The Meaning of Luke 23:54 Explained

Luke 23:54

KJV: And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

YLT: And the day was a preparation, and sabbath was approaching,

Darby: And it was preparation day, and the sabbath twilight was coming on.

ASV: And it was the day of the Preparation, and the sabbath drew on.

What is the context of Luke 23:54?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  that day  was  the preparation,  and  the sabbath  drew on. 

What does Luke 23:54 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 23:47-56 - Faith From, Unexpected Quarters
God has His agents everywhere. They are not known to us, but are well known to Him, and one word from Him will bring them and their resources to His help. How many are unsuspected lovers of His Kingdom! Who would have thought that Joseph was waiting for the kingdom of God, or that he would have identified its advent with the death on the cross!
The body of our Lord was well cared for. They who commit themselves to God will find that He will make Himself responsible for the body, in life to feed and in death to honor; see Matthew 6:33; Deuteronomy 34:6. The new tomb was so ordered that there could be no possible mistake in identifying the precious body, and that the Resurrection should be beyond question. Love, which clings to the last offices with tender solicitude hastened to express itself with a devotion that braved the hatred of the rulers. Darkness and silence settled on the scene-but this was not the end. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 23

1  Jesus is accused before Pilate, and sent to Herod
8  Herod mocks him
12  Herod and Pilate become friends
13  Barabbas is desired of the people,
24  and is released by Pilate, and Jesus is given to be crucified
26  He tells the women, that lament him, the destruction of Jerusalem;
34  prays for his enemies
39  Two criminals are crucified with him
46  His death
50  His burial

Greek Commentary for Luke 23:54

The day of the Preparation [ημερα παρασκευης]
The technical Jewish phrase for the day before the sabbath for which see Matthew 27:62. [source]
Drew on [επεπωσκεν]
Imperfect active, began to dawn or give light. However, it was sundown, not sunrise when the Jewish sabbath (twenty-four-hour day) began. The confusion is to us, not to the Jews or the readers of the Greek New Testament. Luke is not speaking of the twelve-hour day which began with sunrise, but the twenty-four-hour day which began with sunset. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 23:54

Matthew 28:1 Now late on the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week [οπσε δε σαββατων τηι επιπωσκουσηι εις μιαν σαββατων]
This careful chronological statement according to Jewish days clearly means that before the sabbath was over, that is before six p.m., this visit by the women was made “to see the sepulchre” They had seen the place of burial on Friday afternoon (Mark 15:47; Matthew 27:61; Luke 23:55). They had rested on the sabbath after preparing spices and ointments for the body of Jesus (Luke 23:56), a sabbath of unutterable sorrow and woe. They will buy other spices after sundown when the new day has dawned and the sabbath is over (Mark 16:1). Both Matthew here and Luke (Luke 23:54) use dawn (επιπωσκω — epiphōskō) for the dawning of the twenty-four hour-day at sunset, not of the dawning of the twelve-hour day at sunrise. The Aramaic used the verb for dawn in both senses. The so-called Gospel of Peter has epiphōskō in the same sense as Matthew and Luke as does a late papyrus. Apparently the Jewish sense of “dawn” is here expressed by this Greek verb. Allen thinks that Matthew misunderstands Mark at this point, but clearly Mark is speaking of sunrise and Matthew of sunset. Why allow only one visit for the anxious women? [source]
John 19:14 The Preparation of the passover [παρασκευη του πασχα]
That is, Friday of passover week, the preparation day before the Sabbath of passover week (or feast). See also John 19:31, John 19:42; Mark 15:42; Matthew 27:62; Luke 23:54 for this same use of παρασκευη — paraskeuē for Friday. It is the name for Friday today in Greece. About the sixth hour Roman time, about 6 a.m. (a little after 6 no doubt) when Pilate rendered his final decision. Mark 15:25 notes that it was the third hour (Jewish time), which is 9 a.m. Roman time, when the crucifixion began. Why should John give Jewish time writing at the close of the first century when Jerusalem and the Jewish state passed away in a.d. 70? He is writing for Greek and Roman readers. Behold your king Ιδε — Ide is here an exclamation with no effect on the case of βασιλευς — basileus just as in John 1:29. The sarcasm of Pilate is aimed at the Jews, not at Jesus. [source]
2 Peter 1:19 Dawn [διαυγάσῃ]
Only here in New Testament. Compare the different word in Matthew 28:1, and Luke 23:54, ἐπιφώσκω . The verb is compounded of διά , through, and αὐγή , sunlight, thus carrying the picture of light breaking through the gloom. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 23:54 mean?

And [the] Day it was of Preparation Sabbath was just beginning
καὶ ἡμέρα ἦν Παρασκευῆς σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν

ἡμέρα  [the]  Day 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἡμέρα  
Sense: the day, used of the natural day, or the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night.
ἦν  it  was 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
Παρασκευῆς  of  Preparation 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: παρασκευή  
Sense: a making ready, preparation, equipping.
σάββατον  Sabbath 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: σάββατον  
Sense: the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work.
ἐπέφωσκεν  was  just  beginning 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐπιφώσκω  
Sense: to grow light, to dawn.

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