In The Torah Calendar we show the calendar Yahweh commands us to keep in Scripture. One thing we see is that the days begin at evening. This can be seen by the simple fact that Genesis 1 tells us the evening and the morning constitute a day.

 

 

This is verified in the manner in which Yahweh tells us the Day of Atonement lasts from evening to evening.

 

 

That a day lasts from evening to evening is a simple application of Genesis 1:14-19, which tells us that the sun, the moon and the stars were made for signs, for seasons, for days, and for years.

 

Just as the sun and the moon are used to divide the day from the night, the moon is also used to divide the year into months. In The Torah Calendar, we saw how the historical record in the Talmud shows us that in Yeshua’s time, the month began with the sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon. This is shown by the fact that there had to be “witnesses” to the sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon. They used witnesses because it is a visible event.

 

 

We give more details about how the new moon days are determined in The Torah Calendar, but what the Talmud shows us is that in Yeshua’s time, the new month was established by visibly sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon. Further, since Yeshua never said that the calendar in His day was wrong, all calendar systems which do not begin their months with the visible sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon are not calendar systems that Elohim wants us to use. There are any number of calendars which fit this description, including the Roman Gregorian “Christian” calendar, the “Jewish” (Hillel II Rabbinic) calendar, the Conjunction Calendar, and most versions of the Lunar Sabbath calendar.

 

Normally we like to focus on what Yahweh says to do, rather than talking about what Yahweh has not said to do. However, there are times when we need to provide more information in order to clear up misconceptions and confusion, as these are not of Yahweh. Yet even so, we will try to focus on what Yahweh has said to do, and then show how these alternate calendar theories (such as the “Lunar” Sabbath calendar) depart from Scripture.

 

Yahweh worked for six days, and in the seventh day He completed all of His work. Therefore He blessed the seventh day, and set it apart.

 

 

What Yahweh has established for us in this passage is a basic pattern of “count to six, and then rest on the seventh day.” We will see this pattern show up again in Exodus 16, where Yahweh is trying to instruct Israel to keep this basic pattern of “counting to six, and then resting on the seventh day.”

 

 

Some of the Israelites did not want to rest on the seventh day, and so YHWH gave the instruction again, telling Israel to count to six, and then to establish their weekly Sabbath of rest on the seventh day.

 

One thing we should notice here is that this command to “count six and then take a Sabbath rest” was given as a perpetual count. It hearkens all the way back to Genesis 2:1-3, which we saw earlier. However, some people teach a totally different count, which is based on the moon. There too many variations of this moon-based count to detail them all here, but we will try to discuss the more popular ones, and show how they conflict with Yahweh’s commandments.

 

The “Lunar” Sabbath is the idea that the “count seven” is somehow based on the moon. Some say that this count begins when the moon is dark, and that the weekly Sabbaths are then established by the phases of the moon. Others say that this count begins with the sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon. We will discuss the problems with both of these positions, but one of the first things that come to mind is how the start of the lunar count diverges from Yahweh’s count, because Yahweh started His count on day 1 of the creation, whereas the moon was not created until the fourth day. Therefore, any count that begins with the sighting of the moon has a different start point.

 

 

Many scholars have speculated that the “light” and the “darkness” that were created on the first day refer to spiritual light and darkness (i.e., good and evil), which is different than visible light. Yet the point here is that if Yahweh begins His count on the first day, and the lunar count begins on the fourth day (when the moon was created), then these two calendars have two different start points, and there is no way to reconcile the two.

 

It is important to remember that Yahweh never said to begin the weekly Sabbath count based on the moon. Rather, He said to keep the count that He delivered to Israel in the wilderness, and Israel has always carefully guarded this count. Some have even argued that this count was lost in the Babylonian Exile, but this cannot be correct, because with something as important and as foundational as the Fourth Commandment, Yeshua would surely have said something about it.

 

There are many variations of Lunar Sabbath theory, but basically they all boil down to two. The first one has the Sabbath falling on the phases of the moon, and the second has the weekly count starting with the sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon.

 

The most popular version of Lunar Sabbath theory has the month beginning when the moon is dark, on what is typically called the “lunar conjunction.” This is also called a “no moon,” or a “dark moon.”

 

 

This theory is based on the concept that one should be able to look up into the nighttime sky and know when the Sabbath is, based on the phases of the moon. One problem is that as beautiful as this concept might be, it is not what Yahweh commands us to do (which is to rest on the count of seven). There are also practical limitations, in that in the land of Israel, the conjunction normally lasts two days, and can last up to 3.5) days (or more, if there are clouds). Which of these days are we to choose as the starting point for our count? There is no way to tell, because Yahweh never says. This is why, in practice, people who use this system have to refer to a pre-calculated chart, or else the people who go by this system end up keeping their “Sabbath” up to 3.5 days apart. Yahweh is not the author of this kind of confusion.

 

Another issue that arises concerns what is called the “preparation day,” or the day just before the Sabbath. This is the day when all Israel is supposed to prepare food for two days, so they have something fresh to eat during the Sabbath (when they are not to cook).

 

 

In practice, it is impossible to tell when the preparation day should have been, until it is too late. For example, the moon phase is in the top row, first on the left. The next moon phase is in the second row down, second from the left (eight days later, making an eight day week). One can guess that they should have held the preparation day on the day before, but then there are two days in which the moon is full. Which one of these two days is the “lunar Sabbath”? There is no way to know, because Yahweh says nothing about it.

 

 

If we go with the first of the two “full moon” days as our Sabbath, then it is another seven days to the next moon phase, but in the third row down, first on the left, would you have known that this is to be the preparation day?

 

Continuing on, there are two days in which the moon is completely dark. Thus the “preparation day” would be the last day in the third row, but the true “dark moon” day is not until two days later, in the fourth row down, second from the left.

 

Another problem is that there is approximately 29.5 days from one new moon to the next, and this does not divide evenly by 4. Rather, when we divide 29.5 days by 4, we come up with an average of +/- 7.375 days in an average “lunar week.” Yet since it is nonsensical to have a week that lasts 7,375 days, in practice every third “lunar week” has to be eight days long (and in fact we see two examples of an eight day week in the chart above). Yet Yahweh never tells us that a week can have eight days. In Torah, the week has seven days.

 

Where this version of Lunar Sabbath theory really gets messy is in its timing of the festivals, because it says that the festivals should all fall on the phases of the moon. That is, it says the Passover, the Omer (Wave Sheaf), the Last Day of Unleavened and the Pentecost should all fall on lunar Sabbaths. Initially this theory looks good, but under scrutiny it falls apart, because it does not match up with the historical record.

 

As we explain in The Torah Calendar, there is a question as to whether Yeshua was put to death on the Passover, or on the First Day of Unleavened Bread. (We will discuss both options, but it is our view that He was almost certainly put to death on the Passover).

 

 

We also know that Yeshua was three days and three nights in the earth.

 

 

Further, Yeshua was raised either on the Sabbath, or very early on the first day of the week (perhaps at twilight, when the Sabbath is giving way to the first day of the week).

 

 

Again there are several variations of Lunar Sabbath theory, but according to the most popular models, the Passover is supposed to fall on a weekly Sabbath; and this weekly Sabbath is also supposed to be a moon phase (either a no moon, a half moon or a full moon). This does not work, because Yeshua was resurrected three days later, and three days later is not a moon phase.

 

 

If you study Lunar Sabbath theory you will see several variations on this theme, but they all share the same downfall, in that it requires three moon phases in a seven or eight day period. There is just simply no physical way that this can ever happen.

 

The Pentecost has similar problems. According to the Torah, the Pentecost comes 50 days after the Omer (Wave Sheaf) is waved. The commandment in Torah is that we count fifty days, and hold the Pentecost the day after seven Sabbaths are completed.

 

 

However, since the lunar calendar has an 8 day long week every 3 weeks (on average), after 7 weeks there will be either 2 or 3 of these 8-day-long weeks, which adds an extra 2 or 3 days to the 50 day count. Thus the lunar omer count will normally last 52 or 53 days, instead of the 50 that Yahweh commands.

 

We might also add that the week that contains the Days of Unleavened Bread will be 8 days long once in each 3 years, on average. Further, because the flight paths of the celestial bodies are irregular, there is no way either to predict these things, or modify the lunar calendar in order to make it work.

 

Another popular variation on Lunar Sabbath theory is the idea that we should begin to count seven from the time we sight the first crescent sliver of the new moon. One problem here is that Yahweh never said to do that, which means that to adopt this method is to add to the Torah, which is forbidden at Deuteronomy

 

 

Further, earlier we saw that Yahweh began His count on the first day, while the moon was not created until the fourth day. Thus, if Yahweh did not use the moon as the basis for His count, then why should we?

 

Another obvious problem is that the lunar month is an average of approximately +/- 29.5 days long. What this means in practical terms is that roughly half of the months will be 29 days long, while the other half of the months will be 30 days long. If we start the count with the sighting of the new moon, then the last week of each month has to be either 8 or 9 days long, depending on whether it is a 29 or 30 day month. Below we see first a 30, and then a 29 day month.