Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:

Based on your latest post, I see that I must have misinterpreted your
earlier post.  I see now that you agree that the Hebrews had a spring New 
Year in
ancient times.  But apparently you are questioning whether the Hebrews also
had a fall New Year in ancient times.

Here is what you said in your earlier post:  “Just as I expected, you don’
t have any information to back up your claims.  First of all, the Bible
mentions only one new year a year. The second one was brought back from 
Babylon
after the Babylonian captivity.”

What did you mean when you said “The second one was brought back from
Babylon after the Babylonian captivity”?  The Babylonians did not have a fall 
New
Year.  The Babylonians only had a spring New Year, and the first month of
the Babylonian year was in the spring.  Ezra could not possibly have brought
back a fall New Year tradition from Babylon.  No, the Hebrew tradition of a
fall New Year long pre-dates the Babylonian Exile.

The first day of the New Year in the Jewish calendar of today is in the
fall.  It occurs on the first and second days of Tishri, in the fall.  That is
the time of the important annual harvest of fruits in Canaan.  The Biblical
basis for the fall New Year is usually viewed as being Leviticus 23: 24-25.

Let me now quote from
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=246&letter=N&search=vernal 
equinox
as to the antiquity of a fall New Year for the Hebrews.  (Some of this I
quoted in a previous post, but not the important material at the beginning.)
I have placed a few comments of my own in brackets.

“—Biblical Data:

In the earliest times the Hebrew year began in autumn with the opening of
the economic year.  [That is to say, the early Hebrews had a fall New Year.]
There followed in regular succession the seasons of seed-sowing, growth and
ripening of the corn under the influence of the former and the latter
rains, harvest and ingathering of the fruits. In harmony with this was the 
order
of the great agricultural festivals, according to the oldest legislation,
namely, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the barley harvest,
in the month of Abib [in the spring]; the feast of harvest, seven weeks
later; and the feast of ingathering at the going out or turn of the year (; 
see
Ex. xxiii. 14-17; xxxiv. 18, 22-23; Deut. xvi. 1-16).

This system of dating the New-Year is that which was adopted by the Semites
generally, while other peoples, as the Greeks and Persians, began the year
in spring, both methods of reckoning being primarily agricultural and based
on the seasons of seed-time and harvest.  [Please note that the Hebrews are
usually viewed as starting out with a fall New Year.]

The Regnal Year.

The regnal year was evidently reckoned in the same way as late as the end
of the seventh century B.C. This is evident from the account of the
eighteenth year of King Josiah, in which only by such a reckoning can 
sufficient time
be allowed for the events of that year which precede the celebration of the
Passover, assuming, of course, that the Passover was celebrated at the
usual time in the spring (II Kings xxii. 3, xxiii. 21-23). Only in the same 
way
can the fourth year of Jehoiakim be made to synchronize with the
twenty-first year of Nabopolassar, in which the battle of Carchemish was 
fought, and
also with the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian year having been
reckoned from the spring (Jer. xxv. 1, xlvi. 2). The second half of the Hebrew
year would thus correspond to the first half of the Babylonian year. In
Ezek. xl. 1 the prophet has his vision at the beginning of the year, 
apparently
in the month of Tishri. The Levitical law places the beginning of the
Sabbatical year in the autumn, on the tenth day of the seventh month, 
according
to the later reckoning (Lev. xxv. 9). It has been pointed out also that the
story of the Flood places the beginning of the deluge on the seventeenth day
of the second month, which would, on an autumn reckoning, coincide with the
beginning of the rainy season (Gen. vii. 11; Josephus, "Ant." i. 3, § 3).
[I previously noted that in the 8th century BCE, long before the Exile, the
Assyrian year started in the spring, but the Hebrew year started in the
fall.]

Possibly Two Modes of Reckoning.

…There is much difference of opinion as to whether or not there was in
preexilic times a second mode of reckoning from the vernal equinox.  [That is,
the question scholars dispute is whether in addition to the ancient fall New
Year, the Hebrews in pre-exilic times also had a spring New Year.] This
inference has been drawn from such passages as II Sam. xi. 1, I Kings xx. 22,
26, and II Chron. xxxvi. 10. The expression used here, "at the return of the
year," is, however, sufficiently explained as "the time when kings go out";
that is to say, the usual time for opening a military campaign. Of course if
the law of the Passover (Ex. xii. 1; Lev. xxiii. 5; Num. ix. 1-5, xxviii.
16-17) is pre-exilic, the question admits of no further argument. It seems,
however, to be now very generally accepted that this law in its present form
is not earlier than the sixth century and that it represents post-exilic
practise. According to this legislation, which henceforth prevailed, the month
Abib, or Nisan (March-April), became the first of the year. It is possible
that this change was due, in part at least, to the influence of the Babylonian
sacred year, which likewise began with the month Nisan. It appears,
however, that the festival of the New-Year continued to be observed in the 
autumn,
perhaps originally on the tenth, and later on the first day of the seventh
month, Tishri.  [Please note that the ancient Hebrew fall New Year continued
to be observed even after the Babylonian influence from Ezra’s day.]
Josephus asserts (l.c. i. 3, § 3) that while Moses appointed Nisan to be the
first month for the sacred festivals and other solemnities, he preserved the
original order of the months for buying and selling and for the transaction of
other business. The Seleucidan calendar, from 312 B.C., placed the beginning
of the year in the autumn….”

Karl, both in the Bible, and in secular history, there is strong evidence
that the ancient Hebrews celebrated a fall New Year.  You and I agree that
the ancient Hebrews celebrated a spring New Year.  I hope the information in
this post may convince you that a fall New Year is just as old a Hebrew
tradition, if not older, as a spring New Year.

My point is that the Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives was
intimately familiar with both a fall New Year and a spring New Year.  In his
composition, he had two options.  He could present each person’s age as
increasing by one only at the fall New Year (or possibly only at the spring 
New
Year).  Or he could present each person’s age as increasing by one both at the
fall New Year and at the spring New Year.  As to which option he actually
chose, we simply look at the text of the Patriarchal narratives.  Every age in
Genesis, beginning at Genesis 11: 26, makes perfect sense if the person’s age
was increased by one both every fall New Year and every spring New Year.
That explains both the references to N(R for Joseph and Ishmael, and also the
ages at which people die, as well as Sarah’s age at Isaac’s birth.

All the ages in the Patriarchal narratives make perfect sense once we
realize that the Hebrew author was intimately familiar with both a fall New 
Year
and a spring New Year.  Each person’s age in that text is increased by one
both at the fall New Year and at the spring New Year.  But when the Hebrews
sojourn in Harran, Mesopotamia or in Egypt, the phrase “of days” is used at
the beginning of those situations to tip us off that periods of years in
those foreign lands are set forth in terms of 12-month years.  Periods of 
years
in Canaan, by contrast, follow the way people’s ages are presented,
increasing by one “year” both at the fall New Year and at the spring New Year.

Karl, the key to my theory of the case is to recognize that the Hebrew
author of the Patriarchal narratives knew both a fall New Year and a spring 
New
Year.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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