QUESTION # 7: Is the
six day account as recorded in Genesis Chapter One literal 24 hour days, or are they long periods of time
taught as fact by many scientists who hold to the “Day-Age” theory?
ANSWER: When
God’s prophet, Moses, under divine inspiration compiled the account of creation
in Genesis 1, he used the Hebrew word yom
for “day”. The word yom was joined together with numbers in
a chronological order (‘first,’ ‘second,’ ‘third’ day, etc.), now each one of these numbered days were followed after by
the words “evening and morning.” The author obviously meant a normal 24 hour
day, not thousands or millions of years between each day as theistic
evolutionists, progressive creationists, and evolutionists advocate. The well
known creation evangelist, Ken Ham agrees:
“Respected
Hebrew dictionaries, like the Brown, Driver, Briggs
Lexicon,
give a number of meanings for the word yom
depending
upon the
context. One of the passages they give for yom’s
meaning an
ordinary
day happens to be Genesis chapter 1. The reason is obvious.
Every time
the word yom is used with a number,
or with the phrase
“evening
and morning”, anywhere in the Old Testament, it always
means an
ordinary day. In Genesis chapter 1, for each of the six days
of
creation, the Hebrew word yom is used
with a number and the phrase,
“evening
and morning”. There is no doubt that the writer is being
emphatic
that these are ordinary days.”[1]
Now keep in
mind, the Lord God of Heaven could have created all things within an instant.
However, He chose to measure each creative act He performed by six segments of days
for our benefit. In Exodus 20: 11 Moses wrote, “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.” The truth being
conveyed here is a solar day, a 24 hour cycle for each day. There is no way one
can conclude here that Moses was talking about thousands of years between each
day. The text in view here does not allow for such a conclusion.
If the
author of Genesis chapter 1 intended each “day” to mean thousands or millions
of years, he would have used a different Hebrew word than yom, such as qedem, which
means “ancient” or “of old”; Olam, which
means “everlasting” or “eternity” and is sometimes translated “perpetual”, “of
old”, or “for ever”; Or the word shanah,
which means “a year” or “a revolution of time” (from the change of seasons),
etc. These are just some of a number of Hebrew words that Moses could have
used. However, he chose the Hebrew word yom
to signify an ordinary 24 hour day/night cycle. Why, because that is
exactly what the author intended the word “day” to mean in Genesis 1.
Another
interesting fact to consider is that if the author Moses intended the word
“day” to mean a long period of thousands or millions of years, that would make
Adam, Eve, Seth, Noah, Abraham, and even the oldest man that ever lived,
Methuselah, thousands or even millions of years old! Again, quoting Ken Ham, he
gives this interesting insight on this subject.
“The Bible tells us that Adam was
created on the sixth day. If he lived
through day
six and day seven, and then died when he was 930 years
old, and if
each of these days was a thousand or a million years, you
have major
problems! On the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:14 -19),
we are
given the comparison of day to night, and days to years. If the
word ‘day’
doesn’t mean an ordinary day, then the comparison of day
to night and
day to years becomes meaningless.”[2]
So here
we have in brief the truth that the word “day” in Genesis chapter 1 does not
mean thousands or millions of years as alleged by those scientists who hold to
the false evolutionary “Day-Age” theory. Were the “days” 24 hours? Most
definitely! “Let God be true, but every
man a liar” (Romans 3:4).[3]
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