This is interesting, comparing the literal and symbolic. Can we hold both to be valid to some extent? I tend to believe that divine patterns exist at different amplitudes throughout nature.

For example, we view the day as 24 hrs. This is a cycle of death of a day and the beginning of a new day, marked by the sun. It was God’s design to have the Sun take a 24 hr cycle at this era of human existence. What if that cycle was longer from our perspective many ages ago?