Conclusion of Do You Know the Time?

In Bible times, it was customary to use watchmen.  They were particularly needed during the night.  Centuries before Jesus' birth, the Israelites divided the  night into three periods called watches.  (Psalm 63:6)  Judges 7:19 mentions "the middle night watch." By Jesus' day, the Jews had adopted the Greek and Roman system of four watch periods during the night.

The Gospels refer to these three watches a number of times.  For example, it was "in the fourth watch of the night" when Jesus walked on the water toward the boat where his disciples were.  (Matthew 14:25)  In an illustration, Jesus said:  "If the householder  had known in that watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into." - Matthew 24:43.

Jesus referred to all four watches when he told his disciples:  "Keep on the watch, therefore, for you do not k now when the master of the house is coming, whether late in the day or at midnight or before dawn or early in the morning."  (Mark 13:35)   The first of those watches , "late in the day," ran from sunset till about nine o'clock in the evening.  The second, the "midnight" watch, was from about nine o'clock in the evening to midnight.  The third watch, referred to as "before dawn," or when the rooster crows,' went from midnight to about three o'clock in the morning.  It may have been during this watch that a rooster actually did crow on the night that Jesus was arrested.  (Mark 14:72)  The fourth decision of the night, the "early morning" watch, ran from about three o'clock in the morning to sunrise.  Consequently, even though today's timepieces were not available to people back in the Bible period they had system for telling the time of day or night. 

Next time: Almighty Yet Considerate 

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