The Lunar Sabbath

Fellowship outside of a strongly organized religious system has proven to be very interesting if not entertaining.  Take for instance the teaching of the Lunar Sabbath.  This is something I had never heard of before I started meeting new and interesting people, and some of them have presented this idea very convincingly!  I would especially like to thank Shawn Murphy, our friend and neighbor, as well as Dr. Dave Perry for their study and insights into Lunar theology.

The Lunar Calendar
It goes something like this:
Each month begins on the New Moon and each new moon is a Sabbath.  The next 6 days are work days followed by a weekly Sabbath.  The Sabbaths then always fall on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of each month (or some slight variation to this theme).  Sometimes there's a 30th day to a month which must then also be counted as a Sabbath, then the work week begins again. Here is a link to such a calendar - as confusing as it may be.

Text cited by the lunatarians are often Ezek. - 46:1 and Isa. - 66:23.  But let's look at these texts in context.

Ezekial 46:1 - “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened."

An artists rendition of Ezekiel's Third Temple in Jerusalem.

So how is this interpreted that the day of the New Moon is now a Sabbath or a Holy Day?  The rest of the chapter describes the New Moon worship service complete with sacrifices and oblations.  What is overlooked with this line of thought is that beginning in Ezekiel 40, the prophet is in vision.  This is part of a vision of the complete restoration of Israel, or what is otherwise known as Ezekiel's third temple.  To date, this temple does not exist.  Before this temple vision, there is no directive from YHWH to keep the New Moon days Holy.

Isaiah 66:23 - "From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD."

This verse is also post-judgement, or what I would say is after the second (next) coming of the Messiah.  This verse does not so much indicate a New Moon holiday as it does the eternal nature of the judgment and the time following judgment.  Those striving to keep the lunar calendar now should take special note of the next verse, 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”  You will want to be sure that you are not one of those that rebelled, but there is no further mention of the New Moon as a Sabbath.

Dispelling the Lunacy
But the problems with this idea that most lunar week keepers are overlooking (or not bothering to research) are many.  I have not done exhaustive research on this, but a few stones have convinced me that the lunar sabbath idea (although interesting) has no validity in Scripture.


First, let's consider the Crucifixion of the Messiah.

Luke 11:29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."

Matthew 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Matthew 12:40 - "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

He is not here, he has risen!

So apparently the Messiah intended to show the Pharisees a great sign.  He would be "in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights."  A Friday crucifixion makes this impossible to have been fulfilled!  If Yashua did not fulfill this prophecy which he himself uttered, then how can we believe he was the Messiah?

How is this a problem for the lunar time keepers?  Well, consider their calendar.  Passover is always on the 15th of the month of Aviv (Exodus 23 and Deut. 16).  The Passover lamb (the Messiah) was to be slain on the eve of the 14th (Lev. 23) and eaten after sundown (the 15th) to begin the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  On the lunar calendar, this will always coincide with Sabbath.  So, if the Messiah then rose on the first day of the week as it is written, how can you possibly count three days and three nights from Sabbath (the seventh day) to the first day?  You can't!  Either he was a liar or the lunar calendar was not used by YHWH or the Jews to calculate Passover.  You can take this further and calculate that he must have been crucified on a Wednesday (some say Thursday), but I do not intend to prove this at this time.

Second problem: YHWH foresaw this confusion and prepared a Feastival just to keep the calendar straight.  The Feast of Weeks!

Lev. 23: 15-16 “From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD."

I love the simplicity of Scripture!  There is no way you can confuse the counting of 7 weeks with a literal 49 days.  You will not ever get 49 days out of 7 lunar calendar weeks and you will never end up on the first day of the week as intended (the 50th day).  This passage invalidates the entire lunar calendar.  However, some have postulated preposterously that the intent was to count 7 weeks and then ADD 50 days to it, celebrating the feast of weeks about 100 days after the First Fruits offering.  How this is justified is silly and I won't go into it here.

Third problem I have with Lunar thinking:  Have you ever looked into the origins of a lunar calendar?  Quite frankly (and archeologically proven), it is the original Babylonian Calendar!  Why this is important is because most lunar calendar supporters will tell you that "you must come out of Babylon" - meaning get away from the Greek/Roman calendar.  What they are overlooking is that they are using the very calendar of Babylon, undoubtedly developed by the Babylonian Astrologers and Mystics.  There is plenty of evidence that the Chaldean's were using this calendar before the Israelites went into captivity, and they continued using it afterwards.  You cannot reckon a lunar calendar with the unbroken weekly cycle that the Israelites must have used (see "Second" above).
Although incredibly accurate for calculating the position of the sun, moon, and constellations during any given year, the Babylonian calendar was forbidden the Israelites.  They were not to practice astrology;

Lev. 17:3 "...they might serve other gods or worship the sun, the moon, or any of the stars—the forces of heaven—which I have strictly forbidden."

Because of this warning, the Jews did not teach or observe astrology and thus have always used a continuous 7-day week unbroken calendar.  To my knowledge, no writing has ever proven otherwise