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Does the Bible Affirm 24-hr Days in Genesis 1?
Justin Taylor has stirred the pot recently with a post on Creation in Genesis 1-2 and whether or not the days referred to in Genesis 1-2 are actual 24-hr days, or just indefinite periods of time. Justin’s post reminded me of an article that I had read a few months ago by Robert McCabe that I think is worth summarizing his main points with my own comments. The context of Genesis 1 indicates a 24-hr day. Its true that day (yom) can refer to periods of time, like in the phrase “Day of the Lord.” But in Genesis 1, day is modified by “evening and morning” and also used in opposition to night. These are clear signals from the context of Genesis 1 that these are normal days with a normal sequence of day and night rotations. When yom is modified by a number, it always refers to a literal…
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Book Review: Learn Biblical Hebrew
Given my interest in teaching Old Testament subjects, I am always on the lookout for books with which to teach Hebrew. When I saw that John H. Dobson’s Learn Biblical Hebrew had been positively reviewed by Dr. Barrick (one of my own Hebrew teachers), I looked forward to the chance to look it over. There are many positives in the book. First, it is about as close to immersion as you can get through a book. From lesson one, the student is immersed in reading words and phrases. The student is given helpful pronunciation helps along the way. Although this may seem daunting, another help is access to audio pronunciation files at the book’s website. This allows the student to hear professional quality reading of Hebrew words and phrases to aid the pronunciation. Second, the book emphasizes reading the Hebrew Scripture instead of doing a workbook approach. Although workbooks can…