THE CONJUNCTION OF THE MOON =
VERSES THE WAXING CRESCENT
The ancients paid much more attention to the star constellations and the phases of the moon than the average
person today, they planted their crops, navigated their ships all by the moon phrases and the star constellations.
They also understood the phased of the moon caused the motion of the tides and they were guided by the North
Star, Polaris.
The ancients also understood when that last waning crescent disappeared and the dark moon followed, this was
the beginning of the month.
This was understood from the beginning of creation-Judah understood this before they were transported into
Babylonian bondage and learned to accept many the pagan ways of their captures.
Abraham was brought up in the city of Ur where the crescent moon god Sin / Nanna was worshiped, and the
temple of Sin was in that city. The worship of this god was so prevalent in that time period, that when Judah was
transported into Babylon, which was so steeped in pagan worship, it was inevitable that they would succumb to
some of it.
Even though this way of establishing the beginning of months was an unstable way of reckoning, they must have
felt driven to see that worshiped crescent moon! Just as the scripture warned against; "And take heed, lest you
lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the hosts of heaven, you feel
driven to worship them ... (Deuteronomy 4:19).
God in His wisdom gave us the dark moon as the beginning of months to keep us from temptation. The dark
moon isn't worshiped because it can't be seen. It is the same principle with the beginning of a day. God could
have made the beginning of a day when that big, bright, shining sun came up over the horizon but instead He
began the day when the sun disappeared into the horizon. The sun after it disappears can't be an object of
worship.
The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when
a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted
as needed by decree. [Taken from Wikipedia]
As we can see the Babylonians begin their months with the crescent moon corresponding with their worship of
their moon god Sin and sometime after the time of Christ, they fell back into beginning their months with what
they had been taught while under
the influence of Babylonian culture, beginning their months with the waxing crescent moon.
Philo of Alexandria, (20 B.C.E.-40 CB.C.E.) lived at the time of Christ. He was a Jewish historian and a writer
at that time in history. It was said that he may have influenced the Apostle Paul, his contemporary, and perhaps
influenced the authors of the Gospel of John and the Epistle of the Hebrews.
Philo of Alexandria [tr. by F H Colson (Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge,
MA,1937); The Special Laws, II, XI,41] writes: "The third [feast] is the new moon which follows the conjunction
of the moon with the sun". And in II, XXVI,140: "This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month,
namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in
the astronomical schools."
As can be seen in this historic record, at the time of Christ it was well understood that the conjunctions were the
determining factors in deciding the day of the month and were being taught in the astronomical schools
accurately calculated by the conjunctions, as we can be sure that Christ and His disciples were in concordance
with this true astronomical conjunction, maybe other Jews also, but there may have been those of the Scribes and
Pharisees that were using the pagan crescent at that time. Looking at what was in Maimonides' book,
"Sanctification of the New Moon, which was written about 1200 CE, had this to say: "The molad is defined as
the moment in which sun and moon, in their uniform motion, become conjoined in a certain part of the sky,
which occurs in the same way everywhere - in contrast to the varying times at which the new crescent first
becomes visible - in different areas."
There must have been a controversy concerning the keeping of the new crescent or the Conjunction by this time
1200 CE, or very possible in years before.
Even in modem times with computers and other equipment it is impossible to predict when a first crescent moon
can be seen. That is why you will not find a calendar with the time of the first crescent moon published on it.
In the history the ancient Jewish community, when they were keeping the first crescent moon as the beginning
of their months with two or three witness to spot the first crescent, it was so indecisive that sometimes they kept
the Day of Trumpets for two day. Some of our Brethren today who strive to keep the first crescent as the new
moon are finding the same indecisiveness and have to do the same as did the Jewish community, keep the feast
of Trumpet for two day.
The conjunction cannot be seen. However, by measuring the distance between the waning crescent moon and
the sun as it peaks up over the horizon and multiplying by 2 and dividing into days and hours, anyone can easily
determine the time and the day of the next conjunction.” ☜
Carlos & Louise McGuire
Lord, thou knowest that I am growing old!
Keep me from becoming talkative and possessed with the idea that
I must express myself on every subject.
Release me from the craving to straighten out everyone’s affairs.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless detail...give me
wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips when I am inclined to tell of my aches and pains;
they are increasing with the years and my love to speak of them grows sweeter as time goes by.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.
Keep me thoughtful, but not nosy; helpful by not bossy!
With my vast store of wisdom and experience, it does seem a pity not to use it all!
But thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends left at the end.
Amen.