The Septuagint says, in
Ezra 7:14, "One has been sent from the king and the seven counselors, to
visit Judea and Jerusalem,
according to the law of YHWH that is in thine hand.
This could be understood as one of the three major feast/chag days that the children of Israel were to
visit Jerusalem three times a year ACCORDING TO THE LAW of YHWH.
New Century Version of Ezra 7:14 seems to go alone with the Septuagint.
"For thou art sent from before the king, and his seven counsellors,
to visit Judea and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God, which is in thy hand.
Ezra 7:9 teaches Ezra came to Jerusalem on the
first day of the
fifth month. I find it interesting that this could be the day of Pentecost if they understood Leviticus 23:16 as to number 50 days
AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete.
If Ezra was
visiting Jerusalem on the new moon day of the
fifth month ACCORDING TO THE LAW, this could only be Pentecost. If Ezra, who was a ready scribe in the Law, was going to Jerusalem to see if they were keeping the Law, as some of the following translations suggest, then a feast day such as Pentecost would be a perfect time to pop in on them and see if they were keeping it or not.
The Good News Translation of 7:14
I and my seven advisers are sending you to see how things are going in Judah and Jerusalem.
Find out whether the people there are obeying the Law of your God. You have a copy of that law with you.
New International Reader's Version
7:14
You are sent by the king and his seven advisers to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem
with regard to the Law of your God, which is in your hand.
Today's New International Version
7:14
I, the king, and my seven advisers are sending you to evaluate the situation in Judah and Jerusalem
on the basis of your God's Teachings, which you hold in your hands.
GOD's WORD
7:14
Ezra, you are sent by the king and the seven people who
advise him to ask how Judah and Jerusalem are obeying the Law of your God, which you are carrying with you.The Douay-Rheims Bible
7:14
I, together with my seven counselors, send you to investigate the conditions in Jerusalem and Judah
in order to see how well the Law of your God, which has been entrusted to you, is being obeyed.
Again, it is interesting that Ezra pop in on them on the new moon day of the
FIFTH month. I realize this in itself is not as conclusive as I would like for it to be but when taking all the other evidence into consideration, it is worth mentioning. It is also interesting that the ancient
Israelite people observed Pentecost at the end of the fourth month or first day of the fifth month, same day that Ezra visited Jerusalem according to the Law and it was a
new moon day of the fifth month that he was checking to see if Israel was keeping the Law.
The following web sites searched the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other historical evidence and found that the ancient Celtic people observed Pentecost later than the traditional Pentecost of the Jews today. The ancient Celtic Israelite people use the great lights of Genesis 1:14 for these feast days. They had a feast in the
FIRST month and one in the
FORTH month and another in the
SEVENTH month, and there are notable happenings in the heavens at these three times of the year, not to mention the spring, summer, and fall harvestsat this time. The sun changes directions at the appointed times and you have the vernal equinox around the first month at the spring harvest of barley and you have the summer solstice around June 21st at the summer wheat harvest, and you have the autumn equinox around September 21st at the fall harvest of the fruit trees.
Notice as you read this and the following, that there is no Historical record of these people/ancient Israelites acknowledging a third month feast or a third month wheat harvest. The same is true in Scripture,
there is NOT a feast OF ANY KIND in the third month found in Scripture. The Scripture says the feast of weeks and the feast of ingathering is to be at the YEARS END/solstice/turning. All of the feasts happens right after a major event that happens in the heavens and is visible, or how else could you use these lights for appointments, if they did not make any noticeable change?
You might ask what is the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In one case, the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.
Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of equal historical value, and none of them is the original version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at the monastery there in 1116. Almost all of the material in the chronicle is in the form of annals, by year; the earliest are dated at 60 BC, and historical material follows up to the year in which the chronicle was written, at which point contemporary records begin. These manuscripts collectively are known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle This next article I found tells how the ancient Celtic people were keeping an ancient custom or tradition of the
first fruits of wheat harvest, better known as Pentecost or first fruits or Feast of Weeks, and it was in the end of the fourth month, or 1st day of the 5th. You can bet your bottom dollar that if this same Celtic ritual occurred near the beginning of the third month, which everyone believes was Pentecost, instead of the end of the fourth month, they would have sworn it was Pentecost. The great lights are used for the festivals and the sun does not do anything special in the third month for the traditional Pentecost, but it does in the fourth around June 21st, and it does something special in each of the scriptural feast. After March 21st Passover, after June 21st Pentecost, after September 21st Tabernacles, and all these are in the years turning/end and happen around the harvest times. The ancient Celtic's the great lights for feast/appointments. Here's the article.
LUGHNASADH
Kathleen Dupree
"The grain is ripe for harvest. Apple trees and gardens bear forth the fruits of summer. This is the time of Lughnasadh, the ancient Celtic festival held in celebration of the first fruits of the harvest.
The modern Irish spelling, Lúnasa, is the name of the month of
August in Irish Gaelic. Lughnasadh, an older spelling, is often used to designate the name of the seasonal festival that surrounds the first day of the month of August. In Scots Gaelic the day is known as Lunasda or Lunasdal. This is the time that marks a REST FROM LABOR, a time to take stock of what the SUMMER sun has yielded. It is a time to CELEBRATE and enjoy the outcome of our daily toil.
At this GATHERING were held games and contests of skill as well as a GREAT FEAST made up of the
FIRST FRUITS of the SUMMER HARVEST.
See
http://www.leyline.org/cra/articles/lughnasadh.html for more.
Notice it says that this was an ancient Celtic festival held in celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. Notice it places ancient Israel's Pentecost 50 days more than the traditional Pentecost or 50 days AFTER the traditional FEAST of Pentecost or 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete, as Leviticus 23:16 teaches.
Notice this ancient feast was a Rest from Labor, just as the Scripture teaches Pentecost is and Notice it was during the summer instead of spring and it says they had a GATHERING/convocation, same as the Scripture teaches for Pentecost and it was a GREAT FEAST made up of the FIRST FRUITS of the SUMMER HARVEST. All these are signs of a scriptural Pentecost. Continuing on in another article we read,
"In the Celtic nations of Europe traditions surrounding Lughnasadh still continue from pre-Christian times. Most often, celebration of the holiday occurs on the first Sunday of August or the Sunday just before the first day of August. In modern Ireland the tradition still continues that on the last Sunday of
July families ascend into the hills of the countryside to pick bilberries. The bilberries are symbolic of the bounty of Mother Earth at this time of year and of the fruits harvested in that ancient time when Tailltiu made a place for the grain that would feed the generations to come after her. With the coming of Christianity to the Celtic lands, the old festival of Lughnasadh took on Christian symbolism.
Loaves of bread were baked from the first of the harvested grain and placed on the church altar on the first Sunday of August. The Christianized name for the feast of Lughnasadh is Lammas which means "
loaf mass". And, of course, there are the fairs which are still held all across Europe and America. Lughnasadh (Old Irish pronounced IPA: [luË?nÉ™sÉ™]) is a Gaelic holiday celebrated on the
first of August, or at the time of the ripening of the local berry crop, or on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the
summer solstice and autumnal equinox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lughnasadh NOTICE it says "Midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox. June 21st is the summer solstice and September 21st is the autumnal equinox and midpoint would be around July 21st which is in perfect harmony with counting 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete as we believe Leviticus 23:16 teaches. It is also In harmony with the scripture that teaches that Pentecost must be at the years end/turning, which happens on June 21st in the traditional Pentecost takes place before June 21st or BEFORE the years END . See SCRIPTURE this is truly using the great lights of Genesis 1:14 for appointments, and Pentecost is an appointment. Notice the next article speaks of the FOUR MAIN festivals of the ancient Celtic celebrations and the one that matches Pentecost is not in the beginning of the third month, but is that the end of the fourth month or beginning of the fifth witches In harmony with 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete as Leviticus 23:16 teaches. "Ancient celebration
Lughnasadh was one of the FOUR MAIN festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltane on the first of May, "Lughnasadh" in August and Samhain in October. The early Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the actual calendar date was variable. Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends.
NOTICE the day was variable, also the first Festival mentioned here is in February which corresponds, according to my Smith's Bible dictionary, with the 12th Jewish month, February and March, and the only festival he lists in the 12th month is the feast of Esther on the 13th and Purim on the 14th and 15th of the 12th month but at any rate, this cannot be Pentecost that they were celebrating.
NOTICE that the next MAJOR FEAST that was mentioned, was celebrated on the first of May which corresponds with "PASSOVEr" which can fall on the first of May. The next major feast mentioned is "Lughnasadh" in August which corresponds with PENTECOST if you number 50 DAYS AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete according to Leviticus 23:16. At any rate there is no way possible that this feast of the first fruit of wheat harvest can correspond with 50 days after the wave sheath.
NOTICE that the next MAJOR FEAST is in OCTOBER which corresponds with TABERNACLES . The point I would like to make here is that PENTECOST is a major feast same as Tabernacles, Passover, and Purim, and we know that the ancient Israelites celebrated Pentecost. One key thing to remember is that there are two types of wheat grown today but the scripture only mentions one which was the Pentecost wheat that is planted in the spring/first month and harvested in the summertime/the end of the fourth month and beginning of the fifth, not harvested in the springtime.
These ancient Israelite people were keeping the festivals of YHWH according to the great lights of Genesis 1:14 and according to the harvest seasons, spring harvest, summer harvest, and fall harvest, and the scripture and Historical facts show that there was never a celebration in the third month nor was they a harvest in the third month. Lughnasadh (pronounced lune-ah-sah) was a summer festival of the ancient Celts, celebrated around August 1. My understanding is that it is known that it was celebrated at either the full moon or the new moon closest to the midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. Since the midpoint is on August 6th, that means that this year, Lughnasadh falls on either July 25 (the new moon).
Colors: Gray, green, gold, yellow
Symbols: All grains, breads, threshing tools,
Date: Occurs 1/4 of a year after Beltaine. True astrological point is 15 degrees Leo, but tradition has set August 1st as the day it is typically celebrated. Since the Ancients Celts passed their days from sundown to sundown, the celebration would usually begin the night before on July 31st.
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~cbarstow/lammas.html "This Sabbath is also known as the celebration of bread. As bread was one of the main staples of our ancestors, the ripening of the grain was the cause for GREAT CELEBRATION. The reaping, threshing and preparation of these breads spawned great ritual and ceremony to ensure bounty for the following year.
This time of the year finds us with fields to harvest, the first of a bountiful crop that will hold us through the winter months. Even though the hottest days of summer are upon us, we have but to observe to see that fall is just around the corner. Shadows are growing longer as the days slowly become shorter. Squirrels are busily gathering food for the coming winter. It is a time to begin canning produce from the garden, a time to save and preserve.
NOTICE this has to be referring to spring wheat harvest instead of winter wheat harvest. Winter wheat is planted in September or October and harvested in the spring time about two weeks after barley harvest but the summer or spring wheat is planted in the springtime and is harvested in the summer time around the end of July and first of August and this is the only conclusive wheat harvest mentioned in Scripture. More reading from the Internet, "In English-speaking countries, August 1 is Lammas Day or loaf-mass day, the festival of the first "Wheat" harvest" of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested "Wheat" to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first, or the sixth, of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (d. 604) specifies the sixth.
In medieval times the feast was known as the "gule of August", but the meaning of "gule" is unknown. Ronald Hutton suggests that it may be an Anglicisation of gwyl aust, the Welsh name for August 1 meaning "feast of August", but this is not certain. If so, this points to a pre-Christian origin for Lammas among the Anglo-Saxons and a link to the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh
Even the oak trees put forth a new crop of leaves, called Lammas shoots.
The oak can takes some 60 years to mature and produce its first full crop of fruit. Depending on seasonal conditions, tufts of pale green leaves appear on short stalks (English or Common oak) during April or May, which by June turn dark green and thick with a strong central vein and deeply lobed edges. Should the young leaves be damaged by frost or destroyed by insects, the oak has a canny ability to re-leaf itself. In August at the height of the summer when most other trees are wilting from the heat, the oak produces a new leaf called "Lammas shootd"? thus adding new colour and freshness to the tree. These new leafy shoots are golden-pink when young, turning from pale to dark green as they harden. In autumn the oak tree is at its most majestic as its leaves change colour again turning from dark green to various shades of yellow, orange, russet and a pale golden brown. The leaves sometime stay on the tree until the following spring or until the new buds forming for the next year push them off.
http://www.controverscial.com/Oak.htm Its summer, and the oak tree produces a second crop of leaves the lammas growth to replace its now tatty spring canopy.
Late summer growth - Telegraph
This is Lammas growth, when trees put on a second flush of bright leaves in July and August, around Lammas day, August 1, which is a Celtic harvest festival ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml ... unny16.xml - 44k - Cached - Similar pages
This is Lammas growth, when trees put on a second flush of bright leaves in July and August, around Lammas day, August 1, which is a Celtic harvest festival. Oak, ash, beech, sycamore and hawthorn produce a secondary growth while poplar, birch and willow do not. It is worth watering to encourage this second growth and build up healthy reserves for next year. I find this most useful when trying to speed up growth of newly-planted yew and hawthorn hedges, which can respond with amazing vigour.
Trees for Life - Species Profile: Oak
... as the harsher climate and poorer soils limit their growth. ... lammas growth, because it occurs around the time of Lammas, the Celtic festival of first ...
www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species/oak.html - 31k - Cached - Similar pages
Because of the large numbers of insects and other invertebrates which feed upon oaks, many of the leaves can be tattered and have numerous holes in them by late July. Oaks then produce a new flush of leaves, especially on young trees, and this phenomenon is called lammas growth, because it occurs around the time of Lammas, the Celtic festival of first fruits, on 1st August.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammas Again, this is not my main argument for a later Pentecost but it may not hurt to mention how Ezra was checking on Israel's law keeping on the new moon day of the fifth month and how ancient Israel observed the same day according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's.