This Scriptural Calendar study proves why a continuously repeating cycle of 6 work days / 1 Sabbath day is not valid.
Before we look at Scriptural proofs, just ask yourself a question: Do you really believe that Satan would allow Elohim’s 7th day Sabbath to conveniently fall on the 7th day of the pagan Roman Empire’s calendar?
Now of course the question and answer doesn’t prove anything, but I assure you that Satan is much more stick than you think.
Jews, Hebrew Roots, Torah Only, and Seventh Day Adventists, proclaim that Scripture defines a continuously-repeating 6 work day / 1 rest day cycle, and that Saturday is the 7th day Biblical Sabbath.
And they think that because they know this, that they are set apart from others. SDA’s even proclaim that the Sunday Sabbath is the mark of the beast.
Satan is the master of the double deception, so he is happy that people pick Sunday or Saturday as the Sabbath.
But neither Saturday or Sunday is the Biblical Sabbath day!
The Biblical Lunisolar Calendar and the Sun-based Roman Gregorian calendar are incompatible, as they conflict with each other.
Biblically commanded work days prove that Saturday cannot be the Sabbath day.
To prove that Saturday (or any fixed day on the Roman Gregorian calendar) cannot be the weekly Sabbath, one simply has to read about Aviv 10, when the Passover Lamb was to be purchased; Aviv 14 which is a preparation day for the first day of Unleavened Bread, and Aviv 16, on which the barley could be harvested.
All of those are commanded work days, so they cannot possibly fall on a Sabbath. But on the Roman Gregorian calendar they do fall on Saturday every few years, so it invalidates the premise.
The Jews have ‘Rules of Postponement’ to help eliminate these types of conflicts, but they are not based on Scripture. Others flippantly proclaim that we can just work/prepare on the day before, but we must be carefully to not dismiss the commands of Scripture.
Scripture declares that there are three types of days, not two; which invalidates the concept of a continuously-repeating 6 work day / 1 Sabbath day cycle.
Ezekiel 46:1 tells us that there are working days, Sabbath days and New Moon days.
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.
Ezekiel 46:3-7 proclaims that the Sabbath days and the New Moon Days are different, as the sacrifices are different on the two types of days.
And the people of the land shall also bow themselves at the entrance to this gate before Yahuah, on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons.
And the burnt offering which the prince brings to Yahuah on the Sabbath day is six lambs, perfect ones, and a ram, a perfect one. And the grain offering is one ĕphah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, a gift of his hand, and a hin of oil for an ĕphah.
And on the day of the New Moon: a young bull, a perfect one, six lambs, and a ram, they should be perfect. And he prepares a grain offering of an ĕphah for a bull, and an ĕphah for a ram, and for the lambs as his hand attains, and a hin of oil for an ĕphah.
These verses also confirm that there is a New Moon Day, which is not a Sabbath Day or work day.
And he (the Shunammite woman’s husband) said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well!” 2 Kings 4:23
And it shall be that from New Moon to New Moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” declares Yahuah. Isaiah 66:23
“When does the New Moon pass so that we sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we trade our wheat, to make the ĕphah small and the sheqel large, and to falsify the scales by deceit, to buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the chaff of the wheat?” Amos 8:5
1 Samuel 20 proves that the first day of the month is the New Moon Day.
David was not present at meal time on the New Moon Day and the second day of the month, and Saul asked why he was absent both yesterday and today.
And David said to Jonathan, “See, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I ought to sit with the sovereign to eat. But let me go, and I shall hide in the field until the third day at evening. 1 Samuel 20:5
And it came to be the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?” 1 Samuel 20:27
The New Moon day is not a work day or a Sabbath day. It is the first day of the month, which interrupts the 6 work day / 1 Sabbath day cycle.
Looking back to Ezekiel 46:1, the east gateway would be open on the 1st day of the Biblical month, the New Moon day; and on the four Sabbath days of the month, which would fall on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the month. The gate would be closed on all of the work days.
These verses also define both Sabbath days and New Moon Days as separate days, proving that the concept of a continuously repeating 6 work day / 1 Sabbath day cycle is not Scriptural:
And he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well!” 2 Kings 4:23
and for all the burnt offerings to Yahuah on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the appointed times, by number according to the right-ruling upon them, continually before Yahuah. 1 Chronicles 23:31
see, I am building a House for the Name of Yahuah my Elohim, to set it apart to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the New Moons, and on the appointed times of Yahuah our Elohim. This is for Israel forever. 2 Chronicles 2:4
even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the command of Moses, for the Sabbaths, and for the New Moons, and for the appointed times three times a year: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. 2 Chronicles 8:13
And the sovereign appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and for the New Moons and for the appointed times, as it is written in the Torah of Yahuah. 2 Chronicles 31:3
for the showbread, and for the continual grain offering, and for the continual burnt offering of the Sabbaths, of the New Moons, for the appointed times, and for the set-apart offerings, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the House of our Elohim. Nehemiah 10:33
Stop bringing futile offerings, incense, it is an abomination to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, the calling of meetings – I am unable to bear unrighteousness and assembly. My being hates your New Moons and your appointed times, they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. Isaiah 1:13-14
And it shall be that from New Moon to New Moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” declares Yahuah. Isaiah 66:23
And on the prince are the burnt offerings, and the grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the festival, the New Moons, the Sabbaths – in all the appointed times of the house of Israel. He is to prepare the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. Thus said the Master Yahuah, “In the first month, on the first of the month, you are to take a young bull, a perfect one, and shall cleanse the set-apart place. Ezekiel 45:17-18 LU commentary on 1st day
And I shall cause all her rejoicing, her festivals, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths, even all her appointed times, to cease, Hosea 2:11
saying, “When does the New Moon pass so that we sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we trade our wheat, to make the ĕphah small and the sheqel large, and to falsify the scales by deceit, Amos 8:5
Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths. Colossians 2:16
Having a New Moon day, which is not a working day and is not a Sabbath day, clearly tells us that a continuous 6 work day / 1 Sabbath day cycle is not possible.
The lunisolar calendar has a 6 work day /1 Sabbath day cycle just like Genesis describes, but it lines up with other Scriptures which declare that the New Moon day defines the weekly Sabbaths.
The Roman calendar had eight days a week during Messiah’s ministry, which invalidates that Saturday is the Sabbath.
People proclaim that the Jews kept track of the Sabbath, and they say that it is Saturday.
But as we learned in the Falling Away of 2 Thessalonians 2 study, the Jews compromised with the Roman Empire, to avoid persecution.
The Julian calendar, which was in place from 63 BC – 37 AD, had an 8-day week, with the days of the week named after the first seven letters of the alphabet.
So there was no Saturday during Messiah’s ministry.
Later in the 1st century, a 7-day calendar started to be developed, which had Saturday as the first day of the week.
How could Saturday have always been the 7th day Sabbath, when Saturday used to be the 1st day of the week?
Both the 8-day and 7-day calendar were used until the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine completed the switch to the 7 day week, and he placed Saturday as the 7th day.
He blended the Hebrew idea of a seven day week with the Julian concept of a continuous weekly cycle, and added the veneration of the “Sun God” from Mithrasim to create the Roman calendar used today.
The Jews and Messianites were not using that calendar until the time of Constantine. They were using the lunisolar calendar.
Then Constantine prohibited following the lunisolar calendar, and commanded that everyone follow the Sun-based calendar.
The Jewish leader Hillel compromised, and while still using the lunar cycle to dictate the years, months and Holy Feast Days; he changed the Sabbath to the continuously repeating 7th day of the Sun-based calendar.
References for additional study:
The Creation Calendar of the New Testament era PDF
The Truth about how Saturday became the Seventh-day Sabbath PDF
Videos:
One of the greatest frauds in the history of the world was perpetrated almost 1,700 years ago by the actions of two men. The Roman emperor, Constantine, committed a portentous act: he unified his empire by promoting Sunday as the day of Yahushua’s resurrection and outlawed the use of the Biblical calendar for calculating Passover.
This set in motion a series of reactions. Jewish leader Hillel II (covered in Part 2 of this series – “The Saturday Swindle”) responded to the persecution following this legislation by a modification of the Biblical calendar. This supplanted the true Sabbath with the pagan Saturday. It was a chain of actions and reactions of epic proportions. The ramifications continue to this day with every Christian and Jew that worships by the Gregorian calendar.
Next Biblical Calendar study: The Scriptural Lunisolar Calendar
