Can we work on New Moon day?

Question: Are New Moon days to be observed like the seventh-day Sabbath?  Or can we work on them?

Answer: Scripture reveals that New Moons, like the seventh-day Sabbath, are worship days.  Isaiah 66:23 clearly reveals that in eternity future, Yahuwah will be worshipped on both types of days: “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Yahuwah.”

New Moon Day is different in some aspects from the the weekly Sabbath and the normal working days.  There is no buying and selling on New Moon Day.  Priestly work (including travel) is permitted, and the normal restrictions of the weekly Sabbath, like no cooking for instance, do not apply to New Moon day.  New Moon Day is neither a Sabbath day nor a working day.  It is a third category of days on which worship is commanded and even the sacrifices were different as part of its distinction from the other feasts.  (See Numbers 28:11-15.)

A day that is specifically set apart for worship assumes that commerce (buying and selling to earn a living) will not be conducted on that day.  Ezekiel 46:1 places New Moons together with the seventh-day Sabbath, as opposed to the other six working days: “Thus saith the Sovereign Yahuwah; the gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.” 

The fact that New Moons were to be kept free from buying and selling is established elsewhere in Amos 8:5 where, again, the activity preformed on the New Moons, or in this case, the work abstained from on New Moons, is linked to the same restraint from work on the seventh-day Sabbaths.  In this passage, Yahuwah is speaking, pointing out the sins of Israel: “Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?  And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?”  (Amos 8:4, 5.) 

If work were allowed on New Moons, the backslidden people would not have been longing for the days of worship to be over so that they could go back to their buying and selling.

Exodus 16:23 establishes the principle that food eaten on the seventh-day Sabbath is to be prepared the day before.  Exodus 16 further reveals that manna gathered on the Preparation day did not spoil when kept until the Sabbath, even though on every other day, it would spoil if they tried to preserve it until the next day.  There is no command given to not cook food on New Moons.  Furthermore, there is no indication anywhere in scripture that food gathered on sixth day, Preparation, was to be held over until two days later. Neither is there any supernatural preservation of the manna indicated for New Moon day. Half of the time, the seventh-day Sabbath comes right before New Moon day.  It is assumed, therefore, that manna fell on New Moon day and that it could be cooked, if so desired.  Circumstantial support for this is found in 1 Samuel 20 where the practice of a family gathering together for a special meal on New Moon is recorded. 

PRIESTLY WORK / TRAVEL permitted on New Moon Day:

And Noah did according unto all that Yahuwah commanded him. (Genesis 7:5)

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as Yahuwah had commanded him: and Yahuwah shut him in. (Genesis 7:16)

And Yahuwah spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. (Exodus 40:1-3)

And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as Yahuwah commanded Moses. (Exodus 40:17-19)

[The following can be mentioned as priestly work on New Moon Day.  However, kindly note that although the command came on the first day of the month, the text does not say that they began to perform the work that same day.]

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of Yahuwah by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh Yahuwah, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Yahuwah’s house should be built. ... Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Yahuwah. ... Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of  Yahuwah their Eloah, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahuwah had sent him, and the people did fear before Yahuwah. (Haggai 1:1, 2, 8, 12)

Ezra went on a priestly journey, but note also that this text says He BEGAN his journey; it does not say how far or for how long he traveled on New Moon Day.

For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his Eloah upon him. (Ezra 7:9)

Yahushua  also later confirmed no guilt or blame for the Priests who "profaned" the Sabbath [by performing their commanded duties].

Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? (Matthew 12:5)

However, for those not performing such priestly duties, time should be dedicated to worship both now and for eternity as commanded by Yahuwah:

Thus saith Master Yahuwah; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before Master Yahuwah in the sabbaths and in the new moons. (Ezekiel 46:1-3)

BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOTE: Jeremiah says "these ALONE worship Yahuwah."

Take your stand at the gate of the temple of Yahuwah and proclaim there the sign markers pertaining to this matter. Say, 'listen attentively to the command of Yahuwah. Whosoever of Judah (or spiritual Israel) that enters at the gate, these alone worship Yahuwah. (Jeremiah 7:2)

Isaiah says they will continue to do so for eternity:

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Yahuwah, so shall your seed and your name remain.  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Yahuwah. (Isaiah 66:22-23)

Only the lawless and disobedient will think of it as a burden or bondage (as they do today) and yearn to continue in their wicked ways:

Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? (Amos 8:5)

IN SUMMARY:

Today, many use New Moon day as a special time of recommitment for the upcoming month.  It is a day of looking back on the past month and rejoicing in blessings given while asking forgiveness for wrongs committed.  It is also an opportunity to look ahead to the upcoming month.  New Moon day is a wonderful time for gathering together with one’s family and rejoicing in the blessings of heaven, while recommitting oneself and one’s family to Yahuwah.