3430 - Beginning and Ending of the Sabbath by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 16, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 19.

3430 — Beginning and Ending of the Sabbath

By Editor

How do you prove from the Bible that the Sabbath begins and ends at sunset, as Lev. 23:32 refers to a ceremonial sabbath? C. G. P.

But tho it does refer to a ceremonial sabbath, that sabbath covered a whole day, beginning when the day begins, ending with the day. But apart from this: (1) The day begins at even and closes at even. Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, etc. This must have been true of the Sabbath as of all other days, or else the sixth and first would have been out of harmony. (2) Read Neh. 13:15-21. The Sabbath began when the deep shadows of the wall were cast at sunset. (3) Jesus healed on the Sabbath; but the mass of the people, from mistaken notions, would not bring their sick till the Sabbath closed, which was "when the sun was setting," "when the even was come," "at even, when the sun did set." See Luke 4:31-40; Matt. 8:16; Mark 1:32. These texts teach very clearly that the day begins at even, and even is at the setting of the sun.