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fon, why all agree that it is the fame Month as March with us.

S E C T. III.
131

By MONTHS.

They always began their Months with the New Moon: and before the Babylonish Captivity, diftinguish'd them by no other Names than thofe of, first, fecond, third, and so on, to the twelfth. Upon their Return,' they brought the Names of the Babylonian Months with them; which were these; Nifan, March; Zif or Ijar, April; Sivan, May; Tamuz, June; Ab, July; Elul, Auguft; Ethanim or Tisri, September; Bul or Marefhuan, October; Chifleu, November; Tebeth, December; Sebat, January; Adar, February.

One half of thefe Months confifted of thirty days, the other, of twenty nine, alternately; which made the Number of three hundred and fifty four

and for the other eleven Days and odd Hours, which were over and above, they had an Intercalation, every other Year, by adding another Month, which they call'd Veadar,

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that is, another Adar; which confifted every second Year, of twenty two, and every fourth Year, of twenty three Days: and by this means they made their Years, one with another, pretty nearly anfwer the Æquinoctial Year, confifting of three hundred fixty five Days, five Hours, and forty nine Minutes.

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13. vii.11.

That they had no Way of distinguishing their Months, before the Captivity, but by their numerical Order, appears from the following paffages; In the first month Gen. viii. (our September) the waters are said to be dried up from off the earth: Whereas we are told, just before, that the fountains of the deep were broken up, on the feventeenth day of the fecond month: by which we find the Deluge continued between ten and eleven Months. In the third month the Chil

Exod.

xix. I.

dren of Ifrael came into the wilderness of xix.
Sinai, being our May; for then they began
to reckon from the Emigration. When
Jerufalem was befieged by the Hoft of the
King of Babylon, above a Year and a half,

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we are told that, on the ninth day of the 2 Kings fourth month, the famine prevail'd in the xxv. 1. city; by which means it was taken. In

the

xxxiii.38.

Numb. the first day of the fifth month Aaron died. Among the Appointments of David's Houshold, we read of a particular Cap1 Chron. tain, for every Month, by Number; the xxvii. 9. fixth Captain for the fixth Month, &c. The Levit. fifteenth day of the Seventh Month, was Zech.i.1. the Feast of Tabernacles. In the eighth

xxiii. 34.

Month, the word of the LORD came to

Zechariah. In the ninth Month of the Jer. xxxvi. 9. fifth Year of Jehoiakim King of Judah, they proclaim'd a Faft. In the tenth Month, the tops of the Mountains were feen, as the Flood began to abate. In the Deut. i.3. fortieth Year, in the eleventh Month,Mofes deliver'd the whole Law, in a RecapitulaJer.lii.31. tion. In the twelfth Month, the King of Babylon brought forth the King of Judab out of Prison.

To fhew that they likewife us'd the Names of the Babylonian Months,after the Captivity, in the Book of Efther, we read Efth.iii.7. of, the First month,that is the month Nisan; Efth. and of the third month (that is the month viii. 9:: Sivan;) and of, the tenth month (which is 16. the month Tebeth;) and of the twelfth 1 Kings month, that is the month Adar. In the month Zif which is the fecond month, Solomon be

9.

Efth. ii.

Efth.iii.7.

vi. I.

gan

I

vi. 38.

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viii. 2.

gan *to build the boufe of the LORD; which was finish'd in the month Bul, which is the Kings eighth month: And dedicated, in the Year following, in the month Ethanim, which is Kings the Seventh month. In the Prophet Zechariah we meet with the ninth month, called Zech. Chifleu; and the eleventh month, Sebat. ib. i. 7. And the Wall of Jerufalem was finish'd Neh. vi. in the Month Elul, or Auguft.

Thus we see why their Months are sometimes call'd by Name, and at other times, mention'd only by Number. These Months being Lunar, beginning always with the full Moon, cannot exactly correspond with thofe of ours; and therefore, there must be fometimes Two of the one, to answer One of the other, according as it happens.

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By WEEK S.

Their Months were divided into Weeks, each confifting of feven Days: every fe

*The Authors of the Books of Kings and of the Chronicles, whoever they were, are allow'd to have written them, after the Captivity.

vii. I.

15.

venth Day being a Sabbath, or Day of Gen.ii.3. Reft; according to God's own Inftitution, who is faid to have rested on that Day, after he had spent the other fix in creating the World. We find frequent mention of Weeks, hoth in the old and new Teftament: And the Words by which they are exprefs'd, both in the * Greek and Latin, plainly fhew that they are understood to confist of just seven days.

SECT.

V.

By DAY S.

ཞེ

.

Their Days, as also their Nights, confifted each of twelve Hours; but of different Lengths; according as it happen'd to be either Winter or Summer. For their Day began at Sun-rife, and ended at Sunfet: therefore their Hours were longer in Summer, and fhorter in Winter. For John . which Reafon our LORD fays, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he feeth the light of the world.

9.

* In the Greek "EC♪ouas. In the Latin Septimana.

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