Reference: Year
American
The Hebrews always had years of twelve months. But at the beginning, as some suppose, they were solar years of twelve months, each month having thirty days, excepting the twelfth, which had thirty-five days. We see, by the enumeration of the days of the deluge, Ge 7-8, that the original year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days. It is supposed that they had an intercalary month at the end of one hundred and twenty years, at which time the beginning of their year would be out of its place full thirty days. Subsequently, however, and throughout the history of the Jews, the year was wholly lunar, having alternately a full month of thirty days, and a defective month of twenty-nine days, thus completing their year in three hundred and fifty-four days. To accommodate this lunar year to the solar year, (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 47.7 seconds,) or the period of the revolution of the earth around the sun, and to the return of the seasons, they added a whole month after Adar, usually once in three years. This intercalary month they call Ve-adar. See MONTH.
The ancient Hebrews appear to have had no formal and established era, but to have dated from the most memorable events in their history; as from the exodus out of Egypt, Ex 19:1; Nu 33:38; 1Ki 6:1; from the erection of Solomon's temple, 1Ki 8:1; 9:10; and from the Babylonish captivity, Eze 33:21; 40:1. See SABBATICAL YEAR, and JUBILEE.
The phrase, "from two years old and under," Mt 2:16, that is, "from a child of two years and under," is thought by some to include all the male children who had not entered their second year; and by others, all who were near the beginning of their second year, within a few months before or after. The cardinal and ordinal numbers are often used indiscriminately. Thus in Ge 7:6,11, Noah is six hundred years old, and soon after in his six hundredth year; Christ rose from the dead "three days after," Mt 27:63, and "on the third day," Mt 16:21; circumcision took place when the child was "eight days old," Ge 17:11, and "on the eighth day," Le 12:3. Compare Lu 1:59; 2:21. Many slight discrepancies in chronology may be thus accounted for.
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And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened up.
And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you.
In the third month when the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
And Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of Jehovah and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come up out of the land of Egypt, in the first of the fifth month.
And Solomon gathered the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.
And it happened at the end of twenty years, Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king's house.
And it was in the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is stricken.
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was stricken, in the same day the hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me there.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was greatly enraged. And he sent and killed all the boys in Bethlehem, and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had carefully inquired of the wise men.
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was living, After three days I will rise again.
And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and were calling it Zacharias, after his father's name.
And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, His name was called JESUS, the name called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
Easton
Heb shanah, meaning "repetition" or "revolution" (Ge 1:14; 5:3). Among the ancient Egyptians the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, with five days added to make it a complete revolution of the earth round the sun. The Jews reckoned the year in two ways, (1) according to a sacred calendar, in which the year began about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib; and (2) according to a civil calendar, in which the year began about the time of the autumnal equinox, with the month Nisan. The month Tisri is now the beginning of the Jewish year.
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And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide between the day and the night. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image. And he called his name Seth.
Fausets
shanah, a repetition, like the Latin annus, "year." Literally, a circle, namely, of seasons, in which the same recur yearly. The 360 day year, 12 months of 30 days each, is indicated in Da 7:25; 12:7, time (i.e. one year) times and dividing of a time, or 3 1/2 years; the 42 months (Re 11:2), 1260 days (Re 5:3; 12:6). The Egyptian vague year was the same, without the five intercalary days. So the year of Noah in Ge 7:11-24; 8:3-4,13; the interval between the 17th day of the second month and the 17th of the seventh month being stated as 150 days, i.e. 30 days in each of the five months. Also between the tenth month, first day, and the first day of the first month, the second year, at least 54 days, namely, 40 + 7 + 7 (oxen. Ge 8:5-6,10,12-13). Hence, we infer a year of 12 months. The Hebrew month at the time of the Exodus was lunar, but their year was solar.
(See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, on P. Smyth's view of the year marked in the great pyramid). The Egyptian vague year is thought to be as old as the 12th dynasty. (See EGYPT.) The Hebrew religious year began in spring, the natural beginning when all nature revives; the season also of the beginning of Israel's national life, when the religious year's beginning was transferred from autumn to spring, the month Abib or Nisan (the name given by later Hebrew: Ex 12:2; 13:4; 23:15-16; 34:18,22). The civil year began at the close of autumn in the month Tisri, when, the fruits of the earth having been gathered in, the husbandman began his work again preparing for another year's harvest, analogous to the twofold beginning of day at sunrise and sunset. "The feast of ingathering in the end of the year" (Ex 23:16) must refer to the civil or agrarian year.
The Egyptian year began in June at the rise of the Nile. Hebrew sabbatic years and Jubilees were counted from the beginning of Tisri (Le 25:9-17). The Hebrew year was as nearly solar as was compatible with its commencement coinciding with the new moon or first day of the month. They began it with the new moon nearest to the equinox, yet late enough to allow of the firstfruits of barley harvest being offered about the middle of the first month. So Josephus (Ant. 3:10, section 5) states that the Passover was celebrated when the sun was in Aries. They may have determined their new year's day by observing the heliacal or other star risings or settings marking the right time of the solar year (compare Jg 5:20-21; Job 38:31). They certainly after the captivity, and probably ages before, added a 13th month whenever the 12th ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the firstfruits to be made at the time fixed. (See JUBILEE.)
In Ex 23:10; De 31:10; 15:1, the sabbatical year appears as a rest to the land (no sowing, reaping, planting, pruning, gathering) in which its ownership was in abeyance, and its chance produce at the service of all comers. Debtors were released from obligations for the year, except when they could repay without impoverishment (De 15:2-4). Trade, handicrafts, the chase, and the care of cattle occupied the people during the year. Education and the reading of the law at the feast of tabernacles characterized it (De 31:10-13). The soil lay fallow one year out of seven at a time when rotation of crops and manuring were unknown; the habit of economizing grain was fostered by the institution (Ge 41:48-56).
Israel learned too that absolute ownership in the land was Jehovah's alone, and that the human owners held it in trust, to be made the most of for the good of every creature which dwelt upon it (Le 25:23,1-7,11-17; Ex 23:11, "that the poor may eat, and what they leave the beasts," etc.). The weekly sabbath witnessed the equality of the people as to the covenant with Jehovah. The Jubilee year witnessed that every Israelite had an equal claim to the Lord's land, and that the hired servant, the foreigner, the cattle, and even wild beasts, had a claim. The whole thus indicates what a blessed state would have followed the Sabbath of Paradise, had not sin disturbed all. During 70 Sabbath years, i.e. 490, the period of the monarchy, the Sabbath year was mainly slighted, and so 70 years' captivity was the retributive punishment (2Ch 36:20-21; Le 26:34-35,43).
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar exempted the Jews from tribute on the sabbatical year (Josephus Ant. 11:8, section 6, 14:10, section 6; compare 16, Section 2; 15:1, section 2; compare also under Antiochus Epiphanes, 1Ma 4:49); the institution has no parallel in the world's history, and would have been submitted to by no people except under a divine revelation. The day of atonement on which the sabbatical year was proclaimed stood in the same relation to the civil year that the Passover did to the religious year. The new moon festival of Tisri is the only one distinguished by peculiar observance, which confirms the view that the civil year began then. The Hebrew divided the year into "summer and winter "(Ge 8:22; Ps 74:17; Zec 14:8), and designated the earth's produce as the fruits of summer (Jer 8:20; 40:10-12; Mic 7:1).
Abib "the month of green ears" commenced summer; and the seventh month, Ethanim, "the month of flowing streams," began winter. The 'atsereth or "concluding festival" of the feast of tabernacles closed the year (Le 23:34). Both the spring feast in Abib and the autumn feast in Ethanim began at the full moon in their respective months. (See MONTH; SABBATICAL YEAR; JUBILEE.) The observances at the beginning festival of the religious year resemble those at the beginning festival of the civil year. The Passover lamb in the first month Abib corresponds to the atonement goats on the tenth of Tisri, the seventh month. The feast of unleavened bread from the 15th to the gist of Abib answers to the feast of tabernacles from the 15th to 22nd of Tisri. As there is a Sabbath attached to the first day as well as to the seventh, so the first and the seventh month begin respectively the religious and the civil year.
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In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened up. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. read more. In this same day, Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark. They went in, and every animal after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind, and every fowl after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, in which is the breath of life. And they that entered, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And Jehovah shut him in. And the flood was upon the earth forty days. And the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth. And the ark floated upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth. And all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh that moved upon the face of the earth died, of birds, of cattle, of animal, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth; and every man, all who breathed the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living thing which was on the face of the earth was destroyed, from man to cattle, and to the creeping things, and the fowls of the heavens. And they were destroyed from the earth, and only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
And the waters returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters had gone down. And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. read more. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. And the tops of the mountains were seen in the tenth month on the first day of the month. And it happened, at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
And he waited yet another seven days. And again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.
And he waited yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove. And she did not return again to him any more. And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked. And, behold, the face of the earth was dried!
And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked. And, behold, the face of the earth was dried!
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and he put food in the cities. He put the food of the field which was around every city; he put it in among it. And Joseph gathered grain like the sand of the sea, very much, until he quit numbering it; for it was without number. read more. And two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bore to him. And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh, saying, For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. And the name of the second he called Ephraim, saying, For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. And the seven years of plenty that was in the land of Egypt ended. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said. And the famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe on the land of Egypt.
This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
And you shall sow your land six years, and shall gather in the fruits of it. But the seventh year you shall let it rest and let it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat. And what they leave, the animals of the field shall eat. In the same way you shall deal with your vineyard and with your oliveyard.
You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty. Also the Feast of Harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.
Also the Feast of Harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.
You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to Jehovah.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to Jehovah. read more. You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for Jehovah. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your servant, and for your slave woman and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who stays with you, and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.
Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth of the seventh month; in the day of atonement, the trumpet shall sound throughout all your land. And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family. read more. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine.
That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine. For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the increase of it out of the field.
For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the increase of it out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession.
In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another.
And if you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to you.
According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to you. According to the number of years you shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it, for he is selling to you the number of crops.
According to the number of years you shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it, for he is selling to you the number of crops. And you shall not oppress one another. But you shall fear your God. For I am Jehovah your God.
And you shall not oppress one another. But you shall fear your God. For I am Jehovah your God.
The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me.
Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies waste, and you are in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies waste it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you lived on it.
The land also shall be forsaken by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lies waste without them. And they shall accept the punishment of their iniquities; because, even because they despised My judgments, and because their soul hated My statutes.
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release. Every man who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor, or from his brother, because it is called Jehovah's release. read more. You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand shall release that which is yours with your brother, except when there shall be no poor among you. For Jehovah shall greatly bless you in the land which Jehovah your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it,
And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles,
And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. read more. Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law, and that their sons who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it.
They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you trampled in strength.
And the ones who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the Word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of the desolation it kept the sabbath, to the full measure of seventy years.
Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
As for me, behold, I will live at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who have come to us. But you go gather wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken. Also when all the Jews in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; read more. even all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits in abundance.
And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and plot to change times and laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was on the waters of the river, when he held up his right and his left hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when they have made an end of scattering the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
Woe is me! For I am like the gatherings of summer fruits, like the grape-gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat; my soul desires the first-ripe fruit.
And it shall be in that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. In summer and in winter it shall be.
And no one in Heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book or to look at it.
But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it was given to the nations. And they will trample the holy city forty-two months.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that they might nourish her there a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.
Hastings
Morish
Under the word MONTHS it has been stated that the Jews reckoned the months to consist alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days, being therefore in twelve months eleven and a quarter days short of the year. To remedy this an additional month was added about every three years. In the various data given for the last half of the last of Daniel's Seventy Weeks, it will be seen that all the months are reckoned as having thirty days; thus 'a time, times, and a half' in Da 12:7 and Re 12:14 point out three and a half years: this period is again called forty two months in Re 11:2; 13:5; and again twelve hundred and sixty days in Re 11:3; 12:6. The prophetic year may therefore be called three hundred and sixty days. See MONTHS and SEASONS.
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And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was on the waters of the river, when he held up his right and his left hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when they have made an end of scattering the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it was given to the nations. And they will trample the holy city forty-two months. And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that they might nourish her there a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.
And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the serpent's face.
And a mouth speaking great things was given to it, and blasphemies. And authority was given to it to continue forty-two months.
Smith
Year,
the highest ordinary division of time. Two years were known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews.
1. A year of 360 days appears to have been in use in Noah's time.
2. The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the exodus may: be said to have been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th day of which the first Passover was kept, was then made the first month of the year. The essential characteristics of this year can be clearly determined, though we cannot fix those of any single year. It was essentially solar for the offering of productions of the earth, first-fruits, harvest produce and ingathered fruits, was fixed to certain days of the year, two of which were in the periods of great feasts, the third itself a feast reckoned from one of the former days. But it is certain that the months were lunar, each commencing with a new moon. There must therefore have been some method of adjustment. The first point to be decided is how the commencement of each gear was fixed. Probably the Hebrews determined their new year's day by the observation of heliacal or other star-risings or settings known to mark the right time of the solar year. It follows, from the determination of the proper new moon of the first month, whether by observation of a stellar phenomenon or of the forwardness of the crops, that the method of intercalation can only have been that in use after the captivity, --the addition of a thirteenth month whenever the twelfth ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the first-fruits to be made at the time fixed. The later Jews had two commencements of the year, whence it is commonly but inaccurately said that they had two years, the sacred year and the civil. We prefer to speak of the sacred and civil reckonings. The sacred reckoning was that instituted at the exodus, according to which the first month was Abib; by the civil reckoning the first month was the seventh. The interval between the two commencements was thus exactly half a year. It has been supposed that the institution at the time of the exodus was a change of commencement, not the introduction of a new year, and that thenceforward the year had two beginnings, respectively at about the vernal and the autumnal equinox. The year was divided into --
1. Seasons. Two seasons are mentioned in the Bible, "summer" and "winter." The former properly means the time of cutting fruits, the latter that, of gathering fruits; they are therefore originally rather summer and autumn than summer and winter. But that they signify ordinarily the two grand divisions of the year, the warm and cold seasons, is evident from their use for the whole year in the expression "summer and winter."
2. Months. [MONTHS]
3. Weeks. [WEEKS]
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You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.
And if the family of Egypt does not go up, nor come in, they shall have no rain, but the plague with which Jehovah shall strike the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Watsons
YEAR. The Hebrews had always years, of twelve months each. But at the beginning, and in the time of Moses, these were solar years, of twelve months; each having thirty days, except the twelfth, which had thirty-five. We see, by the reckoning that Moses gives us of the days of the deluge, Genesis vii, that the Hebrew year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days. It is supposed that they had an intercalary month at the end of one hundred and twenty years; at which time the beginning of their year would be out of its place full thirty days. But it must be owned, that no mention is made in Scripture of the thirteenth month, or of any intercalation. It is not improbable that Moses retained the order of the Egyptian year, since he himself came out of Egypt, was born in that country, had been instructed and brought up there, and since the people of Israel, whose chief he was, had been for a long time accustomed to this kind of year. But the Egyptian year was solar, and consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, and that for a very long time before. After the time of Alexander the Great, and the reign of the Grecians in Asia, the Jews reckoned by lunar months, chiefly in what related to religion, and the order of the festivals. St. John, in his Re 11:2-3; 12:6,14; 13:5, assigns but twelve hundred and sixty days to three years and a half, and consequently just thirty days to every month, and just three hundred and sixty days to every year. Maimonides tells us, that the years of the Jews were solar, and their months lunar. Since the completing of the Talmud, they have made use of years that are purely lunar, having alternately a full month of thirty days, and then a defective month of twenty-nine days. And to accommodate this lunar year to the course of the sun, at the end of three years their intercalate a whole month after Adar; which intercalated month they call Ve-adar, or the second Adar.
The beginning of the year was various among different nations: the ancient Chaldeans, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Armenians, and Syrians, began their year about the vernal equinox; and the Chinese in the east, and Latins and Romans in the west, originally followed the same usage. The Egyptians, and from them the Jews, began their civil year about the autumnal equinox. The Athenians and Greeks in general began theirs about the summer solstice; and the Chinese, and the Romans after Numa's correction, about the winter solstice. At which of these the primeval year, instituted at the creation, began, has been long contested among astronomers and chronologers. Philo, Eusebius, Cyril, Augustine, Abulfaragi, Kepler, Capellus, Simpson, Lange, and Jackson, contend for the vernal equinox; and Josephus, Scaliger, Petavius, Usher, Bedford, Kennedy, &c, for the autumnal. The weight of ancient authorities, and also of argument, seems to preponderate in favour of the former opinion.
1. All the ancient nations, except the Egyptians, began their civil year about the vernal equinox: but the deviation of the Egyptians from the general usage may easily be accounted for, from a local circumstance peculiar to their country; namely, that the annual inundation of the Nile rises to its greatest height at the autumnal equinox.
2. Josephus, the only ancient authority of any weight on the other side, seems to be inconsistent with himself, in supposing that the deluge began in the second civil month, Dius, or Markeshvan, rather than in the second sacred month; because Moses, throughout the Pentateuch, uniformly adopts the sacred year; and fixes its first month by an indelible and unequivocal character, calling it Abib, as ushering in the season of green corn. And as Josephus calls the second month elsewhere Artemisius, or Iar, in conformity with Scripture, there is no reason why he should deviate from the same usage in the case of the deluge.
3. To the authority of Josephus, we may oppose that of the great Jewish antiquary, Philo, in the generation before him; who thus accounts for the institution of the sacred year by Moses:
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And in the end of days, it happened, Cain brought to Jehovah an offering of the fruit of the ground.
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the heavens were opened up.
And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked. And, behold, the face of the earth was dried!
And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years. And in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Also the Feast of Harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.
And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to Jehovah. read more. You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for Jehovah. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your servant, and for your slave woman and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who stays with you, and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food. And you shall number seven sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be forty-nine years to you.
And you shall number seven sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be forty-nine years to you. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth of the seventh month; in the day of atonement, the trumpet shall sound throughout all your land.
Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth of the seventh month; in the day of atonement, the trumpet shall sound throughout all your land. And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family.
And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family.
And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine.
That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine. For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the increase of it out of the field. read more. In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession.
In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another. read more. According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to you. According to the number of years you shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it, for he is selling to you the number of crops. And you shall not oppress one another. But you shall fear your God. For I am Jehovah your God.
And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase! Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. read more. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year; until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old fruit. The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land. If your brother has become poor, and has sold his property, and if any of his relatives comes to redeem it, then he shall redeem that which his brother sold. read more. And if the man has no redeemer, and he himself is able to redeem it, and he has enough for its redemption; then let him count the years of the sale of it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it, so that he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to restore to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it until the year of jubilee. And in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.
And if your brother who lives beside you has become poor, and is sold to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bond-servant. As a hired servant, as a temporary resident, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee. read more. And he shall depart from you, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as a slave. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear your God. Both your male slaves, and your female slaves whom you shall have, shall be of the nations that are all around you. You shall buy male slaves and female slaves from them. And also you may buy of the sons of the tenants who are staying with you; and from their families that are with you, whom they fathered in your land. And they shall be your possession. And you shall take them as an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession; you may lay service on them forever. But you shall not rule over your brothers, the sons of Israel, over one another, with harshness.
Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies waste, and you are in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies waste it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you lived on it.
And if a man shall sanctify to Jehovah some part of a field that he owns, then your judgment shall be according to its seed; a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver. If he sanctifies his field from the year of jubilee, according to your judgment it shall stand. read more. But if he sanctifies his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the silver according to the years that remain, even until the year of jubilee, and it shall be taken from your estimation. And if he who sanctified the field desires in any way to redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your estimation to it, and it shall be made sure to him. And if he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more. But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to Jehovah, as a field devoted. The possession of it shall be the priest's.
In the year of the jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to him who owns it in the land.
And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare here seven oxen and seven rams for me.
And Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of Jehovah and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come up out of the land of Egypt, in the first of the fifth month.
And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel shall come, then their inheritance shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe into which they are received. So their inheritance shall be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release. Every man who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor, or from his brother, because it is called Jehovah's release.
And this is the manner of the release. Every man who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor, or from his brother, because it is called Jehovah's release. You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand shall release that which is yours with your brother, read more. except when there shall be no poor among you. For Jehovah shall greatly bless you in the land which Jehovah your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, only if you carefully listen to the voice of Jehovah your God to be careful to do all these commandments which I command you today. For Jehovah your God blesses you as He promised you. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. If there is among you a poor man of one of your brothers inside any of your gates in your land which Jehovah your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. But you shall open your hand wide to him, and shall surely lend him enough for his need, that which he lacks. Beware that there is not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and your eye may be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing. And he may cry to Jehovah against you, and it is sin to you.
Beware that there is not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and your eye may be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing. And he may cry to Jehovah against you, and it is sin to you. You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing Jehovah your God shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand to.
If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles,
And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing.
when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law,
Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law, and that their sons who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it.
and that their sons who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it.
And it happened as God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, they offered seven bulls and seven rams.
And it happened at the end of twenty years, Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house.
to fulfill the Word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of the desolation it kept the sabbath, to the full measure of seventy years.
And now take to yourselves seven young bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And My servant Job will pray for you. Surely I will lift up his face so as not to do with you according to your foolishness, in that you have not spoken of Me what is right, like My servant Job.
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.
At the end of seven years each man should let go his brother, a Hebrew, and who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me, nor bow down their ears.
And it was in the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is stricken.
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was stricken, in the same day the hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me there.
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart.
saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was living, After three days I will rise again.
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
And after six days Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up into a high mountain, apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before them.
And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, His name was called JESUS, the name called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
And about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray.
And not many days afterward, the younger son gathered all together and went away into a far country. And there he wasted his property, living dissolutely.
And some days afterward, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brothers in every city where we have announced the Word of the Lord, to see how they are holding to it.
But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it was given to the nations. And they will trample the holy city forty-two months. And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that they might nourish her there a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.
And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the serpent's face.
And a mouth speaking great things was given to it, and blasphemies. And authority was given to it to continue forty-two months.