Morning and Evening
Bullinger’s Appendix 11: The word “day”, when used without any limiting words, may refer to a long or prolonged period: as, the “day of grace”, the “day of visitation”, the “day of salvation”, the “day of judgment”, the “day of the Lord”, “man’s day”, etc. But when the word “day” is used with a numeral (cardinal or ordinal), as one, two, three, etc., or first, second, third, etc., “evening and morning” (Genesis 1), or the “seventh day” (Exodus 20:9,11, etc.), it is defined, limited, and restricted to an ordinary day of twenty-four hours. Or even a twelve-hour period.
A Day
1. A day as a 24-hour period.
the Sabbath, or any other day of the week;
the Day of Atonement, from even to even, or other Feast days.
Example: Genesis 1:5
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
2. But sometimes a day refers to a 12 hour-period, depending on the context, where there is sunlight, as in “day and night” (Gen 1:5,8,13,19,23,31).
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
3. A year. The word “day” is seldom used for a year, but in another context, it could. Often a corresponding number of days is used for a corresponding number of years; in that case it is always expressly stated to be so used; as in Numbers 14:33, 34. But, even in these cases, the words “each day for a year” is expressively stated. The same application in Ezekiel 4:4-6.
Numbers 14:33-34 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Ezekiel 4:4-6 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
4. A period of time
Errors in All translations
Mark 14:12 KJV And the first (G4413 protos) day(G2250 hemera) of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover (G3957 pascha), his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover (G3957 pascha)?
G4413 protos could be translated as ‘a time before’ as in John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before G4413 me.
John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before G4413 me.
G2250 hemera could be translated as ‘a period of time’ as in Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days G2250 of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Matthew 3:1 In those days G2250 came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Matthew 11:12 And from the days G2250 of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days G2250 of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Matthew 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! G2250
Matthew 24:22 And except those days G2250 should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days G2250 shall be shortened.
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days G2250 shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Matthew 24:37 But as the days G2250 of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. During those 120 years Noah preached a warning message (1 Peter 3:20).
Matthew 24:38 For as in the days G2250 that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day G2250 that Noe entered into the ark,
Mark 2:20 But the days G2250 will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. G2250
Mark 8:1 In those days G2250 the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,
Matthew 26:17 Now the first day (G4413 protos) of the feast of unleavened bread (G106 azymos) the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover (G3957 pascha)?
Matthew 26:17 should be translated as: Now before the Feast of Unleavened Bread (G106 azymos) the disciples came to Jesus, asking, Where shall we prepare for thee to eat the Passover (G3957 pascha)?
Mark 14:12 Now on the first day (G4413 protos) of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?” should be translated as: Now before the Feast of Unleavened Bread (G106 azymos), when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, Where do You want us to go and prepare that You may eat the Passover (G3957 pascha)?
Luke 22:7 The Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
Luke 22:7 As the Days of Unleavened Bread were approaching (G2064 erchomai) when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed, 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
Summary
a 24-hour period (day and night); 2. a 12-hour period when there is sunlight; 3. a year; 4. a period of time
EVEN or EVENING (h6153`ereb) The exact phase in Exodus 12:6 is ben ha arbayim and its literal translation as “between the two evenings.”
Outline of Biblical Usage
evening, night, sunset
evening, sunset
night
Strong’s Definitions [?]
עֶרֶב ʻereb, eh’-reb; from H6150; dusk:— day, even(-ing, tide), night.
Rabbi Rashi writes about the usage of the term ben ha arbayim in Exodus 12:6: “At dusk—From six hours (after noon) and upward is called ben ha arbayim, when the sun declines towards the place of its setting to be darkened. And the expression ben ha arbayim appears in my sight (to refer to) those hours between the ‘evening’ of day, and the ‘evening’ of night; the ‘evening’ of day is at the beginning of the seventh hour [1 PM ] from (the time that) ‘the shadows of evening are stretched out,’ and the ‘evening’ of night is at the beginning of night” (The Pentateuch and Rashi’s Commentary, Exodus 12:6, p. 102).
Adam Clarke’s Commentary elucidates this vital point of truth further: “The Jews divided the day into morning and evening: till the sun passed the meridian, all was morning or forenoon; after that, all was afternoon or evening. Their first evening began just after twelve o’clock, and continued till sunset; their second evening began at sunset and continued till night. . . .
Creation:
Genesis 1:5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening (h6153 עֶרֶב`ereb) and the morning were the first day. This means the days of creation began and ended at noon.
Daily Sacrifice:
Exodus 29:39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:(ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”).
Numbers 28:4
The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even (ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”)
Passover:
Exodus 12:6
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening (h6153 ben ha arbayim). The Hebrew phase is ben ha arbayim and its literal translation as “between the two evenings.” Actually “Between the two evenings” is an idiom meaning “between the beginnings of the two evenings.
Exodus 12:18
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even (h6153`ereb), ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even (h6153`ereb).
NKJV 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Leviticus 23:5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even (ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”) is the Lord’s passover.
Numbers 9:3
In the fourteenth day of this month, at even (ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”), ye shall keep it (Passover) in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
Numbers 9:5
And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even (ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”) in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 16:6
But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even (h6153`ereb), at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. Here at even wasn’t ben ha arbayim “between the two evenings”but just `ereb. (Fred Coulter dislikes this contra evidence so much that he alleged that Ezra vandalised the book of Deuteronomy, especially chapter 16!)
If ereb is defined as the going down of the sun, then boqer or morning would be the rising up of the sun. Together they make up a 24-hour day (Genesis 1:5).
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 