Tomorrow is the New Moon!

Evidence for a Single New Moon Day Event

New Light on 1 Samuel 20

1 Shemu’el (Samuel) 20:1-42

Introduction: Why 1 Samuel 20 Matters to Lunar Timekeeping

[T]he subject matter presented in this Scripture narrative and word study of 1 Shemu’el (Samuel) 20:1-42 carries inordinate weight and significance among many lunar Sabbatarians.  With much prayer and research, it is determined that “new light” has come forth from the rubble of translation errors and calendar changes occurring among the Romans and the Yahudim (Jews) over the last 2,000 years.  It is our steadfast belief that we continue to have much to learn and an equal amount to unlearn.

Take every opportunity to explore these Hebrew Word Studies, for it is through this framework that the meaning of the text is brought into clearer light.

The Four-Day Sequence of 1 Samuel 20

In the Scripture narrative above, the scene opens on either the 28^th day of a 29-day month or the 29^th day of a 30-day month.  Either way, the same results are achieved. For illustration purposes, this study will utilize the 29^th day, a Sabbath, as day one of this four-day sequence of days.  David recently fled from King Shaul (Saul), who had followed him to Naioth, but now he is seeking solace from his beloved friend Yahu-Nathan (Jonathan).

Was David Referring to the New Moon Day or the Specific Lunar Phase?

Verse 5 opens with David declaring to Yahu-Nathan (Jonathan), “Tomorrow is the New Moon!”  From this short statement of fact, we can deduce two things:  1) The term “tomorrow” refers to a single-day event that will begin the next day at sunrise. 2) The “New Moon” is to occur “tomorrow,” synchronizing two things – New Moon Day with tomorrow, a single lunation event.  The real answer is provided in this first statement, but there are more facts to be revealed in this Torah chapter that are worth pursuing. 

A nearly full moon, marked by its position 10-12 degrees above the eastern horizon, was visible in the night sky that evening after sunset. (As a reminder, each lunar phase can be identified by its position in the shamayim (heavens) and the light it receives from the sun.) This is why, in verse 5, David could say to Yahu-Nathan, “Behold, the New Moon is tomorrow,” referring to the nearly full moon” lunar phase, 10-12 degrees above the horizon. Might David have reasoned that the full moon, as the New Moon, must be seen rising tomorrow because the lunar phase was nearly full and positioned above the horizon at sunset today? The mounting weight of evidence will demonstrate that David was not referring directly to the New Moon “day” but to the coming “full moon” lunar phase, which announces the New Moon Day.

Could This Day Have Been a Sabbath?

Some have declared that this day could not be a Sabbath because David and Yahu-Nathan would not have been able to leave their dwellings on the Sabbath according to the rule of Exodus 16:29. It states, “Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” However, this command was specifically given for gathering manna on the morning of the Sabbath. No one was to go out to gather manna on Sabbath morning because a double portion had already been given on the sixth day.  But this statement only applied to gathering manna in the early morning of the Sabbath, as this is when manna was present on other days. The statement “not to go out of their place” could not refer to all day and was not a Sabbath principle. Rather, seventh-day Sabbaths, in addition to all the other festivals, were holy appointed assemblies for corporate worship.  Faithful Israelites indeed left their homes to assemble for prayer and praise at the Tabernacle/Temple courtyard (when it was present) and for the reading of the Torah. 

Years later, the Messiah was accused of breaking the Sabbath as He walked with His disciples through a cornfield on the Sabbath.  A truth that trumps all others is that David fled and feared for his very life.  This story resembles a donkey in a ditch.  When someone is in dire need and in a life-threatening situation, it is never wrong to help, whether it is a Sabbath or not. There is no sign here in this narrative of work being done. 

Verse 5 is the first verse in question, and above is the comparison.  While this verse explicitly states, “Behold, the New Moon is tomorrow,” the Hebrew text does not define it with the term “DAY.”  Verses 5 and 18 will be compared later with verses 27 and 34, which describe the second commemorative banquet meal as having occurred on the actual New Moon “Day,” the following day beginning at sunrise, the third day in the sequence. Therefore, David’s mention of “tomorrow” is about the 30^th civil calendar date, or at least, the last day of the lunar month, when the conspicuous “full” New Moon would appear at sunset.

Chodesh: New Moon, Lunar Month, or First Day of the Lunar Month?

Chodesh #2320 refers to the New Moon lunar phase or lunar month as a whole, which has a beginning and an ending. The context of the sentence reveals whether it is the lunar phase itself or the actual New Moon Day.  For example, Ezekiel 46:1 states, on the Sabbath, the east gate shall be opened and on the DAY of the New Moon.”

The end of Verse 5 identifies a period of three days upon which the following events are to occur, as it states, “through the night of the third.”  Yet, in verse 35, it is the morning of the 4^th day when Yahu-Nathan revealed the results to David of the genuine intentions King Shaul (Saul) had to kill him.

Both views commence on day one, as illustrated in the chart above, the day David says to Yahu-Nathan, “Behold, the New Moon is tomorrow.”  Both views assert that “tomorrow” represents the lunar month’s last day, either the 29th or the 30th day.  If it is the 29^th day, it is the last Sabbath of the lunar month. Either way, “tomorrow” is followed by the actual New Moon Day (1st Day).  This is then followed by the 2^nd day of the lunar month.  There is never a time in counting that the last day of any month is followed by the 1^st day, and then again followed by another 1^st day of the month.  Yet, this appears to be what some believe, who declare there to be two “New Moon Days.”

The New Moon lunar phase is a single and specific, one-time lunar event each month, which means its time interval incorporates a single Earth rotation and never two. 

The Three-Day Hiding Period Confirmed

Here, verse 12 confirms a sequence of three days, and we know from verse 35 that Yahu-Nathan revealed the results to David on the morning of the 4^th day. 

In verse 18, Yahu-Nathan repeats David’s statement, but in different words, “Tomorrow is the New Moon.” “You will be missed because your seat will be empty.”  So Yahu-Nathan arranged a plan whereby David would be absent from his pre-appointed place at the table for the celebration night that the “full” New Moon was witnessed in Israel.  This was when the shofar was sounded in Israel, and the fires were set ablaze upon the highest hills. The signals announced that the New Moon day was to commence the following morning at sunrise.

Where Did the Two-Day New Moon Tradition Originate?

So, where did the two-day New Moon tradition come from?  

“…Rabbis in the academies of Babylonia declared that because of uncertainty of the calendar, Rosh Hashana should be celebrated as a two-day holiday… Since the Bible specified that Rosh Hashana should be a one-day holiday [Exodus 12:1-3 as it relates to Rosh Hashanah and the 14 day count to Passover], the Rabbis had to justify the change of a two-day holiday. This was done by means of a legal-fiction: they began referring to the two days of Rosh Hashana as “Yoma Arichta,” meaning “one long day of forty-eight hours”…Tishri is a Babylonian word and WAS NOT used to designate the seventh month in the Jewish calendar until after the Babylonian exile, when the Jews returned to Palestine.  The name Tishri is never mentioned in the Bible.”  This is  the Torah, p. 315, 386. 

Rabbinical Legal Fiction and the Two-Day Rosh Hashanah

1. Note in the quote above, it refers to the Rabbis in the academies of Babylon, who were not seeking faithfulness to Yahuah, the Most High.
2. They ignored the Scriptures and justified a two-day Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Day).
3. The Rabbis created an altogether new teaching, “Yom Archta,” meaning one long day of forty-eight hours.
4. They moved Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Day) to “Tishri,” Babylon’s first month, which corresponds to the Scripture’s seventh month. 
5. This is just one piece of evidence of the extent to which the Rabbinical Pharisees have rearranged time after rising to power in the wake of the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.

Summary of the Four-Day Timeline

1. Day one of this four-day sequence can be either the 28th day of a 29-day lunar month or the 29^th day of a 30-day lunar month. In either case, the results are the same, as it is unknown whether this was a 29 or 30-day month.  It is primarily the modern Rabbinical Pharisee Jews and those who synchronize with them, keeping a dark conjunction lunar phase as the New Moon, who believe that when two dark lunar phases occur two days in a row, this is a sign of a two-day New Moon.  However, the evidence in this article suggests otherwise for a multitude of reasons. 
    
2. “Behold, the New Moon is tomorrow,” testifies that a full New Moon lunar phase was to be visibly witnessed the next evening, near sunset on the 30^th of the month. This night of the full moon announces that the New Moon Day and a new month will commence the following morning at sunrise. This is demonstrated by comparing the context of verses 5 and 18 with the context of verses 27 and 34.  The context bears out that David was declaring “tomorrow” to be the appearance of the conspicuous full moon lunar phase, which is supported in verse 24, which states, “when the New Moon appeared [a visual event], then the King sat down to eat.”

3. The appearance of the full moon lunar phase was the signal that announced a new month was to begin the next morning, and for this reason, the banquet was served. The term “Tomorrow” referred to “day two” of the four-day sequence of events, yet it was synchronized solely to the first day of the lunar month. It is no easier to have two New Moon Days than it is to have two tomorrows.  There is only one tomorrow, which aligns with a single-day event that follows today and tonight.
   
4. David lies prostrate for the duration of three days in the field in continual prayer before Yahuah. He was to receive news from Jonathan on the morning of the fourth day, according to verse 35.

5. Following the appearance of the full New Moon, the king sat at the first commemorative banquet meal to eat. While David was missed, the king did not say anything. This banquet meal, together with the full moon, announced that the New Moon Day would begin the following morning.  It was the completion of the second day of the four-day sequence of events.

6. Since both the Sabbath and New Moon days are Kadosh (sacred) days, according to Ezekiel 46:3, King Shaul’s servants would not have been preparing food nor orchestrating the two commemorative banquet meals during the sacred 12-hours of either the Sabbath daylight or the New Moon daylight. Therefore, if the month ended on the 29th day (always the Sabbath) of the lunar month, the first commemorative banquet meal was served after sunset. If, on the other hand, the month ended on the 30th day (never a Sabbath), food preparations could have been made any time throughout the day. The second commemorative meal was served after sunset, following the New Moon day.  In this way, the single New Moon day was at all times sandwiched between two commemorative banquet meals. This story shows no record of David or King Shaul feasting or eating during the sacred portion of this New Moon day, the 12 hours from sunrise to sunset. Refer to the article – Worship at the East Gate.

7. In verse 27, the Hebrew interlinear text refers to the “next day” as the actual New Moon Day because the text clarifies it as the “next day” followed by the term (Chodesh #2320) New Moon Day or lunar month. This was the third day of the four-day sequence.

8. Both verses 27 and 34 clarify that the second commemorative banquet meal was served after sunset, following the completion of the New Moon day. This was the third day of the four-day sequence.

9. There is absolutely no reference in verse 27 or verse 34 in the Hebrew interlinear text regarding a “second day of the month” or, more specifically, a “second New Moon day.” Instead, it is demonstrated that the English translation has placed several words out of their original order, thus creating a misunderstanding. The text refers only to a second meal following the New Moon day and not a second meal on a second New Moon day.

10. There is no mention or support for a dark conjunction lunar phase, but rather, there is a distinct reference in both verses 24 and 27 to the visible appearance of the lunar phases at sunset.

11. The following morning, Yahu-Nathan (Jonathan) went into the field, shooting his arrows, and revealed to David that, indeed, King Shaul had designs on ending David’s life. This completed the fourth day of the four-day sequence.

The Weight of Evidence Against a Two-Day New Moon

1. The belief that 1 Shemu’el 20:1-42 teaches a two-day New Moon has been demonstrated to be in error, as it has been shown in this article that translators have changed the word order.

2. The full moon is the only lunar phase that can be identified in all of 1 Shemu’el 20:1-42 as the New Moon lunar phase (Start of Lunar Months). According to verse 24, the New Moon’s lunar phase appeared as a visible beacon because the Hebrew text states, “and when appeared the beacon, New Moon, then sat the king, according to the rule, at the meal to eat.”  The banquet meal depended on the visual appearance of the full moon lunar phase, which announced that the new month was to commence the next morning.  Indeed, this occurred precisely as stated, for both verses 27 and 34 clarify this as the right New Moon Day, which was concluded with the second banquet meal at the time of the next sunset, when the 12-hour New Moon day terminated.

3. The rule or established decree spoken of in verses 24 and 25 facilitated two commemorative banquet meals to occur every lunar month. The first meal was to commence at the appearance of the full moon, and the second on the night following the completed New Moon Day, when the second nearly full moon appeared. There is no reason for these meals to be eaten only on 30-day months, as some declare. This is because there is found to be no such thing as a two-day New Moon celebration anywhere in Scripture. Rather, this decree applied to the commencement of each lunar month, whether 29 or 30 days in length.

4. Scripture provides not even one witness for a two-day New Moon doctrine.
5. It is only found in the history of the Rabbinical Pharisees from the academies and the influence of the Babylonian mystery religion. Babylon and the Pharisees’ oral traditions are the sources of a two-day new moon that was conceived and promoted to this day among the Jews and other Messianic followers. 

It is found to be nothing more than a LEGAL FICTION.

Conclusion: One New Moon Day, Framed by Two Commemorative Meals

In conclusion, the Restored Hebrew Interlinear Text reveals that translators have effectively deceived many honest folks into believing that there is a two-day “Dark” New Moon, all by changing the order of the Hebrew words in the English text to reflect the LEGAL FICTION created by the Rabbinical Pharisees.

Secondly, no other verse in all of Scripture stands as a second witness to the two-day New Moon belief.  So, the lack of evidence for it and the weight of evidence against it establishes that it has no foundation whatsoever.

From the weight of evidence in comparing verses 5 and 18 with verses 27 and 34, it is discovered that the actual sacred New Moon Day was sandwiched between the first and second commemorative banquet meals and could not have occurred prior.  In other words, King Shaul and his dinner party sat to eat the first of two commemorative meals only after the conspicuous appearance of the full New Moon lunar phase appeared on the eastern horizon after sunset, which announced the new month would begin the following morning at sunrise.  The next night, the second commemorative banquet meal was served following the sacred 12-hour portion of the New Moon Day at precisely sunset.

These two commemorative banquet meals were a public display and reverential acknowledgment that a new month would begin at sunrise. The two banquet meals behaved as bookends or boundary markers on either end of a fasting cycle of a New Moon Day event, the first day of the lunar month.

From this evidence, it may be discovered that nothing was eaten during the 12-hour sacred portion of the New Moon day, for it appears to have been a day of fasting every month. The fasting began after the evening meal, after the full New Moon was first sighted.  

“Each New Moon was celebrated with a fast.”  Jewish Family Celebrations, p. 35.

“…The sacred festival of the new moon, which people give notice of with trumpets, and the day of fasting, on which abstinence from all meats and drinks is enjoined…”  Philo, Book 26, p. 159

In conclusion, the fasting for the full New Moon Day lasted from sunrise to sunset. This was dissimilar to the fast for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) in that it is only a 12-hour fast, not 24 hours, from sunset to sunset. Note that the only reason the fast of Yom Kippur began on the night before Yom Kippur was to allow for the full effect of the fast (Leviticus 23:32).  If they had eaten just before sunrise, then they wouldn’t really be hungry all day. 

As a result, these two commemorative banquet meals were to be served every single month, whether 29 or 30 days in length, on two consecutive nights. First, at the appearance of the full moon rising on the eastern horizon after sunset and the following evening after sunset.

May Yahuah continue to bless you as you diligently seek the LIGHT.

      Kerrie L. French
     Freelance Writer/Illustrator
        TheCreatorsCalendar29.5@gmail.com
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