Before, I mentioned to you Rabbi Kaplan. Remember, the other one was in Exodus 12. Now we are in Exodus 16. Rabbi Kaplan's interpretation of Exodus 16:12-13 says: "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Speak to them and say, In the afternoon [ben ha arbayim], you will eat meat and in the morning, you will have your fill of bread. . . That evening [ba erev], a flock of quail came and covered the camp."
Again we see that this is clearly the insertion of a traditional Jewish belief into the Scriptures.
Exodus 16 holds the key to the scriptural meaning of ben ha arbayim, "twilight," "between the two evenings." So, I think that it is good that we study it in its context. Exodus 16 gives us the exact time setting.
"Meat" at sunset. "Manna" at sunrise.
Do you notice the difference? God is differentiating between ba erev and ben ha arbayim.
This absolutely proves that ben ha arbayim, twilight, follows ba erev.
Here is the order of events. Here are the Israelites—camped, listening to the message that Moses has for them from God. It is the Sabbath day. The reason God is giving this illustration (this living example, this lesson) was to teach them the importance of keeping the Sabbath. He does not want them working on the Sabbath. So, the lesson begins with an example of when the Sabbath ends; and then it ends with an example that they should not be working (because there is not going to be any manna out there).
If God had brought the quail before ba erev (sunset), what would the people have done? They would have run out, begun to gather the quail, kill the quail, clean the quail, roast the quail, and then all of that would have been done on the Sabbath day. So, in order for God to make sure that He gave them the lesson and that they did not work on the Sabbath day, He did not bring the quail until sunset. The [Sabbath] day was over!
And then, during ben ha arbayim—twilight (that period of light between the going down of the sun, ba erev)—they killed the quail, they cleaned the quail, and they began to roast the quail. Indeed, they may very well have begun to have eaten some of the quail during that period of time. Ben ha arbayim follows immediately on the heels of ba erev; and it is the actual beginning of the next day. It begins with "light"—not total darkness.
Ben ha arbayim follows ba erev. It is that period of time between the going down of the sun and complete darkness. How long is ben ha arbayim? Well, it depends upon what time of the year. It begins at the instant that the sun disappears below the horizon and it ends with the "dark" of night.
In winter (a three month period), it may be anywhere from as long as almost an hour to as short as about thirty minutes. In spring and fall, it will be about one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes long. In summer, about one hour and fifteen to one hour and thirty minutes long. Other factors (such as the cloud cover, or the phases of the moon) would also lengthen, or shorten, the period of ben ha arbayim.
The second Passover (and this period of time that we are talking about here in Exodus 16) would be one month later. It would be into that period of time of late April, or early May—in our reckoning. And it would be a good hour and twenty minutes, as well as having a full moon, for these people to gather the quail and then begin to kill them, prepare them, and eat them.
Ben ha arbayim stands revealed as to its meaning by Bible usage. It is that period of time following ba erev (sunset). It is "between the two evenings." It is "twilight." It is "dusk."
But not all of us are familiar with what happened at the beginning of that week (i.e., the preceding Sabbath); and that is shown in verses 12 and 13.
We have two different events taking place here. One is going to take place at twilight of one day, and then the next morning there is going to be a second event. The second event was the one that we have already covered here—that of the manna.
God waited until ba erev (sunset) before He sent the quail. Otherwise to do so, it would have tempted His people to sin—through the capturing, the cleaning, the roasting, and then the eating of the quail. He had just said, "That they would eat—not catch, not capture, not roast—but that they would be eating at twilight." Twilight there is ben ha arbayim. God sent the quail at ba erev (sunset). Then they captured the quail, and ate the quail, at ben ha arbayim. That is very clear.
Ben ha arbayim follows sunset. Twilight follows sunset. And every day actually begins with approximately a one-hour period of light. Ba erev is only a 3 or 5 minute period—during which the sun appears to hit the horizon, and then sinks below the horizon, and disappears. But it is still light for about another hour, or hour and a half—depending upon what time of the year it is. It is in that period of time of waning light (twilight, dusk, ben ha arbayim) that the people were to kill, gather, clean, and then roast the quail.
By comparing that with Exodus 16:12-13, it makes it very clear that ben ha arbayim ("twilight," "dusk," "between the two evenings") occurs AFTER ba erev—not before. It occurs after ba erev.
Ben ha arbayim consists of that period of light that is gradually diminishing into darkness. It begins with a period of light (in which there is still a great deal of light). It lasts about one hour in the spring. It lasts about an hour-and-a-half by the time we get to June 21st, and then gradually diminishes again as we go back to December 21st, and then it is slightly less than an hour.
Boqer is in many ways similar to ben ha arbayim, only it is on the other end of the night period. Boqer begins at the first crack of dawn, when light begins to appear in the eastern sky. We will not go to Exodus 16. But (again, by Hebrew usage at the time that this thing was occurring) that chapter makes it very clear that boqer continued through the morning until it was warm enough to be considered hot. That would be at least mid-morning and maybe late morning (by their own usage). That makes it very clear.
It is clear that God sent the quail at ba erev. Ba erev is "the going down of the sun." That is exactly what this Jewish Publication Society Bible translation said. It said that this sacrifice He is speaking of in Deuteronomy 16:6 was to be killed at the going down of the sun, at ba erev. The Passover sacrifice was to be killed at ben ha arbayim. Verses 12 and 13 of Exodus 16 show that ben ha arbayim follows bar erev. Because the quail came at ba erev, it took the people a while to catch the quail, to put them to death, and to prepare them to eat. They then had quail after ba erev. Therefore ben ha arbayim comes after ba erev. This is very clear.
This is exactly what the Jews claim today. They say in their written material, "This is the way it has always been." But it has not always been this way. This is why Exodus 16:12-13 is so important, where it shows clearly that ben ha arbayim—"between the two evenings," follows ba erev—"the going down of the sun.
Leviticus 23:5-6 says that the 14th is the Passover, and that the lamb is to be slain "between the two evenings"—ben ha arbayim. Now ben ha arbayim, according to Exodus 16:12-13, clearly falls after bar erev—"the going down of the sun." The lambs were to be sacrificed immediately following the sunset of the 13th.
