Table of Contents
Chapter 9 - Creation in Genesis - Gradual or Instantaneous
Chapter 11 - Translation and Commentary
Chapter 10 - Part I
There has never been any doubt that it is the sun and moon which are referred to here, though the names of these bodies are not given. As we have already seen, the absence of these, names is evidence of the extreme antiquity of the narrative. It appears to have been written before names were in use for the sun and the moon. We must bear in mind that these successive days give the order of revelation, and the parallel structure shown in Chapter II gives the order of creation. Because this has been overlooked the interpretations which contrasted instead of supplementing the first, with the fourth day, have experienced considerable difficulties in attempting to explain how there could have been a 'day' and a 'night' on this planet earth without the functioning of the sun in relation to the earth.
The statements made on this fourth day have been criticised on the ground that they appear to make the earth the centre of the narrative. Do Rot scientists, as well as normal writers, do the same? For notwithstanding the new scientific explanation of the vastness and variety of the universe there is a general unanimity of opinion that life as we know it can exist only on this little planet earth, so that anything written about other bodies looks at them from the point of view of planet on which man dwells. The sun and the moon are referred to only in respect to their functions in regard to the earth. There is nothing whatever in this which conflicts with science. Nowhere in the Genesis narrative is it suggested that the earth is the centre of the universe or of this planetary system. Indeed it is rather remarkable in view of the early conceptions regarding the relationship of the sun to the earth, that there is an entire absence of any statement that the sun is dependent upon the earth, or is a mere satellite of it. The only slight, but important, reference there is, speaks of the sun 'ruling' the day on this earth, therefore the earth in this respect is stated to be controlled by the sun.
Mention has already been made of the conjectures made by scientists regarding the origin of the sun. The narrative contains no statement as to the process by which the sun became the light and heat control of this planet, or of its distance from the earth, or of its magnitude, or of its motions, or substance. Science has made discoveries and suggestions in regard to all these; but this Genesis narrative is just a simple revelation of the functions of the sun and moon, and obviously it is not a record in modem scientific terms. All that is said of the heavenly bodies, other than our own planetary system, is, God made "the stars also". Modern astronomical science has revealed the immensity of the universe. In early days only a few thousand stars were visible to the naked eye. The invention of the telescope increased man's knowledge beyond all previous conception; later the use of the photographic plate made us aware of the existence of millions of additional stars; yet it is known that many are so distant that they make no light impression on the most sensitive photographic plate.
Besides our galaxy, there are immense groups of stars, at distances too great to be measured otherwise than in 'light years', that is, at distances calculated by the time it takes for light travelling at 186,ooo miles a second, to reach this planet earth. In 1914 Chapman and Melotte put the number at 2,000,000,000, Sear and Van Rhyn have since stated
30,000,000,000, while Sir Arthur Eddington writes in his The Expanding Universe of 1oo,ooo,ooo,ooo island systems each believed to be an aggregation of thousands of millions of stars with a general resemblance to our own Milky-Way system. Sir James Jeans in his Mysterious Universe says, " the total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of grains of sand on all the sea shores of the world". Some of these stars have a luminosity a thousand times greater than our sun, but these are so distant from the earth as to reveal only a faint point of light at night.
In this fourth day's narration, it simply says, God made " the stars". This statement is concerned not with the method of their origination, but with their Originator. It means that the starry universe was not an accident, God made it.
NARRATIVE OF THE FIFTH DAY.
The narrative refers first to marine animals, next to air life, and the following days' narration to land animals. The history of the rocks confirms this order. In fact the modern position has not altered in this respect from that of T. H. Huxley who wrote, "Undoubtedly it is in the highest degree probable that animal life appeared first under aquatic conditions."
There are, as yet, very big gaps in our scientific knowledge as to these. Dr. Barnes in his Scientific Theory and Religion says (page 470), "It might reasonably be expected, however, that there would be fossil evidence showing how the vertebrates arose from some invertebrate stock. This, the most soughtafter of all the missing links, has not yet been discovered. Naturally, diligent search has been made; probably every palaeontologist dreams that one day he may discover some transitional form and become famous. In the meantime speculation rests upon a most meagre basis of fact." Again, "Further, experts are not agreed about the passage from amphibian to reptile."
In Genesis we read, "And God said, let the waters swarm." The extraordinary variety and fertility of sea-life is common knowledge. It is said that there are 12o,ooo different species now extant, so there is a greater variety among fishes than among birds and mammals. Most fish are very prolific in multiplying. Professor J. A. Thomson has written in Biology, VOL 1, 435, "A female ling six feet long may have in its ovaries over twenty-eight million eggs, a turbot of seventeen pounds nine million, a cod of twenty-one and a half pounds over six million. The abundant herring has relatively few, twenty-one to forty-seven thousand. But even in this case it is plain that the sea would soon become solid with fish if there were not high mortality, especially in youth."
Some zoologists maintain that birds are a development from reptiles and stress certain likenesses, but this in no way means that God did not introduce the transition. To explain the change from cold to warm blood is a great difficulty to scientists. The Bible statement is that God created "every fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven". That these came after the water population is in complete agreement with science, but no early writer could have known this truth by mere guesswork. A zoologist would describe birds as " oviparous, warm-blooded, amniotic Vertebrates", and classify them as Archcoeornithes, and Neothithes but no one would expect any such description in the Genesis narrative. Science agrees that the position of birds in the animal kingdom is higher than that of Reptilia and lower than that of Mammalia.
THE NARRATIVE OF THE SIXTH DAY.
As we have seen, this is simply part of the day's narration of what took place in the ages past when God created mammals; no time is stated as to how long this took, or any details given as to method; what is emphasised-and this is most important-is that God made the mammals, just as He had made the things related on the preceding five days.
Consequently there should be no disagreement between science and this simple record. Conflict only takes place where a theory is adopted which asserts that God was not the Creator, for there is here no statement as to the processes by which God produced the mammals. The main difference between them and the reptiles referred to on the preceding day is that the former nourishes its young before and after birth, while the reptilian offspring is hatched from an egg. The present scientific theory-which is very popular-assumes that mammals were developed from reptiles, but the connecting link for which scientists have been diligently searching is, as we have seen, still missing. Indeed it is most significant that the 'links' always seem to be missing just as the vital Point where the mechanical evolutionary theory desires to establish a connection, and where the day's narrative makes a break. For instance, no connecting specimen of the alleged transition from the invertebrate to the vertebrate has been discovered.
Scientists have explained that notwithstanding the immense variety of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, there are considerable similarities. Each has a skull and a backbone, a brain and a spinal cord, a heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, etc. Because all are constructed on one fundamental plan, which is modified according to whether the creature lives in water, air or on the land, it is stated that all had a common ancestor, from which all including man descended, but as the alleged connecting links between them are missing this theory remains merely a surmise; moreover the positions of these organs are very diverse in fish, fowl, and mammal, and they are constructed on a different plan. It is certainly not possible to claim this similarity; as a long series of accidents, it looks more like good evidence of design and a Designer.
Science says that the age of mammals, relative to that of fishes and reptiles, is more recent, so agreeing with Genesis.
"And God said, Let Us Make Man in our Image, after Our Likeness."
Man is more than something, He is a personality, someone qualitatively new.
Again it is noticeable that just where this record states that God spake of a new development, scientists have found the greatest difficulty in establishing any connecting link. As Dr. Barnes, who will not be accused of any bias in favour of the Genesis narrative, says (Scientific Theory and Religion, P. 528), "Where and when did man begin to be? What was the course of his development? To the second of these inquiries we can give some answer, but of the first, our ignorance is almost absolute"; "As we have said more than once, our ignorance of the beginnings of humanity is vast"; "we must admit that, in comparison with the help which palaeontology gives in reconstructing the ancestral history of the horse, or of the elephant, it offers but feeble aid to the discovery of man 's evolution". Or again (P. 539), "How long is it since man began to be? No question is more natural, and yet no answer that may be given fails to excite the wrath of most of our experts. The fact is that we have no data on which to base a decisive answer "
I suggest that there is much loose thinking on this subject of how mail originated. It is a question of immense importance and involves important conceptions of both God and man. There is much at stake in the two opposing views (and it would be idle to suggest that the two views do not conflict). These are (a) a distinct action on the part of God by which He created man, and (b) an almost imperceptible gradual development of man from some animal ancestry, without the special intervention of God.
Those who take the view that by almost imperceptible degrees ail animal gradually evolved apart from God into Marl, hold that at one period the beast had become half man, an ape-like man, or a man-like ape. It is here that the loose thinking mainly occurs. Few who hold this theory have attempted any reasonable and adequate explanation of the origin of the moral qualities of man, his conscience, and consciousness of immortality, of his mind, his ability to communicate his thoughts by the use of speech and language. Whence came these qualities? It is here that the problem of man's origin become significant, and demands an answer. The dissimilarity of animals to man in these respects is of much greater consequence than any question of his supposed similarity of body. It is riot sufficient to shelve this problem by saying that the alleged development took 'millions of years'. At what Point for instance did -man acquire immortality? Dr. Barnes who sees this difficulty says, " I hold immortality in the form of eternal life can be predicted of man but not of the animals from which he has sprung" (Scientific Theory and Religion, p. 638). But he adds (p. 639), " Of course if anything resembling a mechanical theory of the universe is true no argument for human immortality can exist. The blind forces which, oil the assumptions of naturalism, have made man will at 'his death destroy him and all that is of value in him." How can anti-Biblical theories of man explain his immortality? It seems obvious that only by accepting the Bible account can we account for the immortality of man.
The most notable thing about man is not his body, but his mind. The animal does not consciously turn to God as man can. Moreover man has what we call personality; he is able to detach himself from mere instinct; he is not only conscious but self-conscious and can reflect on the past and the future. It has sometimes been assumed that the brain is the mind; the brain is a mechanism, and needs a personality to work it. Dr. McDougall in his Psychology has written, "No single organic function has yet been found explicable in purely mechanical terms, even such relatively simple processes as the secretion of a tear, or the exudation of a drop of sweat elude all attempts at complete explanation in ' the terms of physical and chemical science." As Smuts has pointed out in his Holism, matter, life, mind, are all three quite unlike, and the difference appears to be final. Alan has an awareness of the past as well as the future, he can appreciate the existence and beauty of the 'heavens and the earth', he alone has a mind capable of understanding what God has done.
It is precisely here that the atheist opposes the Genesis narrative; for instance, Haeckel attacked the ideas of God, freedom and immortality, as well as the essential distinction between mind and material. But even if it could be argued that the moral qualities in man, his mind, and his ability to communicate his thoughts in language, are only a matter of degree, surely this cannot be said of man's quality of immortality. On this matter there is a great gulf fixed. Whatever anyone may think of this first page of the Bible, it ought to be recognised that an entirely mechanistic view of the development of man cannot possibly be brought into unity with it. The Biblical statement is that these qualitatively new faculties, his sense of moral obligation, his awareness of a moral law, his cognisance of obligation to God, came direct from the Creator, and it is submitted that these qualities cannot be reasonably explained in any other way.
The gulf between the two may be seen in the following statements:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion." (Gen. i. 26.)
" In the beginning there was fear; and fear was in the heart of mart; and fear controlled man. At every turn it whelmed over him, leaving him no moment of ease. With the wild soughing of the wind it swept through him; with the crashing of the thunder and the growling of the lurking beasts. All the days of man were grey with fear, because all his universe seemed charged with danger and he, poor gibbering half-ape, nursing his wound in some draughty cave, could only tremble with fear" (Lewis Browne, This Believing World). If this conception of things is called science, there will always be a conflict between the Genesis account and the mechanical evolutionist who denies the existence of God and then thinks he can account for the world, including man with his mind, as a merely mechanical development
On the fourth day, the functions of the greater and lesser lights were briefly explained in the most simple way conceivable. The greater light was to 'rule' the day and the lesser to rule the night. Their purpose is also stated, they were "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years".
On the fifth day it was told in a simple and general way that marine and air life had been created by God. Again we need to bear in mind that no time limits are given as to how long ago this had taken place, or how long it was before the sea swarmed with the varieties of fishes, or the air with birds. There is no detailed statement, just a simple affirmation of the initiation of water and air life. On this day an account was given of a new form of life, on the third day it had been told that God had created plant and vegetable life, here it is said that God made animal life. There has been and there still is a cleavage between the material and biological sciences; it is often suggested that the gulf which exists between them is, to use a geological term, merely a 'fault'. Needham in his Order and Life argues for the hierarchical continuity of plant life from matter, and of marine and animal life from plants, and he cites K. Sapper, "We now stand before a problem which the supporters of the Gestalt theory have hardly yet answered, namely, how is the origin of pattern (Gestaltcharakter) in material objects in general and living things in particular, to be explained? . . . In my view there is only one way to picture the organisation of a material complex . . . and that is to assume that the qualitatively new in the pattern derives from the properties of the elements involved, but that certain. of these proper-ties can only come into operation in connection with certain specific stages of complexity. There is of course no proof available for demonstrating the rightness of this view-point. Needham himself sums up his book with a statement about the way toadstools and fungi appear whenever the temperature and moisture are precisely right together, and continues, "In some such way, probably, it is best to conceive of the origin of life on the earth-when cosmic conditions permit, matter produces in actuality what it has always had within it in potentiality". This conjecture of Needham's assumes that it had nothing to do with "some supra material, hyper individual factors ", in another word, God. The toadstool speculation is, it would seem, the best that a scientist without God can furnish as an explanation of origin of life.
On the sixth and last day on which the story of creation was outlined, two separate acts were revealed. In the first part of the day's narrative it -was told how God made "the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every living thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind".
Two separate actions were recorded on the sixth day. The second of these is the final and supreme act of creation. "God said, Let us make man in our Image, after our likeness." This Making of man in the likeness of God, placed him in a unique position; this is emphasised by the statement, " and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth." Science agrees with this narrative that man is the culmination and crowning point of creation, and that all other living things are subject to his dominion. It is also realised that (apart from God) the universe has significance only in the creation of man, for science is as certain as it can be that man exists only on this planet, and that only man has a mind which can conceive and understand something of the universe.
Chapter 11 - Translation and Commentary
