23 Evening as spoken of by Jeremiah

Notice Jeremiah 6:4. "Prepare ye war against her; and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! For the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out."

When reading Jeremiah 6:4 and the phrase “the shadows of the evening are stretched out” we read the English phrase stretched out. That English phrase is translated from the Hebrew word natah (5186). Once again natah means stretched out, declining, or lengthening, to bow down. Jeremiah explained that the evening (erev) shadows are lengthening or stretching out. This event will occur in the late afternoon, and the late afternoon can be considered the evening.

The evening time described here is easily two or three hours before the sun reaches the western horizon, before the sun drops below the western horizon. As we can easily experience, in the late afternoon, the sun's light begins to cast shadows, which are lengthening (stretching out), as the lowering sun begins to approach the western horizon. The sun is still in the sky, above the western horizon, and beginning to approach the horizon, causing the shadows of the evening to be stretched out or lengthened. The sun has not yet set (dropped below the western horizon), consequently, the shadows of the evening [are being] stretched out or lengthened. According to Jeremiah’s use of the word in this verse, evening occurs in the late afternoon.

Between the evenings can and did begin mid-afternoon or around 3:00 pm, the 9th hour.

To summarize the Scriptures, which use the term evening, we learn conclusively that the evening of a day occurs at the end of that day.

The evening does not begin a day.

Beyn ha arbayim occurs as the day is coming to an end.

Beyn ha arbayim does not mean twilight. It means between the evenings and the evenings have been defined both in the scriptures and by the nation, which observed beyn ha arbayim.

Beyn ha arbayim can include the twilight since the twilight is an event that occurs in the evening of the day, as the day is ending. Ironically, we understand, if beyn ha arbayim were taken narrowly to only mean twilight, beyn ha arbayim would still be kept at the end of the day.

Beyn ha arbayim always occurred as the day was declining, as the day was coming to an end. Understanding this truth, we know that the Passover Lamb was sacrificed at the end of the 14th day of the first month, as the Law required.