Limhi, Alma, and Passover Patterns
by John P. Pratt
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (12 Oct 2005).
©2005 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
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The Book of Mormon and sacred calendars provide keys to understand the patterns
of the Biblical Exodus.
One of the strongest types or patterns in the Book of Mormon is that of an exodus similar to that of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This recurring pattern is interesting not only because of the similarites to the archetype for which the book of Exodus was named, but also because of many differences. Some of those differences are now explained in this article because the Lord's sacred calendars provide the keys to understand two separate Passover patterns more fully.
1. Exodus Examples
First let us review three cases of the Lord delivering his people to discover some of the essential
elements of what could be called "Passover Patterns." There are many examples of
exodus/passover events from which to choose, including Lehi's departure from Jerusalem, the
meridian Passover at which the Savior was born and the believing Nephites were delivered from
death, the great Passover at which the Savior delivered the captives from the spirit prison, the time
when Joshua passed over the Jordan River into the promised land, and even the exodus of the ten
tribes from their captivity in Assyria,[1] and their future return when a highway will be cast up in the midst of the great deep for their deliverance from obscurity and captivity into light and freedom.[2] In an effort to keep this article short and simple, let us pass over all of those examples and focus only on three: the Exodus from Egypt, and the deliverances of both King Limhi and also of Alma as described in the Book of Mormon (Mos. 22, 24). Sacred calendars are employed to explain the differences in the details of the deliverances and increase our understanding of the Passover Patterns.
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The Israelites pass over to freedom.
1.1 Exodus from Egypt
The Exodus of the enslaved Israelites from Egypt is the classic archetype of Passover. We are told
the story in the Bible in some detail (Ex. 12-14), but it is not clear just which parts of the history are essential to the pattern and which are incidental. It is only by looking at what is included in several incidences of deliverances that the entire pattern emerges.
Many mighty works and wonders were done for Pharaoh to convince him to let the children of
Israel leave their slavery in Egypt. The tenth plague was that all of the firstborn of Egypt died on
the night that began the Passover week that year. The Lord "passed over" the houses which were
marked to be saved by the blood of the lamb, and they were spared. Pharaoh then commanded
the Israelites to leave quickly, lest even more die. Later Pharaoh had a change of heart and decided
to pursue the escaped slaves and restore them to captivity. He caught up with them on the shores
of the Red Sea. That night the east wind blew all night while a pillar of fire prevented Pharaoh
from attacking. On the seventh day, the Red Sea was parted and the Israelites passed over on dry
ground. When Pharaoh followed, he and his army perished as the sea returned to its place.
1.2 Limhi
Now let us apply this pattern to the story of the deliverance of the people of Limhi from captivity as
described in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 22). First of all, note that the Book of Mormon leaves
absolutely no doubt that this is a classic pattern of the exodus, or Passover Pattern. For example, a phrase similar to "Lord delivering them from bondage" is used almost every time the account is mentioned.
The people of King Limhi found themselves enslaved by the Lamanites, having to pay a stiff 50%
income tax. When Ammon came from Zarahemla in the fourth year of King Mosiah's reign, they
looked to him to deliver them from bondage. The plan was proposed to get the guards drunk
and to have the captives all escape through the back pass to the city. The plan was executed
like clockwork and the people escaped with their animals and goods. The next morning the guards
and city awoke and pursued them, but amazingly they lost the tracks of thousands of people and
animals, and indeed they themselves became lost in the wilderness. In other words, the pursuers were unable to follow the path of the righteous. But Limhi's group did successfully walk the path back to the desired land of Zarahemla, and entered its gate to live in peace and safety.
Meanwhile, the Lamanite pursuers, lost in the wilderness, stumbled first upon the village of Amulon, headed by the escaped priests of King Noah. After they joined forces, the combined group
next discovered the town of Helam, where Alma's followers had been living for some time. The
Lamanites captured the town and put the wicked priest Amulon as head taskmaster over Alma's
people. Thus, Alma's people became enslaved also.
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Israelites passed over the Jordan River.
1.3 Alma
After an unspecified amount of time, the oppressed people of Alma prayed unto the Lord for
deliverance. Finally the Lord answered their prayer, and told Alma he would deliver them from
captivity. This time, instead of using wine to get the guards drunk, the Lord said he would
accomplish the same thing by simply putting the guards, and indeed all of the Lamanites, to sleep.
The people prepared for their escape all through the night, then the Lamanites continued to sleep all
during the next day, while the people of Alma escaped and traveled all that day to the Valley of
Alma.
Then the next day the Lamanites all awoke and discovered that their slaves had bolted, so they
began in hot pursuit after them. That day, while the people of Alma were rejoicing and
praising the Lord for their freedom, their festivities were interrupted when the Lord advised Alma
that the Lamanites had awakened, and his group must make haste to avoid being recaptured. He
was promised that as soon as they had left the Valley of Alma, that the Lord would stop the enemy
there, and their deliverance would be complete. That happened, and the people of Alma followed the path back to the desired destination of Zarahemla, where they too entered the gate to live in a city of peace and safety.
1.4 Similarities and Differences
There are some obvious similarities and differences in the details provided in these three accounts.
Similarities include the fact that all three groups were captive Israelites. After each group cried
sufficiently to the Lord for help, a deliverer was sent, who led the people out of captivity. In all
three cases, the enemy finally began to pursue them, but was then stopped by the Lord, completing
their escape from bondage.
One thing that prompted this article was the desire to explain some of the obvious differences. It
was surprising to me that in two of these three cases, the captors were stupefied, either by drink or
sleep, into letting the captives escape. If that had happened in only one case, it would not be so
unusual, but it was mysterious to me that the Lord used this method twice, when it seemed to have
nothing to do with the pattern established in the Exodus from Egypt.
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The Ten Tribes pass over to Zion.
Now let us turn to calculating the precise dates of the deliverance of Limhi and Alma. While
those exact dates may not be especially important to know, they will explain what the
sleeping symbolism is all about, and even show how it is in the story of the Exodus from Egypt,
but has been overlooked. Once we understand it, it adds greatly to the Passover symbolism, and
might also help us recognize possible future exodus patterns, such as the return of the Ten Tribes, and perhaps even the return of the Latter-day Saints from the wilderness to redeem Zion (D&C 101:56-58).
2. Passover Dates
Now let us propose precise dates for all of these events, and see what is implied by the Lord's
sacred calendars. Before doing so, let us review the symbolism of Passover season on the Hebrew calendar.
2.1 Easter and Passover
There are four important sacred days associated with Passover. The first is 10 Nisan (the tenth day
of the first month of spring), the day on which the sacrificial lamb is chosen and set apart (Ex. 12:3). That day was not designated to be a holy day in the law of Moses, but a variety of important events has led me to count it with the holy days, and to name it "Consecration." The next holy day is Passover, 15 Nisan, or
more formally, "The First Day of Passover." The sacred Passover meal is eaten on the preceding
evening after the sacrifice of the lamb on that afternoon, and no leavened bread is eaten during the
entire Passover week following. The last, or seventh day of Passover, 21 Nisan, ends the sacred week. It is also a
sacred day of rest, on which there is a holy convocation. The fourth important day is Easter, which
on the Hebrew calendar is the Sunday following Passover.[3] It usually falls sometime
during the Passover week, but if Passover falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the following Sunday,
after the entire Passover week has concluded. In the law of Moses, it was not a holy day, but there
was a special ceremony called the Waving of the Omer, which was an offering of the firstfruits of
the ground. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it became clear that this waving on Sunday
morning was symbolic of the rising of Jesus from the dead, as the firstfruits of them that slept. In
my reckoning of holy days, that day is simply called Easter (it nearly always coincides with our
Easter) and is treated as if it had been a holy day from the beginning. Thus there are four holy days
associated with Passover.
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The path requires obedience.
2.2 The Exodus
Precise dates have already been derived for the Exodus from Egypt. The Bible makes it clear that
the Exodus occurred on a Thursday, because the manna began to fall 31 days later on a Sunday, establishing the pattern of the week. Counting back 31 days
from a Sunday brings one to Thursday. The precise date indicated on our calendar is Thu 9 Apr 1462 BC.[4] Looking at the sacred calendars for that date tells us that there was only one really important day that spring, as far as being a holy day on multiple sacred calendars. That was the night the
wind parted the Red Sea, Tue 14 Apr 1462 BC, which was a holy day simultaneously on at least
four sacred calendars. It began the Last Day of Passover (Hebrew), and was 1 Wind (Sacred
Round), 1 Birth (Venus), 1 Creation (Mercury). That made it a rare day indeed and a
major miracle occurred on that day.
As for the other days, Consecration was a double holy day, being also Passover on the Enoch
calendar. That is not very unusual, and that day is only mentioned as having the lamb chosen that
day, which is just part of the standard ceremony. Easter Sunday was not particularly
special that year, being holy on only one other calendar (the Priest cycle).
2.3 Limhi
What allows this entire study to be done is that the precise year of the deliverance of the people of
Limhi is implied in the Book of Mormon. We are explicitly told that after King Benjamin's son
Mosiah had reigned for three years, that Ammon led a party of sixteen to see if he could discover
the people that Zeniff had led back to the land of Nephi many years earlier (Mos. 7:1-2). After
Ammon successfully found them, the account seems to imply that it was not more than a month or
so before the people were delivered.
Fortunately, one of the few precise dates known in the Book of Mormon is that of the great speech
of King Benjamin at the Feast of Tabernacles, where he announced that his son Mosiah would
immediately become the new king. That speech was almost certainly given on Sat, 2 Oct 126
BC.[5] If so, then the three years of peace which followed would have been 125 to 123 BC and we should look for Limhi's flock to have been freed in late 123 BC or in 122 BC.
That brings us to the calendrical hypothesis. Because the Book of Mormon emphasizes so clearly the
Passover pattern in Limhi's escape, should we not look to the very week of Passover 122 BC for the rescue of Limhi to have occurred? The people of Limhi were keeping the law of Moses which celebrates that very concept. Would they not have prayed to the Lord especially hard at that time for deliverance?
So the idea suggests itself to look at the calendar to see if anything interesting was happening at
Passover in 122 BC. Were there any special alignments that year, such as several sacred calendars
lining up with simultaneous holy days, such as happened at the exodus from Egypt?
The answer is a resounding yes! There was something very special about two days of Passover
that year, which is a confirmation both of the year and exact time of the event. Passover itself was
on Tue 25 Mar 122 BC. That day was apparently not significant at all on other sacred calendars,
and the day Consecration was not special either.
Easter Sunday of Passover week, however, was an extremely significant day. Easter Sunday
morning (Sun 30 Mar 122 BC am) was also 13 Grass (Sacred Round), where Grass refers to new
grass growing out of a dead skull, symbolic of the resurrection. It was also 0 Prime (Mercury), 1
Spring (New Year's Day, Enoch), and 1 Autumn (Trumpets, Enoch Fixed). Moreover, it was the
holy day that begins the Priest cycle, 1 Jehoiarib. So it was a holy day on six sacred calendars,
with that of the Sacred Round being especially symbolic of death and resurrection. Moreover, it
was in the sacred year of the Winter Equinox (0 WINTER) on the Enoch Fixed calendar, so it was
a rare date indeed.
The next day, Mon 31 Mar 122 BC, was not only the Last Day of Passover, it was also 1 Reed on
the Sacred Round, symbolic of the completion of the Resurrection, and the day of birth of Jesus
Christ. It was also 1 Prime (Mercury), so it was holy on three sacred calendars, again with special
emphasis on the resurrection.
So how does any of this help explain anything in the history of Limhi's exodus? Should we
conclude that the deliverance happened during Passover that year or not? Before deciding, let us
look for the date of Alma's deliverance.
2.4 Alma
The Hebrew and Enoch calendars sometimes approximately repeat after three years, and such was
the case after Limhi. In fact, the calendar three years later was even more impressive than for the
escape of Limhi. Could Alma's deliverance have occurred three years after Limhi's? Yes, because
three years gives ample time for Amulon to have oppressed the entire town of Helam enough for
the inhabitants to have been crying mightily to the Lord for deliverance. So let us look at that date
more closely.
First of all, the calendar was the same in that Consecration and Passover were not impressive, but
Easter and the Last Day of Passover were. Easter morning that year (Sun 26 Mar 119 BC am) was
holy on seven sacred calendars, being also 13 Dragon (SR), 0 Cre (Mer), 0 Birth (Venus), 1 Spr
(Enoch), 1 Aut (EF), and 1 Hup (Priest). The next day was not only the Last Day of Passover, it
was also 1 Serpent (SR), 1 Birth (Venus) and 1 Creation (Mercury). Even though that is only four
sacred calendars, what is impressive is that three of those four dates are identical to the Last Day of
Passover at the Exodus from Egypt. In particular, that day was also the Last Day of Passover, 1
Birth (Venus) and 1 Creation (Mercury).
Just how rare is such an alignment of those three calendars? These calendars are discussed in more
detail in my earlier articles, but here let it suffice to say that the day 1 Birth (Venus) only
coincides with the Last Day of Passover about twice in 584 years, and for that day to also begin the
Mercury cycle, one must wait about 2,628 years on the average. That means we would only
expect about three such dates to occur in the 7,000 years of the earth's temporal existence (D&C
77:6).
That statistic prompted me to do an exhaustive search to find all such dates. Using my current
models for those three calendars, there are only three dates between 4000 BC and AD 3000 on
which the Last Day of Passover coincides with 1 Birth (Venus) and 1 Creation (Mercury). That is
exactly the number we would expect. Two of those three dates are Tue 14 Apr 1462 BC pm* and
Mon 27 Mar 119 BC.
To me the fact that there are only three such dates in history, and that the Parting of the Red Sea
occurred on one, and a very likely date for Alma's deliverance occurs on another, is very strong
evidence that we have indeed found the time of Alma's deliverance.
2.5 Argument for Design
Here is the where the argument for the Lord's designing the solar
system to be a great master clock comes in. If chance ruled the universe, then were would expect
three occurrences of such a date in 7,000 years, and indeed we have found three. That alone does
not imply there is a God. But when we find that one of those dates occurs precisely on the very
day indicated by totally separate evidence[6] to
have been the day of the parting of the Red Sea, then that is strong evidence that the Venus and
Mercury calendars are important in the Lord's plan and that it was not a chance coincidence, but rather a demonstration of the foreknowledge of God. Now we find that the
second such date fits perfectly with another scriptural account of a very similar deliverance by the
Redeemer from bondage. To me that is astounding and leaves no doubt in my mind that we have
found the correct timing of Alma's deliverance. That is totally beyond random chance.
3. Passover Patterns
Now let us turn to just how these sacred calendars can help explain the anomalies in the accounts
of the exodus of Limhi and Alma. In particular, what is the significance of the guards getting
drunk or going to sleep? Is that part of the Passover Pattern or not?
To explain this, let me introduce a guiding principle the might help explain it.
3.1 Sacred Day Principle
Let me here suggest what could be called the "Sacred Day Principle":
The symbolism of sacred events often matches the symbolism of the
sacred days on which they occur.
As an example of what I mean by that, recall that there are four sacred days every year during the
Passover season. Sometimes one of those four days is especially sacred because it is
simultaneously a sacred day on several other sacred calendars. In some years two or three of those days
may be especially sacred. The Sacred Day Principle states that if there are special sacred events in
those years, the events will often be especially appropriate for the most sacred days. Let us look at some examples.
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The Passover Pattern requires obedience.
3.2 The Exodus
Let us apply the Sacred Day Principle to the events of the Exodus from Egypt. There was really
only one extremely sacred day that year, and it was the Last Day of Passover. That was the day on
which the arm of the Lord was truly made bare in showing forth his power of deliverance, by not
only parting the Red Sea, but also by entirely destroying Pharaoh's army. The slaying of the
firstborn of Egypt on the evening of Passover was also a great miracle, but it was much more
subtle, with the arm of the Lord still remaining rather hidden. If there is any doubt in your mind as
to which was the greater miracle, ask yourself, "When was the climax of the movie The Ten
Commandments?" Surely it was the dramatic Parting of the Red Sea.
Now consider the details of just how the Red Sea was parted. That was
accomplished by the east wind blowing all during the previous night (Ex. 14:21). What day was
that? It was the day "1 Wind" on the Sacred Round. The Sacred Day Principle suggests that
one reason the wind was chosen to do the miracle was because it was to occur on 1 Wind. Or perhaps the day 1 Wind was chosen to match the miracle. Either way, the miracle was appropriate for that sacred day. If that were the only example, it could be a chance coincidence, but when we see that the Savior was baptized on "13 Water," transfigured on "13 Light," and the Brazen Serpent was raised on "13 Serpent",[7] then we recognize that the meanings of the day names can closely relate to the events.
3.3 Limhi and Alma
Now let us return to the unusual way in which the escape was effected for both Limhi and Alma.
That was accomplished by the guards being drunk or asleep respectively, after which in both cases
they awoke and pursued. Now, in the light of both the proposed calendar dates and the Sacred
Day Principle, we can see that such an unusual event fits the Passover Pattern perfectly for the following reason.
In the scriptures sleep is symbolic of death, and awakening represents the resurrection. At the time of the escapes of Limhi and Alma, the big days in both cases were Easter Sunday and the Last Day
of Passover. Thus, the Sacred Day Principle would suggest that the miracle done in both cases
might have to do with going to sleep and then awakening. This is emphasized all the more in the
case of Limhi, in which case both of those days on the Sacred Round, 13 Grass and 1 Reed,
symbolize the Resurrection. Thus, based on that principle, it is proposed that in both cases, the
guards awoke on Easter Sunday morning (symbolic of the resurrection) and pursued until they were stopped the next day on the Last Day of Passover.
In the case of Alma, we are not told exactly how the Lord stopped the Lamanites at the (probably
straight and narrow) Valley of Alma (Mos. 24:23), but the Sacred Day Principle would suggest that it might have been accomplished with serpents, because the proposed day was "1 Serpent."
3.4 The Egyptians Awaken
Now let us return to the account of the Exodus to recognize a detail which has apparently been entirely
overlooked until now. Is there any parallel in the Biblical account of the Exodus to the Book of Mormon report of drunken or stupefied guards awakening? The answer is definitely
"Yes!" After Pharaoh had commanded Moses to get his people, flocks and herds out of Egypt just
as fast as possible (Ex. 12:32-33), a few days later he and other Egyptians had an experience like awakening from a stupor of thought. They asked themselves, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" (Ex. 14:5). Is that not similar to an awakening?
To verify this parallel to the accounts of Limhi and Alma, let us determine just when the
Egyptians awoke from their stupor of thought. Moses had already told Pharaoh that the Lord had commanded
him to make a three day trip into the wilderness to make a sacrifice (Ex. 8:27). Of course, even
Moses probably did not know at that time that it was the Egyptians who would be sacrificed there.
The Bible also explains that on the first night (Thursday night) they camped at Succoth, on the next
night they camped at Etham, and on the next night (Saturday) they camped on the shore of the Red
Sea. The location was apparently at the end of a narrow valley, where the Egyptians would see
that they were entrapped by the canyon walls (Ex. 13:20, 14:2).
But just when was it that the Egyptians awoke from their stupor of thought? For this date we must
turn to the Book of Jasher.[8] It explains that it took the Egyptians three days to bury all of their
dead, and that after that they remembered that Moses had said he was only going a three-day
journey into the wilderness. They then said, "Now therefore, let us rise up early in the morning
and cause them to return . . . And all the nobles of Pharaoh rose up in the morning, . . ." (Jasher
81:6-11). That would mean that they arose on Easter Sunday morning, the proper time to awake and arise!
Thus we see that there is indeed a parallel to the stupor, caused by the vast number slain, and the
subsequent awakening of the Egyptians in the story of the Exodus. Moreover, the awakening
occurred precisely on Easter Sunday morning, the appropriate time to awake and arise. Thus, "awakening" is clearly part of a Passover pattern.
3.5 Proposed Dates
With these parallels in mind, we can now propose precise dates for the escapes of Limhi and Alma.
The key to both is that the "awakening" of the enemy would have been on Easter Sunday morning.
So Limhi's group escaped on the evening preceding Easter Sunday, and Alma's group would have
escaped all during the day before Easter. In both cases, the pursuit began on Easter Sunday
morning, and in both cases the Lord miraculously stopped the chase on the next day, which was
the Last Day of Passover.
4. Two Passover Patterns
Let us now summarize what appear to be two separate passover patterns. Our Savior, Redeemer and Deliverer, Jesus Christ, rescued us from two separate deaths, physical and spiritual, and there appears to be one pattern for each. Both of these victories occurred at the time of Passover, and both are associated with Passover. That is most likely because both represent a transition ("passing over") from one kind of death to either everlasting or eternal life. Let us look at the pattern for each.
4.1 The Easter Pattern
The Savior overcame physical death through the Resurrection. He gives that gift of immortality freely to all. No obedience nor other action is required to resurrect and to live in our physical bodies forever. No journey is involved, it all happens very quickly and without effort. The symbolic pattern appears to be very simple. It is that a) everyone is asleep, representing death, b) there is a long trumpet blast and/or an earthquake and/or the sun rises, and then c) everyone awakens, symbolic of the resurrection. That is all there is to it, as far as it appears at present. It just happens as easily as waking up from sleep. As for the timing on the calendar, it occurs on Easter Sunday morning at sunrise.
4.2 The Passover Pattern
The Savior also conquered spiritual death, meaning being subject to Satan, and not being saved in any kingdom of God. Jesus offers all mankind a way to be saved from sin and to enter into his Father's kingdom. This pathway requires much effort on the part of the individual. He must be born again, repenting of past bondage to sin and begin on the path of righteousness by passing through the narrow gate of baptism. Then one must continue walking the path by keeping the commandments and avoiding sin. At the end of following that straight and narrow path throughout life, if one remains faithful to the end, then the reward is to enter the Kingdom of God and to have an eternal life of joy and peace. With that in mind, the Passover Pattern appears to be as follows.
Captives are enslaved and in bondage to a cruel taskmaster. After pleading in prayer for salvation, a hero comes to rescue them. He bids them follow him through a narrow gate which has two sides, like all gates. On the one hand, it is the guarded exit from captivity, which cannot prevail against them with his miraculous help. On the other hand, it is also the entrance to the way to salvation, leading from darkness and bondage to light and freedom. He then leads them with power on a straight and narrow pathway through the wilderness. Only the righteous can walk on the path, which requires believing in him enough to obey his directions. Once on the path, the forces of evil pursue them and try to bring them back into captivity. If they endure to the end of "passing over" the path, they finally pass through another gate to enter the promised land of milk and honey, where peace and joy await. At that point, the forces of evil are overcome once and for all, forever unable to enter that kingdom.
On the calendar, the full Passover pattern is represented by a) an escape from bondage through a narrow gate on the First Day of Passover, b) a one week journey of righteousness, represented by eating unleavened bread, fleeing the forces of evil, and finally c) the Last Day of Passover when the forces of evil are totally overcome and one arrives at the promised destination of joy and peace where evil can no longer enter.
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Is not birth a "passover" event?
4.3 Nested Patterns
Note that Passover Patterns can be nested, with smaller ones fitting inside of larger ones. For example, the entire pattern was fulfilled in only one week as Moses led the Exodus from Egypt. But instead of having arrived immediately in the promised land, he had only entered a larger wilderness. The Israelites had to spend forty years in that wilderness until they (or the next generation) had learned to keep the commandments and have faith in God. Then during another Passover season, Joshua finally delivered them to the promised land of milk and honey with another crossing via another narrow path through the Jordan River which miraculously opened for him. Thus, one long forty-year passover had two little passovers at both the beginning and the end.
Another example is life itself. Birth is a "passover" event when the unborn child passes from the captivity and darkness of the womb over into a world of freedom and light by traversing a narrow passage. But then that life turns out to be a wilderness that must be crossed, hopefully by following a straight and narrow path of righteousness. Then at the end, one must again pass through a tunnel in another small passover-like event to enter into the next kingdom.
5. Conclusion
The Book of Mormon provides several parallels to the Biblical account of the Exodus of the
Israelites from Egypt. Two notable examples are the deliverances from bondage of King Limhi's
people and those of Alma. Both of those accounts involved the prison guards being stupefied,
either by drunkenness or sleep, then awakening and pursuing the fleeing captives. This article
concludes that, rather than being an exception to the passover pattern, the "awakening" is definitely
a part of it. When sacred calendars are applied to discover the actual dates of occurrence, it is seen that the awakening in all cases occurred on Easter Sunday morning, symbolic of when the dead awake
from their slumber of death. In the case of the Exodus from Egypt, that detail corresponded to the
Easter Sunday morning, three days after the Israelites left, when the Egyptians "awakened" from their
stupor and wondered why he had ever let their slaves go. Their three-day pursuit then began,
ending at the parting of the Red Sea. In the case of both Limhi and Alma, Easter Sunday occurred
only one day before the Last Day of Passover, and both of those days were multiple holy days on
sacred calendars. The Sacred Day Principle was introduced, which suggests that the key events of
each deliverance should occur on the most holy days. Thus, those deliverances apparently
occurred on those two days, with the guards awakening on Easter morning and the final deliverance from the pursuers on the next day, being the Last Day of Passover. It was also proposed that there are two separate Passover patterns: the Easter Pattern symbolic of the Savior's conquering physical death, and the Passover Pattern, symbolic of overcoming spiritual death.
Notes
- In the Apocrypha, it is reported that an angel showed Ezra how the Ten Tribes escaped from Assyria across the Euphrates river at a narrow spot. The river was said to have parted like the River Jordan for them to pass over to freedom. ( 2 Esdras 13:40-46 ) While not all scholars accept Esdras as authoritative, it is interesting to note that it hits the bull's-eye with several details, such as crossing at a narrow place, which will be seen to be part of the Passover Pattern.
- Pratt, John P., "A Volcanic Highway for the Lost Tribes?," Meridian Magazine (15 Sep 2005).
- The commandment in Lev. 23:11 was not clear to some, so the Pharisees interpreted Easter to always be the second day of Passover (as on the modern Hebrew Calendar), whereas the Sadducees said it meant the Sunday after Passover. My research indicates that the Sadducees were correct.
- Pratt, John P., "Exodus Date Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (7 Oct 2003).
- Pratt, John P., "The Nephite Calendar," Section 4.2, Meridian Magazine (14 Jan 2004).
- The date of the Exodus was calculated as being 430 years to the very day from the beginning of the sojourn of Israel (Ex. 12:40-41), that is, from the birth of Jacob.
- One can find the reference to where I derive any specific date published by looking it up on my "Religious Chronology Summary."
- Pratt, John P., "How Did the Book of Jasher Know?," Meridian Magazine (7 Jan 2002).