The Earliest Recorded Sunset in the Torah

What a fascinating question! Let me address this from two angles: (1) the concept of sunset as it first appears in the Torah, and (2) specific narrative references to sunset/evening.

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🌅 The First Mention of Evening in the Torah

The very first reference to sunset and evening appears in the Creation narrative:

[Genesis 1:5] וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד "And there was evening and there was morning — one day."

This is remarkable because it is the foundational statement about how a Jewish day is structured — night precedes day. Evening (erev - עֶרֶב) is mentioned before morning (boker - בֹּקֶר), establishing the halachic principle that the Jewish calendar day begins at nightfall.

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🕯️ What the Commentators Say

Rashi [Rashi, Genesis 1:5] explains that the Torah deliberately places evening before morning to teach us that a Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset. This became the foundational basis for Shabbat and all Jewish holidays beginning at nightfall.

Ramban (Nachmanides) further notes that the word עֶרֶב (erev/evening) literally implies a mixing or blending of light and darkness — which corresponds to the twilight period.

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🌙 The Halachic Significance: Bein HaShmashot

This leads directly to one of the most complex halachic questions in the Torah tradition — exactly when does one day end and the next begin? The Talmud and later authorities debate the precise moment of bein hashmashot (בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת — twilight):

The Beur HaGra [Beur HaGra, Orach Chayim 562:1:4] cites the Yerushalmi (Berakhot, Chapter 1):

"As long as the face of the sun is reddening — that is day. When it has faded (turned pale/silver) — that is bein hashmashot (twilight). When it has darkened and the upper [sky] has become equal to the lower — that is night."

The Gra then records a dispute:

• Rabbi (Rebbi) holds that bein hashmashot begins when the sun starts to set and the moon begins to rise
• Rabbi Chanina holds it begins when the sun has fully set and only then does the moon begin to rise

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📖 Narrative Sunsets in the Torah

Beyond Genesis 1:5, here are notable narrative references to sunset/evening in the Torah:

| Reference | Context | |-----------|---------| | Genesis 15:12 | The sun sets as Avraham receives the Brit Bein HaBetarim (Covenant of the Parts) | | Genesis 28:11 | "And the sun had set" — when Yaakov stops at Bethel and dreams of the ladder | | Deuteronomy 16:4 | [Retrieved Source 1] — The Passover sacrifice must not remain overnight, referencing the evening of the first day | | Exodus 12:18 | The Passover begins "in the evening" of the 14th of Nissan |

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🔑 Key Takeaway

The earliest recorded "sunset" in the Torah is in Genesis 1:5 — even before the sun itself was created (the sun wasn't created until Day 4!). This teaches that the concept of evening and morning — and thus the Jewish day — is embedded in the very structure of Creation, independent of the physical sun.

As the Maharal of Prague observed, this shows that time itself is a spiritual framework, not merely a physical phenomenon.

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Would you like to explore further the halachic debate about bein hashmashot and when exactly Shabbat begins? Or perhaps the deeper philosophical meaning of "evening before morning" in Jewish thought? 🌙