Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Noel O'Riordan" <nor AT iol.ie>]

Glen wrote

> Noel, please be so kind as to chapter and verse
> for us where these supposed 24 hour days are
> mentioned?

Sorry I didn't think I needed to as the passages are so generic

>
> At first glance, we might see the verses in
> Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31, as being
> 24 hour periods of time.
> But this is an old mistake...to assume from the text
> and interpret the "evening and mornings" as to be
> based upon the 24 hour cycle of evening/Moon,
> morning/Sun.
> These heavenly entities (Sun and Moon) were not spoke
> into existence until the FOURTH day of Genesis 1:16; 19.
> It seems to me rather foolish to insist that these
> days were 24 hour periods -- especially when our
> only way of understanding the supposed 24 hour
> periods of "days" -- is based upon the Sun and the
> Moon which were not dividing day from night until
> the FOURTH DAY.
> The 24 hour period theory is based upon
> objects that did not exist until several
> "evening and morning" cycles had taken
> place from GOD's perspective.

Sorry for repeating your entire post but here is my response,

First of all I don't know that this is an old mistake, I have as yet not
seen
anything in the text that implies that these are not 24 hour days,   The
fact that our days are 24 hours is as you have rightly pointed out based on
the setting and rising of the sun, however these are also sometimes referred
to as 'evening' and 'morning.'  Where in the text does it say that we are
working to a different morning and evening system?

As for God creating the sun and moon etc on the fourth day, this is just one
of the anachronisms in the text, after all God created light on the first
day, and as we know our light comes from the sun, so where did the light he
created come from.

So the days were there before the sun and moon, not that the moon has
anything to do with it, (remember of course that light was there before the
Sun), but the days are also there after the Sun and moon were created, the
text does not say that the evening and morning system then changed.

From my perspective it is rather foolish to try an impose a different order
on the 'evening-morning' system basically in order to make it fit better
with other texts, namely gen. 2:17. As for  psalm 90 and  II Peter 3:8 the
only one that could possibly have a bearing is the Psalm and that is
providing that P knew of it when he composed his text, but again no
evidence exists, (I am also in the dark about the psalms possible
composition date) the Peter text is way to late to have any bearing
whatsoever on the argument.

The author was not writing a physics paper, I have no problem with the days
being defined before the Sun was created, just as I equally see the creation
of light as also being a minor anachronism.  I mean you could get into the
detail of the thing and point out that the moon shines not with its own
light but with reflected light from the sun, so the description of the moon
as being the created lesser light is also wrong, but that is just
nit-picking.

I am sorry I am not convinced, for me the easiest solution to the text is a
24 hr day, it is only by outside considerations that a different order is
imposed.

Best Regards

Noel O'Riordan