Shalom all,
This is the list of questions that was located at the end of Tom's study and my reply to them. Questions and Answers about the Lunar Sabbath
1) Please explain Ezekiel 46:1 - how can the gate be opened and closed at the same time?
This is grounded in the premise that there must always be six consecutive working days without interruption. But whether you keep the Lunar Sabbath or weekly recurring Sabbath, the six working days will be interrupted by the feasts like the last day of Unleavened Bread, which falls on the 21st day of the 1st month and the Day of Atonement, which falls on the 10th day of the 7th month.
The point was that the gates would be open when people gathered for worship. The Sabbath and New Moon are the regular exceptions to the gate being closed, but there are other exceptions regardless of whether or not you believe in a recurring weekly Sabbath. Thus, Ezek. 46 proves nothing either way.
Note: This is not based on the premise that there must always be six consecutive working days, this is based on the premise that this Scripture is making a distinction between New Moon days, Sabbath days, and work days. (At least from my perspective)
He said in his study: "I don't believe anyone reading the Sabbath commandment in Leviticus 23, or Exodus 20 alongside the creation account is going to come up with a "lunar Sabbath" doctrine. There is no commandment anywhere in the scriptures which says:
"on the day following the new moon of each month, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your Elohim. You shall do this for four weeks. Then, depending on whether the new month has started, you shall not engage in commerce or paid work for 1 or 2 days. Then you shall reset your week into the 'six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest\' pattern."
Obviously, Yahweh never said any such thing, but this is the commandment that most Lunar Sabbath keepers follow. This is nothing more than a commandment of men because it is not found in the scriptures anywhere.
So on one hand he admits that the week can be interrupted and the other hand he says by the lunar reckoning it cannot be interrupted.
Ezekiel 46:1 does prove that the New Moons are regarded as a day of worship and does designate between New Moon days, Sabbath days, and work days. ]
2) How does the prophecy in Lam. 2:6 apply to the Sabbath and Feasts of the Yahudim? ]
They were forgotten in "tsion" because they were carried away into captivity, the very thing that Lamentations is mourning about.
True, they were carried off into Babylon. Through our studies we have found during this time period that the Babylonians were using a lunar calendar. So, how does that prove that they forgot the Sabbaths and Feasts of Yahuah when they were on a lunar calendar and now they are on a 7-day continual? In other words, you would have to say the lunar calendar caused them to forget the Sabbath and Feast days. Yet to this day, they are not on a lunar calendar (for weeks). ]
3) Why couldn't they wait for the Sabbath and New Moons to be over in Amos 8:5 if we are free to buy and sell on the new moons? ]
Amos would have been referring to the new moon of the 7th new moon is the Feast of Trumpets and so Amos would be referring to that.
And the proof is"¦.????? That one was easy enough to explain away. ]
4) Explain the offerings for daily, Sabbaths, new moons; Num. 28:4-15; why are there no provisions for new moon offerings that fall on the Sabbath or Sabbath offerings that fall on a new moon? ]
There didn't need to be. One would just perform whatever offerings were required for the kind of day it was.
Ok, This one is WAY insufficient for my understanding. But we will go with what he said. Now when New Moon takes place what offerings will Tom give when the Sabbath falls on the day of the New Moon and in what order? By the answer given above, it would show that Tom would only give the New Moon offerings, because that is the kind of day it is, but what if Sabbath falls on that day? Then what? Would he give the New Moon offerings AND the Sabbath offerings? Not by what he said, he would only give the New Moon offerings because that is the type of day it is. There is absolutely no mention in Scripture other than the Day of Shouting of what to do if the Sabbath falls on the New Moon. Thus, by the answer above, Tom would fail to give the Sabbath days offering on the New Moon day; because there is only the New Moon day offerings required for the New Moon day (plus the daily continual because that is required also).
Why is there no indication in Scripture of a floating 7th day? You would think Yahuah would have explained this in His word. Or at least have one example of a weekly Sabbath that fell on a New Moon.
Let me try to make this as clear as possible - ]
Numbers 28:11-15: 11 "And on the beginnings of your months you bring near a burnt offering to Yahuah: two young bulls and one ram, and seven lambs a year old, perfect ones; 12 three-tenths of and an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to Yahuah. 14 "And their drink offering is half a hin of wine for a bull, and one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year, 15 and one male goat as a sin offering to Yahuah is prepared,
besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
Notice " the beginning of your months does not negate the continual burnt offering. It must be included also.
This is exactly what you do on the beginning of your months or New Moon day. Notice it says besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. Now lets look at the Day of Shouting; which is a New Moon Day:]
Numbers 29:1-6: "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work, it is a day of blowing the trumpets for you. 2 "And you shall prepare a burnt offering as a sweet fragrance to Yahuah: one young bull, one ram, seven lambs a year old, perfect ones, 3 and their grain offering: fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, 5 and one male goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you, 6
besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the continual burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their right-ruling , as a sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to Yahuah.
Notice " the Day of Shouting does not negate the New Moon offerings or the continual burnt offering.
These verses show exactly what we are to do on the Day of Shouting. Notice that even though this is considered a high day, or Qodesh miqra and has special offerings for the Day of Shouting, it also INCLUDES the New Moon offering AND the continual offering. Absolutely no mention of any Sabbath offerings. No provision for when this 7th day would fall on the New Moon days or the New Moon day Day of Shouting on the 1st day of the 7th month.
Neither of these two verses or laws negate the sabbath day offerings, yet it does not make provision for them. ]
5) Psalm 81:3 - please explain. In comparison with Genesis and they are for signs. Moedim. Is the full moon on the festival day and if it is how do you get to the full moon in 15 days starting with the crescent moon? ]
The full moon will occur during the 15th day of the month if we understand the crescent to be the new moon.
Go to
http://www.eliyah.com/moon.html and for Ava, Missouri look at the moon phase for the night of 1/19/07 which gives us a new moon for 1/20/07. Now do the same for 2/2/07. That night the moon is at 100% illumination. I have noticed this a number of times during my own keeping of the feasts.
Ok, so we went and looked in Quick Phase Pro and noticed that on the evening of 1/19/07 there was zero % illumination, so how did he sight the new moon for 1/20/07? Was it a 30-day month, therefore by default this day became New Moon day? His data showed a 1% illumination, I have to ask how 1% of illumination could possibly be visible at the going down of the sun and the sunlight obscuring vision? ]
Now go and look at the Astronomical new moon for 3/18/07. Notice that it's at 9:44pm so that puts the conjunction keeper's new moon day on 3/19/07. Now look up the data for 4/1/07 to see what the moon will look like on the night which begins 4/2/07, the conjunction keeper's 15th day of the month (and Feast of Unleavened Bread actually). Notice it's at 96% illumination, not quite a full moon yet.
Now if anyone has studied Enoch they would know that the actual Full Moon itself can take place from the 14-15th . It says that its fullness is completed on the 15th day. Anyway, by our calculations, we kept 3/19 as New Moon and on 4/2/07 the moon was full.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl
"Full Moon on 2 April 2007 at 12:15 p.m. Central Daylight Time.
This link here will provide a discrepancy with Tom; it shows clearly that the full moon was at a 100% illumination on 04/02/07 at 12:15 p.m. in Ava, MO.
Tom kept the 1st day of the Feast of Sukkoth on 09/28/07. Moon rise was at 7:23 p.m. and was waning gibbous with 95% of the disk illuminated. Which means the Feast was not on the full moon. ]
6) Please explain Amos 5:25-27 - who is Sikkuth and Kiyyun and what exactly is this astral mighty one (star g*d) and does it correlate to satyr-day? ]
Kiyyun was a Babylonian idol. Didn't they keep a Lunar week?
Excellent point. ]
Daniel 7:25: and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and
it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time.
The appointed times mentioned here is an Aramaic word when cross-referenced in the LXX, it appears as the same word that is used for mo’ed or seasons in Genesis 1:14. Not positive, maybe somebody with a little more linguistic ability can confirm this. The point is, Daniel seems to be speaking of a future event of these appointed times and laws to be changed. Also, it is apparent that Daniel knew of the appointed times which were to be changed; therefore, if someone says that the appointed times were forgotten while they were in Babylon, how can this be when Daniel himself refers to the appointed times being changed? This could possibly show that the Babylonians without all their worship of the host of heaven, could have been keeping the correct timing according to a lunar calendar.
Besides, didn't the Babylonians have a "Virgin mother" giving birth to a "Savior" just another corruption of the true?
At this site, the Babylonian calender is referred to as a lunisolar calendar. It also says its predecessor was Samarian; which was adopted from Ur of Chaldeans. Interestingly enough, Abraham's father Terah lived in Ur. Now we know that Abraham left Terah somewhat due to the insistent worship of the host of heaven. Another point, just because Terah and the inhabitants of Ur worshipped the host of heaven does not mean that the lunar calendar that they used was corrupt.
As a matter of fact, most of the ancient calendars that we have seen in our studies point to a lunar calendar. Including the rest days/unlucky days/ill-omen days/tabu days being on the phases of the moon. We cannot find a 7-day continuous cycle calendar that dates beyond the Julian calendar (predecessor to the currently used Gregorian). Even the Romans themselves used a lunar calendar. It seems the whole world used a lunar calendar. Can anybody show a calendar previous to the Julian that shows this 7-day continual cycle?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_calendar
This link confirms that even the Babylonians kept the phases of the moon.
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabyl ... intro.html
"The Hebrew 7-day week ending with the Sabbath, presented so obvious a resemblance to the Babylonian septenary period, which closed with an "Evil day, that scholars have felt themselves compelled to seek its origin in Babylonia. The two institutions, nevertheless, show important differences. The Babylonian cycle, as far as we know, was never employed as a chronological unit; the Hebrew week was a true civil week, a definite and well-understood period of time. The Babylonian cycle seems not to have been dissociated from the lunation" Rest Days, page 253.
http://www.archive.org/details/restdays ... 00websrich
"Civil" according to Webster in referencing time states:
of time : based on the mean sun and legally recognized for use in ordinary affairs
"Hence the indispensability of a continuous week for the establishment of settled life with a high level of social organization, particularly significant since the rise of a market economy, which involved orderly contact on regularly recurrent, periodic market days. Only by establishing a weekly cycle of an unvarying, standard length could society guarantee that the continuity of its life would never be interrupted by natural phenomena such as the lunar cycle. The dissociation of the week from the lunar cycle, is, therefore, the most significant breakthrough in the evolution of the cycle from its somewhat rudimentary and imperfect predecessor. "The Seven Day Circle", Eviatar Zerubavel, Page 10 .
http://www.amazon.com/
“we can definitely see this cycle for what it is " a mere social convention. "The Seven Day Circle", page 59
"The first people to have established a continuous weekly cycle that was entirely independent of the lunar cycle were the ancient Egyptians. Possibly as a result of being sun-worshipers, which essentially freed them from the necessity of observing lunar rites, they practically ignored the moon in their civil calendar" "The Seven Day Circle", Page 10
"To this day, the seven-day week remains a sort of stepchild within an otherwise highly ordered calendrical family, the members of which are all interrelated rather "Neatly" as precise multiples of one another. It seems to be the only cycle that somehow manages to "Spoil" an otherwise perfect time-measurement and time-reckoning system, wherein each unit basically consists of a complete number of smaller units and its beginning always coincides with the beginnings of all units below it. "The Seven Day Circle" Page 61
"The ancient Talmudic ruling that travelers who lose count of the days of the week should nevertheless keep observing the Sabbath every seventh day despite the likelihood of its being the "Wrong" day makes it quite clear that at the very heart of the institution of the Sabbath lies the periodic alternation between the sacred and the profane along a 6-1 pattern. This structural feature is far more central to Judaism than the actual temporal location of the sacred within historical time. "The Seven-Day Circle", page 116. See Talmud source.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_69.html ]
7) When Yahweh commanded them to march around the walls of Jericho for seven days, wouldn't that have been violating the Sabbath? ]
No. The thing to remember about ancient cities in the land of Israel is that they generally covered a relatively small piece of land. Ancient Davidic Jerusalem was only about 12 acres in size and had a population of about 2000. That increased to about 32 acres in size under Solomon's rule with a population of about 5000. Archaeological finds do indicate that Jericho was fairly small in size:
"archaeological digs indicate the walls of ancient Jericho enclosed an area about 5 to 6 acres in size." (John Garstang, "The Walls of Jericho. The Marston-Melchett Expedition of 1931, PEFQS 1931, p. 186).
In light of this, a person walking around the walls of Jericho would need to walk about 700 yards max. The traditional "sabbath day's journey mentioned in Acts 1:12 is about 1000-1200 yards.
I personally do not have too much to say on this subject here. Perhaps someone else does.
I sincerely desire for better answers than what Tom could give. I don't think that was necessarily a best-effort in answering these questions. I do not think that Tom is interested in an open discussion in front of all concerning these matters. So is there anyone who can give a better explanation to these matters?
~Greg