Hour

First found in Dan. 3:6; 4:19, 33;5:5. It is the rendering of the Chaldee shaah, meaning a “moment,” a “look.” It is used in the New Testament frequently to denote some determinate season (Matt. 8:13; Luke 12:39). With the ancient Hebrews the divisions of the day were “morning, evening, and noon-day” (Ps. 55:17, etc.). The Greeks, following the Babylonians, divided the day into twelve hours. The Jews, during the Captivity, learned also from the Babylonians this method of dividing time. When Judea became subject to the Romans, the Jews adopted the Roman mode of reckoning time. The night was divided into four watches (Luke 12:38; Matt. 14:25; 13:25). Frequent allusion is also made to hours (Matt. 25:13; 26:40, etc.). (See DAY.) An hour was the twelfth part of the day, reckoning from sunrise to sunset, and consequently it perpetually varied in length.

The ancient Hebrews were probably unacquainted with the division of the natural day into twenty-four parts; but they afterwards parcelled out the period between sunrise and sunset into a series of divisions distinguished by the sun’s course. The early Jews appear to have divided the day into four parts, (Nehemiah 9:3) and the night into three watches, (Judges 7:19) and even in the New Testament we find a trace of this division in (Matthew 20:1-5) At what period the Jews first became acquainted with the division of the day into twelve hours is unknown, but it is generally supposed they learned it from the Babylonians during the captivity. It was known to the Egyptians at a very early period. They had twelve hours of the day and of the night. There are two kinds of hours, viz. (1) the astronomical or equinoctial hour, i.e. the 24th part of a civil day, and (2) the natural hour, i.e. the 12th part of the natural day, or of the time between sunrise and sunset. These are the hours meant in the New Testament, (John 11:9) etc., and it must be remembered that they perpetually vary in length, so as to be very different at different times of he year. For the purpose of prayer the old division of the day into four portions was continued in the temple service. as we see from (Acts 2:15; 3:1; 10:9)

HOUR. The term is employed to indicate an indefinite period of time, as in Dan 3:6; Dan 4:19, and Matt 9:22; John 7:30, etc. It also indicates a definite period. At the time of our Lord the Jews reckoned the hours from sunrise to sunset, and divided the night into watches. Six in the morning was counted the first, noon the sixth, and 6 p.m. the twelfth hour of the day. In the parable of the laborers, Matt 20:1-10, this division into hours is clearly shown. The husbandman engages laborers early in the morning, and subsequently during the day at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. Jesus was crucified at the third hour, Mark 15:25, or about 9 a.m., and the darkness continued from the sixth to the ninth hour (12-3 p.m.), Matt 27:45. This mode of reckoning is employed in the Acts, as is plainly seen in ch. Acts 2:15. There were thus twelve hours in every day between the sun's rising and setting, and the hours varied in length with the brevity or length of the day. The Romans computed time from midnight to noon, and divided this period into equal portions, whose beginning was indicated by the expressions first, third, sixth, and ninth hour. It is altogether probable, although opinions differ, that John's Gospel observes this method. The tenth hour, therefore, of ch. John 1:39 coincides with 10 a.m.; the sixth hour, ch. Song 4:6, with 6 p.m. The period mentioned for the last scene in the trial of our Lord, John 19:14, as the sixth hour was 6 a.m. The exact expression must be emphasized, "about the sixth hour." If we take into account the necessary delay before arriving at Calvary, an almost exact harmony is made out between John and the other evangelists. See Day.

HOUR. The term is employed to indicate an indefinite period of time, as in Dan 3:6; Dan 4:19, and Matt 9:22; John 7:30, etc. It also indicates a definite period. At the time of our Lord the Jews reckoned the hours from sunrise to sunset, and divided the night into watches. Six in the morning was counted the first, noon the sixth, and 6 p.m. the twelfth hour of the day. In the parable of the laborers, Matt 20:1-10, this division into hours is clearly shown. The husbandman engages laborers early in the morning, and subsequently during the day at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. Jesus was crucified at the third hour, Mark 15:25, or about 9 a.m., and the darkness continued from the sixth to the ninth hour (12-3 p.m.), Matt 27:45. This mode of reckoning is employed in the Acts, as is plainly seen in ch. Acts 2:15. There were thus twelve hours in every day between the sun's rising and setting, and the hours varied in length with the brevity or length of the day. The Romans computed time from midnight to noon, and divided this period into equal portions, whose beginning was indicated by the expressions first, third, sixth, and ninth hour. It is altogether probable, although opinions differ, that John's Gospel observes this method. The tenth hour, therefore, of ch. John 1:39 coincides with 10 a.m.; the sixth hour, ch. Song 4:6, with 6 p.m. The period mentioned for the last scene in the trial of our Lord, John 19:14, as the sixth hour was 6 a.m. The exact expression must be emphasized, "about the sixth hour." If we take into account the necessary delay before arriving at Calvary, an almost exact harmony is made out between John and the other evangelists. See Day.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The twenty-fourth part of a day; sixty minutes.

2. The time of the day, as expressed in hours and minutes, and indicated by a timepiece; as, what is the hour At what hour shall we meet

3. Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the hour. Woman, . . . mine hour is not yet come. John ii. 4. This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Luke xxii. 53.

4. Certain prayers to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers.

5. A measure of distance traveled. Vilvoorden, three hours from Brussels. J. P. Peters. After hours, after the time appointed for one's regular labor. -- Canonical hours. See under Canonical. -- Hour angle (Astron.), the angle between the hour circle passing through a given body, and the meridian of a place. -- Hour circle. (Astron.) (a) Any circle of the sphere passing through the two poles of the equator; esp., one of the circles drawn on an artificial globe through the poles, and dividing the equator into spaces of 15º, or one hour, each. (b) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel to the plane of the earth's equator, and graduated in hours and subdivisions of hours of right ascension. (c) A small brass circle attached to the north pole of an artificial globe, and divided into twenty-four parts or hours. It is used to mark differences of time in working problems on the globe. -- Hour hand, the hand or index which shows the hour on a timepiece. -- Hour line. (a) (Astron.) A line indicating the hour. (b) (Dialing) A line on which the shadow falls at a given hour; the intersection of an hour circle which the face of the dial. -- Hour plate, the plate of a timepiece on which the hours are marked; the dial. Locke. -- Sidereal hour, the twenty-fourth part of a sidereal day. -- Solar hour, the twenty-fourth part of a solar day. -- The small hours, the early hours of the morning, as one o'clock, two o'clock, etc. -- To keep good hours, to be regular in going to bed early.