Study of God's Biblical New Moons
*All Bible study on any topic must be done by first asking God for His wisdom. We must not be trying to prove anything without a pure desire for God's truth, not our truth.
A Foundation for Understanding
*Psalm 104:19
"He appointed the moon for seasons..."
We may think of seasons as in spring/summer/fall/winter. But, the Hebrew word for seasons is "mo'ade" which means an appointment or fixed time, specifically a festival & time of assembling. God created the moon so that we would be able to calculate His special Feast days.
Our God would never have commanded special days as holy, without also giving us a way to know when those days occur.
If we can agree with David's declaration that God specifically created the moon for these appointed seasons, we will have a good foundation for understanding the rest of it's implications.
****You do not have to be a bible scholar or Hebrew translator to figure this out. Many will tell you that this is beyond your ability to figure out, and that the Bible is just not clear enough. They instead point you to astronomers, scientific calculations, and Rabbinical Jews to defend their position.
Ask yourself if God would require His people to trust in man made calculations? OR, would He have you search the Scriptures which are "profitable for doctrine?" *2nd Tim 3:16
God's way is simple. He reveals wisdom to those who have a heart for seeking His truth.
Who in the Bible celebrated New Moons?
This list is only based on Scriptures that mention New Moons specifically, obviously many others observed them as well.
*Moses and the Israelites
*Numbers 28:11- a command from God to Moses to offer offerings on the beginning of their months. Hebrew word for month here is "chodesh" which means moon. By implication of the beginning of the month, this would be the new moon. Their months were to be centered and started by the moon's cycle. "At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord"
*David (a man after God's own heart)
*1st Samuel 20:5,18,24-26 - This passage tells the events of David trying to flee Saul. It happens to fall on a New Moon and David is expected to be present at the kings table for the festivities. "And David said to Jonathan, "Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat."
*verse 18- "The Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty". Clearly David was accustomed to being there and it would be very obvious when he did not show.
*verse 26- Once Saul notices that David does not show up for the meal, his only rational conclusion for David missing the new moon celebration, is that he must be ceremonially unclean. Otherwise, there was no accounting for why David would miss the new moon feast.
*Every Revival Period back to God's Law
- Solomon- 2nd Chron. 2:4, 8:13 -
"Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel."
13 "according to the daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three appointed yearly feasts-the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles."
- Hezekiah- 2nd Chron. 31:3
"The king also appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord."
"Afterwards they offered the regular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord."
" for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God."
'Thus says the Lord God: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened."
ALL of these periods show a time when God's people restored the law, including reestablishing the offerings on every new moon. There is a joint reference to Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feast Days. They were inseparable!!
*Paul and those in Colossi
*Colossians 2:16 - Paul wrote and told them not to let anyone judge them for celebrating the new moons and Sabbaths.
"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ."
*Future believers in God's Kingdom
*Isaiah 66:23 "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD."
If we in the church believe this can prove a current observance of the Sabbath based on future implications, WHY do we not agree that we should be currently observing the new moons as well? Was this just a typo from Isaiah? Or do New Moons have relevance and urgency for current followers of God?
We have Biblical evidence of many pillars of the faith and future believers worshipping their God on New Moons .........how can we explain or justify our exemption from this?
How are we to celebrate New Moons?
Many will argue that the Bible is just not clear about how we are to celebrate New Moons. This is a completely weak excuse. If Moses, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and MANY more had enough information to follow the command, then so do we.
If our Almighty God instructs us to do something, His information given to us upon the subject is sufficient. Sometimes we must obey a command before we fully understand; this is called faith.
Offerings/Prayers: (We obviously don't have a temple for offerings any longer because of Christ's perfect sacrifice, but we offer up our prayers and sacrifices of thanksgiving and repentance.)
*Numbers 28:11
*1st Chron 23:31 - 2nd Chron 2:4, 8:13, 31:3
*Ezekiel 45:17, 46:1-11
*Ezra 3:5
*Nehemiah 10:33
Bible Study:
*2nd Kings 4:23- The context of this story shows a woman who wishes to seek the help of Elisha the prophet. Her husband is confused why she wants to go see him, because "it is neither New Moon nor Sabbath?" Commentaries agree that during a New Moon and Sabbath people would go to the house of God to hear the prophets speak. We don't make doctrine from commentaries, but this seems supported in Scripture. This woman's husband thought the time for seeking the prophet was on a New Moon or Sabbath.
"Then she called to her husband, and said, "Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back."
23 So he said, "Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath."
Blow a trumpet/shofar:
The trumpet has much biblical significance. It can be used as a call to warning or attention. This New Moon practice was supposed to bring attention to all that a new month was beginning. They alerted the land that a New Moon was spotted. This was how they knew to calculate their Feast days.
*Numbers 10:10 - "Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."
*Psalm 81:3 Jewish translation-"Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, And at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob."
Worship/ Praise:
This is such an untouched subject in the churches because we are afraid of becoming like the mainstream Christian churches. Yet, God does want those who follow Him to worship before Him.
*Ezekiel 46:3 - "The people of the land shall worship at the threshold of this gate before the LORD in the Sabbaths and in the New Moons".
*Isaiah 66:23 - again all future believers will come to worship God on the New Moons. This word "worship" can also mean humbly prostrating ourselves before God. We are coming to show reverence for Him.
Is the New Moon a Holy Day?
The answer is NO. A Holy Day is denoted by God and follows with a command not to do any servile work on that day. We see no such command and therefore we would never proclaim this to be a Holy Day.
However, just because it is not a Holy Day, does not mean we ignore it. Just as Passover is not a Holy Day but rather a memorial and a festival of great meaning to us, so the New Moons should be likewise. It is a time set apart by God for special honor, but we are absolutely able to still work on this day, just as we would the following day between Passover and the Night to Be that begins the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Proving this is not a Holy Day does NOT remove our need to observe and make special note of what God has clearly commanded. Again, Numbers 28:11 - 'At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord"
What is a New Moon?
This study bring us to a natural question. If we conclude that the New Moons are in fact important to God, and that we as His chosen ones should be observing them, then what is a "New Moon" and when does it occur?
This is hotly debated and argued among Jews and churches of God. Yet in the end, our source for truth should not be personal opinion, a gut feeling, or even scientific research. Rather it should be the revelation given in God's Word.
The Moon Cycle:
The moon rotates around the earth and has an average 29 ˝ day cycle.
For most of us, we notice that that moon gets bigger day by day until becoming a full moon. It then begins to get smaller until there is no moon with a couple days of darkness and nothing visible in the sky. The cycle then repeats.
When the moon is not visible to the eye, it is because it is directly between the earth and the sun, so no light is reflected toward the earth. This is a time period that we call a "conjunction". Some teach that this period of time can be scientifically averaged to calculate a New Moon cycle beginning. This calculation is based on the period of darkness.
Two basic schools of thought:
*Observational New Moon= the first observation of light AKA crescent moon.
OR
*Astronomical New Moon= a calculated average of time during the darkness in which the moon is between the earth and sun. No light is seen, but an average time is calculated.
The problem we encounter is that some claim the Bible never directly says the New Moon has to be "seen and observed" by it's first light visible to the human eye. However, we must use what God has given us to make our case, not man.
For example, in the days of the Israelites, they did not have telescopes. We know therefore right off the bat that they were looking with their eyes for the New Moon (remember we already proved they commemorated these with trumpets and offerings- Numbers 10:10, 28:11).
If we assume the Israelites believed the New Moon was during the conjunction period, are we to believe they went out and saw nothing in the sky and then proceeded to sound the trumpet?? Would they alert the people and shout with the trumpet that nothing was seen? And which day of darkness would they sound the trumpet on? There are a couple days of darkness during the conjunction....
It makes far more sense that the Israelites saw something in the sky, and then sounded forth the alert.
*Gen 1:14 "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons (remember- seasons means appointed times, specifically feast days!), and for days and years.
To those who truly want to understand God's will and original intent, the above verse doesn't get much clearer. He set LIGHTS in the sky to tell us when our appointed times would be. This is in the creation chapter, which proves He had this system set up from the beginning. The moon's light is clearly what God ordained to be our guide.
A Biblical Case Against Darkness
*1st John 1:5 -"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
While we can all agree that this Scripture is not speaking of the moon, it does give us a clear look at who God is. He does not work in darkness, but in light.
Everything He does follows true to His nature and being. The Bible is full to the brim with descriptions that speak of God and His ways in relation to LIGHT. It is a metaphor for all His paths, truths, and ways.
Need we define who the god of darkness is?
*Eph 6:12 - "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against...the rulers of darkness of this world".
Losing the New Moons and Feast Days was PUNISHMENT
*Hosea 2:11 - the context being that adulterous Israel was being punished and God told the prophet Hosea, "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." (Again notice the inseparable mention of God's feasts, Sabbaths, and New Moons) When Israel turned from God, He took away the blessing of knowing these days and their significance. We must turn back to God in order to understand His Ways and properly observe that which God has always required.
* Amos 8:1-12- "And it shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord God, "That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight; 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation;
Here we have a prophecy of a future punishment. The punishment is darkness. The sun will not shine, which in turn will cause there to be no moon light. Their feasts turn to mourning. In the end time prophecies, darkness upon the earth is a curse. Without the moon, God's nation will not be able to determine His feast days. This was a result of their evil deeds.
*Isaiah 1:13-17 "The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies-I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.
God had reached a point with Israel when even their observance of New Moons and Sabbaths were an abomination (Though their New Moons were not pleasant to God, this is still an example that they were being kept). Their feast days were so mixed with evil He could not bear them and said He would not hear their prayers. He instructed them to go and cease doing evil and begin to do good. Then a relationship could be reestablished.
How much more abominable is it to God that we don't even observe New Moons at all? We must cease from evil, and begin to follow God like all the other revival periods...which reinstituted the keepings of feast days, Sabbaths, and New Moons. They go hand in hand.
Historical Changes
It is a well understood fact, even among Rabbinical Jews, that the Sanhedrin had a system of observing the light of the new moon previous to Hillel II. They required two or more witnesses based on the biblical principle of confirming a matter
Deuteronomy 19:15 -"One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established."
2nd Cor 13:1- "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."
In 358 AD when Hillel II (head of the Sanhedrin at the time of Constantine) feared the disbandment of the Sanhedrin and the dispersion of the Jewish people during Roman persecution, so he adopted the Greek Babylonian Metonic cycle. This calendar was created out of desperation and convenience. It was an arrogant move by an authority figure who felt he had the power to change God's appointed times because the circumstances seemed to require it.
The Rabbinical Jews will actually admit that their calendar still needs to be fixed to it's original system, but they believe that is not allowed until a new Sanhedrin is put back in place. Why do we use a flawed man made system that even the Jews admit eventually needs to be replaced?
So, if we were to follow the Hillel II calendar (which the churches of God do) we have to accept the following:
- that we base our appointed times from average darkness
-we use scientific astrological methods
-follow a man who claimed authority to change the biblical method followed by Israel up until this point
-declare that God was not clear enough and doesn't expect us to observe them today, despite the evidence that true men of God did observe them.
Men in authority have no right to change law. They can make non doctrinal judgements, but cannot alter what has been established by our God. We are taught by many scriptures how to deal with men who presume they have the authority to change God's Laws.
*Isaiah 8:20- "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them". Interesting reference to light again. God is light.
We submit to authorities as they follow God. We owe no man blind submission for the sake of peace. *Acts 5:29 "..we ought to obey God rather than men".
Another example of a man changing Holy Day dates
****1st Kings 12:26-33 - Jeroboam was afraid of losing his new power over the northern tribes of Israel so he told the people it was too hard for them to go to Jerusalem for the Feast days. He made a golden calf and then changed the Feast days to his own. In essence changing the people's dependency from God and Jerusalem to him...a mans authority.
"28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!"
32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. <counterfeit...it matters to God which days His Holy Days are on!
verse 33- "in the month he had devised in his own heart".
This is a direct parallel to what Hillel II did and the churches do too by following Hillel and neglecting to seriously study and ensure we keep the right days! They are afraid of losing the members dependency on them for truth, exactly like Jeroboam's fear. Does God care if we are unified but willfully sinning? OR does He desire truth in the inward parts? *Psalm 51:6- "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts"
*To the churches of God: Even if we concluded that we should follow Hillel II and his calendar as you say, why do you not observe a New Moon? In your calendar papers you admit their importance and say you acknowledge that God wants us to base our time off of them, yet you do not observe one?? There is great hypocrisy in acknowledging the importance God places on this method and then neglect to revere them in the God ordained way. You cling to a man made calendar and then do not give to God what He will even expect of the Gentiles in His coming Kingdom. *Isaiah 3:12- "O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths."
Conclusion
This is not a comprehensive study but has attempted to lay out a biblical defense for observing the New Moons based on the light. The biblical calendar can actually be calculated out ahead of time too, but must be confirmed each month to ensure accuracy.
This forces us to rely on God. We must look up into the sky for God's appointed sign. On the other hand, the Hebrew calendar causes us to rely on men and scientific knowledge.
*Col 2:16-17 - Paul tells us that the New Moons, Sabbaths, and feast days are a "shadow of things to come." Part of what is to come is that one day all men will come on the New Moon to worship before God.
Also, when we wait for the sighting of the New Moon from Jerusalem it turns our focus to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the future home that we hope to attain to! A time when we will be teachers of God's Law!
God's ordained times keep us contiunally before Him.
*1st Chron 23:30-31- "And to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at even: And to offer burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the Sabbaths, New Moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD".
Do your own study. You should never believe any man just because they claim authority or seem to have studied enough for the rest of us. The ministry are to be respected and submitted to as they follow God. If any teach against the word of God, we are personally responsible to prove and test what we believe. We cannot excuse ourselves before our God for the teachings of our leaders.
*Romans 14:12 "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God".
Sarah
Isaiah 66:23
