Year
“Repetition, from the root meaning 'to repeat' or 'return'”
Summary
The highest ordinary division of time among the Hebrews, marked by solar revolutions of the seasons and structured around twelve lunar months with periodic adjustments.
☩The 360-Day Prophetic Year
A year of 360 days, containing twelve months of thirty days each, appears in prophetical Scriptures. Daniel's 'time, times, and half a time' equals the forty-two months and 1,260 days of Revelation, since 360 multiplied by 3.5 equals 1,260. This year corresponds to the Egyptian Vague year without the five intercalary days. Evidence suggests this calendar was used in Noah's time, where the interval from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month is stated as 150 days—exactly five months of thirty days each.
☩The Hebrew Calendar
The Hebrew year instituted at the Exodus was essentially solar, with offerings of first-fruits, harvest produce, and ingathered fruits fixed to specific days. However, the months were lunar, each commencing with a new moon, requiring adjustment. The year began near the vernal equinox when the earliest ears of barley ripened for the first-fruits offering on the sixteenth day of Abib. A thirteenth month was added whenever the twelfth ended too long before the equinox for proper timing of first-fruits.
☩Sacred and Civil Reckonings
The Hebrews maintained two calendar reckonings with commencements exactly half a year apart. The sacred reckoning instituted at the Exodus placed Abib (later called Nisan) as the first month, beginning in spring. The civil or agrarian year began with Tisri in autumn, at the close of the fruit harvest when husbandmen prepared for another year's work. Sabbatical years and Jubilees were counted from Tisri, while the Passover marked the religious year's beginning.
☩Seasons
The Bible mentions two primary seasons: summer and winter. Summer originally referred to the time of cutting fruits, winter to gathering fruits—essentially warm and cold seasons that together comprised the whole year. The month Abib ('the month of green ears') commenced summer, while Ethanim ('the month of flowing streams'), the seventh month, began winter.
Related Verses739 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Year," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. X (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Year," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. V (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Year," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Year," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).