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Evening sacrifice

"At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention."

What time was the evening sacrifice in 1 Kings 18:27?

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    Hey John, I've noticed a pattern in a lot of your questions and have been editing them to show you the markdown that helps users read the question. These are good questions, it just helps others when you use the blockquotes markdown for textual quotes and ask the question both in the title and in the body of the question itself.
    – Dan
    Nov 8, 2013 at 16:13
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    @Dan Hi! yes was wondering how to do that..! Thanks will check it out !
    – John Unsworth
    Nov 8, 2013 at 18:41

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The reference is to the daily sacrifice offered in the afternoon. Numbers 28 (4).

Most non-Jewish translations use the word “twilight” for the Hebrew term

The Mishnah about Passover (called Pesachim Chap 5) deals with the time of the OP’s “evening sacrifice”.

“The daily burnt-offering' was slaughtered at the eighth hour and a half (note: After 6.0 a.m., i.e., at 2.30 p.m.) and offered up at the ninth hour and a half”

which justifies the translation “afternoon sacrifice”.

I note that this is not accepted by the reference to "this page" in the answer of Niobius.

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Ezr 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Here's what we know about the evening sacrifice:
"EVENING SACRIFICE. The daily burnt offering of a yearling lamb. With the morning sacrifice it constituted the continual burnt offering. Each sacrifice, a lamb without blemish, was offered with a cereal (“meal,” KJV “meat”) offering, one-fifth peck of fine flour with a quart of oil; and a libation, a quart of wine (Exod 29:38-42; Num 28:3-8). The observance was important in the history of Israel (2 Chron 13:11, et al.). The continual burnt offering of the restored temple of Ezekiel included only the morning sacrifice (Ezek 46:13-15)."

As this page observes, it doesn't seem possible to know exactly when the evening sacrifice was carried out, except that it was in the evening.

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    Evening must have started with sundown...Genesis 1:5 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. I wanted to know as I suddenly realized it would be much more dramatic if the fire came down when it was dark or just at sunset..Maybe it was exactly at sunset. Picture the fire coming down through the red sky
    – John Unsworth
    Nov 8, 2013 at 22:59
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    Actually, the Hebrew word for "evening" is not used in 1ki 18 at all - Bible translators add "evening" because they know that the specific time reference must refer to a sacrifice made at a specific time, and that the approximate time when fire came down was in the evening. The places the Hebrew word "evening" is used before "sacrifice", a very generic word is used ("arev") - similar to the English "evening" - which only generically refers to the period between "afternoon" and "night". Though I have to admit that fire descending from heaven is more visually appealing if the sun has gone down.
    – Niobius
    Nov 9, 2013 at 13:27
  • I think evening is implied. Note how the text says at the beginning of verse 29 "Midday passed…" Unless they continued throughout the night and the sacrifice is the morning sacrifice, most likely it was an evening sacrifice.
    – A Child of God
    Apr 26, 2017 at 15:47
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The evening sacrifice as stated in Numbers 28 is said to between the evenings. What this means is from one evening to another but between those two. For instance if evening of day one stops at 6am and the other evening begins later at 6pm... Therefore from midday would mark a period between the evenings and I believe this is where watches originated from. So Elijah's sacrifice and Yeshua's death marks that period between the evenings which resonates well with the daily afternoon sacrifice.

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    Apr 29, 2017 at 21:01
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Though dramatic, not sure about the theatrics of a flash of fire done in the dark of evening...sunset. After the fire, after the 450 killed, after Elijah tells Ahab to git, we have v45, ‘“In a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there were heavy showers. And Ahab mounted and rode [his chariot] and went [inland] to Jezreel.” ‭‭1 KINGS‬ ‭18:45‬ ‭AMP‬‬ http://bible.com/1588/1ki.18.45.amp

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i have always heard it preached that the evening sacrifice was at 3pm the same time that the Lord Jesus gave His life on the cross at Calvary - the term between the evenings is the halfway point between 12 midday and 6pm
every blessing kenny

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  • Thanks, but here it's important to provide support for your answers. The passover lamb was to be sacrificed "between the evenings," which is about a 12-hour daylight period, the exact middle of which would be noon. The "evening" sacrifices would likely be near dusk, but you'll need to research Jewish ritual practice to determine whether this was actually a precise time.
    – Dieter
    May 27, 2018 at 6:48
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We know that the Passover and the evening sacrifice were to take place "between the evenings":

Evening Sacrifice:

Exodus 29:39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'].

Exodus 29:41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings']; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

Numbers 28:4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'],

Numbers 28:8 The other lamb you shall offer in the evening [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings']; as the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Passover Sacrifice:

Exodus 12:6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'].

Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'] is the Lord's Passover.

Numbers 9:3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'], you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it."

Numbers 9:5 And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'], in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Numbers 9:11 On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'], they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Also offered at the same time was the incense:

Exodus 30:8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight [beyn ha'arbayim, 'between the evenings'], he shall burn incense on it [the golden alter], a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

Incense is closely associated with prayer, even to the point of being used as a symbol for it (Psalms 141:2; Revelation 5:8; Luke 1:10).

The Passover sacrifice was at the same time as the evening daily sacrifice, the lighting of the temple lamps and the burning of the incense on the golden alter (Exodus 12:6, 29:39, 41, 30:8; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 9:3, 5, 11, 28:4, 8). This time became known as "the hour of prayer" (Psalms 55:17, 141:2; Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:10); the evening hour of prayer is explicitly declared to be at the ninth hour (Acts 3:1, 10:30), the same time that Jesus was killed (Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46) as "our Passover, sacrificed for us" (I Corinthians 5:7).

The ninth hour is said to be roughly at 3:00 pm (although, I have some lingering question about that).

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