Bible Discussion Thread

Is Saturday or Sunday the seventh day, the sabbath day?

Check your calendar, what is the last day in the calendar? On what day does the seventh day fall? The week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. God bless you all.

Interestingly, I have on the odd occasion seen calendars which show Monday as the first day of the week. This was mainly to highlight the start of the 'working week' with a two-day weekend following & probably printed in countries that emphasized it. But you're right, Sunday is the first day of the week, according to God's calendar.

Saturday was/is the original Sabbath day of the week

Where does it say that in the Bible?

The seventh day (what we today call, Saturday) has always been the Jewish Sabbath. It was a God-ordained day of rest from their labors of the week.

Do you have a scripture reference to support this?

Exodus 20:8-11 should cover it, that the seventh day was a day of rest for Israel.

The Bible never mentions what day to start or stop, it just says for 6 days, you shall labor, and on the 7th day, I rest. So, if I am a nurse and my work day starts on Wednesday, and I work 6 days, my 6th day would actually be Monday, so couldn't I have my sabbath on Tuesday, since it does not specify a day of the week in remembrance of God the Father? Would I not still be honoring God if I labor for 6 days and rest on the 7th?

Thank you Dr. Adams. I think we're referring to two things here: the Sabbath that you wish to observe, if as a nurse, you worked a 'non-standard' week, and secondly, the Sabbath that was specified by God for His people, Israel, to observe.

a. in the example you gave, it would be quite appropriate for you to rest on your seventh day, even if that day should fall on any other day other than Saturday. Personally, I would just call it my rest day & not my Sabbath as to some folk that might infer that I'm recognizing & observing the Jewish Sabbath & changing it to 'my Sabbath day'; but maybe that's another discussion.

b. in relation to God's Command to Israel to "keep the Sabbath (the seventh day) holy" & as to "what day to start or stop"(your comment), I would suggest the following. Israel, from the time of the giving of the Law, knew exactly when their working week (or rather, days of toil & wandering in the desert) started and stopped. You may recall the Scripture in Exodus 16:25-30, where God provided manna for six days & the people had to collect extra on the sixth day to tide them over for the seventh day (Sabbath). This continued throughout their wanderings so they had a calendar of sorts to mark out their days of toil & their day of rest; the arrival/cessation of manna never failed. This 'calendar' never changed since then & even when Jesus went through the corn fields on the Sabbath ( Matthew 12:1), or went to read in the synagogue on the Sabbath Day ( Luke 4:16), He never upbraided the Jews for observing a day that was not the very same one specified by God in Exodus.

And for today also, I believe that the Sabbath Day falls on the Saturday (as per the Gregorian calendar that we use), as Jews also recognize it & observe it. Chabad dot org, confirms that Chanukah begins this year on Sunday, December 18 and ends on Sunday, December 25 (with December 24 being their Sabbath - Kislev 30). I hope this helps a little.

P.S. Anonymous is Chris, to whom you responded.

Hi DrTAdams.

I don't believe the days of the week was named back then. When they were named they named the 7th day Saturday.

And we know God rested on the 7th day from all his work.

However the Sabbath day was given to Israel.

S Spencer

God bless.

Dear Dr. T. Adams.

You are correct. As a N.T. saint we are not bound to the Mosaic Law, but the spirit of the law is what we should be mindful of and order our life accordingly.