Meaning of MONTH

In Egypt, the Israelites became familiar with the year divided into 12 months of 30 days. In the Flood story, the months are also thirty days (Gen. 7:11, 24; 8:3, 4).

Velikovsky mentions powerful reasons that lead to the conclusion that the ancient calendar was well adjusted, the lunar month being thirty days, and the year three hundred and sixty.

Later cosmic disturbances (of the type that caused Joshua's long day and the retreat of the shadow on Hezekiah's sundial; cf. Joshua 9; 2 Kings 20:8-11) disrupted the previous calendar, which had have to be readjusted to the new longitude of the lunar year and month (I. Velikovsky: "Worlds in Collision", Doubleday, 1950; see also SUNDIAL).

Herodotus reports the five days of adjustment that the Egyptians added to the previous calendar (Herodotus 2:4). The Hebrews used the lunar month, which went from one new moon to the next, as evident from Gen. 1:14; Ps. 104:19 and Eclos. 43:6-8, as well as other analogous passages.

During the new moon special offerings were made to the Lord (Num. 10:10; 28:11-14; 2 Chron. 2:4). The length of the Hebrew month varied between 29 and 30 days, although it was formally considered to be 30 days (cf. Num. 20:29; Deut. 34:8; 21:13).

The months were numbered. The biblical accounts of the period before the Babylonian captivity contain only four month names: Abib (the first month, Ex. 13:4, etc.); Zif (the second, 1 Kings 6:37); Ethanim (the seventh, 1 Kings 8:2), and Bul (the eighth, 1 Kings 6:38). After the captivity, the Jews adopted the names used by the Babylonians and other Semitic nations.