The New Moon part 1

                                                     

The first time we are introduced to the concept of the “New Moon” is in I Samuel 20:5

And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

V6. If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

V18. Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

V24. Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

V25. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.

V26.  Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.” 

V27. And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

There are three things worth noting here that are relevant to this subject.

1. From verse 5, it appears to have been common knowledge that the king held a feast on the new moon.

2. David was seeking to make himself scarce for his own safety. The excuse he fabricated in verse 6 was that his family was holding a sacrifice with all of the family gathered together. 

3. Verses 24 and 27 make it clear that the new moon was the first day of the month.

All of this makes sense when in Numbers 28:11 there are instructions given for the special offerings at the “Beginnings of your months.”      David’s alibi was solid as it is likely that many of the Israelite families were also holding a sacrifice. 

Hosea 2:11 lumps the New Moons in with the Feast days, the Sabbaths and the Appointed Feasts, labeling them as days of mirth, which explains why the king was throwing a party. 

"I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths— All her appointed feasts." (Hosea 2:11, NKJV).

Numbers 10:10 references a day of gladness in relation to the beginning of your months.

"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” (Numbers 10:10, NKJV).

Are these New Moon festivals relevant today?  Should we keep the New Moons as we do the Sabbaths and Appointed Times?  What would that entail?

In the Old Testament there are 17 verses that categorize  the new moon and the Sabbaths together.  

Three of these seventeen verses are warnings to the people that judgement would befall them, resulting in the discontinuation of the New Moon celebrations: Isaiah 1:13+14; and Hosea 2:11.

These seven verses are about the instructions for sacrifices or the implementation of the instructions given in Numbers 28:11:  " ‘At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish;"

The verses are:  I Chronicles 23:31; II Chronicles 2:4; II Chronicles 8:13; II Chronicles 31:3; Ezra 3:5; Nehemiah 10:33; and Ezekiel 45:17.

Being that Messiah has fulfilled the sacrificial law as stated in Hebrews 10:12 (But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God), what else is commanded for the New Moon festival?

Blowing of Trumpets.

In Numbers 10:1-2, Moses was instructed by the Almighty to make two silver trumpets. In verse 8, the sons of Aaron were named to be the blowers of these trumpets.  Verse 10 states that the trumpets were to be blown “in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months…”

"Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day" (Psalm 81:3, NKJV).

No Commerce

In the syntax of Hebrew poetry Amos 8:5 seems to imply that commerce was forbidden on the New Moon.

“Saying: ‘When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit..."

No Work

Ezekiel 46 verses 1 and 3 indicate that the New Moon is not to be a working day, and that it is a day of worship akin to the Sabbath.

"‘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" ' " (Ezekiel 46:1, NKJV)

In the story of Elisha resurrecting the Shunammite woman’s son, her husband was questioning why she was going to Elisha that day.  Is it possible that had that day been a New Moon or a Sabbath that she might have been free of her houshold duties and able to go without question?

"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.' So he said, 'Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath. 'And she said, 'It is well.' ” (II Kings 4:22‭-‬23, NKJV).

Day of Worship

"Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons." (Ezekiel 46:3 NKJV).

"And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord  (Isaiah 66:23, NKJV).

The difference between the Sabbaths (weekly and annual) and the New Moons is that scripture explicitly forbids working on the Sabbaths. 

                                                  

The Weekly Sabbath

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates..." (Exodus 20:8‭-‬10, NKJV).

First Day of Unleavened Bread

"On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it." (Leviticus 23:7, NKJV).

Last Day of Unleavened Bread

" "But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ ” (Leviticus 23:8, NKJV).

Pentecost

"And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations" (Leviticus 23:21, NKJV).

Trumpets

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord ’ ” (Leviticus 23:24‭-‬25, NKJV).

Atonement

"And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people" (Leviticus 23:28‭-‬30, NKJV).

Feast of Tabernacles

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it" (Leviticus 23:34‭-‬35, NKJV).

Eighth Day

"For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it" (Leviticus 23:36, NKJV).

There is no scripture that forbids working on the New Moons. If and how we should keep the “New Moons” is not clear like it is for the Sabbaths. 

Things really start to get interesting when one reads the Bible in the original language, Hebrew, and notices that the term “New Moon”  is found nowhere in scripture.  That’s right! It is not found in the Hebrew.

More on this subject coming soon!