An Old Testament Year
The chart here presents the main events in the Hebrew calendar.
The names of the months are post-exilic; pre-exilic names are in brackets.
Prepared by Low Chai Hok, 2016
©ALBERITH, 2016
1 (Mar-Apr)
Nisan (Abib)
Latter rain arrives
Flax is harvested
Barley harvest begins
Celebration of Passover
Celebration of Feast of Unleavened Bread
Celebration of First Fruits
This month in the history of Israel
Israel left Egypt in the exodus (Exo 12:11; 13:4)
Israel, under Joshua's leadership, crossed the River Jordan into Canaan, the manna stopped, and Israel ate of the produce of Canaan (Jos 5:9-11)
Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem from Moab (Ruth 1:22).
Josiah, and later, Hezekiah called for a grand celebration of the Passover as part of their attempts at religious reforms (2 Ki 23:21-23; 2 Chron 30:1ff.)
The lot was cast by the royal associates of Haman to decide on the date for the destruction of the Jews (Est 3:7)
Nehemiah got Artaxerxes's permission to leave for Judah to rebuilt its ruins (Neh 2:1)
2 (Apr-May)
Iyyar (Ziv)
Dry season begins
Wheat harvest begins
Late Passover is celebrated
This month in the history of Israel
Issachar, Jacob's fifth son (by Leah) was conceived (Gen 30:14-18)
Samson set fire to the Philistine crops by letting loose three hundred foxes he had caught and fastened torches to their tails (Judg 14:1ff.)
Saul is anointed king of Israel by Samuel (1 Sam 12, esp. v17)
Solomon begins building the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (1 Ki 16:1; 6:37)
3 (May-Jun)
Sivan
The days get hotter
Harvest time for early figs
Feast of Pentacost is celebrated
Celebration of the Feast of Weeks
This month in the history of Israel
Mordecai's orders for the Jews in the kingdom to defend themselves against the plot by Haman were issued (Est 8:5)
The Holy Spirit falls upon the disciples gathered in Jerusalem, and they began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:1ff.)
4 (Jun-Jul)
Tammuz
Harvest time for grapes
This month in the history of Israel
The Hebrew scouts set out from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land for a possible invasion (Num 13:20)
Abimelech attacks Shechem and, later, Thebez where he was killed by a falling mill-stone (Judg 9:27ff.)
The walls of Jerusalem are breached after a year-and-a-half long siege by the Babylonians (Jer 52:6).
Ezekiel has his "fiery chariots" vision while he was among the exiles by the river Chebar (Eze 1:1ff.).
5 (Jul-Aug)
Ab#
Harvest time for olives
This month in the history of Israel
Aaron dies on Mount Hor (Num 33:38).
Hananiah, the false prophet, prophesies that God had broken the yoke of Babylon and within two years would restore all that had been lost and exiled to the Babylonians (Jer 28:1-3).
The temple in Jerusalem is razed by the Babylonians, and Judah goes into exile (2 Ki 25:8ff.; Jer 52:12ff.).
Ezra arrives in Jerusalem after four-month long journey from Babylon (Ezra 7:8-9).
# The name of this month is Babylonian and was introduced after the exile. It is not found in the OT, in which it is simply referred to as "the fifth month."
6 (Aug-Sept)
Elul
Temperature reaches its annual peak
Harvest of dates and summer figs
This month in the history of Israel
Ezekiel was taken up by the Spirit and was taken to Jerusalem where he beheld the idolatry in the temple (Eze 8:1).
Rebuilding of the ruined walls of Jersualem under Nehemiah completed (Neh 6:15).
Haggai begins his ministry to the returnees, encouraging them to rebuild the temple (Hag 1:1).
7 (Sept-Oct)
Tishri
(Ethanim)
Early rain arrives
Feast of Trumpets
Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement
Feast of Tabernacles
Feast of Solemn Assembly
This month in the history of Israel
The ark of the Lord is brought into the inner sanctuary of the temple Solomon had just completed (1 Ki 7:51)
The returnees from exile under Jeshua ben Jozadak and Zerubbabel celebrated their first festival in Jerusalem (Ezr 3:4)
Jesus's visit in Jersualem divided the Jews when he confounded their arguments, Nicodemus received a lashing from the Pharisees, and Jesus forgave the women caught in adultery (Jn 7:2-8:11)
8 (Oct-Nov)
Marchesvan
(Bul)
Winter figs are harvested
Ploughing begins
This month in the history of Israel
The temple Solomon built is completed after eleven years' of work (1Ki 6:38)
Jeroboam ben Nebat establishes a rival altar and pilgrimage feast in Bethel (1 Ki 12:32-33).
Zechariah begins his prophetic ministry (Zec 1:1).
9 (Nov-Dec)
Chislev
Season to sow
Celebration of Channukah-Feast of Dedication
This month in the history of Israel
Jesus in Jerusalem and was questioned by Jews as to whether he was the Christ; distressed by his claim that he and the Father are one they tried to stone him (Jn 10:22ff); Lazarus raised from the dead (Jn 11:1ff.)
King Jehoiakim rips and burns the scroll dictated by Jeremiah and recorded by Baruch (Jer 36).
10 (Dec-Jan)
Tebeth
Temperation drops to its lowest in the year
This month in the history of Israel
Nebuchadnezzar's army besieges Jerusalem (2 Ki 25:1; Jer 39:1, 52:4).
Esther was taken into King Xerxes's royal residence where he made her queen instead of Vashti (Est 2:16ff.)
A team under Ezra begins investigation to the cases of those men who had taken foreign wives (Ezra 10:16).
11 (Jan-Feb)
Shebat
Almond trees blossom
This day in the history of Israel:
On the plains of Moab Moses begins to expound to the law God had given them at Mount Sinai to the generation of Israelites who would conquer the Promised Land (Deut 1:3)
Possibly the time of the year when Jeremiah received his word from the Lord about the disaster He was going to bring upon the nation (this assumes that the vision of the almond branch was not merely a paraphysical phenomenon) (Jer 1:11)
The prophet Zechariah recieved—in the second year of Darius's reign—his second word from the Lord, this time in a night vision, expressing His jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion (Zec 1:7ff.)
12 (Feb-Mar)
Adar
Season of citrus fruits
This month in the history of Israel
The Second Temple was completed "on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius," i.e., 516 BC (Ezr 6:15)
"The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar," the day set by Haman and his associates to kill all the Jews in the Persian kingdom but was turned by intervening events after Haman was exposed and hanged (Est 3:13; 9:1, 15, 17, 19, 21)