Paul the Poke

Genesis 1:5b And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Come on now, did God really make everything in six days? How many times has that question been posed? Why not? He can do whatever He wants, He is God. Time is irrelevant. God created time as noted in the discussion below. In addition, God is outside of time and space as we know it. God is omnipotent. Psalm 135:5-6 For I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

A challenge to the culture and the critic, open your mind to an alternative perspective. Free your mind to the possibilities of what God can do. Don’t be so narrow-minded and intolerant to what God says. Do you really know what the Bible says, not likely. Read it and make an informed decision, enough of the ignorance.

Here is how God defines a day. The Hebrew word for day is “yom”. Two things are required to make a “yom” or day, an evening and a morning. The Hebrew word for evening is “ereb”. It means an evening, night, or sunset. The Hebrew word for morning is “boqer”. It means morning, break of light, end of night, or dawn. One evening plus one morning equals one day.

This pattern (evening + morning = day) is repeated with each of the six days of creation. See Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 “The Hebrew word for day “yom” is used some 3,000 times in the Hebrew Bible, and is almost always used to mean an ordinary 24-hour day-night cycle. Whenever it is used with an ordinal (1, 2, 1st, 2nd, etc.), it always means a specific day, an ordinary 24-hour day”. (Creation Was 24/6 and Recent, http://www.icr.org).

Let’s look at the context of the word “day” and how it is used in the Bible. The context determines the meaning of the word.  Here are some observations and questions made by scholars who take the Bible seriously and believe that God means what he says.  Here are two examples.

Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Days? by Ken Ham September 27, 2007

• A classic, well-respected Hebrew-English lexicon (a dictionary) has seven headings and many subheadings for the meaning of “yom”—but it defines the creation days of Genesis 1 as ordinary days under the heading “day as defined by evening and morning.”
• Outside Genesis 1, “yom” is used with a number 359 times, and each time it means an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception?
• Outside Genesis 1, “yom” is used with the word “evening” or “morning” 23 times. “Evening” and “morning” appear in association, but without “yom”, 38 times. All 61 times the text refers to an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception?
• In Genesis 1:5 , “yom” occurs in context with the word “night.” Outside of Genesis 1, “night” is used with “yom” 53 times, and each time it means an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception? Even the usage of the word “light” with “yom” in this passage determines the meaning as ordinary day.
• “Yom” is singular.

James Stambaugh, M.DIV., Librarian at the Institute for Creation Research.

• The meaning of the term “day” must be seen in conjunction with the use of “evening” and “morning.” The Old Testament records 38 times when these two words are used in the same verse. Each time they occur, the meaning must be that of a normal day.
• This combination occurs 357 times outside of Genesis 1. But each time it is used, it must mean 24-hour periods of time.
• God frequently issued commands that the people were to do or not to do certain things on a given day. This use occurs 162 times.

• Why did God use the word “day” and not the more generic term, “time”?
• Did God deceive us by using the word “day,” when it really was a long period of time?
• If deception is needed, why should we believe any of the Bible?
• If God lies in the beginning, why should we believe any thing else?

Even the critic understands the magnitude and relevance of the meaning of the word “day”.

Dr. James Barr, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, does not believe Genesis is history.

• “So far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience”.

Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

This entry was posted on June 5, 2011 at 4:44 PM and is filed under Creation with tags apologetics, creation, time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.