Page 34 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

The Hebrew words for the evening (ereb) and morning (boqer) occur more than 100 times in the Old
Testament and always have the literal meaning: the termination of the daily period of light and the daily
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period of darkness, respectively.

Also, the occurrence of “day” modified by a number is a construct occurring more than 100 times in the
Pentateuch alone, always with a literal meaning.

In the first chapter of Genesis, the formula noted the ending of each day’s work, “and the evening and
the morning were the day.” God was establishing that each day had distinct boundaries and was one of
a series of days, both of which criteria are never present in the Old Testament writing unless literal days
are intended. The writer of Genesis was trying to guard in every way possible against any of his readers
deriving the notion of nonliteral days from his record.

The creation of light on Day 1 should include all visible and wave light energy. It is acceptable to assume
that this light included all electromagnetic, gravitational, and nuclear forces and the complete light
energy spectrum, including ultraviolet, visible, infrared, etc.

With this completed, the physical universe had been created and energized and was ready for further
shaping and furnishing in preparation for man, whose dominion it would be.

This verse has caused many people to question the reliability of Scripture, as we see God creating light
three days before any objects in space emit light. It does seem to create a problem, and many
theologians have tried to create solutions, but all of them have looked outside the Bible for a solution.

One theory is that the light on day one was actually the light in transit
from the light-emitting objects in space that God would create on day
4. Since God is all-powerful and the creator of all things, this idea
seems to solve two problems: first, where did the light on day 1 come
from, and second, how did light cross billions of light-years of space in
the short span of time that the Bible says the universe has existed
(approximately 4004 B.C.). However, after close scrutiny, this causes
a bigger theological problem than it solves. If God created light in transit, then the events such as
supernovae that we can observe today that are billions of light-years away did not really happen, and
God just put a picture in the light stream that is of something that we see today, but didn’t really occur.
This has to do with the time it has taken in light speed for the light from the event to reach us on Earth.
This would make God, at the worst, a liar and, at the very best, a trickster. Either way, it would call into
question our ability to trust our God.

There is no need to create problems where they don’t exist. When we look closer and trust what we
know from Scripture, we can conclude that it is defensible.

First, the sun, moon, and stars are not needed for day and night. What is needed is light and a rotating
Earth. God made light on the first day of creation (Genesis 1:3). The phrase “evening and morning”
certainly implies a rotating earth. Thus, there can be day and night if we have light from one direction
and a spinning Earth.

Where did the light come from? We are not told, but Genesis 1:3 certainly indicates it was a created
light to provide day and night until God made the sun on Day 4 to rule the day. The Bible proclaims God

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