Genesis 2:4 - question on day vs. days

[kvanlaan]

For those of you who are strict six day creationists, how do you deal with Genesis 2:4 where:

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

The 'day' is 'yom', the same as the 'day' reference in the second verse when it refers to the seventh 'day'. How to explain the difference?

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Much like our own English word "day", yom can mean a literal 24 hour period, or it can mean an undetermined amount of time. The way in which to tell the difference is by context and by what accompanies it. In every case in the OT when the word "yom" is accompanied by numbers, it always refers to a literal day. The morning and the evening were the first day, etc. Old men like to say things like "In my day, we didn't have cellphones and computers" and day is understood to mean their youth. But you wouldn't say "In my first day" because the addition of a number or sequence changes the meaning. In the case of Genesis 2:4, yom is not accompanied by a number and refers to the totality of the creative act, which took six days and not one. Here is a good article that might help you further. http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/45/45-4/45-4-PP577-584_JETS.pdf

 

[kvanlaan]

Excellent answer, thank you.

 

[earl40]

Quick follow up. What exactly is "These are the generations" mean. I can see the context in English appears to say this is "the time period", but is there a Hebrew equilivant in other writings in scripture or other Hebrew writings?

 

[Poimen]

In Hebrew there is something which we call a "collective noun." This is a noun that is singular in presentation but plural in its meaning. (If I remember correctly) one example of this is found in Isaiah 52:7 we read "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news..." The word 'feet' in Hebrew is singular but its collectively refers to the whole person or body (thus "feet") as it wouldn't make much sense to speak of "the foot of him."

In this sense, the singular day in Genesis 2:4 can refer to, by way of summary, all of the days (6) in which creation took place.

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Quick follow up. What exactly is "These are the generations" mean. I can see the context in English appears to say this is "the time period", but is there a Hebrew equilivant in other writings in scripture or other Hebrew writings?

The Hebrew word that is translated "generations" is "toledot", which is simply a means of dividing the narrative up into parts. Chapter one gives us a broad overview of creation, while chapter 2 verse 4 begins a section that deals specifically with the creation and fall of man. We see this used many times in Genesis, such as Genesis 5:1, 10:1, etc.

 

[kvanlaan]

All great answers, but one thing: in subsequent reading, I found that the construct of 'yom' is changed in Gen 2:4 to 'be'yom, thus changing the meaning of the word from 'day' (24 hours) to 'in the day of' - anyone else come across this?

 

[nick]

Here are links to a couple scripture readings that would probably be of some help:

Genesis 1 - LINK
Genesis 2 - LINK

He breaks down each chapter for about 15 minutes.