Is this where you tell us the length of an hour is arbitrary, so a "day" is really only one revolution of the earth?
Hi jipsah,
Well of course the length of an hour is arbitrary. God's word never discusses hours in the creation event. That we have 24 hours in a day is a construct of man in breaking down the length of a day into further, more manageable parts. Then from hours we get minutes and seconds, but all of that is merely based on breaking down each of those smaller divisions of the time of day into 60 equal parts. We could just as well have 26 hours in a day with each one broken into 50 smaller parts of minutes and seconds.
But, the day, has always been, and if you look into any of the measurements of days on any of the other planets in our solar system and beyond, based on the length of time that it takes for that heavenly body to complete a rotation upon its axis. A day is not arbitrary and any scientist worth his salt will tell you that the measurement of a day on any heavenly body is the time it takes that body to make one full rotation.
A day on Mars, for instance, is equivalent to 37 minutes, as measured by our time, but that 37 minute long day is determined by measuring how long it takes the planet of Mars to make one full rotation. So, if one is living on Mars, then his day would last 37 minutes, according to time measured upon the earth. A day on Venus, on the other hand is very, very long in comparison to our day, but it is still determined by the length of time it takes Venus to make a full rotation on its axis. A day on Venus is the length of 116 or our days and 18 hours. But still, if you lived on Venus your day would be that long and likely then divided into smaller parts of some other length than our hour, minutes and seconds.
So, if, when God spoke the earth into existence covered in water as it were, and it was immediately spinning on its axis about the same speed that it is spinning today on its axis, then a day would pass in about 24 hours even though there would be no sun or moon in the entire heavens. The sun could implode and become non-existent tomorrow and days would still pass upon the earth so long as the earth remained in its place spinning on its axis. They'd be pretty dark and some claim pretty cold, although our atmosphere would keep heat in for at least a while, just as it does at nighttime now. There would also be no moon to see since the light of the moon is really a reflection of the light of the sun. It would be somewhat like the long night in Alaska where you could look up into the heavens pretty much 24 hours a day and all you will see is the stars scattered about the heavens. But, days would continue to pass upon the earth.
Here's a link to explain it for you:
https://prezi.com/fraqt87myqyz/what-determines-the-length-of-a-day/
Day: the time it takes a planet to complete one full rotation on its axis. Rotation The Earth rotates in a clockwise motion around its axis.
Yes, it is agreed that the days wouldn't be like the days that we are accustomed to by the rising of the sun and moon, but they would still be days. Neither were the 6 days of the creation event anything like any day that we have ever experienced, but there would have been days to pass even before the sun and moon, if the earth was spinning on its axis.
God bless,
In Christ, ted