SCRIPTURE ANTIQUITIES, &c. PART I. THE SACRED TIMES AND SEASONS OBSERVED BY THE ISRAELITES. I. The Hebrew mode of computing Time. IN the perusal of ancient authors, we are liable to fall into great and serious mistakes, except we keep continually in view their different and peculiar mode of computing time, which in general differs much from our present mode. This remark is particularly applicable to the sacred writers, whom deists and infidels have charged with contradictions and inconsistencies, which fall to the ground when the ancient mode of computing time is duly considered and adapted to our standard. A correct knowledge of the different divisions of time mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, will tend to illustrate and elucidate many parts of Scripture with regard to seasons, circumstances, and ceremonies. The Hebrews computed their days from evening to evening. Lev. xxiii, 32. It is remarkable that the evening or natural night precedes the morning or B natural day in the history of the creation; Gen. i, 5, &c. whence the prophet Daniel makes use of the compound term evening-morning, (Dan. viii, 14. marg. reading) to denote a civil day in his celebrated chronological prophecy of the 2300 days; and the same portion of time is termed in Greek, vuxenμεpo.* The civil day of the Hebrews varied in length according to the seasons of the year; the longest day in the holy land is only fourteen hours and twelve minutes of our time: and the shortest day, nine hours and forty-eight minutes. The Israelites in ancient time divided the day into morning, noon, and night, which are the only parts of a day mentioned in the Old Testament. † The Jews afterwards adopted the mode of computing their hours of the civil day from six in the morning till six in the evening: thus their first hour corresponded with our seven o'clock: their second to our eight: their third to our nine, &c. The knowledge of this illustrates various passages in the New Testament. During the third hour from eight to nine, their morning sacrifice was prepared, and offered up on the altar precisely at nine o'clock; and the evening sacrifice was offered up at the ninth hour, i.e. three o'clock in the afternoon. *Tacitus tells us, that the ancient Germans instead of days reckoned the number of nights. De Mor. Germ. c. xi.-Cæsar says And the same of the ancient Gauls. De Bell. Gall. lib. vi, c. 17. vestiges of this ancient custom still exist in our own country. We say last sunday se'nnight, or this day fortnight: among the Welsh also, the descendants of the ancient Britons, the same custom remains. † In Dan. iii, 6, 15; v. 5. there is mention of hours, but the word in the original signifies time, and should be so translated. So we find no where in the Old Testament any other division of a day, but morning, noon, and night. The night was originally divided into three parts or watches: the first watch is mentioned in Lam. ii, 19, the middle watch in Judg. vii, 19, and the morning watch in Exod. xiv, 24. It is probable that these watches varied in length according to the seasons of the year: consequently, those who had a long inclement winter watch to encounter, would ardently desire the approach of morning light, to terminate their watch. This circumstance strikingly illustrates the fervour of the Psalmist's devotion, in Ps. cxxx, 6; and the Ps. cxxxiv, gives us an instance of the temple watch: the whole Psalm is nothing more than the alternate cry of two different divisions of the watch. The first watch addresses the second, (ver. 1, 2.) reminding them of their duty; and the second answers, (ver. 3) by a solemn blessing. The address and the answer seem both to be a set form, which each individual proclaimed or sung aloud, at stated intervals, to notify the time of the night.* When Jesus Christ was on earth, the night was divided into four watches, according to the Roman mode of computation. The second and third watches are mentioned in Luke xii, 38, the fourth in Matt. xiv, 25, and the four watches are all distinctly mentioned in Mark xiii, 35. Of the evening watch, μEσOVUNTIOυ the midnight watch, anɛnтogopwvias the cock-crowing watch, and new the morning or early watch. The first watch continued from six in the evening till nine; the second commenced at nine and ended at twelve or midnight; the third watch, called by the Romans gallicinium, πρωι *Bishop Lowth's Isaiah, vol. ii, p. 357. lasted from twelve to three; and the morning watch closed at six. The Jews reckoned two evenings to one day; the first began at the ninth hour of the natural day, or three o'clock in the afternoon: the second commenced at the eleventh hour, or five o'clock in the evening. The Paschal Lamb was required to be sacrificed between the evenings, (Exod. xii, 6; Lev. xxiii, 4,) which Josephus tells us, the Jews in his time did, from the ninth hour until the eleventh.* Hence the law, requiring the Paschal lamb to be sacrificed "at even, at the going down of the sun,” (Deut. xvi, 6.) expressed both evenings. It is worthy of remark, that "Christ our passover," the antitype of the Paschal Lamb, "expired at the ninth hour, and was taken down from the cross at the eleventh hour or sun-set.† Seven nights and days constituted the Hebrew week: -six of these were appropriated to labour and the ordinary purposes of life; and the seventh day appointed by Jehovah to be a Sabbath, or a day of rest. Gen. ii, 3. The Jews had no particular names for the several days of the week, but called them, the first, second, &c. day of the week, as appears from various places in the New Testament. From Rev. i, 10, we learn that the first day of the week was called the Lord's-day, because on that day our blessed Lord arose from the dead. The Hebrew months, like those of other nations, *De Bell. Jud. lib. vi, c. 9. Dr. Hale's Annal. Chron. vol. i, p. 114--116. The learned Doctor here illustrates some apparently chronological contradictions with great ingenuity and learning. were lunar, being measured by the revolutions of the moon, and consisting alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days. While the Jews were in possession of the Holy Land, the commencement of their months and years was not calculated by any astronomical observations, but by the phasis or actual appearance of the moon. As soon as they saw the new moon, they began the month. Persons were therefore placed on the tops of mountains to watch the first appearance of the moon after the change: as soon as they saw it, they informed the Sanhedrin, and public notice was given first by the sound of trumpets, to which there appears to be an allusion in Ps. lxxxi, 3. They were accustomed also to light beacons on eminences throughout the land to announce the appearance of the new moon: the Samaritans often were deceiving them by kindling false fires, so that they used to announce the appearance by sending messengers. As however they had no months longer than thirty days, if the moon was not seen the night before the thirtieth day, it was concluded that the appearance was obstructed by the clouds; and so made the next day the first of the following month. but The Israelites had no particular names originally for their months, but called them, the first, second, &c. However, in Exod. xiii, 4, the first month is termed Abib; in 1 Kings vi, 1, the second is called Zif: in 1 Kings viii, 2, the seventh is named Ethanim; and the eighth, Bul, in 1 Kings vi, 38; but concerning the origin of these names the learned are by no means agreed. The Jews, on their return from the Babylonian captivity, introduced the Chaldean and Persian names of the months, some of which are mentioned in the Holy |