Ramban

BEIN HA’ARBAYIM’ (AT EVENTIDE). “The period beginning at the sixth hour and onward, [counted from the beginning of the day, which in Torah-law is always divided into twelve hours], is called bein ha’arbayim (at eventide), because the sun inclines in the direction of its setting there to become darkened. It appears to me that the expression bein ha’arbayim denotes those hours which are between the beginning of the darkening of the day and the final darkening at night. The darkening of the day is at the beginning of the seventh hour of the day, from the time the shadows of the evening are stretched out, and the darkening of the night is at the beginning of the night. The word erev (night) is an expression of gloom and darkness, just as in the verse, All joy is ‘arbah’ (darkened).” Thus the language of Rashi. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra refuted [this explanation of Rashi] by pointing to the verse which says, And when Aaron lighteth the lamps ‘bein ha’arbayim’ [‘There is no doubt that he lights the lamps at sundown”], as it is written there, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order from evening to morning., 27:21. [Thus it proves that bein ha’arbayim does not begin with the seventh hour of the day as Rashi would have it, but at sundown near night.] Besides, the verse regarding the paschal offering itself states: There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time thou camest forth out of Egypt, and “the going down of the sun” occurs at sunset. [How then could Rashi explain bein ha’arbayim mentioned here as commencing at the seventh hour of the day?] But this is no refutation of the Rabbi’s [Rashi’s] explanation. Our Rabbis have already said that the meaning of the verse is as follows: “At even, you slaughter [the Passover-offering]; at the going down of the sun, you eat it; at the time thou camest forth out of Egypt, [i.e., in the morning of the fifteenth day of Nisan, it becomes nothar] on a Festival day. and you burn it.” The Rabbi [Rashi] has already so commented [in his commentary to Deuteronomy 16:6]. The correct interpretation on this matter appears to me to be that the night is called erev, as it is said, ‘ba’erev’ ye shall eat unleavened bread, and this is at night, as it clearly states, And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread., Verse 8. Similarly, And there was ‘erev’ and there was morning, means the beginning of night when the stars do come forth. The same applies to the verse, In the twilight, ‘ba’erev’ of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness, [where the word ba’erev, coming after “the twilight,” must signify the night]. Now the end of the day is also called erev, as the verses indicate: And the two angels came to Sodom ‘ba’erev,’ and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; must mean at the end of the day. And it came to pass ‘ba’erev’ that the quails came up, and the quails did not come at night., Verse 12: At eventide ye shall eat flesh. This clearly indicates that the quails came before the night. The word ba’erev in the verse, And it came to pass ‘ba’erev’ that the quails came up, must therefore mean at the end of the day. There are many other such cases. It is further written: ‘Erev,’ and morning, and at noonday, I will sigh and moan. Now these three periods include the whole day [of twenty-four hours. Therefore, if we interpret erev as meaning actual night, the hours from noonday to night will be missing here. We must] thus conclude that [the period] immediately after noonday is called erev, [which lasts from the latter part of the day till morning. Thus the verse encompasses the whole day of twenty-four hours]. Morning is so called from sunrise and thence onward as long as the sun remains in the east. This period lasts four hours, just as the Rabbis testified that the morning Daily Whole-offering [for the entire congregation of Israel] may be offered in the [first] four hours of the day [but not later]. After morning, the time is called tzohorayim (noonday), just as it is said, from morning until ‘tzohorayim’ (noon). It consists of two hours: the fifth and the sixth hours of the day. The word tzohorayim is of the root ‘tzohar’ (A light) shalt thou make to the ark, and implies brightness. It is written in the plural [tzohorayim] because it is the two [brightest parts of the day] which, so to speak, make two tzohorayim. It may be that it is written in the plural because light is then disseminated on all sides. In the morning the light is centered in the east, and towards evening it is in the west, but in the middle of the day when it is high in the sky, it gives light on all sides. When tzohorayim (noonday) passes and the sun departs from shining upon two sides, the time of the day is called arbayim — [from the root erev (darkness)] - because the sun has darkened from [its state of shining on] those two sides. This period [of arbayim] lasts as long as the sun shines in the sky [and is permissible for the slaughtering of the Passover-offering]. But beginning with sundown, which is about an hour and a quarter [before the day terminates with the coming out of the stars], it is no longer the time for the slaughtering thereof according to the opinion of our Rabbis,. I might understand this to mean at the evening twilight. Scripture therefore says, etc.” for that period of time is no longer arbayim but rather erev yom (the evening of the day). (in the evening of the day) (Proverbs 7:9). The reason it is called bein ha’arbayim [in the Torah, and not just arbayim], is not that the word bein signifies here “between,” [as Rashi above explained that the expression bein ha’arbayim denotes that time-period which is “between” the beginning of those hours, etc.], but it is something like “in their midst,” similar to these verses: Let there now be an oath ‘beinotheinu beineinu ubeinecha';. But according to Ramban, the meaning thereof would be: “let there be an oath in our midst, even in us and in thee.” A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that ‘beini ubeincha’?;, 23:15. It is generally translated: between me and thee. Ramban understands it: “in the midst of me and you, the value of the land is not worth discussing.” And her stature was exalted ‘al bein’ (among) the thick branches; Take fire ‘mibeinoth’ the wheelwork,, 10:6. It is generally translated: “from ‘between’ the wheelwork.” which means from “within their midst”; Take up their fire-pans ‘mibein’ the burning, which means “from the midst thereof,” similar to the expression, She rises also ‘be’od’ night, which means in the midst of the night. And so is the expression bein ha’arbayim, [which signifies “in the midst of that part of the day called arbayim,” as explained above]. It does not state ba’arbayim, for that might have indicated the erev of many days. Thus Scripture is saying that we should slaughter the Passover-offering in the midst of the arbayim, since the time prescribed by the Torah for the slaughtering of the Passover-offering is from after the sixth hour of the day till the commencement of sunset. And Scripture also says, In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month ‘bein ha’arbayim’ (at eventide) is the Passover of the Eternal, which refers to the time of the slaughtering [of the Passover-offering]. Similarly, the verse, In the fourteenth day of this month ‘bein ha’arbayim’ ye shall observe it, refers to the beginning of the observance, which is the slaughtering, [while the eating of the Passover-offering takes place on the following night]. The verse stating [in connection with the quails], ‘bein ha’arbayim’ ye shall eat flesh, also refers to the hours mentioned, [i.e., from after the sixth hour of the day till the start of sunset], since they had extensive time for the eating of meat. The following verse there which states, And it came to pass ‘ba’erev’ (at even), that the quails came up,, Verse 13. is [so stated] because on the first day, the quails came up for one hour within that period called erev. which, as explained above, extends from immediately after tzohorayim until the end of the day — making a period of six hours — the quails came up for a time. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 327, for further discussion of this text. [Therefore it does not say, “and it came to pass bein ha’arbayim that the quails came up,” for that would have signified that the quails came up during the whole stretch of time from after the sixth hour of the day till sundown.] It is possible to explain the expression bein ha’arbayim in accordance with the explanation of Rashi, suggests two kinds of erev, and the word bein signifies “between.” Thus bein ha’arbayim denotes those hours which are between the darkening of the day and the darkening of the night. Thus is the explanation of Rashi. Ramban proceeds to confirm Rashi’s explanation that the word bein means “between,” but adds that the plural form of arbayim denotes two different periods of the day, unlike Rashi who wrote that it is between the darkening of the day and the darkening of the night, as will be explained. i.e., that there are two kinds of erev, an erev of the morning and an erev of the day, for Scripture so calls them: the ‘minchah’ of the morning,. and the ‘minchah’ of the evening, as it is said, And it came to pass in the morning, about the time of making the ‘minchah’,, 3:20. and it further says, And I sat appalled until the ‘minchah’ of the evening. And at the evening ‘minchah’ I arose up from my fasting. Now the word minchah is an expression denoting the resting of the sun and the diminution of its great light, just as the Targum rendered [l’ruach hayom] l’manach yoma (where the day comes to rest). [Adam and Eve] heard the voice of the Eternal G-d walking in the garden of Eden ‘l’ruach hayom,’ which Rashi interpreted: “in that direction towards which the sun travels, which is the west.” Onkelos rendered it: l’manach yoma, “in the afternoon,” or literally, “when the day comes to rest.” Thus it is seen that the word minchah denotes rest. And the plural form of arbayim connotes the two afternoons: “the greater afternoon,” [i.e., the time from six and a half hours after the beginning of the day], and “the smaller afternoon,” [i.e., from nine and a half hours after the start of the day until sunset], which the Sages have mentioned. Now during this entire period [of bein ha’arbayim], it is permissible to kindle the lamps of the candelabrum [in the Sanctuary] and to burn the incense, both of which are not permissible to be done at night but only at the time of the Daily Whole-offering of the eventide, and in fact their performance precedes the actual offering of the sacrifice upon the altar. Onkelos’ opinion seems to incline towards this explanation [that the plural form of arbayim denotes two different parts of the day], for he translated bein ha’arbayim as bein shimshaya (between the suns), meaning the times when the sun is in the east and the sun is in the west. The verse stating, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order from evening to morning, means [that it be given its due measure of oil] so that it may burn a whole night [although the actual kindling thereof could be done anytime in the bein ha’arbayim. It does not mean, as Ibn Ezra explained, that this verse teaches that the kindling of the candelabrum took place at sundown]. Thus we can explain the verse, There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering ‘ba’erev’ (at even), also means the afternoon, etc. Ramban’s own explanation of this verse is yet to follow. to mean at the above-mentioned time, [i.e., the afternoon], for that is called erev [as explained]. The following expression there, at the going down of the sun, is connected with the following verse, And thou shalt roast and eat it., Verse 7. There are many such cases in Scripture [where an expression in one verse is connected with the following verse]. In my opinion however, the verse, There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering, does not at all refer to the time of the slaughtering thereof, [which took place on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of Nisan]. Rather, the purport thereof is to state that at the place which the Eternal thy G-d chose to establish His name in, there thou shalt observe [the commandment concerning] the Passover-offering at night, at the going down of the sun, which is the time thou camest forth out of Egypt. It is concerning this performance that Scripture says [in the following verse], And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place, Verse 7. mentioned. The sacrifice itself is called zevach, — does not mean “slaughter,” in which case it would necessarily be referring to the afternoon of the fourteenth day of Nisan. Instead, Ramban proceeds to show that the word zevach refers to the sacrifice itself, and the verse therefore refers to the eating thereof which takes place on the following night of the fifteenth day. All this, however, is from the standpoint of the plain meaning of Scripture. Ramban has already noted that the Rabbis in the Talmud (see Note 125), as well as Rashi in his commentary to Deuteronomy 16:6, have explained tizbach as “slaughter.” as Scripture says, Thou shalt not offer the blood of ‘zivchi’ (My sacrifice) upon leaven, which means “My Passover-offering.” This then is the purport of the whole chapter [in Deuteronomy]: Observe the month of Aviv, and observe the Passover unto the Eternal thy G-d; for in the month of Aviv the Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night, etc. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it. Thus He mentioned the observance of the Passover-offering and the night, [clearly indicating that in those verses, He refers only to the time of the eating of the Passover-offering, which occurs on the night of the fifteenth day, and not to the slaughtering thereof which takes place in the afternoon of the fourteenth day]. Commanding how they are to eat it, He then mentioned that [we must eat no leavened bread] for seven days., Verse 3. But in this entire chapter, there is not a single reference to the fourteenth day of Nisan on which the slaughtering of the Passover-offering takes place. Similarly He said there, Neither shall any of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even, remain all night until the morning,, Verse 4. Now the expression, the first day at even, [definitely] means the fifteenth day of Nisan, the first of the seven days mentioned,, Verse 3. since the fourteenth day is not mentioned here at all. So also, the verse stating, On the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, means the night of the fifteenth day. Thus the intent of the expression, which thou sacrificest the first day at even,, Verse 4. is that neither shall any of the flesh of the offering which you are eating on the night of the first day [of the seven-day festival] remain until the morning.