How long is the seventh day?

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  Genesis 2.2  NIV

Do you notice something missing from the seventh day?

There is no concluding statement, "And there was evening, and there was morning—the ______ day."  Scholars tell us this an intentional exclusion because the seventh day, God's day of rest, unlike the others, is ongoing.  Whatever state God was in on day 7—subject of next entry—he is still in today.

How long are six days?

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.  Gensis 1:31-2:1  NIV

So we have the world created at last!

Putting aside the question of when this happened (already discussed), how long did the six days of creation take?  Six days, you say?  Maybe so.  But we are talking about an ancient piece of literature about which many smart people disagree, so maybe not.

Here is a quick review of the three primary interpretations.
1.  Creation took place in six 24-hour days of one earth week--the 24-hour view.
2.  Each day of creation was eons in length as the earth was developed over time--the day-age view.
3.  The six days are a literary device to show how things were set up (days 1 to 3 creating space and days 4 to 6 filling it) rather than a chronology--the framework view.

I can add John H Walton's functional creation view that Genesis 1 is a narrative of God assigning role and function to the earth which he had previously created.

All four have strong and weak points.

Here's a fifth proposition from the esteemed mathematician and theologian John C Lennox.  In chapter 3 of the aforementioned Seven Days that Divide the World, Lennox explains why he believes that the text of Genesis 1 to 2:2 can be read as referring to six 24-hour days that happened eons apart from each other.

So on the evening and morning of creative day 1 God says "Let there be light" and there is light!  Then there are unknown eras of  days as the coming into existence of light works itself out in our world.  The next time we read "And God said" we get a day in which the vault of sky or atmosphere (perceived as a solid dome) is created and then the ages of time with the working out of that before the next big act which separates dry land from the waters.  So the days are consecutive, but not necessarily one right after the other.  Each one inaugurates a new era.

THE fifth day

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.  Genesis 1:31  NIV

Here's a tiny detail about this sentence noted by John Lennox in Seven Days that Divide the World.

"A further grammatical point should be made. In many English versions of the Bible the days of Genesis are rendered as 'the first day, the second day,' and so on, each having the definite article. However, even though the Hebrew language does have a definite article (ha), it is not used in the original to qualify days one to five. Basil, a fourth-century bishop of Caesarea, thought this significant: 'If the beginning of time is called one day rather than the first day, it is because Scripture wishes to establish its relationship with eternity. It was, in reality, fit and natural to call one the day whose character is to be one wholly separated and isolated from all the others.' What is very striking is the additional fact pointed out to me by Old Testament scholar David Gooding: although the Hebrew definite article is not used with the first five days, it is used for days six and seven. A better translation, therefore, would be 'day one, day two, ..., day five, the sixth day, the seventh day'; or, 'a first day, a second day, ... the sixth day, the seventh day.'
These then are the facts. The next question is, how should we interpret them?"

Blood Suckers

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  Genesis 1:29-30  NIV

Along with the pouncing lion and other meat eaters, the existence of blood-dependent vampire bats brings into question how this picture of a peaceful, vegetarian world with no bloodshed can be reconciled with our predatory world.  How to explain?

Here's one idea.  Some creation biologists theorize that at one time the bats ate only insects.  But when plucking an insect from a mammal's body would sometimes inadvertently pierce the skin and get mammal blood too.  Over time these bats came to prefer this to their original diet.

From May 17th entry of Inspired Evidence:  Only One Reality by Julie Von Vett and Bruce Malone

Animal vindicator?

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  Genesis 1:29-30  NIV

It's interesting to check out some of the fringe ideas on these things.  While cooking the other day, I listened to a guy who proposed that according to these early Genesis verses, all taking of life, by humans or by animals, is against God's will.  This is jumping ahead in the story, but his proposal is that even though God tolerated it, Abel sinned by taking an animal's life and that Cain then killed his brother in a fit of righteous indignation over the loss.  That's a different take!

Where is the pouncing lioness?

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  Genesis 1:29-30  NIV

Wait.  What?  Where are the steaks?  Where the sushi?  Where's that wasp that lays its eggs inside a living caterpillar?  Where are the world's great predators:  sharks, wolves, crocodiles, bears, spiders, owls, and the prowling cat family?  Could it be that these were originally herbivores with chewing teeth not ripping teeth?
 

This is unimaginably far removed from our world where so many creatures, including most humans of course, live in part or whole by consuming others.  Could it be that our violent predator and prey world is not what God originally intended?  Is it possible that the animal kingdom was created with no food chain?  No slaughter of animals for meat?  All eating green plants?  This is difficult to even imagine, and an evolutionist would doubtless give the idea an eye roll, but it sure sounds like it here in Genesis 1:29-30.  Just sayin.

Responsibility or License?

26 ... and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”  28 And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”  Genesis 1.26, 28  Amplified Bible

It's obvious that God is giving us stewardship of the earth here, responsibility for its care, not a license to exploit for our individual purposes, right?  

Or am I looking through my assumptions again?!