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Notice, the day Jesus kept AS HIS CUSTOM (Luke 4:16) was the same day all the Jews
kept, for they were holding their religious service in the synagogue -- verses 17, 20.
About 43 years after this the Jewish people were driven into EVERY NATION ON
EARTH. From that time until now, they have been separated, scattered into all nations.
Through the Middle Ages, the Jews in China had no way of communicating with the Jews
of Africa; the Jews in Europe with those of other parts of the world. Yet today, with com-
munication restored over every part of the world, we do NOT find the Jews all mixed up.
If time had been lost, the Jews of one part of the world would be observing one day, and
the Jews of other parts other days. But everywhere -- in EVERY NATION ON EARTH,
we find the Jewish people having been keeping the SAME IDENTICAL DAY -- the day
we call SATURDAY -- the true seventh day (Has Time Been Lost?, pp. 19-20).
This seems logical at first glance. However, the fact that the Jews all over the world are
keeping the same day for the Sabbath only means they are all using the same calendar! This does
not confirm, in any way, that the calendar they are keeping is correct in every detail or that they are
correctly using it to determine the true Sabbath!!
Palestinian Versus Babylonian Jews
Following the halocaust that consumed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Palestinian Jews strug-
gled hard to retain control of the calendar. Notes the Encyclopedia Britannica:
The calendar was originally fixed by observation, and ultimately by calculation. Up to the
fall of the Temple (A.D. 70), witnesses who saw the new moon came forward and were
strickly examined and if their evidence was accepted the month was fixed by the priests.
Eventually the authority passed to the SANHEDRIN and ultimately to the PATRIARCH.
When necessary, a second "Adar" was inserted in order that the reaping of the corn
should come at Passover. Gradually observation gave place to calculation. The right to
determine the calendar was reserved to the PATRIARCHATE; the JEWS OF MESOPO-
TAMIA tried in vain to establish their own calendar but the perogative of Palestine was
zealously defended.
Continues the encyclopedia --
So long as Palestine remained a religious centre, it was naturally to the homeland that the
Diaspora looked for its calendar. Uniformity was essential, for if different parts had cele-
brated feasts on different days confusion would have ensued. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE
4TH CENTURY A.D. THAT BABYLON FIXED THE CALENDAR...The Talmud
speaks of various New Year's Days. It may be regarded as certain that in Palestine the
New Year [Rosh Hoshana] began in NISSAN (cf. Exod. xii.2) and IN BABYLON in
TISHRI (volume 4, article "Calendar").
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