The New Moon

In ancient times the Hebrew people had no calendars for determining when one month would end and new month begin.

Let me start by saying that the word “Easter” is not a Bible word. Now control your urge to throw something at me and give me a moment to make my case. I am not saying that we should not celebrate Easter. I am simply saying that a celebration by that name cannot be found in the Bible. Those of you who are true Bible students will say, “Now, what a minute, Allen! What about Acts 12:1-4:

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)1This tells us that it was between Nisan 15 and 21 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions [four squads of soldiers2so the ESV reads]of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

This is the one and only time the word “Easter” is used in the King James Bible. Commentator Albert Barnes has this to say about Acts 12:4: “The word ‘Easter’ now denotes the festival observed by many Christian churches in honor of the resurrection of the Saviour. But the original has no reference to that, nor is there the slightest evidence that any such festival was observed at the time when this book was written. The translation is not only unhappy, as it does not convey at all the meaning of the original, but because it may contribute to foster an opinion that such a festival was observed in the time of the apostles.”³Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, Acts 12:4 https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/acts-12.html

If we look at the Greek word translated “Easter” here in Acts 12:4, we will discover that it is pascha which is the transliteration of the Hebrew word pesach which is translated “Passover” 49 times in the KJV⁴ King James Version of the Old Testament. So, really what King Herod was intending to do was to keep Peter locked up until after Passover was complete. As a side note, this verse reveals what can be a confusing point. Notice that “Passover” is used to identify the week of Unleavened bread. Technically, Passover takes place on the 14th of Nisan, which is the day the Passover lamb was slain and prepared for the Passover meal that takes place after sundown.⁵The Hebrew day starts at sundown so the Passover mean actually takes place on the 15th of Nisan. All other translations that I am familiar with have “Passover” in Acts 12:4. So why did the KJV translate the Greek word pascha as “Easter” instead of “Passover?” As near as I can tell, no knows. I am sure they must have had their reasons but they did not reveal those reasons to the rest of the world. While, at least from a Christian prospective, the Easter celebration and the Passover celebration do focus on the same events, that is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they do not necessarily take place within the same time frame. The Easter celebration and the day of Firstfruits⁶ Remember that Easter celebrates the resurrection. In the year that Jesus was crucified, that day would have been the day of the Feast of Firsfruits which takes place on the Sunday during the week of Unleavened Bread. This would be, as Lev. 23:11 dictates, the day following the Sabbath. during the Passover celebration can, on rare occasion, be as much as a month apart.⁷”about 15 percent of the time, the two holidays actually occur a month apart.” https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/why-dont-easter-and-passover-always-line/587572/ But in most cases they coincide or are no more then a week apart. See this chart which compares the dates of Firstfruits and Easter.

What brought about this split between what we now call Easter and the ancient celebration of Passover? Why didn’t the Church continue to celebrate Passover/Unleavened Bread/Firstfruits⁸Many authors, when referring to these three Feasts of the Lord (Lev. 23) simply use “Passover.” Many ancient writers did just that. This, of course would encompass, the Lord’s death [Passover], burial [Unleavened Bread] and resurrection [Firstfruits].? While the disagreement over on what day to celebrate the resurrection possibly goes all of the way back to when Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome (see Rom. 14:5) it had become a very heated topic by the time of Council of Nicaea in 425 AD.  There was more then one reason that early Church decided to separate the Christian celebration of the resurrection from the Jewish feasts days⁹Sadly, antisemitism played a major role in the early Church leader’s decision. but one of the problems that led to this split had to do with the difficulty of determining the exact date for Passover, in ancient times.

Today, we have accurate measures of time at our fingertips. We are surrounded by time pieces and calendars nearly 24/7. We can know, the month, week, day and hour  at a glance. There is no need for debate when it comes to what the month and day are at any given moment. But this was not true for the ancient Hebrews living in Judea. Genesis 1:14, suggest the solution to their problem. In Genesis 1:14, “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, and for days, and years:” The Companion Bible, says that “signs” refers to “things to come,” that is, eschatological events¹⁰see Luke 21:11, 21:25. See also Isa. 13:10, 13:13, 34:4; Jer. 30:4-7; Ezek. 4:21, 32:7-8; Dan. 9:26-27; Amo. 8:9; Hag. 2:6; et al. and that “seasons,” which is the Hebrew word mo’edim, meaning “appointed times.” Dr. Bob Utley narrows this and says that the, “heavenly lights were to mark feast days (cf. Gen. 18:14; Leviticus 23; Deu. 31:10) and cycles of rest, work, and worship (cf. Psa_104:19-23)”¹¹You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Dr. Bob Utley, Genesis 1:14-19 Psalms 104:19, says that God, “appointed the moon for seasons (mo’edim).”  These “appointed times” are the Feasts of the LORD which are identified in Leviticus 23. These celebrations served multiple purposes. They were times of remembrance of what God had accomplished in Israel’s national life. They were prophetic “shadows” of things to come- Messianic events. Additionally, they served the purpose of helping the Hebrews determine when they should plant and when they should reap. So it was very important that they know when these appointed times were to take place. But they had no calendars to reference. However, Genesis 1:14 provided the solution. The sun, moon and stars are constants in the sky that could be used to determine the times and the seasons. The four seasons, summer, fall, winter spring are the result of the earth’s orbit around the sun. They are constants occurring at relatively regular intervals. It was observed that it took approximately 365 days ¹²actually it is 365.25964 daysfor a complete cycle of summer through winter and it was further observed that during that cycle the moon passed through its multiple phases from new moon to new moon approximately 12 times in 354 days. With this information at hand, the ancient Hebrews established what is known as a solar-lunar calendar. The 354 days of the lunar was divided by 12 resulting in 29.5 days in each month. This means that 6 months can be 30 days long and 6 months can be 29 days long. You may have already noticed that the lunar year is 11 days shorter then the Solar year. This means that over time the lunar calendar will be out of sync with the seasons of the year. If this is not corrected the Hebrew farmers would  soon be planting their wheat in the spring rather than in the fall when it is proper to plant¹³Barley and wheat were planted in the autumn and ripened in spring in Ancient Israel. https://archive.gci.org/articles/harvest-seasons-of-ancient-israel/. To ensure that the Hebrew calendar stayed in sync with the solar cycles an additional month was added every two or three years¹⁴https://archive.gci.org/articles/harvest-seasons-of-ancient-israel/. The year in which it was added was based on observation of natural agriculture-related events in ancient Israel¹⁵ibid. The Old Testament contains several referenes to the calendar and the lunar cycle. Numbers 10:10, for example, says “…in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings…” The phrase “beginnings of your months” is rosh chodesh in Hebrew which literally means “new moon”¹⁶The Hebraic Roots Bible translates this “in your new moons, you shall blow the trumpets”. Similarly in Numbers 28:11 commands Israel:”…in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD…” The phrase, “beginning of the month” meant “the appearance of a new moon.” And in Exodus 12:2. “This month (chodesh – “moon”) shall be unto you the beginning of months (rosh chodesh – “new moon”): it shall be the first month (rosh chodesh) of the year to you.” As you can see, “moon” was used for “month.” To determine when one month ended and another started two eyewitnesses were required to testify to the Sanhedrin to having seen the new lunar crescent at sunset. At first the beginning of each Jewish month was signaled to the communities of Israel and beyond by fires lit on mountaintops, but after the Samaritans began to light false fires, messengers were sent.[76] The inability of the messengers to reach communities outside Israel before mid-month High Holy Days (Succot and Passover) led outlying communities to celebrate scriptural festivals for two days rather than one, observing the second feast-day of the Jewish diaspora because of uncertainty of whether the previous month ended after 29 or 30 days.

“Jewish leaders rely on immediate observations of the new moon to fix the first day of the month” http://u.cs.biu.ac.il/~belenka/roman.pdf

“There were no printed calendars at that time, and no one ever knew exactly how many days there would be in a given month or year.” http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/17394

According to Time and Date, by “1178 AD the calculation of the beginning of a new calendar month had been fully replaced by the mathematical approximation of the moment the Crescent Moon begins to appear (Molad) rather than actual sightings”¹⁷ https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/jewish-calendar.html.

“Since the sum of 12 lunar months is about 11 days shorter than a solar year, a leap month is added every 2 to 3 years, or 7 times in a 19-year cycle. Leap months are meant to keep the calendar in step with the astronomical seasons and make sure that the religious observances occur at the correct time of year, as mentioned in the Torah”¹⁸https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/jewish-calendar.html

So the Hebrews would watch the moon for the first sign that it was beginning a new cycle. This would be the “New Moon” and the beginning of a new month. From that point all that was required was to count the number of times the sun went down to determine how many days had passed in that month. So,

The Hebrews employed the moon to this end.The Hebrew calendar is, at it base, a lunar based calendar. However, since it makes use of the cycle of the earth’s orbit around the sun and the resulting seasonal changes to determine the length of the year.

It took an elaborate system of celestial observation and calculations just to determine the month of the year.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
-1Co 15:20-23

Easter does  not celebrate Passover. Passover and Unleavened Bread celebrate redemption. Easter as viewed from a Christian perspective, celebrates the resurrection of our Savior giving us the hope of following Him from grave to glorification. This is just as Paul saw it in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”¹⁹-1Cor. 15:20. Unfortunately, it would appear that Christianity, as a whole ,has ignored First Fruits throwing it out with Passover.

used the moon to determine when a new month would begin. They used There are 12 new moons in

Month Names	Number of Days
Nisan	30
Iyar	29
Sivan	30
Tammuz	29
Av	30
Elul	29
Tishrei	30
Marcheshvan (Cheshvan)	29 or 30
Kislev	30 or 29
Tevet	29
Shevat	30
Adar	29

In this lesson we have focused a good deal on calendars and times and season. I have heard it said that time is the measure of decay.