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A  Serious  Appeal  to  Consider  Philo’s  Full  Testimony

Regarding  the  Phases of the Moon  During  the  Month

By Tom & Elisheba Nelson

We are making an appeal to our brothers and sisters who understand Yah’s Sabbath according to the lights in the heavens. We have discovered some things in Philo’s writings regarding the beginning of the month that have caused us to see a different picture than was presented to us by fellow lunar Sabbath keepers.  We would like to submit this information to you, and ask you to prayerfully consider it.

Please take the time to read through this appeal and reexamine the Scriptures and history, so none of us unknowingly misrepresents the true application of Philo’s testimony and the beginning of the month.  We are all claiming Yah’s name as well as supporting the restoration of His true Sabbath.  As such, we are called to represent His ways in all of our timekeeping positions.  All of us quote Philo to support our understanding of when to begin the month.  However, there are several different views among lunar Sabbath keepers about when the month begins. These differing views can cause as much as a three day difference in the time we begin the month, and the days we honor the Sabbath. 

If we claim that Philo supports our view of the way the lunar Sabbath is to be kept, we need to take the big picture of what Philo says regarding the moon’s phases and put it together so it makes sense.   We are bringing this information to your attention because some of us may be unknowingly introducing confusion into our movement because we have focused on only one aspect of Philo’s testimony, and may not be aware that other things he says may contradict our picture of when the month begins.

We are all responsible to properly represent the truth of Yah’s ways.  Most of us feel the weight of that responsibility, and have been amazed and grieved when we learned that we have misrepresented Him in the past.  It would grieve us to learn that we have unknowingly misrepresented Philo’s writings to support a tradition that he wasn’t describing. The world uses quotations out of context to support their suppositions and receive financial gain. We recognize that we have a higher calling than quoting Philo out of context with the rest of his writings on the lunar month and the Sabbath to support a tradition that the big picture of his writings does not present.  Please weigh the big picture of Philo’s writings carefully with whatever traditions you might presently believe to be Scriptural and verified by your traditional understanding of how the month begins.

Let us begin with the New Moon Day.  Philo’s quotation below is used by those who look for the observable crescent, and disregarded or explained away by those who use the conjunction method.  Let us note carefully what was said in this quote.  This will help us discern the difference between what we think it says that apparently supports the Karaite position, and what it actually says in its context.

The  New  Moon  Festival

“Following the order which we have adopted, we proceed to speak of the third festival, that of the new moon.  First of all, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning, whether of number or of time, is honorable.  Secondly, because at this time there is nothing in the whole of heaven destitute of light.  Thirdly, because at that period the more powerful and important body gives a portion of necessary assistance to the less important and weaker body; for, at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders…  The fourth reason is that of all the bodies in the heaven, the moon traverses the zodiac in the least appointed time: it accomplishes its orbit in a monthly interval.  For this reason the law has honored the end of its orbit, the point when the moon has finished at the beginning point from which it began to travel, by having called that day a feast so that it might again teach us an excellent lesson that in the affairs of life we should make the ends harmonious with the beginnings.”  Philo, Special Laws II.XXVI (140-142)

Philo states above that light is put into the moon on the first day of the month.  At this time, ‘there is nothing in the heavens that is destitute of light.  The sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders.  The chart below appears to explain Philo’s position shown in the above quotation.

If the above chart shows your understanding of when the month begins, we invite you to continue reading.  At the present time, it may not make sense to you that someone else could understand Philo’s quotation above as supporting any other position the one you hold.

We would like to show you more of Philo’s writings which appear to support other positions that your lunar Sabbath brothers and sisters in this movement espouse. This may help you understand why, when the evidence seems to be so clear to you, other people may have different understandings of when the month begins that are also supported by Philo’s writings.  We will then show you how Philo’s quotations fit together for the big picture of what his testimony about the moon’s illumination during certain times of the month is actually showing.

We understand how those who believe that the day begins in the evening could use this explanation to support their position. This is the only possible way to understand it when we look at it through the eyes of the traditional evening to evening day.  However, the above passage does not support the Karaite position of those who find the Scriptural precedent to begin their 24-hour day in the morning.  Please note carefully:  Philo says that ‘the day the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light that is visible…then she displays her own beauty,’ is the new moon feast.  The feast is not the day before, when it the moon is still dark, like the evening to evening conjunction position requires. Nor does it say that ‘this [visible] light’ announces that the next day is the new moon feast.

Our brothers and sisters of the Karaite persuasion who understand and teach that the Scriptural day begins in the morning have no reasonable support in Philo’s quotation above for beginning the month on the day after the moon is seen.  That isn’t what Philo says.  His statement can only be understood one way.  ‘The day the moon is illuminated… and then can be seen’ is the first day of the month.

When we have been caught up in any traditional mindset that our Heavenly Father has lit up for us afterward, we can understand the experience of looking right at something, and reading into it what supported our earlier understanding.  We can look at the same thing now, and recognize that it doesn’t say what we thought it meant.

Everyone in this movement has learned that our traditional understanding of Saturday as the seventh-day Sabbath on the Gregorian calendar is not the way it has always been.  After Yah has opened up the truth to us, we look at the evidence again and wonder how we ever could have misunderstood something that was so plain. This is why we are put together in our Messiah’s body.  We are challenging one another to study for ourselves, and examine everything we have always thought in the light of Yah’s Word, and the witnesses of history around it.

Reconsideration

If the above quotation was all that Philo wrote on the issue of the moon’s phases during the month, quoting him for the Karaite tradition of beginning the month after we have seen the first sliver would seem appropriate. However, Philo says more about the phases of the moon and the dates of the month they represent.

Philo’s quotations on the other phases of the moon may come as a surprise to some of you, but we invite you to carefully observe what is said.  Here we will find a basis for some of the other ideas about the beginning of the month that may not make sense to those of the Karaite persuasion.  We will see that the big picture of Philo’s testimony gives evidence that certain positions held in our Lunar-based Sabbath movement are not actually supported in his writings. 

Some in our Scriptural Sabbath Restoration movement use another historical basis to support the Karaite tradition of waiting to see the first sliver and beginning the month after it is seen.  They say it comes from Babylonian history. Historical documentation from Babylon – or the Sumerians – before the Hebrews became a nation is claimed to be evidence that the Hebrews began their month with the first sliver.

With this claim, it is assumed that Abraham must have honored the method of timekeeping that the Babylonians used, because he was called out of Babylon. However, with this reasoning, we would also have to assume that Abraham brought the pagan planetary week out of Babylon into his worship of Yah. Our Heavenly Father has opened our eyes to this fallacy, and we all recognize it to be a false assumption.  So why would we use this reasoning to support the idea that Abraham and the Hebrews must have waited to see the first sliver before they began their month?

Attached  to  Traditions

When we are attached to the traditions of those we respect as our spiritual fathers or elders, especially when they claim Scriptural support, it may be more difficult for us to consider that they may have been mistaken.  This is why so many of those we love have a hard time with the idea that the Sabbath may not be what their church has taught them to believe.  Timekeeping truths that have been lost sight of since Constantine’s calendar change in Roman history are being restored to this generation.  Yah has opened some of these truths up to all of us.  However, it appears that more information is available to us today than what was available to our spiritual elders during past generations.  We cannot safely assume that the positions of our particular tradition are correct without prayerfully examining what YAH is bringing to our attention through our fellow lunar Sabbath keepers.  He is also calling us to change our traditional position when it doesn’t line up properly with Scriptures and available history.  If we do not, we are rebuked for ‘vain worship,’ and teaching for doctrines the traditions of men (Matthew 15:3,7-9 & Mark 7:9-13).

We do not wish any of our lunar Sabbath keeping family to find themselves under the rebuke of our Messiah for upholding any traditional position that overlooks all of the information available for us through the Scriptures and history today.

Let us now examine Philo’s other writings that might cause us to question the Karaite’s traditional application of his testimony about the new moon day.

Philo’s  Testimony  on  the Sabbath’s  Moon  Phases

Here we note Philo’s testimony about the moon’s phases.  Please observe how they line up with the dates of the month.

“The moon… perfects… in its own configurations on each seventh day…” [Sabbath].  Works of Philo translated by C.D. Yonge Allegorical Interpretation I, IV (8, 9) I VI (16) pp. 25-26

[Philo was writing for a Greek speaking audience that referred to the Sabbath as the seventh day.  If he had been writing for an Aramaic audience, he may have written ‘each Sabbath day’ instead of ‘each seventh day.’]

What does it mean for the moon to perfect in its own configurations on each Sabbath?  Let us look a little further.

“…like a full moon at the height of its increase at the end of the second week…”  Works of Philo, translated by C.D. Yonge, January 2000, On Mating with Preliminary Studies, XIX (102) p.313

[The full moon comes to the height of its increase – or becomes perfectly full – at the end of the second week of the lunar month.]

These quotations put together indicate that the moon ‘perfecting in its own configurations,’ would indicate that the moon was perfectly full by the end of the second week, or the second Sabbath of the month.

To make the moon’s phases easier to picture, we have made a chart showing how the moon’s phases line up with the Sabbaths during the month according to Philo’s testimony.  This is what the moon would look like on each seventh day or Sabbath Day, according to Philo.

More  Testimony  from  Philo

Philo tells us more about the moon’s configuration on the 15^th day of the month.

“And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month, in the middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light, in consequence on the providence of Elohim taking care that there shall be no darkness on that day.” Philo’s Special Laws II, The Fifth Festival, Section XXVIII (155)

As we compare Philo’s quotations with Leviticus 23, they dovetail to verify that the Feast of Unleavened Bread (in the first month), and the Feast of Tabernacles (in the seventh month), began on the day the moon was full. The full moon was the Sabbath at the end of the second week, on the 15^th day of the month.

Please note that this testimony of history lines up with Psalm 81:3, with the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning on the full moon, and the command to blow up the trumpet (Numbers 10:10) on the solemn feast day or chag – which was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread in Psalm 81:3.

The Karaite position says that the word translated ‘appointed time’ or ‘full moon’ in Psalm 81:3 simply isn’t understood. However, it appears that before the destruction of Jerusalem Philo understood the term as the full moon, and wrote very clearly that the 15^th of the month was on the full moon.

Other  Contemporary  History

For the sake of comparison with Philo’s writings, we will look further into history.  The Book of Enoch was quoted in the Scriptures.  Some believe it was written before the flood by the Patriarch Enoch. Others think parts of it were written a couple of hundred years before our Messiah’s lifetime.  The Book of Enoch would be a second witness and clarifier for any questions those of the Karaite tradition might have regarding the phase of the moon on the 15^th of the month before the destruction of Jerusalem.

The  Book  of  Enoch

The language and mathematics in the Book of Enoch, chapter 77, tell us a great deal about the lunar month.  It states that the moon has 28 days of light during some months, and 29 days of light in others.  These are 29 and 30-day lunar months, respectively.

‘Light is put into the moon from the first day of the month until its light is completed,’ or the moon is full ‘on the 15^th day of the month.’ “On the day that the sun sets in the west, and the moon rises during the night in the east, its light is completed.” The moon comes to fullness before it sets on the 14^th, around sunset, and the sun rises on the 15^th day. On this day, ‘its light is completed,’ and the moon is full all of the 15^th day of the month, though it sets before sunrise, and rises full after sunset ‘during the night’ on the 15^th of the month.

Please note that the 15^th day of the month is shown by the portion of light in the moon, and by its position in the sky – it rises during the night after the sun sets.  This fully agrees with Philo’s testimony of the full moon on the 15^th day of the month, and its phases being ‘complete in its own configurations’ on each seventh day or Sabbath.

Which  Way  Is  It?

When we take Philo’s writings and try to understand them from the evening to evening tradition, we have two conflicting ways to begin the month.  This is why we have each tradition among the people in our movement to restore the Scriptural Sabbath.  Although each tradition quotes Philo’s writings to verify their claims, the big picture of his writings does not support either position.

The first way is that we will begin the month during the dark of the moon, and our first day will be the day before the first sliver is sighted.  This way the phases generally line up with the full moon on the 15^th, as Philo testified.

When we take Philo’s testimony regarding the Sabbath phases of the moon during the month, and assume an evening to evening tradition, the chart below shows what the first couple of weeks of each month will often look like.

However, to do this, we must disregard the testimony that ‘the new moon… is the beginning of the month, when the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders…’

The second way is that we will begin the month the evening the first sliver is sighted, and consider that to be the first day of the month.   

The problem with this interpretation is that the full moon, which is supposed to be the 15^th according to Philo, will be on either the 13^th or 14^th of the lunar month.  To start the month after the first sliver is sighted, we must disregard the testimony “And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month, in the middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light….”  This means that the Sabbath does not line up on the 15^th with the full moon, as Philo’s other testimony indicates.

Historical  Evidence

We now have shown clear evidence according to Philo’s testimony that before the destruction of Jerusalem, the children of Judah honored the new moon on the day the first sliver would be seen.  Therefore the new moon day would have to have been called before the first sliver was seen.  Although we tend to think the first sliver had to be seen before the new moon day was called, Philo doesn’t confirm this idea with the full moon on the Sabbath of the 15^th.  With the contemporary information we now have available showing how much light was in the moon on each day of the month, it would have been clear before the previous month was finished which day the next new moon would begin.

Sadly, when we all use Philo out of context to support our particular traditions, many earnest-hearted people in our movement who are convicted to honor Yah’s Shabbat on the lunar/solar calendar aren’t sure what to do.  They know that Yah is not the author of confusion.   Some have gone back to the Hillel II calendar and use that new moon as the anchor point, with the Sabbaths on the 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd and 29^th of their months, just to get some relief from the confusion.  We understand why they might turn away from the apparent confusion.  For the sake of coming out of confusion, we ask all of our brothers and sisters to seriously consider all of what Philo says regarding the way the moon looked at certain times during the month.

The  Mishna’s  Record

The Mishna is the only apparent historical support for the nation of Judah honoring the Karaite tradition, and announcing the new month after the first sliver is seen.  It appears to support the idea that the priesthood used the first sliver to determine when the month would begin before the destruction of Jerusalem.  However, the Jews themselves claim that the Mishna was written down several generations after the destruction of Jerusalem.  Some of the information in the present translations of the Mishna regarding how the month began appears to contradict the testimony of Philo, as shown above.

Some who have looked at the testimony in the Mishna and the Gemara have noted several contradictory ideas attributed to various rabbis regarding the sliver sighting, and when the trumpet should have been blown to announce the beginning of the month. 

This information leaves real questions in some people’s minds about what was actually done regarding the new moon before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the accuracy of that record for us today.

Did the original record of the Mishna confirm the testimony of Philo and earlier historical writings?  or was the original record the same as it is today?  We are not sure what the original record may have stated, and how much was lost over centuries of translation.  The Mishna is presently used to support the idea that the Jews have always honored Saturday as the Sabbath the way they do today. It also indicates that the Jews started their days in the evening before the destruction of Jerusalem and their Sabbaths on Friday evening, as well as waiting to observe the first crescent before beginning the month.  Is this true?

Lunar-based  Sabbath-keeping  Rabbis

Moshe Yoseph Konuichowsky is a Rabbi from the Messianic Jewish background who recently received the truth of the lunar-based Sabbath.  He indicates that the Mishna gives evidence to show the Rabbis were looking for the last sliver on the morning of the 28^th or the 29^th day of the month. If the witnesses were looking for the last sliver, this would give a credible explanation of why the viewers were allowed to travel on the Sabbath to tell about observing the sliver.  If a person saw the last sliver on the preparation day or the morning of the Sabbath, the observer might have had to travel during part of the Sabbath to give their testimony before the end of day, depending upon the weather, and how far they had to go.

Perhaps something has gotten lost over generations of translation and explanation, with later generations of translators trying to make sense out of the earlier records.  The writings would be much more difficult to understand if the interpreters assumed the Mishna was written from the viewpoint of the traditional evening to evening day, the Saturday Sabbath of the Hillel II calendar, and that the Jews were looking for the first sliver.  They may have done their best to make sense of the earlier writings, and add an occasional word to try to clarify what was written while reading their traditions into them.  That may be why it appears the Mishna contradicts the testimony of Scriptures, Philo, and the Book of Enoch.

David Pollina is a Messianic Jewish Rabbi of the Karaite tradition who has been in the Lunar Sabbath movement for many years and has written a couple of books on the subject.  He claims that the original language of the Mishna supports his position of waiting to see the first sliver and beginning the month the next day.  He also claims that the last sliver cannot be seen in the Middle East.

We find the claims of both Rabbis in our movement to be interesting.  However, neither one’s thoughts on the issue influenced our conclusion.  If we felt the need, how could we make a decision between these conflicting positions by two Rabbis from the Messianic Jewish background that claim the Mishna supports the way they see the beginning of the month?

We have been in communication with these brothers, and appreciate their willingness to take a stand for the lunar-based Sabbath, and to share it with others.   However, as much as we might appreciate our any of our brethren in this movement, we cannot accept any doctrine simply because we appreciate the writing style, qualifications or personality of the person presenting it.

We have all been called out of Babylon.  The word Babylon comes from the tower of Babel, which was being built by people who were in rebellion to Yah’s government.  He came down and confounded their languages.  We all have come from religious backgrounds that taught us confusing ideas, including which day is the Sabbath.  All religious groups have elevated the traditions of men above the plain teaching of Yah’s Torah.  Each of us are learning that doctrines we have assumed to be true are not based in a right dividing of the Scriptures.

Before we learned of these two Rabbi’s conflicting positions on the Mishna’s historical claims, we had concluded we must go back further in time than the Mishna for our understanding of Scriptural timekeeping. 

Making  Choices

When we were younger, we may have been swayed by someone’s credentials or personality. Now we study the Word for ourselves and ask our Heavenly Father to teach us what He would have us know about His timekeeping methods.

We realized that we had to choose between eyewitness testimony written before Jerusalem was destroyed, and an oral tradition written down several generations later that appears to contradict both the Scriptures and a complete picture of Philo’s testimony.  When we came to understand Yah’s lunar-based Sabbath, we came out of the traditions of the Saturday Sabbath and the first observable crescent.  As we became aware of Philo’s testimony about the moon’s phases, we began to observe the conjunction method.  A study of the Torah showed us that the Scriptural day began with the light in the morning and ended in the evening, and the 24-hour day begins and ends with the morning or dawn.  When we apply Yah’s Scriptural definitions of ‘day,’ the apparent contradictions in Philo’s testimony are resolved; the first sliver and the moon’s phases line up as he testified.  We pray that this will encourage Yah’s people to examine and put away another tradition of men.  We will share a calendar that ties in the Scriptures and the big picture of Philo’s writings at the end of this appeal.

Please  Reconsider  Your  Positions

Philo is quoted to support various methods of beginning the month in our lunar-based Sabbath movement.  Below is a chart that shows each position.

We have put Philo’s testimony together so the moon phases line up properly with the Scriptures.  Below is a calendar that includes all of the pertinent Scriptural testimony and the big picture of Philo’s historical information with his quotations dovetailing to fit together.  Kindly take the time to examine it, and note the way all of Philo’s observations fit into the month.

YAH’S  ORIGINAL  TIMEPIECE

*MOON  PHASE  CALENDAR

*Yah’s 2^nd definition of a day begins at dawn, and goes through dusk until the next dawn, when the new day and date begin.  This calendar ties in all the testimony of Philo regarding the month beginning the day the moon receives light and is visible, and that the moon is full on the Shabbat on the 15^th of the month.

We would encourage all of our brothers and sisters to be consistent in using Philo as a support for your traditional understanding.  If you are convinced that he is a credible witness, please use his whole testimony regarding the phases of the moon.  Please combine the testimonies that the sliver is seen on the first day of the month, and the full moon is on the Sabbath, the 15^th day of the month.

Dear brothers and sisters, Yah’s Original Timepiece is being restored to our generation.  We have prayerfully considered all of the information available to us at the present time, to share with you how Philo’s various quotations fit together for a big picture that corrects our previously held traditions. If you have found other information that we may have overlooked that could change our conclusions, please let us know.

We pray that all of our brothers and sisters in this lunar-based Sabbath movement will prayerfully consider all the available documentation taken within its context, so none of us will not need to be rebuked in the end for ‘teaching for doctrines the traditions of men,’ or continuing to espouse confusing Babylonian traditions after we have been called out of Babylon. Please feel free to communicate with us.  The contact information is below.

Yah bless you all,

Tom & Elisheba Nelson

PO Box 510

Leslie, Arkansas  [72645]

adventadvance.sgh71@ymail.com

(770) 823-9367

(770) 658-7445

Part of the material shown in this appeal is taken from a book we are writing called Remember the Sabbath Day – On Which Calendar? – Yah’s Original Timepiece Restored.   

About the Writers

We are both lunar-based Sabbath keepers. Tom has been observing the lights in the heavens for more than a decade, and Elisheba has been observing them for several years. We have begun our lunar months according to two incomplete views of Philo’s writings at different times in our experience, before we came to understand the big picture in Philo’s writings.   When our Heavenly Father led us into this study, our research developed a different picture than either earlier view supported.  Our previous pictures of the beginning of the month have been corrected through our study of Yah’s Word and history, as shown in this appeal.