Today we begin teachings from Genesis Chapter 2.
For the Complete Jewish Bible click here.
If you’re a King James diehard, click here.
Let’s start by taking a look at the following excerpt from Genesis Chapter 2.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.”- Genesis 2:1-3
From today, I will be writing a series of articles about the 7th day of the week, otherwise known as the Sabbath.
The first issue I would like to tackle is “how do we know that the original Biblical Sabbath, the 7th day as stated in Scripture is really referring to the day we call Saturday?”
There are three compelling reasons why we can be confident that what the Bible calls the 7th day is indeed Saturday.
REASON ONE: LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE
In more than a hundred languages of the world, the word for “Sabbath” as meaning a day of rest is actually “Sabbath” and refers to Saturday. For example: Arabic=Sabot, Armenian=Shabat, Spanish=Sabado, Italian=Sabato, etcetera.
When studying the many languages of mankind, you will find two important facts:
-In the majority of the principal languages the last, or seventh, day of the week is designated as “Sabbath.”
-There is not even one language that designates another day as the “day of rest.”
In English, we say “What day is the Sabbath?” But in the other languages of the world, that would be like asking “What day is ‘Friday‘”?, which would be a nonsensical question.
REASON TWO: THE WITNESS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
The Jews have consistently kept the Sabbath every week (every 7th day) since they became an established people group more than 3500 years ago. The weekly cycle of which day is which has NEVER changed. The Jewish people would never have allowed any change to affect their practice, even if the rest of the world all of a sudden arbitrarily decided to keep the 7th day on a Tuesday for instance.
Chew on this fact for a minute. At any point in history, you have faithful, religious-minded Jews keeping the Sabbath (Saturday) in various parts of the world. In order for us to lose track of which day is the Sabbath, all of those Jews would have to somehow simultaneously mistake the day. They keep the Sabbath today on the same day they did back in Jesus’ day, all the way back to Moses’ day.
ADDENDUM: Another powerful piece of Scriptural evidence. In Exodus 16, we are told that during the Israelite’s journey in the desert, manna (the bread from Heaven) fell every day except for one – the Sabbath. So what did the Israelites eat on the Sabbath? The Scripture makes it clear that a double portion fell every Friday so that the Israelites would have enough to eat the next day as well.
REASON THREE: FINDINGS OF THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY IN WASHINGTON D.C.
Referring to this specific issue, here is what the Naval Observatory in Washington had to say.
“We had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.”
Understand that part of the Naval Observatory’s job is keeping track of time. These people know what they’re talking about.
They emphatically state “WE HAVE NO DOUBT” that the weekly cycle has never been lost track of. It would be preposterous to think otherwise.
CONCLUSION:
The 7th day mentioned in Scripture according to our calendars is Friday evening sundown to Saturday evening sundown.
End of discussion.
Well there seems much evidence that the original Biblical calendar was lunar and not solar. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia recognizes this. So the enemy of this world changed the calendar from lunar to solar with sabbaths on the 7th days. Problem with this is that it’s the 7th day of a pagan calendar.
I think they may have used both.
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Hi Richoka. I just today discovered your site.So far i’m well impressed. I’m a non jewish christian so it’d great to hear insights to the bible from jewish eyes.
This teaching (on sabbath) reminds me of some of the bizarre excuses christians use to observe sunday.One of those is the claim that no one knows which day the sabbath is anymore.
It’s like “Ok so we dont know which day the sabbath is? I dont agree but lets go with that.
So somewhere along the line we started recounting week days and you DELIBERATELY chose a day other than the one everybody thinks is the sabbath?!”
Crazy right?
Hi Ron! Welcome to the Messianic Revolution! Please dig in and enjoy the treasure trove of teachings available to you on this site. Be blessed and shalom!
I’ve been a Christian a long time and I’ve been talked that Saturday is the Sabbath but I go to a Sunday church and I understand that somewhere down the line the Catholics changed it for some odd reason but I’ve recently started wondering how we come to think Saturday is the Sabbath I’ve researched and studied and I even used Blue Letter Bible to go back Hebrew and Greek and try to understand it does not say Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday so on for that matter it does not give a day it just says keep the 7th Day Sabbath holy it doesn’t say which day it is I’ve asked God to help me with this and I’ve done a good bit of studying just can’t go by what people are telling me without proof in the Bible of what day it is I where you pointed us to Exodus 16 where you said that the day was Friday when he gave a double portion I don’t see that know where there I even studied it in Hebrew I just don’t see it
Lunar shabbatharians are trampling the fourth commandment underfoot.
My wife is from Hue City in Vietnam. For hundreds of past generations they have kept the Sabbath and God’s moral law as recorded in Torah. They don’t have the Torah but they keep the Torah laws very well. The Vietnamese don’t know why the keep Sabbath but they only know God commanded it.
Unfortunately, with western and Catholic influence, they are now moving away from keeping Sabbath.
If you research Asian and Chinese history, you will find that they typically have the same Hebrew mind set and keep God’s moral laws as recorded in the Torah, even though they do not have Torah.
I find it fascinating how God has kept His word alive to this very day!
I do not have Hebrew heritage as far as I know, but have recently come to know YHWH through my wife and Torah. I am now trying to distant myself from past Christian indoctrination and to rewire my thinking according to Torah.
It’s not easy but necessary.
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that most Christian doctrine, is completely opposite of Torah.
Wow, sharing some interesting AND INSPIRING stuff here Lor. Had no idea that the Vietnamese have kept the Sabbath for as you put it “hundreds of past generations”. I’ve been living in Asia for the past 20 years of my life and have intuitively felt like they were more in sync with Biblical teachings than the West…even though they claim the Bible as their own. It is NOT. The Bible is a Middle Eastern Hebrew document and far more “Asian” in thought than Greek thinking. Thanks for sharing brother. Shalom!
Whatever goes against the Torah is antinomian.
I follow the Zadokite calendar which was established by Enoch in the pre-flood era. The original calendar was the basis of what Yahweh gave to Moses in the wilderness, along with annual Feasts, Sabbath Years and Jubilee Years. This calendar was preserved by the Zadokite line of Levitical priests through the Second Temple period and beyond in Qumran.
To understand this calendar better, please go to http://www.returningtothegarden.com. I would also suggest reading The Book of Enoch. There is too much to say in this space. Please do your research.
In an excerpt from the Book of Jubilees:
“And command thou the children of Israel that they observe the years according to this reckoning-three hundred and sixty-four days, and (these) will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts. 1 33. But if they do neglect and do not observe them according to His commandment, then they will disturb all their seasons, and the years will be dislodged from this (order), [and they will disturb the seasons and the years will be dislodged] 2 and they will neglect their ordinances. 34. And all the children of Israel will forget, and will not find the path of the years, and will forget the new moons, and seasons, and sabbaths, and they will go wrong as to all the order of the years. 3 35. For I know and from henceforth shall I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising; for the book (lieth) written before me, and on the heavenly tables the division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. 36. For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon–now (it) disturbeth the seasons and cometh in from year to year ten days too soon. 4 37. For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order),
p. 66
and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. 38. For this reason I command and testify to thee that thou mayest testify to them; for after thy death thy children will disturb (them), so that they will not make the year three hundred and sixty-four days only, and for this reason they will go wrong as to the new moons 1 and seasons and sabbaths and festivals, and they will eat all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.
If you want to know about God, then go to the source Himself, not man.