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How Long Were the Days of Genesis 1? What Did God Intend Us to Understand From the Words He Used?
PatriotandLiberty ^ | 2023 | Russell Grigg

Posted on 08/20/2023 1:39:04 AM PDT by spirited irish

Were the days of Creation Week of 24 hours duration or were they long periods of time? This article will discuss the Hebrew ‘time’ words which the author had available to him and what meaning he intended to convey by his choice of the specific words he used.

(Excerpt) Read more at patriotandliberty.com ...


TOPICS: History; Theology
KEYWORDS: creation; genesis
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To: Eccl 10:2
---->Your pdf does not address 2 Peter 3:8, (etc...)

No, but this does:

The evening and the morning were the first day:

"The evening and the morning were the first day. Literally “evening was, morning was, day one.” Thus the cryptic description of the first momentous day of God’s creation week closes. Many and diversified explanations of this statement have been given. It indicates clearly the duration of each of the seven parts of the creation week, and is repeated five more times in this chapter (vs. 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). Some have thought creative act lasted one night, from the evening to the morning; and others, that every day began with the morning, although the Inspired Record states plainly that the evening preceded the morning.

Many scholars have taken this expression to mean a long, indefinite period of time, believing that some of the divine activities of the following days, as for instance the creation of the plants and animals, could not have been accomplished within a literal day. They think they find a justification for this interpretation in the words of Peter, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8). That this text cannot be used to ascertain the length of the creation days is obvious when one reads the rest of the verse, “and a thousand years as one day.” The context of Peter’s words makes it clear that he wishes to stress the timelessness of God. The Creator can do in a day the work of a thousand years, and a period of a thousand years, a long time for those waiting for God’s judgments to be fulfilled, may be considered by Him as only one day. Psalms 90:4 conveys the same thought.

The literal statement “evening was [with the following hours of the night], and morning was [with the succeeding hours of the day], day one” is clearly a description of an astronomical day, that is, a day of 24 hours’ duration. It is the equivalent of the later Hebrew compound “evening-morning” of Dan. 8:14, which the KJV has translated “days,” here meaning prophetic days, and of Paul’s Greek word, nuchthemeron, translated “a night and a day” (2 Cor. 11:25). Thus the Hebrews, who were never in doubt about the meaning of this expression, began the day with sunset and ended it with the following sunset (Lev. 23:32; Deut. 16:6). Furthermore, the language of the fourth commandment leaves no shadow of doubt that the evening and morning of the creation record are the component sections of an earthly day. This commandment, referring in unmistakable words to the week of creation, declares, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day” (Ex. 20:11).

The tenacity with which so many commentators cling to the idea that the days of creation were long periods of time, even thousands of years, largely finds its explanation in the fact that they attempt to make the inspired creation record agree with the theory of evolution. Geologists and biologists have taught men to believe that this earth’s early history covers millions of years, in which the geological formations were slowly taking shape and living species were evolving. Throughout its sacred pages the Bible contradicts this evolution theory. The belief in a divine and instantaneous creation as the result of words spoken by God stands in complete opposition to the theory held by the majority of scientists and many theologians today that the world and all upon it came into being through a slow process of evolution lasting for untold ages.

Another reason why many commentators declare that the days of creation were long periods of time is that they reject the seventh-day Sabbath. A famous commentary thus expresses this thought: “The duration of the seventh day of necessity determines the length of the other six. … God’s sabbatic rest is understood by the best interpreters of Scripture to have continued from creation’s close until the present hour; so that consistency demands the previous six days to be considered as not of short, but of indefinite, duration” (Pulpit). This kind of reasoning moves in a circle. Because the seventh-day Sabbath, so clearly defined in Holy Scripture as a weekly recurring day of rest, is rejected as such, the seventh day of the creation week is declared to have lasted to the present time. On the basis of this un-Scriptural explanation the duration of all other creation days is also expanded. Sound Scriptural interpretation has no sympathy with this kind of reasoning, but insists on giving a literal meaning to the text, following the example of the divine Expounder of the Word, who parried every attack of the adversary by declaring, “It is written” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).

The Scriptures speak clearly and plainly of seven days of creation (Ex. 20:11) and not of periods of undefined duration. We are therefore bound to declare emphatically that the first day of creation, indicated by the expression in Hebrew, “evening was, morning was, day one,” was a 24-hour day.

41 posted on 08/20/2023 9:10:35 AM PDT by Philsworld
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To: Eccl 10:2

I take it you aren’t a fan of the 7th-day-Sabbath commandment? That’s basically where the rubber hits the road.


42 posted on 08/20/2023 9:20:20 AM PDT by Philsworld
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To: Philsworld

Amen. And to be clear, Jesus didn’t need 6 days to create all. He could have created all with a thought. But he used 6 days to show us how to live.....thus the 7 day cycle. 6 days to work and a Sabbath. It’s all in the fourth commandment.

The happiest people on earth are those who’s lives are engaged in constructive productive work and then THE Sabbath day to rest, both physical and spiritual rest and worship our creator. The Sabbath was made for man.


43 posted on 08/20/2023 9:36:30 AM PDT by vespa300
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To: Philsworld

Again, you’re arguing like an attorney, not a judge.

God doesn’t think like us. Is 55:8-9.

I just think it’s presumptuous to limit God in the way you are attempting to.

We’ll find out in the end. At least I know I will (Rom 10:9).


44 posted on 08/20/2023 9:41:45 AM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Prov 3:5 --- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding")
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To: Danie_2023

If any thought or anything other than God the Father. Jesus the Son. And the Holy Spirit. .. Created.made our earth and us.. it would take away the Holy God and the perfect Sacrifice,Jesus.
We did not come from apes nor any other creation.. only God.
My son, a promising musician, came down with leukemia. Thru many prayers for his healing, Jesus took him to heaven and let him come back. What he saw was **words are insufficient to describe**.

He went to glory a few weeks later and that vision helped me get thru losing a son.

Whatever it is.. it’s real! God is a loving heavenly Father..


45 posted on 08/20/2023 10:56:32 AM PDT by frnewsjunkie
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To: spirited irish

Trust the science.


46 posted on 08/20/2023 10:58:24 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy
Since DNA had not had time to build up genetic impurities yet,

We know this how?

47 posted on 08/20/2023 10:59:53 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Raycpa

Bingo!


48 posted on 08/20/2023 11:00:38 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: MAAG

Select the right numbers to either divide by or multiply by will get you all kinds of interesting other numbers.


49 posted on 08/20/2023 11:02:28 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Danie_2023

My son wrote down what he saw..who he saw.. he was a skeptic .. seeing heaven changed that in an instant.


50 posted on 08/20/2023 11:02:39 AM PDT by frnewsjunkie
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To: MAAG
It faces due North more accurately than we can position buildings today ...

Yeah; sure...

51 posted on 08/20/2023 11:05:35 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: EBH

Chapter one is a brief synopsis of the early history of earth.


52 posted on 08/20/2023 11:08:19 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: EBH

From there, it goes into finer detail.


53 posted on 08/20/2023 11:08:59 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: ViLaLuz

Longer?

My days are getting shorter!


54 posted on 08/20/2023 11:09:37 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom
I’ve read some of his writings on the age of the universe

The Bible was written by God. We measure time from our perspective. But time is not a constant. In his book, he has a chart that by shows the six days of creation side by side with a scriptural description and a ‘scientific’ description of events. Truly amazing.

55 posted on 08/20/2023 11:27:25 AM PDT by FatherofFive (I support Trump. Not the GOP)
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To: frnewsjunkie

“He went to glory a few weeks later and that vision helped me get thru losing a son.

Whatever it is.. it’s real! God is a loving heavenly Father..”

It confirms so many NDEs where the people that died did NOT want to come back and felt robbed when they were resuscitated and brought back to life. A brief glimpse of Heaven and then back to this hell on earth... I can relate to their remorse totally.... except that at least those folks knew exactly what to look forward to. That’s a blessing.


56 posted on 08/20/2023 12:19:56 PM PDT by Danie_2023
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To: EBH

i got a question what happened between gen 1 when mn was created in gods likeness, and gen 2 when got created adam first then Eve?


57 posted on 08/20/2023 12:39:18 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: Elsie

Lol lol elsie!! I can relate.


58 posted on 08/20/2023 1:02:15 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: FatherofFive

I’ll look into getting the book.

There have been some articles posted here on FR title *The Age of the Universe* that summarized it.


59 posted on 08/20/2023 1:20:03 PM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: Eccl 10:2

——>God doesn’t think like us.

Those who wrote down the inspired scripture sure enough did


60 posted on 08/20/2023 1:30:38 PM PDT by Philsworld
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