Psalms in the night

The BBC carries a fascinating article about a phenomenon that is little remembered today but was thoroughly familiar with our not so distant ancestors: The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps', something about which I wrote nearly a decade ago: Rising at Midnight: Sleep Patterns and Daily Prayer. Prior to the invention of artificial lighting, human beings around the world slept in two shifts, once in the late evening, followed by a period of wakefulness, and then in the early morning. In the absence of the indoor lighting ubiquitous in our dwellings and late-night television, people generally retired early, woke up again around midnight for another period of activity, and then retired for another few hours, to wake again for the day. Not only is this testified to in the literature to which author Zaria Gorvett alludes, but it is found in the Bible as well:

But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron (Judges 16:3).

At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! (Ruth 3:8)

At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules (Psalm 119:62).

Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning (Mark 13:35).

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25). 

Clearly most people were awake in the middle of the night. Gorvett adds something of relevance to the Psalms:

Later, the practise [sic] was embraced by Christians, who immediately saw the watch's potential as an opportunity for the recital of psalms and confessions. In the Sixth Century AD, Saint Benedict required that monks rise at midnight for these activities, and the idea eventually spread throughout Europe – gradually filtering through to the masses. 

I will not suggest that we revive the midnight hour of prayer in our day and age, but it is worth noting that the ancient patterns of prayer once harmonized easily with our natural sleep cycles. And, given the right circumstances, they could do so again.