(Originally Published as 7 Booklets, Copyright © 1989 by Richard Scott)
If you have seriously studied the first five lessons of this "Back to Scriptural Basics" series, it should be obvious by now that not everything is exactly as it appears on the surface in our modern bibles.
Nowhere is this more true than with the sabbath commandment itself.
More than nearly any other doctrinal concept perhaps, the true sabbath has been one of the most misunderstood and perplexing subjects ever to confront the serious student of scripture.
It is truly perplexing that so many would-be followers of scriptural truth go astray concerning both of the two most important of the ten basic commandments. One of these, the sacred name commandment, was explained in lesson 2. The sabbath commandment is the second of these basic laws everyone thinks they understand perfectly, yet almost nobody actually knows the real pure truth on this vital subject.
It is, indeed, vital for you to understand the meaning and purpose of the sabbath commandment, and how you can obey this law; unlike the millions who falsely profess belief, or the thousands who claim they are obedient, who have not yet understood even the most basic precepts of this commanded "weekly" occurrence.
To Keep or Break The Sabbath
Tossing aside all the hollow arguments of those who twist Paul's letters, to claim the sabbaths have supposedly been abolished (along with the rest of the Commandments; as adequately disproved in the last lesson), you must ask yourself some very basic questions.
First, what exactly does the sabbath commandment require you to do? If you are to observe, or keep, the sabbath the answer to this question is essential for you to understand fully and correctly.
Second, can you keep from breaking the sabbath commandment if you allow traditional beliefs or false "sabbaths" to influence your thinking on this subject? Doing so adds to scripture things it neither says nor reveals.
Third, if the sabbath is not what is being taught traditionally, precisely what, then IS the true sabbath?
Finally, how can you be sure, and above all correct, in keeping the proper days our Sovereign Creator expects you to observe -- the only day He blesses you for keeping -- when He imparts the spiritual knowledge of wisdom and truth only to His obedient children, who assemble or study on that one specific day out of every seven days?
For if you fail to keep and observe the true day of rest you are commanded to obey, you are breaking this primary law and are guilty before the heavenly throne of having broken all the commandments you are required to obey ("James" 2:10-12).
Is The Sabbath Taught In The New Testament?
The Savior observed the sabbath. There are numerous accounts of Him doing so, and teaching it also, in the first four books of the New Testament (for example: "Matthew" 12:1-2, 8, 12, 24:20; Mark 1:21, 2:27-28, 3:4, 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31, 6:1, 5, 9, 13:10, 15-16, 14:1-5; "John" 5:9, 16 and 7:22-23).
Because the Savior did not do man's works on the sabbaths, but healed men and fed Himself and His disciples from corn standing in the field, He was often wrongly accused, by wicked men, of having "broken" the sabbath (see: "Matthew" 12:2, 5, 10; Mark 2:24; Luke 6:2, 7, 13:14, 14:3; "John" 5:10, 18, 9:16).
It is important to note here that the Savior did not keep the sabbath day according to man's false ideas of how it should be kept.
Instead, He kept it in spirit and in truth, as it was originally intended for men to keep the sabbath ("John" 4:23-24).
The Apostles kept and taught the true sabbath. There are also numerous examples of this in the book of Acts alone (Acts 1:12, 13:14, 27, 42, 44, 15:21, 16:13, 17:2, 18:4), and Paul told the faithful at Colosse:
"Let no man therefore judge [condemn] you for meat, or for drink, or in respect to a sacred day, or of the new cycle, or of the sabbath" (Colossians 2:16).
Paul meant that no man has the right to judge you as unrighteous for keeping the sabbath commandment, or for avoiding meat from unclean animals, or meat tainted with blood, etc., among other scriptural commandments.
As if to prove and verify this was Paul's intention, he wrote his letter to the Ibreyans ("Hebrews"), some years after his letter to the Colossians, in which he said:
"For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day.... 'If they shall enter into my rest' [i.e. sabbath] Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached did not due to disbelief: Again He defines a certain day, saying through Da'avid, 'To day, if you will hear His voice, don't harden your hearts.' For if Yahvsave ["Joshua"] had given them rest, then He would not have afterward spoken of another day.
"There remains therefore a rest [sabbath] to the people of Yahveh. For whoever has entered into His rest has also ceased from his own works, just as Yahveh did from His [at creation; Genesis 2:2-3]. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall through the same example of disbelief" (or disobedience; Hebrews 4:4-7, 9-11).
Clearly Paul was saying here that the sabbath was still in force!
How Are We Commanded To Observe The Sabbath?
What does the sabbath commandment tell us to do?
In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 this commandment is given, among the Ten great Commandments -- which the Savior came to teach us to keep -- a necessary step in order to become one of the first and greatest in the Savior's coming Kingdom ("Matthew" 5:17, 19; in reference to the Ten Commandments: verses 21, 27).
You will see that we are required to:
- "Remember the sabbath day" (Exodus 20:8), or ""keep the sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:12),
- "To keep it sacred" (Exodus 20:8), or "To sanctify it" (Deuteronomy 5:12),
- "Six days shall you labor, and do all your work" (Exodus 20:9; Deuteronomy 5:13), and
- "But the seventh day is the sabbath... you shall not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates" (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14).
Notice that it is as much a part of this commandment to work six days out of every seven, as it is to rest from work on the seventh day!
You will also notice that this commandment nowhere specifies when, exactly, the sabbath is to be observed (in reference to the common week in observance today).
In other words, which of any seven day period is the sabbath day, so that you will know what six days to work, and when you are supposed to rest?
Adding To Scripture Or False "Sabbaths"
Modern so-called "sabbath keepers" assure everyone who will listen that the "true sabbath" is revealed, not in scripture, but rather in either Jewish or Christian tradition!
Notice, however, what the Savior said about such traditions:
"Why do you also transgress the commandment of Yahveh by your tradition?" ("Matthew" 15:3).
"Thereby you have made the commandment of Yahveh of no effect, by your tradition" (verse 6).
See also Mark 7:5, 8-9, 13; especially verses 8-9:
"For laying aside the commandment of Yahveh, you uphold the traditions of men.... Actually you reject the commandments of Yahveh, so that you may keep your own traditions."
Paul Warned the Colossians:
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the traditions of men, and the basic principles of this world..." (Colossians 2:8).
And Peter also wrote:
"For you know that you were not redeemed with perishable things, like silver and gold, from your empty way of life handed down to you through the traditions of your fathers" (I Peter 1:18).
It is well know that Jewish tradition teaches a Saturday "sabbath," and that Christian tradition teaches a Sunday "sabbath," and also that Islam teaches a Friday "sabbath."
Because these traditions are not based upon the entirety of the sabbath law, they have utterly failed to teach the one and only true sabbath!
Scripture alone reveals the true seventh-day sabbath, but practically nobody today knows or keeps it correctly.
It is certainly not some day of the pagan week, such as saturn's day, or sun's day.
To say that scripture teaches either of these traditional "sabbaths" is a falsehood that cannot be substantiated by any scripture!.
This alone proves none of the traditional "sabbaths" are the truth.
If the truth about when the sabbaths should be observed is to be found anywhere, it is found in scripture, and not in any false religious tradition.
Scripture does reveal exactly when the sabbaths must be kept.
What Is The True Sabbath?
There is one major aspect of the sabbath, as it is revealed in scripture, that is always overlooked whenever the sabbath commandment is studied by those whose actual intent is reading into the scriptures a false traditional "sabbath."
Those who do this fail to see the entirety of the scriptural revelation concerning the sabbaths, because they have blinded themselves through their traditions, so that they will not accept any other possibility.
Even should they stumble across this truth, they ignore its real significance because they've already decided what they believe is right, and will simply not accept any facts that disprove any of their pet heresies.
Scripture reveals that there are annual sabbaths that are commanded to be kept on particular days of the year.
What this has to do with the seventh-day sabbaths commandment is amazingly simple, yet profoundly ignored by all the tradition-minded false religion pseudo-"sabbath" doctrine followers.
Not only does the sabbath commandment not specify any particular day of the modern week anywhere in scripture -- leading many false "sabbath" believers to add in the words "of the week" wherever scripture simply says "the seventh day" -- but the sabbath commandment seems to make no provision for when annual sabbaths fall upon one of the six days following a seventh-day sabbath.
In such a case, how should the next seventh-day sabbath be counted?
In other words, how can you blindly ignore an annual sabbath REST day and count it as a WORK day supposedly between two seventh-day sabbaths, as if the annual sabbath were not even there?
Counting a rest day as a "work day," or vice versa, in order to keep a Gregorian calendar week day, such as saturday, as a "sabbath" exactly seven days after the previous saturday supposed "sabbath," irregardless of any intervening annual sabbath rest, is a major problem for these traditional "sabbath" keepers.
"Sabbaths" That Break The Sabbath Commandment
The fact that there is no provision in the sabbath commandment to observe it on a certain week day, seven days after the last so-called "weekly" sabbath -- when an annual feast sabbath falls on one of the other six days of the carnal calendar week -- is the fatal flaw in the belief system of those choosing to keep a modern week day, such as saturday or sunday for instance, as the supposed "sabbath."
It is crystal clear, to anyone with an open mind who examines the scriptural facts on this subject without sectarian bias, that so long as the feast sabbaths -- commanded on certain days of the solar year -- were observed simultaneously with the seventh-day sabbath, the next sabbath day following a yearly feast sabbath must be seven days after that feast sabbath!
That is the true seventh-day sabbath, not some pagan week day named saturn's day or the sun's day!
The only time a true sabbath can occur sooner that seven days following the prior sabbath (it being understood that no sabbath can occur more than seven days after the last sabbath) is when a commanded annual feast sabbath must be observed.
The true seventh-day sabbath, therefore, is a date-of-the-year sabbath and not a day-of-the-week "sabbath" with mystical, hidden origins.
The Plain Facts Of The Sabbath Commandment
In no case does the sabbath commandment either exclude the yearly sabbaths -- because scripture assumes they are the basis from which the next seventh-day sabbath should be counted and observed -- or exempt the annual feast and fast sabbaths from being counted when they fall one to six days after (as in the cases of Pentecost, Atonement, and the last feast sabbath of Unleavened Bread, respectively) the last feast, fast or regular seventh-day sabbath.
Those who claim their "sabbath" is an exception to the commanded sabbath, when it follows an annual sabbath less than seven days later, must dishonestly ignore a vital part of the sabbath commandment itself, trying to support their idea of when the seventh day sabbath should be kept.
The key part of the commandment these traditional pseudo-"sabbath" keepers all seem to forget is where it says: "six days you shall work."
It should be painfully obvious to anyone that rest is anything but work.
But the so-called "sabbath"-keeping religions somehow magically transform yearly feast and fast sabbath rest days into supposed "work days" to justify their erroneous substitute "sabbath" observances of either saturday or sunday!
This is nothing less than a specious falsehood masquerading as "the plain truth."
It is clearly evident from the commandment regarding these annual sabbath rest days, indicating the specific solar year dates (such as Leviticus chapter 23) that, whenever an annual sabbath is observed -- on a date following a regular seventh-day sabbath less than seven days later -- the annual sabbath must not be somehow excluded and is, in fact, the very sabbath from which the next seventh-day sabbath must be counted and observed.
This is simply due to the fact that from EVERY sabbath you are commanded to "work six days" and to "rest the seventh day."
How "Sabbath" Observers Violate The Sabbath
Those attempting to keep either saturday or sunday, or any other modern calendar week day as a supposed "sabbath" must continually break the sabbath commandment to do so.
Either they have no scriptural support whatever for the days they observe, or they also attempt to observe the annual feast and fast sabbaths (also according to false calendars; see Lesson 5, last issue).
In fact, those who try to observe all the commanded sabbaths come closer to obeying than those who ignore them, for the annual feast and fast sabbaths are included in the scriptural commands to observe all these sabbath rest days, just as the four new-cycle celebration sabbaths are also included, although not specifically commanded in the scriptures included in the canon for the modern bible (these are, however, commanded elsewhere -- such as the ancient book of Yavbels, or "Jubilees," otherwise named "The Little Genesis" by scriptural scholars).
When the attempt is made to keep the annual sabbaths commands, invariably most modern efforts to understand the dates they should be observed wrongly include lunar phases, rather than strictly following the solar year seasons and crop harvests related to them, as also commanded in scripture (also covered in the prior lesson in this series).
The so-called "sabbath"-keepers who include the yearly feast and fast rests in their attempts to obey these commanded sabbaths must always ignore them when a saturday (the day such religions assume to be the sabbath, following false and pagan Jewish religious tradition) follows such an annual date by less than seven days.
This results, in reality, in the observance of unscriptural and utterly false second-day, third-day, fourth-day, fifth-day, and sixth-day supposed "sabbaths" in relation to these annual yearly date "sabbaths," which are also kept at the wrong times, often in the wrong season entirely due to lunar phase observances.
Without ever realizing this fact, nearly all who have desired to obey the scriptural sabbath commandments have been misled into keeping false traditional and entirely pagan modern week days as regular alleged "seventh day" or annual feast or fast "sabbaths" unknowingly.
Even though attempting to keep saturday or sunday "sabbaths" utterly breaks the sabbath commandment -- because there is no scripture commanding any pagan calendar or specific modern week day is a commanded sabbath -- this fact seems of little or no concern to most would-be "sabbath" keepers today.
When an annual sabbath rest day falls less than seven days from an actual seventh-day sabbath rest day observance the simple pure truth is that the next regular sabbath (unless another annual feast or fast sabbath intervenes) will always fall precisely seven days after that annual sabbath.
This in no way breaks the regular sabbath commandment, for it is also commanded!
Yet violating the sabbath command is exactly what saturday and sunday observers all do, in order to "justify" their false and pagan alleged "rest days" or "sabbaths" without scriptural proof or evidence in support of these erroneous practices and beliefs.
When Are The Annual Sabbaths To Be Kept?
The answer to this important question is hard to discover in your modern bible.
It has almost entirely been edited out of existence, through the practice of translators altering the meaning of one key word used throughout the Old Testament.
Closer examination reveals this to be a clever deception and twisting of the truth. This, along with one other key word found in only four scriptures scattered throughout the Old Testament, has succeeded in pulling the wool over the eyes of most would-be "sabbath" observers.
It is a fairly well-known fact that the annual, or yearly, sabbath rest days were commanded to be observed at set times in the solar year seasons.
In other words, the annual sabbaths are to be observed at crop and harvest times in the spring, summer and fall, respectively (for instance, see: Exodus 23:14-17, 34:21-23; Leviticus 23:4; Numbers 29:39 and Deuteronomy 16:16).
The setting of the dates Creator Yahveh commanded through Moses for the yearly sabbath rest days, in their correct seasons each year -- scholars now know -- had nothing whatever to do with lunar phases, or lunations.
In fact, if you bother looking up each instance where the Ibreyan (ancient "Hebrew") word for moon or lunation(s) appears in scripture, and then examine every place the phrase "new moon" appears, you will soon discover that the word for moon is NEVER used in relation to the phrase "new moon" anywhere in scripture!
To learn another reason why the single word mistranslated "new moon" cannot ever mean this, it is necessary to understand how vowel points were added to Hebrew over 600 years AFTER the start of the New Testament era.
Looking at the same word translated "new moon," but using different vowel pointings (indicating a supposedly different pronunciation and/or meaning; but without vowel points -- as in original scriptures -- the intended contextual meanings are indistinguishable from one another), you will learn that this exact same word means simply "new" and nothing more.
In many verses of scripture this "other word" is found in the context of describing various things as being new, such as "new house" (Deuteronomy 20:5, 22:8), "new wife" (Deuteronomy 24:5), "new ropes" (Judges 16:11, 12), "new cart" (I Chronicles 13:7), "new wine" Nehemiah 10:39), "new bottles" (or "new wineskins" "Job" 32:19), "new song" (Psalm 33:3), etc., etc., etc..
Whenever it is mistranslated "new moon," the word always appears by itself, with no qualifying noun (such as "moon") in the original text.
The word "moon" has been added to the translated text by translators, thanks to false Jewish tradition, which added the pagan lunar observances to their religion and thereby corrupted and perverted the true intended and inspired original meaning of these scriptures (as they also do many others).
The pure truth about "new moons" is that this concept has nothing whatever to do with the scriptural use of the Ibreyan word so translated in modern bibles.
When a lunation (or so-called "lunar month") pagan observance is mentioned in scripture, the word specifically meaning "moon" itself is always used (translated "month" or "months" in each instance), as in the following verses of scripture:
Exodus 2:2; Deuteronomy 21:13; I Kings 6:37-38, 8:2; II Kings 15:13; and "Job" 3:6, 7:3, 29:2, 39:2.
In Zechariah 11:8; Ezra 6:15 and Daniel 4:29, the same word appears with slightly different vowel points in modern "Hebrew" texts, since it is actually translated from Chaldee in these original scripture texts, another ancient language used in Babylon, and some scriptures (particularly those directly quoting some Chaldean text), which was related to the ancient language of Ibreya.
"Months," as they were known to ancient Yasraelites, were simply counted divisions of the year, numbered according to the sabbath observances that fell in each season of the year.
The dates each of these "monthly" cycles began were well known in advance (for example, see: I "Samuel" 20:5, 18, 24).
However, new moons must first be observed in order to "know" the exact date upon which they occur, and cannot be determined in advance!
The year, and consequently the new-cycle celebration, feast and fast sabbath rest days -- and the regular sabbaths counted from them -- particularly the spring and fall seasons, was observed according to the equinoctial starting points for those seasons.
Proof for this fact is found in one key word used to describe when the fall feast and fast rest days were commanded to be observed -- as well as the start of the spring season and the year -- as revealed in scripture through a correct understanding of this single vital word.
If you ignore what scripture says about these two seasons of the year (the summer feast of Pentecost being counted from the end of the spring feast of Unleavened Bread and the Wavesheaf observance) you simply can never know the pure truth on this important subject!
Each New Year Starts With The Spring Equinox
Exodus 12:2 and 13:4 reveals that Abib (meaning: "green ears" -- most likely of corn) is the start of the scriptural year.
It is well known and recognized by most scriptural scholars that this season began, and therefore the cycle "month" of Abib also started, with the first day of the new year -- on the spring equinox -- which was also the first day of spring.
The fall rest day sabbaths, likewise, began on the date of the fall equinox, according to inspired scripture.
The first day of the seventh cycle "month" was itself also a feast sabbath rest day, known as Reva (mistakenly called Trumpets by most bible worshipers today; see: Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1), which was the start of the fall festival season.
This feast sabbath rest day observance is followed by a regular sabbath seven days later, and then by the fast sabbath rest day of Atonement two days after that, on the tenth day of the seventh yearly cycle "month," with the first feast sabbath rest day of Tabernacles following on the 15th day of the seventh cycle "month," five days after that, and the Last Great Day feast sabbath rest day falling seven days later on the 22nd day (Leviticus 23:26-43; Numbers 29:7, 12, 35; Deuteronomy 16:13-15).
Altogether, these annual feast and fast sabbath observances comprise the three festival seasons of the year (there being no such observances commanded for the winter season, unlike common Jewish and Christian traditional calendar pagan holiday observances (Deuteronomy 16:16-17)!
You can imagine the confusion that ensues when pagan Gregorian calendar week days, such as saturday or sunday, are assumed to be regular "sabbaths" while they shift around in relation to these commanded yearly feast and fast sabbath rest days, from season to season and from year to year (just as the first day of each pagan calendar year starts on a different pagan week day from one year to the next).
Taken together, these annual sabbaths of the seventh cycle "month" each year, represent a third of the yearly feast seasons and half of the annual sabbath observances each year.
The other half of the annual feast sabbath rest day observances occur beginning with the new-cycle celebration on the first day of spring, followed by a regular seventh-day sabbath seven days later (on the 8th day of the first new-cycle "month"), then by the Passover the evening before the first feast sabbath rest day of Unleavened Bread, which begins seven days later, followed by the last feast sabbath rest day of Unleavened Bread only six days later.
After that, the next regular seventh-day sabbath falls seven days later, which is also the first day of the 2nd new-cycle "month" of the year, with the feast sabbath rest day of Pentecost immediately following the day after the seventh regular sabbath rest day following the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the 16th day of the 3rd new-cycle "month" of the year (Exodus 23:14-17, 34:21-23; Deuteronomy 16:16).
The day the fall feast season starts, the feast sabbath rest day of Reva (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance "Hebrew" dictionary listing #7321, meaning: "sounding the alarm"), is revealed by scripture to be the very same as the day of the fall equinox.
The key word, in Ibreya, is "teqavpah" (Strong's "Hebrew" dictionary listing #8622), which means: "revolution" of the sun, or change in season.
This word is found in only four Old Testament scriptures, but each place it occurs helps us understand its meaning and definition as "equinox" (spring or fall).
In I "Samuel" 1:20 this word s translated: "...when the time was come about" (the King James bible margin reads: "in revolution of days").
In II Chronicles 24:23 it is translated: "...at the end of the year" (the margin more accurately reads: "in the revolution of the year").
And in Psalm 19:6 this word clearly refers to the sun (verse 4) making "...his circuit to the ends of it..." (meaning, to the end of the heaven, or sky).
This was a clear-cut reference to the sun's path throughout the year, beginning with the spring equinox, first to the north (where it begins to return around the summer solstice), then south, returning to the fall equinoctial point, and continuing south (until around the winter solstice, when it once again returns back to the spring equinoctial point), going north again until a new year begins at the spring equinox once more.
The Fall Feasts Begin At The Fall Equinox
When you read this same word "teqavpah" in Exodus 34:22, in relation to the fall feasts, you know this is telling us to begin observing them in the fall season of the year, which starts at the fall equinox, or the feast sabbath rest day of Reva:
"And you shall observe...the feast of ingathering at the year's end" (margin: "revolution of the year").
An interesting point to notice about the verse just prior to this (Exodus 34:21) is that it relates the regular seventh-day sabbath rest days to these very same solely solar-year seasons:
"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest."
This means that the harvest feast sabbath rest days -- mentioned starting in the very next verse -- do NOT in any way interfere with, or cause you to violate or break, the seventh-day sabbath.
Instead, these are as much a part of the sabbath commandment as the six days of work are!
Annual Sabbaths Determine When
To Keep The Seventh-Day Sabbaths
Incredible as it may seem, to most who claim insight into the scriptural sabbaths, it has been absolutely proven that scripture teaches the fact that the annual feast and fast sabbaths do indeed establish or determine when to observe the regular seventh-day sabbaths, and that these are in no way independent of the annual feast sabbaths.
The proof is found in one of the most heatedly argued and debated -- but least understood -- of the annual sabbaths, Pentecost.
Pentecost is a Greek language transliteration of the Ibreya phrase meaning: "count fifty," so named because -- starting with the Wavesheaf offering, the day after the feast of Unleavened Bread -- seven regular seventh-day sabbaths are commanded to be counted (a total of 49 days), with the feast of Pentecost being the very next, or 50th day (Leviticus 23:10-16, 21).
Some who observe the false saturday pseudo-"sabbaths" -- who also observe the equally false lunar month alleged "feast sabbaths" -- say the Wavesheaf was observed the day after the first feast sabbath day of Unleavened Bread (such as the Jewish religions that claim to still observe these occasions), while others claim "pentecost" must be counted from the day after the first saturday that falls within their false "feast of unleavened bread" observance.
Of course there are years when saturday falls on the last of the seven days they observe for their pseudo-"unleavened bread," therefore in those years the timing of the supposed "wavesheaf" would fall outside their "unleavened bread feast" week.
Then there are those who interpret the "wavesheaf" followed immediately after the first supposed "feast sabbath of unleavened bread," according to their pagan luni-solar calendars (of which there are about as many as there are confused attempts to understand and "restore" the true sacred calendar).
These proponents claim that Leviticus 23:6, 7 references the first feast sabbath in relation to the Wavesheaf in verse 11, claiming this interpretation is supported both by the internal scriptural context and secular history.
The historian "Josephus" (Antiquities III, 10:5-6) is often quoted in support of this view, however it must be remembered that he was a Pharisee, a sect which -- along with the Sadducees -- was one of the most sinful factions of ancient Yasrael, in the Savior's age (see: "Matthew" 16:6, 11-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1, etc.).
There is also no doubt that "Josephus'" histories have been tampered with and altered, to make them conform to certain modern false religious doctrines.
Any comparison of modern versions of "Josephus'" writings (none of the earliest surviving copies of which are older than the 16th century) with what other ancient historians quoted from more ancient copies of "Josephus," quickly exposes this revealing fact.
As for other historical resources, the Dead Sea Scroll finds, such as the book of Yavbels ("Jubilees"), and the ancient Syriac translation of the Bible dating from the first century, both indicate that the Wavesheaf was to be observed after the end of the true Unleavened Bread feast week.
Jews today can find no actual evidence, even in their apocryphal pagan Babylonian Talmud, to prove the Pharisees did not also believe this in the Savior's age.
As for context, the last actual sabbath mentioned just prior to the commandment concerning the Wavesheaf, is the last sabbath of the feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:8).
Those claiming their "wavesheaf" was observed from the first pseudo-"sabbath" of their "unleavened bread feast" -- besides keeping it the same day as those claiming it falls after a saturday, when this also happens to fall on the first day of their "feast week" -- have several other enormous and insurmountable difficulties they can neither explain away nor overcome.
Ignoring the scriptural facts, as they do, has only led many into mass confusion over this subject.
Seven Sabbaths Complete
The first difficulty comes from trying to count a supposed "sabbath" seven days after the second day of a pseudo-"feast of unleavened bread."
Since the seventh day of the true Feast is a commanded annual feast sabbath rest day (Leviticus 23:8), the day following it cannot be a regular seventh-day sabbath.
That day cannot be a sabbath -- as it must be, for this false idea of when the "wavesheaf" occurred to be "true" -- simply because there are NOT six days of work between it and the previous sabbath rest day (in this case, the last feast sabbath day, rather than the first feast sabbath day)!
For the Wavesheaf MUST begin following a sabbath, AND it must also start the count of seven COMPLETE sabbaths counting up to Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15).
"Complete" cannot mean the first of these sabbath (true) weeks is only six days -- from the 16th to the 22nd -- rather than a complete seven-day sabbath (true) week.
If this were so, there could not be 49 days total in this period of seven sabbaths (verse 16), excluding Pentecost (50-1 = 49).
So then, remarkably, the true Wavesheaf and Pentecost PROVE conclusively that the seven sabbaths from Unleavened Bread until Pentecost must be observed from the day after the last sabbath rest day is observed.
In other words, the sabbaths must be counted from the day after the last of the annual Unleavened Bread feast sabbaths.
The utter falsehood of saturday so-called "sabbaths" has almost totally obscured this point, and has obliterated it from the minds of all would-be "restorers" or believers in the "plain truth" about the sabbaths and feasts.
The Wavesheaf Grain Prohibition
The second major difficulty involves the nature of the Wavesheaf offering.
This represented the new grain harvest, as it was specifically commanded that NO bread or green ears could be eaten until after the Wavesheaf was offered (Leviticus 23:14).
Of course, this meant all ears, or bread made from the new grain only, and did not restrict the eating of bread made from, or ears of, the old grains stored from the prior year's harvests.
However one thing is absolutely clear. The Wavesheaf -- whichever day it was commanded to be observed -- occurs AFTER the beginning of the feast of Unleavened Bread. On this point all are agreed.
This obviously means that Unleavened Bread also must be kept with the old stored grain, or it could not be observed at all, since none of the new grain could be used until after the Wavesheaf offering!
And if Unleavened Bread starts or begins using the old grain, then it must also end with the same grain.
Immediately following this old grain feast observance, the Wavesheaf was to be offered, before any of the new grain could be consumed.
This meant that the Wavesheaf is an "integral part of the Unleavened Bread feast," as most claim, however this is only in the sense of forbidding the new grain harvest until after the feast of Unleavened Bread. In no case was the new grain harvest to be used during that feast!
The Wavesheaf IS also an integral part of the Pentecost observance, since it is from this very day that the seven sabbaths leading up to this summer feast observance are very clearly commanded to be counted (Leviticus 23:15-16).
"Sabbath" Confusion
Finally, there is no such thing as a "double sabbath" commanded anywhere in scripture, at any new-cycle or other feast observance.
Of course this is an entirely unscriptural point argued chiefly by those who follow saturday "sabbath" teachings, and also attempt to keep the yearly feast sabbaths (other than the new-cycle celebration sabbath feasts, which almost nobody today tries to observe).
If saturday pseudo-"sabbaths" are not the same as the seven-day "week" periods counting up to Pentecost, as some falsely argue, they must also fall on days otherwise called annual "feast sabbaths," according to the attempted calendar restorations of most such believers.
To account for this coincidence, some have taken to calling these saturdays when pseudo-"feast" sabbaths are said to occur, "double sabbaths," as though there were some sort of scriptural support for this absurd notion!
The only scriptural example of a true "double sabbath" is Pentecost itself, which is to be observed the day after the seventh sabbath counting from Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:16), only in this case the two sabbaths must fall side-by-side, and never simultaneously.
The odd things about all the factions disagreeing over when and how to "correctly" observe Pentecost, is the fact that they each accept or avoid entirely opposite facts.
Those wrongly interpreting the "wavesheaf" as following a saturday pseudo-"sabbath" correctly interpret Leviticus 23:15-16 as referring to actual sabbaths, although they have no idea what these really are.
While those interpreting the sabbath before the "wavesheaf" as being one of the feast sabbaths, though they invariably choose the wrong sabbath -- just as they also observe false luni-solar calendar days as "feasts" and "fast" or "feast sabbaths" -- must also falsely corrupt the word "sabbath(s)" in Leviticus 23:15-16 into supposedly non-sabbath "weeks," or seven day periods entirely divorced from the sabbaths.
Such a concept is entirely and completely foreign to scripture.
There is absolutely NO scriptural precedent for this, despite what proponents of this utterly false view want to believe, attempting to construe the word "sabbaths" as meaning anything but actual sabbaths.
In truth, the word for the seven "weeks" in Leviticus 23:15, means exactly the same thing as the word translated sabbath in verse 16, in reference to the seventh of these sabbaths, and this in turn is the very same word twice translated sabbath in reference to the regular seventh-day sabbaths in verse 3.
The only accurate conclusion to be drawn from the Pentecost commandment is that it reveals the true sabbaths must be observed and counted from the true yearly feast sabbath rest days. Somehow this fact has entirely escaped the "inspired" teachers of scripture today!
The Year By Sabbaths
In the prior lesson in this series, last issue, it was revealed that the ancient year -- at the time of the exodus -- was exactly 364 days in length (or precisely 52 sabbaths).
Those sabbaths divided evenly into the twelve "months" or divisions of the year, with exactly four to each of the three cycle "months" per season, and one additional sabbath cycle per season.
It is a good assumption that every third "month" in each season, therefore, consisted of five sabbaths rather than four.
There is sufficient scriptural evidence to support this theory. In Genesis, for instance, you will find that the stars of heaven were created for "signs," which means primarily as a prophetic indicator of future events (Genesis 1:14).
"Stars," in this instance, refers to both the other planets of our immediate solar system, as well as to the other solar systems in the creation.
It is now generally recognized that the sun and planets revolve throughout the year -- the circle of their revolution comprising the entire year -- representing the prophetic design of creative history.
The zodiac is composed of twelve "signs" (with a thirteenth -- Cetus the whale, aka Leviathan, representing the serpent, Satan the adversary -- intruding somewhat upon the ecliptic of the other twelve), each representing one twelfth of the year.
Interestingly enough, the twelve signs are not only of unequal lengths -- contrary to teachings of astrology -- but every third sign is longer, followed by two shorter signs of nearly equal length.
If divided into the year by their actual size, the twelve signs would be either four or five weeks long, every third sign from the start of the year being longer than the two preceding it.
Doubtless the wiser of the ancients used this natural division of creation as a guide for dividing the year into its respective months. There is no other obvious division in nature for man to use for this purpose.
Certainly not the moon, which -- contrary to popular but misinformed opinion on the subject -- does not come into exact synchronization with the sun at the end of either the 19-year Metonic Cycle (235 lunations being more than 7.5 hours shorter than the exact length of 19 solar years), or the 28-year Solar Cycle, much less the combination of these two cycles into the 532-year Great Paschal Period.
During this time period, the difference between the lunar and solar cycles amounts to over a day and a half. In other words, the lunar periods begin more than a day sooner in the year than they did before.
This difference, although seemingly small for this period of time, certainly indicates that our Creator's purpose or plan never was to use the moon for determining the feast seasons, because its lunations will not always begin when the solar year seasons begin.
After a millennium or two, or three, the lunations fail to fall anywhere near the same time of the solar seasons they once did. In other words, it now being roughly around 3,444 years after the exodus, the lunar cycles are now roughly ten days behind the seasons compared to that time.
How could anyone seriously entertain the thought that lunar phases are an accurate indicator of when the solar year crop seasons must be observed, in light of these facts?
Lunar Mania
Adding to all the above the confusion arising from attempting to determine the exact day a lunation is supposed to begin, that such observations must depend upon clear weather -- which is not always the case -- and the fact this observation must take place at night (usually an indication of evil intent in scriptural analogy), and the fact that pseudo-"feasts" observed according to such lunar observances always occur around the time of full moons (known to be volatile times for the emotionally insecure and challenged, who usually comprise religious groups adhering to such practices), and you have nothing less than lunar madness masquerading as "the plain truth!"
Therefore, those cults themselves become and remain volatile and spiritually bankrupt groupings of some of the most carnal, self-righteous, and contentious, people which soon fragment and disintegrate into ever smaller competing groups, until nothing is left of their "organized" religion (or remains recognizable from one generation to the next).
You can never discover the pure truth through such confusion. That must first be restored through inspired revelation!
The Sabbaths FORGOTTEN?!?
The prophecy of "Hosea" (correctly: Yahvsave) reveals, quite emphatically, that the true sabbaths (new-cycle celebration, feasts, fast and regular seventh-day sabbaths) HAVE indeed been forgotten.
In fact, since the feasts are set by the beginnings of the new-cycle yearly divisions and, as you have now seen, the seventh-day sabbaths are determined by when the yearly feasts and fast observances must be observed, it should be painfully obvious that -- by forgetting the new cycle yearly divisions alone -- ALL of the feasts, fast, and other sabbaths have therefore been forgotten and lost!
Those falsely claiming the sabbaths were never to be forgotten must, therefore, believe that scripture LIES!
For scriptural prophecy very clearly and emphatically reveals:
"I will also stop all her celebrations, her feast days, her new cycles, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts" ("Hosea" 2:11).
If this is not plain and clear enough, yet another scriptural prophecy echoes these same words, in such a way the meaning cannot possibly be misconstrued or misunderstood:
"And He [the Creator, verse 5] has violently taken away His tabernacle [the Temple], as if it were a garden: He has destroyed His places of the assembly. Yahveh has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be FORGOTTEN in Ziovan, and has despised the king and priest in the indignation of His anger" (Lamentations 2:6).
Of course this was just punishment, since the children of Abraham through his grandson Yasrael (Ya'acob) had continually neglected and forgotten the sabbaths (including the new-cycle, feast and fast sabbaths) from the beginning, as amply revealed in the following scriptures:
"Moreover I also gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them.... But... [they] rebelled against me in the wilderness: they did not walk in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, although the man who obeys them will live by them; and they greatly polluted my sabbaths: then I said I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them....
"...because they despised my judgments. and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their hearts pursued their idols.... Keep my sabbaths sacred; and they will be a sign between me and you....
"Nonetheless the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to accomplish them, which if a man obeys he will even live by them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger upon them in the wilderness....
"...because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and they eyes were set on their father's idols." (Ezekiel 20:12-13, 16, 20-21, 24).
"Moreover they have done this to me: they defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths" (Ezekiel 23:38).
Clearly, as these verses of scripture all reveal, the true sabbaths have been forgotten in Ziovan!
This is a fact today, which cannot be denied by anyone truly seeking the real truth on this subject. However this doesn't mean the sabbaths have not been restored today!
Daylight Sabbaths?
Lastly, the true sabbaths, as amply revealed in Exodus 16 alone, were never 24-hour periods that began at sunset and included the nighttime as part of the observance.
This is once again nothing more than a traditional myth of modern Judaism, which also falsely teaches the sabbaths have never been forgotten or lost, and therefore have no need of being restored today.
In truth, the miracle of the manna adequately reveals, in the words of Moses himself, when the true sabbath days must be observed (the first sabbath after the start of manna, like the day before it first appeared, also obviously being two of the seven sabbaths in the count to Pentecost).
For instance, in Exodus 16:1 the manna was promised on the 15th day of the second cycle "month" which, along with the first and eighth days as well, was a sabbath day observance (the first three of the seven sabbaths leading up to Pentecost).
Quails were promised to arrive after the sabbath was over, at twilight (after sunset; verse 12), and this took place just as promised (verse 13).
The manna was promised to begin the very next morning (verse 12), and with the dawn dew the manna also appeared as promised (verse 13).
So the manna began on the morning of the first day of the fourth sabbath "week" following the feast of Unleavened Bread.
None of the manna could be kept overnight, because by the next morning it contained worms and stank (had turned rancid; verses 19-20), however the sixth day of that sabbath "week" -- and of every subsequent "week" thereafter until the manna ceased 40 years later -- they gathered twice as much manna (verse 22).
Moses told the people that the extra was to be used for the sabbath day, since there would be no manna on those days, when the people were supposed to rest and were forbidden to work, not even to gather manna (verse 23).
On those mornings all manna kept overnight was still good, did not contain maggots and did not stink (was not rancid), so that they were able to eat the extra manna gathered on the sixth days for the sabbaths (verse 24).
Then, Moses revealed to them: "'Eat it today,' Moses said, 'because today is a sabbath to Yahveh. You will not find any of it one the ground today'" (verse 25).
Moses said that the next morning began the sabbath of rest (verse 23), and only that same morning did he say that day was a sabbath!
Therefore it cannot be made any clearer, in inspired scripture, that the true sabbaths are observed only from first light to last light of each seventh day!
The Sabbaths And Calendar Year Restored
Because the sabbath and, as a result, the knowledge of the true calendar year, were lost somewhere in the dim history of ancient, rebellious Yasrael ("Isaiah" 1:13; Lamentations 2:6; Ezekiel 22:26, 23:38, 44:24; "Hosea" 2:11), it was necessary for them to be restored ("Matthew" 17:11; Mark 9:12; Luke 1:17; Malachi 4:6; Acts 3:21).
No doubt, after the calamitous events right ahead of us now, just prior to the Savior's return to rule earth finally, the year will once again be restored to its original length of 364 days, even as a pure language will replace the babylon of languages still existing on earth today (Zephaniah 3:9).
Until that time, you must still observe the feasts, fast and sabbaths as commanded, even if the sabbaths and twelve new-cycle "monthly" divisions do not presently divide evenly into the year, meaning there must by necessity be two short "weeks" in the year (just prior to the spring and fall equinoxes), to account for the presently uneven year length, as it presently exists.
This is nothing worse than the Unleavened Bread feast week with only five days between two annual sabbaths -- or Pentecost, with no days between it and the previous sabbath -- because that is how it was commanded.
And you can only obey, as you ought to do, if you truly are led by the sacred Spirit (Father Yahveh), and are really humble, repentant and counted among Messiah Yahvsave's brethren, as one of the Almighty Ones' elect children.