as to how to keep them, the blessing they would have if they obey, or cursing if they disobey, in a language they could understand. Men may have good intentions, but may do things seen as presumptuously? What is presumptuous or presumptuously?:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Book-of-Ezra1136x941-56a148f65f9b58b7d0bdd25c.jpg)
Ezra was a righteous scribe and a high priest and he could trace his priestly lineage all the way back to Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). After returning to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile, he reintroduced the Torah to all those who followed him (Ezra 7:10 and Nehemiah 8). For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. He was so righteous that he was regarded as the second Moses in the Voice Translation of Ezra 7:10, but Fred Coulter finds it appropriate to demonise Ezra, sugarcoating his statements but actually accusing him of vandalising the Scriptures.
The newly arrived Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh and the other Lost Tribes where most of today’s Church of God communities comes from. The capital of the country was Samaria, then a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (II Kings 17:24). So for simplicity sake, Jews assert that the Samaritans are “Cutheans.”
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. 
After taking counsel, the decree was to invite the other tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh—to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan—and the running and sending out letters to inform the other tribes, were the king’s command to keep the Passover in the second month. 
In summary, Leviticus 17 says if one were to make 
Of course the domestic Passover in Egypt was a one-off occurrence. Never were the children of Israel required to experience a night of trepidation again, nor to experience a night of the Death Angels’ bloodbath to all the firstborn. The Levitical duties of the tribe of Levites and the Sanctuary were not instituted at the time of the Exodus. But once instituted, it was centralized: 
Hezekiah’s prayers were for the fact that they were late for the Passover, which should be on the first month, but they celebrated it on the second month, which is contrary to the law. But the main reason was stated in 
And the testimony from II Chronicles 34:31
Again once the composite feast is understood there is no problem understanding that the sacrifice and other offerings were composed of animals from the flock and from the herd, composed of thirty thousand lambs and kids as well as three thousand oxen owned by King Josiah. In fact, since King Josiah was a righteous king, his action validates the concept that Passover and Days of unleavened Bread were and have always been a composite Festival. In fact Fred Coulter admitted: 
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible — Its chief editor was Katharine Sakenfeld (b 1940). She is Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary, having previously been William Albright Eisenberger Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis. Sakenfeld studied at the University of Rhode Island and Harvard Divinity School before obtaining her PhD at Harvard University. She was ordained as a Presbyterian teaching elder in 1970, and has served as the moderator of the Presbytery of New Brunswick in the PCUSA.
The Passover and the days of unleavened bread are well interlaced during the Exodus that it is a composite festival. This is what Moses explained to the children of Israelites in more details.
And again in 
And just in case we didn’t dive deeper for more details: “The Jewish Festivals” is written by Hayyim Schauss, most probably a Conservative Jew, part of the Reform Movement where modern Jews found “the old ceremonies lack meaning,” and new interpretations are needed to be relevant to our modern era. Hence the terms that Schauss changed in his book are not surprising: the annual solemn convocations or “holy days” as were perceived in Biblical times become a vacation or “holidays” in a character change. The most solemn Passover and Unleavened Bread festival became “the greatest Jewish national holidays.” In modernity, Jesus and His disciples must be seen as taking their annual vacation in Jerusalem. This is a character change. This is real heresy! Second, the book is published by Schocken Books, it is the same publisher Everett Fox and the Schocken Bible that Fred Coulter quotes for his authority throughout. So the saying goes: foxes and wolves, wolves and foxes of the same colours.
But why didn’t Fred Coulter bold the emphasis of Jerusalem as God’s designated holy place to keep the Feast? Or has he deemed it wasn’t a sin? That Jeroboam’s sin were only moving the Feast from the seventh to the eight month and worshipping the two golden calves?
The JPS followed a central tenet, to adopt “a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities, rather than strict theoretical clarity.” It is strongly identified with progressive political and social agendas, mainly under the traditional Jewish rubric Tikkun Olam, or “Repairing of the World”. In their endeavour to avoid the “bondage of Judaism,” a new policy of inclusiveness and acceptance was established. And a new Tikkun Olam became a central motto of Reform Judaism—to “express wholeheartedly the idea of universal equality, freedom, and peace for all,” and to “forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry.”
Deuteronomy 16:6, “at the going down of the sun,” is the time to kill the Passover, at even, but is misquoted above to indicate when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. Fred Coulter has a habitual style of misquoting the Scriptures, on becoming a serial liar. That night, of course, was on the fifteenth, under a full moon, and there shouldn’t be any difficulties seeing the Egyptians burying their dead, either later that night, or early morning. Neither would the Egyptians have any difficulties seeing the children of Israel going out with a high hand.
Of course, He did. Otherwise during Passover celebrations righteous King Hezekiah and King Josiah would have commanded the people should instead be taking the blood and striking it at both sides of the doorposts and lintels of their houses.
That place chosen by God is Jerusalem as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, 
In the Hebrew the word Pesach is implicitly and inherently a sacrifice. These implicit and inherent characteristics aren’t clear in English, but in Hebrew they are obvious. Hence the phase to 
But note one significant difference. The Samaritans doesn’t have another sacrifice to satisfy ben ha arbayim in Exodus 12:6. Even the Samaritans are not that foolish, but Fred Coulter would whip out another rabbit from his hat and make another sacrifice. He wrote of others but in reality some of his observations are for himself. Here is one:
Another way of saying: The Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites into the Aramaic version. Hence in Nehemiah 8:8 Ezra narrated not only the reading of the Law, but the Levites interprete and explain the Torah from Hebrew into the vernacular in Aramaic.
While the story of the quails was taking place, the children of Israelites were already having “this manna before our eyes,” speaking with “disdain and contempt of the manna.” So pretending that their bodies lack of flesh food, and having no moisture in them (John Gill comments on what “our soul is dried away” means), they murmured and complained. This complaining continued until they weep pitifully in their eyes, so the wrath of God was rekindled again:
(1) King Jeroboam — Being anointed King of the Northern Kingdom he quickly felt he needed a new place of worship, least his subjects could be influenced to pledge their allegiance back to the Kingdom of Judah based Jerusalem. For the convenience of his subjects, he chose two places: Bethel and Dan. And to differentiate from Jerusalem’s feasts, he moved the Feast of Tabernacles to the eighth month. Also, he made himself the high priest, whose action drove most of the Levites and others in the priesthood south to the Kingdom of Judah.
The truth is, at “evening” 
Even if this catch didn’t last a month, it hints an enormous catch nevertheless. Much time, maybe after several days, maybe more could have passed before another catch appeared, but one thing is sure — the Scriptures is silent about the quails appearing six times a week, every week in a similar manner like manna did for forty years in Exodus 12:35. In fact, the story of the quail in Numbers 11 hints strongly that it is an one-off event. The chapter ended with a plague where “the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague,” (v 33) killing all those who murmured against Him and lusted for flesh to eat. And no mention of the quail’s appearance were ever mentioned again hereafter.
Fred R. Coulter
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.”
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.
This is a Critique of Frank Nelte’s Passover, an article posted on his website. Besides the main issue of whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan, of great importance is the true meaning of ben ha arbayim, erev and boqer, and whether the name “Passover” is the Death Angel “passing over” or is it the emphasis of the lamb as the sacrifice.
To say all traditions are bad is just too simplistic. Blind Guides! Good traditions are good precepts, derived from judicial cases, ones that have been acquired and accumulated from cases and judges developed and accumulated since the days of Moses.
Exo 18:16 When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God (elohim), H430 and His laws.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (308/9 – 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I Soter, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the Great who founded the Ptolemaic Kingdom after the death of Alexander, and queen Berenice I, originally from Macedon in northern Greece. The Jewish Encyclopedia says, “The quotations from the Old Testament found in the New are in the main taken from the Septuagint.”
The Talmud is a great discussion forum where issues are dissected and deliberated. Occasionally one or two rabbi would come up with some stupid ideas and other rabbi would feel the need to put those ideas down. This is the same with our legal situation, whether in the United States or the United Kingdom. One judge would reason in a certain direction, but another judge, usually in a higher court, would override such reasoning upon appeal. On hindsight we could see how absurd some reasonings were. The one in the Talmud quoted above by a Ulla the son of R. Ila’i that “between the two evenings” covers the whole 24-hour day is one such case. He wouldn’t stand a chance that his definition would be taken further by other rabbi.
In order to give “the sense and caused them to understand the reading,” they need to understand the Scriptures in Aramaic, hence this gave rise to the origin of the Targum version of our modern Bible.
If the lamb is not associated with the name Passover, then the Scriptures become distorted. This term “the Lord’S Passover (h6453),” mentions 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 — “And thus shall 
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE (pyr g4442). 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE (pyr g4442) unquenchable” (Luke 3:16-17).
So the faithful went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple that God has instituted. But John Ritenbaugh has taken inspiration from an evolutionist position “that Deuteronomy 16 represents an attempt by a group of people to abolish the home-killed Passover sacrifice.” Ironically Ritenbaugh still claims himself a pastor with “more than fifty years of experience in the ministry” but no longer has the faith of God that His Word is inspired? So much absurdity and hypocrisy!
No, there is no need to rely on Deuteronomy 16 to prove that Passover starts on a late fourteenth. The two feasts were a composite festival right from Exodus 12, where they were already interwoven and interlaced, overlapped and superimposed right from the start. This amalgamation was reaffirmed in 
When the children of Israel settled in their designated land, the Ark of the Covenant moved to various places. But the altar was always set in front near the Sanctuary where the sacrifices were performed. The altar was made of shittim wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad, its height three cubits, and for over four hundred years during the times of the judges, it moved whenever the Sanctuary moved. However, when King Solomon had finished building the Temple for God, it was then established firmly in one location:
The whole assembly could kill their lamb, and most would have done so beyond the Temple courtyard, even if the number of lambs was a staggering 256,500. The requirements were that the ones who did the killing must have to be circumcised and be ceremonially clean to do so. Then the blood had to be carried by others in a bowl and passed on to the Temple courtyard for a priest to sprinkle upon the altar as commanded in Leviticus 17. Any person offering a sacrifice inside or outside the camp but its blood not carried to the Temple be offered at the altar before the Lord risked being 
And if Ron Wyatt’s testimony is to be believed, the blood of the true Lamb was miraculously brought “into the camp,” and it wasn’t just sprinkled on an outer court altar, but upon the Mercy Seat before the Lord. Amazing Parallel! Christ’s Sacrifice was a Special Offering. Are you stunned? I am. It is The Mystery of Mysteries!
Being Galileans, John and the other disciples have to travel numerous times passing Samaritan territories, including Jacob’s well, to come to Jerusalem to keep the three annual feasts. So bad and threatening to these Jewish faith and practises since Ezra’s time that eventually the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, (John 4:9). So when John was writing, he emphasized “of the Jews.”
Pastor — John W. Ritenbaugh
These are statements originated by the Samaritans with some devious “Jewish” background and strong antagonism against the Southern Kingdom, charging their predecessors had somehow amalgamated the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread and call the Passover the Jewish Passover. In fact, they were dissatisfied with the idea of keeping the Feasts in Jerusalem, so they left their original undertaking and craved an alternate explanation rather than continuing to show their subordination to the Southern Kingdom. So whereas the Jews consider Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread as a composite festival, the Samaritan eventually took the position that they were two distinct festivals.
The Movement is in “a process of constant evolution” and it “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” They stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete. Geiger sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice. While Reform Judaism initially developed as lay Jews simply lost interest in the strict observances required of Orthodoxy, with many seeking shorter services, more frequent sermons, and organ music, modeled after Protestant churches. In Germany, one characteristic of their progressive revelation was the institution of a “Second Sabbath” on Sunday, modeled on the Second Passover, as most people desecrated the day of rest. “If you cannot keep the Sabbath on its appointed time, you keep it on the next available day,” and so the Sabbath was shifted from Saturday to Sunday. “God would accept it,” they encouraged each other.
The Jewish Encyclopedia — Its managing editor was Isidore Singer (1859–1939) and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac Funk and Frank Vizetelly. Singer was born Austria and studied at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin, receiving his PhD in 1884. One who held “extremely liberal views” and one who had described the Sabbath as “heavy burdens,” Singer moved to New York in 1895 where he started work which resulted in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
The central question in this critique is whether Hezekiel, Josiah and Ezra change the Passover ordinances, whether it should continue as a “domestic Passover” as in Exodus 12, or whether it had moved to a Sanctuary/Temple centered ordinance. John Ritenbaugh, along with Fred Coulter, advocate it should continue as a domestic ordinance.
II Chronicles 7:11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and all that came into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected.12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice.
— Rashi: shall be counted [for that man] as blood: As though he had shed human blood, for which one is liable to the death penalty.
“That man shall be cut off from among his people” was a serious punishment, it wasn’t merely excommunicated from the church of God, deprived of the privileges of his house, but that man shall be put to death. What about those who teaches about a “domestic Passover” where the blood were not sprinkled on the altar but only to be brushed against the doorposts and lintel of their houses? Won’t they be guilty of death too? It is a serious thought!
7 And be not ye like your fathers and like your brethren who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep, and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
King Josiah was a good king. And this is what the Scripture says: 
So the blame is that Ezra messed with the Scriptures. Amazing! Ezra was a high priest and “a scribe skilled in the law.” This is not just heresy but real blasphemy. When Ezra arrived from Babylon, the situation in Judah was discouraging. Religious laxity was prevalent, the Law was widely disregarded, and public and private morality was at a low level. Immediately Ezra faithfully reintroduced the Torah to all those who followed him (Ezra 7:10 and Nehemiah 8). For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Moreover, intermarriage with foreigners posed the threat that the community would mingle with the pagan environment and lose its identity. Ezra did much revival of what was lost, restoring the laws, statutes and ordinances of God. So important was he in his restoration in the eyes of his people that later tradition regarded him as no less than a second Moses.
Pastor — John W. Ritenbaugh
On this altar, the Israelites made sacrifices that God accepted as an atonement for their sin. It was to have four horn-like projections, one at each corner. It had to be large enough to hold sacrifices of bulls, sheep, and goats. But later, for the temple that Solomon built, the altar and much of the other vessels were no longer made of shittim wood and brass but substantially of pure gold (1 Kings 7:48-51):
Both King Hezekiah and King Josiah obeyed the commandments and did what was right in the eyes of God. The Scriptures say so.
Passover (Part 3)
Wait wait, why did you suddenly jump into the Samaritan’s position defining ben ha arbayim as “a period of time between the going down of the sun and complete darkness (dusk).” Are you ignorant that the Orthodox Jews define it differently? Okay let me reiterate how the Orthodoxy define ben ha arbayim:
Ordinarily it was slain [Now, in this case, the “it” was the evening sacrifice. Not the Passover sacrifice, but the evening sacrifice.] at 2:30 p.m., and offered at about 3:30. But on the eve of the Passover [Here he means Unleavened Bread, but he is calling it by the name the Jews applied to the whole Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. They called the whole thing “the Passover. So, we would say, “On the eve of Unleavened Bread”], as we have seen, it was killed an hour earlier; and if the 14th of Nisan fell on a Friday—or rather from Thursday at eve to Friday at eve—two hours earlier [1:30 p.m.], so as to avoid any needless breach of the Sabbath.
In the above context, the Roman time for Day (yom) is 6 AM to 6 PM, assuming it is spring or autumn; Night (lailah) is 6 PM to 6 AM. — 12-hr day and 12-hr night totalling a 24-hour day.
Pastor — John W. Ritenbaugh
Although Ezekiel’s message was to both the “house of Israel” and the “house of Judah” its main message after chapter 24 was to the “house of Israel.” As with other prophets, Ezekiel came with a message of dire warning about breaking the Sabbath laws. Captivities were the end results. Today, the main message of Ezekiel is to the Northern Kingdom, the so-called Lost Ten Tribes. And not only that, Ezekiel 34 warned against their shepherds: “Woe unto the shepherds of Israel” — (the shepherds of the United States, Britain and related countries), says the Lord, for they feed themselves but not the sheep!
See, you have positioned your readers to get into your position. So much hypocrisy and double talks in your “step by step, verse by verse” right from the start. Earlier you said about making “the ones that are difficult agree with the ones that are clear. Not make the ones that are clear agree with the ones that are difficult.”
The question is, “Can the Jews be trusted?” Now, I do not mean any individual Jew—can they be trusted in regard to anything. I am talking about “Can the religion of the Jews (the practices of the Jews) be relied on as faithful interpreters of the Old Testament?” This is a very important question in regard to the Passover, because every author of every paper that I have ever read in regard to the keeping of a late fourteenth Passover, or a fifteenth Passover, must rely heavily upon Jewish interpretation and Jewish tradition. The reason that they must do so is because there is nothing in the Bible upon which they can clearly, and authoritatively, base their conclusions.
Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Writes the Jewish Encyclopedia:
Again in Chapter 6 of his book, the Christian Passover:
Passover
It was a strange passover, isn’t it? Actually if you dig deep enough, it is a Samaritan type of passover.
Elsewhere in Rev 21:4 it is translated as a “former” — And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things G4413 are passed away.
I fully agree it is a life and death issue. The Sadducees and the Boethusians faced death when they were exterminated during the AD 70 inferno; the Pharisees, despite their hypocrisy and other faults, survived. Earlier John the Baptist’s warning was recorded by Luke:
John shows that the Passover they were preparing to eat was recognized as the official observance of the Jews: 
True, the end-time Church has the descriptions as being “ten virgins,” and yet “wretched” and “naked.” (I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked . . . “)
The Last Supper — (6 PM) Even, 13th Nisan
Judas left to betray Jesus — (7 PM) Night, 13th Nisan
More discourse — (9 PM) Night, 13th Nisan
In Gethsemene to pray — (10 PM) Night, 13th Nisan
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Peter denied Jesus three times — (5 AM) Before Dawn, 13th Nisan
This deliberately literal translation from the Greek is from Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: The Jewish War, Book II, Chapter 8
Who were the Boethusians?
Matthew 22:16 And they sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth; neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men.
The family name of the Hasmonean dynasty originates with the ancestor of the house, Simon Thassi “the Wise” who was said to have been the grandfather of Mattathias. The high-priestly and princely dignity of the Hasmoneans was founded by a resolution, adopted in 141 BC, at a large assembly “of the priests and the people and of the elders of the land, to the effect that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet” (I Macc. xiv. 41).
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Salome Alexandra was instrumental in arranging the assassination of her brother-in-law, Antigonus, by convincing her husband that his brother was plotting against him. Upon the death of Aristobulus in 103 BC, Alexandra freed his half-brother, Alexander Jannaeus, who had been held in prison.
Salome Alexandra’s next concern was to open negotiations with the leaders of the Pharisees, whose places of concealment she knew. In doing so, she received the reins of government around 76 BC at Jannaeus’ camp before Ragaba, and concealed the king’s death until the fortress had fallen, in order that the rigour of the siege might be maintained. She succeeded for a time in quieting the vexatious internal dissensions of the kingdom that existed at the time of Alexander’s death; and she did this peacefully and without detriment to the political relations of the Jewish state to the outside world. Alexandra managed to secure assent to a Hasmonean monarchy from the Pharisees, who had suffered under Alexander./Pharisees-And-Adulteress-Woman1324x969-58b5c85b5f9b586046cae461.jpg)
The Pharisees, on the other hand, taught that the written Law had been given to the Jews and that they were given the responsibility to interpret the Law as per “….according to the word they tell you… according to all they instruct you. According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left” Deuteronomy 17:10-12. After all, the world had changed since the days of Moses. As a consequence, the Pharisees said that the Written Torah was to be supplemented with the Oral Torah, the case law, the interpretation of the Written Law by learned Levites, the rabbis and appointed judges as in Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 17:18. The Sadducees considered the Oral Law an almost blasphemous act, because it seemed to deny the majesty of the Law of Moses.
From Wikipedia
Sadducees rejects the Orah Torah, reject the Prophets and Writings—this sounds exactly like they have taken their reliefs from the Samaritans, who have identical beliefs. And here are more similarities with the Samaritans from the Jewish Encyclopedia, under Sadducees:
Question: Who were the Pharisees?
The deportation and exile of an unknown number of Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II, starting with the first deportation in 597 BC and continuing after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 587 BC, resulted in dramatic changes to Jewish culture and religion. During the 70-year exile in Babylon, Jewish houses of assembly (known in Hebrew as a beit knesset or in Greek as a synagogue) and houses of prayer (Hebrew Beit Tefilah; Greek προσευχαί, proseuchai) were the primary meeting places for prayer, and the house of study (beit midrash) was the counterpart for the synagogue.
The Pharisees and their sages believed that the Oral law was simultaneously revealed to Moses at Sinai, and the product of debates among rabbis. Thus, one may conceive of the “Oral Torah” not as a fixed text but as an ongoing process of analysis and argument in which God is actively involved; it was this ongoing process that was revealed at Sinai, and by participating in this ongoing process rabbis and their students are actively participating in God’s ongoing act of revelation. The Oral Torah was to remain oral but was later given a written form. It did not refer to the Torah in a status as a commentary, rather had its own separate existence which allowed Pharisaic innovations./Sanhedrin-GettyImages-91728330-5733700b3df78c6bb0a079d5.jpg)
Thus, in debating and disagreeing over the meaning of the Torah or how best to put it into practice, no rabbi felt that he (or his opponent) was rejecting God or threatening Judaism. On the contrary, it was precisely through such arguments that the rabbis imitated and honored God and as a result, they had popular support among the people. So although the Pharisees were a minority in the Sanhedrin and held a minority number of positions as priests, they seemed to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin because they were seen as their religious leaders.
— The Charge of Hypocrisy.
In the first century, among the Pharisees were two schools of thought, based on the teachings of two rabbis, Shammai and Hillel. Shammai called for a strict, unbending interpretation of the Law on almost every issue, but Hillel taught a looser, more liberal application. After Hillel died in 20 AD, Shammai assumed the office of president of the Sanhedrin until he died in 30 AD. Followers of these two sages dominated scholarly debate over the following decades. Although the Talmud records the arguments and positions of the school of Shammai, the teachings of the school of Hillel were ultimately taken as authoritative.
Nehemiah 1:1-7 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah (the Ammonite Neh 3:35), and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)
These treacherous Jews, however, kept Sanballat and Tobiah informed as to the progress of the work in Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s far-sighted policy and his shrewdness kept him out of the hands of these neighbor-foes. In his reforms, so effectively carried out, he discovered that one of the grandsons of the high priest Eliashib had married a daughter of this Sanballat, and was thus son-in-law of the chief enemy of the Jews (Neh 13:28). The high priest was driven out of Jerusalem on the ground that he had defiled the priesthood.
3. About this time it was that Darius heard how Alexander had passed over the Hellespont, and had beaten his lieutenants in the battle at Granicum, and was proceeding further; whereupon he gathered together an army of horse and foot, and determined that he would meet the Macedonians before they should assault and conquer all Asia. So he passed over the river Euphrates, and came over Taurus, the Cilician mountain, and at Issus of Cilicia he waited for the enemy, as ready there to give him battle. Upon which Sanballat was glad that Darius was come down; and told Manasseh that he would suddenly perform his promises to him, and this as soon as ever Darius should come back, after he had beaten his enemies; for not he only, but all those that were in Asia also, were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much as come to a battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude. But the event proved otherwise than they expected; for the king joined battle with the Macedonians, and was beaten, and lost a great part of his army. His mother also, and his wife and children, were taken captives, and he fled into Persia. So Alexander came into Syria, and took Damascus; and when he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he sent all epistle to the Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries, and to supply his army with provisions; and that what presents he formerly sent to Darius, he would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the Macedonians, and that he should never repent of so doing. But the high priest answered the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms against him; and he said that he would not transgress this while Darius was in the land of the living. Upon hearing this answer, Alexander was very angry; and though he was determined not to leave Tyre, which was just ready to be taken, yet as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he would make an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths. So when he had, with a good deal of pains during the siege, taken Tyre, and had settled its affairs, he came to the city of Gaza, and besieged both the city and him that was governor of the garrison, whose name was Babemeses.
6. So when Alexander had thus settled matters at Jerusalem, he led his army into the neighboring cities; and when all the inhabitants to whom he came received him with great kindness, the Samaritans, who had then Shechem for their metropolis, (a city situate at Mount Gerizzim, and inhabited by apostates of the Jewish nation,) seeing that Alexander had so greatly honored the Jews, determined to profess themselves Jews; for such is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere declared, that when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are of kin to them, and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive that some good fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to have communion with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive their genealogy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Accordingly, they made their address to the king with splendor, and showed great alacrity in meeting him at a little distance from Jerusalem. And when Alexander had commended them, the Shechemites approached to him, taking with them the troops that Sanballat had sent him, and they desired that he would come to their city, and do honor to their temple also; to whom he promised, that when he returned he would come to them. And when they petitioned that he would remit the tribute of the seventh year to them, because they did but sow thereon, he asked who they were that made such a petition; and when they said that they were Hebrews, but had the name of Sidonians, living at Shechem, he asked them again whether they were Jews; and when they said they were not Jews, “It was to the Jews,” said he, “that I granted that privilege; however, when I return, and am thoroughly informed by you of this matter, I will do what I shall think proper.” And in this manner he took leave of the Shechenlites; but ordered that the troops of Sanballat should follow him into Egypt, because there he designed to give them lands, which he did a little after in Thebais, when he ordered them to guard that country.
Sects During Biblical Times — Samaritans Draft Ic
The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11).
14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they came down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for still He had come on none of them. They were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Answer: Part C — Convergence of Catholics and Samaritans
Adam Clarke: Now when the adversaries – These were the Samaritans, and the different nations with which the kings of Assyria had peopled Israel, when they had carried the original inhabitants away into captivity, see Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:10.
7 A woman of Samaria came there to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Question: “Who were the Samaritans?”
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and rendered him tribute.
10 And they set up for themselves images and Asherah poles in every high hill and under every green tree;
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see Jeremiah 49:19.
Gill: and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land; it is in the plural number, “let them go”, &c. there might be more priests than one ordered, or, however, others, to attend and assist him in his work; the Jews say, two were sent to circumcise them, and teach them the book of the law; and they give their names, Dosthai, or Dosithaeus, and Zachariah; and Josephus says, the people desired that priests might be sent to them of the captives.
30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
36 but the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, Him shall ye fear and Him shall ye worship, and to Him shall ye do sacrifice.
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein, and went out from thence and built Penuel.
Huan: It’s most likely that Jeroboam changed the calendar, too, as he would want to avoid taking any lead from Jerusalem. And since Samaria was north of Jerusalem, it could be a bit colder hence an excuse to delay a month later to start a new year. From God’s point of view, since the Bible is written from God’s point of view, it is the eighth month, still keeping the Sacred Text intact without any alteration. To justify himself, Jeroboam could say the barley green ear wasn’t fully ripe and blame the Jews for starting the calendar too early.
This is the last posting of a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover.
There are many errors in the above paragraph. The Sadducees didn’t subscribe to a 14/15 Passover, the Pharisees did. The Sadducees (and also the Samaritans), kept an early fourteenth Passover, because they also define erev as twilight, and ben ha arbayim (between the two evenings) as between sunset and dark. Fred Coulter must be suffering from memory loss, for he wrote in Chapter 10: “The Sadducees, including some high priests and their families, continued to practice the domestic killing of the Passover lambs at the beginning of the 14th.” The oversight is glaring. And where are all his team?—Carl and Jean Franklin, Philip Neal, Albert and Mela Cataga John, Hiedi and Sasha Vogele—sleeping?
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. — NOON TO 3 PM
The word “they” in Mark 14:12 refers to those who were killing the Passover lambs at houses, tents, or inns where the domestic Passover would be kept. Mark’s record of the killing of the lambs at the time that Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover confirms that many Jews in New Testament times were observing the domestic Passover. Clearly, Jesus and His disciples did not observe a “special paschal meal” at a different time from other Jews in Jerusalem. Mark’s testimony exposes this teaching as a false doctrine of men.
The killing and roasting took only one and a half hours, he says. Anticipated to feed 13 adults, Fred wrote that they only planned to have a tiny 8-day old lamb, weights only 10-12 pounds. Have any of you roasted a leg of lambs, folks? I would love to hear from your experiences. More so if you have even killed a lamb, drained off the blood, skinned, cleaned and have it roasted, expected to feed thirteen adults after nightfall. If not, try it, it is an opportunity to prove the truth!
“And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of this house of God with joy….And the children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. The priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them pure. And they killed the Passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel ate the Passover lamb, all who had come again out of exile, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful…” (Ezra 6:15-16, 19-22).
That the Jews in exile could not observe the Passover is acknowledged by the Karaite Jews and recorded by Samuel Al-Magribi in 1484: “Today, however, by reason of our many sins, we are scattered over the four corners of the earth, we are dispersed in the lands of the Gentiles, we are soiled with their ritual uncleanness and unable to reach the House of the Lord, and our status is equivalent to that of persons ritually unclean or traveling far away. That is why this ordinance of the Passover sacrifice no longer applies to us, and the reason for this is our fathers’ exceeding disobedience to God and our own following in their sinful footsteps” (Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, p. 206)
In order to give “the sense and caused them to understand the reading,” they need to understand the Scriptures in Aramaic, hence this gave rise to the origin of the Targum version of our modern Bible.
What an alarming turn of events! What an absolute disaster this could bring! Only sixty miles north of Jerusalem was a competing religion, a new Jewish/Samaritan religion, with authentic copies of the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. Because the founders of this religion had rebelled against the law of God, it was obvious that they did not respect His Word. They would not hesitate to alter the text to suit their own purposes. The Scriptures were in great danger of being corrupted.
Moses knew he would die soon and his understanding had been conveyed to judges, Levites and priests where the true interpretation of the law were taught. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses spoke and explained unto all Israel “according unto all that the Lord had given him” as to how to keep them, the blessing they would have if they obey, or cursing if they disobey, in a language they could understand. Men may have good intentions, but may do things seen as presumptuously? What is presumptuous or presumptuously?
Ezra edited Deuteronomy 16 from the then old Samaritan version, so Fred Coulter alleged, as the Samaritan version must be the authentic version. Quoting his own work, “The Original Bible Restored,” he says, “Although a few alterations were made in the text of the Old Testament after its canonization, there is no question that Ezra was the one who compiled the books, edited them and canonized them.” But of course, he was mainly referring to the vandalisation of Deuteronomy 16 (mainly verses 1-8).
Draft IIg
The Levitical duties of the tribe of Levites and the Sanctuary were not instituted at the time of the Exodus. Once instituted, “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Deuteronomy 16:5) and in Jerusalem this Holy City was chosen. Hence most of the Exodus 12 requirements were a one-off situation, otherwise every Israelites would still be eating with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staff in their hands; and they were to eat in haste, pretending to flee from a non-existing Pharaoh and his non-existing armies in an re-enactment of the Exodus.
Hezekiah’s prayers were for the fact that they were late for the Passover, which should be on the first month, but they celebrated it on the second month, which is contrary to the law. But the main reason was stated in II Chronicles 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good Lord pardon every one 19 who prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” 20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
The description of the sacrificing does not fit the ordinances that God established for the domestic observance of the Passover. There is no mention of the lambs being killed by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel,” as in Exodus 12. Rather, the account gives a detailed description of the slaying of the lambs at the temple by the Levites, and the sprinkling of the lamb’s blood against the altar by the priests.
The phrase “as it is written in the book of Moses” is not referring to the ordinances for the Passover, but to the ordinances that God established for peace offerings, which required that the blood of the sacrificial animal be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat and certain organs be burnt on the altar (Lev. 3).
The KJV translates Strong’s H1310 (bashal) in the following manner (and times): seethe (10x), boil (6x), sod (6x), bake (2x), ripe (2x), roast (2x). The KJV and most translations translate the verse “roasted” correctly: ”And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance.” The Bible says they did the roasting “according to the ordinance.” The same word bashal is used in Deuteronomy 16:7 “And thou shalt roast (H1310 bashal) and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.” Only “A Faithful Version” by a “not-sure-what-his-level-of-Hebrew-is” author translates it as “boil.”
The Jewish Encyclopedia — Its managing editor was Isidore Singer (1859–1939) and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac Funk and Frank Vizetelly. Singer was born Austria and studied at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin, receiving his PhD in 1884. One who held “extremely liberal views” and one who had described the Sabbath as “heavy burdens,” Singer moved to New York in 1895 where he started work which resulted in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
“Then the king [Jeroboam, now king of the northern ten tribes of Israel] took counsel, and made two calves of gold and said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. And he made houses of worship on the high places [pagan temples to Baal], and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar. So he did in Bethel [meaning “house of God”], sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
Rabbi Denise Eger was also the founding President of the Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Interfaith Clergy Association. In the summer of 2010 she was named one of the fifty most influential women rabbis.
Of course, He did. If not, during each Passover thereafter, every Israelites would still be eating with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staff in their hands; and they were to eat in haste. Then they would also need to pretend fleeing from Pharaoh and his armies in an re-enactment of the Exodus.
And thou shalt tell them: A man, whether young or old, of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who shall sacrifice a burnt offering, or consecrated oblation, and bring it not to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, to be made an oblation before the Lord, that man shall be destroyed from his people.
At the same movement, while the Jews were killing their lambs for the Passover, and the priests splinking the blood on the altar, Christ’s blood dripped into the Mercy Seat for the sin of the whole world! The biblical narratives indicate that the crucifixion took place outside the city walls—“outside the camp,” and His blood was miraculously brought “into the camp,” revealing why the blood could be killed outside the camp but only its blood brought into the camp for the priest to sprinkle on the altar. If Ron’s attestation is true, the story of Christ’s death and sacrifice would reveal how the Lamb was ordained in details with so much forethoughts right from the foundation of the world. Well planned and well thought-out by our Great God. Are you amazed? I’m stunned. It is the mystery of mysteries.
Chapter 16 had the timeline of what happened during the sixth day, but Fred Coulter had misinterpreted as the time, the evening after sunset. He wrote:
The story of the quail in Exodus 16 is that the Scriptures use erev and ben ha arbayim interchangeability. Everything makes sense when this is deemed as the daylight portion of erev for the Israelites to capture, cook and eat the quails.
The truth is so easy to understand if we use the Jewish definition of technical words. It’s their language, it’s their Sacred Text, it’s written within the Jewish culture. They are the custodians of God’s oracles, we shouldn’t make a habit of stigmatizing them. What if they don’t believe? Nar, let every man be a liar and God be true, the Jews would still be the custodians (Roman 3:1-4). Ben ha arbayim is the time “after noon and until nightfall.”
But only one lamb were selected on the tenth of the first month (Exodus 12:3-5) for Passover. For these Israelites to sudden sacrifice two lambs, one during erev and the other during ben ha arbayim they would need to perform miracles.
Draft IIb
This is correct, ben (h996) ha arbayim (h6153) occur 11 times, so let’s study them in details:
In Chapter 3 earlier, Fred defines ben ha arbayim as the time between sunset and dark.“Between the two evenings’ is usually taken to mean between sundown and dark, a period of about an hour or so….”
But Hillel knew that the man wanted to do the right thing, but he didn’t understand the purpose of the Oral Torah. So Hillel began to teach him the Aleph Bet (Hebrew alphabet). The first day, Hillel taught him the first two letters, aleph and bet.
“And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of this house of God with joy….And the children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. The priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them pure. And they killed the Passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel ate the Passover lamb, all who had come again out of exile, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful…” (Ezra 6:15-16, 19-22).
(1) the duties of the priests and Levites were reestablished at the Temple, “as it is written in the Book of Moses” (verse 18). After the Sanctuary was instituted, there is no such a thing about a “domestic” passover.
If Ezra had edited the Scriptures, a comparison would show the difference with the Samaritans’ version: “with authentic copies of the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.” The Samaritan religion was established earlier, but close to Jerusalem, just some sixty miles to the north, around 720 BC. They should have the true version, and Ezra’s edited copy will show.
Draft Ih
No, they don’t. Every year Samaritans kept their passover at Mount Gerizim, near today’s city of Nablus in the West Bank, and this mountain isn’t at their homes, so it isn’t a “domestic” passover. Yes, they kept it at the beginning of the fourteenth in the same manner as the Church of God communities today.
In summary, Leviticus 17 says if one were to make a sacrifice, in the camp or out of the camp, the blood must be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle (v 6).
The KJV translates Strong’s H1310 (bashal) in the following manner (and times): seethe (10x), boil (6x), sod (6x), bake (2x), ripe (2x), roast (2x). The KJV and most translations translate the verse “roasted” correctly: ”And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance.” The Bible says they did the roasting “according to the ordinance.” The same word bashal is used in Deuteronomy 16:7 “And thou shalt roast (H1310 bashal) and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.” Only “A Faithful Version” by a “not-so-sure-what-his-level-of-Hebrew-is” author translates it as “boil.”
According to Fred, “there can be no doubt whatsoever that ben ha arbayim comes after ba erev, or sunset.”
a. Angelic beings, not humans. Jesus said only He had down from heaven John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, so the twenty four elders could not be humans as identified in Revelation 4:4. During the first resurrection, when Christ return, the saints will rise first, Satan bound (Revelation 20:1-4).They will meet Christ in the air, and when Christ set his feet in Jerusalem, the saints will be with Christ forever (1 Thess 4:16-17). Further, among the restored 18 vital truths to the True Church since 1933 (Mystery of the Ages, Dodd & Mead, 1985, p251), Herbert W Armstrong came in the spirit of Elijah (Malachi 4:5), to establish the foundation of the True Church, and to restore all things (Matt 17:11, Mark 9:12, Acts 3:21). “Rain” and soon a storm appeared; “Drought” and the land suffered three and a half years of constipation! When you look at the preceding two or three verses in Acts 3:19-20, this restitution of all things by Elijah is in the context of Christ returning back to this earth. Hence these truths are solidified and sealed.
Over the last decade or so, the western world watches Huawei’s rise as a formidable world-power with a mixture of awe and apprehension. Huawei Technologies was founded as recently as 1987 by Ren Zhengfei and has made headlines of late as the target of the US government, which claims its telecom equipment poses a threat to America’s national security.
Just this week, Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘private company’ agreed to give French authorities the “identification data” of Facebook users suspected of spreading ‘hate speech’ on the platform, in what would be an unprecedented move on the part of Silicon Valley.
After the riot, the Chinese Government found that their main source of coordination was done through Facebook. A couple thousand people were involved, so the Government went to Facebook, and asked them to cooperate with the Police.
the European Commission, warned that ministers should focus on raising school standards instead of blaming the country’s problems on foreigners. In a speech in Cambridge she suggested that the UK’s poor education system is the reason Britons cannot compete with foreigners for jobs. She said politicians needed to “work on the quality of education and welfare, so that people in this country can find employment and enjoy reasonable social standards”.
Joel
A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 