ADJUSTING THE LUNAR CALENDAR

God’s command required that the Israelites offer up a sheaf of the firstfruits of their harvest on the sixteenth day of Nisan (or Abib) and that, fifty days later, they offer up a second grain offering. These offerings corresponded naturally with the barley and wheat harvests, respectively. This precept made essential an adjustment in the calendar of lunar months used by the Israelites. There was need to compensate for the difference of 11¹⁄₄ days between the full solar year and the shorter lunar year. Otherwise, within the space of three years, the month of Nisan would arrive some thirty-three days earlier in the season and far ahead of the barley harvest. The Bible record does not specify what method was originally used by the Israelites to accomplish such coordination, but the evidence indicates that a thirteenth month was added every two or three years to restore the seasons to their proper position in the calendar year. It seems likely that this was determined by simple observation, relating the new moon to the vernal or spring equinox of the sun, which comes about March 21 of each year. If the new moon that would ordinarily mark the start of the month of Nisan (Abib) was too distant from the time of the spring equinox, then the month was counted as a thirteenth or intercalary month, and Nisan began with the following new moon. It was not until the fourth century C.E. that a definitely standardized calendar was adopted by the Jews.

The first of Nisan’s festivals was the Passover, originally celebrated in Egypt, and it came on the fourteenth of the month and included the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. (Ex. 12:2-14; Lev. 23:5; Deut. 16:1) The following day was the beginning of the week-long festival of unfermented cakes, running from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of the month. On the sixteenth of Nisan came the offering of the first-fruits of the barley harvest.—Ex. 12:15-20; 23:15; 34:18; Lev. 23:6-11.

LORD’S EVENING MEAL INSTITUTED

In the second year of the exodus, on the first day of Nisan, the tabernacle was set up in the wilderness. (Ex. 40:2, 17) Over fifteen centuries after the exodus, on Nisan 14 of the year 33 C.E., Jesus gathered with his twelve apostles in Jerusalem to celebrate the last valid Passover, and then, having dismissed the traitorous Judas, he proceeded to institute the memorial of his death by means of the Lord’s supper or evening meal. (Matt. 26:17-30; 1 Cor. 11:23-25) Before Nisan 14 passed, he died as the Lamb of God. On Nisan 16, the day the priest at the temple waved the firstfruits of the barley harvest, Jesus, as the first-fruits of the resurrection, was raised up to life again.—Luke 23:54–24:7; 1 Cor. 15:20.

In obedience to Christ’s instructions, “Keep doing this in remembrance of me,” the fourteenth day of Nisan continues to be observed by his followers till this day as the time for memorializing Christ’s death.—Luke 22:19, 20; see LORD’S EVENING MEAL.

NISROCH

(Nisʹroch).

A deity worshiped by Sennacherib the king of Assyria. It was in the temple of Nisroch that Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered their father Sennacherib. (2 Ki. 19:36, 37; Isa. 37:38) Certain identification of Nisroch with a known Assyrian deity is not possible. A number of authorities suggest identifying Nisroch with the fire-god Nusku, who, it was thought, assisted in bringing defeat to the enemy in warfare and served as messenger of the gods as well as a dispenser of justice.

NO

[from Egyptian niwt, the City], No-amon (No-aʹmon) [city of (the god) Amon].

A prominent city and onetime capital of Egypt, located on both banks of the upper Nile about 330 miles (c. 530 kilometers) S of Cairo. The Greeks knew it as Thebes, the name commonly used today.

Some scholars in the past have held that the Hebrew “No” is an incorrect rendering of the Egyptian name. (Jer. 46:25) However, as Professor T. O. Lambdin points out, “ . . . recent investigations in Egypto-Coptic phonology Indicate that the Hebrew spelling may well be correct and may reflect an earlier Egyptian pronunciation. . . . The problem is further complicated by uncertainty on the part of Egyptologists regarding the precise consonantal reading of the Egyptian word itself.”—The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 4, pp. 615, 616.

THE GREAT TEMPLE AT KARNAK

In ancient Egyptian texts the city is called by the same name, “the City of Amon” (niwt ʼImn). This was because it became the principal center of the worship of the god Amon, who rose from being a minor deity to the position of chief god of the nation, equated by the Greeks with Zeus (Jupiter). (See AMON No. 4.) Here the pharaohs built enormous monuments and temples, covering an area of sixty acres (24.3 hectares) on the E bank (at Karnak and Luxor) and with other magnificent temples and a huge burial ground on the W bank. The temple of Amon at Karnak is the largest columnar structure ever built, some of its massive columns measuring up to twelve feet (3.7 meters) in diameter.

BECOMES EGYPT’S CAPITAL

Particularly during what is termed the “New Kingdom Period (Dynasties XVIII to XX)” Thebes attained great prominence, becoming the capital of the land. This period followed the so-called “Hyksos Period.” If, as is indicated in the article on EGYPT, EGYPTIAN, this latter period is related to the Israelite sojourn in Egypt, it may well be that the utter devastation caused by the plagues and the subsequent destruction of the cream of Egypt’s military might and war equipment made it advisable for Egypt’s rulers to retire southward to Thebes. Here, the long distance from the sea and from the land bridge to Asia afforded good protection from that direction. Or it may be that, due to a very weak and discredited government in Lower Egypt following the Israelite exodus, the royalty of Upper Egypt took advantage of the situation and gained the ascendancy. At any rate, there is evidence of considerable reorganization at this time.

Center of priesthood

Even when administrative control shifted to other sites, No-amon (Thebes) continued to be a wealthy and prominent city, the center of the powerful priesthood of Amon, whose chief priest ranked next to Pharaoh himself in power and wealth. But in the seventh century B.C.E. Assyrian aggression spread into Egypt during the rule of Assyrian King Esar-haddon. His son and successor Ashurbanipal renewed the conquest, reaching Thebes and thoroughly sacking the city. It is evidently to this devastation that the prophet Nahum referred when warning Nineveh, Assyria’s capital, about a destruction of similar magnitude. (Nah. 3:7-10) No-amon’s “wall,” a series of defenses running from the sea on up the Nile, failed, and the riches from her commercial traffic and religious temples became the prize of the ransacking Assyrians.

BROUGHT TO RUIN

Yet, by the close of the sixth century or the early part of the fifth century, No-amon had regained a position of some prominence. Jeremiah and Ezekiel now foretold a judgment by Jehovah God upon Egypt’s chief god Amon of No, and upon Pharaoh and all the Egyptian gods, which judgment would come by the hand of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. (Jer. 46:25, 26; Ezek. 30:10, 14, 15) Persian ruler Cambyses dealt another severe blow to No-amon in 525 B.C.E. and the city steadily declined, finally being completely ruined by the Romans under Cornelius Gallus due to its share in a revolt against Roman rule (30-29 B.C.E.). Today only small villages are to be found around the massive ruins of the temples of the impotent gods of No.