The Thoughts of Wesley son of Cornelius

With Christmas and New Years approaching, I was curious about the holidays (holy days) that Israel celebrated in the Bible. But before jumping into each holiday, we have to be familiar with the Hebrew calendar. Jews have two sequences that travel throughout the year: sacred and civil (agricultural). The first month of the civil calendar is Ethanim. This day corresponds to the beginning of Fall (September-October). However, Ethanim is the seventh month of the sacred sequence. The first month of the sacred sequence, Abib, corresponds to the Passover.

"The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 'This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year."' (Exodus 12:1, 2 NIV)

Abib, the Canaanite name, or Nisan, the name later given to the month while Israel was in Babylon, starts in March-April.

The rest of the year goes as follows (based on the sacred calendar):


[EXTRA MONTH: Adar Sheni*-this intercalary month was added about every three years so the lunar calendar would correspond to the solar year.]

*Names not in the Bible