HOW A DAY BEGINS
BEGIN WITH DARKNESS, BUILD TO LIGHT
(THE MOON ALSO BEGINS WITH DARKNESS, AND BUILDS UP THE LIGHT AS THE DAYS PASS)
WHEN DOES A
SCRIPTURAL DAY BEGIN AND END?
The texts of
Scripture in this study are not anomalies, aberrations, deviations,
irregularities, or exceptions to the rule.
They clearly define, determine, explain, and identify specific events,
and are unmistakably precise about when a day begins.
“In the
beginning . . .”
The text states
that Yahuah created the Heavens and the Earth, and DARKNESS was on the face of
deep, surging waters. Yahuah hovered
above the face of these waters, and said “HAYAH OR”, meaning “Let there come to
be light”. The first to be brought
forth was a formless, lifeless void of darkness and obscurity containing the
elements from which everything would be made:
water.
“For they choose to have this hidden from
them: that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in
the water, by the Word of Elohim.” 2Pe
3:5
The beginning of the “first day” did not begin with
light.
Consider the meaning of the following Hebrew words:
EREB
#H6153: literally “darkening”;
evening, dusk, nightfall.
LAYLAH
#H3915: night
BOQER
#H1242: morning, dawn, morrow
YOM
#H3117: day, warmth, the period of
sunrise to sunset, or from sunset to the next sunset;
figuratively it can mean a space of time.
(The concordance numbers are noted here for you to do further research):
“And Elohim430 called7121 the light216
Day,3117 and the darkness2822 he called7121
Night.3915
And the
evening6153 and the
morning1242 were1961 the first259 day.3117”
Gen/Bereshith 1:5
Clearly, if the
morning began a day, the text would read:
“And the morning
(dawn) and the evening
(dusk)
were the first day.”
But, it is not
stated this way.
Every seventh day, nightfall (evening, dusk) brings a day of rest from work. Work is prohibited by the 4th Commandment.
John/Yn. 9:4b
“Night is coming, when no one is able to
work.”
Neh 13:19
“And it came to be, at the gates of Yerushalayim,
as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to
be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath.
And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be
brought in on the Sabbath day.”
An analysis of
two key words in the above text:
“And it came to pass,1961 that when834
the gates8179 of Jerusalem3389 began to be
dark6751
TSALAL #H6751: shade,
twilight, shadowing, becoming dark, nightfall
before6440
PANIYM #6440: before,
in front of face, forefront part, turning toward
the sabbath,7676 I commanded559 that the
gates1817 should be shut,5462 and charged559
that834 they should not3808 be opened6605 till5704
after310 the sabbath:7676 and
some of my servants4480, 5288 set5975 I at5921
the gates,8179 that
there should no3808 burden4853 be brought in935
on the sabbath7676 day.3117
Neh 13:19
Sunset (evening) to
sunset = 1 DAY
According to
these verses, sunset defines
the arrival of Sabbath.
Another confirmation is seen in the 10th day of the seventh moon,Yom Kaphar.
The text specifies very clearly when to begin and end the day of
rest:
“It1931
shall be to you a sabbath7676
of rest,7677 and you shall afflict6031 (853)
your souls:5315 in the ninth8672
day of the month2320 at even,6153(dusk,
nightfall)
from even4480, 6153(dusk,
nightfall)
to5704
even,6153(dusk,
nightfall)
shall you repose7673
your sabbath.7676”
Lev/Wayyiqra 23:32
Sunset (evening) is again verified as the beginning of the annual
Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, illustrated by the haste to take down the bodies of
those executed on the preparation day, the 14th of Abib:
Joh 19:14 “And it was the Preparation of the Passover, and about the
sixth hour. And he said to the Yehuḏim, “See your Sovereign!”
Joh 19:31
“Therefore,
since it was the Preparation Day,
that the bodies should not remain on the stake on the Sabbath
– for that Sabbath was a high one – the Yehuḏim
asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that
they be taken away.”
Joh 19:39-42
“And Naḵdimon,
who at first came to Yahushua
by night, also came, bringing a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Then they took the body of
Yahushua,
and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as was the habit of the Yehuḏim for burial.
And at the place where He was impaled
there was a garden, and in the garden a fresh tomb in which no one had yet been
laid.
There, then,
because of the Preparation Day
of the Yehuḏim,
they laid Yahushua,
because the tomb was near.”
Compare this with the report of Luke:
Luk 23:53-56: “And taking
it down, he wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb hewn out of the rock,
where no one was yet laid.
And it was Preparation day, and the Sabbath was approaching.
And the women who had come with Him from Galil followed after,
and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.
And having returned, they prepared spices and perfumes. And
they rested on the Sabbath according to the command.”
Work is prohibited on the Sabbath. If we believe the sunrise is the beginning of the Sabbath, then we will ignore the arrival of the true Sabbath the evening before, when the sixth day ends and the seventh day begins.
Mat 24:42-44: “'Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Master is coming.
And know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
Because of this, be ready too, for the Son of Adam is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.
Who then is a trustworthy and wise servant, whom his master set over his household, to give them food in season?'"
Within recent years there are people promoting a different interpretation of when a "day" begins and ends according to the texts of Yahuah's Word. One article that started this reckoning was written back in 1998 which labeled this the “Day Spring” concept – I’ve forgotten the gentleman that wrote it originally. By deduction, I suspected something was wrong because of the fact that there is no historical record of any “change” in when the 24-hour day begins among the widely dispersed Israelites. If we assume that Abraham, Mosheh, David, Daniel, and Yahushua all kept the “morning-to-morning” reckoning, then some time since the life of Yahushua a major change would have had to occur, literally turning the day upside down from where it had been before. The Pagan Roman culture attempted to change the week (7 days) to 9 days, and they also created an artificial beginning for the day at midnight, which the western world has adopted out of ignorance and force of habit (and this imprinting clearly "marks" or identifies the fingerprints of Paganism on those residing in Rome to this very day).
Even if an attempt to alter the beginning-point
of a day were ever made, it would not have been able to succeed so thoroughly,
especially so without even a whisper in any record of it having been done.
The only logical deduction one can make from this fact is that there has been no
change, and Yahushua understood the day began at sunset. If an attempt had
been made to change it to sunset,
there would be a record of it,
and a whole bunch of people still doing it the right way. Conversely, if
an attempt had been made to change it to sunrise, there would be a record of it
also. And there is such a record, and it was when Islam
came on the scene.
The Quranic Day - Islam teaches
the dawn-to-dawn cycle:
“A Quranic day starts from dawn the same day and ends at dawn the following one.
For instance, a Quranic Friday starts from Friday dawn and ends Saturday dawn.”
Many things we have inherited come down directly from the Babylonians, although
not all of them are rebellious. The 12-hour day, the 360-degree circle,
and several other mathematical traditions are Babylonian inventions. I
didn’t realize that you felt the 24-hour “day” began at morning (dawn), instead
of at sunset. This has a profound effect on many things, such as when to
begin our weekly Sabbath rest. I’ve investigated the idea of starting at
dawn, which I understand many have done, and found there is more than the Yom
Kaphar “evening to evening” exception to deal with. And yes, there is a
situation in the book of NehemYah that is quite compelling that involves when
the Sabbath arrives.
First, consider
the haste to take the bodies down before sunset, due to the approaching annual
Sabbath:
“Therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain
on the stake on the Sabbath – for that Sabbath was a high one – the Yehuḏim
asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that they be taken away.”
Joh/ Yn 19:31
If
the annual Sabbath began at sunrise the next morning, why the haste?
Yahushua and His talmidim had no problem hiking around after dark in the garden,
and the armed cohort that arrested Him late in the night on the 14th
(preparation day) didn’t have a problem with darkness either. Reading
Genesis/Bereshith, some have come to believe that “creation” began with “light”,
therefore the 24-hour period begins at
sunrise. In contrast, the end
of the “day” which arrives at the moment the sun sets, beginning a new cycle of
24 hours, actually reflects the six creation days. At creation, it was first “dark”,
and Yahuah created water, Earth, and the rules of physics. Kepha (Peter) tells
us that the Earth was formed out of water.
Darkness was on the face of the deep. The first sentence of Genesis
states:
“In the beginning Elohim
created
the heavens and the Earth. And the Earth came to be formless and
empty, and
darkness
was on the face of the deep.”
First there was
darkness, and light came later.
Even the blind theories and imaginations of non-believers are establishing the
truth of the first several verses of Genesis to some extent. But
many Natsarim believe creation began with LIGHT, therefore the periodic 24-hour
night/day scheme is interpreted to be “day, then night” (light, then darkness),
as opposed to “night, then day” (darkness, then light).
“And there came to be evening (darkening, Ereb)
and there came to be morning (lightening, boker),
the first day.” (This suggests a 24-hour period). By
interpreting the order of occurrence differently, differences in patterns of
behavior can be seen today among the Natsarim. This has the effect of making a
Sabbath “day” only pertain to when the sun is up, and so “night” has no
pertinence to the “Sabbath day”. No man can “work” at night they
will explain, from Yahushua’s words at John/Yoh. 9:4. To these brothers, Sabbath
begins at sunrise. Do we have the capacity to be different, yet have love?
(Please don’t do it because I do it, but study; I rest every week,
beginning at sunset at the end of
the sixth day (sunset), and there follows a twilight of nearly 30 minutes before
night arrives (complete darkness). One of my favorite Scriptures to
quote that establishes whether Shabbath begins at sunset or sunrise is Neh.
13:19 (also see context):
“And it came to be, at the gates of Yerushaliyim, as it began to be dark
before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and commanded
that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath.”
The interlinear Hebrew-English rendering of this text shows that before the
Sabbath shadowed the gates of Yerushaliyim, they were commanded to be shut.
Just as each "month" (new moon) BEGINS with a dark moon, so the beginning of
each "day" begins at the darkening, ereb,
the going-down of the sun. Beginnings seem to be a progression from
darkness-to-light. If it were from light-to-darkness, then the new moon
would be the full moon.