Day 6 - Introduction
 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
 27 So God created man in his own image,
      in the image of God he created him;
      male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. – Genesis 1:24-31
Like the other Days of Creation, Day 6 matches the fossil record very well… if you realize that Day 6 does not record the initial appearance of mammals, but a transition from one phase of evolution to another. The reason this is so important is because other Concordist or Day Age theories, such as Progressive Creationism, insist on interpreting Days 5 and 6 in terms of an animal group’s initial appearance. This is a mistake. Consider an excerpt of the sequence found in the fossil record, labeled with the appropriate Day of Creation:
Day 5 - 510 million years ago –> fish appear 400 million years ago –> insects 285 million years ago –> mammal-like reptiles 245 million years ago –> most life wiped out… dinosaurs began Day 6 - 225 million years ago –> possible mammals appear Day 5 - 150 million years ago –> birds appear Day 6 - 125 million ago –> confirmed mammals appear 65 million years ago -> KT Impact… dinosaurs wiped out, most other life wiped out 65 million years ago -> Fish recover and flourish 58 million years ago -> Mammals recover and flourish 53 million years ago -> Birds recover and flourish Day 5 - 53 to 40 million years ago -> whales appear 33.5 million years ago -> Grande Coupure… ancient mammals abruptly replaced by more modern mammals Day 6 - 5.5 million years ago -> humanoids appear (hominids) Day 6 - 200,000 years ago -> Homo Sapiens
As you can see, Days 5 and 6 are simply a mess when viewed this way. However, interpret “Letâ€Â to refer to God’s removal of an insurmountable obstacle, rather than the creature’s initial appearance, and this problem goes away. The challenge then is to figure out exactly what God was removing an obstacle to. Well, thankfully scripture is very helpful in that regard. As we saw in http://geocreationism.com/2007/11/05/day-5-determining-a-date-part-1/, God did not command sealife to appear from nothing, but to “teem”, and to do so “according to its kind”. He also did not command birds to just appear, but to fill the sky, and to do so “according to its kind”. More accurately, He said to “Letâ€Â those things happen. In other words, He did not actually fill the seas or the sky with His pronouncements, but merely removed any hindrance to the animals flourishing according to their kind! And we saw in http://www.geocreationism.com/2007/11/10/day-5-determining-a-date-part-2/ that this actually started 65 million years ago, after the world was decimated by the KT Impact. And in fact, the subsequent flourishing of fish and birds created the chance for whales (which are neither fish nor birds) to evolve, and Moses actually lists whales separately from fish and birds in his summary of Day 5. I am going to take a similar approach to Day 6. When I am done, the sequence of Creation Days will look more like this:
- 510 million years ago –> fish appear
- 400 million years ago –> insects
- 285 million years ago –> mammal-like reptiles
- 245 million years ago –> most life wiped out… dinosaurs began
- 225 million years ago –> possible mammals appear
- 150 million years ago –> birds appear
- 125 million ago –> confirmed mammals appear
- 65 million years ago -> KT Impact… dinosaurs wiped out, most other life wiped out
- Day 5 - 65 million years ago -> Fish recover and flourish
- 58 million years ago -> Mammals recover and flourish
- Day 5 - 53 million years ago -> Birds recover and flourish
- Day 5 - 53 to 40 million years ago -> whales appear
- Day 6 - 33.5 million years ago -> Grande Coupure… ancient mammals abruptly replaced by more modern mammals
- Day 6 - 5.5 million years ago -> humanoids appear (hominids)
- Day 6 - 200,000 years ago -> Homo Sapiens
There are several features of the scriptures that allow this interpretation.
- The phrase “according to its kind” suggests a “kind” already existed.
- “Let” suggests that God was now “letting” it happen… but the actually fulfillment could still be a ways off
- In both Days 5 and 6, God told the animals/mankind to subdue the earth… AFTER His action for that Day was over, reflecting His removal of a hindrance as opposed to the actual fulfillment of what He’d set in action
The final feature of Day 6 is that it is not the creation of Adam, but the creation of both men and women, that they would rule and subdue the earth, its animals, and its plants.
I will be going through these conclusions for Day 6 in more detail over the coming days.