Rising

In the topical tradition, "rising" is almost entirely a question of when one gets up. The verses gather the morning practice of devotions, the patriarchal and prophetic narratives that open with the dawn, the warnings against rising early to do harm, and the contrasting consequences of late rising. The verses below preserve that movement: from the rhythm of morning prayer, through the figures Scripture remembers as early risers, to the misuse of dawn by the wicked, the apostolic call to wake from sleep, and the sluggard's poverty.

Morning Devotions

Several psalms make the morning the natural hour of prayer. David promises, "O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice; In the morning I will order [my prayer] to you, and will keep watch" (Ps 5:3). The same orientation closes Psalm 59: "Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving-kindness in the morning" (Ps 59:16). Psalm 88, even from the depths, reaches for the same hour: "And in the morning my prayer will come before you" (Ps 88:13).

The seeking is not always tied to dawn alone. In Psalm 63 the soul thirsts for God in a dry land (Ps 63:1), and Isaiah pairs night-longing with the same earnestness: "With my soul I have desired you in the night; yes, with my spirit inside me I will seek you earnestly" (Isa 26:9). The Song of Solomon transposes the early-rising idiom into the vineyard: "Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine has budded" (Song 7:12). Sirach gives the practice its fullest form: "He applies his heart to rise up early to the Lord who made him; And before the Most High he makes supplication, And opens his mouth in prayer, And makes supplication for his sins" (Sir 39:5).

Instances of Early Rising

The narrative books repeatedly mark a decisive act with the phrase "rose up early in the morning." Lot reaches Zoar as the sun is rising on the earth (Gen 19:23). Abraham is the most consistent: he returns to the place where he had stood before Yahweh after the destruction of Sodom (Gen 19:27), sends Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness (Gen 21:14), and saddles his donkey for the journey to Moriah (Gen 22:3). Abimelech rises early to tell his servants the dream-warning he has received (Gen 20:8). Isaac and the Philistines swear their oath at dawn (Gen 26:31). Jacob sets up his pillar at Bethel in the morning (Gen 28:18) and crosses Penuel as the sun rises on him (Gen 32:31); Laban rises early to kiss his sons and daughters and depart (Gen 31:55).

Moses is twice commanded to "rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh" (Ex 8:20; Ex 9:13), and he rises early to climb Sinai with the second pair of stone tablets (Ex 34:4). Joshua rises early to cross the Jordan (Jos 3:1), to compass Jericho on the seventh day (Jos 6:12, 15), and to bring Israel forward by tribes after Achan's sin (Jos 7:16). Gideon rises early to wring the dew from the fleece (Judg 6:38). The Philistines find Dagon fallen on his face when they arise early (1Sa 5:4). Samuel rises early to send Saul on his way (1Sa 9:26) and again to meet him at Carmel (1Sa 15:12). David rises early to leave the sheep with a keeper before facing Goliath (1Sa 17:20). Jehoshaphat's army rises early to go forth into the wilderness of Tekoa (2Ch 20:20). Daniel's king arises "very early in the morning, and went in a hurry to the den of lions" (Dan 6:19). At the resurrection the women come "very early on the first day of the week" to the tomb (Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1).

Early Rising to Do Evil

The same dawn that opens an obedient errand can open a wicked one. Job's murderer "rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is as a thief" (Job 24:14). Israel "rose up early on the next day" to offer to the calf and to play (Ex 32:6), and after Kadesh the people rose early to climb the mountain in defiance of the verdict (Num 14:40). Proverbs takes the same ironic note: a loud blessing offered too early is "counted a curse" to the one who utters it (Prov 27:14). Micah pictures plotters who devise iniquity on their beds and execute it "when the morning is light" (Mic 2:1). Zephaniah laments a city that "rose early and corrupted all their doings" (Zeph 3:7). Isaiah's woe is leveled at those "who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink" (Isa 5:11).

Spiritual Diligence

Paul transposes the figure into the Christian calling. "And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you⁺ to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom 13:11-12). The early rising of the patriarchs becomes, in apostolic language, the church's wakefulness as the day approaches.

The Late Riser

Against the morning practice Proverbs sets the sluggard. "How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep: So will your poverty come as a robber, And your want as an armed man" (Prov 6:9-11). The same warning is repeated nearly word for word at Prov 24:33-34. The household whose mistress "rises also while it is yet night, And gives food to her household, And their task to her maidens" (Prov 31:15) stands at the opposite pole.