Why Chodesh is Important to Christians
The Importance of the New Moon worship day to Christians
Here are some reasons why Chodesh is important to Christians.
Of the creation of this world we are told:
And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,
and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.
And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth,
to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:14-18.
Thou hast made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
Psalm 104:19.
You created the moon to mark the months; the sun knows the time to set.
Psalm 104:19 Good News Bible.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.
And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
Genesis 2:1,2 NRSV.
It would seem that the moon was set in motion at the creation of this
world to mark seasons, or as the Good News Bible states, months. So
from Genesis we have definite time periods mentioned: the day, the
Bible month relating to the moon, years relating again to the sun,
and of course the week. The week is clearly outlined in the creation
of this world. God finished His work of creation on the seventh day and rested
and this of course gives us the first week. The day of course is the period of time it takes the
earth to complete one rotation which we could define for example as from say mid-day to
mid-day. The Bible definition is of course from sunset to sunset but you get
the idea. The period defined as 24 hours is from one point of any day
to the next same point the following day.
It may come as a surprise to many Christians that the Bible month is not
the same as the calendar month that we are familiar with.
The Bible month is actually lunar based the length of which is
clearly from one phase of the moon to the same phase the next
cycle. And the Bible definition is from New Moon to New Moon. See Isaiah 66:23.
The Bible month actually starts with the New Moon worship day.
That's chodesh. So you can't have these months without chodesh. So no
chodesh, no Bible month.