can Nisan 15 be referred to as "the sabbath"?

Question

6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.

Leviticus 23:6-7

31Since 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.

John 19:31

Is he saying:
a) the upcoming day (which starts at sunset) is a Sabbath i.e. 7th day of week AND it falls on Nisan 15?

Or, if the upcoming day is Nisan 15 and NOT the 7th day of the week, is John saying:
b) Nisan 15 is a sabbath because Leviticus 23 says to rest

Based on reading a bunch of English translations, it seems (a) is correct.

Answer 1

It is true that in the Hebrew, "Sabbath" almost always refers to the weekly Sabbath with only very few exceptions such as Lev 16:31, 32 where it refers to the Day of Atonement.

However, in NT Koine Greek, Sabbath only ever refers to the weekly Sabbath or a period of 1 week. See BDAG. This remains true in non-Biblical Koine Greek was well. Put another way, "Sabbath" never refers, in Koine Greek, to one of the Jewish annual "sabbaths" - it only refers to the weekly Sabbath or a period of one week.

The above is confirmed by another fact as well. The word παρασκευή always refers to the day of preparation = Friday in both NT Greek, and early Christian literature as per BDAG, again. The same word was transliterated into Latin and also designates Friday in Latin as well. Put another way, the word never designates the day before an annual Sabbath.

Therefore, Nissan 15, in the NT was never referred to as "Sabbath" unless it actually fell on a weekly Sabbath. Therefore, I agree that of the OP options, (a) is correct.

Answer 2

Can Nisan 15 be referred to as "the sabbath"?

by Saber Truth Tiger

PART ONE

As "The" Sabbath, not likely. In the Hebrew Bible, the weekly Sabbath was almost always referred to as "the Sabbath". If your Old Testament is translated from the Masoretic Hebrew text then no, Nisan 15 is not a Sabbath.

According to the Hebrew Scriptures (Masoretic Text), Nisan 15 was never designated as a Sabbath. There were three types of Sabbaths: 1) the weekly Sabbath, 2) the land Sabbath where the land had to lay unused every seventh year 3) the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), an annual Sabbath that fell in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar.

There were seven annual holy convocations in the Jewish Year and six of them forbade only servile work and were never called Sabbaths. There is a reason why the Day of Atonement was called a Sabbath and the others weren't. It forbade ALL work, not just servile work, just like the weekly Sabbath. Leviticus 16:29, 23:28, 30, 31; Numbers 29:7.

For example, refer to Exodus 20:10, 31:14,15; Leviticus 23:3, Deuteronomy 5:14; Jeremiah 17:22 to see the weekly Sabbath forbade ALL work too.

Notice the Day of Atonement and the weekly Sabbath both prohibit ALL work. So the Day of Atonement has the same definition as the weekly Sabbath.

Furthermore, almost every place in the Hebrew Scriptures where "the Sabbath" is found it refers to the weekly Sabbath. So too, apparently in the Greek Scriptures (New Testament). There are a few exceptions (the land Sabbath for example).

There are, in Leviticus 23 of the KJV, four holy convocations in the sacred seventh month of the Jewish Year (Tishri) that are called Sabbaths but three of them come from a different Hebrew word for Sabbath(Shabathown) than the weekly Sabbath (Shabbath). The Day of Atonement uses the same word for Sabbath as the weekly Sabbath. The Shabbathown is spelledh similarly to the weekly Sabbath but it means "REST" and is never used for a holy convocation that forbids ALL work. It is even translated as REST elsewhere in the KJV and is used sometimes with the Hebrew word Sabbath as in "A Sabbath of REST (Exodus 16:23, 31:15, 35:2, Leviticus 16:31, 23:3, 32; 25:4,5.

Just keep in mind if a holy convocation forbids ALL work it is a Sabbath. If it forbids only servile work it is not a Sabbath, it is just a rest day. This is according to the Hebrew Scriptures. If used in conjunction with the weekly Sabbath it is a "Shabbath Shabbathown" (Sabbath of Rest).

Even in the Septuagint (LXX), in Leviticus 23 those three holy convocations that the KJV translates as Sabbaths are NOT called Sabbaths. They are called ANAPAUSIS which in Greek means "REST". ANAPAUSIS is also used in the Christian Greek Scriptures (the New Testament) and it means REST there too.

There are places in the KJV Bible where the new moons, sabbaths, set feasts, solemnities, solemn feasts, assemblies, and such are mentioned together. These can be found in I Chronicles 23:31; II Chronicles 2:4, 8:13, 31:3; Nehemiah 10:31,33; Hosea 2:11, Lamentations 2:6, Ezekiel 44:24, 45:17.

After these verses were written they remained the same until about the time of the Babylonian Captivity or later, perhaps the third century BC when the Jews in Alexandria, Egypt began translating the Hebrew into Greek. The translation of the Septuagint carried the new view of Nisan 15 being the sabbath. Check Leviticus 23:11, 15 for this. The Jewish translators of the Septuagint took the Hebrew words “on the morrow after the sabbath” in Leviticus 23:11 and changed them to “on the morrow of the first day" (of the Feast)”.This means the first Day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15) would hitherto be celebrated as a Sabbath by the Pharisees and rabbinical authorities, as well as their descendants. The morrow of the first day would be the morning of Nisan 16, the day the Omer would be waved in Judaism.

Hence the waving of the sheaf would always occur on Nisan 16 under the Pharisean and rabbinical reckoning. Since “on the morrow of the first day (of the Feast) is the referent for Sabbath in Leviticus 23:15 then it follows that Nisan 15 was called a Sabbath by the Pharisees and later the Rabbis.

The Sadducees in the first century AD disagreed with this view. They were known as the Torah literalists of their day and they did not call the holy convocations "Sabbaths". The Pharisees did and they controlled temple worship when Jesus was alive. So, by the time Jesus was crucified early in the first century AD Pharisaical Jews celebrated Nisan 15 every year as a Sabbath and waved the Omer every year on Nisan 16. The Rabbinical authorities chose to honor the second day of the Feast as the day to wave the Omer and start the countdown to Pentecost from that day.

Josephus relates this practice in Antiquities of the Jews in Book III, Chapter 10, verse 5. Read the following:

“But in the month of Xanthicus; which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year; on the fourteenth day of the Lunar month, when the sun is in Aries; for on this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians: the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt: and which was called the Passover. And so we do celebrate this Passover in companies, and leave nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following. The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the Passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days: wherein they feed on unleavened bread. On every one of which days two bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats, which is added to all the rest, for sins: for it is intended as a feast for the Priest on every one of those days. BUT ON THE SECOND DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, WHICH IS THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, THEY FIRST PARTAKE OF THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH: FOR BEFORE THAT DAY THEY DO NOT TOUCH THEM (Capitals mine).

Concerning the Leviticus 23 annual holy convocations in the Septuagint, only the Day of Atonement is correctly called a Sabbath. Nisan 15 is incorrectly called a Sabbath in the Septuagint in Leviticus 23:15. The Hebrew Bible does not call any holy convocation a Sabbath with the exception of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). That's because it forbade ALL WORK.

The Sadducees of course believed differently. They taught the day after the first weekly Passover was the day of the waving of the Omer and taught the fifty-day countdown to Shavuot began on that day. It is interesting to note the early Christians adopted the Sadducean method of counting down to Shavuot and not that of the Pharisees.

The weekly Sabbath coincided with the so-called annual Sabbath the year Jesus was crucified. It is interesting to note that even though the Pharisees controlled which day to wave the Omer the year Jesus died fell on the same day of the week that the Sadducees reckoned as the waving of the Omer. In the KJV Nisan 15 is called a "high day". In our present time, Judaism refers to the holy convocations as "high days" and in John 19:31 the Bible states that the Sabbath that followed the crucifixion was a "high day". That means the high day fell on the weekly Sabbath that year.

It's important to keep in mind by the time the KJV was written (1611 AD) the Jewish people had been calling the seven annual holy convocations as "high" sabbaths for more than 18 centuries so the translators took the Greek word MEGAS and translated it as "high day" in John 19:31.

However, that's not what John wrote. See the Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry (page 411) 1981 edition. Here is how Berry translates it word for word: “The, therefore Jews, that might not remain on the cross the bodies on the sabbath, because [the] preparation it was, (for was great that sabbath)… It wasn't a "high sabbath" but simply the weekly sabbath that was a MEGALES, big, or great.. That was because it was a combination of the weekly Sabbath and a holy convocation. That would indeed be a "great" day.

It's interesting that at least three online versions of the Martyrdom of Polycarp write that Polycarp was seized on a Friday and killed on the Great (MEGA) Sabbath. This Sabbath (when Polycarp died) fell in February and had no reference to a Jewish holy convocation. It was big because a big event (Polycarp's death) coincided with the weekly Sabbath. Hence, it earned the title of Great Sabbath, just like people call the Friday Jesus died "Good Friday."

One way we can know that the Sabbath that followed the crucifixion was the weekly Sabbath was the urgency that surrounded the attempt to entomb the body of Jesus before the Sabbath. That wouldn't have been necessary if the annual Sabbath was the only Sabbath that was bothering them. Nisan 15 forbade only servile work, not ALL work like the weekly Sabbath does. So it is likely that the reason why they were in such a rush it was the weekly Sabbath that was drawing on.

Take Luke 23:53-56 in CONTEXT. We see in Luke 23:53 the Sabbath was approaching as Jesus' friends were entombing his body and the women saw where the body was laid. Then, according to verse 56, they returned and prepared spices and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. This would therefore be the weekly Sabbath, the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. So Nisan 15 fell on the day of the weekly Sabbath.

Luke 23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 54 And that day was the preparation, and THE SABBATH drew on. 55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested THE SABBATH day according to the commandment.

Another way to see that Nisan 15 could not be a scriptural Sabbath is to look at Nisan 21, the holy convocation that fell on the last day of unleavened bread. If Nisan 15 was a Sabbath and it fell on a Thursday that means the following Wednesday would be Nisan 21, also a Sabbath. Now, the Jews were to count seven weekly Sabbaths following the wave sheaf offering to arrive at Pentecost, another so-called Sabbath.

If Nisan 15 were a Sabbath then Nisan 21 would have to be counted as a Sabbath too. And guess what? You would end up with something less than 50 days to Pentecost. That's because there would only be six weekly sabbaths and the so-called Nisan 21 Sabbath. However, Nisan 21 was never counted over the years as one of those seven consecutive Sabbaths. So if Nisan 21 was not reckoned as a Sabbath to count down to Pentecost, why would Nisan 15 be a Sabbath? A holy convocation, yes, but a Sabbath? No.

The fact is that the Pharisees put their traditions above the Hebrew Scriptures and followed the Greek translation of the Hebrew. Moreover, Pentecost is also a holy convocation and is not called a Sabbath, but the day AFTER the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15,16).

The weekly Sabbath was also a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:2,3).

Concerning the word “preparation” in the KJV there were two preparation days in the time of Jesus. There was the weekly preparation for the Sabbath and the annual preparation for the Passover. The Passover had to be prepared for because all leaven had to be cleaned out of the houses the Jews lived in. That required cleaning and inspection.

The preparation for the weekly Sabbath, however, fell on Friday and it was translated in various ways in the literature of the time. For example, the capitalized words below:

The Didache 8:1 reads: “But as for your fasts, let them not be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth days of the week, but do ye fast on the fourth and SIXTH days…” Kirsopp Lake’s translates the second and fifth days as Mondays and Thursdays and the fourth and sixth days as Wednesdays and Fridays.

Judith 8:6 reads: “and she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the EVES OF THE SABBATHS, and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

Polycarp 7:1 reads: “So taking the lad with them, on the FRIDAY about the supper hour, the gendarmes and horsemen went forth with their accustomed arms, hastening as against a robber.”

II Maccabees 8:25-26 reads: “And they took their money that came to buy them, and pursued them far but lacking time they returned: For it was the DAY BEFORE THE SABBATH, and therefore they would no longer pursue them.

Antiquities of the Jews 16.6.2 reads: “and they be not obliged to go before any judge on the Sabbath day, nor on the day of the PREPARATION to it, after the ninth hour.”

To continue this answer see Part Two.

Answer 3

Nisan 15 can be a Sabbath. Specifically a High Sabbath. Leviticus 23 explains the rules for the weekly Sabbath and then goes through the other days throughout the year that required a “sabbath rest” in which no customary work could be done.

Days that not the seventh day, yet are required to be observed as a Sabbath are known as High Sabbaths. John 19:31 is referring to such a day.

So (example 32 AD) Nisan 15 was a Wednesday, and also a ‘High Sabbath’. That is, observed as if it were a Sabbath. This particular preparation day, although a Wednesday, was also the first day of Pesach therefore a Sabbath day (a High Day Sabbath) but it was not the seventh day Sabbath

Answer 4

The Annual Feasts in Nisan
There are three annual Appointed Times, מוֹעֵד in the month of Nisan:

• Passover: Nisan 14
• Unleavened Bread - Nisan 15 to Nisan 21 [work is prohibited on the 15^th and 21^st]
• Firstfruits - the day after the Sabbath which occurs during Unleavened Bread

⁴ “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. ⁵ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover. ⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ⁸ But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.” ⁹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23 ESV)

When these instructions are followed, the specific day on which Firstfruits would be observed is the day following the weekly Sabbath. Since the weekly Sabbath will vary from year-to-year, the specific day on which Firstfruits is to be observed, will also vary. The earliest day a weekly Sabbath could occur is Nissan 15 and Firstfruits would be observed on Nisan 16. The latest day is Nisan 20 and Firstfruits would be Nisan 21.

The Practice of Observing Firstfruits
Despite the wording in Leviticus, Firstfruits was observed on a set day, Nisan 16. Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal explain (emphasis added):

Scripture did not specify the actual calendar date of Firstfruits, but merely prescribed its time of observance to be "on the day after the Sabbath" (Lev. 23:11). This led to various interpretations and considerable debate as to which sabbath was in view.

The Sadducees, and later the Karaite Jews, understood it to refer to the first weekly sabbath (Saturday) which occurred during the week of Passover season. However, the word sabbath also designated any holy day on which work was prohibited, no matter one which day of the week it occurred (Lev. 23:24, 32, 39). The majority opinion, held by the Pharisees, was that the sabbath in question was Nisan 15, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day was to be "a holy convocation" (Lev. 23:7) on which no work was performed. This same description was given to the weekly sabbath (Lev. 23:3) and to holy-day sabbaths held on other days of the week (Lev. 23:24-25, 28, 32, 36, 39).

Josephus affirms this understanding was present at the time of Christ:

Ancient Jewish observance agreed with this interpretation. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian wrote: "But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them, (Antiquities of the Jews 3.10.5).¹

Additional affirmation is present in how the LXX translators described the day of Firstfruits:

And from the day after the Sabbaths, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the addition, you shall count off seven whole weeks. (LXX-Leviticus 23:15)
καὶ ἀριθμήσετε ὑμεῗς ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπαύριον τῶν σαββάτων ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἧς ἂν προσενέγκητε τὸ δράγμα τοῦ ἐπιθέματος ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδας ὁλοκλήρους

The LXX has Sabbath in the plural and it includes the article: First Fruits was observed on the day after the Sabbaths.

Identifying the Sabbath
It is maintained by some (see comments to this answer) that no where in the New Testament does Sabbath refer to any day other than the weekly Sabbath. However, in the Gospels the "Sabbath" was almost always marked by a dispute over work. Typically, Jesus or His disciples did something which taken to be a violation of the prohibition on working.

This position maintains every dispute over working must have occurred on a weekly Sabbath. Why? Because the weekly Sabbath prohibits work. In addition to the circular logic, this means that in the three plus years of Jesus' ministry, marked by repeated confrontations with the Pharisees over the issue of violating the prohibition on work, not a single one happened on Nisan 15 or Nisan 21 or the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Trumpets, or the Day of Atonement, or the first day or eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Why? Because each dispute took place on either the Sabbath or the Sabbaths.

On the other hand, if the occasional use of Sabbath in the plural is taken to describe days of no work other than the weekly Sabbath, we find events where Jesus challenged the Pharisees on their improper application on all days which the Law prohibited work.

Conclusion
The only justification for fixing the observation of Firstfruits to occur on Nisan 16 is that Nisan 15 is considered the Sabbath which is specified in Leviticus 23:10-11.

Addendum
In his paper, The Etymology of ‘Sabbath’, Francois de Blois, makes two points relative to this discussion. First, regarding the use in general:

The ancient Greeks did not have the concept of a week and thus there is no word for ‘week’ or for any of the days of the week in classical Greek. But in Greek writings by Jews and Christians we do have such terms. The seventh day is designated by the Hebrew or Aramaic loan word σάββατον (neuter singular) or σάββατα (neuter plural). Although there are a few passages where σάββατα does in fact mean ‘two or more Sabbaths’, in most cases both the singular and the plural forms are used to designate a single Sabbath.

Second, regarding the origination of the word, he notes the Babylonian practice of identifying the 1^st, 7^th, the 15^th, and day of the month:

These three terms are mentioned together in at least two texts. They are not names of three random days, rather they belong together as designations for three important cultic events in any month. They also mark three of the cardinal points of the lunar month: the sighting of the new moon on the first day of the month, the first quarter on or about the seventh, and the full moon on or about the fifteenth. There is a longstanding discussion among both Assyriologists and Biblical scholars about a possible connection between the Hebrew šabbòṯ and the Babylonian šapattu. From the point of view of phonological correspondence the equation of the two words is not particularly problematic, especially if we take the Babylonian varriant šabattu (with voiced /b/) as our point of departure. šabbòṯ (older *šabbat) and šabattu have not only the same consonants, but even the same vowels; they differ really only in the distribution of the gemination. In late Babylonian the case endings were still written (often not correctly) but evidently no longer pronounced. Thus šabattu would have been pronounced as šabatt, but since Hebrew and Aramaic do not allow geminated consonants in final position the Hebrews would have reduced the final consonant to /-t/ and then perhaps compensated by geminating the labial in the preceeding syllable. The difficulty with this is the semantics. šabattu is the 15th day of the month, the time of the full moon, while šabbòṯ is the seventh day of a recurring cycle. Semantically it would seem actually more attractive to compare šabbòṯ with sebūtu, the seventh day of the month, but from a phonological point of view these two cannot very well be connected.²

de Blois is concerned with the general meaning of the term, but it is worth noting the 15^th day of a month was called šabattu and would have been pronounced as šabatt.

---

<sub>1. Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, The Feasts of the LORD, Thomas Nelson Inc, 1977, p. 76
2. Francois de Blois, The Etymology of ‘Sabbath’</sub>

Answer 5

According to Exodus 12, the Feast of Unleavened Bread had two days wherein no work was to be done and only what one would eat. The first day (Nisan 15) and the final day (Nisan 21) - these are both treated like Sabbath days: no work.

"Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance." - Exodus 12:15-17

Interesting too is the severity of anyone eating leavened bread during this time, which is an exception to a Saturday Sabbath. That's a distinction. But, otherwise, the Feast of Unleavened bread was treated as a Sabbath and even called such in all four gospels, particularly illustrated more clearly in John 19. This can also be concluded by Jesus' death on Nisan 14, since Nisan 15 is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which we can already see in scripture was treated like a Sabbath day of rest.

More info: On Leviticus 23:24 on Biblehub Hebrew Interlinear -- actually, the word Sabbath is used in Leviticus 23:24 in which the context shows the word used in verses 4-8 interpreted as 'gathering' or 'convocation' in correlation with the idea of a sabbath rest. And Leviticus 23:4-8 clearly calls the convocation (or gathering) a time of doing no work. Rest. No work. By this, in context here and in Exodus 12, Nisan 15 is seen not only as a gathering of God's people but also a day of rest ("no work at all shall be done on them").

Context should be honored overall - God honored some holidays with a rest, not unlike the 7th day sabbath. As far as I can see in the context of the scriptures mentioned here and in Genesis 1 and 2, rest and no work meant a sabbath.

Understanding an ancient language is fine in context with the language of context taking precedence over finer intricacies that lead to arguments over words. It's like straining at a pilot fish and not seeing the whale.

Answer 6

The Hebrew word שבת, typically transliterated Sabbath, refers to any day where "work" is prohibited. This is the meaning of Leviticus 23:3:

שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ מִקְרָא־קֹ֔דֶשׁ כָּל־מְלָאכָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ שַׁבָּ֥ת הִוא֙

Six days you shall work and on the seventh day, a Sabbath of Sabbaths, a holy occasion, all work you shall not do, it is Sabbath ...

Therefore, any day for which the Torah says "כָּל־מְלָאכָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ" ("all work you shall not do") can be called a Sabbath. (However, only the seventh day of the week and Yom Kippur are called Sabbath of Sabbaths.) This fact is demonstrated from Leviticus 23:39 which refers to the first and eighth days of the Sukkot holiday as שבתון ("Sabbaths") and Leviticus 23:24 which refers to Rosh Hashana as שבתון.

Thus, John 19:31 is vague. It could be referring to the 15th of Nisan, it could be referring to a regular Sabbath. It might also mean that that two days of work being prohibited were back-to-back (the "next day," as translated in the NIV, referring to the day after Passover). So the 16th of Nisan was a Sabbath. It was imperative that they get the bodies down before Passover began because otherwise they would have to wait a full extra 48 hours (until the 17th of Nisan) and the bodies would rot.

Answer 7

can Nisan 15 be referred to as "the sabbath"?

by Saber Truth Tiger

This is a condensed answer that borrows from Part One and Part Two of my lengthy responses to this question. Some readers have urged me to write a shorter answer that people will take the time to read.

Can Nisan 15 be referred to as “the Sabbath”? Yes. As a matter of fact, there are many modern-day Jews who have done just that. According to Judaism, there are seven annual holy convocations mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and they are all referred to as Sabbaths. This has been a belief of Judaism for thousands of years. These holy convocations are not only called Sabbaths but they are also called “high days”.

However, in the Hebrew Scriptures (Masoretic Text) Nisan 15 is nowhere called a Sabbath. In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are seven annual holy convocations in the Jewish year. Many non-Jews refer to these annual convocations as Sabbaths, but they are mistaken. There is only one of those seven annual convocations called a Sabbath and that is Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). What’s the difference?

The Day of Atonement forbids all work and no cooking is permitted. It is called a Sabbath in the Hebrew text and is a fast day. The other six holy convocations forbid only servile work and are not called Sabbaths in the Hebrew text. See Leviticus 23 for a description of these seven annual convocations.

In the same chapter, the weekly Sabbath is also called a holy convocation and since it forbids any work it earns the title of Sabbath.

Ancient Jews would not cook food on the Sabbath day. In the six holy convocations that forbade only servile work cooking food was permitted, including Nisan 15.

Sometime during or after the Babylonian captivity, the Jews began to reckon Nisan 15 as an annual Sabbath, erroneously so. At the time Jesus of Nazareth had his public ministry the Jews, led by the Pharisees, considered Nisan 15 a Sabbath. It is not a scriptural position, as anyone reading the Old Testament can tell.

At the time the Septuagint was written, the Greek-language translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the translators, Alexandrian Jews in Egypt, re-interpreted Nisan 15 and changed the day of the waving of the Omer from the day after the weekly Sabbath to the day after Nisan 15, the first annual holy convocation of the year, and thereby labeled it a Sabbath. The Septuagint predated the ministry of Jesus by about two or three centuries.

So, in a sense, yes, Nisan 15 can be called a Sabbath if you are a Jew who follows the rabbinical reckoning of the day. But if you believe the Hebrew Scriptures are correct in their entirety then you have no basis to believe Nisan 15 is a Sabbath.

It wasn’t considered a Sabbath by ancient Jews. But the rabbinical Jews in the late second temple era reckoned it as a Sabbath. There is no record that the Sadducees in the time of Jesus considered Nisan 15 as a Sabbath. Instead, they held to a literal view of the Torah and began the countdown to Shavuot from the day after the first weekly Sabbath of Passover week.

If you are interested in learning more, please read my two-part response to this question. They are rather lengthy but answer in detail everything that I can think of regarding whether Nisan 15 is a Sabbath or not. Just think of them as a Kindle eBook and enjoy the information you get from them. Thanks for reading.

Answer 8

Can Nisan 15 be referred to as "the sabbath"?

by Saber Truth Tiger

Here is Part Two of my answer to "Can Nisan 15 be referred to as a Sabbath"? I couldn't post this entire article on this subject so I had to post it in two parts.

Let’s read, in context, the difference between THE SABBATH and “the first day” of the feast of Unleavened Bread. First, let’s look at the King James Version, which was translated from Hebrew:

Leviticus 23 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, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is THE SABBATH of the LORD in all your dwellings.

This clearly is speaking of the weekly Sabbath and not any co-called annual Sabbath. Leviticus 23 continues...

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 a 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 a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after THE SABBATH the priest shall wave it.

The referent of this Sabbath is not the annual Sabbath Nisan 15 but the weekly Sabbath of verse three. There is no mention of an annual Sabbath here. The only Sabbath referred to prior to this verse is the weekly Sabbath in verse three.

Let's continue with Leviticus 23:15...

15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after THE SABBATH, (not the so-called annual Sabbath but the weekly Sabbath) from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; SEVEN SABBATHS shall be complete:16 Even unto the MORROW OF THE SEVENTH SABBATH shall ye number fifty days...

See how that reads, in context? The Sabbath in verses 11 and 15 have as their referent THE SABBATH in verse three. That’s context. Not a word about an annual Sabbath. Now, let’s read verse 16 in the KJV.

16 Even unto the morrow after the SEVENTH SABBATH shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. The morrow of the seventh day is fifty days.

Here are over 50 translations from the Bible Gateway website that translates this passage.

https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Leviticus%2023:16

Let's now look at the Septuagint's rendering of these verses.

BRENTON'S SEPTUAGINT TRANSLATION

Leviticus 23:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them, The feasts of the Lord which ye shall call holy assemblies, these are my feasts.

3 Six days shalt thou do works, but on the seventh day is THE SABBATH; a rest, a holy convocation to the Lord: thou shalt not do any work, it is A SABBATH to the Lord in all your dwellings.

So far, so good. This clearly refers to the weekly Sabbath, not an annual Sabbath. Now let's continue reading.

4 These are the feasts to the Lord, holy convocations, which ye shall call in their seasons. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evening times is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 7 And the first day shall be a holy convocation to you: ye shall do no servile work. 8 And ye shall offer whole-burnt offerings to the Lord seven days, and the seventh day shall be a holy convocation to you: ye shall do no servile work.

9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye shall enter into the land which I give you, and reap the harvest of it, then shall ye bring a sheaf, the first-fruits of your harvest, to the priest; 11 and he shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. ON THE MORROW OF THE FIRST DAY the priest shall lift it up.

See the change? The translators changed "ON THE MORROW OF THE SABBATH" in Hebrew to "ON THE MORROW OF THE FIRST DAY". Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Nisan 15) becomes the day preceding the wave sheaf, rather than the weekly Sabbath. That means under Rabbinical usage the wave sheaf would always end up on Nisan 16 instead of Sunday. Under the rules of the Hebrew Bible and the teaching of the Sadducees, the wave sheaf would always happen the day after the weekly Sabbath. Then one would count seven sabbaths (seven weeks) to the 49th day of the fifty-day count. The day that followed the seventh Sabbath would be another holy convocation that the Jews celebrated, Shavuot.

The Septuagint reads further:

12 And ye shall offer on the day on which ye bring the sheaf, a lamb without blemish of a year old for a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord. 13 And its meat-offering two tenth portions of fine flour mingled with oil: it is a sacrifice to the Lord, a smell of sweet savor to the Lord, and its drink-offering the fourth part of a hin of wine. 14 And ye shall not eat bread, or the new parched corn, until this same day, until ye offer the sacrifices to your God: it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 And ye shall number to yourselves FROM THE DAY AFTER THE SABBATH, from the day on which ye shall offer the sheaf of the heave-offering, SEVEN FULL WEEKS: 16 until the morrow after the LAST WEEK ye shall number fifty days, and shall bring a new meat-offering to the Lord.

See how changing SEVEN SABBATHS in the Hebrew to SEVEN FULL WEEKS in the Septuagint removes the need to count seven full weekly Sabbaths and instead opens the door to count any day of the week seven times? The Jews who used rabbinical reckoning thus did not have to count seven weekly Sabbaths but seven Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or any other day of the week.

Now, for verse 16 in the Septuagint:

16 until the morrow after the last WEEK ye shall number fifty days, and shall bring a new meat-offering to the Lord.

In the KJV it says "Count fifty days to the day AFTER THE SEVENTH SABBATH" but the Septuagint changes SABBATH to WEEK. This way when the rabbis started the count from the day after Nisan 15 they didn't have to wait for the weekly Sabbath to begin the count to Shavuot, they could begin immediately. If Nisan 16 was a Wednesday then Shavuot would be a Wednesday. Does anyone see a pattern here?

The holy convocations (KJV) were changed to “Sabbaths” by the predecessors to the Pharisees and the Pharisees in Jesus’ day clung to the Nisan 15 Sabbath. The Sadducees resisted, but they had no power since the Pharisees controlled temple worship when Jesus had his public ministry. I am just stating that according to the Hebrew text, Nisan 15 was NOT a Sabbath but the LXX changed that.

Here is how the JPS TANACH 1917 edition translates Leviticus 23:1-16. Keep in mind that the translators of the 1917 edition of the Tanach are Jews who hold the view that the seven annual holidays are Sabbaths.

Leviticus 23: 1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: The appointed seasons of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons.

3 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is A SABBATH of solemn rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of work; it is A SABBATH unto the LORD in all your dwellings.

This is where the Tanach parts with the KJV. It refers to the Sabbath as "A" Sabbath and not "THE" SABBATH. Let's continue reading.

Leviticus 23:4 These are the appointed seasons of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed season. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk, 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 shall eat unleavened bread.

7 In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. 8 And ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days; in the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. 9 And the LORD spoke unto Moses saying: 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest.

11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you; ON THE MORROW AFTER THE SABBATH the priest shall wave it.

The Tanach translates this from the Hebrew and they do it correctly. Let's continue reading.

Leviticus 23:12 And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto the LORD. 13 And the meal-offering thereof shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savor; and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 And ye shall count unto you FROM THE MORROW AFTER THE DAY OF REST, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; SEVEN WEEKS shall there be complete;

Here, the Tanach changes FROM THE MORROW AFTER THE SABBATH in Hebrew to FROM THE MORROW AFTER THE DAY OF REST, hence which opens the door to a reader reaching the conclusion that it could be the day after Nisan 15, no matter what day of the week it may be. The Tanach also translates SEVEN SABBATHS in Hebrew to SEVEN WEEKS in English.

Leviticus 23:16 in the Tanach reads as follows:

16 You shall count until the day AFTER THE SEVENTH WEEK [namely,] the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to the Lord.

Here, the KJV renders it "Count fifty days to the day AFTER THE SEVENTH SABBATH" which is true to the Hebrew.

Some who hold to the Nisan 15 Sabbath are quick to point out that the Hebrew word for Sabbath can mean simply "rest day" or "day of rest". Yes, that is true. The Sabbath is indeed a day of rest. However, even though all Sabbaths are rest days not all rest days are Sabbaths.

The new moons and the holy convocations were all rest days but they were not all Sabbaths. Remember, only the holy convocation Day of Atonement was a Sabbath and the others were simply solemn days and days of rest from your occupations and strenuous labor. They were also days to hold a holy assembly but were not considered Sabbaths in the days the Torah was written. Here is a link for further information:

Were the new moons observed similarly to Sabbaths and holy convocations?.

Some ask how and when did Nisan 15 become a Sabbath if it wasn't considered such at the time the Torah was written? No one knows for sure but it probably became considered a Sabbath while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. The Jews spent about 70 years in Babylon servitude and the Babylons considered the 15th of the first month a Sabbath. It is easy to see if you believed Nisan 15 was a holy convocation and was a special day of rest and worship and it coincided with a Sabbath in the land you were a slave in that in about a generation the Hebrew Nisan 15 would be called a Sabbath too. After all, the Jews in captivity borrowed from the Babylonians the names of the months. However, calling Nisan 15 a Sabbath is not the same as it being a Sabbath. Revelation Lad comments on this Babylonian usage in his answer below.

If you believe the Hebrew Scriptures are inspired by God then you must admit Nisan 15 is NOT a Sabbath. That means if you likewise believe the Christian Greek Scriptures are inspired by God, then the inspired Greek writers would not have referred to Nisan 15 as a Sabbath since to do so would bow to the Pharisee tradition and not come into agreement with what the Hebrew Scriptures taught. Some have taught that the gospels writers would have called Nisan 15 a Sabbath if the Pharisees called it a Sabbath but why would an inspired writer, under direction of the Holy Spirit, call Nisan 15 a Sabbath if the translators of the Septuagint had deliberately changed the waving of the Omer from the day after the weekly Sabbath to the day after the First Day of Unleavened Bread in Leviticus 23:11? If neither the Hebrew nor the Greek writings are inspired, then it doesn't really matter what you call the day. It's just another holy day out of many in a man-made religion.