Quester wrote:(1) No, under the lunar Sabbath system, it is not possible to work more than six days (in a row) before resting. But it is possible to not work for more than just one day (up to two or three days in a row) between working. This is because New Moon days do not allow for most forms of what we would call "working." They aren't quite as restrictive as Sabbath days, but they are close.
My point was the instruction for the Sabbath was 6+1. There is no reference in the instruction to reset it at the beginning of the month. Everything about the Sabbath instruction relates to 6+1, the Sabbath is every Seventh day. Nowhere, that I am aware of, does it even hint at resetting the count every month.
Exodus wrote: Remember that the Sabbath day is set apart for purifying and cleansing and is thus special. Six days you shall work and do everything regarding your service of representing the Messenger and proclaiming the message. But on the solemn promise of the seventh day, the Sabbath of Yahuweh your God, you shall not do any part of the work of God’s Representative and Messenger yourself, nor your son, your daughter, your servants and employees, your means of production, nor those visitors who relationally are in your home, property, or community. For indeed, in six days Yahuweh made the heavens and the earth, and the seas, and all which is in them. And He became completely settled during the seventh day. Therefore Yahuweh blessed and adored, knelt down and lowered Himself to greet those He had created and lifted them up on the Sabbath day, setting it apart, dedicating it to separation, cleansing, and purifying.
Quester wrote:(2) Yahuwah's instruction (Exodus 20:8-10) you quoted (in your original post -- not shown in detail above) emphatically states that you can't work more than six days in a row without resting, but does it really "emphatically imply" that rest must come on a continuous seven-day cycle, forever and with no interruptions ever?
No it doesn’t but there is also nothing stating or implying that it is based on moon cycles either. If Yahuweh was going to base it on a convoluted calendar in which weeks restart each month, he would have given specific instructions on it, the way he gave specific instruction for how and when to add an intercalary month.
Quester wrote:Without any other scriptures to help us in interpreting this commandment, it would be a natural conclusion that we should just follow a continuous seven-day cycle. But there are other scriptures (and commandments) talking about the New Moon Day as a separate category of day from the Sabbath (with its own set of rules to follow that are somewhat different from the Sabbath).
Yes New moon days are separate from the Sabbath, but there is nothing to suggest that they effect and change the Sabbath, if you think they do, please cite them so that I can look at them.
Quester wrote:Furthermore, there are festivals during which working is most certainly not the normative activity, and which are celebrated during what would have been work days on the "continuous seven-day cycle" that you are promoting. So where do festivals fit into your analysis? Obviously, they are an exception to your interpretation of your quoted passage! So why not also another exception?
The festivals are exactly what Yahuweh calls them, special Sabbaths. They are Sabbaths that are not the weekly Sabbath, but when work is ceased as well. I have no problem with exceptions, when Yahuweh institutes them. I have seen no Scripture that in any way implies that the weekly Sabbath is anything other than every Seventh day.
The Sabbath is another example of the 6+1 formula which appears over and over throughout Scripture, to base it on the lunar cycle destroys that formula by changing the 6.
Quester wrote:I would thus read the quoted Exodus passage as referring to the four seven-day weekly cycles that always occur in-a-row, within each month (bookended by New Moon Days), but take it no further than that.
I understand that you would take it that way, but I don’t understand why. I don’t see what Scripture you are using to base that on.
Quester wrote:In a twelve-month year, there are 48 of those weekly (seven-day-duration) cycles. In a thirteen-month year, there are 50. And if New Moon Days roughly alternate between one and two each month (which is accurate enough a statement for this simple mathematical calculation), then in a twelve-month year, we have 18 New Moon Days total. In a thirteen-month year, we have 19 or 20. Why not just 12 or 13, one for each month, you ask? Because of the "New Moon Rebuilding Days" as I call them, which are added to the end of the month when needed (which is roughly every-other month), while waiting for the moon to "rebuild" itself into new again.
So, out of the twelve-month year, only 5% of the days are going to be New Moon Days. Out of the thirteen-month year, about 5.5%. With that in mind, it's not too big a stretch to read the quoted Exodus passage as still applying most all of the time (~95%), and without feeling the need for a qualification... before being willing to accept the possibility of an unmentioned third type of day.
To me it is a huge stretch to dismiss the commandment 5% of the time, without specific instruction from Yahuweh.
Quester wrote:Bottom line is, we have to make sense of the New Moon Day commandments one way or another. I've chosen the way that makes the most sense (to me). In your analysis, you haven't dealt with them at all -- unless you've simply thrown them out, or included them as work days. Which brings me to my third point.
(3) If we want to make New Moon Days into work days, thus making the first day of each month both a work day and a New Moon Day, that doesn't work, because it would violate the commandments regarding New Moon Days. I suggest you read them. Maybe you could also post up a good expanded translation (like you did for the Exodus passage) of each instance in which New Moon Day is mentioned?? Since your stated hobby is "translating Torah," and mine is most decidedly not, I for one would appreciate that service!!
Bottom line here is: we're stuck with a stand-alone, special day that is in addition to work days and Sabbath days. Where do we put such a day on the calendar? I put it on the right column, since it's more similar to a Sabbath than a regular work day. It helps me to visualize the working that I'll do (on the left six-sevenths of the month), and the resting that I'll do (on the right one-seventh).
After doing a quick search of verses pertaining to New Moon days, I have found nothing that states that it is a Sabbath or that we are to cease work for it, maybe I am missing something, but from what I have read the New Moon days are kept by:
Blowing a trumpet Numbers 10:10; Psalm 81:3
Presenting a burnt offering Number 28:11; 1Chronical 23:1
Bow in the presence of Yahuweh at the entrance to the gate Ezekiel 46:3
The gate of the inner court was to be open Ezekiel 46:1
Nowhere does Yahuweh or anyone say that the New Moon days are Sabbaths, or that we are to cease work on them.
The only verse I can find that comes close to suggesting that is Amos 8:5, which says “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain?” though this is easily disproved by the Dead Sea Scrolls which show that sell grain was not there, it should actually read “When will the new moon be over, that we may be satisfied?”
So if I missed a verse in Scripture that says that the new moon was to be a day to cease work, please point it out to me.
Quester wrote:Edit: I realize that a long argument (like I just gave above) that is complete contradictory, can easily be read as being hostile. I did not intend that "voice." If it came across that way, please insert more of a casual, happy voice.
Don’t worry I didn’t take it any way other than you trying to explain your understanding; I understand that it is hard to give voice to written text.
