On Tue, 21 Aug 2001 14:25:38 -0600 (MDT) gordon brown
<gbrown@euclid.Colorado.EDU> writes:
>
> > Having worked through every
> occurrence of
> > _yom_, I can say that always with a numeral (apart from the
> problematic
> > occurences in Genesis 1) it clearly means either a 24-hour period
> or the
> > daylight portion thereof.
> >
>
> Dave,
>
> How is this clear in Hosea 6:2?
>
>
> Gordon Brown
From: "Stephen J. Krogh" <panterragroup@mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 16:03:41 -0500
This argument is inconclusive. The Bible, after all, has no other
occasion
to enumerate sequential epoch’s of time. This argument can be challenged
on
several counts. For one, it is true only for passages describing days of
human activity rather than divine activity. More importantly, no rule of
Hebrew grammar states that yom attached to an ordinal must always refer
to
24-hour days. Hosea 6:2 prophesies that “after two days He (God) will
revive us (Isreal); on the third — ordinal — day, He will restore us.”
For
centuries, Bible commentators have noted that the “day” in this passage,
where the ordinal is used , refers to a year, years, or a thousand years,
or
maybe more.
Stephen J. Krogh, P.G.
Oops! I should have said that there is no numeral plus _yom_ that needs
an extended period. I did not say that there was a rule, just usage.
Language is replete with matters that do not run with rules--unless one
erects a rule for every idiom. I will add that the "evening-morning" is,
to me, a strong indication that a restricted period is in view. If you
can give me the _termini a quo et ad quem_ for Hosea 6:2, we can
determine whether this applies to a longer period-- assuming that the
language is not poetical and symbolic. I can add that, while there are
places where the singular term may refer to a longer period, they do not
seem to require more than 24 hours. The closest thing to an exception
that I have found is in the phrase "day of the Lord." If that refers to
the initial day rather than the entire period, it fits the pattern I am
suggesting. All the published examples I have seen, though my reading is
limited, where an extended period is required, involve one of the plural
forms.
I consider "days ... of divine activity" to be a red herring, especially
since the order in Genesis requires Mark Twain's "spiral twist" to match
the history of the universe and solar system, with further twisting to
match the order of the second chapter. Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 do not,
as naively argued, give us a measure of the divine day, but indicate
God's timelessness. I other words, I consider process theology and its
ilk as mistaken as the claim that human history will be 6000 years in
length, with Christ's thousand-year rule matching the seventh day of
rest. But this is getting off the topic.
Dave
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