Abib

ABIB (ā'bĭb, Heb. ’āvîv, an ear of corn). The preexilic name for the first month of the year (Exod.13.4; Exod.23.15; Exod.34.18). After the Exile the name was changed to Nisan. It fell about the time of March and early April. See also Calendar.

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ABIB ā’ bĭb (אָבִֽיב, ripened head of grain). The month of March/April during which the Passover took place. This is the older, presumably Canaanite name, for the month of Nisan (Exod 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1). Three other Canaanite names, Zib, Etanim, and Bul, are attested along with others in Phoen. inscrs. but so far Abib has not been attested. The proto-Sinaitic ’bb Albright now reads as an Egyp. personal name (W. F. Albright, Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions [1966], 38).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

The first month of the Israelite year, called Nisan in Ne 2:1; Es 3:7, is Abib in Ex 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; compare De 16:1. Abib is not properly a name of a month, but part of a descriptive phrase, "the month of young ears of grain." This may indicate the Israelite way of determining the new year (Ex 12:2), the year beginning with the new moon nearest or next preceding this stage of the growth of the barley. The year thus indicated was practically the same with the old Babylonian year, and presumably came in with Abraham. The Pentateuchal laws do not introduce it, though they define it, perhaps to distinguish it from the Egyptian wandering year.

See Calendar.

Willis J. Beecher