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Why is the Genesis creation story structured over a period of seven days?
Wiki User
∙ 8y ago
The Bible was written over a period of a few hundred years starting approximately 2900 years ago and uses text in the Old Testament from even older stories and legends. I think the writers wanted to unify their tribe in a cultural sense by writing a simple story making only one god responsible for the world we live in. In those days most people were very superstitious and believed that supernatural beings controlled the weather and food crops, the outcomes of war, peoples health - everything you could think of was controlled by a different god or spirit. Thankfully these days we understand stuff a lot more and events in the world are caused simply by nature or ourselves, but they wanted their people to believe in only one all powerful god who made the whole world in a week, which was easier for simple folk and children to follow. Remember their knowledge of the world was much less then and most people were poorly educated. The explanation for the seven day creation period is found in:
Exodus 20:9-11 (King James Version)
9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Thus it is to do with the cycle of labor and rest for mankind. God Himself of course not being tired, or as Werner Gitt put it 'nor did He perspire' due to His world and universe-creating efforts, did not need rest. The resting referred to at the end of the creation account in Genesis 2:2 is a rest of completion and not of tiredness. Similarly, although we may indeed be tired at the end of a working week (or 5 days as it usually is in the west these days) we need to have rest and many would believe also a special time set aside to worship our maker, who in all things considered our needs in the way He set up this planet and its customs, even the way we order our time.
Wiki User
∙ 8y ago
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoWiki User
∙ 8y agoFor the Babylonians, the number 7 had special, celestial significance. They devised the 7-day week that has passed down to us through Judaism after the Jewish Babylonian Exile.
The earlier creation account that is in Genesis 2:4b-25, does not refer to seven days, because the Hebrew people had little contact with the Babylonians or Sumerians so early in their history. The creation account that we find in Genesis 1:1-2:4a is attributed to an anonymous source now known as the Priestly Source, writing during or shortly after the Babylonian Exile. This makes use of the Babylonian concept of a week and is structured over a period of seven days.
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Was day 1 of Creation the same as Monday?
The current seven days of the week were popularised by the Romans, but the very reason we count a week as seven days is because of the account of the early chapters of Genesis. Sunday was traditionally the first day of the week amongst God's people, so day 1 would correspond to a Sunday of our calendar.
What happened on the eighth day of creation?
well in all actuallity there were tchnically on 6 days of creation and a day of resting. so there was no eighth day of creation. When does day end, when does it begin, where does the night end, day begin.
Were the seven days of creation actually seven days?
Morover, Adam lived to be 930 years old. Gen 2:17 says "in the day you eat of the fruit" you will die. By the reckoning of time IN the garden of eden, a day after being kick out into the normal world, must have been 1 day equals 930 years (or close to 1 thousand), then it took 6510 years to create the earth then rest on the 7th day (or 7000 years).Answer:The 7 days of creation were NOT 7 literal 24 hour days.The word 'day' in the Bible, does not always mean a 24 hour day.For example: just the next Chapter in Genesis (chapter 2) in verse 4, it labels all the 6 days (plural as depicted in Genesis 1); all those 6 days are labeled as 1 day (singular). Is this to say that 6 days also equals 24 hours, since it is also called 'day', not 'days'?This is but one example of MANY, where the word 'day' refers to something OTHER THAN a 24 hour day. Likewise with the term 'evening' and 'morning'; it is also used in a 'figurative' was, NOT NECESSARILY always 'literal'; as fundamentalists would have you arbitrarily believe.Another Evidence that the creative days were NOT 24 hour days. In the Scriptural record the account of each of the six creative days concludes with the statement: "And there came to be evening and there came to be morning" a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth day. The seventh day, however, does not have this ending, indicating that this period, during which God has been resting from his creative works toward the earth, continued on. (Among other scriptures) at Hebrews 4:1-10 the apostle Paul indicated that God's rest day was still continuing in his generation, which had by then been more than 4,000 years after that seventh-day rest period began. This makes it evident that each creative day, or work period, was at least thousands of years in length.Reference Quotes:A Religious Encyclopaedia (Vol. I, p. 613): "The days of creation were creative days, stages in the process, but not days of twenty-four hours each."-Edited by P. Schaff, 1894.The Hebrew word yohm, translated "day," can mean different lengths of time. Among the meanings possible, William Wilson's Old Testament Word Studiesincludes the following: "A day; it is frequently put for time in general, or for a long time; a whole period under consideration . . . Day is also put for a particular season or time when any extraordinary event happens." (Old TestamentWord Studies, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1978, W. Wilson, p. 109)Therefore we cannot be as arbitrary as 'fundamentalists'.I believe that science agrees with this Bible view. While not calling them 'creative' days; science agrees that there was MUCH TIME involved in the things that formed the earth, and life on it.Answer:Yes -- 24-hour days.A day consists of two parts... a day or "light" portion, and a night or "dark" portion. And these are treated in the account:"God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning -- THE FIRST DAY." (Gen.1:5 NIV)"...And there was eveniing, and there was morning -- THE SECOND DAY." (verse 8)"And there was evening, and there was morning -- THE THIRD DAY." (verse 13)And so on.
How many days did God use to create Heaven and Earth?
Day by day, God created the universe and its contents (Genesis ch.1).God created the universe out of nothing (Exodus 20:11, Isaiah 40:28; Rashi commentary to Genesis 1:14; Maimonides' "Guide," 2:30).Note that the Torah, in describing the Creation, deliberately employs brevity and ellipsis, just as it does in many other topics. See the Talmud, Hagigah 11b.On day 1: God created the universe in general, light, and this Earth. The light was not the same as that of the sun. Rather, it was light that God created before the sun, and which emanated from a point in space without any physical source; like what we might term a "white hole."On day 2: God created the separation between the Earth and the upper atmosphere.On day 3: God separated the continents from the oceans, and created plants.On day 4: God created the sun, moon, and stars.On day 5: God created birds and fish.On day 6: God created animals and people.On day 7: God ceased creating, thereby creating the concept of rest.See also:Is there evidence for Creation?Can you show that God exists?Seeing God's wisdom
How many days in a week on Mars?
A week is defined as a period of 7 days. So a Mar's week is also seven days. Curiously a day on Mars is only 24.622 Earth hours
What kind of literature is the genesis chapter 1?
It explains the creation in the bible in the first seven days.
How do christians believe the world began?
By The statement in the Book of Genesis of God's Creation in Seven Days.
What was the 14th day of gods creation?
The Bible says in Genesis that God took seven days to create the heavens and the Earth, one of these him resting.
Where is the word seven used in the bible?
genesis
How many reticence are there in genesis chapter twenty seven?
i no no
What has the author Denny Enderle written?
Dann J. Ettner has written: 'The seven days of Creation' -- subject(s): Bible stories, Bible stories, English, Creation, English Bible stories, Juvenile literature, O.T. Genesis
What are the messages of the two stories of creation in Genesis?
The first story of creation in Genesis emphasizes the order and goodness of God's creation, culminating in the creation of humans in His own image. The second story focuses more on the intimate relationship between humans and God, highlighting the idea of companionship and responsibility in caring for the earth. Both stories convey the importance of recognizing God as the creator of all things and the need for humans to steward the earth with reverence and gratitude.
Which religions has seven days of creation?
christian.
What were biblical Pharaoh's dreams about?
1) That seven skinny cows swallowed seven fat ones 2) That seven skinny wheat-sheaves swallowed seven fat ones (Genesis ch.41). The interpretation of the dreams is given in that chapter of Genesis.
What is the biblical reference for the number seven?
God chooses the number seven to be the only perfect number. There are seven days in the creation of the universe. The seventh day was one to rest and take in the joy of what has been created. (The book of Genesis) The number seven in both New and Old Testaments means the same as perfection. This comes from the creation story which is put into a seven day framework to emphasize the perfection of God's creation and the most perfect day of the week was the seventh day, the Sabbath. Throughout the Bible, there will be examples of the number 7 used this same way. In the new testament, one of the apostles asks Jesus if he has to forgive his brother 7 times and Jesus answers: I say seventy times seven times. This would mean an infinite number.
Who had made the world?
Over millions and millions of years ago God made the world for us over the period of seven days ... on the 7 day he rested and admired his beautiful creation ... :)
Was day 1 of Creation the same as Monday?
The current seven days of the week were popularised by the Romans, but the very reason we count a week as seven days is because of the account of the early chapters of Genesis. Sunday was traditionally the first day of the week amongst God's people, so day 1 would correspond to a Sunday of our calendar.
