Darkness Begins the Day?
The reason I was motivated to write this post, was because of a comment on our Facebook page. The person was responding to my post When does the Sabbath begin? The nature of the response required was not suitable for social media, hence this post.
Here was the comment to which I am replying:
The earth was without form and void: and darkness was upon the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said let there be light and there was light.
So darkness was before the light, then he said the evening and the morning were the first day, because the darkness was first, the evening came first, so a complete day is consist of the evening (darkness) and the morning (light); so every day begins at evening. Evening means the end of a day, so when a day is ended, a new day begins.
If any Man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, for he giveth liberally, and don’t hold back. Have a blessed day.
Now to answer that comment, we will follow the trail of the scripture starting from the first verse:
Gen 1:1 In the beginning Elohiym created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohiym moved upon the face of the waters.
When did a day begin?
Now there was no day as yet, only darkness. Here is when the day begins:
Gen 1:3 And Elohiym said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Now why does the day begin there? First, he used the EVENING to distinguish/separate light from darkness:
Gen 1:4 And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym DIVIDED the light from the darkness.
Then very importantly, he called the light a name and the darkness a name:
Gen 1:5 And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
See that? When he said: “let there be light.” That was when a day began! If you don’t get that, don’t move on before you see it as it is plain as day!
Evening is the Division of Night From Day
Now let’s go back to verse 4. He DIVIDED the day from the night. What did he use to divide the day from the night? EVENING!
Gen 1:4 And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness.
Now let us look at the meaning of divided as used:
bâdal
baw-dal’
A primitive root; to divide (in various senses literally or figuratively, separate, distinguish, differ, select, etc.): – (make, put) difference, divide (asunder), (make) separate (self, -ation), sever (out), X utterly.
So he severed, distinguised, differed, divided asunder, utterly separated day from night!
Therefore, evening is the divider between night and day. It is not night (darkness), but it is the END of the day, before darkness (night).
Importantly, it belongs to the day and is counted as part of the day (the end of the day – See Judges 19:9). By the way, I am currently preparing a post to highlight this point; of course, with biblical proof.
By claiming that the day began in darkness, the person who made the comment (and all evening to evening believers) are removing morning and saying darkness (night) is not only the beginning, but part of a day. Now what is wrong with that?
Jeremiah 33:19 – 21 And the word of YHWH came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith YHWH; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
There MUST be day and night in their season (at their appointed times)! Both have separate appointed times. Night cannot be day and day cannot be night.
The verses in Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) above are saying if day and night are not separate, then Yahushua the Messiah (the son of David) is not reigning on the throne! And we know he reigns forever, as he is now sitting at the right hand of YHWH. Day is therefore day, and night is night.
Evening Ends the Day But (Still Part of the Day)
The fundamental error evening to evening people make is thinking that evening belongs to night and therefore is separate from the day. Now get this very important point:
He DID NOT divide the day from evening. He used evening to divide day from night!
And were evening and the morning, day the first. (literal Hebrew translation).
But more on this in my next post. Let me continue.
Sequence of Time
So the day began with light (day), and was separated from the darkness (night) by the division (evening). Therefore, evening CANNOT come before day! Evening came AFTER day in the book of Genesis!
It is the break of day (dawn) after a night that begins the day. Take a look at the chart below which explains it visually.
Chart source: Barnabas Nagy.
In the first illustration we have it as it is in the book of Genesis. Evening and morning the first day. Evening came and the morning was the first day. No mention of night. Therefore evening belongs to the morning to make the day.
The third chart shows the popular Pharaseeitical belief (Historical Evidence). Day begins at the end of evening, in the night. Just looking at it visually shows how ludicrous it is.
The big question arises, How can a day begin at night if he separated light from darkness and called the light day and the darkness, night?Plus, he said day must be day and night must be night in their seasons (at their appointed times)!
No Light, No Day
It is even more evident that evening to evening is a creation of man, when we accept that biblically, a day is not day without light.
Light began the day:
Gen 1:3 And Elohiym said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:5 And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
That was when darkness was over the face of the deep and he said let there be light and light came. The light was day. The darkness was not day!
That was the beginning of the first day. The day did not begin in darkness. Indeed, the end of darkness began the day, when the day began to light.
Evening means the end of a day, so when a day is ended, a new day begins?
Now here is another claim the person made in the comment. She is indeed correct by saying evening ends the day.
However, the error she then makes is by saying, “therefore it begins another day.”
What about the night? Evening ends the day, but night begins after evening. Night is not day. Darkness is not light. She is thinking a 24-hour day. The Bible says 12-hour day (John 11:9) and therefore 12 hours of night.
John 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.
The verse above is very revealing. Apart from telling us a day lasts for 12 hours, it also tells us that day is light. We don’t stumble in the day because there is light at day! Night is darkness: it cannot be day! Open your heart and unlearn the lies of man’s religions. Man’s religions are mere tools of the great deceiver.
Does the Book of Genesis Say a Day Begins in Darkness?
Does the Genesis creation account say the day began in the night (in darkness). No, it says darkness was first (Genesis 1:2) but the day did not begin until he said let there be light (Genesis 1:3). Why?
He called the light day (Gen 1:5).
He did not call the darkness day. So a day begins at dawn, when night is done (Gen 1:14) and the light that he commanded breaks through the dark to get brighter and brighter.
Summary of First Day
DARKNESS (NO LIGHT = NO DAY) =>> LET THERE BE LIGHT =>> LIGHT CALLED DAY =>> DARKNESS CALLED NIGHT =>> EVENING SEPARATED DAY FROM NIGHT.
Therefore:
- DAY = DAY
- NIGHT = NIGHT.
Day is not night and night is not day.
- Day is first, then evening then night.
- Evening is the end of a day, then comes night.
- Evening is second in line, not first in line.
- Evening’s job is to divide day from night
- Evening does not start a day.
- Morning starts a day
That is what the book of HaBere’shiyth (Genesis) says. Thanks be to YHWH for his words, qodesh and true! I beseech anyone reading this to stop seeing through the eyes of the Pharisees. Start seeing through the eyes of the elect of YHWH to whom Ruach HaKodesh leads us into all truths. Shalom.
Related:
And The Evening And The Morning Were The First Day: 3 Interpretations: which is right?
Day of Atonement from Evening To Evening : is this when all days and Sabbaths begin?
Biblical Proof Sabbath Begins in the Morning: Day of Atonement and Pentecost
