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Year
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yer ((shanah) a return, repetition, revolution)
RELATED: Month, Week |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
Hebrew shanah, meaning "repetition" or "revolution" (
Genesis
1:14 ; 5:3
). Among the ancient Egyptians the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days
each, with five days added to make it a complete revolution of the earth round
the sun. The Jews reckoned the year in two ways, (1) according to a sacred calendar,
in which the year began about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib;
and (2) according to a civil calendar, in which the year began about the time
of the autumnal equinox, with the month Nisan. The month Tisri is now the beginning
of the Jewish year.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The highest ordinary division of time. Two years were
known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews.
(1) A year of 360 days appears to have been in use in Noah's
time.
(2) The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the exodus may: be said to have
been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th day of which the
first Passover was kept, was then made the first month of the year. The essential
characteristics of this year can be clearly determined, though we cannot fix those
of any single year. It was essentially solar for the offering of productions of
the earth, first-fruits, harvest produce and ingathered fruits, was fixed to certain
days of the year, two of which were in the periods of great feasts, the third
itself a feast reckoned from one of the former days. But it is certain that the
months were lunar, each commencing with a new moon. There must therefore have
been some method of adjustment. The first point to be decided is how the commencement
of each gear was fixed. Probably the Hebrews determined their new years day by
the observation of heliacal or other star-risings or settings known to mark the
right time of the solar year. It follows, from the determination of the proper
new moon of the first month, whether by observation of a stellar phenomenon or
of the forwardness of the crops, that the method of intercalation can only have
been that in use after the captivity, --the addition of a thirteenth month whenever
the twelfth ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the first-fruits
to be made at the time fixed. |
The later Jews had two commencements of the year, whence it is commonly
but inaccurately said that they had two years, the sacred year and the civil.
We prefer to speak of the sacred and civil reckonings. The sacred reckoning was
that instituted at the exodus, according to which the first month was Abib; by
the civil reckoning the first month was the seventh. The interval between the
two commencements was thus exactly half a year. It has been supposed that the
institution at the time of the exodus was a change of commencement, not the introduction
of a new year, and that thenceforward the year had two beginnings, respectively
at about the vernal and the autumnal equinox.
The year was divided into -- Seasons . Two seasons are mentioned in the Bible,
"summer" and "winter." The former properly means the time of cutting fruits, the
latter that, of gathering fruits; they are therefore originally rather summer
and autumn than summer and winter. But that they signify ordinarily the two grand
divisions of the year, the warm and cold seasons, is evident from their use for
the whole year in the expression "summer and winter." ( Psalms
74:17 ; Zechariah
14:18 )
Months . [MONTHS]
Weeks . [WEEKS]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
yer (shanah, Aramaic shenah, "a return" (of the sun),
like the Greek eniautos; yamim, "days," is also used for "year," and the Greek
hemerai, corresponds to it (Joshua
13:1; Luke
17,18); etos, is also employed frequently in the New Testament; for the difference
between etos and eniautos, see Grimm-Thayer, under the word):
The Hebrew year was solar, although the month was lunar, the adjustment being
made in intercalation.
See ASTRONOMY; TIME.
Tags:
360 days, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, division of time, shanah, shenah, year
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