years the new and the full moons fall again on the same days of the solar year.

The Jewish months ran from new moon to new moon. (Isa. 66:23) Thus, one Hebrew word, hhoʹdhesh, rendered “month,” comes from a root meaning “new,” while the other principal word for month, yeʹrahh, means “lunation.” In later periods, fire signals were used or messengers were dispatched to advise the people of the new month’s beginning.

In the Bible the individual months are usually designated simply by numbering according to their position in the year, from the first through to the twelfth. (Josh. 4:19; Num. 9:11; 2 Chron. 15:10; Jer. 52:6; Num. 33:38; Ezek. 8:1; Lev. 16:29; 1 Ki. 12:32; Ezra 10:9; 2 Ki. 25:1; Deut. 1:3; Jer. 52:31) Only four months are named prior to the exile in Babylon, namely, Abib, the first month (Ex. 13:4), Ziv, the second (1 Ki. 6:37), Ethanim, the seventh (1 Ki. 8:2), and Bul, the eighth (1 Ki. 6:38). The meanings of these names are strictly seasonal, thus giving additional proof of a lunisolar year.—See the individual months by name.

In postexilic times the names of the months used in Babylon were employed by the Israelites, and seven of these are mentioned: Nisan, the first month, replacing Abib (Esther 3:7), Sivan, the third month (Esther 8:9), Elul, the sixth (Neh. 6:15), Chislev, the ninth (Zech. 7:1), Tebeth, the tenth (Esther 2:16), Shebat, the eleventh (Zech. 1:7), and Adar, the twelfth (Ezra 6:15).

The postexilic names of the remaining five months appear in the Jewish Talmud and other works. They are Iyyar, the second month; Tammuz, the fourth; Ab, the fifth; Tishri, the seventh; and the eighth month was called Heshvan. The thirteenth month, which was intercalated periodically, was named Veadar, that is, the additional Adar, or Adar Sheni, the second Adar.

Eventually the length of most of the months was fixed as having a specific number of days. Abib, Sivan, Ab, Ethanim (Tishri) and Shebat regularly had thirty days each; Ziv (Iyyar), Tammuz, Elul and Tebeth regularly had twenty-nine days each. Bul (Heshvan), Chislev and Adar, however, could have either twenty-nine or thirty days. The variations in these latter months served to make necessary adjustments with the lunar calendar, but also were used to prevent certain festivals from occurring on days viewed as “prohibited” by later Jewish religious leaders.

Whereas the sacred year began in the spring with the month Abib (or Nisan) by God’s decree at the time of the exodus (Ex. 12:2; 13:4), the Bible record indicates that prior to this the Jews had counted the year as running from fall to fall. God gave recognition to this arrangement so that, in effect, there was a dual system of a sacred and a secular or agricultural calendar used by his people. (Ex. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13) In postexilic times, Tishri 1, in the last half of the year, marked the beginning of the secular year, and the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew, “head of the year”) is still celebrated on that date.

In 1908 the only approximation of an ancient written Hebrew calendar was found at the site of Gezer, and it is believed to be from the tenth century B.C.E. It is an agricultural calendar and describes agricultural activity beginning with the autumn. In brief, it describes two months each of storage, sowing and spring growth, followed by one month each of pulling flax, barley harvest and a general harvest, then two months of pruning the vines and, finally, one month of summer fruit.—Lev. 26:5.

The chart set out following this article shows the months in their relation to both the sacred and secular calendars and also their approximate correspondence to the months of our present calendar.

The frequent references in the Gospel accounts and the book of Acts to the various festival seasons show that the Jewish calendar continued to be observed by the Jews during the time of Jesus and the apostles. These festival seasons serve as a guide to measuring the relative time of the Biblical events of that day.—Matt. 26:2; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:1; John 2:13, 23; 5:1; 6:4; 7:2, 37; 10:22; 11:55; Acts 2:1; 12:3, 4; 20:6, 16; 27:9.

It should be noted that Christians, under the new covenant, are not governed by any sacred or religious calendar specifying certain holy days or festivals, a point that is clearly stated by the apostle Paul at Galatians 4:9-11 and Colossians 2:16, 17. The one event that they are required to observe annually is the Lord’s evening meal, at Passover time and so governed by the lunar calendar.—Matt. 26:2, 26-29; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; see LORD’S EVENING MEAL.

JULIAN AND GREGORIAN

In the year 46 B.C.E., the 708th year from the traditional date of the founding of the city of Rome, Julius Caesar issued a decree changing the Roman calendar from a lunar to a solar year. This Julian calendar, based on the calculations of the Greek astronomer Sosigenes, had twelve months of arbitrary length and a regular year of 365 days beginning on January 1. It also brought in the use of leap years by the addition of an extra day every four years, to compensate for the extra fraction of a day in the length of the tropical year, which has a little less than 365 ¹⁄4 days.

The Julian calendar year was actually a little more than eleven minutes and fourteen seconds longer than the true solar year. Thus, by the sixteenth century a discrepancy of ten full days had accumulated. In 1582 C.E., Pope Gregory XIII introduced a slight revision of the Julian calendar, whereby the leap years every four years were retained but with the exception that only those century years with a number divisible by 400 were to be counted as leap years. By papal bull on March 1, 1582, ten days were to be omitted in that year, so that the day after October 4 became October 15. This Gregorian calendar is now in general use in most parts of the world. It is the basis for the historical dates used throughout this publication.

OTHER CALENDARS

In a number of countries today the Muslim people continue to use a religious calendar based solely on the lunar cycles and with no intercalary month to adjust the year to the true solar year. This results in a steady retrogression of all the seasons during a cycle of about every thirty-two and a half years.

In the western hemisphere an ancient calendar was developed centuries before our Common Era and used by both the Mayan and Aztec Indians of Mexico and Central America. It was an astronomical calendar and, as regards the length of the solar year, was slightly more accurate than the present Gregorian calendar.

Whereas Christians today customarily use the calendar in effect in their particular land, they are aware that the God of eternity, Jehovah, has his own calendar of events not governed by human systems of reckoning. As his prophet Daniel wrote: “He is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings, giving wisdom to the wise ones and knowledge to those knowing discernment. He is revealing the deep things and the concealed things, knowing what is in the darkness; and with him the light does dwell.” (Dan. 2:21, 22) So, in his position as Universal Sovereign he stands far above our spinning Earth, with its day and night, its lunar cycles and its solar year. However, in his Word, the Bible, he does helpfully relate his actions and purposes to such measurements of time, thereby allowing his creatures on earth to learn where they stand in relation to God’s grand calendar of events.—See CHRONOLOGY.

CALF

The Hebrew word ʽeʹghel, generally rendered “calf” in various Bible translations, denotes a male young neat, a young bull. Calves were offered in sacrifice (Lev. 9:2, 3), and on special occasions or under special circumstances the fattened calf was slaughtered and prepared for the table (Gen. 18:7, 8; 1 Sam. 28:24; Luke 15:23) In Scripture repeated mention is also made of the calf in connection with idolatrous calf worship.—Ex. 32:4, 8, 19, 20; 1 Ki. 12:28, 32; 2 Chron. 11:15; Neh. 9:18; Hos. 8:5, 6; 13:2; see CALF WORSHIP.

‘Cutting the calf in two and passing between its parts’ alludes to an ancient mode of entering into a solemn obligation or covenant. (Compare Genesis 15:9-21.) Doubtless Jeremiah used this expression to stress the sacredness of the covenant into which the Jews had entered before God, and by the terms of which they were obligated to liberate fellow Israelites whom they had enslaved.—Jer. 34:17-19.

The calf is also spoken of illustratively in the Scriptures. For instance, unfaithful Israel was corrected like an inexperienced ‘calf that had not been trained’ to the yoke. (Jer. 31:18) Egypt’s mercenary soldiers are likened to fattened calves that would prove to be unable to resist the Babylonians and would take to flight. (Jer. 46:21, 26) At the time the wicked and presumptuous ones are reduced to dust, the fearers of God’s name are shown going forth and pawing the ground like fattened calves released from the stall.—Mal. 4:1, 2; see BULL; COW.

CALF WORSHIP

The first form of idolatry mentioned in the Bible to which the Israelites succumbed after the exodus from Egypt. While Moses was in the mountain receiving God’s law, the people became impatient and approached Aaron with the request that he make a god for them. From the gold earrings contributed by the Israelites, Aaron formed a molten statue of a calf, undoubtedly a young bull. (Ps. 106:19, 20) It was regarded as representing Jehovah, and the festival held the following day was designated a “festival to Jehovah.” The Israelites sacrificed to the golden calf, bowed before it, ate and drank and enjoyed themselves in song and dance.—Ex. 32:1-8, 18, 19.

The molten calf was not necessarily made of solid gold. This is indicated by the fact that Isaiah, when referring to the making of a molten image, mentions that the metalworker overlays it with gold. (Isa. 40:19) Hence, it has been suggested that the golden calf was formed of wood and then overlaid with gold and, therefore, when Moses subjected the image to a burning process the wooden center was reduced to charcoal and the gold layer either entirely or partially melted. Whatever was left was crushed and ground to pieces until it was fine like dust, and this dust, composed of charcoal and gold, Moses scattered upon the surface of the water. Other commentators advance the thought that by means of the burning process the molten calf was cast into ingots of a size that could afterward have been beaten into gold leaf and then crushed and ground to pieces.—Ex. 32:20; Deut. 9:21.

Idolatrous Egyptian worship, which associated gods