# Some dumb Bible question **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 16, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318 "2018-05-16T23:58:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/1 "2018-05-16T23:58:29Z")
So, to be fair, this is sort of a joke question, but I’m interested in hearing serious answers to it from believers and/or Bible scholars and/or comparative religion majors. So I was reading Genesis 1 earlier today (as you do), and something struck me : for the first three “days” (it never actually says “on the first day, yadda yadda”, did y’all know that ? I didn’t ! Floored me. Pop culture osmosis is shit) God does something, and then it says “and there was an evening, and there was a morning : that was the Nth day”. However, it’s only on the fourth day that God reportedly sets up the whole lighting system that separates night and day to begin with. Soooo whence the days before ? Was God just a con artist before that fourth day, performing cheap theatricals to make believe there was a day/night cycle ? “Now you see the Universe, now you don’t, is that your planet madam ?!” I’m sure the logical inconsistency has bugged people before, just as I’m sure leading Christian lights from Aquinas to Miley Cyrus have expounded on the subject and sort of retconned/handwaved it away, but how is that reconciled by Bible literalists and suchlike, really ? I mean it’s in the first few pages of the book. I’ve tossed fantasy or sci-fi books aside for lesser consistency crimes. What gives ? Is it a translation snafu, what ? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/2 "2018-05-17T00:09:18Z")
Gen 1:4 (Revised Standard Version): And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. Gen. 1:5 : God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. Therefore, the “lighting system” was set up during the first day 🙂 (The fourth day mentions some stars and what not) ETA Hebrew version:‏ [ג] וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר: [ד] וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ: [ה] וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד: ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/3 "2018-05-17T00:15:06Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Gen 1:4 (Revised Standard Version): And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. > Gen. 1:5 : God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. > > Therefore, the “lighting system” was set up during the first day 🙂 > (The fourth day mentions some stars and what not) > > ETA Hebrew version: [ג] וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר: [ד] וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ: [ה] וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד: Sure sounds like the sun and moon on the fourth day to me (in English, can’t read Hebrew). Stars too, but also sun and moon. Does the Hebrew still specifically mention the greater and lesser great lights (that are not stars) or not? I can’t read it. > [@](#): > > And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. **God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.** God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. So yes, a plain reading of the English text (which is, of course, not the original) does say day and night were created before the sun. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/4 "2018-05-17T00:35:26Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > However, it’s only on the fourth day that God reportedly sets up the whole lighting system that separates night and day to begin with. Soooo whence the days before? This question was asked by Clarence Darrow (If _Inherit the Wind_ is to be believed.) in the Scopes trial ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/5 "2018-05-17T00:58:48Z")
I’d always understood it to mean that God created the concepts of light and dark before creating the stars, but I’m no Biblical scholar. This may be adding fuel to the fire, but what’s a debate without a little fuel, a little fire? This is from [bibleref.org](https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/1/Genesis-1-14.html). > [@](#): > > Regardless of translation, verses 14 through 18 can seem somewhat awkward in English. These words were originally written in Hebrew, and under a highly structured repeating pattern. And yet, the core point of these verses is impossible to miss: God made all the heavenly bodies, ascribed to the fourth day of His creation week. For the original readers of Scripture, this countered the widespread belief that stars, comets, and the sun were themselves divine. By clearly showing God’s creation and control, Genesis dispels the idea that there are any true gods other than God. > … > > This raises what some see as a difficult question: How did God create light and day and night on the first day (Genesis 1:3–4) if He had not yet created the sun? It’s a reasonable question, and we don’t have a perfect answer. The easiest explanation is that God caused light to exist apart from the source of sun and stars until those were created, something clearly within His power. Another option is that these words describe the first time that the sun, moon, and stars became visible on earth, possibly due to a vapor canopy or clouds. Some scholars offer further alternative explanations. > > One interesting point of note is that secular science, per the “Big Bang Theory,” actually supports this order of light, then stars. According to that model, the universe was filled with photons—light particles—long before there were stars or planets. Whether or not this has a meaningful connection to this part of Genesis, the point is that light preceding stars is not only scientifically possible, modern science claims that was actually the case! And this is from [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/06/30/science-uncovers-the-origin-of-the-first-light-in-the-universe/#7353b1e63487) Magazine: > [@](#): > > When we look out at the Universe today, highlighted against the vast, empty blackness of the sky are points of light: stars, galaxies, nebulae and more. Yet there was a time in the distant past before any of those things had formed, just after the Big Bang, where the Universe was still filled with light. If we look in the microwave part of the spectrum, we can find the remnants of this light today in the form of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). But even the CMB is relatively late: we’re seeing its light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Light, as far as we know it, existed even before that. FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/6 "2018-05-17T01:13:06Z")
Young’s Literal Translation can help provide some insight into the challenges of translation, but note the “day one” etc. > [@](#): > > 1 In the beginning of God’s preparing the heavens and the earth – > 2 the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, > 3 and God saith, `Let light be;' and light is. 4 And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness, 5 and God calleth to the light `Day,’ and to the darkness He hath called `Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day one. 6 And God saith, `Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.’ > 7 And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so. > 8 And God calleth to the expanse `Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day second. 9 And God saith, `Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:’ and it is so. > 10 And God calleth to the dry land `Earth,' and to the collection of the waters He hath called `Seas;’ and God seeth that [it is] good. > 11 And God saith, `Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed [is] in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth:' and it is so. 12 And the earth bringeth forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed [is] in itself) after its kind; and God seeth that [it is] good; 13 and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day third. 14 And God saith, `Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, > 15 and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth:’ and it is so. > 16 And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary – and the stars – for the rule of the night; > 17 and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, > 18 and to rule over day and over night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God seeth that [it is] good; > 19 and there is an evening, and there is a morning – day fourth. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/7 "2018-05-17T01:35:54Z")
Related to the creation order of light, sun, moon and stars. Note that Alhazen was the first known to explain that vision is from reflected light in ~1000 AD. Before that _extramission theory_ was the favored explanation for over a milienium. While the first recorded explanation of extramission is from Empedocles in the 5th century BC, the text makes sense when you consider the miss-understandings about physics that existed at the time. > **[Book of Optics](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Optics)** > > The Book of Optics (Arabic: كتاب المناظر, romanized: Kitāb al-Manāẓir; Latin: De Aspectibus or Perspectiva; Italian: Deli Aspecti) is a seven-volume treatise on optics and other fields of study composed by the medieval Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen (965–c. 1040 AD). > The Book of Optics presented experimentally founded arguments against the widely held extramission theory of vision (as held by Euclid in his Optica), and proposed the modern intromission theory... It only seems really confusing when people try to mold the original text to match our current understanding of physics. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/8 "2018-05-17T01:38:47Z")
Kobal2: > [@](#): > > I’m sure the logical inconsistency has bugged people before, just as I’m sure leading Christian lights from Aquinas to Miley Cyrus have expounded on the subject and sort of retconned/handwaved it away, but how is that reconciled by Bible literalists and suchlike, really ? I mean it’s in the first few pages of the book. I’ve tossed fantasy or sci-fi books aside for lesser consistency crimes. What gives ? Is it a translation snafu, what ? First of all: it is not on the fourth day that G-d separates day from night, that happens on the first day. Genesis 1:4-5. The establishment of the sun and moon was to mark the passage of time on Earth. It does not mean that time did not pass beforehand. When the prior verses refer to evening and morning, it speaks of the passage of that time in a manner that the Bible’s intended audience - i.e., human beings - can relate to. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/9 "2018-05-17T07:57:28Z")
So great, photons existed before the sun. But how did God separate day from night without the sun? And for that matter, the earth did not exist before the sun. I hate people trYong to shoehorn size 12 science feet into size 6 Bible shoes. Either belive the Bible literally, accept it as metaphor, or treat it as fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Willcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Willcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willcross)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/10 "2018-05-17T11:05:20Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Either belive the Bible literally, accept it as metaphor, or treat it as fiction. What other option would there be? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/11 "2018-05-17T11:27:09Z")
Augustine (354-430 AD) regarded Genesis as allegorical, and had something to say on the subject that’s still highly valid: > [@](#): > > Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of the world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. > > **Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for a non-believer to hear a Christian, apparently giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics** ; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. > > The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. > > If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? > > Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/12 "2018-05-17T21:44:32Z")
Augustine may not have imagined that millions upon millions of people would today be doing what he 1500 years earlier already warned against. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/13 "2018-05-17T21:55:47Z")
Sometimes I wonder if those days are terraforming steps that some super alien race made for us, seeding us on this planet which may have been rogue before their intervention, and relaying the story in a way that early humans could understand it for that time and one day further understand it’s meaning. But as pointed out above God created the day/nite cycle up front, adding sun/moon cycles later. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/14 "2018-05-17T22:20:49Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > So great, photons existed before the sun. But how did God separate day from night without the sun? And for that matter, the earth did not exist before the sun. I hate people trYong to shoehorn size 12 science feet into size 6 Bible shoes. > > Either belive the Bible literally, accept it as metaphor, or treat it as fiction. As I stated above, back then they didn’t know about photons or reflections, and belief in [extramission theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_theory_(vision)), visual is due to beams emitted by the eyes was common way past the time the books were assembled. In fact there was a study about a decade ago that demonstrated that about half of present day adults still believe in this. \*Edit to add that the study was in [2002](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2fe9/016275946ab11e26a1b93f8039fab86a4d26.pdf) (warning PDF) \* A as a non-theist I need to point out that your second statement is a false (tri?)dichotomy. Bible literalism is rare outside of fundamentalist or evangelical Christians. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/15 "2018-05-17T22:36:05Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > So great, photons existed before the sun. But how did God separate day from night without the sun? And for that matter, the earth did not exist before the sun. I hate people trYong to shoehorn size 12 science feet into size 6 Bible shoes. > > Either belive the Bible literally, accept it as metaphor, or treat it as fiction. The parts of the Bible that make literal sense and refer to known history are insignificant and often wrong. The rest of the Bible, when taken literally, is BS. Incomprehensible BS, because taken literally, you can’t have the faintest clue why you would be reading this stuff. As fiction, most of the Bible is vastly inferior to … well, anything good. And what would be the point. There are parts (Job?) that make pretty good fiction - maybe that’s why those parts are there. When you get a book and the title doesn’t give enough clues about what the book is for, you read a bit and try to figure that out. If it’s a novel called “The 1956 Buick” but you start reading thinking maybe it’s a car repair manual, it will soon become clear that something is “off” with your understanding. When you get a book like the Bible, where the title is basically “Books” and it doesn’t fit the usual categories, it may take a while to know what it’s for. Many of the people Augustine talked about - many of whom don’t even understand what kind of book they’re looking at when they read the Bible, let alone what it’s saying - are now respected and popular pastors and religious teachers, spreading stupidity far and wide. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/16 "2018-05-18T02:22:18Z")
> [@Willcross](#): > > What other option would there be? Satire? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/17 "2018-05-18T02:49:46Z")
I grew up being taught the first interpretation mentioned by nelliebly, which does seem to be the most straightforward reading of the text. The light just existed without the need for the heavenly bodies. Sometimes I heard that God himself was a supernatural source of light, making the metaphor literal. I did hear the other variation as well on Evangelical/Pentecostal TV. It’s part of the “gap” theory, which posits a huge time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. It argues that the first clause should be more accurately translated “Now the Earth _became_ without form”, and uses this to try and reconcile the older Earth with the younger account in Genesis. (Apparently the word for “was” can also be translated as “came to be.”) Wikipedia has an article on the belief, called “[gap creationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_creationism).” It also reminded me of “[day-age creationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-age_creationism).” I do wonder how they make it work. Just because they are all literalists doesn’t mean they all agree. This is a huge part of why I say it’s still just an interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/18 "2018-05-18T08:59:22Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > But as pointed out above God created the day/nite cycle up front, adding sun/moon cycles later. And we still have day/night cycles even when the sun is obscured by clouds! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/19 "2018-05-18T09:57:37Z")
An earthly light at night, however bright, doesn’t illuminate the sky. Light doesn’t seem to reflect off of air. … _Is it conceivable that early man didn’t understand that daylight originates from the Sun?_ 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318/20 "2018-05-18T10:16:05Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > So, to be fair, this is sort of a joke question, but I’m interested in hearing serious answers to it from believers and/or Bible scholars and/or comparative religion majors. > > So I was reading Genesis 1 earlier today (as you do), and something struck me : for the first three “days” (it never actually says “on the first day, yadda yadda”, did y’all know that ? I didn’t ! Floored me. Pop culture osmosis is shit) God does something, and then it says “and there was an evening, and there was a morning : that was the Nth day”. The explanation I got from mainly a bunch of Jesuits and Capuchins, with the occasional Filipense or secular priest thrown in for flavor, is that “it’s not a 24h day, it just means ‘and then’, which as of last check wasn’t an exact time either. The writer was trying to keep things more or less in what he thought was the logical order, but didn’t have a degree in Physics and wasn’t using a Swiss watch to make sure he got all the timings right (for those of you who have flunked geography: Switzerland hadn’t been invented yet). Same thing when you get to the NT and there’s all those ‘in those days’.” One of my classmates once asked “so, it’s a bit like ‘let’s have coffee one of these days’?\*” “more like ‘come to my house for coffee one of these days, here’s my address’ but yeah.” - If not accompanied by an actual address, it’s not an actual invitation. The address moves it from “vague polite noises” to “vague but actual invitation”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-dumb-bible-question/814318.md?page=2)