By F. C. Gilbert, author of “From Judaism to Christianity,” from which the article is taken As is well known, the week from earliest times has been divided into seven days. Six of these days are called working-days, and the other day, the last day, is known as the Sabbath. See Eze. 46:1; Gen. 1:1-31; 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11. The Israelites have always had this reckoning, and have ever kept count by it. The Lord gave them much instruction concerning the Sabbath, and everything was done by the Lord to have the people keep count of the days of the week. Num. 28:26. For many centuries the priests and the Levites had a method of keeping track of the days, and this, too, in a very interesting way, so that it could be observed with a great deal of pleasure. In fact the Jews had come to learn that one great object of the week was the Sabbath. So with them everything pointed to the Sabbath. At the time of the second temple, therefore, there was introduced the following custom among the Levites, which was used in connection with the daily service of the sanctuary: Seven psalms, from the one hundred and fifty, were selected, and every morning one of these psalms was used in connection with the temple service. It was something along the same line as we would use a hymn of praise before we begin the service. On the first day of the week they would say the following: “This is the first in the Sabbath, in which the Levites would say the following in the temple.” Then would follow the psalm. On the second day of the week they would say: “This is the second in the Sabbath, in which the Levites would say the following in the temple.” Then another psalm especially for that day would be quoted. On the third day they would say as follows: “This is the third in the Sabbath,” etc. Thus they would repeat the same expression every day, as each successive day would come, but each day would always point forward to the Sabbath. When the Sabbath would come, they would say, “This is the holy Sabbath,” etc. In this way, every week the Levites would repeat the seven different psalms, and every day they would look toward the Sabbath; that is to say, the climax of the week was the Sabbath, and each day of the week looked forward to this Sabbath day. Thus after a time, with the Jews the Sabbath and the week became almost synonymous. The Sabbath being the last day of the week, when the Sabbath had come and gone, another week had come and gone; and a new week would begin at the close of the Sabbath.9 To Begin and Close the Sabbath
There had also grown up among the Jews a custom of having a service in connection with the beginning and ending of the Sabbath. At the beginning of the Sabbath, after the mother of the house had lighted and had blessed the Sabbath candles, the father of the family would pronounce the benediction or blessing on the Sabbath with a cup of wine. This service at the beginning of the Sabbath was called kid-desh, literally meaning “holy or hallowed.” This word comes from the same Hebrew word, kad-desh, which means “holy.” This service was hallowing the Sabbath. At the close of the Sabbath, as the sun was setting, the other service was held, and this service was called hav-do-lah, literally, division. This word comes from the Hebrew root word which means “to divide.” At this time the man of the house would take a cup of wine, some spices, a candle, and in this way, by pronouncing this blessing, he would divide the Sabbath from the next week. From this time on, now that the Sabbath was ended, it would begin to dawn, or be on the way, toward the first day of the week. So the Jews would regard the time when the Sabbath was divided on Saturday night, till the daybreak Sunday morning, as the dawning toward the first day of the week. In other words, now that the Sabbath was divided and the week fully gone, it was getting to start toward another week, and by the people was recognized as being on the way toward the first day of the week, or toward the first of another Sabbath. The people having been so accustomed to enumerate the days of the week with the Sabbath in view, it is easy to see what is meant therefore in that text, when it says that the Sabbath was ended, and it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, or the first of the Sabbath. Every day with the Jews was looking forward toward the Sabbath, as when it came, another week was done and finished. With this thought in view, one clearly sees what is meant by the text in Matt. 28: 1.