CIM Briefing Papers

C.I.M. OUTLINE #5


                    THE "DAYS" OF GENESIS ONE

            ELEVEN REASONS WHY THEY ARE LITERAL DAYS


THE PROBLEM:  The interpretation of the "days" of Genesis One
became a serious problem when the scientific establishment
inaugurated the view that the earth was billions of years old. 
Think about it!  If we put all scientific knowledge aside, using
only the normal rules of interpretation, how would you interpret
the "days" of Genesis One?  It is interesting that the liberal
commentators who reject the Bible as inspired and therefore have
nothing to lose, are almost unanimous that the "days" of Genesis
One are normal days.
     
Now the Hebrew word for "day" ("yom") can be used of a long
period of time, i.e. an era.  "Day of the Lord".  However, for
the following reasons it seems compelling to interpret "day" in
Genesis One as a normal 24 hour day (or whatever it was in those
days, but nevertheless a solar day).

1.  There is no indication in the text or context that
    metaphorical or symbolical language is being used.

2.  The Hebrew word "yom" occurs more than 2200 times in the OT
    and 95% of the time it refers to a literal, solar day.

3.  When the word is accompanied by a numeral (200 times in OT)
    it always means a literal day.

4.  When the plural form ("yamim") is used it always refers to
    literal days.  It occurs 700 times in the OT. 
       
     "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
     the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the
     seventh day."  Ex. 20:11.

    This verse alone should end all argument!  See also Exodus 31:17.

5.  In the Old Testament when the word "day" is used in a
    numbered series, it always has reference to a normal day. 
    See Numbers 29.

6.  The qualifying phrase "evening and morning" almost assuredly
    limits the days of Gen. 1 to solar days.  With this language
    the author seems to be going the extra mile to qualify what
    he means.  The author is talking about the normal
    interchange of light and darkness.

7. If the days are long periods of time then logic insists that
   the nights be long periods as well.

8. If a day is long period of time in Gen. 1 it makes the
   celebration of Sabbath an absurdity.  It does not say God is (still)
   resting on the 7th day.

9. Since the word "days" in Genesis 1:14 is linked with the word
   "years," it is quite obvious that our well-known units of
   time are being referred to.  If not, the term "years" would
   be meaningless.

10. There is a good Hebrew term meaning a period of time that
    Moses could have used if this were his intent ("olam").

11.  Even if "days" are translated as long periods of time they
     are in hopeless conflict with the geological time column and
     the evolutionary scheme.  
       
NOTE:  The objection is often raised that if we interpret the
"days" as literal days then we have a serious problem in that we
have light before the sun was created on the 4th day.  This was
certainly not a problem for the original readers who believed
that the ultimate source of light was other than the heavenly
bodies.  See Isa. 60: 19-20 and Ps. 104:2.  One should not
second-guess what is believed possible for God to do in the early
hours of creation.  Despite what many of us are taught in the
schools there are serious problems with the theories that the
planets in our solar system came from the sun.  For a discussion
of these see THE EARLY EARTH, by John Whitcomb, pp.57-74.  One
must also remember that when seeking the meaning of the Genesis
account one must try to ascertain when Genesis was written, to
whom it was written and why.  Moses wrote the book just before
the Children of Israel were about to enter into the promised
land.  The book was written to teach the people the truth about
origins because the people already inhabiting the land were
steeped in the pagan myths about creation.  One of the most
popular of these myths was that we all descended from the sun. 
Hence the sun was an all-important deity to the Canaanites.  What
better way for God to shatter this myth than to reveal to His
people that the earth was created before the sun!
 
 
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