Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

No matter how many individuals, or teachers have published articles, or spoke out against lunar sabbatarianism(L.S.), this following continues to grow like a weed. I will now throw in my two-shekels to help reign in this non-Scriptural doctrine. Without going into every misguided thought, let alone every Scripture taken out of context, the gist behind the(L.S.)argument is that the Sabbath must always fall on the 8 th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of the monthly lunar cycle. There is even a sub-sect that has the view it could be on the 1st of the lunar month. Those who personally know me have heard me say, if there is only one Scripture that disproves someones particular teaching, or theory than you must start over. No matter how spiritual something appears, it absolutely must line of with YHWHs Word 100%.The Scriptures are absolutely clear, the Sabbath was, and has always been, the 7 th day of the week, and is not tied to the lunar cycle. Lets begin in Bereshith 1-2-31, Gen 1:2 And the earth came to be formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim was moving on the face of the waters. 3 And Elohim said, Let light come to be, and light came to be. 4 And Elohim saw the light, that it was good. And Elohim separated the light from the darkness. 5 And Elohim called the light day and the darkness He called night. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the first day. 6 And Elohim said, Let an expanse come to be in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. 7 And Elohim made the expanse, and separated the waters, which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. And it came to be so. 8 And Elohim called the expanse heavens. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the second day. 9 And Elohim said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it came to be so. 10 And Elohim called the dry land earth, and the collection of the waters He called seas. And Elohim saw that it was good. 11 And Elohim said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the plant that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind,

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

whose seed is in itself, on the earth. And it came to be so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the plant that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in its self according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. 13 And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the third day. 14 And Elohim said, Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and appointed times, and for days and years, 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it came to be so. 16 And Elohim made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. 17 And Elohim set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good. 19 And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the fourth day. 20 And Elohim said, Let the waters teem with shoals of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens. 21 And Elohim created great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters teemed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. 22 And Elohim blessed them, saying, Bear fruit and increase, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. 23 And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the fifth day. 24 And Elohim said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: livestock and creeping creatures and beasts of the earth, according to its kind. And it came to be so. 25 And Elohim made the beast of the earth according to its kind, livestock according to its kind, and all that creep on the earth according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. 26 And Elohim said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the earth. 27 And Elohim created the man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him male and female He created them. 28 And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creatures moving on the earth. 29 And Elohim said, See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping creature on the earth, in which there is life, every green plant is for food. And it came to be so. 31 And Elohim saw all that He had made, and see, it was very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, the sixth day.

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

The above account is of the Creation week, Days 1-7. We can clearly see that the sun and moon were not created until Day 4 of the week. Yet lunar sabbath proponents use verse 14 as one of their core points to hold on to. Once we get to chapter 2,it is evident that YHWH blesses the Seventh day and rests from HIS own work. Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their array. 2 And on the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. 3 And Elohim blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all His work which Elohim in creating had made. These Scriptures in Bereshit alone are enough to say case closed. For we are observing the fact of a hard count from day 1 to the 7th day; not locked to the lunar cycle, not to mention YHWH did not change the sequence of days. They remain the same to this present day. However, let us look at a few other Scriptures to show more evidence to prove this fact from the Tanak. We will do this by investigating the Pesach account in Sefer Yehoshua chapter 5...
Jos 5:9 And said to Yehoshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Mitsrayim from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 And the children of Yisral camped in Gilgal, and performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening on the desert plains of Yeriho. 11 And they ate of the stored grain of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened bread and roasted grain on this same day. 12 And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the stored grain of the land. And the children of Yisral no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Kenanan that year.

Now just these four verses above give us a wealth of information.

1. Pesach is Performed on the 14th 2. People of Israel eat of the stored grain of the Land on the morrow after the Pesach- which is the 15th 3. The Manna ceased on the morrow after the people of Israel ate of the stored grainwhich is the 16th.

Now if we go back to Exodus 16:4-5, we see that the manna fell 6 days a week, and on the 6th day the people of Yisrael were to gather twice the daily portion, for the manna ceased on the Shabbat

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

Exo 16:4 And said to Mosheh, See, I am raining bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a days portion every day, in order to try them, whether they walk in My Torah or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. It is quite evident that the Sabbath in Yehoshua 5 fell on the 16 th, not the 15th day; which would be a requirement for the (L.S.) argument to be true, therefore, again we are providing scriptural proof they are in error. The manna ceasing in Yehoshua 5:12 is also the fulfillment of Exodus 16:35... Exo 16:35 And the children of Yisral ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Kenanan. While we are exploring the passages of Exodus chapter 16, we must not fail to mention verse 1 as yet another witness to disproving the lunar shabbat argument. Exo 16:1 And they set out from l0him, and all the congregation of the children of Yisra l came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between lim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their going out of the land of Mitsrayim. If the (L.S.)teachings are correct in that Shabbat corresponds with the lunar cycle, then it appears here that all of Israel is packing up the entire camp and heading out on Shabbat! There are also several Scriptures that disprove the 1st day of the lunar cycle from being a Shabbat as well. Take Exodus 40:2-17 for example.. Exo 40:2 On the first day of the first month, you are to raise up the Dwelling Place of the Tent of Meeting, 3 and shall put in it the ark of the Witness, and screen the ark with the veil. 4 And you shall bring in the table and arrange what belongs on it, and bring in the lampstand and light its lamps. 5 And you shall set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the Witness, and put up the covering of the door to the Dwelling Place. 6 And you shall set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the Dwelling Place of the Tent of Meeting, 7 and shall set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein. 8 And you shall set up the courtyard all around, and shall place the covering of the courtyard gate, 9 and shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the Dwelling Place and all that is in it, and shall set it and all its utensils apart, and it shall be set-apart. 10 And you shall anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all its utensils, and set the altar apart, and the altar shall be most set-apart. 11 And you shall anoint the basin and its stand, and set it apart. 12 And you shall bring Aharon and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. 13 And you shall put the set-apart garments on Aharon, and anoint him

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

and set him apart to serve as priest to Me. 14 And you shall bring his sons and put long shirts on them, 15 and shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, and they shall serve as priests to Me. And their anointing shall be for them an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. 16 And Mosheh did according to all that had commanded him, so he did. Exo 40:17 And it came to be in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Dwelling Place was raised up. Hmm,this does not seem to be a very restful Shabbat since they were building and setting up the Tabernacle! Furthermore, by reading through the entire Brit Hadesha, there is not one occasion of anyone not knowing when the Sabbath was, as well as the feasts of YHWH, let alone any mention of YHWHs Moedim coinciding with the lunar cycle. Everyone was on the same calendar. Yahushua Ha Mashiyach never rebuked anyone as far as the calendar issues are concerned. The Jewish Historian Josephus 582 can also verify these statements. 82 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, {d} 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 were to go to work again. (Jwr 4:582 JOE) Here,Josephus tells us not only that the Shabbat is on the seventh day but furthermore this quote is also evidence dismissing any doubt that Israel has ever kept a pagan sunrise to sunrise reckoning of days. You can find out more about this issue in an article I will someday get around to writing entitledTurning Off the Light of Sunrise Reckoning. So we have now discussed several different accounts to disprove the idea of a lunar Shabbat. The Scriptures are clear. Counting to seven is quite easy with a little practice. YHWHs ways are not too hard for us. Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. 9 Six days you labour, and shall do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath 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. 11 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. Keeping YHWHs Sabbaths are an everlasting sign that we belong to HIM. The Shabbat is our Wedding Ring of this Marriage Covenant.

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

Exo 31:13 And you, speak to the children of Yisra l, 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. 14 And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is setapart 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. 15 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. 16 And the children of Yisral shall guard the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. 17 Between Me and the children of Yisral 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. 18 And when He had ended speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Mosheh two tablets of the Witness, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim. Eze 20:12 And I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, to know that I am who sets them apart. Eze 20:19 I am your Elohim. Walk in My laws, and guard My right- rulings, and do them. 20 And set apart My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, to know that I am your Elohim. 21 But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My laws, and My right-rulings they did not guard to do them, which, if a man does, he shall live by them. They profaned My Sabbaths, so I resolved to pour out My wrath on them to complete My displeasure against them in the wilderness. 22 But I held back My hand and acted for My Names sake, not to profane it before the eyes of the gentiles, before whose eyes I had brought them out. 23 Also, I Myself lifted My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, to scatter them among the gentiles and disperse them throughout the lands, 24 because they had not done My right-rulings, and they rejected My laws, and they profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were on their fathers idols. Deu 30:10 if you obey the voice of your Elohim, to guard His commands and His laws which are written in this Book of the Torah, if you turn back to your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being. 11 For this command which I am commanding you today, it is not too hard for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in the heavens, to say, Who shall ascend into the heavens for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it? 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, to say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it? 14 For the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it.

Eclipsing the Lunar Sabbatarianism Fallacy

In conclusion, if we are truly on the path of love for our Mashiyach Yahushua, and desire to keep YHWHs Torah, than we must realize that there are correct, kosher and Scripturally accurate ways to observe Torah and it is not up to mans interpretation of the Scriptures but YHWH and His Spirit must lead and guide us in all TRUTH. Let us strive at all times to quiet the enemy of truth, and persevere on the path of Righteousness! Shabbat Shalom! Daniel McGirr The Echad Etz Project.