Sydney Anglicans led by Archbishop Peter Jensen who hold to the abhorrent Theistic Evolution view of origins are either wittingly or unwittingly contributing to one of the most flagrant acts of idolatry and usurping of the authority of God that the world has ever seen.
Their attributing to God of a creative process replete with frustrations, mutations, disease, suffering, survival of the fittest and death is an assertion that God could not or would not create pure and complete in the beginning.
These Sydney Anglicans have ventured out upon the branch of faith and commenced cutting the branch behind them. The Atheists see this and are just waiting for the whole Church to do likewise and come crashing down. Once the Church has done this the Christian faith will have no credible argument against Atheism. The very mechanism Charles Darwin saw as the ordering of life and which prompted him to reject the God of Bible will never pass muster as the way of a God of love and omnipotency.
Compounding the problem for Sydney Anglicans are developments in gene technology. Scientific advances in genetic engineering and cloning point to the day when man will create life leading to a living organ or being. We are talking here of tens of years of development not millions of years.
On that day of achievement, Sydney Anglicans must bow to the might of Man and surrender all credibility that the Christian Church had claimed for the 'God' of the Bible because Man will have done far more efficiently and timely what the Church had claimed 'God' had done over millions of years.
Advances in gene technology have all the potential to revisit upon the world the arrogance of man demonstrated at Babel (Gen. 11). The Church will be defenceless if it relies on a corrupt explanation of how God created.
However, the picture is not so bleak. The one true God is not the product of faulty imaginings of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and his followers. God will not submit to the elevation of man beyond his place. God will retain a remnant who will not bow the knee to Baal. Small it may be for a time but that remnant will survive and be blessed to multiply at the hand of the Lord. These are they who trust in the Word of God and will not reinterpret what God has clearly said.
Neil
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Leupold Genesis part 2 author
Genesis contains no statement as to who its author was. Yet we hold very definitely to the conviction that Moses wrote Genesis as well as the rest of the Pentateuch, except (Deut. 34). In our day such a position is regarded as so utterly outmoded that we must indicate, at least briefly, what grounds we have for standing thus. Our grounds are those which have satisfied conservative scholarship in the church throughout the ages. Neither is the group of those who still accept these arguments so inconsiderable as critics would have us believe.
The internal evidence of the Pentateuch runs as follows. In Exodus the passages (17:14; 24:4; 34:27), if rightly construed, indicate that Moses wrote more than the specific passages that appear under immediate consideration, in fact, all of Exodus. In like manner the numerous statements of Leviticus to the effect that "the Lord spake unto Moses" ("and unto Aaron"), such as (Le 1:1; 4:1; 6:1, 8, 19, 24; 7:22, 28; 8:1), etc., again, if rightly construed, lead to the same result, in fact, cover Leviticus. For why should the exact nature of the revelation be emphasized, unless it be presupposed that this revelation was immediately conserved in writing in each case? In fact, the assumption that these directions were not committed to writing is most unnatural. The same argument applies to much of what is found in Numbers; but in this book the special portion that came by immediate revelation requires the background of the rest of the historical material of the book. (Nu 33:2) is the only passage that refers to the fact that Moses wrote, a statement inserted at this point in order to stamp even what might seem too unimportant to record as traceable to Moses. In Deuteronomy a comparison of the following passages establishes the Mosaic authorship: (De 1:1; 17:18,19; 27:1-8; 31:9; 31:24). If, then, on the basis of the evidence found in these four books we may very reasonably conclude that they were written by Moses, the conclusion follows very properly that none other than the author of these later four books would have been so suitable as the author for Genesis also. Certainly such a conclusion is far more reasonable than that Genesis--or for that matter the entire Pentateuch--is to be ascribed to another one of these genial Nobodies of whom criticism has a large number in reserve as authors.
The internal evidence of the Pentateuch runs as follows. In Exodus the passages (17:14; 24:4; 34:27), if rightly construed, indicate that Moses wrote more than the specific passages that appear under immediate consideration, in fact, all of Exodus. In like manner the numerous statements of Leviticus to the effect that "the Lord spake unto Moses" ("and unto Aaron"), such as (Le 1:1; 4:1; 6:1, 8, 19, 24; 7:22, 28; 8:1), etc., again, if rightly construed, lead to the same result, in fact, cover Leviticus. For why should the exact nature of the revelation be emphasized, unless it be presupposed that this revelation was immediately conserved in writing in each case? In fact, the assumption that these directions were not committed to writing is most unnatural. The same argument applies to much of what is found in Numbers; but in this book the special portion that came by immediate revelation requires the background of the rest of the historical material of the book. (Nu 33:2) is the only passage that refers to the fact that Moses wrote, a statement inserted at this point in order to stamp even what might seem too unimportant to record as traceable to Moses. In Deuteronomy a comparison of the following passages establishes the Mosaic authorship: (De 1:1; 17:18,19; 27:1-8; 31:9; 31:24). If, then, on the basis of the evidence found in these four books we may very reasonably conclude that they were written by Moses, the conclusion follows very properly that none other than the author of these later four books would have been so suitable as the author for Genesis also. Certainly such a conclusion is far more reasonable than that Genesis--or for that matter the entire Pentateuch--is to be ascribed to another one of these genial Nobodies of whom criticism has a large number in reserve as authors.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Do the Sydney Anglican Heretics successfully wrest the epistemological highground from orthodoxy?
To all concerned, sorry for the delay but I have had to attend to some fairly urgent matters of health recently and this has eaten up my spare time. My mother, very early on, and doctor, most recently warned me about the dangers of reinserting my navel fluff. And now I reap the consequences.
1. I believe the following is a fair representation of Anonymous’ case against me.
a. I offered Kay’s paper as proof and argued that literary devices don’t
negate the claim of a passage to being history.
b. Dickson proposed the inclusion of so many literary devices means
Genesis 1 isn’t history.
c. I overlooked the subtlety of Dickson’s argument.
d. I‘m dumb as it’s not true truth.
e. QED, Dickson’s case is subtle and accurate.
f. Genesis 1 isn’t an historical report because of the large number of
literary devices
g. It is right to say that Kay’s case lacks a strong and sharp disproof to
Dickson’s thesis that Genesis is non-history.
2. To refresh everyone’s memory what Dickson wrote: “Genesis 1…is composed in a style quite different from the ‘historical narrative’ of, say, the Gospels in their accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, for instance…Genesis 1, on the other hand, is not written in the style we normally associate with historical report. It is difficult even to describe the passage as prose. The original Hebrew of this passage is marked by intricate structure, rhythm, parallelism, chiasmus, repetition and the lavish use of number symbolism. These features are not observed together in those parts of the Bible we recognize as historical prose…I will, however, draw attention to the number symbolism present in our passage. [John gives a number of examples of the number 7 and its multiples in the text and then concludes with] The artistry of the chapter is stunning and, to ancient readers, unmistakable. It casts the creation as a work of art, sharing in the perfection of God and deriving from him. My point is obvious: short of including a prescript for the benefit of modern readers the original author could hardly have made it clearer that his message is being conveyed through literary rather than prosaic means.”
So, clearly Dickson is saying from “the lavish use of number[s]” alone that one can conclude Genesis 1 is not historiography. I’ll address this in a moment but, as you stated elsewhere, what’s good for a goose is good for the gander, and so I think it was entirely reasonable for me to argue (as Kay had in his paper) that individually these literary devices do not necessarily convey non-history.
Furthermore, as you have implied, these devices are found in historiographic passages. (Although, Dickson, by not actually exploring this “incidental” detail, seems hell-bent on not providing examples for the reader so they can at least make up their own mind as to the strength of his case. After all, if, for example, a clearly historiographic section of one of the Gospels were to contain several literary devices, I would assume that even the most zealously sycophantic of Dickson’s backers would be less inclined to argue for the soundness of his thesis. Hmmm, maybe not so on second thought, given their hitherto lending of unconditional support for just about any old excuse that maintains their obduracy and love of heresy) I would obviously concur. So the problem for you and Dickson is this: If the inclusion of one device does not in and of itself transform historiography to non-historiography, and the addition of another similarly doesn’t, and another etc etc don’t, why would the inclusion of all 6 suddenly tip the scale? If you reply that this “uniqueness” is the very characteristic that does turn historiography to non-historiography, isn’t that just simply a case of question-begging? Wouldn’t one need to provide several examples from other sources, particularly non-biblical ones, which demonstrate the soundness of this proposition?
Looking at it in a not entirely different way, Dickson has tacitly stated that, all other things being equal,
(i) 1 Literary Device = Historiography,
(ii) LD+LD = Historiography
(iii) LD+LD+LD = Historiography
(iv) LD+LD+LD+LD = Historiography
and
(v) LD+LD+LD+LD+LD = Historiography
yet he contends that
LD+LD+LD+LD+LD+LD ≠ Historiography
I am at a loss how 1,2,3,4, or even 5 pluses add up to a plus but an additional 6th makes it a zero. Along with destroying biblical facts, you guys seem to have the same menacing attitude to maths. This reminds me of Dallas Willard’s comment: “[U]nsound arguments are not to be expected by their collective force to prove a conclusion which none can establish by themselves."
3. So since you’ve admitted that literary devices are utilised by the author in historiography, where does Dickson (and you) draw the cut-off line? It seems that since these devices are everywhere, in historical prose and poetry alike, then the answer must be, “Well, anywhere I damn well please!” This of course demonstrates the arbitrary nature of your argument. That, putatively, these devices only appear in such numbers in Genesis 1 and no where else is not the clincher you imagine it to be. After all, breathing over its neck is a passage of historical narrative that has one less literary device. If none of the ancients were bothered with their inclusion why should we listen to Dickson and a nobody called Anonymous. All this to me seems like something new to tickle those who are easily dissuaded from the plain, straightforward, uncomplicated historical truth of the first page of God’s revelation to us. That the common ploughboy has never seen this wolf-in-sheep’s clothing “truth” you’re presently serving up to the Church only strengthens our resolve to root you heretics out.
4. While we are on the subject, I’d like to point out that neither Dickson nor Anon never actually identify where these literary devices appear in the text. I suppose we’re to just take their word that all 6 actually appear in Genesis.
So, would either of these two heretics (or the Dickson sycophants over in the Sydney Diocese) change their view if just one of the mooted devices didn’t appear in Genesis 1? That is, based on Dickson’s thesis, if the sum total of these devices were 5, would these heretics accept Genesis 1 as history or can nothing falsify Dickson’s proposition?
5. Just on this issue, a few years ago an Israeli Oxford Hebraist academic informed me that sustained rhythm, the type that non-prose should contain if it does have rhythm, is not in Genesis 1. What rhythm there is, is far too brief to be important and is a chance by-product of speech in general. In other words, one would be drawing a really long bow to claim that rhythm is a salient literary device in Genesis 1.
6. But just to fulfil my epistemic obligation, let me provide you with a few passages where there is a preponderance of literary devices. To make it easier for me I’ll be borrowing considerably from Dickson’s paper.
The Flood Narrative
It is well known that in Hebrew thought the number 8 symbolises new beginnings, resurrection or regeneration and 13 betrayal. A well-known example for the former is many baptismal fonts are eight-sided, as is the baptismal cross, while the latter is the number of people at the Last Supper.
In the narrative of Noah, which contains the Flood account, multiples of 8 appear in extraordinary ways. For ancient readers, who were accustomed to taking notice of such things, these multiples of 8 conveyed a powerful message. Its omnipresence in many chapters of the Bible makes an unmistakable point about the ultimate authorship of the Bible itself. Consider the following in this account:
a. The “berit” (covenant) stem appears 8 times
b. The number of people saved on the ark was 8
c. The sign of the covenant, “qeshet” (rainbow) has a numerical value in Hebrew
of 800
d. The Flood was 40 days (i.e. 5 x 8) upon the earth
e. Noah waited another 40 days until he opened the window
f. He then sent out a raven, numerical value 272 (i.e. 8 x 32)
g. Noah’s name is occasionally spelled with a vav and thus his name has a
numerical value of 64 i.e. 8 x 8
h. From Adam to Noah’s Flood there were 1656 (207 x 8) years
And btw,
i. Indeed, Jesus’ very name in Greek numerical values has the value of 888,
which also equals in Hebrew Yeshoth Elohenu i.e. Our God’s Salvation
j. Jesus appeared to Thomas on the 8th day
k. Pistis (faith) has the same numerical value as Kurios (Lord) i.e. 800
As to the number 7,
a. The clean beasts were taken on in lots of seven
b. Assuming 30 days in a lunar month, the fountains of the deep were broken up
on the 2nd month, 17th day of Noah’s 600th year i.e. the 77th day
c. The Ark came to rest in the 7th month
d. The tops of the mountains were seen on the first day of the 10th month i.e. (
10 x 30) +1 = 301 = 43 x 7
e. The seventh occurrence of the name Noah is in Genesis 6:9 and here he is
called ‘perfect’. The Hebrew word here is thammim which has a numerical
value of 490 i.e. 70 x 7
f. The number of times that God spoke to Noah was seven.
Any other literary devices? Sure.
• A play on words: In Hebrew the name ‘Noah’ is an anagram of ‘Grace’. The first appearance of ‘grace’ is in Genesis 6:8: ‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH’. The numerical value of YHWH is 26. The word ‘grace’ is found in 26 (13 x 2) verses in Torah.
• Parallelism: In Genesis 6:9 "perfect in his generations" acts as a parallel thought to Noah being "a just man."
• Parallelism: In Genesis 7: 6-10, 11-16 this device can be discerned as re-emphasising and enlarging upon the same ideas.
• Chiasmus:
Genesis 7:10 – And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
Genesis 7:12 - And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:24 – The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Genesis 8:3 – The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,
Genesis 8:6 - After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark
Genesis 8:10 - He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
Here’s another:
Introduction (6:9-10)
1. Violence on the earth (6:11-12)
2. First speech: intent to destroy earth (6:13-22)
3. Second speech: go into the ark (7:1-10)
4. The Flood starts (7:11-16)
5. The flood rises (7:17-24)
Climax-God remembers Noah (8:1a)
5a. The Flood recedes (8:1b-5)
4a. Drying off of the earth (8:6-14)
3a. Third speech: leave the ark (8:15-19)
2a. Will not destroy earth again (8:20-22)
1a. Fourth speech: the covenant (9:1-17)
Conclusion (9:18-19)
There is a chiastic structure in the genealogy: Noah's sons are listed in this order: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; then they are discussed in reverse order.
• Repetition
(i) The destruction of life
(ii) Establishment of the covenant
(iii) The types of animals on the ark
What then can we at this blog conclude? All of this definitely will convince the heretics in the Sydney Anglo Fun Park that Noah’s story and the Flood specifically are not historical or historiography.
When I previously pointed out that the Flood account contains all the features Dickson has said tell the reader to think ‘non-history/non-historiography’, Anon’s remark was “ROFL.” In fact, Anon went on to suggest these chapters of Genesis were on the sae level as a fairy tale like Goldilocks and the 3 bears.
I suspect Anon will mock my argument, as he has done previously (he poured scorn on my comment and said I had a weak argument when I offered Jesus’ and Peter’s testimonies as proof that the Bible’s account of the Flood should be taken as history), but this behaviour is what one expects from heretics. As we progress through the Bible more and more chapters start to be transformed from historiography to myth or some other liberal nomenclature.
Abraham
• Numbers
a. There are 613 commandments in Torah. Of these 248 are positive and 365 negative. Abraham, the first Jew, was called righteous before God and is regarded as the paradigm of perfection. His name has the number value of 248 (31x 8), the number of positive commandments.
b. The son of Abraham, Yizhak, has 4 letters to his name each with a numerical value of 10, 90, 8 and 100 respectively. The first refers to the 10 commandments, the second to the age of Sarah when he was born, the third, the age at his circumcision and the last to the age of Abraham when he was born. A miracle performed for a mother and father was for the sake of a child who would be circumcised and enter a covenant.
c. Concerning the number 13, circumcision for Ishmael was carried out when he was 13, the word for covenant, berit, is mentioned 13 times in Genesis 17, the chapter which sets out the circumcision command.
d. In Genesis 14:14 there are 318 men who went out to rescue his relative. Interesting, Eliezer the servant of Abraham, the “heir” of Abraham, has a numerical value for his name of 318.
• Chiasmus:
A Display of faith: Abram leaves his homeland; the first promise 11:31–12:3
B Abram sojourns in Canaan 12:4-9
C The stay in Egypt; Abram passes Sarai off as his sister 12:10-20
D The separation of Abram, who has the promise, from Lot, who does not
have the promise 13:1-18
E The rescue of Lot 14:1-24
F Abram’s fears of infertility are allayed by the promise of a
son; God makes a covenant 15:1-21
G Sarai’s attempt to get a son: Ishmael 16:1-16
H THE COVENANT; Abram’s new name,
etc. 17:1-10
G´ Circumcision; the rejection of Ishmael and the
promise of a son through Sarah 17:9-27
F´ Sarah is told of the promise of a son, despite her fears of
infertility 18:1-15
E´ The rescue of Lot 18:16–19:38
D´ The stay in Gerar; Abraham passes Sarah off as his sister 20:1-18
C´ The birth of Isaac; the separation of Isaac, the child of the promise, from
Ishmael, the child outside the promise 21:1-21
B´ Abraham sojourns among the Philistines 21:22-34
A´ Display of faith: Abraham is willing to sacrifice Isaac; the final promise 22:1-19
And there are chiasms within chiasms. For example, Genesis 12:16 appears as an inventory but has been arranged chiastically. So, if Dickson’s rule is true then Abram’s sheep are not referring to historic sheep but artistic ones.
There are also significant and lavish use of numbers concerning the other patriarchs etc
a. Adam is 130 when he begot Seth and lives another 800 years.
b. Jacob has 1 daughter and 8 sons from his wives and 4 sons from the
shefahot i.e. 13 children.
c. When Jacob’s name is changed to Israel by God, then last time he is called
Jacob is the 130th appearance of Jacob’s name in Torah.
d. Jacob’s age in front of Pharaoh is 130 while Moses was 80
e. The only ages given for Joseph are 17, 30, 110, gaps of 13 and 80
f. Sarah was at her death 127 years old = 100 + 20 + 7. The gaps here are 80
and 13.
g. Circumcision is on the 8th day.
And I am more than sure that if I could be bothered – which I am definitely not – I could find far too many examples of devices which Kay listed in his article, including, parallel plotting with its ostensible appearance of simultaneity, delayed action and outcomes, asymmetrical and ironic juxtapositioning, convergence and retrospective alignment, sequential twists, temporal shifts, the omitting or ambiguating of causal links, temporal gaps and blanks, analogous or repetitive themes and incidents, alternation whereby the narrative sequence zig-zags between objective simultaneities, suspense-driven episodes, deep interlinear polarities of theme, foreclosure or premature curtain-dropping which “jumps ahead” in absolute time in order to synchronize effects, the establishment of contextual hierarchies of importance, shifts in focus, complex word plays, parataxis, and interepisodic suspense.
Matthew’s Gospel
The first 17 verses of the New Testament (The Gospel of Matthew) deals with a single principal subject: the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It contains 72 Greek vocabulary words in these initial 17 versus. The following structures are supposedly found.
• The number of words which are nouns is exactly 56, or 7 x 8. The Greek
word "the" occurs most frequently in the passage: exactly 56 times, or 7 x 8.
• The number of different forms in which the article "the" occurs is exactly 7
• There are two main sections in the passage: verse 1-11 and 12-17. In the
first main section, the number of Greek vocabulary words used is 49, or 7 x 7 Of these 49 words, the number of those beginning with a vowel is 28, or 7 x 4
• The number of words beginning with a consonant is 21, or 7 x 3. The total
number of letters in these 49 words is exactly 266, or 7 x 38-exactly.
• The numbers of vowels among these 266 letters is 140, or 7 x 20. The number
of consonants is 126, or 7 x 18-exactly.
• Of these 49 words, the number of words which occur more than once is 35, or 7 x 5.
• The number of words occurring only once is 14, or 7 x2.
• The number of words which occur in only one form is exactly 42, or 7 x 6.
• The number of words appearing in more than one form is also 7.
• The number of 49 Greek vocabulary words which are nouns is 42, or 7 x 6.
• The number of words which are not nouns is 7.
• Of the nouns, 35 are proper names, or 7 x 5. These 35 nouns are used 63
times, or 7 x 9.
• The number of male names is 28, or 7 x 4. These male names occur 56 times or
7 x 8.
• The number of names which is not male is 7.
• Three women are mentioned-Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. The number of Greek
letters in these three names is 14, or 7 x 2.
• The number of compound nouns is 7. The number of Greek letters in these 7
nouns is 49, or 7 x 7.
• Only one city is named in this passage, Babylon, which in Greek contains
exactly 7 letters.
Matthew’s sectional use of 14 generations has been mooted to reflect the then current belief of the number of High Priests from Aaron to the establishment of Solomon’s Temple, from the establishment from the Temple until Jaddua, the last High Priest mentioned in Scripture. Others have argued that in his 3x14 division Matthew is reflecting a then already widely-held belief of a universal world-week patterned after the seven days of creation (i.e. 6x7), six “days” followed by a Messianic age i.e. a Sabbath, or a pattern following the formula used in Daniel. Whatever the case may be, it was not accidental.
Matthew begins the Gospel with a chiastic form in 1:1,17 (ABC, genealogy, C'B'A') for the genealogy in vv 2-16. In this case each half of the frame summarises the significance of the enclosed genealogy. There is also a chiastic appearance of Abraham and David in his genealogy i.e.
Jesus 1.1b
David 1.1c
Abraham 1.1d
Abraham1.2
David1.6
Jesus1.16
Breck holds that 3:1-17 and 4:1-17 form a chiasm centred upon John’s claim that Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire, enclosed by 2 expressions of “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Fenton and Gaechter have argued that all of Matthew is chiastic, the latter also pointing out the numerical patterns that control the several parts of the whole. Others have stated that Matthew has complicated circles of chiasms within chiasms, and these too have chiasms controlling them.
Furthermore some have argued that there is a typological literary reflection in Matthew’s Gospel which looks something like this:
Matthew OT
1:1: Book of Genesis Gen 2:4; 5:1
(i.e. toledoth and sepher
toledoth)
1:1-17: son of Abraham Gen 12-26
1:18-25: Joseph the dreamer Gen 37
2:1-12: Magi Nations to Egypt for Joseph
2:13-15: Herod kills children Exod 1-2: Pharaoh
kills children
2:14: Jesus rescued, flees Exod 2: Moses rescued,
flees
2:19-23: Jesus returns to Israel Exod 3-4: Moses returns
to Egypt
3:1-12: John announces judgment Exod 5-12: Moses/Aaron
bring judgment
3:13-17: Jesus passes through Exod 14: Parting of the
waters waters of the Red Sea
4:1-11: Temptation in wilderness Exod 17-19: Travel in Sinai
4:18-22: Jesus calls disciples Exod 18: Moses appoints
rulers
chs. 5-7: Sermon on the Mount Ex 19 ff Sinai and the
and various explanations of Law giving of Torah
Matthew also demonstrates a reliance on the number three throughout his Gospel: 3 temptations, 3 illustrations of righteousness, 3 miracles of healing, 3 miracles of power, 3 miracles of restoration, threefold ‘fear not’, threefold answer to the question about fasting, 3 complaints of the Pharisees, 3 ‘is not worthy of me’, 3 parables of sowing, 3 sayings about ‘little ones’, 3 questions, 3 parables of warning, 3 prayers at Gethsemane, 3 denials of Peter, 3 petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, 3 aspirations in the Lord’s Prayer. There is also a triadic structure to the Sermon on the Mount which reflects a well-known triad of Jewish piety preserved in mAb. 1:2 (446).
There are also 7 demons, seven loaves, seven baskets, sevenfold forgiveness, seven brothers and seven woes. As Marshall Johnson wrote, “Considered in the light of this tendency toward numerical structure, the arrangement of the genealogy into 3 x 14 or 3 x 7 x 2 seems entirely congruous. The evangelist draws attention to the form of the genealogy because it is a survey of pre-Messianic history intending to underscore the predetermined character of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.”
From the list of additional literary device Kaye supplied, in the first few chapters of Matthew one can see the following utilised by the Gospel writer when composing the text: parallel plotting with its ostensible appearance of simultaneity, delayed action and outcomes, convergence and retrospective alignment, sequential twists, temporal shifts, temporal gaps and blanks, analogous or repetitive themes and incidents, alternation whereby the narrative sequence zig-zags between objective simultaneities, suspense-driven episodes, parataxis.
So, what would a Sydney Anglican Evangelical following the much-heralded Dickson rule be forced to conclude? Matthew is neither prose nor historiography. Of course, similar material could be raised with reference to the other Gospels and similar conclusions stated.
As a liberal Dickson looks toward structure and not content (i.e. Don’t confuse me with the facts!). Kaye pointed out that Hebrew prose can be identified by the use of particular grammatical constructs. Anon and Dickson are oblivious to this (maybe they don’t read footnotes?) or choose to ignore it because it would destroy their case. Kaye wrote: “The particles ’et (the sign of the definite direct object), ’ašer (the relative pronoun), and ha- (the definite article) all have been identified as prosaic elements, not common in or suitable to poetry....In general, these particulars occur six to eight times more frequently in prose passages than in poetic ones. Statistically the results are even more important, since they establish beyond cavil that the occurrence of these particles is a valid discriminant, and the difference in distribution reflects an intrinsic distinction between prose and poetry. All these elements are present in Genesis 1.”
7. I believe Anon misunderstood a statement I made or maybe I didn’t explain it clearly enough. I suggested that liberals saw various parts of the Bible as historiographic which were the very sections that contain the literary devices that Anon and Dickson trumpet as being indicative of non-history. My point was not that these liberals BELIEVED these sections to be actual history, but that they saw it had the form of history i.e. historiographic i.e it resembled history writing. What the majority of liberals then do is provide a reason, any reason, to give their liberalism a veneer of credibility. In like manner, Dickson and Anon throw up this specious and contrived link between literary devices and non-history and non-historiography. That both these people state their case in a circular fashion and never once actually give evidence for it is lost in the debate. Anon further arrogantly tries to make us orthodox prove our case, another clear indication of his liberal and heretical view of Scripture. Anon, like Dickson, never actually supply any evidence for their belief.
8. So that clarified, Anon wanted to see some evidence that liberals accept the earliest parts of the Bible as historiography.
(i) Meir Sternberg understood the Bible to “transmute even invention into the stuff of history”
(ii) Robert Alter, the well-known literary theorist, calls Genesis and Exodus “fiction in the guise of history” and “historicized prose fiction.” Elsewhere he writes concerning Judges, “It is perhaps less historicized fiction than fictionalized history – history in which the feeling and the meaning of events are concretely realised through the technical resources of prose fiction.”
(iii) In other words, even an uber-liberal like Alter can see that this writing possesses the appearance of historiography, though, of course, denying its objective factuality. Dickson, however, denies that Genesis 1 even takes the form of historiography because – and let’s take him at his word here – it’s lumbered with too many literary devices. At least Alter is a tad more convincing because he denies it’s true but says it was written to appear like history. This is not all that dissimilar to the High Priest of atheism Richard Dawkins who many years ago, speaking to Phillip Adams, stated something to the effect that he understood from the text that the writers of Genesis 1 believed that what they wrote was literal and had occurred, unlike the dishonest contemporary Christian interpreters who try to make days seem like ages.
(iv) Even Adele Berlin agreed that despite the Bible being fiction and denying the miraculous, the stories were presented in a realistic narrative. Go figure, Anon.
9. Just a comment on a rather confusing point Anon made. He said that I was “incapable…of escaping from the simplistic but entirely spurious disjunction [I]’ve sought to establish between literal history and non-history.”
Now, I may have misunderstood Anon’s point here, but it seems to me that this is exactly the liberal cake-and-eat-it-too doctrine that the Sydney Anglo Heretics are becoming quickly famous for. I believe it was Warwick who first pointed this out on the Blog. They call Genesis 1 truth but not true truth. Anon’s comment seems to be a variation on this.
In any case, this is begging the question that Genesis is not historiography and history, and is another example of the hubris of these heretics who, while denying the traditional Church’s statements concerning the historical truth of Genesis 1, maintain that theirs is the right and only view of Genesis 1. They throw in all the usual red-herrings like the Good Samaritan Parable and pose all the hollow questions like “Was there really a certain man on the road to Jericho?” etc, as though this actually nullifies Genesis 1’s claim to being an accurate record of the Earth’s history.
No, Anon, it’s you and your postmodern, neo-orthodox mates over there in Anglo ga-ga land which have to prove the novel idea that there is no disjunction between literal history and non-history.
10. In summation, it is apparent that people like Anon and Dickson believe that art in writing spells the death of historiography. Or it may be the case that too much art is incommensurate with the writing of history (neither ever flesh their argument out). Now, maybe this is the case in contemporary history writing – I am not sufficiently adept to pass opinion – but, and my case presented here is hardly exhaustive, it would hardly seem that this was true in antiquity. Why, then, would Anon and Dickson make such a song and dance concerning literary devices in Genesis 1 when these, and more, appear throughout Scripture far more abundantly and in exceedingly more complex application? The answer is hardly rocket science. They disingenuously are led by the conclusions of materialistic science, notwithstanding their protestations to the contrary. It’s heresy business as usual with these guys!
I want to finish this thread by quoting the arch-liberal Bultmann. He wrote that “the literary devices with which [the author of John’s Gospel] builds the discussions—the use of ambiguous concepts and statements to elicit misunderstandings—are indicative that he lives within the sphere of Gnostic-dualistic thinking.” These ambiguities and misunderstandings are not “merely formal technical devices. Rather, they are the expression of his underlying dualistic view.”
As we know, Bultmann did not really care for any talk of the Gospels being history, just as Dickson and his zealous supporters truck no argument that Genesis 1 is history. It is indeed one of those queer coincidences of history that both Bultmann and Dickson identify the catalyst for the removal of the historical as the inclusion of literary devices by the authors of the biblical text.
11. Conclusion
Let me borrow heavily from Dickson’s own argument and, mutatis mutandis, present a more likely conclusion:
The chronology of the chapter is stunning and, to ancient readers, unmistakable. It casts the creation as a work of history, sharing in the temporality of God and deriving from him. My point is obvious: the inclusion of a prescript for the benefit of modern readers would be unnecessary because the original author could hardly have made it clearer that his message is historiographic rather than literary and ahistoric.”
Moreover, one can’t but help be reminded of C.S. Lewis’ trenchant censure of these Anglicans who seek to present another Gospel, a Gospel that robs Christ of his nature and office:
“Whatever these men may be as Biblical critics, I distrust them as critics. They seem to me to lack literary judgement, to be imperceptive about the very quality of the texts they are reading…These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can’t see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight.”
Finally, a word from Peter, the disciple who was mocked by Anon:
"First of all you must realise that in the last days cynical mockers will undoubtedly come - men whose only guide in life is what they want for themselves - and they will say, "Everything remains as it was since the beginning of creation!" They are deliberately shutting their eyes to the fact that there were heavens in the old days and an earth formed by God's command out of water and by water. It was by water that the world of those days was deluged and destroyed."
1. I believe the following is a fair representation of Anonymous’ case against me.
a. I offered Kay’s paper as proof and argued that literary devices don’t
negate the claim of a passage to being history.
b. Dickson proposed the inclusion of so many literary devices means
Genesis 1 isn’t history.
c. I overlooked the subtlety of Dickson’s argument.
d. I‘m dumb as it’s not true truth.
e. QED, Dickson’s case is subtle and accurate.
f. Genesis 1 isn’t an historical report because of the large number of
literary devices
g. It is right to say that Kay’s case lacks a strong and sharp disproof to
Dickson’s thesis that Genesis is non-history.
2. To refresh everyone’s memory what Dickson wrote: “Genesis 1…is composed in a style quite different from the ‘historical narrative’ of, say, the Gospels in their accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, for instance…Genesis 1, on the other hand, is not written in the style we normally associate with historical report. It is difficult even to describe the passage as prose. The original Hebrew of this passage is marked by intricate structure, rhythm, parallelism, chiasmus, repetition and the lavish use of number symbolism. These features are not observed together in those parts of the Bible we recognize as historical prose…I will, however, draw attention to the number symbolism present in our passage. [John gives a number of examples of the number 7 and its multiples in the text and then concludes with] The artistry of the chapter is stunning and, to ancient readers, unmistakable. It casts the creation as a work of art, sharing in the perfection of God and deriving from him. My point is obvious: short of including a prescript for the benefit of modern readers the original author could hardly have made it clearer that his message is being conveyed through literary rather than prosaic means.”
So, clearly Dickson is saying from “the lavish use of number[s]” alone that one can conclude Genesis 1 is not historiography. I’ll address this in a moment but, as you stated elsewhere, what’s good for a goose is good for the gander, and so I think it was entirely reasonable for me to argue (as Kay had in his paper) that individually these literary devices do not necessarily convey non-history.
Furthermore, as you have implied, these devices are found in historiographic passages. (Although, Dickson, by not actually exploring this “incidental” detail, seems hell-bent on not providing examples for the reader so they can at least make up their own mind as to the strength of his case. After all, if, for example, a clearly historiographic section of one of the Gospels were to contain several literary devices, I would assume that even the most zealously sycophantic of Dickson’s backers would be less inclined to argue for the soundness of his thesis. Hmmm, maybe not so on second thought, given their hitherto lending of unconditional support for just about any old excuse that maintains their obduracy and love of heresy) I would obviously concur. So the problem for you and Dickson is this: If the inclusion of one device does not in and of itself transform historiography to non-historiography, and the addition of another similarly doesn’t, and another etc etc don’t, why would the inclusion of all 6 suddenly tip the scale? If you reply that this “uniqueness” is the very characteristic that does turn historiography to non-historiography, isn’t that just simply a case of question-begging? Wouldn’t one need to provide several examples from other sources, particularly non-biblical ones, which demonstrate the soundness of this proposition?
Looking at it in a not entirely different way, Dickson has tacitly stated that, all other things being equal,
(i) 1 Literary Device = Historiography,
(ii) LD+LD = Historiography
(iii) LD+LD+LD = Historiography
(iv) LD+LD+LD+LD = Historiography
and
(v) LD+LD+LD+LD+LD = Historiography
yet he contends that
LD+LD+LD+LD+LD+LD ≠ Historiography
I am at a loss how 1,2,3,4, or even 5 pluses add up to a plus but an additional 6th makes it a zero. Along with destroying biblical facts, you guys seem to have the same menacing attitude to maths. This reminds me of Dallas Willard’s comment: “[U]nsound arguments are not to be expected by their collective force to prove a conclusion which none can establish by themselves."
3. So since you’ve admitted that literary devices are utilised by the author in historiography, where does Dickson (and you) draw the cut-off line? It seems that since these devices are everywhere, in historical prose and poetry alike, then the answer must be, “Well, anywhere I damn well please!” This of course demonstrates the arbitrary nature of your argument. That, putatively, these devices only appear in such numbers in Genesis 1 and no where else is not the clincher you imagine it to be. After all, breathing over its neck is a passage of historical narrative that has one less literary device. If none of the ancients were bothered with their inclusion why should we listen to Dickson and a nobody called Anonymous. All this to me seems like something new to tickle those who are easily dissuaded from the plain, straightforward, uncomplicated historical truth of the first page of God’s revelation to us. That the common ploughboy has never seen this wolf-in-sheep’s clothing “truth” you’re presently serving up to the Church only strengthens our resolve to root you heretics out.
4. While we are on the subject, I’d like to point out that neither Dickson nor Anon never actually identify where these literary devices appear in the text. I suppose we’re to just take their word that all 6 actually appear in Genesis.
So, would either of these two heretics (or the Dickson sycophants over in the Sydney Diocese) change their view if just one of the mooted devices didn’t appear in Genesis 1? That is, based on Dickson’s thesis, if the sum total of these devices were 5, would these heretics accept Genesis 1 as history or can nothing falsify Dickson’s proposition?
5. Just on this issue, a few years ago an Israeli Oxford Hebraist academic informed me that sustained rhythm, the type that non-prose should contain if it does have rhythm, is not in Genesis 1. What rhythm there is, is far too brief to be important and is a chance by-product of speech in general. In other words, one would be drawing a really long bow to claim that rhythm is a salient literary device in Genesis 1.
6. But just to fulfil my epistemic obligation, let me provide you with a few passages where there is a preponderance of literary devices. To make it easier for me I’ll be borrowing considerably from Dickson’s paper.
The Flood Narrative
It is well known that in Hebrew thought the number 8 symbolises new beginnings, resurrection or regeneration and 13 betrayal. A well-known example for the former is many baptismal fonts are eight-sided, as is the baptismal cross, while the latter is the number of people at the Last Supper.
In the narrative of Noah, which contains the Flood account, multiples of 8 appear in extraordinary ways. For ancient readers, who were accustomed to taking notice of such things, these multiples of 8 conveyed a powerful message. Its omnipresence in many chapters of the Bible makes an unmistakable point about the ultimate authorship of the Bible itself. Consider the following in this account:
a. The “berit” (covenant) stem appears 8 times
b. The number of people saved on the ark was 8
c. The sign of the covenant, “qeshet” (rainbow) has a numerical value in Hebrew
of 800
d. The Flood was 40 days (i.e. 5 x 8) upon the earth
e. Noah waited another 40 days until he opened the window
f. He then sent out a raven, numerical value 272 (i.e. 8 x 32)
g. Noah’s name is occasionally spelled with a vav and thus his name has a
numerical value of 64 i.e. 8 x 8
h. From Adam to Noah’s Flood there were 1656 (207 x 8) years
And btw,
i. Indeed, Jesus’ very name in Greek numerical values has the value of 888,
which also equals in Hebrew Yeshoth Elohenu i.e. Our God’s Salvation
j. Jesus appeared to Thomas on the 8th day
k. Pistis (faith) has the same numerical value as Kurios (Lord) i.e. 800
As to the number 7,
a. The clean beasts were taken on in lots of seven
b. Assuming 30 days in a lunar month, the fountains of the deep were broken up
on the 2nd month, 17th day of Noah’s 600th year i.e. the 77th day
c. The Ark came to rest in the 7th month
d. The tops of the mountains were seen on the first day of the 10th month i.e. (
10 x 30) +1 = 301 = 43 x 7
e. The seventh occurrence of the name Noah is in Genesis 6:9 and here he is
called ‘perfect’. The Hebrew word here is thammim which has a numerical
value of 490 i.e. 70 x 7
f. The number of times that God spoke to Noah was seven.
Any other literary devices? Sure.
• A play on words: In Hebrew the name ‘Noah’ is an anagram of ‘Grace’. The first appearance of ‘grace’ is in Genesis 6:8: ‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH’. The numerical value of YHWH is 26. The word ‘grace’ is found in 26 (13 x 2) verses in Torah.
• Parallelism: In Genesis 6:9 "perfect in his generations" acts as a parallel thought to Noah being "a just man."
• Parallelism: In Genesis 7: 6-10, 11-16 this device can be discerned as re-emphasising and enlarging upon the same ideas.
• Chiasmus:
Genesis 7:10 – And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
Genesis 7:12 - And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:24 – The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Genesis 8:3 – The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,
Genesis 8:6 - After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark
Genesis 8:10 - He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
Here’s another:
Introduction (6:9-10)
1. Violence on the earth (6:11-12)
2. First speech: intent to destroy earth (6:13-22)
3. Second speech: go into the ark (7:1-10)
4. The Flood starts (7:11-16)
5. The flood rises (7:17-24)
Climax-God remembers Noah (8:1a)
5a. The Flood recedes (8:1b-5)
4a. Drying off of the earth (8:6-14)
3a. Third speech: leave the ark (8:15-19)
2a. Will not destroy earth again (8:20-22)
1a. Fourth speech: the covenant (9:1-17)
Conclusion (9:18-19)
There is a chiastic structure in the genealogy: Noah's sons are listed in this order: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; then they are discussed in reverse order.
• Repetition
(i) The destruction of life
(ii) Establishment of the covenant
(iii) The types of animals on the ark
What then can we at this blog conclude? All of this definitely will convince the heretics in the Sydney Anglo Fun Park that Noah’s story and the Flood specifically are not historical or historiography.
When I previously pointed out that the Flood account contains all the features Dickson has said tell the reader to think ‘non-history/non-historiography’, Anon’s remark was “ROFL.” In fact, Anon went on to suggest these chapters of Genesis were on the sae level as a fairy tale like Goldilocks and the 3 bears.
I suspect Anon will mock my argument, as he has done previously (he poured scorn on my comment and said I had a weak argument when I offered Jesus’ and Peter’s testimonies as proof that the Bible’s account of the Flood should be taken as history), but this behaviour is what one expects from heretics. As we progress through the Bible more and more chapters start to be transformed from historiography to myth or some other liberal nomenclature.
Abraham
• Numbers
a. There are 613 commandments in Torah. Of these 248 are positive and 365 negative. Abraham, the first Jew, was called righteous before God and is regarded as the paradigm of perfection. His name has the number value of 248 (31x 8), the number of positive commandments.
b. The son of Abraham, Yizhak, has 4 letters to his name each with a numerical value of 10, 90, 8 and 100 respectively. The first refers to the 10 commandments, the second to the age of Sarah when he was born, the third, the age at his circumcision and the last to the age of Abraham when he was born. A miracle performed for a mother and father was for the sake of a child who would be circumcised and enter a covenant.
c. Concerning the number 13, circumcision for Ishmael was carried out when he was 13, the word for covenant, berit, is mentioned 13 times in Genesis 17, the chapter which sets out the circumcision command.
d. In Genesis 14:14 there are 318 men who went out to rescue his relative. Interesting, Eliezer the servant of Abraham, the “heir” of Abraham, has a numerical value for his name of 318.
• Chiasmus:
A Display of faith: Abram leaves his homeland; the first promise 11:31–12:3
B Abram sojourns in Canaan 12:4-9
C The stay in Egypt; Abram passes Sarai off as his sister 12:10-20
D The separation of Abram, who has the promise, from Lot, who does not
have the promise 13:1-18
E The rescue of Lot 14:1-24
F Abram’s fears of infertility are allayed by the promise of a
son; God makes a covenant 15:1-21
G Sarai’s attempt to get a son: Ishmael 16:1-16
H THE COVENANT; Abram’s new name,
etc. 17:1-10
G´ Circumcision; the rejection of Ishmael and the
promise of a son through Sarah 17:9-27
F´ Sarah is told of the promise of a son, despite her fears of
infertility 18:1-15
E´ The rescue of Lot 18:16–19:38
D´ The stay in Gerar; Abraham passes Sarah off as his sister 20:1-18
C´ The birth of Isaac; the separation of Isaac, the child of the promise, from
Ishmael, the child outside the promise 21:1-21
B´ Abraham sojourns among the Philistines 21:22-34
A´ Display of faith: Abraham is willing to sacrifice Isaac; the final promise 22:1-19
And there are chiasms within chiasms. For example, Genesis 12:16 appears as an inventory but has been arranged chiastically. So, if Dickson’s rule is true then Abram’s sheep are not referring to historic sheep but artistic ones.
There are also significant and lavish use of numbers concerning the other patriarchs etc
a. Adam is 130 when he begot Seth and lives another 800 years.
b. Jacob has 1 daughter and 8 sons from his wives and 4 sons from the
shefahot i.e. 13 children.
c. When Jacob’s name is changed to Israel by God, then last time he is called
Jacob is the 130th appearance of Jacob’s name in Torah.
d. Jacob’s age in front of Pharaoh is 130 while Moses was 80
e. The only ages given for Joseph are 17, 30, 110, gaps of 13 and 80
f. Sarah was at her death 127 years old = 100 + 20 + 7. The gaps here are 80
and 13.
g. Circumcision is on the 8th day.
And I am more than sure that if I could be bothered – which I am definitely not – I could find far too many examples of devices which Kay listed in his article, including, parallel plotting with its ostensible appearance of simultaneity, delayed action and outcomes, asymmetrical and ironic juxtapositioning, convergence and retrospective alignment, sequential twists, temporal shifts, the omitting or ambiguating of causal links, temporal gaps and blanks, analogous or repetitive themes and incidents, alternation whereby the narrative sequence zig-zags between objective simultaneities, suspense-driven episodes, deep interlinear polarities of theme, foreclosure or premature curtain-dropping which “jumps ahead” in absolute time in order to synchronize effects, the establishment of contextual hierarchies of importance, shifts in focus, complex word plays, parataxis, and interepisodic suspense.
Matthew’s Gospel
The first 17 verses of the New Testament (The Gospel of Matthew) deals with a single principal subject: the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It contains 72 Greek vocabulary words in these initial 17 versus. The following structures are supposedly found.
• The number of words which are nouns is exactly 56, or 7 x 8. The Greek
word "the" occurs most frequently in the passage: exactly 56 times, or 7 x 8.
• The number of different forms in which the article "the" occurs is exactly 7
• There are two main sections in the passage: verse 1-11 and 12-17. In the
first main section, the number of Greek vocabulary words used is 49, or 7 x 7 Of these 49 words, the number of those beginning with a vowel is 28, or 7 x 4
• The number of words beginning with a consonant is 21, or 7 x 3. The total
number of letters in these 49 words is exactly 266, or 7 x 38-exactly.
• The numbers of vowels among these 266 letters is 140, or 7 x 20. The number
of consonants is 126, or 7 x 18-exactly.
• Of these 49 words, the number of words which occur more than once is 35, or 7 x 5.
• The number of words occurring only once is 14, or 7 x2.
• The number of words which occur in only one form is exactly 42, or 7 x 6.
• The number of words appearing in more than one form is also 7.
• The number of 49 Greek vocabulary words which are nouns is 42, or 7 x 6.
• The number of words which are not nouns is 7.
• Of the nouns, 35 are proper names, or 7 x 5. These 35 nouns are used 63
times, or 7 x 9.
• The number of male names is 28, or 7 x 4. These male names occur 56 times or
7 x 8.
• The number of names which is not male is 7.
• Three women are mentioned-Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. The number of Greek
letters in these three names is 14, or 7 x 2.
• The number of compound nouns is 7. The number of Greek letters in these 7
nouns is 49, or 7 x 7.
• Only one city is named in this passage, Babylon, which in Greek contains
exactly 7 letters.
Matthew’s sectional use of 14 generations has been mooted to reflect the then current belief of the number of High Priests from Aaron to the establishment of Solomon’s Temple, from the establishment from the Temple until Jaddua, the last High Priest mentioned in Scripture. Others have argued that in his 3x14 division Matthew is reflecting a then already widely-held belief of a universal world-week patterned after the seven days of creation (i.e. 6x7), six “days” followed by a Messianic age i.e. a Sabbath, or a pattern following the formula used in Daniel. Whatever the case may be, it was not accidental.
Matthew begins the Gospel with a chiastic form in 1:1,17 (ABC, genealogy, C'B'A') for the genealogy in vv 2-16. In this case each half of the frame summarises the significance of the enclosed genealogy. There is also a chiastic appearance of Abraham and David in his genealogy i.e.
Jesus 1.1b
David 1.1c
Abraham 1.1d
Abraham1.2
David1.6
Jesus1.16
Breck holds that 3:1-17 and 4:1-17 form a chiasm centred upon John’s claim that Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire, enclosed by 2 expressions of “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Fenton and Gaechter have argued that all of Matthew is chiastic, the latter also pointing out the numerical patterns that control the several parts of the whole. Others have stated that Matthew has complicated circles of chiasms within chiasms, and these too have chiasms controlling them.
Furthermore some have argued that there is a typological literary reflection in Matthew’s Gospel which looks something like this:
Matthew OT
1:1: Book of Genesis Gen 2:4; 5:1
(i.e. toledoth and sepher
toledoth)
1:1-17: son of Abraham Gen 12-26
1:18-25: Joseph the dreamer Gen 37
2:1-12: Magi Nations to Egypt for Joseph
2:13-15: Herod kills children Exod 1-2: Pharaoh
kills children
2:14: Jesus rescued, flees Exod 2: Moses rescued,
flees
2:19-23: Jesus returns to Israel Exod 3-4: Moses returns
to Egypt
3:1-12: John announces judgment Exod 5-12: Moses/Aaron
bring judgment
3:13-17: Jesus passes through Exod 14: Parting of the
waters waters of the Red Sea
4:1-11: Temptation in wilderness Exod 17-19: Travel in Sinai
4:18-22: Jesus calls disciples Exod 18: Moses appoints
rulers
chs. 5-7: Sermon on the Mount Ex 19 ff Sinai and the
and various explanations of Law giving of Torah
Matthew also demonstrates a reliance on the number three throughout his Gospel: 3 temptations, 3 illustrations of righteousness, 3 miracles of healing, 3 miracles of power, 3 miracles of restoration, threefold ‘fear not’, threefold answer to the question about fasting, 3 complaints of the Pharisees, 3 ‘is not worthy of me’, 3 parables of sowing, 3 sayings about ‘little ones’, 3 questions, 3 parables of warning, 3 prayers at Gethsemane, 3 denials of Peter, 3 petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, 3 aspirations in the Lord’s Prayer. There is also a triadic structure to the Sermon on the Mount which reflects a well-known triad of Jewish piety preserved in mAb. 1:2 (446).
There are also 7 demons, seven loaves, seven baskets, sevenfold forgiveness, seven brothers and seven woes. As Marshall Johnson wrote, “Considered in the light of this tendency toward numerical structure, the arrangement of the genealogy into 3 x 14 or 3 x 7 x 2 seems entirely congruous. The evangelist draws attention to the form of the genealogy because it is a survey of pre-Messianic history intending to underscore the predetermined character of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.”
From the list of additional literary device Kaye supplied, in the first few chapters of Matthew one can see the following utilised by the Gospel writer when composing the text: parallel plotting with its ostensible appearance of simultaneity, delayed action and outcomes, convergence and retrospective alignment, sequential twists, temporal shifts, temporal gaps and blanks, analogous or repetitive themes and incidents, alternation whereby the narrative sequence zig-zags between objective simultaneities, suspense-driven episodes, parataxis.
So, what would a Sydney Anglican Evangelical following the much-heralded Dickson rule be forced to conclude? Matthew is neither prose nor historiography. Of course, similar material could be raised with reference to the other Gospels and similar conclusions stated.
As a liberal Dickson looks toward structure and not content (i.e. Don’t confuse me with the facts!). Kaye pointed out that Hebrew prose can be identified by the use of particular grammatical constructs. Anon and Dickson are oblivious to this (maybe they don’t read footnotes?) or choose to ignore it because it would destroy their case. Kaye wrote: “The particles ’et (the sign of the definite direct object), ’ašer (the relative pronoun), and ha- (the definite article) all have been identified as prosaic elements, not common in or suitable to poetry....In general, these particulars occur six to eight times more frequently in prose passages than in poetic ones. Statistically the results are even more important, since they establish beyond cavil that the occurrence of these particles is a valid discriminant, and the difference in distribution reflects an intrinsic distinction between prose and poetry. All these elements are present in Genesis 1.”
7. I believe Anon misunderstood a statement I made or maybe I didn’t explain it clearly enough. I suggested that liberals saw various parts of the Bible as historiographic which were the very sections that contain the literary devices that Anon and Dickson trumpet as being indicative of non-history. My point was not that these liberals BELIEVED these sections to be actual history, but that they saw it had the form of history i.e. historiographic i.e it resembled history writing. What the majority of liberals then do is provide a reason, any reason, to give their liberalism a veneer of credibility. In like manner, Dickson and Anon throw up this specious and contrived link between literary devices and non-history and non-historiography. That both these people state their case in a circular fashion and never once actually give evidence for it is lost in the debate. Anon further arrogantly tries to make us orthodox prove our case, another clear indication of his liberal and heretical view of Scripture. Anon, like Dickson, never actually supply any evidence for their belief.
8. So that clarified, Anon wanted to see some evidence that liberals accept the earliest parts of the Bible as historiography.
(i) Meir Sternberg understood the Bible to “transmute even invention into the stuff of history”
(ii) Robert Alter, the well-known literary theorist, calls Genesis and Exodus “fiction in the guise of history” and “historicized prose fiction.” Elsewhere he writes concerning Judges, “It is perhaps less historicized fiction than fictionalized history – history in which the feeling and the meaning of events are concretely realised through the technical resources of prose fiction.”
(iii) In other words, even an uber-liberal like Alter can see that this writing possesses the appearance of historiography, though, of course, denying its objective factuality. Dickson, however, denies that Genesis 1 even takes the form of historiography because – and let’s take him at his word here – it’s lumbered with too many literary devices. At least Alter is a tad more convincing because he denies it’s true but says it was written to appear like history. This is not all that dissimilar to the High Priest of atheism Richard Dawkins who many years ago, speaking to Phillip Adams, stated something to the effect that he understood from the text that the writers of Genesis 1 believed that what they wrote was literal and had occurred, unlike the dishonest contemporary Christian interpreters who try to make days seem like ages.
(iv) Even Adele Berlin agreed that despite the Bible being fiction and denying the miraculous, the stories were presented in a realistic narrative. Go figure, Anon.
9. Just a comment on a rather confusing point Anon made. He said that I was “incapable…of escaping from the simplistic but entirely spurious disjunction [I]’ve sought to establish between literal history and non-history.”
Now, I may have misunderstood Anon’s point here, but it seems to me that this is exactly the liberal cake-and-eat-it-too doctrine that the Sydney Anglo Heretics are becoming quickly famous for. I believe it was Warwick who first pointed this out on the Blog. They call Genesis 1 truth but not true truth. Anon’s comment seems to be a variation on this.
In any case, this is begging the question that Genesis is not historiography and history, and is another example of the hubris of these heretics who, while denying the traditional Church’s statements concerning the historical truth of Genesis 1, maintain that theirs is the right and only view of Genesis 1. They throw in all the usual red-herrings like the Good Samaritan Parable and pose all the hollow questions like “Was there really a certain man on the road to Jericho?” etc, as though this actually nullifies Genesis 1’s claim to being an accurate record of the Earth’s history.
No, Anon, it’s you and your postmodern, neo-orthodox mates over there in Anglo ga-ga land which have to prove the novel idea that there is no disjunction between literal history and non-history.
10. In summation, it is apparent that people like Anon and Dickson believe that art in writing spells the death of historiography. Or it may be the case that too much art is incommensurate with the writing of history (neither ever flesh their argument out). Now, maybe this is the case in contemporary history writing – I am not sufficiently adept to pass opinion – but, and my case presented here is hardly exhaustive, it would hardly seem that this was true in antiquity. Why, then, would Anon and Dickson make such a song and dance concerning literary devices in Genesis 1 when these, and more, appear throughout Scripture far more abundantly and in exceedingly more complex application? The answer is hardly rocket science. They disingenuously are led by the conclusions of materialistic science, notwithstanding their protestations to the contrary. It’s heresy business as usual with these guys!
I want to finish this thread by quoting the arch-liberal Bultmann. He wrote that “the literary devices with which [the author of John’s Gospel] builds the discussions—the use of ambiguous concepts and statements to elicit misunderstandings—are indicative that he lives within the sphere of Gnostic-dualistic thinking.” These ambiguities and misunderstandings are not “merely formal technical devices. Rather, they are the expression of his underlying dualistic view.”
As we know, Bultmann did not really care for any talk of the Gospels being history, just as Dickson and his zealous supporters truck no argument that Genesis 1 is history. It is indeed one of those queer coincidences of history that both Bultmann and Dickson identify the catalyst for the removal of the historical as the inclusion of literary devices by the authors of the biblical text.
11. Conclusion
Let me borrow heavily from Dickson’s own argument and, mutatis mutandis, present a more likely conclusion:
The chronology of the chapter is stunning and, to ancient readers, unmistakable. It casts the creation as a work of history, sharing in the temporality of God and deriving from him. My point is obvious: the inclusion of a prescript for the benefit of modern readers would be unnecessary because the original author could hardly have made it clearer that his message is historiographic rather than literary and ahistoric.”
Moreover, one can’t but help be reminded of C.S. Lewis’ trenchant censure of these Anglicans who seek to present another Gospel, a Gospel that robs Christ of his nature and office:
“Whatever these men may be as Biblical critics, I distrust them as critics. They seem to me to lack literary judgement, to be imperceptive about the very quality of the texts they are reading…These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can’t see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight.”
Finally, a word from Peter, the disciple who was mocked by Anon:
"First of all you must realise that in the last days cynical mockers will undoubtedly come - men whose only guide in life is what they want for themselves - and they will say, "Everything remains as it was since the beginning of creation!" They are deliberately shutting their eyes to the fact that there were heavens in the old days and an earth formed by God's command out of water and by water. It was by water that the world of those days was deluged and destroyed."
Monday, October 13, 2008
Losing focus in a vaccine hocus-pocus
Article in the Daily Telegraph by Garry Linnell, Editor-at-large
October 10, 2008:
GO figure. We live in a time when science can tell us how old and large the universe is, yet the demand for psychics, fortune tellers and horoscopes has never been higher.
Oddly, what’s going hand in hand is that rejection of Christian theism brings with it the destruction of the rationalist basis for science; because its Christian realism that defeats superstition (because of its trust in Genesis 1, fundamentally) and not science! Science, as we know it today is the result of, amongst other things, Christian realism, as has been discussed elsewhere in this blog; so remove the basis, you remove the result, and end up with the unintended consequence: more superstition.
This is even evident at a popular level in Christian churches that have become enamored with the Enneagram, MBTI type ‘black magic’, NLP, the martial arts, yoga and so on. As they reject Genesis 1 and its grounded rationalism, they will more and more succumb to mysticism and fall under the influence of anti-rational superstitions.
October 10, 2008:
GO figure. We live in a time when science can tell us how old and large the universe is, yet the demand for psychics, fortune tellers and horoscopes has never been higher.
Oddly, what’s going hand in hand is that rejection of Christian theism brings with it the destruction of the rationalist basis for science; because its Christian realism that defeats superstition (because of its trust in Genesis 1, fundamentally) and not science! Science, as we know it today is the result of, amongst other things, Christian realism, as has been discussed elsewhere in this blog; so remove the basis, you remove the result, and end up with the unintended consequence: more superstition.
This is even evident at a popular level in Christian churches that have become enamored with the Enneagram, MBTI type ‘black magic’, NLP, the martial arts, yoga and so on. As they reject Genesis 1 and its grounded rationalism, they will more and more succumb to mysticism and fall under the influence of anti-rational superstitions.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Studies in Genesis 1
An Anglican church on Sydney's North Shore is studying Gen 1. If the sermons are any good, I'll give a link, if not...
But here's the study.
Let's discuss the answers.
1. For starters: How does our worldview/culture 'change' the way in which we interpret and understand texts?
2. Read Genesis 1:1-2
What was there before creation? How is creation initiatied?
3. What state of creation is verse 2 explaining? How does it help us understand God's creating as an ordered process?
4. Read Genesis 1:1-25
Looking through each of the 6 days of creation how do we see the following pattern repeated:
-+ An announcement: "God said"
-+ An imperative: "Let there be"
-+ A report: "and it was so"
-+ An evaluation: "And God saw that it was..."
5. What does this pattern tell us of the importance of God's word in creation?
6. What does this pattern tell us of God's involvement and purpose in creation? Is he pleased with it? Is it good?
7. How do the following days seem to correspond to each other in the creation process (what is created in each and what relationship do they have):
-+ 7a. Days 1 and 4
-+ 7b. Days 2 and 5
-+ 7c. Days 3 and 6
8. How does this relationship between the days answer the problem in vs. 2 of the earth being 'formless and empty'?
9. What picture of God begins to emerge in Genesis 1? How might this stand against current 'pictures' of God?
10. To discuss: What is the purpose of Genesis 1? How does our worldview help or hinder the way in which we read and interpret it?
But here's the study.
Let's discuss the answers.
1. For starters: How does our worldview/culture 'change' the way in which we interpret and understand texts?
2. Read Genesis 1:1-2
What was there before creation? How is creation initiatied?
3. What state of creation is verse 2 explaining? How does it help us understand God's creating as an ordered process?
4. Read Genesis 1:1-25
Looking through each of the 6 days of creation how do we see the following pattern repeated:
-+ An announcement: "God said"
-+ An imperative: "Let there be"
-+ A report: "and it was so"
-+ An evaluation: "And God saw that it was..."
5. What does this pattern tell us of the importance of God's word in creation?
6. What does this pattern tell us of God's involvement and purpose in creation? Is he pleased with it? Is it good?
7. How do the following days seem to correspond to each other in the creation process (what is created in each and what relationship do they have):
-+ 7a. Days 1 and 4
-+ 7b. Days 2 and 5
-+ 7c. Days 3 and 6
8. How does this relationship between the days answer the problem in vs. 2 of the earth being 'formless and empty'?
9. What picture of God begins to emerge in Genesis 1? How might this stand against current 'pictures' of God?
10. To discuss: What is the purpose of Genesis 1? How does our worldview help or hinder the way in which we read and interpret it?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
"This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!" (Jer. 7:4)
I note the most recent discussion pointing to many in the Episcopalian Diocese of Sydney corrupting the biblical revelation of God as Creator.
I once posted a blog asserting the danger of the Diocese moving along the path toward Apostasy from the Gospel in what may otherwise be seen as Partial Apostasy. In light of recent discussion it is apt to revisit the works of John Owen, Puritan, in "Apostasy from the Gospel", Puritan Paperbacks, Published by Banner of Truth Trust, 1992.
Speaking on the topic of "Apostasy from the Doctrine of the Gospel" on pages 92, Owen says "So none will remain constantly faithful to Christ who is not able to spiritually discern the glory of his person and his offices" and on page 93, "The whole foundation of all gospel faith rests in the glory of Christ's person and offices (Heb. 1:2, 3; Col. 1:15-19)".
It is clearly observed that John Owen makes the aforesaid assertions drawing upon Scripture passages citing the office of Jesus Christ as Creator.
Please, please, Episcopalian Diocese of Sydney, the alarm bells are ringing and you must awake to the dangerous position in which you are to be found. You do not listen to us but surely you will listen to the bells activated by sound biblical scholar and Puritan, John Owen.
Listen further. On the subject of "If we would defend ourselves from all temptations to apostasy, then we must beware of national sins" John Owen says (on pages 163 & 164) "... We must be led by Christ and his Word and not by popular opinion, which says 'Everybody does it!' God's Word is clear. 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you' (2 Cor 6:17) ... We must be among them but not of them and certainly not corrupted by them and by national sins."
"If Christians will immerse themselves in the world so as to learn their ways and be led by their opinions, they will be carried with them into eternal perdition."
"Under the Old Testament, God could not trust his people to live among other people, nor others to live among them, knowing how unable they were to withstand the temptations to conform to the ways of the ungodly. So all nations were to be driven out of Canaan (Lev. 18:30). The neglect of God's wisdom and the transgressions of his will by mixing with other nations and learning their ways led to their ruin."
"Under the gospel, God's true church is to be kept pure and holy by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and among them. God now entrusts all that are called to the obedience of faith to live in the midst of the nations. Yet he still warns them of its dangers and requires them to watch and keep themselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27)."
"Objection. 'But if we do not conform in some things to the world's customs, we shall be despised in the world and nobody will take any notice of us.' Answer. What I mean is that submission to the world in yielding to its predominant vices, especially those vices which affect us in the place and time in which we live. Before we were converted, we did the popular thing, so now they think it strange that we no longer walk with them, and so they speak evil of us (1 Pet. 4:3,4). Do we really wish to renounce God and Christ in order to be popular with the world? (1 John 2:15-17: James 4:4)."
"What we must do is to outdo the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need."
Many and varied are the sins of the world and expressed all around us in what John Owen would call national sins. One of these national sins in our time is that of believing an interpretation of origins which is totally incompatible with the revelation of Jesus Christ Incarnate and in Word. Any attempt to marry the 'national' interpretation of creation with the revelation of Jesus Christ is nothing but that heinous sin of synchretism applied by Israel of old. It was an abomination to the Lord then and surely remains an abomination to Him now.
Don't do it! Don't dare do it, Sydney Episcopalians. Don't cast this warning aside with thoughts that John Owen and the Scripture passages he quoted refer to fleshly lusts and sins and have no relevance to the view that Jesus Christ used evolutionary processes to create. Idolatry is a sin of the flesh. It is man developing an image of God using elements of the world and is an inferior representation of the true God - man making his own god. To develop an image of Jesus Christ totally contrary to how he acted in His creative and recreative activity - as recorded in Scripture - and worse, to ascribe to Him a dead-end, suffering and death riddled process of creation is to ascribe to Him a beastly nature which is a great insult to Him. It is a vile sin of the flesh you engage in.
This is a serious problem. You must repent of it. As much as a Cancer has to be cut out early for life to be sustained so must this abomination be cut out early to prevent its course being fatal.
In closing, I draw everyone's attention to the final quote I have provided from John Owen. This subject in which we are engaged is extremely serious but let us conduct ourselves in a manner which outdoes "the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need". There is a lesson for me here as much as anyone else.
Sam Drucker
I once posted a blog asserting the danger of the Diocese moving along the path toward Apostasy from the Gospel in what may otherwise be seen as Partial Apostasy. In light of recent discussion it is apt to revisit the works of John Owen, Puritan, in "Apostasy from the Gospel", Puritan Paperbacks, Published by Banner of Truth Trust, 1992.
Speaking on the topic of "Apostasy from the Doctrine of the Gospel" on pages 92, Owen says "So none will remain constantly faithful to Christ who is not able to spiritually discern the glory of his person and his offices" and on page 93, "The whole foundation of all gospel faith rests in the glory of Christ's person and offices (Heb. 1:2, 3; Col. 1:15-19)".
It is clearly observed that John Owen makes the aforesaid assertions drawing upon Scripture passages citing the office of Jesus Christ as Creator.
Please, please, Episcopalian Diocese of Sydney, the alarm bells are ringing and you must awake to the dangerous position in which you are to be found. You do not listen to us but surely you will listen to the bells activated by sound biblical scholar and Puritan, John Owen.
Listen further. On the subject of "If we would defend ourselves from all temptations to apostasy, then we must beware of national sins" John Owen says (on pages 163 & 164) "... We must be led by Christ and his Word and not by popular opinion, which says 'Everybody does it!' God's Word is clear. 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you' (2 Cor 6:17) ... We must be among them but not of them and certainly not corrupted by them and by national sins."
"If Christians will immerse themselves in the world so as to learn their ways and be led by their opinions, they will be carried with them into eternal perdition."
"Under the Old Testament, God could not trust his people to live among other people, nor others to live among them, knowing how unable they were to withstand the temptations to conform to the ways of the ungodly. So all nations were to be driven out of Canaan (Lev. 18:30). The neglect of God's wisdom and the transgressions of his will by mixing with other nations and learning their ways led to their ruin."
"Under the gospel, God's true church is to be kept pure and holy by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and among them. God now entrusts all that are called to the obedience of faith to live in the midst of the nations. Yet he still warns them of its dangers and requires them to watch and keep themselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27)."
"Objection. 'But if we do not conform in some things to the world's customs, we shall be despised in the world and nobody will take any notice of us.' Answer. What I mean is that submission to the world in yielding to its predominant vices, especially those vices which affect us in the place and time in which we live. Before we were converted, we did the popular thing, so now they think it strange that we no longer walk with them, and so they speak evil of us (1 Pet. 4:3,4). Do we really wish to renounce God and Christ in order to be popular with the world? (1 John 2:15-17: James 4:4)."
"What we must do is to outdo the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need."
Many and varied are the sins of the world and expressed all around us in what John Owen would call national sins. One of these national sins in our time is that of believing an interpretation of origins which is totally incompatible with the revelation of Jesus Christ Incarnate and in Word. Any attempt to marry the 'national' interpretation of creation with the revelation of Jesus Christ is nothing but that heinous sin of synchretism applied by Israel of old. It was an abomination to the Lord then and surely remains an abomination to Him now.
Don't do it! Don't dare do it, Sydney Episcopalians. Don't cast this warning aside with thoughts that John Owen and the Scripture passages he quoted refer to fleshly lusts and sins and have no relevance to the view that Jesus Christ used evolutionary processes to create. Idolatry is a sin of the flesh. It is man developing an image of God using elements of the world and is an inferior representation of the true God - man making his own god. To develop an image of Jesus Christ totally contrary to how he acted in His creative and recreative activity - as recorded in Scripture - and worse, to ascribe to Him a dead-end, suffering and death riddled process of creation is to ascribe to Him a beastly nature which is a great insult to Him. It is a vile sin of the flesh you engage in.
This is a serious problem. You must repent of it. As much as a Cancer has to be cut out early for life to be sustained so must this abomination be cut out early to prevent its course being fatal.
In closing, I draw everyone's attention to the final quote I have provided from John Owen. This subject in which we are engaged is extremely serious but let us conduct ourselves in a manner which outdoes "the world in honesty, kindness, gentleness, usefulness, moderation of spirit, charity, compassion and readiness to help others in their need". There is a lesson for me here as much as anyone else.
Sam Drucker
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Sleeping with the atheists
Did anyone catch last Saturday’s Herald an article ‘When extinction becomes a heresy’? It was an edited extract from an essay titled ‘Empathy for the enemy’, which, as I’ll soon explain, is manifestly ironic.
The article was jam-packed with the usual maudlin and irrational animal “rights” rhetoric that is endlessly promoted nowadays in mainstream media. More outrageous was its attempt to compare the necessary elimination of rabbits and foxes from Australia with the barbarism of Auschwitz. This elevation of animal rights, I may add, is entirely consistent with Nazi practices and their obsession with all things green.
Notwithstanding this attempt to muddy the clear line of separation between man and animal, attention needs to be called to the only theoretical basis on which such a move can be reasonably postulated, that being the “truth” of evolution. In other words, all life has common ancestry, and this was clearly reiterated in the article.
As a related aside, the Evangelical Union of Sydney University recently had their perennial compromising science/religion lunchtime talk. One of the scientists on the panel of “experts”, when asked about evolution, gave it an unqualified thumbs up. I couldn’t help but notice the confused look on the atheist’s face who asked the question. Quite rightly she instantly realised the incommensurability and the procrustean explanation of a putative marriage between Christian theism and this materialistic worldview.
One last jibe at the essay’s author Clive Marks. Marks is blissfully and philosophically unaware that just because something is the case (i.e. rabbits suffer when exposed to Myxomatosis), that this is sufficient epistemic justification to derive moral condemnation concerning this fact (i.e. it’s morally reprehensible to expose rabbits to Myxomatosis because rabbits suffer). And certainly, on an evolutionary epistemic in which the fit win and the weak are removed, I can’t see how a reversal of nature’s norm is at all warranted.
Now to the real comment I wish to make.
What grabbed my attention was the article’s opening sentence: “Time and evolution have been detached creators”
This blog has endlessly pointed out that the heretics over in that other world of Sydney Anglicanism have robbed Christ of his glory and office by substituting another creator for Him. These wolves neither read the Bible properly nor listen to commonsense and advice and thus, in chasing after the world’s wisdom, they “are deluded by specious arguments…and fall prey to hollow and misleading philosophy.” Rather than wholeheartedly upholding Paul’s statement that “everything was created through him”, these rascals have deceived others that the gods of time and evolution can act as a surrogate for Christ. Not content with their own evil thoughts, they pour scorn on and try to silence any who oppose their ideas.
That atheists openly worship time and evolution as the “gods” of materialism only makes the SADs enlisting of these very same “gods” inexcusable.
The article was jam-packed with the usual maudlin and irrational animal “rights” rhetoric that is endlessly promoted nowadays in mainstream media. More outrageous was its attempt to compare the necessary elimination of rabbits and foxes from Australia with the barbarism of Auschwitz. This elevation of animal rights, I may add, is entirely consistent with Nazi practices and their obsession with all things green.
Notwithstanding this attempt to muddy the clear line of separation between man and animal, attention needs to be called to the only theoretical basis on which such a move can be reasonably postulated, that being the “truth” of evolution. In other words, all life has common ancestry, and this was clearly reiterated in the article.
As a related aside, the Evangelical Union of Sydney University recently had their perennial compromising science/religion lunchtime talk. One of the scientists on the panel of “experts”, when asked about evolution, gave it an unqualified thumbs up. I couldn’t help but notice the confused look on the atheist’s face who asked the question. Quite rightly she instantly realised the incommensurability and the procrustean explanation of a putative marriage between Christian theism and this materialistic worldview.
One last jibe at the essay’s author Clive Marks. Marks is blissfully and philosophically unaware that just because something is the case (i.e. rabbits suffer when exposed to Myxomatosis), that this is sufficient epistemic justification to derive moral condemnation concerning this fact (i.e. it’s morally reprehensible to expose rabbits to Myxomatosis because rabbits suffer). And certainly, on an evolutionary epistemic in which the fit win and the weak are removed, I can’t see how a reversal of nature’s norm is at all warranted.
Now to the real comment I wish to make.
What grabbed my attention was the article’s opening sentence: “Time and evolution have been detached creators”
This blog has endlessly pointed out that the heretics over in that other world of Sydney Anglicanism have robbed Christ of his glory and office by substituting another creator for Him. These wolves neither read the Bible properly nor listen to commonsense and advice and thus, in chasing after the world’s wisdom, they “are deluded by specious arguments…and fall prey to hollow and misleading philosophy.” Rather than wholeheartedly upholding Paul’s statement that “everything was created through him”, these rascals have deceived others that the gods of time and evolution can act as a surrogate for Christ. Not content with their own evil thoughts, they pour scorn on and try to silence any who oppose their ideas.
That atheists openly worship time and evolution as the “gods” of materialism only makes the SADs enlisting of these very same “gods” inexcusable.
In Nature...
Quote from the 'Big Questions' in Spectrum (SMH) Oct 4-5, 2008, in answer to the question "What's the point of the common cold"?:
"...in nature, nothing is for anything."
Obviously!
Now the typical SAD response: pained quizical expression casts over face, and the traditional 'well, yes, but" response is prepared..."you see, God really created, he tells us so in Genesis 1, but he doesn't tell us how, and that's where science steps in to tell us that we evolved..."
But, for the average person who has no commitment to the Bible, he just hears about evolution and doesn't see a need for the 'god hypothesis' and so just sits with "in nature, nothing is for anything".
"...in nature, nothing is for anything."
Obviously!
Now the typical SAD response: pained quizical expression casts over face, and the traditional 'well, yes, but" response is prepared..."you see, God really created, he tells us so in Genesis 1, but he doesn't tell us how, and that's where science steps in to tell us that we evolved..."
But, for the average person who has no commitment to the Bible, he just hears about evolution and doesn't see a need for the 'god hypothesis' and so just sits with "in nature, nothing is for anything".
Friday, October 3, 2008
Dawkins Does Dumb
Re-reading some old articles the other day I renewed my acquaintance with Dallas Willard's review of Dawkin's Blind Watchmaker (BTW, I recommend all his articles: of course I don't agree with them all, but Willard is reliably thought provoking).
Dawkins takes up the argument from personal incredulity: that is people who just 'can't imagine' evolutionary sequences occuring. Willard states it: "to the effect that current or similar species could not possibly have originated from vastly simpler life forms, and he discusses certain mistakes and alleged limitations of imagination that may prevent us from appreciating the possibility of biological evolution along Darwinian lines."
Now, instead of presenting an array of experimental evidence, or showing the microbiological pathways whereby the alleged 'descent' occured, what does Dawkins do? He counters with an alternative imaginative construct. And that's all! He doesn't have any evidence! All he's got is puffery, hope and inuendo. So if its just a battle of imaginative constructs, and all he can do is criticise an alleged imaginative poverty on the part of creationists (I use the term of all who eschew neo-Darwinist fantasies), and bring his own imagination against it, then he has nothing but a house of cards.
All Dawkin's attack amounts to is this: you can't imagine what I can imagine. Donnez moi un break Dick!
Dawkins takes up the argument from personal incredulity: that is people who just 'can't imagine' evolutionary sequences occuring. Willard states it: "to the effect that current or similar species could not possibly have originated from vastly simpler life forms, and he discusses certain mistakes and alleged limitations of imagination that may prevent us from appreciating the possibility of biological evolution along Darwinian lines."
Now, instead of presenting an array of experimental evidence, or showing the microbiological pathways whereby the alleged 'descent' occured, what does Dawkins do? He counters with an alternative imaginative construct. And that's all! He doesn't have any evidence! All he's got is puffery, hope and inuendo. So if its just a battle of imaginative constructs, and all he can do is criticise an alleged imaginative poverty on the part of creationists (I use the term of all who eschew neo-Darwinist fantasies), and bring his own imagination against it, then he has nothing but a house of cards.
All Dawkin's attack amounts to is this: you can't imagine what I can imagine. Donnez moi un break Dick!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Leupold Genesis part 1
Exposition of Genesis by H. C. LEUPOLD, D. D
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis
in the Capital University Seminary
Colombus, Ohio
To the memory of my FATHER and to my MOTHER
The full work is available at www.ccel.org
This is the first in a very multi part series. Its a great work, in my view, so, while its available on the net as a whole, it is serialised here for discussion.
INTRODUCTION
Name of the Book
The name universally used in English for this book is "Genesis." This name is a transliteration of the Greek word genesis, which constitutes the regular title from of old in the Septuagint and was taken over by Jerome into the Vulgate--Liber Genesis. Luther made a new departure when he substituted in his German Bible the title "The First Book of Moses"--a designation requiring no further commentary. In the Hebrew Bible the book constitutes the first part of the Pentateuch. As a distinct part it so naturally stands out as a unit that there can be no doubt that it was designed to be just such a unit; and so even criticism from its point of view is ready to accept the division of the Pentateuch as a whole into five parts and that the book of Genesis in particular was a part of it at so early a date as at least four centuries before the Christian era. Though no evidence is available, we are inclined to believe that the Jews discerned the fivefold division of the Pentateuch from the time that the work was put into their hands. They are wont to refer to the book by the title of Bereshith, the very first Hebrew word, meaning: "in the beginning."
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis
in the Capital University Seminary
Colombus, Ohio
To the memory of my FATHER and to my MOTHER
The full work is available at www.ccel.org
This is the first in a very multi part series. Its a great work, in my view, so, while its available on the net as a whole, it is serialised here for discussion.
INTRODUCTION
Name of the Book
The name universally used in English for this book is "Genesis." This name is a transliteration of the Greek word genesis, which constitutes the regular title from of old in the Septuagint and was taken over by Jerome into the Vulgate--Liber Genesis. Luther made a new departure when he substituted in his German Bible the title "The First Book of Moses"--a designation requiring no further commentary. In the Hebrew Bible the book constitutes the first part of the Pentateuch. As a distinct part it so naturally stands out as a unit that there can be no doubt that it was designed to be just such a unit; and so even criticism from its point of view is ready to accept the division of the Pentateuch as a whole into five parts and that the book of Genesis in particular was a part of it at so early a date as at least four centuries before the Christian era. Though no evidence is available, we are inclined to believe that the Jews discerned the fivefold division of the Pentateuch from the time that the work was put into their hands. They are wont to refer to the book by the title of Bereshith, the very first Hebrew word, meaning: "in the beginning."
PBS does it again
Over in the USA, there's a bit of a buzz in the 'origins' community about a recent PBS (Public Broadcasting System) show that was a promo for Darwin. It pretended to be an 'expose' of 'Intelligent Design'. A website sprang up in no time flat that runs through Darwin's Failed Predictions. The slide show is worth a look...some of our SAD friends might slip over and take a look at how their great icon of creation has run up multiple dead ends...so much like the way the Roman church in its infatuation with Aristotle opposed Galileo.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Philosopher speaks
Thursday, September 25, 2008
K-D: Genesis Commentary Part 9 Last and Long
I. HISTORY OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
Ch. 2:4-4:26
Contents and Heading
Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
The historical account of the world, which commences at the completion of the work of creation, is introduced as the "History of the heavens and the earth," and treats in three sections, (a) of the original condition of man in paradise (Ge 2:5-25); (b) of the fall (ch. 3); (c) of the division of the human race into two widely different families, so far as concerns their relation to God (ch. 4).
The words, "these are the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth when they were created," form the heading to what follows. This would never have been disputed, had not preconceived opinions as to the composition of Genesis obscured the vision of commentators. The fact that in every other passage, in which the formula "these (and these) are the tholedoth" occurs (viz., ten times in Genesis; also in Nu 3:1; Ru 4:18; 1 Ch 1:29), it is used as a heading, and that in this passage the true meaning of twldwt (OT:8435) precludes the possibility of its being an appendix to what precedes, fully decides the question. The word twldwt (OT:8435), which is only used in the plural, and never occurs except in the construct state or with suffixes, is a Hiphil noun from howliyd (OT:3205), and signifies literally the generation or posterity of any one, then the development of these generations or of his descendants; in other words, the history of those who are begotten or the account of what happened to them and what they performed.
In no instance whatever is it the history of the birth or origin of the person named in the genitive, but always the account of his family and life. According to this use of the word, we cannot understand by the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth the account of the origin of the universe, since according to the biblical view the different things which make up the heavens and the earth can neither be regarded as generations or products of cosmogonic and geogonic evolutions, nor be classed together as the posterity of the heavens and the earth. All the creatures in the heavens and on earth were made by God, and called into being by His word, notwithstanding the fact that He caused some of them to come forth from the earth. Again, as the completion of the heavens and the earth with all their host has already been described in Ge 2:1-3, we cannot understand by "the heavens and the earth," in v. 4, the primary material of the universe in its elementary condition (in which case the literal meaning of howliyd (OT:3205) would be completely relinquished, and the "tholedoth of the heavens and the earth" be regarded as indicating this chaotic beginning as the first stage in a series of productions), but the universe itself after the completion of the creation, at the commencement of the historical development which is subsequently described.
This places its resemblance to the other sections, commencing with "these are the generations," beyond dispute. Just as the tholedoth of Noah, for example, do not mention his birth, but contain his history and the birth of his sons; so the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth do not describe the origin of the universe, but what happened to the heavens and the earth after their creation. bªhibaarª'aam (OT:1254) does not preclude this, though we cannot render it "after they were created." For even if it were grammatically allowable to resolve the participle into a pluperfect, the parallel expressions in Ge 5:1-2, would prevent our doing so. As "the day of their creation" mentioned there, is not a day after the creation of Adam, but the day on which he was created; the same words, when occurring here, must also refer to a time when the heavens and the earth were already created: and just as in Ge 5:1 the creation of the universe forms the starting-point to the account of the development of the human race through the generations of Adam, and is recapitulated for that reason; so here the creation of the universe is mentioned as the starting-point to the account of its historical development, because this account looks back to particular points in the creation itself, and describes them more minutely as the preliminaries to the subsequent course of the world. hbr'm is explained by the clause, "in the day that Jehovah God created the earth and the heavens." Although this clause is closely related to what follows, the simplicity of the account prevents our regarding it as the protasis of a period, the apodosis of which does not follow till v. 5 or even v. 7.
The former is grammatically impossible, because in v. 5 the noun stands first, and not the verb, as we should expect in such a case (cf. Ge 3:5). The latter is grammatically tenable indeed, since vv. 5, 6, might be introduced into the main sentence as conditional clauses; but it is not probable, inasmuch as we should then have a parenthesis of most unnatural length. The clause must therefore be regarded as forming part of the heading. There are two points here that are worthy of notice: first, the unusual combination, "earth and heaven," which only occurs in Ps 148:13, and shows that the earth is the scene of the history about to commence, which was of such momentous importance to the whole world; and secondly, the introduction of the name JEHOVAH in connection with ELOHIM. That the hypothesis, which traces the interchange in the two names in Genesis to different documents, does not suffice to explain the occurrence of Jehovah Elohim in Ge 2:4-3:24, even the supporters of this hypothesis cannot possibly deny.
Not only is God called Elohim alone in the middle of this section, viz., in the address to the serpent, a clear proof that the interchange of the names has reference to their different significations; but the use of the double name, which occurs here twenty times though rarely met with elsewhere, is always significant. In the Pentateuch we only find it in Ex 9:30; in the other books of the Old Testament, in 2 Sam. 7:22,25; 1 Chr. 17:16-17; 2 Chr. 4:41-42; Ps. 84:8,11 ; and Ps 50:1, where the order is reversed; and in every instance it is used with peculiar emphasis, to give prominence to the fact that Jehovah is truly Elohim, whilst in Ps 50:1 the Psalmist advances from the general name El and Elohim to Jehovah, as the personal name of the God of Israel. In this section the combination Jehovah Elohim is expressive of the fact, that Jehovah is God, or one with Elohim. Hence Elohim is placed after Jehovah. For the constant use of the double name is not intended to teach that Elohim who created the world was Jehovah, but that Jehovah, who visited man in paradise, who punished him for the transgression of His command, but gave him a promise of victory over the tempter, was Elohim, the same God, who created the heavens and the earth.
The two names may be distinguished thus: Elohim, the plural of 'elowha (OT:433), which is only used in the loftier style of poetry, is an infinitive noun from 'aalah (OT:5927) to fear, and signifies awe, fear, then the object of fear, the highest Being to be feared, like pachad (OT:6343), which is used interchangeably with it in Ge 31:42,53, and mowraa' (OT:4172) in Ps 76:12 (cf. Isa 8:12-13). The plural is not used for the abstract, in the sense of divinity, but to express the notion of God in the fulness and multiplicity of the divine powers. It is employed both in a numerical, and also in an intensive sense, so that Elohim is applied to the (many) gods of the heathen as well as to the one true God, in whom the highest and absolute fulness of the divine essence is contained. In this intensive sense Elohim depicts the one true God as the infinitely great and exalted One, who created the heavens and the earth, and who preserves and governs every creature. According to its derivation, however, it is object rather than subject, so that in the plural form the concrete unity of the personal God falls back behind the wealth of the divine potencies which His being contains. In this sense, indeed, both in Genesis and the later, poetical, books, Elohim is used without the article, as a proper name for the true God, even in the mouth of the heathen (1 Sa 4:7); but in other places, and here and there in Genesis, it occurs as an appellative with the article, by which prominence is given to the absoluteness of personality of God (Ge 5:22; 6:9, etc.).
The name Jehovah, on the other hand, was originally a proper name, and according to the explanation given by God Himself to Moses (Ex 3:14-15), was formed from the imperfect of the verb haawaah (OT:1961) = haayaah (OT:1961). God calls Himself 'ehªyeh (OT:1961) 'asher (OT:834) 'ehªyeh (OT:1961), then more briefly 'ehªyeh (OT:1961), and then again, by changing the first person into the third, yhwh (OT:3068). From the derivation of this name from the imperfect, it follows that it was either pronounced yahawaah or yahaweh (OT:3068), and had come down from the pre-Mosaic age; for the form haawaah (OT:1961) had been forced out of the spoken language by haayaah (OT:1961) even in Moses' time. The Masoretic pointing yªhaaowh (OT:3068) belongs to a time when the Jews had long been afraid to utter this name at all, and substituted 'adonaay (OT:136), the vowels of which therefore were placed as Keri, the word to be read, under the Kethib yhwh (OT:3068), unless yhwh (OT:3068) stood in apposition to 'adonaay (OT:136), in which case the word was read 'elohiym (OT:430) and pointed yehiowh (a pure monstrosity.)
(Note: For a fuller discussion of the meaning and pronunciation of the name Jehovah vid., Hengstenberg, Dissertations on the Pentateuch i. p. 213 ff.; Oehler in Herzog's Cyclopaedia; and Hölemann in his Bibelstudien. The last, in common with Stier and others, decides in favour of the Masoretic pointing yªhaaowh (OT:3068) as giving the original pronunciation, chiefly on the ground of Rv 1:4 and 5, 8; but the theological expansion ho (NT:3588) oo'n (NT:5607) kai' (NT:2532) ho (NT:3588) ee'n (NT:2258) kai' (NT:2532) ho (NT:3588) ercho'menos (NT:2064) cannot be regarded as a philological proof of the formation of yhwh (OT:3068) by the fusion of haawaah (OT:1961), heowh, yªhiy (OT:1961) into one word.)
This custom, which sprang from a misinterpretation of Lev 24:16, appears to have originated shortly after the captivity. Even in the canonical writings of this age the name Jehovah was less and less employed, and in the Apocrypha and the Septuagint version ho (NT:3588) Ku'rios (NT:2962) (the Lord) is invariably substituted, a custom in which the New Testament writers follow the LXX (vid., Oehler).
If we seek for the meaning of yhwh (OT:3068), the expression 'hyh 'shr 'hyh, in Ex 3:14, is neither to be rendered e'somai (NT:2071) ho's (NT:3739) e'somai (NT:2071) (Aq., Theodt.), "I shall be that I shall be" (Luther), nor "I shall be that which I will or am to be" (M. Baumgarten). Nor does it mean, "He who will be because He is Himself, the God of the future" (Hoffmann). For in names formed from the third person imperfect, the imperfect is not a future, but an aorist. According to the fundamental signification of the imperfect, names so formed point out a person as distinguished by a frequently or constantly manifested quality, in other words, they express a distinctive characteristic (vid., Ewald, §136; Ge 25:26; 27:36, also 16:11 and 21:6). The Vulgate gives it correctly: ego sum qui sum, "I am who I am." "The repetition of the verb in the same form, and connected only by the relative, signifies that the being or act of the subject expressed in the verb is determined only by the subject itself" (Hofmann).
The verb haayaah (OT:1961) signifies "to be, to happen, to become;" but as neither happening nor becoming is applicable to God, the unchangeable, since the pantheistic idea of a becoming God is altogether foreign to the Scriptures, we must retain the meaning "to be;" not forgetting, however, that as the Divine Being is not a resting, or, so to speak, a dead being, but is essentially living, displaying itself as living, working upon creation, and moving in the world, the formation of yhwh (OT:3068) from the imperfect precludes the idea of abstract existence, and points out the Divine Being as moving, pervading history, and manifesting Himself in the world. So far then as the words 'hyh 'sr 'hyh are condensed into a proper name in yhwh (OT:3068), and God, therefore, "is He who is," inasmuch as in His being, as historically manifested, He is the self-determining one, the name JEHOVAH, which we have retained as being naturalized in the ecclesiastical phraseology, though we are quite in ignorance of its correct pronunciation, "includes both the absolute independence of God in His historical movements," and "the absolute constancy of God, or the fact that in everything, in both words and deeds, He is essentially in harmony with Himself, remaining always consistent" (Oehler).
The "I am who am," therefore, is the absolute I, the absolute personality, moving with unlimited freedom; and in distinction from Elohim (the Being to be feared), He is the personal God in His historical manifestation, in which the fulness of the Divine Being unfolds itself to the world. This movement of the person God in history, however, has reference to the realization of the great purpose of the creation, viz., the salvation of man. Jehovah therefore is the God of the history of salvation. This is not shown in the etymology of the name, but in its historical expansion. It was as JEHOVAH that God manifested Himself to Abram (Ge 15:7), when He made the covenant with him; and as this name was neither derived from an attribute of God, nor from a divine manifestation, we must trace its origin to a revelation from God, and seek it in the declaration to Abram, "I am Jehovah." Just as Jehovah here revealed Himself to Abram as the God who led him out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give him the land of Canaan for a possession, and thereby described Himself as the author of all the promises which Abram received at his call, and which were renewed to him and to his descendants, Isaac and Jacob; so did He reveal Himself to Moses (Ex 3) as the God of his fathers, to fulfil His promise to their seed, the people of Israel.
Through these revelations Jehovah became a proper name for the God, who was working out the salvation of fallen humanity; and in this sense, not only is it used proleptically at the call of Abram (ch. 12), but transferred to the primeval times, and applied to all the manifestations and acts of God which had for their object the rescue of the human race from its fall, as well as to the special plan inaugurated in the call of Abram. The preparation commenced in paradise. To show this, Moses has introduced the name Jehovah into the history in the present chapter, and has indicated the identity of Jehovah with Elohim, not only by the constant association of the two names, but also by the fact that in the heading (v. 4 b) he speaks of the creation described in ch. 1 as the work of JEHOVAH ELOHIM.
(from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
Ch. 2:4-4:26
Contents and Heading
Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
The historical account of the world, which commences at the completion of the work of creation, is introduced as the "History of the heavens and the earth," and treats in three sections, (a) of the original condition of man in paradise (Ge 2:5-25); (b) of the fall (ch. 3); (c) of the division of the human race into two widely different families, so far as concerns their relation to God (ch. 4).
The words, "these are the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth when they were created," form the heading to what follows. This would never have been disputed, had not preconceived opinions as to the composition of Genesis obscured the vision of commentators. The fact that in every other passage, in which the formula "these (and these) are the tholedoth" occurs (viz., ten times in Genesis; also in Nu 3:1; Ru 4:18; 1 Ch 1:29), it is used as a heading, and that in this passage the true meaning of twldwt (OT:8435) precludes the possibility of its being an appendix to what precedes, fully decides the question. The word twldwt (OT:8435), which is only used in the plural, and never occurs except in the construct state or with suffixes, is a Hiphil noun from howliyd (OT:3205), and signifies literally the generation or posterity of any one, then the development of these generations or of his descendants; in other words, the history of those who are begotten or the account of what happened to them and what they performed.
In no instance whatever is it the history of the birth or origin of the person named in the genitive, but always the account of his family and life. According to this use of the word, we cannot understand by the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth the account of the origin of the universe, since according to the biblical view the different things which make up the heavens and the earth can neither be regarded as generations or products of cosmogonic and geogonic evolutions, nor be classed together as the posterity of the heavens and the earth. All the creatures in the heavens and on earth were made by God, and called into being by His word, notwithstanding the fact that He caused some of them to come forth from the earth. Again, as the completion of the heavens and the earth with all their host has already been described in Ge 2:1-3, we cannot understand by "the heavens and the earth," in v. 4, the primary material of the universe in its elementary condition (in which case the literal meaning of howliyd (OT:3205) would be completely relinquished, and the "tholedoth of the heavens and the earth" be regarded as indicating this chaotic beginning as the first stage in a series of productions), but the universe itself after the completion of the creation, at the commencement of the historical development which is subsequently described.
This places its resemblance to the other sections, commencing with "these are the generations," beyond dispute. Just as the tholedoth of Noah, for example, do not mention his birth, but contain his history and the birth of his sons; so the tholedoth of the heavens and the earth do not describe the origin of the universe, but what happened to the heavens and the earth after their creation. bªhibaarª'aam (OT:1254) does not preclude this, though we cannot render it "after they were created." For even if it were grammatically allowable to resolve the participle into a pluperfect, the parallel expressions in Ge 5:1-2, would prevent our doing so. As "the day of their creation" mentioned there, is not a day after the creation of Adam, but the day on which he was created; the same words, when occurring here, must also refer to a time when the heavens and the earth were already created: and just as in Ge 5:1 the creation of the universe forms the starting-point to the account of the development of the human race through the generations of Adam, and is recapitulated for that reason; so here the creation of the universe is mentioned as the starting-point to the account of its historical development, because this account looks back to particular points in the creation itself, and describes them more minutely as the preliminaries to the subsequent course of the world. hbr'm is explained by the clause, "in the day that Jehovah God created the earth and the heavens." Although this clause is closely related to what follows, the simplicity of the account prevents our regarding it as the protasis of a period, the apodosis of which does not follow till v. 5 or even v. 7.
The former is grammatically impossible, because in v. 5 the noun stands first, and not the verb, as we should expect in such a case (cf. Ge 3:5). The latter is grammatically tenable indeed, since vv. 5, 6, might be introduced into the main sentence as conditional clauses; but it is not probable, inasmuch as we should then have a parenthesis of most unnatural length. The clause must therefore be regarded as forming part of the heading. There are two points here that are worthy of notice: first, the unusual combination, "earth and heaven," which only occurs in Ps 148:13, and shows that the earth is the scene of the history about to commence, which was of such momentous importance to the whole world; and secondly, the introduction of the name JEHOVAH in connection with ELOHIM. That the hypothesis, which traces the interchange in the two names in Genesis to different documents, does not suffice to explain the occurrence of Jehovah Elohim in Ge 2:4-3:24, even the supporters of this hypothesis cannot possibly deny.
Not only is God called Elohim alone in the middle of this section, viz., in the address to the serpent, a clear proof that the interchange of the names has reference to their different significations; but the use of the double name, which occurs here twenty times though rarely met with elsewhere, is always significant. In the Pentateuch we only find it in Ex 9:30; in the other books of the Old Testament, in 2 Sam. 7:22,25; 1 Chr. 17:16-17; 2 Chr. 4:41-42; Ps. 84:8,11 ; and Ps 50:1, where the order is reversed; and in every instance it is used with peculiar emphasis, to give prominence to the fact that Jehovah is truly Elohim, whilst in Ps 50:1 the Psalmist advances from the general name El and Elohim to Jehovah, as the personal name of the God of Israel. In this section the combination Jehovah Elohim is expressive of the fact, that Jehovah is God, or one with Elohim. Hence Elohim is placed after Jehovah. For the constant use of the double name is not intended to teach that Elohim who created the world was Jehovah, but that Jehovah, who visited man in paradise, who punished him for the transgression of His command, but gave him a promise of victory over the tempter, was Elohim, the same God, who created the heavens and the earth.
The two names may be distinguished thus: Elohim, the plural of 'elowha (OT:433), which is only used in the loftier style of poetry, is an infinitive noun from 'aalah (OT:5927) to fear, and signifies awe, fear, then the object of fear, the highest Being to be feared, like pachad (OT:6343), which is used interchangeably with it in Ge 31:42,53, and mowraa' (OT:4172) in Ps 76:12 (cf. Isa 8:12-13). The plural is not used for the abstract, in the sense of divinity, but to express the notion of God in the fulness and multiplicity of the divine powers. It is employed both in a numerical, and also in an intensive sense, so that Elohim is applied to the (many) gods of the heathen as well as to the one true God, in whom the highest and absolute fulness of the divine essence is contained. In this intensive sense Elohim depicts the one true God as the infinitely great and exalted One, who created the heavens and the earth, and who preserves and governs every creature. According to its derivation, however, it is object rather than subject, so that in the plural form the concrete unity of the personal God falls back behind the wealth of the divine potencies which His being contains. In this sense, indeed, both in Genesis and the later, poetical, books, Elohim is used without the article, as a proper name for the true God, even in the mouth of the heathen (1 Sa 4:7); but in other places, and here and there in Genesis, it occurs as an appellative with the article, by which prominence is given to the absoluteness of personality of God (Ge 5:22; 6:9, etc.).
The name Jehovah, on the other hand, was originally a proper name, and according to the explanation given by God Himself to Moses (Ex 3:14-15), was formed from the imperfect of the verb haawaah (OT:1961) = haayaah (OT:1961). God calls Himself 'ehªyeh (OT:1961) 'asher (OT:834) 'ehªyeh (OT:1961), then more briefly 'ehªyeh (OT:1961), and then again, by changing the first person into the third, yhwh (OT:3068). From the derivation of this name from the imperfect, it follows that it was either pronounced yahawaah or yahaweh (OT:3068), and had come down from the pre-Mosaic age; for the form haawaah (OT:1961) had been forced out of the spoken language by haayaah (OT:1961) even in Moses' time. The Masoretic pointing yªhaaowh (OT:3068) belongs to a time when the Jews had long been afraid to utter this name at all, and substituted 'adonaay (OT:136), the vowels of which therefore were placed as Keri, the word to be read, under the Kethib yhwh (OT:3068), unless yhwh (OT:3068) stood in apposition to 'adonaay (OT:136), in which case the word was read 'elohiym (OT:430) and pointed yehiowh (a pure monstrosity.)
(Note: For a fuller discussion of the meaning and pronunciation of the name Jehovah vid., Hengstenberg, Dissertations on the Pentateuch i. p. 213 ff.; Oehler in Herzog's Cyclopaedia; and Hölemann in his Bibelstudien. The last, in common with Stier and others, decides in favour of the Masoretic pointing yªhaaowh (OT:3068) as giving the original pronunciation, chiefly on the ground of Rv 1:4 and 5, 8; but the theological expansion ho (NT:3588) oo'n (NT:5607) kai' (NT:2532) ho (NT:3588) ee'n (NT:2258) kai' (NT:2532) ho (NT:3588) ercho'menos (NT:2064) cannot be regarded as a philological proof of the formation of yhwh (OT:3068) by the fusion of haawaah (OT:1961), heowh, yªhiy (OT:1961) into one word.)
This custom, which sprang from a misinterpretation of Lev 24:16, appears to have originated shortly after the captivity. Even in the canonical writings of this age the name Jehovah was less and less employed, and in the Apocrypha and the Septuagint version ho (NT:3588) Ku'rios (NT:2962) (the Lord) is invariably substituted, a custom in which the New Testament writers follow the LXX (vid., Oehler).
If we seek for the meaning of yhwh (OT:3068), the expression 'hyh 'shr 'hyh, in Ex 3:14, is neither to be rendered e'somai (NT:2071) ho's (NT:3739) e'somai (NT:2071) (Aq., Theodt.), "I shall be that I shall be" (Luther), nor "I shall be that which I will or am to be" (M. Baumgarten). Nor does it mean, "He who will be because He is Himself, the God of the future" (Hoffmann). For in names formed from the third person imperfect, the imperfect is not a future, but an aorist. According to the fundamental signification of the imperfect, names so formed point out a person as distinguished by a frequently or constantly manifested quality, in other words, they express a distinctive characteristic (vid., Ewald, §136; Ge 25:26; 27:36, also 16:11 and 21:6). The Vulgate gives it correctly: ego sum qui sum, "I am who I am." "The repetition of the verb in the same form, and connected only by the relative, signifies that the being or act of the subject expressed in the verb is determined only by the subject itself" (Hofmann).
The verb haayaah (OT:1961) signifies "to be, to happen, to become;" but as neither happening nor becoming is applicable to God, the unchangeable, since the pantheistic idea of a becoming God is altogether foreign to the Scriptures, we must retain the meaning "to be;" not forgetting, however, that as the Divine Being is not a resting, or, so to speak, a dead being, but is essentially living, displaying itself as living, working upon creation, and moving in the world, the formation of yhwh (OT:3068) from the imperfect precludes the idea of abstract existence, and points out the Divine Being as moving, pervading history, and manifesting Himself in the world. So far then as the words 'hyh 'sr 'hyh are condensed into a proper name in yhwh (OT:3068), and God, therefore, "is He who is," inasmuch as in His being, as historically manifested, He is the self-determining one, the name JEHOVAH, which we have retained as being naturalized in the ecclesiastical phraseology, though we are quite in ignorance of its correct pronunciation, "includes both the absolute independence of God in His historical movements," and "the absolute constancy of God, or the fact that in everything, in both words and deeds, He is essentially in harmony with Himself, remaining always consistent" (Oehler).
The "I am who am," therefore, is the absolute I, the absolute personality, moving with unlimited freedom; and in distinction from Elohim (the Being to be feared), He is the personal God in His historical manifestation, in which the fulness of the Divine Being unfolds itself to the world. This movement of the person God in history, however, has reference to the realization of the great purpose of the creation, viz., the salvation of man. Jehovah therefore is the God of the history of salvation. This is not shown in the etymology of the name, but in its historical expansion. It was as JEHOVAH that God manifested Himself to Abram (Ge 15:7), when He made the covenant with him; and as this name was neither derived from an attribute of God, nor from a divine manifestation, we must trace its origin to a revelation from God, and seek it in the declaration to Abram, "I am Jehovah." Just as Jehovah here revealed Himself to Abram as the God who led him out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give him the land of Canaan for a possession, and thereby described Himself as the author of all the promises which Abram received at his call, and which were renewed to him and to his descendants, Isaac and Jacob; so did He reveal Himself to Moses (Ex 3) as the God of his fathers, to fulfil His promise to their seed, the people of Israel.
Through these revelations Jehovah became a proper name for the God, who was working out the salvation of fallen humanity; and in this sense, not only is it used proleptically at the call of Abram (ch. 12), but transferred to the primeval times, and applied to all the manifestations and acts of God which had for their object the rescue of the human race from its fall, as well as to the special plan inaugurated in the call of Abram. The preparation commenced in paradise. To show this, Moses has introduced the name Jehovah into the history in the present chapter, and has indicated the identity of Jehovah with Elohim, not only by the constant association of the two names, but also by the fact that in the heading (v. 4 b) he speaks of the creation described in ch. 1 as the work of JEHOVAH ELOHIM.
(from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Anglican Hilarity
These two news items by themselves may not be so funny, or maybe they are:
Peter has made Sydney Diocese Headquarters a post box. Now you're talking Peter. But not alas a post box that has anything to do with anything important, but one that will merely advance the tussling within Anglicanism of peripheral matters of order. But here's the funny part; its all about following biblical teaching: the GAFCON (or just gaffe for short) exists to allegedly support the Bible's teaching (on homosexuals and women), but with the help of the diocese that undermines the Bible's teaching at its most important point (because even Jesus referred to Genesis 1&2 as nomative). Ho Hum.
But the funny part comes here where the UK anglicans want to apologise for getting stuck into Darwin the century before last (talk about up with the times). In "Good Religion needs Good Science" we have an apologetic article that uncritically accepts Darwin's own claims to science when his (few) good ideas (borrowed without acknowledgement from others, including creationists) have merely fueled naturalism's religious bent, which helps thousands to perdition every year (I dare say). The article should probably have been called "Good Religion needs Bad Religion"; for which, of course, they could just go to Sydney Diocese! Talk about a gaffe!!
For a kind and thought-provoking discussion of the UK article, see here
Peter has made Sydney Diocese Headquarters a post box. Now you're talking Peter. But not alas a post box that has anything to do with anything important, but one that will merely advance the tussling within Anglicanism of peripheral matters of order. But here's the funny part; its all about following biblical teaching: the GAFCON (or just gaffe for short) exists to allegedly support the Bible's teaching (on homosexuals and women), but with the help of the diocese that undermines the Bible's teaching at its most important point (because even Jesus referred to Genesis 1&2 as nomative). Ho Hum.
But the funny part comes here where the UK anglicans want to apologise for getting stuck into Darwin the century before last (talk about up with the times). In "Good Religion needs Good Science" we have an apologetic article that uncritically accepts Darwin's own claims to science when his (few) good ideas (borrowed without acknowledgement from others, including creationists) have merely fueled naturalism's religious bent, which helps thousands to perdition every year (I dare say). The article should probably have been called "Good Religion needs Bad Religion"; for which, of course, they could just go to Sydney Diocese! Talk about a gaffe!!
For a kind and thought-provoking discussion of the UK article, see here
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Nothing new under the sun
We might think the debate over the age of the earth is modern, attended by the weight and prestige of science on the one hand, and ancient texts on the other.
Ne'er so far from the truth.
From an article in Creation magazine 30(4), the current issue (Sept 08) "Evolution: an ancient pagan idea"
"The early church fathers constantly argued with the pagans about the age of the earth, or about the age of civilization. They were unanimous that God had created the earth less than 6,000 years before they wrote. For example...Augustine (AD 354-430), in his most famous work. City of God, has a whole chapter, Of the Falseness of the History Which Alots Many Thousand Years to the World's Past, where he says:
"Let us, then, omit the conjextures of men who know not what they say, wheh they speak of the nature and origin of the human race. ...They are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of many thousand years, though, reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that not 6000 years have yet passed."
The article then goes on to catalogue the very ancient times given to the earth by pagans.
It seems to me that the function of giving super long ages to earth history either sets out to, or merely actually achieves one single thing: it puts real contemplation of origins, and therefore genetic connection with God, so far in the past as to be meaningless; lost in the vagueness of unimaginable periods of time. The pagans finally end up with endless cycles of history that render us purposeless pawns in time's dust, with the only connection being ultimate oblivion to join the great roll of senseless time. Precisely the same end that materialism, with its modern long ages, has for us.
That the church connives at this hopelessness is surprising to say the least; betraying a lack of historical sense ironic, if nothing else, in a faith that is historical.
The counter of course, is that the Bible goes against this and connects us in comprehendible history to our creation, and therefore, makes a link for us with our creator; a link that the Holy Spirit frequently reminds us of, when the scriptures declare that God is our creator (referring of course, to the only account of creation in Genesis 1). Inserting eons of time between our creator's act and our history destroys the connection. For the materialist, it pretends to give an impersonal cause to our being, denying any role for a 'god' in our origin or life. The disconnect is fatal, and renders God more a figment than a friend.
Ne'er so far from the truth.
From an article in Creation magazine 30(4), the current issue (Sept 08) "Evolution: an ancient pagan idea"
"The early church fathers constantly argued with the pagans about the age of the earth, or about the age of civilization. They were unanimous that God had created the earth less than 6,000 years before they wrote. For example...Augustine (AD 354-430), in his most famous work. City of God, has a whole chapter, Of the Falseness of the History Which Alots Many Thousand Years to the World's Past, where he says:
"Let us, then, omit the conjextures of men who know not what they say, wheh they speak of the nature and origin of the human race. ...They are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of many thousand years, though, reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that not 6000 years have yet passed."
The article then goes on to catalogue the very ancient times given to the earth by pagans.
It seems to me that the function of giving super long ages to earth history either sets out to, or merely actually achieves one single thing: it puts real contemplation of origins, and therefore genetic connection with God, so far in the past as to be meaningless; lost in the vagueness of unimaginable periods of time. The pagans finally end up with endless cycles of history that render us purposeless pawns in time's dust, with the only connection being ultimate oblivion to join the great roll of senseless time. Precisely the same end that materialism, with its modern long ages, has for us.
That the church connives at this hopelessness is surprising to say the least; betraying a lack of historical sense ironic, if nothing else, in a faith that is historical.
The counter of course, is that the Bible goes against this and connects us in comprehendible history to our creation, and therefore, makes a link for us with our creator; a link that the Holy Spirit frequently reminds us of, when the scriptures declare that God is our creator (referring of course, to the only account of creation in Genesis 1). Inserting eons of time between our creator's act and our history destroys the connection. For the materialist, it pretends to give an impersonal cause to our being, denying any role for a 'god' in our origin or life. The disconnect is fatal, and renders God more a figment than a friend.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
K-D: Genesis Commentary Part 8
Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
The Sabbath of Creation. - "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." tsaabaa' (OT:6635) here denotes the totality of the beings that fill the heaven and the earth: in other places (see especially Ne 9:6) it is applied to the host of heaven, i.e., the stars (Dt 4:19; 17:3), and according to a still later representation, to the angels also (1 Ki 22:19; Isa 24:21; Ne 9:6; Ps 148:2). These words of v. 1 introduce the completion of the work of creation, and give a greater definiteness to the announcement in vv. 2, 3, that on the seventh day God ended the work which He had made, by ceasing to create, and blessing the day and sanctifying it. The completion or finishing (kilaah (OT:3615)) of the work of creation on the seventh day (not on the sixth, as the LXX, Sam., and Syr. erroneously render it) can only be understood by regarding the clauses vv. 2 b and 3, which are connected with wykl by w consec. as containing the actual completion, i.e., by supposing the completion to consist, negatively in the cessation of the work of creation, and positively in the blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day.
The cessation itself formed part of the completion of the work (for this meaning of shaabat (OT:7673) vid., Ge 8:22; Job 32:1, etc.). As a human artificer completes his work just when he has brought it up to his ideal and ceases to work upon it, so in an infinitely higher sense, God completed the creation of the world with all its inhabitants by ceasing to produce anything new, and entering into the rest of His all-sufficient eternal Being, from which He had come forth, as it were, at and in the creation of a world distinct from His own essence. Hence ceasing to create is called resting (nuwach) in Ex 20:11, and being refreshed (yinaapeesh) in Ex 31:17. The rest into which God entered after the creation was complete, had its own reality "in the reality of the work of creation, in contrast with which the preservation of the world, when once created, had the appearance of rest, though really a continuous creation" (Ziegler, p. 27).
This rest of the Creator was indeed "the consequence of His self-satisfaction in the now united and harmonious, though manifold whole;" but this self-satisfaction of God in His creation, which we call His pleasure in His work, was also a spiritual power, which streamed forth as a blessing upon the creation itself, bringing it into the blessedness of the rest of God and filling it with His peace. This constitutes the positive element in the completion which God gave to the work of creation, by blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, because on it He found rest from the work which He by making (la`asowt (OT:6213) faciendo: cf. Ewald, §280 d) had created. The divine act of blessing was a real communication of powers of salvation, grace, and peace; and sanctifying was not merely declaring holy, but "communicating the attribute of holy," "placing in a living relation to God, the Holy One, raising to a participation in the pure clear light of the holiness of God." On qaadowsh (OT:6918) see Ex 19:6.
The blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day had regard, no doubt, to the Sabbath, which Israel as the people of God was afterwards to keep; but we are not to suppose that the theocratic Sabbath was instituted here, or that the institution of that Sabbath was transferred to the history of the creation. On the contrary, the Sabbath of the Israelites had a deeper meaning, founded in the nature and development of the created world, not for Israel only, but for all mankind, or rather for the whole creation. As the whole earthly creation is subject to the changes of time and the law of temporal motion and development; so all creatures not only stand in need of definite recurring periods of rest, for the sake of recruiting their strength and gaining new power for further development, but they also look forward to a time when all restlessness shall give place to the blessed rest of the perfect consummation.
To this rest the resting of God (hee (NT:3588) kata'pausis (NT:2663)) points forward; and to this rest, this divine sabbatismo's (NT:4520) (Heb 4:9), shall the whole world, especially man, the head of the earthly creation, eventually come. For this God ended His work by blessing and sanctifying the day when the whole creation was complete. In connection with Heb 4, some of the fathers have called attention to the fact, that the account of the seventh day is not summed up, like the others, with the formula "evening was and morning was;" thus, e.g., Augustine writes at the close of his confessions: dies septimus sine vespera est nec habet occasum, quia sanctificasti eum ad permansionem sempiternam. But true as it is that the Sabbath of God has no evening, and that the sabbatismo's (NT:4520), to which the creature is to attain at the end of his course, will be bounded by no evening, but last for ever; we must not, without further ground, introduce this true and profound idea into the seventh creation-day.
We could only be warranted in adopting such an interpretation, and understanding by the concluding day of the work of creation a period of endless duration, on the supposition that the six preceding days were so many periods in the world's history, which embraced the time from the beginning of the creation to the final completion of its development. But as the six creation-days, according to the words of the text, were earthly days of ordinary duration, we must understand the seventh in the same way; and that all the more, because in every passage, in which it is mentioned as the foundation of the theocratic Sabbath, it is regarded as an ordinary day (Ex 20:11; 31:17). We must conclude, therefore, that on the seventh day, on which God rested from His work, the world also, with all its inhabitants, attained to the sacred rest of God; that the kata'pausis (NT:2663) and sabbatismo's (NT:4520) of God were made a rest and sabbatic festival for His creatures, especially for man; and that this day of rest of the new created world, which the forefathers of our race observed in paradise, as long as they continued in a state of innocence and lived in blessed peace with their God and Creator, was the beginning and type of the rest to which the creation, after it had fallen from fellowship with God through the sin of man, received a promise that it should once more be restored through redemption, at its final consummation.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
The Sabbath of Creation. - "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." tsaabaa' (OT:6635) here denotes the totality of the beings that fill the heaven and the earth: in other places (see especially Ne 9:6) it is applied to the host of heaven, i.e., the stars (Dt 4:19; 17:3), and according to a still later representation, to the angels also (1 Ki 22:19; Isa 24:21; Ne 9:6; Ps 148:2). These words of v. 1 introduce the completion of the work of creation, and give a greater definiteness to the announcement in vv. 2, 3, that on the seventh day God ended the work which He had made, by ceasing to create, and blessing the day and sanctifying it. The completion or finishing (kilaah (OT:3615)) of the work of creation on the seventh day (not on the sixth, as the LXX, Sam., and Syr. erroneously render it) can only be understood by regarding the clauses vv. 2 b and 3, which are connected with wykl by w consec. as containing the actual completion, i.e., by supposing the completion to consist, negatively in the cessation of the work of creation, and positively in the blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day.
The cessation itself formed part of the completion of the work (for this meaning of shaabat (OT:7673) vid., Ge 8:22; Job 32:1, etc.). As a human artificer completes his work just when he has brought it up to his ideal and ceases to work upon it, so in an infinitely higher sense, God completed the creation of the world with all its inhabitants by ceasing to produce anything new, and entering into the rest of His all-sufficient eternal Being, from which He had come forth, as it were, at and in the creation of a world distinct from His own essence. Hence ceasing to create is called resting (nuwach) in Ex 20:11, and being refreshed (yinaapeesh) in Ex 31:17. The rest into which God entered after the creation was complete, had its own reality "in the reality of the work of creation, in contrast with which the preservation of the world, when once created, had the appearance of rest, though really a continuous creation" (Ziegler, p. 27).
This rest of the Creator was indeed "the consequence of His self-satisfaction in the now united and harmonious, though manifold whole;" but this self-satisfaction of God in His creation, which we call His pleasure in His work, was also a spiritual power, which streamed forth as a blessing upon the creation itself, bringing it into the blessedness of the rest of God and filling it with His peace. This constitutes the positive element in the completion which God gave to the work of creation, by blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, because on it He found rest from the work which He by making (la`asowt (OT:6213) faciendo: cf. Ewald, §280 d) had created. The divine act of blessing was a real communication of powers of salvation, grace, and peace; and sanctifying was not merely declaring holy, but "communicating the attribute of holy," "placing in a living relation to God, the Holy One, raising to a participation in the pure clear light of the holiness of God." On qaadowsh (OT:6918) see Ex 19:6.
The blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day had regard, no doubt, to the Sabbath, which Israel as the people of God was afterwards to keep; but we are not to suppose that the theocratic Sabbath was instituted here, or that the institution of that Sabbath was transferred to the history of the creation. On the contrary, the Sabbath of the Israelites had a deeper meaning, founded in the nature and development of the created world, not for Israel only, but for all mankind, or rather for the whole creation. As the whole earthly creation is subject to the changes of time and the law of temporal motion and development; so all creatures not only stand in need of definite recurring periods of rest, for the sake of recruiting their strength and gaining new power for further development, but they also look forward to a time when all restlessness shall give place to the blessed rest of the perfect consummation.
To this rest the resting of God (hee (NT:3588) kata'pausis (NT:2663)) points forward; and to this rest, this divine sabbatismo's (NT:4520) (Heb 4:9), shall the whole world, especially man, the head of the earthly creation, eventually come. For this God ended His work by blessing and sanctifying the day when the whole creation was complete. In connection with Heb 4, some of the fathers have called attention to the fact, that the account of the seventh day is not summed up, like the others, with the formula "evening was and morning was;" thus, e.g., Augustine writes at the close of his confessions: dies septimus sine vespera est nec habet occasum, quia sanctificasti eum ad permansionem sempiternam. But true as it is that the Sabbath of God has no evening, and that the sabbatismo's (NT:4520), to which the creature is to attain at the end of his course, will be bounded by no evening, but last for ever; we must not, without further ground, introduce this true and profound idea into the seventh creation-day.
We could only be warranted in adopting such an interpretation, and understanding by the concluding day of the work of creation a period of endless duration, on the supposition that the six preceding days were so many periods in the world's history, which embraced the time from the beginning of the creation to the final completion of its development. But as the six creation-days, according to the words of the text, were earthly days of ordinary duration, we must understand the seventh in the same way; and that all the more, because in every passage, in which it is mentioned as the foundation of the theocratic Sabbath, it is regarded as an ordinary day (Ex 20:11; 31:17). We must conclude, therefore, that on the seventh day, on which God rested from His work, the world also, with all its inhabitants, attained to the sacred rest of God; that the kata'pausis (NT:2663) and sabbatismo's (NT:4520) of God were made a rest and sabbatic festival for His creatures, especially for man; and that this day of rest of the new created world, which the forefathers of our race observed in paradise, as long as they continued in a state of innocence and lived in blessed peace with their God and Creator, was the beginning and type of the rest to which the creation, after it had fallen from fellowship with God through the sin of man, received a promise that it should once more be restored through redemption, at its final consummation.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
K-D: Genesis Commentary Part 7
Genesis 2:1-3
With this the legends of the heathen world respecting the golden age of the past, and its return at the end of time, also correspond (cf. Gesenius on Isa 11:6-8). It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. For although at the present time man is fitted by his teeth and alimentary canal for the combination of vegetable and animal food; and although the law of mutual destruction so thoroughly pervades the whole animal kingdom, that not only is the life of one sustained by the death of another, but "as the graminivorous animals check the overgrowth of the vegetable kingdom, so the excessive increase of the former is restricted by the beasts of prey, and of these again by the destructive implements of man;" and although, again, not only beasts of prey, but evident symptoms of disease are met with among the fossil remains of the aboriginal animals: all these facts furnish no proof that the human and animal races were originally constituted for death and destruction, or that disease and slaughter are older than the fall.
For, to reply to the last objection first, geology has offered no conclusive evidence of its doctrine, that the fossil remains of beasts of prey and bones with marks of disease belong to a pre-Adamite period, but has merely inferred it from the hypothesis already mentioned (pp. 25, 26) of successive periods of creation. Again, as even in the present order of nature the excessive increase of the vegetable kingdom is restrained, not merely by the graminivorous animals, but also by the death of the plants themselves through the exhaustion of their vital powers; so the wisdom of the Creator could easily have set bounds to the excessive increase of the animal world, without requiring the help of huntsmen and beasts of prey, since many animals even now lose their lives by natural means, without being slain by men or eaten by beasts of prey. The teaching of Scripture, that death entered the world through sin, merely proves that the human race was created for eternal life, but by no means necessitates the assumption that the animals were also created for endless existence.
As the earth produced them at the creative word of God, the different individuals and generations would also have passed away and returned to the bosom of the earth, without violent destruction by the claws of animals or the hand of man, as soon as they had fulfilled the purpose of their existence. The decay of animals is a law of nature established in the creation itself, and not a consequence of sin, or an effect of the death brought into the world by the sin of man. At the same time, it was so far involved in the effects of the fall, that the natural decay of the different animals was changed into a painful death or violent end. Although in the animal kingdom, as it at present exists, many varieties are so organized that they live exclusively upon the flesh of other animals, which they kill and devour; this by no means necessitates the conclusion, that the carnivorous beasts of prey were created after the fall, or the assumption that they were originally intended to feed upon flesh, and organized accordingly.
If, in consequence of the curse pronounced upon the earth after the sin of man, who was appointed head and lord of nature, the whole creation was subjected to vanity and the bondage of corruption (Ro 8:20 ff.); this subjection might have been accompanied by a change in the organization of the animals, though natural science, which is based upon the observation and combination of things empirically discovered, could neither demonstrate the fact nor explain the process. And if natural science cannot boast that in any one of its many branches it has discovered all the phenomena connected with the animal and human organism of the existing world, how could it pretend to determine or limit the changes through which this organism may have passed in the course of thousands of years?
The creation of man and his installation as ruler on the earth brought the creation of all earthly beings to a close (v. 31). God saw His work, and behold it was all very good; i.e., everything perfect in its kind, so that every creature might reach the goal appointed by the Creator, and accomplish the purpose of its existence. By the application of the term "good" to everything that God made, and the repetition of the word with the emphasis "very" at the close of the whole creation, the existence of anything evil in the creation of God is absolutely denied, and the hypothesis entirely refuted, that the six days' work merely subdued and fettered an ungodly, evil principle, which had already forced its way into it. The sixth day, as being the last, is distinguished above all the rest by the article - hashishiy (OT:8345) yowm (OT:3117) "a day, the sixth" (Gesenius, §111, 2 a).
With this the legends of the heathen world respecting the golden age of the past, and its return at the end of time, also correspond (cf. Gesenius on Isa 11:6-8). It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. For although at the present time man is fitted by his teeth and alimentary canal for the combination of vegetable and animal food; and although the law of mutual destruction so thoroughly pervades the whole animal kingdom, that not only is the life of one sustained by the death of another, but "as the graminivorous animals check the overgrowth of the vegetable kingdom, so the excessive increase of the former is restricted by the beasts of prey, and of these again by the destructive implements of man;" and although, again, not only beasts of prey, but evident symptoms of disease are met with among the fossil remains of the aboriginal animals: all these facts furnish no proof that the human and animal races were originally constituted for death and destruction, or that disease and slaughter are older than the fall.
For, to reply to the last objection first, geology has offered no conclusive evidence of its doctrine, that the fossil remains of beasts of prey and bones with marks of disease belong to a pre-Adamite period, but has merely inferred it from the hypothesis already mentioned (pp. 25, 26) of successive periods of creation. Again, as even in the present order of nature the excessive increase of the vegetable kingdom is restrained, not merely by the graminivorous animals, but also by the death of the plants themselves through the exhaustion of their vital powers; so the wisdom of the Creator could easily have set bounds to the excessive increase of the animal world, without requiring the help of huntsmen and beasts of prey, since many animals even now lose their lives by natural means, without being slain by men or eaten by beasts of prey. The teaching of Scripture, that death entered the world through sin, merely proves that the human race was created for eternal life, but by no means necessitates the assumption that the animals were also created for endless existence.
As the earth produced them at the creative word of God, the different individuals and generations would also have passed away and returned to the bosom of the earth, without violent destruction by the claws of animals or the hand of man, as soon as they had fulfilled the purpose of their existence. The decay of animals is a law of nature established in the creation itself, and not a consequence of sin, or an effect of the death brought into the world by the sin of man. At the same time, it was so far involved in the effects of the fall, that the natural decay of the different animals was changed into a painful death or violent end. Although in the animal kingdom, as it at present exists, many varieties are so organized that they live exclusively upon the flesh of other animals, which they kill and devour; this by no means necessitates the conclusion, that the carnivorous beasts of prey were created after the fall, or the assumption that they were originally intended to feed upon flesh, and organized accordingly.
If, in consequence of the curse pronounced upon the earth after the sin of man, who was appointed head and lord of nature, the whole creation was subjected to vanity and the bondage of corruption (Ro 8:20 ff.); this subjection might have been accompanied by a change in the organization of the animals, though natural science, which is based upon the observation and combination of things empirically discovered, could neither demonstrate the fact nor explain the process. And if natural science cannot boast that in any one of its many branches it has discovered all the phenomena connected with the animal and human organism of the existing world, how could it pretend to determine or limit the changes through which this organism may have passed in the course of thousands of years?
The creation of man and his installation as ruler on the earth brought the creation of all earthly beings to a close (v. 31). God saw His work, and behold it was all very good; i.e., everything perfect in its kind, so that every creature might reach the goal appointed by the Creator, and accomplish the purpose of its existence. By the application of the term "good" to everything that God made, and the repetition of the word with the emphasis "very" at the close of the whole creation, the existence of anything evil in the creation of God is absolutely denied, and the hypothesis entirely refuted, that the six days' work merely subdued and fettered an ungodly, evil principle, which had already forced its way into it. The sixth day, as being the last, is distinguished above all the rest by the article - hashishiy (OT:8345) yowm (OT:3117) "a day, the sixth" (Gesenius, §111, 2 a).
Friday, September 5, 2008
A Roman Catholic view
This page from the Kolbe Centre for the Study of Creation is worth a look. It is a defense of the traditional doctrine of creation (TDC...good abbreviation).
Monday, September 1, 2008
K-D: Genesis Commentary Part 6
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
The Sixth Day. - Sea and air are filled with living creatures; and the word of God now goes forth to the earth, to produce living beings after their kind. These are divided into three classes. bªheemaah (OT:929), cattle, from bhm (OT:871 a), mutum, brutum esse, generally denotes the larger domesticated quadrupeds (e.g., Ge 47:18; Ex 13:12, etc.), but occasionally the larger land animals as a whole. remes (OT:7431) (the creeping) embraces the smaller land animals, which move either without feet, or with feet that are scarcely perceptible, viz., reptiles, insects, and worms. In v. 25 they are distinguished from the race of water reptiles by the term haa'adaamaah (OT:127) 'erets (OT:776) chayªtow (OT:2416) (the old form of the construct state, for haa'aarets (OT:776) chayat (OT:2416)), the beast of the earth, i.e., the freely roving wild animals.
"After its kind:" this refers to all three classes of living creatures, each of which had its peculiar species; consequently in v. 25, where the word of God is fulfilled, it is repeated with every class. This act of creation, too, like all that precede it, is shown by the divine word "good" to be in accordance with the will of God. But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. The creation of man does not take place through a word addressed by God to the earth, but as the result of the divine decree, "We will make man in Our image, after our likeness," which proclaims at the very outset the distinction and pre-eminence of man above all the other creatures of the earth. The plural "We" was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity: modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis; or as an address by God to Himself, the subject and object being identical; or as communicative, an address to the spirits or angels who stand around the Deity and constitute His council.
The last is Philo's explanation: diale'getai (NT:1256) ho (NT:3588) too'n (NT:3588) ho'loon (NT:3650) patee'r (NT:3962) tai's (NT:3588) heautou' (NT:1438) duna'mesin (NT:1411) duna'meis (NT:1411) = angels). But although such passages as 1 Ki 22:19 ff., Ps 89:8, and Da 10, show that God, as King and Judge of the world, is surrounded by heavenly hosts, who stand around His throne and execute His commands, the last interpretation founders upon this rock: either it assumes without sufficient scriptural authority, and in fact in opposition to such distinct passages as Ge 2:7,22; Isa 40:13 seq., Ge 44:24, that the spirits took part in the creation of man; or it reduces the plural to an empty phrase, inasmuch as God is made to summon the angels to cooperate in the creation of man, and then, instead of employing them, is represented as carrying out the work alone. Moreover, this view is irreconcilable with the words "in our image, after our likeness;" since man was created in the image of God alone (v. 27; Ge 5:1), and not in the image of either the angels, or God and the angels.
A likeness to the angels cannot be inferred from Heb 2:7, or from Lk 20:36. Just as little ground is there for regarding the plural here and in other passages (Ge 3:22; 11:7; Isa 6:8; 41:22) as reflective, an appeal to self; since the singular is employed in such cases as these, even where God Himself is preparing for any particular work (cf. Ge 2:18; Ps 12:5; Isa 33:10). No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis, - an interpretation which comprehends in its deepest and most intensive form (God speaking of Himself and with Himself in the plural number, not reverentiae causa, but with reference to the fullness of the divine powers and essences which He possesses) the truth that lies at the foundation of the trinitarian view, viz., that the potencies concentrated in the absolute Divine Being are something more than powers and attributes of God; that they are hypostases, which in the further course of the revelation of God in His kingdom appeared with more and more distinctness as persons of the Divine Being.
On the words "in our image, after our likeness" modern commentators have correctly observed, that there is no foundation for the distinction drawn by the Greek, and after them by many of the Latin Fathers, between eikoo'n (NT:1504) (imago) and homoi'oosis (NT:3669) (similitudo), the former of which they supposed to represent the physical aspect of the likeness to God, the latter the ethical; but that, on the contrary, the older Lutheran theologians were correct in stating that the two words are synonymous, and are merely combined to add intensity to the thought: "an image which is like Us" (Luther); since it is no more possible to discover a sharp or well-defined distinction in the ordinary use of the words between tselem (OT:6754) and dªmuwt (OT:1823), than between bª and kª. tselem (OT:6754), from tseel (OT:6738), lit., a shadow, hence sketch, outline, differs no more from dªmuwt (OT:1823), likeness, portrait, copy, than the German words Umriss or Abriss (outline or sketch) from Bild or Abbild (likeness, copy). bª and kª are also equally interchangeable, as we may see from a comparison of this verse with Ge 5:1 and 3. (Compare also Lev 6:4 with Lev 27:12, and for the use of bª to denote a norm, or sample, Ex 25:40; 30:32,37, etc.)
There is more difficulty in deciding in what the likeness to God consisted. Certainly not in the bodily form, the upright position, or commanding aspect of the man, since God has no bodily form, and the man's body was formed from the dust of the ground; nor in the dominion of man over nature, for this is unquestionably ascribed to man simply as the consequence or effluence of his likeness to God. Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul.
(Note: "The breath of God became the soul of man; the soul of man therefore is nothing but the breath of God. The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. This breath is the seal and pledge of our relation to God, of our godlike dignity; whereas the breath breathed into the animals is nothing but the common breath, the life-wind of nature, which is moving everywhere, and only appears in the animal fixed and bound into a certain independence and individuality, so that the animal soul is nothing but a nature-soul individualized into certain, though still material spirituality." - Ziegler.)
The image of God consists, therefore, in the spiritual personality of man, though not merely in unity of self-consciousness and self-determination, or in the fact that man was created a consciously free Ego; for personality is merely the basis and form of the divine likeness, not its real essence. This consists rather in the fact, that the man endowed with free self-conscious personality possesses, in his spiritual as well as corporeal nature, a creaturely copy of the holiness and blessedness of the divine life. This concrete essence of the divine likeness was shattered by sin; and it is only through Christ, the brightness of the glory of God and the expression of His essence (Heb 1:3), that our nature is transformed into the image of God again (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24).
"And they ('aadaam (OT:120), a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. There is something striking in the introduction of the expression "and over all the earth," after the different races of animals have been mentioned, especially as the list of races appears to be proceeded with afterwards. If this appearance were actually the fact, it would be impossible to escape the conclusion that the text is faulty, and that chayat (OT:2416) has fallen out; so that the reading should be, "and over all the wild beasts of the earth," as the Syriac has it. But as the identity of "every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (h'rts (OT:776)) with "every thing that creepeth upon the ground" (h'dmh) in v. 25 is not absolutely certain; on the contrary, the change in expression indicates a difference of meaning; and as the Masoretic text is supported by the oldest critical authorities (LXX, Sam., Onk.), the Syriac rendering must be dismissed as nothing more than a conjecture, and the Masoretic text be understood in the following manner.
The author passes on from the cattle to the entire earth, and embraces all the animal creation in the expression, "every moving thing (kl-hrms) that moveth upon the earth," just as in v. 28, "every living thing haaromeset (OT:7430) upon the earth." According to this, God determined to give to the man about to be created in His likeness the supremacy, not only over the animal world, but over the earth itself; and this agrees with the blessing in v. 28, where the newly created man is exhorted to replenish the earth and subdue it; whereas, according to the conjecture of the Syriac, the subjugation of the earth by man would be omitted from the divine decree. - V. 27. In the account of the accomplishment of the divine purpose the words swell into a jubilant song, so that we meet here for the first time with a parallelismus membrorum, the creation of man being celebrated in three parallel clauses.
The distinction drawn between 'otow (OT:853) (in the image of God created He him) and 'otaam (OT:853) (as man and woman created He them) must not be overlooked. The word 'otaam (OT:853), which indicates that God created the man and woman as two human beings, completely overthrows the idea that man was at first androgynous (cf. Ge 2:18 ff.). By the blessing in v. 28, God not only confers upon man the power to multiply and fill the earth, as upon the beasts in v. 22, but also gives him dominion over the earth and every beast. In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in vv. 29, 30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. Man is to eat of "every seed-bearing herb on the face of all the earth, and every tree on which there are fruits containing seed," consequently of the productions of both field and tree, in other words, of corn and fruit; the animals are to eat of "every green herb," i.e., of vegetables or green plants, and grass.
From this it follows, that, according to the creative will of God, men were not to slaughter animals for food, nor were animals to prey upon one another; consequently, that the fact which now prevails universally in nature and the order of the world, the violent and often painful destruction of life, is not a primary law of nature, nor a divine institution founded in the creation itself, but entered the world along with death at the fall of man, and became a necessity of nature through the curse of sin. It was not till after the flood, that men received authority from God to employ the flesh of animals as well as the green herb as food (Ge 9:3); and the fact that, according to the biblical view, no carnivorous animals existed at the first, may be inferred from the prophetic announcements in Isa 11:6-8; 65:25, where the cessation of sin and the complete transformation of the world into the kingdom of God are described as being accompanied by the cessation of slaughter and the eating of flesh, even in the case of the animal kingdom.
The Sixth Day. - Sea and air are filled with living creatures; and the word of God now goes forth to the earth, to produce living beings after their kind. These are divided into three classes. bªheemaah (OT:929), cattle, from bhm (OT:871 a), mutum, brutum esse, generally denotes the larger domesticated quadrupeds (e.g., Ge 47:18; Ex 13:12, etc.), but occasionally the larger land animals as a whole. remes (OT:7431) (the creeping) embraces the smaller land animals, which move either without feet, or with feet that are scarcely perceptible, viz., reptiles, insects, and worms. In v. 25 they are distinguished from the race of water reptiles by the term haa'adaamaah (OT:127) 'erets (OT:776) chayªtow (OT:2416) (the old form of the construct state, for haa'aarets (OT:776) chayat (OT:2416)), the beast of the earth, i.e., the freely roving wild animals.
"After its kind:" this refers to all three classes of living creatures, each of which had its peculiar species; consequently in v. 25, where the word of God is fulfilled, it is repeated with every class. This act of creation, too, like all that precede it, is shown by the divine word "good" to be in accordance with the will of God. But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. The creation of man does not take place through a word addressed by God to the earth, but as the result of the divine decree, "We will make man in Our image, after our likeness," which proclaims at the very outset the distinction and pre-eminence of man above all the other creatures of the earth. The plural "We" was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity: modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis; or as an address by God to Himself, the subject and object being identical; or as communicative, an address to the spirits or angels who stand around the Deity and constitute His council.
The last is Philo's explanation: diale'getai (NT:1256) ho (NT:3588) too'n (NT:3588) ho'loon (NT:3650) patee'r (NT:3962) tai's (NT:3588) heautou' (NT:1438) duna'mesin (NT:1411) duna'meis (NT:1411) = angels). But although such passages as 1 Ki 22:19 ff., Ps 89:8, and Da 10, show that God, as King and Judge of the world, is surrounded by heavenly hosts, who stand around His throne and execute His commands, the last interpretation founders upon this rock: either it assumes without sufficient scriptural authority, and in fact in opposition to such distinct passages as Ge 2:7,22; Isa 40:13 seq., Ge 44:24, that the spirits took part in the creation of man; or it reduces the plural to an empty phrase, inasmuch as God is made to summon the angels to cooperate in the creation of man, and then, instead of employing them, is represented as carrying out the work alone. Moreover, this view is irreconcilable with the words "in our image, after our likeness;" since man was created in the image of God alone (v. 27; Ge 5:1), and not in the image of either the angels, or God and the angels.
A likeness to the angels cannot be inferred from Heb 2:7, or from Lk 20:36. Just as little ground is there for regarding the plural here and in other passages (Ge 3:22; 11:7; Isa 6:8; 41:22) as reflective, an appeal to self; since the singular is employed in such cases as these, even where God Himself is preparing for any particular work (cf. Ge 2:18; Ps 12:5; Isa 33:10). No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis, - an interpretation which comprehends in its deepest and most intensive form (God speaking of Himself and with Himself in the plural number, not reverentiae causa, but with reference to the fullness of the divine powers and essences which He possesses) the truth that lies at the foundation of the trinitarian view, viz., that the potencies concentrated in the absolute Divine Being are something more than powers and attributes of God; that they are hypostases, which in the further course of the revelation of God in His kingdom appeared with more and more distinctness as persons of the Divine Being.
On the words "in our image, after our likeness" modern commentators have correctly observed, that there is no foundation for the distinction drawn by the Greek, and after them by many of the Latin Fathers, between eikoo'n (NT:1504) (imago) and homoi'oosis (NT:3669) (similitudo), the former of which they supposed to represent the physical aspect of the likeness to God, the latter the ethical; but that, on the contrary, the older Lutheran theologians were correct in stating that the two words are synonymous, and are merely combined to add intensity to the thought: "an image which is like Us" (Luther); since it is no more possible to discover a sharp or well-defined distinction in the ordinary use of the words between tselem (OT:6754) and dªmuwt (OT:1823), than between bª and kª. tselem (OT:6754), from tseel (OT:6738), lit., a shadow, hence sketch, outline, differs no more from dªmuwt (OT:1823), likeness, portrait, copy, than the German words Umriss or Abriss (outline or sketch) from Bild or Abbild (likeness, copy). bª and kª are also equally interchangeable, as we may see from a comparison of this verse with Ge 5:1 and 3. (Compare also Lev 6:4 with Lev 27:12, and for the use of bª to denote a norm, or sample, Ex 25:40; 30:32,37, etc.)
There is more difficulty in deciding in what the likeness to God consisted. Certainly not in the bodily form, the upright position, or commanding aspect of the man, since God has no bodily form, and the man's body was formed from the dust of the ground; nor in the dominion of man over nature, for this is unquestionably ascribed to man simply as the consequence or effluence of his likeness to God. Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul.
(Note: "The breath of God became the soul of man; the soul of man therefore is nothing but the breath of God. The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. This breath is the seal and pledge of our relation to God, of our godlike dignity; whereas the breath breathed into the animals is nothing but the common breath, the life-wind of nature, which is moving everywhere, and only appears in the animal fixed and bound into a certain independence and individuality, so that the animal soul is nothing but a nature-soul individualized into certain, though still material spirituality." - Ziegler.)
The image of God consists, therefore, in the spiritual personality of man, though not merely in unity of self-consciousness and self-determination, or in the fact that man was created a consciously free Ego; for personality is merely the basis and form of the divine likeness, not its real essence. This consists rather in the fact, that the man endowed with free self-conscious personality possesses, in his spiritual as well as corporeal nature, a creaturely copy of the holiness and blessedness of the divine life. This concrete essence of the divine likeness was shattered by sin; and it is only through Christ, the brightness of the glory of God and the expression of His essence (Heb 1:3), that our nature is transformed into the image of God again (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24).
"And they ('aadaam (OT:120), a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. There is something striking in the introduction of the expression "and over all the earth," after the different races of animals have been mentioned, especially as the list of races appears to be proceeded with afterwards. If this appearance were actually the fact, it would be impossible to escape the conclusion that the text is faulty, and that chayat (OT:2416) has fallen out; so that the reading should be, "and over all the wild beasts of the earth," as the Syriac has it. But as the identity of "every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (h'rts (OT:776)) with "every thing that creepeth upon the ground" (h'dmh) in v. 25 is not absolutely certain; on the contrary, the change in expression indicates a difference of meaning; and as the Masoretic text is supported by the oldest critical authorities (LXX, Sam., Onk.), the Syriac rendering must be dismissed as nothing more than a conjecture, and the Masoretic text be understood in the following manner.
The author passes on from the cattle to the entire earth, and embraces all the animal creation in the expression, "every moving thing (kl-hrms) that moveth upon the earth," just as in v. 28, "every living thing haaromeset (OT:7430) upon the earth." According to this, God determined to give to the man about to be created in His likeness the supremacy, not only over the animal world, but over the earth itself; and this agrees with the blessing in v. 28, where the newly created man is exhorted to replenish the earth and subdue it; whereas, according to the conjecture of the Syriac, the subjugation of the earth by man would be omitted from the divine decree. - V. 27. In the account of the accomplishment of the divine purpose the words swell into a jubilant song, so that we meet here for the first time with a parallelismus membrorum, the creation of man being celebrated in three parallel clauses.
The distinction drawn between 'otow (OT:853) (in the image of God created He him) and 'otaam (OT:853) (as man and woman created He them) must not be overlooked. The word 'otaam (OT:853), which indicates that God created the man and woman as two human beings, completely overthrows the idea that man was at first androgynous (cf. Ge 2:18 ff.). By the blessing in v. 28, God not only confers upon man the power to multiply and fill the earth, as upon the beasts in v. 22, but also gives him dominion over the earth and every beast. In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in vv. 29, 30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. Man is to eat of "every seed-bearing herb on the face of all the earth, and every tree on which there are fruits containing seed," consequently of the productions of both field and tree, in other words, of corn and fruit; the animals are to eat of "every green herb," i.e., of vegetables or green plants, and grass.
From this it follows, that, according to the creative will of God, men were not to slaughter animals for food, nor were animals to prey upon one another; consequently, that the fact which now prevails universally in nature and the order of the world, the violent and often painful destruction of life, is not a primary law of nature, nor a divine institution founded in the creation itself, but entered the world along with death at the fall of man, and became a necessity of nature through the curse of sin. It was not till after the flood, that men received authority from God to employ the flesh of animals as well as the green herb as food (Ge 9:3); and the fact that, according to the biblical view, no carnivorous animals existed at the first, may be inferred from the prophetic announcements in Isa 11:6-8; 65:25, where the cessation of sin and the complete transformation of the world into the kingdom of God are described as being accompanied by the cessation of slaughter and the eating of flesh, even in the case of the animal kingdom.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Who is this Kauffman?
I just found this sitting on my hard drive, and thought it worth putting up...not endorsing, of course, but a number of great thinking points are raised by K. (not the K of Kafka's novels, of course :-o ).
" "If no natural law suffices to describe the evolution of the biosphere, of technological evolution, of human history, what replaces it? In its place is a wondrous radical creativity without a supernatural Creator. Look out your window at the life teeming about you. All that has been going on is that the sun has been shining on the earth for some 5 billion years. Life is about 3.8 billion years old. The vast tangled bank of life, as Darwin phrased it, arose all on its own.
It is important to the Western Hebraic-Hellenic tradition that the ancient Greeks relied preeminently on reason to seek, with Plato, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. The ancient Jews, living with their God, relied more broadly on their full humanity. The ancient Jews and Greeks split the ancient Western world. The Jews, as Paul Johnson wrote in his History of the Jews, were the best historians of the ancient world, stubbornly commemorating the situated history of a people and their universal, single God, our Abrahamic God.
Is it, then, more amazing to think that an Abrahamic transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient God created everything around us, all that we participate in, in six days, or that it all arose with no transcendent Creator God, all on its own? I believe the latter is so stunning, so overwhelming, so worthy of awe, gratitude, and respect, that it is God enough for many of us. God, a fully natural God, is the very creativity in the universe. It is this view that I hope can be shared across all our religious traditions, embracing those like myself, who do not believe in a Creator God, as well as those who do. This view of God can be a shared religious and spiritual space for us all.
I believe it is important that this view is wrong. Science itself is more limited by the un-prestatable, unpredictable creativity in the universe than we have realized, and, in any case, science is not the only path to knowledge and understanding. Science cannot explain the intricate, context-dependent, creative, situated aspects of much of human action and invention, or the historicity that embraces and partially defines us. These, however, are just the domains of the humanities, from art and literature to history and law. Truth abides here, too.
The French existentialist philosophers struggled with the same issue, the view that the real universe is devoid of values. Our lives are full of value and meaning, yet no single framework offers a secure place for these facets of our humanity to coexist with fundamental science. We need a worldview in which brute facts yield values, a way to derive ought from is, just the step that Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume warned against. Agency, values, and “doing” did not come into being separately from the rest of existence; they are emergent in the evolution of the biosphere. We are the products of that evolution, and our values are real features of the universe. " "
" "If no natural law suffices to describe the evolution of the biosphere, of technological evolution, of human history, what replaces it? In its place is a wondrous radical creativity without a supernatural Creator. Look out your window at the life teeming about you. All that has been going on is that the sun has been shining on the earth for some 5 billion years. Life is about 3.8 billion years old. The vast tangled bank of life, as Darwin phrased it, arose all on its own.
It is important to the Western Hebraic-Hellenic tradition that the ancient Greeks relied preeminently on reason to seek, with Plato, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. The ancient Jews, living with their God, relied more broadly on their full humanity. The ancient Jews and Greeks split the ancient Western world. The Jews, as Paul Johnson wrote in his History of the Jews, were the best historians of the ancient world, stubbornly commemorating the situated history of a people and their universal, single God, our Abrahamic God.
Is it, then, more amazing to think that an Abrahamic transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient God created everything around us, all that we participate in, in six days, or that it all arose with no transcendent Creator God, all on its own? I believe the latter is so stunning, so overwhelming, so worthy of awe, gratitude, and respect, that it is God enough for many of us. God, a fully natural God, is the very creativity in the universe. It is this view that I hope can be shared across all our religious traditions, embracing those like myself, who do not believe in a Creator God, as well as those who do. This view of God can be a shared religious and spiritual space for us all.
I believe it is important that this view is wrong. Science itself is more limited by the un-prestatable, unpredictable creativity in the universe than we have realized, and, in any case, science is not the only path to knowledge and understanding. Science cannot explain the intricate, context-dependent, creative, situated aspects of much of human action and invention, or the historicity that embraces and partially defines us. These, however, are just the domains of the humanities, from art and literature to history and law. Truth abides here, too.
The French existentialist philosophers struggled with the same issue, the view that the real universe is devoid of values. Our lives are full of value and meaning, yet no single framework offers a secure place for these facets of our humanity to coexist with fundamental science. We need a worldview in which brute facts yield values, a way to derive ought from is, just the step that Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume warned against. Agency, values, and “doing” did not come into being separately from the rest of existence; they are emergent in the evolution of the biosphere. We are the products of that evolution, and our values are real features of the universe. " "
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