Re: Interesting contradiction in Genesis...
Jerry Leonard (leonard@crlmsm.csc.ti.com)
26 Jan 1995 22:14:39 GMT
sftwrebuff@aol.com (SftwreBuff) wrote:
>
> Chris Woodward (PSY) (woodward@luna.ec.usf.edu.) wrote:
>
> > If God didn't create the sun until day 4, then how did He keep
> > track of days 1-3 (since a literal day was measured by the sun)?
>
> One of the common mistakes that we English-speakers make when translating
> anything is to assume that idioms and sayings have the same meaning in all
> languages. For instance, to say that you are hot or cold means that your
> ambient body tempurature is higher or lower than is comfortable. However,
> to translate this literally into German would be a statement to the hearer
> about your sexual readiness!
>
> In Genesis, Moses saw that God performed a certain amount of labor, or
> perhaps a type of labor. Then, having finished that, God paused and moved
> on to something else. For lack of a better way of explaining this, Moses
> interpreted these breaks as "days". So, in essense, what we read as days,
> was merely seven different work periods, not literal days.
-I basically agree. Here is another interpretation. The creation
section in question is actually a poem consisting of two parallel
sets of 3 days.
The second set of days (4-6) in the second "verse" amplifies the first
set of 3 days (1-3) describing specific creations within the realms
(separations) created on its corresponding day in the first verse
(days 1-3). Each creation was an act creating order (light?) from
disorder (darkness), that is to say, going from darkness to light
and therefore completing a "day." (see below).
Day General Creation/Separation Day Specific Creations
within realm ofseparation
1 light from dark 4 Sun and Moon
2 water above from water below 5 Fish and Fowl
3 land from water 6 Seed(plants)/Seed(man)
7 Sabbath rest
Communion with God and His Creation
I think I have that right...
What do you think?
Jerry
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