Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DAY

“Day” (Heb. yôm; Gk. hēméra) may designate a definite time period. When “day” is accompanied by a definite number (e.g., Gen. 1:5, 8; 7:11; Exod. 16:1; Lev. 23:34) it points only to a 24-hour period. This time extends from sunset to sunset, comprising “evening, morning, and noon” (Ps. 55:17[MT 18]). While Neh. 9:3 denotes “fourths” of a day, the OT makes no other such divisions. It speaks of the “cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8; cf. Cant. 2:17), “heat of the day” (Gen. 18:1; 1 Sam. 11:11), “high day” (Gen. 29:7), “midday” (Neh. 8:3), “broad daylight” (Amos 8:9), and “full day” (Prov. 4:18). However, the NT seems to reflect two 12-hour periods (John 11:9), with specific designations such as “first day” (Luke 24:1), divided into segments like the “sixth” and “seventh” hours (Matt. 20:1-12; cf. John 4:6, 52). Portions of a day were counted as wholes, so “three days” refer to Christ’s burial, though they were not three full 24-hour periods.

The sabbath, the seventh day, is the only day specifically named (Exod. 20:8-11). The other six days are designated for work, but the sabbath is reserved for rest and worship. The divine example of six days of work, followed by a day of rest (Gen. 1–2), becomes the pattern for human activity and for explaining the sabbath.

“Day” may also represent an indefinite period of time. References to “the days of Abraham” (Gen. 26:18) or “the days of Solomon” (1 Kgs. 10:21) point to a person’s lifetime (Heb. 5:7) or reign (2 Chr. 34:33; Amos 1:1).

Symbolically, salvation and righteousness are described as the day, full of light, so that a traveler may walk without stumbling (John 11:9; Rom. 13:11-13). 2 Cor. 6:2, reflecting Isa. 49:8, denotes the “acceptable time” as the “day of salvation.” The Exodus is to be commemorated as such a “day of salvation,” because at that time God effected the deliverance of his people from servile bondage (Exod. 12:17; Deut. 16:13). This was a constant reminder of God’s willingness to save (e.g., “in the day that I brought them out of Egypt . . .”; 1 Sam. 8:8; Isa. 11:16). According to Deut. 5:12-15 God’s deliverance of Israel provides a soteriological reason for observance of the sabbath.

Christians are called “children of the day” (1 Thess. 5:5, 8). The surety of the prophetic word is likened to the rising sun and a new day (2 Pet. 1:19). In John 9:4 the day for work symbolizes the period of service for salvation. Rev. 21:25 depicts eternal life with God as perpetual day.

Stock expressions like “in the latter days,” “the last days” (Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 1:2), “the days are coming” (Amos 4:2; 8:11; Jer. 23:5, 7; 31:27, 31), “in those days” (Jer. 33:15; Zech. 8:6) seem to have an eschatological reference. These “days” point to both judgment and salvation.

Kenneth D. Mulzac

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DAY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)