Examples of God accomodating ancient "science" in the Bible?

  I'm looking for some ideas and some references.

  I sometimes have the opportunity to tell students about the cosmological
picture of the ancient Near East when the Old Testament was written -- a
flat earth, waters below and the earth and waters above the sky, with a
solid dome "firmament" holding back the waters above the sky. Other
neighboring cultures shared with the Hebrews that physical picture of the
cosmos, but they ascribed various deities to parts of the cosmos. Once
students are familiar with this, I can then suggest that one sensible
interpretation of Genesis 1 is that God accomodated himself to the
physical picture -- the "science" -- of the times, but with a radical
theological message. The original audience of Genesis 1 would have heard
a familiar physical picture of the cosmos being described, but with a very
clear theological message, about who created it all, at odds with the
religions of the surrounding cultures.

  Some students latch onto this idea quickly. Others are understandably
cautious. Would God really accomodate wrong "science" when inspiring
scripture?

  So it occured to me that it might help to give several more examples of
God accomodating himself in his spoken revelation to the "science" of the
times of the original audience.

  I listed some examples below. My question is: can you think of other
passages?

Loren Haarsma

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  --Joshua 10. Joshua prays that the sun will stand still. God doesn't
tell Joshua to instead pray that the earth will stop rotating; rather, God
honors Joshua's request the way Joshua would have understood it.

  --I Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, Psalm 104:5. These poems
proclaim that the earth is fixed and cannot be moved. They do this in
order to make a theologial point about God's faithfulness and power. God
teaches a theological point without correcting the science.

  --Psalm 19:5-6. The sun is described as rising and setting, making a
circuit.

  --Job 38:4-11. God is quoted as taking credit for stretching out the
firmament, shutting up the sea behind doors and bars, setting the earth on
footings and a cornerstone.

  --Job 38:22, Psalm 135:7, Jeremiah 10:13, 51:15. Snow, rain, hail, and
wind are pictured as coming out of storehouses.

  --Genesis 30:25-43. Laban agrees that Jacob can take the speckled,
spotted, and dark-colored sheep and goats from Laban's flock as payment
for his years of work. Jacob puts some pealed branches into watering
troughs during breeding time, in a way which he believes will cause the
animals which mate there to have speckled, spotted and dark-colored
offspring. Jacob's actions make no sense from a modern scientific
perspective. God didn't make Jacob first learn proper genetics, but God
did cause Jacob to prosper.
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Received on Mon Jan 31 17:28:55 2005