an ear of corn, the month of newly-ripened grain (Ex. 13:4;

23:15); the first of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and the

seventh of the civil year. It began about the time of the vernal

equinox, on 21st March. It was called Nisan, after the Captivity

(Neh. 2:1). On the fifteenth day of the month, harvest was begun

by gathering a sheaf of barley, which was offered unto the Lord

on the sixteenth (Lev. 23:4-11).