Humans divide time into manageable...
Illustration
Humans divide time into manageable hunks, then we name those days, months, and eras.
Ancient people calculated years from a new ruler's ascension. Some rulers even stretched
their influence by naming time: Julius Caesar, July; Augustus Caesar, August. We
continue to reckon time by significance when we talk of "summer after the eight grade,"
"when we lived on Oak Street," or "before Dad died."
Moses is ordered to create a new calendar with the first Passover in the first month to commemorate freedom from slavery. In the sixth Christian century, Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Short) demonstrated the same impulse. He set about to date Jesus' birth. He was off by at least four years, but he did his best to slice human history into two spheres: before and after Jesus, B.C. and A.D., with the calendar itself now witnessing to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection on our behalf.
Moses is ordered to create a new calendar with the first Passover in the first month to commemorate freedom from slavery. In the sixth Christian century, Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Short) demonstrated the same impulse. He set about to date Jesus' birth. He was off by at least four years, but he did his best to slice human history into two spheres: before and after Jesus, B.C. and A.D., with the calendar itself now witnessing to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection on our behalf.