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Excerpts From: The Lunar Sabbath Controversy

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Excerpts From: The Lunar Sabbath Controversy

Postby Watchman555 » 05 Mar 2014, 18:12

By Maria Merola
© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, May 2011
Used under the Fair Use provision:

Fair use, a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work, is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship.

(copyright….)

Maria said:



“1st Samuel: 20
5 And Dawid said unto Yahunathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even…
18 Then Yahunathan said to Dawid, Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
Lunar Sabbatarians use this verse in an effort to “prove” that we are to take a 3 day sabbatical until the new moon appears in the sky. But there is no such commandment in the Torah that tells us that we must keep a 3 day sabbatical leading up to the new moon. In this account, David was simply afraid for his life and so he wanted to go and hide himself to pray for three days and nights from King Saul because he knew that Saul wanted to kill him. This scripture is not indicating that David was keeping some kind of Sabbath for three days.””


REPLY: I totally agree with Maria on this point (except for praying for three days and three nights – where did that come from?). It is a fact that nowhere in Scripture can you find the new moons other than the 7th being referred to as Sabbaths. What we must remember here is not all lunar reckoning believers consider new moons as Sabbaths. I know there are some, but I personally do not believe this. So I will say I agree with Maria on this point, but there is a problem concerning those of the 7-dcc continually and relentlessly trying to put it in the mind of the reader that all LR observers keep the new moon as a Sabbath. This simply is not so and for them to imply this and continually beat it into the head of the readers is a ploy.
Maria continues,


“ As a matter of fact, this very same scripture that Lunar Sabbatarians use to prove a Lunar Sabbath is used to disprove it if you continue to read on into 1st Samuel 20-21. A friend of mine name Sarah Kreb’s explains how these verses helped her to see that Lunar Sabbath reckoning is false:”


REPLY: Okay, we’ll bear with you on this and we will continue to read on in Shemu’el 20 through 21.

“Sarah Kreb’s Testimony:


“When I did this study I prayed and prayed and asked God to show me if I was wrong in my observance of Sabbath. I told him I was willing to change and ask him to please teach me as a child. I deliberately tried to forget everything I knew and learned about the Sabbath. Not long after praying God directed me to 1st Samuel 20, and I was devastated. I thought, “Great! I'm going to have to start observing the lunar Sabbath.” I was wondering to myself “Why are You directing me to this portion of text----a portion of text that the lunar sabbatarians use to prove their stance?" Well, I kept on reading. I didn't stop at Chapter 20, but I kept reading, and praying, completely willing to change the way I observed Sabbath. And then I saw it as if for the first time and I jumped for joy - ahahahaahh! “


REPLY: Although Sarah claims to be completely willing to change we can see her statement that said she was “devastated” and exclaiming “great, I’m going to have to start observing the lunar Sabbath”. That right there shows us sarcasm and to me it sounds like a hint of distain and I don’t think it’s total honesty that she claimed to be completely willing to change.

So let’s continue on to see if what she was shown by “god” is accurate.

Maria said,


“Here is what YHWH showed Sarah as she continued reading:

1st Samuel 20:5 And Dawid said to Yahunathan, “See, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I ought to sit with the King to eat. But let me go, and I shall hide in the field until the third day at evening.”

Lunar Sabbatarians say that David hid himself for 3 days because he was keeping the “new moon days” but he was hiding from Saul because Saul wanted to kill him. The third day from the new moon was the 3rd day of the month. “


REPLY: Number one she’s quoting LR keepers as saying that David hid himself for three days because he was keeping the new moon. Again, here is part of that ploy. Let us instill it in the readers that all lunar reckoning observers consider the new moon as Sabbaths and they all say that is the reason David was hiding. Personally, I’ve never heard anybody say this before and how many LR observers has she actually talk to? She didn’t talk to me nor many others. I don’t ever recall ever hearing any LR observer say this. Anyway, you could not keep a new moon for three days!

Maria continues,


“Now let us take a look at these verses to see what is really taking place here:

1st Samuel 20:24 And Dawid_ hid in the field. And when the New Moon came, the King sat down by the food to eat.
1st Samuel 20:27 And it came to be the next day, the second day of the month, that Dawid_'s place was empty. And Sha'ul said to Yahunathan his son,“Why has the son of Yishai (Jesse) not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”


REPLY: First of all we can deduce by this Scripture that the day after new moon day was the second day of the month; therefore, it was not a two day new moon.

Continuing:


“1st Samuel 20:34 And Yahunathan rose up from the table in the heat of displeasure, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for Dawi?, because his father put him to shame.”


REPLY: This verse right here shows it was not the second day of the “new moon” but the second day of the “month”, so I agree with her next statement:

Maria said,


“This was the second day of the month. The next morning Jonathan went out in the field to shoot arrows so this was the 3rd day of the month:”


REPLY: So here is where we really need to start paying attention. I’m going to skip ahead to show you what Maria has said concerning this third day:

Maria said,


“But David was only into his 3rd day from the new moon when he came out of hiding and this was the day that the priest was changing out the bread on the Sabbath day and it was the 3rd day of the month!”


REPLY: Now we are at the gist of what Maria is claiming that this third day was also a Sabbath day because she is assuming that they changed out the bread on that day. Saying that that day was a Sabbath. Now if it was a Sabbath that would show a Sabbath taking place on the third day of the month which is not in accordance with the lunar reckoning. So again, as we continue remember this is the third day and Maria has claimed that it is a Sabbath. So let us look at exactly what was taking place on this day and see if what was done is allowed to be done on a Sabbath. In other words, can we show with the Scriptures that what they were doing on this third day would be a violation of the Sabbath command to rest and to cease? Please take these next verses into consideration:

Isa 58:13 “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 Yahuah ‘esteemed,’ and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

The question is posed here – are we allowed to do our pleasure on His set-apart day? Would it be okay if I went fishing? Would it be okay if I practiced basketball? Would it be okay if I went out into my back yard and practiced hitting golf balls?

Exo 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart.
Exo 20:9 “Six days you labor, and shall do all your work,
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of Yahuah 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

Now here we see the command, six days you labor and shall do all your work but on the 7th day no work is to be done, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, female servant, etc… now please keep these Scriptures in mind as we read the next:

1st Samuel 20:35 And it came to be, in the morning, that Yahunathan went out into the field at the time appointed with Dawid, and a small youth was with him.

At this point I want to go back and reiterate how Yahunathan conspired with David –

1Sa 20:19 “And on the third day, go down quickly and you shall come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed, and shall remain by the stone Etsel.
1Sa 20:20 “And let me shoot three arrows to the side of it as though shooting at a target,
1Sa 20:21 and see, I shall send the youth, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them and come,’ then, as Yahuah lives, there is safety for you and no concern.
1Sa 20:22 “But if I say thus to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ go your way, for Yahuah has sent you away.

I wanted to bring these verses forward so we can see how Yahunathan conspired with David to do what they did on the third day, now remember this is the day that Maria called the Sabbath. Again, remember Exodus 20:10 that says you do no work you nor your son nor your male servant. So let’s take a look at what was taking place on this so-called Sabbath:

Oh and I see some verses have been left out here… let me go get them. Let’s objectively look at these verses to see what is taking place:


1Sa 20:36 And he said to the youth, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the youth ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

I don’t think we can tell exactly who this youth is, whether it was Yahunathan’s son or a male servant but it really doesn’t matter because according to the command they are not to do any work either. Also notice that Yahunathan went into the field as if he were ‘target practicing’. 1 Shem 20:20. So right away there are a couple things that we notice that are taking place on this so-called Sabbath day. First of all, if target practice would be seeking your own pleasure and sending a lad to go fetch your arrows would be considered work then we have to realize that Yahunathan and David conspired to break the Sabbath and not only did they conspire but they would have broken the Sabbath. As we can read as we continue:

1Sa 20:37 And when the youth came to the place where the arrow was which Yehonathan had shot, Yehonathan called out after the youth and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
1Sa 20:38 And Yehonathan shouted after the youth, “Make haste, hurry, do not stand still!” And Yehonathan’s youth picked up the arrows and came to his master.

So I guess we could say that Yahunathan was this lad’s master, now what is he doing commanding his servant to go and chase the arrows and pick them up when it is the “Sabbath” and his servants are to have the day off?

1Sa 20:39 But the youth knew not a speck. Only Yehonathan and Dawid knew of the matter.
1Sa 20:40 Then Yehonathan gave his weapons to the youth and said to him, “Go, take them to the city.”
1Sa 20:41 And as soon as the youth had gone, Dawid rose up from the south side, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another. And they wept together, but Dawid more so.

From this point you would have to determine if these deeds that have taken place on this third day which some are claiming to be a Sabbath is in agreement with the word. In other words, honestly ask yourself are these acceptable things to do on Sabbath? Remember, if you would understand that these things are not things to be done on the Sabbath and that it would amount to sin and the only thing you could say is Yahunathan was sinning on the Sabbath and causing his servant to sin by making him work.

Now I would like to back up just a bit to bring something else into context:


1Sa 20:19 “And on the third day, go down quickly and you shall come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed (H4639), and shall remain by the stone Etsel.

So what exactly is this ‘deed’ they did on the third day?

Strong's Concordance

H4639
ma?a?s´eh
mah-as-eh'

From H6213; an action (good or bad); generally a transaction; abstractly activity; by implication a product (specifically a poem) or (generally) property: - act, art, + bakemeat, business, deed, do (-ing), labour, thing made, ware of making, occupation, thing offered, operation, possession, X well, ([handy-, needle-, net-]) work, (-ing, -manship), wrought.


Exo 23:12 “Six days you are to do your work (H4639), and on the seventh day you rest, in order that your ox and your donkey might rest, and the son of your female servant and the sojourner be refreshed.

According to Shemu’el 20:19 they did a deed, or as the KJV states “business”. Now what have we read in Shemoth 23:12 ? Six days you do your work/deed/business. Now how can this be a Sabbath? 20:19 specifically says that the third day they did something that was only allowed to be done on the six days of work. Now if one is to claim that this is the Sabbath they are also claiming that both Yahunathan and David sinned in doing this. This is irrefutable. It is a fact. So let’s continue on…

Maria quoted, “


1st Samuel 20:42 And Yahunathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of YaHuWaH, saying, YaHuWaH is between you and me, and between your seed and my seed forever.” Then he arose and left, and Yahunathan went into the city.
1st Samuel 21:1 And Dawid came to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. And Ahimelek trembled when he met Dawid, and asked him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
1st Samuel 21:2 And Dawid said unto Ahimelek the priest, “The King has commanded me a word, and said to me, ‘Let no one know whatever of the word about which I send you, and which I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.”
1st Samuel 21:3 “And now, what do you have on hand? Give five loaves into my hand, or whatever is found.”
1st Samuel 21:4 And the priest answered Dawid, and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is set-apart bread- provided the young men have kept themselves from women.”
1st Samuel 21:5 And Dawid answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly women have been kept from us about three days, since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are set-apart, and it is an ordinary mission, and also, it was set-apart in the vessel today.”
1st Samuel 21:6 Then the priest gave him set-apart bread, for there was no bread there except the showbread which had been taken from before YaHuWaH, in order to put hot bread in on the day it is taken away. “


REPLY: We’ve already shown above that what both David and Yahunathan did is absolutely unacceptable on the Sabbath. Now there is a claim using the verse above and is assuming that because there was no bread except for the showbread which had been taken away in order to put the hot bread on the day it was taken away, that this is the same day – the Sabbath. Now I suppose it could be construed that way if one wanted to. But what indication are we actually getting? There is no indication that that is the SAME day that the hot bread was put on. It is only saying that there are leftovers from the day it was taken away. There is no way from this one verse that you can conclusively prove that that day was the same day it was taken away. So the question would come to mind what is done with the showbread after it is taken from the table and the hot bread is put on?

Lev 24:9 “And it shall be for Aharon and his sons, and they shall eat it in the set-apart place, because it is most set-apart to him from the offerings of Yahuah made by fire – an everlasting law.”

So according to the instructions Aharon and his sons eat the bread in the set-apart place. Now are there any instructions that what is left over should be burned with fire before the next morning? From my research I do not find any instructions such as this. Now if there were an instruction that said ‘on the day that you put the hot bread on what is not eaten that day shall be burned with fire’. But because there is no command concerning this showbread then we would have to consider the possibility that the showbread that David received was leftovers from the Sabbath day that they changed it out. But because there is no command concerning this it is quite logical to assume that the priests would not have to consume the bread in one day, but they could eat it over the period of seven days until it was changed out again on the next Sabbath.

1st Samuel 21:6 Then the priest gave him set-apart bread, for there was no bread there except the showbread which had been taken from before Yahuah, in order to put hot bread in on the day it is taken away. “

This verse is inconclusive in determining exactly which day it was taken away.

More verses that need to be taken into consideration:


1Sa 21:7 Now one of the servants of Sha’ul was there that day, detained before Yahuah. And his name was Do’eg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Sha’ul.

1Sa 21:8 And Dawid said to Ahimelek, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the matter of the sovereign was urgent.”
1Sa 21:9 And the priest said, “The sword of Golyath the Philistine, whom you smote in the Valley of Elah. See, it is wrapped in a garment behind the shoulder garment. If you would take it, take it. For there is none other except this one here.” And Dawid_ said, “There is none like it, give it to me.”
1Sa 21:10 And Dawid rose and fled that day from before Sha’ul, and went to Akish the sovereign of Gath.

Here again we see something else taking place that wouldn’t seem prudent to be doing on the Sabbath. But to get to this point we start in the third day in the morning when Yahunathan and David were doing their business which is forbidden on the Sabbath, they get their business done, then David runs over to Nob where the priests are at, gets a bite to eat, grabs his weapon of war and then fled to Gath. Doesn’t sound like much of a day of rest.

Maria said,


“David came out of hiding on the 3rd day from the new moon and the men had been away from women for three days. Then the priest gave David the old showbread because the new showbread had just been baked”


REPLY: What verse is Maria quoting here? No verse. It is only assumption and extrapolation without the Scriptures to show or quote.

ISR: “in order to put hot bread in on the day it is taken away.”

KJV: “to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.”

See the Scripture does not say the bread had just been baked. That is an assumption. It is saying what is left over from the day the hot bread was taken away. Was or is taken away? Was or is does not equal the “same day”. Now if it said “the same day” that would be different. But was and is can be taken in a past tense. In the day it was taken away. Notice what David did say:

1st Samuel 21:3 “And now, what do you have on hand? Give five loaves into my hand, or whatever is found.”

More than likely David would have understood that the showbread had been changed out on the Sabbath. But notice he asked for five loaves, or whatever is found. Surely he would have known there would have been 12 loaves unless a few days had passed so he wouldn’t be sure how much was left.

She continues,


“ and this was the day that they were replacing the old showbread with the fresh showbread.”


REPLY: Again, this is a total assumption.

Maria said,


“And what day of the week is the new showbread replaced? The Showbread was always changed out on the Sabbath day:

Leviticus 24:5-8:

5 And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it, two-tenth of an ephah in each cake.
6 And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the clean table before YaHuWaH.
7 And you shall put clear frankincense on each row, and that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto YaHuWaH.
8 On every Sabbath he is to arrange it before YaHuWaH continually, from the children of Yisra’el an everlasting covenant. “


REPLY: Hey Maria’s actually quoting Scripture. I agree.

But then Maria says,


“And so if the Sabbath was determined by a new moon, then the Sabbath would have been on the 7th day from the new moon. But David was only into his 3rd day from the new moon when he came out of hiding and this was the day that the priest was changing out the bread on the Sabbath day and it was the 3rd day of the month!”


REPLY: Again, she’s straying from the Scriptures. She is saying something that the Scriptures are not.

Maria says,


“Another thing that now makes sense is that YaHuW’shuwa Messiah when being questioned about his supposed violation of the Sabbath, he pointed out that King David ate the showbread. Now why would he have used this example? Because King David received the showbread on the sabbath!

Matthew 12
1 At that time Yahushua went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him?


REPLY: This is an absolute assumption. Did Yahusha say it was a Sabbath that David did this? NO. He was merely telling them David did something that was not lawful to do. It would not be lawful to do on the Sabbath OR any other day.

And again we’re being cut short on the verses to gain the whole context:


Mat 12:4 how he went into the House of Elohim and ate the showbread which was not right for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

Any mention of a Sabbath? NO. Again, He was merely pointing out it was unlawful. Just because Yahusha was accused on the Sabbath of doing something that is in violation does not mean that His example took place on a Sabbath also because He explained it in verse 12:4 which was conveniently left out. It does not say how he went into the House of Elohim “on the Sabbath” and ate the showbread. And absolutely no where does it confirm that it was a Sabbath when David went in there and received the showbread.

So as we take an honest and truthful look at this we have found that what Yahunathan and David were doing on that day would have been in violation of Torah. Also what we can conclude is that the assumption that the bread was taken off the table that same day is absolutely inconclusive and motivated by desire to not change. Remember Sarah said, “I was devastated. I thought, “Great! I'm going to have to start observing the lunar Sabbath.” Quite an interesting statement. So do you think whether she kept the lunar reckoning or not really hinged on 1 Sam. 20 and 21? Was that what would make or break whether she kept it or not? Was it all dependent on that? Well, if it was then she has already studied to see that the LR is pretty much conclusive and that this one incident is what ‘saved her’ from being ‘devastated’? Well, I sure would like to see her response to this refute, I guess it would be easier to call Yahunathan and David sinners rather than accept the fact that what they did was not lawful to do on the Sabbath and what she desires to be the truth is inconclusive. So I guess that would put her back at square one trying to find something else.

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