Biblical Time System: Difference between revisions
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The way time is recorded in the Bible differs depending on the historical period. By the time of Jesus, the daylight hours were divided into twelve parts. Although we also divide the day into twelve hours today, the way the hours are counted is different. In the New Testament, a day began at sunrise, which was counted as the zero hour. In contrast, in the modern system we use today, a day begins at midnight, so sunrise would correspond to about the sixth hour.
Jewish Time
Daytime
In Old Testament times, time was measured more loosely based on sunrise and sunset, and the boundaries between hours were not clearly defined. The Old Testament uses expressions such as morning (boker), daytime (yom), noon (tsohorayim), and sunset (bein ha’arbayim). By the time of Jesus, however, a more structured system had developed. The hours between sunrise and sunset were divided into twelve equal parts.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. . . . He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, . . . The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ ”
In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, the owner goes out to hire laborers throughout the day—from early morning until sunset. He hires workers at the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and so on. The workers hired at the eleventh hour worked only about one hour before the day ended. This shows that in the Jewish time system of that period, the day was divided into twelve hours beginning at sunrise. Sunrise was considered the zero hour, and sunset the twelfth hour. One limitation of this system was that it varied slightly by season, since the length of daylight changes throughout the year as sunrise and sunset times shift.
On the other hand, our modern time system begins the day at midnight (00:00). Since sunrise today is typically around 6:00 a.m., there is roughly a six-hour difference between the modern system and the one used in Jesus’ time, when the day began at sunrise.
Night Time
Unlike daytime, nighttime in biblical times was measured using “watches.” In the Old Testament, the term “watch” translates the Hebrew word ashmurah, meaning “watch” or “guard shift.”[1][2] From sunset to sunrise, the night was divided into three periods corresponding to the shifts of night guards. These were called the first watch (or evening watch),[3] the second watch,[4] and the third watch.
In the New Testament, the word watch translates the Greek phylakē, meaning “guard,” “watch,” or “watchman.”[5][6] During the time of Jesus, when Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire, the night was divided into four watches following the Roman system of military guard shifts. These were known as the first, second, third, and fourth watch.
“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.”
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
See also
References
- ↑ Strong's #821 - אַשְׁמֹרֶת, StudyLight.org
- ↑ Strong's Hebrew: 821. אַשְׁמֹ֫רֶת, Bible Hub
- ↑ "Lamentations 2:19".
- ↑ "Judges 7:19".
- ↑ φυλακή, Blue Letter Bible
- ↑ Strong's Greek: 5438. φυλακή, Bible Hub