Brief Evaluation of Problems with The Christian Passover, by Fred Coulter

By: Dr. James Ricks and Natalie Ricks

Brief Evaluation of Problems with The Christian Passover, by Fred Coulter

Fred Coulter theorizes that Ezra the Prophet made editing mistakes as he chronicled the Book of Deuteronomy. Is this because the Book of Deuteronomy does not agree with Mr. Coulter's Passover Theory? The basic conclusion of the theory is that Ezra erred about the time and location for the Passover, probably due to outside pressure.

Coulter believes that Ezra was wrong in thinking that the Passover was to be temple centered even though Moses states it clearly in the Book of Deuteronomy. He also believes that the Jews keep the Passover at the wrong time. Fred Coulter felt it necessary to try to discredit the Prophet Ezra, who chronicled the Book of Deuteronomy and authored three books of the Bible because Deuteronomy does not fit Coulter's interpretation.

One of the problems with Coulter's Theory is that Deuteronomy was referenced by our Lord and Savior at least twenty-seven times in the New Testament; more than any other Old Testament book except the Book of Psalms. If there was a problem with the accurate transmission of Deuteronomy, surely our Lord would have known about it and not validated it centuries after Ezra work was concluded. Instead, Christ validated the Book of Deuteronomy by referring to it over and over. He trusted that Moses writings were preserved correctly. Ezra spent his time copying the Torah (first five books of the Bible). He was well qualified to correctly interpret the meaning of the Hebrew text, which was his native language. It would certainly be much easier for him to be correct in his rendering than a person from a different culture, a different time and certainly, a different native tongue.

Ideas that Deuteronomy or any portion of the Bible is incorrect cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged. If allowed to stand, the whole Bible, upon which we base our lives, is suspect. We must have confidence that the Bible is totally correct. 2 Timothy 3:16 states. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction," The Apostle Paul says, "But this I confess to you, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:" Acts 24:14. The Apostles who wrote the New Testament trusted in the accurate transmission of the Old Testament.
Our Lord and Savior was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin, as Hebrews 4:15 tells us. He was sinless in all His ways and was and is our perfect Passover Sacrifice. Everything He did on earth was without sin. He kept the Passover all His life, as was His earthly family's custom. (See Luke 2:42 and John11:55-56.) Christ's attendance at the many Passover Services of his life certifies that the dates were correct. Coulter's theory, that the Jews were keeping the Passover at the wrong time, means that the Jewish scholars, as careful as they were and are to maintain the oracles of God are all wrong, and that Our Savior was also wrong because He kept the Passover with the Jews. Jesus did not take issue with the teaching of the Pharisees concerning the Torah, or Law, or the proper times for the Holy Days and Festivals of God to be observed. Rather, He Himself, with all the authority of heaven, declared:

"The Scribes and the PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT: ALL THEREFORE WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO . . ." (Matt.23:2-3).

Exodus 12:6 states that the Jews were to keep the lambs until the fourteenth of the month. If Christ challenged the Jewish nation over Passover dates why is it not even mentioned in the New Testament? At the age of twelve, He had discourse with the Doctors of the Jewish Law, during Passover Week, at the Temple. Surely, if He thought the Jews were keeping some aspect of the Passover on the wrong day, or incorrectly, He would have certainly commented. Can you imagine the tremendous furor that would have created? (Remember the uproar about the circumcision exception for Gentiles issue in the time of Paul?) Just imagine what would have happened if Jesus Christ had told the Jewish leaders that they were somehow keeping the Passover at the incorrect time!

When Christ's enemies were looking for an excuse to accuse him, if he had been asserting that the Passover was being kept at the wrong time that alone, would have been enough grounds for a guilty verdict... The same would have applied to the many accusations against the Apostle Paul. The Jews would have jumped at the chance to accuse him of violating their understanding of the Passover. Never once, could they accuse him of trying to change the Passover, see Acts 22 thru 24. Paul's enemies could not use differences in Passover dates against him because no such differences existed.

Because of Christ's sinless state, if He had participated in an improperly timed Passover, could He remain sinless? This assumption on its face is ridiculous. If our Savior had no trouble with the Jewish Passover, why should it be a problem of grave cause for us?

We know that Christ did not eat the last Passover at the Jew's appointed time, because He was hanging on the stake (HE WAS THE TRUE LAMB) and was later in the grave before that evening. We also know that He established the Lord's Supper by eating the unleavened meal about 20 hours before the Jew's Passover during the beginning of the fourteenth of Nisan. (Remember that God begins His days with the night portion of a 24 hour span.)

The time and synchronicity of God's plan for our salvation is perfectly orchestrated to shine understanding on what our Savior was doing and accomplishing by His death for our sins. He gave up His life at the precise moment when the Jews were killing their Lambs for the Passover. Thus, He became our sacrifice for sin and replaced the lambs, which were only symbolic. Believing that the Jews have the wrong date for the Passover can shed doubt on God's plan for our redemption and cause confusion. Christ did not die at the wrong time, God's timing is perfect.

Don't let 1 Timothy 6:4 describe you. "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife's of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising.", We must all be on guard against this behavior in ourselves and in others. It is easy to misunderstand, when we attempt to develop a Bible translation that seeks to lend credence to what we think, and call examples that don't fit our Passover Theory, mistranslations. For example, on page 155, of The Christian Passover, it states that "bashal", which means many things related to boiling, cooking, and roasting of meat in the Old Testament, is a blatant mistranslation, when translated as roasting. It is found in 2 Chronicles 35:13. Most major translations of the Bible, and major concordances, list roasting as part of the definition of "bashal", indicating that it can indeed mean "to roast", among other things. There is at least, one Hebrew Lexicon that does not agree that "bashal" means " to roast", but it is unfair to dogmatically state that "bashal" can never mean to roast in order to strengthen a position. Using your own definitions of Hebrew words can lead to serious errors.

No evidence exists in the New Testament to indicate that Christ or His disciples were ever accused of altering the Passover date. Therefore we can conclude that the New Testament Church never taught that the Jews had an incorrect date. The "Argument from Silence Principle" states that if one finds no evidence for a major change in a Biblical Law, it did not occur. One of the proofs that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday, in the New Testament, is that changing the Sabbath is never even mentioned. If the New Testament record is replete with debate about circumcision, consider the tremendous volume of debate that would have followed the theory that the Jewish nation was keeping the wrong Passover date or should change the Sabbath to Sunday.

On page one of his book, The Christian Passover, Fred Coulter states that the Jews lost the correct Passover date before they came back from Babylonian captivity. He thinks that before the time of Christ, the Jews were keeping the Passover one day too late. This means the returned exiles from Babylon, were wrong about the Passover date and procedures as to when to kill the lambs. Coulter asserts that this error continued through the time of Christ, until today.

A major problem with this idea is that God sent a prophet to help re-establish the Holy Days among the returned exiles, THE PROPHET EZRA (EZRA 6:19) If there had been a Passover error, Ezra would have corrected it because the hand of God was upon him. Who are we to believe, the Bible or Fred Coulter? Remember, the book of Ezra is canonized as part of the Bible. If the Jews were in error, about when to kill and when to eat the Passover, Ezra certainly would have corrected them. But Coulter apparently does not believe this.

The Jews do kill the Passover Lamb on the fourteenth, but eat the meal a few hours later that evening which would be on the, 15th of Nisan, after the meat has been prepared and cooked. This time period is translated as "between the two evenings" thus connecting Passover and Unleavened Bread. The Jews believe that Moses gave them that pattern, and believe they are still correct.

Having a theory that Christ and the lambs died at different times dilutes the overwhelming connection that we believe, God wanted to establish. The Jews killed the lambs on fourteenth, just as they were instructed by Moses, cooked, and ate a few hours later at twilight, combining the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Jim Josephsen, in his article, " The Old Testament Passover, the Lord's Supper, and the Time of Christ's Death" states the following from, Garner Ted Armstrong's, The Real Jesus,

In his book, The Real Jesus, Garner Ted Armstrong painted a vivid and comprehensive picture of the events, which occurred on the day Jesus Christ died, the 14th day of the first month (Nisan or Abib) of the Jewish/Hebrew calendar. That day is called the preparation day in the New Testament.

As the New Testament clearly speaks, Jesus Christ died at the 9th hour (corresponding to three o'clock in the afternoon) on the preparation day. The 9th hour of the 14th day of the first month was the time of day at which the Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the Temple at Jerusalem.

Regarding the very hour of Christ's death, Mr. Armstrong wrote, "If this temporal "coincidence" between the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is striking, its spiritual implications are absolutely overwhelming."

As the Passover Lamb (Leviticus 23:5 and Exodus 12:6 – called the LORD's Passover) was sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month, beyn ha arbayim, (between the two evenings) Christ also died, on the 14th day of the first month, beyn ha arbayim. The Apostles, along with the 1st Century Church of God, understood this truth, allowing that Paul could confidently write: Jesus Christ our Passover (lamb implied), is sacrificed for us (I Corinthians 5:7).

The transference of symbolism from a physical lamb to the actual Son of God, the true Lamb of God, was complete at that exact moment in history. History and the Scriptures provide ample and evidential proof to this fact. The timing of Christ's death was necessary, as His death was properly planned, predetermined, and foreordained to occur simultaneously with the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb of Judah that year.

In simplistic terms, the Intercontinental Church of God teaches that the Passover Lamb was sacrificed toward the end of the 14th day and not at the beginning of the 14th day. Consequently, the meal Jesus Christ ate with his disciples on the night He was betrayed (at the beginning of the 14th) was not the Statutory (Exodus 12) Passover meal, for the Statutory Passover meal was never consumed at the beginning of the 14th.

In Fred Coulter's prologue he states that Jezebel helped to institute the wrong Passover date. This is however, irrelevant because Judah had many prophets, who led revivals, between her time and the days of Christ who would have corrected any existing Passover issues and The tactic of associating the name of Jezebel with those who oppose your viewpoint is not truthful. Neither is calling people who do not agree with your viewpoint, pagans. This is an example of trying to demonize views that disagree with yours.

His statement in the prologue of his book on page v that anyone who does not believe what he states in his book, is not in Christ, is an unfortunate demonization. His theology shows a lack of understanding of God's Passover message because if we do not believe that Christ died simultaneously with the Passover lambs, we can miss the entire symbolism of the Passover.

It has been reported that if anyone brings up any of these problems and wants to engage Coulter regarding these issues he refuses and simply says "Read my book".

Remember:

1. Fred Coulter's idea that the Jews were keeping the wrong Passover dates during the time of Christ forces Christ to either be wrong(keeping the wrong Passover date) or, to have challenged the Jewish nation even at the early age of 12, There is, of course, no record of any such challenge. Christ says the exact opposite in Matthew 23:2-3.
2. Coulter's idea contradicts that the Prophet Ezra, kept the Passover on the right date even though God's hand was on Ezra who had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
3. Coulter Passover Theory denies the importance of the synchronization of the death of the Messiah with proper timing of the death of the lambs.

This brief article has been written in the hope that it will shed light on the consequences of accepting the premise that the Passover has been kept on the wrong date by the Jewish nation even in the days of Christ.