COMMENTS ON PASSAGES DEALING WITH CREATION

                                                       PART ONE

Job chapter 38 verses 1 to 11

      Some take the view that verses 1 to 7 relate to the creation of the earth and verses 8 to 11 relate to the Noachic flood. However the case for this is extremely weak. The questions concerning creation and the natural world are not set out in any chronological order (what the order is would be an interesting case for enquiry), and therefore it does not follow that the reference to the sea issuing out of the womb is something that took place much later than the creation of the earth in the earlier verses. If the analogy of childbirth is taken into account the breaking forth of the waters is antecedent to the birth of the child.

      It should be noted that the creation of the earth (a solid thing) is likened to a building, whereas the waters (which are fluid) are likened to what emerges from the womb. The idea of a building would not be appropriate when speaking of the sea and clouds. However, though analogies are used we should not be take them too literally, because after all they are only analogies.

      The fact that water is the subject of verses 8 to 11 as it is in the case of the Noachic flood is the only possible connection with these verses and the flood. Even this is extremely weak because these verses speak of the sea whereas the flood was due to rain and fountains. The sea was not involved directly in the flood. It was only the living creatures on the dry land that all died. This does not mean that some sea creatures did not die, but that the demise of such creatures was not widespread. The flood waters may presumably be assumed to have spread over the sea as water normally finds its own level.

      That these verses do not relate to the flood is beyond reasonable doubt because:-

1) The reference to issuing out of the womb and a swaddling band point to origins. Waters did not originate at the time of the flood but were present in Genesis 1. Peter's remarks as to the flood would also confirm this (2 Peter 3:5 and 6).

2) The speaking in verse 11 clearly refers to the sea and connects with the speaking on the third day in Genesis 1. There was no speaking in connection with the flood waters. In order to say there was one would have to assume that the information as to speaking in Job 38:11 was supplementary information.

3) Scripture distinguishes between the sea and fountains (see Revelation 8:8-11; 16:3-4). Genesis 7:11 refers to fountains; Job 38:8 to the sea.

4) Job 38:9 has a clear connection with the darkness mentioned in Genesis 1:2. Darkness is not mentioned in connection with the flood, though it is quite likely that when the rain came down there was darkness over all the earth.

5) The flood was a judgment on an ungodly world. There is nothing about judgment in the verses in Job we are considering. In order to get the thought of judgment on the wicked in Job 38 we would have to go to verses 12 to15, verses which appears to be prophetic of what will take place when the Lord comes. Compare 2 Samuel chapter 23 verses 1 to 7.

6) Apart from what is in the passage itself other passages, which appear to be based upon it, point to the fact that creation is spoken of and not the Noachic flood (see below).

      It may be mentioned that the creation of the earth spoken of in verses 1 to 7 is more likely to refer to the creation of the planet than the dry land which appeared on the third day. This would seem to be so because the planet is clearly referred to in Job 26:7. That passage speaks of the earth as hanging upon nothing.

      It is likely that Job lived after the flood but before the giving of the law, in fact, probably before the time of Abraham. This is because a flood is mentioned in Job which could be the Noachic flood (Job 22:15&16) but there is no mention of Abraham and those that followed him. Further, the land of Uz where Job dwelt probably took its name from the Uz mentioned in Genesis 10:23, and a Jobab is mentioned in verse 29 of the same chapter. Perhaps the one who is the subject of the book of Job. He would then be someone who was fruit for God from the period between the flood and Abraham, for there is no doubt something for God from every period of history. God will always have his tithe, so to speak. Job is, in a way, the fruit of God's testimony in creation.

Proverbs chapter 8 verses 22 to 31

      These verses clearly refer to the creation of the universe and verses 28 and 29 align quite closely with what we get in the passage in Job which we have been considering. These two verses are in the reverse order when compared with what we get in Job. Here the reference to the sea comes before the reference to the foundations of the earth. We are thus being taken by the writer of Proverbs back to the foundations of the earth.

      As to the sea we have here (verse 29):

"When he imposed on the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment".

      This compares with what we get in Job (verse11):

"And said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed"

      Genesis on the other hand has simply (verse 9):

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear"

Whereas all three passages no doubt refer to the same event, the first two align together most closely and show that the passage in Job is connected with the creation rather than the flood.

      It may also be noted that the reference in Proverbs 8:29 to the foundations of the earth also closely follows the passage in Job we have been considering, particularly verses 4 to 6, which speak of the founding of the earth and the making of measurements.

Psalm 104 verses 5 to 9

      Verse 5 speaks of the earth being laid upon its foundations and verse 6 of it having been covered with the deep, as with a vesture. This points to the earth as a planet, as described in Genesis 1:2. The waters are said to stand above the mountains, indicating that at that time no dry land was showing.

      Some may think that the condition of the earth during the flood is what is spoken of, but this is very doubtful, for there is no reference to God's judgment in the passage. Further, what follows effectively rules the flood idea out because verse 7 speaks of the waters FLEEING at God's rebuke and HASTING AWAY at the voice of his thunder. There was no speaking of God in connection with the flood except to Noah and no fleeing away of the waters. In chapter 8 of Genesis verses 1 to 5 we get God making a wind to pass over the earth and then the waters retiring over a period of several months - no speaking of God and no hasting away of the waters.

      However, on the third day in Genesis 1 we do get God speaking and then the waters being separated from the land and all in the space of that day. The vegetation was then brought into being later on in the same day !

      In verse 9 we get the setting of bounds beyond which the waters were not to pass as we do in the passages in Job 38 and Proverbs 8 we have already considered.

      Those who hold the so-called gap theory regarding the first two verses of Genesis 1 are effectively putting God's judgmental flood back into those verses. Those who are making the passage in Job we have considered and this Psalm refer to the flood are in a way doing a similar thing, making what refers to God's creatorial activities in Genesis 1 refer to the flood.

Psalm 24 verses 1 and 2

      These verses clearly refer to the earth as a habitable place. It is said to be founded UPON the seas. It is not spoken of as being COVERED by water as in the last passage we have considered. It speaks of it as a place where people dwell. The world in verse 1 means the habitable earth. We are therefore speaking of the dry land which was brought into existence on the third day in Genesis 1. It is not here the planet earth that is spoken of.

Psalm 33 verses 6 to 9

      Verse 6 speaks of the making of the heavens by God's word and no doubt refers to what took place on the fourth day of the creation week. It also no doubt lies behind the statement in Hebrews 11:3 which reads: "By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by [the] word of God". The earth as such is not mentioned in verse 6 or in the passage in Hebrews 11.

      Verse 7 almost certainly relates to what took place on the third day; the waters of the sea being gathered together in one place. What follows in verse 8 indicates the effect God's creatorial activities are to have on us, and verse 9 gives the reason: "He spake and it was [done]...".

      It is to be noted that this passage gives the POWER side of God's creatorial activities. Psalm 8:3 on the other hand gives the DETAILED WORK that was involved:"Thy heavens, the work of thy fingers". By stressing the POWER side we must not lose sight of the fact that God WORKED (Genesis 2:2) and that afterwards "he rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17).

31 January 1999