Sunday, September 27, 2015

Possible Psalm 81 Retraction

In my main Seventh Trumpet post I had cited Psalm 81 as evidence for affiliating Yom Teruah with Trumpet sounding.  And my overall point in that post remains regardless of the relevance of this Psalm.  But it turns out there are possible translation issues with that verse.

I had cited the KJV rendering, as is usually my default, of verse 3.
Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
Yom Teruah is the only day that is both a New Moon and one of the Leviticus 23 Feast Days.

There are a few issues I have since discovered.  Which I found looking into why many modern Bibles replace "in the time appointed" with Full Moon.

1. The Hebrew doesn't use the usual Hebrew phrase for Appointed Time, Mowed, but rather Keceh, which the Strongs says means full or fullness.

2. The usual word for the "new" part of New Moon, Rosh, isn't the Hebrew in the verse.  Just the word Codesh which is affiliated with the Moon as well as with Months.  But not the standard Hebrew word for Moon which is Yerah.

3. The reference to "solem feast day" isn't Mowed either, but chag, which unlike other words translated Feast is assumed to specifically mean a feast or festival.  I've been told recently that only the pilgrimage days are feasts/festivals.  Two of those happen on or right after Full Moons, and none on a New Moon.

According to Numbers 10 the Silver Trumpets are sounded on all the Appointed Times.  The Hebrew here references the Shofar however.  It's possible the types of Trumpets are not meant to be as distinguished from others as some insist they should be.

Modern Bibles are clearly wrong to reference the New and Full Moon both, this is a single day being refereed to according to the grammar.  If it's a Solemn Feast Day that's Full Moon linked, it's either Passover of Tabernacles.

The word in question for "fullness" is only used once elsewhere in Scripture.  Proverbs 7:20.  There again the KJV renders it Appointed.
He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
Other translations also say "full moon" instead of "day appointed' here.

It is strong number 3677, but it's root is 3680.  That word is taken as meaning things like cover, hide, conceal.  So that sounds more like the New Moon or a solar Eclipse (the eve of the Hebrew New Moon which is the crescent) were the Moon isn't visible at all.

Numbers 10 does say to sound the Silver Trumpets on all the Holy Days, but it's usually only Yom Teruah (or Yom Kippur but only for the Jubilee) specifically associated with Trumpets.  Especially the Shofar.

I still think my original view on this may be right, but that makes those who insist Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are not Feasts mistaken.  Solomon's 14 day Festival went through Yom Kippur, which doesn't work if Yom Kippur is a Fast Day as tradition as convinced people.

The Septuagint agrees with the KJV on this verse, I have major issues with the Septuagint, but those come down to how it's used against the KJV, and the Masoretic text in general, here I'm simply wondering how to interpret what the Masoretic text says.  And I do think now the KJV and LXX are both mistaken in exactly how to express the verse, but possibly closer to the correct intent then the Full Moon view.

Thing is this would be the only verse in The Bible making the Full Moon significant, (with only one other mentioning it at all, based on the same word).  Certain Feast Days happen to occur near the Full Moon, but it's how long after the New Moon they are counted.  And saying the 15th of each month is the Full Moon is a mistake based on a wrong understanding of the Biblical New Moon.  The Full Moon is actually the 14th more often then not.

I always find it significant when God does the opposite of The Pagans.  The Full Moon is constantly significant to Pagans, but The Bible seems to be more focused on New Moons.

This PDF argued in-favor of the Full Moon interpretation.  But in doing so reveals how that interpretation has it's roots in the opinions of the Pharasitic Rabbis of the first and second centuries, who went on to influence Jerome.  I give Jerome credit for being the first "Church Father" to use Hebrew rather then the Septuagint for the Old Testament, but he should have sought his advice from Kariates rather then Rabbis.

And that PDF's argument against the "covering" interpretation seems overly technical for a word that is used only twice.

My hunch now is that this refers to when the Moon comes out of hiding, the Biblical New Moon.

This is an issue I'm gonna to dig deeper on.

On a side note, tonight is the Blood Moon (but in Kariate Biblical reckoning it's not Tabernacles after all, Tabernacles starts tomorrow night).  Here is Chris White's refutation of that again.
He could have added that it's barely visible in Israel, this last one being the only one visible there at all.

I'm gonna put Rob Skiba's recent longer video here too, though he says plenty I don't agree with (like on the Flat Earth).

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