A Biblical Day
A biblical day does not start at sunset (Mainstream Judaism), nor at midnight (Pagan World), but with the new light at sunrise (see Gen 1:5; other proof texts are 1Sam 19:11, Exo 29:39, Lev 22:29-30, Num 11:32, Mat 28:1, Mar 27:45, Joh 20:19, Act 4:3 et al.).
- 1Sam 19:11 made it clear to the Jews: "Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, then tomorrow you will be killed!"
- Joh 20:19 states: "Now when it was evening on that day - the first day of the week - and the doors had been shut where the disciples were because of fear of the Jews, IESOUS came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace to you."
Act 4:3 makes it crystal clear: "And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening".
- A complete list with 14 corresponding Bible verses affirming the sunrise-sunrise rhythm of an ordinary day can be found in the study 'Creation' (Page 2). I urge you, when reading papers or articles suggesting a different rhythm, to look up the denomination of the church, movement, university or of the person, if available. Some very basic 1-minute discernment would save many an enormous amount of time. What often deceives us through many eloquent words and lengthy articles and videos, is refuted above through 3 short verses.
2 out of 7 Sabbath of Sabbaths (Annual Feasts / High Sabbaths / Extraordinary Sabbaths / Ceremonial Sabbaths) are stated to begin at sunset (Passover according to the timing of the Exodus as specified in Deut 16:6 and Num 9:5, and the Day of Atonement as specified in Lev 23:32). We do not know if this rather implied only those 2 -, or if all the 7 Sabbath of Sabbaths, but it is absolutely certain that this very particular timing did not affect the Weekly Sabbath or any weekday.
Similar to other exceptions in the Bible, we should be careful to not blindly follow and idolize customs of Jewish Mainstream which are often based on the Word, but sometimes applied incorrectly. Ancient Jews had to re-learn several times how to hold the Passover (in 715 BC at 'Hezekiah's Passover' in 2Chr 30:10-15; again in 623 BC at 'Josiah's Passover' in 2Kin 23:21-23; and once again in 516 BC at 'Ezra's Passover' in Ezr 6:19-22), lost much of their knowledge during the 70-Year Babylonian Captivity from 605-536 BC, and Ancient Judaism together with its language practically died with the Bar Kochba Revolt in 135 AD, when probably more than 600.000 Jews died while fighting behind the false messiah Bar Kochba, and the very few remaining Jews could not even enter Jerusalem for centuries. The Hebrew language was revived only in 1880 AD and the Aliyah (return to the land of former Israel) began only in 1881 AD. All this and several reforms in Jewish calendars made it very difficult to determine dates or timings. For this reason, Mainstream Judaism is essentially in the very same position as any advanced reader of the Bible is, but with the decisive disadvantage of lacking the immense knowledge contained in the New Testament.
All biblical times of a day are counted from sunrise, not from sunset:
- 1st hour of the day = 6-7am (sunrise)
- 3rd hour of the day = 9am (Mat 20:3, Mat 27:45, Mar 15:25, Mar 15:33, Act 2:15)
- 6th hour of the day = 12m (Mat 20:5, Mat 27:45, Mar 15:33, Luk 23:44, Joh 4:6, Joh 19:14, Act 10:9)
- 7th hour of the day = 1pm (Joh 4:52)
- 9th hour of the day = 3pm (Mat 20:5, Mat 27:45-6, Mar 15:33, Luk 23:44, Act 3:1, Act 10:3, 30)
- 10th hour of the day = 4pm (Joh 1:39)
- 11th hour of the day = 5pm (Mat 20:6, 9, the last worker still gets a wage)
- 3rd hour of the night = 9pm (Act 23:23)
Let us read together the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in Mat 20:1-16:
1 For the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a man, a master of the house who went out at daybreak [6am] to hire workers for his vineyard.
2 And having agreed with the workers for a denarius the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And having gone out about the third hour [9am], he noticed others, standing idle in the market.
4 And to those he said: You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever should be just, I will give to you!
5 And they went. Having gone out again about the sixth [noon] and ninth hour [3pm], he did likewise.
6 And having gone out about the eleventh [5pm], he found others standing. And he said to them: Why have you stood here all the day idle?
7 They said to him that no one hired us. He said to them: You also, go into the vineyard!
8 Now evening having come [6pm], the master of the vineyard said to his steward: Call the workers and pay them the wage, beginning from the last ones to the first.
9 And those having come about the eleventh hour, received each a denarius.
10 And those having come first, deemed lawful that they will receive more, but they received also each a denarius.
11 And having received, they were grumbling against the master of the house,
12 saying: These last ones worked one hour, but you made them equal to us, having borne the burden of the day and the heat.
13 But answering, he said to one of them: Friend, I am not doing you injustice! Did you not agree with me a denarius?
14 Take thine and go away! But I am willing to give to this last one, so as to you.
15 Is it not lawful to me to do with mine own what I desire? Or is your eye wicked, because I am good?
16 Thus the last will be first, and the first last.
When Did the Very First 'Day' Begin?
The pattern of the creation week:
- In the Beginning, before day 1 〣 The earth's mantle and the initial flood already exist.
- Day 1 〣 Genesis 1:3-5 "And THEOS said ... day one."
- Day 2 〣 Genesis 1:6-8 "And THEOS said ... day two."
- Day 3 〣 Genesis 1:9-13 "And THEOS said ... day three."
- Day 4 〣 Genesis 1:14-19 "And THEOS said ... day four."
- Day 5 〣 Genesis 1:20-23 "And THEOS said ... day five."
- Day 6 〣 Genesis 1:24-31 "And THEOS said ... day six."
THEOS began the Creation Week in Genesis 1:3 and His very first action in the first moments of the First Day of the Week (and of our History) was the creation of light. Genesis 1:1-2 simply describes the situation before the creation week and it cannot be true that THEOS flooded the earth during the creation week. The act of flooding and the previous creation of the foundation of the earth is nowhere found in Genesis!
And yes, THEOS obviously worked before the evenings described in Gen 1:5ff :
[1. THEOS worked during the day] and [2. then] there was evening and [3. then] there was morning, [marking] the [end of the] first day.
3 And THEOS said: "Let there be light. And there was light.
4 And THEOS saw the light that [it is] good, and THEOS separated between the light and the darkness.
5 And THEOS called the light 'Day' and the darkness He called 'Night'. And there was evening, and there was morning - day one.
This implies 3 actions before the very first evening came (1. Light, 2. Separation, 3. Naming). Often the last part of verse 5 is taken out of context in order to suggest that a day started with the evening, but one of the basic rules of biblical interpretation is context. The context of Genesis 1:5 are the 2 preceding verses which cannot simply be ignored. Meanwhile, the darkness of Gen 1:1-2 is not that of an evening but of an undefined time period not related to the creation week nor a day.