Bible ClocksBible Clocks
If you've ever read the Gospels, you've seen it, time indicated by hour of the day instead of the familiar, modern, hour of the clock. All time of day references given in the Bible's original languages are written as hours of the day, not hours of the clock.
So what do you do if you want to understand those references to hours of the day given in the Bible?
You need a clock that tells time measured in hours of the day.
Clocks that tell time that way are called Bible Clocks.
The Tricks
Most people already know how to tell time using a typical 12 hour analog clock. 12 hour analog clocks are so familiar most people can read them even when there are no numbers on the clock face at all.
By not changing anything about orientation of the hour and minute hands themselves on a 12 hour analog Bible Clock the first "trick" is achieved:
Anyone who knows how to tell time using an analog 12 hour clock can read the location of the hour and minute hands on the clock and know the conventional, modern, time measured as the "hour of the clock."
By changing the labeling, from the modern hour of the clock to the Biblical hour of the day, a second trick is achieved.
The face of a Bible Clock can be used to tell the hour of the day, and thus the Biblical Time for any time of the day.
Understanding Hours of the Day
The Biblical way of reckoning time starts with a calendar day that breaks at sunset instead of the modern calendar day-break at midnight.
Within the calendar day there are two 12 hour periods, 12 hours of darkness, called night, and 12 hours of daylight, called the day.
Most Biblical references to time at night are given as a reference to 1 of 4 different Watches of the Night. The outer ring on 12 hour analog style Bible Clocks mark the start of each of those 4 watches. The starting time for the first watch is at nominal sunset, 6:00 PM, then the second watch at 9:00 PM, the third watch at 12:00 Midnight, and the 4th watch at 3:00 AM.
All biblical references to time during the daylight part of the day are given by the hour of the day. The first hour starts at 6:00 AM, 1/2 way through the calendar day. The seventh hour of the day begins at 12:00 Noon, the 12th hour of the day begins at 5:00 PM.
The Calendar of the Bible puts particular emphasis on the Sabbath cycle, including a weekly cycle, and a Sabbath cycle in the years and in Jubilees. The Biblical view of the hours of the day indicates the seventh hour begins at high-noon, which is the normal start for the lunch hour, or siesta, and it marks a mid-day Sabbath.
The Fixed Length of Hours
There are many fixed prophetic ratios of time indicated in the Bible. These ratios provide interpretive keys for mapping parables from one time domain to another. The Night Watch is specifically called out in Psalm 90 as being equal to a 1,000 year period.
Specific applications of that ratio in history are beyond our scope here, but that ratio is very useful in establishing a key point. The 4 watches of the night are a prophetic equal to 4,000 years, and the length of those years never changes so the overall length of 4 watches never changes either. The night time part of a calendar day is thus as invariant as the amount of time in 4000 years which is also completely invariant.
This means that the 12 hours of the daylight part of the calendar day are also fixed in length each day, no matter what the sun might be doing relative to sunrise and sunset times.
This is a long winded way of saying that simple, modern, mechanical clock movements do a reasonable job of indicating Biblical hours of the day. There is no reason to resort to astronomical measurements, nor is there any reason to try and calculate daylight hours as fitting between any observed sunrise and sunset times.
In ancient times, even up until the times of early astronomers, the time-of-day was set at high-noon and not at sunrise nor sunset. This is because of the relatively invariant nature of the position of the sun at high noon. For the average man on the street the observation of the sun at high noon would have marked the most important time of the day, the start of the seventh hour, or daily Sabbath.
Time Conversions
One of the most dense series of time references in the Bible is in Jesus' parable of the workers. The parable spans the entire daylight part of a calendar day, with various workers being called to work at various hours.
41 Matthew 20:1-16
1For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
12Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
14Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
16So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Using a Bible Clock we can quickly discover what the modern times were for each group of workers called in the parable:
- 3rd Hour: 8:00 AM
- 6th Hour: 11:00 AM
- 9th Hour: 2:00 PM
- 11th Hour: 4:00 PM
Of course this begs a question, if the last group is called at 4:00 PM, when there is still 2 hours in the day remaining, why then do they only work 1 hour?
Notice how we could not even ask the question without an accurate Bible Clock.
The answer? The workers are either in town, and must travel an hour to the field, or the evening when the paymaster arrives is not quite at the end of the 12 hour day. Perhaps both.
Other Uses
Bible clocks make an interesting standing witness. Put a Bible Clock on your wall, and it says to all who see it that time is not as it seems. Life is not as it seems. Jesus has left a truth in his word that the world of today does not know and does not acknowledge.
Bible Clocks are available for purchase from the Bible Time Press store.
