. As when the Lord spake to Moses, saying, "Also in
the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings
of your months, ye shall blow with your trumpets over your burnt
offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings." And again
in the Psalm of Asaph to the chief musician upon Gittith: "Blow up the
trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast
day." This is the word also that Isaiah uses in describing the bravery
of the daughters of Zion, "the tinkling ornaments about their feet, and
their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the
bracelets." "The round tires" were not discs, like the full moon, but
were round like the crescent.

Generally speaking, _chodesh_ is employed where either reference is made
to the shape or newness of the crescent moon, or where "month" is used
in any precise way. This is the word for "month" employed throughout by
the prophet Ezekiel, who is so precise in the dating of his prophecies.

When the moon is mentioned as the lesser light of heaven, without
particular reference to its form, or when a month is mentioned as a
somewhat indefinite period of time, then the Hebrew word _yar[=e]ach_,
is used. Here the word has the root meaning of "paleness"; it is the
"silver moon."

_Yar[=e]ach_ is the word always used where the moon is classed among the
heavenly bodies; as when Joseph dreamed of the sun, the moon, and the
eleven constellations; or in Jer. viii. 2, where the Lord says that they
shall bring out the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets, and
inhabitants of Jerusalem, "and they shall spread them before the sun,
and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom
they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have
sought, and whom they have worshipped."

The same word is used for the moon in its character of "making
ordinances." Thus we have it several times in the Psalms: "He (the Lord)
appointed the moon for seasons." "His seed shall endure for ever, and
his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the
moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." And again: "The moon and
stars rule by night;" whilst Jeremiah says, "Thus saith the Lord, Which
giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of
the stars for a light by night."

In all passages where reference seems to be made to the darkening or
withdrawing of the moon's l