the days of Ezra it had always been so, and that accord ingly New Year's Day would be

the day after the 29th of Elul. To make, however, assurance doubly sure, it soon became

the practice to keep New Year's Day on two successive days, and this has since been

extended into a duplication of all the great feast days (of course, with the exception of

fasts), and that, although the calendar has long been fixed, and error is therefore no

more possible.

The present Hebrew names of the months are variously supposed to be derived from the

Chaldee, or from the Persian language. They certainly do not appear before the return

from Babylon. Before that, the months were named only after their numbers, or else from

the natural phenomena characteristic of the seasons, as Abib, 'sprouting,' 'green ears,'

for the first (Exo 13:4; 23:15; Deut 16:1); Ziv, 'splendour,' 'flowering,' for the second (1

Kings 6:1); Bul, 'rain,' for the eighth (1 Kings 6:38); and Ethanim, 'flowing rivers,' for the

seventh (1 Kings 8:2). The division of the year into ecclesiastical, which commenced

with the month Nisan (the end of March or beginning of April), or about the spring

equinox, and civil, which commenced with the seventh month, or Tishri, corresponding

to the autumn equinox, has by many likewise been supposed to have only originated

after the return from Babylon. But the analogy of the twofold arrangement of weights,

measures, and money into civil and sacred, and other notices seem against this view,

and it is more likely that from the first the Jews distinguished the civil year, which began

in Tishri, from the ecclesiastical, which commenced in Nisan, from which month, as the

first, all the others were counted. To this twofold division the Rabbis add, that for

tithing the herds and flocks the year was reckoned from Elul to Elul, and for taxing fruits

often from Shebat to Shebat.

The earliest era adopted by the Jews was that which was reckoned to commence with

the deliverance from Egypt. During the reigns of the Jewish kings, time was computed

from the year of their accession to the throne. After their return from exile, the Jews

dated their years according to the Seleucidic era, which began 312 BC, or 3,450 from the

creation of the world. For a short time after the war of independence, it became

customary to reckon dates from the year of the liberation of Palestine. However, for a

very long period after the destruction of Jerusalem (probably, till the twelfth century

AD), the Seleucidic era remained in common use, when it finally gave place to the

present mode of reckoning among the Jews, which dates from the creation of the world.

To commute the Jewish year into that of our common era we have to add to the latter

3,761, always bearing in mind, however, that the common or civil Jewish year

commences in the month of Tishri, i.e. in autumn.

The week was divided into seven days, of which, however, only the seventh--the

Sabbath--had a name assigned to it, the rest being merely noted by numerals. The day

was computed from sunset to sunset, or rather to the appearance of the first three stars

with which a new day commenced. Before the Babylonish captivity, it was divided into

morning, mid-day, evening, and night; but during the residence in Babylon, the Hebrews

adopted the division of the day into twelve hours, whose duration varied with the

length of the day. The longest day consisted of fourteen hours and twelve minutes; the

shortest, of nine hours forty-eight minutes; the difference between the two being thus

more than four hours. On an average, the first hour of the day corresponded nearly to