Watches of the Day and Night
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Exod. 14:24; Matt. 14:25)—divisions used for guarding and marking time. Early Israelite usage commonly divides the night into three watches: evening, middle, and morning (Lam. 2:19; Judg. 7:19; Exod. 14:24). Under Greek and Roman influence the night was divided into four watches, beginning about sunset; Mark names them evening, midnight, cockcrowing, and morning (Mark 13:35). Thus the “fourth watch” of Matthew 14:25 and Mark 6:48 was the last part of the night. Psalm 90:4 uses a watch to express how brief a thousand years are before God.