Beginning of the Year According to Scripture

This article addresses what seems to be a growing belief that the original creation began in

the Fall rather than in the Spring-time.

Scripture binds the beginning of the year to the Passover

There are over a dozen verses in scripture that speak directly to the subject of what

constitutes the beginning of a ‘year’. The following verses are grouped in their historical

order and informs us repeatedly that the ‘year’ begins in ‘the first month’ (Abib/Nisan).

First Mention

Exodus 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first

month of the year to you.

Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat

unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.

Instruction given at Mount Sinai

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover.

40 years in the Wilderness

Numbers 9:5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in

the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the

children of Israel.

After the Jordan River Crossing

Joshua 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and

encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

Joshua 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the

fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.

Years of the Divided Kingdom

2 Chronicles 35:1 Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they

killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

During the Babylonian Exile

Esther 3:7 In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king

Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to

month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

Returning from the Exile in Babylon

Ezra 6:19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the

first month.

During the Millennial Kingdom

Ezekiel 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the

passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Even during the 1,000-year reign of Christ, the Passover will continue to be observed

from year-to-year, on the fourteenth day of the first month… in the Spring.

The Flood and the Exodus

The following verses connect the timing of the Flood of Noah, to the timing of the Exodus.

First Year after the Flood

Genesis 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the

first day of the month, the waters were dried up from o􀆯 the earth: and Noah removed the

covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

First Year after the Exodus

Exodus 40:1-3 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month

shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein

the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.

Both events occurred on the first day of the first month of the first year AFTER a

major water-based judgement: The Flood of Noah and the Red Sea crossing

Both involve the uncovering / covering of the ark in their time.

It is also interesting to note, that both of these events are equally distant from a very

important central event: The Abrahamic Covenant.

From the Noahic Covenant (1658) to the Abrahamic Covenant (2088) was 430 years.

From the Abrahamic Covenant (2088) to the Giving of the Law (2518), was 430 years.

From the death of Noah (2007) to the birth of Moses (2437) was also 430 years.

The Former and the Latter Rains

One of the common points used to argue that the first year began in the Fall, is

based on the fact that the ‘former rains’, mentioned in scripture, begin in the fall; and that it

is also the time for the sowing of seed. Whereas, the ‘latter rains’ occur in the Spring.

Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath

given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the

former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

Many have extrapolated this to conclude that, because the first rains of the season

begin in the Fall, then that must also be the original beginning of the year. But what does

the earliest account of creation actually say?

Genesis 1:11-13 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and

the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was

so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree

yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the

evening and the morning were the third day.

According to scripture, God made grass and herbs, trees and fruit. Not grass seed

and fruit trees that were months away from producing their seasonal fruit. Also notice that

the herb would ‘yield’ seed and the fruit contained seed ‘in itself’. This is related to that

age-old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to scripture, the

Chicken came first. Also according to scripture, the plants, trees and fruit came first,

yielding the seed for future growth.

Dominion given to Adam and the Woman

Genesis 2:29-30 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is

upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;

to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and

to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green

herb for meat: and it was so.

God gave them all access to food ready to be eaten, not seeds in need of sowing.

The Garden of Eden

Genesis 2:4-9 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were

created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of

the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD

God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the

LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath

of life; and man became a living soul.

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom

he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is

pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and

the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

On the sixth day of Creation, ‘the LORD God planted a garden.’ The time for sowing

seed is indeed in the fall, but the time for planting a garden, or a vineyard, or ‘planting’ in

general, is in the Spring.

After the Flood

Genesis 8:14-19 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month,

was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy

wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that

is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that

creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and

multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’

wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth

upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

Compare the two possibilities:

The 27th day of the second month is the midst of Spring. The time of year when the

ground naturally bears its fruit, and animals would naturally ‘breed abundantly, be fruitful,

and multiply’.

If the 27th day of the second month was in the fall, this would equate to leaving the

Ark and entering into the first rainy season and then winter. The fruit bearing harvest time

would have already passed.

Further considerations

Timing of the Passover:

Let’s reconsider the timing of the Passover. God could have chosen any day of the

year, but for some reason He chose the 14th day of the first month. It is very possible, that

God chose this particular day because it’s related to another historical event; The day that

Adam and the woman first sinned. We already know that the Passover of the Exodus was a

foreshadowing of Christ on the Cross of Calvary; And that Christ went to the cross to make

atonement for the sin of mankind. Thus, the day of the Passover may also identify the day

of Adam’s sin.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection

of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Timing of the Circumcision:

Genesis 17:10-14 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy

seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise

the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And

he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your

generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not

of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs

be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And

the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall

be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

The cutting away of the foreskin is to be done on the eight day of a son’s life.

The first month of the first year (Abib/Nisan)

1 Creation – Day 1

2 Creation – Day 2

3 Creation – Day 3

4 Creation – Day 4

5 Creation – Day 5

6 Creation – Day 6 - Adam was created from the dust of the earth

7 Creation – Sabbath - Adam’s age: 1 day

8 - Adam’s age: 2 days

9 - Adam’s age: 3 days

10 - Adam’s age: 4 days

11 - Adam’s age: 5 days

12 - Adam’s age: 6 days

13 - Adam’s age: 7 days

14 - Adam’s age: 8 days - Circumcision / Passover in the evening (cool of the day)

15 - Adam and Eve sent forth from the Garden / Children of Israel thrust out of Egypt

From the Creation week, to the Flood, to the Exodus, and through the Millennial Reign of

Christ, scripture only supports the doctrine of a ‘year’ having begun in the Spring time.