Beginnings

Genesis is beginnings. A few of the concepts introduced are light and dark, Day and Night, evening and morning, and the seventh day Sabbath. Our understanding of these basic principles should be formed from Scripture, rather than from tradition. Figure 1 shows the days of Genesis 1 and 2 in light of a Biblical calendar, which differs both from the Gregorian calendar and the Jewish calendar. Please bear with me and see if this understanding provides a key for understanding calendar issues throughout the Scriptures.

Figure 1. Illustrated account of creation.

I am advocating a literal historic account of a recent creation with no gaps in Genesis 1. I understand that the phrase, “And God said...” is an indication of when He began His work each day or a different phase of creation within the same day. The beginning of the Creation week would be the first record of  “And God said” (Genesis 1:3). However, the materials were already here at this point. We find out later in the Scriptures about the beginnings of the months being a New Moon day (Num 10:10, Isa 66:23, Eze 46:1). I understand that Creation would have given more than just the model of a week, I understand that it is also the model of the beginning of a month.

Num 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I [am] the LORD your God.

Isa 66:23 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.

Eze 46:1 Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

In Genesis 1 we are introduced to the calendar pieces in the sky. The main pieces are the sun and the moon. The rising and setting of the sun defines day and night. The progression of the moon through its phases shows the progression of the month. Weeks, a third measure of time, are set within the month. This “lunar sabbath” concept is largely unfamiliar to many. Simply put, seventh day sabbaths always occur on the eighth, fifteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-ninth day of the lunar month. Leviticus 23 lists appointed times (mo’ed, Strong’s number H4150), beginning with the seventh day sabbath. It is the moon that tells where we are in the month and it is the moon that tells when to celebrate the seventh day sabbath. In fact, the sabbaths are associated with the major phases of the moon.

Gen 1:14 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 [mo’ed or appointed times, see Leviticus 23 and Psa 104: 19], and for days, and years:

Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.

Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Gen 1:18 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.

Psa 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons [mo’ed, appointed times]: the sun knoweth his going down.

Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, [Concerning] the feasts [mo’ed, appointed times] of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, [even] these [are] my feasts [mo’ed, appointed times] .

Lev 23:3 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.

Each month as determined by the moon has either twenty-nine or thirty days. The beginning of the month is a new moon day (day following conjunction). This is followed by four seven day “weeks.” In a thirty day month there is an extra day between the last sabbath and the new moon, giving a three day “month-end” approximately every other month. Scripturally, the new moon was, among other things, a time for special services (Num 10:10), a time to visit the prophet (2Ki 4:23a) or attend a banquet (1Sa 20:5), or be visited by YHWH (Num 1:1) .

2Ki 4:23a And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? [it is] neither new moon, nor sabbath.

1Sa 20:5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow [is] the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third [day] at even.

Num 1:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first [day] of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

A primary objection to the lunar calendar is that the moon was created on day four. The word created is not actually used, but rather ‘made’ or ‘appointed’ (asah, Strong’s number H6213). I do not know why it was day 4 when the sun and moon were set in the firmament, but I do suspect that they were in some form already here at creation when “God created the heavens and the earth.” Regardless, it would not be impossible for YHWH to place the moon at the proper phase at its creation.

Going back to days, Judaism has taught that the twenty-four hour day begins in the evening. I argue that the Scriptures indicate rather that the day begins with daybreak. Note on Figure 1 that the Creation week began when it was dark. God’s first creative act was light. The first day’s account introduces Day and Night and concludes in the King James Version with “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” This rendering of the Hebrew is incorrect. A literal translation is “And there was evening (‘ereb, ‘dusk,’ Strong’s number H6153) and there was morning (boqer, ‘dawn,’ Strong’s number H1242), day one.” Dusk and dawn are transition periods between day and night. Day one included the day, when the creative acts occurred, followed by the night, which began with dusk and ended with the beginning of dawn.

This understanding of days, weeks and months differs from tradition, but has unlocked several areas of Scripture to me. One of these is understanding the literal three days and three nights of Messiah being in the heart of the earth. Also, I have been presented with a choice of whose calendar I am to obey. Man’s calendar is “convenient,” but it cannot be proven from Scripture.