INTERESTING USES OF THE TERMS “EVENING” AND “MORNING” IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES

Hal Flemings
(Member of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew)
October 2016

Key Words: Evening, Morning, Day, Creation, Rest,

THE CONFLICT

In Genesis chapter 1 the phrase “evening and morning” consistently describes the beginning and ending
of a creation period called a “day”.1 A substantial number of Protestant evangelicals are firmly
committed to the view that these time-frames were clearly 24 hour events. James Stambaugh who
works with the Institute for Creation Research writes: “The meaning of the term ‘day’ must be seen in
conjunction with the use of ‘evening’ and ‘morning.’ Those who would argue that the days are long
periods contend that these terms can have figurative meanings. But what is their meaning in the context
of Genesis 1?” 2 He affirms they are 24 hour periods. There are other believers who are persuaded that
the “days” composed of “evenings and mornings” in Genesis 1 are not literal 24 hour days.

Both sides of this controversy concur that the Hebrew word “yom” which is translated “day” can have
several meanings. To illustrate, at Genesis 1:5 we read: “God called the light Day but the darkness he
called Night. And there was evening and there was morning a first day.” 3 Indisputably we have different
kinds of “day” in Genesis 1:5. The first reference to “day” is roughly an illuminated period of
approximately 12 hours and the second reference to “day” is the period under discussion. And, at
Genesis 2:3, 4 we find: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified I; because he rested from all
his work which God created in making it. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth
when they were created, on the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.” 4 In this passage all of
the creation events are represented as having been created in a “day” , thus a number of “days” are
called a “day.”

Both sides have composed arguments from the sciences to support their respective views. As expected
scientists from both sides accuse the other side of miss-reading the scientific evidence. Those
arguments are not reviewed in this paper.
1
Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31.
2
“The Meaning of “Day’ in Genesis” by James Stambough, M. Div. Accessed October 18, 2016 at
www.icr.org/article/meaning-day-genesis/
3
The New World Translation (Revised 2013)
4
Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures: Carefully Translated According to the Massorectic Text,
On the Basis of the English Version, After the Best Jewish Authorities and Supplied with Short
Explanatory Notes. (Philadephia, 1853, 2nd edition 1857), translated by Isaac Leeser (b.1806-d.1868)

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THE INTERNAL ARGUMENT FOR ELONGATED CREATION DAYS

Psalm 95:7-11 reports:

For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did at Massah in the desert,
where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry
with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my
ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”-- New International
Version.

What arrests our attention is the comment that God’s day of rest was still ongoing although at the time
of this writing by the psalmist it was many hundreds of years after the days of Adam and Eve. Then
many hundreds of years later the New Testament writer Paul refers to Psalm 95:7-11 in these words:

As has just been said: “Today, If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the
rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of
Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose
bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to
those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be
found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did;
but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it
with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath
in my anger, ‘ They shall never enter my rest.’ And yet his work has been finished since the creation
of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the
seventh day God rested from all his work.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall
never enter my rest.” It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had
preached to them did not go in…There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for
anyone who enters God’s rest also rest from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore
make every effort to enter that rest , so that no one will fall by following their example of
disobedience. --- Hebrews 3: 15 to 4:11 (New International Version)

Here Paul argues that if the ancient Israelites had obeyed Jehovah God they could have symbolically
joined God in his ongoing day of rest. He declares that they failed but that the same opportunity was
now available to Christians. This raises the question: If the seventh day of Genesis 1 is still unfolding
and thus has not yet ended what does that suggest about the length of the preceding days of Genesis?
And, at the end of each of the preceding Creation days, the Creator said that what was purposed was
accomplished and was “good.” What was purposed for the “seventh day” and was It accomplished?

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After the creation of the first humans at the end of the “sixth day.” we are told at Genesis 1:28, 29 what
the Creator had in mind for them to do. That logically would have been accomplished during the
“seventh day.” The Creator purposed that the earth be filled, obviously with obedient, loving humans,
that it would be transformed into a global Eden and that all animals would be subservient to humans.
That is the clear message of Genesis 1:28, Interestingly both the Old Testament and the New Testament
describe a future earth in which the terms of Genesis 1:28 are fulfilled. 5

WHAT ABOUT THE EXPRESSIONS “EVENING” AND “MORNING” IN THIS DISCUSSION?

It is certainly the case that for us moderns the expressions “evening” and “morning” almost always
refers to periods enclosed in a 24 hour day. And, unless the context suggests otherwise that is how we
are likely to understand it. The Hebrew word for “morning” is “boker” and the Hebrew word for
“evening” is “erev.” What might not be known by many is that on occasion the Bible uses these terms to
refer to time frames not necessarily enclosed in a 24 hour day. Consider carefully the following
scriptures that illustrate that fact.

At Psalm 90:4-6, the writer Moses uses the expression “morning/boker” and “evening/erev” to
represent a cycle of events in the lives of humans not necessarily confined to a 24 hour period, we
observe:

For a thousand years are in thy eyes but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood: they are as a sleep: in the morning [boker] they are like
grass which growth up. In the morning [boker] it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening [erev]
it is cut down, and withereth. ---- King James Version

When we are young and vibrant we are in our “morning” but as we age and face death we are in our
“evening.” Clearly, more than 24 hours are meant.

Before his death (in about 1711 BCE), the patriarch Jacob (Israel) blessed each of his sons. To his son
Benjamin at Genesis 49:27, he said: “Benjamin will keep on tearing like a wolf. In the morning [boker],
he will eat prey, and in the evening [erev] he will divide spoil.” Some understand that “the morning” in
this prediction occurred about 1117 BCE when King Saul, a Benjaminite, (the first king of Israel) sat on
the throne and that the “evening” occurred in the 5 th century BCE when Benjaminites Queen Esther and
Prime Minister Mordecai, rose to power within the Persian government to provide protection for Jews
living throughout the Persian empire. Even if this understanding of the prediction is questioned, it is
clear that the “morning” and the “evening” were not literal but representative of two lengthy time
periods in Benjamite history.

5
Isaiah 11: 1-9; Isaiah 35:1-1-8; 2 Peter 3:13, 14; Revelation 21:1-5

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Another example is located at Psalm 30:5, 6 where we read:

Sing unto the Lord, O ye his pious ones, and give thanks to the memorial of his holiness. For
his anger is momentary. (but) life is in his favor: in the evening [erev] (cometh) weeping to
stay for a night, but in the morning [boker] there is joyful song. --- The Holy Scriptures by Dr.
Isaac Leeser

Transparently, the morning/evening sequence here is not literal but symbolic of two undefined
periods of time, one bringing weeping and the other bringing joy. It is of interest also that at
Psalm 49:14 “morning” [boker] is used to symbolize a time of death to the wicked and freedom for the
upright. There we find: “ They are assigned like sheep to the Grave. Death will shepherd them; the
upright will rule over them in the morning [boker]. Every trace of them will fade away; the Grave rather
than a palace will be their home.” 6

CONCLUSION

After surveying the Bible on this subject, the evidence suggests that the Creation days with their
respective periods of “evening” and “morning” were not 24 hour periods but long but discrete periods
with processes beginning in the “evening” phase and reaching completion in the “morning” phase.

6
New World Translation (Revised 2013)

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