Were the Days of Genesis 1 and 2 Ordinary Days?

Were the Days of Genesis 1 and 2 Ordinary Days?

Robert W. Eckardt

Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. 9, no. 1 (January 2000), p. 20

Thesis: Since a "straightforward" reading of Genesis 1:1 to 2:2 raises a number of unanswered questions, it is wise not to insist that only one (favored) interpretation is possible. Specifically, it is important for Christians not to question the orthodoxy of another Christian simply on the basis of his interpretation of this passage.

Question No. 1: According to Dr. Edward J. Young of Westminster Theological Seminary, the first sentence of Genesis can be paraphrased as follows: "In the beginning God created the heavens and especially the earth." How much time elapsed between the creation of the heavens and then the earth? In other words, how old the universe ("heavens") is, is not dealt with in Genesis.
Question No. 2: How long did the conditions set forth in Genesis 1:2 prevail?

Question No. 3: The scientific definition of light is as follows: "The form of electromagnetic radiation that acts upon the retina of the eye, making sight possible" (Webster's New World Dictionary). In other words, it refers to only certain bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, which, in total, consists of radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, gamma ray, and cosmic ray waves. Would God create just part of the electromagnetic spectrum without creating the rest? If not, why doesn't the Bible say that God created the electromagnetic spectrum? If the answer is that He used unsophisticated, everyday language, then could not other language in this passage be of the same type and thus open to further scientific and technical explanation?

Question No. 4: What is a 24-hour day? Before clocks existed, a day was measured by the rotation of the earth in relation to the sun. One day was morning to morning or noon to noon, for example. Since morning begins at sunrise and noon is the moment when the sun is highest in the sky, there is no morning and no noon, and therefore no means of measuring the day until the sun is in the sky. However, there was no sun until Genesis 1:14-19, the fourth day. Note that one specific purpose of the sun is to mark days.

Question: How were days marked before the fourth day? If by some other means, how can we be sure that they were ordinary days? (Incidentally, "He also made the stars" [vs. 16] can be translated: "He had also made the stars"—perhaps a reference back to vs. 1.)

Question No. 5: When does a day begin? If we say at sunrise, for example, we know that the earth is a sphere and thus the sun only appears to rise as the earth turns toward the sun on its axis. But to whom does it so appear, if no person is on the earth until the sixth day?

Some say that the Hebrew word yom, translated "day" throughout the passage, always means a "24-hour day." Not so. See Genesis 1:5a, 2:4 (KJV, RSV), 2:17 (KJV, RSV), Psalm 20:1 (KJV, RSV). (Notice that in the latter three instances, the meaning of the word is so far from a 24-hour day that the NIV paraphrases the word away.)

Notice that the seventh day cannot be an ordinary day (Genesis 2:2; John 5:16, 17).

The implication of Genesis 1:11,12 is that the vegetation came forth from the earth (See also Genesis 2:5. Genesis 2:4 and following fills in various details concerning the events of chapter 1.) Wouldn't it take longer than an ordinary day for this to happen?

God created both Adam and Eve on the sixth day. Yet Genesis 2:15-22 (filling in the details) tells us that between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve, Adam named all the animals and fell into a deep sleep. Wouldn't all this take longer than an ordinary day?

Though officially retired Rev. Robert W. Eckardt is still active in serving the OPC. He is presently teaching the Book of Government for the Ministerial Training Institute.