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 both 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.
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. |
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 as 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.
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. |
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.
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 knowing those exact dates may not be especially
vital to our understanding, 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).
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.
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,
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, 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. |
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).
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.
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 p.m.* 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.
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.
Passover
Pattern
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.
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. |
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.
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."
The Egyptians Awaken
Now let us return to the
account of the Exodus to recognize a detail that 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.
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.
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.
The Easter Pattern
The Savior overcame physical
death through the Resurrection. He gives that gift of
immortality freely to all. No obedience or 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.
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? |
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.
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).
