130 Hutton Webster 



sion was otherwise festively celebrated.-^ Such rites must have 

 descended from Semitic antiquity since the ritual expressions 

 hallala, ahalla (Heb. hilal) are etymologically explained by hilal, 

 " new moon " or " crescent." 



The festival of new moon-^ described in the Old Testament 

 must belong to a very early period in Hebrew history, and as it 

 may be celebrated as well by nomads as by agriculturists there is 

 no difficulty in regarding it as antedating the permanent settle- 

 ment in Canaan. The Hebrew month, as among other peoples 

 who count by lunations (supra), began when the silvery crescent 

 was first discerned in the evening twilight. In later Judaism 

 as soon as the moon's appearance was proved by credible wit- 

 nesses before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, the feast of the new 

 moon was solemnized and messengers were sent abroad to an- 

 nounce the opening of the new month.-* As early as the reign 

 of Saul there is explicit evidence that the first day of the month 

 was regarded as a period of exceptional importance when, ap- 

 parently, all servile work was forbidden.-^ In the age of Elisha 



^Ginzel, in Klio, 1901, i. 15, referring to the Fihrist. The Harranians 

 had four sacrificial days in every month, and of these, at least two were 

 determined by the conjunction and opposition of the moon. 



^ Nowack, op. cii., ii. 138 sq.; Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 112 sqq.; 

 Benzinger, "New Moon," in Encyclopaedia Bihlica, iii. cols. 3401 sqq.; 

 Abrahams, " New Moon," Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, iii. 521- 

 23 ; Kohler, " New Moon," Jewish Encyclopedia, ix. 243 sq. 



^ Nowack, op. cit., ii. 140; Schiaparelli, op. cit., pp. 92, 102 sqq.; E. 

 Schiirer, History of the Jeunsh People in the Time of Christ, div. i. vol. 

 i. 366 sq. It is diiificult to assume that the ancient Hebrews had no system 

 for determining the duration of each month and hence that no one knew 

 beforehand whether it was to consist of 29 or 30 days. That the date of 

 the new moon could be known in advance seems to be indicated by an 

 important passage (/ Samuel, xx. 5, 18, 24, 27) where David and Jonathan 

 act on the knowledge that the next day would be the New Moon festival. 

 Though the Old Testament contains no indication of the way of fixing 

 the months it may be conjectured that the Hebrews, like some primitive 

 peoples of the present, made allowance for the days of the moon's invisi- 

 bility in a more or less arbitrary fashion (cf. supra). 



^ I Samuel, xx. 5, 18-19, 24, 27. Cf. the Douay version of these pas- 

 sages. 



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