We continue with general questions about the book of Genesis. Here are the answers as we best understand them in light of the Bible.

Were the six days of creation literal days?

Some contend that each of the days of creation in Genesis 1 represented a long span of time. Yet consider that fruit-bearing plants were created on the third day while insects to pollinate them were not created until a few days later. If these were millions of years apart, the plants would not have survived.

Note that the Bible is quite clear about how long each day was: "So the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5). How long is the daylight portion of a day? Jesus Christ Himself, contrasting day and night, said, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" (John 11:9, emphasis added throughout). There are also 12 hours in the night, for a total of 24.

There are, however, places in the Bible where "day" can symbolically mean an extended period of time, such as the "day of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 5:2), or the "day" when God created all things (Genesis 2:4). But anytime in Scripture when the term day is preceded by a numeral, it always means a literal day of the week.

So evening and morning clearly mean a full rotation of the earth, or a 24-hour period. Besides, Genesis 2:2 mentions the fact that God rested on the seventh day and sanctified that portion of time. This is enshrined in the Fourth Commandment, which requires resting on the seventh day of each week (the Sabbath) as a memorial of God's creative activities on the previous six days of creation week—and it obviously refers to a 24-hour period (see Exodus 20:8-11).

(For further information, download or request our free booklet Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe? Especially see the inset article "Genesis 1 and the Days of Creation.")

Did Adam and Eve actually exist?

Some think Adam and Eve were fictional characters, yet Jesus Christ knew they were real. He said of them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" (Matthew 19:4-5).

In fact, Jesus Christ's own genealogy is recorded all the way back to Adam and Adam's son Seth (Luke 3:38).

Also, written language dates back to around 4000 B.C., about the time biblical chronology indicates Adam and Eve lived. From 4000 B.C. to 2000 B.C., history records an amazing advance of technology, art and culture.

For instance, pictographic and then cuneiform writing appears. Elaborate architecture using mathematics arises, metallurgy using copper and then bronze is mastered and music and art reach sophisticated levels. This is faithfully recorded in the Genesis record, where cities are built (Genesis 4:17), musical skills are noted (Genesis 4:21) and metalwork appears (Genesis 4:22).

Halley's Bible Handbook explains about the region where Adam and Eve first lived, near the Euphrates River (Genesis 2:14): "Ethnologists quite generally consider this region to have been the original home of all the present races of men. It was the region from whence came the ox, goat, sheep, horse, pig, dog, apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, quince, mulberry, gooseberry, vine, olive, fig, date, almond, wheat, barley, oats, pea, bean, flax, spinach, radish, onion, and most of our fruits and vegetables. [It is] the cradle of the human race" (1965, p. 64).

When God rested on the seventh day, later called the Sabbath, did it become a command for all of mankind or just for the Jews?

Many will be surprised to know the Sabbath rest begins in chapter 2 of Genesis and not when God spoke His commandments to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai after bringing them out of slavery in Egypt.

Genesis 2:2-3 says: "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested [the Hebrew word here is a verb form of the word Sabbath] on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

Notice that God not only blessed but also "sanctified" the seventh day. In the Bible, sanctifying something means setting it apart for holy use—and that is what He did with the seventh day. This is why God later said, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8).

Note also that God created, blessed and sanctified the seventh day at the time of creation, which was long before Israel or the Jews even existed. Thus God had already given the Sabbath day, but He now reminded His people to not forget about it and "to keep it holy."

Jesus Christ expressly stated that the Sabbath was made not just for the Jews, but for all of mankind and that He was the master of it. "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28).

We see throughout Genesis that the seven-day weekly cycle was perpetuated. We read, for example, that Noah and his family were inside the ark for one week before the Flood came (Genesis 7:10). Then, after the Flood, Noah waited a week before sending the dove to see if there was any dry land. When it came back, he waited yet another week before sending it out for the final time (Genesis 8:10, 12).

Later in Genesis, Laban asked Jacob to wait a week before receiving Rachel as his wife (Genesis 29:27). So keeping the seven-day week, with the seventh being holy, remained the standard in Genesis.

Moreover, this all happened long before the Sabbath commandment was codified as the Fourth Commandment at Mount Sinai. In the New Testament, we read that Jesus Christ, the apostles and the people of God faithfully kept God's Sabbaths (Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2; Hebrews 4:4, 9).

Indeed, all the faithful followers of God kept the Sabbath day—in the Old and the New Testaments—and there are no recorded exceptions! (You may also wish to ask for our free booklet Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest.)

Who did Cain marry?

We read, "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch" (Genesis 4:17). Where did he find a wife?

The first clue is found in Genesis 5:4: "After he [Adam] begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. " God had told Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28).

It was expected that Adam and Eve would have many sons and daughters—especially as their long lives gave them centuries of childbearing years. In fact, Jewish tradition states that they had 33 sons and 27 daughters.

By the time Cain and his brother Abel were old enough to raise livestock and harvest crops (Genesis 4:1-4), they must have had younger brothers and sisters. Of course, the Bible does not record every detail, such as naming all the children that followed. It only highlights major events such as the murder of Abel (verse 8). But it does say that Cain was very concerned about being killed by those who wanted to avenge Abel's death (verse 14). God therefore set a mark on him to protect him from being killed by those seeking to punish him (verse 15).

So the logical answer regarding Cain's wife is that he must have married one of his sisters, as at first that is what all the sons of Adam had to do.

After some time had passed, laws against close-kin marriages became necessary due in part to the frequency of children with biological defects springing from such unions. During the days of Moses, God gave laws against marriages between a brother and a sister (Leviticus 18:9; 20:17). Today almost every nation in the world enforces similar laws. VT