In my last two posts I made the cases for the biblical day starting at sunrise and for a 31 AD crucifixion using a Lunar Sabbath calendar. Lunar Sabbaths occur on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th day of each Lunar month. The first day of the Lunar Month is known as the New Moon Day. If you are like me, you had never heard of New Moon days, but if you do a search for the phrase “New Moon” in the bible it will be found 24 times.
Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your Elohim. I am YHVH your Elohim. - Numbers 10:10
14 out of the 24 verses that reference New Moons also mention the Sabbath and if you count verses that mention other feast days you get 17 out of 24 verses. If you expand the context beyond a single verse then the corelation between New Moons and other appointed times becomes even more pronounced.
New Moon vs Renewed Moon
If our Sabbath days are connected to the New Moon, then it is critically important that we understand the true meaning of the term New Moon when used in the Bible. Modern astronomy defines the New Moon as when the Moon is not visible to the naked eye. This occurs when the moon is between the Earth and the sun. The modern Jews consider the New Moon to be the first visible crescent. Some people claim the New Moon is the day after the astrological dark moon regardless of whether the crescent is technically visible to the human eye. And then there are those who believe that the phrase “New Moon” is better described as a “Renewed Moon” or a “Full Moon”.
Regardless of which phase you choose to start the month, all of the evidence I provided to support a Lunar Sabbath is my past posts holds true. That said, if you pick the wrong moon phase to start your month then your Sabbaths will also be out of sync with heaven so it is important that we identify the true start of the month.
We have already established that the modern Pharisees, who start their month with the sliver moon and use a continuous weekly cycle, have a calendar that is incompatible with all of the other evidence about the death and resurection of our Messiah. Furthermore, I have demonstrated the biblical case for the day beginning at sunrise instead of sunset as advocated by modern Pharisees.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! - Isaiah 5:20
We have seen a pattern of modern Pharisees being 180 degrees out of sync with the evidence. So we shouldn’t take their understanding of the sliver moon as gospel truth, but test all things according to scripture to see if it is true.
The Fully Renewed New Moon
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statue for Israel, an ordinance of the Elohim of Jacob - Psalm 81:2-4
‘He made the moon also to serve in her season (moed) for a declaration of times, and a sign of the world. ‘From the moon is the sign of feasts, a light that decreases in her perfection. The month is called after her name…” SIRACH (ECCLESIASTICUS) 43:6-8 את CEPHER
These two verses appear to describe the monthly, New Moon feast, being aligned with the full moon which then decreases. Skecptics will claim the hebrew word used for Full Moon is derived from the word “to cover” which some claim means covered in darkness and others say covered with light. However, in combination with Ecclesiasticus there is more evidence that it means covered with light.
The moon is not visible the day before and the day after the astrolgocial new moon (dark moon). This creates 3 nights of darkness which causes the modern Jewish month to have a one or two day offset from the “logical” starting points (Dark or Full). As a result the feast days of Passover and Unleavened Bread occur after the full moon. This causes a major problem for any interpretation of Psalm 81.
If the feast referred to is any feast that starts on the 14th or 15th of the month then it cannot be a full moon if the month starts on a sliver. Furthermore, if the month starts with a sliver it cannot be a completely covered “dark” moon either. Jews end up celebrating Rosh Hashanah for two days because they don’t know when the 1st day of the month actually begins until they see the sliver. Therefore there are no feast days that correspond with a month starting on a sliver moon and blowing the trumpet on a fully covered [light or dark] moon.
This would imply that the month must start at either the light or dark conjunction: the astrological full or “new” moon.
The First Moon
Then Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Elohim made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. Elohim placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
The first thing to notice is that the “light” is the sign, not the darkness or lack of light. Since the month starting with a sliver has been ruled out by Psalm 81, our only remaining choice is using the light or the darkness as a sign. The Pharisees use the sighting of the first sliver rather than the conjunction in part because there is at least some light as part of the sign. To fall back to the astrological conjunction after the flaws with the sliver is to contradict their justification for sighting some light!
By starting the month with the full moon and the day at sunrise, there is no ambiguity about when the month starts. It starts on the morning immediately following the night where the full moon was observed. The day where the difference in time between sunset and moon rise is the shortest. The only night where the moon rules the entire time.
Chinese Evidence
The Chinese kept detailed and highly accurate records of all astrological events. The following quotes were taken from these records which document some very relevant information that aligns perfectly with Passover week in 31 AD.
“Yin and Yang have mistakenly switched, and the sun and moon were eclipsed. The sins of all the people are now on one man. Pardon is proclaimed to all under heaven.” History of Latter Han Dynasty, Volume 1, Chronicles of Emperor Guang Wu, 7th year.
“In the day of Gui Hai, the last day of the month, there was a solar eclipse. [The emperor] avoided the Throne Room, suspended all military activities and did not handle official business for five days.” History of Latter Han Dynasty, Vol. 1, Chronicles of Emperor Guang Wu, 7th year.
“Eclipse on the day of Gui Hai, Man from Heaven died”. History of Latter Han, Annals, No. 18, Gui Hai.
“During the reign of Emperor Guang Wu, on the day of Bing Yin of the fourth month of Jian Wu, a halo–a rainbow–encircled the sun.” History of Latter Han, Annals No. 18, Gui Hai.
Chinese months were defined from astrological New Moon, so the last day of the month would have been around the astrological New Moon and very far from the full moon. Since the Passover is celebrated on the 14th day of the month, the Hebrew calendar in Yeshua’s day must have started with the full moon. Furthermore, their years started around the winter solstice (Late December) so the 4th month is perfectly aligned with spring Passover.
Sign of Jonah & the “New Moon”
The following chart shows 30 phases of the moon, one for each day in a 30 day month. Some months only have 29 phases so these are merely approximate. Moon 15 represents the full moon and the 1st day of the month (in my theory). This means that Passover would occur on the 14th (Moon 28) and that Yeshua would be in the grave for the 3 nights where the moon cannot be seen by the naked eye (Moons 29, 0, and 1). He would rise at the very end of the 3rd night (just before dawn) when the light is just barely starting to shine again.
Three nights in the heart of the earth corresponding with three dark nights with no visible moon makes perfect sense to me, but is not direct evidence of anything in and of itself.
Conclusion
In Genesis Elohim created the moon to be the lessor of the two “great lights” which are approximately the same size as viewed from earth and demonstrated in solar eclipses. On the 4th day of creation is it more likely that the moon looked like Moon 19 or Moon 4 in the prior diagram? Only one of them looks like a “great light” to me.
The term “New Moon” is best understood as “Renewed Moon” or fully restored to how it was at creation. When you buy a “New Car” is it fully assembled or just the frame? When you make something “like new” it is complete, or the day after you start renovations? The dark moon is closer to “No Moon” and might as well “not exist”. The sliver moon is incompatible with scripture. This leaves only the full moon to represent full restoration and renewal.
This means that the Pharisees (modern Rabinic Judiasm) have both the month and the day starting 180 degrees out of phase with scripture. They are following darkness, calling day night and night day. But Elohim is light, in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). As for me, and my house, we will follow the full moon to set our months, Sabbaths, and feast days because in the full moon there is no darkness.
