B I B L E S T U D Y
TITLE: "YOM" EQUALS "AGE" IN GENESIS NARRATIVE
OVERVIEW:
Solar-day creationists demand the only "true" way to read Genesis, is as a 24 hour "solar-day". What they often do not tell their audiences, is that is the "later" interpretation, that emerged after the "Babylonian captivity". It was introduced in an attempt to "replace" the book of "Genesis", with the "book of Jubilees", that reflected more closely, Babylonian "solar-cult" theology. The "solar-day" interpretation was fiercely advocated, not by Protestant Christians who were familiar with the earlier interpretation (and had no problem with it), but by "Freemasons" who "interpreted" "God" as "the sun", in keeping with Babylonian and Egyptian (sun-worship), displayed openly in a Masonic Bible. If you think all that dogmatism and insistence over the 24-hour "solar-day" in Genesis is really just about "the Bible" among "fundamentalists", (you would be completely mistaken). It's not. It's about "Freemasonry". The "Bible" supports no such dogmatism over "solar-day creationism". In fact, it was the "later" development, historically. (From Babylon) The author of Genesis, clearly indicated "Yom" to be read as an "Age", not a "24-hour solar day" and that is how it was read, historically, before "the Book of Jubilees" was introduced.
The above sentence illustrates how common language is used. The way you can easily discern this is a reference to an "age" rather than a 24-hour solar-day, is by the content it is connected to. (i.e., the context of the expression)
The same exact pattern is found in Genesis 1 with it's use of "evening and morning". (1) Content demonstrates it's usage refers to the beginning and end of an age. (2) In order to invalidate that observation, it is claimed that such usage never occurs in the Bible elsewhere.(So therefore if it does, then it becomes a positive proof, rather than a rebuttable) (3) Yom=Age is how the author of this very chapter in Genesis ends in a summary statement referring to the entire process as one Yom, clearly impossible to mean 1 24-hour solar-cycle (because he is referring to all 7 Yoms in one Yom) Gen.2:4 (4) The argument of a literal 24-hour solar-week and it's Sabbath, is refuted by faith in Christ as the Messiah. (See Nbr 4, below)
CONTENT MATTERS
2. Yom 3 - On the third day, God formed the land out of the seas.
a. Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. (Genesis 1:11And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:12)
b. The text clearly states that the earth "sprouted" the plants (the Hebrew word deshe,5 Strong's #H1877, usually refers to grasses). The Hebrew word dasha,6 (Strong's #H1876) indicates that the plants grew from either seeds or small seedlings in order to have "sprouted." In addition, these plants produced seeds. The Hebrew word here is zera (Strong's #H2233), which is most often translated "descendants." This makes matters very difficult for the 24-hour interpretation. Not only do the plants sprout and grow to maturity, but produce seed or descendants. There are no plants capable of doing this within a 24-hour period of time.
c. Genesis 1:12 clearly states that God allowed the earth to bring forth trees that bore fruit. The process by which the earth brings forth trees to the point of bearing fruit takes several years, at minimum. God did not create the trees already bearing fruit. The text states clearly that He allowed the earth to accomplish the process of fruit bearing through natural means. Because the process of the third day requires a minimum period of time of more than 24 hours, the Genesis text for the third day clearly falsifies the interpretation that the days of Genesis one are 24-hour periods of time.
3. Yom 4 - There is no "Solar-cycle" present until the 4th Yom. You cannot have a 24-solar-cycle "morning and evening" without a 24 hour solar-cycle.
Thus based on THE CONTENT OF THE TEXT ITSELF, it is clear the only way "Yom" could be understood in Genesis 1, is to mean "an age", and the term "morning and evening" are used to refer to the beginning and end of an age, the very same way we still express ourselves in plain English today; The dawning and dusk of the Roman Empire.
EXPRESSIONAL USAGE IS USED ELSEWHERE
(Referred to an era, not a day)
EXAMPLE: Eze_7:7_The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
(Referred to an era, not a day)
EXAMPLE: Dan_8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
(Referred to an era and specifically, to the beginning and end of something, many days in the future)
EXAMPLE: Isa_17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
(referred to an era)
EXAMPLE: 1Sa_17:16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening (singular), and presented himself forty days (plural).
(Referred to a long period of time, specified by evening and morning which included 40 days)
EXAMPLE: Job_4:20 They are destroyed from morning to evening (singular): they perish for ever without any regarding it.
(Referred to a continuous state)
AUTHOR OF GENESIS 1 USES YOM IN A SINGULAR SUMMARY STATEMENT OF ALL 7 PREVIOUS YOMS
GENERATIONS (of heaven and earth) = תֹּלְדָה תּוֹלְדָה
tôledâh tôledâh
to-led-aw', to-led-aw'
From H3205; (plural only) descent, that is, family; (figuratively) history: - birth, generations.(More than one)
This is referring directly to heaven and earth (GENERATIONS OF EARTH)
AND It was obviously done in more than 1 Yom. He just got finished listing and describing 7 Yoms (which he summarizes as done in a Yom of creation). You have to take Ge.2:4 "Yom" to mean an "age", but then if you do not take "Yom" in Genesis 1 the same way, you are using word "Yom" in a manner inconsistent with the way the author himself is clearly using the term.(Evidenced by Ge.2:4)
There is no way Yom can validly refer to a 24-hour cycle (which violates [1] the content of the texts [2] the usage by the author himself in Ge.2:4 and [3] simply ignoring how it's expressional use, is clearly found elsewhere in the Scriptures.[4] And how ages, weeks, and days, are customarily referred to by the prophets, both past, present and future.
IF "YOM" IN GENESIS MUST BE A 24-HOUR SOLAR-DAY BECAUSE OF THE LITERAL WEEK, THEN "WEEKS" IN DANIEL MUST BE INTERPRETED TO MEAN CHRIST CAME 1.3 YEARS AFTER EZRA, ACCORDING TO DANIEL'S VISION OF 70 WEEKS
Dan_9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.