Smith's Bible Dictionary
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Day
The variable length of the natural day at different seasons led in the very earliest times to the adoption of the civil day (or one revolution of the sun) as a standard of time. The Hebrews reckoned the day from evening to evening, Le 23:32 deriving it from Ge 1:5 "the evening and the morning were the first day." The Jews are supposed, like the modern Arabs, to have adopted from an early period minute specifications of the parts of the natural day. Roughly, indeed, they were content to divide it into "morning, evening and noonday," Ps 55:17 but when they wished for greater accuracy they pointed to six unequal parts, each of which was again subdivided. These are held to have been --
1. "the dawn."
2. "Sunrise."
3. "Heat of the day," about 9 o'clock.
4. "The two noons," Ge 43:16; De 28:29
5. "The cool (lit. wind) of the day," before sunset, Ge 3:8 --so called by the Persians to this day.
6. "Evening." Before the captivity the Jews divided the night into three watches, Ps 63:6; 90:4 viz. the first watch, lasting till midnight, La 2:19 the "middle watch," lasting till cockcrow, Jud 7:19 and the "morning watch," lasting till sunrise. Ex 14:24 In the New Testament we have allusions to four watches, a division borrowed from the Greeks and Romans. These were --
1. From twilight till 9 o/clock, Mr 11:11; Joh 20:19
2. Midnight, from 9 till 12 o'clock, Mr 13:35
3 Macc 5:23.
4. Till daybreak. Joh 18:28 The word held to mean "hour" is first found in Da 3:6,15; 5:5 Perhaps the Jews, like the Greeks, learned from the Babylonians the division of the day into twelve parts. In our Lord's time the division was common. Joh 11:9
Bibliography Information
Smith, William, Dr "Meaning and Definition for 'day' in Smiths Bible Dictionary".
bible-history.com - Smith's; 1901.
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