ne,
that the civil day is _the ordinary_ meaning of the term. At the same
time we may admit that this is _one_ of its ordinary meanings, and
therefore may be its meaning here. Another argument frequently urged
is that the day of creation is said to have had an evening and
morning. We shall consider this more fully in the sequel, and in the
mean time may observe that it appears rather hazardous to attribute an
ordinary evening and morning to a day which, on the face of the
record, preceded the formation and arrangement of the luminaries which
are "for days and for years."[47]

But it may be affirmed that in the Bible long and undefined periods
are indicated by the word "day." In many of these cases the word is in
the plural: as Genesis iv., 3, "And after days it came to pass,"
rendered in our version "in process of time;" Genesis xl., 4, "days in
ward," rendered "a season." Such instances as these are not applicable
to the present question, since the plural may have the sense of
indefinite time, merely by denoting an undetermined number of natural
days. Passages in which the singular occurs in this sense are those
which strictly apply to the case in hand, and such are by no means
rare. A very remarkable example is that in Genesis ii., 4, already
mentioned, where we find, "In the day when Jehovah Elohim made the
earth and the heavens." This day must either mean the beginning, or
must include the whole six days; most probably the latter, since the
word "made" refers not to the act of creation, properly so called, but
to the elaborating processes of the creative week; and occurring as
this does immediately after the narrative of creation, it seems almost
like an intentional intimation of the wide import of the creative
days. It has been objected, however, that the expression "in the day"
is properly a compound adverb, having the force of "when" or "at the
time." But the learned and ingenious authors who urge this objection
have omitted to consider the relative probabilities as to whether the
adverbial use had arisen while the word _yom_ meant simply a day, or
whether the use of the noun for long periods was the reason of the
introduction of such an adverbial expression. The probabilities are in
favor of the latter, for it is not likely that men would construct an
adverb referring to indefinite time from a word denoting one of the
most precisely limited portions of time, unless that word had also a
second and more unlimited