Day 1

DAY 1 - AOJ Archean Eon (3950-2250 Ma)

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5, ESV)

Premise: Genesis 1:1-2:4 records a divinely-revealed history of the Earth describing some of God's miraculous interventions by which He transformed an uninhabitable and uninhabited world into a habitat in which human beings could thrive. God creates each human being as His image bearers and uniquely endows them with an eternal, morally-obligated spirit.

Chronology

The ICS formally defines the Archean Eon as spanning 4000-2500 Ma.

3950-2250 Ma: current best fit for what could be called the Archean Yom (Day 1). 

AOJ uses the origin of life as the transition point between the formless and void Hadean and the life-bearing Archean; therefore the exact start date will change as scientific information on the timing of the first life improves.  It is not expected that the scientific community will utilize this thinking to adjust the start date of the Archean.

Critical Transformations: Cyanobacteria producing oxygen by photosynthesis that oxygenated the oceans.

Termination: Snowball Earth conditions caused by the Great Oxidation Event.

Biblical Sequence of Events	What Happened	Age
The brief episode of the Late heavy bombardment ensues, forming most of the visible craters on the moon, melting the Earth's crust, and plunging the Earth into darkness caused by clouds of steam and increased volcanism.  All that may have existed before is rendered a "formless and void" wasteland. Staring up into the night sky, you see on the cratered face of the Moon the beginning of the Creation Week.  Behold, and be amazed that God would leave such a testimony of His works for all to see.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Gen 1:2)	The Late Heavy Bombardment is effectively the boundary between the Hadean and Archean periods of Earth's history. The "Point of View" of the following passages are from the vantage of the Spirit of God hovering above the waters and below a thick layer of clouds.	Hadean
		Archean
The Scofield Study Bible introduced the concept of a "gap" in time between "The Beginning" and the First Day.  This "gap" could be of any duration of time, but the Bible testifies to some of the events that occurred during this "gap" such as the formation of the Deep. Ages of Joy accepts this "gap" in time and is partially compatible with the Gap Theory, but rejects the notion that a fully inhabited Earth was destroyed and recreated.  Ages of Joy is compatible with an Old Universe and an Old Earth and either an Old Biosphere or Young Biosphere.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Gen 1:3)	Light of the early, faint sun is filtered through a heavy organic haze of gases and particles.  The Sun would not be visible from the surface of the Earth; neither would the Moon.  The Moon, if visible, would appear many times its present size due to its nearness.	Archean
And God saw that the light was good. (Gen 1:4a)	The light, though not yet marking signs and seasons and days and years, none-the-less is good.  The Hebrew word means "pleasing".  This light brings joy to the First Day.  The created light is good in serving its purpose in helping to make Earth habitable.  Light of just the right wavelengths, intensity, and stability was necessary.  Light powered the first photosynthetic organisms which God created as a means to transform the early Earth's oceans and atmosphere.	Archean
And God separated the light from the darkness. (Gen 1:4b)	The word for separated is used through the Old Testament to mean putting a space between two simultaneously existing things.  The light exists in one location while the darkness exists in another.  The Earth moves from a situation of total darkness to one in which part of the Earth is illuminated.	Archean
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. (Gen 1:5a)	The first occurrence of the word "Day" in Genesis 1 refers not to a time period, but rather to a condition of being illuminated which we identify with the "place of light".  Similarly, "Night" refers to a condition of being in darkness.  We also know that Day and Night alternate.  This is due to the rotation of planet Earth but invokes notions the Israelites may have been unfamiliar with.  The early Earth rotated in just 6 hours.  The Sun was not visible and the Moon would have been a large pale patch of light.	Archean
The Archean was a period of time during which complex photosynthetic organisms lived, created by God for the purpose of transforming the Ocean from anoxic (lacking oxygen) to oxic (free oxygen available in at least the surface waters).  The Ocean would have gone from murky to clear under God's program of Theistic Engineering as He transformed the formless and void Earth into a more habitable planet.  Banded Iron Formations are remnants of the First Day and contain most of the world's useful iron deposits.  Iron was provided by God for human use through this process. Light-driven photosynthesis characterizes the First Age of Joy.
And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Gen 1:5b)	The repeated phrase "and there was evening and there was morning" gives the narrative text of Genesis 1 its unique, poetic structure. This evening is not marked by a sunset and this morning is not marked by a sunrise, because the rule of the Greater Light (the Sun) and Lesser Light (the Moon) is not established at this time. Therefore, what is marked is the ending of one age of creation and beginning of the next.	Archean
Great Oxygenation Event triggers the Huronian Glaciation which was perhaps the longest lasting Snowball Earth event in history.		Proterozoic

Genesis1 was presented to the Hebrew people by Moses and is assumed to be written in and for their culture.  This means that we can use the normal literal meaning of words as they did as an interpretive guide.

Word Study: Light (links to studylight.org)

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Definition

1) light

1a) light of day

1b) light of heavenly luminaries (moon, sun, stars)

1c) day-break, dawn, morning light

1d) daylight

1e) lightning

1f) light of lamp

1g) light of life

1h) light of prosperity

Based on this definition, Ages of Joy takes the "light" on Day One to be "created light" and not an uncreated light from God Himself or the Shekinah Glory of God or any such notion.

Furthermore, God's pronouncement that the "light was good" further links it to "created light" since it was judged in the same manner as other created things.

All known created light has a source, and this would have been true in the Hebrew mind as well, as can be seen in the definition above.  The place where the light shines is called "Day" and therefore, the light is linked to sunlight, implying that the Sun was created in the beginning when the "heavens and the earth" were created.  By implication the Moon was also created in the beginning.

What has to be resolved is the relationship between the text of Day 4 and the text of Day 1.

According to the Framework Theory, the text is referring to the same topic twice with the later text filling in the former text and no implication for timing of either.  It's topical, not sequential.

In the Ages of Joy creation model, Day1 and Day 4 are two different Ages during which the same topic is relevant.  The ages could each be a mere 1000 years in length in the Young Biosphere perspective or millions of years in length in the Old Biosphere perspective, but either way, they are two separate time periods.

Word Study: separated (link to studylight.org)

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Definition

1) to divide, separate

1a) (Hiphil)

1a1) to divide, separate, sever

1a2) to separate, set apart

1a3) to make a distinction, difference

1a4) to divide into parts

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to separate oneself from (reflexive of 1a2)

1b2) to withdraw from

In word usage throughout the Old Testament, the word "separated" refers to two simultaneously existing things, persons, or conditions.  For example:

Genesis 13:11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.

The Darkness and the Light co-exist.  Thus, they are not defining periods of time.  They are defining conditions of illumination.  We see the literal reading in the following table:

07200

way·yar

וַיַּ֧רְא

and saw

Verb

0430

’ĕ·lō·hîm

אֱלֹהִ֛ים

God

Noun

0853

’eṯ-

אֶת־

 - 

Acc

0216

hā·’ō·wr

הָא֖וֹר

the light

Noun

03588

kî-

כִּי־

that

Conj

02896

ṭō·wḇ;

ט֑וֹב

[it was] good

Adj

0914

way·yaḇ·dêl

וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל

and divided

Verb

0430

’ĕ·lō·hîm,

אֱלֹהִ֔ים

God

Noun

0996

bên

בֵּ֥ין

a space between

Prep

0216

hā·’ō·wr

הָא֖וֹר

the light

Noun

0996

ū·ḇên

וּבֵ֥ין

and between

Prep

02822

ha·ḥō·šeḵ.

הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃

the darkness

Noun

We see that God places "a space between" the light and the darkness.  This further emphasizes that it is Day in one place while it is Night in another place.  This is obvious to the modern reader, but perhaps something of a revelation to the Hebrews.