Question: It seems to me that the context of the word "day" in Genesis chapter 1 is meaning the entire 24 hour period and here is why. According to Strong's, the word "evening" in Genesis chapter 1 is defined as being dusk, evening, or night. According to the way you are defining this word, you take only the "evening" definition but ignore the "night" definition when you say that the evening is from
Answer: Of the three options, dusk, evening, or night, the only one that does not fit, is the one that you believe does fit. Just because this is the way one has always believed does not mean it true. Again the point here is that the choice of meaning for the word must be in harmony with all the criteria in the text.
Verse 4. To make a distinction, ‘Elohiym separated the light from the darkness. Addressing it by name -- ‘Elohiym called the light “day”, (which is the hot period from sunrise to sunset only 12 hours); then the darkness He addressed by name, calling it “night”, (which is the period from sunset to sunrise only 12 hours).
In this context, "night" is clearly the name for darkness and not "evening". No where does Scripture state that night equals evening.
Verse 4 would not make any sense if it said, “Elohiym called the light “day”, which is the period from sunset to sunset; then the darkness He addressed by name, calling it “night”, which is the period from sunset to sunrise. Do you see the problem? Elohiym has just made a distinction between light and darkness, yet now we have a distinction problem. If the “day” begins at sunset, then when does the night begin? Do you see the problem? Day and night never are to occupy the same space, just as light and darkness do not exist together. So what the Creator has separated, let no man put together.
Weighty evidence defines the “Scriptural day”, this hot period of light that the Creator named “day as a twelve hour period of time. Remember, the Jews rejected Yahushua as their savior. They rejected the New Testament which was about Yahushua. Therefore they do not accept the following quote of Yahushua as evidence for a day.
Yahushua answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. John 11:9-10
Genesis 1:4 first divides the light from the darkness calling the “light” day and the darkness “night”. What we have here is a simplistic math equation. “Daylight” is the “sum” of this addition equation. Genesis 1:5 goes on to state that “evening + morning = day “light”. The night is not included in this equation. No where is there any mention that the evening = the night in this phraseology, but rather “evening added to morning” are the two halves of the daylight. Morning represents the period of time from sunrise to
Consider the morning and evening sacrifices; they always took place during the “light” part of the day and never after dark, as a daily testimony to this truth. Also, Yahushua, the Lamb of Yahuwah, died on the cross at the moment of the evening sacrifice at the 9th hour which was a full three hours prior to sunset, again as a punctuated witness to this same truth. (For more details and illustrations, refer to video, “Three Months in a Row” Part 2.)
Bible translators were only human, who also had options as to which English word to choose to best represent the Hebrew word. They were not always correct in the word choice they made. The light of truth will become more apparent if Word Studies are done, which will reveal precious truth below the surface of all the errors in translation. In order to find living treasure, all must dig deep in the mines of truth.