What do we do with a literal six day creation Exodus 20:11?

2Peter 3:8”But do not forget this one thing,dear friends,with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day”

Yes, it is just saying that God is unaffected by time. 

My point exactly!

The word "day" in Gen 1 comes from the Hebrew word "Yom", which can mean any period of time with a distinct starting and stopping point.  Both YEC and OEC fit in that description. 


At the end of the first six days is the phrase "and the morning and the evening was the ..".  That phrase is missing on day 7 because we are still in day 7.  In fact, God is still resting from His creation activities. That is why no new animal type has came into existence after man.  

It is true that the Hebrew word can mean 'day' in a longer sense, as in 'Napoleon's day', like an era. But it most often means a literal, 24-hour day. And, since we have no reason not to believe that this is what it was, and we should take the Bible literally as much as possible, I think that the six-day view of Creation is the best view given the text. 

The "Most often used" argument is common, but it doesn't seem logical to me.  Here is why.  Suppose a future archeologist is examining our culture and comes across a book that is about marathoner.  He describes his running a lot. Towards the end of the book he says he ran for mayor.  The future archeologist then concluded we picked our mayors by who could run the best.  His argument would be that is how the majority of times the word "run" was used.  Obviously he would be incorrect.  

I agree that we should take the Bible literally, but in the original language, not translated versions.  That's why Strong's is so important.  

If you're talking about "day" as in "Napoleon's day", referring to an era rather than a specific 24-hour period, you wouldn't say "the evening and the morning", and you certainly wouldn't repeat it emphatically about every single day.  It's hard to imagine how Moses could have been any clearer that he had a 24-hour period in mind.
Also, death did not come into the world until Adam sinned (Romans 5:12).

If I don't understand a word I go to the dictionary, not some biased person telling me his interpretation.  Thee are legitimate reasons why people disagree on various topics, but words are words.  Here is the Strong's definition of "Yom".

H3117

יוֹם
yôm
yome
From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literally (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverbially): - age, + always, + chronicles, continually (-ance), daily, ([birth-], each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever (-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (. . . live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year (-ly), + younger.
Total KJV occurrences: 2295

I interpret death in Gen 1 and Romans 5:12 as spiritual death, like in the wages of sin is death.  Do you really think there was no physical death before the fall?  Is your position that Adam and Eve, nor any animal ever stepped on a bug?  How about food? They gardened, so they must have "killed" a plant.  Also, if there was no death wouldn't there be a lot of rabbits running around?  That position doesn't seem reasonable to me.  

The dictionary lists all the possible meanings for the word, but where there are multiple meanings, looking exclusively at the dictionary can lead you badly astray - as anyone who has some familiarity with two languages can tell you.

For example, the French word "faire" can mean do, make, perform, take, work, play, build, make up, prepare, cook, handle, draw up, go in for, proffer, or transact.  But you can't just pick any one of those meanings when you encounter that word; you have to look at the context.

And the context in Genesis 1 is quite clear, with the reference to "evening and morning", that we're talking about a normal 24-hour day.

There was no death before the fall. I think it is likely even that they never killed a plant; they probably only ate the fruits of the trees. 

Spiritual death is definitely in view in Genesis and Romans, but physical death is present too.  I do believe there was no death before the fall - which I believe probably did not happen long after creation.  We're not told how long it was, but the impression one gets is that it's likely a matter of months or a couple years at most, and possibly merely a few days.

It would not be that hard for God to prevent bugs getting squashed.  Maybe He protected them from getting stepped on, or maybe He made the ones that did tough enough to survive it.

As for rabbits, if the time period is short, they won't have all that much time to multiply.  And Genesis 3:16 may indicate that human procreation was multiplied when compared to what it would have been pre-fall, and perhaps the same was true of animals.

As for plants, they do not have life in the same way as humans or even animals, so I don't have a problem with them dying before the fall, but many crops can be harvested without killing the plant (most fruit and vegetables, for example).

OK jaredjm, I get that.  What did Adam do them when he tended the garden (Gen 2:15)?  

I've been to Mount St. Helens (I'm originally from Oregon).  Pretty incredible what can happen in a matter of hours.  And that wasn't even a big volcano.

My question highlights the problems we would have with what Moses says in Exodus 20:11 if we assume billions of years. I don't have a problem with Moses or a 6 day creation. I believe that Moses wrote down what God told Him when he wrote Exodus 20:11 and God knew what He was talking about.

steve, In Exodus 20:11 the Hebrew word "yom" is used so it can be translated era or epoch as well.  Ancient Hebrew had less than 4000 words, not counting names of places and people.  They had no word for era or epoch.  They had to use Yom.  

"For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11)
Is it possible that what Moses meant to say was that "...in six indefinitely long periods of time the Lord made the heavens and the earth" (Exodus 20:11). Therefore "...Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath" (Exodus 20:9)?
Isn't that a stretch of the imagination to believe that Moses had in mind anything other than a 24 hour day? Or that the Israelites would have understood what Moses was referring to as "day" (Yom) to be anything other than a 24 hour day?

yes

I still believe it to be a seven time periods steve. Leviticus 25:6 refers to a sabbath year.  Therefore,  a sabbath doesn't have to be referring to days.  

Then how long are the time periods exactly?

This is the important question..... Is there any reason to not believe that God didn't create the universe in six days?