By tradition, the Jews observe the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening throughout the rabbinic era and to this day which is a tradition of man, it is not scriptural.
This Babylonian tradition carried over to Israel after the return from their exile. Biblical days are always reckoned at dawn. When you honor the sabbath from morning to morning this is considered the Day Dawning in your heart.
Many people skirt the Old Testament with word searches to find verses that claim “evening to evening”, but when you read the entire chapter in context it tells you a different story.
Many in Jewish and even Messianic circles claim that the day begins in the evening because of the historical Talmudic tradition and understanding of a phrase in Genesis chapter 1 which states “… And the evening and the morning were the first day.” What they fail to realize is that the creative works that Yah did were done prior to this statement. “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night…”. (And then AFTER the work was completed) ” and the evening and the morning were the first day”. Thus, we see very clearly the daily pattern is established beginning with light, work is done during the day before evening, night falls and the count of the day ends with the morning twilight which is followed by the next day.
Why does this topic matter? When it comes to the Sabbath it matters a lot. If we believe because of tradition and the reckoning of two of the seven biblical feasts without testing the rest of the scripture pertaining to this highly important topic we could be in huge error. Suppose we followed the dusk to dusk reckoning, the sun went down on Saturday night and we think the Sabbath is over, then realize your out of milk and decide to run to the store to make that purchase we would be unknowingly breaking the Sabbath.
Exodus 31:15–17
“Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to DEATH. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL COVENANT. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel FOREVER: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh DAY he rested, and was refreshed.”
As we see in the next verses of James, if you break one of them Ten commandments we break them all, we know he is speaking of the Ten with the context of verse 11 listing off two of the Ten.
James 2:10–11
“For whosoever shall keep the WHOLE LAW, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit ADULTERY, said also, Do not KILL. Now if thou commit no ADULTERY, yet if thou KILL, thou art become a transgressor of the law.”
We can define sin in a few places, 1 John 3:4 says transgression of the Law, but which Law? Paul defines it for us in Romans 7:7 with context of the Tenth commandment.
1 John3:4
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN is the transgression of the LAW.”
Romans7:7
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known SIN, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the LAW had said, Thou shalt not COVET.”
By TRADITION, the Jews observe the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening throughout the rabbinic era and to this day which is a TRADITION of man, it is not scriptural.
Most assume, that the Jews cannot be wrong, have everything correct regarding the Law, do things per the letter of the Torah and other Levitical practices.
As Paul instructed Titus to rebuke Jewish Fables and Commandments of Men, and when we study the history of this tradition it falls under the oral tradition that Yeshua himself rebuked the Pharisees for in Mark 7.
Titus 1:13–14
“This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to JEWISH FABLES, and COMMANDMENTS of MEN, that turn from the truth.”
Mark 7:1–9
“Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the PHARISEES, and ALL the JEWS, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the TRADITION of the ELDERS. And when they come from the market, except they WASH, they EAT NOT. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the TRADITION of the ELDERS, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you HYPOCRYTES, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, TEACHING for DOCTRINES the COMMANDMENTS of MEN. For laying aside the COMMANDMENT of GOD, ye hold the TRADITION OF MEN, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your OWN TRADITION.”
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Oxford Companion to the Bible, p.744
in earlier traditions a day apparently began at sunrise
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.
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Luke 12:1–2
“Beware ye of the
LEAVEN of the PHARISEES, which is HYPOCRISY. For there is nothing COVERED, that shall not be REVEALED; neither HID, that shall not be KNOWN.”
Evening to Evening is a Babylonian / Chaldean tradition carried back after their return from their exile.
There they learned the traditions of the Chaldeans. There they polluted the Sabbath, introduced a moon based calendar, which leavens the bread of God.
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In the Rabbinical Essays by
Jacob Z. Lauterbach, page 446:
“As the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, and extends over one whole day, a brief discussion of the development of the Jewish system of reckoning the day is necessary to determine the time of the coming in and going out of the Sabbath. 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.”
Lauterbach goes on to say:
“Gen 1.5 presupposes the system for reckoning a day was evening and morning as a day, but this passage was misunderstood in the Talmud.. but does not cite Genesis, or it was reinterpreted to suit a different system.”
Who was Jacob Zallel Lauterbach
( 1873–1942 ) was an American Judaica scholar and author who served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College and composed responsa for the Reform movement in America. He specialized in Midrashic and Talmudical literature, and is best known for his landmark critical edition and English translation of the Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael.
What is a Jew, p. 108
“When the Jews returned to Palestine after their Babylonian exile ( 516 BCE ) they brought back with them the BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY and way of RECKONING TIME.
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Daniel 1:3-4
“And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the LEARNING and the tongue of the CHALDEANS.”
Daniel 2:2
“Then the king commanded to call the MAGICIANS, and the ASTROLOGERS, and the SORCERERS, and the CHALDEANS, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.”
As we learn in Daniel, the traditions and ways of the Chaldeans were being taught in Babylon, historical references show that the evening to evening reckoning was one of these traditions picked up in Babylon. Now lets look at their calendar system which is another tradition also picked up even with Babylonian month names.
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The Jewish calendar usually has 354 days and add a 13th month to the calendar in a leap year to reconcile the lunar-based months with the solar year, which ensures holidays like Passover always occur in the spring. This extra month, called Adar, is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle. The name “Adar” itself was adopted during the Babylonian exile. This process is known as intercalation.
Hillel calendar which was fixed by the Jewish patriarch Hillel II in 359 AD, or to a specific local Hillel organization’s schedule. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar and used by the State of Israel alongside the Gregorian calendar.
The names of the months on the Jewish calendar come from the Babylonian names by way of Akkadian. Akkadian was the common language of the Ancient Near East, and Babylonian was actually a variant of Akkadian. Below is a list of the Jewish month names carried back from Babylon.
The months of the
Jewish Calendar:
The months of the Jewish calendar are:
- Nisan: Babylonian: Nisanu
- lyar: Babylonian: Āru / Ayaru
- Sivan: Babylonian: Simanu
- Tamuz: Babylonian: Dumuzu
- Av: Babylonian: Abu
- Elul: The name Elul comes from the Akkadian word for “harvest”. In the Babylonian calendar, the month was called Araḫ Ulūlu, which also means “harvest month”.
- Tishrei: Babylonian: Tashritu
- Heshvan: The eighth month of the Jewish calendar
- Kislev: Babylonian: Kislimu
- Tevet: Babylonian: Tebetu
- Shevat: Babylonian: Shabatu
- Adar: Babylonian: Adaru
Exodus 23:13
“And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make NO MENTION of the NAME of OTHER GODS, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.”
Not only do they neglect the Exodus 23:13 verse about not mentioning the names of other gods by keeping the names of pagan babylonian names for their months, while at the same time will not even say the name Yehovah but instead call him Ha Shem. But also carried another tradition back from Babylon which is a new way of reckoning time. Not only do they hold to a 354 day calendar which is refuted in Jubiles, Enoch, and the Dead Sea scrolls but also hold onto an evening to evening reckoning for a day.
Feast Days
Day of Atonement
Leviticus 23:27–32
“Also on the TENTH DAY of this SEVENTH MONTH there shall be a DAY OF ATONEMENT: it shall be an HOLY CONVOCATION unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that SAME DAY: for it is a DAY OF ATONEMENT, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that SAME DAY, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that SAME DAY, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the NINTH DAY of the month at EVEN, from EVEN unto EVEN, shall ye celebrate your SABBATH.”
- It said “Sabbath” not ( Sabbath’s ) This wasn’t the weekly Sabbath but rather the Day of Atonement… not every feast day / holy day had the same regulations, some you could do certain works some none, some you would feast & some you wouldn’t, but its about reading the context.
- Notice the fast starts on the 9th day and ends on the 10th day as prescribed specifically for this feast.
Why would the fast start on the 9th day at evening if the 10th day started at evening? Makes no sense.
Why Fasting Ends in the Midst of the Day of Atonement at Sunset
On the Day of Atonement, we are commanded to afflict our souls ( fast ) on the 10th day of the 7th month starting from the sunset of the previous day on the 9th, which in itself also proves that the days are sunrise to sunrise, because you can not start fasting at sunset the previous day on the 9th if that same sunset begins the 10th day! That would not make any sense. Only by having the days go from sunrise to sunrise does it make any sense to begin fasting on the previous day on the 9th at sunset and it not yet be the 10th.
Only the fasting and resting for the observance of the Day of Atonement in the Autumn and the fasting from unleavened bread for the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” in the spring of the year are commanded to be observed from sunset to sunset. None of the other holy days carry that commandment.
There is something very unique about the Day of Atonement that explains why we fast only until sunset on the Day of Atonement, when in fact the holy day itself does not end until sunrise of the 11th.
Passover
Leviticus 23:5-6
“In the fourteenth day of the first month at EVEN is the LORD’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”
- It is imposible to celebrate your Passover on the evening of the 14th and eat your meal that night if your day starts in the evening then celebrate it that night then you have passed into the 15th according the the evening to evening reckoning.
Exodus 12:6–8
“and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall KILL it in the EVENING. And they shall take off the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall EAT THE FLESH
in THAT NIGHT, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”
- The text says they were commanded to kill the Passover lamb on the evening of the 14th day of the first month. The verses do not say that the day started in the evening, but that the passover lamb was to be killed in the evening on that day starting between the evenings and continuing that night.
- According to evening to evening, reckoning the evening would’ve started the next day.
This is impossible.
- Because this festival begins in the evening it does not rewrite when the day starts.
Numbers 33:3
They set out from Rameses on the fifthteenth day of the first month. It was on the MORROW of the passover offering. They slaughtered passover on the night of the fourteenth day.
- The Israelites observed the first Passover at night, on the 14th day. When morning came and they left, it was the 15th day! This would not be possible if the new day began at evening, it would have still been the 14th day.
Exodus12:22
“And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.”
- As you can see, they were not allowed to go out of his house until the morning, which would be the start of the next day.
Sacrifices are always meant to The same day as it is offered.
Leviticus 7:15-16
And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be EATEN the SAME DAY that it is OFFERED; he shall not leave any of it UNTIL THE MORNING. But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering it shall be eaten the SAME DAY that he offerath his sacrifice; and on the MORROW also the remainder of it shall be EATEN:
Passover is done in remembrance of the Passover event, done in the evening just as the event happened.
Deuteronomy 16:1
“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the PASSOVER unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of ABIB the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of EGYPT BY NIGHT.”
Sepulcher
Matthew 28:1
IN the END of the SABBATH, as it BEGAN TO DAWN toward the
FIRST DAY of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
John 20:1
“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene EARLY, when it was YET DARK, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”
– – – Same Day ( Sunday )
John 20:19
Then the “SAME DAY” at
EVENING, being the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Yeshua and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
- Question: How could the evening be the “SAME DAY”? Wouldn’t it be tomorrow if rendering the day from evening to evening?
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You can’t get 3 Days and 3 Nights from Friday evening until Sunday morning, that’s 1 Day and 2 Nights. But according to the 70 week prophecy he is cut off mid week, which would be a Wednesday and 3 Days and 3 Nights would bring you to Saturday which is Sabbath.
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John 11:9–10
“Jesus answered, Are there not TWELVE HOURS in the DAY? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the LIGHT of this world. But if a man walk in the NIGHT, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.”
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Morning Reckoning
Taken in Morning
Third Hour ( 9 AM ) – Crucified
Sixth Hour ( 12 PM ) – Darkness
9th Hour ( 3 PM ) – Died
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Evening Reckoning
Taken in Morning
Third Hour ( 9 PM ) – Crucified
Sixth Hour ( 12 AM ) – Darkness
9th Hour ( 3 AM ) – Died
- According to the dusk to dusk logic, that would make it darker from 12am-3am since 6pm in the evening would be the start of the new 24hr period. How can the night become darker?
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Morning of Crucifixion
Mark 15:1
“And straightway in the morning ( G4253 )the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.”
G4404 – Morning
πρωΐ́
prōi
pro-ee’
Adverb from G4253; at dawn; by implication the DAY BREAK watch: – early (in the morning), (in the) morning.
They bound Yeshua in the morning and the Strong’s says at day break.
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Mark 15:25
“And it was the THIRD HOUR, and they crucified him.”
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Luke 23:44
“And it was about the
SIXTH HOUR, and there was a DARKNESS over all the earth until the NINTH HOUR.”
Matthew 27:46
And about the NINTH HOUR Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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Then he died right after that…
Matthew 27:50
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
- So how would that be possible if the day started at 6pm and he died at the 9th hour?
- Or would it be 3pm based on a 6am-6pm 24hr period? 9 hrs from 6am would be 3pm.
- Then you have the part of when he died and was taken off the pole….
Matthew 27:57-59
When the EVEN was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
Mark 15:42
And now when the EVEN was come, because it was the PREPERATION, that is, the DAY BEFORE THE SABBATH,
- So this clearly shows they took him off the pole shortly after he died.
- According to the evening to evening logic, he would have been crucified at 3am and would have been on the pole all the way till 3pm or close to evening and by their laws as you well know, they couldn’t leave a man on a tree overnight.
- It makes a lot more sense that if the day begins at dawn, 6am, the 6th hour was noon and he died at or close to the 9th hour or 3pm, then was taken down because evening was drawing close, and it was the day before Passover.
John19:31
“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
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The Time of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Chapter 5
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..
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Mark 14:30
“And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That THIS DAY, even in THIS NIGHT, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.”
- Note: It is saying it in that same day even in that night. According to evening reckoning that would be the next day.
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Mark 4:35
And the SAME DAY, when the EVEN was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
- Note: How can it be the the same day when even come if day starts at dusk?
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Acts 4:3
“And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the NEXT DAY: for it was now EVENTIDE.”
- Note: It is saying until the next day at evening. Not the day after.
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Acts 23:31–32
“Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by NIGHT to Antipatris. On the MORROW they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle:”
- Again the next day follows the night. Which in this verse is a hint at the day starting the next morning.
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Acts 16:9–11
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the NIGHT; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the NEXT DAY to Neapolis;”
- Note: The next day followed the Night
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Nehemiah7:3 – Septuagint
And I said to them, The gates of Jerusalem shall not be opened till sunrise; and while they are still watching, let the doors be shut, and bolted; and set watches of them that dwell in Jerusalem, every man at his post, and every man over against his house.
Nehemiah13:19
“And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be DARK BEFORE the SABBATH, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till AFTER THE SABBATH: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.”
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1 Samuel 30:17
“And David smote them from the TWILIGHT evenunto the EVENING of the NEXT DAY: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.”
- If the day went from evening to evening this verse would not have to read until the next day
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2 Samuel 24:13–15
“So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days‘ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the MORNING even to the TIME APPOINTED: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.”
- The 3 days plague starts in the morning
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Lamentations 3:22–23
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, Because his compassions fail not. They are NEW EVERY MORNING: Great is thy faithfulness.”
- They are new every morning because Morning is a new day.
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Jonah 4:6–7
“And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the MORNING rose the NEXT DAY, and it smote the gourd that it withered.”
- Note: the morning starts the next day.
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Judges 19:9
“And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the DAY draweth toward EVENING, I pray you tarry ALL NIGHT: behold, the day groweth to an END, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and TOMORROW get you EARLY on your way, that thou mayest go home.”
- Rising early tomorrow implies the day starts in the morning.
YOU WILL NEVER SEE IN SCRIPTURE THEY ROSE EARLY AT NIGHT!
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Joshua 5:10–12
“And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”
- On the 14th, enough was gathered for the Sabbath ( 15th ) following: the next morning (the next day) there was no manna anymore
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Numbers 11:32
“And the people stood up all that DAY, and all that NIGHT, and all the NEXT DAY, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.”
- That day belongs to that night, then the next day comes. Day came first.
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Leviticus 7:15
And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the SAME DAY that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the MORNING.
- Note: Eaten the same day as the sacrifice. None is to be left the next day which starts at morning.
- How can you eat the offering the same day and leave none till morning if your day starts at night?
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Leviticus 6:20
“This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the DAY when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the MORNING, and half thereof at NIGHT.”
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Exodus 32:5–6
“And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said,
TOMORROW is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up
EARLY on the MORROW, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”
- It says they rose early the next day. You don’t rise at night.
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Exodus19:10–16
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them TO DAY and TO MORROW, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready AGAINST the THIRD DAY: for the THIRD DAY the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: there shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the THIRD DAY: come not at your wives. And it came to pass ON the THIRD DAY in the MORNING, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”
- The third day started in the morning. Like he said, be ready against the third day meaning in the beginning of that third day.
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Exodus 18:13
“And it came to pass on the MORROW, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the MORNING unto the EVENING.”
- On the morrow from morning till evening. It doesn’t say morning until the next day because the day starts at dawn.
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Exodus 16:12-26
“I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At EVEN ye shall eat flesh, and in the MORNING ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came to pass, that at EVEN the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the MORNING the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is MANNA: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the MORNING. Notwithstanding they HEARKENED NOT unto Moses; but some of them LEFT of it UNTIL the MORNING, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they GATHERED it every MORNING, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it MELTED.
And it came to pass, that on the SIXTH DAY they gathered twice as much BREAD, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, TO MORROW is the REST of the HOLY SABBATH unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake TO DAY, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over LAY UP for you to be kept UNTIL THE MORNING. And they laid it up till the MORNING, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
And Moses said, Eat thatTO DAY; for TO DAY is a SABBATH unto the LORD: TO DAY ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the SEVENTH DAY, which is the SABBATH, in it there shall be none.”
- The manna appeared with the morning dew, signifying a new day had begun for the Israelites to gather their food.
- Tomorrow is a rest, a Sabbath And they laid it up till morning.. the morning after is the next day as we see in verse 25.
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Exodus 10:4
“Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, TO MORROW will I bring the locusts into thy coast:”
– – – Still the same day…
Exodus 10:13
“And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that DAY, and all that NIGHT; and when it was MORNING, the east wind brought the locusts.”
- He said the locusts will come tomorrow. There was an East wind on the land all that day and all that night then the locusts did not come till the next morning, which was the next day.
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Genesis19:32–34
“come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
And it came to pass on the MORROW, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay YESTERNIGHT with my father: let us make him drink wine THIS NIGHT also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.”
- The next day followed the night.
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Genesis Chapter 1
CHRONOLOGICAL format
1) YOM (light portion): did work, created.
2) EREV ( evening, sun-down ):
2.1 Ceased Worked. = AND/OR =
2.2 No work recorded. = AND/OR =
2.3 Continued work on the side of eretz ( land ) that was part of the daylight portion
3) LAYELAH ( night, darkness ): No work recorded.
4) BOQER ( morning, dawn ): last “hour” of previous day.
5) YOM ( sunrise, sun breaks horizon ):
5.1 Next day begins
5.2 Begin work.
You cannot mention “And there was evening” FIRST because he mentioned his creative work FIRST.
THEN it said “…And there was evening” six times in a CHRONOLOGICAL order for this context of Scripture.
You cannot use the “And there was evening” to justify the day ending at evening in Genesis; because it clearly said
“And there was EVENING and there was MORNING, one day.”
=== AND NOT ===
“And there was EVENING and there was EVENING, one day.
More information on what was created on Day One in the book of Jubilees.
Jubilees 2:1-10
And the angel of the presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and KEPT SABBATH on the SEVENTH DAY and HALLOWED it for all ages, and appointed it as a SIGN for all His works.
For on the first day He created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits which serve before him -the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels [of the spirit of fire and the angels] of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide <and night>, and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in the knowledge of his heart.
And thereupon we saw His works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works; for seven great works did He create on the first day.
And on the second day He created the firmament in the midst of the waters, and the waters were divided on that day -half of them went up above and half of them went down below the firmament (that was) in the midst over the face of the whole earth. And this was the only work (God) created on the second day.
And on the third day He commanded the waters to pass from off the face of the whole earth into one place, and the dry land to appear.
And the waters did so as He commanded them, and they retired from off the face of the earth into one place outside of this firmament, and the dry land appeared.
And on that day He created for them all the seas according to their separate gathering-places, and all the rivers, and the gatherings of the waters in the mountains and on all the earth, and all the lakes, and all the dew of the earth, and the seed which is sown, and all sprouting things, and fruit-bearing trees, and trees of the wood, and the garden of Eden, in Eden and all plants after their kind.
These four great works God created on the third day.
And on the fourth day He created the SUN and the MOON and the stars, and set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon all the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and divide the light from the darkness.
And God appointed the SUN to be a GREAT SIGN on the earth for DAYS and for SABBATHS and for MONTHS and for FEASTS and for YEARS and for SABBATHS of YEARS and for JUBILEES and for all seasons of the years.
And it divideth the LIGHT from the DARKNESS [and] for prosperity, that all things may prosper which shoot and grow on the earth.
Day 6 and 7
Genesis1:31
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Genesis2:1–4
“Thus the heavens and the earth were FINISHED, and all the host of them. And on the SEVENTH DAY God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,”
- Notice it didn’t say evening and morning on the seventh day account. The delineator between the sixth day and the seventh day was evening then morning then he blessed the seventh day or Yom in the Hebrew, the light portion of the day.
Theological Writings
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Writings, including Jewish encyclopedias, religious encyclopedias, etc…
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Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible. p.497
…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.”
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Peake’s Commentary on The Bible, p. 136
” 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…
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Jack Finegan, The Handbook of Biblical, Chronology P.7-8
“In the Old Testament the earlier practice seems to have been to considered 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.
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The Itinerary of R. Benjamin of Tudela, ix, 5-8, ed Grubut Adler, (1904), P. 23
..Al-Qirqisan I ( 975 CE ), the dissident Meswi al-Okbari ( 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.”
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Delitzsch in Dillmann’s commentary on Gen. 1
“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…
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Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible – p. 163
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 and a whole day became an evening and a morning..
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NIV Study Bible, p.707
The Israelites, like the Babylonians, counted their days from sunset to sunset.
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Eerdman’s Handbook to the Bible
“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.
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Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 591-597
According to the strict interpretation of the mosaic law, every day begins with sunrise and ends with sunset
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New Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 11, P.1068
Days were reckoned from morning to morning.. Following the reign of King Josia ( 640-609 BC ), and aspecially after the Babylonian exile a number of significant and enduring changes occurred in the Israelite calendar showing that the Jews gradually) adopted the Babylonian calendor 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.
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Ancient Israel, p.181-182
The change of reckoning must therefore have taken place between the end of the monarchy and the age of Nehemias.
this would bring us to the beginning of the exile!
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The Sources of the Creation Story- Gen. 11-84 P. 169-818
“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 Haudalah, 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.
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Supplementary Studies in The Calendars of Ancient Israel, p.1-148
“This second calendar was obviously based upon Babylonian models and was adopted under direct Babylonian influence at about 600 BC. When the Babylonian religion and general culture began to affect with steadily increasing force o the Jewish exiles in Babylonia and, through those of them who returned from exile, even the Jews who had remained in Palestine.
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…
that in the earliest period of Israelite sojourn in Palestine, under calendar I the day was reckoned from morning to morning is established by a super abundance of evidence…
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Rabbinical Essays by Jacob Z. Lauterbach, page 446
“As the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, and extends over one whole day, a brief discussion of the development of the Jewish system of reckoning the day is necessary to determine the time of the coming in and going out of the Sabbath. 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.”
Lauterbach goes on to say:
“Gen 1.5 presupposes the system for reckoning a day was evening and morning as a day, but this passage was misunderstood in the Talmud..but does not cite Genesis, or it was reinterpreted to suit a different system.”
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IIt is not clear when the “Rabbis” or the ruling class changed the daily observance, but it seems to have occurred somewhere between the first and second centuries BC when the Greek Seleucids gained control of the region. It is very likely that they also brought with them their practice of “serving” the moon as a goddess and with it an evening start of the day.
After the Maccabean revolt, Johnathan Maccabee was made high priest although he was not in the line of Aaron or Zadok. This action displaced the legitimate priestly order who fled to the wilderness of Qumran. This also put Johnathan in a position of making sweeping changes that would appease the ruling powers and eventually lead to the Hellenization of the Judean providence. The practice of “changing the calendar” was later done yet again by Hillel II to appease the Romans emperor Julian the Apostate.
2 Peter 1:19–21
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
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Zephaniah 3:1–20
“Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are EVENING WOLVES; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done VIOLENCE to the LAW. The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every MORNING doth he bring his judgment to LIGHT, he faileth not; but the UNJUST knoweth no shame.
I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Micah2:3
“Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.”
Micah 2:10
“Arise ye, and depart; for this is NOT YOUR REST: because it is POLLUTED, it shall DESTROY YOU, even with a sore destruction.”