When Exactly Is "Between the Two Evenings"?

As mentioned previously, Moses used the phrase “between the two evenings” eleven times in the first five books of God’s Word, but not always in reference to Passover. It was also the appointed time for the daily offerings and other services in the tabernacle/temple.

In this post, we'll see that God's Word really pinpoints "between the two evenings" for us. As always, please don't just take my word — or the word of any other human being — for it, but search these things out for yourself in God's Word.

In Ex. 29:38-39, we find: “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight [between the two evenings].” Num. 28:4-8 mirrors this account, including the specification that the evening sacrifice be offered “between the two evenings.”

“One” lamb was to be offered in the morning. “One” is echad (Strong’s #259) in both Ex. 29 and Num. 28 and means “one” or “first.” It’s used to designate the first day of creation in Gen. 1:5, as well as one of Adam’s ribs in Gen. 2:21.

Another lamb, a second lamb, was to be offered “between the two evenings.” The word translated “other” is sheni (Strong’s #8145) and primarily means “second.” It’s used for the second day of creation (Gen. 1:8), for the second month (Gen. 7:11), for Pharaoh’s second dream (Gen. 41:5), for Joseph’s second son Ephraim (Gen. 41:52), for the second year after Israel came out of Egypt (Ex. 40:17), and many other such examples. It’s also the root word of the Hebrew shenayim (Strong’s #8147), or “two.”

So the priests offered two burnt offerings each day: the first in the morning, and the second “between the two evenings.” This proves that “between the two evenings” has to be at the end of the day, not the beginning. If “between the two evenings” was the beginning of the day, the second lamb would be the first lamb and the first lamb would be the second — contradicting God’s Word!

The priests performed additional ceremonies along with the morning and evening sacrifices — a fact that will pinpoint “between the two evenings” for us. In Ex. 30:7-8, we find: “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight [between the two evenings], he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.”

So three ceremonies took place in the tabernacle/temple each morning and evening (between the two evenings): offering a yearling male lamb as a burnt sacrifice; tending the lamps; and offering incense on the altar of incense.

This wasn’t all, though. Another important event happened at these same times: the people gathered outside the temple to pray. Numerous verses in God’s Word show us this when we put them all together, “line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Isa. 28:10, 13).

First, David wrote in Psa. 141:2: “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Prayer, the incense offering, and the evening sacrifice — all together! Lest the connection between prayers and the incense offering be lost on us, Rev. 5:8 explicitly tells us that incense represents the prayers of the saints.

The Levites also had a special duty “to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening…” (1 Chron. 23:30). As the priests offered the sacrifice, tended the lamps, and burned incense, both the Levites and the people simultaneously thanked and praised the Lord. No wonder David linked his prayers to the evening sacrifice, and no wonder the psalmist pleaded in Psa. 119:108, “Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD”!

David further wrote in Psa. 55:17: “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” That’s now three times a day, not just two.

Did any of God’s other servants pray to Him three times a day? Yes indeed! “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Dan. 6:10).

Daniel later elaborated that he prayed at the time of the evening sacrifice: “Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering” (Dan. 9:20-21).

In the New Testament, John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias the priest, whom God’s Word tells us was a righteous and blameless man (Luke 1:6), held the duty of offering incense during the morning and evening sacrifices. Notice Luke 1:8-10: “So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.”

Again, we have Biblical proof of the link between the incense offering, the daily sacrifices, and prayer. This hour of incense could also be called the hour of prayer!

Now, we know from the Psalms that one of the three hours of prayer was noon. Acts 10:9 confirms this: “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.” The 6^th hour, of course, was noon, the 6^th hour after sunrise.

What about the other two hours of prayers, which corresponded to the morning and evening sacrifices? Does God’s Word pinpoint those for us, too? Yes it does!

Let’s turn over to Acts 10:30 and drop in on Peter’s visit with Cornelius: “So Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God.”’”

The 9^th hour was the 9^th hour after sunrise, or about 3:00 PM. It corresponded to the evening sacrifice and the evening incense offering, both of which happened “between the two evenings”! God’s Word pinpointed “between the two evenings” for us and gave us an exact hour! The Bible does indeed interpret the Bible; we need only to put everything together!

Lest there be any doubt, we find this explicit statement in Acts 3:1: “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” There we have it: an open and shut case!

As for the morning sacrifice, God’s Word gives us some clues about that as well. By putting Acts 2:1-4 and Acts 2:14 together, we discover that God sent the Holy Spirit at the 3^rd hour (9:00 AM), as the disciples gathered together on the Day of Pentecost. Why were they gathered together at the 3^rd hour, and why did God choose that specific hour? How about this passage in Acts 1:14, where we find that the disciples “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

These, then, are the hours of prayer: the 3^rd hour, the 6^th hour, and the 9^th hour. When David said he prayed at morning, noon, and evening, these are the hours he was talking about. When Daniel prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem, this is when it happened. When the incense was offered, it was the 3^rd hour and the 9^th hour. When the daily offerings were sacrificed, it was at the 3^rd hour and the 9^th hour.

When is “between the two evenings”? It’s the 9^th hour! That’s the time of the evening sacrifice, and also of the Passover sacrifice! Therefore, “between the two evenings” means after the start of the evening before sunset, but before the evening that’s after sunset. It’s toward the end of the day, but before the beginning of the next.

The first-century Jewish historian Josephus confirmed God’s Word on this matter, as if such a thing were needed. He wrote that the Passover lambs were slain “from the ninth hour till the eleventh” (Wars of the Jews 6:9:3). He also chronicled that the evening sacrifice during Pompey’s siege of Jerusalem took place at the ninth hour (Antiquities of the Jews 15:4:3).

What else is significant about the 3^rd hour, the 6^th hour, and the 9^th hour? Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross at the 3^rd hour (Mark 15:25), darkness fell over the land at the 6^th hour (Mat. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44), and He died at the 9^th hour (Mat. 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-39; Luke 23:44-46). Jesus Christ, our Savior and Passover Lamb, died on Nisan 14 at the 9^th hour — between the two evenings! He was sacrificed at the precise moment the Passover lambs had always been sacrificed!

Furthermore, He was nailed to the cross at the time of the morning sacrifice, and died at the time of the evening sacrifice. This is why there were two daily burnt offerings, one in the morning and one in the evening: they foreshadowed Christ’s own sacrifice and even foretold the time of day it would happen!

Our Passover sacrifice took place at the 9^th hour on the afternoon of the 14^th of Nisan. This is a truth that cannot be disputed. It is a fact.

Adapted from the book The Lord's Passover, by this author. For additional information about this fascinating topic, please refer to the original work. It's available for free in PDF format.