Yeshua kept Shabbat not Sunday

The Shabbat

Building a Biblical Vocabulary Series

Remember the Shabbat, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Shabbat unto the Lord Your God, in it you shall not do any manner of work. . . . (Exodus 20:8-11)

“Keep the Shabbat” is the Fourth Commandment of the Ten Commandments. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. As far back as we can go in Jewish history, this is the time period designated for the Shabbat – and it still is today!

In Luke 4:16 we read: “And Yeshua came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Shabbat day . . .” He went to a synagogue regularly on the Shabbat. When Luke was doing research on the life of Yeshua, his primary sources of information were the synagogue officials who were in charge of the scrolls. They were the most likely people to have witnessed many of the things Yeshua taught and did – including attending synagogue services and participating in them.

After Yeshua’s crucifixion by the Romans, synagogues continued to be the places where the apostles went on Shabbat and taught. When the question came up of whether Gentiles followers of Paul must be circumcised and convert to Judaism “in order to be saved,” the apostles and elders ruled that Gentiles did not have to convert. But, they required Gentiles to keep these commandments and attend synagogues every Shabbat to learn the Torah – in order to be saved (Acts 15).

1. abstain from things polluted by idols

2. abstain from sexual immorality

3. abstain from eating things strangled

4. abstain from eating blood

5. keep the Shabbat

Jacob (James) the brother of Yeshua and the one that led the Yeshua Movement after the crucifixion made the last commandment very clear when he said – “For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.” New Gentile members would be attending local synagogues with Jewish members of Yeshua’s movement learning about the Torah (Laws of Moses).

Yeshua was a master teacher of the Jewish Scriptures, so until new Gentile members became familiar with Jewish Scriptures -- they would not even be able to understand Yeshua’s teachings.

One of Yeshua’s most important teachings concerned his role as a Teacher of the Jewish Scriptures. He said that he would correctly interpret the Hebrew words written in the Jewish Scriptures and promised that he would not change one yod (jot) the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet – or even a tittle (a small decorative mark) on a yod. How do you think Yeshua would react if someone charged him with changing one of the Ten Commandments?

Today, most Christians call “Shabbat” “the Sabbath,” and they keep it on Sunday. “Keeping the Sabbath” usually means “going to church,” “watching a church service,” or doing something religious like “reading their Bible.” Why don’t they do what Yeshua did? The answer is later Gentile Christian Church leaders, who did not understand Yeshua’s Jewish culture or Hebrew language, taught that he changed the Jewish Shabbat to Sunday and the Christian Sabbath. I have often wondered how Christian would have reacted if someone told them he also changed some of the other Ten Commandments:

1. Thou shalt not murder.

2. Thou shalt not steal.

3. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

I know non-Jewish minds cannot grasp the importance of “keeping Shabbat” in Jewish minds, but it is viewed in the same light as the importance of keeping the three commandments above. Shabbat is that important.

Below are some things Christians must understand about the founding generation of their Christian Biblical Heritage:

1. Yeshua kept the Jewish Shabbat because it was a commandment of God.

2. The apostles and followers of Yeshua kept the Jewish Shabbat.

3. The first generation of Gentile members of the Yeshua Movement kept the Jewish Shabbat.

4. Neither Yeshua nor the apostles founded a non-Jewish church.

5. Yeshua, the apostles and the first generation of Gentile members kept the Shabbat by attending and participating in services at synagogues.

6. Until 70 CE when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed, the Temple also played a central role in the religion of the Yeshua Movement.

Reconnecting Yeshua to the Jewish culture, Hebrew language and Late Second Temple Judaism are important steps for being able to make accurate distinctions between the Real Yeshua movement and the hundreds of Gentile beliefs about “Jesus” and “being Christian” that now exist.

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