The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
Nehemiah 1:1
Chisleu
The Jewish calendar is based on the moon, and not on the sun as our typical calendar is. Also, they have two separate calendars. One is the Civil calendar, and is used for legal and diplomatic events, and for birthdays. The other is the Ecclesiastical calendar. It is used to schedule the feast and holy days. The month Chisleu corresponds to the last half of our November, and the first half of our December. You can expect Autumn-like, or Winter-type weather at that time. Chisleu is the third month of the Civil calendar, and the ninth month of the Ecclesiastical calendar. Hanukkah, ‘The Festival of Lights’, occurs during this month.
Until the Jewish people went to Babylon, they simply referred to the months numerically—the first month, the second month, etc. The first month indicated when God delivered them from Egyptian captivity. So,
every time they mentioned a month, they were saying, for example, ‘it happened in the third month—the third month since God delivered our people from Egypt’. They had given names to 4 of the months, but the others remained unnamed. That is, until they developed names for them while in Babylon. So now, when they tell the name of a month, they are being reminded of their deliverance from Babylonian captivity.
Consider this verse: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them. [Jeremiah 16:14-15]
