TIP OF THE DAY 126: Hebrew calendars- search for unnamed months

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day (when it doesn't time out)

POST ISSUE: Hebrew months and searching for them.

The Hebrews derived their names for months from the Babylonians during the exile. Prior to the exile only four months’ names are attested. Just as we relate October to Halloween, November with Thanksgiving (in the US), and December with Christmas, the Hebrews associated their months with Holy days, weather, and agricultural activities. Here we detail the information associated with the months and explore how to search for the unnamed months.

QUESTION4: List the names of the months of the Hebrew calendar.

SOFTWARE: Because most of the names of the Hebrew calendar are post-Babylonian exile, the search argument for a smart All search was list the Hebrew months old and new names.

ANSWER: from Elwell, Walter A., and Barry J. Beitzel. “Calendars, Ancient and Modern.” In Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1:400–404. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988:

The Hebrew Lunar Calendar

Month	Pre-exilic Name	Post-exilic Name	Babylonian Equivalent	Gregorian Equivalent	Festivals/Holy Days	Weather	Agriculture/Harvests
1	Abib (Ex 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Dt 16:1)	Nisan (Neh 2:1; Est 3:7)	Nisanu	March/April	14th = Passover 15th (+ 7 days) = Unleavened Bread	Rainy (Latter Rain)	Flax Harvest
2	Ziv (1 Kgs 6:1, 37)	Iyyar	Aiaru	April/May		Dry	Barley Harvest
3		Sivan (Est 8:9)	Simanu	May/June	6th = Pentecost (Harvest; Firstfruits; Shavuot, Weeks)	Warm and Dry	Wheat Harvest
4		Tammuz	Duzu	June/July		Warm and Dry
5		Ab	Abu	July/August		Warm and Dry
6		Elul (Neh 6:15)	Ululu	August/September		Warm and Dry	Date Harvest Grape Harvest Summer Fig Harvest
7	Ethanim (1 Kgs 8:2)	Tishri	Tashritu	September/October	1st = Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) 10th = Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) 15th (+ 7 days) = Tabernacles (Ingathering; Succoth, Booths) 22nd (+ 1 day) = Simhath Torah	Dry	Olive Harvest Grape Harvest
8	Bul (1 Kgs 6:38)	Heshvan (originally = Marheshvan)	Arahsamnu	October/November		Rainy (Former Rain)	Olive Harvest Plowing
9		Kislev (Neh 1:1; Zec 7:1)	Kislimu	November/December	25th (+ 7 days) = Dedication (Hanukkah, Lights)	Cool and Rainy	Winter Fig Harvest Sowing
10		Tebeth (Est 2:16)	Tebetu	December/January		Cool and Rainy (and Snowy)	Sowing
11		Shebat (Zec 1:7)	Shabatu	January/February		Cool and Rainy	Almond Blossoms Sowing
12		Adar (Ezr 6:15; Est 3:7, 13; 8:12; 9:1, 15, 17, 19, 21)	Addaru	February/March	13th = Nicanor 14th (+ 1 day) = Purim (Lots)	Cool and Rainy	Citrus Fruit Harvest Sowing

The use of ad to signify the Christian year was not the contribution of Gregory (and obviously not Julius Caesar’s innovation). Dionysius Exiguus, a monk living at Rome in 527 (ad by our calendar), conceived the idea of the Christian era. He reckoned back to what he believed was the 1st year of Jesus’ life on earth and designated that year 1 anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord.”

The Gregorian calendar, with its irregular months consisting of 28, 29, 30, and 31 days, is at times confusing, but on the average it coincides with the astronomical solar year to within less than 27 seconds. Although societies for calendar reform exist in many countries, no proposal for reform of the Gregorian calendar has yet found worldwide acceptance.

Jewish Calendar. It is hard to imagine a people with lives more closely bound to and regulated by the calendar than the people of ancient Israel. The Jewish calendar is dated from what is supposed to have been the creation: 3,760 years and 3 months before the Christian era. Accordingly, to find the current year in the Jewish calendar, one must add 3,759 to the date in the Gregorian calendar. The system, however, will not work to the exact month, since the Jewish year (running on the civil calendar) begins in autumn rather than in midwinter.

Months. Most of the 12 months of the postexilic Jewish calendar have names adapted from the Babylonians. The months do not correspond to but overlap the months of the Roman calendar.

The names of over half the months are mentioned in the OT: Kislev (Neh 1:1; Zec 7:1; rsv Chislev, kjv Chisleu), Tebeth (Est 2:16), Shebat (Zec 1:7, kjv Sebat), Adar (Est 3:7; 8:12), Nisan (Neh 2:1; Est 3:7), Sivan (Est 8:9), and Elul (Neh 6:15).

Since the Jewish month invariably began with the new moon, at intervals of approximately 29½ days, the Jewish year ran 354 days. No exact information is available to explain how the Jews originally adjusted their inaccurate lunar calendar to synchronize with the actual solar year. Late in Israel’s history an extra month was inserted between Adar and Nisan. That month, sometimes called Veader (“2nd Adar”), was added seven times within a 19-year cycle (at which time Adar received an extra half day).

The names for the Jewish months as now known come from the period following the return from Babylonia to Palestine. Before the Babylonian exile at least four other names were in use: Abib (Ex 13:4), Ziv (1 Kgs 6:1, 37), Ethanim (1 Kgs 8:2), and Bul (1 Kgs 6:38). After the captivity they were renamed Nisan, Iyyar, Tishri, and Heshvan (originally Marheshvan), respectively. The preexilic names carried agricultural connotations. For example, Abib signified the month in which the heads of the grain became ripe; Ziv was the month for desert flowers to bloom. An agricultural orientation is apparent in what is evidently the oldest Hebrew calendar, found at Gezer (southeast of Tel Aviv) in 1908 and dating from the 10th century bc. Probably the work of a Jewish schoolboy, the calendar breaks down the year by agricultural activities such as sowing, reaping, pruning, and storage.

Primarily, however, the months were religiously significant to the Jews and enabled them to commemorate the important events of their history. Each month’s beginning was considered holy. To ancient Israel the moon became a spiritual symbol of the nation itself; the sun eventually became symbolic of the Messiah (Mal 4:2). Since the moon produces no light of its own, the symbolism is especially appropriate: Israel was supposed to reflect the Messiah’s light to the world.

The Jewish calendar remained unchanged during the period between the OT and NT (approximately 400 years) despite an attempt by Hellenistic rulers to introduce a modified lunar month system, presumably of Macedonian origin. According to that calendar, 5 days were added to the final month of the year, with each of the 12 months containing 30 days. Even then, it only approximated the solar year.

Reckoning of Dates. We know of no era in which the ancient Hebrews recorded dates by citing a month and day. Rather, dates were computed by reference to some significant event such as the accession year of the reigning king. In NT times the Jews continued the OT method of dating events by synchronizing them with events either in their religious calendar or within the secular sphere of the Roman world. Writers of the NT followed the same principle (Lk 1:5; Jn 12:1; Acts 18:12). Only as the calendar reforms of Julius Caesar became embedded in the culture did people change from that long-standing method to a more standardized system.

The Number Seven. Seven is a special number in Scripture. God created the world in six days and hallowed the 7th as a day of rest; “sabbath” is from a Hebrew root meaning “to rest.” The 7th month in the Jewish religious calendar (Tishri) is marked by holy assemblies. The 10th day of the 7th month marks the observance of the Day of Atonement, and the 15th day, the feast of tabernacles. Leviticus 25:3, 4 declares that the 7th year is also sacred to God; in it the land must remain fallow (at rest) for an entire year. When 7 “sabbatical” years had been completed, the 50th year—a year of jubilee—was commemorated by the release of servants and the return of land or homes to those who, through hardship, had been forced to sell or forfeit them.[1]

From Watson, Richard. “Months, ירחים.” In A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, 667. New York: Lane & Scott, 1851.

MONTHS, ירחים, sometimes also called חדשים, new moons, from the circumstance of their commencing with the new moon, anciently had no separate names, with the exception of the first, which was called Abib, that is, “the month of the young ears of corn,” Exod. 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deut. 16:1. During the captivity, the Hebrews adopted the Babylonian names for their months; which were as follows, and they were reckoned thus:

1.ניסן, Nisan, from the new moon	of April, Neh. 2:1.
2.ןיו, Kif or Ziv, also called אייר,	of May, 1 Kings 6:1.
3.טיון, Sivan,	of June, Esther 8:9.
4.תמוז, Tammuz,	of August.
5.אב, Ab,	of July,
6.אלול, Elul,	of September, Neh. 6:15.
7.תשרי, Tishri, also ירח האתנים,	of October, 1 Kings 8:2.
8.בול, Bul, also מרחשון	of November, 1 Kings 6:38.
9.כסלו, Kislev,	of December, Neh. 1:1.
10.טבת, Tebeth,	of January, Esther 2:16.
11.שבט, Shebat,	of February, Zech. 1:7.
12.אדר, Adar,	of March, Esther 3:7.

The first month here mentioned, Nisan, was originally called Abib. The intercalary month is denominated in Hebrew אדר.[2]

QUESTION4: How does one search in English for references to Hebrew months prior to the Babylonian exile?

SOFTWARE: from LaSor, William Sanford. Handbook of Biblical Hebrew: An Inductive Approach Based on the Hebrew Text of Esther. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988.

§36.97Ordinal numerals (only 1–10 are morphologically indicated as such, cf. §26.3ff) act as true adjectives and are subject to the principles set forth in §36.1f. Usually the def. art. is omitted with numerals above 10.

§36.971In numbering years and days of the month, the cardinals are used (usually even for 1–10). בִּשׁנַת שָׁלֹש ‘in the third year’ (1 Kgs. 15:25). בְּאַרְבַּע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה ‘in the 14th year’ (1 Kgs. 6:1). בְּיוֹם אֶחָד ‘on the first day’ (Ezra 10:16).

§36.972In numbering the months, the ordinals are always used. עַד הַחֹֽדֶשׁ הָֽעֲשִׂירִי ‘until the tenth month’ (Gen. 8:5). בַּחֹֽדֶשׁ הַשִׁשִּׁי ‘in the sixth month’ (Hag. 1:1).[3]

ANSWER: Use a precise Bible search with this search argument: "first month" OR "second month" OR "third month" OR "fourth month" OR "fifth month" OR "sixth month" OR "seventh month" OR "eighth month" OR "ninth month" OR "tenth month" OR "eleventh month" OR "twelfth month".

For a sampling of cases use a smart Bible search with this search argument: verses with "month" modified by an ordinal number.

[1] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Calendars, Ancient and Modern,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 402–404.

[2] Richard Watson, “Months, ירחים,” in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (New York: Lane & Scott, 1851), 667.

[3] William Sanford LaSor, Handbook of Biblical Hebrew: An Inductive Approach Based on the Hebrew Text of Esther, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), 198.

MJ. Smith

Question: Did you actually try and compare the results of the two searches?