LUNAR SABBATH

By Pete Vacca

 There seems to be a growing interest in an old idea that has been told and retold in the Sacred Name movement for many years. It will surface ever so often and we are obliged to confront it because of the new brethren that have joined us since the last time it was discussed. The subject I am speaking about is “the Lunar Sabbath.”

Just what is the doctrine of the Lunar Sabbath? My understanding is that the new moon that begins a new month also begins a new seven-day cycle, which would change the Sabbath every new moon day. There are many things to take into consideration when we look at the Sabbath Day. The commandment does not end with “keep the Sabbath holy.” Let’s take a closer look at that Sabbath commandment.

 It begins in Exodus 20: 8, Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh thy Elohim; in it you shalt not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your manservant or maidservant nor your cattle or the stranger that is within your gates. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Notice the instructions in that commandment are to work for six days and get your work done and then rest on the seventh day. Let’s say that the new moon falls on the 4th day of the week, the day that we call Wednesday. That means we would only have four days to get our work done and then have another Sabbath. We would be breaking that commandment by only keeping part of it. Working for six days is just as important as keeping the Sabbath holy. If it weren’t, Yahweh would not have put it in there. Yahweh does not write words just to take up space. He writes the words for us to follow. By keeping a lunar Sabbath, we automatically break the Sabbath command.

What were the lights supposed to do that Yahweh created? Let’s go back to the Book of Genesis and see if we can determine their use. Genesis 1:14 says they were made for signs and seasons, days and years. Then Genesis 1:16 says the greater light would rule the day and the lesser light would rule the night, and He also made the stars. So it sounds like although the moon would tell us when the new month began, it had nothing to do with which day it was. Plus, Psalms 104:19 says that He appointed the moon for seasons.

 We can find no mention in Scripture where the moon has any authority in determining which day it is. I cannot find one Scripture that says the Sabbath is any other day than the seventh day. If we believe in a lunar Sabbath, then the Sabbath could fall on any day of the week. The seventh day would change every new moon. Maybe I should say the Sabbath would change every new moon.

Yahweh says that His laws are not a burden to us; that they are for our good. What good is that? Is it that every seven days we are worn out from work and need a day of rest? Scripture says that Yahweh rested after He finished His six days of work. And do you think it would be a burden to try and hold down a job and have to take a different day off for Sabbath every month? Do you think that would be fair to your employer? Would Yahweh expect your employer to have to be burdened in that manner? I think Yahweh tries to make our lives simple. We are the ones that complicate things.

We have already looked at Genesis 1 when the lights were created. Did the days of creation begin with the first day of the new moon? Certainly not! The moon was not visible on the first day of creation. But Yahweh counted seven consecutive days to get to the Sabbath. Yahweh created a seven-day weekly cycle in the very beginning, even though the moon was not visible until the fourth day. A second witness to the seven-day weekly cycle can be found in Exodus 16 when Yahweh provided manna for six days, but did not provide any on the seventh day. We must never forget the information provided for us in Isaiah 28:9, Whom shall He teach knowledge and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast.

Then in Isaiah 28:10, we are given the instructions to activate the information. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

That is how doctrine and Scriptures are understood. If those instructions are not followed, then what you end up with is doctrine made with Scriptures taken out of context. You must search diligently and find everything to do with the subject. Then you must make sure you do not change the context that is being carried out by those Scriptures. If you maintain that understanding, then the truth will shine through.

Let’s take the Feast of Weeks, for example. We believe the Scriptures teach us to count fifty days from the weekly Sabbath within the week of Unleavened Bread. This year, we would count from Sabbath, April 7^th, seven Sabbaths complete to Sabbath May 26^th, which would be not only 49 days, but it would be 7 Sabbaths complete, from Sabbath to Sabbath. Then Sunday (the first day of the week) May 27^th would be day number 50 and we would celebrate Pentecost.

Now let’s see what would happen if we were keeping a Lunar Sabbath. From April 7^th to May 12^th would be 5 Sabbaths complete. That is from Sabbath to Sabbath. But we would run into a problem during the 6^th week. Just 4 days into the week, Thursday, May 17^th, we would have a new moon and a Sabbath. How do we get the other 3 days to finish that last week? And where and when do we begin counting for the next week so we end up with 7 Sabbaths complete?

Some people say, “I get confused using a secular calendar. Our Sabbaths are determined by a civil calendar, and our Holy Days by a lunar calendar.” You think that is confusing? I think the above scenario of trying to figure out when to keep Feast of Weeks is what is really confusing. I have to keep the civil calendar because that’s the one that governs the whole world. And this world belongs to the secular, doesn’t it? I just keep track of the new moons and work Yahweh’s feast days in where ever they fit. Not a problem at all.

 “Well wasn’t the calendar changed at one time? How do we know the days are the same?” Yes, the calendar was changed. The Julian calendar originated in 46 B.C.E., named for Julius Caesar. By 1528, it was 10 full days off. The spring equinox was March 11^th instead of March 21^st. The reason was that they had miscalculated leap year. When Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian in October 1582, the order of days of the week were never interrupted. Thursday, October 4^th was followed by Friday, October 15^th. This put the calendar back in order. England changed in 1752. (These facts can be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 Edition, Vol. 3, Page 740.)

The days of the week have never been changed because their order would be very difficult to change. In the beginning, the days of the week were not named, they were numbered. It would be difficult to change the order of 1234567. If it, all of a sudden, were changed to 1647235, everyone would take notice. Even the secular world realizes that Sunday is the first day of the week.

Names for the days came from the Romans. The 1^st day; Sunday, came from (Dies-Solis) day of the sun, so-called because it was dedicated to the worship of the sun. The 2^nd day, Monday, came from (Monandaeg) which means the moon’s day. Monday was sacred to the goddess of the moon. The 3^rd day, Tuesday (Tiu), was named for Norse, god of war. The 4^th day, Wednesday, (wenzdih), is from Wodan or Odin, the chief god in Teutonic mythology. At first, the Christians called it Woden’s Day. Then they changed it to Wednesday. The 5^th day, Thursday, was named for the ancient Norseman, Thor. This day was sacred to the Teutonic god of thunder, the mighty Thor. The 6^th day, Friday, was for Frigedaeg. This was dedicated to the goddess of love, Frigg. The 7^th day, Saturday (Saeter-daeg), was named for the Roman god, Saturn.

So you see, even though the calendar had changes in it, even though the days were first numbered, then later named, the order was never changed. The world at large knows this. They call Sunday the first day of the week. They have unsuccessfully tried to change the calendar as of late and make Sunday the seventh day so that the weekend would be Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then they could return to work on the first day of the week, which would be Monday. Too many people complained about it, so they have abandoned the idea for the present. Europe said they would go ahead and do it anyway, but later changed their minds.

The 23rd chapter of Leviticus is dedicated to the feasts of Yahweh. Notice the very first one in verse 3, Six days shall you work, but the seventh is a Sabbath to Yahweh; no work shall be done on the Sabbath. Once again, we see that if we do not work for six days and rest the seventh, we are breaking the Sabbath commandment. 

It’s really quite simple if we do things the way Yahweh has prescribed them. Life can be rewarding and easy. When man tries to incorporate his ideas into the equation, things get very complicated. More times than not, things start to go wrong and disunity begins to be the dominating factor. When that happens, it’s like the domino effect. Everything will start to fall apart and even solid doctrine will go by the wayside. 

Remember when man does what he thinks is right, it leads to death. When man does what Yahweh has commanded him to do, he prospers and is like a tree planted by the waters. And everything he puts his hand to turns out good. Turn from the false doctrines of those who are trying to cause confusion in the assemblies. Keep strong and follow the Scripture to remain in the truth of Yahweh

If you have any questions concerning this doctrine or any other doctrine taught by this assembly, please feel free to contact us here.We will try to help you in any way that we can. We don’t claim to know all the answers, but we can look them up and study them with you. May Yahweh bless you and yours abundantly.

HalleluYAH!