Ronald David Bruno
Well-Known Member
Time ... Biblically speaking!
What time was it when Jonah got swallowed by the fish?
What time was it when he was spit out? He was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. To think that it was exactly 72 hours is unrealistic. For sure we know it was more than 48 hours plus at least part of a day and part of a night, but not exactly. We don't even know if it was day or night when they threw him into the sea.
The ancient Jews did not consider hours of the day, they were blurry and general at best. In dating an event the day mattered, even a half day, but that is as fine tuned as history was.
"Shaah", the word for hour in Daniel means "look" or "glance", just a moment in time, not 60 minutes. "Hour" in Dan. 3:6 could very well mean "in an instant", or "twinkling of an eye". In the NT, an hour could mean an instant, a portion of an hour, an hour, a few hours, a day or season. Astonomers knew divisions of the day, used mechanisms like the clepsydra, but common people didn't.
People back then did not carry a sundial with them. King Ahaz had one, but maybe it wasn't a dial but no more than the shadow on the steps, used as a rudimentary time clock?
People had a concept of time much different than we do today. Hours and minutes are crucial in our day but not so back then. Exact time measurements are not known. If something happened a few days ago, they would recall the day but not the exact time. They had an awareness of part of the day if they had looked at the sun at that moment. If not, they could certainly say it was sunrise or sunset or close to either, but no events were recalled in hours and minutes. There was even less awareness of night time. If someone went to sleep before sunset and woke up in the dark, they would not know what part of the night it was.
They recalled five portions of the day, two that were precise and three relatively close: sunrise, mid-morning, noon, mid afternoon and sunset. So the 3rd hour, 6th hour and 9th hour is used when describing Jesus crucifixion. The first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth and 12th hours are never mentioned in the Bible.
Actually the Jews in Bible times, gave a special name to the afternoon of the sixth day (our Friday afternoon), "The Preparation," and some of us understand what that was for. Our Sunday, was known as "The Morrow of the Sabbath" or "First day of the week" until the end of the Bible where we see a different name, "The Lord's Day".
Happy Resurrection Day!
What time was it when Jonah got swallowed by the fish?
What time was it when he was spit out? He was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. To think that it was exactly 72 hours is unrealistic. For sure we know it was more than 48 hours plus at least part of a day and part of a night, but not exactly. We don't even know if it was day or night when they threw him into the sea.
The ancient Jews did not consider hours of the day, they were blurry and general at best. In dating an event the day mattered, even a half day, but that is as fine tuned as history was.
"Shaah", the word for hour in Daniel means "look" or "glance", just a moment in time, not 60 minutes. "Hour" in Dan. 3:6 could very well mean "in an instant", or "twinkling of an eye". In the NT, an hour could mean an instant, a portion of an hour, an hour, a few hours, a day or season. Astonomers knew divisions of the day, used mechanisms like the clepsydra, but common people didn't.
People back then did not carry a sundial with them. King Ahaz had one, but maybe it wasn't a dial but no more than the shadow on the steps, used as a rudimentary time clock?
People had a concept of time much different than we do today. Hours and minutes are crucial in our day but not so back then. Exact time measurements are not known. If something happened a few days ago, they would recall the day but not the exact time. They had an awareness of part of the day if they had looked at the sun at that moment. If not, they could certainly say it was sunrise or sunset or close to either, but no events were recalled in hours and minutes. There was even less awareness of night time. If someone went to sleep before sunset and woke up in the dark, they would not know what part of the night it was.
They recalled five portions of the day, two that were precise and three relatively close: sunrise, mid-morning, noon, mid afternoon and sunset. So the 3rd hour, 6th hour and 9th hour is used when describing Jesus crucifixion. The first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth and 12th hours are never mentioned in the Bible.
Actually the Jews in Bible times, gave a special name to the afternoon of the sixth day (our Friday afternoon), "The Preparation," and some of us understand what that was for. Our Sunday, was known as "The Morrow of the Sabbath" or "First day of the week" until the end of the Bible where we see a different name, "The Lord's Day".
Happy Resurrection Day!