Questions on the Road: Does “Day” Mean “Day”?
When we have the blessing to travel for the ministry, we try very hard to make time for questions. Inevitably, one of the questions that is still frequently asked is, “Does the word ‘day’ in Genesis 1 really mean a day? Was it really 24 hours?’”
This has been so well researched for decades through the highest levels of scholarship that it is almost unfathomable that Christians would still need to ask this question. Now don’t get me wrong; we are always more than happy to answer it. That’s why we at CTF have a passion for this ministry as we are blessed to be a Biblically-based resource for churches and individuals. However, it saddens us that this has not been answered from the church pulpits or Bible studies.
So in case you were wondering, or if you would like a quick access resource, here are the facts about the word “day” in Genesis 1.
If the word means a 24-hour day/night cycle, then it means God literally created the universe in six 24-hour days around 6,000 years ago. If the word means eons of time, then it gives credence to the idea of billions of years of stellar, chemical, and biological evolution.
The Hebrew word for “day” is yôm. It has 5 meanings in the Old Testament:
1. 24-hour day/night cycle
2. Daylight
3. General concept of time (an “age”)
4. A specific point of time (Abraham’s day)
5. A period of about a year
[ “Kinds” of Life. Leonard Coppes. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Vol. 1. pp. 370-1]
How are we to know what is meant by the word in Genesis 1? By examining its use throughout all the rest of Scripture. And since it is used 2,291 times in the Old Testament (1,446 in singular form, 845 in plural form), we should be able to properly conclusively determine its meaning in Genesis 1.
- 359 times outside of Genesis 1 the word is modified with a number, such as “seventh day” (Exodus 24:16), “first day” (Ezra 3:6), or “third day” (Leviticus 19:6). In each of these cases, the word always refers to the 24-hour day/night cycle.
- 19 times outside of Genesis 1 the words “evening” and “morning” are combined with yôm. In each instance, such as Numbers 9:15 and Deuteronomy 16:4, a 24-hour day is meant.
- Consequently, 38 times outside of Genesis 1 the words “evening” and “morning” appear together without yôm. In each case, a 24- hour day is implied. [Abraham Even-Shosan. A New Concordance of the Old Testament. Baker Book House, 1983] [for additional study, consult “The days of Creation: A semantic approach” by James Stambaugh at creation.com]
When we then turn to Genesis 1, what do we find?
Vs 5 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Vs 8 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”
Vs 13 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”
Vs 19 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”
Vs 23 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”
Vs 31 – “And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
Not just one, but two indicators (numbered days & “evening and morning”) clearly explain that each day of the creation week was a 24-hour day.
“But how can that be when the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day?” The earth was spinning (vs 2), there was a light source (vs 3), and considering the testimony of all the other days, there was nothing different about the lengths of any one day from the other. In fact, the text explains how at the very beginning of creation God established the covenantal/unbreakable length of the day.
“3 Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
As we can easily see, there is no other possibility as to the length of the days in Genesis 1. Besides, why would God deceive us in the very opening lines of His Book as to how long it took Him to create everything?
He hasn’t. He told us exactly how He did it so that He could build upon that foundation additional promises and truths of which we can have no doubt, such as the promise of our Savior Jesus.
Jeremiah 33:17, 20-21, “17 For thus says the Lord, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel… 20 “Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne’”.
And when we get right down to it, that is exactly what the scheme of evolution attempts to do – break our confidence in the Scriptures beginning with Genesis 1 so that we will not believe what they proclaim about Jesus.
O, that we would not compromise the integrity of God in accurately relating to us the truth of His Word just so we can attempt to win approval and acceptance by the world and its demonic wisdom of naturalism, humanism, evolutionism, and billions of years (James 3:15).
