Did God Create The World In Six 24 Hour Days?
Yes! God did indeed create the world and everything in it in six, literal days of approximately 24 hours each. Consider the following evidence:
1. The Hebrew word yom [yowm] is used and defined in Genesis 1:5- "And there was evening and there was morning, one day." The Hebrew yom is used approximately 1284 times in the Old Testament. There are a few exceptions in which it does not mean a literal, 24-hour day, but the context clearly indicates the meaning as being a period of time longer than just 24 hours. Examples in the Old Testament where yom is used in the context to mean a period longer than 24 hours are: Genesis 26:8, Genesis 4:3, Genesis 2:4, Psalm 95:8-9, and Jeremiah 46:10. In Genesis 2:4, yom has reference to the total of the six days of creation. In Psalm 95:8-9, the word yom refers to the forty years of wandering by the Jews. In Jeremiah 46:10, the prophet uses the word to refer to the time when Israel would be punished for her sins (This time of punishment was not limited to a single, 24-hour day, but a great period of captivity).
In the context of Genesis 1, however, there is no support for the word meaning a long period of time. Sound principles of biblical interpretation and exegesis require that we accept this "day" as being an ordinary day. It is a general principle of biblical interpretation that a word is to be taken in its everyday meaning unless there is compelling evidence that it must be taken in a different manner. The fact that God defined the day as a period of "evening and morning" leaves little doubt as to what these "days" actually were.
2. The use of the phrase "evening and morning" occurs over 100 times in the Old Testament with the word yom. Each time it is used in a non-prophetical passage, it refers to a 24-hour day. Dr. Henry M. Morris, in his book, Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science, makes the following statement: "The Hebrew words for ‘evening’ and ‘morning’ occur over 100 times each in the Old Testament and always in a literal sense." Should we assume a different meaning in Genesis 1? Some have affirmed that the 24-hour day did not begin until the 4th day with the appearing of the sun (Genesis 1:14). But the same "evening and morning" is used with the word "day" before Genesis !:14 as after. Why would there be three long eras of time before the appearing of the sun, and only 24-hour days after its appearing?
Insofar as the view is concerned that these could not be ordinary days because the sun had not been created, we should like to point out that we still measure time in terms of days even though the sun does not appear and is not visible. For instance, north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle, the sun does not appear for periods of time up to 6 months at the poles themselves. We would not think of measuring time in terms of the appearance (or lack of appearance) of the sun in these areas. No one would contend that at the north or south pole a day is the equivalent of 6 months elsewhere! Remember: the heavenly bodies were placed in the skies to mark the days, not to make the days!
3. When the Hebrew word yom is preceded by a numeral in a non-prophetic passage, it always carries the meaning of a 24-hour day. It occurs over 100 times in the Pentateuch alone in this manner, and always the meaning of a 24-hour day is conveyed (e.g.: Genesis 8:3, Numbers 13:25, Exodus 20:11). Dr. Arthur Williams, writing in the Creation Research Annual, stated: "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 24 hours when modified by the use of the numerical adjective." Why should our understanding of the word yom in Genesis 1 be any different from the rest of the Old Testament?
4. When the plural for yom is used in the old Testament, it always has reference to (in non-prophetical passages) the 24-hour period of time. Yamim never refers to a long period of time. Dr. Henry M. Morris, in his book, Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science, says, "When the word ‘days’ appears in the plural (yamim) as it does over 700 times in the Old Testament, it always refers to literal days. Thus, in Exodus 20:11 when the Scriptures say that in ‘six days’ the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, there can be no doubt that 6 literal days are meant."
5. The Hebrew word olam means a long period of time. Why did not Moses use this clearly understood word if he wanted to convey the meaning that the creation took place over long geological periods of time? Obviously, he did not want us to understand Genesis 1 in this manner. There are other words Moses could have used as well, but he did not. He used the Hebrew word yom.
6. How could these "days" of Genesis 1 be long periods of time when the plants were created on the third day, and the sun was not created until the forth day? If these were geological ages of millions of years in duration, then how did the plants survive without the sun for millions of years of total darkness? Remember that the phrase "evening and morning" is used after each of the six creation days, including day three. That would mean that there would have to be a long period of "evening" and a long period of "morning." This, of course, would be disastrous for the plant world created on day three.
And consider another important fact concerning the botanical world. Many species of plants must have insects to help them reproduce, for these insects help cross-pollinate such plants (e.g.: the Pronuba moth and the yucca plant). How did these plants survive for millions or billions of years without their much-needed friends, the insects, which according to the Genesis account weren’t created until after day four?
7. If the 6 days of creation were long periods of time, then the 7th day would logically be the same. Since Exodus 20:11 states that God "rested" on the 7th day, and since Genesis 2:1-3 states that God "finished" His creating and rested, and since the advocates of the "day-age" theory say that we are now in the 7th day, then obviously God must still be resting. But Jesus Himself said just the opposite when He stated in John 5:17, "My Father worketh even until now." Obviously, the 7th day is not a long period of time, and therefore the other 6 could not be either.
8. The creation days were 24-hour days because of plain statements made about them in Scripture. "In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth ..." (Exodus 20:11). "For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:9). Do these verses infer a long period of evolutionary processes? "Let them praise the name of Jehovah; for He commanded, and they were created" (Psalm 148:5).
9. God told the Jews in Exodus 20 to observe the Sabboth Day. He even told them why. God said they were to work six days and rest on the seventh because that was the pattern He had followed in creating the universe. Question: how did the Jews, in Old Testament times, interpret this passage? Did the Jews work for a long, indefinite period of time and then rest for a long, indefinite period of time? Of course they did not! They understood and practiced exactly what God had commanded. They worked 6 days and rested 1 day, because that is the pattern God had used in His creation of the world they inhabited.
10. In Genesis 1:16 we read that 2 great lights were made - one to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night. Since the days were divided into "evening and morning" we would have to assume (if the days were eons of time) that the sun came up but did not go down for millions or billions of years. Is this feasible?
11. Genesis 1:14 says that God created the lights to divide the day from the night, and that they were to be for "signs, for seasons, for days, and for years." If the days are ages, then what are the years? If a day is an age, then what is a night? In other words, the whole passage becomes ridiculous when we begin to stretch or re-interpret the word "day."
12. Genesis 2:1 reads, "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." God finished His creation on the 6th day. If these were long geological periods and the means of creation was evolution, why does the Bible say that the evolutionary process ended with the 6th day period?
CONCLUSION
The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the "days" of Genesis 1 being literal, 24-hour days. There is absolutely no evidence to support the theory that the "days" were "ages" of evolutionary time.
