You're missing the point

Genesis 1:1–2:3 contains a seven-day account of origins, not a six-day account. Our frequent reference to a six-day account is at least in part the result of not knowing what to do with the seventh day. What does God resting have to do with creation? Why would God need to rest anyway? What would it mean for God to rest? Perhaps one of the main reasons we face this conundrum is that we have assumed that the account is a material account, and nothing material takes place on day seven. In contrast, I maintain that even though people are the climax of the six days, day seven is the climax of this origins account. In fact, it is the purpose of this origins account, and the other six days do not achieve their full meaning without it. Rest is the objective of creation.—The Lost World of Adam and Eve, p. 46

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He's argued this in his other books, more fully in Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology. I pretty much agree with him; by looking for a material explanation we are missing the point of it all. We are so blinded by our materialistic outlook that we miss the spiritual and symbolic aspects of the text. Not just here, either, but throughout Scripture. I'm not advocating a return to Origen's levels of meaning (although he is usually oversimplified and misrepresented), but there is more lurking in the depths of Scripture than just material stuff.
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