(the possibility of failure, happily overcome). But he rightly calls attention to the bright view of the world implied in the series of approving verdicts, as opposed to the pessimistic estimate which became common in later Judaism.—And God divided, etc.] To us these words merely suggest alternation in time; but Heb. conceives of a spatial distinction of light and darkness, each in its own 'place' or abode (Jb. 3819f.). Even the separate days and nights of the year seem thought of as having independent and continuous existence (Jb. 36).
The Heb. mind had thus no difficulty in thinking of the existence of
light before the heavenly bodies. The sun and moon rule the day and
night, but light and darkness exist independently of them. It is a mistake,
however, to compare this with the scientific hypothesis of a
cosmical light diffused through the nebula from which the solar system
was evolved. It is not merely light and darkness, but day and night,
and even the alternation of evening and morning (v.5), that are represented
as existing before the creation of the sun.
5. And God called, etc.] The name—that by which the
thing is summoned into the field of thought—belongs to
the full existence of the thing itself. So in the first line of
the Babylonian account, "the heaven was not yet named"
means that it did not yet exist.—And it became evening, etc.] Simple as the words are, the sentence presents some
difficulty, which is not removed by the supposition that the
writer follows the Jewish custom of reckoning the day from
with attracted obj.: see G-K. § 117 h; Dav. § 146.—5. יום in popular
parlance denotes the period between dawn and dark, and is so used
in 5a. When it became necessary to deal with the 24-hours' day, it
was most natural to connect the night with the preceding period of
light, reckoning, i.e., from sunrise to sunrise; and this is the prevailing
usage of OT (יום ולילה). In post-exilic times we find traces of the
reckoning from sunset to sunset in the phrase לילה ויום (νυχθήμερον), Is. 273
3410, Est. 416. P regularly employs the form 'day and night'; and if
Lv. 2332 can be cited as a case of the later reckoning, Ex. 1218 is as
clearly in favour of the older (see Marti, EB, 1036; König, ZDMG, lx.
605 ff.). There is therefore no presumption in favour of the less natural
method in this passage.—קָ֫רֶא] Mil'el, to avoid concurrence of two accented
syll.—לַיְ֫לָה] (also Mil'el) a reduplicated form (לַיְלַי; cf. Aram. ליליא): see
Nöldeke, Mand. Gr. § 109; Prätorius, ZATW, iii. 218; Kön. ii. § 52 c.—יום אחר]
'a first day,' or perhaps better 'one day.' On אחר as ord. see
G-K. §§ 98 a, 134 p; Dav. § 38, R. 1; but cf. Wellh. Prol.6 387.
