HEBREW CALENDAR.

To the Bible student a knowledge of the Hebrew calendar is indispensable, if he would know how the date of events recorded in the Bible are made to correspond with our present English calendar. From the exodus (1491 B. C.) downward, the Hebrew month was lunar, and commenced invariably with the new moon.

Dr. Smith, author of Bible Dictionary, says that the terms for month and moon have the same close connection in the Hebrew language as in our own, only the Hebrew Codesh (that is new moon) is, perhaps, more distinctive than the corresponding term in our language; for it expresses not simply the idea of a lunation, but the recurrence of a period commencing definitely with the new moon. Though the identification of the Jewish month with our own cannot be effected with precision on account of the variations that must necessarily exist between the lunar and the solar month, each of the former ranging over portions of two of the latter, still it can be shown how they may be made to coincide very nearly by a systematic method of intercalation.

Now from new moon to new moon again, is about 29½ days; therefore, the Hebrew year consisted of 354 days, for 29½ × 12 = 354; so that the epact, (which is the excess of the solar year beyond the lunar) is eleven days. Hence, had they no method of intercalation, the commencement of their year would go back eleven days every year, and consequently make a revolution of the seasons every thirty-three years, for 365 ÷ 11 = 33 nearly.

To illustrate, let us suppose that the new moon of Nisan, which is the first month in the Sacred year, should on any given year fall on the 10th of April, then the following year it would fall on the 30th of March, which is eleven days earlier; the second year it would fall on the 19th of March or twenty-two days earlier; the third year the new moon would fall on the 8th of March or thirty-three days earlier, but that would not be the new moon of Nisan, which cannot happen earlier than the 11th, so the following moon which happens thirty days later on the 7th of April is the new moon of Nisan. Hence it may be seen that by intercalating a full month every three years, or which comes nearer to accuracy seven times in nineteen years, restores the coincidence of the solar and the lunar year, and consequently the moons to the same day of the month on which they fell nineteen years before.

The method of designating the months previous to the exodus, was by their numerical order, as the ancient Hebrews had no particular name to express their month. They said the first, second and third month, and so on. No names of months appear in the Bible until about the time of the institution of the passover, when the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying this month, (Abib, which appears to have had its origin in Egypt,) shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.The names of the months appear to belong to two distinct periods. In the first place we have those peculiar to the Jews previous to the captivity, viz: Abib, the first month in commemoration of the exodus; Zif, the second, Ethanim, the seventh, and Bul, the eighth. These names are of Hebrew origin, and have reference to the characteristics of the seasons, a circumstance which clearly shows that the months, by intercalation, were made to return at the same period of the year. Thus, Abib was the month of the ears of corn, that is the month in which the ears of corn became full, or ripe on the 16th day, that is the 2d day of the feast of unleavened bread. Zif, the month of blossoms or the bloom of flowers. Ethanim, the month of gifts, that is of fruits, and Bul, the month of rain. These were superceded after the captivity, by Nisan, Iyar, Tisri and Hesvan, or Marchesvan.

Marchesvan, coinciding as it does with the rainy season in Palestine, is considered a pure Hebrew term. The modern Jews consider it a compound word, from mar, drop, and Chesvan; the former betokening that it was wet, and the latter being the proper name of the month. Hence the name indicates the wet month. In the second place we have the names of six others which appear in the Bible subsequently to the Babylonian captivity, viz.: Sivan, the third; Elul, the sixth; Kislev, the ninth; Tebet, the tenth; Sebat, the eleventh, and Adar, the twelfth. There are two other months whose names do not appear in the Bible, viz.: Tamuz, the fourth, and Ab, the fifth. The name of the intercalary month is called Ve-Adar, or 2d Adar because placed in the calendar after Adar and before Nisan.Dr. Smith says these names are probably borrowed from the Syrians in whose regular calendar we find names answering to most of them. He also says it was the opinion of the Talmudists, that these names were introduced by the Jews who returned from the Babylonish captivity, and also that they are certainly used exclusively by writers of the post-Babylonian period.

Inasmuch as the Hebrew months coincided with the seasons, as we have already shown, it follows as a matter of course, that an additional month must have been inserted every third year, which would bring the number up to thirteen. No notice, however, is taken of this month in the Bible, neither have we reason to think that it was inserted according to any exact rule, but it was added whenever it was discovered that the barley harvest did not coincide with the ordinary return of the month Abib. It has already been shown that in the modern Jewish calendar the intercalary month is introduced seven times in nineteen years, according to the Metonic, or lunar cycle which was adopted by the Jews about 360 A. D.

The Hebrew calendar is dated from the creation, which is supposed to have taken place 3761 years before Christ. Hence, to find the number of cycles elapsed since the creation, also the number in the cycle, we have the following rule: Add 3761 to the date, divide the sum by nineteen; the quotient is the number of cycles, and the remainder is the number in the cycle. Should there be no remainder, the proposed year is, of course, the last or nineteenth of the cycle. Thus, for the year 1883, we have 1883 + 3761 ÷ 19 = 297, remainder 1; therefore, 297 is the number of cycles, and 1 the number in the cycle. Again, for the year 1893, we have 1893 + 3761 ÷ 19 = 297, remainder 11; therefore 297 is the number of cycles, and 11 the number in the cycle. Again for the year 1901, we have 1901 + 3761 ÷ 19 = 298, remainder 0; therefore 298 is the number of cycles, and 19 the last of the cycle. Hence it may be seen that the present cycle commenced with 1883, that 11 is the number in the cycle for the present year 1893, also that the cycle ends with 1901; so that the next cycle commences with 1902. If the remainder after dividing by nineteen be 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 or 19 (0), the year is intercalary or embolismic, consisting of 384 days; if otherwise it is ordinary, containing only 354 days; so that in a cycle of nineteen years, we have twelve ordinary years of 354 days each, and seven embolismic years of 384 days each. But, in either case, the year is sometimes made a day more, and sometimes a day less, in order that certain festivals may fall on proper days of the week for their due observance. Hence the ordinary year may consist of 353, 354 or 355 days, and the embolismic year of 383, 384 or 385 days.

In the modern Jewish calendar the New Year commences with the new moon of Tisri, which may happen as early as the 5th of September or as late as the 5th of October. The new moon of Nisan, which is the first month in the Sacred year, may happen as early as the 11th of March or as late as the 11th of April. It should be borne in mind that the names of the months Abib, Zif, Ethanim and Bul were superceded after the captivity, by Nisan, Iyar, Tisri and Hesvan or Marchesvan; also the name of the third month in the civil year, Chisleu in the Bible, Kislev in the modern Jewish calendar. In table No. 1 we have the names of the months in numerical order, also the number of days in each month. Though the months consist of 30 and 29 days alternately, yet, in the embolismic year, Adar, which in common years has 29 days, is given 30 days, and 2d Adar 29; so that two months of 30 days come together. Table No. 2 shows the earliest and the latest possible date of the new moons of each of the months respectively.

TABLE 1. HEBREW MONTHS.

TABLE II. HEBREW MONTHS.

The charts on the three following pages are used to illustrate the correspondence of the Hebrew months with our own. Each chart represents the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun or real path of the Earth, also the names of the months as they occur in their seasons. The figures represent the days of the month on which the new moons of the Hebrew calendar fall. These charts represent the month and the day of the month on which both the Sacred and the Civil year begins and ends for three successive years. Hence it may be seen that by intercalating a month every three years the new moons are restored, very nearly, to the place they occupied three years before.

CHART I.

CHART II.

CHART III.