The significance of the new moon in the scriptural calendar

EDITOR: Frequently, we read various terms in the sacred Scriptures without fully comprehending them. So it is with the new moons. You may have read this term without recognizing its significance in the worship of Yahweh.

The new moon begins a scriptural month. It is mentioned as days of worship, along with the Sabbaths, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says Yahweh.” (Isaiah 66:23)

It is also mentioned with other applicable laws in Colossians 2:16 “Let no man judge you therefore in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a Sabbath…” Paul informs us here that the new moon is a shadow of things to come. This passage was written after the death of the Messiah and was not pointing to the death of the Messiah. A shadow, you will recall, is an image, or a protection, cast by a larger object.

In Ezekiel 46:3, the people who will be living on this earth during the time of Yahweh’s Kingdom are commanded to worship on the Sabbaths and also on the new moons according to prophecy. “And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.”

On the first day of the tenth scriptural month Noah saw the top of the mountains, removed the covering from the ark and saw the face of dry ground (Genesis 8:5,11). In Exodus 12: 2 Almighty Yahweh instructed Israel that the first day of the first scriptural month (Abib) was to be the first month of the year to them.

One of the most outstanding examples of power from On High being manifested at a new moon meeting was at the construction and dedication of Israel’s tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 40 : 2, 17 and 34). Deuteronomy 1: 3 informs us that it was on a new moon occasion, the first day of the 11th month, that Moses preached the sermon to Israel, which became the scriptural book of Deuteronomy.

Another contact with the new moon comes in 2 Chronicles 29: 17. Hezekiah, the great reformer king of Judah, had given command for the pure worship to be restored. The priests began the cleaning on the first day of the first scriptural month.

The Feast of Trumpet, an annual holy day, occurs on the first day of the seventh scriptural month. (Leviticus 23: 23-25. In Nehemiah 8:3, we observed that Nehemiah and the Levites read and interpreted the Law of Yahweh on the first day of this seventh month.

If we are a Bible-believing people and we commit to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh, then we should make a greater determination to worship Yahweh on the new moons and other holy days that He has ordained and set apart for that purpose.

Sheldon Govia

Assemblies of Yahweh