Hello Steve,
I have a question regarding the repeated phrase in Genesis 1 "There was evening, there was morning, the 'insert number' day."
There are various ways to View interpretation of the word Day in Genesis as listed in the FSB: Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
my Question: Would the Ancient Hebrews read the Words of Genesis chapter 1 and think in terms of a 24 hour day for each of the creation sequences?
I am positive that Almighty YHWH indeed could create the universe in any number of hours, days, years, nanoseconds, etc. which He would choose. I always think of YHWH as being outside of time [therefore time means little to Him - I'm thinking He created time for the benefit of Humankind] The sun & moon, made to be for signs, seasons, days & years and to rule over the day & night, weren't created until Day 4. This makes me wonder if YHWH didn't use the "numbered Day" phrase for each creation sequence to provide ordering of creation information for the sake of humankind's understanding.
Am I off the beam, thinking that we shouldn't try to put YHWH in any particular "time" box of one kind or another in Genesis 1? I am very willing to let YHWH do as He will [and not know His exact answer to my feeble questions] even in the face of feeling pressured in my Bible study group to believe a certain way about the "day" language in Gen 1.
Again, how would the ancient Hebrews read Genesis "day" language?
Thanks,
Edie
- Hi Edie, I’d recommend reading something like John Walton’s Lost World of Genesis 1 (https://www.logos.com/product/52907/the-lost-world-of-genesis-one-ancient-cosmology-and-the-origins-debate) You may not agree with his conclusions, but it is a great place to better understand the ancient Near East and how things like days were conceptualized. A helpful analogy I heard once was the idea of Stephen Hawking explaining photon energy to you or me. Most likely he would have to simplify it so much for us to understand that it almost becomes wrong, but telling us something we don’t understand won’t give us any understanding YHWH’s purpose in Genesis is to communicate His character and will to us, something we (or more specifically the ANE reader) could wrap their head around based on what they knew of the world. This is where I stand personally, but my brain is too small to reconcile this with all of the scientific and apologetic implications. That’s why I’d suggest Walton.
- Thank you Steve, I have done Professor Walton's MobEd OT302 on Genesis and appreciated and gained much from his teaching. I am glad to have another resource by him to study regarding the specific debates on Genesis. I have been in the same camp as you regarding YHWH giving the ancients what they needed to understand him as best humans could, plus I think that we today are not actually that much ahead of the ancients in understanding YHWH, except that today we have much scientific knowledge that tends to make humans feel all "high & mighty" with scientific "facts" & knowledge [which by the way, change as time progresses and human's understanding of scientific study results change]. I, like you, recognize that my brain is small & can not reconcile all apologetic/ scientific points of view. Actually, any god that I can understand totally is not a god worthy of worship and certainly is not YHWH Almighty. I take joy in knowing that YHWH will either explain these knotty questions I have when He takes me home or He will make the questions depart from me never to be a bother forevermore. Either way is fine with me. Thank you Steve for what you do for YHWH's kingdom and your responsiveness to my questions. YHWH's blessing on you, Edie
