By: Karen Engle, ICEJ USA Managing Editor
Photo Source: Unsplash,
The Biblical Year
The first month of the year was determined by watching for the ripeness of the early grain, barley, according to the state of maturity called abib (hence the Hebrew name for the first month). At the close of the year, farmers would check the barley’s stage of ripeness, and if too unripe, add a month to the calendar. God’s calendar is thus solar-lunar. The lunar reckoning uniquely tied His calendar to the rain seasons in Israel, which makes sense knowing that God’s feasts, outlined in Leviticus 23, centered on agriculture in Israel and the ripening of certain harvests.
Starting the first month of the biblical year at the correct time was paramount and impacted when Israel would celebrate each feast. For example, Firstfruits required that the priests pick the first ripened fruits of the barley harvest in the later spring to present before the Lord. If God’s people did not set the first month of the year according to His instruction—according to the ripening barley harvest—the first fruits of the barley harvest might not be ready to be picked at Firstfruits.
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