Next, a subtle detail emerges. John, the forerunner, was about six months older than Jesus, according to Luke 1:36. This seemingly simple fact, woven into the narrative, suggests that John's public ministry began about six months before Jesus' public ministry, which we previously placed in the month of Heshvan/Bul. This places the beginning of John's ministry in the middle of the month of Iyyar/Ziv. John's ministry, beginning about half a year before Jesus' ministry, marks a significant point on the timeline.
The month Iyyar/Ziv strikes a harmonic chord with the events described in Numbers 1:1, 6:1, 2, and 10:11-13.
In the shadow of Sinai, on the first day of Ziv, Jehovah's voice reached Moses from the silent depths of the tabernacle. Twenty days later, Israel began its exodus, leaving Sinai behind. Yet within this interval, a singular stitch is revealed: the divine decree of Naziriteship.
This decree, whispered in the month of Ziv, resonates - Ziv, the month in which John, a Nazirite from birth, stepped onto the stage of history. John, bound by the vows of a Nazarite, dedicated his life to purity and service, reflecting the essence of this divine ordinance revealed centuries earlier in the same month.
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