Worship and the nations

Feasts and Festivals of the Jews

Blackwood’s Comprehensive Aids to the Study of the Bible · Vol. I, p. 33

Begins on Vol. I, p. 33

With the Seasons and Products of the Year.

Month of Sacred Year	Month of Civil Year	Name	Answering to the Months of	Festivals and Lessons	Season	Seasons and Weather	Productions
1st.	7th.	Abib, or Nisan (30 days), Exod. xii. 2; Ezra vii. 9; Neh. ii. 1; Esth. iii. 7.	Parts of Mar. and April.	3. Lev. vi.; Jer. vii. 21. 14. Paschal lamb slain. The Passover. 16. The first-fruits of the barley-harvest presented. 21. End of the Passover and unleavened bread.	Harvest Begins.	The latter rain begins to fall, Deut. xi. 14; Zech. x. 1. The weather during the rains chilly, Ezra x. 9; John xviii. 10. This rain prepares the corn for harvest. Great heat, especially in the plains. The rivers swell from the rains, Josh. iii. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 15; Jer. xii. 5.	Barley ripe at Jericho; wheat partly in ear; fig tree blossoms; winter-fig still on the tree, Matt. xxi. 19; Mark xi. 23.
2d.	8th.	Tyar, or Zif (29 days), 1 Kings vi. 1.	Parts of April and May.	11. Lev. xvi. 1; Ez. xxii. 14. The second Passover (Num. ix. 10, 11), for such as could not celebrate the first.		The latter rains still frequent. These rains often preceded by whirlwinds, 1 Kings xviii. 45; Matt. viii. 24.	Barley generally three weeks earlier than wheat. Barley generally cut this month, Ruth i. 22. Wheat begins to ripen.
3d.	9th.	Sisan, or Siuvan (30 days), Esth. viii. 9.	Parts of May and June.	6. Pentecost, or feast of weeks. First-fruits of wheat-harvest (Lev. xxiii. 17, 20), and first-fruits of all the ground, Deut. xxvi. 2, 10, 16; 1 Kings xii. 25-33. 10. Num. i.; Hos. i.	Summer Begins.	Excessive drought. From April to Sept. no rain or thunder, 1 Sam. xii. 17; Prov. xxvi. 1. The morning cloud seen early, but soon disappears, Hos. vi. 4; xiii. 3. Copious dews at night, Job xxix. 9; Ps. cxxxiii. 3. North and east winds increase drought, Gen. xli. 6; Jer. iv. 8.	Wheat ripening on the hills in June; in the valleys, early in May. Grass in some places a yard high, John vi. 10.
4th.	10th.	Thammuz (29 days).	Parts of June and July.	3. Num. xiii. 1; Josh. ii. 26. Num. xxii. 2; Mic. v. 7.		Heat increases.	Early vintage, Lev. xxvi. 5. Rice and early figs ripen.
5th.	11th.	Ab (30 days), Ezra vii. 9.	Parts of July and Aug.	3. Num. xxx. 2; Jer. i. 20. Deut. i.; Isa. i.	Hot Season.	Heat intense; country apparently burned up. Lebanon nearly free from snow.	Ripe figs at Jerusalem; olives at Jericho; grapes ripening.
6th.	12th.	Elul (29 days), Neh. vi. 15.	Parts of Aug. and Sept.	3. Deut. vii. 12; Isa. xlix. 14. 20. Deut. xvi. 18; Isa. li. 12.		Heat still intense, 2 Kings iv. 19, 20; Ps. cxxi. 6; Isa. xlix. 9, 10; Rev. vii. 16.	Grape harvest general.
7th.	1st.	Tisri, or Ethanim (30 days), 1 Kings viii. 2.	Parts of Sept. and Oct.	1. Feast of trumpets, Lev. xxiii. 24; Num. xxix. 1. 10. Day of atonement, Lev. xxiii. 27, 28. 15. Feast of tabernacles, or of the in-gatherings, Ex. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 34. First-fruits of wine and oil, Lev. xxiii. 39. 21. Gen. i.; Isa. xlii. 5.	Seed-Time Begins.	Heat in the day; nights frosty, Gen. xxxi. 40. Showers frequent; the former, or early rain. Ploughing and sowing begin.
8th.	2d.	Marchesvan, or Bul (29 days), 1 Kings vi. 38.	Parts of Oct. and Nov.	8. Gen. xxiii. 1; 1 Sam. i. 1.		Sometimes the early rain begins now. Wheat and barley sown.	The latter grapes gathered.
9th.	3d.	Chisleu (30 days), Zech. vii. 1; Neh. i. 1.	Parts of Nov. and Dec.	10. Gen. xxxvii. 1; Amos ii. 6. 25. Feast of the dedication, 1 Mac. iv. 52-59; John x. 22, 23.	Winter Begins.	Trees lose their foliage. Snow begins to fall on the mountains, Josh. xxxvi. 22.
10th.	4th.	Thebeth (29 days), Esther ii. 16.	Parts of Dec. and Jan.	25. Ex. x. 1; Jer. xlvi. 13.		On the mountains the cold is severe. Hail; snow, Josh. x. 11; Ps. xlvii. 16, 17. Weather warm at intervals, Ezek. xxxiii. 30, 31.	Grass and herbs spring up after the rains.
11th.	5th.	Shevet, or Shebet (30 days), Zech. i. 7.	Parts of Jan. and Feb.	17. Ex. xxi. 1; Jer. xxxiv. 8.	Cold Season.	Corn still sown. At the beginning of the cold season the weather cold, but gradually becomes warm.	The winter-fig found on the trees, though they are stripped of their leaves.
12th.	6th.	Adar (29 days), Ezra vi. 15. Ye Adar, or 2d Adar.	Parts of Feb. and Mar.	1. Ex. xxxviii. 21; 1 Sam. xvii. 13. 14, 15. Feast of Purim. 25. Lev. i. 1; Isa. xliii. 21.		Thunder and hail frequent. Barley sometimes sown.	The almond tree blossoms.

Note.—The first month of the sacred year was the one whose full moon followed next after the vernal equinox, and therefore sometimes answered to March and sometimes to April, and sometimes to parts of both.