THE RECKONING OF THE DAY IN BIBLE TIMES
=======================================

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.
Professor of Theology and Church History
Andrews University


NOTE: My essay on the reckoning of the Sabbath in those parts of
the world where the sun sets very late, very early, or not at all, has
generated considerable discussion. In view of the existing interest for
this subject, I have decided to post some segments of my previous chapter
entitled "The Reckoning of the Day in Bible Times." Those of you who have
my book THE TIME OF THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION, will find all the
information on chapter 5. Your comments are welcome.


	How was the day reckoned in Biblical times? Was it from sunset to
sunset, from sunrise to sunrise, or both? This question has been
examined by a host of scholars in our generation. Three major views have
been espoused, which we shall briefly summarize below. For the sake of
brevity the sunset-to-sunset method of day reckoning will be denoted as
"sunset reckoning" and the other as the "sunrise reckoning."


THREE MAJOR VIEWS

	A first view expressed by P.J. Heawood1 and U. Cassuto2 maintains
that the sunrise reckoning was the standard method from creation until the
beginning of Christianity. However, U. Cassuto contends that "in regard to
the festivals and appointed times, the Torah [Pentateuch] ordains that they
shall be observed also on the night of the preceding day."3
	A second view upheld by S. Zeitlin4 and R. de Vaux,5 holds that the
sunrise reckoning was used in conjunction with the solar calendar until the
Babylonian exile and the sunset reckoning after the exile with the adoption
of the lunar-solar calendar. Jacob Z. Lauterbach differs slightly by
placing the introduction of the sunset reckoning later on at the beginning
of the Greek period.6
	A variation of both theories has been presented by G. Barrois,7 G.
von Rad8 and Roger Beckwith,9 who maintain that both methods of day
reckoning coexisted side by side in biblical times.
	Before expressing a judgment on the three above mentioned views, it
is necessary to review briefly the Biblical evidences generally adduced on
behalf of the two methods. For a fuller treatment of this question the
reader is referred to the various studies cited in the notes.

	Objectives. The aim of this chapter is not merely to review the
evidences generally marshalled on behalf of the two methods of day
reckoning, but primarily to establish whether indeed the sunrise reckoning
was used in Biblical times. This verification could help in clarifying the
apparent contradiction of Matthew 28:1 discussed in the previous chapter,
as well as in formulating a criterion for determining the beginning and the
end of the Sabbath in places where the sun sets very early, very late, or
not at all.


I. SUNSET TO SUNSET

	The Biblical evidence for the day beginning and ending at sunset is
abundant and explicit. Since so much of the evidence is well known, we
shall briefly mention only some outstanding examples.

	The Day of Atonement. The classic text generally cited in support
of the sunset reckoning is Leviticus 23:32, where the following instruction
is given regarding the observance of the Day of Atonement: "It shall be to
you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves; on the
ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall
you keep your sabbath."
	This text does provide the most explicit and emphatic evidence of
the Biblical method of day reckoning "from evening to evening." Thus it is
not surprising that appeal is generally made to this text to prove the
Biblical principle of Sabbathkeeping from sunset to sunset. Such a use is
perfectly legitimate. Two important points, however, should be noted
regarding this text.
	First, the law in this text regards not the observance of the
seventh day Sabbath as such, but of the Day of Atonement. While both
festivals were undoubtedly observed "from evening to evening," the manner
of their observance was radically different. The Day of Atonement was a
day of penance and fasting ("you shall afflict yourselves"-Lev 23:32),
whereas the Sabbath was a day of delight and celebration (Is 58:13-14).

	A Definition of the Tenth Day. Second, Leviticus 23:32 is the
concluding statement of instructions given from verses 27 to 32 on how the
Day of Atonement was to be observed "on the tenth day of the seventh month"
(v. 27). Verse 32, however, explains that this day is to be observed as "a
sabbath of solemn rest . . . on the ninth day of the month beginning at
evening from evening to evening."
	This last verse poses a problem because it changes the date of the
Day of Atonement from "the tenth day" (v. 27) to "the ninth day." This
change has led Solomon Zeitlin to conclude that the fasting of the Day of
Atonement lasted two days, the 9th and 10th of Tishri.10 This explanation
is unacceptable, however, because several texts speak of the Day of
Atonement as being exclusively "one day," namely, the 10th of Tishri (Ex
30:10; Lev 16:29; 25:9, Num 29:7-11).

	The Reason for the Definition. The plausible explanation is that
verse 32 does not intend to change the date of the Day of Atonement from
the 10th to the 9th day of the month, but rather, as Jack Finegan rightly
explains, to "simply define what the tenth day of the month was at a time
when they day had come to be reckoned as beginning in the evening: the
tenth day of the month is the day which begins on the evening of the ninth
and continues until the following evening."11
	This clarification was apparently needed because, as Finegan points
out, "in making the shift from a morning reckoning to an evening reckoning,
the 'day' was in fact moved back so that it began a half day earlier than
had been the case previously."12 To avoid any misunderstanding, the verse
explains with utmost precission that the tenth day, according to the sunset
reckoning, began "on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening" and
it was to be kept "from evening to evening" (Lev 23:32).
	The conclusion, then, is that Leviticus 23:32 does provide explicit
evidence for the sunset reckoning, but it also suggests-by anticipating the
beginning of the 10th day to the evening of the 9th-that the sunrise
reckoning was also apparently in use.

	The Shutting of the Gates. Another noteworthy example of sunset
reckoning in the Old Testament is found in Nehemiah 13:19, which reads:
"When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I
commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should
not be opened until after the Sabbath."
	The shutting of the gates on Friday evening does not require per se
a sunset reckoning, since they were routinely shut every night. The verse,
however, contains a significant emphasis, namely, that Nehemiah commanded
the doors to be shut "when it began to be dark." What this presumably
means is that Nehemiah ordered the gates to be closed on Friday earlier
than usual.
	The gates were generally closed when it was completely dark. This
is evidenced by the story of the two spies who entered Jericho in the
evening and who, according to Rahab's response to the king's guards, left
"when the gate was to be closed, at dark" (Joshua 2:5). Contrary to the
prevailing custom of closing the gates when it was completely dark,
Nehemiah ordered the gates to be closed "when it began to be dark (salal),"
that is, at the beginning of dusk.
	The obvious reason for anticipating the shutting of the gates is
the fact that, as noted by H. R. Stroes, "the sabbath was drawing near
(with the evening!). This text seems to me an almost conclusive indication
that the sabbath, at least post-exile, began in the evening."13

	Evening Before Morning. The sunset reckoning is suggested also by
two texts where the evening is mentioned before the morning. In the Bible
the morning is generally mentioned before the evening, because this is the
order in which they came in the waking and working day. In the law of the
continual burnt offering, for example, the morning sacrifice is mentioned
before the evening sacrifice (Ex 29:39-41), obviously because the former
marked the beginning of the daily priestly ministration at the tabernacle.
	An exception to the morning-evening sequence is found in Daniel
8:14, 26, where the interruption of the continual burnt offering is said to
extend to "2300 evenings and mornings." Another exception is found in
Psalm 55:17, where they psalmist says that he will utter his prayer
"evening and morning and at noon." In both instances the order is
irregular and seems to suggest the hour of the evening sacrifice and
prayer, that is, sunset time when the new day began.

	 Night Before Day. Another indication of sunset reckoning can be
seen in those passages where the "night" is mentioned before the "day."
This sequence is less frequent in the Old Testament than the sequence in
which the "day" is mentioned before the "night."
	The night-day sequence does, however, occur. Esther, for example,
sent word to Mordecai to tell the Jews to "neither eat nor drink for three
days, night or day" (Esther 4:16). Similarly Solomon prayed at the
dedication of the Temple that God's "eyes may be open night and day toward
this house" (1 Kings 8:29).14
	In the New Testament examples such as these are more numerous and
more widely distributed.15 Since in most instances there is no contextual
reason why the night should be mentioned before the day, it seems fair to
assume that the order suggests a reckoning where the day begins and ends at
nightfall.

	Ceremonial Uncleanness. The sunset reckoning is implied also in
the many passages of the Mosaic Law where the ceremonial uncleanness
terminates at evening. For example, Leviticus 22:4-7 states that "whoever
touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead ... shall be
unclean until the evening ... when the sun is down he shall be clean."
	The reason for terminating the period of uncleanness at sunset
could hardly have been because of reluctance to exclude anyone from camp at
night, since in some cases uncleanness lasted seven or more days (Num
19:19). The fact that even in the latter cases the uncleanliness ends at
sunset, suggests that the day terminated at sunset.

	Sundown Healings. Perhaps the most explicit evidence of the
widespread use of the sunset reckoning at the time of Christ is provided by
the fact that the people of Capernaum waited on the Sabbath until sunset to
bring their sick persons to Jesus. Luke writes: "Now when the sun was
setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought
them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them"
(Luke 4:40; cf. Mark 1:32).
	The fact that people would wait for the end of the Sabbath at the
setting of the sun to bring their sick persons to Christ provides
unmistakable evidence that the common people reckoned the Sabbath from
sunset to sunset.
	John corroborates the use of the sunset reckoning when he writes,
"Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,
while it was still dark" (John 20:1). The fact that John speaks of the
first day when referring to the dark hours before sunrise, clearly
indicates that he is reckoning the day from sunset, or less probably, from
midnight, according to the official Roman reckoning. In either case, the
sunrise reckoning is to be excluded.

	Josephus' Testimony. Josephus offers explicit evidence of the
prevailing sunset reckoning in New Testament times when he describes how
one of the priests stood on an elevated place in Jerusalem, called
Pastophoria, and "gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet, at the
beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as also at the
evening when the day was finished, as giving notice to the people when they
were to leave off work, and when they were to go to work again."16 In this
statement Josephus explains with remarkable clarity how the Sabbath began
and ended in the evening with priest's blowing of a trumpet.
	The evidences submitted above make it abundantly clear that the
sunset reckoning was widely used in Bible times. The question we wish to
investigate in the second part of this chapter is whether the sunrise
reckoning was also used, though perhaps less widely, side by side with the
sunset reckoning.


II. SUNRISE TO SUNRISE

	The evidence for a sunrise reckoning in Bible times is not as
explicit and abundant as that for the sunset reckoning, yet it cannot be
ignored. The evidence can be grouped in four different categories, each of
which we shall briefly examine.

	Thanksgiving Offering. One type of evidence for the sunrise
reckoning is found in the laws regarding the thanksgiving and votive
offerings. The former law prescribes that "the flesh of the sacrifice of
his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his
offering; he shall not leave any of it until the morning" (Lev 7:15).
	The same law is repeated even more explicitly in Leviticus
22:29-30: "When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord ...
it shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until
morning." The insistence of the eating of the sacrifice "on the same day"
before the arrival of the "morning," implies that the next morning marked
the beginning of the next day. This suggests that the day began in the
morning, because, as Roland de Vaux points out, "had the day begun in the
evening the wording would have ordered the meat to be eaten before the
evening."17
	This conclusion seems supported also by the legislation regarding
the votive offering given immediately after that of the thanksgiving
offering. The law says: "But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive
offering or a freewill offering it shall be eaten on the day he offers
sacrifice, and on the morrow what remains of it shall be eaten" (Lev 7:16).
In this case the flesh of the sacrifice could be eaten both on the day of
the sacrifice and "on the morrow." By virtue of the parallelism with the
preceding law, the "morrow" must begin in the morning.
	What the two laws are saying is that while the flesh of the
thanksgiving sacrifice was to be eaten only on the same day the sacrifice
was made, that is, until the morning when the new day began, the flesh of
the votive sacrifice could be eaten also "on the morrow," that is, after
the morning which marked the end of the day in which the sacrifice was
made. Both laws, then, suggest that the morning marked the end of a day
and the beginning of a new day.

	Passover Legislation. A second type of evidence supporting the
sunrise reckoning seems implied also in the Passover legislation of Exodus
12. The law prescribes that the Paschal lamb must be slaughtered on the
"fourteenth day of this month ... in the evening" (v. 6) and must be eaten
"that night" (v. 8) with "unleavened bread and bitter herbs" (v. 8),
leaving none of it "until the morning" (v. 10). Later in the same chapter
the night during which the Passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread is
explicitly designated as "the fourteenth day of the month" (v. 18).
	What this means is that in Exodus 12 both the slaying of the
Passover lamb, which took place "between the two evenings" (Ex 12:6- that
is to say, as Josephus explains, between three and five o'clock in the
afternoon),18 and the eating of the lamb with unleavened bread, which took
place on the following night, are placed on the same fourteenth day of the
month.
	This time reference cannot be harmonized with the sunset reckoning,
according to which the night following the sacrifice of the Passover was
not the 14th but the 15th day of Nisan. In fact, in several passages
which reflect the sunset reckoning, the beginning of the feast of
unleavened bread is explicitly placed "on the fifteenth day" (Lev 23:5; Num
28:16).
	According to the sunrise reckoning, however, both the slaying of
the lamb and the eating of it with unleavened bread would take place on
the 14th day, because the night following the slaying of the lamb would
still be the 14th day until sunrise. This method, then, seems to be
implied in Exodus 12, because, speaking of "the fourteenth day of the
month" it explicitly says: "And you shall observe the feast of unleavened
bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt"
(v.17; cf. vv. 18, 42, 51).
	Jacob Z. Lauterbach rightly observes that "if they came out at
night, that is the night following the fourteenth day, and it is said on
the very same day, that is on the fourteenth day, they were brought out, it
clearly indicates that the night following the fourteenth day is still part
of that day."19
	The foregoing considerations suggest that in Exodus 12 the sunrise
reckoning is used, since the events of the night following the slaying of
the Passover Lamb, namely, the eating of the lamb with unleavened bread and
the departure from Egypt, are both placed on the same 14th day. Elsewhere
these events are explicitly placed "on the fifteenth day of the first
month" (Num 33:3; cf. 28:17; Lev 23:5), thus indicating the use of the
sunset reckoning.

	Passover in Mark. The sunrise reckoning of the Passover found in
Exodus 12 seems reflected also in Mark 14:12 (cf. Matt 26:16) where the
slaying of the Passover lamb and the feast of Unleavened Bread are both
placed on the same day: "On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they
sacrificed the passover lamb" (v. 12). This statement suggests a sunrise
reckoning, according to which, as Jack Finegan explains, "the day when the
passover lamb was slain and the day when the unleavened bread was eaten
were indeed the same day, as Mark 14:12 states."20
	Some commentators explain Mark's identification of "the first day
of Unleavened Bread" with the day "when they sacrificed the passover lamb"
as a loose temporal designation, because technically, according to the
sunset reckoning, the two events occurred on two consecutive days.
	To support this explanation, appeal is made to the statement of
Josephus' which says: "We keep a feast for eight days, which is called the
feast of unleavened bread.'21 The reasoning is that Mark, like Josephus,
reckoned the two feasts together as beginning on the 14th day of Nisan,
presumably because the 14th day was seen as the beginning of the feast of
Unleavened Bread, because on that day all leaven was removed from the house
in preparation for the feast itself.
	While it is true that Josephus speaks loosely of the feast of
Unleavened Bread as lasting eight days, presumably because he includes the
search and removal of leaven which took place on the 14th day, he clearly
differentiates between the two feasts when he describes the time of their
celebration. He writes: "on the fourteenth day of the lunar month . . .
the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which . . .
was called Passover . . . The feast of Unleavened Bread succeeds that of
the Passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues
seven days."22
	In view of the existing distinction between the two days on which
the two feasts began, the dating of them on the same day found in Mark
14:12 suggests the possible use of the sunrise reckoning.

	"Day" Mentioned Before "Night." A third type of evidence for the
sunrise reckoning is suggested by the mention of "day" before "night" which
occurs in approximately 50 references.23 For example, speaking of the Jews
who were plotting to kill Paul, Acts 9:24 says: "They were watching the
gates day and night, to kill him." Similarly, Luke 18:7 says: "And will
not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night?" The same order
occurs in Revelation 12:10 where it speaks of Satan "who accuses them [the
saints] day and night before our God."
	Obviously the order in which "day and night" are given is not
necessarily indicative of sunrise reckoning, because the context may supply
a reason why the day is mentioned before the night. No contextual reason,
however, can be detected in examples such as those given above. It would
thus seem plausible to conclude that this order is suggested by the fact
that the day was seen as beginning with sunrise. It must be added that the
reverse order occurs also, though less frequently. This may suggest the
possible coexistence of two methods of day reckoning: sunrise to sunrise
and sunset to sunset.

	Night Reckoned with Previous Day. A fourth type of evidence
suggesting a sunrise reckoning is provided by those passages in which the
night is reckoned with the previous day. In 1 Samuel 19:11, for example,
Michal warns her husband David, after Saul's messengers surrounded their
house, saying: "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be
killed" (cf. 1 Sam 28:8, 19, 25). The fact that at night Michal referred
to the next morning as "tomorrow" clearly suggests that the new day began
in the morning.
	In Genesis 19:34, the older daughter of Lot, after sleeping with
her father during the night, says to her sister "on the next day . . .
'Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine
tonight also; then you go in and lie with him' . . . " Here, too, the new
day seems to begin with the next morning because the night is reckoned with
the preceding day.
	In the story of the Levite of Ephraim we are told that he stayed
four days with his father-in-law. On the fifth day the father-in-law says
to him: "Behold, now the day has waned toward evening; pray tarry all
night . . . and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your
journey, and go home" (Judges 19:9). The fact that the morning following
the night is referred to as "tomorrow" suggests that the new day here
begins at sunrise.
	Another example is provided by the story of the gathering of the
quails. Numbers 11:32, says: "And the people rose all that day, and all
night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails." This passage is
less decisive because the expression "the next day" could simply mean "the
next daytime," since in Hebrew the term "day-yom" is used also to designate
daytime as distinct from nighttime (Gen 1:5).
	Other examples occur in the New Testament. Mark 11:11, for
example, states that Jesus "entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and
when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out
to Bethany with the twelve." Verse 12 continues the narrative by telling
the "on the following day" Jesus returned from Bethany to Jerusalem. It
would seem that here the new day has begun with the morning following the
preceding evening.
	Acts 4:3 speaks of Peter and John being arrested and put "in
custody until the morrow, for it was already evening." In Acts 23:32 the
soldiers who marched through the night to bring Paul to Antipatris "on the
morrow they returned to the barracks, leaving the horsemen to go on with
him." In both instances, the night belongs to the preceding day,
suggesting that the day began and ended at daybreak.

	First Day at Sunrise. The day appears to begin at sunrise also in
Mark 16:2 which says: "And very early on the first day of the week they
[the two Marys] went to the tomb when the sun had risen." According to
the sunset reckoning the "very early" part of the first day of the week
would be the hours immediately following the end of the Sabbath at
sunset-what we would call Saturday night. Mark, however, takes pains to
explain what he means by "very early on the first day of the week,"
namely, not the early hours of the night immediately following the close
of the Sabbath at sunset, but "when the sun had risen."
	Mark repeatedly throughout his Gospel defines his time references
by a qualifying clause (see, 1:32, 35; 4:35; 13:24; 14:30; 15:42) to be
sure to be understood by his Gentile readers. In this instance he must
have felt that a clarification was needed because among his Gentile readers
there were different systems of day reckoning.
	Pliny concisely sums up the different methods of day reckoning
existing in New Testament times, saying: "The Babylonians count the period
between two sunrises, the Athenians that between two sunsets, the Umbrians
from midday to midday, the common people everywhere from dawn to dark, the
Roman priests and the authorities who fixed the official day, and also the
Egyptians and Hipparchus, the period from midnight to midnight.".24
	In the light of these various ways of reckoning the day among
different people, Mark saw the need to clarify what he meant by "very early
on the first day of the week," namely, "when the sun had risen." This time
reference presupposes a sunrise reckoning because according to the sunset
reckoning, by the time the sun had risen it was the middle and not the
early part of the first day.


	Various Views on Sunrise Reckoning. On the basis of the evidence
presented above, numerous scholars have argued for the existence in Bible
times of a sunrise method of day reckoning. Much of the discussion has
centered not on the fact of the existence of such a method but rather on
the period of time during which the sunrise reckoning was used.
	The three major views which have been espoused have already been
summarized at the beginning of this chapter. Briefly stated, the first
view places the change from the sunrise to the sunset reckoning at the
beginning of Christianity. The second view sets the change earlier, that
is, either by the time of the Babylonian exile or at the beginning of the
Greek period. The third view holds that both methods existed side by side
during Bible time.
	This last view appears the most plausible because, as we have seen,
indications for both reckonings are scattered throughout the Old and New
Testaments. It must be said that the sunset reckoning has been found to be
more clearly and extensively attested than the sunrise reckoning. Yet the
evidence for the sunrise reckoning is significant and cannot be ignored.
Thus it would appear that the sunrise reckoning coexisted side by side with
the sunset reckoning, though its usage was more limited.


III. COEXISTENCE OF TWO RECKONINGS

	The coexistence of two methods of day reckoning in New Testament
times can be found in the writings of Josephus. We noted earlier how
Josephus explains with remarkable clarity how the Sabbath began and ended
at sunset with a priest's blowing of a trumpet.
	In other passages, however, Josephus seems to be using the sunrise
reckoning. These passages provide a fifth type of evidence for the sunrise
reckoning which, as we shall see, seems supported also by Talmudic
statements.

	Josephus' Reckoning of the Passover. In explaining the law
concerning the Passover celebration Josephus writes: "On the fourteenth
day of the lunar month ... the law ordained that we should every year slay
that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt,
and which was called Passover; and so do we celebrate this passover in
companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following."25
	In this passage the fourteenth day of the month on which the
Paschal lamb was sacrificed between 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. (Lev 23:5), extends
through the night during which the lamb was eaten in companies and ends in
the morning when for Josephus the fifteenth day began.
	While according to the sunset reckoning (see Lev 23:5-6; Num 28:16,
17), the lamb was sacrificed in the afternoon of Nisan 14 and eaten during
the night of Nisan 15, because the new day began in the evening, according
to Josephus, both the sacrificing and the eating of the Passover lamb took
place in Nisan 14, presumably because the new day began in the morning.

	Josephus' Dividing Line. It is noteworthy that the Biblical
injunction "let none of it remain until the morning" (Ex 12:10),26 is
rendered by Josephus as "till the day following," which clearly suggests
that the morning marks the beginning of the new day. This conclusion is
substantiated by the very next statement which says: "The feast of
unleavened bread succeeds that of the passover, and falls on the fifteenth
day of the month."27 In this passage Josephus places the beginning of the
feast of Unleavened Bread immediately after the morning which marks the end
of the 14th day, and the beginning of the 15th day.
	"It is hardly conceivable," rightly observed Roger T. Beckwith,
"that Josephus was ignorant of the fact that, according to the Pentateuch,
the dividing line between the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread,
and between the seven days of the latter, falls in the evening" (Ex 12:8,
18; Lev 23:5-6).28 The fact that Josephus places the dividing line
between the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread in the morning
rather than in the evening strongly suggests that he is using the sunrise
reckoning.
	Another example occurs in the following paragraph, where Josephus,
in explaining the sacrifices offered by the priests on the day of
Pentecost, writes: "They bring two lambs; and when they have only
presented them to God, they are made ready for supper for the priests; nor
is it permitted to leave anything of them till the day following."29 Here
again the following morning is referred to as "the day following" which
suggests that the new day began in the morning.

	The Replacement of the Showbread. The sunrise reckoning is
possibly implied also in the next paragraph where Josephus explains how the
priests prepared the loaves of showbread on Friday and placed them in the
Temple before the Lord on Sabbath morning. He writes: "They were baked
the day before the Sabbath, but were brought into the holy place on the
morning of the Sabbath, and set upon the holy table."30
	The practice of replacing the showbread on Sabbath morning was
presumably introduced at a later period of Jewish history, because we read
in 1 Samuel 21:6 that Ahimelech the priest gave to David "the holy bread,
for there was no bread there by the bread of the Presence, which is removed
from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken
away."
	The replacement of the showbread with "hot bread " could hardly
have been done on Sabbath morning but presumably on Friday afternoon in
conjunction with the beginning of the Sabbath. This conclusion is required
by two facts. First, it is hard to believe that the priests would bake
bread on Sabbath morning, since, as Josephus points out, all the baking was
done "the day before the Sabbath." Second, David and his men could hardly
have traveled on a Sabbath day all the way to Nob where Ahimelech lived.
	These considerations lead us to conclude that while at the time of
David the showbread was replaced by "hot bread" on Friday afternoon before
the beginning of the Sabbath, at the time of Josephus, however, the loaves
of showbread "were baked the day before the Sabbath, but were brought into
the holy place on the morning of the Sabbath."31 The shift in time from
Friday afternoon to Sabbath morning may reflect the adoption of a sunrise
reckoning in Temple services, according to which Sabbath rituals would
begin on Sabbath morning rather than on Friday afternoon.

	Temple Reckoning. The use of a sunrise reckoning in Temple rituals
implied in Josephus' statements is supported by some Talmudic passages.
Jacob Z. Lauterbach explains that "the older system [sunrise to sunrise]
continued all through the time of the existence of the second Temple, and
there the day was reckoned from morning to morning, or as the Talmud puts
it 'in sacrificial matters the night follows rather than precedes the
day.'"32 The latter statement from the Talmud "simply means," writes
Lauterbach, "that in the sanctuary the conservative priests persistently
held on to the older practice [sunrise reckoning] though in all other
spheres of life it had been abolished or changed."33
	Lauterbach continues pointing out that "according to the Talmud
(p. Ned. 8:1 [40d] even among the common people the older system continued
and in popular language the day included the following and not the
preceding night."34 He mentions also some Jewish sects among which the
sunrise reckoning "continued and the Sabbath was observed from Saturday
morning to Sunday morning."35

	An Explanation for Matthew 28:1. The foregoing evidence for the
sunrise reckoning provides a plausible explanation for the apparent
contradiction present in the time references of Matthew 28:1. If Matthew,
like Josephus, sometimes used the sunrise to sunrise reckoning, then his
statement that the two Marys came to see the sepulchre "in the end of the
sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" (Matt 28:1;
KJV), makes perfect sense, because the end of the Sabbath would indeed mark
the dawning of the first day of the week.

	Scholarly Support. A number of scholars have argued in favor of
this explanation. Julian Morgenstern writes regarding Matthew 28:1: "There
it is explicitly stated that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the
tomb of Jesus late on the Sabbath day, just as it began to dawn toward the
first day of the week. Inasmuch as these last moments of the night, just
preceding the dawn are called 'late on the Sabbath day,' and the first day
of the week does not begin until dawn, it is manifest that the day is still
reckoned here from dawn to dawn."36
	Roger T. Beckwith also concludes that Matthew 28:1 may provide "an
explicit endorsement" of the sunrise reckoning. He writes: "According to
one interpretation, the verse states that the women came to the Lord's tomb
'late on the Sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week.' If this is right (and opse with the genitive certainly can mean
'late on ...'), what Josephus says implicitly of the Passover is here said
explicitly of the Sabbath, that it ends at daybreak."37
	Beckwith, however, also finds indications in Matthew for the
sunset reckoning, and thus he concludes by suggesting the possibility that
"the two reckonings were not in rivalry with each other, but could co-exist
harmoniously within the mind of a single writer." 38 This conclusion is
corroborated by the indications for the two reckonings which we have found
scattered throughout the Bible.

	Reasons for the Coexistence of Two Reckonings. Some may
wonder, how two methods of day reckoning could coexist harmoniously at the
same time and within the mind of a single writer. The astonishment is
lessened when one considers two facts. First, in a society where the sun
is the major point of reference to measure the beginning and ending of the
day, sunrise is just as good as sunset to mark the division of the day.
	Second, as Roger Beckwith aptly explains, "since the greater part
of the night is consumed in sleep, for most practical purposes, it makes
little difference whether the night is reckoned with the period of daylight
preceding or with the following."39 The choice between the two may well
have been influenced by the events being reported.
	Josephus, for example, when he describes how the beginning and the
ending of the Sabbath was announced through a priest's blowing of a trumpet
"in the evening twilight," would naturally think of the "evening" as the
beginning and ending of the Sabbath. However, when he speaks of the
Passover whose main event occurred during the night with the eating of the
lamb, it would be natural for him to think of the following morning as
marking the beginning of the new day, especially since the lamb intimately
connected the night to the preceding day during which its slaying and
preparation took place.
	The intimate connection between the sacrificing and eating of the
lamb may also explain why the beginning of the feast of Unleavened Bread,
which started on Passover night with the eating of the lamb with unleavened
bread, is placed "on the fourteenth day of the month" in Exodus 12:15, 18
and "on the fifteenth day of the month" in Leviticus 23:6.
	In the former the night is seen as belonging to the preceding day
according to the sunrise to sunrise reckoning, because the emphasis is on
the events of Passover night which began the preceding afternoon (Ex
12:16-18); in the latter the night is viewed as belonging to the new day
according to the sunset reckoning, because the emphasis is on the events of
the seven days following Passover (Lev 23:6-8).
	By the same token, Matthew could think of the day as ending at
sunrise when relating events which occurred at early dawn (Matt 28:1), and
as ending at sunset when reporting events which took place on a late
afternoon or evening (Matt 8:16; 14:15).

	Conclusion. The investigation conducted in this chapter on the
method of day reckoning in Bible times suggests that two methods of day
reckonings, namely, sunset to sunset and sunrise to sunrise, coexisted
harmoniously.
	We have found that the indications for the sunset reckoning are
more abundant and explicit than those for the sunrise reckoning. We have
suggested that the choice of one method over the other could have been
influenced by whether the events being reported occurred during the day or
during the night.
	The possible coexistence of the sunset and sunrise methods of day
reckoning offers a plausible explanation for the apparent contradiction
found in Matthew 28:1. If Matthew was using the sunrise reckoning because
he was reporting events which occurred at early dawn, then his statement
that the two Marys came to the tomb "in the end of the sabbath, as it began
to dawn toward the first day of the week" (KJV), makes perfect sense
because the end of the Sabbath would coincide with the dawning of the first
day of the week.
	On the other hand, we have shown in chapter 4 that even if Matthew
used the sunset reckoning consistently, it is not necessary to place the
Resurrection and the visit of the women to the sepulchre on Saturday
afternoon, in order to do justice to Matthew 28:1, since the term opse is
used in the New Testament and in contemporary Greek literature as meaning
not only "late" but also "after." Thus the translation of the RSV and of
most modern translations ("Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the
first day of the week"), is correct and defensible.
	The possible coexistence in Bible times of the sunset and sunrise
methods of day reckoning has significant implications for the time to begin
and end the Sabbath today. This vital question remains to be examined in
the following chapter.

----------------------------------

Christian regards

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.,
Professor of Theology and Church History
Andrews University
4990 Appian Way
Berrien Springs, MI 49103
samuele@andrews.edu