The Lunar Sabbath’s
Stunning Historical Evidence

 

Did the Creator, Yahuah Alahim, ordain Saturday as the authentic Sabbath of Scripture, designed to begin at sunset? Or was the original Sabbath to be counted from each full New/Renewed Moon and ordained to begin at sunrise? Which lunar phase is authorized in Scripture and History as the start of lunar months?

“The Babylonian calendar was at all periods truly lunar… the month began with the evening when the new crescent was first visible shortly after sunset. Consequently, the Babylonian day also began in the evening.” Otto Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd ed., Brown University Press, 1957, p. 106. 

“In the Old Testament the earlier practice seems to have been to consider that the day began in the morning. In Genesis 19:34, for example, the ‘morrow’ clearly begins with the morning after the preceding night…” Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, rev. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), pp. 7-8. 

“On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe your Sabbath.” Leviticus 23:32

Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls Weigh In

“Another interesting point follows from this short section of 4Q320 [Qumran – Dead Sea Scrolls]. The text reports that on the first day of month one in the first year of the world, the moon was shining from evening to morning in the center of the sky. Such wording strongly suggests that we are not dealing here with the [crescent] new moon, which would not have been visible in this manner, but rather with a full moon. That is, the full moon would have been present at the beginning of this lunar month and, in fact, at the beginning of measured time [along the east-west continuum]. This is our first indication that, for this tradition, the lunar month began with the full moon, not the lunar crescent. One wonders whether the scribes prepared tables that would have recorded the system of mishmarot [four priestly courses each lunar month] for all the years from creation to the present, using one of the chronological schemes attested in the ancient versions of the Bible.  As 4Q320 implies, such a possibility cannot be ruled out.” James C. Vanderkam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time, 1998, p. 79.

“While much of what is recorded in a text such as 4Q321 is by now familiar, the meaning of the term duqah (dwqh) remains the subject of a dispute. For Talmon and Knohl, it was ‘the designation of the day in the middle of the lunar month that is preceded by the night in which the full moon begins to wane, and X is the day at the end of the lunar month that follows upon the night in which the moon is in full darkness’ (Talmon and Knohl 1995:297). That is, the mystery day X is before the new moon, and duq occurs just after the full moon.  The two items X and the one designated duqa (dwqh) or duqo (dwqw; that is, the noun dwq with a suffix) appear at fixed [lunar] intervals: X comes thirteen days after duq or precedes duq by sixteen or seventeen days.  In contrast to Talmon and Knol, Wacholder and Abegg construe the X date as the full moon and duq as the new moon (Wacholder and Abegg 1991:68 and Appendix C), and M. Wise has maintained that duq refers to the time when the moon is full, while X is the first day when the moon is invisible. A careful study of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the X date is probably the full moon and duq should designate a time around the appearance of the lunar crescent; moreover, in this system, the full moon is the time when the month begins.  Evidence for this conclusion comes from the etymology of the word duq, which suggests the notion of careful observation. People who live with a lunar calendar observe carefully when the New Moon can be sighted so that the numbering of days in the new month can begin.  So, one would think that the word duq in 4Q319 would be more likely to have reference to the new moon than the full moon.  It should be recalled that 4Q320 seemed to imply the full moon was the beginning of the [lunar] month.” James C. Vanderkam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measurinng Time, 1998, p. 85. 

“The subject of calendars appears to have been a very important one at Qumran. One type of evidence for this conclusion is the number of copies of works that are calendrical in nature… Moreover, the people of Qumran engaged in polemics with other Jews who advocated different calendrical systems.  Calendars were not significant in and of themselves; however, they were simply written records of the way in which God had ordered his creation.  It was incumbent on the members of the Qumran covenant to observe the sacred festivals at the revealed times.  To do otherwise entailed violating the harmony of the universe and mixing the sacred with the profane.  Those who opposed the calendrical inferences of the group were charged with disobeying God and violating the covenant… While the Qumran texts are more akin to 1 Enoch in this respect, they do not agree with it fully.  It appears to be the case that, while the Astronomical Book locates the new moon at the beginning of the month, for the Qumran calendars, it is the full moon that marks the inception of a new month.”  James C. Vanderkam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measurinng Time, 1998, p. 110.

Is There Overlapping of New Moon Days with Weekdays?

“…each lunar month was divided into four parts corresponding to the four phases of the moon. The first week of each month began [after] with the New Moon [Day], so that, as the lunar month was one or two days more than four periods of seven days, these additional days were not reckoned at all [among weeks].”  The Universal Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 10. p. 482. Article “Week.)

 

“The origin of the Sabbath, as well as the true meaning of the name, is uncertain. It was probably originally connected in some manner with the cult of the moon, as indeed is suggested by the frequent mention of Sabbath and New Moon festivals in the same sentence.”  Emil G. Hirsh, The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 10 (New York: Funk and Wagnall, 1905), 590.

 

“At the end of four weeks an interval of one or two days [30th day and New Moon Day] … intervene before the new [lunar month and] week could begin. At an early date [359 A.D.], however, this intimate connection between the week and the moon must have been dissolved…”  Jewish Encyclopedia.com, unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, “Week,” by Emil G. Hirsch, Vol. 12, p. 481.

“The four quarters of the moon supply an obvious division of the month…it is most significant that in the older parts of the Hebrew Scriptures the New Moon and the Sabbath are most invariably mentioned together. The [lunar] month is beyond question an old sacred division of time common to all the Semites; even the Arabs, who received the week at quite a late period from the Syrians, greeted the New Moon with religious acclamations… We cannot tell [exactly] when the Sabbath became dissociated from the [lunar] month.”  Encyclopedia Biblica (1899 edition), pp. 4178 – 4179.

“Luni-solar calendar foundations of the Jewish calendar extend from the earliest verses of Scripture.  Natural, uniform motions of the heavenly spheres are the pivotal markers of time reckoning. The list of ancient characters mentioned in the Old Testament used this lunar-solar calendar system of time recording. Observation of lunar phases coupled with solar positioning graduated the lifetime ages of Adam and his descendants… Changes in the appearance of the moon provided the seven-day week. Originating with ancient interpretations of lunar time, division of seven days separate the four basic lunar phases… Completion of four lunar phases comprises the month.”  Ages of Adam, published in 1995, by Clark K. Nelson, p. ? 

“A unit of time; the period between one new moon and another. According to the account of Creation in Genesis, it was decreed that the “lesser light” should “rule the night” and serve “for signs and for seasons” [mo’edim] (Gen. 1:14). The Psalmist also says, “He appointed the moon for seasons” [mo’edim] (Ps. 104:19).” Undoubtedly there was an occasional interpolation of an extra [automatic lunar] month to correct the lunar year to the solar cycle; and it is evident from the fact that the festivals named in given months—such as Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles—all had to do with crops…the highest antiquity. The relation of the months to the signs of the zodiac is a further evidence that the solar-lunar year was employed.” Jewish Encyclopedia, “Month,” Cyrus Adler, Judah David Eisenstein, Vol. 8, p.671.

“… A month in law, is a lunar month…unless otherwise expressed… In legal proceedings, the word ‘months,’ means lunar months …” Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary (of Great Britain), 1903 Edition, p. 1221.

The New Moon According to Philo, the First-Century Historian

“Following the order which we have adopted, we proceed to speak of the third festival, that of the new moon. First of all, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning [of the year for Rosh Hashanah in spring], whether of number or of time, is honorable. Secondly, because at this time there is nothing in the whole of heaven destitute of light.“ Philo, Special Laws II, Section XXVI, p.140-142.

This quote above by Philo reveals six truths simultaneously. 

1. The New Moon was a Festival to be celebrated with a worship assembly in honor of YAHUAH, the Most High Creator, as with all other lunar-appointed festivals. Leviticus 23:1-4 reveals only two kinds of sacred Feast Days: 1) lunar seventh-day Sabbaths and 2) lunar appointed Feast dates. Although not mentioned in Leviticus 23 as such, the New Moon Days are defined as Feast Days in Numbers 28:11-15, Isaiah 66:23, Amos 8:5, and Ezekiel 46:1-3.
2. It reveals that there were three kinds of Festivals (New Moon Days, lunar seventh-day Sabbaths, and lunar appointed Festival dates).
3. The New Moon (Chodesh #2320) is the first day of every lunar month into infinity.
4. The New Moon is the beginning of numbered days of each lunar month.
5. The New Moon is the BEGINNING of ALL the Creator’s TIME UNITS, especially on Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Day in spring).
6. The last sentence identifies that at the time of the authentic New Moon, there is nothing in the whole of heaven destitute of light. I believe this means that there is no place on earth, whether by day or by night, where either the sun by day or the full moon by night is not ruling as they shine in their selene (most brilliant) splendor, as depicted in the image below. Only the full moon lunar phase meets this criterion.

Here, you have the sun ruling one side of the earth by daylight; at the very same time, the full moon is ruling all night on the other side. Are you aware that this is the only way Scripture defines the ruling New Moon?  1) The New Moon must be the lesser light. 2) The New Moon rules the night without the sun, placing it opposite the sun. 3) The New Moon rules together with the stars all night. 3) Together, the sun and full moon, as the original New Moon, light up the whole earth. On the night of the full moon, there is no place on Earth that is not covered in light by either the sun or the full New Moon.

Only the Full Moon, as the original and authentic New Moon, is supported by not just three but four witnesses in Scripture.

The History of the Jewish Calendar

The mere fact that there is a history of the Jewish calendar corresponding to three specific eras should, at the very least, raise some questions and, at the most, cause the reader to consider the evidence presented here.

“The history of the Jewish calendar may be divided into three periods—the Biblical, the Talmudic, and the post-Talmudic. The first rested purely on the observation of the sun and the moon, the second on observation and reckoning, the third entirely on reckoning.” Jewish Encyclopedia.com, the unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, “History of the Calendar,” by Joseph Jacobs, Cyrus Adler, Vol. 3, p. 498.

Lunar Sabbath Quotes 

Intercalary Days

The Pharisees Rise to Power

Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70, the Yahudim (Jews) went into Roman captivity.  The Sadducees passed the metaphorical leadership baton to the Pharisees, whose focus was the Talmud and Oral Traditions of Babylon. This was when the Torah Laws, the original full New Moon, and Right-Ruling ended for the Yahudim. 

“With the destruction of the Temple (A.D. 70) the Sadducees disappeared altogether, leaving the regulation of all Jewish affairs in the hands of the Pharisees. Henceforth, Jewish life was regulated by the Pharisees; the whole history of Judaism was reconstructed from the Pharisaic point of view, and a new aspect was given to the Sanhedrin of the past. A new chain of tradition supplanted the older priestly tradition (Abot 1:1). Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought of the Jew for all the future.”“Pharisees,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol 9, [1901-1906 ed.], p. 666.

 

“Pharisaism became Talmudism…[but] the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew… studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies…The spirit of the [Pharisees’] doctrine has remained quick and vital.” Louis Finklestein, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of their Faith, [Jewish Publication Society of America], Vol. 4, p. 1332.

 

“The last universally binding decision of the Great Sanhedrin appeared in 358 CE, when the [original] Hebrew Calendar was abandoned.” 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin. Also: New International Encyclopaedia, Sanhedrin, 1905 Edition, Bibliography. Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the Times of Jesus Christ, vol. ii. (Edinburgh, 1886-90); Kuenen, “Ueber die Zusammensetzung des Sanhedrins,” in Gesammelte Abhandlungen (Freiburg, 1894); Hoffman, Der oberste Gerichtshof in der Stadt des Heiligthums (Berlin, 1878); Jelski, Die innere Einrichtung des grossen Synedrions zu Jerusalem, etc. (Breslau, 1894).

   “Several customs which prevailed during the age between the Exodus of the Israelites and the resurrection of Christ had so completely changed by the seventeenth Christian century that the translators of the “Authorized Version” of the English Bible were not able to perceive some important truths taught in the Greek version of the Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. Unseen truth would not be clearly translated into the English Bible. The student, who of necessity was limited in his studies to the English version would not be able to see more truth than was expressed in the English version… 
    Second – Since the Jews for more than sixteen centuries have been observing a Saturday Sabbath, and since Christians have been for more than eighteen centuries having a fixed Sunday Sabbath, it is only reasonable to expect most Sabbath writers to try and interpret all Bible Sabbath teachings on the theory of fixed septenary cycles. But the noted Rabbi Hirsch believes and teaches that “The old (Jewish) Sabbath had no connection with a fixed [Roman cycling] week.”
   Third – The passing out of sight of the old Bible lunar calendar and the now almost universal effort to interpret the Bible upon the basis of solar calendars… 
   Sixth – …Because of the failure to note the above mentioned difficulties it has become quite difficult so to write or teach as to be clearly understood about the Scriptural Sabbaths.” Sunday the World’s Rest Day, The Sabbath-The Lord’s Day, by Rev. Samuel W. Gamble, D.D. p. 81-82. (Published for the New York Sabbath Committee, Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1916.) 

The following quote compares Roman time to astro-luni-solar time by giving three pieces of information. First, it gives the Roman date of the month, the day of the Roman cycling week, and the lunar date as it is counted from the New Moon. The Nones of November is the same as November 5, which fell on the day of Venus (Friday). The 24th lunar phase corresponded with this Roman date, making it the Second Day after the third Sabbath of the month.

“In the consulship of Claudius and Paternus, on the Nones of [5^th] November, on the day of Venus [Friday], and on the 24th day of the lunar month, Leuces placed [this memorial] to her very dear daughter Severa, and to Thy Holy Spirit. She died [at the age] of 55 years, and 11 months [and] 10 days.” The date of this inscription is Friday, November 5, 269 A.D. Inscriptions Christianae Urbis Romae, E. Diehl, Vol. 1, Part 1, p. 18., No. 11; Sunday in Roman Paganism, Robert L. Odom, p. 122.

“…Shabbat [weekly Sabbath] originally arose from the lunar cycle, containing four weeks ending in Sabbath, plus one or two additional…days per [lunar] month. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An Authorative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times. Volume 10 Cohen, Simon (1943 p 482-483.). Week. In Landman, Isaac.

“…The week of seven days was connected with the lunar month, of which it is, approximately, a fourth…“ Jewish Encyclopedia.com, unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, “Week,” by Emil G. Hirsch, Vol. 12, p. 481.

“Those [appointed Festivals] connected with the moon: (a) Sabbath; (b) New Moon; and (c) the New Moon of the seventh month… Jewish Encyclopedia.com, the unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, “Festivals,” Classification of Festivals, Emil Hirsch, Vol. 5, p. 376.

“The moon was the beneficent… [herald] of the shepherds in the region and climate where ancient Israel had its ancestral home. Hence the many traces of lunar institutions in even the latest Israelitish cult and its phraseology… The Sabbath, as marking the end of the week, reveals its lunar origin; the phases of the moon having taught the shepherds, whose weal or woe depends so largely upon the benevolence or malevolence of the night season, to divide the period elapsing between two new moons into four equal groups (weeks), the last day of each… Indications are not wanting that at first the New Moon festival was not counted among the seven days of the week (see Week); but after… New Moon days… a new cycle of four weeks began... Later, the week and the Sabbath became fixed [according to the Babylonian/Roman continuous weekly cycle]; and this gradually resulted in taking away from the New Moon festival its popular importance.” Jewish Encyclopedia.com, the unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, “Festivals,” Pastoral Feasts, Emil Hirsch, Vol. 5, p. 376.

“…The Hebrew Sabbath (i.e. Creation Sabbath) was originally a Sabbathon…it was celebrated at intervals of seven days, corresponding with the changes in the moon’s phases…”  Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1899, p. 4180.

“The Hebrew month is a lunar month and the quarter of this period – one phase of the moon – appears to have determined the week of seven days.” Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1899, p. 4780.

“[When] dissociated from the moon, the Sabbath developed into a day of rest for the workers and animals on the farm…  Traces of the old taboo [forbidden New Moon and lunar calendar model from creation] are, however, found.  In Amos 8:5 it is the fear of… consequences [for not abstaining from work on the New Moon Day and Sabbath] that keeps the impatient merchants from plying their wicked trade.  The Assyrian [Babylonian/Roman] calendar seems to disclose an effort to get rid of the movable [lunar] Sabbath in favor of the fixed [continuous weekly cycle].” jewishencyclopedia.com, Jewish Encyclopedia 1906, SABBATH, Emil G. Hirsch, Joseph Jacobs, Executive Committee of the Editorial Board, Julius H. Greenstone, Vol. 10, p. 591.

“With the development of the importance of the Sabbath as a day of consecration and the emphasis laid upon the significant number seven, the week became more and more divorced from its lunar connection…” The Universal Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. X, “Week,” p. 482.

“The months of the year were lunar, and began with the new moon.” The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, “Calendar,” p. 631.

“In the time of the earliest prophets, the New Moon stood in the same line with another lunar observance, the Sabbath.  Ezekiel, who curiously enough frequently dates his prophecies on the New Moon . . . describes the gate of the inner court of the (new) temple looking eastward as kept shut for the six working days, but opened on the Sabbath and the New Moon.”  Scribner’s Dictionary of the Bible, (1898 edit) p. 521.

“And then the moon, ever punctual to mark the times, [as] an everlasting sign: It is the moon that signals the Feasts, a luminary that wanes after being full.  The month derives its name from hers.  She waxes wonderfully in her phases, a banner of the hosts on high, shining in the vault of heaven [the shamayim].” Ecclesiasticus 43:6-8, c.a. 19-180 B.C.

“At first the New Moon festival was not counted among the seven days of the week; after 28 days had elapsed [7 days x 4 weeks], one or two days were intercalated as New Moon days, whereupon a new cycle of four weeks began, so that the Sabbath was a movable [lunar] festival…. Later the week and the Sabbath became fixed [to the Roman cycling planetary week]; and this gradually resulted in taking away from the New Moon festival its popular importance…” The Jewish Encyclopedia, Pastoral Feast.

“The [early] Hebrews employed lunar seven-day weeks, which ended with special observances on the seventh day, but none the less were tied to the moon’s course.” Rest Days, Hutton Webster, p. 254-255

“The weeks do not continue in a regular cycle regardless of the moon. Each month has four weeks, the beginning with the New Moon. I have no doubt that this was the old Hebrew system.” Stephen Langdon, Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars (London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1935), p. 89.

“It is powerfully urged by the believers in a primitive Sabbath, that we find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of seven days among all nations — Egyptians, Arabians, Indians — in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of this week of 7 days, for which it is difficult to account without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors [Adam and Eve] of the human race. Among all early nations the lunar months were the readiest large divisions of time… In order to connect the reckoning by weeks with the lunar month, we find that all ancient nations observed some peculiar solemnities to mark the day of the New Moon. Accordingly, in the Mosaic law the same thing was also enjoined (Numbers 10:10; 28:11, etc.), though it is worthy of remark that, while particular observances are here enjoined, the idea of celebrating the New Moon in some way is alluded to as if already familiar to them. In other parts of the Bible, we find the Sabbaths and New Moons continually spoken of in conjunction; as (Isaiah 1:13, etc.) the division of time by weeks prevailed all over the East, from the earliest periods among the Assyrians, Arabs, & Egyptians. It was found among the tribes in the interior of Africa….The Peruvians counted their months by the moon, their half-months by the increase and decrease of the moon… without having any particular names for the week days.” The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia 1904. Vol. 3, p. 1497.

“The decline of the [Roman Julian] eight-day week coincided with the expansion of Rome… The astrological and Christian [planetary – Sun. – Sat] seven-day weeks that had just been [re] introduced into Rome were also becoming increasingly popular.  There is evidence indicating that the Roman eight-day week and those two seven-day cycles were used simultaneously for some time.  However, the coexistence of two weekly rhythms that were entirely out of phase with one another obviously could not be sustained for long. One of them clearly had to give way.  As we all know, it was the eight-day week that soon disappeared from the pages of history forever [along with the original lunar seven-day week].”  Eviatar Zerubavel, The Seven-day Circle, p. 46.

“The connection of the Sabbath with lunar phases, however, was (later) discarded by the Israelites…”The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia, p. 135-136.

“…the Jewish festivals being regulated solely by the moon, may fall on any day of the [modern Roman] week.” Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 Edition, Vol. 2, Pentecost, p. 658.

“It is certain that the Jews celebrated… Pentecost…without regard in either case to the day of the [modern Roman] week.” Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 Edition, Vol. 2, Pentecost, p. 658.

“The resurrection of Christ [Messiah] is recorded to have taken place on the second [third] day of the Passover, being that year the first day of the week. Seven weeks after that (and so again on the first day of the week) was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. In commemoration of this, these two Christian festivals are always held on the first day of the week (Sunday), and so in most cases do not coincide with the Jewish festivals.” Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 Edition, Vol. 2, Pentecost, p. 658.

“The Greek Church had no such facilities of examining the authentic records…till the Julian Calendar had been adopted; still the true date of the crucifixion was less disguised by the Greeks than that of the nativity, but he [Constantine] wished, almost the necessity, of so keeping Easter as to make the day of crucifixion Friday, and of the resurrection Sunday, caused differences of opinion that led to persecution and bloodshed.” Mazzaroth, The Constellations, Frances Rolleston, p. 133. (Rivingtons, London, 1862.)

“For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticas, Book V Chapter XXII.

“The modern seven-day week came into use during the early imperial period, after the Julian calendar came into effect, apparently stimulated by immigration from the Roman East. For a while it coexisted alongside the old 8-day nundinal cycle, and fasti are known which show both cycles. It [the modern cycling week] was finally given official status by Constantine in A.D. 321.” Roman Calendar Encyclopedia, Days of the Week.

“The Sunday law of Constantine must not be overrated.  He enjoined the observance, or rather forbade the public desecration of Sunday, not under the name of Sabbatum [Sabbath] or dies Domini [Lord’s Day], but under its old astrological and heathen title, dies Solis [Sunday], familiar to all his subjects, so that the law was as applicable to the worshipers of Hercules, Apollo, and Mithras, as to the Christians.  There is no reference whatever [to this] in His [Scripture’s Torah] law, either in the fourth commandment or in the resurrection of Christ.”  Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. III, p. 380.

“How such a law would further the designs of Constantine, it is not difficult to discover.  It would confer a special honor upon the [Roman] festivals of the Christian church, and it would grant a slight boon to the pagans themselves. In fact, there is nothing in this edict which might not have been written by a pagan.  The law does honor to the pagan deity whom Constantine had adopted as his special patron god, Apollo, or the Sun.  The very name of the day lent itself to this ambiguity.  The term Sunday (Dies Solis) was in use among Christians as well as pagans.” J. Westbury-Jones, Roman and Christian Imperialism, p. 210.

“The Sunday…is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.”  American Catholic Quarterly Review, January, 1883.

To declare “The Sunday… is purely a creation of the Catholic Church” is no different than saying the entire modern week and its perpetual cycle is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.  Why?  Because Sunday and its first-day placement only exist in its endless rotation of a seven-day cycling week.  So if Sunday is a Roman creation, then so is Saturday, along with its seventh-day placement. “And all the world wondered after the Beast!” 

“They [the Protestants] deem it their duty to keep the Sunday holy.  Why? Because the Catholic Church tells them to do so.  They have no other reason… The observance of Sunday thus comes to be an ecclesiastical law entirely distinct from the divine law of Sabbath observance… The author of the Sunday law… is the Catholic Church.” The Ecclesiastical  Review, February, 1914.

“Even after Constantine’s edict about Sunday, it took another generation or two for the seven-day week to catch on throughout the empire. The 24-hour system took longer, having to wait until the invention of the mechanical clock in the Middle Ages by monks anxious to observe with precision their canonical hours. Before this, people marked the passage of time during the night by using the stars and during the day either by eyeballing the sun or by listening to public announcements of the time.” Calendar, David Ewing Duncan, p. 47, (New York, Avon Books, 1998.)

   “Since the second century A.D. there had been a divergence of opinion about the date for celebrating the paschal [Passover/crucifixion] anniversary of the Lord’s passion (death, burial, and resurrection).    
   The most ancient practice appears to have been to observe the fourteenth [Passover date as counted from the new moon], fifteenth, and sixteenth days of the lunar month regardless of the day of the [Julian – planetary cycling] week these dates might fall on from year to year.
   The bishops of Rome, desirous of enhancing the observance of Sunday as a church festival, ruled that the annual celebration should always be held on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday following the fourteenth day of the lunar month…This controversy lasted almost two centuries, until Constantine intervened on behalf of the Roman bishops and outlawed the other group.” R.L. Odom, Sunday in Roman Paganism, p. 188.

“The parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s Passover… whatever day of the [Julian – planetary cycling] week it should happen to be.  But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world…” Michael I. Roostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, p. 456.

“It was only in Alexandria [Egypt] that three distinct practices that had evolved quite independently of the Chaldean [Babylonian] planetary theory – an astronomical practice of arranging the seven planets in a certain invariable order, a mathematical practice of subdividing the daily cycle into twenty-four hours, and an astrological theory known as the doctrine of “Chronocratores” – were nevertheless integrated with it so as to produce the astrological seven-day week in its final form. This cycle is therefore the product of the successful Hellenistic fusion of astronomy, astrology, and mathematics, as well as the great cultural heritage of Egypt, Babylonia, and Greece.” The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, Eviatar Zerubavel, New York: The Free Press, 1985. p.14.

“The Babylonians, at a very early period, divided their months into seven-day cycles…” Ancient History, Hutton Webster, p. 20.

“The Sabbath depending, in Israel’s nomadic period, [forty years of wilderness wandering] upon the observation of the phases of the moon, it could not, accordingly be a fixed day [meaning a fixed planetary day of the modern Roman cycling week]. The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History. Edited by Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler, Volume 10, p. 590.

“Quasi [lunar] weeks and [continuous] weeks actually represent two fundamentally distinct modes of temporal organization of human life, the former involving partial adaptation to nature [Creation], and the latter stressing total emancipation from it. The invention of the continuous week was therefore one of the most significant breakthroughs in human beings attempts to break away from being prisoners of nature [and from under the Creator’s law] and create a social world of their own.”  The Seven Day Circle: the History and Meaning of the Week, Eviator Zerubavel, The Free Press, New York, 1985, p. 11.

“Most theologians and some scholars assume that mainstream Jewish society, at the time of Jesus [the Messiah] . . .was practicing a fixed seven-day week which was the same as the modern fixed [cycling planetary designations] seven-day week. This is extremely doubtful. The change, from a lunar to a fixed week, was brought about by the power and influence of Rome. As long as the Nazarenes held power in Jerusalem, all Roman practices and customs, including that of the consecutive week, were held at bay.” Shawui Sabbath: Ancient Sabbath Observance 

“In the years following Clement of Alexandria’s time (A.D. 150-215), an ominous change started to take place that was to radically change the Christian concept of the Sabbath. This intimate connection between the week and the month was soon dissolved. It is certain that the week soon followed a development of its own, and it became the custom — without paying any regard to the days of the month (i.e. the luni-solar month) . . . so that the New Moon no longer coincided with the first day of the month.   Then, on page 4179 of the same encyclopedia, we read: “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.

“We shall be taken for Persians [Mithraists], perhaps…The reason for this, I suppose, is that it is known that we pray towards the east… Likewise, if we devote the day of the Sun to festivity (from a far different reason from Sun worship), we are in a second place from those who devote the day of Saturn, themselves also deviating by way of a Jewish custom of which they are ignorant.” Tertullian, Apologia.

“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.

“The present Jewish calendar was fixed [changed to the Roman planetary weekly cycle] in the fourth century.”  Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Letter by Louis Finkelstein to Dr. L. E. Froom, Feb. 20, 1939.

“Each New Moon was celebrated with a fast.” Jewish Family Celebrations, p. 35.

“…The sacred festival of the new moon, which people give notice of with trumpets, and the day of fasting, on which abstinence from all meats and drinks is enjoined…”  Philo, Vol. 26, p. 159

“Some Dead Sea Scrolls, such as 4Q325, 4Q326, 4Q327, and 4Q394, contain fixed week calendar systems which may represent an early attempted transition from the more ancient lunar phase week toward the modern fixed [solar] week made mandatory by Rome a few centuries later. Dead Sea Scroll fragments also preserve a luni-solar calendar, along with new and dark moons which are unnecessary if they only kept the purely solar calendar of 364 days. https://www.essene.com/B’nai-Amen/sabat.htm

“…There was a distinct break between the Old Testament requirements… dealing with the Sabbath worship…They [Rome] wanted to show that Christianity [her brainchild] was distinct from Judaism… The other thing that we should remember, too, is that our calendar that we follow, including Seventh-day Adventists, is not only a calendar that was devised by the Catholic Church, but also it is a calendar that’s based upon the solar year, not the lunar year.  The Jewish calendar that was observed in the time of Christ  [Messiah] follows a lunar [astro-luni-solar] calendar . . .So the great irony is that even the Seventh-day Adventists themselves are not worshiping on exactly the same Sabbath day as the Jews of the time of Christ, because it is several days off now having switched [from] following the lunar calendar.” Patrick Madrid, Catholic Apologist, EWTN, Global Catholic Radio Network, Jan 5, 2006

“But to the seventh-day of the week He [YHUH] has assigned the greatest festivals, 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)

Referring to the quote above, let’s look carefully at what Philo says. “But to the seventh day of the week, He [YHUH] has assigned the greatest festivals.” In other words, the greatest (longest) festivals have been assigned to the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, the 15th, which starts the festival and lasts seven days.We know both of these seven-day feasts begin on the Sabbath of the 15th. Philo says that each of these two months (the first and the seventh) should receive the special honor of one sacred festival day to refresh and clear the mind with its holiday.

Notice he did not say they would receive two sacred days of festivals, but one, the 15th. To prove the seventh day of the week is the same as the 15th, elsewhere Philo states, “Again the beginning of this feast is appointed for the fifteenth day of the month (or seventh day of the week) on account of the reason which has already been mentioned respecting the Spring season might receive special honor of one sacred day of the festival.”

In other words, Philo says the weekly Sabbath highlights these two feasts on the 15th of their respective months each year. This is evidence that the Sabbaths are counted according to the lunar calendar because there is no way the [modern] continuous weekly cycle with its Sabbath can consistently commence these two festivals on the 15th in both the 1st and 7th months of each year. This only works within the parameters of a lunar month and its count to each of the four Sabbaths, and not with the Gregorian calendar with its continuous weekly cycle. Refer to the article, Passover to Tabernacles Calendar Challenge.

The Karaite Jews, from whom the Seventh-day Adventist Church adopted their crescent New Moon for October 22, 1844, admit they don’t even know when the true Seventh-day Sabbath actually occurs anymore. The pragmatically honest Karaite Jews deserve accolades for this admission:

“Through all the trials and tribulations that humanity has experienced over the past 5,000 years, we have no proof whatsoever that our current Saturday is the actual seven-day “anniversary” of the original Shabbath of Creation.” 

http://www.karaiteinsights.com/article/shabbat.html

The term “Menorah” means “moon’s numbered light,” as it is derived from “mene” (moon numbering ) plus “ore”(אור -light) equals Menorah. 

“For example, Helius is Chammah and Shemesh [meaning the sun]. Selene [G#4582 – brilliant moon] is Yareach, or Ha-labanah [meaning the moon], and hence is also called mene. The ‘month’ is called ‘the mene’ and the moon is called ‘mene,’ as it also is in Greek, because of the [lunar] month.” The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, First Book Section 1, Part 16, Epiphanius Against the Pharisees 2:3

“And then the moon, ever punctual to mark the times, [as] an everlasting sign: It is the moon that signals the Feasts, a luminary that wanes after being full. The month derives its name from hers. She waxes wonderfully in her phases, a banner of the hosts on high, shining in the vault of heaven [the shamayim].” Ecclesiasticus 43:6-8, c.a. 190-180 B.C.

“At the beginning of the Common Era… In order to assure against profanation of the Sabbath, the Jews added the late Friday afternoon hours to the Sabbath.”  The Jewish Festivals:  History & Observance, p. 13.

“…the time of the transition from the reckoning of the day as beginning with morning to the reckoning of it as beginning with evening… that in the earlier calendar and in the literature which records this, the day was reckoned from the morning, presumably from sunrise, while in the later calendar and the literature pertaining thereto the day was reckoned from the evening… Elsewhere we have presented quite a mass of evidence which establishes conclusively that the earlier practice in Israel during the Biblical period was to reckon the [24 hour day/night cycle] day from sunrise to sunrise… That in the earliest period of Israelite sojourn in Palestine, under calendar 1, the day was reckoned from morning to morning is established by a super abundance of evidence… This in turn, together with other important considerations, would point to a time approximately about the beginning or the first half, of the third century B.C. as that of the introduction of the new system of reckoning the day.”  Supplementary Studies in the Calendars of Ancient Israel, p. 1-148

The Bible has never taught that either the day or the Sabbath commences at sunset.  This was entirely a Jewish invention that began in the first century A.D. 

The Jews’ Rules of Postponement

In A.D. 358, the Rabbinical Pharisees faced total calendar chaos with a lunar month calendar on one hand and a conflicting solar cycling week on the other. The resulting problem necessitated the creation of a new set of rules called the Four Rules of Postponement.  Its purpose was to bring harmony to the two opposing calendar methods.  Without these rules, their newly adopted Roman week cycles were on a collision course with their new “Babylonian-styled” lunar months, depositing “Saturday Sabbaths” upon every day of the lunar cycle alike, including New Moon Days and all the annual lunar Feast Days.

So, to keep their new Saturday Sabbath from falling on their pseudo-Passover and new Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), these rules of postponing the Feast Days by one or two days were implemented. It was determined that if a lunar Feast Day was destined to occur on a Friday or Saturday, it must be postponed to protect the most critical immovable Saturday at all costs, rather than the other way around. Thus, Saturday, the seventh day of a pagan manmade institution, took precedence. 

“The FOUR RULES OF POSTPONEMENTS allow the [new Roman] seven-day week to cycle without interruption, while corrections by way of DELAYS are imposed upon the day of the New Moons [molads or mo’ed H#4150 –  new moon and its lunar appointed times]. This system proactively DELAYS the Feast Days by one to two days.” Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac – U.S. Naval Observatory, Edited by P. Kenneth Seidelmann, p. 586.

This compelling evidence that the Four Rules of Postponement were necessary from that day to this illuminates the FACT that the modern Rabbinical Pharisee calendar bears no resemblance to the Creator’s original timepiece. Sunday became the first day of the Rabbinical calendar, causing Saturday to appear as the seventh day. These only seem to fit, as our well-groomed indoctrination of the fraudulent Roman calendar model has become a deeply rooted paradigm for nearly 1,700 years. And because most Christian Churches no longer try to keep the lunar Feast Days, the problem of incompatibility between the modern Roman calendar and Scripture’s remarkable lunar calendar layout goes entirely unnoticed among most Bible adherents. Like oil and water, the lunar Feast Days cannot be harmonized or located according to the modern solar calendar. 

“A custom was developed in which an additional day could be added to the month to ensure that certain holidays (such as Yom Kippur) did not fall on the days before or after Shabbat.”  Wikipedia, Rosh Chodesh

   “Due to the peculiarities of the Jewish calendar, and the desire not to have certain observances fall on the [new Saturday] Sabbath day, there are several occasions on which festivals or their observances are postponed to a later time. The principal one of these postponements is that of Rosh Hashanah [the modern use of Tishri 1], which naturally affects all the other days of the year that follow.   
   There are four such postponements, as follows: 1) If the onset of the New Moon of Tishri is later than noon; 2) If the onset is on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday (on which Rosh Hashanah can not fall); 3) If the onset is on Tuesday in an ordinary [twelve month] year, between about 3:12 A.M. and noon; 4) If the onset is on Monday in a leap year, between about 9:30 A.M. and noon. In some cases, more than one of these postponements occurs in the same year, so that Rosh Hashanah is two days later than the actual New Moon date. If the first day of a festival falls on the [new Saturday] Sabbath, certain ceremonies are postponed to the second day.
    The principal one of them is the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah [modern use of Tishri 1].  When this festival falls on the [new Saturday] Sabbath, the blowing takes place on the second day only in Conservative and Orthodox synagogues (Reform congregations, which observe only one [New Moon] day, ignore this rule). Similarly, the ceremony of shaking the Lulab is postponed to the following day if the first day of Sukkoth [Feast of Tabernacles] is on Saturday. On the other hand, such a ceremony as circumcision is never postponed, even for Yom Kippur, unless the health of the child requires it.”  Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol 8., p. 610. 

The “Four Rules of Postponement,” a neo-tradition among modern Jews, determine when to postpone the Creator’s calendar to avoid infringing upon the new Saturday Sabbath of the pagan Roman calendar. It is the greatest evidence, exposing their modern calendar as a fraud, no matter how many centuries this phony tradition has been honored.

Astro-luni-solar Calendar Quotes

The following two quotes were part of the Grace Amadon Collection, discovered hidden in the vault at Andrews University. They have been copied from the pages of a book that had previously been removed from its binding. The book’s name was available, but not the author’s name.

“The month of the Jews was, as we have said, a lunar month, and extended from one appearing of the new moon to another. The time elapsing between one astronomical new moon and another consists of 29.5 days. . . But since the month consisted of entire days, they counted it with pretty regular alternation as 29 or 30 days. A month of 30 days was called a full month . . . if it had only 29 days, it was called an imperfect month . . . The Jewish month could never have more than 30 days, and never fewer than 29.” Chronological and Geographic Basis of the History of Jesus Christ, p. 5, Section 7.

   “But had the ancient Jews, and particularly at the time of Jesus[Yahusha the Messiah], such lunar months and years with an intercalary month, as the Talmud asserts? The great majority of chronologists, amongst whom are Wurm, Ideler, Wieseler, V. Gumpach, and Winer, return an affirmative answer to this question. There have not been wanting, however, those who maintain the contrary, and claim for the Jews of the age of Jesus the reckoning by solar months and years.   
    This view finds an advocate particularly in Seyffarth, in a treatise (Chronology Sacra, p. 43 ff.) which has the special object of vindicating the New Testament chronology of the [Roman Church] Fathers. Among the assertions of the Fathers [Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John], there is one to the effect that the obscuration of the sun on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus [Yahusha the Messiah] was due to an astronomical [solar] eclipse. To maintain this position, solar months [or an outright change of New Moons] must be ascribed to the [modern] Jews; for if [at that time] they reckoned by lunar months, and these months began with the  [dark] new moon, the 15^th Nisan must fall at the time of the full moon, in which an eclipse of the sun is impossible, since this can take place only at the time of a [dark] new moon.
   Seyffarth maintains that the Sanhedrin of Tiberias, which drew up the present Jewish calendar about A.D. 200, invented the lunar months and years, and got them surreptitiously introduced into the books of Jewish tradition. To this it must be objected that the Sanhedrin, if it had really practiced this deception, would assuredly have represented this newly-invented calendar as handed down in the lump by tradition. But this is not the case; on the contrary, the calendar of the modern Jews introduced by the Sanhedrin is in many respects different from that described in tradition, especially in the Mishna Rosh Hashana…” Chronological and Geographic Basis of the History of Jesus Christ, p. 7, Section 9.

The above quote attempts an honest look at historical Hebrew time-reckoning by revealing an apparent paradox. But don’t be misled into believing there are only two options: 1) Solar months or 2) Lunar months based wholly upon a dark or crescent New Moon, simply because this is a modern Jewish tradition. The weight of evidence found in Scripture and some historical documents, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, defines the original New Moon as the Full Moon after all.

This being the case, at the time of the crucifixion, which occurred on Passover the 14^th of the first lunar month of Abib (Nissan), it would have naturally transpired at the time of a dark conjunction lunar phase. For a solar eclipse to have occurred, this would have been necessary, as is well documented in Scripture and History. On this most notable day in history, the commencement of all the prophetic events, is it not highly probable, given the facts, that the Most High magnified the length and intensity of that epic event to bring attention to the beneficiary GIFT of His Son for mankind? Refer to the article/study, The Sun was Darkened from the Sixth to the Ninth Hour.

“This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus: “If [said he] these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they made it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that commands them; to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving.” Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chapter VII, verse 1.

“It was this very teaching which according to Josephus, was a contributing fact in Abraham’s decision to leave Ur: ‘For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans and other people of Mesopotamia raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave the country; and at the command, and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land of Canaan.'” Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chapter VII, para. 1.

“To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity – now far sunk in idolatry… to shake hands.”  The Two Babylons, Alexander Hyslop, p. 105.

“By the 1st century B.C.E., the Roman calendar had become hopelessly confused. The year, based on cycles and phases of the moon, totaled 355 days, about 10¼ days shorter than the solar year…The confusion was compounded by political maneuvers. The Pontifex Maximus and the College of Pontiffs had the authority to alter the calendar, and they sometimes did so to reduce or extend the term of a particular magistrate or other public official. Finally, in 46 B.C.E., Julius Caesar initiated a thorough reform that resulted in the establishment of a new dating system, the Julian  calendar.” http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-roman.html

“In the mid-1st century B.C. Julius Caesar invited Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, to advise him about the reform of the calendar, and Sosigenes decided that the only practical step was to abandon the lunar calendar altogether. Months must be arranged on a seasonal basis, and a tropical [solar] year used, as in the Egyptian calendar, but with its length 365.25 days.” Encyclopedia Britannica, The Julian Calendar, Paragraph 1. https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/The-Western-calendar-and-calendar-reforms.

“Julius Caesar’s conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC introduced this planetary week to the Roman Empire… Since the astrological and Jewish weeks were both seven days long, by the 1st century AD the day of Saturn had become identified with the Jewish Sabbath. After Christianity became the state religion, the Church integrated both cycles to produce our present week, used also by Jews and Muslims.” (Sarah Belle Dougherty in her book review of The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week by Eviatar Zerubavel, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1989. As published in Sunrise magazine, August/September 2003; copyright © 2003 Theosophical University Press)

“In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar asked astronomer Sosigenes to suggest ways to improve the calendar.  Acting on Sosigenes suggestions, Caesar ordered the Romans to disregard the moon in calculating their calendars.”  World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 28.

“The current [Roman] calendar is not without defects, and reforms are still being proposed. . . the seven–day week and the different lengths of months are unsatisfactory to some. Clearly, if the calendar could have all festivals and all rest days fixed on the same dates every year, as in the original Julian calendar, this arrangement would be more convenient, and two general schemes have been put forward the International Fixed Calendar and the World Calendar. The International Fixed Calendar is essentially a perpetual Gregorian calendar, in which the year is divided…” Encyclopedia Britannica, Modern Schemes for Reform.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/89368/calendar/60234/Modern-schemes-for-reform

“A measure of time corresponding to the period of revolution of the moon. . . The primitive calendar month of ancient nations began on the day of New Moon or the day after . . . Among many peoples of antiquity, however, it was from a very early period found desirable that the calendar year should contain an integral number of the smaller periods used in ordinary reckoning. Hence the true [lunar] months were superseded by a series of twelve periods each having a fixed number of days (on the average one-twelfth of the number in the calendar year), and thus having no relation to the changes of the moon; but this artificial period continued to bear the name of month.” The Oxford English Dictionary, “Month,” 1., 1971, p. 634.

“A space or period of time constituting a division of the year. Month, originally signified the time of one revolution of the moon, a lunation, or the period from one change… of the moon with the sun to another…This is the periodical [synodical] month, or as we generally call it, the lunar month. In the year there are twelve solar months, and thirteen lunar months.” American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828 edition.

“In the Diaspora the New Moon came to occupy a secondary position in contrast to the Sabbath; the prohibition against work and the carrying on of commerce was lifted, and the New Moon, although still celebrated by means of increased offerings, soon was reduced to the rank of a minor of half holiday. Its importance was confined to the fact that it remained of great value and necessity for the fixing of the festivals.” Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, “New Moon,” Vol. 8, p. 171.

“The period of New Moon was, in pre-exilic [Babylonian] times, celebrated by cessation of labor; it was superior even to the Sabbath-day, which formed but a part of it [four Sabbaths within its lunar cycle] (see I Sam. xx. 18-34; II Kings iv. 23; Amos viii. 5; Hos. ii. 13 [A. V. 11]; Ezek. xlvi. 3); but it lost its importance during the Exile and was observed mainly as the determining factor of the calendar with its festivals…  In the Temple, New Moon was celebrated by special sacrifices [which differentiated it from work days and seventh-day Sabbaths] (Num. xxviii. 11-15; II Chron. ii. 4, viii. 13; Ezra iii. 5; Neh. x. 33) and by the blowing of the trumpet (Num. x. 10)…”  Jewishencyclopedia.com, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 Edition, New Moon, Kaufmann Kohler, Vol. 9, p. 243.

“Maimonides and most other Jewish chronologists agree that the modern Jewish calendar is based upon the “mean motions of the sun and moon, the true having been set aside.” Maimonides, Kiddusch Ha-hodesch, Tr. Mahler, Wein, 1889.

“Intercalations [of the calendar] were determined at meetings of a special commission of the Sanhedrin. But Constantius, following the tyrannous precedents of Hadrian, prohibited the holding of such meetings…How difficult the fixing of the annual calendar consequently became may be judged from an enigmatic letter addressed to Raba . . . and preserved in the Talmud . . . Almost the whole Diaspora depended for the legal observance of the feasts and [New Moon] fasts upon the calendar sanctioned by the Judea Sanhedrin; yet danger threatened the participants in that sanction and the messengers who communicated their decisions to distant congregations… As the religious persecutions continued, Hillel II determined to provide an authorized calendar for all time to come, though by so doing he severed the ties which united the Jews of the Diaspora to their mother country and to the patriarchate.” I. Singer and S. Mendelsohn, “Hillel II, www.JewishEncyclopedia.com.

But what of Gentile Believers?

Did this early break-off of the true Nazarenes also observe a Sabbath cycle?

  “Early historical records clearly confirm that very early Gentile Christians also kept the same [lunar] Sabbath Calendar as the…Nazarenes. This practice was first changed by Sixtus in 126 A.D. and later officially changed by a royal Roman decree from the emperor Constantine. Observance of the [lunar] Sabbath day was made illegal and observance of a “Sunday” of a FIXED WEEK was made mandatory for all except farmers. Previous to this time the ROMAN SATURDAY was the FIRST DAY OF THE ROMAN WEEK. The veneration of the Sun in the second century A.D. began to pressure Roman culture to change the first day of their week FROM SATURNSDAY TO SUNDAY. (Had the Jews been observing this same Roman calendar at this early date, as some maintain, then their seventh-day Sabbath would have been on FRIDAY which was the traditional seventh-day of this Roman calendar during the first century A.D.).   
     In A.D. 130, Hadrian visited the ruins of Jerusalem left after the First Roman-Jewish War of 6673. He promised to rebuild the city, but planning it as a pagan metropolis to be called Aelia Capitolina. A new pagan temple on the ruins of the Second Temple was to be dedicated to Jupiter.^[11] In addition, Hadrian abolished circumcision (brit milah), which he, as an avid Hellenist, viewed as mutilation.^[12] A Roman coin inscribed Aelia Capitolina was issued in 132. Hadrian’s policies triggered the massive Jewish uprising, led by Bar Kokhba and Akiba ben Joseph. Following the outbreak of the revolt, Hadrian called his general Sextus Julius Severus from Britain, and troops were brought from as far as the Danube. Roman losses were very heavy, and it is believed that an entire legion, the XXII Deiotariana was destroyed. ^[13] Roman losses were so heavy that Hadrian’s report to the Roman Senate omitted the customary salutation “I and the legions are well” ^[14]. Hadrian’s army eventually defeated the revolt however. According to Cassius Dio, during the war 580,000 Jews were killed, 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed. After the end of the war, Hadrian continued the religious persecution of Jews, according to the Babylonian Talmud ^[15].
   He attempted to root out Judaism, which he saw as the cause of continuous rebellions, prohibited the Torah law, the Hebrew calendar and executed Judaic scholars. The sacred scroll was ceremoniously burned on the Temple Mount. At the former Temple sanctuary, he installed two statues, one of Jupiter, another of himself. In an attempt to erase any memory of Judea, he removed the name from the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina, after the Philistines, the ancient enemies of the Jews. He re-established Jerusalem as the Roman pagan polis of Aelia Capitolina, and Jews were forbidden from entering it.” Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia, Hadrian

“This change from the luni-solar to a fixed solar calendar occurred in Rome during the repressive measures which were enacted against ALL Jewish customs . . .during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. With the fall of the Nazarene headquarters…at Jerusalem, this new Roman calendar quickly spread throughout ‘Christendom.’ This new calendar not only replaced yearly festival dates such as Passover, but it also revamped the concept of the week and its seventh-day.”  Iranaeus 2^nd Century A.D.

“The…calendar was used by ALL the original disciples of Yeshua…This original Nazarene lunar-solar calendar was supplanted by a Roman “planetary week” and calendar in 135 C.E. — when the “Bishops of the Circumcision” were displaced from Jerusalem. This began a three hundred year controversy concerning the TRUE CALENDAR AND CORRECT SABBATH: This [calendar] controversy arose after the exodus of the bishops of the circumcision and has continued until our time.” Epiphanius, HE4, 6, 4. 

“In the years following Clement of Alexandria’s time, an ominous change started to take place that was to radically change the Christian concept of the Sabbath. This intimate connection, records the Encyclopedia Biblica, between the week and the month was soon dissolved. It is certain that the week soon followed a development of its own, and it became the custom without paying any regard to the days of the month [i.e. the lunar month].” Encyclopedia Biblica, The MacMillan Company, 1899. p. 5290.

“The early Christians [Messiah followers] had at first adopted the Jewish [lunar] seven-day week with its numbered weekdays, but by the close of the third century A.D. this began to give way to the planetary week; and in the fourth and fifth centuries the pagan designations became generally accepted in the western half of Christendom. The use of the planetary names by Christians attests to the growing influence of astrological speculations introduced by converts from paganism.” Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morality. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1916, p. 220.

“It seems as if some spiritual genius having control over the pagan world had so ordered things that the heathen planetary week should be introduced just at the right time for the most popular Sun cult of all ages to come along and exalt the day of the Sun as a day above and more sacred than all the rest.  Surely this was not accidental.”  Sunday in Roman Paganism, Robert L. Odom, p. 157.

“This slow metamorphosis…with pagan calendation principles is largely responsible for the lack of knowledge existing today regarding the true calendar of the Creator. The pagan continuous weekly cycle reaches so far back in history, it is assumed that a continuous weekly cycle has always existed.  The historical facts of the Julian calendar have been forgotten and circular reasoning has been used to “prove” that Saturday is the [Biblical] Sabbath.” Calendar Fraud, eLaine Vornholt & Lauralee Vornholt-Jones, p. 44.

“The present Jewish calendar was fixed in the fourth century.” Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Letter by Louis Finkelstein to Dr. L. E. Froom (of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Feb. 20, 1939. Regarding the present Jewish calendar.

“… It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul… Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Savior a different way.” Life of Constantine, Eusebius, Vol. 3, Chapter 18, [recorded words of Constantine]

The following oath was to be declared by all who followed the Creed of Constantine: 

“I accept all customs, rites, legalism, and feasts of the Romans, sacrifices, prayers, purifications with water, sanctifications by Pontificus Maximus (high priests of Rome), propitiations, and feasts, and the New Sabbath Sol dei (day of the sun), all new chants and observances, and all the foods and drinks of the Romans. In other words, I absolutely accept everything Roman, every new law, rite and custom, of Rome, and the New Roman Religion.”  A Profession of Faith from the Church of Constantinople in the year 325 C.E. Under the Emperor Constantine

“Under the reign of Constantius the persecutions of the Jews reached such a height that . . . the computation of the [astro-luni-solar] calendar [was] forbidden under pain of severe punishment.” The Jewish Encyclopedia, Calendar. [Search for Calendar. Select Calendar, History of. The Quote is the last paragraph under the Talmudic Section. 

“He shall insult the Most High, he shall torment/wear out the righteous ones of the Most High, and he shall attempt to change the calendar and the ordinance.” Daniel 7:25   Twentieth Century Knox translation.

According to the Jews

“Declaring the new month by observation of the new moon, and the new year by the arrival of spring, can only be done by the Sanhedrin. In the time of Hillel II [4th century A. D.], the last President of the Sanhedrin, the Romans prohibited this practice. Hillel II was therefore forced to institute his fixed calendar, thus in effect giving the Sanhedrin’s advance approval to the calendars of all future years.”  The Jewish Calendar: Changing the Calendar, www.torah.org.)

The following quote is a most exciting find, as it denotes the primary issue for which the Romans pressured the Jews to change their lunar time-keeping method. The Roman powers were hell-bent on removing and replacing the original Jewish calendar model with their own solar calendar. Ironically, the Jews were allowed to utilize a new calculated lunar calendar developed in Babylon to locate the start of their lunar months and Feast days. This new system would never be able to harmonize with the worship rhythm of their Creator because it was based on two counterfeit time-measuring models at odds with each other and the Creator’s original.

This solar calendar model and dark conjunction New Moon are 180 degrees opposite of the Creator’s original and authentic calendar model given at creation. While the week contained the required seven days, it had no connection to the required lunar cycle. And it was no longer in sync with the true seventh-day Sabbath of Creation, as set forth by the trinity of LIGHTS in the shamayim. This last sentence above gives new meaning to Revelation 18:2-4 regarding “BABYLON HAS FALLEN, HAS FALLEN,” AND “COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE.” 

“The arrangement of the Jewish calendar as used in the time of Christ is no longer operative.  Modern Jews are divided into two classes.  The Karaite Jews, whose numbers are small, reject tradition and the Talmud, observe their feasts and festivals more nearly with those of Christ’s [Yahusha the Messiah’s] time as regards to the true season. The larger number of Jews follow the Rabbinical Calendar, the product of Rabbi Hillel II and others about 353 A.D. These incorporated into it many of the ancient rules of calculation, but begin their year, and feasts and festivals a month earlier in the season than the Karaites. We have in 1844 the atonement by the Rabbinical Calendar would be September 23^rd, while by the Karaites it was about that time in October. By the Rabbinical calendar the First day of Nisan is always between March 12 and April 11, and is always one of four days, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday the first one after the new moon for that month.” Creation Centered in Christ, by H.G. Guinness, D.D., page 276. Also from Approximate Chronology, H. H. Perry, p. 21-22.

Listen now to this Original Song:  Look to the Heavens