JOSH.5:10, "...the fourteenth day of the month at even..."
Nothing different here than what we read about in
Ex.12:6....Passover the evening of the 14th of the first month.
See my many studies under Passover for all the in-depth details.
JOSH.7:6, "...of the Lord until the eventide..."
Did Joshua only fall before the Lord till the second past
high-noon? Or maybe only till 3 p.m? No, I do not think so. He
fell before the ark of the Lord till sun-set or dusk. The battle
and getting smitten by the men of Ai was during the day, when
battles are fought. Joshua then fell before the ark of God till
the eventide or sun-set.
JOSH.8:29, "...of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide..."
Chapter 8. Joshua is encouraged by the Lord, he and Israel
will destroy Ai as they did Jericho. As you read you will see the
main battle was during the day-light hours (note verses
10,13,14).
Please read verses 18-28 and note all that was done in the
battle over Ai. To think that all that took place before or up to
high-noon and v.29 was after high-noon, is REALLY S T R E T
C H I N G the imagination to breaking point.
The king of Ai was hanged on a tree, probably sometime in
the afternoon, after all that is stated took place. The Ai king
continued to hang on the tree until eventide - sun-set, no one
caring a dime about taking him down from the tree.
Notice how it is written, see it for yourself, the words are
easy to read. "And as soon as the sun was down" - yes, as soon as
it was sun-set, that is the simple way to understand it. Notice
also, what is connected to it, NOT the battle, NOT the hanging,
BUT the COMMAND of Joshua! It was when the sun had gone down or
sun-set, dusk, that Joshua told them to take the kings body down
from the tree! They were to cast it at the gate of the city and
raise thereon a great heap of stones.
How long does it take to utter a command? Why, only seconds!
How long does it take to cut a man down who is hanging by a rope
from a tree (or was hanging on the tree some other way)? Why,
only a few minutes at the most!
How long does it take to place a man at a city gate and put
stones over him? Well....that to some degree depends on how close
to the city the tree and the king hanging on it, was. BUT NO TIME
FRAME to do the job was given by Joshua. The only time frame
mentioned was WHEN Joshua GAVE THE COMMAND...at sun-set. It did
not matter if it went into the dark of the night to finish the
command of putting the king at the city's gate etc.
I submit to you that this account is NO WHERE NEAR, in fact
miles away, from proving that "eventide" is ambiguous, or generic
or one second past high-noon.
The WHOLE CONTEXT would prove otherwise, and eventide is
just that, evening, or dusk or sun-set, unless we go with after
the 12th hour (as in a few verses in the Bible) which would put
this into the context of all taking place after 6 p.m.....but far
from the second after high-noon or in the middle of the
after-noon.
JOSH.10:26, "...and they were hanging...until the evening..."
Read the context once more. The battle is during the
day-light (this so-called "Joshua's Long Day" is very
misunderstood, and it was not at all like what has been
popularized, but that is for another in-depth study at another
time, which I will present in the future on this Website).
Read on...I submit this was all taking place on the
day-light hours of that day's battle, which was a long hard
battle. At the end of it all Joshua has these five kings slain,
executed, and he hangs them on five trees TILL evening - until
sun-set or dusk. At the going down of the sun, or sun-set, as the
whole context would naturally teach....Joshua again gives a
COMMAND, the COMMAND was at sun-set. They were to take them down
and cast them into the cave from where they had been hiding from
him and Israel's army.
How long does it take to give a command and take five men
down from five trees and put in a cave? It is silly to think only
one man did all this. Joshua gave a command at dusk or sun-set
and surely more than one Israelite soldier executed the command.
But it makes no difference anyway, as the time frame to execute
the command is not mentioned, only that Joshua gave the command
at sun-set or evening, as he now wanted those five kings off the
trees and buried before the black of the night set in.
The whole context is very logical and orderly, if you do not
read into it what is not there, or if you just take the language
used as we today would normally use it, and if you have no "pet
doctrine" to tenaciously cling to till death do you part.
JUDGES 19:16, "...there came an old man...at even..."
Verse 14, they went on their way and the sun went down upon
them. Now such a phrase could mean the sun was moving down
towards the horizon. But it was late for sure because, notice
verse 15, they turned in to LODGE. Go back and read from verse 5,
then on to verse 8. It was AFTERNOON, or as the margin gives the
Hebrew, "till the day declined. Then notice verse 9. "..now the
day draweth TOWARDS evening... (Heb, margin "is weak"). Then, "I
pray you tarry ALL NIGHT: behold, the day GROWETH to an end (Heb.
margin "it is the pitching time of the day"). The day had not YET
come to an end, but it was growing to an end, it was near its
end.
Verse 14 again. The sun went down upon them. The context
shows as we have just seen what all this meant. They go into
Gibeah to LODGE for the NIGHT. They sit in the streets for no
lodging was found. The day was indeed weak, far spent, time to
pitch down for the night to come. It was AT EVEN, at sun-set that
a man came from his work out in the field and gives then lodging,
verses 16-21.
It is very logical once more, if you just read it for what
it clearly says, and do not read into it things not there. At the
end of the day, at evening time, at sun-set, the man from the
field, whence he had been working during the day-light hours,
stops working, a pretty natural thing to do as I know well from
working on farms and horse riding dude ranches in my younger
days. He comes into the city and offers the seekers of lodging a
place to lodge or pitch down for the night.
JUDGES 20:23, "...wept before the Lord until even..."
26, "...fasted that day until even..."
21:2, "...abode there till even before God..."
It is the MORNING, verse 19, and the children of Israel are
defeated in battle by the tribe of Benjamin. They then go before
the Lord UNTIL even - sun-set, the end of the day. The battle had
been fought during the day, and they were defeated. They seek the
Lord for the rest of the day until evening came.
The next day they battle again, and once more Israel is
defeated. This time they go into the house of God and not only
weep but FASTED until even, verses 24-26.
The context and normal use of language dictates we
understand this as normally understood. Israel wept and fasted
for the remainder of the day in the house of the Lord, UNTIL
evening or sun-set or dusk, when it would be time to move away
and pitch down for the night hours.
On the third day Israel again goes up against Benjamin and
this time they defeat Benjamin. The defeat was resounding as you
can read in verses 30 to 48.
Again Israel came to the house of God and lifting up their
voices they wept sore (chap. 21:2) until evening, before the
Lord.
Normal logical sense would tell us that after this terrible
slaughter of the day they wept before God from the remainder of
the day until evening time, or sun-set. They then retired for the
night and on the morrow, the people rose up early and built an
altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings (verse 4).
Really all quite simple and straightforward. Evening is
evening or sun-set or dusk at the end of the day-light hours.
.............
TO BE CONTINUED
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