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Creation in the Old Testament

The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Creation in the Old Testament. The Pentateuch/Law/Torah. “A List of Creation Scripture References” https :// www.gospelway.com/creation/creation_list.php 47 such references in Genesis (28 in chapter 1; is Genesis 1 just one reference or dozens?)

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Creation in the Old Testament

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  1. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings Creation in the Old Testament

  2. The Pentateuch/Law/Torah • “A List of Creation Scripture References” • https://www.gospelway.com/creation/creation_list.php • 47 such references in Genesis (28 in chapter 1; is Genesis 1 just one reference or dozens?) • 7 in Exodus • None in Leviticus • 2 in Numbers • 4 in Deuteronomy • Pentateuch Total: 60 references

  3. Genesis 1 • The preeminent text in all of Scripture • Prose vs. Poetry (in the context of the larger question of history vs. legend) • That the likelihood that Genesis One is narrative (i.e. prose) is 99.99%. • The meaning of the word “day”

  4. Genesis 1 • The question of interpretation: the natural or straightforward meaning of the text • By the way, to take something literally is to take it seriously. • Eighteen miracles of creation • All creatures are created according to their kinds.

  5. Genesis 3 and 4 • These chapters follow immediately after the creation account. • We have no certain clue about how long after, but we get a strong impression that these events happened soon after the creation, i.e. within weeks or months, possibly even within days.

  6. The Genealogies of Genesis 5 • Their uniqueness—the only place where Scripture gives the age of the father at the birth of the son along with the age of the father at death • Time gaps between the generations? • I think not.

  7. Genesis • Gen. 5:1, 2, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created he called them ‘man.’” • Gen. 6:7, “So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth….’” • Gen. 14:19, “… God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.” (Melchizedek)

  8. Exodus • Exod. 20:9-11, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.” • Exod. 31:17, the Sabbath “will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.”

  9. Exodus • Exod. 24:16, “… and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.”

  10. Numbers • Only two references to creation in the book of Numbers: • 16:22, Moses and Aaron: “O God, God of the spirits of all mankind …” • 27:15, “… the God of the spirits of all mankind, ….”

  11. Deuteronomy • Deut. 4:32, “… from the day God created man on the earth …”

  12. The Prophets • Remember that there are sixty such references in the Pentateuch. • Total presented here from the prophets: 25 references

  13. Joshua, Judges, Samuel, & Kings • 1 Sam. 2:8, Hannah’s prayer: “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.” • 2 Kings 19:15, Hezekiah: “You made the heaven and the earth.”

  14. Stretching—Isaiah 40:22, 42:5 • Jer. 10:12, Zech. 12:1 – “stretched,” “stretches” • Isa. 40:22, “He stretches out the heavens …” • Isa. 42:5, “Creator,” “stretches” (nāṭāh) in parallel to “spread out” • Thus says God, the Lord,    who created the heavens and stretched them out,    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,who gives breath to the people on it    and spirit to those who walk in it:

  15. “Stretch” • “Does the Bible really describe expansion of the universe?” John Hartnett • See creation.com

  16. John Hartnett • “Biblical texts which have been used by some creationists to argue that Scripture supports expansion of the universe were reviewed. To suggest that these texts describe cosmological expansion of space, with galaxies being spread out like the often quoted rubber sheet analogy, is not justifiable and is pure eisegesis. The straightforward meaning is God constructing the heavens above and the earth below as a description of His preparation of a habitat for man. Once the stars were placed in the heavens they were to remain as a constant for all time.”

  17. Isaiah 40:26 • “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” • Context: v. 27 asks why Israel complains. • Nine additional references in Isaiah: 41:20; 43:1, 7; 45:8, 12, 18; 48:7; 54:16; 57:16 (along with the previously mentioned 40:22 and 42:5)

  18. Isaiah 45:18 • “He who created the heavens, he is God; • he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; • he did not create it to be empty (tōhû), but formed it to be inhabited—he says: ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other.’”

  19. Jeremiah • Jer. 4:23-26, “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty (only elsewhere in Gen. 1:2); and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying….” • Jer. 10:12, “God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.” • Jer. 31:35, ”This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day ….”

  20. Ezekiel • Ezek. 21:30, “Return the sword to its scabbard. In the place where you were created … I will judge you.” • Ezek. 28:13, a reference to Eden • Ezek. 31:8-9, Eden • Ezek. 31:18, Eden

  21. Additional Miscellaneous Passages • Hosea 8:14, “Israel has forgotten his Maker ….” • Amos 4:13, “He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man….” • Jonah 1:9, “I worship the Lord, the God of heavens, who made the sea and the land.” • Hab. 2:18, “He who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.” • Zech. 12:1, “The Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man….”” • Mal. 2:10, “Did not one God create us?” • Mal. 2:15, “Had not the Lord made them one?”

  22. The Writings • Total presented here: 49 references • Remember that we had sixty references from the Pentateuch and twenty-five presented from the prophets.

  23. Job (out of 41 total references) • Job 4:17, “Can a man be more pure than his Maker?” • Job 9:8, 9, “He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.” • Job 26:10, a poetic passage describing a historical event, i.e. the creation of day and night: “He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.” • Job 37:18, “… can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?”

  24. Job 38:4-7 • “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? •     Tell me, if you have understanding. • 5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!    Or who stretched the line upon it? • 6On what were its bases sunk,    or who laid its cornerstone, • 7when the morning stars sang together    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

  25. Psalm 8 • Vv. 3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” • Vv. 5-6 are cited in Heb. 2:6-9 and echo the dominion over everything described in Genesis 1: “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings ….”

  26. Various Psalm Fragments • Ps. 19:1, 3-4; 24:1, 2; 74:16-17; 95:4, 5, 6, 7; 96:4-5; 97:6; 100:3 • Ps. 33:6, 9, creation by the word of God’s mouth (consistent with Genesis 1) • Ps. 33:7, God gathered the waters into one place (“jars” or “a heap”) • Ps. 114:1-6 shows God as Lord over creation • Ps. 121:2, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

  27. Psalm 104, A Creation Psalm • Vv. 3b-4, “He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” (Lord of creation) • V. 5, “He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” • Vv. 24-26, “How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan which you formed to folic there.”

  28. Psalm 139 • V. 13, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” • V. 14, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

  29. Psalm 148:3-5 • Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.

  30. Proverbs • Images of Eden: “tree of life,” Prov. 3:18, 11:30, 13:12: 15:4 • No clear chronological references, but a tangential treatment of the early chapters of Genesis as historical. • The personification of wisdom (sometimes thought of as Messianic) in Proverbs 8 is not to be equated with the creation of wisdom. In Prov. 8:22, the word sometimes translated as “create” also means “possess”: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old” (ESV). Contra JW’s

  31. Nehemiah • In Neh. 9:6, the Levites speak of creation, preservation, and worship—”You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”

  32. Chronicles • 1 Chronicles 1:1-3, “Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.” • 1 Chronicles 1-9, genealogies beginning with Adam • 1 Chronicles 16:26, “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” • 2 Chronicles 2:12, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth.”

  33. And many more … • You will search in vain for any unambiguous reference to millions or billions of years, or to some sort of Darwinian developmentalism, or to some indication that the biblical “kind” allowed for many species to develop from one creature.

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