frequently are ascribed to him. There is no doubt, on the other hand, that the Jews regarded all five books as the books of Moses. This paradox is easily resolved when it is realized that Moses may have been the compiler and editor, rather than the author, of Genesis. The original writers of the various divisions were the patriarchs themselves, the ones whose names appear in the formula “These are the generations of. . . .”
In accord with the common practice of ancient times, records and narratives were written down on tables of stone and then handed down from family to family, perhaps, finally to be placed in a library or public storehouse of some sort. It seems most reasonable to believe that the original records of Genesis were written down by eyewitnesses and handed down through the line of patriarchs, from Adam through Noah and Abraham and finally to Moses.
All of these ancient records were then compiled and edited by Moses, with the necessary transitional and explanatory comments, into their final form. He later followed this with his own accounts, which we now have in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Realization of this fact makes these primeval histories live in an exciting way. They are not simply old traditions, handed down by word-of-mouth transmission for many generations, but are actual firsthand accounts written by eyewitnesses — men who knew and observed and reported things as they really happened.
The word “generations” in Hebrew became “Genesis” when translated into the Greek language for the Septuagint version. Genesis was adopted for the title of the entire book, a book of the collected “generations” of the ancient patriarchs. The word “genesis” conveys the idea both of origin and chronological records.
It was common in antiquity, when a chronicler completed a tablet, to affix his signature at its end. “These are,” he would write, “the historical records of Nahor” (or whatever his name was). Then, if some other writer later were to continue the same chronicle on another tablet, he would key it in to the previous one by some identifying word or phrase which corresponded to the closing portion of the preceding tablet.2
Although there is some uncertainty about whether the “generations” formula applies to the verses preceding it or following it, the weight of evidence seems to favor the former. In every case, the events described in each section could have been known by the man whose name followed it, but not by the man whose name preceded it. For example, the so-called “second creation account,” from Genesis 2:3 to 5:1 is identified as “the book of the generations of Adam,” but Adam could not have known all the events described from 5:1 through 6:8. The latter was identified as “the generations of Noah” in Genesis 6:9.
Following this line of reasoning, there really are two creation accounts, the second written by Adam, from his viewpoint. The first (Gen. 1:1–2:3) could not have been observed by any man at all, and must have been written directly by God himself, either with His own “finger,” as He also did the Ten Commandments (Exod. 31:18), or else by direct supernatural revelation. This is the only one of the “generations” not identified with the name of a particular man, but instead, “These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created” (Gen. 2:4). In a very direct and unique way, this constitutes the Creator’s personal narrative of heaven and earth. It would be well not to try to explain away its historicity by calling it merely a literary device of some kind. Rather, men should bow before its author in believing obedience, acknowledging that He has clearly spoken, in words that are easy to be understood, concerning those things which they could never discover for themselves.
2. God’s Works of “Creating” and “Making”
The first creation account is concluded with the statement “He had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Gen. 2:3). There are evidently two types of “work” accomplished by God in the creation week and reported in His record. In some cases, His work was to create (Hebrew bara); in others, it was to make (Hebrew asah) or form (Hebrew yatsar). This statement provides another important direction for classifying God’s works as recorded in this chapter.
God’s work of creation, in other words, was that of calling into existence out of nothing (except God’s own power, of course) that which had no existence in any form before. Only God can create in this sense, and in all the Bible no other subject appears for the verb “create” than God. It is possible for man with his God-created intelligence and abilities to “make” things, assembling complex systems out of simpler components, but he cannot “create” anything.3 God also can “make” things, and can do so far more effectively than man. He was, in fact, doing just this during the creation week, along with His work of creating, and both types of works — creating and making — were terminated at the end of that week. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:3).
It is significant that only three works of real creation (that is, as specified by the verb bara) are recorded in Genesis 1. These are (1) the creation of the basic elements of the universe (space, matter, and time — or “heavens,” “earth,” and “beginning”) as recorded in Genesis 1:1; (2) the creation of consciousness (Hebrew nephesh, the “soul”), which is also associated with the “breath of life” (Hebrew ruach, the “spirit” or “mind” or “breath”) — recorded in Genesis 1:21, where “creature” is nephesh, which in the Hebrew is usually translated as “soul” or “life”; and (3) the creation of the “image of God” in man, as recorded in Genesis 1:27.
Thus, there are three basic created entities: the physical elements of the cosmos, of which all inorganic and unconscious organic systems4 (e.g., plants) are “made”; the animal world, whose physical systems consist of the same physical elements, but which also has the created capacity of consciousness; and the human realm, which shares the physical matter of the cosmos and the consciousness of the animal world, but which also has the uniquely created capacity for God-likeness — the “image of God.”
3. The Work of the Six Days
Between these great acts of creation were placed innumerable acts of formation, climaxed finally by the formation of man’s body out of the physical elements, the “dust of the ground,” and his soul and breath from God’s own Spirit (Gen. 2:7). These acts of formation were spaced out in an effective and logical manner during the six days of creation, as follows:
| Day | Formation |
| One | Energizing of the physical elements of the cosmos. |
| Two | Formation of the atmosphere and hydrosphere on earth. |
| Three | Formation of the lithosphere and biosphere on earth. |
| Four | Formation of the astrosphere and its heavenly bodies. |
| Five | Formation of life in the atmosphere and hydrosphere. |
| Six | Formation of life for the lithosphere and biosphere. |
| Seven | Rest from the completed work of creating and making all things. |
The logic and symmetry of the formative works of the six days are evident from the above outline. It is not the purpose here to give a full biblical exposition of these verses,5 but only to point out certain basic principles involved in their application.
Characteristics of the Creation
It
