Understanding The First (1st) Day of the Week

According to the Torah (five books of Moses/Mushe and according to Deut 16:8-10, Lev. 23:15-16), we are obligated to count the days from Passover (Pesah) to Pentecost (Shavuot or Weeks). This period is known as the Counting of the Omer (a unit of measure). There are seven (7) weeks (49 Days) between Pesah and Shavuot, and on the 50th Day it is called the Feast of Shavuot/Weeks.

 

On the second day of Pesah, in the days of the Temple, an omer of barley was cut down and brought to the Temple as an offering. This barley grain offering was referred to as the Omer.

 

Let’s look at some scripture references regarding this barley grain or omer:

Lev 23:15-16 ‘And from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: seven completed Sabbaths. ‘Until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath you count fifty days, then you shall bring a new grain offering to Yah

Deut 16:8-10 "Six days you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is a closing festival to Yah your Elohim – you do no work. "Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. "And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to Yah your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as Yah your Elohim blesses/barachot you.

 

Therefore, when xtians (Christians) read John 20:1, Luke 24:1, and Acts 20:7 in the Novum Instrumentum or new testament (the so called NT as a replacement covenant is a non-Hebrew concept – I will explain in another post) it should be understood in parallel to Counting the Omer and the Feast of Weeks/Shavuot listed in Deuteronomy 16 and Leviticus 23.

 

Novum Instrumentum or new testament references regarding this event:

 

Joh 20:1 And on the first day of the week Miryam from Maḡdala came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

Luke 24:1 And on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared,

Act 20:6-7 And we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days. And on the first day of the week, the taught ones having gathered together to break bread, Sha’ul, intending to depart the next day, was reasoning with them and was extending the word till midnight.

 

How can you tell what day these scriptures or any Novum Instrumentum scriptures are referring to? The clue is when one is reading any text, look in the preceding text/verses/chapter to see what Feast has occurred.   Read John 20:1, Luke 24:1, and Acts 20:7 and look in the preceding text/verses/chapter as proof.

 

Again, John 20:1, Luke 24:1, and Acts 20:7 is showing that first day of the week is referencing the period of days of Counting the Omer from Passover leading up to Shavuot. It is not designed to endorse the pagan day Sunday. From the KJV, notice that the word day is inserted by the translators because day is in italics; Sunday at the time of Torah and during the first century was not an issue or practice by the early believers.

 

Here's further proof that Sunday observance did not originate at the time of Torah nor during the first century:

 

Luke wrote the Book of Luke between 59AD to 80AD and the Book of Acts around 63AD to 70AD. John wrote the Book of John between 50AD to 70AD. During this period, which is after the death of the Messiah/ MaShiach, the believers (Hebrews and those from other nations) was still observing Sabbath and the Feasts.

 

Furthermore, Sunday did not become a day of observance until 300 plus years after MaShiach -----Research Constantine 321AD and Catholic Church Council of Laodicea 364AD.

 

Therefore, we conclude that the First (1st) Day of the Week in these scriptures refer to a Hebrew concept and practice of referencing the period of days or Counting the Omer from Pesah leading up to Shavuot  - not Sunday   

Shalom,

Yitshaq