(Originally Published as 7 Booklets, Copyright © 1989 by Richard Scott)
There are no trivial subjects in scripture.
Even the simplest of words are ripe with meaning and significance.
For example, WHEN did Moses teach the sabbath should be observed?
Many modern religions -- chief among them the sects of Judaism, and even most Christian denominations which teach the sabbath -- say that scripture reveals that the "sabbath" should be observed from "sunset to sunset."
But what does scripture really teach?
It may shock avid bible enthusiasts and "true believers" to learn there is not one shred of scriptural evidence to support this interpretation.
Many, many scriptural proofs, in fact, reveal its error and the real truth about what our Creator intended when He said: "...the seventh day is the sabbath" (Exodus 16:26, 20:10, 31:15; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:14).
The word "day" occurs more than 2,300 times in various forms throughout the scriptures we call the "Old Testament" in the bible.
In examining this subject we'll exclude, for the most part, the "New Testament," since the word "day" is translated in the English text from the Greek, rather than directly from the ancient Ibreyan (original "Hebrew") or Aramaic languages in which it was written (see Lesson 1 in this Back To Scriptural Basics series, in issue #17, for a brief introduction to this historical fact).
Though only a handful of scriptures in the Old Testament can be taken, at superficial first glance, to support the idea that days begin at night -- or sunset -- those scriptures in fact prove the exact opposite, upon careful, critical examination.
As you shall see, many other scriptures support a totally different view of "days" that is commonly presented throughout scripture, which is contrary to the accepted view of "days" that begin at sunset.
It will be seen, by diligently "searching the scriptures... [to see] whether those things [are] so" (Acts 17:11), that the idea of days starting at sunset is spiritually and scripturally impossible, fraudulent, and a deceptively deceitful twisting of the truth into a cunning lie and falsehood.
It is an attempt to make our Creator Himself into a "liar" and "deceiver!"
Let's start at the very beginning to learn what your heavenly Creator Himself says a day actually is.
In the Beginning...
In the very first chapter of Genesis are six separate statements that are the backbone of every sunset-to-sunset "day" doctrine and argument.
In the King James English bible you will read: "And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5).
This same phrase is repeated for each of the other first six days of creation in verses 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31.
The seventh day is a notable exception, however; there being no such statement in reference to it. This is a significant omission, as you will learn.
Taken at face value, those six verses do certainly seem, on the surface, to say that a day possibly begins or starts at evening, or sunset to use the modern vernacular.
Yet do these verses really say this?
Let's examine the assumption closer, and see what these verses actually do say, as compared with what they assuredly do not say.
First, there is a significant statement of fact that you must first look at, before you can really understand what these verses say.
It should be obvious, if you are to follow the admonition that "...no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation" (II Peter 1:20), that you must not attempt to define scriptural terms such as "day" yourself -- or rely upon other carnal men, or religions, to define them for you.
Instead, you must allow inspired scripture to interpret itself; for "...the scripture cannot be broken" ("John" 10:35; unlike translations based on religious misconceptions), and "All [original, inspired] scripture is given by inspiration" (II Timothy 3:16).
With those facts firmly in mind, let's look at those six verses in the first chapter of Genesis to see what they reveal about the true meaning of the word "day," as it is used everywhere in scripture.
Going back to Genesis 1:5, you will notice that just before the very first phrase in verse five: "...and the evening and the morning were the first day," you will find your Creator's definition of the very word we are examining.
This, in turn, helps define the use of that word in all six of the verses in which it subsequently occurs!
Your Creator: "...called the LIGHT day, and the darkness He called Night" (Genesis 1:5).
What could be plainer than that?
Day means LIGHT, NOT darkness; light excludes darkness, and cannot include it!
So then, how can the phrase "And the EVENING and the morning were the first [second, etc.] day" be accurately explained?
Does this second half of Genesis chapter one, verse five, contradict the clear-cut definition given by the Creator Himself of the words "day" and "night" in the first half of that same verse?
To believe this would make scripture into a ludicrous travesty of truth, and cannot possibly be believed by anyone genuinely serious about learning the truths scripture reveals.
There is nothing worse than drawing half-baked conclusions, without thinking the problem all the way through, and then insisting the erroneous conclusions which must derive from such muddled thinking are the only correct solutions to scriptural inquiries.
Yet, most of those who believe "sunset-to-sunset days" are also unwilling to closely examine the foundation and basis for their conclusions -- and the religious beliefs based upon them -- or have the otherwise obvious flaws in their so-called reasoning revealed.
Let's look closely at one of the biggest of these holes in the 24-hour "day" doctrine, to see why it cannot possibly hold water.
"Let There Be Light..."
In Genesis 1:3, the first thing to be created on the first creation day, according to the historical scriptural record, was light.
Obviously, before light was created, there could only have been darkness prevailing, just as verse 2 of Genesis one confirms.
If the phrase "And the evening and the morning were the first day" means that the first day began at sunset, then one of two things must be true.
Either the creation of light came before the first day, since there can be no sunset or start of evening unless there first is daylight -- the change from which tells us evening or night-time has begun -- or there could not have been any evening or sunset to begin the first creation day!
However, scripture states that creation was completed within the six creation days. In fact, light was the only thing created on the very first creation day, according to Genesis 1:3-5.
If light began the first creation day, as it must have for this to be true -- and also consistent with the Creator's own definition of the word "day" in verse 5 -- then the phrase "And the evening and the morning were the first day" cannot possibly mean the first day began with sunset!
There is the clear and irrefutable problem, which the sunset-to-sunset theorists and believers cannot ignore or overcome.
For if this very first occurrence of the phrase does not mean this, neither can any of the remaining five repetitions of this phrase in Genesis 1 mean that days supposedly begin at sunset.
Because sunset could only have occurred after light (or day, remember) was first created, then the first day had to naturally start with dawn.
This being so, as the very definition of "day" in verse 5 conclusively verifies, then the phrase "the evening and the morning" merely establishes two separate events.
The first event cited actually ended the first day (evening or sunset), while the second event ended the first night (at morning, or sunrise).
So you see that the very first night followed the very first day, as all other scriptures on this subject also confirm.
While most bibles say: "were the" first day, etc., this actually contradicts the direct definition of the word "day" given in verse 5, by implying a 24-hour period of time that includes both day and night.
How can this be?
The answer is that this translation is both true and false.
While not printed in italic letters in the King James version of the bible (indicating words added by the translators, not found in the original texts from which this English bible was translated), there are no words in the original language texts that actually say this!
The failure to print these words in italics has led many amateur, and most supposedly learned, students of scripture into missing the important fact that in no way do the words of the phrase "evening, morning" include both dark and light in the meaning of the word "day" in the phrases "first day," "second day," etc., and in no way can this same phrase be somehow assumed to include the seventh, or sabbath, day.
To be true to the Creator's own definition of the word, days simply do not and cannot include any of the period of time between evening and morning, no matter how confused the English word is on this point.
Furthermore, assuming this were true for the sake of argument, it should rather say "and evening and evening were the first (etc.) day."
So how can the phrase "and was evening, and was morning" actually mean, as it definitely does, a 24-hour period of time for each creation day?
Looking at this problem sensibly, an immediate solution does present itself.
Each and every one of the first six creation days was a 24-hour period of time, since the creation obviously took place on not one small portion of the planet we call earth, but over the entire world...
For any one place on earth to go through a 12-hour period of light, the entire earth must rotate on its polar axis.
As the earth rotates, the portion of the world previously in the dark comes into the light, just as the portion then in the light passes into the darkness of night as it rotates away from the light source.
The period of time that it takes for all the earth to experience 12 hours of light is 24 hours, the time it takes for one full 360° revolution of the earth.
Therefore, the phrase "and was evening, and was morning" is highly accurate in factually describing what no man on earth could have known, absent a knowledge of the earth's circular shape and rotation, and how this relates to the distant source of light to create both day and night on any particular part of the earth, as it rotates out of and into the light again.
Despite these evident facts, some might try to comfort themselves with the assumption that, contrary to the very limited definition by the Creator of the word "day," it somehow includes several different definitions of the word supposedly found in other scriptures.
Indeed, the King James and other modern translations seem to confirm this, by translating the same word -- in just the first book of the bible -- variously as: "continually" (Genesis 6:5), "age" (Genesis 18:11, 24:1, 47:28), "time" (Genesis 26:8, 47:29), "space" (Genesis 29:14), "in time to come" (Genesis 30:33), "in process of time" (Genesis 38:12), "about this time" (Genesis 39:11), "a season" (Genesis 40:4), "two full years" (Genesis 41:1), "for ever" (Genesis 44:32), and: "in the last days" (Genesis 49:1).
This same confusing translation of the same word occurs throughout the English translations of the Old Testament.
How Many Days Equal Nights?
Rather than supporting the assumption of different meanings for the word "day" -- such as found in modern dictionary definitions for this English word -- marginal notes throughout the King James bible text support the fact that this word always means the period of time we also call daylight, and never anything else.
Of course there are those who ignorantly assume and argue that when the word is used in a plural context, as in more than one day, the period of time necessarily must encompass the nights falling between each daylight, that that therefore this must mean that the word day can only be defined as meaning a 24-hour period of time that includes nighttime as well as daylight.
However, simply because this is the modern English usage for the word we call "day," and seems a logical conclusion to draw when more than one day is intended, this does not mean it must necessarily follow that the word for "day" in the scriptural language of Ibrera (ancient "Hebrew") ever included the meaning of nighttime, as representing a 24-hour period of time.
The logic to prove this is equivalent to an elementary school math problem.
The Problem
If, for example, you were traveling down a one-way street (representing the passage of time), composed of a series of roughly 12 foot driveways (representing daylight periods of time, denoted in hours) and 12-foot yards (standing for nighttime periods of time), and driveways are the first thing you encounter, and you wanted to measure your progress down this street, where would you start?
Would you begin with the first driveway, the first thing you see, or would you start with the yard that follows it?
Further assuming this street (week) is composed of exactly seven driveways (days) and seven yards (nights), if you ignore that first driveway, trying to count exactly seven driveways down this street, you'd end up in the next block (counting eight driveways, in the process, rather than seven).
The result, as far as your final intended destination (the start of the next week) would always be in error, if you were to make this calculating mistake.
Furthermore, to take the analogy one step further, what if you were told to simply walk seven driveways, like a map's directions to find a specific object; which would you concentrate on counting, the yards or the driveways?
Assuming the fact, also, that you are instructed to find the object in that block, and not the next, would you fail to notice the street that separates each block?
To find your way to this object (or objective, such as the sabbath day's rest), you would need to follow the directions explicitely, without deviation or alteration.
You would be foolish indeed to mistake a yard, a street, or anything else for a driveway, or your outcome would be false or different from what was intended.
The instructions "seven driveways," which clearly does not include the meaning of yards, even though there are yards in between every driveway, means just that and nothing more.
Similarly, the instruction "seven days" (as found in the statement "day and night, seven days;" Leviticus 8:35) can only mean a period of time marked by the passage of seven periods of daylight, and cannot imply the word "day" even remotely includes the meaning of the time period called night.
Logically, the very statement "day and night," which immediately precedes the term "seven days," would be entirely unnecessary repetition were this not so.
This fact should be crystal clear in your mind by the constant use of the phrase "day and night" found in various forms throughout the Old Testament.
Specifically, see: Genesis 8:22, 31:39; Exodus 13:21; Leviticus 8:35; Numbers 9:21; Deuteronomy 28:66; "Joshua" 1:8; I "Samuel" 25:16, 30:12; II "Samuel" 21:10; I Kings 8:29, 59; I Chronicles 9:33; II Chronicles 6:20; Nehemiah 1:6, 4:9; "Job" 5:14, 17:12, 24:16; Psalms 1:2, 22:2, 32:4, 42:3, 8, 55:10, 74:16, 78:14, 88:1, 91:5, 121:6; Ecclesiastes 8:16; "Isaiah" 4:5, 21:8, 27:3, 28:19, 34:10, 38:12, 13, 60:11, 62:6; "Jeremiah" 9:1, 14:17, 16:13, 31:35, 33:20, 25, 36:30; Lamentations 2:18, and "Zechariah" 14:7.
What's the Difference?
The difference, as we would say today, is like the difference between day and night....
Just as you would fail to find the treasure if you don't follow the treasure map precisely and perfectly, such as by starting at the right location to begin with, even so you cannot find the correct sabbath day without learning to first follow the scriptures, and what they teach on this subject, perfectly every time.
Some scoffers will wonder out loud, to whoever they can convince to hear them, "What difference does it make whether a day begins at sunset or sunrise? So what if the sabbath is observed from the evening before, instead of from dawn?"
They err by adding to the scriptures and commandments things they clearly do not say, and never intended, and miss the point that such errors always compound and lead to yet more and far more serious errors.
Indeed, many scriptures simply cannot be properly understood in their full intended meaning and context, unless you first know the pure truth about when a day starts or begins, according to this scriptural revelation, rather than the darkened reasoning of desperately wicked human hearts and the many different false traditions built upon this flawed foundation.
When A Scriptural Day Ends and A New Day Begins
Many more scriptures confirm the fact that the word "day," as used and defined in the ancient Ibreyan language, never includes night as part of its intended meaning.
These scriptures show you both when a day ends, and when a new day begins.
Judges 19:9, for instance, reveals that a scriptural day must end at sunset. While Judges 19:25-26 seems to say that a new day begins at dawn, the Ibreyan words translated "day" in each of those verses is not the exact same word translated "day" everywhere else in scripture, particularly Genesis 1:5, which contains the root definition for that word.
So this is not yet definite, irrefutable proof that scripture reveals that a new day starts at dawn, but you are one step closer to proving this.
Notice that verse 9 of Judges 19 does not say that a new day begins at sunset, but rather that the present day ends at sunset.
"Jonah" 4:7 says: "When the morning rose the next day," and verse 8 continues: "And it came to pass, when the sun did arise."
This certainly comes close to saying the "next day" began with morning, when the sun arose. But there is still no direct statement of this fact, so you must look further into the scriptures for more definite proof.
Genesis 1:14, 16 and 18 certainly confirm that the sun rules over the day, making days separate and distinct from nights.
"Jeremiah" 31:35 repeats this in the following words: "...gives the sun for a light by day." However, to complete the proof it would help if you found a direct statement in scripture that reveals a new day definitely begins at dawn.
Genesis 32:24, 26, which say: "...until the breaking of day," and: "...for the day breaks," are again of little help, for once again the word translated "day" is not the same word we have examined elsewhere.
You can find substantial evidence revealing when a new day begins if you first refer to the New Testament.
Are There Not 12 Hours In A Day?
"John" 11:9 records the Savior as saying: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?"
The word translated "hours" here meant "watches," as for example a guard standing watch. This statement shows you that anciently days were divided into 12 watches, nearly equivalent to our modern hours (not exactly, since days are longer than 12 exact hours in summer, and shorter in winter).
This must mean from sunrise, rather than from the previous sunset (a period of 24 hours), as you will learn from several other New Testament references to these watches.
For instance, you find that, after bringing the Savior to Pilate earlier that day ("John" 18:28), and after Pilate had gone three times into the judgment hall ("John" 18:28, 33, 19:8-9): "It was the preparation of the passover, about the sixth hour" ("John" 19:14), which would be approximately equivalent to what we now call "noon."
Luke 23:44 confirms that the time the Savior was nailed to the stake was "...about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour," i.e. from noon until around 3:00 pm.
Mark 15:25 says that the Savior was condemned when "...it was the third hour," and again verse 33 says: "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour."
Verse 34 continues: "And at the ninth hour" the Savior called out, and sometime shortly after that He died.
"Matthew" 27:57 and Mark 15:42 both say that: "When the even was come," implying it was then dark, or after sunset -- "...between the two evenings" (the correct translation of "in the evening" or "at twilight" in Exodus 12:6; KJV or NIV respectively) -- rather than the time between 3 pm and sunset.
Luke 23:54 says, matter of factly: "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on."
Here, the Greek word translated "drew on" literally means "began to DAWN," which is clear-cut proof that days, in particular sabbath days, were then known to begin in the morning, at sunrise or at dawn.
However you must now verify this was indeed the intended meaning by considering several more scriptures that say the exact same thing, in so many words, for: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (II Corinthianss 13:1).
In "Jeremiah" 7:25, the prophets were described as being sent, "...daily rising up early." The implication here being that each day starts early, rather than late.
Nehemiah 8:3, when combined with the evidence you found in the New Testament, definitely reveals when a new day begins. It says: "And he read therein...from the morning until midday."
Here we finally have the exact same word found in Genesis 1:5, in a context that must mean that a day starts or begins at dawn, in the morning! In other words, if sunset begins a day, and the day also ends at sunset, midday would have to mean morning or sunrise!
Are there any other witnesses in scripture that confirm the fact that scriptural days always begin at daybreak, in the morning?
It must be admitted that such scriptures are few, for how else could such an enormously false doctrine as "sunset to sunset days" have ever become "orthodox" or "mainstream" in the first place?
Yet there are still two other major scriptures which conclusively prove that a new day must begin at dawn, or daybreak, as this is also called.
Scriptures Prove A New Day Begins At Dawn
In the Song of Solomon 2:17 and 4:6 we read: "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."
This context reveals that daybreak is not a time when the shadows creep over the earth, leading to darkness or night; rather, daybreak is revealed here as that time period when "the shadows flee away."
What could be plainer to understand than that?
Unless a new day begins at dawn, and ends at sunset, many scriptures such as this would make little or no sense at all.
For example, "Jeremiah" 15:9 says: "...her sun is gone down while it is yet day." If sundown began a new day, this verse makes no sense whatever.
Certain prophecies wouldn't make sense if daytime includes nighttime. "Ezekiel" 30:3, for instance, speaks about a "cloudy day," and verse 18 says: "...also the day shall be darkened."
"Ezekiel" 34:12 also mentions "...the cloudy and dark day," as representing the future time of our Creator's wrath upon humanity. This same theme is found in many other prophecies.
In "Joel" 2:1-2 you will read about this same "day," or period of time: "...a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness."
"Amos" 5:8 reveals how our Creator: "...turns the shadow of death [A time when you sleep, at night; a shadow, or prophetic foretaste, of death] into the morning, and makes the day dark with night."
Verses 18 and 20 warn anyone who actually looks forward to the day of our Creator's wrath: "Woe to you... [that] day...is darkness and not light....even very dark, and no brightness in it."
"Amos" 8:9 quotes the Sovereign Creator's promise that He will: "...cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day," while "Micah" 3:6 compares this to a loss of prophetic understanding: "The sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them."
Finally, "Zepheniah" 1:15 describes this event in greater detail; it will be: "...a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness."
Do Scriptures Ever Prove Sunset-To-Sunset Days?
Several scriptures which do not use the word for "day" are claimed, by sunset-to-sunset believers, to prove a new day begins and ends at sunset. However, not one scripture specifically says anything of the kind in reference to the word day.
Leviticus 23:32 is one of the main scriptures trotted out and quoted in a vain attempt to "prove" this utter falsehood.
You will notice, in the King James English bible, however, that the word "day" in this verse appears in italic text, meaning this word is not actually found in the original language text of this scripture, the word being added gratuitously by the King James translators to try and make "sense" of the verse in English.
What this verse is actually telling you, is: "In the ninth of the month at even, [i.e. sunset] from even [sunset] until even [sunset] you shall keep your sabbath [rest]."
This appears conclusive only on the surface, but a more careful look at the contextual details surrounding this verse reveals an entirely different interpretation than what is commonly and wrongly accepted and taught.
First, it must be pointed out that this verse, taken in its full context (see verses 27-32), refers only to the yearly sabbath rest and fast called Atonement (verses 27-28).
Just prior to this context, the feast sabbath known as Reva (mistranslated "Trumpets"), observed on the first day of the seventh cycle "month," is mentioned (verse 24), while immediately following the context of Atonement the feast of Tabernacles, beginning on the 15th day of the seventh cycle "month," is also mentioned (verse 34).
Prior to these and other yearly feast sabbaths, the regular seventh day sabbaths are mentioned in Leviticus 23:3. So the context of verses 27-32 must deal only with Atonement, and with no other sabbath!
Verse 27 also reveals that: "...on the tenth" (again, the first appearance of the word "day" in this verse is in italics, and does not appear in this part of the verse in the original text) "of this seventh month there shall be a day of Atonement."
Notice, here, that this day is "on the tenth," while verse 32 reveals that: "in the ninth of the month at even, from even to even, you shall keep your rest" (or sabbath of Atonement).
This does not say the day of the tenth actually begins the prior even at sunset, rather this point is assumed by sunset-to-sunset proponents, even though that supposed "fact" is not specifically stated in any of these verses!
However, notice what verse 32 actually does say: "In the ninth...at even." The word "even" here being the exact same word used twice in the phrase "from even unto even" in this same verse.
If this same word means sunset in one or two places, then it must mean sunset in all three places where this word occurs in this verse.
And since it means sunset, this verse says that the first of the two sunsets mentioned is clearly "in the ninth," and not the tenth!
If sunset began the tenth day this statement would be in error. Here, then, is clear evidence and proof that in scripture a new day never starts at sunset, when a prior day ends.
When the day of the ninth ends at sunset, it is still in the ninth of the cycle "month."
This reveals that the night of the ninth, according to this scripture -- so long misused to "prove" something it evidently does not -- follows the day of the ninth. Just the opposite of what most modern bible "scholars" foolishly assume that it says.
What these verses actually reveal is that the day of the fast is on the tenth, while the actual fast sabbath or rest, or ceasing from work and eating, begins the prior day at sunset.
Only in the case of Atonement is the condition of resting from the prior day at sunset either commanded or specifically mentioned in scripture.
Every other sabbath, as you will now learn, begins only at dawn or sunrise, and ends that same day at sunset. This, then, is why the sabbath commandment specifically tells you to keep the sabbath on the seventh day!
Moses Reveals the True Sabbath!
It is Moses, through whom the sabbath was revealed, of all people, who alone reveals when a sabbath day begins and when it ends. So let's look at what he said about the sabbath, in Exodus 16.
Verse 1 sets the stage, the events following taking place: "...on the fifteenth day of the second month."
The children of Yasrael were murmuring in dissatisfaction that day, against Moses, demanding flesh to eat (verses 2-3). They were then promised they would receive: "...bread from heaven...every day" except the sabbath (verses 4-5), and also meat after sunset of that same day (verses 6, 8, and 12).
You will notice several important facts here which, although not spelled out specifically, are nevertheless implied by the context of everything that is said.
First, is the fact that the 15th of the second cycle "month" was itself a sabbath, since the first six days of manna, leading up to the next sabbath rest, began the very next morning, at the start of the 16th day.
The fact that the Yasraelites were not given quails for meat until after sunset of the 15th day also indicates this sabbath did indeed end at sunset on the 15th. You will also notice that the manna was given early every morning of the six days before every following sabbath (verses 13, 21).
Even though the manna "bred worms and stank" if kept overnight (verse 20), there was twice as much manna on the sixth morning, which when kept overnight following the sixth day, counting from when the manna was first given, through the seventh day which began the next morning, it did not breed worms or stink (it was still edible; verse 24).
This only took place on this preparation day, and night, every sixth day, so the manna could be eaten on the seventh day, or sabbath, without requiring the people to work that morning to gather it on that day (verses 23-26).
Now you'll see, in describing these circumstances, what Moses said about when a sabbath day observance must begin:
"To morrow" (Notice he did not say "to night," or "this evening") "is the rest of the sacred sabbath....that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning....And Moses said, 'Eat it to day, for today is a sabbath..." (Exodus 16:23-25).
What could be clearer?
The manna came every day for six days: "...but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there will not be any found" (verse 26).
The fact that the manna came each morning, at sunrise, reveals that the sabbath begins at sunrise, for only then did the people find no manna for that day.
Moses said as much when he commanded the people: "...you [have] been given the sabbath, therefore He gives you on the sixth day [which begins at morning, you will recall] the bread of two days; stay everyone in his place, let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day" (verses 29-30).
Since most people rest during the night anyway, what would have been the sense of commanding them to rest when they normally did anyway?
When Is Passover?
Now that you know what a scriptural day means, particularly a sabbath day, how does this help you to understand certain "problem" scriptures, which have plagued those who are not able to see them clearly, due to their false, commonly accepted "24-hour biblical day" assumption?
Passover is a case in point. When must Passover be observed?
According to Leviticus 23:5, Passover was commanded to be kept: "In the fourteenth [the word "day" is again in italics, and is not found in the original language text of this verse] of the first month at even."
Verses 6 through 8 reveal that the "fifteenth day" is an annual sabbath rest day, which begins the morning after the Passover (Numbers 33:3; "Joshua" 5:11).
Some mistakenly teach that the Passover begins after sunset of the thirteenth which, to them, is the "even of the fourteenth." However they have failed to reconcile this with the account of the very first Passover, at the time of the exodus, as recorded in the twelfth chapter of the book of Exodus.
There you will read that the Yasraelites were commanded to separate an unblemished male yearling lamb on the tenth day of the first "month" (Exodus 12:3-5), and then they were to: "...keep it until the fourteenth DAY of the same month" (verse 6, emphasis added), when it was to be killed "in the evening" (ibid.).
This is after the "even of the fourteenth," according to Leviticus 23:5.
Some argue against the lambs being killed at sunset, pointing to Acts 3:1 and 10:30 as proof.
There you learn that the ninth hour of the day was an "hour of prayer" (the ninth hour being approximately 3:00 pm, since the first hour of each day started at sunrise).
That was the exact same time as when the evening sacrifice was offered each day (I Kings 18:29, 36).
The morning sacrifices were offered at the third hour of the day (around 9:00 am), and the evening sacrifices at the ninth hour (around 3:00 pm) every day (Exodus 29:38-41; II Kings 3:20-22 gives an example of the morning sacrifice).
So the daily evening sacrifice took place around 3:00 pm. Based on this, some say the Passover must likewise be sacrificed not after sunset, but before dark.
However, the Passover was always sacrificed later than the evening sacrifice, just as Deuteronomy 16:6 commands: "...you shall sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun."
This same phrase is found elsewhere in scripture, in different contexts that reveal when the Passover sacrifice took place.
In Genesis 15:12, Exodus 17:12 and 22:26, you will find the very same phrase: "...the going down of the sun."
It is also found in two other scriptures. In Deuteronomy 23:11 it says:
"But it shall be, when evening comes on, he shall wash with water; and when the sun is down he shall come into the camp again."
Deuteronomy 24:13 says:
"In any case you shall deliver him the pledge again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own raiment...."
In Deuteronomy 21:22-23 Moses commanded:
"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall in every instance bury him that day."
Later, in "Joshua" 8:29, you will learn: "And the king of Ai... [was] hanged on a tree until eventide; and as soon as the sun was down," his body was removed from the tree and buried.
Again, in "Joshua" 10:13 it says:
"The sun stood still, and the moon stayed.... So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day" (the length of time would have been obvious by the position of the stars when the sun finally did set).
Apparently, the sun hovered just above the horizon, prior to setting, else why pray for it to be prevented from setting in the first place?
Finally, in verses 26-27 of the same chapter, five kings were killed and hanged: "...on five trees; and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun," they were removed from the trees and thrown into the cave where they were found hiding, to bury them.
So, in fact, the Passover lamb was also kept until the day of the fourteenth (not the thirteenth), and was killed at sunset of that same day of the fourteenth, and then eaten the night of the fourteenth (Deuteronomy 16:1-4; Exodus 12:6, 8, 18)!
Notice that the night of the Passover is never referred to as a "day" in any of the verses where it is mentioned, such as Exodus 12:29, 30, 31, and 42-43.
Notice also, from the context of those last two verses, that it is the Passover which is the "night to be much observed" and not the night following the Passover, as the "thirteenth day passover" advocates wrongly believe (even though they do say this night to be observed follows the day of the 14th, they do not believe this to be the same as the Passover).
Given all these outstanding proofs of the doctrinal significance and meaning of the word "day" in the original language of scripture, whoever continues following the false Jewish traditions instead -- making scripture itself appear to lie, rather than exposing this great error -- now have no valid excuse to continue believing in such nonsense.
For example, Nehemiah 13:19 is one such twisted scripture, where it says "...began to be dark before the sabbath." The underlined text is not found in the Septuagint Greek translation that predates the Masoretic Hebrew translation by nearly 1,000 years.
Whoever added those words did so with the evident intention of falsifying the scriptures in support of pagan doctrinal changes.
It is long past time for such false, pagan notions to be abandoned and forgotten forever, such as the contrary concept that days begin at nightfall, and choose instead to believe our Creator Himself, who says:
"Light is called day, and darkness is called night" (Genesis 1:5).
To believe otherwise is nothing less than the attempt to make your Creator a liar!
Which is just what you might expect of the foolish and unwise adversary and false accuser, who was and is a liar (just as he has been the author of all lies from the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth; "John" 8:44)!
It is his human children who believe in and practice his many false religious lies in this carnal age of "human reason" -- such as "days" that start at sunset, or in the middle of the night at midnight -- that have sprouted and grown equally false calendar traditions from that selfsame evil seed of pagan doctrine!