Under re-construction

There are many opinions about when to observe the Shabbat (also called the Sabbath), which is the set-apart day to worship Yahuah, and thus rest from our own work. All agree that it is not sunday; and agree it was changed to sunday. Most don't even devote the entire sunday as a day of rest and worship. On my site I intentially use lower case letters for months and days of the week.

Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart.

Six days you labour, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbatha of

your Elohim.

You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

For in six days

made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.

Shemouth 20:8-11 (Exodus 20:8-11), The Scriptures (1998)

Many observe a "saturday" Sabbath on the 7th day of every Gregorian week, called saturday, which is based only on the solar calendar (january arbitrarily set as the beginning of the year). This 6 day plus 1 day cycle runs in a continual weekly pattern, year after year; the moon is not a factor in this solar calendar (thus no new moon). In a Gregorian calendar, the months arbitrarily range from 28 days (29 in a leap year) to 31 days; the year is 365 (366) days long. These Gregorian saturday Sabbaths "float" within the Scriptural calendar and occur within a few days before and after the Scriptural appointed times. These observers claim the saturday Sabbaths today would be the same as the "saturday" Sabbaths since the time of Moses. The secular calendar has changed at least 4 times - Greek lunar, Roman (about 753 BCE), Julian (45 BCE), then Gregorian (1582 CE). If one was lost outside, there would be no "sign" for the "saturday" Sabbath, nor the beginning of the month.

A growing number observe the "Lunar" Shabbat on every 7th day of the Scriptural calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar (the months are based on the moon's cycle and the new year starts after the vernal equinox). The Shabbat is the 7th day after the new moon (Hodesh in Hebrew) - on the 8th, 15th, 22th, and 29th day of the Scriptural month. In a Scriptural calendar, the months have 29 or 30 days (due to the 29.5 day lunar cycle); the year is 354 days long (an intercalary month is added every 3 or 4 years). These Hodesh based Shabbats "float" within the Gregorian calendar to be a certain day of the week in 4 week cycles. The Hodesh based Shabbat today would be the same as the Shabbat since the time of Moses (as there are no instructions for a dual calendar system). The Scriptural calendar has not changed, but there are different methods to account for the intercalary month (a pattern within a 19 year Metonic cycle). If one was lost outside, the phase of the moon is the "sign" for the "Lunar" Shabbat, and the new moon starts the month (also, could be reasonably sure which month).

At some point we will stand before Yahusha and He will ask us about the Shabbat. Should we honor His Father's creation as we talk of the moon's phases marking the Shabbat. Or should we honor man's calendar as we talk of an arbitrary calendar with a cycle of seven days marking the Sabbath.

The Waldensians (10th century to late 1500s) and also the Transylvanian Sabbatarians likely kept a Hodesh based Sabbath. It was rediscovered in the 1930s by the Seventh Day Adventists when they confirmed how the 1844 date was calculated (the Millerites). It was suppressed from the Seventh day Adventist membership then (who regularly kept a Saturday Sabbath).

Jonathan David Brown, an American record producer, published the book Keeping Yahweh's Appointment in 1998 about counting the Shabbat from the New Moon day. At about the same time, Moshe Eliyahu (Warren G.) of YHRIM has been observing the Hodesh based Shabbat since 1997. Then about 2002 others were re-awakened to it again, such at Troy Miller of Follow That Cloud Ministry, which also has articles that defend the Lunar Sabbath. The team at World's Last Chance encouraged its members to observe the Hodesh based Shabbat in 2010.

Troy Miller has a 3 part video for proving the Hodesh based Shabbat - Proof 1, Proof 2, Proof 3. He calls it the Lunar Sabbath and the YouTube videos total 1.5 hours.

And you, speak to the children of Y'shra’al, saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, , am setting you apart.

And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall certainly be put to death, for anyone who does work on it, that being shall be cut off from among his people.

Six days work is done, and on the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, set-apart to

. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death.

And the children of Yisra’el shall guard the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.

Between Me and the children of Yisra’el it is a sign forever. For in six days

made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

Shemouth 30:13=17 (Exodus 30:13-17), The Scriptures (1998)

During a normal week, there are six days for work (for ourselves). The sixth day is the preparation day for cooking, cleaning, and other activities to ensure the Shabbat is a full day rest and can be devoted to Yahuah. A normal day is from sunrise to the following sunrise. I believe the Shabbat day also starts at sunrise, as the Scriptures define an evening to evening Shabbat for three of His appointed times (Payskh, Feast of Metsoot, and Yom Kippur (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Atonement).

Many observe the start of the Shabbat day the prior evening; thus the Shabbat is from the prior evening to the day's evening. This still preserves the daylight hours (approximately 12) for the Shabbat. There is a precedence for this, as the Scriptural year begins in the Spring, which is set-apart from the civil year that begins 6 months later in the fall.

The Shabbat is a day of rest (from ourselves), with a meaning of cessation in the Hebrew language. Yahusha taught it was a day made for man for our own spiritual, physical, and mental benefit (Mark 2:27). We devote that day to Yahuah (with thanksgiving). See Isaiah 56:1-6, 58:13-14.

If you do turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My set-apart day,

and shall call the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the set-apart day of

‘esteemed,’ and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

then you shall delight yourself in YHUY

And I shall cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Ya'aqob your father. For the mouth of

has spoken!”

Yeshayah 58:13-14 (Isaiah 58:13-14), The Scriptures (1998)

World's Last Chance has a nice summary of Isaiah 58:13-14 on How Do I Keep the Sabbath?. They also have a more indepth Sabbath in the Bible article.

In a prophetic sense, there will be a Shabbat rest for people, Revelation 20:4.

Shabbat shalum

May your day of ceasing make you whole and complete

(Jeff Benner, Ancient Hebrew Research Center)