Is Our Modern Saturday The Sabbath?
A History of Calendar Change
How can we be sure that the Saturday of our modern week is the original Sabbath of the Scriptures?
It is commonly believed that many calendar changes have taken place since the time of YAHUSHA. This is not true. There has been only one change.
This change, from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian Calendar, had no effect whatsoever upon the order of the days of the week. Julius Caesar instituted the Julian Calendar in 46 BC.
The month of July was named in honor of Julius. When Augustus Caesar succeeded Julius, he also wanted a
month named after himself, so he gave the month following July (originally Sextilis) the name of August. Since August only had 30 days, and Augustus considered himself as important as Julius, whose month of July had 31 days, Augustus took one day from February and added it to August. The changes made by Augustus did not affect the order of the days of the week.
The Julian Calendar remained unchanged for 1600 years. It made provision for a year of 365.25 mean solar days. But the year actually consists of 365.242195 days. Because of this slight discrepancy, as the centuries passed, the seasons began to shift. By 1582 AD this discrepancy had grown to ten days. In that year Pope Gregory XIII established a new calendar which corrected the discrepancy, and is known as the Gregorian Calendar.
Pope Gregory XIII omitted ten days following October 4, 1582. What would have been October 5 became October 15.
Spain, Portugal, and Italy adopted the new Gregorian Calendar at once. France waited until December, and it adopted the change by calling the 10th of December the 20th of December.
The Catholic states of Germany adopted the calendar in 1583. The Protestant states of Germany did not adopt the new calendar until 1700. About the same time, Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark adopted the new calendar. England adopted the calendar in 1752.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. vol. 4, p. 988, tells us:
The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions–a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity… It has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries.
The Hebrew people spoke of the days of the week by number rather than by name. The only day that had a name was the seventh day which was called Shabbat, the Sabbath, or the rest day.
The day prior to the Sabbath was designated the preparation day. On this day, preparations were made for the family so that the Sabbath might truly be a day of rest for the entire family. All the days were numbered and spoken of in reference to the Sabbath. The first day was “first toward the Sabbath.” The second day was “second toward the Sabbath, and so on. This was also the practice among the Syrians, Arabians, etc. In at least 108 different languages the name for the seventh day, corresponding to our “Saturday”, is a word meaning “rest day.”
Can we be sure that the Sabbath has never been lost since Creation? YAHUAH sanctified the seventh day at Creation (Gen. 2:1-3). Even if the weekly Sabbath had been lost through the years, it was certainly re-established when YAHUAH instructed the Yisraelites to not gather manna on Sabbath (Ex. 16:4). YAHUAH later announced to the Yisraelites at Mount Sinai that keeping His Sabbath holy was part of His Ten Commandment law (Ex. 20:8-11). Since Mount Sinai the Hebrew Yisralites have faithfully kept YAHUAH’s Sabbath, despite captivity, persecution, and dispersion, right down to our current day. Orthodox Jews, the Catholic church, Protestants, historians, and astronomers all agree with each other that there is no evidence that time has ever been lost.
The same Sabbath that YAHUSHA and the apostles worshipped on (Luke 4:16,31; Acts 13:14-16,42,44) is the same seventh day Sabbath that Sabbath-keeping Netseriym and Christians worship on today.
by S. Berkowitz
Shewing the UNCHANGED ORDER of the Days and the true Position of the SABBATH, as proved by the combined testimony of Ancient and Modern Languages.
No LANGUAGE (Where Spoken, Read, or Otherwise Used 1 2 3 4 5 6 Name of the SEVENTH DAY
1 Shemitic Hebrew Bible world-wide Day One Day Second Day Third Day Fourth Day Fifth Day the Sixth Yom hash-shab-bath Day the Sabbath
2 Hebrew (Ancient and Modern) One into the Sabbath Second into the Sabbath Third into the Sabbath Fourth into the Sabbath Fifth into the Sabbath Eve of Holy Sabbath Shab-bath Sabbath
3 Targum of Onkelos (Hebrew Literature) Day One Day Second Day Third Day Fourth Day Fifth Day the Sixth Yom hash-shab-bath Day the Sabbath
4 Targum Dialect of the Jews in Kurdistan Day One of the Seven Day 2nd of the Seven Day 3rd of the Seven Day 4th of the Seven Day 5th of the Seven Day of Eve (of Sabbath) yoy-met sha-bat kodesh Holy Sabbath Day
5 Ancient Syriac *Each day proceeds on, and belongs to the Sabbath One into Sabbath Two into Sabbath Three into Sabbath Four into Sabbath Five into Sabbath Eve (of Sabbath) Shab-ba-tho Sabbath
6 Chaldee Syriac Kurdistan and Urdmia, Persia One into Sabbath Two into Sabbath Three into Sabbath Four into Sabbath Five into Sabbath Eve (of Sabbath) Shap-ta Sabbath
7 Samaritan (Old Hebrew Letters) Nablus, Palestine Day One Day Second Day Third Day Fourth Day Fifth Day Sixth Shab-bath Sabbath
8 Babylonian Euphrates & Tigris Valleys Mesopotamia (Written lang. 3800 B.C.) First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Sa-ba-tu Sabbath
9 Assyrian Euphrates and Tigris Valleys, Mesopotamia First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth sa-ba-tu Sabbath
10 Arabic (Very old names) Business Day Light Moon War Chief Turning Day or Midweek Familiar or Society Day Eve (of Sabbath) Shi-yar Chief or Rejoicing Day
11 Arabic (Ancient and Modern) Westn. Asia, E,W & N. Africa The One The Two The Three The Four The Fith Assembly (day, Muham) as-sabt The Sabbath
12 Maltese, Malta One (day) Two (and day) The 3 (3rd d.) The 4 (4th d.) Fifth (day) Assembly Is-sibt. The Sabbath
13 Ge-ez or Ethiopic Abyssinia (Ge-ez signifies “original”) One (day) Second Third Fourth Fifth Eve (of Sabbath) san-bat Sabbath
14 Tigre Abyssinia (Closely related to Ge-ez) One (First day) Second Third Fourth Fifth Eve (of Sabbath) san-bat Sabbath
15 Amharic, Abyssinia (Nearly related to Ge-ez) One Second Third Fourth Fifth Eve (of Sabbath) san-bat Sabbath
16 Falasha (Language of the Jews of Abyssinia) One Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth yini sanbat The Sabbath
17 Coptic / Egypt (A dead lang. for 200 years) The First Day The 2nd Day The 3rd Day The 4th Day The 5th Day The 6th Day pi sabbaton The Sabbath
18 Orma or Galla South of Abyssinia (This language has two sets of names, the first being the oldest) Lady, Virgin Mary Day. Great or Festival Sabbath Second day. First Trade Day 3rd Day to the Sabbath. Second Trade Day 4th day to the Sabbath. Fourth (day) Fifth (day) Assembly (day) Last day of the half-week inclusive of 4th day. Little or Humble or Solemn Sabbath (A day of no ceremonial display and no work)
19 Tamashek or Towarek. (From ancient Lybian or Numidian). Atlas Mountains, Africa. First day Second day Third day Fourth day Fifth day Assembly Day a-hal es-sabt. The Sabbath Day
20 Kabyle or Berber. (Ancient Numidian) North Africa Day the One (First) Day the Two (2nd) Day the Three (3rd) Day the Four (4th) Day the Fifth The Assembly Day ghas or wars assebt The Sabbath Day
21 Hausa Central Africa) The One (1st) The Two (2nd) The Three (3rd) The Four (4th) The Fifth The Assembly assebatu The Sabbath
22 Urdu or Hindustani (Muhammadan and Hindu, India) (Two names for the days) One to Sabbath. Sunday 2nd to Sabbath. Moon-day 3rd to Sabbath. Mars 4th to Sabbath. Mercury 5th to Sabbath. (Eve of Juma) Assembly (day) sanichar – Saturn shamba – Sabbath
23 Pashto or Afghan Afghanistan One to the Sabbath Two to Sabbath Three to Sabbath Four to Sabbath Five to Sabbath Assembly (day) khali – Unemployed-day, Shamba – Sabbath
The CHART OF THE WEEK, is over a hundred years old. It is extremely valuable and almost impossible to find today. Dr. William Meade Jones lived over a hundred years ago, and was a well-known London, England, research expert. He discovered in his studies that the Seventh-day Sabbath was the only weekly Sabbath ever commanded by YAHUAH in the Scriptures.
Jones decided that, since Scripture clearly shows that the Scriptural Sabbath was first given to mankind at end of Creation Week, —
If Genesis 2:1-3 is really true, then two important facts would have had to be known throughout the ancient world: First, a fixing of the seven-day weekly cycle on a world-wide basis, and second, an ancient world-wide knowledge of the Seventh-day Sabbath.
Jones was convinced of this for several reasons:
1. Adam and Noah were both earnest worshipers of YAHUAH and would therefore have been faithful Sabbath keepers.
2. They would have taught their descendants about the Scriptural Sabbath, who would be aware of its original sacredness.
3. The truth that YAHUAH is to be worshiped on the seventh of each seven-day week, requires a seven-day week, even though they may have later turned to idols and left the worship of the True ELOHIYM.
4. Therefore, as the descendants of Adam and Noah spread out all over the world, they would have carried with them these two important facts: Each week has seven days, and the seventh day of the week is the Set-Apart (holy) Sabbath given by YAHUAH to mankind. Even though many of Adam’s and Noah’s descendants would become scoffers, Jones reasoned, all of them would still carry with them the twin truths of the six-day Creation Week, of Genesis 1 (by their keeping of the seven-day weekly cycle, and the Seventh-day Sabbath by naming the seventh day of the week in their language as the day of Sabbath rest).
William Mead Jones decided that if Genesis 1 and 2 were really true, and that if YAHUAH really created the world in six days and then rested on the Seventh day, then a majority of the languages of the world would prove the fact! And this, in turn, would be a powerful proof, not only that the Seventh day (and not the first) was the true Sabbath of YAHUAH, but also a dramatic proof that Genesis 1 and 2 are genuine, and that YAHUAH is our Creator!
Thinking about both of these facts is stunning in the light of the abundance of corroborating evidence given on this amazing that proves them to be true!
Source:
http://www.remnantofgod.org/7thdayneverchanged.htm
