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The Hebrew reference to evening and morning is different than ours, but Moses could have been using God’s.

Moses, the writer of Genesis, could have been using God’s reference of day instead of ours. “… So there was evening, and there was morning, one day” (Gen. 1: 5 CJB).

I will probably cut and paste this into every day’s endings for those who may start with those days and not see this devotion. The New Living Translation makes it sound like we are just talking about a 12-hour time period — evening passed, and morning came.

What about the rest of the day?

This is not how it was originally written. “… And the erev (evening) and the boker (morning) were Yom Echad (Day One, the First Day, Mk 16:2” (Gen. 1: 5 OJB).

We can’t let the version we use lead us away from God.

The Hebrew day starts in the evening. Along with the days being marked this way in creation (Gen. 1: 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31), several feasts also identify their beginning time as evening.

• “Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight” (Ex. 12: 6 NLT).
• “This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth da” (Lev. 23: 32 NLT).
• “Let no yeast be found in any house throughout your land for those seven days. And when you sacrifice the Passover lamb on the evening of the first day, do not let any of the meat remain until the next morning” (Deut. 16: 4 NLT).

It is fitting that the nighttime begins the day. We move out of our condition of darkness into our condition of light.

This is just as we wait for the Day (Yom) to follow the Night (Lailah). We anticipate the goodness of the day. But we know we will not change the cycle of the earth.

“The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but night will soon return’” (Isa. 21: 12 NLT).

Only God in the end times will be able to break the cycle of day following night.

• “For see, the day of the Lord is coming — the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be made desolate, and all the sinners destroyed with it. The heavens will be black above them; the stars will give no light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will provide no light” (Isa. 13: 9-10 NLT).
• “The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine” (Joel 2: 10 NLT).
• “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed — roots, branches, and all’” (Mal. 4: 1 NLT).
• “Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mt. 24: 29 NLT).
• “The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine” (Joel 3: 15 NLT).
• “That terrible day of the Lord is near. Swiftly it comes — a day of bitter tears, a day when even strong men will cry out. It will be a day when the Lord’s anger is poured out — a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet calls and battle cries. Down go the walled cities and the strongest battlements! (Zeph. 1: 14-16 NLT).
• “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides” (Lk. 21: 25 NLT).
• “I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind” (Rev. 6: 12-13 NLT).
• “The heavens above will melt away and disappear like a rolled-up scroll. The stars will fall from the sky like withered leaves from a grapevine, or shriveled figs from a fig tree. And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, it will fall upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction” (Isa. 34: 4-5 NLT).
• “At that time, after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mk. 13: 24-25 NLT).

While God doesn’t sleep, we know He planned cessations of work. “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work” (Jn. 9: 4 NLT). God plans rest periods.

We could also read this as creation was a process. And we do have to read it this way.

God didn’t speak and everything show up at once. Some things were created on Day 1, some on Day 2, and so on. We know that bush and small plants hadn’t sprung up yet. “neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the LordGod had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil” (Gen. 2: 5 NLT).

Is that evolution? I don’t think so. I see it as growth, not one thing changing to become something else.

Listen to what else was in The First Day. It said, “There was, under the law, a sacrifice appointed both for the morning and the evening. Ah! when it is daylight with thee, Christian, and thou goest into the sanctuary, having boldness to enter into the very holiest, having free access unto the Father; thy soul can there offer its sacrifice of willing, loving praise. But the evening cometh, and then thou dost shrink back from saying aught to God, from bringing thine offering with so heavy a heart. Still, go even then; and pleading the blood of that richer sacrifice which never faileth to bring down a blessing, lay the tribute of thy broken heart beside it, and ask thy God, for His sake not to despise it. He will not do so, for, in the provisions of His temple service, there was a sacrifice for the evening too.