Genesis 1:5

“And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, etc.] Either by the circulating motion of the above body of light, or by the rotation of the chaos on its own axis towards it, in the space of twenty four hours there was a vicissitude of light and darkness; just as there is now by the like motion either of the sun, or of the earth; and which after this appellation God has given, we call the one, day, and the other, night: and the evening and the morning were the first day: the evening, the first part of the night, or darkness, put for the whole night, which might be about the space of twelve hours; and the morning, which was the first part of the day, or light, put also for the…”

“first day--a natural day, as the mention of its two parts clearly determines; and Moses reckons, according to Oriental usage, from sunset to sunset, saying not day and night as we do, but evening and morning.”

“- III. The First Day 3. אמר 'āmar, “say, bid.” After this verb comes the thing said in the words of the speaker, or an equivalent expression. In this respect it corresponds with our English “say.” אור 'ôr, “light.” Light is simply what makes a sensible impression on the organs of vision. It belongs to a class of things which occasionally produce the same effect. ויאמר vayo'mer “then said.” Here we have come to the narrative or the record of a series of events. The conjunction is prefixed to the verb, to indicate the connection of the event it records with what precedes. There is here, therefore, a sequence in the order of time. In a chain of events, the narrative follows the order of…”

“1:5 God called (or named): To name something is to exercise authority over it (see also 2:19-20). • day: The Hebrew yom can refer to daylight (1:5a), to a 24-hour period (1:5b), or to an unspecified time period (2:4b, “When,” literally in the day; cp. Exod 20:8-11). • evening . . . morning: The Hebrew day began at sundown, just as the first day began with darkness and brought the first morning light.”

“and: Gen 8:22; Psa 19:2, Psa 74:16, Psa 104:20; Isa 45:7; Jer 33:20; Co1 3:13; Eph 5:13; Th1 5:5 And the evening and the morning were: Heb. And the evening was, and the morning was, Gen 1:8, Gen 1:13, Gen 1:19, Gen 1:23, Gen 1:31 Genesis 1:6”

“Hence it is said in Gen 1:5, "God called the light Day, and the darkness Night;" for, as Augustine observes, "all light is not day, nor all darkness night; but light and darkness alternating in a regular order constitute day and night." None but superficial thinkers can take offence at the idea of created things receiving names from God. The name of a thing is the expression of its nature. If the name be given by man, it fixes in a word the impression which it makes upon the human mind; but when given by God, it expresses the reality, what the thing is in God's creation, and the place assigned it there by the side of other things. "Thus evening was and morning was one day." (one), like…”