Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Earth

Alice C. Linsley




Part 5:  The Creation of Earth
This continues the series on Answers to High Schooler's Questions About Genesis.


Q:  How old is the Earth?

A:  The earth is about 4.5 billion years old. This is based on radiometric age dating of meteorite material and the earth's oldest rocks, and is consistent with lunar samples. Young-Earth Creationists argue that radiometric dating is not reliable because it contradicts what they believe the Bible says about the age of the Earth.  For the sake of argument, let us consider that radiometric calculations are off by 50%. Were this the case (and it is not), the earth would still be over 2 billion years old.  The oldest human fossils are about 3.6 million years.  Again for the sake of argument, let us consider that the carbon dating of the oldest human fossils is off by 50%.  These humans would still have lived over 1 million years ago

Young-Earth Creationists calculate the Earth's age at 6000 years on the basis of ages assigned to the rulers in the Genesis King Lists.  They assume that Bishop James Ussher's scheme is accurate.  However, Ussher didn't recognize that these lists are not generational, but regnal. The reigns of some kings coincided. For example, Tubal-Cain (Gen. 4) and Methuselah (Gen. 5) ruled at the same time.  Further, these rulers had two wives. The first wife was the bride of the ruler-to-be's youth.  The second wife was a patrilineal cousin and this wedding took place shortly before the heir ascended to the throne. This is why Abraham was anxious for Isaac to marry his cousin bride before he died (Gen. 24).

With two wives, there were two first-born sons.  They ascended to different thrones, but the ruling lines intermarried exclusively. Bishop Ussher didn't take this unique marriage and ascendancy pattern into consideration. He apparently was unaware of its importance.



Q:  How many times has God created Earth?

A:  The creation of the Earth was a singular event according to the Bible. John 1:3 says that everything that was created in the beginning was created from nothing (creatio ex nihilo).  In other words, God did not create from pre-existing elements or from the substance of a previous world.

The idea that God created more than one Earth developed out of Greek Philosophy and can be traced to the thought of Anaximander of Miletus (B.C. 610 – 546). He believed that the universe or “all the heavens and the worlds within them” came from “some boundless nature.” Their existence involved the interaction of the four elements of ancient physics: Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

Anaximander speculated that these elements constantly interact to produce new worlds. This is why some thought this world came about as the result of the explosion of a previously existing world.  He hypothesized that the world originated when a firey ball surrounded Earth like bark on a tree. When the ball broke apart it formed other worlds as hollow concentric circles or spirals, filled with fire.

In his first sermon on creation, Basil the Great argued against Anaximander's view that a world is created by the spiraling motion of the four interactive elements.  He declared, "Do not then imagine, O man! that the visible world is without a beginning; and because the celestial bodies move in a circular course, and it is difficult for our senses to define the point where the circle begins, do not believe that bodies impelled by a circular movement are, from their nature, without a beginning." (The Hexaemeron, Homily I)

This idea of previously existing worlds is not found in the Bible. According to the Bible, God fashioned all the worlds from nothing. Hebrews 11:13 says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."



Q:  What existed before God created everything?

A:  No matter existed. Only the triune God existed: Christ the Logos and the Spirit of God were one with God the Father. The Holy Trinity is evident in Genesis 1 and was manifested to John the Baptist and his disciples when Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River. (See Matthew 3:16,17; Mark 1:9-11)

Genesis 1:2 speaks of a void (bohu in Hebrew).  This may be the work of Hellenistic Jews who translated the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) into Greek. That version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint and it appears to be influenced by Greek Philosophy which debated the idea of motion, matter and a void. John Sailhamer makes this point in his book Genesis Unbound.  The Greek-speaking Jews who translated the Old Testament were likely drawing on the thought of Democritus (460 – ca. 370 BC), a ancient philosopher who argued that any movement would require a void.  Since God is the Unmoved Mover, there was movement at the beginning and therefore a void.  This argument has been used to suggest that God as Unmoved Mover is illogical since, as Democritus asserted, a void cannot exist.

Obviously there is a conflict between the Greek and the Semitic worldviews. As Genesis reflects a Nilo-Semitic worldview, we must look for another explanation of the word bohu.

Genesis 1 describes when God began the work of creation. It uses the words tohu (formless or confused) and bohu (empty or void). The Hebrew phrase "formless and void" (Gen. 1: 2) is tohu wa-bohu and is of Nilotic origin. The word tohu in Isaiah 34:11 means "confused" so it appears that Genesis 1 refers to matter in a confused or chaotic state before God set things in order.

In Nilotic mythology chaos or disorder preceded creation. The Egyptians believed that chaos (tehom) dwelt south of Yebu (Elephantine Island) as a great river serpent between the Nile's east (bahku) and west (manu) banks. The word bohu appears to be related to the word bahku, the direction from which the Sun rose and filled the valley with light - And God said, "Let there be light and there was light." (Gen. 1:3)




Q:  How did everything just appear when God spoke?

A:  The Word of God generates life. This is what John explains in the Prologue to his Gospel:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1:1-4

Basil the Great explains, "It must be well understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine language does not mean to us a sound which escapes from the organs of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue; it is a simple sign of the will of God."  (The Hexaemeron, Homily II)



Q:  Could God have created the world through evolution?

A:  Evolution is an explanation for how species emerge, adapt and survive. Darwin's observations about the complexity, diversity, adaptability and survival of species do not address the question of the origin of matter.  His hypothesis that humans and apes had a common ancestor has never been proven. There is no physical evidence that this is true.

Some Christians believe that God created the different species by the processes described in evolutionary theory. Their view is called "Theistic Evolution" and has grown in popularity among Evangelicals. 

Other theories held by Christians include Intelligent Design, the Framework Theory, Progressive Creationism, Age-Day Creationism, Gap Theory Creationism, and Young-Earth Creationism. These are described here.

Genesis tells us that God created in an orderly fashion over a period of time and according to a plan. It is the work of science to discover the order and the work of theologians and Bible scholars to discern the plan. For Abraham's ancestors the order was perceived as fixed, though they recognized flux within the fixed boundaries. Their acute observation of the patterns in nature suggested a divine plan.

If the biblical worldview is true, no discrepancy should exist between genetics and the biblical assertion that the order of creation is fixed with genetic boundaries between "kinds."  Specific fixed boundaries exist within the DNA code. This explains why humans reproduce humans and not some other animal. Further, while the similarity of humans to apes may suggest a common origin, this common ancestor is not known to have existed.  A common ancestor exists in the imaginations of artists who draw images for Biology books.

Evolutionary theory rests on many unconfirmed and often ludicrous assumptions.  For example, some assume that because nurse sharks and camels share an antigen receptor protein they are descended from a common ancestor. However, the DNA sequences that code for the proteins are different between sharks and camels. 




Q:  Why did God take seven days to create?

A:  Actually,the first creation story says that God created in six days and rested on the seventh.

According to Genesis 1, God created in an orderly fashion over a period of time.  Order implies duration of time.  Consider how time passes as you write the letters of the alphabet in order.  Seconds pass as you draw each on the paper.  Time began to pass, like a ticking clock, from the moment that God created matter and space.



Q:  Were the seven days of creation 24-hour days?

A:  Genesis 1 suggests that the seven days are to be taken as 24-hour days.  However, Genesis 2 says that God created everything in a single day.  In both creation stories the Hebrew word for day is yom. This word is used in the Bible to mean a 24-hour day or an unspecified duration of time.



Q:  When Genesis says "hovered over the waters" does that mean that water existed before God formed the earth? Or was this water over an unformed earth?

A:  According to the ancient Nilotic peoples, the world emerged as a dry mound rising up from the primordial ocean. Because the Sun is essential to life on earth, the first rising of Ra (the Creator whose emblem was the Sun) marked the moment of the world's emergence. This is why God's first words in Genesis are "let there be light" and why St. John says that Christ, the Word, was the real light that was coming into the world. (John 1:9)




Q: How could water come up from the ground if it hadn't rained yet?

A:  Genesis 2:4-6 says "On the day that God made earth and heaven there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant sprung up for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. Instead, water flowed out of the ground and watered the whole surface of the soil."

This picture of the primeval Earth as a watery world is consistent with the cosmology of Abraham's Nilotic ancestors from whom we receive this account. They believed that the dry ground emerged from a universal ocean.  It is also consistent with scientific findings that suggest that 2.5 billion years ago oceans covered most of the planet. Just 2% to 3% of the Earth's surface would have been dry land, compared with 28% today.




Q: Where was the Garden of Eden?

A:  Eden is described as a vast watery region that extended from the Nile to Mesopotamia.  The writer of Genesis 2-3 says that God prepared a garden somewhere in this region and placed the first humans there.  This is also the region where the oldest human fossils have been found. This is the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion and the place of origin of the Genesis rulers and of "him that holds the scepter from the house of Eden" (Amos 1:5).

Genesis 2:10-14 says that Eden was watered by four rivers: the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Pishon and the Gihon. The Tigris and Euphrates are in Mesopotamia and the Pishon and Gihon are in Africa. The Ethiopians identify the Gihon with the Abay River, which encircles the former Kushite kingdom of Gojjam. The Pishon "flows through the whole land of Havilah" (Gen. 2:11). Havilah is a son of Kush (Gen. 10:7) and the "Kushites" lived in the Upper Nile region and the Sudan. Kushite kings also ruled in Egypt.

The description of Eden as a well-watered region is supported by climate and geological studies. These four rivers encompass the heart of the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion which was ruled by a network of chief priests. They controlled the major water systems and built shrines along the rivers.



Q: Where do dinosaurs fit in the story of creation?

A:

Dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Genesis creation accounts. These accounts speak of great diversity and an hierarchy within the animal world, but the peoples from whom we receive the creation stories did not have any direct experience of dinosaurs. Likely they had oral traditions about great creatures that once lived on the Earth. They may have associated the avian dinosaur with the serpent-dragon. This dragon was called by the RahuKetu (drawing from the Ancient Egyptian words Ra and Ketu). The avian dinosaurs survived after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Scientists have identified seven major global and local dinosaur subgroups during the latest Cretaceous period. The large herbivores, such as ceratopsids and hadrosauroids, appear to have been in decline for some time before their extinction. Carnivorous dinosaurs, mid-sized herbivores, and some Asian species appear to have fared better. Their populations were thriving and appear to have disappeared rather suddenly.

The reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs is still a mystery.  However, most scientists believe that their extinction was environment and likely triggered by the impact on Earth of a large asteroid or comet.  Evidence for such events have been identified in the Yucatan and in Siberia. An object 10 kilometers across struck Earth off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago.

It is believed that this caused dense clouds of dust that blocked the sun's rays. The darker and colder environment caused many plants to die and these were the food source of the large bulk-feeding herbivores.  According to this theory, once the dust cleared greenhouse gases caused temperatures to skyrocket and the frigid and sweltering climatic extremes caused the extinction of up to 70 percent of all plants and animals living at the time.

Another theory involves global volcanic activity. Massive beds of ancient lava found around the world depict an Earth where volcanic eruptions were commonplace. According to this theory, volcanic activity spewed gas, ash, and dust into the atmosphere, blocking light from the sun. Plant production plummeted, and dinosaurs that were poorly adapted to the harsh conditions perished.



Related reading: YEC Dogma is NOT Biblical; Tehut's Victory Over Tehom; Bishop Ussher Goofed; The Nilotic Substrata of Genesis 1; Biblical Anthropologists Discuss Darwin

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about the Flood

Alice C. Linsley


Part 4: The Flood
This continues the series on Questions that High Schoolers Ask about Genesis. Additional important data is provided here.


Q:  Was the flood global or regional?

A:  This was the question most often asked by the high school students about Noah's flood.  To answer this question we must consider who Noah was, where he lived, and the climate conditions that he experienced.  Not all of this information can be found in the Bible.  However, Genesis provides many clues that can direct the search for the historical Noah.

Noah lived approximately 2490-2415 BC, when the Sahara experienced a wet period (Karl W. Butzer 1966). This is the period of the Old Kingdom, a time of great cultural and technological achievement in Egypt.

Noah, a descendant of the men named in the Genesis 4 and 5 King Lists, was a great ruler.  The  rulers named in Genesis controlled the major water systems of Lake Chad, the Nile, and the Tigris and Euphrates.  The interconnected waterways were their roads. In other words, Noah would have been familiar with boats and likely had a fleet. 

These ancient rulers imposed taxes on cargo that moved through their territories. They used the rivers to expand their kingdoms and to spread their Afro-Asiatic worldview.  Nimrod is an example.  His father was Kush, a ruler who controlled a vast region of the Upper Nile.  Nimrod left the Nile region and built his kingdom along the Tigris in Mesopotamia. (Gen. 10:8-12)

Noah likely lived in the region of Bor-Nu (Land of Noah) near Lake Chad. This is the only place on Earth that claims to be Noah's homeland. Satellite photographs reveal that Lake Mega-Chad was once a huge body of water, five times the surface area of Lake Superior and with a depth ranging from 200 to 600 feet. This part of Africa was much wetter than it is today due to climate cycles and the African rifts that created great watersheds or troughs.

Rifting combined with prolonged rains caused this entire region to flood.
 Lake Chad is located at the boundary of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.

In Noah's time, there was a prolonged wet period due to monsoons circulating from the Indian Ocean. During this wet period, the major water systems from the Benue Trough to the Tigris-Euphrates overflowed, creating a vast watery world. This was the world that Noah knew, so from his perspective the whole world was flooded.

During the Late Holocene, Lake Chad had a surface area of approximately 159000 square miles. As the climate changed and the waters receded, what was once a single lake became three separate lakes: Lake Chad, Lake Bodele and Lake Fitri.

In 1987, a fully preserved boat was discovered in the region where Noah's flood took place. The Dufuna dugout was buried at a depth of 16 feet under clays and sands whose alternating sequence showed evidence of deposition in standing and flowing water. The dugout is 8000 years old. By comparison, Egypt's oldest boat is about 5000 years old.

Peter Breunig (University of Frankfurt, Germany) lead the excavation of the Dufuna boat. He said, “The bow and stern are both carefully worked to points, giving the boat a notably more elegant form.” Breunig believes that, “It is highly probable that the Dufuna boat does not represent the beginning of a tradition, but had already undergone a long development, and that the origins of water transport in Africa lie even further back in time.”

The Dufuna dugout dates from the time of the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America. This resulted in a significant rise in global sea levels. This event contributed to the success of European farming, but was not the main cause of Noah's flood. The flood recorded in Genesis was due more to seismic events and climate changes closer to Noah’s home in Africa.

The story of Noah's ark landing on a mountain in Armenia represents a misunderstanding of the Afro-Arabian words Har Meni, meaning Mount Meni located in East Africa. David M. Westley, PhD, Director of the African Studies Library at Boston University, reports that "From the center of the Chad Basin to Mount Meni is about 230 miles."


Not all peoples have flood stories. Those that do live near major water systems which had catastropic flooding in the past. There is no geological evidence for a worldwide flood. Nor is there sufficient water in Earth's biosphere for the mountains to be covered by flood waters.  It has been argued that God created more water to flood the entire earth, but this is contrary to the biblical assertion that God completed all His creation on the 6th day and thereafter rested from the work of creating.



Q:  Did Noah literally put two of every species on the Ark?

A:  According to Genesis 6:19, Noah brought only a male and female of the species onto the ark. However, Genesis 7:2 says that he saved seven pairs of only "clean" animals.  Clearly, there are two flood accounts, just as there are two creation stories. These represent different traditions among Abraham's Afro-Asiatic people.

The emphasis on having a male and female indicates God's concern that the various species survive the extensive flooding. The animals were indigenous to the region where Noah lived and some were imported. Noah probably had a ménagerie, something that was common among rulers during that period.  Ménagerie animals were kept in pairs so that they would reproduce. Perhaps these were the animals that God instructed Noah to save.

Syrian bears were brought to Egypt during the 5th Dynasty. These bears were generally docile and kept on leashes.  Athenaios of Naucratis reports that a white bear was housed by Ptolemy II in his private zoo at Alexandria.  The oldest known zoo was in Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), a shrine city dedicated to Horus (the Deity of Abraham's Horite people). The Nekhen ménagerie existed in the middle of the second millennium BC. It is believed that the local ruler kept powerful wild animals as symbols of his power.



Q:  How did Noah built the Ark? Did he have help?

A:  Noah was a great ruler. He would have had boat builders, household servants and gardeners.  He is remembered for having a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). As a king, Noah had access to the best and the most plentiful supply of boat building materials and shipwrights.

Noah's reign must have been one of great prosperity for his people.  An oracle concerning Noah states, “This one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands.” (Genesis 5:29)

The greatness of the Lake Chad region declined when the Monsoon Belt moved more to the south and the desert began to encroach. Apparently, many people migrated toward the Nile and the center of political power shifted from west central Africa to eastern Sudan, Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia. This corresponds to the Kushite migration of Abraham's ancestors confirmed by DNA studies.



Q:  Did Noah know about tar or pitch to seal the planks of his boat?

Egyptians making ropes and fishing lines

A:  Noah used technologies and materials that were available.  The ancient Egyptians used tar in mummification so it was known to Noah and was available. Tar and pitch were used in the ancient world to waterproof ship hulls and to caulk the seams of sailing vessels. Pitch is more solid while tar is more liquid. The words tar and pitch are often used interchangeably.

Ships and boats require wood rudders, sails and ropes.  The ancient Egyptians were the first to document how to make ropes. The Egyptians were consummate ship builders.  In Noah's day ships were built of both wood and reeds. 

4000 year old Egyptian ship plank

Q:  What was the weight capacity of Noah's Ark?

A: The answer to that question depends on the materials used to construct the boat.  According to Genesis 6:14, Noah's Ark was constructed of גפר (gofer/gopher) wood. Since this word does not appear elsewhere in the Bible, there is a good deal of speculation about the material used to build the Ark. Noah would have built with materials available to him and those materials included wood and reeds.

Noah's boats were likely constructed mainly of reeds. Reeds were an abundant building material in Bor-nu during Noah's time. The word translated "ark" in Genesis 6:14 is found only one other place in the Bible. Moses' mother put him in a reed basket which is called an "ark" in Exodus 2:3. This is why some Bibles read: "Make yourself an Ark of gofer wood, with reeds make the Ark..." (Schocken Bible, Vol. I, p. 35)

If the ark was constructed of a wood frame with hollow reeds in large bundles it would have had great buoyancy. Thor Heyerdahl learned from the Marsh Arabs that if the reeds are cut in August they retain their buoyancy rather than absorbing water.

Reed boats of this type were about 60 feet long and were capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo when fully loaded.



Q:  Maybe all the species on earth today evolved from the "pairs" of animals saved on Noah's Ark. Wouldn't this support evolution by natural selection?

A:  The animals on Noah's ark would be animals that we recognize today as species indigeneous to Africa and Arabia.  They are not the progenitors of all the animal species today.  The Bible does not provide evidence to support evolution of one species becoming an entirely different species gradually over time.



Related reading:  Analysis of the Flood Story; The Extent of Noah's Flood; Abraham's Ancestors Came Out of Africa; Part 1: Answers About God; Part 2: Answers About Adam and Eve; Part 3: Answers About the Serpent

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Serpent in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


Part 3: The Serpent
(Part 1: Answers to Questions about God; Part 2: Answers to Questions about Adam and Eve)

The serpent is a neutral symbol in the Bible. It symbolizes both good and evil. The serpent is an enemy to be trampled under foot (Gen. 3:15). In other references the serpent is to be lifted up (Num. 21 :4-9). The serpent in Eden is said to be wiser than all the other creatures and it tempts the woman to transgress. Jesus urges his disciples to be wise as serpents, yet gentle as lambs.

How can a single entity have two apparently opposite qualities, both good and evil? It is a mystery. Yet it is as real as a mobius strip, and as mysterious as the Biblical merisms of good-evil, night-day and male-female.

mobius strip

The way the bronze serpent coiled around the staff of Moses have reflected the sun's brilliance. It was actually a solar symbol. The Sun was the emblem of God among Moses's people. The coiled solar serpent on the staff indicated that Moses was God's appointed leader of the people. Even today, this image appears on the croziers of some bishops in the Church.

Q: Why was the devil in the form of a serpent?

A: Genesis does not say that the devil took the form of a serpent. It asserts that a serpent spoke and the woman heard. There are allegorical as well as historical explanations for this. Many Christians believe that the story of the serpent in Genesis has both levels of meaning; that is, it speaks to us symbolically and it speaks about something that actually happened in the past.

In the allegorical approach, the serpent embodies the devilish work that opposes God’s purposes. In other words, the serpent represents a rebellion inside the order of creation. Later, people came to imagine this creature as the Devil or Satan (the Accuser). However, in the time of Abraham and Moses the serpent was a symbol of divine appointment by the overshadowing of the sun. The sun was often pictured as a coiled serpent. Moses lifted up a staff with a serpent in the wilderness and told the people to look upon it and be saved. Numbers 21:8 tells us that God instructed Moses to do this:  The Lord said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

In ancient times the serpent or snake was associated with trees of poles.  In Genesis, the serpent is associated with the tree in the midst of the garden.  In Numbers, the serpent is wrapped around a pole.  Referring to His death, Jesus alluded to the story in Numbers, saying, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)  Jesus is Divine Healing Wisdom on the Cross which is called both a "tree" and a "pole" in Scripture.

In the natural-historical approach, the serpent actually existed and spoke to the woman. One explanation for how this may have happened involves the eating of plants that grow in the part of the world where Eden was located. Before the Fall, humans ate only plants. It is conceivable that the woman ate a combination of plants that caused her to see and hear a talking serpent (hallucination).

Such plants which are high in tryptamine alkaloids exist in the tropics of South America and Africa. In Africa, the Iboga plant produces such effects and is said by the shamans to take one back to the "beginning of time." The isolated active component ibogaine has been used in the treatment of heroin and opium addiction.

Iboga plant

In South America, shamans use a plant called Ayahuasca or Soga de Vida. Ayahuasca is an hallucinogen containing tetrahydroharmine (DMT), which when ingested is neutralized by the oxidizing action of peripheral monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), an enzyme in the lining of the stomach. Shamans circumvent the MAO inhibitor by inhaling or smoking the plant or by mixing the DMT with an MAO inhibitor that prevents the breakdown of DMT in the digestive tract.

Ayahuasca vine resembles a coiled serpent

According to the South American shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the Ayahuasca to have an hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it does not affect the shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects.

In his study of ayahuasca among the Amazon natives, Jeremy Narby found that shamans of the Amazon see and communicate with serpents under the influence of ayahuasca. Narby maintains that nature is speaking to humans through hallucinogenic plants. The illogic of his view never occurs to him. If this is nature speaking, then why must the shaman neutralize the natural enzyme MAO-A in order to gain knowledge? This is cheating nature. People of God do not steal knowledge by drug-induced trances and hallucinations. Instead, they grow in wisdom through constant prayer, communion with God in Christ, the fellowship of the Church, and the study of Scripture. They become, not the mouthpieces of serpents, but of Christ our God.

Q: The serpent in Genesis is never directly referred to as Satan. Why is this?

A: It is true that the serpent in the garden is not identified as the Devil or Satan in Genesis. However, in Revelation the serpent is identified as "that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" (Rev. 12:9, 20:2).

Recalling that there are two trees in that story, we see that the serpent led Eve from the right choice - to eat of the Tree of Life - to the wrong choice - to eat of the Tree by which she hoped to become like God. This has been the Devil's primary approach throughout history. He attempts to lead us away from life by promising what he cannot give - divinity and immortality.

The serpent is one of the oldest religious motifs. Serpent veneration was rather widespread in the early Neolithic and before. The serpent was venerated among archaic peoples around the world. It was regarded as having powers to communicate, to deceive, to hide, to reveal and to heal and protect. The oldest serpent veneration is evidenced by the 70,000 year old python stone carved in a mountainside in Botswana.

The serpent motif is found in Africa, Arabia, Pakistan, India, Central Asia and the Americas. It is a significant symbol among traditional Africans and Native Americans, and in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It is often found with symbols of the Sun and the Tree of Life. The great antiquity of these symbols is attested by their wide diffusion, yet their meaning has remained fairly stable in each religion. Only in Judaism and Christianity is the serpent associated with Satan and evil. In the Bible, the serpent is both good and evil; a kind of trickster whose words and advice always must be tested.

Surveying literature and ancient monuments, it becomes evident that the serpent is not believed to have the power to create something new. The serpent or serpent deity's "innovations" are imitations of what God has created, sometimes helpful imitations (See Doctrine of Signatures; herbalism), but often distorted imitations. Likely this is why the Apostle John warns us "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." (1 John 4:1)


Related reading:  The Dragon and Beast of Revelation; Serpent Most Subtle; Serpent Symbolism; The Cosmic Serpent Exposed; The Serpent on Moses's Staff

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About Adam and Eve

Alice C. Linsley


It is ironic that people insist on reading Genesis 1-3 as history and and yet ignore the historicity of Genesis 4-11. In this later section we find data that is verified by the sciences, especially kinship analysis, DNA studies, migration studies, climate studies, archaeology and linguistics. Were we to pursue the picture of Abraham's ancestors presented in Genesis 4-11 we would better understand the Nilo-Saharan context of the Genesis 1-3 accounts. Only when we put this material in its proper cultural context will we be able to reconcile science and Scripture.

This continues the series on Answers to High Schooler's Questions About Genesis


Q: How did Adam come to earth? Was he made on earth or in heaven and poofed to earth?

A: Genesis tells us that God formed the man from the dust of the earth. The word human reflects this belief. Human is related to the word humus, meaning soil or dirt. Likewise, in many places in the Bible the word Adam is a synonym of human being.


Q:  Were Adam and Eve real?  I  mean did they really exist?

A:  Keep in mind that the Bible presents Adam in two different ways: as the first created human, and as the founder of the line of ruler-priests who are associated with Abraham and his territory in Edom. The idea of Adam as the first man comes from Biblical writers who are speaking analogically (using an analogy). They draw a parallel between the first Adam who caused sin and death and the New Adam - Jesus Christ - who redeems the world from sin and death. This is not to be taken as history.

On the other hand, Adam as the first of the line of rulers associated with the great kings of ancient Israel, has an enormous amount of Biblical support and also aligns with data in the sciences. The Biblical writers recognized that the people among them with red skin were of an ancestral line of extreme antiquity. Some of these people were rulers in Edom. These are listed in Genesis 36. Esau the Elder and Esau the Younger were among them. Esau is specifically described as being red in Genesis 26. King David was also red and he had Edomite ancestry.

The Hebrew word for red is edom and it is a cognate to the Hausa word odum, meaning red-brown. Both are related to the word dam, meaning blood, and to the name of the first man Adam, who was formed from the red clay which washed down to the Upper Nile Valley from the Ethiopian highlands. These soils have a cambic B horizon. Chromic cambisols have a strong red brown color. It is evident then that the Upper Nile is the urheimat of the Adam and Eve story.

Jeff A. Benner, an expert on ancient Hebrew, explains:

We are all familiar with the name "Adam" as found in the book of Genesis, but what does it really mean? Let us begin by looking at its roots. This word/name is a child root derived from the parent דם meaning, "blood". By placing the letter א in front of the parent root, the child rootאדם is formed and is related in meaning to דם (blood). 

By examining a few other words derived from the child root אדם we can see a common meaning in them all. The Hebrew word אדמה (adamah) is the feminine form of אדם meaning "ground" (see Genesis 2:7). The word/name אדום (Edom) means "red". Each of these words have the common meaning of "red". Dam is the "red" blood, adamah is the "red" ground, edom is the color "red" and adam is the "red" man. There is one other connection between "adam" and "adamah" as seen in Genesis 2:7 which states that "the adam" was formed out of the "adamah".

In the ancient Hebrew world, a person’s name was not simply an identifier but descriptive of one's character. As Adam was formed out of the ground, his name identifies his origins. (From here.)

If Adam and Eve are the first created humans, they would have lived about 3.6 million years ago. That is when the first humans appear on the Earth's surface, and these were fully human. Genesis tells us that Abraham's ancestors came out of Africa. The descendants of Noah were Nilo-Saharans. The Bible sometimes refers to these peoples ar "Kushites." Kush is the Nile Valley, especially the upper Nile region which is where the oldest human fossils have been found. Further, the names Adam (ha-dam, the Blood) and Eve (ha-vah, the Birther) and the creation stories of Genesis 1-4:16 are traceable back to Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors.


Q:  Eve is called the "mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20. Why is Adam never called the "father of all living"?

A:  It is also possible that the ancients from whom we received the information in Genesis knew more than we recognize about the durability of the Mt-chromosome, and the loss of the original Y-chromosome. The most recent male ancestor of all males today lived in Africa around 59,000 years ago. The so-called "Mitochondrial Eve" is dated to about 143,000 years ago. She is considered the mother of modern humans. She is not the mother of archaic humans. That Eve would have lived much earlier.



Q: What fruit did Adam and Eve eat?

A: This information is not found in Genesis. In many works of art the fruit is shown as an apple. An older tradition maintains that the fruit was a fig from the Sycamore Fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) which was abundant along rivers in the region where Eden was located. This tradition is also represented in paintings by the fig leaves covering Adam and Eve's private parts.

The Syacmore fig is a large edible fruit which ranges from green to yellow or red when ripe. In its natural habitat, the tree can bear fruit year round, peaking from July to December. Jesus “cursed” the Sycamore Fig tree when it failed to produce fruit, suggesting that the tree's failure to bear fruit was an effect of the corruption of creation (the Fall).

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. (Mark 11: 12-14)

Range of the Syacmore Fig tree

The Sycamore Fig grew in abundance along the Nile, the region from which Abraham's ancestors came. It was cultivated by the Egyptians and the Kushites. Zohary and Hopf, authors of Domestication of Plants in the Old World (Oxford University Press), assert that Egypt was "the principal area of sycamore fig development." They note that "the fruit and the timber, and sometimes even the twigs, are richly represented in the tombs of the Egyptian Early, Middle and Late Kingdoms. In numerous cases the parched sycons bear characteristic gashing marks indicating that this art, which induces ripening, was practiced in Egypt in ancient times."

In ancient Egyptian iconography the Sycamore stands on the threshold of life and death, veiling the threshold by its abundant low-hanging foliage. The caskets of some Egyptian mummies were made from the wood of the Sycamore Fig tree. Pharaohs called the Sycamore Fig trees Nehet.




Q: Why did Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit?

A: Eve ate the forbidden fruit first and then gave some to Adam. She was tempted by the serpent who appealed to her God-inspired appreciation of beauty. Genesis 3:6 says that the woman saw that the fruit was “pleasing to the eye.” Here we see how the Good in us can be used to make us sin. This is why Genesis 3:1 describes the serpent as “more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made."

Q: Why didn't Adam stop Eve from sinning?

A: Genesis 3:6 says that "her husband" was with her when she took and ate the fruit, but does not offer an explanation as to why he failed to stop her. The book of Genesis typically does not speculate about why men failed to do right. For example, we are not given an explanation about Noah’s drunkenness that led him to curse his son/grandson, or about Lot’s drunkenness that led to incest with his daughters. Both stories indicate that drunkeness is a condition that leads to bad things. Perhaps the moral of this story is that moral weakness in husbands and fathers leads to bad things.



Q: Why did God have to punish all of us if only Adam and Eve sinned?

A: God does not punish us. We suffer the consequences of sin and death because these are characteristics of the fallen world in which we live. God's gifts of forgiveness, strength, wisdom, patience and joy enable us to live in the fallen world as people who grow in the image and likeness of God, according to our original blessing.



Q: Why did God place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

A: Genesis does not answer this question. However, Genesis 3:3 tells us that this tree was in the middle of the garden, which means it was at the sacred center. Among many tribes, the sacred center is where knowledge is revealed. For example, the Lakota vision quest (Hunblecheya) requires that the participant remain at the center of the circle drawn by the shaman until he receives a vision from the Great Spirit about his role and destiny.



Q: Who did Adam and Eve's children marry?

A: God commanded Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it." (Gen. 1:28) Abraham's ancestors obviously took this command seriously because their rulers had two wives and usually two concubines. Marriage partners were carefully selected, especially for rulers and their heirs.  We do not know what rules governed the selection of marriage partners among the earliest humans 3.4-3.6 million years ago, but analysis of the Genesis King Lists reveals a sophisticated marriage and ascendency structure for Abraham's ancestors.




Q: What was going on between Adam and Eve and Noah? How can that be enough time to populate the earth?

A: If Adam and Eve are the first created humans, they lived at least 3.6 million years ago since that is the age of  the oldest human fossils. Noah lived much later, between 2490-2415 B.C. when the Sahara experienced a wet period (Karl W. Butzer 1996).

Before Noah's time there were already human populations dispersed around the world. There were numerous river populations in China between 7000-2000 B.C. In southern Africa, there were forest populations who mined red ochre from the Lebombo Mountains more than 30,000 years ago.  This blood-like substance was used to bury nobles in the hope of life beyond the grave. The practice was widespread, perhaps global, before the time of Noah.

Noah's immediate descendants included Shem, Ham and Japheth, whose lines intermarried. This means that these ruling lines were genetically related.

Ham lived between 2438-2363 B.C. and became the father of Kush. Kush lived between 2417-2342 B.C. and became the father of Raamah and Nimrod. Kush ruled in the Upper Nile and his son Nimrod established a kingdom in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley (Gen. 10:8-12).

Obviously, there is a gap of time between Adam and Eve and Noah, plenty of time for populations to migrate. The Kushite marriage and ascendancy structure drove the migration of peoples out of Africa.


Q: Were there other people on earth besides Adam and Eve that God created too?

A: Genesis does not address this question. The material in Genesis comes to us from a people who spread far and wide. This is refered to as the Kushite migration out of Africa, although there were various migrations both in and out of Africa before the time of Kush (Gen. 10). Findings in molecular genealogy indicate that most of the peoples of the world are their descendants, but perhaps not all people. More research needs to be done.


Q: Why did God create the man first

A: So that the stronger of the species could protect the weaker of the species. Unfortunately, Adam failed to protect his wife from the serpent's wiles.

Q: How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned?

A: This is not answered in Genesis, but the suggestion is that they lived there a good while as caretakers of the ground, the plants and the animals. Eden time probably seemed different than our time since they enjoyed perfect communion with a timeless.


Q: When they were in the garden before the fall, did Adam and Eve have sex

A: Very likely. They were told to bring forth offspring. Sex is not an effect of the Fall. Shame and sexual perversion are.


Q: Why did Adam name the animals. Why didn't God name them?

A: Naming is a way of making sense of our world. Perhaps God thought that this was important for Adam's cognitive development. God alone could create the animals, but by allowing the man to name the animals, God grants him a way to share in the creative process.

St. Anthony the Great offers this explanation:  "God, by His Logos, created the different kinds of animals to meet the variety of our needs: some for our food, others for our service. And He created man to apprehend them and their actions and to appraise them gratefully. Man should therefore strive not to die, like the non-rational animals, without having attained some apprehension of God and His works."


Related reading: Adam and Eve: The "Blood" and the "Birther"; DNA Confirms the Kushite Migration Out of Africa; Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis;  Answers to High Schoolers Questions About God

Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about God

Part 1: God
(This is the first in a series on Answers to High Schoolers' Question About Genesis.)


Q: Where did God come from?

A: God is eternally existent. God always existed and will always exist. By the very definition of the term "God" we must infer qualities which are not human.  Therefore we speak of God as eternal, immortal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable and totally pure and good.



Q: Who created God?

A: God is Uncreated Creator. Some ancient philosophers regarded God as the “Unmoved Mover.” The pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximander described God as the origin of the Primary Substance.  That is to say that the Creator is not bound or constrained by matter and, to use Anaximader's own words, "All things must in equity again decline into that whence they have their origin; for they must give satisfaction and atonement for injustice, each in the order of time.''



Q: If God created the heavens and the earth, then where was He before? People say that God is everywhere, but where was everywhere if there was no heavens and no earth?

A: God is transcendent, existing outside of time and space. God is not constrained by time and space as creatures are. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a great miracle of love because the Son of God left his glorious existence outside of time, space and the decay of this fallen world to become human, only without sin. This was the divine plan whereby the “Seed of the Woman” (Gen. 3:15) would bring salvation to repentant sinners.

Q: How did God imagine earth when He created it, before the fall?

A: From Genesis we gather that at every stage of the creative process, God declared His work “good” and before the Fall, Eden is described as Paradise. In Genesis 13:10 the land Lot sees is like the paradeisos of Yahweh, a reference to Eden (the garden of the Lord). Revelation uses the same phrase as Genesis 13:10.

Q: Why was God more active and visible in ancient times than He is today?

A: God is unchanging (immutable). He is as active today as at any time in the past. Those who have ears to hear will hear. Those who have eyes to see will see.

Q:  Why don't we hear God's voice now like people did in the old times?

A:  A wonderful Bible expositor by the name of A.W. Tozer once wrote, "Most Christians don't hear God's voice simply because we've already decided we aren't going to do what He says anyway." I think that is part of the answer. Another part is that we hear and see what we expect to hear and see. Many have been taught that God no longer works miracles; that miracles were only performed in the time of the Apostles. This is false. Ask any missionary who has seen miracles. Ask the average Christian whether God has worked a miracle or two in their life.  We hear what we expect and if we don't expect to hear God, we probably won't.


Q: Why was God more strict during the time of Abraham and Isaac than He is now? Back then He would curse them for not trusting Him. Now He doesn't.

A: God takes lack of trust and sin as seriously today as in the time of the Patriarchs. God does not change (immutable).



Q: I've always known God as a loving, fatherly figure, but when I read Genesis He seems harsh. Is God a loving God or is He harsh? Or has God changed from a harsh God to a loving God?

A: Most of the promises of the Bible are contained in kernel form in Genesis. This is because God is a loving and promise-keeping God.



Q: If God knows all things, why did He allow the fall, which created evil?

A: God is all-knowing (omniscient). God’s knowledge is such that humans are granted freedom to decide how we live and what we do. Humans often make bad decisions and do evil things. This is the result of evil, not the origin of evil.

Q: Why would God create a universe to glorify Him?

A: The universe was made for us to enjoy God’s glory and to share in it. The corruption of sin makes this very difficult, but God’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit make it possible.

Related reading:  Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions about Adam and Eve; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Serpent; Answers to His Schoolers' Questions about Earth; Answers to High Schoolers' Questions About the Flood; Answers to High Schoolers' Question "Why Abraham?"

Questions High Schoolers Ask About Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


I've been conducting research with students in grades 9-12 at a local Christian school.  The objective is to discover the most commonly asked questions about Genesis within this group.  Keep in mind that these students are exposed to Bible readings, sermons, and Christian instruction in their homes and churches. At this school, the majority of the students are from Protestant denominations. About 5% are raised in Roman Catholic homes, and less than 1% are raised in Orthodox homes.

Students were asked to submit questions about the book of Genesis. The questions most often asked touch on God, Adam and Eve, the Serpent, the Flood, the creation and age of Earth, why God chose Abraham, race and how the Earth was populated, and the authorship of Genesis.  I chuckled over this comment from a 10th grader: "I am saving my questions for God."

The younger students tended to ask more metaphysical questions, such as "Where did God come from?" or "How did God come into existance?"  The queries of the older students tended to be more analytical, even scientific, such as "How could there be water on the earth if there was no rain?"

We must be doing something right at our Christian school since not one student asked "Does God exist?"  Were I doing this survey in a public school, doubtless I would have received that question from multiple students.

The following are some of the questions students asked.


God


Where did God come from?

Who created God?

If God created the heavens and the earth, then where was He before? People say that God is everywhere, but where was everywhere if there was no heavens and no earth?

How did God imagine earth when He created it, before the fall?

Why was God more active and visible in ancient times than He is today?

Why is God more strict during the time of Abraham and Isaac than He is now?  Back then He would curse them for not trusting Him. Now He doesn't.

I've always known God as a loving, fatherly figure, but when I read Genesis He seems harsh. Is God a loving God or is He harsh?  Or has God changed from a harsh God to a loving God?

If God knows all things, why did He allow the fall, which created evil?

Why would God create a universe to glorify Him?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



Adam and Eve


Were Adam and Eve real? I mean did they really exist?

Eve is called the "mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20. Why is Adam never called the "father of all living"?

What fruit did Adam and Eve eat?

Why did Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit?

Why did God have to punish all of us if only Adam and Eve sinned?

Why did God place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

Why didn't Adam stop Eve from sinning?

Who did Adam and Eve's children marry?

How did Adam come to earth? Was he made on earth or in heaven and poofed to earth?

What was going on between Adam and Eve and Noah?  How can that be enough time to populate the earth?

Were there other people on earth besides Adam and Eve that God created too?

Why did God create the man first?

How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned?

When they were in the garden before the fall, did Adam and Eve have sex?

Why did Adam name the animals.  Why didn't God name them?

Did dinosaurs live in Eden with Adam and Eve?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



The Serpent


Why was the devil in the form of a serpent?

The serpent in Genesis is never directly referred to as Satan. Why is this?

(Answers to these questions are here.)




The Flood


Did Noah literally put two of every species on the Ark?

How did Noah built the Ark?  Did he has help?

Did Noah know about tar or pitch to seal the planks of his boat?

What was the weight capacity of Noah's Ark?

Was the flood global or regional?

Maybe all the species on earth today evolved from the "pairs" of animals saved on Noah's Ark. Wouldn't this support evolution by natural selection?

(Answers to these questions are here.)



The Creation of Earth


How old is the earth?

How many times has God created earth?

What existed before God created everything?

How did everything just appear when God spoke?

Could God have created the world through Evolution?

Were the seven days of creation 24-hour days?

When Genesis says "hovered over the waters" does that mean that water existed before God formed the earth? Or was this water over an unformed earth?

Where was the Garden of Eden?

Why did God take seven days to create the world?

How could water come up from the ground if it hadn't rained yet?

Where do dinosaurs fit in the creation account?

(Answers to these questions are here.)


Abraham

What made Abraham so special that God chose him?

If God gave the land of Israel to Abraham, doesn't that mean that He wants the Jews to have it?

What is the nature of the covenant that God made with Abraham?

How do we know that Abraham was a ruler?

How do we know that Jesus came from Abraham's family?


(Answers to these questions are here.)



Race, Human Populations and the Purpose of Mankind


How did the different races come about?

If Adam and Eve's children married each other, isn't that the sin of incest?

How did the whole earth's popultaion come from just two people?

Did other families exist on Earth at the same tinme that Adam and Eve lived?

How many generations are from Adam and Eve to Abraham?

Why were the men in Genesis so old?

Why did God create Mankind?


(Answers to these questions are here.)


Authorship

Who wrote Genesis?

How do we know that Moses wrote Genesis?

How can we verify that the information in Genesis is factual?

Did the author add things that God didn't tell him to write?



Related reading: Answers to High Schooler's Questions About God; Extraordinary Questions; Just Genesis: Answers to Your Questions

Odd Questions: How would you answer?

Over the years I've been asked odd questions related to Genesis. Here are four of the more interesting ones:

1. Was Atlantic City the true homeland of Noah?

2. Which of the Nubian ancestors were homosexuals?

3. Was Joshua the son of King Tut?

4. Where is Nimrod’s tomb?

How would you answer these?  If you can give a good answer that is also humorous you will make my day!

Best wishes,

Alice C. Linsley

Just Genesis: Answers to Your Questions

Alice C. Linsley


People around the world are asking questions about Genesis. Some questions are emailed to me, and some appear in the comments. Most of the questions that follow appeared as search words that brought people to Just Genesis.

Sometimes the questions reveal a sophisticated understanding of the Genesis material. These are usually asked by people doing research. Other questions indicate a profound ignorance of people, events and chronology. Others reveal commendable curiosity. In at least once case there was a wager placed and the questioner hoped to win the bet! I'm not sure if he won or not.


Here are some questions people have asked:

Did Solomon live before Abraham?
No. Solomon was David’s son by Bathsheba.


Was David Moses’ father?
No. Moses’ father was Amram. Amram had 2 wives. Moses had two brothers and a sister. Korah was his half-brother.


Did the Afro-Arabians invent the compass?
It is very likely. The Arabic word for compass is al-konbas, a compound of kon and bas. Kon means universe and bas refers to home, which was the place of the Sun’s rising. The ancient Afro-Arabians were aware of the magnetic properties of meteoric iron and iron filings since they were famous metalworkers. They were able to use these filings to determine true north, but their key point of reference or “orientation” was east.


How did Abraham abuse Hagar?
There is no record of Abraham abusing Hagar. Genesis tells us that Hagar was mistreated by Sarah.


How many concubines did Abraham have?
He apparently had two, as did Jacob. One was the servant of Sarah: Hagar the Egyptian.  The other was the servant of Keturah: Masek, according to the Septuagint.


How widespread was the use of Aramaic?
Geoffrey W. Bromiley, in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (p. 231), states that Aramaic inscriptions have been found from “Greece to Pakistan, and from the Ural Mountains to Arabia.” Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Near East, Palestine and the Levant in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Aramaic used the Phoenician script which largely replaced the cuneiform of Babylon and Persia.


Had Isaac another wife beside Rebecca?
It is very likely that Isaac had two wives, as did all his ruler ancestors. By his other wife, a half-sister, he had a son named Yisbak. Analysis of the Genesis genealogies indicates that Isaac had three first-born sons. 


Who were the ancient African Hindus?
This person probably is seeking information about the Sudra/Sudanese and their relationship to the Dravidian populations in gold-rich Africa. Sudra means Sudanese. They were a Nilotic people who spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion. Dravidians are classified as Sudroid. Nilotic religion is older than Hinduism.


Are Nubians Nilotic people?
Yes. The Nile, with its many inlets and tributaries, was the center of daily life in ancient Nubia. Its waters provided food and water and a means of transportation and commerce. The Nubians were known to be great boat builders.  They also influenced Egyptian architecture. The Egyptian rock cut temple (speos) was of Nubian origin. The earliest example was the cave sanctuary at Sayala, a Nubian site just north of Abu Simbel on the west bank of the Nile River. This site is dated to 3700-3250 B.C. This Nubian architecture was adopted by the Egyptians of the New Kingdom, whose pharaohs commissioned several temples in Upper Egypt and in Nubia.

Was Lilith Adam’s first wife?
There is no mention of Lilith in Genesis. She is a figure from the Babylonian pantheon and does not reflect Nilotic culture.


Was Moses married when he lived in Egypt?
Exodus doesn’t tell us. Moses had 2 wives. One was Midianite and the other was Kushite. Both were related to him by blood and marriage.


What is the Hebrew name for a boat builder?
The Hebrews weren’t famous for being a seafaring people. The Afro-Arabians were and Arabic is older than Hebrew. The Arabic for a place where boats and ships are built is dar al-sina’a. The Hebrew word for boat work or navel workmanship is בונה ספינות. The Hebrew ספינות means to go over water, as in a drawbridge. עברית is the Hebrew word naval, an adjective.


What do the names Og and Magog mean?
The meaning of the names is uncertain. These names are related to a third name: Gog. The names Og, Magog and Gog appear to represent a 3-clan confederation of Horite ruler-priests.


Was Keturah a wife or a concubine?
Keturah was Abraham's patrilineal cousin wife.  Genesis 25:1 describes Keturah as Abraham’s wife. The word here in Hebrew is ishshah, which means woman or wife.


What happened to Keturah’s children?
Keturah had 6 sons and probably some daughters, though daughters are not named in Genesis, since they didn’t rule among the Afro-Arabians. Keturah’s sons became the chiefs of Arabian tribes. These tribes are referred to as the “Joktanite Tribes.” Joktan probably was Abraham’s first-born son by Keturah. As Keturah was Abraham's cousin bride, her first-born son ascended to the throne of her father, Joktan the Elder.


Are the Genesis origin stories like the Akan origin stories?
They are closer to the Gikuyu origin stories as Abraham’s ancestors came from the Nile region, not from West Africa. The Akan live primarily in Ghana and the Gikuyu live primarily in Kenya.


Related reading:  Common Questions About Genesis; Some Extraordinary Questions; Moses' Wives and Brothers; The Genesis Creation/Origins Stories; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology

Extraordinary Questions!

(Answers are in the Combox, but don't peek until you have tried to answer on your own!)


People visit Just Genesis from all over the world.  They often come to this site by searching for an answer to an interesting question.  The following are some of the more extraordinary questions that have been asked recently. Given that many readers of Just Genesis have become very astute at answering questions of this nature, I encourage you to take a shot at answering these tough ones!

Interesting and Unusual Questions


What was the symbol for a priest in 2300 B.C.?  (Clue: When visible, it caused ancient man much anxiety.)

What does the phrase “holy to Anath” refer to? (Clue: Trace linguistic root of name "Anath".)

Were the Patriarchs from Abraham to David patrilineal or matrilineal? (Clue:  Primogeniture + cousin bride's naming prerogative.)

If the moral/natural-law tradition calls reason good, why can’t reason still be good when it concludes that said tradition is without value for the modern world? (Clue: Binary distinctions)

Were Adam and Eve the first humans or the first Israelites? (Clue: African creation stories involving first ancestors.)

If the tower of Babel is the origin of all the languages spoken today why aren’t there more languages listed in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10? (Clue: Who are the tellers of this biblical story?)

Who was Canaan’s mother? (Clue: Ham is the father of Canaan and Ham and Shem's lines intermarried.)

What are the names of Zipporah’s sisters? (Clue: Zipporah was either Moses' patrilineal cousin or his half-sister.)

When was King David born?  (Clue: He was the youngest of Jesse's 12 sons and Jesse was a contemporary of Samuel.)

Humanity's Fallen Existence

Question number five of the "Nine Meaty Questions" sent in by a reader of Just Genesis is "Do you think the fall was eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or was that just symbolic for some other disobedience?"

Answer: It don't think that the fallen existence of humanity can be explained simply as the result of eating from the tree of knowledge. There is more to this story!

Eating is an earthly pleasure and this story reveals how easily we are tempted to gluttony. St. Gregory (Pope of Rome) preached that "A man can use the world as if he were not using it, if he makes all external needs minister to the support of his life without allowing them to dominate his soul. They remain external to him and under his control, serving him without halting his soul's drive to higher things... no created pleasure in the world should ensnare you."

The idea that eating of a particular plant can make you wise is common among tribal peoples and shamans employ phytohallucinogins to induce trace states during which they receive knowledge from the spirits. According to Amazon shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the ayahuasca to produce its hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it doesn’t have an affect on shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects over time. However they do not develop a tolerance for ayahuasca’s hallucinogenic effects. Read more about this here.

Here are some responses from readers:

Anonymous wrote: "The fall is a description of failing to obey and call on God for help in obeying. The real fall is not saying they're sorry."

Mairnéalach wrote: "The tree of knowledge of good and evil is a symbol. Until men get deceived by Satan, they enjoy a naive freedom from shame. Once they listen to Satan and disobey God, they have guilt and shame. The reason I say this is symbolic is because human experience recapitulates this disobedience and this revelation of shame constantly. Therefore, I may as well be Adam myself. The tree is the source of my tragic sympathy with the first man."

We must note that there are two trees mentioned in Genesis 2-3 and the one that Adam was commanded not to eat of was "in the middle of the garden" (Gen. 3:3).

St. John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.) held that the first humans were created midway between corruption and incorruption and were free to choose. It is like the story (Deut. 27:11-26) of the Israelites gathered in the valley between Mount Gerizim (of blessing) and the Mount Ebal (of cursing) and God telling them to "Choose life!"

The Fathers speak of the tree in the middle of the garden as having both a material presence (literal existence) and as representing a state of being (symbolic of being created "midway"). Adam stretched out his hand and took of the fruit of that tree. Christ stretched out his arms on the Tree (Cross) and broke the curse of Adam. The Cross, like the tree in Paradise, literally existed but is also a state of being. Christian often speak of "walking the way of the Cross" or of "taking up the Cross." When, by faith and God's grace, we lift up the Cross we choose life.

Let us return to St. Gregory who poses the choice each human faces daily. He wrote: "If the object of love is what is good, then the soul should take its delight in the higher good, the things of heaven. If the object of fear is what is evil, then we should keep before ourselves the things that are eternally evil. In this way, if the soul sees that we should have a greater love and a greater fear about what concerns the next life, it will never cling to this life. To help us achieve all this we have the help of the mediator between God and man. Through HIM we shall obtain all this the more quickly, the more we burn with a great love for HIM, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen."

Extent of the Fall

Question number four of the Nine Meaty Questions is: "If there were several original human couples, were they all involved in the fall?"

Answer: Mitochondrial samples suggest that all humans descend from more than one original mother. We receive our mitochondria from our mothers, so mitochondria studies trace bloodline through the mother, as did Abraham's people.

Genetists have identified 9 genetic groupings or "haplogs" for the human race. This would be no surprise to the Gikuyu who believe that the First Parents had 9 daughters.

Or perhaps the first man had multiple wives (suggested by Genesis), or there may have been multiple sets of original parents (not excluded by Genesis and suggested by linguistics).

We may never know the mechanism whereby 9 haplogs came to be, but we do know that all human beings were created by God, not as machines, but as creatures with the freedom to choose. Our free will is most free when our souls are spiritually healthy by God's grace at work in us.

Sometimes we choose righteousness, seeking restored communion with our Creator and only Savior. We are able to do this by God's grace. Sometimes we choose to rebel against the Creator and the created order, and when we choose this path, we are aided in our rebellion by Satan, the destroyer.

The universal extent of the Fall is evident from the universal extent of death. As all humans die, it is evident that all humans are under the curse of death, a curse that has been undone by the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

God understands our nature better than we understand ourselves. HE knows that we are but dust and to dust we shall return. HE knows the extent of our days, that we wither like the grass. HE knows when we do good and receives our good deeds as being done unto HIM (Matt. 25:40). HE knows when we fail to do good and recieves our failings as being done unto HIM (Matt. 25:45). HE knows when we are being led to do evil by dark spirits. HE knows when the angels of light surround, protect and guide us. HE knows that evil ultimately goes down in defeat.

His grace and mercy extend higher and deeper than the curse.

So while none can escape sin and death, all may receive the gift of eternal life through true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. By His death He has trampled down death and by His life He restores life.