Chapter 6
FROM WHERE DID THE 24 HOUR DAY ORIGINATE?
If you are like me, you thought that the sunset to sunset tradition was law from the BEGINNING OF TIME!! And that this is ELOHIM'S NATURAL WAY! However, over and over again in my research, I not only found that the SUNSET TO SUNSET DAY was a LATER INVENTION, but I also discovered that is was most likely the BABYLONIANS who handed down the tradition of the 24 hour day to the Jews while they were in captivity. I found this in secular, Christian and Jewish writings. (Note: Most of the information that I gathered for this study indicated that the Babylonians began their days with sunset/evening and handed down this tradition to the Jews. However, I did find a few sources that felt that the Babylonians reckoned their days from sunrise to sunrise, as mentioned earlier in the writings of Pliny the Elder. Also, there are sources that state, "Among the Greeks the day was reckoned from sunset to sunset..." (Handbook of Chronology, op.cit., p.8). Some feel that it was the Greek culture that handed down the sunset to sunset tradition to the Jews. The one thing that I know for sure, is that somewhere in the course of history, men have tampered with Elohim's original definition of a Day.
Following are some examples of the information that I gathered:
"...EARLY in the Old Testament period, when Canaan was under Egypt's influence (my note: Elohim's influence), THE DAY STARTED AT SUNRISE...LATER, perhaps under BABYLONIAN influence, the calendar SEEMS TO HAVE CHANGED. THE DAY BEGAN AT MOONRISE (1800 hrs) and a whole day BECAME an EVENING and a MORNING..." (The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible - p. 163).
"In LATER Bible times, the DAY STARTED AT DUSK. A whole Day BECAME an EVENING and a MORNING." (Almanac of Bible Facts, p. 170).
"...The Israelites, like the BABYLONIANS, counted their days from SUNSET TO SUNSET..." (NIV Study Bible, p. 707).
"...During the period of the FIRST COMMONWEALTH (prior to 586 B.C.E.) the day was NOT reckoned in terms of hours. In fact, the word "hour" is not found ANYWHERE in the Bible (My note: meaning Old Testament Hebrew --This book was written by a Rabbi), even as a figure of speech. The NIGHT was divided into three watches, the early watch, the middle watch and the morning watch. (Hence such Biblical sayings as "Watchman, what of the NIGHT?") The Day was divided into FORENOON and AFTERNOON.
When the Jews returned to Palestine after THEIR BABYLONIAN EXILE (516 B.C.E.) they brought back with them the BABYLONIAN astronomy and WAY OF RECKONING TIME...Jewish tradition STRETCHES THE DAY a little; a FEW MINUTES is ADDED at EITHER END--and even an HOUR OR TWO among the more observant..." (What is a Jew, p. 108). (Note: We will look at other examples of stretching the day later).
The (New Catholic Encyclopedia -Volume 11, p. 1068) adds the following under the heading, "EARLY Palestinian Calendar": "...a sacred day of rest on the 7th day (the Sabbath) . DAYS WERE RECKONED FROM MORNING to morning..." Under the heading "LATER JEWISH CALENDAR" (same article) we read: "Following the reign of King Josia (c. 640-609), and ESPECIALLY AFTER THE BABYLONIAN EXILE a number of SIGNIFICANT and ENDURING CHANGES OCCURRED IN THE ISRAELITE CALENDAR showing that the Jews GRADUALLY ADOPTED THE BABYLONIAN CALENDAR of the time...The seven day week persisted despite its failure to divide evenly either the month or the year. The DAY however, was counted from EVENING TO EVENING, AFTER THE BABYLONIAN FASHION...".
"Obviously the Jews in exile in Babylonia knew the calendars of the temples there; they knew the myths of the months. So effective was the INFLUENCE OF BABYLONIA UPON THEM THAT THEY ABANDONED THEIR OWN NAMES FOR THE MONTHS AND ACCEPTED THE BABYLONIAN NAMES. (Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars, p. 21). A prime example of this is the word "Tishri", a word that is used to this very day. "Tishri is a BABYLONIAN WORD and was NOT used to designate the seventh month in the Jewish calendar until AFTER THE BABYLONIAN EXILE, when the Jews returned to Palestine. The name TISHRI is NEVER MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE." (This is The Torah, p. 386).
"In addition to the decimal system familiar to Western culture (which uses powers of 10), Babylonian scholars also used a sexagesimal system (employing powers of 60) originally devised by the Sumerians and COMING DOWN TO US in the form of the 60-minute hour and the 360-degree circle...This innovation DIRECTLY INSPIRED THE CALENDAR OF ORTHODOX JUDAISM." (Peoples of the Old Testament World, p. 71).
"The Babylonian Day was divided into 12 'double hours', each divided into 60 'double minutes', in turn containing 60 'double seconds', A SYSTEM ADOPTED BY THE JEWS AFTER THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY." (Babylon, p. 186).
"So far as we know, the BABYLONIAN calendar was at ALL PERIODS TRULY LUNAR...the month BEGAN with the EVENING when the new crescent was for the first time again visible shortly after SUNSET. Consequently, the BABYLONIAN DAY ALSO BEGINS IN THE EVENING..."
Concerning the practice of Sunday observance in the new world
"When the English colonies were planted on North American soil, Sunday was kept there from evening to evening for 200 years...throughout Christendom the Sunday was generally observed from evening to evening until the sixteenth century, and that in many parts it was so observed until the eighteenth." (The Lord's Day on a Round World, p. 69, 83).
The power of the above tradition is still evident today in such observances as Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.