What Hour was Jesus Crucified?
Critics often point out that the Gospel authors did not even get the exact hour of Jesus' crucifixion straight. Mark says Jesus was crucified at the third hour, while John has Pilate handing Jesus over to the Roman guards at about the sixth hour, which would place Jesus' trial some time after Mark said He was crucified. The two verses in question are ...
It was the third hour when they crucified Him. (Mark 15:25 NASB)
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he (Pilate) *said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!" (John 19:14 NASB)
Most Christian apologetic sites defend this discrepancy by appealing to the cultural differences between the Jewish and Gentile worlds - specifically the different methods used to tell time.
The Jews counting the 12 hours of their day beginning with sunrise... they then counted the twelve hours of night from sunset to sunrise.
The Romans started their day at midnight and counted the 12 hours to noon then counted another 12 hours from noon to midnight which is very similar to the system used by the modern world.
In other words, Mark's "third hour" would have been three hours after sunrise ie. about 9 am. Pilate handing Jesus over at John’s sixth hour would have been about six in the morning
This explanation is predicated on the idea that John used the Roman method of counting time for which, it is said, there are various 'clues' in his Gospel.
I beg to disagree. Common sense and logic render this entire argument completely unacceptable. To begin with... Pilate handing John over to be executed (supposedly at 6 am) was the last of several events that occurred just prior to this. Lets examine a chronological account of the events that led up to the Savior's death.
Jesus ate the Passover (an evening meal) with His disciples, during which He prophesied that before the rooster crowed, Peter would deny Him thrice (Matthew 26:34). Jesus and the disciples then went to the garden of Gethsemane, where he instructed the disciples to wait while He prayed (Vs. 35). However, the disciples fell asleep several times (Vs. 40, 43 45) indicating that it was late at night. The soldiers then appeared, seized Jesus and "led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together". Peter followed at a distance (Vs. 57-58).
However, as said by Matthew three different people who thought they recognized Peter sitting outside in the courtyard accused him of being one of Jesus' followers. Peter denied all three of them... just before the rooster crowed (26: 69-75) as Jesus had prophesied.
While roosters will occasionally crow at any time of the day, according to the Smithsonian, the birds actually have an inner circadian rhythm that tells them when to crow. The majority of their crowing is like clockwork, "peaking in frequency at time intervals roughly 24 hours apart" [01] In other words, it is most likely that this bird crowed at dawn
In the mean time It was at this 'trial' that the high priest pronounced Jesus guilty of blasphemy (Vs. 65-68), which happened as Luke said, when it was day.
When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber.... (Luke 22:66 NASB)
Matthew and Mark both confirm that it was morning when the priests and elder turned Jesus over to Pilate,
Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor" (Matthew 27:1-2 NASB).
Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, scribes, and the entire Council immediately held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led Him away, and turned Him over to Pilate. (Mark 15:1 NASB)
(I have no idea why the NASB says "early in the morning" when euthus - the Greek word used indicates "immediately". The KJV says it was “ straightway in the morning”
Bypassing the story of Judas' death, Matthew next has Jesus being questioned by Pilate (27:11). Finding that Jesus was from Herod's jurisdiction, Pilate sent Him to Herod. (Note: Herod's involvement is only mentioned in Luke's Gospel). Herod, apparently quite interested in this man he had heard so much about, then proceeded to question Jesus at length.
Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." But they kept on insisting, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place." When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.
Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate. (Luke 23:4-11 NASB),
However, getting no reply from Jesus and finding anything to condemn Him for, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate who (to cut a long story short) offered to release either Jesus or a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When the Jews chose Barabbas, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.
Which if John's sixth hour is correct happened at about six am, which is completely unreasonable.
I could possibly understand the chief priests and elders waiting up for Jesus to be arrested and brought before them. They had every intention of getting rid of someone they considered a rabble rousing upstart. Considering they had schemed with Judas to accomplish this, makes it quite believable that they forwent their beauty sleep to question Jesus in the early hours of the morning.
However, is anyone seriously going to believe that Pilate was roused out of his bed to question Jesus (quite a long drawn out procedure if you read John 18:28 to 19:14). And, apparently we are also to believe that Pilate got Herod out of bed in the very early hours of the morning to interview Jesus.
Perhaps part of the problem is that both the NASB and the KJV say the priests "led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early (Gk. proia)... " (John 18:28). However, the Greek word used simply signifies early in the day ie. morning. The same word is used in the following two verses, in which it is translated 'morning'.
Now in the morning (Gk. proia), when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. (Matthew 21:18 NASB)
Now when morning (Gk. proia) came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; (Matthew 27:1 NASB)
Did John Actually Use Roman Time?
If John was using Roman time as many seem to believe, then the following incident took place at 10 o'clock in the morning
He *said to them, "Come, and you will see." So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (John 1:39 NASB)
As said by Vincent's Word Studies "The weight of the argument seems, on the whole, to be in favor of the Jewish method, which is undoubtedly assumed by John in John 11:9", in which Jesus is reported to have said "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world".
However, there is one far more significant verse, which also specifically mentions the "sixth hour". It is the story of Jesus' traveling to Galilee by way of Samaria and encountering a woman drawing water at a well.
So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. (John 4:5-8 NASB. Emphasis Added)
At the risk of being tiresomely repetitive... "the sixth hour" by Roman reckoning was about six in the morning. So we have to believe that a woman was alone at a well drawing water at 6 am, and the disciples went into the city to buy food long, I am sure, before anything was open. Besides which as the story goes on to say, the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and told the people to come and see the man who told her all the things that she had done, at which the men followed her out of the city to the well. (Vs. 28-29 NASB)
However, if John was using Jewish time, the entire incident would have taken place at about noon, which only makes sense.
Did John Make a Mistake?
Unless you are willing to believe that John used two different methods of counting hours in His Gospel, there is something very wrong wrong with his "sixth hour" in 19:14. Did he make a mistake?
Probably not.
We seem to forget that when we claim the Scriptures are infallible it means there were no mistakes in the original writings. This does not mean that there were never any scribal errors in the copies made. For example, as said before, a virtually intact copy of the book of Isaiah was found in the caves at Qumran.
Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea in 1947 were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (A.D. 980), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The five percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling. [02]
Therefore is it possible that John originally wrote that Pilate handed Jesus over in the third hour, not the sixth, which would agree with Mark saying that this is when Jesus was crucified?
Not only possible, but probable. In the second century Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, wrote the following
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the third hour,” as the correct books render it, and the copy itself that was written by the hand of the evangelist, which, by the divine grace, has been preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus, and is there adored by the faithful. [03]
When Peter of Alexandria wrote this, he was not trying to prove any kind of point about the timing of Jesus' death, he was quoting the verse for other reasons. However, he notes in passing that although other manuscripts said something else the original manuscript that was still available at that time, had it correct. There seems to be no motivation whatever for Peter of Alexandria to have made up this idea....
Even today, a few ancient manuscripts still say "third hour" in John 19:14. But because the number is small, most of the master Greek texts that are the basis of modern Bible translations say "sixth hour". Only thorough scholars like Adam Clarke bring out the "third hour" manuscripts.
Adam Clarke also brought up a very relevant point.
"in ancient times all the numbers were written in the manuscripts not at large, but in numeral letters, it was easy for three, to be mistaken for six.
Compare the numbers 3 and six in this chart. They differ only by a tiny stroke that a tired scribe could easily have missed. Alternately, the stroke could have become difficult to see over time or had completely worn away,
Summary
A summary of the reasons it is feasible to believe that John originally wrote Pilate gave Jesus up around the "third hour" (9 a.m.), not the sixth...
1) It is consistent with the other Gospels.
2) Some ancient manuscripts do say the "third hour".
3) Peter of Alexandria claims it is correct as the original or a very early copy, was preserved in the church at Ephesus (we will never know), which had this reading.
4) Nothing was to be gained by willfully altering John 19:14, which means a copying mistake is very probable.
Note the Concordant Literal New Testament does say "third hour". Also See Difference and Discrepancies in the New Testament. And The Reliability of the New Testament
End Notes
[01] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-do-roosters-know-when-to-crow-3501338/?no-ist]. I
02] Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago, IL.: Moody Press, 1985), Pg 25
[03] Philip Schaff. Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume six. That up to the Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews Rightly Appointed the Fourteenth Day of the First Lunar Month. Section 7.
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.ix.vi.v.html#fnf_ix.vi.v-p29.1
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