Abib

See Month.

the name of the first Hebrew sacred month, Exo 13:4. This month was afterward called Nisan; it contained thirty days, and answered to part of our March and April. Abib signifies green ears of corn, or fresh fruits, according to Jerom’s translation, Exo 13:4, and to the LXX. It was so named because corn, particularly barley, was in ear at that time. It was an early custom to give names to months, from the appearances of nature; and the custom is still in force among many nations. The year among the Jews commenced in September, and consequently their jubilees and other civil matters were regulated in this way, Lev 25:8-10; but their sacred year began in Abib. This change took place at the redemption of Israel from Egypt, Exo 12:2, “This shall be to you the beginning of months.” Ravanelli observes, that as this deliverance from Egypt was a figure of the redemption of the church of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again in this month, it was made the “beginning of months,” to lead the church to expect the acceptable year of the Lord. On the tenth day of this month the paschal lamb was taken; and on the fourteenth they ate the passover. On the seven succeeding days they celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, on the last of which days they held a solemn convocation, Exo 12:13. On the fifteenth they gathered the sheaf of the barley first fruits, and on the following day presented an offering of it to the Lord, which having done they might begin their harvest, Leviticus 23.

A´bib [NISAN]

The first month of the ecclesiastical year of the Hebrews; afterwards called Nisan. It answered nearly to our April. Abib signifies green ears of grain, or fresh fruits. It was so named, because grain, particularly barley, was in ear at the time. On the tenth of this month the passover-lamb was set apart; it was killed on the fourteenth towards sunset, and eaten the same evening after the fifteenth day had begun. The seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first inclusive, were "the feast of unleavened bread," closing with a solemn convocation, {\cf11 \ul Exo 12:1--}; {\cf11 \ul Exo 13:22}.\PAR

Abib. (green fruits). See Month.

The month Nisan. ("ears of grain", namely, barley (Exo 13:4).) (See MONTHS.) On the 15th day of Nisan, the Jews began harvest by gathering a sheaf of barley firstfruits, and on the 16th day of Nisan, offered it (Lev 23:4-14). On the 10th day of Nisan, the Passover lamb was taken, on the 14th day of Nisan, slain and eaten.

(Heb. Abib’, אָבַיב, from an obsolete root = אָבִבto fructify), properly, a head or ear of grain (Lev 2:14, “green ears;” Exo 9:31, “ear”); hence, the month of newly-ripe grain (Exo 13:4; Exo 23:15; Exo 34:18; Deu 16:1), the first of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, afterward (Neh 2:1) called NISAN SEE NISAN (q.v.). It began with the new moon of March, according to the Rabbins (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. Col 3:1-25), or rather of April, according to Michaelis (Comment. de Alensibus Hebraeor., comp. his Commentat. Bremas, 1769, p. 16 sq.); at which time the first grain ripens in Palestine (Robinson’s Researches, 2:99, 100). SEE MONTH. Hence it is hardly to be regarded as a strict name of a month, but rather as a designation of the season; as the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Saadias have well rendered, in Exo 13:4, the month of the new grain;” less correctly the Syriac, “the month of flowers” (comp. Bochart, Hieroz. 1:557). Others (as A. Muller, Gloss. Sacra, p. 2) regard the name as derived from the eleventh Egyptian month, Epep (ἐπιφί, Plut. de Iside, p. 372); but this corresponds neither to March or April, but to July (Fabricii Menologium, p. 22-27; Jablonsky, Opusc. ed. Water, 1:65 sq.). SEE TEL-ABIB.

Abib (â’bib), budding, Exo 13:4. See Month.

[A’bib] See MONTHS.

("Ears of Grain"):

By: J. Frederic McCurdy

Name of the first month of the Hebrew year (Ex. xii. 2; compare xiii. 4), corresponding to the Babylonian and postexilian Hebrew Nisan. According to the Babylonian system, which probably prevailed in Palestine, it began in ordinary years in the last third of March, but in every third or intercalary year a month later (see Calendar).

ABIB (the ‘green ear’ month, Exo 13:4 etc.).—See Time.

ā´bib (,אביב ’ābhı̄bh, young ear of barley or other grain, Exo 9:31; Lev 2:14): The first month of the Israelite year, called Nisan in Neh 2:1; Est 3:7, is Abib in Exo 13:4; Exo 23:15; Exo 34:18; compare Deu 16:1. Abib is not properly a name of a month, but part of a descriptive phrase, “the month of young ears of grain.” This may indicate the Israelite way of determining the new year (Exo 12:2), the year beginning with the new moon nearest or next preceding this stage of the growth of the barley. The year thus indicated was practically the same with the old Babylonian year, and presumably came in with Abraham. The Pentateuchal laws do not introduce it, though they define it, perhaps to distinguish it from the Egyptian wandering year. See CALENDAR.