The evening and the morning was a day described perfectly. You can disagree but what the Bible says is what the Bible says. Moses was in the wilderness 40 years not 40 days. Funny the Bible is not a historical document but it’s the first thing archaeologist refer to when they find something. History supports a 6000 year old earth.
Yes and the Bible says that Moses did not eat or drink for 40 days and 40 nights. But the Bible here is not conveying a scientifically literal statement. As human beings cannot go even just 72 hours without water, let alone 40 days.
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight.
Deuteronomy 9:18 NRSV
Throughout the forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate before the Lord when the Lord intended to destroy you,
Deuteronomy 9:25 NRSV
also, 7 is used in excess to denote figurative concepts related to completion. The number 7 is used in the Bible some 700 times. Whereas other numbers are not used anywhere near as frequently.
The words of Yahweh are pure words like silver refined in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times.
Psalms 12:6
“At the end of seven years you shall grant a remission of debt.
Deuteronomy 15:1
Then Peter came up to him and said, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I will forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven!
Matthew 18:21-22
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, you must wash seven times in the Jordan, then your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be clean.”
2 Kings 5:10
And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” in order that they could accuse him.
Matthew 12:10 (Jesus would heal on the 7th day)
A man with a deformed hand (Matthew 12:9-13); A man possessed by an unclean spirit (Mark 1:23-26); Peter’s mother-in-law with fever (Mark 1:29-31); A woman crippled by a spirit (Luke 13:10-13); A man with abnormal swelling of the body (Luke 14:1-4); A lame man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:5-9); and A man born blind (John 9:1-7).
So now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal with me falsely, or with my descendants, or my posterity. According to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall pledge to do with me and with the land where you have dwelled as an alien.” And Abraham said, “I swear.” And Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. And the two of them made a covenant. Then Abraham set off seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe-lambs that you have set off by themselves?” And he said, “You shall take the seven ewe-lambs from my hand as proof on my behalf that I dug this well.”
Genesis 21:23-24, 27-30
(well of the oath or well of 7)
Then on the seventh day they rose early at dawn, and they marched around the city in this manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time the priests blew on the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.
Joshua 6:15-16
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “This is what the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand says, the one who walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands: “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “This is what the first and the last says, who was dead and came to life: “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “This is what the one who has the sharp double-edged sword says: “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “This is what the Son of God says, the one who has his eyes like a fiery flame and his feet like fine bronze:
Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: “This is what the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: ‘I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “This is what the holy one, the true one, the one who has the key of David, the one who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one can open, says: “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “This is what the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation, says:
Revelation 3:1, 7, 14
(7 churches of revelation)
And I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying like the sound of thunder, “Come!”
Revelation 6:1
And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation 8:1
And the seventh angel blew the trumpet, and there was a loud voice in heaven saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 11:15
And I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
Revelation 16:1
And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you.
Leviticus 8:33
temple priest ordination in 7 days.
And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
1 Kings 6:38
The Temple constructed in 7 years.
And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
1 Kings 8:2
Inauguation feast on the 7th month.
So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.
1 Kings 8:65 ESV
Temple inauguration feast on the 7th day.
temple dedicated to God on the 7th day of the 7th month, after 7 years, and what does God do?
And I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will not forsake my people Israel.”
1 Kings 6:13 LEB
God rests.
genesis 1 split into 7 days to recognize the action of God taking presence in his temple. Kind of like a ceremony on which God prepares creation for His rulership.
- In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the tabernacle was set up.
1. And Moses raised the tabernacle, and he placed its bases, and he set up its frames, and he placed its bars, and he raised its pillars. And he spread the tent over the tabernacle; he placed the covering of the tent over it, above it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
2. And he took and he put the testimony into the ark, and he placed the poles on the ark, and he put the atonement cover on the ark, above it. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and he set up the curtain of the screening, and he shielded the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
3. And he put the table in the tent of assembly on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain. And he arranged on it an arrangement of bread before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
4. And he placed the lampstand in the tent of assembly opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. And he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
5. And he placed the gold altar in the tent of assembly before the curtain. And he turned fragrant incense into smoke on it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
6. And he set up the entrance screen for the tabernacle. And the altar of burnt offering he placed at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of assembly, and he offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
7. And he placed the basin between the tent of assembly and the altar, and he put there water for washing. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it. At their going into the tent of assembly and at their approaching the altar, they washed, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
-. And he set up the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen of the gate of the courtyard, and Moses completed the work.
Exodus 40:17-33 LEB
Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
Genesis 4:15, 24 NRSV
Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years; and he died.
Genesis 5:31 NRSV
And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
Genesis 2:2-3 NRSV
Just like Moses not eating or drinking for 40 days, or 7 angels pouring 7 bowls of God's wrath upon the earth in revelation. the Bible uses numbers to communicate ideas. It's not about scientific literalism. And the same is true of the 7 days of Genesis creation.
