Aviv: A Basic Biblical Understanding of the Hebrew New Year
By Gregory John Wilson
The first month of the biblical year
A few plagues before the last one - the death of the firstborn, we see that in the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt) the barley "was in the ear." The word used for "ear" is Strong's H24 - "aviv". So the barley was "in aviv". Now what does Aviv mean? According to Strong's Hebrew dictionary, it comes from an unused root verb meaning to be tender, and it means "green, i.e. a young ear of grain". So the barley was in its green stage, whatever that looks like. So what is the significance of that? Well… Skip ahead a little bit to the last plague, when Yahweh declares that their present month is to be the first month of the year (Exodus 12:1-2). Then in Exodus 13:4 we see the Israelites are leaving Egypt in this first month and it is called the month of Aviv!
So it makes sense that around the time the barley was "in aviv-green" that that is the time of the first month, called Aviv. Thus the greenness of the barley seems to define the month - thus it is called aviv-green. So it makes sense that we look for the green barley to define this new moon (month). It also makes sense that the first new moon after the barley has become "aviv-green" is the new moon/month of Aviv - the first month of the year, in which Passover is kept the night of the 14th, etc… In summary, in general terms, Aviv - the first month of the biblical calendar, is in the time when things are turning Green (Aviv) in the Spring - an appropriate time for a new beginning instead of the pagan January coming from false god Janus which is in the middle of when everything is dead.
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