As discussed previously and repeatedly, the creative days are not 24 hour periods. And the universe was created long previous to the first plants and animals created by God, and long previous to the six creative periods in Genesis. (Genesis 1:1)
That doesn't work either. The very order of the Creation is impossible from a scientific/ historical perspective, with plants being Created before the sun. However, from a
mythic perspective, it's perfect!
Excerpted from
Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic Dance -
A case in point is the supposition that the numbering of days in Genesis is to be understood in an arithmetical sense. The use of numbers in ancient religious texts was usually numerological rather than numerical; that is, their symbolic value was more important than their secular value as counters. To deal with numbers in a religious context as an actual numbering of days, or eons, is an instance of the way in which a literal reading loses the symbolic richness of the text.
While the conversion of numerology to arithmetic was essential for the rise of modern science, historiography and mathematics, in which numbers had to be neutralized and emptied of any symbolic suggestion in order to be utilized, the result is that numerological symbols are reduced to signs. The principal surviving exception is the number thirteen, which still holds a strange power over Fridays, and over the listing of floors in hotels and high rises.
Biblical literalism, in its treatment of the days of creation, substitutes a modern arithmetical reading for the original symbolic one. Not only does the completion of creation in six days correlate with and support the religious calendar and Sabbath observance (if the Hebrews had had a five-day work week, the account would have read differently), but also the seventh day of rest employs to the full the symbolic meaning of the number seven as wholeness, plenitude, completion.
The religious meaning of the number seven is derived in part from the numerological combination of the three zones of the cosmos (heaven, earth, underworld) seen vertically, and the four directions, or zones, of the cosmos seen horizontally. Thus seven (adding three and four) and twelve (multiplying them) are recurrent biblical symbols of totality and perfection. The liturgically repeated phrase "And God saw that it was good," and the final capping phrase "And behold it was very good," are paralleled and underlined by being placed in a structure climaxed by a seventh day.
A parallelism of two sets of three days is also being employed, with the second set of days populating the first: light and darkness (day one) are populated by the greater and lesser lights (four); firmament and waters (two) by birds and fish (five); earth and vegetation (three) by land animals and humans (six). Two sets of three days, each with two types of created phenomena, equaling twelve, thus permitted the additional association with the corresponding numerological symbol of wholeness and fulfillment. The totality of nature is created by God, and is to be affirmed in a hymn of celebration and praise for its "very goodness."
While it is true that the biblical view of creation sanctifies time and nature as created by God and therefore good it does not follow that the creation accounts as such are to be understood chronologically or as natural history. And while it is true that history is seen as the context and vehicle of divine activity, it does not follow that the creation accounts are to be interpreted as history, or even prehistory. One of the symbolic functions of the creation accounts themselves is to give positive value to time and to provide the staging for history. They are no more historical than the set and scenery of a play are part of the narrative of the drama, or than the order in which an artist fills in the pigment and detail of a painting is part of the significance of the painting.
~
Conrad Hyers, Ph.D
A Literalist reading of Genesis is scientifically indefensible, and no amount of mental gymnastics can change that. Further, it's not even an honest debate between religion and science. As said elsewhere in the article, "
The biblical understanding of creation is not being pitted against evolutionary theories, as is supposed; rather, evolutionary theories are being juxtaposed with literalist theories of biblical interpretation. Doing this is not even like comparing oranges and apples; it is more like trying to compare oranges and orangutans."
Now, whether the authors of Genesis were writing myth deliberately, or ignorant guesses at science and history is a worthier debate. I happen to side with the former proposition, but at least there's a question to argue!
