The Shabbat Day!

 

The Shabbat is one of the most important celebrations for the Torah observant Hebrew and yet we have so many different understandings on when and how to keep it. There are those that keep Shabbat from sixth night (erev shabbat - Friday evening) until sunset seventh night (Saturday evening) and others that keep Shabbat on seventh day (Saturday) from sunrise to sunset and even those that call the first day (Sunday) the Shabbat. How could such an important command be so difficult to observe the way our Sovereign desires. We have come to understand that this topic is yet another misconception that we learned from those that should have kept the Torah alive in the earth.

 

Excerpt from RABBINICAL ESSAYS BY JACOB Z. LAUTERBACH HEBREW UNION COLLEGE PRESS CINCINNATI

Before we proceed to describe the ceremonies of the entrance of the Shabbat we must ascertain the exact time of its appearance, that is, at what time of the day the arrival of the Shabbat was expected. This will help us to understand better certain features in the arrangements for welcoming it. As the Shabbat is the seventh day of the week and extends over one whole day, a brief discussion of the development of the Jewish system of reckoning the day is necessary to determine the time of the coming in and the going out of the Shabbbat. There can be no doubt that in pre-exilic times the Israelites reckoned the day from morning to morning. The day began with the dawn and closed with the end of the night following it, i.e, with the last moment before the dawn of the next morning. The very description of the extent of the day in the biblical account of creation as given in Gen 1.5 presupposes such a system of reckoning the day, for it says: "And it was evening and it was morning, one day." This passage was misunderstood by the Talmud.

Ancient, medieval, and modern commentators on the Bible disagree over the meaning of Genesis 1:5: . . . there was evening and there was morning, one day.

 

Shmuel ben Meir (c.1085 - c.1158), also known as Rashbam learned from his grandfather Rashi. Rashbam was a biblical commentator and Talmudist with his commentary on the Torah renowned for its stress on the plain meaning (peshat) of the text.

Here is his commentary on Genesis (bold emphasis mine)

Rashbam's Genesis

1. To remind the Jewish people of the reason for the observance of the Shabbat as described in the Ten Commandments, Moses told the story of creation: At the time when the upper heavens and the earth had already been created, a long or a short time before the acts related in Genesis,

2. the earth as we know it was completely empty, for water covered it up to the upper heavens. Darkness that was not night was over the depths, and there was no light in the heavens. A wind blew across the waters.

3. Elohim said, "Let there be light" to correct the lack of light, and there was light.

4. Elohim looked at the light and saw that it was beautiful. Elohim divided the light into a unit of twelve hours and the darkness into a unit of twelve hours.

5. Elohim named the newly-formed unit of twelve hours of light "day" and the newly-formed unit of twelve hours of darkness "night," and they have been so called ever since, day always precedes night. Daylight turned to evening as its light faded; then, morning broke as the morning star signaled the end of night. The first of the six days of creation referred to in the Ten Commandments was, thus, completed and the second day began.

6. Elohim said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters which reach fromthe surface of the earth up to the upper heavens to divide the waters in half."

7. Elohim made the expanse and divided the waters below the expanse from the waters above the expanse; and it has been so ever since.

8. Elohim named the expanse "heaven" and it has been so called ever since. Daylight turned to evening as its light faded; then, morning broke as the morning star signaled the end of night. The second of the six days of creation referred to in the Ten Commandments was, thus, completed and the third day began.

verse 14

14. Elohim said, "Let there be bodies of light in the expanse which is below the upper heavens to signal the actual division of day from night, which is sunset and the appearance of the stars, and night from day, which is sunrise. Let them also be used to indicate miraculous signs, to calculate the holidays and the calendar, to mark the beginning and end of day and night, and to delineate the four seasons of the year.

15. Let them also be bodies of light in the expanse which is below the upper heavens to be a source of light for the earth"; and it has been so ever since.

16. Elohim made the two large bodies of light, the larger to rule the day and the smaller to rule the night, the stars.

17. Elohim put them in the heaven which is below the upper heavens to give light to the earth,

18. to rule during the day and the night, and to signal the beginning of day with the rising of the sun and the beginning of night with the setting of the sun and the appearance of the stars. Elohim looked at the heavenly bodies and saw that they were beautiful.

As we can see from these passages, the ETERNAL created during the day-light hours, when work is to be completed, and rested in the evening. There is a progression from Morning - afternoon - evening - nightfall and then back to morning. A Complete Day.

 

 

There are other Hebrew scholars that have written concerning this topic:

Noted Hebrew scholar, C. H. Leupold (Exposition of Genesis, Vol. 1, pp. 57-58) explains:

The verse [Gen. 1:5], however, presents not an addition of items but the conclusion of a progression. On this day there had been the creation of heaven and earth in the rough, then the creation of light, the approval of light, the separation of day and night. Now with evening the divine activities ceased: they are works of light not works of darkness. The evening (‘erev), of course, merges into night, and the night terminates with morning. But by the time morning is reached, the first day is concluded, as the account says succinctly, ‘the first day,’ and everything is in readiness for the second day’s task. For ‘evening’ marks the conclusion of the day, and ‘morning’ marks the conclusion of the night. It is these conclusions, which terminate the preceding, that are to be made prominent."

Leupold’s point is simply that after each day’s creative activity there followed "evening" and when "morning" arrived another day of creative activity began.

Also a professor of the TaNaK at Westminster Theological Seminary, Edward J. Young (Studies in Genesis One, p. 89) summarizes the Hebrew text as follows:

When the light was removed by the appearance of darkness, it was evening, and the coming of light brought morning, the completion of a day. The days therefore, are to be reckoned morning to morning.

From the Tanach we can see this idea of the day starting in the morning:

Neh. 7:1-3

1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he [was] a faithful man, and feared the ETERNAL above many.
3 And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar [them]: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one [to be] over against his house.

He re-instituted the normal operation of closing the city gates until the morning. The gates were closed at the evening and opened in the morning.

Neh. 13:15-21

15 In those days saw I in Judah [some] treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all [manner of] burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified [against them] in the day wherein they sold victuals.
16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing [is] this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our ETERNAL bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.
19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and [some] of my servants set I at the gates, [that] there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do [so] again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no [more] on the sabbath.

Now, consider this...

The gates were to be shut in the evenings but opened again in the morning to allow entrance to the merchants, as well as, the coming and going of the people. Verse 15 indicates Nehemiah saw merchants selling wares ON the Shabbat DAY. Remember, there were no 24 hour merchants. The merchants of that day brought their wares into the city, in the morning to sell. The people would go to the marketplace to buy and to socialize. Verse 19 shows that Nehemiah changed the normal rule and required the gate to REMAIN SHUT DURING THE SHABBAT, which was approaching in the MORNING. Some of the merchants spent the NIGHT outside the wall and brought their wares in to sell in the morning, on the shabbat, when the gates were opened. Verse 20 tells us they spent the night waiting to sell On the Shabbat Day when the gates were opened in the morning. Merchants did not sell fish and all manor of wares at NIGHT!

Here we can clearly see that the shabbat begin in the morning and NOT the night/evening before. The idea of a day beginning on Friday evening and ending on Saturday evening is a Talmudic, Rabbinic decision and NOT an instruction from the ETERNAL!

Joshua 7:13-14

13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the ETERNAL Sovereign of Israel, [There is] an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, [that] the tribe which the ETERNAL taketh shall come according to the families [thereof]; and the family which the ETERNAL shall take shall come by households; and the household which the ETERNAL shall take shall come man by man.

In this story we find the ETERNAL instructing them to set themselves apart for tomorrow, which is "in the Morning". There are other passages of scripture to confirm that the ancient Hebrew days were started each morning and we will follow up with a Part 2 post at a later date.

May the ETERNAL One Shine His Face Toward You Always!