Send
Close Add comments:
(status displays here)
Got it! This site "creationpie.com" uses cookies. You consent to this by clicking on "Got it!" or by continuing to use this website. Note: This appears on each machine/browser from which this site is accessed.
Genesis 1: Evening and morning
1. Genesis 1: Evening and morning
2. Semitic clock
The Hebrews considered the day to start at sundown of a day and continue to the next sundown. This has roots in Genesis in the creation story.
Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. [kjv]
3. Hebrew
The Hebrew words for evening and morning are sometimes associated with a decrease of entropy (a measure of disorder) of the universe.
God created the universe and everything in it as a starting point.
God improved the universe each day of the creation.
4. Declarative models
In computer science, a "
declarative" model is where you indicate what you want done without explicitly programming it, such as in a word processor, spreadsheet, etc.
In Genesis, God provides a "
declarative" model of creation.
5. Second law of thermodynamics
The Second Law of Thermodynamics (heat and energy) makes a connection between increase in entropy (disorder) and the progression of what we experience as time.
6. Chaos and creation
As detailed in Genesis 1, God did not create the universe from chaos. Greek mythology says that the universe was created from chaos (dust and gaps) without saying where from where that material came.
Some people confuse one (imprecise) meaning of chaos as "
disorder" with the different concept of "
entropy" (as a precise measure of disorder) and may then substitute Greek mythology for the creation by God in Genesis 1.
7. Morning
8. Diagram
9. Vespers in the west at evening
Luke 24:29 … Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. … [kjv]
και παρεβιασαντο αυτον λεγοντες μεινον μεθ ημων οτι προς εσπεραν εστιν και κεκλικεν ηδη η ημερα και εισηλθεν του μειναι συν αυτοις [gnt]
The garden of Hesperides, visited by Hercules as one of his feats, was in the extreme west (setting sun) from Greece and is the source of the Greek word for "
evening" which comes, through Latin, as "
vespers". The ancient Greek word for "
Spain" was "
Hesperia".
The ancient Greek word
"ἕσπερος" ≈ "evening" which has a connotation of "
west" as in the setting sun. The related English word
"west" is related to the Latin word
"vesper" ≈ "evening" and the Russian word
"вечер" (ve-sher) ≈ "evening".
Since Adam and Eve were expelled towards the east, and Hesperides is to the west, some associate the Garden of Eden with the legend of the Gander of Hesperides.
10. The Hebrew day
This is a
"day" as in:
The six days of creation (a declarative model)
The seventh day of rest.
The Day of the Lord
The Day of Atonement
11. Creation organizations
Some creation organizations, such as
AIG (Answers In Genesis), take the literal meaning of the Hebrew word for
"day" and force-fit it, assuming the Bible is a formal logical system, to emphatically conclude that the universe was created in six
literal days. This is strange since the Bible is not a formal logical system and the meaning of a day since human history began may not have any sensible meaning before that time.
Why does it even matter? It appears that
AIG makes the logical error that in a formal logical system, if something is false, then the entire system is false. The Bible is not a formal logical system. From the Greek and Hebrew words for "
truth", it is a
reality system (with fault tolerant error correcting codes). In a formal logical system, showing that an implication is not true does not make the system true. It only adjusts for that particular implication.
 |
Details are left as a future topic.
|
12. The Hebrew day
*H3117 יוֹם (yome) : from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb):--age, + always, + chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever(-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year(-ly), + younger.
13. Other cultures
The Greeks and Romans considered a day to start at midnight and continue until the next midnight.
Germanic cultures used the Hebrew tradition. Though we use the Greek and Roman tradition for the beginning and end of a "
day", we still use that Germanic and Hebrew tradition for some holidays.
The modern Greek word
"ημέρα" (ee-MEH-ra) ≈ "day" is the word for day.
14. Germanic connection
This connection of Germanic cultures to the Hebrew tradition goes deeper than just when a day starts. There is a field of study of these connections.
One example. All the
PIE (Proto Indo-European) language groups such as Latin (Italian, French, Spanish, etc.), Greek, Slavic (Russian, Polish, etc.), Indian (Sanskrit, Hindi, etc.) change the inflection of verbs, adjectives, etc., by changing the ending.
Germanic languages (German, English, etc.), however, often change the verb tense by changing the vowel pronunciation such as sing, sang, sung, ring, rang, rung, etc. This is similar to what is done in Semitic languages (Hebrew, Arabic, etc.).
 |
Details are left as a future topic.
|
15. Holidays
So Christmas starts the evening before, the "
evening of Christmas" or "
Christmas Eve".
What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
It's Christmas, Eve.
The New Year starts the evening before, the "
evening of the New Year" or "
New Year's Eve".
What did Adam say on the day before New Years?
It's New Years, Eve.
16. Midnight
The Greek and Roman time of day went from midnight to midnight. The Hebrew (and ancient Germanic) time of day went from evening until morning.
A Christmas hymn about midnight is "
It came upon a midnight clear".
 |
Details are left as a future topic.
|
17. End of page
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. [kjv]
… יום … ערב … בקריום … [he]
και εκαλεσεν ο θεος το φως ημεραν και το σκοτος εκαλεσεν νυκτα και εγενετο εσπερα και εγενετο πρωι ημερα μια [lxx]
When exactly does the day start? And when does it end? There have been two primary views during history.
