iii. 527) and Lagarde have rightly
correlated the Hebrew _hallel_ with the Arabic _ahalla_ (to call out,
_labbaika_, see, for example Abulf. i. p. 180). But there is no
uncertainty as to the derivation of _ahalla_ from _hilal_ (new
moon)
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But it is established by historical testimonies besides that the
new moon festival anciently stood, at least, on a level with that
of the Sabbath. Compare 1Samuel xx. 5, 6; ~2Kings iv. 23;
Annos viii. 5; Isa i. 13; Hos. ii. 13 (A.V. 11). In the
Jehovistic and Deuteronomic legislation, however, it is completely
ignored, and if it comes into somewhat greater prominence in that
of Ezekiel and the Priestly Code (but without being for a moment
to be compared with the Sabbath), this perhaps has to do with the
circumstance that in the latter the great festivals are regulated
by the new moon, and that therefore it is important that this
should be observed. It may have been with a deliberate intention
that the new moon festival was thrust aside on account of all
sorts of heathenish superstition which readily associated
themselves with it; but, on the other hand, it is possible that
the undersigned preponderance gained by the Sabbath may have ultimately
given it independence, and led to the reckoning of time by
regular intervals of seven days without regard to new moon, with
which now it came into collision, instead of, as formerly, being
supported by it.
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