>Steve,
>
>You quoted the verse from Genesis 1:30:
>
>> And to every beast of the earth, and to every
>> fowl of the air, and to every thing that
>> creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
>> life, I have given every green herb for meat:
>> and it was so.
>
>My view is that this is limited to the animals living in the Garden.
>The problem is in the Hebrew word translated earth. In Hebrew, the word
>eretz can be used to refer to plots of land that are as small as a
>little garden or vineyard or as large as the entire globe of the earth.
I agree with your point that the Hebrew's word for earth <eretz> does not
necessarily always refer to the entire planet. Often we are tempted to read
our own cultural perspectives into the Scripture. We, and especially those
of us in science, try to express ourselves with precisely defined terms -
the OT Hebrews were not so compelled. I see many people who insist that we
can fully understand the Scriptures based upon differences in the grammar of
an English translation of ancient Hebrew texts. In another discussion on
the Science-Christianity Reflectory, Fr. Martin Badenhorst OP, pointed out
that the Hebrew word <eretz> can be variously translated as 'earth, place,
territory, region, humus, arable land, soil, or country'. As Adrian Teo's
post pointed out, these various translations also affect our conception of
the size of the Flood. (Try reading Gen. 7:4 while substituting these
various meanings for the word 'earth'.)
Just to play the DevAd, I've always assumed that the Gen 1 account referred
to the creation of the entire earth (modern concept) and that the Gen 2
account was restricted to the Garden (or OT Hebrew 'earth' concept). Gen
1:30 talks generally of the creation of every beast-of-the-earth,
fowl-of-the-air, and things that creepeth (insects?, worms?, snakes?,
vermin?). In Gen 2:19-20, we are told that in the Garden, God formed every
beast-of-the-field and fowl-of-the-air and then Adam had to name 'all
cattle', fowl-of-the-air, and beast-of-the-field. In other words, Gen 1:30
includes all the carnivores while in the Garden (Gen 2:29-30) God only
included herbivores (including such fowl as hawks, vultures, flycatchers and
worm-eating robins? ...plus one devious fruit-eating(?) serpent). [Arghh!
I, also, am now guilty of basing my interpretations upon the English grammar
of a translated OT Hebrew text!]
>We know from the sciences that there were animals that were eating meat
>from the Cambrian explosion to now. At no time was the earth void of
>meat eaters. This fact compels us to adopt a different interpretation
>of Genesis 1:30. I think the logical view is that God is referring to
>certain animals that lived in a certain place on earth--Eden. The
>meaning of the Hebrew is sufficiently broad to make this interpretation
>feasible. The evidence in the fossil record make it absolutely
>necessary.
I agree with the ideas expressed in this paragraph (except possibly for the
one sentence about Eden).
Steve Smith
[The opinions expressed here are my own
and should not be attributed to my employer]
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