Genesis 1:5

Commentator Paul Kissling writes that, by naming the day and the night, God reveals his sovereign power over them,Kissling, Paul J., Genesis, Volume 1, College Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0899008755}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lotBnvqdmeQC&pg=PA101 p. 101.] seeing the light and darkness here as purely physical. In the Ancient Near East, "the act of giving a name meant, above all, the exercise of a sovereign right."von Rad, Gerhard, Genesis: A Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press, 1973, {{ISBN|0664227457}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IbuBa8Qy3AwC&pg=PA53 p. 53.] Galia Patt-Shamir points out that the "power of names and naming" is displayed here, but that later in the narrative this power of naming is also granted to Adam, the first human.Patt-Shamir, Galia , To Broaden the Way: A Confucian-Jewish Dialogue, Lexington Books, 2006, {{ISBN|0739111914}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3nwxY6Q3lnkC&pg=PA128 p. 128.]

According to John Calvin, God is here instituting "a regular vicissitude of days and nights."Calvin, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom01.vii.i.html Commentary on Genesis - Volume 1].

The Zohar, on the other hand, interprets the verse as describing an emanation which would be "the foundation root of universal life."Zohar, Bereshith to Lekh Lekha: Or, Book of Light, Forgotten Books, {{ISBN|1605067466}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=W0ncoAKkc5MC&pg=PA89 pp. 89–90.]

The verse ends with a reference to evening and morning, which bring the first day of Creation to a close. This raises the question of how evening and morning are possible in the absence of the yet-to-be-created Sun.

Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God, writes "our ordinary days have no evening but by the setting, and no morning but by the rising, of the sun; but the first three days of all were passed without sun, since it is reported to have been made on the fourth day."Augustine, City of God, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XI.7.html Book XI, Chapter 7]. He explains the dilemma by interpreting the evening and morning in a metaphorical sense.MacDonald, Nathan, Elliott, Mark W., and Macaskill, Grant , Genesis and Christian Theology, Eerdmans, 2012, {{ISBN|0802867251}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=miUE84zlgHYC&pg=PA124 p. 124.]

Franz Delitzsch sees the evening and morning as marking the end of a "day" which is aeons in length,Delitzsch, Franz, A New Commentary on Genesis , 1888, [https://archive.org/details/anewcommentgenes00deliuoft p. 84.] while others have seen it as marking a literal 24-hour day.Berkhof, Louis, Systematic Theology, Eerdmans, 1996, {{ISBN|0802838200}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jFqJaODKwIoC&pg=RA1-PA155&lpg=RA1-PA155 p. 155.] Theistic evolutionKissling, Paul J., Genesis, Volume 1, College Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0899008755}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lotBnvqdmeQC&pg=PA38 p. 38.] and day-age creationism follow the first interpretation,Allison, Gregg, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Zondervan, 2011, {{ISBN|0310230136}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oO2eY2BC6xIC&pg=PA273 p. 273.] while young Earth creationism follows the second.Merrill, Eugene H., Rooker, Mark, and Grisanti, Michael A., The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament, B&H Publishing Group, 2011, {{ISBN|0805440313}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SMJF-3jBfg4C&pg=PA181 p. 181.] Still others give a literary interpretation, in which the process of Creation is described in human terms, using the analogy of the working week.Hamilton, Victor P., The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17, 7th ed., Eerdmans, 1990, {{ISBN|0802825214}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WW31E9Zt5-wC&pg=PA55 pp. 55–56.]

In Jewish tradition, the fact that evening is listed first here has led to the idea that the day begins at sunset.Frojimovics, Kinga and Komoróczy, Géza, Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History, Central European University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|9639116378}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-wUg6rlWS2kC&pg=PA305 p. 305.]

• Apollo 8 Genesis reading from lunar orbit, December 24, 1968

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Genesis 1:5

Category:Hebrew Bible verses

Category:Light and religion