YECism, it would have been a valid, honorable, Biblical position, in the 60s. And definitely going back to the scopes trials in the 20s and 30s.
But you have to understand. Biblical scholarship has moved on. Enough is known about the context of the Bible, that it's known, comfortably, by a consensus of old testament scholars, that the Bible is written in an ancient near east context.
With discoveries of things like the dead sea scrolls for example. As Biblical texts are discovered, their context is illuminated. As other documents of qumran are discovered, the context of scripture is illuminated.
And the Bibles context, Genesis more specifically, and the old testament, is of the ancient near east.
And what that means, quite simply, is that Genesis is not talking about the age of the earth. It's talking about God's temple.
The 7 days are not about the age of the earth. They're about a temple. And the Bible tells us that plainly. See my quoted passages.
Here's some summary texts to help,
@Derf
Just look at what the Bible says. The 7th day, God rests. Well what does that mean? The Bible tells us plainly, God rests on His throne. The throne of His temple.
And 7 days is even noted as the time of Solomons temple inauguration and a 7 day feast, after construction in 7 years completed on the 7th month. And the tabernacle is constructed in 7 stages. The temple imagery is blatant in Genesis with Adam and Eve given priestly duties. The ancient near east temples throughout the Bible and in History are also universally decorated to reflect heaven on earth.
It just is what it is. Genesis is talking about a temple. And everyone who has studied Genesis knows this. It has nothing to do with the age of the earth.
This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house [temple] you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
Isaiah 66:1
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes see, His eyelids test the sons of mankind.
Psalms 11:4
“Now then arise, Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.
2 Chronicles 6:41
Until I find a place for the Lord, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Let’s go into His dwelling place; Let’s worship at His footstool. Arise, Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. ¶For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it as His dwelling place. “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell [sit enthroned NIV], for I have desired it.
Psalms 132:5, 7-8, 13-14
And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you.
Leviticus 8:33
temple priest ordination in 7 days.
And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
1 Kings 6:38
The Temple constructed in 7 years.
And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
1 Kings 8:2
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!
Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive.
1 King 8:27
Inauguation feast on the 7th month.
So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.
1 Kings 8:65
Temple inauguration feast, seven days.
temple dedicated to God on the 7th day of the 7th month, after 7 years, and what does God do?
And I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
1 Kings 6:13
As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places,
Ezekiel 43:4-7 ESV
God fills and dwells in the temple and rests.
genesis 1 split into 7 days to recognize the action of God taking presence in his temple. Kind of like a ceremony on which God prepares creation for His rulership.
- In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the tabernacle was set up.
1. And Moses raised the tabernacle, and he placed its bases, and he set up its frames, and he placed its bars, and he raised its pillars. And he spread the tent over the tabernacle; he placed the covering of the tent over it, above it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
2. And he took and he put the testimony into the ark, and he placed the poles on the ark, and he put the atonement cover on the ark, above it. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and he set up the curtain of the screening, and he shielded the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
3. And he put the table in the tent of assembly on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain. And he arranged on it an arrangement of bread before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
4. And he placed the lampstand in the tent of assembly opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. And he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
5. And he placed the gold altar in the tent of assembly before the curtain. And he turned fragrant incense into smoke on it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
6. And he set up the entrance screen for the tabernacle. And the altar of burnt offering he placed at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of assembly, and he offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
7. And he placed the basin between the tent of assembly and the altar, and he put there water for washing. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it. At their going into the tent of assembly and at their approaching the altar, they washed, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
-. And he set up the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen of the gate of the courtyard, and Moses completed the work.
Exodus 40:17-33 LEB
Let us go to his dwelling places; Let us worship at his footstool. Arise, O Yahweh, to your resting place, you and your mighty ark. For Yahweh has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation. “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell [sit enthroned NIV] for I have desired it.
Psalms 132:7-8, 13-14
Read above. Psalm 132, God rests where He dwells, on His throne where he sits.
and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
Genesis 2:12
This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,
Exodus 25:3
onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece.
Exodus 25:7
He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:24
You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy seat.
Exodus 25:18
So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
Genesis 2:3
You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people.
Exodus 31:14
*God blessed them*, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” *God saw* everything that he had made and, *behold*, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.
Genesis 1:31 LEB
And *Moses saw* all the work, and *behold*, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then *Moses blessed them*.
Exodus 39:43 ESV
The Hebrew word ‘abad (עבד) can be translated as “to work,” “to serve,” or “to worship.” It is a common verb and is often used for cultivating the soil (Genesis 2:5, 3:23, 4:2,12). However, the word is also commonly used in a religious sense of serving God (Deuteronomy 4:19) and in priestly texts, especially regarding the tabernacle duties of the Levites (Numbers 3:7-8, 4:23-24, 4:26).
The second Hebrew word, translated as “to keep,” is shamar (שמר), which is commonly used for a priestly service of worship, as well as in legal texts of observing religious commands and duties (Leviticus 18:5). The word is also used for the Levitical responsibility of guarding the tabernacle from intruders (Numbers 1:53, 3:7-8)
I have often read and taught on the temple-imagery in Genesis 1–2, where the Garden of Eden is portrayed by Moses as the prototypical tabernacle. I have also read and taught how the tabernacl…
davidschrock.com
He adorns Her with the covering of Her flesh.
She tears Her clothing.
On the second day
He adorns Her in the two rivers.
She sets a pot on the fire
A vessel on top of the coals.
Behold a day and a second,
The fire eats into the house,
The flame into the palace.
A fifth, a sixth day,
The fire eats into the house,
The flame in the midst of the palace.
Behold, on the seventh day,
The fire departs from the house,
The flame from the palace.
Silver turns from blocks,
Gold is turned from bricks.
baal cycle
House of the anuna gods possessing great power, which gives wisdom to the people, house, reposeful dwelling of the great gods! House, which was planned together with a plans of heaven and Earth. House which underpins the Land and supports the shrines! -Sumerian Temple Hymn of Kes.
When Anu, Enlil, and Ea had a first idea of heaven and Earth, that they found a wise means of providing support for the gods: They prepared, in the land, a pleasant dwelling. And the gods were installed in this dwelling: their principal Temple. Then they entrusted to the king the responsibility of assuring them their regular choice offerings. and for the feast of the gods, they established the required food offering! The gods loved this dwelling!
-akkadian prayer, temple dedication.
Gudea, you were building my house for me, and were having The offices perform to perfection for me, You had my house shine for me, like Utu and heaven's midst, separating. Like a lofty foothill range, heaven from Earth.
No holy house, no house of the gods, had been built in a pure place;
No reed had come forth, no tree had been created;
No brick had been laid, no brickmold had been created;
No house bad been built; no city had been created;
No city had been built, no settlement had been founded;
Nippur had not been built, Ekur had not been created;
The depths had not been built, Eridu had not been created;
No holy house, no house of the gods, no dwelling for them had been created.
All the world was sea,
The spring in the midst of the sea was only a channel,
Then was Eridu built, Esagila (temple) was created.
The last few are extrabiblical ancient near east texts that also describe heaven and earth as a temple and temples constructed in 7 days.
