TEN COMMANDMENTS NOT GIVEN ON PENTECOST

 

OCT	APR	SEP
	05
2016	2017	2018

  

 About this capture

Keith Hunt's Studies

Jesse's Articles

The Ten Commandments Were Not Given on Pentecost! by Jesse Ancona Introduction Who said the Law was given on Pentecost? A Desire for Meaning The Biggest Problem Adjusting the Chronology Example 1: Quails sent after sunset Saturday Example 2: Calendar with Latest Possible Wavesheaf A Last Fit of Desperation Example 3: The Most Honest Interpretation of Scripture Why Does it Matter? How Does This Affect Our Salvation? List of Assertions and Assumptions Bibliography Introduction I was writing a very general introduction to the Biblical Holy Days found in Leviticus 23, using the example of North American holidays, and put in a throwaway mention of the Ten Commandments having been given on Pentecost (an idea many modern Jewish people also believe), when Keith Hunt corrected me, and told me there was no Biblical evidence this was so. So, I thought I’d take a look. What is the situation? Is the chronology of the book of Exodus so unclear that we don’t know when the Law was given, so it might have been on Pentecost, but we can’t prove it one way or the other? Or is it simpler than that? Keith said that you could not prove, from Biblical chronology, that the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost. I decided, not only to see if that was true, but if it were true, to look at the converse: could a person prove that they weren’t? Or were we to be left with a mystery? Who Said the Law was given on Pentecost? When I first presented an earlier version of this paper to a small group of holyday-keepers on Pentecost, two of them did not see the significance of the topic. One had never heard the idea that Pentecost was the day the Ten Commandments were given, and the other had heard of it, but only in passing, and it had made little impression. Those of us who were taught by the Worldwide Church of God in earlier days, before the death of its founder, learned that the Ten Commandments were given on the day of Pentecost. Considering that this church has given rise to literally hundreds of sects (commonly called "offshoots"), many of whom repeat most of the original teachings, this affects a great number of people.  But where did this idea come from? A general book on the Jewish people (Ausubel, 1953, p. 36) says, under Shavuot: "The consecration of Israel as a "holy people" at the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses presented it with the stone-tables of the Covenant is commemorated in the Festival of Shavuot, the two-day "Feast of Weeks," often referred to in sacred Hebrew writings as zeman matan toratenu, "the season when our Torah was given us."  In a book that looks at the history of the festivals more critically, we find the belief originated more in a felt necessity than in validity (Gaster, 1952, pp. 61-62): "Thus, even it its rudimentary stage, the Feast of Weeks possessed its own spiritual values. For Judaism, however – especially after it had outgrown its Palestinian origins – these alone were not sufficient. The presence and activity of God had to be recognized at this season not only in the phenomena of nature but also, and on parallel lines, in some crucial event in history. Accordingly in the first centuries of the Common Era, inspiration and ingenuity combined to produce the necessary development.  "The Scriptural narrative states clearly (Ex. 19:1) that the children of Israel reached Mount Sinai in the third month, to the day, after their departure from Egypt. This, it was now argued, does not mean that a full three months elapsed, but only that the event took place in the third month of the year, and in that case the giving of the Ten Commandments might (with a little latitude and fancy) be made to coincide with the Feast of Weeks." Yet another book, which goes into more depth (Schauss, 1938, pp. 88-89), reports: "It appears that as far back as the second Temple, Shovuos was a twofold festival. It was the festival of the wheat harvest, when a sacrifice was offered from the new wheat crop; it was also considered the observance of the pact entered into between God and mankind. At least, that is the interpretation presented in the previously-mentioned "Book of Jubilees." The festival is celebrated, according to this book, as a symbol that the pact God made with Noah, in which he promised no further general flood, is renewed each year. ... How widespread this interpretation of Shovuos was in the days of the second Temple we do not know ... . But the book does show us that in the days of the second Temple there was already a demand for a new interpretation of Shovuos on an historical basis. ... The holiday first attained importance when it became the festival of the giving of the Torah, of God revealing Himself on Mount Sinai."  A Desire for Meaning So, for the Jewish people, believing the Law was given on Pentecost adds significance to an otherwise little-noticed holiday, and gives it a greater meaning than a harvest in a land many no longer live within. For Christian holyday-keepers, believing the Law was given on Pentecost makes for a nice symmetry: the day God gave the physical law written on tablets of stone being the same day that God gave His Holy Spirit to the New Testament Church (Acts 2) – on Pentecost. It is a satisfying, neat idea, and works out very poetically for all kinds of typologies: it just doesn’t happen to be true. The Biggest Problem In researching this, I found a huge difficulty, right away, and I was gratified to later find that Gaster also emphasizes the plain meaning of the scriptures. The chronology is counting from the Exodus, not following the numbering of the months.  In Exodus 16:1, it says,  "the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin...on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." This is clearly counting from their departure. Two full months after their departure is the 15 Sivan. Then, just before the giving of the Law, we see in Exodus 19:1: "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." This is also clearly counting from their departure, so would be the third full month to the day, from when they left Egypt, or 15 Tammuz. So, to even go down the path of what Gaster cheekily calls "a little latitude and fancy," we must decide, from the beginning, to ignore the plain meaning of Scripture, which is obviously counting full months from the day of the Exodus. This point alone should be enough to disprove the giving of the Law on Pentecost, since that day always falls in the month of Sivan, however calculated, and the earliest the Law could have been given, according to the Bible, would be the middle of the following month! However, let us, like the rabbis, assume "the third month" of Exodus 19:1 means "the third month of the year." Since we will be making many assumptions to reconcile the giving of the Law with Pentecost, let us keep track of them. This interpretation of the third month, I will call Point #1. Adjusting the Chronology We know Israel left Egypt in the first month, the month of Nisan (or Abib), which God said was to be the first month of the year to them (Ex. 12:2). While I believe they left on the 15th of Nisan, others differ, and this point bears slightly on the chronology. We will call them leaving on Nisan 15 Point #2. We have Israel leaving Egypt in the middle of Nisan, then coming to the wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month. There are two ways to take this: either two months had passed from their leaving Egypt (the more natural reading), so this would have been in the third month of the year (now called Sivan), or, the 15th of the second month of the year, now called Iyyar. Since we are going with the rabbis in this argument, we are, of necessity, assuming this refers to 15 Iyyar. A month after leaving Egypt, they were in the wilderness of Sin. Then, just before the Ten Commandments are given, we see in Exodus 19:1-3: "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. "(v. 3) For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. (v. 3) And Moses went up unto God..." We don’t know, in verse 2, how many days they camped at Sinai before Moses went up the mountain, but we will assume, for the sake of argument, that they had just pitched their tents, and this whole chapter is talking about the same day (Point #3).  Exodus 19: 10-11:  "And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, (v. 11) And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. So, with these assumptions, God spoke to Moses on 15 Sivan and said the people were to prepare themselves that day, the next day, and on the third day the Lord come to them. So we are talking about the 15th, 16th, and 17th of Sivan, and the Ten Commandments were given on 17 Sivan.  Continuing in Ex. 19:16: "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount..." and in Exodus 20 we have God speaking the words of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20: 1-17). So, this occurred on the third day, beginning with the 15th of Sivan, as it said, "today, and tomorrow. ... And be ready against the third day" (Ex. 19:10, 11). By the modern Jewish reckoning of Pentecost on Sivan 6, the Ten Commandments were given 11 days after Pentecost! But is there any other reckoning by which the Ten Commandments could have been given on Pentecost? Let’s look at the various ways of counting 50 from the wavesheaf: there are three: 1) from the first High Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread, 2) from the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread, and, rarer, 3) from the last High Sabbath during Unleavened Bread. For 1) and 3), dates are all that is required; for 2), we need to know which day of the week Passover fell on. Example 1: Quails sent after sunset Saturday (Click on link to see sample calendar in popup window) While we don’t know what day of the week the first Passover occurred on, an argument could be made that the murmurings of Israel on the 15th day of the second month (Ex. 16:2), were on the Sabbath, after which the quails came (v. 13) , then the first manna the next morning (v. 13-15), and the sixth day there was twice as much (v. 22) against the Sabbath. But it is not totally clear that the sixth day was also the sixth day after the manna was first given. But we will look at this as an assumption for our first example (Point #4a). Even assuming this day was a Sabbath, we do not know how many days were in the month that the children of Israel were using. We know it was lunar, in that the months began with the new moon, and we can fairly safely assume it was lunar-solar (Point #5), as all the ancient Mesopotamian calendars were, in that it kept pace with the seasons, so harvest time occurred around the same time every year.  Luni-solar calendars normally alternated days of 29 and 30 (O’Neil, p. 88), to keep with the moon, then intercalated a month every few years, to reconcile with the sun. The modern Jewish calendar has 30 days in Nisan, 29 in Iyyar, and 30 in Sivan, though, again, we do not know how many days were in the month at the time of the Exodus. Clearly, any reconstruction is going to be based on many assumptions. Let’s just, for the sake of argument, accept 15th Iyyar was a Sabbath, and Nisan had 30 days, and Iyyar had 29 (Point #6). In this case, Passover (the 14th) would have been on a Wednesday, making Friday the wavesheaf day of the modern Jewish people and the early Pharisees. This would count to a Pentecost on Sivan 6, which is the fixed day most of them keep it on. For those whose wavesheaf is calculated after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread, in our first example, (Quails Saturday after sunset), the wavesheaf would be Nisan 18, and Pentecost Sivan 8. For those who calculate the wavesheaf after the last day of Unleavened Bread, the wavesheaf would be on 22 Nisan and Pentecost on 11 Sivan. Finally, to stretch a case, imagining someone who did such counting, and did it exclusively, that is starting the following day, instead of beginning with the wavesheaf, Pentecost would be on 12 Sivan. Example 2: Calendar with Latest Possible Wavesheaf (Click on link to see sample calendar in popup window) In this example, let’s discount the assumption that the quails give us the day of the week, and go with the week that would give us the latest possible wavesheaf by the calculations of those who reckon the wavesheaf as falling after the weekly Sabbath (Point #4b). This is also the latest possible wavesheaf, as it is the day of the wavesheaf for those who keep it after the last day of Unleavened Bread. This would be one where the Passover occurs on the Sabbath. Discounting those who would have the wavesheaf on the first Day of Unleavened Bread (we’re going with the latest day possible), this makes the wavesheaf on 22 Nisan, for a 12 Sivan Pentecost, or, at the latest, with exclusive counting, 13 Sivan. Since 17 Sivan is the earliest possible date for the giving of the Ten Commandments, assuming that Moses spoke to God the very same day the Israelites camped, and that they did not camp for a longer time, there is no way, by any method of reckoning, that the Ten Commandments could have been given on Pentecost. A Last Fit of Desperation Or could it? Is there any twists we could introduce to make it closer? We could shave a day off Nisan, and assume both Nisan and Iyyar had 29 days (Point #7), which would bring everything closer by 1 day, but 14 Sivan is still three days away from the 17 Sivan. Since the lunar month averages a bit more than 29.5 days, lunar calendars alternate 29 and 30 days (O’Neil, p. 88): there is no way they would ever have one month of 28 days, let alone two, but even with two months of 28 days, we’re at 16 Sivan versus 17 Sivan, and we have made so many assumptions from the insupportable to the downright ludicrous, that we could not honestly push it even this far! Example 3: The Most Honest Interpretation of Scripture (Click on link to see sample calendar in popup window) A final scenario, I present to you, that contains none of the unfounded assumptions. The natural reading of the Bible is used, counting full months from the Exodus (Point #4c), and no monkeying with the months is allowed. The only assumptions are that there is a lunar-solar calendar, with alternating 29 and 30 day months. In this example, the calendar with the latest possible wavesheaf is given, as it is obvious from a glance, that even this makes no difference.  Why Does it Matter? What difference does all this make? This question is certainly a technical point on a technical topic, but the significance is much more spiritual than technical. Firstly, it shows how easy it is to assume that what we have been taught, whether by the rabbis, by our original church, or by books, is correct, without even being aware that we are making an assumption. I didn’t question this point until I was challenged on it, and then I realized I’d never looked into it. What difference does it make? Or, to put it, using a phrase I resoundingly dislike, "it isn’t a salvational issue," is it? In one sense, of course it isn’t. Chronologies, by themselves, do not matter. If you fail Math, you don’t lose your salvation, but it doesn’t mean you’re right, either. How Does This Affect Our Salvation? The immediate response to the question of how it affects our salvation would be to say, "it doesn’t." In another sense, though, we must not be so cavalier. The motivation behind this whole exercise was to prove what is right, according to the scriptures, which the Bible calls noble (Acts 17:10, 11). So, even to search the scriptures on a small point shows a willingness to listen to God and not to man. And, if you go through the assumptions of the arguments one has to make to assert the Law was given on Pentecost, there is more than "a little latitude and fancy" at play here. There is an attitude of mind that "I want to believe what I want to believe, and if it isn’t there, I’ll make it be there," and that attitude of mind is serious indeed, and I do believe that such an attitude is a salvational issue, for "whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). It is important that we constantly examine our assumptions. This is part of examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). And there is another matter in this: why did this question come up? Because people wanted something that wasn’t there. They wanted Shavuot to be more than a harvest festival: they wanted an historical connection, and we saw that, before the great assertion that the Law was given on that day, some rabbis made the more fanciful assertion that the promise to Noah and the world was given on that day. Clearly, the rabbis were looking for something to give significance to the day. In a similar way, many of the holyday-keeping churches may be following an assumption that began with a desire for symmetry, typology, and the same kind of historical significance the rabbis sought. If we follow our desires first, rather than scripture, we will fall into all kinds of error. And this impulse to be taught what we want to hear, to fulfil our own desires and lusts is definitely not godly, but sinful (2 Tim. 4:3). Lastly, even in small, technical points like this one, we show our hearts by the way we approach it, as our Lord Jesus Christ himself said: "he who is faithful in little is faithful in much." (Luke 16:10). So let’s not be too quick to dismiss small things and rush to comprehend the large.  As the old Chinese saying is more accurately translated, "The journey of a thousand miles consists of putting one foot in front of the other." And each step, though small in and of itself, helps to take us across a vast distance. ©2002, Jesse Ancona. All rights reserved. For permission to copy or use any material on this page, please email Jesse Ancona at jesseancona@hotmail.com. No permission is required for fair use, which includes short quotations in other work with citation. For information on citation of Internet sources using the Harvard System, see Library - BRIDGES: Harvard System - Electronic Material. List of Assertions and Assumptions: Anti-scriptural Assumption: that Ex. 16:1 and Ex. 19:1 do not refer to the full number of months counting from the Exodus, as they plainly do, but that they refer to the months by their number, so the second month since the Exodus is really just the second month of the year, and the third month since the Exodus just the third month of the year. This is the major assumption: without it, the rest are unnecessary. It is also the one that takes what Biblical chronology we have, and twists it into another meaning for another purpose. Though a casual reading of the text might make one mistakenly think the second or third month was meant, deliberately taking this interpretation is the most dishonest assumption of them all. Assertion: the children of Israel left Egypt on the 15th of Nisan (Num. 33:3-5). Though some disagree with this, and think they left on the 14th, there is much evidence that they left on the 15th (Coulter, 1999, pp. 70-84; Hunt, 1998) Assumption: that Ex. 19:1-10 refers to the same day, and the Israelites hadn’t camped any longer, whereas it could have been days or weeks, making the giving of the Ten Commandments much farther away from Pentecost. Each Sample Calendar is based on a different scenario with the following criteria: Assumption for Example 1: Quails in Ex. 16:2 were sent Saturday after sunset.  Assumption for Example 2: In the year of the Exodus, the wavesheaf occurred on the latest possible day. While this is statistically unlikely, it is at least possible. Assertion for Example 3: The scripture is to be taken at its plain meaning, and the second and third months were full months, to the day, from when the children of Israel left Egypt. In this example, the calendar of Example #2 is used, with the latest possible wavesheaf day, to demonstrate how unimportant these matters are when the scriptures are taken at face value. Assertion: Israel’s calendar was luni-solar, as were all ancient Mesopotamian calendars (O’Neil, p. 88). Assumption: Nisan had 30 days, and Iyyar had 29 days, as in modern times; not clear, but very likely the months alternated 29 and 30 days, to keep with the moon, as did all luni-solar calendars (O’Neil, p. 88). Ridiculous, Desperate Assumption: that Nisan and Iyyar both had less than 29 days! This would cause the months to fall out of synch with the moon. Highly unlikely. No calendar is given for this idea, as it falls outside any rational possibility. Bibliography Ausubel, Nathan, 1953. Pictorial History of the Jewish People from Bible Times to our own day throughout the world. New York: Crown Publishers. Coulter, Fred R., 1999. 2nd ed. The Christian Passover: What Does It Mean? When Should It Be Observed – the 14th or the 15th? Hollister, California: York Publishing Co. Gaster, Theodor H., 1952, 1953. 1978 pb ed. Festivals of the Jewish Year: A Modern Interpretation and Guide. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks. Holy Bible, The (KJV). Hunt, Keith M., 1998. Passover Study #20 [online]. Available from – http://www.keithhunt.com/passover20.html [Accessed 19 May 2002]. O’Neil, William M., 1978. 2nd ed. Time and the Calendars. Sydney: Sydney University Press. Schauss, Hayyim, trans: Jaffe, Samuel, 1938. 1962 ed. The Jewish Festivals: History & Observance. New York: Schocken Books. THE SIMPLE CHRONOLOGY IS FOUND IN EXODUS 19:1-3 "IN THE THIRD MONTH, WHEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE GONE FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE SAME DAY [SO EITHER FROM THE 14TH OR THE 15TH OF THE FIRST MONTH] CAME THEY INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI.....AND WE CAAME TO THE DESERT OF SINAI, AND HAD PITCHED IN THE WILDERNESS; AND ISRAEL CAMPED BEFORE THE MOUNT. AND MOSES WENT UNTO GOD [WE ARE NOT TOLD HOW MANY DAYS AFTER THEY CAMPED THAT MOSES WENT UP TO GOD IN THE MOUNT]. IF WE SAY MOSES WENT UP ON THE DAY THEY CAMPED, WE HAVE EITHER THE 14 OR 15 OF THE THIRD MONTH. THIS ALONE GIVES YOU THE DAYS FROM LEAVING EGYPT TO GOING UP OF MOSES INTO THE MOUNT. IF WE SAY THE MONTHS BACK THEN WERE 30 DAYS TO THE MONTH AS LIKE FOR NOAH AND HIS DAY. WE HAVE 60 DAYS FROM LEAVING EGYPT TO ISAREL CAMPING AT SANAI. THEN IN THIS ACOUNT THERE IS YET 3 MORE DAYS BEFORE GOD CAME DOWN AND GAVE ISRAEL THE TEN COMMANDMENTS---- SO 63 DAYS IN TOTAL. IF WE GIVE 29 DAYS FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND MONTH WE STILL HAVE 58 PLUS 3 DAYS = 61. THERE IS NO NEED TO TRY AND FIGURE FROM WAVE SHEAF DAY, AS THERE WAS NO WAVE SHEAF DAY AT THIS TIME, FOR ISRAEL WAS NOT IN THE PROMISED LAND, HENCE NO PLANTING OR HARVESTING OF ANYTHING. WE HAVE SEEN FROM THE JEWS THEMSELVES THAT IT WAS NEEDFUL TO TRY AND CREATE SOMETHING BIG TO GO WITH THE FEAST OF WEEKS BESIDES AN HAVEST FESTIVAL DAY. AND THEY THEN TIED IN GOD GIVING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON THIS PENTECOST DAY. THUS THEY MADE SOMETHING EXTRA SPECIAL ABOUT PENTECOST DAY BESIDES A HARVEST FESTIVAL DAY. Keith Hunt

"EVENING" AS USED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT-- important-- Jesus was put in the grave in the EVENING

  A COMPLETE STUDY

                       ON THE NEW TESTAMENT  USE 
                                OF THE WORD

                                    "EVENING"

                                                                 by

                                                         Keith Hunt


THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STUDY FOR JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA DID NOT

                   COME TO ASK FOR THE BODY OF JESUS STILL HANGING 

                                        ON THE CROSS UNTIL "EVENING" 

     Studies are usually started because something, small or
large, is triggered in the mind by another article read, a
statement said by someone,  or  written by someone,  perhaps by a
question asked, maybe by a person finding what seems to them as a
contradiction in the Bible, or by some technical information
found on a certain point.  There are many reasons as to why an
individual will start an in-depth study on a specific word or
thought or doctrine in the Bible.
     This particular study was precipitated by an article I was
reading, actually a couple of articles at the same time, but
certain things from the one blended into a point found in the
other.  I had never thought about the matter of the word
"evening" very much, well not as used in the NT, I had studied it
in some detail as used in the OT.
     One thing I have leant over the years is that the truth of
God's word is deep and never ending, and I have leant also that
the Eternal never gives all the truth to anyone all at the same
time. Truth is ever being revealed to those who WANT and LOVE it,
to those who will be corrected from their errors.  Jesus promised
His true disciples that  when the Spirit came it would lead them
into all truth, but there are certain basic requirements laid
down in the word of the Lord to be a true disciple of Christ. 
One very important point or really a few points is that found in
Isaiah 66:2, " .......but to THIS man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a CONTRITE spirit, and TREMBLES at My WORD." 

     The attitude of true repentance and a humble respectful fear
of the word of the Lord is essential in any person for them to
receive more truth.  This mind-set that is pleasing to God and
one He can look to and work with, must be able to put aside all
pre-conceived ideas, all theology teaching that may have been
acquired from other human persons. It requires the mind to be
clean from anything that would hinder the Spirit to guide into
all truth. This can be difficult for many people to do, for human
nature can be very strong at times, just not willing to let go,
clean itself out, and simply tremble before the word of the Lord.
It is often harder to  change  the mind and learn new things
about what the mind considers an old subject, than not knowing
anything about the subject in the first place.

     It is not easy for human nature to be corrected, to be shown
its errors, its misunderstanding, its false ideas that were built
upon a lack of in-depth research or careless reading into verses
things just not there.  Many millions of Christians believe many
false doctrines because of the previous points.  We who observe
the Sabbath, know that man does not have an immortal soul,  that
death is a sleep until the resurrection,  we who know such truths
can understand to a point, why so many are in the dark over what
seems to us as plain truth.  We will say, well they haven't
really studied  those subject in depth, or they misapply certain
verses, or they read into verses things that are not there.
     What we need to remember is that it could be possible we
also are in some parts of our theology, as they are, and growing
in grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus, as we are told to do,
cannot function if our minds are not trembling before the word,
and also loving the truth above all things, wanting it, craving
for it, thirsting for it like a man in the desert without water.
     We need to always keep in mind  2 Thes.2, verses 7 through
12. And the potent verse of Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is
quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow......"  Then we have what Paul told Timothy in
2 Tim.3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness."

     So we have set the correct road to travel on, the mind is
ready, but there are a few other good things we need to
understand and to put into practice as we undertake any
study in the word on any topic, or as in this particular article,
as we study how the NT uses the word "evening."
     One very important rule is to collect together all the
verses that use the word "evening" in this study, or all the
verses on whatever Bible topic you are going to make an in-depth
study on.  The Bible Concordance by STRONG can help along this
line, yet BETTER STILL  (for our study in the NT) is the
ENGLISHMAN'S GREEK CONCORDANCE, which will give you every place
the word "evening" is found, in an easier way that using Strong's
Concordance.   We then need to look up each passage, read the
verse, and the context before and after to see if there is any
more help given to us in understanding how the word is used. 
Greek lexicons and the like, can be helpful, but only to a point.

     Often the true use and meaning as used by the writers of the
NT can only be ascertained by seeing every place within its
context where the word is used in the NT.  By this method you get
a "feeling" for the word, its possible main meaning and its
possible slight variations.  You will also notice it may not mean
exactly the same in all verses within a certain context. Yes, at
times the same word was used in different contexts with slightly
different purposes in mind.  This study will show a little of
that as we see how the word "evening" was used in the NT.

     Another very important Bible study basic rule to use is that
after getting all the verses together on the subject, you then
look for the easy to understand verses that may establish the
first and main (and maybe only) meaning of the word.  The verses
that really do have some teaching to them on the use of the word,
if of course there are such verses within our whole collection of
verses where the word is found.

     The TWO above rules we shall use as we now proceed to put
aside all Bible Dictionaries, all Bible Lexicons, all the words
of men as to what they might think or say on our word "evening."
We shall just look at all the places where this word "evening" is
used in the NT, just the Bible itself, and let the word of the
Lord show us the way the writers of the NT used this word.  We
shall try not to add or to take away from the word.


ALL THE PLACES WHERE 'EVENING' IS USED IN THE NT

     From the volume I have of the Englishman's Greek
Concordance, page 581, we have two verses that use the Greek OPSE
and are rendered as "even" and "at even" in the KJV. They are: 
Mark 11:19  and  13:35.
     For the Greek word OPSIA we have 15 places where it is used
in the NT. This is the word we want to focus on and here are
those fifteen places:
     Mat.8:16;  14:15,23;  16:2;  20:8;  26:20;  27:57;  Mark
1:32;  4:35;  6:47; 11:11;  14:17;  15:42;  John 6:16;  20:19.

     Ah, now you may want to stop here and study all these verses
for yourself before you continue in my study.  Remember to read
the context.  See if you can find the KEY verses that really do
teach us about how this word is used.   
     Another key to correct Bible understanding is that we should
let the Bible INTERPRET ITSELF!  The plain simple verses come
first, then the other verses are understood in the light that the
plain verses given us.  In our case, if the word "evening" cannot
be found with words that modify it to mean late morning, or
middle afternoon or with words such as "at evening, being the
10th hour" (about 4 p.m.), and the plain verses show a basic time
frame that does not include an evening in the morning, or middle
afternoon, or even the 11th hour as the Jews would often put it
by the way they divided the day(which would be around our 5
p.m.), then we should be able to conclude the use of "evening" as
explained by the clear verses is the acceptable use whenever the
writers of the NT used the word.
     
     Let me remind you, we are looking at this word "evening" as
used by the NT, not as understood by some Greek scholar, or the
Jews of yesterday or today, or some Bible Dictionary that was
written by human hands.

     God uses the Greek word OINOS, translated wine in the KJV,
in every place where we find the word "wine."  Now it is quite
simple to look up all those verses where the word "wine" appear,
read the contexts, find the simple clear verses that put together
show OINOS is fermented juice of the grape, and then quite
logically see that when Jesus turned water into wine, He turned
water into fermented alcoholic wine, not unfermented Welch's
grape juice. I know Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi can not see it, but
that does not mean you cannot. The Bible is pretty simple to
understand most of the time, if we let it interpret itself.
     So let us now start to find the simple verses concerning
this word "evening" - the verses that shed clear light as to its
time of day meaning.

              "EVENING" - UNDERSTANDABLE VERSES

     The first verse is right out of the mouth of Jesus Himself,
really pretty clear, well in the light of the fact that there is
no verse in the NT that tells us "evening" began at the stoke of
the 12th hour, or some human dial on a human made clock, it is I
think pretty clear.
     MATTHEW 16:2,  " He answered and said unto them, When it is
EVENING, you say, It will be fair weather: for the SKY IS RED. "

     If you like me have lived on the Western Prairies, you will
have no trouble getting the picture on this simple meaning to the
word "evening."  In this CONTEXT "evening" is when the sun goes
down over the horizon.  Please, let's not argue over a thing
like: "Well I've seen the sky red and the sun was up just a
little bit."  Most of the time, the sun has just disappeared over
the horizon when the sky can become, in that area of the horizon,
aglow with a brilliant red color.
     This is what Jesus was referring to, what the farmers are
referring to when they use that expression and prediction for the
coming weather.

     So, one very clear, easy to understand verse that tells us
in the NT "evening" is when the sun sets over the horizon.  Ah, I
think a child can understand that, maybe the wise and prudent can
not, but a child can.

     Here's another simple verse, just for the children among us:

"And at even, WHEN THE SUN DID SET, they brought unto Him....." 
(Mark 1:32).

     Here we find the NT writer QUALIFYING for us, with
additional words, the time of day he wanted us to clearly
understand that "evening" was, or had come.  Evening was
when the sun did set, when the sun went over the horizon, when
the sky could often be aflame with a red color.
     It would have been the cool of the day, when they brought to
Jesus perhaps dozens upon dozens of sick to be healed, and it is
written he healed many of them. You will find that before the
evening had come it was the Sabbath day, and yes, Jesus had
healed two that day, two we are told about, but obviously his BIG
HEALING drive did not begin until it was evening, when the sun
did set, and the whole town came out to Him.

     So far we have found two very plain verses connected with
the word "evening." Here is yet another one, but this time we
have to dig a little more and use the context, but it is there,
it is there.

     Matthew 20.  Let's start in verse.....well, first a little
understanding of how the Jews divided the daylight part of a day
will be helpful.  Remember Jesus once said, "Are there not twelve
hours in a day....." (John 11:9).  The Jews divided the daylight
portion of a 24 hour day into 12 equal parts, what we would call
an hour, so there were 12 hours from morning to evening or dawn
to sunset/dusk. and of course 12 hours from dusk to dawn. 
Generally those hours were thought of as from 6 a.m. to 6
p.m.(day) and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.(night).  The Jews divided the
night into "watches."  6 p.m. to 9 p.m. was the first watch, 9
p.m. to midnight was the second watch, midnight to 3 a.m. was the
third watch, and 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. was the fourth watch.
     Back to Matthew 20.  A vineyard owner goes out early in the
morning, we are not told exactly how early, but we could guess at
around 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning. He hires persons to work in
the vineyard. Verse 3 tells us he goes out at the 3rd hour,
around 9 a.m. to hire more laborers. Verse 5, he goes out to hire
more laborers at the 6th hour - around 12 noon. Remember an hour
is an hour, not a second or a minute, so it was "around noon"
that he went out again.  Then about the 11th hour he goes out
once more to hire laborers to work in the vineyard(verse 6).
     I want to jump a few verses here to show you that it is
clearly told us that those who were hired at the 11th hour, did
work for ONE HOUR! Those who complained that they had worked all
day and the late comers only worked for ONE hour (for the same
reward) did state very plainly that the 11th hour workers DID
WORK for ONE hour (verses 9-12).
     So, it is quite simple, a child can do it, if you start to
work around the 11th hour and work for one hour, you finish
working around the 12th hour!  Simple arithmetic, no college
degree needed.
     The CONTEXT also clearly shows us that NONE of the laborers
GOT PAID  until AFTER the 11th hour workers had worked for one
hour, taking us to at least the 12th hour.  And that was the END
of the DAYLIGHT portion of the 24 hour day.  And so with that bit
of plain truth, we have what is written in verse eight!!
     "So when EVEN was come....." the owner of the vineyard
calls the hired laborers together to give them their wages for
their work of the day.
     EVENING is clearly not noon,  it is clearly not 2 p.m. nor
is it the 9th hour(3 p.m.), and it is also not the 11th hour
either!  Evening is AFTER the 12th hour, at the END of the
daylight portion of the 24 hour day.  They had worked during the
daylight hours of the day, the 12th hour came at the end of the
daylight, when the sun set over the horizon, when it would have
been difficult to see to work.  Evening THEN CAME, and the owner
was ready to pay them their wages.

     The Bible interprets the Bible, here evening was AFTER the
12th hour, for those called to work in the vineyard at the 11th
hour worked for one hour only, and then when evening had come
worked stopped and they were all going to be paid their wages.

 WE HAVE SEEN THREE EXAMPLES THAT CLEARLY, AS PLAIN AS THE
NOSE ON YOUR FACE,  INTERPRET FOR US (we do not need Vine's
Dictionary, Thayer's Greek Lexicon, or any Lexicon, we do not
need "Word Meaning in the NT" by Ralph Earle or any other
fellow, we do not even need Strong's Concordance) WHAT THE WORD
"EVENING" MEANS AS USED BY THE WRITERS OF THE NT.
     You think it is all just too simple?  Not at all my friends!

     God has made sure that His word can be understood by those
with a child like mind, who will get all the scriptures together
on any subject and who will let the Bible interpret the Bible. It
is the so-called "educated" - the wise and the prudent, who often
have the most trouble reading and understanding the Bible.

                  A QUESTION WE NEED TO ASK

     The Lord has given us THREE witnesses, clear and plain
witnesses, as to the interpretation and meaning of the word
"evening" as used in the NT.  But we have other verses where that
word is used.  Our question must be then:  Is there another verse
that interprets "evening" to mean something, some time, OTHER
than at SUN-SET and after?  Is there a verse that says something
like, "At evening, at the 10th hour......"  or  "At evening, when
the sun was still high....."  Is there ANY verse that would put a
qualifying phrase with the word "evening" to show us that the NT
writers also thought of evening as SOMETIME BEFORE dusk, or when
the sun set over the horizon?
     Well go to it,  look at all the other verses in the NT where
the word "even" or "evening" is used.  Search the scriptures,
look them up!!
     
     You will find NOT ONE VERSE used by the NT writers where
they believed, taught, understood, interpreted, that "evening"
was ANYTHING OTHER than starting from at LEAST sun-set, dusk, the
time when the sun went down behind the horizon, and it was what
we often call twilight time, or dusk.  
     Letting the Bible interpret itself, we have NO CHOICE
(unless of course we are one of the wise and prudent, or just
want to hold to some pet doctrine come hell or high water) but to
see that the NT tells us that "evening" is not one bit earlier
than dusk or twilight, when the sun sets behind the horizon.

     There is not one verse in the NT that tells us: "You must
interpret "evening" by the Greek scholars to come" or "You must
interpret the NT use of "evening" by the Jewish Encyclopedias"
(The Jews reject the NT so how would they know how the NT uses
the word "evening" in any case).

     The word "evening" and how it is used by the NT writers is
interpreted for us by the very NT where the word is found.

                             A LATER EVENING

     We have seen that "evening" comes at sun-set, when the sun
drops down behind the horizon and the sky can often turn a
brilliant red color, when the 12th hour of the day has come and
work is stopped. So evening cannot in the NT (and this study is
dealing with the NT) be before about 6 p.m. (using the 12 hours
to a day, and basing it on the Jewish day clock) but it can be
later of course as sun-set can be after 6 p.m. So the context
tells us a possible close time frame. In the case of the vineyard
owner the context tells us that they were going on the Jewish
time clock of the daylight portion of a day, so we can know it
was evening in this case at around or shortly after 6 p.m. -
shortly after the 12th hour, when the 11th hour workers had
worked for an hour, and then all were paid their wages in the
"evening."  Unless there is a qualifying context such as in the
vineyard parable, "evening" must be understood as interpreted by
the other two scriptures we have seen, as being no sooner than
sun-set. It would take a qualifying phrase, or words within the
context (as in the vineyard parable) to make "evening" anything
other than sun-set, dusk.  Even the qualifying words found in the
vineyard parable, make it clear that evening did not come before
the 12th hour - before about 6 p.m. in that day the parable was
using. Of course if the sun sets at 5:15 because of the time of
the year, and we have no qualifying words in the context (as in
the vineyard parable) then evening in that context is sun-set, no
matter what time the hands on a man made clock show.

     But now in one passage we are going to find that the writers
of the NT thought it quite proper to think of "evening" as L   O 
N   G   E   R  than just twilight or dusk.  Twilight or dusk was
evening to them, yes, for sure, but sometime AFTER dusk could
ALSO be counted as "evening."  

     Let's turn to the gospel of Matthew and chapter 14.
 
     Many people from various cities had followed Jesus, there
was one particular multitude that He had compassion on and He
healed their sick (verses 13,14).  Then verse 15 says, "And when
it was evening......"  The Greek for "And when it was"  is one
word, and that word is in the Aorist tense. Now, the Aorist tense
is the expression of a momentary or transient single action in
past time. An example would be "he closed the door" (a single
action done in the past)  as opposed to "he is closing the door"
(a single action in the present).
     From what we have seen in our study so far, we would have to
understand this as no sooner than dusk, sun-set.  The action of
the sun going down over the horizon was a single action of that
time, and finished, the evening or dusk had come.  At that time
the disciples came to Jesus and notice what they said, which also
bears out that this evening was not early or late afternoon, but
evening or sun-set, they said, "...and the time is NOW PAST, send
the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy
themselves victuals."
     Jesus had spent all day or all afternoon with them, healing
their sick, the day had moved on, the evening had now come, the
sun had set, it was dusk, and you can then imagine the disciples
concern. What would they all eat if Jesus did not send them away?
It would have only been very logical at that time of the day,
when the evening had come, to think about having these people go
away to eat their evening meal, especially as we are told there
were children present. So the logic in the context also shows
evening was indeed evening, not middle or late afternoon, but
evening.
     Christ did not send them away, but had them sit down and He
performed another miracle with the five loaves and two fish - He
fed them all with it, and still had twelve full baskets
remaining.  There were five thousand men and also women and
children, maybe 8 to 10 thousand altogether.  Please think now. 
From sitting down, to having twelve disciples  walk around or
have pass around baskets of food to perhaps 8 thousand persons or
more, to the time of eating the food, to the time of collecting
all the food that remained, HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT WOULD TAKE? 
One hour, maybe two hours?   Well if we would say one hour and a
half, I think we would not be far out. Even if you want to go
with one hour, that's fine.
     After all this was done and finished, Jesus constrained His
disciples to get into a ship and go ahead of Him to the other
side (verse 22). He would send the multitudes away. Notice verse
23.  After the multitudes left Jesus went up into a mountain by
himself to pray. Then Matthew wrote, "....and when the EVENING
WAS COME He was there alone."   The Greek tense for "was come" is
the same as in verse 15, it is the Aorist tense.  Single action
in past time.  But did not Matthew already tell us that BEFORE
the five thousand plus people had been fed, that it was evening
ALREADY, that evening had come already?  Yes, he told us that in
verse 15.  But now he tells us that an evening had come that was
AFTER the feeding of the five thousand and after they had all
been sent away, and when Jesus went up into a mountain to pray by
Himself.  In other words to Matthew  the evening was  L  O  N  G 
E  R  than just the period that dusk, or twilight covers. To
Matthew evening could be on into the dark of night, for even if
you want to take only one hour for the five thousand to be fed,
by the time they all left and Jesus went into the mountain by
Himself to pray, it would have been DARK!!  Just no way around
it, by the time Christ was in the mountain it was dark but still
it was evening, as Matthew put it.
     So "evening" can be, within a certain context, used in the
NT as a time period that covers the beginning of dusk, sun-set,
and on into the dark, sometime after dusk.

     And why should we be shocked at that thought?  For we often
do the same thing to this very day. Say it is the time of the
year when the sun sets at 7 p.m. I may say to a friend(who has a
dog like I do), "I will meet you in the park to walk our dogs
this evening at sun-set."  Later on, say about 9 p.m. when it is
dark, I may meet someone else in the park and say to them, "It's
it a lovely evening."
     Now, if I was still walking the park at say 11 p.m. I would
probably say to the person above, "Isn't it a lovely night."     
     There is a time (not fixed by a man made hour and minute on
a clock) when we move from saying "evening" to saying "night." 
It's just something we do automatically.  We just have a
"feeling" for evening extending from sun-set into darkness for a
while, before it becomes night.  Matthew was simply exhibiting
this common feeling for "evening."  To him the events that
started at the first evening, dusk, and continued into the
mountain where Jesus went alone to pray, was still evening,
perhaps a few hours in total length of time.

            ANOTHER SURPRISE - EVENING BELONGING
                           TO THE PRECEDING DAY

     Let's read Mark 4:35,  " And the SAME DAY, when the EVEN WAS
COME, He said......"
     "What!!"  Many Sabbath observers will now be saying, "but
evening belongs to the next day, the day just starting or coming
when evening comes, at sun-set."  And they will be off to search
the Greek, or try to figure around what is said here. They will
do hand stand, jumps, cart-wheels, and many other things to the
word to make this verse NOT SAY what it SAYS!
     But this verse does say what it says, that evening had come
and it was still the same day as before!

     Notice John 20:19, "The SAME DAY, at EVENING, being the
FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK......."
     This is when Jesus came through the walls of the room where
the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, and
showed Himself to them.  And it was done at EVENING on the first
day of the week. This was not Saturday night, they had not yet
gone to the tomb, and did not know Jesus was already resurrected
on Saturday night. This was Sunday EVENING!
     And there is no reason to jump to the idea that John was
using Roman time, when in other parts of his gospel he clearly
used Hebrew time.
     We have seen from our study that letting the NT and only the
NT, interpret the use and meaning of "evening" we have no choice
but to realize that when Jesus came to them it was at DUSK,
SUN-SET, Sunday evening, and John says that time frame still
belonged to the FIRST day of the week, not the second day.

     Twice we find in the NT that an "evening" can BELONG TO THE
SAME PRECEDING DAY!!

     Again, for you Sabbath keepers who are now doing Olympic
hand flips on the mat of the word of God, to try to say this
cannot be correct, just STOP for a moment, and think back to the
OT, and if you are Sabbath keepers that also observe the
Festivals of Lev.23, then THINK about that chapter for a second,
calm down, and try to remember a certain verse. yes, that verse
is Lev.23: 32.
     Ah, ah, indeed so, even(a pun intended) the OT uses at
times, that "evening" BELONGS to the day PRECEDING it!  In God
giving instructions as to WHEN to observe the Day of Atonement,
He had Moses write it:  ".....a sabbath of rest.....in the NINTH
day of the month AT EVEN, FROM EVEN TO EVEN, SHALL YOU CELEBRATE
YOUR SABBATH."
     They had already been told this Sabbath day of Atonement was
the 10th day of the seventh month (verse 27).  Yet in verse 32,
they are to begin to observe it from EVEN(evening) of not the
10th day, but the NINTH day.  The evening or dusk coming AFTER
the daylight portion of the ninth day was here still referred to
as BELONGING to the NINTH day.

     The Bible starts out with the EVENING coming first and being
a part of the first day of the creation week (Gen.1).  Generally
speaking and in the MAIN, this is the way to understand it,
evening belongs to the day it starts, BUT.....never forget it, or
you can end up doing big cart-wheels with the word of God, all to
NO AVAIL, the word of the Lord does at times put "evening" as
BELONGING TO THE PRECEDING DAY. It is so, and you should get used
to the idea, for if you do not you will not see the real truth of
the matter about the last day of Christ's physical life on this
earth.

     The KEYS in the use of this word "evening" in the NT we have
now seen. They are important keys to remember as we use those
keys to correctly understand the rest of the NT scriptures that
use this word "evening."
     The verses we have left I will now look at in the order they
are found in the Englishman's Greek Concordance.

             THE REST OF THE VERSES AND THE REST
                                   OF THE STORY

Mark 11:19

     This is quite a straight-forward verse, the evening came and
He went out of the city.  The events preceding were during the
daylight hours of the day. Jesus had gone to Jerusalem and thrown
certain ones out of the Temple.  With what we have leant from
our study, when the sun had set over the horizon,  when evening
had come they left the city.

Mark 13:35

     Again nothing earth-shattering in this verse. The word
"evening" (in this case "even")  is part of a common language 
that we all use in various ways at various times in our
descriptive explanations of things.  Certainly "evening" is part
of our 24 hour day, as is midnight, or morning, and the farmers
among us may still use "the cock-crowing."

Matt.8:16

     Jesus did healing miracles on the Sabbath day, that's one
thing that really got the Pharisees red hot with anger. But Jesus
did not hold tent meeting healing revivals on the Sabbath. Most
of His healings of the multitudes was done on the other six days
of the week.
     It had been the Sabbath. Christ had been in Peter's house
and He had healed Peter's mother-in-law. As the sun was setting
over the horizon, as the last bright rays disappeared (Luke
4:31-40), as the "even was come" (the Greek word for "was come"
is the same as in many other places we are looking at, and it is
in the Aorist tense - had in one action taken place in the past).

     When it was dusk, and the Sabbath past, then Jesus held His
healing revival, and a great multitude was about Him.

Matt.26:20

     This was the time Christ had told two of His disciples to go
and prepare the Passover, when the day of unleavened bread had
arrived that the Jews killed the Passover on (this I have fully
explained in other studies on the Passover). It was the 14th
day of the first month - Nisan.  As shown in other studies the
13th day had come to an end. It was time to observe the Passover
in the beginning hours of the 14th day.  The two disciples did as
Jesus requested of them and made ready the Passover  (verse
17-19). Jesus sat down sometime later after the Passover was
prepared and it was "...when the even was come...."
     The words "was come" is the same Greek word as before in
most of these passages, and it is in the Aorist tense - an action
already done in past time.
     This particular evening had begun earlier when the two
disciples had gone forth to prepare the Passover, on the day that
the Jews killed the Passover - the 14th.  So the evening was
already come, and when Jesus came to sit with the twelve to
partake of the Passover  later,  after it was prepared, Matthew
says evening had come already in the past.
     This is where "evening" is   L  O  N  G  E  R  than dusk,
sun-set, twilight and that part of time that leads into darkness.

     From the study above, this is "evening" that stretches from
dusk to sometime in the early hours of darkness.

Matt.27:57

     " And when even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea
named Joseph.....He went to Pilate and begged the body of
Jesus....."
     The words "was come" ....yes, you have it, the same as the
others above, and yes, the Greek is Aorist tense - action taken
place in the past.
     Letting the NT interpret the NT, letting the Bible interpret
the Bible, putting aside all pre-conceived ideas, teachings we
may have inherited, to one side, just going on what we have leant
from how the NT writers used the word "evening" - no more and no
less, the understanding of this verse is very clear.
     I have gone into great detail explaining it in an earlier
study, so I will not here repeat that detail. But by the time all
was done that afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, and no one was
going to come near the body of Jesus, for various reasons, not
the least that the Jews who wanted Christ dead before the Sabbath
of the 15th came, could not care one hoot what happened to Him
after He was dead. They sure were not interested in removing and
burying Him.  Also the flesh and blood family of Jesus were not
standing before Pilate to request His body, nor were any of the
close disciples of Jesus seeking His body.  By the time Joseph
realized all this, time had moved to "the evening."  It was
the evening and it was the "preparation" as other Gospel writers
record it( "And now when even was come, because it was
preparation, that is, before Sabbath"  Mark 15:42, original
Greek). 
     The sun had set, it was dusk, and it was evening that
BELONGED to the day of preparation. The Gospel writers used that
evening as belonging to the day that pre-ceded it, belonging to
the 14th day, the day of preparation for the coming 15th Sabbath
day, just as we have seen in our study above is used not only in
the NT but the OT as well.
     In the passage in Luke 23:50-56, the words connected with
Sabbath, "drew on," are in the Greek IMPERFECT tense.  This tense
is also PAST tense, not future tense. It is different from the
Aorist tense in that the Imperfect tense means an action comes in
the past and continues. Again I have fully explained this in
earlier studies on this topic. 
     Using the principle of Lev.23 and the evening coming after
the day of the ninth, but belonging to the ninth(verse 32), the
Gospel writers said it was the evening, but it was the evening of
the preparation day, the day of  the 14th. It would still be dusk
or sun-set, just as it was still dusk or sun-set of the ninth day
in Lev.23:32 when Israel was to observe the day of Atonement,
from that evening to the next evening, so they were then
observing the day of Atonement on the 10th day of the seventh
month (verse 27), and from even to even, but they started to
observe it the evening of the ninth day.
     Understanding this important use of the word "even" or
"evening" in the Bible from time to time, is one of the keys to
put all the verses in the NT on the death of Christ together so
it all fits and all makes a whole, without any contradictions
with the rest of the NT.
     Understanding the Greek tenses used can also be very
important at times. The problem with English is that it is
difficult if not impossible to express in one word some
of the Greek tenses, unless you translate the NT Greek in an
amplified type of English as the Amplified Bible does.  But then
the Amplified Bible does not give you all the Greek tenses in the
NT that's for sure. It was not really designed or published for
that ENTIRE service or purpose. The complete Greek tenses of
words used in the NT are found in such works as "The Analytical
Greek Lexicon" published by Zondervan.

     Joseph came to Pilate at sun-set, dusk, the end of the
14th, the preparation day. By the time he had permission to have
the body of Christ, to walk to the hill, take it down and wrap it
in linen, and place it in the tomb that was nearby in a garden,
and the ladies followed all of this to see where the body was
laid, the Sabbath had and was continuing to come (imperfect
tense) just as Luke reported to us in his gospel, chapter 23.

Mark 6:47

     This is Mark's account of the same reporting that Matthew
did. We have covered this above.

Mark 11:11

     The same type of "evening" leaving from Jerusalem as He did
a day later from Jerusalem, that we covered above under Mark
11:19.

Mark 14:17

     Mark's account of it being the beginning of the 14th of
Nisan, the day they killed the Passover (verse 1), and two
disciples(the other gospels show) going forth to prepare
the Passover. Then Jesus with His twelve in THE EVENING eating
and observing the Passover meal.  This whole context showing that
the use of the word "evening" in the NT means evening, not
mid-afternoon or late-afternoon, but evening.

Mark 15:42

     The same as we have already seen above.  The evening had
come (Greek tense is Aorist). The evening belongs here to the day
pre-ceding it, the 14th day, so it is still preparation(the
Lev.23:32 principle), before Sabbath.

John 6:16

     Same here as in Matt.14:23 covered above.

                                   IS THAT IT?

     Yes, friends, those are all the NT verses that use  the 
word "even" or "evening."  Put aside all the ideas of men, all
the Greek word dictionaries written by men, the Jews
interpretations who do not believe in the NT to begin with. Put
that all to one side, and the NT itself makes it clear as to how
it uses the words "even/evening."  Understand a few Greek tenses,
in a few passages, and everything just fits together like hand
and glove.

              Jesus was put in the grave in the evening. So he was

        resurrected in the evening-- Saturday evening-- 72 hours later. 

     The Sadducees cut the wave sheaf of Barley after the weekly Sabbath was over. The typology fits nicely.

     Jesus as the first of the first fruits, the wave sheaf, was 

     resurrected shortly after the Sabbath, on Saturday evening.

     Yes, a first day of the week resurrection. Hence as time moved on it was easy for some to claim a first day resurrection, hence the eventual teaching by the Church of Rome, with a little more latitude to claim a Sunday morning resurrection, and still with more latitude Sunday became the Sabbath of the week.

     The wonder of it all, O, the wonder of it all, as the old
hymn goes, but I'll change the words here from, "that Jesus
loves me"(which He does) to "that the Spirit is still leading
into all truth" as Jesus said it would. It is indeed so doing for
those who will search the Scriptures daily, be corrected and LOVE
the truth.

             ...................................

Written January 1998