return to homepage

Patriarchs and Prophets or The
Desire of Ages - Which is Correct?

The book Patriarchs and Prophets has an interesting statement regarding the timing of Pentecost. This page is a Spirit of Prophecy supplement to the page When is Pentecost? where it has been shown, Biblically, that Pentecost was and always is on a seventh-day Sabbath. Ellen White made statements that also support the theory that Pentecost was on a Sabbath.

In Patriarchs and Prophets it is recorded:

"Upon the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, Moses was called up into the cloud. The thick cloud opened in the sight of all Israel, and the glory of the Lord broke forth like devouring fire. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights." (Patriarchs and Prophets p313)

If you carefully follow and compare the sequence of events given in Patriarchs and Prophets and the Bible that leads to the day mentioned in the verse above, you will see that it was on the previous Sabbath that the Ten Commandments were given along with the statutes and judgments.

Bible Patriarch and Prophets Comments
Ten Commandments, statutes and judgments given ... Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." (Exo 20-24:4a) "On the morning of the third day... written by Moses in a book." p304-12 Moses told to come up with Aaron etc in 24:1 but this did not happen until v9
"... and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar..." (Exo 24:4) "Then followed the ratification of the covenant. An altar was built..." p312 The Bible says this was now the day after giving the Ten Commandments which would be Sunday
"And the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me ..." (v12) "Moses and 'his minister Joshua' were now summoned to meet with God" p313  
"And Moses rose up ... v13   Not designating a new day - see note below.
"And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us ... Aaron and Hur are with you ..." v14 "As they were to be some time absent, the leader appointed Aaron and Hur..." (p313)  
"And Moses went up into the mount and a cloud covered the mount." (v15) v15 quoted  
"... the cloud covered it six days ..." (verse 15) "For six days the cloud covered the mountain ..." Six days including the day Moses went up would be Sunday to Friday
"... and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud ... and Moses went into the midst of the cloud gat him up into the mount ..." (v16,18) "Upon the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, Moses was called up into the cloud. ... " (p313)  

Note re Genesis 24:13:
The "Moses rose up" of verse 13 is not introducing a new day. The "rose up" here is from a different word (quwm, Strong's 6965) than the "rose up early" (shakam, Strong's 7925) of verse 4. Here is a verse that uses both words and helps to make the distinction in meaning:

"And Abraham rose up early (shakam) in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up (quwm), and went unto the place of which God had told him." (Gen 22:3)

If you examine other uses of the word "quwm" it is frequently used in that way. The first verse in the Bible that uses it is:

"And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Gen 4:8)

Cain was talking to his brother before he rose up and slew him, he was not sleeping.

The "Moses rose up" of Genesis 24:13 is probably referring to Moses standing up after they "did eat and drink" in verse 11.


So, the reference in Patriarchs and Prophets "Upon the seventh day, which was the Sabbath" is referring to the same event as Exodus 24:16 and we can now follow this back in time and see that the previous seventh-day Sabbath was:

  1. the day that the Ten Commandments were spoken to Israel from Mt. Sinai.
  2. the day the people agreed to the covenant saying "... with one voice ... All the words which the LORD hath said will we do." (Exo 24:3, also verse 7)
  3. the day the covenant was ratified with the blood of the sacrifice (Exo 24:8)

Since Pentecost was on a seventh-day Sabbath, the wave sheaf offering of the Feast of First Fruits (50 days inclusive earlier) would also be on a seventh-day Sabbath. This, of course, fits with (as it must do) a Sabbath resurrection. Get the complete story on this in my new book In the Heart of the Earth.

Part Two of this study on Ellen White's writings and the timing of Pentecost considers how statements in The Desire of Ages relate to what has been shown on this page from Patriarchs and Prophets.  


Prophecy Newsletter
Receive free newsletters reporting and analysing world events related to prophecy.
The Greek has multiple words for forgiveness? God forgives (charizomai) whether we ask or not. Receiving forgiveness (apheimi) is by our choice.
God always forgives!
   

 

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Please leave a comment below.

POWERED BY SITE BUILD IT