Sheerit Yisrael—www.age-end.com

PO Box 473

Calder, Idaho 83808, USA

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

With a Different Approach to the Questions of

Religion, Philosophy, Faith, Hope and the Future

 

Lunar Sabbath or

Babylonian Confusion?

  

 

 

By an unworthy servant (with material from www.age-end.com)

PO Box 473

Calder, Idaho 83808, USA 

(Notice to Readers and especially Christian theologians.  Please use what you can here—But with Credit to this website.  Please do not do as most Christian Preachers do by plagiarizing and stealing words from others.  The least you can do is to give credit when you take from others, to include taking from this website). 

 

Index

Page                  

 

PART A:  Sabbath, a Memorial to Creation and the Creation Week of 7 Days                      2       

 

PART B:  Weekly Sabbath or Annual Shabbathon?                                                              12

 

PART C:  Bowen and Johnson’s Alleged Scriptures                                                             25

 

PART D:  Philo and Josephus                                                                                               28       

 

PART E:  Universal Jewish Encyclopedia                                                                              33

 

PART F:  Questions Bowen/Johnson Need to Answer                                                          38

 

PART G--Proof of 7^th Day Sabbaths Not on 8, 15, 22 or 29 Moon Days                             42       

 

PART H--Letter to Messers Bowen, Johnson and Jenzen                                                     47       

 

PART A--Sabbath, a Memorial to Creation and the Creation Week of 7 Days

 

The Lunar Sabbath Book by Arnold Bowen and Proof that Weekly Sabbaths (sic) Days Are Determined by the Moon by Buddy Johnson are their theories that the seven day weekly cycle is somehow determined by the lunar cycle.  These two writings are essentially the same with almost no differences.  The uncanny linkage makes one realize at once that either Bowen plagiarized and stole Johnson’s work without giving credit or Johnson plagiarized and stole Bowen’s work without giving credit. Often, Christian leaders steal ideas from others without giving any credit as to sources.

 

Yet, there are absolutely no Scriptures whatsoever which will support their ideas.  But they use speculation, guesswork and hope to build their case (by primarily using some secular works which have some words that are vague and uncertain).  Hence, they literally reject hundreds of Scriptures which clearly define the weekly cycle as being independent of the lunar cycle.  Then they largely grab some vague, unclear, unscriptural writings to justify their wild speculations and guesswork. 

 

Finally, they take or create some assertions about the various writings without quoting the actual remarks (this is not unusual by so-called Bible teachers).  Many persons ignore the Scriptures to build a belief for their own speculations from writings made outside the Word (like the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Philo or Josephus). Next, they then make some charge that the Scriptures say something without an actual quote (but too often, the Scriptures do not say what they charge).  Sometimes they give reference to a particular Scripture.  But when checking the verse, it often doesn’t say what they say at all.  Is it possible that they are extremely careless and irresponsible in handling, citing and using the Scriptures or is it something else?  

 

In Something Different (at www.ponderscripture.org), Larry and June Acheson wrote:  “In his booklet ‘Proof That the Weekly Sabbath Days Are Determined by the Moon,’ author Arnold Bowen attempts to establish proof from the New Testament that the Messiah observed Lunar Sabbaths. We find that many of his claims are dubious at best, and are impossible to really prove either way, which means they prove nothing.” In his Introduction to the subject, Acheson notes that the proponents are dishonest in their presentations.  This is clearly a correct assessment!

 

This writer not only finds much dishonesty and deception on this theme but is amazed with the ridiculous, illogical, confused, unintelligible, incoherent nonsense both in the basic idea as well as in the writings which purport to sell the idea to so-called believers.  How anyone can believe this topic and its supporting documentation blows one’s mind.

 

In his book on Lunar Sabbaths (p. 1), Lew White outlines the problem when he wrote: 

LUNAR SABBATH SYSTEM?

article by Lew White

 

Answer: NO!  There are absolutely no Scriptures whatsoever which will support, suggest or even allow such wild theories.  Specifically, lunar Sabbath books by Arnold Bowen and Buddy Johnson are built on speculation, two prophecies on the New Moons and Sabbaths in the far distant future (neither of which connect the two subjects together as one as claimed), and vague unclear references to a few words from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Josephus and Philo without a proper quotation and out of context. Bowen and Johnson charge that these sources prove lunar Sabbaths. 

 

The truth is that none of these writers/sources believed in or taught lunar Sabbaths.  They all cited the basis for the weekly Sabbath as being Genesis 1-2.  But it must be allowed that to satisfy atheists, agnostics and rejecters of Genesis 1-2 that some encyclopedias speculate on some source for the weekly Sabbath outside the purview of Scripture. Bowen has simply made up his charges with some vague, incoherent comments from sources outside the Scriptures without offering any proofs.  

 

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. xiv, p. 387-397, article on Sabbat/Sabbath) is a presentation on the Sabbath from this exhaustive dictionary. This source (p. 391) notes: “That the Sabbath often appears in connection with the new moon is nowhere even remotely traced back to the lunar cycle.”  Yes, there is no linkage between the lunar cycle and the Sabbath defined by the weekly cycle.  They are different! 

 

So here’s what the Word says:

 

Genesis 2:2

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

 

When was the new moon created/revealed during the 7 days of creation week?

 

Per Bowen’s book, the new moon in creation week actually preceded the first 7-day weekly cycle.  This reality surfaces because he says that the 29^th day in a month (he doesn’t explain how this is possible in a month of 27 or 28 days) is a 7^th day Sabbath, near the conclusion of the preceding month.  If that month has thirty days, then the 30^th day (or 31st or 32d days as are possible) is a non-day in all the cycles as it is not a Sabbath or work day and it has nothing to do with a seven day week.  Then, per Bowen, the 1^st day of the next new month is also a non-day; although it is a type of a new moon rest day. 

 

Then, per Bowen, the 2d day of the new moon is actually day one in a new weekly cycle.  This 2d day is a work day that leads to a weekly Sabbath on the 8^th day of the moon.  Thus, with the reality of a weekly Sabbath on the 7^th day of the first week in a month, it means, per Bowen, that the new moon for that month has to occur sometime before work day one in the first week of the month. 

 

Applied to creation week, it means that creation week occurred in a moon cycle which actually started with a new moon that happened before the 1^st day of creation week.  After all, per Bowen, work-day one in creation week has to have occurred on the 2d day of the new moon cycle.  Thus, per Bowen, the new moon happened before day one of creation week.  If this sounds like Babylonian confusion, it is.

 

Bowen’s belief has many complications with it because the moon’s orbit is elliptical with a mean average presently of about 29.5 days.  As a minimum, its cycle has to be 29 or 30 days.  Even 28 or 31 days are not uncommon. This writer once observed a month of 32 days (allowing that there could be a month of 27 days as the moon cycles are self correcting over time, and particularly from the first half of its cycle to its last half).  All of these values are possible as the moon oscillates in its orbit to swing to its minimum and maximum values. 

 

There are too the complicated questions of when is new moon and the need for a full moon to fall on the 15^th day.  Since new moon involves an observation procedure, the condition has to occur at night; thus, requiring a slippage if new moon actually falls during late daylight hours (thus, if a new moon occurred a few minutes before sunset on a day then ending and before the start of next day; when is new moon—the ending old day or the coming new day?  This situation suggests a possible need to slip the new moon day to the coming new day so the condition of new moon can be observed during the night portion of the new day (per Deut 16:1).

 

These words are being written in the context that this writer uses the astronomical new moon (obviously with necessary adjustments) to establish the month and not any attempt to observe the beginning crescent (which would create even more wide variations in the moon’s cycle because of the factors affecting observation of the crescent).

 

Later commentary herein will address the reality of recurring 30-day months, possibly during the flood and perhaps as late as the Exodus.  While it would be great to assume precise 30-day months, it is possible that even in this instance the moon may have had some variations in orbit time.  This writer is in no position to judge or comment on this question.

 

Anyway, add that fact into the need for the condition of new moon to occur at night (as discussed above) and for the full moon to fall on the 15^th day of the month to literally cover the night, per the kasah/keseh full moon of Ps 81:3 (if the full moon mid point comes at the exact end of the 15^th day and the start of the 16^th day [like at sunset one day], when is the 15^th day full moon, as is needed for the 1^st and 7^th months—the passing 15^th day or the coming 16^th day?  Surely, in this instance, the 15^th day must be adjusted to the full moon day and the related 1^st day must also be slipped accordingly). 

 

It is easy to see that 30-day months were probably an average and not necessarily always exact.  Thus, over time, the months averaged 30 days.  However, it surely would have been true that most of them were 30 days in length or otherwise likely near that figure.

 

With recognition of the above facts, the reality of 27-32 day months can and do happen sometimes with astronomical new moons—certainly in the present situation of 29.5-day months.  By watching for the first sliver of the crescent new moon, one can easily have a variation of one to five days in a moon’s length.  Bowen never addresses this real world thing of 27, 28, 30, 31, or 32 days.  Of course, his theories mean that some months cannot have a 29^th day Sabbath and some months can have more than one non-day that are not a part of a week.

 

With Bowen’s theories and the reality of 27 to 32 days for a month, there is no way to know what day the new moon occurred to establish creation week and the 7^th day Sabbath in Genesis 1-2. Thus, his theories mean utter confusion. So, per Bowen, the new moon to precede the weekly cycle of seven days had to have happened one to five days before day one of Genesis one;  hence, before: Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

 

Yet, the Word says there was no moon or sun before day one of creation week.  The Word says in Gen 1:19 that the moon and sun were first cited and defined on day four. 

 

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, and for days, and years:

 

1:15

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

 

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.

 

1:17

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

 

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.

 

1:19

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

 

So, was there light before the 4^th day? Yes, possibly just as there is light after the sun novas in the age end.  The MOST HIGH will be the light.  Rev 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

 

Bowen tries to make a big deal out of Gen 1:14 claiming that the word moed (meaning set time/appointed meeting, in the word seasons) really means all of the weekly Sabbaths as well as the annual festivals. Apparently, Bowen fails to grasp the meaning of annual festivals in that they occur once a year (just like Christians observe their birthdays and holidays annually without regard to the day of the week; thus, meaning that these annual events can be observed on any day of the week from Sunday to Sabbath).

 

Yes, the feasts of Sukkot on the 15^th and 22d days of the 7^th month only occur once a year, not weekly/monthly. If The ELOHIM wanted them weekly/monthly, He would have said so.  Instead, He expressly defined them as annual events--once a year when He specified the exact days of the specific months for their observances.

 

While the annual festivals are calculated by the moon cycle and are called moed, and while the weekly Sabbath in some instances is called moed (with a convocation and appointed meeting), Gen 1:14 actually says that both the sun and moon are used in the calculation of days and years (no mention is made of weeks; thus, allowing that the weeks and the weekly Sabbaths are not being addressed at all in Genesis 1:14—as Acheson and others note).  

 

Regardless, truly both the sun and moon do provide the day and night cycles used in the seven day count period to establish and define the six days of work to precede the 7^th day Sabbath. Bowen’s focus on Gen 1:14 proves nothing.  As he uses it, he creates confusion.

 

Actually, the weekly Sabbath is a memorial of The MOST HIGH’s creation and the creation week of Gen 1 as the Book says:

 

Exodus 20

20:8

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

 

20:9

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

 

20:10

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

 

20:11

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

 

Exodus 31

31:13

Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

 

31:14

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

 

31:15

Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

 

31:16

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

 

31:17

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

 

Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

 

Yes, the Sabbath was created for Adam man (and not just for Israel).

 

Notice in Ex 31:13-14 that the reference is to “it” not they.  In fact all of the above texts which cite the Hebrew Shabbat are singular and not plural as if they involved multiple kinds of Sabbaths, a new moon day or some other aberration (except at Ex 31:13 which in context refers to the 7^th day weekly Sabbath).  

 

Please note that the remembrance is to the creation week of seven days, not a moon month of 27-32 days. The seventh day concludes the week as established by The CREATOR at creation. Please note that man is to do some kind of work (or may do certain work) in the permissive sense for six days but he must rest and observe the Sabbath memorial of creation on the 7^th day.

 

There is only one exception to this message which comes forth as a command (arising on the prohibition only of servile work on the annual festivals of Lev 23) which overrides the general statement on work in the Word (at Ex 20:9). If man does not work for six days (or at least be in a position or allowance to do some kind of work for six days in a permissive state), then he has transgressed the Torah. Per this statement, man must or may work on all new moon days without exception (except for the weekly Sabbath days and ordinary work on the 1^st day of the 7^th month per Lev 23).

 

Anything which would disrupt or change the six days of work and seventh day of Sabbath rest is illegal and contrary to the Word.  And this fact brings up one of the really bad features of the Bowen/Johnson nonsense.  Since a moon cycle has from 27 to 32 days it means that once a month there is a new cycle for the weeks in that coming month.  Obviously this reality should not take a genius to understand it at once as Babylonian confusion. 

 

If there were precisely 28 days in the moon’s cycle, the lunar Sabbaths could work out without a problem.  But the months are rarely 28 days in length.  That means that in almost every month there is the establishment of an actual new weekly cycle for that month (to include new days for work and rest). 

 

Bowen and Johnson try to get around this problem by merely declaring the presence of one or more non-count days (all days over 28 in total do not count as work and/or Sabbath days in a weekly cycle, per Bowen and Johnson).  Yet, there is no way to avoid the reality that even these non-count days end up disrupting and changing the actual, perpetual 7 day creation cycle.  Yes, every time one adds a non-count day, the 7-day weekly cycle has been disrupted and changed.  Any idiot can count the days with his fingers and see at once they have been altered and changed. 

 

The weekly cycle of seven days has existed historically in all civilized societies without a clear explanation as to its source beyond the Scriptures.  But in the vein that Israelites may have lost the seven day week cycle of work and rest during the Egyptian captivity, YHWH gave them manna for 40 years during the Exodus to define, clarify and establish the weekly Sabbath so they could experience, live and know it.

 

Exodus 16

16:1

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

 

16:2

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:

 

16:3

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

 

16:4

Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

 

16:5

And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

 

16:6

And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

 

16:7

And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

 

16:8

And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

 

16:9

And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.

 

16:10

And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

 

16:11

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

16:12

I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

 

16:13

And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

 

16:14

And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

 

16:15

And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

 

16:16

This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

 

16:17

And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

 

16:18

And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

 

16:19

And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

 

16:20

Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

 

16:21

And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

 

16:22

And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

 

16:23

And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

 

16:24

And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

 

16:25

And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

 

16:26

Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

 

16:27

And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

 

16:28

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

 

16:29

See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

 

16:30

So the people rested on the seventh day.

 

16:31

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

 

16:32

And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

 

16:33

And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

 

16:34

As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

 

16:35

And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

 

Several Features stand out in Exodus 16.

 

First, it must be said they collected manna for 6 days and found that if held over for a day it would ruin/decay.  Yet, it would not decay when a double portion was gathered on the 6^th day and held to the 7^th day (when none was to be found). So, on the 6^th day, they collected a double portion and it lasted to the 7^th day. 

 

For this 7-day cycle to persist for 40 years, in conjunction with a moon cycle, the moon cycle would have had to be 28 days long for each and every month of the 40 years.  Any difference on the moon cycle would have disrupted the flow of manna for 6 days with none on the 7^th day.  A moon cycle of 27, 29, 30, 31 or 32 days (all of which are possible) could not have produced the proper 7-day sequence on the manna.  There is no other way.

 

Besides the flow of manna weekly for 6 days with none on the Sabbaths, there are other interesting Scriptural practices of things happening on the basis of a weekly cycle.  Here, mention can be made to need for a weekly bread offering and the incense that was refurbished weekly on the Sabbath days (Lev 24:5-9).  There are numerous duties and requirements stipulated for the Temple on the basis of 7-day weeks.  Thus, some things were done for 6 days and changed on the Sabbaths and/or just changed on each 7^th day.  It should not take a genius to understand at once that if the weekly 7-day cycle can be disrupted one day (as would happen monthly, per Bowen’s monthly 1 to 5 non-count days), it would create utter chaos and confusion in the operation of the Temple

 

Second, Israel murmured and complained clearly on a Sabbath day (Ex 16:2).  YHWH then gave them quails after sunset, on the evening or start of Sunday.  The next Sunday morning, the manna started for 6 days.  It was not present on the 7^th day Sabbath.  Israel followed this cycle for the next 40 years without interruption or alteration.

 

Third, if there were any exceptions to this six days of gathering and one day of not gathering for the 40 years, they would have had to be clearly and precisely defined to Israel to avoid absolute confusion and pandemonium.

 

Last, this event is fully dated. Israel was in a travel status when she arrived in the wilderness of sin on the 15^th day of the 2d month. Thus, the 15^th day was a weekly work day (actually the 6^th day of the week) and the next day, the 16^th day, was a weekly Sabbath. If Israel would have arrived one second before sunset on the 14^th day, it would have established the arrival date as the 14^th day and not the 15^th day. But she arrived sometime on the 15^th day. 

 

Sometime after arrival, the weekly Sabbath started.  Israel then murmured on their rest day and complained. YHWH gave them quail that evening on the 1^st day of the week after sunset and manna the next morning of the 17^th day. The next Sabbath was the 23d day.

 

From www.age-end.com (v 15) and some present editing, the following is the chronology of the Exodus: 

 

Much of the day to day chronology of Exodus clearly lays out what happened for the first three months of the first year of the Exodus and establishes the general outline of the Scriptural calendar.  To appreciate this chronology, one must allow that the months then likely involved 30 days each and not the 29 1/2 days now known to exist (although even in the present calendar situation, it is possible to have two 30-day months, back to back).

 

The same 30-day months probably go back to creation and the flood.  The chronology of Genesis 6-8 suggests that the year then was evidently of 360 days with 12 months of 30 days each.  Gen 7:11, 24 and 8:3-4 prove that 150 days passed from the 17^th day of the 2d month to the 17^th day of the 7^th month by progressive counting.  Five months at 30 days each gives one 150 days.  From the 17^th day of the 2d month (Gen 7:11) until the 27^th day of the 2d month of the next year (Gen 8:13-14), one year and 10 days elapse.  With 30-day months, this comes to 360 plus 10 days.  It is possible to add the cited days in Gen 6-9 and calculate the 370 days. 

 

The evidence from the flood is persuasive that the moon-months at that time were 30 days in length (which is the prophetic standard used in prophecy in the Word).  In any case, the 30-day month seems present during the Exodus--when considering the time period for mourning of the dead as a month (Deut 21:13) of 30 days (Num 20:29; Deut 34:8).  

 

One more foundational point seems relevant.  Apparently, the people under Moshe never traveled on the weekly Sabbath days.  They evidently rested those days.

 

Thus, the first day of the first month (Ex 12:2) had to have occurred on a fourth day of the week (as will be established in comments to follow).  The Passover of Aviv 14 (Lev 23:5) probably happened on a third day of the week.  Aviv 15 came next, when the people started their movement out of Egypt during the night part (visibly under a full month) of the 15th day (Ex 12:37-42; 13:3-4; Num 33:3; Deut 16:1).  

 

They marched three days to reach the point where they were to keep their anticipated festival and offer sacrifices (Ex 3:18; 5:3; 8:27; 10:9).  This means that they marched on Aviv 15 (to Succoth per Num 33:5), Aviv 16 (to Etham per Num 33:6) and Aviv 17 (to Pi-hahiroth per Num 33:7) and rested at Pi-hahiroth on Aviv 18, a weekly Sabbath (also, a chag day--Ex 14:1-4).

 

Exodus 14:5 notes that Pharaoh was notified of Yisrael’s arrival at Pi-hahiroth, which means freedom--since the Israelites received their freedom that day (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 409).  The “Chumash” adds that this event occurred when the Israelites reached their three days journey to keep their feast.  

 

But while the weekly Sabbath was a memorial for Adam man based on the creation, it became a memorial particularly for Israel at Pi-hahiroth where she gained freedom after her three-day march. 

 

Deuteronomy 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. 5:13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 5:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

 

Pharaoh’s army overtook the Israelites at Pi-hahiroth--evidently late on Aviv 20, a second day of the week (Ex 14:9).  Clearly, they rested at Pi-hahiroth on Aviv 18-20.  On Aviv 21, the third day of the week, Yisrael crossed the sea; and the Egyptian army was destroyed as it tried to follow them (Ex 14:15-15:21).

 

On Aviv 22, the Israelites resumed their journey for three days.  Probably, they wanted to rest after crossing the sea; but Moshe compelled them to continue moving, against their will (Ex 15:22, per the “Soncino Chumash,” p. 419).  So the Israelites continued moving on Aviv 22, 23 and 24 (Ex 15:22).  

 

So they came to Marah where they obviously kept the Seventh day Sabbath, rested and murmured (Ex 15:22-27; Num 33:8).  The “Chumash” (p. 421) suggests that at Marah YHWH gave the Israelites the statutes respecting the Sabbath.  This surely occurred on the Sabbath of Aviv 25.  

 

It is not clear how long that they stayed at Marah.  But they eventually moved on to Elim where they may have stayed a couple of weeks or so (Ex 15:27; Num 33:9).  They then resumed their journey and came to the Wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month (Ex 16:1-30; Num 33:11).  The 15th day of the second month (Ex 16:1) would have had to occur on the sixth day of the week (certainly before sunset).  Incidentally here, Bowen dates this 15^th day of Ziw on a weekly Sabbath as indeed he does the same thing for Aviv 15. Since there were thirty-day months during the Exodus, how could Aviv 15 and Ziw 15 both fall on the weekly Sabbath? 

 

Anyway, the next day, Ziw 16, they were on their Sabbath rest--during which time they again murmured. YHWH gave them quail after sunset on the first day of the week (Ex 16:13, at even, means of that day [at the end of the Sabbath]— “Soncino Chumash,” p. 525).  The next morning, on the first day of the week, the seven-day count of the manna commenced.  

 

Going on to Sinai, the Hebrew text of Exodus 19:1-2 indicates that they arrived on the first day of the third month (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 451); and by the already established calendar, a first day of the week (the Israelites certainly did not travel on the preceding Sabbath day).  Four days after the first day of the week, takes one to the fifth day of the week (per the Exodus 19:3-11 daily count), the law was then given on Siwan 5, a fifth day of the week (Ex 19:12-25).  

 

Since the giving of the law formed the basis for the later observance of Shavuot, this very event spells out the certainty that the day for the Wave Sheaf (Aviv 16) would also have fallen on a fifth day of the week (in order to allow the inclusive count of seven weeks or fifty days).  

 

If the date for the Wave Sheaf was Aviv 16 (as seemingly happened in the year of the Exodus), it places the High Shabbathon the day before--Aviv 15.  Of course, Aviv 15 would be a High day to celebrate the actual commencement of the movement out of Egypt (as happened on Aviv 15).  This event would suggest a feast day of celebration as a memorial in Israel’s later history (Ex 12:42).  Not only does this chronology clarify the first High Shabbathon of Unleavened Bread as being Aviv 15, but it suggests that the count to Shavuot starts with Aviv 16.  

 

The above chronology is predicated upon 30-day months for Aviv and Ziw.  This defines Aviv one as occurring on the fourth day of the week.  If by chance, one month was 29 days while the other was 30 days (which seems impossible, per the Scriptural chronology), it would allow Shavuot on Siwan 6, a 6th day of the week--which is the traditional view of Judaism (“Soncino Chumash,” p. 454).

 

PART B--Weekly Sabbath or Annual Shabbathon?

 

Bowen’s Lunar Sabbath Book places great reliance upon two different types of so-called Sabbaths which are actually different and not the same at all.  Bowen tries to combine them into one definition based on the lunar cycle. But it is clear that Bowen simply does not understand the two types of alleged Sabbaths which are distinctly different in the Word and cannot be combined into one definition as Bowen tries.

 

It is true that there is a weekly Sabbath called Shabbat in Hebrew as determined by the weekly cycle at the creation (Genesis 1-2).  But there are also annual festivals (occurring once a year) determined by the moon cycle (established during Israel’s Exodus from Egypt) which Christians confuse with the weekly Sabbaths. They are entirely different and should not be confused as Bowen and Christians do at large.

 

These annual events, as calculated by the moon cycle, are: the 15^th and 21^st days of the 1^st month; a day calculated by an inclusive count process of seven weeks or 50 days; and the 1^st, 10^th, 15^th and 22d days of the 7^th month.  Except for the one on the 10^th day of the 7^th month, these occasions are only defined as Shabbathon in the Word.  There are question marks if they are ever actually called Shabbat in the Word, as is true with the weekly 7^th day. Bowen simply does not understand the difference.

 

From www.age-end.com, Vol 15, The Torah Provisions for the Feasts (as edited) describe the differences:

 

The 7^th day in the weekly cycle is amply established at creation as a Sabbath for Adam man and particularly later for Israel.  This weekly Sabbath is defined by the weekly cycle at creation.  Yet, there are seven other occasions cited in the Word which were first determined by the moon cycle during the Exodus (so-called Sabbath days by people who observe them but they are not technically Sabbath days.  The Greek NT appears to refer to these annual occasions as Sabbaths without differentiating them from the weekly Sabbath). 

 

Note Bowen and his colleagues have taken these annual occasions determined by the moon cycle and arbitrarily called them weekly 7^th day Sabbaths.  It is unclear how Bowen does this since he obviously ignores the implications of the occasions on Aviv 21 and Ethanim 1 and 10 and creates similar days on the 8^th and 29^th days and applies all of his alleged days to each and every moon-month of the year.

 

During Israel’s Exodus, the Torah outlined three primary festival periods (corresponding to the three, great, agricultural harvests in Canaan), which largely focused upon and included the just mentioned seven annual Shabbathons.  

 

The wording for six of the seven annual feasts seem to differ from the weekly Sabbaths in that “no servile work” is allowed on them, whereas absolutely “no work” is allowed on the weekly Sabbaths.  Jewish scholar Dr J. H. Hertz says that the servile idea implies a less strict abstinence from labor and does not prohibit the preparation of food (“The Soncino Edition of the Pentateuch and Haftorahs,” p. 520).  

 

Christian writers Larry and June Acheson of Plano, Texas offer the same conclusion (based on the fact that the work restriction for the Day of Atonement is the same as the weekly Sabbath--since food preparation is prohibited on Atonement, it may suggest that it is allowable on the other six annual feast days).  

 

There is another relevant distinction about these annual high days.  Except for one instance (in Lev 23:32 where the word Shabbat is used for the Day of Atonement), the other references in the Tanakh often use the Hebrew Shabbathon for the annual rest days (at Lev 16:31; 23:24, 32, and 39 [where both the first and last days of Sukkot are called Shabbathon]).  

 

The feast day Shabbathons of Aviv 15 and 21, Shavuot, and Ethanim 1, 15 and 22 are not defined as Shabbat in the Word.  They are all evidently Shabbathon. It appears that only the 7^th day weekly Sabbath and the Day of Atonement are called Shabbat (although there may be question marks on some of these usages)

 

Leviticus 23 outlines the distinctions between the weekly Sabbaths and the annual feast days:

23:1

And the LORD space unto Moses, saying,

 

23:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts (Hebrew moed) of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations (Hebrew miqra, meaning a calling together), even these are my feasts (Hebrew moed).

 

23:3

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon), an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of the LORD in all your dwellings.

 

23:4

These are the feasts (Hebrew moed) of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons (Hebrew moed).

 

23:5

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.

 

23:6

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast (Hebrew chag) of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

 

23:7

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

 

23:8

But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

 

23:9

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

23:10

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

 

23:11

And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) the priest shall wave it.

 

23:12

And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

 

23:13

And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

 

23:14

And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

 

23:15

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat), from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths (Hebrew Shabbat) shall be complete:

 

23:16

Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

 

23:17

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

 

23:18

And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

 

23:19

Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

 

23:20

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

 

23:21

And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

 

23:22

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

 

23:23

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

23:24

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbathon), a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

 

23:25

Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

 

23:26

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

23:27

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

 

23:28

And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

 

23:29

For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

 

23:30

And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

 

23:31

Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

 

23:32

It shall be unto you a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon), and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat).

 

23:33

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

23:34

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast (Hebrew chag) of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

 

23:35

On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

 

23:36

Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

 

23:37

These are the feasts (Hebrew moed) of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

 

23:38

Beside the sabbaths (Hebrew Shabbat) of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

 

23:39

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast (Hebrew chag) unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbathon), and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbathon).

 

23:40

And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

 

23:41

And ye shall keep it a feast (Hebrew chag) unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

 

23:42

Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

 

23:43

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

 

23:44

And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts (Hebrew moed) of the LORD.

 

William L. Holladay’s “Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament” gives Shabbathon as a Sabbath feast, most solemn Sabbath.  Besides its use with the annual events, it is also used for the seventh year land rest (Lev 25:4-5) and at times in a context of further defining the weekly Sabbath—as a Shabbat Shabbathon which translators usually render as a Sabbath of rest (Ex 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Lev 16:31 besides Lev 23:3). 

 

Exodus 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest (Hebrew Shabbathon) of the holy Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

 

Exodus 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath (Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon), holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) day, he shall surely be put to death.

 

Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon) to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

 

Leviticus 16:29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 16:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 16:31 It shall be a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon) unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

 

Leviticus 25:4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon) unto the land, a sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 25:5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest (Hebrew Shabbathon) unto the land.

 

Thus, most translations simply render Shabbathon as rest (though some, like the KJV in Lev 23, incorrectly translate it as Sabbath; this causes many Christian and Messianic believers to also refer to it as a Sabbath [including this writer and the Greek NT], though this is technically incorrect). Most Jewish translations to English render it as rest or secession of work.  The new JPS Tanakh translates it as “Sacred Occasion.”  This may be awful close to truth in view of William Holladay’s definition (above).  

 

It appears that the weekly Sabbath can never be properly defined as Shabbathon as Bowen tries to do.  At best, it seems that Shabbathon is on rare occasions attached to the weekly Sabbath for a further definition or clarification. The point of this is that Bowen and his colleagues cannot possibly allege that the weekly 7^th day Sabbaths are the same as the annual feast day Shabbathons.  The two cannot be mixed; no more than trying to say apples and oranges are the same things. Lev 23:3 proves this distinction clearly.

 

It is unclear to this writer why Shabbathon is typically used for the annual occasions instead of Shabbat. Possibly, the focus on these days is directed more to the ideas of observance and remembrance in the vein of rest.  A review of the context of usages of the word also allows that it might be that the focus/context of the word Shabbathon is on the meeting aspect (the appointed meeting on the moed). 

 

Thus, in Lev 23:3, the Word is referring to the weekly Shabbat when an annual Shabbathon falls on that Shabbat.  We could say that the days cited are High or Great Sabbaths as the NT communicates sometimes. So, this context does not suggest that all Sabbaths apply in Lev 23:3; but rather, only those which also have the Shabbathon classification.  This reality is further brought out in that the weekly Sabbaths are called convocations (a calling together in Lev 23:3), whereas otherwise that requirement is not attached to the weekly Sabbaths. 

 

In fact, the whole presentation of Lev 23:3 is actually set apart and not commingled with the various statements focusing on the annual festivals which also are convocations and appointed meetings (moed). Thus, what we have are annual Shabbathon festivals which just happen to fall on weekly Sabbaths (as well as any of the other days in the week).  All weekly Sabbath days are therefore not Shabbathon and all Shabbathons are not weekly Sabbaths (like Christian birthdays and holidays, Shabbathons can fall on any day of the week depending on the moon cycle of 27-32 days).

 

In this vein, it must be true that Shabbathon are not Shabbat days unless they fall on a weekly Shabbat and except for the Day of Atonement which is also further defined as Shabbathon. The fact that the Yom Kippur Shabbat bears the further definition of Shabbathon suggests that the focus on Shabbathon is more on the appointed meeting (moed) and convocation rather than other factors. Thus, what we have in Lev 23:3 are Sabbaths which are also High days with convocations and appointed meetings (moed).

 

For proof of this, besides the reality of Lev 23:3, the several times that Shabbathon is attached to the weekly Shabbat deserves comment.  It appears that when attached, Shabbathon modifies or further defines the weekly Shabbat being cited.  Thus, the weekly Sabbaths in the cited instances are also of the Shabbathon type. 

 

Ex 31:15 occurred when Moshe was on the Mount the first time for 40 days and where he first received instructions on the priesthood and building the tabernacle.  In context, Exodus 31:15 was a part of the instructions given Moshe for the building the tabernacle (and the later observances of the festival).  The Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.  If there were to be weekly Sabbath days/High days of celebration (as there were then and later during their remembrances), it is logical that The ELOHIM would cite those days in His instructions to Moshe at that time. 

 

Exodus 35:2 is a little complicated in its dating; though its context is clearly on the issuance of YHWH’s Words to Israel and the final instructions for building the Tabernacle (the prohibition on building the fire on the Sabbath, in Ex 35:3, clearly refers to a construction fire to purify the metals [gold, silver, copper, etc] into the needed instruments and artifacts for the Tabernacle, as the context establishes). 

 

As a minimum, construction of the Tabernacle started around Exodus 35:2 or soon thereafter, as the context demands. This event and the need to remember it later would demand the issuance of YHWH’s instructions on the involved weekly Sabbaths and annual feast days. 

 

This writer calculates that the first weekly Sabbath in Ethanim that year probably fell on the 6^th day of the week, meaning that Ex 35:1-3 took place perhaps on Ethanim 13 (since Moshe came down from the mountain around Ethanim 10, as will be established below).  But if there was some slippage, for whatever reason, the weekly Sabbath that week could have fallen on Ethanim 15 which is the actual start of the Sukkot memorial.  If so, the context would allow that Ex 35:1-3 was a weekly Shabbat falling on the Shabbathon Ethanim 15.  

 

As further proof of this possibility, the New JPS Tanakh translation gives Ex 35:1 as: “Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them:”  This convocation or gathering of the people involves a feature of a Shabbathon.  This condition would offer the explanation for the Shabbat Shabbathon in both Exodus 31:15 and 35:2.

 

In background, Moshe was on the mountain three times for a period of 40 days and nights (per Jim Sorenson in “Bible Calendar Jewish Tradition and the Year of the Exodus”).  This reality kills any chance of Bowen’s theories on the 50/100-day counts to Shavuot (to be discussed below). Moshe’s first time up must have started on or about Siwan 7, just after the giving of the Torah to Israel (Ex 24:4-18; Deut 9:9).  This was the first time that The ELOHIM wrote His Words on the tablets (Ex 31:18).

 

But the people grew restless and evil.  They prevailed upon Aaron to make them a god to worship (Ex 32:1).  He did so with the golden calf.  Moshe came down the mount and saw the evil.  He grew angry and broke the tablets (Ex 32:19).  Per Jewish tradition, Moshe broke the tablets on the 17^th day of the 4^th month (a very important day of tragedy for Israel).  This dating would allow that he first went up the mount on or about Siwan 7.

 

One of the fall outs of the Israelite sin was that Moshe went up the mount a 2d time to make atonement for the sins of the people (Ex 32:30).  He must have gone up this 2d time soon after the 17^th day of the 4^th month—evidently the next day on the 18^th (Ex 32:30).  This 2d time up the mount also lasted 40 days and nights (Deut 9:18-29).  Forty days later takes one to around the 28^th day of the 5^th month (this means that Moshe was on the mount on the famous day of trouble for Israel on the 10^th day of the 5^th month). 

 

Apparently, he came down the mount to make the two tables of stone he was commanded to make (Ex 34:1).  With the stones made, Moshe went up the mount a third time (Ex 34:2-35).  Like the two previous trips, this 3d one also lasted 40 days and nights (Ex 34:38).  It is unclear when Moshe went up the mount on this third trip but it would have been fairly soon after his prior return around the 28^th day of the 5^th month.  Probably, he went up around the 30^th day of the 5^th month.  This would allow that he came back down around the 10^th of Ethanim.

 

Jewish tradition has it that The MOST HIGH wrote His law on the 2d set of tablets on the 10^th day of Ethanim; thus, this day commemorates the writing of the law the 2d time.  Too, the context of Exodus 32-34 makes it clear that the atonement started by Moshe on his 2d trip up the mount continued on the 3d trip as well. Thus, Moshe spent more than 40 days making atonement for the people.

 

Leviticus 16:29 addresses Yom Kippur on the 10^th day of Ethanim.  Thus, Yom Kippur is a Shabbat which also is a Shabbathon (actually all Shabbat Yom Kippurs are automatically also Shabbathons). Why?  It could be that the focus is on the “Sacred Occasion” which is established as an appointed meeting and convocation by the moed. 

 

Leviticus 25:4-5 involves the 7^th year land Shabbat.  Per the Word, it is also a Shabbathon.  Why may not be completely clear.  Perhaps the “Sacred Occasion” definition supplies the answer. Too, the case can be made that the duties involve a type of rest as well as a type of appointment. 

 

Exodus 16:23 is perhaps the most complicated of all. It would make perfect sense if the people came to the Wilderness of Sin on the 13^th day of the 2d month; kept the weekly Sabbath on the 14^th; and started the manna on the 15^th; and observed the next weekly Sabbath on the 21^st day, a possible Shabbathon for some persons.  This is not far fetched because the Hebrew reads BaChamishshi Asar (usually translated as on the five and ten or fifteenth).  Ba is a preposition which can mean on (as it is so translated), in, with, within, and other meanings as well. 

 

If one reads that Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin on the 13th day, the Manna could start the 15th day with the next weekly Sabbath on the 21^st, a Shabbathon in the vein of the allowance for a 2d Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Num 9:10-11). But in trying to use this allowance, the chronology of Exodus and the dating of Shavuot are distorted.  This writer cannot presently reconcile the chronology with the arrival date on any other day except the 15^th on the 6^th day of the week.  Almost all translations render the ba in Ex 16:23 as on.  In this vein, Israel arrived on the 15^th day as long as it was at least one second before sunset. 

 

Since this writer has not conclusively established that the Shabbat Shabbathons in Ex 16:23; 31:15 and 35:2 were feast days which actually fell on weekly Sabbaths, there is a very plausible reason why that terminology may have been attached to them.  They all were prophetic in discussing future Shabbat Shabbathon events.  Though Ex 16:23 perhaps addressed all future Sabbaths without exception, it is manifestly clear that Ex 31:15 and 35:2 both directly concerned the building of the Tabernacle and the memorial of the Feast of Tabernacles with its High days on Ethanim 15 and 22. 

 

In the sense that these citations in Exodus were made, not only on the basis of their need for the occasions of the festivals involved then but also on the premise that they were defining the remembrance aspect of future festivals and the related weekly Sabbath days therein, the case can be made that The ELOHIM correctly defined them as Shabbat Shabbathons when He broached them with Israel in Ex 16:23; 31:15; and 35:2. 

 

Going on, in the context of Lev 23, there is one great verse which proves conclusively that the Shabbathons are not weekly Sabbaths; unless, of course, they fall on weekly Sabbaths per the moon’s cycle.  This proof is at Lev 23:37-38 which makes it clear that the offering and duties outlined for the above chag feasts are to be made “besides” those required on the weekly Sabbath days.  Thus, when a Shabbathon chag falls on a weekly Sabbath, the offerings and duties must be made for both the annual festival and the weekly Sabbath. 

 

Regardless of the exact distinction between Shabbat and Shabbathon, the fact remains that they are not the same and cannot be combined as one as Bowen tries to do.  It also seems clear that the word Shabbathon cannot be used singularly to define the weekly 7^th day.  Finally, there are question marks as to whether the annual feast days can ever be called Shabbat.

 

Next, the word Shabbat surfaces in Lev 23:11, 15 in reference to the day which defines the Wave Sheaf Offering leading to Shavuot.  If it was a reference to Aviv 15, it logically should be Shabbathon.  But it is not Shabbathon.  The conclusion by many Christians and indeed some Jews is that it refers to the weekly Sabbath occurring in the festival of unleavened bread. Yet, many Christians and most Jews accept the set off day as Aviv 15.  This writer shares that position on the premise that in some instances it can be the weekly Sabbath; while in other cases, it may be the high day of Aviv 15 (for an explanation on this, see vol. 15, at www.age-end.com).

 

There are serious reasons to allow that a scribe dropped some letters in the ancient past on this Shabbat.  Maybe it should be Shabbathon.  The Septuagint gives Lev 23:11 just as the first day and the Lev 23:15 remark as Sabbath.  George Lamsa’s OT translation from the Aramaic gives both references as the morrow.  The Aramaic is very ancient in origin, certainly to 2d Temple days and maybe earlier.

 

Finally. the count of 7 Sabbaths appears correct in all references.  But usage of this word will support either Aviv 15 or the weekly Sabbath for the set off day and singularly is proof of nothing.

 

Another different feature between the weekly Sabbath and the annual festivals is that the Hebrew word chag is used to refer to both the Shabbathons and the regular other days in the annual festivals.  Chag is usually translated as festival or feast (though it’s possible that some translators may have incorrectly translated it as Sabbath). 

 

Per the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. iv, p. 201-213, article on chagh), chag in ancient times meant festival, festival procession, pleasure, amusement, festive rejoicing and making sacrifices.  It is a time for celebration, feasting (eating), drinking (yes, even wine), dancing (which can involve hard work and energy), rejoicing, etc (some of these realities typify Christian holidays where there is eating, drinking, fornicating and having fun).  These terms typically do not refer to the weekly Sabbaths or the annual Sabbath of Yom Kippur which are solemn occasions of rest, seriousness, and study (and fasting on Yom Kippur). 

 

In fact, this source (v. iv, p. 202) notes that chagh “is closely connected with the annual cycle…it is reasonable to hypothesize that chagh originally designated the solemn conclusion or beginning of this cycle.”  In furtherance of this conclusion, this source (v. iv, p. 206) adds:  “In OT usage, therefore, chagh refers to a community festival of the Israelites determined by the solar year, even when the festival is considered illegitimate (Ex 32:5; I Kg12:32).”

 

Obviously in the Word, the chag are solar events (yet, identified by the moon annually) and are closely connected to the annual festivals and not to the weekly Sabbaths.  This backdrop may also communicate differences between Shabbat and Shabbathon. The two types of days are different and should not be confused as Bowen has done. 

 

While chag is used for the annual festivals, it does not seem to refer to the weekly Sabbath except in Exodus 12 and the first Sabbath in the Exodus.  This was on Aviv 18 (as established earlier herein) when Israel reached the place where she at last had freedom.  This was a giant celebration of excitement, joy, feasting, making sacrifices, etc.  It occurred before the giving of the Sabbath law at Exodus 20 in the Ten Commandments. Possibly, it involved things which normally would not be done on a weekly Sabbath.  Perhaps it happened simply because the Sabbaths in Exodus 16 and 20 had not yet been given formally to Israel.

 

All three of the primary annual festivals required all male Israelites in Canaan to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for their observances (thus, they were all convocations or gatherings of the people as cited in Lev 23):  Deut 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

 

The New Testament has a number of references indicating that YESHUA, the Apostolic Assembly and the Jewish people collectively all kept and observed these YHWH ordained feasts (certainly more seriously than modern Christian Israelites do with their human ordained holidays--which are actually quite contrary to the Word).

 

Not only were all three of these occasions important in recognizing past historical events of significance to Israel, but all three were and are prophetic of the future for Israel.  In this sense, they were examples of things to come.  Surely, the person wanting to understand future prophetic events must start with these festivals.

 

While the weekly 7^th day is both a memorial of the creation week of 6 days of work by YHWH and His rest on the 7^th day and of Israel’s reaching of freedom from Egyptian bondage, the annual Shabbathons are also memorials of something.  They are memorials of events which took place during Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.  Thus, they are first mentioned and defined as these events unfolded during the Exodus. Manifestly, they simply did not formally exist before the book of Exodus and the events which took place therein to define them.

 

Next it must be said that while these festivals were defined during the Exodus, based on events that occurred then, they were harvest festivals which of necessity could only be observed correctly in the land of Canaan after Israel came into the land:

 

Ex. 12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service (this established Passover and Unleavened Bread).

 

Lev 23:9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: (this established Shavuot).

 

Deut 16:13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. 16:15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. (this defines Sukkot).

 

Since all three of these celebrations (Passover/Unleavened Bread, Shavuot and Sukkot) were harvest festivals, they were not observed as such during the 40 years of the Exodus period (although there might have been some recognition of them with the events or after they took place). 

 

Thus, during the Exodus, the 15^th, 21^st, and 22d days and the 50^th day count associated with the three festivals could not possibly have been involved in defining the weekly Sabbath days.  In fact, when their observances are commanded, the Book usually specifies the observances when Israel enters the land of Canaan.  Too, they could only be properly kept in Jerusalem some 400 years later as Jerusalem was established by David as the place for them to be observed.

 

The importance of this reality that the annual festivals could not be properly kept during the Exodus period goes on to prove that Bowen’s allegation that the Sabbaths (actually Shabbathons) of the 15^th and 21^st days of Aviv, Shavuot and the 1^st, 15^th and 22d days of the 7^th month could not possibly have been weekly Sabbaths which are memorials of creation enjoined for Adam man and not just Israel.

 

In fact, the events in the Exodus which caused these observances occurred before the days were even defined to Israel as being Shabbathon in Lev 23.  Thus, on Aviv 15, Israel journeyed by foot from Rameses to Succoth on Aviv 15 (some distance, requiring much work with little rest--Ex 12:37; Num 33:5).

 

Passover is the first of these events.  It occurs in the early spring near the time of the commencement of the barley harvest.  Of course, it commemorates the Passover event, manifested just before the Exodus when The Messenger of Death passed over the Israelites to kill Egypt’s firstborn (Exodus 12:1-51) and later with YESHUA’s death (Lu 22:19). 

 

Significantly, Passover, appointed for Aviv 14, is a day of unleavened bread.  It is totally associated prophetically with the life and work of YESHUA (Ex 12:3-14, 21-28, 43-51; 13:8-16; 34:25; Lev 23:5; Num 9:4-14; 28:16; Deut 16:1-3, 5-7; Matt 26:17-30; Mk 14:12-26; Lu 22:7-30; Jo 13:1-35; Heb 11:28).  He was The Passover LAMB!  The Passover day itself is not a Sabbath day of rest.  Nowhere do the Scriptures attach the word Sabbath to the Passover.

 

Next, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven day feast from Aviv 15 to Aviv 21 (Ex 13:6-10; 23:14-16; 34:18; Lev 23:6-8; Num 28:17-25; 33:3; Deut 16:3-4, 8, 16-17; II Chron 8:13; 30:21-23; 35:17; Ezra 6:22; Ezek 45:21; Acts 12:3-4; 20:6; I Cor 5:7-8); which, with Passover, means a total of eight days of unleavened bread. 

 

The first and last days are High Shabbathons (Aviv 15 and 21; although there may be some possible cause to date this last day as the 20^th, per Num 10:11). This festival symbolizes Yisrael’s removal from Egypt for seven days to cross the sea--over frozen ice from a rare, catastrophic event (per Dr Ernest Martin, formerly of Portland, OR).  Prophetically, it outlines the believer’s removal from sin and ultimate reconciliation with The ELOHIM:  

 

Ex 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

 

12:13

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

 

12:14

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

 

12:15

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

 

12:16

And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.

 

12:17

And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

 

Deut 16:3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction: for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

 

Last, the day following the first Shabbathon of Unleavened Bread, Aviv 16, is the day for the Wave Sheaf Offering which effectively symbolizes YESHUA, in conjunction with the Passover harvest of the first of Adam (Lev 23:10-11).  

 

From the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, there is a count of 50 days (seven weeks or seven Sabbaths, inclusively) to arrive at the Shabbathon of Pentecost or Shavuot in the Hebrew (Ex 23:16-17; 34:22-23; Lev 23:9-21; Deut 16:9-12, 16; 26:1-3, 10; Josh 5:10-12; II Chron 8:13; 31:5; Neh 10:34-37; 12:44; 13:31; Prov 3:9; Jer 2:3; Ezek 20:40-43; 44:30).  

 

The Torah was given to Moshe on Shavuot at Sinai.  So this festival commemorates that event.  In the NT, Shavuot was a very important festival (Acts 2:1-4) where it prophetically represented the start of the late spring, wheat harvest of the NT election, the first fruits (Rom 16:5; I Cor 16:15; Jas 1:18; Rev 14:4).  

 

Pentecost falls on or near Siwan 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8--depending upon when the count starts and on the number of actual days in the count of the moons between Passover and Pentecost.

 

There are four important feast days in the month of Ethanim in the fall.

 

The first one is the Shabbathon Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets), which comes on the first day of the seventh month (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6; Neh 8:1-12; Ps 98:6). Contrary to the confused thinking of both Bowen and Johnson, the new moon feast of trumpets is a Shabbathon per Lev 23:24.  Bowen and Johnson do not define it as a weekly Sabbath as they do the other Shabbathon days.  They just call it a new moon and a day which does not count in the weekly cycle (thus, it is a non-count day, per Bowen and Johnson). 

 

It commemorates the blowing of the trumpets during Yisrael’s wilderness wanderings following the Exodus. 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.  Otherwise, it is prophetic of the seventh trumpet to announce the return of YHWH YESHUA in the age end (I Thes 4:16; Rev 11:15. 

 

Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the Sabbath of Sabbaths.  It involves a day of total fasting (Ex 30:10; Lev 16:2-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11; Acts 27:9).  It comes on the 10th day of Ethanim and commemorates the establishment of the scapegoat ritual in the wilderness (Lev 16:8-26),

 

Too, Yom Kippur happened on the day when Moshe went up the mountain the third time to make further atonement for the sins of the people and when YHWH wrote the law on tablets of stone for the second time.  Prophetically, it covers the future shattering of Satan’s kingdom at YHWH YESHUA’s next coming and the placing of sin on the Devil, where it fully belongs. This process starts in earnest when YESHUA returns in His second phase to enter Jerusalem to expel the Beast power.  

 

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot is next. It starts with a High Shabbathon on Ethanim 15.  Technically, it runs seven days, to be followed on Ethanim 22 with another High Shabbathon (called the last great day--Shemini Atzeret in the Hebrew).  Symbolically, Sukkot covers the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and its use for atonement (Ex 26-39), up until Shlomo built the Temple. 

 

Sukkot is to be kept in booths for seven days to commemorate the patriarch Yakov’s sojourn at Sukkot and the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings during the Exodus where they lived in booths (Gen 33:17; Ex 12:37; 23:14-17; 13:20; 34:21:24; Lev 23:33-44; Num 29:12-40; 33:5-6; Deut 16:13-17; 31:10-13; Ezra 3:1-6; Neh 8:13-18; Matt 16:3-4; Acts 18:21; Heb 11:9).  It must be noted that Israel’s first destination on the 1^st day after leaving Egypt was Succoth (Num 33:5, as quoted earlier).  Surely, Israel learned to live in booths on that day.

 

Prophetically, Sukkot portrays the coming redemption of Yisrael and likely Adam, as well. Thus, this festival also commemorates the great, concluding harvest of the Adam kind during the millennium (evidently, when each Adamite is resurrected from the grave to be motivated, taught and corrected to understand and commence obeying the Torah--which Adam has historically ignored over the past 6,000 years of his governorship over planet earth).  

 

While the above festivals are confused by Bowen as weekly Sabbaths, they are far different.  Servile work (or ordinary work as Dr David Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible gives it) is prohibited. This means that on these days, certain types of work can be done; but on the weekly Sabbath days, no work of any kind can be done.

 

But there is one interesting occasion cited above as calculated by the moon which is correctly a Shabbat.  This one is Yom Kippur on the 10^th day of the 7^th month. On it, no work of any kind is allowed.  Its basis lies in the fact that it is a negative commandment which takes precedence over the positive commandments detailing work for six days in Ex 20.  Thus, Adam and his animals are to work (or at least can do certain work) for the first 6 days of the weekly cycle (except on Yom Kippur, if and when it falls on one of these six days).

 

Both Bowen and Johnson claim that they can pinpoint some 60-70 weekly Sabbath days that fell on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th days of the moon cycle.  This writer disputes this charge.  True, there may be a few weekly cycle Shabbat days which are also Shabbathon days (on the 15^th days of the 1^st and 7^th months and the 22d days of the 7^th month, but there are no weekly Sabbath days otherwise falling on those Shabbathon days.  Then, how about the 21^st day of Aviv; Shavuot whenever it is calculated; and the 1^st and 10^th days of Ethanim?  Why doesn’t Bowen and Johnson claim they are weekly Sabbaths?

 

And while Bowen and Johnson claim weekly Sabbath days on the 8^th and 29^th days, where are they (unless they are intra-calculated from a Shabbat Shabbathon falling on a feast day in the 1^st or 7^th months)?  True, there are references to the 8^th day in the context of being a week later (by inclusive counting); but where are the 29^th days?  In fact, where are all these 60-70 Sabbath days apart from the festivals of the 1^st and 7^th months plus Shavuot?  They simply don’t exist in the Word.

 

Bowen claims that the new moon day is a type of Sabbath (though he ignores the Shabbathon of the 1^st day of the 7^th month).  He should check the new moon of the 2d month when Israel was ordered to make a census of the people (which required much work that would have hardly been done on a Shabbat day)—Num 1:1-2 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, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;

 

Simply stated, there is not one text in the Book which defines new moon day as a Shabbat or prescribes a rest on that day (except for Yom Teruah).  Because the new moon days determined the calendar for a new moon, the religious authorities had authority to define them (yes, the Pharisees sat in Moshe’s seat to determine such things). 

 

Undoubtedly, the people in ancient Israel found it important to come to the Temple and worship on or about the new moon (as a minimum to verify the coming monthly calendar and particularly in the months with the festivals).  Too, moon worship had a grip in ancient Israel.  It must be said that moon worshippers had a propensity to worship on new moon days automatically.

 

The essence here is that Bowen and Johnson have confused the Shabbathon feasts of Lev 23 with the weekly Sabbath of Exodus 20.  They are totally different and it is wrong to try to combine them into one definition. Bowen and Johnson’s assertions and charges are not supported by truth and proof from the Word.  Instead, their work on this is nothing but Babylonian confusion.

 

Though Bowen and Johnson have this problem in distinguishing between Shabbat and Shabbathon, it is only the tip of an iceberg in reflecting on their abilities to handle/miss-handle the Scriptures.  In going through their writings, and in a couple of brief conversations with them on the phone, there appears to be an even greater problem with their quoting or citing of Scripture.  In the beginning of this present work, by this writer, the door was opened to the possible Bowen and Johnson problem of misquoting and making miss-statements about the Word.

 

They both seem to have a problem in alleging huge uncalled for interpretations/conclusions into many of the Scriptures they try to use to support their theories.  This puts their audience in the disadvantage of having to double check every thing they say because there is a great probability that the Book doesn’t say what they say at all. 

 

For example, in a telephone conversation with Mr Bowen, he launched into a long dissertation about the prophet Joel which he said proves Pentecost in the 4^th month instead of the 3d month.  Though i have read and addressed Yoel many times, i was utterly lost in trying to follow Bowen’s message.  His argument was that the harvest of grapes and the making of wine was proven by Joel to be in the 4^th month.  This proved, per his theology, that Pentecost (meaning fiftieth by the way) in Acts 2 happened in the 4^th month instead of the 3d month.

 

True, Acts 2:16-17 does link that NT event in type to Joel 2:28.  But Bowen could not grasp that Acts 2:17 referred to the last days (plural) and Yoel also addressed days in the plural (Joel 1:2) in the context of the time period of the Day of YHWH (which may cover up to seven years).  In any case what does this coming time of YHWH have to do with defining one specific day called Pentecost, as cited in Joel 2:28 with the outpouring of The RUACH HA KODESH?  Too, there is a harvest implication with Pentecost in that it recognizes the beginning of the wheat harvest which occurs in the late spring 3d month.  In fact, an offering must be made to YHWH of this first of the wheat (called firstfruits).  So what does wheat in the 3d month have to do with grapes? 

 

For sure, Bowen is wrong in trying to use Joel as his proof.  There is no reference in Joel to the 4^th month at all, nor even explicitly to the end of the fruit harvest per se (which by the way comes at the end of summer in the 6^th/7^th months in the Middle East; not the 4^th as Bowen claims—Ex 23:16; 34:22; Lev 23:39; Deut 16:13; Jer 8:20).  Even the Aramaeans celebrated new wine in the fall and not in the early summer as Bowen claims with his 4^th month theory (p. 169, “Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible” by Kenton L. Sparks). 

 

It appears that Bowen tries to define Pentecost in the 4^th month instead of the 3d by alleging two periods of 49-50 days in the count to Pentecost which means 99/100 days. Regardless, previous commentary herein outlines the chronology of the book of Exodus which makes Bowen’s allegation of two counts of 49/50 days to Pentecost absurd.  The giving of the law to end the 50-day count certainly happened before Moshe went up the mount three different times for 40 days and nights each time, as described earlier herein.  This 120-day chronology from Passover/Shavuot to Sukkot kills any hope for Bowen to have another 49/50-day count to Pentecost.  

 

Anyway, the book of Joel has many prophecies covering many different issues over a period of days (plural) and indeed years. And to top off Bowen’s so-called proof, Joel 2:28 opens with “And it shall come to pass afterward.”  Clearly there is no way that Bowen can use Joel 2:28 to prove Pentecost in the 4^th month.  Regardless, this writer cannot make his Pentecost allegation tie to his lunar Sabbath theory.  So why is he making it?  In any case, his argument is confusion.  He misquotes Joel to supposedly prove his lunar Sabbaths; but it won’t work. 

 

The point of this is that anytime Bowen and Johnson make some claims about proof in the Word, the prudent listener/reader should demand a proper quote of the text and/or go back and double check their words which often turn out wrong.  Both Bowen and Johnson have a peculiar practice of making the Scriptures say things which are simply not true.  It makes one be suspicious that they are either careless and/or irresponsible in handling the Word; or alternatively, they are deceitful and dishonest with the Scriptures. 

 

A final word is needed which may clarify why both Bowen and Johnson appear to take liberty with the Scriptures.  Both of them seem to operate on the premise that they are special prophets/messengers from Yahweh.  The interesting thing about their supposed calling is that except for the lunar Sabbath thing they appear to be sharply divided in theology otherwise.

PART C--Bowen and Johnson’s Alleged Scriptures

 

Bowen and Johnson’s books both provide several recaps of the Scriptures which supposedly prove that the weekly Sabbaths fall on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th days of each month.  Their texts are quoted below.

 

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 Hebrew moed), and for days, and years:

 

Suffice to say, weeks and week days like the Sabbath are not addressed herein.  In any case, it wouldn’t matter because the day and night cycle are governed by the sun and moon and could theoretically apply to all days in a week. So what does this text have to do with Bowen/Johnson’s thesis?

 

Num 10:1-10

10:1

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 

10:2

Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

 

10:3

And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

 

10:4

And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.

 

10:5

When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward.

 

10:6

When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

 

10:7

But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm.

 

10:8

And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.

 

10:9

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

 

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.

 

Obviously, these verses apply to the blowing of trumpets in numerous situations—like in preparing to move, in going to war or battle, as an annual (once a year) event on the 1^st day of the 7^th month of each year, etc.  So what does this cite have to do with Bowen/Johnson’s thesis?  

 

Num 28:11-14:

28:11

And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;

 

28:12

And three tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one ram;

 

28:13

And a several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil for a meat offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

 

28:14

And their drink offerings shall be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb: this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.

 

Manifestly, Bowen does not understand the Temple sacrificial and offering system defined in Leviticus and elsewhere.  There were daily sacrifices and extra sacrifices on particular days like the Sabbaths, new moons and annual festival days.  As the Word outlines, the sacrifices and offerings for each type of occasion do not diminish, reduce or change the sacrifices and offerings otherwise required.  Thus if the new moon falls on a weekly Sabbath (as can happen), there must be the daily, Sabbatical and new moon sacrifices/offerings.

 

So what does this cite have to do with Bowen/Johnson’s thesis?

 

Num 29:1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.

 

Yes, once a year there is to be a blowing of trumpets on this annual occurrence on the 1^st day of the 7^th moon month.  But what has this got to do with the weekly Sabbaths for 52 weeks in the year?  Nothing!

 

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.  

 

The Amplified Translation gives this as “…from one new moon to another new moon, and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath…”  Some translations say “from one month to another and from one week to another.” David Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible notes that it is Hebrew poetry reading: “Every month on Rosh-Hodesh and every week on Shabbat, everyone living will come to worship…” The new JPS Tanakh gives it as: “And new moon after new moon, And sabbath after Sabbath,”  Noting the month to month and week to week words, Soncino Books of the Bible (Isaiah p. 326) define it as “regularly.”

 

The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. xiv, p. 391, article on Sabbat/Sabbath) notes that “the association of the Sabbath with the celebration of the new moon points to the regular and frequent recurrence” of these occasions over a year.  As this source also notes—there is no connection otherwise between the two festivals (as quoted earlier and to be cited again later). 

 

On Isaiah 66:23, Bowen conveniently forgets to quote Isaiah 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. This is a prophecy for the far distant future. What in the world has this got to do with the past or present tenses?

 

The “and” present is a connective which in this instance connects two different things into the one perspective that in the future Messianic age the people will worship at the new millennial Temple regularly on the two different days cited.  This doesn’t mean that the weekly Sabbaths and monthly new moons are the same thing.  They are not!  They are distinctively different.  But what they have in common is that people will come to the Temple to worship on those days.  This text does not even suggest that such worship will be mandatory.  Thus, it could be voluntary. Again, what does this have to do with Bowen’s thesis?

 

Ezek 46:1-3:

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.

 

46:2

And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

 

46:3

Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

 

Something overlooked by most readers of this text is that verses 1 and 2 actually connect with the outline starting in Ezek 45:16 in that the prince (YESHUA?) shall enter the inner east gate and prepare the sacrifices and offerings.  The people in verse 3 do not enter the inner east gate.  They come to it and merely observe the proceedings going on in the temple. They will do this on the monthly new moon days and on the weekly Sabbath days when the inner east gate is open. Obviously, except for the new moon days and weekly Sabbath days, the inner east gate will be otherwise kept shut.

 

Regardless, this is a prophecy for the far distant future once the millennial temple is built as is the context for these verses.  Like the Soncino Books of the Bible (Ezek, p. 317) notes in verse one on the closure of the inner gate:  “This regulation did not apply in the former temple.”  Obviously, this whole message had no application in the past or present tenses.  It is all future.  So, what possible implication can this reference have to the past history of Israel or the present tense?

 

The “and” present between the Sabbath and the new moon is in the same context here as above on Isaiah 66:23.  It is a connective connecting two different things into the one aspect of worship on those days.  Again, what does this have to do with Bowen’s thesis?

 

Amos 8:5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

 

As will be established later with quotes from the book of Amos, Amos was a prophet to and for the House of Israel which had adopted the most gross forms of evil Babylonian sun worship. Therefore, it is ludicrous to cite these words of the evil House of Israel Israelites to prove anything.  There is no telling what they might have done in their Babylonian sun worship mode. Once more, what does this have to do with Bowen/Johnson’s thesis?

 

Conclusion. It must be said here that there is not one Scripture in the Book that says that a new moon day is a rest day or Sabbath day; nor are there any Scriptures which link the weekly Sabbath days to a moon cycle.  The Scriptures cited by Bowen and Johnson prove nothing to support their thesis of Sabbath days on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th days of each month.

 

PART D--Philo and Josephus

 

Bowen’s Lunar Sabbath Book says on Philo:

 

“Philo a very Influential Jew who lived at the same time the Savior did kept the weeks and Sabbaths by the moon, he said you have a full moon at the end of the 2nd week, which proves that the Jews in our Saviours time knew that the weeks were by the moon. See Preliminary Studies page 313, ch 19. (106) Write or call for our history book.

 

“In Philo's writings, he records that the feast of Unleavened Bread alone with the Feast of Tabernacles, were assigned to the weekly Sabbath day, which BOTH ARE on the 15th/Sabbath. Philo knew the 15th was a weekly Sabbath day, which began both of these Feasts of YHWH, which lasts seven days. See Philo page 532 xxx (161) Philo knew the Israelites were given rest on the 15th from Egypt's bondage and the Feasts in the 1st and 7th months have to do with their deliverance form Egypt's bondage on the 15th, a Sabbath and these two feast were assigned to the weekly 7th day (15th) according to Philo who lived in the days of our Saviour, These are memorial days, which began these two festival weeks. (See our article on Philo and the Sabbath).

 

“I mention Philo here; although we know, that he is not scripture, he was a very respectable Jew that lived among the Jewish people, and even led a delegate to Rome in behalf of the Jewish people, at the time of the Messiah. I hope to add a history chapter later with Encyclopedia reference, and ancient calendars, etc.

 

“Although, Philo never came right out and said the seventh day is by the moon and is counted from the New moon; he had no need to, especially if it was common knowledge at this time, same as no need to tell people that blood is red, but he did say ‘the fourth commandment has reference to the sacred seventh day, that it may be passed in a sacred and Holy manner. Now, some states keep the Holy festival only once in the month, counting from the New moon, as a day sacred to YHWH : but the nation of the Jews keep every seventh day regularly, after each interval of six workdays.’ (Counting from the New moon). Philo page 526 xx (96).”

 

This writer has used italics to highlight some of Bowen’s words.  Like he said, Philo never said the 7^th day Sabbath was established by the moon; nor did he say that it was counted from the new moon.  Since Bowen has made this confession, why in the world did he even stress Philo? But if he wanted to cite it, why didn’t he at least correctly quote Philo instead of making up some fiction and claiming that it came from Philo.

 

In Something Different (p. 13-16, at www.ponderscripture.org) Larry Acheson gives a better perspective on Philo: Larry proves that Philo was a seventh day Sabbath keeper who clearly understood the differences between the 7^th day Sabbath and the annual feast days—viz: “We know from Philo’s writings that he did not observe Lunar Sabbaths.”  Acheson then quotes Philo:

 

“ ‘ XLVIII (263) He gave a second instance of his prophetical inspiration not long afterwards in the oracle which he delivered about the sacred seventh day. For though it had had a natural precedence over all other days, not only , from the time that the world was created, but even before the origination of the heaven and all the objects perceptible to the outward senses, men still knew it not, perhaps because, by reason of the continued and uninterrupted destructions which had taken place by water and fire, succeeding generations had not been able to receive from former ones any traditions of the arrangement and order which had been established in the connection of preceding times, which, as it was not known, Moses, now being inspired, declared to his people in an oracle which was borne testimony to by a visible sign from heaven. (264) And the sign was this. A small portion of food descended from the air on the previous days, but a double portion on the day before the seventh day. And on the previous days, if any portion was left it became liquefied and melted away, until it was entirely changed into dew, and so consumed; but on this day it endured no alteration, but remained in the same state as before, and when this was reported to him, and beheld by him, Moses did not so much conjecture as receive the impulse of divine inspiration under which he prophesied of the seventh day. (265) I omit to mention that all such conjectures are akin to prophecy; for the mind could never make such correct and felicitous conjectures, unless it were a divine spirit which guided their feet into the way of truth; (266) and the miraculous nature of the sign was shown, not merely in the fact of the food being double in quantity, nor in that of its remaining unimpaired, contrary to the usual customs, but in both these circumstances taking place on the sixth day, from the day on which this food first began to be supplied from heaven, from which day the most sacred number of seven began to be counted, so that if any one reckons he will find that this heavenly food was given in exact correspondence with the arrangement instituted at the creation of the world. For God began to create the world on the first day of a week of six days; and he began to rain down the food which has just been mentioned on the same first day; and the two images are alike; for as he produced that most perfect work, the world, bringing it out of non-existence into existence, so in the same manner did he produce plenty in the wilderness, changing the elements with reference to the pressing necessity, that, instead of the earth, the air might bestow food without labour, and without trouble, to those who had no opportunity of providing themselves with food at their leisure. (268) After this he delivered to the people a third oracle of the most marvelous nature, namely that on the seventh day the air would not afford the accustomed food, and that not the very slightest portion would fall upon the earth, as it did on other days; (269) and this turned out to be the case in point of fact; for he delivered this prediction on the day before; but some of those who were unstable in their dispositions, went forth to collect it, and being deceived in their expectations, returned unsuccessful, reproaching themselves for their unbelief, and calling the prophet the only true prophet, the only one who knew the will of God, and the only one who had any foreknowledge of what was uncertain and future.’

 

“Please notice that Philo plainly connects the first day of the giving of the manna to the first day of creation. Reflect, if you will, of how Philo reports that the first day of the giving of the manna traces back to the first day of creation. In other words, that continuous cycle of seven days continued on and on and on, all the way from the dawn of time clear up to the time when it was revealed to Moses and to the Israelites. As he very eloquently put it, the manna ‘was given in exact correspondence with the arrangement instituted at the creation of the world.’ If the first day of the giving of the manna truly corresponds with the first day of creation, this means an unbroken, continuous cycle of sevens connects that day to the first day of creation. Accordingly, if the first day of the giving of manna corresponds exactly to the first day of creation, then we can also discern that the seventh day on which no manna was given must also correspond exactly to the day on which Yahweh rested after His work of creation. Philo has thus identified an unbroken chain of sevens extending from the week of creation all the way down to the giving of the manna. Furthermore, since mankind’s reintroduction to the weekly Sabbath at that point in time, that unbroken chain of weeks has continued down to us today, for in spite of how Yahweh’s people may have desecrated and polluted the Sabbath day, it has not been forgotten, nor has it been lost.

 

“Finally, we feel that a major blow to lunar sabbatarian theology involves that which Philo left out of his commentary pertaining to the Sabbath day and the giving of the manna. What critical element is left out of Philo’s commentary above? It is the lunar cycle. Not once did Philo mention the (alleged) importance of the lunar cycle in determining the Sabbath day. In fact, the word “moon” isn’t mentioned even once in Philo’s commentary. This is significant, as elsewhere in Philo’s writings, he devotes much space to discussing the cycle of the moon. In fact, the day of the new moon is listed as one of the major feasts by Philo. Yet, he never establishes any sort of connection between the moon and a Sabbath observance.

 

“Curiously, every time we read a commentary about the Sabbath that is authored by a lunar sabbatarian, we have always come across the word “moon.” We find it to be very interesting that Philo never once mentioned the word “moon” in his commentary regarding mankind’s reintroduction to the Sabbath, nor did he ever mention the word “Sabbath” in his commentary about the new moon. He made no attempt to establish a connection from the one to the other. 

 

“In his writings, Philo distinguishes new moon observance as a separate feast from the weekly Sabbath. Here is a portion of what Philo had to say regarding the Sabbath day: ‘The fourth commandment has reference to the sacred seventh day, that it may be passed in a sacred and holy manner. Now some states keep the holy festival only once in the month, counting from the new moon, as a day sacred to the Almighty; but the nation of the Jews keeps every seventh day regularly, after each interval of six days.’

 

“Philo declares that the Sabbath occurs after each recurring interval of six days. This is simply how it was reckoned. Elsewhere in his writings, Philo affirms this ongoing, uninterrupted six-day interval:..” 

 

Encyclopaedia Judaica (v. 14, p. 564-565, article on Sabbath) uses the writings of Philo to support the 7^th day Sabbath—viz:  “Philo (Decal. 96) sees the Sabbath as an opportunity for man to imitate his Creator who rested on the seventh day.”

 

Note: Philo was a Hellenistic Jew who was devoted to Greek Philosophy and Platonism.  Thus, the Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period (p. 482) says:  “The rabbis wholly ignored Philo’s writings, either because they disapproved of his views or because they were not interested in philosophy.” While Judaism has little regard for Philo, it must be said that Christianity simply loves his writings on Greek philosophy and Platonism. 

 

Too, the point must be made that the backdrop on Philo makes one be very suspicious that he was in fact an Amalek-Edomite racially.  His family was involved in international banking and the money power.  They were obviously linked to the Amalekite Herods as they loaned money to the Herods as well as to the Roman big shots.

 

While Bowen places stress upon Philo, it must be said that Philo did not read or write Hebrew.  His works are in Greek.  Like all persons reading them in Greek, they can be translated in many different ways.  Without a study of the precise Greek words, it is a mistake to place great reliance on them.  For sure, Philo is not much of a witness for good.  His words must be addressed carefully.

 

Actually, a far more reliable witness than Philo on Judaism in the 1^st century was Josephus, who taught and supported a weekly 7^th day Sabbath.  For Josephus, Bowen writes:

 

“The historian Josephus records Sabbaths that can be pinpointed and they are on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. The Roman's saw that the Jews, on the Sabbath, did not fight unless attacked. They moved there engines and battering rams up to the walls on the Sabbath day, which otherwise they could not do, and on the next day, they battered the city. Josephus records that the 23rd was the next day after the Sabbath that they battered them, or the day after the Sabbath when they had everything in place.

 

“This proves that the pinpointed Sabbaths in his time was still on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the moon and the New moon was not counted as one of the six workdays. Coincidence? You be the Judge. (See page 369 I have more places, too much to mention here, write or call if interested. Antiquities of the Jews Book 14, Chapter 4:3 and footnote on page 370).”

 

Again, Bowen has twisted and distorted some remarks.  Of course, Bowen is wrong here because Josephus kept the weekly Sabbath on the 7^th day and not per any moon cycle.

 

Larry Acheson’s work proves conclusively that Bowen has gone off the deep end in trying to use Josephus to support his ideas.  Bowen has misquoted and made charges about Josephus which are simply not true. Quoting Bowen, Larry adds: “Interestingly, the author of the above commentary, in this particular instance, sanctions the use of historical references in researching this topic. Notice that he did not cite where in Josephus’ writings we can go to find that the Romans battered the Jews on the 23^rd day of the month, nor does he provide a quote documenting his remark. 

 

“Elsewhere in his booklet, as we just warned you, he dismisses historical evidence, as evidenced by the following quotation: ‘The solution to when to rest and worship is as simple as falling off a log, but it can only be accomplished by forgetting everything you have learned about when the Sabbath starts, and start over, using only the Bible for instructions. Forget history, forget tradition of men, and forget everything but the Torah (law).’

 

“... In the case of Josephus, as it turns out, we believe the evidence in fact demonstrates that he and his fellow Jews observed the same continuously repeating cycle of seventh-day Sabbaths that are observed by Jews of today. Notice what he wrote in The Wars of the Jews, Book I, ch. 2, sect. 4:  ‘And as the siege was delayed by this means, the year of rest came on, upon which the Jews rest every seventh year as they do on every seventh day.’

 

“The continuous, unending, repeating cycle of weeks ending in a Sabbath day are here referenced by Josephus…

 

“Continuing on with Josephus, there is additional evidence that neither he nor his fellow Jews ever observed Lunar Sabbaths. In The Wars of the Jews, Book I, ch. vii, sect. 3, Josephus makes special mention that the Jews would only fight defensively on the Sabbath-days:

 

“ ‘… Nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavors, had not Pompey taken notice of the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work on a religious account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers from fighting on those days; for the Jews only acted defensively on Sabbath-days.’

 

“It is significant that Josephus on several occasions makes note of the fact that his fellow Jews only acted defensively on the Sabbath. Josephus makes mention of this fact as if to continually remind his reading audience of this particular custom. Certainly, then, if Josephus made reference to any instances wherein his Jewish counterparts took part in battles without noting that it was the Sabbath day when such battles took place, we can safely presume that it wasn’t the Sabbath day when those battles were fought.

 

“Case in point: On the fifteenth of the month Lous [Ab], a group of seditious Jews made an assault on the Antonia Fortress.  According to lunar sabbatarians, the fifteenth day of each month is a Sabbath day. Did Josephus just happen to neglect mentioning that this particular day was a Sabbath day or did he treat it as he would any other working day of the month? Not only did Josephus leave off mentioning that the fifteenth day of that particular month was a Sabbath day, but he also matter-of-factly described the seditious Jews’ attack on the fortress. Typically, as we have already shown, the Jews did not mount attacks on the Sabbath day – they would only act in self-defense on that day. If they had acted contrary to the acceptable ‘Sabbath protocols,’ we can be certain that Josephus would have made note of it…”

 

But the best evidence of all is the message of Josephus himself.  In “War of the Jews,” he wrote:  "And as the siege was delayed by this means, the year of rest came on, upon which the Jews rest every seventh year as they do on every seventh day” (as quoted above by Acheson and also by W. Glenn Moore in “In Search of the True Sabbath”). It should be obvious to all that Josephus linked the seven day weekly cycle to the seven year land rest cycle. 

 

The interesting thing about this quote is that the 7^th year land Sabbaths and the weekly 7^th day Sabbaths are both based upon empirical knowledge.  There does not appear to be any astronomical feature which would define either cycle.  Hence, we can know both of these cycles only by the reality of having to experience, live and count the cycles.  However much some persons may dislike or hate the Jews, the Jews have been the very people who have experienced the two cycles in the historical vein of modern peoples. 

 

In reading the works of both Bowen and Johnson (which are almost exactly the same to suggest plagiarizing), it is hard to decide whether they are saying the Jews correctly kept the right Sabbath or not in 2d Temple days.  They are adamant that The MESSIAH kept the right days.  But they leave one wondering about the Jews in the collective sense.

 

Here are the Scriptures which tell about the worship of YESHUA and Shaul to show that they were in basic harmony with Jewish worship (and the Jews kept the 7^th day Sabbath weekly, not per any monthly moon schedule):

 

Luke 4:15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

 

Acts 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

 

Matt 13:54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

 

Acts 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

 

Thus, NT leaders taught in the synagogues, See also Mk 1:21; Acts 13:5, 14-16; 18:4, 11, 19; 26:11

 

James 2:2 For if there comes unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

(assembly is synagogue in the Greek)

 

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

(Assembly together is from Episunagogue-meaning to synagogue)

 

II Thess 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

(Gathering together is from Episunagogue)

 

Acts 21:21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

21:22 What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.

21:23 Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;

21:24 Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.

21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

21:26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

21:27And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,

21:28 Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.

 

Acts 25:7 And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. 25:8 While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.

 

Acts 28:17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

 

While Bowen confuses the 7^th day weekly Sabbath with the Shabbathons of the annual feast days, there is no confusion between the two in the Scriptures or by Philo or Josephus.  The people all knew and understood the differences.  

 

It appears that whenever Bowen reads some writing about observances of the feast days on the 15^th or 22d days, he automatically assumes that they are weekly Sabbath days and ignores the reality that the annual feast days are being addressed.  Then he concludes that the writers were teaching weekly Sabbath days on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th days of each month.  This is Babylonian confusion.

 

Yet, it is strange that Bowen does not find any references to Sabbath days on the 8^th and 29 days.  He goes on to ignore the annual Sabbaths/Shabbathons on the 1^st, 10^th and 21^st days of the 1^st and 7^th months.  Is Bowen dishonest with the Word? 

PART E—Universal Jewish Encyclopedia

 

Arnold Bowen’s Lunar Sabbath book (p 3, 5) says: “There is other supporting evidence in the Universal Jewish encyclopedias, under Sabbath, where they admit that the weekly Sabbaths was originally by the Phases of the moon. The Jews do not follow this method as they hold from Friday evening to Saturday evening as Sabbaths.”

 

Thus, Bowen and his colleague Johnson seem to allege that the Jews in YEHSUA’s time kept the Sabbath on the 7^th day of the week instead of the correct moon cycle. While Bowen referred to this article, he never actually quoted the reference.  Instead he wrongly paraphrased his own position and claimed it came from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia. Since he did not correctly or authoritatively quote the encyclopedia, his words mean nothing. 

 

Larry Acheson in Something Different (p 52-54, at www.ponderscripture.org) quotes Arnold Bowen, supposedly from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, that “The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle” and then adds:  “However, strangely missing from that particular commentary is the evidence supporting such a conclusion. Does their evidence come from Scripture? From historical records? What is their source? None is provided. This is certainly strange, coming from what would normally be considered a trustworthy reference. Adding to the mix here is the fact that this same reference also states, ‘The origin of the Sabbath is obscure.’ How can the same reference on the one hand claim that the Sabbath was originally based on the lunar cycle, and then on the other hand state that the origin of the Sabbath is ‘obscure’?

 

“The first thought is that, since these comments are found in separate articles in The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, they came from two different authors with two different perspectives of the historical record. However, it turns out that both articles were authored by the same person, a man named Max Joseph. Perhaps Mr. Joseph wasn’t quite as certain of the original method of reckoning the Sabbath as lunar sabbatarians would like for us to believe.

 

“We believe some answers to this enigma can be found in The Anchor Bible Dictionary. According to this reference, there have been some scholars who have advanced the theory that the weekly Sabbath was originally tied in with the lunar cycle. This same reference outlines the problems created by the assertions of such scholars:

 

“‘Beginning in 1905, J. Meinhold argued that the OT sabbath was originally a monthly full-moon day and as such was borrowed by Israel from ancient Babylon. His hypothesis has found sporadic support. It is recently defended by G. Robinson (1988) who argues that the sequence of ‘new moon—sabbath’ in preexilic sabbath texts (Amos 8:4-7; Hos 2:11-15—Eng 2:9-13; Isa 1:10-14; 2 Kgs 4:22-23) shows that the Sabbath after the monthly ‘new moon’ is a monthly ‘full moon’ day just as the sequence in Babylonian texts has arhum-sapattu, ‘new moon-full moon.’ In postexilic times the monthly (full moon) sabbath is said to have been transformed into the weekly sabbath. However, this alleged parallel has serious problems: (1) The sequence in all currently known Babylonian (and Sumerian) texts is arhum-sebutu-sapattu, ‘1st (new moon), 7th, and 15th (full moon) days,’ which is totally unaccounted for in the OT. (2) The 8th-century text of Hos 2:13—Eng 2:11 (cf. Amos 8:5; Isa 1:13) manifests the sequence of ‘feasts-new moons-sabbaths,’ three festal celebrations in the order of increasing frequency of ‘yearly (feasts), monthly (new moons), and weekly (sabbaths)’ celebrations. The sequence also appears in reversed form of decreasing frequency of ‘weekly (sabbaths), monthly (new moons), and yearly (feasts)’ celebrations (Ezek 46:1, 3, 9; 1 Chr 23:31; 2 Chr 2:3—Eng 2:4; 31:3; cf. Ezra 3:5). Both sequences are unknown outside of Israel. (3) New moon and sabbath continue to stand next to each other in later and particularly postexilic texts (Ezek 45:17; 46:1; Neh 10:33; cf. 1 Chr 23:31; 2 Chr 2:3—Eng 2:4) where sabbat refers clearly to the seventh day of the week. (4) The respective contextual settings are so distinct that they cannot be related to each other (Hasel 1988: 37-64; Kutsch 1986: 71-77). Furthermore, there is no compelling evidence in the OT for an alleged transfer from a preexilic monthly sabbath to an exilic/postexilic weekly Sabbath.’” 

 

Obviously, the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia is not very reliable on this theme.  The conclusion has to be that it is wrong; although in fairness to this source, it must be said that it certainly referred to the Scriptural account of creation to satisfy believers.  The only need for the tie to Babylon arises to satisfy the wishes of atheists, agonistics and other non-believers who want to find a source for the Sabbath outside the Scriptures.  By the way, this attempt to tie the weekly Sabbath in Israel with the Babylonian full moon Sabbath has some fascinating background data to follow from other more reliable sources.

 

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972 ed, v. 14, p. 558-562, article on the Sabbath) gives the most current, up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive Jewish position by citing Genesis 1 and creation week as being the Hebrew Scriptural position.  This source ties the specific 7^th day of the week to Jewish practice and customs throughout Jewish history. 

 

Judaica also adds the following one paragraph (p. 562):  “Speculation on the origin of the Sabbath has centered on the apparent Babylonian cognate, spattu, the mid-month day of the full moon, called ‘the day of calming [the god’s] heart’—apparently an auspicious day.  The biblical combination of ‘New Moon and Sabbath’ has been thought accordingly, to reflect what were originally two holy days, one at the start , the other in the middle of the month.  Another partial analogy to the Sabbath has been found in the ‘evil days’ of the Babylonian month (mostly at seven-day intervals) on which the king’s activity was severely restricted.  How the sapattu might have been combined with the entirely distinct ‘evil days,’ become dissociated from the lunar cycle and finally emerge as the joyous, weekly ‘Sabbath of the Lord’ has not been persuasively explained. Nonetheless an ultimate connection between the biblical and the Babylonian phenomenon seems likely.  If so, the history of the Sabbath began with a radical severance from the past…” 

 

Surely, Judaica added the above statement of what might be considered to be the view of atheists, agnostics and persons who refuse to accept the Scriptural position (as is true with both Bowen and Johnson).  Judaica as well as other respected Jewish encyclopedias (to include the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia) and virtually any and all respected Scriptural study sources without question will always cite Genesis 1-2 and the related Scriptures as justification and the source for the weekly cycle and the 7^th day Sabbath.  It is inconceivable that a legitimate Scriptural study would ever get off on a tangent to ignore the Scriptures to delve into Babylonian sun worship to justify commentary on the Sabbath (although Bowen and Johnson do this very thing).

 

Not only do respected Scriptural study sources automatically go to Genesis one on the weekly cycle and the weekly Sabbath as being factual and true, but it is only a few rare ones which would even bother with speculation and guesswork on trying to go to Babylonian sun worship to justify the weekly cycle and weekly Sabbath.  While atheists, agnostics and unbelievers would be appeased with some non-Scriptural explanation for the Sabbath, real students of the Word would never accept such wild and unsubstantiated speculations and nonsense (yes, Judaica uses the word speculation to describe this stupidity and not facts or truth as in the case of the Scriptural accounts).

 

Please note that the above speculation remarks by Judaica do not suggest or equate to a seven day week and a weekly Sabbath in Israel but rather to two holy days monthly—on the 1^st day and the 15^th day.  While the Babylonian sun worshippers were dedicated to a festival celebration on the 15^th day full moon, there are real questions if one wants to charge similar dedication to the new moons (although there is some presence of allegations of pagan worship from the 1^st to the 15^th days of the 7^th month on an annual basis and not monthly, as will be next cited). 

 

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. IV, p. 209, article on chag, citing Ps 81:4(3)) lays out the possible link to the Northern House of Israel as having a two week holy day (or Sabbath) period of 15 days from the 1^st to the 15^th day of a month which Jewish tradition associates with Yom Teruah to Sukkoth (which was observed once a year). 

 

Psalms 81:3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast (Hebrew chag) day. But this text certainly does not have any thing to do with the so-called lunar Sabbaths.  The Feast of Trumpets is adequately established as an annual festival in Lev 23:23-25 and other texts as well.  But while the TDOT uses the word possible, it is clear that one must read a lot into that psalm to ever tie it to the evil worship going on in the House of Israel after she broke from Jerusalem.

 

The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. xiv, p. 392 article on Sabbat/Sabbath) notes that prior to the exile “Israel (obviously the northern House of Israel) allegedly observed the Sabbath only once a month after the model of the Babylonian sab/pattu.  The assumption of a full moon Sabbath in Israel, however, faces series objections.” This source notes the OT usage of the new moon reference but an absence of the full moon (Hebrew kese/keseh) in connection with the Sabbath.

 

I Kg 12:28-33 lays out what happened in the House of Israel:

 

12:28

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

 

12:29

And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.

 

12:30

And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.

 

12:31

And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

 

12:32

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

 

12:33

So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

 

Is it possible that the House of Israel had a 15 day festival in the 8^th moon, culminating with a high Sabbath observance on the 15^th day?  With the evil going on in the Northern kingdom, almost anything is possible.

 

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. xiv, p. 387-397, article on Sabbat/Sabbath) offers the idea that Israel (surely referring to the House of Israel) “allegedly observed the Sabbath only once a month as a full moon Sabbath after the Babylonian sab/pattu.”  But elsewhere in explaining its words, this authoritative dictionary adds (p. 389):

 

“The frequently proposed connection between sabbat and the Akkadian noun sab/pattu, which refers to the fifteenth day of the month, the middle of the lunar month, needs a more detailed assessment.  The proposed etymological connection between the Akkadian primary noun sab/pattu and the Hebrew root sht can only be adduced with regard to its basic meaning, ‘cease, come to an end.’  Any connection between Akk. Sab/pattu and Heb. Sabbat, however, is both etymologically and semantically impossible, since the noun sabbat derives from the vb. sabat in the specialized meaning ‘celebrate,’ and because in the OT the noun sabbat refers consistently to the weekly day of rest that is independent of the lunar phases and has no reference to the day of the full moon.” 

 

So while there is absolutely no Scriptural, etymological, semantic or historical basis to connect the weekly Sabbath to the Babylonian Sabbath on the 15^th day full moon, possibly this is what may have happened in the Northern House of Israel according to the Anchor Dictionary and other sources.  This is another reflection on what the House of Israel did in adopting Babylonian sun worship after she broke from Jerusalem.

 

This TDOT authoritative source even says that the Babylonian Sabbath was once a month on the full moon which is what the Anchor Bible quote from Larry Acheson said.

 

Amos 5:21-23 notes:

5:21

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

 

5:22

Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

 

5:23

Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

 

Amos was a prophet precisely to the House of Israel, not to Yehudah.

 

Amos 1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

 

Is it not entirely plausible that the words of Amos 8:5 (cited earlier, as used by Bowen to support his lunar Sabbaths) specifically told about the evil House of Israel Israelites who had adopted outright evil sun worship with their break from Jerusalem and the faith of YHWH.  So while Bowen may choose to cite Amos 8:5, the truth is that this cite is in condemnation of the evil going on in the House of Israel and not anything of praise.

 

Ezekiel 20 tells how the House of Israel polluted the Sabbath. 

20:12

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

 

20:13

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

 

20:14

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

 

20:15

Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

 

20:16

Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

 

20:17

Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

 

20:18

But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

 

20:19

I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

 

20:20

And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

 

20:21

Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

 

20:22

Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

 

20:23

I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

 

20:24

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

 

By the way, Ezekiel was a watchman for the House of Israel; not Yehudah or the Jews. Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

 

What happened can be deduced from the several above quotations. When Jeroboam broke from Jerusalem, he created a religious aberration in the 8^th month in Israel as evidently derived from Babylonian sun worship.  To duplicate the Scriptural feasts, he surely ordained the 15^th day as a Sabbath/Shabbathon and possibly even designated the entire 1-15 day period to be Sabbaths/Shabbathons to replace the Scriptural festivals in the 7^th month (as allowed by the Theological Dictionary of the OT). 

 

Although it is actually unclear, it is possible that various writers over the years (like the one in Universal Jewish Encyclopedia) confused the House of Israel sins on festivals with some similar aberrations going on in pagan Babylon.  In the Word, Babylon and Babylonian worship is always equated with sin and evil.  No true believer would ever cite Babylon as any source for truth and righteousness.

 

Surely, without exception, all of these man conceived writings, cited by Bowen and Johnson, outside the purview of Scripture, recognize the Scriptural position as used, defended and referred to by believers (whether Jewish, Christian or whatever) as being Genesis 1-2.  Then to offer an explanation to satisfy atheists, agnostics and other non-believers, they speculate on some source for the Sabbath outside the statements in the Book.

 

Actually, the Word lays it out that the 7^th day Sabbath is a memorial to creation week of 6 days and YHWH’s rest on the 7^th day (as described earlier herein): 

 

If there is a bottom line, it is this authoritative source which says:

 

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (v. xiv, p. 391, article on Sabbat/Sabbath) notes: “That the Sabbath often appears in connection with the new moon is nowhere even remotely traced back to the lunar cycle.”  This source (v. xiv, p. 392) then goes on to trace the weekly Sabbath to the seventh day of rest in Exodus 34:21.

PART F--Questions Bowen/Johnson Need to Answer

 

1--Though it is true that from one weekly Sabbath to the next weekly Sabbath, there are eight days inclusively by count, where are the Scriptures which prove that the weekly Sabbath falls once a moon-month on the 8^th day?

 

2--Besides the fact that the 15^th day of the 1^st and 7^th months are called Shabbathons, where are the Scriptures which say that these 15^th days are automatically and always weekly Sabbaths?

 

3--Besides the fact that the 15^th day of the 1^st and 7^th months are called Shabbathons, where are the Scriptures which say that the 15^th days of other moon-months are weekly Sabbaths?

 

4--Besides the fact that the 22d day of the 7^th month is a Shabbathon, where are the Scriptures which say that the 22d days of each moon-month are always and automatically weekly Sabbaths?

 

5--Besides the fact that the 22d day of the 7^th month is a Shabbathon, where are the Scriptures which say that the 22d days of the other months in a year are weekly Sabbaths?

 

6--Where are the Scriptures which say that the 29^th day of each moon-month is a weekly Shabbat?

 

7--Since Bowen says that all 15^th and 22d days are automatically weekly Sabbath days (based on Lev 23), how about the rest of the regular days that go on to make up the totality of the Festival of Unleavened Bread and Festival of Tabernacles (days 16 to 21 in the 1^st month and days 16 to 21 in the 7^th month)?  Are they to be observed once a month by the moon cycle for every month of the year as is true for the 15^th and 22d days?

 

8--Where do the Scriptures say that each moon-month has a cycle of about 29.5 days?

 

9--Where are the Scriptures which say a moon-month has 29 days? 

 

10--Where are the Scriptures which say a moon-month has 30 days?

 

11--When a moon-month has 28 days, what happens to the 29^th day weekly Shabbat?

 

12--Are the words observe and observation relevant in the establishment of the moon-month and what do they mean?

 

13--If a moon-month has 29 days, how many days exist in the month which do not count in weekly cycles?

 

14--If a moon-month has 30 days, how many days are there in that month which do not count in weekly cycles?

 

15--If a moon-month has 31 days, how many days are there that month which do not count in weekly cycles?

 

16--Where are the Scriptures which establish, define and describe days in a monthly cycle which do not count as regular work days or as Sabbath days?

 

17--Since the actual moon cycle is closer to 29.53059 days, does this mean of necessity that more moon-months over time are of 30 days length or more than are of 29 days or less?

 

18--What does all of the non count days (days that do not count in the weekly cycles) do to any type of ceremony, function or event that has to be done weekly in the Scriptures (like putting out incense weekly, bread offering, the weekly flow of manna, etc)?

 

19--When is the condition of new moon observable on earth by a person?

 

20--Since condition of new moon is contingent upon an observable phenomenon, what does that reality do to a type of calculation made from moon tables as prepared by man by using a computer for an almanac?

 

21--Is the actual condition of new moon rather vague or complicated in fact or is it an observable phenomenon by man as is true with sunset?

 

22--Can the vague or more complicated feature of new moon affect the determination of its length of cycle?

 

23--Since the moon’s orbit is elliptical, can it not have much wide variation in length?

 

24--If the moon cycle has variation (more or less than 7 days), what does that reality do to the establishment of the week and the weekly cycle?

 

25--Since there is great variation in the moon cycle, is it dependable for the establishment and governing of the weekly cycle and the Sabbath day as opposed to the empirical method used in Ex 16 with the manna and continued since then based on perpetual knowledge and experience? 

 

26--Must condition of full moon (the kasah/keseh full moon) fall on the 15^th day of the moon-month?  

 

27--Based on the astronomical new moon cited in man made almanacs, can the full moon fall on days other than the 15^th?

 

28--Is the condition of full moon more dependable than new moon?

 

29--If the almanac, astronomical new moon is used, is it possible that the full moon can fall on the13th, 14^th, 16^th, 17^th, 18^th and/or 19^th days?

 

30--If the full moon falls on some day of the month besides the 15^th, when is the weekly Sabbath of the 15^th observed?

 

31--When broaching the subject of the weekly Sabbath, in the context of source or origin, do dictionary and encyclopedia entries generally start with the creation account in Gen 1-2?

 

32--Why do almost all dictionaries, encyclopedias and other writings, almost without exception, start their discussion on the week, weekly cycle and Sabbath with the creation account of Gen 1-2?

 

33--When citing creation in Gen 1-2 for the weekly cycle and weekly 7^th day, is this explanation offered to people who believe in and will accept the Scriptural explanation?

 

34--For atheists, agnostics and others who will not accept Gen 1-2, do some dictionaries and encyclopedias often offer some other explanations for the weekly cycle and weekly 7^th day in order to play to and satisfy those readers?

 

35--When you (Bowen and Johnson) turn to some of the other options for the weekly cycle and the weekly 7^th day (outside the purview of Gen 1-2), does it mean that you (Bowen and Johnson) are rejecting the Scriptural explanation in order to opt for some other non-Scriptural explanation for the week and the weekly Sabbath?

 

36--Do you (Bowen and Johnson) actually claim to be followers and students of the Scriptures when you reject its clear words and opt for some nonsense from some non-Scriptural source?

 

37--Where do the Scriptures establish the new moon day as a Sabbath day or rest day?

 

38--Where are the Scriptures which describe or establish new moon days as non count days in the weekly cycle?

 

39--Where in the OT does the Word say that Shabbathon days during the feasts/festivals (chag) are weekly cycle Sabbath days (unless by chance, they fall on a weekly cycled 7^th day Sabbath)?

 

40--Is there a difference between the Hebrew words Shabbathon and Shabbat?

 

41--Why did YHWH use the word Shabbathon in Lev 23 to define certain festival/chag days?

 

42--Since Ex 20:11 says that the weekly 7^th day Sabbath is a memorial or recognition of the rest by YHWH after His 7 days of work, where in the creation epic does the Word link the Shabbathon days of the 15^th and 22d days of the 1^st or 7^th moons to the weekly Sabbath?

 

43--Where are the Scriptures which define a so-called lunar weekly Sabbath?

 

44--Where is there an authoritative quotation from the writings of Philo which say that he was a weekly lunar Sabbatarian? 

 

45--Where is there an authoritative quotation from the writings of Josephus which say that he used the moon cycle to establish the weekly Sabbaths?

 

46--Where is there a clear and authoritative quotation from Jewish sources which affirm that the Jews (not the House of Israel) ever followed a lunar cycle to establish the weekly cycle and weekly Sabbath?

 

47--Does the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia teach that the weekly cycle and weekly Sabbath day is based on the creation account in Genesis 1-2?

 

48--Do almost all Jewish and Christian religious sources and authoritative tie the basis of the weekly cycle and weekly Sabbath to the creation account in Gen 1-2 or do they tie it to Babylonian sun worship?

 

49--While ancient Babylonian sun worshippers may have used the full moon to establish a Sabbath, where is there an authoritative Scripture defining a full moon to establish the Israelite weekly cycle and weekly Sabbath?

 

50--While the evil House of Israel may have worshipped on a new or full moon on one or more moon-months where in the Word is such worship sanctioned and approved by YHWH?

 

51--Where and what did Jeroboam use to pattern his false worship in the Northern kingdom of Israel?

 

52--Did Jeroboam pattern his false worship after Babylonian sun worship?

 

53--What is the servile work prohibition in Lev 23?

 

54--What does servile work mean in comparison with no work as stipulated for the weekly Sabbath and Yom Kippur?

 

55--What does the words convocation and moed have to do with the moon cycle and Shabbathons?

 

56--Where are the Scriptures which automatically attach convocation and moed to each and every weekly Sabbath?

 

57--When Israel came to the wilderness of sin “on” the 15^th day of the 2d month, does this mean that they actually arrived in their travel status on the 14^th day?

 

58--Or does the word on mean that they arrived on the 15^th day?

 

59--If Israel arrived on the 15^th day before sunset, would the next day actually be the 15^th day?

 

60--While the manna in Ex 16 would ruin if held over till the next day (except from the 6^th day of the week to the 7^th day), what happened to the manna held over the 1^st of every new moon when there were from 1 to 5 non count days in the weekly cycle?

 

61--Did this held over manna decay and ruin when held over?

 

62--On leaving Egypt, did Israel get her freedom the day she first marched out or was it 3 days later when she arrived at Pi-hahiroth?

 

63--If you count 50 days from or away from a weekly Sabbath, how can the 50^th day still fall on a weekly Sabbath?

 

64--If you count 49/50 days twice (to 99-100 days) from or away from a weekly Sabbath, how can the two 49/50s or 99-100 days still fall on a weekly Sabbath?

 

65--For the Shabbathon days of Unleavened Bread and Sukkot in Lev 23, where are they first defined and established in the Word?

 

66--If the Shabbathon days of Lev 23 were first defined and established during the Exodus, what possible authority could they have before they were defined and established in the Exodus?

 

67--Isaiah 66:23 and Ezekiel 46:1-3 are future prophetic events in a new Temple in the Messianic age, so what do they prove in the past or present tenses?

 

68--Amos 8:5 concerns the evil, sinning House of Israel, so what possible sense of righteousness is involved in this text?

 

69--Since the three festivals of Shavuot, Unleavened Bread and Sukkot were harvest festivals requiring all Israelites to come to Jerusalem and since the words “when you come into the land” (of Canaan) are used to show that Israel did not observe these festivals, per se during the Exodus, what possible role could they have in an authoritative sense before Israel entered Canaan?

 

70--Where are the Scriptures which say that the weekly cycle is determined by the lunar cycle?

 

71--When people invent religious ideas which have no Scriptural basis at all, can they be defined as kooky and stupid?

 

72--Are you dishonest in your use of the Scriptures?

 

73--Do you allege the Scriptures say things which they do not say?

 

74--Do you enter your own personal speculations and guesswork into supposedly quoting and referring to the Scriptures?

 

75--Do you also enter your own personal speculations and guesswork into supposedly citing and referring to secular writings like Josephus, Philo and the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia?

 

76--When you start on lunar Sabbaths, do you let your imagination and vain opinions run wild with crazy and irresponsible conclusions?

 

77--Will you refuse to pay out the $11,000 you owe and regardless of what Scriptural evidence is presented to you?

 

PART G--Proof of 7^th Day Sabbaths Not on 8, 15, 22 or 29 Moon Days

 

There are numerous texts proving weekly Sabbath day occurrences which happened on days different than the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th days of a moon cycle. Here are some of the references in the Word proving that Bowen and Johnson are wrong.

 

Genesis 1 and 2:1-2 prove conclusively that the first 7^th day Sabbath of the first weekly cycle happened on the fourth day of the moon cycle in the new month at creation (or possibly on the fifth day if a slippage was needed to the next night for observation of the condition of new moon or to have the full moon fall on the 15^th day).  If the first weekly Sabbath occurred on the 4^th or 5^th day of the moon cycle (as happened), it means that the second weekly Sabbath in Genesis occurred on the 11^th or 12^th day of the moon cycle for Aviv. And so it goes for the next 6,000 plus years.

 

Noah’s flood is described in Gen 6-8.  As described earlier herein, the evidence from the flood chronology is that the moon-months were 30 days in length at that time.  With this reality and the dates cited, it is possible to construct the calendar in effect in those days and determine precisely when each weekly Sabbath and each new moon occurred.

 

Several times in Gen 7-8, there are references to seven days or the 7^th day for events which happened. 

 

Genesis

7:4

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

 

7:5

And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

 

7:6

And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

 

7:7

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

 

7:8

Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

 

7:9

There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

 

7:10

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

 

7:11

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

7:12

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

 

8:5

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

 

8:6

And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

 

8:7

And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

 

8:8

Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

 

8:9

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

 

8:10

And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

 

8:11

And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

 

8:12

And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

 

In “Discovering the Calendar of Creation,” William Lowe suggests that with the words seven days, a week and the 7^th day, there are at least five weekly Sabbath days defined in Gen 7-8.  They are at:  Gen 7:4, 10; and 8:8, 10, 12.  By taking these days and relating them to the other days defined, it is possible to construct the flood calendar.

 

Per Gen 7:5-11, the first Sabbath occurred seven days/a week before the 17^th day of the 2d month.  This means that the 10^th and 17^th days of that moon were both weekly Sabbaths. Thus, the new moon of 1^st day of the 2d month would have happened on the 5^th day of the week.  Obviously, the 3d and 24^th days of that moon were also weekly Sabbaths. 

 

As described above for creation week, this writer proves that at creation the 1^st weekly Sabbath fell on the 3d or 4^th day of that first month.  With a new moon on the 4^th day at creation, it calculates to say that in Noah’s 600^th year Aviv 1 fell on the 3d day of the week and the 1^st weekly Sabbath fell on Aviv 5. 

 

By determining the chronology from creation to Noah’s 600^th year, it is possible to calculate all of the weekly Sabbaths from the two points since each moon was 30 days in length (at least in an average, as proven earlier herein). This writer calculates the flood as happening in about 1655 or 1656 years from creation.  With a little arithmetic, it can be shown that it takes 7 months for a given weekly cycle relating to a particular moon-month day to complete its cycle through the entire week. 

 

The year 1652 offers this reality.  That means in year 1653, a new cycle started in Aviv with the weekly Sabbath day falling on the 4^th day of Aviv as happened at creation.  On the basis of the first Sabbath being on the 4^th day of the moon cycle at creation, this schedule means that in the year 1655 (Noah’s 600^th year?) the new moon fell on the 3d day of the week and the weekly Sabbath fell on the 5^th day of Aviv.  For Ziw of that year, this would have resulted in the new moon falling on the 5^th day of the week with the weekly Sabbath falling on the 3d, 10^th, 17^th and 24th days.

 

Yet, there is the 3d day Sabbath alternative during creation week.  This one is calculable in the year 1657 with the Aviv new moon falling on the 3d day of the week and the first weekly Sabbath falling on the 5th day of that week.  This backdrop in 1657 allows the 3d, 10^th, 17^th and 24^th days of Ziw to all be on weekly Sabbath days with the Aviv new moon on the 3d day of the week.

 

Turning now to the weekly Sabbaths of the 11^th month, three of these are quite clear.  William G. Lowe gives them on the 11^th, 18^th and 25^th days of Shevat based on his belief that the 40 days of the 10^th month are calculated by progressive counting by the Jewish calendar from the 1^st day of Teveth which, per Lowe, fell on the 3d week of the week (Gen 8:5). 

 

But with a new moon on the 3d day of the week in the 10^th moon, the dates will not reconcile to the weekly Sabbaths defined on the 3d, 10^th and 17^th days of Ziw.  Using the schedule already defined for Ziw with weekly Sabbaths on the 3d, 10^th and 17^th days, it means that the first day of Teveth would have fallen on the weekly Sabbath.  Forty days later (to its end/completion as Gen 6:1 gives it) takes one to the 11^th day of the 11^th moon which would have been on the 5^th day of the week.

 

The raven was apparently released for the first time on the 11^th, 12^th or 13^th day of the moon (Gen 8:7).  Lowe opts for the release of both the raven and dove on the 11^th day.  But the wording and context support an interval between them (Gen 8:8).  The Soncino Edition of the Pentateuch & Haftorahs (p. 30) quotes Rashi as saying it was seven days (which is suggested in the wording in the subsequent releases).  Thus, what we have is a release of the raven and then the release of the dove a week later (Gen 8:8-9). The release of these birds are all described in weekly events that spell out their releases on the Sabbath day in each case. 

 

For the release of the raven, the logical Sabbath day would surely have been the Sabbath of the 13^th day of the moon (Gen 8:7). Then the dove was released for the 1^st time on the Sabbath of Shevat 20 (Gen 8:8). After bringing the dove back into the ark (Gen 8:9), Noah waited another week of seven days for the next release of the dove on Shevat 27 (Gen 8:10). The dove returned with an olive leak. So Noah waited another week of 7 days until Adar 4 (Gen 8:12). 

 

Thus, whether by Lowe or per this writer’s calculation, the dating of events for the flood allows at least six Sabbath days which fell on different moon days than what Bowen and Johnson claim.  Whether using the believed 30-day pre-flood months or the Jewish calendar for Genesis 6-8, almost the same results are obtained as far as Sabbath days.  And if there are complications with the events in Shevat, one must remember that there could be some necessary adjustments for new moon, as discussed earlier herein.

 

Clearly, Gen 8:5-12 defines three or four Sabbath days in a row (at the end of seven days, meaning at the week’s end).  If two of the months in Gen 8 (after the flood) had 29 days (as per the Jewish calendar) instead of 30 (as Lowe allows and for whatever reason, and particularly if the cycle was disrupted in the flood), it would only alter the dates by one or two day (allowing weekly Sabbaths on Shevat 11 or12, 18 or 19, 25 or 26, and Adar 2 or 3.  In any case, Bowen and Johnson are wrong as their alleged moon Sabbaths cannot fit at all with any of these dates.

 

Israel’s Exodus from Egypt proves a string of Sabbath days which fall on days different than what Bowen and Johnson claim.  The first one was set forth in Exodus 3:18, 5:1-3, and 10:3, 7, 9, 25 where Israel had to leave Egypt for three days to observe a feast. In Ex 12, Israel kept the Passover on Aviv 14 and started her three days movement out of Egypt on Aviv 15 (at night).  Num 33:3-7 gives her three days journey to the place of freedom where she observed her feast which was on a Sabbath day memorial of her freedom from Egypt (Deut 5:12-15).

 

The chronology of Exodus and the wave sheaf offering on Aviv 16  for Shavuot prove conclusively that Aviv 15 fell on the 4^th day of the week; thus meaning that the weekly Sabbath fell on Aviv 18.  The arrival of Israel to the wilderness of sin on Ziw 15^th, the murmuring on the weekly Sabbath on Ziw 16 and the start of the manna on Ziw 17 establishes more chronology.  Exodus 19:1 gives Israel’s arrival at the wilderness of Sinai on the 1^st day of the first week of Siwan and the giving of the law four days later on Siwan 5. 

 

The point of this chronology is that the weekly Sabbath days for the first three months can easily and conclusively be established as follows:  Aviv 4, 11, 18, 25; Ziw 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; and Siwan 7, 14, 21, 28.  None of these weekly Sabbaths fell on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d or 29^th days of a month. 

 

Isaiah 56:2, 12 has this amazing prophecy:

56:2

Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

 

56:3

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

 

56:4

For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;

 

56:5

Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

 

56:6

Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

 

56:7

Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

 

56:8

The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

 

56:9

All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

 

56:10

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

 

56:11

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

 

56:12

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

 

Isaiah 56:2 lays out the subject as the Sabbath with blessings to those who obey.  But verses 9-11 broach evil ones who in verse 12 choose to declare that “tomorrow” (Sunday) will be as this day (the 7^th day Sabbath) and much more abundant (yes, they will change the solemnity and blessings of the 7^th day to the next day).  Please note here that Israel’s watchmen and shepherds are blind, ignorant, greedy, dumb dogs looking out for themselves (obviously instead of the sheep).  Does the reader know of any Christian preachers who are like this?

 

This is a prophecy of a future event from Isaiah’s day.  For sure it cannot possibly have any application to a moon cycle of Sabbath days on the 8^th, 15^th, 22d or 29^th days. If it was for lunar Sabbaths, it would mean that man would change them from the 8^th to the 9^th; from the 15^th to the 16^th; from the 22d to the 23d; and from the 29^th to some other later days.  This has never happen in history if Bowen and Johnson are right. 

 

But interestingly, there is a record in history of the change of the sanctification or setting aside of the solemnity of the 7^th day weekly Sabbath to the next day.  It happened by 42 CE when the Roman Catholic Church was founded by one Simon.  The church (or Christianity in general) formally changed the weekly 7^th day Sabbath to Sunday. 

 

Ever since 42 CE, the Roman church has faithfully and religiously kept and observed Sunday as a rest and worship day.  She has never allowed any alteration or change in her schedule since 42 CE.  So for the last 1966 years, all one has to do is determine each Sunday kept by Rome and the preceding 7^th day is the Sabbath referred to by Isaiah.  Thus, per Isaiah, we have had at least 52 times 1966 Sabbaths that were not calculated by the moon’s cycle.

 

Before Rome formally adopted Sunday in c 42 CE, the Roman and preceding empires had the Jews keeping the 7^th day Sabbaths and multitudes of Sunday sun worshippers (like Mithra, Zeus, Osiris, Ra, Baal, etc) keeping Sunday.  Almost all of these people kept a weekly cycle of seven days without any confusion that their 7 day weeks were somehow wrong.

 

The Sign of YESHUA (at Chapter 9, vol. I, www.age-end.com) gives the chronology of the impalement and resurrection of YESHUA in detail.  The key text here is Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.

 

The importance of this text is that the Sabbath here is in the plural in the Greek text.  As it is plural, it means that there were two or more Sabbaths that week as is explained at www.age-end.com (since the Greek NT uses the word Sabbath for both the weekly and annual Sabbaths, it is clear that Matt 28:1 has to include one annual Shabbathon along with the weekly Sabbath of that week). 

 

The first Sabbath, the so-called High Sabbath of Aviv 15, occurred on the 5^th day of the week.  The second Sabbath was the weekly Sabbath which fell on Aviv 17.

 

This is confirmed in the work of Herman H. Goldstine’s New and Full Moons 1001 BC to AD 1651 (p. 86-87).  Goldstine gives the 30 CE spring new moon on March 22d (Julian calendar) at 20:59 hours in Baghdad.  March 22d was a fourth day of the week (but the night occurrence meant that it was actually on the fifth day of the week or March 23d).  In 29 CE, it was on April 2 at 20:43 hours; In 31 CE, it was on March 12 at 1:29 hours; In 32 CE, it was on March 29^th at 23:08 hours; and in 33 CE, it was on March 19^th at 13:41 hours.

 

The presentation at www.age-end.com is conclusive that in Aviv 30 CE both the astronomical and Jewish calendar cycles were in harmony (often they are not) to prove that Aviv  1 of 30 CE fell on a 5^th day of the week.  For sure, in Aviv of 30 CE, there were weekly Sabbaths on Aviv 3, 10, 17, and 24. 

 

While Bowen and, Johnson have spewed forth a lot of speculation and nonsense trying to build a case for lunar weekly Sabbaths, their arguments fall short of logic and sensibility.  They have totally missed the mark. 

 

The bottom line is that the Word teaches thousands of weekly Sabbaths that did not fall on the moon cycle days of 8, 15, 22 or 29. Bowen and Johnson have it wrong.  They therefore now should pay off the $11,000 to some deserving Identity ministry.

 

Shevat 5, 2008                                                                                                                         PART H

 

Mr Buddy Johnson

PO Box 23284

New Tazewell, TN37824

 

Mr Arnold Bowen

3466 E. Hightower Tr

Conyers, GA 30012

 

Mr Matthew Jenzen

3470 Hightower Tr

Conyers, GA 30012

 

Gentlemen:

 

This is a follow-up to my phone conversations with you Arnold and Buddy with a challenge to debate the so-called lunar Sabbaths.  Matthew, we have not talked, but it is my understanding that you share your father-in-law’s beliefs.  My interest is in making you Buddy pay the $1000 you offered and you Arnold pay the $10,000 you offered for proof of other Sabbath observances besides the 8^th, 15^th, 22d and 29^th ones you allege. i am prepared to offer many of these proofs precisely from the Word. 

 

Here, it must be said that Messers Acheson, Moore, White and others have already proven this; but seemingly, you refuse to pay the money you offered.  Reportedly, Herb Solinsky literally took you apart Matthew on this at Cisco, Texas.  i wasn’t there but i knew Solinsky as a college teacher in NC where he apparently taught Mathematics.  In my view he is a person of some intelligence and with a sound mind.  So he surely made a monkey out of your unscriptural beliefs.

 

Since you have already refused to pay there is no doubt that you won’t pay me.  But let me note that i don’t want your money.  i want you to pay because of this unscriptural belief which can put hurt on innocent people (like your children, Matthew).  Thus, if we can have a fair debate before an unbiased, independent audience (not in front of your own relatives and followers), then you should pay the sums; not to me, but to some Identity group or ministry besides your own or those connected to you.  Frankly, it wouldn’t matter which one you agreed to pay the $11,000 to.  Any one of them will suffice.

 

In the 1990s and early 2000s, i wrote a book on the calendar and festivals (at v. 15, www.age-end.com).  Except for one brief paragraph, i never specifically addressed the so-called lunar Sabbaths though i had heard of them at that time. My view then was that the idea was too stupid to be discussed by people with an IQ above a single digit.  It is totally unscriptural for many reasons—many of which are cited by Acheson, Moore and others.  But i can add more beyond what they have noted. 

 

Beyond the problem with its total lack in the Word, there also is the reality that it is both stupid and kooky.  Most people with Scriptural understanding know this.  Acheson said that one advocate he knew was simply “not all there” and that others were dishonest (are you three dishonest?).  Of course this is one of the tragedies of the Christian Identity motion where a number of kooky, screw ball beliefs float around, usually about the Sabbath.  Clearly, the Devil has been after the Sabbath for some time now.

 

Anyway, in my book, i never addressed the lunar Sabbaths to any length because i could not perceive that this ridiculous belief would survive.  Well, i was wrong as you three have accepted and promoted it (to hurt and injure innocent people).  If i would have known its source in the 1990s, i could have been alert to it rather than ignoring its implication.  Acheson names three possible sources. First, a Negro in Africa named Babacar N’Yokde Mocombe; next a person named John Ouwenga (this name sounds like it is African; thus, likely another Negro); and finally an American named Jonathan David Brown (with the name Brown and its source, he is very possibly a part Negro) who perhaps published the first American study in writing on the topic in 1998.  While Brown acted to put the idea over, it sounds logical that it first came forth from one or two behemah humanoids in the jungles of Black Africa.

 

One of the reasons that YHWH forbade mixing with Blacks and people of strong Black ancestry is their propensity for demon spiritualism. In the US and most of Europe (saving parts of Scandinavia where a few true Whites may remain), almost all so-called Whites have behemah genes in their ancestry and many have Indian genes (people in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Southern Europe in particular have huge Negro genes in their mixed ancestry).  The more behemah genes; the greater propensity to adopt demonic religious beliefs.  This is one of the reasons that the modern Pentecostal motion is so popular among Africans and so-called White people with heavy Negro genes.  This is classic demonism.

 

Anyway, these behemah beliefs have entrapped some White Americans.  Allegedly, per Acheson, you Arnold bought it from someone—though you allegedly refuse to name your source.  But the problem with Christian preachers is that most of them plagiarize and steal theology from others and refuse to give credit of where their words come from.  i wish that was not the case with any of you but it appears so.  Thus, i understand that you Arnold refuse to state your source.  My guess is that you Matthew learned it from your father-in-law and you Buddy also from Arnold.

 

So we are left with question marks on how to get from you Arnold to the Blacks in Africa but the linkage has to exist because it is impossible to grasp its meaning without some perception as to its source. The evidence is persuasive that the belief was plagiarized and stolen from Africa.   Tragically, this plagiarizing and stealing from others is the norm among Christian preachers.  Most of them are Scripturally shallow and regularly steal words and ideas from others and never give credit to others for their sources.

 

The bottom line here is that i want to debate any one of you or ideally all three of you at one time before a fair, unbiased, independent audience with some rules requiring a full citation of sources and not just vague, unsubstantiated allegations.  Your relatives and followers do not quality. If it is YHWH’s will, i will be in the Southland this fall.  If so, we could have a debate possibly in front of any of the Identity groups down there—like Messers Bruggeman, Williams, Cox, Vissser, Roper, Harper or any of others in Atlanta. i am prepared to contact them and see if they would host such a debate. Ex Jehovah Witnesses in the Pacific NW and possibly Alabama have “open” conferences on the “Bible.”  Possibly they would moderate and host such a debate.  The Sacred Namers also remain an option like the group you went to at Cisco. In fact, almost any group would qualify except for your own ministries and fellow believers.

 

Please let me know your position on this.  i hope that you will be willing to appear before others and allow them to decide if you should have to pay out the $11,000 or not to one of the Identity ministries. i am not interested in debating you before your group, relatives, friends or selves.  It is a waste of time as you will do as you have already done in the past—refuse to pay and regardless of what evidence comes against you. This is a losing proposition for me. If you won’t tackle my words, then possibly you would agree to debate someone else—like some other opponent of this belief.  Please let me know. Shalom,

 

R.D. Bradshaw, PO Box 473, Calder, ID 83808, Phone 208-245-1691, Email- rd.idaho@gmail.com

 

CC: Messers Bruggeman, Roper, Cox, Visser, and Harper

 

Editorial Postscript:  Neither Messers Johnson or Jenzen contacted me about the proposed debate.  Mr Bowen telephoned.  He said he would debate but not with his money on the line.  He noted that he would not accept the judgment of the Atlanta area Identity people to decide if he is wrong.  Only he, himself, could decide that question.