12 Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31: What about the word evening as found in the Genesis creation account; what does that teach us?
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By reading these verses, we read of an evening - morning (erev – boqer) sequence. We read “And the evening and the morning were the” first day, second day, third day, etc. At first glance, one could conclude that the evening was the time of the day, which began a day. Why? We read the English language word evening and the word evening is first in sequence. We see the evening and then the morning sequence. Evening is first; the morning is second. Therefore, evening should begin the day. Makes sense! But let us learn more! As with any study, dealing with words and their meanings, a word search in any Hebrew Lexicon or Bible Concordance would be appropriate. Researching a word will help us understand the meaning and often the meanings of a word. And such is the case here. Researching the word evening will show us that the original Hebrew word used in the Genesis creation account is the word erev. Of course, that should not be surprising. We have learned much about this word. Now is there more we can learn? The answer is yes. Reading from Strong’s Concordance, we learn erev (6153) means – dusk, evening, night. Reading from Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, we read: “ereb (6153) evening, night. The noun ereb appears about 130 times and in all periods. The word represents the time of day immediately preceding and following the setting of the sun.” We see that the Hebrew word erev means not only evening in our traditional or common understanding of the word evening but it can also mean night. Yet this type of night is not to be confused with the deep dark of the night. The deep dark of night is understood by the Hebrew word laylah (Strong’s 3915). What then does evening refer to in the Genesis creation account? Does erev in this Genesis account refer to the evening at the end of the day or does it refer to the night at the beginning of the day? We will quickly come to understand that evening in the Genesis creation narrative does not refer to the time of day when the sun is setting or to the period of time when the day is losing its light. Evening as used in the Genesis creation account does not refer to the portion of a day, which is growing old or coming to an end; the latter part of day before the night. Rather evening as used in the Genesis creation account does refer to the English word night and we shall prove this fact. The Hebrew word erev allows as one of its definitions – the night and that is exactly what the rendering of erev should have been in Genesis 1. The problem is not the Hebrew language; the problem was the KVJ translators back in 1611 England. Erev/boqer (traditionally known as evening and morning) would be better translated as night and the dawn or, night and morning, were the first day, second day, third day, etc. Can we prove this fact? The Scriptures will prove to us that erev can mean night and hence the dark portion of a day. Let us review the Genesis creation account and learn that the dark and the light were the first day, second day, etc. In so doing we shall see that Erev should not have been translated evening. First, consider the following two scriptures where the KJV translators correctly translated the Hebrew word erev to the English word night. The context allows for this translation to be correct. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise and the night (erev) be gone? and I am full of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day (Job 7:4). For his anger endureth but for a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure a night (erev), but joy comes in the morning (boqer) (Psalm 30:5). Interestingly enough, the sequence of erev/boqer (night/morning) is rendered here and correctly so. So too, in Genesis the erev/boqer sequence should rightly be rendered night/morning. In both verses, the Hebrew word erev was correctly translated to the English word night because the context required that translation. Likewise, in Genesis 1, the context requires that the word erev should have been translated as night. Now we will prove, by reading the context of Genesis 1 that the translators should have translated erev into the English word night. First, as we know, the evening is the portion of the day in which the sun is setting (moving toward the western horizon), in which the light of the day is transitioning to the darkening of the night as the day is coming to an end. This actuality or description of the evening could not have applied on that first day of creation. The first day of creation could not and did not include a sunset/evening at the end of that first day or any time during that first day. Why? Of a truth, there was no sunset or evening (as we know it today) on the first day of creation. Evening, as in the day getting dark, did not exist in the first day, the second or the third day of creation. The operation (sequence of solar activity as the sun moves across the sky (a result of the earth’s orbit and rotation)) of a created sun and light from that sun (consequently a sunset (bow shemesh) which occurs in the evening of the day) was not introduced until the fourth day of creation. Consequently, there was no sunset nor was there a sunrise until the fourth day of creation. If there was no action of a setting sun, which occurs in the evening portion of the day, during the first, second or third day, then there was no evening as we commonly call it. Erev (evening) on the first, second and third day of creation did not exist by definition as we understand it to be, as the Scriptures confer it to be, as we read in Leviticus 23:32 and Exodus 12:18 and all the other scriptures we will shortly review. Erev of Genesis 1 could only refer to night/dark. Let us prove that there was only dark/night at the beginning of the first day of creation, not an evening. Consider the events that took place on the first day of creation, the first of a seven-day pattern. In Genesis 1:2, we read there was darkness upon the face of the deep (water) and God moved across the face of the waters (deep). Over all the earth there was darkness. Then, in the darkness, notice what God said. "Let there be light" Genesis 1:3. God divided the light from the darkness, Genesis 1:4. Genesis 1:5, the light was called the day and the dark was called the night, and "the evening and morning were the first day." Erev/boqer were the first day. Notice! Evident is the fact that The Eternal was first present in the darkness - called the night. The night - darkness is first, then (next or second in sequence) the day - the light. Again, there was no sunset, no evening (at the beginning (if some so think) or at the end) on the first day of creation. All that there was, was darkness (called the night) and then light (called the day). In the darkness, light was created. There was no transition period on that first day, only dark then light; night then day. We see a night - day sequence of events. The night was first, then the day. The Hebrew word erev, which at creation meant night, was first and the Hebrew word boqer, which at creation meant the morning light, was second. The night/morning or as called erev (darkness) boqer (light) was the daily sequence, just as we read in Psalm 30:5. Evening, meaning the going down of the sun or the darkening of the day was not present here, on the first day of creation. The darkening of the day or going down of the sun as a daily event or phenomenon did not happen on that first day, could not happen, and did not exist that first day. Erev was incorrectly translated as evening in the Genesis creation account. The translators would have served us better by translating erev to the only logical meaning it could have had on the first day of creation; night. Evening, in Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31 meant the darkness of a day, the night; not the darkening of the day’s light as the day is coming to an end or starting. In the creation account, each day began with darkness! Once again, we see that the day does not begin in or with the evening (erev) as meaning the darkening of the day. As we have thoroughly read in Leviticus 23:32 and Exodus 12:18, the Law requires that the evening is at the end of the day The evening ends the day, as the day’s light darkens to night. In Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31, as in Job 7:4 and Psalm 30:5, erev meant the night. God made that point clear. Darkness or the night was first, and then came the light of the day. The light of the day was next in sequence. Night (dark) first, then Day (morning or light) next. Night and morning are the first, second, third, etc. day. That is the Genesis cycle. We understand the spiritual meaning of the night (darkness) first, then the day (light) as we realize that Christ came into the world (of darkness). The Light came into the darkness (cf. John 1:5; 3:19; 8:12; 12:35-36). At creation, the night and the morning were the first day, the second day, the third day, etc.
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