New Testament History

The childhoods of John the Baptist and Christ

 
The annunciation of John the Baptist
The conception and birth of John the Baptist
The betrothal of Joseph and the Holy Virgin
The incarnation of Christ
The visit of the Holy Virgin to Elizabeth
The birth of Christ
The presentation of Christ in the Temple
The flight of the Holy Family to Egypt
The massacre of the Holy Innocents
The deaths of Zechariah and Elizabeth
The return to Nazareth
The Passovers of 8 AD and 12 AD
 
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The presentation of Christ in the Temple

Joseph and the Holy Virgin left Betlehem for Jerusalem at dawn on Monday factual Julian 2 January 1 AD = 18 Tevet.[1] Christ would normally have been presented in the Temple on Thursday factual Julian 5 January = theoretical Julian 6 January = 21 Tevet = the 40th day after His birth (Lev 12:2, 4), 39 non-inclusive days after Sunday factual Julian 27 November 1 BC (cf. the 39 non-inclusive days between 25 December and 2 February in the liturgical calendar). Yet, on account of a feast, the Holy Family had to wait for three days, such that the presentation took place on the 43rd day after birth:[2] on Sunday factual Julian 8 January 1 AD = 24 Tevet. The ceremony ended around 9 a.m.[3]

Since the presentation took place on 24 Tevet, the three preceding feast days were 21-23 Tevet. The feast was the Feast of Ennorum, which consists of a Sabbath preparation day (called Beshalah) followed by three days of feast.[4] The feast had been instituted by a prophet and extended by Solomon.[5] Parshat Beshalah (i.e. Exod 13:17-17:16) relates the crossing of the Red Sea and the immediately following events. Since the Exodus was celebrated during the Feast of Ennorum,[6] the Sabbath preparation day was called Beshalah. The name of the feast itself, Ennorum, is probably a combination of the Hebrew words ’ên (the status constructus of ’ayin, “to be not”) and ’ôrîm (the plural of ’ôr, “light”) and would refer to the creation of the lights (cf. Ps 136:7 le‘ōśé ’ôrîm gedōlîm “He made the great lights,” trans. NJB). On the morning of the fourth day of the Creation there were no lights, in the evening there were (Gen 1:14-19, which passage contains the words ’ôr, hammā’ôr, hamme’ōrōt, lehā’îr, me’ōrōt, and me’ôrōt). The night introducing the fifth day was the first one with lights. The Feast of Ennorum started on 20 Tevet (the day of Beshalah) and continued for the three remaining days of the Creation week (the fifth till seventh day), on 21-23 Tevet. The lights were to “divide day from night” and to “indicate festivals, days and years” (Gen 1:14, trans. NJB). Hence the Feast of Ennorum also celebrated the end and the start of the solar year.[7]

Luke 2:36-37 highlights the number 7 at the presentation of Christ in the Temple: the prophetess Anne had been married for 7 years and was 84 (= 7 x 12) years old. The importance of the number 7 alludes to the 7-year cycle: a new Sabbatical cycle had started in Tishri 1 BC (after the Sabbatical year Tishri 2 BC/Elul 1 BC).[8]

 


[1] A.C.E., Mary, 282.

[2] A.C.E., Life, 3:174. This information was provided on Friday 17 January 1823, when A.C.E. saw the vision relating to Friday 12 January 31 AD = 29 Tevet. This latter date is close to the Julian (factual Julian 8 January) and Jewish (24 Tevet) dates of the presentation.

[3] A.C.E., Mary, 288.

[4] A.C.E., Life, 3:188: “a feast of joy, which began at the close of the Sabbath and lasted for three days”; 3:193 (the vision of the evening of Friday 24 January 1823): “This Sabbath was called Beschallah, and was immediately followed by that feast of three days whose name sounds like Ennorum.” On Monday 27 January 1823, A.C.E. (Life, 3:197) saw this feast being celebrated at several places.

[5] A.C.E., Life, 3:193, 201-202.

[6] A.C.E., Life, 3:188: “It was a feast of thanksgiving for all graces received from the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage down to their own time”; 3:192-193: “He prayed and listened to the reading of the Holy Scriptures appointed for this Sabbath. They consisted of passages relating to the Departure from Egypt, the Journey through the Red Sea, and the Prophetess Deborah. A canticle celebrating the passage through the Red Sea was sung, and in it were recounted one after another all the benefits that God had showered on the Jews, especially what regarded their worship and Temple. […] In the canticle thanks were given for the innumerable favors that God had shown them from the beginning; namely, for their deliverance from Egypt and the Red Sea, for the Law, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, for the priestly vestments, and the Temple, and for their wise King Solomon.”

[7] A.C.E., Life, 3:193-194: “It was at one and the same time the commencement, the end, and the feast of thanksgiving for all favors and for all other feasts. […] This festival was like the Amen of the feasts, the feast of the beginning and the end.”

[8] Wacholder 1973: 190. The post-Sabbatical year is the first year in the Sabbatical cycle; the Sabbatical year is the seventh (Exod 23:11; Lev 25:4; Deut 15:9; Neh 10:32; 1 Macc 6:53).