Deuteronomy 16:6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

Does “the going down of the sun” mean sundown, as it seems to read, or anytime after the sun “starts to go down – I.E., sometime between high noon and sunset? It matters because it will tell us whether the passover is killed at sundown beginning the 14th, or the next day on the afternoon of the 14^th.

This issue has few enough references in it that we can afford to be exhaustive and look at every reference. Remember what we’re looking for – proof that “the going down of the sun” happened at sundown – or proof that it happened BEFORE sundown.

“Going Down” and “Sun” are used together 13 times. In Genesis 15:12 it is associated with “great darkness”, but that could be a vision so that can’t prove anything. Daniel 6:14 doesn’t really prove much either. 1 Kings 22:36 has no direct connection to any time of day, though sunset is the most simple reading of it.

Exodus 17:12 does start to give us an indication, since they stopped fighting at the going down of the sun. Men fight until they can’t see – which is why Joshua’s famous “long day” was so important. (Joshua 10:13). For this to mean “sometime between noon and sunset” would be strange.

Joshua 1:4 says that “the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.”. The sun at high noon does not have a direction – only the direction where the sun ACTUALLY sets makes sense here. Toward the going down – that is, where the sun GOES DOWN. Still, I know it can be argued that the sun goes IN THE DIRECTION of the west all day, so this isn’t conclusive either. Zechariah 8:7 uses a similar phrase in the margin.

Psalms 104:19-20 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness,…

The sun knows his going down… which the Psalmist uses to lead the thought directly to “darkness”, and the sun going down (SUNSET) causes “night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep” (verse 20).

2 Chronicles 18:34 And the battle increased that day: howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even: and about the time of the sun going down he died.

This is the first verse that provides a clear incentive to believe either side of the discussion; for it says that he stayed alive in his chariot until EVEN – ereb, which everyone translates as evening, twilight, or darkness – and at “even”, at the GOING DOWN of the SUN – NOT at noon, but at DARKNESS, when the sun WENT DOWN – he died.

Psalms 113:3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.

This is clearly contradictory poetry – I.E., from ONE end to the OTHER. From BEGINNING to END. From START to FINISH – God’s name is to be praised. And from the RISING of the sun (literally sunrise in the Hebrew) to the GOING DOWN thereof (literally, “sunset”, in context) God’s name is to be praised. Is His name only to be praised from dawn to noon, or from dawn to midafternoon “at the time when the sun starts to go down? Of course not! If we read ONLY the Bible, the only logical conclusion is that GOING DOWN means literally – the sunset.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles;

Is God’s name among the gentiles only great from dawn to noon, or midafternoon? Or is it great all the way until SUNSET?

Psalms 50:1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Clearly, God calls the Earth for more than from dawn to sometime late in the day. All this evidence can only point one way. And now finally, this is conclusive:

Joshua 10:27 And it came to pass at the TIME of the GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.

If you insist that “going down of the sun” isn’t a specific time, but just anytime after noon and before dark, then the Bible flatly contradicts you and says that there is A TIME of the GOING DOWN of the sun! It isn’t just anytime after noon, but at one SPECIFIC TIME each day! And at the TIME of the going down of the sun – I.E., sunset – Joshua commanded to take the “hangees” off the trees. He did this in accordance with the command of Moses not to leave men hanging “all night” on the trees. So Joshua took them down AT the going down of the sun. This strongly connects “going down of the sun” to night.

Joshua 8:29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until EVENTIDE [ereb – twilight – darkness]: and AS SOON AS THE SUN WAS DOWN, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree,…

Joshua commanded that he be taken out of the tree WHEN “Eventide” – twilight, darkness – arrived. And when it did arrive – which was AS SOON as the sun was (PAST TENSE) down – he took him out of the tree that he not be on the tree all night, according to the command of Moses. Just as, 2 chapters later, he followed it in the EXACT SAME WAY by taking them off the trees AT THE TIME OF THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN.

That is every single verse in the Bible on the subject. Not one of those even remotely indicates “Sometime after noon”. It is absolutely impossible to use any of those verses to prove that “the going down of the sun” means anything BUT exactly at sunset. Almost every single verse strongly indicates OR REQUIRES a definition of SUNSET, and ONLY sunset.