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To: PapaBear3625; Dutchboy88
The only problem there is Day 4--but what Genesis says is not that the sun, moon, and stars were created on day 4, but that God said, "Let there be . . ." or rather, "Let there appear / manifest . . ."

When it says, "And God made the greater light . . . the lesser light . . . and the stars also," the word translated "made," y'as, has two significances: First, is is in the imperfect form (the root word is asah) which can indicate a past completed action in a narrative. Ergo, as Gleason Archer points out, it can mean that the stars were made on day 4, but they could also have been made on day 3, day 2, day 1, or in the beginning. That was also the opinion of the rabbis of the Talmud some 1500 years before evolution and Big Bang cosmology were an issue. (The Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 12a if you want to look it up.)

Secondly, by using the verb y'as / asah instead of the word yivra' / bara', the Bible is telling us that the sun, moon, stars (and by extension, planets, asteroids, and coments) visible to an ancient Israelite's naked eye were not the first sun, moon, and stars the Eternal One ever created--which is a real exegetical problem for YEC.

All of this is completely compatible with day-age (old earth) creationism, on the other hand.

Shalom

18 posted on 05/20/2014 10:55:30 AM PDT by Buggman (returnofbenjamin.com - Baruch haBa b'Shem ADONAI!)
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To: Buggman

These points are also made by Ross in his book The Genesis Question. Thank you for bringing them up along with your useful exegetical notes. Grace to you...


19 posted on 05/20/2014 12:20:22 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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