Do Jews take it as literal 24-hr days?

i couldnt even begin to tackle this question.

someone once told me that it takes a lot more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creation. i agree... to a point....

but couldnt it really be more of a combination thing.... like egg foo young and chicken lo mein. they go well together.

Not Jewish but can offer you this.

The word translated to day in Genesis, including chapter 6 when talking about the flood ( Gen 7:13, see below) Is from the Hebrew word "Yom".

Such as Genesis1: 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.


And

Genesis 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

Yom, as in Yom Kippur which is the Day of Atonement. Now there are many, many meanings to this word as a quick look in any concordance can give you.


Here is an online Strong's concordance to do a little study with while you wait for the rest to reply.

Strong's Concordance on the Word " Day"

Hope that helps you a little.

yeah you can go a long way with the word yom. For example even in English we use it for some nondescript time period:

"in our days"
"in those days"
...etc.

As for the Jewish take on it... well I expect there are many opinions on this one, since there wasn't a Victorian period of Judaism that made everything become something to be taken literally, which is what happened in Christianity.

One thing that might make a difference is that in the Hebrew "the" isn't there for most of it.  It reads

"yom echad" = one day, or a first day; "yom sheni" = a second day, "yom shlishi" = a third day, "yom revii" = a fourth day, "yom hamishi" = a fifth day, "yom hashishi" = the sixth day.  For what it's worth. 

I've got a post for this in the Creation/Evolution thread of the Theology forums (Christian only), I'd rather keep it there then stirring up that debate here.

 

My one obligatory Origins thread

Total: 5628 ~ 5628| Deu 28:16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

~

1.
490 ~ 490| Gen 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink Wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 51
2.
4909 ~ 4909| Deu 1:16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17
3.
49091668 ~12712| Est 1:9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
4.
49091668163 ~ 22547| Jon 1:15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16
5.
49091668163380 ~ 29532| Col 3:14 And above all these things put on Charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 17
6.
490916681633801128 ~ 7638| 1Sa 17:19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the philistines. 36
7.
4909166816338011281565 ~ 26155| Joh 3:34 For He whom God hath sent speaketh The Words of God: for God giveth not The Spirit by measure unto Him. (37)
8.
4909166816338011281565225 ~29545| Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with Thanksgiving;

~~

9) 490+4909 ~ 5399 ~ 5399| Deu 18:14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, YHWH thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

10) 5399+12712 ~ 18111 ~ 18111| Isa 24:15 Wherefore Glorify ye YHWH in the fires, even The Name of YHWH God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

11) 18111+22547 ~ 40658 ~ 9556| 2Ki 2:4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for YHWH hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As YHWH Liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

12) 40658+29532 ~ 70190 ~ 7986| 1Sa 30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.

13) 70190+7638 ~ 77828 ~ 15624| Psa 105:17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:

14) 77828+26155 ~ 103983 ~ 10677| 1Ch 11:3 Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before YHWH; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to The word of YHWH by Samuel.

15) 103983+29545 ~ 133528 ~ 9120| 1Ki 11:11 Wherefore YHWH said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept My Covenant and , My Statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

~~~

16) 5399+18111 ~ 23510 ~ 23510| Mat 12:20 A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory.

17) 23510+9556 ~ 33066 ~ 1964| Exo 16:16 This is the thing which YHWH hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

18) 33066+7986 ~ 41052 ~ 9950| 2Ki 15:24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH: he departed not from the sins of jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

19) 41052+15624 ~ 56676 ~ 25574| Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

20) 56676+10677 ~ 67353 ~ 5149| Deu 8:11 Beware that thou forget not YHWH thy God, in not keeping His Commandments, and His Judgments, and His Statutes, which I command thee this day:

21) 67353+9120 ~ 76473 ~ 14269| Psa 25:17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring Thou me out of my distresses.

~~~~

22) 23510+1964 ~ 25474 ~

23) 25474+9950 ~ 35424 ~

24) 35424+25574 ~ 60998 ~

25) 60998+5149 ~ 66147 ~

26) 66147+14269 ~ 80416 ~

_____________________

~

1. ~ 490|
2. ~ 4909|
3. ~12712|
4. ~ 22547|
5. ~ 29532|
6. ~ 7638|
7. ~ 26155|
8. ~29545|

~~

9) ~ 5399|
10) ~ 18111|
11) ~ 9556|
12) ~ 7986|
13) ~ 15624|
14) ~ 10677|
15) ~ 9120|

~~~

16) ~ 23510|
17) ~ 1964|
18) ~ 9950|
19) ~ 25574|
20) ~ 5149|
21) ~ 14269|

_____________________

It all depends on which Jew or Messianic you ask. Yom can mean sunset to sunset OR it can simply refer to a period of time, i.e. "in our day we...", "the day of the dinosaurs," etc.

Day may be negotiable, but not when it specifically
calls for evening and morning.

And for those who don't think YEC vs evolution matters,
why did God lower the lifespans of everything after the
flood? Or do you believe that living up to a thousand years
was another lie told in the bible?

tampasteve said:

It is not common, or really good practice, to resurrect a 14 year old thread....

Click to expand...

With the amount of new people since 2003, sometimes
it helps to dig up some older threads to rehash. It helps
sometimes to look back a few years in order to get out
of the rut of today's news and worries.

The word yom
The Hebrew word for day is yom and this word appears in Scriptures over 1400 times. And without exception this word, when written in the singular sense, means day. And that's it. Never anything else. Eons are indicated with the plural form: days, as in the days of such and such. The most popular counter argument is that the meaning of our word is fiercely restricted to 'day' for about a thousand times in the sequential Scriptures, but in the secluded chapter of Genesis 1 means something completely different! But honestly, if in Genesis 1 our word should have meant 'long time' it would have said 'long time'. There are words available in Hebrew that mean just that. None of which occur in Genesis 1.
The word as used in Genesis 1 means day and day alone. There's no way around it, and every serious theory to make (systematic, not theological) sense out of Genesis 1 should first and foremost address the yom-problem.
The solution lies in the rule we've established four chapters ago:
Hold that thought (11)
In Hebrew Scriptures, and all models derived thereof, entities are reckoned solely after their behavior and not after their appearance. An entity is a behavior, not that which executes the behavior.
To define something, the Hebrew language does not look at outer parameters but always at the action that needs to be named. The time-length of a yom is an outer parameter and not regarded in Hebrew. Since time and space are the four dimensions of space-time, and we measure sizes in the spatial dimensions with a ruler, a clock is a ruler for time. An hour is a 'distance' just like a mile.
A yom is not defined as something that is 24 hours long, but something that executes the action that defines a yom. Strictly spoken, a yom does not even have to have a length, as long as it executes the typical behavior that defines it. Forcing a static 24-hour mold upon the word yom may appear quite pious but flies flat in the face of the Second Commandment.
A yom therefore is a phase of a continuum (whether space-time, complexity or something else) that consists of two periods: a 'dark' part and a 'light' part. During the dark part of a regular day people sleep and are disconnected. During the light part they communicate and work together. Any other manifestation of yom should display the same kind of darkness (elements not connected) and lightness (elements connected).
The yom problem in addressing Genesis 1


Genesis 2:17
but from the tree of discernment of function and dysfunction you will not eat from him, given that in the day you eat from him you will surely die,
bê'yom בְּיוֹם (day
Genesis 1:5
and Elohiym called out to the light,day, and to the darkness he called out, night, and evening existed and morning existed, day one,
yom
יוֹם (day)
The word for day in each of the creation days in the original Hebrew is written differently than the word day for when God said that Adam and Eve would die if they ate of the tree. Translation is stating that difference, interpretation is saying it means the same thing--which it obviously doesn't-one means an evening morning time period, the other means a period of time which can be days, months, years or longer.
http://www.mechanical-translation.org/mt/translation1.html

This point came up in another thread recently: Isn't teaching and debate restricted to Messianic Jews / Gentiles under the 'Read this before you post in this forum' sticky.

Has this rule now been prorogued, or even reversed?

tampasteve said:

Oh, I agree, it is nice to have new threads not related to current news, etc. However, the proper practice would be to start a new thread with the relevant content. The problem is that when one drags up old threads the original people often are not around, so cannot respond for meaningful dialog. Dragging up a thread old enough to drive with a learners permit is different than one a couple months or even a year old.

Click to expand...

The funny thing is I can remember what I was doing on the day of the last old post, April 11, 2003 but I can’t remember what I had for dinner Oct 1st.

Heber Book List said:

This point came up in another thread recently: Isn't teaching and debate restricted to Messianic Jews / Gentiles under the 'Read this before you post in this forum' sticky.

Has this rule now been prorogued, or even reversed?

Click to expand...

No, it hasn't as I was one Gentile that signed up--so did several others.
and what I posted came from a Jewish sight--the Mechanical Translation--one of my favorites.

Heber Book List said:

This point came up in another thread recently: Isn't teaching and debate restricted to Messianic Jews / Gentiles under the 'Read this before you post in this forum' sticky.

Has this rule now been prorogued, or even reversed?

Click to expand...

How do you hold people accountable to a rule made two-three years ago to posts made 14 years ago?

tampasteve said:

Oh, I agree, it is nice to have new threads not related to current news, etc. However, the proper practice would be to start a new thread with the relevant content. The problem is that when one drags up old threads the original people often are not around, so cannot respond for meaningful dialog. Dragging up a thread old enough to drive with a learners permit is different than one a couple months or even a year old.

Click to expand...

Still, it depends on the subject.
Who was worried about Y2K before 2000?
What happened to coming together after 9/11?
Time. People have short memories.

According to the 10 commandments, it was 6 literal days of creation, with a 7th day of resting

This is why we keep the 7th day set-apart: God created heaven & earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th, therefore we work 6 days and rest on the 7th day

Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of יהוה thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days יהוה made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore יהוה blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Click to expand...

Andrew said:

I know this shld belong more in the Creation/Evolution forum but I wld like to know how the Jews -- both non-messianic and messianic -- read the creation account in Genesis.

Does the Hebrew language, grammar, context etc in which the creation account is written, allow for a non-literal 24 hr days? How have the Orthodox Jews read Genesis all along? Just fables? Have they accepted evolution already?

tks

Click to expand...

Dr Gerald Schroeder is an exceptionally uniquely qualified individual to speak on this topic. His credentials are impeccable. Phd physics, MIT. Phd Earth Science, Taught Physics at MIT. Schroeder's formal theological training in biblical, Talmudic and kabbalistic interpretation includes fifteen years of study under the late Rabbi Herman Pollack, Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Rabbi Noah Weinberg.

The issue you have is that we are observing time from the present looking back. Genesis is giving us G-d's perspective from his point going FORWARD.

Schroeder explains this in this short video:


People tend to look at time separately from the space part of the equation and this is a big mistake. A better understanding is SPACE/Time. The distance between 2 objects is really a measurement of time and the less space between those two objects the less time separates that space.

Scripture declares that: Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.

The Principles of Physical Cosmology states: The standard interpretation of the redshift as an effect of the expansion of the universe predicts that the same redshift factors applies to the observed rates of occurance of distant events. (Princeton University Press)

In other words, the principles in reverse apply to the origin point going forward. Or more simply, it is possible that a literal 6 day (24 hour day) does not in any way violate an observed age of the universe from our perspective.

At the creation, 1 minute -----> would = 1million squared from our perspective looking back.

15,000,000,000 / 1,000,000,000,000 (1 million squared= time dialation factor)=.015 (year) * 365 = 5.475 days.

Now, since we know that the speed of light is NOT a constant:
Speed of light not so constant after all

Tthe conclusion is inescapable. The AGE of the universe from the perspective of creation moving forward through time = 6 days.

Even more problematic for the atheist is the fact that Genesis was written down by Moses about 3,000 years ago at time when there was no way for man to have this knowledge