Literal and Scientific Interpretation of Genesis

Chapter 1
Many believe that Genesis 1, the story of creation, is a myth or a parable or just meant to be symbolic.
Some believe that it is a factual account of what happened. There is a literal interpretation of Genesis 1
that is in complete agreement with science, with the exception of the theory of evolution.
Even among those who are believers of the Biblical account of creation, there is disagreement on its
interpretation.
It seems quite apparent to most people that the universe and the earth are very old. Everything from the
size of the universe in relation to its rate of expansion, the distance of stars in relation to the speed of
light, radioactive decay rates of atoms, fossil records in relation to geologic strata and other phenomenon
all give testimony to the old age of the universe and earth. In spite of this, there are those who believe that
the word day in Genesis 1 must represent an actual 24 hour period of time. However, the word day is
used elsewhere in the Bible where it clearly does not mean an actual 24 hour period of time1.
It is easy to see why so many people have a difficult time believing that Genesis 1 could be anything other
than a myth. In addition to the time discrepancy (6 days versus 13.7 billion years), the following list
describes what are perhaps the biggest problems associated with the interpretation of the Genesis 1
narrative of creation:
1. And the earth was without form and void. Genesis 1: 2.
How can an object be without form and void?
2. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen 1:2.
Why?
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Genesis 1: 3.
How can there be light without a source of light?
4. ...and God divided the light from the darkness. Gen. 1: 4.
What could that possibly mean?
5. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Gen. 1:5
How can there be a day before there is even a sun and a rotating earth by which time is
measured? The Genesis 1 narrative itself states that God appoints the sun and moon for the keeping of
time (Genesis 1: 14), but the Genesis 1 account does not describe the creation of the sun, moon and
stars until day 4.
6. God creates vegetation on day 3 but the sun is not mentioned until day 4.
Obviously, plants on earth depend on the sun. Why would God make plants before He made the
sun?
In reading the narrative, it would seem intuitive to assume that it was written in chronological order.
However, it appears to be written as a chronotopical narrative. The Author of the narrative deemed it
more important to finish discussing specific topics or themes rather than follow a strict chronological
account of the events. This is done elsewhere in the Bible. The events written in the four gospels do not
always follow the same sequence. Another rather obvious example of this occurs in the book of
Revelation. Chapter 12: verses 3 and 4 describe a dragon which sweeps a third of the stars away with
his tail and throws them to the earth. In verses 7 to 9 the dragon is identified as the devil. The stars that
were swept away refer to the fallen angels. The Bible refers to angels as stars in other portions of the
Bible as well as in Revelation itself (Rev. 1: 20). Although the book of Revelation is about future
prophecy, the author describes past events, the fall of satan and his demons, thus clearly interrupting
chronological sequence. Furthermore, Revelation 12: 1-2 describes a woman clothed in the sun, and the
moon under her feet giving birth. Given the overall message of the Bible, few would argue that this
represents the virgin Mary giving birth, which occurred approximately 2016 years ago. Notice that the
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author of Revelation describes this event prior to the fall of satan, even though that is clearly not the order
of events as understood throughout the Bible. According to astronomical calculations, both the sun and
the moon were in the constellation of Virgo (the virgin) on Sept 11, 3 BC, hence, a woman clothed with
the sun and the moon under her feet. For this reason, some believe that this indicates the exact date of
Christs birth.2 Sept 11, 3 BC would also have been the Jewish New Year, Tishrei 1, 3759. The Jews also
consider Tishrei 1 to be the day that Adam was created, which occurs on day 6 as described in the Torah.3

Keeping this in mind, the following is a literal interpretation of the Genesis 1 narrative and is in
agreement with science and astronomy:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1: 1 KJV (King James Version).
This is an introductory statement. God creates time (In the beginning), space (the heavens), and
matter (the earth).
Day 1
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light Genesis 1: 3
The scientific theory of the Big Bang came into existence as a result of Edwin Hubbles observations
almost a century ago. After a century, scientists are still unable to explain what caused it. Genesis 1:3,
written 3500 years ago, explains it very well. When God said, Let there be light, there was light. It
should be kept in mind however, that prior to scientists proposing the Big Bang theory, this profound
Biblical statement of the first words of God as recorded in the Torah, made very little sense to anybody.
How can there be light without a source of light? The Big Bang theory explains that very well. Scientists,
on the other hand cannot explain the cause of the Big Bang. As such, Gods Word, and observations of
His creation through scientific endeavors, together help to explain each other, each one filling in
unexplained gaps from the other.
In keeping with the chronotopical view of the creation narrative, the second verse of Genesis 1 discusses
matter (the earth). The following 3 verses discuss light. It certainly reads in a much more coherent
(and poetic) way as it is written but, as such, it may not be in strict chronological order.
If the first few verses of the Bible are rearranged in the following way, it may reveal a more chronological
sequence of events:
Genesis 1:
1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:
3

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4a
2

And God saw the light, that it was good:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters.

4b
5

and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were
the first day.

This is now completely consistent with what science describes. A big bang with all matter and energy
formed in an instant but without form and void (what scientists call plasma). The actual Hebrew
word is the word for chaos.

According to scientific theory, all matter and energy were created in an instant of time at the Big Bang.
The theory states that everything was so hot that even the particles that make up atoms were unattached
and free floating. It is what scientists call plasma. The earth (matter) was without form, and void
(Genesis 1:2). Plasma explains the phrase without form, and void, or chaos, very well.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1: 2c.
Plasma, after the big bang, was hot, extremely dense and would have had a fluid consistency. As such,
Genesis 1: 2 probably isn't talking about the Earths oceans, as people assumed in the past. The word
'waters' is probably referring to the fluid plasma state of matter and energy after the Big Bang. One
interpretation then, is that the Spirit of God was moving over something far more significant than the
surface of earths oceans. He was moving over the expanding face of the fluid plasma or waters that
consisted of all of the matter and energy that would ever exist in the whole universe.
God related the story of creation to Moses in a way that he could understand without having to give
Moses an advanced course in physics and astronomy while at the same time maintaining a true scientific
account for more scientifically advanced generations to come.
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Genesis 1: 2b.
Scientific theory suggests that it took 380 000 years for the plasma to expand and cool to the point where
electrons finally started to combine with the other subatomic particles to form hydrogen atoms. Their
prediction is that until that time, no light was able to escape from the plasma because the free floating
electrons would absorb all the photons of light. and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
So why was the Spirit of God moving over the surface of the waters?
And God divided the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:4.

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

In the mid 1960s, scientists discovered that the universe is full of microwave light, coming from every
direction of the sky. The scientific theory is that this is the light that finally was able to escape from the
expanding ocean of plasma 380 000 years after the big bang when electrons finally attached themselves
to hydrogen nuclei. Scientific theory suggests however that this microwave light should be completely
uniform in the same way that water is uniformly dense, or that air in a room is uniformly dense. It would
be against the laws of thermodynamics, fortunately, for air in a room to suddenly start to clump together,
leaving some people suddenly gasping for air. This is exactly the same situation that scientists have to
explain when they view photographs of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Instead of being
uniform as the laws of thermodynamics would dictate, the photographs demonstrate an unexpected
mottled appearance. It is not uniform. It shows light and dark patches. This is as unexpected and
inexplicable as air in a room suddenly starting to become clumpy. Physicists and astronomers have not
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been able explain this in any way that would allow them to derive scientific equations to describe it or
show why it happened. If there is a God, and if in fact the Genesis narrative is true as some believe, then
it would be expected that scientific observations and theories would not be able to explain events where
there is or has been direct Divine intervention. Genesis states that, God divided the light from the
darkness. Those who have believed in the Genesis account of creation would have been at a loss to
understand and explain this phrase, until now. Once again, according to the beliefs of some, Gods Word
and scientific observations of His creation, when viewed together, do not contradict but rather support and
explain each other.
The first day would then look like this:
God said, Let there be light, and there was light: or what scientists refer to as the Big Bang.
Immediately all the matter and energy that will ever exist in the universe is formed in an expanding ocean
of watery plasma. In its plasma state, matter was without form and void and darkness was upon the
face of the deep.
Then the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (which can now be understood as the
expanding ocean of plasma) and separates the light from the darkness, which can now be seen as the
mottled appearance of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
It would seem that the act of dividing the light from the darkness is the process by which God started to
draw matter together to form stars, planets and galaxies.

Day 2
Genesis 1:
6

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters.

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament: and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The word firmament simply means space. Scientists have a theory that most of the water on earth
came from comets which for the most part consist of ice. They cant confirm this theory for sure, but
this theory would not be inconsistent with God dividing the waters which were under the firmament
(space) from the waters which were above the firmament. There is a cloud of comets called the Oort
cloud that forms a giant sphere around our solar system and is estimated to extend as far out as 3 light
years from the sun (Thirty trillion km. or three quarters of the distance to the next nearest star). All
comets that we see from time to time originate from this area where they orbit the sun.
There are oceans of water here below and the Oort cloud up above consists of comets made of frozen
water and there is a very large space separating them and that sounds a lot like day 2 as described in
the Bible. Scientists are unable to visually confirm the presence of the Oort cloud or to directly test their
theory of the origin of the water on earth.
The Ancient Book of Jubilees states, And on the second day He created the firmament in the midst of
the waters, and the waters were divided on that day half of them went up above and half of them went
down below the firmament. 3
The usual interpretation of Day 2 is that the moisture and clouds in earths atmosphere represents the
waters above the firmament. The firmament is supposed to divide the waters under it from the waters
above it. Atmospheric water is in the atmosphere, not above it. Also, the water in the atmosphere is
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estimated to be only 0.001% of the total water on earth, not half. Perhaps the Oort cloud is where all
that water is as opposed to atmospheric clouds. Scientists have discovered that the water composition of
comets in regards to the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen is almost exactly the same as that of ocean
water. Comets are estimated to be up to 80% water and the total mass of the Oort cloud is estimated to
be 1 2 times the mass of the earth. At one time it was estimated to be several hundred times the mass
of the earth. Perhaps as scientists learn more, future estimations will come closer to that given in the
Ancient Book of Jubilees. (The mass of the oceans is approximately 1.351018 metric tons, or about
1/4400 of the total mass of the Earth Wikipedia: Earth). It would be consistent with the narrative
given in Genesis 1, the Ancient Book of Jubilees and scientific observations to considering the Oort
cloud to be the waters above the firmament.
Scientists are starting to question whether all the water on earth came from comets. They are hard
pressed to explain why such a large percentage of the Oort cloud would fall to earth. Again, according
to the creation narrative, this was by Divine intervention, and as such, scientists would not be able to
explain it. They may come up with theories in word, but not equations and formulas based on the
known laws of nature that would predict that such a thing should have happened.
The European Space Agency sent Rosetta, a mission satellite, to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosettas Plasma Consortium (RPC) uncovered a mysterious song that Comet 67P/ is singing into
space.
The music was heard clearly by the magnetometer experiment (RPC-Mag) for the first time in August
2014, when Rosetta drew to within 100 km of 67P/C-G.
An audio recording of the comet sounds is available at:
https://soundcloud.com/esaops/a-singing-comet

Oddly enough, King David wrote the following approximately 3000 years ago:
Psalm 148: 3
4

Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. KJV

Psalm 98: 1

Sing to the LORD a new song; for he has done marvelous things. KJV

The comets actually sing in their own language a language in the form of magnetic oscillations. Its
curious that although the space agency states that they were not expecting this phenomenon, and were
completely surprised by it, they had named the satellite Rosetta. The rest of the mission was
considered a failure. The Rosetta satellite discovered a new song in the language of comets. Maybe the
mission was a success.

Day 3
Genesis 1:
9

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land
appear: and it was so.

Scientists also agree that the earth was originally completely submersed in water.
Day 3 is also when God created all plant life according to the Genesis narrative.

Day 4
The 1st chapter of Genesis discusses the creation of the sun and moon on day 4 of the narrative which of
course makes one assume that this is the time in which they were supposed to have been made. The
creation of stars and solar systems had been on-going from day 1 when God "divided the light from the
darkness". Some believe that instead of interrupting the narrative of the 2nd and 3rd days with more
details about the creation of stars, the creation narrative waits to summarize these details until it discusses
the 4th day, which is when He finishes creating the stars. Many authors, when writing books where they
want to describe different events which are going on at the same time, also use this same literary
technique. This again would be consistent with a chronotopical approach. The fact that there are stars
that are younger than the earth is in agreement with scientific observation. To believe that the Earth is
older than the sun and all of the stars and that the sun didnt exist until after God created vegetation on
earth is inconsistent with observations of the universe. It should be noted that the King James Version and
the original Hebrew introduce day 4 in Genesis 1: 14 with the words And God said Day 4 is not
introduced with the words Then God said

Days 5 and 6
As far as day 5 and 6 are concerned, the Bible narrative describes the creation of sea creatures and land
animals by God, as opposed to evolution. Evolutionists have not been able to produce one honest example
of an intermediate species. Evolutionists themselves have stopped using the term missing link. The
whole evolutionary chain appears to be missing. If life on earth was the result of evolution, then
evolutionists should have a wealth of fossils to prove it, but they have not been able to produce one. Just
considering our species alone, the development of the same human genome in both males and females by
the random chance of evolution followed by natural selection, is mathematically absurd. Evolutionists
cannot explain the Cambrian explosion, but the Bible narrative of days 5 and 6 explains it very well.

Some assert that when understood and interpreted correctly and honesty, nature and the Scriptures do not
disagree. Certainly, scientists and theologians who study these things, may disagree.

AUTHORSHIP OF GENESIS 1
Most scholars agree that the writings in the Torah are about 3500 years old. Moses is considered to be the
author. The account given in the Bible itself, states that Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God and
receive instruction on what was to be written. The events and conversation between God and Moses are
recorded in the book of Exodus chapters 19 to 31 and 33 to 34. It was during this time, according to
Jewish and Christian beliefs, that God gave the Torah to the Hebrew people, through Moses. The Bible
states of itself that it is the inspired word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3: 16; Revelation 1:
1, 2 and Revelation 22: 18, 19).
A recent study of the original Hebrew writings by British mathematicians, Vernon Jenkins, Craig
Paardecooper, Peter Bluer and Bevan Williams make a case for the authorship ultimately being God, not
Moses. A small portion of their work is presented here:

GENESIS 1:1 IN THE ORIGINAL HEBREW:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Hebrew is written from right to left. Since around 200 BC each letter has also functioned as a
number. The values are written above each letter. Each word represents a number obtained by
summing the letter values.

The calculation of 'Pi' from Genesis 1:1

(From the work of Vernon Jenkins, Craig Paardecooper, Peter Bluer, and Bevan Williams)

Number of letters (28) x Product of the letters (2.3887872 x 1034) =3.14155 x 10

17

Number of words (7) x product of the words (3.0415353 x 1017)

The number (pi) correct to 5 digits.

400 + 10 + 300 + 1 + 200 + 2 = 913

1 + 200 + 2 =
40 + 10 + 5 + 30 + 1 =

203
86

400 + 1 =

401

40 + 10 + 40 + 300 + 5 =

395

400 + 1 + 6 =

407

90 + 200 + 1 + 5 =

296

Sum =

2701

The sum of all the numbers is 2701. 2701 = 37 x 73. 2701 is also the 73rd triangular number. 37
and 73 are the only two numbers that are decimal reflections of each other and where the product
of the two numbers is the triangular number of one of the factors.

Triangular numbers:

1 is the 1st triangular number

1
2
4

3 is the 2nd triangular number

3
5

6 is the 3rd triangular number

Etc.
Note the denominator of the equation:
913 x 203 x 86 x 401 x 395 x 407 x 296 = 3.04 153 525 784 175 760 x 1017
If these numbers are added together: 304 + 153 + 525 + 784 + 175 + 760 = 2701 = the sum of the
original 7 numbers.
Also, the sum of the digits:

3+0+4

1 + 5 +3

5 + 2 +5 .. = 73

Genesis 1:1 was written 3500 years ago; long before the value of pi was known to this
accuracy, and long before the Hebrew letters were assigned numeric values. This same equation
also works for John 1:1 written in Greek, whose letters also have numeric values. The end result
does not equal pi; it equals e correct to 5 digits. This number (2.718281828..) has only
been known since the mid-18th century. There is no way that the apostle John knew the number
e, and the Bible has been around long before Euler discovered this number.
There are 90 000 possible 5 digit numbers from 1.0000 to 9.9999 that could have occurred from
the above equation. The chance that 3.1415 occurs by coincidence is therefore 1/90 000. The
chance that the base of natural logarithms e (known as Eulers number) is calculated from the
Gospel of John 1:1 by the same equation to 5 correct digits, is also 1/90 000. The probability
that both of these occur by random chance is 1/90 000 X 1/90 000 = 1/ 8 100 000 000.
These encrypted codes in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 have only been discovered in the past 10-15
years, but these writings are 3500 and 2000 years old respectively. It is difficult to believe that
this occurred by a random chance of 1/ 8 100 000 000. The fact that these numbers have been
encoded in ancient writings which claim to be inspired by God is astounding. Both and e
are dimensionless. (They are expressed without any units of measurement). They are constants
that have never changed and never will, and they go on forever, they are infinite. It is interesting
to consider that God, as described in the Bible, also possesses these same characteristics and that
perhaps He chose to use these as encrypted signatures of His Word.

CALCULATION OF THE NUMBER e FROM JOHN 1:1 IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK

The first verse of the Gospel of John, as rendered in the original Greek, reads as follows:

There are 17 words comprising a total of 52 letters. Since around 600 BC each letter has also
functioned as a number. The values are written above each letter. Each word represents a
number obtained by summing the letter values. These 17 results are recorded beneath the
translation. It needs to be noted that the last letter of the Greek word for beginning is seen to
be subscripted by another letter, the iota, creating a diphthong. In fact, therefore, the word has 5
letters; hence the entry "8 + 10" above the diphthong. Using the same equation as for Pi:
Number of Letters (52) x Product of the letters (8.436251456 x 1075) = 2.718313
Number of Words (17) x Product of the Words (9.493022414 x 1035)
The number e (2.718281828) correct to 5 digits! The book of John was written by the Apostle
John (one of Jesus disciples) 2000 years ago. The natural logarithm base e was not discovered
until the mid-18th century.
Note:
ex = 1 + x/1! + x/2! + x/3! .
For x = 1, e = 1 + 1.718 2818 2845 9045
Then adding these 16 digits = 73
Recall that 37 x 73 =2701, the numeric value of Genesis 1: 1.

THE GREEK AND HEBREW ALPHABETS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED NUMERIC VALUES

This is how the number of the beast will be known.

Their name in Hebrew and/or Greek will add up to 666.

1. Genesis 2:17
2. (Goodness Of God Ministries) http://goodnessofgodministries.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/whenwas-jesus-born-the-bible-says-september-11-3bc-the-day-of-the-feast-of-trumpets

3. Age of the Universe (aishcom) http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48951136.html

Tim Griffioen MD

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