I was writing this to someone and thought it might be interesting enough to post here on the forum.
The Old Testament is interesting. A number of years ago I got talking with people and they were all in a tizz and saying that they think Constantine changed the Sabbath from a Saturday to a Sunday etc etc. They were unaware obviously about how the Hebrew calendar worked.
The Hebrew month started on the New Moon and then the first Sabbath was on the 8th of the month the next on the 15th then the 22nd and finally the 29th. So the day of the week the Sabbath was going to fall on would differ quite often. It also would depend on whether they saw that first sliver of the New Moon on the evening they might have expected it or had to wait for the next evening. The Sabbath could also never clash with other feasts.
Leviticus 23 King James Version
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
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.
The New Moon is only a few days after the previous Sabbath (29th) and so of course it is not a Sabbath as a Sabbath is only after a time of six days of work. So that does also make it interesting with Jericho.
Joshua 6 King James Version
1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
So which day was the Sabbath Day. None of them. God wouldn't have had his people out marching around Jericho on a Sabbath and so one of the days must have been New Moon Day which isn't a Sabbath.
