MCo:Problems with Literal Readings of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3
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This page (begun by Emu) is for discussing whether a literal reading of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 is possible. (Understanding "literal" here to include seven 24-hour days — BP) If a literal historical reading can be sustained, we can put the fleshed-out story of it at A Literal Reading of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3. The forum discussion that has lead to these pages starts here. is no longer available.
- (More recent discussion can be reached from the table at Passages said to imply literal Genesis — BP)
Alternative readings can be discussed at Non-Literal Readings of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 and associated pages.
Questions for a literal reading
Day 1: Genesis 1:1-5 — Creation of Light; its division from Darkness
As C. C. Walker said, How can you have “evening and morning” without the sun? — see below under Day 4.
See Bereshith in construct form for some notes about the Hebrew of these verses.
And, What does it mean to create light?
Dividing light from darkness
How do you divide light from darkness? How can anyone? What mental image can we construct of a literal activity which could be described as "dividing light from darkness"?
- Best suggestion: the earth was a stationary globe, and it began to revolve at a rate of one revolution per 24 hours. This would cause all points around the globe to experience alternating light and darkness. This could conceivably be called "dividing light from darkness". If the first revolution took only 24 hours, the acceleration must have been tremendous. Keil & Delitsch suggest that the rotation might have taken a few days to get up to its final speed, but this would mean that the first few days were longer than 24 hours and composed of unequal day and night periods:
The only way in which we can represent it to ourselves, is by supposing that the light called forth by the creative mandate, "Let there be," was separated from the dark mass of the earth, and concentrated outside or above the globe, so that the interchange of light and darkness took place as soon as the dark chaotic mass began to rotate, and to assume in the process of creation the form of a spherical body. The time occupied in the first rotations of the earth upon its axis cannot, indeed, be measured by our hour-glass; but even if they were slower at first, and did not attain their present velocity till the completion of our solar system, this would make no essential difference between the first three days and the last three, which were regulated by the rising and setting of the sun.
— Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, online here
— BP
The evening and morning
The first day, was it an evening and a morning? If so, when was the light made? Did the first day begin with a twilight, with pitch blackness, or half way through? In Hebrew days begin at sunset and are comprised of nighttime followed by daytime: for an example see Leviticus 23:32.
- The record assumes a vantage point somewhere on or just above the earth. After the creation week when we need to go into the standard calendar, we could notionally shift our vantage point by up to 180 degrees of longitude. This would mean that the days in the literal creation week do not have to be standard Hebrew evening-then-morning days, but could start at dawn or noon, etc. Alternatively we could just "forget" the vantage point.
- Another alternative is to take the first "evening" as the last twelve hours of the primeval chaos, so that God's "Let there be light!" is obeyed half way through the first day.
Is this a "shadow of turning"?
Was the earth already round at this stage?
- The earth did not necessarily exist at all, depending on Bereshith in construct form. According to the literalist reading above, it was round but not rotating.
Time Zones
What time zone was God in when he created the days and nights? Or were they created too? If so, when did they begin?
Day 2: Genesis 1:6-7 — the Sky created to divide the Waters
The division of the waters
Are these waters the same as the waters in verse 2?
Are the waters that were above the Firmament still above it?
The firmament
What is a Firmament? How did it divide the waters?
Is the firmament still there? Can we see it? Is it still dividing the waters?
Day 3: Genesis 1:9-13 — the Seas gathered, Land becomes productive
Salt
Was the sea salty? Was the land (and soil if there was any) salty as a result?
the land
How long did it take for the land to dry out before it produced vegetation and trees with fruit? Was there soil on it for the vegetation to grow in?
Vegetation and trees bearing fruit
Trees bear fruit in season throughout the year: how could the trees have been bearing fruit on a single day? See this discussion.
Day 4: Genesis 1:14-19 Sun, Moon and stars created
From C. C. Walker:
As to “the fourth day,” we do not know of any “day” in the literal sense apart from the sun and its motion. And, therefore, if the “days” of Genesis 1. are to be taken as literal days, we feel bound to admit the sun as the origin of the “light,” and “evening and morning” that were the characteristics of “the first day.” How can you have “evening and morning” without the sun? We must settle up “the plain testimony” of verse 5 with that of verses 14–19. As we said before (The Christadelphian, 1910, p. 269), “If we understand Moses as saying that the sun came into existence on ‘the fourth day,’ we make him contradict himself; we make him present us with day and night, evening and morning, without the sun upon which these things depend.”
Under these circumstances we prefer another interpretation, holding always in reserve the thought that presently Moses will be on the scene again, and that we may then, perhaps, be permitted to hear the divine interpretation of the divine utterances of so long ago.—ED— C C Walker, Is it wrong to believe that the earth is a sphere? The Christadelphian (1913) 50:348
- (See CCW's full exchange with a brother who believed in the flat earth at Qms:Is it wrong to believe that the earth is a sphere? —BP)
Day 5:
Day 6: An unlikely match, clearly not literal
". . . Major differences in interpretation often stem from failure to agree whether a passage is describing an historical event or is a story with a deeper spiritual meaning. A good example of this problem is found in Genesis chapter 2.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. —(KJV)If we interpret this scenario as a literal history of events in Eden, then we have to ask ourselves whether it is likely that God would have encouraged Adam to find a mate from the animal kingdom. We see therefore that this passage opens the way to an interpretation of Scripture which is evident from the very earliest teachings. Incidents which appear to be historical may in fact be symbolical, or stories with a profound meaning. The essential lesson of this story is the fundamental need for man and wife to be indivisible."
— Alan Fowler, Twenty Essays in a Search for Truth, Introduction, p.2
