Over the past two years I have written messages about the topic of when does a day begin and end; however, the topic has been heating up again and I would like to present more evidence to prove that day is from evening to evening. This time I will use a book called the “The New Covenant of Damascus”. So before quoting from this book, I would like to explain who wrote it.
In the book titled “The meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls”, page 215 under the section titled “The Damascus Document” says “In 1896 Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University, working with texts from a genizah in Cairo, identified a full copy (16 columns) and a smaller one (two columns paralleling to some extent columns 7-8 in the longer one) of a work that he called Fragments of a ZADOKITE WORK. Then in the 1950’s, fragmentary remains of the SAME WORK were found at Qumran: eight copies in Cave 4, one in Cave 5, and one in Cave 6. Some of the these copies preserve the beginning and end of the text, which are missing from the genizah versions.”
A little further down of the same paragraph states “The Damascus Document falls into two principal parts. First is a scripturally based admonition in which a teacher urges the SONS OF LIGHT to separate from the wicked, speaks of the origins of the group 390 years after Jerusalem’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, draws lessons from biblical history, warns about the three nets of Belial (fornication, wealth, defilement of the sanctuary), and threatens punishments for those who prove unfaithful to the new covenant. The second part is a legal section in which one finds a list of transgressors; RULES ABOUT ZADOKITE PRIESTS, skin diseases, and feminine kinds of impurity; and laws connected with crops, purity and impurity, oaths, marriages, business transactions, purification, THE SHABBAT, the Temple and Temple City, blasphemers, gentiles, and foods.”
Why is it important to know that this is a Zadokite writing?
Ezekiel 44:15
“However, the PRIESTS, who are LEVITES and DESCENDANTS OF ZADOK, who took care of My sanctuary when the PEOPLE OF YISRA’EL WENT ASTRAY FROM ME----they are the ones WHO WILL APPROACH ME AND SERVE ME; IT IS THEY who will attend Me and offer Me the fat and the blood,’ says YAHWEH ELOHIM. THEY will enter My sanctuary, approach My table TO MINISTER TO ME AND PERFORM MY SERVICE.”
As discussed in the Passover message, the Zadokite Priests are the righteous covenant keepers and the ones who served YAHWEH without turning to the left or the right, and it is the Zadokite priests who lived at Qumran; therefore, being that the priests ministered before YAHWEH and kept track of the calendar and time, so it would be important to see how to reckoned time and when does a day end and begin.
The Damascus Covenant translated by Ken Johnson on pg. 45 under the section titled “The Weekly Shabbat” states the following:
“Guard the Shabbat according to its law. NO MAN is to do work on the SIXTH DAY from SUNSET when the DIAMETER OF THE SUN CAN STILL JUST BE SEEN ABOVE THE HORIZON. For that is what He said, Guard the Shabbat day to keep it set-apart (Exodus 20:8 Deuteronomy 5:12)
Firstly, we can clearly see that the Zadok Priests recognized sunset as the indicator to stop work as the passage says “No man is to do work on the sixth day from SUNSET” because once the sunsets it is the start of next day and notice there is no mention of sunrise at all being the indicator. And here the emphasis is on the sixth day because when the sunsets, it would be the start of the 7th Day which is the Shabbat. But they did not stop there in case anyone would be in doubt, because we are given more detail to make sure that we understand that the Zadok priests are emphasizing sunset as the end of the day and the start of another, as we read “When the DIAMETER of the sun can still just be seen above the horizon.”
What is the definition of diameter? According to cuemath.com “In a circle, DIAMETER IS A LINE THAT PASSES THROUGH THE CENTER and meets the circumference at opposite ends. It is twice as long as that of the radius of the circle. In other words, the diameter of a circle is the line that passes THROUGH THE CENTER AND DIVIDES THE CIRCLE INTO EQUAL PARTS.”
So, the sun is a circle and when you draw a line (diameter) through the middle of the circular sun dividing it into equal parts, what do you get? You get a visual of the SUN SETTING ON THE HORIZON. The Damascus Covenant also gives us an illustration next to the passage which literally shows the sun setting on the horizon! This perfectly matches the Otiot, which is the ancient pictograph Hebrew language that existed before paleo and modern Hebrew.
The letter Quph is a picture of the SUN ON THE HORIZION and it means: TIME, condense, circle, CYCLE AS MOEDIM (Appointed Times) and light. The light means growing or diminishing and we see that the Zadok Priests made it clear that the light in this instance was “diminishing” to end the day and not “growing” for sunrise. Our Father YAHWEH does not do anything by coincidence and has given the truth right in plain sight. And this is another reason why the Otiot is so important because the pictures cannot be changed or distorted, thus allowing it to retain the original meaning that YAHWEH was giving to His people. As we see one of the meanings of Quph is “time” which is a reference that the setting of the sun shows us what TIME the day is ending and another begins.
Let’s now view a quote from Josephus and two other translations of the Damascus Covenant to see if it is consistent with what we read above. In an article written by Bill and Karen Bishop titled “Evening or morning” from returningtothegarden.com states:
“The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged by William Whiston – The Wars of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 9, Verse 12, (582) – pp 691-692 … one of the priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet, AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY SEVENTH DAY, IN THE EVENING TWILIGHT, as also at the EVENING WHEN THE DAY WAS FINISHED, as giving notice to the people when they were to leave off work, and when they were to go to work again. So this was what was being observed in the days of Josephus. Maybe THIS is one thing that should NOT have changed! But – was that simply Rabbinical? “
“What do the Dead Sea Scrolls say? We have quoted directly from two different translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Each translation uses a subtitle before the actual quote, so these subtitles are shown before the text of each quote:
The Dead Sea Scrolls by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr., & Edward Cook - Under the second part of the Damascus Document called the STATUTES – in fragment 10 of 4Q270 – p 68: About the Sabbath, how to keep it properly A man may not work on the sixth day from the time that the solar orb is above the horizon by its diameter, because this is what is meant by the passage, "Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Deut. 5:12).
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Penguin Classics – Under the second part of the Damascus Document called the STATUTES – in fragment 10 of 4Q270 – p 141: Concerning the Sabbath to observe it according to its law No man shall work on the sixth day from the moment when the sun's orb is distant by its own fulness from the gate (WHEREIN IT SINKS); for this is what He said, Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Deut. v, 12). The text we quoted is drawn from the ZADOKITE FRAGMENTS (or the Damascus Document). This particular segment relates to the “Sabbath code” and how they observed it. This segment of the scroll showed their orientation to Deuteronomy 5:12. Being the Zadokite Fragments, it should be obvious that those who used the ZADOKITE CALENDAR would have used this interpretation regarding Sabbath observance. The Zadokite priesthood was fastidious (very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail) about specifications and precise restrictions relative to Statutes. This specific wording was in a section of the Scrolls sometimes called the Statutes, so these fragments would have been engineered to provide an exact snapshot of the precise timing for Sabbath to begin for their community.”
Again, the Penguin Classics translation said “No man shall work on the sixth day from the moment when the sun's orb is distant by its own fulness from the gate (WHEREIN IT SINKS).” Notice that this translation says the sun is sinking meaning going down and not rising as in coming up? And then Ken Johnson’s translation said “Sunset” and not “Sunrise” and by this there would be no confusion on the issue. It’s clear the Zadokite Priest paid so much attention to detail that they literally gave us a painting of the sun setting on the horizon with their words to make sure that the Shabbat would not be profaned. As a brother in YESHUA said, “when the sunsets, the sun gets the final say in our day as it ends one day and starts another.”
Samaritans
The last witness I would like to add is the Samaritans regardless about how some people feel about them. The Samaritans reject the Oral Torah and they also reject the Talmud, yet they still recognize that a day is from evening to evening. So if Judaism was completely wrong wouldn’t they have rejected evening to evening for the morning to morning doctrine? We cannot reject truth simply because Judaism is doing it as some well-meaning Torah observant communities do. As the saying goes, they will “Throw the baby out with the bath water” and that is not how we examine evidence.
The Samaritans follow a strict observance of the Shabbat, which means that they want to make sure they do everything properly: A Rabbi named Simeon ben Gamaliel commented on the Samaritans saying “They were as Israelites in all things, and KEPT THE LAW AND THE PRECEPTS OF IT, AND EVEN MORE EXACTLY THAN THE ISRAELITES THEMSELVES DID…”
Benjamin Tsedaka the translator of the Samaritan Torah writes the following in the footnote of Exodus 31:14 saying:
“31:14 “And you are to keep the Shabbat, for it is set-apart to you.”---Till present times the Israelite Samaritans have kept the Shabbat as it is written, IN A STRICT WAY. On FRIDAY AFTERNOON preparations for the SHABBAT begins---including washing, and purifying the body, and changing the weekday clothes to Shabbat clothes. The clothing for the men includes a long-sleeved floor-length robe in different colors, thick for the winter-time and light for the spring and summer-time. When entering the synagogue heads are covered. The priests wear red turbans on weekdays and white turbans on the Shabbat. The women of the family, along with the children prepare the FRIDAY EVENING MEAL. WHEN THE SHABBAT DRAWS NEAR, the cooked food is taken off the stove and covered by a thick blanket. At the synagogue they pray passages from the Torah related to the Shabbat and sing FRIDAY EVENING prayers of various hymns…”
As we see the Samaritan women and children prepare the Shabbat meal on Friday afternoon and they take the food off the stove when the Shabbat is drawing near meaning before the sunsets, because Friday evening is the start of the 7th Day Shabbat. Also, Benjamin states that they go to the synagogue to read scriptures from the Torah on the Shabbat starting Friday evening, which clearly shows that the Samaritans also recognized that a day shifts to the next day when the sunsets.
I bring this up to show that the observance of a scriptural day being evening to evening is not some Oral Torah Rabbinical Judaism invention, but rather the Zadok priests who faithfully followed YAHWEH spelled out in detail, Josephus said it, and also the Samaritans also agree and still observe it this way today. In conclusion, we can see that this is one that Judaism as gotten right and would add a fourth witness to all the information presented.
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you all in YESHUA’s Name!