- Apr 14, 2003
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I'm not sure people realize in how many ways the creation story in Genesis conflicts with everything we know from every other source. We don't have to go back to the origin of the universe, to the dinosaurs or even to the Neanderthals to show that a literal reading of Genesis is incomplete.
There is massive evidence that for tens of thousands of years, the highest technology used by modern humans was stone. This was the Old Stone Age, or Paleolithic era. People were nomadic, there were no permanent dwellings. They were hunter-gatherers, which is why they had to be nomads. They followed the game animals they lived on. They did use fire. The population of the world was probably never more than about a million people.
In the New Stone Age, or Neolithic era, humans learned to make more sophisticated stone tools such as stone axes and better arrowheads.
At some point, people learned to melt copper and cast it. Some call this the Copper age, although the use of copper did not change things very much. Then tin was discovered. Early peoples did not find tin to be useful in itself, but mixing copper with a small amount of tin produces bronze. When people started making things out of bronze, the Bronze Age began. The use of iron was still in the future.
The Bronze Age meant better weapons and it coincided with ship building and travel across seas. Agriculture and domestication of animals started before the Bronze Age but the use of bronze tools helped agriculture along.
The Bronze Age lasted over two thousand years in the Middle East. It was followed by the Iron Age, which started around 1200 BC in the Middle East.
Abraham lived around 2000 BC, so Abraham lived during the Bronze Age. Camels were not domesticated at the time of Abraham although other useful animals had been.
Genesis takes no account of these ages, although the evidence that they happened is considerable. In the story of Cain and Abel, Abel is a shepherd and Cain is a farmer. The existence of agriculture and the domestication of many animals is assumed. In Genesis, these complex skills are apparently God-given.
In Genesis, towns and cities don't develop slowly, as needed. Cain founds the first city in Genesis Chapter 4. The forging of bronze and iron takes place in the same Chapter. In Genesis 4, we are already in the Iron Age. Interestingly enough, the first city is founded and bronze and iron are in use before Seth is born. Genesis gives the credit for inventing civilization to the descendants of Cain.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
Genesis 4:17 NIV
22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
Genesis 4:22 NIV
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Genesis 4:25 NIV
There is massive evidence that for tens of thousands of years, the highest technology used by modern humans was stone. This was the Old Stone Age, or Paleolithic era. People were nomadic, there were no permanent dwellings. They were hunter-gatherers, which is why they had to be nomads. They followed the game animals they lived on. They did use fire. The population of the world was probably never more than about a million people.
In the New Stone Age, or Neolithic era, humans learned to make more sophisticated stone tools such as stone axes and better arrowheads.
At some point, people learned to melt copper and cast it. Some call this the Copper age, although the use of copper did not change things very much. Then tin was discovered. Early peoples did not find tin to be useful in itself, but mixing copper with a small amount of tin produces bronze. When people started making things out of bronze, the Bronze Age began. The use of iron was still in the future.
The Bronze Age meant better weapons and it coincided with ship building and travel across seas. Agriculture and domestication of animals started before the Bronze Age but the use of bronze tools helped agriculture along.
The Bronze Age lasted over two thousand years in the Middle East. It was followed by the Iron Age, which started around 1200 BC in the Middle East.
Abraham lived around 2000 BC, so Abraham lived during the Bronze Age. Camels were not domesticated at the time of Abraham although other useful animals had been.
Genesis takes no account of these ages, although the evidence that they happened is considerable. In the story of Cain and Abel, Abel is a shepherd and Cain is a farmer. The existence of agriculture and the domestication of many animals is assumed. In Genesis, these complex skills are apparently God-given.
In Genesis, towns and cities don't develop slowly, as needed. Cain founds the first city in Genesis Chapter 4. The forging of bronze and iron takes place in the same Chapter. In Genesis 4, we are already in the Iron Age. Interestingly enough, the first city is founded and bronze and iron are in use before Seth is born. Genesis gives the credit for inventing civilization to the descendants of Cain.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
Genesis 4:17 NIV
22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
Genesis 4:22 NIV
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Genesis 4:25 NIV
