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PASSOVER
UNDERSTANDINGS
Part Three
BETWEEN THE TWO EVENINGS
The Hebrew for in the evening in Exodus 12:6 is better
translated as the KJV margin gives: "between the two evenings."
Now what on earth does that phrase mean? Can we even know
what it means? How did the Jews interpret its meaning? Were the
Jews in total agreement as to its meaning?
Let me answer the last question first. NO! The Jews
themselves could NOT agree with each other as to the exact
meaning of this phrase. I will quote from THE INTERPRETER'S BIBLE
under Exodus 12:6.
"......In Jewish orthodoxy the time of the slaughter,
between the two evenings, is specified as in the afternoon,
before sunset; especially, the time approaching sunset.
The Mishnah implies that any time after noon was valid for the
slaying (Pesahim 5:3).
SAMARITANS, KARAITES, and SADDUCEES specify the time as AFTER
SUNSET AND BEFORE DARKNESS. The latter probably designates the
more archaic practice."
AAAHHH, there it is(and you can find the same information in
the Jewish Encyclopedia), the Jews were NOT IN AGREEMENT with one
another as to how to understand this phrase "between the two
evenings."
The Sadducees DID NOT AGREE with the Pharisees on how what
"between the two evenings" was meaning.
The Sadducees and Karaites(Jews) of TODAY do not agree with
the Pharisee Jewish orthodoxy.
In practice the Jews with their various religious fractions
DO NOT AGREE with each other as to how to interpret the phrase
"between the two evenings."
Before we seek to see if the Bible itself interprets this
phrase, I want to give you some of the various English
translations, and how they render this phrase in Exodus 12:6.
The NKJV: "......shall kill it at twilight."
The Lamsa translation: ".....shall kill it at sunset."
The Everyday Bible: ".....will kill them in the evening
before dark."
The RSV translates the phrase as "evening" but in Exodus
16:12 where it is used again they render it as "twilight."
Moffat's translation of Ex.12:6 and 16:12 is "between sunset
and dark."
The New English Bible gives: "between sunset and dark."
The New American Standard Bible renders this Hebrew beyn
ha-arbayim of Ex.12:6 as "twilight."
New Jerusalem Bible has: "....slaughter it at twilight."
The Amplified Bible renders this phrase as "evening" in
Ex.12:6 but in chapter 16:12 where it is again used they render
it as "at twilight."
NIV - Children's Edition, renders "between the two evenings"
in Ex.12:6 and 16:12 as "at twilight."
NOW as for the two English translation by the main stream
body of Jews themselves, the Jews who are the spiritual offspring
of the Pharisee sect of Jesus' age, the sect of Judaism that
practiced and taught the slaughtering of the lambs in the Temple
starting at 3 p.m. LOOK AT HOW THEY RENDER THIS PHRASE TODAY!
The Jewish Publication Society of America in their old
translation of the Hebrew from the Masoretic text, translates
beyn ha-arbayim(between the two evenings) consistently(every
place it is used) as "DUSK."
In their new TANAKH translation they render this phrase in
EX.12:6 and 16:12 as "AT TWILIGHT."
WOW! Even the modern offspring of the Pharisees in their
modern study of this phrase feel the correct way to render it in
English is either "dusk" or "twilight." Neither of these words
in English can be thought of as meaning 3 p.m. in the afternoon!!
Certainly not from any time after noon or 12 p.m. or from one
evening at the beginning of a day to the next evening at the end
of the day(about 24 hours).
I will quote from a book called AID TO BIBLE STUDY, article
"Passover" page 1273.
"The Israelites measured their day from sundown to sundown.
So Passover day would begin at sundown at the end of the
thirteenth day of Abid(Nisan). The animal was to be slaughtered
'between the two evenings' (Ex.12:6). There are differences of
opinion as to the exact time meant. According to some
authorities, as well as the Karaite Jews and the Samaritans(they
forgot to mention the Sadducees - KH), this is the time between
sunset and deep twilight. The Pharisees and Rabbinists considered
it otherwise.......On this point Professors Keil and Delitzsch
say: ' Different opinions have prevailed among the Jews from very
early date as to the precise time intended. Aben Ezra agrees with
the Karaites and Samaritans in taking the first evening to be the
time when the sun sinks below the horizon, and the second the
time of total darkness; in which case, between the two evenings,
would be from 6 o'clock to 7.20......According to the rabbinical
idea, the time when the sun began to descend, viz. from 3 to 5
o'clock, was the first evening, and sunset the second; so that,
between the two evenings, was from 3 to 6 o'clock. Modern
expositors have very properly decided in favor of the view held
by Aben Ezra and the custom adopted by the Karaites and
samaritans......."
The scholars that wrote NELSON'S EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF
THE OT AND VINE'S COMPLETE EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENT WORDS, said this : "The phrase 'between the two
evenings' means the period between sunset and darkness. twilight'
(Ex.12:6; KJV, 'in the evening').
From the scholastic and in-depth work of the THEOLOGICAL
WORDBOOK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT we read this concerning the phrase
under question: "The Passover began on the evening of the
fourteenth day of the first month (see Ex.12:6, 18). Sometimes,
as in Ex.12:6, the Hebrew reads literally, 'between the two
evenings,' likely 'twilight,' the time interval between sunset
and darkness in which there is a state of illumination......"
HOW OFTEN IS BEYN HA-ARBAYIM USED?
The ENGLISHMAN'S HEBREW AND CHALDEE CONCORDANCE OF THE OT
page 976 lists every verse in the Bible where this Hebrew phrase
is used. It is found ONLY in the books of Moses, or to be more
specific, in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
This phrase is used ELEVEN TIMES in total. Here they are:
Ex.12:6; 16:12; 29:39,41; 30:8; Lev.23:5; Num.9:3,
5, 11; 28:4, 8.
Let us look at all of them.
Ex.12:6 is when the Passover lamb was to be killed.
EX.16:12 is when God sent the quails for Israel to eat
flesh.
Ex.29:39,41 a lamb was to be offered in the evening or
"between the two evenings."
Ex.30:8 Aaron was to light the lamps between the two
evenings.
Lev.23:5 was the Passover "between the two evenings" on the
14th day of the first month.
Num.9:3,5 the Passover was observed in the second year after
coming out of Egypt, in the 14th day of the first month, at even,
or "between the two evenings."
Num.9:11 the second Passover for those not able to observe
the first one, was to be observed in the second month, between
the two evenings , on the 14th day.
Num.28:4,8 the daily lamb offering, one in the morning and
the other in between the two evenings, a morning and evening lamb
sacrifice.
DOES THE BIBLE ITSELF INTERPRET "BETWEEN THE TWO
EVENINGS"?
One key to understanding the word of God is to let that word
INTERPRET ITSELF!
If we as humans interpret the word out of our own mind, and own
ideas, then we can truly come up with MANY interpretation for a
phrase or a word or a sentence. Then it would be correct when
some people say, "Oh, anyone can prove anything from the Bible."
When we are in doubt about what a phrase could mean, the
first things we should want to do is see if the Bible itself
explains to us the meaning of the phrase, symbol, passage etc. If
it does then our ideas mean NOTHING. We could have the whole
world believing our idea is correct, but if the Bible clearly
shows the meaning, and if that meaning is not according to our
believe or practice, then we ARE WRONG! And if the world is
following our wrong belief and practice then the whole world is
wrong, and God is true though every man be a liar.
Does God's word interpret for us the meaning of this Hebrew
phrase "between the two evenings"? YES IT DOES INDEED!! We do
not have to guess, or ponder, or dream up meanings for it. God
tells us, shows us VERY CLEARLY what the meaning is to that
phrase found in first in Exodus 12:6.
The Bible explanation and interpretation of this phrase is
found and demonstrated to us within the context of the Sabbath
day and the eating of quails, as given in Exodus chapter
sixteen!!
Fed Coulter has in his book "The Christian Passover" gone
into detail explaining this chapter for the purpose of showing
how God inspired Moses to use this phrase "between the two
evenings." It is not my plan to repeat all that Mr. Coulter has
written.
But a few points I do need to say for the reader. If we work our
way backwards in Exodus 16, we shall see that the 15th of the
second month that Israel came out of Egypt, was indeed a Sabbath
day.
It was a Sabbath day that God did not send any manner(verses
27-30), the day before they were given twice as much to gather,
to see them through the Sabbath(verses 22-24). Going back six
days we come to the morning when manner was given for the first
time(verses 12-21). Today we would call it Sunday morning. The
quails came upon the camp the previous evening or the previous
"between the two evenings" to this Sunday morning(verses 12-13).
The day before the quails came was then a Sabbath day - the
15th of the second month(verse one).
It was AFTER the Sabbath that God sent the quails for them
to eat! It was in the "evening" and "between the two evenings."
Would God have sent the quails from sometime between the first
evening of the Sabbath and the second evening, or end of
the Sabbath(if "between the two evening" is a 24 hour period as
some contest)? Would God have sent the quails from sometime
after 12 p.m. on the Sabbath to the evening of the Sabbath(the
end of)? Would God have sent the quails from about the mid
afternoon, say about 3 p.m. (first evening as some say) to the
second evening(end of Sabbath)?
Would God have sent the quails on the Sabbath period?
You may argue that we can eat and can prepare food on the
Sabbath, BUT COME ON NOW, this was no ordinary relaxed Sabbath
meal they would have had, if the quails had been given to them on
the Sabbath. We have a group of people probably well over
a million in adults(Ex.12:37-38), who were longing and lusting
after flesh to eat(chapter 16:1-12). Can you imagine the scene,
and on the Sabbath day, if the quails came on any part of that
day? Thousands, tens of thousands of men and women, going crazy,
frantically catching, killing, pulling feathers, gathering wood,
making fires, roasting and eating these quails, acting like
starving wild animals deprived of flesh eating for two whole
months. The bedlam, confusion, uproar, pandemonium, and wild
tumult that would have erupted can hardly be imagined. This would
have been no casual relaxed spiritual overtone Sabbath meal, not
at all. And anyone thinking it would have been is surely day-
dreaming in naive blissfulness.
It is clear from all that God says regarding the observing
of His Sabbath day, that He would not have sent those quails to
this lusting after flesh to eat, carnal freed slaves, who were
moaning and groaning against God, because of all the good food
they have left behind in Egypt.
WHEN THE SABBATH DAY WAS OVER, in the evening, at sun set,
when the sun went down over the horizon, when it was DUSK, when
it was TWILIGHT time, when it was "between the two evening," when
it was evening to start a new day(Gen.1), then God sent them the
quail to eat.
Ah, now we can see why Aaron was to LIGHT THE LAMPS "between
the two evenings" as instructed in Exodus 30:8. He was not to
light them anytime over a 24 hour period, or at noon time, or at
3 p.m. in the full sun of the afternoon. He was to light them
WHEN LIGHT WAS NEEDED, at dusk time, at twilight time, when the
EVENING sacrifice was to be offered.
And that is when the evening sacrifice was offered
ORIGINALLY! When they offered it after the 70 year captivity of
Judah in Babylon, when they offered it after the days of Ezra,
when they offered it in the time of Christ, HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH
WHEN GOD TOLD THEM TO DO IT ORIGINALLY! The Jews came to do MANY
things through their own traditions that were contrary to the
commandments of God, as Jesus often openly told them.
There can be NO DOUBT, the phrase "between the two evenings"
can ONLY MEAN one thing - BETWEEN SUNSET AND COMPLETE DARKNESS!!
NUMBERS 28
If we are to believe that the Passover was from the start
sacrificed at the END of the 14th day, in the afternoon of the
14th day of the first month, then by the very wording in Numbers
28 and verses 16 and 17, we could only conclude that the feast of
Unleavened Bread was to start in the afternoon of the 15th day of
the first month, and not at the beginning of the 15th day, or at
the end of the 14th day.
Look at the very wording of those verses. Go ahead see them
in a Hebrew/English Interlinear Bible.
The only LOGICAL way, the only CONSISTENT way to read those
verses, if you believe the Passover was in the late afternoon of
the 14th day, is also to believe the feast of the 7 days of
unleavened bread also began in the late afternoon of the 15th,
and so the first holy day would not have been the 15th, but the
16th of the first month.
And all that is utter nonsense as other scriptures make it
VERY CLEAR that the 15th day of the first month is a Sabbath day.
This we can also see from the NT as Christ was killed on the
14th, and they did not want to leave His body on the cross
BECAUSE THE SABBATH was coming on. That Sabbath was the Sabbath
of the 15th of Nisan, the first holy convocation day of the
feast, in which no servile work was to be done(Num.28:18;
Lev.23:6,7).
All should now become clear to understand. The Passover lamb
sacrifice was killed AT THE BEGINNING of the 14th day, in the
EVENING of the 14th day, during the DUSK or TWILIGHT part of the
14th day, during the time of "between the two evenings." The
feast of Unleavened Bread, when such bread was to be eaten for 7
days, started at the beginning of the 15th day, at the evening
that began the 15th day, and continued for 7 full days, up to the
END of the 21st day. At the end of the 14th day, as that evening
came to end the 14th and start the 15th, only unleavened bread
was to be eaten, for seven full days. The first day of that seven
day period was to be a Sabbath(the 15th) and the last day of
those seven days was also to be a Sabbath(the 21st day of the
month).
And that all fits in nicely and precisely and harmoniously
with Exodus 12:15-20; Lev.23:5-8; Num.28:16-18. It also fits in
exactly with the facts that Israel GATHERED TOGETHER AT RAMESES
AFTER THE PASSOVER (during the day portion of the 14th), READY TO
LEAVE RAMESES ON THE 15TH DAY, AND THAT BY NIGHT(Ex.12:37-42;
Num.33:3,5).
To believe that the death angel passed over at midnight of
the 15th day killing all the first born of the Egyptians, that
Pharaoh then sometime after midnight called to Moses and Aaron to
tell all Israel to leave. That Israel would pick up from Goshen
where they were living and observing the Passover, with all their
cattle and live stock(which do not walk very fast), take spoils
from the Egyptians who did not live in Goshen, march all the
way to Rameses, get all together there and organized, ready to
leave Rameses in the SAME NIGHT, is not only the hight of
ridiculous imagination, but it is contrary to all the clear plain
scriptures on the subject from the books of Moses.
BACK TO EXODUS 12
Now it should be easy to understand. God speaks of the 14th
day of the first month in verse 6. They kill it at the beginning
of the 14th, at dusk. they were to eat the flesh of it IN THAT
NIGHT, the night of the 14th. God has not yet changed the day.
The words have not changed from the 14th day to some other day.
Verse 12 , God was to pass through the land "this night." What
night? Why the same night as He has been speaking about from
verse 6 - the night of the 14th!
It was THIS DAY - the 14th that was to be a MEMORIAL (verse
14).
Ah, now we see how this ties in with 1 Corinthians 11. Paul
was instructing the church at Corinth HOW AND WHEN to observe the
death of Jesus correctly. The NIGHT in which Jesus was
betrayed(the beginning of the 14th, the time of the Passover
observing) Jesus introduced the new NT symbols for the Passover
MEMORIAL celebration. And that is why Paul wrote that Jesus said
for the bread and cup, "this do, in THE MEMORIAL (or remembrance)
of me." The definite article "the" is in the original Greek.
The original Passover was a MEMORIAL service of the true
lamb of God that would come to die for the sins of the world(as
well as a time for Israel to remember their delivery from
Egyptian bondage).
A memorial service is not usually observed at the EXACT time
of the death of the one being remembered or memorialized. Jesus
died not at the beginning of the 14th but towards the end of the
14th.
TYPOLOGY ONCE MORE
Moving back to Exodus 12. Was the lamb of the Passover to be
"beaten, spit upon, and scourged" as Jesus was foretold to have
done to Him before death? No!
There was NO SCRIPTURE in Exodus 12 or anywhere to instruct this
to be done to the Passover lamb.
The Passover lamb was killed by having its throat cut. Was
Jesus to die by His throat being cut open? No! There is NO
SCRIPTURE to say that was how Christ was to be killed in Exodus
12.
The passover lamb was to be ROASTED. Was Jesus to die by
being burnt at the stake? No! There was NO SCRIPTURE in Exodus
12 to say that was how the Messiah was to die!
Nothing of the Passover lamb was to remain, it was all to be
burnt and destroyed. Was Jesus' body to be destroyed, to decay?
No! It was foretold that His flesh would not see corruption, and
that He would rise again to life. There was NO SCRIPTURE in
Exodus 12 to support the idea that Christ's body would not remain
but would be destroyed.
Typology is good. Typology is used by God, but typology like
some aspect of parables, BREAKS DOWN at points and is not
necessarily meant to be carried over into the hundredth degree of
everything stated or given.
The Passover lamb was slain and died at the BEGINNING of the
14th day. Jesus died towards the END of the 14th day. Was Christ
to die at the beginning of the 14th like the Passover lamb did?
No! There is NO SCRIPTURE in Exodus 12 that dogmatically
asserts the Messiah was to die at the beginning of the 14th, just
as there is no scripture to say He was to be put to death by
being burnt at the stake, or roasted, as was the Passover lamb.
Typology is good if you use it CORRECTLY! It is like what
Paul said about the law. "But we know that the law is good, IF a
man use it lawfully" (1 Tim.1:8).
Typology is also good IF you use it typologically lawfully
and correctly!
Many have been thrown for a loop, driven off the easy to
understand verses in the books of Moses concerning the Passover
and Feast of Unleavened Bread, by what is written in Deuteronomy
the 16th chapter.
This I will look at and explain next time.
...............................................................
Written March 1997
by
Keith Hunt
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