Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
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Old Covenant Israel had seven holidays that were prescribed by God. These seven holidays are discussed throughout the Bible, in both Testaments. But only in Leviticus 23 are all seven holidays listed in chronological sequence. These seven holidays are called the "Feasts of Yahweh." These seven annual feasts are:
1. Passover
2. Unleavened Bread
3. First Fruits
4. Pentecost
These are the Spring Feast and picture the Lord's First Coming. They are a type of His death and its deliverance, His resurrection and Pentecost.
5. Trumpets
6. Day of Atonement
7. Feast of Tabernacles
These are the Fall Feast and picture the Lord's Second Coming. They relate to the regathering, and restoration of Israel followed by the Christ's Second Coming.
'These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. Leviticus 23:4 NASB
The words "appointed times" are from the Hebrew mow'ed, which means: "fixed times, to meet at a stated time." The words "holy convocations" is the Hebrew miqra, which means: "rehearsal." The Feasts of Yahweh were appointed times of worship for Israel that would serve as "dress rehearsals" of prophetic events that were to happen in the future. Through these Feasts God was showing Israel what He was going to do. They were pictures of their coming Messiah and His work.
We looked last week at the: Feast of Passover: Passover occurs in the spring of the year, on the 14th day of the Hebrew month Nisan (March/April). Passover is a type, or picture of something much greater--it pictured the redemption of God's elect through the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God, the Lord Yeshua. In the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan, at exactly 3:00 p.m. the Passover lamb was to be killed. And Yeshua, our Lamb, was killed on the very same day, at the very same time as the Passover lamb: the 14th of Nisan at 3:00p.m.The lamb was the type, and Yeshua is the antitype.
The whole Levitical System was a type of Christ, illustrating His person and work that was to come. Yeshua Himself testified to the fact that the Tanakh pointed to Him in:
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. John 5:39-40 NASB
The Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures, all point to the coming of Christ the Redeemer.
These feasts are clustered according to the rainy season in Israel. Passover, the Feast of Unleavened bread, First fruits, and Pentecost come under a period known as the latter rain. The latter rain brings forth the beginning of the harvest, it comes in the spring. Then you have a four month or 120 day dry season, which I believe represents the building of the Church between Pentecost and A.D. 70. This four month period represents the forty year second exodus. Then we have the former rain that occurs during the end time Feasts of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. Hopefully, we will see that these feasts represent the fall of Jerusalem, the end of Old Covenant Israel, and the establishment of the New Heavens and Earth where God's tabernacle is with men. Hosea explains to us that the latter rain comes first, then the former rain:
Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. Hosea 6:3 NKJV
The crops that were gathered at the beginning of the harvest season were called "first fruits" (Ex. 23:16). There are the first fruits of the barley harvest, which represents Yeshua the Christ, and then fifty days later at Pentecost there are the first fruits of the wheat harvest, which is the Church. You've got to get your first fruits straight; there are two different sets of first fruits. The crops gathered at the end of the harvest season were known as the summer fruit:
Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. "The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day," declares the Lord GOD. "Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence." Amos 8:1-3 NASB
The Hebrew word for "summer fruit" is qets (ky-its) which means: "end." It was the last harvest in Palestine. It has the idea of completeness. This vision of a basket of summer fruit is symbolic of Israel's end. These Fall Feasts picture the end of physical Israel at the end of the forty year second exodus.
The second Spring Feast is the: Feast of Unleavened Bread
'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 'But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to . On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'" Leviticus 23:6-8 NASB
Yahweh appointed another feast that was to begin the very next day after Passover, on the fifteenth of the Hebrew month, Nisan. It is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was to last for seven days. Seven being the number of completion, perfection. On the first night, and again on the seventh, there was to be a high Sabbath.
After the Passover lambs were slain and the blood put on the doorposts, God protected the Israelites in their homes. But throughout Egypt a loud wailing was heard that night as thousands of firstborn Egyptians died. Finally, Pharaoh was willing to let his Israelite slaves go. It was now the 15th.
'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:13 NASB
The word "sign" is from the Hebrew word oth (oat), which means "the sign" or "the seal." In ancient Hebrew, as in Chinese and ancient Egyptian, the characters are pictures that indicate the character's meaning. Examining the Hebrew letters of the word oth we get alef, meaning: "leader," vav meaning "nail," and tav meaning: "cross." The blood placed on the doorpost on Passover signifies "the Leader nail[ed] [to the] cross."
The tribes of Israel gathered and started out of Egypt the night of the 15th of the first month (on the Hebrew calendar), the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They had no time to let their bread rise, which was fitting since God commanded them not to eat leavened bread during that feast.
The Bible gives only three instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Special sacrifices were to be offered in the Temple each day of the feast, according to Leviticus 23:8; Numbers 28:19-24.The first and seventh days of the feast were Sabbaths with prohibitions on all work (Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 23:7-8; Numbers 28:25; Deut. 16:8).
Another requirement was the prohibition of ANY leaven. No less than six different passages emphasize the prohibition of leaven during this feast (Exodus 12:14-20; 13:6-8, 23:15, 34:18; Leviticus 23:6; Deut. 16:3 & 8).
Not only is the eating of leavened foods (such as bread and rolls) forbidden during the feast, but even the presence of leaven within one's house is unlawful. Yahweh commanded Moses:
'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. Exodus 12:15 NASB
Disobedience to the divine command carried the death penalty. Another command stated:
"Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. Exodus 13:7 NASB
The clarity of God's command allows no room for debate. Any leaven, no matter how small the amount or how discreet its presence, is not permitted during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is not enough to simply refrain from eating leaven, or from touching leaven, or even from looking at leaven by storing it away in a hidden place. All leaven must be purged out. Failure to do so brought death.
Did Yeshua celebrate the Passover meal before He died? Last week Lisa asked the question, "Was the Last Supper a Passover meal celebrated a day early?" To answer this question let's look at what the Passover means in Exodus. Talking about the Passover lamb it says:
'They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 'And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste--it is the LORD'S Passover. Exodus 12:8-11 NASB
What was the main part of the Passover meal? It was the lamb. When was the lamb killed? Our text says, "at twilight"--the literal Hebrew reads: "between the two evenings." The phrase, "between the evening" (from Exodus 12:6), refers to the period of the day that goes from noon to 6:00 p.m., which is exactly 3:00 p.m. on the 14th of Nisan. The lamb was a type and the antitype was Yeshua, the Lamb of God who was killed on the very same day, at the very same time as the Passover lamb: the 14th of Nisan at 3:00p.m.
The exact same Hebrew phrase, "between the evenings," is used in Exodus 29:38, 39 to describe the time the second daily sacrifice was to be offered. The first of the daily continual burnt offerings was offered at 9 A.M. in the morning, and the second daily offering was at 3 P.M. Josephus, the Jewish historian, stated that the evening sacrifice was at the ninth hour (our 3 P.M.) (Antiquities, 14, 4, 3).
So the Passover lamb was slain toward the end of the fourteenth day of Nisan at 3 P.M. It was then prepared and roasted during the three hours yet remaining of the fourteenth day; the fifteenth day beginning at 6 P.M. It was the Passover lamb that was actually the meal that was eaten the night of the fifteenth (Exodus 12:8). This is also called the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They were to eat the meal in haste, with staff in hand and all dressed ready to leave for a journey quickly (Exodus 12:11).
So our Lord could not have eaten the Passover meal a day early because you can't eat the Passover meal with the lamb and the lamb wasn't killed until the last hours of the day of Passover. The Last supper is not Passover. The Last Supper was in the first hours of Passover.
We must keep in mind that the Hebrew community, taking its cues from Genesis 1 where the Bible says, "...the evening and the morning were the first day," observes their days as starting at sundown; normally at 6:00, but formally at sundown. They do not view midnight to midnight as a day, as we do; but from sundown to sundown. So the 14th of Nisan began at sundown. After the sun had set is when they celebrated the Lord's Supper. But the Passover meal was not eaten until after sundown on the 15th.
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Yeshua knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1 NASB
This text then goes into the details of the Lord's Supper. So we see that the Lord's Supper was "...before the Feast of the Passover." It's easy to establish from the fourth Gospel that the people of Israel did not eat their Passover meal until sometime after Yeshua partook of the Last Supper:
Then they led Yeshau from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. John 18:28 NASB
This is obviously after the Last Supper and the Jewish leaders had not yet eaten the Passover. During the Last Supper the Lord sent Judas out and our text says:
For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Yeshua was saying to him, "Buy the things we have need of for the feast"; or else, that he should give something to the poor. John 13:29 NASB
Some of the disciples thought that Yeshua was telling Judas to go buy things for the Passover Feast, which was yet future for them and all Israel.
When Judas accepted the dipped bread from Yeshua at the Last Supper and left, it was symbolic of removing all the leaven from the house on preparation day during Passover week.
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!" John 19:14 NASB
From these texts we see that the Last Supper, Judas' betrayal, and Yeshua's trial and crucifixion, all occurred before Israel ate the Passover. These all occurred on the fourteenth, the day of preparation, the day when the Israelites made all the preparations to partake of the Passover. They cleansed out the leaven, bought bitter herbs, had the lamb slain at the Temple (at 3 P.M.), then dressed and roasted it, all in preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which would begin three hours after Yeshua's death on the beginning of the fifteenth.
Alright, that sounds clear enough, but the other Gospel writers seem to say the Last Supper was the normal Passover meal. These are found in Matthew 26:17-21, Mark 14:12-18, and Luke 22:7-16. All three sets of accounts begin by referring to the time of the Last Supper as "The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread":
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'" The disciples did as Yeshua had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. Now when evening came, Yeshua was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. As they were eating, He said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me." Matthew 26:17-21 NASB
Okay, are you throughly confused? These texts appear to contradict John's account that plainly states that the "Last Supper" occurred before the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, Mark and Luke both add details that help to clarify the time. Mark says it was "the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover." Luke states it was "the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed." Also, Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, and Luke 23:54 all refer to that same day as the "Day of Preparation," thus indicating they were all referring to the same day John called "the Day of Preparation," when the Passover lamb was killed. Perhaps they initially used the phrase that it was the "first day of the feast" in a general way from the standpoint that the fourteenth was the day they had to make the preparations for the feast which began the following day.
Also notice that none of the four Gospel writers make any mention about a lamb being eaten at the Last Supper. This is because the time had not yet come to slay the Passover lamb when Christ and His disciples ate their last meal together.
The Passover lamb cannot be, and never is killed on one of the Days of Unleavened Bread. It is killed in the final hours of the 14th of Nisan, in preparation for the Feast. Because the lamb is selected, washed, groomed, and observed for 4 days prior to the Feast, that time period is commonly referred to as part of Passover as well as the Feast proper, by the Jewish people.
To the Judeans "Passover" was used of several things. The day when the lambs were killed was called "Passove." The nightly meal when those lambs were eaten, was also called "Passover." And even the day which followed after that was called "Passover." Likewise, the entire eight-day period, including the Preparation Day and the seven Days of Unleavened Bread, were called "Passover."
Why the emphasis on unleavened bread? Many have claimed that "leaven symbolized sin." However, the Scriptures do not say that. In the Bible, leaven is used as a symbol of different things; some negative, some positive. Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21 mention "leaven" of a positive kind:
He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened." Matthew 13:33 NASB
Yeshua used leaven as a symbol for the spreading of the Kingdom of God. Thus, it would be wrong to claim that leaven is a "symbol of sin." Leaven always carries with it the idea of influence. You take a little piece of leaven and place it in a lump of dough, which you are going to bake, and that little piece influences the entire lump, causing it to rise. Leaven was an appropriate metaphor for something that spreads.
And Yeshua said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Matthew 16:6 NASB
Both the Pharisees and Herod were parties of influence. Verse 12 explains that it was the Pharisees' and the Sadducees' teachings (doctrines) that Yeshua called "leaven."
Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:12 NASB
So leaven seems to primarily have the idea of influence, it could be good or bad.
Notice how leaven is used in the context of the Exodus:
The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We will all be dead." So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Exodus 12:33-34 NASB
So, the Israelites were rushed out from Egypt, so they did not have the time to bake bread for the journey, but had to take their not yet fermented dough with them.
In those days, leaven was the same as sourdough--a natural, organic means of raising dough through fermentation, in order to make bread softer, "fluffier."
Some translations use the word "yeast" instead of "leaven," but there was no yeast in biblical times. Yeast is a modern-day industrial product which is used as a replacement for natural sourdough.
So "unleavened bread" is the same as bread made without sourdough or yeast or other means for raising the bread. In the Hebrew Tanakh, unleavened bread is called "matzah."
The Israelites were told to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread as a memorial of the time when Yahweh liberated them from the bondage of Egypt:
'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Exodus 12:17 NASB
Then in chapter 13 we read:
"Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. "You shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' Exodus 13:7-8 NASB
So, later in Old Covenant times, the ancient Israelites kept Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread as a memorial of what Yahweh had done--in reminiscence of the event when Yahweh freed their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.
The Days of Unleavened Bread did not serve as a reminder of what those ancient Israelites did or were, but of what Yahweh did for them. Yahweh freed them from wicked rule, tyranny, and slavery in Egypt. Freedom from slavery in Egypt is the type and the antitype is freedom from the sin and the death:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the Exodus.
'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Exodus 12:17 NASB
The rescue of the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remembering God's deliverance and their exodus is a major theme of this festival.
The story of the Exodus is one of the most dramatic and breathtaking accounts in all of Scripture. The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt. Pharaoh was a harsh taskmaster. The lot of the Hebrews seemed hopeless. It was at that hour of history that God spoke to Moses from within a burning bush. The bush was burned and not consumed. Moses turned aside to see this unusual sight. From the midst of that burning bush, God would speak to His servant and declare that Moses would lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage.
God would tell Moses that He had seen the affliction of His people down in Egypt, that He had heard their cry for help, and that He knew their sorrows. And now, He was bringing a deliverer to bring them out of Egyptian bondage and bring them into a Promised Land. He was bringing them out to bring them in. Some 2,000 years ago, Yeshua came to earth to bring man out of his bondage and with a mighty hand brought us out of the sin and the death and into the Promised Land.
Let's look at the physical deliverance of the Israelites and grasp the antitype of our deliverance from the bondage of the sin and the death:
Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. Exodus 13:17-18 NASB
Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. Exodus 13:20-21 NASB
They gathered to Succoth from their homes and farms in the land of Raameses, which is the land of Goshen. Succoth was a military base on the eastern border of Egypt large enough for this great number of people and flocks to assemble in ranks to depart from Egypt in an orderly fashion by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea
Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. "For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, 'They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.' "Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." And they did so. Exodus 14:1-4 NASB
Leaving the highway, the Hebrews traveled along the Wadi Watir, a natural road through the wide mountain gorge. The Israelites would have been traveling for close to one week because the journey from Succoth to Pi-hahiroth on the western coast of the Gulf of Aqaba was about 200 miles. They traveled day and night to put as much distance between them as possible. 600,000 men, plus women, children, and old folk would have numbered some two to three million. With them they carried their clothing, bedding, food, and shelter, leading their flocks and their herds, fowls and whatever else they had.
'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Exodus 19:4 NASB
I think that the journey of the Israelites from celebrating Passover in Goshen to the shore of the Red Sea, occupied approximately six days.
The Wadi Watir leads through the mountains, opening on the middle of a wide sandy beach on the Gulf of Aqaba. The beach at Nuweiba is large enough for Israel to "encamp by the sea" where the desert had "shut them in" (Exodus 14:2-3). The beach is 4.25 miles long by 2 miles wide. It appears clearly on satellite pictures, and is the only site that matches all points of the Bible account.
The only entrance to the beach at Nuweiba is by the Wadi Watir. On the northern end of the beach was an Egyptian fortress whose ruins still stand. This would have prevented them from going north after they entered the beach. They were trapped "between Migdol and the sea." Migdol was perhaps a watchtower above the mountains from which the Egyptians observed shipping movements and other activities, relaying any intelligence from watch-tower to watch-tower by mirrors in the daytime and fires by night. Thus Pharaoh would have been constantly posted of Moses' progress. Once Pharaoh's army had entered the gorge, Israel was "shut in" by the mountains.
"For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, 'They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.' Exodus 14:3 NASB
Skeptics claim Israel didn't cross the Red Sea, but marshland near Succoth called the Sea of Reeds in the vicinity of the Suez Canal. It might provide a plausible explanation as to how the Hebrews crossed, but it doesn't explain how Pharaoh's chariots, his host and chosen captains were all drowned, or how the depths covered them so they sank to the bottom as a stone (Exodus 15:4-5). God's Word says:
For the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea. Exodus 15:19 NASB
Notice what Isaiah says:
"I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King." Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick): "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Isaiah 43:15-18 NASB
The Gulf of Aqaba is over one mile (1,800 metres) deep. The western (Sinai) shoreline drops underwater at an angle of 45 degrees. However, from Nuweiba Beach, a massive sandbar almost a mile wide at its summit, slopes gently at six degrees until midway across the Gulf; it's 900 feet below the sea, and rises to the eastern (Midian) shore at the same kindly angle.
The distance from Nuweiba to Baal-zephon on the opposite coast is eleven miles. Nature has formed this land bridge at the narrowest section of the Gulf by accumulating sediments washed from the mountains on either side when the wadis are in flood. Isaiah 43:16-17 calls the great land bridge, "a path in the mighty waters."
Moses and the Hebrew children were trapped on this beach:
The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Exodus 14:19-22 NASB
How did the Israelites get across the sea with the strong east wind blowing?:
"At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. Exodus 15:8 NASB
The Hebrew word for "congealed" is qapha,' which means: "A primitive root; to shrink, that is, thicken (as unracked wine, curdled milk, clouded sky, frozen water)." The divided sea became walls of solid ice, 1,000 feet high. And as the wind abated, the Hebrews walked unhindered for 11 miles across the land bridge above the sea floor to Midian on the farther shore. All the while the Pillar of Fire and Cloud protected them.
This principle by which God froze the walled-up sea is not unknown to the desert-dwellers. Villagers in Iran erect parallel stone walls. Towards night, as temperatures fall, they pour water in the channel between the walls. Wind passing through the narrow space causes it to freeze.
And as day dawned; the ice began to thaw, and the Egyptians ran into it; and the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that pursued them; not so much as one of them remained.
I've seen underwater slides and video film by Jonathan Gray, whose team found the site. They show the remains of Egyptian chariots, without wheels. The four, six and eight-spoked chariot wheels were identified by the Department of Antiquities in Cairo as belonging to the 18th Dynasty, at the time of Pharaoh.
None of these artifacts had been discovered previously because the archaeologists had been searching for the Red Sea crossing in the wrong location. Recently, Ron Wyatt found a Phoenician column on the southern end of Nuweiba Beach. Its inscriptions were defaced or eroded. Later an identical column was discovered at Baal-zephon on the opposite shore. Its inscriptions, which are intact, say it was erected by King Solomon in honor of Yahweh, and dedicated to the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and destruction of the Egyptian host.
The Exodus took place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It started at the beginning of the feast, and they crossed the Red Sea at the end of the feast. This feast is all about deliverance.
The Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are really merged into one eight day feast:
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. Luke 22:1 NASB
Josephus says, "We keep a feast for eight days, which is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread."
It's hard to separate these feasts because the deliverance that Unleavened Bread pictures is only possible because of Passover. On the 14th of Nisan at 3:00pm the Passover lamb was slain and on the 15th of Nisan the children of Israel ate the Passover meal and shortly after that they left the bondage of Egypt. And before the 7 day feast was over they had passed through the Red Sea where their enemies were destroyed. This deliverance was a type.
Nearly 1600 years later the antitype, our spiritural deliverance from the sin and the death, took place on the very same dates. On the 14th of Nisan at 3:00pm our Savior died on the cross of Calvary and on the 15th of Nisan we were delivered from the sin and the death.
This exodus period was a type of deliverance! The type is the picture, the anti-type is the reality of our salvation by faith in Yahweh.
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