The "DAYS" of Genesis..................Are they literal 24 hour days or long periods of time?

Question

Anyone who professes to be a Christian cannot look upon those days as long periods of time.The Hebrew word for day(yom) is used 2301 times outside of Genesis. Anytime the word yom is modified by a number;such as 1 st day or second day; or the words morning and evening; it's always translated as a 24 hour day. You need to keep the word in it's syntax. I don't think anyone can translate it as "there was evening and morning, the first billion years". The problem with Christians and long periods of time, the evolutionists say we have 200 plus million of years of fossils. Fossils are dead animals. That means there was millions of years of pain, disease, suffering and death before sin. But Genesis, chapter 3 clearly teaches that pain, disease, suffering and death were the result of sin. Therefore, all the death we see in the fossil record came about after Adam sinned. As Christians, we're looking forward to Christ coming back and restoring Paradise. Do any Christians agree with me?

AF107..........Who calls death a bad thing? The Bible. It's called a curse, and at the end, death will be cast into the lake of fire. Maybe you should reread the Bible.

Booth, in Jewish tradition, the new day start at sunset, so night would precede day.

Gem..............when you look at a word, any word, you have to look at the syntex range. You're right when you say the word DAY when used as "the day of the Lord" is a period of time. But when the word DAY is modified with the words "evening and morning" or with a number; such as 1st day, it's always translated as a 24 hr. day.

Dragon Dog...........You don't need a sun to have evening and morning. All you need is light coming from one direction and a rotating earth.

The first day of Genesis should actually be translated Day One, which is absolute. The other days, the 2nd, 3rd, etc. are all relative to day one.

Answer 1

Why are literal 24 hour days impossible? Remember... this is theology you are talking about.

Why are you trying to fit creationism into evolutionary science? It seems like you are trying to figure out a way to be Christian and view the world believing in scientific doctrine at the same time

Answer 2

You make a good point but you have missed a very important detail. Yes, yom is the Hebrew word for day but this is not the word used in the original Hebrew of Genesis. It was a word that, as close as we can translate, means epoch or undeclared period of time. The KJV scholars in 1611 chose to use the word day because it's much easier to understand and many people don't know the meaning of the word epoch and it would be a pain to write out "undeclared period of time" as the printing press had not yet been invented. "Day" in Genesis does NOT mean a literal 24 hour day.

Answer 3

Many consider the word “day” used in Genesis chapter 1 to mean 24 hours. However, in Genesis 1:5 God himself is said to divide day into a smaller period of time, calling just the light portion “day.” In Genesis 2:4 all the creative periods are called one “day”: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day [all six creative periods] that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.”
The Hebrew word yohm, translated “day,” can mean different lengths of time. Among the meanings possible, William Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies includes the following: “A day; it is frequently put for time in general, or for a long time; a whole period under consideration . . . Day is also put for a particular season or time when any extraordinary event happens.”1 This last sentence appears to fit the creative “days,” for certainly they were periods when extraordinary events were described as happening. It also allows for periods much longer than 24 hours.

Evolutionist? fossils are dead animals and the animals were dieing thousands of years before man started dieing. For this very reason Adam knew what death was.
If you are going to write an instruction book to man then it has to be with some degree in mans understanding.
As we strive to understand we make mistakes but not to the point that we dis-believe our creator?

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Answer 4

What day, was the first day created on? I'm talking about the first day, that the sun came up, and went down. It's hard for me to take something literally, when it clearly states that the first day was on a day, after the first day.

People need to look a little deeper at the account of creation. Try looking for the theme of the story. It's pretty obvious that the authors didn't want you to make a science of their work. Literature, of any sort, is an artform, like humor, if you have to explain it....

Answer 5

Consider, however, that astronomers have long speculated that our star system was once a binary star system, that is, two suns, and no night.

For a very very long long time.

As for sin bringing death, this entire Adam and Eve story is based upon our time in Paradise. Not on Earth.

Paradise is the Garden where God takes His repose.

edit: 87GN brought up an interesting criticism. I will pray for a moment...and let you know about his concerns.

Later: The Lord does not want us to fight amoung ourselves, but that in time, all will be understood with perfect knowledge. Right now, we do not have perfect knowledge.

Answer 6

Literally translated Genesis 1:1 actually says: "In (a) beginning filled the Elohim(plural) the heavens and the earth."

Answer 7

You are correct. The term "yom" is usually used to denote a 24 hour period. In the rare exceptions where it is used otherwise, the context reveals it. And to the "Bible scholar" who voiced her opinion here, ahh, Israel was a nation comprised of 12 tribes, who came from the sons of Jacob. And Moses, who wrote the Pentateuch, was not a "stone age" shepherd, he was educated in the courts of the Pharaoh, and had a top notch education for the day. It is sad when someone considers themselves a Bible scholar yet knows so little about the text.

Also, to the one who mentioned the term "Toldah" in Gen. 2:4, the meaning is as follows:
(plural only) descent, that is, family; (figuratively) history: - birth, generations.
The term "vast" is not there, it was added by you to support your weak position.

Answer 8

I agree on the days part. I wanted to expound a little on the pain and suffering part: Adam and Eve knew no sorrow or hurt before the Fall. They lived in complete comfort and walked and talked with God every day. (Can you imagine?!) But that was before they sinned, and when they sinned, God sent pain and suffering and all that as a punishment - kind of like punishing the whole class for something that one kid did. And that's what we have to deal with. As Christians, we can learn to accept that pain and suffering as growing pains. Of sorts. The more misery, so says Calvin (& Hobbs') dad, the more character.

As to the days thing, I completely agree. There couldn't have been millions of years olf pain, disease, suffering, and death before sin. It just wouldn't have worked.

Answer 9

To God, A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as a day, in God's realm, TIME HAS NO MEANING....When God created the world and everything in it, including Adam and Eve, they were meant to live FOREVER!! including their descendants! But, the devil seduced Eve into eating from the tree she wasnt supposed to, then so did Adam, so, from that day, God could not allow them or their descendants the glory of eternal life knowing good and evil, this world would be insane if God had allowed it.....think about it....yes, it's insane now, but, when Christ returns He will give back that eternal life for those who believe in Him....because Christ conquered DEATH on the cross, He rose from the dead and is alive forevermore!

Answer 10

The days are creative days not literal 24 hour days. Man is concerned with time as in a day, God's time is not as our time. Death came to man as a result of sin, only man was to have eternal life on earth, no animals were, animals were dying before sin entered the world. Don't listen to any yahoos who don't believe in God, they have no place in God's new earth that is soon coming. God will not leave them around to bother those of us who believe in our Creator and his purposes for us and his earth. They have no faith just as God's word says and they say there is no God just as his word says they would. Bible prophesies prove God's word to be true and prove it's origin, these are ungodly people and have no place.