In six days … what?

God did not create heaven and earth in six days, but in six days He revealed the ten creative-words to Adam. An interesting difference! Proposition # 1 Genesis 1 is a book. The creation story is closed (2:4) with the statement: “these are the toledot of heaven and earth when they were created.” The word toledot in the KJV is translated with “generations”. The Greek LXX (which the writers of “New Testament” invariably quoted) says:

This is the book genesis* of heaven and earth … *Gr. biblos genesioos

Genesis 1 (to 2:4) is a book! Genesis 1 is the becoming-book of heaven and earth, even as that which follows to chapter 5:1 is “the becoming-book of Adam”. Ten times we read in Genesis 1 the phrase “and God said”. Ten words, the same as the text on the tablets of stone were called “the ten words” (Ex.34:28). Proposition # 2 “Morning” and “evening” presuppose a sunrise and a sunset. The traditional reading of Genesis 1 (= heaven and earth created in six days) have, for centuries, presented a number of logical problems. The most famous one is: If on the fourth day “the great light” (the sun) was formed, how can, prior to this, mention be made of “days”, of “morning” and of “evening”? However, if Genesis 1 does not describe a six-day creation, but, instead, a six-day revelation of creation, then this problem does not exist. In that case, the sun is not formed on the fourth day, but God told Adam on the fourth day of the formation of the Sun. Proposition # 3 The six pauses between the evenings and mornings were not for God. If God (re)created the heaven and the earth in six days, then we must assume that God, during the nights, rested. But Isaiah 40:28 says:

The Elohim eonian is Yahweh, Creator of the ends of the earth. He is not fainting, nor is He wearying. And there is no investigating of His understanding.

If Genesis 1 is a six-day, Divine revelation to man, then the nightly pauses are logical. The night was needed for man to sleep; even as the rest (“the ceasing”) of the seventh day was not for God, but “for man” (Mark 2:27). Proposition # 4 Adam and Eve could hardly have been formed in one day… If Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day, then this presents a conflict with the “second creation-account” (from “the book of Adam”, Gen.5:1). Genesis 2 shows that:

• Adam was formed (:7)
• Adam was placed in the Garden (:8)
• Adam was instructed by God (:16)
• Adam names the animals (:20)
• Adam found no helper for himself (:20)
• A deep sleep came over Adam (:21)
• After which Eve was formed (:22).

Is it reasonable to assume that all of this took place within the twelve hours of one day? Again, this problem disappears when we understand that man and woman were not created on the sixth day, but that God on the sixth day related the creation of man and woman to man. Proposition # 5 God did not create, but DID the heavens and earth in six days. Often times, Exodus 20:11 is carelessly quoted, with the claim that God created heaven and earth in six days. But what really is stated is this:

8 You are to remember the sabbath day to hallow it. 9 Six days shall you serve and DO (Heb. asah) all your work, 10 yet the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not DO  (Heb. asah) any work, you, your son or your daughter, your servant or your maidservant, your bull, your donkey or your beast, or your sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days Yahweh DID (Heb. asah) the heavens and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He stopped on the seventh day. Therefore, Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. Ex. 20:8-11 

“For in six days YAHWEH did the heavens and earth,” naturally, refers to the first chapters of Genesis. Genesis 2:3,4

3 And blessing is the Elohim the seventh day, and hallowing it, for in it He ceases from all His work, which the Elohim creates to make. 4 This is the becoming book of the heavens and the earth…  (LXX)

Not the creation, but the becoming-book of heaven and earth in six days was achieved. Proposition # 6 God spoke to man in six days, and named for man the following things (“day”, “night”, “land”, “sea”, etc.). If Genesis 1 is God’s teaching to man, in the Garden of Eden, then the various designations (“and God called/named…”) in that chapter become clear. Why would God, when there was no man, name the light “day” and the darkness “night”? These phenomena, after all, are for man on earth. And why should He name the dry part “land” (or earth) and the waters “seas”? Etc.. The naming of things presume that a man, on earth, is addressed. Conclusion … God created heaven and earth “in the beginning”. When that was, is not stated. Neither is it revealed how much time He took to do it. In six days God revealed to Adam the ten creative-words. Not the creation, but the story of creation took six days. ——————————— translation: Peter Feddema

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