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I hope you had a wonderful Yom Teruah – I certainly did.
With the Day of Trumpets past, we find ourselves looking forward to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). To that end, I want to finish up with the basics of the biblical calendar so that those who may be new to this information have a better foundational understanding as move forward.
First, let’s have a look at the different names by which the months on the Biblical Calendar are known:
| Biblical Month | Translation | Pre-Exilic | Post-Exilic | Gregorian |
| Rashon Kodesh | 1st Month | Aviv | Nissan | Mar – Apr |
| Shnih Kodesh | 2nd Month | Ziv | Iyar | Apr – May |
| Shlishi Kodesh | 3rd Month | – | Sivan | May – Jun |
| Rviay Kodesh | 4th Month | – | Tammuz | Jun – Jul |
| Chmishi Kodesh | 5th Month | – | Av | Jul – Aug |
| Shshit Kodesh | 6th Month | – | Elul | Aug – Sep |
| Shviait Kodesh | 7th Month | Ethanim | Tishri | Sep – Oct |
| Shmonh Kodesh | 8th Month | Bul | Cheshvan | Oct – Nov |
| T Kodesh | 9th Month | – | Kislev | Nov – Dec |
| Ashirit Kodesh | 10th Month | – | Tevet | Dec – Jan |
| Achd Ashr Kodesh | 11th Month | – | Shevat | Jan – Feb |
| Shnim Kodesh | 12th Month | – | Adar | Feb – Mar |
| Shlosh Ashrh Kodesh | 13th Month | – | Adar Bet | Feb – Mar |
If you’re new to this information, I’m quite sure you have questions given the table above. Hopefully, we’ll answer these questions before we close this article.
Straight away you might notice a stark difference from the Gregorian calendar; the 1st month of the year on the Biblical Calendar falls in the Spring, while January on the Gregorian Calendar falls in Winter. The call for this to be the beginning of months is stipulated in the Book of the Exodus:
“This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year.”
Exodus 12:2
In the preceding table, I have listed various names for each of the months in the calendar. The first column indicates the transliterated Hebrew for the month based upon its position in the calendar cycle, followed by the English translation in the second column. These represent the manner in which these months are most frequently addressed in scripture, i.e. first month, second month, etc.
The third column provides an alias or “other name” used to identify a given month prior to Israel’s exile into Babylon. There are only a few entries and they are linked in order to provide access to the scriptural references (CJB).
The fourth column provides the listing of names used to identify months on the Hebrew / Hillel II Calendar even to the present age. These are generally accepted to have been adopted from the Babylonian Calendar during the exile which began with the Chaldean / Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar (reference 2 Kings Ch 25). Where applicable, links have also been provided to access scriptural references to these month names. (Note that the relative time-frame of the cited texts).
Lastly, the fifth column provides a relative equivalency for the Gregorian calendar. If you read Part One, you may recall that the lunisolar nature of the Bibical Calendar versus the solar nature of the Gregorian results in some variation between the two. For this reason, the Gregorian equivalent results in a range.
Adar Bet – The Leap Month
Repeat after me: “a year is not 365 days.”
It may seem like splitting hairs to some, but this is an undeniable fact – if it weren’t, there’d be no need to observe a leap year every fourth year. This observance is a form of intercalation designed to keep the modern solar calendar aligned with the Earth’s actual position relative to its orbit.
In much the same way, the Hebrew / Hillel Calendar uses intercalation to achieve a similar result. In the calculated calendar, this is done by adding an additional month at the end of the year seven times in a nineteen year cycle. This additional month is actually considered to be Adar Aleph (1) while the “standard” month of Adar becomes Adar Bet (2)… but that gets a bit technical and is beyond the intended scope of this article. You’ll note that in the preceding table, there is an entry for a thirteenth month – this is an allowance for the Adar Bet (or Aleph if you prefer).
Throughout this and other recent articles, I have sought to delineate between the prescriptions of scripture and the traditions and calculations of men. To that end, you may be wondering if there is a scriptural basis for this particular method of intercalation… Turns out, there is.
The Aviv
“You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.”
Exodus 23:15
First of all, understand that most English translations render this word as Abib rather than Aviv. In Hebrew, there are several means through which a letter can render a ‘V’ sound and this is one of the principles by which we can know that the ‘Vav’ in Yud Hey Vav Hey is a ‘Vav’ and not a ‘Waw’.
In this particular case, the Hebrew character in question is a ‘Bet’, which would generally be analogous to an English ‘B’, however in this case, is better rendered as a ‘V’. Understand that, in either case, Abib and Aviv are pointing to the exact same thing.
Now the question… what does it mean?
Aviv in this context is an agricultural term indicating a stage in the development of barley. Nehemiah Gordon does an excellent job of explaining this in his article “Aviv Barley in the Biblical Calendar” and even goes so far as to explain its correlation to the destruction of the Egyptian crops due to the plague of hail, prior to the exodus.
Grains develop and ripen at different stages throughout the year. Barley, as it happens, ripens in the spring. Just prior to reaching full maturity and being ready for harvest, it will enter into a stage called Aviv – ergo, “the month of the Aviv”. When the barley is Aviv, it can be parched in fire and rendered edible.
This practice is eluded to or directly addressed numerous times throughout scripture:
“‘If you present a grain offering of first ripe grain to the Lord, you must present your grain offering of first ripe grain as soft kernels roasted in fire—crushed bits of fresh grain…”
Leviticus 2:14
Again, the cited article by Nehemiah Gordon does an extremely good job of explaining the issue, but we need to understand that the Aviv barley was essential to the proper observance of Levitical ordinances; the Wave Sheaf Offering which marks Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:10-11), Shavuot or Pentecost which occurs seven weeks afer the Wave Sheaf offering (Lev 23:15) for starters.
The point of all of this is that there were two critical factors in the determination of a new year. The first being the sighting of the new moon, and the second being the status of the barley being Aviv…
But what if the new moon is sighted and the barely is not yet Aviv?
I’m glad you asked… in this circumstance, a new month is declared, but not a new year; therefore, you will have a 13th Month. By the next new moon, the barley will be ready and the new year can commence. What’s more is that the calendar has essentially intercalated itself and all of the Mo’edim (Appointed Times) will be observed in their proper seasons and at the proper times.
I don’t know about you, but I find that to be amazing and cool. Do you serve a God of coincidence? I don’t serve a God of coincidence.
Tuesday, October 7th at sundown marks Yom Kippur – or – The Day of Atonement. Since the inception of this site, I have published a new article every Friday and I intend to continue doing so. This weekend however, I intend to publish an additional article discussing Yom Kippur and its significance to us as followers of the Messiah.
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You