The Days of Creation from God’s Viewpoint
GOD’S
viewpoint! How far that towers above man’s viewpoint! God is infinite, without
limitations. We are finite, very much limited. Well does Jehovah God say: “As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isa. 55:9.
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No
wonder the psalmist David asked: “When I see your heavens, the works of your
fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that
you keep him in mind?” Fittingly the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “Look! The
nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they
have been accounted. Look! He lifts the islands themselves as mere fine dust.”—Ps. 8:3, 4; Isa. 40:15.
Unfathomable
as is the greatness of Jehovah God, so also is his existence unfathomable. He
has always existed. As “the King of eternity” he is God “from time indefinite
to time indefinite.” Not without good reason does the prophet Daniel describe
Jehovah God as “the Ancient of Days.”—1 Tim. 1:17; Ps. 90:2; Dan. 7:9.
“DAY” IN THE SCRIPTURES
Clearly this ever-living Creator, Jehovah God, would view time
differently from the way we mere mortals do, with our lifespan of seventy or
eighty years. Does not a young child view time differently from the way a
person well along in years views it? To a child twelve months might seem to be
a very long time, but to an elderly person the years just seem to fly by. How
much differently, then, must the “Ancient of Days” view time from the way we
mortals do! Obviously, when Jehovah in his Word speaks of a “day” or “days,” we
should not conclude that he always means days of twenty-four hours. He may be referring
to such and he may not.
Thus
we find that the Hebrew word for “day,” yohm, is
used in a variety of ways in the Bible. In the very account of creation we have
“day” used to refer to three different periods of time. “Day” is used to refer
to the daylight hours, as when we read: “God began calling the light Day, but the
darkness he called Night.” It is used to refer to both day and night, as when
we read: “There came to be evening and there came to be morning, a first day.” And
“day” is also used to refer to the entire time period involved in creation of
the heavens and the earth: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in
the time of their being created, in the day that
Jehovah God made earth and heaven.”—Gen. 1:5; 2:4.
Then
again, on more than one occasion Jehovah God used a day to represent a year.
This he did in connection with the Israelite's in the wilderness and with his
prophet Ezekiel. His Word says: “A day for a year, a day for a year, you will
answer for your errors.” “A day for a year, a day for a year, is what I have
given you.” (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6)
Likewise in regard to Daniel’s prophecy that foretold the coming of the
Messiah at the end of sixty-nine “weeks.” The Messiah came, not at the end of
sixty-nine literal weeks, or 483 days, but at the end of 483 years. (See The Watchtower, 1966,
p. 379.)
Not
only one year, but even a thousand years are at times represented as one day in
God’s Word. As the prophet Moses mused: “For a thousand years are in your eyes
but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch during the night.” The apostle
Peter expresses it even stronger: “Let this one fact not be escaping your
notice, beloved ones, that one day [Greek, he·meʹra]
is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”—Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8.
Yes,
in the Christian Greek Scriptures “day” is also used to refer to other periods
of time, not just to twenty-four hours. For example, Jesus on one occasion
said: “Abraham your father rejoiced greatly in the prospect of seeing my day,
and he saw it and rejoiced.” Likewise we read of such expressions by his
followers as “Christ’s day,” “Jehovah’s day,” and “the great day of God the
Almighty.” Surely none of these are meant to be limited to just twenty-four
hours. (John 8:56; Phil. 2:16; 1 Thess. 5:2; Rev. 16:14)
The foregoing makes it clear that a “day” from God’s viewpoint is not
necessarily limited to twenty-four hours.
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN LENGTH?
However,
many in Christendom, in particular the so-called Fundamentalists, insist that
the days of creation mentioned in Genesis, chapter one,
were just twenty-four hours long. Of course, since Jehovah God, the Creator, is
all-wise as well as all-powerful, he could well have created all things
mentioned in the account of creation in six twenty-four-hour days. But from
such evidence as that found in the rocks of the earth and by astronomers’ telescopes,
it does not seem that he did so.
Concerning
these days of creation A
Religious Encyclopædia by Schaff says: “The days of creation
were creative days, stages in the process, but not days of twenty-four hours.”
Similarly Delitzsch says in his New
Commentary on Genesis: “Days of God are intended, with Him a
thousand years are but as a day when that is past, Ps. 90:4 . . .
The days of creation are, according to the meaning of Holy Scripture itself,
not days of four and twenty hours, but aeons . . . For this earthly
and human measurement of time cannot apply to the first three days.”
Some
do not even care to consider seriously the length of the days of creation.
Typical of such are the editors of Harper’s
Bible Dictionary, who state: “It is futile and unnecessary to
try to reconcile the Genesis Creation account with modern science.” And The Interpreter’s Dictionary of
the Bible (1962) speaks of the creation account as
mythological.
Jesus
Christ, however, credited the Genesis account with being factual, for he quoted
that Genesis account as authoritative, saying: “Did you not read that he who
created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this
reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife,
and the two will be one flesh’?” The apostle Paul was of the same mind, for he
said that God “made out of one man every nation of men” and that “Adam was
formed first, then Eve.” So it is to our interest, and not at all futile, to
concern ourselves with just how long the days of creation were.—Matt. 19:4, 5; Acts 17:26; 1 Tim. 2:13.
But before considering the length of these days of creation it
seems well to clear up a common misunderstanding. That misunderstanding is that
the earth itself was created during the six “days” of creation. The Bible
record indicates that the universe, the starry heavens, as well as this planet
earth, were created before the first of earth’s creative days began.
Thus Genesis 1:1 tells
of the creation of the starry heavens as well as this planet earth, and says:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” When this “beginning”
took place, the Bible does not say. It is not until later in the Bible that we
read of what God created on the first “day.” The six creative “days,”
therefore, involve the creative acts of God in preparing the already-existing
earth for human habitation, and not the creation of the earth itself.
There is
nothing in the Genesis account, then, to contradict the scientific conclusions
of modern scientists that the material universe, including the earth, may be
many thousands of millions of years old.
Then,
how are we to understand the words of the Fourth Commandment, about God making
the heavens and the earth during six days? (Ex. 20:11) It
helps us when we understand that, just as Bible writers used the term “day” in
more than one sense, so they also used the terms “heavens” and “earth” in more
than one sense. Thus at times the atmosphere in which the birds fly is referred
to as “the heavens.” (Jer. 4:25)
This atmospheric expanse or “heavens” was made on the second “day” of the
creative week. Also, it was not until the third “day” that dry land appeared.
So it can be said that the earth, meaning the dry land, also was made during
the creative week, but this not meaning that the earth, the globe or planet
itself, was created then.—Gen. 1:6-10, 13.
LENGTH OF THE CREATIVE DAYS
Just how long, then, were these “days” of creation? The Bible
gives us a clue as to the length of the seventh day. Since these “days” were
all part of one ‘week,’ it would be reasonable to conclude that all these
“days” were of the same length.
As
regards the length of the seventh day it is indeed of interest that the Bible
says nothing about ‘an evening and a morning,’ a beginning and an end to the
seventh day as in the case of the other six days. This is a meaningful
omission. The record simply states: “God proceeded to bless the seventh day and
make it sacred, because on it he has been resting from all his work.”—Gen. 2:3.
The only logical
conclusion that we can reach is that the seventh day has continued right on.
Does the Bible support this conclusion? Yes, it most certainly does, for it
speaks of Jehovah God as still resting thousands of years after creation. Thus
at Psalm 95:8-11, we read that Jehovah said to the Israelite's in
the wilderness that they would not enter into his rest because of the hardness
of their hearts. This shows that God had been resting from works of the sort
described in Genesis chapters one and two from
the creation of Eve to that time, more than 2,500 years.*
The
psalmist David, some 400 years later, at Psalm 95:8-11 speaks
of entering into God’s rest in his day. And then more than a thousand years
after David’s time the writer of Hebrews speaks of Jehovah God as still resting
in his day. He counsels Christians not to be like the Israelites in the
wilderness who failed to enter into God’s rest, but that they should do their
“utmost to enter into that rest,” Jehovah’s rest. In this connection he says
that “there remains a sabbath resting for the people of God.” And as the
words of the apostle Paul are applicable to Christians today, it follows that
Jehovah has been enjoying his sabbath or rest from physical creation almost six
thousand years now.—Heb. 4:9, 11.
This
accounts for 6,000 years. Is that the length of the seventh day? No, because we
read that “God proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it sacred.” Its
outcome must be “very good,” and that is not true of present world conditions;
so the “day” must still be continuing. Actually these six thousand years have
been, as it were, man’s workweek, in which he labored by the sweat of his face.
But he will get rest during the coming thousand-year reign of Christ, which
Bible chronology and fulfillment of Bible prophecy show is to begin very soon.—Gen. 2:3.
The
seventh one thousand years of the seventh “day” will thus in itself be a
sabbath. During it Satan and his demons will be bound. Christ and his anointed
followers will rule with him as kings and priests. With what result? That all
God’s enemies will be put beneath Christ’s feet. By means of this sabbath the
seventh day will truly be sacred, for it will cause righteousness to flourish.—1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:1-6; Psalm 72.
Thus we find the seventh “day” of the creative week to be seven
thousand years long. On the basis of the length of the seventh “day” it is
therefore reasonable to conclude that each of the other six “days” also was a
period of 7,000 years. This length of time would be ample for all that the
Bible tells us took place on each of the six days of creation.
AN EVENTFUL ‘WEEK’
Thus gradually on the first “day” light appeared on the “watery
deep” that enveloped the earth. During the second 7,000-year “day” the
atmosphere was formed between two layers of water. On the third “day” the dry
land gradually appeared, and Jehovah God created all manner of vegetation,
grasses, shrubs and trees.
On the fourth “day” the luminaries, the sun and moon and stars,
for the first time became visible from the earth’s surface, preparing the earth
for the appearance, on the fifth “day,” of marine life and flying creatures. On
the sixth “day” God created land animals and, toward its end, man.
There
is, as we have seen, good reason to believe that the days of creation were each
7,000 years long. Now the fact that we are living at the end of six thousand
years of the seventh “day” is of the greatest interest and importance to us.
When Jesus Christ was on earth, he performed many of his miraculous cures on the
sabbath. To those who were offended by this he pointed out that he was “Lord of
the sabbath.” By this he was pointing forward to the sabbath of a thousand
years during which he will bring back mankind to perfection of body and mind.
He will do for all mankind what he did for his people Israel back there. This
will include even the raising of the dead, for “all those in the memorial tombs
will hear his voice and come out.”—Matt. 12:8; John 5:28, 29.
Thus,
our appreciating the days of creation from God’s viewpoint is not only seen to
be Scriptural, reasonable and harmonious with such facts as men of science have
been able to produce, but also inspires in us the hope of soon enjoying the
Lord’s sabbath of God’s rest day, a day when health, life and happiness will be
restored to humankind. Truly God’s ways and thoughts are infinitely superior to
man’s thoughts and ways.—Rev. 21:3, 4.
[Footnotes]
According to Genesis 5:3-29; 7:6,
from the creation of Adam to the Flood 1,656 years elapsed. Genesis 11:10-12:4 shows
that 427 years elapsed from the deluge until God’s covenant with Abraham. And Galatians 3:17 shows
that 430 years elapsed from then to the giving of the Law, making upward of
2,500 years. See “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pages 284, 285.
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- accomplishment. The years will seem to flow faster and faster, and appreciative and retentive minds will be continually enriched with memories of happy events. As millenniums pass, humans on this earth will no doubt come to appreciate more fully Jehovah’s view of time: ‘For a thousand years in Jehovah’s eyes are but as yesterday when it is past.’—Ps. 90:4.33. With regard to time, what blessing has Jehovah commanded?33 Viewing the stream of time from our present human standpoint and taking into account God’s promise of a new world of righteousness, how joyous in prospect are the blessings of that day: “For there Jehovah commanded the blessing to be, even life to time indefinite”!—Ps. 133:3.
- Studies on the Inspired Scriptures and Their BackgroundStudy Number 3—Measuring Events in the Stream of TimeThe counting of time in Bible days and a discussion of the chronology of outstanding events of both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.1. (a) What indicates that Jehovah is an accurate timekeeper? (b) What progress has been made in understanding Bible chronology?IN GIVING Daniel the vision of “the king of the north” and “the king of the south,” Jehovah’s angel several times used the expression “the time appointed.” (Dan. 11:6, 27,29, 35) There are many other scriptures too that indicate Jehovah is an accurate timekeeper, who accomplishes his purposes exactly on time. (Luke 21:24; 1 Thess. 5:1, 2) In his Word, the Bible, he has provided a number of “guideposts” that help us locate important happenings in the stream of time. Much progress has been made in the understanding of Bible chronology. Research by archaeologists and others continues to shed light on various problems, enabling us to determine the timing of key events of the Bible record.—Prov. 4:18.2. Give an example of reckoning with ordinal numbers.2 Ordinal and Cardinal Numbers. In the previous study (paragraphs 24 and 25), we learned that there is a difference between cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. This should be kept in mind when measuring Biblical periods in harmony with modern dating methods. For example, in the reference to “the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah,” the term “thirty-seventh” is an ordinal number. It represents 36 full years plus some days, weeks, or months (whatever time had elapsed from the end of the 36th year).—Jer. 52:31.3. (a) What State records assist in determining Bible dates? (b) What was a regnal year, and what was an accession year?3 Regnal and Accession Years. The Bible refers to State records of the governments of Judah and Israel, as well as to State matters of Babylon and Persia. In all four of these kingdoms, State chronology was accurately reckoned according to the rulerships of the kings, and the same system of reckoning has been carried over into the Bible. Very often the Bible gives the name of the document quoted, as, for example, “the book of the affairs of Solomon.” (1 Ki. 11:41) The reign of a king would cover part of an accession year, to be followed by a complete number of regnal years. Regnal years were the official years in the kingship and were generally counted from Nisan to Nisan, or from spring to spring. When a king succeeded to the throne, the intervening months until the next spring month of Nisan were referred to as his accession year, during which he filled out the regnal term of rulership for his predecessor. However, his own official regnal term was counted as beginning on the next Nisan 1.4. Show how Bible chronology may be counted according to regnal years.4 As an example, it appears that Solomon began reigning sometime before Nisan of 1037 B.C.E., while David was still living. Shortly afterward, David died. (1 Ki. 1:39, 40;2:10) However, David’s last regnal year continued down to the spring of 1037 B.C.E., still being counted as part of his 40-year administration. The partial year, from the start of Solomon’s reign until spring of 1037 B.C.E., is referred to as Solomon’s accession year, and it could not be counted as a regnal year for him, as he was still filling out his father’s term of administration. Therefore, Solomon’s first full regnal year did not begin until Nisan of 1037 B.C.E. (1 Ki. 2:12) Eventually, 40 full regnal years were credited to Solomon’s administration as king. (1 Ki. 11:42) By keeping the regnal years apart from accession years in this way, it is possible to calculate Bible chronology accurately.*COUNTING BACK TO ADAM’S CREATION5. How is the date for the restoration of Jehovah’s worship in Jerusalem determined?5 Starting From the Pivotal Date. The pivotal date for counting back to Adam’s creation is that of Cyrus’ overthrow of the Babylonian dynasty, 539 B.C.E.* Cyrus issued his decree of liberation for the Jews during his first year, before the spring of 537 B.C.E. Ezra 3:1 reports that the sons of Israel were back in Jerusalem by the seventh month, Tishri, corresponding to parts of September and October. So the autumn of 537 B.C.E. is reckoned as the date of the restoration of Jehovah’s worship in Jerusalem.6. (a) What foretold period ended in the autumn of 537 B.C.E.? (b) When must that period have begun, and how do the facts support this?6 This restoration of Jehovah’s worship in the autumn of 537 B.C.E. marked the end of a prophetic period. What period? It was the “seventy years” during which the Promised Land “must become a devastated place” and concerning which Jehovah also said, “In accord with the fulfilling of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention to you people, and I will establish toward you my good word in bringing you back to this place.” (Jer. 25:11, 12; 29:10) Daniel, who was well acquainted with this prophecy, acted in harmony with it as the “seventy years” drew to a close. (Dan. 9:1-3) The “seventy years” that ended in the autumn of the year 537 B.C.E. must have begun, then, in the autumn of 607 B.C.E. The facts bear this out. Jeremiah chapter 52 describes the momentous events of the siege of Jerusalem, the Babylonian breakthrough, and the capture of King Zedekiah in 607 B.C.E. Then, as Jer 52 verse 12 states, “in the fifth month, on the tenth day,” that is, the tenth day of Ab (corresponding to parts of July and August), the Babylonians burned the temple and the city. However, this was not yet the starting point of the “seventy years.” Some vestige of Jewish sovereignty still remained in the person of Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the remaining Jewish settlements. “In the seventh month,” Gedaliah and some others were assassinated, so that the remaining Jews fled in fear to Egypt. Then only, from about October 1, 607 B.C.E., was the land in the complete sense “lying desolated . . . to fulfill seventy years.”—2 Ki. 25:22-26; 2 Chron. 36:20, 21.7. (a) How may the years be calculated back to the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s death? (b) What support is supplied by Ezekiel’s prophecy?7 From 607 B.C.E. to 997 B.C.E. The calculation for this period backward from the fall of Jerusalem to the time of the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s death presents many difficulties. However, a comparison of the reigns of the kings of Israel and of Judah as recorded in First and Second Kings indicates that this time period covers 390 years. Strong evidence that this is the correct figure is the prophecy of Ezekiel 4:1-13. This prophecy shows that it is pointing to the time when Jerusalem would be besieged and its inhabitants taken captive by the nations, which occurred in 607 B.C.E. So the 40 years spoken of in the case of Judah terminated with Jerusalem’s desolation. The 390 years spoken of in the case of Israel did not end when Samaria was destroyed, for that was long past when Ezekiel prophesied, and the prophecy plainly says that it is pointing to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Thus, “the error of the house of Israel,” too, terminated in 607 B.C.E. Counting back from this date, we see that the period of 390 years began in 997 B.C.E. In that year, Jeroboam, after the death of Solomon, broke with the house of David and “proceeded to part Israel from following Jehovah, and he caused them to sin with a great sin.”—2 Ki. 17:21.8. (a) How are the years reckoned back to the Exodus? (b) What change affects Bible chronology about this time?8 From 997 B.C.E. to 1513 B.C.E. Since the last of Solomon’s 40 full regnal years ended in the spring of 997 B.C.E., it follows that his first regnal year must have commenced in the spring of 1037 B.C.E. (1 Ki. 11:42) The Bible record, at 1 Kings 6:1, says that Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. This means three full years and one complete month of his reign had elapsed, bringing us to April-May of 1034 B.C.E. for the start of the temple building. However, the same scripture states that this was also “the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out from the land of Egypt.” Again, 480th is an ordinal number, representing 479 complete years. Hence, 479 added to 1034 gives the date 1513 B.C.E. as the year that Israel came out of Egypt. Paragraph 19 of Study 2 explains that from the year 1513 B.C.E., Abib (Nisan) was to be reckoned as “the first of the months of the year” for Israel (Ex. 12:2) and that previously a year beginning in the autumn, with the
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