Were the 6 days of creation 24 hour days?
Yes they were. The Hebrew word for day is Yom, and could mean a 24 hour day or long periods of time. You have to look at the context or how the word is used in the text. Here is an example: In my Grandfather’s day it took 4 days to travel from Michigan to Florida. The word day was used twice in that sentence. What “day” was a 24 hour day? That’s right, it was the day used to tell us how long it took to travel. You knew that because there was a number associated with that day.
We know that the word day in the creation account was 24 hours long because each day had a number with it. And so there would be no doubt that the word day was a 24 hour day God also but in the phrase “and there was evening and there was morning – the first day”. …and there was evening and morning – the second day. When there is a number associated with the word day and evening and morning along with the word day, it means the word day is a 24 hour day.
We also need to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day.
Exodus 20:8-9; 11
The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He abstained from work and rested.
Exodus 31:16-17
Look at the word day in those two verses. In the context they are 24 hour days and confirm the truthfulness of the days in the creation week as 24 hour days.
There are people that want to put long periods of time in the creation week. Those people want to force their beliefs into the Bible. Study the first chapter in Genesis; you can’t put a long timetable in that historical text. The Word of God is truth and we need to take our beliefs out of the Bible, not put our beliefs into it.