THE TWO EVENINGS by D. A. Robinson

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 20, 1876

FromThe Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 16.

THE TWO EVENINGS.

By D. A. Robinson

HAVING recently had an objection brought against the Sabbath based upon John 20: 19, it may not be amiss to say a few words upon the point.

“You claim,” says the objector, “that the day begins at the setting of the sun.” We answer, Yes. “Then,” he continues, “Christ arose on the first day, after the evening was gone, the morning had come, and evidently the greater part of the day had passed. John says, in verse 19, ‘Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,’ &c. Does not this show that this writer adopted the Roman method of reckoning time? that is, commencing the day at midnight; and if the time of commencing the Sabbath was changed without any record of it, it is possible, yes, quite probable, that the day itself was changed.”

If we show from the margin of Ex. 12: 6 that the day had two evenings, or quote the Bible Dictionary upon the point, the objector replies that he has no Dictionary, and as for his Bible there isn’t a marginal reference in it. To such we can say, You need neither to prove the point of two evenings. But turn to the evangelists and read their account of the miracle of Christ in feeding the multitude. Says Matthew, “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past;” chap. 14: 15; “and when the day was far spent;” Mark 6: 35; “and when the day began to wear away.” Luke 9: 12.

From the above words of these three writers we have an account of the five thousand being fed. Jesus commanded the multitude to sit down, then he took the loaves and fishes, blessed and break them; and after eating they gathered up the fragments that remained; all this work required considerable time, and yet we are to remember that it was evening before it was even entered upon. See again Matt. 14: 15.

Now, with this information before us, let us read verse 23: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” See also Mark 6: 46, 47: “And when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.”

With the acknowledged fact before us that each day had two evenings, there is a perfect harmony in the words already quoted. In no other way can this seeming contradiction be taken out of the hands of the infidel.

On this point the Bible Dictionary says, “The Hebrews reckoned two evenings in each day. . . . According to the Pharisees and the Rabbins, the first evening began when the sun inclined to descend more rapidly; that is, at the ninth hour; while the second, or real, evening commenced at sunset.”

We are ready not only to admit but to maintain that the day was far spent when Jesus met with his disciples, that is, the first evening had come, but the real one had not,—the sun had not set. So it was, as he says, “the same day at evening.”

D. A. ROBINSON.