Friday, March 1, 2013

The Hebrew Months


The Hebrew Months

I am currently writing this bible study in the month of Tebeth. It is the Hebrew month comparable on our Julian calendar to part of December and part of January. To make you more confused, this is NOT the first month of the Hebrew calendar! The first month of the Hebrew calendar is Nisan, or Abib. If you equated the Hebrew months to the Julian months, and found these Hebrew month names in Scripture, I think you would find the Bible interesting from this new perspective; for example, the only occurrence of this month is found in the book of Esther; "So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign." (Esth. 2:16)

Nisan appears first in Nehemiah: "And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence." (Neh. 2:1) It also appears in Esther, and then, no more. "In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar." (Esth. 3:7) Nisan is comparable to the March-April timeframe of our Julian calendar. Nisan was also called Abib, but that is its given name by the Canaanites, therefore we use more rightly Nisan!

The Next month of the Hebrew calendar is Iyyar, or Zif, and it is equivalent to our April - May timeframe of the Julian calendar. "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD." (1 Kings 6:1) It appears again in verse 37 of the same chapter, and then no more. It would seem the months are rather infrequently noted in the Bible, doesn't it?

The third Hebrew month has the name Sivan, and is commensurate with our May-June on the current calendar we use today. "Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language." (Esth. 8:9) This month, too, appears only once in the Old Testament, and no more in the rest of the Bible.

The fourth Hebrew month is called Tammuz, and as you can assume, it covers our June - July of the Julian calendar. Oddly enough, it does not appear as a month in the Bible, but rather as the name of a false god: "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz." (Ezek. 8:14) Instead, it is addressed as the fourth month, but not by name. "And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land." (2 Kings 25:3)

The fifth month, Ab, likewise does not appear in the bible by its name, but only is addressed as the fifth month. "And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month." (Num. 33:38)

The 6th month, Elul, is another of the months that actually appears by name; "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days." (Neh. 6:15) Again, this is one of those months that only appears in the Bible once by name.

Now here's an interesting month, the 7th month. It is initially named Tishri, but appears in the Bible by its other name, which is Ethanim! "And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month." (1 Kings 8:2) This is another month that only appears once by its name; not its original name, but its other given name. Out of the four months which have two names, this is the third. The last one with two names is the next month, the eighth month.

"And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it." (1 Kings 6:38) This is not the original name of the eighth month, just like the 7th month. Its original name is Marchesvan, but it does not appear in the Bible. This is another month whose name only appears once.

The name of the ninth month appears in the Bible, but with a slightly different spelling. "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace," (Neh. 1:1) "And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;" (Zech. 7:1) This month appears only twice by name, and no more. It is otherwise addressed as the ninth month.

The 10th month is another whose name shows up in the Bible; "So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign." (Esth. 2:16) Once again, this is the only place where the month shows up by name.

The eleventh month of the Jews, named Shebat, is another one of those months whose name does not appear under this spelling, but a slightly altered one; " Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying," (Zech. 1:7)

The 12th and last month of the Hebrews is called Adar. It first appears as the name of a place rather than as the name of their month! "And it went out to the south side to Maalehacrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the south side unto Kadeshbarnea, and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karkaa:" (Josh. 15:3) It later appears by name as addressing the month itself. "And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." (Ezra 6:15) "In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar." (Esth. 3:7) "And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." (Esth. 3:13) "Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar." (Esth. 8:12) "Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)" (Esth. 9:1) "For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand." (Esth. 9:15) "On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness." (Esth. 9:17) "Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another." (Esth. 9:19) "To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly," (Esth. 9:21) Wow! It appears 9 times by name in the Bible, and mostly in the book of Esther! But why did I bring these months names into a Bible study, and most of them are not even addressed by their names, and only one is heavily used among the 12?

If you look at the story of Esther, Haman sets up the month of Adar as an important month, as he hated the Hebrews because of his disdain for Mordecai. In other words, he was a bigot! He was prejudiced against all the Hebrews for Mordecai's sake! The king at that time was not a Hebrew, Ahasuerus was a Persian, which would make him Iranian in today's geography! He reigned over 127 provinces, which included Israel. Haman was an Agagite. But coming back to the month, from Esther chapter 3 to chapter 9, the month is busy! For us, we see the time as taking place the last half of February through the first half of March. It helps paint the picture of the time! We now know that the book of Esther is much ado about what is a cold month for us.

Now look at Nehemiah's addressing of the first month; we now know that Nehemiah gave king Artaxerxes his sad face as spring was sprung, and this would be good timing for his plan to rebuild Judah, complete with walls. If we consider the months when we read the Bible, it is like putting together a puzzle, in that we can better imagine what it was like in the time we are reading about. We must remember a lot of the Old Testament is like a history book centered around God's people, and what may seem obscure, boring dry facts are actually pieces of a puzzle for examining life in the times of these people! Now let's look at the help of knowing the month in another OldTestament era...

"And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD." (1 Kings 6:1) Just like the passage from Nehemiah, spring is apparently a good time to build in Israel, because Nehemiah asked in the first month to go and build in Judah, while Solomon built the first house of the Lord in the second month. Giving Nehemiah time to travel, they both would've begun building around the same timeframe!

So now we know how and why Hebrew months are often given in the Bible concerning the history of this people; it helps us to see the story better, and also gives us the realization how perfect God's timing is for energizing His people to do things when the time is right in His perfect time!

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