Now when you start to do this research, you will have to chose down the line. And your only choice will be Full Moon or No Moon. Period. No two ways about it. Now the question on all believers lips should be when does the Biblical Month start? Now we will be the first ones to admit for a time we read Scripture as telling us the Month would restart every No Moon (when the Moon was the Smallest or its darkest). However, Scripture and Old African customs (with sources like Enoch and our Calendar articles) clearly states that the Full Moon, at it s brightest ! was and is the true marker of when a Month starts a fresh. If you think about it, the only real way of knowing when the months starts as you cannot start with a none showing day. Only by starting with the FULL MOON can you safely count your Seven Days for each and every Sabbath until the New Moon festival and the Moon is full again. So in short, the New Moon means the same as the Full Moon in Scripture, without this knowledge you will be keeping 40% or even less of the Sabbaths, using the New Moon wrong as a starter of the month. You will only be half way there, so to speak.
This is what Scripture says in Psalm 81,1-5:
1 "Sing for joy to SoNiNi our strength; shout aloud to the Mighty One of Jacob! 2 Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, when the Moon is Full, on the day of our festival; 4 this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 5 When SoNiNi went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph."
Now, thats all you need to read from this article. You can look the other way or just browse quickly through all the following sources and information. All you will ever need in this search for truth is the knowledge that it is the Full Moon that starts the month. THEN and only then can you start reading the heavens yourself. However if you feel the need and appreciate some digging, perhaps equipping yourself with arguments for those that seek to take knowledge of the Sabbath away from you. People will do this out of Jealousy or scorn of soul. Now if you want some tools to protect from ignorance then bless you, read on, learn and enjoy.
So then, let us look and learn about at the phases of the Moon, there are indeed 4 of them in which 3 are visible in the sky, just have a look up in the sky forget about what people tell you and think.
There is a dark phase which is very difficult for anyone following the 7 day Sabbath to account for unless you just call them No Moon days or darkened days. However if you start the Month with the Full Moon and the Full Moon Festivals being the number of days the Moon is glowing (1 or two days), you don`t get problems like that. You get 1 or 2 Illuminated days (Full Moon days) in a month cycle of 28 days. Not rocket science ;-)
The Sun will tell us when a day starts, and the moon will tell what day it is with the Full Moon being day number One. Now in the calendar found at www.worldslastchance.com that we have advocated using as a guide, you find these mysterious dark days when the calendar resets. In this line of thinking you need several New Moon days (days without light), at every month reset. the question is how can you find these so-called New Moon Days without counting Seven from the previous Sabbath. You cannot, meaning you need to know the that the seventh day before was the Sabbath. By using the day when the moon is less (almost gone) as the marker, you will miss the Sabbath except when the Full Moon comes (the True New Moon in the Bible) you will be following and keeping the Sabbath. Meaning you will be keep about half (or even less) every year if you use this method.
You can use Chapter 73 of Enoch to help you gain understanding:
1 "And after this law I saw another law dealing with the smaller luminary, which is named the Moon. And her circumference is like the circumference of the heaven, and her chariot in which she rides is driven by the wind, and light is given to her in (definite) measure. And her rising and setting change every month: and her days are like the days of the sun, and when her light is uniform (i.e. full) it amounts to the seventh part of the light of the sun. And thus she rises. And her first phase in the east comes forth on the thirtieth morning: and on that day she becomes visible, and constitutes for you the first phase of the moon on the thirtieth day together with the sun in the portal where the sun rises. And the one half of her goes forth by a seventh part, and her whole circumference is empty, without light, with the exception of one-seventh part of it, (and) the 6 fourteenth part of her light. And when she receives one-seventh part of the half of her light, her light 7 amounts to one-seventh part and the half thereof. And she sets with the sun, and when the sun rises the moon rises with him and receives the half of one part of light, and in that night in the beginning of her morning [in the commencement of the lunar day] the moon sets with the sun, and 8 is invisible that night with the fourteen parts and the half of one of them. And she rises on that day with exactly a seventh part, and comes forth and recedes from the rising of the sun, and in her remaining days she becomes bright in the (remaining) thirteen parts."
The language is more clear in Chapter 78:
"During all the period during which the moon is growing in her light, she is transferring it to herself when opposite to the sun during fourteen days [her light is accomplished in the heaven, and when she is illumined throughout, her light is accomplished full in the heaven. And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her. She becomes full moon exactly on the day when the sun sets in the west, and from the east she rises at night, and the moon shines the whole night through till the sun rises over against her and the moon is seen over against the sun. On the side whence the light of the moon comes forth, there again she wanes till all the light vanishes and all the days of the month are at an end, and her circumference is empty, void of 5 light. And three months she makes of thirty days, and at her time she makes three months of twenty- nine days each, in which she accomplishes her waning in the first period of time, and in the first 6 portal for one hundred and seventy-seven days. And in the time of her going out she appears for three months (of) thirty days each, and for three months she appears (of) twenty-nine each. At night she appears like a man for twenty days each time, and by day she appears like the heaven, and there is nothing else in her save her light."
We just did a separate post on the Book of Enoch, now parts of it is rather controversial and may have been added to at some point. But whatever remains as inspired, as we have proven that Immanuel (Christ) did quote from some parts of this book, and there certainly is a reason why it has survived for us in these last days. Enoch is perfectly clear, just like in the Psalms, people that defend a calendar using the lesser moon will often site Greek or other sources as being more trustworthy than Scripture.
Lets invite some later Greek sources which people that go against their Bible will freely quote. Ladies and gentlemen we have Philo of Alexandria, he did follow a calendar most likely a lunar-solar like the Hebrews, however the later Greeks observations may have been what we are left with today. Moving away from Enoch and introducing other things, other nature observations, other laws and another Gospel. Now Philos academic tag is a "Hellenistic Jew" who spent much of his life trying to bridge Greek philosophy with Hebrew thought, was a delegate chosen much like Pontius Pilate, to represent Israel before Rome. You see here, there are conflicts of interest already.
This is what he said about the lunar intervals in Special Laws I (Philo, 35:178)
“…there is one principle of reason by which the moon waxes and wanes in equal intervals, both as it increases and diminishes in illumination; the seven lambs because it receives the perfect shapes in periods of seven days—the half-moon in the first seven day period after its conjunction with the sun, full moon in the second; and when it makes its return again, the first is to half-moon, then it ceases at its conjunction with the sun.”
We see here clearly another calendar described, with full moon on the end of the 14th day, rather that on the 30th day according to Enoch and the Bible. Correctly Philo describes the quarter phases, not hard to do, and then starts to quote Scripture as for offerings being done on the tenth day.
Philo in On Mating with the Preliminary Studies, (Philo, XIX:102):
“For it is said in the Scripture: On the tenth day of this month let each of them take a sheep according to his house; in order that from the tenth, there may be consecrated to the tenth, that is to Elohim, the sacrifices which have been preserved in the soul, which is illuminated in two portions out of the three, until it is entirely changed in every part, and becomes a heavenly brilliancy like a full moon, at the height of its increase at the end of the second week”.
Philo says the full moon is in the middle of the month at the end of the second week, like all Greeks had their own customs and calendars, this might be a defining time and might be close to a schism (a before Bantu Calendar and after) as Philos writings are clear enough (Philo, Special Laws I, 35:551)
“On the fifteenth day, at full moon, the feast which is called “the feast of booths” is celebrated…”
Now Philo continues in his writings, and goes against Scripture as we have seen, saying that there will be no darkness on the 15th of each month and being clear that the Full Moon was in the Middle of the Month. Seems like the Greeks had their own way of telling the Months of the year altogether. Just ask yourself how difficult it is to find these darkest of days that is supposed to give you the first day of the Month, you need to know the previous Sabbath to do so. With the Full Moon as the New Moon you can start the month with ease and count to Seven to find the Sabbath.
Alright then lets get out the Bible and really get to grips with this, and not Greek historians or hear say, but what does SoNiNi say. Leviticus 23 lays out these Festivals vey clear, using the Full Moon as the start of the Month, guess what it still makes sense with a weekly Sabbath, Full Moon celebrations then will often fall on the day after the Sabbath, and the seventh Full Moon Festival which is The Feast of Trumpets. And at the beginning of every month one is supposed to sound the trumpet right (Number 10,10 & Leviticus 23,24).
23 SoNiNi said to Moses, 24 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet noise. 25 Do no regular work, but present a food offering to SoNiNi.’”
Now if we get into Hebrew etymology, as we often refrain from on this site because Hebrew is a carrier language. If you then start to down the Rabbit hole of interpreting what the Hebrew words really meant and so forth, it may become futile and its easier to translate directly from Xhosa or Zulu Bibles to draw out idioms or fuller meanings on account of English being so widely spoken today, we can get more meaning doing a direct Bantu to English translation. Now ancient Hebrew was meant to be read and understood as an African language. The way Hebrew is read and understood today is as a close relative to Arabic or old Ethiopian, which is not original, therefore confusion will only occur by going into modern Hebrew. The Devil had many years setting up the Scribes of Tiberias, and over the years taught them how to read Hebrew alphabet as an Eastern Arabic dialect like Swahili or even closer to Babylonian (even Ge'ez and Ethiopian). Thus deserves its own post for the future and we will try, however great pieces of history are missing for us to convey this accurately. Perhaps at a future date we will be able to do so. Now if you read Hebrew creatively you can make serious arguments for what New Moon (chag) was not the Full Moon, but you also make serious arguments for the opposite.
Lets just go Back to our Bible were it says in Ezekiel 46,1 as written on the entrance to a temple built to SoNiNi:
“This is what the Sovereign SoNiNi says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened."
If this means the day of the small Moon, how are you going to find the day when the Moon is at its smallest? It cannot be determined by any other measure than when the Moon was full the last time last. A Lesser Moon is not know until a slither starts to show.
We can read furthermore in Amos 8,4-5:
"4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying,
“When will the Full Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?” skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat."
Now if this was talking about dark days, no Moon days, how would they know what days these were? It was the illuminated days that was the holy days in ancient Israel.
Isaiah 66,23 says:
"23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says SoNiNi."
Ask yourself this, HOW WILL YOU RECOGNISE THE DAY OF THE NEW MOON, either dark or illuminated days, When you cannot see anything in the sky to confirm? You will be in darkness... More in II Kings 4,22-23:
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.” 23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” “That’s all right,” she said.
Now we must assume here that they are talking about the Full Moon, which they could confirm in the Sky as a set apart time of illuminated light.
For the longest time people lived and breathed by the Signs and the Times written in the Sky in Africa, the stars used to be known in ancient times. They did not have an app on their phone telling them when the moons was 100% or 95%. They told time differently.
Now Look at Genesis 7,11:
"11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."
More in Joshua 4,19 talking about the same thing:
"19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho."
Now from both these verses translates it as being the 17th day of illumination or 10th day from the month starts. Without the start of the month you will not find the Sabbath of SoNiNi. Read it as the day of the Full Moon, or the 17th day from the last Full Moon, being the all telling marker in the sky.
Remember the evidence in Psalms 81,3-4:
"Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, when the moon is full, on the day of our festival; 4 this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 5 When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph."
Blow the trumpet on the first day of the Month, being a Full Moon and also blow the trumpet on the day of our Festival. It does not say that these two days are the same.
Now Scriptures to confirm Numbers 9,1-14 (below):
" 1 SoNiNi spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said, 2 “Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. 3 Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.”
When did they leave Egypt? Numbers 33,3:
"And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians."
This is when the Israelites left Egypt on the 14th day, at twilight (meaning there was little to no light?) Psalms tells us when the festival should be held, but does it say that Israel was delivered on the night of the Full Moon? No it does not, it tells us when to sound the Horn (on The Full Moon), the festival is still to be kept on the 14th day of the month.
Deuteronomy 16, 1-8, below:
"1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of SoNiNi na NiNi, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.
If we go deeper into Numbers 33,3 (like we see from above) The Bantus were delivered from Rameses on the 15ht day of the First Month. Meaning that night there was not a Full Moon to be seen, but a celebration of the Festival at the 14th day, and then they left Egypt.
Considering these verses, its hard to come to any other conclusion that the New Moon is indeed the very same as the Full Moon in the Scriptures. So therefore we can give great trust into SoNiNis creation and a statement like, the sun tells you when a day begins, but the moon will tell you what day of the week, what month it is and what time of year it is.
If we go to our Bibles we can find in 1 Samuel 20 (yes read the whole thing) and furthermore in Acts 20,5-7. We find two verses here saying that the New Moon Celebrations (being the Full Moon celebrations), being the time when the Moon was at its fullest and brightest, if you place them up against the Festival they had went to according to Acts.
Ok then, and we fell like we are beating a dead horse here, but for arguments sake lets do some more Scriptures.
Numbers 10,10:
10 Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am SoNiNi naNiNi.”
So you are telling me that the New Moon feasts was done in darkness of the night? And stopping as soon as they saw a slither in the sky when they could buy and sell again? That does not make sense. There would be a brighter light to tell them when to stop selling and buying.
What about Samuel 20 verse 5, then verse 18 then 24 ? Or Numbers 10,10 above. Or what about II Kings 4,23?
You see you will not be able to fit a normal calendar into any of this, nor will you be able to start your month without a clear sign of a full moon in the sky. Even the Babylonians did recognise time using the moon, HOWEVER, they did use a No-moon sighting (small slither) to star the month. Unlike the Hebrews. In the Babylonian model, from the first visible crescent of the moon, it was the first day of the week for them. So the Babylonian moon based calendar is all over the place, and it would make sense to a Babylonian but not to a Hebrew (Bantu).
Lets recap then, The Sabbath is obviously regulated by the moon and its cycles. All the Sabbaths are consistently announced by these cycles, and the month starts with the sighting of the New Moon (which we believe is the Full Moon). Each cycles of the moon and the shape it has, will tell you the time of the month, and the time of the year (more on that in another post on The Bantu Calendar to come).
We only need to read Genesis 1,14 to see this. Lets stop worshipping the idols that demand we dont rest on SoNiNis day, or deem it to be a special day every week. It is meant as a day of joy and rest, in praise and song we will come before Him on this day. Think about what Isaiah was talking about in these verses Isaiah 58,13:
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and SoNiNi’s holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in SoNiNi, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of SoNiNi has spoken.
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