The Lunar Sabbath goes so far against the grain of majority opinion that many popular ministries have had to specifically present a case against it. Parable of The Vineyard and 119 Ministries have each taken a stab at debunking the Lunar Sabbath. I mention these ministries because I have respect for the people involved even if I believe they are mistaken. The purpose of this post is to go through all of the claims against the Lunar Sabbath and see how they stand up.
The case against the Lunar Sabbath is really the flip side of making a case for a continuous uninterrupted weekly cycle that goes all the way back to Adam. Strong evidence is needed to demonstrate continuous cycle theory of the Sabbath just like the strong evidence presented to support Lunar Sabbath.
The 4th Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. -- Exodus 20:8
This verse establishes that the Sabbath follows 6 days of work and that the first Sabbath followed the 6 days of creation. There are no references to any other unit of time in this verse. One way this can be interpreted is to imply a continuous cycle. The Lunar Sabbath followers will reset the count every month after New Moon day. While this verse doesn’t provide this instruction, it is also not wholly incompatible with it either. The question is whether weeks are a subdivision of months like months are a subdivision of years.
The implication of this verse is that creation occurred between the first New Moon day and the first Sabbath, but we have no way to know that with certainty that creation wasn’t between any other pair of Sabbaths.
8 or 9 Days without Sabbath
Months are not evenly divisible into weeks because neither 29 nor 30 are divisible by 7. The New Moon occurs the first day of the next month which means there are either 8 or 9 days between the weekly Sabbath on the 29th and the Sabbath on the 8th day of the next month.
Many Lunar Sabbath holders view New Moon day as a "High Sabbath" similar to the Sabbaths on either side of Unleavened Bread or Tabernacles. From this perspective, Lunar Sabbath holders never go more than 6 days without a day of assembly, worship, rest, and refraining from commerce.
If the New Moon days are treated like High Sabbaths, then the argument becomes that Lunar-tics (those who follow Lunar Sabbath) work less than 6 days between Sabbaths. However, by this same standard, a Wednesday passover, followed by Thursday High Sabbath, followed by Friday workday, followed by Saturday Sabbath has the same pattern of work / sabbath days as the 29th Sabbath followed by the 30th day, followed by New Moon “High Sabbath”.
If the command is to work 6 days in a row, then the feast days will always break that command. If the rule is that the feast days overrule the work days, then it is equally acceptable to say that New Moon days overrule the work days. This leaves the Saturday Soldiers to put up a straw man of attacking only those Lunar-tics who don't treat New Moons like High Sabbaths.
Working On New Moon Day or Sabbath
One of the ways traditionalists attempt to disprove the Lunar Sabbath is to find examples where people appear to work on the New Moon day or on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, or 29th of a month. If this could be irrefutably proven then they may have a case, but the arguments I have seen so far are lacking.
The 1st evidence presented by 119 Ministries that work was done on New Moon day comes from Ezra.
He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. Ezra 7:9
To understand whether this is a violation one must first reach consensus on whether the day begins at sunset or sunrise. I have previously presented a strong case for sunrise start of day which must be addressed by anyone claiming Ezra violated a “High Sabbath” of the New Moon. There is no point in debating whether this would be a violation with sunset start of day because I have already conclusively proven that sunset start of day is incompatible with any Lunar Sabbath theory.
We know that the day after Passover, the 15th of the month, is a "High" Sabbath and we know that YHVH led Israel out of Egypt the evening of the 15th day. Likewise, Ezra could leave anytime between sunset and sunrise on the 1st day and not violate the Holy Hours of sunrise to sunset earlier that same day.
We have further evidence that travel restrictions may have been Pharisee additions to the Sabbath. For example, Israel marched around Jericho for 7 days, one of which must have been a Sabbath by any calendar reckoning. One way to solve the riddle of Jericho may be to assume they marched around at dawn, before sunrise, or at dusk after sunset but before dark. If the Sabbath truly is only during daylight hours then there would be no problem.
Sabbath Breaking in Exodus?
Adam Fink from Parable of the Vineyard put forth Exodus 16:1 as evidence of “Sabbath Breaking” on the 15th day of the month to disprove the Lunar Sabbath.
And they took their journey from Eylim, and all the assembly of the children of Yashar’el came unto the wilderness of Ciyn, which is between Eylim and Ciynai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Mitsrayim. Exodus 16:1 את CEPHER
The first thing that must be addressed is that the Hebrew text had no punctuation so any commas or periods are interpretation. This means that the 15th day could apply to the gumbling and not to the arrival date. This verse could easily read: “And they took their journey from Eylim, and all the assembly of the children of Yashar’el came unto the wilderness of Ciyn, which is between Eylim and Ciynai. On the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Mitsrayim the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the desert.”
Thankfully we don’t have to rely upon this subjective interpretation of punctuation to defend the Lunar Sabbath, because this verse, as interpreted by the CEPHER translation, creates more problems for sunset theorists and Saturday Sabbath believers than it does for Lunartics (Lunar Sabbath believers).
We know that the 15th day was a Sabbath. That evening the quail came and manna the next morning. This happened for 6 days. On the 6th day a double portion of manna was given which makes the 7th day (the 22nd) a Sabbath. If the 22nd was a Sabbath then the 15th was a Sabbath. Regardless of whether or not you follow a Lunar Sabbath
Since the 15th can be proven to be a Sabbath regardless of whether it is a Lunar Sabbath or a Saturday Sabbath. However, sunset theorists must explain how they were to boil quail for the Sabbath on the 22nd when Moses only gave them the instructions after they found twice the manna on the 21st. Since we know the 22nd was a Sabbath, we know the 15th must also be a Sabbath. If they broke the Sabbath by arriving on the 15th then it is the 24 hour sunset to sunset Sabbath believers that have a serious problem.
On the other hand, those that follow the sunrise theory have no probem with the Quail. Given that both theories would have travel on the 15th, if such travel was a violation of YHVH’s law, then it must be our punctuation that is the problem and not our calendar theories.
Tabernacle Setup on New Moon Day
The 2nd evidence presented by 119 ministries is that "Israel built" on New Moon day.
So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. - Exodus 40:17
Only the Levites, aka the priests, were allowed to touch or move the Tabernacle.
... Have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? - Matthew 12:5
Since the priests are allowed to do priestly work on the Sabbath and remain guiltless, setting up the Tabernacle for YHVH to dwell in at the direct command of YHVH is certainly exempt work.
Pentecost
One of the go-to arguments against the Lunar Sabbath is that Pentecost is 7 weeks and a day, or 50 days from the sheaf wave offering. In my prior post, Drunk on New Wine, I showed how Pentecost was connected to the grape harvest as demonstrated by Peter’s sermon which quoted Joel who describes the vats being full of grapes as the context of when Holy Spirit is poured out. It is not possible for the grape harvest to be ready a mere seven Sabbaths after Passover. I suggest reading that post before concluding anything about the relationship between seven complete Sabbaths and 50 days.
When using a Lunar Calendar, seven complete Sabbaths plus 50 days always puts you on the New Moon Day of the 5th month - a very curious outcome.
Book of Jubilees
Some people quote the book of Jubilees as evidence that a year has exactly 364 days. This number is perfectly divisible by seven which implies Sabbath days would not move relative to the annual feast days on a year to year basis. In doing so they throw out the lunar calendar all together as 364 is not divisible by 29.5.
For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon how it disturbs the seasons and comes in from year to year ten days too soon. For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb the order, and make an abominable day the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and Shabbaths and feasts and jubilees. YOVHELIYM (JUBILEES) 6:36-37 את CEPHER
And all the days of the commandment will be two and fifty weeks of days, and these will make the entire year complete. Thus it is engraven and ordained on the heavenly tablets. And there is no neglecting this commandment for a single year or from year to year. And command you the children of Yashar’el that they observe the years according to this reckoning three hundred and sixty four days, and these will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts. YOVHELIYM (JUBILEES) 6:30-32 את CEPHER
The story of Noah seems to suggest that 150 days is exactly 5 months. This would make a year of 12 months 360 days. For what ever reason the relationship between days, months, and years seems to change over time. Almost every ancient civilization use to have a 360 day calendar with 30 day months. We now know that a modern year has about 365.25 days. As a result, someone who follows a strict 364 day year will end up celebrating Passover in the fall after 180 years.
And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days. - Enoch 74:12
The book of Enoch also testifies to a 364 day year. This “fixed year count” is clearly contrary to using the sun, moon, and stars as signs. It may have been accurate at the time that it was written, but it is no longer accurate today. 119 Ministries has tested Enoch and found it lacking scriptural authority.
The other problem with the continuous cycle is that occasionally Saturday will fall on Passover which would be a major problem for preparation day. The book of Jubilees isn’t scripture for a reason. 119 Ministries has a great video testing the Book of Jubilees
Secular References
Secular sources are not scripture and whenever they conflict with scripture it is only a matter of time before scripture is proven correct. There are many quotes from sources after 300 AD that refer to the Sabbath and Saturday as being synonymous. That is understandable given that the entire Roman world had switched to a continus weekly cycle by that time. These quotes would have originated in a language other than English and many ignorant translators may easily translate Sabbath or 7th day into Saturday for the “benefit of the reader”. Without a careful review of the original text we cannot eliminate this innocent assumption of the translator.
Furthermore, many of the secular quotes are “histories” written after 300 AD and are therefore vulnerable to the same kind of status quo bias that exists today. There are many other sources from the 1800 and 1900’s that document the linking between the Sabbath and the New Moon, but they are brought into question based upon who funded the encylopedia. All of these more recent sources, whether for or against, have the same fundamental flaw, a claim that the author or translator has an agenda.
It is for this reason that I look primarily to sources from 70AD or before and only to those sources for which the original language text is available.
Josephus – Wars of the Jews 4:582
“And the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand with a trumpet, at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as also at the evening when that day was finished, as giving notice to the people when they were to stop work, and when they go to work again.”
This text could easily be interpreted as compatible with the Lunar Sabbath as there is a Sabbath every 7 days for 5 Sabbaths in a row (New Moon being a “High Sabbath”). Once a month there might be two Sabbath days in a row or a two Sabbaths separated by a single day. For all practical purposes this would maintain an attack about every 7th day. It does nothing to mention Saturday.
70-84 AD – Fontius, a Roman Soldier: Strategematicon
“The deified Augustus Vespasian attacked the jews on the day of Saturn, a day on which it is sinful for them to do any business.”
This quote appears to be one of the strongest pieces of evidence in the camp of Saturday Sabbath Soldiers and was Translated by C. E. Bennett, Mary B. McElwain. Loeb Classical Library 174. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press in 1925.
In support of a Lunar Sabbath, here is a work from 1903, almost 20 years before the translation of Fontius above that clearly makes reference to the fact that, at one point in time, the Sabbath had a relationship to the moons phases.
“The introduction . . . of the custom of celebrating the Sabbath every 7th day, irrespective of the relationship of the day to the moon’s phases, led to a complete separation from the ancient view of the Sabbath…” Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1903, p. 5290
Philo of Alexandria, born in 25 BC, provides the following quote that ties the 7th day of the week to the 15th day of the 1st and 7th month.
“But to the seventh-day of the week He [YHVH] has assigned the greatest festivals [Unleavend Bread/Tabernackles], those of the longest duration, at the periods of the equinox both vernal and autumnal in each year; appointing TWO festivals for these two epochs, each lasting seven days; the one which takes place in the spring being for the perfection of what is being sown, and the one which falls in autumn being a feast of thanksgiving for the bringing home of all the fruits which the trees have produced.” F.H. Colson’s translation of Philo’s THE DECALOGUE XXX (159)
We also have this quote from 1861 that indicates that there were no known Christian writing that used Sunday through Saturday until 269 AD.
“It should be noted that the oldest dated Christian inscription to employ a planetary designation [Sunday thru Saturday, unbroken weekly cycles] belongs to the year 269 A.D.” Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae, ed. De Rossi, 1861, i, No. 1.
All told we have one Roman Soldier from 70 AD vs a Jewish Philospher from 25 BC. The Roman Soldier’s writing could easily be attributed to the fact that the numbered days were tied to the names of the planets and people may use Saturday in the place of the 7th day even if the 7th day of the Jewish calendar was not on the same kind of cycle as the 7th day on the Roman calendar.
The fact remains that all of the evidence that points to 31 AD crucifixion and sunrise start of day undermines the viability of a 7 day continuous cycle. How are we to judge the integrity and accuracy of Philo of Alexandria vs Fontius? Which source should we give higher authority to resolve this dispute? Philo clearly and unambiguously describes a Lunar Sabbath and Fontius makes reference to Jews not working on the day of Saturn which can be accounted for with a number of plausible explanations.
Conclusion
The case for the continuous 7 day cycle depends almost entirely on the repetition of “work 6 days and rest on the 7th”. Beyond this under specified instruction, they rely upon tradition and a handful of quotes from antiquity. The Saturday defenders almost universally fail to address the conflict between Saturday and the feast days combined with the facts that the rules of postponement were not developed until after 300 AD. It assumes the Israelites rested the day after they left Egypt and provides no explanation on how Passover was celebrated when the 14th landed on a Saturday. It assumes that the Sabbath instructions exists outside the context of any signs in the sun, moon, and stars and it assumes that we can know with certainty that the 7 day cycle has been kept in tact even though there is much dispute about the 7 year Shemitah cycle.
If we avoid the appeal to tradition, the burden of proof is on the Saturday Sabbath keepers to explain how the Sign of Jonah can be rectified with the abundant evidence for 31 AD.
