The Duration of the First Day
On the first evening darkness was everywhere. When God commanded light to shine out of darkness, all of the darkness responded. Gamma rays collided and light came out of the darkness everywhere. Since the light shone out from all locations, it came from all directions. Even if the Earth had been formed and rotating, it could not have turned any portion of its surface away from the light. Rotation cannot change the intensity of illumination if the light comes uniformly from everywhere. At present night comes on the surface of the Earth when that part of the surface turns away from the Sun. Nothing like that could happen to end the first day. Therefore the first day lasted until the first light dimmed and went out.
The Bible does not say how long the first light lasted. Theoretical calculations in the last half of the 20th century estimated that the first light lasted between 300 000 and 700 000 years. Now we have more precise data. Calculations based on the WMAP data now say that the first light lasted 380 thousand years. As the first light was dimming and going out it was somewhat redder than sunlight, like the light from the coals of a very hot fire.
God separated the light from the darkness in time and space. Separating them in time made the first three days and determined their duration. He did all this in His Own good time, and He doesn’t tell us how long it took. But every time He stopped to evaluate His work, what He had made was good. The only thing we can deduce from the Bible account about the intervals He chose for the durations of the first three cycles of darkness and light is that they were good too.
The Bible does not say how long the first light lasted. Theoretical calculations in the last half of the 20th century estimated that the first light lasted between 300 000 and 700 000 years. Now we have more precise data. Calculations based on the WMAP data now say that the first light lasted 380 thousand years. As the first light was dimming and going out it was somewhat redder than sunlight, like the light from the coals of a very hot fire.
God separated the light from the darkness in time and space. Separating them in time made the first three days and determined their duration. He did all this in His Own good time, and He doesn’t tell us how long it took. But every time He stopped to evaluate His work, what He had made was good. The only thing we can deduce from the Bible account about the intervals He chose for the durations of the first three cycles of darkness and light is that they were good too.
