Friday Crucifixion?

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhi Rob,

The word also has usage in Jewish Aramaic sources, for instance in Yer. Pesakhim IV.1 the day is called "Yoma da-'Arubta" (Day of Preparation).

Later in time, the Aramaic-speaking Christians drew a play on words because the root of "Arubta" does not mean "preparation", it means "darkness, sunset, evening." Since miraculous darkness fell upon the earth on that Friday ( especially since it's physically impossible to have a solar eclipse during a full moon <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> ) - the Aramaic-speaking Christians associated the name of the day no longer with "preparation", but with the literal meaning of the root - "darkness" and applied this to a Messianic understanding.

I think the earliest reference to this in Aramaic documents can be found in the "Syriac Teaching of the Apostles" from around the early 3rd-century. Here is an excerpt:

The apostles further appointed: On the Arubtha, at the ninth hour, let there be service: because that which had been spoken on the fourth day of the week about the suffering of the Saviour was brought to pass on the same eve; the worlds and creatures trembling, and the luminaries in the heavens being darkened.

I think the connection between the "darkness" and the root meaning of "evening" is made there pretty clearly. At least this shows this understanding of the connection to be present as early as the 3rd century.