Bible Encyclopedias
Night

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nı̄t . See DAY AND NIGHT for the natural usage and the various terms.

Figurative uses: The word "night" ( לילה , laylāh or ליל , layil ) 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" ( Psalm 90:4 ). Adversity is depicted by it in such places as Job 35:10; compare Isaiah 8:20; Jeremiah 15:9 . Disappointment and despair are apparently depicted by it in the "burden of Dumah" (Isaiah 21:11 , Isaiah 21:12 ); and spiritual blindness, coming upon the false prophets (Micah 3:6 ); again sudden and overwhelming confusion (Amos 5:8; Isaiah 59:10 the King James Version, נשׁף , nesheph , "twilight" as in the Revised Version (British and American)).

On the lips of Jesus (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 (John 11:9 , John 11:10 ). Paul also uses the figure in reference to the Parousia (Romans 13:12 ), where "night" seems to refer to the present aeon and "day" to the aeon to come. He also uses it in 1 Thessalonians 5:5 , 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 Parousia . In Revelation 21:25 and Revelation 22:5 , the passing of the "night" indicates the realization of that to which the Parousia looked forward, the establishment of the kingdom of God forever. See also Delitzsch, Iris , 35.