Watches of the Night

Ancient practice of dividing the night into periods

Under the Roman rule, four night watches existed, concordant with the changes of the Roman guards on watchtowers, each being of three hours' duration.[1]

The watches of the night refers to the ancient practice of dividing the night into periods for the goal of keeping watch. Lasting from sunrise to sunset, guards relieved each other at each of these periods. The Hebrew and Babylonian watches of the night were divided into three military watches; the first (evening), middle (midnight) and morning watch.[2] As Christianity began, the number of watches increased to four watches due to the influence of the ancient Greeks and Roman Empire, who used four watches throughout the night.[3]

The phrase "watches of the night" occurs several places in the Old Testament, the New Testament and Rabbinic literature. The existence of watches of the night in the New Testament conveyed spiritual significance.[4] The phrase is also found in the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings by the Buddha, and as well as in some Hindu texts. "Watches of the Night" is the title of a 1887 short story by Rudyard Kipling.

## Religions and cultures

[edit]

### Judaism

[edit]

According to Ed Arcton, the Jews divided the night into three watches where each watch represented the period when guards began their duty. The term "watches of the night" is found in Psalms 63:6, which indicates a personal commitment during the night and a time for meditation and prayer, accenting the significance of spiritual alertness. The Jewish calculation acknowledged three such watches, titled the first or "beginning of the watches"' (Lamentations 2:19) (sunset to 10 pm), the middle watch (Judges 7:19) (10 pm to 2 am), and the morning watch (Exodus 14:24; 1 Samuel 11:11) (2 am to sunrise). It was argued by John Lightfoot (in Matthew 14:25) that the Jews rather used four watches, three only being in the dead of the night, and the fourth being in the morning.[5]

According to the Baraita, a tradition in the oral Torah of rabbinical Judaism, "The night consists of three watches, and during each watch the Holy One sits and roars like a lion...The sign for this: in the first watch, a donkey brays; in the second, dogs howl; and in the third, a baby nurses from its mother and a woman converses with her husband."[6] The Mishnah ("ashmurah", "ashmoret" or "mishmarah", meaning "watch") features the old division of three watches conforming to the tradition in the Temple.[2]

### Christianity and the Roman Empire

[edit]

A rooster crowing at sunrise, the fourth and last watch of the night

According to Ed Arcton, after the influence of the Roman Empire and the Greeks, the number of watches of the night increased to four in Christianity, which were described either numerically, as such as the "third watch" or "fourth watch" (Matthew 14:25, Luke 12:38), or by the terms "even," "midnight," "cock-crowing" and "morning" (Mark 13:35).[7][8][4] In Christianity, the four watches of the night are: The first watch (6–9 pm) or the evening watch, second watch (9 pm–12 am) or the midnight watch, third watch (12 am–3 am) or the cockcrow watch, and the fourth watch (3 am–6 am) or the morning watch, all of which indicating a ceaseless and vigilant contemplation on God throughout the night, since nighttime is associated with fear and danger.[1]

A "watch" in the bible is a period of time in which a watchman, guard, or a group of guards was to be on duty, especially during the night. The Roman division of nighttime into four watches had pragmatic entailment for security and military operations, as it permitted organized shifts of guards and soldiers. The watches of the night were also used for the purpose of maintaining vigilance and prayer, since the division was manifested in both the Old and New Testaments, where it reflected the cultural and religious practices of the Israelites and early Christians. The use of Roman timekeeping in the Gospels emphasizes the historical circumstance of the New Testament, where Roman governance and Jewish tradition came across with each other.[1]

In the early church, during the night before a feast, a vigil was held between 6 pm and 6 am, a timeframe that was divided into four watches or vigils of three hours each; the first, the second, the third, and the fourth vigil. First applied to the Night Office, the term "Vigils" comes from the Vigiliae or nocturnal watches, such as guards of the soldiers.[9][10]

### Buddhism

[edit]

In Buddhism, the phrase is found in the Dhammapada in chapter 12 (Attavaggo), which reads "If one regards oneself as dear one should guard oneself right well, during one of the three watches of the night the wise one should stay alert."[11] The Mahayana tradition associate it to the Buddha's procession through important powers. In Theravada, it embraces multiple characteristics, such as highlighting the Buddha's deep reflection, Ananda's recitation of the Ratana Sutta that displays devotion, and the stages of perception during contemplation on Paticcasamuppada, alongside evaluating the Tathagata's anticipated passing.[12] The true "three knowledges" are said to be constituted by the process of achieving enlightenment, which is what the Buddha is said to have achieved in the three watches of the night of his enlightenment.[13]

### Hinduism

[edit]

In Hinduism, the phrase "Three watches of the night" represents both the restlessness of Indrajit's father during conflict and the traditional division of nighttime for rest, reflection, and different activities, highlighting the twofold nature of the night. The three watches of the night (tiyāmā) are: paṭhamayāma, majjhimayāma, and pacchimayāma (first, middle, and last watches). The practice of dividing the night in watches was common in the ancient world.[12]

## Literature

[edit]

The phrase "watches of the night" has been used in several works of literature as a cliché for what is also called 'the wee small hours', or 'the early morning', often with connotations of blackness and depression. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in The Cross of Snow (1879) "In the long, sleepless watches of the night. A gentle face. The face of one long dead. Looks at me from the wall".

### Watches of the Night by Rudyard Kipling

[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Watches of the Night

The 1887 short story "Watches of the Night" by Rudyard Kipling, which was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 25, 1887, deals with the enclosed society of the British in India, and the levels of gossip and malice that could be engendered therein. Both the Colonel, commanding the regiment, and a Subaltern in the Regiment, Platte, a poor man, own Waterbury watches. The Colonel, who affects to be "a horsey man" (but is not) wears his watch, not on a chain, but on a leather strap made from the lip-strap of a horse's harness; Platte wears his from a leather guard, presumably because he can afford no better. One night the two men change at the Club, and, not unnaturally, take each other's watch. They go on their separate ways. Later that night, as Platte returns home, his horse rears and upsets his cart, throwing him to the ground outside Mrs Larkyn's house, where his watch falls loose. The Colonel loses his watch, which slips on to the floor, where a native bearer finds it (and keeps it). Going home in a hired carriage, the Colonel finds the driver drunk, and returns late. His wife, who is religious is disinclined to believe him.

In the morning, Mrs Larkyn, who has been a victim of the Colonel's wife scandal-mongering, finds the watch that Platte has dropped, and shows it to him. He affects to believe it is "...disgusting! Shocking old man!". They send the Colonel's watch (which is the one Platte had been wearing) to the Colonel's wife. She attacks the Colonel, being wholly convinced of Original Sin, and begins to realize the harm and pain that unfounded suspicion can cause, and has caused her victims. The moral of the story is, "The mistrust and the tragedy of it," says Kipling, "are killing the Colonel's Wife, and are making the Colonel wretched.

## See also

[edit]

* Witching hour
* Canonical hours

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Night: Divided Into Four Watches by the Romans". BibleHub. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
2. ^ a b Wilhelm Bacher, Max Landsberg. "NIGHT". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
3. ^ Ed Arcton (24 October 2024). "The Watches of the Night". Center For World Prayer Command.
4. ^ a b Dr. Moshe Simon-Shoshan (23 January 2016). "Ein Ya'akov: The World of Talmudic Aggada, Lesson 5, "His Fearless Roar"". The Israel Kotchitsky. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
5. ^ "Watch of the Night". The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
6. ^ W F Naismith. "The Four Watches of the Night". Plymouth Brethren Writings. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
7. ^ The Four Watches Of The Night by Rev. Fred A. Hartley, III. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
8. ^ Smith, William, Dr. "Entry for 'Watches of night'". "Smith's Bible Dictionary". 1901.
9. ^ Cabrol, Fernand. "Matins". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 6 October 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
10. ^ Billett, Jesse D. (2014). The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England, 597-c.1000. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-907497-28-5.
11. ^ Siddhartha Gautama. "Chapter 12. The Self; Attavaggo (Dhp.157-166), Parallel Reading (paragraph granularity) of The Buddha's Path of Wisdom-- Dhammapada (Dhp.)". nanda.online. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
12. ^ a b "Significance of Three watches of the night". Wisdom library. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
13. ^ "The brahmin by caste alone, the teacher of the Veda, is (jokingly) etymologized as the 'non-meditator' (ajhāyaka). Brahmins who memorize the three Vedas (tevijja) really know nothing: it is the process of achieving Enlightenment—what the Buddha is said to have achieved in the three watches of that night—that constitutes the true 'three knowledges.' " R.F. Gombrich in Paul Williams, ed., "Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious studies." Taylor and Francis 2006, page 120.

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