Page 31 - ADAM IN GENESIS

provision of God. We will see more biblical evidence for plate tectonics in the pre-Fall
world in Genesis 2.
The implications of the interpretation I have laid out are thus: 1.) with the existence of
plate tectonics in the original Creation there is a possibility of animal death via an
earthquake or volcanic eruption or some other catastrophe, 2:) if plate tectonics and
animal death occurred before the Fall and the Flood then we would expect hydrocarbon
accumulations before the Flood (and this is a biblical fact in Genesis 6:14 (pitch:
LXX-asphaltos a biodegraded oil), and 3:) if these circumstances existed before Adam's
sin then it follows that the natural world was largely unaffected by the Curse of Genesis 3
(i.e. all Creation is not fallen and cursed). These implications may be hard to swallow for
some, but I believe the teaching of Scripture is clear, and there is no possible way to
fathom a very good world without such natural phenomena without creating a mystical
fairy tale world in which the following are impossible: a sheep falling off a cliff and
dying, a fruit fly being swallowed by a larger animal, an ant being stepped on, rainwater
collecting and slurrying down the side of a hill and drowning an insect, a fish being
trapped on a shoal as the tide goes out and suffocating, etc... Such situations just happen.
There is no need to think that they only happen because of sin. There is no biblical basis
for that position. Creation is still very good. Only a very good Creation can clearly
display the divine attributes of the Creator since the creation of the world (Rom. 1:20).
Much more could be said about these two words and I will address more during the
discussion of the Fall and the Flood. For now, we all know and agree that God was
pleased with His Creation calling it very good. After He was satisfied with the whole of
His work we find the sixth and final refrain. God's Creation is complete.
Creation Day 7:
After the close of Creation Day 6, the storyline continues with the wayyiqtol verb
wayekhullu (and they were finished) signifying that by the start of Day 7 God's creative
work was completely finished. The heavens and the earth which began in the beginning
before Creation Day 1 and which were formless and void were now completely fashioned
and full; they and all their host (tsava). This is a singular noun that encompasses all of the
created things that fill both heaven and earth.
Upon finishing His work God then rested on the seventh Day. This word (shavath) is
from the same root as the word shabbath or more popularly The Sabbath. The LXX
translates it with katapauo. The word literally means to cease and desist, in this case from
working. The Sabbath is a day of rest for the Hebrews just as the seventh Day of the
Creation Week was a Day of rest for God (Ex. 20: 8-11). It is a day for His people to
enter into and enjoy His rest. It is also another debated topic as to just what this rest is
and how long did God's rest last: perhaps is it continuing today? The implications are that
if the Creation Day 7 is longer than a 24 hour period, so too could the other Creation
Days be longer periods of time. I believe we have shown already that the Creation Days
are God's Workdays and as such cannot be put into terms of the duration we experience
today, namely 24 hours. This is proved by the analogical language of Exodus 20:8-11
where God ordains the human workweek based on His Workweek. He used language in
Genesis 1 that the reader would understand and be able to use as an analogy once God
delivers His Sabbath Law in Exodus. If God would have told his people that He used
billions of years to create the universe, the listeners would have had no basis for
understanding Gods Sabbath. The Hebrew listener would have understood that the word