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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MORE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR
LONG CREATION DAYS
GENERATIONS
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the
day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
- Genesis 2:4 (KJV)
The Hebrew word, toledah, is translated in Genesis 2:4 as "generations."2 A
generation, in Biblical terms, does not possess an exact length of time. Generally,
forty years is the time most often associated with a generation, however, it does vary
depending on its usage. We may think of a Biblical generation as we still do today,
with grandparents comprising one generation, parents comprising another, and the
children comprising the youngest generation. However, "generations" is probably best
understood as an indefinite time-period.3
Whatever length of time a single "generation" may represent, many scholars
would agree that it is unacceptable to reduce its length to seven 24-hour days. In
addition, the word used here is not singular but plural - indicating that the time
spanned two or more generations. Unlike the preceding argument (the final yom), this
phrase appears in Genesis 2:4a, which is widely accepted as being part of the Creation
Story. The use of the word "generations" in this final phrase of the story is one of
the more compelling pieces of evidence for long Creation Days.
NOTES:
2. Torah Portions, World Ort Union, "Navigating the Bible", 1996, April 16, 1997
3. Herbert Lockyer, Sr., ed., Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,
(New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), p.411
(These are selected paragraphs within this chapter. This is not the entire chapter.)
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