The Passover season and subsequent count to Pentecost will be the main topic of this post.  There is much confusion and debate over this topic.  This cannot be the will of God for His people, because He is NOT the author of confusion!

In order to help in our understanding of the sequence of events, I need to touch upon the calendar instituted by God from the very beginning.  This will be a very condensed overview of the calendar to get flow of events for Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, and the 50-day count to Pentecost. 

The first thing to know is that from the beginning, the major civilizations of the earth began their new year with the spring equinox.  The spring equinox was their reset for the year. 

From the pyramids – to the temple of God itself, they were built to “catch” the perfect alignment of the sun on equinox.  Forget all the talk of how the pagans observed – and still do observe – the spring equinox.  The temple of God in Israel was also built so that the ray of the sun would pierce the end of the temple and shine upon the center of the curtain to the holy of holies. If the curtain would have been open, it would have shined directly into the holy of holies! 

I will attach some pics to show some very striking examples at various sites on the equinox.  From the sphinx and great pyramids, pagan temples, to the very Temple of God in Israel; the structures were set up and positioned to catch, or mark, equinox and their new year.   And the ancient civilizations used sundials for this, as well as, for marking the hours of the day.  How do you think they knew the hours of the day in the Bible?  The sundials.

The day after equinox is the first day, of the first month, of the new year.  

In Exodus 12:1-2, God told Moses when to observe the Passover.  This month (Chodesh) shall be to you the beginning of the months:  it shall be the first month (Chodesh) of the year to you.  The Hebrew word used for “month” is “Chodesh.”  I want to insert something here.  There is much deception surrounding this word, Chodesh.  In almost every instance the word is used – the “Jews” began translating it as “moon.”  Instead of “month” they would translate it as “moon.” This took place on a major scale after their return from Babylonian captivity.  So instead of saying the new month, they say “new moon” in most all translations.  Just a couple of references: 

Isaiah 66:23…from one new month to another.  Most translate this as from one new moon to another.

1 Samuel 20:5, “…behold tomorrow is the new month…” Well, they’ve translated it “new moon.”

The word Chodesh means MONTH.  “Yareakh,” is the Hebrew word for moon!

After their return from Babylon, the Israelites retained many of the pagan customs of the Babylonians:  I will only mention two of those customs for the purpose of our topic today:

1) moon worship

Instead of 12 months of 30-day cycles, totaling 360 days in each calendar year – from the equinox, the Jews began calculating months by new moons.  And oh, what mass confusion and disagreements.

What preceded this was the sundial incident with King Hezekiah in 701 BC.  Remember in 2 Kings 20:9-11, Hezekiah asks for a sign from God that he would be healed and asked that the shadow of the sun would go backwards 10 degrees.  The effect of that incident was that it lengthened the days of the year from 360 days – to 364. 

Beyond Israel, most of the world had no idea what had happened to their calendars, why they were no longer lining up as before, so came up with their own ideas and began observing new moons.  But since a lunar cycle is not perfectly constant, averaging about 29.5 days per cycle, they settled on a combination of lunar/solar.  Today, we have all kinds of calendars using various methods of calculation. 

But God is not the author of confusion.  Our God changes not.  The equinox is still the reset for God’s holy day calendar.  The 30-day cycles continue.  When the 12^th month has completed, there are then 5 wait days until Equinox, when the cycle begins all over again.

The Jews brought pagan moon worship back with them from Babylon.  A second thing was:

2)  Observing days from sunset to sunset – instead of from sunrise to sunrise.  You will have to search hard to find the truth, but even the oldest Catholic encyclopedias say this.  You can explore the historical proofs and the purposeful tampering with improper translation of words. 

But here again, it takes a study of the original words used, and the mistranslation of such words that make sunrise to sunrise very plain.  Their sunset to sunset for when a day begins is a SACRED COW.

The above two carry overs from Babylon:  new moon used for the months / feasts; and sunset to sunset for divisions of days, needed to be touched upon as a backdrop for the main topic:

The Passover season and the count to Pentecost:

Most of the world will be late in the observance of Passover, as the Jews and almost all Messianic and Hebrew roots groups, now follow the Hillel Calendar – as is used in Israel today.  Emperor Constantine allowed Hillel II, head of the Sanhedrin, to institute the Hillel calendar in 359 AD.  It was the Sanhedrin’s last big decision before disbanding. It’s a lunar/solar calendar. 

Passover is Thursday the 3^rd.  In Exodus 12, God told Moses in verse 6 that on the 14^th day of the same month, they were to kill the Passover lamb/goat between the two evenings. What? you might say!

Here is a perfect example of mistranslating.  Your bible probably is translated with the words, “shall kill it in the evening.”  But the Hebrew word for evening here is, “Ben Ha Arbayim,” which means “Between the evenings.”  In other words – during the daytime – the daylight hours on the 14^th.  Kill the lambs during the daytime of the 14^th.  And we know Jesus was crucified on that day and died at 3:00 pm. 

God’s ways are perfect. All those lambs slain and prepped for roasting had to be done in the daylight hours – when they could see!  Then in verse 7-8 they are told to strike the blood on the side posts and above the door – and eat the flesh in that night.  Hebrew word for night here is “Layil,” which truly means nighttime – or after dark.  And they were to eat it with unleavened bread.  And when they were eating the Passover after dark – it was still the 14^th – until that next morning.  Ereb to ereb twilight of morning.

Ereb (which is either the morning or evening twilight of the day), and in this case it is “boker” twilight (morning twilight) marks the beginning of the 15^th – First Day of Unleavened Bread!  That is where they were to eat unleavened bread for the next 7 days, and no leavening was to be found in all their dwellings (Lev 23.  The first and last of the 7 days are holy convocations. 

Each year, the holy days (moeds) of God, land on a different day of the 7-day weekly cycle.  One of the miracles of Jesus’ crucifixion, is that it was prophesied in Daniel 9, He would cause the sacrifice and offering to cease in the midst of the week.  That is the 4^th day of the week (we call it Wednesday). 

According to historical evidence, Jesus was indeed crucified on a Wednesday and died at approximation 3:00 pm.  He was to be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights, putting His resurrection some time 3:00 pm or after on Saturday. 

Matthew 28:1, says, “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week…”   It was still dark as John 20:1 says.  So, it was the ereb of the morning of the 1^st day of week (Sunday).  And we know the angel told the women Jesus was not there – for he had risen. 

In John 20:17, Jesus told Mary not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father.

Now, let us look at the count to Pentecost.  When does the count to 50 begin?  In Leviticus 23, verses 9 through11, instructions are given for the first fruit wave sheaf offering.  Again, much confusion out there about this.  You can look it up yourself to see the wave sheaf offering was always performed during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the 1^st day of the week after the regular weekly Sabbath.

With all that said, Jesus was crucified on Wednesday that year and died at 3:00 pm, rose after 3:00 pm on the Sabbath.  Then, on the day after that Sabbath, the first day of the week, Jesus presented himself before the Father as the wave sheaf offering on our behalf!

The Jews did not recognize Jesus as their messiah, so continue to this day with their hunt for barley to offer as a first fruit offering.

Sadly, most Christians who do recognize Jesus as their Messiah, and as the first fruit offering to God on their behalf, continue to look to the “Jews” in their observance of these festivals of God. 

It is very interesting that Pentecost is the ONLY commanded festivals of God that requires His people to COUNT to identify the correct day of observance.  It requires knowing Jesus as our wave sheaf offering…

And it all STARTS with knowing when the year begins, then following the very Word of God – with strict avoidance of the “traditions of men” in this matter.

Regardless of what day of the week Passover falls on, the day after the Sabbath – that first day of the week (we call it Sunday), the wave sheaf is presented, and the count begins.

Passover is observed April 3^rd 2025.  The wave sheaf offering is Sunday (first day of week) the 6^th.     The countdown to Pentecost begins April 6^th, with that 50^th day falling on May 25^th, 2025. 

I pray a very blessed Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost season overall.

Please take all presented here before the LORD for confirmation and further revelation.

Following images from Covenant Calendar Series: