Although the proportions above are incorrect, the image above shows that at the conjunction the sun, moon and earth look like they are on a geometric line with their centers pierced. They are all on the same longitude and we are ignoring the latitude. In reality, at the time of the new moon the centers of the sun, moon and earth come into near alignment but not so every month otherwise we would have an eclipse each month. The new moon is thus the point of nearest alignment. The time of the conjunction is a precise time everywhere on the planet, according to our local time zone. Therefore, it will be in a two day period using local time. This is the reason that the day which is set apart or made Holy is the day during which time this event happens within Jerusalem’s time frame. Philo of Alexandria [tr. by F H Colson (Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, 1937); The Special Laws, II, XI,41] writes: The third [feast] is the new moon which follows the conjunction of the moon with the sun. And in II, XXVI,140: This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month, namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in the astronomical schools. It should be noted that the popular Hendrickson Publisher’s edition (1993), of C D Jonge’s 1854 translation, does not have the same information that the Colson translation gives. Philo was a Jewish historian who was writing at the time of Christ. As we can see, the conjunctions were declared to be the determining factors in deciding the first day of the month, and not the crescent moon. Note that at the time of Christ this length of time was being accurately calculated in the astronomical schools.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 01:04:17 +0000