A New New Year

When God Changed the Calendar

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

Condensed from the Chicago Bible Student Newsletter

It is traditional in the United States to celebrate the New Year on January 1. This is not so in all countries. In India it is celebrated the last four days in December; in China, in late January or early February. The Jewish celebration, Rosh Hashanah, is in the fall.

There was a time, back in the days of the Old Testament, when God decreed a new year. We find the establishment of this new "new year" in Exodus 12:2: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." Before this decree it was customary to usher in the new year in the fall, but this "new" first month was the Jewish month Nisan, a spring month corresponding to our March-April.

For many years prior to this statement Israel had been in captivity in the land of Egypt. There they were severely oppressed, forced to make bricks and be menial laborers in the grandiose city building plans of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Now God had intervened in their welfare and, through the persuasive power of ten successive plagues, the Pharaoh of Egypt had been forced to set free his Israelite slaves, or as the old spiritual phrases it, to "let my people go."

Such a dramatic turn of fortune for the Hebrew people was so great that it was indeed a new beginning. God chose to commemorate it by introducing a new "new year."

Following the lunar calendar the months all began with the new moon. The first great feast of the "new year" was held two weeks later, when the moon was full, for that was the time when God brought about the great deliverance of the Exodus by "passing over" their first borns when their counterparts in Egypt were slain in the last of the ten plagues.

A Fitting Change

This was a most fitting change. It was a new beginning. It deserved to be called "the beginning of months." In order to fit into the world order of their time the Israelites continued to celebrate the fall new year as well. Rosh Hoshanah, the feast of the new year, marked the onset of the Jewish civil year while the first of Nisan celebrated the beginning of a new religious new year.

And so it is with the Christian. January 1 may mark the beginning of a new calendar for fiscal purposes, a sort of civil new year, but the real "new year" for the follower of Christ begins with his deliverance from the conditions of sin and death when he accepts Jesus Christ as his redeemer and makes a full commitment of his life to him.

While the Exodus from Egypt marked the ending of an era for the ancient Israelites, it also marked a new beginning, the beginning of a long and tortuous journey to the promised land. As they traveled they encountered many hardships along the way. Oftentimes they murmured and complained. Many miracles were wrought on their behalf. Yet only two of the men over forty years of age successfully made the entire journey—Joshua and Caleb.

So it is also with the Christian. His commitment to follow the Lord must be followed by the much more arduous task of actually carrying out his initial vows. He, too, will be tempted to murmur and complain. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul describes the similarities between the Christian walk and the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

Let us each, then, seek to celebrate our spiritual new year with renewed commitment to run the race to the victorious end. Only then shall we reach our promised Canaan of rest.