THE DAYS OF GENESIS 1

     Were the "days" of Genesis chapter one long periods of time (equal
to millions of years of our time) or were they days of twenty-four
hours each?
     The word "day" is sometimes used to mean a period of time:
         (1) Gen. 2:4-- "In the day that the Lord made the earth and
                         the heavens."
         (2) Ps. 95:8-- "The day of temptation in the wilderness."
         (3) We talk about the "day of prosperity."
     The Hebrew word for "day" is "yom." In the king James the word is
translated more that 1100 times as "day," 67 times as "time," 30 times
as "today," 18 times as "forever," 10 times as "continually," 6 times
as "age," 4 times as "life," and 2 times as "perpetually." Obviously,
from this we cannot determine how Moses used the word in Genesis 1.
     The following suggestions are offered to affirm that the days of
Genesis One were of approximately twenty-four hours each:
     (1) These days were half darkness and half light. What other kind
         of days have been so identified? (Some object that the sun and
         moon were not made until the fourth day. But, light was
         brought into existence on the first day and may exist
         independently of the sun.)
     (2) When a definite number precedes the word "yom" or "day" in the
         scriptures, a solar day is always meant--never a "long period"
         of time.
         (a) Gen. 8:3-- There were 150 days of the flood.
         (b) Num. 13:25-- the spies were gone out 40 days.
         (c) Jonah 1:17-- Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days.
         (d) Acts 1:3-- Christ was seen after His resurrection for
                        40 days.
         (e) Ex. 20:11-- the Lord made heaven and earth in 6 days.
     (3) On the third day of Genesis the grass, trees and shrubs were
         created. If these "days" were a "long period of millions of
         years," how would these things live in darkness for half that
         period?
     (4) Exodus 20:8-11 -- "Remember the Sabbath day.....for in six
         days the Lord made heaven and earth.....and rested the seventh
         day; wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and hallowed
         it." God gave the Jews the seventh day to keep as a sabbath;
         the original sabbath on which God rested was typical of this,
         hence both were twenty-four hour days. (Some object that "God
         is still resting in His sabbath." But Jesus said "My Father
         and I work" --Jn. 5:17. That God "rested" did not imply He was
         tired but that He finished the work of creation and rested
         from it.)
     (5) The day in Genesis One had "evening and morning."  The Jews
         counted time in this manner with days beginning in the
         evening, thus "evening and morning."
     (6) Why is it necessary to have "long periods of time" for Jehovah
         to have done that which Moses said He did in six days?
         Jehovah's power to create precludes the need for "long periods
         of time." God spoke this world into existence (Heb. 11:3).
         "Long periods of time" were unnecessary.
                           (Credit given to Why We Believe The Bible,
                            by George W. Dehoff.)

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