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 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.”
Islam also begins each month by
a
sighted-crescent, adopted by the Karaites in the 8th century.
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.” Space and water were already
created, and light followed. Darkness is even mentioned before the light
comes to be. The first to be brought forth was shamayim (skies, heavens), and a formless, lifeless void in darkness and obscurity.
It contained the disorganized
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 Alahim.” 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 Alahim430 called7121 the light216
Day,3117 and the darkness2822 he called7121
Night.3915
And the
evening6153 and the
morning1242 were1961 the first259 day.3117”
Gen/Barashith 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.”
Work, buying
and selling, was seen to be a problem by those who returned to Yerushalayim in
the days of NehemYah. Notice the time of day when governor NehemYah
ordered the gates to be shut:
Neh 13:19
“And it came to be, at the gates of Yerushalayim,
as it began to be dark before the Shabath, that I commanded the gates to
be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the Shabath.
And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be
brought in on the Shabath day.”
An analysis of
two key words in the above text:
“And it came to pass,1961 that when834
the gates8179 of Yerushalayim3389 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 Shabath,7676 I commanded559 that the
gates1817 should be shut,5462 and charged559
that834 they should not3808 be opened6605 till5704
after310 the Shabath:7676 and
some of my servants4480, 5288 set5975 I at5921
the gates,8179 that
there should no3808 burden4853 be brought in935
on the Shabath7676 day.3117
Neh 13:19
Sunset (evening) to
sunset = 1 DAY
According to
these verses, sunset defines
the arrival of Shabath.
Another confirmation is seen in the 10th day of the
seventh moon, Yom Kafar.
The text specifies very clearly when to begin and end the day of
rest:
“It1931
shall be to you a Shabath7676
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 Shabath.7676”
Lev/Uyiqra 23:32
Sunset (evening) is again verified as the beginning of the annual
Shabath 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
Yahudim, “See your Sovereign!”
Joh 19:31
“Therefore,
since it was the Preparation Day,
that the bodies should not remain on the stake on the Shabath
– for that Shabath was a high one – the Yahudim
asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that
they be taken away.”
Joh 19:39-42
“And Nakdimon,
who at first came to Yahusha
by night, also came, bringing a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Then they took the body of
Yahusha,
and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as was the habit of the Yahudim 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 Yahudim,
they laid Yahusha,
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 Shabath 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 Shabath according to the command.”
Work is
prohibited on the Shabath. If we believe the sunrise is the beginning of
the Shabath, then we will ignore the arrival of the true Shabath 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?'"
Sunset or Sunrise?
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 Yahusha
all kept the “morning-to-morning” reckoning, then some time since the life of
Yahusha 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 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 Yahusha 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 Shabath rest. I’ve investigated the idea of starting at
dawn, which I understand many have done, and found there is more than the Yom
Kafar “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 Shabath arrives.
First, consider
the haste to take the bodies down before sunset, due to the approaching annual
Shabath:
“Therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain
on the stake on the Shabath – for that Shabath was a high one – the Yahudim
asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that they be taken away.”
Joh/ Yn 19:31
If
the annual Shabath began at sunrise the next morning, why the haste?
Yahusha 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/Barashith, 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 Alahim
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
Shabath “day” only pertain to when the sun is up, and so “night” has no
pertinence to the “Shabath day”. No man can “work” at night they
will explain, from Yahusha’s words at John/Yoh. 9:4. To these brothers, Shabath
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 Shabath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and commanded
that they should not be opened till after the Shabath.”
The interlinear Hebrew-English rendering of this text shows that before the
Shabath 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.
Sister Josette's research is a second witness:
Act 27:27 And when the fourteenth
night came, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the
sailors suspected that they were drawing near some land.
Act 27:33 And when day was about to
come, Sha’ul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the
fourteenth day you have continued without food, and eaten none at all.
Please take
notice that Paul was including the evening prior to the daylight portion of the
'Fourteenth Day'.
Neh 13:19
And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark
before the Shabath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that
they should not be opened till after the Shabath: and some of my servants set I
at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Shabath day.
The sunrise group (some of them) explain this scripture away
saying, "They closed the gates the night before because, who wants to get up at
sunrise and shut the gates? or They closed the gates the night before because
there were hedge laws enacted by that time." Where is that in Scripture?
I would like to submit scripture to prove there were people awake
in the temple through the nights into the morning.
Exo 27:21
In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the
testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before
Yahuah: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the
children of Israel.
Another stance, taken by the sunrise group, is that there are only
two feast days that command an evening to evening celebration. This is
what I've found regarding the Shabath and High Shabath's.
The word Shabath (H7676) in the 10 Commands is the same Shabathused
to keep a Feast Day (High Shabath) from even to even.
Exo 20:8 Remember2142 the (853) Shabath7676 day,3117 to keep it holy.6942
Lev 23:32
It shall be unto you a Shabath (7676) 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 Shabath.
H7676
shabbâth
shab-bawth'
Intensive from H7673; intermission, that is, (specifically) the Shabath: -
(+ every) Shabath.
If the weekly Shabath was to be kept sunrise to sunrise and the
High Shabath from evening to evening, why would the same word be used?
There is another Shabath used in Lev. 23 that pertains to a High
Shabath but uses a different word and does not give instruction to keep
it from evening to evening.
Lev 23:24
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first
day of the month, shall ye have a Shabath (7677), a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
H7677
shabbâthôn
shab-baw-thone'
From H7676; a sabbatism or special holiday: - rest, Shabath.
This all seems very confusing to me. Why would Yahuah start some
days at sunrise and other days in the evening? Think of how confusing this
concept would have been for the Children of Israel coming out of pagan
worship.
There's more....
When the Children of Israel came out of Egypt, look at what they
did and when they did it. Keep in mind they were doing what
they learned in Egypt.
Exo 32:1 And when
the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people
gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us Alahim,
which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out
of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
Exo 32:5 And when
Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and
said, To morrow is a feast to Yahuah.
Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered
burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and
to drink, and rose up to play.
This was all done in celebration to a golden calf. If you will
keep in mind, just before the Children of Israel were to leave Egypt, YAH instructed
them to keep HIS Feast, beginning in the evening. What did they do when
worshiping the golden calf? They got up early in the morning to
do it.
If you will notice in the next scritpure, the sun & the moon were
included in the whole day.
Joshua 10:13 And
the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the people had
avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of
Yasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down
for a whole day.
How can a sunrise to sunrise belief work with the scriptures below?
Mar 16:1 And
when the Shabath was past (G1230),
Miryam from Maḡdala, and Miryam the mother of
Yaʽaqob, and Shalomoh
bought spices, to go and anoint Him.
Mar 16:2 And very early
on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
This was speaking of the weekly Shabath. And, let's look at the word
'past'.
G1230
diaginomai
dee-ag-in'-om-ahee
From G1223 and G1096; to elapse meanwhile: - X after, be past, be spent.
So, if these
two ladies didn't go to the tomb until morning, then they must have bought the
spices in the evening - when the Shabath was over. If you accept that YAH
begins His days at sunrise, then according to the above scriptures, these ladies
broke the weekly Shabath. Do you think they would have done that right
after Yahusha died for their sins? I DON'T! So we continue to begin
YAH's days at sundown.
Update 07/30 - This past Shabbat, we had a sister
ask us how we can keep Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on the 10th day if we do
evening to evening. She drew something on paper, putting the days in a
certain order to represent the days beginning in the evening and another set to
represent the days beginning at sunrise. I'll admit, it threw us off.
When caught off guard like that, we didn't have an answer. I told her we
would study it out. I started praying (begging, actually, for 3 days) that
YAH would show us if we are wrong. Then I went to the Scriptures.
Here's the Scripture in question:
Lev 23:32 It shall be unto you a Shabath
of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth (H8672) day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall
ye celebrate your Shabath.
I would have
never known or thought to check out the word "ninth" , unless YAH showed it to
me. Let's take a look at the Hebrew for this word.
H8672
tay'-shah,
tish-aw'
The second form is the masculine of the first; perhaps from H8159 through the
idea of a turn to the next or full number ten; nine or (ordinal) ninth: -
nine (+ -teen, + -teenth, -th).
So, the word
'tay-shah' (at even) is telling us that it is beginning the next day (number).
Then there are
all those scriptures telling us that people were unclean until evening, bodies
had to be taken off of the stake at evening, at evening all the afflicted were
brought to Yahusha, don't let the sun go down on our wrath and many other such
scriptures.
Most brethren,
that keep a boker to boker Shabbat (or days), still believe that the New
Month begins with the Moon(whether conjunction or crescent). Now my
questions are...How can you believe YAH's Days begin at sunrise, if the New
Month begins with the Moon? What happens to the time period from
evening until morning?
Update 08/22/09 This page was not supposed to go
this long but there are brethren who believe a day, is only the 'daylight'
portion. So, I prayed again, and this is what YAH has shown me.
Gen 1:5 And YAH H430 called H7121 the light H216 Day, H3117and the
darkness H2822 he called H7121 Night. H3915 And
theevening H6153 and the morning H1242 were H1961 the first H259day. H3117
Let's start
with 'evening'...
H6153
‛ereb
eh'-reb
From H6150; dusk: - + day, even (-ing, tide), night.
So it appears that 'Dusk + a Day' would would give us Evening to
Evening Days.
Or how about
'morning'...
H1242
bôqer
bo'-ker
From H1239; properly dawn (as the break of day); generallymorning: -
(+) day, early, morning, morrow.
Erev (evening) And The Boker (morning + day or morrow) were
the first day. This will also give us an evening to evening day.
Now this makes so much more sense than evening and the morning being the first
day. Evening to the Morning is NOT a full day. We pretty much sleep
from evening to morning.
The brethren that claim a whole 'day' is just the 'daylight'
portion of the day say, "Yahuah is specific. When He named the 'light'
- day, that is exactly what He meant." Is that true?
Gen. 1:5 And Alahim called the light 'day' and the darkness He
called 'night'. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning,
the first 'day'.
Well, right there The Father lumps the evening in with the word
'day'. Both of these words (day) are listed, in Strongs, as the same
Hebrew word (H3117). So it seems as though Yahuah just gave us a dual
meaning for the word 'day'. Day as the light portion of a day, or a day
as in the 'whole' day (ie. evening and morning were the first day).
Observation: We have noticed a recurring word from the 'Sunrise'
brethren - Convenience. They keep saying, "It's so much more convenient to
keep Shabbat (sunrise to sunset) this way".
In Lev. 23 you'll notice that there is no command to start this
feast at sundown.
Lev 23:24
“Speak to the children of Yisrael, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first
day of the month, you have a rest, a remembrance of blowing of trumpets, a
set-apart gathering.
But turn to Psalm 81...
Psa 81:3 Blow in the month a trumpet, In the new moon, at the day
of our festival,
This is speaking of the feast in Lev. 23:24. And when do
they begin it? With the New Moon (in the evening). It seems
to me David knew that all of YAH's days begin at sundown.
The 'Creation' chapter was probably all David needed to understand when YAH's
days begin.
Here's a scripture including the evening in a day.
Deu 16:4 "And no leaven
should be seen with you in all your border for seven days, neither should any of
the meat which you slaughter in the evening on the first day stay all
night until morning.
Out of the
mouth of Yahusha...
Mar 14:30 And Yahusha said to him, “Truly,
I say to you thattoday, this night, before the cock
shall crow twice, you shall deny Me three times.”
And following
into the 'daylight' portion of the above 'day', they didn't say, 'And the next
day.'
Mar 15:1 And immediately, in the
morning, the chief priests had a council meeting with the elders and
scribes and all the council. Having bound Yahusha, they led Him away, and
delivered Him to Pilate.
How about these
2 verses?
1Sa 26:7 So David and Abishai came to the
people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and
his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round
about him.
1Sa 26:8 Then said Abishai to David, Alahim hath delivered thine
enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray
thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the
second time.
It's night, but
still part of a day.
Scriptures that
I find interesting...
Isa. 30:29 Singing is to you as in a night sanctified for a festival,
And joy of heart as he who is going with a pipe, To go in to the mountain of
Yahuah, Unto the rock of Israel.
Psa 139:12 Even darkness is not dark for
You, But night shines as the day – As is darkness, so is light.
*Shaul: known later as Paul - **Natsarim: Acts
24:5, original followers of Yahusha - ***YirmeYahu: known as Jeremiah
