From Genesis to Genetics: The Case of Evolution and Creationism

2. Creation according to Genesis

T W O Creation according to Genesis Belief in a creation of some sort is not unique to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Most societies believe that the world and its living inhabitants have not existed forever, but rather that everything was created by some deity or supernatural force in the remote past. Many different scenarios for the mode of creation can be found; each one is usually restricted to a single culture and even to a period in history. A culture's explanation of creation becomes part of its sacred beliefs. ORIGINS OF GENESIS The Old Testament of the Christian tradition consists of the sacred scriptures of the Jewish people. The antecedents of Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew scriptures, date to the very dawn of recorded history and possibly to the early days of civilization in the ancient Near East, where the earliest cities seem to date to the few centuries before 3000 B.C. The Hebrews were the Semitic group from which both Judaism and Christianity arose. The Semitic people first entered history as tribes of nomads grazing their herds in the grasslands of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the Arabian peninsula. Five major groups are recognized: Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs. Creation according to Genesis / 21 The Akkadians settled in Mesopotamia; the Canaanites, Phoenicians, plus the Hebrews eventually migrated west to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. The Arabs continued to live in Arabia to the south. Much later, after the death of their prophet, Muhammad, in 632 A.D., the Arabs swept throughout the Mediterranean world as conquerers. They developed the Islamic religion with its holy book the Koran. Eventually most of the Semitic people abandoned the nomadic life of their ancestors and adopted agriculture, lived in cities, and developed complex political, social, and religious institutions. The basic source for the early history of the Hebrew tribes is the Old Testament, plus a little information from archaeology and the records of neighboring people. For example, ancient Egyptian records, which are fairly extensive, make vague references to people who may have been the Hebrews. According to Old Testament sources and a modicum of other information, at least some of the Hebrew tribes seem to have been in ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia-possibly the site of the first civilization. About 1900 B.C. their leader was Abraham, according to ancient tradition. Later the tribes migrated westward to what is now Palestine and on to Egypt, possibly between 1700 and 1600 B.C. There, according to their traditions, they were enslaved. Sometime between 1300to 1250B . C . Moses led them back to Palestine, their Promised Land. Palestine was then known as Canaan, and it was occupied by the Canaanites, another group of Semites who were culturally more advanced than Moses' Hebrews, some even living in cities. Fertile land was scarce, and because the Canaanites were not inclined to abandon their territory to the newcomers, there was strife between the two groups for several decades. In fact, about all the Hebrews were able to conquer at first were the rather infertile hills to the east of the fertile lowlands that bounded the Mediterranean. The period around 1200 B.C. was an exceptionally violent time in the eastern Mediterranean world for reasons not well understood. Some historians suggest that a mysterious "Sea People" traveled about widely, leaving destruction in their wake. The palaces of the Myce- 22 / Creation according to Genesis naeans in what is now Greece were leveled; Troy fell; the Hittite Empire collapsed; and devastation extended from Greece through Turkey to the southern part of Palestine. Only Egypt survived relatively intact, having repulsed the Sea People in battles along the Nile delta. What had been an impressive Bronze Age, when the heroes described by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey lived, was replaced by a dark time that lasted several centuries. One group of Sea People who entered Canaan during this period of turmoil were the Philistines. They proved to be far better warriors than the Canaanites or the Hebrews-a major reason being that their swords and spears were made of iron rather than bronze. The eastern Mediterranean world had embarked upon the Iron Age. The Hebrew people, after losing some of the land they had conquered from the Canaanites, recognized the need for a more efficient political structure. Up to this time (about 1225-1025 B.c.) the Hebrew tribes had been loosely...