Wendee Holtcamp wrote (29 May 2002 14:57:14 -0500):
>
> Your signature intrigued me. What bible version are you using? And can you
> tell me what original word is translated to evolve? I looked in my NIV and
> it doesn't say anything I can find that would be similar. It is about God
> rested from the work of creating. It must be "work"? I am intrigued because
> I myself am an evolutionary creationist (ie I accept evolution and am a
> Christian). I'd just be interested in knowing the background etc.
Hi, Wendee,
my e-mail signature, "..the work which God created to evolve it"
(Genesis 2:3), is not from a particular published bible translation, but
corresponds to a possible direct translation of the Hebrew text.
The NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament, ed. J.R. Kohlenberger
III (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1987) gives the last clause of Gen.2:3
as: "... work-of-him that he-created God to-do", where each hyphenated
expression corresponds to a single Hebrew word.
In Hebrew, the verb "create" is "bara'", which designates the creation
out of no preexisting entities. It occurs in the creation story of
Gen.1:1 - 2:4 in the following verses only: 1:1, the creation of the
physical universe; 1:21, the creation of "living souls", the water
animals and the flying ones (i.e., the sentient or psychological realm);
1:27, the creation of humans in God's image (i.e., the spiritual realm);
and 2:4, the summary of the entire creation (referring back to 1:1 -
2:3), which therefore does not represent still another (fourth) type of
created entity.
The verb translated "do" in 2:3, the Hebrew "^asah", is usually
translated "make" and is used very often in the OT, for both God and
humans. It designates making something out of a preexisting thing,
substance, etc. Of course, this is the only way humans can make
something.
In A. Held & P. Ruest, "Genesis reconsidered", PSCF 51/4 (Dec. 1999),
231-243; http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1999/PSCF12-99Held.html, we wrote:
"A frequent misunderstanding, not supported by the text, consists of
seeing God's work in Genesis 1 as primarily miraculous. The Hebrew verb
bara' (to create) designates exclusively divine creation of novelty.
Three such creations are mentioned, the universe (1:1), animals (1:21),
and humans (1:27), originating the physical, sentient, and spiritual
realms. Between these events, developmental processes constituted the
major part of what happened. Here, ^asah (to make, also used of humans)
is typically found, implying the further 'preparation' or 'development'
of preexisting entities. God saw that 'all that he prepared' [^asah] was
'very good', and finished 'his work which he prepared'."
There, we also explain in detail why we consider biological evolution to
be one area or occurrence of this "making", or "developing" by God.
Another passage from the same paper:
"Is creation or evolution true? Both: the Bible links them inseparably.
At the end of the 'creation story', the entire process is summarized:
'These are the generations of the heavens and the earth in their being
created'. The noun toledoth (generations) derives from the verb holid
(to beget) and is a 'technical term' for lines of descent and family
trees. Apparently, Genesis 1 is a register of descent, a genealogy, a
phylogeny, containing words like seed, kinds, fruitful, multiply. Plant
and animal groups appear sequentially in ascending order. As in other
biblical genealogies known as 'tables of nations', which enumerate
various branches descending from a common ancestor, no individual
procreative acts are mentioned, but some important events - like the
appearance of the dry land - are worked into Genesis 1."
Peter
-- Dr. Peter Ruest, CH-3148 Lanzenhaeusern, Switzerland <pruest@dplanet.ch> - Biochemistry - Creation and evolution "..the work which God created to evolve it" (Genesis 2:3)
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