Genesis chapter one

[JohnR7]

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

There seems to be no end to the discussion over this verse. I suppose it is because of the use of the Hebrew word Yowm. It can mean a 24 hour day, but also it can mean a whole lifetime or era of time.

Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

In this verse Yowm is used to indicate a time of 930 years. There is no singular or plural in the Hebrew, it is the same word.

Then people have trouble with the use of the words "evening" & "morning". What this means is dawn and dusk. It means there is a beginning and a end to this period of time.

This is still a common use of the word day today. We could say back in the day before the invention of the wheel. That does not mean a 24 hour period of time before the wheel was invented. We only know that day came to a end, when the wheel was invented.

People need to use a little bit of common sense sometimes, to understand what is being said.


 

 

[sampo]

But the word Yowm or 'Yom' is used throughout the bible to describe literal days - such as the forty days Moses spent on Mt. Sanai and the three days Jonah was inside the whale.

In fact, the word is used more than 700 times in the OT, and always to describe a literal day.

 

[Matthew]

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

There seems to be no end to the discussion over this verse. I suppose it is because of the use of the Hebrew word Yowm. It can mean a 24 hour day, but also it can mean a whole lifetime or era of time.

The discussion occurs over all of Genesis 1-11 and the subject of creation. And yom is a well understood word with about 5 known meanings (including the one you mentioned).

There is no singular or plural in the Hebrew, it is the same word.

As any beginning student in Hebrew will tell you, that is absolutely incorrect.

Then people have trouble with the use of the words "evening" & "morning". What this means is dawn and dusk. It means there is a beginning and a end to this period of time.

Dawn and dusk is correct. Beginning and end is not. Hebrew has other words to say those things.

This is still a common use of the word day today. We could say back in the day before the invention of the wheel. That does not mean a 24 hour period of time before the wheel was invented. We only know that day came to a end, when the wheel was invented.

Your reasoning shows both a lack of knowledge of Hebrew as well as a misunderstanding of context. In the context of Genesis 1, the Hebrew word refers to a 24-hour day. In the context of your sentence it does not. Those two statements are not similiar.

People need to use a little bit of common sense sometimes, to understand what is being said.

Another part of common sense is to be silent when one is ignorant of the subject matter.

 

[clue]

Preach it, Brother (JohnR7)!



Just wanted to add that when day is used with a number (in this case, first, second, etc.), it is denoting a twenty four period.

 

[Matthew]

In fact, the word is used more than 700 times in the OT, and always to describe a literal day.

Close, but not quite. When used in the plural, without a number and/or the words "morning" and "evening", it can refer to other things (time in general, an instant, a long period of time..., day as opposed to night)

Examples include:Gen 6:4 (in those days), Gen 2:4 ("when the LORD GOD...), Gen 18:1, (heat of the day), Gen 22:14(to this day)

 

[sampo]

My bad. Should have said 'in most instances...'

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by sampo
In fact, the word is used more than 700 times in the OT, and always to describe a literal day.

It is not always used to indiate a 24 hour period of time. It is often used to discribe any number of 24 hour days. The main indication is that time is involved and that time is passing.

Genesis 2:4 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,

Here day is used to indicate the whole time or era in which God created the earth and the heavens.


 


 


 

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by Matthew
In the context of Genesis 1, the Hebrew word refers to a 24-hour day.

Actually, in the beginning a day was not 24 hours. At the beginning of time a day was about 1/ 100,000 of a second. When the earth was 100,000 years old, a day was one second in length. After 6 million years a day was 60 seconds in length. After 360 million years the length of the day was one hour. The earth was 1.8 billion years old, before there was enough day light in a day for grass and trees to grow.

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by sampo
But the word Yowm or 'Yom' is used throughout the bible to describe literal days - such as the forty days Moses spent on Mt. Sanai and the three days Jonah was inside the whale.

In fact, the word is used more than 700 times in the OT, and always to describe a literal day.

Such as the 930-year day Adam lived?

 

[Matthew]

I said:

Your reasoning shows both a lack of knowledge of Hebrew as well as a misunderstanding of context. In the context of Genesis 1, the Hebrew word refers to a 24-hour day. In the context of your sentence it does not. Those two statements are not similiar.

You said:

Actually, in the beginning a day was not 24 hours. At the beginning of time a day was about 1/ 100,000 of a second. When the earth was 100,000 years old, a day was one second in length. After 6 million years a day was 60 seconds in length. After 360 million years the length of the day was one hour. The earth was 1.8 billion years old, before there was enough day light in a day for grass and trees to grow.

I thought you were talking about the text of Genesis 1. I said that "Genesis 1...refers to a 24-hour day". You have given me no reasons (assertions are not reasons) to disbelieve this. For you to convince me you will have to cite Hebrew (without ignorance) or the Biblical text.

Such as the 930-year day Adam lived?

He later said (more accurately) "in most instances". Read my clarification of his post.

 

[seebs]

The point is, it's only in *MOST* instances that Biblical days are 24-hours, requiring us to use common sense in interpreting them. In instances referring to the description of an event which humans observed, happening on a human timescale, they're most often literal, although sometimes they're not (as in the case of the "day" of Adam's life). Our decision on when to use singulars, or plurals, reflects our expectations about the text; it's not necessarily always correct.

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by seebs
The point is, it's only in *MOST* instances that Biblical days are 24-hours,

I believe in *most* instances our understanding of how the Bible handles time leaves a lot to be desired. Look at this one passage alone.

Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The Greek word for world here is kosmos, and that would include the cosmos or the universe, not just the world we live in. The second use of the word "world" is "aion". That denotes the end of an age. Some people call them dispensations.

How many people read this thinking the world is going to come to an end, when that is not the case at all, it is just the end of one age or one dispensation of time.

As Daniel was told:

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

I believe that we are at the time of the end. For those who walk in purity with God, it is time that some of the "secrets" are going to be reveiled. We are going to enter into a better understanding of the Bible then we have ever had before.

It is like a relay race. Many have gone before us, but now it is out turn and this is our day. We need to pick up the work where they left off and run with it.


 


 

 

[sampo]

Well, we could ALL use a better understanding of the bible!

 

[aaron]

Originally posted by JohnR7
Actually, in the beginning a day was not 24 hours. At the beginning of time a day was about 1/ 100,000 of a second. When the earth was 100,000 years old, a day was one second in length. After 6 million years a day was 60 seconds in length. After 360 million years the length of the day was one hour. The earth was 1.8 billion years old, before there was enough day light in a day for grass and trees to grow.

Where and how do you get this? I have never seen anything of the sort.

 

Also sampo awsome avatar. It adds so much. Everytime I read what you post I just here him talking. Good choice, it fits good.

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by Matthew
I thought you were talking about the text of Genesis 1. I said that "Genesis 1...refers to a 24-hour day". You have given me no reasons (assertions are not reasons) to disbelieve this.

Actually, your the one that claims a day is 24 hours, show me in the Bible where it says that is the length of a day. Otherwise, I do not think your going to find a direct reference. The spindown rate of the Earth is just consistant with the way things develop in all of the first chapter in Genesis.

We know from NASA that the earth's spindown rate is one to two seconds every 100,000 years. And we know that the moon is receeding in direct proportion to that spindown rate. In other words, as the earth's spin slows down, that is being transfered to the moon.

Just as we know that the moon is very much a part of the tilt of the axis of the earth and has a direct impact on the seasons. Just as Genesis says.

Genesis 1:14b,16 let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

You see in the Bible, the moon is very much associated with the seasons. Just as Science tells us the moon very much stablizes the tilt of the axis of the earth, allowing for the different seasons.

I do not mean to go over this so fast, but you can only get so much info into one of these posts.


 

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by sampo
Well, we could ALL use a better understanding of the bible!

That is for sure. I have been studying the Bible for over 20 years now. I have read it cover to cover at least 5 times and the more I study it, the more I discover there is to learn.

Of course there are some very practical guidelines on how we are to live our life, and how we are to treat people. If we do not apply what we know to do, that can hinder us in our further understanding of the Bible.

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by aaron
Where and how do you get this? I have never seen anything of the sort. 

The data on the spindown rate of the earth comes from NASA. It is mostly caused by the friction of the tide from the Ocean. We know the tide is caused from the pull of gravity from the moon and the sun.

If you take the known spindown rate and project it back about 4.5 billion years, then a day would be 1/ 100,000 of a second long.

I believe the universe from beginning to end, moves in one steady consistant flow or swirl. Although Genesis chapter one says in creation there were six distinct ages or era's of time. Science says the same thing. They agree with each other on the general order of the events. Some people say there is a disagreement on the length of time involved, but I see no conflict there myself. I believe a lot of what we are learning in the area of science compliments the Bible, it does not conflict with it.

The arguement against the first day only being 1/ 100,000 of a second is that they claim we have no way of knowing the spindown rate is consistant. But I maintain that it is consistant. There is nothing to indicate that there has been anything that would cause the rate to change. You would have to show that at some point in time there was no tide, and than you could say there was no spindown. But as long as there has been a tide, the friction from that is causing the earth's spin rate to slow down and the days are becoming longer over time.   In another 4.5 billion years the day will be 48 hours long. That means there will be only 182 days in a year.

 

[Anthony]

Originally posted by JohnR7
. Although Genesis chapter one says in creation there were six distinct ages or era's of time. Science says the same thing. 

The Bible also said each one of those six distinct units of time, each where marked with a evening and an morning.

And there was evening, and there was morning

 

[JohnR7]

Originally posted by Anthony
The Bible also said each one of those six distinct units of time, each where marked with a evening and an morning.

And there was evening, and there was morning

Yes, there was a beginning and a end to each of the six distinct periods of time. We are talking Hebrew here, not Greek. In the Greek it maybe say that each day had a Alpha and a Omega. A clear and a distinct start and finish. A beginning and a end.

As Author Clark likes to point out, the end is in the beginning and the beginning is in the end. Or you can not have a beginning without a end. Nor can you have a end without a beginning. They both take place in the exact same point in time. The end of one day, is the beginning of the next day.

 

[aaron]

How do you know that the earth is 4.5 billion years old though?

Originally posted by JohnR7
The data on the spindown rate of the earth comes from NASA. It is mostly caused by the friction of the tide from the Ocean. We know the tide is caused from the pull of gravity from the moon and the sun.

If you take the known spindown rate and project it back about 4.5 billion years, then a day would be 1/ 100,000 of a second long.

I believe the universe from beginning to end, moves in one steady consistant flow or swirl. Although Genesis chapter one says in creation there were six distinct ages or era's of time. Science says the same thing. They agree with each other on the general order of the events. Some people say there is a disagreement on the length of time involved, but I see no conflict there myself. I believe a lot of what we are learning in the area of science compliments the Bible, it does not conflict with it.

The arguement against the first day only being 1/ 100,000 of a second is that they claim we have no way of knowing the spindown rate is consistant. But I maintain that it is consistant. There is nothing to indicate that there has been anything that would cause the rate to change. You would have to show that at some point in time there was no tide, and than you could say there was no spindown. But as long as there has been a tide, the friction from that is causing the earth's spin rate to slow down and the days are becoming longer over time.   In another 4.5 billion years the day will be 48 hours long. That means there will be only 182 days in a year.