The odd Hebrew phrase “in the bone of the day” (translated as “the very same day”) occurs in Genesis 7 (Noah enters the ark), Genesis 17 (circumcision of Abram’s household), Exodus 12 (Passover), and Leviticus 23 (day of atonement).
Though the phrase is used a few other times in the OT, perhaps the repetition of the phrase joins these events together. In the flood, the world is “circumcised” and we have a foreshadowing of the Passover and the ultimate atonement.
What makes these “bone” days? Literally, the “bone of the day” has been taken as a reference to noonday – the “strength” of the day. That may be, but why describe strength as “bone”? Bones are structuring organs for the human body. The bone of days are days that provide a skeletal structure to time.
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