Yom length from Discontinuity Conference Report

From: bivalve (bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com)
Date: Mon Aug 27 2001 - 16:35:37 EDT

  • Next message: George Hammond: "Why God is Cruciform"

    Still catching up on email from being away at the meeting...
    Another example of a definite long yom, as far as I can tell from my reading of the concordance, is Lev. 25:8, in which the year of Jubilee follows a yom of 49 years.

        Dr. David Campbell
        "Old Seashells"
        46860 Hilton Dr #1113
        Lexington Park MD 20653 USA
        bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com

    "That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks"-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droigate Spa

    ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
    From: "D. F. Siemens, Jr." <dfsiemensjr@juno.com>
    Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 15:42:44 -0700

    >
    >
    >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
    >



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 27 2001 - 16:24:34 EDT