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The Observance of the Law of Moses is dependent upon the changing seasons, with the feast of Passover coming
in the spring. we know that the first month of the Nephite calendar was the same as the first month in Jerusalem because of Samuel
the Lamanite’s prophesy of events at the Savior’s death and the recorded timing of the great destruction. This meant it had to be
springtime in Book of Mormon lands when it was springtime in Jerusalem. He explains further:
Keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread (in the first month) required newly harvested barley to be brought to the
Temple for a wave offering. Fifty days later the grain offering of new wheat had to be made (late spring early summer) – Pentecost!
At the end of the summer there had to be a Festival of Ingathering and lodge making– Sukkoth. These celebrations with their ordinances
were seasonal. There had to be a spring, summer and fall in the Promised Land. The 10th and 11th months fell in winter – just when
we find tortured Alma and Amulek stripped of clothing in prison and later, a surprise attack by the Lamanites in which they wore thick
skins. Now days the Jewish people all over the earth celebrate the holidays more or less in sync with the seasonal holidays held at
Jerusalem. They can do this (even in South America and Australia) because no ancient temple ordinances or sacrifices are performed
anymore. Most believe that temple sacrifices can only be performed at Jerusalem. But Nephi was obligated to keep the whole law with
all of its ordinances. To do this he had to have priesthood and everything the Torah requires. This means it had to be springtime
in the land of Nephi when it was spring in Jerusalem. The Law commanded that all Israel keep the feast of the Passover in the same
season as Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The timing of these celebrations was coordinated by the seasons and by the moon.
Lo and behold we find that when the Savior died, it was in the first month! Both the Book of Mormon and the Bible agree. The dry and
rainy seasons of Central America don’t fit very well with the seasons at Jerusalem and there is a six month difference between the
temperate seasons of South America and Jerusalem. The seasonal observances of the Law of Moses were clearly based in the seasons of
the temperate northern hemisphere.
There were three major temple gathering festivals that ancient Israel was commanded to keep:
(1) Passover with the Feast of Unleavened Bread
(2) Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks
(3) Succoth or the Feast of Tabernacles (Exodus 23:14-17)
The Moon and the Seasons:
The Calendar which Israel observed in keeping these important festivals was revealed by the LORD to Moses
and Aaron. (Exodus 12:1-3; 13:10) The ancient Israelite calendar was essential in keeping the Law of Moses.The Israelite festival
year began in the springtime, in the month the King James Bible calls “Abib”. (Deuteronomy 16:1) This is not really the name of the
month, but a description of a naturally occurring event that signaled the start of the year. The maturing barley in the fields started
to change from green to a more golden and crisp state called “aviv”. The very next new moon, following the “aviv” of barley, signaled
the start of the Israelite year. Unlike the divisions of time modern people call “months”, Israelite months were true “moonths” because
they followed lunar cycles. Before the Babylonian captivity, the month of the “aviv” was simply called the “first month” – same as
in the Book of Mormon.
We know that faithful Nephites kept all of the ordinances of the Law of Moses. (2 Nephi 5:10) Therefore they
had to have used the same divinely revealed calendar. This also means that they were led to a land with similar temperate seasons,
in phase with the seasons of the land of Israel. We also know that the Nephite first month, and the Jewish first month occurred at
about the same time, for according to scripture, the Passover first month at Jerusalem, when the Lamb of God was sacrificed, coincided
with the Nephite first month in the New World. (Helaman 14:20, 3 Nephi 8:5) These simple but overlooked scriptural details pose a
serious challenge to arguments that Lehi’s Covenant Land of Liberty is in Central America; with its two tropical seasons (wet and
dry), or in temperate South America where the seasons are six months out of phase with the temperate seasons in the Northern Hemisphere.
Clean Animals for Sacrifice
The Law of Moses required the sacrifice of clean animals: birds of the pigeon variety, “lesser cattle” of the sheep
and goat variety, and bovine type animals. Though there is currently no strong evidence that ancient Native Americans domesticated
any of these animals, species satisfying the requirements of the Law of Moses could nevertheless be found in temperate North America
i.e. varieties of pigeon, Big horn Sheep, (the tooth of a domesticated sheep was found jut to the east of the Hill Cumorah which dated
to the Nephite era), Mountain goats, Bison. (1 Nephi 18:23-25) Central and South American setting advocates unconvincingly propose
alternate interpretations of these required animals. The camel-like Llama, for instance, is not a suitable substitute for a sheep
or a goat. It is considered unclean. (Leviticus 11:4)
The following is a short synopsis of the seasonal and agricultural requirements for observing each of the three major
Israelite festivals, all requiring a temperate Northern Hemispheric climate:
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
Agriculture: Barley is often translated “corn” meaning kernel (not maize) in the KJV. Spring harvested barley
was required for a wave offering to be performed by the priesthood during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Leviticus 23:5-11) Recently,
evidence has been found of a variety of barley (“little barley”) cultivated by Native North Americans. There is to date no evidence
of barley cultivation in Mesoamerica. (Mosiah 9:9)
Wine was also required for ordinances performed during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Leviticus 23:13) Norse explorers
of North America claimed to have found grapes and self-sown wheat in the New World. (Mosiah 11:15, 3 Nephi 14:16) Mesoamerican setting
advocates propose that some other fermented liquid (not actually wine) is translated “wine” in the Book of Mormon.
Pentecost:
Agriculture: Wheat from the first harvest of the new year was offered at the temple.
Feast of Tabernacles:
Season: Autumn, the ending of the festival year near the start of winter. (Exodus 23:16-17) Winters are typically cold an wet in the
land of Israel. Summers are hot and dry.
Article courtesy Vincent Coon
Read other articles by Vincent Coon at bookofmormonpromisedland.com
Included in his articles are comments
attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the "Times and Seasons," and his critique of the Mesoamerican and Heartland theories.
visit
The Law of Moses
& the Nephites