The Seventh Day Sabbath Part 3: Observation

When it comes down to the seventh day sabbath; that is, the sabbath of every week. We have many rules and regulations; hence laws that we must follow. The goal of this article is to provide an understanding of those various laws for you to be able to make sound judgments concerning how you will execute observing the day and things to keep in mind.

Every Day is a Holy Day

One of the first “myths” we must dispel is the notion that every day is a holy day. Which you may occasionally hear some people make reference to when questioned about their respective observance of the sabbath day. But is this what the scriptures teach us?

Sirach 33:9 KJVA

Some of them hath he made high days, and hallowed them, and some of them hath he made ordinary days.

Some days god created with the intent to be days of high regard. And made them holy; separating them and dedicating them unto himself. While other days he created to be ordinary days; that is, days without any regard to solemnity in the worship or honor of him. Giving one the ability to observe them as they please.

Hebrews 4:4, 7 KJV

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

We must understand through wisdom what God was saying to us. If he, being all knowing and all powerful took time to rest, how much more us, being mortal? As he set the standard to pause from all of his labor, so should we. He chose to limit a certain day, not every day. And although Christ came, he did not give us a new day of rest. Else, if he did, it would be quoted in the scriptures. So as it stands, there is still a sabbath of rest to be observed as it was established from the beginning.

Genesis 2:2-3 KJV

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

The Most High God was laboring to build all that we see and admire about our planet and known universe. And he reached a point in his labor that he decided to rest from everything he made. And he did so on the seventh day of his week. And he set apart that day from every other day in the week. And calls us to do the same.

Exodus 20:8-11 KJV

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

The sabbath day is of great importance to The Most High God. So much so, it is one of the very few laws that he actually tells us to remember. In addition to how to move during that day as to refrain from defiling it according to his laws. Ensuring that we, along with our household, animals, servants (to include employees and contractors) all get a period of rest from whatever labor they were doing.

Isaiah 66:22-23 KJV

22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

God will continue the sabbath day as an integral part of his government upon his return. Which means that everyone will be required to observe it. Now we have the ability of choice.

When Does the Sabbath begin?

Calendar

1.    Days of the week were not named by the Jews, but were designated by ordinal numbers.

Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary

Originally we had numbers for our days. And even that was a help. Rather than names. With names it is easier to get confused. Because the name (especially modernly) may not have any correlation to the day specifically. Or be named after other so-called gods all together. Leading to a lot more confusion. It would be way easier if we followed numbers and told people the seventh day and they can read the scriptures and see “oh, it says worship on the seventh day. We have been worshipping on the sixth, we need to change.” Now it’s “well, what day is the seventh day. How do you know? Any day could be the seventh day.” So we have to delve further into history to paint a more vivid picture to gainsay the nonbelievers. Due to all of the efforts and confusion put into people observing Sunday or some other day of the week.

Isaiah 30:29 KJV

Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

Our holy days are customarily observed in the evening. Solemnity, or solemn days being our feast days. As a closer look in the Strong’s Concordance reveals the understanding.

2282. חַג chag, khag; or חָג chag, khawg; from 2287; a festival, or a victim therefor:—(solemn) feast (day), sacrifice, solemnity.

The Hebrew word for solemnity is chag. Which is a festival or feast day. So we begin our feast days in the evening. But that probably comes as no surprise, seeing so many of our people like to stay up late and party! Now you can turn up but in righteousness!

For ritual purposes, e.g., in reckoning the times fixed for prayers or the commencement and termination of the Sabbath, the day is deemed to begin at sunset or at the end of *twilight, and its 24 hours (12 in the day and 12 in the night) are “temporary” hours varying in length with the respective length of the periods of light and darkness. But in the reckonings of the molad the day is the equatorial day of 24 hours of unvarying length and is deemed to commence at 6 P.M., probably in terms of local Jerusalem time.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 4 pg 354

The Sabbath should be observed sundown to sundown. You will find some may have even had a “fixed” time. This was done to promote being on one accord and unity among our people but I do not suggest adapting that custom as the manner of some was. As, if I lived in California and someone else lived in Texas for example, the time we would see the sun go down would be a couple of hours in difference. Let alone, if we were in an even further state or different country. But if we are in the same city. This could be a viable idea. As we should see the sun go down at literally the same time. Being at most seconds apart in the same city.

Genesis 1:5 KJV

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

If you read the book of Genesis chapter one, you will see that for every day of creation, God maintained a pattern. First was evening; that is darkness, aka night. And the second part of that time frame he called day; that is morning or light. Which may come as a shock to many, because we are taught the day starts when the sun rises. Or at midnight. When rather it begins and ends at sundown. To be more precise…

Proverbs 7:9 KJV

In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:

In the evening is defined here as in the black and dark night; hence twilight. As the stars are the only things that can be seen, okay and the moon…usually. But you get the picture. Based on these precepts we would observe the sabbath day from evening to evening, sundown to sundown.

Leviticus 23:32 KJV

It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

Although, this is specifically speaking of the day of atonement in context, the understanding of celebrating or observing from evening until evening, still applies to how we observe our other sabbath days or holy convocations.

Week (, a hebdomad ).— The Hebrew week was a period of seven days ending with the Sabbath; therefore it could not have been a division of the month, which was lunar, without intercalation. But there was no such intercalation, since the Sabbath was to be every seventh day, its name is used tor week." and weeks are counted on without any additional day or days. The mention together of Sabbaths and new moons proves nothing but that the two obervances were similar, the one closing the week, the other commencing the month. The week, whether a period of seven days, or a quarter of the month, was of common use in antiquity. The Egyptians, however, were without it,* dividing their month of thirty days into decads as did the Athenians. The Hebrew week therefore cannot have been adopted from Egypt; probably both it and the Sabbath were used and observed by the patriarchs. [Week; Sabbath.]

Dictionary of the Bible Volume 1 W. Smith (1871) Chronology: Week pg 435

Our week was and is seven days ending with the sabbath day on the seventh day of the week. Hence, the term “seventh day sabbath”. As we do have other sabbath days that correlate with other feast, as a result, they may fall on any day of the week. But also notice that the week is not set up to be a division of the month. And there is no intercalation to align the week to the month. As the month and week operate irrespectively. The week is on a continuous cycle of seven days. And if you read the scriptures in addition to reading these articles covering the sabbath, new moon, and calendar you will understand clearly. As these articles are assembled as puzzle pieces, each maintaining a fragment of the collective image.

Exodus 31:13 KJV

Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.