The Eighth Day

And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

1 Kings 12:32

Jeroboam was appointed by Yahuah to be King over the Northern kingdom of Israel when Solomon sinned and the kingdom was divided. Jeroboam could have been a great king if he would, “listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did”.

1Ki 11:30 Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.
1Ki 11:31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes,
1Ki 11:32 but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel;
1Ki 11:33 because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites. They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34 But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.
1Ki 11:35 But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you.
1Ki 11:36 To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name.
1Ki 11:37 You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
1Ki 11:38 It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Jeroboam was worried that he would lose control of his new kingdom if he let the people go back to Jerusalem for the feast days of Yahuah, so he decided to make his own feast, one month after Yahuah’s feast in the eighth month. The 15th day of the seventh month was the day Yahuah ordained, but Jeroboam changed it to a different day.

1Ki 12:32 Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1Ki 12:33 He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

Changing the days that God sets apart as holy does not go well for anyone who tries. It is a form of idolatry because who can make for themselves gods? Changing a day Yahuah has ordained is the same as trying to make your own god.

Jer 16:19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.
Jer 16:20 Can a human make for himself gods? Yet they are not gods!”
Jer 16:21 “Therefore look, I am about to let them know, this time I am going to let them know my power and my might, and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”

Somewhere during early Christianity, the same principle that Jeroboam applied to changing God’s feast day from the seventh month to the eighth month, was in like manner applied to the Sabbath day. It was changed from the seventh day to the eighth day. The earliest place I can find mention of this is in the writings of Ignatius to the Magnesians.

Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” (2Th 3:10) For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” (Gen 3:19) But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them.24 And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, “To the end, for the eighth day,” (Psa 6:1-10, Psa 12:1-8 [inscrip.]) on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour, deny, “whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things,” (Php 3:18, Php 3:19) who are “lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (2Ti 3:4)

We see Ignatius following the footsteps of Jeroboam by rejecting the things of God, allocating them to simply that of “the Jews”. He goes on to use a Psalm to justify this new concept. The Sabbath was ordained by Yahuah at creation for resting after His work. Does this mean God should not eat because He is lazy for being idle on the Sabbath, or that He was setting an example for the whole world to follow? Did anyone tell the Creator of the universe His day was no longer sanctified because Ignatius said it was a custom of the “Jews”?

Gen 2:1 And heaven and earth and all their array were finished.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work of creating that there was to do.

Many of the Greek early church fathers were extremely antisemitic. Our Saviour was a Jew who kept the Sabbath and also told us where salvation came from.

Joh 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This idea that the Sabbath somehow changed to the “eighth day”, which is really the first day, is an invention of man that came after the apostles’ time on earth. The arguments that are made that this change was made by the apostles do not work. It is said that because the apostles met on Pentecost on the first day of the week, or that Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, it is an indication that the day changed.

Act 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

The day of Pentecost is not a day created by Christianity, or a day that was new. Pentecost, meaning fifty, is the appointed day of Yahuah called Shavout. It is fifty days from the sabbath in the week of unleavened bread, always falling on a Sunday. There is nothing new here, other than it is the feast day Yahuah decided to send His spirit to those who were gathered honouring the day.

Lev 23:15 “‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day of your bringing the wave offering’s sheaf—there shall be seven full weeks.
Lev 23:16 Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; then you shall present a new grain offering for Yahweh.

One of the days used to justify moving the sabbath was actually a feast day derived from counting seven sabbaths established by Yahuah. It is the same time that the Ten Commandments were given to the church in the wilderness.

Exo 19:1 In the third month after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.

Another argument given to disregard the Sabbath is to say that Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. This stems from believing that He was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday to complete “three days and three nights”. The problem with this theory is that Jesus was not crucified on a Friday. He was put in the tomb before sundown on Passover before the high sabbath of Unleavened Bread. In order to be in the tomb three days and three nights, this would mean Passover was on a Wednesday the year of the crucifixion.

Joh 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

Lev 23:4 “‘These are Yahweh’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time.
Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 On the first day there shall be a holy assembly for you; you shall not do any regular work.

Jesus was put in the tomb the evening of the fourteenth before the high sabbath of unleavened bread the next day. He rose three days and three nights later, just before evening of the weekly Sabbath. He was not there when the women came to the tomb before dawn on the first day of the week.

Mat 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Mat 28:2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Mat 28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
Mat 28:4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
Mat 28:5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
Mat 28:6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Even if one thinks the “day” starts at night, based on the three days and three nights Jesus told us would be the only sign he would give, He would have had to leave the grave before sundown on the Sabbath.

There are many arguments people make to negate the Sabbath, and they twist scripture to do so. Calling the day the “Lord’s Day” with no scriptural authority, other than perhaps from the book of Revelation where John was in the spirit on the “Lord’s Day”. Was John embracing this new day created in Christianity by false premises having never discussed it previously? Would Yahuah change one of the ten most important commandments without a single prophecy indicating the change? Both Jesus and all the writers of the New Testament failed to mention this change. I believe the Scriptures version of the Bible has the correct translation for this verse in Revelation along with all of the places the “Day of the Lord” is used.

Rev 1:10 I came to be in the Spirit on the Day of יהוה,a and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, Footnote: aSee also Isa 13:6, Isa 13:9, Eze 13:5, Joe 1:15, Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11, Joe 2:31, Joe 3:14, Amo 5:16-20, Oba 1:15, Zep 1:7, Zep 1:14, Mal 4:5, Act 2:20, 1Th 5:2, 2Th 2:2, 2Pe 3:10.

Was John in the spirit on the Lord’s day when he witnessed what would happen in the spirit on the day of the Lord? There is such little teaching concerning the day of the Lord in the churches that it is easy to be convinced that John was having a Sunday sunrise service when he had these visions. The church tends to just talk about a pre-tribulation rapture of the “church” and ignore what scripture actually says. It is all deception. Are you seeking Yahuah with all your heart and mind? The day of the Lord, or more accurately, the day of Yahuah, is very different than anything that the church teaches today.

Oba 1:15 “For the day of Yahweh is near against all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return on your own head.
Oba 1:16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as if they had never been.
Oba 1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be an escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will take possession of their dispossessors.
Oba 1:18 And the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; and they will set them on fire and will consume them. And there will not be a survivor for the house of Esau,” for Yahweh has spoken.

Obadiah 1:18, “And the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame”. The lawless “church” was not whisked away leaving the “Jews” behind for the day of the Lord, as dispensational theology teaches. There is only one people of Yahuah.

Rom 11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Rom 11:14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
Rom 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Rom 11:19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
Rom 11:20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
Rom 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

When Obadiah speaks of Joseph, it is the same people group as when Ephraim is spoken about. These are the same people that Paul calls “gentiles” in Romans. They are people alienated from God, or also called “the nations”. Joseph or Ephraim, Joseph’s son, is the prodigal son that forsook his father and went out amongst the Gentiles. This is the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told. Judah is the older, jealous brother. Many of these people, “gentiles”, are descendants of the people from Jeroboam’s kingdom of Israel.

Jer 31:18 Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God.
Jer 31:19 For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Jer 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son, or the child of my delight? For as often as I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. Therefore my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him,” declares Yahweh.

There is no other people group who can change scripture and create a sanctified “eighth” day weekly festival in honour of Yahuah. It is the sin of Jeroboam. We must be grafted back in to the nourishing root of the olive tree. Paul was not pulling the olive tree reference out of thin air.

Jer 11:15 What rights has my beloved in my house when she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For you engage in your wickedness, then you exult.
Jer 11:16 Yahweh called your name, ‘A leafy olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.’ With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing.
Jer 11:17 And Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal.”

We must repent and worship in spirit and truth. This means shedding the centuries of lies we have inherited. There is only one God, Yahuah, one people group who guard His commandments, one set of feast days ordained by Yahuah, and one Sabbath day. If your religion has different feast days, different commandments, a different people group, and a different Sabbath, then at its head is a different god than Yahuah whom His son Yahusha taught us to follow.

The featured image is by Flor Saurina on Unsplash.