The Feasts are the keys to the Calendar
should two calendars be mixed?
Consider the following:
- Most people assume that the seventh day Sabbath is based upon an uninterrupted continuous cycle of days.
- They also know that the Feast days, or "Annual Sabbaths", are based on days of the month, which is based on the moon. (While people may disagree if and how those feasts should be observed today, they all agree that the lunar calendar is used.)
Let us see what the Scriptures say concerning the calendar in regards to the Feasts. (Right now, we are more concerned with the details of the calendar then the Feasts themselves.)
23.1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23.2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. 23.3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. 23.4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 23.5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. 23.6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 23.7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 23.8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
You will notice that the entire chapter 23 of Leviticus concerns the Feasts. They are not the "Feasts of the Jews" but rather the "Feasts of the LORD" (the Hebrew actually has his name, YHWH.) The chapter then goes to list the feasts, starting with the Creation Sabbath, and then listing them as they occur on the lunar calendar.
- The first feast in the list is the seven day Creation Sabbath.
- The next feast is the Passover. Whose Passover? It says "the LORD's (YHWH's) Passover". It is the fourteenth day of the first Lunar month.
- The next day is the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread.
Is there any indication that a different calendar is used for the Sabbath and the other feast days which are all grouped together in Leviticus 23? Or is it just an assumption that there is?
Often the best way to see things is with an example. First, we will show the calendar of the Seventh Month. Then, we will show the Feast of Tabernacles for two different years, using the "Saturday Sabbath", and note the problems which occur, and the solution.
Feasts of the Seventh Month
The Feasts of the Seventh Month: Trumpets (first), Atonement (10th), and Tabernacles (15th to 21st).
(NM = New Moon, W = Work day, S = Sabbath)
| W | W | W | W | W | W | NM S |
|
 |
1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |  |
8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |  |
22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |  |
29 |
| (30) |
Does the modern calendar support this principle in the keeping of the Feasts? Consider the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast begins on the 15th day of the month which is a Sabbath, lasts for seven days, and then the eighth day, the 22nd of the month is a Sabbath.
23:34 The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. .... 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
Note that the Jews today, following Hillel's calendar inspired by Constantine's persecutions, have to add an extra day (a Sabbath at the end of the seven-day feast), to make this work, and they also will have a floating continuous-seventh day "Saturday Sabbath" somewhere in the middle of the Feast.
Problem with Mixed Calendar, Example 1:
- The Feast of Tabernacles always begins on the 15th day of the lunar calendar (a "Wednesday" that year).
- Therefore, "Wednesday" is made a Tabernacles Sabbath.
- The "Saturday Sabbath" occurs somewhere near in the middle of the seven day feast, in this case, on Day 4.
- An extra day, the eight day following the seven day feast ("Wednesday") is made a Tabernacles Sabbath.
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Tue. | Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. | Mon. | Tue. | Wed. |
| Tab. Day 1 Sab. |
Tab. Day 2 |
Tab. Day 3 |
Tab. Day 4 |
Tab. Day 5 |
Tab. Day 6 |
Tab. Day 7 |
Tab. Day 8 Sab. |
Problem with Mixed Calendar, Example 2:
- The Feast of Tabernacles always begins on the 15th day of the lunar calendar (a "Sunday" that year).
- Therefore, "Sunday" is made a Tabernacles Sabbath.
- But the "Saturday Sabbath" was just the previous day.
- An extra day, the eight day following the seven day feast ("Sunday") is made a Tabernacles Sabbath.
- But again, the "Saturday Sabbath" was just the previous day!
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Sat. | Sun. | Mon. | Tue. | Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. |
| 'Sat. Sab.' | Tab. Day 1 Sab. |
Tab. Day 2 |
Tab. Day 3 |
Tab. Day 4 |
Tab. Day 5 |
Tab. Day 6 |
Tab. Day 7 |
Tab. Day 8 Sab. |
The solution, of course, is that there is no "Saturday Sabbath", and that all feastdays, including the seventh day Sabbath, are based on the lunar calendar.
Solution, based on Example 2:
- The Feast of Tabernacles always begins on the 15th day of the lunar calendar (a "Sunday" that year).
- Therefore, "Sunday" is already the Lunar Sabbath for that month.
- The eighth day following the seven day feast, is the 22nd and is already the Lunar Sabbath for that month.
- (Just because the seventh day Sabbath happens to fall on a "Sunday" that month does not imply that "Sunday" is always the Sabbath, since the next month will be different.)
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Sat. | Sun. | Mon. | Tue. | Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. |
| Tab. Day 1 Sab. |
Tab. Day 2 |
Tab. Day 3 |
Tab. Day 4 |
Tab. Day 5 |
Tab. Day 6 |
Tab. Day 7 |
Tab. Day 8 Sab. |
A similar analysis could be made with respect to the First Month. The problems of the Saturday Sabbath clashing with the feast days will be seen. Of course, the solution is to use the same calendar, the lunar calendar, for both the feasts and seventh day Sabbath.
Feasts of the First Month
The Feasts of the First Month: Beginning of Year (first), Secure a Lamb (10th), Passover (14th), Unleavened Bread (15th to 21st), First Fruits (16th).
| W | W | W | W | W | W | NM S |
|
|
1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |
15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | |
22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | |
29 |
| (30) |
Rules of Postponement
the "smoking gun" in the Rabbi's hand
Because they are now using the mixed calendar, the Rabbis have developed "Rules of Postponement" to avoid a clash. For example, they don't want the Day of Atonement to be adjacent to a "Saturday Sabbath". However, if a Lunar Sabbath is used, then the Day of Atonement is always five days from the Sabbath, and there is never a problem. Even though the Bible has many details about the feasts, it is silent on "postponements". Why? Because Moses and the Prophets didn't use a mixed calendar, and so they didn't need them.
We can see that, by calculating the seventh day Sabbath in the same way as the feast days (from the beginning of the lunar month), there are no "clashes", nor is there a need to add an extra day. The very fact that these Rabbinical "Rules of Postponement" exist is the "smoking gun" that indicates that the Rabbis are not using the Scriptural Calendar for the seventh day Sabbath!