There is a new belief that has spread rapidly teaching that the term “DAY” only refers to the daylight hours part of the day starting in the morning and ending in the evening. Jesus said “are there not 12 hours in a day” and so therefore the assumption is made that the day does not include the night. IS THIS TRUTH? Let’s look at the Bible carefully remembering that “there is a way that seemeth right,” but its not.
The Hebrew term for “day” is yom. Sometimes in the Bible the term “day” is used in different ways. For instance, sometimes it refers to the “day of the Lord”, that is the second coming. Or an era of time “As it was in the days of Noah” (Matt 24:37) Sometimes it refers to the daytime, and sometimes it refers to the entire twenty four hour period.
Notice the following verse carefully.
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.
The term day is used twice in this verse. In the first instance it refers to the daylight hours. Some say however the the term Day here does not refer to the “night” but only the evening when the sun rises.
Is it truth that the term “day” in the Bible never can refer to the “night” or dark hours? Let’s look at Exodus 12 and the Exodus from Egypt to prove that the term “day” can refer to the “night” as well. Notice:
“And they departed from Rameses ***in the first month, on the fifteenth DAY*** of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.” (Numbers 33:3)
The Passover is the 14th of the first month. So they left on the 15th DAY of the first month. But wait, let’s look at Exodus 12 and we’ll notice that the 15th day actually includes the night hours.
“And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even ***the selfsame day*** it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is ***a NIGHT*** to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:42)
There it is right there, plain as day. The 15th day includes the night hours. Now when does the 15th day begin? Well, this is called the feast of unleavened bread. One of the most important feasts of the year. And notice in the next verse that it starts after the 14th ends at even or sunset.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
So as the sun sets in the even of the 14th, this then begins the feast on the 15th at even or sun set when they keep feast of unleavened bread for 7 days from the 15th-22nd. The 15th is actually the beginning or the 1st day of unleavened bread at the even right at the end of the 14th at even.
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is Jehovah’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto Jehovah: seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread.” (Leviticus 23:5, 6)
So it is very clear, the 14th following the 13th at even the Passover day begins. Then on the end of the 14th at even as we read in Exodus 12:18 which is the beginning of the 15th day the feast of Unleavened bread is kept for 7 days.
And this would agree with the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus was crucified on the Passover day, during daylight hours. But the Jews wanted to have his body off of the cross before the start of the Sabbath. The Sabbath began that evening.
Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Some are saying that the crucifixion proves the day starts in the morning because Mary near the sunrise on the first day of the week, so this proves that the day starts in the morning. But let’s look carefully. In John 20:1 we read:
“Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb.” (John 20:1)
See the first day started the night before at sunset. And so the fact that it is still dark here would agree with the day starting the evening before rather than in the morning. The sun was yet to rise. Many commentators believe this was around 3-6 AM in the morning. Definitely before the sun had risen. At the dawn of the day as the Bible says. That is the daylight hours. But not the beginning of the DAY that is the day starts the night before.
This also would agree with another great day of the Jews, the day of Atonement. Where the day starts in the evening when the Sun sets. It starts on the 9th at even when the 9th ends, and runs through the 10th from the evening of the ninth, to the evening of the 10th.
Lev 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath 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 sabbath.
And for eye witnesses to the fact that this was the way that the Bible was interpretJosephus was half Jew and even fought against the Romans until 67 AD when the Jews surrendered to Rome. Josephus documented the Jewish revolt against Rome and Romes destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and was an eye witness to many of the Jewish rituals, as well as how the Sabbath was kept in that time.
Quoting from Josephus we read “…and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand with a trumpet, at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as also at the evening when that day was finished, as giving notice to the people when they were to stop work, and when they were to go to work again.” (Wars of the Jews 4: 582 –Josephus)
Not only was he an eye witness but he was also a contemporary to Jesus and many of the apostles. So it should be important to note right off the start that there were no differences as to when and how the day started in this time. There are no historical quotes saying that some Jews started their day in the morning. There was never some who said morning, some who said evening. If you see any quotes that say it used to start in the morning, do yourself a favour check and see if that quote comes from the time of Jesus or before, or if it is something from today. It is only in recent times that some have come to this apparently new light.
The Reason I’ve addressed this issue is because for years it has been understood that the Sabbath is from sunset to sunset. But now suddenly something new has come along that some believe seems plausible. But with careful study as shown here, we can see that the truth has been the same forever.
The creation account is very clear, “the evening and the morning are the first day.” “the evening and the morning are the second day” and so on. And for those who say that the night is not part of the day, we’ve shown that Isn’t true either with the Exodus account where it says plainly that they left Egypt in the night, and the night was part of the 15th DAY.
And also, the fact that Passover ends in the evening, and the feast of unleavened bread starts at even, which fits right in with the crucifixion of Christ where they took him off the cross before the sun went down.
And of all the days, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, the day of Atonement is from even to even. Also, if you read Daniel 8:14 in some translations it says “unto 2300 evenings and mornings, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Which I believe is a prophecy that brings us to the time when the Sabbath was truly to be brought back to light.
And I think the fact that it starts with the evening, then the morning is a hint to us as to when the Sabbath should start.
We have to be careful of new doctrines. Satan is very creative and in order to discern his ways, we need to be truly into the word. Studying it line upon line, here a little, there a little.