Ancient River of Eden

In verse 1:5 of Genesis, the interpretation of the word yom (yowm) is key to resolving the apparent discrepancy between the scientific age of planet Earth, 4.6-billion years, and the age assumed in the traditional interpretation of the Bible’s creation story, six-thousand years. Verse 1:5 says there was daytime and night and evening and morning, in other words, one day. ‘There was evening and there was morning’ doesn’t exactly say ‘from evening to morning’ but the latter phrase is found later in the Bible where Aaron and his sons were instructed to tend the Tent of Meeting throughout the night. They were to keep the lamps burning “from evening to morning {`ereb boqer}”—please read {Exodus 27:21 and Leviticus 24:3}. Therefore, I believe that verse 1:5 is implying that GOD continued to work all day and all night, namely, GOD was ‘burning the midnight oil’ from dusk to dawn to create the Universe. He did not rest until the Seventh Day. Thus, to place strong emphasis on the importance of the Seventh Day, it is logical and lyrical to translate yowm in the Song of Seven Days to mean a 24-hour day.

Early humans had no way to grasp the concept of a billion years and had no need to know the exact time span during which the first phase of the creation unfolded. GOD could have created everything in the blink of an eye, or, He could have orchestrated creation over billions of years. Therefore, with respect to the well-corroborated scientific findings of today, I believe it is also perfectly acceptable to understand yowm in this verse to be a long period of time, and from a scientific point of view, to understand the words ‘echad yowm in this verse to be the first phase of the creation process…which took almost ten billion years. But I hasten to say that one should always read and recite this verse using the word ‘day’ because any other words would detract from the beauty and majesty of GOD’s Song of Seven Days.

The Hebrew word yowm has Biblical precedence for meaning a ‘long period of time.’ In {Psalm 90:4} [KJV], Moses told us: “For a thousand years in thy [GOD’s] sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” => from dusk to dawn! In fact, in {1Samuel 2:35} [NKJV], yowm is translated: ‘forever.’ Thus, depending on the context, yowm can represent vastly different lengths of time. Therefore, I believe the word yowm in this verse does not contradict scientific measurements that point to the age of the Universe and Earth as being billions of years old.

Those familiar with the Bible will point to {Exodus 20:8-11} where it says in six yowm the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh yowm. This was written for people living in ancient times as well as for people living today. It was written for all generations. Therefore, the Genesis creation story plays the 24-hour-a-day melody for many people, and, it plays a scientific melody for those who have the ears to hear it, which allows billions of years for the creation to unfold. In the scientific melody, “the First Day” is the first phase of the unfolding creation.

To summarize Day One of the Genesis story, GOD created the physical dimensions of our Universe, space, matter, energy, time, stars and galaxies; and, in addition, GOD made a spiritual dimension available in our Universe. When looking through a lens of science, I believe that the work that GOD performed on Day One may have taken almost ten-billion years to complete. Planet Earth had taken form but was still cooling down from collisions with very large meteors. Can you picture the newly-formed, hot Earth with clouds of steam swirling around it—just like a loaf of bread coming out of GOD’s hot oven?

Now let us consider verses 1:6-1:8 in Day Two of the Genesis story. Let us consider the phrase ‘divide waters from waters.’ Is there a spiritual melody playing here? Did GOD make a spiritual divide? When I use Waters as a metaphor for Holy Spirit, I believe GOD made a division (a distinction) between how Holy Spirit is received on Earth (namely, ‘Waters under the expanse’) and how Holy Spirit is received in Heaven (namely, ‘Waters above the expanse’). On Earth, I have freedom to choose to receive fellowship with Holy Spirit, or not. I have the freedom to ignore Holy Spirit on Earth. Whereas in Heaven, everyone has fellowship with Holy Spirit (GOD), everyone’s heart is pure, and everyone treats their neighbor with kindness and respect (because, only those who want to have fellowship with GOD are taken into Heaven). In this sense, the ‘expanse’ is the distance from Earth to Heaven (they lie in separate dimensions).

Dividing the waters brings to mind a story of Moses, the time that GOD divided the waters of the Red Sea, as told in {Exodus 14:21}. Through the divided waters, the ancient Hebrews escaped from Egypt—they escaped from slavery. Spiritually speaking, this story is also a metaphor: choosing to walk (or to run!) through the expanse between the divided Waters symbolizes that you are walking away from the slavery of sin (symbolized by ‘Egypt’) and toward the freedom of the Promised Land (a symbol for Heaven). It is your decision to walk (or not) towards Heaven.