Genesis One that Fits, #3

From: Jim Eisele (jeisele@starpower.net)
Date: Thu Feb 14 2002 - 13:27:56 EST

  • Next message: Howard J. Van Till: "Re: Genesis One that Fits"

    You may have noticed that I've especially avoided day 4. From what I've
    read, Gen 1:9-10 is pretty well supported by what others have said.

    Day 4 is a mess. Either Moses lost his mind, or God knows something we
    don't. Moses must have known that light came from the sun. What the heck
    is all this stuff doing on day 4?

    Was there cloud cover? But, no matter what, Moses intentionally put day 4
    where he did. If Moses knew that light came from the sun (Gen 1:15-18), he
    had something else in mind by putting the sun, moon, and stars in day 4. We
    already had light, day & night in Gen 1:3-5.

    We can accuse Moses of "confusing us." But, can we honestly accuse him of
    being wrong? For some reason, he chose to put day 4 where he did. Was he
    merely "appointing" the sun, moon, and stars their tasks? Whatever he was
    doing, it seems like weak ground to rule out the scientific/historical
    accuracy of Genesis One based on day 4.

    I looked under atmosphere in Microsoft Encarta 98. I couldn't match that
    with the Bible. But I'm no atmosphere expert. And, again, I wouldn't
    expect Encarta to try to reconcile science with the Bible. I'm very certain
    that I don't have all the information that I need. I'm not sure that
    science yet has all the information that we need. I've seen a few claim
    that there was some type of cloud cover/haze. I think Hugh Ross claims
    that. Also,

    In Genesis Reconsidered (1999), Armin Held and Peter Ruest claim:

    Previously, light of celestial bodies had reached the earthís surface only
    in scattered form, such as on an overcast day. The text does not say that
    bodies were "affixed to the firmament," but that God "gave" the lights (the
    light rays, not their sources) "into the raqia of the skies," the region
    which previously could not be reached by direct light. Now changed
    atmospheric conditions caused the previously permanent cloud cover to break
    open, so that for the first time the celestial bodies appeared as "lights in
    the sky." Over some time, the lights were being "prepared" [asah], coming
    through hazily first, more clearly later. Literally, God said, "Let it be
    (singular) lights (plural)!" The single process of the atmospheric change
    caused the appearance of a multitude of lights. They were to provide space
    and time indications required by many organisms.

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