Read Genesis 1 here or at Bible Gateway.
God has embedded multiple teaching tools in the Bible to help communicate His message. He wants to be understood, but He does not throw His pearls before swine (Mat 7:6). His gold and silver requires some digging, but treasure can be unearthed for those willing to look for it (Pro 2:1-6). All of the Bible’s teaching tools are introduced in the first chapter of Genesis, so that once learned, they can then be used to study the rest of the book. Three of the most common teaching tools are:
Plain meaning of the text. God’s Word means what it appears to mean, upon the simple reading of an accurately translated text.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1
The teaching: Our universe is a product of special design by an intelligent Creator, and not a product of random chance.
And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Gen 1:31
The teaching: Since evening and morning occur in every 24-hour cycle of time, God completed His creation in six 24-hour days, and not six eons of time.
Hebrew paragraph divisions. God’s paragraph divisions, when He has concluded one topic and is ready to go on to the next, are present in the original Hebrew of the Scripture. These divisions have been preserved by the Hebrew scribes who faithfully copied every letter of the Bible without variation. They were discarded by the English translators, because admittedly, they sometimes do not make sense to human logic. But that is the point, God has divided His paragraphs the way He has because He is trying to teach us something we could not discover by human logic. Where the paragraph divisions aren’t are often just as telling as where they are.
There are two kinds – a weak division and a strong division. We mark the strong divisions with {p} since the Hebrew word for it begins with the ‘p’ sound. The strong division indicates a new topic.
Gen 1:1-31 Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Gen 1:1-5 {p} First day of Creation: space, time, matter, energy (light)
Gen 1:6-8 {p} Second day of Creation: firmament of the heavens
Gen 1:9-13 {p} Third day of Creation: dry land, plant life
Gen 1:14-19 {p} Fourth day of Creation: lights in the firmament of the heavens
Gen 1:20-23 {p} Fifth day of Creation: birds, sea life
Gen 1:24-31 {p} Sixth day of Creation: animal life on land, man
The divisions highlight that the days of Creation are significant. This teaching tool is a second witness to a recent creation, for there are Hebrew words for other lengths of time, such as years or eons, if those units of time were meant. But God chose the Hebrew yom – “day” – the regular 24-hour day. A day as a unit of time, is one of the few that do not depend on the sun, moon, or stars for marking it. The 24-hour day is the time it takes for the earth to revolve on its axis one revolution; no sun or moon is needed.
Pattern and repetition. The Bible often establishes patterns in the narrative. The repetition draws our attention to the fact that it cannot be coincidence; therefore God is trying to make a point about something.
One of the first patterns in Gen 1 is the repeating phrase, “God saw that it was good.”
“And God saw the light, that it was good …” Gen 1:4, in the first day.
“… and God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:12, in the third day.
“And God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:18b, in the fourth day.
“… and God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:21b, in the fifth day.
And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Gen 1:31a, in the sixth day.
God marked every day “good,” that is, not characterized by disease, predation, or death. It is a completely opposite narrative to the one told by darwinism, that Life happened through the agency of disease, predation, and death.
Sometimes the pattern previously established is broken, to draw attention to the break. The above pattern breaks in the second day, where God marks nothing good. The Hebrew scholars say it is because on the second day, an angel rebelled against God, earning his new name, “satan,” meaning adversary. We can read about the war in heaven begun on the second day, in Rev 12:7-9.
For questions about God and the Creation, these are good resources:
Answers about biblical creation – Answers in Genesis
Evidence for Creation – Institute for Creation Research
Evidence for the Fine-Tuning of the Universe – Simple to Remember
The above is an excellent article; my only caveat is that I am not a universe is billions of years old girl. See Starlight and Time by Dr. D. Russell Humphreys for another, more Scriptural way to look at the question of age.
Intelligent Design – Discovery Institute
Tanniyn, “Sea Creature,” Strong’s H8577 – Christine Miller
Hi Christine,
Firstly, thank you very much for your Bible schedule, I do appreciate it and help me keep some time to read my Bible in a daily routine.
I just had a little comment, if that’s ok. What do you think or how do you you reconcile this verse 2 Peter 3:8 « that with Yehovah one day is as one thousand years and a thousand years as one day » with the creation time span?
I understand the word Yom for Day, but is Yehovah not beyond time? What I try to say is that, is it possible that our time on earth goes faster than in Yehovah’s dimension?
Not sure, just wanted to know your thoughts /opinions on the question.
Thanks 🙂
Cécile
Interesting take on the war in heavens…. 🙂 yes I will keep this in mind
In Bible interpretation, context is king. The context of Peter’s statement is that God extends His patience toward men so that as many as possible might be saved. It occurs in the middle of a discussion about God’s judgment coming on men for their wickedness and the return of Yeshua. Some were charging God with wrong, slackness in bringing His promises to pass, because they had not observed the second prophesied judgment of fire as they had the first prophesied judgment of water. Indeed, YHVH is beyond time, and this was the point of the passage. The point was not to rewrite historical truth previously recorded in Torah.
In Gen 1, God is relaying the history of Creation. Chronology and time are key components of history. He exists outside time, but history, the earth, and man exist inside time.
I quote Hebraist James Barr of Oxford University: “So far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Gen. 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story.”
Furthermore, Yeshua took Genesis 1–2 as history and not as allegory (Mat 19:4; Mar 10:6).
Paul took it as history (Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 11:8–9; 15:21–22; 15:45; 1 Tim 2:12–14).
If we simplify Peter’s point, he is saying that with YHVH 1 day = 1,000 years = 1 day, or the six days of Creation = 6000 years of Creation. Even this extension of the Creation “week” does not help skeptics align Biblical chronology with the billions of years of darwinism. If someone were to say, “Well, but Peter was being poetical;” then he was not being historical, was he?
2 Peter 3:8 employs simile — a figure of speech comparing two unlike things. One day is compared with one thousand years. They are completely unlike from man’s perspective – one is a short time period, and one so long we have difficulty comprehending it. But the point being, both are “short” to God and His timetable.
I would urge you to study the PaRDeS teaching tool, that explains the four levels of Biblical interpretation. It begins with the plain meaning of the text and advances to spiritual allegories. However, the key component is this: any advanced interpretation, if it contradicts the first interpretation, the plain meaning of the text, cannot be true. The interpretations must harmonize. May I ask, if you have difficulty believing the plain word of YHVH as He has recorded it, why that is so?
Hi Christine,
I was not here to argue or win an argument, I guess maybe I didn’t formulate or take my point across properly. Sorry about that.
I never questioned Genesis 1, I always think it is true. Yehoshua and Paul are talking about Adam and Eve being created not about time frame.
I was just reflecting on how can we be certain that one day in the creation was 24 hours as we know today. That is why I talked about the verse 2 Peter 3.
I believe the Bible interprets itself and I guess when you read Hebrew then it makes it easier (like Nehemiah Gordon).
There is another passage I found in
Psalms 90 « Lord, You have been our [a]dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You [b]had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers. »
But that’s ok, I don’t think it will cause a salvation issue, just interesting to ponder. 🙂
Have a nice day
Cécile
You have a nice day too Cecile.
Hi Christine,
Thank you very much for your Bible study. 🙂
What do you think or how do you reconcile the verse 2nd Peter 3:8 « that with Yehovah one day is as one thousand years and a thousand years as one day »?
Is it possible life on earth has a different time span? Like if time goes faster down here? Yehovah is beyond time.
Just wanted to know your thoughts. 🙂
The war in heaven on the second day is interesting and I want to agree with that especially with this verse in Isaiah 14:11 « How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! »
Or even Ezékiel 28: 13 « 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. »
Anyway
Thank you
Cécile