Which day is the conjunction?
Yahweh forbids us in Deut 4:19 to look up at the Sun and the Moon and stars and to worship them. This, among many other reasons, I believe the scriptural way to begin the new month is by the conjunction of the moon, instead of visual observance of a crescent moon. So the next question would be when do we calculate the beginning of the new month, on the day of conjunction or the following sunset? I believe this paper will answer that question.
First of all let’ s define what a conjunction is. According to the encyclopedia Britannia in astronomy, a conjunction is an apparent meeting or passing of two or more celestial bodies at the same celestial longitude. The Moon is in conjunction with the Sun at the phase of New Moon, when it moves between the Earth and Sun and the side turned toward the Earth is dark.
There are several fallacies connected with the conjunction. One is that it happens at the same time all over the earth. It is because of this false belief that some keep the new moon on the day of conjunction, starting the evening before, even though this may be up to 23 hours before the actual conjunction, and is still the last day of the old month. Some of these same people will contest that we cannot start the year before the vernal equinox, because you would be starting a new year before the old year is over. Although we also believe that the year cannot start until the changing from winter to summer, this is a total contradiction to starting every new month before the actual conjunction really happens.
The problem is with some people's flawed definition of what a conjunction is. Basically from the above definition we see that a conjunction is basically an eclipse of the moon due to it lining up between the earth and sun, and causing one side to be basically dark. Because the rotation of the moon is elliptical and not circular, the moon is actually never 100% dark, but still cannot be seen with the naked eye. Logic will tell you that if an eclipse is happening in Japan it cannot be happening on the other side of the globe in New York at the same time. So although the New moon conjunction happens at only one moment in time roughly each 29 and V2 days, it does not occur at every place on earth. By the very definition of a conjunction the celestial bodies (in this case the moon, sun and earth) must be in the same longitude. When the moon has conjunction with the earth at Rosh Chodesh, the whole earth is not in the same longitude, only the area where the conjunction occurs. So conjunction DOES NOT happen in every place all over the earth, at the same time, although it does happen at only one moment of time roughly every 29 1/2 days. Just go to a conjunction website, and look at a picture of a conjunction from any given month and you will see this is plainly correct.
So the conjunction would happen at one spot on earth which would trigger the new moon or month in that area where sunset would just be occurring, then just like we do each week with the Sabbath we would wait, according to where we are on the earth for the earth to rotate on if s axis, and the new month to come to us when ever it would be sunset in our given area. We do not start the Sabbath at 12:00 noon in New York because it is sunset in Jerusalem, so why would we start the new month in some cases 23 hours or more before the old month has ended because a sunset or conjunction has occurred across the world somewhere?
The next false assumption for some to start the month on the day of conjunction, instead of waiting for the next sunset, is that some have said that you celebrate your anniversary on the day of your anniversary, not the next day. On the surface this sounds logical, but again if my anniversary were March 1,1 am not going to start to celebrate my anniversary on February 28 because it has already turned to March 1 in Israel. By waiting till sunset in your given area after a conjunction has happened somewhere on earth, is not starting your month late. The month started wherever the conjunction occurred on earth, and you are simply waiting for the earth to rotate and sunset and the new month to come to you, just as we do each and every Sabbath.
Let us go back to creation and make this matter even simpler to understand. Most will agree that scripture indicates that before the flood of Noah there were 12, 30 day months in each year.
Gen 7:110- In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month,
Gen 7:24 and the waters are mighty on the earth a hundred and fifty days. Gen 8?4 And the ark rested, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, on mountains of Ararat;
So we see that at creation there were 12 equal 30 day months. We also know that the sun moon and stars were given to tell the time of the "moedim" or holy or set apart appointments of Yahweh.
Gen 1:14 And Elohim said, *Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years,
The word for seasons is "moedim", which are the holy days of Leviticus 23. Also, we know the Holy days were not commanded to Israel in the wilderness, but when they would enter the land of Israel they were to keep these days.
Lev 23:9 And Yahweh spoke unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:10 ^Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, When ye come in unto the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have brought in the sheaf, the beginning of your harvest unto the priest,
So we see that the command to keep these holy days was to be from Israel, and particularly from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also called the center of the earth. So it would stand to reason that before the flood when there were 12, 30 day months that the conjunction would have happened exactly at sunset in Jerusalem, the center of the earth, each and every month. With that being the case, then it would stand to reason that if you were living in New York at this time, then when sunset and the New Month began in Jerusalem and it was only 12 noon in NY, you would not have started your new month 18 hours before on the preceding day, but would have waited 7 hours after sunset in Jerusalem, until it was sunset in NY and your month began. This is only logical and how we observe each and every Sabbath, waiting for the day to come to us, so why should we create a new rule that does not exist for the new month?
Let us also shed a little more light on the subject (no pun intended) to make it clearer. Most will agree that at creation there were 12, 30 day months as we proved from the book of Genesis. So what caused the moons rotation to change to make it only a 29 ¥2 day rotation? Well, recently science now acclaims that this change happened somewhere around 700 BC. That is very interesting. What happened around 700BC that could have changed the course of the celestial bodies? The answer is, that is the time when Hezekiah asked Yahweh to move the sundial back 10 degree's.
Isa 38:7 And this is to thee the sign from Yahweh, that Yahweh does this thing that He has spoken.
Lo, I am bringing back the shadow of the degrees that it hath gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, by the sun, backward ten degrees:' and the sun turned back ten degrees in the degrees that it had gone down.
If even science has scientific proof that this is the time frame that the celestial bodies changed there course I see no reason not to believe that this was the event that did it.
But something else happened at around the time of 700BC that would also play a part in the calendar change. Remember how we just went over that the Holy Days were given to the nation of Israel for when they entered the land of Israel. Yahweh also commanded them that they must come up to Jerusalem and only Jerusalem for these days.
16:16 "Three times in a year doth every one of thy males appear before Yahweh thy Elohim in the place which He doth choose—in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths; and they do not appear before Yahweh empty;
That is why it stands to reason that conjunction and sunset would have happened at Jerusalem each and every month when there were 12, 30 day months, since the whole reason for creating these heavenly bodies was to show Israel the appointed times in Jerusalem.
Now, not only did Yahweh take back the sun dial for Hezekiah around 700BC, but something else major happened in the history of Israel. In 723-22 BC Israel went into captivity to Assyria and the four corners of the earth.
One of the major punishments of this Diaspora was that they would no longer be able to keep the Holy Days in Jerusalem. Conjunction happened each month at Jerusalem to start the month and show where Yahweh's covenant people were. Isn't it interesting that since about 700BC, now no longer does conjunction and sunset happen each month at Jerusalem, but somewhere different each month all over the earth. It is never in the same place two months in a row, but as the rotation of the celestial bodies moves so does the location of conjunction and sunset.
If the conjunction was placed in Jerusalem, the center of the earth before Israel's captivity it can't be a co-incidence that after their captivity it has been moved to different places all over the earth every month. If conjunction in Jerusalem each month was to show where Yahweh's covenant people were, than by having conjunction somewhere different each month it shows that Israel's Diaspora is all over the globe, which history proves to be correct.
I believe that these facts cannot be overlooked. Before 700BC, if you lived in North America and observed the New moon, you would have waited until the conjunction in Jerusalem and then some 7 hours later at sunset in your local area you would have started your new month, not some 18 hours before the conjunction would have even happened.
One more point for major consideration on this subject. When I was studying the whole issue of the new moon by conjunction or visual observance, I went to one scripture that clearly tells us when the new moon is.
Psa 8113 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day
Now some have tried to say this is only talking about the feast of Trumpets, but we have went to several linguistic scholars in Israel asking then for the true definition of "Kehseh" being rendered full moon, and in every case we have been told the definition means full moon and not covered moon. We have also been told by experts from Israel, that this psalm is written in Hebrew poetic syntax style, meaning opposites, such as black white, male female. So the opposite of the new moon would be the full moon. Also, we are told that the word used for feast in ps81:3 "hag" is only used in Hebrew to refer to the three pilgrim feasts of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkoth, so again this verse could not be referring only to the feast of Trumpets. This verse dogmatically proved to me that the new month starts by conjunction and Not visual sighting, because if it is written in opposites, then the opposite of the full moon would have to be conjunction. Just think about that symmetrically for a moment. If the moon is nothing more than a clock in the sky then a quarter moon would have to be a quarter and a full moon would have to be half month, and what is the opposite of a full moon? Conjunction!
If you had a full apple pie on your table, what would be the opposite of that full pie? The answer is No pie. The only problem being when you calculate the new moon up to 23 hours early calculating by the day of conjunction and not waiting till sunset after conjunction, when the earth rotates and the month comes to you, you will never have your Holy day hag or feast of Sukkoth on the full moon. Go to a computer program and check this out for yourself. The only way to assure your feast always falls on the full moon is to calculate your month by conjunction, waiting till sunset in your area after the conjunction occurs. If you start the new month early on the day of conjunction before the new moon comes to the area that you live, you will always start your month early and never have your holy day hag on the full moon. Going by visual sighting almost never has their holy day fall on the full moon. The only way to assure your holy day always will fall on the new moon is to wait for the conjunction eclipse to happen and then let the earth rotate to you, and at sunset your new month would begin. As with the Sabbath, within 24 hours of conjunction the earth would have done a full rotation on its axis and the new month would have started all over the globe.
Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem Pox 832 Carteret NJ 07008