The Apostle is thinking of nothing but the observance of a system of times and seasons (the religious observance even) such as the Jews had, and its introduction into the life of the new com- munity. He is apprehensive ('I am afraid ' [Gal 4"]) lest harmful results should follow, imperilling their Christian liberty and bringing them under a ' yoke of bondage.' The Epistle to Diognetus, iv. (early 2nd cent. ?) speaks disparagingly, if not contemptuously, of Jewish ' superstitions relat- ing to the Sabbaths . . . and their fancies about fasting and the new moon,' and sliows that St. Paul's warning was not lost upon Christians of the following generations. Still the Apostle's own doctrine of liberty as touching the observance or non-observance of such seasons (see Ko 14) must not be overlooked ; and in Col 2'*, as Hort points out (Judaistic Christianity, Cambridge, 1894, p. 123), ' the ceremonial distinctions do not appear to be condemned in themselves : the Colossians are simply warned in a strain hardly dillerent from that of Rom. xiv. not to allow anyone to " judge " them in such.'
As to the mode of observing the day of the new moon in NT times, we know that (as in the case of other festivals) substantial changes had taken place as compared with what the OT reveals concerning earlier days. There was a time when, like the Sabbath, New Moon was observed by cessation of business (Am 8') and labour, although no Penta- teuchal legislation i)ro\'ides for this. In the post- Exilic period this aisappears except in the case of women. A faint and curious trace survives to this day in the fact that the Jewish house-wife, whilst freely discharging such domestic duties as cooking, makes a point of refraining from needlework and employments related to her personal convenience on the day of the new moon. Again, with the fall of the Temple, the appointed sacrificial rites (Nu 28'"'-) disappeared. At the same time the silver trumpets (Nu 10", Ps 81*) ceased to sound. The only trumpet-blast that has since been heard in the synagogues of Jewry is that of the shophilr, which is still sounded on the great New Moon, ' the first day of the seventh month,' i.e. the New Year's Day of the civil year. It is pre-eminently a call to repentance.
No doubt St. Paul knew the sound of the skophdr well ; but there does not seem enough ground forsu(,'gestint?, as Edersiieim does, that Eph 5^^ (' Awake ! ') was inspired by the thought of that call, or that in Eph 5^ we have an underlying reference to the appearance of the new moon {The Temple: its Ministry and Services, London, 1908, ch. xv. p. 300 f.).
The synagogue prayers now used for New Moon reflect in some portions, notwithstanding changes introduced in later periods, the usage of the syn- agogue whilst yet the Temple was standing. The constant petition that God will 'establish a new altar on Zion ' so that ' the burnt-otfering of the New Moon' may again be ofi'ered, is arrestive and may even seem pathetic to a Christian mind. But all can feel the beauty of the prayer : ' Renew this month unto us for good and for blessing, for joy and gladness, for salvation and consolation, for support and peace, for pardon of sin and forgive- ness of iniquity.'
Literature.— Besides the works alludedto in the article, see artt. 'New Moon' and 'Time' in HDB; 'New Moon' and 'Month' in i'iJi ; 'Festivals and Fasts (Hebrew)' in ERE; ' New Moon ' in JE; J. Meinhold, S/tbt>at und Woche im AUen Testament, Gottingen, 1905; E. Schiirer, HJP r. ii. [Edin- burgh, 1890] App. III. ; K. Wieseler, A Chronological Synopsis o/the Four Gospels, Eng. tr., Cambridge, 1864, p. 401 ff.
J. S. Clemens. NICANOR. — The name is Greek, but was prob- ably prevalent in Syria, as we find one of the generals of Antiochus Epiphanes called by it (2 Mac 8'). It is more than likely, therefore, that he was a Hellenist Jew of Syria. He is mentioned as one of the Seven in Ac 6^, a man of repute among the brethren, but we hear and know no more of him. \V. A. Spooner.
NICOLAITANS. — The name signifies 'followers of Nicolas,' as Nicolas = ' conqueror of the people.' They are mentioned twice in the NT (Rev 2*' ") as a party at Ephesus and also at Pergaraum, whose tenets were similar, it seems, in the judgment of the writer, to those of Balaam (2- «.) in that they enjoined or permitted laxity in ceremonial (the eating of food ofi'ered to idols) and in social morals. There is no reason to suppose that the Nicolaitans would have accepted this judgment as anything but an illegitimate inference from their principles. In the Apostolic Church, as ever since, two schools of thought were opposed to each other — that which was more Jewish in character and that which was more Greek. The former speaks in the Apocalypse of John and the latter in the Gospel of John, and the apocalyptic writer in condenming the other party, the Nicolaitans, states not what they held but what he thought their teaching must logically
NICOLAS
NOAH
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end in. The word is probably a niclcnanie, as are Balaam and Nicodeiuus.