Compromise models often convert the literal 24-hour days of Genesis 1 into long time periods during which evolution- ary events occurred. Not only does the use of the definite article ‘the’ in the designation of the days imply a literal 24-hour day, but also the specific mention of the day cycle, ‘it was evening and it was morning’ further underscores a literal intent in the render- ing of the text. Moreover, the order and sequence of the events of creation week portray not only a different sequence to that of supposed evolutionary events, but implies a radically different intent as well. The first three days of the creation week deal with the creation of the physical environment and the next three days deal with the filling of that environment. On day one God creates light, on day two He creates the firmament and on day three He creates the earth with food.
The events of days one and four highlight the fact that God is the source of light and is not reliant on bodies of light for provision of that light. On day two, the firmament is divided. The waters below, which represent the earthly waters, whilst the firmament above represents the heavens and must represent the atmosphere as this is to be filled with flying creatures on the fifth day. On the third day, God creates the terrestrial environment by gathering the water into one place and letting dry land appear in another. He then creates the plants, which are to serve as food for the life forms to be created on the subsequent days. This leaves no room for co-evolution of plants and animals, which is a basic premise of the evolutionary theory. Here the plants are designed as a source of food and the animals that will make use of these for sustenance are specifically created to occupy the prepared niche. Any co-dependence is thus by virtue of design rather than by virtue of evolution.
On the fourth day, the heavenly bodies – the sun and the moon, were created, and the dilemma is that if the days of creation are to represent long eons of time, then the plants would have existed without a sun for millions of years if the time sequence of the Genesis account is to be harmonized with the evolutionary paradigm.
On the fifth day, God created all the creatures that swim in the waters and all the creatures that fly, and on the sixth day, He created the creatures that occupy the terrestrial environment. Here again there is a problem of reconciling the Biblical record of the days of creation with long time periods. According to the theory of
evolution birds and mammals evolved from reptiles. Reptiles are terrestrial animals and would have been created on the sixth day, but the creation account places the creation of all flying creatures in the fifth day. Birds and flying mammals would thus have pre- ceded their ancestors. A similar problem is encountered when we consider the marine mammals such as the whales, dolphins, and seals which would also precede their ancestors as they were also created on the fifth day, but according to the evolutionary theory, these marine mammals are the product of a secondary incursion of the sea by certain eutherian land mammals.
According to the Scriptures, the creation of man is the crowning act of God’s creation. Towards the end of the sixth day, God created man and gave him dominion over the rest of the creation. Man was also created in the image of God.
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 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. And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:27-28
These verses create even more problems for those who wish to live on common ground and embrace both Scripture and the theory of evolution. Firstly, man was created in the image of God, and in Genesis 2:7 we read that God formed man person- ally. He was thus not the product of an evolutionary process, but a noble creation reflecting the attributes of God Himself. Moreover, He created them male and female with the ability to reproduce. This simple statement is one of the most difficult to explain in terms of naturalistic processes, for how did the complex genetic mechanisms, which make this process possible evolve?
According to the above passage of Scripture, man and all the animals were total vegetarians and no carnivores existed. This would of necessity be so, because according to the Scriptures there was no death prior to the fall. Some may argue that plants are living organisms and that there must therefore have been some form of death before the fall because surely the plants are killed when they are eaten, but the Scriptures define plants as food, not as living animals. Although plants consist of living cells and are thus living food, they do not represent the same category of life as the animals. Moreover, Leviticus 17:11 defines that life is in the blood, and plants have no blood nor do they have a nervous system. This is quite the reverse of what is believed by evolution- ists. The cycles of death and violence, predator and prey relation- ships, co-evolutionary strategies and counterstrategies, these are all vital to the evolutionary paradigm, but the Scriptures speak of perfect harmony and coexistence between species and ‘very good’ (perfect) adaptations to meet the niche requirements of all species. The pre-fall world, according to the Scriptures was thus radically different from what we see in the world today. This implies mega-change and not uniformitarianism. Surely, it will be argued, that the carnivores of today are admirably adapted for their lifestyle and that this must support evolution; but even here there are two sides to the coin and this issue will be discussed in greater detail later.
Finally there is the issue of the seventh day which rounds off the creation week. What was the purpose of the seventh day?
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. Genesis 2:2
The Hebrew word for ‘rested’ is ‘Shabath’. Strong’s concordance
defines it as:
7673. shabath, shaw-bath’; a prim. root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many impl. relations (caus., fig. or spec.):–(cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.
God also blessed the seventh day, which means that He set it aside for holy use.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. Genesis 2:3
After the fall, the Sabbath became a sign of obedience and adherence to God, whereas before the fall the test of obedience was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Speaking about the Sabbath, God commanded the children of Israel to keep it for it is linked to His crea- tive act and by keeping it, they would acknowledge His ownership.
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. Exodus 31:17
The Hebrew word used here for ‘refreshed’ is naphash and in this verse a different word is used for rested; it is the word ‘nuwach.’ Strong’s defines these words as:
5314. naphash, naw-fash’; a prim. root; to breathe; pass, to be breathed upon, i.e. (fig.) refreshed (as if by a current of air):–(be) refresh selves (-ed).
5117. nuwach, noo’-akh; a prim. root; to rest, i.e. settle down; used in a great variety of applications, lit. and fig., intrans., trans. and causat. (to dwell, stay, let fall, place, let alone, withdraw, give comfort, etc.):–cease, be confederate, lay, let down, (be) quiet, remain, (cause to, be at, give, have, make to) rest, set down. Comp. H3241.
These verses throw some light on the purpose for the Sab- bath or the Seventh day of the creation week. Firstly, it clearly points to God as the Creator during the six-day creation cycle since it was set as a memorial to His creative act. Secondly, God was refreshed (naphash) on that day, He breathed a breath of satisfaction or sigh of contentment. He also rested (nuwach); He was confederate; in other words He was in the company of His creation; He spent time with them.
If we consider the sequence of the events during the six days of creation, then there is a distinct pattern to be discerned. God created the spaces and the sustenance for His creation in the first three days and then filled these spaces in the subsequent three days, then followed the seventh day. Following the same pattern, the setting aside of the Sabbath, or the creation of a further block of time – the seventh day – was in a sense also creating a space, a space in time. What did God fill this space with? He filled it with Himself by drawing close to His creation. The basis of all relationships is togetherness, commonality, fellowship and trust. In creating man
in His own image, God had noble intentions for His new creation.
Nowhere in the Scriptures do we have even an inkling of man having evolved from a lower state to a higher state. God created man noble and for a purpose, not only did He give man dominion, but He wanted to share Himself with man and be con- federate as well. The Psalmist writes:
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Psalm 8:4, 5
Rather than pointing to the insignificance of man, these verses highlight his nobility. What is so significant about man that the great God of the universe should be so mindful of him? Verse 5 provides the answer. Firstly, the rendering of the text ‘lower than the angels’ by the King James Version is not necessarily correct; the word translated ‘angels’ in the Hebrew is elohiym, which means God though it is sometimes also a reference to angels, who incidentally are also in the image of God judging by their high position. Strong’s concordance defines elohiym as follows:
0430 ‘elohiym {el-o-heem’} – God, god, judge, goddess, great, mighty, angels, exceeding, God- ward, godly. 2) (plural intensive – singular meaning) god, goddess godlike one, works or special possessions of God, the (true) God, God
God thus created man just a little lower than Himself and shared Himself with man. He gave man dominion, glory, and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:6-9
The seventh day of the creation week was thus set aside for fellowship and confederacy and God rounded off His creation by binding it to Himself. This certainly leaves no room for an impersonal God who stands back after initiating the creation pro- cess and then allows evolution to create intelligence out of chaos. Reading the Genesis account as it stands, it is apparent that it is not compatible with the requirements of the naturalistic approach to the question of origins. To overcome this problem, there have been a number of attempts to reduce the impact of the Biblical narrative to the level of mythology or allegory. This would allow for poetic license in the interpretation of the text.