|
The following comes from page 17 of Ralph Marcus’s translation of Philo’s work entitled “Questions
and Answers, Exodus, Book 1”:
9. (Ex. xii. 6a) Why
does He command (them) to keep the sacrifice until the fourteenth (day of the month)?
(Consisting of)
two Sabbaths, it has in its nature a (special) honour because in this time the moon is adorned.
For when it has become full on the fourteenth (day), it becomes full of light in the perception of the people.
And again through (another) fourteen (days) it recedes from its fullness of light to its conjunction,
and it wanes as much in comparison with the preceding "Sabbath" as the second
(waxes) in comparison with the first. For this reason the fourteenth (day) is pre-festive,
as though (it were) a road leading to festive rejoicings, during which it is incumbent upon us to meditate.
The ( ) marks were not mine but was in the translation. Philo compares the two
motions of the moon, the waxing and waning of the moon which takes 14 days of waxing and 14 days of waneing to its conjunction,
which equals 28 days and we know they are approximately 29 and one half days in the month so we know the new moon day was
not counted in counting out these waxing and waning weeks, but if it had been it would be the eighth and 15th spoken of here,
which are the two sabbaths spoken of above.
When
Philo said " For when it has become full on the fourteenth (day), it becomes full of light in the perception
of the people. And again through (another) fourteen (days) it recedes from its fullness of light to its conjunction,
he is counting from after the new moon day because there is only 28 days describe here which proves there was a dark new moon
day that began the month which was not counted in these 28 days.
Now to further prove he did not count the new Moon day when counting
the 2 fourteens of the moon's waxing and waining, besides this is only 28 days, I present Philo's own words where he makes
the same count and will show some of the places where he plainly says the full moon is on the 15th and in turn I will prove
that this 14th that Larry presented is actually the 15th/full moon also.
On the life of MOSES 11 XLI (224)
(224) Accordingly, in this month, about the fourteenth day of the
month, when the orb of the moon is usually about to become full, the public universal feast of the
passover is celebrated,
Philo Judaeus, The Works of Philo,
SPECIAL LAWS. 1 (178) since there are two motions of the moon as it continually runs its double-course-the
motion of waxing until full moon and the motion of waning until its conjunction with the sun; one ram since
there is one principle of reason by which the moon waxes and wanes in equal intervals, both as it increases and diminishes
in illumination; the seven lambs because it receives the perfect shapes in periods of seven days-the half-moon
in the first seven day period "after" its conjunction with the sun, full moon in the second;
and when it makes its return again, the first is to half-moon, then it ceases at its conjunction with the sun.
NOTICE it says 7 days "AFTER" conjunction with
the sun, that would make the 14th day "AFTER" conjunction a full moon and the 15th day of the month counting the
conjunction day/new moon.
(189) On the "fifteenth"
day, at "full" moon, the feast which is called “the feast of booths” is celebrated for which
the supplies of the sacrifices are more numerous. SPECIAL LAWS.
XI. (41)
The third is that
which comes "after" the conjunction, which happens on the day of the new moon in each month. SPECIAL LAWS. 11
(155) 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 of the providence of God taking
care that there shall be no darkness on that day.
SPECIAL LAWS. 11
(210) Again, the beginning
of this festival is appointed for the fifteenth day of the month, on account of the reason which has already
been mentioned respecting the spring season, also that the world may be full, not by day only but also by
night, of the most beautiful light, the sun and moon on their rising opposite to one another with uninterrupted light,
without any darkness interposing itself between so as to divide them. SPECIAL LAWS. 11
(234) Again, are not the periods of the moon, as she advances and retraces her course, from a
crescent to a full circle, and again, from a complete orb to a crescent, also measured by an equality of
distances? For as great and as long as the period and amount of her increase is, so also is her diminution, in both respects,
as to magnitude and duration, as to the number of days and the size of her orb.ABOUT NOT MOVEING LAND MARKS
the principle of the number fifteen is that of a more transparent appearance,
since it is on the fifteenth day that the moon is rendered full of light, borrowing its
light of the sun at the approach of evening, and restoring it to him again in the morning; so that during the night of the
full moon the darkness is scarcely visible, but it is all light. QUESTION AND ANSWERS ON GENISES 1
Not to mention the full moon
at the end of the 2nd week.
As you can see, Philo calls the 15th
the full moon, so why did he say the moon was full on the 14th? Could it be the 14th day of its waxing which would be the
15th day day of the month/moon counting from the new moon instead of "after" the
new moon? Philo gives the definition of "from" the new moon below.
(2.257) And the expression
“from,” has a double sense. One, that by which the starting point from which it begins is included;
the other that by which it is excluded. For when we say that from morning to evening there are twelve hours, or from
the new moon to the end of the month there are thirty days, we are including in our enumeration both the
first hour and the day of the new moon. And when any one says that such and such a field is three or four
furlongs distant from the city, he clearly means to leave the city itself out of that measurement. (2.258) So that now, too,
we must consider that the expression, “from the river of Egypt,” is to be understood so as to include that river;
for the writer intends to remove us to a distance from the things of the body which are seen to exist in a constant flow and
course ON THE CHANGE OF NAMES BOOK 2
Notice Philo says
"it receives the perfect shapes in periods of seven days[/b]-the half-moon in the first seven day period "after"
its conjunction with the sun, full moon in the second;
Notice the seven days are not counted from the conjunction/new moon but "after" its
conjunction with the sun, which would be the 8th then the 15th if you counted the new moon.
This should prove that the 14th is in reality the 15th day "from" the
new moon i.e. counting it, and the 14th day "after" the new moon i.e. not counting the new moon.
Philo was not confused.
I don't won't to make this too long
so I will stop for now but I will later show that the two sabbaths spoken of by Philo is referring to the weekly 15th Sabbath
i.e. the one that the 14th precedes and the other one is weekly Sabbath on the eighth day of the month, which is more conclusive
proof that Philo was a lunar Sabbatarian.
More, go to http://lunarsabbath.info/id3.html
Brother Arnold
|
