Now as for the word “yom” translated “day” in Genesis 1. It is written that a day unto the Lord “is as” 1,000 years unto man (which means it seems like forever). It has been rightly pointed out that 1,000 is often used symbolically in the Bible as an uncountable number. To humankind at that time, this is what the term represented. Ancient Hebrew did not fathom in terms beyond this. This is why the Scriptures do not mention millions or billions only 1,000s of 1,000s, 100s of 1,000s, 10,000 x 10,000, etc.!
This led SOME early Rabbis and early Church fathers to reckon the first six days as 6,000 years not six 24 hour days, but in fact it could have been much longer (see “the Age of the Universe” by Schroeder). So when we read God is the owner of the cattle of 1,000 hills it represents all cattle not literally 1,000 hills worth.
Scholar Greg Neyman in his Word Study:Yom points out that this word is defined as
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (1980, Moody Press)
"It can denote: 1. the period of light (as contrasted with the period of darkness), 2. the period of twenty-four hours, 3. a general vague "time," 4. a point of time, 5. a year (in the plural; I Sam 27:7; Ex 13:10, etc.)."
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (symbols omitted)
from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), [often used adv.]:--age, + always, + chronicles, continually (-ance), daily, ([birth-], each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, end, evening, (for)ever(lasting), ever(more), full, life, as long as (...live), even now, old, outlived, perpetually, presently, remaining, required, season, since, space, then, (process of) time, as at other times, in trouble, weather (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), whole age, (full) year (-ly), younger
“As you can see, Hebrew dictionaries attest to the fact that the word Yom (day) is used for anywhere from 12 hours up to a year, and even a vague "time period" of unspecified length.”
(note the use of the word years in Genesis where it is said Adam or Noah lived 900 plus years…the Hebrew word ”shaneh” used in these passages actually just means any division or measure of time as an indication of age, and can be used to indicate complete solar years, but could mean seasons, or even full moons…think about this if Adam lived to be 900 plus.
As for “yom”, in Genesis 1:5 it is a period of light. Genesis 1:14 it is more than one day. In Genesis 2:4 Yom is the entire creation period. Genesis 4:3, it says "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." Yom = a complete process of time. In Genesis 18:11; and 21:2,7 it means old age (see Genesis 47). Genesis 40:4, "...and they continued a season inward." Here it is a non-defined season.
Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New
Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan [1883] 1909), 390. says:
As we have found the number ten to symbolize the general idea of fullness, totality, completeness, so not improbably the number one thousand may stand as the symbolic number of manifold fullness, the rounded aeon of Messianic triumph. . . , during which he shall abolish all rule and all authority and power, and put all his enemies under his feet (1 Cor. xv, 24, 25), and bring in the fullness . . . of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. xi, 12, 25).3
John J. Davis, who taught Hebrew at Grace Theological Seminary, comments “Here are some examples where “thousand” is used in a literal way: Genesis 20:16; Numbers 31:4–6; 35:4; Judges 9:49; 15:5–16; 1 Samuel 4:2; 18:13; 2 Samuel 19:17; 2 Kings 15:19; 24:16; Nehemiah 3:13...but…
“Sometimes the number 1000 is employed to describe an indefinite amount as in Deuteronomy 1:11 and 7:9.”
“May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you, just as He promised you!” (Deut. 1:11).
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10)
“Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9).
Scholar Gary Demar sees this as possibly causing a dilemma when he points out “What should we make of the phrase “a thousand-fold”? Notice the comparison to the stars of heaven in Deuteronomy 1:10 (cf. Gen. 15:5): “You are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Now if the number of Israelites was at that time comparable to the number of stars in heaven, of which there are billions, and God promised to multiply that number by a thousand, the literalist has some serious interpretive problems on his hands.”
And finally as William Plumer in Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrine and
Practical Remarks (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, [1867] 1975), 932. He points out a thousand in the Bible can be “A large definite number is put for pertuity. God’s faithfulness is unto all generations, Ps. cxix.90.” Psalm 119:90 reads: “Thy faithfulness continues to all generations. . . .” So which is it, “to all generations” or to “a thousand generations”? Once again, “thousand” represents more than a literal interpretation of the number.”
So the use of the concept of a thousand or thousands in the thinking and language of the Hebrews who the Spirit breathed through to write the scriptures apply the concept in a few different ways, One as literal, one as hyperbole, and another to represent any uncountable number. Their language also posed certain limitations…they had no word for million or billion and that is why we only see them speak in terms of thousands of thousands or by Hebraisms like 10,000 x 10,000 and so on.
Than finally the word “day” is also the same…Moses Himself in the book of Genesis uses “yom” as a literal day, the daylight portion of a day, a generation, 40 plus years, and even as “always” and “forever”.
The uses by this same author in this same book range all the way to forever. Moses uses the word in all these varied ways all throughout the Torah so as for use and etymology it could mean a part of a day, a literal 24 hour period, 1,000 years of any segment therein or beyond. One argument that is worth considering however our understanding that a day can only mean (not you) 24 literal hours is brought into question in that this definition is dependent on a created earth which makes one rotation in relation to a created sun…yet these did not exist until after day three…
Greg Neyman goes on to tell us, Moses, the author of the first five books of the Bible, and of Psalm 90, used Yom in many different ways.
Genesis 4:3 "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." In this instance, Yom refers to a growing season, probably several months.
Genesis 43:9 "...then let me bear the blame for ever." Here, Moses uses Yom to represent eternity
Genesis 44:32 "...then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever." Again, Moses uses Yom to represent eternity
Deuteronomy 4:40 "...that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth the, for ever." Here Yom represents a physical lifetime
Deuteronomy 10:10, "Now I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time,..." Here, Yom is a "time" equal to forty days.
Deuteronomy 18:5 "...to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever." Again, Yom is translated as eternity
Deuteronomy 19:9 "...to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in His ways..." Here, Yom represents a lifetime. As long as we live we are to walk in his ways
As you can see, Moses used the word Yom to represent 12-hours, 24 hours, the creative week, forty days, several months, a lifetime, and eternity.
Now consider how can there be a counting of days as a literal 24 hour cycle before there was a Sun and rotating earth since 24 hours is a construct relative ONLY to that cosmic relationship? Who then can KNOW days 1 through three were a literal 24 hour cycle? But these ancient people had to be able to relate to the concepts in a form they could grasp. This is why the Prophets (and Jesus) speak in terms of Vineyards, Shepherding, Fishing, etc.)
Paul