a Sabbath, the fourteenth a Sabbath, the twenty-first a Sabbath, and the twentyeighth a Sabbath. In the twelfth month, the fifth day will be a Sabbath, the twelfth a Sabbath, the nineteenth a Sabbath, and the twenty-sixth a Sabbath, and the thirtieth day of this month would be the fourth day of the week. But here it must be remembered, that the first day of the ensuing year, the first of the month Abib, must fall upon a Sabbath;' so that here, as at the end of the sixth month, two days must be added to make the week and the year end together: that the first day of Abib may be regularly a Sabbath, after a due interval of six days between the last foregoing Sabbath and the day of it. In this manner Moses' appointments appear to carry the Israelites through the year in fifty-two complete weeks, amounting to three hundred and sixty-four days, and this would be a great approximation to the true and real solar year, in comparison of what all other

Vid. quæ sup.

nations at this time fell short of it.

"

But

still it must be remarked, that even a year thus settled would not fully answer; for the true length of the year being, as I have said, three hundred and sixty-five days and almost six hours; Moses' year, if thus constituted, would still fall short one day and almost six hours in every solar revolution, and this would have amounted to almost fifty days in the forty years, which he was with the Israelites, and therefore, had the Israelites began and continued computing their year in this manner, they would have found at their entering into Canaan on the tenth day of their month Abib, that they were come thither, not just at the time of harvest, as they might have expected, nor when Jordan overflowed its banks, as it did annually; but rather they would have been there almost fifty days before the season, so that we must endeavour to look for some further direction in Moses' appointments, or we shall be yet at a loss to say how the Israelites could keep their year from varying away from the seasons. But

I would observe, that there are several

2

m

hints, in the injunctions of Moses, which may lead us through this difficulty. The feasts of the LORD were to be proclaimed in their seasons; and it is remarkable, that the season for the wave-sheaf offering is directed in some measure by the time of harvest. When ye be come into the land, which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf."-Thus again: seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. The numbering these weeks was to begin from the day of bringing the sheaf of the wave-offering, therefore the wave-sheafoffering and the Pentecost at the end of the weeks appear evidently to have been regulated by the corn-season; which was sure to return annually after the revolution of a true year, however the computed year might vary from, or not come up to it. And the only question which can now remain is,

whether the Israelites were to keep all their other feasts on their set days, exactly at the return of their computed year; or whether their other feasts were regulated along with these of the wheat-sheaf and Pentecost, so as to have their computed year corrected and amended as often as the return of harvest shewed there was reason for it. Now this last intimation appears plainly to me to have been the fact; for I observe, that the fifteenth day of the seventh month is supposed never to fall before they had gathered in the fruits of their land; because on that day they were always to keep a feast for the ending all their harvest.' But if the computed year had gone on without correction, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, every year falling short a day and almost a quarter of a true solar, year, would in a number of years have come about, before the time for beginning their harvest. And Moses lived long enough to have seen it very sensibly moving towards this absurdity; and consequently cannot be supposed to

Levit. xxiii. 39.

have left it fixed in such a manner. Rather the whole computed year was to be regulated by the season of harvest. When the year was ended, the Israelites were to proclaim for the ensuing year the feasts of the LORD;' and they were, I think, to be kept at their times according to this public indiction of them: and in order to fix their times right, they were in the first place to observe the month Abib,' the harvest month,' to appoint the beginning of that to its true season. This they might do as often as they found

T Leviticus xxiii. Ver. 4.

⚫ Deut. xvi. 1. I need not, I think, observe that the weather in Judea was not so variable as in our climate; and consequently, that seed time and harvest were seasons more fixed with the inhabitants of this country than with us.

It may be queried whether Abib be the name of a month. The Israelites in these times seem to have named their months no otherwise than first, second, third, &c. Nomina mensium ab initio nulla fuere, says Scaliger. The Hebrew word Abib signifies ripening, and perhaps Moses did not mean by Chodesh ha Abib, the month Abib, intending Abib, as a proper name; but the month of ripening, or of the corn being fit for the sickle,