When Does A Biblical Day Start (PART 4 - FINAL)

On this episode, Number 178 and PART 4 of Real Israel Talk Radio, I will conclude this four-part series on WHEN A BIBLICAL DAY STARTS. 

In the first half of this show, I will address eleven (11) different Hebrew Bible passages that are careful to speak about when a biblical day begins based on a summary of Genesis 1:2-5.  

• 1.   Shachar is the early pre-morning mix referred to as dawn or daybreak, but traditionally translated into English as "there was EVENING... the first day." 
• 2.   Boker – the rising of the sun disc and light of the morning
• 3.   Erev – the late afternoon descent toward evening, leading to the setting of the sun
• 4.   Lilah – the dark of the night

 In the second half of this show, I will tie my conclusions together with the gospel narratives, expressing the chronology of Yeshua's third-day resurrection.  Traditional Catholic and Christian interpretations of this narrative present the story as though Mary and the other women came to the tomb early on Sunday morning, which Roman chronology identifies as the first day of the week. However, this is not what the narrative is expressing.  

Join me today for this final episode in this series of studies. 

-Avinoam

Transcript

Historically, we know that Jewish culture and tradition teach and practice the principle that a biblical day begins with erev, meaning the evening of the prior sunset. Of course, this is based, at least partly, on interpretations of Genesis 1:5 and 1:31.

• Genesis 1:5. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So, the evening (erev) and the morning (boker) were the first day.
•  Genesis 1:31. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed very good. So, the evening (erev) and the morning (boker) were the sixth day.

From these statements, because erev or “EVENING” comes first in the sequence of thought, which is followed by boker or “MORNING,” the theological assumption is that a biblical day always begins with the last sunset of the previous day. In part, what changed the paradigm for me is how Genesis 1:4 is written in the Hebrew text: –בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁך (Bein HaOr U’Vain HaChoshech). Considering that the text is written in this specific way, it makes perfect sense as it relates to the four biblical parts of a day, which are given to us in Hebrew. They are: 

A)  SHACHAR or DAYBREAK

B)  BOKER or MORNING 

C)   EREV or EVENING 

D)  LILAH or NIGHT 

Therefore, it would be my understanding that בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁך (Bein HaOr U’Vain HaChoshech) biblically defines a pre-morning daypart just before sunrise, and a late afternoon daypart just after sunset. Since there appear to be two mixtures between Light and Dark mentioned, and the core Hebrew term erev means a mixture or mingling, it makes sense that the first use of erev, in Genesis 1:5, should NOT BE about an evening dusk but instead, about a pre-morning dawn, which later came to be called shachar in Genesis 19:15.  

Therefore, this clarifies the context of Genesis 1:5. 

a.   God called the LIGHT DAY, and the DARK, He called NIGHT. 

b.   Then came erev – a pre-morning mixture [later to be called shachar]

c.    Then came boker – the morning sunrise [given the biblical term day]

d.   Then, the pre-morning mixture AND THE morning sunrise came to be called ONE DAY.  

Since a biblical DAY is defined as starting with the lifting up of the overnight dark mixture – in Hebrew: alah hashachar or the black of the night, which is followed by the dawn of the rising sun disc, the combined two biblical concepts give us a strict definition for the Hebrew word Yom or DAY. But then, does this mean that the SABBATH DAY is, in reality, only a 12-hour daytime event, based on Exodus 34:21?       

• Exodus 34:21. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh DAY (a “DAY” consisting of shachar and boker), you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Though some follow this pattern, or at least some restatement of it, how should we understand Exodus 34:21? Technically, YES, a day is only from sunrise to Noon, but we should also consider Yeshua’s statement about 12 hours as it’s related in John 9:4 and John 11:9-10.

• John 9:4. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; Night is coming when no one can work. 
• John 11:9-10. Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him (or the Light is not with him). 

However, historical rabbinic texts tell us that the gates of the House or Temple of YHWH were closed at sunset because the Tabernacle or Temple system ceased working at sunset. Thus, Yeshua said that no one can work at night. This shows me that the biblical pattern for the Seventh Day Sabbath is, as with all the other days of the week, a frame IS composed of four dayparts according to Genesis 1:2-5:

1.   Shachar – the early pre-morning mix referred to as dawn or daybreak

2.   Boker – the rising of the sun disc and light of the morning

3.   Erev – the late afternoon descent toward evening, leading to the setting of the sun

4.   Lilah – the dark of the night

Work at night proves to be an allegory of a spiritual darkness because in Genesis 1:5, NIGHT represents DARKNESS, and no one works in DARKNESS except for one who is physically blind. Generally, work that is performed requires that we have light to see what we are doing. This is the basis for why the tent, tabernacle, or Temple was closed at night when no man can work, again, just as Yeshua said: 

• John 9:4. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is DAY; night is coming when no one can work.

Also, recall in PARTS 1 and 2 of this study series, Rabbi Israel Drazin wrote that a biblical day originally was understood in Judaism to begin with the morning sunrise, based on actions in the Temple. He said:

“We know for certain that the day began in the Temple at daybreak.”

Except for a small group of on-duty priests, by and large, the Temple’s gates were closed at sunset, seven days a week. The well-respected Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor Emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary, also had something to say about when a biblical day begins. He wrote: 

“The festival calendar clearly alludes to a division of time that regards the evening as part of the day just ended” and, “While we may never know what prompted the Rabbis to reconfigure the day, the existential benefit (of changing the start of a day to the previous evening) is indisputable.” 

Furthermore, contemporary biblical scholars, such as Professor Dr. Jonathan Ben-Dov, have discussed pre-exilic Israelite timekeeping using a sunrise-based day, particularly in Temple rituals. 

In the early 1900s, American Jewish historian Solomon Zeilin, a Talmudic scholar and, in his time, the world's leading authority on the Second Temple period, wrote in the 1946 Jewish Quarterly Review that the Jews did not begin calculating their days from evening to evening until the postexilic period, when they began using the Babylonian lunar-solar calendar.

Another famous rabbinic authority, the 12th-century Rashbam—Rabbi Shmuel Ben Meir, Grandson and student of the Great Jewish biblical commentator Rashi—is said to have interpreted Genesis 1:5 to mean that the biblical day starts at daybreak and not from the previous evening sunset.  

Today, those who staunchly maintain that a biblical day should be defined as evening to evening embrace the position because of centuries of majority rabbinic Judean influence. This view is well entrenched, and arguing against the rabbinic majority is tantamount to a doctrine of heresy and a clear rejection of Judaism. 

SOME BASIC SUNRISE-TO-SUNRISE BIBLICAL STUDY TEXTS

In the following references, let us look at some of the texts persuasively showing that a biblical day begins with boker (morning) and NOT with erev (evening).

Numbers 28:3-4 and Genesis 19:33-34

• Numbers 28:3-4. This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to YHWH: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, DAY to DAY, as a regular burnt offering. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening… 
•  Genesis 19:33-34. [A narrative concerning Lot and his daughters states,] “That night they made their father drink wine…The next day, the older one said to the younger…”

These naturally imply that the start of a DAY begins with shachar, followed by morning, evening, and then night. With the next sunrise, it begins with the dawning of a New Day.  

• Leviticus 7:15. The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the very same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until boker (morning). 

Contextually, the boker (morning) is the next day, explaining the prohibition, “He shall not leave any of it until the morning.”

• Numbers 9:11. On the fourteenth day of the second month, in between the evenings (twilight), they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
• Numbers 33:3. They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians.

The preceding two accounts demonstrate that the Passover was a first-month event on the fourteenth day. Then, the next day, the fifteenth, is called the day after the Passover. 

• Judges 19:8-9. …Look, the day is now drawing toward evening; please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end; lodge here, that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow (with the next cycle of morning daylight), go your way the next day (Hebrew: shacham), so you may get home.
• 1 Samuel 19:11. Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow (at the next period of morning daylight) you will be killed.”

With these two texts, the Hebrew term “machar” (mem-chet-resh) is typically translated as “tomorrow” in the sense of the next calendar day, as it might be understood in modern Hebrew. However, this is too broad a meaning. Biblical Hebrew narratives using the word machar focus on starting with the next sunrise. Both make much more sense when the story is read in full context. 

• Psalm 92:2-3 (from Dawn to Night): The message of this psalm speaks of proclaiming God’s love “at daybreak” and His faithfulness “each night,”
• Lamentations 3:22-23. Through YHWH’s loyalties, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every boker (morning); great is your faithfulness.

Here, God’s faithfulness or loyalty is based on a Day-to-Day unit of time, including the four dayparts of Genesis 1:4-5. 

• Leviticus 23:32. It [The Day of Atonement] shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.

In this passage, the sequence of ONE FULL DAY is understood as a festival observance that begins and ends with the evening, but does not mean that a new day starts and ends with the evening. If the calendar day were to shift to a new day on the evening of the 9th, one would think that the Hebrew text would call it the 10th of the seventh month. However, the text is straightforward, showing that the Day of Atonement begins on the evening of the 9th and concludes with the evening of the 10th. In other words, at sunset or evening, the calendar day DOES NOT SHIFT OR CHANGE TO THE NEXT DAY. Instead, beginning with the 9th day in the erev or evening, the Day of Atonement continues for 24 hours (25 hours in Orthodox Judaism) until the erev or next evening, which is called the 10th, not the 11th of the seventh month.  

• Nehemiah 13:19. So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. 

Here, the city gates were always closed when it became dark anyway. However, to ensure that no breaches would or could happen, Nehemiah warned the merchants:

• Nehemiah 13:21-22. …Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on, they came no more on the Sabbath (Day). And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah clearly instructs the merchants NOT to camp around the walls or at the closed city gates from nightfall on the sixth day through all of the Seventh Day (including the Sabbath Day and Night), for about 36 hours. Commercial trading was permitted at sunrise on the first day of the new week. 

This gives us some context for a New Covenant parable that Yeshua taught in: 

• Matthew 20:1-2. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now, when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 

And within the context of a new day starting with shachar or dawn, which is just before the actual morning sunrise, we can also understand and explain the narrative story of Yeshua’s third-day resurrection, as the women went to the tomb early in the morning. We read from

• Matthew 28:1. Now LATE ON THE SABBATHS (plural), as the FIRST OF THE SABBATHS began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Traditional Catholic and Christian interpretations of this narrative present the story as though Mary and the other women came to the tomb early on Sunday morning, which Roman chronology identifies as the first day of the week. However, this is not what the narrative is expressing. It is saying that it was LATE ON THE SABBATHS. This tells me that when the women came to the tomb, it was in the early morning daypart called shachar, meaning it was still very dark. This implies that it was STILL the weekly SABBATH until the morning rising of the sun.

Therefore, the narrative rightly says it was Late on the Sabbath. But there is yet more to this story. The narrative also expresses the story in the plural, telling us there were two Sabbaths back-to-back – the first of the sabbaths being the first day of the festival of Unleavened Bread and the second of the sabbaths being the regular weekly Sabbath. Again, two Sabbaths back-to-back as the early morning dawn or shachar lit up the morning sky from the east. This explains why the text says it was LATE ON THE SABBATHS (plural). However, the narrative also tells us that at the same time, the FIRST of the SABBATHS had arrived or had come into being. Unmistakenly, this is a Hebraic expression giving us a precise event timestamp, telling us that the first day of the week was approaching, AND ALSO it was already the beginning count of the fifty days AND THE seven mandated Sabbaths leading to the festival of Shavuot or Pentecost, precisely as the Pharisees counted the Omer based on Leviticus 23:15-16. 

So, this narrative from Matthew 28:1, about Yeshua’s third-day resurrection, is packed with much detailed information. But if one doesn’t know what to look for, one will never see what has been reported and documented for us. Now, let’s look at the other recorded resurrection narratives. 

• Luke 24:1. Now on the FIRST OF THE SABBATHS (“first of the week”), very early in the morning (shachar or daybreak), they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

This report from Luke confirms most of what I explained from Matthew 28:1. This Luke 24:1 timestamp tells us that the women came to the tomb early, while it was still quite dark, signifying that they were going over to the tomb just before sunrise. And when did this happen? The text tells us it was the FIRST of the SABBATHS (again, the timestamp expresses plural Sabbaths, not singular). This tells me that Luke wrote his narrative according to the Pharisaic interpretation of Leviticus 23:15-16. The women came to the tomb on the 2nd Day of the Omer, while it was still the 1st of the 7 Sabbaths leading into Shavuot or Pentecost, on their calendar, not the Zadokite calendar. Now, let’s look at Mark 16:1   

• Mark 16:1-2. Now, when THE SABBATH was past, Mary of James and Salome, brought spices, that they might come and anoint him very early in the morning (shachar), the FIRST of the SABBATHS (week), they went to the tomb at shachar (Gk: just a simple statement of fact with no information on how long the event took or whether the results of the event were still in effect). 

Here, the women came to the tomb after the weekly Sabbath had elapsed, meaning it was now behind them. This tells me that Mark is reporting the event according to a Pharisaic timestamp because, for the Pharisees, the weekly Sabbath had ended at sunset. But Mark also makes it quite clear that it was early AND dark, which was still the FIRST of the SABBATHS by Pharisaic reckoning. This means that by the calendar of the Zadokites, the weekly Sabbath had not yet been completed. But with the sunrise, it would be finished.  

• John 20:1. Now on the FIRST OF THE SABBATHS, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

Here, we are given a timestamp – Number One of the SABBATHS, Mary went to the Tomb while it was still dark. This indicates that, according to the Pharisaic counting of the Omer, it was the 2nd day of the 50-day count of the Omer. Still, it was already Number One of Seven weekly Sabbaths towards Shavuot or Pentecost. All of the quoted passages indicate that the women arrived at the tomb of Yeshua just as the weekly Sabbath’s nighttime division was ending. A new day and a new week were approaching with the morning sunrise. 

The reason for the chronology in the grammar, which is number ONE or the FIRST of the SABBATHS, seems evident. When they walked over to the tomb, it was not only the nighttime part of the weekly Sabbath but also part of the Pharisaic count of the seven Sabbaths of the Omer by Pharisaic reckoning. Therefore, the women came to the tomb while it was still in the late darkness of the Sabbath. Thus, according to the gospel narratives, a new day, a new week, the 50-day and seven Sabbaths count of the Omer had to begin with sunrise and NOT with the previous evening sunset.  

With a fallen human nature based on the events of Genesis Chapter 3, such as affects all of us, spiritual sparing and heated arguments will always be among us! There will be those inclined to define a biblical day as beginning at sunset, according to centuries of Jewish tradition, culture, and authority. There will also be those inclined towards defining a biblical day as beginning with sunrise. Regardless of what looks to be sound scriptural evidence, the dispute between the Pro and Con camps will not be resolved anytime soon. The good news is that all the arguing will go away when our fallen human nature is fully transformed into the Image of Messiah Yeshua with the Great Resurrection on the Last Day. 

We know from Malachi 4:5-6 (in Hebrew: Malachi 3:23-24) that Yochanan or John the Baptist came in the Spirit and Power of the Prophet Eliyahu or Elijah. His job was fulfilled in announcing the arrival of the Lamb of God, the Anointed One, Yeshua HaMashiach. This same Yeshua came to redeem YHWH’s People from the Law of Sin and Death, which emanates from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good but Evil in Genesis Chapter 3. Yeshua’s objective was to gloriously restore a People for Yah’s Name by cleaning out our corruptions and restoring us to a true Zadokite priesthood of believers according to 

Exodus 19:6 – And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 

At this point, what matters the most is acknowledging YHWH and His chosen means of establishing Kingdom authority. The common folk of Yeshua’s day apparently recognized this, as we learn from Mark 1:22

•  Mark 1:22. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

The question is who has the spiritual authority to function as teachers, judges, and priests. This was a big issue in the days of Yeshua the Messiah. This matter of authority came to be understood as linked to the Hebrew term tzade dalet quf, which can be pronounced as “tzadik” or “tzadok.” This Hebrew term is translated into English as The Righteous One or To Be Righteous. I am convinced that back in ancient days, everyone knew the meaning of the word Zadokites; it pointed towards the biblical priesthood of the House of the Sons of Tzadok, meaning that the term “righteousness” was the equivalent to speaking about the authority of the House of King David’s chosen Priest Tzadok. I believe this is what Yeshua was talking about when he said

• Matthew 5:20. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

All the vast writings from the library of the House of Tzadok were deposited into clay jars and hidden away among the caves of Qumran for about twenty centuries, only to be revealed to this generation, in these last days. Because of this, we now have enough information to decide when a biblical DAY begins. From the Qumran Damascus Document, we learn this: 

CD-A (Covenant of Damascus) Column 10, Lines 14-17: Concerning the Sa[bba]th, to observe it in accordance with its regulation. [Blank] No one should do work on the sixth day, from the moment when the sun’s disc is at a distance of its diameter from the gate, for this is what he said: Deut 5:12 «Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy».

מל} השישי מלאכה מן העת אשר יהיה גלגל השמש

רחוק מן השער מלואו כי הוא אשר אמר שמור את

Specifically, I read and understand lines 15 and 16 accordingly: 

• Opposite the 6th Day (implying the seventh day), no work is to be done from that time of the circle of the sun (the sun disc), which is a distance (space or interval) from the gate (as it starts rising) in its fullness. For this is what is said, to guard (keep) the DAY of the SABBATH toward it being set apart (as a separation) ….

This appears to refer to the orb of the sun’s disc as it approaches its rising from over the eastern horizon. In other words, this looks like a reference to the first part of a new day – shachar – as it lifts up the curtain of darkness (Hebrew: alah hashachar) and gives way to the fullness of the approaching light of the sun. The framework for the writer of these lines in the Damascus document is that of a morning-to-morning paradigm because he knows that prior to that morning's sunrise, it is still, in his mind, the 6th day of the week. The calendar day does not change until the sunrise, and the 6th day gives way to the seventh – the Sabbath Day. 

Derived from the simple meaning of the biblical texts along with that which is written in the Dead Sea Scrolls, those who observe and follow this morning-to-morning paradigm are called “Sons of Light.” Those who observe and follow their evening-to-evening paradigm are called “Sons of Darkness.”

All this was a matter concerning priestly authority, even as it is written in the words of the Prophet Micah:

• Micah 6:8. He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you but to do justice, to love loyalty, and to walk humbly with your God.           

In Matthew 23:23, Yeshua referred to this as the heavier matters of the Torah. Therefore, we must decide who we will obey—YHWH or Man, which is what Yeshua’s students also came to understand: 

• Acts 5:27-29. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council (the Sanhedrin). And the high priest asked them, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. 

It is one thing if we do not know something is significant to YHWH. But if we knowingly reject what is important to YHWH and walk according to a different priesthood among those who were never given the rights of that priesthood, then we remain guilty of rejecting the authority of YHWH as he has passed it down to us through his Chosen One—Yeshua HaMashiach, who was and is the King of the House of Tzadok, by the order or command of Melchizedek (see Hebrews 7:21 and Psalm 110:4). Ultimately, we must not negate His Will in choosing the Zadokites as His instruments that define the term “righteousness.”

Why were we told in Luke 1:6 that Zechariah and Elizabeth were blameless? Because they were perfect human beings? No. They were blameless because they walked according to the Will of YHWH, who established His authority through the Line of the House of Tzadok. This includes acknowledging YHWH’s 364-day festival calendar and learning to apply His Ways of Torah Truth, including when to start a biblical day. Anything contrary to His Truth must be dealt with, and if it means walking away from the House of Judah’s Rabbinic, Pharisaic, and Sadducean system of theology, authority, and judgments, and realigning ourselves with the Messiah’s teaching paradigms established through the House of Tzadok, then so be it.