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Vs. 23: on the fourth day...[certain sacrifices];
Vs. 26: on the fifth day...[certain sacrifices];
Vs. 29: on the sixth day...[certain sacrifices];
Vs. 32: on the seventh day...[certain sacrifices];
Vs. 35: on the eighth day, (in addition to the sacrifices),
you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work."
Obviously, the days in between the beginning and ending high sabbaths, i.e. day two
through day seven, constitutes six days, even though they are numbered "two through seven." How-
ever, NONE of those days mention assembling or refraining from work. Moreover, NONE of
those days and their prescriptions mention even the possibility of being interrupted by a "weekly"
Sabbath, in the event that one should occur simultaneously to them. This is assuming, of course, for
the sake of argument, that our current seven-day cycle was then in force. As the saying goes, si-
lence is golden. What this outline of sacrifices does say -- loud and clear -- is that it was a pattern
of prescriptions meant to be used REPEATEDLY during the Feast of Tabernacles -- year after
year, again and again!
Because there were specific instructions to assemble and refrain from work on the first and
last high holy days, but WERE NONE with regard to those six days in between, the Book of Num-
bers has preserved for us a CLEAR glimpse of what was second nature to the ancient Israelites --
A WEEK OF THE LUNAR CALENDAR which flowed throughout all sabbaths, new moons and
annual high holy days.
What About the New Testament?
We have just examined some instances in the Old Testament that show the weekly cycle
and Sabbath were linked to the phases of the moon -- but what about the New Testament? Are
there any instances in the New Testament that show this same pattern? Remember, nowhere in the
gospels do we find Jesus Christ berating the Jewish authorities for keeping the Sabbath at the
wrong time. He reproved them for adding too much "baggage" to the Sabbath and turning it into a
day of "bondage." Is there any corroboration in the gospels for observing the weekly Sabbath in
accordance with the phases of the moon as set up by God in Exodus 16? Indeed there is. Let's go to
Mark 15:42 in the Jewish New Testament --
Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before a SHABBAT), as evening ap-
proached, Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who himself was
also looking forward to the Kingdom of God went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yeshua's
body.
In a footnote this New Testament remarks "Shab.bat -- the Sabbath," implying a weekly
Sabbath. In Luke 23:54, narrating the same time period, we find: "It was Preparartion Day, and a
SHABBAT was about to begin." Once again, the footnote to this verse says "Shab.bat -- the
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