Evening? Morning? When does the Biblical Day Start?

[Richard Amiel McGough]

I would like to test the Jewish tradition that the the Biblical day is reckoned from evening to evening against the testimony of Scripture. There is no explicit statement as such, and there is only one particular feast "day" that God commanded be celebtrated from "even to even." The commandment for the Day of Atonement states:

Leviticus 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

Concerning this verse, we have this comment from J. E. Hartley's entry in the Word Biblical Commentary:

This law says that the Day of Atonement is to be celebrated from evening to evening. This is the only place in this calendar where the precise time for a high day is set. This expression, being unique, bears emphasis. Whether other festivals began in the evening in ancient Israel is debated. Levine (161) cites Rashbam as a rabbi who argued that the Sabbath and other festivals began at dawn. Much later the rabbinic tradition established that all days begin in the evening.
Hartley, J. E. 2002. Word Biblical Commentary : Leviticus. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 4 (388). Word, Incorporated: Dallas

So it seems there has been some rabinical discussion as to when the day really starts.


This is important to me because I think the Jewish tradition is wrong. It feels like it clashes with Reality. In the Bible, the New Day always begins with the New Light, Hope, Freshness, His Mercies are new every MORNING. It doesn't begin just before the dark night falls. That idea is totally contrary to everything I sense in the Bible and Reality. The day begins with a burst of light like the first day of the creation week and ends with Rest just like the Sabbath on the last day of creation week.

So I want to know if there is any Biblical evidence that we should contort our minds to think of the day as beginning when it gets dark and we go to bed.


One reason to think that the day begins after the period of dark we call night is because otherwise the word tomorrow would mean "later this evening." So if at 3:00 PM I said I would be seeing you at 8:00PM that evening, I would say "I'll see you tomorrow at 8:00 PM." That just doesn't seem right.


I've been searching Scripture for light on this, but most of the verses dealing with days and mornings and evenings and nights are too ambiguous to be sure when the day starts. I am asking folks to post any verses they find (with brief explainations please!) that might help discern the truth.


Here is a good explanation I found in the famous commentary by Keil and Delitzsch:

'Thus evening was and morning was one day.' echad (one), like eis and unus, is used at the commencement of a numerical series for the ordinal primus (cf. Gen. 2:11; 4:19; 8:5, 15). Like the numbers of the days which follow, it is without the article, to show that the different days arose from the constant recurrence of evening and morning. It is not till the sixth and last day that the article is employed (v. 31), to indicate the termination of the work of creation upon that day. It is to be observed, that the days of creation are bounded by the coming of evening and morning. The first day did not consist of the primeval darkness and the origination of light, but was formed after the creation of the light by the first interchange of evening and morning. The first evening was not the gloom, which possibly preceded the full burst of light as it came forth from the primary darkness, and intervened between the darkness and full, broad daylight. It was not till after the light had been created, and the separation of the light from the darkness had taken place, that evening came, and after the evening the morning; and this coming of evening (lit., the obscure) and morning (the breaking) formed one, or the first day. It follows from this, that the days of creation are not reckoned from evening to evening, but from morning to morning.The first day does not fully terminate till the light returns after the darkness of night; it is not till the break of the new morning that the first interchange of light and darkness is completed, and a [greek] has passed. The rendering, 'out of evening and morning there came one day,' is at variance with grammar, as well as with the actual fact. With grammar, because such a thought would require [hebrew] and with fact, because the time from evening to morning does not constitute a day, but the close of a day. The first day commenced at the moment when God caused the light to break forth from the darkness; but this light did not become a day, until the evening had come, and the darkness which set in with the evening had given place the next morning to the break of day. Again, neither the words [hebrew], nor the expression [hebrew] evening-morning (= day), in Dan. 8:14, corresponds to the Greek [greek], for morning is not equivalent to day, nor evening to night. The reckoning of days from evening to evening in the Mosaic law (Lev. 23:32), and by many ancient tribes (the pre-Mohammedan Arabs, the Athenians, Gauls, and Germans), arose not from the days of creation, but from the custom of regulating seasons by the changes of the moon. But if the days of creation are regulated by the recurring interchange of light and darkness, they must be regarded not as periods of time of incalculable duration, of years or thousands of years, but as simple earthly days. It is true the morning and evening of the first three days were not produced by the rising and setting of the sun, since the sun was not yet created; but the constantly recurring interchange of light and darkness, which produced day and night upon the earth, cannot for a moment be understood as denoting that the light called forth from the darkness of chaos returned to that darkness again, and thus periodically burst forth and disappeared. The only way in which we can represent it to ourselves, is by supposing that the light called forth by the creative mandate, 'Let there be,' was separated from the dark mass of the earth, and concentrated outside or above the globe, so that the interchange of light and darkness took place as soon as the dark chaotic mass began to rotate, and to assume in the process of creation the form of a spherical body. The time occupied in the first rotations of the earth upon its axis cannot, indeed, be measured by our hour-glass; but even if they were slower at first, and did not attain their present velocity till the completion of our solar system, this would make no essential difference between the first three days and the last three, which were regulated by the rising and setting of the sun.
Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. 2002. Commentary on the Old Testament. (1:31). Hendrickson: Peabody, MA

Richard

[yeshua_seven]

I noticed something about the Day of Atonement a few verses before the one you posted. It says that the Day of Atonement is on the 10th day of the month, yet God tells them to begin to afflict their souls and begin the Sabbath in the evening on the 9th day. He then says the Sabbath ends on the evening of the following day, which would be the 10th day. Why not begin the Sabbath and the affliction of their souls on the 10th day?

First of all, I think one thing is clear in scripture and in history, and that is that the days according to Jewish reckoning in all of history are from 6 o'clock to 6'clock. The question is whether the day begins at 6am or 6pm.

Okay. So they begin their Sabbath on the evening of the 9th day. The 10th day begins at 6pm. That must mean the Sabbath begins before 6pm, but would 4 or 5 pm be considered evening? It sounds more like the afternoon to me.

The following sounds correct to me:

Morning is 6am to 12pm (6 hours).
Afternoon is 12pm to 6pm (6 hours).
Evening is 6pm to 12am (6 hours).
Night is 12am to 6am (6 hours).

Based on this assumption of mine, according to the divisions of a day which sounds reasonable to me, based on the Jewish reckoning of a day being from 6 o'clock to 6 o'clock...if the Sabbath begins on the 9th day in the evening, that would be 6pm. That's not the 9th day no more though, that would be the 10th day. The Sabbath and Day of Atonement would begin at 6pm and end at 6pm the following day, but that doesn't reconcile with scripture which says to begin the Sabbath in the evening of the 9th day.

If the days begin at 6am and end at 6am, then the Sabbath would begin on the 9th day in the evening which is 6pm. Twelve hours later the Day of Atonement would begin on the 10th day at 6am in the morning. The Sabbath would end in the evening of the 10th day at 6pm, which is 12 hours after the Day of Atonement begins. The Day of Atonement then ends at 6am which is 12 hours after the Sabbath ended. According to this, the Sabbath will begin first and end first, and the Day of Atonement would begin last and end last.

This latter option makes more sense in light of Leviticus 23:26-32. What do you think of this so far?

[Richard Amiel McGough]

I noticed something about the Day of Atonement a few verses before the one you posted. It says that the Day of Atonement is on the 10th day of the month, yet God tells them to begin to afflict their souls and begin the Sabbath in the evening on the 9th day. He then says the Sabbath ends on the evening of the following day, which would be the 10th day. Why not begin the Sabbath and the affliction of their souls on the 10th day?

First of all, I think one thing is clear in scripture and in history, and that is that the days according to Jewish reckoning in all of history are from 6 o'clock to 6'clock. The question is whether the day begins at 6am or 6pm.

Did you mean "sunrise" and "sunset" rather than 6am or 6pm? I ask because they are not always the same. Or were they back then in the ancient days, when people spoke of the first or second or third hour of the day? I don't really know much about how they kept time.

In any case, there are only two passages that seem to point to a sunset-to-sunset day. They are Gen 1 with order of "evening/morning" and the passage you cited concerning the day of atonement. It seems to me that the argument I quoted from Keil and Delitzsch is pretty strong. And I have never "liked" the Jewish tradition on this matter because it seems unnatural. The day ends when we go to sleep, just like our life ends when we "sleep" (die).

Okay. So they begin their Sabbath on the evening of the 9th day. The 10th day begins at 6pm. That must mean the Sabbath begins before 6pm, but would 4 or 5 pm be considered evening? It sounds more like the afternoon to me.

The following sounds correct to me:

Morning is 6am to 12pm (6 hours).
Afternoon is 12pm to 6pm (6 hours).
Evening is 6pm to 12am (6 hours).
Night is 12am to 6am (6 hours).

Based on this assumption of mine, according to the divisions of a day which sounds reasonable to me, based on the Jewish reckoning of a day being from 6 o'clock to 6 o'clock...if the Sabbath begins on the 9th day in the evening, that would be 6pm. That's not the 9th day no more though, that would be the 10th day. The Sabbath and Day of Atonement would begin at 6pm and end at 6pm the following day, but that doesn't reconcile with scripture which says to begin the Sabbath in the evening of the 9th day.

If the days begin at 6am and end at 6am, then the Sabbath would begin on the 9th day in the evening which is 6pm. Twelve hours later the Day of Atonement would begin on the 10th day at 6am in the morning. The Sabbath would end in the evening of the 10th day at 6pm, which is 12 hours after the Day of Atonement begins. The Day of Atonement then ends at 6am which is 12 hours after the Sabbath ended. According to this, the Sabbath will begin first and end first, and the Day of Atonement would begin last and end last.

This latter option makes more sense in light of Leviticus 23:26-32. What do you think of this so far?

I can't really follow the logic of your approach there. It seems like the "sabbath" of the Day of Atonement" could be a special case that does not necessarily imply that days always began the same way. As far as I know the Jews have not always held to the "evening to evening" definition of a day, and they have disputed amongst themselves as to when it really starts. It would be helpful to have more info on that.

Richard

[CandF]

This is a great study and very interesting to learn the calendar and timing of His Feast days too. There are a few (well, many) verses that will help with this, and when a definition is needed, it is best to let the bible define itself.

I will just post a few of the seemingly hundreds of verses available. My thoughts aren't to try to sway or convince anyone...just to show some verses and open a door that you can pray on and ask YHWH our Father in Heaven for Him to reveal the truth to you.

One thought though...the most common thing that I see people have problems with is trying to fit a preconceived idea. Sometimes what we believe with all our heart is right...but sometimes it is a test to see if we will drop our own desires and thoughts and traditions of man, and replace them with His.

Starting in the beginning, Gen. reveals much about the day but it is also hard for many people to see it as it can be preconceived in many different ways. But since it is the beginning of the bible we can start there, just don't give up there because there are so many more verses to reveal it.

On the first day He created the Heavens and Earth and then... Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light. And Elohim saw the light, that it was good: and Elohim divided the light from the darkness. And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:3-5)

We see here that He divided the light from the darkness and they became 2 parts...there is light which is called Day...and there is darkness which is called night. The Father in heaven separated , He did not combine, light with darkness, He separated Day from Night. Then as we read on we see that after He created then came evening and then the morning was the end of that 2 part day.

If you look at each day, He always did His work in the light, in the Day light period, and then came evening, then morning ended that day. If we look at this in the "Big Picture" We are later told by the Messiah... I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. (Joh 9:4)

The day of Atonement was mentioned before. This is a feast that goes from evening to evening. Many think since this feast goes from evening to evening it proves a day does too. But the Father in Heaven tells us when each feast starts and ends, Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts for 7 days, the Feast of Tabernacles last for 7 days followed by the 8th day being the Last Great Day. There is also a Jubilee Year and others that show us Feasts are not just one day in length.

We are told that the Day of Atonement is on the 10th day and begins on the 9th at evening.

(Lev 23:27) Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement:

(Lev 23:32) It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.

Here we can see that it is from evening to evening, and begins at the evening portion of the 9th day, through the day portion of the 10th and ends at evening on the 10th. So after the sunsets on the 9th day it starts, the next morning the sun rises on the 10th day, and when day light ends, the sun sets the fast is ended.

You bring up an interesting point about tomorrow. If the day starts at evening then at 4pm I can say "see you tomorrow" when we plan to meet up that evening after sunset. But even people who hold to the evening reckoning can not get there thoughts to line up with this. On more than one occasion I have attended meetings with them on friday night only to have them say, "see you tomorrow" as we depart but if the day started at evening it would be incorrect to say see you tomorrow, instead it would be later today. Very confusing.

1Co 14:33 For Elohim is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all assemblies of the saints.

Psa 71:1 In thee, O YHWH, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

All dictionaries that I have seen, show tomorrow meaning the day after today...I have never seen it defined as later that same day, but lets let the Bible tell us how to define tomorrow.

Exo 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which YHWH hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto YHWH: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Here we see that tomorrow is the Sabbath, prepare today (the 6th day), and it will be kept until morning. If you read previous verses you will also find that any manna that was collected and held over on any of the other work days would rot and grow worms, but on the 6th day it was required to lay it up until the Sabbath and it will be preserved! And we are told to lay it up until morning, morning being that is when the Sabbath Day begins.

(1Sa 11:10-11) Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.

Here is another timeline of events that lays out a Day...(1Sa 19:10-11) And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night. Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

We are told of the events that night, and Saul's plan to slay him in the morning, and Michal's warning of it using the word tomorrow.

Another angle to look at, is the hour of a day. When we count we start with one at the beginning of a day and end at 24 hours in a full period of Day and Night. When we look to the bible it starts that first hour at...

(Act 2:15) For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

(Joh 1:39) He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

(Act 10:3) He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of YHWH coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

(Mat 20:5-6,12) Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

(Luk 23:44-45) And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

The information given to us above tells us that the first 12 hours are the hours of Light, of Day. Hour one would be the beginning of that day at sunrise the 12th is at the end of the daylight period.

(Joh 11:9) Yahushua answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

Another angle to look at would be metaphorically...1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

HalleluYaH the Father of Lights starts His day with Light!

CandF

[Richard Amiel McGough]

This is a great study and very interesting to learn the calendar and timing of His Feast days too. There are a few (well, many) verses that will help with this, and when a definition is needed, it is best to let the bible define itself.

I will just post a few of the seemingly hundreds of verses available. My thoughts aren't to try to sway or convince anyone...just to show some verses and open a door that you can pray on and ask YHWH our Father in Heaven for Him to reveal the truth to you.

<snip>

HalleluYaH the Father of Lights starts His day with Light!

CandF

Hey there CandF!

Welcome to our forum!



That was some excellent research you did there! Thanks!



The examples you gave clearly show that in general in the Bible, the day begins at dawn, aka "daybreak." Makes sense to me!

Thanks for sharing your insights. Very helpful.

Richard

[CWH]

Hi CandF,

Welcome to this forum Hope you will enjoy and learn from this forum. We love new faces here and looking forward to your contributions. You have brought up some thoughts and I would like to share here:

Jewish tradition reckons a day to be from evening to evening. A day (with sunlight) would be from sunrise to to sunset and night would be from sunset to sunrise. Therefore in Genesis 1, every day of creation from the 1st to the 6th day, there is a sentence of "and there was evening and there was morning". I believe this was purposely written to indicate clearly a full rotation of the earth. It is like saying, "and there was a 12 hours of night and 12 hours of daylight" so as not to confuse the word "day" to indicate only 12 hours of daylight. I am not sure if there was exactly 24 hours in one day of creation...perhaps much longer. There was no mention of this sentence, "and there was evening and there was morning" on the last day of creation except that we know God rested on the seventh day and made it holy. It's like suggesting there was no full rotation of the earth on the 7th day. And since God rested on the 7th day, that would suggest that God worked the full day and night for 6 days without rest and rested on the holy 7th day. There was no mention of what God did on the 8th day onwards, suggesting God carry on with His normal day of duty after he rested on the 7th day of creation.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [a] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

BTW the 1st to the 6th day of creation with the sentence, "and there was evening and there was morning" can be taken symbolically (if one day is taken as 1,000 earth years) that there was 6,000 years of creation, and that 6,000 years of creation is filled with evil(evening...night.. darkness...wickedness) and good(morning...day....light...righteousness). And since God completed and rested on the 7th day and made it holy can be taken symbolically as God completed his creation by the next 1,000 years (since 6,000 years have almost already past) and made it holy and since there was no mention of night on the holy 7th day; it will be a day filled only with goodness and righteousness that carries on continuously. It corresponds well with Revelation 21 which happened after the millennium was over, "for there will be no night" i.e. there will be no evil and nothing impure enters it....:

22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.


Many Blessings.

[CandF]

Thank you RAM and Cheow Wee Hock for the welcome, and I have to say, it is nice to find such a wealth of info in these boards...it will keep me busy for a while!

I haven't figured my way around these boards yet to learn how you are quoting (with the blue boxes)...but will do my best to reply...

You made great references to the Sabbath and the Jewish tradition of evening to evening. When I first learned about the Sabbath I was taught to follow that Jewish tradition. But the more that I read the bible the more I was learning that what I was taught as a child wasn't lining up with scripture, and the traditions of the Jews also had errors. It was somewhat comforting finding this warning, (Mar 7:8) For laying aside the commandment of YHWH, ye hold the tradition of men...

But that also meant that I had to stop relying on what I was taught and go back to relearning everything by reading the word, praying and only trusting what YHWH showed me.

(Mat 23:8) But be not ye called Rabbi [teacher]: for one is your Rabbi, even the Messiah; and all ye are brethren.

(Psa 118:8) It is better to trust in YHWH than to put confidence in man.

Sometimes people get mad at me because my beliefs do not always follow the traditions, so it is really nice to be welcome here.

You quoted some great verses from Gen 2.

(vs 1-3) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day Elohim ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohim created and made.

One study point that I have found is that when YHWH repeats something to us that it is a key piece. Here we are told YHWH didn't just rest on the 7th day...we are told He rested from His work...and we are told 3 times in just those three verses. I was never shown that when I was taught the evening to evening Sabbath. You mention that YHWH worked day and night...but that isn't what is written in the timeline that Gen. 1 shows, or with other scriptures.

We are symbolically reminded when the Messiah said we "must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (Joh 9:4 I)

YHWH has told us that light is day and darkness is night, and now we see that no man can work in the night, what does that mean?

(Amo 5:20) Shall not the day of YHWH be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

To do the work of YHWH and to be a laborer and prepare for the harvest, we must do this work before that darkness comes...in that time of darkness will be too late, as you have also shown.

(Luk 10:2-3) Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Master of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

So we see that this lines up with what you found in Rev. 21 too. Today is our period to do YHWH's work while there is light...our rest period will come after that terrible day of darkness when YHWH baptizes the earth with fire, ends the period of darkness...and then there will only be Light.

(Rev 21:23-25) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of YHWH did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

Night and darkness relate to evil...and there is no evil when His Holy Kingdom is set up, just the light of YHWH! But it is because of people choosing darkness/evil instead of the ways of YHWH, that the day of YHWH will come.

(Joh 3:19-21) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in Elohim.

(Isa 13:10-11) For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. [the oppressor]

Which brings us back to Gen where YHWH tells us that He divided the light from the darkness and establishes the Night to represent darkness where He called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

And one last note...fantastic catch about the 7th day in the creation story (Gen.)...there is no evening, no night, no darkness, that follows that Sabbath Day like there is in the other 6 Days.

[CindyPinOKC]

I stumbled upon this thread while searching the beginning of a biblical day, trying to see if I could find any evidence on the "evening to evening" reckoning coming out of some tradition. I was really impressed with everything I read here! We have only recently come to believe that a 24-hour period begins in the morning, and many of the verses and reasoning were mentioned here. Pretty interesting!

Does anyone here have any information on how, where, when, etc. the evening to evening reckoning started? The best I can figure out is that no one generally works after dark anyway, so Friday nights just kind of got "tacked onto" the weekly Shabbat.....but I was hoping to find something more concrete. TIA!

[David M]

Hi to all.

This is an interesting topic Richard has raised and is of academic importance rather than matters of faith and belief.

I offer some of my own thoughts, from reading the posts in this thread so far. We are obviously conditioned in the times we live to the day starting at midnight. The start of the day has been shifted by six hours from the time we are considering in the Bible, when the day started at sunset. Like most things, humans make compromises and so we are familiar with starting the day at midnight. If we got used to decimalization, scrapping imperial measurements and the same with decimilaztion of currencies. I am sure we could get used to starting the day again at sunset if that is what our government decided. Changing the clocks to summertime is something we have got used to, even though it remains a big issue in some countries.

Today we live and work in a 24-hour society and around the globe it is all ways daylight somewhere. While one half of the world would be at sleep (during darkness) the other half are awake and working. Modern-day society has blurred the boundaries so much, we might as well work to a universal time. In part, that was done by setting the international date line. Nowadays, work and sleep are in accordance with the job we do. I have worked night shifts and those who have, know how to adjust to sleeping in the day. To sleep in the day, we simulate night and sleep in blackout conditions. Working at night and missing out on daylight hours is not good for our bodies that have been designed for working during the day. However, the body has been able to adapt and we cope with working at night in artificial light, even if not good for our longterm health.

Back to the Bible and at the beginning. I see that God’s day ends when He has worked and created something. CWH has brought out a good point in that God could have worked continuously for six full days ( 6 x 24) and then rested the seventh day. If we could keep working 6 days continuously, I expect we would need to rest by the seventh day. It is bad enough working 6 x 12-hour days and by the end of a 72-hour working week, the extra day of rest is necessary. The people at the beginning were restricted to working in daylight when they could see what they were doing.

It is generally accepted that working for more than 12 hours continuously is bad practice and we need to have rest and sleep. I can see the concept of the day ending when we have finished work. The start of the day at sunset (night) is the time for the body to build itself up ready for work later in the day.

The question of the 8th day was brought up. Although we know God works continuously in bringing about His purpose, nevertheless, we are in still in the period of the 7th day of God’s rest. The number 8 in the Bible is associated with new beginnings. The 8th day for God is when He creates a "new heaven and a new earth". That new beginning (I think) starts at the point when Christ hands back a restored kingdom to God at the end of the 7th millennium. I think we are coming to the end of the 6th millennium very soon.

God is the Creator and Master Mathematician and Pattern Maker, therefore, it should be no surprise to see a pattern to God’s timescale in which to restore the earth ready for this new beginning in the 8th millennium.


Just food for thought.

David

[duxrow]

Am enjoying this thread -- very interesting. Used to be (maybe still is) a lot of talk about a 24hr. Day in Genesis, and tickled me when Jesus said: Joh:11:9: Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

In a sense, then, we can see the reason why they were 'in the dark' in the OT.

just my 2 cents..