Difference between revisions of "Night"

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== Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types <ref name="term_198105" /> ==
 
<p> &nbsp;Exodus 12:42 (c) The ungodly live in the dark. Paul came to turn men from darkness to light. This darkness in Egypt was just a type and a picture of those who live without the light of life, then are suddenly cut off and taken to the outer dark. When the plague of darkness fell upon Egypt, there was light in all the houses of the Israelites. Those who reject the light of life dwell here and hereafter in darkness. </p> <p> &nbsp;Leviticus 6:9 (c) This represents the night of need. The sinner is living in the dark and so the sacrifice is constantly being offered for him in order that he may be saved any time that he will came to the altar to find the Saviour. There is no time in the sinner's life when he may not come and find the [[Saviour]] ready to save him. </p> <p> &nbsp;Job 35:10 (c) This describes the terrible dark times which Job experienced when he lost all his possessions and only [[God]] remained. He sang in the midst of his poverty and boils. </p> <p> &nbsp;Psalm 16:7 (c) This type represents the dark times in David's life when the shadows fell across his path, and he was constantly in fear for his life. </p> <p> &nbsp;Psalm 30:5 (c) This probably represents the whole period of this life as contrasted with the time of the coming of the Lord which is the morning hour. It also represents the dark times of some specific sorrow. The Lord gives deliverance and joy follows. </p> <p> &nbsp;Psalm 42:8 (c) This represents a time of perplexity in which victory is given while the difficulty still remains. </p> <p> &nbsp;Isaiah 21:12 (b) The night which is mentioned no doubt refers to the long night of eternity which is called the "outer dark" in the New Testament. In hell none of the light of [[God]] may be seen. The sinner asks about the night. He hardly ever asks, "Is there a Heaven?" His inquiry is about hell. The answer in this verse reminds the inquirer of the fact that there is a morning coming, a morning without clouds. It is the time when our precious Lord rules and reigns, and all sin and wickedness has been put away. The saved man enters into the morning time of blessing, while the unsaved man enters into the night of sorrow and suffering. </p> <p> &nbsp;Jeremiah 14:8 (b) [[Israel]] is going through a time of darkness and despair while scattered over the earth. Some day this night will be past, and [[Christ,]] the Sun of Righteousness, will resume His place on the earth, but not as a lowly shepherd, but as the mighty King who will bring light and life to the nation of Israel. </p> <p> &nbsp;Hosea 7:6 (b) We may learn from this that those in Israel who should have been producing blessing and profit for the nation were not doing so. The leaders were failing in their task as helpers of GOD's people. </p> <p> &nbsp;John 13:30 (c) It is always night for those who turn their backs on [[Christ,]] go out of His presence to deny Him, and take their place among the enemies of [[God,]] and those who wickedly oppose [[Christ]] [[Jesus.]] (See also &nbsp;John 11:10). </p> <p> &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5 (a) This is one of the many ways in which the Lord assures us that those who are His children saved by grace, and brought into His marvelous light, do not belong to the kingdom of darkness, nor do they accept the theology of those who are in the dark. </p> <p> &nbsp;Revelation 21:25 (a) In [[Heaven]] where the Lord is the light, there are no times of darkness, no seasons of sorrow or perplexity, no hidden times when the sun goes down and sin comes up. Those who go to Heaven dwell in the light constantly, and there are never any shadows there. </p>
Night <ref name="term_56728" />
       
<p> <b> [[Night]] </b> </p> <p> <b> 1. Associations of the word ‘night.’ </b> —( <i> a </i> ) It was the season for all that demanded <i> secrecy </i> . Travellers on a dangerous errand went by night, as [[Joseph]] did, after he had received warning in a dream (&nbsp;Matthew 2:14). [[Nicodemus]] for fear of his colleagues came to Jesus by night at the [[Passover]] season; the interview may have been on the roof of some friendly house, or in one of the tents used by the pilgrims (&nbsp;John 3:2; &nbsp;John 19:39); night was also the time for theft, and drunkenness, and revelling (&nbsp;Luke 12:39, cf. &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:2; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:7, &nbsp;Romans 13:12), and was convenient for plots and stratagems (&nbsp;Mark 14:11). The chief priests bribed the guard to say that the disciples had taken away the body of Jesus <i> by night </i> (&nbsp;Matthew 28:13). </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) Night had its peculiar <i> dangers and annoyances </i> (cf. &nbsp;Psalms 91:5). Travellers might be delayed through stress of circumstances till after nightfall, and even till midnight (&nbsp;Luke 11:5), and such journeys were not without danger; ‘if any man walk in the night, he stumbleth’ (&nbsp;John 11:10, cf. &nbsp;Job 5:14). [[A]] modern traveller has spoken of ‘the villages by night, without a light, when you stumble on them in the darkness, and all the dogs begin barking’ [[(G.]] [[A.]] Smith, <i> [[Hghl]] </i> [Note: [[Ghl]] [[Historical]] Geog. of [[Holy]] Land.] , p. 99). Such annoyances would be encountered by the host in the parable, who, coming to beg bread, arrived at midnight after stumbling through the narrow streets of the village (&nbsp;Luke 11:5 etc.). </p> <p> ( <i> c </i> ) It was the season when <i> [[Divine]] guidance </i> might be looked for. Joseph and the [[Magi]] were warned in dreams (&nbsp;Matthew 2:12-13; &nbsp;Matthew 2:19). Pilate’s wife suffered many things in a dream because of Jesus (&nbsp;Matthew 27:19). To the [[Israelites]] the thought of night would always bring the memory of visions and revelations of God, given to their seers, beginning from the nights when Jacob saw the ladder, and wrestled with the angel. </p> <p> ( <i> d </i> ) It was the season of <i> rest </i> (&nbsp;John 11:9; &nbsp;John 9:4), but not for all men; shepherds guarded their flocks by night (&nbsp;Luke 2:8); though from November to March the sheep were probably in the fold. The fishermen toiled all night (&nbsp;Luke 5:5, &nbsp;John 21:3), when the Lake was often swept by sudden gales (&nbsp;Mark 4:37); the men who could not watch one hour in [[Gethsemane]] were accustomed to sleepless nights. In Palestine, as in all Eastern lands, the marriage ceremony was celebrated after nightfall; lamps and torches were always the accompaniment of weddings (cf. &nbsp;Revelation 18:23, where the light of the lamp and the voice of the bridegroom are mentioned together). In the parable of the Ten Virgins the guests assembled at nightfall, but they had to tarry till midnight before the bridegroom came, the hour being chosen for the purpose of the parable, because then they would most likely be off their guard (&nbsp;Matthew 25:6). </p> <p> ( <i> e </i> ) Night was the season of <i> surprises </i> . The day of the Lord was to come as a thief in the night (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:2). In the night the soul of the rich fool was required of him (&nbsp;Luke 12:20). At the coming of the Son of Man ‘in that night,’ it is said, ‘there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, the other shall be left’ (&nbsp;Luke 17:34). The disciples must guard against a surprise: ‘for ye know not when the Lord cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping’ (&nbsp;Mark 13:35). Especial stress is laid upon the mid-watches (&nbsp;Luke 12:38); it would be easy to keep the first watch, and almost impossible to sleep during the watch before the dawn. </p> <p> ( <i> f </i> ) The phrases ‘day and night,’ ‘days and nights,’ are used to give a <i> comprehensive </i> idea of time (&nbsp;Matthew 4:2); or to give an impression of a continuous practice [as when we read that Anna served God night and day (&nbsp;Luke 2:37)], or to indicate the monotonous passage of time: the sower ‘sleeps and rises night and day,’ and nothing happens day after day (&nbsp;Mark 4:27). </p> <p> <b> 2. [[Divisions]] of the night. </b> —It is important not to seek the scientific accuracy of modern usage in the [[Nt.]] Time was divided by natural phenomena. The night varied in length with the seasons of the year; and the length of the four watches into which the night was divided must also have varied (&nbsp;Matthew 14:25, &nbsp;Mark 6:48, &nbsp;Luke 12:38). In [[Nt]] times tour watches were recognized, in the [[Ot]] only three. The division into hours could not be made for the night-season. </p> <p> ‘The division of the day into hours sprang from the use of the sundial, and its peculiar character, the varying length of, the hour, was conditioned by its origin; hours of the night could be measured only by water-glass or some similar means, which would give divisions of equal length during all seasons of the year, and not varying hours like those of the day’ (Ramsay, <i> Expos </i> , iv. vii. [1893] p. 219). </p> <p> The watches of the night are indicated in &nbsp;Mark 13:35 : evening (ὀψία)—midnight—cock-crowing—full morning. It was at eventide, for example, that Jesus sat down with His disciples; before ‘cock-crowing’ Peter denied Him; and in the ‘morning’ Jesus was carried away to Pilate. </p> <p> <b> 3. In the life of Jesus. </b> —Before Jesus called His disciples, He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer (διανυκτερεύων, &nbsp;Luke 6:12). After the ‘feeding of the five thousand’ also He departed into a mountain to pray (&nbsp;Mark 6:46 || &nbsp;Matthew 14:23), and not till the fourth watch did He come to the disciples, spent with their ‘bootless toil.’ From these and other references it is clear that Jesus often made the night His season of prayer. He whose mind was saturated with the [[Ot]] may have recalled how the prophets had withdrawn to the mountains. </p> <p> ‘So, separate from the world, his breast </p> <p> [[Might]] duly take and strongly keep </p> <p> The print of Heaven.’—(Keble, <i> Chr. Year </i> , 13th Sund. after Trin.). </p> <p> In the neighbourhood of the Lake, night was the only time of solitude. </p> <p> ‘Save in the recorded hours of our Lord’s praying, the history of [[Galilee]] has no intervals of silence and loneliness; the noise of a close and busy life is always audible; and to every crisis in the [[Gospels]] and in [[Josephus]] we see crowds Immediately swarm’ [[(G.]] [[A.]] Smith, <i> [[Hghl]] </i> [Note: [[Ghl]] Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] p. 421). </p> <p> It may be urged that Jesus teaches by His example the value of prayer in the silence of night. There are many references to such prayer in the Psalms (cf. &nbsp;Psalms 119:62); and it is not without significance that the time is midnight in the parable in which Jesus teaches the lesson of ‘shameless’ prayer (ἀναιδία, &nbsp;Luke 11:8). ‘The thing could never have taken place in the daytime. It is a story of midnight importunity’ (Whyte). </p> <p> There is no reason to doubt the preference of Jesus for an abode where He would be sure of mountain solitude; we have no record that He entered Tiberias, which was a walled city ( <i> [[Hghl]] </i> [Note: [[Ghl]] Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] p. 449). ‘He entered [[Jericho]] only to pass through it.’ ‘This freedom Jesus had from childhood’ in Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethany, and other resting-places. When men did not need Him, He must be free to leave them. It is substantially true that ‘Jesus never slept in a walled city’ (see <i> Expos. </i> iii. iii. [1886] p. 146). The scenes of rescue on the Lake were in the night-time; then it was He walked upon the sea and stilled the waves (&nbsp;Mark 6:49; cf. &nbsp;Mark 4:39). </p> <p> The closing incidents of the life of Jesus cannot be pictured except against the background of night. It was dark when they sang a hymn, and went to the Mount of [[Olives]] (&nbsp;Matthew 26:30). The approach of the soldiers was marked by their lanterns (&nbsp;John 18:3). Peter warmed himself in the chilly air before a fire of coals (&nbsp;John 18:18). It was possible in the dark to follow undetected afar off (&nbsp;Matthew 26:58). The panic of the disciples owed something to the night. It was at cock-crowing that Peter remembered his Master’s warning, and wept bitterly. The air of night is over all these scenes. It was ‘the night in which Jesus was betrayed’ (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 11:23). </p> <p> After the Resurrection, night was falling when Jesus revealed Himself to the two at [[Emmaus]] in the breaking of the bread (&nbsp;Luke 24:31). They, on returning to Jerusalem, found the disciples gathered together, and Jesus appeared amongst them. When, for fear of the Jews, the disciples met at eventide, Jesus came to them (&nbsp;John 20:19); and it was when the day was breaking that He welcomed His weary disciples to the shore (21:4). </p> <p> It is impossible to discover with accuracy the character of these [[Syrian]] nights, so wide is the variation in the climate between place and place, season and season; it is not clear whether, for example, it is literally true to say, ‘For thee [[I]] trembled in the nightly frost.’ Even when we know the impression made upon the Western traveller, we cannot tell how Jesus and His disciples, hardened by the bracing uplands of Galilee, endured the cold and the mists of night. It is clear that the nights are often as cold as the days are hot (cf. &nbsp;Genesis 31:40, &nbsp;Jeremiah 36:30; see Geikie, <i> The Holy Land and the Bible </i> , i. 73). At certain seasons in late summer Jesus would be exposed in His nightly vigils to the dense chilly clouds of mist of which the Song of Songs (&nbsp;Song of [[Solomon]] 5:2) speaks: ‘For my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.’ For modern descriptions of nights spent in the sacred scenes, reference may be made to Warburton’s <i> [[Crescent]] and the Cross </i> , and Kinglake’s <i> Eothen </i> . But in order to discover the colours, the lights and the half-lights of the Syrian night, those modern painters are the best guides who, like Holman [[Hunt]] and [[William]] Hole, have studied the Holy Land in the lights and shadows, which are the same as when Jesus watched through the hours of night. </p> <p> <b> 4. Metaphorical applications of ‘night.’ </b> —The contrast between night and day, darkness and light, belongs to the stock of ideas common to all religions, to the most ancient vocabulary of thought. It is freely used in the [[Ot]] and [[Nt.]] </p> <p> ( <i> a </i> ) In the opening of the <i> Synoptic Gospels </i> , quotations are used to depict as darkness the state of the world before the dawn of Christ (&nbsp;Matthew 4:16, &nbsp;Luke 1:79, cf. &nbsp;2 Corinthians 4:6). It is upon such darkness that the gospel shines; and at the consummation of the [[Kingdom]] it is the outer darkness that awaits the evil-doers (&nbsp;Matthew 8:12; &nbsp;Matthew 25:30). Between the two areas of darkness there is the kingdom of light brought in by Jesus, whose disciples were to be the light of the world (&nbsp;Matthew 5:14). When Jesus was arrested, He said that the darkness had prevailed (&nbsp;Luke 22:53), for the high priests were the emissaries of darkness. The night was therefore an emblem of all that was set against the Kingdom of God, of the ignorance and corruption of the world which crucified Christ. </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) <i> The Fourth [[Gospel]] </i> has a certain framework of contrasts, amongst which is the opposition between the light of Christ and the darkness (&nbsp;John 1:5; &nbsp;John 8:12; &nbsp;John 11:10; &nbsp;John 12:35-36; &nbsp;1 John 2:8-11). While Christ is revealed as the source of light, His enemies are unmasked as the story proceeds. Though ‘darkness’ is used in this connexion, it is impossible to escape from the thought of this conflict when we read of ‘night’ in this Gospel. It is used to denote the close of the divinely appointed day of service (&nbsp;John 9:4). The healing of the man born blind was part of the manifestation of God, for which there was a set time. This day being past, neither Jesus nor His disciples could work. ‘In the application to Jesus the night is His death, and His retreat into the invisible world’ (Loisy). When Jesus persisted, in spite of the warnings of His disciples, in returning to Judaea, He said that the hours of the day were given for work; so long as it was the appointed time, He would be safe. The one danger was lest the day should be prolonged ‘beyond God’s appointment.’ So prolonged, the day would be as night, in which the traveller stumbles. With both these passages &nbsp;Luke 22:53 should be compared. Night stands also for the close of the day of grace in the life of [[Judas]] (&nbsp;John 13:30). Judas went out, ‘and it was night.’ The darkness is his place. [[Across]] the darkness ‘less deep than his own soul’ he moves from the light of Christ. Night stands for the new environment which he has chosen, ‘loving darkness because his deeds were evil.’ </p> <p> ( <i> c </i> ) <i> In the [[Apostolic]] writings </i> the night stands for the waning order, which will be ended by the coming of Christ. The day was at hand; the disciples must put off the garments of night, and put on the armour of light (&nbsp;Romans 13:12 etc.). The difference in the metaphorical use of the night may be seen by a comparison of the word of Jesus, ‘the night cometh,’ with St. Paul’s ‘the night is far spent.’ For those who are of the fellowship of Christ the darkness is already past (&nbsp;Ephesians 5:8, &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:4, &nbsp;1 Peter 2:9); ‘Some daylight it is, and is every moment growing.’ The darkness and the light are alternatives, and contemporary. </p> <p> ‘But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, </p> <p> Benighted walks under the midday sun.’ </p> <p> Night has other associations for the modern mind. It is still the emblem of peril and evil, but it speaks also of quietness and peace; this value it has had for poets from Milton to Whitman. </p> <p> ‘Dear night! This world’s defeat; </p> <p> The stop to busie fools; care’s check and curb; </p> <p> The day of spirits; my soul’s calm retreat, </p> <p> Which none disturb!’—(Vaughan). </p> <p> It is important that the reader should not carry such associations into the study of the [[Nt.]] There, night has always a sinister suggestion. It speaks of all that is hostile to God, who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all. The word has changed its value in the commerce of ideas. It is with the night as with the sea. In the [[Ot]] and [[Nt]] both are emblems of fear and evil: in the City there will be no night (&nbsp;Revelation 21:25), and the sea is no more (&nbsp;Revelation 21:1). But in the modern mind they awaken other thoughts of attraction and kindliness. The writers and teachers of the [[Nt]] use the coinage of their age; and though we may conjecture that Jesus had other memories of night than those of fear, yet He did not depart from the customary usage, in which the men of His time took night as significant of terror and evil. </p> <p> Literature.—W. [[R.]] Nicoll, <i> Ten Minute Sermons </i> , 103; [[W.]] [[C.]] [[E.]] Newbolt, <i> Counsels of Faith and [[Practice]] </i> , 62; [[J.]] Parker, <i> Studies in Texts </i> , vi. 89; [[W.]] [[J.]] Dawson, <i> The Evangelistic Note </i> , 133; [[W.]] [[T.]] [[P.]] Wolston, <i> Night Scenes of [[Scripture]] </i> . </p> <p> [[Edward]] Shillito. </p>
== Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words <ref name="term_78536" /> ==
 
<div> '''1: νύξ ''' (Strong'S #3571 — Noun [[Feminine]] — nux — noox ) </div> <p> is used [[(I)]] literally, (a) of "the alternating natural period to that of the day," e.g., &nbsp;Matthew 4:2; &nbsp;12:40; &nbsp;2 Timothy 1:3; &nbsp;Revelation 4:8; (b) of "the period of the absence of light," the time in which something takes place, e.g., &nbsp;Matthew 2:14 (27:64, in some mss.); &nbsp; Luke 2:8; &nbsp;John 3:2 (7:50, in some mss.); &nbsp; Acts 5:19; &nbsp;9:25; (c) of "point of time," e.g., &nbsp;Matthew 14:27 (in some mss.),30; &nbsp; Luke 12:20; &nbsp;Acts 27:23; (d) 27:23; (d) of "duration of time," e.g., &nbsp;Luke 2:37; &nbsp;5:5; &nbsp;Acts 20:31; &nbsp;26:7 (note the difference in the phrase in &nbsp; Mark 4:27 ); [[(Ii)]] metaphorically, (a) of "the period of man's alienation from God," &nbsp;Romans 13:12; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5 , lit., "not of night," where "of" means 'belonging to;' cp. "of the Way," &nbsp;Acts 9:2; "of shrinking back" and "of faith," &nbsp;Hebrews 10:39 , marg.; (b) of "death," as the time when work ceases, &nbsp;John 9:4 . </p>
== References ==
       
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_42585" /> ==
&nbsp;Genesis 1:5&nbsp;1:14&nbsp;Genesis 8:22&nbsp;Genesis 20:3&nbsp;Genesis 31:24&nbsp;Genesis 46:2&nbsp;1 Kings 3:5&nbsp;Job 33:15&nbsp;Daniel 2:19&nbsp;Daniel 7:2&nbsp;7:7&nbsp;7:13&nbsp;Acts 16:9&nbsp;Acts 18:9&nbsp;Genesis 26:24&nbsp;Numbers 22:20&nbsp;1 Chronicles 17:3&nbsp;2 Chronicles 1:7&nbsp;2 Chronicles 7:12&nbsp;Acts 23:11&nbsp;Acts 27:23&nbsp;Judges 6:25&nbsp;Judges 7:9&nbsp;1 Samuel 15:16&nbsp;Psalm 91:5&nbsp;Revelation 21:25&nbsp;Revelation 22:5&nbsp;Deuteronomy 16:1&nbsp;2 Kings 19:35&nbsp;Job 34:25
       
== Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words <ref name="term_76430" /> ==
<p> <em> Layil </em> (לֵיל, Strong'S #3915), “night.” Cognates of this noun appear in Ugaritic, Moabite, Akkadian, Aramaic, Syrian, Arabic, and Ethiopic. The word appears about 227 times in biblical [[Hebrew]] and in all periods. </p> <p> <em> Layil </em> means “night,” the period of time during which it is dark: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Gen. 1:5—the first biblical appearance). In Exod. 13:21 and similar passages the word means “by night,” or “during the night”: “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud … and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” This word is used figuratively of protection: “Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; [betray] not him that wandereth” (Isa. 16:3). <em> Layil </em> also figures deep calamity without the comforting presence and guidance of God, and/or other kinds of distress: “Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night …?” (Job 35:10). </p> <p> During Old [[Testament]] times the “night” was divided into three watches: (1) from sunset to 10 [[P.M.,]] (Lam. 2:19), (2) from 10 [[P.M.]] to 2 [[A.M.]] (Judg. 7:19), and (3) from 2 [[A.M.]] to sunrise (Exod. 14:24). </p>
       
== Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary <ref name="term_81191" /> ==
<p> The ancient Hebrews began their artificial day in the evening, and ended it the next evening; so that the night preceded the day, whence it is said, "evening and morning one day," &nbsp;Genesis 1:5 . They allowed twelve hours to the night, and twelve to the day. [[Night]] is put for a time of affliction and adversity: "Thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me," &nbsp;Psalms 17:3; that is, by adversity and tribulation. And "the morning cometh, and also the night," &nbsp;Isaiah 21:12 . Night is also put for the time of death: "The night cometh, wherein no man can work," &nbsp;John 9:4 . [[Children]] of the day, and children of the night, in a moral and figurative sense, denote good men and wicked men, [[Christians]] and Gentiles. The disciples of the Son of God are children of light: they belong to the light, they walk in the light of truth; while the children of the night walk in the darkness of ignorance and infidelity, and perform only works of darkness. "Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness," &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5 . </p>
       
== American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_16776" /> ==
<p> The ancient Hebrews began their artificial day at evening, and ended it the next evening, so that the night proceeded the day. This usage may probably be traced to the terms employed in describing the creation, &nbsp;Genesis 1:5,8,13 , etc., "The evening and the morning were the first day." The Hebrews allowed twelve to the day; but these hours were not equal, except at the equinox. At other times, when the hours of the night were long, those of the day were short, as in winter; and when the hours of night were short, as at midsummer, the hours of the day were long in proportion. See [[Hours]] . </p> <p> The nights are sometimes extremely cold in Syria, when the days are very hot; and travelers in the deserts and among the mountains near [[Palestine]] refer to their own sufferings from these opposite extremes, in illustration of Jacob's words in &nbsp;Genesis 31:40 , "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes." </p>
       
== King James Dictionary <ref name="term_61727" /> ==
<p> [[Night,]] n. The sense may be dark, black, or it may be the decline of the day, from declining, departing. </p> 1. That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise. 2. The time after the close of life death. &nbsp;John 9 . <p> She closed her eyes in everlasting night. </p> 3. [[A]] state of ignorance intellectual and moral darkness heathenish ignorance. &nbsp;Romans 13 . 4. [[Adversity]] a state of affliction and distress. &nbsp;Isaiah 21 . 5. [[Obscurity]] a state of concealment from the eye or the mind unintelligibleness. <p> Nature and natures works lay hid in night. </p> <p> In the night, suddenly unexpectedly. &nbsp;Luke 12 . </p> <p> To-night, in this night. To-night the moon will be eclipsed. </p>
       
== Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary <ref name="term_48296" /> ==
<p> [[I]] only pause at this word just to remark, that the Hebrews reckoned their hours different from modern custom. They always began at six in the evening to count their hours; so that what we call three in the afternoon was to them the ninth hour of the day. And so by a. parity of calculation, of all the rest. Hence when Peter and John, as we read &nbsp;Acts 3:1 went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, this would have been with us three in the afternoon. [[I]] need not stay to remark, for [[I]] presume the sense of the expression is generally understood, that night in [[Scripture]] language is sometimes figuratively used for darkness in divine things. Thus God's people are called children of the day, and not of the night; meaning their conduct is according to light, and not darkness. (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5) </p>
       
== Webster's Dictionary <ref name="term_147904" /> ==
<p> '''(1):''' ''' (''' n.) That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise; esp., the time between dusk and dawn, when there is no light of the sun, but only moonlight, starlight, or artificial light. </p> <p> '''(2):''' ''' (''' n.) Darkness; obscurity; concealment. </p> <p> '''(3):''' ''' (''' n.) Intellectual and moral darkness; ignorance. </p> <p> '''(4):''' ''' (''' n.) The period after the close of life; death. </p> <p> '''(5):''' ''' (''' n.) [[A]] state of affliction; adversity; as, a dreary night of sorrow. </p> <p> '''(6):''' ''' (''' n.) [[A]] lifeless or unenlivened period, as when nature seems to sleep. </p>
       
== Fausset's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_36818" /> ==
<p> (See [[Day.)]] Figuratively: </p> <p> '''(1)''' the time of distress (&nbsp;Isaiah 21:12). </p> <p> '''(2)''' Death, the time when life's day is over (&nbsp;John 9:4). </p> <p> '''(3)''' Children of night, i.e. dark deeds, filthiness, which shuns daylight (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5). </p> <p> '''(4)''' The present life, compared with the believer's bright life to come (&nbsp;Romans 13:12). </p>
       
== Morrish Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_67868" /> ==
<p> Used symbolically for: </p> <p> 1. Death, a time "when no man can work." &nbsp;John 9:4 . </p> <p> 2. The moral darkness of the world, in which men sleep and are drunken. &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:7 . </p> <p> 3. The period of Christ's rejection, which is far spent, and the 'day' at hand. &nbsp;Romans 13:12 . There will be no night of moralor spiritual darkness in the heavenly Jerusalem. &nbsp;Revelation 21:25; &nbsp;Revelation 22:5 . </p>
       
== Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_74109" /> ==
<p> '''Night.''' ''See '' [[Day]] ''.'' </p>
       
== Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_53058" /> ==
<p> <strong> [[Night.]] </strong> See Time. </p>
       
== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_56725" /> ==
<p> See Day and Night, Time. </p>
       
== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_53246" /> ==
<p> (לִיַל, ''la'' '''yil'' [with ה paragogic, לִיְלָה, ''la'' '''yelath], νύξ'' )'','' the period of darkness, from sunset to sunrise, including the morning and evening twilight, as opposed to "day," the period of light (&nbsp;Genesis 1:5). Following the Oriental sunset is the brief evening twilight נֶשֶׁ, ''nesheph,'' &nbsp;Job 24:15, rendered "night" in &nbsp;Isaiah 5:11; &nbsp;Isaiah 21:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 59:10), when the stars appeared (&nbsp;Job 3:9). This is also called "evening" עֶרֶב, ''ereb,'' &nbsp;Proverbs 7:9, rendered "night" in &nbsp;Genesis 49:27; &nbsp;Job 7:4), but the term which especially denotes the evening twilight is עֲלָטָה, ''alatdh'' (&nbsp;Genesis 15:17, [[A.]] [[V.]] "dark;" &nbsp;Ezekiel 12:6-7; &nbsp;Ezekiel 12:12). ''Ereb'' also denotes the time just before sunset (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:11; &nbsp;Joshua 8:29), when the women went to draw water (&nbsp;Genesis 24:11), and the decline of the day is called "the turning of evening" (פְּנוֹת עֶרֶב, &nbsp;Genesis 24:63), the time of prayer. This period of the day must also be that which is described as "night" when [[Boaz]] winnowed his barley in the evening breeze (&nbsp;Ruth 3:2), the cool of the day (&nbsp;Genesis 3:8), when the shadows begin to fall (&nbsp;Jeremiah 6:4), and the wolves prowl about (&nbsp;Habakkuk 1:8; &nbsp;Zephaniah 3:3). The time of midnight (חֲצַי הִלִּיְלָה, ''half of the night,'' &nbsp;Ruth 3:7, and הִלֵּיְלָה חֲצוֹת, the plural form, &nbsp;Exodus 11:4), or greatest darkness, is called in &nbsp;Proverbs 7:9, ''the pupil of night'' (אַישׁוֹן לִיְלָה, [[A.]] [[V.]] "black night"). The period between midnight and the morning twilight was generally selected for attacking an enemy by surprise (&nbsp;Judges 7:19). The morning twilight is denoted by the same term, ''nesheph'' as the evening twilight, and is unmistakably intended in &nbsp;1 Samuel 31:12; &nbsp;Job 7:4; Psalm cxix. 147; possibly also in Isaiah v, 11. With sunrise the night ended. In one passage (&nbsp;Job 26:10, חשֶׁךְ, ''choshek'' ) "darkness" is rendered "night" in the [[A.]] [[V.,]] but is correctly given in the margin. (See [[Day]]). As figuratively the term of human life is often called a day in Scripture, so in one passage it is called night, to be followed soon by day: "The day is at hand" (&nbsp;Romans 8:12). Being a time of darkness, the image and shadow of death, in which the beasts of prey go forth to devour, night was made a symbol of a season of adversity and trouble, in which men prey upon each other, and the strong tyrannize over the weak (&nbsp;Isaiah 21:12; &nbsp;Zechariah 14:6-7; comp. &nbsp;Revelation 21:23; &nbsp;Revelation 22:5). Hence continued day, or the absence of night, implies a constant state of quiet and happiness. Night is also put, as in our own language, for a time of ignorance and helplessness (&nbsp;Micah 3:6). In &nbsp;John 9:4, by a natural figure, night represents death. Children of the day and children of the night denote good men and wicked men. The disciples of the Son of God are children of the light: they belong to the light, they walk in the light of truth; while the children of the night walk in the darkness of ignorance and infidelity, and perform only works of darkness (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5). (See [[Night-Watch]]). </p> <p> [[Night]] (Latin Nox). The ancient [[Greeks]] and Romans deified Night, and called her the daughter of Chaos. [[Orpheus]] reckons her the most ancient of the deities, and calls her the mother of gods and men. The poets describe her as clothed with a black veil, and riding in a chariot, attended by the stars. The sacrifice proper to her was a cock, being a bird that is an enemy to silence. Night had a numerous offspring, as Madness, Contention, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Love, Deceit, Fear, Labor, Emulation, Fate, Old Age, Darkness, Misery, Complaint, Partiality, Obstinacy, etc. All this is plainly allegorical. [[Pausanias]] has left us a description of a remarkable statue of the goddess Night. "We see," he says, "a woman holding in her right hand a white child sleeping, and in her left a black child, asleep likewise, with both its legs distorted. The inscription tells us what they are, though we might easily guess without it. The two children are Death and Sleep, and the woman is Night, the nurse of them both." See Broughton, Hist. of Religion; Smith, Dict. of Classical Biog. and Mythol. 2:1218. </p>
       
== International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_6638" /> ==
<p> ''''' nı̄t ''''' . See [[Day And Night]] for the natural usage and the various terms. </p> <p> Figurative uses: The word "night" ( לילה , <i> ''''' laylāh ''''' </i> or ליל , <i> ''''' layil ''''' </i> ) is sometimes used figuratively in the Old Testament. Thus, Moses compares the brevity of time, the lapse of a thousand years, to "a watch in the night" (&nbsp; Psalm 90:4 ). Adversity is depicted by it in such places as &nbsp;Job 35:10; compare &nbsp;Isaiah 8:20; &nbsp;Jeremiah 15:9 . Disappointment and despair are apparently depicted by it in the "burden of Dumah" (&nbsp;Isaiah 21:11 , &nbsp;Isaiah 21:12 ); and spiritual blindness, coming upon the false prophets (&nbsp;Micah 3:6 ); again sudden and overwhelming confusion (&nbsp;Amos 5:8; &nbsp;Isaiah 59:10 the King James Version, נשׁף , <i> '''''nesheph''''' </i> , "twilight" as in the Revised Version (British and American)). </p> <p> On the lips of Jesus (&nbsp;John 9:4 ) it signifies the end of opportunity to labor; repeated in that touching little allegory spoken to His disciples when He was called to the grave of [[Lazarus]] (&nbsp;John 11:9 , &nbsp;John 11:10 ). Paul also uses the figure in reference to the <i> '''''Parousia''''' </i> (&nbsp;Romans 13:12 ), where "night" seems to refer to the present aeon and "day" to the aeon to come. He also uses it in &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:5 , &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:7 where the status of the redeemed is depicted by "day," that of the unregenerate by "night," again, as the context shows, in reference to the <i> '''''Parousia''''' </i> . In &nbsp;Revelation 21:25 and &nbsp; Revelation 22:5 , the passing of the "night" indicates the realization of that to which the <i> '''''Parousia''''' </i> looked forward, the establishment of the kingdom of God forever. See also Delitzsch, <i> [[Iris]] </i> , 35. </p>
       
== Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_16314" /> ==
<p> The general division of the night among the Hebrews has been described under Day; and it only remains to indicate a few marked applications of the word. The term of human life is usually called a day in Scripture but in one passage it is called night, to be followed soon by day, 'the day is at hand' . Being a time of darkness, the image an shadow of death, in which the beasts of prey go forth to devour, it was made a symbol of a season of adversity and trouble, in which men prey upon each other, and the strong tyrannize over the weak (;; comp.; ). Hence continued day, or the absence of night, implies a constant state of quiet and happiness, undisturbed by the vicissitudes of peace and war. Night is also put, as in our own language, for a time of ignorance and helplessness . In , night represent death, a necessary result of the correlative usage which makes life a day. </p>
       
==References ==
<references>
<references>
 
<ref name="term_56728"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/night+(2) Night from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
<ref name="term_198105"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/wilson-s-dictionary-of-bible-types/night Night from Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_78536"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/vine-s-expository-dictionary-of-nt-words/night Night from Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_42585"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/night Night from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_76430"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/vine-s-expository-dictionary-of-ot-words/night Night from Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_81191"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/watson-s-biblical-theological-dictionary/night Night from Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_16776"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/night Night from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_61727"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/king-james-dictionary/night Night from King James Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_48296"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hawker-s-poor-man-s-concordance-and-dictionary/night Night from Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_147904"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/webster-s-dictionary/night Night from Webster's Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_36818"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/fausset-s-bible-dictionary/night Night from Fausset's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_67868"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/morrish-bible-dictionary/night Night from Morrish Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_74109"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/smith-s-bible-dictionary/night Night from Smith's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_53058"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/night Night from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_56725"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/night Night from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_53246"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/night Night from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_6638"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/international-standard-bible-encyclopedia/night Night from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_16314"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/night Night from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Revision as of 00:11, 13 October 2021

Night [1]

Night

1. Associations of the word ‘night.’ —( a ) It was the season for all that demanded secrecy . Travellers on a dangerous errand went by night, as Joseph did, after he had received warning in a dream ( Matthew 2:14). Nicodemus for fear of his colleagues came to Jesus by night at the Passover season; the interview may have been on the roof of some friendly house, or in one of the tents used by the pilgrims ( John 3:2;  John 19:39); night was also the time for theft, and drunkenness, and revelling ( Luke 12:39, cf.  1 Thessalonians 5:2;  1 Thessalonians 5:7,  Romans 13:12), and was convenient for plots and stratagems ( Mark 14:11). The chief priests bribed the guard to say that the disciples had taken away the body of Jesus by night ( Matthew 28:13).

( b ) Night had its peculiar dangers and annoyances (cf.  Psalms 91:5). Travellers might be delayed through stress of circumstances till after nightfall, and even till midnight ( Luke 11:5), and such journeys were not without danger; ‘if any man walk in the night, he stumbleth’ ( John 11:10, cf.  Job 5:14). A modern traveller has spoken of ‘the villages by night, without a light, when you stumble on them in the darkness, and all the dogs begin barking’ (G. A. Smith, Hghl [Note: Ghl Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] , p. 99). Such annoyances would be encountered by the host in the parable, who, coming to beg bread, arrived at midnight after stumbling through the narrow streets of the village ( Luke 11:5 etc.).

( c ) It was the season when Divine guidance might be looked for. Joseph and the Magi were warned in dreams ( Matthew 2:12-13;  Matthew 2:19). Pilate’s wife suffered many things in a dream because of Jesus ( Matthew 27:19). To the Israelites the thought of night would always bring the memory of visions and revelations of God, given to their seers, beginning from the nights when Jacob saw the ladder, and wrestled with the angel.

( d ) It was the season of rest ( John 11:9;  John 9:4), but not for all men; shepherds guarded their flocks by night ( Luke 2:8); though from November to March the sheep were probably in the fold. The fishermen toiled all night ( Luke 5:5,  John 21:3), when the Lake was often swept by sudden gales ( Mark 4:37); the men who could not watch one hour in Gethsemane were accustomed to sleepless nights. In Palestine, as in all Eastern lands, the marriage ceremony was celebrated after nightfall; lamps and torches were always the accompaniment of weddings (cf.  Revelation 18:23, where the light of the lamp and the voice of the bridegroom are mentioned together). In the parable of the Ten Virgins the guests assembled at nightfall, but they had to tarry till midnight before the bridegroom came, the hour being chosen for the purpose of the parable, because then they would most likely be off their guard ( Matthew 25:6).

( e ) Night was the season of surprises . The day of the Lord was to come as a thief in the night ( 1 Thessalonians 5:2). In the night the soul of the rich fool was required of him ( Luke 12:20). At the coming of the Son of Man ‘in that night,’ it is said, ‘there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, the other shall be left’ ( Luke 17:34). The disciples must guard against a surprise: ‘for ye know not when the Lord cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping’ ( Mark 13:35). Especial stress is laid upon the mid-watches ( Luke 12:38); it would be easy to keep the first watch, and almost impossible to sleep during the watch before the dawn.

( f ) The phrases ‘day and night,’ ‘days and nights,’ are used to give a comprehensive idea of time ( Matthew 4:2); or to give an impression of a continuous practice [as when we read that Anna served God night and day ( Luke 2:37)], or to indicate the monotonous passage of time: the sower ‘sleeps and rises night and day,’ and nothing happens day after day ( Mark 4:27).

2. Divisions of the night. —It is important not to seek the scientific accuracy of modern usage in the Nt. Time was divided by natural phenomena. The night varied in length with the seasons of the year; and the length of the four watches into which the night was divided must also have varied ( Matthew 14:25,  Mark 6:48,  Luke 12:38). In Nt times tour watches were recognized, in the Ot only three. The division into hours could not be made for the night-season.

‘The division of the day into hours sprang from the use of the sundial, and its peculiar character, the varying length of, the hour, was conditioned by its origin; hours of the night could be measured only by water-glass or some similar means, which would give divisions of equal length during all seasons of the year, and not varying hours like those of the day’ (Ramsay, Expos , iv. vii. [1893] p. 219).

The watches of the night are indicated in  Mark 13:35 : evening (ὀψία)—midnight—cock-crowing—full morning. It was at eventide, for example, that Jesus sat down with His disciples; before ‘cock-crowing’ Peter denied Him; and in the ‘morning’ Jesus was carried away to Pilate.

3. In the life of Jesus. —Before Jesus called His disciples, He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer (διανυκτερεύων,  Luke 6:12). After the ‘feeding of the five thousand’ also He departed into a mountain to pray ( Mark 6:46 ||  Matthew 14:23), and not till the fourth watch did He come to the disciples, spent with their ‘bootless toil.’ From these and other references it is clear that Jesus often made the night His season of prayer. He whose mind was saturated with the Ot may have recalled how the prophets had withdrawn to the mountains.

‘So, separate from the world, his breast

Might duly take and strongly keep

The print of Heaven.’—(Keble, Chr. Year , 13th Sund. after Trin.).

In the neighbourhood of the Lake, night was the only time of solitude.

‘Save in the recorded hours of our Lord’s praying, the history of Galilee has no intervals of silence and loneliness; the noise of a close and busy life is always audible; and to every crisis in the Gospels and in Josephus we see crowds Immediately swarm’ (G. A. Smith, Hghl [Note: Ghl Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] p. 421).

It may be urged that Jesus teaches by His example the value of prayer in the silence of night. There are many references to such prayer in the Psalms (cf.  Psalms 119:62); and it is not without significance that the time is midnight in the parable in which Jesus teaches the lesson of ‘shameless’ prayer (ἀναιδία,  Luke 11:8). ‘The thing could never have taken place in the daytime. It is a story of midnight importunity’ (Whyte).

There is no reason to doubt the preference of Jesus for an abode where He would be sure of mountain solitude; we have no record that He entered Tiberias, which was a walled city ( Hghl [Note: Ghl Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] p. 449). ‘He entered Jericho only to pass through it.’ ‘This freedom Jesus had from childhood’ in Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethany, and other resting-places. When men did not need Him, He must be free to leave them. It is substantially true that ‘Jesus never slept in a walled city’ (see Expos. iii. iii. [1886] p. 146). The scenes of rescue on the Lake were in the night-time; then it was He walked upon the sea and stilled the waves ( Mark 6:49; cf.  Mark 4:39).

The closing incidents of the life of Jesus cannot be pictured except against the background of night. It was dark when they sang a hymn, and went to the Mount of Olives ( Matthew 26:30). The approach of the soldiers was marked by their lanterns ( John 18:3). Peter warmed himself in the chilly air before a fire of coals ( John 18:18). It was possible in the dark to follow undetected afar off ( Matthew 26:58). The panic of the disciples owed something to the night. It was at cock-crowing that Peter remembered his Master’s warning, and wept bitterly. The air of night is over all these scenes. It was ‘the night in which Jesus was betrayed’ ( 1 Corinthians 11:23).

After the Resurrection, night was falling when Jesus revealed Himself to the two at Emmaus in the breaking of the bread ( Luke 24:31). They, on returning to Jerusalem, found the disciples gathered together, and Jesus appeared amongst them. When, for fear of the Jews, the disciples met at eventide, Jesus came to them ( John 20:19); and it was when the day was breaking that He welcomed His weary disciples to the shore (21:4).

It is impossible to discover with accuracy the character of these Syrian nights, so wide is the variation in the climate between place and place, season and season; it is not clear whether, for example, it is literally true to say, ‘For thee I trembled in the nightly frost.’ Even when we know the impression made upon the Western traveller, we cannot tell how Jesus and His disciples, hardened by the bracing uplands of Galilee, endured the cold and the mists of night. It is clear that the nights are often as cold as the days are hot (cf.  Genesis 31:40,  Jeremiah 36:30; see Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible , i. 73). At certain seasons in late summer Jesus would be exposed in His nightly vigils to the dense chilly clouds of mist of which the Song of Songs ( Song of Solomon 5:2) speaks: ‘For my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.’ For modern descriptions of nights spent in the sacred scenes, reference may be made to Warburton’s Crescent and the Cross , and Kinglake’s Eothen . But in order to discover the colours, the lights and the half-lights of the Syrian night, those modern painters are the best guides who, like Holman Hunt and William Hole, have studied the Holy Land in the lights and shadows, which are the same as when Jesus watched through the hours of night.

4. Metaphorical applications of ‘night.’ —The contrast between night and day, darkness and light, belongs to the stock of ideas common to all religions, to the most ancient vocabulary of thought. It is freely used in the Ot and Nt.

( a ) In the opening of the Synoptic Gospels , quotations are used to depict as darkness the state of the world before the dawn of Christ ( Matthew 4:16,  Luke 1:79, cf.  2 Corinthians 4:6). It is upon such darkness that the gospel shines; and at the consummation of the Kingdom it is the outer darkness that awaits the evil-doers ( Matthew 8:12;  Matthew 25:30). Between the two areas of darkness there is the kingdom of light brought in by Jesus, whose disciples were to be the light of the world ( Matthew 5:14). When Jesus was arrested, He said that the darkness had prevailed ( Luke 22:53), for the high priests were the emissaries of darkness. The night was therefore an emblem of all that was set against the Kingdom of God, of the ignorance and corruption of the world which crucified Christ.

( b ) The Fourth Gospel has a certain framework of contrasts, amongst which is the opposition between the light of Christ and the darkness ( John 1:5;  John 8:12;  John 11:10;  John 12:35-36;  1 John 2:8-11). While Christ is revealed as the source of light, His enemies are unmasked as the story proceeds. Though ‘darkness’ is used in this connexion, it is impossible to escape from the thought of this conflict when we read of ‘night’ in this Gospel. It is used to denote the close of the divinely appointed day of service ( John 9:4). The healing of the man born blind was part of the manifestation of God, for which there was a set time. This day being past, neither Jesus nor His disciples could work. ‘In the application to Jesus the night is His death, and His retreat into the invisible world’ (Loisy). When Jesus persisted, in spite of the warnings of His disciples, in returning to Judaea, He said that the hours of the day were given for work; so long as it was the appointed time, He would be safe. The one danger was lest the day should be prolonged ‘beyond God’s appointment.’ So prolonged, the day would be as night, in which the traveller stumbles. With both these passages  Luke 22:53 should be compared. Night stands also for the close of the day of grace in the life of Judas ( John 13:30). Judas went out, ‘and it was night.’ The darkness is his place. Across the darkness ‘less deep than his own soul’ he moves from the light of Christ. Night stands for the new environment which he has chosen, ‘loving darkness because his deeds were evil.’

( c ) In the Apostolic writings the night stands for the waning order, which will be ended by the coming of Christ. The day was at hand; the disciples must put off the garments of night, and put on the armour of light ( Romans 13:12 etc.). The difference in the metaphorical use of the night may be seen by a comparison of the word of Jesus, ‘the night cometh,’ with St. Paul’s ‘the night is far spent.’ For those who are of the fellowship of Christ the darkness is already past ( Ephesians 5:8,  1 Thessalonians 5:4,  1 Peter 2:9); ‘Some daylight it is, and is every moment growing.’ The darkness and the light are alternatives, and contemporary.

‘But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,

Benighted walks under the midday sun.’

Night has other associations for the modern mind. It is still the emblem of peril and evil, but it speaks also of quietness and peace; this value it has had for poets from Milton to Whitman.

‘Dear night! This world’s defeat;

The stop to busie fools; care’s check and curb;

The day of spirits; my soul’s calm retreat,

Which none disturb!’—(Vaughan).

It is important that the reader should not carry such associations into the study of the Nt. There, night has always a sinister suggestion. It speaks of all that is hostile to God, who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all. The word has changed its value in the commerce of ideas. It is with the night as with the sea. In the Ot and Nt both are emblems of fear and evil: in the City there will be no night ( Revelation 21:25), and the sea is no more ( Revelation 21:1). But in the modern mind they awaken other thoughts of attraction and kindliness. The writers and teachers of the Nt use the coinage of their age; and though we may conjecture that Jesus had other memories of night than those of fear, yet He did not depart from the customary usage, in which the men of His time took night as significant of terror and evil.

Literature.—W. R. Nicoll, Ten Minute Sermons , 103; W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice , 62; J. Parker, Studies in Texts , vi. 89; W. J. Dawson, The Evangelistic Note , 133; W. T. P. Wolston, Night Scenes of Scripture .

Edward Shillito.

References

  1. ↑ Night from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
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