It should be noted that these seven great creative “days” do not include the creation of the universe, but only the preparation of earth for man. The Bible does not say when the sun, stars, planets, even the earth, were created. Genesis 1:1 states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But it does not say when that “beginning” was, or how much time passed between the creation of the universe and the beginning of the first of the seven “days,” mentioned in the next Ge 1 verse 2.

The great creative epochs described in Genesis thus were periods lasting thousands of years, during which, the Bible says, specific steps were taken in the divine preparation of the earth for man.