YHWH’s Debatable Calendar, Part Two….. What Constitutes A Calendar Day?
Well did Isaiah write:
“Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge….” Isaiah 5:13
As he expounded….
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” Isaiah 5:20
The chastisement of YHWH upon the men of ancient Israel, as a typology played out at the end time, within this chapter and in fact the entire book of Isaiah, is multi-layered, no doubt. Very clearly from this statement, there is great deception a foot within Israel and yes, one layer hidden within this text is calendar based. Light and darkness via the movement of heavenly bodies are physical typologies of the manifestation of good and evil, however, the physical is not lost in this text. The concept of those who call light darkness and vise versa is the very root of Covenant deception within the landscape of Israel’s worship Appointed Times.
The Prophet Hosea wrote it this way:
“Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your Mighty One, I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:4–6
Again, the concepts of YHWH’s people being destroyed, the observance of time via the motion of light and darkness, as well as the establishment of office holders within the coming government of YHWH, are all at work in these passages. Both chapters of Isaiah 5 and Hosea 4 spell out the goal of why the majority within even the called out of Israel will miss the mark of becoming servants in the coming Kingdom of YHWH, because of their trust in the before mentioned entity in part one of this series….. That being, they were willing deceived into buying into the lies taught by so called learned men of God, who were nothing short of useful idiots of The Enemy.
Just as the age old question goes, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”, so to, the critical thought question, “which came first, light or darkness?” will go a long way to answering our question, when does the calendar day begin? Also, consider the question, as to whether or not YHWH ever changes the foundational patterns He establishes. The establishment of pattern(s) within the construct of YHWH’s calendar will become an increasing aspect to consider in order for the truth to become apparent…… So keep this in mind moving forward in this series.
The order of light and darkness, is easily ascertained from the foundation of all calendar knowledge…. Genesis chapter 1. The following is the very first thing YHWH did on day one of the re-creation.
“And The Almighty said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And The Almighty saw that the light was good. And The Almighty separated the light from the darkness. The Almighty called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Genesis 1:3–5
Event number One of the re-creation — Light dawned, followed immediately by the motion of the heavenly bodies which we will address later in this work.
This is the first witness, from this text of the order of light and darkness. Very clearly, light came first or another way to say it would be, re-creation began with light, not darkness. There is a second witness which is even more revealing and can not be debated.
The Statement, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day” is a very good translation of the original text, derived from the English Standard version of the Bible. Allow me to quote a very bad translation, directly from the absolute worst of all Bible translations, The King James version.
“….So the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5
The difference between these two statements of time within all six days of the re-creation is nothing short of the preverbal home built upon the sand, as opposed to the strong foundation of a rock, Christ spoke of in The New Testament. If you don’t get this one right, your entire concept of time will be off for all eternity.
Either the events of any given day is morning and then evening, or it is evening and then morning. The evidence is clear. I report, you decide.
The following is a link to Bible Hub online Hebrew interlinear to Genesis 1:5. Remember, Hebrew reads right to left.
The final sentence in verse 5 should read, “And there was evening and there was morning, day one.”
Thus the order of events on any of the six recreation days of Genesis chapter one should be understood as follows:
1 — Light breaks (light or dawn can be understood as morning).
2 — YHWH does all His work on that given calendar day
3 — Evening comes.
4 — Night, which comes after evening and before morning, comes
5 — The next day dawns, ending the prior calendar day, beginning a new calendar day.
This second witness from verse 5 is further indicated from the opening information given to us about the motion of the heavenly bodies which create light and darkness, time as we know it….. The sun, moon and stars.
“Then The Almighty said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then The Almighty made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. The Almighty set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And The Almighty saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, day four.” Genesis 1:14–18
There is an awful lot to unpack from this text. Once again, the division of light and darkness is the main point. The statement, “to divide the day from the night” shows, these two heavenly bodies, working with the stars, have to be fully understood before we can even begin to think about other aspect of YHWH’s calendar.
Let’s begin with the statement, “….and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years….”
Please note the text does not say, “….and let them be for signs, for seasons, for days and for years…”
I’ve looked closely at both the Greek and Hebrew Interlinears of this text. The translation is correct. Signs and season are a group separated from Days and years, which is another group. My conclusion…..
The Greater Light of the Sun is for Days and Years.
The Lesser Light of the Moon, working with the Stars is for Signs and Seasons.
And, I’ll take the above statements one step further by adding the following:
The Greater Light of the Sun is given a second witness by The Lesser Light of the Moon to which days and years are occurring. The point being the sun and moon do work together in determining the days and years, but it is the Sun that leads in this matter, while the moon adds detail to the equation. Much like a Husband (The Sun), is the head of household, while the so called weaker vessel, the Woman (The Moon) does the work of adding detail to all the Man has established accordingly.
The Sun rises and we know it is a new calendar day….. But which day? It is here the lead / lag duties become apparent. It is the detail given by the moon that will tell us which day and which month that particular day actually is, something the sun can not do at it’s rising or setting. More on this later in this series.
By extension, working exactly opposite of the lead / lag of the Sun and Moon, the lesser Light of the Moon and Stars, take the lead, given a second witness by the Greater Light of the sun as to which Signs and Seasons are occurring.
The Moon establishes the day and the month, only to be begun and ended by the rising and setting of The Sun accordingly, as a second witness.
In other words, the Sun takes the lead for days and years, with the lesser light of the Moon playing a lesser role, not left out in the duties of days and years.
And, the Moon takes the lead in determining signs and seasons with the greater light of the Sun playing a lesser role, not left out in the duties of signs and seasons.
In short, the two work together, but each has his or her leading role.
Later in this series, I will be carefully going through the words of The Book of Enoch concerning the duties of all these heavenly bodies and how they must be understood before we can establish any hard fast rules concerning YHWH’s Calendar. Enoch, was given the courses of the sun and he was given the courses of the moon, so that these two, working within the backdrop of the stars, would fit together to form the time keeping beauty of YHWH’s Calendar.
Now, I’m pretty sure we can all figure out what days and years are, although, there are caveats to each to which we will deal with accordingly as we go…. But what are signs and seasons?
Let’s take a look at the word ‘signs’ first. The word is defined as follows:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
H226 — Owth
mark, miracle, ensign
Probably from ‘uwth (in the sense of appearing); a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc. — mark, miracle, (en-)sign, token.
It roots down to the word “uwth” which means:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
H225 uwth
consent
A primitive root; properly, to come, i.e. (implied) to assent — consent.
Today, in modern jurisprudence, the word would mean to cause to appear or to lend consent to appear, as a sign of good faith. A token of responsibility. A beacon of light.
The LXX Greek word is almost identical, adding only the words, “a distinguishing mark”, as in, a thing that sets a person, place or thing, apart from commonality. To be set apart is better known as being made holy. Holy simply means to be set apart.
An overriding theme throughout scripture is, YHWH is establishing His Holy Ones, those set apart for the task of establishing His coming Government here on this earth, see the much before quoted passage, Revelation 5:10. There is a qualifying process that spans many thousand years visiting many lifetimes, as YHWH weeds out those who are found to be less worthy. One of the measuring sticks to such a process is given in the passage below as we get a look into importance of being able to ‘number our days’ correctly and what YHWH thinks of those who can not number their days.
“Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O YHWH! How long? Have pity on your servants!” Psalms 90:11–13
Earlier in this chapter, we read this:
You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” Psalms 90:3–4
Later in scripture we read The Apostle Peter seconding this witness:
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with YHWH one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2Peter 3:8
If you have eyes to see, it should begin to be visible to you, the question of what constitutes a day is very important in not only the surface level of YHWH’s calendar, but also in the layer down of the knowledge of YHWH”s planning for mankind.
Let’s take a quick look at the word translated ‘day’ in scripture. First from the Old Testament Hebrew.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Yome (H3117)
age, always, continually, daily, birth, each, today,
From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb) — age, + always, + chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever(-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (… Live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year(-ly), + younger.
There is a debate within those who study the calendar of YHWH, as to the whether or not a day is 12 hours long or 24 hours in length. Also, when the calendar day begins. The statement, “from one sunset to the next”, shows the Jewish slant to Jimmy Strong’s definitions, to which we have to be very much aware of. We have already proven from two witnesses in Genesis 1:5 the calendar day begins at dawn (sunrise), not dusk (sunset)….. But what about the question of 12 hour versus 24 hour days?
I’m going to address this question fully later on in this series, however, for now just know, it is the context of each use of the word “yome’ or ‘day’ in scripture which denotes, 12 or 24 hours in length. The point of looking at this definition now is to establish, a day is a period of time, not limited to the traditional 24 hours we all think of. In fact, just as the definition reveals, and as scripture itself reveals, a day can be an age of time, as in hundreds or thousands of years. It can be a month. It can be a short period of 24 hour days, as in two or three days, etc….. And all of these examples are used all throughout scripture. Thus a good understanding of what constitutes a day becomes a vital tool for the avid truth seeker.
Do you still think YHWH’s Calendar doesn’t have any value for The Believer?
Now, even in light of the evidence given from Genesis 1:5, there are those who hold to the man made tradition which says the calendar day begins when darkness begins, at sunset or dusk. These misguided persons, of which I once held a membership of, have never actually considered the obvious evidence presented from Genesis 1, leaning on the wisdom and knowledge of an organizational church entity to tell them the foundational truth needed to obey YHWH properly. In short, they simply never proved it or disproved it for themselves.
One passage used to prove the calendar day begins at sunset is Leviticus 23:32:
“It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” Leviticus 23:32
The above command has be understood within the context of the larger command of observing The Day of Atonement, which is a specific, special, out of the ordinary, day of the year. In other words, the above statement is not a witness for every calendar day that roles around, but rather solely for this specific day of the year.
The text itself makes this point. The calendar day of the 9th is in the equation, even though the Day of Atonement is the day of the 10th. Thinking through the above verse, there is no way, one can make the case the calendar day begins at evening from this passage….. And here is why.
The key in understanding this point gets into another question of calendar. What constitutes ‘evening’? And since the daylight portion of any given 24 hour calendar day is made up of morning and evening, this must be addressed within this article, right now, before moving forward. Yes, I will dedicate a full article to both questions of what constitutes morning and what constitutes evening, but here is the Reader’s Digest version of the subject of evening.
Evening is defined as:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Ereb (H6153)
day, evening, tide, night
From arab; dusk — + day, even(-ing, tide), night.
The root of the word is defined as follows:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Arab (H6150)
be darkened, toward evening
A primitive root (identical with arab through the idea of covering with a texture); to grow dusky at sundown — be darkened, (toward) evening.
A critical thought question for you to consider moving forward….. Is evening a broad period of time within any given calendar day, or is evening a pinprick of time, such as sunset or the moment of dusk (the moment when a certain amount of light is gone from the sky)?
This question becomes vitally important to anyone who believes there is a concept of evening that marks a moment in time when one day ends and another begins. If you believe evening is a pinprick of time, marked by a given moment, then you can reasonably argue for the words in Leviticus 23:32 denoting an evening to evening calendar day. However, if you come to see the period of evening is a broad period of time, there is no way, one can cease their calendar day by the marker of evening to begin another.
Everything from the above definition of ereb (evening) denotes a progressive motion from day into night, not marked by any given moment of time. Sunset itself is eliminated from being that marker in time by your own eyes. When the sun sets, there is still light in the sky. Remember what YHWH called day, as in any given calendar day….. He called the light, day. Thus if there is still light in the sky, after sunset, then by the very definition given to us from Genesis 1 of what day is (light), it is still that very calendar day, the one it has been all day leading up to sunset.
Here is a text for you to consider when trying to nail down what constitutes evening:
“Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen!” Jeremiah 6:4
My conclusion from the above text is that the period of evening begins at noon and goes until at least the concept of shadows (made by the sun) are no longer, which would be sunset. However, as I relayed above, there is light in the sky after sunset until dusk, thus applying the bible study tool of allowing all of scripture to work in a person’s interpretation of scripture, applying these two passages, Genesis 1:5 and Jeremiah 6:4, we can see, the period of evening would last from noon time, when the sun begins its descent toward night until all light is gone from the evening sky from whence the sun came, aka dusk or what science calls civil twilight.
This stands to reason, there are two parts to the daylight portion of any given 24 hour day. They are:
Morning — beginning at dawn, lasting until high noon
Evening — beginning at high noon lasting until dusk.
So back to the command in Leviticus 23:32.
In order to observe your Sabbath (Ceasing, as in the time of your fasting or ‘ceasing’ from food and water) from the evening of the 9th unto the evening of the 10th, the question becomes, can this command be made into a calendar statement for every day since re-creation or is this command simply for this specific day of the year? Fact is, the command has nothing at all to do with a calendar day, but rather the period of time in which your fast is to take place. The point being, you are to refrain from eating and drinking at some point (you decide) within the broad period of time called evening, on the 9th, so that when you awake on the morning of the 10th, your stomach has digest all the food causing you to feel hungry and your soul is then afflicted all the day of the 10th until that same point in which you began your fast revolves around again at evening on the 10th, to which you can then break the fast accordingly.
My family and I always use the point of dusk or the end of civil twilight to start and end our fast. Other use sunset. Still other might use 6 pm, well before sunset or dusk. All would be scripturally correct once you come to understand the intent of the command, apart from the man made teachings of the passage.
Another passage used by the sunset to sunset crowd is this one:
“In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our Mighty One bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my Mighty One, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.” Nehemiah 13:15–22
It is specifically verse 19 within the context of this passage the evening to evening crowd uses to make their case:
“As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath.” Nehemiah 13:19
Once again, a great leap of scriptural gymnastics has to be in order to make the case this text proves the Sabbath begins at sunset. It’s very seldom considered but the Sabbath command is a two part command. Part one — work six days. Part two — Rest the seventh day, after working six days. You can not have one without the other.
Another aspect of the Sabbath command is the principle of preparation the day before the weekly Sabbath. Note I did not say, the principle of preparation the moment the Sabbath begins, which is the concept you would have to believe in, in order to use this verse as a proof text for an evening to evening calendar day.
The point being, what Nehemiah was stating in verse 19 of chapter 13 was that on the day of preparation, as it began to grow dark, which by the way is well after sunset, he commanded the gates of the city to be closed, so that when the calendar day of the weekly Sabbath began, the next morning at dawn, no one would have to get up from a well deserved night’s sleep too early and go shut the gates, because that task, and it would be a task, was already completed on the day of preparation, after the day’s commerce was completed, the evening before.
To quote from one of my favorite movies, ‘My Cousin Vinny’, “I’m finished with this (misguided) witness.”
The defense now calls, Matthew 28:1, along with John 20:1.
“Now late on the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” Matthew 28:1
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” John 20:1
This text is a classic example of where a proper form of study, using the resources available to us can reveal the truth on any given matter.
The words “Now late on” to begin Matthew 28:1 nail down the moment in time Mary’s travel to the tomb began. The Greek word used is Opse (G3796). It roots down many times, to which i invite you as the reader to investigate, but at the end of your study, I’m sure you will find the surface definition fits how it is used here in the quotation above. The word is best defined as ‘late’ or ‘late on’, as in, at the end of but still being on the day in question. The last few minutes of a day.
This moment is prefaced by the words, “toward the dawn of the first day of the week”, lending a second witness to the fact the Sabbath Day did not end 12 hours earlier at sunset, but rather at the dawning of a brand new day, in this case the first day of the week, or as it should be translated the first day of the weeks, plural, as the text is actually speaking of the first day in the count toward the Feast of Weeks, as in seven weeks. Either way, it is still the first day after the Seventh Day Sabbath or the first day of the week.
So, what role does John’s account play into this? Well, much indeed.
John adds the following revealing words: “while it was still dark”.
The word “dark” is very interesting. It denotes, not night, as you might first think, but rather twilight, or a mixture of light and darkness, as in morning twilight a period after the dawning of the day.
It is here, you must understand, Matthew’s account in verse 1 of chapter 28 is speaking of the moment Mary first began to make the trek to the tomb but John, in his account sees the need to add, the moment she arrived at the tomb, the calendar day would have changed because light had obviously dawned.
So how do we know John’s use of this word translated ‘dark’ means twilight? Well, again, lets allow scripture to interpret scripture. John quotes Yeshua stating this earlier in his Gospel:
“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” John 12:46
The darkness spoken of here is spiritual darkness, as in a mixture of truth (light) and error (darkness). The implication is deception and you can not have deception unless there is some mixture of truth mingled in.
The word used in both cases is defined as follows:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Skotia (G4653)
darkness. spiritual darkness
From skotos; dimness, obscurity (literally or figuratively) — dark(-ness).
It roots from the word defined as follows:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Skotos (G4655)
darkness.
From the base of skia; shadiness, i.e. Obscurity (literally or figuratively) — darkness.
Which roots from the word skia, defined as:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Skia (G4639)
shadow.
Apparently a primary word; “shade” or a shadow (literally or figuratively (darkness of error or an adumbration)) — shadow.
All of which points to a period of twilight, as in after the dawning of a new day, but before sunrise.
So, what can we conclude from all of this? Well, we can once again conclude Judaism, the religion responsible for the lie, the day begins at sunset, is full of cow dung. 100%…. As in the golden calf theology of Saturn, seen only in the night sky.
The calendar day begins at dawn, starting a pattern we will begin to see become evident throughout this series.
Joey Thompson
joeythompson777@aol.com