Shalom BrotherArnold,
You said that no Hebrew Scholar ever understood it the way you said it was. I'm assuming sunrise to sunrise. Just to let you know, we do know a Hebrew Scholar and he does concur that more properly translated the Scripture should read - then came evening, then came morning, the first day. Agreeing that the Scriptural day begins with sunrise.
Anyways, think it is more an example of how we conduct our lives, which is exactly accurate when we get up in the morning, we go to work during the daylight hours, come home in the evening, and go to bed.
Psalms 104:19-24:
19 He made the moon for appointed times; The sun knows its going down. 20 You put darkness, and it is night, In it all the beasts of the forest creep. 21 The young lions are roaring for prey, And seeking their food from El. 22 The sun arises – they withdraw And lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work, And to his labor, till evening.
Taking into consideration, Yahusha said, "My Father is always working" and the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So I personally see this as a format or an example of how we as humans will be observing time. Because Yahuah is not constrained by time.
Also concerning Flavious Josephius, I don't know exactly how reliable his source is. (By the way, I do like that name, Flavious, of course, I don't think that is what I would name my child. Maybe one of our puppies that are due in a few days.)
Quote from Flavious:
"The Life of Flavious Josephus"
Book 1, chapter 5
However, as the danger was directed upon us, we pretended that we were of the same opinion with them ; but only advised them to be quiet for the present and to let the enemy go away,
and
Book 1, chapter 2
So when I had accomplished my desires, I returned back to the city, being now nineteen years old, and began to conduct myself according to the rules of the sect of the Pharisees, which is of kin to the sect of the Stoics, as the Greeks call them.
I can't help but remember the words of Messiah saying that their father was the devil and also what the leaders proclaimed as they sent the Messiah to death, "His blood be on our hands and on our childrens" something to that effect, and also, "We have no king but Caesar".
About Stoicism, a.k.a. kin to the sect of the Pharisees -
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason (logos).
Stoicism first appeared in Athens in the Hellenistic period around 301 BC and was introduced by Zeno of Citium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StoicismInterestingly enough, just 30 years prior to this date of 301 BC is when Alexander took control over the Persians who had control over Yahrushalem.
Can't remember where we read it, just looked and can't seem to locate the quote, someone had made an implication that the Yahudim were known to accept the ways of their captors ( 7-day continual cycle ring a bell?).
This might be or might not be a satisfactory historical quote, but I think we can definitely see the tie:
Besides the natural reckoning of the day from dawn, it was common in Greece to reckon it officially, for calendar purposes., from sunset to sunset; the Romans reckoned from midnight." --The Oxford Classic Dictionary. Oxford., England: Clarendon Press. 1949. page 909
One will see that the Greeks started the day at sunset, however the Hebrew nation did not always start the Day in the Greek style. As is seen from this item of history as follows.
Note [236] “Is it possible that some vague reminiscence of this significant reorganization of the calendar is preserved in the statement of Alberuni (Chronology of Ancient Nations, tran. Sachau 32 f.), "When Alexander had left Greece at the age of twenty-six years, ... he went down to Jerusalem, which was inhabited by the Jews; then he ordered the Jews to give up the era of Moses and David, and to use his era instead, and to adopt that very year, the twenty-seventh of his life, as the epoch of this era.
The Jews obeyed his command, and accepted what he ordered; for the Rabbis allowed them such a change at the end of each millenium after Moses. And just at that time a millenium had become complete, and their offerings and sacrifices had ceased to he practiced, as they relate. So they adopted his era, and used it for fixing all the occurrences of their months and days" (I owe this reference and suggestion to the generous cooperation of my friend and colleague, Professor J. Z. Lauterbach.)
TIME -When does the Day Begin ? Prepared by F J Steed Ph.D.
So if the Jews accepted a different understanding of the 7th day, it is quite possible that at the command of Alexander they also accepted a different understanding of when the day begins, oy? Because at that time they still would have been on the lunar reckoning, so what exactly was changed?
The Greeks, as early as the time of Homer, apÂpear to have been perfectly familiar with the diviÂsion of the year into the twelve lunar months but no intercalary month Embolimos or day is then mentioned. Independent of the division of a month into days, it was divided into periods according to the increase, and decrease of the moon. Thus, the first day or new moon was called Noumenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_calendar
So, the Hellenistics observed a lunar calendar; divided into periods according to the increase and decrease of the moon. Another plus for the lunar reckoning understanding as how the Hellenistics had such an impact on the Yahudim.
Shalom,
~Greg