Time

Besides the ordinary uses of this word, the Bible sometimes employs it to denote a year, as in Daniel 4:16; or a prophetic year, consisting of three hundred and sixty natural year, a day being taken for a year. Thus in Daniel 7:25 12:7, the phrase "a time, times, and the dividing of a time" is supposed to mean three and a half prophetic years, or 1,260 natural years. This period is elsewhere paralleled by the expression, "forty-two months," each month including thirty years, Revelation 11:2-3 12:6,14 13:5.

LAST TIME, TIMES

(kairos eschatos, chronos eschatos (also plural), eschaton tou chronou, hora eschate): In the King James Version this phrase occurs in 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:20 (plural); 1 John 2:18 Jude 1:18. The Revised Version (British and American) has, in 1 Peter 1:20, "at the end of the times," and in 1 John 2:18, "the last hour," in closer adherence to the Greek. The conception is closely allied to that of "the last day," and, like this, has its root in the Old Testament conception of "the end of days." In the Old Testament this designates the entire eschatological period as that which the present course of the world is to issue into, and not, as might be assumed, the closing section of history. It is equivalent to what was later called "the coming aeon" (see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT). In the New Testament, on the other hand, the phrase "the last time" does mark the concluding section of the present world-period, of the present aeon. In three of the New Testament passages the consciousness expresses itself that these "last times" have arrived, and that the period extending from the appearance or the resurrection of Christ until His Second Coming is the closing part of the present age, that the writer and readers are living in "the last times." In one passage (1 Peter 1:5) "the last time" is projected farther forward into the future, so that it comes to mean the time immediately preceding the reappearance of Christ. Both usages can be readily explained. The days of the Messiah were to the Old Testament writers part of the future world, although to the later Jewish chiliasm they appeared as lying this side of it, because differing from the world to come in their earthly and temporal character. To the early Christians the days of the Messiah appeared more closely assimilated in character to the future world, so that no reason existed on this score for not including them in the latter. Still it was also realized that the Messiah in His first appearance had not brought the full realization of the coming world, and that only His return from heaven would consummate the kingdom of God. Accordingly, the days in which they lived assumed to them the character of an intermediate period, marked off on the one hand from the previous development by the appearance of the Messiah, but equally marked off from the coming eon by His reappearance in glory. From a formal point of view the representation resembles the Jewish chiliastic scheme, but with a twofold substantial difference:

(a) the chiliastic scheme restricts the Messiah and His work to the last days, and does not carry Him over into the coming world, whereas to the Christian the coming world, no less than the last days, is thoroughly Messianic;

(b) to the Jewish point of view both the days of the Messiah and the coming world lie in the future, whereas to the Christian the former have already arrived.

It remained possible, however, from the Christian point of view to distinguish within the last times themselves between the immediate present and the future conclusion of this period, and this is done in 1 Peter 1:5. Also in 1 John 2:18 the inference that "the last hour" has come is not drawn from the presence of the Messiah, but from the appearance of the anti-Christian power, so that here also a more contracted conception of the last stage of history reveals itself, only not as future (1 Peter 1:5), but as present (hence, "hour" not "time").

For literature see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Geerhardus Vos

TIME

tim: The basis of the Hebrew measurement of time was the day and the lunar month, as with the Semites generally. The division of the day into hours was late, probably not common until after the exile, although the sun-dial of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:9 Isaiah 38:8) would scent to indicate some division of the day into periods of some sort, as we know the night was divided, The word used for "hour" is Aramaic she`a' (sha`ta'), and does not occur in the Old Testament until the Book of Daniel (4:33; 5:5), and even there it stands for an indefinite period for which "time" would answer as well.

1. The Day:

The term "day" (yom) was in use from the earliest times, as is indicated in the story of the Creation (Genesis 1). It there doubtless denotes an indefinite period, but is marked off by "evening and morning" in accordance with what we know was the method of reckoning the day of 24 hours, i.e. from sunset to sunset.

2. Night:

The night was divided, during pre-exilic times, into three divisions called watches ('ashmurah, 'ashmoreth), making periods of varying length, as the night was longer or shorter (Judges 7:19). This division is referred to in various passages of the Old Testament, but nowhere with indication of definite limits (see Psalm 90:4; Psalm 119:148 Jeremiah 51:12 Habakkuk 2:1).

In the New Testament we find the Roman division of, etc.). But the use of the word in the indefinite sense, as in the expressions: "day of the Lord," "in that day," "the day of judgment," etc., is far more frequent (see DAY). Other more or less indefinite periods of the day and night are: dawn, dawning of the day, morning, evening, noonday, midnight, cock-crowing or crowing of the cock, break of day, etc.

3. Week:

The weekly division of time, or the seven-day period, was in use very early and must have been known to the Hebrews before the Mosaic Law, since it was in use in Babylonia before the days of Abraham and is indicated In the story of the Creation. The Hebrew shabhua`, used in the Old Testament for "week," is derived from shebha`, the word for "seven." As the seventh day was a day of rest, or Sabbath (Hebrew shabbath), this word came to be used for "week," as appears in the New Testament sabbaton, sabbata), indicating the period from Sabbath to Sabbath (Matthew 28:1). The same usage is implied in the Old Testament (Leviticus 23:15; Leviticus 25:8). The days of the week were indicated by the numerals, first, second, etc., save the seventh, which was the Sabbath. In New Testament times Friday was called the day of preparation (paraskeue) for the Sabbath (Luke 23:54).

4. Month:

The monthly division of time was determined, of course, by the phases of the moon, the appearance of the new moon being the beginning of the month, chodhesh. Another term for month was yerach yerach, meaning "moon," which was older and derived from the Phoenician usage, but which persisted to late times, since it is found in the Aramaic inscriptions of the 3rd century A.D. in Syria. The names of the months were Babylonian and of late origin among the Hebrews, probably coming into use during and after the Captivity. But they had other names, of earlier use, derived from the Phoenicians, four of which have survived in "Abib," "Ziv," "Ethanim" and "Bul."

See CALENDAR.

5. Year:

The Hebrew year (shanah) was composed of 12 or 13 months, the latter being the year when an intercalary month was added to make the lunar correspond with the solar year. As the difference between the two was from ten to eleven days, this required the addition of a month once in about three years, or seven in nineteen years. This month was added at the vernal equinox and was called after the month next preceding, we-'adhar, or the "second Adar." We do not know when this arrangement was first adopted, but it was current after the Captivity. There were two years in use, the civil and the ritual, or sacred year. The former began in the autumn, as would appear from Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22, where it is stated that the "feast of ingathering" should be at the end of the year, and the Sabbatic year began in the 7th month of the calendar or sacred year, which would correspond to September-October (Leviticus 25:9). Josephus says (Ant., I, iii, 3) that Moses designated Nican (March-April) as the 1st month of the festivals, i.e. of the sacred year, but preserved the original order of the months for ordinary affairs, evidently referring to the civil year. This usage corresponds to that of the Turkish empire, where the sacred year is lunar and begins at different seasons, but the financial and political year begins in March O.S. The beginning of the year was called ro'sh ha-shanah, and was determined by the priests, as was the beginning of the month. Originally this was done by observation of the moon, but, later, calculation was employed in connection with it, until finally a system based on accurate calculation was adopted, which was not until the 4th century A.D. New-Year was regarded as a festival.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5; YEAR.

6. Seasons:

The return of the seasons was designated by summer and winter, or seed-time and harvest; for they were practically the same. There is, in Palestine, a wet season, extending from October to March or April, and a dry season comprising the remainder of the year. The first is the winter (choreph), and this is the seed-time (zera`), especially the first part of it called yoreh, or the time of the early rain; the second is the summer (qayits, "fruit-harvest," or qatsir, "harvest").

See d-time begins as soon as the early rains have fallen in sufficient quantity to moisten the earth for plowing, and the harvest begins in some parts, as in the lower Jordan region, near the Dead Sea, about April, but on the high lands a month or two later. The fruit harvest comes in summer proper and continues until the rainy season. "The time when kings go out to war" (2 Samuel 11:1 1 Kings 20:22) probably refers to the end of the rainy season in Nican.

7. No Era:

We have no mention in the Old Testament of any era for time reckoning, and we do not find any such usage until the time of the Maccabees. There are occasional references to certain events which might have served for eras had they been generally adopted. Such was the Exodus in the account of the building of the temple (1 Kings 6:1) and the Captivity (Ezekiel 33:21; Ezekiel 40:1) and the Earthquake (Amos 1:1). Dates were usually fixed by the regnal years of the kings, and of the Persian kings after the Captivity. When Simon the Maccabee became independent of the Seleucid kings in 143-142 or 139-138 B.C., he seems to have established an era of his own, if we may attribute to him a series of coins dated by the years "of the independence of Israel" (see COINS: MONEY; also 1 Maccabees 13:41 and 15:6, 10). The Jews doubtless were familiar with the Seleucid era, which began in 312 B.C., and with some of the local eras of the Phoenician cities, but we have no evidence that they made use of them. The era of the Creation was not adopted by them until after the time of Christ. This was fixed at 3,830 years before the destruction of the later temple, or 3760 B.C.

See ERA.

H. Porter

TIME, TIMES AND A HALF

(Daniel 12:7; compare 7:25; Revelation 12:14): A luni-solar cycle.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5.

TIME, LAST

See LAST TIME.

1. (n.) Duration, considered independently of any system of measurement or any employment of terms which designate limited portions thereof.

2. (n.) A particular period or part of duration, whether past, present, or future; a point or portion of duration; as, the time was, or has been; the time is, or will be.

3. (n.) The period at which any definite event occurred, or person lived; age; period; era; as, the Spanish Armada was destroyed in the time of Queen Elizabeth; -- often in the plural; as, ancient times; modern times.

4. (n.) The duration of one's life; the hours and days which a person has at his disposal.

5. (n.) A proper time; a season; an opportunity.

6. (n.) Hour of travail, delivery, or parturition.

7. (n.) Performance or occurrence of an action or event, considered with reference to repetition; addition of a number to itself; repetition; as, to double cloth four times; four times four, or sixteen.

8. (n.) The present life; existence in this world as contrasted with immortal life; definite, as contrasted with infinite, duration.

9. (n.) Tense.

10. (n.) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo; rate of movement; rhythmical division; as, common or triple time; the musician keeps good time.

11. (v. t.) To appoint the time for; to bring, begin, or perform at the proper season or time; as, he timed his appearance rightly.

12. (v. t.) To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in time of movement.

13. (v. t.) To ascertain or record the time, duration, or rate of; as, to time the speed of horses, or hours for workmen.

14. (v. t.) To measure, as in music or harmony.

15. (v. i.) To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time.

16. (v. i.) To pass time; to delay.

2165. zeman -- appointed time, time
... << 2164, 2165. zeman. 2166 >>. appointed time, time. Transliteration: zeman
Phonetic Spelling: (zem-awn') Short Definition: time. Word ...
/hebrew/2165.htm - 6k

4150. moed -- appointed time, place, or meeting
... moed or moed or moadah. 4151 >>. appointed time, place, or meeting. Transliteration:
moed or moed or moadah Phonetic Spelling: (mo-ade') Short Definition: meeting ...
/hebrew/4150.htm - 7k

6256. eth -- time
... << 6255, 6256. eth. 6257 >>. time. Transliteration: eth Phonetic Spelling:
(ayth) Short Definition: time. Word Origin probably from anah ...
/hebrew/6256.htm - 6k

8027. shalash -- to do a third time, divide into three parts
... << 8026b, 8027. shalash. 8028 >>. to do a third time, divide into three parts.
Transliteration: shalash Phonetic Spelling: (shaw-lash') Short Definition: old. ...
/hebrew/8027.htm - 6k

5732. iddan -- time
... << 5731, 5732. iddan. 5733 >>. time. Transliteration: iddan Phonetic Spelling:
(id-dawn') Short Definition: time. Word Origin (Aramaic ...
/hebrew/5732.htm - 6k

2166. zeman -- time
... << 2165, 2166. zeman. 2167 >>. time. Transliteration: zeman Phonetic Spelling:
(zem-awn') Short Definition: time. Word Origin (Aramaic ...
/hebrew/2166.htm - 6k

4489. moneh -- a counted number, time
... << 4488, 4489. moneh. 4490 >>. a counted number, time. Transliteration: moneh
Phonetic Spelling: (mo-neh') Short Definition: times. ... time. ...
/hebrew/4489.htm - 6k

227. az -- at that time
... << 226, 227. az. 228 >>. at that time. Transliteration: az Phonetic Spelling:
(awz) Short Definition: then. Word Origin of uncertain ...
/hebrew/227.htm - 6k

2758. charish -- a plowing, plowing time
... << 2757, 2758. charish. 2759 >>. a plowing, plowing time. Transliteration: charish
Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-reesh') Short Definition: plowing. ... plowing time, ground ...
/hebrew/2758.htm - 6k

4279. machar -- tomorrow, in time to come
... << 4278, 4279. machar. 4280 >>. tomorrow, in time to come. Transliteration: machar
Phonetic Spelling: (maw-khar') Short Definition: tomorrow. ... time to come, tomorrow ...
/hebrew/4279.htm - 6k