Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
A note about the beginning of the month: The astronomical "new moon" is when the moon is completely invisible to the naked eye. The Biblical new moon is when the first sliver of a visible crescent is sited (nobody had high powered telescopes back in Bible days or computers to plot the exact course of the moon). If a regular calendar has the new moon marked, the visible new moon will usually be 1-3 days later. The cool thing about modern astronomy is we can identify when the visible new moon should be seen (unless the weather interferes, clouds etc).
Personally, we actually try to sight the new moon in the seventh month (Day of Trumpets) because it provides some built in uncertainty about the actual day ("maybe today, maybe tomorrow? Maybe the next day?") which I think is in keeping with the purpose and symbolism of the Day. It heralds the upcoming Atonement Day (a type of Judgment day) and thus it maintains the Biblical uncertainty of the "exact day and hour" for Judgment. It helps maintain the "looking forward to and expectation of and being ready for" the final disposition of things. |
By way of explanation, I view holy days as a teaching method. They are designed to teach us things as we reflect on "why is this done?" The important thing is to learn by doing, and as learning is always a progression, one can expect to "make lots of mistakes" in the beginning. But it's all good, because Jesus is our Teacher and we are His students and we are learning as we go. He isn't a mean headmaster with rod of correction just waiting for an opportunity to smack our knuckles when we hit the wrong note on the piano.
It's like teaching a baby to walk. The parent is overjoyed at each successful step the baby takes. If the baby falls, the parent helps the baby back up. The whole process - the successes, and the "fails" - are all part of the joy of learning and growing. God is our Father, and we are His children, literally.