The History Of The Watches

‘My soul waits for you O Yah, more than the watchman who waits for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.’ 

Tehilliym (Psalms) 130:6

We have come to understand that the time keeping measures we utilize today did not exist in antiquity. Just as the Gregorian calendar we use today was not a factor for timekeeping in the bible; so too were other measures used for marking the hourly passage of time in Abraham’s day, but later modified in Yahusha’s time.

The Biblical History of Daily Timekeeping

In the Old Testament, the daily Watches were a method of civil timekeeping that initially were divided into 3 watches:

• 1st Watch/Evening Watch : Sunset to 10pm

• 2nd Watch/Middle Watch: 10pm to 2am

• 3rd Watch/Morning Watch: 2am to Sunrise.

  
  

The calculation of each time period was determined by a few methods:

Sundials: Primarily used by royalty, and the Israelite priests. It is documented in the Old Testament that King Ahaz built one known as the ‘Sundial of Ahaz.’  

2 Kings 20:11.                                                                       

It was a staircase beside which was positioned an obelisk or a pylon. When the sun shone upon it, a shadow was cast on the stairs, and the king would count the number of steps the shadow ascended or descended along the staircase to determine the hour of the day. Although Ahaz was considered by Yahuah to be very wicked, the sundial was used later to fulfill a miracle  made to his son, King Hezekiah, whom Yahuah deemed most righteous. Isaiah prophesied  that the sundial of King Ahaz would go back 10 steps, and Hezekiah’s life would be prolonged another 15 years. It did, and it was. Isaiah 38:7-8.  Below is an artist’s rendition of what that might’ve looked like.

• Sun Phases:  The average citizen simply monitored the sun as it traveled across the sky.

  • Dawn/Sunrise: The beginning of the workday.

  • Heat of the Day: Mid to late Morning, when the sun’s rays are getting hotter. 

  • Noon/Midday: The sun is at its zenith in the sky.

  • Cool of the Day: Late Afternoon

  • Sunset/Evening: The end of the workday.

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