Bible Study Seattle

Does Firstfruits come after the high Sabbath or after the weekly Sabbath? That answer affects when Shavaot falls. Is this confusion on purpose? To keep us and Satan on our toes? If you hunt around, you will find people saying anything from Nisan 16 to Nisan 22 for Firstfruits. How about this:

“Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.” Exodus 12:1-5

A lamb or goat?? But what about:

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” Matthew 25:31-33

These goats are cursed and burned with the devil and his angels! Perhaps these are different goats than the Passover goats? Or how about this:

“Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” Genesis 7:1-4

“Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.” Genesis 7:7

“It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.” Genesis 7:10

“So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.” Genesis 7:15-17

Did the flood start immediately when Noah went into the ark, or after seven days? It’s a little vague. Perhaps there’s meaning to this, as Jesus was baptized, then died three and a half years later, then Cornelius (a Gentile) was baptized three and a half years later.