THIS IS NOT A 12 HOUR
SABBATH STUDY NOR LUNAR!
This is by no means to be a
contentious article or to cause division; for most
Messianic believers have all come from one form of
Christianity or other, and are each of us, walking in
the light we have received.If we are seeking, He says
we will find and He will reveal Himself to those who
show their love by keeping His commandments (John
14:21).
Most of us who have
come out from Christianity, following traditions of
man and honouring the first day of the week rather
than the seventh look to Yisra'el and
seek the Jewish roots because we assumed they are
keeping the First Covenant to the letter.
What we really
find is that the Israelites of today have their own
traditions which, according to Talmud, are above
Scripture. Some of the traditions within Judaism are
simply inherited from the Pagan nations that they
were assimilated into during the exile in Babylon
and Assyria. Some of these traditions include:
naming months after false elohim (Tammuz, Nisan,
Siwan), replacing the Name of Yahweh with “Adonai”,
etc. It should come as no surprise because Yahushua,
himself saved some of His most scathing rebukes for
the “experts” in the Torah. The Yisra’elites also
had an earlier form of writing which changed to the
Babylonian style of modern Aramaic we know today.
The truth is, that
there is only one truth! “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17)
So, there is no point in looking to others to find
how to please Yahweh. He has given us the truth in
His Word.
For the Yehudim,
the Shabbat traditionally starts at evening, when
the sun has gone down, and ends 24 hours later. This
is what a number of Messianics follow in regard to
the Sabbath. Let's examine the Scriptures and see
where the truth is.
The best place to
start is at the start. What does the creation in
Genesis reveal?
Genesis: chapter 1:1-5
“1 In the beginning Elohim
created the shamayim and the earth. 2 And the earth came to be
formless and empty, and darkness was on the
face of the deep. And the Ruah?? of
Elohim was moving on the face of the waters.3 And Elohim said, “Let light come
to be,” and light came to be. 4 And Elohim saw the light, that it
was good. And Elohim separated the light
from the darkness. 5 And Elohim called the light ‘day’ (yom) and the darkness He called
‘night.’ And there came to be evening and
there came to be morning, day one.”
Note: The
Light was not sunlight for the first 3 days and
3 nights, this is a picture of Yahushua, in the
earth.
John
12:46 “I am come as a light into the
world...”
We know that the "light" (Yahushua) was the first
creation:
Colossians
1:15-17
“15 ...who is the likeness of the
invisible Elohim, the first-born of
all creation. 16 Because in Him
were created all that are in the shamayim and
that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or rulerships or principalities
or authorities – all have been
created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before
all, and in Him all
hold together.”
Note:
LIGHT=Or=Yom,
DARKNESS=Night=Layelah, EVENING=Erev,
MORNING=Boker, FIRST=Echad.
Hebrew is cyclic rather than linear thinking.
Erev
=
mixing or a blending. You can't have it
without both Light and darkness, which means the
Light was there prior to the darkness.
Morning
=
Boker, boker is a
breaking, dividing, separation, delineation or
demarcation
All was stated as happening in order, then boker occurs, and that was
the Echad or unified day. This is not the
word Rishone for first.
So, to simplify:
The
daylight
part of a 24 hour period is called “DAY” (Hebrew: YOM).
EVENING (EREV) =Mixing of the Light
and darkness after sunset
MORNING (BOKER) =break of day, which
is the sun breaking the horizon.
Note: It is
true that “yom” can mean an undefined period
of time unless it is defined,
as it is in the Genesis account (“there came
to be evening and there came to be morning”)
This account of day one is no different than
describing the age of a child. You are not one
year old to you have lived a whole year.
Likewise, Genesis describes the events that
took place, then night to morning an is called
"the first day".
The
six day creation defines for us when a day
starts:
In
the beginning there is nothingness, or darkness,
then Elohim creates light and calls it “day”.
That is the start. Scripture states that evening
came, then morning (start of the next day), that
was the first day.
The
creation process continues like this for six
days:
DAY (Create) – EVENING – MORNING. It's really
that simple. A day is morning to morning.
At
the end of the six days of creation we read:
Genesis 2:1-3
“1 Thus
the shamayim and the earth were completed,
and all their array. 2 And on the seventh day (yom) Elohim completed His work which He had
done, and He rested
on the seventh day (yom) from all His work which He had made. 3 And Elohim baruk_ the
seventh day (yom) and qadosh it, because on it He rested
from all His work which Elohim in creating had made.”
So to
clarify when a day starts, scripture informs
that Elohim rested and blessed the SEVENTH
DAYLIGHT PERIOD (YOM). Not the
sixth night!
This is NOT
saying a day is 12 hours. A full "day" in
the creation account is defined as 24 hours
starting in the morning.
If you believe
that "there
came to be evening and there came to be
morning, the first day" supports a day
beginning in the evening then you must believe
that a day is 12 hours. As we will see from
Scripture this is not the case.
WHAT
SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?
As we continue through Scripture, we
find many narratives that define a 24
hour day beginning in the morning, The following
are some of the
most straightforward:
Genesis
1:16
“16 And Elohim made two great lights: the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night, and the stars.”
Note: Why would Yahweh start a day with the
'lesser light'?
Genesis
1:18
“18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate
the light from the darkness...”
Note: The order: day-night,
light-darkness...
Genesis 19:33-34
“33 So they made their
father drink wine that night. And the
first-born went in and lay with her father, and
he was not aware of it when she lay down or when
she arose. 34 And it came to be on the next day that the
first-born said to the younger, “See, I lay with
my father last night.”
Note: The "next" day followed the night.
Exodus
10:13
“13 And Mosheh stretched out his rod over
the land of Mitsrayim, and YHWH brought
an
east wind on the land all that
day
and all that
night. Morning
came,
and the east wind brought the locusts.”
Note:
“that day”
belongs to “that night”, then the “Morning came”
Exodus
16:22-27
“22
And it came to be, on the sixth
day,
that they gathered twice as much bread, two
omers for each one. And all the rulers of the
congregation came and told Mosheh. 23 And he said to
them, “This is what YHWH
has
said, ‘Tomorrow
is a rest, a Shabbath qadosh to YHWH. That
which you bake, bake; and that which you cook,
cook. And lay up for yourselves all that is
left over, to keep it until morning.’
” 24
And they laid it up till morning,
as Mosheh commanded. And it did not stink, and
no worm was in it. 25
And Mosheh said, “Eat it today,
for today
is
a Shabbath
to YHWH, today you do not find it in the
field. 26
“Gather it six days, but on the seventh day,
which is the Shabbath, there is none.” 27
And it came to be that some of the people went
out on the seventh day
to gather, but they
found none.”
Note: Yahweh said “Tomorrow” was Sabbath,
then “morning” comes and Mosheh said “eat it
today, for today is a Sabbath”.
Exodus
18:13
“13
And it came to be, on the next
day,
that Mosheh sat to rightly rule the people. And
the people stood before Mosheh from morning
until
evening.”
Note:
the “next day” starts in the “morning”.
Exodus 32:5-6
“5
And Aharon saw and built an altar before it. And
Aharon called out and said, “Tomorrow
is a festival to YHWH”
6
And they rose early
on
the next day,
and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings. And the people sat down to eat and
drink, and rose up to play.”
Note: Aaron said “tomorrow” is a festival and
the “next day” they “rose early”. You don't rise
at night.
Leviticus 6:20
“20 This
is
the offering of Aharon and his sons, which they
bring near to YHWH beginning
on the day
when he is anointed:
one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a daily
grain offering, half of it in
the
morning
and half of it at
night.”
Note:
The offering was to be brought to Yahweh in “the
morning”, the “beginning of the day”.
Leviticus 7:15
“15 As for the flesh of the slaughtering of
his peace offering for thanksgiving, it is eaten the same
day it is offered, he does not leave
any of it until morning.”
Note:
How can you eat your peace offering "the same day"
and "not leave any of it till morning" if your day
starts at night!?
Numbers 11:32
“32
And the people were up all that
day,
and all that
night,
and all the next
day,
and gathered the quail. He who has least
gathered ten omers. And they spread them out for
themselves all around the camp.”
Note:
“that day” belongs to “that night”, then the “next
day” comes
Joshua
7:6-13
“6
And Yahoshua tore
his garments, and fell to the earth on his
face before the ark of YHWH until
evening,
both he and the elders of Yisra’el, and they
put dust on their heads... 10
And YHWH said
to
Yahoshua, “Rise up! Why are you lying on your
face?... 13
“Rise up, qadosh the people, and you shall
say, ‘Qadosh yourselves for tomorrow,
because thus said YHWH Elohim
of
Yisra’el, “That which is under the ban is in
your midst...”
Note: It was already “evening” when Yahweh
told Yahoshua to set themselves apart for
“tomorrow”, so a day cannot begin at evening.
Judges 19:9
“9 And the man arose to go, he and his
concubine and his servant. But his
father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to
him, “See, the day is now drawing toward
evening. Please spend the
night. See, the day is coming to an end. Stay
here, and let your heart be glad. And you shall
rise
early
tomorrow for your journey,
and you shall go to your tent.”
Note: Rising "early tomorrow" implies the
start of the day being morning. You will never
see the words "early, at night..."
Samuel
9:19-26
“And Shemu’el
answered Sha’ul and said, “I am the seer. Go up
before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me
today. And tomorrow I
shall let you go and make known
to you all that is in your heart...26 And they rose
early. And it came to be
about the dawning of the day that Shemu’el
called to Sha’ul on the roof, saying, “Rise, so
that I send you on your way.”
Note: Rising "early" at "the dawning of the
day" again equates the start of the day being
morning.
1
Samuel 19:10-11
“10
and Sha’ul sought to smite the spear through
Dawid, and into the wall, but he slipped away
from the presence of Sha’ul, so he smote the
spear into the wall. And Dawid fled and
escaped that
night.
11 And Sha’ul sent messengers to Dawid’s
house to watch him and to put him to death in the
morning. And Mikal,
Dawid’s wife, informed him, saying, “If you do
not save your life tonight, tomorrow you are put to
death.”
Note:
Again, It was already “night” when Mikal told
Dawid to flee for “in the morning”, or
“tomorrow” he was to be killed, so a day
cannot begin at evening.
1 Samuel 28:8-19
“8 And Sha’ul
disguised himself and put on other
garments, and went, he and two men with
him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said,
“Please divine for me, and bring up for me
the one I shall name.”... 11 So he said, “Bring up
Shemu’el for me.”... 16 Then Shemu’el said, “And
why do you ask me, seeing YHWH has
turned aside from you and has become your
enemy?... 19 “Further, YHWH also
gives Yisra’el with you into the hand of the
Pelishtites. And tomorrow you and
your sons are with me. YHWH also
gives the army of Yisra’el into the hand of
the Pelishtites.”
Note:
If Sha'ul came at “night” how could fight the
Philistines “tomorrow”?
1 Samuel 30:17
“17 And Dawid smote them from twilight until the evening of the next
day. And none of them
escaped, except four hundred young men who
rode on camels and fled.”
Note:
If a day were from evening to evening the
Scripture would not read “the next day”.
2
Samuel 24:13-15
“13 Gad then came to Dawid
and informed him. And he said to him, “Should
seven years of scarcity of food come to you in
your land? Or would you flee three months
before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or
should there be three days’ plague in your land? Now
know and see what answer I take back to Him
who sent me.” 14 And Dawid said to Gad, “I
am in great trouble. Please let us fall into
the hand of YHWH, for
His compassion is great, but do not let me
fall into the hand of man.” 15 And YHWH sent a
plague upon Yisra’el
from the morning till
the appointed time, and from Dan to Be’ersheba
seventy thousand men of the people died.”
Note:
The “three day” plague started in the
“morning”, not at night.
Lamentations
3:22
“22 The kindnesses of YHWH! For
we
have not been consumed, For His compassions
have not ended. 23
They are new
every
morning,
Great is Your trustworthiness.”
Note:
“new every morning”, because morning is a new
day.
Jonah
4:6-7
“6
And YHWH Elohim appointed a plant and made it
come up over Yonah, to be a shade for his head
to deliver him from his discomfort. And Yonah
greatly rejoiced over the plant. 7
But as morning
dawned
the next
day Elohim
appointed
a worm which attacked the plant so that it
withered.”
Note:
“morning” starts the “next day”.
Zecharyah 14:7
“7 And
it
shall be one day
which is known to YHWH, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be
light.”
Note:
A 24 hour day is mentioned here with the
day preceding the night.
Matthew 28:1
“1
Now after
the
Shabbath,
toward dawn
on one of the shabbathoth,
Miryam from Magdala and the other Miryam came
to see the tomb.”
Note:
In all these examples the Sabbath ended at
“dawn”
Mark
16:2
“2
And very
early
on one of the shabbathoth,
they came to the tomb when the sun
had
risen.”
Luke 24:1
“1
And on one of the shabbathoth,
at early dawn,
they came to the tomb, bringing the spices
which they had prepared”
Note: - John 20:1 "And on one of the
shabbathoth Miryam from Magdala came early to
the tomb, while it was still dim,
and saw that the stone had been removed from the
tomb." Most translations translate the words
"still dim"
as "still dark"
which would make the account inconsistent with
the other three! In
fact, the Greek word “skotia” Strong's# 4653
primarily means 'dim'.
John
6:16-22
“16 And when evening came, His talmidim went
down to the sea, 17 and entering into
the boat, they were going over the sea toward
Kephar Nahum. And it had already
become dark, and Yahushua had
not yet come to them. 18 And the sea was
rising because a great wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed
about five or six kilometres, they
saw Yahushua walking on the sea and coming near the
boat, and they were afraid. 20 And He said to them,
“It is I, do not be afraid.” 21 They wished
therefore to take Him into the boat, and at once
the boat was at the land where they were going. 22 On the next day...”
Note: This is straightforward. It was already
dark at night when these things took place... the
the next day.
John 13:27-30 “And
after the piece of bread, Satan entered into him.
Yahushua, therefore, said to him, ''What you do,
do quickly.'' 28
But no one at the table knew why He said this to
him, 29
for some were supposing, because Yahudah had the
bag, that Yahushua was saying to him, ''Buy
what we need for the Festival,'' or
that he should give somewhat to the poor. 30
So, having received the piece of bread, he then went
out
straightaway, and it was night.”
Note:
Why would the disciples even be thinking that
Yahushua would be asking Yahudah to BUY if the
Festival of Unleavened Bread had started that
night? It would be considered a High Sabbath on
which no one would buy or sell! The obvious fact
is that the Festival started in the MORNING on
the 15th.
Acts 4:3
“3 And they arrested them, and put them in
jail until the next day, for it was already evening.”
Note:
Again dark, then the next day.
Acts 16:9-11
“9 And in the night a vision appeared to
Sha’ul: A man of Makedonia was standing, begging
him and saying, “Come over to Makedonia and help
us.” 10 And when he saw the vision, immediately we sought to go to
Makedonia, concluding that the Master had called
us to bring the Good News to them. 11 Therefore, sailing
from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrake,
and the next day came to Neapolis.”
Note:
The next day follows the night yet again....
Acts 23:31-32
“31 So the soldiers, as
they were commanded, took Sha’ul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 And on the next day they left the
horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the
barracks.”
Note:
Again, the next day follows the night.
Having the night
as the first part of the day seems to be a
reversal of many of Yahushua's parables which He
describes Himself as the us as “light of the
world” (Jn 8:12, Jn 9:5, Jn
12:46, etc.) and we
should “walk in the light” and “not in darkness” (Jn 8:12, Jn 11:9-10, Jn 12:35, Jn 9:4, etc.)
Many of the New Covenant letters likewise use
similar parables.
1
Thessalonians 5:5
“5 You
are all sons of light and sons
of
the day. We
are not
of
the night nor of
darkness.”
See also: Rom 13:12-13, Eph 5:8,
1Thess 5:7-8. Why
start a day when we all sleep?
ANOMOLIES
With so many Scriptural references defining the
day and when it begins, one wonders what compels
some to hold to the traditions of the evening to
evening Sabbath? To be fair there are a couple of
references that can cause confusion if taken out
of context.
Leviticus
23:26-32
“26 And YHWH spoke
to
Mosheh, saying, 27
“On the tenth
day
of this seventh month is Yom ha'Kippurim. It
shall be a qodesh gathering for you. And you
shall afflict
your
beings,
and shall bring an offering made by fire
to YHWH
28
“And you do no work on that same day, for it
is a Yom ha'Kippurim, to make atonement for you
before YHWH
Elohim. 29
“For any being who is not afflicted on that
same day, he shall be cut off from his people.
30
“And any being who does any work on that same
day, that being I shall destroy from the midst
of his people. 31
“You do no work – a Law forever throughout
your generations in all your dwellings. 32
‘It is a Shabbath
of rest to you, and
you shall afflict your beings. On the ninth
day
of the month at
evening,
from evening to evening, you observe your
Shabbath.”
It is quite
clear in the context of this Law that the
Sabbath for the day of atonement differs from
other Sabbaths, in that Yahweh Specified this
particular High Sabbath to be kept from
evening to evening. Notice that Yahweh makes it
clear by numbering the days; that the day of
atonement is on the "tenth
day" but the fast
commences on the "ninth
day" at evening.
Why would Yahweh
Command us to start the fast on the ninth day at
evening if the tenth day started at evening
anyhow? It also makes sense to keep this fast
this way, as some children may find it difficult
waking; having not eaten all night, to fast
throughout the day and then another night; a
total 72 hours.
Another exception is the night of the Passover in
which Yahweh led His people out of Egypt:
Leviticus
23:5
“5 In the
first month, on the fourteenth day of the
month, between
the
evenings, is
the Pesah? to YHWH.”
One
glaring
problem of the evening to evening observance is
that it is impossible to celebrate your passover
on the evening of the 14th and eat your
celebration meal “that
night”!
If your “day” starts in the evening
then celebrate at night, then you have passed
into the 15th according to an evening to evening
reckoning...
Exodus 12:6
“6 And you shall keep it
until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then
all the assembly of the congregation of
Yisra’el shall kill it between the evenings. 7 ‘And they shall take some
of the blood and put it on the two doorposts
and on the lintel of the houses where they eat
it. 8 ‘And they shall eat the
flesh on that night, roasted in fire - with
unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they
shall eat it.”
Note:
This whole Festival takes place on the one
day of the 14th,
starting “between the evenings and continuing
that night!
Some express difficulty in
correlating the morning to morning reckoning with
the Passover, yet the timing of this important
festival is not defining when a day starts or
ends; Yahweh simply wants us to honour the feast
on the night of the 14th because that is the time
He led His people out of Mitsrayim...
Deuteronomy
16:1
“1 Guard the month of Ab_ib_, and
perform
the Pesah? to YHWH your Elohim, for in
the month of Ab_ib_
YHWH your Elohim brought
you out of Mitsrayim by night.”
Deuteronomy
16:6
“6...you slaughter
the Pesah? in the evening, at the going down of
the sun, at the Appointed Time you came out of
Mitsrayim.”
The Feast of
unleavened Bread follows on from the Passover and we
are also commanded to remove leaven from our homes
from that night:
Exodus 12:18
“18 In the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat
unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the
month in the evening.”
something to
take into account: If someone keeps Passover at
the “beginning” of the 14th (end of the 13th),
they sit with 8 days of unleavended bread, where
the command is clear to eat unleavened bread from
the eating of the Pesach for 7 days. Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:6,7; 23:15;
34:18; Lev. 23:6; Num. 28:17 ; Deut. 17:8. Most
importantly:
Deuteronomy.
16:
2-3
“2 And you shall slaughter the Pesah? to YHWH
your Elohim, from the flock and the herd,
in the place where YHWH chooses to put His Name.
3 “Eat no leavened bread with it. For seven days you eat unleavened
bread with it, bread of affliction…”
Note: This
suggests that Passover is the start of the 7 day
unleavened bread period, which is a continuous 7
day period and not an 8 day period.
The festival of Unleavened bread simply
cannot begin at sundown after the Passover as
Scripture commands the leftovers to be burnt
"before morning" which involves kindling a fire;
something forbidden on a Sabbath.
For a detailed article and comparison of
the different traditions of celebrating Pesach,
click the link below:
Another apparent anomaly is:
Nehemyah
13:18-21
“18 Did not your
fathers do the same so that our Elohim brought
all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you
bring added wrath on Yisra’el by profaning the Shabbath.” 19 And it came to be,
at the gates of Yerushalayim, as it began
to be dark before the Shabbath, that I commanded
the gates to be shut, and commanded that they
should not be opened till after the Shabbath. And I stationed
some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens
would be brought in on the Shabbath day. 20 And the merchants and
sellers of all kinds of
wares spent the night outside Yerushalayim once
or twice, 21 and I warned them, and said to them,
“Why do you spend the night around the wall? If
you do so again, I lay hands on you!” From that
time on they came no more on the Shabbath.”
“As it began to be dark
before the Shabbath”
could infer that Sabbath starts when the sun goes
down, but does not have to be the case. Against
the weight of all other Scripture it would be
foolish to base your Sabbath on this one verse. In
fact, it was customary to close the gates at night
and earlier in Nehemyah we see why they were
closing the gates:
Nehemyah
7:3
“3 And I said to them,
“Let not the gates of Yerushalayim
be opened until the sun is hot. And while they
are standing by, let them shut
the doors and bolt them. And appoint
guards from among the inhabitants of
Yerushalayim, each at his post, and each in
front of his own house.”
Nehemyah had ordered them to shut the gates at
night anyhow and were not to be opened
"until the sun was hot", and as we can see
from the context of the Scripture, Nehemyah did
not want the Sabbath profaned by merchants
carrying in their wares and selling on the day of
rest. The merchants undoubtedly travelled on the
sixth day and arrived toward the end of the day,
so Nehemyah simply shut the gates on them.
Notice also the text, “Why
do you spend the night around the wall? If you do
so again, I lay hands on you!” "Laying hands" on someone (obviously
forcefully) is not something one would do on the
Sabbath which tends to infer that the evening they
arrived was not when the Sabbath commenced.
It should also be noted that this all took place
after more than 150 years of captivity in Babylon
which, as stated is where the Yisra’elites had
absorbed so many of the Babylonian traditions (see
references below). It is unlikely but this may
well be the first account of an evening to evening
Sabbath.
There are also a great number of
Scriptures that declare uncleanliness till evening
and certain events taking place before evening
that could add to the error of assumption that a
day starts in the evening. None of these
Scriptures actually state this, and it is common
sense to be made clean at evening so the persons
may come into the camp to spend the night, as it
was unlawful for an unclean person to come into
the camp. More importantly, if the next day were a
Sabbath an individual would not be able to
participate in any qodesh assembly and would have
to wait for the next evening.
Some see evidence that this is how the Pharisees,
instituting an evening to evening day created a
“fence law” around this.
It was for this reason that dead bodies were
removed before evening (Josh 8:29, Mark
15:42) and that it
was Commanded in the Torah (Deut 21:23), but not because it was the start of a
new day.
SUN
WORSHIP OR MOON WORSHIP?
Some may use the excuse that starting the day in
the morning is based on sun worship, but this is
an invalid argument as the same can be said about
evening start being based on moon worship since
moon worship is equally as ancient as sun worship.
In fact, looking at many historical commentaries
(see below) it appears the Yisra’elites
inheriteded lunar observance from the Babylonians
who revered the moon above the sun in that it was
more mysterious at night.
It is also interesting to note that the phrase
“night and day” appears 13 times in Scripture, yet
the phrase “day and night” appears 28 times (twice
as many).
The order of "day" preceding "night" in Scripture is used 84 times
compared to only 19 of the opposite (over four times as
many).
When determining a set period of time (e.g. "forty
days and forty nights" which appears 11 times) the
Scriptures always use the order of day and night. Why
would the Scriptures record a count of days
starting with the "day" if a day starts with a
night?
Notice the order of the natural processes that
Yahweh has ordered:
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the
earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Many who observe evening start try to
claim that Scripture shows a picture of darkness first, then
Yahweh sent Yahushua as the light, yet
Yahushua Himself uses the reverse
showing that He indeed is the light, but darkness follows:
John 9:4-5 “It is
necessary for Me to work the works of Him who sent
Me while it is day - night
is coming, when no one is able to
work. 5
While I am in the world, I am the Light of
the world.”
This is what Yahweh has to say about the
order of day and night:
Jeremiah 33:20-21
“Thus said
YHWH, ‘If you could break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there be not day and night in their season, 21 then My covenant could also be
broken...”
and continuing...
Jeremiah
33:25-26
“Thus said
YHWH, ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the laws of the
shamayim and earth, 26 then I would also reject the
descendants of Ya?aqob...”
OTHER
COMMENTARIES
So far we have
examined the Scriptures from which should come all
our docrine, but it is also interesting to delve
into some of the studies of historians and
commentaries...
"...The
nighttime is considered as belonging to the
preceding period of daylight. from
this there developed the meaning of "day"
in the sense of the cycle made up of one
period of daylight
and one period of darkness,
or according to our modern reckoning, twenty-four
hours...from the natural viewpoint the
twenty-four hour day begins
at sunrise...
however, beside
this conception there arose another idea of the twenty-four
hour day, according to which this daily period
began at sunset. it was no doubt the
lunar calendar of the Jews which gave rise to this
viewpoint...
although
the earlier computation did not die out
completely, the custom of considering
the day as beginning at sunset became general
in later Jewish times..." (Encyclopedic
Dictionary of the Bible. p.497)
"There
can
be no doubt that in pre-exilic
times the
Israelites reckoned the day from morning to
morning. The day began with the dawn and closed with the end of the
night following it..." (Jacob Zallel
Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays, (Cincinnati: Hebrew
Union College Press, 1951), p. 446)
"...To the
Light He gives the name Day, to the Darkness the
name Night...Thus the work of the first day, reckoned
probably from morning to morning, is accomplished.
The period of Light is followed by Evening and
Darkness, which comes to an end with the next
morning when the second day begins..." (Peake's Commentary
on The Bible, p.136).
"In the
Old Testament the earlier
practice seems to have been to
consider that the day began in the morning. In Gen. 19:34, for
example, the "morrow" (ASV) or "Next Day" (RSV)
clearly begins with the morning after the preceding
night..." (Jack Finegan, The
Handbook of Biblical Chronology, p.7-8).
"...In earlier traditions a
day apparently began at sunrise (e.g., Lev. 7:15-17;
Judg. 19:4-19)...
later its beginning
was at sunset and its end at
the following sunset...
this system became normative...
and is still observed in Jewish
tradition, where for example ,
the sabbath begins on Friday evening at sunset and
ends Saturday at sunset..." (Oxford Companion to
the Bible, p.744).
"That the custom of reckoning the
day as beginning in the evening and lasting until
the following evening was probably of late
origin is shown by the
phrase "tarry all night" (Jdg 19:6-9); the context shows
that the day is regarded as beginning in the morning; in the evening the day
"declined," and until the new day (morning)
arrived it was necessary to "tarry all
night" (compare also Num 11:32)" (International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
"...It is
also interesting that according to the Karaite
historian Al-QirqisanI (ca. 975 CE), the dissident
Meswi al-Okbari (ca.850 CE) broke from traditional
Rabbinical
Judaism in an attempt to get
back to the original religion and began
the reckoning of the day from sunrise. (The Itinerary of
R. Benjamin of Tudela, ix, 5-8, ed.
Gruhut-Adler, (1904), p. 23)
"Among the
Greeks the day was reckoned
from sunset to sunset..." (Handbook of
Chronology, op.cit., p.8)
"Among the
ancient Israelites, as among the Greeks, the day was
reckoned from sunset to sunset. This was the custom also of the Gauls and ancient Germans, and was probably
connected originally with the cult of the moon. There is,
however, evidence that this was not the
custom at all times..." (Delitzsch in
Dillmann's commentary on Gen. i. 5)
"...Early in the old
testament period, when Canaan was
under Egypt's influence, the day started
at sunrise...
later, perhaps under
Babylonian influence, the calendar
seems to have changed. the day began at moonrise (1800 hrs) and a
whole day became an evening and a morning..." (Lion Encyclopedia
of the Bible - p.163).
"...The
Israelites, like the Babylonians, counted their days
from sunset to sunset..." (NIV Study Bible,
p.707)
"We know little
about the old Israelite
calendar, apart from the laws
of the festivals. But the Mishnah (the collection of
Jewish law made at the end of the 2nd
century AD) fully describes the
system which the Jews had worked out under Babylonian
influence..." (Eerdman's Handbook
to the Bible).
"When the
Jews returned to Palestine after their Babylonian
exile (516 B.C.E.) they brought back
with them the Babylonian
astronomy and way of reckoning
time..." (What is a Jew, p.
108)
"In order
to fix the beginning and ending of
the Sabbath-day and festivals and to
determine the precise hour for certain religious
observances it becomes necessary to know the exact
times of the rising and setting of the sun. According to the strict interpretation
of the Mosaic law, every day begins with sunrise and ends with sunset... (Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 591-597)
"Days were reckoned
from morning to
morning...
Following
the
reign of King Josia (c. 640-609), and
especially after the
Babylonian exile a number of
significant and enduring changes occurred in the
Israelite calendar showing that the Jews
gradually adopted the Babylonian calendar of
the time...the seven day
week persisted despite its failure to divide
evenly either the month or the year. the day
however, was counted from evening to
evening, after the Babylonian fashion..." (New Catholic
Encyclopedia -Volume 11, p.1068)
"So far as we
know, the Babylonian
calendar was at all
periods truly lunar...
the month began
with the evening when the new crescent was for
the first time again visible shortly after
sunset. consequently, the Babylonian
day also begins in
the evening..." (Exact Sciences
in Antiquity, p.106)
"...Numerous
scholars
have argued for the existence in Bible times of a
sunrise method of day
reckoning...the evidence for
the sunrise reckoning is significant and cannot be
ignored..." (The Time of the Crucifixion and the
Resurrection, Chapter 5)
"In Israel,
the day was for a long time reckoned from morning to
morning...and it was in
fact in the morning, with the
creation of light, that the
world began; the distinction
of day and night, and time too, began on a
morning (Gen. 1:3-5, cf.
14:16, 18). The opposite conclusion has been drawn
from the refrain which punctuates the story of
creation: “There was an evening and there was
a morning, the first, second, etc., day”; This
phrase, however, coming after the description
of each creative work (which clearly
happens during the period of light), indicates
rather the vacant
time till the morning, the end of a
day and the beginning of the next
work...The change of reckoning must
there fore have taken place between the end of the
monarchy and the age of Nehemias... this would
bring us to the beginning
of the exile..." (Ancient Israel,
p.181-182).
"The first
evening was not the gloom, which possibly
preceded the full burst of light as it came forth
from the primary darkness, and intervened between
the darkness and full broad daylight. It was not till
after the light had been
created, and the separation of the light from the darkness had taken place, that evening
came, and after the
evening the morning...It follows
from this, that the days of creation are not reckoned from
evening to
evening, but from morning to morning..." (Commentary on the
Old Testament, The First Book of Moses, p. 51)
"In early Jewish
practice,... it seems to have
been customary to reckon the
day from sunrise to sunrise, or, rather, from dawn to dawn. Thus the law for
the "praise-offering" (lev. 7:17 (pt) specifies
that this sacrifice must be eaten on the day upon
which it is offered, and that nothing may be left
until morning. The repetition of the law in Lev.
22:30... is even more explicit: "On that very day
(when it was sacrificed) it shall be eaten; ye
shall not leave anything of it until morning. Clearly the next
morning is here reckoned as belonging to the
next day, and not the same
day as the preceding evening and night. In other
words, the day is reckoned
here from sunrise to sunrise...
Likewise
in Exod. 16:19f...the manna was given to the
people in the morning, just at dawn and before the
sun had become warm (16:21). It was to be eaten
only on the day upon which it was gathered;
nothing was to remain over until the next morning;
that which did so became foul. Here, too, the
day seems to have been reckoned from dawn to dawn...From Matt.
28:1 It
may be inferred that the practice of reckoning
the day from sunset to sunset was not
universal in Israel, but in certain circles
the older practice continued for several
centuries...It is manifest that the day is
still reckoned here from dawn to dawn. This is also the
implication of the parallel passage, Mark
16:1f...Luke 23:56b-24:1 seems to imply the
same...
Finally, it is significant that in the
second Temple, throughout its entire
existence, the practice
seems to have been in all ritual matters to
reckon the day from dawn to dawn, and not
according to the later
practice, from sunset to
sunset...even the rabbis,
who, themselves, reckoned the day from sunset to
sunset, and refused to admit the legitimacy of
any other practice, or rather, absolutely
ignored all divergent practice, none the less
had to admit the
validity of the interpretation of Lev. 7:15...
the day was at one time reckoned
from sunrise to
sunrise...
The
earlier
practice, which continued
until the time of the secondary strata of the
Priestly code, was to reckon the day from dawn to dawn...
The
later
practice was to reckon the
day from sunset to
sunset...
It is impossible to tell exactly when this change in the mode of
reckoning the day took place in
Israel, and what causes brought it about. Possibly
it may have had something to do with the
introduction of the lunar calendar instead of the
solar, for the lunar calendar naturally
presupposes a reckoning of the day from nightfall
to nightfall...
It was probably
coincident with the revision of the festival
calendar, which took place in the period
after the
time of Ezra, and was, in all
probability, the work of the soferim or of the
Great Synod in the fourth
century B.C. This may also be
inferred from the statement in the Talmud (Berachoth 33a)
that the men of the Great Synod instituted the
ceremonies of Kiddush and Havdalah, the solemn
sanctification of the Sabbath on Friday eve,
and its equally solemn ushering out on
Saturday eve, in other words, ceremonies
specifically marking the beginning and close
of the Sabbath as at sunset. These were
ceremonies for the Jewish home instead of the
Temple. This, coupled with the fact that in the second
Temple the old system of reckoning
the day from dawn to dawn continued to
be observed, as we have seen,
may perhaps indicate that this entire
innovation was the work of an anti-priestly
group or party in the
Great Synod..." (The Sources of the Creation Story -
Gen. 1:1- 2:4, p. 169-212)
"A new
stage in the investigation of the problem of the
calendar of ancient Israel was marked by the
appearance of a learned article by E. Koenig in
1906...He maintains that two distinct
calendars were current in
ancient Israel. The first, a solar calendar...This solar
calendar was well adapted to the conditions of the
simple, agricultural life which the Israelites
lived during the first period of their sojourn in
Palestine. It reckoned the day
from sunrise...
The second calendar was a
luni-solar year...The day now came
quite naturally to be reckoned from sunset...This second
calendar was obviously based upon Babylonian
models and was adopted under direct Babylonian
influence at about 600 B.C., when Babylonian
religion and general culture began to affect
with steadily increasing force the Jewish exiles
in Babylonia and, through those of them who
return from exile, the Jews who had remained in
Palestine.
This broadly sums up Koenig's conclusions...
...the time of the transition from the reckoning of the
day as beginning
with morning to the
reckoning of it as beginning
with evening...
...that in the earlier calendar and in the
literature which records this
the day was reckoned from the morning, presumably
from sunrise, while in the later calendar and the literature pertaining thereto
the day was reckoned from the evening...must be eaten upon
the day upon which it is sacrificed, and that
nothing of it must be allowed to remain over until
morning. Obviously the implication here
is that the next morning is no longer a part of the
day upon which the sacrifice was offered, but
mark the beginning of the next day...
...Elsewhere we have presented quite a mass of
evidence which establishes conclusively that the earlier
practice in Israel
during the biblical period was to reckon the
day from sunrise to sunrise...
...That in the earliest
period of Israelite sojourn
in Palestine, under
calendar 1, the day was
reckoned from morning to morning is established by a
superabundance of evidence...
...This in turn, together with other important
considerations, would point to a time
approximately about the beginning or
the first half, of the third
century B.C. as that of the introduction of the new system of reckoning
the day." (Supplementary Studies in The Calendars
of Ancient Israel, p. 1-148).
Note: It is interesting
to note the wide variety of commentators who may
not agree on many points of doctrine, but do
agree that the Scriptural day begins at first
light in the morning.
FOR EXTRA COMMENTARY FROM
A RABBINIC TRADITION CLICK HERE
FOR
AN
EXTENSIVE INDEPENDENT ARTICLE CLICK HERE FOR
PART # 1
FOR
AN
EXTENSIVE INDEPENDENT ARTICLE CLICK HERE FOR
PART # 2
If you have any verse in Scripture that
clearly states a day starts in the evening
then we would love to know, but the conclusion of
the matter is: If
you have no Scriptures to support your belief
then you have added to Yahweh's Commands and are
practicing vain traditions.
May Yahweh bless you as you seek to obey...
CLICK HERE FOR A
PRINTABLE VERSION
An attempt has been made
at a rebuttal to this study by Tom Martincic of
Eliyah.com which aside from this topic of when a
day begins is in agreement with practically
everything on the 2besaved.com website.
Sadly, Tom has given no
Scriptural proof that a day starts in the evening
other than the three common misunderstandings
given earlier based on tradition.
To read the entire
rubuttal and response, please click the link
below:
DAY START REBUTTAL
AND RESPONSE
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