[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”4″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”505025″][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ font_family=”font-136269″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″ uncode_shortcode_id=”110955″][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”988401″]

Etymologically speaking, Sabbath or Shabbat (שבת), means “HE has stopped”.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”4″ font_family=”font-136269″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″ uncode_shortcode_id=”734696″][vc_row_inner row_inner_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=”” limit_content=””][vc_column_inner column_width_percent=”100″ position_horizontal=”left” align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ medium_width=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”106529″]Where does the origin of the biblical Sabbath lie?[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner row_inner_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=”” limit_content=””][vc_column_inner column_width_percent=”100″ position_horizontal=”left” align_horizontal=”align_center” gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ medium_width=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”467737″]

In the Bible and the Tanakh, more precisely in the first book called Genesis or Bereshit, we discover the story of creation. This wonderful book reveals to us in all simplicity the origin of the creation of our planet Earth and its organization. It highlights this process of organization which took place in 6 days under the aegis of the Word of the Creator, YaHWeH (God) who rested on the 7th biblical day, the Sabbath. The length of a classical day is determined like our current weekly cycle, i.e. a day lasts 24 hours and there are seven days in the week. However, the Bible reveals that a day begins at sunset and ends the next day at sunset. A very practical example to facilitate this illustration is the Sabbath which begins on Friday evening at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset.

[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”244990″]Excerpt on the origin of the first weekly cycle[/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”974085″]

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void; there was darkness on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved over the waters. 3 God said, “Let there be light. And the light was. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So there was evening and there was morning: that was the first day. Genesis 1: 1-5.

[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”280385″]Excerpt on the origin of the lunar-solar and astronomical cycle[/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”916780″]

The Bible also reveals the creation of the lunisolar and astronomical cycle to help humanity mark the times. For example, records of the ancient Jews of the time of Yeshua (Jesus) brought to light by Grace Edith Amadon reveal to us that a biblical month usually begins at the biblical new moon which was called the second or horned moon. This is not the very first crescent when the moon is visible. One of the signs that allows to identify the good new moon of the ancients, is the Mare de Crisium visible usually on the 3rd day after the conjunction. See the photo below from NASA. It is interesting to note that the first day of the first biblical or lunar month was April 4, 2022(Started April 3 at sunset). See our biblical calendar for a better understanding.

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”108338″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”157402″][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”466353″]The Bible reveals that this complementary cycle begins on the fourth day of creation of the weekly cycle:
“God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky, to separate the day from the night; let them be signs to mark the times, the days, and the years; and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky, to give light to the earth. And so it was. God made the two great lights, the greater light to preside over the day, and the lesser light to preside over the night; he also made the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the sky, to give light to the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. So there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19.

Centuries later, the psalmist and famous king David will state in Psalm 104 in verse 19:
“HE (YaHWeH) made the moon to mark the times; The sun knows when it should set.”[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”149754″]An extract from God’s masterpiece[/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”666877″]In the creation story, it is possible to discover the creation of the first man and the first family on the 6th day of the week in the book of Genesis 1 :
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male (Adam) and female (Eve) he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth […] 31 And God saw all that he had made, and, lo, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”203981″]The mark of the authority of God the creator.[/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text text_lead=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”200526″]The first verses of the book of Genesis chapter 2 summarize in a few words the work of the great architect and the institution of the Sabbath for our first parents who were neither Jews, nor Christians, nor Muslims or followers of other religious, philosophical, or ideological trends:

“Thus were completed the heavens and the earth, and all their host. God finished his work which he had made on the seventh day, and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day he rested from all his work which he had made. These are the origins of the heavens and the earth, when they were created.” Genesis 2:1-4

The fourth commandment found in Exodus 20:8-11 or Deuteronomy 5:12-15 were simply reminders to the Israelites, as they probably tended to forget it as well as humanity:

“Observe the day of rest, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall work, and do all your work. But the seventh day is the rest day of the LORD your God…” Deuteronomy 5:12-14.

To conclude, the last book of Revelation 14:6-7 in the New Testament has many similarities with the first verses of Genesis 2. Nevertheless, it is rather an invitation that God reiterates to mankind, because he is the God of free will, the God of freedom. A fundamental characteristic that proves that he is Love, because he proposes a solution, he recommends, without forcing anyone, showing the consequences that would result depending on our choices:

“I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having an everlasting gospel, to preach it to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, to every tribe, to every language, and to every people. He said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water.

Jesus himself took a stand on the weekly biblical Sabbath and tried to reveal the true spirit of the Sabbath that he wanted to see in his contemporaries. He showed that it is not a day of constraint, but rather a day of celebration and blessing for humanity, a day of healing, restoration, a day of physical and spiritual rest, a day of freedom and sharing within the law.

“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, so that the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, the same is he that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and make myself known unto him.” John 14:21

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_font=”font-136269″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_uppercase=”” uncode_shortcode_id=”159711″]Will we heed this invitation?[/vc_custom_heading][vc_single_image media=”104172″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”138113″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]