Day Begins At Dawn Not Sunset or Midnight

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

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• Gen 1:2a . . the earth being unformed and void

That statement reveals the earth's condition prior to the creation of an
energy that would make it possible for its matter to coalesce into something
coherent.

• Gen 1:2b . . and darkness was over the surface of the deep

This deep is a curiosity because 2Pet 3:5 says the earth was formed out of
water and by water. So I think it's safe to conclude that every atomic
element that God needed to construct the Earth was in suspension in this
particuar deep; viz: it was more than just H2O; it was a colossal chemical
soup, and apparently God created enough of it to put together everything
else in the cosmos too.

• Gen 1:2c . . and Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

The Hebrew word for "moving" is located in only three places in the entire
Bible. One is here, and the others are at Deut 32:11 and Jer 23:9. The
meaning is ambiguous. It can refer to brooding; i.e. a mother hen using her
wings to keep her chicks together, and it can refer to incubation and/or
quaking, shaking, and fluttering. Take your pick.

I'd guess that the Spirit's movement was sort of like the hen keeping the
colossal chemical soup from running rampant and spreading itself all over
the place before God began putting it to use because up to this point, gravity
didn't exist yet.

• Gen 1:3 . . Then God said: Let there be light; and there was light.

The thing to note is that the Earth unformed and void, and the waters, were
both already in existence before the voice of God said anything about light.
_

Somewhere I heard the deep was a female monster or liken to a female being and from forth came everything.

 

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

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There are at least three different kinds of days introduced in the early
chapters of Genesis.

1» Creation days

2» Natural days

3» Epoch days

It's very important to keep those three kinds of days distinct and separate in
our thinking because they are as unalike as stones, gravel, and sand.

Epoch days are defined by events. For example Gen 2:4 where the entire
creation endeavor is described as one day.

Natural days are defined by solar motion, for example Gen 1:4-5, Gen 1:14.
Gen 1:16, and Gen 1:17-18 where a natural day is defined as when the sun
is up as opposed to down. The length of a natural day varies relative to
one's latitude and the season of the year.

Creation days are a bit of an enigma because there was no Sun to cause
physical evenings and mornings till creation's fourth day so we can safely
assume that the terms are merely index flags indicating the completion of
one of creation's six-step processes and the beginning of another; which is
okay for that but then how do we go about establishing the length of a
creation day?

Galileo believed that science and religion are allies rather than enemies--
two different languages telling the same story. He believed that science and
religion complement each other --science answers questions that religion
doesn't bother to answer, and religion answers questions that science cannot
answer.

For example: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking understood pretty well
how the cosmos works; but could never scientifically explain why it should
exist at all. Well; in my estimation, the only possible answer to the "why" is
found in intelligent design; which is a religious explanation rather than
scientific. Religion's "why" is satisfactory for most folks. No doubt most
scientists would prefer something a bit more empirical.

Anyway: I sincerely believe that science is our go-to guy for figuring out the
length of a creation day seeing as how the Bible gives us so little to work
with.

According to Gen 1:24-31, God created humans and all terra critters on the
sixth day; which has to include dinosaurs because on no other day but the
sixth did God create beasts

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that dinosaurs preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, creation days should be
taken to represent eras. That's not an unreasonable estimation; for
example:

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven." (Gen 2:4)

The Hebrew word for "day" in that verse is yowm (yome) which is the very
same word for each of the six days of God's creation labors. Since yowm in
Gen 2:4 refers to a period of time obviously much longer than a 24-hour
calendar day; it justifies suggesting that each of the six days of creation
were longer than 24 hours apiece too. In other words: yowm is ambiguous
and not all that easy to interpret sometimes.

Anyway; this "day" thing has been a stone in the shoe for just about
everybody who takes Genesis seriously. It's typically assumed that the days
of creation consisted of twenty-four hours apiece; so Bible students end up
stumped when trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age
of the earth, and factor in the various natural eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic,
Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Cretaceous, etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction
events.

BTW: The era theory is only a second opinion, so to speak. There are other
theories out there to choose from; people aren't stuck with this one as if it's
the only possible explanation.
_

If the 7th day of creation is rest and the day is a period of time longer than 24 hours does it suggest that God is not done with creation and hasn't rested from his creation as we are not in rest? Or because he has rested the earth is in chaos?

Also, some say that the earth has been through this before and that dinosaurs were from a previous "creation period" or pre adamic I think they say.

I have read about the Sumerian Kings list and apparently they lived into the ten thousands of years, so I can see how a day could simply signify a period longer than 24 hours. Who knows all suppositions I suppose.

 

[JStates]

If the 7th day of creation is rest and the day is a period of time longer than 24 hours does it suggest that God is not done with creation and hasn't rested from his creation as we are not in rest? Or because he has rested the earth is in chaos?

Also, some say that the earth has been through this before and that dinosaurs were from a previous "creation period" or pre adamic I think they say.

I have read about the Sumerian Kings list and apparently they lived into the ten thousands of years, so I can see how a day could simply signify a period longer than 24 hours. Who knows all suppositions I suppose.

Great questions.

I think the "Gap Theory" is one of the views that holds to a previous, destroyed creation prior to the Creation account in Genesis 1. Then, yes, there are various views that mix an "eons of time" in with the Biblical creation, some even saying that man evolved from animals and it was at a certain point that God sort of injected His spirit into man, who became the first Adam.

I don't believe this stuff. For one, these views would mean that death had to exist already. The Bible is pretty clear that death was a result of Adam's sin. Saying otherwise is making God a liar.

The Sumerian records are probably either mythical and unreliable, or simply a misunderstanding/mistranslation by modern scholars. The Bible has 979 (Methuselah) as the longest recorded lifespan. It would be bizarre to me if Adam, the first man, lived less than a thousand years but somehow these Sumerians were just cranking out an eon's worth of life each.

Using secular records to build a framework for history is fraught with challenges. For example, Egypt is supposedly the best known chronology and it's used to date pretty much everything else in the ancient world. The problem is that we now KNOW that OFTEN in Egyptian history, TWO rulers would rule at the same time, one from Upper Egypt and one from Lower Egypt. This messes up the entire framework of consensus ancient history.

 

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

Great questions.

I think the "Gap Theory" is one of the views that holds to a previous, destroyed creation prior to the Creation account in Genesis 1. Then, yes, there are various views that mix an "eons of time" in with the Biblical creation, some even saying that man evolved from animals and it was at a certain point that God sort of injected His spirit into man, who became the first Adam.

I don't believe this stuff. For one, these views would mean that death had to exist already. The Bible is pretty clear that death was a result of Adam's sin. Saying otherwise is making God a liar.

The Sumerian records are probably either mythical and unreliable, or simply a misunderstanding/mistranslation by modern scholars. The Bible has 979 (Methuselah) as the longest recorded lifespan. It would be bizarre to me if Adam, the first man, lived less than a thousand years but somehow these Sumerians were just cranking out an eon's worth of life each.

Using secular records to build a framework for history is fraught with challenges. For example, Egypt is supposedly the best known chronology and it's used to date pretty much everything else in the ancient world. The problem is that we now KNOW that OFTEN in Egyptian history, TWO rulers would rule at the same time, one from Upper Egypt and one from Lower Egypt. This messes up the entire framework of consensus ancient history.

But does being destroyed mean the same as dying a natural occurring death? If not, then it wouldn't make God a liar. Yea I always wonder how they translate all the hieroglyphics, pictographs, petroglyphs etc., really interesting. I didn't know there were two rulers in Egypt, now I wonder if there was a second ruler during Moses time?

 

[JStates]

But does being destroyed mean the same as dying a natural occurring death? If not, then it wouldn't make God a liar. Yea I always wonder how they translate all the hieroglyphics, pictographs, petroglyphs etc., really interesting. I didn't know there were two rulers in Egypt, now I wonder if there was a second ruler during Moses time?

The system was being used in Babylon during the time of Daniel:

Dan 5:7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

 

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

The system was being used in Babylon during the time of Daniel:

Dan 5:7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Interesting. I wonder why the Bible doesn't emphasize the second ruler? I mean if I read it in the Bible, seems I overlooked it. Would it be like when pharaoh placed Joseph to rule over all of Egypt only second to him? I wonder if this second ruler in Egypt started with Joseph.

Genesis 41
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

 

[JStates]

Interesting. I wonder why the Bible doesn't emphasize the second ruler? I mean if I read it in the Bible, seems I overlooked it. Would it be like when pharaoh placed Joseph to rule over all of Egypt only second to him? I wonder if this second ruler in Egypt started with Joseph.

Genesis 41
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

For Babylon in Daniel's time, Belshazzar was ruling from Babylon while his father engaged in military conquests, if I recall, in the south.

 

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

For Babylon in Daniel's time, Belshazzar was ruling from Babylon while his father engaged in military conquests, if I recall, in the south.

Oh, right.

 

[Webers.Home]

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If the 7th day of creation . . .

The other six days were bounded by an evening and a morning. The seventh
day is not bounded; which means it has not yet ended; viz: God has been on
a creation sabbatical ever since, and has created nothing new for the current
cosmos since the end of day six.

Though it's stated in that passage that the creator finished His work and
ceased creating things for the current cosmos; yet people are still under the
impression that He creates new souls every time a baby is conceived in its
mommy's womb. But the seventh day isn't bounded by an evening and a
morning; ergo: it has not yet ended; which means God hasn't gone back to
creating things for the current cosmos.

Adam's progeny-- you and I and all the others --are not direct creations;
no; we're reproductions; viz: there's no need for mankind's creator to take a
hand in producing baby souls, or any other kinds of souls for that matter
because He created all life on earth as sustainable, transferable kinds of life.
The blessing of fertility is a remarkable blessing because it enables living
things to reproduce themselves sans divine micro management.

In the future; after the current cosmos is utterly obliterated, God will once
again roll up His sleeves, and go back to work creating things.

"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall
not be remembered, nor come into mind." (Isa 65:17)

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned
up . . . we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2Pet 3:10-13)

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." (Rev 21:1)
_

 

[VineyardsOfEngedi]

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The other six days were bounded by an evening and a morning. The seventh
day is not bounded; which means it has not yet ended; viz: God has been on
a creation sabbatical ever since, and has created nothing new for the current
cosmos since the end of day six.

Though it's stated in that passage that the creator finished His work and
ceased creating things for the current cosmos; yet people are still under the
impression that He creates new souls every time a baby is conceived in its
mommy's womb. But the seventh day isn't bounded by an evening and a
morning; ergo: it has not yet ended; which means God hasn't gone back to
creating things for the current cosmos.

Adam's progeny-- you and I and all the others --are not direct creations;
no; we're reproductions; viz: there's no need for mankind's creator to take a
hand in producing baby souls, or any other kinds of souls for that matter
because He created all life on earth as sustainable, transferable kinds of life.
The blessing of fertility is a remarkable blessing because it enables living
things to reproduce themselves sans divine micro management.

In the future; after the current cosmos is utterly obliterated, God will once
again roll up His sleeves, and go back to work creating things.

"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall
not be remembered, nor come into mind." (Isa 65:17)

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned
up . . . we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2Pet 3:10-13)

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." (Rev 21:1)
_

Refreshing insight I hope I continue in the next world. I wonder how much is left of this sabbatical he's on?