The Bible does not say when the original creation of the earth took place, but it does indicate when man was created. The age of the earth is not connected with the date of the creation of man.
Another important point to understand is that a “day” in the creation story could not be anything but a 24-hour day. Genesis says its “day” is an evening and a morning – that is, nighttime and daytime – which is what a 24-hour day is. Also consider the plants which were created on the third day. The sun did not appear until the next day. If these “days” were say a thousand years long, the plants could not have survived, for they were without sunshine.
Now, why would the age of the earth not be connected with the creation of man when the “days” in the creation week were all 24-hour days? Shouldn’t the age of the earth be the same as the age of the first created man?
In Genesis 1:1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then verse 2 reads: “And the earth was without form and void….” The Hebrew words translated “without form and void” are tohu and bohu. They mean chaotic, in confusion, waste, empty. Why would God create the earth in disorder and then straighten it out? That wouldn’t make sense. The Hebrew word for “created” used in verse 1 implies that the creation was a perfected work. It implies order and system, not chaos or confusion. And we read in I Cor. 14:33 that “God is not the author of confusion.” God is the author of peace, of law and order.
God told Job that the angels shouted for joy when the earth was created (Job 38:7). This is further indication that God did not create the earth tohu and bohu. A more conclusive proof is found in Isaiah 45:18. Notice: “For thus saith the Eternal that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain…” The original Hebrew for the word translated “in vain” is tohu, the same identical word used in Genesis 1:2. Thus, this verse is a plain statement that when God created the earth it was not tohu. It became that way only afterwards.
The proper rendering, therefore, of verse 2 when the Bible is taken in its entire context is: “And the earth became without form and void.” It should also be noted that the Hebrew word translated “was” is hayah. This word is translated “became” in Genesis 2:7, 9:15 and 19:26. Its use denotes a condition that was different from a former condition. In other words, the earth had not always been that way. It became chaotic only later.
When we examine verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1 again with this in mind, we would have to conclude that verse 1 is not connected with verse 2. Verse 1 is simply a declaration of who created the heavens and the earth. Verse 2 speaks of some point in time after the earth’s creation [could be millions of years after] when the earth had become chaotic and a vast wasteland.
The six-day “creation” account in Genesis therefore is not speaking about the original creation of the earth but a re-creation of a devastated earth into its original beautiful and useful state. As David, in one of his psalms revealed, “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created…” – notice Gen. 1:2 speaks about the same thing, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Clearly, David here is speaking about the creation week in Genesis. Then David continues, “thou RENEWEST the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30).
Properly understood, the Bible does not say when the earth was created. But the date of the creation of man can be estimated, as some people have tried (for example, the famous Usher dated creation at 4004 B.C.) based on the “creation” account in Genesis and on the biblical ages of the patriarchs.
