Exodus 12:2

This new calculation began the year with the spring, which reneweth the face of the earth, and was used as a figure of the coming of Christ, Cant. ii. We may suppose that, while Moses was bringing the ten plagues upon the Egyptians, he was directing the Israelites to prepare for their departure at an hour's warning.

this month shall be unto you the beginning of months--the first not only in order but in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh according to the reckoning of the civil year, which began in September, and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand first in the national religious year which began in March, April.

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In all probability up to that time the year had been supposed to begin in the autumn. The question has been raised at what season of the year did God create man and it has been decided by many that it must have been in autumn, so that when Adam was placed in the garden he might at once find fruits ripe and ready for his use. It has not seemed probable that he would have begun his career while as yet all fruits were raw and green—therefore many have concluded that the first year of human history began in the time of harvest—when fruits were mellowed for man's food. For this reason, perhaps, in the old times the new year began when the feast of harvest had been celebrated. Here, at the point of the Exodus, by a decree of God, the commencement of the year was altered and, so far as Israel was concerned, the opening of the year was fixed for the time of our spring—in the month called Abib, or Nisan. We know that a little before the barley was in the ear, (see Exodus 9:31), and on the Sabbath after the Passover, the produce of the earth was so far advanced that the first fruits were offered and a sheaf of new barley was waved before the Lord. Of course, when I speak of spring and then of ears of barley, you must remember the difference of climate, for in that warm region the seasons are far in advance of ours. You must pardon me if my ideas should become a little mixed—you can correct them easily at your leisure. From the time when the Lord saved His people from destruction by passing over them, the ecclesiastical year began in the month of Abib, in which the Passover was celebrated. The Jubilee Year was not altered, but began in the autumnal equinox.

In all probability up to that time the year had been supposed to begin in the autumn. The question has been raised at what season of the year did God create man and it has been decided by many that it must have been in autumn, so that when Adam was placed in the garden he might at once find fruits ripe and ready for his use.

This month - Abib Exo 13:4. It was called “Nisan” by the later Hebrews, and nearly corresponds to our April. The Israelites are directed to take Abib henceforth as the beginning of the year; the year previously began with the month Tisri, when the harvest was gathered in; see Exo 23:16. The injunction touching Abib or Nisan referred only to religious rites; in other affairs they retained the old arrangement, even in the beginning of the Sabbatic year; see Lev 25:9.