Introduction to the Book of Genesis/B’reisheet
The name Genesis comes from the Greek and means “beginning.” The Hebrew name for the same book is B’reisheet meaning “in the beginning” and is taken from the first three Hebrew words at the beginning of the book. It reveals truth pertaining to the beginning of YHVH’s creation including the universe, light and darkness, the earth, man and good and evil.
Genesis is the first of the five books of the law or Torah. Genesis, along with the next four books of the Bible, are called the Torah (meaning “YHVH’s instructions” in righteousness), the Chumash (another Hebrew word for the Torah) or the Pentateuch (the Greek word for Torah). Under the divine inspiration of the Spirit of Elohim, Moses wrote the Torah, which is a compilation of the history of historical facts about early man and the nation of Israel, as well as recorded instructions from YHVH to his people, Israel.
The Book of Genesis forms not only the introduction to the Bible, but the foundation for it. It is foundational to understanding the rest of Scripture, for it answers the universal questions as to the origin of man (and the rest of the creation), his purpose on earth, and introduces the Creator of man and begins to explain man’s relationship to his Creator. We learn about marriage and family. The concepts of good and evil and obedience and rebellion to YHVH are introduced. The concept of truth is introduced and sin is defined as is YHVH’s plan of redemption for sinful man. Genesis reveals that the redemption of sinful man involves a Redeemer and a relationship with Elohim, the Creator, through a covenantal relationship with the nation of Israel comprised of people who are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Genesis 1
Genesis 1:1, In. In Hebrew, the preposition in is written as the better bet בּ corresponding to the English letter b). This is the first word in the Torah. Interesting, the last word in the Torah is Israel (Deut 34:12). In the Hebrew language, pictographically the letter b is a picture of a house (or a tent) with the front door open. From this, some commentators have correctly reasoned that the Torah was written to the house of Israel whose spiritual doors are wide open for all nations to enter therein in order to enter into a spiritual relationship with the Elohim of Israel.
In the beginning. The letter bet/בּ in b’reisheit is enlarged teaching that there are two beginnings: the beginning of the Torah and the beginning of the nation of Israel (See The ArtScroll Tikkun, p. 3).
The Torah pre-existed the creation of the cosmos not only as the eternal light of the world that shone before the creation of the sun and moon on the fourth day; as the teachings, precepts, instructions, and laws of YHVH; but as his wisdom (Prov 8:22–36) and his understanding (Prov 3:19) as well. Therefore, Torah is the very essence, nature and character of YHVH Elohim.
The Godhead is revealed in Genesis 1. Elohim is the family name of the Godhead and is the plural form of the Hebrew words El or Eloah. Elohim is more than one being; it is an “us” (verse 26).
In Deuteronomy 6:4, the famous shema passage and declaration faith for the Jewish people, we find the statement “YHVH our Elohim, YHVH is one.” The Hebrew word for one is echad and can mean “a unit, unity.” Examples of this in the Scriptures include the curtains in the Tabernacle of Moses that are fastened together to form a unit (Exod 26:6, 11; 36:13). The Bible describes Adam and Eve as “one flesh” (or echad, Gen 2:4). When echad is used in this way, it suggests diversity within unity (The TWOT, vol. 1, p. 30). This diversity within unity is suggested in the Bible’s “us” passages when referring to Elohim as noted above. This concept is elucidated upon in the Testimony of Yeshua where Yeshua clearly states that the Godhead or Elohim is comprised of three parts: the Father, the Son and the Set-Apart Spirit (or Holy Spirit; in Hebrew, Ruach HaKodesh, see Matt 28:19).
YHVH is the name of the Father and the Son. Elohim has a female component as well (verse 27). The Father and Son are obviously the male component of the Godhead. What is the female component? Through the process of elimination, that leaves the Ruach or Spirit of Elohim. Ruach is a feminine word.
The idea that the Spirit is masculine is a Greco-Roman concept and isn’t rooted in the Hebrew concept of the Spirit as revealed in the Tanakh. In Koine Greek Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament), pneuma, the word for spirit, is in the neuter gender (neither masculine nor feminine). The other word used in the Testimony of Yeshua for the Set-Apart Spirit is paracletos—a word that is often translated as Comforter or Helper (q.v. John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). In the Koine Greek, this word is in the masculine gender. This fact, however, has no bearing on the gender of the entity known as the Ruach, since the Testimony of Yeshua derives its information from the Tanakh, which reveals it to be a feminine entity. Furthermore, nowhere in the Scriptures is the Spirit termed as YHVH Ruach or Ruach YHVH. YHVH is the masculine appellation for the male side of the Godhead, while Ruach is the name of the female side. There are numerous instances in the Scriptures where we find the phrase “the Spirit of Elohim” (Gen 1:2; Exod 31:3; 1 Sam 10:10; Job 33:4) or the “Spirit of YHVH” (Judg 3:10; 6:34; 1 Sam 6:14; Isa 11:2; 40:13; Ezek 11:5; 37:1, etc.). In a sense, it seems this could be a way of saying, “the wife of YHVH Elohim.”
For more biblical references referring to the plurality of the Elohim the Creator, see my notes at Eccl 12:1.
In the beginning. Some alternative translations of this first verse in the Bible include:
At the beginning of God’s creating of the heavens and the earth…” (The Schocken Bible, The ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach)
In the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth… (The Gutnick Edition Chumash)
From the beginning of God Created the heaven and the earth… (The Pentateuch by S.R. Hirsch)sdAt the beginning the Lord created the heavens and the earth… (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Etheridge)
In the first times the Lord created the heavens and the earth… (Targum Onkelos, Etheridge)
In the bigynnyng God made of nouyt heuene and erthe. (The Wycliffe Bible, 1395)
In the beginning of God’s preparing the heavens and the earth… (Young’s Literal Translation)
Who or What Is the Aleph and Tav (the Alpha and Omega) of Scripture?
Genesis chapter one verse one reads,
In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth.
If we were to translate this verse into English exactly as it appears in the Hebrew, it would read,
In the beginning Elohim created et the heaven and et the earth.
Between the words heaven and earth is an untranslatable Hebrew particle (a small grammatical word) that makes no sense in English, but that at times can carry deep spiritual significance depending on the vowels that are attributed to this grammatical particle. This is the first occurrence in Scripture of the enigmatic aleph and tav (,T) that intrigues newcomers to a more Hebraic understanding of the Bible. What is the spiritual prophetic significance small word and how does it relate to the Yeshua’s several curious statement about himself in the Book of Revelation? There he refers to himself in several places as “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.”
Who Is the Aleph and the Tav?
What is the meaning of the aleph /א and tav/ת in the Genesis chapter one creation account? The Jewish sages once give us clues to answer this intriguing question. For this, we must look deeply into the Hebrew words and letters themselves found in the first few verses of Genesis one. Again in Genesis 1:1 we find something hidden in the Hebrew language which does not translate into English or any other foreign language. It is a Hebrew grammatical particle that is untranslatable outside of Hebrew and is comprised of two Hebrew letter: aleph and tav. These are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Grammatically, this word is simply word the indicates the direct object of the verb. It is found thousands of times in the Tanakh. However, under certain circumstances (i.e., when the letter aleph has one of two Hebrew vowel marker—called a niqqud—under it—either the segol [three dots like an inverted triangle] or tsere [two horizontal dots]), the aleph and tav word has an additional meaning. On this, the rabbinic Hebrew scholar Michael Munk in his book, The Wisdom In the Hebrew Alphabet, explains,
The definite article is expressed in Hebrew by prefixing the letter V to a word. Often, for extra emphasis, the word ,3T (or ,2T) is employed in addition to the prefix. Comprising the first and last letter of the Aleph Be[t], ,3T alludes to completion and perfection. Thus the Torah uses the emphatic article in describing the beginning of Creation: MRTV <3TU OHNAV <2T OHVKT TRÜ <HATRÜ, In the beginning of [Elohim’s] creating the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). This alludes to the fact that the universe was created in complete perfection, ‘from aleph to tav’ (p. 34).
This is very interesting from a Hebraic, Messianic perspective. Believers in Yeshua the Messiah know who the Aleph and the Tav is,or to use the Greek New Testament terms with which everyone is familiar: the Alpha and the Omega. It is, of course, a reference to Yeshua the Messiah. Speaking of himself Yeshua states:
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending said the Master, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Rev 1:8)
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven congregations which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. (Rev 1:11)
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Rev 21:6)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Rev 22:13)
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I YHVH, the first, and with the last; I am he. (Isa 41:4; see also 44:6; 48:12)
We know from Scripture that Yeshua in his preincarnate state created all things in the physical creation:
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.… He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (John 1:3, 10)
But to us there is but one Elohim, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one master Yeshua the Messiah, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Cor 8:6)
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in Elohim, who created all things by Yeshua the Messiah. (Eph 3:9)
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Col 1:16–17)
Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.… And, Thou, YHVH, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. (Heb 1:2, 10)
Other notable passages that contain the aleph and tav direct object marker that point to Yeshua the Messiah who is the Aleph and Tav or Alpha and Omega include:
And thou shalt love ,תאYHVH thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deut 6:5)
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me ,תא whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zech 12:10)
Other Scriptures where the two noted forms of the aleph and tav occur include Genesis 15:10, 14, 18 when YHVH made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants in the offering of the pieces which is a prophetic picture of Yeshua. In all honesty, though, it must be noted that in verse 20 the aleph and tav is found with the segol niqqud and there seems to be no indication that it refers to Yeshua, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. So we urge caution in seeing a reference to Messiah in every passage of Scripture where the aleph and tav is used even with the seemingly appropriate vowel markings.
As a side note, another word of interest to our study is the Hebrew word for truth which is emet (<NT).The Scriptures state that Yeshua is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), that his word is truth (John 17:17) and that Yeshua, the Word of Elohim, was full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and that the Torah-instructions of YHVH is truth (Ps 119:142). The word emet is spelled using the first, last and middle letters of the Hebrew alphabet signifying the completeness or fullness of the Torah-truth of Elohim. This is another confirmatio from the Scriptures that Yeshua the Messiah is the Word of Eloim (John 1:1) that came to the earth as a human (John 1:14) and that as the both the Written and Living Word of Elohim he is the beginning and end, the fullness of all divine Truth as revealed to humans, and nothing more is needed! Amein.
What we see in the actual Hebrew letters themselves, and especially in the aleph and the tav in Genesis one is the spiritual thumbprint, if you will, of Yeshua the Messiah prior to his incarnation! Do you see this? Does this not strengthen you in your most precious and set-apart faith in Messiah Yeshua?
Genesis 1:1, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The process of creation lasted for a literal six days as is also stated in Exodus 20:11.
Heavens. The Bible reveals that there are at least three heavens: the heaven of earth’s atmosphere, the heaven of the sun, moon, planets and stars, and the heaven of YHVH Elohim’s abode.
Genesis 1:1–3, Elohim…Spirit…Light. In verse one we read that in the beginning was Elohim, the uniplural Godhead. In verse two the Spirit of Elohim (Set-Apart Spirit; Heb. Ruach haKodesh) is revealed, which according to biblical evidence the feminine side or “wife” part of the Godhead, for Elohim is both male and female (Gen 1:26; 5:2).
In verse three Elohim’s first creative acts was to create light. This Light was the Word of Elohim or the preincarnte Yeshua who was the Light of the World (John 1:7–8; 8:12), and whose face shines like the sun (Rev 1:16), is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), was the Spiritual Light that shone before the creation of the physical luminaries on the fourth day, and is the same Light that will again shine in the New Jerusalem at the end of days and the beginning of the olam habah or eternity (Rev 21:23).
It appears that in the Genesis chapter one creation account, Elohim the Father and Mother, so to speak, broke a piece of themselves off and “created” the Son (John 1:18; 3:16, 18; Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5; 1 John 4:9), who was the Word of Elohim, and Elohim’s spokesman to humans (John 1:1), and who eventually became Yeshua the Messiah (John 1:1, 14, 18). The Word of Elohim was wisdom to the world from the very beginning before there was an earth (Prov 8:1, 22). It was at this time that the Word was brought forth from Elohim (Prov 8:24; John 1:1; Rev 3:14). The Word of Elohim is the source of life (Prov 8:35), the way to favor with YHVH (Prov 8:35), and is not to be sinned against (Prov 8:36). Those who hate him will die (Prov 8:36). This perfectly describes the role of Yeshua the Messiah.
It was before the creation of everything physical that the Son was begotten of Elohim (John 3:16; 1:1; Rev 3:14). The Son wasn’t created in the same sense as man in that the latter had a beginning. On the contrary, Yeshua existed eternally in the bosom of Elohim or the Godhead (John 1:18). The Son was before all things and Elohim used him in as the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person (Heb 1:4) to create everything (John 1:3; Col 1:16–18; Heb 1:3, 10; 11:3). This is what John refers to in Revelation 3:14 when he says that Yeshua is the beginning, head or ruler of Elohim’s creation (see notes at Rev 3:14). As a separate Spiritual Entity from the Father and the Ruach-Mother, the glorified Yeshua presently sits at the right hand of Elohim (the Father and Ruach-Mother) in heaven (Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Acts 7:56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; 1 Pet 3:22; Rev 3:21).
However, at the end of the Book of Revelation in the eternity or olam habah of the New Jerusalem in the new heavens and earth, we see only one throne (see notes at Rev 3:21), for the Son, if you will, seems to have been reabsorbed back into the Elohim of the Godhead from whence he came originally, yet he is still visible therein as the Lamb of Elohim (Rev 21:3–5, 23; 22:1, 3–5).
A Hebraic Perspective on the “Godhead” or the So-Called “Trinity”
Many Christians returning to a more Hebraic, whole-Bible understanding of Christianity are often challenged to explain the Godhead in terms of the mainstream, traditional Christian trinitarian viewpoint.
What is this author’s view on the Christian doctrine of the trinity? Actually, I have very little to say on the subject, except that I fear that any explanation a man (including myself) could proffer on the subject of the “Godhead” would be just that: man’s attempt at an explanation of it. How can the mind of man with its limited intellect and language that is only capable of describing earthly and physical things comprehend much less explain the unexplainable — namely the “Godhead”? Think about it for a moment. If he could, then he would be an a par intellectually with Elohim (Hebrew for God). For man, this is an impossible feat.
Moreover, for a man, or a men, regardless of the height of their intellectual capacities to quantify the “Godhead” in human terms would be a violation of the second commandment — idolatry or making a god in our own image. Man is incapable of comprehending much less explaining that which is uninvestigatable, incomprehensible and unexplainable.
Having made these disclaimers, let me share with you what I tell people when they ask what my view of the trinity is. I simply tell them what the Bible says. Elohim is a plural noun, yet we know that Elohim is one. The Hebrew word that explains this oneness is echad (see Deut 6:4) meaning “a compound unity.”
What’s more, in the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament) we learn that Elohim is comprised of the Father, the Son (Yeshua the Messiah) and the Set-Apart Spirit.
I will go one step further. The Scriptures reveal that Elohim is both male and female (Gen 1:27 and 5:2). When Elohim created male and female it was a reflection of the “Godhead.”
As already noted, Elohim is plural and is the Hebrew word that comes the closest to our term “Godhead.” But there are two other Hebrew words that are roots of this uni-plural noun. They are El and Eloah. Both are found in the Scriptures. Now this is where it gets fun, and might challenge some people’s traditional concept of the trinity being all male entities. What I’m about to say I’m not making up. It’s in your Scriptures. I’m just reporting what’s there and what most people have been blind to all along. The Hebrew lexicons tell us that El is a masculine singular noun. No problems here. They also tell us that Elohim is a masculine plural noun. No problems here either. However, when it comes to Eloah, they leave out the gender. In Hebrew, the ah ending or suffix on a noun almost always makes it feminine. Hmm. This is interesting. Why did the lexicologists leave out this interesting tidbit of information?
As mentioned above, the Testimony of Yeshua reveals to us that the “Godhead” is comprised of the Father, the Son and the Set-Apart Spirit. Well, it’s a no brainer that the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, but what part of Elohim is the feminine side? Process of elimination. That leaves the Set-Apart Spirit or in Hebrew Ruach haKodesh. Guess what? Ruach in Hebrew is a feminine noun.
I don’t like labels like “the trinity.” Labels put the limitless Elohim in a box—the box of man’s limited understand where he creates false concepts of who he thinks Elohim is or is not. We have to be careful when we start venturing into this territory. I fear Elohim too much to diminish him by my pea sized brain capacities. I also could really care less how many people believe a wrong or unbiblical concept—labels and all. It is still an unbiblical concept!
I can hear some women out there in the audience clapping!
Genesis 1:1–2, In the beginning…without form and void. Was the earth created at this time or did it pre-exist the seven days of creation? See notes at Hebrews 11:3.
The idea that there is a gap of time between verses one and two in which the world was previously created and then fell into a state of being formless and void (Heb. tohu v’bohu) is called the Gap Theory. For more on this, see notes at Exod 20:11; Isa 45:18 and Heb 11:3. What is my view on the young earth versus the old earth idea? I do not know, for I was not there at the time.
Genesis 1:1–18, Light. What follows is a discussion on the nature of physical and spiritual light as revealed in the first chapter of Genesis.
Genesis 1:5, The evening and morning were the first day.
When Does a Biblical Day Start?
The Hebrew Yom (Day) Defined
To help us to understand when the biblical day begins, let’s first define the Hebrew word for day which is yom. This will give us a clearer, contextual understanding of how the biblical writers use this word and what its many meanings are and how, and if, it relates to the 24-hour period we normally think of as a day.
According to the The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (or The TWOT), the primary meaning of yom is “day, time, year.” Yom can represent a point of time and a sphere of time. It can represent (a) a period of light in contrast to a period of darkness, (c) a period of 24 hours, (c) a general vague time (e.g. time in general, a long time, a season of time, “the day of the Lord,” or years of time), (d) a point of time, (e) a year or years. Reflecting these various meanings, we find yom translated in Scripture (the KJV) using the following English expression:
- today
- when
- in the time of
- as long as
- day
- continually
The TWOT goes on to note that other Hebrew words sometimes translated in Scripture as day include the Hebrew word ohr meaning “light” as well as boqer (or boker) meaning “morning.” Conversely, antonyms of yom include layila meaning “night,” and erev meaning “evening.” The TWOT also notes that the Bible reveals that the day can start in the evening (Est 4:16; Dan 8:14) as well as in the morning (Deut 28:66). This fact adds confusion to the question as to when a biblical day actually begins. We will discuss this below. So, what does this all have to do with the biblical definition of a day? It is important to know this, for how else are we to know when to observe the biblical Sabbath and feast days?
Does a Biblical Day Begin at Sunset or Sunrise?
The Creation Model
At the creation, Elohim defined a day as beginning in the evening (Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). Each of the six days of creation follow this model. Although the phrase “And the evening and the morning were the [first, second, etc.] day” is not found in reference to the seventh day Sabbath (Gen 2:1ff), the parallel linguistic construction of the first six days beginning at evening strongly suggests or hints (a remez) that the same pattern for delineating the beginning point of the seventh day would continue over into the Sabbath. Some argue that daylight or morning begins the day since light was the first thing that Elohim created. While spiritual light (not physical light [i.e. the sun, moon and stars] were created on day four) is what was created on the first day, this in no way nullifies how Scripture defines a physical day in the same creation account. All attempts to say that because spiritual light was created first as proof that the day begins in the morning overlook the plain (or pashat) meaning of the text, which says that “the evening and the morning were the [first, second, etc.] day.” We will discuss this point further below.
The Model of the Biblical Feasts
The fact that evening begins the day in Scripture—a pattern that is clearly laid out in the Genesis chapter one account—is transmitted into the starting times of several of the biblical feasts as well.
Exodus 12:6—Passover
In this verse we find the command to keep the Passover. We read,
On the fourteenth day of the first month in the evening [Heb. beyn ha-er’va’im literally meaning “between the evening] is YHVH’s Passover. (KJV)
We see this same grammatical construction elsewhere (Lev 23:5 and Num 9:3, 5,1. ) plainly showing that the day of Passover is to be kept “between/beyn the evenings/ha-er’va’im,” that is, between the setting of the sun of one day and the setting of the sun of the next day. This correlates with the Genesis one account that shows that the Bible reckons a day beginning at sunset and continuing until the sunset of the next day.
It must here be noted that confusion often occurs if the reader doesn’t understand that Scripture uses the word Passover to mean two different things. First, the word Passover can refer to the actually day of Passover, that is, the fourteenth day of the first month of the biblical year (Lev 23:5). But the word Passover can also refer the actual lamb that was slaughtered on Passover day (Exod 12:21). While it was slaughtered and roasted on the day of Passover (Exod 12:5–6), the Passover lamb was eaten after Passover day had passed and the next day (the fifteenth day of the first month) had begun the following evening after the daylight portion of the fourteenth day had ended (Exod 12:8). The point of this brief discussion is that just because the Israelites ate the Passover lamb in the evening, this was not the evening of Passover day, which occurred 24 hours earlier when that day begin. By the time they were eating the Passover lamb, Passover day had already ended and they were now eating the lamb at the beginning of the next day (the fifteenth day of the first month), which was the first high holy day (a Sabbath) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Leviticus 23:32—The Day of Atonement
Another clear biblical passage that shows that the day begins in the evening is found in Leviticus 23:32.
It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from evening unto evening, shall you celebrate your Sabbath.
Although this scripture is a reference to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the same word for Sabbath is used here as is used in elsewhere in the biblical references to the weekly Sabbath. From this we learn that Scripture defines Sabbath as being from evening to evening, not morning to morning. Therefore, holy day Sabbaths and weekly Sabbaths are both kept during the same time period, that is, from sunset to sunset, not sunrise to sunrise.
Deuteronomy 16:4—The Feast of Unleavened Bread
In this passage we find another clear reference that the Bible reckons a day as starting in the evening and not for one day, but for the entire seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even [in the evening], remain all night until the morning.
Nehemiah on When the Sabbath Begins
In the book of Nehemiah, we find one of the clearest Bible scriptures that tells not only when the day begins, but also when Sabbath begins.
So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. (Neh 13:19–22)
This passage clearly shows that as soon as the evening shadows began to fall, Nehemiah had the city gates shut, so that no one could enter into the city to buy or sell, which is a violation of the Sabbath law. They shut the gates at this time, since they knew that the Sabbath was coming. If the Sabbath began in the morning, why would they shut the gates twelve hours early?
Some folks who promote a sunrise to sunrise day will counter by saying, “They closed the gates the night before because who wants to get up at sunrise and shut the gates?” or “They closed the gates the night before because there were hedge laws enacted by that time such that the gates were closed well before the Sabbath to ensure that no one would violated the Sabbath law.” But where in Scripture does it say that they were shutting the gates for these reasons? It doesn’t. To assume this is adding to Scripture something that isn’t there, and adding to the Word of Elohim is a serious sin (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Rev 22:18–19).
The Work Day Began in the Morning and Went Until the Evening
Although the Bible gives us many examples of the work day beginning in the morning, this doesn’t mean that the 24 hour period, which the Bible calls a day (Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), begins in the daylight portion of that 24 hour period.
For example, Moses’ work of judging Israel began in the morning (Heb. boqer, Lev 18:13, 14), but this doesn’t prove that the 24 hour period that Scripture the Genesis one creation account calls “a day” began at this time.
Similarly, YHVH provided manna for the children of Israel in the morning and instructed them to collect it then (Exod 16:4–5, 7, 16, 21, 26). The sixth day was a work day, a day of preparation for the Israelites for the Sabbath (v. 5). The Israelites stored the manna until the Sabbath morning and ate it then. But the Bible doesn’t say that the Sabbath began in the morning (Exod 16:24–25).
Moreover, even though the Israelites began gathering manna in the morning and finished by gathering quail in the evening (Exod 16:8, 12), this doesn’t prove that the day began in the morning. It only proves that they started their work in the morning and finished it in the evening. That’s all, and nothing more, so let’s leave it there and not attempt to cherry pick a verse out of context and then to make a doctrine out of something that isn’t there. This is called cramming it to fit and painting it to match. As the saying goes, “That boat don’t float!”
Another example of morning activities include Moses’ work of building a stone altar beginning early in the morning (Exod 34:4), as well travelling, warfare and other work activities that all began in the morning (Num 14:40; 22:13, 21; Josh 3:1). However, these activities don’t prove that this is when the 24-hour day began. To say it does is equivalent to saying that because most people in our day go to work in the morning this begins the day, even though the day really starts at midnight.
