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LUNAR SABBATHThe children of Israel were sent into exile because they did not honor YHWH and theTorah that He gave to them (Yehezqel/Ezekiel 12, 20, 22). The majority of Israelitesare still in exile today. One of the parts of the Torah that Israel did not honor is HisSabbaths from which they "hid their eyes" (Yehezqel 22:26). And because of Israel'stransgressions against His Sabbaths, He took His Sabbaths and His Feasts away from us(Hoshea/Hosea 2:11, Yeshayahu/Isaiah 1:13).Our Heavenly Father said He would re-gather His people back to Him in the last days(Yeshayahu 11:12) and He will re-establish righteousness among His people (Romans11:26, Yeshayahu 59:20). This process is happening before our very eyes as many of His people return to the Torah by the hand of the Ruach HaKodesh. Many of us didnot expect our spiritual lives to take the turn that they have taken, but we know inour spirits that what is changing in our lives is from Elohim.Genesis 1 records the six days in which Elohim formed the earth and Genesis 2 saysthat He completed His work and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2, Exodus 16:26,Exodus 20 8-11, and Leviticus 23:6). We know that we are commanded to keep theSabbath on the seventh day, but the question is, "The seventh day from what?"Traditionally, we count Saturday as the seventh day, but we need to ask ourselves whythis is. If it is only because our present calendar calls it the seventh day and becauseothers keep Saturday as the seventh day Sabbath, is that justification for acceptingthat Saturday is the Sabbath?There is ample evidence to affirm that, indeed, Saturday is not the Sabbath day and if one will examine the evidence with an open spirit that desires to know and do thewill of YHWH Elohim, putting aside ones prejudices, biases, and desires for convenience, that conclusion will be obvious.There is nothing in Scripture at the "pashat" or literal level that makes a statement for or against the Saturday Sabbath. We need to examine historical evidencecombined with a "ramez" level look at the Scriptures which gives a thread of evidence at a deeper level before we will understand this concept.We have seen that the Gregorian calendar which we use in our culture is not basedupon the Scriptures. The Gregorian calendar has pagan names for the days of theweek and for the months, whereas Scripturally only the first and last months arenamed (Aviv and Adar), and only the seventh day is named (Shabbat, Sabbath) andwe are not to have the names of pagan gods upon our lips.We have seen that the year is to begin in the spring (Shemot/Exodus 12:2) but theGregorian calendar year begins in the winter. We have seen that the months aresupposed to be based upon the lunar cycle (1 Samuel 20) but our months have only avague correspondence to the lunar cycle.The Saturday Sabbath is a product of the recurring week. The word which istranslated "week" in our Scriptures is the word "Shabua" which means "seven" or "period of seven". The Scriptures say that "6 days work is done and then there is aSabbath rest". Nowhere does it say in Scripture that the seven-day pattern is acontinuously recurring pattern. The concept of a recurring pattern of sevens, the
 
week, is a concept dating from around 400-500 B.C.E. and there is much historicalevidence to support that the recurring weekly cycle came out of Babylon just as therest of our time-keeping has. The recurring weekly cycle, while convenient hi asociety based upon merchandising, is not Scriptural. Not only is the continuously recurring seven day "week" not found in Scripture, itcannot be justified by any calendar in use. The Gregorian calendar has 30 or 31 days per month (except for February 28 or 29 days) which is not evenly divisible byseven. All ancient calendars untilized the moon to count off 12 thirty day monthswith four "weeks" of seven days punctuated by a pause at the time of the new moon.All of these ancient calendars from every ancient civilization had 360 days in theyear.This can be seen from comparing Beresheit/Genesis 7:11 with Beresheit 8:4 andBeresheit 7:24-8:3. The 17th day of the second month until the 17th day of theseventh month is five months, 5 x 30 days, 150 days as is recorded in this passage.Ancient historical records record that the original 30 day lunar cycle was thrown off bycataclysmic events in the heavens which also triggered the flood recorded for us inBeresheit. Today the lunar cycle is 29.530588 days in length.According to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia p.410, "The New Moon is still, andthe Sabbath originally was, dependent on the lunar cycle. Both date back to thenomadic period of Israel. Originally the New Moon was celebrated the same way asthe Sabbath." The Encyclopedia Biblica (p. 4780) states that "The Hebrew month is alunar month and the quarter of this period-one phase of the moon-appears to havedetermined the week of seven days", hi the Jewish commentary called the Zohar from nearly 2,000 years ago pp. 296-297 we find the statement that "The nations inthe world reckon by the sun and Yisrael by the moon."The moon signals the days with its light, which increases and decreases. The Hebrewword for signal is "owth" Strong's number 226, which means "signal" or "beacon."Owth is the word translated "signs" in Beresheit 1:14, "for signs and for seasons". Themoon is the heavenly body that turns on and off like a beacon. The sun and stars donot do this. And as it turns on and off it signals the days of the week and the month.Psalm 104:19 states "He made the moon for appointed times ["moedim", the feasts of YHWH]; the sun knows its going down." The King James Version renders this "Heappointed the moon for seasons...". The word translated "appointed" in the KingJames Version is "asah", Strong's number 6213, which means "to make". And theword translate4 "seasons" is Strong's number 4150, "moed" which means appointedtimes.hi Leviticus 23:2-3 it is written, "Speak to the children of Yisra'el and say to them,The appointed times of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings, Myappointed times, are these: 'Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a set-apart gathering. You do no work, it is a Sabbath to YHWH, in all your dwellings."' So the first appointed time addressed in Leviticus 23 is the weeklySabbath.
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