YHWH's days/nights & Havdalah

It helps when studying and understanding the Bible to read it from a Jewish perspective. When one does that, it really opens up the Word of G-D in a whole new light.

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We here on Earth view midnight as the beginning of a new day, but G-D does not.

G-D's Word tells us when the new day begins and ends, man has altered that.

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G-D's days begin in the evening, after sunset. You can find this by reading Genesis 1:5, Genesis 1:8, Genesis 1:13, Genesis 1:19, Genesis 1:23, Genesis 1:31, and Leviticus 23:32 which talks about Shabbat being from 'even to even'.

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Some other Scriptures that show us the Biblical day begins and ends at even are:

Exodus 12:18, Leviticus 11:24-25, Leviticus 22:6, Deut. 16:6, Deut. 23:11, Deut. 24:13, Neh. 13:19, and Mark 1:32.

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You won't find anywhere in the Bible that G-D had changed His time frames, but you will find that man has:

Daniel 7:25

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Not many Christians even realize that's G-D labels His days / evenings differently then us. I was saved 8 years before I learned that. Not once was it ever taught in church to me.

To me, it is very important to understand this because it will also help us when reading and studying the New Testament scriptures. :)

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Something new I recently learned about a few weeks back was about Havdalah. Never had heard of it before, just like many Christians haven't.

What is it, you may ask?

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Havdalah comes from the Hebrew word 'havdil' which means "to separate". It marks the distinction between the end of Sabbath and the ordinary week day that was beginning.

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Remember, the 1st day of the week (Sunday) begins Saturday evening after Sabbath ends.

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Havdalah usually is done when 3 stars are visable in the night sky.

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There is a small ceremony involved (you can Google more about that) and many times the people stay afterwards to talk, to eat a meal, to fellowship.

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Understanding how YHWH labels his days and nights and understanding Havdalah really puts Acts 20:7-11 in a better perspective for me.

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The Christian church uses these verses to justify that Sabbath was switched to Sunday and all the apostles were now Sunday synagogue goers.

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Contrary to what's normally taught to us, Yeshua's disciples were Jewish men who believed on Him. Yeshua Himself was a Sabbath keeper, even keeping Sabbath in the grave.

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But I don't want to go off on a rabbit trail here...back to Acts 20:7-11.

The disciples kept Shabbat, they would be liars and hypocrites if they would not have as they were Jewish.

After Sabbath ended (Saturday sunset), we see they came together to break bread (which usually happens with Havdalah) bringing in the 1st day of the week (Sunday). The 1st day of the week begins right after Sabbath ends. It doesn't begin at midnight like we know it.

Then Paul preached / taught until midnight. This wasn't midnight Sunday evening, but midnight Saturday evening.

We see in verse 11, they ate some more and fellowshipped and Paul left at the break of day (Sunday morn' sometime).

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If you think about it, seems a bit unrealistic that the disciples would have started Sunday morning (as we know Sunday morning as) by eating twice (vs. 7 & 11), and then Paul giving a 12+ hour long sermon before departing at midnight for his next destination.

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Also, take a look at verse 8. It says there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.

If this were a morning meeting, and it's daylight out, what would be the need for all the lights?

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Something else to roll around in your mind...After Sabbath ended, Paul preached until midnight. Eutychus, the poor fellow ended up falling asleep and killed himself do to exhaustion.

I feel for him because come midnight for me, I have to hold my head up in order to not crack it on my desk.

Why would Eutychus get so sleepy if it was a Sunday morning meeting he was at?

I mean, it was just Shabbat earlier, he most likely had more than enough time to rest and nap since no work is done on Sabbath.

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Learning about the Bible a bit better and understanding a bit more about Judaism, it really helps me to understand Scripture better. This was really a neat find for me, hence the reason I am sharing. :)

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Our society deems Sunday as the 7th day and Monday as the 1st day of the week (work day), but that is not how G-D views it). The 1st day in the Bible is Sunday and has always been a work day for them. Paul traveled, the ladies brought spices to the Yeshua's tomb, etc, etc.

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A glorious, graceful Sabbath rest to you all ~

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Dawn