-
Money ChangerAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
tells of a time when the price for a pair of doves was a golden denar (or, 25 silver denars). This prompted Simeon the son of Gamaliel to declare: “By this Temple! I will not suffer the night to pass by before they cost but a [silver] denar.” On that very day the price was drastically reduced.
-
-
MonthAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
MONTH
See CALENDAR.
-
-
MonumentAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
MONUMENT
Pillars, plaques, buildings or other markers are often set up as monumental reminders of some person or some special event. A few of such are mentioned in the Bible, though not usually designated as monuments.—Ps. 49:11; Dan. 4:30.
Jehovah appeared to Jacob in a night vision, confirming the Abrahamic covenant toward him. (c. 1781 B.C.E.) In commemoration, Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow, set it up to resemble a pillar and anointed it with oil. He then called the place Bethel. (Gen. 28:10-19) Some twenty years later Jacob and Laban, upon concluding a covenant of peace between themselves, set up a pillar, also a heap of stones in the mountainous region of Gilead, there to serve as a reminder of their agreement. (Gen. 31:25, 44-52) When Jehovah brought Israel into the Promised Land (1473 B.C.E.), two monuments were set up at the place where they crossed the Jordan River, one in midstream and the other at Gilgal on the W bank of the river, at Gilgal. These were to be memorial signs commemorating that miraculous crossing, and when their sons thereafter asked what these monuments represented, their fathers were to recount what Jehovah had done in behalf of his people.—Josh. 4:4-9, 20-24.
Following his victory over the Amalekites, King Saul erected “a monument [Heb., yadh] for himself.” (1 Sam. 15:12) The Hebrew word yadh, most often translated “hand,” can also mean “monument,” for like an uplifted hand that catches the eye and directs attention in a specific way, so also a monument calls people’s attention to certain things.
Absalom’s Monument (Heb., yadh) was in the form of a pillar like so many others. Absalom erected it on the Low Plain of the King not far from Jerusalem, because, as he said “I have no son in order to keep my name in remembrance.” (2 Sam. 18:18) However, today nothing is known of that monument or its location beyond what the Bible tells us. It should not be confused with the so-called tomb in the Kidron valley that ecclesiastical tradition attributes to Absalom but that belongs to the Graeco-Roman period of architecture.—See ABSALOM’S MONUMENT.
Like Absalom, eunuchs have no hope of a posterity to carry on their names. However, if they are faithful to Jehovah, and not like treasonous Absalom, Jehovah promises to give them “something better than sons and daughters,” namely, to “give to them in my house and within my walls a monument [Heb., yadh] and a name . . . A name to time indefinite I shall give them, one that will not be cut off.” (Isa. 56:4, 5) By contrast “the very name of the wicked ones will rot.”—Prov. 10:7; compare 22:1.
Gravestones were also set up as memory aids, as for example, the one that marked “the burial place of the man of the true God” who foretold what Josiah would do against the altar at Bethel. (2 Ki. 23:16-18; 1 Ki. 13:1, 2) Road markers and signposts are in a sense temporary monuments erected to indicate direction or to remind passersby of certain things of particular interest.—Jer. 31:21; Ezek. 39:15.
-
-
MoonAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
MOON
(Heb., ya·reʹahh; Gr., se·leʹne].
The moon, as the “lesser luminary for dominating the night,” was provided by God as a means for marking “appointed times.” (Gen. 1:16; Ps. 104:19; Jer. 31:35; 1 Cor. 15:41) The Hebrew word for “moon” is closely related to the Hebrew word yeʹrahh, meaning “lunar month.” Since the lunar month always began with the appearing of the new moon (Heb., hhoʹdhesh), the term “new moon” also came to mean “month.” (Gen. 7:11; Ex. 12:2; Isa. 66:23) The Greek word men likewise has the basic idea of a lunar period.—Luke 1:24; Gal. 4:10; also Colossians 2:16, where men is prefixed by the Greek word for “new.”
The word leva·nahʹ, meaning “white,” occurs three times in the Hebrew text poetically describing the white brilliance of the full moon that is particularly evident in Bible lands. (Song of Sol. 6:10; Isa. 24:23; 30:26) The word keʹseh or keʹse, meaning “fullness,” also appears twice and is translated “full moon” in some versions.—Ps. 81:3; Prov. 7:20, RS; NW.
Since the average lunation from new moon to new moon is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.78 seconds in length, the ancient lunar months had either twenty-nine or thirty days. This may originally have been determined by simple observation of the appearance of the new moon’s crescent; but in David’s time we find evidence of its being calculated beforehand. (1 Sam. 20:5, 18, 24-29) Nevertheless, in postexilic times Talmudic writings state that the Jewish Sanhedrin met early in the morning on the thirtieth day of each of seven months in the year to determine the time of the new moon. Watchmen were posted on high vantage points around Jerusalem and carried immediate report to the Jewish court after sighting the new moon. Upon receiving sufficient testimony the court pronounced the word “Mequd·dashʹ” (consecrated), officially marking the start of a new month, and the previous month was declared to have had twenty-nine days. If cloudy skies or fog caused poor visibility, then the preceding month was declared to have had thirty days, and the new month began on the day following the court assembly. It is also said that further announcement was made by a signal fire lit on the Mount of Olives, which was then repeated on other high points throughout the country. This method was evidently replaced later by the dispatching of messengers to carry the news.
In the fourth century of our Common Era a standardized or continuous calendar was established so that the Jewish months came to have a fixed number of days, with the exception of Heshvan and Kislev, which still vary between 29 and 30 days according to certain calculations.
NEW MOON OBSERVANCE
Among the Jews each new moon marked the occasion for the blowing of trumpets and the offering up of sacrifices according to the Law covenant. (Num. 10:10; 2 Chron. 2:4; Ps. 81:3; compare Isaiah 1:13, 14.) The offerings prescribed were, in fact, even greater than those normally offered on the regular sabbath days. (Num. 28:9-15) While nothing is stated specifically as to the new moon’s marking a day of rest, the text at Amos 8:5 indicates a cessation of labor. It was apparently a time of feasting (1 Sam. 20:5), and also an opportune time for gathering and instruction in God’s law.—Ezek. 46:1-3; 2 Ki. 4:22, 23; Isa. 66:23.
The seventh new moon of each year (corresponding with the first day of the month of Ethanim or Tishri) was sabbatical, and the Law covenant decreed it to be a time of complete rest. (Lev. 23:24, 25; Num. 29:1-6) It was the “day of the trumpet blast,” but in a greater sense than that of the other new moons. It announced the approach of the atonement day held on the tenth day of the same month.—Lev. 23:27, 28; Num. 29:1, 7-11.
MOON WORSHIP
While guided by the moon as a time indicator in determining their months and festival seasons, the Israelites were to remain free from the practice of moon worship that was prominent in the nations around them. The moon-god Sin was the city god of Ur, the capital of Sumer, from whence Abraham and his family departed for the Promised Land. Though the inhabitants of Ur were polytheistic, the moon-god Sin, a male deity, was the supreme god to whom their temple and altars were primarily devoted. Abraham
-