How likely was the first day to be a duration of 24 hours as we know it?

[tonychanyt]

International System of Units defines an hour = 3,600 seconds. A second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.

Genesis 1:

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Darkness was first.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The light was next.

4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

Darkness was followed by light.

5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

The usage of "night" here was related to the darkness in verse 2. The usage of "day" here was related to the creation of the light and not the sun. Here, I define the first day as the time elapsed from Genesis 1:2 to 1:5.

Could the first day be defined as a 24-hour earthly solar day?

I doubt it. The flow of time is not absolute but a relativistic experience. It depends on the local gravity or acceleration exerted on the time observer. To my reading, the first day seems short. God was the observer, 2 Peter 3:

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

This is not an equation but a simile. God is timeless and above time. No human observers were there to experience the first day. The first day marked the creation of light and delineated it from the creation of the following day. These days were markers of milestones and achievements placed by God. They are not related to the scientific SI definitions.

See also How old is the earth?.

 

[awstar]

How likely was the first day a 24-hour period?

100% if you use the meaning of an hour as one of the 24 equal parts of a day.

How likely was the first day a 24-hour earthly solar day?

0% since the sun wasn’t even created yet.



By the way, “hour” is also used to denote 15 degrees of the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the point in question above the Earth. (its right ascension)

 

[tonychanyt]

100% if you use the meaning of an hour as one of the 24 equal parts of a day.

I elaborated in my OP. Take another look. Thanks.

 

[awstar]

International System of Units defines an hour = 3,600 seconds. A second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.

Looks good. I especially like the reference to the precision of the atomic clock.

But the earth's rotation itself is rather precise. Especially considering what almost every person on the planet believes to be true. That the earth is speeding through the solar system at 67,000 miles per hour; dragging the moon with it, with the earth quaking and oceans sloshing. And yet...

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, from 1973 to 2008 the variation in Earth’s spin has ranged from plus 4 milliseconds to minus 1 millisecond (per day) That’s a range of 86400.004 to 86399.999 seconds per day.

Makes you wonder if the earth isn't fixed -- and the sun, moon and stars are actually moving around us, just as we see it when we look at the sky. If that turns out to be the case, God could slow everything down just a slow as He needed to, in order to get things put together as He pleased within each day.

 

[BobRyan]

International System of Units defines an hour = 3,600 seconds. A second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.

Genesis 1:


Darkness was first.


The light was next.


Darkness was followed by light.


The usage of "night" here was related to the darkness in verse 2. The usage of "day" here was related to the creation of the light and not the sun. Here, I define the first day as the time elapsed from Genesis 1:2 to 1:5.

Could the first day be defined as a 24-hour earthly solar day?

I doubt it. The flow of time is not absolute but a relativistic experience. It depends on the local gravity or acceleration exerted on the time observer. To my reading, the first day seems short. God was the observer, 2 Peter 3:


This is not an equation but a simile. God is timeless and above time.

God has proven many times that He is capable of accurately conveying exact time quantity to humans. His ability to communicate well cannot be doubted.

Earth's rotation determines the duration for a day - and no science known to man today - claims that Earth rotated suddenly at different rates 6000 years ago.

So scientifically one could say "no - the earth did not rotate at some other rate 6000 years ago" -- at least to a point.

All that is needed to have a day / night sequence similar to the one we have today - is to have the Earth rotate at basically the same speed and to have a light source on one side of it -- no matter what that light source is. If at the start of day 1 -- the light source is on the opposite side -- then the night/day sequence could be the exact same as would have been in place in Ex 20:11 at Sinai, from a given observation reference point on Earth.

That much is not beyond the realm of reason.

 

[awstar]

Earth's rotation determines the duration for a day - and no science known to man today - claims that Earth rotated suddenly at different rates 6000 years ago.

So scientifically one could say "no - the earth did not rotate at some other rate 6000 years ago" -- at least to a point.

The two sentences: “the sun is at rest and the earth moves” or “the sun moves and the earth is at rest” would simply mean two different conventions concerning two different CS [coordinate systems].” — Albert Einstein 1938

“No physical experiment has ever proved that the Earth actually is in motion.” - Lincoln Barnett [Historian Lincoln Barnett – “The Universe and Dr. Einstein”]

 

[tonychanyt]

God has proven many times that He is capable of accurately conveying exact time quantity to humans. His ability to communicate well cannot be doubted.

Earth's rotation determines the duration for a day - and no science known to man today - claims that Earth rotated suddenly at different rates 6000 years ago.

So scientifically one could say "no - the earth did not rotate at some other rate 6000 years ago" -- at least to a point.

All that is needed to have a day / night sequence similar to the one we have today - is to have the Earth rotate at basically the same speed and to have a light source on one side of it -- no matter what that light source is. If at the start of day 1 -- the light source is on the opposite side -- then the night/day sequence could be the exact same as would have been in place in Ex 20:11 at Sinai, from a given observation reference point on Earth.

That much is not beyond the realm of reason.

Sorry that I am slow. I am not sure exactly what your point is. Can you quote my words and contradict them?

 

[Diamond72]

Could the first day be defined as a 24-hour earthly solar day?

I doubt it. The flow of time is not absolute but a relativistic experience. It depends on the local gravity or acceleration exerted on the time observer. To my reading, the first day seems short. God was the observer, 2 Peter 3:

The position of the other planets at any given time creates a wobble effect that is difficult to determine how long any give day is. When the Earth and Moon were around 30,000 years old, a day lasted only about six hours. The Moon was much closer to our planet at that time1. Einstein is clear that time is relative, so for example at the speed of light there is no time. So we can look at the universe 12 billion years ago to see what the Universe looked like at that time.

 

[Yuwang]

International System of Units defines an hour = 3,600 seconds. A second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.

Genesis 1:


Darkness was first.


The light was next.


Darkness was followed by light.


The usage of "night" here was related to the darkness in verse 2. The usage of "day" here was related to the creation of the light and not the sun. Here, I define the first day as the time elapsed from Genesis 1:2 to 1:5.

Could the first day be defined as a 24-hour earthly solar day?

I doubt it. The flow of time is not absolute but a relativistic experience. It depends on the local gravity or acceleration exerted on the time observer. To my reading, the first day seems short. God was the observer, 2 Peter 3:


This is not an equation but a simile. God is timeless and above time. No human observers were there to experience the first day. The first day marked the creation of light and delineated it from the creation of the following day. These days were markers of milestones and achievements placed by God. They are not related to the scientific SI definitions.

See also How old is the earth?.

The word "Day" in Genesis 1 in Aramaic is Heat which means the process, effort & thought, all of which is heat.
Therefore, those "heats" could take a long time from the human standpoint. There is no sense in defining the time to create as it occurred in stages that could have varied much time wise. Besides, what is time to Yahveh, the Creator of all things?