Bible Query from Genesis
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Q: In Gen, how do we know that Genesis should be in the Bible?
A: Among other reasons, because Jesus and so many others in the Bible authenticated the Old Testament and referred to Genesis as scripture. See Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:4-9 for two examples where Jesus quotes from the book of Genesis as scripture.
Q: In Gen, who first answered questions on Genesis?
A: As far as I am aware, the first person to write answers to questions on Genesis was Philo, a Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria, who lived from about 20 B.C. to 50 A.D. Today we have an Armenian translation of his work. Unfortunately this discussion does not yet include anything he wrote, as I have not yet had time to read his three part work, Questions and Answers on Genesis. In this, Philo answers 244 questions, from the standpoint of a pious Jew who was heavily influenced by Greek Platonic philosophy.
Q: In Gen 1, since some things have to be true, like 1 = 1, and 1 + 1 = 2, did God create mathematics and numbers? How could He create them any other way?
A: God created everything; however, a tautology, which is something that by definition is true like red things are red-colored, is not a thing. We can speculate that God created every "thing" in mathematics is not a tautology.
Q: In Gen 1, since God created everything, did He create darkness, evil, and holes in the ground? If He created evil, He does not sound like a perfectly good God. If not, then whoever did sounds like they are a creator also.
A: God created every thing. Darkness is not a thing, but an absence or reduction of light. Evil is not a thing, but an absence or twisting of good. Holes, darkness, and evil were not directly created by God, but they came into existence as tautologies, or "existential byproducts" of matter, light and good. Likewise a shadow is not an independent thing, having matter, energy, or spirit. Nevertheless, plants can die in the shadows.
Q: In Gen 1, since God created everything good, why do tornadoes, plagues, and other disasters strike?
A: Everything was originally good. However, Romans 8:20-22 reveals that since the Fall, the earth was "subjected to frustration" too. The whole world is under the dominion of the evil one (1 John 5:19), and the prince of this world is Satan according to John 12:31; 14:30.
Q: In Gen 1, what is the cosmological argument?
A: First, here is a simple, logically loose way to phrase it.
You can't get something from nothing. Every created thing had to be created. Even the first created thing(s) had to be created by something or someone that was already there. Therefore, something or someone had to be uncreated and eternal.
Here is a more rigorous formulation; the definitions are my own.
We assume that everyone knows enough to have a suitable definition of logic, contradiction and non-contradiction, event, process, "in", object, collection, time, sequence, matter, energy, spirit, cause, affected by, and affects.
Actual existence is defined here as being in this universe, has the ability to be affected by something in this universe, or has the ability to affect something in this universe. This would be too narrow a definition of existence, as it fails to consider ideas, patterns, and other things. So, let's call this "actual" existence and restrict our discussion here actual existence.
Real thing is defined here as an object or collection or matter, energy, spirit, or combination that has actual existence. Logical truths, logical contradictions, and mathematical proofs are not considered things here.
Parasitic existence, as an aside, is defined as the actual existence of things that are not real things. Holes, darkness, shortages, incorrectness, and evil are not matter, energy, or spirit, yet as a shadow can kill plants that need sun, or a lack of food can kill a person, shadows and lack of food have actual existence without being real things.
The universe is defined here as a collection of real things that actually exist. Note that in this particular definition the universe is self-contained, and God (assuming God exists, is spirit, and can affect things) is in the universe.
Nothing is defined here as something that never actually exists, or does not have actual existence at a particular time. In other words, before it is created [or after it is destroyed], a real thing is not in the universe, does not affect the universe, and is not affected by the universe.
Creation is defined here as the event or process of making a new real thing. Creation is differentiated from "modification", which does not necessarily require any cause outside of the thing itself. Creation of a new real thing can include modification or destruction of a pre-existing real thing, but it does not have to do so. However, see the next point.
Something cannot come from nothing. Every created real thing requires a cause for its creation. In other words, nothing can be created unless some thing(s) or being(s) created it.
Something cannot create itself. Nothing can create itself. While real things sometimes can change themselves, or destroy themselves, nothing can be its own cause of creation.
A first cause. While created real things can create other created real things, ultimately there had to be a first cause. In other words, in a sequence of causes, at least one cause had to be before all other causes.
Uncreated. Since at least one cause has to have no prior cause, and every creation requires a cause, at least one real thing or being is uncreated and existed from eternity past, because at least one real thing had no creation.
Summary: Every real thing that exists either had a point in time or a time period at which it first existed, or else it did not. If it did not, it is eternal and uncreated. If it did, then some real thing was a cause for its existence.
Limitations: This argument does not prove the first cause is a living being, or that there is only one uncreated cause, or whether any uncreated causes still exist. It simply proves that there was at least one real thing (personal or impersonal) that existed eternally without being created.
One of the first writers to clearly see the cosmological argument and speak of God as the first cause was Philo the Jew, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from about 20 B.C. to 50 A.D. R.C. Sproul and Norm Geisler have numerous good material on the cosmological argument.
Q: In Gen 1, could God have created other beings and worlds?
A: He did create other beings: angels and demons. As to creating other worlds with beings on them, the Bible does not tell us all we desire to know, only what we need to know — and we need to make sure we at least read that. God could have created other universes, and perhaps that is what Heaven and Hell are.
Q: In Gen 1, why did God make Adam and Eve, since God knew beforehand that they would disobey Him?
A: Despite God foreknowing that they would sin, God tells us a number of things as to why He created people.
For His glory: God created His children for His glory. Isaiah 43:7;61:34.
People to love: God greatly loves us. Psalm 145:9,17; 1 John 3:1.
To be His children: 1 John 3:1-2; Galatians 3:28, Romans 8:15-17
To live in us: 1 John 4:12-16; Romans 8:9-11
God desires that none perish. Ezekiel 18:23,32; 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9. Yet, God feels no regret about creating those who, given the opportunity, freely choose to reject Him. God foreknew that they would sin, and still chose not to interfere with their choice or "uncreate" them.
Perhaps part of the reason God chose to create beings who would be in His image is similar to the reason parents choose to have children. Yes, the children will be expensive, with diapers and food, and yes the children will cause heartache by their ills, hurts, and disobedience, but through it all, the love makes it worthwhile.
Q: In Gen 1:1, did God create because He needed to create?
A: The Bible provides no support for this speculation. God has no needs, in the sense that He would be harmed or cease to exist if He did not create something. On the other hand, God’s desire was to create, and God fulfilled His desire on a grand, wonderful scale.
Q: In Gen 1:1, were there more creations after Genesis?
A: Scripture does not say either way, and God is free to do as He wishes. If God created other creatures, they could be like the angels, like Adam and Eve prior to the Fall, like us, like demons, like animals, or something entirely different.
Q: In Gen 1:2, if the spirit of God was moving over the waters, does this mean the Holy Spirit is not an intelligent, living being, but instead an active force as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim?
A: No. The fact that the Holy Spirit does not have a physical body and can move over the waters does not contradict the fact that Scripture shows the Holy Spirit is a living being with a personality.
The following is a duplicate of the discussion on 1 John 5:6-8.
A witness can be a living being as well as an inanimate object. A mistake of Jehovah's Witnesses is that since the Holy Spirit has many attributes a human being does not have, therefore (by some stretch of logic) the Holy Spirit cannot have personality. 1 John 5:6-8 shows there are three witnesses to the fact that Jesus had a physical body. The blood refers to His crucifixion, and the Spirit is an inward testimony to Christians. The water refers either to Jesus’ baptism by John, or possibly the water surrounding a baby at birth.
Following are various facts the Bible teaches us about the personality of the Holy Spirit.
Parakletos (the comforter, the one along side us). John 14:16,26, John 15:26
Can know the innermost thoughts of God 1 Corinthians 2:10-11
Speaks to us. Acts 13:2, Hebrews 3:7
Reminds us. John 14:26
Like a parent, so we will not be orphans (orphanos in Greek). John 14:18
Guides us. John 16:13
Teaches us. John 14:26 1 Corinthians 2:13
Lives in us. 1 Cor 3:16, 2 Timothy 1:14, Romans 8:9,11, Ephesians 2:22
In our hearts. 2 Corinthians 1:22 Galatians 4:6
He intercedes for us (inanimate objects do not pray or intercede). Romans 8:26-27
Can be insulted. Hebrews 10:29
Testifies of Christ. John 15:26
Has a mind. Romans 8:27
Can be grieved. Isaiah 63:10, Ephesians 4:30
Makes choices. 1 Corinthians 12:11
Possesses love. Romans 15:30
Can think things are good Acts 15:28
Searches deep things of God 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
Groans (and thus cares) for us Romans 8:26
See When Cultists Ask p.299 and Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse p.21-22 for more info.
Q: In Gen 1:10, how could God create the earth, since the earth was already created in Gen 1:1?
A: The Hebrew word (eres) is the same in both cases. As in English, (eres) can mean the world under the sky, and it can mean ground or dry land. Thus God created the planet in Genesis 1:1, and the dry ground in Genesis 1:12. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.65-66.
Q: In Gen 1 and Gen 2, why do there seem to be two creation accounts?
A: Genesis 1 is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and Genesis 2 is the creation of humans in the Eden. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.66-68, Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.133-134, and When Critics Ask p.35 for more info.
Q: In Gen 1 and other places, why is God called Elohim, while in other places, such as Gen 2, God is called Yahweh?
A: God has a great number of names and titles in the Bible. It seems that Yahweh focuses on God’s personal relationship to us in contrast to Elohim, which emphasizes His impartial, transcendent aspects. See When Critics Ask p.33-34 and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.66-68 for more info.
Q: In Gen 1, could God create the earth in literal six 24-hour days?
A: Regardless of whether they think the earth is old or young, all Christians should answer this question "yes".
Instead of six days, the Almighty could have created it in six seconds if He had wanted. The issue is not how God had to create, but how scripture and nature reveal He chose to create.
As a side note, Scripture does not say how long a day with God is in Genesis 1. Deuteronomy 7:1 shows that a "day" could indicate a period of time greater than 24 hours, as it was understood in Moses’ "day". Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8 indicate God’s days could be very long. See When Critics Ask p.32-33 and Archer, Survey of Old Testament Introduction p.187-199, for outlines of various views. See also the next two questions.
Q: In Gen 1 do the similarities between this and the Babylonian creation accounts prove they were from a common, human origin? (Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.1197 says this is very likely)
A: Babylonian accounts are similar in many physical details, but almost diametrically opposite in terms of cause. In contrast to Marduk struggling against the chaos of the dragon Tiamat, God commands what happens. If there is some truth in non-Biblical culture that should not be a surprise. In addition, the style of Genesis 1 appears to be a deliberate contrast with pagan concepts.
Q: In Gen 1:26 and 3:22, why is the word "us" is used for the One True God?
A: There are two possible answers.
1. The "us" refers to the One true God, but plural is the proper sense for a conversation among the Trinity.
2. The "royal we" was used of kings and gods for one person. As an example of this in the Mideastern religion if Islam, the Muslim Quran uses "us" and "we" when Allah is referring to himself. Muslims and non-Muslims can agree that use of the "royal we" in the Quran does not suggest Mohammed taught that Allah was multiple gods.
See When Critics Ask p.30-31, When Cultists Ask p.20-21, and Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.180-182 for this and other views.
Q: Does Gen 1:26 mean people are "little-gods" themselves, as Kenneth Hagin and some word-faith teachers say?
A: No. The word in Genesis is "like" not "is". Even word-faith teachers would agree that creatures like us were never to be worshipped. The bodies of Adam and Eve were given an immortality that could be forfeited, a righteousness that could be ruined, and a perfect love for God that could be thrown away like an old piece of fruit. See When Cultists Ask p.21-22 for more info and a partial enumeration of the ways we are not.
Q: In Gen 1:26-27, with whom was God speaking?
A: While angels might have overheard these words too, this was a conversation among the Trinity. Our creation was not the work of angels but of God in Trinity. The first Christian writer known to have observed this could not be angels was Justin Martyr (wrote about 138-165 A.D.) in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew chapter 62.
Q: In Gen 1:26-27, since God made people higher than the angels, could God later make beings higher than humans?
A: Scripture does not say either way, and God is free to do whatever He wishes. However, Scripture says that believers are "sons of God" and we will "reign with Christ" and be "co-seated with Christ" (Ephesians 2:6). It is hard for a finite creature to be much higher than that.
Q: In Gen 1:26, was Adam a "superman" with ability a million times greater than ours, as Watchman Nee taught in The Latent Power of the Soul (1933 p.15)?
A: Scripture never taught this strange speculation. It also never taught that Adam was already like God in outward appearance, as Watchman Nee taught in the same book page 18. Unfortunately, people often try to add their own teaching to what God actually said. See The Berean Call April 1998 p.3 for more info.
Q: In Gen 1:26, if we are created in God’s image, doesn’t that prove God (or at least the Father) has a man’s physical body? (Mormons mention this.)
A: Most would agree the Holy Spirit does not have a physical body and Jesus did not have a physical body at that time. If "us" is referring to a discussion with the Father, Son, and Spirit, then image cannot refer to a mere physical body. By the way, Genesis 9:6 shows that since the Fall, we still have God’s image. See When Cultists Ask p.22 for more info.
Q: In Gen 1:27, are people still made in the image of God since the Fall?
A: Yes. Genesis 9:6, after the flood, shows that even though we are marred by sin, we still have God’s image. See Now That’s A Good Question p.152-153 for essentially the same answer.
Q: In Gen 1:28, since man was to fill the earth and subdue it, did this give permission for man to destroy the environment?
A: Not at all. We have never heard of a Christian or Jew who read the Bible with that interpretation. This new rendering, first advanced in 1967 [see Kaiser’s reference at the end], only seems to makes sense if you read part of Genesis 1, and you define "subdue" as "destroy", rather than "wisely rule". Actually the Bible says six important things about taking care of the land and animals.
1. They were "tenants" on land that really belonged to God
1a. Thus, the land could not be sold permanently (Leviticus 25:23)
1b. All things belong to God (Psalm 24:1)
2. God will judge those who defile the land in general
2a. Isaiah 24:5 says the earth was defiled by its people.
2b. Zechariah wailed over the destruction of mighty forests and rich pastures. Even more, wailing over the spiritual calamity for which these natural calamities are allegories. (Zechariah 11:1-3)
3. God condemns physically defiling the land
3a. God will destroy those who destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18).
3b. God will judge the "sheep" who not only eat what they need, but trample the rest of the pasture. They not only drink clear water, but they muddy the rest of the water with their feet (Ezekiel 34:17-22).
3c. Numbers 5:3 speaks of not defiling the camp, in the context of infectious diseases.
3d. Even in war, do not cut down the fruit trees that make the land productive (Deuteronomy 20:19-20). An olive tree can live for over 1,000 years.
4. God condemns defiling the land with evil
4a. Numbers 35:33-34 commands us: "do not pollute the land" in the context of killing people.
4b. Do not defile the land with idolatry (Jeremiah 16:18).
4c. Jeremiah 32:34 mentions people defiling the valley of Topheth with infant sacrifice.
4d. In Ezekiel 7:22, the wicked will defile God’s treasured place.
5. God’s Law includes wise resource management
5a. Adam was put "in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15).
5b. Not planting two kinds of crops together (Deuteronomy 22:9). Instead, alternating crops reduces insect pests.
5c. Letting the land rest every seventh year during the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:3-7,11-12,18).
5d. God would judge Israel for breaking this rule (Leviticus 26:34-35).
6. Animals: owned by God, made for our use, but we must treat animals kindly
6a. Animals belong to God (Psalm 50:10) and He takes care of them (Psalm 36:6; 104:11,14; 147:8-9).
6b. Eating meat is fine, and in some instances commanded (Genesis 9:2-5; Acts 10:13).
6c. Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 3:22; 1 John 3:5). He ate fish (Luke 24:42-43) and being a good Jew, ate meat as was commanded during the Passover (Exodus 12:8-10).
6d. Wearing leather is fine, as John the Baptist had a leather belt in Mark 1:6.
6e. Hunting is OK (Leviticus 17:13).
6f. Killing animals for sacrifice was even commanded (Exodus - Deuteronomy).
6g. We are to be kind to animals (Proverbs 12:10).
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.89-90 and the next question for more info.
Q: In Gen 1:28, even though the Bible does not explicitly say we should squander God’s gift of our environment, does Christianity implicitly teach that we can trash the environment?
A: No. You cannot blame the ecological problems caused by greed and over-population on Christianity, any more than one can blame problems on Animists in Africa, Hindus in India, Buddhists/Confucianists in China, and Muslims in Indonesia and the Mideast. There are ecological problems in every continent, just as there are people who will sacrifice the environment for personal gain on every continent. For a discussion of what the Bible does say about the environment, see the previous answer.
Q: In Gen 1:29 were Adam and Eve given every seed-bearing plant, or could they not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as Gen 2:17 says?
A: While we do not know whether the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had seeds or not, that is not relevant here. Regardless, the meaning was they could eat of every seed-bearing plant, with the exception of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Q: In Gen 2:2-3, why did God rest from working on the seventh day?
A: "Rest" here means to cease from the work of creating. Scripture never says God needed to rest, but that He chose to do so. See also Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.184-185 for more info.
Q: In Gen 2:2, was the concept of the Sabbath Babylonian in origin that was added to Jewish tradition later, as Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.19,847-848 says it is tempting to suppose?
A: Two answers, one for Christians and one for non-Christians
1. (for Christians): If you assume that Jesus was from God as proved by his resurrection, since Jesus accepted the original accuracy and preserved reliability of the Old Testament, and the references to the Sabbath in Genesis and Jeremiah can be proved to be written before Jesus, it was not a Babylonian invention, and there is nothing more that needs to be said.
2. (for non-Christians): In Asimov’s Guide to the Bible p.847 he says the Babylonians called the 15th day of the month sappatu. Of course, that is only one day a month not four. On p.19, Asimov was astute to notice that the Sabbath seemed of little consequence to the Israelites in Pre-Exilic times and of great importance in Post-Exilic times. However, to postulate that the Babylonian and Post-Exilic Jews were universally "hoodwinked" into a) believing their exile was due to failure to obey a command that was not in their Scriptures, and b) this was added in 59 places (35 of which were in the Torah) without anybody noticing the new concept, is incredulous. By the way, not all the Jews went to Babylonia. Jeremiah records that some went instead to Egypt. It was descendents of those Jews who translated the Old Testament into Greek, and in the Greek Septuagint translation has the Sabbath verses, too.
Any and every speculation about errors in the Bible might be seem completely believable to someone who thought it very important to show there were errors in the Bible and they did not have to follow it. However, even Isaac Asimov at least recognized the tenuousness of this theory by not mentioning it as any more than a temptation.
Q: In Gen 2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9, and 37:2, Num 3:1; Ru 4:18, does the Hebrew word (Toledot) start a section, or conclude a section?
A: Either it always refers to the beginning, always refers to the end, or sometimes goes either way.
Ambiguous: Here are some "toledots" that could be interpreted Either way: Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 36:9; 37:2.
Beginning: Here are some "toledots" that context demands they be at the beginning: Genesis 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1; Numbers 3:1
At the end: There is not a single "toledot" that provably belongs at the end of a section. Therefore, the ambiguous sections are probably "toledots" at the beginning.
The most conclusive prove that "toledot" is at the beginning of a section is Genesis 25:19, which says is it the account of Isaac. The immediately following section speaks of Isaac’s children. The immediately preceding section speaks of Ishmael and has nothing whatsoever to do with Isaac.
See The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament (Victor Books 1985) p.22-23 for more on why "Toledot" belongs at the beginning.
Q: In Gen 2:5-7, did God create plants after man, or before man as Gen 1:12,26 says? (An atheist named Capella asked this.)
A: Four points to consider in the answer.
1. Plants first: Genesis 1 clearly says plants were created on the earth prior to man. These of course, would include the ancestors of all modern plants.
2. World vs. Garden: Genesis 1 is the Creation account of the heavens and the earth, while Genesis 2 is the creation account of the Garden of Eden.
3. Crops after man: Genesis 2 shows that shrubs of the field came after man, at least in the Garden of Eden. In both occurrences, the Hebrew word for "field", saday, is used, rather than just saying plants.
4. Archaeology confirms what Genesis shows. The grains we use today did not exist until after man bred them for cultivation.
4a. Maize (corn): Archaeologists tell us that maize was domesticated in the new world about 5000 B.C. It came from a grain called teosinte. Teosinte had about 50 loosely held kernels, and the cob was less than an inch long. In contrast, corn today has 500 to 1,000 tightly held kernels on each cob. Because the kernels are tightly held, corn today is unable to grow in the wild without the help of man. See Food and Nutrition (Life Science Library 1967) p.37-38 for more info.
4b. Wheat: Archaeology has found ancestors of wheat in the Middle east in Iraq around 7,000 B.C.. It is called Emmer and loses its seeds when the wind blows. Today there are thousands of strains of wheat. See Food and Nutrition (Life Science Library 1967) p.39 for more info. As a side note, some see the 2,000 year difference between the time of cultivation of wheat and maize as one of the two reasons (horses being the other reason) that when the Spanish came to America, Indian culture was 1,000 to 2,000 years behind European culture.
4c. Rice was the newcomer of the three main grains. Food and Nutrition p.34 says it was domesticated about 3500 B.C.
As a side note, the Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology p.23 says that at Beersheba they found calcinated grains of wheat, barley, lentils, and grapes from 4000 B.C.
Summary: Plants existed before people, but crops and fields came after man was created.
Q: In Gen 2:7, did God create matter, or did He just "organize" it as many Mormons teach, or was matter uncreated because matter is not a real thing, as Christian Science and some eastern religious groups teach?
A: No. God being almighty means God can do anything, and God being the Creator means God created everything. God created the universe "ex nihilo", which means from nothing. Thus, to be precise, God not only created the "things of matter and energy", but God created matter and energy themselves.
See When Cultists Ask p.24-25 for a different, but complementary, answer.
Q: In Gen 2:7,19 did God create man before the animals, or after the animals as Gen 1:24,27 says? (An atheist (Capella) asked this).
A: Three points to consider in the answer.
On the earth, God created man after the animals, as Genesis 1:24,27 says.
In the Garden of Eden, God had to have created man before showing man the animals.
Even in the Garden, the animals might have been there before man. Genesis 2:19 refers to the animals that had been created by that time. It does not mean there animals were not created until that time.
Q: Does Gen 2:7 prove that people do not have an immortal soul like Jehovah’s Witnesses say?
A: No. The Hebrew word here, nephesh, means "soul" in some places, and "life" in other places such as this one. How could the believers under the altar in Revelation 6:9-10 be under the altar if they did not have existence after death? See When Cultists Ask p.23-24 for more info.
Q: In Gen 2:10-14, where are the rivers that flowed out of the Garden of Eden?
A: First of all, the Garden of Eden does not exist on earth today. We do not know where the Pishon River was, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The Gihon is usually thought to be the Nile River, which flowed from the region of Cush, south of Egypt. However, it could have been a smaller river originating in "Cush" (Kashshu) in west Elam, which is very close to the Tigris and Euphrates. The Kassites (Greek: Kossaeans) were from there. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.69-70 and When Critics Ask p.34 for more info.
Q: Since Gen 2:17 says "the day you eat of it you shall surely die", did Adam and Eve die "that day"?
A: Spiritually and judicially, yes. Three points to consider in the answer.
Spiritual death occurred that day.
Judicially, that day sentences of both eternal and physical death were pronounced against them. In Hard Sayings of the Bible p.91-92, Walter Kaiser, Jr. shows the Hebrew idiom means the certainty of their death, not he immediacy of the death.
For another example of the use of this idiom of speech, see 1 Kings 2:37, where Solomon gave a similar warning to Shimei on the day he leaves Jerusalem.
See When Critics Ask p.34, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.72-74, Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.134-135, The Complete Book of Bible Answers p.45, Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.190-191, and Hard Sayings of the Bible p.91-92 for more info.
Q: In Gen 2:18, why does it say man was alone, since man was with both God and the animals?
A: Adam did have rule over the animals, and Adam did worship God, but Adam had no one else like Him. He was alone in not having anyone to relate to in a horizontal way as an equal.
Q: Does Gen 2:18-22 show that women were created as an afterthought, as Born Again Skeptic’s p.164 claims?
A: No, it shows just the opposite. God took a great deal of time, with Adam having to name the animals and all, to demonstrate to Adam his need for a mate. Most of the things in Genesis 1 and 2 were simply created with little explanation. However, God first "set the stage" and explained her purpose as Adam’s co-laborer before creating Eve.
Q: Does Gen 2:18 show that women are inferior to men, since Eve was made differently from Adam?
A: No it does not. Six points to consider in the answer.
1. Different does not prove unequal. Different people speak different languages, but that does not mean every language is either inferior or superior to another. As one Christian said, Eve was not made from Adam's foot to be under him, nor from his head to be above him, but from his side to be with him.
2. Helper does not mean inferior. Some might think that Eve was less than Adam because she was a "helper" in Genesis 2:18. However, God is our helper (same Hebrew word) in Psalm 70:5 and this does not mean God is inferior to us! Thus translating the Hebrew as "helpmate" is rather imprecise. A better translation is ‘I will make a power [or strength] corresponding to man.’ according to Walter Kaiser's detailed study of the Hebrew in Hard Sayings of the Bible p.92-94. So the woman is to be a "full partner" and not just an assistant.
3. Genesis 1:27 shows both are in the image of God. It was not just Adam that is in the image of God, but both male and female are in the image of God. By the way, being in the "image of God" in no way means God is limited to having two feet, two hands, a stomach etc. Rather, as a two-dimensional image is an imperfect outline of a real, three-dimensional object, the character of the infinite God and our finite being have some similarities.
4. Equal in nature, value, importance, etc. In the Bible, Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (NIV)
5. Yet different in role: Ephesians 5:22-24 shows that wives are to submit to their husbands, for husbands are the head of the wife. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church in Ephesians 5:25-26. Paul said that women were not to teach men or have authority over men in 1 Timothy 2:12.
6. How does this work out in practice?
6.1 Deborah was a godly judge of Israel in Judges 4-5. Based on this, I would have no difficulty voting for a woman for president.
6.2 They could inherit things, including land in Numbers 36:8.
6.3 For a more thorough description of how a wife is to be a full partner with her husband, read Proverbs 31:10-31. Among other things it says:
She works with her hands (Prov 31:13,22) and profits from this in Prov 31:24,31.
She shops for food (Prov 31:14) and cooks. Prov 31:15
She manages others. Prov 31:15
She herself decides to buy real-estate in Prov 31:16.
She plants a vineyard. Prov 31:16 (Note that a family does not own an entire vineyard just for their personal consumption. A vineyard was a source of profit.)
She is physically strong. Prov 31:17
She also trades, not just for necessity but for profit. Prov 31:18
She herself gives to the poor. (She had to have control over money to do so.) Prov 31:20
She manages the household. Prov31:21
She is wise, and teaches wisdom. Prov 31:26
In summary: Women are not inferior to men in nature, value or importance. They do have a different role than men, as any expectant mother can tell you.
See also Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.191-193 for more on how woman was made "as like" man, and equal with him.
Q: In Gen 2:19 why did Adam need to see all the animals here?
A: God gave Adam dominion over all the animals in Genesis 1:26, and God wanted to see what Adam would name the animals in Genesis 19.
In addition to this, there might have been a more subtle reason. Prior to making Eve, God recognized the importance of filling what was lacking in Adam, but Adam did not. Thus Adam could learn three things about the animals relevant to his current situation.
Family:
a) Showing Adam that all the higher animals had male and female showed how God made them complete and able to propagate their species.
b) Adam could look at all the creatures, and see that there was none like him.
c) Adam could see that he needed another to make him complete, too.
Incidentally, teaching children how plants reproduce, and how animals reproduce, is a good approach to teaching kids how God ordained the way children are made.
Community:
a) Even dogs and deer have communities in which they live.
b) Adam could see that He did not have anyone like him in a community to share his life with, and people need other people to be around.
Leadership:
Since God gave Adam dominion over the earth, Adam would need to know the animals that were on the earth.
Since Adam had dominion, God honored Adam by having him name the animals. (Philo the Jew mentioned this in Works of Philo p.882.)
Q: In Gen 2:19-3:19, what evidence is there from early Mormon writings that Mormons believed the crazy doctrine that Adam was God?
A: Here are the quotes from the Mormon Journal of Discourses, followed by twelve other writings as evidence.
a. Journal of Discourses vol. 1 p.50. (Sermon by Brigham Young) "Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken - He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing must hear it, and will know it sooner or later." (italics and small caps are in the original)
b. Journal of Discourses vol. 1 p.51. (Same Sermon) "Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the Garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven."
Note that Mormons often respond that this is a printing error. It is interesting to note that the volumes of the great Christian preacher Charles H. Spurgeon were published about the same time, and there were no printer’s errors saying some created being was God in his works. Following is corroborating evidence that the Mormon prophet really said this.
1. Wilford Woodruff’s Journal under 2/19/1854. (Look in the BYU Library)
2. Deseret Evening News 6/14/1873
3. Deseret Evening News 6/18/1873
4. Diary of Hosea Stout: On the Frontier vol. 2 p.438.
5. The Millennial Star vol. 16 p.543.
6. The Millennial Star vol. 15 p.769-770. one and a half years after this.
7. Journal of John Nuttall vol. 1 pp.18-21.
8. Diary Journal of Abraham H. Cannon vol. 11 p.39 (taught for 50 years)
9. Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1856 p.375
10. Women of Mormondom p.179
11. Journal of Discourses vol. 4 p.1 (President Heber C. Kimball is speaking on 6/29/1856)
"...and I also know that if we are not one with brother Brigham, our leader, we are not one with Christ. Yes, I know this, and my feelings are and have been with brother Brigham all the time. I have learned by experience that there is but one God that pertains to this people, and He Is the God that pertains to this earth - the first man. That first man sent his own Son to redeem the world, to redeem his brethren."
12. Finally, a much later book:
The Position of Adam in L.D.S. Scripture and Theology: "The identification of Adam with God the Father by President Brigham Young is an irrefutable fact." p.58
Q: In Gen 2:20, how could Adam name all the animals, unless the forbidden fruit was an Apple Macintosh?
A: Someone once quipped that if Adam had to name all the species of animals (including 1.5 million bugs and insects) within 24 hours on the sixth day, no wonder we mistake the forbidden fruit for an Apple, disk drives and all!
On the other hand, Paul S. Taylor has correctly noted that the phrase "gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts" in Genesis 2:20 does not necessarily mean naming every species on earth. It simply could be naming the genera and families of animals in Adam’s immediate vicinity.
For those who like trivia, there are about 26,000 living species of vertebrate land animals and birds and 9,500 known fossil species on the earth. (Of the fossil species, almost half were reptiles, and 1,000 were birds).
There are roughly 5,600 living genera land animals, including 1,900 genera of birds. There are about 6,500 genera of known fossil land animals, including almost 1,000 genera of birds and 1,500 general of reptiles.
Q: In Gen 2:21-23, was Adam both male and female prior to the creation of Eve?
A: Nothing in Scripture suggests this. Genesis 3:16 says that the husband will be the head of the wife. Since this was after the fall, how "male" Adam was prior to Eve does not have any bearing on anything. However, in regard to church authority in general, Paul sees it as significant that Adam was formed prior to Eve in 1 Timothy 2:13. Paul’s point would be totally misleading if Adam was both male and female.
Q: In Gen 2:21-23, was the account of Eve being formed from a rib taken from the Sumerian Dilmun poem?
A: First some background information, then the answer, and finally two lessons we can learn from the answer about how God inspired the Bible.
B1. Samuel Noah Kramer, in The Sumerians (University of Chicago 1963), mentions that the Sumerian word for rib, ti, also means "to make live", and in the Dilmun poem, Nin-ti was the "lady of the rib" as well as the "lady who makes live" who healed the god Enki’s sick rib.
B2. This is a pun in Sumerian, but not in Hebrew, which makes this similarity rather striking.
B3. Except for "lady who healed the rib" vs. "Eve who was from Adam’s rib" in Genesis, there are not any other similarities between the two stories. See The Sumerians p.148-149 or Hard Sayings of the Bible p.94-95 for the Sumerian narrative.
B4. Tablets from the Dilmun poem are from 2400 B.C. or later. Regardless, they still predate Abraham, who left Ur before 2050 B.C.
B5. This story might have been well-known in ancient times.
The Answer: Four points to consider in the answer.
A1. This is just one of a number of examples of similar recountings of events mentioned in Genesis. Another example is the more than 200 world-wide flood stories of various peoples around the world.
A2. The play on words about the rib may show that other early cultures had a preservation of at least incomplete knowledge of the creation of mankind.
A3. Even more than that, other parts of Genesis 1 seem almost to be written in a deliberate manner to contrast with Sumerian, Akkadian and other accounts. The other accounts present gods quarreling, in Genesis the One God calmly creates. Other accounts present the hero fighting against chaos. Genesis presents God moving over the "abyss/waters", and commanding and ordering.
A4. While some similarities of details between Genesis versus the Dilmun poem and other ancient works could point to common knowledge of some events. However, it is untenable to say that one was copied from the other, not just because the common details are few, but because there are almost no similarities in meaning behind the details.
Lessons to Learn from the Answer:
L1. Genesis was not written in a vacuum. God does not just reveal truth to us, He reveals timeless truth, yet in a practical way, relevant to the time and culture. One reason (but not the main reason) Genesis might have been given by God was to correct the wrong views of man’s origin that people had, while acknowledging some of the correct things that had survived.
L2. God uses culture. God uses even people’s evil actions for His glory (Genesis 50:20). How can we even attempt to forbid God to use culture too, as He wishes. Moses was a learned man, and perhaps He might have read this story, and God used Moses’ reading to show Him what was true and what was not true.
L3. Most importantly, do not take the phrase "scripture is inerrant" to mean the Bible had to be mechanically dictated. 1 Peter 1:21 says that prophecy was men speaking as moved by the Holy Spirit. Thus, when different parts of the Bible obviously reflect different human styles of writing, that does not preclude divine authorship. It merely demonstrates that God used various people’s writing styles as He saw fit.
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.94-95 for more info.
Q: In Gen 2:22, who is Lilith?
A: The name Lilith is never once mentioned in the Bible. There was a Medieval fable about a woman named Lilith who was Adam’s first wife. She refused to submit to Adam, and God then created Eve. Lilith was turned into a demon that kills newborn babies.
Lilith also was a vampire in Sumerian mythology, according to The Sumerians p.198, 258.
All Bible manuscripts, Jewish or Christian, do not have any more hint of Lilith than they do of Donald Duck.
Q: In Gen 2:22, how could God make Eve from a rib?
A: -Any way God Almighty wanted. He might not have utilized all the rib; one cell could have been enough.
Q: Because of Gen 2:22-23, should men have one less rib than women?
A: No. If a man has his arm cut off, his subsequent children and grandchildren are not all born missing one arm. Likewise, if you take a few cells from a person’s rib, both the parents and their children will still have the same number of ribs.
Q: In Gen 2:25, was man and woman originally created naked, and were they supposed to wear clothing?
A: Yes, they were created naked, and had no shame. However, after the Fall, God clothed them, and we have been clothed ever since then. See 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.317-318 for more info.
Q: In Gen 3, since God made humans ultimately to be higher than the angels, could that have been a factor in Satan choosing to fall?
A: Scripture does not say either way, but it is a possibility.
Q: In Gen 3, were Adam and Eve white, black, brown, yellow or red skinned?
A: The Bible is totally silent on this. Since Adam and Eve were the ancestors of us all, it does not matter. All of use are equally a descendants of Adam and Eve.
Q: In Gen 3, why did God allow Adam and Eve to be tempted?
A: The Bible does not say. However, we can speculate that God did not just want people who loved him, but people who were allowed an alternative, yet still chose to love God.
Q: In Gen 3, was this an unfair test, since Adam and Eve did not yet have the knowledge of good and evil, as an atheist (Capella) claims?
A: No. Is it an unfair test to tell somebody not to use illegal drugs, such as cocaine, until they have first had a chance to use it? Of course not. Likewise, it was not unfair for them to receive the prohibition without experiencing evil and guilt. While one could argue that they did not know everything about good and evil at this time, they knew that their Creator commanded them not to eat of that tree, and that knowledge alone was sufficient to make this a fair test.
Today we do not know every single reason why God forbids us to do something, but if God has commanded us not to do it, we know all we need to know to obey God.
Q: In Gen 3, what exactly was wrong with eating of the tree?
A: It was not that a particular fruit was evil; perhaps they could have eaten of the tree later. As Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (168-181/188 A.D.) wrote in his letter To Autolychus 2:250 "For it was not the tree, as some think, but the disobedience, which had death in it." Ante-Nicene Fathers 2 p.104. Some also see in the phrase "like God, knowing good and evil", as them wanting to appropriate to themselves God’s prerogative of defining good and evil.
Q: In Gen 3, was this test sort of like parents putting a 40,000 volt battery in the living room and telling their baby not to touch it?
A: No, the danger was in their disobedience, not in the tree. Three points to consider in the answer.
1. Unlike a dangerous battery, it was not the tree that was deadly. It was the disobedience to God that was deadly, and caused them to die spiritually that day, and physically later. It was even possible that at a later time God might have allowed them to eat of the tree.
2. Adam and Eve were not babies. They could reason as adults can, they were fully conscious of what they were doing and what God said the consequences would be.
3. Adam and Eve had all their needs met, and they had no way to disobey God except by eating of the tree. Whether we like it or not, God gives people choices to serve Him or not. Some might feel, "God should not have done that, God should have made us all robots incapable of disobeying." Regardless of how people feel, God can do as He wishes, and God chose to give everyone the free will to disobey Him, and to live with the consequences of their obedience or disobedience.
Q: In Gen 3, should we be proud that Eve ate the apple, as Laura Schlesinger says?
A: No. Dr. Laura is right about many things, but she is incorrect here. Here is what she said in Modern Maturity September-October 1999 p.67.
"I have great pride that she ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Because if she hadn't, we'd still be animals in the Garden. God didn't put that tree there just for shade. We became human with that step."
First of all, the tree was not just the tree of knowledge, but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Schlesinger is right that people were not the same. All the murdering, war, oppression, and moral irresponsibility people committed happened after this. However, people are still human in Heaven, when they will not sin anymore. It is not impossible to be fully human and not sinful, as Adam and Eve prior to eating, and as Jesus Christ is.
Later in the interview, when Dr. Laura said Adam was wrong to try to blame Eve, Schlesinger is correct, because Genesis 3:6 says that Adam was with Eve when she ate.
Q: In Gen 3, was the fruit of the tree a metaphor for an unlawful spiritual sexual union between Eve and Satan as Rev. Moon of the Unification Church (Moonies) teaches in the Divine Principle (fifth ed. 1977) p.75-79?
A: There was no sexual metaphor with the tree, fruit, or Satan. If Rev. Moon was right, then:
What were all the other trees that were allowed?
Eve ignored Satan when she ate the fruit of the tree
In Genesis 3:13, Eve, in trying to put all the blame on the serpent, merely said the serpent deceived her. She never said that the serpent did anything to her.
See also the previous question.
Q: In Gen 3, do any other cultures have a similar story of the first people, in a garden, and eating a forbidden fruit?
A: Yes. Here are at least three cases.
Karen people of Burma: the almighty, all-knowing God named Y’wa created everything. He created two persons, a man named Thanai and a woman named Eeu, and placed them in a garden with seven kinds of fruit trees. One kind they could not eat, though. The evil Mu-kaw-lee deceived the two persons, telling them they would have miraculous powers and ascend to Heaven. Mu-kaw-lee persuaded them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial. They ate and became subject to sickness, aging, and death.
Don Richardson explores the possibility that this might have come from Nestorian or Roman Catholic influence, and concludes it did not, because Richardson found no concept of the incarnation or a redeemer dying for man and rising from the dead. See Eternity in Their Hearts p.77-83 for more info.
Santal of India: They believed in "Thakur Jiu" (Thakur = genuine, Jiu = God), who created the first couple, a man named Haram and a woman named Ayo and put them in Hihiri Pipiri, which was west of India. The evil Lita tempted them to make rice beer and pour part of it on the ground as an offering to Satan. They did so, and became drunk on the rest of the beer. When they woke up, they knew they were naked and felt ashamed. They later had seven sons and seven daughters. Their descendents became corrupted, so Thakur Jiu hid a "holy pair" on Mount Harata (=Ararat?), and destroyed the rest in a flood. Eventually their ancestors traveled (east) from forest to forest, until they came to high mountains, which blocked their path. Finally they got through (perhaps at the Khyber Pass) and they came to their homeland near Calcutta. See Eternity in Their Hearts p.41-44 for more info.
Sumerians: The Sumerians believed they came from a Paradise they called Dilmun. There are not many other parallels to the Garden of Eden, though. Dilmun was a place where all the gods were, as well as Ziusdra, a human who had attained immortality. The Dilmun poem dates from around 2400 B.C.
Q: In Gen 3:1 and 2 Cor 11:3, why were Adam and Eve tempted by Satan in the form of a serpent, instead of something else, like a lion, or a bunny rabbit?
A: Scripture does not say, but we can speculate. Large animals could be intimidating and put people on their guard. Tiny animals might be ignored as insignificant. A snake might imply that "slyness" is OK. For many in society to go and sin en masse, many people must first be persuaded that a sin is not wrong.
Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.96 makes the interesting point that some view the serpent as an analogy of intelligence devoid of conscience. The snake is amazing in how it slyly waits for and creeps up on its prey. Matthew 10:16 says we are to be a shrewd as snakes but as innocent as doves.
Q: In Gen 3:1, how could an unintelligent, mute animal such as a serpent tempt Adam and Eve?
A: This was no ordinary serpent. Satan assumed the form of a serpent, and Satan could speak and is highly intelligent. Satan is also called the serpent in Revelation 12:9,14,15 and Revelation 20:2. There are three possible ways Satan could have been a serpent, and the simplest interpretation suggests all of them are true.
Physical Transformation: Satan either transformed himself or was transformed into the physical form of a snake that could speak.
Example: Regardless of whether the serpent Eve saw was Satan himself or just a regular snake, Satan "spoke behind" this form to suggest the sly approach of a snake.
Metaphor: Satan was called a serpent for the insidious way he approached Eve. See the previous question for more detail.
Q: In Gen 3:1,14, since the serpent was cursed with crawling on it belly, does that mean snakes used to have legs?
A: No. While some newts have arms but no legs, that is not what is intended here. While Scripture is not specific, Satan was cursed with lessened and degrading means of moving. Satan took the form of a lowly snake, and God punished Satan with a curse that part of the snake’s attributes would stay with Satan.
When people sin, the need for forgiveness for the external act is only part of the problem. The nature of sin is often such that part of the sin clings to our hearts on the inside, and we need cleansing as well as forgiveness. See Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.100 for more info.
Q: In Gen 3, since Adam and Eve were perfect, how can perfect beings do imperfect things, such as sin?
A: They were not "perfect". Different people have different definitions of perfect. However, regardless of various definitions of "perfect", the Bible never says Adam and Eve were perfect. It also never says they were incapable of sinning. Rather, the Bible only shows that they were very good, and they were "sinless", in that they had not sinned. They were still capable of exercising free agency and able to make a choice about sin.
Q: In Gen 3, since a perfect God only creates perfect beings, how could Adam and Eve sin?
A: Four points to consider in the answer.
Tertullian answered this question way back in 207 A.D. in Against Marcion book 2 chapters 5-9. Tertullian’s lengthy answer can be summed up in his own words: "Therefore it was proper that [man,] the image and likeness of God should be formed with a free will and a mastery of himself; so that this very thing - namely freedom of will and self-command - might be reckoned as the image and likeness of God in Him." In other words, it was suitable for a perfect God to make creatures like Himself, possessing free-will.
Not robots: Would you have a perfect God be restricted to creating robots, and incapable of creating people that have free will? God does not create logical impossibilities, and for God to create people who freely choose to love and obey Him, God also created them capable of not loving and obeying Him. The Bible never says Adam and Eve were "perfect" in a sense of never being able to sin. Rather, the Bible says they were "very good" and "sinless", in that they had not sinned.
God’s perfection: Between mankind and demons, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that God’s perfection does not confine Him from creating beings with the ability to disobey Him.
Who’s Definition? If someone’s definition of a perfect God is one who is unable to create people with moral choices, then the burden of proof is on them to find at least one verse that substantiates that opinion. Otherwise, that definition does not fit the God of the Bible. The root issue here is:
a) should you try to impose your definition of "God’s perfection" on the God of the Bible, or
b) Let God speak for Himself in the Bible about how He is perfect and how He chose to create.
As for why God chose to "go through the trouble" of creating Adam and Eve, knowing they would sin, see the discussion on Genesis 1.
Q: In Gen 3:3-24, why were Adam and Eve punished more severely than many people today?
A: God did not punish them simply for their action of picking; after all they could pick the fruit of other trees. God punished them for being without a fallen nature and yet disobeying God.
The severity of their punishment seems reasonable when we consider that God punishes based on what people know, and what they were capable of doing. Unlike people today, they were in the direct presence of God, and yet still did not trust that God knew what was best for them. Unlike people today, they did not have a sinful nature, which would always be tugging at them to sin.
See Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.193-195 for a totally different answer that essentially arrives at the same conclusion.
Q: In Gen 3:3-6, did Adam and Eve eat an apple?
A: Scripture never said they ate an apple. It was a forbidden fruit, the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, which presumably is not found on earth today.
Some think the confusing the forbidden fruit with the apple in the Middle Ages happened because the Latin word for evil is "malum" and the Latin word for apple is "malus". However this idea germinated, there is no Biblical root for the core of this idea, however you slice it.
Q: In Gen 3:5,22, if Adam and Eve would be "as gods" if they ate the fruit, is there more than one God as Mormons teach?
A: It was only after that time they would acquire the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:5 says like God. "Gods" with an "s", is only in the KJV, in Hebrew it is Elohim, a name for God. So Genesis 3:5 does not prove any actual plurality. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.74-75, When Critics Ask p.35, and Hard Sayings of the Bible p.95-96 for more info.
Q: In Gen 3:5,22, could people could know everything, like God?
A: No. Satan did not even imply they would be like God in every way (worship, Almighty, Trinity, etc.) Rather Satan promised they would be like God in that they would know of both good and evil. Of course, before they ate the fruit they knew only good. After they ate the fruit, they knew about both good and evil. So, in a way that Adam and Eve would deeply regret, the serpent was correct. See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.95-96 for a similar answer.
Satan makes a similar promise today. In many forms of Hinduism, the goal is not to have a relationship with God, or to be "good". Rather the goal is to be "experienced", experiencing both good and evil. Sometimes people are surprised to find a Hindu guru who is dishonest and cheats somebody. It may be that the guru is not being inconsistent with his religion. For some, the goal is mastery of both good and evil.
Q: In Gen 3:8, since God is everywhere (Ps 139), how could Adam be away from God’s presence?
A: God’s presence being everywhere does not prohibit God from having a direct, localized presence to relate to us. As When Critics Ask p.36 mentions, there are many other examples of God manifesting himself in certain places through different things. These include Abram’s three visitors (Genesis 18:1-33), the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-22), a dense cloud (Exodus 19:9), at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:11-12), on the Ark of the Covenant (1 Kings 8:11-13), leaving the temple (Ezekiel 10:3-18), and Jesus’ coming to earth.
See also the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1247 for more on God’s omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience.
Q: In Gen 3:9,11, since God knows everything, why did He have to ask where Adam was and what He did?
A: God does know everything. Like parent deal with children, God sometimes asks questions for which He already knows answers, in order to give people the opportunity to confess to Him. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.75-76.
Theophilus (Bishop 168-181/188 A.D.) in his Letter to Autolychus, was the first to address this question. He said, "And as to God’s calling, and saying, "Where art though, Adam? God did this, not as if ignorant of this; but, being long-suffering, He gave him an opportunity of repentance and confession." (Ante-Nicene Fathers p.105)
Tertullian in his work Against Marcion (207 A.D.) answers this question the following way. "…God was neither uncertain about the commission of the sin, nor ignorant of Adam’s whereabouts. It was certainly proper to summon the offender, who was concealing himself from the consciousness of his sin, and to bring him forth into the presence of his Lord, not merely by calling out of his name, but with a home-thrust blow at the sin which he had at that moment committed. For the question ought not to be read in a merely interrogative tone, Where art thou, Adam? But with an impressive and earnest voice, and with an air of imputation. Oh, Adam, where art thou? - as much as to intimate: thou are no longer here, thou art in perdition- so that the voice is the utterance of One who is at once rebuking and sorrowing." (Against Marcion Book 2 chapter 26).
Q: In Gen 3:6, why was Eve punished for seeking wisdom from eating the fruit, since getting wisdom is thought to be always good,?
A: Seeking wisdom is not good in and of itself. Seeking wisdom from God is good, but wisdom through disobedience is not good. Christians generally have not learned and experienced all the different varieties of evil, nor do they want to do so.
As Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (168-181/188 A.D.) wrote in his letter To Autolychus 2:250 "For it was not the tree, as some think, but the disobedience, which had death in it. For there was nothing else in the fruit than only knowledge; but knowledge is good when one uses it discreetly. But Adam, being yet an infant in age, was on this account as yet unable to receive knowledge worthily." Ante-Nicene Fathers 2 p.104.
Q: Does Gen 3:15 mean that the Virgin Mary would be sinless, as some Catholics claim?
A: No, for two reasons.
Eve is addressed here, not Mary. Of course Eve was not sinless, but there is no problem as this verse never said she was sinless.
The seed, that is Jesus, is the focus of this verse. Nothing here says that Jesus’ mother would be sinless.
See When Cultists Ask p.25-26 for more info.
Q: In Gen 3:15, who exactly are Satan's offspring?
A: In John 8:41,44 Jesus indicates it is those who reject Jesus.
Q: Should Gen 3:16 be translated "A snare has increased your sorrow and sighing" or the traditional "I will greatly multiply"?
A: Walter Kaiser, Jr. in Hard Sayings of the Bible p.96-97, says the Hebrew consonants are almost the same in both cases. The vowels are very different, but the vowel marks were only added many years after Christ. The only difference in consonants is that the traditional translation has two consonants missing. Either the missing consonants were a typographical error, or else the other translation is correct.
If the other translation ("snare") is correct, then Satan would be the snare. Regardless, having children is not evil, and it was originally part of God’s will for them (Genesis 1:28) and the Fall did not change this.
Q: Should Gen 3:16 be interpreted to mean that the woman was cursed with overpowering [sexual] desire for her husband? Or, should the word be "turning" instead of "desire"?
A: According to Walt Kaiser, the Church fathers Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Epiphanius, and Jerome, and Philo the Jew, rendered this "turning", and they were unfamiliar with the interpretation of "desire". Thus the passage means women would turn away from trusting in God and trust their husbands instead. Kaiser mentions that Katherine C. Bushnell discovered that the first use of "desire" in this passage was by an Italian Dominican monk named Pagnino. While the Wycliffe Bible was translated prior to this, unfortunately, all other English Bibles from the Coverdale version to the King James henceforth translated this as "desire".
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.97-99 for more info.
Q: In Gen 3:16, would the woman have great pain in childbearing, or was having children a blessing as Gen 1:28 says?
A: Both are true. Three points to consider in the answer.
Prior to the Fall of Adam and Eve, having children would have been a blessing with no physical or emotional pain.
After the Fall, Genesis 3:16 says there would be physical pain. In addition, there would be the pain the children would bring because of their sin. For example, Eve must have felt great sorrow when Cain slew Abel.
However, the blessing is not totally wiped out. Children are still a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5). See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.96-97 for a different but complementary answer.
Q: In Gen 3:20, as different as people are, how could all races come from Adam and Eve?
A: Genesis 3:20 says Eve would be the mother of all living. Height, hair, and skin color are small differences, not only in people, but also in dogs, cats, and horses. Genetically, all people are very similar. A genetic study of 67 breeds of dog in the June 1997 issue of Science indicates dogs all had a common origin, too.
Other verses that confirm all came from Adam and Eve are Matthew 19:4-5; Romans 5:12-19; and 1 Timothy 2:13-14.
Q: In Gen 3:20, if Adam and Eve had not sinned, would they still have had children? (my wife asked this)
A: Yes. We do not know the physical age of Adam and Eve when they sinned; they could have been children, teens, or adults. The fact that there were no children prior to the Fall, does not mean God created them incapable of having children unless they sinned.
Two different scriptures prove they could have had children, regardless of the Fall.
In Genesis 1:28, prior to the Fall, God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. Unless God was referring to mathematics, He commanded them to have children.
In Genesis 3:16, Eve was cursed with increased pain in childbearing. She was cursed with increased pain or sorrow in childbearing, not with childbearing itself.
Q: In Gen 3:21 why did God "need" the dust from the ground to make Adam, and a rib to make Eve as Born Again Skeptic’s p.192 says?
A: The Bible says God chose to use those, but it never said God was required to use dust and cells from a rib. God can use whatever he wishes.
Q: In Gen 4:3-6, why did God reject Cain’s offering?
A: The Wycliffe Bible Commentary p.284 says that while perhaps Abel brought his best and Cain did not, there is no indication of that in Genesis.
Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel offered in faith. Besides Cain having a bad attitude (as his subsequent actions showed), it could also be that God wanted blood offerings, not vegetables, as a foreshadowing of Christ’s death. See The Complete Book of Bible Answers p.45-46, When Critics Ask p.36, Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.201-202, and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.76 for more info.
Hard Sayings of the Bible p.99-101 also mentions that this might be a contrast between Abel’s genuine worship and Cain’s formalistic worship. Abel’s offerings of the "fat portions" of the "firstborn" were the choicest parts of the firstborn. Cain merely brought "some" vegetables, not the first fruits.
Q: In Gen 4:10, how could Abel’s blood cry out?
A: This is a metaphor of the injustice against Abel and Cain’s guilt. Taking the Bible literally means reading it as the writers intended. Not recognizing metaphors and allegories in the Bible is called taking the Bible hyper-literally. See the Introduction for more discussion on hyper-literalness versus taking the Bible as it was intended, and as Jesus took it.
Q: In Gen 4:12, why was Cain not executed for murder?
A: Capital punishment was commanded in the Old Testament with the Ten Commandments, which was after the time of Cain and Abel. Apart from that, God knows all circumstances, and God Himself is not constrained by laws for us. See When Critics Ask p.36-37 and Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible p.258 for more info.
Q: In Gen 4:13, why did Cain think that anyone who found him would want to kill him?
A: It is very interesting that the Bible never says God or anyone told Cain this. For many moral wrongs, including murder, people have a conscience inside them that tells them this is wrong. Cain perhaps reasoned that if he killed a fellow person, who was made in the image of God, it would be just for him to be killed in return. In Genesis 4:15, God seemed to confirm this reasoning, and that is why God took extra care, putting a mark on Cain, so that others would know not to do this.
The video series, Growing Kids God’s Way, by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, session 6, has some insightful material on the human conscience.
Q: In Gen 4:13-16, what was the mark God placed on Cain?
A: Scripture does not say, except that it was something that others would recognize. However, Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.202-203 observes that it was not a part of Cain’s curse. Rather, it was God’s grace in giving Cain a mark so that others would know not to kill him.
Q: In Gen 4:13, was anyone else on the earth besides Adam and Eve and Cain?
A: This refers not only to possible daughters from which Cain got his wife, but also people born after the murder. While all people came from Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:20; Acts 17:26; Romans 5:14-15), Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters, according to Genesis 5:4.
Q: In Gen 4:16-22, where did Adam and Eve’s sons get their wives? Is incest not forbidden?
A: Genesis 5:4 it says that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Incest was not forbidden back then: if our genes were pure of genetic flaws, incest would not manifest the genetic diseases it does today. See 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.327, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.77, When Critics Ask p.37-38 for more info.
Q: In Gen 4:16-17, how did Cain get his wife from the land of Nod?
A: Two points to consider in the answer.
1. Even assuming Cain did get his wife from the land of Nod, she would still be the offspring of Adam and Eve, since all people came from Adam (Acts 17:26) and Eve was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20).
2. The Bible never said that Cain met his wife in Nod. Cain very well might have been married, and his wife traveled with Cain to Nod.
See Difficulties in the Bible p.53-56, The Complete Book of Bible Answers p.46, and Hard Sayings of the Bible p.101 for more info.
Q: In Gen 4:17-24 is this the genealogy of Adam, or is Gen 4:25-32 the genealogy of Adam? (A liberal brought this up as a doublet showing multiple authorship of Genesis)
A: Genesis 4:17-24 is the genealogy of Cain, with no mention of Seth. Immediately following, Genesis 4:25-5:32 gives the genealogy of Seth, with no mention of Cain. There is no overlap or doublet here.
If this is not clear, you might look at a second example. 1 Chronicles 5:1-10 gives the genealogy of Reuben, one of the sons of Jacob. Immediately following, 1 Chronicles 5:11-22 is the genealogy of Gad, another son of Jacob.
Q: In Gen 4:22, how could metals be used so early?
A: Bronze has been found in: Thailand–4500 B.C., Yugoslavia–4000 B.C., Greece–3000, and Anatolia–before 3000 B.C. Egyptians used iron from meteorites as ornaments and daggers prior to 3000 B.C. Also at the city of Eshnunna, near Babylon, archaeologists found an iron blade from 2700 B.C..
Q: In Gen 4:22, is the name "Tubal-Cain" related to the region of "Tubal" in modern Turkey as Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.33 says?
A: While it cannot be proven either way, it probably is not related. Tubal was also the name of a son of Japheth, and the Tubal people likely were related to him. The "Tubal" people were mentioned in Assyrian records during the time of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C. and Sargon around 732 B.C. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1751 for more info.
Q: In Gen 4:23-24, why did the man wound Lamech?
A: Three speculations about the man are:
A vigilante thought he was doing what was right by trying to kill Cain's offspring. However, God specifically showed that no one was to get vengeance on Cain in Genesis 4:15, so they should not take revenge on his sons either.
An excuse for a robber trying to take Lamech's goods was that Lamech was Cain's offspring.
It was not relevant whose descendant Lamech was; the man was simply trying to rob and/or kill Lamech.
However, scripture attaches no importance to why this particular man was trying to wound Lamech. The point of Genesis 4:23-24 was to demonstrate that after the first murder, Cain and his descendants lived in hostility towards others.
Q: In Gen 4:23-24, what was the ancestry of the man who wounded Lamech, and when was Seth born?
A: Scripture does not say, so there are three equally probable possibilities.
Abel had children before he was murdered.
Seth was his ancestor. Nothing says that Genesis 4:23-24 happened chronologically before Genesis 4:25-26.
Cain was the ancestor of the young man.
Q: In Gen 5, could the "years" be really months?
A: No. If they were, then Enoch was only 65 months old (6 ½ years) when he became the father of Methuselah! See 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.323 for essentially the same answer.
Q: In Gen 5, does the book of Genesis assume everyone spoke Hebrew prior to Abraham?
A: No, quite the contrary. Genesis 11 says that after the flood different people spoke mutually unintelligible languages. Abraham himself probably did not speak Hebrew. He came from Ur, a Sumerian city. Sumerian was similar to Hebrew, since Hebrew came from Sumerian with heavy influence from the Arameans.
Secular linguists believe most of the Western languages, including Sanskrit in India, had a common origin around 4000 B.C.
Q: In Gen 5:3-29, what do all these names mean in Hebrew?
A: Here are the meanings, based on the etymology (word-origins) taken from Strong’s Concordance and in some cases, what Genesis says the meaning is.
Adam - man. Strong’s Concordance says it means ruddy, or man. Genesis 2:23 indicates that Adam = man.
Seth - put/placed/appointed/substituted. Genesis 4:25 says Eve named him Seth because God appointed another in place of Abel.
Enosh - mortal. The NIV Study Bible p.13 says the name, like "Adam" means "man".
Cainan/Kenan - fixed (like a nest or dwelling)
Mahalaleel - Praise of God, Praise God.
Jared - a descent
Enoch - Initiated, dedicated, trained up
Methuselah - man of the dart
Lamech - from an unused root of uncertain meaning
Noah - Strong’s Concordance says rest, and Genesis 5:26 says comfort, which is very similar.
Irad - fugitive
Ham - hot
Shem - name?
Japheth - expansion. According to the pre-Christian Greeks, Japetos was their ancestor.
One point we can learn from Japetos, is that the etymology or meaning behind every name is not necessarily significant.
A second point we can learn from Seth and Noah, is that the meaning behind some of the names is significant.
Q: In Gen 5:21-27, is there a reason why Methuselah was the oldest human in the Bible?
A: Perhaps. The flood occurred the year that Methuselah died. Perhaps this was a sign of God’s mercy in delaying the flood by giving him a long life.
Q: In Gen 5:24, why did God take Enoch, a godly man?
A: Perhaps for the same reason we bring beautiful flowers into our home. Enoch did not necessarily die; God just took Enoch with Him to heaven, similar to Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11-12. Another illustration was that like good friends Enoch and God went for a walk, it was getting late, and God said, since you are closer to my house than yours, why don't you just come over to my house now. God does have most of his servants die to go to heaven though. This is not callous disregard, but Psalm 116:15 says "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.104-106 for more on what happened to Enoch.
Q: In Gen 6, why are there similarities between Noah’s flood and other accounts?
A: They should be similar if they recorded a common event. The Babylonian account is similar in details, but very different in the reasons given. According to this account, the gods destroyed man because man made too much noise, but later they regretted this and gathered hungrily around "Noah’s" sacrifices.
One curious similarity is the Bible says Noah’s three sons were Ham, Shem, and Japheth. The Aryan Institutes of Manu say Satyaurata survived the flood with three sons: Jyapeta, Sharma, and C’harma. The Greek writer Aristophanes records the Greek tradition that Japetos (Iepetus the Titan) was the ancestor of the Greeks. All of this is corroborating evidence of a common event.
Q: Does Gen 6:3 mean that God’s Spirit might leave someone and never come back?
A: No. Genesis 6:3 is saying that the spirit given by God will leave a person’s physical body after 120 years.
Q: In Gen 6:3, did God set our lifespan at 120 years, or only 70 to 80 years as Ps 90:19 says?
A: Some things are hard to understand until you see that God is free to set different rules at different times. The average lifespan of people has changed. God set the average lifespan was 120 years just prior to the flood. Much later, Psalms 90:10 shows that it was shortened. God it is said that a man lives to be 70, 80 if he has the strength. A plot of the lifespans given in Genesis decreases in an exponential curve.
Scientists are not sure of all the mechanisms of aging: microbes do not age. While DNA demethylation might be one mechanism, the dominant mechanism appears to be shortening of DNA strands. Every time the DNA in a cell in an animal divides some of the ends are shortened. Now there is extraneous material on the ends, and microbes have an enzyme, telomerase, that restores the ends. However, telomerase does not appear to restore the ends of DNA in animals.
See When Critics Ask p.41 and Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible p.424 for more info.
Q: In Gen 6:3, how does this reconcile with paleontologists who say ancient people lived shorter lives?
A: There are some flaws in this particular assertion of scientism that poses as science.
1. Notice that they never mention the basis on which they claim people had shorter lifespans.
2. They present no evidence that they have a statistically valid and unbiased sample. For example, a hypothetical future paleontologist, centuries from now, could dig up the refuse from a couple of abortion clinics, and "prove" that our average lifespan was less than one year. This "proof" would be statistically biased, too.
3. Lifespan estimates should say whether they include or exclude infant mortality. For example, in the 1970’s, the lifespan in many central African countries was less than 30 years. Yet, if you went to the country, you would still see many elderly people. If there was a hypothetical country, where every toddler lived to be a 60 years old, but 2/3 of all babies died, the average lifespan would be only 20 years.
Q: In Gen 6:3, since God could never become flesh, how could Jesus come to earth? (An atheist asked this)
A: Genesis 6:3 says no such thing. It simply says that men are indeed flesh. Now it is true that God is Spirit, and Jesus emptied Himself to come to earth in the flesh, but Genesis 6:3 itself neither confirms or denies anything about God coming in the flesh.
Q: In Gen 6:4-5, who were the Nephilim or "Sons of God"?
A: Nephilim means people called them "sons of God" and here are some theories.
Godly line of Seth, or believers who sinned by marrying unbelievers. 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.65,348 advocates this, and says this was Scofield’s view. This view goes as far back as Julius Africanus writing in 232-245 A.D., in Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 6 p.131.
Mighty kings is the interpretation of the Aramaic Targum.
Another race such as Neanderthals or possibly Homo erectus.
Technologically advanced: The skeptical Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.73 thinks that the Israelites called them giants because of their high walls and technologically advanced weapons.
Children of women and demon-possessed men.
Some demonic beings could interbreed was the belief of the Jews Philo, Josephus (<100 A.D.), and the writer of 1 Enoch (chapter 6). The Christians Justin and Ambrose (c378 A.D.) also believed this. See Difficulties in the Bible p.186 for more info.
Perhaps this was Satan’s attempt to alter our gene pool. However, if demons could interbreed how could Jesus half-way atone for half-men, half-demons? Hank Hanegraff mentioned this on the excellent radio show, the Bible Answer Man 10/29/97. See also The Complete Book of Bible Answers p.46-47, Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament p.35, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.79-80, When Critics Ask p.40-41, Hard Sayings of the Bible p.106-108, and Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.208-209 for more info.
Q: In Gen 6:6, how does God repent?
A: The word can also be translated "grieved." God expresses His emotions in time as events occur. See the discussion on Genesis 20:3,6, When Critics Ask p.41,161, Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.205-206, Hard Sayings of the Bible p.108-109, and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.80-81,173-174 for more extensive answers.
Q: In Gen 6:9, how was Noah perfect in his generation?
A: There is no indication that perfect here means sinless perfection. Rather, Hard Sayings of the Bible p.109-111 mentions that the Hebrew word means "conformity to the standard, and the original idea may well have been to be straight. The same word, with different vowel markings, is used in Leviticus 19:15 to judge your neighbor fairly".
Q: In Gen 6:12, since all had corrupted their ways, how could Noah be blameless in Gen 6:9 and Gen 7:1?
A: The context clearly shows that "all" means with the exception of Noah and his family.
Q: In Gen 6:13 and 7:1, how did Noah know God was speaking to him, since He never saw God?
A: Many times, people who have many years of relationship with God know when God is speaking to them. See 1 Kings 19:11-13 for another example.
Q: In Gen 6:14, how could Noah build such a large ark?
A: He had a 100 years to build it with his three sons. The ark was about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It held 101,250 square feet. The is 1,103 cubic feet per hear. A 10 foot by 15 foot by 6 2/3 foot stall is 1,000 cubic feet. According to Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.215-216, the Queen Elizabeth 2 is 963 feet long and 105 feet wide. See also the next question for more info.
Q: In Gen 6:14, how do we know that a cubit is 17.5 inches?
A: According to Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.215-216, when King Hezekiah had Siloam tunnel built, around 700 B.C., his workers carved that it so that it was 1,200 cubits long. Dividing the length in inches by 1,200 cubits, gave about 17.5 inches per cubit. Of course a cubit in the time of Moses could have been somewhat larger or smaller. That would make the ark somewhat larger or smaller.
Q: In Gen 6:14 how could the ark survive Noah’s flood?
A: There are at least three reasons.
Gopher wood might have been a strong species of wood, but it might be specially treated wood, too. Heavy wood is a good choice, because it has flexibility.
The shape was ideal for rough waters (1:1.67:10).
God could, of course, also protect the ark as needed.
See When Critics Ask p.42 for more info.
Q: In Gen 6:19, was Noah to bring two of each creature, or seven of every clean animal as Gen 7:2 says?
A: Noah was to bring two of all kinds, and in addition he was to bring seven of the clean ones. Genesis 6:19 says "two"; it does not say, "no more than two." The extra animals were for food and to sacrifice in Genesis 8:20. This is not an imprecision on the Bible’s part as much as an example of a way God teaches us. God makes sure we understand the general concept "two to replenish", and then adds a second concept "seven extra to sacrifice." It is similar to students learning arithmetic. They first learn how to subtract a smaller number from the larger number. Only later do they learn about negative numbers and that you can subtract a larger number from a smaller number. See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.111-112 Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.81-82 and Bible Difficulties and Seeming Contradictions p.135-136 for more info.
Q: Does Gen 6:19-20 come from a "priestly" source around 450 B.C., and Gen 7:2-3 come from an "Yahwistic" source around 850 B.C.?
A: As Hard Sayings of the Bible p.111-112 points out there is no evidence that they ever were two separate stories, except for repeated occurrence. However, repetition is a literary technique for reinforcing a point. Back then, they may not have had the modern adage, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them", but they were definitely aware of the effectiveness of repetition, as even a brief look at Psalms or Proverbs shows.
It is difficult to say the story of Noah’s flood was from either 850 B.C. or 450 B.C., as the Sumerian Gilgamesh Epic has a few of the same details about a worldwide flood, and it was written before 2500 B.C. (A Babylonian copy of Table 11 of the 12 table epic was in Ashurbanipal's palace in Ninevah. A photograph of it is in the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.6126.)
To be fair though, the liberal JEPD theory that Noah’s flood came from two sources was from the nineteenth century, before the Gilgamesh Epic was known to the modern world. The only reason this question is addressed in this work is that there are still a number of liberal "Christians" who believe in the JEPD theory.
Q: In Gen 7:1, did the other people have "no chance" to repent as atheists have claimed?
A: No, for 100 years is a long time to have a chance to repent. The flood came when Noah was 600 years old. Noah'’ sons helped construct the huge ark, and Noah had them when he was 500 years old. Perhaps this is why 1 Peter 3:20 says God was waiting patiently while the ark was being built.
People had almost a hundred years to listen to Noah, who was called a "preacher" of righteousness in 2 Peter 2:5, and watch the construction of the massive ark. One hundred years would seem to be ample time.
Q: In Gen 7:2, how could Noah know how to take the clean animals, since there was no Old Testament law yet?
A: Noah did not have the Old Testament scriptures; rather, Noah had God Himself talking to Him. While we do not know exactly how much God taught Noah about what would be in the Mosaic Law, God certainly knew Himself, and was capable of communicating to Noah of which animals Noah should take seven.
In this one-on-one conversation with Noah, we do not know whether or not God used the identical definition of clean that is in the Mosaic Law. Regardless, Noah was told which animals to take.
There is a lesson for us in this question. Whenever God tells us to do something we usually do not know every single detail about everything. We can procrastinate or we can simply obey what we know, and trust God to correct us if needed as we are obeying. If we wait until we know every single detail first, we will probably never obey.
Q: In Gen 7:4 - 8:12, what is unusual about the literary structure here?
A: This is called a chiasm, which is common in Hebrew literature, not Greek or modern, in which each statement (except sometimes the middle one) have a symmetrical mirror statement. Here is the structure
7:4 - 7 days to wait for the flood
7:10 - - 7 days to wait for the flood
7:17a - - - 40 days of flood
7:24 - - - - 150 days of the waters rising
8:3 - - - - 150 days of waters retreating
8:6 - - - 40 days of waiting
8:10 - - 7 days of waiting
8:12 - 7 days of waiting
In addition, Genesis 7:21-23a is a chiasm within this chiasm.
- All the flesh died
- - Birds
- - - domestic animals and wild animals
- - - - swarmers
- - - - - Human beings
- - - - - - everything on dry land
- - - - - - all living things on the face of the ground
- - - - - Human beings
- - - - Animals
- - - Creepers
- - birds of the air,
- they were blotted out.
See The Expositor's Bible Commentary volume 2 p.90 for more info.
Q: In Gen 7:12,24, did the flood last 40 days, or 150?
A: Genesis 7:12 says it rained from the sky for 40 days, but the waters flooded the earth for a total of 150 days. When Critics Ask p.42 and Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament p.36.
Q: In Gen 8, why does the Bible apparently teach that mankind only goes back about 6,000 years?
A: According to radioactive dating methods, the first humans, whom scientists call Cro-Magnon man, lived from about 400,000 years ago to today. Neanderthals were descended from Cro-Magnon man and lived from 130/100,000 years ago to 35/30,000 years ago.
However, regardless of when God created man, the genealogies in Genesis allow for indeterminate gaps, as the word "son" also means "descendant", and the word "father" also means ancestor. Isaiah 51:2 says Abraham is the father of the Jews, and the Jews told Jesus Abraham was their father in John 10:53.
As a side-note, we can say for sure that the world was created in six days, but how long is one of God's days? 2 Peter 3:8 says a day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. Psalm 90:4 says a thousand years in God's sight are like a day or a watch in the night.
Q: In Gen 8:1 and Ex 6:5, how could God "remember" unless He first forgot?
A: God is all-knowing. While Noah may have felt forgotten, this is just an expression that God did not forget Noah. As When Critics Ask p.43 says, when we "remember" someone on their birthday, it is not because we forgot about them. See also Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible p.57 for more info.
Q: In Gen 8:11, what is significant about the olive leaf?
A: The leaf presumably sprouted after the flood, and olive trees do not grow at high elevations. The olive tree is often a symbol for God's people.
Q: In Gen 8:15, did all races come from Noah?
A: On the paternal side yes, but on the maternal side no. Noah’s wife, three sons, and their wives were on the ark too. The differences are not that great, given that in mixed marriages, two brothers can have very light and very dark skin. See 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.312 for more info.
Q: In Gen 8:15-21, what are the parallels with Gen 12:1-7?
A: There are many parallels with God calling Noah and God calling Abram.
God says to [him] Gen 8:15 Gen 12:1
Come out from the ark/country Gen 8:16 Gen 12:1
So [he] left Gen 8:18 Gen 12:4
Then [he] built an altar Gen 8:20 Gen 12:7
God blessed [him] Gen 9:1 Gen 12:2
Increase/become a great nation Gen 9:1 Gen 12:2
Establish a covenant / God gives them the land Gen 9:9 Gen 12:7
See The Expositor's Bible Commentary volume 2 p.91 for more info.
Q: In Gen 8:21-22, will the waters cover the entire earth again?
A: No, because Isaiah 54:9 reminds us that they will not. This is another argument against the local flood, for God said there would never be another flood to cover the earth again. If Noah's flood had just been a local flood, then there have been other terrible local floods.
Q: In Gen 8:21 will God again destroy all life, or will everything be destroyed in 2 Pet 3:7,10?
A: Genesis 8:21 says God promised not to destroy all life "...as I have done", and Genesis 8:22 adds "...as long as the earth endures." God will destroy the earth with fire, sparing believers. See When Critics Ask p.43 for more info.
Q: In Gen 8:22, why do we still have famines?
A: Genesis 8:22 says that harvest and seed time will not cease. While there were many famines, there has been no worldwide, permanent famine. See When Critics Ask p.43-44 for more info.
Q: In Gen 9, how could all the animals go back to the same place they came from?
A: Christians disagree on whether the flood occurred 2600 to 3000 B.C., about 7000 B.C., about 14,000 B.C. or almost a million years ago. Those who believe the flood occurred from 2600 to 3000 B.C. believe archaeology and radioactive methods are jumbled up, so there would be no data to say whether the animals returned to the same place they came from or not.
However, if the flood occurred about 14,000 years ago, all of the animals did not stay in the same place. A land bridge connected America and Asia. After that, mammoths and horses died out in the New World.
However, regardless of when the flood occurred, all Christians can agree that God has the power to influence the animals to go where he wants.
Q: In Gen 9:3, can people eat meat, or only vegetables?
A: Genesis 1:29 said Adam could eat fruits and vegetables. After the flood, Genesis 9:3 said we now could eat meat. See the discussion on Genesis 1:28 and When Critics Ask p.44 for more info.
Q: In Gen 9:4, is eating blood prohibited today?
A: Some say no, because the Christ superseded the law, and in Acts 10:11-16, all "foods" were called clean.
Some say yes, because this was given prior to the Mosaic Law in Genesis 9:4. In Acts 15:20,29 the early church believed taught Christians should abstain from blood. Of course, miniscule amounts of blood are OK, because Jews were permitted to eat game they hunted and [rapidly] drained in the field in Leviticus 17:13. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.84-86 for this view.
Q: In Gen 9:4. Lev 7:26-27, Lev 17:11-12, and Dt 12:16,23-25, does the prohibition on eating blood mean people should never have blood transfusions, as Jehovah’s Witnesses teach?
A: No. We should not be cannibals, yet organ transplants are OK. Likewise, people were told not to eat blood, and blood transfusions are OK.
As Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse p.22-23 points out, even the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower organization did not ban blood transfusions until 1944. In 1967, they also banned organ transplants (Watchtower magazine 12/15/67 p.702-704). Then they changed their mind and allowed them in 1980 (Watchtower magazine 3/15/1980 p.31). They also did not allow vaccinations from 1931 to 1952. See When Cultists Ask p.26-27, 39-40 for more info, and Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse p.22-23 and Answering Jehovah's Witnesses p.48-53 for more extensive discussion.
Q: Does Gen 9:6 forbid executing criminals today?
A: Not at all. Genesis 9:6 both prohibits only murder, and commanded execution punishment for murderers. Remember that Genesis was one of the books of Moses, and in the Exodus through Deuteronomy a number of crimes had a punishment by execution. See also the next question.
Q: Does Gen 9:6 speak of capital punishment?
A: It definitely speaks of capital punishment. It means execution and not mere physical death that happens to non-murderers and murderers equally.
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.114-116 for a discussion of the Hebrew.
Q: In Gen 9:12-13, does the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant show that there were no rainbows before the flood?
A: It implies this but does not prove it. As Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.220-221 says, God using a sign does not automatically prove it did not exist before. For example, the rite of circumcision was practiced before Abraham by other peoples, including the Egyptians.
Q: In Gen 9:20-21, how could a godly man like Noah get drunk?
A: First, the Bible does not hide the fact that people of God sin too. Second, with lower air pressure near the top of a mountain after the flood, it is easier to get drunk.
Q: In Gen 9:21-25, was Genesis a scaled-down version of an original story where Ham castrated Noah to prevent him from having more sons, similar to the Greek myth of Chronos castrating his father Uranus an atheist (Capella) suggested?
A: No, there is no hint of castration, here. As for Greek culture, bear in mind that the only Greek culture during the time of Moses was the early Mycenean Greeks. Much of what we know of Greek mythology was after that time. For reference, the Trojan War of Homer was around 1200 B.C., some 450 years after the Exodus.
Therefore, probably no borrowing took place here. If one still insists that there was borrowing, the later has to borrow from the earlier, and the Greek story here likely was later than Moses.
See Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.221-222 for more info.
Q: In Gen 9:22 what was wrong with Ham seeing his father naked?
A: Sons should not freely broadcast their parent’s shortcomings, and Ham’s attitude was disrespectful in Genesis 9:22. Ham learned that his own son would be a reproach to him. Ham’s attitude was mocking according to Methodius (260-312 A.D.) in Banquet of the Ten Virgins chapter 2 and Justin (138-165 A.D.) Dialogue with Trypho chapter 139.
Q: In Gen 9:25, why was Canaan, not Ham, cursed?
A: Ham learned that his descendants would be an example of sin’s consequences. The Expositor's Bible Commentary volume 2 p.97 says that the Hebrew form of the verb is imperfect and not jussive, "so the sense is more likely that of prediction ('He will be') rather than a malediction ('May he be'). Thus Noah's words anticipate a central theme of the following narratives - separation of the chosen seed from the seed of the Canaanites".
See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.86-87, Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible p.84-86, Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.222-223, and Justin Martyr’s [wrote about 138-165 A.D.] Dialogue with Trypho chapter 139 for more discussion.
Q: In Gen 9:25-26, what was the curse of Canaan?
A: Genesis only says that the lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. Note that the curse is not on Ham, but Canaan. No Greek or Hebrew manuscript says it was Ham, only an Arabic translation says so. (According to the Origin of the Bible p.307, the first Arabic version of the Pentateuch was translated by Saadya Gaon, who lived from 892 to 942 A.D.)
As Ham made Noah his father ashamed, Canaan and his descendants would make Ham his father ashamed. See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.116-118 for a more extensive answer.
Q: In Gen 10, who are these 68 peoples and 16 cities?
A: Scholars believe they can identify 51 of the 68 peoples and archaeologists have found 11 of the 16 cities. Sodom and Gomorrah were so thoroughly destroyed they have never been found. However, the Ebla tablets, written 2400-2250 B.C. mentions towns of Si-da-mu (Sodom) and I-ma-ar (Gomorrah). Also, the Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology p.124 says that a sanctuary called Bab ed-Dra was found just southof the Dead Sea. It was dated between 2800 and 1800 B.C.. See The NIV Study Bible, and The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.42-44 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10, why are Indians and Chinese are not mentioned in the table of nations?
A: All came from Adam, as all were cursed with Adam’s nature. Genesis makes no claim of listing every people, and of the hundreds of peoples, Genesis only mentions the nations most Israelites would recognize. See Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.224-226 for a more extensive answer.
Q: In Gen 10, are the Sumerians of Mesopotamia mentioned?
A: They probably are, as "Shem". The land of Sumer, was often pronounced without the "r", and Sum could easily become Shem. For scholarly support of this, refer to The Sumerians by Samuel Noah Kramer p.297-298. Kramer also cites American Journal of Semitic Languages (58 [1941] p.20-26.)
Q: In Gen 10:2, who were the Gomer people?
A: The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.710 says these were the people called "Gimirra" by the Assyrians and Cimmerians by the Greeks. Gomer lived in the Ukraine and southern Russia. See the New International Dictionary of the Bible p.395 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:2 why are the Medes (Madai) mentioned, since these people were not mentioned anywhere else until 836 B.C. in the Shalmaneser III text?
A: The Shalmaneser III text was after Moses' time of 1407 B.C., but silence in preserved early writings does not prove non-existence. The Assyrians only noted when they fought and traded with the Medes for horses. According to Persia and the Bible p.35 "I.M. Diakonoff believes that the arrival of the Indo-Iranian tribes on the Iranian plateau took place in the first half of the second millennium B.C. [2000-1500 B.C.]. But the earliest archaeological evidence of newcomers seems to date to the early part of the second half of the second millennium B.C. [1500-1300 B.C.].
In contrast to this, the mighty Minni people were mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27. However, the Minni only go back as far as 1200 B.C., and the Minni are not mentioned in Genesis, because Genesis was written earlier.
In summary, archaeology supports the Medes existing in Moses’ time. See Persia and the Bible p.33-50 for more information.
Q: In Gen 10:2, who were the Javan people?
A: They are the Ionian Greeks. In Hebrew this was yawan which is equated to the Greek iaones or iawones in Homer’s Illiad 8.685, and yamanu in inscriptions of Sargon II and Darius I. Ionians are mentioned in Egypt from the time of Rameses II (c.1300 B.C.). Isaiah 66:19 and Ezekiel mention them, and the Septuagint translation translates this as "Hellas".
See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.885 and the New Bible Dictionary (Eerdman’s 1962) p.600 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:2, who were the Tubal people?
A: They were called the Tabal (or Tabali) by the Assyrians and lived in modern-day Turkey in the region of Cappadocia. The Greek historian Herodotus knew of them as the Tibarenoi. They are mentioned in Ezekiel 27:13; 28:2-3; 39:1, and Isaiah 66:19.
The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.) received tribute from the 24 kings of Tubal. The Assyrians dethroned the king of Tubal in 732 B.C. Sargon mentions that precious metal containers came from Tubal. Sargon also crushed a revolt by Tubal, the Mushki (Meshech) and Ararat. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1751 and the New Bible Dictionary (Eerdmans 1962) p.811 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:2, who were the Meshech people?
A: The Assyrians first mentioned as the "Mus-ka-a-ia" as having an army of 20,000 during the time of Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 B.C.). They are also mentioned under Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.). The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1105-1106 also says they originally lived between Cilicia and the Caspian Sea, but in the time of Sargon II (722-705 B.C.) they lived in the region of Phrygia in modern-day Turkey. Herodotus 3:94 lists them as the "Moschoi", who comprised one of the 19 satrapies of Darius.
The New Bible Dictionary (Eerdman’s 1962) p.811 also says they are equated with the Phrygians.
Q: In Gen 10:2, who were the Tiras people?
A: We do not know much about the Tiras. While Josephus claims the Thracians came from them, people today think they were the Tursenich/Tyrsenians, who were pirates. The Egyptians mention a "Thrusa" (Tw-rw-s3) people invading Egypt around 1250 B.C. The apocryphal Book of Jubilees says the Tiras lived on four islands. See the New International Dictionary of the Bible p.1019 and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1716 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:3, where was Togarmah?
A: Togarmah was about 70 miles (113 km) west of the town of Malatya. The Hittites called it Tegarama. The Assyrians called it Tilgarimanu, and they conquered it in 695 B.C. The Greeks called it Gauraena. The Armenians claim they descended from Haik, a son of Torgom, so they might be descendants of Togarmah. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1721 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:5,20,31, since there were different tongues, why did all the earth have one speech in Gen 11:1?
A: Genesis 10 is an overview, and Genesis 11 speaks of one event within Genesis 10. Genesis 10:5 says, "from these...", 10:18 "Later...". These imply that Genesis 10 says how the descendants later spread. Genesis 11:1 talks of the event of the tower of Babel, that occurred prior to the spreading out of people. See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.87-88 and When Critics Ask p.44-45 for more info.
A clay tablet fragment in Babylon tells of one temple that the offended the gods. They destroyed it in one night and scattered the people with strange speech. See Can Archaeology Prove the Old Testament? p.25-26 for more info.
Q: In Gen 10:6,13, 1 Chr 1:8,11 why is Egypt not mentioned among these nations? (A Christian puzzled over this)
A: It is mentioned. The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mizraim.
Q: In Gen 10:8-12, were the deeds of Nimrod an amalgamation of the feats of Lugal-Zaggasi, Sargon of Agade, Hammurabi, and Shalmaneser I, as Asimov's Guide to the Bible says (p.52)?
A: No. While we do not know much about these ancient Sumerian kings except for the tens of thousands of Sumerian tablets that have been preserved, the similarities between those conquerors and Nimrod are remote. The Bible simply mentions that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord, that Nimrod’s career began in four cities in Shinar (Sumer), and later he went into Assyrian built four closely spaced cities there, which later became very influential. The Bible does not say anything else about Nimrod, so it is hard to make a comparison. Nimrod could not have been Hammurabi, because Hammurabi (1803/1793-1760/1750 B.C.) lived long after Abraham. Nimrod might in fact be a Biblical reference to Sargon, except that we know too little about both Sargon and Nimrod to say.
Q: In Gen 10:11 (KJV), should it say, "Out of that land went forth [the person] Asshur"?
A: It should say, "Out of that land he [Nimrod] went to [the place] Asshur". This is essentially how it is translated in the NIV, NKJV, and NASB.
Q: In Gen 10:22, how do you pronounce "Arphaxad"?
A: Cruden’s Concordance and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary say it is pronounced as "ar-faks’-ad" with the accent on the second syllable and no long vowels.
Q: Gen 10:22 and Gen 22:21, was Aram supposedly born twice, as the skeptical Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.88 says?
A: No, but there are two possible answers:
Multiple individuals: There were not just two, but three individuals in the Bible named Aram.
1. Genesis 10:22 says Aram Syria was a descendent of Shem. (The Hebrew is the same for son and descendent, just as the Hebrew is the same for father and ancestor.)
2. Genesis 22:21 mentions Aram, who was descended from Kemuel (nephew of Abraham), who was from Nahor, who was from Terah, who was descended from Shem.
3. Much later in 1 Chronicles 7:34 there was an Aram son of Shamer of the tribe of Asher.
The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.122 and The New International Dictionary of the Bible p.74 also mention three people.
One individual: Note that the two Arams in Genesis 10:22 and 22:21 are both descendents of Shem. So they could in fact be one individual, with the Table of Nations mentioning Shem as an ancestor of Aram.
Q: In Gen 11, did men have such a "low" concept of heaven that men could try to build the tower of Babel up to it?
A: This was not the view of Moses, but of the people building the tower. Genesis 11 records, without endorsement, some of men’s foolish ideas. Of course, what is a foolish idea for the masses could be shrewd for the priests to ensure the people held them in awe.
The NIV Study Bible p.23 lists other pyramids/ziggurats archaeologists have found with similar pretentious titles.
Larsa: House of the Link between Heaven and Earth
Borshippa: House of the Seven Guides of Heaven and Earth
Asshur: House of the Mountain of the Universe
Babylon: House of the Foundation-Platform of Heaven and Earth
The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament (p.44) notes the Babylonian Enuma Elish VI lines 55-64 said Babylon was built by the gods in heaven as a celestial city. Babili means "the gate of God."
Q: In Gen 11, what was sinful about building the Tower of Babel?
A: It was not the construction of a building, but the arrogance of (foolishly) thinking they could ascend to Heaven on their own. At the core of much of idolatry is the belief that people should be religious however they want, in "their own way", instead of seeking the One True God. Wise parents do not want their children to totally ignore the law and their own commands, and God does not want people, whom He created, to do that either.
See Today’s Handbook for Solving Bible Difficulties p.226-229 for more info.
Q: In Gen 11, what do we know about the Sumerian language?
A: It was written in cuneiform, and it not an Indo-European language. It has some similarities to Turkish, Hungarian, and some languages of the Caucasus Mountains. Scholars can read Sumerian today, and they know how the words were pronounced. Sumerian had no f, i, j, th, soft ch, v, w, or umlaut sounds. They had an "ng" (like Cantonese and Vietnamese), and they did not have inflections at the end of words like most Indo-European languages. There were also a number of Sumerian dialects. Just like there were ancient versions of English and Chinese, the Encyclopedia Britannica mentions there were four periods of Sumerian: archaic, classical, new, and post-Sumerian. Abraham lived at a time when they spoke "New Sumerian".
Hebrew came in part, from Sumerian. Like Sumerian, Hebrew had no "j" sound. Read The Sumerians by Noah Kramer especially p.306-307 for more info.
Q: Was Gen 11 out of sequence?
A: No, nothing indicates it was out of sequence. Think about it. If all mankind were wiped out except for 8 people who were related by blood or marriage, it is very likely they all spoke the same language. However, somewhere along the line, people would start speaking different languages, and that would happen about the time they became geographically isolated. As an interesting sidenote, non-religious linguists think they can trace all Indo-European languages (from Celtic tongues to German, to Greek to even Sanskrit), to a common origin, which they think was spoken in the Ukraine about 4,000 B.C.
Q: In Gen 11:1-9, why was there one language before Babel, since Gen 10:5,20,31 says there were many languages began after the flood?
A: Both are true, because Genesis 10 tells how the tribes propagated both before and after Babel. Three points to consider in the answer.
Genesis 10:5 states it is telling how the Sea peoples "spread out into their territories". This spreading out occurred after Babel.
Genesis 10:20 likewise states it is referring to the territories of the sons of Ham, and the Hamites moving to their territories would be after the tower of Babel.
Genesis 10:31 is almost identical to Genesis 10:20, except that it refers to the sons of Shem.
See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.118 for more info.
Q: In Gen 11:5 and Gen 18:21, since God is everywhere, how did "the Lord came down to see the city..."?
A: This is an expression to communicate that God took special notice of the city. See When Critics Ask p.45 for more info, and Now That’s A Good Question p.20-22 for a different answer.
Q: In Gen 11:7, as far as we know, were early beliefs always polytheists with monotheism being a later development, as the skeptical Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.18 says?
A: No. As far as we know from history, the early Chinese religion was monotheistic, as well as some other southeast Asian cultures. The early Chinese name for this monotheistic God was Shang-di, which is used for God in Chinese Bibles today.
Q: In Gen 11:9, was deriving the name "Babel" from the Hebrew word balal meaning "mixed, confused, or confounded" false, because the in Babylonian Bab-ilu means "gate of God", as the skeptical Asimov's Guide to the Bible p.55 says?
A: No. Asimov assumes that Babel is on the site of the city of Babylon. The Bible does not say the Babylonians or Sumerians said it was because the languages were mixed, confused, or confounded. Rather, Genesis was saying that wherever Babel was, the people afterwards, (including the Hebrews who read Genesis), could call it Babel because the languages were confused there.
Q: In Gen 11:11, how old was Shem when the flood came?
A: Here is what one can observe from the scriptures, and then the conclusion:
Genesis 11:11 says that Shem was 100 years old two years after the flood.
Genesis 5:32 says that Ham, Shem, and Japheth were born when Noah was 500 years old.
Genesis 7:6 says that Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth.
Nothing in scripture indicates that Ham, Shem, and Japheth were triplets. Genesis 7:6 was a round number; the three were born, probably one at a time, when Noah was about 600 years old.
Q: In Gen 11:18-24, is there any extra-Biblical record of Reu, Serug, and Nahor?
A: No one can expect that we have we have an independent record of every individual. However, in this case we probably do have an independent record. The Assyrian chronicles record villages in modern Syria named Paligg, Reu, and Sarugi, and Nakhur. The Mari records also mention Nakhur.
Q: In Gen 11:22, how do you pronounce "Nahor"?
A: Cruden’s Concordance and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary both say it is pronounced with a long "a" and the accent on the first syllable.
Q: In Gen 11:24, how do you pronounce "Terah"?
A: Cruden’s Concordance says it is pronounced with no long vowels and the accent on the first syllable. The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary and Harper’s Bible Dictionary say the "e" is long, and the accent is also on the first syllable.
Q: In Gen 11:27 and Gen 17:5, what is the etymology (origin) of the names "Abram" and "Abraham"?
A: According to the New Bible Dictionary (1962) p.5, and the KJV footnote, the origin of the name is uncertain. It is a West Semitic name, and probably means "the father is exalted" or "exalted father". The name "Abraham" means, "father of multitudes" or "father of a multitude".
Q: Does Gen 11:27 teach that Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born in any specific order?
A: While some mistakenly think a list in the Bible always implies who was born first, that is not true. For example, in 1 Chronicles 3:15, Zedekiah was listed as Josiah’s third son, and Shallum/Jehoahaz was list as fourth. Yet when Jehoahaz became king in 609 B.C., he was 23 years old, and Zedekiah was only ten years old. Thus if the Bible gives a list without saying they are in order, we should not try to read in to the Bible what is not there.
In this particular case, since Abram was 75 when he left Haran after Terah died (Genesis 12:4), and Terah died at 205 years (Genesis 11:32), Abram was not the son who was born when Terah was 70. Abram was not born until Terah was at least 130.
Q: In Gen 11:28, was Abram from the city of Ur, or was he from the town of Haran in Gen 24:4?
A: Abram was originally from Ur, but prior to coming to Canaan, Abram and his relatives first settled in the town of Haran in modern-day Syria. See When Critics Ask p.35 and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties p.88-89 for more info.
Q: Why does Gen 11:28 mention Ur of the Chaldeans, since Ur was a Sumerian city?
A: The Chaldeans and Sumerians of Iraq were assimilated in Moses’ time, and Moses mentioned the land of modern-day Iraq as it was known in Moses’ time.
Q: In Gen 11:31, did Abram leave for Canaan from Ur, or from Haran as Gen 12:5 says?
A: Genesis 12 does not say Abram was in Haran when God called him. There is no mention that Genesis 11:31 is chronologically before Genesis 12. Many modern biographies are strictly chronological, but there is no requirement that they be so, and often it is was not strictly chronological in the Old Testament and the Gospels. We can only be sure it was intended to be in chronological order when the writer makes a claim that it is in chronological order. Genesis 24:4 dos not say "land of by birthplace" in Hebrew, but rather "my country", meaning where Abram lived for a while and where his closest relatives still lived.
Q: In Gen 12:1, 28:10-15; 32:22-32, why did God choose the Jews instead of the Chinese or someone else?
A: First of all, God has the right to choose whomever He wishes. Here God did not choose a people, but rather one man: Abraham. Later the covenant and offspring were reckoned through Isaac in Genesis 17:21 and 21:12. Later Jacob was chosen in Genesis 26:23-24. Abraham was willing to leave his culture and city (Ur), which was probably the largest city (100K to 180K population) and most civilized city on the earth at that time. Many people have some desire to do what is right, but fewer wealthy men would be willing to sacrifice their ties to their culture and religion to follow God above all, even to a place he did not know (Hebrews 11:8).
Today, Romans 10:12 and Galatians 3:24 teach there is no difference to God in Jews and non-Jews. See 735 Baffling Bible Questions Answered p.171 for more info.
Q: In Gen 12:1, is there any evidence, outside of the Bible, of the true God revealing Himself to anyone else in Abraham’s time, or before?
A: Yes. First two background facts from the Bible, and then the answer.
B1. In Genesis 14:18-20, Melchizedek was a king of Salem and a priest of the Most High God, whom he called "El Elyon". However, we will not count Melchizedek as he is only mentioned in the Bible, and Melchizedek could have been a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.
B2. In Genesis 24:50, Abram’s relatives in Syria (among the Arameans) believed in the Lord.
The answer:
A1. Ugaritic texts (from the culture that was in modern-day Syria and Lebanon, also mention, a personal God named "El", and used the phrase "El Elyon" for God most high, as Melchizedek did. Unfortunately, for the Ugaritic culture, syncretism was at work and they eventually only worshipped "El" as one god among many.
A2. In China prior to Buddhism coming just after Christ, and prior to Confucianism and Taoism a few hundred years before Christ, they worshipped a number of idols. However prior to that, they worshipped one Supreme God, whom they called Shang-di. The earliest written references to Shang-di in China are dated at 2600 B.C., which are about 400-500 years prior to Abraham! Unfortunately, during the Zhou Dynasty, about 1000 B.C, they decided that nobody was good enough to worship Shang-di exc