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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Yom in Biblical and Rabbinic Texts
  • Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:57:10 +0200


----- Original Message ----- From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Yom in Biblical and Rabbinic Texts


Dear Peter and Jimmy,

On 24/10/2005 02:13, Jimmy Doyle wrote:

I'm in a discussion with a creationist who believes in 6 literal 24-hour
days of creation. Can anyone point me to good resources for the use of yom
in the Biblical texts and Rabbnic texts? From what I gather in BDB, the
singular use of yom in the Biblical text generally refers to a single day,
but I feel as if I'm missing something here.



I think so. The "day" of Numbers 3:1 and Deuteronomy 4:15 seems to have
lasted 40 days, that of Ezekiel 39:13 seven months, that of 1 Samuel 7:2
for 20 years, and that of Judges 18:30 for about 70 years - and that of
Genesis 2:4 six "days".

HH: The word day, "YWM," when used with a prefixed preposition "in"
often has the idea of "when" (Gen 2:4). It word can sometimes mean
"time" (Judges 18:30) but does not have a numerical modifier in those
cases. In 1 Samuel 7:2 YWM could still indicate a particular day (the
day the ark began to abide in Kiriath-Jearim), although "time" could
be the sense. The word refers to literal days when it has a numerical
modifier.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard



Perfectly correct. The word "yom" can mean "time" - think of an old-timer in English saying, "in my day...". But when refering to a specific length of time, it means either a 24 hour period, from sundown to sundown, or the hours of light, as opposed to night.
In any case, a "creationist" would have to explain the first three "days", before the creation of the sun.

Yigal




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