Twenty Four Hour Days

We Truly Appreciate Bro. Freeman for this wonderful essay and response to an intriguing, controversial and puzzling question. For more infromation about Bro. Freeman click on his picture for a bio. To view more essays and lessons by Graylon click on his subject title(s) below.

Genesis 1

Since evolutionary time cannot be crammed into the space before the creation, and since it obviously does not fit after the creation, then some advocates have suggested it occurred during the creation week, and that the days of Genesis 1 are not days at all, but rather extensive eons of geologic time. This is a religious error, popular with denominationalists, which has crept into the thinking of some of our brethren.

Were the days of Genesis approximately twenty-four hours, or eons of time? Make no mistake about it. They were days just as we know them today! The day-age theory is false!

What else could God have said? Dr. Henry M. Morris remarks: If the reader asks himself this question: “Suppose the writer of Genesis wished to teach his readers that all things were created and made in six literal days, then what words would he use to best convey this thought? He would have to answer that the writer would have used the actual words of Genesis 1. If he wished to convey the idea of long geological ages, however, he could surely have done it far more clearly and effectively in other words than in those which he selected. It was clearly his intent to teach creation in six literal days. Therefore, the only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to “interpret” it at all. That is, we accept the fact that it was meant to say exactly what it says. The “days” are literal days and the events described happened in just the way described . . . “

We know the days of Genesis 1 are literal twenty-four hour days because the Hebrew word yom which is translated “day” is used and defined in Genesis 1:5. As added proof, the word is clearly defined the first time it is used. God defines His terms! “And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Gen. 1:5. Yom is defined here as the light period in the regular succession of light and darkness, which, as the earth rotates on its axis, has continued ever since. This definition obviously precludes any possible interpretation as a geologic age.

And, amazingly, we discover when we begin to study the first chapter of Genesis that we have a built in scheme for interpreting the length of these days, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these “days” were the same kind of days we know today. Gen. 1:4 states that God created the lights to divide the day from the night, and that they were to be for signs, for season, for days, and for years. If the “days” are “ages,” then what are the years? If a day is an age, then what is the “night”? If the word “day” in this chapter does not mean a period of twenty four hours, the interpretation of scripture is hopeless.

The day-age theory is false because whenever the Hebrew word yom is preceded by a numeral, it always carries the meaning of a twenty-four hour day. Yom occurs 100 times in the Old Testament in this manner, and always the meaning of a twenty-four hour day is conveyed. Indeed, Dr. Arthur Williams, writing in the Creation Research Annual, says, “We have failed to find a single example of the use of the word “day’ in the entire Scripture where it means other than a period of twenty-four hours when modified by the use of the numerical adjective.

In addition, whenever the Hebrew term yom occurs in the plural (yamim), it always refers to a literal twenty-four hour day. When the word “day’ appears in the plural (Hebrew yamim) as it does over 700 times in the Old Testament, it always refers to literal days.

Thus in Ex. 20:11, when the Scripture says that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them is,” there can be no doubt whatever that six literal days are meant.

The Hebrew phrase translated “evening and morning” is used over 100 times in the Old Testament with the word yom. Each time it refers to a literal twenty-four hour day. The writer of Genesis (Moses) not only defined the term “day,” but emphasized that it was terminated by a literal evening and morning and that it was like every other day in the normal sequence of days. In no way can the term be legitimately applied here to anything corresponding to a geological period or any other such concept.

Had Moses wanted us to understand that these “days” of Genesis were actually “long geological periods of time,” he could have so specified in a very exacting manner. Yet he did not! Moses could have used the Hebrew word alam or the word dor, both of which would indicate indefinite periods of time. But, he did not! He could have modified the Hebrew word yom with the adjective rab (yom rab - - a “long” day); but, again, he did not.

If the “days” of Genesis were not days at all, but long geological periods, then a problem of no little consequence arises in the field of botany. Consider this: Botany the field of plant life came into existence on the third day. Those who allege that the days of Genesis 1 may have been long geological ages must accept the absurd hypothesis that plant life survived in periods of total darkness through half of each geologic age, running into millions of years. Indeed, if there were periods of “evening and morning” - - as the text so states - - then how did the plant life live in extended periods of total darkness, and extended periods of nothing but light?!

The days of Genesis 1 are plainly twenty-four hour days, because of God’s explicit command to Israel to observe the Sabbath, God plainly told them not only what to do, but why to do it. The Sabbath command in Exodus 20:8-11 can be adequately understood only when the days of the week are considered to be twenty-four hour days. Genesis chapter one is explained by Ex. 20:9,11 when God spoke to Israel and said, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Obviously God was speaking in terms of literal days. No Jew in his right mind would think that God meant “six indefinite periods shalt thou labor and rest a seventh indefinite period.” God, of course, could have created the entire world in a single moment of time, but as a matter of fact, he stretched it out over six whole days in order to serve as pattern for man’s cycle of work and rest.

Again, if the days of Genesis are not twenty four hour days, the whole interpretation of Scripture is hopeless! Perhaps the most damaging statements, as far as the day-age theory is concerned, came from Jesus’ own mouth. Speaking to the Pharisees in Matt. 19:6 (cf:19:4), Jesus plainly stated: “But from the beginning of the creation, male and female made He them.” In other words, God made man (male) and woman (female) “from the beginning of creation.” Paul affirmed that in I Cor. 15:45, calling Adam the “first man.” He called Eve by name in I Tim. 2:13.

If Jesus is right, then man and woman have been here “since the beginning of the creation.” If Paul is right, man and woman have been here “from the beginning of the creation” when they were “perceiving the things that were made” Rom. 1:20. But the day-age theory, on the other hand, places man at the end of millions or even billions of years of geologic time! Both cannot be true! If the day-age theory is right, Jesus was mistaken or flat out lied! If Jesus was correct and told the truth (which He did!) then the day-age theory is false.

Prepared by: Graylon A. Freeman, Evangelist