HOUR. The word “hour” as a division of the day is not found in the OT, for the Israelites had no system of equal hours for dividing the day. In the earlier periods of OT history the only divisions of the natural day were morning, noonday, and evening (Gen 1:5; 43:16). The night appears under the threefold division of first, middle, and morning watches (Exod 14:24; Judg 7:19; Lam 2:19).

In the OT the word appears only in the KJV (Dan 3:6, 15 RSV “immediately”; 4:33 RSV “immediately”; 4:19 RSV “for a long time”; 5:5 “immediately”), but it does not have the meaning it has today.

Apparently the Babylonians were among the first to adopt the division of twelve equal parts for the day. Herodotus testifies (II, 109) that the Greeks derived this custom from the Babylonians. The sun dial of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11; Isa 38:8) was undoubtedly introduced from Babylonia.

In the NT the Gr. word for “hour” (ὥρα, G6052) is used in different ways: (1) It signifies a brief period of time of no definite length (Matt 26:40). (2) It is used with the broad divisions of time—third, sixth, and ninth hour, corresponding to our 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. The third and the ninth hours were the regular times of worship in the Temple (Acts 2:15; 3:1), the times for the morning and evening sacrifice. (3) It refers to a definite period of time—one-twelth of the day. Only one NT passage expressly mentions the twelve hours of the day (John 11:9), but there are references to two hours (Acts 19:34), the seventh hour (John 4:52), the tenth hour (John 1:39). (4) It is the point of time at which an event occurs (Matt 8:13 RSV “moment”; 9:22 RSV “instantly”; 15:28 RSV “instantly”). (5) It is the appointed time of God’s intervention in history (Matt 24:36, 44, 50; 25:13; Mark 13:32; Luke 12:12, 39, 46; 22:53; Rev 3:3, 10; 9:15; 14:7, 15; 18:10). (6) It is God’s appointed time for specific events in the life of Christ. Jesus again and again made clear that the Father had a fixed time for every event in His life. This is evident esp. in the gospel of John (2:4; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1), but the other gospels also make it clear (Matt 26:45; Mark 14:35; Luke 22:53); and the disciples of Jesus were aware of it, at least in retrospect (John 7:30; 8:20). There was nothing accidental in the life of Jesus; everything He did was done according to the will of His Father.