Shebat

Shebat is the name of the eleventh month in the Jewish calendar, corresponding to January-February in the Gregorian calendar. It is a winter month and usually consists of 30 days. <BR>The month of Shebat is mentioned once in the Bible, in Zechariah 1:7. In this passage, the prophet Zechariah receives a series of visions on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius. This date serves as a temporal marker for the divine revelations given to Zechariah. <BR>In later Jewish tradition, the fifteenth day of Shebat, known as Tu BiShvat, became a minor festival celebrating the "New Year of the Trees." This date was significant for determining the age of trees for the purpose of tithing and other agricultural laws. <BR>Apart from the single reference in Zechariah, the month of Shebat does not play a prominent role in the biblical narrative. Its mention in this passage helps to situate Zechariah's prophetic ministry within the historical context of the postexilic period and the reign of the Persian king Darius.