What are the rules for sabbath day?

 

What are the rules for sabbath day?

The sabbath can be characterized as the EXACT seventh day of the week and in certain instances, it can be referred to as a week in the bible and while many others dance to a different tune, The Most High's people are still in line with his word.

The first time The Shabbat was in instituted was by The Most High himself when he rested on the seventh day from all his work in Genesis 2:1-4 : Precept is Exodus 31:17

Genesis 2:1-4

[1]Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

[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.

[4]These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Exodus 31:17

[17]It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

What day is the Shabbath 'day'?

The seventh day is when The Most High's people ought to keep the Shabbat as stated in the commandments given by The Most High in :

Exodus 20:8-11 : Precept Deuteronomy 5:12-14

Exodus 20:8-11

[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.

Deuteronomy 5:12-14

[12]Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

[13]Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

[14]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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

Exodus 16:26

[26]Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

Exodus 31:15

[15]Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 23:3

[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.

It is stated in Matthew 28:1

So in other words, the week starts over after the seventh day back to the first day.

The first day of the week is after the “Shabbat” which means The Shabbat is on the day before the first day of the week and that is the seventh day.

Matthew 28:1

[1]In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

What are we supposed to be doing on the “Shabbat”?

1. Rest

Exodus 35:2

[2]Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Leviticus 23:3

[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.

Luke 23:56

[56]And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

2. Sanctify / Worship

Isaiah 66:23

[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.

Ezekiel 46:3

[3]Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

Deuteronomy 5:12

[12]Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

Nehemiah 13:22

[22]And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

Psalms 92:1

[1](A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.) It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

Mark 1:21

[21]And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

3. Study the Word

Mark 6:2

[2]And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Luke 13:10

[10]And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

Luke 4:16

[16]And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Acts 17:2

[2]And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

4. Help others

Mark 3:1

[1]And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

Luke 13:14

[14]And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

Luke 14:1

[1]And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

John 5:9

[9]And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

John 9:14

[14]And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

5. Keep it Holy

Exodus 31:14

[14]Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

What we should NOT be doing on the “Shabbat”?

1. Work

Jeremiah 17:22

[22]Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

Exodus 20:10

[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:

Deuteronomy 5:14

[14]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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

Jubilees 50:6-10

[6]And behold the commandment regarding the Sabbaths -I have written (them) down for thee- and all the judgments of its laws.

[7]Six days shalt thou labour, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it ye shall do no manner of work, ye and your sons, and your men- servants and your maid-servants, and all your cattle and the sojourner also who is with you.

[8]And the man that does any work on it shall die: whoever desecrates that day, whoever lies with (his) wife, or whoever says he will do something on it, that he will set out on a journey thereon in regard to any buying or selling: and whoever draws water thereon which he had not prepared for himself on the sixth day, and whoever takes up any burden to carry it out of his tent or out of his house shall die.

[9]Ye shall do no work whatever on the Sabbath day save what ye have prepared for yourselves on the sixth day, so as to eat, and drink, and rest, and keep Sabbath from all work on that day, and to bless the Lord your God, who has given you a day of festival and a holy day: and a day of the holy kingdom for all Israel is this day among their days for ever.

[10]For great is the honour which the Lord has given to Israel that they should eat and drink and be satisfied on this festival day, and rest thereon from all labour which belongs to the labour of the children of men save burning frankincense and bringing oblations and sacrifices before the Lord for days and for Sabbaths.

2. Cooking

Exodus 35:3

[3]Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

3. Fasting

Judith 8:6

[6]And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

4. Your own pleasures / desires

Isaiah 58:13

[13]If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

So since we have learned :

1. What the “Shabbat” is

2. Its first instiution

3. What day we should keep it

4. What we can and cannot do on the “Shabbat”

Now we are going to see the time schedule in which the “Shabbat” should be kept, now the scripture says in Exodus 20:8, that we should keep the Shabbat "day" holy.

How many hours make up one day?

According to:

Genesis 1:5

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

Genesis 1:8

[8]And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Genesis 1:13

[13]And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Genesis 1:19

[19]And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:23

[23]And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Genesis 1:31.: It says that the evening and the morning "were" the first day all the way to the sixth day.

In other words, from the morning to the evening is considered a day, also please pay attention to the word “were” next to morning and you will get a pretty good idea that The Most High was referring to the fact that morning was first then the evening came,

So let's continue, it says that the “evening” and the “morning” were the first day right?

So how many hours are there from morning to evening or from evening to morning?

The understanding is that from morning to evening is only 12 hours, so that means that there are only 12 hours in the daytime, this is true because The Messiah spoke on this same topic in John 11:9

John 11:9

[9]Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

When he expressed that there are only 12 hours in a day and a man cannot stumble because he is able to see the light in the day which is the sun.

Furthermore, The Most High from creation separated the light from the darkness in

Genesis 1:4

[4]And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:14

[14]And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Genesis 1:18

[18]And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

He did this several times to put a difference between the two although this is totally disregarded in today's culture.

The division between :

Light               Dark

Day                 Night

Morning        Evening

Instead “the world” chooses to see them bonded together creating a 24 hour day cycle which is totally against The Most High's initial stance.

So since we have learnt that:

5. A day consists of only 12 hours,

we can now ask when does the day start?

According to Mark 6:2 Precept Luke 24:1

It says that morning starts at the rising of the sun, early in the morning, early means near the start of something.

Mark 6:2

[2]And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Luke 24:1

[1]Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

Which basically means the morning starts a new day.

Jonah 4:7

[7]But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

Which means evening is part of the same day.

Mark 4:35

[35]And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

If the morning didn't signify the next day, then why use the word “tomorrow” which clearly means “next day”.

1 Samuel 19:11

[11]Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

Shows us where morning involves the light

1 Samuel 14:36

[36]And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and spoil them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw near hither unto God.

Now that we have covered :

6.When a day begins which is at the rising of the sun / morning,

Let us now look at when the day ends.

Judges 19:9 states that it was evening when this conversation between The Levite Man and his Father-In-Law, who replies “Behold” which means “Look”, the day groweth to an end, meaning the sun was setting and that is when a day ends, then comes“The Night”.

Judges 19:9

[9]And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

Exodus 16:23-25 says “tomorrow is the rest” which means at the time of this conversation, it was the sixth day, “Bake all you need to bake today”, on the sixth day which is called the “Preparation Day" according to Mark 15:42 and Luke 23:54, “Lay up” which means to keep some until the morning and they laid it up till the morning and it didn't stink and on the “Shabbat Day", Moses said “Eat that manna today, for today is the Shabbat onto The Most High”.

Exodus 16:23-25

[23]And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

[24]And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

[25]And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

Nehemiah 13:19 states that it began to be dark meaning the sun was going down before the “Shabbat”, meaning it was not yet “Shabbat”, so he shut up the gates on the sixth day at evening so that the people would not be doing any work on the “Shabbat day” whether it be, buying, selling, etc.

Nehemiah 13:19

[19]And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

Please read the entire chapter for clarity.

Mark 1:32 states or explains to us that at even which means “Evening time”, is when the sun sets which is also when the day ends.

Mark 1:32

[32]And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.

Matthew 28:1 states that in the end of the “Shabbat” which is the seventh day as it began to dawn meaning the coming of a new week which is the end of the “Shabbat” and also marks the end of the day.

Matthew 28:1

[1]In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

We must also take into consideration that there are physical attributes / things that we see happening everyday that would point us into the right direction when it comes to what The Most High intends just as he says in Romans 1:20, so we are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

[20]For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Know ye not that the morning comes first and then the night ? 

Isaiah 21:12

[12]The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

Understanding this information, we can now see how different the world is compared to The Most High for example : Leviticus 23:32 speaks about keeping the Day Of Atonement from even unto even.

Leviticus 23:32

[32]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.

And we understand that the D.O.A should be kept once every year according to that scripture.

Leviticus 23:27, Says in the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement, so how can we calculate a day? 

Leviticus 23:27

[27]Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Why is it called the “Day of Atonement” and it's clearly two days? Let's see.

Leviticus 23:3

32 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.

According to Leviticus 23:32 above, It is from the ninth day at even to the tenth day at even.

When we calculate this properly, even is considered night and after night comes morning (6am) and after morning comes even / evening (6pm) when it ends, so how many days past?

Correct. It is only one day that has past, now you might ask how could this be?

It is indeed fact because the only day accounted for was from the morning (6am) to the evening (6pm) which is considered a "Day" and that's why it's named the “Day of Atonement”.

Many believe that from the ninth day at even to the tenth day at even is two days which defeats the whole purpose of it being called the “Day of Atonement”.

Special “Days” like “Day of Atonement”, “Feast of Tabernacles”, “Passover” and others are set apart days from the weekly “Shabbat" because they are called High Days or Shabbats according to John 19:31 and Genesis 29:7

John 19:31

[31]The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

Genesis 29:7

[7]And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.

So why is every “Shabbat” being kept like the set apart “Day of Atonement”?

Isn't that day just supposed to be on the tenth day of the seventh month once in the year?

The Most High calls us to be a set apart people in :

Deuteronomy 14:2

[2]For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

Deuteronomy 26:18

[18]And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

1 Peter 2:9

[9]But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Exodus 19:5

[5]Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Psalms 135:4

[4]For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.

Furthermore, how are you set apart from “the world” if you do the same thing just as the “SDA religion” which is in Christianity and many other religions do?

As we see here, The Most High is different and that's why, he stood out when he came to die for the remission of sins, so I urge you to be different, stand out and stand up for the truth.

Something to reflect on:

How are his people keeping the High Shabbats or Days correctly if they cannot understand when a day starts and ends?