Have
you ever wondered how the children of Israel
could have marched around Jericho without marching
on the Sabbath? Maybe you have, maybe you have not.
Maybe you have thought that it was simply allowed
by Yahweh, and is a case of exemption in battle.
What ever you have previously understood concerning
this colossal event, here is something to consider.
Let
me point out that those who believe the
Sabbath to be a reoccurring seven day count, have
to admit that Israel marched around the city of
Jericho on the weekly Sabbath day. This is seen
in the book of Joshua 6:2-4.
And
Yahweh said unto Joshua, See, I have given
into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and
the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the
city, all ye men of war, and go round about the
city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And the
seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets
or rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall
compass the city seven times, and the priests shall
blow with the trumpets.
Seeing
that the march was commanded by Yahweh
to last for seven consecutive days, a weekly Sabbath
would definitely fall within the period of the seven
day march; at least for those who hold to a continuous
seven day count, not anchored in any way by nature.
Upon
realizing this, we should notice what Yahweh
has revealed to us, in His holy word, concerning
travel on the weekly Sabbath day. Is travel allowed
on the Sabbath? Or does Yahweh explicitly condemn
travel on the Sabbath?
In
Exodus 16 we find the account of the giving
of the manna by Yahweh to the children of Israel.
He makes it known to them (in verses 4-5 of this
account) that they will be receiving manna for six
straight days, but one the seventh day they will
find none. On the sixth day of this particular week
Yahweh commands them to bake that which they will,
and seethe that which they will (vs. 23). Food preparation
is also found in verse 5 of the chapter. We do however
find that immediately after Yahweh instructs Israel
in that there would be no manna found on the Sabbath
day, we find that they simply did not hearken.
And
it came to pass, that there went out some
of the people on the seventh day for to gather,
and they found none [manna]. Exodus 16:27
Upon
the children of Israel’s venture
Yahweh was very displeased. We see this in His statements
to Moses in Exodus 16:28-29.
…Yahweh
said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to
keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that
Yahweh 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. So the people rested
on the seventh day.
Yahweh
here specifically condemns their traveling
on the Sabbath. This was merely traveling a short
space to gather manna, much less instigating an
attack through a battle march. Obviously Yahweh
does desire us to travel to our places of worship
on Sabbath, but something unnecessary, such as gathering
manna or traveling for our own personal edification
is something altogether different.
We
also see that limited travel on the Sabbath
was understood by the believers of the 1st century
A.D. This can be seen in the book of Acts 1:12.
Then
returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount
called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day’s journey.
Here
we see that there was a specific distance
that was considered to be a Sabbath day’s
journey. The King James Study Scriptures states,
“A Sabbath day’s journey was the distance
a Jew was allowed to travel on the Sabbath (about
2/3 mile).” Smith’s Scriptures Dictionary
has somewhat to add on the passage in Acts as well.
…The
Sabbath day’s journey of 2000 cubits,
Acts 1:12, is peculiar to the New Testament, and
arose from a rabbinical restriction. It was founded
on a universal application of the prohibition given
by Moses for a special occasion: ‘Let no man
go out of his place on the seventh day.” Ex.
16:29. An exception was allowed for the purpose
of worshipping at the tabernacle…[1]
Although
Mr. Smith’s opinion leans
toward this being an application by man, I think
we can see from the passage in Exodus 16:29 that
no unnecessary travel was to be done on the Sabbath.
Acts 1:12 simply shows us that this is what was
understood by Israelites living in the 1st century
A.D
.
So, did Yahweh
command a battle attack consisting of a
march to take place on the Sabbath? Well, once again,
for those insisting on a continual unbroken seven
day count for the Sabbath, the answer would have
to be yes. And I’m sure one could give a few
answers to why Yahweh seemed to allow this to take
place. However, is there any possibility that Yahweh
did not command a march to take place on the Sabbath?
Yes, there certainly is.
According
to the teaching which claims the Sabbath
to be fixed in the heavens according to the moon
and its phases, a Sabbath falls out to be on the
8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of each and every
lunation. Reason being is that the day of the New
Moon is not counted as one of the six working days
(Ezekiel 46:1-3) thus the Sabbath count stops once
each month at the day of the New Moon. If the march
of Jericho started on the day of the New Moon then
it would have ended on the 7th day of that month!
This would allow for Israel to not have traveled
on the Sabbath! However, we do face a dilemma; the
book of Joshua does not give us any conclusive evidence
that the march began on the New Moon. This is why
I would now like to direct your attention to what
is known as the book of Jasher.
The
book of Jasher is mentioned twice in the
holy scriptures, and was considered as an honorable
source of information. This is seen by noticing
the context in which it was mentioned.[2]
