Are The Creation "Days" In Genesis Literal 24-Hour Days?

Hey there! I'm so glad you're here. This is a topic that I could get long-winded about, but I'm going to try and keep this article focused on one question alone.

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When I began questioning the Bible, I especially doubted the six days of creation described in Genesis. Why couldn't God have used evolution to create the world and us in millions or billions of years?

Day-age theory is the belief that the days of Genesis represent longer periods of time, not 24-hour days. It sounded okay to me. Maybe after God made the world, He stepped back and let animals and humans develop through evolution over millions of years. What could be the harm in that idea?

However, now I believe that day-age theory is a detrimental attack upon the accuracy of the Bible. Why did I change my mind, you ask? Well, let's take a closer look at the actual words of Genesis.

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The Hebrew word for "day" is the word Yom. Like the English word day, Yom can mean a period of time in the past ("back in my day"), a number of days ("the doghouse was built in ten days"), or a literal 24-hour day ("I stayed in Hawaii for one day").

In the following examples, the word Yom is used to mean a literal 24-hour day. These instances are found in the Old Testament outside of Genesis 1. (source below image)

1. Day + number. (410 times)

2. Evening and morning together without day. (38 times)

3. Evening with day. (23 times)

4. Morning with day. (23 times)

5. Night with day. (52 times)

As you can see, all those usages of Yom, evening + morning, etc., clearly refer to a 24-hour day, and they all occur outside of Genesis 1. With that said, why do people only question the meaning of "day" in Genesis 1?

It's because the idea of molecules-to-man evolution (whether God was involved or not) requires that the world be millions or billions of years old. That's why some people have reinterpreted the days in Genesis to mean millions or billions of years, or at least a non-literal day. But this is a dangerous path to take. If Genesis is found to be metaphorical or fallible, that opens the door to questioning the rest of the Bible. Once you start believing that the days in Genesis are not literal 24-hour days, you are on the path to questioning the rest of the Bible, including Christ's death and resurrection.

See where I'm going with this? If you start doubting one part of the Bible (such as the days of Genesis), it's not that far of a leap to doubting the entire Book. It certainly wasn't for me.

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I recommend checking out my source links (below image) for further details and evidence for the six literal, 24-hour days in Genesis. I hope to see you again on my next post!

Alexa

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And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

~ Genesis 1:3

Source article(s):

1. Ham, Ken. "Six Days, the Age of the Earth, and the Authority of Scripture with Ken Ham." Accessed January 18, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oBle1KH7QU&list=PL1v9pqs4w1mxlg9NOpSw-uqmscMRVacxV&index=4 (24:28 timestamp)

2. Davis, Jud. "Hebrew Scholars: 24-Hour Days in Creation." Accessed January 18, 2021. https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/24-hours-plain-as-day/

3. Chaffey, Tim. "Creation: The Longest Week Ever?" Accessed January 18, 2021. https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/creation-longest-week-ever/