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What is a Month?
        MONTH
     The ancient Hebrews called the months by their numbers - first month, second month, third month, etc. - though at the same time they also applied a special name to each month. This double nomenclature had nothing to do, however, with the double course of months which the Jews employed after leaving Egypt, one making the civil and the other the sacred year. The former commenced from the first new moon in October - and this was used in civil and agricultural concerns only - and the latter from the first new moon in April, because they left Egypt on the fifteenth of that month, and it was used in regulating the time of their feasts, etc. The prophets use this reckoning. "From the time of the institution of the Mosaic Law downward, the month appears to have been a lunar one. The cycle of religious feasts, commencing with the Passover, depended not simply on the month, but on the moon; and the new moons themselves were the occasions of regular festivals." Num 10:10; Num 28:11-14. The length of the month was regulated by the changes of the moon, but, twelve lunar months making only 354 days and 6 hours, the Jewish year was short of the true solar year by twelve days. To compensate for this difference, the Jews every three years intercalated a thirteenth month, which they called Ve-adar, the second Adar, and thus their lunar year became equal to the solar. The changes of the moon were carefully watched, and a formal announcement made of the appearance of the new moon by sound of trumpets and beacon-fires. Num 10:10; Ps 81:3. These observations were continued throughout Jewish history, though it is evident that the Jews were in possession of calculations by which the course of the moon could be predicted. 1 Sam 20:5, 1 Sam 20:24, 1 Sam 20:27. The names of the Hebrew months are as follows:


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'month' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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