To understand the clues and hints of nature in ways that contradict the Bible is foolish... especially when the Bible says things like:
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. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Yet could this not also be translated as follows?
For in six ages the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh age. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath age and made it holy.
Is such a translation impossible given what we know of the Hebrew word Yom? Clearly evening and morning must mean something other the earthly mornings and evenings if our sun was not made until the forth day/age.
Perhaps the third night for example is referring to something like this?
Life under the Ice – Life on Rogue Planetshttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M7CkdB5z9PYIf life did thrive in the early universe and period of universal warmth and habitability then what seems likely to have followed would be a period of ice and darkness.
Are the erroneous hypotheses and interpretations of modern scientists who might be misinterpreting nature the only error we must consider? What about the hypotheses and interpretations of modern theologians who might be misunderstanding scripture?
You have identified the problem. To say it a different way...
Science has only the vague clues and hints left by nature.
The Bible is living, in the fact that there are the writings of the rabbi's that show the way the Hebrew people have interpreted Scripture all along.
The idea of interpreting the Exodus passage as meaning anything other than a standard day, is outside of what the people of Israel understood... which they understood as they did, because God wanted them to understand it that way.
Did God lie to the People of Israel? Did God want Israel to understand "day," when all along it was really "a great expanse of time?" We can tell by the recorded prophesies He made, and then how He responded when they tried to oppose God and His prophesies. Such is all over the Old Testament.
Now, here we are, trying to do the same thing. We are trying to suggest that God lied to the people, and is lying to us. The difference between now and then is, since Jesus did His work, the Law has been kept for Israel so that they don't have to do it perfectly any longer. And, non-Israel people are included in the blessings of Israel believers.
The Point? God is patient with all people. Bit His patience only lasts for a time with those who adamantly are against Him. The O.T. record shows this over and over, not only about Israel, but about other peoples, as well.
If that wasn't enough, then there are the writings of all the scientists when they do their direct and foundational work on the age of the universe. Their writings continually show that they don't know for sure. You of all people have seen this.
So, we have the Israel record vs. the science claims that they don't know for sure.