Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained

This topic identifies the days/occasions which God commanded His people ancient Israel to observe.

In the Old Testament (OT), these occasions are divided into three categories…feasts, new moons, sábbaths.  Concerning Israel, the Lord declared in Ho.2:11 LXX, “I will turn away all her gladness, her feasts [Strongs g1859 hehortáy, Greek], her new moons [g3561 noumenía], her sabbaths [g4521 sábbaton], all her public assemblies”.  (God would send away Israel captive to Assyria in 721 BC.)

Those days/occasions are entered in the two Tables below.  On the left side of the Tables, the sabbaths, new moons, and feast days are listed in rows.  The four columns across the top of each Table show the various Aspects of the Days/Occasions, and their differing characteristics.  A bullet dot ● means an Aspect applies to a Day or Occasion.  Analysis and discussion of the data is below the Tables.

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 1

Aspects (across):	Sábbath	No Work	Holiday	No Work
	Cessation	At All	Semi-Rest	“Servile”
Strongs numbers:	sábbaton	érgon	anápausis	latréutos
Greek = g	g4521	g2041	g372	g2999.1
Hebrew = h	shabáwth	melakáh	shabathón	abodáh
	h7676	h4399	h7677	h5656
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sábbath	●	●	●
Day of Atonement	●	●	●
Land Sabbath – Year 7	●		●
New Moons
New Moon – Month 7			●	●
Passover Sacrifice
Unleavened Bread Day 1				●
Unleavened Days 2-6
Unleavened Day 7				●
Péntecost/Weeks				●
Feast of Booths Day 1			●	●
Booths Days 2-7
Last Great Day 8			●	●

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 2

Aspects (across):	Feast/	Do Only By	Assembly	Assembly
	Festival	God‘s Place	Summons	Feast Exit
Strongs numbers:	hehortáy	God‘s tópos	klaytós	éxodios
Greek = g	g1859	g5117	g2822	g1840.5
Hebrew = h	chag	mawkomé	miqrá	atzerét
	h2282	h4725	h4744	h6116
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sabbath			●
Day of Atonement			●
Land Sabbath – Year 7
New Moons	●		●
New Moon – Month 7	●		●
Passover Sacrifice	●	●
Unleavened Bread Day 1	●	●	●
Unleavened Days 2-6	●
Unleavened Day 7	●		●	●
Pentecost/Weeks	●	●	●
Feast of Booths Day 1	●	●	●
Booths Days 2-7	●	●
Last Great Day 8		●	●	●

The above two Tables/grids reflect the days and occasions which the Lord gave to ancient Israel.  There are three categories of occasions…sabbaths, new moons, feasts.

The three categories were evident in the prophecy of Ezk.45:17 JPS Tanakh. “It shall be the prince’s part… in the feasts [Strongs h2250 chag, Hebrew], the new moons [h2320 chódesh], the sabbaths [h7676 shabáwth], in all the appointed seasons [h4150 móed] of the house of Israel.”

The apostle Paul wrote in the Greek New Testament (NT) Col.2:16, “Don’t let anyone judge you…with respect to a feast [g1859 hehortay] day, a new moon [g3561 noumenia], or a sabbath [g4521 sabbaton] day”.  (False teachers and Pharisees were acting as judges of how to keep various occasions.)

All days in my two Tables were an appointed time/season, h4150 moed.  There are 220 occurrences of this Hebrew term in the OT.  Moed h4150 had various meanings: Occasions both God-ordained and man-ordained (Zec.8:19), a personal meeting time (David & Jonathán in 1Sm.20:35, Amasá in 2Sm.20:5), a set meeting place (140 occurrences, Ex.27:21 tent of meeting), a signal (Jg.20:38), the regularity of migratory birds (Je.8:7), a period of years (Da.12:7).  The Greek LXX translation in English is season, time, assembly, signal, etc.  Moed h4150 didn’t refer solely to religious days/times of God.

Following is detail about the three categories of days, and a comparison:

1. Sabbath Strongs h7676 shabawth noun occurs 100 times in the OT Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT).  In the OT Greek Septúagint/LXX the corresponding term is sabbaton g4521.  In the NT, sabbaton g4521 occurs 60 times.  I commonly refer to the Hebrew shabawth & Greek sabbaton as “sabbath” in English.

The root of the Hebrew shabawth h7676 is shabáth h7673 verb, meaning ‘to cease, rest’.  Ge.2:2 “On the 7^th day God ended His work which He had made, and He ceased [h7673, g2664 katapáuo] on the 7^th day.”

Sabbath h7676 was a near-full cessation.  The only occasions which are sabbaths: The weekly 7^th day sabbath, the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kíppur), and the land sabbath every 7 years (Le.25:1-7).  Although the land sabbath year of rest isn’t a ‘day’, I’ve included it among God’s other OT occasions.

Pertinent OT LXX and NT verses about the 7^th day sabbath g4521: Ex.16:23-29, 20:8-11; De.5:12-15; Ne.13:15-22; Is.56:1-6; Je.17:21-27; Mt.24:20; Mk.2:27-28, 6:2; Lk.4:16, 23:56; Ac.13:42, 16:13.

The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur was a double sabbath, according to the LXX (Le.16:31, 23:32).  It was the holiest day of the year.  Verses pertaining to the Day of Atonement: Le.16:1-34, 23:26-32, 25:9; Nu.29:7; Is.58:5, 13; Ezk.40:1-ff; He.9:6-7.

2. New Moons Strongs h2320 chodesh Hebrew noun, meaning moon or month.  As a new moon (the 1^st day or beginning or head of a month), it occurs 30 times in the Hebrew MT: Ex.40:2, 17; Le.23:24; Nu.1:1, 18, 10:10, 28:11, 29:1, 6; De.1:3; 1Sm.20:5, 18, 24; 2Ki.4:23; 1Ch.23:31; 2Ch.2:4, 8:13, 29:17, 31:3; Ezr.3:5-6; Ne.8:2, 10:33; Ps.81:3; Is.1:13-14; Ezk.45:17-18, 46:1-6; Ho.2:11; Am.8:5; Hag.1:1.  In the Greek LXX, the 1^st/beginning of the month is often rendered as “new moon”/noumenia g3561.  In the NT, “new moon” (noumenia g3561) occurs only in Col.2:16.

In the OT, there’s no direct command for the general populace of Israel to observe all new moons.  However, a combining of the above verses (in bold) regarding new moons indicates they were kept.  The new moon traditionally was sort of a mini-holiday for women in some respects.  The religious importance of new moons (Rosh Hashánah excepted) was less than that for sabbaths and pilgrim feasts.  Recognizing each passing new moon maintained awareness of God’s calendar for annual festivals.

Rosh Hashanah was New Year’s Day.  It traditionally commemorated the ‘birthday of the world’ of Genesis 1 at creation.  Le.23:24 Rosh Hashanah is the new moon (day 1) of Month 7 (as in the above Tables), according to Israel’s sacred year/calendar which begins near the spring equinox.  However, Rosh Hashanah is the new moon of Month 1, according to Israel’s civil year/calendar which begins near the autumnal equinox.  The Month 7 new moon references in Le.23:24; Nu.29:1; Ezr.3:6; Ne.8:2…are according to the sacred calendar occasion of Rosh Hashanah which is around Sep 22.  Barnes Notes Le.23:24 “The 1^st day’ of this month was the 1^st day of the Civil year…and was observed as the festival of the New year.”  JFB Commentary “That was the 1^st day of the ancient civil year.”

Rosh Hashanah means ‘head of the year’.  Rosh Hashanah precedes the Day of Atonement by 10 days and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering by 15 days; these were at the “end of the year” (Ex.23:16).  That is, when the old civil year ended and the new civil year began.  The onset of a Jubilee year was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Le.25:9-10).  cf. Ezk.40:1 (“beginning of the [civil] year”).

3. Feasts Strongs h2282 chag Hebrew noun, occurs 60 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term is hehortay g1859, which also occurs 27 times in the NT.

The three pilgrim feasts were Passover/Unleavened Bread, Péntecost/Weeks, Tabernacles/Sukkót.

Pilgrim feasts were based on the agricultural cycle in Israel.  The Lord commanded they be kept only at the one place where He dwelt, De.12:5, 16:16; 2Sm.6:2…never at two or more locations simultaneously.  Passover wasn’t allowed in their other various towns, De.16:5.  Those who didn’t come to Jerusalem for Booths/Tabernacles were to get no rain, Zec.14:16-19.  No location of man’s choosing was authorized.  (King Jeroboám’s attempted feast elsewhere failed, 1Ki.12:32–13:5.)  Pilgrim feasts, with their required offerings, were done only near/by God’s place (it was only in Israel).  see Table 2.

Israelite males were to attend three times each year.  ref Ex.34:22-24, De.16:16.  Benson Commentary Le.23:3 “Feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, where all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, in synagogues, and in their private houses.”

Unlike the feasts, the weekly 7^th day sabbath and the Day of Atonement were observed in all their dwellings/towns.  see Le.23:3, 31-32.

Passover h6453 pésach occurs nearly 50 times in the MT.  The corresponding LXX term is g3957 pásha, which also occurs nearly 30 times in the NT.  ref Ex.12:1-11, 43-48; Le.23:5; Nu.9:1-14; De.16:1-8; Mk.14:12; Lk.22:1, 7; Jn.11:55.  Passover and the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread began on Abíb 14-15.

Passover was done only at one location (at a time).  Lk.2:41-42 Jesus’ parents took Him to Jerusalem every year.  It would have been sin for them to try to ‘keep’ Passover in a Galilee town, De.16:5.  (A man unable to do Passover at God’s sole place was allowed to keep it there the next month, Nu.9:9-14.)

After the initial Passover meals (and the Wave Sheaf ceremony, Le.23:9-14), the remainder of the seven days of Unleavened Bread can be kept in their home dwellings.  ref Lk.24:13-ff where two people were leaving Jerusalem on Sunday a few days after Passover, but still during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

During Israel’s history, the Passover became somewhat synonymous with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Ezk.45:21 “Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.”  Lk.22:1 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover….”  Interchangeable terms.

Unleavened bread h4682 matzáh occurs 50 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term, ázumos g106, also occurs 9 times in the NT.  ref Ge.19:3; Ex.12:15-20; Jdg.6:19-21; Ac.12:3, 20:6; 1Co.5:7-8.

The feast of Pentecost or Weeks (Ex.34:22-23) or Shavúot was 50 days later, Le.23:15-21.  Some may interpret v.21 as Pentecost can be kept “wherever you live” (CSB) in some circumstances?  Barnes Notes Le.23:21 “The Feast of Weeks was distinguished from the two other great annual [pilgrim] feasts by its consisting, according to the Law, of only a single day.”  In the OT, there’s no clear example of anyone traveling to the temple to observe Pentecost (there is in the NT, Ac.2:1-14, 20:16).  The apocryphal book of Tobit 2:1 shows him eating a meal in the land of Assyria at the time of Pentecost.  As Israelites migrated from captivity, many couldn’t afford the trip back to Jerusalem for this one-day observance.

The annual seven-day Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering/Sukkot h5521 was very early in each new civil year (5 days after Atonement).  At the culmination of this feast was the 8^th Last Great Day called Shémini Atzerét.  ref Le.23:33-43; De.16:13-16; Ne.8:14-18; Zec.14:16-19; Jn.7:2, 37-39.  The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles too was kept only at the sole place in Israel where God’s Name dwelt.

Feasts and new moons weren’t complete rests…they weren’t shabawth h7676 or sabbaton g4521.  (see Table 1.)  Rather, extensive work could be done preparing the food they’d feast on.  No “servile” work was done.  They were holidays or semi-rests/near-rests, in that sense.  Assemblies/convocations were held at the tabernacle or temple during feast days.  (Assembly days for Occasions are noted with a ● in Table 2.)  Some days were shabathón h7677 or anápausis g372 rest (noun)…not a near-full cessation.

The Hebrew term shabathon h7677 noun occurs 10 times in the OT (all in Exodus and Leviticus): Ex.16:23, 31:15, 35:2; Le.16:31, 23:3, 24, 32, 39 (2), 25:5.  The LXX term is anapausis g372, which also occurs 5 times in the NT as “rest” KJV (not as “sabbath”/sabbaton g4521!).

Harvard grad William Converse Wood Sabbath Essays, p.130-131 “Sabbath days’ does not refer to Jewish festivals….feasts are often spoken of in the NT, but not one of them anywhere is called a sabbath, or credited with the nature of the sabbath….The feasts of trumpets [Rosh Hashanah] and tabernacles are termed merely shabathon….The Septuagint notes this distinction, not translating these feasts by the Greek sabbaton [sabbath], but by anapausis, rest.”  Shabathons were like sabbatóids.

Bible translations don’t always reflect the distinction between (Hebrew) shabawth h7676 and shabathon h7677.  They wrongly translate shabathon as “sabbath”.  e.g. Le.23:24, 39 KJV incorrectly rendered shabathon as “sabbath” for Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Booths Day 1, and Last Great Day 8.

Sabbaths did encompass the concept of semi-rest or near-rest, so they too were h7677/g372.  Yet more than that…sabbaths were near-total cessations.  Le.23:3 “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein.”  The “sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities, most (tiring) activities.  see Table 1.

Pulpit Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath and the Day of Atonement were the only days in which no work might be done, whereas on the other festivals it was only no servile work that might be done.”  No work at all was done on the 7^th day sabbath h7676/g4521 (De.5:14).

Again, sabbaths weren’t feasts and feasts weren’t sabbaths.  The Lord prohibited extensive food preparation on the sabbaths (unlike the feasts).  The Day of Atonement sabbath was even a fast day!  Israel was taught the lesson in Ex.16 by gathering manna six days each week…for 40 years!  But they didn’t gather on the 7^th day.  No work of any kind was permitted on sabbath (other than priests may do God’s work, Mt.12:5).

Bible translations in English differ.  But God’s various occasions (with their Aspects) can be accurately identified by the Strongs numbers which are associated with the old Hebrew & Greek source terms.

The Hebrew OT Ex.20:8, “Remember the shabawth [h7676] day, to keep it holy”.  It doesn’t say, ‘Remember the shabathon [h7677] (semi-rest) day, to keep it holy’.  The Hebrew/Greek terms shabawth h7676/sabbaton g4521…aren’t shabathon h7677/anapausis g372.

In Mt.11:28-30, Jesus exhorts believers to come be yoked to Him and find “rest”.  v.29 the Greek term here is anapausis g372…not sabbaton g4521 sabbath.  Jesus didn’t say He is the sabbath/shabawth!  To see Jesus as the sabbath is wrongly adding to His words.  Jesus isn’t our sabbath.  God/Jesus is greater than the sabbath and all else He created or ordained!  Thus Jesus is Lord of the sabbath (Mk.2:27-28), and of all creation.  Since Christ ceased from creating on the 7^th day, the weekly sabbath identifies God as Creator.  Vincent’s Word Studies Mt.11:29 “By coming to the Savior, they would first take on them the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and then that of the commandments, finding this yoke easy and the burden light.”  A rest from the Pharisees’ oral law yoke of bondage; cf. Ac.15:10, Ga.5:1.

Of all the days in the Tables, the 7^th day sabbath is the only occasion made holy (Gen.2:1-3) prior to Moses, the Old Covenant, and the Levitical order.  JFB Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath has the precedence given to it.”  Presbyterian scholar Ligon Duncan acknowledges in The First Things – The Creation Ordinances “In Genesis 1 and 2…there are four great creation mandates given….our four Creation ordinances are procreation [Ge.1:28], labor [Ge.1:28, 2:15], Sabbath [Ge.2:1-3] and marriage [Ge.2:21-25].”  Not Old Covenant Levitical feasts or new moon celebrations.  God’s four Creation ordinances supersede both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and all priestly orders!  Therefore, the 7^th day sabbath is the only day in the Tables which may be applied to the present Christian order of Melchisedek.  Let’s not forget…the 7^th day has been holy time since Creation!

{Sidelight: My own personal practice for decades is to observe the 7^th day sabbath as a day of rest.  (I’m not Seventh Day Adventist.)  I may also worship the Lord and traditionally go to church on Sunday or any day.  I’ve found that putting out leavened bread for seven days each spring helps renew my resolve to put/keep sin out of my life.  (cf. Ac.20:6.  Paul figuratively related leaven to sin, 1Co.5:6-8.)  Also I fast on the Day of Atonement (cf. Ac.27:9) and may attend a church meeting on that day or on Rosh Hashanah.  Doing these things can help a Christian stay focused on God.  This isn’t to say that honoring the annual Days of Unleavened Bread, Yom Kippur, or Rosh Hashanah is a substitute for Jesus’ sacrifice.  “Repent and be baptized” (Ac.2:38), and belief in His blood…is vital.}

Much more can be said about God’s occasions (and other observances) and their timing on the calendar.  For more detail, see the topics: “Sabbath 7^th Day” (series), “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, “Day of Atonement”, “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”, “Passover and Peace Offerings”, “Passover and the Exodus Timing”, “Feast of Booths”, “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”, “Christmas and Jesus’ Birth Month”, “Halloween All Souls Day”, “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.

Sabbath 7th Day (2)

In “Sabbath 7^th Day (1)”, we examined the 7^th day sábbath, beginning at Creation.  This Part 2 is a continuation and supplement to Part 1.  Part 1 contains the primary verses; so it should be read first.  Also, steps in the change from Saturday to Sunday observance are outlined in “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.  That topic includes early church background and meeting custom.  Regarding the change to Sunday, here’s a few statements by theologians from the Roman Catholic Church (RCC):

Irish RCC Father Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1851, p.174 “She [RCC] substituted the observance of Sunday the 1^st day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the 7^th day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”

Father Peter R. Kramer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975), Chicago “Regarding the change…to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts: That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws; for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood…and a thousand other laws. It is always somewhat laughable to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible.”  The RCC admits the RCC instituted the change.

Jesuit Father Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p.136 “Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday. The Church…instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship.”

Notwithstanding the RCC change of the 7^th day to the 1^st day for worship, God made holy at Creation the 7^th day…before there was any Israel/Jews or RCC.  Ge.2:3 Septúagint/LXX “God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified [hagiázo Strongs g37, Greek verb] it.”  God sanctified/made holy the 7^th day.  cf. Mt.6:9 where Jesus prayed, “Our Father who is in heaven, holy [g37 hagiazo] be Your Name”.  God made the 7^th day holy, even as the Father’s great Name is holy!

In scripture, the 7^th day is the first thing God made holy!  The 7^th day (not the 1^st day) is holy time which God Himself ordained.  If there was no sabbath, there would exist no holiness of time in the world.

“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  Greek Bible scholar Spiros Zódiates, “Hagiazo means to separate or withdraw from fellowship with the world”.  As holy time, the sabbath isn’t just time spent in leisure pursuits or entertainment away from work.  The Lord said in Is.58:13, “Turn your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day. Call the sabbath a delight.”  The sabbath is God’s time.  Our life consists of only so much time, and resting on the 7^th day reflects our commitment & obedience to God, and where our heart is.  It’s a time for praise, prayer, Bible reading/study, meditation, church preaching/teaching, doing good and mercy to others.

The Lord said in Ex.20:8, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”.  Le.23:3 “On the 7^th day is a sabbath, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”  The sabbath is a holy assembly, it takes place during holy time.  JFB Commentary Le.23:3 “It was to be ‘a holy convocation’, observed by families ‘in their dwellings’; where practicable, by the people repairing to the door of the tabernacle; at later periods, by meeting in the schools of the prophets, and in synagogues.”  Pulpit Commentary Le.23:3 “Elsewhere it was observed only by the holy convocation and rest from all labor. It commenced at sunset on Friday evening, and continued till sunset on Saturday evening.”  Poole Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath was to be kept in all places, where they were, both in synagogues, which were erected for that end, and in their private houses.”

{Sidelight: The 7^th day sabbath (shabáwth h7676, Hebrew) differs from the pilgrim feasts of ancient Israel, which were to be kept solely near the tabernacle/temple.  The sabbath day is an appointed time (móed h4150).  But the sabbath isn’t a feast (chag h2282) in scripture.  God’s pilgrim feasts were shabathón (h7677), or sabbatoids, but weren’t sabbaths (h7676).  There’s a difference.  Benson Commentary Le.23:3 “In all your dwellings’. Other feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, where all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, in synagogues, and in their private houses.”  Ellicott Commentary Le.23:4 “The feasts of the Lord’. Because the following are the festivals proper as distinguished from the Sabbath.”  Pilgrim feasts weren’t made holy time at Creation; they’re appointed later for the Holy Land.  see “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”.}

The 7^th day sabbath, and the Decalogue/Ten Commandments for that matter, isn’t about ‘works’.  It takes no ‘work’ to refrain from murder, theft, adultery, making images of pagan gods!  No work is required to rest on the sabbath!  Attempting to blend the concepts of work and rest here is nonsense.

Evangelist Dwight L. Moody Weighed and Wanting, p.47 “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember’, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away when they will admit the other nine are still binding?”  Re.11:19 the ark containing the Decalogue (Ex.25:21) is in heaven…the 7^th day sabbath is part of the Decalogue!  However, Jewish rabbinism added many burdensome rules to God’s sabbath guidelines.

Keep the sabbath rightly and a man will “take delight in the Lord” (Is.58:13-14).  Barnes Notes Is.58:14 “There is no intimation that the Sabbath was to be abolished. We are to refrain from ordinary traveling and employments; we are not to engage in doing our own pleasure; we are to regard it with delight, and to esteem it a day worthy to be honored; and we are to show respect to it by not performing our own ordinary works, or pursuing pleasures, or engaging in the common topics of conversation. Under the gospel, assuredly, it is as proper to celebrate the Sabbath in this way, as it was in the times of Isaiah, and God doubtless intended it should be perpetually observed in this manner.”  JFB Commentary Is.58:14 “As we ‘delight’ in keeping God’s Sabbath, so God will give us ‘delight’ in Himself.”  Pulpit Commentary Is.58:14 “A right use of the sabbath will help to form in men habits of devotion, which will make religion a joy.”

In the LXX & New Testament (NT) Greek, the word for sabbath is sábbaton g4521.  It occurs 60 times in the NT.  There’s no NT example of any Christian working on the sabbath.  Although Israel & the Jews were to keep the sabbath, in scripture it’s never called the ‘Jewish sabbath’, the ‘sabbath of the Jews’, or the ‘sabbath of Israel’.  Rather, God says it’s His sabbath, e.g. Ex.31:13 & Ne.9:14.  It’s the “sabbath of the Lord” (Ex.20:10).  Mk.2:27-28 Christ the Lord said the sabbath was made for humanity (not just for the Jew or Israel).  God made His sabbath for man at Creation…the Jews didn’t, not the RCC, nor any man.  Physical circumcision was required for men to fully be of ancient Israel.  But it wasn’t required for the sabbath day!  This is unlike a pilgrim “feast of the Jews” (Jn.7:2); the feasts weren’t authorized for physically uncircumcised men (Ex.12:48).  The 7^th day sabbath is for everyone.

Ac.17:1-2 & 18:4, Paul went to synagogue on the sabbath.  Ac.16:12-15 in Phílippi, there were few Jews and no synagogue; yet Paul and Luke still worshiped by the riverside with a few people on the sabbath!  Lk.4:16 Jesus attended synagogue on the sabbath.  Christ as the primordial Word of God (Jn.1:1-3, 14) had also ceased (shabáth h7673 verb) on the 7^th day of Creation (Ge.2:1-3).

The 7^th day sabbath is time dedicated to God, a temporary rest (anápausis g372, e.g. LXX Ex.31:15) from our work.  It’s from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday generally.  Days were reckoned beginning at sunset, when the fowls come home to roost, the first stars appear.  Le.23:32 “From evening until evening.”  Evening began the new date.  In the NT, Luke uses similar reckoning of the night preceding the day in Ac.27:27, 33, 39…where the 14^th night preceded the 14^th day.

Prior to when Christ gave Israel the Decalogue (Ex.20:1-17), He miraculously confirmed which day is the sabbath in Ex.16:4-5, 15-31.  Only on the 7^th day did He not provide them manna food to gather.  And only on the 6^th day did He provide them a double portion.  It wasn’t just any one day in seven!  And Ne.13:15-19 reaffirms that buying & selling food/merchandise, business, isn’t to be done on the sabbath rest.  Nehemiah ordered the city gates be shut as it grew dark to begin the sabbath.  Faith is needed to believe our needs will be provided as we cease from work on the 7^th day.  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist.)

Jesus, Paul, and others in the NT kept the sabbath (e.g. Lk.23:54-56).  Since Creation, there’s no verse indicating Christ changed the 7^th day holy time.  Christ the Lord viewed willful sabbath-breaking as a very serious sin (Nu.15:29-36)!  Judaism devised many man-made directives for the sabbath day.  In the NT, neither Jesus nor Paul prescribed do’s and don’ts for the sabbath.  That’s caused some to not view the sabbath as holy time which comes & goes every week since Creation.  But the NT also didn’t address acts like beastiality, cannibalism, fathers marrying their own daughters.  Just because the NT is silent on those wrongs doesn’t mean they’re okay for Christians after the cross!  Christ forbad them in the Old Testament (OT).  It is written!  He.13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Yet there are a few NT passages referring to the first day of the “week” (mía ton sábbaton g4521) that some use in claiming the 7^th day sabbath is abolished.  (Although no man, not Paul or anyone, has the authority to change God’s holy time.  We’re mere mortals, unable to alter night and day.)

The Greek LXX term for “week” is hebdomás (g1439.1 Vanderpool).  ref LXX: Ex.34:22, Le.23:15-16, Nu.28:26, De.16:9, 10, 16, 2Ch.8:13, Da.9:24-27, 10:2-3.  The Greek hebdomas/week corresponds to the Hebrew shabuwá/week (h7620, occurring 20 times in the OT).  Yet no NT writer used the term hebdomas to indicate “week”!  In the 1^st century Roman Empire, the 8-day market week (among nones, ides, kálends) was still being used.  Concurrently, use of the heathen 7-day planetary week was starting to spread.  At the time, most converts were Jewish Christians and gentile Godfearers who’d learned about the true God in synagogues.  There they’d gained knowledge of the Decalogue and 7^th day sabbath (ref Ac.15:21).  Sabbath observance was known in all nations, as per Philo and Josephus (see Part 1).

So the NT writers identified a day of the week by its proximity to the 7^th day sabbath…ton sabbaton.  Even though “sabbath” doesn’t specifically mean “week” in either the Greek LXX or OT Hebrew!  Thus the NT writers avoided parlance of the 8-day market week and the 7-day planetary god week.  The 7^th day sabbath provided a holy day NT reference point amid the coexistent 7-day and 8-day weeks.  (Use of the 8-day market/núndinal week gradually faded.  The 7-day week was made official in 321 AD.)

It is meaningful, the NT writers used the term sabbath (sabbaton g4521) to denote “week”.  A Pharisee declared in Lk.18:12, “I fast twice in the week [sabbaton]”.  To mean, I fast twice on the sabbath, wouldn’t make sense.  The 1^st day of the week (Sunday) was called the 1^st (day) of/to the sabbath.  The practice of observing the 7^th day sabbath is apparent…and there’s no reference to heathen planetary gods!

We see a glimpse of this mode of expression using sabbaton g4521 in the LXX: Ps.23:1 “A psalm of David on the 1^st of/to the sabbath [sabbaton].”  Ps.47:1 “A psalm of praise for the sons of Core on the 2^nd of/to the sabbath.”  Ps.93:1 “A psalm of David to/of the 4^th of the sabbath.  Ps.92:1 “For the day before the sabbath.” (prosábbaton g4315, cf. Mk.15:42)  Israelites, unlike Rome, had known the 7-day week from much older times (so had Babylonians).  Their days of the week were called: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th or preparation, 7^th or sabbath.  Each week, Israelites looked forward to the 7^th day sabbath.  Following are sources which attest to this Jewish & NT writers’ manner of denoting days in a week.

Johann Jahn Biblical Antiquities, p.51 “The Jews, in designating the successive days of the week, were accustomed to say, The first day of the Sabbath (that is, of the week), the second day of the Sabbath; that is, Sunday, Monday, etc.”  From soc.culture.jewish FAQ Observance “Judaism doesn’t make much distinction between the days of the week, except for Shabbát. In fact, the days of the week are called Yom Ríshon, Yom Shéni…(i.e., 1^st day, 2^nd day,….), and then Shabbat. The philosophical oddity is that not only is day 7 called ‘Shabbat’, but each day is ‘of the Shabbat’. In other words, ‘the first day’ (Sunday) is liturgically called ‘yom ríshon beshabbát’ when introducing the day’s psalm.”

R.C.H. Lenski The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel, p.1148 “The Jews had no names for the weekdays. They ‘designated them with reference to their Sabbath’. Thus, mia ton sabbaton means ‘the first (day) with reference to the Sabbath’, or ‘the first day of the week.”  John Lightfoot A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica “The Jews reckon the days of the week thus; One day (or the first day) of the sabbath: two (or the second day) of the sabbath.”

The Didaché (‘Teaching’) dates ca 100 AD.  Didache 8:1 “Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the 2^nd and 5^th day of the week.”  The Greek Didache says disbelieving Jews fasted on the deuterá (2^nd) and the pémpte (5^th) day of the sabbaton (week).  The 7^th day sabbath was still evident!

The KJV expression “first (day) of the week” occurs 8 times: Mt.28:1, Mk.16:2, 9, Lk.24:1, Jn.20:1, 19, Ac.20:7, 1Co.16:2.  The term used there by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul…is sabbaton/sabbath.  It is significant they used sabbaton (and not hebdomas) for “week”!  God-fearing gentiles knew the sabbath.  Ac.13:42-44 the whole city of Pisídian Antioch in Galatia (!) came to hear Paul on the sabbath.

Ac.20:6-11 Christians at Troás met to break bread with Paul on the night of the 1^st (day) of the week (mia ton sabbaton g4521) until daybreak, before Paul left town.  Many think it was a Saturday night meeting to begin the 1^st day; that Luke reckoned time starting with evening, as he did in Ac.27:27, 33 and Lk.23:54-56.  Ellicott Commentary Ac.20:7 “The Jewish mode of reckoning would still be kept…Saturday evening.”  It is said the early Christians’ meetings were Saturday night following the Jews’ synagogue service, at the end of the sabbath.  Thus Jewish Christians became distinct from disbelieving Jews.

1Co.16:1-3 circa 55 AD Paul told the Corinthians to lay up funds which he would collect for the needy saints on the 1^st (day) of the week/sabbaton.  Jewish Christians wouldn’t have done financial exchanges on the sabbath day.  Pulpit Commentary 1Co.16:2 “This verse can hardly be said to imply any religious observance of the Sunday.”  Meyer’s NT Commentary “It does not follow from this passage in itself that the Sunday was already observed at that time by assemblies for the worship of God.”  Not yet.

Methodist theologian Harris F. Rall Christian Advocate, 1942, p.26 “Take the matter of Sunday. There are indications in the NT how the church came to keep the first day of the week as its day of worship, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day, or transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day.”

However, in the decades to follow, Sunday would become the church‘s common meeting day.  (see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome” for the transition from the 7^th day to the 1^st day.)  But meeting days don’t alter God’s holy sabbath time!

This series is continued and concluded in “Sabbath 7^th Day (3)”.