Poetically Harmonizing Genesis with Science

[Jo_Helen_Cox]

@Eddie

Do your exegetical conclusions regarding Genesis 1 depend on your view that God showed the author of Genesis the actual origin of the world? If you changed your mind about that, if you decided that God did not show the author of Genesis the actual origin of the world, would your interpretation of Genesis 1 – or of any part of it – be different?

I would think, based on what you have said, that it would make a large difference in your reading. If we presume that the writer had no knowledge of nature or its origin other than what would be available to a typical Israelite writer of the time, we certainly would not imagine that the writer thought or knew that plant life originated in the sea – to give just one example.

My conclusions about Gen 1 occurred before my realization that Moses was given a vision of the creation of the universe. However, I do not think Gen 1 was written by Moses, as he was not that good a poet and did not have the time to spend perfecting the structure of circular poetry within this text. He told the vision often enough for a poet to interpret the basics of what was seen. He probably approved of the text and that is why it was kept safe. It is very possible that it was taught to children as a song. The memory of the origin of the text was lost, except that it came from Moses.