let us examine a few examples in the
bible to prove that a day does not begin in the evening.
a. The Passover
With regards to the Passover, the children off Israel were asked that, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. They were to keep the lamb until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight (of the fourteenth day). And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
They were not to eat it raw, nor boiled it at all with water, but roasted in fire --- its head with its legs and its entrails. They were not to allow any of it to remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning they were told; “You shall burn with fire. And thus, you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So, you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.” They were further instructed saying; “And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. (Exodus 12:6-11;22).
The children of Israel we are told, “went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So, Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (Exodus 12:29-30).
My question therefore is, if at twilight (sunset) when the lamb was killed it was still the fourteenth day, In the night when the lamb was roasted and eaten, was still the fourteenth day, at midnight when the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, it was still the night of the fourteenth; The Israelites stayed in their houses until morning, and any portion of the lamb that remained until morning they were not to eat it, but were to burn it with fire. If all this transpired on the fourteenth day of the first month, how then can a new day begin at sunset or at midnight?
B. Days of Unleavened Bread
Days of unleavened bread we are told is on the fifteenth day of the first month, and it is for seven days, but unleavened bread must be eaten beginning with the night of the Passover, which is on the fourteenth day of the first month. Now if a day as most people have falsely assumed begins in the evening, this would mean that the night of the Passover would commence the first day of unleavened bread, but this is what the word of God says; “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening” (Exodus 12:18).
If one has to eat unleavened bread from the evening of the fourteenth which is the Passover, until the evening of the 21st day of the month, surely the night of the fourteenth cannot be considered as the beginning of the days of unleavened bread which begins on the fifteenth day of the first month.
c. The manna
The Manna was a sign to test and prove to the children of Israel that the Lord is their God. For thus the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go and gather a certain Quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily” (Exodus 16:4-5).
The daily quota was from morning until morning, as they were instructed by Moses saying; “Let no one leave any of it till morning.”
d. Day
of Atonement
With regards to the Day of Atonement it is clearly stated that, the Lord
spoke to Moses saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the
Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict
your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no
work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for
you before the Lord your God.”
This Day the Lord said is “a statute forever throughout your generations
in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you
shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from
evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath” (Leviticus 23:27-28,
31-32).
Although they had to begin afflicting their souls from the night before
the Day of Atonement which is on the tenth day, no where it is stated that, the
night of the ninth is the beginning of the tenth day. The rationale for
beginning the fast on the night of the ninth is to ascertain that nothing is
eaten of the Day of Atonement which is on the tenth day of the seventh month
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