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 water came upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,
Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your flesh, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
The third month after the children of Israel were gone out of Egypt: the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
And in the eighth day the flesh of the child's foreskin shall be cut away.
And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD and died there, even in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, and in the first day of the fifth month.
Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and ancient lords of the children of Israel, unto him to Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David which is Zion.
Then at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, that is to wete, the house of the LORD and the king's palace -
In the twelfth year, the fifth day of the tenth Month of our captivity, it happened, that one which was fled out of Jerusalem, came unto me, and said, "The city is destroyed."
In the twenty fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, the tenth day of the month - that is, the fourteenth year, after that the city was smitten down - the same day came the hand of the LORD upon me, and carried me forth:
Then Herod, perceiving that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, as many as were two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently searched out of the wise men.
From that time forth, Jesus began to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and of the high priests, and of the scribes; and must be killed, and rise again the third day.
and said, "Sir, we remember that this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will arise again.
And it fortuned, the eighth day they came to circumcise the child: and called his name Zacharias after the name of his father,
And when the eighth day was come that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, which was named of the angel before he was conceived in the mother's 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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Then said God, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night; that they may be unto signs, seasons, days and years.
And when Adam was a hundred and thirty years old, he begat a son after his likeness and similitude: and 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, that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and there fell a rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. read more. And the selfsame day went Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them in to the ark: both they and all manner of beasts in their kind, and all manner of cattle in their kind and all manner of worms that creep upon the earth in their kind, and all manner of birds in their kind, and all manner of fowls whatsoever had feathers. And they came unto Noah into the ark by couples, of all flesh that had breath of life in it. And they that came, came male and female of every flesh according as God commanded him: and the LORD shut the door upon him. And the flood came forty days and forty nights upon the earth, and the water increased and bare up the ark and it was lift up from off the earth. And the water prevailed and increased exceedingly upon the earth: and the ark went upon the top of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly above measure upon the earth, so that all the high hills which are under all the parts of heaven were covered: even fifteen cubits high prevailed the waters, so that the hills were covered. And all flesh that moved on the earth, both birds, cattle and beasts, perished; with all that crept on the earth, and all men: so that all that had the breath of life in the nostrils of it, throughout all that was on dry land, died. Thus was destroyed all that was upon the earth; both man, beasts, worms and fowls of the air, so that they were destroyed from the earth: save Noah was reserved only and they 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 and abated after the end of a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat, the seventeenth day of the seventh month. read more. And the waters went away, and decreased until the tenth month. And the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared. And after the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made,
And he abode yet seven days more, and sent out the dove again out of the ark;
And he tarried yet seven other days, and sent forth the dove, which from thenceforth came no more again to him. And it came to pass, the six hundred and one year and the first day of the first month, that the waters were dried up upon the earth. And Noah took off the hatches of the ark and looked: and behold, the face of the earth was dry.
And it came to pass, the six hundred and one year and the first day of the first month, that the waters were dried up upon the earth. And Noah took off the hatches of the ark and looked: and behold, the face of the earth was dry.
Neither shall sowing time and harvest, cold, and heat, summer and winter, day and night cease, as long as the earth endureth."
and gathered up all the food of the seven plenteous years which were in the land of Egypt and put it into the cities. And he put the food of the fields that grew round about every city, even in the same. And Joseph laid up corn in store, like unto the sand of the sea in multitude out of measure, until he left numbering: For it was without number. read more. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of hunger came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, bare unto him. And he called the name of the first son Manasseh, "For God," said he, "hath made me forget all my labour and all my father's household." The second called he Ephraim, "For God," said he, "hath caused me to grow in the land of my trouble." And when the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended, then came the seven years of dearth, according as Joseph had said. And the dearth was in all lands: but in the land of Egypt was there yet food. When now all the land of Egypt began to hunger, then cried the people to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said unto all Egypt, "Go unto Joseph, and what he saith to you, that do." And when the dearth was throughout all the land, Joseph opened all that was in the cities, and sold unto the Egyptians. And hunger waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
"This month shall be your chief month: even the first month of the year shall it be unto you.
"Six years thou shalt sow thy land and gather in the fruits thereof: and the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat: In like manner thou shalt do with thy vineyard and thine olive trees.
Thou shalt keep the feast of sweet bread, that thou eat unleavened bread seven days long as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the month of Abib, for in that month thou camest out of Egypt: and see that no man appear before me empty. And the feast of Harvest, when thou reapest the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering, in the end of the year: when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.
And the feast of Harvest, when thou reapest the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering, in the end of the year: when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.
The feast of sweet bread shalt thou keep, and seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed in the month of Abib: for in the month of Abib thou camest out of Egypt.
Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the years' end.
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say, 'The fifteenth day of the same seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles, seven days unto the LORD.
And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, 'When ye be come in to the land which I give you, let the land rest a Sabbath unto the LORD. read more. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt cut thy vines and gather in thy fruits. But the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land. The LORD's Sabbath it shall be, and thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor cut thy vines. The corn that groweth by itself thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes that grow without thy dressing: but it shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land. Nevertheless the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you: even for thee and thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for the stranger that dwelleth with thee: and for thy cattle and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
And then thou shalt make a horn blow: even in the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the day of atonement. And then shall ye make the horn blow, even throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabiters thereof. It shall be a year of horns blowing unto you and ye shall return: every man unto his possession and every man unto his kindred again. read more. A year of horns blowing shall that fiftieth year be unto you. Ye shall not sow neither reap the corn that groweth by itself, nor gather the grapes that grow without thy labour.
A year of horns blowing shall that fiftieth year be unto you. Ye shall not sow neither reap the corn that groweth by itself, nor gather the grapes that grow without thy labour. For it is a year of horns blowing and shall be holy unto you: how be it, yet ye shall eat of the increase of the field.
For it is a year of horns blowing and shall be holy unto you: how be it, yet ye shall eat of the increase of the field. And in this year of horns blowing ye shall return, every man unto his possession again.
And in this year of horns blowing ye shall return, every man unto his possession again. "'When thou sellest ought unto thy neighbour or buyest of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
"'When thou sellest ought unto thy neighbour or buyest of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: but according to the number of years after the trumpet year, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of fruit year, he shall sell unto thee.
but according to the number of years after the trumpet year, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of fruit year, he shall sell unto thee. According unto the multitude of years, thou shalt increase the price thereof and according to the fewness of years, thou shalt minish the price: for the number of fruit he shall sell unto thee.
According unto the multitude of years, thou shalt increase the price thereof and according to the fewness of years, thou shalt minish the price: for the number of fruit he shall sell unto thee. And see that no man oppress his neighbour, but fear thy God. For I am the LORD your God.
And see that no man oppress his neighbour, but fear thy God. For I am the LORD your God.
Wherefore the land shall not be sold forever, because that the land is mine, and ye but strangers and sojourners with me:
Then the land shall rejoice in her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth void and ye in your enemies' land: even then shall the land keep holy day and rejoice in her Sabbaths. And as long as it lieth void it shall rest, for that it could not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt therein.
For the land shall be left of them and shall have pleasure in her Sabbaths, while she lieth waste without them, and they shall make an atonement for their misdeeds, because they despised my laws and their souls refused mine ordinances.
At the end of seven years thou shalt make a free year. And this is the manner of the free year: whosoever lendeth ought with his hand unto his neighbour, may not ask again that which he hath lent, of his neighbour or of his brother: because it is called the LORD's free year, read more. yet of a stranger thou mayest call it home again. But that which thou hast with thy brother thine hand shall remit, and that in any wise, that there be no beggar among you. For the LORD shall bless the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, an inheritance, to possess it:
and commanded them, saying, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the tabernacles,
and commanded them, saying, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God, in the place which he hath chosen: see that thou read this law before all Israel in their ears. read more. Gather the people together: both men, women and children and the strangers that are in thy cities, that they may hear, learn and fear the LORD your God, and be diligent to keep all the words of this law, and that their children which know nothing may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it."
From heaven came battle: for the stars, being in their course, fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon caught them away: that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, tread thou the mighty underfoot.
And he carried away them that had escaped the sword to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his children, until the kingdom of Persia began to rule; to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had her pleasure of her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath until she had fulfilled seventy years.
Hast thou brought the seven stars together? Or art thou able to loose the bands of Orion?
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made both summer and winter.
The harvest is gone, the Summer hath an end, and we are not helped.
Behold, I dwell at Mizphah to be an officer on the Chaldeans' behalf, and to satisfy such as come to us. Therefore gather you wine, corn and oil, and keep them in your warehouses, and dwell in your cities that ye have in keeping." Yea all the Jews also that dwelt in Moab, under the Ammonites, in Idumaea and in all the countries, when they heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan governor upon them that were left in Judah: read more. All the Jews, I say, returned out of all places where they were fled unto: and came in to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah unto Mizphah, and gathered wine and other fruits, and that very much.
He shall subdue three kings, and shall speak words against the highest of all: he shall destroy the saints of the most highest, and think that he may change times and laws. They shall be given under his power, until a time, two times, and a half a time.
Then heard I the man with the linen clothes, which stood above upon the waters of the flood: when he held up his right and left hand unto heaven, and sware by him which liveth forever, that, "It shall tarry for a time, two times and half a time: when the power of the holy people is clean scattered abroad, then shall all these things be fulfilled."
Woe is me! I am become as one that goeth a gleaning in the harvest. There are no more grapes to eat, yet would I fain, with all my heart, have of the best fruit.
In that time shall there waters of life run out from Jerusalem: the half part of them toward the east sea, and the other half toward the utmost sea, and shall continue both summer and winter.
And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
but the court which is without the temple cast out, and mete it not: for it is given unto the gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty two months.
And the woman fled into wilderness, where she had a place, prepared of God, that they should feed her there, one 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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Then heard I the man with the linen clothes, which stood above upon the waters of the flood: when he held up his right and left hand unto heaven, and sware by him which liveth forever, that, "It shall tarry for a time, two times and half a time: when the power of the holy people is clean scattered abroad, then shall all these things be fulfilled."
but the court which is without the temple cast out, and mete it not: for it is given unto the gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty two months. "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
And the woman fled into wilderness, where she had a place, prepared of God, that they should feed her there, one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
And there was a mouth given unto him that spake great things, and blasphemies, and power was given unto him, 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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Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made both summer and winter.
If the kindred of Egypt go not up, and come not, it shall not rain upon them neither. This shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all Heathen, that come not 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 it fortuned, in process of time, that Cain brought of the fruit of the earth an offering unto the LORD.
and Noah was six hundred years old, when the flood of water came upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,
And it came to pass, the six hundred and one year and the first day of the first month, that the waters were dried up upon the earth. And Noah took off the hatches of the ark and looked: and behold, the face of the earth was dry.
Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your flesh, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
If thou buy a servant that is an Hebrew, sixth years he shall serve, and the seventh he shall go out free paying nothing.
And the feast of Harvest, when thou reapest the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering, in the end of the year: when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.
Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the years' end.
And in the eighth day the flesh of the child's foreskin shall be cut away.
And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, 'When ye be come in to the land which I give you, let the land rest a Sabbath unto the LORD. read more. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt cut thy vines and gather in thy fruits. But the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land. The LORD's Sabbath it shall be, and thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor cut thy vines. The corn that groweth by itself thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes that grow without thy dressing: but it shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land. Nevertheless the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you: even for thee and thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for the stranger that dwelleth with thee: and for thy cattle and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. "'Then number seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven years: and the space of the seven weeks of years will be unto thee forty nine years.
"'Then number seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven years: and the space of the seven weeks of years will be unto thee forty nine years. And then thou shalt make a horn blow: even in the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the day of atonement. And then shall ye make the horn blow, even throughout all your land.
And then thou shalt make a horn blow: even in the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the day of atonement. And then shall ye make the horn blow, even throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabiters thereof. It shall be a year of horns blowing unto you and ye shall return: every man unto his possession and every man unto his kindred again.
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabiters thereof. It shall be a year of horns blowing unto you and ye shall return: every man unto his possession and every man unto his kindred again.
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabiters thereof. It shall be a year of horns blowing unto you and ye shall return: every man unto his possession and every man unto his kindred again. A year of horns blowing shall that fiftieth year be unto you. Ye shall not sow neither reap the corn that groweth by itself, nor gather the grapes that grow without thy labour.
A year of horns blowing shall that fiftieth year be unto you. Ye shall not sow neither reap the corn that groweth by itself, nor gather the grapes that grow without thy labour. For it is a year of horns blowing and shall be holy unto you: how be it, yet ye shall eat of the increase of the field. read more. And in this year of horns blowing ye shall return, every man unto his possession again.
And in this year of horns blowing ye shall return, every man unto his possession again. "'When thou sellest ought unto thy neighbour or buyest of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: read more. but according to the number of years after the trumpet year, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of fruit year, he shall sell unto thee. According unto the multitude of years, thou shalt increase the price thereof and according to the fewness of years, thou shalt minish the price: for the number of fruit he shall sell unto thee. And see that no man oppress his neighbour, but fear thy God. For I am the LORD your God.
"'If ye shall say: What shall we eat the seventh year inasmuch as we shall not sow nor gather in our increase? I will send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years: read more. and ye shall sow the eighth year and eat of old fruit until the ninth year, and even until her fruits come, ye shall eat of old store. Wherefore the land shall not be sold forever, because that the land is mine, and ye but strangers and sojourners with me: and ye shall, throughout all the land of your possession, let the land go home free again.
and ye shall, throughout all the land of your possession, let the land go home free again. "'When thy brother is waxed poor and hath sold away of his possession: if any of his kin come to redeem it, he shall buy out that which his brother sold. read more. And though he have no man to redeem it for him, yet if his hand can get sufficient to buy it out again, then let him count how long it hath been sold, and deliver the rest unto him to whom he sold it, and so he shall return unto his possession again. But and if his hand can not get sufficient to restore it to him again, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it, until the horn year: and in the horn year it shall come out, and he shall return unto his possession again.
"'If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth: but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the trumpet year, read more. and then shall he depart from thee: both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own kindred again and unto the possessions of his fathers; for they are my servants which I brought out of the land of Egypt, and shall not be sold as bondmen. See therefore that thou reign not over him cruelly, but fear thy God. "'If thou wilt have bondservants and maidens, thou shalt buy them of the heathen that are round about you, and of the children of the strangers that are sojourners among you, and of their generations that are with you, which they begat in your land. And ye shall possess them and give them unto your children after you, to possess them for ever: and they shall be your bondmen. But over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not reign one over another cruelly.
Then the land shall rejoice in her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth void and ye in your enemies' land: even then shall the land keep holy day and rejoice in her Sabbaths. And as long as it lieth void it shall rest, for that it could not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt therein.
If a man hallow a piece of his inherited land unto the LORD, it shall be set according to that it beareth. If it bear a homer of barley, it shall be set at fifty sicles of silver. If he hallow his field immediately from the trumpet year, it shall be worth according as it is esteemed. read more. But and if he hallow his field after the trumpet year, the priest shall reckon the price with him according to the years that remain unto the trumpet year, and thereafter it shall be lower set. "'If he that sanctified the field will redeem it again, let him put the fifth part of the price that it was set at thereunto, and it shall be his: if he will not, it shall be redeemed no more. But when the field goeth out in the trumpet year, it shall be holy unto the LORD: even as a thing dedicated, and it shall be the priest's possession.
But in the trumpet year, the field shall return unto him of whom he bought it, whose inheritance of land it was.
And Balaam said unto Balak, "Build me here seven altars and provide here seven oxen and seven rams."
And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD and died there, even in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, and in the first day of the fifth month.
And when the free year cometh unto the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe where they are in, and so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers."
At the end of seven years thou shalt make a free year.
At the end of seven years thou shalt make a free year. And this is the manner of the free year: whosoever lendeth ought with his hand unto his neighbour, may not ask again that which he hath lent, of his neighbour or of his brother: because it is called the LORD's free year,
And this is the manner of the free year: whosoever lendeth ought with his hand unto his neighbour, may not ask again that which he hath lent, of his neighbour or of his brother: because it is called the LORD's free year, yet of a stranger thou mayest call it home again. But that which thou hast with thy brother thine hand shall remit, read more. and that in any wise, that there be no beggar among you. For the LORD shall bless the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, an inheritance, to possess it: so that thou hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and do all these commandments which I command you this day. Yea, and then the LORD thy God shall bless thee as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and shalt borrow of no man, and shalt reign over many nations, but none shall reign over thee. When one of thy brethren among you is waxed poor in any of thy cities within thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, see that thou harden not thine heart nor shut to thine hand from thy poor brother: But open thine hand unto him and lend him sufficient for his need which he hath. And beware that there be not a point of Belial in thine heart, that thou wouldest say, 'The seventh year, the year of freedom is at hand,' and therefore it grieve thee to look on thy poor brother and givest him nought and he then cry unto the LORD against thee and it be sin unto thee.
And beware that there be not a point of Belial in thine heart, that thou wouldest say, 'The seventh year, the year of freedom is at hand,' and therefore it grieve thee to look on thy poor brother and givest him nought and he then cry unto the LORD against thee and it be sin unto thee. But give him, and let it not grieve thine heart to give. Because that for that thing, the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand to.
If thy brother, an Hebrew, sell himself to thee, or an Hebrewess, he shall serve thee six years and the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
and commanded them, saying, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the tabernacles,
and commanded them, saying, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God, in the place which he hath chosen: see that thou read this law before all Israel in their ears.
when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God, in the place which he hath chosen: see that thou read this law before all Israel in their ears. Gather the people together: both men, women and children and the strangers that are in thy cities, that they may hear, learn and fear the LORD your God, and be diligent to keep all the words of this law,
Gather the people together: both men, women and children and the strangers that are in thy cities, that they may hear, learn and fear the LORD your God, and be diligent to keep all the words of this law, and that their children which know nothing may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it."
and that their children which know nothing may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it."
And when God had helped the Levites that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, they offered seven oxen and seven rams.
And after twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house:
to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had her pleasure of her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath until she had fulfilled seventy years.
Therefore take seven oxen and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, offer up also for yourselves a burnt offering: and let my servant Job pray for you. Him will I accept, and not deal with you after your foolishness: in that ye have not spoken the thing which is right, like as my servant Job hath done."
The spirit of the LORD God is with me, for the LORD hath anointed me, and sent me to preach good tidings unto the poor: that I might bind up the wounded hearts, that I might preach deliverance to the captive, and open the prison to them that are bound; That I might declare the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of the vengeance of our God; that I might comfort all them that are in heaviness.
what time as the king of Babylon's host besieged Jerusalem, and the remnant of the cities: Namely, Lachish and Azekah, which yet remained of the strong defended cities of Judah.
'When seven years are out, every man shall let his bought servant, a Hebrew go free, if he have served him six years.' But your fathers obeyed me not and hearkened not unto me.
In the twelfth year, the fifth day of the tenth Month of our captivity, it happened, that one which was fled out of Jerusalem, came unto me, and said, "The city is destroyed."
In the twenty fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, the tenth day of the month - that is, the fourteenth year, after that the city was smitten down - the same day came the hand of the LORD upon me, and carried me forth:
From that time forth, Jesus began to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and of the high priests, and of the scribes; and must be killed, and rise again the third day.
And after six days Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain out of the way,
and said, "Sir, we remember that this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will arise again.
And he began to teach them, how that the son of man must suffer many things, and should be reproved of the elders and of the high priests and scribes, and should be killed, and after three days arise again.
And after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up into a high mountain out of the way alone, and he was transfigured before them.
And when the eighth day was come that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, which was named of the angel before he was conceived in the mother's womb.
saying that the son of man must suffer many things, and be reproved of the elders, and of the high priests and scribes, and be slain, and the third day rise again.
And it followed about an eight days after those sayings, that he took Peter, James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray.
And not long after, the younger son gathered all that he had together, and took his journey into a far country, and there he wasted his goods with riotous living.
But after a certain space, Paul said unto Barnabas, "Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have showed the word of the Lord, and see how they do."
but the court which is without the temple cast out, and mete it not: for it is given unto the gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty two months. "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
And the woman fled into wilderness, where she had a place, prepared of God, that they should feed her there, one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
And there was a mouth given unto him that spake great things, and blasphemies, and power was given unto him, to continue forty two months.