Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Michael Hildenbrand <hildenbr AT Haas.Berkeley.EDU>]

Actually, YOM falls into quite clear categories.  When it is not augmented
(prefixed pronoun-like "b"- or in the plural) the word *always* refers to
a literal day (some 200x), Gen 1 of course being a battleground.  Further
in Gen 1, YOM is delimited by "evening and morning" which is never used in
reference to anything else but a literal day.  I am sure that we do not
want to get too deeply into this (presuppositions being what they are in
this area)-I don't either.  BDB had this figured out a long time ago (they
have these categories very clearly set out).  Also Evan-Shoshan divides up
the usages quite neatly.

Michael

 On Mon, 14 Aug 2000, Dave Washburn wrote:

> Tony,
> > 
> >   I was wondering about Gen 2:4 in relation to Gen 1. Gen 1 gives the 
> > chronological sequence of the creation account as six days. Gen 2:4 makes 
> > reference to "in the day" (BYoM) that God created the heavens and the 
> > earth. 
> > It seems to capsulize the whole creation into one day. I also noticed a 
> > number of translations render the phrase "In the day" as "at the time" 
> > (Goodspeed, Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible) Is the contrast between 6 days in 
> > Gen 
> > 1 and the mention of "in the day" (singular) a result of the dual 
> > authorsip 
> > of Gen 1 as the work of the Elohist editor and the Gen 2:4 reference the 
> > work of the Priestly editor or simply an acceptable literary device? Any 
> > comments would be appreciated. Many thanks.
> 
> It simply shows the flexibility of the word YOM.  This is just one of 
> many instances where it doesn't necessarily mean a 24-hour 
> period, but simply refers to an undefined period of time.  A short 
> study of the word will demonstrate this easily.  It's not necessary 
> to resort to various authorships, redactions or literary devices; it's a 
> simple matter of semantics, i.e. the meaning of the word.
> 
> 
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "Éist le glór Dé."
> 
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