15 Consider the progression of time within each day and when, as Christ related, during the day the evening occurs

Read John 11:9. According to Jesus Christ, how many hours (of daylight) are there in the day? Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walketh in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of the world (referring to the sun).

Although we are aware of (as Christ would have been) seasonal variations and latitudinal positioning of the sun over the earth, in general and from the perspective of a general time element, Christ defines there are twelve hours (of daylight) in a day (as opposed to the night – which also consists of twelve hours).

There are 12 hours of daylight each day and 12 hours of darkness each night, totaling 24 hours in each day.

Now read Matthew 20:1-12.

Notice the following statements … went out early in the morning … verse 1. … went out about the third hour … verse 3. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour … verse 5. And about the eleventh hour … verse 6. So when evening was come … verse 8.

After reading specifically verses 1-8, we read of the progression of time within a 12 hour day(light).

According to Christ, at what hour of the day does the evening occur?

Is the evening, the first hour of the day or, the last (twelfth) hour of the day?

Verses 9 and 12 reveal that the last group of hired servants, those who were hired at the eleventh hour worked for one hour. Eleven plus one equals twelve.

There are twelve hours in the day and consequently, the evening is the twelfth or last hour of the day.

Let us confirm that the twelfth hour is the evening hour by reading Leviticus 19:13 along with Deuteronomy 24:14-15.

Thou shall not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning (Leviticus 19:13).

Now read Deuteronomy 24:14-15 (New King James Version). You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the sun go down on it for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the LORD and it be sin with you.

According to the Law as revealed in these two scriptures (a law which was observed by the householder (or lord of the vineyard) in Christ’s parable), Christ was correct to explain that the hired servants were to be gathered together in the evening of the day, in order to receive their wages.

As the law requires, on the same day they performed their service, on the same day they worked, they were to be paid. The wages were not to be held overnight, because it was understood - the night began a new day.

To hold the wages into the next (new) day was against the law. The evening, as the sun was setting (the twelfth hour) was the last opportunity to pay these hired servants (these day laborers) their wages on the same day they worked.

Now with that in mind, reading again Matthew 20 we see Christ related a sequence of hours including the third, the sixth, the ninth and the eleventh.

We know there are twelve hours of day light, John 11:9. Consequently, we can conclude - the evening is the twelfth hour.

Additionally, we can understand, logically, that the twelfth hour of the day lasts for an hour, until the first hour of the night.

In the Hebrew reckoning of time, there is no zero hour. There are, relatively speaking, in general terms, 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, totaling 24 hours in each day. Each hour is 60 minutes in duration.

Consequently, the twelfth hour of the day (the evening hour – equivalent to 6:00 pm) is 60 minutes in duration and terminates at the first hour of the night. The first hour of the night is equivalent to 7:00 pm.

The twelfth hour of the night (or the last hour of the night), just before the rising of the sun is equivalent to 6:00 am and it too lasts 60 minutes. Since there is no zero hour, the first hour of the day is equivalent to 7:00 am.

The sixth hour of the night is equivalent to 12:00 midnight. The sixth hour of the day is equivalent to 12:00 noon.

The third hour of the day is equivalent to 9:00 am; the ninth hour of the day is equivalent to 3:00 in the afternoon.

The third hour of the night is equivalent to 9:00 pm and the eighth hour of the night is equivalent to 2:00 am (2 o’clock in the morning or as we also call it, 2 o’clock at night).

You can see the logic of these time equivalents.

To summarize Matthew 20:1-12, as understood by the Old Testament scriptures we read above:

The servants were gathered in the evening of the same day they worked.

The servants, gathered in the evening, as the sun was going down, were paid for their services at the end of the day in which they worked, but before the night of the new day. There money could not be held into the new day.

Evening truly ends when the twilight is complete and there is no more sunlight to rule the day. Once the light of the old day is gone, the dark of a new day begins.

Evening (the twelfth hour of the day) ends a day and night (the first hour of the night) begins a new day.

Evening lasts until the darkness of a new day commences.