The Jewish Hour

“Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?” (John 11:9a)

It would be easy to read over this statement by our Lord without thinking about exactly what he is saying.

In Judaism the hour is calculated by taking the total time of daylight (from sunrise until sunset) of a particular day and dividing it into twelve equal parts. The result is what is called the “proportional hour.”
 

This means that, depending on the day of the year, the hour may or may not be 60 minutes long.
 

The "sixth hour of the day" does not mean 6:00 a.m. or even six 60 minute hours after sunrise, but is the 6th proportionate hour of the 12 that are counted for the day in question.

For example, if the sun rises at 6:30 a.m. and sets at 7:30 p.m., the total time of daylight is 11 hours. 11 hours * 60 minutes = 660 min. Dividing 660 min by 12 yields a proportional hour of 55 minutes.

We are told in Mark 15:25 that “it was the third hour, and they crucified him.” Jews start counting the hours of the daylight from sunrise. If, on that day, the calculations above applied, and sunrise took place at 6:30 a.m. according to our clock, then the third hour started at 8:45 a.m.

Calculations: 55 min * 3 = 165min.  and 165/60 = 2 hr. 45 mins.

This seems very complex to us, but in Jesus day, there were no clocks so keeping time took some calculating and familiarity with the movement of the sun, moon and stars.