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Philo and the Lunar Sabbath
Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH)
Here is an “eyewitness” account showing how the Messiah
and the Judeans of his day kept the weeks and the 7th day
of the week -- the Sabbath. And it is NOT the way it is
being observed today! Philo the “Jew” -- a contemporary of
the Messiah -- left a record for all to see, a record that
CLEARLY shows when the Messiah and the Judeans kept
YEHOVAH's holy Sabbath day. Truly, Lamentations 2:6
has been fulfilled, which says YEHOVAH “has caused the
appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten on Zion.”
In the quest for historical evidence to prove the lunar Sabbath, we have noticed that Philo is not mentioned very often by those who support Saturday Sabbaths. The writings of Philo are very important for establishing Judean practice and belief both before and during the Messiah’s time here on earth. Philo lived from approximately 20 B.C. until about 50 A.D. Thus, his lifetime spanned not only the years prior to the Messiah’s birth, but also the years following his resurrection (not to mention the years in between).
The evidence reveals that Philo’s beliefs were representative of those of Judaism during that period of time. Philo, who was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of more than 100,000 Judeans living in that city. When the prefect Flaccus initiated a massacre of the Judeans in the year 39 A.D., Philo was selected to head the Judean delegation that went to Rome to plead their case before Gaius Caligula.
Now let’s pause for a moment and reflect on the significance of Philo having been chosen from among his peers for such a monumental task. Would Philo have been chosen for such a mission IF his practice and beliefs HAD NOT squared with those of normative Judaism? No, he would not have been chosen unless his views matched those of his peers. We know from Philo’s writings that he observed LUNAR SABBATHS. If normative Judaism had practiced SATURDAY SABBATHS while Philo rebelliously observed LUNAR WEEKS AND SABBATHS, don’t you think this detail would have affected their decision to select him to lead a delegation to Rome? Absolutely!
Sabbath observance is one of the most distinguishing marks of Judaism, or as author Dayan Grunfeld put it, the Sabbath “epitomizes the whole of Judaism.”
For Philo to have gone against the grain of Judaism with regard to Sabbath observance would have signaled a break with Judaism. We can thus discern that if Philo observed the lunar weeks and Sabbath by the phases of the moon each week, so did the rest of his fellow Judeans, including Yeshua the Messiah, because there was NO controversy between our savior and the Judeans concerning the weekly Sabbath. Many scriptures prove that he kept the SAME weekly Sabbath day as they did.
Gael Bataman
Originally Entered: 17 February 2008
Latest Update: 17 February 2008
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