The Hebrew Definition Of The Word "Day"
A little clarification on the meaning of the word "day" in Genesis 1, because so many theistic evolutionists dispute it. The word "day" in Genesis 1 refers to six 24-hour days - on EACH of the six days of Creation Week. When the Hebrew word for “day” (yom) appears with “evening” or “morning” or is modified by a number (e.g., “sixth day” or “five days”) like in Genesis 1, it ALWAYS means a 24-hour day. |
For instance, the Hebrew dictionary by Koehler Baumgartner makes it clear that the first example of when the word day means a 24-hour day is Genesis 1:5, the first day of the creation week. Additionally, according to "The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew And English Lexicon" and "The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament," a literal, 24-hr day is defined by "evening and morning" or associated with a specific number. We see BOTH in Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31. So, according to the Hebrew rules of grammar, the days of Genesis 1 were just ordinary days. |
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The two words, "evening" ("ereb") and "morning" ("boqer"), are combined with "yom" 19 times each outside of Genesis 1 (three times these words share the same reference - Numbers 9:15, Deuteronomy 16:4 and Daniel 8:26). Every time, they clearly mean that particular literal part of a 24-hour day, regardless of the literary genre or context. Also, even when "morning" and "evening" occur together without "yom" (38 times outside of Genesis 1, including 25 in historical narrative), it always, without exception, designates a 24-hour day. The Hebrew word for “day” (“yom”) is used over 2,300 times in the Old Testament (in the singular or plural forms), but I don’t encounter people questioning what the word “day” means anywhere except Genesis chapter one. So why is that? Because people have been impacted by the false teaching of millions of years, and many Christians and Christian leaders try to fit the millions of years into the first chapter of Genesis. Thus, they want to interpret the creation days as long periods of time to try to do this. |
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Consider Gen. 22:4 - "On the third day ("yom") Abraham looked up and saw the place (Moriah) in the distance." To be consistent, if the days in Genesis 1 are long ages, then did Abraham travel for millions of years in Gen. 22? "Morning and evening" or "morning" or "evening" + a number ALWAYS means a literal, 24-hr. day in Genesis. Evolutionists only seem to want to ignore this rule in Genesis 1 and nowhere else in Genesis (or the rest of the OT). And theistic evolutionists only seem to want the days in Genesis 1 to be long ages but nowhere else. |
God could have created everything in six hours, six minutes, six seconds, or no time at all, as he is the infinite Creator God. So the question is - why did God take so long to create everything? Six days is a long time for God to create the universe and everything in it. He did it for us. He created the week for us to be able to work for six days and rest for one. Our seven-day week is based on the first week in Genesis 1 and is used as the basis of the fourth commandment: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). |
| We should remember that the original readers of Genesis (which was probably compiled by Moses) were not scientists or Hebrew scholars. Rather, they were former slaves—mostly uneducated and illiterate and on their way to the Promised Land. The fathers were commanded to teach their children (Deuteronomy 6:1–7), so the Hebrew language in Genesis 1 must have been very clear and easy to understand to the common people, even to children. |  |
| Jesus and the New Testament apostles read Genesis 1–11 as straightforward historical narrative. So should we. |