D16-12: Understanding The Difference Between ‘THE’ Sabbath And ‘A’ Sabbath In Scripture (Important!!!)

Yesterday, when I mentioned there were two different kinds of Sabbaths, I’m sure some of you were like “whaaaaaaat?!?!?!“

Yet, it’s true.

In Scripture, there are two different KINDS of Sabbaths…

…and if you’re going to be able to properly understand certain portions of Scripture, you’re going to have to learn to distinguish between the two of them.

So let’s tackle this issue right now, shall we?

The two different kinds of Sabbaths are as follows:

The Weekly 7th Day Sabbath (established at the creation)

…and…

…the Special Sabbath Days attached to the Feasts.

Let’s get into the differences between these two.

The weekly 7th Day Sabbath is an observance of which we should already be well familiar.

This was a day when a man was to stop the work he did daily to earn his livelihood for his family and…

…for the housewife, it meant she was to stop her regular household chores.

This also meant completely stopping one’s creative scheming on how to rake in more money in the future which I know is really darn difficult for some folks.

A point of clarification here though.

The word “Sabbath” didn’t really so much mean “to rest” as it meant “to cease”.

In other words, the idea was to cease from doing one’s REGULAR work or chores.

This didn’t mean you couldn’t go outside for a nice walk or spend time playing with your children or grandchildren.

It’s not like you were forced to lie in bed and chomp on Cheetoes all day (although that would have been perfectly fine).

Traditionally speaking, the Sabbath prohibited any activities connected to lighting a fire hearkening back to the time when God had a man executed for gathering sticks to start a fire.

The Rabbis have also interpreted this to mean no cooking and no driving because those actions involve the mechanism of sparking a flame.

Recall also that God fed Israel Manna for their sustenance and then on the 6th day of the week, the people were to gather double the amount and prepare it anyway they wanted beforehand so that they would have something to eat on the 7th Day Sabbath.

This reminds of when I vacationed to Israel a couple of summers ago.

I visited a Chassidic family on the 7th-day Sabbath for a meal and afterwards when it came time to exchange contact information, they told me because it was the Sabbath, they were forbidden from using a pen or pencil to write.

Well, I exercised my gentile prerogative at the time and wrote down both my and their contact information for them.

Onward.

The Special Sabbath Days attached to the Biblical Feasts were a different animal altogether from the fixed weekly 7th Day Sabbath that was established at the creation.

First of all, the requirements on these sabbath days varied depending on which feast it was attached to.

However, one huge difference between the special sabbath days attached to the feasts and the weekly 7th day Sabbath was that food preparation was permitted.

Gathering up animals and other preparations for the journey to the temple was also allowed.

In addition, not all of these festival Sabbaths began and ended at the usual start-and-stop times over a 24-hour period.

Some of these Sabbath days might begin the instant the day switched over to a Festival Sabbath day and possibly end by noon or even a little later depending on the circumstances.

In other cases, another festival Sabbath day might not even start until midday (around noon time).

So there was quite a bit of variation between the different festival Sabbath days.

What I’m getting from all of this is that these festival Sabbath days were more like preparation days so the people would have a nice block of time to get ready for the feasts.

Regardless, the most important point and key difference between these special Festival Sabbath days and the 7th Day Sabbath was that the 7th Day Sabbath was…

…FIXED AND FIRM.

It NEVER changed 

Whereas, the festival Sabbath days were subjected to an allowable degree of moderation depending upon the type of preparations needed for whatever Biblical feast it was attached to.

And yes, IT IS IMPORTANT that we recognize whether we are dealing with a special Feast Sabbath or the regular weekly 7th Day Sabbath when studying Scripture or else you’ll get super confused on the timing of certain events.

Finally, there is one more key logistical matter I need to point out before closing.

Recall the timing of the three springtime feasts are as follows:

AVIV 14th: Pesach (1-Day Event)
AVIV 15th: Matza (7-Day Event)
AVIV 16th: Bikkurim (1-Day Event)

Note that PESACH (Passover) is a one-day event followed by MATZA (Feast of Unleavened Bread) which is a 7-day event.

Therefore, when we combine all three of these events together we get a total of 8 days (remember Bikkurim overlaps with the second day of Matza).

This means that obviously during the 8-day festival period, at least one regular 7th day took place AND…

…depending on the year…

…TWO 7th Day Sabbath Days would occur!!!

That’s right!

This means that on certain years, there would be a total of three Sabbaths: Two 7th Day Sabbaths and one special Sabbath (those established to prepare for the feasts).

And yes, all of this is important to understand.

I’m done.