In the Bible, God gives each month on HIS Biblical Calendar a numerical name. When you get to month number 6; it is simply named, SIXTH  MONTH. I think this makes it easy for all of us to follow HIS calendar no matter what generation you are born into. God’s calendar system is designed around the cycles of the moon. This Lunar Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon’s phases (lunations). Unlike solar calendars, which track the Earth’s orbit around the sun, lunar calendars focus on the roughly 29.5-day cycle of the moon’s phases. This means lunar months are shorter than solar months, and a lunar year of 12 months is shorter than a solar year.

On the Jewish calendar, the name “Elul” was adopted to replace the name, Sixth Month after the Babylonian exile, likely around the 5th century BCE. Before the exile, the months were referred to by their numerical position in the Biblical Calendar  (e.g., “the Sixth Month”). In the Babylonian calendar, the month of Elul is known as Ulūlu. It also corresponds to the sixth month of the Biblical and  Jewish calendar, Elul. The term “Elul” is derived from the Akkadian word “Elūlu,” which is related to the concept of “harvest”.

The Sixth Month on God’s Biblical Calendar is still listed today as Elul on the Jewish Calendar, and it is still positioned as the sixth month of the year beginning with Nisan as the beginning of the year.  Exactly who assigned this name to the  month on the Jewish calendar is not clear.  It is a month of 29 days that occurs on the Gregorian calendar we use in the USA from mid-August  thru  mid-September.

In Jewish tradition, the Sixth Month aka Elul is associated with Moses’s return to Mount Sinai to receive the second set of tablets after the incident of the Golden Calf. Moses ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul (the beginning of the month) and remained for 40 days, descending on Yom Kippur (the 10th of Tishrei). This period is seen as a time of divine mercy and forgiveness, where Moses prayed for God’s pardon for the Israelites. Click here for more information . Read Exodus 33:18-34:8.

In the Bible, Elul appears Nehemiah 6:15, which mentions the completion of the wall of Jerusalem in the month of Elul. “15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about it and the surrounding nations became afraid, our enemies’ self-esteem fell severely; because they realized that this work had been accomplished by our God.

You find references to the “Sixth Month” of the year in scriptures such as Ezekiel, 1st Chronicles and Haggai just to name a few. The mention of the “Sixth Month” in Luke 1:23-38 causes much theological debate  in reference to the time of Elizabeth’s pregancy with John and the time of Mary’s conception with Yeshua.

However, since we see the numerical names of the months are used throughout scripture.  I understand why there is a big debate as to how it should be translated. The the translation below from the Complete Jewish Bible of Luke 1:23-38 provides its perspective and context of the term “Sixth Month,” as a calendar month name.