The narrative of creation, as detailed in the book of Genesis, has captivated theologians, scientists, and laypeople alike for millennia. At the heart of this enduring debate is the definition of a ‘day’ described in the creation week. Genesis presents an enigma: Are we to interpret these days as literal 24-hour periods as Young Earth Creationists claim, or is there a deeper, theological significance attached to them? The dilemma is not merely one of semantics; it is foundational to our understanding of the infinite attributes of God in relation to a material universe.
In “The Six-Day War in Creationism,” these themes are discussed in the light of the limitless essence of God over against the limited scope of a physical universe and human experience.
The notion that God, an infinite being, could operate within the constraints of time while creating time—is contradictory. The book suggests that approaching the Genesis account with an ultra-literalist mindset confines the Creator who must transcend time and space, and who cannot be limited within our temporal and spatial realm. Thus, God’s nature is a corrective for misinterpreting Genesis.
The literary framework of Genesis ends each of the six days with the refrain, “there was an evening and a morning the nth day” but is strangely absent on the seventh day which suggests the day, and therefore the week, never ends! That means the week is not an ordinary week but a divine week, which it certainly is. Yet these markers do not emerge from a spherical earth but as an earth depicted in a Three-Tiered Universe (seen here) where a single rotation of the Earth as we experience was not understood. Instead, the sun follows its course across a domed shape sky and sets in the underworld until morning when it emerges, and a new day begins.
On “evenings and mornings”, the Christian Standard Bible translates it; “There was an evening, and there was a morning.” That says something different than the traditional reading. An evening and a morning are two separate events. C. John Collins, the MIT professor of Old Testament Literature and linguistics, writes: [Evening and morning are two] successive events, each denoted by the verb (wayehi, “and there was”) … the [KJV and Vulgate] compresses the two events.” In other words, God works during the day in Genesis that begins at sunup (morning) and end at sundown (evening). God works during the daylight portion of the day only, which is what a Hebrew worker would do: Psalm 104:23, says “When the sun rises [morning]…men go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.”
So, God is depicted as a Hebrew craftsman completing monumental tasks from morning to evening taking the nighttime and Saturdays off! Yet in these descriptions, the divine workweek is unlike any other. It is an artful anthropomorphism, relating the unfathomable to the ordinary, bridging the chasm between Creator and creation. Furthermore, the literary Hebrew workweek establishes the Creator as none other than Israel’s covenant deity, by using an illusion to the 7th Day Sabbath, which was the sign of the covenant, and that God had freed them from Egyptian slavery seven days a week. The 10 Commandments were the heart of the first Covenant. In Deuteronomy 5 it says:
13 For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 14 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall do no work…15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt … and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Genesis weaves familiar concepts of the decidedly Hebrew covenantal workweek into an extraordinary account of divine craftsmanship. The festivals of Israel are illuded to on day four (“signs and seasons”) and, of course there is a 7th day Rest, not to mention God speaks Hebrew at the beginning of time which can hardly be literal but necessary to tell the story. Also, the number 7 is constant from verse 1 where the Hebrew letters for the three nouns in the verse: God, heaven, and earth add up to 777. Each Hebrew letter also stands for a number, in this case a total of 777.
Young Earth Creationism asserts that whenever the word “day” is modified by a number (like day 3 or the 6th day etc.) it must always be interpreted as a strict 24-hour day, therefore, the days of Genesis must be very God’s work schedule, identical to a Hebrew. In the New Testament, Jesus himself addresses numbered days quite differently, drawing from it a depth of theological significance beyond human timekeeping. Remember the Pharisees wanted a sign from Jesus showing he was the Messiah. Jesus said his only sign would be that of the prophet Jonah: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). We can see that numbered days don’t require a strict 24-hour meaning, in Jesus’ day or Jonah’s because Jesus was in the grave for only one day and two nights!
At times, the Gospel narratives show Jesus’ redemptive work within the creation motif yet never reducing it to the confines of literal days or numbered hours. His eternal mission transcends earthly measurements, bringing to the forefront the timelessness of divine intent. To label the creation account solely as a literal historical narrative is to neglect its multifaceted nature and its theological intent in anthropomorphic imagery. It is figurative, yes, but not devoid of literal truths. It employs the figurative to express realities too grand for unadorned prose, revealing the invisible aspects of God’s nature through the visible medium of storytelling.
“The Six-Day War in Creationism,” We must acknowledge the limitations inherent in our language, the bounds of our comprehension, and the insufficiency of our words to fully encapsulate the essence of the Almighty and his plans. This reflective humility is echoed in the summaries at the end of each chapter that punctuate reminders that our grasp of divine reality is always mediated through human eyes.
Final Words
As readers of the ancient text and observers of the natural world, we find ourselves immersed in a rich interplay of ideas spanning theology, history, and science. The ongoing quest to fathom God’s timelessness behind the Genesis creation account is more than an intellectual exercise—it is a journey towards a deeper appreciation of our place within the cosmos and under the sovereignty of God, who exists beyond the limits of our earthly days and nights.
Each ‘day’ becomes a testament to the intricate relationship between the temporal and the eternal, inviting us to marvel at a magnificent creation and the Creator who stands unconfined by it.