How Do I Narrow Date Options?

 

JMAN

 

Why I believe that Pentecost is the Feast for the rapture

 

However, Pentecost is not determined by when wheat is ripe but by the count from the wave offering.

 

It is a mystery festival that has no month or day reference, see Lev 23:15-16 and is not celebrated in the Millennium like the Spring and Fall Feasts.  It  must have been fully completed with no further celebration in the Kingdom.

 

It is at a date when new wine would be available Peter’s speech in Acts.

 

The growing period of summer wheat is 100-120 days in length. 

 

It is counted from a day determined by a harvest event and not a month or day.

 

It is determined by a double count.  Leviticus 23:16 read from various older translations the double count is unmistakable.  Like so many other scripture we have a tendency to repeat what others have said and not be Bereans as reported in Acts 17:11.  Another example - Good Friday?                                                                                                       

Clues to the Date Range

 

Here is the chart from a noted source that I very recently discovered.  It documents the ranges of dates for the harvest time for Israel in Jesus time.

 

MONTHS                                    Weather       Crops and Activities

 

Tishri 7^th month(Sep/Nov)        First Rains       Plowing begins

 

Cheshvan 8^th month(Oct/Nov)                         Plowing /grain planting

 

Kislev 9^th month(Nov/Dec)                              Grain planting continues

 

Tevet 10^th month(Dec/Jan)  Main Rains

 

Sebat 11 month(Jan/Feb)

 

Adar 12^th month(Feb/Mar)        Spring Rain      Almond in bloom/Flax Harvest

 

Aviv(Nisan)1^st month(Mar/Apr)                       Barley harvest begins

 

Iyar 2^nd month(Apr/May)                                 Barley harvest completed

 

Sivan 3^rd month(May/Jun)        Dry Season      Wheat harvest begins

 

Tammuz 4^th month(Jun/Jul)                            Wheat harvest completed/1^st figs

 

Av 5^th month(Jul/Aug)              Summer Heat   Vintage (grape harvest) begins

 

Elul 6^th month(Aug/Sep)                                  Date harvest/ summer figs

According to this document, it was reported that the harvest season in ancient Israel began in Adar (Feb/Mar) and continued by stages into autumn.  The barley harvest began in March-April: the first sheaf being cut and waved in the middle of Aviv (Nisan) which could be any time between March 21^st and the middle of April.  It is reported to be the same in modern Israel.

 

In Leviticus 23:15-17, the instruction states you shall count 7 Sabbaths from the day after the Sabbath that you bring in the wave offering, whenever that may occur.  Then, you count 50 days.  This is when you and bring in 2 wave cakes with leaven to wave.  That day is Pentecost.

 

50 days after Passover and the wheat would not be ripe.  I have not found scripture indicated 50 days after Passover or make any reference to other Spring Feasts in the counting of Pentecost.  According to Leviticus it was strictly based upon the time of harvest when the barley wave, first fruits, took place.

 

If this is planting/harvest schedule is reliable, then we can determine a range of dates from which to count Pentecost.   The counting seems to indicate a very late June to as much as very early August i.e. Tammuz month 4 to early Av month 5.

 

At this date, there would potentially be NEW WINE available as recorded in Acts by Peter’s sermon.

 

A harvest reference by Jesus in John 4:35, “…Say not ye, there are 4 months, and then cometh the harvest?” would seem to indicate that the people well understood the length of the growing season.  The growing period of summer wheat is about 4 months in length.

 

3 Spring Feasts                   1^st Month       First 3 candles on Menorah

 

A one day Summer Feast   4^th Month       Middle or 4^th  Candle on Menorah

 

3 Fall Feasts                        7^th Month       Last 3 candles on Menorah

        

Jehovah knows the exact count of the Bride to be called to the marriage.  He also knows the exact date that the count will be complete.  It is not just a random number but a precise number by name, declared from before the foundation of the earth.

 

When the Bride has been “fully assembled – at a time and count that Jehovah’s Providence has predetermined, at that moment it will happen -suddenly and without warning.

 

“Oh I want to be in that number, when the Bride is called to the Wedding!”