Year

YEAR. The Hebrews had always Years, of twelve Months each. But at the Beginning, and in the time of Moses, they were Solar Years, of twelve Months a -piece, having thirty Days to each Month; so that however the Twelfth Month had thirty-five Days. We see by the reckoning that Moses gives us of the Days of the Deluge, Gen. vii.that the Hebrew Year consisted of Three hundred and sixty-five Days. ‘Tis supposed¹ that they had an intercalary Month at the End of one hundred and twenty Years; at which time the Beginning of their Year would be out of its Place full thirty Days. But it must be owned, that no mention is made in Scripture of the thirteenth Month, or of any Intercalation. It is probable that Moses retained the Order of the Egyptian Year, since he himself came out of Egypt, was born there, had been instructed and brought up there, and since the People of Israel, whose Chief he was, had been for a long time accustomed to this Year. But the Egyptian Year was Solar, and consisted of twelve Months of thirty Days each, and that for a very long time before; as we have shewn in our Dissertation upon Chronology, before our Commentary upon Genesis.

After the time of Alexander the Great, and the Reign of the Grecians in Asia, the Jews reckoned by Lunar Months, chiefly in what related to Religion, and the Order of the Festivals. He made the Moon Ecclus. xliii. 6. Rev. xi. 2, 3. xii. 6, 14. xiii. 5. Gemin. Isagog. c. 6.also to serve in her season, for a declaration of times, and a sign of the world. From the Moon is the sign of feasts, a light that decreaseth in her perfection, says the Author of Ecclesiasticus. St. John, in his Revelations, assigns but twelve hundred and sixty Days to three Years and an half; and consequently just thirty Days to every Month, and just three hundred and sixty Days to every Year. Maimonides tells us, that the Years of the Jews were Solar, and their Months Lunar; and Geminius makes the same Observation upon the Years of the Greeks: Universi Græci annos juxta solem, menses verò & dies juxta lunam agebant. Since the compleating of the Talmud, they have made use of Years that are purely Lunar, having alternately a full Month of thirty Days, and then a defective Month of twenty-nine Days. And to accommodate this Lunar Year to the Course of the Sun, at the End of three Years they intercalate a whole Month after Adar; which intercalated Month they call Ve-adar, or the second Adar.

The Civil Year of the Hebrews has always begun at Autumn, at the Month they now call Tizri, which answers to our September, and sometimes enters into October, according as the Lunations happen. But their Sacred Years, by which the Festivals, Assemblies, and all other religious Acts, were regulated, begin in the Spring at the Month Nisan, which answers to March, and sometimes takes up a Part of April, according to the Course of the Moon. Here follows the Order and Names of the present Hebrew Months.

1. Tizri, a compleat Month, of thirty Days, and answers to September.

2. Marschevan, a deficient Month, of only twenty-nine Days, and answers to October.

3. Casleu, a compleat Month, answering to November.

4. Thebet, a deficient Month, answering to December.

5. Sebat, a compleat Month, answering to January.

6. Adar, a deficient Month, answering to February.

7. Nisan, a compleat Month, answering to March.

8. Jiar, a deficient Month, answering to April.

9. Sivan, a compleat Month, answering to May.

10. Thammuz, a deficient Month, answering to June.

11. Ab, a compleat Month, answering to July.

12. Elul, a deficient Month, answering to August.

See the Article MONTH, before, and the Hebrew Calendar, at the End of the Dictionary.

Nothing is more equivocal among the Ancients, than the Term Year. The Year always has been, and still is, a Source of Disputes among the Learned, whether on account of its Duration, its Beginning, or its End. Some think, that from the Beginning of the World to the hundred and sixtieth Year of Enoch, they reckoned only by Weeks; and that it was the Angel Uriel who revealed to Enoch the Use of Months, Years, the Revolutions of the Stars, and the Return of the Seasons. Some People heretofore made their Year to consist of one Month, others of four, others of six, others of ten, and others of twelve. Some have divided one of our Years into two, and have made one Year of Winter, another of Summer. The Beginning of the Year was fixed sometimes at Autumn, sometimes at the Spring, and sometimes at Mid-winter. Some People have used Lunar Months, others Solar. Even the Days have been differently divided: Some People beginning them at Evening, others at Morning, others at Noon, and others at Mid-night. With some the Hours were equal, both in Winter and Summer; with others they were unequal. They counted twelve Hours to the Day, and as many to the Night. In Summer the Hours of the Day were longer than those of the Night; but on the contrary, in Winter the Hours of the Night were longer than those of the Day. See the Article HOUR.

Formerly the Egyptians allowed but one Month to their Year,a then two, then four Months, and, lastly, twelve Months.² ‘Tis said to have been King Pison who gave it a regular Form of twelve Months and five Days. But this Regulation must have been very ancient, since Moses, who had been educated and instructed in Egypt, knew no other Year than that of twelve Months. The Egyptians began it at the Rising of the Dog-Star,³ or at the Beginning of Autumn:⁴ For it appears that they made a Variation in this, as well as in the Beginning of their Months; having begun them sometimes in the Evening, sometimes in the Morning.

We know not the Form of the ancient Chaldean Year, because their ancient History is unknown.⁵ They boasted formerly of a prodigious Antiquity, and pretended to have Astronomical Observations for four hundred and seventy-two thousand Years, according to Diodorus Siculus,⁶ or for four hundred and seventy thousand Years, according to Cicero;⁷ or only for seven hundred and twenty thousand, according to Epigenes, quoted by Pliny.⁸ When Calisthenes was at Babylon, and very inquisitive to know the Truth of this, he sent word to Aristotle,⁹ that he could find no Observations that were beyond a thousand nine hundred and three Years; which, by proceeding backwards would bring us nearly to the time of the building of Babylon. We are assured, that they began their Day at Sunrising, in honour of their principal Deity.

The Grecians at the Beginning had no fixed Years. Several People of Greece made their Year of four Months:¹⁰ Those¹¹ of Arcadia first made it of one Month only, afterwards of three Months: Those of Caria and Acarnania made it sometimes of one Month, and sometimes of six. But from the time of Homer it appears to have been settled at twelve Months. The ancient Year of the Athenians was fixed at three hundred and sixty Days.¹² It was afterwards extended to three hundred and sixty-five Days. They began it at the Vernal Equinox: Their Days were reckoned from one Evening to another, and the Year was divided into four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. At the time of Homer they did not yet know the Hours, according to our Manner of speaking. The Word Hour in this Poet signifies the Seasons.¹³ It was Anaximenes and Anaximander¹⁴ who received from the Babylonians the way of reckoning by Hours.

Among the Latins, or People of Italy, the Year was at first no more fixed than among the other Nations now mentioned. Romulus’s Year consisted of ten Months,¹⁵ as well as that of the Albans. It had three hundred Days, began in March, and ended in December. King Tarquin is said to have added to it the two Months of January and February.¹⁶ As to the Civil Year, the Beginning was fixed in January; because then the Sun approaches towards us;¹⁷ but as to the Sacred Year, they continued to begin it in March.

The People of Lavinium made their Year of thirteen Months, or of three hundred and seventy-four Days. Those of Umbria made it consist of fourteen Months. The Albans alotted thirty-six Days to the Month of March; twelve to May; twenty-eight to August; sixteen to September; Those of Tusculum appointed thirty-six Days to July, and thirty-two to October. Those of Aricia made it consist of thirty-nine Days. Neither the Romans, nor any other People of Italy, reckoned by Weeks, as obtained among the Orientals; but they had three Terms for reckoning the Days of every Month. The Kalends were always the first Day of the Month. In the Months of March, May, July, and October, the six first Days belonged to the Nones. The other Months of the Year had but four Days before the Nones. From the Nones to the Ides were always eight Days. What remained after the Ides was reckoned according to its Distance from the following Kalends. For all this matter our Dissertation upon Chronology may be consulted, before the Commentary upon Genesis.

The Hebrews always reckoned by Weeks, as a Memorial of the Creation of the World, which was performed in seven Days. They had Weeks of seven Years apiece, at the Term of which was the Sabbatical Year: As also Weeks of seven times seven Years, that were terminated by the Year of Jubilee; and finally Weeks of seven Days.

The Days were reckoned among them from Evening to Evening, both in their Sacred Levit. xxiii. 32. Matth. xx. 3, 4. John xi. 9.and Civil Accounts. Moses makes no Distinction in this respect between Festival Days and other Days. The Feasts began inter duas vesperas;¹⁸ that is to say, between the Declining and Setting of the Sun. After that the Jews were in Subjection to the Greeks, and then to the Romans, they were obliged to conform themselves to their Customs to maintain Order, by beginning their Day at Mid-night, or in the Morning, and by distributing the Day into twelve unequal Hours, as also the Night. This Usage is plainly expressed in St. Matthew and St. John.

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