Second first Sabbath?

[visionary]

Luke 6 1 Now it happened that, on the second first Sabbath, as he passed through the grain field, his disciples were separating the ears of grain and eating them, by rubbing them in their hands. 2 Then certain Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbaths?” 3 And responding to them, Jesus said: “Have you not read this, what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him? 4 How he entered into the house of God, and took the bread of the Presence, and ate it, and gave it to those who were with him, though it is not lawful for anyone to eat it, except the priests alone?” 5 And he said to them, “For the Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

It was against the law to eat from the standing ripe grain on the first Sabbath during Passover, because not until the next day were the first fruits of the ripe grain offered to God. But on the second first Sabbath it was lawful to eat from the standing ripe grain, because the first fruits had been offered the previous Sunday. The Pharisees object based on their interpretation of the law against working on the Sabbath (rubbing the grains was considered work). But Luke points out that it was lawful for them to eat the grains since it was the second first Sabbath. And Jesus taught that even concerning the breaking of the Sabbath by working, they were innocent.

The second first Sabbath is the first Sabbath after the first Sabbath of Passover. The first Sabbath of Passover is used as a starting point for counting the seven weeks (and seven Sabbaths) until the Feast of Weeks. The day after the first Sabbath of Passover is day one in that count. (The ancients did not use the concept of zero in counting, but in our way of thinking, the first Sabbath of Passover is zero.) So the first week of the seven weeks ends with the first Sabbath of the seven Sabbaths on day 7. This is the first Sabbath in the count of seven Sabbaths to the Feast of Weeks (which is held on the day after that 7th Sabbath, i.e. the fiftieth day, or Pentecost). So there are two first Sabbaths: the first Sabbath during Passover (the day used to mark the start of the counting toward the Feast of Weeks, which is also called Pentecost) and the first Sabbath after Passover, which is the second first Sabbath.

 

[visionary]

Passover annually is the fourteenth day of the first month of the Hebrew calenda. Now it is what sets off the start of the year. The time of the first ripening of that year’s barley harvest is the key. The ripeness of the barley grain can determine whether or not an additional month is to be added. If the grain will likely not be ripened by Wave-sheaf, the first month would be delayed until next month, thus extending the previous year’s calendar with the addition of a thirteenth month. This occurs in 7 out of 19 years.

Why is this important? Some have seen this in reference to First Fruits/Wave Sheaf when the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sabbath. If this is true, then it is a very good hint as to which year Yeshua died.

 

[visionary]

The day following the Passover begins the seven Days of Unleavened Bread, the fifteenth thru the twenty first, inclusive. Interconnected to these fixed calendar dates are two other observances, which relate to factors other than any fixed calendar date. Within the seven Days of Unleavened Bread is a weekly Sabbath, the morrow after which is Wave Sheaf/First Fruits/Sunday. The Wave Sheaf is essential to determining the correct date for the annual Feast of Pentecost.