The Beginning of Months
Most of us are aware of the fact that we mark the years of our life by the birth of Jesus. This is most obvious by the designation “A.D.” as in, “this is the year 2017 A.D.”. The initials “A.D.” are an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Anno Domini which means “in the year of our Lord.” So, we date events with respect for the birth of Jesus Christ. Would you agree with me if I were to say that highlighting the birth of our Lord in this way marks the event as significant?
Some of the emperors of Rome, in an effort to legitimize their rule, would deify their predecessor or allow others to deify them. For example, some sought to demonstrate their respect for Caesar Augustus by reconstituting the calendar around his birth date. Brother Kevin Rhodes writes,
Such a designation signified how the birth of Augustus was essentially the birth of a new era; therefore, it would stand to reason that people would swear allegiance to Augustus rather than to the goddess Roma or to the empire itself (A Consequence of Legitimacy, p. 124).
Imagine how significant an event or a person would need to be in order for Westerners to consider reconstituting our calendar. Would you be in favor of starting our calendar anew at the birth of any President of the United States? Even if you could name someone, imagine how difficult it would be to get everyone to agree with the change. It might take an apocalyptic event—which of course, was precisely what the presence of Jesus was for the Jews 2000 years ago.
With all this in mind, take a look at Exodus 12. A description of the final plague is given in the previous chapter, and associated with it is the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. To protect the descendants of Abraham from the final plague, the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron concerning the Passover feast, which is the means by which they can escape death.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household (Exo. 12:1-3).
He continues giving the details relating to the Passover.
The Lord is reconstituting Israel’s calendar around the exodus. “This month shall be for you the beginning of months”—a fresh start, a new beginning, a new era. A few verses later the Lord tells Moses:
This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast (Exo. 12:14).
To reconstitute a calendar around a particular event or person you have said that that event or person carries weight with you as a people. It is to say of that event or person that they hold a monumental place in your imagination.
It does not need to be argued here that the birth of Jesus holds a monumental place in Western Civilization. It doesn’t look like reforming the calendar around Augustus’ birth “took.” History tells us that the exodus of the children of Israel from 430 years of Egyptian bondage held swey in their imagination throughout their existence, as celebrated in the Passover.
As you read through your Bible in 2017 take note of the number of times the exodus is mentioned.
You can read the Lord’s instructions on the Passover in Exodus 12.