Again.....do we go with what the Romans did...or do we go with what the one that will judge all of mankind says?
How many hours did Christ say there are in a day?
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Jesus said there are 12 hours in a day.
Author: Maria Marola
English Translators Confuse Messiah's Resurrection
The first thing that we have to understand before moving forward in this study, is what these terminologies mean in scripture:
The term "evening" is the Hebrew word erev:
#6153 `ereb eh'-reb from 6150; dusk:--+ day, even(-ing, tide), night.
It comes from the root word "arab" and it means this:
#6150 `arab aw-rab' a primitive root (identical with 6148 through the idea of covering with a texture); to grow dusky at sundown:--be darkened, (toward) evening.
The period that is called "evening" in Genesis 1:5 means dusk, and is a period that lasts from 12 noon until 6:00 p.m. But this verse in Genesis 1:5 says that there was a period called "evening" (noon until sundown) and then a period called morning (from sunrise to twelve noon) and that completed a 12 hour "day."
John 11:9 Yahu'shua answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
Okay, so we have established that there are 12 hours in a day---not 24 hours. The idea of a 24 hour cycle for a day comes from ancient Babylon. The 24 hour day is a picture of "mixture."
God always separated the night from the day, the darkness from the light. They are never co-mingled and treated as one time period:
2nd Corinthians 6:14...... and what communion hath light with darkness?
Hence these terms in scripture, mean the following things:
Morning: sunrise until noon
Evening: noon until sundown (dusk or twilight)
Night: after sundown until before dawn the next morning (total darkness)
Day: a twelve hour cycle from sunrise to sunset
The term called "night" in scripture is "Laila" in Hebrew and it is not the same thing as "evening."
There are 4 Watches in a Night and each one is 3 hours long totaling 12 hours to a "night."
The Hebrew word for "day" is "Yom" and it most often means "from sunrise to sunset" or during the warm hours of the day. It can also mean "the full period from sunset to sunset" or a 24 hour period.
But most often, in scripture, the term "day" means the period of 12 hours from sunrise to sunset as our Messiah established in John 11:9.
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
In Hebrew, one can say "Good Night" or "Night Good" and the order of the words does not matter like it does in English. Therefore, the order in which the evening and the morning are being described in Genesis 1:5 does not matter.
When reading Genesis 1:5, it would appear that because "evening" (sundown) comes first and then "morning," (from sunrise to noon) comes next in the sentence, that this is in chronological order. It would appear to the reader then that the "first day" is speaking of a 24-hour period from sunset to sunset. But now I realize that is not what this verse is describing. It is describing a 12-hour period in each "day" (from sunrise to sunset).
Morning began at sunrise and ended at 12 noon, and the evening began at 12 noon and ended at sundown. The entire period being spoken of in Genesis 1:5 is a 12 hour day as Yahu'shua said in John 11:9.
We know that this is true, because the "Morning & Evening" sacrifices in the temple were done within a 12 hour period as follows:
2nd Chronicles 13:11 And they burn unto YHWH every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of YHWH our Elohim (God); but ye have forsaken him.
The "Morning Sacrifices" were done at sunrise and the "Evening Sacrifices" were done at sundown. These two daily sacrifices are done as "bookends" at the beginning and end of a day.
So Let's Define the terms:
1.) The New Calendar "Date" Begins at sundown
2.) The "Day" begins at sunrise and is 12 hours long
With this understanding, we can see that morning came first (sunrise to noon) and the evening came after wards (12 noon until sunset) but this shows that the "Calendar Date" changes at the close of "evening" not at the close of "night" at sunrise.
So When Did Messiah Resurrect?
Most people assume that he resurrected on Sunday Morning because of this verse in Matthew 28:1.
The problem with Matthew 28:1 is that the word "dawn" is a mistranslation. The Greek word there for "dawn" is the equivalent of a word in Hebrew that means "a mixture of light and dark" hence the word should really be "dusk" as the sun was going down.
The Strong's Hebrew Concordance reveals that at sundown, the "dawning of the day" is at twilight or dusk:
#5399 nesheph neh'-shef from 5398; properly, a breeze, i.e. (by implication) dusk (when the evening breeze prevails):--dark, dawning of the day (morning), night, twilight.
The Greek words are as follows:
#2020. epiphosko ep-ee-foce'-ko a form of 2017; to begin to grow light:--begin to dawn, X draw on.
#2017. epiphauo ep-ee-fow'-o a form of 2014; to illuminate (figuratively):--give light.
You can see why the English translators thought that the word should be "dawn" as in early in the morning, just before sunrise, but the word epiphosko can mean "....to draw on" and it can mean "the beginning of something" as in the "dawn of a new era." Hence for something to "dawn" meant that something new was approaching. The term is much more broad than the English word that we use to describe "sunrise."
Murdock's Translation on e-sword has it translated correctly:
Matthew 28:1 And in the evening of the Sabbath as it was dusk, as the first (day) of the week began to dawn, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, to view the sepulcher.
You will notice that Murdock is calling this time of day "dusk" but he is saying that the "week" (Sabbaton in Greek) was beginning to "dawn" or to "draw on." In other words it was not sunrise, but it was the end of the Sabbath at sundown, as the new week was approaching (dawning).
The MRC Translation on e-sword translates it like this:
Matthew 28:1 Now late on the Shabbat, as it began to draw toward the first of the week, Miriam of Magdala and the other Miriam went to look at the grave.
Andrew Gabriel Roth who translated the Aramaic Peshitta also agrees with this interpretation. Here is what he says:
"Aramaic literally reads 'b'ramsha din b'shabata' or 'in the evening of the shabbat.' What is true for dawning is also true for setting in the sense of 'conclusion' as is meant here....Murdock and Etheridge also confirm this idiomatic reading in their translations."
Something that one must understand is that the Calendar Date changes at sunset each day--- not at midnight. It was Pope Gregory who made the date change at midnight in 1532 C.E., thus fulfilling the role of the Beast in Daniel 7:23-25. "The Beast shall think to change times and laws..." The new day was"dawning" at sunset and the word "day" here is in italics in the King James Version. Whenever you see a word in italics in the KJV, that means it was not there originally.
The verse should read like this in the King James Version:
Matthew 28
1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to draw on toward the first of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Now think about this logically. The Sabbath ends on Saturday night at sundown right? It says here that it was the "end of the Sabbath" so how in the world could it be early Sunday morning if the Sabbath had not ended yet? It was still approaching the end of the Sabbath on Saturday Night before sundown. Hence, when it says "towards the first of the week" it is telling us that Saturday Night sundown had not arrived yet, but it was moving towards sundown on Saturday Night-----the first Calendar Date of the week!
This period is called "Havdalah" in Hebrew which means "exiting the Sabbath."
We see this occurring in Acts 20:7:
Acts 20:7 And upon the first (day) of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Most Christians use this as an excuse to say that "Sunday" is the true "Christian Sabbath" and they think that they have "proof" that the disciples "broke bread" on the first "day" of the week. The natural conclusion would be to think that this is speaking of "Sunday Morning" but the word "day" does not appear in the orginal text! In the King James Version, it reads like this:
Acts 20:7: And upon the first of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
You will then realize that this was not speaking about Sunday Morning, but it is speaking about the "first calendar date" of the week called "Havdalah" (exiting the Sabbath). It is further validated by the fact that Paul preached until midnight that same night. If this had been Sunday Morning, he would've preached from early Sunday at 9:00 a.m. (approximately) until 12 midnight that same night and this means he would've preached for 15 hours straight! It is absurd to believe that Paul preached that many hours in one day!
One of the things that I like about the King James Version, is that it italicizes words that were not originally there in the text. The word "day" is in italics here in John 20:1:
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.
Notice that it was "yet dark" and the word "day" was not there in the original text.
Hence it does not say "the first day of the week" it says "the first of the week" meaning the first calendar date of the week. Y'shua said in John 11:9 that there are 12 hours in a day.
Did you ever wonder why our Messiah made a point of separating 3 days from 3 nights? If a "day" is 24 hours long, why did he not say that he would be in the heart of the earth for "three days?" Why did he make a point of saying "three days & three nights?"
The word Greek word for "half" in Revelation 11:11 is a word that means "a part of" something, and not necessarily "fifty percent of something."
#2255. hemisu hay'-mee-soo neuter of a derivative from an inseparable prefix akin to 260 (through the idea of partition involved in connection) and meaning semi-; (as noun) half:--half.
Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
If scripture sets a precedence of defining a "half of a day" as only a part of a day and it does not round off the partition of the day to a full day, then one cannot use the full day of Wednesday (Messiah's Crucifixion) to mean the entire "day one" of the "3 days and 3 nights" prophecy. The first "day" of this prophecy must then commence on Thursday at sunrise (the morning after his crucifixion).
This means 6-12 hour cycles:
Wednesday 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. = 1/2 of a day
Wednesday 6:00 p.m.- Thursday 6:00 a.m. = #1 night
Thursday 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. = #1 day
Thursday 6:00 p.m. - Friday 6:00 a.m. = #2 night
Friday 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. = # 2 day
Friday 6:00 p.m. - Saturday 6:00 a.m. # 3 night
Saturday 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. = # 3 day
Grand Total = 3 days & 3 nights (and a half of a day on Wednesday like the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11).
The idea of a calling a 24-hour cycle a "day" comes from Babylon. The fact that it was the "first" calendar date of the week, and it was dark means that it was after sundown on Saturday night when the women were able to go to the tomb. The Roman Soldiers were ordered to stand guard until the end of the three day watch, and so the women would've been arrested had they gone to the tomb sooner. By the time the women arrived, the stone had already been rolled away earlier that day and the angel was there waiting to give them the good news!
Messiah resurrected before the end of Sabbath while it was still daylight!