Prof. Samuele Bacchiocchi,
Begin quote “The Day of Atonement
Several reasons have contributed to make the sunset reckoning normative for the
observance of the annual feasts in general and of the weekly Sabbath in
particular. A first reason is suggested by the legislation regarding the
Day of Atonement. The classic text is Leviticus 23:32, where the
following instruction is given regarding the observance of the Day of
Atonement: "It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall
afflict yourselves; on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening
shall you keep your sabbath."
This text does provide the most explicit and
emphatic evidence of the Biblical method of day reckoning "from evening to
evening." Thus it is not surprising that appeal is generally made to
this text to prove the Biblical principle of Sabbathkeeping from sunset to
sunset. Such a use is perfectly legitimate. Two important points,
however, should be noted regarding this text.
First, the law in this text regards not the
observance of the seventh day Sabbath as such, but of the Day of
Atonement. While both festivals were undoubtedly observed "from
evening to evening," the manner of their observance was radically
different. The Day of Atonement was a day of penance and fasting
("you shall afflict yourselves"-Lev 23:32), whereas the Sabbath was a
day of delight and celebration (Is 58:13-14).
The Definition of the Tenth Day
Second, Leviticus 23:32 is the concluding
statement of instructions given from verses 27 to 32 on how the Day of
Atonement was to be observed "on the tenth day of the seventh month"
(v. 27). Verse 32, however, explains that this day is to be observed as
"a sabbath of solemn rest . . . on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening from
evening to evening."
This last verse poses a problem because it
changes the date of the Day of Atonement from "the tenth day" (v. 27) to "the ninth day."
The plausible explanation is that verse 32 does not intend to change the date
of the Day of Atonement from the 10th to the 9th day of the month, but rather
to define that the observance of the 10th day was to begin on the evening of
the previous day, that is, the 9th day.
This clarification was apparently needed because
a transition was taking place in the Israelite society from the sunrise
to sunrise reckoning for the working day, to the sunset to sunset reckoning for
the Holy Days. To avoid any misunderstanding, the verse explains with utmost
precision that the tenth day, was to be observed according to the sunset
reckoning, beginning from "the ninth day of the month beginning at
evening" and it was to be kept "from evening to evening" (Lev 23:32).
The conclusion, then, is that Leviticus 23:32
does provide explicit evidence for the sunset reckoning, but it also
suggests-by anticipating the beginning of the 10th day to the evening of the
9th-that the sunrise reckoning was apparently in use to define the working day.
Normally, people to go work in the morning, not in the evening. This question
is discussed in the previous chapter of The Time of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.” End quote ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER No. 175 "The Reckoning of the Sabbath
Today" Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D.
GE:
Perfectly typical of Prof.
Samuele Bacchiocchi! Perfectly typical
of him to begin with a
“a problem”, then to inflate it
to a “plausible explanation .... intend(ed) .... to
define ....”,
to “this clarification .... apparent....”,
to “explain with utmost precision”
to “the conclusion ....”
to “explicit evidence”.
The metamorphosis
ended up being “explicit evidence ..... for
the sunset reckoning”. But what was
Bacchiocchi all the while ‘intending’
to do? To disprove “the sunset
reckoning” in Matthew 28:1.
So, where does Bacchiocchi end up? With “this clarification” that “apparently”
“defines” and “evidence(s) the sunset reckoning”—
CONTRA both Bacchiocchi’s ‘intention’
and “conclusion”.
What is it to be ‘thick
skinned’? This: “The conclusion, then, is that Leviticus 23:32 does provide
explicit evidence for the sunset reckoning, but it also suggests ..... that the
sunrise reckoning was APPARENTLY IN USE .....”.
“Suggests” < “apparently”
< “in use”: a marvel of
self-delusion— “.....
a transition was taking place in the Israelite society from the sunrise
to sunrise reckoning for the working day, to the sunset to sunset reckoning for
the Holy Days”; a “transition”
of which the Bible knows nothing but linguistic palaeontologist Prof Samuele
Bacchiocchi has found the missing link fossil in Matthew 28:1.
Alright; it is easy to
criticise. So what is my solution to the ‘problem’
or ‘question’?
That I do not believe in
evolution .....
That Bacchiocchi focuses on
the wrong detail.
It was no ‘transition’, and it was no “transition .... taking
place in the Israelite society from the sunrise to sunrise reckoning for
the working day, to the sunset to sunset reckoning for the Holy Days”
even if one could understand what that, is supposed to mean. No ‘transition’; no evolution at this stage
in the history of God’s People; no transition of days from the ninth to the
tenth, and no transition from evening to sunrise reckoning of days. Both are
unnecessary and amounts to imagining ‘problems’ that do not exist.
The only ‘transition from the sunrise to sunrise
reckoning to the sunset to sunset reckoning’ ever, occurred at the
beginning of the exodus when the night and after-part of Abib 13 became the
night and fore-part of Abib 14.
Rather, the date of the Sabbath Day of the Solemn Feast of the Atonement
was the tenth day of the Seventh Month Tishri; and the ninth day of the Seventh
Month Tishri was observed as ‘The Day of Preparation of the Solemn Feast of
Atonement’, just like in Jn19:14 Abib 14
was observed as “The Preparation Day of Passover” Feast Day Abib 15 “the
sabbath” Jn19:31 of the passover feast as such.
In Acts 13:42 the
reference is to “the in between-sabbath” on which the “measure”
of the Jews’ sins was made full and the “seventy sevens” of years “determined
upon” them were “cut off” and were “made an end of” as they for
ever walked out on the preaching of the Gospel. The reference is clearly to the
yearly Day of Judgment or Atonement. The
Gentile believers “besought with the view to the in between-Sabbath that
these same words be spoken to them”.
“Besought with the view to the in-between-sabbath”— exactly like
in Jn19:31 “The Jews besought Pilate because That Day was great day-sabbath
day”. “That Day” was the “in the bone of day-sabbath day” or
“in between-sabbath day” and “great day-sabbath day” of the
fifteenth day of the month of Abib. We
see effectively the same description given to both these ‘ceremonial’ or ‘yearly’
or ‘typical sabbaths’.
Now just as the
yearly ‘That Day in the bone of great day-sabbath day’ of Abib 15 had
its “Preparation” – “The Preparation of the Passover” Jn19:14, just so, had ‘That Day in the bone of
great day-sabbath day’ and “in between-sabbath” of Tishri 10 in Acts
13:42, its ‘Preparation Day’, in fact, Tishri 9. And just as both Abib 15 and Abib 14 were
accounted ‘passover days’, just so both Tishri 10 and Tishri 9 were accounted ‘days
of the atonement’ or ‘days of the judgment’. We see effectively the same
description given to both these ‘ceremonial’ or ‘yearly’ or ‘typical sabbaths’
and their respective ‘days of preparation’.
There is
therefore no reason to like Bacchiocchi bicker about the ‘reckoning’ of the day
which throughout the Bible except in Exodus under Egyptian rule unequivocally
has always been sunset to sunset.
25 November 2009
Gerhard Ebersöhn
Private Bag X43
Sunninghill 2157