Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-05

INTRODUCTION.-Aft a whole year
passed in the study of the life of Christ
we enter the Old Testament, with which
we shall be engaged under the guidance
Of the lesson committee during 1907 To-
day we turn to the beginning of the worlds
history-the very proper beginning Of the
sacred volume. Moses. the author, was
the seer of the past. Doubtless he was
helped by the patriarchs, who may have
handed down from generation to genera
tion-possibly in writing, as some think;
more likely by tradition-what was COM
municated by the spirit of God-to the first
man or to some of his earlier des cendants.
It is believed by DR.. Murphy, professor
of Hebrew in the University Of Belfast,
that this account of the creation formed
a part Of an earlier Bible from which Moses
copied and with which men of other ma
lions may have been familiar, while few
modern critics who have not been able to
impress the people with their theories con-
tend that this passage, toGelner with other
parts Of Genesis, may be regarded as folk
lore destitute of historic value, but worthy
a place in our book because of certain
truths contained therein.
DIFFICULTIES. - The Interpretation
Of this chapter has been attended by much
difficulty, bee luse men have endeavOred to
explain it in the light Of current literature.
In this way there has been read into 1t at
one time what confiicted with later conclu-
sions and the unbelieving have made much
of the lack of harmony. Whereas the only
trouble lay in setting human opinion of one
time against human opinion Of another
time. Take Illustrations: l. Some were
troubled because light was created before
the sun. Later 1t was discovered that light
does not always emanate from the sun, and
might, therefore, precede it. 2. The word
armament conveys the Idea of something
material and permanent. and it was thought
flo Of fha bod in
here. But this was the fault of the transla-
tors who used the English word to meet
their ideas. The Hebrew word means ex-
panse, the region occupied by the atmos-
phere. 3. The sun and the moon are men
toned If produced on the fourth day.
leaving the impression that the earth ex-
listed before them. Whereas the text says
no such thing. 1t is simply stated that the
luminaries were appointed for times and
seasons. They existed from the beginning.
CHAOS.-In single sentence (verse -
the fact is stated that the heaven and the
earth were created-they were not eternal.
worlds in space. Attention is then limited to
the globe on which we live. Moses does not
give astronomical account, except as the
other bodies related to this. He makes
special mention OF the fact that the earth
was without form and void, in a chaotic
state, destitute of life at the time of which
he began to write. He does not say how 1t
came to be so. There was intimation
that 1t was not always SO TOT the VeTD
translated was lis in the past perfect
tense, and might properly be rendered
had become' That is to say that the
earth passed through changes prior to the
time of which Moses wrote, that possibly
upheavals occurred through the ages until
it became an irregular and confused mass,
from which all life had perished over
which darkness reigned At that point
Moses began and showed how the globe
was set In order and prepared for man.
TIME.-One of the most prominent
features of this record, deserving, there
fore, early attention is the time element. 1t
is asserted that the creation Of the uni
verse was ''in the beginning" an expression
used in reference to Christ John I'D. No
one knows when that was. Push 1t back
as far as may be necessary into the dis
tant past; and the narrative is not affected
The chief purpose here is not so much to
point. That was the beginning of time, the
beginning of the acts by which the AL
mighty produced the material universe. The
stages of the after work are called days,
six in number These could not have been
solar days of twenty-four hours each, for
the term is used here in three different
senses. and in the fourth verse of the sec
ond chapter all the days are included in
one day Besides, the Hebrew, Yom, trans
lated day. denotes period of time of in
definite length and is so used in many
parts of the Old Testament CMal. iv:3): The
conclusion is that Moses was not fixing
time for Gods work, but rather indicating
an order in that work.
MODE.-It is very important that the
method pursued by the Creator should be
kept in mind 1t is said that the spirit Of
God moved upon the face of the waters
(verse D. that is. brooded over the shape
less mass. 1t was by the energy of the
Holy Spirit psalm, civ:3O that the life,
order and beauty oil the globe appeared, not
by any power inhering in matter. That
spirit was the force which under various
manifestations is known to modern sci
ence 1t was not merely a continuous in
fuence exerted by the Spirit. but an in
telligent putting forth of energy, preceded
by a determination and decree. God
spake psalm xxxiii 30 and nature obeyed.
That speech or word was the outgoing Of
Divine reason John. i:1D which centuries
after became ipcarnate in the person of
Christ. so that all things were created
by Him Col, i:16). There were two kinds
of acts One of these was strictly crea-
tive-the producing of something out of
nothing indicated in reference to matter,
life and spirit, three entities. The other
act was that of making, in which existing
materials were used. And in this there
seems to have been an evolutionary proc
ess expressed by the words brought forth"
.ORDER.-During the six days or perl