Science and Religion: Moses' Creation Account

A view that places man in control of Scripture rather than under the control of its testimony frequently either begins or is first manifest in an acceptance of conclusions that are popular in scientific circles but contradictory to the direct grammatical sense of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. It is commonly asserted that these chapters of the Bible deal only with the existence of God, His supremacy, and man's obligations toward Him as Creator, but that they do not present factual historical and cosmological data; that they are authentic only in areas not subject to investigation by the physical and biological sciences.

Such views have crucial and far-reaching implications. A well-known contemporary theologian affirms: "Absolutely everyplace where the New Testament refers to the first half of Genesis the New Testament assumes (and many times affirms) that Genesis is history and that it is to be read in normal fashion, with the common use of the words and syntax." ¹ All the New Testament writers except James refer affirmatively to Genesis 1-11. ²

The magnitude of the assault that has been made on the first eleven chapters of Genesis is a measure of the importance of understanding them correctly. In the following material I do not propose to present an absolute interpretation of Moses' Creation account. I only outline the in sights that have proved helpful to me after extensive and intensive study of the various views advanced by the theologians and Biblical scholars and of the scientific data that relates to the significance of the testimony given by Moses. I urge each reader to develop his own interpretation out of intense, prayerful study, rather than to be content with borrowing an interpretation advocated by some one else.

"The Bible is its own interpreter, one passage explaining another." ³ This is a guiding principle of the highest importance. In the development of any language word definitions change over generations and centuries. Many words have a broad range of connotation. When one is reading a translation (as in an English rendition of Genesis) the principal connotation of a key word may differ from the connotation the writer had in mind in selecting the word found in the original text. Hence there is great danger in reading space-age meanings and connotations into key words used in the Creation account. One should as far as possible restrict himself to the definitions given or implied in the Biblical text. It should be emphasized, too, that the Creation account is not Hebrew poetry, but finely wrought prose, as clearly indicated in the Jerusalem Bible, for example.

The basic Creation account given by Moses extends from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4a. The structure of this account indicates that Genesis 1:1 is an introductory statement and that Genesis 2:1, 4a are corresponding concluding summary statements. One's understanding of this account depends crucially on the meaning he assigns to the terms beginning, heavens, and earth. According to Matthew 19:4, the word beginning includes all seven days of Creation week. The Hebrew word translated heaven(s) appears in Genesis 1:1,8,9, 14, 15, 17, 20; 2:1, 4, and is defined in Genesis 1:6-8 as the atmosphere that had its beginning on Day Two. The Hebrew word translated earth appears in Genesis 1:1, 2, 10, 11, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24-26, 28- 30; 2:1, 4, and is defined in Genesis 1:9, 10, as the dry solid portion of the planetary surface that had its beginning on Day Three. These meanings are preserved throughout the Bible in references such as Genesis 6:13; 9:11; Exodus 20:11; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 146:6; Acts 4:24; 14:15; Revelation 10:6; 14:7; 21:1 (compare Isa. 65:17 and 66:22 with Rev. 21:1). Peter divides the history of Planet Earth into three epochs, each of which has a distinct "earth" (1 Peter 1:20; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6, 7, 13).

One or the other or both of the Hebrew words that are translated "without form, and void" in Gene sis 1:2 appear in Job 12:24; Deuteronomy 32:10, Isaiah 34:11; 1 Samuel 12:21; Isaiah 24:10; 29:21; 40:17, 23; 41:29; 44:9; 49:4; 59:4 and Jeremiah 4:23. The Hebrew in Jeremiah 4:23 is identical with that in Genesis 1:2.

For the meaning of the Hebrew term translated day it is sufficient to say that the overwhelming opinion of scholars is that whenever modified by an ordinal number this term designates a standard solar day marked off by one complete rotation of the planet. Accordingly, Creation week extended over seven consecutive rotations of Planet Earth. While the present rotation rate is probably not precisely the same as that which was established on Day One, any difference that may exist is not an issue in the "day" concept of Creation week.

In this connection Ellen G. White has made certain illuminating comments: "The first week . . . was just like every other week." ⁴ "Of each successive day of creation, the sacred record declares that it consisted of the evening and the morning, like all other days that have followed." ⁵ "When the Lord declares that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, He means the day of twenty-four hours, which He has marked off by the rising and setting of the sun." ⁶

Discussions on the interpretation of the Creation account often place much stress on the Hebrew verb bara'. It is true that the simple active form of this verb is used in the Old Testament only with God as the subject. However, the same verb is used in the intensive form with man as the subject (Joshua 17:15, 18; Eze. 21:19; 23:47). In the Creation account Moses also used the verb 'asah, which has the primary meaning of "to make" or "to accomplish." In addition, he used the verb yasar, which has the primary meaning of "to form" or "to mold." In the summary statement given in Genesis 2:2, 3, 'asah appears three times and bara' once. The R.S.V. translates each with the word "done," using a simple "done" also for the combination of bara' and 'asah in verse 3. One could expect that Moses would have favored bara', rather than 'asah in these verses if bara' were a stronger verb and had unique significance with respect to deity.

The use of bara'in Genesis 1:21 indicates that this verb is not limited to an ex nihilo situation, as many exegetes have contended in connection with Genesis 1:1. That bara' does not designate an ex nihilo creation is further indicated by its use in Genesis 1:27; 5:1, 2; 6:7, the use of yasar in Genesis 2:7, and the use of bartah ("build," "build up") in Genesis 2:22.

On the basis that "the Bible is its own interpreter, one passage explaining another," the use of bara' by the prophet Isaiah is instructive. In Isaiah 45:7 'asah is used as a composite term that includes all the usual creation verbs: ". . . form [yasar] light . . . create [bara "] dark ness . .. make [ 'asah] weal. . . create [bara'] woe ... do ['asah] all these . . ." (R.S.V.). In Isaiah 45:18 (R.S.V.) all the creation verbs are placed on an equal basis and used in concert for an inadequate attempt to describe God's creative work: "... created [bara'] the heavens . . . formed [yasar] the earth . . . made [ 'asah] [the earth] . . . established [kun] [the earth] . . . create [bara'] [the earth] . . . formed [yasar] [the earth] . . ."If bara' specifies an ex nihilo creation and 'asah a creation involving preexistent material, the verb order in Isaiah 45:12 should be reversed: "I made ['asah] the earth, and created [bara'] man upon it." The creation of new heavens and a new earth on Planet Earth after the millennium is described in Isaiah 65:17, 18 with the verb bara'.

It is significant that the Creation account makes no reference to the creation of water. Water is presented as in existence on the planet before the creative work of Day One is described. For Day Three creative work is described that utilizes preexistent water in the formation of seas (Gen. 1:9, 10). Possibly the mineral component of the earth (dry land) created also on Day Three is to be treated on the same basis as the mineral component of the seas.

Moses pictures Planet Earth as covered with water and enshrouded in darkness at the beginning of Creation week. He reports that on Day Four sun, moon, and stars appeared in the "firmament of the heavens" the atmosphere. There is unquestionable evidence that these extraterrestrial objects are not located in the atmosphere, they only appear to a surface-based observer as if located there. It is my opinion that the entire account of Genesis l:l-2:4a is correctly understood only as a brief summary of what an observer situated at the surface of the planet without artificial aids to his perception would have seen during Creation week, plus the comments, "and God said."

Genesis 1:16, 17 regarding the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, are two statements in typical He brew parallel structure. Each of these statements should carry equal force. In verse 16 the Hebrew verb is 'asah ("made"); in verse 17 the verb is nathan ("set"). For the meaning 'asah may convey see Psalm 104:19 ("made" or "appointed"), Exodus 25:31 ("make"), Job 14:5 ("appointed"), and 2 Chronicles 2:18 ("set" or "as signed"). For the meaning nathan may convey see Genesis 9:13 ("set") and Exodus 18:25 ("made"). Both 'asah and nathan can refer to a status or function imposed on an object of previous existence, and neither of these verbs necessarily implies an appearance ex nihilo. Many Christians believe that other inhabited worlds were already in existence before Creation week (see Heb. 1:1, 2; 11:3, K.J.V.; also Job 2:1, 2). The existence of such worlds would imply that at least some of the stars of Genesis 1:16 were also in existence before Creation week. The possibility that our own star (the sun) may have been in existence before Day Four is a highly probable consequence.

I must emphasize that God was not dependent on nor obligated to preexistent material at any stage of His activities during Creation week. Over the total history of the universe all things, both visible and invisible, were created ex nihilo by Christ (Col. 1:16, 17; John 1:3). Further more, it is my opinion that during Creation week, at least on Days Two, Three, Five, and Six, original matter was created in the newly formed atmosphere and organic life.

At the opposite extreme from the one who dismisses Genesis 1-11 as not presenting factual historical and cosmological data is the student who draws unwarranted scientific conclusions from the Biblical record. I would suggest that claiming more for the Creation account than Moses, or the Holy Spirit, intended it to say may be as detrimental, at least in some circumstances, as rejecting its testimony.