Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 54:215 (Jul 1897)
Article: The Cosmogony of Genesis and Its Reconcilers.
Author: Henry Morton

BSac 54:215 (July 1897) p. 436

The Cosmogony of Genesis and Its Reconcilers.1

Henry Morton

We now come, in Professor Guyot’s table, to the second part of the same, which is headed Era of Life, and opens with the work of the fourth day. The biblical account of this is given not in the words of Genesis, but in an abbreviated form, which we may assume as standing for the text of verses 14–18. As the science parallel of this, our author gives: “Chemical actions subside. The earth loses its photosphere; sun and moon become visible. First succession of day and night, of seasons and years. Differences of climate begin. Archaean rocks. Protophytes. Protozoans.”

The gist of the problem which is here presented to the reconciler consists in this: according to the account given in Genesis, the work of this day consisted in the making of the sun, moon, and stars; but, according to the account given by science, these heavenly bodies must have been made long before. To reconcile this discord, Professor Guyot, like several others as we shall see, including Professor Dana, assumes in effect that the very emphatic statements of Genesis as given in all the translations as to the making- of the heavenly bodies are to be interpreted as meaning that the work of the fourth day consisted in making the sun, moon, and stars visible from the earth by the removing of clouds, luminous or opaque according to different writers.

BSac 54:215 (July 1897) p. 437

Here we have a question which the Hebrew scholar should decide, as it is purely one of interpretation, and may be stated as follows: Can the language of verses 14–18 be interpreted as stating that the heavenly bodies were not made, but only made to appear, on the fourth day?

Let us see what answers are given to this question by Hebrew scholars. Dr. Marcus Dods, on page 4 of his “Genesis,” says: “Fourth Day Creation of Heavenly Bodies as Lights. There was already light; these luminaries are created to regulate its distribution on the earth. Keil’s idea that these bodies already existed, and that it is only their relation to the earth that is now described, is subversive of the idea of creation conveyed in the words ‘Let there be.’” Dr. Ryle, in his “Early Narratives of Genesis,” 1892, page 9, says: “It is again only a non-natural interpretation which explains the formation of the sun and the moon on the ‘fourth’ day as … not the formation of the heavenly bodies (see, however, ver. 16), but the first manifestation of their orbs through the mists ...