Genesis, Chapter 1: Removing Some Stumbling Blocks
A literal interpretation of the first few chapters of Genesis is difficult for some people to believe. Days before there were sun, moon and stars? God became fatigued and so rested on the seventh day? A talking snake giving dietary advice to a couple of nudists?
And what about the age of the earth? Some Christian say that it is only about 6,000 years old. Current science dates the earth at 4.5 billion years. Again, difficult to believe in the face of science.
It has been said that the entire discussion about Genesis 1-3 is misguided. After all, isn’t salvation through faith in the biblical Jesus Christ? Why would a literal interpretation of Genesis be necessary for salvation? Don’t many Muslims, Jews and Mormons also believe in a literal six day creation account and a 6,000 year old earth?
Does the Biblical Record Reveal the Age of the Earth?
Young Earth View – Questioning Science to fit scripture
Adding up all the ages of biblical patriarchs in the genealogies, Bishop James Usher (1581 – 1656) concluded that the earth was created in 4004 B.C. He assumed that the genealogical records were complete and exhaustive.
Some who maintain the Young Earth View say that scientific methods of dating the age of the universe are unreliable. Others say that the universe was created old, as indeed Adam and Eve were created, not as babies, but as adults. And so, the earth was made with a built in geological history, fossils included.
Old Earth View – Reinterpreting Scripture to fit Science
However, the biblical authors recorded what are called “gap genealogies” or “open genealogies,” meaning that they only listed names that were relevant to the author’s point, or to his readers. Two examples:
Matthew 1:8 leaves out Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, whereas 1 Chronicles 3:11-12 includes them.
Ezra 7:2 leaves out Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, Ahimaaz, Azariah and Johnanan, whereas 1 Chronicles 6:6-14 includes them.
Since biblical genealogies are not exhaustive, they cannot be used to calculate a chronology of the earth’s age. And so, believers in the biblical text are free to accept any conclusion of current geological science regarding to the age of the earth.
What about Mark 10:6?
The old-earth model maintains that the universe was created about 13.7 billion years ago, the earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago, and Adam and Eve were created about 50,000 years ago. Yet Jesus Christ said that, “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” That would mean that Adam and Eve were created 13.7 billion years ago, not billions of years after the creation of earth.
Some have asserted that the phrase, “of creation” is a genitive, which can convey different meanings such as possession, contents, origin, etc.
For reasons given below, the most likely use of the genitive in Mark 10:6 is the genitive of apposition, also called epexegetic genitive. An example is the phrase “the temple of his body” (John 2:21). The temple and his body are the same thing. In modern English, “the state of New York.” The second noun simply clarifies what the first noun is.
The word “beginning” is used in a number of ways in the biblical text: for example, the beginning of humanity with Adam, the beginning of the Hebrew people with Abraham, the beginning of Israel as a nation with Moses. In Mark 10:6 Jesus clarifies the word “beginning” by identifying it with the creation of humanity.
And so, the meaning of the passage is, “In the beginning, at creation, when God made them male and female…” The creation here is that of the male and female, the beginning was their beginning.
Why does it have to be understood as a genitive of apposition?
There is a parallel passage in Matthew 19:4 that reads, “he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.” Here, Matthew’s parallel passage specifically refers to the creation of the male and female as “the beginning.”
In Mark 10:6 Jesus would be saying, “From beginning, that is, at creation, God made them male and female.” Why? Because the genitive of apposition in this place would fit with the text of Matthew.
What about the Length of the Days in Genesis 1?
1. The Literal Days View
The days of Genesis 1 are literal 24 hour days, given in the chronological order of a normal work week. The work week of the ancient Israelites was based on God’s original work week in Genesis 1 (Exodus 20:8-11). As the Israelites had a workweek of six literal 24 hour days, so must have been the days of God’s original work week. The words “evening and morning” reflect a typical 24 hour period of time. This is the plainest reading of the text.
Not So Literal
However, there are some indications the reading of Genesis 1 is not to be taken so literally. First, one sees that light was created before the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:3, 14-20).
Second, the cardinal number is used to express “one day,” whereas the other days are described with ordinal numbers, “second,” “third,” “forth,” etc.
Third, the definite article, the word “the,” does not always proceed the word “day.” Thus, for example, verse 8 reads “a second day” whereas verse 29 has “the sixth day.” If it is a literal chronology, we would expect more consistency.
Last, the text says that “God rested” on the sixth day. If this passage were meant to be taken literally, then we would have to say that God can be fatigued. See view 7 below.
The number seven was used throughout ancient Near Eastern writings to signify completeness or the climax of something.
2. The Gap Theory
This theory says that there was a gap, a period of time, left out between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. It reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”
The phrase, “the earth was without form and void,” can mean that “the earth became formless and void.” In most Gap Theory views, the fall of Satan from his heavenly station (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 38) took place between verses 1 and 2. A chaotic earth ensued, including the geological record of now extinct dinosaurs. In which case, God’s creative activity would need to begin again. This new beginning of creation is what verses 2 following record.
3. Day-age Creationism
One accommodation to the dating of geological science is known as “the day-age theory,” or “day-age creationism.” While it attempts to harmonize itself with geological time, it is perhaps unwarranted by the biblical texts themselves. Day-age creationism, a type of old Earth creationism, holds that the six days in Genesis 1 are not ordinary 24-hour days, but are much longer periods (of thousands or millions of years).
This is based on passages like Psalm 90:4 and 2nd Peter 3:8, which state that from God’s perspective, “a thousand years is like a day, and a day is like a thousand years.” Psalm 90:10 states “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years.”
If the days in Genesis 1 are long geological ages, then there may be a problem in light of the type of life forms created in each geological age. For example, imagine an age of living plants without the benefit of light of sun, moon and stars.
4. Creation Revealed to Moses in a Six Day Period
The details of creation were revealed to Moses (or possibly Adam) over a period of six days. Thus, the 6 days of Genesis 1 are six days of successive revelation that God gave to Moses about the created universe.
For example on day one, God revealed to Moses that he created light and separated it from darkness. On the second day, God revealed to Moses that he created the expanse of the heavens, etc.
Other ancient near eastern creation accounts were written in this style on separate tablets. Thus, Genesis 1 would fit the genre of ancient near eastern writing. This was the view of biblical lay-scholar and British Airman, P.J. Wiseman.
What about Exodus 20:11, where it says that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth”? The word “made” that is used in verse 11 is ‘asa in the original Hebrew. While it can mean “made” is can also mean “revealed.” Indeed, the Hebrew word ‘asa is translated as “revealed” in the very same chapter. God is said to be “revealing steadfast love to thousands” (Exodus 20:6). So, according to Wiseman, verse 11 should be more consistently translated, “in six days the Lord revealed heaven and earth…and rested on the seventh.”
5. The Declaratory Days View
In this view, the days of Genesis 1 are days wherein God declared, “Let there be…” Those things that God declared to be did in fact come to pass, although not immediately. Each of God’s commands to “Let there be” came to pass much later, in geological time, over billions or millions of years.
Each command also came to pass in a different order than that given in Genesis 1. So in this view, Genesis 1 tells us when God declared, “Let there be,” whereas science tells us when “it was so.” God left it up to his crowning creation, mankind, to discern the actual order in which each divine command was fulfilled over billions of years. Modern geological and paleontological sciences give us the actual order of each command’s fulfillment.
6. Parabolic Days
The days of Genesis 1 are parabolic days, making the account a parable, where God is portrayed as a weekly laborer after whom the ancient Israelites could model their lives, working 6 days, and resting on the seventh. According to this view, God literally created everything at once in one day (Genesis 2:7). In Saint Augustine’s view, God created all things simultaneously. The seven days of Genesis 1 are an accommodation in which “the Scriptural style comes down to the level of little ones and adjusts itself to their capacity.”
7. Literary Framework View
Genesis 1 is a literary framework wherein Moses described creation in poetic terms. Entire books of the Bible are said to be poetic writing (Job, Psalms, Song of Solomon, etc.), as well as certain passages within historical books, such as Exodus 15:1-18. Genesis 1 is said to possess indicators of ancient Semitic poetry.
Poetic Parallelism
The days of Genesis 1 are parallel with each other in an ancient poetic framework called chiastic structure. Each general creation, “light,” “heaven” and “land,” was later populated with specific created beings, such as heavenly bodies, flying beings, land dwelling beings and finally mankind.
| Day 1 – light | Day 4 – sun, moon, stars |
| Day 2 – heavens | Day 5 – sea life, flying beings |
| Day 3 – dry land, plants | Day 6 – land dwelling beings, man |
Poetic Imagery
Second, there is poetic imagery. Genesis 1 was intended to describe the experience of creation, from God’s standpoint, using linguistic terms the Israelites would understand. Using the medium of poetic words, Genesis 1 describes God’s seven day work week, just as the ancient Israelites had a seven day work week.
On the seventh day, God is said to have “rested,” a commonly recognized anthropopathism (ascribing human emotions to God). See especially Exodus 31:17, where is says that God “rested and was refreshed.”
Besides anthropopathism, the anthropomorphisms are also manifest in Genesis 1, where God moves (1:2), speaks (1:3), sees (1:4), divides (1:4) and places (1:17). The days in Genesis 1 can thus also been seen as anthropomorphic days.
The noun “living creatures” in Genesis 1:24 bears the ancient Hebrew poetic ending, “khaiyath,” rather than “khaioth.”
Poetic Repetition
Third, repetition is found in phrases such as, “And God said, ‘Let there be,’…And there was…And God saw that is was good…And there was evening and morning.”
Also, at the culmination of God’s creative week, it says that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” This is a clear example of chiastic structure.
Benefits of the Literary Framework View
There are two benefits in taking the literary framework view. First, it would take the creation account of Genesis 1 out of the scrutiny of contemporary science. The evolutionary scientists would look silly if the genre of Genesis 1 is actually Hebrew
If an evolutionary scientist misunderstood the genre used in Sandburg’s poem, his comment might be something like this:
“Ancient primitive peoples, living before 1967, mistakenly saw fog as a type of living animal. Science has since disproved this archaic belief about fog. It has been scientifically demonstrated that fog does not have ‘cat feet’ nor ‘haunches,’ because it is simply H2O in its vapor form, not a living animal. Therefore, fog is not capable of ‘looking,’ nor is it able to ‘sit.'”
Of course, Sandburg’s poem was not intended to describe biological fact. It was intended that the reader experience truths about fog through the medium of words.
Likewise, if Genesis 1 is Hebrew poetry, then it too was intended to describe the experience of creation, from God’s standpoint, through the medium of words that the Israelites would understand. Genesis 1 describes God’s seven day work week, just as the ancient Israelites had a seven day work week. The orderly rhythm of the workweek is expressed through the repetition of words and phrase.
A second benefit in holding the literary framework view is that it puts Genesis 1 in its ancient Near Eastern context. Its focus is not Moses over and against Darwin, but the Hebrew Creator God over and against the gods of Egypt, Babylonia and Canaan.
We see in Genesis 1 no compulsion to worship the sun, moon, the stars or the earth. Rather, these are shown to be mere created objects, not gods. Genesis 1 sets forth the basic foundation of monotheism, the basic teaching of all biblical faith.
