SOME JEWISH SCRIBE CHANGED THE TEXT OF EXODUS 34:25

NOTE! The evidence for the fraudulent changes explained in this article is internal. It is found in the pages of the Bible itself. In each case it involves a Scripture that is absolutely vital to upholding some Jewish belief, which belief would without this changed text be unbiblical according to all the other Scriptures in the Old Testament. So the motive for the change is very easy to see. The evidence consists of exposing the incompatible and / or illogical statements in the changed text. Typically the person who altered the text has overlooked something which exposes his fraudulent tampering with the text.

Let's look at EXODUS 34:25

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall THE SACRIFICE OF THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER be left unto the morning. (Exodus 34:25 AV)

THE EVIDENCE FOR THIS ALTERATION

1) THE GENERAL CONTEXT

A) The Old Covenant starts in Exodus 19:17 and it is concluded in Exodus 24:3, when the people replied with: "All the words which the Eternal has said we will do".

B) Then Moses went up to the mountain, where God wrote the ten commandments on two tables of stone.

C) Meanwhile the people made the golden calf and descended into idolatry. Moses came down from the mountain and broke the tables of stone.

D) So in Exodus 34:1 God instructed Moses to make two new tables of stone and to come up to the mountain again. God then REPEATS some of the things He had spoken while giving the Old Covenant previously. In the latter part of this chapter Moses again comes down from the mountain. Exodus 34 represents a repetition of what had already been presented in Exodus 23.

2) WHEN THE BIBLE MENTIONS "THE PASSOVER"

A) God introduced the word "PASSOVER" to Israel in Exodus 12:11. The word is mentioned exactly five times in the course of this chapter.

B) AFTER EXODUS 12 the word "PASSOVER" is not mentioned again until we get to Leviticus 23:5 (the chapter which lists ALL of the annual observances for God's people) ... EXCEPT FOR ONCE IN EXODUS 34:25.

C) As we will see, the word PASSOVER is totally out of place and out of context in Exodus chapter 34. It very obviously does not belong in that context, if we have the eyes to see it.

3) COMPARING EXODUS 23 AND EXODUS 34

Exodus 23 is in the latter part of the original making of the Old Covenant. Exodus 34 is a repeat of the things covered in Exodus 23, but at the time when Moses was upon the mountain for the second time. Let's notice the clear parallels:

A) EXODUS 23

Verse 12 = deals with the WEEKLY SABBATH
Verse 14 = deals with keeping a Feast THREE TIMES IN THE YEAR
Verse 15 = deals with the Feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD
Verse 16 = deals with the Feasts of PENTECOST and TABERNACLES
Verse 17 = repeats appearing before God THREE TIMES IN THE YEAR
Verse 18 = THIS IS A KEY VERSE ABOUT SACRIFICES AT THE FEASTS
Verse 19 = deals with FIRSTFRUITS OF THE LAND
Verses 20-33 = some concluding comments in wrapping up the whole Old Covenant

B) EXODUS 34

Verse 18 = deals with the Feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD
Verses 19-20 = deal with firstlings and the firstborn
Verse 21 = deals with the WEEKLY SABBATH
Verse 22 = deals with the Feasts of PENTECOST and TABERNACLES
Verse 23 = deals with keeping a Feast THREE TIMES IN THE YEAR
Verse 24 = deals with protection of our possessions
Verse 25 = SUDDENLY IT TALKS ABOUT "THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER"
*** THIS IS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED AND OUT OF CONTEXT!
Verse 26 = deals with FIRSTFRUITS OF THE LAND
Verse 27 = A concluding comment from God

Now if we ignore Exodus 34:19-20, 24, which deal with additional comments not recorded in Exodus 23, then it should be very clear that these two accounts are OBVIOUS PARALLELS!

4) It is important to note that God did NOT AT ALL refer to "the Passover" in the original Old Covenant! God there mentioned the weekly Sabbath and the THREE annual Feasts in the Old Covenant, but NOT any other days in the year. Specifically, the Passover, the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Last Great Day were not mentioned in the Old Covenant.

In the repeat in Exodus 34 God again mentions the weekly Sabbath and the THREE annual Feasts. And then, after God had CONCLUDED the references to the annual Feasts (Tabernacles is the third and final Feast in the year), THEN God supposedly introduces "the Passover", almost like an afterthought? God is very clear on the sequence of observances He commanded Israel to enact.

Let's understand that God would NOT give a sequence that goes: "Unleavened Bread ... Pentecost ... Tabernacles ... Passover". That sequence is totally out of step with every other reference to these annual observances.

5) We should also note the following:

WHERE IN EXODUS 23:

- statements about Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and three times in the year are followed by "INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING SACRIFICES AT THESE FEASTS"

IN EXODUS 34:

- statements about Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and three times in the year are followed by "COMMENTS ABOUT THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER"!

Exodus 23:18 and Exodus 34:25 are very clear parallels, with much of the wording being identical. And in Exodus 34 verse 25 fits EXACTLY into the sequence of events where verse 18 fits into the sequence in Exodus 23. EXACTLY! Yet one verse supposedly speaks about the Passover, while in the original account the Passover is not mentioned at all. Let's now compare these two verses

6) COMPARING EXODUS 23:18 AND EXODUS 34:25

EXODUS 23:18

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain unto the morning.

EXODUS 34:25

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover remain unto the morning.

[Comment: The expressions "leavened bread" in Exodus 23 and "leaven" in Exodus 34 are identical in Hebrew, and should have been translated identically. I've written "leavened bread" in both verses. Like the verb translated "remain" in Exodus 23 and the verb translated "be left" in Exodus 34 are also identical in the Hebrew. So I have written "remain" in both verses. These minor differences were introduced in an attempt to disguise just how identical these two verses actually are.]

In their respective accounts these two verses are followed by the IDENTICAL verse. Thus BOTH, Exodus 23:19 and Exodus 34:26 state:

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Exodus 34:26 and Exodus 23:19 AV)

It should be clear that before some dishonest scribe tampered with the text, Exodus 23:18 and Exodus 34:25 had ALSO BEEN IDENTICAL! And in a moment we'll see the proof for this.

7) EXAMINING THE KEY HEBREW WORDS IN THESE VERSES

Here are these two verses again with key Hebrew words left untranslated.

So here is Exodus 23:18.

You shall not ZABACH (offer) the blood of my ZEBACH (sacrifice) with CHAMETZ (leavened bread); neither shall the CHELEB (fat) of my CHAG (sacrifice) remain unto the morning.

And here is Exodus 34:25.

You shall not SHACHAT (offer) the blood of my ZEBACH (sacrifice) with CHAMETZ (leavened bread); neither shall the ZEBACH (sacrifice) of the CHAG (feast) of the PESACH (passover) remain unto the morning.

Here is what we find:

A) Where the first half of these two verses are identical in the English text, we see that in the Hebrew text the verb "zabach" in Exodus 23:18 has been REPLACED by the verb "shachat" in Exodus 34:25. THERE IS A VERY IMPORTANT REASON FOR THIS CHANGE!

B) In the second half of these two verses: where the English text reads "my sacrifice" in Exodus 23:18 and "the feast" in Exodus 34:25, the HEBREW TEXT IS IDENTICAL! We are dealing with a clear mistranslation in the KJV of Exodus 23:18. This has been corrected in the Jewish translation (JPS), as well as in most other major translations (i.e. ASV, DBY, NAS, NIV, RSV, NRSV, YLT, etc.), but not in the NKJV. Exodus 23:18 should CORRECTLY read: "... neither shall the fat of my FEAST remain ...", instead of "... neither shall the fat of my SACRIFICE remain ...".

C) The Hebrew word "cheleb" (fat) in Exodus 23:18 has in Exodus 34:25 been replaced by the Hebrew word "zebach" (sacrifice). THERE IS ALSO A REASON FOR THIS CHANGE!

D) In Exodus 34:25 the word "pesach" (Passover) has been INSERTED between the words "chag" (feast) and the expression "remain unto the morning".

So in the Hebrew text for these two verses there are ONLY THREE CHANGES.

A) The verb "zabach" has been changed to "shachat"
B) The noun "cheleb" has been changed to the noun "zebach"
C) The noun "pesach" has been ADDED to the text of Exodus 34:25.

That's all that has happened: two words were changed and one word was added. The rests of these two verses are identical.

Let's now examine the Hebrew verbs "zabach" and "shachat".

8) THE VERBS "ZABACH" AND "SHACHAT"

In Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, these verbs are defined as follows:

"ZABACH": (1) to slaughter animals, (2) specially to slay in sacrifice, to sacrifice, to immolate [immolate means "to kill as a sacrificial victim"]. The Hebrew noun for "sacrifice" is "zebach".

"SHACHAT": (1) to slay animals, especially a victim, and even a human victim, (2) to kill persons.

For example, the word "shachat" is used in Genesis 22:10 to refer to Abraham who was about to "SLAY" his son; in Judges 12:6 to refer to killing the Ephraimites who could not say "Shibboleth", in 2 Kings 10:7 to refer to 70 sons of Ahab being killed, etc.

So while both these Hebrew verbs are used to refer to animals being slaughtered for sacrifices, the verb "shachat" has the added dimension that it also refers to HUMAN VICTIMS being killed. And this word "shachat" is ALWAYS used to refer to the killing of the Passover (except in Deuteronomy 16, another text that was clearly altered). That is why we always read "you shall KILL the Passover", rather than "you shall SACRIFICE the Passover".

So note very carefully!

IF God had ever intended for us to think of the Passover as a sacrifice like the other sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood, THEN God would have used the verb "zabach" in Exodus 12. Because "zabach" is the verb from which the noun "zebach" (a sacrifice) is formed.

Now God did use the noun "zebach" one time, in Exodus 12:27, in the expression "the sacrifice of the Eternal's Passover"; and it is THIS PHRASE in Exodus 12:27 that the scribe who changed Exodus 34:25 was appealing to in his altered text. But even then God never used the verb "zabach" to refer to the Passover being killed.

Instead, God has CONSISTENTLY used the verb "shachat" to refer to the Passover, because the Passover represents "A KILLING" rather than "a sacrifice". Jesus Christ had to be KILLED for our sins! The Romans didn't offer Jesus Christ up "as a sacrifice"! It was A KILLING, like Isaac was almost KILLED by his father. And this is conveyed much more effectively by the verb "shachat", rather than "zabach".

Now the man who changed the verb "zabach" to the verb "shachat" in Exodus 34:25 knew this very clearly, that the Bible always uses the verb "shachat" when referring to the Passover, and never the verb "zabach". It was for the purpose of hiding the change in the text that he had made, that he changed the verb to "shachat". His change was less conspicuous that way.

Let's see it from the point of view of the forger of Exodus 34:25.

9) FROM THE FORGER'S POINT OF VIEW

The forger's intent was to introduce the word "Passover" into this verse. So he realized that:

A) To escape detection he wanted to make AS FEW changes as he could get away with.

B) He had to change the verb "zabach" to the verb that is always applied to the Passover (i.e. shachat).

C) He was desirous of having the Passover referred to as "THE FEAST of the Passover", something that the Old Testament NEVER says!

D) By introducing the word "Passover" into this text, he realized that the expression "the fat of the feast of Passover" would not have made any sense, since "FAT" never enters the picture when we talk about the Passover. The word "fat" is ALWAYS a reference to the sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood (i.e. peace offering, burnt offering, etc.), and not of the Passover.

E) So he replaced the word "fat" with the word "sacrifice", thereby appealing to people's familiarity with Exodus 12:27.

And that is all he had to do in order to provide "a biblical justification" for his unbiblical Passover customs and traditions. With these simple changes the noun "chag" (feast) was made to refer to the noun "zebach" (sacrifice) instead of the noun "cheleb" (fat); and the noun "zebach" in turn was made to refer to the noun "pesach" (Passover). And now the Jews could refer to the Passover as "a Feast", with full confidence in biblical support for this custom.

10) FROM GOD'S POINT OF VIEW

It is really stretching the credibility to expect us to believe that God would have INSPIRED the identical wording in Exodus 23:18 and in Exodus 34:25, except for three words, with the result that there is a total change in focus, when the rest of the context in both cases is identical.

It is really asking a lot, when we are expected to believe that GOD would talk about the Passover only AFTER He had discussed the three annual Feasts, all three of which the Passover precedes in the yearly cycle.

It is asking a lot to expect us to believe that God suddenly, and out of the blue, makes some unexpected reference to the Passover in the repeated instructions pertaining to the Old Covenant, when God very clearly did not say anything at all about the Passover in the original Old Covenant.

In short, we are expected to be extremely shallow and gullible, if we are expected to believe that God actually inspired the text of Exodus 34:25 as we have it today.

WHY SOME SCRIBE ALTERED THIS SCRIPTURE

The plain, simple and obvious reason why some scribe at some point (I would suspect sitting in Babylon?) made this alteration to the inspired text of Exodus 34:25 is to create some biblical support for the unbiblical Jewish customs pertaining to the observance of the Passover.

THE CORRECT MEANING OF THIS SCRIPTURE

The correct text of this verse should be identical to Exodus 23:18, except that the second time the word "sacrifice" appears in this verse it must be changed to "feast".

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my feast remain until the morning. (Exodus 34:25 and Exodus 23:18)

This is an instruction that applied to the sacrifices people would bring during the three annual feasts.

THE CONSEQUENCES SUMMARIZED

Correcting this error removes the only supposed biblical justification for referring to the Passover as "a feast", because it is not and was never intended to be a feast!

Other articles that also address this subject are "GOD'S HOLY DAYS & GOD'S ANNUAL FESTIVALS AND HOLY DAY OFFERINGS" and the article dealing with "Deuteronomy 16".

Frank W. Nelte