HAS HEBREW TIME BEEN LOST?
Adapted from an article by H.W. Armstrong
Granted, the Scriptures state the SEVENTH day is the SABBATH OF ETERNAL YOUR SOVEREIGN. Granted also, that the Mighty One did, at creation, make the seventh day CONSECRATED TIME, and that He has commanded us to KEEP it consecrated.
The Questions
- But how can we know, today, WHICH day is the true seventh day CREATOR blessed and made consecrated AT CREATION?
- Has time been lost? Has the calendar been CHANGED? Were not ten days dropped out of it at one time?
- And how about living on a round earth? Does not one either "gain a day," or "lose a day" in traveling around the world?
- And how about JOSHUA'S LONG DAY? Did that change the weekly cycle?
- How can we know that the name, "Saturday," which is a pagan name, was placed on the seventh day of the week according to the Hebrew calendar?
- To all these questions, there is a definite answer - and many lines of POSITIVE PROOF! CREATOR tells us to "obey My voice" (Ex 19:5). Let us throw out preconceived or past opinions. Let us investigate and find the TRUTH.
Past Calendar Changes
The calendar now in use, a Roman calendar, has been changed,
but that change did not break the weekly cycle. Before its change, it was called the Julian calendar, because it originated at the time of Julius Caesar: 31 BCE - several years before the supposed birth of the man from Galilee. Pope Gregory ordered the one change, and since then, it has been called the Gregorian calendar.
The Julian calendar was imperfect - it inserted leap years to frequently. Back in 31 BCE they supposed the year was exactly 365 1/4 days long, and to take care of the extra one-fourth day each year, added a day to the month of February every four years. However, it was found later the year was 12 minutes and 14 seconds shorter than this. Consequently, by the time of Pope Gregory, the calendar had drifted TEN DAYS away from the seasons. The spring equinox, consequently, fell on March 11th, instead of March 21st.
To correct this, ten days were dropped from the calendar. But they were dropped only from the number of days in the MONTH, not from the number of days in the WEEK. A man named Lilius proposed the method that was adopted in making the change. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 251, under article "Lilius," explaining this change, we read:
"Thus, every imaginable proposition was made, only one idea was never mentioned, viz., the abandonment of the seventh- day week."
In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 740, article "Chronology," we read:
"It is to be noted that in the 'Christian' period, the order in the days in the week has never been interrupted. Thus, when Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in 1582, Thursday, 4 October was followed by Friday, 15 October. So in England, in 1752, Wednesday, 2 September was followed by Thursday, 14 September."
Since the Catholics changed the calendar, the Catholic Encyclopedia is the best historic authority there is on the question, and is proof positive. So that the reader may clearly understand it, and SEE how it was worked out on the Calendar, we reproduce below the actual calendar. The change was made in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, in 1582. Here is the calendar for October 1582!
OCTOBER 1582
Sun.
Mon.  
Tues.  
Wed.  
Thurs.
Fri.  
Sat.  
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
15 | 16
| | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23
| | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
| | 31 |
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | |
You will notice how ten days were dropped out. One day was the 4th, and the next day was the 15th of October. However, the 4th was Thursday, and the next day was FRIDAY
To make it still plainer, the 29th of September that year was a Sabbath, or Saturday. The 30th was Sunday. The 1st of October was Monday, the 2nd was Tuesday, the 3rd was Wednesday, the 4th was Thursday, and the next day was Friday, but it was not the 5th, it was the 15th. And the following day was Saturday, the 16th. Actually Saturday, the 16th was just one week of seven days after the proceeding Saturday, the 29th of September. There had been exactly seven days, seven sunsets, from one Sabbath to the next. The change in the calendar DID NOT IN ANY WAY CHANGE THE SABBATH, or the succession of the DAYS OF THE WEEK.
Now the British countries refused to change the calendar when the pope ordered it. They continued with the old Julian calendar until 1752 and while their days of the month were different, yet their days of the week were JUST THE SAME AS IN ROME. Those who kept the Sabbath in England kept the same SATURDAY that was called Saturday in Rome. Those who observed Sunday observed the same day, both in Rome where the calendar had been changed, and in London where it had not.
The English countries changed the calendar in 1752. By that time, it was necessary to drop out 11 days. The change was made in September as follows:
SEPTEMBER 1752
Sun.
Mon.  
Tues.  
Wed  
Thurs.
Fri.  
Sat.  
| | 1 | 2 |
14 | 15 | 16
| | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23
| | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
| | 31 |
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | |
Now in Russia, the calendar was never changed until just recently, IN OUR OWN LIFETIME. Consequently, in the year 1907, the day that we called the 14th of August, the Russians called the 1st of August. Our calendars were 13 days apart. Yet in BOTH countries, we both called that same day SATURDAY. In BOTH countries, SATURDAY fell on the same day of the week. The calendar has since been changed in Russia. Still their Sunday is our Sunday their Saturday is our Saturday. For reference, see above article, "Chronology," Catholic Encyclopedia.
Therefore, we see that the present system of the seven-day cycle week that has Saturday or the Sabbath for the seventh day has been IN EFFECT SINCE 31 BCE. This proves that there has not been any change in the weekly cycle from then until now. The SATURDAY of today is the same Seventh day of the week as it was in during the time of the Second Temple. Therefore, we can rest in the knowledge that the weekly cycle with the seventh day Sabbath has been the same since the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity. Now you may be thinking, "Was the weekly cycle changed during seventy years that the Jews were in captivity"? That is a fair question, which we will now answer.
An article in The Jewish Encyclopedia refers to the Babylonian Calendar and shows the antiquity of its origin:
"The Babylonian calendars are preserved in the inscriptions [cuneiform tablets that were discovered], and in both, each month has 30 days as far as can be learnt. . . .The Babylonian years were soli-lunar: that is to say, the year of 12 months containing 354 days by intercalation, as occasion required, a thirteenth month. Out of every 11 years, there were 7 with 12 months and 4 with 13 months." [We do not have the Edition Number, however, the use of the word "learnt" indicates that the quote is from a very old edition.]
The Babylonian Empire referred to here, is the ancient civilization dating back to Nimrod and Semiramis after the flood. The calendar used in ancient Babylon had many similarities to the calendar used in Egypt, at the time of Moses. With that thought in mind, notice the statement Josephus makes in dating the flood [
Antiquity of the Jews, Book I, Chap. 3, Sec. 3]:
"This calamity [flood] happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's government (age), in the second month, called by the Macedonians Dius but by the Hebrews Marchesuan: for so did they order their year in Egypt. However, Moses appointed that Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first of the month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that month. So that this month began all the solemnities that they observed to the honor of G-d although he preserved the original order of the months as to the selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs."
Notice the two significant factors of Josephus statement:
First, he said,
"Moses appointed that Nisan . . .should be the first month for their festivals, . . .so that this month began all the solemnities that they observed to the honor of G-d."
Actually, ETERNAL appointed through Moses the
first month to be Abib (Ex. 13:4). The Jews changed the name to Nisan, while in Babylonian captivity. When Josephus uses the word Nisan, he is using the Jewish name for the first month, as used in the Jewish post-captivity calendar, which uses the names of Babylonian gods for all the months.
Secondly, Josephus stated Moses
"preserved the original order of the months as to the selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs," thus they continued to also use the civil calendar they had used in Egypt! However, ETERNAL gave Moses the Observational, Hebrew Calendar. Therefore we see that, Moses and the children of Israel USED two calendars, a purely Observational Calendar from the Mighty One that began in the spring and the purely calculated one, the Egyptian civil calendar which began in the fall. Interestingly, the practice of using a religious and a civil calendar originated with Moses.
Since Moses used two calendars, the only difference in them was the beginning of the year. The weekly cycle was the same in both.
Origin of Gregorian Calendar
Josephus states that the second month of the ancient civil calendar was called Marchesuan, in Hebrew. Does that remind you of March in today's Gregorian Civil calendar? Josephus also tells us this Egyptian calendar was the same calendar the Greek Macedonians were still using during his day (37 CE to 100 CE). Since our present day Gregorian calendar is patterned after the Greek calendar, which was the Egyptian calendar of antiquity, then the civil calendar we use today is very similar to the civil calendar of ancient pagan Egypt. Note the following quote shows that the calendar above for October 1582, has the same weekly cycle as the ancient Egyptian calendar:
"The Gregorian calendar takes its name from Pope Gregory XIII, who reformed the Roman Calendar in the year 1582. Before that, the civil calendar was called the Julian calendar after the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar who had also altered the calendar in the year 46 BCE. One of Caesar's amendments was TO PATTERN THE CIVIL CALENDAR ON THE CALENDAR OF ANCIENT EGYPT, which was at that time the only calendar in which the lengths of the months and years were fixed by definite rules. In other words, the civil calendar, which hangs upon your office [or home] wall, is similar in parts of its structure to the calendar that was used in ancient Egypt. Like its Egyptian ancestor, the civil calendar is governed by the sun alone, and its months (January to December) are in no way influenced by the moon. In [our] the civil calendar, a new moon can occur on any day in the month; days begin in the middle of the night, and years in the northern hemisphere begin in the middle of winter on the 1st of January." [The Sacred Calendar of the 'God' of Israel, A Stewarton Bible School Publication, David Loughran, p5.]
The Jewish Encyclopedia states that the (pre-captivity) Talmudic Calendar rested on
"observation and reckoning." This early Talmudic Calendar was probably a combination of the Observational Hebrew Calendar and the Egyptian civil calendar. It was created by forcing the Scriptural, lunar calendar into the framework of the Egyptian solar calendar. Therefore, the Talmudic Jewish Calendar
was not and is not the Hebrew Calendar given to Moses.
The only differences in all of these mentioned calendars is when the months and years began. The post-Talmudic (the Jewish Calendar of today) and the Gregorian Calendar use a crescent moon and a dark moon, respectively, as the new moon but the weekly cycle remains the same. Therefore, the Egyptian calendar they sprang from must have also had the same weekly cycle.
Gaining or Losing a Day Traveling Around the World
Next let us consider the argument that we "gain a day" or "lose a day," depending on which way we are traveling, in going around the world.
Did you ever stop to wonder how Jonah came to be out on the wild sea, so he could be swallowed the great fish? Jonah was commanded by the Mighty One to perform a certain task. However, Jonah did not want to obey. Therefore, he embarked on a ship, in an attempt to escape "from the presence of YHWH." Read Jonah 1:1-3. Now it was silly for Jonah to think that by journeying away from home on a boat, he could escape from the command of his CREATOR.
In today's world, we have many modern Jonah's? They try to tell us that a certain command, proclaimed by ETERNAL's own voice to His entire Congregation cannot really be obeyed if we embark on a boat and travel far away from home, either east or west. It is the command that says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it consecrated . . . the SEVENTH DAY is the Sabbath
of YHWH thy SOVEREIGN." Did the Mighty One so complicate the command that it would take an astronomer to tell us how to obey?
It might seem to some, who do not stop to think very deeply, that you have lost a day if you travel westward around the world - or gained a day if you travel eastward. However, this loss or gain is only relative, NOT REAL.
Think what would happen if this were so. Imagine twin brothers, one traveling westward around the world, the other traveling eastward. If one has really lost a day, while the other gained a day, then after one such journey, one becomes TWO DAYS OLDER than his twin brother does. If they took enough trips, one would, in time, be enough older to be the
father of his own twin brother! This is ridiculous, but it illustrates the point.
When a person travels, his days are not of even length. The man, who travels from San Francisco to New York in one day, for him, is counted as only 21 hours, because the sun sets three hours earlier in New York than in San Francisco, and therefore there is three hours difference in time between these two cities. If the man returns, also by plane, he finds his day on the return trip is computed as 27 hours thus we in traveling we are confronted with jet-lag.
If he leaves San Francisco at 5 A.M., and arrives in New York exactly twelve hours later, his watch will register 5 P.M., but all watches and clocks in New York will register 8 P.M. To compute times as others do there, he will have to set his watch up three hours.
If he kept traveling around the earth, he would have to keep changing his watch, until he added 24 hours,
to his watch, by the time he returned to San Francisco. But did he really add a DAY to his life? Of course, he did not. The only change is in the way men COUNT time. This is merely a trick argument designed to confuse people, and justify them in disobeying the commands of our CREATOR. Sin is the transgression of the law - and the wages of sin is DEATH!
What Is a Day?
The correct Scriptural translation of a "DAY" is not 24 hours of a man-made watch, but that period of time from sunset to sunset. A day is not measured by the journey of the earth PLUS
our journey ON the earth.
The Sabbath is to be observed "from even unto even" (Lev. 23:32). A day ENDS, and another begins, when the sun sets. See any encyclopedia. History shows that it was always the custom to end and begin days at sunset until a few hundred years CE.
We live on a round earth. A day is measured by the revolution of the earth on its axis, in relation to the sun. Since the Sabbath day begins and ends at SUNSET, we observe it here when the sun sets HERE. . Nevertheless, the sun sets three hours earlier in New York than on the Pacific Coast; hence, Sabbath-keepers there begin their Sabbath three hours earlier than we on the West Coast. In London, the Sabbath begins nine hours earlier than on the West Coast, if kept according to ETERNAL's directions.
The answer to it all is, WE KEEP THE DAY WHEN IT COMES TO US.
Jerusalem was the only place where ETERNAL placed His name. That is where King David kept the Sabbath, and we know he had it
right because he was guided by Samuel and Nathan the prophets. Some authorities believe it was by ETERNAL's guidance that men set the international "date line" in the middle of the Pacific where it effects virtually nobody and almost exactly OPPOSITE from Jerusalem. An International Date Line is needed because a round earth turning on its axis a day must be dropped or added IN COMPUTATION when traveling around it.
As time is now computed, Sabbath-keepers the world over keep the SAME SABBATH,
when it comes to them, that is and always has been the seventh day of the week AT JERUSALEM. For the simple reason, that the Scripture tells us to begin our Sabbath at SUNSET and the sun does not set at the same time in various parts of the earth. The restful hours of the Sabbath begin, in China, several hours earlier than in Jerusalem - and likewise, in America, several hours LATER than in Jerusalem. But, beginning in the middle of the Pacific, half way around the earth from Jerusalem ALL PEOPLE, EVERYWHERE ON EARTH KEEP THE SAME DAY,
as that day comes to them, THAT IS KEPT IN JERUSALEM. Sunday observers have no trouble figuring
when their Sunday comes to them, anywhere on the earth. We cannot run away from this truth on a boat.
That Long Day of Joshua's
There is another argument we must consider. The long day of Joshua when the sun stood still for "about a whole day" is figured in an around about manner to try to show that Sunday is the seventh day of the week. But let us look at the real account:
[NKJV unless specified]
Josh 10:12-14 "Then Joshua spoke to YHWH in the day when YHWH delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand still . . .' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. . . . So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that YHWH heeded the voice of a man; for YHWH fought for Israel."
Based on this is an ingenious argument, accompanied by a diagram, is supposed to show that today Sunday is actually the continuation of the seventh day from creation. The gist of the false argument is this:
"Joshua showed that the sun and the moon were within a few minutes of going into conjunction in the position he placed them when he issued his command. Thus, this week contained a twenty-four hour period without a corresponding sunrise and sunset. ... Professor Totten has clearly demonstrated that the conjunction was due to occur on Tuesday at 11:13 A.M. ... According to the accompanying diagram, it is apparent that this particular week, from Sabbath day to Sabbath day, saw only six sunrises and six sunsets, though it contained the nominal seven times twenty-four hour periods. ... Numbering according to twenty-four hour periods it is seen that Saturday is the seventh day. If however, we number our days according to sunsets, then it is clear that Sunday becomes the seventh day from creation."
Following is a reproduction of the diagram used to present this argument:
- - Week of 7 x 24 Hours - -
| Sun Time | 7th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st
|
| Days of Week | Sat. | Sun. | Mon. | Tue. - Wed. | Thurs | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. | Mon.
|
| Divisions of 24 hours into night & day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | Joshua's eve. Long Day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day
|
| Order of Days | 7th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd - 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st | 2nd
|
| Hour Periods | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 + 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24
|
| According to the accompanying diagram, it is apparent from this particular week, from Sabbath day to Sabbath day, saw only six sunrises and six sunsets.
|
Surely, the reader can see what is WRONG with this argument, and this diagram. First, it is stated, "According to the accompanying diagram, it is apparent from this particular week, from Sabbath day to Sabbath day, saw only six sunrises and six sunsets." That is true, according to this diagram. However, it is NOT TRUE ACCORDING TO CREATOR's WORD! The diagram is in ERROR!
IF Joshua's long day had been counted as two days in actual history - "Tues." and "Wed." as labeled in this TRICK diagram, and the order of days came down to us as thus, this diagram would be correct. However, the above Scriptures show the long day was still counted as ONE DAY Therefore, the day labeled "Sun" above we call SATURDAY today, the true 7th day.
What is wrong? Simply this: YHWH SAYS, "from even to even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." The days of THE WEEK are counted from SUNSET TO SUNSET, according to the measuring of time in the first chapter of Genesis. It is stated each day that the "evening and morning were the first day" - "the second day," and so on. Nowhere does YHWH's Word say, "The first 24 hours was the first day! And the next 24 hours was the second day," etc. YHWH DOES NOT COUNT TIME ACCORDING TO MAN-MADE WATCHES AND CLOCKS! He counts DAYS according to the SETTING OF THE SUN.
Now in this fabricated diagram, the MAN who designed it called this long day of Joshua's, two days - Tuesday and Wednesday. Is this in harmony with the Scriptures? Does the Scriptures call this long day TWO DAYS? Notice, in speaking of it, in Joshua 10:14, it distinctly says "And there was NO DAY like it before or after it." The Scriptures calls it a DAY - just ONE DAY. However, in order to twist it around to conform to the broad and popular way of observing pagan Sunday, this ONE-DAY must be counted as TWO-DAYS and THAT IS CONTRARY TO THE SCRIPTURES.
Next, this argument ingeniously confuses the reader between numbering according to 24-hour periods, and numbering according to sunsets. The author of this argument uses 24-hour periods to make Friday appear to be Saturday - the actual 6th day of the week APPEAR to be Saturday the 7th day. Then he turns around and re-numbers these same days according to sunsets to make SUNDAY come out the 7th day.
It is clever, but it is a deception. WE CANNOT FIGURE DAYS IN TERMS OF 24-HOUR PERIODS. ETERNAL counts days from sunsets. Joshua's long day was approximately 48 hours on a man-made watch, but it was still only ONE DAY, and the Scriptures calls it, A DAY, and specifically says it was DIFFERENT from the other days - "there was no DAY" - not "days," but "day" - "like IT before or after IT." The pronoun "it" is singular. Just ONE DAY! CREATOR said so!! CREATOR's week is not made of seven 24-hour periods, but of seven days counting from sunsets. A diagram showing this as it actually is, according to the Scriptures and CREATOR's reckoning of time follows:
- - Week of 7 x 24 Hours - -
| Sun Time | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st | 2nd
|
| Days of Week | Sun. | Mon. | Tue. | Wed. | Thurs | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. | Mon.
|
| Divisions of Night and Day Periods | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day, but with 36 hours of daylight | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day | eve-day
|
| Order of Days | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st | 2nd
|
| Hour Periods | 24 | 24 | 48 | 24 - 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24
|
| NOTE: Days were reckoned THEN, and down through history to today, according to this diagram, not as in the above diagram. Saturday is the TRUE 7th day from creation.
|
A Trick Intended to Deceive Do you notice the trick employed as a means of deception in the first diagram? "Joshua's Long Day," as it is plainly labeled in the diagram - a day - one single day - is marked "Tuesday" and "Wednesday" - as if it were two days. At the bottom of the diagram, it is numbered the 3rd and 4th days of the week - TWO DAYS. Then at the top of the diagram it is re-numbered a different way - as ONE DAY, the "3rd" day of the week. . Counting Joshua's Long Day as TWO DAYS arrives at the day labeled "Saturday." Figuring that way, this day is made the 7th day of the week. Then, in the top line by re-numbering this day as ONE DAY - the 3rd day of the week - the day he has called Thursday is the 4th day, Friday is the 5th day, and Saturday is the 6th day of the week. This, of course, incorrectly brings Sunday out the 7th day.
Now this "Joshua's long Day" cannot be two days - the 3rd and the 4th days of the week - as it is numbered below, and also at the same time be just ONE DAY, the 3rd day, as figured in the first column. WHICH ONE IS IT, the 3rd day of the week - Tuesday, or the 3rd and the 4th days - Tuesday AND Wednesday? Just plain common sense will tell you it is one day. However, since the Scripture calls it "A DAY" and not two days, it is only ONE DAY, Tuesday, the 3rd day of the week, as shown in the correct diagram, the second diagram.
The error in the first diagram is in calling this day one day in one place, and two days another time. Actually, it was just ONE DAY, Tuesday the 3rd of the week. The day he has labeled Saturday, therefore, is NOT SATURDAY AT ALL, but actually Friday, the 6th day of the week. In addition, the seventh day should not be labeled Sunday as in his diagram, but Saturday, as in the second diagram. That is exactly the way it actually was counted in history! It is surely PLAIN that this first diagram is a deception and a delusion.
ETERNAL Revealed the Creation Sabbath to Israel
In the days of Moses, the Mighty One revealed the true creation Sabbath to all the Hebrew Children, in the raining of manna from heaven. The Israelites had been 400 long years in servitude and bondage in Egypt. They were not permitted to have any religious worship or service during these many generations. They had no Scrolls, no Scriptures, no written record of CREATOR's Commands or Ways. Perhaps they had even lost the knowledge of the Sabbath and did not know why the seventh day was important.
At the wilderness of Sin, two weeks before arriving at Sinai, they grumbled and complained from lack of food:
Ex 16:4 "Then YHWH said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 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.'"
This has to do with whether we will keep YHWH's LAW or NOT. To disobey is SIN:
Ex 16:6-14 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, 'At evening (dusk) you shall know that YHWH has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of YHWH; for He hears your complaints against YHWH . . . Then Moses spoke to Aaron, 'Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before YHWH . . . Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of YHWH appeared in the cloud' . . . 'And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying . . . At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am YHWH your SOVEREIGN. So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
Ps 78: (NIV) 24 He rained down manna for the people to eat, He gave them the grain of heaven.
Notice since Aaron spoke to the whole Congregation, there was a RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLY on this day, and the GLORY OF YHWH appeared. The quail did not come up until the sun set. WHY? Because this had been a Sabbath day. At sunset, when it ended, the quails came, and the people were privileged to go to work gathering in food to eat.
Next morning the manna fell. This was the FIRST DAY of the week. If they tried to keep over any manna untill the following day, it bred worms and stank (verse 20). On the sixth day (verse 22), twice as much came from heaven and they all gathered twice as much. Then, that sixth day, YHWH said, "Tomorrow is the rest of the consecrated Sabbath unto YHWH" (verse 23). They kept it over, and on this day, it did not breed worms nor stink.
However, on the seventh day some of the people must of thought TIME WAS LOST. They were like some modern people who were not sure WHICH DAY was the Sabbath, or whether it makes any difference. They went out to gather on the seventh day (verse 27) - AND THEY FOUND NONE! On this day, CREATOR did not send any! Therefore, by three miracles, CREATOR showed them, WHICH DAY was, the true Creation Sabbath.
The Proof of the Jews
About 70 CE, the Jews were driven from Jerusalem into EVERY NATION ON EARTH. From that time until now, they have been separated, scattered into all nations. Through the Middle Ages, the Jews in China had no way of communication with the Jews of Africa, or the Jews in Europe, with those of other parts of the world. Yet today, with communication restored over every part of the world, we do not find the Jews all mixed up on which day to keep.
Time could not have been mixed up or lost under the strict Mosaic regime between then and the time of the Second Temple. We have shown that Joshua's Long Day was just ONE DAY, and it did not change the reckoning of time in any way.
If time had been lost, the Jews of one part of the world would be observing one day, and the Jews of other parts, other days. But everywhere - in EVERY NATION ON EARTH, we find the Jews have been keeping the SAME IDENTICAL DAY - the day we call SATURDAY - the true seventh day.
The JEW is the miracle of all history - and the JEW is another proof that we have not lost the Sabbath. Ask any orthodox Jew today if HE has lost HIS Sabbath. Why, such an idea would be nonsense to him. He is not in doubt.
The Proof of Reason
In addition, here is another line of proof. Why should time be lost? HOW COULD it be lost? Stop, think! One person might, perhaps, wake up some Saturday morning thinking it was Friday, and thus wait until Sunday to keep his Sabbath. In order for time to be
LOST--not only ONE MAN, but also every other person in his town or city, every person in every province, state, or county of the whole world, every person in every nation on earth--would have to wake up the same morning with the same hallucination! Do you think this possible?
Yet, you believe this has happened if you believe that time has been lost!
Astronomy Proves It
Finally, we have the
scientific proof of ASTRONOMY. We quote from the official government statements to the League of Nations, as published August 17, 1926, in an official League document.
The government of Finland presented this observation from one of its astronomers: "The reform (calendar reform before the League) would break the division of the week, which has been followed for thousands of years, and therefore has been hallowed by immemorial use."
The government of France presented the following statements from two of its leading astronomers:
"One essential point is that of the continuity of the week . . . a continuity which has existed for so many centuries." "The continuity of the week . . . is without doubt the most scientific institution bequeathed to us by antiquity." Stated Prof. D. Eginitis, director of the Observatory of Athens, a member of the League Committee, "The continuity of the week . . . has crossed the centuries, and all known calendars, still intact."
Moreover, we could go on and on. However, this is enough. We have presented the proof of history, the proof of the calendar, the proof of the Jew, the proof of reason, the proof of science and astronomy.
In addition, we might add, as positive proof as any is that of the Roman Catholic Church, which through the centuries has preserved its
Sunday intact, as the day FOLLOWING the seventh day Sabbath.
The Catholic priest today, is no more in doubt about his SUNDAY
being the true FIRST
day of the week, than the Jew is about CREATOR's Sabbath.
Would YHWH set apart a certain day, put His blessing on it (Gen 2:1-3), make it CONSECRATED TIME, command that it be KEPT CONSECRATED FOREVER, and then let that consecrated time become so lost, that we cannot tell when to keep it? No, TIME HAS NOT BEEN LOST! In addition to that our loving CREATOR has, in these last days revealed to us the true Full Moon, New Month Calendar. The Observational Hebrew Calendar is the key that unlocks the true faith of Abraham, the Abrahamic Hebrew Faith. We keep the Calendar as the Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob kept it; also as Moses and King David kept it.
TIME LOST? Then you and I are LOST SOULS, for it is SIN to profane ETERNAL's Sabbath! That is the 4th point of the Law. It is also a SIN to worship false saviors. YHWH is the only Savior (Isa 43:11-12; 45:21; Hos 13:4) the only Rock (Deut. 32:4; 2 Sam 22:2-3; Isa 44:5-6,8; Hab 1:12), and He is only one being (Deut 4:35; 2 Sam 7:22; Ps. 73:25) The One True CREATOR, YHWH our SOVEREIGN, the Mighty One of Israel. The Sabbath is proof of His Creation; it is proof of Him.
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