¿Porque los adherentes del Judaismo son los "hijos falsos" guardan el "Sabado Romano"?

Biblical Proof for the LUNAR Sabbath

John D. Keyser

The Bible teaches that ALL days are ordinary workdays unless YEHOVAH God deems them otherwise. With no adding to or taking away from the Bible, all days are ordinary days except the ones He designates as worship days. For example -- the Bible shows us that after six workdays we are to rest (see Genesis 2:2; Exodus 16:26; Exodus 20:8-11 and Leviticus 23:3).

Not only are we to rest on this day, but it is also a worship day -- a holy day set apart (sanctified) as an intermission from the previous workdays. Intermission or rest from what? The six ordinary workdays! The sun rises and sets on every day alike, but the moon tells us which ones are not ordinary days. These days are intermissions, and without the moon we would not know which days YEHOVAH God has chosen. The moon signals the days with its light -- as it increases and decreases.

In Ezekiel 46:1-3 we learn that the New Moon (first day of the month) is also an intermission day -- notice!

Thus says the LORD God: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of that gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the LORD on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.

Also, notice Isaiah 66:23 --

"And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD.

In Numbers 28:11-14 the offerings for the New Moon day are outlined by YEHOVAH God:

At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish; three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. Their drink offering shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb; this is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year.

Then, in Numbers 10, a further part of the ritual for the New Moon days and the appointments is described --

Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the assembly and for directing the movement of the camps.... And when the congregation is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.... Also, in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God (verses 2, 7 and 8, 10).

The New Moon day of the seventh month (Tishri) is especially important to YEHOVAH God, and He ordained extra offerings for that day. Notice:

And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon , the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD (Numbers 29:1-6).

The fact that the New Moon day is a Sabbath rest is unequivocally stated by YEHOVAH God in Leviticus 23:24-24 -- take special note of this:

Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a SABBATH REST, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'

The ordinary New Moon days of the other months are also days of blowing trumpets so, these too, are Sabbath rests.

In this 7th month (Tishri), and on the 15th day of the moon, is an intermission (Sukkot or Tabernacles). Along with the 1st (New Moon), 8th (weekly Sabbath), 10th (Yom Kippur or Atonement), 22nd (weekly Sabbath and Shmini Atzeret) and 29th (weekly Sabbath), we are to assemble for worship. Leviticus 23:3 clearly teaches us that after six ordinary work days there will be a worship day.

Without question it is quite obvious that the New Moon is not one of the ordinary work days. YEHOVAH God wants us to work those six days, but we are admonished to rest after six work days which, in the 7th month, would be the 8th day of the moon. We are not forbidden to work on the 9th, but are commanded to rest and worship on the 10th with no food. After the 10th there is no commandment not to work on the 11th through 14th days of the moon -- except, of course, with man's calendar!

After the 10th has passed, we can eat and work on the 11th through the 14th -- but we are commanded to rest on the 15th. It is a worship day -- see Numbers 29:12.

Now we are not commanded to fast or worship the next six days (16th through the 21st), but we are ordered to dwell in booths seven days from the 15th to the 21st (Leviticus 23:40-43). We are then ordered to keep the 8th day counting from the 15th -- which is the 22nd (another worship day or Sabbath).

Counting on with YEHOVAH God's instructions, there is no Holy worship on the 23rd day through the 28th, but the pattern of rest and worship after six workdays would apply on the 29th -- unless, of course, you use man's Gregorian calendar of today.

The Bible plainly teaches that the New Moon is a worship day -- a day of no buying or selling, and NOT one of the ordinary workdays (Ezekiel 46:1; Isaiah 66:23 and Amos 8:5). After that, there is no commandment not to work on day 2 of the moon through day 7, but we must take an intermission on day 8 for worshiping YEHOVAH God because it is the seventh day or Sabbath from the 1st workday after the New Moon worship day. Then six more workdays, then rest and worship on the 15th, etc. This goes on year after year from one New Moon to another and one Sabbath to another.

To further prove the appointments (intermissions) are after six working days (not counting the New Moon), let's look at the following examples in the Bible --

EXODUS 16:

YEHOVAH God has left us clues in His holy word the Bible -- clues that we can easily piece together and learn HOW to determine YEHOVAH's Sabbath day! For the first clue, let's turn to the book of Exodus, chapter 16:

And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, WHETHER THEY WILL WALK IN MY LAW OR NOT" (New King James Version, verses 1-4).

These verses are much clearer in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which reads as follows --

And they departed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sina; and ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY, IN THE SECOND MONTH after their departure from the land of Egypt, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. And the children of Israel said to them, Would we had died smitten by the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and ate bread to satiety! for ye have brought us out into this wilderness, to slay all this congregation with hunger. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread upon you out of heaven: and the people shall go forth, and they shall gather their daily portion for the day, that I may try them WHETHER THEY WILL WALK IN MY LAW OR NOT.

These verses bring out TWO main points, (1) the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron on THE 15TH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH after leaving Egypt and, (2) YEHOVAH God was going to test the Israelites to see if they would WALK IN HIS LAW OR NOT. It is very interesting that Moses should mention THE EXACT DAY that the Israelites murmured against him and Aaron in the wilderness -- nowhere else in the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to the Promised Land is an exact date mentioned. This clearly indicates that this date was IMPORTANT TO YEHOVAH GOD and that He wanted the Israelites to remember it. Also, on this date He was going to teach the Israelites something very important -- to test them and see if they would obey Him or not. What was this important lesson?

Let's continue in Exodus 16 --

"And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be TWICE AS MUCH as they gather daily." Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, "At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your murmurings against the Lord. But what are we, that you murmur against us?"...Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, THE GLORY OF THE LORD APPEARED IN THE CLOUD. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, `At twilight [evening, after sunset] you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God. "' So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp ...(Verses 5-13).

This day -- the 15TH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH -- was so important to YEHOVAH God that He appeared in the cloud before the Israelites and then caused thousands (maybe millions) of quail to be blown into the Israelites' camp "at twilight," i.e. after sunset of the 15th. WHY was this day so important to YEHOVAH God? Writes Herbert W. Armstrong: "I will show you that God was speaking to them [the children of Israel] on a SABBATH. It is evident that the Eternal first preached to men on the FIRST SABBATH. Adam was created on the sixth day of creation week. Evidently he was created in the late afternoon, since the creation of man was the last act of creation on that day. When the sun had set, immediately after Adam's creation, God preached to him, offering him the GIFT of eternal life (through the tree of life), and warning that the wages of sin is DEATH (Gen. 2:15-17).

"And here God is again preaching to Israel, through Moses, ON THE SABBATH" (Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath, pp. 30-31).

Now let's continue with the narrative in Exodus 16: "...and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat'...So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was on THE SIXTH DAY, that they gathered TWICE AS MUCH BREAD, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said: "TOMORROW IS A SABBATH REST, A HOLY SABBATH TO THE LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning!"' So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. SIX DAYS YOU SHALL GATHER IT, but on the SEVENTH DAY, which is THE SABBATH, there will be none.'

"Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' So the people rested on the seventh day" (verses 13-30).

Starting on the 16th day of the month, YEHOVAH God provided food for the Israelites then, on the seventh day after the 15th, He did not provide any manna -- thereby showing that this day (the 22nd day of the month) was a Sabbath. Obviously, if the 15th was seven days before the 22nd, it too was a Sabbath day! This Herbert Armstrong clearly understood. We can see here that YEHOVAH was setting up His weekly Sabbath cycle for the Israelites. If the 15th and the 22nd were Sabbath days, then the 8th and the 29th of the month were also Sabbaths! So here we see a pattern -- 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th. What significance do these dates have? Just this -- THEY CORRESPOND TO THE PHASES OF THE MOON!! YEHOVAH God was showing the Israelites that His Sabbath days were to fall on the days corresponding to the moon's phases, thus showing that the weekly Sabbaths were to be kept by THE SAME CALENDAR or reckoning used to determine the annual Sabbaths or feast days!

I ask you, WHY would YEHOVAH God complicate the Israelites' lives by having them keep two calendars or reckonings -- one for the weekly Sabbath and one for the annual holy days? This makes no sense whatsoever! YEHOVAH God set up ONE calendar for ALL of His days -- not two!

EXODUS 40:12-15:

Aaron and his sons were sanctified for seven days (Leviticus 8:33) which began on a New Moon (Exodus 40:2) -- and on the 8th day was an assembly (Moed) of the congregation. The point we should notice is that during these seven days they were not to go out the door of the tabernacle for seven days, day and night -- see Leviticus 8:34-35.

No calendar Sabbath would disrupt these seven days of consecration because it was from the New Moon till the 7th day of the moon -- and after the six workdays they assembled the congregation. Why did they assemble the congregation? To observe the 7th day Sabbath which fell on the 8th day of the moon!

In Exodus 40:2 YEHOVAH God spoke to Moses saying: "On the FIRST DAY [New Moon] of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting." Then, in Exodus 40:12-15, Moses was commanded to anoint Aaron and his sons and dress them in Holy garments; and Verse 17 says: "And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up." The rest of the chapter explains what was placed in the tabernacle, and Leviticus 1:1 says that YEHOVAH God called to Moses from out of the tabernacle and instructed him further. Now, this is still on the New Moon. We must remember that the Bible is broken up by man into chapters, verses and books when quite often the train of thought continues on.

In Chapter 8:3 of Leviticus Moses is instructed to gather the congregation (still on the New Moon day) and in verses 6-13 Moses brings Aaron and his sons and puts the Holy garments on them and anoints the tabernacle -- along with Aaron and his sons -- as YEHOVAH God commanded. Then, in verse 33, they are commanded NOT TO GO OUT OF THE TABERNACLE FOR SEVEN DAYS. But, on the 8th day (Sabbath) YEHOVAH God appears to them: "It came to pass on the EIGHTH DAY that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel....And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD [Shekinah] appeared to all the people, and the fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar...(Leviticus 9:1 and 9:23-24). This clearly places the weekly Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th!

LEVITICUS 14:1-10:

In Leviticus 14, verses 1 through 10, we learn about the law of the leper --

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: This shall be the ritual for a leper at the time that he has to be cleansed. When it has been reported to the priest, the priest shall go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the leper has been healed of his scaly affection, the priest shall order two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop to be brought for him who is to be cleansed .... The one to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water; then he shall be clean. After that he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent seven days. On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair -- of head, beard, and eyebrows. When he has shaved off all his hair, he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; then he shall be clean. On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish, three-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in for a meal offering, and one log of oil. These shall be presented before the LORD, with the man to be cleansed, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, by the priest who performs the cleansing.

The point here is that if the seven-day count began on any other day except an intermission day the leper would sometimes have to do his laundry on a Sabbath -- which was absolutely forbidden by YEHOVAH's law.

The reason this 7th day is not a Sabbath is because (1) he couldn't wash his clothes, etc. on the Sabbath, and (2) because it is not the 8th day from when he showed himself to the Priest on the Sabbath, and (3) it is not the 7th day after six workdays. Therefore, this 7th day was actually the sixth workday.

In the Bible the 8th day is many times synonymous with the weekly Sabbath. Notice John 7:22-23:

Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), AND YOU CIRCUMCISE A MAN ON THE SABBATH. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

Now notice what Acts 7, verse 8 says --

Then He [YEHOVAH God] gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac AND CIRCUMCISED HIM ON THE EIGHTH DAY; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

What better day to enter this covenant than on the Sabbath day? The Sabbath and the 8th day are synonymous. If the 8th day is the Sabbath, then the 15th, 22nd and 29th are also Sabbath days!

II CHRONICLES 7:8:

In II Chronicles 7:7-8 we read the following:

Solomon consecrated the center of the court in front of the House of the LORD .... At that time Solomon kept the Feast for seven days -- all Israel with him -- a great assemblage from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. On the EIGHTH DAY they held a solemn gathering; they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the Feast seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their homes, rejoicing and in good spirits over the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and Solomon and His people Israel.

When the Temple was dedicated it always began on an intermission or Sabbath -- just like the sanctification of Aaron and his sons.

The example in II Chronicles 7:7-8 shows that Solomon kept the dedication of the altar for seven days (8th through 14th day of the moon) and then the Feast of Tabernacles for the next seven days (15th through the 21st day of the moon); and in the 8th day (22nd day of the moon) they made a solemn assembly. On the 23rd he sent the people away. Why is the 22nd day of the moon called the 8th day? Because it was 8 days from the previous Sabbath! We have already seen that the New Testament (John 7:22-23 and Acts 7:8) calls the 8th day the Sabbath.

From the New Moon to the 8th day (Sabbath) we have 8 days; from the 8th day to the 15th day (Sabbath plus first day of Tabernacles) we have another 8 days; and from the 15th day to the 22nd day (Sabbath plus Shmini Atzeret) we another 8 days. The next Sabbath or intermission from here is the 29th. There are 4 weekly Sabbaths in each moon.

When you count from Sabbath to Sabbath there are 8 days --just like in Isaiah 66:23 where you have "from one New Moon to another" and "from one Sabbath to another" (8 days apart).This proves that Solomon kept the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the moon as Sabbaths and never counted the New Moon as one of the six workdays.

If the 8th day wasn't a Sabbath from the last Sabbath, then a leper or someone under a Nazirite vow, would have to wash his clothes and shave his body on a weekly Sabbath -- which was forbidden. Cleansing took place from Sabbath to Sabbath. Remember that the Sabbath that ends a week also begins a new week on a 8 day count. You would observe a Sabbath then work six days and rest on the 7th day which will always be on the 8th day from the last intermission day or Sabbath for worship. Sabbaths are recorded from Sabbath to Sabbath in the Bible. Ezekiel 46:1 and Isaiah 66:23 show that the gates to the Temple were to be shut the six working days and open on Sabbaths and the Day of the New Moon . You have the New Moon day with the Temple gates open, then the six working days (2nd day to 7th day of the moon) with the gates closed. Then you rest on the 7th day which is the 8th day (gates open) from the New Moon, work another six days (9th to the 14th) and rest on the 7th which is the 8th day again (from the last Sabbath) and is the 15th day of the moon. Then 8 days from this is the 22nd day of the moon and another Sabbath, etc.

ESTHER 9:

In the ninth chapter of Esther we find further proof that the 15th day of the moon was kept as a rest day. Notice!

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed....Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them .... And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder .... But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth day; and on the fifteenth day of the month they RESTED, and made it a day of feasting and gladness (Verses 1, 5, 15 and 18)

Notice in this chapter that the 13th and the 14th were the days they got the victories, while the 15th was the day they rested. Clearly, therefore, they were keeping the Sabbath on the 15th day of the moon. This being the case, they would also be keeping it on the 8th, 22nd and 29th! At this time they decided to keep the 14th, along with the 15th, every 12th moon (month) to commemorate receiving rest from their enemies (Esther 9:22).

Since the Jews were commanded to remember the 15th day and keep it Holy in remembrance of YEHOVAH God who, with a mighty hand, gave them rest from their enemies, do you think they would count one through fifteen over and over again to remember the 15th? Or would they continue to use the only calendar the Bible speaks of -- the Heavenly lights? YEHOVAH God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath day because He brought them out of bondage in Egypt with a mighty hand, and it was the 15th when He gave them an intermission or Sabbath day.

Notice Deuteronomy 5:15 --

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe THE SABBATH DAY.

Then, in Numbers 33:3, we read:

They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. It was on the morrow of the Passover offering that the Israelites started out defiantly, in plain view of all the Egyptians.

Here YEHOVAH God equates the 15th day of the first month with the Sabbath! Also, He calls it "the morrow of the Passover offering" -- indicating that the weekly Sabbath AND the first day of Passover fall on the same day! Now if the Sabbath was on the 15th day of the 1st moon (month) when they were delivered from Egypt -- and also on the 15th day of the 2nd moon (month) -- it would be impossible to use the Roman Calendar count of 1 through 7 (and counting the New Moon as one of the six work days) and have the weekly Sabbath fall on the 15th day two moons or months in a row! Not only that, but it is apparent that Exodus 19:1 and 2 teaches that the Sabbath was also on the 15th in the 3rd month --

On the third new moon, after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain...

This makes THREE months in a row that the Sabbath was on the 15th -- which further increases (if that were possible) the impossibility of this happening with the Roman Calendar!

JOSHUA 5:10-12:

In comparing Joshua 5:10-12 with Leviticus 23:10-11, 14 we find further confirmation that the weekly Sabbath falls on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of each month (moon) -- notice:

And the children of Israel kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, to the westward of Jericho on the opposite side of the Jordan in the plain. And they ate of the grain of the earth unleavened and NEW CORN. In this day the manna failed, after they had eaten of the corn of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna; and they took the fruits of the land of the Phoenicians in that year (Joshua 5:10-12, Septuagint).

When ye shall enter into the land which I give you, and reap the harvest of it, then ye shall bring a sheaf, the first-fruits of your harvest, to the priest; and he shall lift up the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day [of Unleavened Bread] the priest shall lift it up....And ye shall not eat bread, or THE NEW PARCHED CORN, until this same day, until ye offer the sacrifices to your God: it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings (Leviticus 23:10-11, 14, Septuagint).

In Leviticus 23:10 it states that when the Israelites came into the land they were to wave the sheaf of the first-fruits on the morrow after the Sabbath, and verse 15 says that they were to begin a count on the morrow after they brought the sheaf to the priest to be offered and verse 14 says they could not eat new parched corn etc. until the SAME DAY they brought the offering. Now both Josephus and Philo agree that this would always be on the 16th of the moon (the morrow after the Sabbath on the 15th) when the priest would wave the sheaf -- and they lived during the time the Priesthood was still active. This indubitably means the Sabbath will always be on the 15th every year -- and the only way this can happen is to count the Sabbaths by the moon. It also proves that the Sabbath in the first month or moon each year will be on the 15th without fail, which is absolutely impossible to happen on the Roman calendar count.

Now in Joshua 5:11 we saw that when the Israelites came into the land they did exactly what YEHOVAH God told them. They kept the Passover on the 14th day at even (night, that begins the 15th) and verse 10 states that they ate PARCHED (NEW) CORN etc. on the morrow after the Passover (next day) which would be the 16th, and proves, once again, that the 15th was the Sabbath and the 16th was the morrow after -- as the two historians who watched the Priest doing it this way confirm. And the manna ceased on the same morrow or day (the 16th) after 40 years . It had begun 40 years earlier on the 16th, as we have already seen in the 16th chapter of Exodus.

Some misguided individuals try to say that the 14th was the Sabbath in Joshua chapter 5, but if that were so then counting backward we would come to the 7th of the moon that would also be a Sabbath. However, in Joshua 1:11 Joshua instructs the officers to pass through the camp and command the people to prepare food because in three days they would pass over the Jordan River -- notice:

Go through the camp and charge the people, thus: Get provisions ready, for in three days' time you are to cross the Jordan, in order to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession.

Now this had to be the 7th day of the moon because they passed over the Jordan on the 10th day of the moon -- "The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho" (Joshua 4:19). They would not command the people to prepare food on the Sabbath -- which proves the 7th day was not the Sabbath and, therefore, the 14th was not either. The 8th day was the Sabbath, then the 15th. You can easily mathematically prove the 14th was not a Sabbath by counting 1-7 from the pinpointed Sabbath we discussed in the 16th chapter of Exodus and you will find that the 14th was not the Sabbath at the end of 40 years.

JOHN 5:

In John 5:1 we read that "after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." All the commentaries and Bible notes explain that this was the first day of the Passover season, i.e. the 15th day of the moon. Now, in verses 2 through 8 we continue --

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed ...Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"...Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."

Now this occurred on the same day -- the first day of Unleavened Bread (the 15th). The very next verse (9) explains that this day was also the weekly Sabbath! Notice!

And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. AND THAT DAY WAS THE SABBATH.

The Greek word here for "Sabbath" is Sabbaton -- which means the weekly Sabbath or rest day. So the Sabbath in verse 9 is the same day as the Feast in verse 1 -- showing once again that the weekly Sabbath falls on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the moon. It also shows that they did not count the New Moon day as one of the six workdays.

JOHN 9:14:

In the Book of John we find more conclusive evidence showing that the Messiah kept the weekly Sabbath on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the moon or month. Starting in John 7:2 we read that "the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand." Moving down to verse 10 we learn that "when his [Yeshua's] brothers had gone up [to Jerusalem for the Feast], then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret." Then, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (the 21st), "Jesus stood and cried out, saying, `If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink"' (John 9:37).

John 8:1 tells us that right after this (on the same day -- 21st) "Jesus went to the Mount of Olives" but "early in the morning (the next day -- the 22nd) he came again into the Temple and all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them" (verse 2). So the Messiah came again into the Temple on the 22nd day of the moon -- which in this month was Shmini Atzeret. Verse 59 indicates that after the Jews became upset with him and tried to stone him "he hid himself and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." Now Chapter 9, verse 1, continues by relating that "as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth." Taking pity on the man, the Messiah "spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay" (verse 6) who, in verse 7, was able to see for the first time.

Now, what day did this occur on? We already know it was the 22nd day of the moon and also Shmini Atzeret -- but what else was it? Notice! "NOW IT WAS A SABBATH when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes" (verse 14). Once again, the word for "Sabbath" in this verse is Sabbaton -- meaning the weekly Sabbath. This is further confirmed in verse 16 where some of the Pharisees said "this man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." Same word, same meaning. Clearly, the Sabbath in this week fell on the 22nd, which means the other Sabbaths of the month fell on the 8th, 15th and 29th! And Yeshua the Messiah kept these days as his custom was.

How can we fail to see that these Sabbaths are always on the set days of the moon? And here again, the Messiah was keeping the Heavenly Sabbaths that were created by the Heavenly calendar -- not mans'. The Sabbath here was on the 22nd, which means the Sabbath also fell on the 8th, 15th and 29th days of this month -- as in all other months!

JOHN 19:31:

Let's first go to Mark 15:42 in the Jewish New Testament --

Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before a SHABBAT), as evening approached, Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who himself was also looking forward to the Kingdom of God went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yeshua's body.

In a footnote this New Testament remarks "Shab.bat -- the Sabbath," implying a weekly Sabbath. In Luke 23:54, narrating the same time period, we find: "It was Preparation Day, and a SHABBAT was about to begin." Once again, the footnote to this verse says "Shab.bat -- the Sabbath" -- also implying the weekly Sabbath. Now, if we drop down to Luke 23:56 we read -- "On SHABBAT the women rested, IN OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDMENT." What "commandment" is this? The FOURTH COMMANDMENT of course! In reference to this verse the Jewish New Testament Commentary makes this clarifying statement: "It is sometimes claimed that the New Testament says nothing about keeping the fourth commandment. This verse contradicts that claim, so it is important for a Jewish understanding of the New Testament. On Shabbat the Women rested, in obedience to the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15; also Exodus 16). Of course they did! They observed Shabbat every week" (by David H. Stern. P. 150). Obviously, the WEEKLY SABBATH is the focus of verses 54 and 56.

Now that we have established the weekly Sabbath is the focus of these verses, let's go to John 19:31 in the Jewish New Testament and read what the apostle John has to say: "It was the Preparation Day, and the Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake on SHABBAT, since it was an especially important Shabbat." The New King James version makes it clearer: "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the [weekly] Sabbath (FOR THAT [WEEKLY] SABBATH WAS A HIGH DAY)." What "high day" was this? My Bible references it to Exodus 12:16 -- the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Therefore -- and notice this -- we have here TWO SABBATHS ON THE SAME DAY -- THE WEEKLY SABBATH AND THE FIRST HIGH OR HOLY DAY OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD. This is EXACTLY what we would expect if the Jews of the Messiah's time were keeping the weeks according to the lunar cycle! This particular day was Nisan 15 and, according to the lunar reckoning, was ALWAYS a weekly Sabbath and a high day!

During the Crucifixion week the weekly Sabbath is on the 15th of Nisan. A simple backward count tells us that the 1st work day is the 2nd day of the moon -- and proves once again that the New Moon was NOT counted as one of the six work days, and also places the weekly Sabbaths on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the moon. If Yeshua the Messiah had not been killed on the 14th, he would have kept the Sabbath on the 15th as his custom was.

If we go to Matthew 28:1 we read: "After the Sabbath, when it was growing light on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to view the grave" (The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures). At first glance there appears to be nothing unusual about this verse. However, if we consult the original Greek, we find a remarkable corroboration of the double Sabbath -- the word "Sabbath" is in the PLURAL! Therefore, this verse should read (in English) -- "After the Sabbaths [plural], when it was growing light on the first day of the week..." Also, the phrase "when it was growing light on the first day of the week" is translated from the original Greek, which literally says "to the [day] lighting up into one [first] of Sabbaths" -- notice the plural form once again.

The same thing is found in Mark 16:2 where the Greek literally says: "And exceedingly early to the one [first] [day] of the Sabbaths they are coming upon the memorial tomb..." which in English usage reads "And very early on the first day of the week they came to the memorial tomb..." (The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures).

The word "Sabbath" is also in the plural in Luke 24:1 and John 20:1, showing that this particularly weekly Sabbath was also a high day.

In case you think this is a coincidence, there are numerous other places in the gospels that refer to a double Sabbath day. At the beginning of his ministry, right after the forty days in the wilderness, Yeshua went to his home town of Nazareth where he entered the local synagogue on the Sabbath day and began to read. Notice! "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read" (Luke 4:16, New King James Version). If you check the Greek for this verse you will find the word "Sabbath" is in the PLURAL once again -- indicating a DOUBLE SABBATH, i.e. weekly Sabbath and a festival high day. Here's the literal translation from the Greek: "And he came into Nazareth, where he was having been reared, and he went in according to the custom to him IN THE DAY OF THE SABBATHS into the synagogue, and he stood up to read" (The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures).

Some people have tried to say that this was Pentecost (Feast of "Weeks") but the time frame is all wrong. Not only that, but in other parts of the New Testament the word "Pentecost" is used for this day -- see Acts 2:1, 20:16 and I Corinthians 16:8. Since this incident is right after the 40 days in the desert (this is where the idea of the 40 days of Lent comes from) this particular weekly Sabbath is the first high day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that is, Nisan 15. The very passage the Messiah read from Isaiah 49 indicates it was the Passover season.

Later the Messiah went down to Capernaum where, once again as his custom was, he entered the local synagogue and began to teach: "And they went their way into Capernaum. No sooner was it the Sabbath than he entered into the synagogue and began to teach" (Mark 1:21.). Again, the original Greek shows the word "Sabbath" to be in the PLURAL, indicating another double Sabbath. Note the literal translation from the Greek: "And they are entering into Capernaum. And at once to the SABBATHS having entered into the synagogue he was teaching" (ibid.). This evidently took place on the high day of a festival season -- another double Sabbath -- showing again that the Jews of the Messiah's day were keeping the weekly Sabbaths according to the lunar calendar or reckoning.

The next mention of a Sabbath in the book of Luke comes at Luke 6:1. Here the word "Sabbath" is in the SINGULAR, indicating a regular weekly Sabbath.

Many unscrupulous ministers (some of the Church of God ilk) try to create a weekly Sabbath on the 17th day of the moon during the crucifixion week -- and try to say the 15th was a yearly Sabbath only. But if that were so, the 10th day of the moon would also have to be a Sabbath. The Bible proves this to be totally false in John 12:1: "Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was..." This would place Yeshua's arrival in Bethany on the 9th day of the moon; and verse 12 says that on the next day (the 10th) he went to Jerusalem. Notice: "The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him..." The 10th day of the month of Nisan was the day when the Passover lamb was to be selected -- read Exodus 12:3 through 6. This was a very busy day and definitely NOT the Sabbath!

The very actions of the Messiah and the crowds on this day would have violated the Sabbath -- if it was indeed the Sabbath:

#1) The Messiah would have broken YEHOVAH's law by riding the ass and causing it to work if the 10th was a Sabbath.

#2) The crowds were cutting tree limbs, etc., but most of all they were buying and selling on that day. Also, Yeshua entered the Temple and healed a man on the 10th, without the Pharisees accusing him of breaking the Sabbath.

This all proves that the 10th was NOT a weekly Sabbath -- and therefore the 17th could not have been a Sabbath either. You can prove this by simply reading Matthew 21:2-15 and Luke 19:35-46.

  ACTS 20:5:

The apostle Paul was using YEHOVAH God's calendar after the crucifixion, and we find evidence of this in Acts chapter 20. Notice verses 5 through 7 --

These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days. On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.

They sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread (on the 22nd) and 5 days later (on the 26th) joined the others in Troas where they abode for 7 days. The 7th day was the 2nd day of the new month and Paul calls the second day of the moon the 1st day of the week. That makes the 1st day of the new month the day of the New Moon -- which we already know to be a worship day in which no work is done.

Counting the 26th as the first day of their stay in Troas, we count the 27th as the second, the 28th as the third, the 29th as the fourth, the 30th as the fifth, the 1st or New Moon as the sixth day of the stay, and the 2nd day of the moon as the seventh day of Paul's stay at Troas. Verse 7 of Acts 20 calls this second day of the moon the first day of the week because they only stayed seven days. The seventh day of their stay fell on the first day of the week, and the second day of the month, or moon, is always the first work day of the week, following the New Moon day. If the 2nd day of the moon was the first work day of the week, that clearly proves that Paul kept the weekly Sabbath on the 8th day of the moon -- along with the 15th, 22nd and 29th! Won't you follow him as he followed the Messiah?

The apostle Paul was remembering the true Sabbath day to keep it Holy. By counting six work days after the New Moon day -- and then rest the seventh day after the six work days according to the commandment -- it will always fall on the 8th day from the New Moon, as it was in the beginning in Genesis 1. YEHOVAH God rested the seventh day, or after the six work days, but it was the 8th day from the beginning. This is because YEHOVAH created the Heavens and the Earth before He worked on them on the 1st work day.

In this example concerning the second month of YEHOVAH's calendar, the weekly Sabbaths fell on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the month. The apostle Paul was remembering the true Sabbath to keep it Holy. By counting six work days after the New Moon day and then resting the seventh day after the six work days (according to YEHOVAH's commandment) it will always be on the 8th day from the New Moon. The main thing to remember is that the New Moon is not one of the six work days, and from the examples we have seen in the Bible it was never intended to be counted as one. After the beginning or New Moon, the first work day begins, and the 7th day will ALWAYS be the 8th day from the beginning.

Every place in the Bible where Sabbaths and New Moons are indicated, the 2nd day of the moon or month is always the 1st work day, and the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days of the month are Sabbaths WITHOUT EXCEPTION! It will be so in the New Heaven and the New Earth states the prophet Isaiah --

"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me," says the LORD, "so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD (Isaiah 66:22-23).

 

Biblical months are based on the moon, and they begin at the first appearance of the visible crescent new moon. Our word month even derives from the word moon, moon(th). But a surprising doctrine is taking hold among a few contending that the weekly Sabbath is also set by the new moon each month. It teaches that the weekly Sabbath day floats all over the week.

Once you recover from your utter disbelief at first hearing such a teaching, you entertain the possibility of trying to fit this lunar sabbath notion into Scripture. You quickly realize that no matter how you try to coax it, twist it or force it, establishing the weekly Sabbath by this method is impossible. It does violence both to historical fact and to Yahweh’s clear commands

Here is how the scheme works:

The new moon is considered like a sabbath -- a day of no work. Every month begins with a new moon. The first work day is the second day of the count followed by 5 more work days. That gets you through the 7th day of the month (new moon  day plus 6 work days). The 8th day of the month is also the first weekly Sabbath of the month. Six more days of work gets you to the 15th as the next weekly Sabbath. Six more days of work and you come to the 3rd weekly Sabbath on the 22nd. Six more work days gets you to the 29th of the month, which is the last weekly Sabbath in the month. Then comes the next new moon, which is a not a work day but is a sabbath, but not a weekly Sabbath. Thus the weekly Sabbaths will always land on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of month. Some months will end with the weekly Sabbath on the 29th followed by the new moon  Sabbath the next day. More often, months will have an extra day or two between the last Sabbath and the next new moon day. Therefore you often have two or three Sabbaths or “non-work days” in a row before the new month begins.

As we will show, the new moon is not a day of rest or a sabbath. In addition, the word week derives from a Hebrew word meaning “sevened” (sheb-u-wah).  It is connected to a sequence of sevens, not to the new moon and not to more than seven. It begins with day one and ends with the seventh day, not the eighth day. Neither is “Sabbath” in any way linked etymologically to the word moon.

Falling on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th day of each lunar month initiated by the new moon means the Sabbath would also fall about the time of the new moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter. Most lunar sabbatarians do not consider the new moon day to be a day of the week, but rather a day of “no regular work.” The first day of the actual week for them comes on the second day of the lunar month, making the eighth day the first weekly Sabbath and not the seventh as Yahweh commands.

But dissension exists in the lunarian ranks because some lunar sabbatarians believe that the weekly Sabbath falls on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days of the month.

Such details aside, the general thrust of this theory is that just by looking at the moon you are supposed to be able to tell when the weekly Sabbath occurs, always falling on specific lunar phases. That is the main point for this doctrine--to produce a heavenly marker to determine when the Sabbath occurs, instead of associating the Sabbath with Yahweh’s own example of rest as we are commanded, Exodus 20:11, 31:17. We will show the fallacy of the heavenly marker notion momentarily.

The scheme also means that the Sabbath floats around and can land on any day of the week each month. If the new moon falls on a Tuesday, the Sabbath will be on succeeding Tuesdays of that month. Then it will flip to another day of the week the next month when the Sabbath is “re-set” by the appearance of the new moon.

Consider the logistical nightmare for a moment. If you as a lunar sabbath follower have a regular job or are responsibly self-employed, you are continually taking off work to observe the Sabbath on different days of the week depending on the moon. Does Yahweh require playing musical chairs with the Sabbath and make earning a living nearly untenable for the vast majority of believers? Hardly. He is an Elohim of order and consistency, not confusion (1Corinthians 14:40, Malachi 3:6).

Many more difficulties than this, however, are presented by the lunar sabbath doctrine. As noted, when the end of the month comes it will typically have an extra day or two left over before the next new moon arrives. That’s because the month is 29.5 days from new moon to new moon and not four sevens (28 days).  These extra days don’t fit in anywhere. The Scriptures nowhere recognize them or address them. So what do you do with these leftover days?  

Many lunar sabbatarians just ignore them. Others keep them as Sabbaths, meaning they observe an additional sabbath or two or three in a row. Try explaining that to your employer, or to Yahweh for that matter. The Fourth Commandment says to work six days and rest the seventh, which is the Sabbath, not Sabbaths. Scripture nowhere allows for or addresses multiple consecutive Sabbaths. No day can be added in and none can be ignored. All days must fit into the Fourth Commandment command of work for 6, rest the 7^th.

Nothing in Yahweh’s Word says the moon has anything to do with the weekly Sabbath. Regardless, there are Herculean efforts to force the lunar sabbath teaching into the Scriptures. Some lunar proponents also say that the seventh-day Saturday Sabbath is pagan, and that even the universal weekly cycle is pagan in origin. They have a problem with the Sabbath falling on Saturn’s day (Saturday) but apparently have no issue at all when it falls on Sun’s Day, Moon’s Day, Tiw’s day, Woden’s Day, Thor’s Day or Frei’s Day (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday—all honoring heathen deities). Which came first, Saturn’s-day or the seventh day? Man’s spin is irrelevant.

As with every teaching, to be true it must stand up to the scrutiny of the unadulterated Word of Yahweh. If not, it’s bogus. In that case we abandon the teaching.

Genesis 1:14: A Generic Proof Text

Genesis 1:14 is often cited to support a smorgasbord of calendar teachings, including a sunrise Sabbath doctrine and a solar-based, calculated calendar. Not to be left out, the lunar sabbatarians also seize on this Scripture as the preeminent proof for their doctrine. Because the passage is so general in its wording it can be applied to any number of anomalous teachings—a one-size-fits-all scripture.

Here is Genesis 1:14: “And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And Elohim set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and Elohim saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”

Most lunar sabbatarians will make the following assumptions from this verse:

• only the “lights in the heavens” determine the Sabbath, and
• to determine the monthly cycle of Sabbaths requires the use of both heavenly lights—the sun and the moon.

In truth, what the passage does specifically tell us is that the sun is to mark the day and the moon is to rule the night and that Yahweh set the sun and moon in their orbits on the fourth day of creation. That is the end of the specifics. Asked how this passage directly links the moon with the Sabbath, the lunar sabbatarian begins a game of dodge ball. He must do that because nothing in this pericope links the moon and its phases directly to the weekly Sabbath. Incidentally, what role the stars play the lunar sabbatarian does not explain, giving only a selective interpretation to the passage.

Attempts at a Sabbath in the Sky

Lunar Sabbath proponents believe that the moon must be used to identify the Sabbath because the seventh-day Sabbath rhythm is not otherwise evident in nature. That is not entirely true. Science is finding a continuous, rhythmic, seven-day behavioral cycle built into both the plant and animal kingdoms. Even humans need a regular rest every seven days to maintain good physical and mental health.

Not even seasoned astronomers can simply look at just the moon’s phases and distinguish one day from another with 100 percent accuracy every time. Quarter phases can be confusing in their closeness. Because of such close resemblances in the moon’s appearance the average person would need technical training to determine the Sabbath. He would also need a lot of clear skies during each of those critical phases in order to get the Sabbath right.

When it comes to the Full Moon it gets really uncertain, with three or four consecutive moons every month all appearing full. Which one do you choose as the Sabbath moon? Note this from scientists: “Although Full Moon occurs each month at a specific date and time, the Moon's disk may appear to be full for several nights in a row if it is clear. This is because the percentage of the Moon's disk that appears illuminated changes very slowly around the time of Full Moon. The Moon may appear 100% illuminated only on the night closest to the time of exact Full Moon, but on the night before and night after will appear 97-99% illuminated; most people would not notice the difference. Even two days from Full Moon the Moon's disk is 93-97% illuminated” (quotation from U.S. Naval Observatory).

But that’s not all. Every 2.7 years there are two full moons in a month, the second of which is known as the Blue Moon. So how would the average believer know when that will happen, not to mention decide which full moon is the correct one?

Now be honest: does Yahweh establish His weekly Sabbath amid all this uncertainty and confusion? He is not the author of confusion, 1Corinthins 14:33. Are His people supposed to be aware of and distinguish among all the anomalies and similarities in lunar appearances when they keep the day of rest? Do we need college degrees in astronomy to observe the right Sabbath holy? Does that sound like the design of a wise Creator who gives plain and simple laws for us to keep? What about David out tending his flocks in the field, did he know all of this? Or did he just need to know how to count to seven for the proper time to observe the Sabbath? Frankly, the lunar Sabbath scheme appears like the shenanigans of mythical Greek deities trying to frustrate their human subjects just for the fun of it.

The creation account in Genesis 2 plainly teaches that the weekly Sabbath cycle was not based on the heavenly luminaries but simply on the seven days in the original creation week put in perpetual motion by Yahweh:

“And on the seventh day Elohim ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohim created and made” (Gen. 2:2-3).  The reason the Sabbath is the Sabbath is not because of an association with the new moon and other lunar phases, but because Yahweh Himself blessed it and set it apart on the final day of creation week. No wonder He commands us to “remember” the Sabbath to keep it holy. We remember the original Sabbath He created by keeping it exactly as it has been passed down through the millennia. Man-made calendars may tweak the months, but the Sabbath continues in its cycle unchanged and unfazed by any calendar.

The Sabbath and its sequence in the week is the result of a direct action of Yahweh—originating entirely from His own personal rest on the seventh day. Because of His own activities the weekly Sabbath is directly tied to worship of Him following His own example. It is His day made for man. No wonder He says the Sabbath is the one sign identifying His people. “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: [now notice the special link:] for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed,” Exodus 31:17.

Notice further that the “week” is not mentioned in Genesis 1:14. The reference is simply to “seasons” [moedim], “days,” and “years.” Clearly, Yahweh established the weekly cycle differently, basing it upon His own example of rest and not on what is seen or reasoned by man. Otherwise He would have included the word “weeks” in the list of things to be determined by the greater and lesser lights of Genesis 1:14. Yet He did not—not in Genesis or anywhere else.

“But seasons means appointed times and the Sabbath is an appointed time,” will be the argument. That is correct. But where does this passage or any other specifically link the new moon to the weekly Sabbath? Nowhere but in the imagination of the lunar sabbatarian.

Is the New Moon Day a Sabbath of Rest?

Some say the new moon was a day of rest because David was to meet with the king at his table on the new moon, 1Samuel 25. They also say that sacrifices were offered on the new moon, Ezekiel 46:6, just as they were commanded on the Sabbath.

When does a meal with a king constitute a weekly Sabbath? Wouldn’t a Sabbath be indicated by a meeting with a priest at the temple? Neither do sacrifices in themselves prove a Sabbath, because there were sacrifices commanded every day, Numbers 29:6 and Hebrews 7:27.

Was the new moon celebrated with rest in the same way as the Sabbath, as one branch of lunar sabbatarianism claims? If so, why does Yahweh command work on new moon days, and why do we find labor being done on new moon days?

Exodus 40:1, 2 and 17 reads: “And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shall you set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation… And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.” (Read all of Exodus 40 to learn just how much work was done on the new moon day.)

If every new moon day is a Sabbath or a day of no work, why does Yahweh command Zerubbabel to gather wood and build the temple upon the first day of the month? (Haggai 1:1, 2, 8, 12).

 If every new moon day is a Sabbath, why do we not find any command to rest upon it (with the exception of the Feast of Trumpets, which falls on the new moon of the 7th month)?  Shouldn't we find it listed as a Sabbath among the appointed times of Leviticus 23? What explanation can be given to the fact that nowhere in Scripture is the command to cease from labor upon the new moon day, or upon the extra days that fall out each month?

Shabbat and Shabbatown: Different Kinds of Sabbath

Another contention by lunar sabbath proponents is that because the seven annual feast day Sabbaths are determined by counting from the new moon, so also should the weekly Sabbath be set by the moon because an annual Sabbath is no different from a weekly Sabbath.

Not so.  The word used for the weekly Sabbath (in Hebrew) is “shabbat” (7676) while the word behind the feast day Sabbath is “shabbatown” (7677). High-day Sabbaths are different from the weekly Sabbath. From Exodus 12:16 we learn that on the high day Sabbaths of Unleavened Bread, for instance, some work to prepare food is allowed “so that all may eat.” No such leeway is given for the weekly Sabbath.

The weekly Sabbath is a memorial to Yahweh’s creative act and His subsequent rest. He did not create high day Sabbaths by resting on them. To say the weekly Sabbath changes every month according to the cycles of the moon is to make the memorial to the creative rest of Yahweh into a memorial to the moon.

More Problems Using Genesis 1:14 

A key problem with the lunar sabbath doctrine is that events surrounding the creation of the moon in Genesis 1:14-16 did not take place until the 4th day. The week was more than half over by the time the moon was placed into orbit, so how can the moon establish the start of the week?

Never did Yahweh ever say He re-set the week after four creation days by utilizing the now-orbiting new moon. That is a critical piece of information we must have if we are to base Sabbath observance on the moon’s cycle as shown by Yahweh.

Attempting to be free of this difficulty, some lunar sabbatarians speculate that the moon was created in an advanced phase and that the Sabbath would be made to synchronize with it later on; others speculate that perhaps the moon was already in its orbit the first day of creation but was just hidden behind heavy mist. Or that Yahweh’s creation week and our week are different. To which we ask: where is the chapter and verse supporting these hypotheses? Genuine doctrine does not rest on supposes or maybes. There is not a shred of evidence in Scripture to support such assumptions.

Genesis 1 and 2 are crystal clear that Yahweh created the heavens and the earth in six days and then He rested on the seventh. Lunar sabbatarians ignore Yahweh’s rest on the seventh day and go solely with a Sabbath-setting lunar phase.

Mysterious Math

The count to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost also reveals the error in the lunar sabbath teaching.  Not only must there always be exactly seven days every week in every month of Yahweh’s calendar (by Fourth Commandment authority), but the count to Pentecost must also be seven complete weeks of seven days each, all adding up to exactly 49 days.

Yahweh commanded, “And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete,” Leviticus 23:15. Pentecost means 50^th.  It takes exactly 50 days to arrive at Pentecost—seven Sabbaths of precisely seven days each or 7 x 7 + 1 = 50. Partial weeks or extra days don’t compute.

Numbers 28:26 says the Feast of Firstfruits or Pentecost comes “after your weeks be out.” “Weeks” is the Hebrew shabua and literally means “sevened” not “lunared.” After your seven sevens are over and complete, then you observe the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. The Bible, An American Translation by Goodspeed says, “…counting fifty days to the day following the seventh Sabbath, and then you shall present to Yahweh a grain-offering from the new crop.” The New English Bible says, “The day after the seventh Sabbath will make 50 days…”

You can’t have 7 Sabbaths totaling 51 or 52 days. Because you are spanning two months it is impossible to accomplish this as commanded when a new moon interferes with one of those weeks by adding extra days. You cannot get 7 Sabbaths to equal 49 days under the lunar sabbath scheme. This fact alone proves the lunar scheme bogus. One lunar sabbatarian claims that Pentecost is counted for seven weeks and then 50 days are added on top of that, making a combined 99 days. He has apparently never looked at the Hebrew behind the command.

We read in Leviticus 23:15-16: “And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering unto Yahweh.” In the phrase “unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath,” the word “unto” is the Hebrew ad and means against or until. Therefore the count goes all the way up to, until, the seventh Sabbath. And the numbered count totals 50 days, not an additional 50 days.

Consider how the manna was regularly provided each week. When Israel was in the wilderness Exodus plainly teaches that the manna fell for six days, with a double portion falling on the sixth day because none would fall on the seventh-day Sabbath. This went on continuously for 40 years, Exodus 16:35.

Nothing is said about a big interruption of this weekly manna cycle every fourth week by a couple of additional days at the end of the month when the new moon  resets the week.

Nothing is said that Israel starved for a few days at the end of each month because of additional Sabbath days or “non-work” days added to the month. For those who count those extra days as non-days, did it mean that a quarter of the time Israel got not 6 but 7, 8 or 9 days of manna gathering? If so, where in the Word is it found?

To mention such a critically important lunar interruption in the 7-day week could not possibly have slipped Yahweh’s mind. It is inconceivable that He would not have warned Israel to prepare for it!  After all, He warned them to be sure to gather extra on the sixth day to make up for none on the weekly Sabbath. So why did He not tell them also to gather extra manna the sixth day to eat on the seventh, eighth and possibly ninth day at month’s end? Obviously no lunar-added days ever existed.

This monthly lunar disruption is found nowhere in the Word because the Sabbath cycle that began in Genesis continued unabated. No additional, interpolated days ever interfered with it.

When it comes to the proper Biblical calendar, we need go back no further in time than when our Savior walked this earth. Some proponents claim that the lunar sabbath was established in Genesis but was replaced by today’s continuous Sabbath cycle soon after the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity.  Thus, lunar sabbatarians would have us believe that the remnant who returned to the land of Israel were keeping a false sabbath.

This would have been front-page news! Yet, not one word in Scripture about it.

The Sabbath set in motion by Yahweh continued to be in effect down to the first century, when Yahshua came in the flesh. We know that He came as one "under the law," and that He never sinned (i.e., transgressed the law, 1Pet.2:22).We find Yahshua keeping the same Sabbath day holy as did His fellow Jews around Him (Matt 12:1-12; Mark 2:23-28; Mark 1:21; 3:1-4; 6:2; etc.). Yahshua never rebuked the Pharisees for keeping the wrong weekly sequence.         

These Events in Yahshua’s Life Disprove Lunar Sabbaths

In John 7:37 it is recorded that on the "last great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles (a high Sabbath that always falls on the 22nd day of the month) Yahshua cried out, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink!" In chronological sequence, John 8:1-2 says, "Yahshua went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them." So now it’s the 23^rd day of the month.

Chapter 9 is a continuation of the events of that same day when he heals a man of blindness. We are told that this was the weekly Sabbath, the 23^rd of the month, verse 14. But lunar sabbatarians say the lunar sabbath falls on either the 21st or 22nd. Either scheme violates this provable 23^rd day Sabbath. (See John 7:37-38; 8:1-2, and John 9:1-3, 14, 16.)

Another math meltdown for the lunar sabbath scheme comes with Passover, which falls on the 14^th of the month of Abib. Yahshua was laid in the tomb at the end of Passover day the 14^th, just before sunset when the 15^th started. He rose three days later (Matt. 12:40), making it the end of the 17^th of Abib. He came out of the tomb just before sunset the weekly Sabbath because the two Marys found the tomb already empty at “the end of the Sabbath,” Matthew 28:1. Lunar sabbatarians say that the Sabbath must fall either on the 14^th or 15^th, but here on the most important week in all of human history the weekly Sabbath falls on the 17^th.

Having no other response, some lunar advocates take issue with Matthew 12:40, saying Yahshua’s words about being in the “heart of the earth” for three days and three nights does not mean in the tomb. Yahshua, however, directly compared it to Jonah’s being three days in the fish’s belly.  And Jonah describes his experience this way: “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto Yahweh, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell [sheol, grave] cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For you had cast me into the deep, in the midst [heart] of the seas; and the floods compassed me about:  all thy billows and thy waves passed over me,” Jonah 2:2-3. “Midst” means to be enclosed (Hebrew labab).  Jonah was encompassed about by water. Obviously Yahshua was enclosed by the tomb in the earth for three days just as Jonah was enclosed in the belly of the beast for three days.

Yahshua clinches it when He Himself “began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again,” Mark 8:31. See also John 2:19 and 21. Paul confirms it as well in 1Corinthians 15:3-4: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that the Messiah died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Even the chief priests and Pharisees testify to Yahshua’s statement that after three days He would rise again, Matthew 27:63.

Furthermore, those who contend that the 14^th of each month is a Sabbath of rest and no commerce must explain why this 14^th day of the month of Abib is called in the New Testament a “preparation day” (which is Passover day, the day of preparation for the high Sabbath and not a Sabbath itself). This 14^th day is a day of work and commerce, not a day of rest. See Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:53-54; John 13:29. 

Those who believe a switch to the universal Sabbath cycle came after the time of the Messiah and who believe the Jews (including Yahshua) were still keeping lunar sabbaths must explain why both Scripture and subsequent history show the contrary.

Pagan Participation

Various Verses Vindicated

Here are common passages used by lunar sabbatarians equating the new moon day with the Sabbath.

Leviticus 23:2-4: Yahweh’s command for the seven annual Feasts is prefaced in verse 2 by the statement that these are the Feasts of Yahweh and holy convocations. Then He notes the weekly Sabbath in verse 3, placing the Sabbath equal in significance to the Feasts. Yet it is not one of the annual Feasts because verse 4 restates that these (meaning what is to follow) are the Feasts of Yahweh. Not being an annual Feast, the Sabbath is not set by the monthly new moon as are the annual Feasts.

Ps. 81:3: “Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.” The reference in Psalm 81:3 is to the Feast of Trumpets on the first of the seventh month, the only festival that falls on a new moon; the verse calls it a solemn feast day because it is Trumpets, not because it is a new moon. Other versions split the verse and speak of two different observances: the new moon and a separate feast day:                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament
 “Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast.”

New Living Translation
“Blow the ram's horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival!”

The New Jerusalem Bible
“Blow the trumpet for the new month, for the full moon, for our feast day!”

Psalm 104:19: “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.”

“Seasons” is moedim, meaning fixed times, festivals. In His commands for the Feasts, Yahweh clearly gives the day of the month when they occur, such as Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Tabernacles and the exact count to the Feast of Weeks. All are based on the start of the month and its new moon. But He never describes the weekly Sabbath as being so many days from the beginning of the month or new moon. The Sabbath link to the new moon is nonexistent.

Amos 8:5: “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?”  Is this passage saying the new moon is a Sabbath with no commerce allowed? As shown, work on the new moon was prescribed by Yahweh and therefore the new moon cannot be a non-labor Sabbath. Amos 8:5 is likely speaking of the Feast of Trumpets, a Feast that is also a new moon day. On a Feast high day no work or commerce is to be performed.

Another possibility centers on the Hebrew. Because the Hebrew word translated "new moon" here (chodesh) can also mean "month," some scholars (going back 2,000 years) have interpreted Amos as referring to a harvest month: Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the month of harvest, when the poor found what to eat in the fields; when they gleaned there they got a sufficiency of bread, and so had no need to buy corn [Lev. 23:22]; and hence these rich misers, who hoarded up the grain, are represented as wishing the harvest month were over that they might sell their grain to the poor, having had no demand for it during that month.  (John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible, Amos 8:5 note) “Month” is how the Douay-Rheims version translates “new moon.”

Regarding sacrifices, if every new moon day is a Sabbath then we should find the command to make the Sabbath offering on new moon days as well. Yet, no such command is given (Numbers 28:1-15).

Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Philo and the Lunar Sabbath

In the quest for historical evidence to prove the lunar Sabbath, we have noticed that Philo is not mentioned very often by those who support Saturday Sabbaths. The writings of Philo are very important for establishing Judean practice and belief both before and during the Messiah’s time here on earth. Philo lived from approximately 20 BC until about 50 AD. Thus, his lifetime spanned not only the years prior to the Messiah’s birth, but also the years following his resurrection (not to mention the years in between).

The evidence reveals that Philo’s beliefs were representative of those of Judaism during that period of time. Philo, who was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of more than 100,000 Judeans living in that city. When the prefect Flaccus initiated a massacre of the Judeans in the year 39 AD, Philo was selected to head the Judean delegation that went to Rome to plead their case before Gaius Caligula.

Now let's pause for a moment and reflect on the significance of Philo having been chosen from among his peers for such a monumental task. Would Philo have been chosen for such a mission IF his practice and beliefs HAD NOT squared with those of normative Judaism? No, he would not have been chosen unless his views matched those of his peers. We know from Philo’s writings that he observed LUNAR SABBATHS. If normative Judaism had practiced SATURDAY SABBATHS while Philo rebelliously observed LUNAR WEEKS AND SABBATHS, don't you think this detail would have affected their decision to select him to lead a delegation to Rome? Absolutely!

Sabbath observance is one of the most distinguishing marks of Judaism, or as author Dayan Grunfeld put it, the Sabbath "epitomizes the whole of Judaism."

For Philo to have gone against the grain of Judaism with regard to Sabbath observance would have signaled a break with Judaism. We can thus discern that if Philo observed the lunar weeks and Sabbath by the phases of the moon each week, so did the rest of his fellow Judeans, including Yeshua the Messiah, because there was NO controversy between our savior and the Judeans concerning the weekly Sabbath. Many scriptures prove that he kept the SAME weekly Sabbath day as they did.

It is evident that Philo did a good job of explaining how the weeks are connected to the moon -- which is covered in his book.

It is a major blow to Saturday-sabbatarian theology to realize that Philo LEFT OUT of his writings anything pertaining to Saturday Sabbaths. Not once did Philo mention another week other than the LUNAR cycle in determining the Sabbath day. In fact, the word SATURDAY or SATURN’S DAY isn’t mentioned even ONCE in Philo’s entire book. This is significant, as elsewhere in Philo’s writings, he devotes much space to discussing the cycle of the moon and the #7. In fact, the day of the New Moon is listed separate from the weeks as one of the major feasts, and he never counted the New Moon when counting the 28 days of the 4 weeks or 4 Sabbaths each month/moon.

It is very interesting that Philo mentioned the MOON and it’s phases of waxing and waning in his commentary regarding the Sabbath. In his writings, Philo distinguishes New Moon observance as a separate feast from the weekly Sabbath, and that is why he never includes the New Moon in counting out the weeks.

Study Philo carefully and prayerfully because Philo was an “eye witness” of how things were done by the Judeans in the Messiah’s day, including when a week begins and ends. We should not ignore the testimony of eye witnesses when searching for the truth. Here are a few of the many proofs of how the Judeans in Yeshua’s day understood weeks and Sabbaths.

In order to have a lunar Sabbath, you must have a lunar WEEK -- did Philo link the Sabbath or the WEEK with the phases of the moon? The answer is YES -- in fact the lunar week and lunar Sabbath is the only week or Sabbath mentioned in Philo’s entire writings. Let us begin in his writings.

ON MATING WITH THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES, X1X (102) it says,

"For it is said in the Scripture: On the tenth day of this month let each of them take a sheep according to his house; in order that from the tenth, there may be consecrated to the tenth, that is to God, the sacrifices which have been preserved in the soul, which is illuminated in two portions out of the three, until it is entirely changed in every part, and becomes a heavenly brilliancy like a full moon, at the height of its increase at the end of the second WEEK…"

Stop for a moment and let what Philo just said sink in. His readers and fellow Judeans of that era, or in those days, understood that the weeks were by the moon, and that at the end of the second week there would be a full moon. This statement needs no interpretation. The people understood that the weeks were by the moon, same as in the Bible. If this is so, then the sacred seventh day of the week, which comes at the end of the second week must be a FULL MOON SABBATH (Psalms 81:3-6). Why? Because in many places Philo speaks of the weekly seventh day, and we all know that the seventh day comes at the end of the week. Many uninformed people would like for us to believe that the months were originally by the moon but the weeks were not!

Philo was making an observation of how a person can be spiritually illuminated to a full brilliance just like a full moon at the height of its increase at the END of the second week.

Philo did not count the New Moon when counting out the weeks -- like some churches do today. This statement is very easily proven from Philo's writings because he states in other places throughout his book that THE FULL MOON IS ON THE 15th EACH MONTH! He also separates the New Moon from the weeks. Unfortunately, many writers today would include the New Moon day in counting their weeks, but it is obvious from Philo that he DID NOT count the New Moon day when counting out the weeks. If the New Moon was included in the count, the full moon at the end of the second week would fall on the 14th instead of the 15th as Philo plainly declares many times. In other words you have your New Moon worship day, then six workdays and then the weekly Sabbath on the 8th day of the moon (Ezekiel 46:1). You then have six more workdays and a full moon on day 15 or at the end of the second week or second seven, i.e. at the end of 14 days after the New Moon worship day.

This proves the New Moon was not included when counting out the weeks. In a similar fashion, YEHOVAH God did not count it in Exodus the 16th chapter when He made the Sabbath known to Moses. If the New Moon was ever included when counting out the weeks in Scripture, the weekly Sabbaths would fall on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th etc. Yet, you cannot find these days mentioned anywhere in Scripture because these days are ALWAYS PREPARATION DAYS FOR THE WEEKLY SABBATH. When Philo spoke of the 10th or 15th day of the month, he was including the New Moon day in his count, but it is an absolute fact that when he counted out the week, he DID NOT include the New Moon -- which in itself proves lunar weeks. Remember, Philo is just stating HOW things were done in his day.

Getting back to the main thrust of this article, we must remember that the works of Philo are very significant in that he walked the earth before, at the same time, and twenty years after the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. He was one of the most influential men of that time, living as a Judean in Alexandria, Egypt, and read from the Septuagint Bible. The Septuagint was quoted often by our Yeshua and his apostles.

With this in mind, did Philo ever mention that the weekly Sabbath could be found by counting from the New Moon?

The answer is YES. Philo’s writings about such things as the Priesthood, festivals etc. are in complete harmony with the Bible as we read it today. At one point in his writings he did make mention that some states or provinces were keeping only one Sabbath per month counting from the New Moon, whereas we know all four should be observed. Here is Philo on this issue:

THE DECALOGUE, XX (96) It says,

”The fourth commandment has reference to the sacred seventh day that it may be passed in a sacred and holy manner. Some states keep the holy festival [the Sabbath] only once in the moon, COUNTING FROM THE NEW MOON, as a day sacred to God; but the nation of the Jews KEEP EVERY SEVENTH DAY REGULARLY, after each interval of six days”.

Notice carefully what Philo wrote above. First, one must realize that Philo understood that the New Moon was a festival ALL BY ITSELF and was not one of the six ordinary working days (Ezekiel 46:1-3). The gate of the inner court was to be shut on the six working days and opened on the Sabbath and New Moon. Philo here says that some provinces were observing the holy Sabbath day festival only once in the month. Notice how he centers in on ONLY ONCE in the month. He also mentions that they were keeping it by COUNTING FROM THE NEW MOON and recognizing it as a day sacred to YEHOVAH. Now, if counting from the New Moon to find the weekly Sabbath is erroneous, how did these states keep the holy festival once a month? Think about this. Philo DID NOT say they kept A Sabbath or THEIR Sabbath or a BOGUS Sabbath, but rather he said they kept the holy festival sacred to YEHOVAH! This has to mean that the proper way to find the holy festival of the Sabbath is TO COUNT FROM THE NEW MOON!

Philo continues by saying that the Judean nation kept every seventh day holy after each interval of six days. This poses no problem at all to lunar sabbatarians as we too do what Philo did. Philo has already given us the proof that counting from the New Moon was the proper way to find the holy festival of the weekly Sabbath. Therefore, when he says the Judeans kept every seventh day holy, he is speaking of every seventh day after each interval of six working days periods from New Moon to New Moon. This is the only logical way to understand this particular passage in Philo.

If Saturday keepers were to say that "some churches keep the holy Sabbath only once a month counting on today's calendar, but we keep every seventh day after six workdays," the only possible way to construe what they're saying is that their (and "some churches") holy Sabbath day was found by counting on the same calendar -- today's Gregorian calendar.

The Saturday keepers just acknowledged that "some churches" kept the holy Sabbath day "only once" a month and that they found it by using today's calendar that Julius Caesar introduced and was later modified by Pope Gregory. But that obviously means that they used the SAME calendar, now doesn't it? The same is true with Philo. Both parties counted from the New Moon, but some were keeping it only once each month/moon. It is common knowledge most people today use the calendar of today, but when Philo made the very same statement, the weeks and holy Sabbath days were BY THE MOON -- that too was common knowledge.

When Philo made the statement that "some states keep the Holy Sabbath/festival only once a month/moon counting from the new moon" and follows it up by saying that the Judeans keep every Sabbath day after six days clearly means that both parties counted the holy Sabbath/festival in the SAME WAY, i.e. FROM THE NEW MOON!

The same thing applies today if you said that some people keep the holy Sabbath/Saturday only once a month by the calendar but you keep every Sabbath after six workdays. (That DOESN'T MEAN that you counted a different way or had a different calendar than they).

I know a Baptist Church that has a service every third Sunday counting on today's calendar, and I know another Baptist church that keeps every Sunday after six workdays. Are we to suppose that there are not counting by the same calendar? Of course not!

Notice how Philo acknowledges that some states were finding the sacred holy Sabbath by counting from the NEW MOON but were keeping it "only once" EVERY MOON. He didn't use the word "month," which proves that the weekly Sabbaths were by the moon. You have to acknowledge that some people were keeping all of the weekly Sabbaths by the moon, (not month) and that others kept at least one of the holy Sabbaths each moon (not month).

Philo used the word "intervals" and we know that there are approximately 12 monthly "intervals" each year, and each month has four Sabbaths with "intervals" of six work days between each with a Sabbath at the end of each. Philo kept every one of them -- not just one per moon.

Speaking of INTERVALS or after six work day LUNAR intervals Philo, in The Special Laws 1. (178), writes,

(178) "…there is one principle of reason by which the moon waxes and wanes in equal INTERVALS, both as it increases and diminishes in illumination; the seven lambs because it receives the perfect shapes in PERIODS OF SEVEN DAYS -- the HALF-MOON in the first seven day period AFTER its conjunction with the sun, FULL MOON in the second; and when it makes its return again, the first is to HALF-MOON, then it ceases at its conjunction with the sun."

Let's continue with Philo’s writings:

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION, 1 IV (8)

”Again, the PERIODICAL CHANGES OF THE MOON, take place according to the number seven, that star having the greatest sympathy with the things on earth. And the changes which the MOON works in the air, it perfects chiefly in accordance with its own configurations on each “seventh day”. At all events, all mortal things, as I have said before, drawing their more divine nature from the heaven, are moved in a manner which tends to their preservation in accordance with this number seven....Accordingly, on the seventh day, God caused to rest from all his works which he had made...."

Had a Hebrew speaking Judean wrote this he would have said “it perfects chiefly in accordance with its own configurations on each 'Sabbath' day” instead of each “seventh” day. This is because elsewhere in his writings Philo clearly states that when he mentions the seventh day he is speaking of the Sabbath day. Above, he tells us that the moon perfects its own configurations on each seventh day. It was understood that at the end of each period of six work days there would be a weekly Sabbath. The Greek speaking Judeans referred to the Sabbath as the seventh day or the sacred seventh day, while in the language of the Hebrews it was termed Shabbat, or the Sabbath. Continuing on with Philo:

THE DECALOGUE XXX (159)

”But to the seventh day of the week he has assigned the greatest festivals, those of the longest duration, at the periods of the equinox both vernal and autumnal in each year; appointing two festivals for these two epochs, each lasting seven days; the one which takes place in the spring being for the perfection of what is being sown, and the one which falls in autumn being a feast of thanksgiving for the bringing home of all the fruits which the trees have produced”…

Let’s look carefully at what Philo is saying here. "But to the seventh day of the week He [YEHOVAH God] has assigned the greatest festivals." In other words, the greatest (longest) festivals (the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles) have been assigned to the seventh day of the week (the 15th -- Sabbath) which begins the Festival and lasts for seven days. We know both of these seven day feasts begin on the 15th (Sabbath). Each of them lasts for seven days, and each one of these events begins on the seventh day of the week (15th) or weekly Sabbath and lasts for seven days. Philo goes on to say that each month (Nisan and Tishri) should receive an especial honor of one sacred day of festival, for the purpose of refreshing and clearing the mind with its holiday.

Notice he DID NOT say they would receive two holy days of festivals, but one, the 15th. To prove the seventh day of the week is the same as the 15th, Philo elsewhere states, "Again the beginning of this feast is appointed for the fifteenth day of the month (or seventh day of the week) on account of the reason which has already been mentioned respecting the Spring season might receive special honor of one sacred day of festival."

In other words, Philo is saying the WEEKLY SABBATH BEGINS THESE TWO FEASTS, and is on the 15th. This proves that the Sabbaths are kept by the lunar calendar because there is no way the weekly Sabbath (15th) can begin these two festivals on the 15th of Nisan and the 15th of Tishri each year, on a continuous seven day cycle by the calendar of today.

Further proof of this found in John 19:31 which states "for that SABBATH was a HIGH DAY." My New King James Bible refers the phrase "high day" to Exodus 12:16, which explains: "On the FIRST DAY [of the Feast of Unleavened Bread] there shall be a holy convocation....No manner of work shall be done..." So here, just like Philo says, the first day of the Feast (whether of Unleavened Bread or Tabernacles) ALWAYS falls on the weekly Sabbath at the end of the second week, that is the 15th of the lunar month.

Let’s continue:

F.H. Colson’s translation of THE DECALOGUE XXX (159) reads,

”The fourth [commandment], which treats of the SEVENTH DAY, must be regarded as nothing less than a gathering under ONE HEAD of the feasts and the purifications ordained for each feasts, the proper lustrations and the acceptable prayers and flawless sacrifices with which the ritual was carried out. By the seventh I mean both the seventh which INCLUDES the most creative of numbers, six, and that which does NOT INCLUDE it but takes precedence of IT and RESEMBLES the unit. BOTH these are employed by Him in reckoning the feast-times.” (Colson’s translation of Philo.)

What can be plainer than that? Let's analyze it. "The fourth, which treats of THE SEVENTH DAY, must be regarded as nothing less than a gathering under one HEAD of the feasts." How can the weekly Sabbath day be regarded as a gathering under one head of the feasts unless it heads these feast -- i.e. begins them each year? This proves lunar Sabbaths. Philo continues by saying,

“By the seventh I mean BOTH the seventh which INCLUDES the most creative of numbers, six, and that which does NOT INCLUDE it but takes precedence of it and RESEMBLES the unit."

The word precedence means it comes BEFORE the number six during the feasts, i.e. one of the sevenths comes before the number six during the 7 day feast and the other seventh comes after it and is combined with it. This is IMPOSSIBLE if he used the count for the Sabbath as the people of today do. The word precedence also has a footnote that has the actual Greek word and states, "the verb, derived from the adverb..., seem to be used as a thing which gets in front of something else and obscures it so here the idea may be that the unit or monad does not need six to make it equivalent to seven." (Spec. Leg. Iv.52).

This seventh is the weekly seventh and is in front of the six days during the feasts because to the weekly seventh day He has assigned these feasts. The footnote that says "…here the idea may be that the unit or monad does not need six to make it equivalent to seven…" is because this single unit or monad does not need six to make it equivalent to seven because it is a seventh, and both Yonge's and Colson’s translation say it is made to resemble the unit/first or number one. Last but not least it says, "BOTH these are EMPLOYED by Him [YEHOVAH God] in reckoning the feast-times." You cannot reckon feast-times with a seventh that jumps around during the 7 day feast, on a man-made calendar. Both the sevens have to be fixed -- not just the one that is on the 21st because He employed both sevens in reckoning the feast-times. If one of the sevenths could move it would also fall on the 21st at times and would also be combined with the number six and there would be only one seventh.

To close we will place the facts from Philo from both the Yonge and Colson translations.

FACT #1: Both translations state that the full moon is at the end of the second week, whereas it has been argued by those determined to oppose YEHOVAH's truth that the weeks have nothing to do with the moon.

FACT #2: They both state that the full moon is on the 15th.

FACT #3: They both teach that the 15th begins both of the 7-day feasts/festivals each year (Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles), which is the same 15th/full moon that is at the end of the second week. (This is impossible with the Roman or Gregorian calendar we keep today).

The question is, could this same 15th be the weekly seventh day that the festivals are assigned to? Philo clearly says both of these festivals have been assigned to the seventh day of the week Yes, it is the 15th that is at the end of the second week and it is the 7th day of the lunar week and the same seventh day that begins these feasts. They were keeping lunar weeks. Let’s examine fact number four and see.

FACT #4: Both translations conclusively teach that there are two sevenths in each of these festivals and both are connected in some way with the number six.

When Philo states that there are two sevenths in both the Festival of Unleavened Bread and the Festival of Booths (Tabernacles) is he somehow missing the point Saturday sabbatarians would bring up today -- that there is a third seventh that will hit in between the 15th and the 21st the majority of years that the feasts come around? Why does Philo not mention this third seventh? It is because none exists. Philo only mention two sevenths in relation to the feast and the first of these two sevenths is none other than the weekly seventh day Sabbath that leads the feasts and is considered the first day of the feast -- the 15th.

Does Philo speak about the Sabbaths in connection with the waxing and waning of the moon?

On page 17 of Ralph Marcus' translation of Philo’s work entitled “Questions and Answers, Exodus, Book 1”: it says,

“9. (Ex. xii. 6a) Why does He command (them) to keep the sacrifice until the fourteenth (day of the month)?

(Consisting of) two Sabbaths, it has in its nature a (special) honour because in this time the moon is adorned. For when it has become full on the fourteenth (day), it becomes full of light in the perception of the people. And again through (another) fourteen (days) it recedes from its fullness of light to its conjunction, and it wanes as much in comparison with the preceding SABBATH as the second (waxes) in comparison with the first. For this reason the fourteenth (day) is pre-festive, as though (it were) a road leading to festive rejoicings, during which it is incumbent upon us to meditate”.

 

-- Edited By John D. Keyser.

domingo 11 de septiembre de 2011

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