Calendar Part 5: Months in a Year

How many months are in a year? And does the bible make mention of them? These are the things we seek to answer through this article.

Genesis 1:14-16

14 ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Remember in the book of Genesis we are told that The Most High God made the sun, moon and stars to be for signs, days, and years. Showing us that it was in Gods will from the beginning for man to have a calendar. And not man alone but even nature itself is aligned to the ordinances and times.

Acts 11:26 KJVS

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Our people understood that there was a dispensation of time that would constitute a whole year.

1 Kings 4:7 KJVS

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.

Even during the time of Solomon he (by wisdom) set up various officers that would serve during a specific time. And that time happened to be a particular month out of the year. He appointed a man each month. If you noticed he had twelve total. Why? Because there are twelve months in a general calendar year. So naturally an officer would be assigned per month.

1 Chronicles 27:1-2,15 KJVS

Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses, which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, of every course were twenty and four thousand. [2] Over the first course for the first month was Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. [15] The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.

Even for the governing body of Israel and its leadership, he set up leaders that would serve under him with their officers. They served in courses, meaning rotations. These rotations happened to be month by month. It started with the first month on down to the twelfth month. You might be asking yourself why is this important? Because someone may believe there are nine months or ten months in a given year. So it is important that we get accounts and have a few precepts to properly show what our people followed and what the norm was.

Esther 3:7 ¶ 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.

This verse not only serves as a precept for letting us know that there are twelve months in a year but even provides a name for two of the months. The first month was named Nisan and the twelfth month was named Adar.

Antiq.  1:81 (1.3.3) but Moses appointed that Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that month; so that this month began the year as to all the solemnities they observed to the honor of God, although he preserved the original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs. Now he says that this flood began on the twenty-seventh [seventeenth] day of the forementioned month;

The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus Antiquities of the Jews

We can recall in the book of Exodus chapter twelve that the month we came out of Egypt and kept the Passover was the first month of the year for us. Josephus gives an account of that month being referred to as Nisan as well as Xanthicus.

Exodus 12:1-2

1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Now I would like to get another historic source concerning the months of the year.

“In ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China, people first made lunar calendars, which usually had 12 months alternating between 30 and 29 days. This alternation was due to the fact that the lunar month has 29.53 days.” Calendar: History, Lore, and Legend" Jaqueline de Bourgoing

18 CHAPTER 1

If you keep the creation account in mind, it makes sense as to why early civilizations followed a similar system. And some even to this day. Everyone relied heavily on the moon for calculating there months and years. But notice that it usually had twelve months but ranged from 29-30 days in length.

“In lunar and lunisolar calendars, the month is linked directly to the phases of the moon, so the length of the month depends on the moon.”

"The Calendar: History, Lore, and Legend" Jaqueline de Bourgoing pg 26

The moon was and is the key to cracking the code on how to observe the biblical feast days and making a calendar as The Most High God intended. Which could even vary in the number of days for the corresponding year.

In the calendar month only complete days are reckoned, the full (male) months containing 30, and the defective (haser) months 29 days. The months Nisan, Sivan, Av, Tishri, Shevat and (in a leap year) Adar I are always male; Iyyar, Tammuz, Elul, Tevet, and Adar (Adar II in a leap year) always haser, while Heshvan and Kislev vary. Hence, the common year contains 353, 354, or 355 days and the leap year 383, 384, or 385 days.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 4 pg 354

Some months had a pattern of usually having thirty days while others had a patten of usually having twenty-nine days. This alternation is what usually led to us having as little as 353 days in a year to as much as 355 days in a year. But let us look at a more laid out approach as to what the lunar calendar system would look like aligned with our modern one.

Calendar:

3. The Hebrew month began with the new moon. Before the exile months were designated by numbers. After the exile names adopted from the Babylonians were used. Synchronized Jewish sacred calendar:

1. Nisan (March-April) (7).

2. lyyar (April-May) (8).

3. Sivan (May-June) (9).

4. Tammuz (June-July) (10).

5. Ab (July-August) (11).

6. Elul (August-September) (12).

7. Tishri (September-October) (1).

8. Heshvan (October-November) (2)

9. Kislev (November-December) (3).

10. Tabeth (December-January) (4).

11. Shebat (January-February) (5).

12. Adar (February-March)(6).

The Jewish Calendar had two concurrent years, the sacred year, beginning in the spring with the month Nisan, and the civic year, beginning with Tishri, numbered in parentheses above.

Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary Calendar pg 98

Yet, another source that confirms that we as Hebrews observed the new moon to determine the start of our month. Understanding that most of our months were given only numbers (1,2,3,4 etc.) but after our Babylonian captivity we began to name all of the months. But we had two calendar systems. Our holy day calendar and our civil calendar. As you can see above, our holy days start in the month Nisan. Which would correspond with what we know today as March or April. But our civil year however, began in the seventh month Tishri around September or October. This concurrent calendar system is something still applied and followed by many cultures and societies today.