Hello David, First, let me tell you how much I have enjoyed several of your MobEd courses; you teach clearly so it is easy to understand the scriptures, bible history, and the points you make; it is clear that you love the LORD God with all your heart. His Blessings be on you. 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 of His creation story. 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 accept the "whatever/how ever" that YHWH wills [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

  1. Greetings, Edith. Genesis 1 is an area of specialty for OTHER people, but I have tended to read it as a statement of God's orderly and rational process of creation that says most when it is heard in contrast to other ancient Near East creation stories (some of which speak of facets of creation coming about as a result of violence between warring deities -- like Marduk fashioning the ground and the firmament by beaten out the two pieces of Tiamat's corpse into nice thin membranes!). Genesis 1 says a lot about the genuine God and God's relationship to creation in such a cultural context. And, yes, the absence of sun (the primary cosmic ticker of the 24-hour block) in days 1-3 should say something about the figurative nature of the "days" in creation. That's all I've got.

  2. Thank you so much for your answer. It helps me to relax regarding this topic (and others like it), giving others the space to make up their own minds about the topic, and focus on keeping the "main thing the main thing"... YHWH's reclamation plan for human beings and the rest of creation. I have studied Genesis with Dr. John Walton's MobEd & one of his books which has also helped. Learning about the culture of the ancients is important. The study has been very good for me in helping gain insights that I've not had before. YHWH is Great!