Moon
Heb. yareah, from its paleness (Ezra 6:15), and lebanah, the “white” (Song 6:10; Isa 24:23), was appointed by the Creator to be with the sun “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Gen 1:14–16). A lunation was among the Jews the period of a month, and several of their festivals were held on the day of the new moon. It is frequently referred to along with the sun (Josh 10:12; Ps 72:5, Ps 72:7, Ps 72:17; Ps 89:36, Ps 89:37; Eccl 12:2; Isa 24:23, etc.), and also by itself (Ps 8:3; Ps 121:6).
The great brilliance of the moon in Eastern countries led to its being early an object of idolatrous worship (Deut 4:19; Deut 17:3; Job 31:26), a form of idolatry against which the Jews were warned (Deut 4:19; Deut 17:3). They, however, fell into this idolatry, and offered incense (2 Kgs 23:5; Jer 8:2), and also cakes of honey, to the moon (Jer 7:18; Jer 44:17–19, Jer 44:25).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
