How Long was Creation Day Two?

According to the Bible, creation Day Two was a one period of dark and light - an evening and a morning. It followed Day One when Elohim finished creating the heavens and the earth, all of it (Hebrew 'et'). During the transitory state (mayim), the earth was formless (tohu bohu) and dark. Then Elohim dithered over the surface (face - panyim) of the formless earth and continually commanded light (owr) to continually be. It was then that matter began to receive its form as a relation with light. Indeed, we find that atoms are filled with internal, jittering light. Evidently, the properties of atoms are relational, a relationship with light.

Day Two is unique. Only on Day Two did God NOT say that the events of this day were good. Perhaps this is because natural forces worked on this day. Furthermore, this day's activities would someday be partly responsible for the flood.

Genesis 1:6 says that God continually commanded a raqiya to causally divide mayim from mayim. The word mayim can mean the transitory state (as on Day One) or water. Clearly mayim refers to water on Day Two. The raqiya continually divided waters from waters.

Verse seven says God continued to make the raqiya that causally and continually divided the water under the raqiya from the water above the raqiya.

Verse eight says that God continued to call the raqiya: shamayim (sky). It was evening and morning, Day Two.

Interpretation: Day Two did not produce brand-new matter like Day One. It did not organize this matter into living plants; new heavenly bodies; fishes; land animals and humans like the other creation days. Moses used the word raqiya five time for this day, that the raqiya separated the waters.

What is a raqiya? A Greek king at Alexandria commissioned the translation of the Old Testament in the 3rd century BC. Alexandria was a major center of Greek culture. It was famous for its great library and museum (university) for philosophical studies. Unlike the Babylonians, the Greek philosophers sought for natural explanations for the heavenly motions. According to Plato, eight stereoma (crystalline spheres) rotated around the earth. Seven stereoma each carried the Sun, Moon and planets while the stars were attached to the eighth. Eudoxus calculated that 27 spherical stereoma were necessary to quantify the strange planetary motions. Callipus required 34 spheres. Some philosophers wondered whether the invisible stereoma were real. Aristotle reasoned that if crystalline spheres could mathematically describe the motions of the planets and stars, they must be real. His system required 55 invisible stereoma. The outermost stereoma supposedly was studded with stars. The mathematical cosmology of that era accepted multiple, solid, rotating, crystalline spheres to which the planets and stars were attached. In agreement with the cosmology of their era, the Jewish scholars of 2300 years ago rendered raqiya as stereoma. Over the following centuries, Jewish and later Christian scholars could argue that the Bible authenticated their science. After all, the Greek Old Testament used the scientific word for crystalline spheres, stereoma. * Later the Latin translators continued the tradition by rendering raqiya as firmamentum, a solid sky. A millennium later, English translators rendered raqiya as firmament. Some modern translators use the word expanse for raqiya, since solid skies are no longer scientific. Expanse means wide spaces. Is 'expanse' another attempt to interpret the Bible with the science of the day?

How would a contemporary of Moses understand raqiya, in the grammar and thinking of their era, not science. Raqiya is the noun form of the verb raqa: to spread out, hammer out or pound out. We often form nouns from verbs. 'To run' is a verb. The runner is a noun. 'To hammer' is a verb. A hammer is the tool that hammers. To spread is a verb. Spread can also be a noun, such as a bed spread, a banquet spread or a large ranch. Since raqa means to spread out, then surely the noun raqiya is the place that is spreading out. Indeed, this interpretation fits the text perfectly. The waters above the spreading place were separated from the waters below the spreading place. What was the name of this spreading place? God named it shamayim. The Hebrew word shamayim refers to both the atmospheric sky and the starry sky.

The surface of the Saturnian moon Enceladus seems to be entirely bright ice. Near the south pole, the ice is cut with deep parallel cracks and ridges. Massive thermal geysers are presently jetting out from the cracks. The central part of the plumes exceed escape velocity and visibly extend out 435 kilometers into space. The jets are presently forming a vast ring of ice and dust in space. The plumes also contain methane and several carbon gases. Some of water and carbon molecules are forming a thin nascent atmosphere. (The Cassini spacecraft's magnetometer detected an atmospheric tail when it passed Enceladus). Evidently, the atmosphere and the ice ring are both accelerated outward by hot gases from undersea volcanism. We could describe Enceladus' jets as a raqiya forming an atmosphere that is separating water above from water below. The tiny moon Phoebe orbits retrograde in a highly inclined orbit far outside the other Saturnian moons. In 2009, astronomers discovered that Phoebe has a thin ring of ice along its orbit. Evidently Phoebe once had hot geysers that ejected water into space.

Evidence from ancient rocks indicates that the primordial Earth was warm, not frozen - like modern Enceladus. Perhaps before the earth's atmosphere formed, water propelled by geothermal gases, ejected into space. Some of the emerging gases also formed the Earth's atmosphere. Someone might argue, this is impossible since the escape velocity of the earth is 11.2 kilometers per second. Christians should always interpret earth-history with biblical statements, not science. No contemporary of a biblical author had a scientific mind set. Indeed, no one during the biblical age could even imagine thinking like modern scientists. Three times the Hebrew Bible states that the Earth spreads out in unbroken continuity. The continents only fit together on a tiny globe. Subduction is contradicted by the layered, undisturbed sediments in the ocean trenches. If the Earth continues to get bigger, spread out, how big was it on Day Two? (Job 38:4 - 9)

Biblical physics allows one to accept simple, visible evidence. The Bible states that the entire creation is phthora, fundamentally changing. Not a single one of billions of ancient galaxies shines with the light frequencies of modern atoms. Indeed, the atomic light frequencies accelerate throughout cosmic history. Primordial atoms must have been minuscule ratios of their modern sizes to emit such low frequencies. Why can't we measure this, if atoms are continually expanding? Modern scientific measuring units depend on the assumption that atoms are perpetual motion engines. Scientist cannot measure relational changes since their measuring units and their mathematical 'constants' would all shift with the relationally changing atoms. Yet we can see the past back to the creation era and visibly every bit of matter keeps changing its properties relationally.

How long was Day Two? The formation of an atmosphere and ice rings in space would take geological ages today. Yet, according to the text, Day Two was one period of light and dark. How long was that day? We have no direct way to quantify the duration of the second day. The biblical definition for a day did not come until Day Four. Furthermore, the definition is cyclical and uses the word raqiya with respect to the Sun, Moon and stars. The Hebrew of Genesis 1:17 require non linear days, seasons and years. It is important to remember that during Moses' day, everyone on Earth believed that ancient days were long and later days kept on shortening.

The visible evidence supports the words of the Bible. Not only do we see that atoms accelerate their clock frequencies, but we also see how galaxies formed. Newton and Einstein are both falsified by how billions of galaxies visibly formed. Visibly, galactic orbits and atomic clocks accelerated together as billions of galaxies grew from tiny seeds to great spread out, local, growth spirals. Since orbits and atomic clocks are observed to always speed up, then reasonably Day Two must have been a geological age. Yet it was also one period of light and dark. Think about it.

* Colossians 2:5 uses the Greek word stereoma, translated steadfast. Translators also rendered the related word stereow with established in the faith, strengthened, steadfast.

Photo credit NASA from the Cassini sacecraft looking towards the south pole on a crescent Enceladus.

How Long was Creation Day One

Modern Christians interpret creation with Western science, a system that did not exist when Moses wrote Genesis. For example, many Christians believe that God created time. Augustine introduced this doctrine to the church, but it is not found in the Bible. During Moses' era, people did not even imagine that time exists by itself, independently of events. Conservative Christians sometimes make 24-hour creation-days a test of doctrine. Moses would have failed their test. Thirty-four hundred years ago, linear 24-hour days had not yet been invented.

Ancient people used the cycles of the heavens to mark the days, seasons and years, as the Bible prescribed in Genesis 1:17. However, they believed that ancient cycles were slower than later ones. If Moses had drawn a Genesis time-line, it might have looked like this. Adam lived 930 year-cycles, but the years kept getting shorter as he aged. (click on the image to see a larger picture). Evidence for this non linear world-view comes from their written accounts and the fossils. The bones of the face are the only part of our skeletons that keeps growing with age. If we lived for geological ages, we would grow thick brows like a Neanderthal. The skulls of Neanderthal youth do not have the prominent brows, which supports the ancient world-view that the first generations lived for eons. The Bible agrees with the ancient world-view, especially in the books of Job and Genesis. For example, Jacob, when he was 130 years old, stated that his days and years were shorter and worse than the days and years of his fathers (Genesis 47:9). Did Jacob have dementia? Couldn't he remember that grandfather Abraham lived five year-cycles less than father Isaac? What Jacob stated was how people thought in that age. His days and years and Isaac's were shorter and worse than Abraham's days and years, because the duration of days and years deteriorates. The evidence that Jacob spoke the truth is visible in galactic history, the only history that is visible as it happened.

Let's try interpreting creation in Moses' world view, rather than modern science.

Genesis gives us the sequence of creation. First Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The single Hebrew word translated "in the beginning" does not refer to time, per se. It means that which comes first in importance or sequence. The fourth Hebrew 'word' is not translated in modern Bibles. It is just the first and last letters of the alphabet (et). Like Alpha - Omega, it means - the sum total of everything. First Elohim finished creating everything, the heavens and earth. Whatever God made first in the heavens and earth was completed, since the verb bara (to create) is a completed action in Hebrew.

Verse two explains the next sequence in creation using the Earth (erets) as an example. What God finished in verse-one was tohu bohu, without form, not taking up space. Darkness covered the primordial abys (tehom). Then the Spirit intensely fluttered over the face (panyim) of the transitory thing (mayim). Apparently the primordial state of the earth had a surface because panyim is mentioned twice, but it did not have extension in space. Out of the darkness, Elohim continually commanded light (owr) to continually be. It was then that matter began to receive form as a relation with light.

Verse three says God saw (imperfect - a durative seeing) that the light was good. He causally and continually separates light from darkness.

In verse four, God continues to call out the name of light: day. He completed calling darkness: night. Light is a continuing activity while darkness is an absence of light. Perhaps this is why God completed naming darkness but continues to call out the name of light. There was evening and morning, Day One, a single cycle of darkness and light.

Overview. Elohim created primordial matter on Day One. The wind or Spirit fluttered over the primordial state (mayim) that was formless (tohu bohu), yet had a surface (panyim). Elohim does not flutter around in a body. The fluttering action suggests that the form of matter - the reason it takes up space - comes from a dithering relation with light. Indeed we find that all matter interrelates with light that continually jitters around within atoms. The observed properties of matter are related to this dithering, internal (and external) relationship with light. Matter began to receive form on that day because God continues to command light (owr) to continually be.

What was the duration of creation Day One? According to the Genesis account, God made the Sun, moon and stars to distinguish days, seasons and years on Day Four. On Day Four, He formed the Sun, Moon and stars and continually places them in the spreading out place (the raqiya). We have no Sun-reference for the duration of Day One, other than it was a single cycle of darkness and light. Yet we can see back to the creation age. Perhaps a trillion primordial galaxies shine from the earliest universe, so we see them as they were eons ago. The early galaxies were naked and compressed, without diffuse star-arms. Ancient galaxies were evidently made of primordial matter, since the atomic light-clocks shone at tiny fractions of the light frequencies of modern atoms. At closer ranges, eras, we see that billions of galaxies grew from the insides outward as the stars accelerated outward. Billions of galaxies grew into huge, local, dusty, growth-spirals. The star-orbits evidently accelerated concurrently with the accelerating atomic clocks.

The simplest history of the universe uses biblical physics. Biblical physics uses no complex mathematics nor does it define symbolical things like mass, seconds or energy. Yet biblical physics is supported by the strongest possible evidence, the visible evidence of how the galaxies formed. We can see that the properties of matter are always changing, just as the Apostle Paul wrote, that the creation is in bondage to phthora, fundamental change. We observe through many ranges (eras) that the star orbits accelerate outward. If the same laws are in effect everywhere (Job 38:33), then ancient years (and days) on Earth would also have been much longer than later ones. Orbits that steadily move out are accelerating orbits and the only possible cause for this visible action is that the properties of matter change as matter ages. After all, steadily expanding galaxies violate every law of Western science.

It is because scientists have a fixed dogma, that their universe is 99 % invisible. They cannot compromise on this creed because most of their measuring units, mathematics and laws depend on the assumption that the properties of matter are fixed, not relationally emerging. The scientific universe is allegedly crammed full of vacuum forces and invisible matter. Scientists must invent an invisible universe to preserve their dogma that the properties of matter are fixed.

The Bible will certainly triumph over Western science, because we can see that the first principle of science is false, just as the Bible predicts. In the last days, Peter wrote, false teachers will come saying "all things remain the same".

Think about it.

Magellanic Stream

The Magellanic Stream is a river of gas, mostly hydrogen, that connects our Milky Way galaxy to the Magellanic Clouds. The Clouds are satellite galaxies of the Milky way that are visible in the southern hemisphere with bare eyeballs. David Nidever from the University of Virginia used the Green Bank Radio Telescope for more than a hundred hours to observe the stream. He combined his observations with those from other telescopes to show that the stream is continuous. It is also 40% longer than previously thought. Click on the link to see an image of the Magellanic stream from the National Radio Telescope. http://tinyurl.com/yevea5f

How does a large galaxy get connected by a stream of gas to two series connected smaller ones? Why is the stream like a boat’s wake, wider near the Clouds and narrower near the MW? Astronomers hypothesize that billions of years ago, the Magellanic galaxies passed close to the MW. Gravity triggered star bursts and the resulting gas clouds were pulled in towards the MW like a river. Imagine that you see a funnel cloud with the narrow end near the earth and the wide end in the clouds. Did the Earth’s gravity suck the funnel from the clouds, or did the funnel suck material from the earth and spread it into the clouds?

What is the history of the Magellanic clouds? The wonderful thing about the history of the universe is that we can see the past at many ranges in all directions back to the creation era. I recommend that those interested in cosmic history spend a few hours looking at ultra deep telescopic vistas. The earliest galaxies were naked and often linked in equally spaced chains. The center galaxy in the chain often shines at lower frequencies than the outboard galaxies. This is a minor effect, however, since all ancient galaxies shone at tiny fractions of the light frequencies of local atoms. Serial strings of galaxies show ejections, not accretion. Evidently small galaxies were ejected from larger ones. Both the larger galaxies and the smaller ones continue to grow in size as the stars spread out. In the early universe, primordial galaxies sometimes look like tadpoles, the tail made up of discrete chains of star globs. At closer ranges we follow how the stars accelerated outward as countless galaxies grew into huge growth spirals.

What could cause galaxies to spread out, to move out, to grow from naked globs of primordial matter to great dusty, growth spirals? The first step in understanding the history of the universe is to understand the rudiments of biblical physics. Biblical physics is not complex or mathematical. An important principles in biblical physics is that the creation is in bondage to phthora - fundamental change. We can see with sight that the properties of all matter change throughout cosmic history. It is because no atoms are perpetual motion engines that galaxies spread out, as stars and gobs of primordial matter accelerate outward. This is why the Magellanic clouds are in a series string connected back to the Milky Way by a great river of gas. They were ejected from the Milky Way. The river is narrow close to the Milky Way and larger near the Cloud galaxies because all galaxies keep spreading out, growing from the insides outwards, as they age. Evidently the atomic clocks accelerated concurrently with the accelerating star trails.

Scientists are trained to think with the opposite mind set, that the properties of matter are fixed, not changing relationally. It is because of the scientific mind set that they have incredible myths about an invisible universe. The scientific universe allegedly has more invisible matter than the visible kind. Vacuum forces are reputedly at work everywhere, stretching light, accelerating galaxies and even self replenishing energy from the vacuum. Indeed, according to most scientists, the beginning of the universe was when a tiny bit of vacuum exploded and created everything out of nothing. Why do they twist visible reality with such absurd ideas? Their definitions, measuring units and mathematics are based on the notion that atoms do not change themselves, change relationally. It is impossible for galaxies to continually grow unless the properties of matter are always emerging.

What we see in the universe with sight is exactly what the Hebrew text of the Bible describes. We see biblical cosmic history - the one place that God promises that knowledge is available to all. Think about it.