I have a question

[pescador]

Yet He hadn't created the sun yet.

And..?

This verse is describing the Biblical day: evening to evening. "God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day." Genesis 1:5

 

[timothyu]

"God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

That would imply the six days were worked while He did nothing at night, hence perhaps accounting for the sunrise to sunset theory.

 

[dani'el]

I think I see the sources of at least some of the confusion.

The order of creation- there are two creation accounts as Genesis opens, and the order is not the same. This is because in ancient thought it was ok to change the order to stress different points, as long as you still had all the steps listed. So light being created before the sun may just be an ordering by the writer. Or it could be as the other posters have said. I think the ambiguity is intentional on God's part, as we are meat to contemplate all possibilities and learn what they teach.

A biblical day goes from evening to evening- twilight to twilight-sundown to sundown- however you want to say it, when it gets dark the new 24 hr day begins. However a day may also refer just to the daylight hours. This concept exists in English as well, so not sure why we have so much trouble with it. But we do.

The concept of Shabbat however is a bit different. There is the weekly Shabbat; but then there are 'holidays' which are also a Shabbat, or days on which we do no work other than what is necessary. Even the land gets a Shabbat rest for an entire year! So we must account for these meanings when we read.

 

[timothyu]

This is because in ancient thought it was ok to change the order to stress different points, as long as you still had all the steps listed.

Like they did with the order of the NT

 

[ralliann]

Like they did with the order of the NT

Then, there is also a "liturgical" day. The daily sacrifices (especially for the feast days) were morning to evening. Each day sacrifice for the morning and sacrifice for the evening were offered "daily".