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Lunar or Weekly Sabbath?

http://www.educatetruth.com/featured/the-origin-of-the-sabbath-and-weekly-cycle/·THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

When is the Sabbath? I know this is a debate currently raging in some circles. Is the Sabbath based on the moon or has it always been about the consistent seventh day of the week? Well, consider the fact that “Saturday” is…

Shabbat in Hebrew

Sávvato in Greek

yawm alssabt in Arabic

Shabat’ in Armenian

Subota in Belarusian

dissabte in Catalan

Sabado in Cebuano

Subota in Croatian

Sobota in Czech

Sabato in Esperanto

Sabado in Filipino

Sábado in Galician

Shabat’i in Georgian

Szombat in Hungarian

Sabtu in Indonesian

Sabato in Italian

Sabota in Macedonian

Asabotsy in Malagasy

Sabtu in Malay

IS-SIBT in Maltese

Sobota in Polish

Sábado in Portugese

Sâmbătă in Romanian

Subbota in Russian

Subota in Serbian

Sobota in Slovak

Sobota in Slovenian

Sábado in Spanish

şanʙe in Tajik

Subota in Ukrainian

Someone recently sent me this graphic, which goes along with what I’ve stated above:

There are plenty of other reasons to accept that the Sabbath is and always was on the day we now call Saturday, but I can’t help but think all these nations didn’t just coincidentally use a word for the seventh day that just so happens to sound like, and/or derive from Shabbat/Sabbaton/Sabbath. Seems to me, this may also answer the questions of the lunar Sabbath idea. Are all of these nations wrong? I don’t think so.

I know plenty of people will disagree with the above, but after studying the lunar Sabbath model, the history of multiple cultures just didn’t seem to support it. The Passion week seems to become either quite awkward or completely falls apart too, and in some cases (like when the conjunction lasts 2 days), you also end up with either 8 day work weeks and/or double (back-to-back) Sabbaths, which would mean you worked for 6 days, then rested for one, but the following week worked for 5 days and rested for two days – yet with the exception of moedim (appointed times) wherein you have a “high Sabbath” (a Sabbath rest apart from the standard weekly Sabbath), we have no such command to work less (or more) than 6 days.

Plus, the count of 7 days started at Creation with Day 1. Period. But if you go off of the moon, your count would have to start on Day 4. Moses repeatedly states that the Sabbath is in recognition of Creation and how YHWH rested on Day 7 not day 11 (7 days after the moon showed up).

Exodus 20:

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 31:15

Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

There are many verses in Scripture that testify to this. Seems pretty clear to me. Still, I’ve seen LOTS of mental gymnastics trying to get around this, but the simple fact of the matter is after the first month, for those who keep the Lunar Sabbath calendar, your 7 day cycle gets completely jacked up.

Again, the command FROM CREATION’S FIRST WEEK FORWARD was to work >> 6 << days and rest on the 7th. Following the cycles of the moon prohibits this on MANY occasions, with there sometimes being as many as >> 9 << days between moon cycle based Sabbath days. Sometimes 2 and sometimes 8. Pardon the pun, but it just doesn’t work.

To prove this for yourself, just do an Excel spreadsheet on it as I did above (click to enlarge). The * represents the New Moon crescent (with the first * representing the moon apparently being created on Day 4 with “the appearance of age” already established in its phase). The 15th being the full moon. The 30th-ish being the Conjunction. Sabbath days marked in bold red. With a 30 day moon cycle, it quickly goes out of sync with the Creation week. And even if you don’t subscribe to a full 30 day cycle as I have depicted above, you will still find the same problems when you plot out the Lunar Sabbath idea from the Creation week forward.

What I’ve heard people do to get around the 2, 3, 8 and 9 day work weeks you will inevitably run into is basically dismiss the extra days as if they don’t even exist – or making up some “celebration day” that “doesn’t count” and so forth. I’m sorry, but that’s just nonsense. From the Creation week forward, the command is to work SIX DAYS and rest on the seventh. You simply cannot follow this command with the Lunar Sabbath calendar and still claim to be intellectually honest with what’s happening there.

Whereas, this makes way more sense to me:

https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-can-we-be-sure-that-saturday-is-the-seventh-day

See also:

The Origin of the Sabbath and the 7-Day Week

And the argument concerning the NAME of the seventh day is a red herring. The Hebrews didn’t have names for the days; they were numbered. The names other nations gave the days, have changed over time and now we call the seventh day Saturday. But to suggest that we are honoring/worshiping Saturn is nonsense. If you go that route, then the lunar Sabbath folks are worshiping Luna (the Roman moon goddess). So that’s just a really stupid argument if you ask me.

Overall, I finally came to the conclusion that the lunar Sabbath idea just doesn’t work. So, needless to say, I’m more than convinced that the seventh day is and always was on the day we now call Saturday.

And sorry, but Constantine had no authority to change it to Sunday.


Also of extreme interest, please consider:


– Rob Skiba

12 Responses to “Lunar or Weekly Sabbath?”

  1. Mariam Hana says:

    Did they have Monday, Tuesday and so forth. If they did not have the calendar we do, they, why in bible it days. on the second this happen. I know what calendar they kept. what about you. what do think.

  2. Rebecca (justbecky) Collins says:

    beavers know when the Shabbat is….

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beavers+keep+the+sabbath

  3. Brett Canfield says:

    Holly molly beavers just debunked the lunar sabbath

    • RobSkiba2 says:

      LOL! Looks that way to me too. 🙂 I’ve also seen a study a while back on certain aspects of our own physical nature begins to slow down on Saturday and ramp back up on Sunday. I wish I could find it though. It was a long time ago.

  4. Janet says:

    I live in a small town only churches I know go on Sunday how ever I warship by myself on Saturday and go to church on Sunday

  5. Sharon Corley says:

    Thank you Rob for all you do for our Heavenly Father’s kingdom and your transparency along the way as you seek out His truth. Sorry you experience such animosity to say the least from other supposed Christians. It grieves my heart and I pray continually for you and your family that Abba protect your heart,mind and spirit from these barbs of the enemy and refresh you continually. Shalom

  6. Jeanene says:

    Birds too, warblers keeping sabbath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwayR5gkh7c

  7. Chris Wall says:

    Lunar sabbatarians have a very high pressure sales type approach. They are VERY zealous, and to make it worse, many of them are correct on most other major issues. So it makes this teaching hard to resist at first.

    Until you read Exodus 20 and realize it says “6 days you do all of your work, and the seventh you rest.”

    As soon as I saw there was occasionally 8 days on a sabbath cycle in that belief, I checked out and never looked back. This is definitely a doctrine of devils, as it makes you miss all the moedim, shabbath included.

  8. Martin L Bailey says:

    Ty Rob. I hv been blessed by a few of your teachings, ty for saying here am I. I am not educated, but that does not stop me from the battle for truth. so with that, I would ask aboutEze 46:1-3 ,__________- Eze 46:1  THUS says ADONAI YAHUAH; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Shabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 
    Eze 46:2  And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare את eth-his burnt offering and את eth-his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 
    Eze 46:3  Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before YAHUAH in the Sabbath and in the New Moons.[ so there are indeed 6 work days. agreed. Sabbath is not a work day agreed. now these gates are open only on Sabbats n new moons, correct? so is the new moon a work day? we know it is not sabbath? this indicates that it is not a work day ether? so how can we have a continual 7 day cycle with this verse? Again ty very much for your service. Shalom.

  9. Jeffery Makeeff says:

    Studythecalendar.com

    Basically, this is the Blood Ratified Covenant Calendar, after the order of our highest Priest, Melchizedek Yahusha Ha Mashiach, with a short explanation of the 6 components of ANY calendar – whether it be a civil calendar, or a festal calendar:

    Day-start: Every day begins with the first LIGHT in the “dawn” sky called twilight. While the sunrise may be very close behind, the day does NOT begin with sunrise, but with light. Everything on Day 1 of Creation began with LIGHT … and do remember there was no sunrise “or” sunset until the 4th day of creation.
    Day-length: Every day of creation (including the weekly Shabbat) has a full 24 hours including morning twilight, the Daylight Season; the evening twilight and then the Night Season – in this order. Every Sabbath, whether weekly or an annual Sabbath, has a full 24 hours for worship, praise, prayer, fellowship and feasting. For clarity, that means that the Shabbat begins at “dawn twilight” and ends at “dawn twilight” on what the Roman calendar calls Sunday. Yahuah’s calendar is not a Roman calendar that begins any day at midnight. It simply is Shabbat until the next dawn begins to illuminate the sky with light … then the day turns to the 1st cycle of the week. (Matt 28:1)
    Year-start: (The following is for the northern hemisphere explanation. The southern folk will make the necessary adjustments.) When the sun finishes its circuit in the heavens after a year of travel and changes the “winter season” to the “spring season” this “equinox” event is what determines the END of the old year, and the START of the new year, the next day. (Ps 19:1-6) In the Northern Hemisphere the day after the equinox is always listed as the first day of spring, and rightly so. This is the time of the “greening” (or Abib) when the land comes back to life. Exo 12:2 is very clear the start of the year, and the beginning of the first month were when the crops were “in abib” … and we know from the plagues the barley had just been destroyed while in the head. This is the spring time in the northern hemisphere. (Note: the year start is not determined by “looking at the sun” but by a combination of 4 components that are needed to produce an equinox, namely: The Mazzaroth (12 constellations); the Sun’s circuit ending at the same place each year in the Mazzaroth; LIGHT is needed to cast a shadow; the Earth is needed to receive the Light & Shadows.)
    Year-length: For the first 3300 years from creation, Yahuah’s year was composed of 360 days, and that was all. From the flood account in Gen 7 and 8 … 5 months were equal to 150 days. The flood was approximately 2000 BC. Following the footsteps of Moses from Egypt to Mt Sinai around 1500 BC, the calendar still had 30 day months from Passover in the 1st month, to the Quail/Manna in the 2nd month, to Pentecost (and giving of the Everlasting Book of the Covenant Laws) in the 3rd The earth’s year length did change with a huge shift at Hezekiah’s sundial miracle (Isaiah 38), which added 5+ days to the 360 days of the creation year. However, this does not change the length of Yahuah’s Festal Calendar … it is still 360 days, and that’s all. Inevitably, until He changes the earth’s year length back to 360 days, the extra waiting days from count 361-365/366 are exactly “that” … they are days that are “waited out” watching for the equinox “sign” or “shadow” on the ground to determine the day of the “turning of the year” has arrived, just as the great pyramids of Joseph in Egypt still determine today. (Also see Acts 7:22 – Moses knew when the year start was, and he knew the equinox calculation of those pyramids was also in alignment with Yahuah’s instructions for the year-start. It all started with Joseph being sent to Egypt – where a lot of calendar truths were preserved for His people over that prophetic timeframe of 400 years from Abraham to the departure from Egypt. Do this interesting math … 360 days/year x 400 years = 144,000 days from Abraham to Moses’ deliverance of Yah’s people from Egypt! Amazing!
    Month-start: Covenant Calendar does not use any of the moon’s cycles to determine the 1st day of any month. Gazing at the sun or the moon for the purpose of setting timeframes of any worship statutes is strictly forbidden by Moses in two very clear commands found in Deut 4:19 and Deut 17:2-7 – and for disobedience the penalty was death by stoning. The moon is not given for worship commands, but for ordinances to bless the earth and mankind with bountiful blessings of harvests (Deut 33:14). (Do note in Jer 31:35, the “light” of the sun rules the day; the “constant light” of the stars rule the night and the moon is given for ordinances. As an example of “one” of these ordinances, the tides of the sea is mentioned. The moon is never the “ruler” of the night, being found in the day sky more than half of every month.
    The moon is simply incapable of fulfilling Yahuah’s command to “divide the day from the night” (Gen1:14), as revealed by the prevalent lunar presence during the light of the Day Season upon which no such division occurs. Therefore, the moon has no divine authority to commence the festal months, or the weekly/annual Shabbats as was practiced by many pagans over 1000s of years.)

    Month-length: As already mentioned, Yahuah’s month consists of 30 days each (Gen 7-8 … 5 months had 150 days). There are 12 months in the year – we find provision by wise King Solomon for his court by designating certain officers to be in charge for one month of every year. He made provisions for only 12 months in a year, never was there provision for a 13th month (1 Chron 27:1-15). The number “12” can be found in 187 places in the Scriptures. Revelation alone has 22 occurrences of this number; one extremely important example being the tree of life (Rev 22:2) bearing twelve fruits, one every month. The meaning of “12” (which is considered a perfect number), symbolizes Yahuah’s power and authority, as well as serving as a perfect governmental foundation. The number “13” never has a place in naming anything in Yahuah’s Covenant Calendar.
    Summary: Yahuah’s Covenant Calendar is simply designed by “looking to the Light” and “learning to count.” It is a “Covenant Count.” All He asks is that we look to the “light” to begin the day; watch for the equinox shadow to know when to commence the year, and then learn to count: 1-30 for each month; 1-12 for 12 months of the year; or 1-360 counting each day in His calendar. Because He knows the “end from the beginning” (Isa 46:9-10) and promises that we too can know the “end from the beginning” He has shown by many timeline prophecies in Revelation that His calendar will be re-instated before the end of time. 1260 days (in Rev 11, 12 and 13) is equal to 42 months of 30 days each.

    There is no provision for any year in those 3½ years to have an additional 13th month. These timelines are specifically given for the Bride to know how to walk out her steps in the last days of an urgent message to the world to repent before it is too late.

    What an incredible “sign” from our Master of the Covenant Calendar to provide for His Bride and His people everywhere that when our current year goes back to the way it was in the beginning – back to only 360 days/year. This indeed is a huge sign to His people that indeed He is still in control.

    There is however one brilliant instance when the number 13 provides a very strong example for calendar considerations. It was upon the 13th march around the central center of moon worship – Jericho – that Yahuah felled the walls (foundation) of the city and its lunar based system of worship. The chosen people of Yahuah then walked into the city with the lunar foundation for worship under their feet as seen prophetically in Revelation 12:1 – Bethula, Yahuah’s chosen Bride, seen with the moon (lunar based worship) under her feet.

    The best part about this Covenant Calendar: Everything that has been lightly explained here about the six different components included in any/every calendar is this: All six of these components with accurate description and instructions for fulfillment are found within the pages between Gen 1:1 to Exo 24:11. Imagine that! The basic foundation of the whole Covenant Calendar is found in these few pages. But even more exciting is this. From Gen 1:1 to Exo 24:11 is exactly where Yahuah’s Blood-Ratified, Everlasting Book of the Covenant is found. The Words of this book are found in the four chapters of Exo 20-23 … in Exo 24:1-11 is where you’ll find these words are blood-ratified – not to be changed, added to, or subtracted from.
    This book was taken by Moses to the top of Mt Sinai – and Yahuah Himself engraved these Words onto the tables of stone, front and back (Exo 32:15). These are the Words that still stand today. They are the perfect instructions from our Highest Melchizedek Priest, re-established and ratified by His blood at Calvary.

    In closing, what does His blood have to do with Covenant Calendar? Well, first the Covenant Calendar is found between those precious pages of Gen 1:1 to Exo 24:11, where for 2500 years the patriarchs and prophets lived out these covenant instructions – of which Calendar was a huge part for the weekly and annual worship statutes. This Covenant Calendar is also blood ratified … but by the precious blood of our Saviour Yahusha on HIS Passover day, that would have been on His Covenant Calendar. You see, if Yahusha dies on any other calendar, He is automatically disqualified as the true Messiah.

    These are a few of the highlights of Covenant Calendar that make it divinely unique, special, simple and elegant – so simple that children can actually calculate this calendar when they know how to count. The “key” to the knowledge and understanding of Yahuah’s true calendar has again been found. With just one divine swipe the Covenant Calendar can detect any counterfeit calendar that lingers to have dominance!

    Of upmost importance, Covenant Calendar upholds, re-establishes, supports, fulfills and exonerates each statute written in the Scriptures without exception. This statement is proven time and time again with each examination of the many different facets of calendar examples from the Scriptures. This very fact is one that separates this blood ratified calendar from every other [counterfeit] calendar known to man.

    “Choose ye this day” which calendar will be in alignment with the Creator’s design from the first day of creation – and also lived out in His life through the four Gospels with the final determined and sure witness in His death, burial, resurrection and two ascensions. That, my friend, will be the true calendar – with blessings galore.

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