Just like the Lunar Sabbath deception that claims the Sabbath is not on a continuous seven day cycle, is also a movement circulating saying the Sabbath is from morning to morning. Now, firstly I would like to say that the only reason this is an issue is because everyone is seeking the truth and no one wants to be deceived. However, let us examine scripture to see what the Word of YHWH says:
Genesis 1:1-5
“In the beginning ELOHIM created the heavens and the earth. And the earth came to be formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of ELOHIM was moving on the face of the waters. And ELOHIM said, “Let light come to be,” and light came to be. And ELOHIM saw the light, that it was good. And ELOHIM separated the light from the darkness. And ELOHIM called the light ‘day’ and the darkness He called ‘night’. And there came to be EVENING and there came to be morning, day one.”
Notice how evening comes before morning, the scripture does not say there came to be morning and then evening. This means that evening constitutes 12 hours of darkness and morning is the 12 hours of day including the afternoon etc; then the cycle repeats. The Book of Jubilees which gives us a detailed account of Genesis says:
Jubilees 2:2
“…and of all the spirits of His creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, the abysses and the darkness, EVENING AND NIGHT, and the LIGHT, dawn and day, which He has prepared in the knowledge of His heart.”
We see the exact order of evening and night first, THEN light, then dawn (morning) and day, then the cycle repeats. The same pattern is seen with our walk with The Messiah YESHUA because we start off in the darkness of lies and paganism until He leads us into the truth of the Light of His Word though the Ruach ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit). Trust me YHWH doesn’t do anything by accident there is a reason for His grand design even down to the order of days.
Make no mistake YHWH and YESHUA are LIGHT and there is no darkness in Them:
1 John 1:5
“And this message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that ELOHIM is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
However, this passage in Genesis is referring to the condition of the earth during creation. The earth was dark and without form then we see that YHWH said “let there be light”, but what light could that be being that YHWH didn’t create the sun, moon, and stars until the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19)?
2 Esdras 6:38-40
“And I said, “O YHWH, You spoke from the beginning of the creation, even the first day, and said, “Let the heavens and the earth be made,’ and Your word became a perfect work. And then the Spirit and darkness and silence were on every side; the sound of man’s voice was not yet formed. Then You commanded a GOOD LIGHT to come forth from Your treasures, that Your work might appear.”
YHWH brought a light from His treasuries, which I believe to be YESHUA (The Light of the World) who was here before the foundation of the world, but revealed on the earth Day 1 or the light could be another light source from the heavens to illuminate YHWH’s work that we don’t know about it. One thing we know is that YHWH’s word is true but we can never understand everything that He is or what He does, we simply cannot put Him into a box:
Romans 11:33-34
“Oh, the depth of riches, and wisdom and knowledge of ELOHIM! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For who has known the mind of YHWH? Or who has become His counsellor?
Supporting scriptures for Sabbath/Day from evening to evening!
Nehemiah 13:19
“And it came to be, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it BEGAN TO BE DARK BEFORE THE SABBATH, that I (Nehemiah) commanded the gates to be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till AFTER THE SABBATH.”
Ezekiel 46:1-2
“Thus said the Adon YHWH, “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east is shut the six days of work, but on the Sabbath it is opened, and on the day of the New Moon it is opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate from the outside, and he shall stand by the post. And the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. And he shall bow himself at the threshold of the gate, and shall go out, but the GATE IS NOT SHUT UNTIL EVENING.”
So YHWH says 6 days out of the week are work days, and the gate is to remained shut on those 6 days of work, but on the Sabbath it is opened. Notice how YHWH says to close the gate at evening on the Sabbath? That is because when the sunsets is it Sunday the first day of the week which is the start of the 6 days of work when the gates are to be closed. The only reason why Nehemiah closed the gates was to prevent the Jews from breaking the Sabbath as they were doing so often (Nehemiah 13).
Jubilees 21:10
“And eat its meat on that day and on the second day, and DO NOT LET THE SUN ON THE SECOND DAY GO DOWN on it till it is eaten, and let NONE BE LEFT OVER FOR THE THIRD DAY.”
Leviticus 19:5-6
“And when you bring a peace offering to YHWH, bring it for your acceptance. It is eaten the same day you slaughter it, and on the next day. And that which is left on the THIRD DAY is burned with fire.”
So Abraham told his son Isaac to eat the meat of the peace offering on the first 2 days and don’t eat or let any remain on the third day. Notice how he emphasizes to not let the sun go down on the second day before it is eaten? That is because at sunset it’s the start of the 3rd day and if the meat was left over or eaten it would have been sin unto him.
Jubilees 49:1 (RH Charles, year 1917 and YAHWEH’S restored Names versions) Passover instructions that shows when a day begins:
“Remember the commandment which YHWH commanded you concerning the Passover, that you should celebrate it in its season on the fourteenth of the first month, that you should kill it before it is evening, and that they should eat it by night on the EVENING OF THE FIFTEENTH FROM THE TIME OF THE SETTING OF THE SUN.”
This is more evidence showing that the start of the next day is at evening when the sunsets, which is why YHWH said for Passover (14th day of 1st month) to slaughter the lamb “between the evenings” which is twilight before the sun goes down, because it would still the 14th Day of the 1st month. And we see at evening when the sunset it was the evening of the 15th day (showing the next day starts at evening) which coincides with the start the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15th day of 1st month).
Many say you cannot use Yom Kippur as an example:
But what does scripture have to say about this? YHWH gives us further evidence on how He reckons a day being from evening to evening with His instructions for Yom Kippur.
Leviticus 23:27-32
“On the tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur. It shall be a holy gathering for you. And you shall afflict your beings, and shall bring an offering made by fire to YHWH. Verse 31 You do no work- a Law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ‘It is a SABBATH of rest to you, and you shall afflict your beings. On the ninth day of the month at EVENING, FROM EVENING TO EVENING, you observe your SABBATH.”
I have heard many say that you cannot use Yom Kippur as an example for how YHWH reckons a day being from evening to evening because Yom Kippur is Moed (Appointed Time) therefore it only applies to that day. This conclusion is an error because when you read Leviticus 23 you will notice that they are ALL Appointed Times and the very first Appointed Time that YHWH lists is the weekly Sabbath:
Leviticus 23:1-3
“And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and say to them, ‘THE APPOINTED TIMES OF YHWH, which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings, MY APPOINTED TIMES ARE THESE: ‘Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a SABBATH OF REST, a holy gathering. You DO NO WORK, IT IS A SABBATH to YHWH in all your dwellings.”
So the argument that Yom Kippur is separated from the weekly Sabbath is not true as we see from the mouth of YHWH that He lists the SABBATH as the FIRST of His APPOINTED TIMES! Then YHWH goes on to list the rest of His Appointed Times, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, YOM KIPPUR, Feast of Tabernacles, and the 8th Day Closing Assembly.
Furthermore, there are only TWO “Shabbat Shabbatons” pronounced (Sha-ba-tone) on YHWH’s calendar which means “Complete rest, complete stopping from all activity”, and they are the weekly 7th Day SABBATH and Yom Kippur, the other holy days are called Sabbaths (High Sabbaths) not Shabbat Shabbaton’s; therefore, if the weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur are the only Shabbat Shabbaton’s for complete stopping and resting, then the same rules would apply. Evening to Evening as He spells us for us.
YHWH gives us more examples using the Feast of Unleavened Bread where YHWH says eat unleavened bread for 7 days starting on the 14th of the 1st month at EVENING through the 21st day of the 1st month at EVENING! Notice how the command to stop eating the unleavened bread ENDS at EVENING at not morning? That’s because it’s the start of a new day the beginning of the 22nd day of the 1st month. If you are observing a day from morning to morning then that means you would break the command to stop eating unleavened bread the “evening” of the 21st day and would continue into the 22nd day. And again The Sabbath Day, Yom Kippur, The Feast of Unleavened Bread can be used as examples because they ALL are listed as Appointed Times or Moedim. And they ALL concluded a day being from evening to evening.
Why unclean until evening?
Leviticus 22:7
“And when the SUN GOES DOWN he shall be clean, and afterward eat the holy offerings, because it is his food.”
Notice how YHWH doesn’t say when the sun comes up or rises that you will be clean? Why? Because you are unclean until the start of the next day which is at evening when the sun goes down!
Leviticus 11:23-24
“But all other flying insects which have four feet is an abomination to you. And by these you are made UNCLEAN, anyone touching the carcass of any of them is unclean UNTIL EVENING.” Verse 39 And when any of the beasts which are yours for food dies, he who touches its carcass becomes unclean UNTIL EVENING.”
Leviticus 15:10 (Dealing with discharges)
“And whoever touches any of that which was under him is unclean UNTIL EVENING. And he who is carrying them up has to wash his garments and shall bathe in water, and be unclean UNTIL EVENING.”
Leviticus 15:18
“And when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they both shall bathe in water, and be unclean UNTIL EVENING.”
1 Samuel 14:24
“And the men of Yisra’el were distressed that day for, Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until EVENING, and I have taken revenge on my enemies. Verse 27-28 But Jonathan had not heard that his dad had taken an oath of the people, and he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth. And his eyes lit up. Then one of the people said, “Your dad strictly took an oath of the people, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food TODAY.” And the people were weary.”
Saul said for this oath that no one could eat food until evening because evening would be the start of the next day. The man who told Jonathan about the oath said they were not supposed to eat food today, because it was understood that at evening when the oath was lifted they could resume eating for it was the beginning of another day.
I pray this helps clear up the situation for anyone who does not recognize the Sabbath or a day being from evening to evening. The start of the next day begins at evening and not the morning.
As always I pray that YHWH blesses you all in YESHUA’s Name, and please share this with those who need to see this.