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We must find a conclusive scriptural definition of EVENING before we can keep the appointments of YHWH.

First of all the original Scriptural definition of evening is found in Genesis one and was the period of darkness that was called night and the definition of morning was the period of light that was called Day, no other division of time was mentioned, or needed. As time went on and men began to multiply they divided the night and day into more specific segments and used terms such as midnight, midday, noon, twilight, sunrise, sunset, and between the evenings etc. these terms allow them to be more specific in communicating with YHWH and each other. You had such terms as between the evenings before sunrise (Ex-16) and between the evenings at the going down of the sun (Deut-16) etc. In today’s fast pace we have hours, minuets and seconds of time but in the beginning the two basic periods of a day was evening and morning, the evening/darkness/night lasted until sunrise/light/morning/day, which in turn lasted until evening/dark and it began over again. And I will prove this from Scripture.

I am about to prove from Scripture that evening is dark.

I will start by showing that the ancient ancestors understood sundown as dark. See Genesis 15:17
“and it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,”

When the sun is completely down it is dark.

Amos 8:9 says “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:”

Notice if the sun goes down at noon, the earth will be dark, why will the earth the dark??? Because the sun went down.

Micah 3:6 “the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.”

Here again we see that when the sun goes down, it is dark. Why? Because the sun went down.

And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even. And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. [LEVITICUS 11:24-25]

Compare this verse with the following and you will see that sundown and dark is synonymous with EVENING. “whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. And when the “sun is down”, he shall be clean… [LEVITICUS 22:5-7]

Notice: the two above Scriptures conclusively proves that sundown and evening are synonymous, one says, and be unclean until the even. [LEVITICUS 11:24-25]
And the other says, And when the “sun is down”, he shall be clean… [LEVITICUS 22:5-7] this proves that sundown and evening are synonymous, and I have demonstrated how that sundown is dark. i.e. sundown equals evening and sundown equals dark according to scripture definitions, and by using deductive reasoning we can conclusively prove from Scripture that evening is dark.

Above are just a few Scripture that support my understanding of sundown as being dark and sundown being evening.
We know from Genesis where He said the light He called day, i.e. day is the name for light, and if you still see light you are seeing that day but when it gets completely dark at conjunction, another day began, same as the conjunction of the moon, when the light is gone the new month begins.

I believe the Scriptures will interpret themselves as to what sundown is and as to what evening is.
In Genesis we read, “the light he called day and the darkness he called night and the evening (darkness) and the morning (light) were the first day (24hr period).”

I believe this is a Scripture definition of evening, and I believe the above concerning sundown being dark, in one place, and sundown being evening in another place, is a scriptural definition of sundown and therefore a new 24 hr period begins at dark/sundown/evening. We cannot count on the Strong's concordance or any concordance's definition of a word if it cannot be proven from Scripture. The concordance says evening is dusk but you cannot find no conclusive place in scriptures to support this.

People's understanding of words today are different than two thousand years ago. I gave scripture where sundown is referring to dark and evening but our understanding of sundown is different.

The same is true with the Hebrew word TWILIGHT. Twilight also was understood as dark but probably at different periods of the night/dark. i.e. when it 1st gets dark it is twilight dark. This would allow people to communicate what time of the evening it was. We today might say six or seven o'clock depending on what time it get's dark and they would say twilight.

Examples-
Proverbs 7:9 in the “twilight” in the evening, in the black and dark night:"

This proves that they understood that Twilight, evening, black and dark night are all synonymous, same as sun down and evening and sundown and dark. I believe that twilight is the period of darkness just after the sun is completely down and it is dark at conjunction and there's another twilight in the darkness just before the sun comes up at conjunction, and the light gets brighter from that point on but in any case the scriptural definition of twilight is dark according to the above scriptures. I realize man has other understandings of twilight but can anyone show were twilight is not dark in Scripture?

Job 24:15-16 “the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, no eye shall see me and distinguish his face. In the dark they dig through houses which they have marked for themselves in the daytime.”

If someone want to say twilight is something different than dark, would it be asking too much for just one scripture? Remember that twilight is also synonymous with evening, same as sundown.

Twilight (dark/evening) or sundown/dark/evening it's all the same because the Scripture teaches when the sun is down, it is dark. I believe they understood the true sundown as being synonymous with dark.

“and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hands and brought it fourth in the twilight"

Again Twilight appears to be the early part of the darkness and begins right after dark, at conjunction, and Possibly the darkness right before any light appears in the morning, at conjunction.
[EZEKIEL 12:4-8]

Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel. And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the “even” I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the “twilight”, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight. And in the “morning” came the word of Yahweh unto me…

Notice, even is mentioned as the equivalent or synonymous with twilight and as the above scripture proves, twilight is equivalent or synonymous with darkness and therefore evening is darkness also.

There is not one conclusive scripture that I know of that proves twilight to be anything but dark or that proves sundown to be anything but dark or that proves evening to be anything but dark but I have proved conclusively from the above scriptures that all three is referring to dark.

Job-3:9 "the stars of the twilight their of be dark."

The twilight stars are very bright right after it gets dark in the twilight, not some bogus twilight at dusk or BEFORE dark.

Ps. Ne-13:19 "When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark “before” the Sabbath"

I believe were says “it began to be dark” could be referring to DUSK before the Sabbath which begins at DARK. If it BEGAN to be DARK before the Sabbath does not mean dusk, where would dusk come in at? Therefore the Sabbath day does not began at dusk.

It does not say anything about the sun touching the horizon etc. when it began to be dark before the Sabbath. i.e. the Sabbath would begin at dark, and he goes on to say that after the Sabbath the gates would be opened.

Evening is defined as follows, by Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and Brown, Drivers, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon:

H6153 / SEC Definition / ‛ereb / eh'-reb / From H6150; dusk:— + day, even (-ing, tide), night.

H6153 / ‛ereb / BDB Definition: / 1) evening, night, sunset / 1a) evening, sunset / 1b) night

To Historically prove that evening and twilight end a day I offer the following Historical evidence from a time period when the Temple was still standing.

WARS OF THE JEWS book 4 CHAPTER 9 (582)

(582) 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 the “day was finished,” as giving notice to the people when they were to “leave off work,” and when they were to go to “work again.”

In the above Josephus is saying that the trumpet was blown at evening twilight which is the beginning of every seventh day and at the evening at the end of every seventh day for the people to go back to work again. Remember Josephus is writing this during the time of the destruction of the Temple when the priesthood was still active which conclusively proves the Jews at this time understood the day ends at evening twilight which is dark/conjunction and the day consisted of 24 hours.

Judges 19:8-9

7And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. 8And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel’s father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them.

9And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home. 10But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, “


The man tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them, and is told the day is almost over BECAUSE the day draweth toward evening, it was afternoon when he tries to get him to wait another day and leave tomorrow and tomorrow always means the next day. i.e. ALL tomorrows have an evening and morning, in that order, because when the day is over at evening, the morrow begins. It is evident in this case.

Brother Arnold

_________________
Lunar Sabbaths is one of the most provable doctrines in Scripture...

Brother Arnold
See www.lunarsabbath.info

 

THE HEBREW WORD FOR NOON

The first thing to point out is that the biblical day begins at evening (GENESIS 1:5; LEVITICUS 23:32). While there are some who opt for a day beginning at daylight or morning, it is not the intent of this article to examine that belief. Knowing that the day begins at evening should cause us to immediately recognize that the day does not begin at noon. This is primarily because there are two completely different words for evening and noon in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Evening is defined as follows, by Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and Brown, Drivers, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon:

H6153 / SEC Definition / ‛ereb / eh'-reb / From

H6153 / ‛ereb / BDB Definition: / 1) evening, night, sunset / 1a) evening, sunset / 1b) night

While paying careful attention to the definition for the Hebrew word for evening, take note of the entirely different Hebrew word translated into English as “noon” in the King James Version of the Bible:

H6150; dusk:— + day, even (-ing, tide), night.

H6672 / SEC Definition / tsohar / tso'-har / From

H6672 / tsohar / BDB Definition: / 1) noon, midday (noun masculine) / 1a) noon (as specific time of day) / 1b) noon (in simile as bright of happiness, blessing) / 2) roof (noun feminine) / 2a) meaning dubious

H6671; a light (that is, window); dual double light, that is, noon:—midday, noon (-day, -tide), window.

These two Hebrew words are never used synonymously in the entire Bible. As a matter of fact they are used in opposition to one another as different time frames of a 24 hour day in the following passage:

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. [PSALMS 55:17]

It is clear from this passage that the Psalmist speaks of three different specific time periods. Notice specifically that evening and noon are mentioned as separate time periods in the above passage, proving conclusively that noon (the apex of the sun) is not evening in any way.

THE MEANING OF EVEN, EVENING, ETC.

The easiest way to prove the meaning of the word evening is not necessarily by going to a Hebrew dictionary or lexicon, but by going to clear instances or uses of the Hebrew world ereb in the Old Testament in order to develop the proper meaning of the term according to the context. Here are such verses that do just that.

And (the) Almighty called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. [GENESIS 1:5]

Without me planting anything into your thoughts, read the above Scripture and ask yourself which terms are synonymous?

And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even. And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. [LEVITICUS 11:24-25]

Compare the above verse with the following:

Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean… [LEVITICUS 22:5-7]

Out of ALL the scriptures so far, the ONLY evening is the one that ENDS the day, why is that????

The Leviticus 11 passage places the man clean at even, while the Leviticus 22 passage places the man clean when the sun is down; this shows that even is equivalent with when the sun is down.

In the morning thou shalt say, Would (the) Almighty it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would (the) Almighty it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. [DEUTERONOMY 28:67]

This verse places evening and morning as opposites, i.e. night verses day.

And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. [2 SAMUEL 11:12-14]

Here we have evening mentioned as the time Uriah went to lie down on his bed, and then we have the phrase, “…and it came to pass in the morning…” This is simple to understand.

Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel. And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight. And in the morning came the word of Yahweh unto me… [EZEKIEL 12:4-8]

Here, even is mentioned as the equivalent of twilight and as the opposite of morning which came after evening.

And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me… [GENESIS 29:22-25]

Notice that Jacob went in to Leah in the evening, the normal time a man would go into a woman. Then we have the morning being mentioned implying that they went into each other and then slept and then morning (daylight) came.

And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. [GENESIS 30:16]

Here we see that Jacob came out from the field (most likely finishing work) at evening, and then lay with Leah that night; evening and night being the same thing.

But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. [DEUTERONOMY 23:11]

Here we see that as evening cometh on (draweth near) the person was to wash himself, then when the sun is down (evening no longer coming on but present) he is clean to enter the camp.

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. [PSALMS 104:23]

Everyone knows that it is common for man to work in the daytime and come home or enter home at night.

Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening , in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. [PROVERBS 7:8-10]

We see here the three emboldened terms above used synonymously.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves… [HABBAKUK 1:8]

Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. [ZEPHANIAH 3:3]

 

Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. [GENESIS 49:27]

Everyone associates wolves with darkness, not with noonday. Also note that the word “night” in the Genesis passage is the Hebrew word ereb.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to Yahweh, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. [ZECHARIAH 14:6-7]

For evening time to be light is an exceptional thing of abnormality; normally evening time is dark.

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. [JOB 7:3-4]

The second night here is translated from the Hebrew word ereb. Could it be any more clearer that ereb here refers to the night time?

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day. [JOSHUA 8:29]

Notice carefully that the king hung on the tree until eventide. This is equivalent with the statement that Joshua commanded him to be brought down as soon as the sun was down.

In noticing that evening and the time of sun down being synonymous, we should also take the following Scriptures into consideration for this study.

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. [GENESIS 15:17]

We clearly see here that when the sun went down, it was dark. This means the light of the day had vanished and it was then night. In opposition to this, notice this verse:

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day… [AMOS 8:9]

This passage is akin to Zechariah 14:6-7 in that it is a supernatural, extraordinary occurrence. While the sun begins its waning or going down at noon, it does not go down (get dark) at noon. Neither is clear day normally dark. In this passage sun down and darken are equals, and noon and clear day are equals. This once again, with no ambiguity, shows that noon and evening are not synonymous.

What all of this shows is that evening and noon are not the same time periods. Noon is a time period during the daylight hours of the day, and evening is a time period of the beginning of the day - the sun down or dark portion of the day.

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