Seven Sacred Calendars Testify of Christ
by John P. Pratt & John C. Lefgren
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (9 Apr 2003)
©2003 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
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The priest cycle of temple service appears to be the seventh sacred calendar to testify of key dates
in the life of Christ, including the day of his presentation at the temple, the beginning of his public ministry and his resurrection.
Last month's article entitled "Dead Sea Scrolls May Solve Mystery" pointed out that the calendar
scrolls from Qumran include enough detailed information to pinpoint precisely how their calendar
corresponded to ours, at least for a period of seven years from 42-35 BC. While the Qumran
calendar was peculiar to their sect, one result might be of interest to all Judeo-Christians. That was
the confirmation of exactly how and when the priest cycle of temple service functioned. This
month's sequel explores three consequences of that result. First, it appears that the priest cycle may
be the basis of yet another sacred calendar, with each of its 24 weeks symbolizing a different
aspect of the life of Christ. Second, it appears that at least three important events in the life of
Christ were timed to coincide with its cycles. And finally, that calendar is the seventh sacred
calendar which testifies of the exact dates for the key events in the life of Jesus Christ. With so
many witnesses, there is little doubt that Christ was born on the evening preceding Thu 6 Apr 1
BC and resurrected on Sun 3 Apr AD 33.[1]
1. The 24-Week Priest Cycle
The Dead Sea calendar scrolls carefully noted the name of each week for most of the dates entered
into their lists. At that time, each week was named for the family which served at the temple.
There were 24 families among the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, who were
appointed by King David to serve in rotation in the temple that his son Solomon would build (1
Chron. 24:7-18). It has been a matter of speculation whether these families indeed served in one
continuous round of 24 weeks, or whether they began the cycle anew each year. It has also been
uncertain exactly when each family, or "course," served. Both of these questions have now been
answered by the Dead Sea Scrolls as presented in last month's article. They make it clear that for a
period of 7 years, the courses constituted one uninterrupted cycle, with each family serving for one
week, beginning about midday each Saturday. Moreover, the precise week in which they served
can be determined. Extending that cycle from 42 BC until the destruction of the temple in AD
70 indicates that the cycle was most likely unbroken for that entire period of time because the
course serving at the destruction was recorded.
1.1 Wheels within Wheels
Because the priests were divinely appointed to serve in the temple, and because the cycle seems to
represent one eternal round, the question arises as to whether or not the priest cycle might form the
basis of a divine calendar. The week of seven days is a divinely appointed cycle (Gen. 1), and the
priest cycle constitutes an extension of the week. In fact, it is an extension of the week which uses
24 periods, similar to the 24-hour day. The phrase "24-7" has now become common to represent
"all the time," referring to 24 hours per day, and 7 days per week. One of the principles of
advanced calendars is to have larger cycles in the same format as smaller[2], and this example
qualifies perfectly. That is, 24 hours make 1 day, 7 days make one week, so the 24-week priest
cycle could be thought of a 1 larger DAY, which could in turn be grouped into larger units of
WEEKS, and so on. Thus, the fact that there are 24 weeks in the cycle, similar to 24 hours in a
day is an indication that the priest cycle might form the basis of a divine calendar.
1.2 Points to Jesus Christ
Another clue is that the Lord has said that all things created in heaven and earth testify of Jesus
Christ (Moses 6:63). If the priest cycle indeed is a sacred calendar, then it should point to Christ.
What are the meanings of the 24 names of the families? A preliminary look at the roots of the
Hebrew names suggests that indeed the 24 names might all be descriptive of different aspects of
the Savior's mission.
The scriptures tell us that Christ has many missions and many names. He was the King of Kings,
the Savior, the Redeemer, the Messiah, etc. The following table shows how the 24 names might
possibly all refer to a different aspect of Christ's work.[3]
| Name | Meaning | Role of Christ | Ref. |
|---|
| 1. Jehoiarib | Jehovah contends | Lord of Hosts,
Mediator, Advocate | 1 Samuel 1:3, Mat.
28:6, Luke 2:11 |
| 2. Jedaiah | Jehovah has known | Prophet | Deut. 18:15-16, Mat.
21:11 |
| 3. Harim | Dedicated, consecrated | Anointed (Messiah,
Christ), Holy One,
Priest | Daniel 9:25, Luke 2:11,
Isa. 1:4, John 1:14,
Heb. 5:6 |
| 4. Seorim | Barley or grain | First Fruits, Only Begotten, Son of
God | Gen. 3:15, John 12:24, 1 Cor. 15:20 |
| 5. Malchijah | My King is Jehovah | King | Psalms 89:18, Mat.
2:2, Luke 19:38 |
| 6. Mijamin | from the right hand | Faithful Witness on
Right Hand of God, express image of God | Col. 3:1, Rev. 1:5, Jer.
42:5, Heb. 1:3 |
| 7. Hakkoz | Thorn, from root meaning
to clip off or harvest | Harvest | Mat. 9:38 |
| 8. Abijah | Jehovah is my father | Father | Isa. 9:6 |
| 9. Jeshua | He will save | Savior | Mat. 1:21, Luke 2:11 |
| 10. Shecaniah | Jehovah has dwelt | Immanuel (God
dwells with us) | Isa. 7:14 |
| 11. Eliashib | God restores | Restorer | Ruth 4:15 |
| 12. Jakim | He will raise | Teacher, Master,
Creator | John 3:2, Mark 9:5 |
| 13. Huppah | Canopy, from root
meaning to protect | Protector,
Shepherd | John 10:11 |
| 14. Jeshebeab | Sit down with the father | Eternal, Everlasting | Gen. 21:33, Isa. 9:6,
Heb. 13:8, Rev. 1:8 |
| 15. Bilgah | Invade with destruction | Judge | 2 Tim. 4:1,8 |
| 16. Immer | Lamb | Lamb (Sacrifice) | John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7 |
| 17. Hezir | Swine, from root meaning
penned up, enclosed | Gatherer | Deut. 30:3, Isa. 54:7,
Luke 13:34 |
| 18. Aphses | Dispersive | Scatterer | 1 Kings 14:15 |
| 19. Pethahiah | Jehovah has opened | Light in Darkness | John 1:5, 8:12 |
| 20. Jehezekel | God strengthens | Strengthener | Philippians 4:13 |
| 21. Jachin | He will establish, from
root meaning to set in
upright position | Resurrection | John 11:25, 1 Kings
7:21 |
| 22. Gamul | Rewarded | Rewarder | Hebrews 11:6 |
| 23. Delaiah | Jehovah has delivered | Deliverer | 2 Samuel 22:2,
Romans 11:26 |
| 24. Maaziah | Jehovah has rescued | Redeemer | Job 19:25, Isa. 59:20 |
Table 1. Proposed Correspondence of the 24 Priestly courses to the roles of Jesus Christ.
Now that we have seen that there is a very real possibility that the priest cycle may form the basis,
along with the week of seven days, of a sacred calendar, let us explore whether there is any
evidence that God has ever actually used such a calendar for scheduling his sacred events.
Many precise dates have been proposed for important sacred events in the Life of Jesus Christ.
Three such dates fall exactly on the day 1 Jeshua, meaning the first day of the week when the
course of Jeshua served (Sat afternoon through Sunday morning). Jeshua is the Hebrew form of
the name rendered in the (Greek) New Testament as Jesus, meaning Savior. Moreover, two of
those three dates are directly linked to events which occurred at the temple. It was the discovery
that two of the visits of Christ to the temple occurred on days when the "Jesus" Priest was
officiating that led to the research resulting in this article. Let us now look at each of those dates.
2. Presentation at the Temple
The first event of the Savior's life which coincidences with an apparently meaningful date on the
priest cycle is the presentation of Jesus at the temple. The law of Moses required each firstborn
male be circumcised on the eighth day of his life, and then on the fortieth day, the mother was
commanded to bring a lamb and turtle dove or pigeon to the temple and present to the priest, who
would offer them to God. In case of poverty, she could bring two turtle doves or pigeons (Lev.
12:1-8).
Luke records that Mary fulfilled this commandment. She and Joseph brought not only the doves,
but also the infant Jesus to Jerusalem, "to present him to the Lord" (Luke 2:22). This they did in
order to fulfill the law, which seems especially appropriate in that Jesus was the Lamb of God
(John 1:29) who would later be sacrificed, even as the priest would sacrifice their offering. Luke
goes on to record the prophetic utterances of both of Simeon and Anna at that time. Simeon
declared, ". . . mine eyes have seen thy salvation," with the double meaning of "mine eyes have
seen thy Jesus" because Jesus means "salvation" or "savior." Anna then prophesied that he would
be the Redeemer (Luke 2:25-38). With these marvelous prophecies being pronounced, apparently
no one noticed which course the officiating priest represented, to whom Mary presented her child.
What course was it?
To know that, we need first to know the date of the presentation. Then the newly discovered
correlation of the priest cycle to our calendar will tell us the course, because it was one continuous
round from 42 BC to AD 70.
A proposed date for the presentation at the temple has already been published: Sun 14 May 1 BC.
That was based on knowing the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, and was confirmed as being
correct by three different sacred calendars. We authors have each separately published historical
evidence that Jesus Christ was born on the evening preceding Thu, 6 Apr 1 BC.[4] Because the
subject of this paper deals with the alignment of sacred events on sacred days, it might be well to
briefly review how the birthday of Jesus Christ was a unique calendrical day in history.
2.1 Birth of Jesus: A Unique Time
Let us consider each of four sacred calendars separately. First, consider the Hebrew calendar,
which is based on the motions of both the sun and moon. Of the seven symbolic holy days
revealed to Moses, Passover apparently represents the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, even as the
nation of Israel was "born" on the day of the exodus from Egypt.[5] If that were the only clue we
had to his birth, then it could be at Passover in any year at all, for it is an annual spring feast.
The second clue is that the Native American tradition is that the birth of Quetzalcoatl, which
appears to have been their name for Jesus Christ, occurred on the day 1 Reed.[6] That day occurs
once every 260 days, implying that Passover can only occur on 1 Reed about once in 260 years.
In the period from 84 BC through AD 130, the only time on which Passover coincided with 1
Reed was during the night preceding Thu 6 Apr 1 BC. It is pinpointed to the night time because
the Hebrew day begins after sunset, whereas the Native American day begins at dawn. The
scriptures even tell us that Jesus was born at night (Luke 2:8), and the Passover feast is timed to be
a night. Thus, this coincidence alone might be enough to convince us that the L.D.S. position that
April 6 is the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ is not without historical foundation.[7]
But there are two more calendars which point to the day as a unique sacred day in history. There are
also Mercury and Venus calendars, which are based on the phases of those planets symbolizing the
four sacred events in the life of Quetzalcoatl of Creation, Birth, Prime, and Resurrection. Those
calendars most likely begin at midnight, when those evening and morning stars can never be seen.
It turns out that the day Wed 5 Apr (midnight to midnight) coincided with "1 Creation" of both of
those cycles, being the first day of each cycle. How often do Passover, 1 Reed, and 1 Creation on
both Mercury and Venus calendars occur at the same time? Only for one 6 hour period in 7,000
years, from sunset to midnight on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC. Thus, there is no doubt in the minds of these
two authors that Jesus Christ was born at that time, as testified by the heavens themselves (Moses
6:63).
2.2 Sun 14 May 1 BC
So when did Mary and Joseph take her son to the temple? On the Hebrew and Judean calendars,
which commence after sunset, the day of his birth would have been Thursday. But on a calendar
beginning at dawn, which was more likely used by Mary and all Galileans,[8] the day would have
been Wed 5 Apr 1 BC. Counting that day as the first day of Jesus's life, the fortieth day would
have been Sun 14 May 1 BC. That date was already indicated as the correct day because it was a
holy day on three sacred calendars: it was 1 Grass on the Sacred Round, 1 Birth on the Mercury
calendar, and Easter on the Enoch Fixed Calendar.[9]
To these three witnesses of that date, we can now add a fourth witness. On the priest cycle, that
morning was 1 Jeshua, the first day on which the priest of the course of Jeshua (Jesus) was
serving. Was that significant? One clue is that the priest temple cycle aligned not with just a
random event, but with the presentation to the temple priest himself. Even so, by itself it could just
be a chance coincidence. It is our experience that when the Lord wants us to know something, he
always provides at least two or three witnesses. Let us now look at some other dates in the life of
Christ for other witnesses that the priest cycle is indeed a divine calendar.
3. Beginning of the Public Ministry
Evidence has already been presented that the Savior's public ministry began on Sat 6 Apr AD 30,
when he came to the temple at Passover and first both taught and did miracles publicly (John
2:23).[10] That day is indicated because it was Passover of the spring following his baptism in the
15th year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1, 21). It turns out that day was also a sacred day on several sacred
calendars, being 13 Monkey on the Sacred Round, and Passover on both the Enoch and the Enoch
Fixed calendars. Thus, it was Passover on three different calendars. The Enoch and Enoch Fixed
calendars only align for a few years every 293 years, so this was also a rare day.
Again we find Jesus at the temple on an important day in his life. And which course began
officiating that day, when Jesus also began officiating in his public ministry? Again, it was the
course of Jeshua.[11] Thus there is another witness both of that date being correct, as well as that
the priest cycle indeed is a sacred calendar, instigated and used by the Lord.
4. The Annunciation
Another important sacred date is the date of the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary at what is
called the Annunciation. It has already been pointed out that there was a spectacular sign in the
heavens which apparently symbolized the conception of Jesus Christ. It was the closest
conjunction in history of the planets Jupiter and Venus near the star Regulus, "The Prince," which
represents Christ. In the ancient symbolism which might harken back to Enoch, Jupiter was the
"Father" god, and Venus was the virgin mother (Isis) of the child god who would rule (Horus).
Thus, a conjunction where those two planets "fused into one" would be a perfect sign of the
conception of Jesus Christ. Indeed, it has been proposed to be the Star of Bethlehem itself. That
conjunction occurred on Tue, 15 Jun, 2 BC.[12]
But what was the date of the Annunciation, presumably a few days before the actual conception?
Until now that date has not been clear, but with the priest cycle, there is one day which presents
itself as the most likely date.
Sun 13 Jun, 2 BC was sacred on at least two calendars. First it was the Feast of Firstfruits on
the Judean calendar of the Sadducees.[13] That is the day associated with the first fruits of the
wheat from the ground. Christ referred to himself as the grain of wheat, which must fall into the
ground and die in order to bring forth much fruit (John 12:24). The grain is also associated with
the seed of woman, which was the great promise to Mother Eve, that her seed would crush the
serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). This is depicted in the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin, who holds
some wheat in her hand. The only bright star in the constellation, Spica (meaning "ear of wheat"),
is found in that wheat, not in the maiden proper. That is significant because the constellations were
apparently revealed by the angel Uriel to the prophet Enoch.[14] Thus, the Feast of Firstfruits is an
appropriate day for the Annunciation to have occurred. It turns out that, as a second witness to the
correctness of that date, that morning was also 1 Jeshua on the priestly cycle. These two witnesses
are perhaps enough to propose that date to have been the Annunciation.
5. Other Dates at the Time of Christ
There are other dates besides those falling on 1 Jeshua that might be significant. It is to noted that
this is a report of research in progress, and it not fully understood by the authors at this time. Any
one of the events being discussed is not conclusive, but the set taken together implies that it may be
a subject worthy of continued research.
5.1 Gabriel's visit to Zacharias
When did Gabriel appear to Zacharias to announce the long desired birth of his son John? This is
one case where the priestly course is explicitly mentioned because Zacharias was of the family of
Abijah (Luke 1:5), the eighth in the series. Luke tells us that he was serving during his family's
turn in the normal order of the priestly cycle, and the lot fell to him to officiate (Luke 1:8). As he
burned the incense, symbolic of prayers ascending to heaven, the angel Gabriel appeared to him
with the glorious news that his prayers for a child had been heard and would soon his wife would
conceive. Their son would be the prophet who would turn many in Israel to accept the Lord. The
rest of the story is well-known, but the question which concerns us is, just when was that visit
made? When did the course of Abijah serve?
The visit of Gabriel to Zacharias occurred about 6 months before his visit to Mary (Luke 1:24-26).
Now that we have a proposed date of Sun 13 Jun 2 BC for the Annunciation to Mary, we can
estimate that it must have been about December of 3 BC that Gabriel appeared to Zacharias. That
creates a rather precise prediction about when the course of Abijah must have served. That course
served for an entire week, but that week only occurred once every 24 weeks, or every 168 days.
That is only about twice per year.
Now that we know when the priestly cycle really was, we can use it for a check on the whole
series of dates proposed for the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, and of the presentation at the
temple.
Calculating when the course of Abijah served, we find a bull's-eye in two ways. First, the course
served from the afternoon of Sat 19 Dec 3 BC through the morning of Sat 26 Dec 3 BC. So that
in itself is a perfect fit, which only has a 2 or 3 week chance in 24 weeks to have been a perfect fit.
Secondly, checking the schedule we see that the week after Abijah served is when Jeshua serves.
Presumably the conception of John the Baptist occurred in that following week, and if so, then
there would be yet another alignment with the course of Jeshua, which by now appears to be the
preferred course for events relating to Jesus. All of the pieces fit perfectly into place, and all testify
that Christ was indeed born on the evening preceding Thu 6 Apr 1 BC.
5.2 The Resurrection: Sun 3 Apr AD 33
The other extremely important event in the Savior's mission was the morning of his resurrection,
which has been dated to Sun 3 Apr AD 33.[15] How does that fit into the priest cycle? It turns
out that the morning was on the day 1 Jachin, which means to "establish" or to "set upright." The
word "resurrect" does not occur in the Old Testament, so it is proposed here that it is not too much
of a stretch of the imagination for us to propose that to "set upright" is close enough to identify it as
corresponding to the "resurrection." Because we are using the fact that the Resurrection occurred
on that day to help us with the translation, we cannot count it as a perfect fit. It turns out, however,
that other dates of resurrection-like events also occurred on the day 1 Jachin, which then become
witnesses both of the correctness of this interpretation, as well as evidence that the Lord actually
uses this calendar.
Let us look at just one "resurrection-like" event; more will come forth later. The date we have
proposed for the First Vision is Sun 26 March 1820.[16] That date could be said to begin the
"Resurrection" or "Restoration" of the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth in these latter days. That
morning was 1 Jachin on the priest cycle. Note that again the timing is down to a fraction of a day.
The afternoon of 26 March would have been 2 Jachin because the day on the priest cycle begins at
noon. Similarly the Resurrection of Christ was in the morning (before dawn), so these calendars
work together to define precise intervals accurate to a quarter day.
Let us now consider one more example of what might be an important date on the priest cycle.
5.3 The Day of Pentecost: Sun 22 May AD 33
The Day of Pentecost occurred fifty days after Passover. That was the Greek name ("Pente"=
"fifty") for the Hebrew Feast of Firstfruits. The Passover after the crucifixion of Christ on Fri 1
Apr AD 33 occurred on Sat 2 Apr AD 33, when he went to liberate the captives of the spirit
prison. That was the great Passover event which the liberation of the captive of Israel in Egypt had
foreshadowed so many centuries before. Counting fifty days after Passover brings us to Sun 22
May AD 33, so there is no question as to when the date of Pentecost was that year[17].
So what priestly course was presiding on the morning of that Pentecost? It was the day 1 Seorim,
when the course of Seorim officiated. "Seorim" means "Barley" or "Grain" which is what the
Feast of Firstfruits is all about: the offering of the firstfruits of the harvest of the winter crop. This
is only one isolated example of a Firstfruits-type event occurring on the right day, but it appears to
be another bull's-eye.
There are other dates which could be checked. The day of the birth of Christ would have been 5
Harim, which we have translated Messiah. That might be significant but it is hard to tell. After all,
we have translated all 24 names to represent Christ, so we could hardly have missed. On the other
hand, Messiah is definitely one of the best. But until there are a series of meaningful birth dates on
that calendar, we assign no importance at all to that one. The other dates discussed in this article
are dates of priesthood ordinances on which we would expect the priesthood calendar to be used.
We have seen no evidence yet that the priest calendar is important for anyone's birth date. On the
other hand, the date of the Savior's baptism falls on "1 Harvest" on the priest cycle. Harvest and
baptism might be a hit, because the Lord speaks of the fields being ready to "harvest," and we
associate that symbolism with baptism. Baptism is a priesthood ordinance, and the symbolism
might apply. Clearly, more research is needed.
6. Conclusion
Much more research needs to be done in this area, but these preliminary results suggest that 1) the
priest cycle does indeed form the basis of a divine calendar, 2) the God actually uses this calendar
as he does his other calendars to schedule events associated with the temple and with priestly
ordinances and feasts, and 3) that this calendar may still be in use today. If so, this calendar is the
seventh sacred calendar which testifies of the precise dates of many key events in the life of Jesus
Christ. Table 2 summarizes the dates of those events on all seven calendars. We have used the
word "Easter" to represent the Hebrew ordinance of the "Offering of the Sheaf of Barley"
representing the firstfruits of the ground, which clearly pointed to Christ's resurrection (1 Cor.
15:23). We also use the proposed translations of the names of the priests.
| Calendar | Birth | Temple | Baptism | Ministry | Resurrection |
|---|
| Gregorian | Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm* | Sun 14 May 1 BC am | Sat 6 Oct AD 29 pm | Sat 6 Apr AD 30 pm | Sun 3 Apr AD 33 am* |
| Hebrew | Passover | — | Atonement | Passover | Easter |
| Enoch | — | — | Atonement | Passover | Easter |
| Enoch Fixed | — | Easter | Atonement | Passover | Easter |
| Sacred Round | 1 Reed | 1 Grass | 13 Water | 13 Monkey | 13 Temple |
| Venus | 1 Creation | — | 0 Prime | — | 1 Resurrection |
| Mercury | 1 Creation | 1 Birth | 0 Creation | — | 1 Creation |
| Priest | — | 1 Savior | 1 Harvest | 1 Savior | 1 Resurrection |
Table 2. Dates of Key Events in the life of Christ on Seven Sacred Calendars. (The * after "am" or "pm" means before dawn or after sunset respectively.)
Notes
- All dates in this article are on our modern Gregorian calendar.
- Pratt, John P., "Mapping Time," American Mathematical Monthly 106 (Jan 2000), pp. 92-99.
- The translations were taken either from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible or from
the LDS Collectors Library CD-ROM (1995). The one exception is "Immer" for which the CD
ROM said the translation was unknown, and Strong gave "talkative" (word 564). But by merely
changing one vowel changing Immer to Immar (word 563), the words translates "Lamb". Because the
original Hebrew texts of the Bible omitted the vowels, that seems like an acceptable correction to
propose.
- Lefgren, John C., April Sixth (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980) and Pratt, John P., "Yet Another Eclipse for Herod," The Planetarian, 19, no. 4 (Dec. 1990), pp. 8-14. The traditionally
accepted time of Christ's birth is from 5-4 BC, based on statements from the historian Josephus
about the length of the reign of Herod, about a lunar eclipse before his death, and about when his
children began to reign. We have both extensively treated these issues, but suffice here to say that
it appears that Josephus was partially wrong. Evidence now implies that King Herod died about
February of AD 1, after the lunar eclipse of 27 Dec 1 BC (there was no year "0"). Herod's
sons reckoned their reigns from when their brother Antipater began a coregency with Herod in 4
BC, for they reigned in his stead after Herod executed him. Herod reigned 37 years, from 37
BC to AD 1, but Josephus mistakenly thought his reign began in 40 BC when Mark Anthony
named him king, and from which time Herod reckoned his reign. Thus, Josephus placed his death
in 3 BC, which has been considered close enough to 4 BC to count the eclipse of 11 Mar 4
BC as that immediately preceding Herod's death.
- Pratt, John P., "Passover, Was it Symbolic of His Coming?" The Ensign, Jan. 1994, pp 38-45.
- Pratt, John P., "A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies of
Christ," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001).
- The traditional L.D.S. birth date for Jesus Christ of 6 Apr 1 BC is based on the Church having
been "born" exactly 1,830 years after the birth of Jesus Christ (D&C 20:1). Indeed, two L.D.S.
prophets have declared in General Conference that 6 April on our calendar is the anniversary of his
birth, with the year 1 BC being implied. See Harold B. Lee, Ensign (July 1973), p. 2, and
Spencer Kimball Ensign (May, 1980), p. 54.
- We have each discussed evidence supporting a proposed Galilean calendar in April Sixth (pp.
43-45) and "Dating the First Easter" The Ensign (June, 1985), section 2.4.
- Pratt, John P., "Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ" Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2001), section 5.
- Pratt, John P., "Passover, Was it Symbolic of His Coming?" The Ensign, Jan. 1994, section 6.2.
- This is not an independent occurrence because the priest cycle is locked into the Enoch Fixed
Calendar. The same priest will preside on the same day of the Enoch Fixed calendar of 364-days
every 6 years because 6 x 364 days = 13 x 168 days. Thirty years happens to be exactly 5 sets of
six years of 364 days each, so it is the fact the Christ chose to begin his public ministry exactly 30
Enoch fixed years after his presentation of the temple which insured that the Jeshua priest would be
officiating. But it is still a meaningful coincidence because 30 years is prescribed in the law of
Moses as the correct time (Num. 4:3,23,30), and that was his 30th birthday on the Hebrew
Calendar.
- Pratt, John P., "The Star of Bethlehem's Forerunner," Meridian Magazine (28 Nov 2000).
- The two Jewish sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees disagreed on their interpretation of when
to hold the Sheaf Offering, and hence Pentecost which was the 50 day thereafter. The Sadducees
held it on the Sunday after Passover (which now appears to be correct), while the Pharisees made
the offering on the day after Passover, being 16 Nisan. For references, see "Symbolism of Passover and of Elijah's Return," The Ensign (July, 1985), fn. 6.
- Pratt, John P., "The Constellations Testify of Christ," Meridian Magazine (9 Oct 2001),
section 1.8.
- Pratt, John P., "Dating the First Easter."
- Pratt, John P., "Enoch Calendar: Another Witness of the Restoration," Meridian Magazine (5
Aug 2002), section 1.1; and Lefgren, John C. "Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning: Sun 26 Mar 1820?" Meridian Magazine (9 Oct 2002).
- That year the Pharisees and Sadducees agreed on the date that year.