Blog Archives
First Century Passover/Last Supper
While living in Jerusalem we recreated the Last Supper as Yeshua would have celebrated with His disciples in the First Century. You can view the CBN/700 Club film below.
Ancient Samaritan Passover
While living in Jerusalem I had the privilege to observe and videotape the Passover ceremony of the small community of Samaritans. What might have Passover looked like in the First Century? This is a step backward in time to a place where the ancient customs have not changed.
We would like to wish our Jewish and Israeli friends a happy Passover.
The Celebration of Redemption
This Friday, 3 April, is the first night of Passover as well as Good Friday, and Sunday we will celebrate Resurrection Sunday.
Over the years, we have celebrated and taught the biblical Last Supper and combined it with the modern Passover traditions with thousands of friends, both in Jerusalem and abroad. This special evening was a full dinner with a traditional Passover dinner set in a biblical times.
Ron Cantrell teaching during the Passover celebration in Mount Vernon, Washington
Yeshua and the disciples are reclining around the triclinium table
We always had the disciples and Yeshua dressed in biblical costumes seated around a triclinium table.
Yeshua with the disciples around the table
The purpose of such an evening was to give people a visual and sensory experience of what it might have been like in biblical times. We do this with traditional holiday foods, colourful decorations, interactive teaching and responsive readings, as well traditional and celebrative songs of thanksgiving in Hebrew. You feel like you are stepping back into biblical times.
The disciples celebrating a song of thanksgiving at the Last Supper
Celebrating Redemption
The Last Supper that Yeshua celebrated with His beloved disciples was, indeed, a Passover. To understand the historical and religious context of the biblical period Passover brings a rich understanding to this ancient celebration as well as our celebration of communion. Passover was always meant to be a celebration of victory over the enemy’s intentions toward God’s people. Yeshua is our Victor and we worship and celebrate Him.
Carol leading worship during communion
The gospel accounts of the Last Supper show that disciples and Yeshua indeed celebrated. Even today’s modern Passovers are celebrated with exuberance and singing long into the night. Because of the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God, we have much to celebrate. Passover is meant to be a night full of joy…a full week of joy, in fact.
Ancient Samaritan Passover Celebrations
While living in Israel, we had a chance to visit ancient Samaria during Passover. The Samaritans continue to celebrate Passover as they have done for thousands of years. Their celebration gives clues to how the ancient Israelis would have also celebrated Passover. Below are two videos made by Ron Cantrell during Passover in Samaria.
Ancient Samaritan Passover Video (Part I)
Ancient Samaritan Passover Video (Part II)
Happy Passover
This Friday, 3 April, is the first night of Passover and it will be celebrated for 7 days. Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday happens to fall exactly during Passover this year. If you would like to learn more about the historical and modern traditions and teaching about Passover and other biblical feasts of the Lord, we recommend The Feasts of the Lord, now available in digital version on Amazon.com (click the link below).
The Feasts of the Lord: The Fasts, Feasts, & Festivals of the Bible
If you have an opportunity to celebrate Passover this year, we believe you will find it an enriching experience.
Hag Pesach sameach (Happy Passover) to all of our Jewish and Israeli friends around the world!
The Fast & Feast of Esther
Purim, the fast and feast of Esther, begins March 4th. In light of the ongoing grievous events in the Middle East region, we believe it is good to review the miraculous intervention by God on behalf of His people. We continue to pray for the Christians of the ancient church in Islamic nations presently enduring unimaginable attacks and persecution, as well as the Jewish people facing horrific antisemitic attacks against her citizens and borders. We agree together for the protection and deliverance of God’s people, as well as all the nations under attack in the region, in the face of such evil Haman-schemes. Amen.
Ancient Persia
The book of Esther unveils the ancient and captivating Persian world. The customs and the splendor of the Persian Empire are enthralling. The empire was far reaching in this time period. It encompassed nations such as Egypt, Babylon, Turkey and more. Much like stepping through Alice’s Looking Glass, the book of Esther is a trip backward in time through a Persian, lattice-work window. A plot so dramatic that it remains unrivaled for millennia and comes to life for us in the midst of the most colorful setting.
In some scenes, one can almost smell desert jasmine in the air. Like warm, summer nights with stars blazing above, and hot desert days enfold a story of God’s compassion for His people.
The stunning gardens of Persia, carved in stark contrast to the surrounding desert landscape, were the backdrop for a drama rivaling the best screen scripts of modern times. The word “paradise”, by the way, is an ancient Persian word for “garden.”
The Festival of Purim
The Festival of Purim takes place on the 14th of the Jewish month of Adar, around February or March. The celebration is not a Levitical pilgrimage festival requiring the worshiper to come up to Jerusalem as is Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Purim is a microcosm of Jewish history. Here, like many other times in history, we find the Jews in exile and at the mercy of the whims of a local ruler. The handiwork of Heaven is constantly in view. Circumstances draw together in unusual ways that add up to more than just coincidence.
The Story of Queen Esther
In the opening of the story, Ahasuerus, King Xerxes’ Hebrew name, calls for Vashti his Queen to provide entertainment in the midst of a drunken banquet lasting 180 days.
Refusing, the queen is dethroned, and Esther, a young Jewish girl in exile from Jerusalem, is chosen to take her place.
Esther’s guardian, her uncle Mordecai, coaxes her as he stands on the sidelines, and this story unfolds. Day after day, Mordechai refuses to pay homage to Xerxes’ vizier, Haman,
an Amalekite descendant. An incensed Haman pleads with the king to destroy Mordechai and annihilate his people, the Jews. The king, unthinkingly, gives Haman authority to execute his plan.
Mordechai, hearing the plan, pleads with Esther to approach the king lest the Hebrews perish.
Esther, with great planning and ceremony, entertains the king for three days in Persian style. On a sleepless night, the king reviews the archival records and discovers that Mordechai had exposed a plot to murder the king.
Irony spices the plot as Haman is appointed to parade Mordechai through the streets arrayed in royal attire to honor him for his bravery. Haman’s family prophesies his downfall from the event. In a surprising plot reversal, Queen Esther exposes Haman for the evil creature he is in the presence of the king and all his court. In great anger, the king then has Haman hanged on the gallows he had constructed on which to hang Mordechai.
In accordance with Persian law, all ten of Haman’s sons are hanged along with him. In ancient times, laws dictated that the sons of a felon were to be hanged along with him.
In the scroll of Esther, the names of Haman’s ten sons appear arranged as a verse of poetry. Tradition dictates that the reader of the scroll in the synagogue roll through the ten names in one breath as if to read through it with more than one breath might be a waste.
God so thoroughly defended the Jewish population that great fear came upon the rest of the population.
The story of Esther stands as a testimony of the power of God to deliver His people against all odds, even in the face of potential annihilation as they cried out to Him with fasting, prayer, and desperation. In this book, where God’s name is not even mentioned, He pervades every chapter and every character. Every twist of plot is orchestrated behind the scenes as if a puppet master were putting on a performance.
Deliverance Will Come!
Photo: an ancient scroll of Esther from Baghdad.
Purim may not be a Levitical feast, but the lesson is worth celebrating: God will deliver us! Some of the other biblical feasts are also celebrations of God’s power in awesome acts of deliverance. This celebration, and other feasts of the Hebrew calendar, remind us again and again that we love a God who thwarts the plots of the ungodly who oppose the people He passionately loves.
We can celebrate ahead of time the victory He is working on our behalf no matter how impossible it may look. We are more impressed with God’s great power and His love for us than anything the enemy could send against us.
The above is an excerpt taken from The Feasts of the Lord: The Feasts, Fasts, & Festivals of the Bible, written by Ron Cantrell, available in paperback and digital formats on Amazon.com.
The Feasts of the Lord: The Fasts, Feasts, & Festivals of the Bible
We are God-Appointed
The words Mordecai said to Queen Esther ring true to us all today (Esther 4:14, HCSB):
Perhaps you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.
We have been perfectly positioned, fully equipped, and God-appointed to partner with Him in all He is doing in the nations. Motivated by God’s great compassion, we are committed to pray, and be actively engaged, to see the nations delivered into the full freedoms provided by the Messiah.
Let’s agree together:
Lord of the nations, deliver Your people, once again, from the hands of such horrific evil… for Your glory. May Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
(Illustrations by Ron Cantrell)
Hanukkah: Eight Nights of Light
The time between the Old Testament and the New has traditionally been known as the silent years. But a fictional novel could not hold more intrigue or imaginative narrative than this period. Historians who have not fallen under the “spell of silence” have left us enough information to glean valuable lessons from Hanukkah.
Hanukkah is a story of survival, bravery, overcoming faith, and a sovereign God. These lessons are too rich to ascribe to a silent past. They cry out, of themselves, to be paid attention to. If they had been heeded, needless deaths might have been spared during the Holocaust.
Purim follows in the spring on the heels of Hanukkah. Purim is also a story about survival. The thread that binds both stories is God’s protection over the Jewish nation, His chosen people. One story takes place in the diaspora (lands where the Jewish people were dispersed from Israel) and the other takes place in “Greek occupied” Israel. These stories take place hundreds of years apart. Esther is dated approximately 460 B.C., and the saga of the Maccabees—Hanukkah—takes place about 160 B.C.
Both of these stories were dictated to the mind of scribes by God’s Holy Spirit, I am sure, to leave us an indelible message. The message is that in the face of enormous odds, with God, we are victorious.
When we were still living in Jerusalem I attended services at our congregation where our former British guest speaker, Lance Lambert, a Jewish believer who lived in Jerusalem many years, was speaking on “The Hanukkah Connection.” Some of his thoughts are worth adding here as an introduction.
David Ben Gurion, upon being asked to create a seal for the new State of Israel, chose two olive branches surrounding a menorah. It stands as the Israeli State Seal to this day. On each of the seven cups of the menorah (seven-branched candlestick) is one word:
“Lo B-chil, U’Lo B’Koach, Ki Im B’Ruachi,” —Not by might, nor by power, by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
This picture is from Zechariah 4:6, at which time they were rebuilding the Temple after the Babylonian captivity. Remember the word Hanukkah in Hebrew simply means “dedication,” specifically of the Temple of God.
Gold reconstruction of the Temple Menorah stands now near the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
The menorah (candlestick) stands as a symbol in so many passages of Scripture. Revelation tells us that the seven churches of Asia were represented in the heavenlies by a candlestick. Also Israel is represented by the menorah in Zechariah. John in his Gospel records that Jesus is the light of the world and lights every man. Zechariah goes on to record something interesting in relation to this just after the “not by might” section mentioned above.
Zechariah asks about the meaning of the vision of the two branches who are pouring oil from themselves. Of course, this oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God, but it is interesting to note that in Hebrew it does not say that they were pouring just any oil from themselves, but it says that they were pouring “gold,” not even golden oil. The word “oil” placed in most translations is in italics, meaning it is inferred by the translator. In the context of the rebuilding of the Temple, and the power coming from the Holy Spirit, the Hebrew word picture is without rival.
Yeshua said, “I am the Light of the world.”
In John 10:22, Jesus is recorded as walking in the area of Solomon’s colonnade during the Feast of Dedication, which is Hanukkah. As was usual with Jesus, He tied His message to the events of the people. He took that opportunity to declare that HE was the Light of the world.
The Servant
It is interesting to note that the candlestick used by the Jewish people during Hanukkah, called a hanukkiah, has eight candles and one extra one called the shamash, or “servant”. The symbolism of the eight candles is discussed below, but the symbolism of the “servant” candle for us as believers is worth mentioning. Jesus, the Servant, is the light of all men. According to the rules of this holiday, all the candles of the hanukkiah must be lighted from the one called the shamash.
Hellenization of the Region
Josephus, the historian of antiquity, left important documentation of that period. The bulk of the story of Hanukkah is found in the book of Maccabees (one of the books of the Apocrypha; this collection of works was preserved by the formal church), and mention is made of the Feast in the New Testament. In the book of John, just after Jesus has declared himself to be the Light of the world, he is found walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. John tells us that it was in winter during the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22).
This holiday holds more historical resource in Christian literature than it does in the literature of the Jewish people. Actually the holiday is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament because it happened after the closing of Malachi.
This drama of Hanukkah begins with Alexander the Great. His conquest of the then-known world began in Greece in the fourth century B.C. Alexander was so highly ambitious that he conquered the world by the age of 23. The book of the prophet Daniel portrays him, symbolically, first as a leopard and later as a horned goat who charges so swiftly that he does not even touch the ground (Daniel 7:6, 8:5-7).
Thus, via Alexander the Great, began the hellenization of the world. The Greek philosophers’ ideas, the glorifying of the human body, both in sport and in fine art, and the Greek way of perceiving the universe around us, permeated the world.
Though our story of the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian-Greeks takes place much later, Alexander’s conquest of the world is actually the foundation of those events. At his death, Alexander’s empire was split into four parts. The four major generals of his vast army divided his conquests amongst themselves. Seleucus, one of Alexander’s generals, took what later became modern Syria. It was under the iron fist of this sector of the divided empire that Israel came to a time of great trouble.
Several generations from Seleucus, a maniacal ruler came to power known as Antiochus Epiphanes. His Greek name actually means “god in the flesh.” Antiochus ruled from Syria but set up a military garrison in Jerusalem. This garrison was to oversee the hellenization of the population of Israel.
Antiochus had the high priest Onais murdered. He demanded that the circumcision of all Jewish baby boys cease. He had a statue of Jupiter (Zeus) erected on the Temple Mount and the sacrifice of swine on the altar was instituted.
Statue of Zeus at Olympus, a similar looking one was installed in the Jerusalem Temple
The Syrian-Greek military garrison met their demise upon entering a small village outside Jerusalem called Modi’in. The soldiers built an altar and demanded a “show of allegiance” by having the local elders sacrifice a pig there. An old Jewish priest named Mattathias became so enraged when he saw what was taking place that he killed the Jew who was complying with the orders. He and his sons fled to the nearby mountains to regroup and prepare to wage guerrilla warfare against the oppressive authorities.
Mattathias, being elderly, passed his leadership on to his son Judah, known as the Maccabee (meaning “hammer”) prior to his death. Judah defeated every attempt by Antiochus to end his uprising. His strategy and bravery could not be matched by the other side. In the face of astounding odds, Judah led his followers to Jerusalem where he drove the Syrian force out of the city.
Judah faced the grief of having to fight against his own Jewish brothers who had joined the side of the hellenizers. Some forsook their Jewishness for monetary gain, others for prestige. In order to participate in Greek sporting events which were conducted in the nude, some of his Jewish brothers were so determined to be hellenized that they endured painful surgery to reverse their circumcisions, thereby erasing any sign of their tie to their Jewish heritage. Many died from the dangerous operation.
Judah Maccabee — the Hammer — moves to rededicate the temple and rekindle the temple menorah.
On the twenty-fifth day of the Hebrew month Kislev, exactly the same day that three years earlier the Temple had been defiled by unholy sacrifices, the Hasmonean brothers and their followers liberated the city and began in earnest to undo what their oppressors had done. They rushed to rededicate the desecrated Temple.
Arriving at the Temple site, they began removing the stones of the defiled altar and toppling the statue of Jupiter. In the holy place inside the Temple stood the huge menorah (the great olive oil lampstand). The rejoicing Jewish conquerors found only enough oil to light the menorah for one day. The joy of the conquest of liberation was diminished due to the laws stating that the menorah must burn continually. The time it took to process enough oil to replenish the menorah was eight days. How could they possibly begin the process and let it die again? Nevertheless, they lit the menorah and began the process of procuring more oil.
The stamp of God’s approval of their deeds of valor was evident when the oil which should have lasted for only one day lasted the entire eight days until the new oil was brought. For this reason the holiday is also known as the “Feast of Lights.”
Modern Hanukkah Traditions
The traditions of the Feast of Hanukkah that have evolved over the years are the lighting of an eight-branched menorah (candleholder) called a hanukkiah. One candle is lit each night by a candle known as the shamash, or servant in English. Thus the hanukkiah candleholder has nine candles. The candles are lit in a right-hand to left-hand order, adding another candle each night.Hanukkah candles come in boxes of 44 since lighting one more each night of the eight nights of Hanukkah adds up to 44.The frying of potato pancakes in oil is traditional to commemorate the oil used the light the Temple Menorah so long ago.Games are played with a four-sided top called a dreidel. Each side of the dreidel has a Hebrew letter on it standing for the slogan:
Nes Gadol Hiyah Po—“A Great Miracle Happened Here.”
In all places outside of Israel the dreidel has the letters slightly different, standing for Nes Gadol Hiyah Sham—“A Great Miracle Happened There.”
The Children’s Toy Dreidel
Story-telling is Popular During Hanukkah
The book of Maccabees is read, wherein lies the story of the bravery of those zealous of God’s ways. Women played a role as well in this great drama. These stories are related concerning Israel’s women of valor.
One is about a woman named Judith who, upon seeing the desperate plight of her people, left Jerusalem and arrived at the Syrian encampment. She pleased the Syrian general and he, thinking to have her for himself, consented to her preparing him a meal first. Judith knew that serving salted cheese would make the general thirsty whereby she could give him too much to drink. He complied, drinking wine until he passed out. Judith, seizing the opportunity, killed the Syrian General. When the Syrians learned of Judith’s deed, they fled.
Judith kills Holophernes.
Another story of a woman of valor relates that the Syrian governor passed a law that every Jewish bride would be brought to his bed chamber first on the night of her wedding. The daughter of the high priest, upon hearing this, made plans for her own wedding ceremony. After her vows she stood amidst the people disrobing, almost like the prophet Jeremiah at a much earlier time, which, of course, enraged the crowd. Her brothers shouted that they would kill her, to which she replied, “Over my being disrobed you are angry, but about what the Syrian governor will do to me tonight you remain silent?” Being roused to righteous anger, her brothers stormed the palace and killed the Syrian governor, and the revolt began.
The daughter of the high priest on her wedding day.
What Does This Mean for Us?
This story is a tale repeated time and time again by the Jewish people—a story of overcoming in the face of overwhelming adversity. From the book of Genesis to the Maccabees the Jews have overcome Egyptians, the desert and its dangers, felled the walls of Jericho with rams’ horns, quelled the giants of the promised land, and led three Babylonian kings to the throne of God the Almighty.
From the Maccabees to present day, there have been a string of miracles, but to answer Isaiah’s rhetorical question, “Can a nation be born in a day?” Yes, indeed it can and in the face of such overwhelming odds as to be absurd should anyone simply have penned the story as a novel.
Our lesson from this holiday is that we can overcome with Him. We will face Antiochus again in the visage of the Anti-Christ and God’s people will overcome. His empire will once again be shattered. This time God’s people will watch because it will be done without hands, according to Daniel, but it will come to an end. In all this we can take courage—God is ever present in the annals of men.
The Local Flavor
One of the best places to take an after-dark walk during Hanukkah is the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Quarter sits nestled inside walls rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent, sultan of the once powerful Turkish Moslem Ottoman Empire which ruled here from A.D. 1517 until the British brought this kingdom to an end in A.D. 1917.
Hanukkah candles are meant to be lit in a window facing outward to shed their light into the street. The beautiful architecture of the Jewish Quarter is the perfect environment. Narrow walkways between tall buildings made of creamy limestone seem to wait for candles to illuminate their soft façades. Long narrow passageways are warm and softly glowing. Bright spots punctuate the dark passageways, bringing to mind the lighting of a Rembrandt painting. Each succeeding evening an extra candle graces the Hanukkah menorah, shedding even more light.
Streets of the Jewish Quarter as the sun sets on Hanukkah.
I often would take such a walk—a lazy enjoyable Friday night — with daydreaming of what it must have been like when our Messiah walked in the same area. It seems that even Jesus enjoyed such a walk. John chapter 10 records His walking in Solomon’s Colonnade, which is in the same area. His walk is recorded to have been during the Feast of Dedication. Jesus had just finished healing a blind man’s eyes and declaring himself the Light of the world—the Light shining into darkness setting those free who are willing.Again, the Hebrew word Hanukkah means “dedication”. It comes from the dedication of the Temple, both in Solomon’s time and in the time of the Maccabees, who rededicated the Temple desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C.
The Jewish Quarter sits very high on a hill inside the confines of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. As one approaches the Temple Mount area, the topography drops off sharply into a valley. The view is spectacular both by day and by night.
My walk would bring me to the edge of that valley to the staircase which leads down to the Western Wall plaza where the Jewish people pray today. There my daydream ended and I was brought back to reality. Riding the east wind coming from the Mount of Olives was the voice of the Moslem muezzin declaring that “allah is the great god and that mohammed is his prophet.” The contrast was almost too vivid.
City of light, city where the Light walked and healed and illumined the dark eyes of some and the dark minds of others, sits in spiritual darkness. Jerusalem is Ground Zero for future attempts of God’s enemy to usurp His authority. That enemy works through people and the stage is being set for confrontation. Jerusalem will become more and more the focus of international news’ attention. Things will never become politically acceptable here for the western world. On the contrary, Jerusalem is appointed to become a cup of trembling to the nations.
But yet there is light. The symbolism of the eight-candle menorah being lit by a ninth candle called “the servant” is a reminder of the servanthood of the Messiah. Psalm 36:12 says, “For with You is the fountain of Life, in Your light we see light.”
We are, in a manner of speaking, like the Hanukkah menorah—servants called to illuminate those around us and to ever increase the light. During Hanukkah see the candles being added nightly until the glow almost drives back the chill of winter in the limestone city. Our job is to continue to drive back the chill of winter with light.
Hanukkah is a time when God encourages us to persevere in the face of crushing pressures.
Pray for the Jewish community around the world and Israel during this time. May the Light of the world be revealed in and through us all ever brighter and brighter.
The Temple Menorah, drawing by Ron Cantrell
Hanukkah: Eight Nights of Light Video
Watch the video that we produced in Israel with Ron Cantrell teaching from Jerusalem:
The Feasts of the Lord
Learn more about Hanukkah: Eight Nights of Light and other Feasts of the Lord in Ron’s book: The Feasts of the Lord: The Feasts, Fasts, & Festivals of the Bible. Buy the paperback book at Amazon.com.
The Feasts of the Lord book – by Ron Cantrell. Available at Amazon.com.
The King's Highway ::: Ron & Carol Cantrell 