Page 260.—_Fifteenth of the month Nisan._] The Jewish ecclesiastical year began with the month Nisan or Abib, (the month of the ears of corn.) Exod. xii. 2. As the Jews reckoned by lunar years, Nisan, beginning with the first new moon after the vernal equinox, would sometimes fall in the end of March, sometimes in April; and hence it is impossible to assign any of the Jewish months exactly to corresponding months of the Roman calendar. The Passover was always to be accompanied by the offering of the first-fruits, or the new barley; and as this would not, ordinarily, be ripe before the middle of April, (Shaw p. 335) an additional month was intercalated, whenever the difference between the solar and lunar year had become so great, that this part of the law could not be complied with. See Michaelis Mos. Law, § 199. De mensibus Hebræorum. Comm. xi. The Jewish months followed in this order; the times assigned to them in our calendar must be understood with the limitation above-mentioned. 1. Nisan, or Abib 30 days, March and April. 2. Jiar, or Siv 29 April and May. 3. Sivan 30 May and June. 4. Tammus 29 June and July. 5. Abh 30 July and August. 6. Elul 29 August and September. 7. Tisri, or Ethanim 30 September and October. 8. Marchesvan (or Bul) 30 and 29 October and November. 9. Kisleu 29 and 30 November and December. 10. Tebheth 29 December and January. 11. Shebat 30 January and February. 12. Adar 29 and 30 February and March. When an intercalary month was necessary, it was added after Adar, and called _Veadar_. Only four of the months, Abib, Exod. xiii. 4. Siv, 1 Kings vi. 37. Ethanim, 1 Kings viii. 2. Bul, 1 Kings viii. 38., are mentioned by name before the captivity. The civil year began with Tisri, at the autumnal equinox. Wähner, Ant. Heb. ii. 15. Page 261.—_Ceremonies of eating the Passover._] The laws of Moses respecting this rite are found Exod. xii. 1-20. 43-49. Deut. xvi. 1-8. Exod. xxxiv. 25. Lightfoot (Works, i. 959. seq.) has collected the passages from the Rabbinical writings, which describe the manner of eating it so fully, that it is unnecessary to do more than refer to him for all that is here related. See also Maimonides de Sol. Pasch. Fasc. Hist. Sacr. vii. 837. What our author says of their standing around the table, appears doubtful: the Israelites ate their first Passover, undoubtedly, in this way; but in our Saviour’s time they appear to have used the ordinary recumbent posture, and this is agreeable to the accounts of the Rabbins.