Page 22 - BV1

the sighting of the crescent as DAY ONE, and day 28 is the fourth sabbath at the moon's 'disap-
pearance.' It is only logical then that days 29 and 30 are counted, in his terms, as 'the fourth week
having one or two extra days,' and thus being actually reckoned as a continuation of the fourth
sabbath, i.e. the feast of the new moon. This process was, of course, in anticipation of sighting
the crescent, whereupon the first day of work for that month would commence" (ibid., p. 56).

David and Saul

Assyriologist S. Langdon earlier used the expression "thrown out" to explain that day 29 or
days 29 and 30 were not counted depending on the length of the month. Let's see how this "throw-
ing out" of days 29 and 30, by continuing from day 28 (the fourth sabbath, if counting from the
crescent) works. An allusion to this process is found in I Samuel 20 in the Old Testament --

And David said to Jonathan, "Indeed tomorrow is the NEW MOON [chodesh], and I
should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide in the field until
THE THIRD DAY at evening" (verse 5).

So David hid in the field. And when the NEW MOON had come, the king sat down to eat
the FEAST. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And
Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. Nevertheless
Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, "Something has happened to him; he is
unclean, surely he is unclean." And it happened the next day, THE SECOND DAY of the
month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why has the
son of Jesse not come to eat, EITHER YESTERDAY OR TODAY?" (verses 24-27).

Explains Jonathan Brown: "First, it appears from the context that it was a special gathering
because in verse 5 he states "behold, tomorrow is the [chodesh -- new moon]," drawing attention
to the fact that at that time he "should not fail to sit with the king at meat." If it were just an ordi-
nary "day" then there would have been no need to deliberately associate the "sitting down to meat"
with the chodesh [new moon]. He could have simply stated something like, "the king is expecting
me for an appointment at dinner tomorrow." But the chodesh [new moon] is the focal point.

"Second, he is going to hide himself in the field 'unto the third day at even.' The point to
which the term third may be referenced is the current day he is speaking in, i.e. the day before the
chodesh [new moon].

"Then in verse 27, Saul notices David's absence again on the second of the chodesh [new
moon]. THIS SHOWS THE LENGTH OF THIS SPECIAL NEW MOON GATHERING AT THE
KING'S TABLE TO BE TWO DAYS IN A ROW. He tries to explain to himself that David's ab-
sence was due to him being 'unclean.' The events then culminate in Jonathan shooting arrows as
planned on the third day (counting from the day before the chodesh) at even. Saul doesn't ask
again the next day why David didn't come. The special new moon gathering or chodesh appears
then to have ended -- AFTER TWO DAYS. We can safely assume then that because there were
two days in which David was expected, THAT PARTICULAR [LUNAR] MONTH WAS 30
DAYS IN LENGTH. We can also assume that both those days were not normal 'work days' by the
very existence of the feast" (Keeping Yahweh's Appointments, pp. 57-58).

22