Leviticus 22:6

The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water.

One who has touched uncleanness remains unclean until evening and may not eat of the holy things unless he washes his flesh with water, becoming clean again at sunset after washing. Even here is at sunset, for to be unclean until evening is to become clean when the sun is down. This sunset evening is the true evening that ends one day and begins the next. The twenty-four-hour day therefore embraces both night and day and is reckoned from sunset to sunset, with evening or night as its first division and morning or day as its last, so the day and the Sabbath must be reckoned from evening to evening. The defilement the Jewish leaders feared from entering the judgment hall early Friday morning would likewise end at sunset after washing, so it would not have kept them from eating a Passover meal on the Friday night following.

Evening and Day Reckoning

One who touched uncleanness, such as an unclean animal carcass, remained unclean until evening and was not to eat of the holy things unless he washed his flesh with water, becoming clean again at sunset after washing. Even in the verse is at sunset, for to be unclean until even is the same as becoming clean when the sun is down. This fixes the commencement of evening at the setting of the sun, when after washing the unclean person might eat.

This sunset evening is the true evening that ends one day and begins the next, distinct from an earlier afternoon evening. Uncleanness contracted during the day lasts until that evening, when the day ends and cleanness returns. The twenty-four-hour day therefore embraces both night and day and is reckoned from sunset to sunset, with evening or night as its first division and morning or day as its last. That order holds from the beginning of the world to the present, so the day and the Sabbath must be reckoned from evening to evening, each day of the week beginning and ending at sunset.

Passion Week Chronology

The defilement dreaded on entering the judgment hall early on Friday morning lasted only until sunset and was removed by washing, so it could not have barred eating a Passover lamb on the Friday night that followed. The eating of the Passover sought in John 18:28 was therefore not the eating of the Passover lamb, which had already been eaten on the night before. Since uncleanness continues until evening because a complete natural day is counted from sunset to sunset, that sunset boundary fixes the limits of the third day after the Friday crucifixion. The resurrection must accordingly have occurred at some time between sunset on Saturday evening and sunset on Monday evening.

Nature of the Law

The verse belongs to the Jewish theocratic code written in the book of the law. Within that code it is of the first kind of commandment, which exists in primary law and sustains an inseparable relation to it. It therefore remains binding upon men under all circumstances even when the temporary object and circumstances for which the secondary system was instituted cease.

The verse belongs to ecclesiastical laws and ceremonies repeating earlier instruction. It contains food for thought and meditation. It stands apart from the greater essentials found in Leviticus 11, 16, 17, 19, 23, 25, 26, and 27.

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