Modern Science and Genesis 1
In recent years detailed comparisons have been made between the account in Genesis 1 with the conclusions of modern science. Improvements in our understanding of both the meaning of Hebrew and of likely scientific explanations have been made revealing a remarkable unity between the two approaches.
It is important to remember that ancient Hebrew has a much more limited vocabulary that modern English. Whereas our vocabulary has around half a million words, ancient Hebrew has only 8,700 words. This is well demonstrated by the broad meaning of the word ‘yom’ which has been translated ‘day’ in most translations. Even in the beginning of Genesis there are three different meanings for ‘yom’.
In Hebrew, an event that has been completed and is in the past is portrayed by the order of the verb and its object. If an action has been completed in the past the verb follows the object. It is striking that in Genesis 1, verses 1 and 2 this how it is written, in contrast to the rest of the chapter where the object comes after the verb. Clearly two verses at the beginning are describing a process that had been completed before the ‘yom’ when this earth was formed for man which is the clear thrust of the chapter.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
The rest of the chapter describes the subsequent development of the earth but the text states that the perspective, or viewpoint, has changed. What we are now being told is what the Spirit of God saw as he hovered over the face of the waters, he is now down on earth, the future habitat of man.
Early changes to earth
Modern cosmology suggests that the solar system formed from the condensation of inter-stellar material that had formed from previous supernova explosions. This explains how elements with higher molecular weights and their isotopes could have formed, without which life could not occur. We need 26 of the 94 naturally occurring elements for life. This process of creating the solar system was completed by the time we come to verse 3. This is what Genesis 1 teaches,
“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2
Modern science has confirmed that the earth was originally covered with water but, as plate tectonics and to a lesser degree volcanos became active, the crust of the earth, gradually moved. As a result land masses appeared so that now land occupies 28 per cent of the earth’s surface.
This confirms what the book of Job, possibly the most ancient book in the Bible, says.
“Who shut the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors in place, when I said, ‘this far you may come but no farther; here is where your proud waves halt.” Job 38:8-9
Psalm 104 also describes the stepwise creation of the ancient earth, beginning with,
“He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the deep, as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled . . . You set a boundary they can never cross; never again will they cover the earth.” Psalm 104:5-9
The primitive earth would have been covered with a very dense humid layer of gas, dust and other debris that would have prevented any life, much like that on all the planets that have been discovered so far. It is interesting that Venus, which is 19 per cent smaller than earth and is 28 per cent closer to the sun has an atmosphere that is 91 times denser than ours. Theoretically our atmosphere should be twice as dense as that of Venus but in fact it is 91 times less dense. It is because we have a light atmosphere that life can occur.
Recent researchii has shown that a lack of oxygen itself increases the atmospheric haze. Laboratory experiments on gas mixtures of molecular nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and molecular oxygen, designed to mimic the composition of Earth’s atmosphere during its first 4 billion years were undertaken. They noted that the less oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, the denser the atmospheric haze will be. The oxygen content in Earth’s atmosphere did not get high enough to prevent a pervasive haze until 580 million years ago, just before the first appearance of animals. The team also noted in their paper that atmospheric hazes serve as cloud condensation nuclei.Therefore, the denser the atmospheric haze the thicker will be the cloud cover.
This change in our atmosphere and the presence of our moon has been explained by the early earth being hit by a massive body, approximately the size of Mars, about 40 million years after the formation of the earth. This dating has been confirmed by isotope dating of rocks brought back by astronauts from the moon. The debris from this collision had resulted in the formation of out moon, which is vital for life on earth. The effect of this extraordinary impact was,
1. Disperse the life-suffocating atmosphere so enabling an atmosphere to develop that could support life.
2. Allow the light of the sun to reach the surface of the earth
3. Increase the mass of the earth to just the right size, so that water (molecular weight 18) is retained on earth but toxic chemicals with a slightly lighter molecular weight, such as ammonia (MW 17) and methane (MW 16) could dissipate into space.
4. Give the surface of earth a gravity that would allow life.
5. Provide the earth with much iron which gives us our essential magnetic field but also enables marine algae to form.
6. Provided elements with isotopes that have long half lives. These are essential for heating the core of the earth which in turn allows for plate tectonic activity and volcanic activity. Without these life could not exist.
7. Provide a large moon which stabilised the tilt of the earth giving us our seasons. The moon also causes the tides and currents of the oceans which are also essential for life in our seas.
Each of these parameters has to be precisely right if life is to occur. The chance of our planet being just the right size, having just the right orbit, being just the right distance from the sun, having just the right atmosphere, having just the right elements and isotopes, the just right levels of rainfall as well as having just the right sized moon, besides all the other necessary precise criteria, is so remote as to be extraordinary or even miraculous. It has been calculated that even if there are 1012 planets in our universe the possibility of any one having, naturally, all the necessary values for life is so small as to be impossible (if ‘impossible’ is taken to be a chance of less than one in 1050, a generally accepted definition of an impossible chance).
Advanced life requires a consistent rainfall with an average of 20 to 60 inches a year. This must continue for billions of years and it is extraordinary that this has occurred. The mild winds, atmospheric pressure, oceans and mountains have to be of the right order for this rainfall to occur.
Our sun has a very steady rate of burning which is also necessary for life on earth. In the high pressure furnace of the sun, hydrogen fusion forming helium is occurring at just the right rate. If the sun was just a little brighter, water vapour in the atmosphere would increase that would destroy life by a ‘greenhouse’ effect much as the inside of a car gets unbearably hot on a sunny day. This is because ultraviolet light can readily pass through glass or water vapour. This light is radiated off whatever it encounters as infra-red light which does not pass through glass or water vapour so well, so is reflected, thus increasing the temperature inside.
At the beginning of yom 3, land masses begin to appear as a result of tectonic movements and volcanoes fuelled by the isotope decay deep in the earth. We now know that there were three supercontinents, first Columbia 1.9 billion years ago, then Rodina 0.9 billion years ago and finally Pangaea, 250 million years ago.
On the third yom, green vegetation appeared on earth. The Hebrew word desha’ can mean any green photosynthesising plant. The other words used on day 3 for the sort of plants are zera which means the embryos of any plant, ‘es which is any larger plant with a woody fibre and perî means fruit or food produced by a plant. Plants do not produce many fossils but indirect evidence for photosynthesis first occurring, the gradual increase in atmospheric oxygen, has been found suggesting plant life first appeared around 200 million years before the Cambrian explosion when a vast plethora of different types of animal species suddenly appeared. This Cambrian explosion occurred 543 million years ago when the oxygen level in the atmosphere was sufficient to support life.
By yom 4, the dense clouds were beginning to thin out and at this stage the Spirit, hovering over the waters could begin to see the sun, moon and stars. The sun and moon had to be present from the beginning, as Genesis 1:1-2 states, otherwise none of the further stages of creation could occur. It has been suggested that perhaps the light and the appearance of days and nights before the sun appeared was due to the shekina glory that emanated from God himself. This radiation would need to have the same spectral characteristics and produce the same amount of heat as our sun does for plants to grow. It would also need to be cyclical. It seems much simpler to go with the text and accept that ‘the heavens and the earth’ appeared at the outset.
It was also necessary for some of the oxygen in the atmosphere to transform into ozone (03). This is a vital layer of gas that protects the earth from receiving to much ultra-violet light which would damage plant growth. Too much ozone would result in a deficiency of ultra-violet light reaching plants and would stunt growth. Ultra-violet light is also necessary for the formation of vitamin D. This density of the mesospheric ozone layer, 15 to 60 miles above the earth, has to be just right for life to be viable, too much or too little would cause catastrophe.
By yom 5 and yom 6 there is a stable, healthy atmosphere that can support animal life. Oxygen levels are adequate and there are enough mountains and oceans for an efficient water cycle. It appears that as soon as sufficient oxygen is present, life appeared. There are now seasons of winter, spring, autumn and summer that enables the cycles of life.
The first animal life is described as coming from the water.
“And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures . . .” Genesis 1:20
The earliest animal forms do appear to have lived in water. The Avalon explosion of earliest life forms occurred 575 million years ago and this was followed by the Cambrian explosion 543 million years ago when a plethora of various aqueous animals suddenly appeared. All skeletal designs with both endoskeletons and exoskeletons suddenly appear.
Even the atheist, Richard Dawkins is puzzled by this sudden appearance of life. He writes in ‘The Blind Watchmaker’,
“For example, the Cambrian strata of rocks, vintage about 600 million years, are the oldest ones in which we find most of the major invertebrate groups. And we find many of them already in an advanced state of evolution, the very first time they appear. It is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history.”iii
The subsequent groups of animals mentioned appear to be selective. First birds or better ‘flying beings’ are mentioned. Following this, land creatures are mentioned, but especially those that would relate to human beings. The Hebrew word nepesh occurs here and 754 times in the Old Testament and in every case this refers to relational animals. The list begins with ‘livestock’ which confirms that this account has man in mind.
What is also interesting is that the word for ‘make’ used for creating these animals is the Hebrew word bara which is a word only used in the Old Testament for God when he creates something completely different and new. In Genesis chapter 1 it is used three times, for creating the universe, for creating relational animal live and for creating man. The more common word for ‘made’ in this chapter is the Hebrew verb āśâ. It can also mean ‘to fashion’.
It is apparent that the text is describing a progressive development of earth to become a habitable place for humanity. This article introduces what the rest of the Bible makes clear, that God is concerned to have a close personal relationship with the people he has created.
BVP
iFor this section I have been greatly helped by Hugh Ross’s book ‘Navigating Genesis: A Scientists journey through Genesis 1-11’ ’, Reasons to Believe Press, 2014
ii Sarah M. Hörst et al., “Exploring the Atmosphere of Neoproterozoic Earth: The Effect of O2 on Haze Formation and Composition,” Astrophysical Journal 858 (May 2018): id.119, https://doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aabd7d.
iiiRichard Dawkins, ‘The Blind Watchmaker: why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design’ New York: W.W.Norton, 1987 p. 229
