YarnThe
notice of yarn is contained in an extremely obscure passage in (1 Kings
10:28; 2 Chronicles 1:16) The Hebrew Received Text is questionable.
Gesenius gives the sense of "number" as applying equally to the
merchants and the horses: "A band of the king's merchants bought a
drove (of horses) at a price."
Yearthe
highest ordinary division of time. Two years were known to, and
apparently used by, the Hebrews.
+A year of 360 days appears to have been in use in Noah's time.
+The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the exodus may: be said
to have been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th
day of which the first Passover was kept, was then made the first month
of the year. The essential characteristics of this year can be clearly
determined, though we cannot fix those of any single year. It was
essentially solar for the offering of productions of the earth,
first-fruits, harvest produce and ingathered fruits, was fixed to
certain days of the year, two of which were in the periods of great
feasts, the third itself a feast reckoned from one of the former days.
But it is certain that the months were lunar, each commencing with a
new moon. There must therefore have been some method of adjustment. The
first point to be decided is how the commencement of each gear was
fixed. Probably the Hebrews determined their new year's day by the
observation of heliacal or other star-risings or settings known to mark
the right time of the solar year. It follows, from the determination of
the proper new moon of the first month, whether by observation of a
stellar phenomenon or of the forwardness of the crops, that the method
of intercalation can only have been that in use after the
captivity,--the addition of a thirteenth month whenever the twelfth
ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the first-fruits
to be made at the time fixed. The later Jews had two commencements of
the year, whence it is commonly but inaccurately said that they had two
years, the sacred year and the civil. We prefer to speak of the sacred
and civil reckonings. The sacred reckoning was that instituted at the
exodus, according to which the first month was Abib; by the civil
reckoning the first month was the seventh. The interval between the two
commencements was thus exactly half a year. It has been supposed that
the institution at the time of the exodus was a change of commencement,
not the introduction of a new year, and that thenceforward the year had
two beginnings, respectively at about the vernal and the autumnal
equinox. The year was divided into--
+Seasons . Two seasons are mentioned in the Bible, "summer" and
"winter." The former properly means the time of cutting fruits, the
latter that, of gathering fruits; they are therefore originally rather
summer and autumn than summer and winter. But that they signify
ordinarily the two grand divisions of the year, the warm and cold
seasons, is evident from their use for the whole year in the expression
"summer and winter." (Psalms 74:17; Zechariah 14:18)
+Months . [MONTHS]
+Weeks . [WEEKS]
Year
Of Jubilee[[1307]Jubilee,
The Year Of, YEAR OF]
Year,
Sabbatical[[1308]Sabbatical
Year YEAR]
Yoke
+A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically
for subjection, e.g. (1 Kings 12:4,9-11; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5)
hence an "iron yoke" represents an unusually galling bondage. (28:48;
Jeremiah 28:13)
+A pair of oxen, so termed as being yoked together. (1 Samuel 11:7; 1
Kings 19:19,21) The Hebrew term is also applied to asses, (Judges
19:10) and mules, (2 Kings 5:17) and even to a couple of riders.
(Isaiah 21:7)
+The term is also applied to a certain amount of land, (1 Samuel 14:14)
equivalent to that which a couple of oxen could plough in a day,
(Isaiah 5:10) (Authorized Version "acre"), corresponding to the Latin
jugum .