| (Copyright 03-13-2025) by Rod Reynolds (Wentzville, Missouri) |
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Was the Temple in Jerusalem the only Jewish temple in ancient times? Was it acceptable to sacrifice the Passover lambs just anywhere? Was the Passover a “home sacrifice,” as some contend? Correct answers to these questions can help us have a more complete understanding of the history of the Passover institution and how it was administered under the Old Covenant. The Temple in Samaria During the latter days of Solomon’s reign, the kingdom of Israel was led into idolatry, as Solomon built “high places” (places of worship) for foreign gods of his wives, and his heart was turned from faith in the true Creator God of Israel, to the worship of false gods. As a result God pronounced that the kingdom would be divided, with ten of the tribes of Israel being given to Solomon’s servant Jeroboam, who became the first king of the northern kingdom (I Kings 11:1-39). The division occurred shortly after the death of Solomon (c. 930 B.C.). Its capital was eventually established in the city of Samaria, built by a later king, Omri (c. 879 B.C.; I Kings 16:23-24). The northern kingdom established under Jeroboam retained the name “kingdom of Israel.” The southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and most of the Levites, remained as the kingdom of Judah, under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, and his successors, with its capital in Jerusalem. The religion of the northern tribes remained an apostate, syncretized religion blending the name of Yahweh with idol worship (I Kings 11:26-36; 12:25-33; II Kings 17:7-22). This continued after most of the Israelites of the northern kingdom had been deported and replaced by peoples of other nations by around 721 B.C. (II Kings 17:24-41). Afterward, most of the inhabitants of the area were Gentiles, and the district became known as “Samaria,” and its inhabitants were called Samaritans. According to Josephus the Samaritan temple at mount Gerizim was built about 332 B.C., though some scholars think it was built earlier (Antiquities, XI.VIII.4; see Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, Joachim Jeremias, Fortress Press, 1969, p. 352 n.). It was initially presided over by the son of a Jewish high-priest who had been cast out because of intermarriage with a Samaritan woman. “…the rival worship was now established at Samaria and attracted a great number of priests and other Jews from the distracted capital of Judea” (Angus-Green Bible Handbook, p. 598). The Samaritan temple was destroyed about 128 B.C. by the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus (c. 135-106). Nevertheless, the Samaritan Passover tradition is believed to have continued unbroken from the time of the building of the Gerizim temple and is said to be “probably the oldest religious rite that has been continuously kept up” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, ”Passover”). The mountain (Gerizim) itself is believed by Samaritans to be “holy,” and they don’t regard a temple as being necessary for sacrifice (cf. John 4:20). It’s not clear how they maintained their Passover tradition during historical periods when they were excluded from access to the mountain. The infusion of Jewish influence is evident in the Samaritan religion as it existed in the time of Christ and later, but it retained many falsehoods. Jewish attitudes toward the Samaritans varied with the times. Leading up to and during the time of Christ, Jews scorned the Samaritans as a mixed race of apostates. Jesus did not recognize the validity of the Samaritan religion (John 4:22). The Temple at Elephantine Near the time of Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar (c. 586 B.C.), long before the temple in Samaria was built, “Jewish refugees flocked to Egypt, where Pharaoh…settled them in colonies extending as far upstream as Elephantine” (Ancient Egypt, J. E. Manchip White, Dover, 1970, pp. 199-200). There Jewish settlers built a temple. Its existence is known from papyri found at Elephantine and written in Aramaic. According to the letters, it had been built before the Persian conquest, “in the days of the kings of Egypt” (Archaeology and the Old Testament World, John Gray, Harper Torchbooks, pp. 195, 196). It most likely was built sometime between the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the conquest of Egypt by the Persian ruler Cambyses (525 B.C.). The preponderance of evidence indicates that the Passover was not sacrificed at the Elephantine temple. One of the letters, dating from the fifth year of Darius II (c. 419 B.C.), instructs the Jews there how and when to keep Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Nothing is mentioned in the letter about sacrificing a lamb, but instructions are given about remaining ritually clean and avoiding leavening. Had the colony been in the habit of keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread it seems unlikely it would have been necessary to send such instructions under the king’s authority. Hence, the comment, “It would appear that the Elephantine colony had not observed this spring festival hitherto, and the reason for this can only be surmised” (Documents from Old Testament Times, D. Winton Thomas, ed., Harper Torchbooks, p. 258). After the Elephantine temple was destroyed in 410 B.C. by the Egyptians, the leaders there appealed to the Persian governor and the priestly authorities in Jerusalem for permission to rebuild. They were ignored and hence appealed for help again to the Persian governor in Jerusalem and simultaneously to the Persian authorities in Samaria. The contributor comments, “It is perhaps significant that his appeal was no longer addressed to the priestly authorities in Jerusalem, and it may be that the Elephantine Jews had reason to think that they were not sympathetic” (ibid., p. 260). In their appeal the Elephantine Jews proposed rebuilding the temple, “as it was built before, and let meal-offering, incense and burnt-offering be offered.” Eventually the Persian authorities gave permission to rebuild, “that meal-offering and incense be offered upon that altar as was formerly done.” Note that “burnt-offering” is conspicuously absent in the reply. In another letter referring to the rebuilding of this temple it is stated, “sheep and oxen and goats are [no]t offered there, but incense and meal-offering” (ibid., pp. 263, 266, 268). Papyri texts from the area confirm that the Jews in Elephantine continued the apostate, syncretistic religious practices that had resulted in the destruction of their homeland. Alongside Yahu (a variation of Yahweh), the texts indicate other deities were worshiped. Bethel (God’s house) is found hyphenated with the names of pagan deities, including Anath. And Anath, the name of a Canaanite goddess, is also found hyphenated with Yahu (ibid, p. 257). Anath was “the most active goddess in the fertility-cult, in Palestine, and at Bethshan [about 25 miles northeast of Samaria, in the Jordan valley] in one of the five Late Bronze Age temples a basalt panel was found with a dedication in Egyptian hieroglyphics to ‘Antit, Queen of Heaven and Mistress of the Gods’” (Gray,p. 118). “Antit” is a variation of Anath. God had warned the people of Judah not to flee from the Babylonians to Egypt (Jeremiah 42-44). God pronounced punishment on the Jews who fled to Egypt, saying, “…you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell…” (Jeremiah 44:8). Notably those who dwelt in “Pathros,” derived from Egyptian and meaning region of the south, refused to give up their syncretistic worship, including the worship of the “queen of heaven” (Jeremiah 44:15-19). Elephantine was a city in the southern region, Upper Egypt. In partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah 44:26-28, the Jewish colony there disappeared from the pages of history soon after the destruction of their temple. The Temple at Leontopolis The hereditary High Priest Onias III was forced to flee to Egypt in 169 B.C., when the Seleucid ruler Antiochus recaptured Jerusalem. In Egypt Onias obtained permission from the government (Ptolemy VI Philometor and Cleopatra) to build a temple in Leontopolis in the district of Heliopolis on a scaled down pattern of the Temple in Jerusalem. There the Zadokite line continued to exercise the priestly functions until their temple was destroyed in 73 A.D. by order of the Roman Emperor, Vespasian. Onias used Isaiah 19:19 as justification for building a rival Jewish temple in Egypt (Josephus, Antiquities, XIII.III.1). But at best the Leontopolis temple was only a typical fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. This prophecy is given in the context of Egypt turning to God (Yahweh) as a nation, and that has certainly never happened yet. Apparently, the Passover was sacrificed in Leontopolis, yet, “The temple of Onias at Leontopolis in Egypt (c. 170 BC-AD 73) was totally unimportant; the Temple of Jerusalem in fact remained the single holy place in the world for Jews” (Jeremias, p. 29). The Encyclopedia Britannica comments further that the temple at Leontopolis “never really offered a challenge to the one in Jerusalem.” It “made little impact upon Egyptian Jewry” (15th edition, 1978, vol. 10, “Judaism, History Of,” p. 313). Where God’s Law Says the Passover was to be Sacrificed The priesthood had not been formally established at the time of the Exodus. Perhaps for that and other reasons the first Passover lambs may not have been sacrificed at a central location. Indeed, inasmuch as blood from the sacrificial lambs was to be smeared on the doorposts and on the lintel of each house (Exodus 12:7), each lamb must have been slain in close proximity to the house where the blood was to be applied. However, when God gave the law to Moses at Mt. Sinai he clearly indicated that henceforth the Passover was to be sacrificed at a central location (Exodus 23:14-19; 34:18, 24-25). The Passover was the first of three times in the year Israelite males were to “go up to appear before the Lord your God.” After the Tabernacle was built the Israelites were commanded to take all oxen, goats and lambs that were killed to the door of the Tabernacle and offer an offering to ensure against offering sacrifices to idols (Leviticus 17:2-9). When Israel went into the land of promise the law was amended to permit the slaughter of such animals “within your gates,” but sacrifices were to be taken to the central place of worship (Deuteronomy 12:11-15, 21, 26-27). The Israelites were specifically commanded, “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time [KJV: “season”] you came out of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). The blood of the Passover lambs slain at the sanctuary was sprinkled on the alter of sacrifice or tossed at its base at the central place of worship, i.e., the Tabernacle or Temple (II Chronicles 30:15-17; 35:10-13; cf. The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, Alfred Edersheim, Ages Digital Library edition, 1997, p. 147). When the Temple in Jerusalem was built God said, “I…have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice” (2 Chronicles 7:12). After this time we read in Scripture of no other place that God approved for the regular offering of physical sacrifices. Samaritans, the Leontopolis priests, and the Galilean zealots sacrificed apart. The Essenes did not offer animal sacrifices. Other than these, Jews who were able journeyed to Jerusalem for Passover. Those who could not go to Jerusalem observed Passover without the sacrifice, as Jews do worldwide today. The idea advanced by some that many Jews killed the Passover at their homes instead of the Temple is complete fiction, there is no truth to it. Neither Philo nor Josephus nor any other authoritative source states that the Jews killed the Passover in their homes. In three places Philo mentions that the Passover sacrifice is killed by the celebrants, “…every separate individual on this occasion bringing forward and offering up with his own hands the sacrifice due on his own behalf” (On the Life of Moses, II, 224; cf. The Decalogue, 159; The Special Laws, II, 146). This has been used as “proof” of the imaginary “domestic sacrifice” by some misguided individuals. However, these passages say nothing about the Passover being sacrificed at home but only tell us who killed the sacrifice. Under ordinary circumstances each offerer (representing his company), and not the priest, killed the sacrifice (cf. The Temple, Alfred Edersheim, p. 175; Exodus 12:6, 21; II Chronicles 30:17-19). In the context of the above quotation, Philo discussed certain ones who could not offer the Passover, because being unclean they were “repelled from the sacred precincts [of the Tabernacle]” (On the Life of Moses, II, 231; cf. Numbers 9:6-7). Moreover, Philo specifically states, “…he [God] does not permit those who desire to perform sacrifices in their own houses to do so, but he orders all men to rise up, even from the furthest boundaries of the earth, and to come to his temple…” (“The Special Laws, I, 68). Another abused passage of Philo states, “And each house is at that [Passover] time invested with the character and dignity of a temple…” (The Special Laws, II, 148). This passage does not say the Passover was sacrificed in the houses, and it does not mean that. It refers instead to where the Passover sacrifice was eaten. God’s law required all sacrifices to be slain at the altar at the door of the Temple (Leviticus 1:2-3, 11; 17:3-4; Deuteronomy 12:20-28). Those portions of sacrifices eaten by priests had to be consumed within the Temple courts (Leviticus 6:26; 7:6). However, “…because of the large number of participants, the paschal animal was killed at the Temple place but boiled [sic] and eaten in the houses of Jerusalem (e.g., Pes. 5:10; 7:12)” (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 13, “Passover,” p. 170; cf. The Hebrew Passover from the Earliest Times to A.D. 70, J.B. Segal, pp. 133-134; Jeremias, pp. 57, 78-79, 101 n.; Edersheim, p. 16). Josephus states that the priests reported to the Roman government 256,500 sacrifices at a Passover during the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.; Wars, VI.IX.3). This would have been more than enough to provide for the typical 3,000,000 celebrants gathered at Jerusalem, as each lamb could be divided by a company of up to 100, though more typical were groups of ten to twenty. Edersheim remarks, “These computations, being derived from official documents, can scarcely have been much exaggerated” (The Temple, p. 168 n.). The Temple courts could accommodate more than 200,000 people at once, and likely thousands of priests were on hand to facilitate the killing of the sacrifices. Similar numbers were faced on other occasions, such as the fifteenth, when most celebrants would have followed the Pharisaic tradition of offering an obligatory peace offering (Edersheim, pp. 170-171, 199; cf. I Kings 8:62-64; II Kings 23:21-23; II Chronicles 35:1-19; the obligatory peace offerings mandated by Pharisaic tradition was imposed as an addition to the requirements of Scripture, although it was customary to offer peace offerings during the festivals, cf. p. 11, When is the Biblical Passover?, available at cogmessenger.org). As Jesus grew up, “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. …according to the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41-42). Jesus, like his parents and most of the Jews of Palestine, and as many of the diaspora as were able, kept the Passover every year — or almost every year — in Jerusalem. For each of the four Passovers of his public ministry, except for the third, Jesus went to Jerusalem (John 2:13; 5:1; Luke 22:7-10). The third Passover (mentioned in John 6:4), Jesus remained in Galilee, because Jewish leaders in Jerusalem wanted to kill him (John 7:1). Editor’s Note: Joh 6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. Joh 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Joh 7:2 Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. In context this would be a stretch to connect John 6:4 with John 7:1 because John 6:4 does not say anything about Christ keeping a Passover in Galilee and John 7:1 is followed by John 7:2 which indicates that John 7:1 is talking about the Feast of Tabernacles and not about Passover. Laura Lee The details of Jesus last Passover meal accord with the Jewish custom based on Deuteronomy 16:5-6. Editor’s Note: Deu 16:5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: Deu 16:6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. In Deuteronomy 16:5-6 it says the passover sacrifice is to be at even, at the going down of the sun. In other words the sacrifice is at even which is defined as “at the going down of the sun”. The sun starts to go down at noon. Christ was killed with the Passover Lambs at the going down of the sun, between the two evenings which includes the time between 12:00 Noon and Sunset when you can no longer see the sun in the sky or at 3:00 PM. There were never any sacrifices made in the temple between when the sun went down and dark or dusk. Deuteronomy 16:6 backs up exactly how the Orthodox Jewish people still understand the Passover sacrifice and the Passover meal today. The lambs were killed on the afternoon of the fourteenth of Nisan and eaten on the fifteenth of Nisan. The Jewish people did not change this, the Church of God under Herbert Armstrong changed this. Laura Lee Jesus, though staying at Bethany, went into Jerusalem with his disciples to eat the Passover meal (John 12:1; Luke 22:7-11). This is one of several indications pointing to the fact that the last Passover meal of Jesus included the paschal sacrifice. Editor’s Note: There is nothing in the gospel accounts indicating or stating that a lamb was sacrificed and eaten on the early part of Nisan fourteen. They were preparing for the Passover meal which was to be eaten on the fourteenth of Nisan as it turned into the fifteenth of Nisan. On the early part of the fourteenth of Nisan Christ ate a meal with His disciples. Though it was the last meal He ate, it was not a Passover meal and there was no lamb mentioned as being eaten at that meal. Christ used that meal to introduce the bread, wine and foot washing which would soon replace the sacrifice of the lambs. Christ was going to be dead on Passover so He could not eat the Passover meal that year. Joh 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The Bible clearly tells us that Christ died on the Preparation Day for the Passover. Not only did Christ die on the preparation day but they also started eating unleavened bread before the sacrifices started as all leavened bread had to be gone before the sacrifices started. So, they used the preparation day to get rid of all the leavened bread. Antiquities 3.10.5 248-251 (Lev. 23) The Law on the Celebration of the Passover Summary: Josephus relates the laws of celebration specified in Leviticus. Details of the celebration. The Passover sacrifice is on the 14th of the first month of the year, Nisan, “when the sun is in Aries,” and is celebrated “in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice to the following day.” The Feast of Unleavened Bread starts on the fifteenth of Nisan and lasts for seven days; on each day two bulls are killed, one ram, and seven lambs, as offerings. The second day of the feast is for the offering of first fruits, when a selection from the first harvest of grain is offered to the Lord, “after which they may publicly or privately reap their harvest.” Right here Josephus is telling us that the lambs were sacrificed on the fourteenth and nothing of the sacrifice was to be left for the next day. Meaning the order of first sacrificing the Passover lambs and then eating them after that or in other words the night of the fifteenth of Nisan. From Alfred Edersheim: The Temple: Its Ministry and Service Here we mark again the significance of seven as the sacred or covenant number. On the other hand, the Feast of Tabernacles, which closed the festive cycle, took place on the 15th of the seventh month of the sacred, which was also the first in the civil, year. Nor is it less significant that both the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles fell upon the 15th day of the month; that is, at full moon, or when the month had, so to speak, attained its full strength. Many people like to quote Josephus and Alfred Edersheim but most people ignore not only what scripture says about Passover but also what these two men say about Passover. All three sources agree that Passover (the meal and the day) was on the 15th of Nisan with the sacrifice of the lambs being on the 14th of Nisan between the two evenings. Laura Lee After the death of Jesus Christ, who is our Passover (I Corinthians 5:7), the Levitical priesthood with its physical Temple and animal sacrifices was superseded by the reality of which those were only a figure (Hebrews 8:1-6; 9:23-24). Now “we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). For the Passover of the New Covenant Jesus placed renewed meaning in the symbols of unleavened bread and wine (Matthew 26:26-28). For these symbols there was never any requirement that they had to be partaken of only in a particular physical location. Hence, the example of the apostolic Church is that local churches come together to partake of the Passover symbols (I Corinthians 11:17-33). This is the example that we follow today in the Messenger Church of God. Baptized members of the Church who cannot assemble with a congregation for the Passover service may take the Passover at home. We offer instructions for guidance on how to take the Passover at home by request. Also, more information about the Passover is available from cogmessenger.org in related articles and a book you may download or request, When Is the Biblical Passover? cogmessenger.org Editor’s Note: We do not agree with Rod Reynold’s rendition of the Passover. There are many scriptures throughout the Bible which clearly show that the Passover Lambs were sacrificed between the two evenings (Noon to Sunset) and that the meal was eaten on the late part of the fourteenth of Nisan as it turned into the fifteenth of Nisan. There was a condition for the stranger in the land to be circumcised before taking the Passover, that is found in Exodus 12:48 but I know of no scriptures that say only Baptized members can assemble for the Passover Service (Meal). Passover in Exodus was a family meal and I know of no prohibition in the scripture saying that children cannot attend the Passover Service (Meal). One thing that most people who keep the Passover on the early part of the fourteenth use to justify this practice is that the Samaritans, Karaites, and Sadducees all keep an early fourteen Passover. The Karaites did not exist until about the eighth century. The Samaritans today are almost nonexistent. The Bible tells you exactly what the Sadducees believed or rather did not believe: Act 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. Under these conditions, why do you believe these three groups are right about Passover but not much else. Here is what Christ says about the Pharisees who are today the Orthodox Jews: Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. In Mathew 23:1-3 Christ is endorsing the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the only group that taught the law of God. While Christ endorsed them as teaching the law He also warned us not to do their works, the works they made up and added to the law of God. Laura Lee Unless otherwise noted Scripture taken from the New King James VersionTM Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. 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