The Turning of the Day

“As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.”  Judges 19:26

This tragic story took place in Israel in a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The woman was of the tribe of Judah, concubine to a Levite dwelling among the tribe of Ephraim. Although she had been unfaithful, he had taken her back and they were traveling to Ephraim, staying overnight in a city of Benjamin. The “sons of Belial” among the Benjamites, however, had abused the woman throughout the night, leaving her dead “as the day began to dawn.”

The whole sordid story illustrates the depths of depravity to which even men among God’s chosen people can descend under cover of darkness. We are commanded, “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:11-12).   

In the midst of this dismal record, however, there is an interesting scientific insight which should be noted. The evil events of the night terminated at what the writer calls, “as the day began to dawn.” But the Hebrew word used for “dawn” (Hebrew: “panah”) is not the normal word for dawn. Instead it is the word for “fuming.” Thus it is not referring to the rising of the sun, but the rotation of the earth which, after a dark night of evil, once again turns its face to the “light of the world.”

Note also Job 38:14: “It [i.e. the earth’s surface] is changed like clay under the seal,” again suggesting the earth’s axial rotation each day/night cycle. There is coming a glorious dawning, however, when we shall dwell in the presence of the One Who is the true light of the world, and “for there will be no night there” (Rev. 21:25).