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the priests. (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, by Hastings, Therapeutae. Refer also
to: sites.netscape.net/trisagionseraph/Texts/ Essene.html).

The 50th-Day Feast "every seven-weeks" noted by Josephus and by Philo would have oc-
curred exactly inline with the Sabbath circuit (as a festival day which followed the 7th Sabbath).

It is then apparent that the late occupants at Qumran advocated (or observed) a Sabbath
calendar in which a separate 50th count did not exist, while the priesthood under Second-Temple
may have continued in adherence to a Sabbath calendar in which the separate count of a 50th-day
did exist.

This inference of counting (or not counting) the 50th is then seemingly significant for ulti-
mately understanding the Sabbath as it probably was still being observed by (or perhaps was pre-
viously observed by) the priests of the Temple. Because the 50th count was seemingly being
performed in the historical period which pertains to the early Second-Temple, then it is somewhat
likely that priests under the late Second-Temple were still adhering to the more ancient practice
of observing the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th whole-days of each reoccurring lunar-cycle.

It is thus reasonable to suspect that the drop of the "50 count" was first invented (or im-
ported) sometime in the Second-Temple Era. The altered count of the religious week may have
been made in opposition to the lunar-based calendar adhered to by the early Second-Temple sys-
tem. It isn't unreasonable to at least suspect that upon the ultimate fall of the Second-Temple in 70
CE -- and with the resultant cessation of the religious authority once exerted by the priesthood --
that other Jewish leadership quickly arose to replace the deposed priesthood. The almost pro-
phetic dissolution of the illegitimate high-priests (and organized opposition to them) may help ex-
plain the subsequent adoption of an abstract 7-day week (by mainstream Jewish groups).

It also may be that a diverse religious week was imported or adopted (possibly even by
the Temple system) at an earlier time in the Second-Temple Era (possibly as the result of the at-
tempted Temple reformation wrought by Antiochus IV).

A Lunar-Based Week

In the context of the very late Second-Temple it is then evident that certain of the Jews
(perhaps those in opposition to the priesthood, or perhaps even those who occupied the priest-
hood) did advocate a non-lunar-based Sabbath.

In reference to Qumran, it is apparent that earlier residents at Qumran adhered to a lunar-
based week (while the later residents of this commune advocated a different definition of the
week). The possibility that early Qumran residents might have held more mainstream beliefs is
seemingly evident in some of the contrasting literature found in the Dead Sea Scroll library. For
example, 'The Temple Scroll' specifically counts a 50th day (as further shown below). Very
oddly, this 50th count is specifically omitted from the 7-weeks count -- as is shown on some of the
(presumed) later-written scrolls.

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