This page was last updated on 25 July 2018.
8th, 15th, 22nd an 29th Sabbath days
Introduction
When reading verses throughout the Bible you will notice that the weekly Sabbaths always fall on certain days of the Jewish month. You will also notice there are 7 days, a week, between the mentioned days of the Jewish month. That’s all very logical because a month starts at a new moon and from that point on the weekly Sabbath day is kept with 7 day intervals until the month ends.
Take your own birthday as an example. The day of the week changes every year. That’s so on the Gregorian calendar western people use. But also on the calendar present day Jews keep. But on calendar found in Scripture your birthday would be on the same day of the week every year.
But it’s never that simple. A lunar month is about 29.5 days long. So some months are 29 days and others 30 days long. That number can’t be divided by 7, a whole week. The calendar has a way to solve that as I’ve shown on this site.
I think it’s best to start with proof what days of the month are Sabbath days according to Scripture. I’ll quote some verses and highlight the the Sabbath day in red. I’ll add and subtract seven days to calculate the other Sabbath days in that month. The summary below each set of verses will look like:
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Oops, the 1st day is missing. And if it was there is wouldn’t be 7 days away from the the 29th. The calendar has a way to solve that as I’ll show in another article on this site.
You will also notice some feasts are discussed several times. At first glance that may look like using this same thing two or three times as proof. But keep in mind that this adds extra proof because the dates of those events span centuries. And still the dates fall on the same week day. That’s important for the following reason:
Some who believe a week is a continuous cycle of 7 days claim that Scripture for example mentioning a weekly Sabbath was kept on the fifteenth of the month is just coincidence because about every seven months a Sabbath falls on the fifteenth when following a continuous 7 day cycle. That’s true. A 1 in 7 change. Far from impossible odds. But the proof is in the number of times it occurs.
Compare it with throwing a dice. If it lands on 6 you just accept that because it’s a 1 in 6 chance; but when you throw 6 ten times in a row, would you say all combined is a 1 in 6 chance? Keep in mind there are no verses showing any other than the proposed dates.
Instead of doing the calculations for you I let you do them yourself on this (click) independent site.
In the first box enter 1/7=0.14285. That’s the change you would randomly land on 7. About 14%.
In the second box enter 10 for the number of verses we test the calendar date.
In the third box enter 10 because all 10 verses succeed in the test.
Press calculate.
Result: 3.5383630470065E-
(or calculate yourself by dividing 1 ten times by 7. ==> 1/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7
The probability of it happening by random luck, gets more unlikely faster and faster. Seven times more unlikely every verse found.
10 verses: 0.0000003538% chance of random luck. 1 in 282.6 million.
11 verses: 0.0000000505% chance of random luck. 1 in 2 billion.
12 verses: 0.0000000072% chance of random luck. 1 in 13.9 billion.
15 verses: 0.00000000002% chance of random luck. 1 in 4.7 trillion.
16 verses: 0.000000000003% chance of random luck. 1 in 32.2 trillion.
21 verses: 0.0000000000000002% chance of random luck. 1 in a lot :-
Proof #1 -
Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast of Unleavened to YAHWEH; you shall eat unleavened things seven days.
Lev 23:7 On the first day you shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no laborious work;
The 15th day starts the week of the ‘feast of unleavened bread’. The first day of this week, the 15th is a Sabbath day.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #2 -
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulcher was near at hand.
Mark 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Luke 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Jesus was crucified on preparation day. Mark and Luke also mention it’s the day before the Sabbath. That Sabbath is the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread, which directly follows the Passover meal. See Lev 23:5-
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #3 -
In ‘Proof #1’ it was shown that the Sabbath day was on the fifteenth of the month. The chapter of Leviticus continues and states the day after the Sabbath day is called the day of First Fruits. The weekly Sabbath is the end of the Jewish week. So the next day is the first day of the week.
Lev 23:10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you be come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest:
Lev 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
1Cor 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
1Cor 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Jesus is called “First Fruits’ as a reference to the feast of First Fruits. And being called First Fruits is directly connected to the fact He’s the first person who was raised from the dead.
Luke 24:1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Luke 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.
Luke 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
The above verse show the women found an empty tomb early in the morning of the first day of the week. This conclusively proves He was already resurrected at that time of First Fruits day. I think by looking at the given time, date and names He was resurrected on First Fruits day. But I admit there is no solid proof in the form of a verse that directly tells us that. So in theory He could have been resurrected for example 5 hours earlier.
Anyway the conclusion is the same as in ‘Proof #1’. This set of verses just shows that centuries later The Feast of Unleavened bread also was celebrated on the 7th day of the week.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #4 -
Lev 23:34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the LORD.
Lev 23:35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.
The first day is the first day of the festival week which starts at the fifteenth.
Lev 23:36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work therein.
The eighth day is the end of the festival week. Eight instead of seven because it’s including the day the count started. So the eighth day is the 22nd day of the month.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #5 -
2Chr 7:8 Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt.
2Chr 7:9 And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.
The eighth day is counting from the start of the feast of Tabernacles. The 15+ 7 = 22nd of the month.
2Chr 7:10 And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had showed to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
On the 23rd Solomon sent the people away. This is bit of indirect proof the 22nd was to important to send anyone away.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #6 -
Esth 9:15 For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.
Esth 9:16 But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,
Esth 9:17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Esth 9:18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
That clearly shows they rested on the fifteenth day of the month. But verse 17 mentions other Jews rested (also) on the two preceding days. That must have been resting from battle because verse 15 shows other Jews fought on the fourteenth of the month. That excludes the fourteenth as a Sabbath day. Besides of that verse 18 shows the feasted on the thirteenth and fourteenth day.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #7 -
Josh 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Josh 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
That’s the 15th.
Josh 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
The ‘morrow after’ is the sixteenth. Exodus 16 tells us Israel ate manna for forty years. They collected one day worth of manna in the morning of days 1-
Josh 5:12 tells us the they didn’t receive manna on the sixteenth. In theory that could be because it was a Sabbath day, on which they never received manna. But the verse also informs us “neither had the children of Israel manna any more”; that wasn’t the case on Sabbath days because on those days they had food left from the previous day when they gathered a double portion. So the fifteenth was a Sabbath day. This took place close to the Jordan crossing and the manna did stop completely at some point in time.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #8 -
Exod 19:1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exod 19:2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Israel traveled 6 days a week and the seventh day they rested. They arrived at mt Sinai exactly three months after they left Egypt. The very same day doesn’t mean Monday, Tuesday, etc but the day of the month; first, second, third etc. The verse below shows they left Egypt on the fifteenth so they are resting on the fifteenth.
Num 33:3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
Because traveling during a Sabbath (15th) is forbidden they must have left in the evening because a Sabbath 12-
BTW: Rephidim = “rests” or “stays” or “resting places”.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #9 -
John 7:2 Now the Jew's feast of tabernacles was at hand.
John 7:10 But when his brothers were gone up, then went he also up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Jesus visits the Feast of Tabernacles which starts on the 15th See proof #4. The feast lasts 7 days (including the 15th) so ends on the 21st. On the last day of the feast Jesus gave a short teaching.
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink.
The chapter finishes with the words of people who do and don’t believed Jesus. The next chapter starts with Jesus going to mount Olives (to sleep) and early next morning He goes to the Temple.
John 8:1 Jesus went to the mount of Olives.
John 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him; and he sat down, and taught them.
This is the day after the short teaching so the 22nd day of the month. The rest of the chapter Jesus is interacting with Scribes, Pharisees and common people. At the end of the chapter Jesus passes by the people who try to stone Him. The next chapter opens with Jesus passing by a blind man. Jesus heals the blind man. Verse 14 states that day was a Sabbath day.
John 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the middle of them, and so passed by.
John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
John 9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
John 9:7 And said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
John 9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #10 -
Exod 16:1 And they took their journey 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 their departing out of the land of Egypt.
Exod 16:22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
Exod 16:23 And he said to them, This is that which the LORD has said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD: bake that which you will bake to day, and seethe that you will seethe; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
They arrived the 15th. They gathered up to the 6th day=21st. The Next day, 22nd, was Sabbath.
Verse one states they walked from Elim to Sin on the 15th. At first glance that may look like they broke the Sabbath by walking long distance or the 15th wasn’t a Sabbath at all…
Please remember that only the daylight portion of the 15th is a Sabbath. So they left Elim after sunset and arrived in the wilderness before sunrise of the 16th.
In simple terms: They rested their Sabbath during the day and walked at night.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #11 -
Lev 9:1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;
Lev 9:4 Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a meat offering mingled with oil: for to day the LORD will appear to you.
Lev 9:23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
On the 8th day offerings were made. The Temple doors were only open on New Moon day, Sabbath and Feasts.
Ezek 46:1 Thus said the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
There are no 8 days in a week or context doesn’t show it’s the 8th day of an earlier mentioned event, so the count must have started on New Moon Day. The Sabbath was on the 8th day.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #12 -
In Exo 40:2-
Lots of instructions follow in Lev 1-
Lev 8 describes the actual 7 days of sanctification which began on the first day.
In Lev 9 Aaron and his sons present offerings for themselves and the people on the eighth day. In Lev 24:8 we read such sacrifices were made on Sabbath day.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #13 -
Ezek 32:17 And in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Ezek 32:18 Son of man, let your voice be loud in sorrow for the people of Egypt and send them down, even you and the daughters of the nations; I will send them down into the lowest parts of the earth, with those who go down into the underworld.
Ezek 32:19 Are you more beautiful than any? go down, and take your rest among those without circumcision,
It’s argued that these verses refute what’s presented on this page because Ezekiel walked on Sabbath day to the uncircumcised people. Indeed we know he was ordered to walk but we aren’t told how far, so it very likely was within the limitations of a Sabbath day’s walk.
Verses 19 also tells us Ezekiel was ordered to rest among those people. And that points toward the Sabbath.
I added this bit of proof over a year after the rest because we don’t know how far he walked. So I would call that neutral. But because those opposing what is presented on this page use it as a refutation I decided to use it anyway to show it’s neutral and taking v19 into account it’s proof for my view.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #14 -
All days in the creation week start with “And God said,”.
Gen 1:1-
When the letters of the 1st words of Genesis are rearranged it spells 1 Tishri. The start of Jewish New year. The start of the month. That makes the seventh day of the creation week, day 8 of the month.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 1:31 states the last creative act of God was on 6th day.
Gen 2:2 states God stopped creating on the 7th day
Rephrasing solves that seemingly contradiction.
Gen 2:2 On the seventh day of the month God ended His work which He had made; and rested on the seventh day of the week, which is the eighth day of the month, from all the work He had made.
Gen 1:1-
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #15 -
The Essenes divided the phases of the moon into 1/14ths of the full moon.
"[On the f]ifth (day) of it (the month), [tw]elve (fourteenths of the moon's surface) are covered and thus it [enters the day . On the sixth (day) of it] thirteen (fourteenths of its surface) are covered and thus it enters the day. On the seventh (day) of it [fourteen (fourteenths of its surface) are covered and thus] it enters the day. vacat [On the eighth (day) of it…the firmament above…its light is to be covered…on the first of the Sabbath. vacat [On the ninth (day) of it one (fourteenth) portion (of its surface)] is revealed [and thus it entered the night]. On the tenth (day) of it [two (fourteenths of its surface)] are [revealed and it enters] the night. vacat On the ele[venth (day) of it three (fourteenths of its surface) are revealed] and thus it enters the night. Vacat"
Phases of the moon (4Q317) -
The eighth day of the month is followed by the first day of the week; meaning meaning the eight day is the weekly Sabbath.
Josephus wrote that the Essenes were the most strict Sabbath keepers of all. He would surely have mentioned the Essences kept the Sabbath on a different day than all the other Jews; which they obviously didn’t.
"Moreover, they are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get their food ready the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not move any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon."
Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:147
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #16 -
“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, Elohim caused to rest from all his works which he had made.”
Philo, Allegorical Interpretation, 1, Section IV (8-
“…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-
Philo, Special Laws I, (178)
“…the Hebrew Sabbathon … was celebrated at intervals of seven days, corresponding with changes in the moon’s phases...”
Encyclopedia Biblica, 1899. p. 4180
The above three statements show that on the moon has a perfect shape on all 4 Sabbath days.
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8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #17 -
“Then late on the day of the ninth, close to nightfall, they set the Temple on fire, and it continued to burn the entire next day, on the tenth.” Page 206: “When the Temple was destroyed for the first time at the hands of Nebuzaradan [the captain of the guard], that day was the ninth of Av, and it was the day following Shabbat, and it was the year following the Sabbatical Year.... And similarly when the Temple was destroyed a second time at the hands of Titus, the destruction occurred on the very same day, on the ninth of Av.”
Talmud the Steinsaltz Edition”, Volume XIV Tractate Ta’anit Part II (1995 by Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications and Milta Books), pages 205-
The ninth day directly followed the Sabbath.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #18 -
“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 Elohim, 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”
Philo -
Full moon is always at the end of the second week. If the counting of weekdays would start on new moon day the full moon would be on the fourteenth. But there isn’t a single verse that states a weekly Sabbath on the fourteenth. But many show/indicate the fifteenth.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #19 -
"On the eighth of the month [chodesh], the moon rules all the day in the midst of the sky...and when the sun sets, its light ceases to be obscured, and thus the moon begins to be revealed on the first day of the week".
“The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation”, pp 301-
The day after the 8th day is the 1st day of the week; making the 8th day a Sabbath.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #20
“And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month, in the middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light, in consequence on the providence of Elohim taking care that there shall be no darkness on that day.”
Philo, Special Laws II, The Fifth Festival, Section XXVIII (155)
The fifteenth is a full moon.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Conclusion: Every Sabbath falls on either the 8th, 15th, 22nd or 29th of the month.
Proof #21
Please read Numbers 29:12-
In verse 12 and 35 it’s clearly stated those days (15th and 22nd) are Sabbath days. It can be argued those days are extra Sabbath days. That would be an argument from silence, while this example again shows the same days as Sabbath days.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #22
"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 Elohim, 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".
On Mating with the Preliminary Studies, XIX, (102), p. 313
Lev 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
Lev 23:35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Proof #23
Whence do we know that the second Temple was also destroyed on the 9th of Abh? We have learned in a Boraitha: "A happy event is credited to the day on which another happy event happened, while a calamity is ascribed to the day when another calamity occurred; and it was said that when the first Temple was destroyed it was on the eve preceding the 9th of Abh, which was also the night at the close of the Sabbath and also the close of the Sabbatical year.
Bablyonian Talmud, Book 4, last paragraph of page 86 -
The evening the Temple was destroyed was the evening part of the Sabbath day. It was the evening before the ninth. The eight.
That evening was the close of the Sabbath. Not the start of it. The ‘close of the Sabbath’ is another name for Havdalah (Act 20:9). At daytime was the Sabbath at night time there was ‘Bible study’. Presently Havdalah is indeed kept after the Sabbath calendar day. But on the original calendar it was part of the Sabbath calendar day.
A second bit of proof found in this quote is that the Sabbath year also ends on that evening. Very obvious on a sunrise-
The first part of the quote seems to say the Temple was destroyed on the ninth. That plainly contradicts the part the writer quoted.
Proof #24
But to the seventh-
F.H. Colson’s translation of Philo’s THE DECALOGUE XXX (159
The two sevenday long Feats are Feast of Unleavened Bread and Sukkot, both start on the 15th of the month and according ti Philo are Sabbaths. Meaning the 15th is a Sabbath day.
Proof #25
"The association of sabbath rest with the account of creation must have been very ancient among the Hebrews, and it is noteworthy that no other Semitic peoples, even the Babylonians, have any tradition of the creation in six days. It would appear that the primitive Semites had four chief moondays, probably the first, eighth, fifteenth, and twenty-
The New Schaff-
"It is powerfully urged by the believers in a primitive Sabbath, that we find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of 7 days among all nations-
The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 1904, p.1497
Accordingly, in the Mosaic law the same thing was also enjoined (Numbers 10:10; 28:11, etc.), though it is worthy of remark that, while particular observances are here enjoined, the idea of celebrating the New Moon in some way is alluded to as if already familiar to them. In other parts of the Bible, we find the Sabbaths and New Moons continually spoken of in conjunction; as (Isaiah 1:13, etc.) the division of time by weeks prevailed all over the East, from the earliest periods among the Assyrians, Arabs, & Egyptians. It was found among the tribes in the interior of Africa....The Peruvians counted their months by the moon, their half-
The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia, 1904. Vol. 3, p. 1497
“1. Sabbath and New Moon (Rosh Hodesh), both periodically recurring in the course of the year. The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle. Both date back to the nomadic period of Israel. Originally the New Moon was celebrated in the same way as the Sabbath; gradually it became less important, while the Sabbath became more and more a day of religion and humanity, of religious meditation and instruction, or peace and delight of the soul, and produced powerful and beneficent effects outside of Judaism.” (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, p.410 , “Holidays”)
The lunar week was simple and serviceable....We no longer say three barley corns round and dry make one inch, but that was a measure which served our ancestors very acceptably for all practical purposes. When the continuous seven-
At first the New Moon festival was not counted among the seven days of the week; after 28 days had elapsed [7 days x 4 weeks], one or two days were intercalated as New Moon days, whereupon a new cycle of four weeks began, so that the Sabbath was a movable festival....Later the week and the Sabbath became fixed [to the Roman cycling planetary 8 week]; and this gradually resulted in taking away from the New Moon festival its popular importance.... The Jewish Encyclopedia, “Pastoral Feast.”
The [early] Hebrews employed lunar seven-
Rest Days, Hutton Webster, p. 254-
The weeks do not continue in a regular cycle regardless of the moon. Each month has four weeks, the beginning with the New Moon. I have no doubt that this was the old Hebrew system.
Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, p. 89
◊──────────────────◊──────────────────◊
Order
The Luni-
- Weekly Sabbaths are always on the same days of the month.
- Annual Sabbaths are always on the same days of the week and month.
- There are never conflicts like preparation (work) of the Passover lamb being on a Sabbath day.
Sabbath align with the phases (full, quarter, etc) of the moon.
◊──────────────────◊──────────────────◊
This is how Sabbath moons look
8th day of the month. 1st Sabbath of the month. (First quarter)
15th day of the month. 2nd Sabbath of the month. (Full moon)
22nd day of the month. 3rd Sabbath of the month. (Third quarter)
29th day of the month. 4th Sabbath of the month. (Old moon/waning crescent)
The pictures above show the perfect configuration on the 4 Sabbath days.
Most of the time the moon doesn’t look exactly like that. That’s no flaw in the calendar, it’s impossible/obvious because:
- The conjunction can happen any time during the during the day. For example it can take place 1 second after the 24-
day started but just as well 1 second before the 24- day ends. Meaning nearly 24 hours difference. That reflects itself also in the phases.
So for example one month you see the perfect full moon at 5:14pm and in another month at 4:33am - The perfect phases only exist for a fraction of a second because the phase of the moon constantly changes. So if you look at exactly the right time you see a perfect phase but if you look several hours early or late on that same calendar day you won’t see a perfect phase.
- The whole calendar is based on an averaging system. The month is ~29.5 days long. The months are 29 or 30 days long. Therefore every month is about ~0.5 days wrong and that is reflected in the imperfect phases.
- The moon isn’t visible to everyone on earth at the same time. So some may see a perfect phase while others won’t because the in ‘their’ sky isn’t visible at that time.
No proof -
2Chr 29:17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah. And they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
2Chr 29:17 On the first day of the first month the work of making the house holy was started, and on the eighth day they came to the covered way of the Lord; in eight days they made the Lord's house holy, and on the sixteenth day of the first month the work was done.
Just like Proof #14 I added this one because it’s used to refute this site. I think it doesn’t refute or prove anything. I added it anyway because I ‘must’ address that challenge somewhere on this site.
Some see the fact that the men ‘came to’ the porch on 8th day means they walked on the that day. Because holy men would never do that it’s proof that it was not a Sabbath day. My view is far different. Firstly no distance is given. Secondly (almost) all holy men walk on a Sabbath because they attend to they want to visit God’s House on that day. Very similar to many Christians that don’t work on Sunday but visit church.
Not all work is forbidden on a Sabbath. Jesus healed on a Sabbath and He most certainly wasn’t a law-
In verse 17 we read their work was sanctifying the Temple. That’s priestly work not regular labor.
I’m not even sure they went home those eight days. ‘Came to the porch’ likely means they start sanctifying the Temple somewhere and kept doing so inch by inch for days in a row. And on the the eight day they arrived at the porch with their sanctification duties.
| Morning + evening |
| Grain |
| Harvest dates |
| Journey of Paul |
| 7th plague - Hail |