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Dictionaries :: Time

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International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Time:

tim: The basis of the Hebrew measurement of time was the day and the lunar month, as with the Semites generally. The division of the day into hours was late, probably not common until after the exile, although the sun-dial of Ahaz (2Ki 20:9; Isa 38:8) would scent to indicate some division of the day into periods of some sort, as we know the night was divided, The word used for "hour" is Aramaic she‘a' (sha‘ta'), and does not occur in the Old Testament until the Book of Daniel (4:33; 5:5), and even there it stands for an indefinite period for which "time" would answer as well.

1. The Day:

The term "day" (yom) was in use from the earliest times, as is indicated in the story of the Creation (Ge 1). It there doubtless denotes an indefinite period, but is marked off by "evening and morning" in accordance with what we know was the method of reckoning the day of 24 hours, i.e. from sunset to sunset.

2. Night:

The night was divided, during pre-exilic times, into three divisions called watches ('ashmurah, ‘ashmoreth), making periods of varying length, as the night was longer or shorter (Jud 7:19). This division is referred to in various passages of the Old Testament, but nowhere with indication of definite limits (see Ps 90:4; 119:148; Jer 51:12; Hab 2:1).

In the New Testament we find the Roman division of, etc.). But the use of the word in the indefinite sense, as in the expressions: "day of the Lord," "in that day," "the day of judgment," etc., is far more frequent (see DAY). Other more or less indefinite periods of the day and night are: dawn, dawning of the day, morning, evening, noonday, midnight, cock-crowing or crowing of the cock, break of day, etc.

3. Week:

The weekly division of time, or the seven-day period, was in use very early and must have been known to the Hebrews before the Mosaic Law, since it was in use in Babylonia before the days of Abraham and is indicated In the story of the Creation. The Hebrew shabhua‘, used in the Old Testament for "week," is derived from shebha‘, the word for "seven." As the seventh day was a day of rest, or Sabbath (Hebrew shabbath), this word came to be used for "week," as appears in the New Testament sabbaton, sabbata), indicating the period from Sabbath to Sabbath (Mt 28:1). The same usage is implied in the Old Testament (Le 23:15; 25:8). The days of the week were indicated by the numerals, first, second, etc., save the seventh, which was the Sabbath. In New Testament times Friday was called the day of preparation (paraskeue) for the Sabbath (Lu 23:54).

4. Month:

The monthly division of time was determined, of course, by the phases of the moon, the appearance of the new moon being the beginning of the month, chodhesh. Another term for month was yerach yerach, meaning "moon," which was older and derived from the Phoenician usage, but which persisted to late times, since it is found in the Aramaic inscriptions of the 3rd century AD in Syria. The names of the months were Babylonian and of late origin among the Hebrews, probably coming into use during and after the Captivity. But they had other names, of earlier use, derived from the Phoenicians, four of which have survived in "Abib," "Ziv," "Ethanim" and "Bul."

See CALENDAR.

5. Year:

The Hebrew year (shanah) was composed of 12 or 13 months, the latter being the year when an intercalary month was added to make the lunar correspond with the solar year. As the difference between the two was from ten to eleven days, this required the addition of a month once in about three years, or seven in nineteen years. This month was added at the vernal equinox and was called after the month next preceding, we-'adhar, or the "second Adar." We do not know when this arrangement was first adopted, but it was current after the Captivity. There were two years in use, the civil and the ritual, or sacred year. The former began in the autumn, as would appear from Ex 23:16; 34:22, where it is stated that the "feast of ingathering" should be at the end of the year, and the Sabbatic year began in the 7th month of the calendar or sacred year, which would correspond to September-October (Le 25:9). Josephus says (Ant., I, iii, 3) that Moses designated Nican (March-April) as the 1st month of the festivals, i.e. of the sacred year, but preserved the original order of the months for ordinary affairs, evidently referring to the civil year. This usage corresponds to that of the Turkish empire, where the sacred year is lunar and begins at different seasons, but the financial and political year begins in March O.S. The beginning of the year was called ro'sh ha-shanah, and was determined by the priests, as was the beginning of the month. Originally this was done by observation of the moon, but, later, calculation was employed in connection with it, until finally a system based on accurate calculation was adopted, which was not until the 4th century AD. New-Year was regarded as a festival.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5; YEAR.

6. Seasons:

The return of the seasons was designated by summer and winter, or seed-time and harvest; for they were practically the same. There is, in Palestine, a wet season, extending from October to March or April, and a dry season comprising the remainder of the year. The first is the winter (choreph), and this is the seed-time (zera‘), especially the first part of it called yoreh, or the time of the early rain; the second is the summer (qayits, "fruit-harvest," or qatsir, "harvest").

Seed-time begins as soon as the early rains have fallen in sufficient quantity to moisten the earth for plowing, and the harvest begins in some parts, as in the lower Jordan region, near the Dead Sea, about April, but on the high lands a month or two later. The fruit harvest comes in summer proper and continues until the rainy season. "The time when kings go out to war" (2Sa 11:1; 1Ki 20:22) probably refers to the end of the rainy season in Nican.

7. No Era:

We have no mention in the Old Testament of any era for time reckoning, and we do not find any such usage until the time of the Maccabees. There are occasional references to certain events which might have served for eras had they been generally adopted. Such was the Exodus in the account of the building of the temple (1Ki 6:1) and the Captivity (Eze 33:21; 40:1) and the Earthquake (Am 1:1). Dates were usually fixed by the regnal years of the kings, and of the Persian kings after the Captivity. When Simon the Maccabee became independent of the Seleucid kings in 143-142 or 139-138 BC, he seems to have established an era of his own, if we may attribute to him a series of coins dated by the years "of the independence of Israel" (see COINS: MONEY; also 1 Macc 13:41 and 15:6,10). The Jews doubtless were familiar with the Seleucid era, which began in 312 BC, and with some of the local eras of the Phoenician cities, but we have no evidence that they made use of them. The era of the Creation was not adopted by them until after the time of Christ. This was fixed at 3,830 years before the destruction of the later temple, or 3760 BC.



Written by H. Porter

See ERA

Torrey's New Topical Textbook

Time: The Duration of the World

Job 22:16; Rev 10:6

Time: The Measure of the Continuance of Anything

Jdg 18:31

Time: An Appointed Season

Neh 2:6; Ecc 3:1,17

Time: Computed By

Years

Gen 15:13; 2Sa 21:1; Dan 9:2

Months

Num 10:10; 1Ch 27:1; Job 3:6

Weeks

Dan 10:2; Luk 18:12

Days

Gen 8:3; Job 1:4; Luk 11:3

Hours, after the captivity

Dan 5:5; Jhn 11:9

Time: Moments

Exd 33:5; Luk 4:5; 1Cr 15:52

Time: The heavenly bodies, appointed as a means for computing

Gen 1:14

Time: The Sun-Dial Early Invented for Pointing Out

2Ki 20:9-11

Time: Eras from Which, Computed

Nativity of the patriarchs during the patriarchal age

Gen 7:11; 8:13; 17:1

The exodus from Egypt

Exd 19:1; 40:17; Num 9:1; 33:38; 1Ki 6:1

The jubilee

Lev 25:15

Accession of kings

1Ki 6:1; 15:1; Isa 36:1; Jer 1:2; Luk 3:1

Building of the temple

1Ki 9:10; 2Ch 8:1

The captivity

Eze 1:1; 33:21; 40:1

Time: Part of a Period Of, Usually Counted as the Whole

1Sa 13:1; Est 4:16; 5:1

Time: In Prophetic Language, Means a Prophetic Year, Or

Dan 12:7; Rev 12:14

Time: Shortness of Man's Portion Of

Psa 89:47

Time: Should Be Redeemed

Eph 5:16; Col 4:5

Time: Should Be Spent in Fear of God

1Pe 1:17

Time: Particular Periods Of, Mentioned

The ancient time

Isa 45:21

The accepted time

Isa 49:8; 2Cr 6:2

The time of visitation

Jer 46:21; 50:27

The time of refreshing

Act 3:19

The time of restitution of all things

Act 3:21

The time of reformation

Hbr 9:10

The time of healing

Jer 14:19

The time of need

Hbr 4:16

The time of temptation

Luk 8:13

The evil time

Psa 37:19; Ecc 9:12

The time of trouble

Psa 27:5; Jer 14:8

Time: All Events Of, Predetermined by God

Act 17:26

Time: All God's Purposes Fulfilled in Due Time

Mar 1:15; Gal 4:4

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
A-1 Noun Strong's Number: g5550 Greek: chronos

Time:

denotes "a space of time," whether short, e.g., Mat 2:7; Luk 4:5, or long, e.g., Luk 8:27; 20:9; or a succession of "times," shorter, e.g., Act 20:18, or longer, e.g., Rom 16:25, RV, "times eternal;" or duration of "time," e.g., Mar 2:19, 2nd part, RV, "while" (AV, "as long as"), lit., "for whatever time." For a fuller treatment see SEASON, A, No. 2.

A-2 Noun Strong's Number: g2540 Greek: kairos

Time:

primarily "due measure, due proportion," when used of "time," signified "a fixed or definite period, a season," sometimes an opportune or seasonable "time," e.g., Rom 5:6, RV, "season;" Gal 6:10, "opportunity." In Mar 10:30; Luk 18:30, "this time" (kairos), i.e., "in this lifetime," is contrasted with "the coming age." In 1Th 5:1, "the times and the seasons," "times" (chronos) refers to the duration of the interval previous to the Parousia of Christ and the length of "time" it will occupy (see COMING, No. 3), as well as other periods; "seasons" refers to the characteristics of these periods.
See SEASON, A, No. 1, and the contrasts between chronos and kairos under SEASON, A, No. 2.

A-3 Noun Strong's Number: g5610 Greek: hora

Time:

primarily, "any time or period fixed by nature," is translated "time" in Mat 14:15; Luk 14:17; Rom 13:11, "high time;" in the following the RV renders it "hour," for AV, "time," Mat 18:1; Luk 1:10; Jhn 16:2, 4, 25; 1Jo 2:18 (twice); Rev 14:15; in Mar 6:35, RV, "day;" in 1Th 2:17, RV, "a short (season)," lit., "(the season, AV, 'time') of an hour."
See HOUR.

B-1 Adverb Strong's Number: g4455 Greek: popote

Time:

"ever yet," is rendered "at any time" in Jhn 1:18; 5:37; 1Jo 4:12. For Luk 15:29 see Note (14) below.
See NEVER.

B-2 Adverb Strong's Number: g2235 Greek: ede

Time:

"already, now," is translated "by this time" in Jhn 11:39.
See ALREADY.

B-3 Adverb Strong's Number: g3819 Greek: palai

Time:

"long ago, of old," is rendered "of old time" in Hbr 1:1 (AV, "in time past").
See OLD.

Notes:

(1) In Luk 9:51; Act 8:1, AV, hemera, "a day," is translated "time," in the former, plural, RV, "the days;" in Luk 23:7 (plural), RV "(in these) days," AV, "(at that) time."

(2) In 1Ti 6:19 the phrase eis to mellon, lit., "unto the about-to-be," i.e., "for the impending (time)," is rendered "against the time to come."

(3) In 1Cr 16:12, AV, nun, "now" (RV), is rendered "at this time;" in Act 24:25, the phrase to nun echon, lit., "the now having," is rendered "at this time" (the verb is adjectival); the phrase is more expressive than the simple "now." Cp. heos tou nun, "until now," Mat 24:21; Mar 13:19, RV, AV, "unto (this time)."

(4) For polumeros, strangely rendered "at sundry times," in Hbr 1:1, AV, see PORTION, C.

(5) For "long time," see LONG.

(6) For "nothing... at any time," see NOTHING, Note (3).

(7) For proskairos, rendered "for a time" in Mar 4:17, AV, see SEASON, WHILE.

(8) In Matt., apo tote, "from that time," lit., "from then," occurs thrice, Mat 4:17; 16:21; 26:16; in Luk 16:16, RV (AV, "since that time"); in Jhn 6:66, AV, "from that time" translates ek toutou, lit., "from, or out of, this," RV, "upon this."

(9) In Luk 4:27, the preposition epi signifies "in the time of."

(10) For genea, rendered "times" in Act 14:16, "time" in Act 15:21, see AGE, No. 2 (RV, "generations").

(11) For "at every time," 2Pe 1:15, RV, see ALWAYS, No. 2.

(12) For "in time of need," Hbr 4:16, see CONVENIENT, and NEED, C, Note.

(13) In Hbr 2:1, pote signifies "at any time;" in 1Pe 3:5, "in the old time;" in 2Pe 1:21, "in old time."
See PAST. In the following where the AV has "sometimes" the RV has "once" in Eph 2:13; 5:8; "aforetime" in Tts 3:3.

(14) In Luk 15:29, AV, oudepote, "never," is rendered "neither... at any time" (RV, "never").

(15) For eukaireo, "to spend time," Act 17:21, see SPEND, No. 10.

(16) For chronotribeo, "to spend time," see SPEND, No. 11.

(17) For prolego, rendered "told... in time past," in Gal 5:21, AV, see FOREWARN.

(18) In Luk 12:1, "in the mean time" is a rendering of the phrase en hois, lit., "in which (things or circumstances)."

(19) In Rev 5:11 there is no word representing "times:" see THOUSAND, Note (2).

(20) In Gal 4:2 prothesmios (in its feminine form, with hemera, "day," understood) is rendered "time appointed" (see APPOINT, No. 3 and Note, TERM).

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