Numbers 28:1-10 Daily Tamiyd-Continual Offerings

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Please bear with me through these definitions and I pray that the results be rewarding.

H3533 כָּבַשׁ kâbash
BDB Definition:
1) to subject, subdue, force, keep under, bring into bondage
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to bring into bondage, make subservient
1a2) to subdue, force, violate
1a3) to subdue, dominate, tread down
1b) (Niphal) to be subdued
1c) (Piel) to subdue
1d) (Hiphil) to bring into bondage
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

H3534 כֶּבֶשׂ kebeś
BDB Definition:
1) lamb, sheep, young ram
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to dominate

The verb is kabash: to dominate.
The noun is kebesh now pointed as kebes: a dominator.

In the original block Ashuri Hebrew text there was no pointing, (not even in the first century because the Masoretic Hebrew text is only about a thousand years old), and both words were therefore the same exact spelling, three letters, kaph, bet, shin. The context was the only way to understand the meaning and intent of the word כבש.

The following is actually a command, for the holy people are likened unto sheep:

Genesis 1:28 KJV
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: [H3533 כבש kabash] and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Abraham is spoken to as if a lamb, (a dominator, (of the land)).

Genesis 13:14-17 KJV
14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

All Yisrael are spoken to as if the flock of the Great Shepherd:

Deuteronomy 11:18-24 KJV
[18] Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
[19] And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
[20] And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
[21] That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
[22] For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
[23] Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
[24] Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

Now therefore we come to the daily ascending prayer offerings, which are commanded to bnei Yisrael, as opposed to being only commanded to the Levim and the Kohanim, (Priests), and this is made clear in the opening statement of the following passage.

Numbers 28:1-10
[01] And YHWH spoke to Mosheh, saying,
[02] Command bnei Yisrael, and you shall say to them, My korban-offering, My bread for My fire-offering, a pleasing spirit unto Me, you shall observe to offer unto Me in its moed-appointed time.
[03] And you shall say to them, This is the fire-offering which you shall offer unto YHWH: kebashim, sons of a year, perfect-complete: two for a yom, a tamiyd-continual ascending offering.
[04] The one kebesh you shall offer in the morning, and the second kebesh you shall offer between the evenings:
[05] and a minchah-oblation of fine flour, the tenth part of an ephah, mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil:
[06] a tamiyd-continual ascending-offering being performed in mount Sinai for a pleasing spirit fire-offering unto YHWH:
[07] and its libation, the fourth part of a hin for the one kebesh, in the holy place shall the libation be poured out full-strength unto YHWH.
[08] And the second kebesh you shall offer between the evenings, according to the minchah-oblation of the morning and according to its libation shall you offer it: a pleasing spirit fire-offering unto YHWH.
[09] And in the yom of the Shabbat, two kebashim, sons of a year, perfect-complete: and the minchah-oblation, two tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with olive-oil, and the libation thereof:
[10] the ascending offering of a Shabbat in its Shabbat, in addition to the tamiyd-continual ascending-offering and its libation.

A pleasing spirit: ריח ניחחי, that is, reiach nichochi, and reiach is likely just another form of its root, H7306 ruach, which in turn is the same spelling as H7307 ruach without pointing, which is primarily wind, spirit, or breath, and reiach itself is akin to breath, and thus it is used for a scent, smell, or odor.

However even the sages read this word as spirit in the context of the sacrificial commandments, that is, a spirit of satisfaction, which is essentially the same as a pleasing spirit, (or some might say a sweet spirit, but pleasing is more correct, and surely we desire to be pleasing to the Father).

Notice that the Father says in verse two above, My korban, My bread for My fire-offering. The bread of the Father is not literal lambs, goats, rams, and bullocks: it is your prayers offered up as ascending offerings from upon the altar of adamah which is the altar of the heart, the fire-offering of a pleasing spirit performed in the mountain of your heart, Sinai.

Edit: font size edit.

 

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Sacred calendar Day Continual Morning and Evening Ascending Prayer Offerings:

Luke 11:2-4

1 Father, sanctified-holy is Your name. 2 Your kingdom come. 3 Give us our daily bread according to the yom [each yom-hour]. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one indebted to us. 5 And bring us not into trial.

1 Praise: "Father, sanctified-holy is Your name"
2 One lamb: (a prayer of domination), "Your kingdom come"
3 Minchah: (flour-bread oblation), "Give us our daily bread according to the yom"
4 Trespass offering: (or sin offering), "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one indebted to us"
5 Libation: "and bring us not into trial"

Lambs are dominators, the background meaning of the word kebes or kebesh, (Gen 1:28 where the command to subdue is kabash, as shown in the OP), and thus the statement "Your kingdom come" is a prayer of dominion: not our own dominion but the coming of the Kingdom of our Father, (and His Meshiah). All of these statements in a similar way have their meanings which are expounded previously for us in the scripture.

Continual Shabbat Ascending Prayer Offering

Note how some of the prayer from the Gospel of Matthew contains more: it is doubled up to account for the daily Shabbat hour. Notice also how this version says "Give us this day" when it comes to the bread, it is therefore the final prayer for the final yom-hour of the sacred calendar day, the seventh, which is the Shabbat yom-hour of the yom-day.

Matthew 6:9-12

1 Our Father who is in the heavens, sanctified-holy is Your name. 2 Your kingdom come. Your will be done also upon the earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us this day our bread of the Presence. 4 And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 5 And bring us not into trial, but deliver us from the evil: for Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory into the ages. Amen

1 Praise
2 Two lambs, (dominators)
3 Twofold minchah bread of the Presence oblation
4 Trespass-sin offering
5 Twofold libation with another prayer of domination, (a lamb, dominator)

And the prayers of the holy ones ascend before the Most High with incense out of the hand of the Angel of the Altar, (Revelation 8:3-5), for it is a fire-offering, offered in mount Sinai, as king David says, "this Sinai", (Psalm 68:8), and the fire on the altar (of the heart) shall not be put out.

The first man Adam was taken from the adamah and formed out of dust from the adamah. Adamah is soil, and inward, as in the adamah-soil of the heart in the parable of the sower. Notice in the following two passages, by paying close attention to both contexts, that these two statements are companion passages according to the dual companion passages in which they are found.

Exodus 20:24
[24] An altar of adamah shall you make unto Me: and you shall sacrifice upon it your ascending-offerings, and your peace offerings of your flock and of your herd in all places where I record My name: I will come unto you, and I will bless you.

And the companion statement:

Deuteronomy 5:29
[29] Oh that there were such an heart in them to reverence Me, and guard all My commandments all the days, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!

The altar of adamah is the altar of the heart.

 

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Tamiyd-Continual:

Exodus 25:30 KJV - alway - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the vessels for the table of the bread of the Presence.
Exodus 27:20 KJV - always - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the pure olive oil for the lamp to burn continually.
Exodus 28:29-30 KJV - continually (twice) - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: for Ahron goes in every day, morning and evening, to dress the lamps of the menorah and offer incense.
Exodus 28:38 KJV - always - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: for Ahron goes in to perform the holy things every day.
Exodus 29:38 KJV - continually - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily morning and evening sacrifices.
Exodus 29:42 KJV - continual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily morning and evening sacrifices.
Exodus 30:8 KJV - perpetual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily incense offering.
Leviticus 6:13 KJV - ever - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the fire upon the altar is never to go out.
Leviticus 6:20 KJV - perpetual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily morning and evening minchah-oblations of the Kohanim.
Leviticus 24:2-4 KJV - continually (three times) - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: dressing the lamps of the menorah evening and morning.
Numbers 4:16 KJV - daily - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily minchah-oblations.
Numbers 9:16 KJV - alway - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the cloud covering the mishkan-tabernacle by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Numbers 28:3-6 KJV - continual (twice) - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the twice daily ascending offering.
Numbers 28:15 KJV - continual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the daily continual ascending offering of the morning.
Numbers 28:23-24 KJV - continual (twice) - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the daily continual ascending offering of the morning.
Numbers 28:31 KJV - continual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the daily continual ascending offering of the morning.
Numbers 29:11-34 KJV - continual (ten times) - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the daily continual ascending offerings.
Deuteronomy 11:12 KJV - always - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the (seven) eyes of HE WHO WAS AND WHO IS your Elohim are tamiyd-continually upon His Land, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

Tamiyd-continual is continually employed for continual things that always occur in every day of the year.

Leviticus 24:8 KJV - continually - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the continual bread of the Presence, prepared and set in order every Shabbat hour of every sacred calendar day.
Numbers 4:7 KJV - continual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the continual bread of the Presence, prepared and set in order every Shabbat hour of every sacred calendar day.
Numbers 28:10 KJV - continual - H8548 tamiyd. Every day: the continual daily Shabbat hour in every sacred calendar day.

 

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The Sacred Calendar Week

In the LXX-Septuagint we find in the Ten Words that the weekly Shabbat is rendered in a plural form. Why would this be the case? It is because every hour of the weekly day of the Shabbat is like a mini-Shabbat hour within the full day of the Shabbat. Those who rendered the Torah into the Greek LXX were Kohanim, (Priests), and they new the appointed times, prayer times, daily oblation times, and the sacred calendar day as taught in the opening creation account which ties all of these things together.

Exodus 20:8 OG LXX W/Brenton English Translation
8 μνησθητι την ημεραν των σαββατων αγιαζειν αυτην
8 Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

την ημεραν των σαββατων ~ literally, "the day of the Sabbaths", yet speaking of the weekly Shabbat.

This practice is then carried over into the Brit Hadashah in Luke 4:16.

Luke 4:16 KJV
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Luke 4:16 T/R (Textus Receptus)
16 και ηλθεν εις την ναζαρετ ου ην τεθραμμενος και εισηλθε κατα το ειωθος αυτω εν τη ημερα των σαββατων εις την συναγωγην και ανεστη αναγνωναι

τη ημερα των σαββατων ~ literally, "the day of the Sabbaths", just as in the LXX version of Exodus 20:8.

This therefore helps us to distinguish between the weekly Shabbat and the daily Shabbat hour: for the daily Shabbat hour is not plural, but singular, for it is only one hour out of the day, the daily Shabbat hour of the sacred calendar day. This is also taught in the Brit Hadashah but not easy to see and understand until one realizes why the Kohanim rendered the following passage in the manner which they did.

Leviticus 23:11 OG LXX
11 και ανοισει το δραγμα εναντι κυριου δεκτον υμιν τη επαυριον της πρωτης ανοισει αυτο ο ιερευς
11 And he shall lift up [wave] the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted of you: the morrow of the protes [protos] shall the Kohen lift it up [wave it].

Here we have in the feminine form the word protos, meaning foremost, beginning, best, first, chief, chiefest, primary, and so on. Did they just change it or not see what it says in the Hebrew text? (as some have claimed)? Why this word protos when we find Shabbat in the Hebrew text? It is because they are not just pinpointing the day but the hour of that day: and this is because there is a count involved, as we see in what follows in the passage. This word protos is how they signified the Shabbat hour of the weekly Shabbat: for since there is a daily Shabbat hour, the seventh hour of the sacred calendar day in each and every day, there is therefore a Shabbat hour of the sacred calendar day also in the seventh day of the week. This also signifies that the Shabbat hour of each and every day is the primary Shabbat because it is the Shabbat of the opening creation account, and this is the foundational level teaching containing the foundational level Shabbat which is the daily hour of the Shabbat. The weekly Shabbat is an extension of the teaching, that is, from a daily Shabbat hour, (singular), to a full day Shabbat, (plural), once a week in the seventh day of the week and fifty-two times in a year.

With these things understood the meaning of deuteroprotos in Luke 6:1 comes into view, for since we now have an understanding of why protos is used in Lev 23:11, that meaning would therefore carry over to this word deuteroprotos employed in Luke 6:1. What therefore would deuteroprotos mean? Because it speaks of the daily Shabbat hour it means the second primary Shabbat, for the primary Shabbat is the daily Shabbat hour of the opening creation narrative, (Luke 6:1 T/R contains σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω, which is dative-neuter-singular).

In Luke 5:17 we find another curious statement:

Luke 5:17a T/R
17a και εγενετο εν μια των ημερων

What is mia ton hemeron? ~ "first of the days" or (number)"one of the days", strongly implying the first of the days of the week, in other words, a way of saying the first day of the week without using the Greek word sabbaton. Moreover Luke appears to be the only account where what follows in Luke 6:1 can actually be the same day, which is where we find deuteroprotos.

Luke 6:1 T/R
1 εγενετο δε εν σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω διαπορευεσθαι αυτον δια των σποριμων και ετιλλον οι μαθηται αυτου τους σταχυας και ησθιον ψωχοντες ταις χερσι
1 And it came to pass in the second-primary Shabbat that he passed through the grain fields, and his talmidim were plucking the heads of grain and eating, rubbing them with their hands.

 

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In the Epistle of Barnabas, chapter fifteen, we have a wealth of information in the teaching on the Shabbat. The author calls the seventh yom of the creation account the Shabbat, and also employs a singular form for that particular Shabbat, implying strongly that if indeed the author understood the things herein above in the same manner as presented herein, then he is indeed telling us the same, that the Shabbat of the opening creation account is the Shabbat hour, (singular).

This is not to say that the Shabbat of creation does not also speak of the weekly Shabbat but rather that the Shabbat hour of creation is the seventh hour of the seventh day on the sacred calendar day. If you look carefully at the image file at the end of the post above the Protos is this same Shabbat hour of the weekly full day of the Shabbat. Because of this the deutero-protos falls not in the second day of the week, but in the first day of the week, the day which in western culture is called Sunday. Going through the days therefore the Shabbat hour of the sixth day of the week is actually the hepta-protos or seventh primary Shabbat hour. Thus the Shabbat hour of the weekly full Shabbat may be referred to either as the first, (Protos), or the eighth, especially if it is the week of Pesakh-Matzot and one is observing eight full days from the weekly Shabbat through the next full weekly Shabbat.

It is noteworthy at this point that eight days is also the prescribed length of one course of the Priesthood, according to Josephus and other records, by the command of king David. Each course of the Kohanim served from Shabbat to Shabbat, eight days, (as one course prepared to leave the next course entered in during the same Shabbat). The reason for mentioning this is because the author of the Epistle of Barnabas is essentially, by way of his discourse, teaching his students that they are Kohanim, that is, once we begin to fully understand what is being taught and said herein: for he mentions things that are not in the immediate texts which he quotes from, such as sanctifying the Shabbat with clean hands and a pure heart.

Epistle of Barnabas 15:1-2 (Greek Text)
[01] Moreover also, concerning the Shabbat (του σαββατου), it is written in the Ten Words, wherein He spoke unto Mosheh face to face in mount Sinai, And you shall sanctify the Shabbat (το σαββατον) of YHWH with clean hands and a pure heart.
[02] And in another place He says, If My sons will guard the Shabbat, (το σαββατον), then I will bestow My mercy upon them.

All three instances of Shabbat in the above are singular. The pure heart is the altar of adamah, as shown in Post #2 above, and the altar is to be atoned, sanctified, anointed, and consecrated seven yamim, and it is holy: and anything going upon the altar, (prayer offerings), is to be holy. Where are the clean hands commanded? This is for the Kohanim, and the commandment is given concerning the laver which is placed between the altar and the Ohel Moed, (Exodus 30:17-21). And what is the washing of the hands and feet but the washing of the whole body? Thus the Apostolic teaching is the washing of the water in the Word, (Ephesians 5:26), and the molten sea is also symbolic for the same, for the Kohanim to wash in, (2 Chronicles 4:6).

Next we find the seventh yom of creation called a Shabbat in singular form:

Epistle of Barnabas 15:3-7
[03] He says of the Shabbat (το σαββατον) in the beginning of the creation, And in six yamim Elohim made the works of His hands: and by the seventh yom He was finished, and He ceased in it, and sanctified it.
[04] Take heed, children, what He says, that He was finished in six yamim: this He says, that in six thousand years YHWH shall consummate everything, for the yom with Him signifies a thousand years. Moreover He bears me witness, saying, Behold, a yom of YHWH shall be as a thousand years. Is it not therefore, children, that in six yamim, that is, in six thousand years, everything shall be consummated?
[05] And He rested in the seventh yom, to this He speaks: when His son comes he shall bring to an end the appointed time of the lawless one, and shall judge the impious, and shall transform the sun and the moon and the stars: then shall He rest well in the seventh yom.
[06] Furthermore He says, You shall sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart: if then there is a yom which Elohim has sanctified, who now can sanctify it, the heart being cleansed in all things wherein we have been deceived?
[07] Behold, at such a time, then shall we sanctify it, resting well, when we ourselves are able, having been set right, (justified), and having received the promise: no more being of the lawlessness, all things having been renewed by YHWH, then shall we be able to sanctify it, ourselves having been sanctified first.

Finally, at the end of the chapter-section, we find Shabbat in a plural form, being quoted from scripture, and herein the author speaks shortly of the eighth day. However he has already spoken above concerning the Shabbat of creation as a singular Shabbat, that is, the Shabbat hour, the seventh hour of the seven day on the sacred calendar day. Thus, if indeed he understood the scripture in the same manner as the information above herein, then he is yet speaking of the Shabbat, not Sunday or the first day of the week, for he speaks of the Shabbat renewed and ourselves being renewed, (our minds are to be renewed in the Spirit and Testimony of the Meshiah so as to understand the Way of the Father, and His Meshiah, and his sent ones or apostles), and thus the eighth day is the renewed Shabbat but is still yet the Protos, which can be either the first or the eighth in a new beginning context.

Epistle of Barnabas 15:8-9
[08] Furthermore He says to them, Your new months and Shabbatot (τα σαββατα) I will not endure: see what He says, I do not accept your Shabbatot, (τα σαββατα), but rather that which I have made, wherein having brought all things to rest, I will make the beginning of an eighth yom, which is the beginning of another world.
[09] Wherefore we also celebrate the eighth yom in joyfulness, wherein also Ι̅Η arose from the dead, and having been made manifest, he ascended into the heavens.

 

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A Hodesh in its Hodesh and a Shabbat in its Shabbat:

Numbers 28:10
[10] the ascending offering of a Shabbat in its Shabbat, in addition to the tamiyd-continual ascending-offering and its libation.

Numbers 28:14
[14] And their libations shall be a half of the hin for a par, and a third of the hin for an ayil, and a fourth of the hin of yayin for a kebes: this is the ascending offering of a Hodesh in its Hodesh, for the hadeshei [months] of the year.

And this is the place in the Torah whereof Yeshayah the Prophet speaks in the closing passage.

Isaiah 66:19-24
19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Yavan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory, and they shall declare My glory among the nations [Gentiles].
20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto YHWH out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to My holy mountain Yerushalem, says YHWH, as the children of Yisrael bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of YHWH.
21 And I will also take of them for Kohanim and for Levim, says YHWH.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, says YHWH, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that according to a Hodesh in its Hodesh, and according to a Shabbat in its Shabbat, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says YHWH.
24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcass-limbs of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched: [Mark 9:43-50] and they shall be an abhorrence unto all flesh.

 

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The daily Shabbat hour in John 5.

John 5:1-10 KJV
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

Herein we have sabbatov in the nominative neuter singular form:

John 5:9-10 T/R
9 και ευθεως εγενετο υγιης ο ανθρωπος και ηρεν τον κραββατον αυτου και περιεπατει ην δε σαββατον εν εκεινη τη ημερα
10 ελεγον ουν οι ιουδαιοι τω τεθεραπευμενω σαββατον εστιν ουκ εξεστι σοι αραι τον κραββατον

John 5:11-17 KJV
11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute [pursue] Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day [εν σαββατω - dative neuter singular].
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

The Master answers them, saying, ο πατηρ μου εως αρτι εργαζεται καγω εργαζομαι, which is to say, My Father works until right now, (εως αρτι, just now, right now, this moment), and I work, explaining to them that they were off in their reckoning of the daily Shabbat hour, and probably so by about a half an hour because the Master himself denotes the exact beginning of the Shabbat hour by this statement. The Father works until the very moment that the Son says so, right here in this passage, heos arti, until right now.

Later down the passage the Master confirms that it is the daily Shabbat hour:

John 5:18-29 KJV
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

So we have two hours mentioned in the above passage: the first is the daily Shabbat hour wherein the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Elohim, and shall live, and in the context of the above passage, that hour now is. The second hour mentioned above is the resurrection, which hour is said to be coming, but for which he does not say, and now is.

Thus we have the teaching of the daily Shabbat hour right here in this passage, if only one is willing to believe that an hour truly means an hour in this passage: unfortunately most people tell themselves that the Son of Elohim really doesn't mean a literal hour so that they may continue to believe or not believe what they wish concerning the Shabbat.