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As we have seen in the previous chapter, there is little or no reason to
argue that the women came to the tomb at sunset of the Sabbath.
Admittedly the Jews did use the word <dawn> to refer to sunset of
the preparation day before the Sabbath; however, Mary Magdalene
would not have brought spices for the dead body of the Messiah the
next morning, if she already realized that the Messiah was alive from
a previous visit!

In the last part of Bacchiocchi’s fifth chapter, under the heading
Sunrise to Sunrise, he presents information suggesting a possible
sunrise-to-sunrise reckoning of the day in Scriptures.

Bacchiocchi makes the following statement: “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.” At this point, he
considers four categories. Let us also reflect on these four areas.

Let us preface our consideration with the following information.
There is an abundance of evidence, in the bible, to demonstrate that
the Jews reckoned the <day> in two different ways: #1) the 24-hour
day from sunset to sunset; and #2) the 12-hour workday from sunrise
to sunset.

It is very easy to assume that the sunrise to sunset 12-hour day is the
same as a sunrise-to-sunrise day. However, when the biblical writers
refer to the 24-hour day, it is from sunset to sunset and when they
refer to the 12-hour day, it is from sunrise to sunset. The sunrise-to-
sunrise day was Babylonian; therefore, we need to have a closer
examination of Bacchiocchi’s theory.

Common sense tells us that the 12-hour workday was during the
daylight part of the 24-hour civil day in New Testament times;
therefore, it would have been the more common usage of reference,
because the people were active during that portion of the day. They
did not live at a time, as today, when people work and socialize
around the clock, on a regular basis.

Therefore, let us examine the possibility of Bacchiocchi’s sunrise-to-
sunrise day. He suggests that the two methods of day reckoning may
have coexisted side by side in New Testament times. What existed
side by side was “sunset to sunset” and “sunrise to sunset” methods
of reckoning time. The fact that the Jews broke the day into two 12-
hour segments supports our statement. Furthermore, when a writer
must resort to deduction to support a theory concerning a thing so
common as to how one reckons the day he weakens his argument
considerably.

Bacchiocchi’s first point concerns scriptures about the Thanksgiving
Offering. He says, “One type of evidence for the sunrise reckoning
is found in the laws regarding the thanksgiving and votive offerings.”
He suggests that because the priests did not leave the flesh of the
peace offerings until the morning, that this indicates a sunrise-to-
sunrise reckoning of time.

Lev 7:15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving
shall be eaten the same day (at the time) (3117) that it is offered; he shall not
leave any of it until the morning.

Lev 22:29 And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD,
offer it at your own will.
30 On the same day (at the same time) (3117) it shall be eaten up; ye shall
leave none of it until the morrow: I am the LORD.

Our perspective:

One must first realize that the priests could have offered the peace
offering, anytime during the daylight part of the standard sacrificial
day, from 9am to 3pm. The priest could have offered it in the earlier
or later part of the day.

Secondly, God did not give these scriptures to establish when a day
began. Bacchiocchi admits that the evidence is not explicit
concerning his theory of a sunrise-to-sunrise day.

Thirdly, the word <day> could have just as easily been translated
with the English term <time>. The KJV translates Strong word
#03117 as <time> 64 places. The word means, primarily: day or time.

03117 Mwy yowm yome

from an unused root meaning to be hot; TWOT-852; n m

AV-day 2008, time 64, chronicles+01697 37, daily 44, ever 18, year 14,
continually 10, when 10, as 10, while 8, full 8
always 4, whole 4, alway 4, misc 44; 2287

1) day, time, year
1a) day (as opposed to night)
1b) day (24 hour period)
1b1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
1b2) as a division of time
1b2a) a working day, a day's journey
1c) days, lifetime (pl.)
1d) time, period (general)
1e) year
1f) temporal references
1f1) today
1f2) yesterday
1f3) tomorrow

One ate the peace offering at the general time of its gift. The peace
offering was one sacrifice where the giver could eat a portion as well
as God and the priest. This was not true with many of the other
offerings. To eat the peace offering the following morning would
have separated the two aspects of the offering. In other words, the
man or priest would have eaten his portion long after God had eaten
His portion on the altar. God did not allow this for the peace
offering. The indication is that God wanted the man and priest to eat
their portion while in His presence. Moreover, beginning the
following morning, there would have been another round of peace
offerings, from the priest’s perspective.

The word <leave> could probably have been better-translated <lay
up> or <deposit>. In other words, the priest or giver was not to make
provisions for eating the peace offerings the following morning.

Therefore, the priest or giver would have burned or disposed his
portion of the remains of the peace offerings at sunset or soon
thereafter, before going to bed. For if he had left any of the peace
offerings until the morning he would have been tempted to eat of it at
breakfast time.

Once we understand that Strong’s word #3117 can include anything
from a very narrow interval of time to a very long interval of time all
difficulties are resolved. The Israelites were to eat the peace
offering in the time interval of its gift. God did not lay up His portion
of the meat; therefore, the priest and giver were to follow God’s
example. In other words, any meat left of the offering was not for
storage. The offering’s intent would have been lost had they failed to
follow these instructions concerning the peace or thanksgiving
offerings.

These verses are focusing on not making provisions for eating the
meat of the peace offering from the previous workday to the
following workday. Nothing here suggests a reckoning of the 24-hour
day from sunrise-to-sunrise.

The vow or voluntary offering did not have the same implication as
the peace or thanksgiving offering. The peace offering projected
man’s communion with God. The peace offering involved an intimate
relationship of worship in God’s presence. The vow offering did not
include the same value with the peace offering; it did not project man’
s communion with God, as its chief thrust.

We understand the following verse – time wise – by predetermining
what the word <day> means based on the context. If we assume that
the word <day> refers to the 24-hour day then we could assume that
the <morrow> <starts> a new 24-hour day. However, the priests
generally offered the sacrifices from 9am to 3pm during the daylight
portion of the 12-hour day; therefore, the word <day> in Leviticus 7:
16 refers to the 12-hour dawn-to-sunset day. At sunset, a new day
would have begun, and the <morrow> would be a part of that new
day. In the sunset-to-sunset 24-hour day, the first half of the day is
the evening/night and the morrow is the morning portion following the
night. The first evening follows the morrow from noon to sunset,
making up the entire 24-hour day. One’s perspective of the word day
based on the context determines how one understands this verse.

Leviticus 7:16 But if the sacrifice of his offering [be] a vow, or a voluntary
offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on
the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:

The above verse tells us that one could eat the voluntary offering
during the daylight part of the day that he offered the sacrifice; and
that one could eat the voluntary offering during the morning part of
the next day. Today, we eat 24-hours a day! During biblical times,
one ate during the daylight part of the day. Again, this verse does not
establish when the day begins. One can easily understand it in the
biblical sunset-to-sunset structure for the 24-hour day.

One can make a deduction of a sunrise-to-sunrise day by saying that
the word <day> in Leviticus 7:16 is the same as the 24-hour day.
However, the priests did not offer sacrifices during the entire 24-hour
day. The priests offered the sacrifice from 9am to 3pm during the 12-
hour daylight part of the day. Therefore, to keep the word in
context, the <day> that a sacrifice was offered was the <time> of the
12-hour day. The morrow would of course be on a different day to
the day the person offered the sacrifice, but that does not tell us that
this new 24-hour day began at sunrise! The verse just specifies the
two extremities of when one may eat the meat. One could eat the
offering when he offered it; and he could eat it until noon of the next
day when morrow ended. Some indication exists to believe that
morrow may have continued until sunset of the daylight portion of the
day. That does not change the value of our argument concerning
whether this scripture supports the sunrise-to-sunrise theory.

We may comfortably understand both laws in the contexts of a
<sunset-to-sunset> 24-hour day and a <sunrise to sunset> 12-hour
day.

Bacchiocchi states: “A second type of evidence supporting the
sunrise reckoning seems implied also in the Passover legislation of
Exodus 12.” It is interesting to note that there are several
“doctrines” of how one should reckon time using the Passover
Scriptures of Exodus 12. For a full explanation of the Passover
timing subject, please read our book, “What You Should Know About
The Passover!”

Let us take the verses Bacchiocchi has presented as evidence for a
sunrise reckoning of the day and discuss them. First, the term “the
evening” is an unfortunate translation. The translation should have
been, “between the two evenings” with the understanding that this is
an idiomatic expression. The term tells us literally that it is a time
between the beginnings of the two evenings. The interval of time
indicated in the Hebrew is the afternoon of the 14th day.

Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening <06153> (between the two evenings).

The following verse tells us that the Israelites were to eat the flesh
that night. In other words, the Israelites sacrificed the lambs in the
afternoon of the 14th day, sunset came beginning the 15th of Nisan,
and it was during the nighttime – the beginning portion – of this 15th
day of the month that the Israelites ate the flesh of the Passover
lambs.

Exodus 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and
unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it.

The Israelites were to leave none of the meat until the morning.
Nothing here indicates that a new day of the month had begun. Any
flesh left over, they were to burn with fire before dawn, when the
morning of the 15th day began.

Exodus 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that
which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

Of course, Bacchiocchi makes the common mistake that many make
(due to a poor translation) when comparing Exodus 12:18 with
Exodus 12:6. While the term <at even> means “between the two
evenings” in Exodus 12:6, in Exodus 12:18 it means <evening> in the
sense of sunset. This scripture is not telling us when we are to kill
the Passover, but when the days of unleavened bread begin.
Certainly it tells us when one was to eat the Passover, but it is a very
different time to that expressed in Exodus 12:6.

Unfortunately, the KJV translators used the word <keep> to refer to
the slaying of the Passover in several places. This causes one to
assume that keeping the Passover refers to eating the Passover as
well as slaying the Passover. Nothing could be further from the
truth! The word for keep does not even remotely suggest eating.

The following verse tells us that the Israelites were to eat (when they
ate) unleavened bread from the moment that the sun sets on the 14th
day until the moment that the sun sets on the 21st day of Nisan. The
moment the sun sets on the 14th day becomes the 15th day of the
month. Moreover, it was at the beginning of this 15th day of the
month that the Israelites were to eat the Passover. The Israelites did
not eat unleavened bread on the 14th.

Exodus 12:18 In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at even
(sunset), ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the
month at even (sunset).

Therefore, Bacchiocchi made a wrong deduction with these
scriptures. Nothing here even suggests that the eating of the
Passover took place on the 14th! The 14th of Nisan is over, at
evening (sunset)! Therefore, the time of the 7-day period in this
scripture begins with the 15th Nisan. Sunset to sunset reckoning
requires the use of the end of the preceding day to designate its
beginning. The sunset that ends the 14th begins the 15th. This
scripture informs us that unleavened bread was the bread for the
interval from sunset on the 14th day of Nisan until the end of the 21st
day of Nisan. This means that the Israelites would have eaten
unleavened bread on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st
days of Abib/Nisan – the first month in the Hebrew Calendar.

If either of these scriptures suggests a sunrise reckoning to the day
of the month, then unleavened bread would have continued more than
7 days in duration. However, Exodus 12:19 informs us that the
Israelites were to eat unleavened bread 7 days; the word <days>
refers to 7 days of the month, not 7 workdays! In other words, they
could not eat leavened bread at night as long as they ate unleavened
bread during the daylight part of the day – unleavened bread was to
be found nowhere in their houses for seven 24-hour days.

Therefore, sunset of the 14th began the 15th and the days of
unleavened bread. This is a sunset-to-sunset reckoning and there
were to be 7 sunset-to-sunset days of eating unleavened bread.
Nothing here even suggests a sunrise reckoning of the 24-hour day.
The scripture works very well with the sunset-to-sunset reckoning of
the day of the month.

Exodus 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for
whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from
the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

Bacchiocchi says that one cannot harmonize these scriptures with the
sunset reckoning. The Jews have been harmonizing these verses for
thousands of years, with the sunset reckoning! It is rather simple.
The lambs were slain on the afternoon of the 14th and the Jews ate
the Passover at the beginning of the 15th, which also began the days
of unleavened bread. Nowhere do the scriptures say that one was to
eat the Passover on the 14th!

The following verses are understood the same as those above. The
Passover was slain <between the two evenings> or the afternoon of
the 14th and the sunset of the 14th that took place after the Passover
sacrifices were slain began the 15th day of the month and the
beginning of the days of unleavened bread. The Israelites ate the
Passover Feast on the 15th, not on the 14th!

Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even (between the two
evenings) is the (slaying of the) LORD'S Passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread
unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

The following verses clearly say that the Passover is on the 14th and
that the 15th begins the 7 days of unleavened bread. However, the
word, <feast> should clue us that this is the Passover Feast! In other
words, the Passover was slain on the afternoon of the 14th and sunset
began the 15th when the Israelites ate the Passover Feast, as well as
beginning the 7 days of unleavened bread.

Nothing in any of these verses creates a problem for a sunset-to-
sunset day.

Num. 28:16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the
LORD.
17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall
unleavened bread be eaten.

Bacchiocchi next assumes that Exodus 12 seems to imply a sunrise-to-
sunrise reckoning of the day! In other words, we have a
contradiction in the scriptures! Of course, there is no contradiction
in the scriptures. Exodus 12 is saying the same thing that we have
clearly seen in Leviticus and Numbers. The Passover was slain in the
afternoon of the 14th and eaten at the beginning of the 15th. Just
because the bible uses the words <in that night> tells us nothing about
which day it was. How does this phrase tie that particular night to
the previous day of the month rather than to a new day?

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