Creation/Lunar Sabbath Keepers

                         Saturn and the Sabbath

Talking about the time prior to the Diaspora, Hutton Webster tells us that an old and still common theory derives the Sabbath institution from the worship of SATURN after which planet the first day of the astrological week [Saturday] received its designation. The theory is untenable for more than one reason. In the first place the Hebrews did not name their weekdays after the planets, but indicated them by ordinal numbers. In the second place SATURN'S DAY [SATURDAY] BEGAN THE PLANETARY WEEK, while the Jewish Sabbath was regarded as the LAST DAY of the seven, a suitable position for a rest day. And in the third place neither the Hebrews nor any other Oriental people ever worshipped the planet Saturn as a god and OBSERVED HIS DAY AS A FESTIVAL (Ibid., p. 243).

However, in the Diaspora, this soon changed with the influence of the Zoroastrian revival and the Roman planetary week:

These imported [from Babylon] superstitions eventually led Jewish rabbis to call Saturn SHABBTI, "the STAR OF THE SABBATH," [and]...it was not until [after]the first century of our era, when the planetary week had become an established institution, THAT THE JEWISH SABBATH SEEMS ALWAYS TO HAVE CORRESPONDED TO SATURN'S DAY [SATURDAY]" (ibid., p. 244).

"The association of the Sabbath Day with Saturday," explains Webster, "was probably one reason why Saturn, a planet in Babylonian astrological schemes regarded as beneficent rather than malefic, should have come to assume in late classical times the role of an unlucky star (sidus tristissimum, stella iniquissima)...Dio Cassius [Roman historian born 155 A.D., died after 230 A.D.] also speaks of the Jews having DEDICATED TO THEIR GOD THE DAY CALLED THE DAY OF SATURN [SATURDAY], 'on which, among many other most peculiar actions, they undertake no serious occupation'...Tacitus [another Roman historian] (Historiae, V, 4) thinks that the Jewish Sabbath may be an observance in honour of Saturn..." (Rest Days, p. 244-245).

Notes the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: "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..."(volume 10, 1943. Article, "Week," p. 482).

Also, writes Hutton Webster, "the establishment of a periodic week ending in a Sabbath observed every seventh day was doubtless responsible for the gradual obsolescence of the NEW MOON FESTIVAL AS A PERIOD OF GENERAL ABSTINENCE, since with continuous weeks the new-moon day and the Sabbath Day would from time to time coincide" (ibid., p. 255).

This obsolescence of the New Moon festival is also noted by the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia --

However, 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 (volume 8, p. 171. Article "New Moon").

Eviator Zerubavel, in his book The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, observes that

The Jewish and and astrological weeks evolved quite independently of one another. However, given the coincidence of their identical length, it was only a matter of time before some permanent correspondence between particular Jewish days and particular planetary days would be made. A PERMANENT CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SABBATH AND "THE DAY OF SATURN" WAS THUS ESTABLISHED...[some time] later than the first century of the present era, Jews EVEN CAME TO NAME THE PLANET SATURN SHABTAI, AFTER THE ORIGINAL HEBREW NAME OF THE SABBATH, SHABBATH. Moreover, as they came into closer contact with Hellenism, their conception of their holy day was evidently AFFECTED BY THE ASTROLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF SATURN AS A PLANET that has an overwhelming negative influence (a conception which, incidentally, is still evident even from the association of the English word "saturnine" with a gloomy disposition). There are traditional Jewish superstitious beliefs about demons and evil spirits that hold full sway on the Sabbath, and an old Jewish legend even links the choice of "the day of Saturn" as the official Jewish rest day with the superstition that it would be an inauspicious day for doing any work anyway! (New York: The Free Press, 1985. P. 17).

 

Commerce and the Sabbath

On page 11 Zerubavel makes some interesting comments about the Jewish divorcement of YEHOVAH's true Sabbath day from the lunar phases --

...the dissociation of the week from a natural cycle such as THE WAXING AND WANING OF THE MOON can be seen as part of a general movement toward introducing a supranatural deity. Not being personified as any particular natural force, the Jewish god was to be regarded as untouched by nature in any way. Accordingly, the day dedicated to this god was to be regarded as part of a divine temporal pattern that transcends even nature itself. That obviously involved DISSOCIATING THE WEEK FROM NATURE AND ITS RYTHMS. Only by being based on an entirely artificial mathematical rythm could the Sabbath observance BECOME TOTALLY INDEPENDENT OF THE LUNAR OR ANY OTHER NATURAL CYCLE.

Zerubavel goes on to say that A continuous seven-day cycle that runs throughout history paying no attention whatsoever to the moon and its phases is a distinctly JEWISH INVENTION. Moreover, the dissociation of the seven-day week from nature has been one of the most significant contributions of Judaism to civilization. Like the invention of the mechanical clock some 1,500 years later, it facilitates the establishment of what Lewis Mumford identified as "mechanical periodicity," thus essentially increasing the distance between human beings and nature. 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, 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 God's law] and create a social world of their own (The Seven Day Circle, p. 11).

 

The author further expounds, on page 8 of his book –

...the establishment of a seven-day week based on the regular observance of the Sabbath IS A DISTINCTIVELY JEWISH CONTRIBUTION [?] TO CIVILIZATION...it is crucial to remember that the ANCIENT DWELLERS OF MESOPOTAMIA themselves did not have a real seven-day week [as we know it today]. While...the seven-day intervals entailed in the regular observance of the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of the lunar month...served as the model for the Jewish week, they themselves cannot be considered weeks. Such intervals, which I shall call quasi-weeks, undoubtedly bear a striking resemblance to the week and are often mistaken for it. Nevertheless, they are an essentially different phenomenon.

One of the most distinctive features of the [present] week is the fact that it is entirely dissociated from the lunar cycle. It is essentially defined as a precise multiple of the day, quite independently of the lunar month. Quasi [lunar] weeks, on the other hand, are generally defined as rough approximations of fractions of the lunar month, and are appropriately called "lunar weeks" by Francis H. Colson (ibid.).

Zerubavel concludes by saying that ...the indispensibility of a CONTINUOUS week for the establishment of settled life with a high level of social organization, [was] particularly significant since the RISE OF A MARKET ECONOMY, which involved orderly contact on regular recurrent, periodic market days. Only by establishing a weekly cycle of an unvarying, standard length could society guarantee that the continuity of its life would never be interrupted by natural phenomena such as the lunar cycle. The DISSOCIATION OF THE WEEK FROM THE LUNAR CYCLE, is, therefore, the most significant breakthrough in the evolution of this cycle from its somewhat rudimentary and imperfect [?] predecessor. Only by defining the week as a precise multiple of the day, rather than...a fraction of the lunar month, could human beings permanently avoid the problem of having to handle LOOSE REMAINDERS and, thus, introduce into their lives the sort of temporal regularity that they could never attain with the quasi [lunar] week (The Seven Day Circle, p. 10).

 

 

Other Lands

While the weekly Sabbath was divorced from the lunar reckoning by the Babylonian rabbis, the lunar Sabbath continued to be kept in various parts of the world. Hutton Webster makes mention of the fact that

The Buddhist Sabbath, or uposatha, like the Jain posaha, owed its existence remotely to the Vedic lunar rites. As celebrated anciently in India and in modern times in Nepal and Ceylon [Sri Lanka], the uposatha falls on the DAY OF THE NEW MOON, on the DAY OF THE FULL MOON, and on the TWO DAYS which are EIGHTH from new and full moons. The uposatha is marked not only by fasting but also by abstinence from secular activities: during its continuance buying and selling, work and business, hunting and fishing are forbidden, and all schools and courts of justice are closed...The uposatha, as contrasted with the upavasatha, is a ceremony attached to ALL FOUR OF THE LUNAR PHASES, instead of to two only; moreover, it is a REST DAY as well as a fast day...Elsewhere the uposatha service is referred particularly to the FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, "it being full moon" (Rest Days, pp. 155-156).

The Chinese festivals at the moon's phases reach back into the past as far as the historical eye can follow them.

At this juncture I would like to leave you, the reader, with some Jewish insight into YEHOVAH God's holy Sabbath day. In Creation: The Jewish Oral Tradition, we read --

Its [the Sabbath's] unique quality and power is that it recharges and renews the spiritual energy of the world. The other weekdays literally derive their nourishment from it. This applies to the entire structure of creation -- without this system of replenishment, the world would not survive, but after six days would immediately implode, returning to the chaotic state of "emptiness and void" -- as the Torah states: "For in six days God created the world"; meaning, for six days after this, without the life-giving energy of the holy Shabbat, God would have to create the world anew.

The article goes on to say:

This is so, even today. Every new week which passes over us is actually sustained and receives its very life-force courtesy of the holy Shabbat, and all of creation is given the ability to function for yet another week by the influx of Divine influence which it receives on this day (ibid.).

There is a passage in the Talmud which brings forth another intriquing concept which is clarified by what we have just read: "Whoever sanctifies the Shabbat, and recites the 'kiddush' blessing over the wine together with the verse 'Va'yechulu' on Shabbat, is considered like THE HOLY ONE'S PARTNER in the creation of the world" (BT Shabbat 1 19:B).

"At first glance," comments the article, "this would seem to be a most extreme statement for the Rabbis to make, and certainly not meant to be taken literally. If the Sages are attempting to impart some sort of ethical teaching or example, its plain meaning is lost on us by what would appear to be the sheer exaggeration of such a statement -- for how could a person become a partner in something which has already been completed previously, before his time? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing -- that someone can come along and be considered a partner in something he had nothing to do with?"

"And even if such a concept could somehow be understood," continues the article, "why should it be said in reference to 'kiddush' -- what is so special about this particular action that it could bring a person to such a level of identification with the Divine that he should be called A PARTNER TO GOD? If the act of 'kiddush' itself is so significant, then it would be understandable if the Rabbis want to emphasize the greatness of the reward which one merits for its observance -- but to speak of a 'partnership with God' -- is that not a bit much?"

But according to what we have just read, this makes perfect sense! Since the Sabbath day is literally what keeps the world alive; and every six days a new Sabbath arrives at the phases of the moon and resuscitates the world -- breathing new life into it again for yet another six days -- we should understand that the Sabbath would not exist in this world if it were not for those who observe it! If no one kept the Sabbath -- for whom could it be said to exist?

In this light we can clearly see the intentions behind this teaching; for whoever sanctifies the Sabbath, observing it at the right time (at the moon's phases) and safeguarding its holiness, INSURES THAT THERE IS A SABBATH FOR THE WHOLE WORLD! The Sabbath exists through the Sabbath-keeper, and through the Sabbath the whole world continues to exist. Therefore, in reality, he is most certainly supporting the world, and is truly A PARTNER IN CREATION -- the creation which is renewed each week through the holy presence of YEHOVAH God in the Sabbath day! THERE COULD BE NO GREATER PARTNERSHIP THAN THIS!

"And so not only does Shabbat keep the world alive, but he who observes the Sabbath, keeps the Shabbat alive...such is the level of the 'shomer shabbat' that he could rightfully be called 'the righteous', the 'tzaddik,' [and] is the foundation of the world -- for it is HE WHO LITERALLY UPHOLDS THE WORLD" (Creation: The Jewish Oral Tradition).

Keep this in mind when you start observing YEHOVAH God's holy Sabbath day according to YEHOVAH's injunction in Exodus 16 -- according to the moon's course through the heavens!

The evidence for YEHOVAH's weekly Sabbath days being tied to the phases of the moon is overwhelming. In fact, so much material is available that I have elected to cut short this article in order not to overload the reader with facts. It is my sincere hope and prayer, that you, the reader, will have an open mind and see the irrefutable truth that YEHOVAH God set up His holy Sabbath days on the four quarters of the moon (Exodus 16) and intends for us to worship Him on these very days. The Saturday sabbath is NOT YEHOVAH God's day -- any more than Sunday is. In the search for truth we have uncovered vital new truth that, frankly, is going to separate the men from the boys; those who will obey YEHOVAH God without equivocation from those who will continue to thumb their noses at YEHOVAH and resist to the very end.

Many of you may be asking, "how in the world can we keep God's Sabbath day on the phases of the moon and according to Exodus 16? It is the most impractical thing we could possibly do in the way we now live." It is like having been born into a trap -- because we're used to it, we think it is normal. The truth is, YEHOVAH's people have historically fallen into traps. These very traps are such that present us from fully doing what YEHOVAH God requires. They develop by (1) circumstances that He leads us into in order to be tested; (2) the stubbornness of our own hearts while being tested (remember what Jeremiah said about our hearts being desperately wicked); (3) so that He (YEHOVAH God) can make His power known; or all three.

Just as surely as YEHOVAH God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and revealed to them His Sabbath calendar, it is prophesied that His people will once again return to it IN THE FUTURE. The prophet Isaiah records the culmination of the ages in chapter 66:

"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord, "so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord. (Verses 22-23, NKJ).

If we are going to keep the new moons and the Sabbaths in the future, why not start NOW? Why not say to YEHOVAH God, "help me do this in my personal life so that I may be found faithful when you return." I fully realize that to accomplish this with all of His people simultaneously will require a deliverance greater than the one from Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom.: We have nowhere to "exodus" to. But, in the meantime, the remnant of His people must occupy till He comes. Part of this "occupying" is with regard to leading our families to OBEY HIS NATURAL LAW, lest He fall upon us and we be destroyed. Remember, the Israelites kept the Passover before they left Egypt. As we begin to keep His true weekly Sabbaths in our Egypt, let us cry out to our Elder Brother again that he would deliver us. Let us pray for his deliverance, but make ready to be delivered!