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Morning, in Biblical Hebrew, means not only the sun rising. That’s the concrete. Its abstract meaning reveals an important lesson for life.
We’re using the phrase in Genesis 1:5, “And the evening and the morning were the…” Similarly day and night. This repeats itself throughout Genesis 1. Evening, night, morning, and day are CONCRETE elements we SEE every day. They also have an ABSTRACT meaning. Could it be, the abstract instruction is of major importance to our comprehension? The answer is yes.
Go to UnlockBibleMeaning.com. Search for these words in Genesis 1 and make a little comparative chart with five columns.
- The Bible verse
- The KJV English word
- Strong’s numbers
- The concrete meaning. Note, the KJV translators (not Strong, not Sam Kneller) give us this.
- The abstract meaning. Note, the KJV translators (not Strong, not Sam Kneller) give us this.
Bible verse | KJV Word | Strong’s Numbers | Concrete | Abstract |
Gen. 1:5 | evening | H6153 | ||
H6150 | ||||
H6148 | ||||
Gen. 1:5 | morning | |||
Gen. 1:5 | day | |||
Gen. 1:5 | night |
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This is an ongoing exercise to which we shall return. You can figure this out. And I want you to do it, to master this study method. As you find a Strong number (H6153 for evening) it will lead you to a related word (H6150) and even a third related word (H6148). Follow the trail. I’ll explain why we follow the trail in Key 6. For now, when you compare the letters of those three Biblical Hebrew words, just notice they are identical. In other words, we’re talking about visiting a very closely related word to harvest a fuller understanding.
What are the abstract meanings of evening, morning, day, and night? Fill your chart with the numbers, and the KJV concrete and abstract translated words. Meditate on the abstract to unlock Bible meaning and verify your study with the solution below.
The sequence of these everyday events reveals important abstract but real spiritual lessons.
As the curtain rises on the seven days of Creation, we’re in the darkness of night. God creates the light of day. First, there’s darkness, followed by let there be light. The evening and morning sequence confirms this progression, which starts in darkness and ends in light.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening (H6153) and the morning were the first day.
Evening
We’re going to see the sequence of three Hebrew words, for evening, morning, and day, telling a story, the whole story. They merit deeper reflection, far beyond a rapid read of this short verse. The first word is erev for evening. I hope you’ve done the exercise and your five-column chart is complete with the concrete and abstract meanings.
עֶרֶב ʻereb eh’-reb; from H6150 (עָרַב); dusk:
KJV – + day, even(-ing, tide), night.
עָרַב ʻârab aw-rab’; a primitive root (rather identical with H6148 (עָרַב) through the idea of covering with a texture); to grow dusky at sundown:
KJV – be darkened, (toward) evening.
עָרַב ʻârab aw-rab’; a primitive root; to braid, i.e. intermix; technically, to traffic (as if by barter); also or give to be security (as a kind of exchange):
KJV – engage, (inter-) meddle (with), mingle (self), mortgage, occupy, give pledges, be(-come, put in) surety, undertake.
TIP: under Strong’s annotation for H6150 click on Next 5. They have the same Hebrew letters. Note the translations; also a mixture, (or mongrel race) (H6154). And Next 5 to reach (H6160), the (generally) sterile valley of the Jordan.
Who has meddled? darkened? Is sterile and a mongrel? These are all meanings of erev as Strong’s shows and it explains why evening is first in the sequence. Consult these links to learn the abstract concept behind evening and then the darkness of night? Here’s the reason for evening and night.
Morning
In contrast to and following evening and night is morning. It dawns with the soft glow of rays of light escalating the horizon, dark yielding to light; but it is a separate positive progression.
בֹּקֶר bôqer bo’-ker; from H1239 (בָּקַר); properly, dawn (as the break of day); generally, morning:
KJV – ([phrase]) day, early, morning, morrow.
בָּקַר bâqar baw-kar; a primitive root; properly, to plough, or (generally) break forth, i.e. (figuratively) to inspect, admire, care for, consider:
KJV – (make) inquire (-ry), (make) search, seek out
Boker translates morning, and from the alternative words above, also contains the concept of breaking of day, evening dissolving into the morning, the light and warmth emerging, intensifying, engulfing, finally replacing the black and cold. That’s the concrete meaning we know.
Click on Hebrew Concordance for H1239 and read Psalms 27:4 for the abstract meaning of morning, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire (H1239) in his temple.” Boker contains the realization that in the existing dark confusion, there’s an instigation to inquire, search out, and seek for some answers. Morning is the time for breaking new ground.
This is not Sam’s interpretation. Psalms 27:4 uses the Biblical Hebrew root in this abstract way; Sam is merely pointing this out. The Explanation is an inquiry into what God is telling us through the Bible; its design is to help you inquire and dig out deeper Bible meaning.
Day
This momentous Godly intervention in the total blackness of night ends or rather begins in Gen 1:5 with the first day. There’s still dark, but God confines it so light shines through, bearing the name day: H3117 (yom) from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours). As the light brightens our surroundings, we have a warm feeling, a pleasant atmosphere, as in, It’s a beautiful day. Evening and morning, in that sequence, represent a day. Evening and morning introduce night and daytime.
This Hebrew word for day has various meanings related to time, but let’s focus on one which is particularly relevant to this new phase of God’s plan. Click on Hebrew Concordance for H3117 and find Psalm 91:16 “With long life (H3117) will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
We ponder life or long days, another of those singular concepts that sum up everything God is accomplishing. There was nothing physically alive that first day, but the sequence of light, morning, and day symbolize wonderful long physical and spiritual life in the fullest sense of its magnificence and accomplishment. Life has nothing to do with mixed-up evening and twisted night.
Concrete evening and night signify abstract sterile, darkened minds leading to death.
Concrete morning and day signify abstract inquiry leading to long life, spiritual seeking leading to eternal life.
Day 1 is let there be light. That light is Jesus Christ (John 1), The concrete sequence of evening > night > morning > day reveals the spiritual sequence of confusion > darkness, during which we seek God > eternal life.
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