Behold, Tomorrow Is New Moon Day | The Unexpected Cosmology

BEHOLD, TOMORROW IS NEW MOON

The placing of the new moon day

YHWH’s timepiece and calendar is a finely tuned watch with the main spring and cogs and wheels. Having the correct day for the beginning of each of His months is one of those cogs. This is what we will be examining in this article – the sighting of the new moon waxing sliver. Let us first establish where the moon sighting should be from.

Should we learn to spot the moon here where we live, or should we go with the sighting from the land of Israel? My question to all of us is: Where is home? Do we consider ourselves separate from Judah and therefore not a part of YHWH’s family? Do we see the land we now live in as the Promised Land? Many of us see who we are in YHWH. We see that we are the wild branch grafted in with the cultured branch and therefore connected to the Vine and Root of our Messiah and YHWH. That means that where the Root is so is the Vine and where the Vine is so are the branches! Where is the Root? There is one place YHWH placed His name and that is the land of Israel.

Lev 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Yahweh.

Lev 25:23 The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

Num 15:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,

Num 27:12 And Yahweh said unto Moses, get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.

Num 34:2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye come into the land of Canaan; this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:

Num 35:34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I Yahweh dwell among the children of Israel.

Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

The Root is in Israel. He has marked this little piece of earth to physically make His stand against the enemy in the last days and place His chosen there. And all His law will come from Him out of His land.

YHWH gives instructions for His appointed times when they come into the land. The feasts are to be carried out from His land. We who are still “in captivity” away from the land promised to YHWH’s children (the faith seed of Abraham) need to stay in sync with the feasts that Father set up in Israel. If we do not keep our eyes on that land, we will miss the true prophetic fulfilling of the feasts in their time. If we insist sighting the moon from any place but Israel, we will not be on the days as in the land. The feasts of YHWH are tuned for the land of Israel. It doesn’t matter any place but YHWH’s land.

In these last days we also must keep our eyes on the picture set by YHWH of the two houses, again being joined together in His hand. Many in Israel are waking up to desire how to sight the moon again. This to me is very exciting. To once again be working hand in hand with brother Judah to repair what the enemy has torn apart, is exactly what Father has proclaimed He will do. I guess I would say to let Judah proclaim new moon from Zion and let us join them in celebrating it as one family. Again in:

Lev 25:23 The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

If we agree with this proclamation in Lev 25, then where else should we look for the announcement of the new moon being seen but in His land?

Now I am aware that if we lost the ability to hear from the land, Father would still be pleased with His children striving to sight the moon from wherever we were, but since we have the technology at this time to communicate all over the world, then to me as a child of YHWH, I will look to Israel for the announcement. One site to check for the report from Israel for the sighting is renewedmoon.com. If we can agree on this conclusion we can go forward to the day of sighting the new moon and establishing new moon day.

There are those who believe that the conjunction or dark moon is the new moon. There are others who think the full moon is new moon and then there are those who follow what the Jews announce on their calendars because they think they have it correct and have never lost the proper perspective. This I would say to these three theories – If the only argument that is held is by opinion, deduction, and mental reasoning, and not biblical or historical proof, then it should be set aside and first researched in scripture and old historical accounts. I have recorded 10 different sources for the sighting of the sliver to be new moon in my first book. I will quote four of them here.

ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA

“Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical calculation, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance of the crescent of the moon,” …The switchover from watching for the first visible crescent to calculating conjunctions to determine the month’s beginning came with Hillel II’s calendar revisions in the 4th century A.D.(the 300’s). “By the middle of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued”

THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA (1844-1913)

The moon indicated the time for monthly worship; when the slender crescent of the new moon was first seen in the western sky, special sacrifices were ordained with the blowing of trumpets over them.

HILLEL.ORG WEBSITE

The Jewish month was not originally calculated from the molad. Rather, the Rabbis point to the verse, “This month” which implies that there was something tangible for Moses to see. They teach that the new month begins with the appearance of the new crescent, which is AFTER the molad.

CHRONOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHIC BASIS OF THE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST p.5, Section 7

The Jewish month could never have more than 30 days, and never fewer than 29. It began, not with the astronomical new moon, but with the new light; that is to say, when the first light of the renewed phase of the moon became visible.”

The astronomical new moon mentioned here was the calculated conjunction stage or dark moon just before the first sliver appeared.

There is no actual ‘day’ of concealed moon. It is a fact that the moon stays concealed anywhere from 1.5 days to a possible 3.5 days in the Middle East. That means it can be hidden from sight at times from the 28^th to the 30^th day of a month – depending on the moon cycle for that month.

The full moon being hailed as the new moon is based upon assumptions not historical facts. People say YHWH is not a God of darkness but of light and would start His new month in light, when the fact of the matter is, it does start with light. After the moon goes dark, the first shining sliver is declaring the new month is to start. Again, I have quotes from at least 3 different sources saying when full moon was. These I will quote to you here.

The first is from Philo.

(155) And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month, in the middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light, in consequence of the providence of God taking care that there shall be no darkness on that day.

next from METHODIUS (260-312 A.D.)

Whence, also, they are by a descriptive term called newly-enlightened;104 the moon ever showing forth anew to them the spiritual full moon, namely, the period and the memorial of the passion, until the glory and the perfect light of the great day arise.

And last from AFRICANUS (200-245 A.D).

Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth – manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? (Speaking of the crucifixion )

We now come to the final possibility for New Moon. It seems amazing to me that the most obvious sign in the heavens showing the new start of something is the first visible waxing crescent of the moon. The natural course of growing out of obscurity and becoming brilliantly full and then declining in size as the month continues until disappearing and preparing to appear to start a new month is a smoothly planned pattern. It is like the sun’s pattern of lightly dawning in the early morning heralding in the day and climbing to the utmost of the sky and then beginning its decent till all that is seen is the glow of final light. If you observe all creation it follows this same path. Everything appears from obscurity, climbing to full growth and then slowly lessening in color, brilliancy, size, strength, or volume. This is the rhythm of the earth, the rhythm of the heavens.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BIBLICA

The appearance of the new moon inaugurated a new period, a new month…. In later Judaism, the punctual celebration of the day depended on direct observation of the moon itself. Great care was expended in ascertaining with precision the first visibility of the moon.

If we can agree that the visible sliver is the new moon which was acknowledged by the ancient father’s then let’s go deeper into the true day called new moon day.

I agree that the first visible sight of the new moon sliver is called new moon. However, I do not call that night of it appearing New Moon Day. First, that isn’t day, it is night, and the sun has already gone down. I believe the next day is called new moon DAY. Why do I stand on this? Because of all the sacrifices required to be done on New Moon Day. We do not do the sacrifices today, but having them here in scripture, keeps us in pace with YHWH’s instructions and timepiece. Let’s look at the instructions that pertained to the new moon. First, understand that a regular burnt offering was required for everyday by YHWH.

Let’s look at this chart above I have put together, so you have something visual to see for better understanding as you read the next scriptures.

DAILY SACRIFICES

Num 28:3 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, 5 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 7 And its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in a holy place you shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. 8 The other lamb you shall offer in the evening; as the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

The first picture on the chart is the daily sacrifices. Now let’s read the required sacrifices for the beginnings of the months (new moons):

NEW MOON DAY

Num 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; 12 three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 14 Their drink offering shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb; this is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also one kid of the goats as a sin offering to the Lord shall be offered, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. (from Num. 28:3)

That is quite a list for sacrificing on New Moon Day. You can’t even see the new sliver until the sun dips down below the horizon. How, pray tell, do you do all these in the dark? The first regular burnt offering was done in the morning. The second was done around 3 pm and then you would add the new moon sacrifices too.

You can see on the chart, I have calculated the amount given in flour, oil, and wine for the new moon offering which includes the daily offerings. It comes to 44.61 pounds of flour, 3.47 gallons of oil and 3.47 gallons of wine.

Now just look at the Day of Trumpets or Yom Teruah. This was on new moon day of the 7^th month or Tishri.

YOM TERUAH

Num 29:1 ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. 3 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

You have just almost doubled the sacrifices for this one New Moon Day. The animals to be sacrificed comes to 13 on a new moon day which includes the morning daily lamb as well. Then add 10 more animals plus all the flour oil and wine for Yom Teruah. All this was to be sacrificed after the moon was sanctified as to it’s being seen the evening before and reported to the priests in Jerusalem the next day.

There is one more piece of the puzzle for determining the day of new moon and that is, if you look in scripture, the new moon day and Sabbath day are always mentioned separately. If you remember from the last article when you read Ezekiel 46 on the pattern to be used at the eastern gate – New Moon Day is set apart from the Sabbath day as the gate on that day is also to be open.

If we insist to regard the sliver seen in the evening as setting the new month, 6 times in the year the sliver is seen on the evening of the 29^th day of the month according to Enoch and my observations since 2017, which is also the final sabbath of those months. That would mean you have just made the final sabbath also the new moon day. Which according to scripture cannot be. Let me quote a few verses from the Chronicles:

1Ch 23:31 And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto YHVH in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before YHVH:

2Ch 2:4 Behold, I build a house to the name of YHVH my Elohim, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of YHVH our Elohim….

2Ch 31:3 He appointed also the king’s portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of YHVH.

As you can see, sabbath and new moon is kept separate concerning their specific day and sacrifices. This is how they are written throughout the scriptures.

Here is an interesting quote I found from the Talmud (the Mishna and Gemara section):

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MISHNA: Formerly they received evidence as to the appearance of the new moon the whole (of the thirtieth) day. Once the witnesses were delayed in coming, and they disturbed the songs of the Levites. They then ordained that evidence should only be received until (the time of) the afternoon service (about 3 pm), and if witnesses came after that time both that and the following day were consecrated. After the destruction of the Temple, R. Johanan b. Zakkai ordained that evidence (as to the appearance) of the new moon should be received all day.

GEMARA: What disturbance did they cause to the songs of the Levites? Said R. Zera to A’hbha, his son: Go and teach to them (the Mishna) thus: “They ordained that evidence as to the appearance of the new moon should not be received, only that there might be time during the day to offer the continual and the additional sacrifices and their drink offerings, and to chant the (daily) song without disturbing the order.”

Here, right in the Talmud it shows they knew the time required to perform these things. These could not be done the very night the sliver was seen. They were done the following DAY.

There is a certain viewpoint that seems to keep popping up with several people and that is the opinion that in the evening the new sliver is seen that day that just ended was new moon day. This goes along with what I talked about already. The reasoning has to do with what Enoch said about the rising of the first sliver was new moon. This is true, but if you don’t read what he wrote carefully, you will misunderstand what was said. Let’s read that section.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her.

This verse seems pretty cut and dried; however, you must put all of what Enoch said together. Let’s go back a few chapters.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

And she sets with the sun, and when the sun rises the moon rises with him and receives the half of one part of light, and in that night in the beginning of her morning [in the commencement of the lunar day] the moon sets with the sun, and is invisible that night with the fourteen parts and the half of one of them. 8. And she rises on that day with exactly a seventh part, and comes forth and recedes from the rising of the sun, and in her remaining days she becomes bright in the (remaining) thirteen parts.

In this chapter, which is before the previous quote, you see the rising of the moon is also called “her morning”. This is saying that her “day” starts in the evening when she rises at the setting of the sun and the completion of the sun’s “day”. If you can understand this one thing that even though the days and nights are not always exact in measure throughout the year, Yeshua asked the question – are there not 12 hours in a day? The figurative picture is to give 12 hours to the daytime, or ruling of the sun, and 12 hours to the nighttime, or ruling of the moon.

Gen 1:16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

This is why Enoch calls the rising of the moon the beginning of her morning. The daytime before the moon rising has nothing to do with the commencement of the lunar day. That setting of the sun is the end of that day. This is the reason it cannot be new moon day before the first rising of the moon. That daytime is the final day of the previous month. To “rise” means the beginning.

Gen 8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen……….13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

In order to see the tops and the dry ground, it had to be the day hours.

Exo 40:2 “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.

You can’t set this up in the dark at night. The first day of the new month is at daybreak after the first ruling of the moon the night before. We are so used to connecting the title ‘day’ with the sun, we misunderstand Enoch.

Read these two parts of Enoch again with a small visual I have made.

We are so used to connecting the title ‘day’ with the sun, we misunderstand Enoch.

The moon rules the night, therefore, her ‘day’ starts at sundown. The sun rules the day, therefore, her ‘day’ starts at dawn. When the moon’s ‘ruling’ time is done, she gives way to the ruling of the sun. When she rises in the evening at sundown, she announces the beginning of a new month by her first appearing. She rules all that first lunar ‘day’ and then at sunrise is when the first daylight time is counted as the first day of the new moon – new moon day in which we can celebrate the new month and all the sacrifices were to be done in the temple. Man’s ‘day’ is with the sun.

1Sa 20:5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat.

Note: behold means to look at something. They saw the sliver and on the morrow was new moon day.

Psa 104:22 When the sun rises, they gather together and lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.

Job 7:4 When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.

Neh 4:21 So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared. 22 At the same time I also said to the people, “Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day.”

So, just what is New Moon Day? It is not a Sabbath day. It is not one of the “six days” of work. New moon day is a special day – it has more sacrifices than the Sabbath, so obviously it means something to Father. It is the day that marks the beginning of a new month. It resets the monthly clock and is totally separate from the Sabbath and the six working days. And that new month begins the morning after the sighting of the new sliver the night before at sundown.

I will expand on this subject in the writings of Enoch in a later article, but for now I feel this is enough to chew on at this time. There are so many of Father’s children waking up to His truth in this matter and everyone sees different portions at various times. We must be patient with each other as we research His word and historical writings for the total picture of how His calendar timepiece works. I encourage you all to keep studying and He will reveal things as you are open to them. Don’t get discouraged. Any unlearning and relearning will take time and patience.

Shalom,

Diane

Diane Covher was born in 1951 in St. Paul, Minnesota into a family of six. She has always been fascinated with small things (miniatures) and the details of small things. Her attention to detail has earned her the reputation of not only being a superb housekeeper but also rarely forgetting the details of life no matter how far back you go.

Diane has pursued, researched, and followed the leading of her heavenly Father to uncover His truth in this matter since 2011. She loves YHWH with all her heart. The most important thing to her is following up on every puzzle piece to put this truth together for others to read. To follow YHWH’s instructions is life.