And The Evening And The Morning Were The First Day: 3 Interpretations: which is right?

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And The Evening And The Morning Were The First Day Controversy

Now in my previous post entitled: When does the Sabbath begin, I had looked at much evidence taken from all over the Bible that proved that a day begins in the morning.

I had also looked at all the scriptures where we thought it means the day begins at evening. I attempted to show that they were misunderstandings.

These misunderstandings are not easy to accept. The evening to evening Sabbath has defined Jewry as well as Christian organizations such as the Seventh Day Adventists.

Christian followers especially, will not take kindly to hearing their church was wrong all along. Therefore, we need to make it as clear as possible. Most Jews put tradition above the word, so it doesn’t make much difference for them.

So, “evening and the morning were the first day” needs more attention to bring out the plain truth.

Problem Verses

Well, let’s look at the evening and the morning by looking at the following verses:

Gen 1:1 — Gen 1:5 ​ In the beginning Elohiym created the heaven and the earth. 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. And Elohiym said, Let there be light: and there was light. And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness. And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

These verses are used to say the biblical day (and by extension the biblical Sabbath) began in the evening.

The Bible Cannot Contradict Itself

To figure out if this is correct, we have to begin with a ground rule. This is indeed true for understanding ANY biblical truth:

The Bible does not contradict itself.

Therefore, if our understanding is based on a scripture that contradicts, then we have a flawed understanding!

This is one of the reasons why there are so many Christian denominations! Everyone takes what they believe to be true and “runs with it.”

This is regardless of whether or not there are verses in the Bible that contradict it. This is a grave error which is in no small part one of the reasons for the confusion in Christendom today!

By the way, there is one underlying reason for the over 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide.

So whatever understanding we have, it cannot contradict another scripture, as the scripture has to be in harmony, because:

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

Evidence that Day Begins In the Morning

As I said before, I gave much evidence that the day began in the mornings (you may read the full proof of when the Sabbath begins). Because it has been dealt with extensively, I will share only 3 of the shortest accounts here.

3-Point Strategy to Finding Out Which Interpretation Is Correct

Here is the 3-point strategy to find out what “And the evening and the morning were the first day” really means.

1. Establish whether the Bible says the day begins in the morning or evening, then
2. Show 3 possible interpretations of Genesis 1:5 (And the evening and the morning were the first day), then
3. We will see which interpretation(s) conflict with these scriptures and which agree harmoniously with them.

Problem solved!

Scripture which tells us when the day begins

Judges 19:9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

Look carefully at the verse and it tells us simply that the day is coming to an end (see 12 hours in a day below). He is asking his father-in-law to stay all night. Then to morrow get up early. What does to morrow mean in its original form?

English: to morrow
Hebrew: מחרתם מחרת
Transliteration: mochŏrâth mochŏrâthâm
Pronunciation: {mokh-or-awth’} mokh-or-aw-thawm’
Definition: Feminine from the same as H4279; the morrow or (adverbially) tomorrow: – {morrow} next day.
KJV Usage: morrow (29x), next day (2x), next (1x).

Summary

So, he spoke about the day drawing towards evening, then night. Then he said to morrow (the next day)! If the day began at evening, he would have said “in the morning” get up early. He would not have referred to the morning (early) as the to morrow (the next day)!

Study Judges 19:9 very carefully, as this verse completes the entire cycle of biblical day and night (24 hours). It is a sure indication that the biblical day DID NOT begin at evening.

12 Hour Day

Now to confirm that account, that the day was drawing to an end in the evening, the Messiah said this:

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.

Summary

If there are 12 hours in the day, how can the day start in the evening? Then the day, the Sabbath day would erroneously run for 24 hours as it now does. But it should not because the day is 12 hours and the night is 12 hours, then comes the next day in the morning. Read this again:

Judges 19:9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

• The day draws to an end (12 hours) when
• Evening comes, then
• Night comes, then
• The next day comes in the morning

Now let’s get a third witness for confirmation before we go to HaBere’shiyth (Genesis). We have to lay the groundwork to show up conflict in our interpretation.

1 Samuel 19:11

1 Samuel 19:11
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.

Evening Start of the Day?

This incident took place to night. Now, according to the evening start of a day, night should be part of the start of the day.

Morning Start of the Day?

However, in the night, David’s wife was telling him (at night), that to morrow he will be killed. Now when is to morrow (the next day)? In the morning.

Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning

Summary

So we have evidence that the day starts in the morning, ends in the evening and lasts for 12 hours. The rest of the time is night. Is this scriptural. Of course:

Gen 1:14 And Elohiym said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

There is a straight division between the day and the night.

3 Possible Meanings for “And the Evening and the morning were the first day”

Remember, our plan is to show biblical evidence that a day begins in the mornings, which we did. Now there are 3 possible meanings for Genesis 1:5…”And the Evening and the morning were the first day.”

We must remember that scripture cannot contradict itself and still be valid.

Therefore, for any of the 3 meanings to be true, they MUST be in harmony with the 3 proofs we just presented of a 12-hour day that began in the morning. If you want more proof of that, go to When does the Sabbath begin.

First, let me produce the Hebrew of Genesis 1:5 with the English literal translation.

The literal translation is:

And were the evening and the morning, day the first.

Now let us see how many meanings we can deduce from that.

1) The Evening started the Day

This is the popular interpretation. The evening started the day and the morning ended it? Now this would contradict the scripture I presented earlier. It would also contradict every scriptural evidence I gave in When does the Sabbath begin.

Our core scripture used here is contradicted. Let me post it again:

Judges 19:9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

In accepting this meaning (evening to evening day), scripture will indeed be contradicting itself!

Remember, for something in the Bible to be true, it cannot contradict other scriptures!

2) Morning Starts a 24-hour day

The term “And were evening” which was translated to mean “And the evening,” can be translated to mean “and evening came.”

Gen 1:4 And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening (And were evening) and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:5 can be translated to mean after creating the light, evening came (And came evening)…then morning (and the morning) came again.

That signaled the first day when evening came then the next morning to start another day.

Does this contradict scripture? It does not contradict the myriads of scripture that prove that the day began in the mornings.

However, it does SEEM TO contradict a 12-hour day (John 11:9).

This can be resolved if we think of the night as belonging to the day, as we do today. In the night time, we still say today. What day is today? is still asked even in the night time. So “day” will mean daytime (12 hours) as well as the night (other 12 hours).

3) The Morning Starts a 12-hour Day

There is still a third interpretation. That is, the morning starts a 12-hour day and the other 12 hours being night.

This interpretation says the verse means “and came the evening (to end the first day of creation)” and the morning of that same day was the first day (12-hour day).

Gen 1:4 And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness.

Gen 1:5 And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And were the evening (and came evening) and the morning, day the first.

So this third interpretation is really the same as a 24-hour day (the second interpretation. However, it is more specific in now breaking up the 24 hours into 12 hours of daylight (day), being separated from 12 hours of night by the evening.

In our conclusion, we will look at how we resolve the now relevant question: “Does the Sabbath then begin in the morning and last for 24 hours or only 12 hours?”

We Would Have To Erase The First Day Of Creation For A Day To Begin At Sunset

Before we do that, let us do some reasoning to further understand.

He created light and called it day; the darkness he called night.

If a day starts at evening, what about the first morning that came before the first evening? How could it be that when evening comes on the first day (before the night begins), that evening is the start of a day and the morning is suddenly out of the picture? Who erased it? Do we have authority to erase it?:

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.

We have no authority to erase it, and the Most high made a covenant with night and day!

Yes, YHWH has a covenant with the day and a covenant with the night that they should be IN THEIR SEASON (at their appointed times)! If we erase it, then YHWH says there will be no Messiah (son of David) sitting on the throne. And we cannot prevent Messiah sitting on the throne which means we cannot erase the day!

We need to open our eyes, seek and follow truth and not man’s religions.

Summary

So in this interpretation, the evening came to close the first 12-hour day, then evening taking us into darkness (night). That morning plus the evening was the first 12-hour day. Remember, the evening divided the light from the darkness: the evening divided day from night.

Day was first, then evening, then night.

Contradiction?

Now does this contradict any of the scripture posted earlier? Does it contradict any of the many scripture posted on When does the Sabbath begin? Absolutely not!

Can you find scripture that it contradicts? I would be happy if you could post them so we can continue this scriptural adventure.

12-Hour Sabbath Or 24-Hour Sabbath?

So we come to the big question, is the Sabbath 12 hours or 24 hours? To figure this out. let us look at the meaning of day as used in the Sabbath command:

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Now we must look at the meaning of “day” as used.

Day
H3117
יוֹם
yôm
yome
From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literally (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverbially): – age, + always, + chronicles, continually (-ance), daily, ([birth-], each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever (-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (. . . live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year (-ly), + younger.
Total KJV occurrences: 2295

The root meaning of the word is from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours). This could of course only be in reference to 12 hours, from sunrise to sunset.

Indeed, it could not be from one sunset to the next, neither could it be from sunset to sunset as both these scenarios overlap into the cool hours (night).

Hence it could only mean a 12-hour Sabbath day that starts in the morning and ends in the evening.

For more info on this 12-hour sabbath, take a look at this post entitled:
Is Matthew 28:1 Telling Us That There Is a 24 Hour Sabbath?

Evening and the Morning: the Correct Interpretation

Scripture does not contradict scripture. YHWH is not the author (cause/causer) of confusion.  An evening to evening start of a day and start of a Sabbath is not biblical. It does not agree with scripture. In fact, scripture totally debunks it.

Historical evidence points to the Jews bringing it with them from their Babylonian captivity. Christian denominations have followed them along the same path. However, in these end times, we MUST rightly divide the word of truth.

I don’t know about you, but in all cases, I accept the interpretation that does not contradict scripture. In this case, it is the 3rd interpretation where the day begins at daybreak (12-hour day, 12-hour night).

Scripture must be in peace, working harmoniously without contradiction to bring out truth. This is my approach as I follow Yahusha HaMashiach, not religion.

By the way, in case you are saying that Sabbath is different because “from even to even you shall keep your Sabbaths,” you may want to read Day of Atonement from Evening To Evening : is this when all days and Sabbaths begin?