With the rise of the morning-to-morning doctrine there are some brothers and sisters coming into Torah who are confused with the conflicting information they are hearing. In response, I have made five videos to show from the scriptures and even from the bees that the Shabbat day is from evening to evening. The goal is simply to let the truth prevail.
The irony of it all is that those who observe the “morning to morning” doctrine will accuse those who observe “evening to evening” as learning it from Babylon; although it is not conclusive on either side here is what five sources have to say in regard to morning to morning being observed by the Babylonians:
A secular site says:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-chronicle-of-timekeeping-2006-02/
“Uniform Hours
“ALTHOUGH THE MECHANICAL CLOCK could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. With uniform hours, however, arose the question of when to begin counting them, and so, in the early 14th century, a number of systems evolved. The schemes that divided the day into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, BABYLONIAN HOURS AT SUNRISE, astronomical hours at midday and great clock hours (used for some large public clocks in Germany) at midnight. Eventually these and competing systems were superseded by small clock, or French, hours, which split the day, as we currently do, into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.”
www.yrm.org (YAHWEH’s Restoration Ministries) write:
“I have heard some teach that the Scriptural day begins at sunrise, rather than the Jewish sunset. Is this true? The sunset ending and beginning of a day is not a “Jewish” determination but a BIBLICAL ONE. The Romans and Egyptians began their day at midnight, as the world does today. THE BABYLONIANS BEGAN THEIR DAY AT SUNRISE BECAUSE THEY WERE WORSHIPERS OF THE SUN.”
www.lastmessageofmercy.com writes:
“The BABYLONIANS CONSIDERED A DAY BEGINNING AT SUNRISE, while the Egyptians and Romans were the first to begin the day at midnight. Only the Hebrews observed the day as BEGINNING AT SUNSET AND ENDING THE NEXT SUNSET: as God had declared is a day.” (Bonita M. Quesinberry, Truth Gathering, p. 227)
Wikipedia states in the section “Counting hours” under the subtitle “Counting from DAWN” states ”BABYLONIAN HOURS” divide the day and night into 24 equal hours, reckoned FROM THE TIME OF SUNRISE.”
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008725
“The Jews were not the only people to reckon days in this way. The Athenians, the Numidians, and the Phoenicians did likewise. The BABYLONIANS, on the other hand, CONSIDERED SUNRISE TO BE THE BEGINNING OF EACH NEW DAY, while the Egyptians and the Romans reckoned their days from midnight to midnight, as is the modern custom. Present-day Jews, however, still begin and end their Sabbath observance at sundown.”
I wanted to share those articles to give you something to think about. Could you be the ones walking in Babylonian customs? But, as I stated earlier, neither is conclusive as to whether they observed evening to evening or morning to morning; therefore, we cannot let these contradicting articles be the source of our truth, so as always, we will go to the scriptures. Let’s look at the New Testament and we will see that Paul and those that were with him also observed the Shabbat from evening to evening!
Acts 20:7 (Aramaic and most translations)
“And on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, while the disciples were assembled to break bread, Paul preached to them, and because he was ready to leave the next day, he prolonged his speech UNTIL MIDNIGHT.”
Acts 20:7 (Complete Jewish Scriptures)
“On MOTZA’EI-SHABBAT, when we were gathered to break bread, Sha’ul addressed them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight.”
1 Corinthians 16:2 (Aramaic and most translations)
“On the FIRST DAY OF EVERY WEEK, let each of you put aside and keep in his house whatever he can afford, so that there may be no collections when I come.”
1 Corinthians 16:2 (Complete Jewish Scriptures)
“Every week, on MOTZA’EI-SHABBAT, each of you should set some money aside, according to his sources, and save it up; so that when I come I won’t have to do fundraising.”
Most translations will translate this as the “first day of the week”, which is technically correct because when the sunsets on Saturday it is the start of Sunday the first day of the week. The Aramaic is reflecting the Hebraic thought that they would all have been familiar with.
Glossary of Shabbat Buzz-words by aish.com writes:
“Motzei Shabbat-SATURDAY NIGHT, AFTER SHABBAT IS OVER.”
Acts 20:7 (Good News Translation)
“On SATURDAY EVENING we gathered together for the fellowship meal. Paul spoke to the people and kept on speaking until midnight, since he was going to leave the next day.”
Acts 20:7 (The Aramaic English New Testament)
“And on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, when we assembled to break bread, Paul spoke with them, because he was to depart the next day; and he continued his discussion till midnight.”
There is a footnote #168 for this verse which says “AFTER THE SEVENTH DAY SHABBAT there is a traditional Jewish ceremony known as havdilah, which makes a separation between Shabbat and the first day of the week. ALTHOUGH SHABBAT IS OFFICIALLY OVER AT SUNSET, the sweet FELLOWSHIP enjoyed during Shabbat often extends far into the night, and sometimes until morning of the next day. Paul’s fellowship until midnight has absolutely nothing to do with why Christians go to church on Sunday morning.”
Again, Shabbat ended at SUNSET, and they all recognized that the day shifted to the first day of the week, but they continued to fellowship together until midnight. It makes more sense to realize that on Saturday night AFTER THE SUNSET aka Motza’ei Shabbat that Paul would fellowship with brethren and speak until midnight which would be about 6 hours. When it says that he would leave “the next day” is referring to the DAYLIGHT portion of Sunday the first day of the week. Paul was speaking to them during the NIGHTTIME HOURS of Sunday the first day of the week.
www.lastmessageofmercy.com writes:
When Luke writes that Paul’s sermon went until midnight, he is speaking of what we would call, “SATURDAY NIGHT.” Notice these alternate translations:
Good News Translation: "On SATURDAY EVENING we gathered together for the fellowship meal ..."
Revised English Bible: "On the SATURDAY NIGHT, when we gathered for the breaking of bread ..."
New English Bible: "On the SATURDAY NIGHT, in our assembly for the breaking of bread ..."
According to Hebraic timing (which Luke, the author of Acts, is clearly using) “midnight” would BE ROUGHLY SIX HOURS INTO THE NEXT DAY which, in this context, is the NIGHT PORTION of the Festival of Firstfruits when they would begin counting the Omer (the seven weekly Sabbaths) until Shavuot/Pentecost. Paul then departed at “the break of day” (Sunday morning) and did not stay for any so-called Sunday worship service.
But why did Paul stay so long Saturday night with these believers? Quite possibly because of a Jewish custom called, Motza’ei-Shabbat (also called, Havdalah). In his Jewish New Testament Commentary, David H. Stern writes:
“Motza’ei-Shabbat in Hebrew means ‘departure of the Sabbath’ and refers to Saturday night … the Greek sabbaton transliterates Hebrew Shabbat and may be translated ‘Sabbath’ or ‘week,’ depending on the context … A Saturday night meeting would fit more naturally with Jewish Shabbat observance, wherein the restful spirit of Shabbat is often preserved into Saturday evening, after the official end of Shabbat itself, WHICH OCCURS AFTER SUNSET when it gets dark enough to see three stars. It would be natural for Jewish believers who had rested on Shabbat with the rest of the Jewish community to assemble afterwards to celebrate their common faith in Yeshua [Jesus] the Messiah.”
So David Sterns commentary of the Complete Jewish Scriptures matches what was written in the Aramaic English New Testament. These scriptures match one that I have used in a previous video concerning a day being from evening to evening:
Ezekiel 46:1-2
“This is what YAHWEH Elohim says: ‘The east gate of the inner courtyard is to be SHUT ON SIX WORKING DAYS, but on SHABBAT IT IS TO BE OPENED, and on Rosh-Hodesh (New Month) it is to be OPENED. 2 The prince is to enter by way of the outer vestibule of the gate and stand by the support of the gate. The priests are to prepare his burnt offering and peace offerings. Then he is to prostrate himself in worship at the threshold of the gate, after which he is to leave; but THE GATE IS NOT TO BE SHUT UNTIL EVENING.”
This scripture is very clear! The gate is to be shut on six working days but is to be opened on the Shabbat which is a non-working day! Then after the Shabbat is over in the EVENING the gate is shut! Why? The evening is the start of Sunday, which is one of the six WORKING DAYS. I pray that this has been helpful and will open up the eyes of those who were still confused.
As always may YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!