How Long Were the Days of Genesis 1? What Did God Intend Us to Understand From the Words He Used?

PatriotandLiberty ^ | 2023 | Russell Grigg

[metmom]

I knew a pastor who knew Greek and he said the same thing. In Genesis 1:2 there is a change that indicates the earth BECAME formless and void, not that it was made that way.

He attributed it to the fall of Satan and the Devil tried to destroy the earth and God had to make it habitable again for man.

[metmom]

Thanks for a link to that article.

That is fascinating stuff worthy of being posted as it’s own thread, IMO.

[wita]

Attempting to correctly answer the question from Genesis 1 does not seem possible when the clue is found in Genesis chapter 2, and in your 2 Peter 3:8.

In Genesis chapter 2 verse 17, God tells Adam, the results of partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surly die”.

Adam lived just short of a thousand earth years. Your scriptural knowledge was a key to decipher the apparent mystery.

[Mark17]

Suggesting something had happened or it existed in that condition.

I tend to think that the heavens and the earth were created PERFECT, and BECAME formless and void due to some catastrophic event. I tend to think the fall of Satan, was the cause, and God blasted the universe in judgment over it. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s an old earth, or a young earth, but that’s what a think.

[EBH]

In Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Now go read Genesis 2

Why are there two stories of Genesis?

Why in one story does it sound like multiple humans vs. Genesis 2 where Adam is molded from the earth?

Are there 2 creation stories in the Bible or are these parallel stories of the creation of the world and the creation of Eden? I would note that Adam was not created in Eden, God put him in Eden.

[ViLaLuz]

I wonder if days are slowly getting longer over centuries as natural rotation of the galaxy slows like a spinning top slows.

[Bob434]

Yep exactly. If “1” day was say 1000 years- those “years” would be based on what? A number of 24 hour days. Since day and night didn’t exist yet, the “first day” must have been 24 hours, not 1000 years, or whatever someone wishes to state, because no actual “days existed yet” with which to measure by.

[EBH]

0:02 / 1:44:06

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https://youtu.be/UM82qxxskZE

𝘐𝘴 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺? features over a dozen scientists and scholars explaining how the world intersects with the history recorded in Genesis. From rock layers to fossils, from lions to stars, from the Bible to artifacts, this fascinating film will change the way you see the world. The film’s goal is to provide a reasonable case for Creation in six normal days, a real Adam and Eve, an actual fall, a global flood, and a tower of Babel. Dr. Del Tackett, creator of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵, serves as your guide—hiking through canyons, climbing up mountains, and diving below the sea—in an exploration of two competing views…one compelling truth.

1 - Changing Our Perspective 0:00
2 - What do the Rocks Tell us? 3:59
3 - A Question of Paradigms 13:49
4 - What Does the Text Say? 17:55
5 - How do you Measure Time? 23:32
6 - A Brief History of the World 34:13
7 - The Origin of Fossils 42:26
8 - When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth 50:14
9 - Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones 55:51
10 - The Genius of Design 1:02:58
11 - The Potential of Created Kinds 1:12:34
12 - The Purpose of the Stars 1:21:22
13 - Where was Babel? 1:28:03
14 - Genesis and Our Culture 1:33:19
15 - A Changed Perspective 1:39:09
16 - Credits 1:41:26

[Mark17]

He attributed it to the fall of Satan and the Devil tried to destroy the earth and God had to make it habitable again for man.

I agree, it was the fall of the devil, but I tend to think it was God who destroyed the earth, and then had to rebuild it. I like the way Donald Gray Barnhouse put it, how to unscramble an egg? This is exactly the dilemma the devil was faced with. When the devil said, let there be light. Nothing happened. How long was the gap? I don’t know. Could have been 5 minutes. Could have been 5 eons. 😀😆

[tflabo]

Here on earth we measure time based on the earth’s cycling around the sun and rotating around its own axis. On planet Mars the same measurements of ‘time’ don’t compute the same although it’s in the same solar system. Jump to a totally different galaxy and the reference point parameters of ‘time’ cannot be compared to our system.

[daniel1212]

In Genesis 1, God, through the ‘pen’ of Moses, is going out of His way to tell us that the ‘days’ of creation were literal earth–rotation days. To do this, He used the Hebrew word yôm, combined with a number and the words ‘evening and morning’.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) 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)

By itself, while Genesis 1:1 could be read as a preexistent earth, and 2:4 as a collective, yet Exodus 20:11 states, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:11) Thus Gn. 1:2 is detail for v. 1, and 2:4 is followed by details.

And by itself, while "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) and evening and the morning up until the fourth day, may be read as separate from 24-hour "evening and morning" solar days (meaning our sunset to sunrise), since our sun did not exist until sometime during the 4th day, and thus some other source of light provided night and day for a rotating earth, yet this would have to be a slow an exceedingly rotation for million+-year day. Maybe time dilation? However, since vegetation began on the the third day then night could not have been exceeding long. That would mean long darkness for vegetation.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13)

Thus 24-hours day are required once vegetation exists.

[daniel1212]

As for Adam’s son’s wives, they married their sisters. Since DNA had not had time to build up genetic impurities yet, there was no danger at that time of children with siblings or close cousins resulting in problems.

Plus, a sister could be decades or more younger, marrying a akin to a 50 year-old marrying a 30 year-old today, which would be a not very "near" kin.

[frnewsjunkie]

I agree

[frnewsjunkie]

I agree

[Big Red Badger]

Looking into the ‘Mystery’ of GOD is like Experiencing the Visions viewed while peering into an Exquisite Diamond!

[Danie_2023]

“I have heard there was a “world” before Adam. Where did Adam’s sons get their wives.”

And where or when did the so-called “cavemen” come from that supposedly lived on earth thousands of years ago? Scientists vs. the Bible would have you believe that either: A. They descended from Adam and Eve, or B. God created them first?, or C. They descended from apes, as did everyone, or D. The only real god is “Science”.

So many unanswered questions. Here is an interesting take (see link below) on the topic that posits that God had created other “humans”, not just Adam and Eve, and therefore, we are NOT all descended from Adam and Eve.

Is it possible that everything we have believed about creation since childhood and were taught in Bible School is mistaken? This might explain why you have to have your name written in the “Book of Life” to have a chance of salvation. It probably all comes down to “DNA”... ie who you actually are descended from, which could be ‘other than’ Adam and Eve. Might explain a whole lot of what we’re enduring now due to the increasing evil. That “they” are not related to “us”.

https://jesustherebel.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/cain-did-not-marry-his-sister-bible-proves-this-over-and-over/

I don’t know the truth of all this. I only know what I believe... but I suspect we are all going to “find out” eventually. One way or another.

[Philsworld]

24 hour days absolutely clear in the bible, as is the 7th-day Sabbath, in memorial of creation and our Creator.

https://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/days_of_creation_are_literal.pdf

[cuz1961]

Gap theory

Aka

Did God really say ?

Part of the “ you decide” laodician potato head doctrine and god.

[Eccl 10:2]

Your pdf does not address 2 Peter 3:8. So your the evidence you say is “absolutely clear” is absolutely NOT clear.

The pdf is like a prosecution lawyer’s case that conveniently does not take into account the defense’s evidence.

Be a judge that listens to both sides, not an attorney who just presents one.

[Eccl 10:2]

Also, look at Ps 90:4

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.

So, scripture balances scripture. A 24 hour day is man’s invention. “But the word of God lives forever” (Is 40:8).