Topical Studies
New Moon
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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All the commands given by God—everything that He commands about the new moons (Numbers 10:10; 28:11-15)—regard specific offerings. All other information from the Scriptures about their observance is implied. Without question, the Israelites regarded them with a deference not given a common day. Given the Israelite's proclivity either to add or take from what God said, that is not unexpected. But God nowhere—except for the Feast of Trumpets—designates the new moons as holy time. He does not command the Israelites to come before Him. He does not tell them to abstain from work, nor does He say they cannot prepare food or buy and sell. Neither does He instruct them to feast. Yet, we can clearly infer from Scripture that the Israelites were doing all of these things.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons
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Numbers 29:6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
It is important to note that there is no command from God to observe the new moon in either Testament. Instead, they are presented as a recognized and ongoing practice to which God adds special sacrifices and offerings. These additions elevate them above an ordinary day but not to the level of a holy day.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons
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1 Samuel 20:5-6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This shows that feasting on the new moons was not looked upon as something unusual but expected as a matter of social custom. It was not evil nor did God disapprove, but as He had not commanded it, feasting on a new moon was a social custom. Perhaps feasting on the new moons began with families customarily making an annual sacrifice on one of them, as David mentions his family doing in Bethlehem (verse 6). Again, God nowhere commands Israel to do this. Commentators feel this feast was probably a thank offering on which the family feasted after God's portion was burned on an altar. They chose the new moons for these affairs, since they were not encumbered by the restrictions of God's law as the weekly and annual Sabbaths were.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons
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Amos 8:5-6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
These verses give an interesting insight into how far the Israelites may have gone in adding to God's commands about the new moons. There is a small chance that the new moon in question is the Feast of Trumpets. But if it is not Trumpets, it sets up an interesting situation: As the Israelite's ruling class wallowed in wealth, it drifted farther and farther from a true worship of God. In practicing some stringent traditions that God had nowhere commanded, they had attached their own ideas to His law! This strict observance did not at all impress God favorably! Totally out of harmony with God's aim of "justice run[ning] down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream" (Amos 5:24), they missed the intent of God's law entirely! He desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 12:7). These verses strongly imply that the Israelites did not conduct business during the new moon, but God never commands such a restrictive practice. Clearly, the day was different from common days because of God's assignment of special offerings. But in their occasional bursts of zeal (Romans 10:1-3), the Israelites apparently believed that if the little God required of them was good, then more would be better! In theory it sounds good, but we are given a twofold warning in Deuteronomy 12:32 and Proverbs 30:6 that we should not add to His Word. This casts grave doubts on following the Israelitish tradition.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons
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Colossians 2:16 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
From this verse, the sole reference to a new moon in the New Testament, it appears as though the early church observed them in some way, and they were castigated by their neighbors for doing so. Exactly how they kept them is not clear. Surely they did not observe them as Israel did, that is, with the assigned sacrifices and the blowing of trumpets. Hebrews 5 through 10 make abundantly clear that those sacrifices typify Christ's many-sided work and are no longer required as part of the worship of God. If it were not for their link to God's festivals, the new moons could almost be taken as an anachronism today. But since the festivals are still to be kept and dating them is tied to the new moons, and in the absence of a direct command to celebrate or convene on them, it seems right to mark them by paying attention to their coming and going, at the very least.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons
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