WHEN DOES THE SABBATH BEGIN? by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 5, 1869

WHEN DOES THE SABBATH BEGIN?

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THAT we should begin the Sabbath at the setting of the sun, is plainly declared by the Bible; but just where that point is, whether at the moment the sun is out of sight, or not till it is really dark, or whether it is not just between these two points, at what we call twilight—this is not so certain. On this point I find a very interesting passage in Josephus's "Wars of the Jews," book iv, chap. ix, sec. 12. It seems to show definitely at what time the ancient Jews began the Sabbath. We would suppose they were about right in such things, as they were directly taught by the Lord and his prophets. At the destruction of Jerusalem, one party of the Jews obtained possession of the temple and fought their enemies from thence. Of this party Josephus says: "The Zealots threw their darts easily from a superior place, and seldom failed of hitting their enemies; but having the advantage of situation, and having, withal, erected four very large towers aforehand, that their darts might come from higher places, one at the north-east corner of the court, one above the Xystus, the third at another corner over against the lower city, and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests stood of course, 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 their work, and when they were to go to work again."

By this we see that there was a tower built up in connection with the temple; in this tower a priest was stationed to give a signal with the trumpet, at the commencement and ending of each Sabbath. This was certainly a good practice. This signal was sounded "at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight." This shows when they began the day. Twilight is midway between sunset and dark. Is not that the proper time to begin the Sabbath?

This seems also to throw light on an obscure passage in 2 Kings xvi, 18, which reads thus: "And the covert for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria." What was this covert for the Sabbath? It was something which they built in the house of the Lord. On the above passage in Josephus, Whiston has this note: "This beginning and ending of the observance of the Jewish seventh day or Sabbath, with a priest's blowing of a trumpet, is remarkable, and nowhere else mentioned, that I know of. Nor is Reland's conjecture here improbable, that this was the very place that has puzzled our commentators so long, called Musach Sabati, the covert of the Sabbath, if that be the true reading, 2 Kings xvi, 18; because here the proper priest stood dry, under a 'covering,' to proclaim the beginning and ending of every Jewish Sabbath." This explanation seems quite plausible to me. D. M. CANRIGHT.

REMARKS.—The foregoing may be worthy of notice. Yet inasmuch as sunset is the point designated by the Bible, for the beginning and ending of the Sabbath, the best practical rule is, to have all our worldly business laid aside before the sun disappears in the west, on Friday evening, and not to resume it till twilight on Saturday evening. This is a rule which may be followed with safety. It will prevent the infringement of our worldly business upon the sacred hours of the Sabbath. We should prepare our hearts for the approach of the Sabbath, and we should not with haste return to our worldly pursuits, when that day has perhaps hardly expired. ED.