When does the Sabbath begin, and when does God’s Holy Day end? The requirement comes from the Bible, according to the ancient but entirely justified way of dealing with a day. However, there is a risk of confusion if today’s common day and calendar formats are mixed with it.
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Old calendar – new calendar
Anyone who has ever realized that the biblical Sabbath is not an exclusively Jewish affair (Info), but rather affects everyone, will perhaps ask themselves when the Sabbath of the Bible actually begins and when it ends.
Humanity is used to counting a calendar day from midnight to midnight. So exactly at the hour when the sun has reached its lowest point below the horizon. At the beginning of the rising sun, a new (calendar) day begins. One is inclined to transfer this habit, which one has grown up with since childhood, to society in the past. But the handle of the day wasn’t always between midnight and midnight.
Daily rhythm already at creation
The first insight is provided by the creation account in Genesis, chapter 1, verses 3 to 5:
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.“
Here we are talking about “evening and morning came”. The end of the first day. In fact, the Hebrews of the Old Testament counted the new day after sunset. This is neither awkward nor wrong, just unusual. Quite legitimate to see the day as ending when the sun has disappeared below the horizon in the west. Why not?
New day began with darkness
Accordingly, it was a given at the time that the first part of the day began with darkness and the second part of the day was filled with sunlight. Just as every day began anew at sunset, so too did the “deadline day” Sabbath. It is specifically described in Leviticus 23:32:
“It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.“
“From one evening to the next”, i.e. one day at a time. This use of a calendar day was also valid at the time of Jesus Christ as a human being in this world. Mark 1:32 says:
“And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.“
Paul and other disciples were in the synagogue on a Sabbath. After the sun had disappeared below the horizon, the Sabbath was over. The “work of healing” for the many sick people immediately began.
Sabbath during the rest of the grave of Jesus Christ
The days before, during and after the Sabbath were decisive in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The day before the Sabbath was the so-called preparation day. A day on which all work must (should) be completed and arrangements made for the upcoming, work-free Sabbath.
So you prepare for the Sabbath. Jesus Christ died at the 9th hour on Preparation Day. According to today’s counting time, that was at 3 p.m. That was before sunset. Seeing the Sabbath approaching, Jesus’ faithful followers looked to complete His burial before sunset.
Jesus Christ thus rested in His tomb near Jerusalem on the Sabbath. The very next day, after sunset, Mary (mother of Jesus) and Mary Magdalene made their way to the tomb, Matthew 28:1:
“In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.“
Mark 16:2 describes it in a little more detail:
“And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.“
“When the sun rose,” on the first day of the week. However, the two found the grave empty. This means that Jesus Christ has already risen, i.e. before sunrise, possibly “in the middle of the night”. It is even possible that Jesus Christ was resurrected even before midnight.
And at this point lies the great potential for misunderstanding. There are claims circulating that Jesus Christ was resurrected on the Sabbath. However, this completely contradicts the clear statement of the Bible. It clearly states in Mark 16:9:
“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week,…“
Potential for confusion
Rather, the crux of the matter is mixing the then-Hebrew days between sundown and sundown with today’s use of the calendar. The preparation day was the 6th day of the week. The 7th day was the Sabbath. And the following day was the 1st day of the week. Every day changes to a sunset. If you now go ahead and set the preparation day to be the same as Friday, the Sabbath to be Saturday and the first day of the week to be Sunday, then there will be overlaps.
When Jesus Christ was laid in the grave, it was still Preparation Day, i.e. on Friday. However, the Sabbath began after sunset. According to “our” calendar, it was Friday evening. Saturday doesn’t start until midnight. Jesus Christ remained in the tomb for the Sabbath. However, the Sabbath ends after sunset. According to “our” calendar, on Saturday evening.
Assuming that Jesus Christ was resurrected at, for example, 10 p.m. at night, then for “us” it was still Saturday, but according to the rules at the time, it was already the first day of the week, or according to Mark 16:9 it was already “early on the first.” day of the week”. If Sabbath is set to be identical with Saturday and the first day of the week, confusion arises.
Sabbath from “Friday evening” to “Saturday evening”
This should actually make it clear that according to “our” calendar, the Sabbath begins on Friday after sunset and ends on Saturday, also after sunset. A historical reference to the beginning of the Sabbath can be found in Nehemiah 13:19:
“And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.“
As soon as it became dark around the gates of Jerusalem on the day of preparation, the next day, the Sabbath, began. The bulkheads were closed. For the day is holy to the Lord and this was true not only in the Old Testament, but also throughout the New Testament, up to today (Info).
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Genesis 2:2-3
Bible verses from King James Version
